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How the #girlboss went extinct
Once a staple for TIME's Most Influential People’s glossy covers or a beacon of female ingenuity, the era of the girlboss is over - along with the mystique of their career paths, their personal lives and their wind down routines.
Today, they are the 'fallen girlbosses',
from turtleneck-loving Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to Glossier Inc chief executive Emily Weiss.
Video: Instagram | Emily Weiss
The term was coined by fast fashion Nasty Gal boss Sophia Amoruso in her 2014 memoir by the same name. Since then, racism, mistreatment, and endless public apologies have marked the alleged #girlboss honour roll.
Birth of the hashtag
Amoruso's rise was chronicled in a 2017 Netflix series, but her own career was plagued by accusations of discrimination. Her company was once sued for firing employees after they became pregnant and eventually went bankrupt.
Video: Netflix
#Girlboss was the cringe feminist media moment that launched a thousand 'girl-run' businesses. White women came out as CEOs in pink "the future is female" shirts, not a hair out of place.
Millennial pink movement
Millennial pink movement
With each resignation of a Girlboss-era CEO, we are closing the door on a very brief moment. Now, even talking about ‘women in business' as a collective can be irking.
For years, people have been paying their respects to the dying #girlboss. She was an unsustainable, highly curated, shiny-white and snake person-pink picture of ultimate female business success.
A collapsing regime
A collapsing regime
A tiny group of similar-looking CEOs who would infiltrate the system rather than change it, so it goes. It was a dark pattern, often with disastrous results.
The Theranos founder, once described by Forbes as "the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire", was recently convicted on fraud charges after building a 'revolutionary' blood testing product that didn’t work.
Elizabeth Holmes
Video: Instagram | PwC Australia
Weiss announced she would step down as Glossier Inc chief executive in June 2022, following years of racism allegations and pressure to further diversify their makeup products. In 2021 the company recorded a 26% downturn in sales.
Emily Weiss
The controversial mother-feminist recently announced her resignation as Facebook’s COO after 14 years. She also authored cult-hit Lean In (2013). Its message was famously boiled down to something like "women COULD have it all if they were willing to give it their all".
Sheryl Sandberg
May they rest in 2015.
As Girlboss CEOs melt before us, the next generation is making cautionary TikToks about “girlbossing too close to the sun”.  Did the SHE-E-O walk so that the (gender not-specified) CEO could run?
Video: Instagram | Venusian Vixen
WORDS: Joanna PanagopoulosPRODUCER: Bianca Farmakis
																		

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/web-stories/free/the-australian/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-girlboss-elizabeth-theranos-sheryl-sandberg-emily-weiss