Morning Brew - 🕹️ A day in the metaverse

Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

🦨 Protect (and don’t accidentally injure) yourself with this ingenious pepper gel spray. It’s blowback proof and comes with a hand strap for quick access and a reflector for when you’re out and about in the dark.

Clocr is an app for modern times that offers digital estate planning with a social media will and a cloud vault that holds all your online log-in creds. For more ways to prep, check out this article from the Brew Crew’s Amanda Hoover.

Refinery29’s article in favor of anti-goals (focusing on what you don’t want in life) is a convincing argument to let yourself be choosy!

What’s top of mind at the watercooler.

Simone Nobili, global group creative director at Wunderman Thompson, joined the agency in January—which means he joined virtually and with no first-day fanfare. Instead, he sat in his San Diego home office and logged in on the company laptop he’d received in the mail.

“I did my first day of onboarding with all those boring meetings [on Zoom], and it hit me: One of the things that I miss the most is literally the first day at the office,” he said.

Realizing remote work took away the after-work happy hours and first-day lunches, he tried to recreate it virtually to simulate those bonding moments. So, using a shell template of a metaverse his company had created for Consumer Technology Association’s Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES), Nobili began working on a metaverse for new hires.

Three months later, the first metaverse onboarding session had approximately 300 employees mingling virtually from all over the company’s global network. Rebecca Sullivan, director of public relations at Wunderman Thompson North America, was one of them.—SS

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: In her recent cover story for Today, multi-hyphenate Issa Rae looks back at her journey from YouTube to television stardom. Her career tip? Network across (with peers) instead of up (with the highest-ranking people).

Subscribe: Sunroom is a Chicago-based print studio with a monthly flyer club that offers a fun risograph print (a printing process like screenprinting that’s used for zines, posters, and prints) every month for just $5. For examples of what you might get, click here.

Eat: For a meal that’s cheap *and* delicious, check out this chicken Caesar lettuce wrap recipe—aka the meal that’s been sustaining me (Maliah) through this unbearable heat wave.

Talkin’ tech: From drones and robotics to the metaverse and augmented reality, Emerging Tech Brew keeps you up to date on all the tech that shapes business and society. Subscribe for free.

Pearls of career wisdom.

“When you have a great idea, bringing people along on the journey is paramount. The best approach I’ve found is the perfect blend of art and science. Tell an amazing story that will help people understand and be motivated by your approach, but back up your hypothesis with facts and figures. Paint the picture colorfully, but use a protractor to outline the angles first.

It’s up to you to explain what success looks like and why these different priorities should align to your thinking. You’re the expert in your field, but accepting other opinions will only help you create an even better version of your idea and yourself.”—Stacy Martinet, VP of marketing strategy and communications at Adobe

We asked Morning Brew readers about their thoughts on inflation and found out most of you have already cut back on costs. (So, basically no more ordering DoorDash 7x/week.)

Check out the full results of our survey here, and see how other readers are reducing their spending.