This is this week’s ForbesWomen newsletter, which every Thursday brings news about the world’s top female entrepreneurs, leaders and investors straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list!
As of 7:43am ET Thursday morning, more than 60 million early votes had been cast in the 2024 Presidential Election. This number has been steadily increasing all week; when I interviewed Andrea Hailey, the CEO of Vote.org (the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter engagement organization) on Tuesday, the number of early votes was 50 million.
“These narratives about apathy and exhaustion are not true. People are showing up and wanting to participate,” Hailey told me, noting that for women in particular, the rollback of reproductive rights has been a motivating factor in voting. Polling supports Hailey’s observations: According to an October 11 KFF survey, four in ten (39%) female voters under the age of 30 said abortion is the most important issue to their vote in the presidential election.
Ten states this cycle have abortion-specific ballot measures, too; to learn if your state is one of them, check out this Forbes explainer here. We also have a terrific breakdown of where tax is on the ballot: Senior writer and tax attorney Kelly Phillips Erb has everything you need to know about state-specific proposals involving property tax refunds, exempting diapers from state taxes, state revenue from sports betting taxes, and more. And Forbes contributor A.J. Herrington has a look at a Massachusetts ballot measure that will ask voters about legalizing some psychedelic drugs (like psilocybin).
Of course, these are broad overviews of ballot initiatives, so to find out exactly what’s on your ballot, Vote.org’s Hailey recommended her site’s “What’s On My Ballot” tool so that you can study up before you go to the polls. You can use the site to check your registration and make a voting plan, too. And if you’re not registered yet, 23 states and Washington D.C. have same-day registration. Your vote is your voice—so please use it!
Cheers!
Maggie McGrath
P.S.: Happy Halloween! I have a one-track election mind but the folks running the Forbes Daily newsletter scared up a digest of everything you might wish to know about witchy retail trends, the high price of chocolate, and more!
Exclusive Forbes List: The Top 50 Creators In 2024 Earned Nearly $1 Billion
The influencer industry is estimated to be worth $250 billion today, and Goldman Sachs predicts the number will swell to nearly $500 billion by 2027. The 50 honorees of the 2024 Forbes Top Creator list are riding the growth of the creator ecosystem: This year’s listers earned almost $720 million over the last 12 months—a jump of $20 million from 2023. Creators on this year’s list are harnessing their social influence to evolve from entertainers to entrepreneurs, and they include figures like Alex Cooper, My Nguyen, the D’Amelio sisters, and Emma Chamberlain. See the full list here!
ICYMI: News Of The Week
Actress Salma Hayek revealed this week she does not have a prenuptial agreement to divide assets between herself and her mega-billionaire husband François-Henri Pinault, but told the Wall Street Journal she’s on a mission to make a fortune of her own and feels under “pressure to make a certain amount of money.”
Forbes also released its fourth annual list (in partnership with Statista) of the World’s Top Companies For Women. Sitting at No. 1 is Hilton Worldwide Holdings, where training and development programs, mentorship opportunities, and personalized health benefits specifically address issues impacting women—including menopause and autoimmune conditions.
Private equity has long been a male-dominated industry, but a new analysis suggests that its gender imbalance might impact the companies that the firms invest in. The report reveals companies that receive private equity backing see a significant drop in female leadership.
Undergrads and recent grads—young, healthy, and debt burdened—are being offered five figures to donate their eggs to other women undergoing IVF. Cofertility, a new startup in the space, has a more grown-up model, allowing young women to freeze their eggs and store them for up to 10 years for free if they agree to donate half of the eggs retrieved. “All we’re saying is let’s leave out the cash compensation part and enable this woman to keep half of the eggs for her own future,’’ says Lauren Makler, founder and CEO of Cofertility.
Sadie Lincoln is the cofounder and CEO of Barre3, a fitness brand that has nearly 200 locations nationwide. She was named to the 50 Over 50 list earlier this year, but she traces her professional journey, and this success, to a person who she says has no idea he had such a profound impact on her career. Catch the latest episode of The One Who Changed Everything, featuring Sadie’s story, here!
The Checklist
1. Make space to rest. Even when you know the negative effects of working too hard for too long without a break, it can be difficult to break a cycle of overworking and learn to make space to rest. Here are four signs you need to rest—and how to start taking the time you need.
2. Schedule some news-free time. Feeling election burnout? (So is this newsletter writer.) Try to protect your peace of mind by setting boundaries, focusing on what you can control, and planning time away from your social media feeds.
3. Offer paid leave for voting. According to the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 43% of employers provide paid leave for their people to vote. Given that 35% of non-voters said that the reason they didn’t vote was that there was a scheduling conflict with work or school, you’d think more companies would be inclined to make voting more accessible…
The Quiz
Most of the U.S. will need to set their old-school clocks back one hour for daylight saving time this Sunday, though a majority of Americans have said they’d prefer to skip the biannual tradition that disrupts sleep, increases risk of traffic accidents and worsens mental health. Hawaii is one of two U.S. states that opts out of daylight saving time, which is the other?
- Alaska
- Texas
- Maine
- Arizona
Check your answer.