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Featuring Paul Feig, Founder, FeigCo; and Director and Producer, Another Simple Favor. Moderated by Kc Ifeanyi, Executive Director of Editorial Programming, Fast Company. Producer and director Paul Feig is looking to strike gold twice with the follow-up to his 2018 hit film A Simple Favor starring Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, and Henry Golding. Beyond the plot twists and intrigue, Feig’s sequel further exemplifies his commitment to telling women-led stories including Jackpot!, Ghostbusters, Spy, The Heat, and Bridesmaids. Join Feig for a one-on-one conversation on his unique approach to comedic storytelling with complex female lead characters at the center. View the…

I have lost count of the number of accomplished professionals who’ve said to me, “I don’t want to seem silly on video” or, “I am awkward when I’m on camera.” I have trained hundreds of people, ranging from members of Congress to supermodels to everyday folks, for national TV program appearances. Here are my tips to sound natural and authentic on camera. Toss The Teleprompter, Ditch the Script Try not to use a teleprompter! Here’s why: The idea of video is to build connection. Using a prompter makes you sound like a robot. For short-form videos, under a minute long, instead of relying on a teleprompter, identify two to three bullet points. Write them on a sticky…

Ever miss the thrill of the 2016 Pokémon Go craze? A new anti-swiping dating app has come to fill that void, but instead of cute Pokémon you can catch yourself a hot date. These days, trying to find a partner IRL, whether at a bar or reluctantly joining a singles running club, is no easy task. Dating apps are still one of the most common places for people trying to meet The One, but . . . have you seen the apps? 2024 has been widely dissed as the year the dating apps died. Both Bumble and Match Group saw stock prices steadily decline since reaching all-time highs in 2021. Left Field, the latest dating app launched in New York City this week, has the goal to combat…

Most of us know the general (albeit simplified) story: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used a stimulus—like a metronome—around the dogs he was studying, and soon, the hounds would start to salivate. They had learned that the sound meant food was coming. The phenomenon, now known as classical conditioning, became one of modern psychology’s foundational discoveries. It’s an unconscious process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus, eventually leading to a connection between the two. The dogs, seeing the researcher who often brings them food or hearing the noise of the cart on its way, would immediately know they were about to h…

For the first time in more than 40 years, a new hormone-free intrauterine device (IUD) is coming to market in the U.S.—and it’s designed with patients’ comfort in mind, both during the insertion process and once it’s in place. The new IUD, called Miudella, comes from the pharmaceutical company Sebela Women’s Health Inc. It was approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in late February, and is the second hormone-free IUD to be approved since 1984, when the copper-based option Paragard first became available. With the addition of Miudella, there will now be six IUD options available in the U.S. Not only does this advancement provide patients seeking a horm…

You might have a go-to hot sauce already. But for the past year or so, Sichuan condiments brand Fly by Jing has been repositioning to capture mainstream heat seekers, and its subtle packaging update, rolling out now, is the DTC darling’s latest move to optimize for its new distribution channel of choice: mass retail. To call the visual changes a “rebrand” would be a stretch, but the subtle updates point to how the company is pivoting its messaging for analog sales. It’s packaging uses pared-down graphics and copy, with more negative space and a strict focus on must-have details that allow first-time buyers to quickly make a purchase decision just by looking at the pro…

As the founder of a high-growth SaaS business, Evan was the quintessential entrepreneur. Ideas and innovation were his strength, and they led to his success in attracting investors and inspiring his early hires. With the infusion of investment capital, the company entered a new stage of growth. To scale successfully, the business needed to standardize operations and develop repeatable processes to reliably deliver services to its customers. But these were not Evan’s strengths. With a near-constant flow of ideas and a desire to resource them, he soon earned a new nickname among his team: “chief distraction officer.” Eventually, investors grew tired of Evan’s lack of f…

We’re only in the third month of the year and already there have been a number of bizarre food trends go viral on TikTok—from a $19 strawberry to feeding babies spoonfuls of butter. The latest is a yogurt, called Coconut Cult, that costs $39 for a 16 ounce jar. On many a for-you-page, you can find influencers incorporating a scoop of the super-live probiotic yogurt into their morning routine and instructing viewers how to properly eat it. “I’ve never looked hotter,” one user posted, adding her stomach “has never been flatter.” (Not everyone on the platform was impressed with the results, however, and some weren’t fans of the reportedly sour taste.) Availabl…

Tom Broughton, the founder of the British eyewear brand Cubitts that has recently landed in the U.S., wants to make you a set of glasses that you’ll be able to wear your entire life. “They could outlive you,” he says. That’s a radical notion these days. Over the past three decades, as fast fashion has become the norm, the price of eyewear has come down alongside the price of clothes and shoes. Brands like Zenni and Warby Parker market their glasses as a fashion statement that is so affordable, you can change them up whenever you want. You could wear a different pair every day of the week. Broughton finds this approach to eyewear problematic for many reasons. For one t…

In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city. It’s a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries. Some farmers are complaining, said Wilson Watira, head of a cultural board for the coffee-growing Bamasaba people. “They are concerned—those farmers who know the effects …

Organizations talk about wanting innovation, but most aren’t willing to create the right conditions for it. We celebrate disruptors, bold thinkers, and game-changing ideas—but the way most organizations actually run makes creativity nearly impossible. Leaders ask, “How do we encourage creativity?” But the real question is: “How do we keep it alive in a world that values efficiency over exploration?” Efficiency kills creativity, but not how you think Most discussions around creativity killers focus on rigid hierarchies, tight deadlines, and risk-averse cultures. While these are barriers, the deeper, more insidious problem is the cult of efficiency. Organizatio…

More than three million developers are using OpenAI’s APIs as shorthand code to infuse apps and websites with an engine of advanced AI. And today, the company’s most popular API, called Chat Completions, is getting a significant sequel called Responses. Eight months in development, it will vastly expand upon and simplify the experience of plugging into OpenAI. For developers, Responses will mean using less code to stack more complex questions to the AI. A hundred lines of code will turn into just three, as the company is courting a wider set of developers who don’t consider themselves LLM experts. For consumers, it will mean you’ll soon be interacting with AI that’s f…

After six years in the game, Nuuly, the clothing rental service from Urban Outfitters, has done what few thought possible: turned a profit. In an industry full of flashy failures and billion-dollar burns, Nuuly is quietly winning with a strategy that’s shaking up fashion and business. View the full article

Tyler, the CEO of an early-stage technology company, reached out for executive coaching support at the recommendation of a college friend: “Give it a try,” she encouraged. He was skeptical about anything “touchy-feely” and wondered if coaching could offer his leadership an “edge.” After we reviewed his 360 results together, Tyler’s skepticism took center stage. His feedback consisted of descriptors like controlling, arrogant, and dismissive. Tyler was unmoved. He asked, “Why should I care about what people think of me if we’re getting great results?” Tyler’s not an anomaly. There are leaders everywhere who behave badly interpersonally but exceed sales goals, secu…

As buzz around women’s sports continues to grow, the largest dedicated female sports fund just got larger. Monarch Collective, the first and largest investment platform that exclusively invests in women’s sports, announced Thursday that it has expanded its fund size from $150 million to $250 million. The increased capital will allow the fund to capitalize on what it calls a “rapidly accelerating market”: women’s professional sports teams that have been increasingly filling seats. “Since launching our fund last year, women’s sports has experienced a cultural transcendence and the ecosystem has evolved dramatically, making the need for operational, value-added capit…

Spotify just opened up a new stream of revenue for podcasters. That is, if they’re uploading video. What was once an audio-first medium, podcasting is now increasingly filmed and produced. That started on YouTube, which is now racking up one billion podcast viewers a month. While Spotify has hosted podcasts for a decade now, the company is suddenly racing to stay competitive, rolling out new features and monetization tools. That includes their Partner Program, which allows podcasters to earn money directly from the streams of premium subscribers, so long as they’re using a video aspect. “We decided to focus on video because that’s where we see a lot of audiences…

StubHub’s 2024 revenue surged 29.5%, it reported on Friday in its U.S. initial public offering paperwork, as the online ticketing marketplace moves ahead with its long-sought New York flotation. A handful of companies are moving ahead with stock market listings despite volatility arising from uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. Nvidia-backed startup CoreWeave and Swedish fintech Klarna are among the companies gearing up to go public in New York. StubHub, one of the biggest secondary ticketing marketplaces for live events, will sell new shares in the proposed offering, it said. Its revenue jumped to $1.77 billion in 2024, compared with $1.37 billion a yea…

This week, Apple updated half of its iPad lineup. After updating the iPad Pro and iPad mini in 2024, the company has just unveiled a third-generation iPad Air and an eleventh-generation iPad. Many fans of Apple’s tablets have been eagerly awaiting these updates, especially since before this week, the company’s entry-level iPad had not had a refresh since October of 2022. But if you’ve been waiting until this week’s reveals, hoping for a clear picture of Apple’s iPad offerings in order to select the one best for your needs, well, I’ve got bad news: the iPad lineup remains as confusing as ever. Here’s why. Not all models support Apple Intelligence Apple make…

Microplastics—the tiny particles of plastic shed when litter breaks down—are everywhere, from the deep sea to Mount Everest, and many researchers worry that they could harm human health. I am a machine learning researcher. With a team of scientists, I have developed a tool to make identification of microplastics using their unique chemical fingerprint more reliable. We hope that this work will help us learn about the types of microplastics floating through the air in our study area, Michigan. Microplastics—a global problem The term plastic refers to a wide variety of artificially created polymers. Polyethylene, or PET, is used for making bottles; polypropylene,…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: I think my manager is burned out. What can I do? A: It’s tough out there for managers, especially middle mangers who are often caught in the—well—middle and may find themselves enforcing unpopular policies that they didn’t create. It’s not explicitly your job to fix your boss’s problems (and you don’t have the power or authority to do so if you aren’t in a leadership role). But, a manager sets the tone for their team and if they are burned out, their enti…

The European Commission is coming for “SkinnyTok.” EU regulators are investigating a recent wave of social media videos that promote extreme thinness and “tough-love” weight loss advice, assessing whether TikTok is doing enough to protect children online, per Politico. France’s minister for digital media, Clara Chappaz, recently reported #SkinnyTok to both the French media regulator Arcom and the EU. “These videos promote extreme thinness. Protecting minors online is one of my priorities,” the minister said in a TikTok video posted Friday. Arcom told Politico it is collaborating with the European Commission to examine the trend “given the public health…

A well-funded AI lab with a deep bench of research talent is releasing a powerful new model that generates high-definition video for the film and advertising industries. The company, Moonvalley, on Wednesday launched its first model, named Marey—a nod to early cinema pioneer Étienne-Jules Marey—which could soon help Hollywood studios dramatically speed up production and cut costs. What sets Marey apart—and has caught the attention of risk-averse studios—is its training data. The model was trained exclusively on video content either owned or fairly licensed by Moonvalley, avoiding the copyright gray zones that make much generative content legally fraught. Moonvalle…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. A company’s corporate brand name should be its hardest working marketing asset. Nothing will be used more often or for longer than the company’s name. And in a world where competitors can copy almost everything else, they can’t duplicate your name. However, sometimes the original name, chosen long ago, no longer fits and it’s time to rebrand. Rebranding a company is not just a superficial exerci…