THIS WEEK: HEELS · MAINTENANCE · INHERITANCE · AGENCY

THURSDAY • MAY 21 • 2026

Good morning,

I spent last Friday at a newsletter conference. Me and a few hundred newsletter bros, though I was relieved to see more women in the room than last year.

I went expecting growth hacks, revenue strategies, and some subject line magic—maybe even a formula for the perfect Thursday format. Instead, I listened to the CEO of The Atlantic and the founder of 1440, both running operations vastly larger than mine, describe the same challenge I'm trying to solve.

Community.

A newsletter is more than subscriber growth and open rates. Those things matter, of course. But the newsletters that people stick with are the ones that feel human and personal. Like being invited into someone's home instead of being stalked by an algorithm.

The ones that last will be where we show up with voice and authenticity to have a two-way conversation and where you show up to comment, share, join, and write back.

Truthfully, it's exhausting. Building community is a lot like building friendship at this age: slow, uneven, built over time through consistency, and even requiring some friction. The opposite of how we usually give things away—in small increments, without noticing.

So read this week about giving things away, small and large. Comment if something resonates. Share it with the friend who needs it. Write me back.

That's the community. That's the work.

Glad you're here.

CULTURE

​My Feet Are Filing a Harassment Complaint​

BY JOANNE HELPERIN

We wore heels in corporate America because that was the way to the top. We pounded the pavement in slingbacks until we bled. We threw on Reeboks for the subway and slipped the pumps back on before the first meeting. Decades later, the podiatrist visits, the surgeries, the numbing spray tell the rest of the story. We always knew what it was costing. We did it anyway. The question worth asking now is why.

LIFE

​'I Wish I Had' Isn't My Ending​

BY MELISSA T. SHULTZ

What is a calling? Her mother is 92 and still saying "I wish I had." She heard it her whole life. Then came a diagnosis, a son leaving for college, and a voice she'd been keeping secret for decades. She decided she wasn't willing to inherit that ending. READ MORE​

This is a paid sponsorship with World of Books

Susan here. I've moved over 30 times, most recently two years ago, when I stood in my office looking at hundreds of books and thought: Now what?

There's no good answer to that question. The library won't take them. Goodwill barely wants them. Selling them one by one on eBay is a part-time job nobody asked for. So most of us do what I did—pack them, move them, and tell ourselves we'll deal with it later.

I wish I'd known about World of Books two years ago.

Scan the barcode with their app. Get an instant quote. Print the free shipping label. That's it. I did 15 books in less than five minutes and had the label in my inbox before I'd finished my cup of tea. Payment by bank transfer, PayPal, or check.

The books with life left find another reader. The ones too far gone get recycled instead of ending up in a landfill. You get a little money back. Everyone wins.

If you're standing in a room full of books wondering what to do, this is what to do.

Use code [PROVOKED15] for an extra 15 percent.

​Start with World of Books​

TAKE NOTE

Timely and worth your attention.

🩺 The condition formerly known as PCOS just got a new name: PMOS— polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. After a century of being treated as a reproductive disorder with fuzzy protocols, researchers finally renamed it to reflect what it actually is, a metabolic and hormonal disease that drives Type 2 diabetes and early heart disease in 170 million women worldwide. The renaming opens new research funding and treatment paths, including GLP-1s. Hopefully by naming this correctly, treatment options will improve.

📺 Calling all Yellowstone fans. Dutton Ranch premiered Friday on Paramount+—Taylor Sheridan's latest spinoff, this time relocating Beth and Rip (Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser) to Rio Paloma in south Texas. Annette Bening plays a Texas matriarch. Ed Harris joins the cast. We had thoughts about how Sheridan writes women in Landman. Let's see if Reilly and Bening have better character arcs this time around, or if Sheridan dishes up the same lazy stereotypes.

🏠 Martha Stewart just launched Hint—an AI-native home management platform with $10 million in seed funding and backing from The Points Guy. The pitch: real-time home monitoring and personalized maintenance advice, built on decades of her own expertise. Eighty-four years old. Jailbird, media operator, brand queen, and now a tech founder. Suddenly starting PROVOKED at 65 doesn't feel so bold.

MONEY

​Is Your Beauty Routine Eating Into Your Retirement?​

BY MELANIE LOCKERT

A cut and color now costs the same as a flight from New York to LA. We were taught that youth and beauty are currency, but what nobody mentioned is what happens to your retirement account when you spend decades trying to stay in the game. READ MORE​

DEAR READER

​Tech Is Stealing Our Agency. We're Letting It Happen.​

BY PATRICIA GARRISON

Your voice assistant tells you where to go. Your algorithm tells you what to want. Your chatbot tells you how to feel about it. None of this is happening by accident, and the women who built their agency the hard way have the most to lose. What we're trading away, and what it will take to get it back. READ MORE​

ICYMI | EPISODE 2 DROPPED

​Episodes 1 and 2 are Live​

BY JUDY ROTHMAN ROFÉ

A group of women. One book club. Friendship, menus, travel, envy. Things get messy. Six episodes this season, dropping the first week of every month. They came for the book. They stayed for the chaos. Read Episodes 1 and 2 now and arrive at Episode 3 in June caught up because by then, the truth comes out.

READER SPOTLIGHT

Want to be featured next? Comment on your favorite piece—we read them all.

OUR SHORT LIST

👗 Clothes affect more than appearance—psychologists say a wardrobe refresh can actually be good for your health.

⏳ Women are quietly outliving, outplanning, and outlasting. This longevity quiz asks whether your future is set up to match.

🎵 Think you've got rhythm? A metronome plays a mystery tempo—match the BPM you heard. Five rounds. Musicians will dominate. The rest of us will find out the truth.

💼 More women are stepping back from climbing the ladder, and "lack of ambition" has nothing to do with it.​

🍳 Some cooking rules were made to be broken—the eight professional chefs never follow.

This is a paid sponsorship with World of Books

Books stacked on the nightstand, the floor, the dining room table. We all have them. World of Books buys the ones you're ready to let go of. Scan the barcode, get an instant quote, ship for free. Payment by bank transfer, PayPal, or check. Books with life left find another reader. The rest get recycled instead of going to a landfill. Last weekend, I scanned 15 in under five minutes. It was that easy.

Use code [PROVOKED15] for an extra 15 percent.

​Start with World of Books​

MORE

For the Woman Who Owns Her Time

​Let’s Retire From Giving Your Time Away​

BY SUSAN DABBAR

​Yes, I’m Middle-Aged. No, I Don’t Want to Monetize It.​

BY ABBY HEUGEL

​Crone Alone: Why Solitude Is My Healthy New Addiction​

BY NINA MALKIN