THE GIRLBOSS ISN'T DEAD, SHE'S JUST REBRANDED FOR GEN Z
- Melissa Fleur Afshar
- Sep 17
- 6 min read
Newsweek Exclusive Feature
Experts say the 2010s girlboss has simply evolved—here’s why Hailey Bieber and other Gen Z icons embody the new version.
In the mid-2010s, the girlboss was everywhere.
Wrapped in millennial pink while sporting desk plaques reading #girlboss and #bossbabe, she was sold through autobiographies, TED Talks, and Instagram feeds promising that hustle could turn anyone into a CEO. Figures like Sophia Amoruso of Nasty Gal, who inspired the Netflix series Girlboss, embodied the era, marketing ambition as empowerment.
A decade later, online discourse has declared the girlboss "dead." But the image has not disappeared—it has evolved.
Today's aspirational figures, think Hailey Bieber, still project power, wealth, and success, to their mostly female following—but the branding looks different: soft, health-conscious, and aligned with Gen Z's rejection of grind culture.
Trading Hustle for Ease
"I'd push back on the idea that the girlboss era is dead," Chimene Mantori, founder of Solace Talent, told Newsweek. "What we're seeing is the split between celebrity-led brands and founder-led brands.
"For celebrities like Hailey Bieber or Kendall Jenner, the girlboss identity sits on top of existing fame and an established platform. Their businesses are an extension of their fame, so the emphasis is on lifestyle and aspiration—they don't need to show the grind. The work is implied—what audiences buy into is this curated image of beauty, health and ease."
Mantori contrasted this with founders associated with building from scratch.
"For these founders, especially those resonating with Gen Z, transparency and behind the scenes storytelling are more critical than ever," Mantori said. "If audiences feel an authentic connection to the founder, they're more likely to buy into their brand."
She pointed out podcast host Grace Beverley, the founder of Tala and Shreddy, as an example.
"Her audience followed her from university student to CEO and her willingness to show the realities of entrepreneurship built trust," Mantori said. "When her brands launched, her trust building and transparency were her superpower.
"People didn't just buy her products, they bought into her journey and wanted to be a part of it. By showing the grind, she grew Tala into a multi-million-dollar brand."
The influencer management founder says that rather than disappearing, the girlboss archetype has evolved, splitting into different factions.
"For celebrities, it's aspirational lifestyle design," Mantori said. "For entrepreneurs, it's radical transparency and personal narrative.
"But both remain aspirational and reflect Gen Z's shifting values: an aversion to hustle culture, while retaining authenticity, relatability and leaders who feel accessible."
Stranger Things star and Florence by Mills founder Millie Bobby Brown, Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper, and social media personality Emma Chamberlain, have all been applauded by viewers online for showing relatability and authenticity, despite their respective ventures bringing in millions of dollars.
Shifting Values Among Gen Z Women
Katherine Fusco, a college professor, sees a broader cultural turn.
"I see a definite shift as we move from the #riseandgrind girlbosses to the 'soft girl' aesthetic," Fusco told Newsweek. "Part of what I see happening here is a skepticism on the part of young women towards work as the main part of their identity. This is a real challenge to traditional founder culture."
During the so-called Great Resignation and its aftermath, rising numbers of Gen Z workers expressed disillusionment with the 9-to-5 and traditional careers.
Data from the Office for National Statistics in 2024 showed that more than a fifth of adults of working age in the U.K. were not seeking employment.
Online discourse reflects the same mood, with many young people describing themselves as less career-driven and ambitious as they decenter professional achievement in their lives.
"One part of this has gone along with the rise of trad wife culture," Fusco said. "However, I also see a rise of other women who are talking about making money in more ethical ways or using labor to better the world by spending in alignment with their values or creating new kinds of workplaces."
For Gen Z, visible grind appears to have lost its appeal.
David Robbins, a Gen Z behavioral expert, told Newsweek: "Millennial girlboss women could work hard. Gen Z, in turn, doesn't reject ambition, but is more likely to measure power in how much you can afford to not hustle. Think Bella Hadid resting on a yacht."
He agreed that the girlboss archetype is not fully canceled—it has just changed.
"A quick search on Spotify shows endless 'feel like an IT-girl' playlists," he said. "The power blazer still shows up on Pinterest boards, but styled with sneakers, not stilettos.
"The Gen Z girlboss is still a boss, but softer, looser, and way more protective of her own peace."
A recent EduBirdie study shows this ambivalence clearly, with 73 percent of Gen Z workers sharing that they would trade part of their salary to work less.
"Gen Z is health-conscious in a way that collides with the old 'work hard, play hard' ethic," he said. "We know stress wrecks your body, burnout isn't chic, and flexing all-nighters with cold brew IV drips isn't cool anymore.
"Instead, the vibe is soft life: wellness, boundaries, and balance."
For the behavioral researcher, it is no wonder that today's girlboss is more associated with Erewhon smoothies, TikTok videos and yoga pants than boardroom meetings and client pitches. After all, this is what the audience they are selling to now glamorizes.
The Wellness Pivot
Alex Powell, director of Insights at Reward Gateway | Edenred, agrees.
"The days of the wheel and deal girlboss is out," Powell told Newsweek. "What's in? A newfound focus on wellbeing, both during and outside of work."
Dr. Christiane Schroeter, professor in health economics and TEDx speaker, echoed this point.
"The girlboss stopped performing grind and started signaling calm competence. Gen Z still wants success. They just refuse exhaustion as proof," she told Newsweek.
A Masquerade of Success?
Still, not everyone views this shift positively.
Emily Austen, founder and CEO of EMERGE, warned that the aesthetic risks misrepresenting reality.
"Today's girlboss is masquerading. What Gen Z is being sold is not entrepreneurship, but a performance of wealth and privilege," she told
Newsweek.
"If we confuse perceived success with real success, we risk setting a generation of women up to fail," Austen said. "The original girlboss of the 2010s was defined by hustle: late nights and the glossy veneer of building a brand 'from nothing.'
"Figures like Glossier's Emily Weiss and Amoruso embodied a millennial feminism that was as much about ambition as aesthetics. Over time, that narrative cracked—criticized as toxic, exclusionary, and too closely aligned with hustle culture."
Gen Z, Austen added, has shifted the script.
"Today's aspirational figures—Hailey Bieber with Rhode, Kendall and Kylie Jenner with their brands, Paige Lorenze with her lifestyle ventures, Matilda Djerf with Djerf Avenue, and the Hadids with their brand empires—still showcase wealth and influence, but they've softened the edges," she said. "They rarely show the grind.
"Instead, they lean into aesthetics of balance: wellness, leisure, relatability, the 'soft life.' Work is implied but never shouted."
The problem, she said, is that the new girlboss era is just as toxic as the last was deemed.
"It shows young, mainly white women with fame and wealth, presenting themselves as business leaders while avoiding the realities of how their success was created," she said. "Their platforms are often built on inherited privilege, celebrity, or influencer clout.
"Yet some dangle the benefits of a 'boss lifestyle'—yachts, designer glasses, slick ponytails—without engaging with what it really takes to achieve long-term business success."
Stacy Jones, founder and CEO of Hollywood Branded, agrees, adding that thanks to social media, the new girlboss's fans only see part of the picture.
"Social media hides the grit," Jones told Newsweek.
But she also warned that Gen Z and millennials are being misled.
"Still, what's celebrated today is the payoff—the curated images of wellness, luxury, and ease—while the grind is edited out," she said. "We
are being sold the idea that success should look effortless.
"Sadly, it never is."
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