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Plus, why IVF financing is a potentially lucrative asset class

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If you are among the 170 million Americans who use TikTok on a regular basis, you likely know how easy it is to get sucked into the app’s never-ending scroll of recommended videos. You may also be interested to learn that this recommendation engine was shaped by a bunch of ordinary, twentysomething curators—including a guy named Jorge.

Forbes senior writer Emily Baker-White spoke to Jorge as part of the reporting for her new book, Every Screen on the Planet. The book is a deep-dive into a business that has occupied hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of our time as social media consumers and whose ownership has been a focus of both President Trump and President Biden.

In a Forbes Newsroom segment with yours truly, Baker-White calls Jorge’s video curation for TikTok “not nefarious,” but instead something that serves as an important reminder that “as we’re more reliant on complex pieces of technology, those pieces of technology are the codification of a person’s choices about how we should behave. And that’s how we should think about them and that’s how we should regulate them.”

If you’ve ever felt like TikTok’s algorithm is magic or if you’ve been curious about what the heck is going on with the U.S. government’s negotiations with TikTok parent company ByteDance, I recommend watching our full conversation here and following all of Baker-White’s coverage here.

Maggie McGrath Editor, ForbesWomen

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Exclusive Forbes Profile

Unprofitable Microlending Fintech Makes Big Bet On Global Expansion

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When Shivani Siroya founded Tala in 2011, she set out to build what sure sounds like one of the hardest businesses in financial services to make profitable: lending money to low-income consumers in developing nations. The journey has indeed been challenging, and the Covid-19 pandemic tripled Tala’s delinquency rate. As Siroya has focused on rebuilding from that nadir, Tala has achieved pre-pandemic lending levels, annualized revenue of $340 million, and 1.8 million active, revenue-generating customers. Yet, it remains unprofitable—and is betting it can grow its way to profitability and do so in a business that is inherently risky.

ICYMI: Stories From The Week

We regret to begin this week’s news roundup with the news that Jane Goodall, the renowned ethologist, conservationist and U.N. Messenger of Peace died Wednesday at the age of 91. According to the institute she founded in 1977, Goodall died of natural causes. Last week, she spoke at the Forbes Sustainability Summit about why we shouldn’t lose hope for the earth’s future and what we can each do to protect the environment. Her last words to the Forbes audience were these: “Just think that today, and tomorrow and the next day, each day you're going to be making some kind of impact. Think and choose wisely what sort of impact you make.”

Iconiq Impact, the philanthropic arm of private office Iconiq Capital, this week announced a new $100 million women’s health initiative with Melinda French Gates, Jennifer Gates Nassar, Phoebe Gates, along with 14 other donors.

On Tuesday, WNBA star Napheesa Collier unleashed a blistering public critique of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, accusing her of negligence, dismissiveness and a lack of accountability that she says threatens the future of women’s basketball. “The real threat to our league isn't money. It isn't ratings or even missed calls or even physical play. It's the lack of accountability from the league office,” Collier said.

Gabrielle Union has lived with post-traumatic stress disorder for over thirty years since being sexually assaulted at gunpoint at age 19. Through evidence-based treatment she’s received from Nema Health, an online platform for trauma treatment, recovery has begun to feel possible. And now, the actress and activist is joining the female-founded venture-backed startup as an investor and advisor.

The cost of egg-freezing and IVF for people who want to build families can quickly top $20,000. Claire Tomkins launched Future Family in 2017 as a way to bring more financing options to the IVF process. Tomkins sat down with ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath to talk about how she's scaling her business, why IVF financing is a potentially lucrative asset class, and why she recently decided to hand over the CEO reins to Alden Romney, a veteran healthcare executive.

CHECKLIST

1. Turn stress into your superpower. What if the next time you felt that familiar rush of anxiety, you asked, “How can I channel this?” With the right reframing and sense of curiosity, stress can be a source of energy that can help you become your boldest, most capable self.

2. Consider a sabbatical. Call it a break, call it a sabbatical, and if you really must go with the current trends in work lingo, call it a micro-retirement. The name is less important than the intent: Taking time away from your career, mid-journey, to learn a new skill, protect your mental health, or take a strategic reset.

3. Rebuild after a layoff. With more than 300,000 Black women pushed out of the U.S. workforce in the last several months, there has been continued conversation about what this mass exodus means for the U.S. workforce—and how those who’ve been pushed out can, if they wish, work their way back in.

GAMES

QUIZ

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of top U.S. military officials to attend an in-person meeting this week where he outlined his priorities. Which of the following was one of the critiques he offered?

A.	He called the Defense Department “woke”
B.	He fat-shamed generals and admirals
C.	He lamented “superficial individual expression,” like facial hair
D.	All of the above

Check Your Answer

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