Latest / She’s Smart / Eram Siddiqui - Founder of Hudson+Bleeker

Transcript

Eram Siddiqui - Founder of Hudson+Bleeker · She’s Smart

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Hey, everybody. Welcome to She's Smart. This is the podcast where we celebrate
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extraordinary women and their powerful stories.
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Stories that inspire, challenge, and connect us all.
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I'm your host, Maria Robotham. On today's episode, I have Aram Siddiqui,
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the founder of Hudson & Bleeker, a line of luxury travel accessories.
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Aram's story is seriously inspiring. She started out in politics and non-profits
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before pivoting into business, launching Hudson and Bleecker after realizing
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there was a gap in the market for chic, functional travel accessories.
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We talk about everything, her time in politics, how a chance moment with her
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mom helped her get her first apartment in D.C., the early days of sewing her
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first shoe bags, and the ups and downs of growing a business while raising kids.
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We also dive into the challenges of manufacturing, the global supply chain,
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and why nothing is ever really a failure.
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This one is smart, inspiring, and full of those oh wow moments.
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So get cozy as we connect, learn, and laugh together on She's Smart. She's Smart.
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Music.
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You know what's really funny? You know what? When I was emailing you back,
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your name pops up from HRP Mamas, Hudson River Mamas.
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Were you in that group in Tribeca?
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So was I. We were in the same group in New York City.
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So we were right at Worth and Broadway. Worth and Broadway? Right in front of
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the park. Right in front of City Hall.
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I have the best memories of living in New York City. My 20s were the best.
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And I get it when I'm in New York. I get why it's a young city,
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because once you have kids or go through phases of life, you're like,
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this phase was great, but I want something else.
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For me, the biggest thing was just the walls caving in with two kids during the pandemic.
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I was like, get me out of here. I told my husband, I told Anise, I was like, I'm leaving.
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And I'm like, you can come if you want. But I'm like, I found the place I'm
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moving to. I'm moving to Westmore, Connecticut.
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And he's like, what is this place? I'm like, get in the car. Let's go.
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I'll show you. Because we're not from here. We're from California.
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Eight hour away. And so I was like,
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where do I even begin? Because like my uncle lived in Rye growing up.
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I spent a lot of summers here and winters in my early teens.
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I'm like, this place sucks. This is boring. And so I'm like,
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I'm not living in Westchester.
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I love visiting. I'm like, no, it's cold and brutal. And then people were talking
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about Westport. I'm like, what is this place?
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It is this magical place. Yes. I'm like, beaches? What?
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I was like, restaurants from New York?
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Farms? I'm like, this is like life. This is what I want for the kids and myself.
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It's proven to be everything that I had hoped for and more. I agree.
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It's not a place you live when you're in your 20s. Oh, no.
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My girlfriend always comes and visits. And she's like, you guys, I want to move here.
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Everyone who visits us is like, we want to move here. And I'm like,
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no. Wait. Wait till you have your kids and then call us. Yes.
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And then we'll go house hunting. Yeah, I'm like, because you're not dating here. No.
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You're not dating here. No. Leave that for the big city. That's better.
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So you grew up in California.
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I did. Did you go to school there too? I did. Where'd you go to college? I went to UC Irvine.
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Awesome. I didn't know that. No, I went to Boulder.
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I fled a small town, small high school. I knew everyone, which was awesome.
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But I needed to go into someplace big where I was like a small fish in a big place.
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So I went to Boulder, which is like 35,000 undergrad at that time.
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But I have a ton of friends who went to UCLA, Cal, Stanford, USC.
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So many people move back to the area. Everyone moves back. I just kept going east.
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You and me both. I grew up in a really big family in a small town.
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I'm the youngest of three, but my dad was one of six children and my mom is one of seven.
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My dad passed away eight years ago. My dad immigrated here from Pakistan when he was 18.
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He got into school at the University of Oklahoma. So he landed in America in Oklahoma.
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My mom moved here and he hated it. His brother was in California,
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Cal Poly, and he's like, what are you doing there? Come to California.
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So my dad moved. What's really fascinating and something I took for granted
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was except my dad and his siblings all lived near each other. We grew up together.
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And so we all went to school together. Like our lives were together.
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And it's so funny because now I'm in my 40s and I tell people,
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I don't even know what it was like having best friends growing up because my
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cousins were my best friends.
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We did everything together. We vacationed together.
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And so long story short, I'm the only one who's left headquarters, as my husband says.
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Oh my gosh, they're all still in California. They're all still in California.
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They're spread out around Southern California, like Orange County,
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Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Irvine, Cape Heart Beach.
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Laguna Beach. Were they all okay during the fires? Thankfully,
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yes, except for one of my cousins.
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Her house is fine, but she went through fits of having to evacuate multiple
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times and not having electricity.
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She was like, I feel like I'm living in a third world. They'll just notify us
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that the power is going off. Yeah, like brownouts almost.
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Right. I know people in the Bay Area who left because of brownouts.
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That was just disrupted. My parents' sister is still there.
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My whole family is there. My mom's in Orange County. I don't ever remember any
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of this growing up. None.
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And there was never as much snow as we're getting right now.
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That is very true. Never had this crazy snow.
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Like there was always a storm and powder days and the pass would get closed,
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but it was never, they got eight feet of snow the other day.
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Oh, I had no idea. Eight feet.
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I'm like, what do you even do? And even last winter was wild for them too.
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Mudslides and all these things. I pray for my state. I know. I pray for my state.
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I know. It's so funny. My mom's always like, I want to move to Connecticut. And I'm like, why?
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And then my mom just goes through this whole litany of things.
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She's like, well, I don't know if the house is going to get insured and like
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gas is so expensive and it's just really hard.
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She's like, it wasn't like this when we decided to stay here and raise our family and our kids.
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I tried to take my parents' insurance away up in Northern California because
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of trees and they wouldn't insure them until they took the trees down.
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I know people who've lost insurance on their house. Right?
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It's so sad. And imagine those people who thankfully my parents were able to
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do it, the people who are just getting by. Well, that's the thing.
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There are a lot of people in California who are just getting by.
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I mean, the majority are just getting by.
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When gas is $7.99 a gallon, you have to just wonder, and they're so car dependent.
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I literally scratch my head. How does anyone survive here?
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And you're driving long distances. It's become totally unsustainable. It really has.
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So you went to UC Irvine. What got you into politics and working for Senator Barbara Boxer?
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So I went to UC Irvine. I was an econ major. I hated it. I was an econ poli-sci major.
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And I loved all my poli-sci classes. I ended up taking a class with this amazing
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professor who was poli-sci international studies. At UC Irvine,
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as you know, it's not a liberal arts college.
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If you want liberal arts within the UC system, you're going to Cal.
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And so that was the dream.
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I went to Irvine and it was very early at the time because it was 2000.
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It was still like a commuter school, but now it's just blown up,
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right? I don't even recognize the place anymore. Really science-based.
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It's very much science-based. It always has been. Science, engineering,
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medicine, that's been their wheelhouse.
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It's a really great institution. We can both agree that the one thing California
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offers is an amazing public education. Oh, God, yeah. Hands down.
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You can't get it anywhere else.
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But I really wanted to go to college and not come out with debt.
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That was the goal there. And so I'm like, this works, and I'll get a really great education.
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And honestly, it was a great experience. And so one of the things was I kind
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of fell into poli-sci and fell in love, right? I fell in love with it.
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And then I started interning because I wanted to go to law school.
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I started interning with law firms. And then I interned for a trade association
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that was in Newport Beach. What is a trade association?
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Trade associations basically represent industries.
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So whether you want to call them, they do have a lobbying arm,
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right? And they represent various trades.
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So I worked for intern for community banking trade association.
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So I came in as an intern and I stayed there for a year and it was great.
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I learned a lot about financial services, community banking.
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I had no idea that community banking existed and how this was the backbone of America.
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They're in these rural towns. A lot of them service farmers.
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Coming from California, like you and I can relate, like we're big city people.
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So it's really hard to understand what's going on in the middle of the country. Yeah.
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And so this really opened my eye because California is a bubble.
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It opened my eye to what goes on outside of the bubble because here I am thinking
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like the way I live is the way everyone lives. Right.
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That was a really great opportunity. And I remember the executive director at
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the time, he was always like, you should go into politics or if you have an
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interest in this, like you definitely have to work in Washington.
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And it hadn't even crossed my mind. So after I graduated, they hired me and
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I became a marketing coordinator.
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I stayed there for about a year.
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Debbie Stabenow of Michigan was the first member of the Senate that I started working for.
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I got to know her team because most politicians, regardless of where they are
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in the country, they raise their money from three states, California, New York, and Florida.
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No matter which party they're from. Those are like the three states that really
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fuel financial campaigns.
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Why is that? That's where the money is. That's where the money is.
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They're the money, but they're the people who are interested in like,
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whether it's like they want to influence or they want to partake in it.
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I also think that in the 20 years since I was in politics, things have changed
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a lot from my experience. And that's one of the reasons why I also left.
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Okay. I want to know why. So she used to fundraise in California with bankers.
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Fascinating. And not just bankers, but like California was a big state for her.
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This is kind of my point. I started her from Michigan, right?
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Raising money in California.
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I mean, and she's not the only one. Like Congress, like the House does it,
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like congressional districts do it. She was my favorite boss.
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Really? She is impeccable. She didn't come up the ranks from any wealth or anything like that.
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She was a civil servant. She came up the ranks as a community person in rural
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Michigan in a small town and just very professional, respectful.
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She was the kind of woman that I had hoped would run for office one day because
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she could really connect with people.
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So she was on the Senate Banking Committee. She became the chair of the Senate
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Banking Committee. Okay.
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And a role opened up within her team in Washington. and
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my the executive director was like you should really talk to
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her team if interested in so like I threw
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my resume in the hat I contacted someone on her team and
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I don't think she didn't really know me very
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well because I was in my 20s working for this organization I would go to events
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and she'd be nice but she didn't know me I didn't have rapport at that point
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I passed my resume along the executive director gave me a contact he's like
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contact this person it was an entry level position I was like okay I'll throw
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my resume in the hat why not and he's like this is going to help your career.
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You're young. You should go. If you get the opportunity, you should go.
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After a series of interviews, like, okay, we want to hire you,
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but you have to start in three weeks.
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This was in August. I knew nothing about Washington, D.C. in August,
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and I had never been to Washington, D.C.
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So my mom and I got on a plane and we literally all I knew was that like I had
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I was in the Hart Senate office building and I needed to find an apartment on
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the red line because the girl who worked there, I was like, you know,
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do you have any tips on where you should go for housing? And she's like the red line.
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So my mom and I hopped on the red line and literally went on every got off on
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every stop and like would rock around the neighborhood and be like,
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OK, is this a good neighborhood? Do they have good apartments?
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And my mom was like, I want you to be near the metro stop so you don't have
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to walk too far at night and stuff.
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And so we found this building off the Red Line in Woodley Park.
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And my mom's like, I really like this neighborhood. I think it'll be safe and good for you.
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And there was a building and my mom was like, let's go check it out.
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The door was locked. And it's not like New York where you have a doorman.
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There was a girl coming out with her laundry.
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And my mom was like, hey, you know, my daughter's looking for a place to live
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and she's starting a job. Like, you wouldn't happen to know if there's a building
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manager or if there's apartments coming up for rent.
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And the girl was like, I'm actually moving.
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She's like, I'm moving in the first week of October. And I was like,
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that's not going to work. She's like, do you want to come check out my apartment?
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And my mom's like, yeah. I'm like, Mom, where am I going to live?
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And my mom's like, let's just go check out the apartment.
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And so we went up to her apartment, fell in love with it. And my mom was like,
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this is it. I was like, yes, this is it. Here's my deposit.
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Take the money. And so I was like, who do I call? you know
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and so she gave me the super's number and she's like
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you can call him interestingly the super was from
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california he was born and raised in california it was wild this is the universe
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this is the universe does these things yeah and so i gave him the deposit and
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she was so kind to me she's like i was once you it's a really young city everyone's
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in their 20s and like you're gonna have the best time you have the best memories
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you're gonna make the best of friends and she was.
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All true. Best of friends, best memories, best city.
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I tell everyone I talk to, I tell every kid, once you graduate,
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go to D.C. and do the internship.
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And I say this because you want to know how the system works.
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A lot of people don't know. And I certainly didn't know. Like,
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I'm first generation, right? My parents immigrated here.
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And they had to build their life from scratch. While they had some struggles,
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they also had things that they didn't have to deal with that I do or like my
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children have to as they're growing up.
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I was like, you know, I'm not really educated on this. When I started working
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on the Hill, like it was really eye opening.
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It was like what my rights are as a constituent, what my access is to my representative
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and what services should be provided to me. Right.
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And that the government provides or that, you know, like I can.
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It's so funny when I was in elementary school, I like won an award for my congressman
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for something. I can't even remember.
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And I had no idea what it meant. Or that I could even go into my local congressional
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office and request a meeting with my congressman.
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Can you? Of course you can. You're a constituent. Do they actually allow them?
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Someone does meet with you. I had no idea.
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The phone call thing, it goes into a system and whatever, but it is impactful.
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Back then, I feel like representatives voted based on their constituents.
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Yeah. I feel like that has changed a lot. They vote party. Because the party
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will get rid of you if you don't vote.
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But isn't we going to do a whole thing about politics?
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I mean, I've spoken too much. No, I agree.
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At some point, it's all gone crazy. And we've forgotten about human beings.
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You don't have to be a part of a certain party to make a change somewhere.
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So that's where I lie right now. And that's evolved, right? I grew up with first
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generation South Asian parents who were Republican.
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Yeah. That's all I knew. I mean, Reagan was. Oh, the end all be all. End all be all.
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California, too. And I grew up with like, you never ask any grownup what their
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political affiliation is. That's right. You just don't talk politics.
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And so my mom always said whenever I go to a friend's house,
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she's like, and just remember, don't ask the parents. It's so funny when I tell people this.
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I'm like, my mom would tell me not to ask people. And they're like,
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yeah, because you probably would have asked. And I'm like, that is true.
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And then I became a Democrat, right? Because I went to school. I had this worldview.
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And I also grew up in a very different environment than my parents.
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I was influenced in different ways.
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I was like, hey, I protested in college when downtown LA was anti-war.
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And my mom was just like, oh my
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God, like in the 1970s, like people who protested anti-war went to jail.
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And every time I'd go to a protest, my mom would be like, please do not go to
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jail. I'm like, I will not I end up in jail.
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I hope not. I never did. I think a lot of things also happened in my generation
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that prompted that, right?
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That was kind of like the start of the war in the Middle East during our generation.
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9-11 happened when I was in college. That really shaped my curiosity, right?
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I was like, what's going on in this world? I thought it was the end of the world.
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That really influenced my education, my desire to learn about the world and
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governments and their involvement and what's going on and where that stems from
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and how it didn't just come about overnight.
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These are things that happened today where the seeds were planted in the 70s,
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80s, or 90s. And you're seeing that now play out.
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So one thing that I've changed my mind about is politics.
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We put so much focus and emphasis on presidential elections and the impact of our lives.
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But having lived in LA, Washington, D.C., New York City, and now here,
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as I've grown older, as I've had children, as life has evolved,
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I've come to this realization, I don't know if you agree with me,
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but I feel like the best work, and this is also another reason why I left politics,
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is done as a private citizen and at the local level.
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You can make a big impact in your town. You can't move mountains overnight, but you can volunteer.
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That's like the clearest way of like, listen, if time is not on your side,
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but you're like, I can run a spreadsheet for an organization or drop off something,
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that is contribution, right? Even if you can't be on the PTA or be a room mom,
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because it can be very taxing for...
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A parent to be present and doing things. For me, no one's ever volunteered.
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So they'll always be like, will you do it? And I'm like, there's been guilt
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involved. There's been desire.
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And then I'll tell you something. When we moved to Connecticut,
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I was like, sure, I'll do it because I need to make friends.
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I need to know who my kid's hanging out with. Or when he says,
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mom, I want to have a play date with someone. I'm like, OK, who's their parent?
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Yes. As room mom, I know who their parent is. You know everybody.
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And I know who the kid is. And like, yeah, sure, you can or hell no, you can't.
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So when we moved here, it was like, I became room mom.
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I moved here September 11th. I was, school had already started.
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I signed up to be my mom. They'd send you this questionnaire,
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what you want to do? And I'm like, sure.
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Not knowing. And I go to my first parent meeting and they're like,
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how long have you lived here? I'm like, three days. We're not unpacked yet.
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The house is not done. It was still under construction.
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But I'm like, this isn't my first rodeo. I have done this. I can do this, I think.
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And my husband became the baseball coach. jump both feet
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first right in there yeah and so everyone's like how
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do you have so many friends i'm like you just jump right in
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and you find your people yeah oh you really moved and
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we found the our preschool and the first year
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they we were there they're like we need a chair for the big
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auction i was like i'll do it no idea it was at my house we did it at my house
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it was the most fun i feel like women like us there's a category of us we do
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stuff and we do it because we like
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to do it I always joke that I volunteer because it makes me feel good.
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It might help other people, but I really enjoy doing things that make people
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feel good. Same. So I can't stop.
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Yes. I can't stop. Oh, my God. The rest of my husband who's like,
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can you just slow down? My girlfriends are always like, you just need to stop.
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This is also the party house.
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There are people at my house every weekend. I hosted the Super Bowl yesterday,
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and now I'm doing a Valentine's Day party. I went to bed last night with my whole body aching.
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I was like, I have 40 to stress, and I have to cook it because we're Valentine's
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for the neighbors. So what took you from D.C.
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To Barbara Boxer in California?
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Yeah, an opportunity presented itself within Barbara Boxer's team.
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And I've always wanted to be part of my home state delegation.
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So I interviewed for that opportunity, but it required me to be out of the L.A. office.
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And so it brought me back home to L.A. and I worked in the courthouse on Spring
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Street, which was a whole other rodeo or like crazy thing because the jail was there.
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At that time, she had become the chair of the Environment Public Works Committee.
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But I wasn't working on EPW for her team. I was working on more like transportation.
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I did immigration for Debbie Stabenow.
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I did immigration, business, trade, financial services.
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And then when I came to Barbara Boxers, it was like it was a different portfolio. It was like health care.
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It was pretty diverse, but it wasn't public works or EPW, environment public
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works. And then I ended up staying there for a year.
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And then I was like, you know what?
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This isn't for me because I didn't see myself.
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So there are two camps. This is not saying anything negative or positive about
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anyone. It's just really what you want for yourself. Yes.
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And either you're committed for life and that's the life that you have, right?
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Like you move up the ranks within the member that you serve or you work for,
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or you move on, you keep building your career, but you're in this path.
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And I just felt like for the life that I wanted, it wasn't, it wasn't the right path.
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I appreciated it. And I also felt that being in the California office wasn't the same as being in D.C.
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I loved being in D.C. I didn't have that joy, the Hill meetings.
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You didn't have people that you were working with other members, say, from Illinois.
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I remember Senator Durbin's office. We used to, like, talk to their team because
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they had an office next to us.
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Like, I remember I would see Barack Obama in the cafe downstairs,
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like, on his cell phone. You would It was like that life. It was like these
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cool things that you would do.
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And then you really felt like you were a part of it. In California,
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I felt like I was just grinding in traffic, going to work, and then coming back.
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And that enjoyment wasn't there.
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I get that. And so then I went into nonprofit.
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And I was like, okay, I think that this is a nice adjacency to what I've been
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doing. It's helping people.
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I thought I took out the bureaucratic routine.
21:19
But that's a whole other thing. But I stayed in nonprofit. And then my husband
21:23
and I got married. And he got into business school in New York.
21:25
So we ended up staying in New York.
21:27
We thought we would only stay there through business school and then leave, but.
21:31
You stayed. Right. 16 years. 16 years.
21:34
So when did the idea come to you for Hudson and Bleecker? When I was working
21:39
for Debbie Stabenow. Okay. What happened?
21:42
Was there a moment? Yes. Okay. There was a moment. So that was in 2005.
21:46
Yeah. Because my home is California, I would travel between DC and California,
21:51
and then I would the red eye from LAX to BWI or Reagan, and I would go straight
21:57
to work because I was in my 20s. I know that.
21:59
I used to do the San Francisco route on Virgin America when it was Virgin America still.
22:04
I'd take off Friday if I could, fly home at 6 a.m. My sister would pick me up
22:09
from the airport in San Francisco with my Pete's coffee ready for me.
22:12
I'd have all day Friday, all day Saturday, all day Sunday. I'd be on the red
22:15
eye Sunday night back in the office by 8 a.m. I was traveling on these red eyes,
22:19
and back then I had a really amazing shoe collection. Nice four-inch stilettos.
22:24
And there weren't shoe bags for women.
22:28
You would sometimes get a dust bag, and then sometimes you wouldn't.
22:31
I would walk into the building, go to my meeting, and take out my shoes from a plastic grocery bag.
22:37
You'd hear the crinkling if there was a meeting and it's dead quiet.
22:40
Here I am, sopping out shoes from my flight.
22:43
There aren't any women's shoe bags. I could only find men's golf shoe bags.
22:46
So then I thought I was crazy. I was like, okay, no one wants shoe bags and
22:50
I'm the only psycho that does.
22:51
But I really need this. Growing up, my mom and my aunt used to sew our clothes
22:55
when we were little kids.
22:56
My mom still sews clothes for holidays for my daughter. By the way,
22:59
I'm obsessed with your mom. I don't even know her.
23:01
The fact that she literally got you an apartment in D.C. and was like,
23:04
let's just go in and do this.
23:06
She's amazing. So my mom's a get shit done type of person. I love her.
23:10
So hi, mom. I am great because she's kind of like been that sounding board through
23:14
everything. She even told me that I should date my husband.
23:18
I mean, like we were friends and she'd be like, why aren't you dating him? And I was like, mom...
23:23
Friends. And she's like, stop telling me you're friends. She knew.
23:26
And she was the last person I told him when I was ready to get married.
23:29
Well, because my mom's like South Asian, Pakistani.
23:32
It's like in our culture, it's like you're dating, you like him, get married.
23:35
This is happening now. And so I waited when I was like, I can't just bring him into the lion's den.
23:40
Oh my gosh. I love her so much. Okay. So my mom has a sewing machine and at
23:44
night on the weekends, I'd go home, right?
23:46
And so I was like, mom, I want to make a shoe bag. She's like,
23:48
okay, we'll go to Joanne Fabrics and I'll show you how to do it and what you need.
23:52
She started teaching me how to sew. And my husband still carries the shoe bag
23:56
that I made for him with the Florida Gators in 2005.
24:00
He refuses to use any of the newer ones that I ever made.
24:04
He's just like, this is the first one. And so yeah, my mom helped me do that.
24:08
And then I started sewing them.
24:10
And people were like, this is great. My dad was like, oh, I'm traveling.
24:13
I'll take one. My brother-in-laws, my cousins, everyone was just asking me,
24:17
can you make one? Then I kind of forgot about it. I was just in work.
24:20
The idea of doing this as a business really didn't come together until 2010.
24:26
Because I was just like, okay, do I want to go to law school?
24:30
Like, what do I want to do? Like, I'm in non-profit. You know,
24:32
it was like all these years I went from working for two senators into non-profit.
24:37
It never crossed my mind to go into business.
24:40
The funny thing is I come from a family
24:42
of entrepreneurs. My parents were entrepreneurs and business people.
24:45
I was just like, no, I don't want to do it. And then when I moved to New York,
24:48
I quit my job and my husband was in business school and I was looking for work.
24:51
I ended up working with a nonprofit, like a housing nonprofit in New York,
24:54
which was incredibly eye-opening and equally devastating.
24:58
Which one did you work with? I worked for ANHD, the Association of Neighborhood
25:02
and Housing Development on Broad Street.
25:03
I don't know that one. They do really good work. It was really fascinating.
25:07
We were talking about rent, right?
25:08
Like about rent stabilization, working with landlords, how the banks are even part of the problem.
25:14
It was crazy, like how they're lending to predatory.
25:17
Business owners. There are people who live in New York City that have holes
25:20
in their ceilings. Their doorknobs don't lock.
25:23
They don't have running water. I mean, it was just like, you know,
25:26
I was sitting here in my bubble thinking everyone lived like me, right?
25:30
Here I am. I knew nothing about the boroughs. I knew nothing about socioeconomics
25:34
of New York. I just assumed it was sex in the city.
25:37
Well, unless you see the other side of it. Until you see the other side of it.
25:40
Right. And I saw the other side of it. And it was really eye opening.
25:43
And then one day my husband's like I was like looking for jobs like what do
25:46
I do next and he was like why are you looking for work he's like you know you
25:49
have this really great idea and you're in New York and it's such a creative
25:53
place like just explore it and I was like no that's too scary that's too unpredictable.
26:00
And then he was just like try it out he's like go check out the mark like the
26:04
fabric markets like see what's out there so I started doing research and I was
26:08
like okay he has a point and he was really supportive.
26:13
He was like, you know, just answer that question of what if,
26:15
because I kept, we would have that conversation. I was like,
26:18
gosh, like there are no women's accessories.
26:20
It was just to me in the market for men.
26:22
And so I was like, there's nothing nice. It's like, either I go to Dwayne Reed
26:26
and pick up a bag when I'm traveling.
26:28
There's nothing nice out there that I like that's really good quality.
26:31
And so I started designing everything I've made. I've hand sketched.
26:35
So I hand sketched some designs. I found the pattern maker and started sewing
26:40
these small batches, like 50 bags at a time.
26:43
Then I found out about this market in Soho. There was a gym inside a church.
26:48
The gym would host. I don't know if the church actually hosted it.
26:50
I think someone rented the space, the gymnasium, every Saturday.
26:54
And so for one year, I would pay $100 a Saturday and I would show up with a
26:58
six foot table and display my bags. And then I would work at my nonprofit Monday through Friday.
27:04
I don't think I had any expectations of it. I just kind of did it.
27:07
The problem, the con with me is like, I never had experience in retail.
27:11
I never had experience with the brand. I had an idea.
27:14
I was operating from a place of,
27:16
I'll just do what I think sounds right. And people are like,
27:19
you can't do that. I'm like, well, why not? Because I didn't know how the system worked.
27:24
And so, right, like how buying works, how fashion works or anything like that,
27:29
or the seasons or the cycles.
27:31
I made what I liked and what I would want to buy as a consumer.
27:35
I didn't really look at trends. There's a lot of learnings through this whole process. Yes, for sure.
27:39
And so, yeah, I would show up there, sell my bags. Some days I wouldn't sell
27:42
any. And other days I would sell gangbusters.
27:45
Sometimes I would have people come and be like, why would I buy a makeup bag? I can get it for free.
27:49
Oh, like when I buy my stuff at Bloomingdale's counter, they give me a bag.
27:53
Right. You're not my customer.
27:54
Got it. And you learn who your customer is too. You learn who your customer
27:56
is. So it was really an opportunity for me to have a focus group every weekend for a year.
28:01
That's a great learning experience. It was. And there was one time where a woman
28:05
showed up and bought 12 shoe bags from me.
28:08
And I was like, okay, I think I'm doing something right. I think there are other
28:11
women like me, you know, travel for business or leisure, and they want nice accessories.
28:16
And my whole, like, fundamentals of the business has always been quality.
28:21
So I want the best materials, really nice zippers.
28:25
Even back then, I used to buy YKK zippers from the store. My dad had always manufactured in Asia.
28:31
My dad had a lighting company. When I was a child, I used to travel with my parents.
28:35
So I had been to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, a very fond memory. I had not been to China.
28:41
But my dad was very frequently traveling to China because he had factories there.
28:45
When I started this business idea, my dad was like, you know,
28:48
you should just go to China.
28:49
There was this whole conversation at the time about only garbage comes out of China.
28:53
And I was like, yeah, I don't want to be made in China.
28:56
I want to be made in the USA. My dad's like, you're just making it a lot harder on yourself.
29:00
I had a source from 11 different suppliers to make one bag.
29:04
Trim, zipper, the lining anything to reinforce
29:07
it on the back there was no one having the majority
29:10
of all the things you needed and then i would take all those like everything
29:13
that i put together for a bag and like give it to that had to have been so costly
29:18
right cut and sew was very costly and then the yield was so low so you're paying
29:22
more i'm trying to scale like i'm like calling up boutiques i'm like would you
29:26
like to carry my bag and then like like oh we sold out can you refresh stock
29:30
and And they'd be like, OK, I need more bags.
29:31
We can give you 10 this week and 20 next week.
29:34
It was becoming challenging because I'm like, OK, there isn't scalability here. Yeah.
29:39
So my husband actually, he was like, I have a really good friend that I met
29:42
in business school and he's from Hong Kong. Why don't we just go? Like, we've never been.
29:46
So we took a flight from Newark Airport. And I remember I was like,
29:49
I don't want to go. And he's like, why not? And I was like, I don't want to manufacture in China.
29:54
And then he's like, we're not going to manufacture there. He's like,
29:56
let's just go learn something.
29:57
So I was like, OK, fine. My dad was really sweet. He lined up some meetings
30:01
for me to meet with people he worked with. My mind was just blown away.
30:06
I was like, where have I landed? I have been living under a rock.
30:11
And so that's when I moved manufacturing to China. Yeah, we just don't have
30:14
the manufacturing in the U.S. We just don't have the labor.
30:17
We don't have the skill. We don't have that scalability.
30:20
I do think that it existed at one point. It absolutely did. It did.
30:24
Yes, very much so, because I remember growing up around it.
30:27
But you can't compete with the skill.
30:30
You can't compete with the cost. Cost is certainly going up.
30:33
We could have a whole other podcast about the diversification of the supply
30:36
chain since the pandemic and how it has just shifted outside of China.
30:41
They still are the stronghold, but it's all over now, right?
30:45
Like it's all over Southeast Asia. It's in India.
30:48
It's in Pakistan. It's in Africa.
30:51
China has this really big, robust, I tell people this because I didn't know this until I got there.
30:56
China's heavily invested in Africa. Most of our shoes are coming from there.
31:00
Rubber is coming from there and it's called the Road and Belt Initiative.
31:03
And it's fascinating. It is truly mind-blowing because I had a preview into
31:08
this in 2012 when I went and I learned so much.
31:11
I remember watching BBC News and there was this woman from a Chinese company
31:15
who was like, we're so excited. We're now in Ethiopia.
31:18
And like there's this whole documentary on BBC or like CNN International about
31:22
China's investment in Africa.
31:24
So Africa has always been seen as this like poor country that we've always given
31:27
charity to, but we never made investments in.
31:30
Well, China's come in and made very robust investments into Africa.
31:34
And if anyone's listening and wants to know, look up the Road and Belt Initiative.
31:38
Oh, I might put it at the bottom of the podcast so people can look at it. Yeah.
31:41
I mean, I don't have a direct link for it, but it's really fascinating,
31:45
a little bit frightening because, and then I also sometimes,
31:48
because this political background of mine, I'm like, okay, what's going on?
31:52
Like geopolitically, what's going on?
31:54
In waterways and in different countries and why are we doing this or why are we involved in that.
32:00
Sometimes feel like a game of risk it does and that
32:03
terrifies me yeah i'm very curious about this i also need to be reading my women's
32:07
work daily more often because i get it every single day i do read that every
32:11
day to be reading it more often i was so good about reading all of it and then
32:16
it's fallen off the deep end i need to go back to reading it every day it's
32:19
fascinating it really is how the world works.
32:22
I think we're only given soundbites.
32:24
The tariffs are insane. They have been a problem.
32:27
I just relaunched the business because I had a baby on March 11th of 2020.
32:33
During COVID. I was mid-production for a massive order that I couldn't get a
32:38
boat. I couldn't get it on a boat.
32:40
And so I couldn't get it to the customer. I ended up having two kids at home overnight.
32:45
I came home from the hospital and had two kids and no help. And so I kind of hit the breaks.
32:50
And I was like, because I was losing my mind. I was like, what do I do?
32:52
I have this newborn that I was bedrested for six months just to make sure she came out alive.
32:58
And I had infertility. I had a whole host of things. And so I was like,
33:03
I have to get her out of me safe.
33:04
And so it was pretty traumatic. The challenges of manufacturing during that
33:08
time would have broken me financially, physically, and emotionally.
33:12
Or it was like, you know, lean into what you're able to do and take care of. And that's your kids.
33:17
Yeah. And so I did that until there were so many lows during that time.
33:22
And there were so many highs like having the kids.
33:24
And with my oldest one, I had a full-time nanny.
33:26
I was not really present. I was always traveling.
33:29
I remember his daycare called me one day and they were just like.
33:32
We noticed that like when you were traveling, he cries all day.
33:36
And they're like, can you take a break for a week? And I'm like,
33:39
no, because I'm on QVC in Pennsylvania.
33:42
I just got off a flight from my factory in China.
33:44
And I'm like, do you think that I want to be doing this? Yeah.
33:48
When I was on QVC, it was nuts. I was never home.
33:51
And then with this little one, couldn't get away from her.
33:55
They told my husband for the first time, I feel like I know these nuances of
33:58
our son because I'm home with him.
34:00
I would never change that for the world. As challenging as it was,
34:03
I spent the best time with my kids. Oh, I love that. And I haven't had regrets about it.
34:07
Oh, I love that. I really was miserable during COVID with my children.
34:11
And I love them. Mine were older, though. They were, what, five and seven, I think, at the time?
34:16
That's hot. And two little boys who we built a skate park in the backyard just to keep them occupied.
34:21
That is awesome. Because we couldn't. I was going to lose my mind. I cannot teach.
34:26
That is not. I can't teach. My mother was a teacher for 30 years.
34:29
Mommy, rock star, eighth grade. She taught. God bless her. Oh,
34:32
my gosh. She was a crazy lady.
34:34
Don't know how she did it for 30 years. That is not me. I'm not that person.
34:39
I was not meant to be home with my children all the time.
34:42
No. I needed my own work. I needed my own job. I respect stay-at-home moms. so much.
34:47
Oh my gosh. They have the hardest job in the world. And you know what?
34:50
Even when I'm at work, I'm like, listen, my kids come home and it's like a hard
34:53
cut off because I don't miss, I try not to miss sports. Yeah.
34:56
Because that's their time and I want to be there, right? Yeah.
34:58
But I'm like, hey guys, listen, I got to go. My real job starts.
35:01
The kids are coming home from school.
35:03
Yeah. I got better at that though because I found that I was missing,
35:07
I missed, I felt like I missed all of Easton's kindergarten year because I was
35:12
working, had clients, I was building the business here.
35:14
It was just, it was a lot. And I felt like I missed so much.
35:18
After his kindergarten year, I was like, okay, I won't do this again.
35:21
I will put him on the bus or I'll take him to school and I will be available when he gets home.
35:25
Right. So the majority of the time I've really tried to work within those parameters
35:28
after that one year, because it just felt awful.
35:31
I didn't like that feeling. I still needed me and my time and who I was and my own work.
35:36
I wanted to be around them. And now that they're older, I find that middle school,
35:40
he needs me more emotionally now than he did when he was little.
35:45
In the morning, I make sure I don't like them eating alone.
35:49
I'm Italian, Irish, and Spanish, and food was where we did everything.
35:52
The kitchen is where life happened. Yes.
35:54
Same. Well, it's the same. The culture is the same in that way,
35:57
right? I don't ever remember having dinner without my parents as a family.
36:00
No. And I was never, never ate alone.
36:02
Never. And that was something that I just find to be really important.
36:07
So breakfast, I am downstairs until eight o'clock in the morning.
36:10
Now, I might be trying to get some work done, But they are not by themselves.
36:13
Right. We are together. And dinner, as much as we can, we are always together.
36:18
Absolutely. And sports are a little bit iffy. But I'll never forget last year,
36:22
Easton came home and everyone had eaten dinner because he had a late soccer practice.
36:26
And he looked at us and he goes, Mom, can you guys wait for me next time?
36:30
So now we try our absolute best so that everyone is sitting with someone and
36:36
we're together having meals.
36:37
That was always a big deal for us when we were kids too, like Sunday dinners, meals together.
36:43
That was so important. It's just having conversations. It's having that connection.
36:47
You also sense things with them. So I'm 100% with you.
36:50
When they were little, they were taxing in a different way because they needed
36:54
to be fed, a diaper change, a nap.
36:56
It was like physical, right? Yeah. But the emotional stuff is so much harder.
36:59
Yes. I had an incident last year with my son and he was being bullied.
37:03
That was really hard as a parent to navigate, to see him dealing with that.
37:07
But I'm realizing as we're getting older, they need us in different ways.
37:10
I think your kids are a lot like mine. Those traditions that we've set,
37:13
not knowing, if anything deviates from it, it's such a trigger for them.
37:17
Because they're just like, wait, what? Like, why aren't we all doing this as a family?
37:21
If dad takes one of them to swimming and mom doesn't go, why aren't we all,
37:25
mom, why aren't you coming? You know, because they're so used to that. Yes.
37:29
And I don't mind it. I actually love it because I always feel,
37:34
and I think you can probably agree, and I'm sure a lot of parents can,
37:37
with our kids, you can't tell them what to do.
37:40
I grew up in an environment where you were told what to do. And it was also
37:43
demonstrated for you, right? But you had to figure it out because there were
37:46
so many of us in such a big family.
37:48
But with my kids, I always tell my husband, we have to lead by example.
37:51
You can't tell them because they do call you out when you're being a hypocrite.
37:54
They absolutely do call you out. I still tell my children what to do. No, I still do, too.
37:58
But like where I'm just like, listen, you know, we all sit together at dinner
38:01
or like they automatically know, you know, they automatically know.
38:06
So is there anything new for Hudson and Bleecker that's happening?
38:10
Yeah. I mean, there's so many exciting new things. When I relaunched the business,
38:13
I was like, OK, if I'm going to do this, I'm not doing it by myself.
38:16
I did it by myself for 13 years and it was exhausting.
38:19
Also was a different phase in my life. I started the business when I didn't
38:22
have kids and I had one and then I had another. There was a pandemic.
38:25
I moved. A lot of change had happened.
38:28
I was like, I want to do this. I believe in it, but I don't want to do it by
38:31
myself. I want a good work-life balance.
38:34
I want to love it. So I sold half of my company to bring on help.
38:38
As long as I get help, and it's not a 24-year-old kid rotating door,
38:43
you know, it's someone who's a thought partner.
38:45
So I'm really grateful with that. How long did that process take to find the
38:48
right person? I put it out in the universe. I do believe in manifestation.
38:52
Me too. Yes. So much. I do strongly believe in it because when you're so sure
38:56
about something, you know, and it kind of waffled.
38:59
I was like, do I want to make a career pivot?
39:01
Do I want to do something else? You know, because I don't think anything's a
39:05
failure. And this is something that I've also learned, right?
39:08
Culturally or socially, it's like academically, you've either passed or failed.
39:13
You've either gotten into a good school or you haven't. Or, you know,
39:16
life's all about either your marriage has been successful and blessed or you
39:20
failed and you're divorced.
39:21
And I feel like, you know, I hate the word failure.
39:25
That's one thing where over the years, I've learned like nothing's a failure.
39:29
It's just life evolving, right?
39:32
It's life evolving. It's hard to work through the challenges.
39:36
But then when you get to the other side, it's all worth it. Yep.
39:39
And so even with my kids, like my son's like, oh, if he lost a game,
39:43
he's like, oh, we failed.
39:44
I'm like, no, you learned because you're not going to make that same mistake again.
39:48
I even tell people who work for me, I'm like, listen, fuck up.
39:51
Make mistakes. You've got to.
39:53
Own it. You don't learn without making mistakes. I feel that way with the kids
39:56
now, too. I'm like, you've got to be able to make a mistake.
39:59
You have to. You won't do it the same way the next time. Exactly.
40:02
You're going to remember making the mistake.
40:05
You'll pause to be like, okay, I'm not going to do the same thing again. Yes.
40:08
More so than if you just kept doing everything like a hamster on a wheel.
40:12
Never going to pause and be reflective. Life's presented a lot of reflection for me.
40:16
My dad passed away. My mom lives in California.
40:19
Having kids, going through tough pregnancies, not being able to conceive,
40:22
going through fertility.
40:23
All these things that you take for granted no one
40:26
ever pulls you aside and says hey it's going to be hell
40:29
getting pregnant or it's going to be tough right everyone has a
40:31
different journey you just think okay i'm going to get pregnant yeah we're
40:35
married we want to have kids therefore we're going to get pregnant and that's
40:39
not how it works yeah a lot of the realities they don't tell you and i feel
40:42
and i'm what i'm really grateful for is people talking more about it and i'm
40:46
someone like one-on-one i talk about it right but then i'm also shy i don't
40:51
seem that way one-on-one One, I'm like an open book.
40:55
Yeah. But then I get shy in big settings.
40:57
I also feel like imposter syndrome. I wouldn't even, I hate that term, right?
41:01
Really dislike that term. Yeah,
41:03
I dislike that term. I really dislike that term. You're not an imposter.
41:06
You're figuring it out. You're figuring it out. You're becoming who you're supposed to become.
41:09
Right. There's no imposter about it. Then it makes you feel like you're just
41:13
not you anymore. Right. I'm like, no, I'm just. I still am me.
41:16
I'm not, you know, starting a podcast. I didn't think I was going to become
41:19
a podcaster, but I never felt like an imposter. I felt like,
41:23
no, this is a new thing for me.
41:24
Right. Let's see what happens. Let's see where it goes. And you're great at
41:27
it. Let's just have fun. Yeah.
41:28
Just have fun. Let's enjoy the ride for a while. Yeah. See what happens.
41:31
Enjoy the ride for a while. And it's OK.
41:33
Yeah. It's OK if it doesn't work out. It's OK if you change your mind and want
41:36
to try something else. Yes.
41:37
And I don't think that you're taught that when you're a child.
41:39
Or we certainly weren't. Right. I certainly wasn't. I don't know about you.
41:43
I remember when I graduated college, my dad was like, you know,
41:46
in your career, you're just going to have maybe three or four jobs because that's
41:50
how my dad that's how that generation that generation my dad had the same job my mom had the same job.
41:55
Yeah, that's what you did. You went and worked somewhere for 40 years,
41:59
got your pension, and then you were done. That is just not the case.
42:01
Growing up in that way, when you did change jobs, it felt like I was doing something
42:06
wrong. It felt very seismic.
42:08
Right? Right. When I really needed to change that job because something else
42:12
was waiting for me on the other side.
42:13
But in the moment, I was like, wait, I'm supposed to be at the same place forever.
42:16
That's really funny you bring that up. I haven't thought about that in a long time.
42:19
I thought about that when I decided I didn't want to be in politics anymore.
42:22
I'm like, but I've made this commitment, and this is how I'm defined.
42:25
And this is the career that I've chosen.
42:28
I really went through this rabbit hole of like, okay, if I make this pivot and
42:32
I try this business thing and what if it fails?
42:34
And my husband was like, what if it does?
42:37
What if it becomes something amazing? Or what if it becomes something amazing?
42:40
And I didn't think that it would be this life of mine.
42:43
And it was really cute because my kids know what I do, even the little one.
42:47
And when I was working through the formulation of the company with the new partner,
42:51
my daughter, who has no idea about Hudson and Bleeker,
42:53
bags mom she's like mom you make such beautiful
42:56
bags like why don't you make them anymore and I
43:00
was like you know that felt like a real affirmation of
43:03
like okay my whole family is behind me rooting for me my son loves it my son's
43:08
so funny I'm like you do chores you can get money I'm trying to implement this
43:11
with him it's just like I don't want to do chores he's like I can write emails
43:15
for you I'll work for you seriously I think that's child labor kid I don't think I can put you on payroll.
43:22
I don't know. As I was doing YouTube for this, Easton, I was like,
43:27
Easton, can you help me with something? Because something's not working on YouTube.
43:30
He's like, yeah, he jumps in. He's so sad. At 12.
43:32
Do we hire you to like start doing this? No, it's so true. They know so much. Where are the bags now?
43:39
So everything's available on Hudson and Bleeker.com. We were previously with
43:43
Nordstrom and Revolve before the pandemic, and we're working towards like reopening
43:47
those doors and working with partners.
43:49
What's exciting about the product is that I call it version 2.0,
43:53
but it has the same like fundamental qualities, aesthetic functionality.
43:57
So Hudson & Bleeker is all about like multifunctionality, right?
44:01
So you get two bags in one, four bags in one.
44:04
They're TSA friendly and come with a crossbody strap or a metal chain strap.
44:09
And then you can take it to the game.
44:11
Like you can take the clear bag, right? Because you need your bags now. Wow.
44:15
So everything's just about multifunctionality. So like our big case,
44:19
our Voyager toiletry bag, it's four bags in one.
44:22
You can take one clear bag into your carry-on. It's TSA friendly.
44:26
You can pack your hair care in the big bag, your makeup in one clear bag,
44:30
your skincare in the other.
44:31
How can something be utilized in more than one way? Yeah.
44:36
Yeah. And then now what's been really great is we've been able to work with
44:40
recycled materials. I was going to ask you about sustainability.
44:43
Yeah, the sustainability piece is something I always wanted to do when I was
44:46
on my own, but it felt like...
44:48
It was so hard. Cost prohibitive too, I bet. And cost prohibitive, yeah.
44:52
And now the opportunities have opened up that's allowed us to do it and do it
44:57
at a really impactful level. That's great.
45:00
So all the material is, so it's always been vegan. It always will be a vegan
45:04
brand for a variety of reasons.
45:06
One, it's just more ethical, sustainable. And two, it helps with cost and utility.
45:12
People are always like, yeah, I like a leather bag, but I don't want my leather
45:14
makeup bag sitting on my bathroom countertop. And then possibly getting ruined.
45:19
So like whenever I'm product developing, like I do get focus group feedback.
45:24
Oh, good. It's too big. It's too small. Would you travel with it? What's your utility?
45:29
The other thing is for me living in New York, I always thought about like,
45:32
okay, I can travel with it and can I use it for at-home storage?
45:37
So like our train cases are like that. You can put it under the sink or like on your vanity.
45:42
Your makeup's all set to go. If you're in a small space, we have this round
45:46
Globetrotter jewelry case. It's the tiniest, cute little round bag.
45:49
And everyone's like, how did you come up with this idea? And I'm like,
45:52
well, I like to go get my nails done, although they're not done today.
45:55
And I'm like, I always put my rings in the little tray. Absolutely. Every time.
45:59
Yep. And every time I put my rings down, I would be like, God, why are you doing this?
46:04
There has to be a better way of like putting your rings away so you don't forget
46:07
them or lose them or whatever.
46:08
So I made this jewelry case called the Globetrotter just for me to get my nails
46:14
done and put my jewelry in there, my watch in there, my braces,
46:19
and then zip it up and put it in my bag.
46:22
So I don't leave anything behind. Yeah. And it makes for a really great gift.
46:25
But that's where my idea came from.
46:27
My garment bag idea, which is like one of our bestsellers, I'm so happy because
46:31
my husband and I were going to a wedding down in Florida.
46:33
Being Indian, our clothes are big and very ornate. I didn't want to pack it
46:38
in our luggage because it takes up half of the luggage. And so I was like,
46:42
hey, do you have a suit bag that I could borrow and just put my clothes in there
46:46
and I'll just hand carry it onto the plane?
46:48
And my husband's like, yeah, sure. And he takes out this ugly ass suit bag.
46:52
And I'm like, this is what your suits come in?
46:55
I was like, I don't want to be caught dead with this thing. And so that's where
46:58
I had the idea for a garment bag. And so I quickly did this search.
47:01
I was like, are there garment bags for women's clothing? And there weren't.
47:04
And so I was like, OK, I'm going to make one.
47:06
And so then I designed our garment bag.
47:09
And all of this is a hand sketch. I was on the plane drawing it out.
47:13
I was like, okay, what do I want it to have?
47:14
Now it has an interior pocket that can fit your shoes or your makeup bag with
47:18
beauty bags or your jewelry case.
47:21
It's funny because I get stopped in the airport all the time with it.
47:24
And one of my clients told me that she took it to Jamaica for five days.
47:30
That was the only bag she took and carried it onto the plane.
47:33
And she's like, I had my laptop in there, my bathing suits, my cover-ups, my makeup.
47:38
And I zipped it up and I showed up for a five-day trip in Jamaica and this is the only bag I carried.
47:42
We just sold a hundred of them. That's amazing.
47:46
I know. So it's one of my favorite bags. On the weekends, that's all I use.
47:49
Like even when I'm traveling, like during the winter and we have all our coats. Yeah.
47:53
I put all our coats in it, zip it up, and I hang it at the front of the plane.
47:57
Because I don't want to be shopping with like five different coats.
47:59
Well, and also you're putting your coat on to get to the airport.
48:01
Then you're in some place warm and you're probably not going to be using it
48:03
until you get back. Yeah.
48:05
Oh, that's brilliant. So I was expanding on the brand in 2025 with some new
48:09
products. So I'm excited about that. Things that we haven't developed before.
48:13
Oh, cool. Yeah. Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing that. Yeah.
48:16
I'm going to give you the last two questions. Yeah, go for it.
48:18
I'm going to come back on and just hang out again because it's been so much fun. what
48:21
is something on your bucket list i've thought
48:24
about this i really want to go to hanoi
48:28
it's been on my mind for a really long time i think
48:31
i saw it on anthony bourdain years ago he
48:34
was in the middle of a traffic circle and there's just like these motorbikes
48:37
like because it's like a big motorbike city right i've always wanted to experience
48:42
that the motorbikes in hanoi it's so random i love that and i have no idea why
48:49
but i just want to see it i thought it was so fascinating.
48:52
And I've seen motorbikes in Asia, in China, and elsewhere, Singapore.
48:57
But I just think it's so fascinating how they go in these massive circles.
49:00
Amidst what I'm visually seeing as chaos, there's something very structured about it. I love that.
49:08
Oh, I haven't heard that. That was a good one. That was pretty crazy. I like that one a lot.
49:13
Yeah. What's one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
49:18
To my younger self. Take more risks. Don't be scared. Take the risks.
49:24
I would say it's really hard when you're young. I don't get this,
49:27
how at 18 you're supposed to know where you want to go to school and what you
49:30
want to do for the rest of your life.
49:31
I had five different majors before I graduated in Italian because my father
49:35
was like, can we be done with this already?
49:37
I was like, yeah, it was the one I had the most credits for.
49:39
Yeah. I didn't know what I wanted. No.
49:41
I still, sometimes I'm like, listen, even if I want to change things at some
49:45
point in life, that's great too. It's okay.
49:48
Yeah. Be respectful to yourself and be respectful to those around you, but do what you want.
49:52
Your heart feels right with the evolution of like in the internet social media
49:56
and connectivity right there's so many more opportunities to understand and
50:01
do things or learn right there's so many tools to like teach yourself and so
50:06
i feel like just being siloed into these boxes,
50:10
for me at least right if i could go back and tell myself i'd be like don't be
50:14
scared take more risks this has been so fun oh my god it's been a blast thank
50:19
you so much for having I'll come back. I would love to.
50:21
There's so much. We have a plethora of things to talk about.
50:24
And I don't think I even got to half my questions.
50:26
So we're going to come back and do this again. No, thank you so much.
50:30
Thank you so much for joining me today on She's Smart. New episodes drop every Thursday.
50:36
Don't forget to subscribe and share. Stay cozy.