Stacey Abrams, Emily Weiss, Nancy Pelosi: Broadsheet December 12

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Fighting fair.  "Yes, I'm going to run again."

That was the applause line—well, the biggest one—while Stacey Abrams took the stage at Coins2Day's Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit in Laguna Niguel, California on Tuesday.

Three weeks after ending her bid to become the first female elected governor of Georgia, the first black elected governor of Georgia, and the first black female governor of any state—but not conceding to Republican Brian Kemp in an election marred by allegations of voter suppression—Abrams has kept busy. Her new organization is Fair Fight, devoted to protecting voting rights, she told Coins2Day's Beth Kowitt.

First, though, she took a breather—and a nap. A change of pace for someone who has a spreadsheet mapping out her life goals from ages 18 to 68, she told the crowd.

After such a hard-fought race, we're all familiar with what a tough battle Abrams faced. But I was struck by her description of doubt she faced on the inside, from fellow Democrats, friends, and family.

"Three or four women that I've known my entire adult life," she said, "They told me they weren't going to support me because they didn't think a black woman could win."

And when raising initial campaign funding from friends and family, "You steel yourself to make a phone call, and they pretend they don’t know who you are, and you're like, 'Mom, it's me,'” she said to laughs.

Abrams says she is "frustratingly" herself: "I'm not going to change my hair, my skin color, my gender to win this election. And there's no amount of Jenny Craig that's going to solve anything in six weeks."

Meanwhile, she gave a shoutout to her campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo, who Abrams says would be on magazine covers if she were a man for her innovative strategy prioritizing voter connections over TV.

You can read more about Abrams's talk—and the political milestones of her historic gubernatorial campaign—from Coins2Day's Andrew Nusca.

In the meantime, Abrams says, "If you can all move to Georgia, that'd be great."   Coins2Day

MORE FROM MPW NEXT GEN

• Who could say no to cereal milk? Christina Tosi of Milk Bar describes getting the cult favorite off the ground: "I’m a woman and we sell dessert, which is about the girliest thing possible," she says. "I wasn’t prepared for what a challenge it would be to sit in a room with a bunch of men questioning my vision and answers." Coins2Day

• Star cleanser. Glossier has hit $100 million in sales, but in other important news, Eddie Redmayne inspired its Milky Jelly cleanser, CEO Emily Weiss says.  Coins2Day

• Women in media. The big trend in news in 2018? Covering Trump's tweets. Five female journalists reflect on the past crazy news year. Coins2Day

• Career swerve. Claire Tomkins was working at SolarCity when she started IVF—and it changed her career path. How the Future Family founder went from clean energy to women's health: Coins2Day

• Role play. The hot-shot rule: imagine what a hot-shot executive would do if she took over your business that day. That's the advice of Kat Cole, COO and president of North America for Focus Brands, the private equity parent of Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s, Jamba Juice, and four other food chains. Coins2Day

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Kathie Lee Gifford will leave the Today show. Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, joins the board of Techtonic. Enterprise Holdings adds the title of president for COO Christine Taylor. Puja Clarke  is the new SVP of fashion-buying and e-commerce at Moda Operandi.  Meredith Dunn, formerly of Stitch Fix, joins Modsy as COO. Capitol Music Group names Amber Grimes senior vice president of global creative. ESPN signs Jessica Mendoza—in 2015 the first woman to be an analyst for a nationally televised MLB game—to a multi-year extension on Sunday Night Baseball.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• Quota system.  The places where women are making significant progress on representation on corporate boards are nearly all countries with government-mandated quotas, according to a study by Egon Zehnder. The study also found that three-quarters of boardroom appointments are still going to men.   Bloomberg

• Person of 2018. This year's Time  person of the year is "The Guardians," or journalists defending democracy, including Jamal Khashoggi and the journalists attacked at the Capital Gazette. Another reporter included was Maria Ressa, the journalist in the Philippines facing a crackdown from the government; the wives of two journalists imprisoned in Myanmar were also featured. Along with this year's picks, Time  included an update on last year's person of the year, the "Silence Breakers" who spoke out about sexual assault.   Time

• Power couple. Some interesting news out of Tory Burch, where the new CEO is Pierre-Yves Roussel, also known as Burch's new husband (and as a former LVMH executive). "American fashion hasn’t had this kind of couple at the top of one of its marquee brands since the days of Donna Karan and Stephan Weiss," the New York Times' Vanessa Friedman writes.  New York Times

• Box office bonus. In the past three years, movies starring women have out-earned movies starring men at the box office. On top of that, movies that passed the Bechdel test—where one woman speaks to another female character about something other than a man—outperformed those that failed. New York Times

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ON MY RADAR

Beyoncé, Bhangra, and a bill in the millions: The wedding that has India obsessed  New York Times

The star flutist was paid $70,000 less than the oboe player. So she sued  Washington Post

How I get it done: Jemele Hill  The Cut

Carol Burnett to receive new Golden Globes TV special achievement award named after her  Coins2Day

QUOTE