Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Fashion conglomerate Tapestry acquires competitor Capri to create a massive family of brands, a new tampon will soon be on the market, and we meet the founders who are part of a new Fortune initiative. Have a relaxing weekend.
– Founders forum. This summer, Fortune brought together leading execs throughout the tech industry for our annual Brainstorm Tech conference—with a twist. For the first time, a group of influential founders gathered in the leadup to the event for the new Fortune Founders Forum.
Founders Forum is intended to create community in an increasingly distributed world where many founders lead remote or hybrid teams. Entrepreneurs are navigating a new, and much lonelier, workplace reality. Founders in this group are able to share how they’re meeting the demands and opportunities of today.
This week, Fortune announced the inaugural Founders Forum class, a diverse group of founders across a wide variety of categories. To celebrate this launch, Fortune published interviews with each founder. You can learn more about some of the female founders who are part of this program and their companies below.
Air Protein founder Lisa Dyson is figuring out how to make food out of, yes, air.
Aligned AI’s Rebecca Gorman aims to align A.I. more closely with what humans are actually asking it to do.
Folx Health founder Liana Douillet Guzmán is developing a digital health platform for the LGBTQIA+ community.
LaunchDarkly’s Edith Harbaugh is building a feature development platform for tech companies.
Helen Kontozopoulos is behind Odaia, which provides real-time commercial insights to pharmaceutical companies. She aims to help those pharma giants get the right drugs to the right patients faster.
Jill Koziol leads Motherly, a lifestyle brand for moms.
Christie Marchese‘s Kinema is working to overhaul film distribution and help independent filmmakers make money.
See the full cohort and learn more about Founders Forum here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Standing firm. Fearless Fund responded to the racial discrimination lawsuit filed against it by a group behind anti-affirmative action court cases. Attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of George Floyd and Henrietta Lacks, is part of the legal team representing the fund that provides $20,000 grants to small businesses owned by Black women. The general partners of the fund, Arian Simone and Ayana Parsons, said in a statement that they are “firm in our purpose to provide a gateway to economic freedom.” TechCrunch
- Combining wardrobes. Tapestry, the parent company of Kate Spade, Coach, and Stuart Weitzman, is set to acquire fellow fashion conglomerate Capri. Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat praised the $8.5 billion acquisition, which will bring Capri’s Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors under Tapestry's roof. CNBC
- Period progress. Menstrual health startup Sequel just received FDA approval for a new tampon that replaces vertical grooves with spiral grooves to create a more comfortable experience. Sequel cofounders Greta Meyer and Amanda Calabrese hope a sampling campaign will help the product compete against dominant tampon brands. Wall Street Journal
- The everything CEO. X CEO Linda Yaccarino defended her company's rebrand and lauded the return of ad giants Coca-Cola and Visa in a new interview. Yaccarino maintained she has “autonomy” under X owner Elon Musk and described her role as running everything “from partnerships to legal to sales to finance.” She argues her direct engagement with marketing executives brought lucrative advertisements back to the platform. CNBC
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Katie Bolich has been appointed head of games at PLAYSTUDIOS.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- A.I. ideas. Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube's vice president of the Americas, is using A.I. to help creators produce new ideas rather than using the technology for chatbots, like some of YouTube's rivals. The Information
- Turning a page. Katie Drummond, former senior vice president of global news and entertainment at Vice Media, has been named the next global editorial director of Wired. Drummond, who interned at Wired in 2009 and said it was "a no-brainer" to return, is looking to experiment with the publication to reach new audiences. New York Times
- Perfect fit. Fashion designer Sandy Liang conjured up nostalgia for elementary school looks to create her highly coveted “Sandy Liang aesthetic.” Liang’s mix of girlie and practical is on full display in the collaboration she dropped with accessory brand Baggu this week, which has already won over shoppers. New York Times
- Scott for tots. MacKenzie Scott’s unrestricted donations this year have totaled at least $97 million, according to nonprofits that announced they had received donations from her Yield Giving Fund. Individual contributions ranged from $1 million to $15 million, with almost half going to early-childhood education and development charities. Chronicle of Philanthropy
ON MY RADAR
Inside the PR machine that made climate denial work Bloomberg
The Bobbi Althoff interview you’ve been waiting for Cosmopolitan
How Kim Pham built Omsom, a 'proud and loud' Asian food brand, and found herself along the way Elle
PARTING WORDS
"I'm solidly in my womanhood. I finally realize what I have to say is valuable, even if no one else agrees."
—Halle Berry on embracing menopause and aging
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