• I'm grateful when people want to celebrate my daughters, but the amount of stuff is overwhelming.
• I started asking parents not to buy new gifts for their birthday parties. 
• Instead, I ask them to bring a toy from their own home for a swap at the party.

After my first child's first birthday in April of 2021, my husband and I found ourselves in a room full of gifts. Although we were moved by the outpouring of love for our girl, we were also conflicted, ideologically and philosophically.

Our daughter was the first granddaughter on my husband's side and the first grandchild of mine. Because I gave birth to her at the height of the pandemic in NYC, neither side of our families had joined together to meet and celebrate her arrival as one big, united group. Her first birthday party became a family reunion and an event to mark what felt like the toughest part of the pandemic.

After what we'd all experienced, the loneliness, isolation, and sadness were all palpable at the party. It was clear that we were all ready to wish those emotions and more good riddance. The birth of our precious babe became a reason to commune, catch up, and commiserate together — to feel joy, hope, and connection again.

I loved seeing my family, but the amount of gifts was overwhelming

Our enthusiasm for this new chapter was felt in our interactions and our promise to never let as much time pass before we convened again. Party guests showed their excitement in other ways, too: their gifts. Our daughter received new shoes (she'd outgrow them by the time she accepted footwear as a necessary means of walking), clothes (though she'd already become selective about textures and colors and thus never wore), and toys (some that were too young for her; others that were too old for her).

As I sat in our living room, staring at the mountain of new items in an overstimulated stupor, I realized that I had now been tasked with organizing and finding a place for all her new gifts. The feeling of overwhelm started to grow; the "invisible load" of motherhood began to accrue.

Just a month prior, we had moved out of our 500-square-foot NYC apartment into an old, two-bedroom bungalow in Asheville, North Carolina. And though we had become masters of maximizing space in small abodes, searching for new toy organizers, bins, and baskets was no longer an exciting or welcomed challenge. It was yet another problem to solve in the ongoing and ceaseless list of "to-dos" that rapidly come in parenthood.

It seems like there's another birthday party every week

That first birthday party was more than three years ago. I am now the mother of two beautiful girls: a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old. In the years since I've become a parent, I've learned that birthday parties are a regular occurrence — whether one of my kids brings home an invite from preschool or a friend of mine invites us to celebrate their child, there are just more kids in our orbit these days than there once were, and they all, of course, have birthdays.

The amount of "stuff" accrued after a child's birthday is astounding and is difficult for parents to manage. It's also hard to remember to buy a gift for such-and-so's birthday party this weekend, with everything else we have going on during the week.

I am grateful for all the love that flows for our girls when it's their turn, but I am over the constant purging, donating, and managing of my children's things. It's all left me wondering how I might lighten both my own and another parent's load — how we might be able to show up for our children but also for our planet.

I decided to ask parents not to buy gifts for my daughters

That's when my idea was born: I would directly ask parents NOT to buy new gifts for our daughters' birthday parties. Instead, I would pick an item category, like books, and ask invitees to select a book from their own home collection to bring as a gift. They could help their kids pick out the book or choose one to bring they felt their child wouldn't miss. Additionally, I would encourage parents to reuse old gift bags, wrapping paper, and ribbon to wrap them.

As guests arrived at the birthday shindig, I would point out the exchange table to parents and offer partygoers the option of simply contributing their book, or also choosing a different book for themselves to take home as a party favor. (I'd also make sure to select books from our own home library to add to the pile so that there were enough books for all kids to potentially take home.)

For the age groups of my children right now, most kids happily give their gift and walk away from the table without a book of their own, and that's OK. I fully acknowledge that the idea of an exchange is perhaps too abstract to grasp, but I hope that by taking these baby steps, my child and their friends will begin to slowly understand the idea with each passing year. One day, perhaps they will look forward to passing along their well-loved items to another on their special day.

For my daughter's fifth birthday next year, I'm thinking about selecting a different item category, such as a puzzle or game. I'm noticing those items in our home collections are multiplying and not receiving nearly as much playtime these days.

One thing I've learned as I continue to grow as a parent is that my hopes and wishes have grown, too. I hope I'm teaching my children how to be respectful stewards of our green Earth. By gifting from our own collections, we're making choices that are less wasteful and are easier on the environment. I also want my children to independently choose among their treasures and let go of something that might spark another's joy, which will hopefully spark their own joy, too.

• Rebecca Cox is working side jobs this summer after her first year as a full-time teacher.
• She's working at a restaurant and as a nanny, and did a short gig with an organizing business.
• Many teachers are financially stressed, and it could be pushing some into summer work.

Rebecca Cox, 27, hoped to take a summer break following her first year as a full-time fifth-grade teacher in Kentucky.

"It just drained me and wiped me out because I was learning so much and figuring things out as I went," Cox told Business Insider.

Instead of taking a vacation, Cox has been working different gigs this summer, attending trainings, and decorating her classroom. She spends some evenings as a restaurant hostess, making $18 an hour. Cox also earns money as a nanny for a family. She cares for their dogs and children as needed, including during the school year.

She also did a short stint earlier this month at a business owned by a friend of the family whose kids she takes care of with a pay of $30 an hour, unpacking and organizing homes for people. While that job was short-term, she said the other two are more consistent for this summer.

"I feel like I haven't stopped even since school's been out," she said. "Yes, it's summer break, but I have not sat down. I keep working."

Other young teachers like Cox take on summer jobs. A Pew Research Center analysis of federal education data found that as of 2015, "teachers younger than 30 are more likely to hold summer jobs than their older colleagues," and public school teachers with a year or less of experience were most likely to have a non-school second job.

A recent survey of 366 teachers from We Are Teachers found around half said they would be working a second job in the summer. The survey found many would be doing jobs related to education; 37% said they would be teaching summer school and a quarter said tutoring.

Plus, teachers are generally underpaid, and that could be pushing some educators to take on extra work when they should be resting up for the next school year. A Census Bureau analysis published in 2022 stated, "Although teachers are among the nation's most educated workers, they earn far less on average than most other highly educated workers and their earnings have declined since 2010."

Cox is putting the money from her summer jobs toward savings and classroom items. The summer gigs are also helpful for Cox as a soon-to-be bride. "Once I figured out that I was getting married and I started to see how much these things cost, I was like, there's no way that I'm even going to be able to even, one, save money in general regularly, but now on top of that, pay for some of the expenses for the things we need."

Cox said she wished teachers didn't have to take on summer gigs.

"Even if we're not working per se, a lot of us are spending our time getting new things created for the new kids that are coming in or organizing things or getting ready with curriculum or going to professional development over summer on our own terms," Cox said.

She still gets paid over the summer as a teacher, receiving around $1,300 every two weeks after deductions and taxes.

Cox said it was a good thing she started the organizing business job when she did because she suddenly needed car repairs. "Now I can pay for it because if I didn't have extra money from working over the summer, I don't know that I would be able to pay to get it fixed," she said.

The money will also be helpful for her classroom. She said she does receive several hundred dollars from her district to use for supplies, but it can feel like nothing when taking into account how many children she teaches. "I want them to have all the resources that they need. So on top of my own expenses, I do take on some expenses from my classroom as well," she said.

Teachers can end up spending thousands of dollars on classroom supplies during their teaching career. One teacher who wanted her room "to feel homey" previously noted to BI she would spend a lot of money on books. Teachers may also get donations to help fill their classrooms with supplies.

"We don't ask other professions to try to do their job without the materials they need," another teacher previously told BI. "I feel like a lot of teachers are expected to do their job without materials that they have or that they need."

Cox finds the nanny job her favorite among the summer gigs. "Yes, it's work, but it also is a little more enjoyable because I get to take them to do fun things — if they just need to go out to do stuff or if they want to go to the movies," she said.

Cox loves being a teacher and said she's not in it for the money, but does find the relatively low pay a challenge. "It was kind of just the realization of is this really what I'm going to be making every two weeks because honestly, I wouldn't be able to afford to live on my own. My fiancé's actually a teacher as well, so if I was by myself, I would not be able to pay all my bills," she said.

"I feel like to even make a livable, reasonable salary as a teacher, I'm going to have to get my master's," she said. "So, I plan on doing that next year. But it's like in order for me to make more money, I have to go spend more money to even get there."

What does your pay look like as a teacher, or are you working multiple jobs as a teacher or in a different job? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

• "Outlander" may be ending with season eight, but fans can look forward to a new prequel series.
• "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" will focus on the origin stories of Jamie and Claire's parents.
• Production on the 10-episode series is now underway in Scotland. Here's everything you need to know.

It was announced in early 2023 that "Outlander" had been renewed for an eighth but final season, putting a pin in Starz's original plan to adapt all of Diana Gabaldon's novels (the last of which has still not yet been written). 

Although that will bring Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire's (Caitríona Balfe) time-traveling escapades to a close, audiences will be delighted to learn that a prequel series continuing the story of the Fraser and Beauchamp families is officially in production.

Speculation that Starz was expanding the "Outlander" universe began in 2020 when Deadline reported that the network bosses had encouraged producers Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis to "to plot a slew of spin-offs, sequels and story extensions."

The prequel series was officially greenlit in 2022, and several months later, it was confirmed that the writers' room had started working on scripts and that the series had been given a name — "Outlander: Blood of My Blood."

While a release date for the series hasn't been announced, lots of other details about the series have been shared, including who has been cast in the main roles as Jamie and Claire's parents. Keep reading for everything we know about the series so far.

The series will tell two parallel origin stories: how Jamie's parents came to meet and Claire's parents' romance.

Per an official description shared by Starz in February 2023, the series will "center on these two parallel love stories set in two different time periods, with Jamie's parents in the early 18th century Scottish Highlands and Claire's parents in WWI England."

The streamer had previously stated that the prequel would center on Jamie's mother and father, Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser — two characters that audiences know plenty about, mainly through stories told by their son.

An abridged version of Ellen and Brian's love story was detailed by Jamie in season one: the pair eloped together and stayed hidden until Ellen was visibly pregnant with their first child, forcing her family to accept their union.

The decision to include Claire's parents in the show is sure to be a welcome one. Not much is known about Julia Moriston and Henry Beauchamp beyond the fact that they died when Claire was a young girl.

"We're thrilled to be telling the stories of these two couples," said Matthew B. Roberts, showrunner, executive producer and writer on both "Outlander" and "Outlander: Blood of My Blood."

"The origins of their relationships explore universal themes that transcend time periods, and we're so excited for fans to discover and fall in love with these characters and their love stories the way they have with Claire and Jamie."

The four main roles have been cast.

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Harriet Slater, best known for her role in "Pennyworth," will play Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie, in the 18th-century Scotland storyline, alongside Lifetime actor Jamie Roy, who plays his father, Brian Fraser.

As for Claire's parents, whose story unfolds in World War I-era England, Hermoine Corfield, previously seen in "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation," will play Julia Moriston; "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" actor Jeremy Irvine will play her father, Henry Beauchamp. The two stars have previously worked together, having both starred in the 2016 fantasy romance film "Fallen."

 

The series will be set in two timelines: one in the early 1700s and the other in the early 1900s.

As Roberts stated, the series will take place in two different time periods.

The story focusing on Brian and Ellen will be set sometime around 1716, some 30 years before Claire travels back in time and meets Jamie. That's when the Great Gathering at Castle Leoch happened — which is where Brian and Ellen met for the first time — according to the "Outlander" books.

That would make our heroine Ellen and her future husband Brian both 25 at the time the series begins, as they were both born in 1681, per details shared in "Dragonfly in Amber." 

The other story about Claire's parents is likely to take place sometime in the 1910s. As fans know from the first book installment, Claire was born in 1918 and was five years old when her parents passed away in 1923. Exact details on when her parents met or how old they were are not known.

 

Diana Gabaldon is involved as a consulting producer — and she's also writing a book about the characters, too.

The author has confirmed that, alongside writing what is expected to be the tenth and final novel in the "Outlander" series, she is also working on several other stories connected to Jamie and Claire, including a prequel novel about Jamie's parents.

The book does not yet have a title, but Gabaldon told the audience at the 2022 Edinburgh International Book Festival that it includes romance and plenty of historical intrigue.

"The story is woven in with the Jacobite Risings – there will be a lot of clan politics and other interesting things," she said, per The Scotsman.

For those who are interested, she has shared several excerpts of the book with her Facebook audience.

As for how the show's producers are working with Gabaldon and her unfinished novel, executive producer Maril Davis told Business Insider in August: "We hope she will share as she goes, but we've kind of been taking the breadcrumbs she's left in her books and expanding on those to build a story."

The author has also shared with TV Insider that she will be writing an episode of the prequel in addition to writing an episode for "Outlander" season eight.

Starz has said the prequel will be 10 episodes.

In a press release from January, Starz announced that "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" had been greenlit for a 10-episode season.

It hasn't been confirmed if that means the series will be a one-off or whether viewers can expect more seasons after "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" airs. Representatives for Starz did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The title is a nod to the vow Jamie made to Claire on their wedding day.

If you were wondering what "Blood of My Blood" means exactly, it's a phrase that "Outlander" fans know well, as it's part of the Gaelic blood vow that Gabaldon created that Jamie and Claire exchanged on their wedding day.

'"Ye are blood of my blood, and bone of my bone, I give ye my body, that we two might be one. I give ye my spirit, 'til our life shall be done."

 

The series will feature some beloved characters from "Outlander."

But before you get too excited, keep in mind that since the Brian and Ellen timeline part of the prequel will be set nearly three decades before the events of the main series, the same actors won't be playing the roles.

Some characters audiences will be familiar with who will appear in the prequel are younger versions of Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (Rory Alexander), Dougal MacKenzie (Sam Retford), Colum MacKenzie (Séamus McLean Ross), and Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill). The roles were originated by Duncan LaCroix, Graham McTavish, Gary Lewis and Bill Paterson, respectively.

Red Jacob MacKenzie, the Laird of Clan MacKenzie and father to Ellen and her brothers, will be played by Peter Mullan, while Tony Curran will portray Simon Fraser, also known as Lord Lovat, Brian's father.

A younger version of Jamie Fraser may also appear.

In an interview with Esquire, Sam Heughan said that while he's definitely not in the show, there's a chance a younger version of his character could be.

"All I can tell you is I'm not in it, as Jamie's not in it," he said. "I believe that it's a prequel focusing on Jamie's parents when they were younger, so I guess you might see a young version of him at some point."

If the story of his parents does kick off around 1715 as we suspect, that's six years before Jamie's birth in 1721, meaning that audiences shouldn't expect him to come into the series straightaway. Brian and Ellen had two other children before he was born, after all.

Filming for "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" began in January 2024, so audiences shouldn't expect to see it land on screens for quite some time.

According to Gabaldon's blog, filming for the prequel commenced on January 22, 2024, in Glasgow (and without giving too much away, she added: "I'm liking everything I'm seeing!")

According to the BBC, it had originally been scheduled to kick off on January 7. The two-week delay to the start of production can be attributed to the inclement weather in the Scottish city faced at the start of the year.

Per the BBC's report, the series is expected to air in 2025 after the final series of "Outlander" next year. However, it may hit screens later than that, as fans are still awaiting the second half of "Outlander" season seven and the drama's final eighth season. 

If "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" does not air until after "Outlander" has wrapped, it will more likely be sometime in 2026.

• Several important Supreme Court decisions this term dealt with questions of executive power.
• In two rulings, SCOTUS expanded presidential power and limited the rest of the executive branch.
• Where the Court limited the executive branch, it granted power to the judiciary, experts told BI.

With its rulings this term, the Supreme Court created a perfect storm for the lower courts to be inundated with legal challenges on everything from the applications of regulatory laws to the scope of the presidency's power.

Taken together, two specific decisions on Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System combined to create a window for an array of new lawsuits to challenge once-settled law and be reinterpreted by a deeply polarized court. And in the cunning way the high court's conservative majority phrased its decisions, the justices kept the power to clean up the mess for themselves.

In a ruling on June 28, the court overturned 40 years of precedent and rolled back the Chevron doctrine. Once considered a victory among conservative lawmakers because it had upheld a deregulatory interpretation of policy by the Reagan administration, the Chevron doctrine gave the Environmental Protection Agency — and federal agencies more broadly — the power to interpret ambiguous regulatory language in laws enacted by Congress, as long as the agency's interpretation was reasonable.

By rolling Chevron back, the Court decided it should no longer defer to executive branch interpretations of the laws involving its agencies. It has now limited the power of presidentially appointed officials to determine how their agencies should be run under existing laws.

"So that is, in theory, taking power away from unelected officials," Justin Crowe, a professor of political science at Williams University who researches the Supreme Court, told Business Insider. "But, where is that power going? It's not exactly going to the people or to elected officials. In some roundabout sense it might be going to Congress, but in reality, it's going to courts and judges, and giving courts and judges the ability to second-guess agency decisions."

Under the new rules, federal agencies wouldn't be the authority on the regulations they enforce. That means a plaintiff could challenge regulatory rules and enforcement methods by agencies like the EPA, Securities Exchange Commission, or Department of Health and Human Service, and the Court would be allowed to interpret the legal regulations, potentially clawing back even more power from the executive branch.

A one-two punch against regulation

Corner Post was decided on July 1, receiving less media attention than Loper did several days prior. But, when combined with the outcome of the Loper decision, Corner Post "almost encourages the targets of administrative regulation to sue," according to Jonathan Entin, a retired constitutional law professor at Case Western Reserve University.

"Loper says no deference to the agency; the courts are supposed to interpret regulations. But the Corner Post case, which was a challenge to a Federal Reserve Board regulation about card swiping fees, may encourage loads of legal challenges," Entin, who clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg while she was in the DC Circuit, said.

In the Corner Post case, Entin told BI, the Court expanded the six-year time limit for plaintiffs to bring lawsuits against federal agencies over their regulatory rules. The new limitations are no longer based on when the rule was implemented, as a lower court had determined. Instead, the high court decided the countdown begins when a plaintiff says they were injured by the rule — which "opens up every rule for renewed challenges by just anybody," Entin said.

This means that a plaintiff could sue over a rule enacted decades ago if they can make a case that they were hurt by the regulation within the last six years — like a newly created gas station suing over emissions regulations that it claims hinder its business, giving the current court a window to reinterpret old law.

With Corner Post, Entin said, the Supreme Court created a statute of limitations that, from the standpoint of federal agencies, never really expires.

A 'tsunami of lawsuits'

In her dissent in the Corner Post case, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted that taken together, the Loper and Corner Post decisions would open up a "tsunami of lawsuits" from plaintiffs who have grievances with various federal regulations — from the Federal Reserve Board's fees for debit card processing to the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act and beyond. 

Those inevitable legal challenges will offer the Court ample opportunities to weigh in — and flex its power — in the future.

But the Court didn't stop at giving itself the reins to interpret regulations that federal agencies are beholden to.

The most striking example might be the Supreme Court's ruling in Trump v. United States, in which the court granted widespread immunity to sitting presidents for official actions taken in office. But an insidious element of the Trump case is that it gave the judiciary the power to decide what exactly constitutes an official, protected, action, compared to an unofficial — and thereby unprotected — one.

In the Trump case, the Supreme Court offered Trump broad immunity for some of his acts concerning his January 6 election interference case. It also kicked some decisions back down to DC District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine whether other elements of the charges against the former president would be protected by the "official act" immunity or if he could still be prosecuted for them.

Additional challenges from the Trump camp on Chutkan's decisions could land the case back on the Supreme Court's desk for more specific interpretation.

The pattern is not limited to the immunity case or those involving business regulations — it's part of a trend of the Supreme Court dismantling the non-presidential powers of the executive branch, rolling back laws, and reversing lower court rulings involving guns, emergency abortions, and where homeless people are allowed to sleep.

In the July 6 episode of Slate's Supreme Court analysis podcast "Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick," Senior Court Reporter Mark Joseph Stern said the Court spent this term expanding its power and "restructuring representative democracy to make it less representative and less democratic."

And it will keep happening no matter who is in the White House.

"It strikes me that this is a court that does not have a modest view of its own role," Entin told BI. "It has reached out to decide things that it didn't necessarily have to decide, and by doing so, it encourages other potential litigants to try to swing for the fences. And whether the court got these cases right or not, I think we're going to see more cases raising these sorts of issues come along."

• Sheila Reed, 57, got $112,000 in student loans forgiven last year.
• The relief was part of a federal discharge for students of Westwood College and other for-proft schools.
• Reed can now save for retirement without carrying the six-figure burden. 

Sheila Reed, 57, is no longer facing a lifetime of student-loan payments.

While Reed dropped out of higher education right after high school, she went back in the early 2000s after seeing a TV commercial for the for-profit school Westwood College. She decided to give herself a shot at her goal of working in law enforcement and enroll.

But the program did not deliver on its promises. Reed said that while her instructors told her she would easily land a job in law enforcement, she was consistently denied jobs in the field. Since graduating in 2007, she has never been able to use her bachelor's degree. She only had a $112,000 student-loan balance to show for it.

"It was hell. It was really rough. I didn't think I would ever, ever get rid of it. It was depressing at times," Reed told Business Insider. "I can't get into the field I want to get in. And so I felt like I just wasted my time and wasted what money I had."

Reed was unable to afford her monthly payments for certain periods of time, forcing her to put her loans on forbearance. During this period, she was not required to make payments, but interest was still surging her balance. For all she knew, she thought she would be on the hook for payments for the rest of her life.

That all changed on March 29, 2023, when Reed received a letter —reviewed by BI — from the Education Department informing her that her entire student-loan balance was forgiven. The relief was a result of a group discharge through the borrower defense to repayment, a process that cancels student loans for borrowers if the school they attended is found guilty of fraud.

Westwood shut down in 2016, and in 2022, the Education Department released a report stating that the school "routinely misled prospective students by grossly misrepresenting that its credentials would benefit their career prospects and earning potential."

Reed did not have to file a borrower defense application herself and was instead part of a group the department determined qualified for relief based on its findings of the school.

"I was floored," Reed said. "I almost passed out. I kept rereading it and checking who the sender was to confirm it wasn't a scam. I really couldn't believe it."

Reed is among millions of student-loan borrowers who have received debt relief from the Education Department over the past few years, either through borrower defense, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or other fixes to repayment programs. While Reed intended to repay her loans as long as her financial situation could sustain them, the relief allowed her to finally look forward to retirement without the debt hanging over her head.

"Retirement is not that far away anymore. I'm getting closer to 60, and that's one thing I don't have to worry about anymore," Reed said. "I will not have a student loan when I die."

'I'm just glad it's over'

Reed didn't know she would struggle so much to pay off her student loans. She never would have pursued a degree if she didn't think she would be able to use it.

"Even though it turned out to be a worthless piece of paper, I'm so proud of myself that I graduated, and I graduated with honors, and I did learn a lot about the different law enforcement fields and prison systems and everything," she said.

"So, in that respect, I don't regret it. But financially, I do, and I'm just glad it's over," she added.

Along with Westwood, the Education Department has enacted group discharges for other major for-profit chains it found guilty of fraud and misrepresentations, including Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. While Republican lawmakers have criticized the administration for its debt relief efforts, calling it an overreach of authority, Democrats have called for accountability over the for-profit school system to ensure borrowers are not stuck with big debt loads absent a valuable degree.

Reed said she's disappointed her decision to return to school didn't pay off. But with the relief, she can now begin to save money as she nears retirement and is grateful her student loans are in the rearview mirror.

"Now, when I do think about the student loans, I think of them being discharged," she said. "Not all the other rigmarole that I had to go through to get to this point."

Did you receive student-loan forgiveness? Are you struggling with student-loan payments? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• Vladislav Doronin is the founder of OKO Group and owner of the Aman luxury hotel group.
• Aman, with 36 hotels and 38 projects, is valued at $4.5 billion, according to Doronin.
• Doronin also has an extensive personal property portfolio and art collection.

Real estate billionaire Vladislav Doronin has built a hospitality empire beloved by celebrities and the ultrawealthy.

Doronin, 61, is the founder and chairman of OKO Group, a Miami-based real estate development firm, as well as the owner and CEO of Aman — a luxury hospitality brand with high-priced hotels worldwide.

Born in Russia, he moved to Switzerland in his 20s and got his start in business as a commodities trader. He built his real estate empire in Moscow before venturing abroad with the OKO Group in 2015.

He's known for being reluctant to speak to the press at length and has been dubbed "the Russian James Bond" by architect Zaha Hadid, The Wall Street Journal reported. Another peer described him as a "ghost." Still, he captured headlines with a five-year relationship with supermodel Naomi Campbell that ended in 2013.

In April, he told the Journal that Aman Group, which includes 36 hotels and 38 projects in the works, is worth around $4.5 billion.

His property empire includes impressive personal residences. In July, The Real Deal reported that Doronin was the buyer of the $135 million penthouse atop the historic Crown Building where Aman New York is located.

Here's what we know about the billionaire behind resorts like Amangiri, a popular Utah getaway for celebrities and the uber-wealthy.

Doronin was born in Soviet-era Russia in 1962

Doronin described St. Petersburg, known as Leningrad during his childhood, as a "very cultural city," according to the Journal. He said it was there that he grew to appreciate art by visiting museums with his parents.

He left the USSR for Switzerland in his 20s.

Doronin left Russia as a young man and has held a Swedish passport since 1992, according to Curbed. While in Switzerland, he got an MBA and began working as a commodities trader under Marc Rich, an American businessman who had left the US after being charged with tax evasion and racketeering.

"Marc Rich ended up being a mentor to all these young kids who came out of the Communist Party Establishment and who made billions," journalist Paul Klebnikov told the New York Post in 2001.

In 1993, he launched a Moscow-based real estate company.

Doronin resumed business in Moscow in 1991 after the Soviet Union collapsed and, along with some partners, launched Capital Group in 1993.

Unlike the older Russian businessmen who didn't take well to capitalism, Doronin excelled, according to the Journal. One of Capital Group's first projects was converting a factory into an office space for IBM, Curbed reported.

During his time developing in the city, the budding real estate magnate reportedly became friends with Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, and scored lucrative projects in the financial district.

He started dating supermodel Naomi Campbell in 2008.

Doronin moved further into the limelight when he began a relationship with supermodel Naomi Campbell in 2008.

The couple often attended events, and he was also in the crowd when Campbell appeared on "Oprah" in 2010. They split in 2013, and seven years later, Doronin sued his ex.

According to legal documents obtained by TMZ in 2020, he alleged that Campbell owed him money he lent her throughout their five-year relationship and that the model still possessed his personal property valued at over $3 million.

It was later revealed that Campbell had sued Doronin first over similar claims, but it's unclear if the matter has been resolved.

Between 2013 and 2014, Doronin reportedly cut ties with Capital Group.

When Doronin purchased land in Aspen for $76.2 million and planned to build a resort, a writer for the Aspen Times referred to him as an "oligarch."

He must not have appreciated the label because Doronin sued the newspaper for defamation.

In the lawsuit, his lawyers emphasized his Swedish citizenship and said Doronin cut ties with Capital Group between 2013 and 2014.

"Since then, Mr. Doronin has not conducted any business in Russia and is no longer associated with Capital Group," his lawyers said, according to Curbed.

The suit was settled out of court. According to his LinkedIn profile, Doronin has been the chairman and CEO of Miami-based real-estate development firm OKO Group since 2015.

Doronin was introduced to Aman over 30 years ago.

A work trip to Asia landed him at an Aman hotel for the first time. Almost 35 years ago, Doronin was a guest at Amanpuri in Phuket. The brand was already a hit among A-listers of the time like Princess Diana and David Bowie, per the Journal.

Doronin became a fan as well after his stay at Amanpuri. However, he said its founder, Adrian Secha, "was a creative person but he was not a good businessman."

Doronin acquired Aman Group in 2014 for $358 million.

He bought the luxury hotel chain in 2014 with partners. Since then, the brand has continued to be a hit among the wealthy and wellness-obsessed.

Aman Resorts hosts the likes of Justin Bieber, Kylie Jenner, George Clooney, and Mark Zuckerberg at its locations worldwide.

In March, he launched its sister brand, Janu, a slightly more accessible brand with its first location in Tokyo and $1,000-a-night rates.

In 2015, he partnered with a New York builder to buy space in Manhattan's Crown Building.

Along with builder Michael Shvo, Doronin paid $475 million for a portion of the Crown Building in New York City, The Real Deal reported. Shvo left the project in 2017, though kept an equity stake, it said.

Aman New York opened for guests in August 2022.

The hotel, located in the Crown Building in Manhattan, boasts a 25,000-square-foot spa and gift shop that includes $137 herbal supplements and a $255 baseball cap, the Journal reported.

The rates at the Aman Hotel can reach over $4,500 for one night. The building also hosts the Aman Club, a private members' club with a $200,000 initiation fee and $15,000 of annual dues.

Doronin is dating former model Kristina Romanova.

Doronin has reportedly been dating Kristina Romanova, 30, since 2014. Romanova is the CEO of Aman Essentials and oversees the sale of its skincare, clothes, and jewelry. They have two children.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Doronin has publicly condemned the country where he was born.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has prompted Doronin to address his ties to Russia.

"I'm against war," he told the Journal. "It doesn't matter where."

According to a statement published in 2022, he hasn't been to Russia in over five years and hasn't "conducted business in Russia in many years."

He is a spiritual man who makes wellness a hobby.

Doronin practices wellness activities and has spoken about being a student of the Taiwanese martial art of qigong.

Although he isn't always open to speaking to the press about his personal life, videos of his qigong practices can be found on YouTube.

Wellness is a common theme at Aman resorts, and Doronin has said he meditates daily.

He also is a renowned art collector.

Doronin bought the penthouse at the Aman New York for $135 million.

In a surprising turn of events, Doronin bought his own penthouse. Since 2019, he maintained that the company had an Asian buyer ready to spend $180 million on the five-floor unit.

But people familiar with the matter told the Journal that Doronin ended up closing a deal on the penthouse for $135 million, adding to his already extensive real estate catalog, which includes a condo in Manhattan, one of the few residential homes designed by Zaha Hadid in Moscow, and a Miami mansion.

"I have an apartment, but I am missing a fireplace, and I'm missing a terrace," he said in 2019 when he was considering buying a place in his New York project.

• An Amazon manager said they resisted a directive to put a worker on a performance improvement plan.
• The manager said they faced severe stress and sought FMLA to cope.
• An Amazon spokesperson said the PIP process isn't used to try to reduce the employee base.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with an Amazon employee who sought to go on medical leave because of a stressful situation that developed with their manager. This person spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing their career. Business Insider has verified the worker's identity and employment at the company. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The part of the organization I'm in used to be pretty robust. There was a thriving culture of going above and beyond. Managers gave credit when credit was due and took responsibility for mistakes. Initially, it was a good division. But then there have been several rounds of layoffs.

The leadership style has become pretty cutthroat. It seems like they skipped the process of evaluating the impact that the members of the group made and instead focused on tenure or other superficial metrics that were easy to gather.

I had a direct report who was performing extremely well, and I was expected to put them in Focus and then Pivot even though they were performing. I was explicitly told to. This person was passionate and creative with the work that they did. This person would definitely not be on the list of people I would have chosen to get rid of.

We have senior staff meetings monthly. The themes can vary. Oftentimes, when the theme is related to products or related to some specific aspects like security, there are notes. But when it's about HR or quotas on staff members or on URA — unregretted attrition — there aren't notes, and we're told that this is a confidential conversation.

In one staff meeting, my boss said this year's target for unregretted attrition should be doubled. It varies across Amazon but used to be from 5% to 15% at the absolute most. But this time, it doubled. So it now can vary from 10% to 30%.

The fight

When it came to my direct report, I tried to fight back. I tried to convince my manager by providing them with a one-pager about the contributions they had brought in just over a year and some of the bottlenecks that they were able to unclog.

Later on, I believed one of the reasons I was put in Focus was because I resisted doing what I was told instead of actually doing what I thought was the right thing.

My manager asked me to jump on a call, and they basically told me, "Hey, there's no way you can fight this. It's already decided." And they said, "My hands are tied as well. So, you can waste our time and get yourself on the radar, or you can just find a way to make this happen smoothly."

When I finally gave in to my manager's request for my direct report, I was told to put them in Focus for 30 days. The system allows up to 60 days. Then, for Pivot, I was told to pick two weeks.

So, I put in the 30 days, but then I kept extending it. Because if I were to put 60 days, management would have noticed. With the extensions, it came to 90 days. I was able to give the person three months rather than one in Focus.

The reckoning

Eventually, management caught up to it. Amazon can be clueless, but not to that degree.

My manager got pinged by HR about this situation — that I'd been messing with this system. Then I got a message in Slack from my manager saying we had to jump on a call.

That conversation was not great. I got a sense that my manager was potentially going to put me in Focus because of how they were berating me. First, they said that I caused an issue for them with HR, that there was a certain quota that the manager had to meet, and that my direct report was supposed to be gone by now. The fact that I had been able to get away with this was because my manager wasn't checking. My manager said I put a target on their back by doing this. And they said they trusted me with this task, and I fucked it up for them.

It was a short conversation — like 10 minutes. As soon as I got off the call, I filed for a leave of absence. During the conversation, my boss didn't say anything regarding whether they were going to do anything to me. But their expression made it clear that they were openly pissed.

Amazon's Disability & Leave Services department provided me with a document and gave me 30 days to get it filled out by a medical provider. The entire FMLA process was a hurdle for me. I didn't even know, initially, that I could obtain medical leave based on my mental state.

Before I got FMLA, I was extremely distressed. I went to my physician. They were interested in helping me out, but when I told them that I might want to take FMLA, they said we should refer you to this specialist and then that specialist.

I spent almost a month — every freaking day — going from appointment to appointment. I wasted like $3,000 in copays for all of the appointments. That's insane. Especially at a time when I was not getting paid. It took me almost the entire month to complete the FMLA form. I was really stressed. Once the approval came through, I got 60% of my base pay.

I had to call my insurance company about mental health benefits. I was having panic attacks every 20 minutes. I was in a state of mental collapse — spiritual and mental collapse — at that point. The company suggested I call 988, the mental health hotline. I didn't call because they would take me to the ER or something. They also referred me to a counselor. This counselor saw the state I was in, and they clearly knew that I needed the time that I needed and was willing to provide the documentation for FMLA.

The panic attacks were because of the fear that I actually had to come back to the workplace and then suffer whatever was waiting — on top of the bills that I needed to pay.

I later heard from my manager while I was on FMLA, and they informed me that I had been put on Focus. They tried to entice me to come back. They said some variation of, "I'll get you out of Focus. Just come back now." I didn't believe them. I figured my manager was trying to get me to come back before my leave was over because they were facing their own deadline to get rid of me.

After my manager realized they weren't going to be able to get me to go back early, they revealed that they were tasked with getting me out by a certain date. I think the reason they revealed this was because they appreciated that I'd told them about how I made FMLA work.

Then, my manager made clear that the due date they were facing for pushing me out was before my return from FMLA. That was one of the objectives they had to meet to get themselves out of Focus. As a result of my decision not to come back early, my manager said they would not be able to meet one of the requirements of their Focus plan. So, they were going to go on FMLA to avoid getting put in Pivot.

I was shocked that the manager, as part of a plan for them to get out of Focus, was tasked with pushing me out of the organization by enticing me back before my FMLA expired. That way, they could put me in Pivot to ensure I would leave and save themselves from Pivot. It was like a diabolical game of musical chairs.

Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson, told BI via email:

Business Insider declined to give us any information to review this individual employee's experience, and based on the questions we were asked, there appear to be a number of inaccuracies about our performance management process in their report. Like most companies, we have a performance management process that helps our managers identify who on their teams are performing well and who needs more support. The vast majority of our colleagues regularly meet or exceed expectations, but for the small number of employees who don't, we provide coaching and opportunities to help them improve. If they're unable to do that, then we may have to discuss them leaving the company. To suggest we use our performance management process to drive any other outcome, such as reducing our employee base, is wrong.

Do you have something to share about what you're seeing in your workplace? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our workplace team from a nonwork device at thegrind@businessinsider.com with your story or to ask for one of our reporter's Signal numbers. Or check out Business Insider's source guide for tips on sharing information securely.

• Warren Buffett met with Barack Obama years before he became President.
• The billionaire said the rich should pay more tax, and flagged wealth inequality as a big problem.
• Buffett attributed a chunk of his success to luck and defended inheritance taxes.

Warren Buffett called for higher taxes on the rich, bemoaned wealth inequality, and credited a big part of his success to luck in a conversation with Barack Obama long before he became president.

The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO also blasted generational wealth and complained about his unfairly low tax rate while speaking to the then-Illinois senator.

Obama recounted his meeting with the billionaire at Berkshire's headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska in his 2006 book: "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream."

Here are Buffett's six best quotes to Obama:

1. "Though I've never used tax shelters or had a tax planner, after including the payroll taxes we each pay, I'll pay a lower effective tax rate this year than my receptionist. In fact, I'm pretty sure I pay a lower rate than the average American. And if the president has his way, I'll be paying even less."

2. "The free market's the best mechanism ever devised to put resources to their most efficient and productive use. The government isn't particularly good at that. But the market isn't so good at making sure that the wealth that's produced is being distributed fairly or wisely.

   "Some of that wealth has to be plowed back into education, so that the next generation has a fair chance, and to maintain our infrastructure, and provide some sort of safety net for those who lose out in a market economy. And it just makes sense that those of us who've benefited most from the market should pay a bigger share."

3. "When you get rid of the estate tax, you're basically handing over command of the country's resources to people who didn't earn it. It's like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the children of all the winners at the 2000 Games."
4. Obama asked how many billionaires agreed with Buffett about raising taxes on the rich. Buffett responded: "I'll tell you, not very many. They have this idea that it's 'their money' and they deserve to keep every penny of it. What they don't factor in is all the public investment that lets us live the way we do."
5. "I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner."
6. "I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to develop that talent, and set up the laws and the financial system to let me do what I love doing — and make a lot of money doing it. The least I can do is help pay for all that."

• "Outlander" aired eight episodes of season seven in 2023 before taking a lengthy midseason hiatus.
• It's now been announced that the second half of season seven will begin airing on November 22, 2024.
• Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe will be back alongside fan favorites from earlier seasons.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Outlander" season seven.

We're in one of the longest Droughtlanders to date, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. The team behind the much-loved Starz drama has announced the premiere date for the remaining episodes of season seven.

As audiences may already know, the current season is the show will be the longest since season one, consisting of 16 episodes. While the first eight were released last summer, the second half will begin airing on Friday, November 22, 2024.

When viewers last saw Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe), they had just completed the journey back to Scotland after an unexpected sequence of events at the second battle of Saratoga. Meanwhile, Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) were faced with the prospect that their young son had been kidnapped and possibly taken through the standing stones at Craigh na Dun.

From which cast members you can expect to see in the remaining episodes to details on the Diana Gabaldon books the episodes will be based on, here's everything we know about the second part of "Outlander" season seven.

The second part of "Outlander" season seven will premiere on November 22, 2024.

Season seven was given a supersized 16-episode order after season six was truncated as a result of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the first half aired in 2023, audiences were told that the remaining eight episodes would be released sometime in 2024.

We now know when exactly that will be, thanks to an announcement delivered to fans on "World Outlander Day" on June 1. The annual holiday celebrates the anniversary of the publication of Diana Gabaldon's first book in the best-selling historical fantasy series.

This year, Starz, the network behind "Outlander," marked the day by sharing the news that the highly anticipated second half of season seven will premiere on Friday, November 22.

Audiences can look forward to one episode being released every week on Fridays at midnight ET on all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms. On linear, the new episodes will debut weekly at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

The new episodes will see Jamie and Claire's marriage "tested like never before," according to a synopsis.

A synopsis of the new episodes shared by Starz alongside the teaser trailer released on June 1 indicates that Jamie and Claire are not necessarily on safe ground just because they're back in Scotland.

"The perils of the Revolutionary War force them to choose between standing by those they love and fighting for the land they have made their new home," it reads.

The synopsis continues: "Meanwhile, Roger and Brianna face new enemies across time and must battle the forces that threaten to pull their family apart. As loyalties change and painful secrets come to light, Jamie and Claire's marriage is tested like never before."

"With their love binding them over oceans and centuries, can the MacKenzies and Frasers find their way back to each other?"

All of the episodes of season seven were shot between 2022 and 2023.

The 2023 actors and writers' strikes in Hollywood put a pin on almost all productions for a while and caused something of a backlog, but "Outlander" fans will be pleased to learn that the second part of season seven was filmed way ahead of time between 2022 and early 2023.

The cast and crew returned to the set in Scotland to begin filming both parts of the season back to back in April 2022 and confirmed via an announcement on Twitter that filming had concluded in February 2023.

Heughan also shared the news with his Instagram followers, alongside a photo of himself and Balfe smiling while holding a clapperboard. 

"That's a WRAP!!! 220 shooting days, a whole year of Outlander," he wrote. "THANK YOU to our amazing crew who have worked so hard and to our brilliant fans…we CANNOT WAIT for you to see season 8 @outlander_starz."

The episodes will be based on the events of the seventh and eighth "Outlander" novels by Diana Gabaldon.

Since it began airing in 2014, the romance drama has roughly adapted one book a season. 

However, since season six was truncated, the first part of season seven actually covered some later events from Diana Gabaldon's sixth "Outlander" installment, "A Breath of Snow and Ashes," before delving into the events of the seventh book, "An Echo in the Bone."

Executive producer Maril Davis has told Business Insider that the second part of the season will continue to wrap up the events of "An Echo in the Bone" before launching into the action of the eighth book, "Written in My Own Heart's Blood."

That will allow the writers to fully dedicate the show's eighth and final season to the ninth book in the series, "Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone." While there is another book in the works,  it's unlikely that it will be published before the show ends.

Sam Heughan, Caitríona Balfe and the rest of the main cast are all expected to return for the new episodes.

"Outlander" wouldn't be "Outlander" without its two main stars, and it's impossible to think of the show continuing without them, so, of course, Heughan and Balfe will be returning.

The pair, who have both held the additional role of executive producers since season five, play 18th-century Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser and his time-hopping, devoted wife Claire Randall Fraser.

In addition, audiences can expect to see the couple's daughter, Brianna MacKenzie (Skelton), and her husband, Roger MacKenzie (Rankin), back on screen.

Given their importance to Brianna and Roger's storyline, their new acquaintance, Buck MacKenzie (Diarmaid Murtagh), and adversary, Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton), will also make an appearance.

Young Ian (John Bell), Lord John Grey (David Berry), and the recently reintroduced William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart) will also be back, Starz has confirmed.

The Hunter siblings (Izzy Meikle-Small and Joey Phillips) will also return, but Davis has hinted that we might not see so much of them, telling BI: "We've left them behind for a little bit, but we are going to come back to them."

 

 

Audiences can also look forward to seeing some fan favorites from the show's earlier seasons.

It was announced in late 2022 that several characters not seen since the show's early days will rejoin the action in the show's seventh season.

These include Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish), Laoghaire Fraser (Nell Hudson), Brian Fraser (Andrew Whipp), Joan MacKimmie (Layla Burns), Ian Murray (Steven Cree), and Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek).

Deadline reported that Jenny Murray, Jamie's sister will also make an appearance, but she will be played by Kristin Atherton, instead of Laura Donnelly, who originated the role.

Given that some of the returning characters are dead, audiences may be wondering how exactly they will be written back into the story. While flashbacks are possible, showrunner Matthew B. Roberts hinted at another option.

"One of the many joys of our epic story is the element of time travel which allows us to revisit some of our favorite characters in different times and places," he said in a statement to BI.

This will be the penultimate season of "Outlander" after it was announced the eighth season would be its last.

In January 2023, Starz confirmed the show would return for one final run after season seven.

"For nearly a decade, 'Outlander' has won the hearts of audiences worldwide, and we're pleased to bring Claire and Jamie's epic love story to a proper conclusion," said Kathryn Busby, Starz's original programming president, in a statement.

Like "Game of Thrones," another much-loved TV drama adapted from a long-running series of books, "Outlander" will likely end its run on television before the final novel is released.

However, fans won't have to say goodbye to "Outlander" for good, as a prequel series has been greenlighted. "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" will tell two parallel origin stories: how Jamie's parents came to meet and Claire's parents' war-time romance.

Find out everything we know so far about the prequel series, including who has been cast in the main roles as Jamie and Claire's parents, here.

Check out the teaser trailer for the second half of "Outlander" season 7

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djb82JXEPRE?si=BsfMoSI0y_Dj9OSt&w=560&h=315]

 

• I'm American and my husband is Spanish. We spent time between the two countries. 
• Our 5-year-old daughter is being raised with both cultures. 
• Kids in Spain speak multiple languages, including local dialects, and kids behave at meal time. 

I'm American, and my husband is Spanish. We have a 4-year-old daughter and spend time in both countries, immersing ourselves in both cultures. My daughter is being raised as an American but with the cultural inputs from her time in Spain.

The city we live in in Spain — Zaragoza — is a vibrant midsize city full of families, which was part of the appeal of our part-time move. In addition, it is where my husband grew up.

I've noticed some differences between Spanish kids and American kids.

Kids often speak multiple languages

My daughter has made some friends in Spain already, and we're so impressed by their ability to speak multiple languages. These kids are learning French, Spanish, English, and even Catalan in school. I'm blown away by their inherent ability to tackle these languages at a young age.

But the standard of education also seems to be higher in Spain. My husband likes to tell me that he never saw a multiple-choice test before he came to the US and jokes that in math, they used a pen and not a pencil, so there were no erasing mistakes. This makes him sound so old, but really, I think the schools in Spain are just more old-fashioned.

There's an emphasis on mealtime being family time

In Spain, kids are taught to be seen and not heard. I'm on the fence about whether this is a positive or negative thing, but I'll admit I've seen more poorly behaved-kids in the US than in Spain. I hate seeing parents plug their kids into tablets or cellphones, something that never happens with Spanish kids.

Even the toddlers are still out and about with their parents having tapas or eating their very late dinner at 9 p.m. and onward til midnight.

My daughter is part of our conversations, and we get to talk about serious things or the unicorn drawing she made that day.

That said, it is also still common for people to smoke cigarettes in Spain, including during meal times. It's accepted as the norm even with kids around, which I don't love.

Kids eat less junk food and sugar

In Spain, kids can go home for lunch during the school day, where a family member will cook them a home-cooked meal. I have never seen this happen in the US.

Also, fast food is virtually nonexistent, and the Spanish version of sweets (like cookies and cakes) seems to lack flavor and sugar, so kids are probably well-mannered because they are not running on sugar.

My daughter is more adventurous with food than her US friends, who tend to gravitate toward chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.

They spend more time outdoors

In the US, we have the luxury of space, but in Spain, most big cities offer only a shoebox apartment with no yard to run in. So kids need a place to be kids and get energy out. There are playgrounds in virtually every plaza, and a bonus for the parents — terrace cafés are often adjacent. Parents can enjoy a drink and tapas while kids chase each other around the playground.

Sports like soccer are huge for children, who are often quite active after school. Kids love to ride their bikes, and due to the pedestrian and public transportation-friendly cities, children are forced to walk more anyway.

My daughter loves her time in both countries, and making friends from different nationalities. She knows family is everything — a more Spanish notion — and that also kids are allowed to be kids, more like in the US.