Headlines From The Times - Boardrooms so white and male? That’s changing

California requires each publicly traded company based in the Golden State to have at least one woman on its board of directors and, soon, at least one nonwhite or LGBTQ person. That’s because of a pair of laws mandating diversity at those high levels — laws that are having effects nationwide.

Today, we examine the topic with L.A. Times national reporter Evan Halper. We also talk with Dr. Maria Rivas, who has served on several boards and frequently found herself the only woman or person of color there.

More reading:

California outlawed the all-white-male boardroom. That move is reshaping corporate America

Column: California’s controversial law requiring women on corporate boards is back in the crosshairs

Newsom signs law mandating more diversity in California corporate boardrooms

The Intelligence from The Economist - For watt it’s worth: energy markets’ squeeze

A fossil-fuel scramble reveals energy markets in desperate need of a redesign. We examine what must be done to secure a renewable future. Throngs of Hong Kong residents fleeing China’s tightening hand are settling in Britain; our correspondent finds an immigrant group unlike any that came before. And the boom in “femtech” entrepreneurs at last focusing on women’s health.

For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer

Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders - S5 Bonus: Mahmoud Abdelkader, Very Good Security (VGS)

Mahmoud Abdelkader immigrated to the United States from Egypt, from a city 100 km east of Cairo, on the Suez Canal. He was 8 years old when he moved to New York City, and later in life, he moved to Maryland, which is where he really started to get into gaming... er... computers. He used to play World of Warcraft and Age of Empires a lot, and through his gameplay, he was led down a path of reverse engineering hacks to aid him in winning.

Eventually, he started learning high level languages, all in the pursuit of building game hacking systems. He got into real programming when he was 16, slinging some C++ and deciding that he wanted to be a computer engineer. Post college, he worked on Wall Street, which in his eyes, was where he really became an engineer. After working for a startup, he joined Y Combinator and built Balanced, a payments marketplace system, which eventually transitioned to Stripe.

Outside of tech, he plays basketball, and used to weight lift and do long distance running. He likes to set goals, crush them - and then move on to the next thing, keeping a well rounded life. He used to ride motorcycles, but his wife put a stop to that... especially given they are expecting their 2nd child soon.

Post his exit from Balanced, Mahmoud began listening to customer needs. What he heard people say was that they really wanted everything that he built in his former startup, minus the payments. Companies wanted the heavy lifting of data security taken off their plate, so they could focus on building their differentiated products.

This is the creation story of Very Good Security, or VGS.

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Bay Curious - Meet the Bay Bridge Troll and the Broadway Tunnel Dragon

This week on the show, we hear the tale of the Bay Bridge Trolls, who have been keeping the Bay Bridge safe since 1989. Plus, we get to know more about an oft-overlooked but very cool dragon sculpture on the Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco. It's a transit sculpture special!

Photos and Additional Reading:


Reported by Christopher Beale and Rae Alexandra. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Erika Aguilar, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Paul Lancour, Carly Severn, Lina Blanco, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

Village SquareCast - Our Declaration with Dr. Danielle Allen

Join us for a conversation with very special guest Dr. Danielle Allen — Harvard Professor, classicist, and political scientist, and the author of “Our Declaration,” a book about this critical moment in the future of building a multiracial democracy.

At a time when the future of American democracy is under threat from across the political spectrum — when a disturbingly high number of citizens seem to no longer believe in the American project — Dr. Allen’s body of work “thrillingly affirms the continuing relevance of America’s founding text, ultimately revealing what democracy actually means and what it asks of us.” Part democracy’s orator and part its master mechanic, Dr. Allen is uniquely equipped to guide us to the other side of our current crisis of faith in democracy.

Dr. Allen’s contributions to this moment in history are tangible and impactful — she recently co-chaired the comprehensive report Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century.  Find Danielle Allen’s piece “How the Declaration of Independence Offers a Roadmap to a Better Union” in the Spring 2020 “Democracy Edition” of Forum Magazine (begins on page 22).

Join us for this important conversation about our future you won’t soon forget, facilitated by Dr. Nashid Madyun, Executive Director of Florida Humanities

Find this event, including speaker bios, online at The Village Square.

This program is part of the Created Equal and Breathing Free podcast series presented in partnership with Florida Humanities

The Best One Yet - 🏖️ “The Host Economy” — Airbnb’s home-fluencing. Vuse’s approved eCig. The Government’s grand intervention

The Creator Economy gets all the attention, but Airbnb thinks a new thing will get just as big: The Host Economy. For the 1st time in history, an ecigarette just got FDA approval because Vuse is Moving Slow & Asking For Permission. And chips, ships, and ransomware are messing with markets worldwide, so the government just kicked things up a notch this week. $ABNB Got a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYork Want a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form: https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9 Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewform Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - The Strike That Could Paralyze Hollywood

For as glamorous as Hollywood often seems, the workers behind the scenes rarely experience the star treatment. They do everything from sound design and makeup to cinematography and lighting, and they’ve had enough with the industry’s dizzying production pace and long hours that stretch into the early morning. Motivated by shifts in the industry due to the pandemic, workers from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union are gearing up for a strike that could halt movie and show productions alike.

Guest: Anousha Sakoui, entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times. 

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