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Powerful female entertainers continue to make news… last week, it was Taylor Swift. This week—with the release of her eighth album, Cici—our focus is multi-hyphenate Ciara.
This Grammy award-winning artist has been captivating audiences for two decades, but as she and I discussed in this sit-down interview, Ciara is also a passionate entrepreneur. As the founder of Beauty Marks Entertainment, the independent label through which Cici is being released, and also as an artist who owns her masters, Ciara has come to define what it means to be an artist in control of her own destiny.
“I’ve always said music is the foundation but not the limitation… You want to be able to reap the benefits of your labor—so when you understand the power of ownership, that’s legacy,” Ciara says. When asked where her drive comes from, she told me: “I’ve always dreamed big, I’ve always been that big… I’ve always had, what we call in our house, a ‘why not you’ mentality.”
To hear the full story about how Ciara advocated for her artistic vision and got back the rights to her masters—plus to learn about her plans for her rum brand, music label and skincare company—catch the full interview here!
Cheers!
Featured Forbes Analysis: Former Whiskey Unicorn Uncle Nearest Is Struggling To Survive After Defaulting On $108 Million In Loans
Uncle Nearest founder Fawn Weaver is fighting for control of her Tennessee whiskey brand after a federal judge placed it under receivership on August 14 over defaulting on $108 million in loans. Founded in 2017 by Weaver, Uncle Nearest was created to celebrate the formerly enslaved Nearest Green, who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. The decision has created a major crossroads for the eight-year-old business, which Weaver had intended to bequeath to the descendants of Green. Weaver, who is CEO, says she can’t comment due to a legal gag order—but read on for more of this Forbes breakdown of the legal proceedings and what it could mean for Uncle Nearest’s future.
ICYMI: News Of The Week
Kim Gravel has rocketed to business success in the later part of her life, going from what many might consider the role of a “trad wife” to being recognized among the women on the 2025 Forbes 50 Over 50 list. In less than a decade, her company’s sales eclipsed $1 billion.
The wage gap between CEOs and workers at the lowest-paying firms on the S&P 500 rose by almost 13% between 2019 and 2024, a new analysis shows, with CEO pay rising more than twice as quickly as that of the average worker. And in news that won’t surprise any regular readers of this newsletter: The report also found that gaps between CEO and worker pay widen gender and racial disparities because women and people of color make up a disproportionately large share of low-wage workers and small share of corporate leaders.
After selling her first startup for $275 million in 2018 and spending the next five years as a partner at accelerator Y Combinator, Surbhi Sarna had no problem raising $30 million in seed funding for her new company, the San Francisco–based Collate. It aims to use AI to automate the paperwork required for life sciences companies, such as that for clinical trials and FDA approval. Collate recently came out of stealth and landed on the 2025 Forbes list of Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and Sarna spoke to Forbes senior editor Amy Feldman about how there hasn’t been a better time to build an AI-focused company than this moment in 2025.
Speaking of AI: The first episode of the new season of the Forbes CxO Spotlight is out, and if you’re a c-suite leader wanting to know how to navigate fast-changing developments in large language models when it comes to internal efficiencies and external value propositions, check out Axon CFO and COO Brittany Bagley’s conversation with ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath. Bagley spoke about why her company has bucked corporate trends and revised its revenue targets up, and also how wearing the CFO and COO hats simultaneously makes her a better executive.
The Checklist
1. Embrace playfulness at work. When adults give themselves space to play, they stop worrying about looking “smart” or “professional.” It opens room for curiosity to lead and creativity to surface in unexpected ways. Here’s how you can begin to rediscover your own relationship to play, especially when it comes to your job.
2. Re-engage your team’s highest performers. Retention isn’t about scrambling when the resignation letter arrives: It’s about taking notice of your employees, creating a culture of value and acting before disengagement becomes resignation. Here’s how to keep your MVP talent engaged and committed.
3. Understand the root of your procrastination. If you’ve ever found yourself procrastinating on something you genuinely want to accomplish, there’s a good chance you’re not simply being lazy. You might be caught in what psychologists call the approach-avoidance conflict: when you’re both drawn to a goal and repelled at the same time. Here’s what you need to know about this phenomenon.
The Quiz
Spotify’s “Billions Club”—songs with at least 1 billion plays on the streaming music platform—recently hit 1,000 songs. Which female artist has the most songs in the Billions Club?
- Taylor Swift
- Ariana Grande
- Lady Gaga
- Billie Eilish