Plus, how to use the “Great Lock-In” to refine your own goals |
Be careful, but don’t be afraid. Use AI tools that are available to you—don’t run from what you may not immediately understand. Be conscious of the trends and movements growing around you when you’re building a company. And above all, trust your intuition.
These were just some of the gems of wisdom that dropped during the 2025 Forbes Power Women Summit yesterday—from cultural icons like Hoda Kotb and Bethann Hardison, tech titans like Kara Swisher and May Habib, and self-made billionaires Sara Blakely and Lucy Guo. Videos of all of these conversations will be rolling out on Forbes.com in the coming days and weeks, but for now, if you missed yesterday’s festivities, I encourage you to catch up on it all with this comprehensive live blog written by Forbes reporters Zoya Hasan and Alex York.
News was broken throughout the day, too: Melinda French Gates announced a $100 million partnership between Pivotal Ventures, the company she founded to accelerate social progress and expand women’s power, and Wellcome Leap, the breakthrough health organization led by Regina Dugan. Moira Forbes previewed a brand new Forbes list of the Most Powerful Women In Sports, coming October 22. And if you follow us on social media, you’ll know that I enlisted Hoda Kotb to help us announce that nominations for the 50 Over 50 Global list are now open! Head to this link right here to tell us about a woman who lives and works anywhere in the world other than the U.S. and who is creating her greatest professional impact after the age of 50.
I would normally leave this note there, but because today marks the 24th anniversary of September 11th, I want to also share this story from Forbes contributor Rachel Burchfield, who spoke with three female journalists about what it was like to cover the tragedy on that fateful day in 2001. Darlene Rodriguez, a native New Yorker who is now the co-anchor of Today in New York on NBC 4 New York, was working the night shift for WNBC at the time, but jumped in her car to start reporting when she got the call about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
“It’s never really gotten away from any of us, really,” Rodriguez says. “We all learned a lot that day. You learn about what’s important, you learn about how people should be treated and what really matters.”
Cheers,
Maggie |
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 | | ILLUSTRATION BY NEIL JAMIESON FOR FORBES |
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ICYMI: Stories From The Week |
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A new NBC News poll reveals that the gender divide between Gen Z men and women extends far beyond politics: there is a fundamental disagreement in how each cohort views a “successful” life. Gen Z women—especially those who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the last election—place the highest value on fulfilling careers, financial flexibility, and emotional stability, while Gen Z men—disproportionately aligned with Donald Trump—place greater importance on marriage, children, and traditional family life.
Former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock became the 80th president of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. She is the fifth woman to serve in the post since it was created in 1946. “I am fully aware that peace and development can only be sustained when half of the world’s population, when women have an equal seat at the table,” she has said.
According to a new report from Redfin, the Black homeownership rate fell to 43.9% in the second quarter of 2025, a decline that coincides with a rise in unemployment among Black women—and this may be “putting a double burden on Black households,” writes Forbes contributor and Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.
Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, has closed an oversubscribed Series B investment round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, the league announced. The deal values Unrivaled at $340 million, a record figure for a new professional sports league. (Editorial note: Forbes EVP Moira Forbes invested in an earlier round of funding for Unrivaled.)
New Mexico will become the first state in the nation to guarantee universal free childcare. The announcement from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, scheduled to take effect November 1, 2025, landed with both excitement and skepticism: For families, the prospect of saving an estimated $12,000 per child per year can feel life-changing. For policymakers, it raises questions about funding and whether other states can follow a similar path. |
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| GAMES | | QUIZ | | There are 500 U.S. billionaires whose net worth was not high enough to make the Forbes 400 this year. Which of the following billionaire women did not make the list? | | A. | Taylor Swift | | B. | Kim Kardashian | | C. | Oprah Winfrey | | D. | All of the above |
| | | FRASE BY FORBES |  | | Unscramble today’s anagram to solve this hidden phrase! |
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