We're in the Emergency Room
Together
Have you ever been to the ER?
After one of the nastiest viral infections I’ve ever had, I landed in the NYU emergency room this weekend. Blank walls. Coughs in every corner. Nurses, doctors, and security guards. The sick. The homeless. Everyone just trying to help—or be helped. And it hit me: this week, we’re all in an ER.
If you work in supply chain, you’re doing tariff triage.
If you're in the stock market, you’re defibrillating hourly.
If you're at Blue Origin, you’re managing a P(E)R crisis.
Everywhere you look, smart people are responding to pain. Not solving it—stabilizing it. For me, it was a steroid shot and a swish of Magic Mouthwash (look it up). Did it cure me overnight? No. I’m still healing, seven days later. Because healing takes time.
And that’s what no one wants to hear when it comes to tariffs, TikTok, and the markets. We’re trying to slap band-aids on a body that’s experienced trauma. And band-aids aren’t gonna cut it.
Luxury TikTok is scrambling to sell the illusion of the great fleecing of the American consumer. Hermès bags aren’t made in China. We all know that. And yes, China makes high-quality products. The most sophisticated, engineered object you own—your phone—comes from there. This isn’t about any of that. It’s about deeper instability.
Spilling the beans on some factories might make headlines, but it’s not the full story. Factories Make. Brands Create. There’s a tax in between. And that tax? It’s what the market will bear. Luxury is not a cost-plus business—that’s for eggs.
If you’re angry at the luxury brand for overcharging, ask yourself why. They created the demand. They invested millions in creating that desire. Trust me, it didn’t start at the production line. It started with one visionary years ago.
But still, something real got rocked. Ethics, quality, transparency. All questions. And now, everything’s reacting.
But weirdly? Going to the ER made me feel stronger. Because I knew someone had my back. They listened. They looked me in the eye. They didn’t scare me, upsell me, gaslight me, or give fake assurances. They tested. They analyzed. They cared.
The ER is an altruistic place. But these other emergency rooms—economic, geopolitical, cultural—aren’t built to care. They’re hot. They’re cold. They’re confusing. And they’ll take time to unravel.
When it comes to consumerism, specifically in beauty, prices are going up. That’s the first thing. But deeper than that, we need to purge. Our drawers are full. Overflowing. Post-COVID beauty binging is over. Even the influencers are tapping out. Mikayla’s purging. Jessica Delfino’s calling it: beauty burnout. We are in a state of emergency.
We’re tired of being sick with choice. So what do we do?
We simplify. We buy less on impulse. We buy smarter. And what will that unlock?
Less emptiness.
Less loneliness.
Less of the quiet sadness we try to balm with glossy tubes and shiny bags.
We don’t need more. We need meaning.
Curation is the new cool. The wizard behind the curtain? Someone who just tells us the truth. Gives us answers. Listens. Doesn’t scare, upsell, gaslight, or give fake assurances.
No pitch here. This one's personal. I’m recovering. And I think maybe we all are.
I’ve got your hand. Squeeze. We got this.
Bina