The 4 Substacks You Need To Read If You Are a Woman Building.
🗓️ Jaclyn Johnson POSTED TO THE GROUP CHAT May 26, 2026
Career & Personal Branding | Community, Networks, & Social Capital
There’s a certain kind of person whose Substack emails I open immediately. Why? because they consistently articulate things I’ve been sensing before I have the language for them myself.
In a world where everyone is posting constantly, very few people are actually saying anything interesting. These four women are.
First: Emily Sundberg and her newsletter Feed Me.
Emily writes about business and culture with the specificity of someone who actually lives inside the worlds she covers. One week she’s unpacking why everyone suddenly wants to be a founder again, the next she’s writing about the social politics of dinner parties, downtown status symbols, media careers, startup money, or why “taste” has become a business advantage.
One of my favorite things she’s written recently was around how people are moving away from aspiration tied to pure wealth signaling and toward aspiration tied to access, identity, and perceived insider knowledge. That feels incredibly true right now. The flex isn’t just what you own anymore — it’s what room you’re in, what information you have early, who you know, what you’re invited to.
Second: Ali Kriegsman and her newsletter New Motives.
Ali writes about ambition, reinvention, identity, taste, and modern womanhood in a way that feels deeply observant rather than performative. A lot of founder content today feels optimized for LinkedIn applause. Her writing feels more like someone actually trying to make sense of how success changes you in real time.
She recently wrote about the pressure women feel to constantly evolve while simultaneously staying recognizable to the people around them, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Especially as someone who has gone through multiple versions of my career already, that tension feels incredibly real. The version of you that builds the thing is rarely the same version that sustains it.
Her writing feels especially resonant right now because so many ambitious women are rebuilding their lives, careers, aesthetics, relationships, and priorities publicly for the first time.
Third: Karin Eldor and her newsletter Lunch At Barneys.
Karin writes about founders, fashion, beauty, brand-building, and the people shaping culture with the eye of someone who actually understands both media and momentum.
Her pieces go deeper than a standard founder profile. She’ll take a conversation with someone like Raissa Gerona at Revolve and turn it into a lesson on what happens after a brand gets the big retail “yes” — the less glamorous but essential work of storytelling, sell-through, and staying power.
That’s what I love about her writing: it’s not just “this brand is cool.” It’s why the brand is working, who is behind it, and what founders can learn from the way culture, commerce, and taste collide.
And lastly: Muna Ikedionwu and her newsletter I Have Thoughts…
Muna writes about startups, consumer behavior, branding, internet culture, and venture dynamics in a way that feels incredibly plugged into where business is actually heading — especially for modern consumer companies.
What I like most is that she’s willing to say the quiet part out loud. She recently wrote about how startups intentionally manufacture outrage and discourse because attention itself has become a growth strategy. Another piece unpacked the reality of fundraising and how many founders misunderstand what investors are actually looking for beyond “good ideas.”
Her writing feels especially relevant right now because we’re watching the lines between culture, media, and commerce completely collapse. The brands winning today aren’t just selling products — they’re engineering conversation, identity, and community at the same time.
What all four of these women have in common is that they understand modern influence isn’t just about audience size anymore — it’s about perspective. About being able to connect dots before everyone else does.
They’re not just reporting on culture or business. They’re interpreting where ambition, identity, status, media, money, and power are all heading next.
And increasingly, that’s what I’m looking for when I read something. Not more content. Just people who help me see the world a little sharper.
