Good morning! Trump administration gutting biggest study on women’s health, Adrienne Adams is hoping to be New York City’s first female mayor, and two stylish Gen Z founders come for fashion resale.
– Resale race. Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni yesterday plastered the internet with the launch of their new startup Phia. There were Phoebe and her dad Bill Gates in the New York Times, newsletter appearances, and fashion coverage. It was the kind of launch we can likely expect from two high-profile Gen Z founders who are building, candidly, in public.
Gates and Kianni met as roommates at Stanford and wanted to work together. They landed on the idea of a shopping assistant; Phia is a price-comparison tool inspired by Google Flights that tells online shoppers whether an item they’re considering buying is a good deal. It sources information from across resellers—Depop, Poshmark, The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, eBay, and more—to share other listings and the median price of the item. The goal is to be a full-fledged shopping assistant—not only showing you cheaper secondhand listings, but answering the question, “should I buy this?” Based on how it might hold its resale value and even what else you have in your closet.
“Our target consumer is a young woman who’s hustling. She shops like a genius, but she doesn’t want to waste her time doing it,” Gates told me earlier this week at Phia’s New York offices.
Phia’s name is a portmanteau of Gates’ and Kianni’s own names. While building the now 8-person startup, the pair are also cohosting a podcast called The Burnouts on Alex Cooper’s Unwell network. Their first guest was Phia investor Kris Jenner; they’re planning to show the honest reality of building a startup as 22- and 23-year-olds—before an IPO or even sure success. “So many founder podcasts, it’s basically a victory lap,” Gates says. “For us, it’s like—we’re not experts.” They have raised capital from a “blue-chip investor” but have not announced the details yet; Gates’ family didn’t fund the startup.
Gates has been an advocate for reproductive rights, alongside her mother Melinda French Gates, and thought she might go into women’s health. “I did not expect to be a founder,” she says. Kianni founded a climate activism organization called Climate Cardinals and planned to pursue environmental law.
But they’re just as passionate about shopping secondhand as they are about those two interests. Kianni’s all-time favorite secondhand find is a pair of Dior heels with a blue bottom she found in the wrong size on The RealReal, and then used Phia to find in the right size; Gates’ is a $150 pair of Khaite jeans. “This could be our career, building together,” Gates said she realized. “This could be what we do every single day.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.Hinchliffe@coins2day.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Coins2Day’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Women’s health. The Trump administration is gutting the country’s first and largest women’s health study. The $10 million Women’s Health Initiative—which has tracked the health of tens of thousands of women for over 30 years—has been crucial for learning more about disease prevention in women. Science
- Ms. Mayor. Speaker of the New York City Council Adrienne Adams wants to be the city’s first female mayor. Now, she’s backed by three big unions and State Attorney General Letitia James. New York is the only major U.S. City never to have had a female mayor. New York Times
- More bans. President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to allow his ban on transgender people serving in the military to go into effect for now, as legal challenges to the policy continue. In the U.K., trans women are expected to be blocked from all-women shortlists of political candidates.
- Denim DEI. At Levi’s annual meeting, investors overwhelmingly voted against a proposal to end DEI programs; the proposal only received support from investors with less than 1% of shares in the denim company. Earlier this year, president and CEO Michelle Gass emphasized Levi’s longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. WWD
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
MDT, which helps credit unions with fintech, appointed Emily Szymczak as CFO. She is the founder and CEO of Maple & Grace, and she previously served as CFO of Fusion92.
RestorixHealth, a wound care solutions provider, appointed Melinda Estep as CFO. Most recently, Estep was CFO of John Muir Health.
Hiring platform Greenhouse appointed Paaras Parker as chief people officer. She was most recently CHRO at Paycor.
MiQ, a programmatic advertising company, named Marion Hargett U.S. Chief revenue officer. Hargett most recently served as VP of business development for The Trade Desk.
Rubrik, a data security company, named Kavitha Mariappan chief transformation officer. Most recently, she was EVP of customer experience and transformation at Zscale.
ON MY RADAR
Usha Vance, a quiet confidante, becomes celebrity on India trip Wall Street Journal
Now comes the ‘womanosphere’: The anti-feminist media telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican Guardian
Eight charts show men are falling behind, from classrooms to careers Bloomberg
PARTING WORDS
“I’m here. I won.”
— Model Linda Evangelista on her scars from surgeries, including a double mastectomy
