Hi everyone! Our second report of 2026, can you feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair? Our guest this week is Tami Hamden, co-founder of Women in Brand. I had the pleasure of speaking with both Tami and Victoria on their podcast recently, and couldn’t believe they were able to so politely power through me talking at them for an hour. That takes matriarchal strength and divine composition.
Find both of them on Instagram, Linkedin, or Right Here on Substack.
But in seriousness, Tami and Victoria make women in creative industries feel heard. Excited to introduce you to 🥁🥁🥁 Tami Hamden.
I'm Tami! I'm a struggling optimist, brand strategist, a failing bookworm and a glutton for culture. I'm building a community called Women in Brand, which is my too-late-but-still-relevant answer to Don Draper/the patriarchy/gatekeeping in creative that somehow still exists in 2026. I'm so lucky that I get to do that with my formidable co-founder Victoria Montgomery, and with a team of amazing women who care as much about our mission as I do!
R: Reading
I'm on the brink of finishing Katabasis by RF Kuang (generally speaking a good story with a little too much intellectual padding) which is a delicious place to be as a bibliophile because, of course, I am already cheating on it planning my next read.
I'm a loyal person by nature but books are the only thing I cannot get myself to be completely faithful to.
E: Eating
Honestly, I don't know who needs to hear this… but have you tried applying flaky sea salt to literally anything? Because guess what, it's like putting flavors in bold type. I recently had ice cream with olive oil and sea salt over top and I find myself now fantasizing about it as I'm living an ordinary life.
(Anna’s note: enjoy this 101 guide if you’re feeling confused, scared, and/or deeply unchic in your lack of knowledge of flaky salt)
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P: Playing
I've been pretty loyal to Lux for a minute now - if you want to have a main character moment to die for just blast that album in your noise cancelling headphones as you're doing any task. I love the return to lush maximalism, and the crescendo of that moment we're experiencing culturally and I'm already dreading the horizon of a return to beige and leopard print being considered passe.
It's so much more fun to be immersed in beauty, isn't it?
O: Obsessing
Fair warning, when you ask brand/culture strategists' about obsessions they tend to be a wormhole we've recently travelled down.
For me, that's the idea of our online and offline selves - where they meet, where they differ, how we're creating cognitive dissonance between these two personas that we have to inhabit and code switch between. How the 'authencity-maxxing' and masking online is making that even more of a toll on us.
R: Recommending
My heritage is suuuuuper important to me so I'm going to give you a Palestinian Fusion Twist~ on some recommendations:
Medjool dates stuffed with peanut butter (and per our earlier conversation, throw some flaky sea salt up in there too)
The song 'Kalamantina' by Saint Levant - the sound of my entire summer 2025
Speak, Bird, Speak Again - a book of Palestinian folk tales
T: Treating
Honestly? Putting my phone in a different room.
But in the non-dystopian sense: I'm a lymphatic drainage massage convert. Nothing is sexier than a regulated nervous system, amirighttttt
Parting thoughts for Midwestheticians: Community is the answer to disillusionment, cynicism, and fatigue. People over screens. And failing that, just put your phone in the other room for a little while. I hope that helps.
One more scroll and I swear I’ll be a better person,
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What a joy doing this, and what a joy your podcast episode was. Can I spend every waking moment surrounded by brilliant women doing what they do and being incredibly stylish while doing it? The experiment of my life x