AUG 27, 2026

INSIDE: Rhinestones, Hobbymaxxing, and What’s Next.

TODAY I WILL:

Let confidence look like consistency.

Everything’s a little more fun with rhinestones. Dolly taught us that.

• A 2023 Dolly Parton interview goes behind the seams of her legendary style.

• Frost yourselves: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is coming back.

• The newest it-boy is blue, tiny, and lives in a tree.

• Will you be trying the bedazzled hair trend?

• Turns out, there’s more than one way to spritz.

Looking to Hobbymaxx? 

As we’ve all recently learned, hobbies make you happy. Not only is finding little activities that stimulate your brain beneficial for getting your screen time reduced, but studies are finding that they can seriously lower your stress levels. It’s a win-win. Many have gone the social route, picking up Mahjong nights as a weekly ritual (count us in), but activities can also give you the alone time you’ve been craving. 

According to new data from Pinterest, 51% of Gen Z says that having a hobby contributes to their joy. And since we’re all about finding new ways to maximize joy, we were curious about which hobby trends were bringing the most fulfillment (or at least grabbing the most attention on the platform). Here are the ones that stood out to us: 

1. Cosmic Resetting: Not super traditional, but this covers everything from learning astrology and reading tarot cards to dabbling with crystals. 

2. Backyard Botany: People are getting serious about gardening, but it goes so much further than that if you want to really lean in. Think about learning how to make dried and pressed flowers from your own garden, nature meditation, starting your own field journal, or nature photography. 

3. Homemade Hackers: Journaling has hit a new level. People are getting the most out of DIY photo albums, creating birthday magazine templates, scrapbooking, and, of course, dream journaling.

What do you want from a hobby?

Amber Atherton has made a career out of knowing what people will want next. The British entrepreneur and investor is a powerhouse with experience on nearly every side of the startup world: She launched her first jewelry brand at 19, built and sold community software startup Zyper to Discord, and even had a stint on Made in Chelsea along the way. Today, however, her focus is on turning her founder’s instinct into investments in the next generation of consumer companies.

We caught up with Amber about how she knows what’s next, whether good taste can actually be learned, and the career advice that’s stuck with her.

You've been a founder, operator, investor, and even had a stint on reality TV. Which experience has shaped you the most?

All of the roles I’ve played throughout my career have really shaped how I operate now as an investor, but I think being a founder myself has shaped how I now invest in other founders the most. Everything that I do now, as an investor with an independent fund, is what founders are also doing every day, which I think allows for a much greater level of understanding and partnership between us as investors and the founders we work with. 

Part of your job is identifying what's next before everyone else sees it. What catches your attention?

I usually focus on areas where people are interested and think about what will come next, whether it’s in the fitness space, seeing a shift from solo workouts to social workouts (why we invested in Sweatpals), investing in System at the height of the peptide boom, or a new area I’m expectant to see take off, which is AI and travel. Right now, I’m paying particular attention to how AI can play a role in the future of travel and proactive planning. The ideas that catch my attention are ones that address a clear consumer need or problem and develop new technology around that, as opposed to the other way around. 

You've written about the idea of a "relationship OS." What does that mean?

The relationship OS is the idea of a hybrid social-dating platform designed to help you create new relationships and friendships that evolves with you as an AI companion product and intelligent social network as you evolve. It doesn’t have a fixed form factor, but looks like a social network with a personal AI agent, or built into other applications, an additional layer on top of a more recognizable relationship network.  

What's the best career advice you've ever received?

The best career advice I’ve ever received is to be selective about who you work with. I spent so much of my early career as a solo founder that when I started wor