an underwriting agency is selling “cancel culture” insurance to panicked celebrities
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RISE AND SHINE PEOPLE! I hope you had a great weekend :)
I have a bunch of new readers here, so I thought today would be a great day to (re)introduce myself. I’m Ochuko, 25, Nigerian, I live in Germany, and I’m a marketer at adidas. I started writing this newsletter 9 months ago because I suspected I was very smart (and kind of funny) and wanted to make sure. You can read my origin story here.
as seen on covers the most interesting things happening at the intersection of business and culture, through the lens of a Gen Zer with great taste (me). Categories I cover include tech, fashion, beauty, food & bev, health & wellness, media, Hollywood, sports, politics (when I have the strength), and youth trends.
I read the most books of everyone I know, and once a month I do a recap of everything I read (and every book I bought).
and I will start our monthly book club, 2 GIRLS, 1 BOOK, in February, where we’ll be discussing a book everyone is talking about (or should be). This conversation is a great preview (scroll down). Also, next month I’ll be starting a bimonthly series called INDUSTRY NOTES, where I talk to Gen Z founders, creators, and operators about the most compelling topics at the intersection of business and culture. First edition comes out next week!In today’s (very long) newsletter, I talked about why investors are losing their appetite for the weight loss drug market, my thoughts on Rhode employing the Skims playbook, what I’m noticing about how beauty brands are naming their products now, Dear Media going MAGA(?), breaking down some stats for the highest-grossing Substack newsletters, U.S. military blood biohacks, and a bunch of other stuff…
All the good stuff happens below the paywall! ENJOY!
Martha Stewart interviewed Pamela Anderson about featuring in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl. The word "beautiful" was used nine times—they both think the other looks great (Pilates, apparently). Pamela says she considers herself a homemaker and has a sourdough starter named Astrid Viking Warrior Princess. Martha says she’s working on an autobiography and filming her documentary was a moment of “self revelation”.
the office siren reigns supreme 
Today’s NYT DealBook newsletter opens with Andrew Ross Sorkin asking readers to mark this week on their History of Artificial Intelligence Timeline. Done. “The creation of DeepSeek, the Chinese A.I. sensation we reported on last week, is shaking the technology industry to its core,” he writes. The Financial Times has published no fewer than three stories about DeepSeek today, including one titled Advances by China’s DeepSeek sow doubts about AI spending. Meanwhile, Business Insider ran the headline: Chinese AI lab DeepSeek massively undercuts OpenAI on pricing — and that's spooking tech stocks. Axios added: Stunning breakthroughs from China's DeepSeek AI alarm U.S. rivals. The Post sent an alert titled China’s DeepSeek AI app sends U.S. tech stocks reeling, followed by The Times’ alert: Stocks Sink as Investors Worry About China’s A.I. Advances. Finally, this Bloomberg headline: Nvidia erases $465 billion in DeepSeek rout, the largest in market history. Are you picking up what I’m putting down? DeepSeek currently sits at No. 1 on Apple's App Store only a week after the release of its R1 model. Nasdaq futures have plummeted nearly 4% since yesterday. And shares in Nvidia are down 11%. Meta and Microsoft report earnings this week, should be interesting.
I’ve always thought the first few Instagram posts after getting canceled are crucial. Looks like Matilda Djerf is leaning into Scandi cottagecore serenity. She might have gone brunette too— all part of the strategy, I’m sure.
