5 Things / Jarring

A Note from Bernadette

This week I taught my son to drive, just like I was taught. In a cemetery. The stakes were pretty low at 10 miles per hour. His biggest challenge was his tendency to use his left foot for braking, because that's what he's done in race car video games where you drive stick. It's funny that he had muscle memory from a video game!

I could tell when he used his left foot because the braking was much more jarring. It made me think about how we often default to old habits when we're under pressure. They may have worked in a different context, but now they can just be jarring for everyone.

He'll get there. So will the rest of us, one jarring stop at a time.

Thanks to everyone who has completed the 5 Things survey! It means so much to me to hear from you. I'm as committed as ever to sharing the good vibes.

I'm cheering you on—
Bernadette

This Week's Good Vibes

North Carolina Finally Levels Parental Leave

Gov. Josh Stein signed a law this month expanding paid parental leave for North Carolina teachers and state employees to 12 weeks for the birth, adoption, or placement of a child, up from the previous four or eight weeks.

Before this, non-birthing parents received half the leave, a policy that quietly signaled who was "supposed" to be the primary caregiver. California's leave expansion linked equal access to greater father involvement, better maternal mental health, longer breastfeeding, and lower infant mortality.

♐️ If your org still splits leave by "who gave birth," it's worth asking why.

Boat Tycoon Gives Away $400 Million

Grady-White Boats founder Eddie Smith Jr., 83, turned down a sale worth more than $400 million and instead moved the company's voting shares into a permanent purpose trust, so it can never be sold.

A new nonprofit will receive future profits, directing tens of millions annually toward causes like conservation, healthcare, and education. Smith modeled the structure on Patagonia's 2022 ownership transition. Grady-White's employees keep their existing benefits, including profit-sharing and on-site health care.

♐️ Next time your org talks succession planning, ask whose interests the plan actually protects: the founder's, the buyer's, or the people who show up every day.

Virginia Bans the Salary History Question

Virginia's new pay transparency law, effective July 1, requires employers to post good-faith salary ranges in job listings and bars them from asking applicants about salary history. The salary-history ban stops a candidate's past pay from anchoring new salary negotiations.

Virginia joins 13 other states with similar laws. A 2025 study found these laws boosted wages between 1.3% and 3.6%, with no measurable job losses. Salary history questions have long let past underpayment, disproportionately affecting women and workers from marginalized groups, follow people from job to job.

♐️ If your team still asks candidates "what did you make at your last job," it's time to retire that question.

WNBA All-Star Crowd Beats the NBA's

The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago drew 19,783 fans, a new event record that outdrew the same year's NBA All-Star Game for the first time ever.

League-wide attendance is up 16%, and 29 games have topped a million viewers, compared to 11 for the entirety of last season. The growth follows a new collective bargaining agreement that gave players real investment in the league's future.

♐️ The WNBA's growth wasn't luck. It followed real investment. What in your org is under-resourced because someone assumed the demand wasn't there?

A Salon Chair Built for Wheelchairs

Speech therapist Madeline Johnson opened a sensory-based haircare business for children and adults with sensory needs, then partnered with Louisiana State University engineering students to design a shampoo bowl that adjusts to accommodate a wheelchair.

The idea began after Johnson heard about someone falling during a chair transfer at a salon. Students spent two semesters building and revising the prototype. Johnson now works from a shared clinic space in Baton Rouge with an occupational therapy gym, letting clients transfer just once, from car to wheelchair.

♐️ Think about the "small" everyday spaces in your community (salons, gyms, offices) and ask who might be quietly excluded from them.

Good Vibes to Go & Updates

Join International Allyship Day, hosted by my friend Julie Kratz. It's happening August 11, 2026, live in New York City or virtually.