An economy of women
A political coalition of women didn't work. Priscilla Tsai has a better idea. Let's create an economy of women.
July 30, 2024, Nicole’s Journal
Ten thousand people gathered in Atlanta, Georgia last night for the first official rally of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
Megan Thee Stallion warmed up the crowd with her popular songs Savage and Body, reminding the crowd as she riffed what’s at stake here—the first woman president, the first Black president, the first South Asian president. Our right to choose what happens to our own bodies.
As Vice President Harris took the stage in a baby blue pantsuit, I thought of Hillary Clinton and how she paved the way for this moment dispute the vitriol, lies, and contempt directed at her. The chants of “Lock her up!” at Donald Trump’s rallies leading up to the 2016 election.
But in Atlanta last night, the crowd roared as Harris approached the dais, first acknowledging the guests of note in the crowd. Stacey Abrams received a well-deserved ovation. After thanking supporters, Harris reminded the crowd how instrumental the state of Georgia was in the defeat of Donald Trump in 2020. “The path to the White House runs right through this state,” she said.
Then she made the compelling case for her candidacy. She ran down her resume—courtroom prosecutor, attorney general of California, U.S. Senator from California, Vice President. She described the types of “predators” she’s gone up against in the past.
“So believe me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
Then, entirely unprompted from Harris, the crowd began chanting, “LOCK HIM UP!”
For every woman who was incensed at Trump’s treatment of Hillary Clinton, they chanted loudly and clearly. He’s the actual criminal; the one who should be locked up. But Harris did not encourage or stop the chant, because she’s classy that way.
After the crowd settled, she launched into the meat of her campaign speech, her value prop. But first, she addressed the issue Trump seems to think will drag her down the most - the number of migrants crossing the Southern border of the United States.
She reminded the crowd how the Democrats in Congress got on board with a very conservative immigration bill, in the spirit of bipartisanship. And how, then, Trump ordered his cronies to vote against a bill that would do nearly all of what Republicans have wanted to do at the border because he wanted to campaign on the issue. So they killed the bill.
November 11, 2024, Nicole’s Substack
When I wrote in my journal on that steamy July evening in Tampa, I was emotional. I finally felt hope for our nation again. My heart was full of pride and gratitude for all of the women who quickly mobilized for Kamala Harris. I dared to dream—again—of a government with a woman in charge.
As the campaign went on, we heard the case for Kamala from so many smart, powerful women (in addition to Stacey Abrams and Megan Thee Stallion, who were at that Atlanta rally)—Beyonce, Gretchen Whitmer, Cardi B, Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney, Michelle Obama.
In the week leading up to election day, Harris had incredible momentum. It’s undeniable.
But Donald Trump won again. Fuck. I felt numb, then angry, then sad and angry, then enraged, then sad again.
When Trump was elected in 2016, women descended upon the Washington Mall in D.C. in their pussy hats and protested. Loudly. With conviction. And we’ll do it again. Lawyers from the ACLU and other nonprofit organizations donated hours of their time to resist one of Trump’s first acts in office—the “Muslim ban”.
We had woken up from our trance, during which electing Trump seemed utterly ridiculous, and of course Clinton would win. She was the most qualified presidential candidate of any gender, ever. But it turned out that qualifications didn’t matter. Fear and hate were far more powerful. We were strong then and not yet exhausted by years of Trump’s shenanigans and a global pandemic. We organized a Resistance. It was even fun sometimes.
In 2020, when it was clear that Joe Biden had won the election, the sense of relief I felt was incredible. Walking my dogs the morning after election day, I cried. I waved to my neighbors, who smiled and waved back.
A stranger caught my eye and she said, “We did it!” I responded, “We did!” Everything would be ok.
Except it wasn’t and it’s not.
This time around, protesting and volunteering—while immensely important—won’t cut it. We live in a capitalist society, so we need to hit them where it hurts. In the wallet.
I’ve spent the past few days assessing how I spend my money and time (which, to the capitalist machine, is also money).
Tableau Ambassador program, bye. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is only getting more ardent in his support of Trump and fanboying over Elon Musk harder than ever. (If you think I am exaggerating, go check out his feed on the hellsite. I won’t link to it.)
Amazon Prime, bye. At least Benioff is open about his support for Trump. Bezos quietly killed The Washington Post’s endorsement of Harris.
On Open Secrets, I started researching the political contributions of companies I’ve supported with my purchases. In the process, I came across an Instagram1 post by Priscilla Tsai (please watch it!), the founder of cocokind, a natural skin care brand. She said what I had been thinking—if we women want more power, we need more money. How do we do that? Tsai suggests we start by doing all of our holiday shopping at women-owned retailers, and she shared a large database of options. As I am writing this, there are 1,356 businesses on the list and it’s growing as folks share it. She also provided some statistics—only about 2% of venture capital goes to women, and women will be responsible for about 75% of discretionary spending over the next few years.
Being a data practitioner, I decided to find these numbers. They’re legit.
From Harvard’s Women and Public Policy Program research:
Despite years of efforts to increase diversity in the venture capital (VC) industry, a significant gender gap remains among both investment decision-makers at venture capital firms and among recipients of venture capital funding. Currently in the United States, women make up approximately 11% of investing partners at VC firms, and only around 13% of venture capital dollars go to startups with a woman on the founding team. The 30-year average of all-female founders’ share of VC funding is 2.4% – almost identical to the share in 2018 (2.3%). Nearly three-quarters of U.S. VC firms do not have a single female investing partner.
Sandy Carter, COO at Unstoppable Domains2, wrote a piece in Forbes this past March in which she spotlighted Thousand Faces, whose mission is “empowering female founders and investors to close the gender funding gap.” Carter cited the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report’s findings that women make up only 29% of the STEM workforce in the 146 nations analyzed and emphasized the need for women to obtain leadership roles in STEM—we make up just 12.4% of the C-Suite. (The United States ranks 43rd on the Global Gender Gap Index. U-S-A! U-S-A! 🙄)
According to TechCrunch, women control or influence 85% of consumer spending. That is real power.
Empowered with data, renewed resolve, and Priscilla Tsai’s database, I plan for every single dollar of my day-to-day and holiday spending to go to a women-founded company or a company with at least 50% women executives. I hope you will consider joining me.
I know, there’s Zuckerburg. One thing at a time.
The web3, blockchain, and crypto space is not inhabited solely by tech bros. I firmly believe that blockchain technology will power supply chains, real estate transactions, and even more financial services in the years to come. I believe it so hard that I already learned Solidity, a smart contract programming language for the Ethereum ecosystem.
Bidenomics is picking off American Businesses like Kmart one by one. https://tinyurl.com/yr3bzb6j