#5SmartReads - January 20, 2021
Hitha on women's health, 5G, and Colleen Hoover
Women’s Health Is More Than Female Anatomy And Our Reproductive System — It’s About Unraveling Centuries Of Inequities Due To Living In A Patriarchal Healthcare System (HBS Health Care Blog)
Take it from two leaders in this space - Halle Tecco and Julia Cheek - who have built and invested businesses doing this exact unraveling.
I think every woman and non-binary person in this community has experienced a misdiagnosis, their healthcare provider not listening to their symptoms fully, or just a negative experience that’s stuck with them.
And if you’re a patient of color, far more than one experience.
This piece is an excellent primer on the state of women’s health and the direction it needs to move into. And women like Julia and Halle, as well as Simmone Taitt of Poppyseed Health, Dr. Patrice Harris (President of the American Medical Association), and Dr. Pinkey Patel of The SnapBack are leading and building the health system we need and deserve.
Colleen Hoover Did It Her Way (ELLE)
Give me one of my favorite thriller authors and one of my favorite writers (and book recommenders), and you have a must-read article.
I still haven’t quite recovered from Colleen Hoover’s Verity, but it hasn’t stopped me from going deep into her backlist and reading everything she’s written (still working my way through her works).
What I loved about this interview is Hoover’s honesty about her process, which is such a refreshing departure from the writing advice most authors dispense:
“I only make decisions that make me feel less stressed,” she explains. “Sometimes I feel like everyone needing things from me is very stressful, so I'll self-publish a book because I just want to put it out there and be done. Then sometimes I want that help, and it feels less stressful if I go with a [traditional] publisher. There's no rhyme or reason to my decisions.”
Brava, Lily. This interview is as engaging as one of Hoover’s novels.
EXPLAINER: Why airlines fear 5G will upend travel this week (Associated Press)
Flight cancellations and 5G delays are dominating the headlines. But the “why” is not often covered in the reporting.
Here’s the why:
There were concerns that turning on 5G near airports could interfere with aviation equipment and potentially cause accidents. Out of an abundance of caution, a number of international carriers have cancelled flights back into the United States yesterday and today, until the FAA and wireless carriers came out and announced that 5G would not be enabled in the towers close to airports.
Let’s hope they wait until Mercury is direct (February 4) before they try enabling 5G service near airports again…
“Everything is content”: Inside the daily grind of one of India’s biggest influencer families (Rest Of World)
I am so grateful for the second career I’ve been able to build because of social media, the friendships I’ve made, and the opportunities I’ve been given.
And while I respect every creator’s journey building the business that works for them, I think a lot about how my kids and younger folks on these apps will have their lives impacted based on what their parents chose.
This article is an eye opening look at one family’s life and business, online and offline. Special thanks to Julia for sharing it first on her story.
Opinion: Iowa policymakers should aim to help Iowans in need, not scapegoat them (Des Moines Register)
You hear a lot from the top on the impact - or the downsides - of policies, like the expansion of SNAP benefits and the child tax credit that just expired.
You often don’t hear about the local impact of these bills. But this op-ed - written by Matt Unger, the CEO of a nonprofit that operates one of the largest food pantry networks in Des Moines, has seen and writes about the impact firsthand.
It’s a piece that takes the partisanship from policy and focuses on impact - something our leaders need to do more of.