TruckerTok and Horse Girls

Your daily digest of youth culture

May 14

Gen Z darling Olivia Rodrigo’s hosting SNL this weekend, Y’Allternative TikTok — think southern leftists and horse girls — exists, Nicki’s back (and she’s not just back, she’s back with Drake and Lil Wayne), and…

IS BEING A ‘GIRL BOSS’ A BAD THING? IT’S COMPLICATED

It’s actually not complicated: “Calling someone a girl boss is ironic and also a ‘sincere insult,’ says Leigh Urbowicz, a 23-year-old recent college graduate.” lamag

A GEN Z FUND? HOW THIS 22-YEAR-OLD SDSU GRAD RAISED $1.6 MILLION TO INVEST IN UNDERREPRESENTED ENTREPRENEURS

A newly graduated San Diego State University alum raised $1.6 million largely through her Twitter following. sandiegouniontribune

WHY THIS LA DESIGNER IS MAKING HEIRLOOMS FOR GEN Z

The real question is: Why is a 24-year-old designer making $2,200 lamps when her target audience is Gen Z? High school allowances must be significantly more than when I was a kid. (They sure are cute, though.) businessofhome

VINTED SHOWS USED CLOTHES CAN BE WORTH BILLIONS

The Lithuanian resale app was valued this week at 3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion) and it’s not hard to understand why — thrifting is a biiiiiit of having a moment, to put it mildly — but is the market getting too crowded? Both Poshmark and ThredUp stock plummeted yesterday. bloomberg

FACING WORKER SHORTAGE, MAINE’S TRUCKING INDUSTRY TURNS TO TIKTOK IN APPEAL TO GEN Z

They need to fill thousands of jobs over the next 10 years as current workers age out of the workforce. (Lucky for the Maine trucking industry, TikTok’s preparing to launch a whole job site for Gen Z.) bangordailynews

‘I FEEL LIKE I’M JUST DROWNING’: SOPHOMORE YEAR IN A PANDEMIC

“When Sarah pictured depression, she imagined some girl in a movie, sobbing in the shower and pulling at her hair.” An extraordinarily bleak look at the impact of the pandemic on teens. nyt

My plan was to keep it short today because 1) It’s Friday 2) It’s beautiful outside 3) It’s my last day of at my job but there was just too much good stuff to share. One last thought: