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The U.S. Women's Soccer Team Staged a Powerful Protest at Their Last Game


If you thought the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team was going to stay quiet about recent outrageous comments by U.S. Soccer regarding their equal pay lawsuit, you don’t know this USWNT.

In case you missed it, earlier this week court filings revealed some of the arguments U.S. Soccer (the team’s employer) is making as part of their argument that female players do not deserve the same pay as the men. (The USWNT sued the organization for gender discrimination in March 2019.) Among the U.S. Soccer claims are “biological differences” that they say prove the men’s team “requires a higher level of skill” and that “the job of a [men’s national team player] carries more responsibility within U.S. Soccer than the job of a [women’s national team] player.”

Megan Rapinoe and the rest of the women’s team had something to say about that. On March 11, the team was playing (ironically enough) for the She Believes Cup championship and chose to wear their warm-up shirts inside out during the National Anthem, hiding the U.S. Soccer crest in protest. “We just wanted to do something as team to show solidarity not only with ourselves but with all the little girls that those words were spoken to and the little boys and women out there as well who have been told that they are lesser than, just because of who they are,” Rapinoe said in The Guardian.

What was still showing, however, were the four stars representing the four World Cup titles the team has won. “We always feel like the most important and the most powerful thing is to play,” Rapinoe continued. “What we do on the field I think is the most powerful and inspirational, so it actually turned out that the only thing that was truly visible was our accomplishments, the stars on top, so that was a little unintended bonus. But we just wanted to show that that kind of rhetoric is obviously completely unacceptable. I know that we’re in a contentious fight but that crossed a line completely.”

Many fans on Twitter expressed their support for the women’s team.

Rapinoe talked about the damage caused by the information learned in the court filings. “It’s undertones and undercurrents, sometimes blatantly, that we’ve experienced before which is why we’ve filed the gender discrimination lawsuit,” she told The Guardian. “But for them to go that low and take it there in this lawsuit is not just disappointing for us, but more so for what it says to every other person in the country, every kid growing up, not only girls but the boys as well. You’re not lesser because you’re a girl and you’re not better because you’re a boy.”

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Apparently, U.S. Soccer took notice because as the She Believes Cup was ending, the organization’s president Carlos Cordeiro issued an apology. “On behalf of U.S. Soccer, I sincerely apologize for the offense and pain caused by language in this week’s court filing, which did not reflect the values of our Federation or our tremendous admiration of our Women’s National Team,” he said in a statement, per ESPN. “Our WNT players are incredibly talented and work tirelessly, as they have demonstrated time and again from their Olympic Gold medals to their World Cup titles.”

Cordeiro also said they are adding new legal counsel to their team. “I have made it clear to our legal team that even as we debate facts and figures in the course of this case,” he continued, “We must do so with the utmost respect not only for our Women’s National Team players but for all female athletes around the world. As we do, we will continue to work to resolve this suit in the best interest of everyone involved.”

Well, we suppose that’s a start.



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How to Fall Asleep Faster, According to Powerful Women


Three letters—CBD. Lord Jones Royal Oil has completely helped my sleep routine. If I’m having trouble sleeping after a long day, traveling, or simply need to unwind, it is my go-to.
—Jen Gotch, founder and CCO of ban.do and author of The Upside of Being Down

Know that your sleep issues have a greater context

Courtesy of Tessa Blanken

“From my research, it appears that in understanding sleep problems we might have to look beyond the mere problems themselves (i.e., difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early) and expand our focus to other characteristics that may be important in the development and maintenance of insomnia—personality traits, life-history, worrying and ruminating, and even the experience of happiness. We found that people’s sleep problems are the same—it is actually the context in which their sleep problems are developed and maintained that differs. So, when we consider insomnia, we need to think of it in the broader contexts of our lives.”
—Tessa Blanken, neuroscience, sleep & cognition researcher

Follow three easy rules

Doctor Jamie Coleman
Chris Bergin

“As a trauma surgeon who can work up to 100 hours in a week, creating good sleep hygiene is a must. Three of the quickest and easiest ways to get a better night’s sleep: Putting down the phone, putting down the wine glass, and picking up an eye mask. Screen time does worsen your quality of sleep by decreasing melatonin production. Secondly, alcohol. I know, I know, it might make you feel like you sleep better, but intake of alcohol within two hours of going to sleep drastically worsens your quality of sleep—it significantly reduces or blocks REM sleep, which isn’t just about dreaming, it is actually about mental restoration. Thirdly, although it might seem dark in your bedroom, there is often enough light from a variety of sources to decrease melatonin production. Blackout shades are great, but aren’t exactly portable. Eye masks come in a variety of shapes, materials, and styles that won’t crush your eyelashes but will allow your body to produce more melatonin, and a great night’s sleep.”
—Dr. Jamie Coleman, trauma surgeon (she’s doing a study sleep-tracking surgeons right now!)

Seriously, avoid blue light

Valdya Chapman
Courtesy of Valdya Chapman





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Demi Lovato's National Anthem at the Super Bowl 2020 Was So Powerful


Fresh off her moving performance at the 2020 Grammys, Demi Lovato returned to the spotlight on Sunday, February 2 to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl in Miami, Florida. This is the 27-year-old singer’s second performance since her July 2018 overdose.

Like her Grammys performance⁠—in which she debuted a new song, “Anyone”⁠—Lovato’s take on the national anthem was arresting and poignant. Of course, she was met with rapturous applause after finishing the song.

Here are some reactions to Demi’s performance:

Demi Lovato has been through so much over the past two years. After her overdose, she was hospitalized and then subsequently went into treatment. She addressed this herself in August 2018 on Instagram.

“I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction,” she wrote at the time. “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”

She continued, “I want to thank God for keeping me alive and well. To my fans, I am forever grateful for all of your love and support throughout this past week and beyond. Your positive thoughts and prayers have helped me navigate through this difficult time. I want to thank my family, my team, and the staff at Cedars-Sinai who have been by my side this entire time. Without them I wouldn’t be here writing this letter to all of you. I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery. The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say I came out on the other side. I will keep fighting.”

She seems to be in a much better place now. Shortly after her incredible Grammys performance, she took to Instagram and said, “What an unbelievable night. My first time back on stage in almost 2 years. So emotional for me. Thank you all for the love, support and for sharing this moment with me. I love you all.”

Watch Lovato’s Super Bowl performance, below:



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Meghan Markle Just Wrote a Powerful Letter About Access to Higher Education


“I am proud to be patron of the ACU and all that it stands for, as we champion those seeking a higher education and commit to making this world a better place – together,” Markle wrote.

Education access has been an important cause for the Duchess of Sussex, who graduated from Northwestern University in 2003 with a double major in theater and international relations, since well before she became a royal. She has spoken publicly about it on a number of occasions since marrying Prince Harry in 2018. In January, she met with students from one of the ACU’s 500 university members:

“As a university graduate, I know the personal feeling of pride and excitement that comes with attending university,” she said in a speech during the couple’s royal tour in Fiji. “From the moment you receive your acceptance letter to the exams you spend countless late nights studying for, the lifelong friendships you make with your fellow alumni to the moment that you receive your diploma, the journey of higher education is an incredible, impactful, and pivotal one. I am also fully aware of the challenges of being able to afford this level of schooling for many people around the world, myself included.”

You can read Meghan Markle’s entire letter here.



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Impeachment Inquiry – A Guide to the Impeachment Inquiry’s Most Powerful Women


The impeachment inquiry has been overrun with men. Ever since news broke that President Donald Trump had attempted to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election, attempting to withhold crucial aid to Ukraine in order to extract an investigation into his political rival, the stories have been filled with men.

There’s Trump himself, of course. But also: his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky; his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani; U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland; Energy Secretary Rick Perry; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Andrey Yermak, an aide to Zelensky; Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a top Ukraine expert on the White House National Security Council; George Kent; William Taylor; Hunter Biden; former vice president Joe Biden. And on.

And on.

But for all the men—in the Oval Office, the cabinet, Ukraine, Russia, the House of Representatives, the National Security Council, Trump’s ear, his Twitter feed—women continue to play a prominent role in the impeachment inquiry, providing crucial testimony, addictive commentary, and the political will to hold this president to account.

Here, a guide to those women who’ve quickly become Trump’s worst nightmare.

Nancy Pelosi, the Boss

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wasn’t the first Democratic woman in Congress to call for Donald Trump’s impeachment (in fact, she was closer to the last), but her support for this inquiry is the reason it’s happening at all. At 79, Pelosi is still a master vote counter. She’s also adept at dealing with petulant children; she has five. That combination—decades of experience and zero patience for shenanigans—has readied her for this moment.

So when the political tide did turn on impeachment, with moderates in the Democratic caucus reversing their stances to back it (joining the likes of Representatives Maxine Waters, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had been calling for impeachment for months) as more and more damning details trickled out, Pelosi seized on the momentum. Within a matter of weeks, Pelosi was publicly accusing Trump of violating his oath of office, threatening national security, and compromising the integrity of our democracy.

Last week she tacked a new claim onto the list of Trump offenses—bribery. It’s one of the few violations that the Constitution expressly names, so it is a big deal. It’s also likely more intelligible to the American people than a “quid pro quo.” First we save the republic. Then we learn Latin.

Or as Pelosi put it to reporters last week: “The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry, and that the president abused his power and violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid and a White House meeting in exchange for an investigation into his political rival—a clear attempt by the president to give himself an advantage in the 2020 election.”

With the probe underway and taking place within congressional committees, Pelosi is no longer its face. But she’s still one of the most prominent voices on Capitol Hill, and so how she chooses to frame the stakes of it still matters.

Marie Yovanovitch, the Stateswoman

If it were up to her, Marie Yovanovitch would not be trending on Twitter. Until she was fired from her post in Ukraine and recalled to Washington, D.C., in May, she wasn’t well known outside of the civil service. Yovanovitch has been a career diplomat for most of her professional life, quietly serving in Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Ukraine under both Democratic and Republican administrations. But after Trump dismissed her, her profile grew. First she was turned into the target of a conspiracy-fueled, utterly baseless smear campaign, thanks to Rudy Giuliani and the right-wing news media. Then she became a star witness in the impeachment inquiry, testifying privately in October and in public last week.



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Bella Hadid Says Victoria's Secret Never Made Her Feel ‘Powerful’


It’s not all that rare to see Bella Hadid, one of the highest paid models of her generation, in lingerie. But at the Vogue Fashion Festival in Paris on Friday, she admitted that she never felt comfortable until walking in Rihanna’s epic Savage x Fenty show this September. “That was the first time on a runway that I felt really sexy. Because when I first did Fenty, I was doing other lingerie shows and I never felt powerful on a runway, like, in my underwear,” she said per WWD.

Hadid, who has walked the runway for Victoria’s Secret three times, shared that she’s struggled with mental health issues for years. “For a while I just didn’t want to talk about it, and I’ve gone through a lot in the past few years with my health,” she said. “I feel guilty for being able to live this incredible life, have the opportunities that I do, but somehow still be depressed. It doesn’t make sense.”

Her point is powerful and important: Mental health issues like depression and anxiety don’t discriminate. Success doesn’t make you immune.

“I would cry every single morning, I would cry during my lunch breaks, I would cry before I slept. I was very emotionally unstable for a while when I was working 14-hour days for four months straight as an 18-year-old,” she said. “I think I just wanted to breathe a little bit. And so it kind of put me in a spiral.”

Last month, in honor of World Mental Health Day, Hadid alluded to struggling with her mental health to her followers on Instagram. “Being kind and protective to yourself and your energy is something I’ve learned to be helpful. When the world feels like it is collapsing around you, you are allowed to ask for help,” she wrote. “You do not have to deal w/ your mental state alone.”

At the panel on Friday, the 23-year-old model shared that she’s in a better place—and that she wants to help destigmatize mental health issues. “I feel like I would be doing a disservice to myself if I didn’t speak about something such as mental health, because that’s pretty much what I’ve been going through for the past five years very intensely,” she said. “Now we’re here and we’re good, but it took a while.”



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