Every year, millions of Muslims take part in observing Ramadan: a spiritual month dedicated to cleansing the soul and spirit, hallmarked by the practice of fasting. This means that for 30 days, from sunrise to sunset, practitioners abstain from eating food and drinking water, only breaking their fast once the sun disappears in their respective geolocationa time that shifts up or down depending on the season.
Yep, not even water.
As someone who observes Ramadan, every year I am both amused and baffled by the awkwardness that surrounds the month in the workplace. Inquiries about what fasting entails are far and few, whether out of fear of disrespect, uncertainty, or just plain avoidance.
This means not being able to understand the physical and mental tolls that your fellow colleagues who are fasting might be experiencing.
@byefarzy Its inevitable ima forget happens every year #fyp #ramadan #muslim original sound – Farzy
So, for the uninitiated, here are a few things about Ramadan that businesses can learn, as well as how they can support those observing, especially in these last few days.
Lets start from the beginning
Ramadan is a holy month in the Islamic calendar. The ninth month in the lunar cycle, it revolves around fasting, spirituality, prayers, giving to charityall part of the five pillars of Islam. After 30 days of fasting, the month culminates in a celebrationa holiday called Eid-al-Fitr that is so filled with food and sweets, one would think youre making up for lost time!
In a 2024 Mojo Supermarket report, the agency comments on how in spite of over 4 million practicing Muslims in America, the absence of Ramadan brand marketing is astonishing. In fact, Party City was the first mainstream party supply store to carry Ramadan decoronly seven years ago! You can imagine the utter disappointment folks felt upon learning that the store was going out of business.
How could the United States, the Mecca (no pun intended) of capitalism, have missed the mark so badly? Weve got dollars burning in our pockets, begging to be spent. Throw us a bone herea paper lantern or plastic mugs shoddily printed with Ramadan Mubarak will suffice.
How to make your work environment Ramadan-friendly
Because your fasting colleagues are waking up an hour before sunrise for suhoor the period of time to eat and drink for the dayit often leads to a disruption in sleep cycles. Apart from general knowledge, the awareness that aspects of fasting can impact cognitive abilitiesfatigue, dehydration, inability focuscan enable teammates to cultivate a working environment that sets up them up to do their best work.
Where possible, try to avoid scheduling late-afternoon meetings, a period in which low energy is often most visible. If youre a manager, allowing your direct reports to rearrange working hourssuch as starting the day earlier, or ending early and resuming after breaking fastis an excellent way to accommodate colleagues whose brains may be sluggish by late day, as well as giving them time to prepare for Iftar (time time to break fast.)
If there is space in the office, curating an area for prayers, which usually take only minutes, is another thoughtful way to acknowledge the month. If your office is remote or hybrid, consider extending additional remote days for fasting colleagues.
How some companies are recognizing Ramadan this year
Some organizations are doing the most when it comes to inventing creative ways to honor their fasting colleagues and commemorate the montha particularly meaningful feat given the state of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the United States right now.
Shaina Zafar, director, Next Gen at UTA, says the company has made a concerted effort to increase awareness around not only what Ramadan means symbolically and spiritually but also centered it around an ethos of community-building and cultural collaboration across interfaith communities.
“Ramadan is a time for meaningful reflection and recentering for the billions of Muslims who observe,” says Zafar. “We see a fundamental re-imagination of our entire routines for these 30 days, and considering the impact this has on Muslims in the workplaceas they sometimes break their fast during work hoursit requires companies to intentionally engage with tangible resources and thoughtful support for employees observing Ramadan.”
UTA hosted its second company Iftar in New York this year, according to Zafar, in addition to creating a Ramadan workplace inclusion guide. It also hosted a conversation on Muslim representation in the media, followed by Iftar in its Los Angeles office.
At marketing company HubSpot, a challenge called Can you Last a Ramadan Fast was presented to employees.
Its great to see HubSpot colleagues embracing cultural understanding through the global Ramadan fasting challenge,” says Naimun Siraj, a senior software engineer at HubSpot. “This gives an opportunity for employees to gain insight into an important part of Islam, and fosters genuine empathy and builds community through shared experience.”
At Duolingo, Aliza Haider, director, immigration and global mobility, says the language-learning company is committed to nurturing an inclusive and supportive environment for “Duos” during Ramadan.
We begin with reminders and best practices for our role managers, such as avoiding team lunches or food-related events during fasting periods,” says Haider. “This strategy promotes flexible working hours and cultivates a considerate physical environment. Our Workplace Team further supports our Duos by providing convenient meal boxes for pre-fast and post-fast times, allowing them to observe their traditions with ease and comfort.
A recent group chat between high-ranking Trump officials may not exactly have been secure, but its place in internet culture certainly is.
The fiasco known as Signalgate introduced what may already be the most infamous group chat in American history, inspiring a flood of memes across all social media realms and unveiling a string of patriotic emoji that now holds a permanent smirking perch in the public lexicon.
According to an eye-popping story from The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, an account attributed to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz invited Goldberg to join a chat called “Houthi PC small group” on encrypted messaging app Signal earlier this month. There, boldfaced names including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance discussed plans to bomb Houthis in Yemen. Although dubious at first, Goldberg realized the chat was authentic when those plans were later confirmed by reality.
After Goldberg published his scorching account of Signalgate on Monday, the internet erupted in speculation. Ironically, group chats across the country were likely consumed with it. The National Security Council quickly confirmed that the messages seemed authentic. Their statement to the press included a meager defense of those involved: “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials.
Of course, many social media dwellers thought the thread demonstrated something else: elite memeability.
@bmotheprince The USA National Security Group Chat original sound – Brian Moller | B Mo the Prince
Me in the security chat quickly emerged on X and Bluesky, alternately to describe how one might look while reading texts about bombing plans, or how out-of-place one might feel being awkwardly included in such texts.
Some memes focused on other unexpected parties being added to the Houthi PC small group and which further unexpected secrets might be revealed there, while others centered around not being invited to that chat or not being able to leave it.
pic.twitter.com/8izx8RWivq— Pekka Kallioniemi (@P_Kallioniemi) March 25, 2025
There have been reenactments, historical and otherwise. The Daily Shows version, which they rolled out on Instagram, even cross-pollinated the group chat format with another recent political memethe weird JD Vance photoshops.
Beyond a vast assortment of joke formats, though, something else evolved out of Signalgate: the most surreal, extremely online usage of emoji ever captured in a national security setting.
Goldbergs article came with the closest thing to receipts the journalist could produce without further jeopardizing national securityselected screenshots. In one of them, Waltz is revealed celebrating the successful bombing campaign with the following emoji: a punching fist, an American flag, and a classic flame. (The trio of symbols does not yet have a collective name, but for the duration of this article, I will refer to it as Team America, a nod to the South Park creators 2004 satire of macho jingoism, best known for the earworm America, F*ck Yeah!)
Within hours of Goldbergs bombshell dropping, use of the Team America emoji fanned out across X, Bluesky, Reddit, Tiktok, and Instagram.
I told an intern his work was good and he just replied ???— PE Croissants (@sscoutcap) March 25, 2025
Some used it to mock the ice-cold detachment required for using triumphant emoji to mark the macabre occasion of a strike that killed at least 53 people. Others jumped right into ironically embracing Team America in faux displays of patriotic fervor. Taylor Swift fans deployed it the way Swifties do pretty much everything: with the inclusion of Taylor Swift lyrics.
One popular use for Team America emoji that quickly emerged on Monday was in calling out the group chats hypocrisy. As CNN has documented extensively, several of the people involvedincluding Hegseth, Waltz, and Secrtary of State Marco Rubiopreviously called for Hillary Clinton to receive criminal charges over her much-litigated alleged security lapses. (Clinton herself reacted to the news by tweeting: You have got to be kidding me.)
Several X users took to quote-tweeting old Waltz tweets on related topics with the Team America emoji configuration. Even the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee got into the action, along with Gen Z congressperson Maxwell Alejandro Frost. Tweeting apparently wasnt enough for Florida rep Jared Moskowitz, who held up a Team America emoji sign at a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Tuesday morning.
While memes about the security group chat are currently in abundance, both in volume and breadth, the Team America emoji seems headed for a much longer shelf life. Its the textual equivalent of a semi-ironic high-five, with undertones of mischievous mockery. Based on the amount of mileage its already gotten in just one day, it seems poised to break meme containment and become a go-to affirmative response in random text messages and a staple of Jumbotrons everywhere. In fact, the only thing that might stop its spread is if MAGA world reclaims it as a symbol of pride and starts putting it on hats, which is what will probably happen.
Just a short drive outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, the quaint city of Kannapolis is seeing a rapid economic revival. The city, which was traditionally known for its textile mills, has recently transformed into a research hub in the for Southeast.
And right in Kannapoliss city center, less than a ten minute walk from the Georgian-style city hall, sits Atrium Health Ballpark: the home of the Minor League Baseball team known as the Cannon Ballers.
Over the last five years, the Cannon Ballers have played an increasingly vital role in Kannapolis’s revitalization. Throughout the course of a season, the teams total attendance is around 200,000 peoplea number much larger than Kannapoliss official population of 60,000.
[Photo: Krista Jasso]
Its a beautiful ballpark, and the community and small businesses love it, says Trevor Wilt, whos in charge of entertainment fan engagement for the Cannon Ballers. He adds that since there arent many large companies in Kannapolis, small mom-and-pops shops rely on baseball games to bring people downtown. It helps out the economic development around the entire downtown Kannapolis. Businesses are now thriving, and they cant wait for baseball season because they get more customers.
[Photo: courtesy Kannapolis Cannon Ballers]
A large factor of the Cannon Ballerss growing brand is their mascot: a mustachioed daredevil with a baseball head and a devilish grin. His name is Boomer, and he was chosen by thousands of voting fans in 2019 as part of a large revamp of the teams identity. In appearance, he resembles Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR legend and hometown hero for the small North Carolina town.
Compared to the buttoned-up branding of most Major League Baseball teams, Boomer might seem a little odd. But in baseballs minor leagues, there are 119 other teams just like the Cannon Ballers. Team owners have the flexibility to be more creative with just about every aspect of their team: the name, the mascot, stadium traditions, and even the rules of the game. Mascots range from a bucktoothed lug nut in Lansing, Michigan to a smirking trio of nuts in Modesto, California.
A recent spurt in creative freedom has ushered in an era of fun and surging sales in Minor League Baseball (MiLB). Last year, MiLB games around the country saw more 30 million fans in attendance; the highest number since COVID. This year, industry experts expect even more.
Whats the MiLB?
With teams stationed in small towns and cities, the minor leagues develop young prospects with the goal of them eventually playing for one of 30 MLB teams.
Each MLB team has four MiLB-affiliate teams: players just starting out begin at the Single-A level, then they can move on to High-A, then Double-A. Finally, they can reach Triple-A, where they play at the highest minor league level before hopefully being called up to the major leagues, where their baseball skills will be broadcasted to millions of viewers across the country.
The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers are the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, which means the players on the team are currently at the lowest minor league level. Those players will work to one day reach the MLB for the White Sox (or potentially get traded to another team along the way).
Oftentimes, MiLB teams are the only professional sports team that operates in a community. The Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes and Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats are the only professional sports clubs that exist in the states of New Mexico and New Hampshire, respectively. MiLB games cater to families looking for a fun day or night out, and owners lean into the casual nature of the league.
We’re affordable and we’re accessible, says Peter Freund, the CEO and cofounder of Diamond Baseball Holdings, a group that currently owns over a third of MiLB-affiliate teams. Minor League Baseball is a night out that is really affordable, can feel really good, and can feel really local. I think that were a really critical piece for every city that we operate in.
Minor League Baseball also acts as an incubator and testing lab for the MLB, says Freund. The pitch clock, which debuted in the MLB for the 2023 season, was first introduced in MiLB games seven years earlier.
Freund adds that baseball park staples like bobblehead giveaways once started as an idea from minor league teams. Minor League Baseball owners historically have just been able to try things without controversy, he says. What works well trickles up, and its been really cool to see that happen.
For the 120 teams across the country, the freedom to experiment means the freedom to create. That creativity and excitement is the fun of Minor League Baseball, Freund says. And it pays.
[Photo: Christian Crocker/Spartanburgers]
Mascots and Merch
Because the average player moves throug all MiLB levels typically over the course of three to six years, teams cant build brands and sell tickets based on star power. Instead, they play into their home citys history and come up with hyper-local identities. The resulting team brands are nothing short of full-on wacky.
In Alabama, the Montgomery Biscuitss team identity reflects the delicacy of a fluffy traditional southern biscuit. Rome, Georgia, hosts a MiLB team called the Rome Emperors, which is represented by an Emperor Penguin mascot wearing a traditional roman toga and laurel wreath.
The name Cannon Ballers pays homage to Kannapoliss history of being home to Cannon Mills, the onetime largest towel manufacturer in the world. Wilt says that the old souls of the town appreciate the reference to Kannapoliss history; oftentimes game attendees will come up to him and tell him of their familys history with the town and Cannon Mills.
[Photo: courtesy Spartanburgers]
In South Carolina, the Hub City Spartanburgers are similarly drawing on its citys history to debut a fan-friendly brand. This team is a rebranding of North Carolinas Down East Wood Ducks, which was bought by Diamond Baseball Holdings in 2023. The Ducks moved locations to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the team became the Spartanburgers just in time to begin operations for the 2025 season.
The story of the Spartanburger name is simple enough, according to the teams General Manager, Tyson Jeffers, who hopes this MiLB team will put his city on the map.
Someone from Texas says, Im a Texan. Someone from New York says, Im a New Yorker. And people from Spartanburg call themselves a Spartanburger, Jeffers says. Its truly a community name. But weve put a very minor league spin on it by introducing and leaning into the hamburger.
Yes, the hamburger.
To go alongside the Spartanburger name, the team will flaunt a bat-wielding, conductors hat-wearing hamburger mascot named Chuck. Chucks signature pose is running, tongue out, as if hes deep in concentration (or just really hungry).
The striped conductors hat is a nod to Spartanburgs history as the transportation hub of the Southeasttrain lines would flow into Spartanburg and then disperse, says Jeffers. This piece of city history is also where the Hub City in the team name Hub City Spartanburgers comes from.
And even though the Spartanburgers have yet to play a single game, that lip-licking burger is already bringing in cash. Jeffers says that the Spartanburgers have shipped merchandise to all 50 states and internationally to countries including Canada, Germany, and Spain. He adds that he sees people come to the Spartanburg ballpark every day just to buy merchandise.
The Spartanburgerss merchandise ranges from hamburger t-shirts and cooking aprons to more traditional-looking baseball jerseys with only text and no mascot. Jeffers says that he wants to have fun while respecting the fact that not everyone wants to walk around wearing a giant hamburger.
We’re really conscious in the development of our brand to make sure that we hit as many people as we could, while still having a lot of fun, Jeffers says. The merchandise has been really well received.
Back in Kannapolis, Wilt says that the Cannon Ballerss fun, history-oriented brand similarly has led to soaring merchandise and ticket sales. The Cannon Ballers became the Cannon Ballers in 2019, rebranding from the Intimidators. The Intimidators were bottom of the totem pole for both merchandise and ticket sales, Wilt says. But after adopting the playful Cannon Ballers identity, Wilt says the team has been in the top 20 among all MiLB teams in merchandise sales for five years straight.
[Photo: Krista Jasso]
Be Prepared
On April 15, when the Spartanburgers take their home field for the first time, the team will be bringing a new tradition with them: Theyll hand out wooden train whistles to attending fans in hopes that the stadium will squeal to life whenever something good happens.
The Spartanburgers are the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Jeffers says that the Rangerss front office is just as excited for this new tradition as the team in Spartanburg is, because the noise will prepare these young players for one day focusing in larger, louder stadiums.
The Major Leagues see that these distractions that minor league teams are doing are helping to develop and benefit their players, Jeffers says. If you’re the away team in a facility like Yankee Stadium, imagine the things that the crowd is saying to you. Huge distraction. So for you to be prepared for that as a player can be really beneficial.
[Photo: courtesy Kannapolis Cannon Ballers]
The train whistles are one chapter in a long history of wacky traditions among MiLB teams. The Montgomery Biscuits shoot real biscuits into their crowds. Wilt of the Cannon Ballers has a tradition of going on the field every game and wearing a gold sequined bow tie. These games become intimate experiences, unique to each city a team operates in.
Going to minor league games has become a pstime for families who either dont have access or the resources to get to a Major League Baseball gamewhich of course includes the newest, younger generation of baseball fans.
One extra bonus for the players involved: They get to interact with and build the next generation of baseball fans. Jeffers says that unlike MLB teams, most minor league teams allow opportunities for young fans to interact face-to-face with players for an extended period of time.
The kids get that opportunity to say hello to a player that they hope is going to be a superstar one day. And that’s a really special moment for that kid, Jeffers says. It’s also a special moment for that player: To recognize that this kid looks at them as this superstar already, even though theyre just at the beginning of the path to that.
Tamra Hensen has lived in Point Roberts, Washington, for 25 years, and for the majority of that time, she says it has been a wonderful place to live. At just 5 square miles and surrounded by water on three sides, Point Roberts offers easy access to beaches and hiking, and a small-town, relaxing-getaway feel. Its beautiful, she says.
But the past two months have turned the once-bustling exclave into a ghost town. On its fourth side is the Canadian border; Point Roberts sits on the bottom of a Canadian peninsula, completely separated from the mainland U.S. Its entirely dependent on Canada for electricity, drinking water, tourism, and its overall economy, residents saybut since Point Roberts sits below the 49th parallel, the boundary line between Canada and the western U.S., it’s part of the states.
Canadians have long flocked there to buy American goods, pick up packages, or vacation in beachside cottagesbut President Donald Trumps tariff war with Canada, as well as his incendiary comments about making the northern neighbor the 51st state, have upended that harmony. If U.S. relations with Canada continue to deteriorate, and Canadians continue to boycott American products and abstain from trips across the border, Point Roberts residents and business owners fear the worst: the death of their small, idyllic town.
Point Roberts, Washington [Photo: Josef Hanus/Shutterstock]
‘This one could be a knockout’
Point Roberts businesses have already taken a hit since Trumps second term began. Hensen runs two of the towns three restaurants, the Saltwater Cafe and The Pier. Its spring break right now for Canadians, and I usually have a line out the door, she says. And I dont. She has run the café for nine years, and estimates the Saltwaters business is down 55% compared to what it usually is this time of year.
Ali Hayton lives across the water in mainland Washington state, but she has owned the International Marketplace, Point Robertss only grocery store, since 1998. The store is 40,000 square feeta necessary size, she says, to accommodate the usual spring and summer tourism rush, which can mean 8,000 to 10,000 customers a week. (Only about 1,100 people live on Point Roberts year around.) But by mid-March, the usual start of Canadian spring break, her business was down more than 30%. She has already shifted from two deliveries a week to restock her shelves to one. To get to her store, U.S. trucks must drive through two border crossings. (Driving from the northernmost part of mainland Washington state to Point Roberts takes about 40 minutes; though there was once ferry service offered during COVID-19 lockdowns, currently there is no such option.)
The drastic drop recalls the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when rules shutting international borders took away 80% of her customers overnight. All of Point Roberts suffered during lockdown; multiple restaurants and other businesses closed and the ones left standing never fully bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. Its like a one-two punch, Hayton says. We got back up after one but we were stumbling around. This one could be a knockout.
Already, one business said it has to shut down because of the Trump administration’s actions. Point to Point Parcel, a packaging and shipping service, sent an email to customers this week, saying it would close permanently. Due to all of the government decisions and tariffs, we have been forced to close our doors on April 19, 2025, the email read. [P]lease know this wasnt a decision made lightly and this past month has been a greater struggle than all of Covid!
The view from Lily Point, Point Roberts, Washington, looking across Boundary Bay with Vancouver, Burnaby, and the North Shore mountains in the distance [Photo: GarySandyWales/Getty Images]
Point Roberts has long benefited Canadians, too
Parcel services are one of the businesses that, before Trump, thrived on Point Robertss unique geography. As an American exclave attached to Canada, Point Roberts doesnt only benefit from Canadians visiting for its beaches or views; it also benefits those Canadians. They can buy American foods at Haytons supermarketThey love American dairy, like cheese and Tillamook ice cream, she saysand they can have items from the U.S. shipped to Point Roberts parcel services to avoid higher fees for shipping into Canada.
Canadians have also benefited from lower real estate prices. Residents estimate about 70% to 75% of the homes on Point Roberts are owned by Canadians who use them for vacations. It was beachfront property for a third of what you could get in Canada, Hayton says. Zillow, for example, shows a Point Roberts three-bedroom home available for $700,000, but across the border, there’s almost nothing below $2 million.
Now, those benefits are dwindling. In response to the Trump tariffs, Canada announced 25% tariffs on certain goods from the U.S. For Haytons customers, that means after they buy $100 worth of groceries, they get to the border crossing and are told to pay another $25. So they come back to the store and return all their groceries, she says. Would you want to pay 25% on your grocery bill every month? Along with groceries and medicines, Neil King, who runs a gift shop called Koras Corner, says there have even been reports of people stopped at the border and “facing tariffs on items like half-eaten burritos.
The geographic oddities that once made Point Roberts so special are now hurting locals. Were the most unique spot in North America. Were the uniquest of the unique, says Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident and a former presdent of the local Chamber of Commerce. Yet neither border agents or politicians give us a unique solution, he adds. (The Point to Point Parcel Post is owned by his niece, Beth Calder, who was born on Point Roberts.)
An Uncertain Future
Both Henson and Hayton note the stress they feel, as business owners, to support other members of their community; they each have employees counting on them for their paychecks. Calder, meanwhile, is the chair of the local Dollars for Scholars program, a nonprofit that raises scholarship funds for students so they can get an education.
The majority of Point Roberts residents are seniorsit has a median age of 55.7 years oldbut there are still a handful of kids and young adults. To Calder, that scholarship program is one of the only chances young residents have to make something of themselves away from the peninsula, especially as Point Roberts now faces extreme uncertainty. Otherwise theyll be working at a parcel post or gas station the rest of their lives, because thats all weve got left, he says.
Calder has taken up the rallying cry of Point Roberts amid President Trumps comments. Hes written letters to the British Columbia provincial premier and to Washington state legislators. He has tracked the decline in border crossings from Canada into the U.S. He has spoken to the media, and been a figure of support for locals like Hansen. He has really been my savior in all of this, she says, because hes getting the word out to the Canadians not to forget about us.
‘We have absolutely been abandoned’
That idea of being forgottenor deserted, especially by U.S. lawmakers.resonates with most Point Roberts residents and business owners. We absolutely have been abandoned, Calder says. And theres no thought to how to solve it, insulate us, mitigate it. If relations with Canada worsen, Calder fears the country will retaliate by cutting off water and electricity to Point Roberts. If they close that down as a reaction, as this momentum builds and this anger festers, then literally we’re in the dark and we’re thirsty, he says.
Point Roberts also isnt totally alone. Though its in an especially unique situation, its struggles highlight issues every border town is facingand reveal the importance of maintaining alliances with neighbors like Canada. Allies and neighbors are essential for economic stability and community well-being, King says. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, nations thrive through cooperation and mutual support. Our longstanding positive relationship with Canada has been beneficial, and preserving it is crucial for both sides of the border.
Point Roberts residents and business owners do understand why Canadians would boycott the U.S. or avoid trips across the border; they dont fault them. It’s not their job to fix our problem, because we are an American town, Hayton says. It is our administrationthey have taken away my ability to survive as an employer. Calder notes that its thanks to the goodwill and generosity of Canadians over the years that Point Roberts has survived so far.
And some Canadians have still been trying to support Point Roberts, even amid the tensions. Hensen says she has had some Canadian customers come to her café to support her, which has given me hope. King says Canadians express apologies and sympathies but are hesitant to visit. Many are concerned because the Trump administration has begun detaining some European travelers; a Canadian entrepreneur even said she was arrested by ICE while trying to obtain a new visa.
Its the unknownsof how things may worsen, what Trump will do next, and how Canadians will respondthat make things so difficult for Point Roberts. Its hard to believe its only been two months [since the Trump administration began] because of the impact its had . . . There are no winners, Calder says. God forbid another two months.
After artificial intelligence made waves in content creation across Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and digital advertising (such as Puma’s recent AI-powered campaign), the technology is now stepping into the world of animation. Traditionally a craft requiring meticulous storytelling, careful planning, frame-by-frame adjustments, and long rendering times, animation is now being streamlined by AIdramatically reducing production time and costs.
Vidu AI, a generative video platform developed by Chinese AI firm ShengShu Technology, recently announced a partnership with Los Angeles-based animation studio Aura Productions to produce a fully AI-generated sci-fi anime series. This ambitious project will be released as a 50-episode short-form series on major social media platforms in 2025. The first trailer is expected to debut globally in the coming days. In an industry where traditional animation can take monthsor even yearsto complete, this development could be transformative.
AI is not a constraint on creativity but an enabler of new creative possibilities, Evan Liao, head of Vidu at ShengShu, tells Fast Company. Rather than homogenizing storytelling, we believe AI empowers creators to experiment with unique narratives and push the boundaries of imagination.
Liao explained that the decision to launch the series on social media rather than traditional networks reflects shifting consumption habits. Unlike conventional TV, which adheres to rigid programming schedules, social media offers on-demand access and global reach. “Social media has already transformed the way audiences engage with content, and AI-generated anime is a perfect fit for this shift,” he says.
Founded by actress and producer Luo Yan, Aura Productions has a portfolio spanning animation, comics, and short dramas, with a strong emphasis on using AI to streamline workflows and enhance creativity. Luo, known for her role in the 2001 film Pavilion of Womenwhich she also produced and co-wrotehas built a long-standing career in film. She later appeared in Marco Polo (2007), directed by Kevin Connor. The studios creative director, D.T. Carpenter, is a showrunner and director with a proven track record of integrating AI into media. He has helped develop AI-driven ads and campaigns for major brands such as AWS, Mastercard, MrBeast, KPMG, and SharkNinja.
At the heart of the collaboration is ShengShus advanced AI video model, Vidu 2.0. It uses Multiple-Entity Consistency to integrate characters, objects, and environments into cohesive, high-quality animations. Capable of generating videos in under 10 seconds, Vidu has already made its Hollywood debutcreating a Chinese trailer for Venom: The Last Dance in 2024 and demonstrating its potential to scale promotional content creation.
ShengShu has positioned Vidu as a direct competitor to OpenAIs Sora. On January 5, 2025, OpenAI disclosed rising operational costs and the potential for price increases on tools like Sora. In contrast, ShengShu touts Vidu 2.0s real-time video creation at a fraction of the cost$0.0375 per second. Additionally, its One-Click Templates allow users to generate detailed character actions and dynamic scenes without crafting complex text prompts.
We pioneered the world’s first U-ViT architecture, exploring the fusion of Diffusion Models and Transformer structures to support a wide range of multimodal generation tasks. This breakthrough enables AI to generate high-quality content more efficiently while maintaining consistency in complex scenes, explained Liao. With Vidu, a single creator can accomplish what once required an entire team, making production more efficient and accessible.
Will AI Replace Animation Jobs in the U.S.?
While some celebrate AI-powered animation as a leap forward, others express concern over its impact on traditional artists and animators. A 2024 report by CVL Economics and The Animation Guild projected that generative AI could affect 21.4% of jobs in film, television, and animation by 2026roughly 118,500 positions that may be consolidated, replaced, or eliminated. California, home to the largest concentration of industry professionals, is expected to bear the brunt, with New York also at risk over the next three years.
Hand-drawn and CGI animation require years of artistic expertise, and while AI-generated visuals are impressive, they may lack the emotional nuance and expressive depth that human artists provide. Audiences often resonate with storytelling that reflects authentic human experience. While AI can deliver striking imagery, can it truly capture the heart and soul of anime? Liao believes it canwith the right storytellers behind it. He added that beyond visuals, AI can also aid in scriptwriting and narrative development.
We aim to provide a flexible creative space where storytellers from diverse backgrounds can more easily bring their visions to life without industry gatekeeping. Our AI model is not designed to replace traditional animation production but to expand possibilities for creators, he emphasized.
If the AI-generated anime series from Vidu and Aura Productions proves successful, it could reshape the entertainment industrysetting new benchmarks for rapid content production, AI-assisted storytelling, and cost-effective workflows. Whether this signals the dawn of a new creative era or a passing tech trend will depend on audience reception, industry adoption, and the lasting appeal of AI-generated content.
Many animation studios and independent artists are already using our AI as a creative tool to improve visual quality and accelerate production, rather than relying solely on AI-generated content, Liao tells Fast Company. By combining AI with human creativity, the anime industry can embrace more diverse forms of storytelling.
A little past 4 a.m. on June 21, 2019, workers at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery in Philadelphia noticed a leak from a corroded pipe, and were immediately on high alert. The leak had originated in Unit 433, known among workers as the bogeyman because it contained the highly explosive chemical hydrofluoric acid, or HF. When released in large quantities, the chemical can form a dense, toxic vapor cloud that hugs the ground and can travel many miles. Contact with this cloud can be deadly; if it ignites, it could cause a massive explosion.
Sure enough, a vapor cloud materialized and ignited, causing three large explosions and a massive fire that sent smoke pouring into the sky. Pieces of equipment the size of cars flew through the air, miraculously landing in the Schuylkill River without hitting any homes. The force of the explosions threw workers back, injuring five, but ultimately did not cause any fatalities. Workers remembering the incident years later agreed that it could have been much worse.
You figure you aint going home, one former worker told Grist of the moment he saw the fire in Unit 433. You figure this is it.
Shortly after the incident, the company filed for bankruptcy and shut down, leaving around 1,000 workers jobless and without severance pay.
Refineries that use HF are regulated under the Environmental Protection Agencys Risk Management Program, or RMP, a regulation designed to improve chemical accident prevention at large petrochemical facilities. But for reasons that have little to do with knowhow and capacity, RMP regulations have been glaringly ineffective. Indeed, few regulations have been subject to the yo-yo of successive presidential administrations, and their political whims, like the RMP.
The RMP program was established in 1990 following a series of infamous chemical disasters in the 1980s, most notably the chemical leak at Union Carbides plant in Bhopal, India, which poisoned roughly 500,000 people, around 20,000 of whom died in the hours and years afterward due to health complications from the exposure. Another leak at a Union Carbide facility in West Virginia the following year caused eye, throat, and lung irritation for at least 135 residents.
The first iteration of the rule came into effect in 1994, during the Clinton administration, but lacked several important protections such as independent auditing for regulated facilities, public information provisions, and the requirement that companies complete a safer technology and alternatives analysis to determine whether there are any safer ways to conduct their operation. A series of chemical disasters in 2013including a massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in west Texas that killed 15 people and damaged 350 homesbrought these deficiencies to the attention of regulators.
In January 2017, the EPA under President Barack Obama finalized amendments to the Accidental Release Prevention Requirements of the RMP, which included measures to enhance emergency preparedness requirements and ensure that local emergency response officials and residents had access to information to better prepare for potential chemical disasters. But the provisions never went into full effect: In May 2018, during Donald Trumps first term in office, the EPA proposed amendments to remove third-party audits and incident investigations, among other protections. The Trump rule was finalized in December of 2019six months before the explosion at the Pennsylvania refinery.
When Joe Biden took office in 2021, the EPA began working on a new set of amendments for the RMP rule. Unions like U.S. Steelworkers and advocates at organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists pushed for better public disclosure provisions, the inclusion of more types of facilities in the safer technologies alternatives assessment requirements, and the freedom for workers to stop work that they deem unsafe.
Many communities that are vulnerable to chemical accidents are in overburdened and underserved areas of the country, said former EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement announcing the final rule last March. It was slated to go into effect in 2027.
In the past few years, several chemical disasters have disrupted life in the countrys industrial corridors. In August 2023, a large fire at Marathon Petroleums refinery in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, in August 2023 burned for seven hours, causing residents to flee for safety. But in the days following the incident, neither the company nor state and federal environmental regulators responded to locals questions about what chemicals the air was being tested for. And in 2024, a hydrogen sulfide leak at Pemexs refinery in Deer Park, Texas, killed two contract workers and injured 35 others.
In January, a group of industry trade associations sent Lee Zeldin a letter congratulating him on his appointment to the position of EPA administrator and asking him to take swift action against the misguided and illegal new requirements of Bidens RMP rule. In their letter, the trade groups argued that the new rule represents an overextension of the EPAs authority and fails to provide a durable solution to facility safety, though they did not explain how the rule falls short in this regard. They singled out an interactive map that the agency published last year separate from the rulemaking process showing where RMP facilities are located around the country, along with other basic public information such as compliance history and the types of chemicals stored onsite.
In a statement announcing the EPAs decision to revisit the RMP rule earlier this month, Zeldin seemed to buy industrys argument.
The Biden EPAs costly Risk Management Plan rule ignored recommendations from national security experts on how their rule makes chemical and other sensitive facilities in America more vulnerable to attack, Zeldin said. The press release also notes that Bidens RMP rule makes domestic oil refineries and chemical facilities less competitive.
It took years to come to the rule that was finalized last year, said Darya Minovi, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. To see that rolled back simply because of a letter sent by industry trade associations is really frustrating and shows what little regard this administration has for communities they say they care about.
Minovi told Grist that the rhetoric about national security is overblown. The public data tool does not contain sensitive information, she said, and when the Department of Homeland Security reviewed the rule last year, they flagged no concerns with the public information disclosure requirements.
Were not happy about it, the U.S. Steelworkers representative told Grist about the Trump administrations reconsideration of the RMP rule. As for Zeldins concerns about making domestic oil and gas companies competitive, I think that putting workers and communities at greater risk of catastrophic injuries is not good for the economy.
This article originally appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for its newsletter here.
We’re excited to announce the judges of the 2025 Innovation by Design Awards. Innovation by Design honors the best projects and ideas across the design spectrum, as represented by our stellar group of jurors, who come from some of the worlds most exciting design-led companies. You can read more about their expertise and backgrounds below.
And remember to apply for the Innovation by Design Awards by April 11.
Carly Ayres, Program Lead, Airborne
Carly Ayres is a writer using language to engage people in new and interesting ways. Currently, she does that as a writer and editor on Figmas Story Studio. Before that, she did it on Google’s Material Design team (material.io) and UX Community & Culture team where she told stories about the people, product, and practice of UX (design.google).
She previously co-founded HAWRAF (hawraf.com), a design and development studio, which had a hell of a run from 2016 to 2019. In 2016, she started 100s Under 100, a vibrant community of hundreds of creative people under a hundred years of age. It’s now led and maintained by a wonderful group of community-nominated admins.
As a freelancer, she worked humanizing artificial intelligence and evolving the Google logo. She’s given voices to Fortune 500 companies and chatbots alike, and has written for Communication Arts, Wallpaper*, and Core77. FastCompany named her one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. She speaks at conferences on how to build a value-driven practice and making design like a conversation.
Yves Béhar, Principal Designer, Fusedesign
Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Yves Béhar is the principal designer of Fuseproject, which he founded after being the design leader at the Silicon Valley offices of frog design and Lunar Design, where he worked on product identities for clients such as Apple and Hewlett-Packard. He was awarded the National Design Award for industrial design by the CooperHewitt, National Design Museum.
Fuseproject is known for its work in the fashion, furniture, technology, robotics, and beauty industries. He is a declared sustainability advocate, designing products focused on being commercially viable but that contribute to social good, working organizations like the One Laptop Per Child initiative, Herman Miller, Puma, General Electric, and Samsung.
Some of his notable projects include the Jawbone UP wristband, the OLPC XO laptop, the AI-powered industrial robot Maximo, or the SPRING Accelerator program, which supports businesses impacting adolescent girls in poverty.
Cheryl Durst, CEO of IIDA
An exceptional communicator, innovator, and visionary leader, Cheryl S. Durst has spurred progress, driven change, and encouraged the expansion of the interior design industry. As the Executive Vice President and CEO of the International Interior Design Association, Cheryl is committed to achieving broad recognition for the value of design and its significant role in society.
With 15,000 members across 58 countries, Cheryl oversees the strategic direction of IIDA, setting an agenda that leads the industry in creating community, advancing advocacy and continuing decades of work toward equity. Cheryl is a member of the International WELL Building Institute Governance Council; as well as a Trustee for Chicagos Museum of Contemporary Art and the NYSID. She has been referred to by Interior Design magazine as an ambassador for innovation and expansion, and a visionary strategist. Cheryl was inducted into the prestigious Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2016 as the recipient of its first-ever Leadership Award. She is the first African American woman to be inducted into the industrys Hall of Fame.
A lifelong knowledge enthusiast and voracious reader who has considered librarian, astronaut and journalist as potential careers, Cheryl never walks away from meeting someone without gleaning a bit of their story a talent she currently employs on her monthly podcast, The Skill Set, which focuses on the intangible skills that make us good at what we do.
Sagi Haviv, Partner at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv
Sagi Haviv is a partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, the firm responsible for many of the most famous logos of all time, including National Geographic, Chase Bank, NBC, Conservation International, State Farm, Mobil Oil, Showtime Networks, NYU, Animal Planet, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, and most recently the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum and Warner Bros. The firm designed the identities for both the U.S. Bicentennial (1976) and the just-released 250th anniversary of the United States (2026). Sagi joined the firm in 2003 after graduating from The Cooper Union School of Art. A go-to expert on the process of effective logo design, Sagi has contributed to the New York Times, Bloomberg, Fast Company, Creative Review, Its Nice That, Design Week, designboom, PBS, NBCs Meet The Press, and SkillShare. He speaks about logo design around the world, including for TEDx, AIGA, HOW Design Conference, Brand New Conference, Princeton University, Onassis Foundation, American Advertising Federation, and Columbia Business School, amongst many others. He teaches Visual Identity Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Sagi is coauthor of Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar (Print Publishers, 2011) and Identity: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (Standards Manual, May, 2018).
Benjamin Hubert, Founder and creative director, Layer
Benjamin Hubert is an award-winning British design entrepreneur, and founder of creative agency, LAYER. LAYER is focused on experience-driven design for both the physical and digital worlds. Led by Benjamin and a growing creative team, the studio partners with forward-thinking brands including Nike, Google, Bang & Olufsen, Samsung, and Braun to create products that will help define the way we live, work and communicate in the future, from AI to smart wearables and furniture systems, to the next generation of media devices and mobile communication tools.
Mark Kawano, Chief Design Officer at Zoom
Mark leads a global team of designers, writers, and researchers responsible for designing the AI-first work platform for human connection. Mark is a Silicon Valley veteran with 25 years of experience designing software and leading design teams at Apple, Adobe, Square, Slack, and Zendesk. He holds over a dozen design patents from his work on novel user interface patterns and modern communication tools. Mark is passionate about crafting experiences that not only delight people but also empower them to be more creative.
Ryan McClelland, Research Engineer, NASA Goddard Space Center
Obsessed with futurism and technology since childhood, Ryan McClelland always aspired to play some part in making the future brighter. This is what led him from being a windsurf instructor to getting an engineering degree and working in companies like Black & Decker and Dewalt until he landed at NASA, where he now spearheads generative AI crafting evolved structures with the aid of programs like Autodesks Fusion 360 software.
His alien-looking 3D printed spaceship parts save weight and offer enhanced strengthtwo critical factors for NASA missions. They have already made their way into upcoming projects like the Excite balloon-borne telescope, Mars Sample Return, and the Dragonfly mission to Saturns moon Titan.
Ermi van Oers
Ermi van Oers, born in 1991, is a pioneering Dutch bio-tech designer and founder of Nova Innova. Graduating cum laude in Product Design from Willem de Kooning Academy in 2016, she discovered her passion for Biodesign, blending nature, science and design to create sustainable innovations. Her visionary work has already earned her 14 awards, cementing her reputation as a leader in ustainable design.
One of her most recent projects is POND: an installation powered by Microbial Fuel Cell technology that visualizes water health. Another notable innovation, Living Light Park, introduced the worlds first park lights powered by plant photosynthesis. Ermi’s mission is to restore the symbiosis between humans and nature, inspiring a deeper appreciation for the intelligence of Mother Nature.
Marti Romances Creative Director and co-founder of Territory Studio
Marti was born and educated in Barcelona. After spending eight years in London honing his craft and exploring diverse creative disciplines, he brought his expertise to California, where he continues to push the boundaries of motion design and storytelling.
A motion graphic designer and multimedia artist by trade, Marti articulates stories in the most captivating ways, blending creativity with technology to realize innovative future-facing experiences. His technical virtuosity is on display in fantasy, futuristic, and commercial projects, visual and experiential narratives that define the future of film, gaming, and real world brands.
Exemplary work on Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, The Martian, Avengers franchise, alongside gaming projects for EA Sports, 2K Games, Activision, and Microsoft, has drawn the attention of global brands such as Nike, GM, Porsche, Mercedes, Meta, Warner Bros., Netflix, LIV Golf, and Microsofteager to leverage his design expertise in pioneering real-world technologies.
“Thanks to the diversity of industries we collaborate withwhether films, games, brands, or real-world productsour studio maintains a broader perspective, he says. Each project allows us to draw from a deep well of cross-industry experience, enriching our ability to craft innovative solutions that seamlessly merge storytelling, design, and technology.”
Lisa Smith, Executive Creative Director, Global at Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR)
Lisa has a career spanning over two decades, where she has become renowned for her
transformative work with some of the world’s most cherished brands. As Executive Creative Director, Global at JKR, her strategic vision has played a pivotal role in the global rebrand efforts for clients such as Burger King, Impossible Foods, Nordstrom Rack, Mozilla, and Manischewitz. Prior to JKR, Lisa was ECD of Chobani where she was responsible for putting creativity at the heart of the company, overseeing a rebrand that transformed the business, expanding its product offering and increasing customer loyalty, directly translating to top-line growth. Lisa was also Head of Design at Wolff Olins NY, focused on creating ground-breaking and commercially successful work for USA Today, The Met and Zocdoc.
Lisa’s creative excellence was recognized in 2021 when Fast Company named her as one of the Most Creative People, saluting her contributions behind ‘the biggest redesigns of the decade’. Lisa has also picked up notable accolades throughout her career including Fast Companys Rebrand of the Year and a Gold Cannes Lion for Burger King, a Brand Impact Award in Culture for The Met, a Cannes Lions Silver and a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award for the rebrand of USA Today.
Tracey Arcabasso Smith, US Head of Design, Creative Fellow, Deloitte Digital
As US Head of Design of Deloitte Digital, Traceys multi-disciplined expertise focuses on the intersection of intentional design and impactful storytelling as a catalyst for organizational growth. Tracey is recognized as AdWeeks Future-is-Female award-winner for being an outstanding leader demonstrating organizational change and commitment to impact.
For decades, Tracey has launched global brand campaigns, digital products, activations, experiences, content, and films for some of the biggest brands in the world through a human-centered lens. Throughout her career, Tracey has worked with clients such as American Express, Verizon, Netflix, SodaStream, Mastercard, Nikon, Nestle Waters and many more, across all industries and sectors. Her creative work has been honored around the globe by The One Show, Cannes Lions, Clios, Emmy Awards, Webbys, Effies and more.
Tracey is also director and producer of RELATIVE, an award-winning feature documentary that breaks the silence on multigenerational abuse in her Italian-American family. Winning Best Feature Documentary at Nashville Film Festival, RELATIVE is Paste Magazines Top 20 Documentary of the Year and is currently streaming on multiple platforms across the US.
Jeff Staple, Founder at Staple
Jeff Staple (born Jeffrey Ng) is a creative visionary whose design work encompasses graphic, fashion, footwear, and lifestyle. He is the founder of pioneering NY-based streetwear brand STAPLE, and the founder and president of creative and marketing agency Reed Art Department. In 2022, Jeff celebrated the 25th anniversary of STAPLE with the publication of his eponymous Rizzoli book titled Jeff Staple: Not Just Sneakers.
From a humble start bootlegging custom t-shirts, Jeff has built an entrepreneurial empire that spans fashion, media, entertainment, and technology. He is a testament to the winning ethos of vision, hustle, and humility.
Amy Williams, CEO at Citizens of Humanity
Amy Williams is the Chief Executive Officer at Citizens of Humanity Group headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Williams joined Citizens of Humanity as the companys President in 2009 and ultimately assumed the Chief Executive Officer position in 2015. In her role, Williams oversees all aspects of the business for the companys family of brands including Citizens of Humanity, AGOLDE and GOLDSIGN. With the retail climate changing and preferences shifting, Williams continues to stay on top of how to remain relevant across the board – from product to sustainability to retail. Shes always believed in offering a transparent look into the brand identity, including the companys most recent regenerative agriculture efforts which play a huge role into what Citizens stands for as a company. Williams previous experience includes Executive Vice President at Lucky Brand Jeans and Senior Vice President of Product Development and Design for Gap Inc. Williams serves on the board at Girls Inc of Greater Los Angeles, empowerHER and is an advisor to BAWSI (Bay Area Womens Sports Initiative).
Lisa Williams, CEO at Eileen Fisher
Williams has been leading the New York-based womens apparel brand since September 2022. Before this role, she served as head of product and operations at Patagonia, overseeing product innovation, creation, development, production, distribution and impact. During her 20-year career at Patagonia, Williams progressively expanded her responsibilities, beginning with line management and business unit oversight, and later incorporating design and innovation into her portfolio.
Prior to joining Patagonia, Williams spent over seven years at the Walt Disney Company in various product and merchandising roles, developed retail concepts and product for Caesars, Inc. in the gaming and hospitality industry, and worked as a buyer for May Department Stores.
Williams earned a bachelors degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and grew up in a small town in the Eastern Sierra mountains, where she cultivated a deep love and respect for the natural world.
Social media creator Kat Abughazaleh, 26, is running to represent the 9th District of Illinois in Congress against an incumbent whos held the seat since 1998. She announced the news on TikTok.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dismantling our country piece by piece, and so many Democrats seem content to just sit back and let them. So I say its time to drop the excuses and grow a f*cking spine, Abughazaleh says in the opening to her TikTok announcement, published on the platform on Monday.
After stating her intention to run for a House seat against the 80-year-old Democratic incumbent, Representative Jan Schakowsky, Abughazaleh adds, Unfortunately, this party has become one where you have to look to the exceptions for real leadership, as the majority work from an outdated playbook. We need a makeover.
@katmabu oh hey Im back #fyp #foryoupage #news #politics #america #trump #elonmusk #tesla #doge #democrats #democrat #woketok #janschakowsky #chicago #chicagotiktok #evanston #illinois #domore original sound – Kat Abughazaleh
Abughazaleh may have just announced her run for Congress, but her strategy already provides some insight into how shes planning to upend that outdated playbook (and how future new legislators might do the same): by meeting younger voters where they areliterally, on TikTokand embracing a direct-yet-casual tone in her branding that feels natural to a digitally native generation.
Meeting young voters where they are
On TikTok, Abughazaleh has become known by more than 225,000 followers for her liberal political commentary, giving viewers frank, easy-to-understand analyses of policy and cultural trends, like an eight-part series on the rise of white Christian nationalism. Outside of social media, shes worked as an independent journalist for the left-leaning watchdog nonprofit Media Matters for America, monitoring conservative content and analyzing emerging trends. Now shes using her experience as a communicator to craft a campaign designed to capture young voters attention.
Abughazaleh has already perfected the short-form TikTok format, and her announcement video makes it clear that she plans to use that skill to her advantage. Instead of being a production-heavy or highly edited announcement, Abughazalehs video is just her, in her home, casually speaking into a microphone with captionsa standard TikTok format she also uses for her political commentary.
Within the video itself, shes clear about how she wants her campaign to differ from the norm: Were focused on meeting constituent needs with one simple rule: What if we didnt suck? she says. My campaign and I would rather spend our money on book drives and clothing exchanges and public events than fancy fundraisers for rich donors. I also want my campaign to be as transparent as possible. Thats why Ill be posting regular videos about the costs and steps of running for office.
As a Gen Z candidate already using social media to build a career, Abughazaleh is in a unique position to appeal to young voters on TikTok without seeming disingenuous. According to a tweet from Abughazaleh, her announcementwhich garnered more than 230,000 views on TikTok and another 37,000 on Xhas helped her campaign raise more than $200,000 in its first 24 hours.
[Screenshot: katforillinois.com]
An internet-savvy tone
From her announcement video alone (and her motto, What if we didnt suck?) its obvious that Abughazaleh is using language and tone as another lever to connect with Gen Z. Her mix of candid honesty, exasperation, and a touch of humor feels like a refreshing reflection of how Gen Zers actually talk to each other on the internet.
Abughazalehs tone is even more distinct on her new campaign website. In her bio, she highlights that she doesnt have health insurance, and her net worth is pretty much just the laptop I bought with my entire severance when I got laid off. One page lays out her core principles, including a section on basic existence, which decries the current rising cost of living while Elon Musk hides away in his own personal compound.
[Screenshot: katforillinois.com]
The site also includes a timeline highlighting that Abughazaleh was born after Schakowsky first took office, captioned, Sorry for the history lesson but like I said, we have a representation problem; a list of anti-endorsements dedicated to calling out figures like Musk and Tucker Carlson, who have previously taken issue with her work; and a mission statement that starts, I’m running for Congress because the same old shit isn’t working.
In short, Abughazalehs copy style communicates that shes a regular, in-touch, working-class citizen of the U.S., and its meant to distinguish her from the reputation of elitism and inaction that has plagued many established Democratic politicians. In an interview published in Rolling Stone, Abughazaleh is clear about her intentions to run her campaign without catering to corporations, scraping for donations from wealthy donors, or making concessions to the MAGA crowd.
We are in an emergency, Abughazaleh told the publication. Right now, the answer to authoritarianism isnt to be quiet. Its not matching pink outfits at a state address. Its not throwing trans people under the bus. Its not refusing to look at the party at all and see where it could be better. The answer is to very publicly, very loudly, very boldly stand up.
Its a message that simultaneously calls out the Democratic Partys current ineffectiveness while asking constituents not to give in to apathyand it might be whats needed to actually invigorate young voters to get involved in politics.
Altadena Girls began as a pop-up shop immediately after the Eaton Fire tore through Los Angeles, born out of a desire to help affected teenage girls regain a sense of their identity.
The mission was simple yet profound: offer a space where they could rebuild what had been lostclothing, makeup, and other items that help define who they are. The impact was significant as it reached more than 42 million people on social media in the first few weeks while receiving support from high-level brands and celebrities.
Now, Altadena Girls is planning to open a community center dedicated to empowering young girls, helping them through trauma, and providing long-term support.
[Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images]
In the Beginning
Avery Colvert, 14, started Altadena Girls as a way to help her friends who had lost everything in the fires. Shelters and donation spaces had necessities like food, water, and blankets, so Colvert, who lives in Pasadena, decided to take a different approach to help those who needed more than just the bare essentials.
I wanted to specifically focus on teenage girls, because when you’re a teenager and you’re still growing up and getting to know yourself, things like your clothes and your makeup and how you do your hair, it’s a piece of your identity,” Colvert says. And they lost that in the fire, so I wanted to provide a space where they could get those items back.
Avery Colvert [Photo: Dunja Dumanski/courtesy Altadena Girls]
The Eaton Fire, which started on January 7, claimed 17 lives as powerful winds propelled the flames across the region, giving residents little time to gather belongings before evacuating. The fire devastated the Altadena community in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and scorching 14,021 acres. The road to recovery will be long and costly, with rebuilding expenses potentially costing hundreds of billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about the long-term health impacts of prolonged exposure to hazardous air quality, and the emotional toll on the region is profound. Thousands have been displaced, including longtime residents and entertainment industry veterans like Mandy Moore and Richard Cabral.
Colvert first spread the word about what she wanted to do through an Instagram page she created on January 11 for Altadena Girls. Her stepfather, Matt Chait, who has a background in branding and graphic design, quickly put together a logo. They hadnt planned to start accepting donations until the following day, but the page gained traction almost immediately. Before they knew it, trucks loaded with supplies were arriving at the studio space in Boyle Heights where Colvert had set up shop. Clothing, shoes, beauty products, personal items, feminine hygiene products, and hair care filled up the space, as volunteers showed up without being askedready to help.
An army of volunteers showed up from 10 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m., helped us open and close and reorganize, Colvert says. The people were able to sort clothes and make it look nice and beautiful [so that] it’s a fun experience. It’s about the memory that is left after shopping.
[Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images]
The community impact was highly emotional, especially in the first few days, as families were coming to the pop-up wearing the clothes they evacuated in, says Chait, who cofounded Altadena Girls with Colvert and her mother, Lauren Sandidge. As time went on, he noticed a shift in terms of what people were looking for, and how they acted when coming in.
There wasnt so much of a desperation as much as a hope and a lot of interest in whats next, Chait says. They were happy to come in and get the things they needed, but also see this beautiful space and wonder, Where else is it going from here?
Sandidge says it quickly became clear that what they were doing went far beyond physical items. “I think what resonated with us, just overall, is that this was about mental health.
Help From Celebrities
As Altadena Girls grew, it began attracting attention from prominent figures in Los Angeles. Celebrities including Paris Hilton, Kerry Washington, Gwyneth Paltrow, Max Greenfield, Tess Sanchez, Karla Welch, Mindy Kaling, and Jennifer Siebel Newsom played a role in amplifying the nonprofits mission. Meghan Markle and the Archewell Foundation were also instrumental in the organization’s success. Markle donated her own clothes and spent time carrying bags of supplies out to peoples cars, while the Archewell Foundation helped Altadena Girls secure the lease on its new building.
They’re just so kind, and they have such a huge platform. It’s really cool seeing someone with that many fans and followers share something like this, says Colvert./p>
In late January, Green Days Billie Joe Armstrong played a Los Angeles concert with his side project the Coverups at L.A.s Troubadour, with proceeds going to a number of relief organizations, Altadena Girls being one of them. Brands like Skims, Orebella, Huda Beauty, Rare Beauty, and R.e.m. Beauty also donated clothes and makeup to Altadena Girls.
[Photo: courtesy Altadena Girls]
Working as a Family
This entire experience has brought Colvert’s family closer than ever. Since her school, Eliot Arts Magnet Academy, burned down in the fires, she has been attending remotelygiving the family more time together than they’ve had since the COVID-19 lockdowns. But this time, rather than feeling trapped and helpless, they’re all working to make Altadena Girls a permanent fixture.
For Avery to be exposed to how much work goes into something like this, both on the floor, but also the meetings and negotiations and contracts, Im glad she gets to see how much work there is, Chait says.
For Sandidge and Chait, it has been both eye-opening and rewarding to navigate this journey as life partners and now business partners. Seeing their daughter through others eyes has been especially meaningful.
To see strengths that are not always recognized in a traditional school setting, to see people validate [Avery] and tell her, You are amazing, being a leader is good has been meaningful, Sandidge says, noting theyve been equally grateful to have all of these really strong, powerful women volunteers show up.
[Photo: courtesy Altadena Girls]
At first, people were eager to send checks and cash donations to support Altadena Girls, but without the proper infrastructure in place, it wasnt in a position to accept funds. Within days, it secured a fiscal sponsorship through the Edward Charles Foundation. With support from the Archewell Foundation, Altadena Girls set up a pledge link account, ensuring that every donation was properly documented as soon as it started accepting monetary funds.
We didnt want to get any dollars to ourselves personally at all, so it wasnt until everything was locked and ready [that we started accepting monetary donations]. Now that is the best way for people to support us, Chait says.
[Photo: courtesy Altadena Girls]
Future Plans
After addressing the immediate needs of the community, Colvert and her parents quickly realized they were ready to expand into something bigger.
Two weeks later, when the headlines go away, there are long-term impacts that are mental and emotional and sometimes even financial,” says Chait. “I already started to see some of the other pop-ups around town closing their doors and moving on to the next thing.”
With a vision for long-term impact, their realtor found them an empty location that used to be a bank in Old Town Pasadena, with enough space to have therapy rooms, music studios, and even a dance studio in the basement.
[Photo: courtesy Altadena Girls]
Im very excited about this because were going to offer dance, yoga, and movement. Were going to offer mental health resources. Were going to offer music practice areas, music lessons, Colvert says, noting that she was inspired to expand the offerings after the destruction of her own school meant that students no longer had access to dance, theater, or film classes. We have a big multipurpose space where lots of people want to give training and lectures and teach anything from cooking to hair to taxes.
Colvert is passionate about providing resources that arent typically taught in schools. While creativity will be a big part of the space, there will also be classes focused on business and entrepreneurship. Personally . . . sometimes in school, I didnt feel as empowered. I felt brought down in certain areas,” she says. “And I want to just uplift girls.”
Though the 12,000-square-foot space currently looks drab and gray, Colvert has big plans to transform it. With Pinterest boards, collages, and a wealth of ideas, she envisions a vibrant, welcoming spacepink and full of creativitythat will be perfect for the girls. As they work to transform the space, funding will be essential to making it happen.
Weve got the product, weve got the partnerships, we also have a very big monthly bill when it comes to rent and utilities and even food for the volunteers and trash hauling, and all sorts of stuff. Right now, financial donations are what will allow us to move forward in the future, Chait says.
The location is also ideal. On a busy, well-lit corner near a police station and high-end restaurants, the space is easily accessible by public transportation, and girls can be dropped off safely. This central location played a significant role in the decision to move forward. Altadena Girls expects to open its doors in late March or early April.
“It’s going to feel special, feel clean, safe . . . like something different, Sandidge says. And hopefully we can send the message to all of these girls that they have worth and they deserve to have a nice, beautiful space.
The companies racing to own the AI future have built their technologies and businesses by carefully keeping track of you and your data. But they would prefer you didn’t keep track of them and specifically the ways in which they’ve been adjusting their voluntary ethical and privacy commitmentssome of the few safeguards meant to keep that AI future safe.
As the Trump administration actively dismantles safety guardrails to promote “American dominance” in AI and companies disband their safety teams, it’s fallen to a tiny nonprofit with limited resources to track how these trillion-dollar companies are adjusting their policies and honoring their own ethical commitments.
Tyler Johnston and his group, the Midas Project, have become the digital world’s equivalent of a one-person fire department, trying to monitor a forest of potential blazes. Launched in mid-2024, the nonprofit’s “AI Safety Watchtower” project now tracks 16 companiesincluding OpenAI, Google, and Anthropicto monitor hundreds of policy documents and web pages for changes.
“If every AI company had a change log, this work would be unnecessary, says Johnston. That would be the ultimate transparency. Instead, it’s up to nonprofits and journalists to monitor this, and nobody’s well-equipped enough to catch all of it.”
Johnstons concerns about abandoned safety commitments come as the Trump administration actively dismantles AI safety guardrails. On his second day in office this term, Trump signed an executive order revoking Biden’s 2023 AI safety order, replacing it with one focused on “American dominance” in AI. In March, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued new directives to scientists at the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute that eliminated mentions of “AI safety, responsible AI,” and “AI fairness.”
While various states have taken steps to pass AI regulation and bills have been proposed on Capitol Hill, there are as yet no federal rules specifically governing the use of the technology. In recent weeks, Trumps Office of Science and Technology Policy solicited public comments from companies, academics, and others for a forthcoming “AI action plan”; Silicon Valley, not surprisingly, has urged a light regulatory touch.
Johnston came to AI ethics from animal welfare advocacy, where targeted campaigns successfully pushed food companies to adopt cage-free-egg practices. He hoped to replicate that success by becoming the “bad cop” willing to pressure tech giants.
With about 1,500 followers across two X accounts, Johnston runs Midas Project full time, with Safety Watchtower taking up about 5% of his time. The group is run on a shoestring budget, so hes DIYing a lot for now, with some help from volunteers.
Johnston isn’t backed by billions in venture capital or government fundingjust determination and a basic web-scraping tool that detects when companies quietly delete promises about not building killer robots or enabling bioweapons development.
So far, the Watchtower has documented about 30 significant changes, categorizing them by the tags major, slight, and unannounced. The first being OpenAIs slight modification of its core values in October 2023. OpenAI removed values such as impact-driven, which emphasized that employees care deeply about real-world implications, replacing them with values such as AGI focus.
Another slight policy change caught by AI Watchtower came from Meta in June 2024, when it made explicit that it can use data from Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram to change its model.
The Watchtower also flagged a major change by Google last month when the company released a new version of its Frontier Safety Framework. Johnston’s analysis revealed concerning modifications: model autonomy risks were removed and replaced with vaguely defined “alignment risks,” and notably, the company added language suggesting it would only follow its framework if competitors adopted similar measures.
At times, companies have responded to Johnston’s alerts. Earlier this month, Watchtower’s web scrapers noticed that Anthropic removed references to the “White House’s Voluntary Commitments for Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI” from its Transparency Hub webpage. But Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark clarified on X: “This isn’t a change in substance and has caused some confusionwe’re working on a fix. We continue to follow the White House Voluntary Commitments.”
The status of these commitments under the Trump Administration remains unclear. The commitments were independent promises companies made to the Biden White House and the public about managing AI risks, meaning they shouldn’t be affected by Trumps executive order rolling back Bidens AI policies.
Several companies including Nvidia, Inflection, and Scale AI confirmed theyre still adhering to the commitments post-election, according to FedScoop. Anthropic eventually restored the reference to its website but added a curious disclaimer: Though these specific commitments are no longer formally maintained under the Trump administration, our organization continues to uphold all these principles. The White House did not respond to a request for clarification.
In another case, a commitment flagged as removed from Anthropic’s website had simply been relocated to a different page. For Johnston, this highlights a broader issue with transparency in the industry: the companies, not journalists, should be clear about how and when their policies are changing.
The most consequential shift Johnston has documented is AI companies reversing their military stances. According to Johnston, OpenAI’s reversal was particularly calculatinginitially framed as helping prevent veteran suicide and supporting Pentagon cybersecurity. Critics were painted as heartless for questioning this work but by November 2024, OpenAI was developing autonomous drones in what Johnston described as a classic foot-in-the-door strategy. Google followed suit earlier this year, revoking its own military restrictions.
“A lot of them are starting to really feel the global [AI] race dynamic,” Johnston says. “They’re like, ‘Well, we have to do this because if we don’t work with militaries, less scrupulous actors will.'”
The military pivot is just one example of how AI companies are reframing their ethical stances. OpenAI recently published a document outlining its philosophy on AI safety, claiming it has moved beyond the more cautious “staged deployment” approach it took with GPT-2 in 209, when it initially withheld release citing safety concerns.
In a discontinuous world, practicing for the AGI moment is the only thing we can do, and safety lessons come from treating the systems of today with outsize caution relative to their apparent power. This is the approach we took for GPT2, OpenAI wrote.
But Miles Brundage, OpenAI’s former head of policy research, publicly challenged this characterization, saying the company was rewriting the history of GPT-2 in a concerning way.
“OpenAI’s release of GPT-2, which I was involved in, was 100% consistent with OpenAI’s current philosophy of iterative deployment,” Brundage wrote on X. “The model was released incrementally, with lessons shared at each step. Many security experts at the time thanked us for this caution.”
Brundage fears OpenAI is now setting up a framework where “concerns are alarmist” and “you need overwhelming evidence of imminent dangers to act on them”a mentality he calls “very dangerous” for advanced AI systems.
The pattern of changes extends beyond the companies’ own rules and policies. In February, Johnston’s team launched “Seoul Tracker” to evaluate whether companies were honoring promises made at the 2024 AI Safety Summit in Seoul. The results were damning: Many simply ignored the February deadline for adopting responsible scaling policies, while others implemented hollow versions that barely resembled what they’d promised.
Using a letter-grade scoring system based on public evidence of implementation across five key commitment areas, the Seoul Tracker gave Anthropic the highest score, a B-, while companies including IBM, Inflection AI, and Mistral AI received failing grades of F for showing no public evidence that they had fulfilled their commitments.
“It’s wild to me,” Johnston says. “These were promises they made not just on some webpage, but to the governments of the United Kingdom and South Korea.”
Perhaps what’s perhaps most telling about the impact of Johnston’s work is who’s paying attention. While Midas Project struggles to get 500 signatures on petitions to ask AI companies to take security seriously, and its follower count is still relatively modest, those followers include plenty of the who’s who of AI luminaries, watchdogs, and whistleblowers.
Even a Trump White House advisor on AI recently followed the account, too. That got Johnston wondering whether government officials view these ethical reversals as progress rather than problems.
I’m so worried that he’s following it like cheering it on, he says, seeing the changes as wins as these companies abandon their commitments.
