Good morning, Broadsheet readers! A pair of new #MeToo stories break, we get the story behind #Angels, and Fortune’s 2019 list of the Best Companies to Work For is out. Have a sweet Valentine’s Day.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Best of the Best Companies. Fortune's 2019 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For went live this morning—congrats to Hilton, our new No. 1. If you're thinking of making a job change at some point in the near future, you might want to give the ranking a look.
We've also zeroed in on some of the companies on the list that stand out in one way or another—including a couple that may be of particular interest to the Broadsheet crowd.
American Express (No. 13) overhauled its parental benefits in 2017, expanding leave to 20 weeks, increasing coverage of surrogacy and adoption, and offering to pay for nursing moms to ship breast milk home while traveling for work. The company also introduced the "Parent Concierge," a 24/7 team that offers one-on-one support to help working parents navigate their options and make sure they’re not missing out on any benefits or discounts.
At Workday (No. 4), Chief Diversity Officer Carin Taylor has helped the company raise the bar on inclusivity. One telling example: Workday recently expanded the set of sexual orientation, preferred pronoun, and gender identity choices available to customers using its dashboards. Users can now self-identify with more than 20 options, including “cisgender male,” “gender fluid,” “nonbinary,” and “Ze.” Taylor also uses "a Workday-powered dashboard with data about the workforce, including gender, ethnicity, age, veteran status, and other dimensions of diversity—which lets her monitor pay equity, time-to-promotion, and turnover." All that helps her spot trends and identify where certain cohorts of workers may be being left behind.
It's refreshing to see the ways in which companies are innovating—not just in terms of the products they produce, but with efforts to equalize and super-charge their most important asset: their employees.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• #Goals. Here's the fun and encouraging story of six former Twitter colleagues who created the angel investing group known as—what else?—#Angels. Jana Messerschmidt, April Underwood, Chloe Sladden, Jessica Verrilli, Katie Jacobs Stanton, and Vijaya Gadde have invested in more than 100 companies—and have had four exits so far. A few of the #Angels have become full-time VCs, and all have inspired other women to give angel investing a shot. Marie Claire
• Terrible two. A couple of big sexual misconduct stories surfaced yesterday. In the Hollywood Reporter, Jeannie Delgado shares her chilling story of being repeatedly raped by longtime Extra host A.J. Calloway. (She is one of six women who've accused him of sexual assault and misconduct.) Calloway, who denies the allegations, has been suspended by Warner Bros., which says it is conducting an investigation into his behavior. And the New York Times reports that a number of female artists have come forward to accuse musician Ryan Adams of "a pattern of manipulative behavior in which Adams dangled career opportunities while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex," only to "turn domineering and vengeful, jerking away his offers of support when spurned."
• Sweet smell of (fundraising) success. Our colleague Michal Lev-Ram has the story of the $8 million Series A just announced by Skylar, a natural beauty brand that sells “safe scented products." The company was founded by Cat Chen, an early employee of the Honest Co., and the round was led by FirstMark Capital, whose partner and managing director Beth Ferreira will now join Skylar’s all-female board. Fortune
• Run like a feminist. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand talks about why she wants her 2022 presidential campaign to be explicitly feminist. It is a point of differentiation: "While multiple women are serious contenders for president for the first time in American history, Ms. Gillibrand is the only one who is making running as a woman, for women, the central theme of her candidacy." New York Times
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Badass story. The latest edition of CNN’s Badass Women of Washington series focuses on the female duo leading the powerful House Appropriations Committee: Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey (N.Y.) and Republican Rep. Kay Granger (Texas). The last time a pair of women led a House committee, reports CNN, "the year was 1977 and the panel was the Select Committee on the House Beauty Shop." CNN
• Split decision. The NYT looks at how the women of Virginia are reacting to the sexual assault accusations against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and finds a notable divide: "White women...tend to unhesitatingly line up with the accusers while African-Americans...want to hear a fuller airing of the charges against Mr. Fairfax, who is black, before choosing sides." New York Times
• Blown deadline? With just six weeks to go until the U.K.'s planned exit from the European Union, EU officials are reportedly losing confidence that British PM Theresa May will be able to win enough votes to back a deal. The likely result: The U.K.'s March 29 departure date will have to be pushed back. WSJ
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ON MY RADAR
Chloe Kim’s next big challenge: college New York Times
Former WWE wrestler Paige says she wanted to fight, not "wear a bikini in front of children" Buzzfeed
Captain Marvel's Brie Larson can't save womankind—but she's doing her best The Hollywood Reporter
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| Annie Leibovitz, reflecting on how her photographs have not always been classified as high art |
