Latest / QUESTION EVERYTHING / Do You Believe In Your Own Power? with Sam Abrahart, Founder of The Mayfair Group

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Do You Believe In Your Own Power? with Sam Abrahart, Founder of The Mayfair Group · QUESTION EVERYTHING

0:04
Speaker 1: Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
0:08
Speaker 1: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe, and each week my guests
0:12
Speaker 1: and I have conversations that put a new spin on pretty.
0:17
Speaker 1: This is pretty smart. Kindness, vulnerability, empathy. There's a kind
0:24
Speaker 1: of old school belief that these traits make you weak.
0:27
Speaker 1: But Sam Abraheart, the CEO of the Mayfair Group, is
0:31
Speaker 1: not a subscriber of that. In fact, she sees these
0:34
Speaker 1: traits as her and her company's biggest asset, and she
0:38
Speaker 1: wants you to join her in wearing your heart on
0:41
Speaker 1: your sleeve. Quite literally. The Mayfair Group is a hugely
0:56
Speaker 1: successful e commerce platform. Sam and her team have turned
0:59
Speaker 1: pow posit of mental health messaging into a multimillion dollar
1:03
Speaker 1: fashion brand. You might have spotted these sweats on celebs
1:06
Speaker 1: like Jennifer Lopez, Sidney Sweeney, Shawn Mendes, or Demi Lovado
1:10
Speaker 1: just to name a few. And if you don't know
1:13
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, it's that empathy sweatshirt that everybody's wearing.
1:18
Speaker 1: What's so inspiring, though, is that the mission statement came
1:21
Speaker 1: from a lived experience. It was Sam's mental health journey
1:25
Speaker 1: that inspired her to launch the company in twenty seventeen,
1:29
Speaker 1: when she said she was severely depressed and it was
1:32
Speaker 1: by becoming vulnerable that she was able to tap into
1:35
Speaker 1: her own power. Sam reminded me that pain can be transformative. Sam,
1:44
Speaker 1: you worked in fashion for six years before moving on
1:48
Speaker 1: to create your own brand. I'm so curious what your
1:52
Speaker 1: experience in fashion was like and why you felt that
1:56
Speaker 1: pull to go off on your own.
1:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. I mean I went to college and I
2:01
Speaker 2: did an internship out of college for a company based
2:03
Speaker 2: in LA and both myself and our CEOs sitting right
2:08
Speaker 2: across from me, Devin, we both had like corporate fashion backgrounds,
2:11
Speaker 2: and I think it really helped steer our own careers
2:15
Speaker 2: but also just create, like help create the culture at
2:18
Speaker 2: Mayfair that we really wanted to create. And we're both
2:21
Speaker 2: so incredibly grateful for our corporate backgrounds because there was
2:25
Speaker 2: so much that we learned in terms of experience and
2:27
Speaker 2: things that we could bring to Mayfair's business that is
2:30
Speaker 2: so essential for understanding how to grow a business and
2:33
Speaker 2: a brand. But there was also so many things that
2:35
Speaker 2: we learned that we were like, you know, if we're
2:37
Speaker 2: going to build this company and build this culture like
2:40
Speaker 2: we want to do things completely different. You know, we
2:42
Speaker 2: felt in some of our previous careers very redlined and
2:46
Speaker 2: told to stay within our roles. And you know, when
2:48
Speaker 2: you're working for bigger companies, you're just such a small
2:51
Speaker 2: part in a bigger, bigger pond. So I think there
2:54
Speaker 2: was a lot of takeaways that Dev and I both
2:56
Speaker 2: learned in our previous careers. So I am so so
2:59
Speaker 2: inc I be grateful and my background taught me so
3:02
Speaker 2: many things. I worked in sales, I was VP of
3:05
Speaker 2: sales for quite a few different big fashion brands. Then
3:08
Speaker 2: when switched and worked for a startup and I worked
3:11
Speaker 2: in PR and sales and really helped from grassroots like
3:14
Speaker 2: build this brand into an incredible brand. And in twenty
3:18
Speaker 2: sixteen was when I decided to leave that company and
3:22
Speaker 2: kind of navigated a really really dark depression in twenty sixteen.
3:27
Speaker 2: And I had always wanted to venture out on my
3:29
Speaker 2: own and start something by myself, and twenty sixteen was
3:32
Speaker 2: really the catalyst through that pain and through that depression
3:35
Speaker 2: that I was going through. Was really when I came
3:37
Speaker 2: up with the idea to start a company that built
3:40
Speaker 2: an online digital safe space. So without that time and
3:44
Speaker 2: without that moment, which which at the time was a
3:46
Speaker 2: really really dark space for me, it was also really transformative.
3:50
Speaker 2: It's one of those things where you look back on
3:52
Speaker 2: it and you may not enjoy every job, but every
3:54
Speaker 2: job teaches you something, and every life experience teaches you something.
3:59
Speaker 2: So when you're out of this moments, you can see
4:00
Speaker 2: how transformative they are.
4:03
Speaker 1: I cannot gloss over the mental health aspects, so we're
4:06
Speaker 1: going to get there. But in twenty seventeen, you move
4:10
Speaker 1: back to Arizona and you launched the Mayfair Group, which
4:14
Speaker 1: was originally an agency out of your guest bedroom from home.
4:18
Speaker 1: Is that correct? Yeah? Yeah, and two thousand dollars in
4:21
Speaker 1: your savings account, which that's like anxiety inducing by itself,
4:27
Speaker 1: you know. So how did you launch it? How did
4:30
Speaker 1: you get it off the ground? Who was your first client?
4:34
Speaker 2: So our first client was Wildflower Cases and they are
4:36
Speaker 2: still one of our clients today. We're so out of that. Yeah,
4:40
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm sporting a case as we speak, well
4:43
Speaker 2: forever ever. You know, their their family is one of
4:46
Speaker 2: the families and people. Every time someone asked me someone
4:49
Speaker 2: that's changed your life, I always mentioned them as people
4:52
Speaker 2: have changed your life because they believed in the concept
4:54
Speaker 2: in the company before it even started, and they believed
4:57
Speaker 2: in me, which you know at the time I probably
4:59
Speaker 2: didn't even belie even myself. But you know, I think
5:02
Speaker 2: I had worked in sales and fashion enough to be
5:05
Speaker 2: able to say, Okay, I can venture out on my
5:07
Speaker 2: own and start this creative agency. And I know I'm
5:09
Speaker 2: going to have Wildflower and maybe one or two other clients,
5:13
Speaker 2: So you know, I had that going into starting the agency,
5:16
Speaker 2: so it wasn't like I was starting with like no
5:18
Speaker 2: income whatsoever. I knew that I had signed one or
5:22
Speaker 2: two brands, and you know, I think that's something when
5:25
Speaker 2: you start a business, like just be open. I think
5:28
Speaker 2: businesses can evolve year over year, month over month, time
5:32
Speaker 2: over time. You don't have to start with this big,
5:34
Speaker 2: grand idea and gesture. You know, you can pivot and
5:38
Speaker 2: be nimble and see where things take you time over time.
5:41
Speaker 2: Like we had a lot of big ideas from the start,
5:43
Speaker 2: but we knew we had to start small realistically. You know,
5:46
Speaker 2: we were working out of a guest bedroom. It was
5:48
Speaker 2: just me at the time, so it was like, Okay,
5:50
Speaker 2: what am I good at? What can I make an
5:52
Speaker 2: income doing? What can this creative agency be about and
5:55
Speaker 2: then what is the long term goals creating this powerful
5:58
Speaker 2: online digital community, maybeating a brand of Mayfair in itself
6:01
Speaker 2: one day. But it started as a creative agency because
6:04
Speaker 2: I knew that's what we could do, and I knew
6:06
Speaker 2: that's what we could get income in, and so we
6:07
Speaker 2: started small and we took on clients, and you know,
6:10
Speaker 2: the business to this day is still self funded, which
6:12
Speaker 2: is really incredible and something that Dev and I are
6:15
Speaker 2: really really proud of. And we've really bootstrapped and grown
6:17
Speaker 2: the business. We've you know, had to a time turned
6:22
Speaker 2: down growth opportunities and massive scale growth because we want
6:26
Speaker 2: everything to be manageable and we don't want to grow
6:28
Speaker 2: too fast and always preserve the integrity of the company
6:31
Speaker 2: and the brand. You know, but I think there's something
6:33
Speaker 2: to be said about starting small, and so it was
6:35
Speaker 2: really just working with those small brands like Wildflower, who
6:38
Speaker 2: at the time was also a lot smaller than they
6:41
Speaker 2: are now. And you know, those brands have grown with us.
6:44
Speaker 2: We've been able to work with so many more brands
6:47
Speaker 2: in the capacity of our creative agency, and we've also
6:49
Speaker 2: been able to build our own incredible brand out of it,
6:52
Speaker 2: which was it's just so incredible to see.
6:55
Speaker 1: We're we have to get to that because that's actually
6:57
Speaker 1: how I found you. Of course, before you launched Mayfair,
7:01
Speaker 1: when you were doing fashion. Still I read in an
7:03
Speaker 1: interview you said you wanted to create a more meaningful life.
7:06
Speaker 1: So I can't imagine that that didn't go into building
7:08
Speaker 1: the Mayfair brand. When I look at your work and
7:11
Speaker 1: the work you do for other brands, that sentiment is
7:14
Speaker 1: there for sure. I think meaningful is a word that so,
7:20
Speaker 1: I mean everybody thinks about it, but particularly millennials and
7:23
Speaker 1: people in gen Z think about creating a meaningful life.
7:26
Speaker 1: I hear that all the time. How did you go
7:28
Speaker 1: about identifying what was meaningful? Because it's different for everybody, right.
7:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean for dev and I and I keep
7:36
Speaker 2: referencing her because she's a huge part of Mayfair as well.
7:39
Speaker 2: But I think, you know, we didn't enjoy what we did.
7:42
Speaker 2: We loved our jobs so much, don't get me wrong,
7:45
Speaker 2: I think we both learned a lot. And I'm speaking
7:47
Speaker 2: for her, but she's right in front of me. But
7:49
Speaker 2: we both loved our jobs. But you know, we didn't
7:52
Speaker 2: feel like what we were doing was fulfilling or making
7:55
Speaker 2: an impact at the end of the day, and if
7:58
Speaker 2: you think about how much time your work in the
8:00
Speaker 2: grand scheme of your life, like you you work eight
8:02
Speaker 2: hours a day, you spend so much of your time
8:04
Speaker 2: dedicating to your career and your job. Yeah, a lot
8:07
Speaker 2: of people, a lot of people were So it's just,
8:10
Speaker 2: you know, if you can find something that you feel
8:12
Speaker 2: really fulfilled by, you know, and that's that's different for
8:15
Speaker 2: every single person. You know, And obviously I understand, you know,
8:19
Speaker 2: there's there's obligations. We all have to pay bills, we
8:21
Speaker 2: have to pay rent, all of those things. But if
8:23
Speaker 2: you can find something that you feel completely fulfilled by
8:27
Speaker 2: and fills up your cup and it is, you know,
8:30
Speaker 2: makes an impact in a small little way, in whatever way.
8:33
Speaker 2: That for me and for Debt, that was like all
8:35
Speaker 2: we could ask for. And I think based on our
8:37
Speaker 2: previous job experiences, we had reached this pinnacle of like
8:41
Speaker 2: we were doing such big things, we had such high
8:43
Speaker 2: titles and companies, but we didn't feel that feeling and
8:46
Speaker 2: we would wake up every day still feeling unfulfilled. And
8:49
Speaker 2: so when we both found each other, it was like, Okay,
8:52
Speaker 2: we have this opportunity to build this culture where people
8:54
Speaker 2: can come to work and they can feel excited about
8:57
Speaker 2: what they're doing, and you know, they could be led
8:59
Speaker 2: by passion and this impact for change and creating this
9:02
Speaker 2: digital safe space, and it just felt so motivating and
9:05
Speaker 2: different than what we had experienced. So, you know, and
9:08
Speaker 2: that speaking specific.
9:10
Speaker 1: Culture of the company that really you were looking.
9:12
Speaker 2: For, Yeah, totally building an amazing culture, building a safe
9:15
Speaker 2: space for what I felt like didn't exist and what
9:18
Speaker 2: I was searching for on the Internet when I was
9:20
Speaker 2: navigating that depression in twenty sixteen. It was like that
9:23
Speaker 2: was the era of everybody, you know, showing this altered
9:28
Speaker 2: reality on Instagram. It was like everyone was on a
9:31
Speaker 2: yacht with their best friend, living their best life, and
9:33
Speaker 2: you know, for somebody that can't get out of bed
9:35
Speaker 2: and that's navigating the worst depression of her entire life,
9:39
Speaker 2: the internet was such a dangerous place to be. So
9:41
Speaker 2: it was just like, how can we bring light, How
9:43
Speaker 2: can we create a place where we have these conversations
9:46
Speaker 2: and we can make people full seen and understood. And
9:50
Speaker 2: that was really the catalyst for creating Mayfair, and I guess,
9:53
Speaker 2: you know, in return, creating a meaningful life for me,
9:56
Speaker 2: for dev and hopefully other people that are part of
9:59
Speaker 2: our company, are part of our community as well.
10:02
Speaker 1: I want to talk about social media because so many
10:05
Speaker 1: people say that it increases their anxiety and depression. And
10:09
Speaker 1: yet when you were dealing with depression, you turned to
10:12
Speaker 1: the Internet. Can you explain that, because I find that
10:16
Speaker 1: so interesting.
10:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the Internet is it's there's so many
10:22
Speaker 2: great things about it, and there's also so many, you know,
10:25
Speaker 2: things that I think we all as human beings struggle with.
10:28
Speaker 2: For me personally, as unhealthy as this was, my phone
10:32
Speaker 2: was a coping mechanism from me running away from the
10:35
Speaker 2: things that I essentially needed to face for the longest time.
10:38
Speaker 2: You know, I had depression, I had anxiety. I struggled
10:41
Speaker 2: with these things, but I never really came to terms
10:43
Speaker 2: with those things because I was fearful of embracing them
10:47
Speaker 2: and knowing about them and learning about them and understanding
10:51
Speaker 2: these characteristics of myself that I was scared to face.
10:54
Speaker 2: So in a really unhealthy way, my phone was a
10:57
Speaker 2: coping mechanism, but what it was doing was just triggering
11:01
Speaker 2: more toxic cycles for me. You know, I would get
11:04
Speaker 2: on an internet, the internet or social media in already
11:06
Speaker 2: bad headspace, and then I would see all these people
11:09
Speaker 2: that were happy, and it would just trigger insecurity and
11:13
Speaker 2: fear and negative thought patterns, and it just was adding
11:17
Speaker 2: to this already vicious cycle of these thoughts that I
11:19
Speaker 2: was having. And so while I was, you know, navigating
11:22
Speaker 2: that and not even understanding at the time I was
11:25
Speaker 2: feeling or facing or dealing with, I just was sitting
11:29
Speaker 2: there thinking like, there should be this place on the
11:30
Speaker 2: Internet that talks about positive messaging, and there should be
11:33
Speaker 2: this place where, you know, we talk about mental health
11:36
Speaker 2: and these things and feelings that I'm feeling that nobody
11:38
Speaker 2: seems to be talking about on the Internet, And you know,
11:41
Speaker 2: there should be a place where people can feel empowered
11:44
Speaker 2: and you don't feel less than you don't feel like
11:46
Speaker 2: compared to you maybe smile instead of had this feeling
11:50
Speaker 2: of like guilt or self consciousness as you're scrolling through
11:54
Speaker 2: your feet. It just felt like it was so toxic
11:56
Speaker 2: and it was so comparative, and nobody was talking about
11:59
Speaker 2: the things that matter. Maybe I was just following the
12:02
Speaker 2: wrong people. I don't know, you know, but I feel
12:04
Speaker 2: like there probably was amazing Instagram pages on the Internet
12:07
Speaker 2: back then, but for me, I just wasn't personally, you know,
12:10
Speaker 2: seeing them, and so I think with Mayfair, the idea
12:13
Speaker 2: was to create hopefully a digital safe space and a
12:17
Speaker 2: community where we could talk about things that matter and
12:20
Speaker 2: essentially just make people feel seen and understood for who
12:22
Speaker 2: they are, down to the core of who they are,
12:25
Speaker 2: not the self that they promote on social media, but
12:28
Speaker 2: the self that they are, you know, when no one's watching,
12:30
Speaker 2: when they're by themselves. So I think, you know, over time,
12:34
Speaker 2: as I started to go on this journey with Mayfair,
12:36
Speaker 2: and as I started to get help, I understood that,
12:40
Speaker 2: you know, technology in my phone had become a coping
12:42
Speaker 2: mechanism for me to run away from the feelings that
12:44
Speaker 2: I was feeling. And through a lot of therapy and
12:46
Speaker 2: kind of just like self work, Yeah, through a lot
12:49
Speaker 2: of therapy and self work, I've now understood, you know,
12:53
Speaker 2: one that mental illness, you know, your mental illness is
12:56
Speaker 2: a part of you, but it never defines you. You know,
12:58
Speaker 2: for the longest time, I wouldn't say depression. I wouldn't
13:01
Speaker 2: say anxiety with the embarrassment that that was like, you know,
13:03
Speaker 2: a part of that was all I was, That was
13:06
Speaker 2: all I was. Why not?
13:07
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't you say it?
13:09
Speaker 2: I think because one I wasn't really I hadn't really
13:11
Speaker 2: come to terms with it one, but two, I thought
13:14
Speaker 2: that people would see me as Sam the girl who
13:17
Speaker 2: has depression, and you know, as shallow and as that mean.
13:22
Speaker 2: I think, I just I thought that that was going
13:24
Speaker 2: to define me, you know, I thought that that was
13:26
Speaker 2: going to be all people saw me as somebody that
13:29
Speaker 2: you know, can't leave her house because she has these waves,
13:32
Speaker 2: really heavy waves of emotions, or has to have someone
13:35
Speaker 2: come sleep over because she's scared to be by herself
13:38
Speaker 2: with her own thoughts. I mean, these are the extreme
13:41
Speaker 2: situations that I was in in twenty sixteen that I
13:43
Speaker 2: was navigating. I genuinely couldn't be alone. My husband would
13:46
Speaker 2: leave town and my sister would come and stay with
13:48
Speaker 2: me because I was scared to be by myself with
13:50
Speaker 2: my own thoughts. Like that's the severity of how I
13:53
Speaker 2: was feeling. And I think, through you know, again, therapy
13:57
Speaker 2: and help and people in my life like my sister,
14:00
Speaker 2: my husband, my family, like everybody was like, this is
14:03
Speaker 2: a part of you, but this does not define you whatsoever.
14:06
Speaker 2: And that's something I have learned and I'm the biggest
14:09
Speaker 2: advocate for now. Is that something that you navigate is
14:13
Speaker 2: never going to define you. It may be a part
14:15
Speaker 2: of you, but it will never define you. You get
14:17
Speaker 2: to define you. So you know, I'm so much more
14:20
Speaker 2: than things I navigate, and I will never, ever, ever
14:22
Speaker 2: let those things ever define me.
14:25
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing that. The reason I kept like
14:27
Speaker 1: nailing down what you were feeling is because I think
14:31
Speaker 1: that is the most important aspect of figuring out your
14:35
Speaker 1: own mental health. It's one of the first steps, and
14:38
Speaker 1: it's something I for sure struggled with. I had like
14:40
Speaker 1: a cute depression and I don't want to say it.
14:43
Speaker 1: I didn't even want to admit it to myself because
14:45
Speaker 1: what does that mean about me? You know? And so
14:47
Speaker 1: I think for everybody listening, it's just it's helpful to
14:50
Speaker 1: hear and also helpful to see and hear somebody so
14:53
Speaker 1: successful like you who struggles with mental health anxiety and
14:59
Speaker 1: depression sometimes.
15:00
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for sharing that. First of all, I
15:02
Speaker 2: think that's that's really powerful. And you know, I think two,
15:05
Speaker 2: we have to have these conversations. We have such a
15:08
Speaker 2: long way to go as a society with destigmatizing this
15:11
Speaker 2: conversation and exactly what you're saying and I'm saying and
15:14
Speaker 2: so many other people navigate. Is exactly why we have
15:17
Speaker 2: to destigmatize mental health in society, because the fact that
15:21
Speaker 2: we're even afraid to talk about it or afraid to
15:23
Speaker 2: own it as part of who we are just goes
15:25
Speaker 2: to show where we are in terms of like our
15:28
Speaker 2: education and knowledge of destigmatizing this topic.
15:31
Speaker 1: One of the things I love about what you do
15:33
Speaker 1: is I think when you are struggling with mental health,
15:36
Speaker 1: one of the things that hurts is that your insides
15:39
Speaker 1: don't match your outsides and so and that's new. That's
15:42
Speaker 1: sort of just in the social media era. Like you know,
15:45
Speaker 1: you may be on a beach or like you said,
15:48
Speaker 1: like living your best life on social media and behind
15:51
Speaker 1: the scenes you're really struggling. I don't think anybody would
15:54
Speaker 1: have known that I was struggling, to be honest. So
15:56
Speaker 1: on your social accounts it may fair. You have all
16:00
Speaker 1: these awesome sort of like inspiring, inviting messages, and they're
16:05
Speaker 1: also mixed with a little humor, wit and charm. I
16:07
Speaker 1: just want to read off a few you have. Boundaries
16:09
Speaker 1: are hot, I cry a lot. Use the internet for
16:13
Speaker 1: good again. It caused zero dollars to be a nice person.
16:16
Speaker 1: What's your process for coming up with these and what's
16:19
Speaker 1: been your favorite.
16:21
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I can't take credit for any
16:23
Speaker 2: of this, and even just the social messaging, because we
16:26
Speaker 2: have the most amazing creative social media team. But I think,
16:30
Speaker 2: you know, the biggest thing with Mayfriend when we started
16:32
Speaker 2: and when our community started asking for products is fashion
16:36
Speaker 2: and apparel. Any kind of creative outlet or medium can
16:39
Speaker 2: be used to start conversation, and I think that's what
16:43
Speaker 2: we wanted to do is again take this idea of
16:46
Speaker 2: creating safe spaces for people and turn it into products
16:50
Speaker 2: to where our messaging can reach wider audiences. And one
16:54
Speaker 2: of my favorite examples of this is last year for
16:57
Speaker 2: Mental Health Month, we did a sweatshirt that said thank
17:00
Speaker 2: you for asking about my mental health? How's yours? And
17:02
Speaker 2: the campaign was called Answers may Vary. It was really impactful,
17:06
Speaker 2: probably the most meaningful campaign that I've ever been a
17:08
Speaker 2: part of with Mayfair, and we had so many people
17:14
Speaker 2: one wear that sweatshirts, we had celebrities wear that sweatshirt,
17:17
Speaker 2: all just organic seeding because people believed in the messaging
17:20
Speaker 2: and that's something that we've been so grateful for and
17:22
Speaker 2: has been such a cool thing to witness through this journey.
17:25
Speaker 2: But we also the most impactful part of that was
17:28
Speaker 2: we had stories in our DMS and me personally too,
17:31
Speaker 2: of moms saying daughters, saying, friends saying, son saying. I
17:36
Speaker 2: wore this sweatshirt. I was in an airport and someone
17:38
Speaker 2: came up to me and said, I've never been able
17:42
Speaker 2: to talk about my mental health, and your sweatshirt just
17:44
Speaker 2: made me felt so comfortable. And oh wait, this mom
17:48
Speaker 2: came up to me in an airport and I was
17:49
Speaker 2: wearing it, and she said, my daughter has struggled with depression.
17:53
Speaker 2: I never have been able to talk to anyone about it.
17:57
Speaker 2: And because of your sweatshirt, I felt less alone and
17:59
Speaker 2: I felt like I come. And we sat in an
18:00
Speaker 2: airport for forty five minutes and me and her had
18:03
Speaker 2: one of the most beautiful, vulnerable, real conversations, and I
18:08
Speaker 2: connected with a human over our product, and it just
18:11
Speaker 2: reminded me of you know, why we started creating products
18:14
Speaker 2: in the first place is to take those really cool
18:17
Speaker 2: human connectivity, real experiences and create even more opportunities for
18:22
Speaker 2: people to be seen through fashion and through our products.
18:25
Speaker 2: So it's about the ripple of effective messaging. It's about
18:28
Speaker 2: creating conversation through the products and campaigns that we create.
18:32
Speaker 2: So all of those ones that you named, I mean,
18:34
Speaker 2: there's some that we like to play with humor, like
18:36
Speaker 2: boundaries are hot because it's just funny. We wanted to
18:39
Speaker 2: do kind of take the nostalgic messaging of the two thousands,
18:42
Speaker 2: but change the narrative to where it's positive messaging and
18:45
Speaker 2: use the internet for good. Again, it costs your dollars
18:47
Speaker 2: to be a nice person, But all of these are
18:49
Speaker 2: things that people may see out in the world and
18:52
Speaker 2: they may not even know that they need that reminder
18:54
Speaker 2: and they see it, or it could start a conversation
18:57
Speaker 2: between two strangers. There's been just so many stories, but
19:00
Speaker 2: that's kind of the premise of the products and campaigns
19:02
Speaker 2: that we create.
19:04
Speaker 1: So your first you went from brand agency to having
19:08
Speaker 1: an entire product line yourself. The first launch was in
19:13
Speaker 1: March of twenty twenty and it said manifest that shit.
19:17
Speaker 1: And as I was reading about you, I realized you
19:20
Speaker 1: are a manifestor, Like, I understand why that was your
19:23
Speaker 1: first product. What do you think the most important or
19:26
Speaker 1: meaningful experience or moment is that you've manifested for yourself.
19:32
Speaker 2: There's so many that come to mind. I mean, there's
19:34
Speaker 2: so many cool monumental moments that may first had, you know,
19:39
Speaker 2: career moments and beautiful moments. And you know, I think
19:44
Speaker 2: it's cool because we have an entire team of manifestors
19:47
Speaker 2: and we have this ongoing joke that there's this one
19:49
Speaker 2: room that's the room behind me. It's our PR room,
19:52
Speaker 2: and our PR manager Lauren used to sit in there
19:54
Speaker 2: with our e com coordinator Remy, and they used to
19:58
Speaker 2: we all used to talk about these like crazy idea
20:00
Speaker 2: is and them specifically, like they would be like, wouldn't
20:02
Speaker 2: it be cool if Justin Bieber were merche and then
20:04
Speaker 2: the next or World Mayfair and the next week we
20:06
Speaker 2: would like get a request from Justin Bieber and it
20:09
Speaker 2: was just like every single thing that we would say
20:11
Speaker 2: in that room would come to life. It was the
20:13
Speaker 2: that's a good room. Can I you're in Arizona. I'm
20:16
Speaker 2: gonna fly to that room. Yeah, we all talk about it.
20:18
Speaker 2: We call it the room, and it's like we we
20:20
Speaker 2: say our big ideas in there and it's you know,
20:22
Speaker 2: it's just crazy. But I think it just again goes
20:25
Speaker 2: back to if you have one as an individual, you
20:28
Speaker 2: believe that something is possible for you, and you affirm
20:31
Speaker 2: it and you speak it into the universe and you
20:33
Speaker 2: put that frequency out there. But then if you have
20:35
Speaker 2: a collective group of people manifesting goals together, like that
20:39
Speaker 2: power is unmatched. And we would just dream of these
20:43
Speaker 2: big ideas, you know. And the one that comes to
20:44
Speaker 2: mind this year beyond like all the amazing celebrity moments
20:47
Speaker 2: like Bieber and j Low wearing empathy and posting on
20:51
Speaker 2: her grid like it was insane. We had so many
20:54
Speaker 2: cool moments. One of the ones that comes to mind
20:56
Speaker 2: for this year is just our retail expansion. I remember
20:59
Speaker 2: when we start selling products and we all sat down
21:01
Speaker 2: and we would dream about can you imagine when we
21:04
Speaker 2: were like in stores and we're in urban outfitters, or
21:06
Speaker 2: we sell to Nordstrum, or we do collaborations with really
21:10
Speaker 2: cool retailers, And that was we were packing orders in
21:14
Speaker 2: our tiny office. We were handmaking the goods locally, using
21:18
Speaker 2: local and borderers. Like we were going to ups with
21:21
Speaker 2: ten packages at four pm and being like, yes, we
21:24
Speaker 2: you know, we sold ten things or whatever. So these
21:27
Speaker 2: were goals that seemed so outlandish at the time, but
21:29
Speaker 2: we so really yes, we like talked about them, and
21:32
Speaker 2: we just like you know, we always create vision boards,
21:35
Speaker 2: we always dream together. We have a lot of different
21:37
Speaker 2: company meetings and retreats where we talk about what we
21:40
Speaker 2: want to do as a collective. And this year we launched,
21:43
Speaker 2: we did a retail collaboration with Revolve, we launched in
21:47
Speaker 2: urban outfitters. We're rolling to forty doors this summer in
21:50
Speaker 2: urban outfitters. We just launched in Nordstrum in six doors
21:53
Speaker 2: and online. So it's just again it speaks to the
21:58
Speaker 2: fact that never be defied by limiting beliefs. And I
22:01
Speaker 2: always dream the biggest dreams in the room, and I
22:05
Speaker 2: kind of constantly constantly remind yourself with those goals and
22:09
Speaker 2: anything truly is possible when you continue to work towards
22:13
Speaker 2: a goal, especially as a group of people with the
22:15
Speaker 2: same goal in mind. So it's been a really powerful
22:18
Speaker 2: year to see some of those dreams come true for us,
22:20
Speaker 2: which is so awesome.
22:22
Speaker 1: I so appreciate you sharing the ten packages thing because
22:25
Speaker 1: I think when people will have you know, you always
22:28
Speaker 1: see on Instagram, like we launched a product and all
22:31
Speaker 1: these orders rolled in and it's like how and I
22:33
Speaker 1: think to hear that it didn't immediately for you. Is
22:37
Speaker 1: so interesting. What was the inflection point when did all
22:40
Speaker 1: the orders starting?
22:42
Speaker 2: I will say too, And I'm reminded of this all
22:44
Speaker 2: the time. Yeah, this day we launched our website, I
22:48
Speaker 2: was in England and I was visiting my family. It
22:51
Speaker 2: was over Christmas. We launched our site in December twenty nineteen.
22:56
Speaker 2: I was like November December twenty nineteen, and we had
22:58
Speaker 2: a couple products, but then we re We launched our
23:01
Speaker 2: Shopify site on March eighth, twenty twenty, which is when
23:03
Speaker 2: we kind of like really launched. But we did launch
23:06
Speaker 2: in December of twenty nineteen. I cried my eyes out.
23:10
Speaker 2: We did a launch and we sold basically nothing. We
23:13
Speaker 2: sold maybe two or three products. And I remember we
23:16
Speaker 2: had invested so much time, We had done photoshoots, we
23:19
Speaker 2: had created products. We at the time had like a
23:22
Speaker 2: community of people, and we launched this website. We put
23:27
Speaker 2: all this effort into it, and we sold nothing. And
23:29
Speaker 2: we continued to kind of sell nothing, probably for like
23:32
Speaker 2: a couple months, and then you know, I think we've
23:36
Speaker 2: decided to kind of redo our site, refocus the products
23:39
Speaker 2: we were doing, get our community more involved in the
23:42
Speaker 2: type of products we were creating. And that's definitely a
23:44
Speaker 2: piece of advice I have for anyone creating a business
23:47
Speaker 2: that has a community or is building a community, is
23:50
Speaker 2: listen to the community first, because a lot of times
23:53
Speaker 2: do you want to make things that you like or
23:54
Speaker 2: your team likes, but really the product should be dictated
23:58
Speaker 2: by the community. And sokind of relaunched and then you know,
24:01
Speaker 2: it took off in March and we saw again we
24:05
Speaker 2: started hiring people to support that business. So we've got
24:08
Speaker 2: an amazing PR manager, Lauren, and she started gifting and
24:11
Speaker 2: then we started getting all these like celeb moments too,
24:13
Speaker 2: and that was again the global pandemic, so everybody was
24:17
Speaker 2: ordering sweatpants. So it definitely was a combination of the
24:20
Speaker 2: team's work but also just being in the right place
24:22
Speaker 2: at the right time. But we flopped at first our website.
24:26
Speaker 2: On the first day that we launched it, we did
24:27
Speaker 2: not sell I think we sold two units or something.
24:30
Speaker 2: And I cried my eyes off for three days over Christmas.
24:32
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm always reminded of that because it
24:35
Speaker 2: wasn't something that was overnight by any means.
24:38
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing that. I also think there's this
24:40
Speaker 1: quote that luck is like a bus and the buses
24:43
Speaker 1: will keep coming, but you have to be at the
24:45
Speaker 1: bus stop waiting, and so you were at the bus
24:47
Speaker 1: stop waiting. So it was it's the hard work meets
24:50
Speaker 1: kind of like you know luck moment. In twenty nineteen,
24:55
Speaker 1: may fairhead about eight thousand followers and today you have
24:59
Speaker 1: more than half a million and a really engaged community.
25:04
Speaker 1: What was your strategy for social I know that the
25:07
Speaker 1: community aspect was important, but what did you tap into
25:11
Speaker 1: because I think like a lot of people can go
25:13
Speaker 1: and set out to build an Instagram account and it
25:15
Speaker 1: just doesn't happen.
25:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, totally. Again, I give credit to, you know,
25:21
Speaker 2: our social team for really spearheading the growth. And I
25:25
Speaker 2: think what we did really well as Mayfair and as
25:29
Speaker 2: a team was we kind of understood this need for
25:33
Speaker 2: positive messaging but in the format of repostable content, and
25:38
Speaker 2: so what we did before you know a lot of
25:40
Speaker 2: people were doing it, and again this was just what
25:42
Speaker 2: we saw and experience. So I'm sure there was a
25:44
Speaker 2: ton of Instagram accounts doing this, but we started to
25:47
Speaker 2: post positive messaging in these kind of graphically repostable formats
25:52
Speaker 2: and we saw overnight, just like shares like constantly. People
25:56
Speaker 2: were sharing it to stories, people were you know, sharing
25:59
Speaker 2: it to friends, they were commenting on it, they were
26:01
Speaker 2: saving it, and so we all of a sudden were
26:04
Speaker 2: getting reposted thousands and thousands of time and therefore acquiring
26:08
Speaker 2: so many people into our network. So we started the
26:11
Speaker 2: year eight thousand and we ended the year over three
26:12
Speaker 2: hundred thousand, and it was the most insane growth I
26:15
Speaker 2: have ever seen personally, you know, in this business. And
26:18
Speaker 2: it was so wild. But it was just a reminder
26:20
Speaker 2: that so many people wake up searching for that positive messaging,
26:23
Speaker 2: just like you, just like me, what we were all
26:25
Speaker 2: navigating in that time, and we just found a format
26:28
Speaker 2: that really resonated with people on the Internet. So it's
26:32
Speaker 2: still you know, what we do today, obviously a little
26:34
Speaker 2: bit different, but still continuing to put out those reminders,
26:38
Speaker 2: you know, those thoughts, those conversations, and doing it in
26:41
Speaker 2: a way where people can engage and share and hopefully
26:44
Speaker 2: you know, see it on their on their feed and
26:46
Speaker 2: it makes them feel a certain type of way, makes
26:48
Speaker 2: them feel seen or understood that day.
26:53
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Speaker 1: you have a lot of You've gotten a lot of
29:14
Speaker 1: wins by taking risks, but also a lot of lessons learned.
29:19
Speaker 1: This is a two part question, so I'll start with
29:20
Speaker 1: the first part. What's one of the risks that paid off?
29:25
Speaker 2: Definitely, creating products.
29:28
Speaker 1: Such a big risk because you have to front a
29:30
Speaker 1: lot of.
29:31
Speaker 2: Money on the We have the front of the money
29:33
Speaker 2: and we were still self funded. We were in twenty nineteen,
29:38
Speaker 2: we were eighty percent agency, twenty percent Mayfair. We were
29:43
Speaker 2: completely driven by our agency model. And I give a
29:47
Speaker 2: lot of credit to Devin, my COO. She really believed
29:51
Speaker 2: in this idea of Mayfir's more than just a creative agency.
29:55
Speaker 2: You know, her background is product development. She's worked for
29:57
Speaker 2: some of the best companies in the indust She was
30:01
Speaker 2: kind of the one spearheading the product development alongside Remy
30:05
Speaker 2: who was on our team, and they were really working
30:06
Speaker 2: on creating products. At the time, it was a huge risk.
30:10
Speaker 2: We didn't have a lot of money to be playing
30:12
Speaker 2: with for buying inventory and all these things. And again
30:15
Speaker 2: that's why when we first launched our website, we didn't
30:17
Speaker 2: sell anything. I'm sitting there thinking like, oh my god,
30:19
Speaker 2: what did we do? What did we do? But in
30:22
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, when the pandemic happened and we relaunched our
30:26
Speaker 2: Shopify site, unbanounced to what was about to happen. Every
30:31
Speaker 2: about eighty or ninety percent of our retainer clients that
30:34
Speaker 2: were part of our creative agency reached out and said,
30:36
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry, but we have to put our business
30:38
Speaker 2: on hold because we can't afford to pay our bills.
30:41
Speaker 2: If we wouldn't have had those products, if we wouldn't
30:43
Speaker 2: have pivoted that business, I think twenty twenty would have
30:46
Speaker 2: been the end of this company. Because we had the products,
30:50
Speaker 2: and because we had invested in taking the risk and
30:53
Speaker 2: building out a website, creating inventory. All of a sudden,
30:57
Speaker 2: over about six months, our business completely flip flop. We
31:00
Speaker 2: were eighty percent product dat to c Mayfair business, twenty
31:04
Speaker 2: percent agency. So it just again right place, right time,
31:09
Speaker 2: incredible team, foresight, incredible, you know, just listening to them,
31:15
Speaker 2: listening to our gut, listening to our community, and I
31:18
Speaker 2: think we're such big believers and I'm still a big
31:21
Speaker 2: believer in DEVI is too, and diversifying your revenue streams.
31:24
Speaker 2: I feel like if there's anything that twenty twenty todd
31:27
Speaker 2: a business, it's always have diversified revenue streams because what
31:32
Speaker 2: could be popular today might not be popular tomorrow. All
31:35
Speaker 2: of a sudden, a global pandemic can hit. And the
31:38
Speaker 2: retail store that was making millions of dollars that you know,
31:41
Speaker 2: you had these crazy customers that were consistent and loyal,
31:43
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, people aren't visiting stores anymore, and
31:46
Speaker 2: so I think there's just this constant need for us
31:49
Speaker 2: specifically to always be diversifying what we're doing, and you know,
31:53
Speaker 2: always have a plan, but always be willing to be
31:56
Speaker 2: nimble about the plan as well. And I think that's
31:58
Speaker 2: the biggest lesson I learned, honestly from from twenty twenty.
32:02
Speaker 1: What's a risk that you took that in hindsight, you rethink.
32:05
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing would probably be jumping into
32:09
Speaker 2: category expansions and really, just like what I talked about
32:13
Speaker 2: a little bit earlier, of designing products that you like
32:18
Speaker 2: or your team likes, I think we've learned so so
32:23
Speaker 2: much about community first, then us and then the industry.
32:28
Speaker 2: That's always kind of like Armino is putting the community first,
32:32
Speaker 2: all at all costs and really listening to and letting
32:34
Speaker 2: them drive the product and customer experience. We worked a
32:38
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago we did this customer deep by
32:40
Speaker 2: day and we identified all of our customer segments and
32:43
Speaker 2: we name them, and we did like a huge deep
32:45
Speaker 2: dive on every single characteristic about who that customer subgroup is.
32:49
Speaker 2: And now every time we're designing a sortment we think
32:52
Speaker 2: about the Serena, the VICKI like, we have all these
32:55
Speaker 2: groups that we're designing for, and it's taking yourself out
32:58
Speaker 2: of the equation because it's so easy be like, we
33:01
Speaker 2: love this trend, this trend is so cool, like I
33:03
Speaker 2: you know, cargo pants or parachute pants or whatever the
33:06
Speaker 2: trend is, and say, oh, we need to do this,
33:08
Speaker 2: we need to do this, we need to be capitalizing
33:09
Speaker 2: on these trends. But in reality, you're thinking of yourself,
33:13
Speaker 2: not your community. And so I think it's really important
33:16
Speaker 2: to always go back to what the community is asking for.
33:19
Speaker 1: One of your mottos is to change the world, you
33:21
Speaker 1: must first believe.
33:22
Speaker 2: In your own power.
33:25
Speaker 1: I loved when I read that because I agree with you.
33:27
Speaker 1: It's like part of making things happen is just believing
33:30
Speaker 1: that they can. Yeah, how would you describe your own power?
33:36
Speaker 2: First of all, my brother wrote this quote. It was
33:38
Speaker 2: part of one of our campaigns, and I would get
33:41
Speaker 2: this tattooed. I have so many of our campaign's tattooed
33:44
Speaker 2: on me. It's getting crazy. At this point. My parents
33:46
Speaker 2: are like, when are you going to stop? But this
33:49
Speaker 2: is one of my favorite quotes in the world, and
33:50
Speaker 2: I think for the longest time, you know, I didn't
33:54
Speaker 2: believe in my own capabilities. I let fear dictate a
33:57
Speaker 2: lot of my decisions. I know a lot of us
33:59
Speaker 2: feel that way. Everybody that I meet has felt that
34:02
Speaker 2: way at some point in time in their life. We're
34:04
Speaker 2: so concerned about what other people think, We're so concerned
34:07
Speaker 2: about the things that we can't do. We're so concerned
34:09
Speaker 2: about our fears, and we let them completely dictate our
34:12
Speaker 2: life's decisions. And it's true. To change the world, you
34:16
Speaker 2: must first believe in your own power. And I think
34:19
Speaker 2: something that I'm really proud of is my commitment to
34:23
Speaker 2: my own self healing and self growth. And in order
34:27
Speaker 2: to do that, I had to face the hardest parts
34:29
Speaker 2: of myself. And I think, you know, pain can sometimes
34:32
Speaker 2: be turned into something beautiful, and that's something that I've learned.
34:36
Speaker 2: Your most painful moments so a lot of times your
34:38
Speaker 2: most transformative, and you'll never know that. When you're in it,
34:41
Speaker 2: it feels like it's the end, or it feels like
34:43
Speaker 2: the darkest space or the heartbreak that you're going through,
34:45
Speaker 2: it feels like you're never going to be able to
34:47
Speaker 2: feel love again. But those moments are so transformative and
34:51
Speaker 2: they're really the catalyst for self change and self growth.
34:54
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, I've just learned that all
34:58
Speaker 2: of the things that you navigate, all pain that you
35:01
Speaker 2: go through, can truly be turned into power in something beautiful.
35:05
Speaker 2: And so, you know, I'm proud of my own self
35:08
Speaker 2: healing and journey more so than I am of my
35:10
Speaker 2: career and everything that we've you know, built with Mayfair.
35:13
Speaker 2: It's just like this own journey that I've been on
35:16
Speaker 2: with myself and the things that I navigate, I'm really
35:19
Speaker 2: proud for putting in the work and through those experiences,
35:22
Speaker 2: through that self work, through those reflections, like I've been
35:25
Speaker 2: able to understand that, you know, you have to believe
35:28
Speaker 2: in yourself before you can believe in what the universe
35:30
Speaker 2: in the world has to offer for you. So do
35:33
Speaker 2: the work, put in the work. It's it's one hundred
35:35
Speaker 2: percent worth it.
35:37
Speaker 1: I agree with you, and I do a little rapid
35:39
Speaker 1: fire before we close up. So, what's an incredibly common
35:42
Speaker 1: thing that you've never tried?
35:44
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm gonna get shamed
35:46
Speaker 2: for this, but drink coffee. Really, I know, I'm like,
35:51
Speaker 2: I'm such a big like latte person, and I feel
35:55
Speaker 2: like I've always been an omald Latte person or a
35:58
Speaker 2: deep person. I love like English answer. I know, I'm
36:02
Speaker 2: like I feel like Americans love rip coffee. I've always
36:05
Speaker 2: wanted to be that girl that's like cold brew drip
36:07
Speaker 2: coffee like. But for me, I've never been that person who.
36:10
Speaker 1: Is an expert that you would love to take a
36:12
Speaker 1: masterclass from.
36:14
Speaker 2: Richard Branson one. But I would definitely say I love
36:17
Speaker 2: DVS too, Diane Vn Fresterberg. She's someone that I feel
36:21
Speaker 2: like built an incredible brand. She was an immigrant, she
36:24
Speaker 2: built a beautiful life out of, you know, not a lot,
36:28
Speaker 2: and I think it's just incredible what she's been able
36:30
Speaker 2: to build and how she makes women feel beautiful. And
36:32
Speaker 2: her brand has lasted decades and decades, so her and
36:35
Speaker 2: Richard Branson will probably be to people. I'd love to
36:37
Speaker 2: learn from. Michelle Obama too, and like, can I throw
36:40
Speaker 2: her in here? That's a great one.
36:42
Speaker 1: A book that you've read that you that has changed
36:44
Speaker 1: your life or something that you think everyone should read.
36:47
Speaker 2: There's a book. There's a writer that I discovered a
36:50
Speaker 2: long time ago, and I'm literally her biggest fand I
36:53
Speaker 2: feel like my dms to her are just insane. Probably
36:58
Speaker 2: sees them and is like, who is this girl that
36:59
Speaker 2: just blew me up all the time? But her name
37:01
Speaker 2: is Brianna Weiss. I think that's how you say it.
37:03
Speaker 2: And she wrote this book called one hundred and one
37:05
Speaker 2: Essays that Will Change the Way You Think. And it's
37:08
Speaker 2: really short, thought provoking essays that make you change the
37:13
Speaker 2: way you think. But I've referred that book to so
37:14
Speaker 2: many people and it's one that is just moving, it's
37:18
Speaker 2: easy to digest, it makes it just makes you reflect
37:22
Speaker 2: on so many things that can be so pivotal to
37:24
Speaker 2: self growth and healing. And it's just a really powerful book.
37:28
Speaker 2: And then for any business owner or manager that's a
37:32
Speaker 2: part of a creative team, there's a book called Creativity, Inc.
37:35
Speaker 2: It's written by the owner of Pixar, and it's about
37:38
Speaker 2: managing a creative team. And that book really really impacted
37:42
Speaker 2: myself and Devin. We both read it about how to
37:45
Speaker 2: manage creative people, because creative people are motivated by completely
37:49
Speaker 2: different things than regular people, and so it's learning how
37:53
Speaker 2: to manage different types of people, creative people specifically, and
37:56
Speaker 2: build a creative company and brand. So really good book.
37:59
Speaker 2: It's called creativity inc.
38:01
Speaker 1: Those are two I rarely get stumped on the podcast.
38:04
Speaker 1: Those are two I have not read, so thank you.
38:06
Speaker 2: For that, so you have to read that. They're so good,
38:09
Speaker 2: so I have.
38:09
Speaker 1: I love that you were talking about products that create conversation.
38:12
Speaker 1: I created my first product. It's called Question Everything. It's
38:15
Speaker 1: a card deck for deeper conversation. And I ask everybody
38:20
Speaker 1: one at the end. So, because we're virtual, just tell
38:22
Speaker 1: me when to stop.
38:24
Speaker 2: I'm also like, how can I can I buy this
38:26
Speaker 2: card deck? Me?
38:27
Speaker 1: Oh no, I have to send it to you.
38:28
Speaker 2: You're so one hundred percent will support it. This is
38:31
Speaker 2: this is literally what I love to do at every
38:33
Speaker 2: dinner party anytime I have people over. It's like the
38:35
Speaker 2: questioning games. I'm I need to get this in my hands.
38:38
Speaker 1: Oh I love that me too. Thank you for saying that.
38:41
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny. I always think that, like the
38:44
Speaker 1: card stops, the right card stops for the person. This
38:47
Speaker 1: is a great one for you. When was the last
38:49
Speaker 1: time you felt off? Fell awe like awe, like like amazement?
38:55
Speaker 2: You know. I spend the weekend this weekend in Sonana
38:59
Speaker 2: with my parents, parents and my husband was supposed to
39:03
Speaker 2: come and he couldn't come because he got COVID. But
39:05
Speaker 2: he's okay. But I, you know, what seemed at first
39:10
Speaker 2: like just a normal trip. I feel like now being
39:14
Speaker 2: thirty one, and I hate saying getting older because it's
39:16
Speaker 2: so lame and I'm not even old. I feel like
39:18
Speaker 2: I've so much life left to live. But I appreciate
39:21
Speaker 2: and values time so much more than I ever had before,
39:24
Speaker 2: and specifically time with my parents. And I just had
39:28
Speaker 2: the most incredible weekend with them, disconnected completely from technology,
39:33
Speaker 2: from work, from my phone. I actually we were supposed
39:35
Speaker 2: to stay in different rooms because my husband was supposed
39:37
Speaker 2: to come, and I canceled my room and I stayed
39:38
Speaker 2: in my parents' room, which to most people would be
39:40
Speaker 2: like the craziest thing in the world. But at night,
39:43
Speaker 2: we would stay up and we would talk about life.
39:45
Speaker 2: We would talk about marriage. They would tell me stories
39:48
Speaker 2: about things that they navigated raising us as kids, and
39:51
Speaker 2: hurdles and obstacles that they went through, you know, growing up,
39:54
Speaker 2: and things that they experienced in their marriage. And we
39:56
Speaker 2: just sat there and we had conversation and I I
40:00
Speaker 2: was not thinking about a campaign. I was not thinking
40:02
Speaker 2: about our company's goals. It was one of those moments
40:05
Speaker 2: that entire weekend where I didn't think about anything but
40:08
Speaker 2: the people that I was with and was so present
40:11
Speaker 2: with them, And I just value my time with them
40:14
Speaker 2: so so much because you know, it's something that I
40:17
Speaker 2: know I'll look back on thirty five years and I'll
40:19
Speaker 2: remember those nights in that hotel room and having those
40:21
Speaker 2: conversations with them, and it'll be really really special. So
40:25
Speaker 2: I would say I felt it this weekend just being
40:27
Speaker 2: with them, being completely disconnected and present.
40:29
Speaker 1: It's amazing that you're having those conversations because I think
40:32
Speaker 1: sometimes we forget to ask the big questions. Yeah, you know,
40:38
Speaker 1: like we ask we ask, how's your day, but we
40:41
Speaker 1: forget to ask the big ones like that we would
40:44
Speaker 1: ask in an interview to the people closest to us.
40:46
Speaker 1: So it's so cool that you did that totally.
40:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so easy to just live in like surface
40:50
Speaker 2: level conversations. But my favorite thing is just to like feel,
40:56
Speaker 2: you know, feel like in the presence of someone that
40:58
Speaker 2: like one, you can make them feel seen. And we
41:00
Speaker 2: have that capability every single day, but with the people
41:03
Speaker 2: you love too. It's like we do it sometimes with
41:05
Speaker 2: strangers or coworkers or people in our industry, but then
41:09
Speaker 2: we forget like to do it with our family. So
41:11
Speaker 2: there's just that really cool opportunity to get to know
41:14
Speaker 2: those people even deeper and better. So it was really
41:17
Speaker 2: really beautiful and I love spending time with them.
41:20
Speaker 1: It's awesome. Sam, all right, last question, I ask everybody,
41:24
Speaker 1: whatever comes to your mind, what's the smartest decision you've
41:27
Speaker 1: ever made.
41:28
Speaker 2: I would say probably quitting my corporate job and moving
41:33
Speaker 2: to Arizona, and not because of my career, not because
41:39
Speaker 2: that's where I started, payfair, because it made me uncomfortable.
41:42
Speaker 2: It may be uncomfortable enough to start exploring the deepest
41:48
Speaker 2: parts of myself and face those fears that I'd ran
41:51
Speaker 2: away with for so long. Quitting my job, moving states,
41:54
Speaker 2: being married, leaving all my friends and family for the
41:56
Speaker 2: first time put me in this position where I was
41:58
Speaker 2: really uncomfortable and I was forced to acknowledge all the
42:02
Speaker 2: things that I had been running away from. So if
42:04
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have done that, if I wouldn't have made
42:07
Speaker 2: that move, if I wouldn't have quit that job, if
42:09
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have been in that situation, I would have
42:11
Speaker 2: just stayed and lived in comfort forever. I probably would
42:14
Speaker 2: have just worked in corporate fashion, I wouldn't have been
42:16
Speaker 2: fulfilled by what I was doing. I never would have
42:18
Speaker 2: gone to therapy. I never would have like ever acknowledged
42:21
Speaker 2: the things that I was navigating. And what kind of
42:24
Speaker 2: life is that? You know what I mean? It's like
42:25
Speaker 2: so I'm just so grateful that that gave me the
42:28
Speaker 2: capitalist to learn to love myself in many ways.
42:33
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Sam, Thank you.
42:35
Speaker 2: This has been such an honor, such such an honor.
42:37
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. It means the world.
43:00
Speaker 3: H all right, today is a good day. To have
43:08
Speaker 3: a good day.
43:09
Speaker 1: I'll see you next week. H.