Postcards

Rethinking the online education revolution

I met Pooja Sankar two years ago after she founded Piazza, a collaboration platform that facilitates class discussion among students and teachers. Starting with a few students at Stanford, Piazza now is used at top universities such as Stanford and Princeton and MIT and in 25 countries around the world. With $7.5 million in funding from Sequoia Capital and Bessemer Ventures, Sankar, 32, aspires to play a key role in MORE

H20 2.0: Speech lessons from Marco Rubio

You can learn from yesterday's laugh line--to make sure you aren't tomorrow's!

Guest Post by Mary Civiello

By now, most of us have seen Senator Marco Rubio's awkward snatch of Poland Spring during his State of the Union response.

And if you have spoken in front of an audience, you can empathize.

A combination of nerves and bright lights causes you to sweat, dehydrate, and need H2O NOW.

The longer you wait, the worse it MORE

Behind the shuffle of women execs at NBCU

FORTUNE -- The Fortune Most Powerful Women list includes, among its 50 execs, three stars at NBC Universal. The most powerful of the trio has just gained more ground.

NBCU's announcement yesterday that Bonnie Hammer, No. 33 on Fortune's power list, is now in charge of all of the company's cable entertainment channels is not such a great surprise. Hammer reprogrammed and built USA Network and Syfy into two of the MORE

How to tell a great business story

Every business has a story.

When I went to Stanford last week to interview Tory Burch about her amazing story (Young woman with no formal education in design and no MBA builds a $2.5 billion business from scratch in less than a decade!), the University folks asked me if I would let them interview me about, yes, the art of storytelling.

Over 29 years of writing for Fortune, I've learned a lot MORE

The man who dressed Michelle Obama

Thom Browne isn't the most famous person to come out of Allentown, Pa.—that would be automotive industry icon Lee Iacocca. But the New York fashion designer had his dose of fame this week.

When Michelle Obama and the President stepped out of their limousine on Inauguration Day morning, people were talking about the First Lady's sleek, checkered navy coat. The man who designed Mrs. Obama's outfit is Browne, who hails from MORE

Learning from Beyoncé: How to win an audience

Guest Post by Mary Civiello

The communication goal for 2013 should be aiming for authenticity.

I've been looking for what the world needs now, and Beyoncé was the catalyst. Like everyone else, I was in awe of her on Inauguration day--her beauty, her voice...and then it went just a bit flat with word that she was probably lip synching, forcing the Marine Corps band to fake it.

Oh, I know it was cold, and plenty MORE

Tory Burch talks about choosing great investors

In a Fortune exclusive, the fashion entrepreneur speaks after resolving her legal battle with her ex-husband and bringing in two major new investors.

With no formal education in fashion, no MBA and just $1 million of her own capital, Tory Burch started selling "affordable luxury" in 2004 and built a business now worth billions.

But the golden girl of the fashion industry recently experienced "every entrepreneur's nightmare"--as I called her company's partnership MORE

GIRLS: Lena Dunham shares it all

FORTUNE -- While Yahoo's (YHOO) Marissa Mayer has become a role model for young women who dream of being CEO someday, Lena Dunham is today's icon for young women with indie aspirations that have been suspended by dysfunctional real life.

The creator and producer and director and star of the HBO phenom Girls got--actually, created--her own first big break when she made a film called Tiny Furniture for $25,000 with a MORE

Star moviemakers vie to be Mad Men

The best stories worth telling, I think, tend to be about interesting and accomplished people stepping into new worlds. That's why I've been drawn to profiling Marissa Mayer in her first days as CEO of Yahoo (YHOO), Oprah Winfrey as she started her TV network OWN, and Brenda Barnes, the former Sara Lee (HSH) CEO who has heroically stepped up to a new life after suffering a stroke.

One of the MORE

Former Sara Lee CEO on her stunning recovery

At the height of her career, Brenda Barnes famously quit her big job at Pepsi to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor.

Ever since I interviewed former Sara Lee (HSH) CEO Brenda Barnes and her daughter, Erin, at this year's Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, people have been urging me to publish the video of our on-stage conversation.

I'm happy to share this MORE