Good morning, friends.

This week was a heavy one. It’s hard to think about anything else but the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I recently published a dossier on Clarissa Ward, the war-zone correspondent who tells the hardest stories in the world's most dangerous places. She covered the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and is now reporting from the ground in Ukraine.

She said one thing that I’ve been reminding myself as I read all the heartbreaking stories coming out of Ukraine: “When you do this work you see the worst of humanity, but you also see the best.”

In the face of brutality and death, there are always stories of kindness, hope, resilience, and fellow humans helping one another.

“How many times I have been reminded that people are people, that there is a shared human experience, no matter how different our societies, that connects us,” she says.

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PODCAST: Last week, Anthony and I sat down with our friends and Eight Sleep co-founders Matteo Franceschetti and Alex Zatarain. We discussed our personal lives, running businesses, partnerships, and we share a few embarrassing stories along the way. (Baby Sofia also makes a guest appearance 🤣). Listen here.

THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, you received The Profile Dossier,  a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Peter Scott-Morgan, the human cyborg. Read it below.

The Profile

The Profile Dossier: Peter Scott-Morgan, the Human Cyborg

Peter Scott-Morgan is almost completely locked inside his body. He can’t move his legs, arms, or body, and yet, he, Peter Scott-Morgan, is still in there. He’s not dead. He’s very much alive. In 2017, Scott-Morgan realized he was about to lose everything he loves — his husband, his family, his friends, and his ability to travel the world. He had been diag…

Read more

4 days ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Polina Pompliano

PROFILES.

— Silicon Valley’s legendary investor [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The matchmaker to the ultra-rich
— The fund manager betting on the future
— The music industry’s ‘fairy godmother’
— The brand new Batman

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

Silicon Valley’s legendary investor: Roelof Botha used to write 10^9 on the corner of his notepad every week when he started at venture firm Sequoia 19 years ago. It was a reminder to keep himself focused on picking startups to deliver his goal of $1 billion in total gains. Not only did he hit his goal, he smashed it — in 2020, he reached $10 billion in total gains, putting him in the top tier of tech investors. Now that Sequoia is on top, his biggest challenge is keeping it there. (Protocol)

“I don't really want to call myself a VC. It's because we're not fungible in that manner. I'm a non-fungible token.”

The matchmaker to the ultra-rich: Amber Kelleher-Andrews sees herself as the wing woman to the ultra-wealthy. They say you can’t put a price on love, but the elite matchmaker has put a price on finding it for you: $30,000 to $300,000 a year. As co-CEO of Kelleher International, one of the country’s largest matchmaking firms, Kelleher-Andrews, 52, has been pairing off super-rich singles for more than half of her life. Her company recorded its best year during the pandemic: Revenue then nearly doubled in 2021 to $12.4 million. The firm is on track to top $18 million this year. Here’s why matchmaking is such a lucrative business. (LA Times)

“It’s the most important task of your life; why not have someone do the legwork?”

The fund manager betting on the future: Portfolio manager Joe Fath has run T. Rowe Price, the $62 billion growth fund, for eight years. It’s a demanding job. A few wrong bets would put at risk around $350 million a year in management fees that T. Rowe Price draws from this one fund, which accounts for about half of the growth stock strategy’s assets under management. Here’s how his bets on Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Snap, and Rivian have paid off. (Forbes)

“The last thing you want to do in our business is wait, right?”

The music industry’s ‘fairy godmother’: Stevie Nicks’s appeal among younger generations has skyrocketed. On TikTok, her songs provide a soundtrack to viral videos. Artists such as Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey have asked her to lend her voice to their songs, and she’s become “fairy godmother” to a wide circle of younger artists. In this interview, she discusses her unlikely sources of inspiration and how her relationship to fame has changed over time. (The New Yorker)

“People get knocked down because of their fame, and the Internet, and all the things that I hate. You keep yourself above that, hopefully.”

The brand new Batman: Actor Robert Pattinson has successfully reinvented himself from teen vampire heartthrob to ... Batman. “The first shot is so jarring from any other Batman movie that it’s just kind of a totally different pace,” he says. Here’s how Pattinson created a new Bruce — less playboy, more weirdo. (GQ)

“The nature of the shoot was so kind of insular, always shooting at night, just really dark all the time, and I felt very much alone.”

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. If you would like to get full access to all of the recommendations, including today’s audio and video sections, sign up below.

AUDIO TO HEAR.

Alia Crum on changing your relationship to stress: What is your core belief about stress? Alia Crum, the director of the Stanford mind and body lab, says your mindset toward stress informs how your body reacts to it. This is a fascinating episode about how you can make stress work for (or against) you. (Link available to premium members.)

Tim Urban on studying the mind of Elon Musk: Tim Urban has become one of the Internet’s most popular writers with his blog Wait But Why, and in this podcast, he explains why Elon Musk’s style of thinking is what makes him uniquely positioned to build generation-defining companies. (Link available to premium members.)

VIDEOS TO SEE.

Jamie Dimon on becoming a banking titan: From a very early age, Jamie Dimon felt entitled to greatness. In this video, we learn how Dimon planned his path to the top of the banking world, sometimes making unpopular career moves to get there. Here’s how Dimon became the chief of banking behemoth J.P. Morgan. (Link available to premium members.)

Carl Icahn on being the ultimate capitalist: Carl Icahn is a self-made billionaire who was the first-ever “corporate raider” or “activist investor.” He built his career by building stakes in struggling companies in an effort to enact change and boost shareholder returns. “He’s the great white shark in the sea of capitalism,” says one commentator in this must-see documentary. (Link available to premium members.)