President Donald Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress was the longest presidential address in recent history. However, a starkly divided Congress cut short Trump's remarks at times, with Republicans applauding the president and Democrats holding up signs in protest.

• Musk said Amtrak is "embarrassing" while speaking virtually at a Morgan Stanley conference.
• He said America "should try to privatize everything we possibly can," including Amtrak and the USPS.
• Trump has flirted with privatizing the USPS in recent months.

On Wednesday, Elon Musk said that both the Post Office and Amtrak should be privatized, calling the state of passenger rail in the US "embarrassing."

Speaking virtually at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Musk said the government "should try to privatize everything we possibly can," according to audio reviewed by Business Insider.

"I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak, for example," he said.

He praised China's trains, saying other countries' passenger rail systems are "way better" than America's.

"If you're coming from another country, please don't use our national rail," he said. "It's going to leave you with a very bad impression of America."

While Musk did not elaborate on why the USPS should be privatized, President Donald Trump has previously floated privatizing the organization, saying in late February that commerce secretary Howard Lutnick "will be looking" at the organization.

Musk acknowledged during his remarks that privatizing either Amtrak or the USPS would likely require congressional approval, and didn't expand on any steps to move forward with his vision.

Though Musk is not officially in charge of the White House DOGE office — that title goes to little-known data whiz Amy Gleason — he is seen as its de facto leader. Trump has repeatedly said Musk is in charge of the group, including during his joint address to Congress Tuesday night.

"I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you've heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said Tuesday. His remarks immediately were flagged as part of an on-going lawsuit involving DOGE.

Musk didn't claim a leadership position at DOGE when speaking at the Morgan Stanley conference. He referred to himself as "tech support, believe it or not."

Representatives for DOGE and the White House did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

• Meghan Markle's "With Love, Meghan" premiered on Netflix on Tuesday.
• Prince Harry only appears in the final episode of the show.
• His absence from the show can help Meghan grow her own brand.

Meghan Markle is back in her TV star era.

Her much-anticipated lifestyle series "With Love, Meghan" dropped on Netflix on Tuesday. In the show's eight episodes, the Duchess of Sussex shares entertaining tips and recipes with her famous friends, and she works on her craft with cooking experts like Roy Choi.

However, one person is conspicuously absent from most of the series: Meghan's husband, Prince Harry.

The Duke of Sussex only appears briefly in the show's final episode, a change for the couple who have been attached at the hip, particularly in their work, for nearly a decade.

Although it's a shift for the duke and duchess, the professional separation makes perfect sense for Meghan as she returns to her lifestyle roots.

The reality TV playbook

Harry and Meghan began working together when they announced their engagement in 2017, which is standard for senior royals. They continued to brand themselves as a package deal in their early post-royal projects, like their first Netflix show, "Harry & Meghan."

"I think they were very smart in the early days of trying to give the public what they wanted," Kristen Meinzer, a royal commentator, told Business Insider. "The public wanted to know the story of what happened behind the castle doors."

In recent months, that strategy has shifted. Harry has focused on philanthropic endeavors, attending events without his wife, while Meghan prioritizes her series and forthcoming lifestyle brand, As Ever.

Stacy Jones, the founder and CEO of Hollywood Branded, told BI that Meghan's decision to make "With Love, Meghan" largely Harry-less was savvy, even if his royal lineage is part of why people are tuning into the show.

Jones compared "With Love, Meghan" to other reality series that star women married to famous men, like "The Osbournes" or some of the "Real Housewives" franchises. "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" also relied heavily on Robert Kardashian's memories in its early seasons.

Jones said that the successful man functions as a "prop" while his wife is the star beloved by audiences, and he typically only makes brief on-screen appearances — just as Harry does on "With Love, Meghan."

Sure, having your literal prince of a husband make one long-awaited guest appearance on the series probably helps keep viewers tuned in, but keeping Harry off-screen until that moment allows Meghan to sell herself as an individual rather than just one half of the Sussex team.

"It's important to have that prop because that's the unique definer," Jones said about Harry's royal status. "Meghan with Harry is special, but Meghan does not have to be with Harry at her side all the time."

Off-screen support

Although he isn't on screen much, traces of Harry are all over the show, as Meghan discusses her family's favorite foods or their routine with their children and dogs.

She also told People that she and Harry are in "a honeymoon period again" because of her work on the show, adding that he and her children frequently visited her on set.

"My husband met me when I had The Tig, and I see this spark in his eye when he sees me doing the thing that I was doing when he first met me," she told People, speaking of the blog she ran from 2014 to 2017. "I think he loves watching as much as I love doing that creative process."

Jones said those traces of Harry in the series can remind the audience they are a unit even as they define themselves as individuals, and Meghan can do the same for Harry as he finds his post-royal identity.

Meghan's appearance at the Invictus Games in February was a step in the right direction. She seemed like Harry's supporter rather than the cohost of the games, even leaving them a few days early to return to their children.

Harry and Meghan's professional lives will likely always be intertwined in some capacity, but their newfound distance will benefit them both.

• President Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs is a hot topic for corporate executives this week.
• Leaders at companies like Target, Best Buy, Chipotle, and more have shared their thoughts.
• We rounded up their most interesting quotes from earnings calls, investor conferences, and media appearances.

You know something is a hot topic of discussion when a CEO thanks a Wall Street analyst for not asking about it.

"Thank you for the question that wasn't tariff-related, Anthony," Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said during an earnings call Tuesday, during which she fielded multiple queries on the topic.

Indeed, President Donald Trump's trade war is the new elephant in the room this week as executives field questions on earnings calls, investor conferences, and media appearances.

C-suite execs at companies like Target, Chipotle, and more have shared their thoughts on how the new policies will impact their businesses, their customers, and the US economy.

While their approach and strategies vary, a common theme emerged among some of the business leaders: This is uncharted territory.

"We've not seen this level of tariff before," RBC CEO David McKay said Tuesday at a conference hosted by the bank in New York. "And it's a real departure from what's built, I think, some of the great pillars of success in this country."

Still, he added, "Even with all the tariffs, we're going to have a lot of trade."

And don't be surprised if companies hike prices — fast.

Here's what business leaders are saying.

AutoZone

CFO Jamere Jackson said during an earnings call Tuesday that AutoZone intends to raise prices in order to offset any tariff impacts.

"To be clear, we intend to maintain our margin profile post tariffs, and we expect the entire industry will behave in a rational way as our historical experience has shown," he said.

CEO Phil Daniele said on the call that new autos are more expensive than ever, giving US consumers less of an option about whether to repair or replace their aging vehicles.

Best Buy

Best Buy's Corie Barry told investors on an earnings call Tuesday that price increases on imported products are now "highly likely."

"Tariffs at this level will result in price increases," she said.

Barry said Best Buy directly imports about 2% to 3% of its products, primarily from China and Mexico, but its vendors will likely experience new costs and pass those along.

"We've never seen this kind of breadth of tariffs — and this, of course, impacts the whole industry, so it's not just a Best Buy question," she said.

Target

Target's Brian Cornell said in an interview with CNBC Tuesday that some grocery costs could go up as early as this week, especially in fresh categories that are typically imported from Mexico.

"Those are categories where we'll try to protect pricing, but the consumer will likely see price increases over the next couple of days," he said.

"If there's a 25% tariff, those prices will go up," he said.

Stanley Black & Decker

Speaking at the Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference on Tuesday, CEO Don Allan said Stanley Black & Decker was in a "little bit of a wait and see" situation, especially regarding tariffs on Mexico.

"We do have a fairly substantial Mexican footprint, primarily for our DeWalt power tool business that serves the US market, and so we'll see how the negotiations happen between the two countries and where this lands," he said.

Chipotle

CEO Scott Boatwright told NBC Sunday that Chipotle would absorb costs from tariffs unless they become a "significant headwind" for the burrito chain.

He previously said that the company had reduced its sourcing of avocados from Mexico to 50% while increasing its supply from Colombia, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.

"We don't think it's fair to the consumer to pass those costs off to the consumer, because pricing becomes permanent," he said. "And so again, back to the idea of delivering extraordinary value to the consumer. We're going to stay the course."

Campbell's

CEO Mick Beekhuizen said in an earnings call Wednesday that Campbell's imports two key supplies from Canada: tinplate steel for its cans and canola oil for its chips.

"On the flip side, with some of the reference to the retaliatory tariffs, those mainly relate to Canadian exports," he added. "So we are producing our soup in the United States and we're importing it into Canada, and that would obviously have an impact on that business."

Beekhuizen said the company is working with suppliers to soften the impact of new tariffs, but didn't rule out price hikes.

"Now that being said, I'm obviously going to be very focused to make sure that we provide a good value to our consumers," he said.

• Seth Jones had a real-estate-investing rule: only rent out homes for 1% or more of their value.
• He sold his 10 properties and put the money into an exchange-traded fund portfolio, or ETFs.
• Jones says life is easier without the headaches that come with property management.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Seth Jones, 36, who lives in Port Orange, Florida, about 20 minutes south of Daytona Beach. Jones started buying investment properties in 2015, then began selling them off in 2020 to put his money elsewhere. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was younger, I read books like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," and "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor." That's all I wanted to do.

When I left the military at 22, the first thing I did was get a job as a real-estate agent because I thought it would help me become an investor.

My wife and I moved to Port Orange, Florida, in 2013 to be closer to her parents. I quickly realized Florida was saturated with agents. Even back then, there were only a small number of really good mortgage brokers. So I pivoted.

It took some time because I had to develop the right credentials. I became a personal banker with a regional bank and worked there for about a year and a half. Eventually, I became the branch manager. The entire time, I was working on my licensing to become a mortgage broker.

For years, my wife and I were hyper-focused on saving money. My wife is a teacher and we lived only off her salary. All of my income went into saving to buy properties. We hardly ever ate out and never went to bars. My faith is really important to me, so I spent a lot of time around people in the church, which made it easier. A lot of the people in the church live pretty simply, so we didn't do a lot of things socially or travel-wise, either.

The goal was to get to 100 doors. That was my entire focus. I just wanted to build a real-estate business that would eventually support me and my family, and I wanted to do it as fast as possible.

I didn't purchase my first property until 2014. They were actually two, each with three bedrooms under $60,000. I was able to pay 15% down.

I created a rule to guide my real-estate investing strategy

I'm very conservative by nature. Fundamentals have always mattered to me.

It's been frustrating to me that in the aftermath of 2008, a lot of people developed a mindset that real estate just doesn't go down in value.

I developed a rule as a mortgage broker that I often call the 1% rule. It's very simple, back-of-the-napkin math. When I look at a property, the first thing I look for is whether the monthly rent I can charge for it is greater than 1% of the home's value. So on a $100,000 property, am I able to rent it out for $1,000 per month? On a $200,000 property, am I able to rent it out for $2,000 per month?

It's not ironclad and doesn't always make or break a purchase. But I use it as a guidepost and for quick analysis of a deal.

After the first two properties, I was able to grow rather quickly. In 2018, I opened my first mortgage brokerage, which increased my income and gave us more resources to invest with. By 2019, I was able to target higher-quality properties in top school districts.

My tenth and last purchase was a property in Lexington, South Carolina that I bought for $138,000 in February 2020. By that point, I had realized I had been concentrating all my risk in Florida. I started to get worried about the impacts of a big hurricane and wanted to diversify my portfolio out of state.

Doing my research, western South Carolina seemed fairly insulated from national disasters and I found a good school district in Lexington.

I ended up with a 10-property portfolio.

The COVID real-estate boom worried me and I got out

In the real-estate investing world, everyone used to talk about cash flow.

Sometime around 2019, I noticed a shift in focus. I listen to a lot of financial podcasts and I heard everyone's focus change from cash flow-oriented to appreciation-oriented. That's just never how I've looked at underwriting deals.

At the beginning of COVID, I anticipated property values were going to be stressed and would potentially go down. Obviously, the opposite happened.

I watched things take off. I wasn't sure what was going to happen moving forward, but the fundamentals started to change. I used Reventure, a data aggregator for real estate, pretty extensively. It pulls in data from a lot of different sources, and I would track price-to-rent ratios for the local market.

For property values, I've used every website, but I prefer Redfin. I find it to be the most accurate, and I like the feature where you can see comparable sales.

I sold two properties in 2019, three in 2020, three in 2021, one in 2022, and one in 2023. The biggest appreciation was a home I purchased for $190,000 that I was able to sell for $500,000.

I put all our resources into liquid assets — a diversified, multi-asset ETF portfolio of fundamentally sound stocks (SCHD), gold (IAU), long-term treasuries (SCHQ), and short-term treasuries (SCHO).

I have no regrets, and I think that I'll be vindicated once we have some type of correction.

I have people who tell me I'm an idiot for selling off my properties. They think they could've made 10 times what I did in real estate.

I do think real estate is a great tool to build wealth, but it's also true that fundamentals matter. There's a significant difference in my headspace coming from not owning real estate. From a liability perspective, I have no external worries. No one's going to get hurt. I'm not dealing with late-night phone calls.

There is still stress in trading stocks and equities. You don't see a ticker on a house going up and down all the time, but life is way simpler.

• There are a record number of properties for sale in Florida, with 168,717 homes listed in February.
• Some cities have doubled the amount of listings on the market since last year.
• The biggest increase in listings from last year occurred in areas with more affordable homes.

Florida's housing market is cooling as a record-setting number of homes were listed for sale in February.

According to Realtor.com, 168,717 properties went on the market in February, the highest number the site has recorded since it started keeping track in 2016.

The total number of properties for sale in Florida jumped by 40% since February 2024, Realtor.com found. In some cities, there are more than double the number of listings compared to last year. Only seven cities out of the 252 Realtor.com tracked had fewer listings this year than last.

Economists and other housing-market experts use increases in inventory to identify areas where demand and competition for houses might be waning. There, homebuyers might start to have an edge over home sellers. Increased inventory is also an indicator that home prices could fall.

Even though Palm Beach real estate is experiencing what some brokers call a "Trump bump," with expensive properties changing hands, other parts of the state are getting cheaper.

"Home shoppers in Bradenton and Sarasota are in for a treat with climbing inventory, falling prices, and longer time on market," Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones said in the report. "Buyers are likely to find more seller flexibility as homeowners aim to attract buyer attention."

Because the pandemic housing boom led to record-low levels of inventory nationwide, more homes for sale can sometimes signal a return to normal rather than a housing-market decline. In some parts of Florida, however, the influx of homes on the market and other forces are already having an effect on property values.

Take Greenacres, Florida, an enclave 10 miles southwest of West Palm Beach. In January 2025, the median listing price was $259,950, 13% less than in January 2024.

Other factors are weighing on the Florida housing market, including relatively higher mortgage rates that stifle homebuyer demand, intensifying property damage from natural disasters, and rising homeowners' association, or HOA, fees.

Here are 17 Florida cities with the biggest increases in homes for sale year-over-year, according to data from Realtor.com. Homebuyers and investors may want to eye these spots for better deals and more negotiating power.

The Realtor.com data about homes on the market is from February 2025, while the median listing prices are from January, the most recent month available.

17. The Villages

Properties on the market: 594

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 76.5%

Median listing price: $389,250

16. Oldsmar

Properties on the market: 144

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 76.7%

Median listing price: $379,450

15. Tequesta

Properties on the market: 111

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 76.8%

Median listing price: $749,000

14. Greenacres

Properties on the market: 331

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 78.9%

Median listing price: $259,950

13. Fort Myers Beach

Properties on the market: 508

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 83.1%

Median listing price: $799,999

12. St. Augustine

Properties on the market: 1,596

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 84.2%

Median listing price: $612,000

11. Tavares

Properties on the market: 152

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 92.40%

Median listing price: $359,000

10. Harmony

Properties on the market: 121

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 100.00%

Median listing price: $364,500

9. Royal Palm Beach

Properties on the market: 218

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 100.00%

Median listing price: $479,950

8. Ave Maria

Properties on the market: 218

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 106.60%

Median listing price: $474,900

7. St. Johns

Properties on the market: 269

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 115.70%

Median listing price: $575,000

6. St. James City

Properties on the market: 123

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 115.80%

Median listing price: $599,900

5. Dania Beach

Properties on the market: 168

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 118.20%

Median listing price: $409,900

4. Miami Gardens

Properties on the market: 309

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 120.70%

Median listing price: $499,999

3. Pace

Properties on the market: 178

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 128.20%

Median listing price: $349,000

2. Citrus Springs

Properties on the market: 298

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 136.50%

Median listing price: $284,990

1. St. Petersburg

Properties on the market: 2,141

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 164.1%

Median listing price: $440,000

• My family of five chartered a yacht for six nights in the Bahamas for about $14,000.
• It had perks and felt luxurious and relaxing. We loved seeing many beautiful beaches.
• However, we felt isolated at times and uncomfortable for several reasons throughout the trip.

A decade ago, my husband hatched a plan to celebrate his 50th birthday on a boat — one we didn't have to pilot ourselves.

After extensive research, I made his dream come true by booking a private, captained six-night yacht charter in the Abacos, an island group in the Bahamas.

The private cruise cost about $14,000, including tips and groceries, and we boarded the 42-foot yacht on New Year's Eve.

Yacht charters are advertised as the ultimate in vacation freedom and luxury. In many ways, they deliver. We visited three locations most days, often having stunning white-sand beaches to ourselves.

Throughout the trip, we never had to drive or look for a parking spot. We didn't even have to plan — the captain just took us to all the best spots.

Despite the fun, beauty, and memories, we wouldn't do this again. Here are four reasons yachting isn't for our family.

Island hopping felt like traveling in a sealed bubble

It was so convenient to text our captain to pick us up the moment we finished exploring historic Hopetown or petting the swimming pigs at No Name Cay.

However, this convenience meant we barely spoke to anyone except each other and our skipper throughout the trip.

We loved all the family time, but we would have also loved to meet and connect with more local Bahamians.

It felt weird to have the captain with us day and night

Some folks have the expertise to charter a "bareboat" yacht and pilot it themselves, but we definitely do not.

Our captain did a good job getting us from place to place safely, and he added local expertise to the trip. But as an introvert, I sighed with relief when he retired to his cabin each evening.

As a mom, he also felt like one more person to worry about. For example, he didn't care for the groceries we'd bought to share.

Because of the holiday and the scarcity of markets in the Abacos, we weren't able to take him shopping for food right away. I spent that time worrying that we were starving our captain.

The yacht wasn't nearly as comfortable as we expected

The 42-foot yacht felt luxurious when we were reclining on deck, sipping bubbly.

When we were showering using a nozzle connected to the bathroom sink, smelling the used toilet paper in the trash? Not so much.

I'm sure superyachts used by the rich have more comforts. However, I found living aboard this (nearly new) Bali Catspace felt surprisingly similar to staying in an RV.

The mattresses felt no thicker than gym mats, the storage space was limited to a few hatches, and the quarters were — naturally — tight. I ended the trip with bruises on both arms from banging into grab bars.

Plus, despite taking medication, each of us felt a little seasick at times.

For a family, the cost can be prohibitive

The thing about a family vacation with children is that the parents often pay everyone's way. That's a big factor in making the yacht a one-time thing for our family.

The timing — necessitated by school schedules — made our trip even more expensive than average. Charter companies usually have longer minimum rentals and charge a higher fee during holidays.

I might consider chartering again, but only with friends who could share the cost.

Overall, I'm glad we tried chartering a private yacht at least once

These are the reasons I'll be framing a photo of our family wading in the most gorgeous clear waters we've ever seen but not making a plan for our next yacht charter.

Yachting very much felt out of our league, but I'm glad we tried it. After all, our typical family trip entails driving to a national park and home swapping to save money.

I'm already thinking about next winter's family vacation, though. It will involve hiking, cultural experiences — and no boats.

• As the luxury slowdown continues, high-end fashion brands need resilient marketing strategies.
• Experiential campaigns and intergenerational omnichannel marketing can be effective.
• Labels are also launching more elevated collaborations, like Nike and Skims' new brand, NikeSkims.

When Lissy Von Schwarzkopf and I met on a video call in mid-February, she offered an apology within seconds.

As the chief business officer of Karla Otto, a global brand-building agency with luxury clients such as Nike, Valentino, and Loewe, Von Schwarzkopf's schedule is hectic, especially during the slew of first-quarter fashion weeks. Consequently, our meeting had to be pushed back from its initial time slot.

"I have to apologize. We had a bit of a crazy morning with a big client announcement," she said.

The announcement was that Nike and Kim Kardashian's Skims label were joining forces to create a womenswear brand called NikeSkims. The collaboration could be a game changer in the activewear space — and for Nike as it combats declining sales.

Von Schwarzkopf said NikeSkims, set to launch in April, exemplifies a marketing strategy that capitalizes on the combined renown of two major brands. This gives both businesses "a huge advantage because you're tapping into a whole new community and a whole new audience," she said.

Profit slumps hit some of the biggest high-end retailers last year, and the trend will likely persist. The luxury slowdown is forcing brands to rethink every facet of their business models, including their marketing strategies. As consumers clutch their dollars, upscale labels like Nike hope to loosen the grip by refining how they communicate their brand identity.

"Diamonds are made under pressure," Hannah Reed, a research manager at the market-research agency Walnut Unlimited, said. "The pressure is now on for luxury players, and hopefully, it'll be a time where they innovate and come back bigger and stronger."

Kubi Springer, the global marketing director of Avantgarde Brand Experience, a global brand-experience agency, put it frankly: "Brands evolve or they die," she said. "That is the reality."

A rundown on the luxury slowdown

Crafting resilient marketing strategies for luxury fashion requires a deep understanding of the economic forces shaping the industry.

Reed and Springer cited several factors contributing to luxury's waning momentum: In the US and the UK, inflation, higher taxes, and the rising cost of living have reduced consumer spending. Meanwhile, in China, a real estate crisis has affected spending power.

Reed said there's also a "reputation recession" as shoppers notice a drop in the quality of luxury products while their prices skyrocket.

President Donald Trump's big tariff push has luxury stakeholders feeling antsy as well.

"Everyone's on the edge of their seats at the moment, wondering what the trade tariffs will mean long term," Reed said. "It puts pressure on supply chains, so if you are based in Europe or Asia, those additional costs could add up to millions for luxury players."

Consumers, especially aspirational shoppers, are also shifting their spending habits and priorities. They're opting for secondhand shopping and choosing travel, dining, and other experiences over high-end-fashion purchases. In response, Von Schwarzkopf said, major fashion groups are cashing in on hospitality and travel-related ventures.

There's a caveat, though. While luxury markets in China and Western regions have generally decelerated, the Middle East, India, and Africa are seeing an upward trend.

An October report from Henley & Partners and New World Wealth forecast that more than 800 millionaires would relocate from Britain to the United Arab Emirates by the end of 2024 — partially because of changes to the UK's tax system. Springer said: "We're seeing places like Nigeria and Ghana getting an influx of people coming from the West, too, and that's impacting how luxury goods are selling."

Sade Teyibo, the founder of Fola PR, a communications and brand-development agency, has also noticed this shift.

"There are so many brands that want to tap into what's happening in Africa," said Teyibo, whose company is based in Lagos, Nigeria. "There's a cultural renaissance. We're at the center of fashion, music, design, and art."

Fola PR, which also operates in New York, primarily works with African companies, creatives, and entrepreneurs, helping them elevate their brands through partnerships, luxury product launches, and bespoke events. It also works with global brands that want to expand their reach into Africa.

Springer said that luxury retailers needed to consider all these factors to position themselves favorably in front of consumers and survive the slowdown. Here's how they can craft and market a durable brand identity amid economic uncertainty.

1. Invest in research that can guide communication strategies

Karla Otto has an in-house insights and analytics division that researches market and consumer trends, including influencer and sentiment data. It also offers bespoke reports and consulting services and publishes multiple industry white papers per year.

Its latest report, "Luxury's Great Reset," published in December, detailed key components it said would affect the luxury sector in the coming years. It forecast that community-driven campaigns and craftsmanship would be among the critical drivers of luxury goods purchases between now and 2027.

"Research is the starting point for everything that we do," Von Schwarzkopf said. "It influences all of our strategies that we bring back to our clients."

The key to building a creative strategy around data-driven research, she added, is to find a cultural, human-interest angle within the numbers. "Most of our brands have that interest in being a player in culture," though which cultural "playing field" needs to be carefully defined, she said.

2. Host personalized experiences for high-level and high-net-worth people

"The growth and demand around personalization is something that luxury brands need to take heed of," Springer said. On a basic level, that means analyzing shoppers' data to understand their behaviors and needs — but "personalization needs to go beyond that," she added.

Last year, the Inner Circle Experience, a company that organizes exclusive networking events, worked with Dior to host a private dinner for luxury stakeholders at the French label's Paris museum. Springer, who was a keynote speaker at the event, said there were about 70 guests, comprising high-net-worth individuals and "people like me who hold global marketing positions."

Attendees learned about the brand's history and how it wants to connect with consumers. "Somebody like me can tell this to their clients," Springer said, which could prompt collaborations with Dior or "inform PR messaging" about the label. Additionally, high-net-worth people feel more inclined to spend big bucks on a brand that has marketed to them in such a personal and exclusive way.

3. Market a brand as a force in the secondhand luxury space

Reed said "there's huge potential" in the secondhand luxury market, which Statista estimated could be worth over $3.6 billion by 2028. From a marketing perspective, she added, brands can craft resale initiatives around different target audiences. For example, a campaign highlighting circular fashion can resonate with Gen Z shoppers who care about sustainability.

Resale shopping also highlights the quality and desirability of vintage pieces. "Lots of people have been turning to archives to find old stock that isn't in circulation anymore," Reed said. "There's this excitement and treasure-hunting element to it."

Joining the secondhand luxury space — and playing a bigger role in the authentication process — can also help high-end labels regain control of their products' integrity and marketability.

"You see a lot of dupes and counterfeits. That's a huge issue for brands," she said. "A few players have caught on to the fact that they need to preserve their brand."

4. Expand omnichannel marketing strategies

Omnichannel marketing is crucial right now as brands need to reach global consumers through multiple touchpoints, Springer said.

Luxury labels need to have a digital presence on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat to connect with a younger demographic. "But at the same time, brands can't afford to leave out their older demographic that might still be looking at traditional marketing, like print PR or TV ads," Springer added.

She named Sephora's omnichannel marketing as a prime example. The company has in-store beauty consultants and digital smart mirrors, virtual try-on tools on its app and website, and traditional advertising in print and on TV.

"They understand if you do something like a billboard, you now need to have a QR code so that somebody can snap it on their phone, go to your website, try on a product virtually, and then go into the store on the weekend to buy it," Springer said.

5. Remain steadfast in the brand's ethos

Luxury labels need nimble marketing strategies during an economic slowdown, but they must maintain their brands' mission and core values.

Teyibo said concerns about the state of luxury are valid, but she's not particularly worried about it at her agency. "It doesn't matter what's happening or what the global climate is. Cultural currency and cultural capital are always more important," she said. "Brands and partners will find the budget for what they think is cool. Also, whatever the consumer feels is relevant and exciting, they will find the money to purchase or partake in."

6. Innovate and inspire through collaborations

Springer said the brands that are winning right now are cocreating with micro and macro influencers as well as celebrities.

Louis Vuitton has embraced this approach over the years, collaborating with the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and tapping Pharrell Williams as its menswear creative director. Willy Chavarria and Kendrick Lamar have also developed a rapport, recently dropping a limited-edition Super Bowl collection. Then, of course, there's the forthcoming launch of NikeSkims.

This emphasis on collaboration reflects a broader shift in the luxury industry — one that calls for a deeper commitment to exciting and inventive artistry.

"Brands really need to look at design with more intention," Reed said. "Lean into craftsmanship and individuality. Focus on innovation and pushing your creative direction. That is where the luxury sector needs to regain its personality."

• Kroger's ex-CEO forfeited more than $11 million in bonus and stock payments when he resigned.
• Rodney McMullen still had hundreds of millions in Kroger stock, according to the filings.
• Kroger cited McMullen's "personal conduct" in announcing his resignation on Monday.

The former CEO of Kroger forfeited more than $11 million when he resigned from the grocery chain this week.

McMullen left behind $11.2 million in a potential bonus as well as stock and options when he left the company, Kroger's SEC filings show.

Without that compensation, McMullen still owned 6.6 million shares of Kroger, worth roughly $417 million at Tuesday's closing price.

McMullen also had total compensation as CEO of $15.7 million in 2023, according to an SEC filing. In 2022, his compensation totaled $19.2 million.

Kroger said on Monday that McMullen had resigned after an investigation into his "personal conduct."

The company didn't provide more information on what McMullen did but said that some of his actions were "inconsistent with Kroger's Policy on Business Ethics." Kroger said that McMullen's actions weren't connected to other Kroger associates or the company's financial performance.

McMullen was appointed Kroger's CEO in 2014. For two years, he oversaw the chain's proposed $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons, which fell apart in December.

Do you work at Kroger and have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Richard Socher, a one-time AI boss at Salesforce, is building a search competitor to Google.
• Socher says Google's search monopoly is under threat as users are now eager to try alternatives.
• You.com is a potential dark horse in the contest to supersede Google Search.

In the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence, the once unassailable dominance of tech giants like Google is being challenged, says Richard Socher, founder and CEO of You.com.

Socher runs a competitor to Google that's built for knowledge workers. Established as a search engine, You.com has expanded its repertoire over the years by incorporating digital agents for writing essays, browsing the web, and other tasks. To date, the company has raised about $100 million in funding.

In an interview with Business Insider, Socher expressed a belief that the era of a single company maintaining an overwhelming, long-lasting monopoly in the tech industry, similar to what Google experienced in the search domain, is coming to an end.

Socher said users are now more inclined to explore new, artificial intelligence-charged options and switch between services more readily than in the past.

"This sort of insane, untouchable monopoly that Google had for 20 years, those days are over," Socher said. "I don't think any company will have such a strong monopoly for such a long time anymore because users are getting faster to switch and more eager to try out things."

This change in user behavior would imply that companies, even those with significant market power, can no longer rely on maintaining a monopoly based solely on inertia or default settings. Instead, these companies must continuously innovate and provide genuine value to retain their user base.

Meanwhile, new entrants and smaller players like You.com are seizing an opportunity to pick up users who are open to exploring alternatives.

Since launching in 2021, You.com says it has reached "millions" of people. The platform is free to use, with premium features available through a $15 monthly plan. You.com also provides enterprise customers with a toolkit designed to bring real-time web search and accuracy to their own applications.

The company tells Business Insider its revenue has skyrocketed since the beginning of 2024, reaching 100 times the amount earned the previous year.

Before he took on Google Search, Socher founded a deep-learning company called MetaMind that he sold to Salesforce. He became chief scientist at Salesforce, where he led the company's research efforts and worked on bringing natural language processing and computer vision to its platform.

In 2018, while at Salesforce, Socher published a paper alongside Bryan McCann, a fellow Salesforce research scientist, on multitask learning — a method in machine learning where a model is trained to perform multiple tasks at the same time. The paper influenced subsequent research in the field, with Dario Amodei and Ilya Sutskever citing it in a paper from their lab, OpenAI, a year later.

The research also seeded an idea for a new kind of search engine. Socher remembered thinking, "If you can have one neural network that answers all of your questions, why am I still going to Google where I get these lists of blue links?" In 2020, he and McCann left Salesforce to start You.com. Marc Benioff wrote one of the first checks.

The future of search is still up for grabs, and Socher will have more to contend with than Google. Companies like OpenAI and Perplexity are locked in a contest to offer the most popular chat-based search engine, and ChatGPT's hundreds of millions of active users make You.com's user base look feeble. Additionally, OpenAI has considered developing a web browser, The Information reported, while Perplexity has teased a web browser called Comet, which could provide more seamless and integrated user experiences.

In this environment, the real winners of search will be those who anticipate the next big shift and are nimble enough to lead it. As Socher put it, "I made peace with the fact that AI will just keep changing. We'll have to move quickly."

• I've worked at Costco for 19 years and am always keeping an eye out for the best new items.
• This month, shoppers seem to be loving the Igloo cooler bags and Casual Living throw blankets.
• The bakery is also carrying a new delicious-looking tiramisu cheesecake.

As a Costco employee of 19 years, I love scanning the shelves for great new finds. This month, the retailer is stocking lots of fun items, from tasty snacks to home essentials.

Here are nine things I recommend checking out at Costco this March.

Prices and product availability may vary by location.

The Costco bakery is now carrying a delicious-looking tiramisu cheesecake.

One of the newest items in Costco's bakery is the tiramisu cheesecake.

A mix of two classic desserts, this decadent cold-brew cheesecake has a crust made from graham crackers and cocoa powder. Like tiramisu, it's also topped with mascarpone.

This seasonal item is available for $24 at my store.

The Brio bottom-loading watercooler looks like it could be a great investment.

With warmer days approaching, March is a great time to think about investing in a new watercooler.

The Brio bottom-load watercooler can dispense hot, cold, and room-temperature water and holds up to 5 gallons. I also love the sleek digital controls on this compact appliance.

At my store, this item retails for $200.

The That's It mini fruit bars are great for kids and adults.

If you're looking for a grab-and-go snack, I recommend checking out the That's It mini fruit bars. They make a great treat for adults and kids and contain no added sugar.

Each bag contains strawberry, mango, and blueberry bars, and costs $14.

The Sabatier build-a-board bamboo serving tray is great for entertaining.

This month, Costco is carrying some great items for entertaining, including the Sabatier build-a-board bamboo serving tray.

The tray, which comes with a locking lid, has six compartments for easy snack transportation. I think it would be great for taking a charcuterie board to go.

This item is available for $20 at my store.

Shoppers are loving the chic Igloo cooler bags.

The chic new Igloo cooler bags caught my eye when I saw them in the store.

These stylish bags, which come in black and brown, can fit two bottles of wine. However, the divider inside is removable, so it's easy to transport any beverage.

This item costs $20 at my store and has been a hot seller.

I think the boxes of Essentia water are a great value.

My store currently carries a 24-pack of Essentia alkaline water, which is on sale for $14 through March 29. After checking out the prices at other local grocers, this was by far the best deal I saw.

After the sale ends, the box of 24 bottles will sell for $18.

Tetris Tumble XL is a fun take on the classic game.

Tetris Tumble XL looks like fun for the whole family. The game, which can be played inside or out, challenges players to stack oversize blocks on a tilting base.

At my store, this item retails for $100.

The Froot Thief variety pack comes with strawberry and mixed-berry flavors.

The Froot Thief variety pack, which comes with strawberry and mixed-berry flavors, makes a fun snack for kids.

These fruit strings are also suitable for a variety of diets, as they're vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and kosher. The variety pack sells for $10 at my Costco.

Get ready for spring with these beautiful Casual Living reversible throw blankets.

These beautiful Casual Living reversible throw blankets are perfect for spring.

The plush blankets come in two different floral designs and have been a popular item at my store. The reversible nature makes it feel like you're getting two blankets for the price of one.

At my Costco, the Casual Living throw blankets are $11 each.

• Google said it would begin testing a new "AI Mode" built into its Search page.
• AI Mode aims to give users "a wider and more diverse" set of results than AI Overviews.
• It brings AI even closer to the core Google Search experience.

Google said it plans to test a new "AI Mode" for Search that would provide an entire page of artificial intelligence-generated results in response to user queries.

The new feature, which is set to first be available to early testers, would place an "AI Mode" tab at the top of the Google Search page. When clicked, the user would be taken to a new page that answers the query with "a wider and more diverse" set of results powered by AI.

Google already offers AI Overviews, which attempt to answer some queries with a direct answer at the top of the page. AI Mode takes this a step further by generating an entire page of results powered by a custom version of the Gemini 2.0 model that uses reasoning and multimodal AI.

In one example Google provided, a user might search for information about sleep trackers and find that AI Mode creates a comparison table that compares the various available options.

Google said it would start inviting Google One AI Premium subscribers in the US to test the new AI Mode via Search Labs, adding that it has already been available to a small number of "trusted testers." It did not provide a timeline for a wider rollout.

A glimpse into the future of Search

AI Mode arrives as Google is infusing artificial intelligence into all of its major products, while also trying not to disrupt its primary cash cow, which is Search. ChatGPT and other AI chatbots have been seen as an existential threat to Google's core search business, although the data suggests they're not yet making a dent.

The new AI Mode, while still in development, offers a glimpse into an entirely new approach to how Google's search engine may eventually work.

"With this new mode, people can ask nuanced questions that might have previously taken multiple searches — like exploring a new concept to comparing options and beyond — and get a comprehensive AI-powered response," Google said Wednesday in an accompanying explainer.

AI Mode also feels like a bridge between classic Search and its Gemini chatbot, which currently can only be accessed via its own website or through an app. AI Mode would attempt to answer queries directly where it can but also prominently show links to the sources of information and, Google said, tap shopping data for millions of products.

But like the Gemini chatbot, AI Mode could also let users ask follow-up questions. It's also multimodal, letting users ask queries using text, voice, or images.

Google said that AI Mode would only work when it has a high confidence in the results. In cases where it doesn't, it would simply spit out a list of search results. Some features, such as the comparison tables, would also not be available in AI Mode from the very start, but a spokesperson said the company plans to roll them out over time.

Google also said on Wednesday that it had launched its Gemini 2.0 model for AI Overviews, which it said would improve results for more complicated searches, including coding, advanced math, and multimodal queries.

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• Donald Trump continues to call Elon Musk DOGE's leader.
• Trump's latest comments came during his joint address to Congress.
• The White House and the Justice Department have said Musk is not leading DOGE.

During his record-setting joint address to Congress, President Donald Trump continued calling Elon Musk the leader of the White House DOGE office.

"I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you've heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said in his speech Tuesday night.

Trump's habit of saying Musk is in charge of the group is already creating legal headaches for his administration, which has repeatedly said the Tesla CEO is not actually leading DOGE.

A group of plaintiffs challenging DOGE's constitutionality immediately alerted a Washington, DC, federal judge to Trump's comments almost as soon as the president finished his speech.

"At approximately 9:46 PM, President Trump stated the following in his Joint Address to Congress," the plaintiffs wrote in their filing.

The plaintiffs, who include two attorneys, quickly filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on the day Trump was sworn into office, arguing that the creation of DOGE violates the transparency requirements of the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act. The lawsuit declares DOGE a federal advisory committee that should be subject to the FACA law.

The law, which was designed to boost public accountability, covers advisory committees that are either formed or utilized by the president.

An amended lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs says "Musk continues to speak for DOGE and take credit for DOGE's activities, while not being" the administrator for the US DOGE Service.

DOGE was birthed out of a rebrand of the United States Digital Service — a technology unit housed in the executive office of the president.

"DOGE continues to take actions which are completely unrelated to the USDS mandate set forth" in Trump's day one executive order that formally established DOGE, the amended complaint says.

US District Judge Jia Cobb has since consolidated the case with two other similar cases.

Meanwhile, a top White House official previously declared in federal court that Musk was neither the DOGE office administrator nor even an employee of the group. The White House has also repeatedly stressed that Musk is just a senior advisor to the president. After weeks of refusing to name DOGE's administrator publicly, the White House said that Amy Gleason, a US Digital Service employee, was the acting administrator of the DOGE office.

Multiple signs suggest that Musk remains DOGE's de facto leader, dating back to Trump's initial creation of "The Department of Government Efficiency," when he named the billionaire as its co-leader.

Just days ago, a DOJ lawyer struggled to answer questions about DOGE's structure.

"Who was the head of DOGE before Amy Gleason," the judge asked, according to Lawfare's Anna Bower.

The DOJ counsel responded, "I can't answer that. I don't know."

Trump is no stranger to making public statements that create headaches for the Justice Department.

During his first term, Trump's tweets were repeatedly used as evidence in various lawsuits brought against his administration.

At one point, the DOJ said that Trump's tweets were not presidential actions.

The White House didn't immediately return a request for comment by Business Insider.

• After making a few baked-potato recipes from chefs, I fell in love with Ina Garten's cooking method.
• The celebrity chef calls for a herby, salty coating that gets rubbed on the potatoes before baking.
• The herby coating and lack of foil resulted in a perfectly crisp exterior and creamy interior. 

I've loved baked potatoes since I was a kid, and I've always made them the same way: Wrapped in foil and popped in a hot oven for about an hour.

However, many skilled chefs, including Ina Garten, skip the foil in order to achieve crispy exteriors.

Since I love eating the skin of baked potatoes, I was ready to give Garten's method a try.

Garten's recipe includes unexpected ingredients, like fresh herbs and lemon zest.

This recipe calls for coating the potatoes in a flavorful herb mix before baking.

Garten combines fresh rosemary, thyme, and lemon zest with sea salt to create a tasty coating for the skins.

The method is a little more involved than I'm used to, but it's totally worth it.

I started by washing my potato and poking holes before setting it aside.

Then I combined the sea salt, rosemary, and lemon zest in a small food processor and transferred it to a plate. I dislike the taste of thyme, so I omitted it. 

I completely coated the baked potato in olive oil and rolled it in the salt mixture.

Garten doesn't wrap her baked potatoes in aluminum foil.

Instead of wrapping the potato in foil, Garten just covers a baking sheet with foil and places the spuds on top. I followed suit, placing my seasoned potato on a foil-covered tray.

Once the oven was preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, I baked the potato for one hour.

While the potatoes cooked, I prepped Garten's whipped feta.

The unique herb mixture on the potato doesn't exactly complement toppings like shredded cheddar or bacon.

Instead, Garten calls for a homemade whipped feta topping and fresh chives.

The finished topping looked and smelled amazing.

To make the topping, I combined crumbled feta cheese, cream cheese, olive oil, salt, pepper, and freshly squeezed lemon juice in a food processor.

It smelled incredible, and I couldn't wait to taste it on the potato.

The potato looked restaurant-worthy and smelled amazing.

After an hour in the oven, the potato was ready.

The skin looked crispy and fancy, thanks to the sea salt. I cut it open and stuffed the interior with plenty of whipped feta and a generous sprinkle of chives.

The potato was even more delicious than it looked. The skin was super crispy and flaky and had so much flavor from the salt and herbs. The crunchy exterior also went well with the soft, creamy interior. 

The cold, whipped topping contrasted with the hot potato, and the chives added a fresh, bright flavor, balancing the otherwise heavy dish.

From appearance to texture to taste, this potato won in every category.

Baked potatoes are hard to mess up, but I've never had one that checked every box like Garten's did.

It tasted amazing, with various textures to keep each bite exciting, and it looked good enough to snap a few pictures for Instagram.

It was a nice twist from the standard cheddar, butter, and sour cream varieties I know and love. 

Garten's method for making baked potatoes is now my go-to, especially for nice dinners with family or friends.

This story was originally published in 2022 and most recently updated on March 5, 2025.

• Neurofit created an app that incorporates somatic exercises to help treat chronic stress.
• The company uses AI to help with tasks like coding and language translation.
• This article is part of "How AI Is Changing Everything: Small Business," a series exploring how small businesses are using AI for success.

Whether it's work or family-related pressures, an unexpected health scare, or a sudden life change like a big move, we all experience stress.

But there's a big difference between short-term, acute stress and chronic stress, which accumulates over time and potentially affects physical health.

Many mindfulness apps are effective at addressing acute stress but may not be as helpful for chronic stress. Neurofit, a mental wellness app that focuses on movement, is trying to close this gap.

The app, developed by the husband-and-wife team Andrew and Loren Hogue, leverages neuroscience and what they call "nervous system fitness" to help users reduce stress and improve mental clarity through somatic exercises. Somatics is a field of movement studies and bodywork that focuses on the body's physical perceptions and experiences, emphasizing conscious movements that increase the mind-body connection.

With just a three-person team, Neurofit relies on AI to deliver its program and engage users. The small business uses AI in three key ways: mental health coaching, app coding and development, and language translation.

Andrew Hogue, a serial entrepreneur with a background in software engineering, cofounded Neurofit in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when rates of anxiety and depression soared. Five years later, many people are still recovering from that collective trauma.

Loren Hogue, a former lawyer who trained to become a master somatic coach, learned that chronic stress affects physical health just as much as mental health.

Neurofit uses neuroscience- and evidence-based methods to address chronic stress and burnout, anchoring its program on somatic movements and mindfulness activities proven to reduce stress.

The Neurofit app has a daily check-in function where users assess how they feel about different parts of their lives, including career and family, and securely collects this data to understand each user's "stress fingerprint," Andrew Hogue said.

The app compiles biometric data, such as heart rate and nervous system recovery, and combines this with information about each user's stress profile and physiology to provide personalized guidance and insights. It analyzes a user's unique stress patterns over time and tailors exercises and coaching to the individual's needs.

Product development, coding, and translation help

Neurofit also uses AI for coding. Andrew Hogue used it to develop an app specifically for Apple Watches, something he'd never done despite his experience as a software engineer. He said AI reduced the learning curve, guiding him through the coding process to develop an Apple Watch app in just a few days to complement Neurofit's existing iOS app.

Neurofit has also adopted AI to reach a global audience.

The company uses GPT-4o from OpenAI— a generative AI tool that can create new content from virtually any source material — to translate mental health and wellness articles in the app's content library into more than 40 different languages. The technology allows Neurofit to translate content faster and more affordably than using human translators, saving the company $1,500 to $2,000 for each language, Andrew said.

Loren Houge said AI also helps Neurofit increase accessibility and equity.

"By driving down the cost of care, AI-driven tools are poised to serve far more diverse populations from anywhere, not just tech-savvy or privileged groups," she said.

But adopting AI hasn't been foolproof. The technology initially produced subpar language translations, but they improved over time with better data inputs. It experienced a similar problem with its content library, as ChatGPT 3.0 initially delivered lower-quality results as the team added more internal links, visuals, and graphics to its content pages. Andrew Hogue said these issues have been resolved over time.

It's just another reminder that you can't rely solely on AI tools; a human always should be in the loop.

The Hogues said it's critical for small businesses new to AI to start with small test cases, look for repetitive tasks to easily automate, and use the technology to augment — rather than replace — human empathy and connection.

Loren Hogue added that ethical and privacy safeguards are nonnegotiable, especially in healthcare.

"Robust data protection needs to be built into every step, starting at the design phase, so users feel safe sharing biometric information," she said.

Ultimately, they believe the potential for AI to have a positive effect on people's mental health may outweigh the possible risks.

"We believe AI can transform mental health care into a more proactive, holistic, preventive, and personalized domain," Loren Hogue said, "one that supports not only immediate mental and emotional well-being, but also long-term physiological resilience and longevity."

Correction: March 5, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the generative AI tool Neurofit uses to create new content. The company uses GPT-4o, not ChatGPT 3.0.

• I have a 3-year-old and 5-year-old, and I take them on trips often.
• My kids might not remember our adventures, but my husband and I will.
• We've raised them to be travelers so we can do things with them wherever we go.

Many people talk about it not being "worth" taking young children on vacations because they won't remember it. Or because "it's not a vacation" as a parent since the parental duties don't disappear.

Our family finds it incredibly worthwhile to take our 3-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son on trips because it's enjoyable for all of us. Even if the kids don't remember all of the memories, my husband and I will.

I have my own memories of trips my family took when I was young

When my grandfather was alive, my parents and I took yearly trips to Disney World, often staying on the campgrounds with my grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins. Do I remember Pluto licking my face when I was teething? No, but I remember watching the musical performance of "Beauty and the Beast," riding Space Mountain for the first time with my older cousins, and watching Tinker Bell fly during the evening performances (my grandma lovingly nicknamed me "Tinker Bell" as a baby, so she's always been a favorite character of mine).

Travel ignites a child's sense of adventure and imagination, strengthens family bonds, and gives children life experiences. I want to give my children these same types of family memories.

My children may not remember forever, but that's not the point

Recently, I tried to dress my daughter in her orange Mickey Mouse sweatshirt, coaxing her that her grandma bought it and that how big brother wore it, too. She said, "No, that's the shirt I wore to the pumpkin patch." Four months later, she remembers wearing that sweatshirt when we went out of town to pumpkin picking with our family. The other day, my son asked if we could go to the beach again or drink coconut smoothies, as we did in Mexico.

We discredit them for being so young, but these experiences still impact them. I might not be paying the big bucks for the fanciest hotels and meals, but I honestly probably wouldn't do that anyway, with or without kids.

Sometimes, it's the simplest things that engrave deep memories, and as an adult, I accept that they might be more impressed by something inane than the fancy lobster dinner.

We adapt to their schedules

We plan to adapt around their schedules — I encourage my children to take naps in the stroller if we're out at an amusement park, as we don't have to spend the extra time to go back to a hotel. Many places have family areas, but if not, we'll find a quiet area to park. It gives us a rest or a chance to take turns hopping onto a roller coaster.

We've found everywhere accommodating; our cruise ship had an elaborate children's menu at dinner, and one of the buffet chefs in Mexico insisted on carrying my plate and dishing up my food when I was carrying my daughter and a plate.

We've raised them to travel, so they behave accordingly

My son went on his first road trip when he was 19 months old. It was an 11 hour drive to a wedding in Wyoming, and we turned it into a vacation, making stops along the way at Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Reptile Gardens (which I also had visited as a child), and more. He certainly does not remember this trip, but I had fun playing peekaboo with him in the back seat. Soon after, we repeated the long car ride with a journey to the Cincinnati Zoo to see Fiona the hippo and feast on the famous Skyline chili.

When my daughter first hated longer car rides around town, we worried about travel. It turned out that road trips were OK because she'd fall asleep on the longer rides.

If I die tomorrow, I'd rather have these memories with my family than that nap on the beach.

• I work in college admissions, and one of my students used ChaptGPT to write his essay.
• I was angry, but then I saw all the ways AI can help students during the admissions process.
• Students can use AI as an idea generator to help organize all their essentials.

When ChatGPT first entered the scene, I rolled my eyes.

As a college admissions coach and author of "Get Real and Get In," I've always believed in the power of deep reflection and authentic storytelling. The idea of using AI felt like a shortcut that stripped away the most valuable part of the process: helping students discover their unique voices.

Everything changed with one student.

He was bright, but his early drafts were choppy, unfocused, and thin. He struggled to get his ideas on paper, and deadlines loomed. Then, suddenly, polished essays appeared in my inbox. They were formulaic but well-structured. An AI detector confirmed my suspicions: 100% AI-generated.

I was furious — not just at the student, but at the idea that AI might undermine the very foundation of my work. I emailed him a stern warning that we would not be able to support his work unless he stopped using AI.

To his credit, he listened. He scrapped the AI-generated drafts and worked harder to infuse his personality into his writing. He wound up producing essays that showcased his intellectual depth and unique perspective. And guess what? He got into his dream school — an Ivy League.

That experience forced me to rethink my stance. I wondered: Was I resisting AI because it threatened my role — or because I hadn't learned how to guide students on how to use it?

After experimenting with Generative AI in my own workflow—using it for email responses and project timelines — I saw its potential to streamline processes. This inspired me to integrate AI to make the admissions process feel less overwhelming.

AI could be a stress reliever for students applying to college

As someone who works closely with high school students, I know firsthand how stressful the college admissions process can be. I've seen students stress out and sometimes opt out of the process altogether because it's just too much.

College admissions should not precipitate a mental health nightmare, although I know all too well that it can. When I applied to college, I got stress-induced pneumonia due to the pressure.

While AI won't change the stakes of college admissions, I've realized it can help reduce stress and overwhelm by handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks, allowing students to focus on the deeper, more meaningful parts of their applications.

Some schools and professors outright ban AI, fearing it will lead to plagiarism. But let's be real: AI isn't going anywhere.

Instead of treating AI like a forbidden shortcut, we need to teach students how to use it ethically.

AI will not write your essay, but it can help brainstorm, refine ideas, and suggest edits. AI will not replace human mentorship, but it can free up time for deeper conversations.

How AI can help students with the admissions process

Students have to answer a lot of prompts when applying to colleges. Many students can get stuck generating interesting, unique ideas to write about. That's when they can turn to AI.

Here's what students can type into ChaptGPT: "Help me generate outlines for three unique essay topics based on my experience with [insert key event, passion, or challenge]."

Additionally, some of my students struggle with executive function. Executive function is what Harvard researchers liken to an "air traffic control system" for the brain. These struggles — often linked to PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, or depression — make it harder to stay organized.

AI can serve as a life-changing accessibility tool for these — and all — students.

For example, Fyxer provides a structured pre-loaded response to emails so students stay on track with admissions and school correspondence.

Voice-to-text AI through Google Docs allows students to dictate their thoughts before organizing them into an essay.

Additionally, generative AI creates bullet-point responses to common interview questions. Students can use their own voice and style to practice the points aloud.

We need to integrate AI with human connection

AI hasn't replaced human connection in my coaching; it has deepened it.

By reducing logistical overwhelm, students can focus on intellectual depth.

By offering adaptive support, students with learning differences and mental health challenges can engage in ways that work for them.

By streamlining tedious tasks, I can dedicate more time to meaningful mentorship.

The future of education isn't AI vs. human connection; it's both.

For students, this means less stress and more creativity. For educators, it means focusing on what really matters: supporting students to self-discovery and to build real-world, future-ready skills.

The college admissions process doesn't have to be a mental marathon. AI — used wisely — can refocus students on the journey of self-discovery, intellectual curiosity, and confidence — exactly what admissions officers want to see.

• Instagram cofounder Mike Krieger discussed the evolving job of software engineers in a podcast interview.
• He said the day-to-day work will change as AI gets better at coding.
• Krieger, who now works at Anthropic, predicts software engineers will spend more time reviewing code than writing it.

Software engineers should expect their jobs to meaningfully change in the next three years, according to Instagram's cofounder.

Mike Krieger, who now works as Anthropic's chief product officer, said in a recent podcast interview that developers will be spending more time double-checking AI-generated code than writing it themselves.

"How do we evolve from being mostly code writers to mostly delegators to the models and code reviewers?" Krieger asked on a recent episode of "20VC."

As the act of coding itself increasingly involves artificial intelligence, Krieger expects software developers to tackle the more abstract work that AI models can't handle and learn how to effectively oversee the systems themselves.

"That's what I think the work looks like three years from now," Krieger said. "It's coming up with the right ideas, doing the right user interaction design, figuring out how to delegate work correctly, and then figuring out how to review things at scale — and that's probably some combination of maybe a comeback of some static analysis or maybe AI-driven analysis tools of what was actually produced."

At certain Big Tech companies, the work of software development has already undergone significant change.

In October, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said over a quarter of new code at the company was already being produced by AI. Besides using it to write some code himself, Krieger said he began the year at Anthropic by determining what parts of the product development process were "Claude-ified," and which others remained best left up to human beings.

"Driving alignment and actually figuring out what to build is still the hardest part, right," Krieger said. "Like that is actually the only thing that is still best resolved by just getting together in a room and talking through the pros and cons, or going off and exploring it in Figma and coming back."

Though AI may speed along certain parts of the process for product development, Krieger doesn't expect it to entirely eliminate the need for software developers — a worry that is top of mind for some computer science majors and recent graduates who previously spoke with Business Insider.

Krieger said AI will instead alter the skills required to remain relevant in a coding-related job.

"I think it becomes multidisciplinary, where it's knowing what to build as much as it is knowing the exact implementation that you want," Krieger said. "I love that about our engineers. Many, maybe even most, of our good product ideas come from our engineers and come from them prototyping, and I think that's what the role ends up looking like for a lot of them."

A spokesperson for Anthropic told Business Insider that the company views itself as a "testbed" for how other workplaces can navigate AI-driven changes to critical roles.

"At Anthropic, we're focused on developing powerful and responsible AI that works with people, not in place of them," the spokesperson said. "As Claude rapidly advances in its coding capabilities for real-world tasks, we're observing developers gradually shifting toward higher-level responsibilities."

Certain jobs, Krieger said, are still most efficient when performed by human hands — for the time being.

"And I think alignment: Deciding what to build, solving real user problems, and like figuring out a cohesive product strategy — still very hard," he said. "And probably the models are more than a year away from solving that. That is the constraint."

• Meta maintains internal blocklists of employees who are ineligible for being rehired.
• BI spoke with several former employees who said they were surprised to learn they were on these secret lists.
• Some former Meta managers said it could be nearly impossible to get employees off the list.

A senior engineer caught up in Meta's 2022 mass layoff of 10,000 employees thought finding another role at the tech giant would be straightforward.

They had worked at the company for more than four years, consistently receiving "Exceeded Expectations," one of the stronger ratings on Meta's performance scale. The year prior, the engineer had earned a coveted promotion to a senior technical role. Their work had been praised by their skip-level manager, who told them in an email that their contributions were "crucial" to the company's success. They were told that their layoff was simply a business decision and that multiple hiring managers now wanted them back on their teams.

After applying to nearly 20 positions in the year after they were let go, the engineer noticed a pattern: hiring managers would express interest in bringing them back and set up a screening call with a recruiter, the first stage in Meta's multi-step hiring process. Then, the recruiters would ghost them.

Frustrated, the engineer asked a hiring manager what was happening. They were told Meta's recruiting team had forbidden the manager from contacting the engineer because they were deemed "ineligible for rehire."

"That was the first time I had a real indication that I was on some kind of list," the engineer, who is unnamed because they are actively trying to get rehired at Meta, told Business Insider.

Meta maintains internal lists that bar some former employees from rejoining the company, according to five former employees including two managers that BI spoke to. BI learned that even those who had good performance records may be prevented from being rehired. While such lists aren't illegal, they are unusual, employment and human resource experts said.

The former employees and managers confirmed Meta uses multiple systems to track rehire ineligibility, including a "non-regrettable attrition" designation and a "do not rehire" flag, though the exact mechanisms and number of affected employees remain unclear. While BI couldn't view a single, comprehensive list, multiple internal communications we reviewed showed that managers encounter systemic barriers when attempting to rehire certain former employees.

For the last few years, tech companies have been aggressively pursuing efficiency after years of explosive growth. Following widespread layoffs across Silicon Valley since 2022, tech giants are now implementing stricter performance management systems while simultaneously competing for top talent in AI and other high-growth areas. For former employees seeking to return these hidden rehiring restrictions create an invisible barrier in an already competitive job market.

Interviews with five former employees across different divisions, along with internal emails and messages viewed by BI, revealed multiple instances of workers who were laid off and discovered they were barred from rejoining Meta after applying for new positions at the company despite good performance records in their previous stints. These workers often learned about their status from third-party contractors rather than Meta itself.

BI has kept names and other identifiable details private to protect sources' confidentiality but has verified the identities and employment histories of these individuals.

Employees who violate workplace policies, such as stealing confidential data, receive permanent bans from future employment at Meta. The company also maintains lists that sometimes include underperforming employees. However, two former managers who spoke with BI say the bans extend beyond these clear-cut cases: managers often have broad discretion to add names to these lists, without documented performance issues.

"If a manager didn't like you, it wasn't hard to put someone on a list," one former manager said.

In a statement to BI, a Meta spokesperson said: "There are clear criteria for when someone is marked ineligible for rehire that are applied to all departing employees and there are checks and balances in the process so that a single manager cannot unilaterally tag someone ineligible without support."

Meta says its decision to bar an ex-employee from rehiring is based on a multitude of factors.

"We determine, at the time of separation, the reason for the employee's departure — policy violation, performance termination, voluntary resignation etc. — and that, along with the last rating prior to separation and any other recent performance signals, determines whether an employee is eligible for rehire or not," the Meta spokesperson told BI.

One former manager, however, said that they and other managers at the company were able to put people on lists by "just filling out a form" and "putting in any real issue."

It would "take minutes to get someone marked as 'non-regrettable'," they told BI. "The manager would get an email asking if it was non-regrettable attrition or not."

Blockedlisted without an explanation

After being cut during Meta's 2022 layoffs, a former hardware engineer with a record of being rated "Exceeded Expectations" was approached by a staffing agency about a contract position with the same team they built and managed at Meta.

In emails viewed by BI, the staffing agency was initially enthusiastic, noting the ex-employee had the qualifications for the role. But after they applied, the responses grew increasingly vague.

First, the agency said the role wasn't aligned with their experience. When the applicant pressed for more information, the agency revealed that Meta's HR team had marked them as "ineligible to be hired," the emails viewed by BI showed. The agency declined to provide additional details, saying the information was "kept confidential by Meta HR."

The staffing agency did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Last month, Meta cut nearly 4,000 workers in a move that CEO Mark Zuckerberg characterized as performance-based trimming.

Another former employee, who was also laid off in 2022, was approached months later by a different staffing agency for a contract position at Meta that was similar to their previous role at the company. When they applied, the agency told them that Meta said that they were not eligible for rehire without providing a reason, according to an email between the staffing agency and this former employee viewed by BI.

"I got really frustrated because they didn't tell me the reason," the former employee said. "They gave this information to a third party, the contract company, but not to me." Their former managers did not respond when they reached out for clarification. The second staffing agency did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

Meta's practices appear to be unusual even within the competitive tech industry landscape. Barring former employees with no major policy violations from being rehired without notifying them explicitly isn't standard practice at other major tech companies, according to industry veterans familiar with hiring systems.

"It's incredibly uncommon. This is very, very rare," Laszlo Bock, Google's head of people operations from 2006 to 2016, told BI.

"I've actually never heard of a company having a 'do not rehire' designation for former employees, because if an employee was a decent or good performer, you'd much rather hire somebody who actually knows your company and culture than somebody else." Bock added that he had never seen the practice formalized at any major corporation thus far.

A mechanism outside normal recruiting tools

In the summer of 2024, Meta connected the senior engineer mentioned earlier in this story with one of its lawyers from the company's employee relations team after the engineer contacted HR.

After reviewing their employment history, the lawyer confirmed that there were no HR violations that might warrant a hiring restriction, the engineer told BI. When the engineer pressed for an explanation about the recruiting block, Meta's lawyer told them they couldn't comment.

In a follow-up email to Meta's HR department viewed by BI, the engineer asked Meta to confirm whether they were on a recruiting blocklist and, if so, to provide the reason. The company said it couldn't provide a definitive answer, and that they could try applying to open roles on Meta's careers website.

Over the next several months, the senior engineer contacted multiple Meta directors and managers who appeared interested in rehiring them, according to messages viewed by BI.

A division director told them that they had witnessed similar cases where current Meta employees, who had been given a month to find new internal roles after their programs had been canceled, discovered that they were blocked from transferring because they happened to be on a list.

Another director, who was actively trying to rehire the senior engineer, expressed frustration about the block and said that it was preventing them from rehiring multiple people they hoped to recruit.

One hiring manager who wasn't allowed to hire the senior engineer told them in a private message that Meta asked them not to discuss specific reasons for not moving forward. When the senior engineer asked a different hiring manager about getting off the list, they were told that even a sign-off from a vice president wouldn't be enough.

In an email viewed by BI, a hiring manager expressed frustration that they couldn't figure out why someone they wanted to rehire had ended up on a block list. It seemed, they said, that they were running into a mechanism outside normal recruiting tools. They wrote that they had not seen anyone successfully get off a list and be able to interview at the company again.

Employment attorney Ashley Herd told BI that companies maintaining such lists isn't illegal, but it could pose legal risks if it disproportionately affects protected groups.

"For it to be illegal under nationwide federal law, it would have to be discriminatory based on some sort of protected characteristic," Herd said. She added that it's "really a terrible practice because you're missing out on talent, especially people that know your business."

Mitchell Epner, a partner at Kudman Trachten Aloe and Posner LLP who practices employment law, told BI that it's common for severance agreements to include provisions barring former employees from reapplying. None of the former Meta employees BI spoke to said their agreements contained such language.

"The rights that an individual has vis a vis an employer are extraordinarily limited," Epner said. "Outside of discrimination against protected classes, employers can do virtually anything that they want... for any reason at all or no reason at all."

Meta's block lists aren't foolproof. In an incident that resulted in a lawsuit filed last year, Meta accidentally rehired a former employee as a contractor despite him being on a "Do Not Hire" list after he was accused of stalking and harassing a coworker for over a year.

Despite their experience, the senior engineer told BI that they would still return to Meta if given the chance.

"It's the worst company I've ever worked for," they said. "But they also pay the best. If I could get in there for a couple more years and make bank, I would do it."

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• Baguettes are surprisingly easy to make and go well with so many meals.
• Not counting the optional egg wash, my family's bread recipe only calls for four ingredients.
• The timing is the only part that can be a little tricky, so make sure to keep your eye on the clock.

If you can think of anything that's both as simple and as satisfying as French bread, I'm all ears.

Luckily, my family has been making foolproof baguettes that only call for four ingredients and an optional egg wash for years.

Here's our bread recipe.

Start by gathering the basic ingredients.

My family's recipe mostly uses things I already have in my pantry on a regular basis.

For two baguettes, you'll need:

· 5 (generous) cups of all-purpose flour

· 5 teaspoons of active yeast

· 1 teaspoon of salt

· 2 cups of warm water

· (optional) 1 egg + ¼ cup water for egg wash

For the equipment, I like to use a stand mixer with a bread-hook attachment, a large bowl, and a cookie sheet.

Mix the dry ingredients.

Combine two cups of flour with the yeast and salt in a stand mixer, briefly turning it on to stir the dry ingredients together.

Form a base dough and gradually add all the flour.

Pour two cups of warm water — around 110 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal — into the stand mixer and run it on low for one minute to form a sticky base dough.

Add the remaining three cups of flour to the mixer and run it on a low speed for about five minutes. A thicker, semi-sticky dough ball should form.

Then, remove the dough from the mixer, form it into a ball, and place it into a greased bowl. I recommend using olive oil.

Let the dough rest for about an hour.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and place it somewhere warm for one hour.

I usually set my dough near a floor heating vent, but places like a closet with a water heater or even a warm bathroom also work well.

If you let your dough rise in the bathroom, make sure the bowl has an air-tight seal.

The dough should rise quite a bit.

When the dough has doubled in size, press the excess air from it with clean hands and roll it into two balls. Set these aside as you prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper and a dusting of flour.

You'll also want to prep a dry, smooth workspace on your counter with a heavy dusting of flour.

Flatten the dough balls out and roll them into long batons.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough balls out into flat, roughly ovular shapes — about 16-by-12 inches big and no more than ¼ inch thick.

Starting at one of the longer edges, roll the flattened dough into a long tube and pinch the ends shut.

Transfer to baguettes to a cookie sheet for another rest period.

Place each dough tube on the prepared cookie sheet. If you're using the optional egg wash, combine the egg with ¼ cup of water in a small bowl. Lightly brush the mixture across both tubes of dough.

If you like crustier bread, I recommend using the egg wash. Without it, you'll get a softer baguette.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest again for 20 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slash the risen dough for looks and texture.

Once the 20 minutes are up and the tubes have risen slightly, remove the plastic and diagonally slash the dough about 10 times with a serrated knife.

This is partially just for looks, but it also encourages the bread to expand while baking.

Bake, egg wash again, and rotate the pan in the oven.

Bake the bread for 20 minutes, do another egg wash, and return the dough to the oven with the pan rotated — if you're not using an egg wash, simply rotate the pan so all sides of the dough bake evenly.

Bake for another 15 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven, get it off the cookie sheets, and enjoy.

When the bread is ready to come out, quickly transfer the baguettes from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack.

The baguettes stay fresh for two days, and I think the texture is still OK on the third.

You can also freeze baguettes if you want them to last longer. To thaw them out, heat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, turn the heat off, and pop the frozen bread into the warmed oven for about 10 minutes.

This story was originally published on March 1, 2024, and most recently updated on March 5, 2025.