Good morning! Trump administration gutting biggest study on women's health, Adrienne Adams is hoping to be New York City's first female mayor, and two stylish Gen Z founders come for fashion resale.

- Resale race. Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni yesterday plastered the internet with the launch of their new startup Phia. There were Phoebe and her dad Bill Gates in the New York Times, newsletter appearances, and fashion coverage. It was the kind of launch we can likely expect from two high-profile Gen Z founders who are building, candidly, in public.

Gates and Kianni met as roommates at Stanford and wanted to work together. They landed on the idea of a shopping assistant; Phia is a price-comparison tool inspired by Google Flights that tells online shoppers whether an item they're considering buying is a good deal. It sources information from across resellers—Depop, Poshmark, The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, eBay, and more—to share other listings and the median price of the item. The goal is to be a full-fledged shopping assistant—not only showing you cheaper secondhand listings, but answering the question, "should I buy this?" based on how it might hold its resale value and even what else you have in your closet.

"Our target consumer is a young woman who's hustling. She shops like a genius, but she doesn't want to waste her time doing it," Gates says.

Phia's name is a portmanteau of Gates' and Kianni's own names. While building the now 8-person startup, the pair are also cohosting a podcast called The Burnouts on Alex Cooper's Unwell network. Their first guest was Phia investor Kris Jenner; they're planning to show the honest reality of building a startup as 22- and 23-year-olds—before an IPO or even sure success. "So many founder podcasts, it's basically a victory lap," Gates says. "For us, it's like—we're not experts." They have raised capital from a "blue-chip investor" but have not announced the details yet; Gates' family didn't fund the startup.

Gates has been an advocate for reproductive rights, alongside her mother Melinda French Gates, and thought she might go into women's health. "I did not expect to be a founder," she says. Kianni founded a climate activism organization called Climate Cardinals and planned to pursue environmental law.

But they're just as passionate about shopping secondhand as they are about those two interests. Kianni's all-time favorite secondhand find is a pair of Dior heels with a blue bottom she found in the wrong size on The RealReal, and then used Phia to find in the right size; Gates' is a $150 pair of Khaite jeans. "This could be our career, building together," Gates said she realized. "This could be what we do every single day."

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Courtesy of Phia

Good morning! Sarah Palin loses libel suit again, tension between 60 Minutes and Shari Redstone's Paramount reaches a head, and travel doesn't have to suffer during a recession.

- Travel plans. During an economic downturn, people are likely to pull back on expensive travel plans. But during the travel platform Fora's recent Series C fundraise, new investor Thrive Capital liked that Fora was a two-sided marketplace—with users poised to not just spend on vacations, but monetize their love for travel.

"We're positioned to engage with travelers in a different way," says Fora cofounder and CEO Henley Vazquez.

Fora has raised $60 million across Series B and C rounds, Fortune is the first to report. Josh Kushner's Thrive co-led the $40 million Series C round, which closed earlier this year; the startup never announced a $20 million Series B it raised in 2023. Insight Partners returned to co-lead the round; investors Forerunner and Heartcore Capital also came back.

The gig economy platform sets up individuals to work as travel agents, booking trips and planning itineraries for people based on their own areas of expertise, from luxury travel to travel with kids to trips to Southeast Asia or Montana. Within the past four years, Fora has facilitated $1 billion in bookings. Most of the travel advisors on Fora are women and 97% are new to the industry; Vazquez positions the job as a new part-time gig for women getting back into the workforce—or "the new real estate."

If the economy enters a recession, Vazquez expects to see travel spending dip—although she says ultra-luxury travel will remain strong. Like during the pandemic, domestic travel will likely see a boom—and Fora is trying to retrain travelers to use advisors for lower-key trips, too. "A travel agent isn't just there for your safaris and your Amalfi Coast vacations," Vazquez says. And people who love travel, but can't afford it, might try to satisfy their passion by working as advisors, she argues. "Someone might actually look for another way to earn money. They may decide to monetize their passion for travel by starting to do this job as well," she says.

Fora plans to use this funding to build tech tools for travel advisors in a traditionally analog industry; a recent example is a "price drop" feature that monitors prices for already-booked travel and gives the advisor the chance to try to rebook at a lower price or get a client an upgrade. Thrive Capital investor Kareem Zaki says he was attracted to Fora's ability to give advisors "the tools to build scalable businesses and provide tailored travel experiences to each customer."

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Courtesy of Fora