Why Selena Gomez Is Not A Billionaire. Plus: Stop Overthinking

Forbes

16-05-2025

This is this week's ForbesWomen newsletter, which every Thursday brings news about the world's top female entrepreneurs, leaders and investors straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list!
Late last week, the FDA granted approval to something that could change the paradigm for cervical cancer screening in the U.S.: It greenlit the Teal Wand, an at-home HPV screening device from Teal Health. Following the announcement, I spoke with Kara Egan, the cofounder and CEO of Teal Health, about what exactly this means for how women get screened for cervical cancer—and when her device will be available commercially.
'The clinical study results show we have the same accuracy as the doctor-collected samples,' Egan explained. Plus, she said, '94% of women in our clinical trial said they prefer this to the standard of care.' (AKA, the invasive and often painful pap smear.)
Egan said that she and her team at Teal are getting ready to launch commercially in June, starting in California, and she hopes other states quickly follow. Gallup data shows that some 72 million women have skipped or delayed a preventative healthcare test, and Egan's own research through Teal had similar findings.
'While there are definitely populations that are less likely to be screened—uninsured are near 40% less likely to be on top of their screenings—what we found was it was near-universal: One in four women are behind on their screenings.'
Egan and I also talked a bit about the entrepreneurial inspiration behind Teal, and how her background in healthcare investing helped her build the company with her cofounder. You can check out the full conversation here!
Cheers!
Maggie
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MARCH 2: Selena Gomez attends the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar After Party Arrivals ... More on March 3, 2025 at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In September 2024, Bloomberg reported Selena Gomez' net worth to be $1.3 billion thanks to her makeup line, Rare Beauty, which was founded in 2019 and launched in 2020. Multiple media outlets have since called the 32-year-old Gomez a billionaire as well. Based on Forbes' reporting, Gomez is very wealthy, but estimated to be worth roughly $700 million. This figure still ranks the former Disney Star among the wealthiest self-made female entrepreneurs in the country—and one of the richest celebrities—but the breakdown of her fortune helps explain why she may be somewhat limited in how much money she can or is willing to sink into Wondermind, the mental health startup that in recent weeks has missed payroll and laid off two-thirds of its staff.
American tennis player Coco Gauff during the Italian Open of tennis at Foro Italico. Rome (Italy), ... More May 14th, 2025 (Photo by Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Forbes released its annual list of the world's highest paid athletes on Thursday, and for the second consecutive year, no woman lands among the world's top 50. Serena Williams was the last to do it, in 2023—her sixth appearance on the list in nine years—but she has settled into retirement and is no longer eligible. Here's why not even Coco Gauff made this year's final cut.
Touchland, a buzzy hand sanitizer and body spray brand founded by Andrea Lisbona and launched in 2018, announced Monday that it has been acquired for up to $880 million by personal care conglomerate Church & Dwight. The deal includes $700 million at closing and another $180 million contingent on Touchland's 2025 net sales. (Trailing twelve month sales as of March 31 hit $130 million, the company says.)
'Everything would be better if we blew open the model of what good leadership looks like,' says founder and executive Amanda Litman, whose new book, When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership, came out this week. Litman spoke to ForbesWomen contributor Marianne Schnall about the book's launch and how the next generation of leaders can transform outdated leadership models and workplace cultures to lead in new ways.
A last-minute proposal on the sale of public land from House Republicans during budget negotiations could have negative ramifications for the communities nearest the parcels that could be privatized, says Jennifer Novak, an environmental lawyer. Novak spoke to ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath on "Forbes Newsroom" about the proposal and what it could mean for communities near public land in the long term.
1. Break free from over-thinking. Opportunities to overthink are endless. The good news is that there are some strategies we can all use to break the cycle of over-thinking. One that sounds particularly intriguing? Schedule your 'worry time.'
2. Own the power of your own brand. Melissa Ben-Ishay, cofounder and CEO of cupcake chain Baked by Melissa, didn't initially want to be the CEO of her own company. She spoke to ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath about how she tapped into her inner confidence and built the skills she needed to become not just founder and creative, but chief executive.
3. Make friends in your 40s. Some 53% of American adults report having between one and four close friends, and 8% say they have no close friends. If you want to build a stronger inner circle, here are some proven strategies that work.
More than a decade of air traffic control staffing issues have been coming to a head recently, particularly at Newark Liberty International Airport where hundreds of flights were disrupted following multiple communications outages between air traffic control and pilots. Which major U.S. airport also reported communications issues this week?
Check your answer.