Alexandra Olson

Stay informed with Alexandra Olson’s coverage and analysis for Fortune.

  • FILE – The entrance to the Labor Department is seen near the Capitol in Washington, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)Politics

    Erika McEntarfer, the BLS head fired by Trump, got bipartisan support in her 2024 confirmation with votes from JD Vance and Marco Rubio

    By Fatima Hussein, Alexandra Olson, and others
  • U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to a reporter's questionPolitics

    Federal judge halts parts of Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders that require contractors and grant recipients to certify compliance

    By Claire Savage, Alexandra Olson, and others
  • US President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White HousePolitics

    Trump fires 2 Democratic commissioners at agency that enforces civil rights laws in the workplace

    By Alexandra Olson, Claire Savage, and others
  • Will Scharf assists as President Donald Trump signs an executive order at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Politics

    Trump administration directs all federal DEI staff be put on leave in preparation for being laid off

    By Alexandra Olson, Zeke Miller, and others
  • A woman with red hair sitting on the ground, working in front of a laptopLifestyle

    Economists say America’s gender wage gap is getting worse again—the first major setback for working women in 20 years

    By Alexandra Olson, Claire Savage, and others
  • Lilly LedbetterLeadership

    Lilly Ledbetter, whose fight for equal pay led to the 2009 Fair Pay Act, dies at 86

    By Alexandra Olson and The Associated Press
  • o-founders and CEOs of The Fearless Fund Arian Simone, center left, and Ayana Parsons, center right, speak to journalists outside the James Lawrence King Federal Building in Miami.Finance

    VC firm forced to close Black women’s grant program after lawsuit from conservative activists

    By Alexandra Olson and The Associated Press
  • people on picket lineFinance

    Some hotel workers clean up 17 rooms each shift and are going on strike

    By Alexandra Olson and The Associated Press
  • FILE – Ayana Parsons, one of the co-founders and CEOs of The Fearless Fund, walks outside the James Lawrence King Federal Building in Miami, Jan. 31, 2024, following a hearing. On Monday, June 24, 2024, Parsons, one of the co-founders of the Atlanta-based venture capital firm that supports women of color, stepped down as chief operating officer as the company battles a lawsuit that has become emblematic of a conservative backlash against corporate diversity programs. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)Finance

    Fearless Fund co-founder steps down as operating chief as firm fights conservative backlash against diversity programs

    By Alexandra Olson and The Associated Press
  • Arian Simone, in a pink suit, addresses a crown in front of the Supreme CourtFinance

    A Florida appeals court ruled that Fearless Fund’s grant program for Black women business owners violates the Civil Rights Act

    By Alexandra Olson and The Associated Press
  • Mother's DaySuccess

    America proudly celebrates Mother’s Day but it’s still the only industrialized company to lack a national paid maternity leave policy

    By Alexandra Olson, Claire Savage, and others
  • Sophia Danner-Okotie poses for a portrait in her shared workspace Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, in Fayetteville, Ga. Danner-Okotie has ambitious plans for her Nigerian-inspired clothing line but a sense of dread has punctured her optimism as she watches a lawsuit try to take down a small venture capital firm that was instrumental to her boutique brand’s growth. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)Success

    DEI backlash has companies quietly changing their programs to avoid wave of lawsuits alleging discrimination

    By Alexandra Olson, Haleluya Hadero, and others
  • File – Conservative activist Edward Blum speaks at a news conference in Washington, June 29, 2023. Blum is citing Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to go after a venture capital fund called Fearless Fund, which invests in businesses owned by women of color. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)Leadership

    DEI opponents are using a Civil Rights Act section to go after a VC fund that invests in businesses owned by women of color: ‘It’s a very clever game plan’

    By Anne D'Innocenzio, Alexandra Olson, and others
  • Joe BidenPolitics

    Biden’s Labor Department takes aim at Uber and DoorDash with new rule aimed to cut down on number of ‘independent contractors’

    By David Hamilton, Alexandra Olson, and others
  • Jennifer HomendyLeadership

    After a Boeing plane blows out fuselage next to 2 (unoccupied) seats, ‘safest aviation system in the world’ questioned

    By Alexandra Olson and The Associated Press