Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

My working days often unfold in either Zoom minimalist workplaces or glass-walled conference rooms with sleek windows, filled with entrepreneurs pitching ideas. As a marketing executive and startup mentor, I lead strategies for companies of various sizes, guide founders at startup accelerators TechStars and Founder Institute, and serve as an awards jury member. My calendar overflows with executive consultations, brand campaign planning, and deadline sprints. But between Christmas and New Year’s, I trade those sterile spaces for museum halls alive with color and history. It wasn’t easy getting out the door the first time I did this in 2021. I was filled with fears.…

When ChatGPT burst onto the scene, much of academia reacted not with curiosity but with fear. Not fear of what artificial intelligence might enable students to learn, but fear of losing control over how learning has traditionally been policed. Almost immediately, professors declared generative AI “poison,” warned that it would destroy critical thinking, and demanded outright bans across campuses, a reaction widely documented by Inside Higher Ed. Others rushed to revive oral exams and handwritten assessments, as if rewinding the clock might make the problem disappear. This was never really about pedagogy. It was about authority. The integrity narrative masks a control…

May often brings not only flowers, but also a highly anticipated—and in some cases, dreaded—event for college seniors: graduation. On their final day as students, they will walk across the stage to applause from peers, receive their diplomas, and start their lives as adults. Some of them will already have jobs lined up, while others may still be looking. A recently updated report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests that how employable those graduating seniors are could well be influenced by which college majors they chose in their freshman and sophomore years. What do those choices say about a student’s future job prospects? The report offers a number o…

In 2015, Disney discovered a new way to cash in on nostalgia: live-action remakes of its classic animated films. That started with Cinderella, brought back to the big screen 65 years after the original movie premiered. In the decade since, Disney has released 12 more of those remakes, with the gap between the original films’ release dates and the remakes growing shorter and shorter. The next entry is a remake of 2016’s Moana coming to theaters this July, a few months shy of the original’s 10-year anniversary. Disney remakes are designed to recapture the magic of the source material, replicating iconic shots and rehashing beloved lines, scenes, and songs. But that creativ…

Sales at Target fell more than expected in the first quarter and the retailer warned they will slip for all of 2025 year as its customers, worried over the impact of tariffs and the economy, pull back on spending. Target also said that customer boycotts have also done some damage. The company scaled back many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House. Target’s retreat created another backlash, with more customers angered by the retailer’s reduction of LGBTQ+-themed merchandise for Pride Month in June of 2023. Shares fell more than 4% before the opening bell Wednesday. Sales fell 2.8…

The time-honored tradition of scouring a new cereal box in search of a prize is coming back to the breakfast table. WK Kellogg Co. is partnering with Disney ahead of the release of Toy Story 5 this summer, rolling out cereal boxes with either classic in-box playable toys or collectible items inspired by the animated movie franchise. When and where to find them Beginning April 26, customers nationwide will be able to get their hands on the Toy Story 5-inspired cereals across Kellogg’s many brands including Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, and Cocoa Loops. The limited-edition boxes can be id…

Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) announced it will close select Foot Locker stores and raised its full-year year outlook, in its third quarter earnings report on Tuesday. While Dick’s has not disclosed how many locations it will shutter (Fast Company has reached out for confirmation), it is part of a larger restructuring effort, according to executive chairman Ed Stack who spoke with CNBC. Dick’s acquired leading footwear and apparel retailer Foot Locker for $2.5 billion back in September, according to its latest earnings release. As of November 1, the company was operating 3,230 store locations across the combined Dick’s and Foot Locker businesses globally. …

Anthropic is turning to a Biden administration alum to run its new Beneficial Deployments team, which is tasked with helping extend the benefits of its AI to organizations focused on social good—particularly in areas like health research and education—that may lack market-driven incentives. The new team will be led by Elizabeth Kelly, who in 2024 was tapped by the Biden administration to lead the U.S. AI Safety Institute within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Kelly helped form agreements with OpenAI and Anthropic that let NIST safety-test the companies’ new models prior to their deployment. She left the government in early March, and in mid-Mar…

Beleaguered pharmacy chain Rite Aid has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after weeks of media reports suggesting that it was on the cusp of doing so. The bankruptcy is Rite Aid’s second in two years, and it leaves a lot of questions for both customers and employees, including whether stores will be closing, if there will be layoffs, and what happens to customers’ prescriptions. Here’s what you need to know about Rite Aid’s second bankruptcy. Why did Rite Aid file bankruptcy the first time? Rite Aid originally filed for bankruptcy in 2023. It emerged from the process less than a year ago, in 2024, with the hopes of being in a better fi…

March Madness is well underway, but for a lot of people, it’s just another day at the office. That is, until you walk into the break room or sign into Slack and realize the place is abuzz with bracket chatter and Final Four predictions. You sigh, resigned to yet another month of sportsball—a whole lot of chatter about a game that you don’t know about. And don’t really care to. For many people, March Madness is a nearly month-long ritual that requires a lot of feigning interest or noise-cancelling headphones. For every excited person replaying Yaxel Lendeborg’s latest opponent-crushing dunk is a disinterested coworker nearby, confused at best, or at worst, sensing…

Residents of the mostly Black communities sandwiched between chemical plants along the lower Mississippi River have long said they get most of the pollution but few of the jobs produced by the region’s vast petrochemical industry. A new study led by Tulane University backs up that view, revealing stark racial disparities across the U.S.’s petrochemical workforce. Inequity was especially pronounced in Louisiana, where people of color were underrepresented in both high- and low-paying jobs at chemical plants and refineries. “It was really surprising how consistently people of color didn’t get their fair share of jobs in the petrochemical industry,” said Kimberly T…

It used to be that my friend Kristin had a vague sense of how her husband’s day went. He’d come home with a story to share or sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he seemed annoyed, and when he was in one of those moods, she didn’t press. They’d kick their feet up, pour some wine, and talk about the upcoming weekend. Now they both work remote and all of a sudden, she knows a lot more about her husband’s day. “I know how many times he’s opened the fridge,” she told me recently. “Seven times. Seven times before lunch.” She wasn’t angry when she said it. “I love him,” she said. “But I don’t know that I was meant to know this much.” You’re seeing too much I’ve been thinking about…

To Trina Spear, cofounder and CEO of medical apparel brand Figs, change for the healthcare industry has to start with a focus on healthcare workers. “We believe if you serve the provider, they will be able to better serve the patient,” she says. “And that drives better outcomes. That drives a better healthcare system.” As part of that focus, Figs gave away hundreds of thousands of scrubs, organized healthcare worker retreats, and donated some $510,000 to healthcare nonprofits in 2024 alone. Now it’s expanding that work by launching its own nonprofit, the Awesome Humans Foundation, which will provide financial support, training, and resources to healthcare pro…

Oxford Dictionary just revealed its official word of 2025. It’s “rage bait.” According to an official announcement post, Oxford Dictionary’s team of lexicographers choose a shortlist of potential words each year by analyzing data and trends to “identify new and emerging words and expressions, which our lexicographers think of as a ‘single unit’, and examine the shifts in how more established language is being used.” This year’s final contenders were “aura farming,” “biohack,” and “rage bait.” In the end, 30,000 members of the public voted for their top choices, and Oxford chose rage bait as the winner. Per the Oxford Dictionary’s editors, rage bait is defined …

Shares of Beyond Meat slumped to a record low on Monday after the maker of plant-based meat launched an exchange offer for convertible bonds to cut more than $800 million in debt. The stock was last down 32.1% at $1.93, after falling as low as $1.23. The company last month posted a revenue drop and a wider-than-expected loss, citing weak U.S. consumer demand. It said it was still facing “an elevated level of uncertainty” and will not provide any full-year estimates. Consumer spending has been affected by economic uncertainty and consumer tastes have been shifting in the plant-based meat market. The company will exchange its $1.15 billion 0% convertible not…

When it comes to the battle of the prediction markets, which player are you betting on? Fanatics, the global sports platform, is out to prove that sportsbooks will be the emerging industry’s biggest winners. Today, Fanatics is launching a stand-alone predictions market app designed to appeal to the fans who already buy its apparel and collectibles. It’s the first of the major sportsbooks to move into prediction markets—and almost certainly won’t be the last. “Prediction markets are one of the top things that fans want to do these days,” says Matt King, who leads betting and gaming for Fanatics. “People want to be able to express their opinions on not just s…

After filing for bankruptcy several weeks ago, a large franchisee that operates dozens of Carl’s Jr. restaurants in California is planning to cut loose some of its underperforming locations, according to newly filed court documents. Sun Gir Incorporated, the lead debtor in a group of affiliated Chapter 11 cases that were filed in early April, has asked for court permission to reject the leases on at least three Carl’s Jr. locations in the Los Angeles area. As of this week, the restaurants appeared to still be open. But they have been operating at a substantial negative cashflow for the franchisee, as documented in three separate dockets filed in federal court fo…

If you stop by the “as-is” section at one of Ikea’s U.S. stores, you might now find a vintage table from the 1980s. The company recently started accepting older products in its Buy Back & Resell program, which gives customers store credit for bringing back used items, and then offers them for sale to other customers. Since launching as a pilot in the U.S. five years ago, the program—still the only one of its kind at a major furniture retailer—has steadily expanded, underscoring the demand for circular options. The program “is our opportunity to bring our products back into the store from our customers to keep them out of landfill,” says Mardi Ditze, sustainabi…

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. I recently celebrated my 56th birthday, and I’m feeling my age. Not because I’m slowing down (which I am), but because I feel increasingly removed from the passions, peeves, and predilections of Gen Z and Generation Alpha. This matters, as young people shape popular and workplace cultures, and…

Forget about the big game on Sunday. Two heavyweights have been battling it out this week over a topic that’s become all-too-familiar over the years: advertising creep. It’s a tale as old as time, in some respects. Many a CEO have proudly declared that their company’s platform or services will remain ad-free, only to later succumb to the lure of all that advertising revenue and embrace it. And that’s creating a new divide among AI platforms—one that will play out to the world’s largest TV viewing audience during the Super Bowl. Among the nearly dozen AI-related ads on Sunday will be two 60-second spots each for OpenAI and Anthropic. While OpenAI will use…

Kraft Heinz said Wednesday it’s pausing its plans to split into two companies. Steve Cahillane, a former Kellogg Co. chief who became CEO of Kraft Heinz on Jan. 1, said he wants to ensure that all of the company’s resources are focused on profitable growth. “I have seen that the opportunity is larger than expected and that many of our challenges are fixable and within our control,” Cahillane said in a statement. The company’s shares dropped 5.2% in early trading Wednesday as Kraft Heinz reported lower quarterly and annual results. Kraft Heinz announced in September it was splitting into two companies a decade after a merger of the brands created one of the biggest foo…

It has been two weeks since Winter Storm Fern swept through the United States, and many cities are still busy digging themselves out of waist-high snow mountains. A brand-new building in Antarctica—where temperatures average 14 degrees Fahrenheit along the coast—might offer some useful insights for a more efficient approach. Perched on the southern edge of Adelaide, an island on the Antarctica Peninsula, the Discovery Building spans two stories and nearly 50,000 square feet. It is clad in highly insulated metal composite panels and topped with a mono-pitch roof that slopes in just one direction, so snow slides right off instead of piling up. Most notably: it sports an …

Shares in language learning platform Duolingo, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOL) are plummeting this morning. As of this writing, the stock is down a staggering 25% in premarket trading. That cliff edge comes after the company reported strong Q3 numbers yesterday. So what’s the reason for today’s fall? Here’s what you need to know. Duolingo reports a strong Q3 2025 By nearly every metric, Duolingo had a strong third quarter, which ended on September 30, 2025. Here are the key metrics the company reported for its Q3: Daily Active Users: 50.5 million (up 36% year over year) Monthly Active Users: 135.3 million (up 20% YOY) Paid Subscribers: 11.5 million (up 34% YOY)…