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Some women struggle to thrive in traditional office settings, and work-life and work-family tensions are obviously major reasons for that. When workplaces lack substantial maternity leave, child care options, or flexible schedules for working moms, women from the high-achieving lawyer to the hourly worker can burn out fast. (In case you forgot, the US remains the only developed country without mandated paid leave options for parents* and where moms routinely face job and pay discrimination.)

* America Makes the World's Hardest Job Even Harder

[www.vox.com]

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n the summer of 2016, Jenie Evans posted a YouTube video explaining why she was leaving Younique, a cosmetics-focused direct sales company not unlike Mary Kay or Avon.

[www.youtube.com]

Evans was a successful “presenter,” the company’s term for salespeople, according to her video. She was “purple” status, the second-highest rung on the Younique ladder. In addition to earning commission on her own sales, she had 350 women on her “downline,” meaning she earned commission on all of their sales as well. But, Evans said, she had problems with the product, particularly the mascara, which she said had become virtually unusable after the company changed its formula. She said she felt like she had to lie to her customers in order to keep making sales.

Halfway through the video, titled “Why I resigned from Younique as a Purple Status,” Evans’s emotional explanation turns into a sales pitch. “What Younique did for me was help me dream bigger than I’ve ever dreamed,” she says around the six-minute mark. “It’s helped me realize that direct sales — network marketing — is the future. It’s what’s going to give me and my family the future that we want, that we deserve.”

After a few more minutes of explaining why Younique failed her and all its other presenters, Evans finally revealed the exciting new opportunity that helped her leave a company where her concerns weren’t taken seriously: She’s going to become a “beauty guide” for LimeLight by Alcone, now known as LimeLife.

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Tyson Whiting
8 reasons women's magazines are bad for your health
By Julia Belluz@juliaoftorontojulia.belluz@voxmedia.com Updated Aug 17, 2015, .

"...Back then, I was particularly vulnerable to fashion and teen monthlies targeted at women, like Seventeen and Vogue. Their glossy pages offered an escape from dreary suburbia, and I couldn't get enough.

But when I revisit the health articles in these magazines now, I notice that the overwhelming majority of them are insane, aimed at fearmongering and totally science-free. I regret the time and money I dedicated to these books because of something I now know to be true:
They almost never offer evidence-based advice, but instead celebrity-centered nonsense.

A friend of mine recently asked whether I thought these magazines were a vast conspiracy to make women dumb because so much of what's in them is frivolous, unhelpful, false, and even harmful. I'm not prone to conspiracy theories, but if I could go back in time, I would have saved my time and money. Today I’d tell my 16-year-old self to ignore the health advice in their pages — and keep these eight lessons in mind.

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Tyson Whiting
8 reasons women's magazines are bad for your health
By Julia Belluz@juliaoftorontojulia.belluz@voxmedia.com Updated Aug 17, 2015, .

"...Back then, I was particularly vulnerable to fashion and teen monthlies targeted at women, like Seventeen and Vogue. Their glossy pages offered an escape from dreary suburbia, and I couldn't get enough.

But when I revisit the health articles in these magazines now, I notice that the overwhelming majority of them are insane, aimed at fearmongering and totally science-free. I regret the time and money I dedicated to these books because of something I now know to be true:
They almost never offer evidence-based advice, but instead celebrity-centered nonsense.

A friend of mine recently asked whether I thought these magazines were a vast conspiracy to make women dumb because so much of what's in them is frivolous, unhelpful, false, and even harmful. I'm not prone to conspiracy theories, but if I could go back in time, I would have saved my time and money. Today I’d tell my 16-year-old self to ignore the health advice in their pages — and keep these eight lessons in mind.

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Let me save you time and money here: Almost every celebrity-driven trend I’ve investigated over the years has fallen apart under even modest scrutiny.

These fads are usually motivated more by a celebrity's business interests than by any sort of research about how to be healthy.

There are really only a few things that scientists can truly say for sure will help us look good and stay healthy: Don’t smoke. Don’t drink too much. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Watch your weight. Exercise. And get a good amount of sleep. That’s pretty much it. The rest is noise.