A few years ago, I spent a month studying the best interviewers in the world — Oprah, Larry King, Barbara Walters, Tim Ferriss, Ira Glass, Howard Stern, Brandon Stanton.

I then put together my learnings into an article titled: “10 Interview Techniques From the World’s Best Interviewers.” That piece has opened doors and gotten me opportunities simply because I decided to publish a mini-masterclass on the one thing I genuinely enjoy doing.

The tools in it work for journalistic interviews, job interviews, and hell, even first dates.

I’ll be doing a live Ask Me Anything on Substack this Tuesday, September 8 at 11 a.m. EST.

For one hour, I’ll walk you through what I learned about opening questions, building rapport, finding “the juice,” interrupting on purpose, and the non-obvious techniques necessary to have a real conversation.

Send me your questions ahead of time or ask them live. See you on Tuesday.

(You’ll get an email with the video link at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday or you can drop this link in your calendar now.)

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NEWSLETTER RECOMMENDATION: My fellow writer Peter Yang creates amazingly practical AI tutorials and interviews but I really like his personal essays like why he quit his high-paying tech job to bet on himself.

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THE PROFILES.

— The financier who wants to save America [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— Apple’s new CEO
— The stuntman who made injuries the work
— The nutrition coach who sold granola for $850 million
— The designer after LVMH sold his name

THE PEOPLE.

The financier who wants to save America: Anthony Scaramucci has survived a 10-day White House stint, a near-divorce, the FTX implosion, and some bad bets. Now, from behind the wheel of his Lamborghini in the Hamptons, Scaramucci argues that America is making some bad bets of its own — monopolies, money in politics, and an economy tilted toward the rich. He thinks the way to solve these problems is to tax the wealthy more, break up concentrated power, and rebuild the middle class. (For an even more in-depth look, check out my profile on Anthony Scaramucci here.)

Apple’s new CEO: John Ternus has spent 25 years inside Apple, and as of tomorrow he has the $4.6 trillion job Tim Cook is leaving. He is not Steve Jobs, and he is not Jony Ive. “If you’re looking for an iconic product visionary person to come in, that’s not Ternus,” one longtime Apple investor told Fortune. Can a calm hardware engineer, famous for not roiling the waters, close an AI gap the company is already behind on? (FORTUNE; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

The stuntman who made injuries the work: Johnny Knoxville doesn’t keep track of how many bones he’s broken. After 25 years of Jackass, his doctor told him that the injuries are the very purpose of his line of work. This profile shows Knoxville’s origin, method, and the cost of never stopping. (The New Yorker)

The nutrition coach who sold granola for $850 million: Seventeen years ago, Elizabeth Stein started making muffin mix in her Upper West Side kitchen for a handful of nutrition clients. She had no business plan, bootstrapped, and waited years to take outside money. Last month, she sold Purely Elizabeth to Ferrero for an estimated $850 million while also remaining CEO. Here’s how she did it. (Forbes)

The designer after LVMH sold his name: Marc Jacobs’s first interview since LVMH sold the brand is pretty blunt for a fashion cover. Runway has “never been commercially successful,” he says, and LVMH has “done the least possible they can in terms of growing our business.” The piece is about a 40-year craft, a grandmother on the Upper West Side, and what happens when the name on the door is no longer yours. (Vanity Fair)

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For my birthday, my husband and I walked the entire length of Manhattan — from the very top to the very bottom. With a few stops along the way, we walked 16 miles in just under five hours.

It was extremely fun. I highly recommend it (even if you have to spend the next day

Here’s a short video of how it went:

DOLLY PARTON: American icon Dolly Parton passed away earlier this week. I wrote a Profile Dossier on Dolly back in 2021, and this story really demonstrates how she lived her life.

In 1967, Porter Wagoner introduced Dolly on his popular television show. She was only 21 years old, and this was her big break. But Parton had bigger plans for her career, so she left the show on seemingly good terms.

Wagoner took it hard, and he went on to badmouth her and ultimately sue her for $3 million, alleging breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court, with Parton later saying, “It took me a while to pay it off, but he got the first million dollars I ever made.”

When Wagoner hit financial trouble later in his life, Parton bought his production company — only to gift it back to him. “Forgiveness is all there is,” she says.

Read the full Dossier here:

THE PROFILES.

— The AI titans locked in an arms race [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The VC whose bet turned into a billion-dollar exit
— The private leagues that made youth sports cost a fortune
— The startup that raised $8 billion to solve crimes

THE PEOPLE.

The AI titans locked in an arms race: After losing ground to Anthropic, OpenAI is racing toward AGI while simultaneously hitting the brakes on research after an unreleased AI model escaped & hacked another company. How do you win the AI race without losing control of the AI? (TIME)

The VC whose bet turned into a billion-dollar exit: David Tisch turned a $750,000 bet on AI coding startup Cursor into approximately $1 billion. But what’s interesting is how he did it. His strategy is to just bet on exceptional people before anyone else realizes they’re exceptional. Easy to say, hard to do. (FORTUNE; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

The private leagues that made youth sports cost a fortune: For millions of American families today, youth sports increasingly mean $5,000 club fees, year-round practices, out-of-state tournaments, private coaches, and a fear that if your kid doesn’t start competing seriously by elementary school, they’ll be left behind. This profile examines how private capital has helped turn youth sports into a roughly $40 billion industry.

THE COMPANIES.

The startup that raised $8 billion to solve crimes: Flock Safety has become an $8 billion surveillance giant by installing license-plate-reading cameras across more than 5,000 communities, helping police solve crimes while creating what critics fear is one of the most powerful tracking networks in America. Its cameras can potentially reconstruct where people drive, work, sleep, and worship. How much privacy are Americans willing to trade for safety? (FORTUNE; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

👉 The Profile is the perfect gift for any occasion! Give a gift subscription to a loved one through the link below:

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I turn 35 tomorrow (eek). As I type these words, my brain cannot comprehend that I started this newsletter when I was 25. A freaking decade has gone by.

I am in a totally different stage of life, but I love looking back to see what my problems and worries and anxieties were in my mid-20s. I wish I could slap myself upside the head and go, “Oh stop it.” I’m sure I’ll feel the same way when I turn 45, but alas.

As many of you know, I’ve been doing annual reflections for the last seven years (check out 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, and 28).

If you’ve been a subscriber over the past decade, you’ve seen me get engaged, get married, quit my job at FORTUNE, go all in on The Profile, publish a book, have a daughter, a son, and twins. 😅 We’ve been through a lot together — and I don’t take any of it for granted.

So here are some things I learned at 35:

1. Faith is paramount.

This year, I’ve had a number of experiences that have pointed me toward faith.

Between a pregnancy misdiagnosis, a week-long NICU stay with my newborn twins, and many, many more moments of uncertainty, it was easy to get really down and stay down.

I can’t tell you what kept me going other than just a wholehearted belief that it’s in God’s hands. As someone who obsesses over controlling the outcome, this year taught me how to trust and have faith in something bigger than myself.

2. Always, always, always pay it forward.

And faith is about more than just what happens to us. I was reminded of that when I met Alex Mebane in Central Park. He’s an artist who paints watercolor paintings of a chicken — a small, yellow, wide-eyed bird, each one paired with a line of scripture or a simple, handwritten quote.

When I asked Alex how much the paintings cost, he told me: “You pay me whatever you want. This is such a weird gift from God that he knows what I need.”

So I interviewed him for The Profile & shared his story. (You can check out his work here or find him in Central Park.)

My dad often tells me: “Sometimes God helps us, and other times, He uses us to help others.” I believe that the highest form of faith extends beyond yourself — helping others, even in the smallest ways.

There’s a Japanese notion called “the red thread of fate” that says we’re all connected by an invisible string to people whose lives we’re meant to touch. Whether or not you believe that literally, I love the idea that our lives are constantly intersecting in ways we’ll never entirely understand.

3. Calm is a better strategy than control.

It took four kids to make me loosen up a little. With my first, I was so nervous and put so much unnecessary pressure on myself to get everything right. With my second, I stepped on the gas and doubled down even harder. And then with #3 and #4, I finally realized that things won’t be perfect no matter how hard I try, so my brain let go a little.

And now I’m actually — dare I say — chill?

It’s so much better living inside the chaos instead of constantly trying to control it. Four kids make control impossible. And so, once control is off the table, calm becomes a much more useful strategy.

(My dental hygienist once told me that her friend with four kids is so calm, “she has no pulse.” 🤣 That is the level of zen I aspire to.)

Check out the rest of the post below:

THE PROFILES.

— The baseball exec who can’t win enough
— The journalist tasked with reinventing 60 Minutes
— The country star building a massive business
— The star returning to the stage
— The diamond companies battling the lab-grown upstarts [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]

THE PEOPLE.

The baseball exec who can’t win enough (gift link): Brian Cashman may be the most accomplished executive in modern baseball, and Yankees fans still want him fired. In 28 years as GM, his teams have won four World Series, reached seven and never had a losing season, yet 16 years without a championship has turned wildly impressive consistency into perceived failure. Wins bring relief more than joy, losses are “crushing,” and he admits the pressure of running the Yankees has come to “control” his life. (The New York Times)

The journalist tasked with reinventing 60 Minutes: Bari Weiss was hired to take 60 Minutes into the future, but it has been no small task. After months of clashes with the show’s fiercely insular staff, she fired its executive producer and several correspondents, then installed tech journalist Nick Bilton, who then clashed with Scott Pelley and fired him too. Now the pair are attempting an ambitious reinvention of one of television’s most storied institutions through younger talent, harder-hitting investigations, a serious digital strategy, podcasts, social media, and a more modern visual style. What if her version of the show is better? (New York Magazine)

The country star building a massive business: Blake Shelton has built a $200 million fortune by turning his “good ol’ boy” persona into a sprawling business empire. After earning an estimated $26 million a year on The Voice, selling his music catalog stake for ~$50 million, and launching the Ole Red restaurant chain, burnout prompted him to walk away from Hollywood and retreat to his Oklahoma ranch. Now he’s back making music, building a production company with ambitions to create “shows for flyover states,” and only pursuing opportunities worth giving up time at home. (Forbes; alternate link)

The star returning to the stage: After years of debilitating symptoms and a 2022 diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome, Céline Dion is staging an unbelievable comeback. The legendary singer — who has performed only once in six years — is undergoing intense physical and vocal rehabilitation ahead of a five-week Paris residency this fall. Here’s a look at her comeback. (Harper’s Bazaar)

THE COMPANIES.

The diamond companies battling the lab-grown upstarts (gift link): Lab-grown diamonds are threatening to upend one of the world’s oldest luxury businesses. A synthetic stone can now be grown in about a week for a fraction of the cost of a mined diamond, sending prices plunging and forcing De Beers and the industry’s old guard to fight back. Their strategy is to sell something a lab can’t replicate — scarcity, provenance and story. (Bloomberg)

👉 The Profile is the perfect gift for any occasion! Give a gift subscription to a loved one through the link below:

Give a gift subscription

✨Order the paperback edition of HIDDEN GENIUS below:

I am in a totally different stage of life, but I love looking back to see what my problems and worries and anxieties were in my mid-20s. I wish I could slap myself upside the head and go, “Oh stop it.” I’m sure I’ll feel the same way when I turn 45, but alas.

As many of you know, I’ve been doing annual reflections for the last seven years (check out 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, and 28).

If you’ve been a subscriber over the past decade, you’ve seen me get engaged, get married, quit my job at FORTUNE, go all in on The Profile, publish a book, have a daughter, a son, and twins. 😅 We’ve been through a lot together — and I don’t take any of it for granted.

So here are 13 things I learned at 35:

Subscribe now

1. Faith is paramount.

This year, I’ve had a number of experiences that have pointed me toward faith. Between a pregnancy misdiagnosis, a week-long NICU stay with my newborn twins, and many, many more moments of uncertainty, it was easy to get really down and stay down.

I can’t tell you what kept me going other than just a wholehearted belief that it’s in God’s hands. As someone who obsesses over controlling the outcome, this year taught me how to trust and have faith in something bigger than myself.

2. Always, always, always pay it forward.

And faith is about more than just what happens to us. I was reminded of that when I met Alex Mebane in Central Park. He’s an artist who paints watercolor paintings of a chicken — a small, yellow, wide-eyed bird, each one paired with a line of scripture or a simple, handwritten quote.

When I asked Alex how much the paintings cost, he told me: “You pay me whatever you want. This is such a weird gift from God that he knows what I need.”

So I interviewed him for The Profile & shared his story. (You can check out his work here or find him in Central Park.)

My dad often tells me: “Sometimes God helps us, and other times, He uses us to help others.” I believe that the highest form of faith extends beyond yourself — helping others, even in the smallest ways.

There’s a Japanese notion called “the red thread of fate” that says we’re all connected by an invisible string to people whose lives we’re meant to touch. Whether or not you believe that literally, I love the idea that our lives are constantly intersecting in ways we’ll never entirely understand.

3. Calm is a better strategy than control.

It took four kids to make me loosen up a little. With my first, I was so nervous and put so much unnecessary pressure on myself to get everything right. With my second, I stepped on the gas and doubled down on the rpessure. And then with #3 and #4, I finally realized that things won’t be perfect no matter how hard I try, so my brain let go a little.

And now I’m actually — dare I say — chill?

It’s so much better living inside the chaos instead of constantly trying to control it. Four kids make control impossible. And so, once control is off the table, calm becomes a much more useful strategy.

(My dental hygienist once told me that her friend with four kids is so calm, “she has no pulse.” 🤣 That is the level of zen I aspire to.)

4. Beware of the dark side of success.

We spend so much time preparing ourselves for disappointment that we rarely consider the opposite skill: how to receive success, happiness, love, or abundance without immediately bracing for its disappearance.

That’s what I noticed while watching a Netflix documentary on Charlie Sheen. His early career was a golden streak — Platoon, Wall Street, Major League, even a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. By his late 20s, Sheen was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars.

In one clip, a young Sheen reflects: “We’re not taught as children how to deal with success… Nobody ever said, ‘If at first you succeed, what do you do?’” And later: “Everyone teaches you how to rise after you fall. Nobody teaches you how to hold success once you have it.”

His former Two and a Half Men co-star Jon Cryer says, “I don’t know that [Charlie] believes that he deserves what he’s got. I think there’s a part of him that throws it all away just to see if he ever deserved it.”

It’s self-sabotage born from success.

Charlie Sheen’s story is an extreme example, but I think some version of this lives in all of us. When life becomes better than we imagined, we sometimes stop trusting that it will last & we start waiting for the other shoe to drop. We become so afraid of losing the thing we love that we don’t even enjoy having it.

I’m still learning how to hold on to success without finding ways to sabotage it.

5. Power is not abstract.

I reflected on this lesson when I was writing my profile on Kathryn Wylde. I spoke with her friend Lindsay Newland Bowker, who has known her since the 1970s.

One Christmas, the two friends were baking for Wylde’s annual holiday party, and the cookies were elaborate, carefully shaped, and intricately frosted. But one of them wasn’t quite perfect. Newland Bowker told her: “Nobody will notice once it’s on the tray.”

To which Wylde responded: “People only see the cookie they get.”

I haven’t stopped thinking about that line.

The cookie story is a reminder that power isn’t abstract. Every decision made at the top is felt by someone on the receiving end. You might be making one decision among hundreds that day, but to the person affected by it, that is the cookie they get.

6. Anxiety often spikes when you’re consuming low-value content.

Yesterday, I was scrolling on Instagram for five minutes, and I was confronted with posts about a woman setting someone on fire, a man taking his own life, and an actress who died of an overdose.

I didn’t seek these posts out. They were delivered to me, and I felt the weight of their existence as a pit in my stomach. Immediately.

I got off my phone, but the negativity lingered. And then I became acutely aware of how automatic it had become to reach for my phone and open Instagram. I noticed how much low-value information I’d been feeding my brain. I also noticed that my Kindle and Audible apps hadn’t been touched in a very long time.

It occurred to me that I was basically giving strangers on the internet permission to decide what my brain thought about all day.

So I downloaded two books on my Kindle. I’m trying to learn how to cook a few new things. I’m doing more jigsaw puzzles with my kids more. And I’m paying closer attention to what I let into my brain because I’ve realized your content diet really does shape your life.

7. We connect with flaws much more than successes.

As a perfectionist, this is hard to admit, but the truth is that people are often drawn to imperfect things.

For some reason, perfection isn’t all that memorable. We want to see the human behind the mask — warts and all.

I was reminded of this while watching clips from Alex Warren’s Grammy performance. Nominated for Best New Artist, Warren began singing his hit “Ordinary,” but you could see him tapping his earpiece before eventually pulling it out. An audio malfunction left him about half a beat behind for part of the song.

You could tell he was frustrated, but he kept going and finished the song. At the end, though, the disappointment was written all over his face.

Later, he posted on Instagram: “When you’re performing at the Grammys and all you hear is this in your ears,” alongside a clip of the audio chaos, clutching his head in mock frustration.

And here’s the thing: Bruno Mars, Post Malone, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and plenty of other massive stars also performed that night. Their performances were excellent. And yet, I didn’t hear much about any of them afterward.

But funnily enough, Warren’s malfunction may have done more for him than a flawless performance would have. It gave us something to talk about & bond over.

As Malcolm Gladwell puts it: “You want an aftertaste, and that comes from not everything being perfectly blended together.”

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8. You can build almost anything with intensity, consistency, and authenticity.

My friend Hilary Hoffman () invited me to take a workout class at her SotoMethod studio.

As she guided us through the movements, she talked about the power of intensity, consistency, and authenticity. Those three things apply to building nearly anything in this life.

You need intensity to build a family, you need consistency to work on a business every single day, and you need authenticity to do things in a way that feels true to you.

9. We are not who we say we are. We are how we move through the world.

This is something I notice more and more when reporting profiles. Most people have a very clear story they tell about themselves: “I’m generous.” “I’m ambitious.” “I’m a good boss.” “I’m a good parent.”

But I’ve learned that people’s true selves emerge in the tiny moments they think are inconsequential. Like it or not, we can’t stay “on” all the time.

That’s why, when I’m reporting, I pay attention to what someone emphasizes, what they avoid, how they treat the person who can do nothing for them, and what slips out unintentionally. (Check out my piece: How I Capture the Hidden Side of Public People)

10. Uncertainty + Hope = Miracle.

My husband and I went to Game 4 of the New York Knicks Finals at Madison Square Garden.

The Spurs took a small lead, and then a bigger one. By halftime, they were up 27 points. The energy went from electric to non-existent when it became clear the night wasn’t going how we thought it would go.

And then — a miracle.

The Knicks took their first lead with just under a minute left in the game.

Thousands of fans experienced the same emotional sequence. Everyone went from “it’s over” to “wait…” to “maybe?” to “oh my God what did I just witness?”

Jalen Brunson missed the potential game-winning three-pointer. The Knicks won only because OG Anunoby tipped it in with 1.2 seconds remaining. One point two seconds!

I kept thinking about that game afterward because of how certain we had all been that it was over. By halftime, most of us were convinced we knew exactly how the Knicks’ story would end. Then, in the span of a few minutes, no one knew anything for certain anymore.

That’s what makes miracles feel like miracles. There’s despair, followed by a miniscule grain of hope, then uncertainty, and then victory.

As Yogi Berra put it, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

11. The ability to speak freely is a massive freedom we take for granted.

I’ll never forget what Evan Mawarire, the pastor who stood up to a dictator in Zimbabwe, told me: “Freedom means you can talk to your friend, criticize the government, and then forget about it and go home. Where I’m from, if you criticize the government, you’re not going to make it home.”

The ability to speak freely, argue, criticize the people in power, make a joke, complain about the country, and then go about your day without worrying that your words will cost you your life is one of the greatest freedoms we take for granted.

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12. Unwind as hard as you work.

The other day, my watch told me I walked 13,764 steps — the equivalent of 6.5 miles — and I hadn’t left the house. That’s wild. Welcome to being a mom.

But every evening, I make it a point to take a shower, lie down with a book, and let the day wash over me.

As Anne Lamott said, “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes... including you.”

13. The key to life’s happiness is small moments with those you love the most

Here’s what C.S. Lewis said about what matters most:

“To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavor. The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a person alone reading a book that interests them; and all economics, politics, laws, armies, and institutions, are only valuable in so far as they prolong and multiply such scenes.”

The older I get, the more I understand this.

The sound of your kids giggling with each other, or lying in bed next to the person you love, or seeing a dear friend for the first time in a while … all of those things may seem tiny in the grand scheme of things, but they’re THE JOY.

That’s it.

The small moments with those you love most are the key to all the happiness in the world.

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… For more like this, make sure to sign up for The Profile here:

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Want more? Check out these great reads:

— 100 Couples Share Their Secrets to a Successful Relationship
— How the Language You Speak Influences Your Mental Frameworks
— 20 Business Power Players Share Their All-Time Favorite Reads
— The Science Behind Why Social Isolation Can Make You Lonely
— Hamdi Ulukaya, the Shepherd-Turned-Billionaire CEO
— 3 Ways to Attract More Luck Into Your Life
— I quit my job at the start of the pandemic to launch a company. Here’s what I’ve learned in the first 90 days.
— How You Can Use “Hanlon’s Razor” to Avoid Petty Arguments

✨ Order the paperback edition of HIDDEN GENIUS below:

Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy of Hidden Genius. I am eternally grateful for each an every one of you. This book exists because The Profile exists, and The Profile exists because you continue to show up, read my work, share it, and believe in what I’m building.

Here’s a video of the moment I opened the box with the new b…

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Three years ago, I published a book called Hidden Genius. As I reflect on the years since, it’s mind-boggling to think about just how much has changed.

When I first saw my book on shelves at Barnes & Noble in June 2023, I was there with my husband, my two-year-old daughter, and newly-pregnant with my son.

Order Your Copy of 'Hidden Genius' here

Here is a video of that moment:

Watching this today, I barely recognize the girl in the video. Little did she know she would have 4 kids, move back to New York City, see her book translated and published in her home country of Bulgaria, profile some of the most fascinating people in the world, and most importantly, share all of it with you.

But through all that change, there’s been one constant — this newsletter. These words — written by ‘2023 me’ and ‘2026 me’ have made their way to your inbox every single Sunday. And along the way, you’ve watched me experience some of the highest highs of my life — as well as moments that scared me more than I knew I could be scared.

Somehow, the book I wrote became the book I needed. Hidden Genius is about developing the self-awareness to know who you are, the courage to bet on yourself, the resilience to keep going when the plan falls apart, and the ability to distinguish between what matters and what merely feels urgent. I have gone back to all of those lessons in the last three years.

Order Your Copy of 'Hidden Genius' here

The greatest books aren’t necessarily the best-written or the most-read. To me, the greatest books are the ones that give you one idea that changes the trajectory of your life or one story that allows you to see your own life from a fresh perspective.

And there’s something else that makes this paperback particularly meaningful to me. It’s you. Many of you reading this right now were here before there was a book.

You opened The Profile when it was just an email from someone sharing profiles I found interesting. You forwarded it to friends. You sent me profiles to inclide. You corrected me. You encouraged me. You paid for subscriptions. You told other people about my work.

That tiny newsletter eventually turned into my career and then it also all somehow morphed into a book.

The paperback edition of Hidden Genius is officially out today. If you’ve never read it, I’d love for this to be the moment you do. And if you’ve already read it, consider giving a copy to someone whose hidden genius you see before they fully see it themselves.

Order Your Copy of 'Hidden Genius' here

How can you help on launch day?

If you want to support me today, here’s how you can help:

1. Leave a review: If you read the book and enjoyed it, I’d be so thankful if you took the time to share a review on Amazon or Goodreads about it so others can read it too!

2. Share a photo of the book in the wild: If you want to help me spread the word, I’d love it if you share a photo of the book and tag me on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn!

3. Introductions: If you or someone you know has a platform (newsletter, podcast, YouTube, etc) with a large audience (100,000+ people), and you’d like to make an introduction, please reply to this newsletter.

4. Sign up for my newsletter The Profile where I will be sharing more updates. Sign up here.

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More than anything, I just want to say thank you. This book exists because The Profile exists, and The Profile exists because you continue to show up, read my work, share it, and believe in what I’m building.

You rock.

— Polina

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Five years ago, I wrote a mini-profile on legendary mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja.

At the time, he had just done what many mountaineers believed was impossible. He had successfully climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in six months and six days. He called the mission “Project Possible” because everyone else insisted it wasn’t.

This week, Nims died doing what he loved while on a Himalayan expedition. At age 43, he was found dead after an avalanche struck Pakistan’s Broad Peak.

I’ve been thinking about one quote that I included in his profile: “Most of us are forgetting that from the beginning of our life, we are approaching death.”

It’s the underlying philosophy behind everything he did. He lived his life with the thought that our life on this planet is finite, so we might as well really make the most of it. He would say, “Sometimes, the idea that you come up with may seem impossible to the rest of the world. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for you.”

Many of us — myself included — consciously or subconsciously optimize our lives for safety. We wait for the perfect time to do that thing we’ve always wanted to do. We convince ourselves we’ll start writing the book, making the career change, taking the trip, or making the leap into the unknown.

You postpone and postpone until those postponements turn into regret.

The thing that really impressed me about Nims is that he knew nothing ever went according to plan, but he never postponed. Over his years of mountaineering, he ran into logistical challenges, funding shortages, dangerous weather, and constant uncertainty. Yet his default assumption was that he would somehow, someway find a way forward.

His death is tragic, but I don’t think it diminishes what he believed. He refused to let the certainty of death keep himself from fully experiencing life. He said, “You only got one life. Live it.”

Read the full Profile Dossier here:

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Disclosure: Not an offer to sell securities. Example portfolio companies for illustrative purposes only and not available to future investors except potential follow-on investments. Venture capital investing involves substantial risk, including risk of loss of all capital invested.

THE PROFILES.

— The billionaire betting it all on the AI boom [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The influencers competing with AI
— The Knicks star playing for his mom
— The mom who vanished without a trace

THE PEOPLE.

The billionaire betting it all on the AI boom (gift link): Larry Ellison has turned Oracle from a legacy software company into one of the biggest bets on artificial intelligence. Oracle has become central to the industry’s future while exposing itself to enormous financial risk. If the trillion-dollar AI buildout fails to generate the profits investors expect, Oracle could become the first major casualty of a bubble with consequences far greater than the dot-com crash. Here’s why Ellison is willing to bet it all on AI. (New York Times Magazine)

The influencers competing with AI: The influencer economy is undergoing a brutal evolution. As social media becomes more crowded, creators are struggling to hold our attention. They have to constantly reinvent themselves. Some are opting for strategic rage-bait, hyper-specific series, or genuinely useful expertise. The ‘generic lifestyle advice’ influencers can’t cut it anymore because AI is threatening that whole genre. The next generation of successful influencers will be the ones who can consistently earn attention & offer something that AI can’t easily replicate. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

The Knicks star playing for his mom (gift link): Karl-Anthony Towns thought he was coming home to New York to play for the Knicks. He never imagined he’d help deliver the franchise’s first championship in more than half a century. In this candid conversation, Towns reflects on the improbable title run, the emotional weight of playing for his late mother, the competitiveness that fuels him, and the leadership dynamics that transformed the Knicks into champions. Here’s how the Knicks’ win gave an entire city hope. (New York Times Magazine)

The mom who vanished without a trace (gift link): Savannah Guthrie spent years sharing her beloved mother with America. Then, just weeks after a heartfelt Today show tribute introduced millions of viewers to 83-year-old Nancy Guthrie, she vanished from her Tucson home without a trace. Six months later, despite the attention of the FBI, President Trump, and an army of online sleuths, Nancy remains missing. (The Wall Street Journal)

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When my twins were born, one of them needed two life-saving blood transfusions in his first days of life. There wasn’t anything I could do except watch, pray, and hope.

As I was sitting in that chair in the NICU, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that a stranger saved my son’s life. I was so grateful to a human being I had never met.

I think about that person very often.

There’s a Japanese phrase, “the red thread of fate,” that says we’re all connected by an invisible string to people whose lives we’re meant to touch. Whether or not you believe that, I love the idea that our lives are constantly intersecting in ways we’ll never fully understand.

Most of us will never know the full ripple effect of our actions. A passing introduction leads to a marriage. A random act of kindness arrives on the exact day someone was ready to give up.

That stranger who donated blood will never know my son’s name. They’ll never know the joy of watching him grow into a smiling, curious little boy. But because they chose to show up on that totally ordinary day to donate blood, our family got to bring our son home and make a lifetime of memories.

I still remember exactly where I was sitting in that NICU when I promised myself that as soon as I could, I would donate blood too.

Last week, I did it. Maybe my donation will help someone battling cancer, recovering from surgery, or a brand new baby in his first days of life. I won’t know, and that’s what’s so beautiful about it.

Most of us spend our lives wondering whether we’re making a difference. Blood donation is one of the few acts where you can be almost certain that you are — even if the person whose life you change never learns your name.

The red thread of fate.

— Polina

THE PROFILES.

— The roboticist who was right about AI [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The billionaire alleging fraud at Trump’s crypto shop
— The founder of the world’s biggest business
— America’s most talented nepo baby
— The founder guiding the next generation of founders

THE PEOPLE.

The roboticist who was right about AI: Nearly 40 years ago, roboticist Hans Moravec predicted that human-level artificial intelligence would arrive around 2028. He predicted it would come about as result of the explosive growth of computing power. As today’s AI boom unfolds almost exactly on his timeline, the once-obscure pioneer reflects on how his ideas shaped Silicon Valley’s vision of the future, why AI may soon surpass humanity in ways even he underestimated, and why he’s surprisingly at peace with both his own mortality. (New York Magazine)

The billionaire alleging fraud at Trump’s crypto shop: Justin Sun thought he was backing President Donald Trump’s vision for crypto. Instead, the billionaire says he became the victim of one of the industry’s biggest alleged bait-and-switches. He has set off a legal battle that could expose how an $800 million crypto empire enriched insiders while leaving investors behind. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

The founder of the world’s biggest business: When Jeff Bezos was starting Amazon, he set out to build the company that customers loved the most. Three decades after launching Amazon from his garage, it has grown from an online bookstore to the No. 1 business on the Fortune Global 500. Even as Amazon faces mounting antitrust scrutiny, labor criticism, and fierce AI competition, Bezos believes the greatest threat is losing the culture of invention and customer obsession that built the company in the first place. (FORTUNE; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

America’s most talented nepo baby: E.J. Lagasse inherited one of the most famous names in American food, and all the skepticism that came with it. At just 19, he took over his father Emeril’s iconic New Orleans restaurant, scrapped its wildly successful formula, and transformed it into an ambitious fine-dining destination. Four years later, that bet on himself has paid off. He’s got two Michelin stars & national acclaim. Here’s how he proved that one of America’s biggest “nepo babies” may also be one of its most legitimately talented young chefs. (GQ)

The founder guiding the next generation of founders: After being rejected by Y Combinator, Nicolas Dessaigne built Algolia into one of the world’s leading developer companies. And then, he decided to walk away as CEO. Today, he’s come full circle as a Y Combinator partner, helping the next generation of founders avoid the mistakes he once made.

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Thank you to everyone who read, shared, and reached out about my Kevin O’Leary profile.

I spent several days following him through New York City to try to understand the man behind the ruthless capitalist persona.

The response to the story has meant so much to me, and it reinforced why I love writing profiles. I am constantly reminded that the most interesting part of a person is usually the part they aren’t famous/known for.

READ THE FULL PROFILE HERE:

BOOK LAUNCH:

The paperback launch of my book, HIDDEN GENIUS, is Aug 11. Writing this book changed my life, and my hope is that it changes the way you think about your own potential.

If you haven’t read it yet, now is the perfect time.

Pre-order here

— Polina

THE PROFILES.

— America’s favorite capitalist villain [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The investor betting on the rebels
— The billionaire working to save his daughter’s life
— The CEO who turned around GE
— The ultra-rich buying dinosaur bones (gift link)

THE PEOPLE.

America’s favorite capitalist villain: Kevin O’Leary built one of television’s most memorable personas by embracing the role of ruthless capitalist “Mr. Wonderful.” The version of him I kept encountering between television appearances and business pitches didn’t quite match the one millions of viewers knew. By the end of several days together, I found myself wondering whether Mr. Wonderful was the real Kevin O’Leary — or simply the most successful role he ever played. (The Profile)

The investor betting on the rebels: As AI power, money, and talent concentrate inside a handful of giant labs, venture capitalist Sarah Guo is betting there is still room for rebels. Her firm, Conviction, backs founders building specialized companies the labs can’t (or won’t) create themselves, from legal software to medical tools used by most American doctors. It’s a big wager against near-trillion-dollar rivals. (Colossus)

The billionaire working to save his daughter’s life: Bill Ackman has built his career on an unshakable faith in capitalism. Now, as he argues that every American should own a stake in the market, his most consequential fight is also very personal. He’s helping his 26-year-old daughter recover from a devastating brain hemorrhage. True to form, Ackman is turning his helplessness into action. He’s planning a major brain institute and redefining success by how many lives he can improve. (FORTUNE; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

The CEO who turned around GE: When Larry Culp took over GE in 2018, the once-iconic company was drowning in debt and flirting with bankruptcy. By dismantling its bureaucracy, splitting it into three focused businesses and rebuilding its culture from the factory floor up, he transformed a $96 billion wreck into companies worth nearly $700 billion. Here’s how he pulled off what may be the greatest corporate turnaround in modern history. (FORTUNE; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

The ultra-rich buying dinosaur bones (gift link): The ultrarich have discovered dinosaur bones as a new status symbol. But those bones are part of a largely unregulated market rife with questionable claims, legal threats, and fierce disputes over how much of a multimillion-dollar T. Rex is actually real. (Bloomberg)

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Minutes before he is scheduled to appear on Fox Business, he whips out a diamond-encrusted chain from a nondescript green bag and drapes it around my neck.

“It’s heavy, right?” he says.

It is.

The necklace — designed by Tiffany & Co. — is made from 2.2 pounds of white gold and contains 110 carats of diamonds and rubies. Dangling from the center is a one-of-one Jalen Brunson trading card signed by the Knicks star himself.

I keep waiting for O’Leary — the sharp-tongued investor, entrepreneur, and Shark Tank star — to tell me why the necklace is valuable, but he doesn’t. Instead, he tells me why it’s beautiful.

He traces his finger along the chain, explaining why the links taper from large to small toward the center. Then he starts talking about rubies — how difficult they were to match, how many stones were rejected, and how long the process took.

I give it back, and he puts it around his own neck. “It’s a real showstopper,” he says.

A producer begins to clip a microphone to his lapel. O’Leary glances down at the necklace.

“Oh,” he says. “I guess I should take this off now.” He does, but carries it with him onto set.

O’Leary goes on the Fox Business show Varney & Co. to talk about AI, Bitcoin, and the Los Angeles mayoral race. But during the last commercial break, he asks host Stuart Varney if he can spend the final 30 seconds talking about the necklace.

“Fine. But you only have 30 seconds,” Varney shoots back.

The New York Knicks are in the middle of their historic playoff run, and O’Leary has borrowed the Jalen Brunson trading card for the day, hoping to draw attention to the booming sports card market.

The cameras roll, and he turns it on. “Go Knicks! Go Jalen! I’m wearing you tonight,” he says as he holds up the pendant for the audience. “Look at this baby in Tiffany diamonds and rubies.” He kisses the card. “This is a winner right here.”

Varney cuts in: “OK, time’s up buddy.”

For most people, this performative, over-the-top version of Kevin O’Leary is the only one they know. It is the character that made him rich and famous — and, in some circles, deeply disliked.

Today, the 72-year-old investor has a reported net worth of roughly $400 million. He has built and sold companies, spent nearly two decades on the hit TV show Shark Tank, and become one of the most recognizable faces in business television.

Along the way, he earned the nickname “Mr. Wonderful” for his brutally unsentimental approach to entrepreneurs seeking investment. On Shark Tank, he has likened founders to “cockroaches,” dismissed products as “poo-poo on a stick,” and, after one entrepreneur rejected his offer, snapped: “You’re a human tragedy. You’re dead to me when you say no to my deal. You’re dead. You’re gone. You’re vapor.”

On multiple occasions, O’Leary told me he enjoys playing the villain. Heroes are expected to be flawless. Villains are allowed to be human. Audiences may not always like them, but they remember them and connect with their flaws.

“The antagonist is a great role,” he says. “It’s always bringing energy to something. It’s conflict-management — turning on the pressure when necessary. It’s a lot of fun.”

When I ask him how it feels to be seen as the face of ruthless capitalism, he says, “I love it. Yes, I am a capitalist, and I wear it as a badge of honor.”

It was exactly the answer I’d expect from Mr. Wonderful. But the more time I spent with O’Leary, the more that carefully cultivated persona began to feel incomplete. The version of him I kept encountering between television appearances and business pitches didn’t quite match the one millions of viewers knew.

By the end of several days together, I found myself wondering whether Mr. Wonderful was the real Kevin O’Leary — or simply the most successful role he ever played.

When O’Leary was seven years old and his family was struggling financially, he made a promise to himself: he would never feel that frightened or powerless again.

Many of the most important life lessons he’s learned came from his mother, Georgette. Born in Montreal to Lebanese parents, she was pulled into her family’s clothing business at a young age and learned early on that financial independence meant freedom.

She married a charismatic man named Terry and together they had O’Leary and his brother, but the marriage unraveled after his gambling addiction pushed the family into financial trouble. In his book, Cold Hard Truth, O’Leary writes that his mother’s anxiety about money “moved through my bloodstream, and I think it changed my very DNA.”

After divorcing Terry, Georgette married George Kanawaty, O’Leary’s stepfather. Practical and disciplined, George taught him many of the principles that still guide him today. He introduced O’Leary to watches, insisted that luxury items should be purchased only with cash, and warned him never to take on debt for something he couldn’t afford.

In college, O’Leary fell in love with photography and filmmaking. He showed his work to George and told him he wanted to pursue it professionally.

George looked at the photos and said: “You’re not good enough. You’ll never make it,” before urging him to pursue business.

O’Leary listened. “It was the cold hard truth to tell me: ‘Look you’re not going to cut it,’” he says.

Business was the practical choice. After earning his MBA in 1980, O’Leary co-founded Special Event Television, an independent sports production company that he later sold. He then launched the educational software firm SoftKey, which acquired The Learning Company and adopted its name. The business grew into one of the largest educational software companies in North America, producing popular titles such as Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego, and Myst.

In 1998, Mattel acquired The Learning Company in a stock and debt deal valued at roughly $4 billion. The toy giant hoped the acquisition would transform it from a traditional manufacturer into a technology-driven children’s entertainment company.

Instead, the deal became one of the most infamous acquisitions in corporate history. Mattel struggled to integrate the business, sales disappointed, losses mounted, and billions of dollars in shareholder value were wiped out.

O’Leary didn’t last long, either. Up to this point, he had only spent his career building companies, and now, he had to play by the rules of a large corporation. “I got fired after six months,” he tells me. “I kept barking orders at everybody because I wasn’t used to working for anybody.”

He remembers Mattel’s chief financial officer pulling him aside and explaining that wasn’t how things worked at a large organization. Looking back, O’Leary laughs and says: “Can you imagine listening to that insubordinate guy?”

In the decade that followed, O’Leary rebuilt his career as an investor rather than an operator. He backed companies, launched investment funds, and sat on corporate boards — roles that allowed him to shape strategy without running the day-to-day business. He emerged as one of North America’s best-known investors.

It looked as though his stepfather had been right. O’Leary was a businessman, not an artist. After watching him work, however, I wasn’t so sure.

O’Leary and I are riding through Midtown in a black Escalade on the way to Christie’s, where he will pitch Wondercare, the watch insurance company he hopes will become the auction house’s insurer of choice.

He receives a message and turns to me: “I’ve got to show you this.”

It’s a video of his business partner Justin Aronoff handing him a custom Marty Supreme guitar, inspired by the film in which O’Leary plays a financier. “Look at that,” O’Leary says, holding the phone between us but unable to get the sound to play. “It’s the exact orange color from Marty Supreme.”

He pauses the video and murmurs to himself: “It’s a beautiful guitar.”

O’Leary keeps a guitar and amplifier waiting for him at hotels around the world. When he’s not filming Shark Tank or going to meetings, he’s often alone in a hotel room practicing. Every Fourth of July, he attends a gathering in Nantucket where he plays in a band for an audience of a thousand people.

O’Leary doesn’t see himself as just an investor. The problem, he says, is that investing still takes up most of his life. “Yes, I’m an investor. Yes, I’m on Shark Tank, but I do a lot of other stuff,” he says. “I’d like to spend some time doing the other stuff — photography, guitar, the watches.”

A few minutes later, the Escalade pulls up to Rockefeller Center. The moment the car door opens, O’Leary snaps into performance mode.

A group of women in matching T-shirts scream in unison: “Hi, Mr. Wonderful!” A family runs up to ask if their son can snap a quick photo: “We watch you every day!” As we search for the entrance to Christie’s, two men follow us and ask if “Mr. Wonderful needs directions.”

Inside, the lobby features soft lighting, minimalist decor, and hushed voices — a stark contrast to the commotion outside. O’Leary seems relieved. “It’s so peaceful in here,” O’Leary says.

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We head to a private room, and he is in full salesman mode. Years earlier on CNBC, O’Leary laid out his formula for a successful pitch: articulate the opportunity in 30 seconds, explain why you’re the right person to execute, and prove you understand the economics.

He follows his own playbook perfectly.

First, he outlines the problem. O’Leary tells the Christie’s team that his watch collection was stolen and, like many collectors, he discovered that high-value watches were typically bundled into homeowners insurance policies. After filing the claim, his premiums jumped.

Then, he shares his personal edge. People told him a watch insurance business would never work because customer acquisition costs were too high. “I said, ‘Everybody knows I’m a watch collector. I’ve got more than 12 million followers on social media, so we’ve never paid for a customer,’” he explains.

Finally, he nails the numbers. He starts talking about the financials, sharing several confidential growth metrics that seem to impress the people in the room.

The entire pitch takes 3 minutes and 17 seconds.

During the meeting, conversations about insurance often drift into craftsmanship. As things are wrapping up, O’Leary reaches into his bag and pulls out his Jalen Brunson diamond necklace and shows the Christie’s executives how the trading card at its center can be displayed vertically or horizontally. “It’s very flashy, so it’s great on television,” he says.

The executives nod along and promise to arrange follow-up meetings with senior leadership to discuss a potential partnership.

The next morning, I arrive at Phillips Auction House in Midtown Manhattan where O’Leary is giving a fireside chat about its latest watch collection.

The room looks like a museum for people with very expensive hobbies. Glass cases display F.P. Journe, Patek Philippe, Cartier, and Rolex watches worth more than most cars.

At the moment, O’Leary is not admiring any of them. He’s hunched over a tripod frenetically arranging chairs, tapping his wireless microphone, and setting up the perfect camera angle.

“Kevin, what … are you doing,” I ask, my eyes scanning the room for a 20-something social media manager who I assume is not doing his job.

Without looking up, he adjusts the frame another time. “This may be valuable content to post on my social media,” he tells me.

O’Leary had told me that he personally edits one social media video a week using Adobe Premiere Pro. I assumed he was exaggerating. “I’ll take the raw material, and I’ll create it myself,” he says. “And then I’ll just post it — much to the chagrin of my social media team.”

Satisfied with the shot, he steps in front of the camera, and begins: “First, some shameless promotion for my watch insurance business…” The audience laughs.

Wondercare CEO James Walter tells me that O’Leary is deeply involved in the business and promotes it every chance he gets. He joins the company’s weekly status call and, according to Walter, has missed only two in the last three years. “When he was on the Marty Supreme tour, I’d see him changing outfits in the background while on the call so he could hear what was going on and offer input,” Walter says.

Last year, O’Leary landed a role in Marty Supreme, which stars Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, an ambitious table-tennis prodigy willing to do almost anything to win. The casting team was looking for “a real asshole” to play Milton Rockwell, the ruthless financier who bankrolls Marty’s rise. O’Leary was an obvious choice.

O’Leary tells me he couldn’t help himself. He immediately started suggesting changes to the script.

He improvised the now-famous “I am a vampire” line in which his character ominously warns Marty never to cross him. O’Leary even pitched director Josh Safdie on a darker ending in which Milton Rockwell would reveal himself to be a literal vampire by biting Marty on the neck.

O’Leary’s role was minor, but the casting generated praise from critics. When accepting the Golden Globe for Best Actor, Chalamet thanked O’Leary before thanking his own family. “If you had told me when I was 19 years old that I’d be thanking Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank...”

For his part, O’Leary was just as interested in what was happening off camera as on it. Between takes, he wandered around the set photographing Chalamet and the rest of the cast. “I love that behind-the-scenes kind of thing,” he tells me.

O’Leary enjoyed learning what it takes to make a movie. More than anything, he says, he loves the challenge of creating something from scratch. That’s why he still spends hours editing videos in Adobe Premiere Pro.

When he gets stuck, he calls his daughter Savannah, who has made filmmaking her career. She says O’Leary’s questions are usually about some technical editing problem, and that she still can’t believe he edits the videos himself. “It’s not efficient,” Savannah says. “But I think he enjoys it.”

Business, O’Leary tells me, is binary: You either make money or you lose it. But the best entrepreneurs pair financial discipline with creative instinct. The numbers matter, but building a great business requires a feel for marketing, storytelling, and product design.

“You need the discipline of business but the chaos of the arts,” he says.

O’Leary first met television producer Mark Burnett, the creator of Shark Tank, over lunch in Los Angeles. He wasn’t entirely sure why Burnett had extended the invite.

The two men spent hours talking about the marital difficulties they were each navigating. What was supposed to be a quick lunch passed the three-hour mark.

Finally, O’Leary asked, “Why am I here, Mark?”

As O’Leary remembers it, Burnett laughed. “Oh shit,” he said. “I forgot. Tomorrow I’m testing a new show called Shark Tank.”

The next morning, O’Leary was seated alongside fellow investors Daymond John and Barbara Corcoran. Eighteen seasons later, he is still on the show.

On Shark Tank, millions of viewers came to know Kevin O’Leary as Mr. Wonderful. He became known for delivering what he called the “cold hard truth.”

But Anna Skaya, the founder of the cat DNA testing company Basepaws, came to know a different Kevin O’Leary. During her 2019 pitch, O’Leary initially dismissed the idea. “Why spend $29 for a cat testing kit when you can buy a new cat for five bucks?” he says.

O’Leary changed his mind after realizing Skaya wasn’t building a pet testing company so much as a data company with room to expand beyond cats.

O’Leary and Robert Herjavec invested. Three years later, Basepaws was acquired by Zoetis for more than $50 million, making it one of O’Leary’s best-performing Shark Tank investments.

Skaya says O’Leary’s greatest value came after the cameras stopped rolling. “I was the squeaky wheel in his portfolio,” she says. “’Kevin, I need help getting into WIRED. Kevin, do you know someone at Vogue? Kevin, can you do an Instagram Live with me? Kevin, can you hold a cat and take a picture?’”

The effort paid off: O’Leary made a 25x return on his initial investment.

Mark Cuban has watched O’Leary’s television persona and the real person behind it coexist for nearly two decades. “He may be Canadian, but he truly believes in helping people achieve their American dream,” Cuban tells me. And despite the character O’Leary plays on television, Cuban insists, “he does have a heart.”

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Not every Shark Tank entrepreneur has come away with that impression. In Season 7, entrepreneur Maneesh Sethi appeared on the show to pitch Pavlok, a wearable device that delivers small electric shocks to help users break bad habits. O’Leary was the only Shark to make him an offer.

“Mr. Wonderful, I can’t work with you,” Sethi replied. “I would take an offer from anybody besides Mr. Wonderful.”

O’Leary immediately fired back: “Maneesh, you’re an asshole. Get the fuck out of here. Fuck you.”

After his episode aired, Sethi wrote that O’Leary prioritized profits over customers and told me that his view of capitalism leaned “too far toward the villainous end.”

I ask O’Leary whether his outburst was an act for television. “No, that was not an act,” he says. “When we’re in the eighth hour of taping, I don’t even see the cameras. I don’t give a shit. That guy was a dick.”

Moments like these transformed Mr. Wonderful from a television character into a celebrity brand of his own. “I’d never been famous before,” O’Leary says. “Everything was crazy, and that gets to your head. I went to the dark side for a while.”

He tells me about spending a year living what he describes as “a debaucherous life” full of parties and excess. Eventually, a business partner pulled him aside. He said, “Kevin, people are starting to talk. How long will you do this for?”

The consequences of fame became harder to ignore. One day, O’Leary was heading to his car from a restaurant when a stranger grabbed him and put him in a headlock. He managed to break free, but the incident rattled him.

Not long after, the president of ABC called him into his office and asked, “How are you liking fame now?”

“Okay,” O’Leary remembers thinking. “I see the double-edged sword now.”

O’Leary can’t remember the first death threat, only that they’ve become a recurring part of his life. They arrive in every form imaginable — handwritten letters, emails, direct messages, and public social media posts. “I mean, it’s fucking nuts,” he says.

The latest wave started after O’Leary decided to enter the AI race.

While many investors are betting on artificial intelligence software, O’Leary is betting on the infrastructure that underpins it. His proposed Stratos Project would build a massive AI and cloud-computing campus in Box Elder County, Utah — a development supporters see as essential to America’s technological future and critics see as an existential threat to the region’s land, water, and power resources.

As the fight intensified, the dispute became increasingly personal. O’Leary accused several prominent critics, including Utah political strategist Gabrielle Finlayson, of acting as proxies for the Chinese government.

Weeks later, he publicly acknowledged he had “no evidence” to support the allegation. Finlayson is one of the plaintiffs now suing O’Leary and Fox News for defamation over the allegations. “I spent years building my reputation, my business, and the trust of my community,” Finlayson said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “In just weeks, Kevin O’Leary tore it all down with lies.”

In a statement, O’Leary’s attorney Jeffrey Neiman said O’Leary intends to “defend this lawsuit vigorously” and may bring counterclaims. He called the suit a “cash grab,” arguing that the plaintiffs declined O’Leary’s invitation to discuss the project and used his remarks to raise money. “We look forward to discovery and uncovering the facts related to the misinformation campaign against the data center in Utah,” Neiman said.

Finlayson has referred to O’Leary as “the Canadian who is trying to ruin Utah.” Speaking on a podcast, she said opposition to the proposed AI data centers had become “so strong and so severe,” adding: “These folks don’t always know what’s going to come for them when they decide to put a giant thing no one wants in the middle of people’s homes.”

It’s not the first time O’Leary has landed at the center of a public firestorm. He tells me that he says exactly what he thinks and accepts whatever follows.

When cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in 2022, O’Leary became one of its most visible casualties. FTX had paid him $15 million to serve as a spokesperson, and suddenly he found himself answering questions on national television about one of the largest financial scandals in recent memory.

O’Leary remembers seeing the word “fraud” in relation to FTX flash on the screen during a Fox News segment, and he checked his account to find the money was gone. He called FTX co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and reportedly asked, “What’s going on with the accounts, Sam?”

O’Leary was one of the last people to speak with Bankman-Fried, so he had to testify to Congress about what he knew. “It was the first crisis that I’d ever been through,” he says. “And then I remembered something my mother said: ‘Just tell the truth, and you never have to remember what you said.’”

The first few days were brutal. “When shit was flying everywhere and the phone was just ringing, ringing, ringing, I said, ‘Fuck, what a nightmare,’” he says. “Why am I the poster boy for this when there’s 20 other guys that took money?”

Many celebrities who promoted FTX distanced themselves after the collapse. But O’Leary doubled down. He was on TV every day defending his prior involvement with the company.

When I ask him why he kept going on air, he answers as if stating the obvious: “Because I hadn’t been charged with anything.” The experience, he says, taught him to distinguish the signal from the noise. “The media cycle for the big stories is 48 hours,” he says. “After that, it starts to burn off.”

In interviews immediately after FTX failed, he refused to condemn Bankman-Fried.

CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed him directly: “Kevin, you are an actor in this drama, and you had a front-row seat to Bankman-Fried up until the very end. What do you think happened? Do you think this was a fraud?” To which Kevin responded that he doesn’t have all the facts yet.

Financier Anthony Scaramucci, who was also caught in the fallout from FTX’s collapse, remembers feeling “shell-shocked” by the backlash. O’Leary, he says, remained steadfast. “He defended Sam, and he didn’t care about the public opinion,” Scaramucci says.

In a 2022 Senate hearing, O’Leary argued that FTX competitor Binance had intentionally driven FTX out of business while benefiting from what he viewed as lax regulatory oversight that allowed it to dominate the market.

I ask whether experiences like FTX and the death threats surrounding the Stratos Project have made O’Leary more cautious about what he says publicly.

They have not. “The brand is about being authentic — even though it’s controversial,” O’Leary says. “That’s the brand.”

O’Leary and I are sitting in the restaurant of a swanky New York hotel. He orders a Caesar salad with cooked tuna and a glass of Montrachet.

He sets the menu aside, reaches into his bag, and pulls out the Tiffany necklace again. After laying the diamond chain on the table, he takes out a tiny screwdriver and removes the trading card from the pendant. It needs to be returned to its owner.

People start to recognize him. Their eyes shift from O’Leary to the diamond necklace. He’s right — it is flashy. A few diners not-so-discreetly raise their phones to take a picture of the scene. A woman walks past our table and whispers to me, “That’s Mr. Wonderful, right? Love him.”

The interruption doesn’t make O’Leary lose his train of thought. Before he started unscrewing the necklace, I’d asked him how he defines success at this stage of his career.

“I don’t measure it by money anymore,” he says. “I don’t need more money, you know? I just want to make really good use of my time. That’s what matters.”

Now, he wants to make room for the pursuits he once thought he’d left behind. Maybe one day he’ll be known as an artist — a musician, filmmaker, or photographer. But that day is not today.

Today, he is content to be known as Mr. Wonderful, the villain.

O’Leary says playing the villain gives him more freedom than playing the hero. “The bad guy is always scheming,” he says. “He’s always got a subplot. It has the audience thinking, ‘What is he really doing? Why is he saying that?’”

So what is Mr. Wonderful’s subplot?

He thinks for a moment, and takes a sip of wine.

“There’s nothing more motivating to me than someone saying I can’t do something,” he says. “Fuck you, watch this.”

The irony is that the first person to tell O’Leary he couldn’t do something was his stepfather, who told him he wasn’t good enough to become a professional photographer. O’Leary accepted the advice, abandoned the dream, and went into business instead.

Or at least that’s what it looks like from the outside looking in.

Because now, decades later, after turning himself into one of the most recognizable capitalists in America, he still spends his free time photographing strangers, editing videos, collecting watches, and playing guitar.

We are in the car on the way to a keynote speech he has to deliver at Delmonico’s steakhouse on Wall Street. I keep asking him: How does it not wear him down — the criticism, the death threats, the endless scrutiny? He’s rich — why not walk away and spend the rest of his life making art on a beach somewhere?

“No, you can’t let that get you. You just can’t,” he says, looking out of the car window. “Every 30 minutes, there’s something catastrophic and something euphoric happening — every single day. It’s to the bottom and then it’s to the top — over and over and over again.”

He pauses.

“So my attitude is, why don’t I just — “

The car comes to a stop. “Oh, this is it, I guess.”

He never finishes the sentence.

He steps out of the car, adjusts his jacket, and goes on to give a presentation on quantum computing to a room full of people who came to see their favorite capitalist villain — Mr. Wonderful himself.

-

Written by Polina Pompliano | Edited by Laura Entis | Photos & video by Stephen Yang

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Tomorrow, I’m publishing my Kevin O’Leary profile.

I’ve spent the past several weeks thinking about how to explain why this may be my favorite profile I’ve written. I think it’s because I really feel like I uncovered the real person behind the persona.

Most people know O’Leary as the ruthless capitalist who tells entrepreneurs their ideas are worthless and seems perfectly content to be the villain. That person is real. But he is also a character O’Leary has spent nearly two decades perfecting.

I shadowed him through TV appearances, business pitches, and private moments. I spoke with the people who have invested beside him, worked with him, fought with him, and watched him navigate the biggest crises of his career.

I can’t wait for you to read it, and I look forward to hearing your feedback. (I’ll be publishing clips and behind-the-scenes moments on my Instagram. You can follow me here.)

In your inbox tomorrow morning.

Subscribe now

— Polina

THE PROFILES.

— The modern athlete redefining his sport
— The TikTok influencer-turned-entrepreneur
— The rock icon stepping off stage
— The teenager who took on Meta — and won
— The startup that rebuilt itself from the inside out [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]

THE PEOPLE.

The modern athlete redefining his sport: LeBron James has spent more than two decades proving his greatness on the court. But his most enduring legacy may be the way he changed what athletes believe they’re allowed to become — turning fame into ownership, influence into leverage, and a playing career into something far bigger than basketball.

The TikTok influencer-turned-entrepreneur: Alix Earle built one of the most influential personal brands on the internet by making millions of followers feel like close friends. But behind the viral “Get Ready With Me” videos is a meticulous entrepreneur who obsesses over product decisions, audience psychology, and long-term career building. Here’s how she turned authenticity into a business empire. (TIME)

The rock icon stepping off stage (gift link): At 82, Mick Jagger speaks with surprising warmth about the strange bargain of a life in the spotlight. The conversation explores the space between performance and identity, and what remains when one of the world’s greatest showmen steps off the stage. (The New York Times)

The teenager who took on Meta — and won (gift link): At 17, Kaley Glenn-Mills became the face of a landmark lawsuit against the biggest social media companies in the world. This is a fascinating profile about how even at even after helping expose how these platforms hook young users, she still can’t stop scrolling. (Bloomberg)

THE COMPANIES.

The startup that rebuilt itself from the inside out: Most companies are bolting AI onto old products. Notion did something much harder. It rebuilt itself from the inside out. This behind-the-scenes look reveals how a decade-old startup transformed its culture, product, and way of working to become one of the few pre-ChatGPT companies thriving in the AI era. (Colossus)

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This week, I’m publishing my new profile of Kevin O’Leary — or, as most people know him, Shark Tank’s Mr. Wonderful.

Over the course of several days, I shadowed O’Leary through New York City, following him from Fox News studios to Christie’s auction house, sitting in on business pitches, watching him make million-dollar decisions, and asking him about the moments that have defined his career.

He told me about the biggest mistake of his life, the crisis that almost destroyed his reputation, the childhood promise that still drives him, and the legacy he hopes to leave behind.

Spending time with him dismantled assumption after assumption. If all you see is a ruthless capitalist, you’re only seeing the character — not the person. I realized that Mr. Wonderful — the television character millions recognize — is only one part of the story.

Yes, this is Kevin O’Leary:

Most of all, this profile is about identity. It’s about what happens when the world decides who you are before you get the chance to tell your own story. How much of ourselves do we choose, and how much becomes a role we can never escape?

I think you’ll come away seeing Kevin O’Leary — and perhaps a little of yourself — a bit differently. In your inbox this week.

Subscribe now

— Polina

THE PROFILES.

— The billionaire soccer icon [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The creator of the Founders podcast
— The founder who created an army of AI influencers
— The concierge gynecologist
— The self-made billionaire who saved Clear

THE PEOPLE.

The billionaire soccer icon: David Beckham was once one of the most famous athletes on the planet. Somehow, he’s become even more successful in retirement. The soccer icon has turned his fame into a $1 billion empire spanning brand deals, documentaries, startups, real estate, and a 26% stake in Inter Miami — the MLS club he spent more than a decade fighting to build. Beckham’s second act is a masterclass in turning celebrity into ownership. (Forbes)

The creator of the Founders podcast: For five and a half years, David Senra read one business biography a week, recorded a podcast about it, and published each episode to almost no one. Today, Founders is a cult obsession among some of the world’s most powerful CEOs and billionaires, and a one-man business generating millions in annual profit. Senra has turned down acquisition offers, refuses to chase a mass audience, and still reads, records, edits, and publishes every episode himself.

The founder who created an army of AI influencers: At 21, Zuhair Lakhani is building a business designed to manufacture virality. His startup, Doublespeed, operates thousands of smartphones that run armies of AI-powered social media accounts — watching, commenting, posting, and promoting products while posing as real people. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Lakhani has embraced the dystopian implications as a marketing strategy: Why pay human influencers when fake ones can work around the clock? (alternate link)

The concierge gynecologist: Silicon Valley’s obsession with optimization has found its next frontier: women’s sex lives. Dr. Sally Greenwald has built a wildly sought-after concierge gynecology practice treating sexual health as seriously as sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Her approach combines hormone therapy, emerging research, and frank advice on everything from libido to orgasms. (The New Yorker)

The self-made billionaire who saved Clear: In 2010, Caryn Seidman Becker bought Clear out of bankruptcy for $6 million. Today, the airport security company is worth $7.6 billion, making her one of America’s few self-made female billionaires. Now she’s trying to turn Clear into a universal identity company that uses your face to verify who you are everywhere from hospitals and government accounts to workplaces and stadiums. (Forbes)

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The United States of America turned 250 this weekend. And yet, according to this CBS poll, just half of Americans say they’re even somewhat confident the American Dream is still attainable. Most believe that only a select few people have a real chance to get ahead anymore.

I looked up the actual definition of “The American Dream,” and it says: “The American Dream is an ideal that the United States offers the possibility of upward mobility, freedom, and equality for all individuals who work diligently and possess the will to succeed.”

This country has allowed my family upward mobility that would be inconceivable anywhere else on this planet. And I’m not talking about generations — I’m talking about the difference in life of one generation.

When my dad was in 6th grade in Bulgaria, he wrote ‘USA’ on his backpack. The teacher saw it, reported it to the principal, and they called his parents. He got in major trouble because he lived in a former communist country that doled out punishments for those who dared deviate from the government’s ‘allowed’ speech. (Not to mention that my dad’s family members who had spoken out against communism were killed, imprisoned, and sent to labor camps.)

His daughter (me) would go on to become a journalist working for some of the most prestigious news organizations in the world: CNN, USA TODAY, and FORTUNE magazine. One day, she would own her own media business & work for herself. Inconceivable.

This country is far from perfect, but it’s a nation of self-improvers. When something is wrong, people take to the streets, protest, and make sure their voices get heard.

I think about this a lot. The people I profile come from wildly different backgrounds, but they all believed their future could be bigger than their circumstances. As simple as that sounds, it’s a big freaking deal because it’s one of the few places on Earth where people are still free to build, create, question, fail, and voice their opinion without fear.

I’ll never forget what Evan Mwararire, the pastor who stood up to a dictator in Zimbabwe, told me: “Freedom means you can talk to your friend, criticize the government, and then forget about it and go home. Where I’m from, if you criticize the government, you’re not going to make it home.”

The ability to speak freely — and then forget what you said because you’re not worried that your words will cost you your life — is one of the greatest freedoms we take for granted.

Happy Fourth of July, friends. I hope you had a wonderful weekend with the people you love.

— Polina

A WORD FROM OUR PARTNER ✨: Have you ever read about a founder building the next great consumer brand and thought — I wish I could invest in that? Most people can’t. The best startup deals go to a handful of elite VC firms, and everyone else hears about them years later.

Alumni Ventures changes that. As one of TIME’s Top Venture Capital Firms, AV gives accredited investors access to curated Next-Gen Consumer deals — startups like Oura, Quince, and Bluesky — already co-invested alongside brand-name investors including a16z, Forerunner, and Khosla.

No cost to see deals. No obligation to invest. Just access to the deal flow that used to be off-limits.

See Next-Gen Consumer Deals →

Disclosure: Not an offer to sell securities. Example portfolio companies for illustrative purposes only and not available to future investors except potential follow-on investments. Venture capital investing involves substantial risk, including risk of loss of all capital invested.

PROFILES.

— The founder of Barstool Sports telling all [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The mom using AI agents to run her house
— The founder who built a $5.5 billion athleisure startup
— The Today star reeling from a tragedy
— The hottest ghost kitchen in NYC

THE PEOPLE.

The founder of Barstool Sports telling all (complimentary link): Dave Portnoy built Barstool Sports by ignoring conventional management advice. Instead of rigid strategy, he hires interesting people, gives them freedom to create, and embraces controversy rather than running from it. The result is a media empire built on constant experimentation, strong personalities, and an instinct for capturing attention. (WSJ; complimentary link)

The mom using AI agents to run her house: Jesse Genet wakes up to groceries she never ordered and books she never bought. That’s because an army of AI agents is running her household — shopping, teaching her children, handling paperwork, and building software on command. While most people debate whether AI will take their jobs, Genet is already treating it like a personal staff. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

The founder who built a $5.5 billion athleisure startup: Joe Kudla thought he’d become an accountant. Instead, a brief and miserable modeling career unlocked his creative side and ultimately inspired him to build Vuori into a $5.5 billion activewear company. The profile shows how Kudla combined artistic obsession, financial discipline, and a relentless focus on product to create one of the biggest challengers to Nike and Lululemon. (Bloomberg; complimentary link)

The Today star reeling from a tragedy: Savannah Guthrie has spent her career reporting other people’s tragedies. Then, overnight, she became the story. When her 84-year-old mother vanished without a trace, Guthrie found herself balancing unimaginable personal grief with the impossible task of returning to the Today show as conspiracy theories swirled, cameras followed her every move, and millions of viewers watched her navigate a mystery that remains unsolved. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

THE COMPANIES.

The hottest ghost kitchen in NYC: Most ghost kitchens have struggled to live up to the hype. Goop Kitchen has done the opposite. Gwyneth Paltrow’s healthy takeout brand just pulled off its most successful launch ever with its first New York location, proving that celebrity may spark interest, but operational excellence and attention to quality are what turn a delivery-only restaurant into a breakout business. (Inc)

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I recently went to a talk where was discussing his new book, Wired on Wall Street: The Rise and Fall of Tipper X, One of the FBI’s Most Prolific Informants.

Hardin has jaw-dropping story. He went from rising Wall Street analyst to “Tipper X,” the FBI informant whose cooperation helped expose one of the largest insider trading rings in U.S. history.

In his talk, he used the phrase “character gap” to describe the space between who you appear to be (your reputation) and who you actually are (your true character). The goal, he said, should be to close that gap.

In a Substack post, he wrote: “Your reputation is who you are based on everything someone thinks they know about you. Your character is who you are even if you’re the only one who knows. And your integrity, the real measure, is how closely those two things align.”

Damn. It reminded me of Martha Beck’s idea of an “integrity cleanse,” the process of practicing honesty in thoughts, words, and actions. Beck realized that she wasn’t lying about big things — she was lying about the small, everyday things. “I didn’t tell lies about my taxes or anything in my personal life even,” she says. “I was telling lies about how I felt.”

Here’s how she suggests we can conduct an integrity cleanse: For the next three days, try to be aware every time you say something you don’t believe. “Most lies are told to smooth social interactions,” she says.

And every time you tell a small fib or you say something you don’t actually mean, write it down in a journal.

Beck offers the following example: Imagine someone says, “We’d love you to come out and visit us.” And to be polite, you respond with something you don’t mean: “Sure, sometime.”

But then in your journal, you write: “Okay, that was a lie. I would rather die a thousand times than go to stay with these people.”

By writing down the truth, you start noticing the situations in which you lie. And then you start lying less and becoming more in alignment with who you really are. Truth breeds integrity and integrity breeds respect.

Why is this important? Because many of us choose conformity instead of integrity until we look in the mirror and no longer recognize ourselves.

Beck writes, “We lie our way through our lives to get people to like us, and then we find out they didn’t like us because we were lying.”

We all know that living in alignment with our truth is what we ultimately want. But it’s so hard to do — especially if you’re a person who seeks external validation.

Beck offers a warning: “Depart from your truth in any way — offer a fake smile, flatter your awful boss, marry for money — and you become two people: the truth knower and the lie actor. That’s duplicity. And duplicity, not social noncompliance, is the real enemy of joy.”

— Polina

PROFILES.

— The CEO making Eli Lilly huge [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The founder bringing robots to life
— The king of New York
— The Elle Woods of Seattle
— The billionaire taking over the North Fork

THE PEOPLE.

The CEO making Eli Lilly huge: Dave Ricks inherited a struggling, unpopular pharmaceutical company and transformed it into the world’s most valuable healthcare business. Under his leadership, accelerated drug development, bet aggressively on GLP-1 obesity treatments, invested billions in manufacturing before approval, launched a direct-to-consumer business, embraced AI, and reshaped Lilly into a faster, more consumer-focused company. The story explores how Ricks built a trillion-dollar giant — and whether he can avoid the boom-and-bust cycle that has defined nearly every great pharmaceutical company before him. (Bloomberg; gift link)

The founder bringing robots to life: Jeff Cardenas is building one of the world’s most ambitious humanoid robotics companies, but he’s unusually honest about how far the technology still has to go. While rivals hype robot butlers and AI breakthroughs, Cardenas argues the future will arrive gradually, starting in factories before expanding into everyday life. The story explores how Apptronik is trying to balance enormous expectations with the messy reality of building robots that actually work. (Bloomberg; gift link)

The king of New York: Jalen Brunson spent two months carrying New York on his shoulders and emerged with the Knicks’ first championship in more than 50 years. Now, amid parades, television appearances, and a citywide victory lap, the Finals MVP is still trying to process what happened. The story explores how the incredibly disciplined star, shaped by his demanding father and unshakable belief in himself, became the face of New York sports. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

The Elle Woods of Seattle: A year ago, Lexi Minetree was a recent college graduate with a handful of acting credits. Today, she’s the handpicked successor to one of the most beloved characters in modern pop culture: Elle Woods. The story follows how an unknown actress from Atlanta manifested, auditioned for, and ultimately landed the role that could change her life. (Cosmopolitan)

The billionaire taking over the North Fork: Stefan Soloviev inherited one of New York’s great real-estate fortunes, then spent decades trying to escape its shadow. Now the billionaire land baron, father of 22 children, and one of America’s largest private landowners is reshaping Long Island’s North Fork — whether locals like it or not. The story explores what happens when a man with virtually no limits collides with a community determined to preserve its identity. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

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On the day of my college graduation, my dad gave me a letter.

In it, he recounted the story of when he, my mom, and I moved to the United States from Bulgaria. When we came 26 years ago, my dad was a 33-year-old with a master’s degree in chemical engineering and more than a decade of work experience.

But in the U.S, he was starting over.

In the letter, he wrote:

“I was working at Marriott, and the money I was making was not enough to cover the bills for the first few months we lived here. I begged my manager to give me extra shifts so we could pay rent. At that time, we literally had nothing. My dream was to be able to buy you something to make you happy, so you could see that the U.S. is a happy place.

“For better or worse, you remember everything we went through in those first few years, but please never forget that I’ve always loved you more than anything in the world.”

Along with the letter, he enclosed a check so I could buy something I wanted now that he couldn’t afford to buy me then.

I still think about that moment often. It reminds me that my life would look completely different if my parents hadn’t been willing to take an enormous risk, put their egos aside, and start over from scratch in a brand-new country.

Now, as I watch my husband with our kids, I think about how some of the most important things dads do are rarely noticed in the moment. The opportunities children have are often built on sacrifices they never see.

Happy Father’s Day to all the incredible dads out there!

— Polina

PROFILES.

— The FTX founder’s life behind bars [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— Sam Altman’s executive coach
— The entrepreneurs looking to cash in on peptides
— The creator fighting the ‘tradwife’ label
— The podcaster whose media empire is crumbling

THE PEOPLE.

The FTX founder’s life behind bars: Sam Bankman-Fried’s prison years have done little to change the way he sees himself. In this deeply reported profile, he comes across as the same hyper-rational, endlessly analytical figure who built FTX — still convinced he was misunderstood rather than fraudulent, still plotting a return, and still viewing life through a utilitarian lens that prioritizes outcomes over process. While fellow inmates often find him likable and eccentric, the question remains whether he is a visionary brought down by mistakes or a man whose belief in his own judgment led him to justify catastrophic risks with other people’s money. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

Sam Altman’s executive coach: Joe Hudson, the executive coach trusted by Sam Altman and leaders across Silicon Valley, believes the AI race will make human skills more valuable, not less. His core idea is that the most successful leaders are the ones who can navigate difficult emotions, build deep trust, and connect with others. As AI commoditizes knowledge, Hudson argues that wisdom, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence will become the ultimate competitive advantage. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

The entrepreneurs looking to cash in on peptides: The peptide boom is turning a niche black market into a multibillion-dollar industry. What began with bodybuilders and biohackers ordering experimental drugs from China has exploded into a mainstream wellness craze fueled by GLP-1s, longevity culture, and social media. Now, with the FDA considering legal pathways for some peptides, entrepreneurs, telehealth companies, compounding pharmacies, and investors are racing to cash in. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

The creator fighting the ‘tradwife’ label: Hannah Neeleman, the creator behind Ballerina Farm, says the internet has spent years trying to turn her into a symbol, but she just sees herself as a woman who loves babies, big dreams, and building businesses. In this candid interview, she defends her choices, embraces the chaos of raising nine children while growing a farm empire, and argues that women shouldn’t have to pick between ambition and family—they should be free to define success for themselves. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

The podcaster whose media empire is crumbling: Alex Cooper built Call Her Daddy into one of the most successful media brands of her generation by positioning herself as a champion of ambitious young women. But according to interviews with dozens of current and former employees, the culture inside her company, Unwell, often looked very different from the empowering image she projected publicly. The story explores allegations of high turnover, fear-driven management, and the outsized influence of Cooper’s husband and business partner. (Vanity Fair; alternate link)

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As many of you know, I love New York.

I don’t follow sports particularly closely, but basketball is one of the few games I can actually understand and enjoy. My husband is a diehard Knicks fan, so over the years I’ve tagged along to plenty of games and always had a great time.

But the Knicks making the Finals (and now WINNING THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP) has transformed the city’s already-electric energy into something I can’t even describe. It feels like New York has been plugged into a power outlet.

People are outside watching together. A united front. (It also helps that Knicks fans are delightfully unhinged. I can’t stop watching the “man on the street” interviews on Instagram.)

We went to Game 4 at Madison Square Garden hopeful.

Then the Spurs took a small lead. Then a bigger one. By halftime, they were up 27 points. The cheers turned into groans, and the groans turned into silence.

And then — a miracle. The Knicks didn’t take their first lead until just under a minute remained in the game.

Thousands of fans experienced the same emotional sequence. Everyone went from “it’s over” to “wait…” to “maybe?” to “oh my God what did I just witness?”

Jalen Brunson missed the potential game-winning three-pointer. The Knicks won only because OG Anunoby tipped it in with 1.2 seconds remaining. One point two seconds!

Moments like that are rare because they force us to confront something we spend most of our lives trying to avoid: uncertainty. We want certainty. We want to know how the story ends.

By halftime, most of us were convinced we knew exactly how the Knicks’ story would end. Then, in the span of a few minutes, that certainty left and the hope returned. The comeback was a reminder that the improbable happens more often than we’d like to admit — and that even when the odds look overwhelming, it ain’t over til’ it’s over.

As a storyteller, I love that. I love hearing my normally-pragmatic husband talk about destiny. I love hearing a lawyer who demands evidence in every other aspect of her life talk about serendipity.

It’s equal parts absurdity and magic — the combination that makes New York City extraordinary.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE KNICKS AND ALL THE KNICKS FANS! As one of the commentators said when Jalen Brunsen hugged his dad: “Life is not perfect, but there are perfect moments. And there’s one right there.”

Here is a video I took from the stands of the game-winning shot of Game 4:

— Polina

PROFILES.

— The world’s most likable celebrity [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The trailer park billionaire
— The king of New York
— The ultra-athlete competing in Antarctica
— The modern conservative woman

THE PEOPLE.

The world’s most likable celebrity: If you read one thing today, let it be this profile on Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Beneath one of the world’s most carefully managed public personas is a man increasingly preoccupied with the scars of his past. Through long, tequila-fueled conversations, Johnson reflects on marriage struggles, his fear after discovering a potentially serious health issue, the pain of childhood poverty and abandonment, and his evolving view of masculinity, politics, and fame. Such an entertaining read. (Esquire) (For more, check out my Profile Dossier on Dwayne Johnson here)

The king of New York: Jalen Brunson’s rise from an overlooked second-round draft pick to the face of the New York Knicks is a story of relentless work, self-belief, and humility. Long doubted because of his size and athleticism, Brunson steadily proved skeptics wrong at every level before arriving in New York, where his grit, leadership, and clutch performances have made him the city’s unlikely basketball king. (ESPN)

The trailer park billionaire: Bob Bull turned Britain’s trailer parks into a billion-pound empire by convincing lenders they were luxury housing developments, borrowing heavily to fuel rapid expansion. But inflated valuations, questionable business practices, and mounting debt eventually caused the company to collapse, leaving creditors owed billions and raising questions about where much of the money went. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

The ultra-athlete competing in Antarctica: Stephanie Case, a 43-year-old lawyer and ultramarathon runner who famously won a race while breastfeeding her infant daughter, is attempting something no woman has ever done before. She will compete in — and potentially break the overall record for — the 100-mile Antarctic Ice Ultra. Despite admitting that she “genuinely hates the cold,” Case will face brutal -13°F temperatures and fierce Antarctic winds in a challenge she says is about more than endurance. (The Athletic; alternate link)

The modern conservative woman: At Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit, attended by roughly 3,000 women, Erika Kirk outlined a vision of conservative Christian womanhood centered on faith, marriage, motherhood, and family over career ambition. The conference reflected a broader shift within the movement away from overt politics and toward cultural and religious values, with speakers promoting traditional gender roles, criticizing feminism, and encouraging young women to prioritize family life while framing conservative communities as a refuge from increasingly hostile mainstream institutions. (WSJ; complimentary link provided)

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Last week, I hosted a live Q&A with premium members of The Profile.

A reader asked me about my process for getting to the deeper, harder questions. Do I start with small talk or do I just dive right in?

Here’s what I said: Small talk earns you a bit of trust, which you can then use to ask the hard questions. But even then, sometimes, it can backfire and get really, really awkward. Sometimes a subject gets defensive or angry or visibly uncomfortable.

During one of my shadowing sessions, I asked a question that struck a nerve. The subject became upset, and the entire energy of the interview changed. In moments like that, every instinct tells you to retreat and make the awkwardness disappear.

But I often remind myself that the topics that make people uncomfortable are usually the ones that matter the most. So instead of backing away, I did the only thing I know how to do — I tried to understand.

Eventually, we got through it. I understood where he was coming from, and he understood why I was asking the question. Although I could tell that some of the trust evaporated after that moment, the exchange taught me something important about him.

I saw the mask drop, and for a brief moment, the polished answers disappeared, and I got to see the real person underneath. To me, that was a win.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from profiling people is that genuine curiosity can diffuse almost any emotionally-charged situation.

And in the end, the quality of the answers you get is usually a reflection of the trust you’ve earned.

— Polina

—

A WORD FROM OUR PARTNER ✨: Have you ever read about a founder building the next great consumer brand and thought — I wish I could invest in that? Most people can’t. The best startup deals go to a handful of elite VC firms, and everyone else hears about them years later.

Alumni Ventures changes that. As one of TIME’s Top Venture Capital Firms, AV gives accredited investors access to curated Next-Gen Consumer deals — startups like Oura, Quince, and Bluesky — already co-invested alongside brand-name investors including a16z, Forerunner, and Khosla.

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THE PROFILES.

— The Murdoch seceding from his family [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The billionaire who fell from grace
— The celebrity-backed AI shopping startup
— The billion-dollar beauty brand
— The anti-corporate hero of the games industry

THE PEOPLE.

The Murdoch seceding from his family: James Murdoch is buying New York magazine and Vox Media in a move that looks like a declaration of independence from his father’s legacy. While Rupert Murdoch built a media empire by giving audiences what they wanted, James is betting that in an AI-saturated world, trusted journalism and original ideas will become even more valuable — even if they generate less profit. The irony is that both father and son are building media empires around distinct audiences. They just have very different visions of the world. (The New York Times; alternate link)

The billionaire who fell from grace: Few people have spent more time managing their public image than Bill Gates. But after years of successfully recasting himself from tech villain to global philanthropist, his association with Jeffrey Epstein is threatening to unravel one of the most remarkable rebrands in business history. (WSJ; complimentary link provided)

THE COMPANIES.

The celebrity-backed AI shopping startup: Phoebe Gates is building an AI shopping startup with a cap table that looks more like a Met Gala guest list. Phia has raised $43.5 million, attracted dozens of celebrity investors, and already serves 1.5 million users. Gates wants Phia to become a personalized shopping agent that knows your taste, curates what you should buy, and eventually predicts what you’ll want before you do. (Vogue)

The billion-dollar beauty brand: Rhode has become one of beauty’s fastest-growing brands, reaching $390 million in annual sales and setting its sights on $1 billion in global retail revenue. Hailey Bieber’s strategy is simple but difficult to execute: turn a skincare brand into a lifestyle universe through viral products, immersive pop-ups, and carefully curated experiences that make customers feel part of a world. The challenge now is staying culturally relevant in an industry where consumers move on quickly and attention is the scarcest resource. (Vogue)

The anti-corporate hero of the games industry: Valve spent decades cultivating the image of an anti-corporate gaming utopia — a quirky, flat organization run by gamers for gamers. But as Steam grew into the dominant marketplace for PC games, critics began to see a company with enormous power, a 30% tax on developers, and rules that competitors say are impossible to escape. Now, antitrust lawsuits in the U.S. and U.K. are testing whether Valve is the benevolent backbone of PC gaming or simply another monopoly hiding behind a beloved brand. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

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I’ve spent a decade researching the most extraordinary people in the world — spending time with them, watching hundreds of hours of interviews, combing through old blog posts, and trying to understand what makes someone truly remarkable.

The most important thing I’ve learned is that pretty much no one is who they appear to be in public.

Here’s a small example. When I profiled Jake and Logan Paul, I expected indifference. Their entire brand is built on being loud, reckless, and seemingly impossible to embarrass.

But on set, during a podcast taping, a joke about Logan’s daughter lands a little too close to home. For a moment, the mask drops. He recoils, pushes back, tells the host to cut it. Later, when I ask about reputational hits, the warm, gregarious version of him disappears.

What I found is that Logan obsessively reviews and edits every single video, clip, and post before it goes out. Jake hired a celebrity attorney to pursue legal action against anyone who questions the legitimacy of his boxing matches. These are not men who don’t care. These are men who have built an empire on performing like they don’t.

How someone presents themselves and what’s actually true is often at the core of my profiles. I’ve developed something close to a methodology for it. There are signals I look for, questions I ask, sources I go to, and clues that help me read what someone is not saying as much as what they are.

This Wednesday, June 3 at 12 p.m. EST, I’m hosting a live, members-only session called “How to Read People” and I want you there.

For one hour, I’ll walk you through exactly how I research someone, what I look for in the first five minutes of an interview, and the psychological tools I use to read them. Then I’ll open it up to you. Bring me questions, and I’ll give you techniques.

This session is for paid members only. If you’ve been on the fence about upgrading, this is your sign. You can sign up & upgrade below:

Subscribe now

I’ll see you there.

— Polina

THE PROFILES.

— The CEO who revived a struggling bookstore [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The founder who built the most profitable startup
— The investor who bet everything on ChatGPT
— Hollywood’s most polarizing actor
— The ‘buy here, pay here’ auto dealer

THE PEOPLE.

The CEO who revived a struggling bookstore: Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt seems to have pulled off one of retail’s most surprising turnarounds. It explores the story of how a struggling big-box bookstore chain became a thriving, highly localized retail experiment under private equity ownership. Rather than relying on rigid corporate strategy, Daunt empowered individual stores to behave more like independent bookstores — letting staff curate inventory for their specific communities, redesign displays around “pyramids” instead of publisher-driven “blocks,” and prioritize passionate booksellers over traditional retail managers. (Remember this profile when he first started making the changes?) (Bloomberg)

The founder who built the most profitable startup: Jeffrey Yan is a hyper-intense former quantitative trader who walked away from a lucrative crypto trading operation to build what he believes could become the infrastructure layer for a new financial system. This profile details how Yan and his tiny team of 11 built Hyperliquid into one of the most profitable startups per employee in the world — rejecting venture capital, refusing to pay insiders, and distributing billions of dollars worth of tokens directly to users instead. It reveals a portrait of a founder who views traditional finance as outdated, works with near-monastic intensity, and believes that truly transformative systems must be public, decentralized, and owned by the people who use them. (Colossus)

The investor who bet everything on ChatGPT: Sarah Guo became one of the most influential AI investors by betting aggressively on artificial intelligence years before ChatGPT made the industry mainstream. After leaving Greylock in 2022 to launch her AI-focused fund, Conviction, Guo built a concentrated portfolio of companies like Harvey, Baseten, and Mistral AI that are now collectively worth tens of billions of dollars. The piece portrays Guo not as a passive investor but as an intensely hands-on operator obsessed with long-term technological shifts, willing to ignore conventional venture capital wisdom in favor of deeply researched, conviction-driven bets on the future of AI. (Forbes)

Hollywood’s most polarizing actor: In this interview, Nicolas Cage reflects on the artistic philosophy that made him one of Hollywood’s most original and polarizing actors. Cage describes his performances as intentionally risky, grotesque, and emotionally extreme, drawing inspiration from sources as varied as Francis Bacon paintings, comic books, Bruce Lee films, and pop art. He discusses his willingness to be misunderstood in pursuit of originality, the strange afterlife of becoming an internet meme, and how his larger-than-life mythology eventually took on a life of its own. (New York Times; alternate link)

THE COMPANIES.

The ‘buy here, pay here’ auto dealer: This investigation into Byrider examines the harsh economics of America’s “buy here, pay here” used-car industry, where people with poor credit often end up paying double — or more — the actual value of a vehicle through high markups, steep interest rates, and aggressive collection tactics. (Bloomberg)

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My first book, Hidden Genius, published exactly three years ago. I still remember how surreal it felt to walk into a bookstore and see something that had lived in my head for years sitting on an actual shelf.

Here is the moment I saw it for the very first time:

What I didn’t expect was how many messages I’d receive from readers saying the book changed the way they think about success, talent, and their own potential. That has meant more to me than I can properly express.

The book was born from a question I became obsessed with as a reporter: Why do some people build extraordinary lives and companies while others — with just as much talent — never quite break through? Over years of interviews with founders, athletes, investors, and operators, I realized that what separates people is in the hidden advantages — thed mindsets, habits, emotional patterns, and ways of seeing the world that compound quietly over time.

✨ And now, three years later, I’m excited to share that the paperback edition of Hidden Genius launches this August. ✨

Pre-Order Hidden Genius Here

This new edition is incredibly special to me because it gives the book a second life, and hopefully introduces these ideas to a whole new group of readers.

How you can help:

If you’ve ever wanted to support my work, pre-ordering the paperback is one of the most meaningful ways to do it. Pre-orders genuinely matter in publishing more than most people realize. They help determine how much attention a book receives, where it gets placed, and how far it travels.

You can preorder it here:

Pre-Order Hidden Genius Here

Thank you for reading my work, supporting The Profile, and allowing me to spend my life chasing stories and ideas that fascinate me. None of this exists without you.

— Polina

PROFILES.

— Silicon Valley’s AI tycoon [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The Amazon CEO making AI-era bets
— Comedy’s breakout star
— The company building a $200-billion data center
— The billion-dollar skincare line

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

Silicon Valley’s AI tycoon: Is Cognition founder Scott Wu a new kind of Silicon Valley genius? Wu is hyper-competitive, mathematically gifted, and less interested in academic prestige than in building world-changing AI products at extreme speed. This profile details the transformation of the “nerd genius” from isolated academic outsider into founder-king — someone whose intelligence now translates directly into power, capital, and infrastructure. Wu argues that AI coding agents like Devin could eliminate much of the friction and “sludge” of modern life, while also hinting at a future where human creativity matters more than execution itself. (Colossus)

The Amazon CEO making AI-era bets: Andy Jassy is trying to turn Amazon from the company that dominated e-commerce and cloud computing into the infrastructure backbone of the AI era. This profile portrays him as a disciplined operator cleaning up Bezos-era excess while making some of the biggest AI bets in corporate history — spending hundreds of billions on chips, data centers, satellites, and partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic. Can Jassy preserve Amazon’s culture of invention while transforming it into a mature, tightly managed corporate empire? (Bloomberg; alternate link)

Comedy’s breakout star: Robby Hoffman has quickly become one of comedy’s breakout stars through her hit Netflix special and role on Hacks, building a reputation for provocative, deeply personal humor that divides audiences. Raised in poverty in a strict Hasidic Jewish community, Hoffman channels her chaotic upbringing, outsider identity, and blunt worldview into comedy that rejects polished Hollywood norms in favor of radical honesty, emotional openness, and unapologetic self-belief. (The Guardian)

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The company building a $200-billion data center: Meta’s $200 billion Louisiana data center shows what happens when the AI boom collides with small-town America. This profile frames the project as a lifeline for a struggling farming community now being reshaped by billionaires, politics, and massive energy demands. Residents want economic revival, but many fear they had little say in the transformation of their home. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

The billion-dollar skincare line: Hailey Bieber turned Rhode from a celebrity skincare line into a billion-dollar beauty empire by combining obsession and internet-native storytelling. Rather than relying solely on fame, she and her team built a “360 world” around Rhode — using YouTube, social media, aesthetics, and lifestyle marketing to cultivate demand long before products launched. The brand that sold out instantly, broke Sephora sales records globally, and was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty for up to $1 billion. (TIME)

✨ The rest of this newsletter is only available for premium members of The Profile, whose support makes this work possible. If you’re not already a premium member, consider upgrading your subscription below for access to an additional section of weekly audio + video recommendations. ✨

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I know all of you read a ton of newsletters, articles, posts, and updates every day, so I want to make sure The Profile continues to feel genuinely worth your time and attention.

If you have a few minutes, I’d really appreciate if you took this short survey. I’m trying to better understand what resonates most with you, what you want more (or less) of, and how I can make the publication more valuable over time.

Thank you for reading week after week, sharing the stories, replying to emails, and supporting The Profile. Your feedback genuinely means a lot to me.

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PS: I haven’t been posting a lot on X or Instagram because I’ve turned my focus to Substack Notes, which I love. You can follow me on Notes here.

PROFILES.

— Comedy’s newest star [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— Silicon Valley’s pro-tech Democrat
— The reality TV star building a real estate empire
— The influencer selling longevity hacks to women
— The struggling celebrity media company

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

Comedy’s newest star: Marcello Hernández is emerging as Saturday Night Live’s breakout Gen Z star — a hyper-energetic Miami comic whose charisma feels built for both TikTok-era fame and old-school stand-up. This GQ profile paints him as relentlessly “on,” turning every interaction into material while grinding obsessively at comedy even as Netflix specials and movie roles pile up around him. Hernández wants to become the next crossover comedy star in the mold of Kevin Hart or Adam Sandler. (GQ)

Silicon Valley’s pro-tech Democrat: Ro Khanna is reinventing himself from Silicon Valley’s favorite pro-tech Democrat into one of its loudest critics — backing a billionaire wealth tax, attacking the “Epstein class,” and openly antagonizing donors like Peter Thiel. Khanna believes distancing himself from tech elites could make him a credible 2028 presidential contender at a moment when public distrust of AI, billionaires, and Silicon Valley is surging. (Bloomberg)

The reality TV star building a real estate empire: Ryan Serhant says the real villain of his Netflix show Owning Manhattan isn’t a rival broker — it’s himself. The profile frames Serhant as a reality-TV savant who understands that fame comes from “creating noise,” whether that means jumping naked into a pool on camera or turning his own ambition and ego into storyline fuel. (New York Magazine; For more, check out my profile on Ryan Serhant here.)

The influencer selling longevity hacks to women: Kayla Barnes-Lentz is building a female-focused longevity empire on the idea that the biohacking world was built by men, for men. This profile portrays her as part wellness guru, part human experiment — turning blood tests, sleep tracking, saunas, and hormone data into a booming business for women who feel left out of Silicon Valley’s “live forever” movement. How much of modern longevity is real science, and how much is elite wellness theater?

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The struggling celebrity media company: Once valued at $650 million, Kevin Hart’s media company has faced layoffs, executive turnover, stalled projects, and internal conflict as Hollywood spending slowed and the business remained overly dependent on Hart himself. The profile suggests Hart’s new deal with Authentic Brands Group — which moves his endorsement business outside Hartbeat — may signal the slow unraveling of the company’s original vision.

✨ The rest of this newsletter is only available for premium members of The Profile, whose support makes this work possible. If you’re not already a premium member, consider upgrading your subscription below for access to an additional section of weekly audio + video recommendations. ✨

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