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Melia Russell Profile
Melia Russell

@meliarobin

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muh-LEE-ah is a @businessinsider reporter covering startups and venture capital. Sunny side up eggs and disposition.

Greater Boston
Joined September 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 months
Now when you Google search "founder wife" you get Priscilla and me ๐Ÿ˜‚
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Someone (not saying who) is very afraid of Roomba.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
I've been promoted to correspondent, writing about startups and venture capital at Insider! โœจ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
SCOOP ๐Ÿฟ A Silicon Valley lawmaker and venture capitalists are teaming up to create a startup visa, providing a path for immigrant entrepreneurs to stay. The bill will be introduced on Monday. Details here.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
SCOOP: @expensify 's IPO could make nearly all 140 employees paper millionaires, after the company surprised them with a 10% stock grant on listing day. "I think I'll just hold on to it," one employee told me.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
SCOOP: After their boss emailed the company's 10 million customers saying vote Biden, Expensify employees have been under attack from fake customers and bots. But what's interesting, employees say the email has fortified their decision to work there.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Friday news dump: Iโ€™ve been promoted to senior tech correspondent at @businessinsider . ๐Ÿฅณ I never thought I could have my dream job while working from the woodsy small town where I grew up, but here I am. #LFG
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
With deals happening every day, PR people are struggling to place funding stories. Well, Iโ€™m working on two for next week! Hereโ€™s why their pitches worked for me. 1. Offered as exclusives 2. Disclosed valuations 3. Hit on a fundraising trend 4. Told an interesting company story
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
@AlexShultz ๐Ÿคฏ๐Ÿคฏ๐Ÿคฏ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
8 years
The King of the North is the one true king. @GameOfThrones #GoTSDCC
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
1 year
@StuartBlitz โ€œSureโ€ really boils my blood
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
Our dog walker is moving. It kills me that Nubs has no idea. I wish I could warn him, comfort him. Best friends should never move away. @kylebrussell @darth
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Y Combinator, Kleiner Perkins, A16Z, Banana Capital
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 months
RIP my sex life
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Covid is sweeping through my family. Four generations hit. Iโ€™m taking two weeks off to care for my mini and me โ€” send good thoughts our way ๐Ÿ™
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
This was a first for me.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
8 years
This is how much marijuana it would take to kill you โ€” from @davidschmader 's excellent book, "Weed."
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
I did it. I found the worst startup of 2020 ... "a hookup startup for cruise-goers"
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Clubhouse founders @pdavison @rohanseth have 9+ failed social apps between them. They essentially brute-force attacked their way to creating a new kind of app. Here's the story of their overnight success 10 years in the making. @eladgil @andrewchen
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
I stumbled on Craigslist's careers page, and holy smokes, should I become a JavaScript developer at Craigslist?
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Every year, more women barrel through the doors of venture capital's boys' club. To toast their success, we're recognizing those who made partner or GP for the first time in 2021. Cheers ladies ๐Ÿฅ‚
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I got pink highlights and no one noticed on my first day back at work so seeking compliments here ๐Ÿ‘‡
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
IT'S HERE! Our annual round-up of the big tech trends to watch in 2021, according to VCs and super angels. In a nutshell, Silicon Valley is back. All-white, male boards are out. And SPACs? TBD.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
1 year
At least 27 women in venture capital rose to partner or higher in 2022. We have the full list. Notably, a number of women launched their own funds, and @lightspeedvp hired five female check-writers. Cheers ladies ๐Ÿฅ‚
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
My husband is a startup founder and I joined his appโ€™s TestFlight today. It was a big moment for both of us because I got my first name handle! ๐ŸŽ‰โ˜บ๏ธ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
. @AndrewYang says tech wants to regulate tech, too. "There's this notion that techies are averse to any sort of conversation about guidelines on technology, and that hasn't been my experience. The technologists I've talked to, they're pretty reasonable."
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
"When thereโ€™s a tool that is immediately useful and timing matters โ€” because the value of the information declines every minute โ€” reminding people and making them aware of (the tool) is not unethical,โ€ said @ScottAdamsSays .
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
6 years
After five wonderful years at Business Insider, this newshound and I are joining @sfchronicle to cover the people and companies in tech. I'm ecstatic to be part of an organization that ignites so much positive change in San Francisco. I start 9/17 โ€” let's grab coffee!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 months
My whole feed is journalists announcing new positions. It makes me hopeful for a brighter year in media. โœจ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
NEW: April Koh built a $2 billion mental-health startup by age 29. Current and former employees tell me she led a fast-paced culture that created panic and fear.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
I've spent the last month reporting on Coinbase, so this was an especially interesting case study in a company doing the opposite of an "apolitical" approach. Expensify CEO @dbarrett invited all employees to edit his email in Google Docs and publicly debate its contents on Slack.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
Weโ€™re trying to re-crate train our 2yo Nubs after lapsing into bed snuggles. Last two nights he cried for an hour straight before we caved. Parenting is hard.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
My @fitbit scale asked me again today, "Who is this?" because of my pregnancy weight gain. Momentarily disappointed. Then my husband suggested Fitbit needs to hire more women who would design with childbearing-age women in mind. Good answer, honey!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
And even employees who disagreed with sending the email told me they're happier than ever to work at Expensify.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Solo capitalist @atShruti says she's typically the only woman in a funding round. Last month, she orchestrated a deal for a startup with an ๐Ÿ‘ all-female ๐Ÿ‘ cap table. "I'd do it again and again."
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Free startup idea: Clubhouse for people on the East Coast who go to bed at 9pm.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Hey PR friends: Can we please make dial-ins the default for interviews again? ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™
@chrissyfarr
Christina Farr
2 years
Trying to switch as many of my Zoom calls as possible to phone calls. It's not good for anyone's health & wellbeing to sit stationary on video for 8+ hours a day.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Every time I want to gripe about a โ€œpr failโ€ in a tweet, I do it in slack instead. No good comes from groaning here, and if the roles were reversed Iโ€™d feel terrible about myself.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
11 months
Iโ€™m taking a month off to celebrate my TEN YEARS with Business Insider. Iโ€™ll be dusting off the Peloton bike, wallpapering my office, reading Jennette McCurdyโ€™s book, and traveling to Nova Scotia on a solo getaway! Got a tip? I made a cheat sheet on who to reach ๐ŸŒž
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
25 days
Applying to YC? @daltonc and @mwseibel reveal their biggest application icks: - too many extracurriculars tied to startups (their advice: just start building) - hedging that they might still go to biz school - bloated founding teams - ownership weighted toward biz cofounder
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
Coinbaseโ€™s office used to have signs indicating employees can use the bathroom where they feel most comfortable. Those signs were deemed too political and were removed, former employees tell me. Scoop:
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
22 days
โ€œI know he doesnโ€™t get along very well with Marc Andreessen.โ€ โ€œThen Bill and I have that in common.โ€ ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ
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@TechCrunch
TechCrunch
23 days
Ripplingโ€™s Parker Conrad on the companyโ€™s new round, new SF lease, and also, its newest critic
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Insider just announced a new policy of giving 10 days of COVID sick time for all employees and fellows. It applies to those caring for a family member who's affected. This is how companies support working moms!!!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
27 days
PR people: hey, I hope youโ€™re having a good day!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
I had my 37 week checkup this morning! Baby's head is down. My blood pressure was normal. What a great way to start my day. โ˜บ๏ธ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 months
startup founders are stepping down as CEOs to become VCs who will step down at firms to go back to operating so they can start angel investing on the side to build their track records to become GPs who wi
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
1 year
a16z has in recent months been in discussions to form a fund of funds. It aims to front cash to solo GPs and emerging managers, with the hope that those same investors nudge them toward promising young startups in their portfolios.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
6 years
The state of San Francisco's homelessness crisis in 2018. @wafoli
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
Expensify's office is closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, so the company wasn't able to offer the usual morale boosters. Instead, employees were told to expense a nice dinner for them and a plus-one over weekend.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
Serena Williams' VC firm has quietly removed Coinbase from the investments page on its website. The fund got started in 2014 to invest "in companies that embrace diverse leadership, individual empowerment, creativity and opportunity." ๐Ÿ‘€
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
My favorite nugget from reporting this story: After customer success was deluged with negative, sometimes abusive, comments, Expensify created a new triage system for complaints about the email. Senior leaders, including Barrett, are stepping in to handle those conversations.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
Women have been historically left out of VC, which is why I'm so excited about the rise of solo fund managers. (Look at this image!) They raise capital because they have a unique insight or skillset that makes them superior at building companies. โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿ‘Š
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
They asked in my exit interview what I liked best about my job. Working at an institution like the San Francisco Chronicle means the bar โ€” for quality, accuracy and integrityโ€” is high. My editors challenged me to the best version of myself. Iโ€™m forever grateful. ๐Ÿ“ท @rolandlisf
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I'm overseeing our year-end list of the "startups to bet your career on" in 2022. Tenth anniversary of the list! It's the first time we're going international with our picks, so I'm crowdsourcing a bit. Tell me who you like for the list and we'll take it into consideration!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
After a year at the San Francisco Chronicle learning from the most intrepid people in newspaper, today is my last day. I relate my experience to grad school. I grew my skills, worked on passion projects, and relearned to stretch a paycheck. A worthwhile investment in every way.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Today is a special day โ€” it's my @BusinessInsider anniversary!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 months
I dropped my wedding ring down a vent this morning. Sobbing, I call my dad. He says donโ€™t worry Iโ€™m on my way. Less than a hour later he recovers the ring with a Swiffer duster. My dad rules.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
I'm working on a boilerplate statement I can send to people when they complain about the paywall. Here's what I have so far. Please make any suggestions! "We are a for-profit company that uses subscription revenue to hire and keep journalists like myself :)"
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Iโ€™m calling it! The great venture-capital resignation is underway, and it will unleash a wave of partners leaving big firms to raise their own funds.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
Expensify has done the opposite of Mailchimp. Employees start with roughly one-third of their compensation in equity and have compensation reviews twice a year where they can opt for even more of their pay in equity.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I don't know why some startups make it so impossible to find their PR email address on their website. Put it on the "Press" page and at the very top, please!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
IT'S HERE! Our annual list of the big tech trends to watch in 2022, according to venture capitalists. tldr: Web3 is popular; fundraising "party rounds" will boom; and the return to offices is canceled.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
Can anyone recommend a good couples counselor?
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
Bringing this energy into 2020 ... โ€œWe are in the fortunate position, even with the new product, to be substantially oversubscribed,โ€ said @foundersfund COO Lauren Gross. โ€œWe have good returns, and Iโ€™m good at my job.โ€
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
For VCs, publishing a list of tech predictions is a New Year's tradition as time-honored as champagne at midnight. 2019 did not disappoint. Here are my top picks from @semil @briannekimmel @fredwilson @mondesai @TaliaGold and others.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 months
I have turned down more funding exclusives in the past 48 hours than I *received* in any given month in 2023.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
7 years
I called 7 hotels and offices in San Francisco that have a Bodega according to the co website. No one had any idea what I was talking about.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Iโ€™m turning video on for meetings so long as my pink highlights last
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
It's summer in San Francisco so I just inhaled an It's-It ice cream sandwich at my desk while wearing a puffy down jacket.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
8 years
Why virtual reality will be the most social computing platform โ€” a must-read for holdouts.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
6 years
The Scooter Wars of 2018: There will be blood. #halloweencostume
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
Rolling back work permits for the spouses of H-1B visa holders could have sweeping consequences for the Bay Area, where tech companies heavily rely on high-skilled immigrants, @TalKopan reports - tip @Techmeme
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
9 years
How a transgender YouTube star is surviving high school. @jordvnhaus @MileyCyrus http://t.co/LxpR8f6l9p http://t.co/awY0joIDoL
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
The hit to the business has been minimal so far. Only a small faction of customers, 0.5%, have written into the company to talk about the email, and far fewer have gone so far as to cancel their accounts, according to employees.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Drafting day! I went to a hip coffee shop and threw on some lipstick to get the creative juices flowing. Can any writers relate?
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Journo request: I want to talk to founders who are still writing checks into startups (as angel investors or fund managers). Who should I chat with? DMs are open.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I have two (exclusive) venture-capital personnel stories dropping today. One firm promoted its second-ever female partner. One firm promoted three rising-star Black leaders in VC. Letss goooo ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿฅ‚๐Ÿ’ธ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I have a story coming out tomorrow that I think ๐Ÿ‘people ๐Ÿ‘ will ๐Ÿ‘ have ๐Ÿ‘ opinions ๐Ÿ‘ about ๐Ÿ˜ฌ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
Is Axios the a16z of media right now? ๐Ÿค” Theyโ€™re scooping up some incredible journalists in quick succession. Lucinda Shen. Kerry Flynn. Erin Brodwin. Ryan Lawler. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
My Halloween costume is Founder Scissorhands, and Iโ€™m cutting burn rate
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I spent way too much time scrolling through opensea while reporting this story ... now all I want is to adopt a witch!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
4 years
Today has been a great day for my pregnancy. Someone gave up their subway seat for the first time, and when I reached for a second bagel at the office, my team cheered me on! "One for you, one for baby!"
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
5 years
@stephyang10 I'm so glad you asked. Over-the-moon excited to announce in September, I rejoin Business Insider as a startups and tech culture reporter. It feels like a homecoming.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
25 days
Greetings from @ycombinator Statup School East! The accelerator has bused in students from across the Northeast to hear stories and advice from YC founders and partners. The vibe is very prospective studentโ€™s day โ€” all smiles and high hopes. Come say hi ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿงก๐ŸŠ
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
3 years
His name is Nubs (named for his hooked tail) and he turns 5 in November. He's an American Staff and Cane Corso mix who loves gutting toys and sunbathing.
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I'm going to Kauai and leaving my computer at home. ๐ŸŒด Please hold PR pitches until Wednesday, 8/23. Thanks!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
2 years
I tested negative!
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@meliarobin
Melia Russell
1 year
New: @Superhuman is releasing a ChatGPT-powered writing assistant that drafts email, cleans up spelling and grammar, and rewrites messages in the sender's "voice" based on past emails. It's now available to a private beta.
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