Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Wall Street is hearing Nikki Haley out, Female Founders Fund is raising another fund, and the only trans CEO in the Fortune 1000 believes in the power of the beauty industry. Have a relaxing weekend!
– Big beauty. When Sue Nabi became the CEO of Coty in 2020, the $5.3 billion beauty giant had had five CEOs in five years. Nabi had spent much of her career at L’Oréal, where she was the president of the Lancôme brand, had founded a vegan, gender-neutral skincare brand called Orveda, and came up with the L’Oréal’s famous “You’re worth it” campaign.
So when she got up in front of her Coty employees for the first time, she talked about beauty. Starting off with her perspective on the industry earned the respect of a workforce starved for that kind of understanding of their work; recent CEOs were all beauty outsiders from the world of consumer-packaged goods. “This was the first time the CEO spoke to them not about the P&L, what we need to do next week, next quarter, and so on, but about a vision, a passion, and how intuition is essential in our business,” Nabi remembers.
Sue Nabi, CEO of CotyCourtesy of Coty Nabi spoke to my colleague Phil Wahba in an interview last month. At Coty, she has spent the past few years finding new markets for struggling older brands like CoverGirl as well as trying new ventures, like Coty’s stakes in Kardashian-Jenner family brands KKW Beauty (now SKKN by Kim) and Kylie Cosmetics. Some have gone better than others; the sisters are reportedly looking to buy back those stakes. (Nabi says Coty has “very well-established and highly successful relationships with both teams.”)
In tough economic times for consumers, Nabi has leaned into her passion for the industry. “[Beauty] is resilient because beauty makes you feel better in general and, therefore, look better,” she told Phil. “Beauty is the face you show to the world.”
Nabi knows how important beauty can be to identity. She is the only trans CEO in the Fortune 1000; her closest peer is Martine Rothblatt, the founder and CEO of biotech company United Therapeutics.
“I love saying to people, ‘Judge me on what I do rather than who I am,'” she says. Read Phil’s full interview here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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- Worker win. Members of the United Auto Workers union voted to support new contracts with Detroit’s Big Three automakers—including Mary Barra's GM—that will raise wages and improve other benefits. The contracts have prompted other automakers to raise wages to avoid strikes similar to the UAW’s. New York Times
- Chasing the big bucks. After strong debate performances, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is courting Wall Street, taking meetings with the CEOs of Goldman Sachs and BlackRock. Billionaire investors like Stanley Druckenmiller and Eric Levine have already pledged financial support, and even JPMorgan Chase CEO and registered Democrat Jamie Dimon reportedly believes Haley “has the potential to bring the country together.” Financial Times
- Another raise. Female Founders Fund plans to raise $75 million to invest in early-stage businesses from female entrepreneurs, according to SEC filings this week. The fund led by Anu Duggal has raised around $88 million across previous funds that fueled investments in dozens of women-led companies, like women's health business Maven and social astrology app Co-Star. TechCrunch
- Homework. As China struggles with both a declining birth rate and a lack of gender parity in the workforce, panelists at Fortune China’s ESG summit in Shanghai warned that the country risks taking more women out of the workforce by encouraging them to have more children. Fortune
- Cassie comes forward. R&B singer Cassie accused Sean Combs, her former romantic partner, of rape and years of physical abuse in a lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday. The producer and media mogul denies the allegations. Cassie's lawsuit was made possible by New York's Adult Survivors Act, which lets sexual abuse survivors file civil suits after the statute of limitations has expired. “After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story," she said. New York Times
- Skip the appointment. Women in the U.K. will soon be able to secure a prescription for birth control at their local pharmacy without any physician approval or health checks. The program, which starts next month, is expected to provide around 500,000 women with access to contraception. The Guardian
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Ruzwana Bashir is quietly connecting the tech world Business Insider
The rise of ‘Meghann Thee Reporter,’ the internet’s favorite court insider Washington Post
Musical based on Gwyneth Paltrow ski trial set to open in London The Guardian
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"I have a huge platform, and if I can share my outfits, I can also share things that make people feel less alone."
—Gabrielle Union on her own menopause journey
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