Hello!!
To everyone who has subscribed to this newsletter since the most recent post: welcome welcome welcome. (And if you need it, some background on this whole endeavor.)
🌻 “How’s the book going?”
Glad you asked. Many updates.
the book is getting closer to publication — it’s set for this fall
more details to come soon! will keep you all posted here
And there’s a trial: In 2023, two OneTaste leaders were charged with forced labor conspiracy, and a federal criminal trial is scheduled to start in a few weeks in NYC. (It’s already been delayed once, though, so we’ll see how things unfold.)
The legal fight is getting heated. The defense has tried multiple times to get the case dismissed. Prosecutors dropped a witness after they said in a filing that she misled them and the FBI about details of journals she wrote about her time at OneTaste. And Nicole Daedone, OneTaste’s founder, is doing more media interviews — see this one from the WSJ.
In the meantime, I’ve gotten a lot better at setting alerts for court filings on PACER, a notoriously hard-to-use system. But it’s still a maze in there. If you have PACER tips or can read the tea leaves of a docket, hit me up
✂️ Some things I wrote recently
Until the book comes out, if you’re starved for Ellen Huet content, you can gorge yourself on these stories and pipe me into your ears:
a journey inside San Francisco’s “monastery for hackers” — a startup residency called HF0 where they mix mindfulness, entrepreneurship, immersive art parties, and communal living (this is truly my niche)
a look at Zynmania, Zynfluencers, and the Zyn nicotine pouch frenzy (yes, I tried them; yes, they were kinda fun; yes, they almost made me barf; no, I cannot in good conscience recommend you try them unless you smoke/vape)
and a big narrative project from last year — a five-episode podcast called Foundering, about OpenAI and Sam Altman, in which we try to answer: Should you trust this man to shepherd our AI future?
✅ Review it with Huet: these earplugs
This one’s simple. I like sleeping with earplugs. But I hated buying and throwing away foam earplugs (and they kinda hurt). I tried wax earplugs and they kept falling out.
Then I got these reusable silicone earplugs. They are perfect. Every night when I put them in, I feel the tiniest sigh of satisfaction knowing I have solved my small problem. If there is anything bad to be said about them, I will shove them in my ears and refuse to hear it.
Thanks for reading! Back soon!
