đď¸ The Ensemble: The Life Advice Catherine O'Hara Gave Me, Why Iranians Are Smashing Makeup and Shutdown Season Goes Global
Plus internet blackouts, border crackdowns, and why openness suddenly feels radical again
First off, RIP to one of the warmest women Iâve ever met, Catherine OâHara. Her character Moira Rose kept me company when I got COVID January 2022, coinciding with the biggest career month of my life, the launch of my Women Building Peace series. Little did I know it would be the catalyst to my founders journey, its cancellation leading me to launch Helmet to Heels and hang out here with you.
I met Catherine at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi where we celebrated International Womenâs Day 2023. Her message was to prioritize family and happiness - and the importance of surrounding ourselves with good people. You can watch our interview here:
Weâre a month into 2026 but a trend is clear: the world is shutting down. In so many ways: the borders, Internet, apps, governments - the list can go on and on. And if that makes you want to go back in time, youâre not alone. One of the few things uniting people online right now is the nostalgia for 2016, so hop on the flashback trend and reminisce. For H2H, 2016 is when I was living the Helmet to Heels story, on the American presidential campaign trail, covering an attempted Turkish coup, just back from conflict zones in the Middle East - ISIS, Israel/Palestine, Yemen - only to find myself navigating hostile environment deployments in my own country, dodging Molotov cocktails in Minneapolis which at the time was embroiled in racial injustice protests. Sound familiar? Read more about the comeback of 2016 here.
I never could have dreamed a 2016 Helmet to Heels lifestyle would become the brand and community youâre all a part of today. While so many things are changing, our weekly Ensemble newsletter remains a staple. Thank you for staying with us and please share with your friends and family. Weâd love another 500 friends by the spring!
Xo - News with Suz
Beauty Boycotts
Hell hath no fury like an Iranian woman and Huda Beauty eye shadow pallets are feeling the full force of their wrath. Huda Kattan, an Iraqi American entrepreneur and founder of the Huda Beauty empire, weighed in on the situation in Iran by posting a pro-regime story that she then deleted, but not before some eagle eyed followers spotted it. Her defense explaining herself didnât go down well prompting a boycott and viral videos of people destroying her makeup. We did a News with Suz explainer report wrapping how we got here - and now weâre blocked by @hudabeauty on Instagram. Itâs worth noting that she could be concerned about her status as a UAE based company where freedom of speech and expression is not an unalienable right like it is in the US.
Governments
A more recent flashback is the longest U.S. government shutdown in history that temporarily ended in November, backed by most Republicans and eight Democrats. We find ourselves on the brink again, with a deal having been reached to get a spending bill through the Senate, although there will still be a partial shutdown through the weekend.
The unrest in Iran and anti-regime protests are still ongoing. Governmentâs brutal, inhumane killings of peaceful protestors caused U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten military action. As of Jan. 26, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 5,777 protesters, 214 government-affiliated forces, 86 children and 49 civilians who werenât demonstrating are dead. There were also over 41,800 arrests, according to Politico. Read more about what was happening in Iran before the communications were cut in a feature by Suzanne Kianpour.
Protesting the violence and unrest happening around the world, a group of Buddhist monks is completing a 120-day, 2,300-mile âWalk for Peaceâ from Texas to Washington, D.C. With a winter storm swooping the East Coast of the U.S. this weekend, 19 monks, accompanied by their loyal dog Aloka. brave the cold and continue on walking. (USA Today, FOX)
Internet Access
Amid the protests in Iran, the government shut down the Internet, causing one of the most extreme outages in history. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the action was a response to "terrorist operations.â While we see some Iranians back online in random, brief time windows, the Internet outage remains a prominent issue, isolating the people from sharing their truth online and coordinating action. (NYT, BBC)
In 2026, free speech and digital access are under scrutiny of many governments. Russiaâs latest moves to isolate from the West Internet cost the country almost $12 billion and put it at the top of the Cost By Country list, according to the Top 10 VPN report. Russia is also the global leader in mobile internet shutdowns, with disruptions lasting a total of 37,166 hours.
New proposed amendments to countryâs Law on Communications, considered by the State Duma, will give FSB authority to shut down internet and phone services to protect the citizens and the state from threats. The amendments come after a huge 2025 push for the entire population to download a state-controlled messenger MAX and blocking the alternative, âwesternâ services like WhatsApp as well as banning multiple VPN services. (United 24 Media, Forbes, Milwaukee Independent)
In the U.S., talks about TikTok ban take a new turn this year. To avoid shutting down for the American audience, TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, reached a deal to have a venture, mostly owned by Americans, to secure the U.S. data. There is no need for users to download a new app but with a switch of ownership, many users reported problems with accessing the app and sharing content. According to TikTokâs official account on X, the issues are caused by âa power outage at a U.S. data center impacting TikTok and other apps we operate.â
Around the same time of the outage and the ownership switch, many users claim TikTok started censoring content critical of Trump, Epstein files, and ICE violence against civilians. TikTok denies these claims and blames the tech issues for content suppression. One of Trumpâs most vocal critics, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he is launching a probe into the censorship allegations. (Vice, PBS, CNN, CBS)
Borders and Immigration
Trumpâs crackdown on immigration in the U.S. continues, causing a drop in growth rate last year with population hitting 342 million and outbreaks of violence committed by the ICE agents.
Particularly in Minnesota, the tensions over actions of ICE agents are causing community protests. This month, Alex Pretti was the second U.S. citizen to be killed by federal forces, following a fatal shooting of Renee Good. While the Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz encourages the public to "protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully,â Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to send in federal troops as anti-ICE protests unfold in Minneapolis. (ABC, AP, PBS)
On the other side of the ocean, immigration is also in the top news. Rwanda is taking the UK to court for its refusal to pay for a migrant deal. In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court deemed the deal to deport migrants from the UK to Rwanda illegal under the international law. Rwanda received ÂŁ240 million (âŹ276 million) before the agreement was abandoned, with a further ÂŁ50 million (âŹ57 million) due. According to the AFP Agency, Rwanda was âfaced with the United Kingdomâs intransigence on these issues.â (Euronews)
No matter how tough the shutdowns are, people keep finding ways to speak, connect with each other, and remember what openness once felt like. Maybe thatâs why 2016 keeps resurfacing. Not because it was perfect, but because it felt open. Louder conversations. A sense that information could still move freely.
The Ensemble exists to keep that openness. When the world goes dark or backward, we keep tracking whatâs being shut down and whoâs pushing back. Attention is a form of resistance, and context is power.
Thanks for reading, sharing, and commenting. Weâll see you next week.