• Sierra is TJX's outdoor lifestyle brand, selling apparel, gear, home goods, and pet products.
• It's still relatively small, but TJX said the chain could grow to 325 locations.
• Business Insider visited a store for a closer look at T.J. Maxx's younger, sportier sibling.

Shopping for outdoor lifestyle stuff is normally a quick way to burn a lot of cash.

Whether at Dick's Sporting Goods or REI, well-made apparel and gear usually come at a premium price — even with the occasional coupon or sale.

My consumer experience with activewear (and inactivewear), shoes, and other accessories led me to believe the relationship between quality and price was somewhat fixed.

That was before I discovered Sierra.

I gave my local store in Madison, Wisconsin, a look for the first time a few years ago.

I've done plenty of shopping at Sierra's more widely known siblings, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, and I never really felt the spark that keeps die-hard Maxxinistas coming back. Yes, the discounts at those stores seem large, but I'm not always able to tell if the price is actually a good value — especially if I don't recognize the brand.

Scanning the racks at Sierra was a different story, however. These were brands that I knew and trusted, like Smartwool, Carhartt, and more.

Each time I came back, I wondered why the Sierra brand wasn't more widely known relative to TJX's other brands and even other outdoor retailers.

It turns out, the reason is pretty simple. The brand was, and still is, fairly small and a more recent addition to the TJX portfolio.

Originally called Sierra Trading Post, the company started as a catalog company in 1986 in Reno, Nevada. It later moved to Wyoming and launched its e-commerce business in 1999.

TJX acquired it for $200 million in 2012. The first TJX-owned stores were located in Denver, followed by its first East Coast location in Burlington, Vermont.

In 2018, with a fleet of a few dozen stores, TJX relocated the company's headquarters to its main offices in Framingham, Massachusetts, and dropped the "Trading Post" from the name. The brand has since been on a growth spurt, on track to have 137 US locations by the end of this year.

In the longer term, TJX said it expects the brand to have 325 locations, more than triple the number of stores it had a year ago.

That gives Sierra the fastest growth rate of any brand in the TJX portfolio, though in fairness, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls have more than 2,500 US locations combined, so their growth is slower.

Sierra's tiny stature means it barely receives individual mention in TJX earnings calls beyond annual announcements of planned store openings, per equity research platform AlphaSense.

Out of the spotlight, Sierra has nevertheless been busy.

Foot traffic data from Placer.ai found that customer visits doubled between 2019 and 2022, driven in part by a pandemic-era rush to spend more time outside. While some of that increase is a result of simply having more stores, visits per store were also up, Placer.ai said.

In one of Sierra's rare mentions, TJX CEO Ernie Herrman characterized the store's assortment as "moderate to very high end " in 2022. My experience certainly supports his assessment.

Some recent treasure-hunt finds include the pair of Fjällräven pants I got, the pair of Lodge cast iron enamel dutch ovens in my kitchen, and an ever-expanding collection of insulated drinkware from Yeti, Stanley, and Hydro Flask.

High-quality items from known brands have also given me the confidence to try unfamiliar offerings from the store's assortment, and I am rarely disappointed. Hydrapeak's mugs may not have the current cultural cachet of Stanley's cups, but they do a solid job for a fraction of the price.

Sierra's selection can be somewhat limited compared to a traditional retailer's, but I almost always find something worthwhile. I now make a point of checking Sierra before or after trips to REI and Dick's.

Neither of those competitors is sleeping on Sierra, though.

In addition to its Public Lands stores, Dick's has recently experimented with clearance stores like the Warehouse Sale and Going Going Gone. And the online REI Outlet offers deep discounts on many of the items the co-op carries in its stores.

Still, Sierra has been in the game for a long time online, and its physical presence is expanding at a rate that could see it match REI's store count in just a few years.

Another difference is that, unlike other national or regional outdoor lifestyle chains, Sierra's parent company is a powerhouse of off-price retailing.

TJX's fingerprints are all over Sierra's stores, and the combination of its tried-and-tested playbook with this retail category makes the small but mighty brand an exciting one to follow.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. BI's Jake Epstein spent the night aboard a US Navy destroyer traveling from England to France. He said the space was tight, as he got a taste of what daily life is like.

By the way, you can get the latest on modern warfare, defense tech innovations, and more with BI's new Defense Flash delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up here!

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On the agenda today:

• Inside Silicon Valley's $100 million salary divide.
• It's the age of the "Zillow Ban." Here's what homeowners should do.
• Amazon rolls out a stricter performance review process, BI exclusively reports.
• Wall Streeters told BI the hottest restaurants, bars, and clubs in the Hamptons.

But first: BI has the receipts on the impact of AI data.

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If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

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This week's dispatch

Tallying the full costs of AI

To fulfill the promise of AI, data centers have sprung up around the country, using water, land, and electricity to deliver computing power for the booming tech.

A team of BI reporters and editors sought to quantify the spread of these centers and show the impact on their surroundings. I chatted with two lead reporters on the project, Hannah Beckler and Dakin Campbell, about their takeaways.

Hannah, Dakin, in a nutshell, how many data centers are there in the United States, and how fast is the boom happening?

There are 1,240 data centers either built or approved for construction in the United States. That's four times as many as there were in 2010.

What is the biggest worry with the spread of data centers — the green space they use, the water, the electricity? And if these concerns are urgent, why aren't towns pushing back?

Electricity and water use are large concerns because they are limited resources. But data centers often bring tax revenue, which towns use to build roads, schools, and fire stations. Public officials have been caught in the middle, with some towns pushing back and others openly welcoming the industry with tax breaks.

Are there benefits to data centers, both for nearby property owners and for the promise of AI?

AI could usher in tremendous benefits, from business savings to life-saving science. Many also argue that a leading AI industry bolsters national security. For nearby property owners, the benefits are typically the tax revenue their towns collect, short-term jobs in construction (which can also bring road congestion), and perhaps a few dozen longer-term tech jobs in their community.

For the future, what are the most important issues about data centers that people should be watching?

The largest tech firms understand that public opinion is mixed about their use of resources like power and water, and they are taking steps to improve their efficiency. It will be critical to see whether they will find ways to use less water and more renewable energy.

---

Big Tech's winner-take-all era

In Silicon Valley, companies like Meta and OpenAI are offering eye-popping pay packages to technical hires to secure the best talent in the AI race.

At the same time, however, rank-and-file tech workers are being laid off by the thousands. The result is an uneven shift that's going all-in on AI while squeezing other areas of innovation.

The great salary divide.

Also read:

• In Silicon Valley, it is the summer of comp FOMO as Meta and OpenAI offer tens of millions of dollars to lure top AI talent
• Mira Murati's secretive new startup is dangling $500,000 salaries for top talent

---

The "Zillow Ban" is here

Zillow's new policy blacklists any homes that are shared publicly by an agent without being posted to the local databases that inform the rest of the real estate industry. It's part of Zillow's ongoing battle against big brokerages to crack down on "exclusive inventory" — home listings that are shared in some places but not others.

The fight leaves homebuyers and sellers in a weird spot, but not a powerless one. The rules of the game are changing, and consumers should know exactly what they're getting from their agents and how much they'll be paying them, writes BI's James Rodriguez.

What homebuyers should do.

---

Amazon toughens up reviews

How do you measure culture? That's a question Amazon managers will now have to deal with, thanks to a new performance review process the Big Tech company is instituting.

Starting this mid-year review cycle, Amazon managers will use a three-tier system to rank how employees demonstrate the company's core values, which it calls Leadership Principles, in their work, per an internal memo seen by BI's Eugene Kim.

It's the first time company culture is formally part of reviews.

---

Hot spots in the Hamptons

The Hamptons have long been a favorite summer outpost for Wall Street's bankers and traders. BI spoke to current and former finance industry professionals, as well as some Hamptons locals and business proprietors, to find the buzziest spots out east.

Montauk's Surf Lodge was the most mentioned, but insiders also named scene-y restaurants like Le Bilboquet and low-key sites like Shinnecock, an ultra-exclusive golf club.

See the list.

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This week's quote:

"You are in a job interview for the whole internship."

— Wendy Lewis, managing partner of KPMG's Richmond, Virginia office, on her advice for Big Four summer interns looking to stand out.

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More of this week's top reads:

• Everyone is saying AI will reshape banking. A new report forecasts exactly how much.
• 4 signs the economy is in worse shape than we thought.
• What Diddy's guilty verdict and civil suits mean for his net worth, music catalog, and brands.
• Generative AI is making running an online business a nightmare.
• Most Americans aren't paying attention to a key part of retirement that has nothing to do with investing.
• Leaked docs show how Meta is training its chatbots to message you first, remember your chats, and keep you talking.
• 4 ways Trump's 'big beautiful' tax bill could affect your wallet.

• ChatGPT has entered the group text.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Jamie Heller, editor in chief, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.

Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump are reportedly moving quickly toward the next stages of their relationship, with even talks of wedding plans.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

Kelsey Pfleiderer told Newsweek was shocked but not surprised: "That kid has been defying gravity and expectations since Day One."

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda bounced back after a rough Austrian Grand Prix to make it through Q2 at Silverstone.

Aldrich Potgieter unexpectedly withdrew during Round 3 of the John Deere Classic has shocked golf world, especially just days after his Rocket Mortgage win.

• Antara Dave was hired by Microsoft after initially being rejected a year earlier.
• She improved her design skills and gained experience at Home Depot before reapplying.
• Dave emphasized critical thinking and AI knowledge for aspiring Microsoft designers.

This is an as-told-to interview based on a conversation with Antara Dave, a senior product designer at Microsoft who leads user experience for AI tools. She's worked at the company since 2022. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

Microsoft was and still is my dream company.

I applied one year before I got this job and was rejected. They gave some basic feedback on what I needed to learn, so I focused on that. I switched jobs at the company I was working, Home Depot, to get more of the real experience in design they were looking for.

When I applied again a year later, I did not have any referrals inside the company. I just applied to the Microsoft portal and got a call and went from there. After an initial job interview with the manager, I was brought in for a full interview day that lasted around five hours.

There was a one-hour interview where I presented my work to a bunch of people on the team, around 20 people. They also asked me questions about my project to understand how I made those design decisions. They wanted to learn how I approach and think about problems. There were a lot of questions on accessibility as well, because inclusivity is a big part of Microsoft, and they want to make sure that all the products that we make are accessible for all types of people.

The other three or four hours were one-on-one interviews with people in various roles. The last interview I had was with the "principal researcher" to make sure I matched up with their expectations. It was very raw and very honest. They want to know your personality and what things you have faced in the past.

They also dug deeper into my core values to ensure that aligned with the company. I've found Microsoft values diversity and inclusion, curiosity, good communication, collaboration, and accountability. Without curiosity, you are not going to learn. You also have to be very collaborative and friendly with each other. And of course, you are going to make mistakes, but you're expected to be humble and accountable.

What I did right during the interview

I actually enjoyed the entire interviewing process with Microsoft, and everyone was really friendly. But I was very nervous at the start because it was my dream company. As the interview process went by, I got more and more comfortable because it was not just them asking me questions. I was also asking them questions to learn about the company, the projects, the people, and the culture of the team.

One thing I did very well was my portfolio presentation because I had a lot of good visuals. There's a very good way to explain your thinking behind your projects with a lot of visual storytelling, starting with what the problem is, then how you tried to solve that problem, and what was the impact of the solution that you brought on. Was there any revenue impact or usability impact that improved? Showing the impact of a project matters more than anything.

I also think showcasing your personality and never hiding who you are helps. I was very authentic to who I am during the interview. They just want to see who you are.

One of my questions was, "Has there been a time where you were given critical feedback?" When I was at Home Depot, I had just joined the corporate world, and I was a little shy in expressing my ideas. After my initial few months, I was told, "You have great inputs, but you never share those. Why don't you share more?" So I told the interviewer at Microsoft how I handled that: I started raising my hand. I had one-on-one meetings with people so that I could be more comfortable sharing my insights and ideas.

They truly wanted to understand whether I'm aware of my strengths and weaknesses and how I'm working towards that, so I told them.

Advice for others who want to work at Microsoft

For others who want to get a job as a designer at Microsoft, develop your critical thinking skills. Design without critical thinking just becomes decoration. Design with critical thinking becomes impact.

I have a master's degree in engineering. Having any higher degree helps you build critical thinking because you are involved in all these complex projects. My ability to question and being OK with complexity, being uncomfortable, all of it is because I have been conditioned that way in my master's, because things were difficult and you had to find solutions and you had to talk with people.

In the era of AI, having knowledge of AI and LLMs is core now. You should also learn to "vibe code," which relies on AI to produce code. You don't necessarily need to know coding, but you need to know how to talk with an AI chatbot and know exactly how to give the right prompt.

The AI world is moving very fast, and everyone who wants to join Microsoft should start playing with all the different AI tools that are out there.

Do you have a story to share about your career or landing your dream job? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Chickpeas are rich in plant compounds that can lower your cholesterol.
• People who ate a cup of chickpeas per day for 12 weeks lowered their cholesterol to healthy levels.
• Here are some of the cheapest, easiest recipes they used.

Turns out, not all beans are created equal.

While black beans seem to be great at fighting low-grade chronic inflammation, chickpeas are more of a cholesterol-lowering powerhouse, according to recent research from Illinois Institute of Technology.

In a three-month study, researchers asked a group of roughly 24 prediabetic people to eat a cup of black beans every day, while another group of 24 with prediabetes was given chickpeas. In a third control group, participants cooked white rice.

By the end of just 12 weeks, the researchers noticed significant differences in inflammation levels for the black bean eaters, while chickpea eaters had a greater effect on their total cholesterol, moving from at risk (with an average total cholesterol around 200 mg/dL) into a heart-healthy range (186 mg/dL).

Chickpeas have cholesterol-lowering power

The reason why different beans house different health benefits probably has to do with the chemicals that color them and make each bean unique.

While the phytochemicals that make black beans black are known to have more anti-inflammatory properties, golden chickpeas have more of other plant chemicals called phytosterols, which are cholesterol-lowering compounds.

This is why nutrition buffs often recommend eating a wide variety of different colored plants, including fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains. By eating a rich diversity of colorful whole foods, you'll enjoy the complex natural "food matrix" found inside each one, lead researcher Indika Edirisinghe told Business Insider.

"It contains protein, it contains lipid, it contains fiber, vitamins, minerals," and different combinations of each from bean to bean, he said. "Somebody can synthesize artificial bean by adding all the nutrients, but I don't think you're going to get the same effect."

Registered dietician Joel Ramdial, who was not involved with this study, is the director of nutrition at Southeast Missouri State University's department of sport sciences. He told BI that beans are one of the most dense and varied sources of dietary fiber you can find, making them a great ingredient to mix into your next meal.

"You can blend them up and mix them into things, you can roast," he said. "You can put them in soups, you can mix them into sauces."

In order to make it easier on research participants to include a cup of chickpeas per day in their diets, Edirisinghe and his team equipped their study volunteers with canned chickpeas, a measuring cup, and several easy recipes.

Here are 5 chickpea recipes scientists recommend to lower cholesterol:

Cool ranch chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 2 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. of ranch seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Dry chickpeas well with paper towels
3. Spread onto a large baking sheet in an even layer
4. Bake until golden and crisp, 30 minutes
5. In a large bowl, toss the hot chickpeas with oil and seasoning
6. Spread out onto the baking sheet and bake for five more minutes
7. Remove from the oven. Chickpeas will continue to crisp as they cool.

Tomato cucumber feta salad with chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large cucumber, chopped
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, preferably multi-colored, halved
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. of red wine vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 tbsp. of fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, and onion
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Add to the large bowl and toss to combine.

3. Top with feta and cilantro

Honey sesame chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp. of rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. of fresh grated ginger
• Cooked rice, for serving
• Sesame seeds and sliced scallions, for garnish

Directions:

1. Put the diced onion, minced garlic, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, vegetable oil, red pepper flakes and ginger in a medium saucepan.
2. Add some water and bring to a boil
3. Reduce to simmer and cook for five to 10 minutes, until slightly thick
4. Add the chickpeas and return to a boil
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, until chickpeas are coated and sauce is thick

6. Serve over cooked rice, and garnish with the sesame seeds and sliced scallions, if desired

Chickpeas with leeks and lemon

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of chickpeas
• 4 leeks
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 branch of fresh rosemary
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, garlic, and rosemary over medium heat
2. Once the garlic turns fragrant and the rosemary starts to sizzle, remove the rosemary and set it aside
3. Add the leeks to the pan, along with a good pinch of salt
4. Cook, stirring often, until the leeks are soft and sweet but still green, around five to eight minutes
5. Add in the chickpeas, and continue to cook, turning the beans in the oil, for five more minutes. The chickpeas should darken slightly in color.
6. Using a microplane or zester, add a few scrapes of lemon zest into the pan, plus a squeeze of lemon juice
7. Stir to combine
8. Season to taste with lemon juice, zest, or salt as needed

Roasted chickpea gyros

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas
• 4 pita flatbreads
• 1 cup of tzatziki sauce
• 2 lettuce leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1/4 red onion, cut into strips
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 tbsp. of paprika
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1/4 tsp of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Pat the chickpeas dry with paper towels, removing any skins that come off
3. In a large bowl, gently toss the chickpeas with the oil, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and salt
4. Spread the chickpeas onto a greased, rimmed baking sheet and roast for roughly 20 minutes, until lightly brown but not hard
5. Spread tzatziki on one side of the pita bread, then sprinkle in 1/4 of the chickpeas, and add your veggies
6. Fold and enjoy!

Kayla Henderson told Newsweek: "Please be careful and watch for spiders because they do hold grudges."

"Can you believe everything you hear from the president of Iran? Probably not," the former Fox News host said on Saturday.

• When I was younger, I told myself that if I didn't have kids by 25, I wouldn't have them.
• All the women in my life had been young moms, and I wanted to be a young mom, too.
• I ended up having my kids at 37 and 40, and I now see the benefits of being an older parent.

From the time I started playing with dolls, I wanted to have babies of my own. By the time I was 15, I knew I wanted to be a young mom. I told myself that if I didn't have babies by the age of 25, I wouldn't have children.

When I was born, my father was a few weeks shy of his 25th birthday. By then, he already had a Ph.D. and a steady job as a college professor. My mother was 20 and a stay-at-home mom. Having children young and the roles they played in our family, as well as my father's professional stability, were not uncommon for their generation.

My parents divorced when I was 5, and my younger sister and I were raised by my dad. Eventually, my father remarried to a woman who was only 10 years older than I am, and they had two more children; my stepmother was also in her early 20s when she had my brother and sister.

My grandmother, who helped raise me, had also been a young mother. So to me, it made sense to follow in all these women's footsteps. Back the, being 30 sounded ancient to me. I didn't want a big generational gap between my children and me.

I was in my early 30s, childless and single, and still pining to be a mom

Through most of my 20s, I was in a long-term relationship with a man 11 years my senior who had two kids of his own. He wasn't partial to having more children, but I was young and naive and, of course, I was sure I could change his mind. Instead, we broke up.

Suddenly, I found myself single and childless in my early 30s. I dated around and had a few short-term relationships, but the desire to have babies did not wane one bit. At one point, I told my grandmother that I didn't care whether I adopted, did IVF, or got pregnant inadvertently. I wanted babies, and I wanted them now.

Then I met a guy four years younger than me who seemed like a breath of fresh air — no ex-wives, no kids, no bitterness. My biological clock was not just ticking; it was ringing the alarm! So, a year late, we got married, and a year after that, we decided to try to conceive.

It took a while, but I finally had my first baby just a few months shy of my 38th birthday. My second came when I was almost 41. Although both pregnancies were considered geriatric, I didn't feel I was "too old" during either pregnancy, and I was perfectly happy chasing toddlers in my 40s.

The advantages of being an older parent

Though 25 was my initial cut-off to have kids, I wouldn't have been ready by then. I had been battling bulimia for 10 years and was also suffering from bouts of depression. It took me another decade to sort myself out through therapy, 12-step groups, and medication.

When I started trying to conceive, I was in the best shape of my life, and I took excellent care of myself during both pregnancies. Looking back, I feel I was a much more responsible and aware parent than I would have been in my 20s.

My parents' divorce affected me deeply throughout my life. When I had to make my own tough call of filing for divorce, I did it with the utmost care, keeping our children in mind.

I'm 61 now, and my children are 24 and 21. Although I am much older than they are, I feel the generational gap between us is smaller than what my father and I had. I realize now that he never really had time to be young, while it took me a long time to become a mature, conscious adult.

My only regret is that I may not be around for my children when they're my age, while I still have my dad. He and I now enjoy a close relationship: we talk several times a week and spend quality time together when I come to visit. Then again, my grandmother lived to be 102, so who knows?

• Comedian Alison Leiby shared an email she once received from Vogue's Anna Wintour with no subject.
• Leiby said the lack of a subject line was stressful, but it was still "the best email" of her life.
• You might want to hold off on doing the same in your professional communications, experts told BI.

Alison Leiby remembers feeling her heart beat harder when she saw the email without a subject line appear on her phone.

It was from Anna Wintour, longtime editor of American Vogue.

As Leiby tapped on the message and waited for it to load, she felt a bolt of anxiety and thought, "Oh, God. What is about to happen?"

To her relief, Wintour's two-sentence message offered congratulations on a one-woman, off-Broadway show Leiby created and starred in. Wintour had been in the audience on opening night in May 2022, Leiby told Business Insider.

While she didn't need to worry about the contents of the message, Leiby nevertheless found it unnerving to receive an email sans subject line — especially from the doyen of fashion.

"In a professional context, it's genuinely terrifying because the door is open for it to be anything," said Leiby, a comedian whose writing credits include the TV series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

It's been reported that Wintour, who recently said she would give up her role as editor in chief of the American fashion glossy to devote more time to other responsibilities at the magazine and its parent company, sometimes sends emails without subject lines.

Despite Leiby's initial anxiety about the message, she later posted a screenshot of the email on social media, describing it as "the best email of my life."

A representative for Vogue didn't respond to a request for comment from BI about the message to Leiby or Wintour's email practices.

While leaving the subject line blank might work for some leaders —especially busy ones — workplace observers told BI that it's often a good idea to include one in business communications.

Picking the right subject line

Kathleen Schmidt, a publishing consultant in New York City, forces herself to add a subject line to most client emails she sends, even though she "hates" having to summarize a message with a title.

"They're just impossible to come up with sometimes," Schmidt told BI.

So, for less formal communications with colleagues, she'll often omit them. Schmidt sometimes does the same with friends or her husband — a practice that Schmidt said "drives him nuts."

"It's from me. What do you think it's going to say? Like, 'We won a million dollars?'" Schmidt said.

Thinking about your audience

Barring a life-changing financial windfall, including a subject line for work communications is often beneficial because it can help people suss out what's most pressing, Lizzie Post, great-great-granddaughter of etiquette authority Emily Post and coauthor of the book "Emily Post's Business Etiquette," told BI.

Those keywords can help people categorize a message and provide insights into its significance, she said.

"It's really important, I think, for the vast majority of us," Post said. "But I'm also a Vogue devotee. I will not go against the queen."

Kate Walker, a human resources consultant and executive coach in California, offered a similar assessment. Even though the summaries can be annoying, they have a purpose, Walker told BI.

"When I'm writing a subject line, I need to think about my audience," she said. "We're competing for people's time."

Leiby, the comedian, said that working as a performer and writer means she's grown accustomed to getting rejection emails. Even seeing an email from someone she'd interviewed with for a job can be nerve-racking, Leiby said.

Yet, when a message arrives without a subject, "your heart stops for a minute," she said.

"You're like, 'Oh, God, is this about to change my life in a good way or a bad way?'" Leiby said.

• I'm 40, and I'll never stop making new friends.
• I have friends of all ages and with different interests, and I cherish them all.
• I've realized that authenticity is the key to forming genuine relationships.

At 40, I have a beautiful circle of friends who range in age from their early 30s to 97, and I don't feel like I'll ever be done making new connections.

Meeting new people and being exposed to different viewpoints and experiences is something I live for. Maybe it's the journalist in me, but I've always been interested in other people's stories. I enjoy nothing more than getting to know someone and seeing what I can learn from them.

I've gotten better at making friends over the years

Looking back, I wasn't always like this. In high school, I was a bit of a loner. I had one close friend whom I tended to stick with. Later, in college, I made a small group of girlfriends whom I adored, but I was never rolling in it in terms of friendships.

Living and working overseas in my 20s helped build my confidence in meeting new people. I interacted with travelers from all over the globe and quickly learned how to find common ground with people from different walks of life.

But I think the real turning point was moving from Melbourne, Australia, to country Victoria three years ago. The town where we live has a population of less than 3,000 people, and I vowed not to be lonely after relocating to such a small community.

So, I made it my mission to put myself out there. Whenever I met someone I had something in common with, I'd initiate a catch-up. Even if I didn't have much in common with them, if I thought they could be fun or interesting, I'd put the offer on the table.

"Hey, would you like to go for a coffee or a hike?" I'd ask. Internally, often those earlier fears of mine would emerge. What if they thought I was weird or too forthcoming? However, more often than not, I found their answer was resoundingly 'yes.'

With time, I became more blatant about it. I remember meeting one of my husband's clients and instantly feeling a connection with his wife. "I really like you," I said. "Let's be friends." She laughed, and that was it. We've been buddies ever since.

I'm intentional about keeping my old connections strong as I form new ones

Most of my friendships are with other parents from the school or daycare community — having that common denominator of kids makes it easy to build rapport. But I also have friends outside that group. I have friends I hike or travel with, and I have single and child-free friends who are in a completely different phase of life.

As my friendship circle has grown, I try to remember to foster my old friendships, too. I have some special long-time friends who mean the world to me, and I regularly check in on them. Sometimes, we'll talk for hours over the phone, and it feels like no time has passed between catch-ups.

One thing I've realized is that authenticity is key to forming genuine connections. If you don't let down your walls, it's harder to connect with others on a deeper level.

In that spirit, earlier this year I decided to do something a little out there. I hosted a ladies' night at my place and called it 'Dessert with a side of woo-woo.' I wasn't sure how it would go, and I know that some of the women who were invited were wondering what the hell was in store for them.

On the big night, I asked everyone to select a talking point card from a jar. The questions ranged from playful to really deep, and sometimes painful. There were tears and plenty of laughter. Later that night, we all made dream boards with our goals and aspirations for the year.

Afterward, many of the women told me how much the evening had meant to them. I think people are frequently sick of the small talk and are seeking deeper, more meaningful conversations that are raw and real.

I know that making friends isn't easy for everyone — I used to feel that way, too. But if you are open to it, I challenge you to put yourself out there and ask the question. "How about a coffee?" You might be pleasantly surprised, just as I was.

According to a study, various parts of the state have levels of arsenic in drinking water at higher than 5 micrograms per liter.

"I was given a death sentence I wasn't willing to accept. I wasn't ready to leave behind my five children."

"We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering," the Georgia Republican wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

• When I was 23 I agreed to an arranged marriage with a man who was eight years older than me.
• Through the years, I've realized that our differences are what makes us a strong couple.
• We've learned how to live and grow together, lessons I hope our kids are learning, too.

At 23, while finishing my MBA, I agreed to an arranged marriage. My husband was eight years older, and we didn't know each other well when we said yes. There was no dramatic love story — just mutual respect, family introductions, and a quiet decision to give this partnership a chance.

In many ways, we approached life very differently. He's Gen X. I'm a millennial, the kind whose energy leans into Gen Z territory. I was full of ambition — constantly planning, striving, measuring progress in visible ways. My husband had ambition too, but his was quieter, more inward. He wasn't chasing milestones like I was; he valued stability and contentment. I'm expressive, quick to react, and constantly questioning things. He's quieter, more rooted in a time where people didn't always talk about their feelings or challenge every rule.

The generational gap isn't dramatic, but it shows at times. I see it in how we argue, how we manage stress, and how we make decisions. I was the kind of person who tracked everything including our kids' grades, the car we drove, the schools we applied to. I had a plan, and I wanted it to unfold just right. He was fine if it didn't. For a long time, I assumed we had to think alike to connect. But I've come to see that it's our contrast, not our similarity, that makes us stronger.

He helped me slow down

My husband brought a kind of composure to my life that I didn't know I needed. He never dismissed my drive, but he reminded me (always gently) that it was okay not to control every outcome.That kids didn't have to score at least 90% on every exam. That missing out on a particular milestone wasn't a crisis.

He didn't ask me to dim my ambition. He just helped me see that not everything in life had to be a race, something to win, control, or finish quickly. And that was a kind of freedom I didn't realize I was missing.

We love differently — and that's okay

I've always expressed emotions loudly, whether it's joy or frustration. My husband is more reserved. For years, I mistook his silence for detachment. I couldn't understand why he didn't or wouldn't match my intensity.

One day, during an argument, he held me by the shoulders, looked me in the eye, and said quietly, "Please understand. I'm not a woman. I don't process things the way you do. I never will." It wasn't an excuse. It was a truth.

That moment shifted something for me. His way of feeling wasn't smaller, just quieter. And once I stopped looking for a mirror, I started noticing the ways he did show love in steadiness and in small, consistent acts.

We've learned how to disagree without disconnecting

We've been married for 18 years and still argue — sometimes often. We parent differently. We see priorities through different lenses. There are days we get on each other's nerves, and days we can't stop laughing. But we've figured out how to disagree without tearing things apart. We give each other space. We pick our battles. We move on.

Love isn't always a steady flame. Sometimes it flickers. Sometimes it flares. But we've kept it lit — not through grand gestures, but through a quiet, daily commitment to keep showing up. He grounds me when I spiral. I push him to open up when he retreats.

When I'm overwhelmed, he brings calm. When he's tired or stretched thin, I step in often handling the emotional load, daily logistics, and sometimes even the smaller financial extras. I'm usually the one managing football lessons, birthday parties, and spontaneous pizza nights. He takes care of other the bigger responsibilities like managing household bills, school fees, and making sure things keep running smoothly at home and beyond.

Our children are watching

Nearly 18 years and three kids later, I hope our children see something valuable in what we've built. They've grown up witnessing our dynamic up close — two people with very different views learning how to live and grow together.

What I hope they carry with them is simple but lasting: that love and respect can exist even when opinions differ. And when they're with their own partners one day, I hope they know it's okay to think differently, to see the world through different lenses.

We see the world differently — and maybe that's exactly why we work. Like puzzle pieces that don't look alike but fit together, we fill in each other's gaps to make something whole.

I now believe that's what a lasting marriage is: not perfect harmony, but a shared rhythm. Sometimes clumsy, sometimes graceful, but always grounded in trust, mutual respect, and the quiet choice to stay in it, together.

• I toured Morgan Stanley's Innovation Lab at one of its New York offices.
• As I walked through the lab, which is filled with GPUs and other machines, I forgot I was in a bank.
• The focus on the lab and general innovation showed me how much the bank is courting tech talent.

Though Morgan Stanley's Innovation Lab sits firmly in Manhattan's Financial District, I hardly saw any of the finance bros who dot the streets outside during my recent tour.

I didn't know quite what to expect ahead of my visit — robots analyzing market moves? intricate gadgets? — and Megan Brewer, the head of firmwide market innovation and labs, tempered my wildest expectations when she described the space as "effectively a very large data center." The lab, she said, gives people "all the infrastructure that is needed to test ideas in a secure, scalable fashion."

Morgan Stanley employees who want to experiment with their own ideas or test third-party products that might help the firm can use the Innovation Lab. Brewer told me that most of the people who use the space are technologists, but that everyone at the bank has access.

"Most people don't think of banks as where people are sitting there soldering and working on custom design trips," she said. "But we offer that as well."

Morgan Stanley is sure to celebrate innovators

And it became clear to me that Brewer's team is pulling multiple levers to attract and retain the firm's technologists. She helps run the bank's Patent Accelerator Program, which guides innovators through the patent process. When someone's invention earns a patent, Brewer's team sends a message to their manager. They post on internal sites, frame the physical patent, and note the accomplishment on the person's company profile. Morgan Stanley has even put patent-holders' faces on their digital ads in Times Square, Brewer said.

Patents don't only grant legal control over an invention, but also acknowledge something as a creative, genuinely new idea. Inventions have to be "non-obvious" to get a patent, and they're a quantitative way for banks to flex their technological chops.

Banks are generally racing to embrace the newest technology. A McKinsey report from late 2024 found that banks have massively increased their tech spending in recent years, and are especially focused on hiring people to produce products in-house.

While tech companies are cutting back on new-hire offers, my time at Morgan Stanley made it clear that banks might be keen on snapping up some of the available talent. Citi also has a network of physical innovation labs across the world, and many banks have accelerator or innovation programs.

When we were ready to enter the lab, Brewer told me I might need to leave my notebook behind, since it's flammable. The first room, though, seemed pretty innocuous: a bunch of computers with black screens, and a lone guy sitting at a desktop. I almost felt like I was in a "Black Mirror" episode, the rows of blank monitors a dystopian end-of-world tableau.

The lab was full of high-end, deceptively plain machines

As we kept moving through the lab, the image of a stereotypical bank continued to fade. It was hot and loud inside the data center, with a white noise of whirring machines and fluorescent lighting. Brewer advised me to stand on a vent if I got too hot amid the rows of equipment.

Most of the time, I didn't know what I was looking at — at one point, it turned out to be the lab's first GPU. I asked how much it was all was worth, and everyone laughed, saying I didn't want to know.

"Many millions," Brewer said, adding that some pieces cost as much as rent on a New York City apartment. (I became very conscious of not stepping on the many blue wires grazing the floor in my kitten heels.)

Huge investment aside, though, some parts of the lab seemed almost scrappy, evidence of exploration and technology that's still in the works. There were labels made of blue tape and Sharpie, stickers that looked like they came from a name-tag machine, flame-retardant Post-Its.

At the end of the tour, I met an electrical engineer, who was standing in front of a clearly very complex, very impressive machine he'd made. My tour guide told me that he'd already built and patented multiple versions of the chip machine sitting before us, which he was too polite to mention himself.

He carefully explained his project — Morgan Stanley asked that don't get into specifics here — and indulged my many questions, talking to me in what were likely excruciatingly simple terms. When I asked whether he ever expected to work at a bank, I got an emphatic no and some knowing head-nods from those leading my tour.

Morgan Stanley has around 23,000 tech employees, 15,000 of whom are developers. At the time of this writing, the bank had 249 full-time technology jobs listed on its site.

The lines between banking and Big Tech

I didn't talk to, or maybe even see, a single banker the whole time I was there, which makes some sense given that Morgan Stanley's main New York headquarters are in Midtown and I was at a smaller office downtown. People talked in the terms of a startup, pushing themes like innovation that may appeal to an engineer more than the average investment banker.

We eventually left the lab and emerged into a similarly harshly lit hallway, the walls lined with cardboard boxes, before passing through a door and into the shinier, more central office area. I stepped into the bathroom before leaving; it was designed in the crisp image of the finance aesthetic, with a few cubbies holding hair straighteners.

Looking around, I remembered where I was: a bank at the tip of Manhattan, not a tech company in California. I wondered, though, how the lines between the two will continue to blur — and how much they've blurred already.

• NATO has pledged to majorly increase the alliance's air defenses
• It's an area the alliance needs after decades of not focusing on it, but seeing how Russia is fighting.
• But just spending money won't quickly solve the problem, as production and cultural issues remain.

NATO plans to invest money from soaring alliance defense spending into a fivefold increase in air defenses, but revitalizing capabilities ignored since the end of the Cold War is easier said than done.

NATO sorely needs air defenses. Secretary General Mark Rutte said Europe does "not have enough," outlining "clear gaps" in command and control, long-range weapons, and sensor systems, all while Russia's military growth is "really threatening."

The way Russia is fighting in Ukraine and the reconstitution of its military have led to greater urgency in NATO.

Defense experts say higher spending is warranted, especially on ground-based air defenses, but the alliance can't expect a quick fix from money alone.

The West needs air defenses and big missile stocks

Russia's invasion, specifically its relentless attacks on Ukrainian cities, shows air defenses are needed in a major conflict. For the West, worried about Russia and China, it's a wake-up call.

The West scaled back air defenses in recent decades as it battled weaker adversaries that posed no major air threat. However, Russia's bombardments, sometimes using hundreds of missiles and drones, show the West must be ready for the same. It's not yet.

"NATO faces a significant shortfall in ground-based air defense systems," both with the number of systems and ammunition supplies for them, Justin Bronk, an airpower expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said.

NATO is acting, but investments don't mean weaponry can actually be made quickly.

Bronk said fixing the issue "is much more a question of building production capacity at every stage in the supply chain as rapidly as possible as part of a crisis response rather than just spending more money."

"Currently, there just isn't enough production capacity in the world of Patriot interceptors, SAMP/T interceptors," he said, referring to surface-to-air missiles for eliminating air threats.

Struggling with production woes not easily fixed

Following the Cold War, the West's defense manufacturing and industrial prowess atrophied.

Companies consolidated, specialized production lines closed, workforces shrank, and inventories decreased — all crippling the ability to surge weapons.

Work is underway to boost production. For instance, Lockheed Martin expanded PAC-3 interceptor production for the Patriot system to 500 missiles in 2024, then a new production high, with plans to grow production further. Boeing upped seeker production, and Raytheon is boosting PAC-2 interceptor output, though it grapples with massive backlogs.

Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin plan to establish a European missile production hub, including the PAC-3 used by Patriots.

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told German newspaper Hartpunkt that Europe has struggled getting missiles from the US because of production shortfalls there. He said the wait could sometimes be 10 years, describing that as far too long.

It won't start full missile production until 2027, and Papperger said he expects its engine producing capacity will be quickly used up.

For the Patriots, demand pretty consistently outpaces supply. And clearing backlogs isn't quick.

European defense company MBDA, which makes ASTER air defense missiles and other products, saw orders double since Russia's invasion. In April, Fortune reported that its backlog was projected to take up to seven years at current capacity.

The Financial Times reported the company's plans to double the number of hours worked and hire more, but CEO Éric Béranger also wants more action. He called this a "moment of truth" for Europe and said: "We need to be much more industrial."

Decreased production capacity has been "a tremendous problem in the United States," said Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "You can sign all the contracts you want, but the production capability is lacking."

It takes time to make top-of-the-line interceptors

Even if more companies boost production, manufacturing sophisticated weaponry simply is not quick.

Thomas Laliberty, Raytheon's president of land and air defense systems, told Politico last year that it takes 12 months to build a Patriot radar, just one part of an operational battery.

Sophistication is a key issue.

Bronk said missiles designed to attack are easier to build: "It's much, much cheaper to build offensive missiles than it is to build defensive interceptor coverage."

The price reflects that sophistication: Naval interceptors, like the SM-series, can cost up to almost $30 million a missile.

Defense systems are "some of the most sophisticated bits of hardware that militaries have, and producing them takes time with pretty skilled labor," former Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, a warfare strategist, explained.

Increasing production enough "will be a challenge," he said.

There are steps forward, but challenges remain

The alliance is taking steps in the right direction.

Retired Air Commodore Andrew Curtis, an airfare expert with a 35-year career in the Royal Air Force, said countries speaking confidently gives the industry the reassurance it wants to invest.

"Governments are now talking the right language," he said.

The industry saw investing in production facilities during the Cold War as "a sound business," as demand was there. But that changed.

He said the industry would not invest long-term in expensive facilities that require skilled workers "with no guaranteed orders at the end of it."

Increased cooperation is also needed.

NATO has cultural problems, with countries working separately. Jan Kallberg, a security expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said "the major challenge in NATO is not money, it's coordination."

Multiple companies working on similar systems means doubling up on some expenses, and makes scaling up harder, Kallberg said. Fixing that "would free up a tremendous lot of resources."

Military officials want greater collaboration. A US general last month urged defense firms to coordinate more and "stop selling us pieces of the puzzle."

Progress is happening: More companies and countries are working together. The Nordic countries are integrating their air defenses to act as one, and with joint air defense planning.

Changes are taking place at the top level. The European Commission is proposing new measures to cut red tape, encourage joint purchases, and facilitate billions of investments.

But challenges remain. Kallberg warned: "Culture takes far more time to change than just buying hardware."