Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The National Women’s Soccer League has eliminated the draft in a new union agreement with players, DEI backlash hits Black beauty founders, and Kamala Harris accepts the presidential nomination. We hope you have a relaxing weekend!
– History in Chicago. Last night, Kamala Harris became the first woman of color to accept a major party’s nomination for US president. On the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Vice President told her life story and made her case to thousands of Democrats in attendance and millions more voters watching on television.
The convention was a historic moment, eight years after Democrats nominated a woman as their party’s first nominee. Just a month into her campaign – a path that Harris admitted was “undoubtedly unexpected” – it offered Harris the opportunity to present her record to Americans.
She spoke about her childhood with her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a scholar, civil rights activist and immigrant, and imparted lessons such as her mother’s admonition not to complain about injustice but to do something about it. She recounted her career as a prosecutor, citing the sexual abuse of a childhood friend as the moment that inspired her to pursue that path with her law degree. She listed her accomplishments as California’s Attorney General, fighting against banks and cartels. “Kamala Harris for the people” was her case then and her campaign now.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg—Getty Images
The speech also gave Harris a chance to tell voters what she has done over the past four years as President Joe Biden’s vice president. She outlined her economic agenda. To bolster her foreign policy skills since she last ran for president in 2020, Harris said she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky five days before Vladimir Putin’s invasion to prepare the country for Russian aggression. And she addressed some of the most difficult issues facing both the current administration and the next president, particularly the war in Gaza.
Harris spent quite a bit of time railing against her opponent, Donald Trump. The Harris campaign has framed the election as a choice between a “felon” and a “prosecutor.” When describing Project 2025’s plan to install a national “anti-abortion coordinator” and track women’s miscarriages and abortions, Harris delivered a memorable moment: “Simply put, they’re nuts,” she said of Republicans’ abortion policies. (Meanwhile, Trump posted about the speech on Truth Social. “Is she talking about me?” he wrote.)
While many Democrats in the audience wore white in honor of women’s suffrage, Harris opted for navy blue. All in all, it was a fairly typical convention speech – but one that took on new meaning because of the candidate who delivered it.
It’s been a busy few weeks for Harris’ campaign – and for those of us covering the still-close race. The next big moment is expected on September 10, when Harris and Trump debate.
Emma Hinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
– Power play. The National Women’s Soccer League has signed a deal with its players’ union that eliminates player selection and allows new players to choose which team they play for and sign for. In addition, the team salary caps have been increased from $2.75 million to $3.3 million and the minimum salary has been raised from $35,000 to $48,500. Assets
– Beauty bust. The backlash against DEI is also hitting the beauty industry, where funding programs for Black female founders of beauty companies are being scaled back. Many Black female founders say their brands are at risk of being shut down in a tough consumer finance market. Lure
– Go out on the street. Thousands of people in India are protesting and demanding justice after a doctor-in-training was raped and murdered earlier this month. The case is currently before the country’s Supreme Court, as many campaign for safer working conditions for women in India. New York Times
– The choice of the voters. Montana is the eighth state where voters will decide this fall whether to protect abortion rights in the state constitution. The proposed measure says the right to a pre-viability abortion is protected by the right to privacy. AP
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Andela, a marketplace for digital talent, appointed Carroll Chang as CEO; she will also join the board of directors. Most recently, Chang was global head of driver and courier services at Uber.
Blizzard Entertainment, a developer and publisher of video games, called Monica Austin as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Most recently, she was CMO at Linktree.
Eventide Asset Management, an investment manager, commissioned I hung Shih as Managing Director of Eventide Ventures and Portfolio Manager of the Eventide Healthcare & Life Sciences Fund. Previously, she co-headed the biotech private investments team at Wellington Management.
Catawba Research, a contract research organization, appointed Mary Spellman to the scientific advisory board. She is currently the majority owner of Panclarity.
ON MY RADAR
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Why Juliana Pache created “Black Crossword” Assets
FAREWELL
“For me, hope is not something I possess – it is something I practice.”
— Poet Amanda Gorman, who gave a reading at the DNC, on how she thinks about hope at the moment
