We don't need flying cars and fashion shows.

This week: Elon’s (dumb) flying car, the rise of women’s health brands (but not investment or research dollars), and Barbara Palvin hitting the VS runway six weeks postpartum.

Let’s get into it.

Last week, Elon flipped a car off a ramp in Texas and called it flying. The show alone likely cost millions.

I’m starting here because every time we hear there isn’t money for basic policies that support women, or that women’s health is “niche,” this is proof that the money exists. It’s just going somewhere else.

It isn’t inspiring innovation to watch a trillionaire gallivant around shooting a flying car off a ramp while living costs, childcare, gas prices and the housing market are all at a breaking point, ya know?

Read the room, Musky boy.

In 2009, Heidi Klum walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show about six weeks after giving birth to her fourth child. Alessandra Ambrosio did it just months into postpartum in 2008 and 2012. The headlines then were all about their “post-baby body.” How did she do it? How did she bounce back so fast?

Nobody asked whether she should have to.

Seventeen years later, Barbara Palvin did the same thing only 6 weeks since having her first child, and this time the internet was split — some thought she was inspiring, some pushed back hard on the bounce back culture. People asked why a woman six weeks postpartum is on a runway at all.

That’s progress, for sure. Some people were finally having a new conversation. Instead of “how did she get her body back?” it was “should she have to?” But look at who’s still at the center of it: the woman and her body.

Decades ago, she was praised for snapping back. Now, she’s debated for setting a bad example. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation and either way, the woman carries it.

And here’s what hasn’t moved an inch in those 17 years: the system!

In 2009, the U.S. had no federal paid leave. In 2026, we still don’t. Barbara said it herself: she’s doing what every other American woman does at six weeks — goes back to work. And for many, that would be lucky.

1 in 4 women go back to work 2 weeks after having a baby!

So maybe the runway got a rebrand with more inclusivity and body diversity, yay. But the policy - and lack thereof - remains the same.

I recorded my full take on this, including what I think both sides are getting wrong. [Watch it here.]

The same week Elon was flying cars, I was at the Women’s Health Summit by WME, and the energy was electric. Women’s health isn’t “niche” anymore — something we’ve been hearing forever. It’s a true category with investors paying attention and new innovation every week.

I heard from some incredible founders at the event:

But here’s the truth: this rebrand of the entire industry happened from the bottom up. Founders did it, mostly women turning their lived experience into products, without the research dollars to back them.

It’s kinda giving the same energy as the runway and paid leave — the system doesn’t show up, so individual women carry it, and then we call it inspiring. (which it is, but we shouldn’t have to be inspiring is the point.)

But they shouldn’t have to do it alone. Imagine what they’d build if the research dollars matched the need.

Imagine what they’d build with one flying car’s budget.

Next week: Delusion, Grit, and Revamping the Cereal Aisle with Margaret Wishingrad.

Margaret turned a Central Park snack-cup moment into Three Wishes Cereal with zero food industry experience. We get into two years of no’s, running a company (as the CEO) with her husband, and the coffee shop stranger who became her first investor.

SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss it.

Let me know what you think of the new format! I would love to hear your hot takes, responses, thoughts.

Until next week!

xx,

Cat