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Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian believes Elon Musk faces a “unique challenge” as he buys Twitter and promises to turn it into a hub for “free speech.”

Speaking Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Ohanian recalled Reddit’s challenges in dealing with extremist and racist views that spread on the social media platform. In 2020, Ohanian resigned from Reddit’s board, criticizing the company for not doing more to combat hate speech on its site. On Tuesday, he said centralized platforms have a responsibility for the content that they show users.

“It's not about speech, it is about reach. And the part that social media messed up is [that] virality is much more equated to the extremes,” Ohanian said. “That reach is what the most extreme people want; they want to be able to be seen by millions and millions of people.”

That view is in sharp contrast to Musk’s position on content moderation. After agreeing to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has said he believes that Twitter shouldn’t restrict speech that’s legally protected under U.S. law. Social media titans such as Santa Monica-based Snap and Culver City-based TikTok are typically more proactive, taking down harmful content that might not be technically illegal. Twitter itself has banned users for spreading misinformation—most notably, former President Donald Trump.

Ohanian said he doesn’t believe a Musk-owned Twitter will be as bad as Musk’s detractors may fear, nor as good as his biggest fans may hope. He described Musk as “an incredible entrepreneur” who has solved difficult problems in “the physical atomic world”—but running a social media giant isn’t exactly rocket science, Ohanian said.

“Being the CEO…of a social platform, like Twitter, is as much being a head of state as it is a head of business,” he said. “You have to deal with humans who are irrational, unlike the laws of physics.”

Ohanian, who now runs venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, made the remarks during a discussion about Web3—the promised next iteration of the internet, which would deploy blockchain technology to “decentralize” applications. He predicted that Twitter may ultimately take a Web3-oriented approach, noting the company backed a nonprofit project to develop a decentralized standard for social media. Musk, like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is also a major proponent of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

“In Web1, if you had bonkers things to say, no one really saw it. The websites existed, but they didn't go viral—there was no way to go viral,” Ohanian said. “And I think with Web3, we'll actually get back to that in a lot of ways.”

Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.

Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.

Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.

On this episode of Behind Her Empire, beauty brand marketing agency SHYFT Beauty Consulting founder Melissa Hibbért discusses how her lifelong love for beauty led her to ditch the corporate world and follow her passion.

Hibbért was born in Jamaica, “on the kitchen floor, literally, my mom and I. The good thing is she was a nurse so she knew what to do,” she said.

Her mother moved to the U.S. when Hibbért was four, aiming to save money so her family could follow her. The experience, Hibbért said, taught her to focus on making her own choices from a young age.

Though she was always interested in pretty things, Hibbért singled out a moment in her early teens, when her mother let her borrow a tube of red lipstick, in instigating her love for beauty.

“[It changed] how I felt about me and the color and how I just connected with the application of color and how that changes people's perception of me,” she said. “I also felt more bold—I felt more seen. I also felt more in control of my own look and identity.”

Hibbért balanced her passion for beauty and her family’s focus on education as she completed her cosmetology degree alongside her high school diploma, though she eventually chose to pursue higher education. But her foray into the corporate world didn’t distance her from her passion. Hibbért said one day her boss, having noticed her love for makeup, singled her out to work on a CoverGirl pitch despite her not being on that account.

After 14 years working for other people, Hibbért said she was ready to take a risk on herself. She took a sabbatical from work and visited her childhood home in Oregon, where she convinced her mom to let her do her makeup for a new Facebook profile photo. That experience led her to reevaluate where she was centering her passions and how she could best utilize her talent.

Hibbért said she made personal cutbacks as she re-focused her vision, with the goal of replacing her six-figure salary within a year. Her years in the corporate world helped her quickly build SHYFT Beauty Consulting, as Hibbért said her business acumen combined with her genuine love for beauty and helped her to approach the industry with a different mindset.

“I always wanted to be business first, not beauty first,” she said. “And that was my point of differentiation. I am a businesswoman who works in beauty.”

Hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast. Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radioor wherever you get your podcasts.

dot.LA editorial intern Kristin Snyder contributed to this post.

Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.

Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.

Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

This week in “Raises”: A Corona del Mar-based healthcare startup hit unicorn status, while a local EV charging company raised funding to support expansion into more than 35 new cities across California and Washington.

Tebra, a Corona del Mar-based health care management platform serving over 100,000 independent providers in the United States, raised $72 million in equity and debt funding from Golub Capital. After officially reaching unicorn status, Tebra has raised a total of $137 million.

Arcadia-based EV charging company EVCS raised $68.8 million in funding via $50 million in debt facility from Spring Lane Capital and the other $18.8 million through a Series A equity investment co-led by Abdo Partners, Spring Lane Capital and the Copulos Group.

Finli, a San Marino-based small business payment management platform, raised a $6 million seed funding round led by Urban Innovation Fund.

WagerWire, a Los Angeles-based sports betting marketplace, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Roger Ehrenberg.

Los Angeles-based sports podcasting company Blue Wire, raised $2.5 million in new funding from East Carolina Angels, the Pirate Entrepreneurship Fund and Dot Capital.

Pique Action, a Los Angeles-based media company that creates and distributes original content about climate change, raised a $1 million pre-seed fundraising round led by Amasia.

Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).

Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

Former U.S. Secret Service Director James Murray has joined social media giant Snapchat to take on a top security job.

Flight automation company Skyryse appointed former NEOGOV Chief Financial Officer Stephen Koo as CFO, and promoted former Chief Commercial Officer Justin Ryan to COO.

Hallwood Media, a producer and songwriter management platform, welcomed Super X Music founder Tal Meltzer as vice president of A&R.

E-scooter company Bird Global Inc. promoted former Chief Operating Officer Shane Torchiana to president.

Media investment company Content Partners LLC tapped Vine Alternative Investments executive Rob Amir as senior executive vice president.

Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

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