• Even though each bar is different, some cocktails are safe bets, while others often miss the mark.
• At nearly any bar, a classic Negroni or martini will be simple to throw together.
• Bartenders generally don't enjoy preparing some drinks, like a Long Island or Ramos Gin Fizz. 

I'm a professional bartender, so I can tell you that the only cocktails that are sure to be good at every bar are simple two-part washes, like a vodka cranberry or a rum and Coke.

However, even those combos can be risky at certain dives. 

Every bartender has their own unique personality, strengths, and weaknesses, and each bar has its own customer base, inventory, and brand identity — so most cocktail experiences aren't going to be uniform.

When in doubt, see what other people are drinking and the menu, or even ask the staff for recommendations. That said, there are a few tried-and-true orders that tend to be universally delicious, and a few that rarely hit the mark. 

The classic Negroni is a great cocktail to order at practically any bar.

With no fresh fruit or shaking required, the Negroni is a quick build that packs a boozy punch.

Even if the bartender doesn't know the recipe, it's easy enough to explain. Just stir equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth over ice.

Order a daiquiri if you're feeling more of a vacation vibe.

Many bartenders add their favorite variations to this classic sipper, all of which can be delicious.

Frozen or shaken and with fresh fruit or herbal tinctures (concentrated extracts), this combo of rum, sugar, and lime is hard to mess up.

A martini is a staple cocktail and another solid choice at almost any respectable bar.

Not a fruity or a French martini, but an extra-cold, dry-gin classic hits the spot every time.

You only need one to catch a buzz, too, so this is a great drink to order if the wait is long or if the bar is busy.

Just be specific when ordering so the bartender doesn't have to ask multiple follow-up questions, or worse, wing it.

On the other hand, bartenders typically don't enjoy making the Ramos Gin Fizz.

Some bartenders will insist that they love making the Ramos Gin Fizz — a New Orleanian cocktail that requires fresh egg whites and heavy cream, plus two separate, vigorous shakes — and they're likely either lying or are not allowed to tell you the truth.

This cocktail is (literally) a pain in the neck to make, and then other customers want to order it when they see someone else drinking one. It's a vicious cycle.

The worst part about this cocktail is that if it's not properly prepared, it comes out as a flat, milky mess. Skip it.

Just because a cocktail is popular doesn't mean it's going to be good — take, for example, a Long Island.

When prepared with quality ingredients and fresh citrus, a Long Island can be a decent drink. Unfortunately, it's seldom made that way.

Long Islands usually consist of bottom-shelf liquor and a sugary sour mix. In my experience, bartenders don't like this cocktail because they have so many ingredients. Some will even badly make it on purpose to discourage people from ordering more.

Instead of ordering a Long Island, try a Moscow Mule or a two-ingredient Fernet and Coke.

Although great for hangovers, a Bloody Mary is not a drink you want to order from just any bar.

Unless it's made fresh and stored properly, tomato-based Bloody Mary mix can be suspect.

At a busy bar, if you're lucky, you might get a few old olives and a slice of celery in your glass. If you're unlucky, you'll get warm tomato juice and cheap vodka.

Save the Bloodies for brunch when the bartender is expecting to make them and has everything freshly prepared. If you must nurse your hangover in the afternoon, order a mimosa.

This story was originally published on March 20, 2022, and most recently updated on April 20, 2026.

• I tried five cheeseburgers from Burger King, including the Whopper and the Bacon King.
• I thought the Triple Whopper was less flavorful than some of the smaller, cheaper burgers.
• The Whopper impressed me with its flame-grilled patty and classic cheeseburger toppings.

I've been around the burger block, and Burger King's cheesy, flame-grilled burgers consistently rank among my favorites.

Burger King has sold cheeseburgers since its inception in the 1950s, according to an original menu reported by Delish, but exactly how the chain makes them has changed considerably.

The chain started with simple broiled cheeseburgers, but now the Burger King menu includes cheeseburger melts, several variations on its classic Whopper, chicken sandwiches, nuggets, fries, and more.

To determine which Burger King burger reigns supreme, I compared five different cheeseburgers from the chain. I tried the classic — yet recently updated — Whopper with cheese, the Triple Whopper with cheese, a plain cheeseburger, a double cheeseburger, and the Bacon King.

Here's how the burgers ranked, from my least favorite to my favorite.

My least favorite cheeseburger I tried was the chain's classic plain cheeseburger.

The cheeseburger from Burger King cost $2.79, excluding tax.

The cheeseburger came with American cheese, pickles, ketchup, and mustard on a sesame-seed bun.

The burger was extremely simple, but I was impressed by the generous serving of toppings. There was a hearty amount of condiments on the burger, and the cheese was thick and perfectly melted.

The sesame-seed bun also added a lot of flavor, but this burger was just a little simple compared to the other burgers I tried.

The flame-grilled burger had a grilled, smoky flavor that worked well with the ketchup and mustard.

Not only was this burger flavorful, but it also provided the best value, priced at $2.79, which was the cheapest option among the cheeseburgers I tried.

I enjoyed this burger a lot, but it could have been improved with an extra patty or more creative ingredients. At the end of the day, it was a basic fast-food cheeseburger.

Next up was the chain's double cheeseburger, which was a step up from the basic cheeseburger.

It cost $4.09, excluding tax and fees.

The double cheeseburger came with two of the chain's beef patties, American cheese, pickles, mustard, and ketchup on a sesame-seed bun.

Like the regular cheeseburger, there was a hearty serving of ketchup and mustard.

The pickle slices were thick and crunchy, and I enjoyed the flavor of the bun.

I thought this burger was certainly a step up from the regular cheeseburger. It packed the same grilled flavor and low price, but the extra patty made it even more flavorful and filling.

The Triple Whopper with cheese landed squarely in the middle of my ranking.

The burger cost me $11.49, excluding tax, making it the most expensive burger I tried.

The Triple Whopper comes with three quarter-pound beef patties, one slice of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, and ketchup.

The burger patties had a deliciously smoky and savory flavor that gave the sandwich a freshly grilled taste. The lettuce and tomato slices tasted extremely fresh, and I liked the addition of mayonnaise.

However, I thought this burger could have been improved with another slice of cheese between the layers of beef. The cheese's flavor was lost amid all the meat and other toppings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this burger and would certainly order it again … if I have the appetite for it.

This burger was extremely filling, and I would struggle to eat it all, in addition to fries. However, if you have a big appetite or simply love Burger King's beef, this might be the burger for you.

The burger was also significantly more expensive than the smaller cheeseburgers. However, I don't think the higher-priced additions were worth it — the two extra patties were a hindrance, rather than an asset, to the burger.

My second favorite burger was the Bacon King.

It cost $11.29, excluding tax and fees, making it the second-most expensive burger I tried.

The Bacon King comes with two quarter-pound beef patties, bacon, two slices of cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise on a sesame-seed bun.

The burger was swimming in mayonnaise and ketchup, but I didn't mind.

I like mayonnaise a lot, but I quickly noticed the generous amount spread on both the burger and the sesame-seed bun. If you're not fond of mayo, you might consider customizing or skipping this burger.

It was the most decadent, filling burger I tried.

The slices of cheese were evenly layered over the burger patties, which had a distinct smoky taste.

The perfectly crispy bacon added even more smoky flavor, and the cheese and condiments added a lot of moisture, which I felt the Triple Whopper lacked.

My favorite Burger King burger — and one of my favorite fast-food burgers, period — is the Whopper with cheese.

Burger King's signature burger has been around since 1957, just four years after the chain opened. Back then, the Whopper cost 37 cents.

In February, Burger King upgraded the signature burger with a new bun and packaging to prevent it from getting squashed in transit. It now costs $8.58, excluding tax and fees.

Burger King's prices can vary by location and franchise, but CNN reported that Burger King recommended that franchisees not raise prices for the new elevated Whopper.

A Whopper comes with a quarter-pound beef patty, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mayonnaise. I always add cheese for an extra 50 cents.

It was immediately evident that this burger would be bursting with flavor. Thick layers of ketchup and mayo spilled from the sides of the burger, but the sizable sesame-seed bun kept all the ingredients together.

I'm not surprised the chain's signature burger is so famous — it was my favorite, by far.

The cheese coated the burger patty, and the lettuce, tomatoes, and onions all tasted very fresh. They added a delicious crunch to the burger.

Unlike the original Whopper, which could easily turn soggy from its thinner mayonnaise and heavy condiments, this version was less saucy and stayed intact much better. The new, creamier mayonnaise also had more flavor.

Combined with the still-flavorful flame-grilled burger patty, crunchy lettuce, and fresh tomato slices, this burger still remained my top pick among the most famous fast-food signature burgers.

Even though this burger is a classic and perhaps not the most creative burger I've tried, I thought it was the most satisfying and a great value for the price.

• In 2022, I quit my job to backpack through South America for 10 weeks with my partner.
• We visited 16 cities across eight countries, and even saw one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
• One of my favorite cities was Buenos Aires — the sightseeing, shopping, and food were incredible.

In the summer of 2022, I quit my full-time job to spend 10 weeks backpacking through South America with my then-boyfriend (now-husband).

Consumed by the travel bug, we packed up all our belongings and moved them from our Miami apartment to a storage unit before hitting the road, visiting 16 cities across eight countries.

The whole trip was incredible, but four places hold a special place in my memory. From ancient wonders and bustling cities to breathtaking mountains, each of these destinations has a unique draw that would bring me back in a heartbeat.

I knew I'd love Buenos Aires as soon as we arrived

I couldn't quite place my finger on why, but as soon as we arrived in Buenos Aires, I had a feeling I'd love the city — and I was right.

On the cab ride from the airport to the hotel, we passed long stretches of waterside parks with miles of bike lanes. In fact, I found the city to be incredibly bike-friendly — there's even a system in place where riders can rent them for free.

Beyond being a cyclists' paradise, Buenos Aires was full of energy, with no shortage of fun things to do and neighborhoods to explore.

During our time there, my partner and I enjoyed visiting a free botanical garden (Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays), shopping at street fairs, touring the underground tunnels (El Zanjón), and savoring delicious Argentine steak.

By the end of our 10-week trip, most of the cities started to blur together, but Buenos Aires still stands out from the rest.

Ushuaia, Argentina, cemented my love for this geographically diverse country

From Buenos Aires, we flew south to Ushuaia, Argentina. We were immediately greeted by a blizzard, and the snow-capped mountain views were unlike anything I'd seen before.

We tried to be as budget-conscious as possible on our trip, but in Ushuaia, we spontaneously splurged on a private plane ride over Tierra del Fuego National Park. I never imagined I'd be on a tiny plane with a bird's-eye view of both Chile and Argentina, but sometimes the most unexpected experiences turn out to be the best.

Another highlight of Ushuaia was the boat tour we took through the Beagle Channel. We spent a few hours on the water, taking in breathtaking mountain views, as well as a picturesque lighthouse, sea lions, and even elephant seals.

Sadly, we missed penguin season by less than a month, so I'd love to return sometime between October and March to do a penguin boat tour.

In Puerto Natales, Chile, the hiking and views were unreal

Puerto Natales, Chile, is located in the Patagonia region of South America.

We spent about two hours traveling from our hostel in the city to Torres del Paine National Park. During the journey, I squealed with excitement as we passed herds of guanacos (close relatives of llamas), gasped in awe at the mountains, and held my breath as our little rental sedan drove over unpaved, rocky roads.

And when we arrived, I thoroughly enjoyed hiking up mountains, around lakes, and past icebergs. It was the first (and as of now, only) time I've seen a glacier — a paradise for true outdoor adventure lovers like myself.

Machu Picchu was everything it's cracked up to be and more

It may not come as a surprise to see Machu Picchu on this list — it's one of the New Seven Wonders of the World for a reason.

What caught me by surprise, though, wasn't the ancient city itself (which, to be clear, was absolutely amazing), but the winding bus ride to the citadel through lush, cloud-covered mountains. It seriously felt like being in another world.

The icing on the cake was seeing the llamas that roam freely throughout the ancient wonder. I'm a sucker for cute animals, and they stole my heart.

This story was originally published on January 22, 2026, and most recently updated on April 20, 2026.

• Oil prices surged again on Monday after peace talks between the US and Iran stalled.
• President Trump said the negotiations would resume, but Iran said it would not participate.
• Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude spiked and stocks dipped to start the week.

Oil prices jumped again and stocks edged back from record levels after a second round of peace talks between the US and Iran appeared to be on the verge of collapse before they even began.

Following a spike on Sunday evening, Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading about 5% higher at $95 and $88.50 per barrel, respectively, on Monday.

Tensions are running high again after a strong relief rally Friday brought stocks to all-time highs, sparked by a statement from Iran that said the Strait of Hormuz was "completely open."

Friday's big jump helped the S&P 500 close above 7,100 for the first time, just days after the benchmark achieved its first close above 7,000. The rally also pushed the Nasdaq Composite to a 13-day winning streak, its longest since 1992.

Major US indexes dropped to start the week, while bond yields were close to flat.

Here's where major indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. ET opening bell:

S&P 500: 7,113.73, down 0.17%

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 49,457.56, up 0.02% (+10.13 points)

Nasdaq Composite: 24,431.546, down 0.15%

President Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that a US Navy destroyer had attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to pass a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what's on board!"

Oil costs have skyrocketed worldwide since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February. Iran retaliated by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and serves as a key shipping channel for oil and liquefied natural gas.

Crude prices had moderated in recent weeks, falling more than 20% from highs through Friday on renewed optimism for a peace deal.

But the continued closure of the strait has forced several countries to enact energy-saving tactics as prices remain high. The Philippines, for example, implemented a four-day workweek for government employees. In the US, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas surpassed $4 in March, the first time that's happened since August 2022. Additionally, rising jet fuel costs have forced some airlines to cancel flights and increase customer fees.

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post on Sunday.

"We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it, because if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran."

However, Iran said hours later that it would not participate in the second round of negotiations with the US.

"Iran stated that its absence from the second round of talks stems from what it called Washington's excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire," IRNA, the country's official news agency, posted in an X post on Sunday.

• Hurricane season starts on June 1 and ends on November 30.
• We already know the list of names that have been chosen for storms this year.
• The names are reused every six years, except if a name is retired due to storm severity.

Hurricane season will soon be bearing down on us, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) already has a list of potential hurricane names this year.

There are 21 names that have been pre-selected, one for almost every letter of the alphabet (the WMO skips Q, U, X, Y, and Z names, because there aren't at least six suitable names starting with those letters). The list cycles every six years, meaning the last time some of these names were seen was in 2020.

If there are more than 21 storms warranting a name this year, there's a list of supplemental names, which is a relatively recent change. Before 2021, if the list of names ran out, the storms would then be named after the Greek alphabet.

The 2026 Atlantic storm name list:

• Arthur
• Bertha
• Cristobal
• Dolly
• Edouard
• Fay
• Gonzalo
• Hanna
• Isaias
• Josephine
• Kyle
• Leah
• Marco
• Nana
• Omar
• Paulette
• Rene
• Sally
• Teddy
• Vicky
• Wilfred

The only change from 2020 is that Laura was retired after Hurricane Laura decimated Louisiana and Texas that August, causing over $23.3 billion in damage across the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, and at least 81 deaths.

How do storms get their names?

The naming system as we know it today began in 1953, when the National Hurricane Center created a list of all traditionally female names, which explains why some of the names seem old-fashioned. Atlas Obscura reported that this practice was rooted in sexism and the perceived "unpredictability" of both hurricanes and women.

It took another 26 years for male names to be added to the list. Now, the storms alternate between traditionally male and female names.

Per the WMO, a name must have four main characteristics to be added to the list of potentials. They should be "easy to pronounce" and" short in character length for ease of use in communication," and should also be unique to the Western hemisphere and have "appropriate significance in different languages."

In other words, a name can't mean something offensive in a language other than English.

When does a hurricane name get retired?

It takes a lot for a name to be retired. A hurricane needs to make a "major impact," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Then any country the storm affected can request for the name to be retired, or the WMO can decide itself.

In some cases, a storm doesn't even need to be a hurricane to be retired — the name "Allison" was retired in 2002 after Tropical Storm Allison caused billions of dollars in damage in Texas.

In the 2020s, 10 storm names have been retired: Laura, Eta, Iota, Ida, Fiona, Ian, Beryl, Helene, Milton, and Melissa.

There are even more names for Pacific storms

The above is just a list of potential Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms. There are even more names for storms up and down the Pacific, which are called cyclones or typhoons depending on their location.

However, as hurricanes affect the US more significantly than those storms, we focused on the hurricane names here.

This year's hurricane season starts June 1

The Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1 this year and ends on November 30.

Hurricanes are getting more powerful as the climate crisis continues. As such, it's time to prepare for hurricane season if you live in a high-risk area: Know your evacuation routes, have emergency kits ready, and find out where your designated local shelter is.

• California Treasurer Fiona Ma has ties to a private Chinese boarding school under scrutiny.
• Ma, who visited the school in 2023, is running for state lieutenant governor.
• The school was the subject of a scathing audit issued last month by California education officials.

Fiona Ma, California's state treasurer and a candidate for lieutenant governor, has ties to a private Chinese boarding school at the center of a scathing California county audit, according to a post that was on the school's website.

Ma told students during a 2023 visit to the school that she could help provide internships and job opportunities in California, the post said.

Pegasus California School, based in Qingdao, China, was the subject of an audit issued last month by education officials in California's Riverside County. The report found a Southern California district improperly issued diplomas to the school's students and identified potential fraud and other illegal practices. Reporting by Axel Springer's Global Reporters Network, of which Business Insider is a part, shows she visited the school, met with Chinese officials, and was featured in its marketing. The school's founder also donated to Ma's campaigns.

The audit did not accuse Ma of wrongdoing.

The audit report, which followed a 2021 Business Insider investigation and was referred to the county prosecutor and other state authorities, found "sufficient evidence" to indicate that "fraud, misappropriation of funds and/ or assets, or other illegal fiscal practices may have occurred." No one has been charged with a crime in connection with the audit.

The Treasurer's Office declined a request for an interview with Ma. In a statement, Ma confirmed her 2023 visit to Pegasus and said that she paid for the trip personally. "At the time of my visit, I was not aware of any audits, investigations, or allegations related to the school's management," she said.

Ma said she traveled to China with her late father, who wanted to make a final visit to his hometown. The school's founder invited her to visit the school while she was in the country, she said.

On the school's WeChat channel, a post promoting Ma's September 2023 visit described an upcoming discussion with the treasurer and encouraged students to seek advice from her regarding applications to California universities. The post said in Chinese that Pegasus "has received high recognition from the California government" and boasted outstanding college admissions results.

Another post that was on the school website said that Ma had visited Qingdao specifically "to inspect Qingdao Pegasus School, the only international school authorized by the California Minister of Education to be opened in mainland China."

The California Department of Education sent a cease-and-desist letter to Pegasus last month demanding that it stop claiming it was founded with the agency's support. "You are on notice that the California Department of Education is not connected to, does not approve and does not endorse Pegasus California School," the letter said.

In 2021, the California Department of Education told Business Insider that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond was not aware of the allegations surfaced in Business Insider's reporting about Pegasus. The department referred the matter to the state attorney general's office and the Fair Political Practices Commission. The commission did not pursue the matter.

Ma is a tight race against two other Democrats, former Navy JAG officer Josh Fryday and former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, less than two months before the state's June primary.

Shortly before her 2023 China trip, Ma posted on her Instagram account that she would be on vacation.

During her Pegasus visit, Ma delivered speeches, attended a student-organized band performance, and received a gift presented by the principal, according to a recap that was posted on Pegasus' website. She told students that "if they want to intern in California, they can come to me, I will provide some internship and employment opportunities," the recap said.

"The two sides had an in-depth discussion on strengthening Sino-US economy, culture, and education," one school post said, adding that Ma hoped that Pegasus would "receive more support from the local government, highlight the unique aspects of American education, and help more and more Chinese students visit and study in the United States."

Audit finds possible evidence of fraud

Business Insider's 2021 investigation reported ties between Pegasus, the Val Verde Unified School District in Southern California, and government officials. The article revealed that top state education officials at the time, along with former leaders, worked closely with the school's founder, a California businessman named Steven Ma, to establish the school and promote it with the district and the University of California system. Fiona Ma and Steven Ma are not related.

The Riverside County Office of Education's audit found possible evidence of fraud, bribery, conflicts of interest, breaches of fiduciary duty, or violations of the Political Reform Act by various officials.

"There appears to be a pattern of favors, official acts, promises, and payments leading to the [state's] endorsement of Pegasus and VVUSD's approval of the diploma pilot program," the report said.

Steven Ma told the Global Reporters Network in a statement that the Riverside County School Board had "wasted an inordinate amount of staff time and taxpayer dollars," conducting audits.

"I relied on experienced public officials with decades of California education leadership to evaluate the program's legitimacy at every stage. They did so and supported it," he said. "To my knowledge, no active federal investigation, nor any law enforcement investigation for that matter, exists."

While the attorney general's office declined to comment on "potential or ongoing investigations," Rob Bonta, California's attorney general, told the Global Reporters Network in an interview that "that type of conduct is of great interest to us" and that his team plans to explore the issue further.

Ma has close ties to Pegasus' founder

Steven Ma has given thousands of dollars to Fiona Ma's political campaigns over the past decade, and the two are featured together in photos on Pegasus' website and on social media. According to the Pegasus website, they have worked together on projects for over 16 years.

Fiona Ma confirmed to the Network that she knows Steven Ma. While she respects "his commitment to education," she said that she has "no involvement in his private business dealings."

Steven Ma did not respond to questions about his relationship with Fiona Ma or involvement with her campaign.

Campaign-finance disclosures show that he and his college-admissions consulting company, ThinkTank Learning, contributed over $24,000 between 2015 and 2021 to several of her campaigns, including her campaign for state treasurer in 2018, and her 2022 reelection bid.

He later gave about $13,000 for Ma's lieutenant governor campaign, around five months before her 2023 trip to China.

A photo of Steven Ma's business card, shared with the Global Reporters Network, lists him as the finance committee chair for her lieutenant governor campaign. Steve Maviglio, a consultant for Fiona Ma's campaign, said he had never heard of Steven Ma. When questioned about the finance committee chair position, he added, "It's not a paid role, I can tell you that much."

A Pegasus employee, who is listed in a 2024 school post as the chair of the Pegasus Global Parent-School Alliance, endorsed Fiona Ma's campaign in a WeChat video. The video, shared by a former Pegasus employee, featured various shots of the state treasurer on the campaign trail talking and posing with supporters, along with photos of her speaking at Pegasus and standing with Steven Ma.

"Among the three candidates for lieutenant governor was my good friend, the California treasurer for the past two terms, Fiona Ma," she said in Chinese. "As the mother of a Chinese student, when I was there on scene, I felt something else. I was thinking, our generation worked so hard to send our children abroad to study and to be exposed to a bigger world."

Sophia Cai, Melanie Mason and Rosalie Chan contributed to this report.

Do you have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at neinbinder@businessinsider.com or Signal at neinbinder.70. Use a personal email address, a nonwork device, and nonwork WiFi; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from Business Insider, POLITICO, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms: online, print, TV and audio.

• An AI product leader says the bar at work is creeping closer to machine-level consistency.
• Svetlana Makarova of IKS Health calls the devaluation of human traits the "humanity discount."
• Decades of standardized, scripted jobs have made many roles easier to automate with AI, she said.

If it feels like the bar at work has gotten higher, you may not be imagining it.

As artificial intelligence sweeps across industries and becomes embedded in everyday workflows, it is raising standards and expectations, and reshaping how we judge workers, an AI product leader said.

"Customer expectations recalibrate to AI's consistency," Svetlana Makarova, who works in AI technical product management at IKS Health and was a former AI product lead at Mayo Clinic, told Business Insider.

Makarova calls this shift a "humanity discount" — a subtle dynamic in which the very traits that make people human, such as variability, judgment, and emotion, are becoming liabilities in the age of AI.

"Human workers begin to face unrealistic standards for productivity, patience, and availability," she added. "Unlike people, AI never has a bad day."

How work became scripted

The trend didn't start with AI, Makarova said.

For decades, companies have optimized jobs for efficiency, breaking them into repeatable tasks and standardizing outputs through scripts, templates, and performance metrics, she said.

That made scaling and automating work easier, she added.

"Following an exact script is what enables a machine to perform that task better," Makarova said. "If the work has been scripted, it's been prepared for automation."

Now, AI is accelerating that shift.

AI systems trained on years of structured workflows — from customer service calls to report writing and documentation — can replicate those tasks with growing accuracy, especially in fields like sales, legal, technical development, and research, she said.

On the flip side, interacting with emotionally responsive AI is subtly shifting expectations of human behavior.

"Interacting with AI that performs emotional intelligence is quietly lowering how human we judge other people to be," she said.

The result is a workplace where more is expected, often without workers realizing why.

"While AI brings efficiencies, knowledge workers are busier than ever in their existing roles due to the increased perceived productivity we can now deliver with the help of these [AI] agents in the same roles," she added.

What AI can't replace

To stay competitive, Makarova said workers should focus on what AI can't replicate: making decisions under uncertainty, reading complex social dynamics, and applying deep expertise.

"The people who catch what AI misses are the ones who can hold ambiguity and make defensible calls when the data is incomplete," she said.

Makarova's assessment comes as workers are growing anxious about AI's impact on their jobs, with many fearing that using the technology could ultimately help train their own replacements.

"The uncomfortable question is how much of that work could honestly be described as following a process someone else designed," Makarova said. "If the answer is more than half, the scripting has already done its work. Automation is the next logical step."

• United Airlines pilots diverted their plane when a beeping noise raised fears of a bomb on board.
• The flight, from Chicago to New York, made an emergency landing in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
• After landing, a bomb squad swept the plane and found "negative results."

A United Airlines flight was diverted, and passengers were evacuated after a strange beeping noise made the pilots fear there could be a bomb on board.

The Boeing 737 Max was operating Saturday's United Flight 2092, from Chicago to New York.

About halfway into the journey, the airplane made an abrupt turn to the south and changed course toward Pittsburgh, according to data from Flightradar24.

In an audio recording published by LiveATC.net, a pilot can be heard reporting the issue to air traffic control.

"We got an issue up here. We're getting a sequential beeping," he said. "We're gonna have to start treating this as a potential bomb."

The pilot then said the beeping was occurring every second, per the cockpit audio.

In a statement posted on X, the FBI's Pittsburgh office said all passengers and crew "safely evacuated the aircraft."

It added that FBI special agents and bomb technicians were on the ground coordinating with local authorities.

The Allegheny County Police Department said its bomb squad conducted a sweep of the aircraft with K9s, and found "negative results."

It's not clear what the beeping might have been.

United confirmed to Business Insider that the diversion was due to a "potential security concern."

The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside US working hours.

"Passengers boarded a different aircraft to New York LaGuardia and departed at 4:24 p.m. ET," United said in a statement.

The second plane, another Boeing 737, landed about 6.5 hours behind schedule.

The diverted plane took off from Pittsburgh about 11 p.m. on Sunday and landed back in Chicago an hour later.

While the incident sounded frightening for those on board, there have been more dramatic bomb alerts on flights in the past.

For example, last February, the Italian Air Force scrambled fighter jets to escort an American Airlines plane. The flight from New York to New Delhi diverted to Rome, and the airline said the "possible security concern" was later found to be "non-credible."

• The stock and oil markets have been in rare form lately as the Iran war has whipsawed investors.
• Last week saw stocks finish at record highs and oil tumble, but there are fresh doubts about a peace deal.
• The four charts below explain what's been happening and what investors should know going forward.

Last week was one for the ages in markets.

Stocks closed at record highs, not just erasing Iran-war losses, but blowing past them with ease. WTI crude, meanwhile, tumbled more than 10% for a second straight week.

After a period this chaotic and superlative-filled, it's sometimes easier to translate observations into visual form. Charts recap what's happened, and also send signals for what's to come.

Here are four charts that correspond to four major forward-looking takeaways from a particularly wild week in markets:

Chart #1: Nasdaq Composite's longest daily winning streak since 1992

The takeaway:

The 13-day winning streak in the Nasdaq Composite is indicative of a historically unstoppable rally — one that's lifted every major US index back to record highs. The fact that tech has led the gains shows investors were ready to jump back into growth names, particularly those linked to AI.

The rally had already started in earnest before the Strait of Hormuz reopening (that's now in jeopardy) pushed it over the top. If that hurdle can be cleared, investors can focus on earnings season and what it signals about market-wide profit growth.

Chart #2: Energy stocks lose wartime gains

The takeaway:

Energy stocks — which initially got a huge boost throughout the month of March, after the Iran war started — have been basically a perfect inverse of the broader market. These companies ride or die with the price of oil, and crude has tanked as US-Iran peace talks have progressed.

But despite the recent sell-off, oil prices remain roughly 25% above pre-war levels. There's also no guarantee the relief will last, given the historic nature of the market disruption. Any move higher in crude would lift these same downtrodden energy stocks.

Chart #3: Software stocks are still well off highs

The takeaway:

Returns off recent lows for software stocks have been encouraging. The sector needed a boost after it was the target of a series of AI-tool disruptions.

But the fact that the group is still so far off highs shows investors haven't forgotten prior worries. The AI trade is back in full force, and that's bad news for the industries previously deemed most vulnerable.

Chart #4: The dollar is sliding back near multi-year lows

The takeaway:

Now that rate cuts are being discussed once again — with the inflationary overhang of higher oil prices shelved for the time being — the greenback is on the move lower, back towards multi-year lows.

A weak dollar can be good or bad, depending on who you are. If you're a multinational company that does a lot of exporting, it's great for your bottom line. But if you're an everyday civilian visiting a foreign country, your currency doesn't go as far.

It's a perfect encapsulation of the two-sided nature of Iran-war market moves.

• Zoom is scaling back paid parental leave, while Deloitte is trimming PTO and other offerings for select workers.
• Many employers have already slashed perks such as gym discounts to rein in costs.
• Once a few big employers make a move, "it legitimizes that action for everybody else," said a former Google HR head.

Cuts to workplace perks came first. Paid time off may be next.

In the latest sign of employers flexing their power, at least two high-profile names are shrinking variations of the highly popular benefit. Zoom this year reduced the number of weeks of paid parental leave it offers, while Deloitte is also planning to do the same — and more — for select groups of workers starting in January.

The changes could be an early signal of a broader shift: In a tight labor market, even highly valued benefits may be on the chopping block. Workers have fewer options for job-hopping, and once a few marquee employers make bold moves, others may be inclined to follow.

"It legitimizes that action for everybody else," said former Google head of human resources Laszlo Bock, who now advises startup founders.

For example, he said this has happened in recent years with the adoption and rollback of DEI policies and the return-to-office push.

While Zoom and Deloitte may be outliers today, "they could become precedent-setters," said Bobbi Thomason, professor of applied behavioral science at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.

'A must-have'

At Zoom, birthing parents now get 18 weeks of paid parental leave, down from 22 to 24, and non-birthing parents get 10 weeks, down from 16, a spokesperson for the video-conferencing company confirmed to Business Insider.

Deloitte's reduced parental leave benefits will mainly affect workers in support roles, such as administrative services, information technology, and finance. The Big Four consulting firm also plans to pare back or cut annual PTO, a pension plan, and IVF funding for some of those individuals, Business Insider recently reported.

The changes are notable given that paid parental leave, vacation time, and disability leave are among the most valued workplace benefits, according to a 2026 MetLife survey of 2,550 full-time US workers.

While many employers don't provide any paid parental leave, more than three-quarters of respondents cited paid leave in general as a "must-have," the findings show.

Reductions in paid time off can be especially challenging for workers with caregiving responsibilities, said Thomason.

Zoom declined to comment. A Deloitte spokesperson previously told Business Insider that its US business is updating its talent structure to better reflect employees' diverse skills and the work they do for clients.

Lacking leverage

Zoom and Deloitte's actions come at a time when many employers have been prioritizing measurable results over loyalty, raising performance expectations, and tracking workers' AI usage. Pandemic-era perks like gym discounts are declining, in-office mandates are widespread, and layoffs continue to pile up.

Meanwhile, job growth has been stagnant, and many workers are staying put. The US quit rate edged down to 1.9% in February from 2.0% in January, according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What this means is that workers aren't well-positioned to push back against employers paring down core benefits, said Joshua Lavine, CEO of Capitol Benefits, an insurance advisory firm.

"They don't have the leverage they did a few years ago," he said.

'Better than layoffs'

With workers in a less powerful position, companies may opt to scale back employee benefits to rein in costs, said Josh Bersin, a human resources analyst and consultant.

"If they feel that they can improve the profitability of the firm by getting rid of some of these benefits, they will," he said. "It's definitely better than layoffs."

Trimming benefits, however, can backfire on employers—even if workers are unlikely to quit in droves due to the tight labor market, said Christopher Myers, director of the Center for Innovative Leadership at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

They could respond instead by putting less effort into their jobs, which could dent productivity, he said. In 2025, global employee engagement declined for a second year to its lowest level since 2020, according to a newly released Gallup study.

If the pendulum swings back in workers' favor, companies could face a tougher time retaining top talent, and their reputations could take a hit, Myers added.

Benefits "will be a question mark for workers thinking about joining one company versus another," he said.

• Jason Belmonte, known as Belmo, holds 32 professional bowling titles.
• He taught himself to bowl in small-town Australia, at his parents' bowling center.
• Tournament winnings, sponsorship deals, and branded products have made him a millionaire.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jason Belmonte. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My career in professional bowling began before I was born, on a rainy day with some bored relatives. My parents had family visiting the small town where we all still live. It was the mid-80s, and bowling was just becoming a thing in bigger cities like Sydney.

It was pouring rain during the visit, so the visitors asked if our town had a bowling alley. We didn't, and my parents had never been bowling, but as the visitor explained the game, they thought it sounded like a great business idea.

They put all their savings behind it, then asked my paternal grandparents to do the same. The bowling center opened right around the time I was born.

My parents and grandparents worked every shift, so naturally, I was there too. Once I was old enough to walk, the bowling ball became my babysitter. My parents would set me up with a lane, and — according to family stories — I would only stop for lunch and a nap. That's where I developed my unique two-handed bowling approach. I was so small that I needed both hands to throw the ball.

I won a $16,000 bonus when I was 16

By the time I was 16, I was on my state's youth team. At an event, two other boys on the team mentioned they were going to competitions in Singapore and Malaysia. I had no idea there were tournaments outside my little area, but when they asked me to join them, I did.

During that first trip, I bowled a perfect game. That came with a $16,000 bonus prize. On the flight home, I realized that I had just made more than I could make working at my parents' bowling alley or my other job, Blockbuster Video. Bowling could be my career.

I started buying round-the-world economy tickets for about $2,000, and used that to get to four or more different competitions in Asia and Europe. It was expensive, but if I won — which I often did — I could come home with $30,000 in prize money. On my most lucrative trip, I won $100,000 in a four-week period.

Competing professionally is the best rush

I was making lots of money and enjoying the amateur circuit. But the Professional Bowlers' Association, based in the US, was like Mount Everest to me. I was a big fish in a small pond, but PBA tournaments were the ocean.

When the PBA commissioner reached out to invite me to two tournaments, I had to say yes. I was beaten, badly. But the commissioner convinced me I had the skills; I just needed more experience. I stuck with it and won my 8th tournament. Since then, I've won 32 PBA titles.

Even after 18 years, nothing can give me the same rush as competing in the PBA. Going pro allowed me to make more money (from winnings and sponsorships) and stop chasing tournaments around the world. At the time, my wife and I were ready to start a family, and today we have four kids, so time at home is important.

I'm thinking about what comes after my bowling career

I sometimes think about the Butterfly Effect in my life. If my relatives hadn't visited on a rainy weekend and planted the idea of starting a bowling center, would I still be a professional bowler? I don't know, but I'm incredibly grateful that they asked a simple question.

Bowling has made me a millionaire and changed my family's lives. My grandparents — who immigrated to Australia with nothing — were able to experience the abundance they had never known before, thanks to the bowling center's success.

The legacy isn't just financial. When I walk around my town, everyone speaks so highly of my mom and dad, and the impact they've had on the community. That's the legacy I want to have for the bowling community: not only to be a great bowler, but to leave the sport better overall.

My parents eventually owned three bowling centers. They've since sold two, because they're ready to retire. They don't want to sell the original center to anyone but me. I don't want them to either — yet I'm still so fueled by competition. That's led to some touchy conversations lately.

I've signed contracts for the next three years, but after that, it's time to think very seriously about what comes next.

• Private credit's push into retail investors created hundreds of jobs selling to broker-dealers.
• Now, with redemptions rising, those workers have to play defense, trying to calm investors.
• One former wholesaler said that he's had old clients reach out to him, years after he changed jobs.

The private credit boom created a lucrative job on Wall Street: selling the asset class to wealthy individuals hungry for returns.

Now, as redemption requests climb and concerns about credit quality spread, the sales, fundraising, and business development professionals who helped fuel that growth are facing a new reality. They're focused less on bringing new money in and more about keeping it from flowing out.

The job of serving as the connective tissue between private capital firms and the financial advisors who sell their products is now among the most stressful in finance. Used to playing offense, they're now on the defensive. This shift could change how they work and how they're paid, and how firms are thinking about new hires.

After years of rapid growth, concerns over credit quality and heightened exposure to challenged software assets have driven record-high investor redemption requests at some of the biggest funds, including Blackstone, Blue Owl, Ares, and Apollo. And while there are still inflows into these funds, they're not enough to replace outflows.

"They've been put into a position where they're forced to play defense, and that's not necessarily a position where a lot of our candidates want to be," Jessica Xu, head of investor relations recruitment at recruiter Selby Jennings, told Business Insider.

These workers need to work "considerably harder" in current market conditions, said Xu, with only a hope of "defending" their firm's assets under management. Not only is it a lot of work, but it can also mean substantially reduced pay, as many of these workers receive a large portion of their pay based on their own and the firm's fundraising record.

Anxious clients

Investors have so many questions that they're now reaching out to their old salespeople for advice, according to one former wholesaler at a major private credit firm who now works in private wealth.

"I have fielded a few handfuls of calls in the last week from old advisors I used to sell to, asking me what I think," the former wholesaler said in early April.

This comes after a sustained hiring boom at the intersection of private wealth and credit. These roles reached an all-time high of 585 moves in 2025, according to data from recruiting firm Jensen Partners. Most notably, the hiring didn't experience a typical fourth-quarter drop-off (unlike all other roles Jensen tracked), even as concern about private credit began to mount in the fall.

One of the main candidate profiles for these roles is those that have worked in distribution at traditional asset managers.

Unlike working at a traditional asset manager, with a wide range of potential strategies to sell, wholesalers at these private market firms have, at best, a few options to sell to wealth advisors and their investors.

"You're stuck saying, 'Buy more please,'" the former wholesaler said. "There really is no place to defend."

The ex-wholesaler said he has had former colleagues leave private credit due to redemption limits. Commission on sales is based on gross, not net sales, meaning there's no incentive to focus on keeping clients in funds.

"It's been a busy couple of weeks for people managing private credit LP relationships," said Lisa Steele, a partner at recruiting firm Braddock Matthews Barrett who focuses on roles fundraising from limited partners, whether large institutions or retail investors.

While Steele said she's not seeing many examples of people saying, "I need to get out of here," others have.

"Normally, if you worked at one of these top alternative investment firms that's in the headlines, you'd make a move to a similar company," said Xu, explaining that they're now more willing to look at smaller firms that aren't traditional lateral moves.

More selective hiring

The redemption squeeze has led some industry executives to question whether private wealth channels have had the same understanding of the market as institutional investors.

"What's happened is as the asset class has grown, as an industry we could have done a better job of making individual investors truly understand there will be times where redemptions are low and you can move in and out all of your capital," Doug Ostrover, co-CEO of Blue Owl, said last month. "But there will be times like today where you're only going to get a fraction out."

In a message shared with Business Insider, Ostrover added additional context, saying that investors receive clear disclosure of the 5% liquidity feature before investing. He added the industry will "continue to educate the broader marketplace as to the features of these funds."

Ensuring that retail investors and their advisors have the right intel is likely to drive continued demand for roles such as product specialists who answer clients' questions and concerns and put them in an economic context.

"You need to be someone who can engage proactively and commercially with a firm's CIO, as well as work with financial advisors who might be newer to the strategy," said Steele.

These employees can speak like an investor, and have even attracted applicants from traditional investment roles, said Adam Loughran, senior vice president at Selby Jennings.

"I'm finding more and more funds having an interest in hiring someone with an investing underwriting background into those product specialist seats because they can speak about their investment strategies to their investors in a very technical and articulate manner," Loughran said.

Another thing on the wish list? Staffers who lived through prior economic meltdowns, so they can use their own experience to reassure clients.

"I get worried about people who haven't lived through the GFC calling me," said Mike Serio, CIO at Trilogy Financial, a wealth management team with over $4 billion in AUM.

"I have heard this from a number of people: I want old souls managing my private credit," Serio said.

• Cal AI was acquired by MyFitnessPal less than two years after its launch.
• Cofounder Jake Castillo said their execution speed became the biggest moat against competitors.
• They focused on influencer marketing as their main marketing strategy when scaling the startup.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jake Castillo, the 31-year-old CMO and cofounder of Cal AI, based in Los Angeles. Cal AI is an AI-native app co-founded by a tiny team of Castillo and three others. The lean team quickly scaled to millions in monthly revenue, leading to its acquisition by MyFitnessPal less than two years after launch. His words have been edited for length and clarity.

Imagine holding your breath for two years, and then finally exhaling. That's how I felt when the app I cofounded in 2024 was acquired by MyFitnessPal at the end of last year.

Cal AI, our AI calorie tracking app, launched at the end of April 2024, and I joined as one of the cofounders at the beginning of May. There were four of us on the founding team, and in the early days, we wanted to succeed more than we wanted to breathe.

In the AI era, anyone can build a product, so our execution speed became everything to us. We didn't need millions of dollars to grow a business that makes millions; we just needed to be very scrappy and trust our instincts. That took us a long way.

Influencer marketing was our fastest path to growth

We decided to work with health and fitness influencers on social media as our main marketing strategy since that was an immediate distribution channel.

They were already creating videos on what they eat in a day, how to lose weight, and low-calorie snack-type content. It made for a super-easy integration by showing how CalAI was used in those videos and guaranteed us immediate views.

Influencers get free access to the app. Early on, we didn't operate off a fixed budget. Instead, we reinvested aggressively into influencer deals as we saw them working. If we had $1,000 available and a strong opportunity, we'd allocate it there. We prioritized putting capital into channels that were directly driving growth.

We also tried using non-influencer user-generated content, which is people posting about our app without having an existing audience. We had to rely on the algorithm to get views, so we quickly moved away from focusing on that strategy.

Once we realized the influencer strategy we were implementing worked well for this product and we were seeing growth, we trusted our guts and doubled down.

We went from one influencer to onboarding 20 a week

At the start, we had one influencer partnership, then three. Then once we saw the direct effect it was having on our business, we set out a goal to sign 10 a week, which doesn't sound like much, but it was crazy.

I was on the phone all day, every day, and soon we started to reach our goal of 10 influencers a week. At this point, we have over 160 influencers signed, but that number fluctuates every day.

Speed is our biggest advantage in the AI era

I've heard people say the only differentiator between your product and other apps now is taste. I actually disagree with that. I think AI can do a lot of the taste-making for you. I really believe the only moat we can create is speed.

AI can increasingly guide what to build, what to cut, and even how things should look. Which is why we believe speed is the more durable advantage: how quickly you can ship, learn, and iterate.

We tried not to take any payouts for the first year because we wanted to invest everything back into the business. This allowed us to hire more influencers and keep moving quickly on our marketing strategy to get ahead of the competition.

If similar apps are always chasing us, our strategies, and our features, they will keep chasing us if we keep our pace. I think it just comes down to that.

Trust your instincts because the simplest strategy is usually the best one

A lot of times, people try to overcomplicate things, and often, the simplest solution or strategy is the best and fastest approach.

Whenever a new idea comes up, we always think about what it's going to complicate. We think about this on both the marketing and product side, and if the answer is yes, it would complicate things; we would usually not pursue it.

A lot of our decision-making comes down to trusting our gut and intuition, too. That's one thing I definitely want to shout out my cofounder, Zach, for. He's so confident in his gut. If he's got a hunch, he's like, "Yeah, let's run with it."

We've scaled our team but have kept the same lean mindset

The team is larger now after the acquisition, but we still don't want to get unnecessarily bloated, and we try to keep our management structure pretty flat and super high agency.

We want everyone to feel like they can be a decision-maker and have an impact, and that there's no bureaucracy to navigate to get things done. The second too much bureaucracy enters, we're going to slow down, and if speed is our only moat, slowing down is not an option.

Some of our first hires are now in leadership positions, which has been great. I no longer have to wear all the hats of the accountant, the legal representative, the marketer, and the COO. We now get to delegate those roles and responsibilities.

The MyFitnessPal acquisition taught me to always keep the door open

The MyFitnessPal acquisition talks started a while ago, and continued off and on until around the end of last year, when it really started to pick up steam. We agreed to terms, completed due diligence, and ultimately closed the deal in December of last year, which was surreal.

Even if a conversation doesn't seem like it's going anywhere, you should always leave the door open — you never know how it might evolve. If we had closed that door with MyFitnessPal when the deal made less sense, we might have missed out on this opportunity, but we kept it open.

Do you have a similar story to share? Contact this reporter, Agnes Applegate, at aapplegate@businessinsider.com.

• Carrie Charles, CEO of Broadstaff, highlights data centers as a growth area for tech workers.
• Data center technician jobs are increasing, offering hands-on work with evolving technology.
• Demand for skilled electricians in data centers could lead to high salaries and large opportunities.

A talent CEO says all the recently laid-off tech workers wading through corporate America's sluggish job market should look to one growing area: data centers.

Carrie Charles is the CEO and cofounder of Broadstaff, a staffing and recruiting firm that works with companies like Oracle and Verizon. She says that with Big Tech's AI infrastructure buildout underway across the country, Broadstaff's business is booming.

Aside from all the construction workers needed to build data centers, Charles says she constantly fields staffing inquiries for skilled electricians and technicians to install and maintain the physical hardware inside the facilities.

"Our phone has never rang so much in our 10 years as a staffing company," Charles said. "The space is on fire right now — it's wild."

Charles sees a disconnect between the demand for data center talent and the thousands of laid-off desk workers struggling to find a new 9-to-5 office job.

Data center job listings increased by 64% between 2023 and 2025, Deloitte found. Industry leaders also say job openings outpace recruitment. A survey from industry organization Uptime Institute found that 54% of data center executives reported talent acquisition as their main hurdle.

"Young people — people in their 40s — getting laid off is all over the media, and it's this massive shock," Charles said. "But there's a massive opportunity over here."

Data centers offer a limited number of permanent jobs per facility. Still, Charles said the market is expanding as more large data centers pop up across the country.

Employment at data centers in the US increased by over 60% from 2016 to 2023, according to the US Census Bureau.

Working as a data center technician could be a good fit for someone who likes being hands-on but isn't ready to fully let go of the corporate world.

"It's almost like a white-collar trade job," Charles said. "It's a technical role, but you're not sitting all day long."

Data center technician jobs are growing

A data center technician does on-site tech support and hardware maintenance. The job can be physically demanding, Charles said, and sometimes it involves moving between sites if you work for a company with multiple data centers in a region.

As data center technology evolves rapidly, more companies are launching their own training programs for entry-level workers.

For instance, the Uptime Institute offers a data center certification program that takes five days to complete.

"It all comes down to positioning," Charles said. "You're bringing skills like operations, troubleshooting, reliability, or even customer experience."

Advanced technicians can make $80,000 to $100,000

Technicians are "not going to immediately start making six figures," and entry-level data center technicians can make between $45,000 and $65,000 a year, Charles said.

While having a background in IT or completing certification programs can be helpful in landing a job, employers mostly look for a "can-do" and "no task too small" mindset in entry-level employees, she added.

"You might be working from 7:00 p.m to 7:00 a.m.," Charles said. "They want to make sure you're the kind of person who will do the job and stay in the role."

Technicians can move up relatively quickly to more advanced technician or facilities management roles.

"With a few basic certifications and a willingness to work shifts, you can ramp quickly," Charles said. "In most cases, you are back to that $80,000 to $100,000 a year range within 18 to 24 months."

Specialized electricians can make $200,000 to $300,000

If you have a higher risk tolerance, Charles recommends becoming a licensed electrician and seeking out apprenticeships with data center specialists. For instance, Broadstaff works with Wachter, a national electrical contractor that works with large data centers and offers apprenticeship programs.

Although becoming a licensed electrician can require four to five years of trade school and multiple apprenticeships, it's a path that can yield a larger payout in the long run.

Senior electricians can easily make over six figures, Charles said, and those with specialized knowledge of data center technology, such as liquid cooling and fiber cabling, can make between $200,000 and $300,000 a year.

Electricians are expected to be in high demand over the next decade. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 81,000 job openings for electricians annually through 2034. BLS says the job outlook for electricians is growing "much faster" than most other occupations.

Gen Z is already on board with blue-collar trade work. Charles says it's time for everyone else to catch up and start viewing blue-collar jobs as viable careers.

Going to law school in your 30s or 40s is a similar commitment to becoming certified as an electrician, Charles said. Both require years of training from the ground up and come with short-term financial setbacks — and high long-term salary potential.

"It's hard, and there's an element of risk," Charles said. "But the opportunities are massive. You have to take a step back to take a step forward."

The thing about corporate turnarounds is that they take a minute and then some. In the case of Nike, it's and then some … and then some more. Hopefully.

A company's stock price doesn't tell the whole story, but it does tell a lot of it, and the story it tells for Nike is bleak. Shares of the sportswear juggernaut have plunged 70% from their November 2021 peak, and are down 30% this year alone. Under the leadership of CEO Elliott Hill, a Nike veteran brought back in to lead the company in 2024, Nike has undertaken efforts to bring the company back to life. It's going back to sports-focused basics, repairing relationships with partners it scorned, and refocusing on innovating its actual products instead of innovating its website. The strategy does show signs of working, but it's slow going, and there are a lot of problems to address.

"If you're 10 years old and you break your leg, you heal in a month," says Sam Poser, an equity analyst at Williams Trading. "If you're 40 years old and you break your leg, and it usually happens in a split second, it takes a much longer time before you can walk without a limp."

And the 62-year-old Nike's proverbial leg is broken in multiple places.

Heading into the pandemic, things were good for Nike — sales were strong, it was growing at a double-digit clip in China, its risky decision to stick by and advertise with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick paid off. Even after the pandemic hit, the company was chugging along, at least on the surface.

Many people point to John Donahoe, who took over as Nike's CEO in January 2020, as the main source of Nike's current woes. The eBay veteran came in with some "very specific ideas," says Matt Powell, founder of the consultancy Spurwink River, and "frankly, most of them didn't work."

Nike had already been pushing to grow its e-commerce business and direct-to-consumer channels, and under Donahoe's watch, that push became a shove. Nike pivoted aggressively to selling through its own digital and physical stores and cut ties or severely reduced its partnerships with wholesalers such as Foot Locker, DSW, and Macy's. The hope was that cutting out the middlemen would increase profits, give Nike more control over the consumer experience, and allow it to get first dibs on valuable customer data.

The move backfired. The company spent decades building out a strong ground game in partner stores, which the new strategy quickly undermined. By leaving physical locations, Nike opened up shelf space for younger, hungrier competitors such as On and Hoka, as well as older rivals like New Balance.

"In their heyday, Nike was always arguably one of the best grassroots marketing companies out there," Poser says.

The effects of the pandemic initially papered over Nike's DTC missteps. People sitting at home, shopping with extra cash to spend, bought up a lot of sporting goods, equipment, and shoes. It was also a strong period for the collectors market, where Nike thrives. (The pandemic, of course, caused other problems for Nike, especially around supply chains.) But as the stay-at-home boom wore off, the drawbacks of Nike's new sales tactics became apparent.

Leaning into DTC wasn't Nike's only oops. While it was revamping its e-commerce operations, the company lost sight of a core part of its business: developing cool new products. There were consequences to worrying about where its merchandise was selling instead of what it was selling.

"It's almost embarrassing that Nike would be getting hit this hard by companies like Hoka and On that have R&D budgets that are a fraction of the size of Nike," says David Swartz, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar. Consumers are open to trying new footwear, especially if there's not much new or exciting from the brand they already know. While Nike was flailing, both Hoka and On were innovating on their running shoes, specifically on their soles and cushioning, and moving into the mainstream. Some people, Swartz says, say Nike's latest sales-driving running technology — Flyknit — came out years ago.

Nike began stuffing the market with its most popular shoes — Air Force 1s, Air Jordan 1s, Dunks — leading to oversaturation and, in turn, excess inventory and a decline in brand cachet. Part of what creates a sense of desire and urgency around those items is that they're relatively hard to get.

At the same time that the product line was getting stale, Nike replaced older, more expensive employees with younger, cheaper employees, losing an important chunk of institutional knowledge.

"There's an art and a science to all of this," Poser says, "and in this case, the scientists failed."

Amid declining sales and lost market share, Nike brought in Hill, a Nike vet who'd retired, to replace Donahoe as CEO in the fall of 2024. In an earnings call in December of that year, Hill said his "irrational love" for the company had brought him back and that his "singular focus" was to help the company "get back to winning." He subsequently introduced a turnaround plan, dubbed "Win Now," hinging on refocusing on sports, rebuilding wholesale relationships, reorganizing leadership, and pulling back on promotions.

"He's the right guy, and he's doing all of the right things," Powell says, "but the issues are so deep, so systemic that it's taking longer than people wanted it to take to get things recovered."

Nike is making inroads with retail partners it recently rejected, but that takes time and is a two-way street. The same goes for reestablishing its authority as a sportswear brand rather than a lifestyle brand. It reorganized internal teams by sport rather than the more general men's, women's, and kids model, and moved to get billions of dollars' worth of flooded merchandise out of the marketplace. Nike does nearly $50 billion in sales a year, which makes any change in tack more difficult — it's harder to turn a tanker than a speed boat. Adding to the complications are President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have been eating into its margins.

Hence, where Nike is now. Nike shares plunged at the end of March in the wake of its latest earnings report. While it reported sales growth in North America, it saw a decline in China, and the overall outlook was dark: Nike expects revenues in the current quarter to be down by 2-4% and anticipates an eye-popping 20% decline in China.

"This is complex work, and parts of it are taking longer than I'd like," Hill said on the earnings call with analysts.

Behind the scenes, Hill's tone has reportedly been sharper. At a recent all-hands meeting obtained by Bloomberg, he told staff he's "so tired," just like them, "of talking about fixing this business." He said he wants to "move to inspiring and driving growth and having fun."

Much as the pandemic papered over some of Nike's setbacks, concerns about China and the slow pace of progress are overshadowing its wins.

"A year ago, no one would have believed Nike could grow sales in North America. A year ago, everyone was talking about how Nike was losing on running and how that was such a big deal," says Simeon Siegel, senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners. Now that things are improving in those arenas, critics are dismissing those bright spots. "People are saying Nike North America's growth isn't real because it's wholesale," Siegel says. "And they're saying Nike winning in running doesn't matter because who cares about running?"

Nike's Air Force 1s and Jordan shoes are in a more stabilized phase, while the Dunks are still lagging, a company spokesperson told me. The next sport Nike's looking to is global football — as in soccer — with the World Cup. The spokesperson pointed to Nike Mind (futuristic-looking neuroscience-based shoes), a collaboration with Kim Kardashian's brand to create NikeSKIMS, and the company's all-conditions gear as notable spots of innovation and optimism. However, they also emphasized that these developments take time: product timelines, from ideation to creation, are 12-18 months.

Ultimately, Nike has its issues, but it's still the leading shoe company in the US by a mile. "Even when Nike's losing, they're winning," Siegel says.

That being said, one place Nike really isn't winning is China. As some Chinese consumers have taken a nationalist turn, Nike has lost ground to domestic brands such as Anta and Li-Ning. China's economic slowdown and high youth unemployment have also hurt sales and nudged consumers toward more wallet-friendly names.

Excess product is also an issue. In the US, for example, it's fairly easy for Nike to quietly move inventory through discount channels such as T.J. Maxx and its own outlets, but in China, most promotional activity happens online, so they go about it more slowly. "What has happened — and in fact is apparently still not fixed — is these franchisees were just stuffed with inventory, older inventory, which they have struggled to sell through even at large discounts. This has delayed Nike's plans in China because they can't put a lot of new products into the stores," Swartz says.

Nike is trying to adjust accordingly, including reducing inventory in China to increase full-price demand, but it's not happening overnight. Swartz says it's not clear what the timetable is for Nike's China operations to improve, and "there's a lot of concern that it's never going to get better," or at least won't be the "standout market" it was before.

Nike isn't a dying giant, but it is limping along, and recovery is taking longer than expected. Its largest market — North America — is growing. It's innovating again. Its overall results are still not stellar, nor are its immediate expectations. External headwinds, from tariffs to rising oil prices, add extra levels of uncertainty. But it's not time to throw in the towel on Hill or his efforts yet.

"There's enough signs of light," Poser says.

Across-the-board double-digit growth may not be in the cards in the near future. That's not necessarily surprising, given how big Nike is. No company is too big to fail, but in the world of shoes and sports, Nike comes pretty close.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

• Local and federal regulators are cracking down on junk fees on food delivery platforms.
• While regulators are targeting fees, experts say the deeper issue is platform power and dependency.
• Proposed regulations from the government could have ripple effects on ticketing and travel sites.

A growing crackdown on delivery apps is taking shape across the US.

Federal regulators are weighing new rules. Lawmakers are probing pricing deals between major companies. And in New York City earlier this month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a nearly $1 million settlement with a delivery app over its fee structure, and vowed to continue the momentum.

Taken together, the moves point to something bigger than frustration over "junk fees." They signal a widening effort to scrutinize how prices are set — and who actually controls them — across the delivery economy.

However, "the fee structure question is the easy part," said Jackie Swanson, a retail and consumer goods strategist and managing partner of Gartner Consulting.

A local crackdown turned national

The Federal Trade Commission this week took a key step toward potentially regulating delivery fees nationwide, seeking public comment on "unfair or deceptive fee practices" in online food and grocery delivery services, according to the agency.

The inquiry targets a familiar frustration: fees that appear late in the checkout process, or pricing that differs from what consumers expect upfront.

"Clear and truthful pricing is essential to competitive markets," Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the agency's announcement.

The FTC is asking whether companies should disclose total prices earlier, explain the purpose of fees, and clarify when pricing varies across users, according to the Federal Register notice.

"The key issue to watch in this rule-making will be how the FTC defines 'fees' and the scope of covered services," M. Scott Vinson, policy and regulatory affairs advisor and former vice president of the National Retail Federation, told Business Insider.

A broad definition could push companies across industries toward more all-in pricing and clearer upfront disclosure, Vinson said. The focus is on delivery platforms, like DoorDash and Uber Eats, but FTC regulation could have ripple effects across other direct-to-consumer models that rely on layered charges, such as travel booking and ticketing sites.

Representatives for DoorDash and Uber Eats did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

A similar dynamic is already emerging in ticketing, where a recent Justice Department settlement with Live Nation included a $280 million penalty, fee cap, and new transparency requirements — signaling how regulators may approach pricing structures beyond delivery apps

"Whether it proceeds to a proposed rule — and how far it goes — will depend on that process," Vinson said, adding that the process is still in early stages.

Addressing the affordability crisis

Michael Goldberg, a Case Western Reserve University professor who studies entrepreneurship and venture finance, said the effort reflects a broader push that benefits consumers.

"We've all been in a situation where you don't see the fee until later, or the prices of the food are way higher than they would be in the store," he said.

And the timing isn't accidental. Fees have become a visible target — one that's politically beneficial, especially in the lead-up to the midterm elections.

"People are scrutinizing spending across the board," Goldberg said. In that environment, policymakers are looking for ways to show they are "trying to do something" to address the affordability crisis.

That helps explain why action is emerging at multiple levels at once.

In Congress, lawmakers have introduced legislation to prevent preferential pricing deals between companies, including between delivery apps and restaurants, following allegations that Walmart and PepsiCo struck an agreement allowing the retailer to undercut competitors.

In New York City, Mamdani has leaned into enforcement, announcing a nearly $1 million settlement with delivery app HungryPanda, which officials said overcharged restaurants through junk fees, Business Insider previously reported.

Fees are the target — but not the whole story

For regulators, delivery fees are a clear entry point. But industry insiders say they're only part of a much larger system.

Delivery platforms typically charge restaurants commissions of 15% to 30% of an order, with additional fees layered on top — like "enhanced service" charges to ensure they stay visible on the platform, Swanson said. The result is a widening gap between large chains and smaller operators.

"Uber Eats just raised rates on small and mid-size restaurants by 5% in March 2026 while leaving custom-negotiated rates for larger partners largely intact," she said.

At the center of the issue, Swanson argues, is not just fees but dependency. Smaller operators rely on delivery apps to reach customers, especially as diners eat out less, but are stuck paying high fees to stay visible and compete.

That dynamic creates a fundamental imbalance. For large chains, high commissions can be manageable. Restaurants operating on thin margins often respond by raising menu prices on platforms, adding surcharges, or both, she said.

Efforts to cap or regulate fees don't eliminate costs; they shift them, Swanson said. Caps can also have unintended consequences for restaurants themselves.

"A mom-and-pop Thai place paying 15% in a fee-capped environment but getting buried in search results is not better off than one paying 25% and showing up on the first page," she said.

Transparency vs. competition

One of the biggest open questions is whether greater transparency will actually change how the market operates.

Delivery fees already shape behavior. They can add several dollars to an order, and "value-conscious consumers are gravitating toward pickup" to avoid them, Swanson said — but how those fees are presented matters. A clearly labeled $4 delivery charge feels different than multiple smaller fees that add up to the same amount, she added.

"What consumers actually want is to know what the meal will cost before they start building the order, and right now that is not what they get," she said.

Still, Goldberg was cautious about how much disruption to expect.

"I'm not sure how much room this is going to create for new competitors," he said.

Taken together, the FTC's inquiry, congressional scrutiny, and local enforcement actions suggest a broader shift from targeting "junk fees" to examining pricing power.

But some say the current regulation talks may be missing a key piece.

"Fee caps address the contractual relationship," Swanson said, "but leave the ranking and visibility mechanics entirely untouched," which means restaurants can face lower fees but worse placement, limiting the benefit.

For now, the FTC is gathering public input before deciding whether to pursue formal rules. If it does, it could create the first nationwide standards for how delivery fees are disclosed.

But even if fees become clearer, they may not become cheaper.

As the crackdown expands, the underlying question remains: will consumers pay less — or just pay differently?

• China's humanoid robot half-marathon produced a record-breaking run.
• Still, falls and mishaps during the race drew attention and laughs.
• A robot was carried off on a stretcher, while another had engineers in pursuit.

China once again staged a half-marathon for humanoid robots. It delivered a record — and plenty of chaos.

A robot from Chinese smartphone and gadget maker Honor clocked 50 minutes and 26 seconds at the event in Beijing on Sunday, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

That time beats the current human half-marathon world record set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished in 57 minutes and 20 seconds last month.

Honor's robot's performance is a leap forward from the inaugural race last year, when the fastest robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds to finish. Participation also surged from about 20 teams to more than 100 this year.

The race wasn't just about speed — it delivered plenty of comic moments. Clips circulating on social media captured the messier side of the half-marathon.

In a video posted on Instagram on Sunday, one robot stumbled at the starting line, crashing face-first and breaking apart on impact. Its limbs were scattered across the track.

Staff rushed in with a stretcher, gathering the pieces in a scene that resembled a first-aid effort.

"Helpppp why did they run over and put it on a stretcher im CRYING," one user wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.

Another Instagram video showed the Honor robot veering into a barricade late in the race. It recovered and kept going to the finish line, while engineers jogged behind, clutching control devices.

"Dudes were really trying to keep up with that thing," a user commented on the post.

On X, compilations of robots falling and malfunctioning during the marathon went viral. In one video posted by @SilviusBerthold, robots were seen crashing into barricades, collapsing mid-run, and twitching on the track.

China has been racing to develop and deploy humanoid robots, even experimenting with integrating AI agents such as OpenClaw.

In a January earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the biggest rivals to Optimus would likely come from China.

Still, mishaps involving Chinese robots have continued to make headlines. In February, a humanoid robot from XPeng flopped face-first during a public showcase. XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng likened the moment to "children learning to walk."

In another incident earlier this year, a humanoid robot developed by Unitree kicked an engineer in the groin during a test.

Despite these hiccups, Sunday's humanoid robot half-marathon shows just how far China's robotics industry has come in the past year.

Not only did a robot beat a human for the first time in a half-marathon, but there were also dozens of robot finishers this year versus just six of the 21 robotic contestants who finished the inaugural 2025 race.

The Chinese government has made humanoid robotics a major component of its latest five-year economic plan, and bionic bipeds from Chinese firm Unitree wowed audiences at the country's annual Spring Festival Gala in February with displays of acrobatic kung-fu.

So far, the push to dominate the new frontier of robotics is paying off. Chinese firms accounted for over three-quarters of all humanoid robotics shipments last year, according to data from consultancy firm Omdia.

• Tesla launched its robotaxi service in Dallas last week.
• One 34-year-old Dallas resident said he waited hours for a ride.
• Chris Ramos said the only time he felt unsafe was when the robotaxi veered on the highway.

Robotaxis officially hit the streets of Dallas last week. Their arrival gave one enthusiastic passenger a glimpse of both the promise — and the limitations — of autonomous driving.

Chris Ramos, a 34-year-old accounts payable supervisor, told Business Insider that he rushed to try Tesla's service on Saturday after seeing posts online saying it was live. The launch came after Tesla began a similar driverless service in Austin in January, about 10 months after Waymo launched its service there.

Early reactions to Tesla's robotaxis have been mixed, with some riders praising the smooth, futuristic experience while others report glitches, confusion in traffic, and the need for human intervention. More broadly, public skepticism remains high, with many people still wary of safety and hesitant to trust fully autonomous vehicles.

"I was just excited to kind of be on that frontier of this tech," Ramos said.

But frontiers can be unpredictable — and sometimes a bit glitchy.

Tesla's robotaxis operate within a virtual approved boundary. Ramos went to a designated service area and tried to request a ride through the Tesla Robotaxi app. It repeatedly showed no nearby vehicles for nearly two hours. He called Tesla customer support, and a representative told him that the service hadn't launched in the area.

"I was like, 'Oh man, so am I just like wasting my time? Should I just go home?'"

After two hours, Ramos got a robotaxi from a nearby Bank of America parking lot. He said the car handled city driving smoothly, even though it had some difficulty reading signals, like failing to realize that it could turn right at a red light.

He said the trip took a turn when the vehicle missed an exit and entered a highway.

Traffic was going at 80 to 90 miles per hour, he said. At first, the robotaxi began picking up speed to keep up with the other cars, until suddenly, it started to slow down, as if it were preparing to pull over. That's when Ramos said he started to feel unsafe.

"There are cars flying by us. You don't pull over on the highway unless it's like a super emergency or something," he said.

He said a Tesla representative appeared to take over the car and kept it moving in the "slow lane" until it was guided off the highway.

From there, the ride continued — and so did the plot twists. The car missed its final destination, took him to the wrong location, and then got stuck circling a hotel before support stepped in to redirect it.

"I went around that hotel about five times," he said. "In the same loop, going over the same speed bumps."

Ramos said at one point, the car tried to drop him off about 2.6 miles from his final destination before it took him to the right spot.

The trip covered about 11 miles and took 54 minutes. It cost Ramos around $18, compared with his previous $16, three-mile Waymo ride in Dallas.

His final verdict: It's a fun trip for the risk-loving, despite the hiccups. He would not recommend it to his grandmother.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about Ramos' trip, sent outside normal working hours.

"I'll see people post on X saying everything is flawless, there are no mistakes," Ramos said. "I wanted to see if I could find any flaws in the system — any room for improvement."

The bumpy trip didn't dent his long-term expectations for the technology.

"I do think the future is autonomous," he said.

• Ford CEO Jim Farley says there's a reason why he picked a Chinese EV to drive instead of a Tesla.
• He said Tesla, unlike Chinese companies like BYD or Xiaomi, did not have an "updated vehicle."
• Farley famously drove a Xiaomi SU7 for six months in 2024 and said he did not want to give it up.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said he tested a Xiaomi EV, and not a Tesla, for a reason.

In an interview with "Rapid Response" released on Friday, host Bob Safian asked Farley why he had driven a Xiaomi SU7 EV in 2024 rather than a Tesla to gauge the competition. Farley replied that to beat China in the car business, he would not necessarily focus on Tesla.

"Nothing against Tesla — they've been doing great — but they really don't have an updated vehicle," he said to Safian.

He said Chinese car brands like BYD are the "best in the business," considering their cost, supply chain, and manufacturing expertise.

"Now, if we're smart, we'll take the cost competitiveness of BYD and then compete with that platform in parts of the market where we know our customers really well," Farley said.

"This next cycle of EV customers in the US that want pickups and utilities and all these different body styles, but they want it at $30,000, not $50,000 like the first inning," he added. "They want it affordably."

Farley said China's progress in automobiles is something to be feared and respected, a message he has repeated several times in recent years.

In 2024, Farley said in a podcast interview that he had been driving a Xiaomi SU7 for six months and did not want to give it up. And earlier in April, he said on "Fox & Friends" that Chinese cars entering the US would be "devastating" to the US's manufacturing industry, which he called the "heart and soul" of the country.

Farley's comments on "Rapid Response" come as Ford has pivoted from producing its F-150 Lightning purely electric pickup trucks to smaller, more affordable, and hybrid cars. Ford said in December that the move would cost the company about $19.5 billion.

Currently, Ford's cheapest hybrid vehicle is its Maverick XL pickup, which starts at around $28,000. Tesla's cheapest model is its Model 3, which starts at $36,990.

Representatives for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin faced a hiccup in its latest rocket launch.
• The New Glenn 3 rocket, intended to deliver a satellite into Earth's orbit, placed it far too low.
• AST SpaceMobile, the satellite company, said the satellite would not be able to operate there.

Blue Origin's New Glenn 3 launch got the wrong address while delivering a satellite into Earth's orbit.

New Glenn 3 took off from the Blue Origin launch base in Florida's Cape Canaveral on Sunday morning, carrying a satellite by satellite company AST Space Mobile, which it aimed to deliver into low Earth orbit.

Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave updates during the launch on X, saying that liftoff went smoothly and that the rocket's booster had returned to earth.

But in a post on X at about 9:40 a.m., more than two hours after New Glenn 3's liftoff, Blue Origin said it had delivered the BlueBird7 satellite to the wrong place.

"The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit," the company said. "We are currently assessing and will update when we have more detailed information."

A few hours later, in a press release on Sunday afternoon, AST SpaceMobile said that New Glenn 3 had placed the satellite in a "lower than planned orbit," and it would not be able to operate as planned.

"While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited," the company said in the release.

AST SpaceMobile said that the satellite's cost will be recovered from its insurance policy.

The company already has seven satellites in low Earth orbit, and it plans to have about 45 by the end of 2026. The satellites are key to developing AST SpaceMobile's space-based cellular broadband network.

This is Blue Origin's third New Glenn launch, following two last year. The company launches its New Shepard rocket more frequently, taking tourists and celebrities on short flights to the edge of space, including Katy Perry and Bezos' partner, Lauren Sánchez.

Blue Origin and AST SpaceMobile did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Jane Seymour, 75, says she avoids sleep anxiety by having a notepad within reach.
• She says she either meditates or writes down what she's worrying about before bed.
• "I definitely believe in that, quieting the mind," the former Bond girl said.

After decades of jet lag, night shoots, and unpredictable schedules, Jane Seymour says she's found a way to keep sleep anxiety in check.

Speaking to Business Insider as part of her partnership with The Body Firm, Seymour said she aims to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night.

"I do have blackout curtains, I guess. But once I turn the switch in myself and say it's bedtime, I'm usually able just to go to sleep," Seymour, 75, said.

If she can't fall asleep, she doesn't panic or fixate on it, she said.

"My entire life is based on making movies where suddenly one day they say, 'Oh, we're doing nights now,'" she said.

Seymour added that she hardly ever gets the time to adjust her body clock when that happens. "You just have to go with it," she said.

It's no different from having babies, who wake and need feeding on their own schedule, she said.

On those nights when she can't sleep, she does two things.

"One is I'll meditate on it, or I'll have a pad by the bed, and I'll just write down what I'm worrying about. Once it's out of my head and on a piece of paper, I can sleep," Seymour said.

"I definitely believe in that, quieting the mind," she added.

Seymour isn't the only one who uses journaling to clear her mind. In February, Olympic skier Tess Johnson said she journals twice a day, and it helps her perform under pressure.

"I do a little bit of journaling in the morning to set my day, set my goals for the day and a little bit of gratitude, but then in the evening I let it all out and it's a little bit like word vomit, but whatever I need to just get out to get a good night of sleep," Johnson said.

Other athletes, such as Michael Phelps and WNBA star Caitlin Clark, have also spoken about incorporating journaling into their daily habits.

Journaling is often linked to a range of mental health benefits.

Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard professor and happiness scientist, told Business Insider's Julia Pugachevsky in October that journaling allows people to view their own thoughts impartially.

"The act of writing down your thoughts moves your emotional experiences from the limbic system — the 'reptilian' part of your brain — to the prefrontal cortex, where you can rationally understand your feelings," Brooks said.

Research has also suggested that journaling can help manage stress and calm anxiety. "When we journal, we can often unravel the hidden fears that lead to intermittent or chronic anxiety," Carla Marie Manly, a clinical psychologist, told Business Insider in 2022. "Certain types of journaling can also include learning to notice anxiety-inducing triggers."

• Robert Warden retired from his job as an on-air chef on a shopping network a decade ago.
• At 75, he experienced a health scare that led him to overhaul his lifestyle and diet.
• He turned his hobby into an unexpected second career and now, at 82, he's a pickleball coach.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Robert Warden, an 82-year-old pickleball coach in Utah. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2016, when I retired from my role as an on-air chef at a shopping network, I was looking forward to slowing down, enjoying myself, and playing a lot of tennis.

That's not how things turned out. A few years later, at 75, I woke up one day with a sharp pain below my left shoulder that wouldn't go away. After a visit to the doctor, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease.

At 265 pounds, I was also dealing with a cascade of other health issues, including prediabetes, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure.

My doctor told me my health was in bad shape and that much of my remaining life could be spent in pain unless something changed. He encouraged me to swim three days a week.

I told him I didn't like the water, and he asked, "Do you like living?" I said yes, and gave it a try. The very first lap, I wanted to give up because I was really out of shape.

Within a couple of months, I was able to swim a mile a day.

But I knew exercise alone wasn't enough; my diet had to change, too. I switched to a Mediterranean diet and stopped drinking alcohol except for occasional social settings.

One change led to the other

As I got stronger, I started becoming more active in every part of my life. I started hiking regularly and began tracking my daily step count, aiming for more than 15,000 steps.

When I could no longer find tennis partners because everyone had switched to pickleball, I joined a local pickleball club, too. Like most tennis players, I was hooked immediately and soon found myself playing six days a week.

Back then, I had been taking pickleball lessons from a coach, and one day she asked if I'd ever considered coaching myself. I hadn't, but she told me she thought I'd be good at it, so I decided to give it a shot.

I went through a six-month training program and became a coach. In a few weeks, it'll be my fourth anniversary, and I've loved every minute of it.

I ended up moving, and now I live across the street from the pickleball club where I work.

I'm the oldest coach on the team, and I coach six days a week, often for three to four hours a day. I work with students of all ages, and I also volunteer at a local senior center, where I help run pickleball training sessions.

Competing in tournaments is a big part of the culture at our club, so getting into it felt natural. A couple of years ago, I partnered with a player from our club, and we realized we worked well together.

We ended up winning a gold medal at a regional tournament, which gave us the confidence to take it further.

Last year, we decided to compete at the Huntsman World Senior Games — a multi-sport event for athletes 50 and over. We played mixed doubles and won a bronze medal. This year, we plan to compete again, and we're aiming for gold.

Finding purpose in a new chapter

As I got more interested in longevity, I kept seeing the same two ideas come up again and again: service and community. I've found both through pickleball.

When I was an on-air chef, I had millions of viewers and very few close relationships. Now, I have no fans and plenty of friends, and I wouldn't trade it. I've never been happier in life than I am right now.

But having purpose isn't limited to my time on the court.

One of the greatest joys of getting older is constantly learning something new. I read about two books a week, have learned to propagate plants, and am also taking an online course on AI, which I've found really useful.

I'm also involved in community service projects, and one of the most meaningful has been helping with wildfire preparedness in our area.

I also believe strongly that having goals at any age is important, so I try to keep a few going at all times. For example, I set a goal almost two years ago to write a book, which is now nearly complete.

Aging is nothing like I expected. Aside from arthritic hips, I feel closer to 40 than 82.

As I've gotten older, I just love every moment that I'm alive. I wake up in the morning and say, "Hey, I'm up. I'm alive, and I'm going to make this day happen — not let the day happen to me."

• At 48, Linda Meyer told her husband she needed a change and quit teaching.
• She said she wanted to move to Tuscany. He replied: "We'll make it happen."
• Now 61, she owns a villa and runs a tourism business in Italy.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Linda Meyer, the co-owner of La Chiusa. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Thirteen years ago, I had a beautiful life in Northern Virginia. I was a 25-year veteran kindergarten teacher, married to a successful businessman and former Air Force pilot, and had raised two kids.

We didn't have financial issues: We had a lovely home and traveled often. And yet, I couldn't shake the feeling, the pull, that something was still missing.

I knew there had to be more to life than getting up on a Saturday morning to run errands. I'd become overweight and unhealthy.

It was February, nowhere near the end of a school year, when I told my husband I needed a change. He said, "What do you want to do?" I said, "I think I need to move to Italy." The ever-supportive partner, he said, "OK. We'll make it happen."

The life-changing decision

Our first step was finding an apartment I could rent in Tuscany. I'd traveled there before and fell in love with the culture. We made the move gradually. I went first, and then my husband followed two months later.

The first apartment was in a 12th-century building, so it was a bizarre little space, with the bathroom and two dens downstairs and the kitchen upstairs. But, like my life, I was fine with having it flipped upside down and a little unexpected.

My son and daughter — now both in their 30s — were thrilled for me. My daughter Whitney even tagged along to help my husband George move me in. The move took place only two weeks after I'd first shared my big idea.

That's when the story changes a bit, from the dream I pictured to the day-to-day realities.

The unexpected challenges of getting settled

The first weeks weren't what I had pictured — there was no TV, no WiFi, I didn't speak the language, it was cold out, and I realized quickly I'd never lived alone.

I'd moved straight from my daddy's house to George's house, married and pregnant at 21. I had never really done anything for myself.

I was afraid to drive in Italy, not because of driving itself, but because of the color-coded parking system in Tuscany. Yellow means you can park, white means it's free, blue means you have to pay — and you have to learn to read Italian real quick to figure all this out.

So, I was housebound for a bit until I worked up the courage to do it. I cried a lot, questioning all my life decisions over the two months until my husband could join me here after he finished preparing his business.

I wasn't sure I could do it, but my son pushed me to try over the phone. "You've been around the world," he said, "and you're afraid to go out?"

So I did.

I drove to the Gucci store in Florence, bought a backpack, got back in my car and drove home, and survived. I still carry that backpack today. It's a small reminder that I can do whatever I want.

I needed to help other women do the same

I started walking around town. I started eating differently. I could tell I was changing.

I started a Facebook group and invited other women in the same mid-life drudgery to come visit and see the village I'd come to love.

People responded and shared that they'd love to come and were tired of their routine, too.

A few months later, 10 people came for a week, and another 10 people came the next week to visit. I got paid to be their tour guide and show them the things I love. I told them my story.

When I first started, we weren't residents yet, so we could only stay in Italy for a month or two at a time in any 180-day period, so we'd go back to the US to visit family.

The next year, that number jumped to 100 visitors. At first, I'd seen entertaining as a great hobby, but at that point I knew a business was born.

My husband and I moved to a bigger house in the village, and I started hosting people 16 weeks a year, with my daughter and husband's help. I would take the tourists out to see the town, they would take cooking lessons, and reflect on their lives over drinks and meals.

Growing the business, with some bumps and wins along the way

In 2018, I bought a 1,700-year-old villa and 50-acre olive oil farm called La Chiusa. Today, it operates as a guest property with 17 rooms, with nightly rates starting from 180 to 300 euros, or $200 to $340.

I've lost 100 pounds, leaned into gardening, and even show guests how to change their lives in small, practical ways when they go back.

I now employ 25 permanent team members, in addition to six local "nonnas" (grandmothers) who specialize in cooking.

Rules for running a business are different in Italy. For example, there are full time and seasonal contracts, and if you give them a full time contract, it's difficult to fire someone.

So, even when an employee never showed up for work again, I had to keep paying them. There are also really specific rules about what tasks they can perform — you can't randomly ask a gardener or waiter to wash a dish unless it's specified in that contract.

I learned lessons the hard way, but I've had lots of fun along the way.

• Boo Kok Chuon and his 8-year-old daughter made an app in three hours using various AI tools.
• He told Business Insider that he wanted to start his kid early on AI, given how technology is progressing.
• Still, he places guardrails and takes a cautious approach when introducing AI systems to his kid.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Boo Kok Chuon, the chief operating officer of a law firm in Singapore. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Since early last year, we took a bold step in introducing ChatGPT to Kiki, our 8-year-old daughter.

We thought that we should start our kid early, given how technology is progressing these days.

She has been frequently communicating with her own ChatGPT. Whenever she faces an issue, she will go to ChatGPT to ask for a solution.

Once she spilled a drink on a shirt and she felt bad. She asked ChatGPT how to resolve it. She also asked ChatGPT how to take care of her turtles.

Then we tried something bigger.

Vibe coding an app together

We built a companion app for our physical game Mu Jong, a music-learning mahjong-style game. We did it within three hours.

We used a combination of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT for prompt development and logic structuring, Base 44 for interface development, and Nano Banana Pro for visual assets.

The app has a score tracker, a keyboard music feature, and a countdown timer. Kiki conceptualized the features and guided the process, while I supported her in structuring prompts and translating her ideas into instructions for the AI tools.

We created a mascot for our app. Kiki drew out the mascot on a piece of paper. It was quite a crappy drawing, but once you upload the photo into the AI, it will beautify it. She tried it, and was like: '"Wow, it's like magic." Suddenly, her drawing looked commercially ready.

I also guided her. I told her: "You have to say the purpose of the drawing, and what you want to use this mascot for." We refined the drawing based on further prompting the AI.

Children should be exposed to AI early

It is very important for kids — especially like Kiki — to be exposed to AI. Of course, human input is still required for review.

She was born into a privileged generation in which technology was already very advanced. Nowadays, kids may not be so easily impressed, given how readily available all this technology is.

Kiki is learning to break a problem down into steps and use AI tools to test and refine her ideas. She also learned how to use natural language to construct more structured prompts. For example, she began specifying attributes such as "rounder shape, softer colors, friendly expression," which helped her achieve more consistent outputs.

For her devices, we have oversight over the content she engages with.

On YouTube, we constantly review what she watches and look at her internet history.

We are very open with her and want to be transparent and respectful. She's aware that we are supervising her.

At any point in time, if we see anything that is not quite right, the approach that we use is to guide her and not judge her. We will ask her, "Why do you do this? Do you do this because it helps you with certain issues that you are facing?"

And from there, we will slowly — again through this questioning method — lead her toward the more appropriate actions.

There are some inherent issues with AI. Sometimes, AI can be a bit too conservative in its outputs.

I think that if you rely on AI too much, it might be emotionally dangerous in a way, too. We should not trust these systems 100%, and take a cautious, objective approach when dealing with them.

Do you have a story to share about coding with AI? Contact this reporter at cmlee@businessinsider.com.

I'm not very religious. But at 11:30 a.m. on a blue-sky day in Bali, Indonesia, I sent up a prayer to the Boeing 787 roaring above my patch of waves: Singapore Airlines, please, please take me with you.

My plea came as I gagged out seawater and paddled back to my new friends. It was November, and I had met this international crew of beginner surfers three days ago.

Like me, nearly all of the 30 surf campers arrived at our hostel on Bali's south coast alone. They ranged in age from 22 to over 50 and hailed from Russia to New Zealand. On the way to our first lesson on the beach, their backstories tumbled out as the sun rose.

In our group were digital nomads, startup founders, and working professionals from nearby cities. Many shared a common refrain: They wanted to try something new, but didn't have anyone to do it with.

A Singapore-based finance whizz said he had wanted to learn the sport for years, but it was too hard to coordinate a trip with friends. An Australian woman was ashamed that she had never tried a sport abundant in her backyard. (This surf camp showed her that she hated it, but she had no regrets.)

"Most of my friends are in relationships. I was sick of waiting for them to travel with me, so I came alone," said Gina Jaguttis, a 26-year-old real estate project manager who made an 11-day trip from Munich.

I came to this all-inclusive, resort-like surf camp from Singapore because late last year, I had started to realize I was burning out at work, even after snagging a big promotion at 23. After two years of channeling my energy into my job, I was craving a phone-off, brain-off trip.

On top of that, I was burning out on trying to organize group trips with my friends. I've repeatedly struggled to wrangle my busy circle into the kind of adrenaline-fueled trips I like to think I'm into.

So when an Instagram ad for the surf camp — featuring blue waves, smoothie bowls, and people my age laughing — hit my feed in the fall, it felt like a creepily perfect nudge.

No tour buses, please

This surf camp was my window into a growing travel category aimed at people like me: urban Gen Zers with some cash to spend on hobbies that offer a physical challenge and built-in community.

From my conversations with the surfers and with Gen Z researcher Meghan Grace, the pull to adventure sports is part of a broader post-pandemic rebellion among young people tired of Zoom calls, social media, and online dating.

"Gen Z is moving towards intentional investment of their time and their money around their interests," said Grace, a consultant in Nashville. "They don't want to wait because tomorrow's not promised."

Much of my generation is feeling a strong financial pinch, with AI-induced job worries, student loan debt, and the skyrocketing cost of living weighing us down. Many of us are also choosing different budget priorities than our parents, as we ditch or delay homebuying, luxury items, and having kids young. I, like many 24-year-old Singaporeans, live at home, which gives me more money to spend on my main hobbies, travel, and fitness.

I'm not alone: Younger Americans are leaning into more active experiences and hobbies, according to a February research note from Bank of America based on credit and debit card data. While Gen X and Baby Boomers saw strong spending growth at bars, Gen Z and millennials are spending on fitness activities like gyms, golf, and country clubs.

That card data also showed that Gen Z's travel spend is growing at a much higher rate than the overall population, a trendline echoed by other research. A 2025 BCG report on travel called millennials and Gen Z "the most influential travelers globally" because, compared with older generations, they're planning more trips. And solo travel is hotter than ever.

"Millennials and Gen-Zers are the most likely to travel on their own," the BCG report said. "They're interested in connecting with like-minded people at destinations."

Paying a premium for community

It's a good thing Gen Z is saving money on our bar tabs, because these trips don't come cheap.

Jaryl Tan, who cofounded Singapore-based social travel company Off The Grid, knows how hard it is to plan with your crew. He and his cofounder, Benjamin Ng, are part of a group of six Gen Z friends who grew up together.

"We have never once had a big group trip together," he said.

"It's not that easy to maintain a very close group of friends," he said. "And for this close group of friends, for your interests to align, for your schedules to align, for your budgets to align, and for your traveling habits to align so that you don't break up as friends after you travel, it's not that easy."

Off The Grid's 10-day trips can go for over $2,000 per person, excluding flights, and they continue to sell out, the cofounders said.

Travel experts, such as Heather Kelly, the director of research at the Adventure Travel Trade Association, said they've noticed the bump in interest too.

"We are seeing younger travelers embrace hands-on adventure in a big way, with strong demand for activities like climbing, hiking, camping, and overland expeditions among Gen Z and millennials," Kelly told me. There's a growing appetite, she said, for travel that is "active, immersive, and personally rewarding."

ATTA research last year found that worldwide, the average adventure traveler spends 11 days and about $3,000 on their trip.

My six-day, offseason stay at the Wavehouse surf camp included accommodation, surf lessons, and most meals, cost $850 during off-peak season — Business Insider picked up the tab. During peak periods, rates can exceed $150 a day on an island where 4-star hotels average $66 per night, according to Kayak.

Still, the camp operates at maximum or near-maximum capacity most of the year, Alexander Gontar, Wavehouse's general manager, told me.

Gontar said that 10 years ago, more people, especially those from farther away, such as Russia and Europe, arrived in pairs. In the last few years, most guests have shown up alone — and they're coming back.

"Some of them don't really need instructors anymore," he said. "They just go back for that life, that familiar feeling. To come hang out with like-minded people."

A father-son advanced duo from New Zealand said their stay at Wavehouse was a chance to meet people from the other end of the world who shared their passion. The pair had barely explored the island over six days, saying they were content leaving only to "change money and buy Oreos."

Finding flow state

On the third day of our surf trip, my group of rookies hopped aboard a boat to the open ocean.

The very first set of waves was enough to humble me.

Every once in a while, an instructor screamed, "Paddle out." If I had the upper body strength to obey in the next three seconds, I was safe. Every time I was too slow, a massive wave would knock me over, flip my board, and drag me back to the beach. There was only one way back: Paddle hard.

One of the camp's post-dinner activities was surf-exclusive movie nights. As we watched Matthew McConaughey's flop "Surfer, Dude," an experienced surfer struck up a conversation with me and described finding a "flow state" in surfing — a total-immersion, no-anxiety mental state.

That night, I realized it was true for me, too. My surf camp days were the first time in months I hadn't thought about work. I couldn't say the same about a friend group trip to Tibet I had taken a few weeks earlier, where the lack of physical activity and endless hours on the road had given me plenty of time to wonder about my quarter-life crisis.

Chloe Lee, a 22-year-old Singaporean financial advisor on her fifth trip to our surf camp in two years, said surfing helped her temporarily forget her work and the stresses back home.

"When I come here, I feel like I'm in my element. I feel disconnected from all the hustle and bustle of typical Singaporean life," Lee said.

Taking time off her commission-based work meant losing pay, but she said the surf camp helped her make and keep friends. She's met up with some for pickleball in Singapore; one of the people she met at camp became a client.

Back to real life

As I waited for my flight home to Singapore, adorned with sunburn and coral scratches, I was flooded with messages from campers who had recently left. Like me, they warily eyed a return to the real world.

I texted my new Russian friend, whom I will always remember because of the collision we had in the water hours earlier, to congratulate him on making it to the third level. It's the mark of an established surfer to graduate from a foam board to a hard one. He thanked me and teased me for continuing to check the 750-person surf camp WhatsApp group for updates.

A few weeks after returning from Bali, Lee invited me to play pickleball after work. Even though I'd sworn to never get drawn into this finance-bro sport, I said yes. As we rested between games, we plotted the best time to go back to Wavehouse. I told her I had decided that I wanted to build surfing into my life — to be one of those people who took trips revolving around their hobbies, like diving or skiing.

After a week of surfing, trying other adventure sports feels more doable, even if my friends chicken out.

• Sarah Israel, 40, found boxes of McDonald's memorabilia from the '70s and '80s.
• Her dad, a McDonald's executive, collected pins, a burger lamp, and branded items.
• She felt nostalgic, and thousands online shared the same reaction.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarah Israel. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My dad has always been a collector. It was like a primal need of his, collecting.

Ever since I can remember, he would take my siblings and me to yard sales, flea markets, and garage sales. I hated it and begged him to stop taking us along to look at garbage. I wanted to go to the movies, not talk to vendors at flea markets about what they had on offer.

Although he collected anything and everything, or at least that's what it felt like, he only displayed his music. His records were all out in our music room. He had thousands of vinyl records and CDs.

Almost everything else was just stored away in boxes in the basement: salt-and-pepper shakers, vintage shoes, and rooster figurines galore. This might have been a decision influenced by my mom, who hated clutter.

I helped my parents downsize

We didn't know the extent of what he had collected until recently, when all of us siblings have been helping my parents downsize. We went into the basement and slowly started opening boxes, one by one, not sure of what we would find.

I opened a box, then a few more, all of which had McDonald's collectibles. My dad had been an executive with McDonald's for years in the 80s. He started as an assistant store manager here in Canada and eventually became the Training Director for the Canadian market, a role that involved lots of travel to the US for conferences. In the mid-80s, he moved to Paris to work as the Training Director for the European market, 19 countries in all, before finally settling back in Montreal in a role at the head office.

Throughout his years working for McDonald's, my dad had picked up various items along the way. Things that were very specific to wherever he was. There were Happy Meal toys, clocks, watches, mugs, clothing, a voice note recorder, and lots of pins.

As I sorted through the boxes, all the memories came back to life of my childhood, the years before life became complicated. Life then was so simple, and waves of nostalgia washed over me as I held each item. These memories that had been tucked away in the recesses of my mind suddenly came back to the front and center.

People online were really into my dad's collection

It wasn't only me who felt this way; I found out all too quickly. As a seller of vintage items, I started making videos on social media about what I'd found.

The response was unlike anything I've ever experienced, and I'm sure it's because I hit on this tender spot in millennials — this time in life when the most exciting thing was wondering what toy you'd get in your Happy Meal. The world's landscape right now is really challenging, and I think people just want to lean into nostalgia, into a period in history when things didn't feel quite so difficult.

Even though I have loved looking at the McDonald's collectibles, I've decided to sell nearly all of them. I've looked at things one at a time, consciously appreciated them, and then moved on to the next thing. It's hard to do, but it makes me happy to think about all these items in their new homes, being enjoyed by their new owners for years to come.

I won't pretend it's easy, though, because these McDonald's items aren't only a reminder of my own history, but also that of my dad's. They remind me of who my dad once was and what he did for all those years while we were young children. And now I have to assign a monetary value to them so I can sell them.

I've decided to keep a few things, some pins from when my parents were in Paris, but I'll be selling the rest.

I'm excited that people will buy their favorite items and will be so excited to display them. The collectible that has received the most attention is the burger lamp. It makes me feel good to know that the lamp, alongside all the other items, won't be hidden away in boxes any longer.

The final night of action of this year's two-day event is just a few clicks away if you want a huge dose of WWE wrestling live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. We'll quickly run through your options on how to watch a WrestleMania live stream from anywhere in the world. These options also have you covered to watch yesterday's action in full on demand if you want to get caught up.

Netflix has extensive international rights to these major WWE events outside the USA. The good news, though, is that if you already have a US Netflix subscription, you can get around geo-restrictions and use that existing account to watch by setting a VPN to a country like Canada or the UK to spoof your viewing location.

Or you can stick with the local US option via the ESPN Unlimited app, which will cost $29.99 a month. You might be tempted to spend an extra $5 to bolt on access to Hulu and Disney+ as well.

• See also: Where to watch UFC | Where to watch NBA playoffs

How to watch WWE WrestleMania from anywhere

WWE fans outside the location of their desired streaming service can still tune in with a VPN (virtual private network). VPNs are cybersecurity tools that enable people to alter their virtual locations. So if you're away from the UK or Canada at the moment, you can still watch via Netflix with a VPN. They're popular apps among those hoping to access their usual websites and apps while traveling abroad or boost their online privacy and security.

As far as VPNs go, our top recommendation of the best VPN services is consistently NordVPN. We've found that it unlocks international streaming better than anyone else and includes top-notch security features that can help boost your day-to-day privacy on the internet. Plus, it's a beginner-friendly option with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can read more about it in our NordVPN review, and see below to learn how to use a VPN.

How to watch WWE WrestleMania in the UK, Canada, and more

Netflix is the streaming home of WWE WrestleMania in many countries outside the USA. Prices vary by region and depend on your subscription tier.

WrestleMania 2026 is available on Netflix in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the UK.

If you're not currently in one of those countries, you can still watch WrestleMania on any Netflix account by changing your VPN settings to one of those countries before signing into Netflix and enjoying the action as detailed above.

How to watch WWE WrestleMania in the US

If you're in the US and don't want the VPN/Netflix route mentioned above, you can find WrestleMania on ESPN Unlimited. The first hour of WrestleMania will be shown on broadcast TV as well via ESPN2 on Saturday and ESPN on Sunday. So you'll need the Unlimited streaming service to access coverage of the biggest bouts of each night for sure. ESPN Unlimited subscriptions cost $29.99 a month.

Can I watch WrestleMania 2026 on demand after?

Yes. On Sunday morning, we saw that the ESPN Unlimited app already had the full Saturday replay, along with kickoff and post-show programs. So we'd expect to see Sunday's action available to stream soon after. Either a few hours after, or perhaps the day after. There's usually also an option to start a live broadcast from the beginning if you're joining a little after it's already started.

Over on Netflix, we've already seen the full replay of Saturday's event, available to stream ahead of Sunday's live broadcast.

So whichever streaming service you're planning to use, you're all set, whether you're watching live or at your leisure later.

Ballet sneakers are a sporty-chic footwear trend that's looped back around this season. If you take a look around the most stylish parts of Copenhagen, New York City, and TikTok, you might see this hybrid style sneaker worn by all the cool girls. Ballet sneakers are still all the rage, and spring is the perfect time of year to try out some sneakerinas.

A mix of technical sneaker features and dainty ballet flat details, the shoes blend sporty and girly design languages into one style.

Since balletcore took over the runways back in 2022, the aesthetic has trickled down into everyday styles. Miu Miu's delicate satin flat debut meant ballet flats were soon seen everywhere. It was only a matter of time before the silhouette would get a hybrid model refresh, bringing us to the current ballet sneaker trend of today.

As the trend grows, so do the options. We tried on popular ballet sneakers to test their comfort and practicality. Our favorite pairs proved the trend has real staying power.

JW Pei Caitlin Lace-up Ballerina Sneakers

"I call these my 'tactical ballet flats' because their squared ridges and rubber toe caps remind me of a utility boot. I even had someone tell me these shoes were sexy — maybe because the laces almost look like corsets for your feet?

I took a risk testing the Caitlins for the first time at an all-day music festival (worn with no-show socks and packed Band-Aids, just in case). And yet, no blisters whatsoever.

They don't have enough support features to be deemed everyday walking shoes, but I was able to stand in them for over 12 hours straight on two occasions without discomfort. The foam footbeds have an airy mesh overlay, so despite all the dancing and walking my feet didn't overheat. They run narrow in the toe box, so if you're between sizes, I suggest rounding up.

For under $100, these are a good value on a style that'll last as long as ballet sneakers are on trend. It may not be a style built for longevity, but JW Pei hits the nail on the head by articulating the most recognizable elements from both ballet slippers and sneakers, and combining them into one accessibly-priced shoe." — Gabrielle Chase, senior associate style editor, Insider Reviews

Vivaia Cristina Sneakerina

"I wore the Cristinas while walking around on a particularly sunny day in Brooklyn and received no fewer than three compliments from complete strangers.

You can choose from a variety of lace colors and styles, so I paired mine with a pink ribbon. The combo of blush-colored satin and a silky ribbon made these the girliest sneakers I could imagine, which is perfect for me. But typically, trendy footwear is made to be fun and fashionable, not necessarily comfortable.

These, however, happen to be both. I made the risky decision of wearing these for the first time without socks, but my feet felt fine even after walking two miles in them. They're pretty flat and are made to have a 'barefoot feel,' so people who crave lots of arch support might not find these comfortable. But I loved the feeling of walking around in these free-feeling flats.

And in case you need some extra convincing that these are really the shoe of the moment, trend-making celebrities like Bella Hadid and Charli XCX have been seen in the Vivaia Sneakerina, along with a number of other big fashion names who have rep'd the comfort-first brand." — Samantha Crozier, style editor, Insider Reviews

More Vivaia sneakerinas:

See our favorite styles in our full Vivaia shoes review and best bridal shoes.

Puma Speedcat Ballet

Puma's Speedcat Ballet follows up on the massively successful Speedcat, a motorist-inspired shoe that debuted in 2024 and quickly took over the sneaker world. In 2025, the Speedcat Ballet was born, marrying the best of the OG style into a new hybrid ballet flat silhouette that's stuck around for 2026.

This style has been in high demand, but if you're keen on trying Puma's ballet sneakers before the restock, check out the Speedcat Go or Mostro Fey instead.

Tory Burch Hank Ballet Sneaker

Tory Burch's famous flats are unmistakable and perfect for travel. The designer's shoes are always sensible yet stylish, so the ballet sneaker is a natural addition to her archive.

The Tory Burch Hank leans has a retro appeal that ties into this contemporary style. Set on a slim rubber sole the lightweight feel is made even daintier by details like soft ruching and delicate laces. Even though Tory Burch shoes usually run narrow, this pair can be surprisingly accommodating for wider feet since thanks to the adjustable laces.

Mephisto Niro

"I just moved to Bushwick, a part of Brooklyn that the sneakerina trend took by storm. By sitting on a park bench and literally shoegazing, here's a French pair I've witnessed many stylish strangers wear to walk their dogs and take in the sun.

The Mephisto Niro is a more rugged, Mary Jane version of a ballet sneaker. It's actually an all-terrain walking shoe, meaning you can wear it on hikes or while exploring a new neighborhood. Designed with soft padding and a supportive build, it allows you to flex your foot and grip on uneven surfaces so you don't lose traction." — Gabrielle Chase, senior associate style editor, Insider Reviews

Vagabond Hollie Ballet Flats

If your foot runs narrow, the Vagabond Hollie Ballet Flats are a solid option. It's a more sleek, streamlined silhouette, which may feel cramped if your forefoot runs wide.

Nevertheless, we love how the minimalist, fashion-forward take on this footwear brand's classic flats reminds us of the race track, with their aerodynamic tapered toe and contrasting stripes. The leather and suede uppers make them feel more polished than sporty, so you can wear them to dress up a casual work outfit or weekend attire.

Franco Sarto Fietta Slip-Ons

These affordable Franco Sarto ballet sneakers are designed with airy mesh panels, which is perfect if you want a stylish sandal alternative this summer. The fun colors and simple Mary Jane silhouette is loosely structured, so you can easily step in and slide the top strap over your foot to keep them in place over a full day of walking.

The soft construction means it doesn't offer as much structure or arch support as some other ballet sneakers, though that's to be expected for the price point. But because of the flexible materials and forgiving fit, it's a solid option for wearing socks underneath.

Ecco Biom C-Trail Leather Lace-Up Sneaker

If you're looking to make more of a statement — you are looking at a pretty statement-worthy shoe, after all — consider the ECCO Biom C-Trail Leather Lace-Up Sneakers. They feature a chunky sole that are not only fashionable, but functional. They come with treads that use a rugged pattern for better traction, making these the cutest sneakers for hitting the trails.

Salomon RX Marie-Jeanne

As if Salomon weren't already cool girl-coded, they went ahead and pioneered the ballet sneaker resurgence. In the past it has teamed up with Sandy Liang and MM6 Maison Margiela to give its more rugged styles a girly twist. While the designer collabs are harder to grab, Salomon still carries ballet sneakers like the RX Marie Jeanne — a gorpcore version of the classic Mary Jane.

Adidas Originals Taekwondo Mei Ballet

If your Sambas or Spezials have had you in a chokehold and you're ready to try something a little different, consider the Adidas Originals Taekwondo Mei Ballet sneakers. This style was resurrected from a martial arts shoe that first debuted in the early 2000s. Constructed out of super soft leather and a minimalist low profile sole, these ballet flats combine the best aspects from the original design with a modern sneakerina twist.

Buying a pair of budget headphones doesn't mean you have to put up with bad sound or stripped-down features. These days, the best budget headphones can get surprisingly close to what you'd hear from pricier models without draining your wallet. To help you find the right fit, our audio experts tested a wide range of options and narrowed things down to the four best cheap headphones you can get for under $100.

If you're after over-ear headphones, the Soundcore Life Q30 are our top pick. They cost around $80 and offer the most impressive active noise canceling (ANC) we've seen at that price. Prefer earbuds? The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC are a great alternative, with a stem-style design similar to AirPods and standout ANC for their class.

Below, you'll find all of our picks for the best budget headphones. Our team has been reviewing audio products for over a decade, and we've used that expertise to inform all of our recommendations.

Our top picks for the best budget headphones

Best overall Soundcore Life Q30 - See at Amazon

Best midrange buds: Soundcore Liberty 4 NC - See at Amazon

Best wired option: Audio-Technica ATH-M20X - See at Amazon

Best entry-level earbuds: JLab Go Air Pop - See at Amazon

Best over-ear model

The Soundcore Life Q30 are the best budget headphones overall. They feature an over-ear design, Bluetooth support, great sound quality, and solid ANC for under $80, besting every competitor we've tested in this class.

Audio performance can't quite match that of premium headphones, but the Life Q30 provide clear and warm sound with balanced frequencies and steady bass. They also offer good noise cancellation, which impressed us during a cross-country flight. More expensive models from Sony and Bose do offer superior ANC, but the Life Q30 prove you can get worthwhile noise canceling on a budget.

Battery life is also noteworthy at 40 hours with ANC on or a fantastic 60 hours without ANC. Those are excellent numbers for any pair of over-ear wireless headphones, budget or high-end. That said, the headphones have limitations in other areas, most notably in their build quality.

Though comfy enough, the plastic headband and ear cups have a cheaper feel than pricier models and are susceptible to scratches. It's also too easy to accidentally trigger the tap command on the right ear cup, which switches between noise-canceling and transparency modes.

But those are relatively minor shortcomings. In the areas where it counts most, the Soundcore Life Q30 perform great. We've yet to encounter a better pair of over-ear wireless headphones at this price.

Visit our guide to all the best over-ear headphones.

Best wired option

The Audio-Technica ATH-M20X lack the convenience of wireless connectivity, but they deliver great audio quality for people who favor a neutral sound.

The ATH-M20X are the brand's entry-level over-ear headphones. They use a 3.5mm connection and feature 40mm drivers, large leatherette ear cups, and a cushioned headband. Though not compact, this design is comfortable and offers decent noise isolation. However, like most wired headphones, this model does not support active noise cancellation.

Considering their $50 price tag, the headphones' audio performance is excellent. They have a measured sound signature that favors studio accuracy instead of thumping bass or bright treble. These headphones are geared toward people who want to listen to music in a quiet environment at home or monitor recordings for a podcast or song.

The ATH-M20X are still not what we'd consider audiophile caliber — no headphones under $100 are. But if you want to stay within a tight budget, the Audio-Technica ATH-M20X deliver rare quality from such inexpensive studio-style cans.

Best entry-level earbuds

If you want reliable wireless earbuds for under $25, the JLab Go Air Pop are the best budget option around. Simply put, headphones this affordable should not be this good. Some concessions are made to get the price so low, but the JLab Go Air Pop provide unmatched value for the money.

The earbuds are a bit bare-bones when it comes to extra perks. You don't get features like active noise cancellation (ANC), auto pausing, or a mobile app. But the Pop still offer all the essentials we look for, including solid battery life, adjustable EQ modes, and convenient touch controls.

Again, these are $25 wireless earbuds we're talking about, so expectations should be kept in check. However, within that context, it's quite impressive how the JLab Go Air Pop manage to sound as good as they do. They offer balanced performance free from the shrill or muddy quality most cheap headphones suffer from.

The earbuds come in a few colors, so you can choose a style that works for your tastes. They're also fairly comfy during typical listening sessions. We could nitpick flaws here and there, but for budget headphones, there's little to complain about. These are perfect as starter wireless earbuds or as a cheap secondary pair to keep around in case you misplace others.

Visit our guide to all the best headphones.

Best midrange buds

The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC are excellent headphones for anyone who wants an affordable pair of midrange earbuds. They're not as cheap as the entry-level JLab Go Air Pop, but they offer a big jump in performance while coming in at just under $100.

While we typically expect wireless earbuds in this price range to omit certain features found on pricier options, the Liberty 4 NC completely buck that trend. From noise cancellation and multipoint pairing to a handy volume limiter, nearly every feature you could want is here.

Noise-canceling performance is a real standout, with impressive ANC that's on par with many pricier earbuds. Premium options that are triple the cost, like the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra, are still better at blocking out noise, but the Liberty 4 NC hold their own surprisingly well. Overall sound quality is also solid, though the default audio profile can be a bit thin. However, once you adjust the EQ, you can achieve crisp, deep playback.

Of course, there are some downsides, including finicky touch controls. In our tests, we also got seven hours of battery life with ANC rather than the 10 hours the brand advertises, but that's still a good amount of playback time.

All things considered, the Liberty 4 NC earbuds are one of the few headphones in their price range that don't feel like they're cutting corners or sacrificing key features to get so cheap. Their stem-like design also resembles Apple's earbuds, making them an excellent AirPods alternative for people who want to spend less.

Visit our guide to all the best earbuds.

How we test budget headphones

To find the best budget headphones, our experts relied on a combination of hands-on testing and research. We focused on evaluating key criteria, including audio performance, build quality, value, and, when available, extra features such as noise cancellation. We've been reviewing audio gear for over a decade and used that experience to inform our testing parameters.

When testing sound quality, we listen to a mix of music from various sources, including streaming services, across a wide range of genres. We also sample tracks in various qualities, from low-bit-rate compressed files to lossless high-resolution files. When supported, both wireless and wired playback are also evaluated.

If a pair of headphones supports noise cancellation, we test its performance in real-world environments during commutes, workouts, flights, and other noisy activities.

For the best budget headphones, we will also emphasize overall value, comparing the performance of our picks to pricier models to select affordable headphones that come closest to competing with more expensive options on the market.

Meet the expert behind this guide:

Steven Cohen, senior tech editor: I oversee tech coverage for Business Insider's Reviews team, and I've been writing about home entertainment gear for over a decade — including headphones at every price point. My team and I are always reviewing new headphones and checking back in on older favorites to keep our recommendations current. The focus here is pretty straightforward: find budget-friendly over-ear headphones and earbuds that actually sound good, feel comfortable, and are worth the money.

Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.

Budget headphones FAQs

How much should you spend on budget headphones?

Generally speaking, you should expect to pay between $25 and $100 for a pair of reliable budget headphones. All of our picks for the best budget headphones fall under that price range. If you want to step up to premium headphones, you can expect to pay at least $200 for high-end wireless earbuds or at least $300 for top wireless over-ear headphones.

What should you expect from budget headphones?

You can get surprisingly good performance from budget headphones, but there are tradeoffs. Most cheap models today offer solid sound quality for casual listening, along with decent comfort and battery life if they're wireless. That said, you'll usually miss out on premium features like top-tier noise cancellation and high-end materials. Likewise, features geared toward audiophiles, such as an open-back design and high-end planar magnetic or electrostatic drivers, are typically reserved for more expensive models.

Can you get noise-canceling headphones on a budget?

Though the best noise-canceling performance is reserved for pricier models, some budget-friendly headphones still deliver solid ANC. Most notably, we recommend the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC for affordable noise-canceling earbuds, and the Soundcore Life Q30 for affordable noise-canceling over-ear headphones.

These models can't match the ANC performance of pricier options from Bose and Sony, but they get remarkably close considering their low price. For those interested in stepping up to a higher-end model from one of those other brands, check out our guides to the best Sony headphones and best Bose headphones.

• Redfin and Glassdoor identified the 10 best big cities for this year's college graduates.
• Each city was ranked across metrics related to housing, career opportunities, and quality of life.
• Texas has more cities on the list than any other state, with three in the top 10.

Graduation season is upon us, and while this year's graduates have much to celebrate, they're also entering adulthood under significant financial pressure.

They have more student loan debt than previous generations, face an unforgiving job market, and are trying to navigate a housing market where high prices and mortgage rates have made homeownership feel unaffordable.

Where graduates choose to live after graduation could make a big difference, and a new report from Redfin and Glassdoor could help with their decision. The companies ranked 10 major metros using 13 indicators related to housing affordability, career opportunities, and urban quality of life.

Across all states, the ranking suggests Texas is a standout destination for college grads. Three of its largest cities — Dallas, Houston, and Austin — round out the top 10. Redfin and Glassdoor highlighted their strong job markets and relatively affordable rent for recent grads.

"These cities in Texas do great on all metrics: robust job markets, good amenities, and relatively affordable housing," Asad Khan, a senior economist with Redfin, told Business Insider. "Strong housing supply growth in Texas has been key to allowing these cities to grow and attract young professionals from high-cost states around the country."

"The strong industry mix also makes these cities more resilient and attractive to a wide range of early career workers," Khan added.

Read on to find out which other cities made the cut. Here are the 10 best big cities for this year's graduates, according to Redfin and Glassdoor.

10. Austin

• Average early-career earnings: $72,025
• Price of typical starter home: $276,600
• Years to save for down payment: 4 years, 1 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 30.3%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 35%

9. Miami

• Average early-career earnings: $62,748
• Price of typical starter home: $210,000
• Years to save for down payment: 3 years, 11 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 26.4%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 33%

8. San Diego

• Average early-career earnings: $74,053
• Price of typical starter home: $615,000
• Years to save for down payment: More than 10 years
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 65.4%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 64%

7. St. Louis

• Average early-career earnings: $61,834
• Price of typical starter home: $150,000
• Years to save for down payment: 2 years, 7 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 19.1%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 23%

6. Houston

• Average early-career earnings: $65,369
• Price of typical starter home: $215,000
• Years to save for down payment: 3 years, 7 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 25.9%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 18%

5. Chicago

• Average early-career earnings: $72,786
• Price of typical starter home: $202,000
• Years to save for down payment: 3 years
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 21.9%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 28%

4. Dallas

• Average early-career earnings: $67,451
• Price of typical starter home: $240,000
• Years to save for down payment: 4 years, 1 month
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 28%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 26%

3. Boston

• Average early-career earnings: $80,026
• Price of typical starter home: $460,000
• Years to save for down payment: 6 years, 8 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 45.3%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 53%

2. Omaha

• Average early-career earnings: $59,123
• Price of typical starter home: $195,000
• Years to save for down payment: 3 years, 8 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 26%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 28%

1. Washington, D.C.

• Average annual early-career earnings: $79,857
• Price of typical starter home: $320,000
• Years to save for down payment: 4 years, 2 months
• Monthly mortgage payment as percent of income: 31.6%
• Monthly rent as percent of income: 34%

• I've been unemployed for seven months, and I'm debating if getting a master's degree would help.
• I know that a master's doesn't protect you from unemployment, but maybe I should expand my skills.
• I'm not sure if I will go back to school, but it would relieve some of my anxiety.

A few years back, when ChatGPT first became available, the hype got loud, and one of my freelance clients was shouting the loudest. He called me one afternoon and declared that paying writers was a thing of the past, as this new technology could do in five minutes what all his freelance writers could do in a month.

"You should have picked a different profession," he said. He fired me a few months later.

I've been thinking about that interaction a lot lately, especially after seven months of unsuccessful job hunting. Countless hours of filling out applications have led to 10 interviews and zero job offers.

It's got me wondering if, at age 45, I've somehow bottomed out of the job market. And if my skills have become irrelevant, I may go back to school.

How I got to this questioning place

A few months back, I had an interview for an administrative job at a state college. In addition to the pay and benefits, the prospective employers noted the job would include the ability to take six credit hours of college courses per semester once the probation period had ended. So, at six credit hours per semester over three semesters, I'd be able to complete a 36-credit-hour master's program in two years. It didn't seem like a bad path forward, assuming I got accepted to a program.

But my post-undergraduate plan never included a master's. I wanted to get a job as a writer, and I did that with only a BA. For 20-plus years, my BA worked for both my primary and side-hustle careers.

I dismissed graduate school as another long-term financial burden that would never pay for itself.

Still, the idea of a master's always had merit. Many of my friends and colleagues have at least a master's degree in something, and for years, none of them seemed to be hurting for work or opportunities. My wife went back to night school in her 30s for two years to become a teacher, so maybe a similar path would be best for me, too.

I doubt another degree would help

To be honest, the desire to go back to school has less to do with being Step 1 in my mid-life career reinvigoration plan and more with the need for anything that will address my anxieties and uncertainties about the current job market.

Maybe going back to school would help me twofold: relieve my anxiety and help expand my skills.

But as has been shown over the last two years, higher education degrees and job-specific training do not make anyone immune to downsizing or job loss in the current economy. I know this because too many of my own friends and colleagues have been negatively impacted by the current economy. DOGE came for some of them, tariffs came for others, and their education and experience didn't seem to count for much.

Turns out my old client was wrong; we all should have chosen a different profession.

I'm moving forward

Ultimately, I think the decision to pursue higher education works best when the person has a plan or wants to expand their existing skill set. I'm not sure I'm that person.

Going back to school for a master's probably won't solve my long-term unemployment problem.

But I'm still thinking about it. I should probably make a decision soon, though, because now I'm getting ads to join the Peace Corps in my feed. That's going to make it hard to pick up the kids from school.

• "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" premiered in September 2004.
• It aired three seasons on MTV, launching stars like Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari, and Stephen Colletti.
• Here's where the cast members are today.

As the great Hilary Duff once sang, "Let's go back, back to the beginning ..."

The year was 2004, and "Laguna Beach" had just premiered on MTV, drawing immediate buzz. The show focused on a group of high school friends at Laguna Beach High School and promised to show the world what "real" high schoolers in Orange County were like, not like the 20-somethings on "The OC."

The show lasted for three seasons, launched three spin-offs ("The Hills," "The City," and "The Hills: New Beginnings"), and created stars out of its teenage cast. It set the standard for a new type of high-gloss reality show.

However, while Conrad, Colletti, Cavallari, and Bosworth are still relatively well-known, the rest of the cast have resumed a normal life.

In 2026, many of the stars from the first season met up to film a true high school reunion, which dropped on the Roku Channel in April.

Here's what the stars of "Laguna Beach" are up to now.

Lauren Conrad was the first narrator of "Laguna Beach" and the show's relatable protagonist.

The first season of "Laguna Beach" documented the end of Conrad's senior year of high school and followed her and her friends as they decided what to do after graduation.

A focus of the first season was the love triangle between Conrad, her friend Stephen Colletti, and Colletti's girlfriend Kristin Cavallari. 

Season two followed Conrad as she dropped out of college and began dating Jason Wahler. Their relationship was explored further in the first season of "The Hills." 

Conrad went on to star in "The Hills" for five seasons. Now, she's a married mom of two with her own lifestyle empire.

Conrad, 40, was the star of "The Hills," which documented her and a new group of friends as they followed their dreams in Los Angeles. But she left the show midway through the fifth season to pursue other projects.

Now, she has a fashion empire at Kohl's. She's also written multiple books in the fiction and non-fiction genres.

Conrad is married to William Tell, a lawyer, and they have two sons. They live in, you guessed it, Laguna Beach.

Kristin Cavallari was the show's other breakout star, and she became the narrator after Conrad left "Laguna."

Cavallari was a grade behind Conrad and her friends, and thus season two was all about Cavallari graduating, as well as her complicated relationship with Colletti, who was in school in San Francisco.

She left the show after season two.

She told Business Insider in 2022 that producers chose her to be the villain of the series.

Cavallari took over for Conrad on "The Hills," and then starred in her own reality show, "Very Cavallari." She also has her own lifestyle brand.

Cavallari, 39, was reintroduced to audiences when the torch essentially passed from Conrad to Cavallari during Conrad's last episode of "The Hills."

During season five's episode 10, "Something Old, Something New," Cavallari attended the wedding of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt then remained on "The Hills" until it ended in 2010.

In 2018, Cavallari began starring on her own reality show on E!, "Very Cavallari," which focused on her life in Nashville with her now-ex-husband Jay Cutler, and her efforts to expand her lifestyle brand, Uncommon James. The show ran for three seasons.

Cavallari was married to former Chicago Bears quarterback Cutler from 2013 to 2020, and they have three children together. She lives in Nashville.

She has also written two cookbooks, and Uncommon James recently expanded to Uncommon Beauty, as well. 

She and Colletti cohosted "Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen," a "Laguna Beach" rewatch podcast from 2022 to 2023.

Stephen Colletti was the object of both Conrad's and Cavallari's affections.

Colletti was the prototypical California surfer dude during the first two seasons of the show. Most of his storylines revolved around his on-again/off-again relationship with Cavallari. He also had a close friendship with Conrad that constantly seemed to be on the verge of something more, though nothing ever happened on-screen. 

He left after season two.

Colletti is now an actor and writer, but he still dabbles in reality TV.

Colletti, 40, began starring in "One Tree Hill" in 2007 as Chase Adams and remained on the show until it ended in 2012. He then appeared in a few episodes of the basketball drama "Hit the Floor" until 2016. He has also appeared in various TV movies.

Colletti and his "One Tree Hill" costar James Lafferty also co-wrote and co-starred in a pilot called "Everyone Is Doing Great." They successfully funded the project with a Kickstarter, and it ran for two seasons.

He told Business Insider in 2022 that he was asked to be a recurring cast member on "The Hills" every season. He declined, but he did appear in episode 26 of season three. The episode was aptly titled "A Date with the Past." 

In January 2026, Colletti returned to his reality TV roots by competing on season four of "The Traitors," even if he did outrage every millennial by identifying as a star of "One Tree Hill," not "Laguna Beach."

Colletti began dating reporter Alex Weaver in 2022, and they got married shortly before the reunion special aired. They're also expecting their first child together.

Jason Wahler popped up in season two as Jessica Smith's boyfriend. He later dated Lauren Conrad.

Wahler originally appeared on the show as Jessica Smith's boyfriend, though their relationship was full of ups and downs. After Conrad returned to Laguna Beach, the two began dating, and their relationship lasted through the first season of "The Hills."

He was a recurring character in the series, and the show touched on his struggles with addiction. 

Wahler returned to MTV to appear on "The Hills: New Beginnings."

Wahler, 39, was part of the cast of the rebooted "Hills," alongside his wife, Ashley Slack. They have three children.

Before that, Wahler was part of the cast of the fourth season of "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew," as he was an alcoholic and addicted to cocaine. He had been arrested multiple times before his appearance and has served jail time. He opened up about relapsing in 2018, per People.

Wahler is also the director of the Change Your Brain Foundation.

He did not appear on the "Laguna Beach" reunion.

Jessica Smith was one of Cavallari's good friends, and she dated both Wahler and Dieter Schmitz.

Smith was the long-suffering girlfriend of Wahler, but the two eventually broke up after one too many fights about how she couldn't trust Wahler during season two.

She had also dated Schmitz, one of Conrad's friends, during season one.

Now, she's Jessica Evans.

Evans, 38, is a mom of four. She and her husband, Michael Evans, live in the Dallas area. She has her own Amazon shop, but she has mainly stayed out of the spotlight since completing her time on the show. 

Lo Bosworth was Conrad's best friend. She eventually popped up on "The Hills," as well.

Bosworth and Conrad, or Lo and LC as they were nicknamed on the series, were the definition of BFF goals to any teen watching "Laguna Beach." 

Bosworth also left the show after season two to attend UC Santa Barbara, but when she transferred to UCLA, she joined her bestie on "The Hills."

She was more of a main character on that spin-off and was involved in many of its most dramatic moments. 

Bosworth remained on "The Hills" until the end. She founded a women's body-care company, Love Wellness.

After "The Hills" ended, Bosworth, 39, started her own blog, "The Lo Down," which she ran for years, and wrote a book of the same name in 2011. She also attended culinary school and started her own YouTube channel.

Bosworth hosted a podcast called "I Love Wellness," and now hosts another one called "Tell Me I'm a Good Mom."

In 2016, Bosworth founded Love Wellness, a women's body care company that aims to "shatter the stigma around women's wellness so that you have solutions you are comfortable with." It offers supplements, multivitamins, sexual health items, and various wellness kits.

She married Dom Natale, an investor, in 2025.

Bosworth attended the reunion virtually because she was seven months pregnant at the time of filming and is based in New York City. Her daughter, Nelle, was born in January 2026.

Talan Torriero was the show's resident ladies' man in seasons one and two.

Torriero was a junior in season one, making him younger than most of the cast, but he was pretty consistently hooking up with older girls. He also briefly dated Cavallari, but it didn't last long as she was still hung up on Colletti.

He left after season two.

Torriero is now married with children.

Before he got married, the former reality star, 39, remained in the headlines for dating celebrities like Kimberly Stewart and Nicole Scherzinger. However, he married Danielle Zuroski in 2014, putting his party boy past behind him. They have three children.

He and his wife now own and operate a farm, Torriero Farms, in Omaha, Nebraska. He also founded the company Ice Blankets.

Torriero attended the reunion.

Trey Phillips was the token artsy friend.

Phillips, 39, was good friends with Colletti and the other guys, though he had a special bond with Conrad. Phillips famously put on a fashion show that Conrad also used as a way to break into the fashion game.

Phillips left the show after season one to attend Parsons in New York City.

Phillips still works in the fashion industry.

Phillips was a designer at Vera Wang for years, but now he's an app developer. He created a cooking app called Method Cooking.

He expanded on his experiences on the show during "Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen," and he also attended the reunion.

Jen Bunney was one of Conrad's good friends who would later pop up on "The Hills."

Bunney didn't really make an impression until she showed up on "The Hills," and memorably hooked up with Brody Jenner even though Conrad had been on a few dates with him — and right after Conrad gifted Bunney with a diamond martini glass-shaped necklace for her birthday.

As a result, the two stopped being friends on the show.

The storyline was juicy, but Jenner said it was completely fake in a 2015 interview with Yahoo Style. 

Bunney, now Dunphy, works in healthcare. She has an MBA and a doctorate in public health.

She married Taylor Dunphy in 2014 and now goes by Jennifer Dunphy. They have two kids together.

According to her LinkedIn, Dunphy, 40, was the senior vice president and chief population health officer at Heritage Provider Network from 2014 to January 2026.

In 2023, she published a book, "Don't Tell Me What to Do."

Dunphy also remains close with "Hills" star Heidi Montag and is even the godmother to Montag's son, Gunner.

When fans asked Dunphy why she wasn't part of the "Laguna" reunion, she had a simple answer: She wasn't invited. "I don't know [why]. I can't answer that question. I wasn't in the room," she told People.

Morgan Olsen, one of Conrad's good friends, was mainly defined by her desire to attend Brigham Young University.

Olsen was part of Conrad's friend group, although she was a bit more conservative than the rest of her friends, as evidenced by her decision not to go to Cabo for spring break and her desire to attend Brigham Young University (BYU), a Mormon school. She graduated in 2008.

She left "Laguna Beach" after season one.

She now goes by Morgan Smith. She founded her own apparel brand, Minnow.

She married Joel Smith in 2010, and the couple has three children together. Smith, 40, founded Minnow in 2016. It originally started as a swimwear line, but has since added clothing and accessories, as well as a brick-and-mortar store on King Street in Charleston, South Carolina, where she lives with her family.

Christina Schuller was Olsen's best friend and part of the main friend group.

Schuller was also part of Conrad's group of friends, though she and Olsen were closer to each other than the rest of the group. Her main contribution to "Laguna Beach," though, was her infamous trip to New York City when she tried out for a Broadway musical.

Schuller left the show after season one.

Schuller now goes by her married name, Sinclair.

Sinclair, 39, moved to Miami with her husband, Chad Sinclair, and their three kids in 2022. She's still close friends with Morgan Smith — in fact, they were bridesmaids in each other's weddings.

During the reunion, Sinclair opened up about mental health struggles she had during her senior year of college and discussed being in and out of hospitals for a year.

"I really wanted to talk about something meaningful, and so I spent a lot of time praying and reflecting on what that would look like," she told People. "It's a part of my life that was important, and I think a lot of people can relate in some way or another. I wanted to share something meaningful."

Dieter Schmitz was one of Conrad and Colletti's best friends and was frequently the voice of reason among his friends.

Schmitz appeared in both seasons one and two with the title of "Stephen's Friend." Schmitz was one of the few cast members in a stable relationship during season one, with Jessica Smith — though the two wouldn't last into season two.

Schmitz had a "Laguna Beach" reunion at his wedding.

Schmitz, 40, got into hospitality after leaving the show and now lives in New York City with his wife Isabell. They have two kids.

According to his LinkedIn, Schmitz is a general manager at Accor, a French hospitality group.

When he married his wife in 2016, many members of the "Laguna Beach" cast were present, including Conrad, Colletti, and Phillips (the latter two were groomsmen for their friend).

Alex Hooser, better known as Alex H., was a loyal friend.

Hooser is one of two cast members who stuck around for the first three seasons of "Laguna Beach," along with Jessica Smith.

She was portrayed as a loyal friend to Kristin Cavallari — though at some points it did seem like her only lines of dialogue on the show were asking about Cavallari's relationship status.

Hooser is Alex Olsen now. She opened up at the reunion about her family's struggles during the show.

Hooser, 39, lives in Santa Cruz, California, with her husband and three kids. During the reunion, she discussed how, while filming the first season, her father was arrested, sent to prison, and eventually put on house arrest after making what she called "poor financial decisions."

Similar to Smith's Amazon shop, Hooser has a Shop My where people can buy products she's curated.

• President Trump says peace talks to end the US-Iran war will resume on Monday.
• The announcement came amid heightened tensions during the two-week ceasefire.
• Hours later, Iran's official news agency said its negotiators would not take part.

Peace talks to end the US-Iran war will resume on Monday in Pakistan, President Donald Trump said on Sunday.

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," he said in a Truth Social post that warned the US would attack Iran's power plants and bridges should talks fail.

During a weekend when tensions rose following Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to US blockages of its ports, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in a televised address that Tehran was simultaneously engaged in diplomacy and ready for military confrontation.

Hours later on Sunday, Iran's official IRNA news agency said it would not take part in the negotiations, blaming "Washington's excessive demands, unrealistic expectations," and the US blockade.

Trump accused Iran of committing a "serious violation" of the two-week ceasefire that began on April 8, according to ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

In a post on X, Karl said Trump still believes he can get a peace deal, quoting him as saying: "It will happen. One way or another. The nice way or the hard way. It's going to happen. You can quote me."

On Saturday, Iran's military declared that the Strait of Hormuz "has been returned to its previous state, and this strategic waterway is under strict management and control by the Armed Forces."

In a statement to Iran's Tasnim News Agency, the spokesman insisted that until the US ends restrictions on the free movement of vessels to and from Iran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz "will remain tightly controlled and unchanged from its previous status."

Also on Saturday, US Central Command shared an image on its X account of the littoral combat ship USS Canberra patrolling the Arabian Sea during the blockade.

It said: "Since commencement of the blockade, 23 ships have complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around. American forces are enforcing a maritime blockade against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas."

Opening the strait has been a central demand since the start of a fragile ceasefire earlier this month and amid the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

The strategic Strait of Hormuz is a narrow chokepoint linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and a major artery for global shipments of oil and natural gas.

Updated on April 19, 2026, to include additional information about the results of the play-in tournament.

The NBA postseason is underway, and the Playoffs have officially begun. We've rounded up everything you need to know about where to watch the NBA Playoffs, including live streaming info for those without cable.

If you don't want to read any further, the NBA Playoffs will live stream through ESPN Unlimited, Peacock, and Prime Video in the US. In the UK, Sky Sports and Prime Video will carry postseason coverage. Playoffs coverage will be split between Sportsnet and TSN in Canada. Below, we've broken down everything you need to know about tuning around the world.

The Detroit Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder lead the charge as the No. 1 seeds in this year's NBA Playoffs. The Pistons lead the Eastern Conference, with the Boston Celtics trailing in second and the New York Knicks close behind in third. The Thunder lead the Western Conference, with the San Antonio Spurs in second place and the Denver Nuggets in third. The Thunder are looking to go back-to-back after winning the NBA Finals last year in a dramatic Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers.

The Play-in Tournament wrapped up late on Friday night, with the final teams advancing to the Playoffs. The Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers punched their playoff tickets with No. 7 seed spots, and the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns nabbed the No. 8 seed spots. The Play-in tournament sent the Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, LA Clippers, and Golden State Warriors packing.

Where to watch NBA Playoffs in the US

TNT is out of the NBA broadcast game in the US. Instead, the 2026 postseason will air across ESPN, ABC, NBC/Peacock, and Prime Video. The Prime Video inclusion means that even those with the most comprehensive cable package will still need to sign up for a streaming service if they're planning to watch every game of the NBA Playoffs. The Playoffs won't be available to live stream on NBA League Pass in the US because all games will be nationally broadcast.

ESPN and ABC will broadcast several games in the first and second rounds, as well as the Eastern Conference Finals. ABC will also carry the NBA Finals. All ESPN and ABC games (along with tons of other coverage from the ESPN family of channels) are available through ESPN's direct streaming counterpart, ESPN Unlimited. ESPN Unlimited costs $30 a month and serves as a one-stop shop for all things ESPN. There's also a cheaper ESPN Select plan, but this won't help you out for the NBA Playoffs.

NBC and Peacock will also carry loads of games this year, including several games in the first and second rounds, and the Western Conference Finals. You can live stream it all on Peacock, where sports-friendly plans start at $11 a month for Peacock Premium. Peacock Select, the budget plan, doesn't carry sports. You can upgrade to ad-free on-demand content and a 24/7 live stream of NBC with the $17 a month Peacock Premium Plus plan.

Prime Video is also getting in on the NBA Playoffs action. The streaming service carries the play-in tournament, along with several first and second round games. Prime Video subscriptions start at just $9 a month, but Prime Video is also included with all standard Amazon Prime subscriptions. An Amazon Prime subscription costs $15 a month and comes with a 30-day free trial for new customers.

If you'd prefer to watch through a live TV streaming service, which functions like cable (without all of the long-term contracts and equipment), then our guide to the best live TV streaming services might be able to help you out.

DirecTV is our top recommendation for a month-to-month cable alternative. You can find all NBC, ABC, and ESPN games in DirecTV's MySports genre pack. MySports carries around 20 popular sports networks and unlocks access to ESPN Unlimited. Subscriptions start at $65 a month, but new customers can get their first two months for $45 a month after a five-day free trial. To watch every game of the postseason, you'll still need to sign up for Prime Video separately.

Where to watch NBA Playoffs in the UK

Sky Sports and Prime Video will split NBA Playoffs coverage in the UK. Sky prices vary by plan and contract, and you can learn more in our guide to the best Sky TV deals and plans. Amazon Prime costs £9 a month or £8 a month for Prime Video only. New customers can get a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime. The Playoffs should also be available through NBA League Pass in the UK.

How to watch NBA Playoffs from anywhere

If you're traveling abroad and hoping to keep up with your usual watch options, you can do so with the help of a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are cybersecurity tools that let people change their device's virtual location. This way, their go-to websites and apps work from anywhere, just like they would back home. The services we've highlighted above require country-specific payment methods, so this option will work best for those who are just traveling away from home at the moment.

NordVPN is our top recommendation. It's fast, user-friendly (even for beginners), and has a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not helping you out. You can learn more in our heavily tested guide to the best VPN services.

Upcoming games

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• My twins were 11 months old on their first trip overseas. I spent most of it apologizing to strangers.
• For 18 years, I booked every flight and packed every bag. The boys just came along.
• Then a bottle of tequila showed up under the Christmas tree.

My parents never took me overseas. I always said I'd do it with my kids. Fiji was the first attempt. Charlie cried on the plane. Thomas cried at the resort. Both cried at dinner while other guests tried not to stare. By the second morning, I was wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake.

It took three years to try again. In Bali, Charlie screamed for hours on the first night, eventually falling asleep on the floor next to the front door. I felt like doing the same. Nothing had improved.

South Africa was the first trip where nobody cried

When the boys were 9, I had a work conference in Cape Town. My wife, Cece, flew 14 hours alone with them to meet me. Charlie arrived jetlagged and emotional, refusing to eat.

But before we headed out on safari, I arranged a visit to an orphanage. The boys brought an Australian football and spent the afternoon teaching the kids how to kick it. I watched them run around for an hour, completely ignoring me. Nobody cried. Or refused to eat. It was the first trip where I stopped apologizing to people.

The crying stopped, the obliviousness didn't

I'd plan every detail of a trip, and the first question each morning was "Where are we going today?" If I asked what they wanted to do, the answer was a shrug or "whatever." I'd ask if they'd packed, and they'd say yes. I'd check and find no toothbrush.

Thomas had toiletries confiscated at security so many times that I stopped replacing them. AirPods went in at the gate and didn't come out until we landed. Between stops, both sat in the back seat staring at their phones while entire countries passed the window.

When they were 16, we visited Washington DC and spent time at the Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of African American History. I expected the usual half-glances at plaques. Instead, they stopped. They wanted to talk about what they were seeing.

A year later in Sri Lanka, a cooking class ran long because the boys spent half of it swapping travel stories with backpackers, talking about places we'd visited. Afterward, unprompted, both said they were glad we'd booked it. Not my usual feedback. But I still checked their rooms for forgotten chargers.

Mexico was the first time I'd ever had a drink with my own kids on a trip

When the boys turned 18, we took a trip to Puerto Vallarta. One afternoon, we wandered into a small tequila bar for a tasting. We sat at the counter and worked through the pours while the bartender explained each one.

What I didn't know was that after we left, they went back. They found the man behind the counter and asked which one their dad had liked. He pointed them to a bottle of Don Cayo. It's a small local brand you can't find outside Mexico.

A few weeks later, it was under the Christmas tree. It's the best present I've ever received.

For 18 years, I was the one who remembered everything

I booked the flights, checked the bags, replaced the confiscated toothpaste, and tried to make it fun. Past presents from the boys were usually a book I'd suggested that my wife had to buy. Sometimes they didn't even manage that.

The Don Cayo wasn't a book I'd chosen. Nobody told them to go back to that bar. These are the same kids who couldn't remember to pack deodorant. But they remembered which tequila their dad liked.

I keep it for special occasions. It almost makes me forget the Fiji fiasco. Almost.

• Kristina Modares started co-buying properties with her friends and family in her 20s.
• She has co-bought 10 properties in the last decade and remains an owner of five.
• Modares said she's learned valuable lessons along the way about getting into business with friends.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kristina Modares, 36, an Airbnb host. Modares is also the founder of Open House Education and a marketer at Joynt, a real estate platform designed to help people buy and own homes with family and friends. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2015, I was 25 and living in Austin, renting a home downtown with a friend and hoping to buy one of my own. I'd just gotten my real estate license and didn't yet have the two years of income needed to qualify for a mortgage on my own.

When I told a friend about it, he said, "I'd buy a house with you." That conversation made me realize you don't have to buy alone — or wait for a romantic partner — to become a homeowner.

We didn't end up buying together in Austin, but we did purchase a commercial property in San Antonio. It was my first experience co-buying with a friend. At the time, I was young and naive and didn't think much about the complications that could come with co-buying. I was just excited to get into real estate.

That experience opened the door to something much bigger. Over the past 10 years, I've bought 10 homes through partnerships with friends and family. That includes a beach house I own with my sister that we rent on Airbnb, a retreat property with two business partners, and a small stake in another shared home that's rented.

Co-buying helped me become a first-time homebuyer — and eventually a multi-property homeowner — much sooner than I could have on my own.

My sister and I own an Airbnb rental in Florida

I was only 29 when my sister and I bought our second property together: a beach house in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. It's one of my favorite properties.

We grew up vacationing in the area and had always dreamed of owning a home there. At the time, a beach house in that area felt like something only wealthy families could afford.

This was the seventh property I'd purchased, and by then I knew what kind of investment I liked to make: one I felt personally connected to and could use myself. It feels like home, and it's reassuring to know that if I want to go on vacation even during hard times, it's an option. It's also comforting to know I have my sister's support.

We bought the house sight unseen. It was one of the cheapest options we could find in the area, and it needed a lot of work. It's a roughly 1,500-square-foot home with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. We bought it for a little over $400,000, and today it's worth around $700,000.

We split the purchase evenly. To help fund it, we each contributed around $70,000 toward the purchase and renovation of the home — money we had earned from a house in Austin we had bought together.

We saw the home as a good investment because of its location and long-term earning potential. It backs up to a state park, so it feels private, but it's still only about an eight-minute walk to the beach.

We started renting it on Airbnb in late 2021 and have earned about $420,387 so far. We're less focused on the monthly income than on the home's long-term value and eventual sale.

Because the home has been profitable, I haven't had to put in any more of my own money. We have either reinvested the money into the property or used the money we've earned to cover expenses when we're in town, like going out to dinner.

Successful co-buying requires clear structure, lawyers, and trust

I hear people say all the time, "I don't have anyone to co-buy with." Part of that, I think, is that we often don't talk to friends and family about money. We're taught not to — it's taboo. But if you want to co-buy, you have to be willing to have those conversations.

Finding someone to buy with is only the first step. There's a lot to consider, whether you're buying with a friend, family member, or romantic partner. Can this person talk openly about money? Are they good at having honest conversations, or do you feel like you have to walk on eggshells around them?

If it feels hard to bring up something uncomfortable, that may be a sign they're not the right person to buy with.

Over time, I've seen firsthand what works in a co-buying partnership, what doesn't, and how those relationships can evolve — both financially and personally.

The best way to make a partnership work is to create structure. In my first few co-buys, I didn't use operating agreements or hire my own lawyers. Would I do that today? Absolutely not.

With the last couple of properties I co-bought, I finally hired a lawyer to draft an operating agreement. If I were buying again, I'd probably go through a co-buying company like Joynt, which creates operating agreements to guide co-buyers through the process.

Getting into real estate changed my life

Looking back, there are a few things I would have done differently with some of my partnerships, especially having more serious conversations early on about responsibilities and what could go wrong. You never know when something in the house will break, when you'll need to replace a couch, or when another unexpected expense will come up.

It's also important to discuss what happens if someone wants to sell their stake. I've only had to deal with that once, and it was unexpected. Luckily, we were able to talk it through and come up with a solution.

Before co-buying, I knew nothing about real estate or homeownership. But over the years, I've learned a lot, and my journey has taught me how to collaborate and has developed skills I never imagined I'd have, like talking to contractors with ease.

I'm older now, and I can't take on as much financial risk, so I'm no longer trying to accumulate a bunch of properties. But having those experiences in my 20s shaped my life. They taught me that traditional ways of doing things aren't always the right fit for everyone.

Axel Springer, Insider Inc.'s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.

• Traveling with three small kids felt a bit daunting, so we took an easy-to-manage trip to Vermont.
• My family enjoyed it so much, we returned to the same spot every summer for 8 years.
• Those low-cost rips made it easy for us to get away, and gave us memories to last a lifetime.

When my kids were 5, 3, and 18 months old, we took one of our first family vacations together.

Back then, traveling with three little kids, including one with severe disabilities, seemed daunting. But I was desperate to get out of the house and away from our stressful routine, which included numerous doctor and therapy appointments for my disabled son.

When a family friend offered us his townhouse in South Burlington, Vermont, I took him up on the offer, especially since the low cost made me feel less pressured to plan the perfect vacation.

We drove from our home on the East Coast and stocked the fridge with groceries from Trader Joe's. Many of the activities we enjoyed were cheap or free. For example, we fished on a dock near the townhouse, took a hayride at Shelburne Farms and pet the animals, and tasted ice cream on the Ben and Jerry's Factory tour.

I was surprised by how happy my kids were hanging out in the quiet environment. It went so well that we made it an annual tradition.

The trip evolved as we grew

As the kids got older, our list of activities grew, just like they did. One summer, we traveled two hours east to Lake Willoughby and waded in the water. The following year, we rented paddleboards at the same lake, and the year after that, we all went kayaking. We took lengthy bike rides on the waterfront by Lake Champlain and hunted for waterfalls all over the state. One year, after I got the kids their first passports, we drove to Montreal for two nights so the kids could experience a new country.

We consistently visited Vermont during the third week of August, right before everyone went back to school, so we could escape before life got hectic. Each year, the drive along Route 22a in Vermont brought regular views of cows, barns and hay bales. As we meandered through the winding roads, I took a few deep breaths and enjoyed the multi-layered, rolling mountains as the four-lane concrete thruway faded out of sight.

As the years passed, we extended our stay by a day or so. Our list of "must do" activities in the surrounding area kept expanding, so we needed the additional time to fit it all in. And when those 10 days were over, no one wanted to head home.

Creating memories to last a lifetime

When I look back, I realize that my kids grew up in Vermont. My youngest was barely walking on that first trip, and my daughter rode her pink scooter around Church Street. The next year, she rode a tricycle and eventually a bike for miles on the Colchester Causeway Trail. On our last trip, my daughter was a teenager who liked to go clothes shopping with me.

Our adventures taught us how to pack, travel together and modify activities so my disabled son could get in on the fun. Those vacations gave my kids a consistent, familiar place to explore, learn, and grow. And they gave me a break from a hectic routine and space to breathe.

A couple of years ago, our family friend sold the townhouse in Vermont. Everyone in my family was sad, but we took the opportunity to expand our travels. Since then, we've been to Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona, Key West, and, most recently, Europe, all of which were amazing. But our time in Vermont will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Those low-cost, laid-back trips made it easy for us to get away, but they also gave us memories we will hold onto for a lifetime.

• When I felt pain in my breast, I decided to see my doctor.
• Since I turned 40 last year, he suggested an ultrasound and then a mammogram, and I was nervous.
• The radiographer kindly walked me through it, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

I was lying in bed reading to my 3-year-old daughter when she accidentally leaned on my left breast. I have three young children, and it's not uncommon for them to unintentionally headbutt or elbow me in the boob, but what was different this time was how much it hurt.

My grandmother had breast cancer, so I've always been quite vigilant about self-examinations. After putting my daughter to bed, I felt my breast, and while there wasn't a lump, it did feel different. Kind of sore in one spot to the right of my nipple.

I booked an appointment with my doctor

Wanting to rule out anything sinister, I booked an appointment with my general practitioner the next day. He asked for my medical history, performed a physical exam of my breast with a colleague chaperoning, and then suggested I get an ultrasound to be safe.

I must admit I was relieved he didn't suggest a mammogram. I've never had one, and I've always dreaded the idea of that particular screening technique. It's pretty silly really, considering I'm a 40-year-old mum of three and have had all sorts of medical tests and probing along the way.

But there was something about mammograms that made me nervous. I have small breasts, a B cup at most, so the notion of having them squished between two X-ray plates didn't sound appealing.

He ended up suggesting a mammogram after all

On the day of the ultrasound, the sonographer took her time capturing a range of images. She told me to get dressed while she showed the images to the radiologist, then returned to the room.

"The radiologist is happy with the ultrasound images, but he wants you to have a mammogram too, given you're over 40," she explained.

I felt a knot of anxiety in my stomach. This was it. There was no more putting it off. I agreed and went back out into the waiting room.

I realize now that I was pretty naïve about what to expect. I'd never really chatted with my older sisters or mum much about their experience with mammograms, and I kind of wish I had, rather than just assuming the worst.

A nice radiographer appeared and called my name. I think she could tell I was feeling nervous, as she asked, "Is it your first time, love?" I nodded.

What happened next helped put me at ease. The radiographer slowly walked me through the whole process. She explained that if it felt uncomfortable at any time, we could take a break, readjust the positioning if needed, or stop the scan. I felt so grateful for her kindness.

It wasn't what I'd been expecting

After putting the gown on, I stepped up to the machine and turned my attention to a painting on the wall. It was an image of a flower… the same one my daughter is named after. It may sound woo-woo, but I felt like it was a sign that everything was going to be OK.

As she explained how to position myself and began to compress my breasts, one at a time, I realized that it was not what I'd been expecting. There was no guillotine-style squish. It was a slow compression designed to spread the breast tissue for maximum visibility. The compression only lasted a few seconds at a time.

I understand that some people experience discomfort from the pressure of the mammogram equipment, but I personally didn't. There was no pain, and I knew that I could ask the lady to stop at any time.

In a matter of minutes, the mammogram was over. After I'd put my clothes back on, I told the radiographer that it was much more bearable than I'd anticipated. She nodded and said she often met women like me who were misinformed about mammograms. She told me that, unfortunately, sometimes these women hesitated too long before being screened.

My results came back normal, and getting a mammogram gave me peace of mind

Before I walked out, she asked if I could pass the message on to my girlfriends about my personal experience, and I said I would. In my experience, having a mammogram wasn't painful, even for a humble chest like mine.

Luckily, my breast screen results came back normal. That means I'm off the hook for a mammogram until 2028, but I will continue my regular self-examinations.

Mammograms aren't the only type of screening, and can miss cancer in some people — in particular, those with dense breasts — and individuals should discuss options with their doctor to decide which type of breast cancer screening is right for them. For me, I'm glad I had a mammogram. It put my mind at ease, and I learned that something I'd been dreading for some time wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

• When I was diagnosed with ADHD I finally understood why there were piles of stuff all over my home.
• I kept rebuying and losing track of things because if I couldn't see it, it didn't exist.
• I use these $7 clear bins in my kitchen, office, and bathroom to keep clutter from taking over.

When I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, a lot of things about my home suddenly made sense, like why every surface seemed to collect a pile of stuff, and why anything I put "away" basically disappeared. I'd forget what I owned, rebuy the same things, and lose track of important stuff like mail or owner's manuals almost immediately.

ADHD affects me in much bigger ways, so I'm always looking for realistic hacks to reduce friction in my day-to-day life. Not perfect, but more manageable. I've tried planners, routines, and organizing apps, but they all relied on a level of consistency I just don't have. The second I fell off, everything would unravel again.

The one organizing tool that actually clicked was surprisingly simple: a set of clear bins that cost about $7 each.

This humble container is the only visual organization system my ADHD brain responds to. They give me real relief from low-level daily chaos, making the things I use (both often and occasionally) and the things that need my attention visible and easier to manage.

Here's how I use these bins in my home, especially in spots where clutter tends to pile up the fastest.

For the kitchen stuff I need every morning

I keep everything I need for my morning coffee — coffee, sugar, creatine powder — in one bin. Each morning, I pull the whole thing out of the cabinet and set it next to my Moccamaster, so everything is right there while I make coffee. When I'm done, it all goes back into the cabinet in one move, which keeps my kitchen counters clear and makes the whole routine feel less chaotic.

Related: I cook in a tiny NYC kitchenette, and these space-saving products make it work

For the piles that used to take over my desk

Everything from mail to owner's manuals for products I'm testing, and even the reusable bags I bring to the grocery store go into this bin. It's basically a "way station" for things coming into my home. Keeping things in one place makes them feel more less like a constant mental weight, and I can quickly find and pull out anything urgent without having to deal with everything at once. When it fills up, it's a reminder to deal with it, but not one that immediately triggers that anxious voice in my head.

Related: We tried Wayfair's bestsellers — 20 we'd actually buy (and 3 to skip)

For the beauty products I don't use every day

The products I don't use every day — including sheet masks, retinol, and teeth whitening kits — are the easiest to lose track of. I keep them all in a clear bin that slides under my bathroom counter, so they're out of the way but still accessible enough that they won't sit forgotten and untouched.

Learn more about how Insider Reviews tests and researches home products.

More bins that keep clutter in check

My "I spy" hack isn't just limited to one type of container. There are several options that follow the same idea — simple, visible storage that makes it easier to keep everyday clutter in check. Use these to help you organize your shoe collection, the condiments in your fridge, and everything in between.

• Moving back home after living abroad for years was difficult for my mental health and social life.
• I spontaneously joined a Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym, and this new hobby helped me rebuild confidence.
• I also made new friends, improved my body image, and learned about my own resilience.

2025 started with a huge and unwelcome life transition: After seven years living in Budapest, I had to move home due to visa issues.

Transitioning from a bustling city to a small town was a tough adjustment. I felt lost after trading my community, lifestyle, and travel-focused identity for my small hometown in the Pacific Northwest.

To pass the time while searching for a new job, I spontaneously joined a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) gym. Training BJJ was supposed to be a fun hobby that helped me find my footing during a hard time, but a year later, it's changed my health, social life, and attitude in so many ways.

BJJ helped me improve my mental health during a difficult time in life

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art and combat sport that involves grappling techniques. I knew it would give me a solid workout, but I didn't expect it to bring me peace of mind, as well.

Although training was exhausting, I loved how this total-body workout required every part of my concentration. Whenever I stepped onto the mat, the world went quiet, leaving me space to just breathe and connect with my body.

Training also added structure to my days — it provided a reason to shut my laptop and move my body instead of just spiraling over my latest job application and obsessively refreshing my inbox.

I started looking forward to my evenings, knowing I would get in a good workout and have a 90-minute break from any stressors or disappointments.

Slowly, I felt my self-confidence rebuild

After jumping from a discouraging immigration process in Hungary to a grueling job search in the States, my self-efficacy was at an all-time low. It felt like no matter what I tried, I couldn't get my life back on track.

Unlike my job hunt, however, I didn't put any pressure on myself at the BJJ gym. My only goal was to show up.

It didn't matter whether I left class elated or frustrated; I always took pride in the fact that I had simply shown up and gotten stronger.

In a way, the gradual progress gave me hope for other areas in my life. If I could practice the same technique for months without seeing improvement and then feel it click into place one day, perhaps I could apply that lesson elsewhere.

Maybe all of my efforts weren't in vain; they were helping me build up to something. I started to believe in my own abilities again.

I formed relationships that added richness to my life

Moving back to my hometown in my 30s felt like starting from scratch, since many friends I grew up with had moved away during my time abroad. This was especially jarring after leaving such a full social life back in Budapest, and I struggled with loneliness.

Joining a BJJ gym introduced me to people I probably wouldn't have crossed paths with otherwise, as it was an age and career-diverse crowd.

I thought I would be intimidated — I wasn't used to spending so much time in such male-dominated spaces — but the owners and trainers at my gym made it feel like a true safe space. I met so many people who were generous with their time and knowledge, and built some dear friendships.

Now, I have adventure buddies to explore the area with, which has only made me appreciate my hometown more.

My physical health and body image improved

After a lifetime preoccupation with being smaller or skinnier, I was suddenly in a community where being strong and powerful was celebrated.

This had a ripple effect throughout my life, motivating me to take care of my body in other ways. I started paying more attention to what I ate so I'd be fueled and focused during practice, rather than lightheaded.

During other workouts at the community fitness center, I found more motivation to push myself, knowing that I was building endurance and strength to help me on the mats.

It was exciting to see myself grow stronger as I gained muscle and technique. Being cheered on by my classmates for getting stronger — for applying more pressure and taking up more space during matches — was so freeing.

In the end, I did see my body change, but that was a side effect of doing something I loved, instead of a preoccupation that added anxiety and frustration to my life.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu taught me some invaluable lessons: that I can persevere through difficulty, that success can take many different forms, and that deciding not to give up on yourself can be life-changing.

I still don't know what the next year of life will bring, but now, I'm excited to face it head-on.

• My family of five took an 8-day trip to Paris with my in-laws.
• We made a few rookie mistakes, including staying too far from the city center.
• However, we also did a few things right, like scheduling rideshares in advance.

On our first night in Paris this past December, my husband and I saw beef tartare on the menu and decided it was our chance to try a true French classic. We had no idea that we'd just ordered raw beef and egg.

My mother-in-law was seated next to me when they delivered the plate. It'd been a long travel day, and she'd felt nauseous for most of it because of her medication. One look at that raw meat sent her dashing for the restroom.

Unfortunately, the restroom was down a steep staircase, and she didn't quite make it, getting sick at the feet of the bartender.

The waiters were gracious, though some of the other diners looked less than thrilled. Because it was the middle of cold and flu season, I quickly explained it was her medication, not a stomach virus. A nearby woman translated for the others, and the room visibly relaxed.

For all the stereotypes about Parisian waiters being snobby, I found them warm and thoughtful toward our family. Still, from that moment on, I knew my husband and I would have to tone down our adventurous ordering habits.

None of us — neither my in-laws nor my family of five — had been to Paris before. It turned out that the beef tartare was just our first rookie mistake on our trip. Over the next eight days, we made plenty of others, along with a few great decisions that kept us sane.

We ran late to every one of our timed-entry museum slots until we tried this trick

Traveling with three children, ages 13, 8, and almost 3, is not easy. Add grandparents who walk slowly and need frequent bathroom breaks, and you have a perfect storm of running late everywhere.

What finally worked was scheduling a rideshare the night before.

Every time we did that and had a van waiting outside, it created a non-negotiable hard stop for when we had to leave. It also made it far more likely that the driver would arrive on time.

For large groups, this was the only way we ever stuck to our schedule. Also, purchasing timed-entry tickets in advance meant we avoided painfully long lines, and saved us hours of waiting around.

I overromanticized a bucket-list experience

I spent my childhood being dragged through antique shops by my interior-designer mother. Because of that, I like to think I can evaluate a truly great antiquing experience.

For years, I'd heard Parisian flea markets described as the gold standard of antiquing. So I made visiting one a priority, even splurging on an almost $100 rideshare to make it happen on a chilly, early morning with the whole family. What we found was deflating.

Street vendors had piles of used clothing and miscellaneous objects on tables with nearly every item declared "very valuable."

When my toddler pointed to a small metal toy car, I was quoted €12 (about $14 at the time of the trip). Oil paintings seemed to start at €400 across the board. Even a worn stuffed dog I fell in love with was priced at €60 with no room to bargain.

It was a cold, miserable morning, and a good reminder not to fixate on an experience or place, especially if it's inconvenient and out of the way. With multigenerational travel, ease and convenience matter more than crossing romanticized experiences off a bucket list.

We didn't create a meeting plan for when we got separated

At the Louvre, my husband matched his parents' pace while I ran off in pursuit of our toddler.

That meant I saw the Mona Lisa and all the lovely, famous art I'd come to admire at hyper toddler speed.

The Louvre's spotty cell service made it difficult to reconnect with my husband and in-laws. Between their slower pace and my toddler's refusal to stay still, finding each other was an ordeal.

Next time we visit a large museum or go to a big event, I'll designate a meeting spot ahead of time in case anyone gets separated.

We stayed too far outside the city center

Paris has 20 neighborhoods called arrondissements, and we stayed in the twentieth, which put us on the outskirts of the city. That meant we were far from all the activities we wanted to do.

In our defense, it was Christmastime and hotel prices were sky-high. Still, I wish I'd searched harder for a property closer to the center, as everything was always 40 minutes away.

Choosing convenience over being frugal was always the right choice

I'm pretty frugal overall — if it were up to me, we would've taken the metro everywhere in Paris. But every time I pushed for us to use public transportation in this city, it turned into a miserable affair.

For example, by train, it took us nearly three hours to get to Versailles, even though it was supposed to take 90 minutes. The logistics of shuffling our large group from train to train were just too much.

Although rideshares cost more, they saved our sanity. Multigenerational travel comes with hidden costs, and in our case, paying for convenience was almost always money well spent.

This essay is part of The New American Home, a series that examines multigenerational houses.

After 13 years of marriage, I became a single mom of my two young kids. I knew my life was about to change after my divorce in 2024, but I didn't fully grasp how quickly and dramatically it would shift.

Our family home was in East Hampton, New York, but it wasn't technically mine. I had been with my husband since I was 18, after moving from my childhood home in Connecticut to his residence.

The house was a premarital asset. That meant when the marriage ended in 2024, so did my ability to stay. I was immediately faced with the logistical reality of starting over in one of the most expensive clusters of zip codes in the nation.

I had to quickly find a new home for myself and my kids, who are 12 and 8 — fast. It only got more complicated when my parents needed to move in, too.

I started looking for a home with strict financial guardrails

I began searching for a new rental house in 2025 with the help of my business partner, who had experience renting in the Hamptons.

As a newly single parent in my late 30s and business owner in the event planning industry with fluctuating income, I needed clarity around what I could truly afford. I created strict parameters.

I needed at least three bedrooms: one for me, one for my two children, and one flexible room for guests or workspace. I was looking for a maximum monthly payment of $4,500, plus utilities and extras, that I could comfortably carry on my own without stress. I also wanted reasonable square footage and a great location.

I sat with my business partner at a park in East Hampton and started combing through my phone for reliable people who either had or knew someone renting their home in the Hamptons offseason.

By some miracle, I found a friend who was renting their home in the Hamptons and secured a monthly rent within my parameters.

I visited the home that same day, and was sold instantly: kitchen, living room, dining area, three bedrooms, including a gym and sauna.

And, the 2,200 square feet home was within easy walking distance of the village.

My parents moving in temporarily wasn't part of the plan

My car suddenly gave out due to a mechanical failure. It was a total loss. The repair costs didn't make sense relative to the value. Suddenly, I was in a new home without reliable transportation for my kids and me.

I needed help with basic needs like grocery shopping, general errands, and ensuring my children got to and from their after-school activities.

That's when my parents stepped in, sparking the beginning of our multigenerational household — just under three months after I moved in. At 80 and 74, they offered to live with us for long stretches while keeping their home in Connecticut.

The arrangement was originally meant to be temporary. I figured it would be a way to stabilize my new single-mom life while I settle into my new home. And living under one roof with three generations has forced us to reorganize our way of living.

Three generations under one roof means three different ways of living

My parents spend on average 10 days a month living with me.

From the onset, there's been little friction. Luckily, we organically created boundaries as needed. Even in common spaces like the kitchen, pantry, and refrigerator.

My parents have their own section of the home that feels autonomous, including the secondary bedroom and living room. Though the living room is communal, my parents use it most.

The third bedroom is mine and multifunctional. I turned it into a gym and a dedicated workspace. There's also a bed for me to sleep on, but sometimes, I sleep in the living room when my parents aren't using it.

The shared spaces are the kitchen and dining area, which have become our cooperative spaces. Dinners are more lively and fun.

My children have gained more consistent access to my parents, their grandparents. I have regular emotional backup for those difficult conversations and the challenges that arose because of the divorce.

Having my parents around also helps me financially because they help me make smart money decisions, like which car insurance to purchase. They also help out with gas and groceries.

It also reshaped how I think about 'home'

Before my parents moved in with me, home was tied to marriage, to partnership, and to a version of stability that I assumed would last, even perhaps if our marriage did not.

Now, home feels more intentional. Living with my parents during this season of life has shown me that independence does not necessarily mean confinement. Support systems can be strategic. Multigenerational living isn't necessarily a step backward.

Do I see this living arrangement as permanent? No. Will my parents move in with me later in life? Perhaps. That's now part of the long-term conversation, since we've already seen that we can function together — imperfectly, in a loving way.

Divorce forced me into a new chapter, but having my parents around gives my children consistency and my parents a greater sense of purpose. It's also given me the opportunity to regroup and rebuild financially.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Longevity secrets with Bryan Johnson

Thirty seconds into my conversation with Bryan Johnson on Tuesday night, the longevity influencer suggested Business Insider was trying to kill the audience.

We had an open bar in San Francisco's Exploratorium for our first Long Play event, and booze is a big no-no if you want to live forever like him.

"The idea that alcohol is a relaxant that makes your life better is a myth," he said. The much healthier option would have been serving psychedelic mushrooms, he added. Stay tuned for our menu at our next Long Play event in October.

Another way to live longer, Johnson, 48, told the audience, is to have more sex. He has been sharing long, lurid posts on X about his sex life with his girlfriend and cofounder, Kate Tolo, 30 (who sat in the front row), and told me he does this because he's writing "an instructional manual on how to have sex," which he says too many people need today.

San Francisco is known for its celibacy — as founders go "monk mode" and "no dating until Series B" has become a mantra — and Johnson took a moment to compel the audience to put themselves out there more. "What founders don't realize is when you don't take care of your health, you are shitty code," he said.

Our conversation grew more animated from there. I haven't confirmed this, but I'm fairly certain this marked the first time in conference history where defense tech, AI-accelerated income inequality, cervical tenting, and clitoral erections were discussed on the same panel. Watch our entire chat here, and please don't tell Bryan that after our talk, I had a glass of pinot with a very strong pour.

• Nearly two-thirds of US workers have held a retail job at some point in their career.
• That includes several CEOs who started out in hourly positions at the companies they now run.
• Here are the median wages for workers at several top retail companies, listed from lowest to highest.

Roughly one in 10 workers in the US works in retail.

Widen the view to people who have worked in that industry at some point in their careers, and the number rockets up to six in 10, according to a 2019 report by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.

For many, retail is a first job; for others, it's a lifelong career.

Several top retail CEOs started out in hourly positions at the companies they now run.

To get a sense of how much retail workers made in 2025, Business Insider used AlphaSense to search the latest proxy statements for median employee pay data that publicly traded firms are required to disclose to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

That means half of a company's workers earned more than its median employee, and half earned less. The range can vary considerably because many retail companies offer part-time and seasonal work.

For many retail workers, an individual's annual earnings depended on their hourly wage and the number of hours they worked.

The following list includes retailers with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion that have so far filed proxy statements for the 2025 fiscal year, sorted from lowest to highest annual pay.

Ross Stores — $10,059

Ross Stores said more than 85% of its employees work at one of its retail locations, and that the figure fluctuates seasonally.

Last year's median worker was a part-time hourly associate who earned $10,059.

Burlington — $10,827

Burlington said its median worker is a part-time associate at one of its Burlington stores, earning $10,827 last year.

Ulta Beauty — $11,883

Ulta Beauty had 61,223 associates globally last year, including 24 working in Uruguay that were not included in its calculations.

The median worker earned $11,883.

Yum Brands — $15,346

Of the fast food parent company Yum Brands, 49,000 employees, about 28,000 were in the US, and 21,000 were overseas.

The median Yum worker was a part-time Taco Bell worker in the US who earned $15,346 last year.

Yum Brands said four out of five of its restaurant general managers were promoted from other roles within the company. In addition, 90% of the company's workforce is part-time.

Starbucks — $17,279

Starbucks directly employs more workers than most restaurant brands, which typically operate on a franchise model.

Last year, the coffee chain had 367,000 employees across more than 21,000 company-operated stores, nearly half of whom were in locations outside the US.

The median Starbucks worker was a part-time barista in the US who made $17,279 last year.

Dollar General — $18,876

Dollar General considered its 185,811 temporary, part-time, and full-time employees located in the US to identify its median worker, who earned $18,876 last year.

McDonald's — $19,020

McDonald's included all full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers employed at the end of the year to identify its median worker.

Last year's median worker was a restaurant crew employee in Poland who made $19,020.

Tractor Supply Co. — $24,376

Rural retailer Tractor Supply Co. employed 51,460 people last year, with about half working part time. The median worker earned $24,376.

Walmart — $30,520

Walmart is the largest private employer in the US — and the world — with 2.1 million full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary associates worldwide.

The median worker made $30,520 last year.

O'Reilly Auto Parts — $33,054

O'Reilly had considered some 89,339 full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers in the US for its calculation of the median worker, who earned $33,054 last year.

Domino's — $36,776

Domino's had about 9,500 US workers and 9,800 in other countries for a total of nearly 20,000 full-time, part-time, seasonal, or temporary employees.

The pizza chain's median employee was a part-time delivery driver who worked less than 30 hours a week and made $36,776 last year.

Lowe's — $37,371

Lowe's had 266,000 full-time, part-time, or temporary workers, including about 5,200 employees overseas.

The median worker was a full-time hourly associate in the US who made $37,371 last year.

Home Depot — $37,881

Home Depot employed about 472,400 people last year, including nearly 50,000 outside the US.

The median worker was an hourly associate in the US, who made $37,881 last year.

Genuine Parts Company — $38,901

NAPA parent company Genuine Parts Company said its median worker for 2025 was paid $38,901.

Amazon — $40,206

Amazon's median employee across its global workforce of full-time, part-time, and permanent workers earned $40,206 last year.

The e-commerce giant also breaks out figures for its full-time US workforce, of whom the median worker made $53,211 last year, up from $47,990 the year before.

Amazon also said its hourly wage in fulfillment roles works out to more than $30 an hour when healthcare and other benefits are included.

Costco — $49,186

Costco topped the list with a median worker compensation of $49,186 last year.

The wholesale club employs 336,700 people worldwide, of whom about 222,000 are in the US.

The company also said that more than a third of its workforce is part-time, seasonal, or temporary. Its median full-time worker earned $66,262 last year.

• Southwest Airlines' new seating policy for plus-size passengers has sparked debate on social media.
• One flyer's encounter with the policy change highlighted issues for plus-size travelers at airports.
• Southwest's new policy requires plus-size flyers to pay for an extra seat.

Southwest Airlines' new approach to plus-size seating is leading to awkward encounters at the gate — and backlash from some travelers.

Kenny Slack, a 36-year-old hairstylist based in Houston, was traveling home from Kansas City after a work trip in March. He told Business Insider that he travels multiple times a week for his job and hasn't needed an extra seat on a flight since last year. He weighed 420 pounds and has since lost significant weight.

When he arrived at the airport in Kansas City for his Southwest flight, he didn't expect any issues. Then, at the gate, Slack said he was told he'd need to buy an extra seat to board.

"This was all happening with people in line right behind me trying to check their bags," Slack said. "They didn't even have the courtesy to pull me to the side; it was just happening in front of everybody."

Slack said he told the gate agent he didn't need to purchase an extra seat on his Southwest flight to Kansas City. After speaking with multiple agents, Slack said, he was able to board his flight without paying hundreds of dollars for another ticket.

He shared his story on TikTok, and the video has since reached over 2 million views and thousands of comments.

Southwest changed its "customers of size" policy in January, nixing an earlier one that some plus-size travelers who needed extra accommodations hailed among the best in the industry. The airline made the switch as part of a wave of policy changes, including the introduction of assigned seating and checked-bag fees.

The rollout is bringing the challenges of flying as a plus-sized person back into the spotlight.

Several other travelers have posted on TikTok about experiences similar to Slack's on Southwest. One said they were told they'd have to exit the plane if they boarded without paying for an extra seat.

Not everyone is upset. One passenger Business Insider spoke with said that following the new guidelines put her mind at ease when she would otherwise be stressed about flying.

The policy, which the airline said it began communicating to customers about on its website last year, tells passengers who may need an extra seat "to let us know in advance of their day of travel so we can do our best to accommodate their needs," a Southwest spokesperson said.

The airline also said it speaks directly with customers of size in the event that a full flight would result in passengers being rebooked on a later flight. The company did not comment on how it's training its staff on those communications.

The new policy implemented a 'fat tax,' a frequent flyer said

Southwest used to have one of the best policies for plus-size travelers.

Influencer Samyra Miller said Southwest would accommodate her as a customer of size under the previous policy, with an extra seat at no additional cost. Most other airlines required her to pay for an extra seat.

Now, Miller said, Southwest is "basically charging a fat tax."

The change at Southwest stems from the airline's recent move to offer assigned seats.

"With assigned seating, adjacent seats may sometimes already be occupied," the Southwest spokesperson said.

While Southwest doesn't list size requirements for passengers, it lists the dimensions of its seats in its policy. According to the rule, the armrests on the seat are the boundary markers between seats.

"Southwest may determine, in its sole discretion, that an additional seat is necessary for safety purposes," the policy states, adding that the decision is up to employees.

If you don't purchase ahead of time, you'll be required to pay for an extra seat at the fare available on the day of travel. If your flight isn't full, you may be eligible for a refund for the seat you purchased.

Some passengers found comfort in the new rules

Southwest's new rules aren't far off from what other airlines require for plus-size passengers. Many of them list their seat dimensions on their websites and require passengers who don't comfortably fit to purchase an extra seat.

For some travelers, the simple solution is to pay for the additional seat in advance and hope for a refund.

Stephanie Massouda, 33, saw the online conversations about Southwest's new policy and decided to buy her extra seat up front to avoid a public callout during her trip in March. She'd never flown Southwest before the rule changed out of hesitation over the open seating practice.

"It kind of intimidated me," Massouda told Business Insider. "Flying while fat, there's already so many considerations that you have to keep in mind."

With other airlines, Massouda said she keeps an eye on seating arrangements leading up to her trip to ensure there's an open seat next to her on the plane. Her Southwest experience was the first time she'd ever purchased an extra seat.

"I had seen some of the horror stories coming out, and I did not want to be put in that position at all," Massouda said.

Under the new policy, Massouda could guarantee comfort by getting a seat in advance. However, she wasn't sure that she would get her cash back for being on a flight that was 95% full.

Massouda said she was eventually refunded within 30 days after requesting it from Southwest. She avoided an awkward conversation and got her money back.

She told Business Insider that she would fly Southwest again. She said the old open-seating policy felt like a free-for-all "brawl" for seats, which seemed more stressful than other airlines.

"I honestly think that if they hadn't done this policy change, I wouldn't have flown with them," Massouda said.

• Software engineering has transformed in recent months as AI tools have begun taking over coding.
• Developers share their take on what roles and industries are vulnerable to AI disruption and change.
• AI may automate repetitive and administrative jobs, but it also may open new opportunities.

Software engineers have a message for white-collar workers: Get ready.

Since late last year, advances in tools like Claude Code and Codex have transformed how engineers do their jobs. While some are loving the new era of AI embedded in their workflows, others have experienced a sense of identity loss as they adapt to the new reality.

On X last week, Greg Brockman, OpenAI's cofounder and president, wrote that AI has has dramatically sped up software engineering, and it's "on track to bring this same transformation to every other kind of work that people do with a computer."

"More and more, people can turn intent into software, spreadsheets, presentations, workflows, science, and companies," Brockman said.

Business Insider spoke to engineers at the forefront of this transformation about what other white-collar workers can learn from their experience.

Say goodbye to highly specialized roles

AI disruption could be good news for generalists.

Andrew Hsu, cofounder and CTO of AI language-learning startup Speak, told Business Insider that most software startups have traditionally been divided into three functions: engineering, product, and design. While those roles were once clearly defined, the CTO said AI is now blurring the lines between them.

Product managers and designers are now using tools like Claude Code to write code and open pull requests, while engineers are taking on more responsibility across product and design, Hsu said.

Hsu sees that as a microcosm of what will happen to other industries — and he said the type of person that will succeed is someone who can "specialize less."

"Specialization, in many ways, becomes less important with these omniscient models, where you can learn everything very quickly," Hsu said, adding that workers have an opportunity to move "up the ladder of abstraction" and take on more agency in what they do.

Lean into the human part of your job

OpenAI released a report on Thursday that mapped out AI's near-term impact on jobs using a framework across over 900 occupations that cover 99.7% of US employment.

It found that 18% of jobs are at a relatively higher short-term automation risk. It also identified three common traits among jobs with more automation risk: high AI exposure, low need for human involvement, and limited or uncertain demand growth to offset potential job losses.

Software engineer Maahir Sharma predicted a similar pattern based on what he's observed. He said that he could see AI tools like OpenClaw replacing executive assistants by handling scheduling and coordinating with stakeholders.

Feneel Doshi, a software engineer at a startup, said many jobs that involve repetitive computer work, like help desk support, may also be replaced. He recommended those workers lean into AI where they can.

Disruption doesn't always mean fewer jobs

Disruption can be stressful, but it doesn't necessarily mean jobs will disappear.

Though engineering has undergone a rapid shift, with changing skill requirements and less entry-level hiring, demand hasn't dried up so far. Data from tech hiring analytics firm TrueUp shows software engineering job postings are at their highest level in more than three years, with over 67,000 open roles.

Amit Bendov, CEO of Gong, an AI operating system for revenue teams, told Business Insider that the impact of AI depends largely on the level of demand in a given field.

In industries like travel, where demand has remained relatively flat, AI is more likely to replace jobs, he said. He pointed to the steady decline of travel agents over the past few decades.

While AI has taken over many coding tasks in recent months, the technology has also expanded what's possible — ultimately creating more work, not less, he said.

"There's practically infinite demand," Bendov said, adding that AI has opened more "opportunity for people who aren't professional engineers."

Bendov views sales as similar to engineering. If AI can eliminate guesswork and make workers more effective, more companies may be able to afford sales teams — and more people can succeed in those roles.

In that case, "you could have more jobs created," Bendov said.

• "Housewives" star Aisha "Pinky" Cole outlined her income streams during a bankruptcy meeting.
• She said she earns revenue from rental properties, speaking engagements, and the Bravo show.
• The Slutty Vegan founder filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.

"Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Aisha "Pinky" Cole detailed her income streams at a bankruptcy meeting Friday, saying she charges up to $50,000 for speaking engagements — and was "not sure" how much she gets paid for her time on the Bravo reality TV show.

Cole, the founder of the fast-food chain Slutty Vegan, testified under oath during a creditors meeting in her personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that she earns income from several rental properties, a "mentorship group" that she runs, and speaking gigs.

She told a federal bankruptcy trustee that the speaking work — for which she said she charges between $25,000 and $50,000 — has "been a bit slow." Her last engagement was at a conference in January for $50,000, she said.

Cole said revenue from her speaking engagements goes through an LLC called Pinky Cole Enterprises and then into another entity from which she takes home roughly 75% after expenses.

"But not recently, though, because Pinky Cole Enterprises has had some debt on it because we took a loan and we've been paying that back," the 38-year-old entrepreneur said.

Cole, who wore a black Slutty Vegan T-shirt to the meeting, told the trustee that she started a mentorship group in December and has been making about $800 a week from that.

"It's just me giving them advice, business advice," she said of the program. "It serves as, like, an accountability group for entrepreneurs."

At one point, the trustee asked Cole whether she earns any income from "Real Housewives of Atlanta," which she recently joined for its 17th season that premiered earlier this month.

Cole confirmed she receives a "lump sum" for her time on the TV show, but said she didn't know the amount offhand. The trustee then asked her to provide a copy of her July 2025 contract related to the show, which Cole agreed to do.

In February, Cole filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Georgia federal court, seeking to reorganize her debts under court supervision.

Her bankruptcy petition said that she owes $1.2 million to the US Small Business Administration for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, plus $192,000 in state taxes to the Georgia Department of Revenue.

Cole told the trustee at a previous creditors' meeting last month that "business debt" drove her to bankruptcy.

She revealed during Friday's creditors meeting that she was about two months behind on mortgage payments on her $1.5 million Georgia home when she filed for bankruptcy.

Cole described the home where she said she lives with her husband, their children, her mother, and her husband's grandmother as in "immaculate condition" and something she would "like to keep."

Cole's bankruptcy attorney, Jamie Christy, told the trustee on Friday that the goal is to get her client's finances "in order."

"Really, what this is, is that, unfortunately, it's just like the ghost of failed business past following her," Christy said, adding that they're trying to "rewrite the ship" for both Slutty Vegan and Cole, "and get this under control and get everything discharged."

Christy told Business Insider after the meeting that Cole "is looking forward to reorganizing and having a plan confirmed."

Slutty Vegan, once reportedly worth $100 million at its peak, has faced financial difficulties in recent years. Several outposts remain in operation.

Have you filed for bankruptcy? Are you considering it? Fill out our survey:

• Andrew Left goes to trial on charges of securities fraud next month.
• The famed short-seller told Business Insider he wants to testify but no decision has been made.
• Prosecutors allege he manipulated the market to make a quick buck.

Andrew Left didn't hesitate when asked if he wants to take the stand at his upcoming trial on securities fraud charges.

"Of course," he answered.

Left, the high-profile short-seller and founder of Citron Research, is weeks away from going on trial for allegedly manipulating the prices of stocks, including Tesla, Nvidia, and Meta Platforms. He denies the charges, but said that the experience hasn't shaken his faith in the system he's up against.

"I'm not going to trial because I think I'm going to lose," he told Business Insider in a recent interview. "Because at the end of the day, I believe in justice, I believe in the system."

Whether Left will testify is an open question. He said he will defer to the advice of his legal team, and defense lawyers are often reluctant to have a client take the stand and face cross-examination.

'To say you're not nervous would be hubris'

Left, 55, who lives in Florida, said he found out he was under investigation in January 2021, when FBI agents visited his home. Lately, he's been working closely with his legal team as it prepares for the May trial in federal court in Los Angeles and doing his own research. In December, he revealed to Business Insider how he had been using Anthropic's Claude chatbot to prepare his defense.

Although he's confident he will prevail, Left said he's grown more anxious as his day in court nears.

"I'm very nervous," he said. "The trial is a trial. To say you're not nervous would be hubris."

A 25-year market veteran, Left rose to fame by correctly calling several notorious stock market frauds, the most famous of which was Valeant Pharmaceuticals. He made headlines and drew backlash for his bet against GameStop in 2021 when retail traders were pushing it higher during the height of the meme-stock craze.

He was indicted in July 2024, charged with manipulating the price of over 20 stocks. He is accused of providing false and misleading information, including tweeting bullish commentary that pushed prices up and selling shortly after. The feds also allege that he maintained relationships with hedge funds and concealed them in order to appear independent.

"As alleged, Left knowingly exploited his ability to move stock prices by targeting stocks popular with retail investors and posting recommendations on social media to manipulate the market and make fast, easy money," the Justice Department said in a statement announcing his indictment.

"While Left made false representations to the public to bolster his credibility, behind the scenes, Left allegedly took contrary trading positions to reap quick profits off the stocks he either promoted or pilloried through Citron."

A representative for the US Attorney's office for the Central District of California declined to comment on the case.

Left faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges. He said his primary emotion as he prepares to fight for his freedom isn't anxiety; it's frustration. In a world where financial scams feel increasingly common, he said, he feels he's being prosecuted for simply trading stocks and sharing opinions on a few high-interest companies.

"I can't look at my phone without some kind of nonsense and craziness with somebody trying to scam left and right," he said. "I'm thinking, 'Wow, they're going after me for saying, buy Nvidia and Tesla and Facebook and stay away from shorting some frauds.'"

Throughout his career as a short-seller, Left has used X (then Twitter) to share opinions about the stock market. Left said he never believed any of his actions were illegal. He contends it's common for short-sellers to post about their bearish bets on social media.

"I've never had a lawyer tell me 'What you're doing is wrong,'" he said. "Everyone does it. It's not like I'm doing something that's so out of the ordinary. To be charged with this, it's bewildering to me."

This isn't Left's first encounter with federal agencies. He recalls a previous IRS audit, which he described as a "relatively pleasant process" in comparison to what he faces now. The stock manipulation charges, he said, feel very different.

"I always figured when you dealt with the government that they just wanted the truth," Left said. "This was not a situation, in my opinion, where they wanted the truth. This is more like, 'We're going to get this guy.'"

Left said he thinks the government chose to charge him because he is high-profile in the industry. The Justice Department press release on his indictment noted that he had been a frequent guest on cable channels, including CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg Television.

In the run-up to the trial, Left said, he's felt a lot of support from his family and friends. "My friends know I'm not a shady character," he told Business Insider. "[They] have stood by me, and my wife is the absolute best."

He is worried that the jurors chosen for his case may not be well-versed in stock trading or understand the nuances of the allegations. He said he hopes they'll be able to look past Wall Street stereotypes.

"I just hope we get a jury with open minds," Left said. "I don't know what to expect. To be honest, I would love to say I have an expectation. I don't since I'm new to this. I've never been indicted before."

Left told Business Insider he doesn't know exactly what he would say in the event he does take the stand, but he knows what he wants jurors to take away from the trial.

"I never lied about a company," he said. "There is no law about how I can trade, and there's no victims."

• Coachella attracts a stampede of creators and brands.
• It's become a major networking event, and the connections can be more valuable than the paydays.
• "It's called the 'Influencer Olympics' for a reason," one talent manager said.

Naomi Genota spent well over a thousand dollars to get to her first-ever Coachella.

Flight: $350. General admission tickets (with a California resident discount): $649. Shuttle bus to the grounds: $150. Hotel: Credit card points. Trendy outfits (mostly thrifted): under $100.

"I was originally only going with my friends and family for this," Genota, a content creator with 41,000 Instagram followers, told Business Insider.

As the dates quickly approached, Genota was able to tack on Coachella content to a longer-term brand partnership, which will help cover the costs.

"It's now a business trip," she said. "It's not the lavish, elaborate Coachella collab people envision, but I'm proud of it."

Glamorous villas, free clothes, and makeovers: Influencers make Coachella seem like a dream.

It's not always a mega payday, though.

Like Genota, many creators pay their own way to get to the festival. Some score free tickets or accommodations from brands. And a few get paid four or five-figure fees on top of other freebies, four talent managers told Business Insider.

Even if the money isn't game-changing for the average working influencer, it's worth it for creators to mingle in the California desert while the biggest music stars perform and Hollywood elite breathe the same hot air. Creators are often willing to accept lower fees than they normally charge, or no fee at all, if brands can open up access to one of the most important events of the year.

"It's a huge networking event," said Emily Brown, an associate director of strategy at influencer marketing firm Billion Dollar Boy. "That value exchange is a big one."

Coachella, founded in the late 90s as a grassroots music festival, has been taken over by brands and influencers over the last decade. It's the ultimate product placement opportunity. Companies like Starbucks, Poppi, and Medicube now set up luxurious villas to house influencers such as Victoria Paris and Jake Shane.

For influencer marketing, Coachella has become so important that some brands are including it in annual contracts, requiring creators to attend.

"It's called the 'Influencer Olympics' for a reason," talent manager Estella Struck said.

What influencers get paid at Coachella

Sam Saideman, who runs the talent management firm Innovo, has five clients going to Coachella this year — all of whom received benefits from brands in some form.

Across those five creators, they'd received 39 event invites, 23 gifting packages from brands, 19 deals to promote songs, and seven on-site collaborations at the festival. Saideman said his firm started pitching brands back in January for content in exchange for festival wristbands, and spent the rest of the weeks leading up to the festival pitching record labels and other brands on paid collaborations.

For instance, Jillian Webber, a content creator with over 4 million TikTok followers, repped by Saideman, collaborated with brands like SeatGeek and Revolve, which hosts its own "Revolve Festival" event.

The deals creators get for Coachella range widely, according to the managers Business Insider spoke with. Many come with the expectation that you post a few times about the brand on your TikTok or Instagram accounts.

Here's a general breakdown of what brands are offering creators this year:

• Gifts! Gifts! More gifts! Coachella is a freebie wonderland for creators, who often receive gifted outfits from brands trying to get their clothes tagged on Instagram posts. In addition to clothing, influencers are sometimes given merchandise or access to experiences, such as a hair makeover. (For some creators, gifts are all you get, and you're lucky if you get gifted a ticket to the festival.)
• Complementary tickets. Some brands will pay for VIP tickets or offer the more coveted artist passes, which unlock behind-the-scenes access and golf cart transportation typically reserved for performers or festival insiders.
• Free travel and luxury accommodations. Hotels and Airbnbs near Coachella charge thousands a night during festival weekends, so getting an invite to stay at a brand villa for free is a big perk for creators.
• Flat fees to top it all off. Some influencers with larger audiences get paid a fee, typically ranging from $1,000 to mid-five figures, on top of a ticket (sometimes VIP) with the expectation that they'll make a few social posts promoting a brand, two managers said. Fees tend to be less of a focus than housing and priority access tickets, however. Some creators end up getting paid for Coachella promotions as part of a longer-term brand partnership set up earlier in the year.

While a few thousand bucks (or free accommodations) may not seem like much to influencers used to getting six-figure brand deals, when it comes to Coachella, access can matter more than anything else.

"Going to Coachella can be really strategic," said JT Barnett, who works with creators and brands and grew up around Coachella. "You're in arguably the most condensed environment of people that do social media as a career in the world."

Why brands are spending big on Coachella

Brands flock to Coachella like 20-somethings trying to get a front-stage view for Katseye.

The event can be a prime opportunity to promote a new product, like Alix Earle's Reale Actives, or rekindle interest in a brand that's been out of the limelight for a while.

"Coachella has become a launchpad for so much," Brown said. "It does really come back to the in-real-life experience of it all, because I think that that's what people gravitate towards."

It's not only fashion and beauty brands tapping into the Coachella influencer craze.

Alaska Airlines signed on as Coachella's official airline, while Method became its official body wash, shampoo, and conditioner sponsor. The vodka brand Svedka rolled out a limited-edition flip phone for the event, while Barbie built a Coachella dream house.

The return on investment is real for brands whose activations go viral on social.

In the first weekend of this year's Coachella, Hailey Bieber's Rhode Skin and clothing brand Revolve each earned around $5 million in estimated earned media value from hundreds of creator posts, according to data from the influencer-marketing platform CreatorIQ. Other brands like e.l.f. Cosmetics, Medicube, and 818 Tequila each pulled in between $2 and $2.5 million in estimated earned media value.

It's not all business at the end of the day, though.

"The creators are also still trying to enjoy the festival," Saideman said.

• Stocks have climbed back to all-time highs in a rapid relief rally following the Iran war ceasefire.
• Ryan Detrick, Carson Group's chief market strategist, shared his investing thesis amid the big swings.
• De-escalation and earnings are the "one-two punch" the market needs to fuel the rally.

"The bears fumbled the ball," Ryan Detrick, Carson Group's chief market strategist, told Business Insider, as stocks traded at record highs this week.

Now, he said, the bulls are back in control.

Risk-on is back on Wall Street, with stocks erasing losses and climbing to back to all-time highs. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite hit fresh records after Iran announced the Strait of Hormuz was "completely open" to commercial shipping, addressing a major worry still hanging over markets.

Stock volatility has been a staple of 2026, largely fueled by the conflict in the Middle East.

Yet, Detrick has maintained a firmly bullish stance throughout the war. While others on the Street were issuing bearish warnings, Carson Group never abandoned its overweight rating on equities during the conflict.

The strategist shared the investing framework that informed his bullish view through the volatility: It's all relative.

"One thing we like to say at Carson is it's not about good or bad, it's about better or worse," Detrick said. "The stock market has an amazing ability to kind of adapt to whatever situation it's in," the strategist said, nodding to the market's only roughly 8% drawdown from prewar levels at March end lows.

On the relatively small pullback in stocks given the severity of the geopolitical instability, he said, "It was like the market's way of saying, potentially, things in the Middle East aren't going to totally, totally spiral out of control."

Detrick expects the bull run to gain steam as earnings season kicks off in earnest, saying that he expects strong results to be part of the "one-two punch," along with Iran de-escalation, that sends markets higher.

"We do think that this bull market is not over yet, and we think it's going to be justified again this earnings season," he said. "It's a global bull market, and I don't want to fight that."