The Profile: The skydiver who survived the impossible & the HBS grad who ran a Ponzi scheme

This edition of The Profile features Monica Lewinsky, Sha'Carri Richardson, Emma Carey, and others.

Good morning, friends!

I am currently on a plane heading to FORTUNE’s annual Brainstorm Tech conference in Deer Valley, Utah. The event brings together a community of Fortune 500 leaders with top investors, VCs, banking executives, startup founders, and global influencers.

Some speakers include:

• Sequoia Managing Partner Roelof Botha on big bets in venture capital and what it takes to build legendary companies

• Vlad Tenev, Co-Founder and CEO, Robinhood on growing his trading platform abroad

• M12 (Microsoft Venture Fund) Head Michelle Gonzalez on the biggest bets in tech

• Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson on how human-centric robots are revolutionizing industry

• Forerunner founder Kirsten Green on what consumers really want

I’ll be moderating several sessions, including an on-stage interview with Grindr CEO George Arison. (If you want to live-stream the conference, you can do so here.)

I’ve been focusing on moderating more in-person panels, so if you have an event coming up and need a moderator, email me at polina@readtheprofile.com

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A PROFILE OF NOTE: This week, TechCrunch published a very well-reported profile of my husband, Anthony. I am biased, but I think it’s a great overview of the businesses he has started and all the ventures he’s been involved in over the years. (Plus, there are quotes from me, so you know they’re on point 🤣) You can read the profile here.

PROFILES.

— The skydiver who survived the impossible [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The Harvard Business School grad who ran a Ponzi scheme
— The fastest woman in the world
— America's infamous White House intern
— The brand that came back from the dead

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The skydiver who survived the impossible: Each step that Emma Carey takes is a size six miracle. She has no feeling in her legs, no sense of when her feet land or they're in the air. That means her legs give her brain zero feedback, so she has to think about where her legs are going but never feels where they are. Most people would have no idea that Carey is paralyzed from the waist down, or that she survived the unthinkable: In June 2013, Carey went skydiving for the first time and fell 14,000 feet out of a helicopter into an empty cow pasture in Switzerland, with two tangled parachutes and her instructor passed out on her back. So what happens after you survive the impossible? If you read one story today, let it be this. (ESPN)

The Harvard Business School grad who ran a Ponzi scheme: Vlad Artamonov told prospective investors, many of them his former classmates from Harvard Business School, that he’d discovered a hidden way to learn which stocks Warren Buffett was buying early, an edge that would make him a lot of money. It involved, he said, combing through esoteric state financial disclosures and then trading on the information — essentially, a way to obtain insider tips legally. But … it turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, primarily targeting HBS alumni. What a wild story. (New York Magazine; if you can’t access this story, try this link)

“There’s no way Vlad would be running a Ponzi scheme, right?”

The fastest woman in the world: At this present moment, Sha’Carri Richardson is the fastest woman in the world. Three years ago, Richardson was engulfed in a scandal when, as a gold-medal favorite for the Tokyo Olympics, she was suspended from the USA Track and Field team after testing positive for THC, the intoxicant in marijuana, and denied her chance to compete. Her comment on the matter? “I’m not back, I’m better.” Take a look inside her plans for the Paris Olympics. (Vogue)

“I’m better at being Sha’Carri. I’m better at being myself.”

America's infamous White House intern: In this first-person essay, Monica Lewinsky reflects on the last 10 years of her life. In 2014, she wrote an essay titled “Shame and Survival,” in which she allowed herself to be transparent—and unblinking for the first time since the Clinton scandal. (The first line was “How does it feel to be America’s blow job queen?”) So what has happened in the last 10 years? (Vanity Fair)

“I was no longer mediated through another’s gaze but stepping forward unabashedly.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The brand that came back from the dead: Abercrombie & Fitch has somehow pulled off the most exciting makeover in American retail. The Abercrombie brand, once an easy cultural punching bag, now brings in more revenue than it did when it dominated teen culture in the aughts. (Last year, sales reached $2.2 billion.) Its namesake parent company, which also includes the beachy teen retailer Hollister, is now the toast of Wall Street and a curious case study for business reporters. The stock is one of the best-performing of the last two years, with growth outpacing even AI-chip giant Nvidia. Here’s how it happened. (New York Magazine; if you can’t access the article, try this link)

“It feels like I’ve worked for two different companies.”

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