Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 76. Brittany Driscoll, Co-Founder & CEO Squeeze

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76. Brittany Driscoll, Co-Founder & CEO Squeeze · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:01
Speaker 1: Hey, hurdlers, what's going on? Emily A body here with
0:05
Speaker 1: episode seventy six of Hurdle, a podcast that talks to
0:09
Speaker 1: everyone from entrepreneurs to top CEOs and athletes about how
0:13
Speaker 1: they've gotten through tough times hurdles of sorts by leaning
0:17
Speaker 1: in to wellness. Now, I just want to note I
0:21
Speaker 1: feel like it's worth throwing out into the universe. We're
0:24
Speaker 1: actually technically over one hundred episodes now, but upon having
0:29
Speaker 1: a combo with my dad earlier in the week, he
0:31
Speaker 1: told me that I can only celebrate this milestone when
0:34
Speaker 1: we get to the one hundred numbered episode. I don't
0:37
Speaker 1: know how I feel about that, but I know that
0:39
Speaker 1: it makes me really excited and really enthusiastic about where
0:44
Speaker 1: Hurdle is going. Today, I am going to be chatting
0:47
Speaker 1: with Brittany Driscoll. She's the co founder and CEO of Squeeze,
0:52
Speaker 1: a massage concept from the founders of Drybar. Now, if
0:56
Speaker 1: you haven't heard of Squeeze yet, trust me you will soon.
1:00
Speaker 1: Now they only have one brick and mortar location out
1:03
Speaker 1: in California, in Los Angeles, but they are coming big
1:08
Speaker 1: and coming out somewhere near you. I can promise you
1:11
Speaker 1: that Before we get to Brittany's story, a quick shout
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Speaker 1: Hurdle to get yours today, No code necessary. Today's episode
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Speaker 1: is also brought to you by my friends at Whoop.
1:54
Speaker 1: This week, for the first time, I used the Whoop
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2:00
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Speaker 1: Using the code Hurdle at checkout. Go ahead and optimize
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Speaker 1: your training today. All right, now, let's chat about Brittany. Brittany,
2:46
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, is the co founder and CEO of Squeeze,
2:50
Speaker 1: and she's responsible for well everything. Prior to launching Squeeze,
2:55
Speaker 1: Brittany spent four years running marketing for Driver, where she
2:58
Speaker 1: helped to take the company from thirty million dollars to
3:02
Speaker 1: more than one hundred million dollars. She also opened more
3:07
Speaker 1: than fifty news shops and launched the dry Bar product
3:10
Speaker 1: line internationally, as well as at Sephora, Alta and Nordstrom.
3:16
Speaker 1: But today, Brittany and I talk about the stuff that's
3:18
Speaker 1: not so public. We talk about both her and her
3:21
Speaker 1: husband both surviving a battle with cancer and how those
3:26
Speaker 1: experiences made them stronger not only as a couple, but
3:31
Speaker 1: for how they show up in every aspect of their life.
3:34
Speaker 1: We chat about her regular fitness routine, and the outside
3:38
Speaker 1: the box workout that she cannot get enough of. And
3:41
Speaker 1: she also shares with me some really awesome tips on
3:44
Speaker 1: how to level up not just in business, but also
3:48
Speaker 1: in life, how to get the most out of every
3:51
Speaker 1: single day, and we get into some of the details
3:53
Speaker 1: about massage, about the benefits of massage. It's something that
3:57
Speaker 1: I know that I personally definitely do not do enough
4:00
Speaker 1: of and something that as a runner is really important
4:03
Speaker 1: to my overall health and my body's well being. You
4:06
Speaker 1: guys know the Drill at Hurdle podcast at Emily a Body.
4:10
Speaker 1: If you have a hurdle moment of your own to
4:12
Speaker 1: share or just want to say hi, you can reach
4:14
Speaker 1: me always over email. It's Emily at hurdle dot us. Also,
4:19
Speaker 1: I tease this last week, but I am so so
4:22
Speaker 1: excited to officially announce my event for Chicago Marathon weekend.
4:26
Speaker 1: It's Friday, October eleventh at four thirty pm at Lululemon
4:30
Speaker 1: Lincoln Park. That's nine forty four West North Avenue. I
4:34
Speaker 1: am going to be doing a five case shakeout and
4:37
Speaker 1: after that we'll sip on a few beers and have
4:39
Speaker 1: a good time. If you're going to be in Chicago,
4:41
Speaker 1: whether or not you're running the marathon. I would love
4:44
Speaker 1: to see you. I love the opportunity to really connect
4:47
Speaker 1: with all of you listening. So please click the link
4:50
Speaker 1: with the description to this episode, and there you will
4:53
Speaker 1: find the link to the event right where you can
4:55
Speaker 1: register for the run on Friday, October eleventh. And I
4:59
Speaker 1: think that's it for no Now. I do have another
5:01
Speaker 1: spoiler alert some really fun things coming to the New
5:04
Speaker 1: York City area as well leading up to the New
5:07
Speaker 1: York Marathon in November, so stay tuned for those two.
5:11
Speaker 1: With that, let's get to hurdling. Today. I'm sitting down
5:21
Speaker 1: with Brittany Driscoll. She's the co founder and CEO at Squeeze.
5:25
Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning, thanks for having me, Thanks for
5:28
Speaker 1: coming in. We are at a recording studio today at
5:31
Speaker 1: the Pacific Design Center inside of a wee work and
5:33
Speaker 1: as a WeWork member, I'm kind of geeking out about.
5:35
Speaker 2: This same Actually, before we opened Squeeze in Studio City,
5:40
Speaker 2: we worked out of we work in Burbank for like
5:42
Speaker 2: a year.
5:43
Speaker 1: It's great, it is, it's so awesome. Did you have
5:45
Speaker 1: an office or were you We did okay.
5:47
Speaker 2: In the beginning, it was just me and so I
5:49
Speaker 2: had a little like desk pace, and then I brought
5:52
Speaker 2: on our chief product officer and he and I got
5:54
Speaker 2: a little office and it was it was like our
5:55
Speaker 2: jam zone.
5:56
Speaker 1: I would literally be lost without the membership. I feel
5:58
Speaker 1: like I would go crazy. So praise to be we were. Yeah,
6:02
Speaker 1: So tell me about Squeeze. What squeeze? Tell the hurdlers
6:04
Speaker 1: what squeezes?
6:05
Speaker 2: All right, So Squeeze is a new massage concept from
6:08
Speaker 2: the founders of Drybar. I ran marketing for Drybar for
6:11
Speaker 2: four years, which is how I know Michael and Ali.
6:13
Speaker 2: They had had this idea for years and I was
6:16
Speaker 2: itching for a new challenge. The stars aligned and we
6:20
Speaker 2: decided to partner to launch it. Very similar to Drybar,
6:23
Speaker 2: the idea really was born out of personal necessity. We
6:27
Speaker 2: were all avid massage goers and really felt like there
6:31
Speaker 2: was not a great option that was both affordable and
6:35
Speaker 2: felt luxurious. Again similar to dry Bar, It's like, on
6:38
Speaker 2: one end, you have the low end discount chains, which
6:40
Speaker 2: for the past ten to fifteen years, to their credit,
6:43
Speaker 2: have made massage accessible to the masses, but lack a lot.
6:46
Speaker 1: From a customer experience standpoint.
6:48
Speaker 2: And then on the flip side, you've got high end
6:50
Speaker 2: hotels and spas which are lovely but unattainable for a
6:53
Speaker 2: regular routine. So we wanted to really bring in that
6:57
Speaker 2: high end experience at an affordable price point. But the
7:00
Speaker 2: biggest differentiation of our experience is technology. We spent a year,
7:06
Speaker 2: a little over a year, building out a platform that
7:09
Speaker 2: enables you to do everything online or on your phone,
7:12
Speaker 2: so everything from booking, you set all your personalized preferences,
7:16
Speaker 2: pay rate, tip review, so that when you're in the
7:19
Speaker 2: location itself, it's truly relaxing and seamless.
7:22
Speaker 1: You told Fast Company that it eliminates the awkward in
7:26
Speaker 1: person exchanges totally.
7:28
Speaker 2: I mean, I think we've all become accustomed to limited
7:33
Speaker 2: human interaction and not wanting to deal with you know,
7:36
Speaker 2: a lot of the clunkiness that comes with that. And actually,
7:39
Speaker 2: what's been so nice about it is we while we
7:41
Speaker 2: have eliminated the transaction piece of the human exchange, it's.
7:47
Speaker 1: Really allowed for like a very genuine connection.
7:50
Speaker 2: So you know, our therapists have all of your information
7:54
Speaker 2: prior to you walking in, so it's like they know
7:56
Speaker 2: they already know what you want. It feels, you know,
7:59
Speaker 2: even more personal in a way, and catered and customed
8:02
Speaker 2: to you, and you know again, it just makes for
8:05
Speaker 2: the limited time that we have with you to just
8:07
Speaker 2: feel very genuine.
8:08
Speaker 1: It's bigger than just like I want a deep tissue massage,
8:11
Speaker 1: Like I was looking at the app and it's literally
8:13
Speaker 1: like you can touch what parts of your body you're
8:16
Speaker 1: hoping to get worked on today exactly.
8:18
Speaker 2: The personalization part allows for not only the pressure level
8:22
Speaker 2: that you want, but areas you want focused on, areas
8:25
Speaker 2: you want avoided, if you want more or less pressure
8:28
Speaker 2: in some areas, as well as you can you can
8:32
Speaker 2: let us know if you want oil or lotion, if
8:34
Speaker 2: you want your bed heated, if you want heat therapy.
8:37
Speaker 2: All that information is saved to your profile, so you're
8:40
Speaker 2: really only having to input that information once unless you
8:43
Speaker 2: wanted to update it, and then again you're not having
8:46
Speaker 2: to repeat yourself every single time you.
8:47
Speaker 1: Come back in. I also feel like this should be
8:49
Speaker 1: something that is happening at restaurants totally, and that like
8:53
Speaker 1: you go in, it still blows my mind that there's
8:55
Speaker 1: still the like I'm going to wait for the check
8:57
Speaker 1: experience and then like you pay, it has to come
9:00
Speaker 1: back and then you have to leave a tip, and
9:02
Speaker 1: it's like how have we not gotten past this? I
9:04
Speaker 1: think we're going to get there, you know.
9:07
Speaker 2: So exciting about what we've done is you know, long
9:11
Speaker 2: term vision. I mean, there's so much opportunity to do
9:14
Speaker 2: this in different verticals, in different spaces. So I do
9:17
Speaker 2: think that we'll see more of this in you know,
9:19
Speaker 2: various various places.
9:21
Speaker 1: So talk to me a little bit about life before squeeze.
9:24
Speaker 1: It's like rewind it back. So you're from California, I am.
9:27
Speaker 1: I'm from Los Angeles. I grew up in a little
9:30
Speaker 1: suburb outside of the city. I went to LMU for college,
9:34
Speaker 1: so I really have always been here. I did a
9:37
Speaker 1: short stint study abroad program in Spain and then came
9:41
Speaker 1: right back started my career in marketing and advertising. I
9:45
Speaker 1: started on the agency side, and I had the incredible
9:48
Speaker 1: fortune of working with great world class brands Barbie, Hot Wheels, Disney,
9:53
Speaker 1: Coca Cola, Hilton. I spent a lot of years in
9:57
Speaker 1: various agencies really learning the I like to say, say,
10:00
Speaker 1: the full three sixty of the marketing wheel. So everything
10:02
Speaker 1: from customer market research, consumer research, email segmentation analysis, brand strategy,
10:14
Speaker 1: bigger ad campaigns, et cetera, and all the while toward
10:19
Speaker 1: the end of that portion of my career, I was
10:22
Speaker 1: a huge drive Bar fan and just personally fell in
10:25
Speaker 1: love with the experience, the whole concept. And this is
10:30
Speaker 1: just on Instagram. Either Instagram had just started or drive
10:34
Speaker 1: Bar had just gotten on Instagram, but they posted they
10:36
Speaker 1: were looking for a head of marketing, and I literally
10:40
Speaker 1: scoured my network to ask if anyone knew anyone connected
10:45
Speaker 1: a drive bar to at least ensure that my resume
10:47
Speaker 1: could be seen, and thankfully I did know someone who
10:51
Speaker 1: was able to get it at the top of the pile,
10:53
Speaker 1: and from there they're really the stars aligned. I connected
10:56
Speaker 1: so well with the founders and it was it was
10:59
Speaker 1: a cool eperiends for me because Cam Webb, who is
11:03
Speaker 1: drive Bar and now Squeezes Creative Director, he came from
11:06
Speaker 1: the advertising world as well, so it was a neat
11:09
Speaker 1: bridge for myself to be able to go into a brand,
11:11
Speaker 1: own marketing, owned building the brand, but still have that
11:15
Speaker 1: connection to the creative advertising side of it because we've
11:18
Speaker 1: built basically an in house agency within drive Bar over
11:22
Speaker 1: the course of time that I was there.
11:23
Speaker 2: So it was a really neat transition and just an
11:27
Speaker 2: incredible opportunity.
11:28
Speaker 1: I like what you said about like scouring my network
11:31
Speaker 1: looking for a way to get in. I think for
11:34
Speaker 1: some reason, so often when people are looking for new
11:37
Speaker 1: jobs and they find something that they want, it's almost
11:40
Speaker 1: as though they still feel like they need to be
11:41
Speaker 1: really polite about how they go about getting what it
11:44
Speaker 1: is that they want. And so I have friends that'll
11:47
Speaker 1: be like, oh, I saw, for example, in your case,
11:49
Speaker 1: that drive Bar's head hiring ahead of marketing. And they'll
11:52
Speaker 1: be like, I'll be like, well, did you like find
11:54
Speaker 1: out who's email or what you're doing, And they were like, well,
11:56
Speaker 1: I applied, So I'll just wait a couple of days,
11:58
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, Like, you have to go after
12:00
Speaker 1: or what you want. You have to hunt and email
12:03
Speaker 1: and ask and over ask sometimes because they're gonna remember
12:06
Speaker 1: the person that's going out of their way like that,
12:08
Speaker 1: they're not gonna remember the person that's resume is just
12:10
Speaker 1: sitting one hundred percent.
12:12
Speaker 2: You have to go out for what you want with
12:15
Speaker 2: like full energy and passion in pursuit.
12:20
Speaker 1: It's funny.
12:21
Speaker 2: We used to joke that every single person who joined
12:23
Speaker 2: the marketing team at drive Bar was like a tad
12:26
Speaker 2: stocker ish because they did they would do those things
12:29
Speaker 2: like we had one girl send us all flowers and
12:31
Speaker 2: another girl like come to the office. It was like
12:33
Speaker 2: and that did it got our attention, you know, and
12:35
Speaker 2: it really made us feel like they were going to
12:37
Speaker 2: be in it with us. I mean that's the thing
12:39
Speaker 2: about startups in particular is everyone is playing every single role.
12:44
Speaker 2: You're rolling up your sleeves, you're figuring it out. So, yeah,
12:47
Speaker 2: you can't just have the people who are gonna submit
12:50
Speaker 2: their resume and like leave it at that.
12:52
Speaker 1: Flowers is a big deal. Yeah, those yellow roses. She
12:56
Speaker 1: was she was amazing. Wow. Okay, so your so you
13:00
Speaker 1: got the job? Yes? And is it as dreamy as
13:03
Speaker 1: you hoped it would be? It really, it really was. Honestly.
13:07
Speaker 2: I started when there were around somewhere between twenty five
13:10
Speaker 2: and thirty locations the product line had just test piloted
13:15
Speaker 2: into seventy Sophuri doors, and flash forward to when I
13:19
Speaker 2: left toward the end of twenty seventeen, there were over
13:24
Speaker 2: eighty locations. The product line had launched in all soaphoridors, Ulta,
13:29
Speaker 2: Nord Trim Bloomingdale's, plus international expansion to France, Canada and
13:32
Speaker 2: Mexico and Australia. So I mean that four year period
13:38
Speaker 2: was just an incredible growth trajectory for the brand. You know,
13:42
Speaker 2: it was a great experience for me. I got to
13:43
Speaker 2: build a team. We really outlined playbooks for how to
13:47
Speaker 2: open a shop and how to launch a product, and
13:49
Speaker 2: how to onboard a franchise e. Like, I mean, there
13:52
Speaker 2: was so much learning that went into that timeframe. And
13:55
Speaker 2: also the executive team that was brought on board during
13:59
Speaker 2: that time, we all just jelled together so beautifully. It
14:03
Speaker 2: was awesome, Like it was such a fun time to
14:05
Speaker 2: be around very high functioning, passionate people.
14:10
Speaker 1: And I mean, I'll be so grateful for that time
14:13
Speaker 1: in my life forever. So tell me about what's happening
14:16
Speaker 1: with you personally at this time. So I let's see.
14:21
Speaker 2: Actually when I when I was offered the job, I
14:26
Speaker 2: found out two weeks later that my husband had been
14:30
Speaker 2: diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. It was obviously an
14:36
Speaker 2: incredibly daunting time. And it also that the job opportunity
14:43
Speaker 2: also meant that we would move from Los Angeles to
14:44
Speaker 2: Orange County, So there was I mean, there were so
14:48
Speaker 2: much that went into that thought process and just choosing
14:53
Speaker 2: to move forward anyways. I mean, obviously I did I
14:55
Speaker 2: have to give so much credit to my husband. He
14:57
Speaker 2: was so incredibly supportive during that time period. And I
15:00
Speaker 2: myself am also a cancer survivor. I had melanoma or
15:04
Speaker 2: was diagnosed with melanoma at twenty six, and I think
15:07
Speaker 2: both of us during our cancer battles and journey always
15:13
Speaker 2: just had an incredibly positive mindset. We never let it,
15:17
Speaker 2: you know, debilitate our day to day. I mean, he
15:21
Speaker 2: worked through chemo and radiation. He eventually moved down to
15:25
Speaker 2: Orange County with me and would commute back to LA
15:29
Speaker 2: for his job. So I mean there was certainly a
15:32
Speaker 2: lot and there was definitely times. There was a six
15:34
Speaker 2: month period basically where I lived in Orange County and
15:36
Speaker 2: he actually lived with my parents while he was going
15:38
Speaker 2: through chemo and radiation and still going to work every day,
15:42
Speaker 2: and I mean there was definitely like the heart strings
15:45
Speaker 2: and the pull of you know, should I be there?
15:48
Speaker 2: But he, again, he was so incredibly supportive, and also
15:51
Speaker 2: it just gave me so much confidence that there was
15:55
Speaker 2: hope for the future, you know, it meant that we
15:58
Speaker 2: were still moving forward. I think for me personally, that's
16:02
Speaker 2: such an important driver for my life is to is
16:05
Speaker 2: to not feel stuck and to not stay still and
16:08
Speaker 2: so yeah, no, it definitely didn't. You know, that time
16:12
Speaker 2: period was full of a lot of highs and lows.
16:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, How do you stay so positive during a time
16:21
Speaker 1: like that? Oh?
16:22
Speaker 2: Man, I feel like a positive mindset. I talk about
16:28
Speaker 2: this a lot, actually, just through the most recent entrepreneurial
16:33
Speaker 2: journey that I've been on. But when I look back
16:34
Speaker 2: on my career and my life in general, I can
16:36
Speaker 2: see how it's really been like.
16:38
Speaker 1: The constant thread.
16:39
Speaker 2: I've always been a glass half full positive person, but
16:44
Speaker 2: I do think that in times like that, you know,
16:49
Speaker 2: personal struggles, and in times like building a business and
16:52
Speaker 2: the challenges with overcoming a lot of things that you
16:54
Speaker 2: don't know how to do, finding the things that are
16:58
Speaker 2: going to keep your mind healthy, and by healthy, I
17:02
Speaker 2: mean not letting yourself go to the negative place. We
17:07
Speaker 2: all have that self doubt, we all have the negative
17:09
Speaker 2: voice in the back of our mind. And you know,
17:12
Speaker 2: I think for me it was exercise, meditation, prayer. I
17:17
Speaker 2: am a person of faith, so you know, I think
17:19
Speaker 2: that that was definitely a strong part of getting us
17:24
Speaker 2: through that time and and truly just day to day
17:26
Speaker 2: in general. But I think it's it's finding consistent daily
17:32
Speaker 2: habits and choosing honestly to look at the right side,
17:36
Speaker 2: to look for the good, to be grateful for what
17:39
Speaker 2: you're given, even if you're you know, you're going through hardship.
17:43
Speaker 1: And I really do believe that that is like the
17:46
Speaker 1: key to life.
17:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, even beyond just like success in business or anything else.
17:56
Speaker 2: It's like, I've started practicing gratitude over the past year
18:00
Speaker 2: and a half since I started squeeze, which I didn't
18:02
Speaker 2: do consistently when I started a drybar and my husband
18:06
Speaker 2: was going through this, but I still was very you know,
18:09
Speaker 2: very positive and found ways to have healthy outlets. But
18:13
Speaker 2: I will say that over the past year and a half,
18:15
Speaker 2: practicing gratitude has just shifted my mindset to a whole
18:18
Speaker 2: nother level of positivity because you start to train your
18:23
Speaker 2: brain to look for the good. And there's been so
18:26
Speaker 2: many studies too that show that your brain can't be
18:31
Speaker 2: grateful and mad or grateful and sad at the same time.
18:35
Speaker 2: So it's like, again, it's just a it's a choice,
18:37
Speaker 2: and it's it's exercising that muscle to go to the thankful.
18:42
Speaker 1: Place, to go to the good place, versus the opposite.
18:44
Speaker 1: When you say that you practice gratitude, what's that look
18:47
Speaker 1: like for you?
18:48
Speaker 2: So I write in a gratitude journal every morning. I
18:51
Speaker 2: also do intention setting, So it's kind of like a
18:54
Speaker 2: two part thing. The first is five things that I'm
18:58
Speaker 2: super grateful for, and they're like little things like you know,
19:02
Speaker 2: my roses are in bloom, or the coffee shop remembered
19:05
Speaker 2: my order, or like whatever little thing it is, because
19:08
Speaker 2: and I think it's important that it's little, because again
19:11
Speaker 2: that's how you exercise that muscle and you start to
19:14
Speaker 2: retrain your thought process. And then the intention setting is
19:20
Speaker 2: more about like big audacious dreams and things that I
19:23
Speaker 2: want to pursue. Again going back to that forward momentum
19:28
Speaker 2: part of what drives me. It's like exciting to wake
19:31
Speaker 2: up every morning thinking about the future and how I'm
19:34
Speaker 2: going to get there and the things that I'm going
19:36
Speaker 2: to do today to make it a stepping stone for
19:39
Speaker 2: the next.
19:40
Speaker 1: What's on the intention list right now?
19:43
Speaker 2: Well, I have a lot of big I have a
19:45
Speaker 2: lot of big dreams, but I think the one that
19:48
Speaker 2: is my focus I actually do. I use I use
19:52
Speaker 2: a journal called Start Today. It's by Rachel Hollis. I
19:54
Speaker 2: don't know if you're familiar with her, I love her.
19:57
Speaker 2: I actually just went to one of her conferences. So
19:59
Speaker 2: the structure is he is her structure, and she actually
20:02
Speaker 2: has you identify one of your intentions as like your focus.
20:08
Speaker 2: So mine right now is building the feel good revolution.
20:12
Speaker 2: That's you know, we talk about Squeeze as a feel
20:14
Speaker 2: good company, and it's been so amazing to just see
20:19
Speaker 2: the entire business and the experience come to life, you know,
20:22
Speaker 2: from just a concept on paper and values written down
20:26
Speaker 2: to an experience that people are loving every single day
20:30
Speaker 2: and a culture that exists amongst our team. So you know,
20:35
Speaker 2: I would say that the most exciting thing for me
20:38
Speaker 2: and the thing that I'm focused on right now is
20:40
Speaker 2: just building this bigger vision for what we're doing inside
20:43
Speaker 2: our four walls. You know, we're delivering an amazing experience
20:46
Speaker 2: that does make people feel good every day, but the
20:49
Speaker 2: long term vision is to create a brand that stands.
20:52
Speaker 1: For something bigger than that within the feel good space.
20:55
Speaker 2: Right So that's and you know, I don't exactly know
20:58
Speaker 2: what that looks like, to be totally honest. That's the
21:00
Speaker 2: beautiful thing about a vision as you throw it out
21:02
Speaker 2: there and day by day you get closer to it.
21:11
Speaker 1: Taking a break from today's episode to give a shout
21:14
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22:01
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22:04
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22:07
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22:49
Speaker 1: to me a little bit about what it was like
22:50
Speaker 1: when you found out that you had melanoma.
22:53
Speaker 2: Oh, that was that was crazy. So I was twenty
22:57
Speaker 2: six years old. I was living with my best friend.
23:00
Speaker 2: We had graduated college a few years earlier. We were
23:03
Speaker 2: in the groove of our careers. We were dating, we
23:06
Speaker 2: were it was I mean, it was such a fun
23:08
Speaker 2: time and then I'll never forget.
23:11
Speaker 1: It's actually kind of crazy. I was. I was blow
23:15
Speaker 1: drying my hair, believe it or.
23:16
Speaker 2: Not, like upside down, and my melanoma was on the
23:20
Speaker 2: back of my lower left leg, and I had a
23:23
Speaker 2: full length mirror in my bathroom, and so I actually
23:25
Speaker 2: like noticed this odd mole basically on my leg when
23:31
Speaker 2: I was blow during my hair that looked kind of funny,
23:33
Speaker 2: and I talked to Meg, he's my best friend, about.
23:35
Speaker 1: It, and I was like, does this look weird? And
23:36
Speaker 1: she was like, yeah, it kind of does.
23:37
Speaker 2: And I think we both forgot about it, and I
23:40
Speaker 2: ended up reading this is in May, which is Melanoma
23:43
Speaker 2: Awareness Month, a Cosmopolitan article, believe it or not, about
23:48
Speaker 2: this woman who had died at twenty five years old
23:51
Speaker 2: from melanoma. And it was in that moment that I
23:53
Speaker 2: was like, oh, my gosh, I think I think that
23:56
Speaker 2: might be what I have.
23:57
Speaker 1: And so, you know, I went to.
23:58
Speaker 2: A dermatologist and and of course found out and again
24:03
Speaker 2: it was super scary. There was definitely the worry that
24:08
Speaker 2: it had gotten into, you know, my my lymph nodes
24:12
Speaker 2: and my blood, and then of course that you know,
24:14
Speaker 2: that changes the trajectory of how the disease, you know,
24:18
Speaker 2: the ultimate outcome of where you go from there. But
24:21
Speaker 2: it didn't, thankfully for me, I didn't get into my
24:24
Speaker 2: lymph nodes. I have a giant what I call ice
24:25
Speaker 2: cream scoop on the bottom of my left lower leg
24:28
Speaker 2: where they took a huge chunk out because I was
24:32
Speaker 2: and it was really my choice. They could have just
24:33
Speaker 2: done a little bit. But it was like, no, you know,
24:35
Speaker 2: if I'm going to live the rest of my life,
24:36
Speaker 2: I just want to be assured that it's all gone. Yeah,
24:40
Speaker 2: but again it was it was like, Okay, this is scary,
24:44
Speaker 2: but at the same time, it's not going to define me.
24:46
Speaker 2: I'm not going to let this stop my life. I'm
24:49
Speaker 2: not gonna not have dreams and hopes and so it.
24:53
Speaker 2: But it definitely reshapes how you think about things, no doubt.
24:58
Speaker 2: I mean again, it's like I cherish things that matter most.
25:02
Speaker 2: I mean, I spend time, I spend so much time
25:04
Speaker 2: with my parents and my family and focusing on the
25:07
Speaker 2: things that matter. I don't, you know, I try not
25:09
Speaker 2: to focus on the superficial or the latest and greatest
25:13
Speaker 2: because again, I just think that those are those are
25:15
Speaker 2: things that you're going to look back on your life
25:17
Speaker 2: and not remember or care about it at all.
25:20
Speaker 1: So, I mean, it's definitely definitely stops seeing your tracks.
25:25
Speaker 1: It makes you youthink for sure. Yeah. Wow. I think
25:29
Speaker 1: it's so impressive that like you leaned into all of
25:32
Speaker 1: these positivity tricks. I think for me and I mean
25:37
Speaker 1: we can talk about like what you do for fitness,
25:39
Speaker 1: but for me, like running is how I get through
25:42
Speaker 1: all of the bad stuff, like when I feel like
25:45
Speaker 1: I'm losing control with my work, or when I'm like
25:47
Speaker 1: all over the place with my relationships, or whatever the
25:50
Speaker 1: case might be. I know that I can lace up
25:51
Speaker 1: my sneakers and i can run, and i can go
25:53
Speaker 1: and I'll be okay. And again it's like something that
25:55
Speaker 1: I'm so in control of when everything else feels so
25:58
Speaker 1: not within my control. So for you, you you're almost
26:01
Speaker 1: hacking it in a better way, which is like starting
26:04
Speaker 1: from within, because yeah, like all feel better after a run,
26:08
Speaker 1: But if I also don't take the time to put
26:10
Speaker 1: in that self work, to work on the things that
26:12
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for, just like shift the dialogue, then it's
26:17
Speaker 1: not going to really push me to be overall better.
26:19
Speaker 1: It's just going to be like the run is just
26:21
Speaker 1: a temporary fix.
26:22
Speaker 2: It is so true to identify like the core of
26:25
Speaker 2: what needs to be solved and addressed versus just the
26:29
Speaker 2: band aid.
26:32
Speaker 1: I think.
26:33
Speaker 2: I think honestly, it goes back to my faith a
26:36
Speaker 2: little bit, to be totally honest, I mean when I
26:39
Speaker 2: think about what where that positivity comes from, I think
26:43
Speaker 2: it's the hope and the peace and the comfort of
26:48
Speaker 2: just believing in a bigger, a bigger power than myself.
26:54
Speaker 2: And so, you know, when you give up that control,
26:57
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of peace that comes from that.
26:59
Speaker 2: I definitely, and I grew up in a very you know,
27:04
Speaker 2: stable home. I had really loving parents, and so I
27:07
Speaker 2: think that a lot of that was ingrained in me
27:10
Speaker 2: from a very young child. And so I do you know,
27:15
Speaker 2: I give a lot of credit to, you know, to
27:17
Speaker 2: my parents, and I'm obviously incredibly grateful for that childhood
27:21
Speaker 2: that I had and the loving home that I grew
27:23
Speaker 2: up in, because I do really think that that, at
27:27
Speaker 2: the core is really my foundation.
27:29
Speaker 1: So talk to me. Then. What happens. You and your
27:33
Speaker 1: husband are dealing with his cancer diagnosis, He finally moves
27:37
Speaker 1: down to live with you. You're working at drybar, and
27:40
Speaker 1: things are starting to look up a little bit. Yeah, totally.
27:43
Speaker 2: I mean, really, we the time we lived in Orange
27:46
Speaker 2: County and we were there for three years, and then
27:48
Speaker 2: we actually moved back up to la for around the
27:51
Speaker 2: last year, which I'll talk about in a second. But yeah,
27:53
Speaker 2: I mean those couple of years were great. Again, it
27:58
Speaker 2: was kind of like we had come out of this
28:00
Speaker 2: really heavy time period and we're just able to enjoy
28:04
Speaker 2: and celebrate the day to day life, if you will.
28:08
Speaker 2: And we lived pretty simply while we were down there too,
28:10
Speaker 2: because we didn't know how long we would we would
28:13
Speaker 2: be there, and so it was just it was a
28:14
Speaker 2: bit of a freeing time, which was great. I mean,
28:17
Speaker 2: not freeing in terms of I still had the crazy
28:19
Speaker 2: stress of work and building that that business and brand.
28:22
Speaker 1: But it was a good ebb and flow for sure.
28:26
Speaker 1: And how was it? I mean, I can't tell you
28:29
Speaker 1: how many podcasts I've listened to now listening to Ali talks.
28:32
Speaker 1: So how has it been to learn from Ali? I mean,
28:36
Speaker 1: because as you mentioned, like Drybar was rapidly expanding.
28:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was such I mean, like I said, it
28:43
Speaker 2: was such an incredible time. I'm so grateful to have
28:46
Speaker 2: learned from all of the people that were involved in
28:51
Speaker 2: Driver at that time, Michael and Ali in particular. I mean,
28:54
Speaker 2: they're obviously my business partners now. They're such incredible, incredible people.
29:00
Speaker 2: I would say that the thing that they instilled in
29:03
Speaker 2: me so much during my time at Drybar, and I
29:06
Speaker 2: can tell now it's like in my DNA and core
29:10
Speaker 2: with Squeeze is a crazy, over the top obsession with
29:15
Speaker 2: customer service. They grew up, I'm sure as you know,
29:19
Speaker 2: listening to several podcasts with parents who were entrepreneurs themselves.
29:24
Speaker 2: They owned clothing boutiques in Florida for like elderly women,
29:29
Speaker 2: and so they saw from a very young age just
29:32
Speaker 2: you know, doing anything and everything you can to cater
29:36
Speaker 2: to your guest and your customer. And they were so
29:39
Speaker 2: focused on that at dry Bar, I mean, the littlest
29:42
Speaker 2: things they would pay attention to, and I mean I
29:45
Speaker 2: remember even and I'm sure they still do this to
29:48
Speaker 2: this day. Like there's times and places where they will
29:51
Speaker 2: personally reach out to customers just to address things and
29:55
Speaker 2: or connect with them on a human level. And I
29:58
Speaker 2: really took that to heart. I'm such a people person.
30:02
Speaker 2: I believe so much in connection and relationships. We based
30:08
Speaker 2: Squeezes values and just the feel good company aspect on
30:14
Speaker 2: Maya Angela's quote. People will forget what you said, they'll
30:17
Speaker 2: forget what you did, but they'll never forget how you
30:19
Speaker 2: make them feel. And I you know, I think that
30:21
Speaker 2: that's really what drove them, and it's what drives me
30:27
Speaker 2: at Squeeze, and it's really again the type of culture
30:30
Speaker 2: that we're trying to create and the type of experience
30:32
Speaker 2: that we want not only our guests to feel, but
30:34
Speaker 2: also our team and the people who come to work
30:36
Speaker 2: for us every day and give us their time and
30:38
Speaker 2: their energy and their amazing talent. So I would say
30:41
Speaker 2: that that is the thing that is probably like the
30:44
Speaker 2: biggest takeaway that I learned from Michael and Ally during
30:47
Speaker 2: that time.
30:48
Speaker 1: Interesting, so you said that you guys then moved up
30:51
Speaker 1: to LA.
30:52
Speaker 2: Yes, So we opened a marketing and creative office in
30:58
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. We had gotten to a point where there
31:00
Speaker 2: were far more dry bars in Los Angeles than there
31:04
Speaker 2: were in Orange County. All of the brand partnerships that
31:07
Speaker 2: we were creating were located in Los Angeles, and so
31:12
Speaker 2: it just and the creative talent that we were hiring
31:14
Speaker 2: were in LA. It just made a lot of sense
31:16
Speaker 2: to bring the brand and the creative team up to LA.
31:20
Speaker 2: It was great personally because my husband also, you know,
31:24
Speaker 2: was commuting from Orange County to LA every day his
31:27
Speaker 2: company was up here. So yeah, we made that transition
31:31
Speaker 2: and it was great.
31:33
Speaker 1: It was it was really exciting.
31:35
Speaker 2: It was again kind of a step in the right direction.
31:39
Speaker 2: And and and then I think you know it, really,
31:42
Speaker 2: it really just got to a point where I felt
31:45
Speaker 2: like I had done what I wanted to accomplish at
31:49
Speaker 2: Dry Bar. And I've always had a very entrepreneurial spirit.
31:53
Speaker 2: I love the chaos of the unknown and forging a
31:57
Speaker 2: new path and just the building, like the spirit and
32:01
Speaker 2: the energy around building something, and Dry Bar obviously has
32:05
Speaker 2: an incredibly long trajectory ahead of itself. I felt like
32:08
Speaker 2: someone could come in and help take it from the
32:11
Speaker 2: level that I had built it to to the next one,
32:13
Speaker 2: and I was ready to get back in and roll
32:15
Speaker 2: at my sleeves and do something else.
32:17
Speaker 1: I didn't I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do.
32:20
Speaker 2: I was talking to a few different brands and companies
32:23
Speaker 2: and considering some options. But when I let the founders
32:26
Speaker 2: know that I was moving on, I didn't have anything
32:29
Speaker 2: lined up. It was more out of respect for them
32:33
Speaker 2: and you know, everything that we'd been through and how
32:37
Speaker 2: long I had been there, that it was more just
32:38
Speaker 2: you know, hey, I'm giving you the heads up that
32:41
Speaker 2: I'm ready to move on. And that's when Michael had
32:44
Speaker 2: reminded me that they'd always had this other idea in
32:46
Speaker 2: the back of their mind. They just didn't have the
32:48
Speaker 2: bandwidth to get it off the ground. Obviously, they were
32:51
Speaker 2: very busy building Dry Bar. So the stars aligned yet
32:54
Speaker 2: again and they gave me the great opportunity to to
33:00
Speaker 2: run this business. And it's truly been just as incredible
33:04
Speaker 2: as you know, the opportunity with Drivebar when I took it.
33:07
Speaker 1: When you first heard about it, did you feel at
33:12
Speaker 1: all hesitant or was it kind of just like one
33:15
Speaker 1: of those in your gut, this is the right thing
33:17
Speaker 1: for me to take on.
33:18
Speaker 2: So I had known about this idea for years. They
33:21
Speaker 2: really have had it. They talked about it a lot,
33:23
Speaker 2: but again like nothing came of it. So when they
33:28
Speaker 2: reminded me of it, it was like, oh, yeah, that
33:30
Speaker 2: was like such a great idea.
33:32
Speaker 1: Someone has to do that.
33:33
Speaker 2: And I think my husband would tell you that he
33:36
Speaker 2: knew immediately that I was going to take the opportunity,
33:38
Speaker 2: and I think I did too in my in my gut,
33:41
Speaker 2: But I did take a couple of months honestly to
33:46
Speaker 2: pursue other avenues because I wanted to just ensure that
33:52
Speaker 2: I wouldn't get like three months into it and be like.
33:56
Speaker 1: Just kidding at it. This is really hard. I don't
33:57
Speaker 1: want to I don't want to Actually, I don't want
33:59
Speaker 1: to do.
33:59
Speaker 2: That, you know, I would rather go somewhere where I
34:03
Speaker 2: can make more money or have a different opportunity, Like
34:06
Speaker 2: I really wanted to pursue what else is out there
34:09
Speaker 2: to just know in my core that I was going
34:13
Speaker 2: to be one hundred percent all in with this opportunity.
34:16
Speaker 1: I also think that sometimes when something feels like it
34:20
Speaker 1: just comes in front of you, it's like, is this
34:22
Speaker 1: really what I want to do? And then also, I
34:24
Speaker 1: mean it's one of those situations where you have to
34:27
Speaker 1: gut check yourself to ask, is this what I'm passionate about?
34:31
Speaker 1: Because yeah, no matter if it was a great idea,
34:33
Speaker 1: like a lot of people have a lot of great ideas,
34:34
Speaker 1: but unless you feel like it's so true to who
34:37
Speaker 1: you are, you're going to get again two three four
34:40
Speaker 1: months into this and like have one morning when you
34:42
Speaker 1: wake up and you're like, what am I doing? I
34:44
Speaker 1: don't really care about this exactly exactly, And you know,
34:47
Speaker 1: it was interesting.
34:48
Speaker 2: I told Michael that during the time that I was
34:50
Speaker 2: kind of like exploring and thinking about other things, I
34:52
Speaker 2: would start to help him like lay the foundation because
34:54
Speaker 2: he he was like, I want I really want to
34:57
Speaker 2: do this, like I want you to be the one
34:58
Speaker 2: to do it, but if you don't do it, I'm
35:00
Speaker 2: going to find someone else to do it type thing.
35:02
Speaker 1: And I was.
35:03
Speaker 2: I told him that I would start to do some
35:08
Speaker 2: research and put together like a model and think about
35:11
Speaker 2: how we could position it while I was exploring other options.
35:16
Speaker 2: And as I started to do that, where I really
35:21
Speaker 2: got personally excited. And again it's where I find the
35:24
Speaker 2: most joy and fulfillment today is creating a team and
35:29
Speaker 2: a culture and a place that values people first. And
35:34
Speaker 2: when I started to think about because I'm not a
35:35
Speaker 2: massage therapist, I mean, none of us are massage therapist,
35:38
Speaker 2: so to your point, it's like, you know, none, we
35:41
Speaker 2: haven't been practicing massage for twenty plus years, and that's
35:44
Speaker 2: our passion like Ali was with hair. So yes, there
35:47
Speaker 2: needed to be something that was like the ultimate driver
35:50
Speaker 2: of what we were doing. And when I started to
35:53
Speaker 2: think about that quote from Maya Angelo and the values
35:57
Speaker 2: that we could create and the type of place that
36:00
Speaker 2: we would be able to offer people to come to
36:03
Speaker 2: work every day, that's when it clicked for me, and
36:05
Speaker 2: I just got so excited about the opportunity to do
36:09
Speaker 2: that and I and it's been it's been so rewarding
36:14
Speaker 2: and I know it will continue to be so in
36:16
Speaker 2: that sense, it felt one hundred percent right.
36:19
Speaker 1: So right now, there's only one in Studio City here
36:22
Speaker 1: in La.
36:24
Speaker 2: Yes, So we opened in March twenty nineteen. The location
36:28
Speaker 2: is on Ventura Boulevard. It's an amazing it's an amazing
36:34
Speaker 2: location and again, the team is absolutely incredible. We've been
36:38
Speaker 2: working over the past couple of months to hone in
36:42
Speaker 2: on our operations and just the overall experience. But our
36:47
Speaker 2: intention with Squeeze has always been to build and scale
36:50
Speaker 2: it nationally, very similar to Drybar, and so we are
36:55
Speaker 2: planning on doing that through franchising and so we're working
36:58
Speaker 2: right now on just getting all of that in place.
37:00
Speaker 2: We're pretty close, so that will be kind of the
37:04
Speaker 2: next step as it relates to growing the company because
37:08
Speaker 2: dry Bar is not a franchise model. Dry Bar, there's
37:11
Speaker 2: a small percentage that are franchised, I don't even know that, yeah, okay,
37:14
Speaker 2: but the majority our company owned, and so yes, it
37:17
Speaker 2: is a very different model that's taking, you know, taking
37:21
Speaker 2: a little bit to ensure we do right.
37:24
Speaker 1: Why is this one a franchise strict and that one isn't. Yeah,
37:28
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm st starting to like try to
37:30
Speaker 1: learn more about all of these things. Yeah.
37:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, for a lot of reasons. Massage is an ingrained
37:37
Speaker 2: behavior in people.
37:38
Speaker 1: I mean, there are.
37:41
Speaker 2: Thousands of massage places all over this country. I mean,
37:45
Speaker 2: there's certain businesses that are doing incredibly well in this space,
37:49
Speaker 2: and so we know that the market and the demand
37:52
Speaker 2: exists not only in key metropolitan cities but everywhere I mean, you.
37:58
Speaker 1: Know, small, smaller cities across the country.
38:01
Speaker 2: And so from that standpoint, the opportunity to bring a
38:05
Speaker 2: better experience into those places and offer someone the chance
38:10
Speaker 2: to lead their own business locally, it's just really exciting
38:15
Speaker 2: to me personally. I mean, again, this has been my
38:17
Speaker 2: first entrepreneurial venture. I love the idea of giving people
38:21
Speaker 2: the chance to own their own, you know, business in
38:25
Speaker 2: their hometown or you know, cities where they're passionate about.
38:28
Speaker 2: So that in particular, and then also, you know, I
38:33
Speaker 2: think that when you build a business, it does really
38:36
Speaker 2: have so much to do about the people that are
38:39
Speaker 2: running it. And my background is in marketing, and I
38:43
Speaker 2: wish I could remember the person that told me this,
38:44
Speaker 2: because I say this all the time. But when we
38:47
Speaker 2: started Squeeze, someone said to me very clearly, you know,
38:50
Speaker 2: if you want to run an operations business, open corporate
38:52
Speaker 2: own stores, if you want to run a sales and
38:54
Speaker 2: marketing business, run franchises and or you know, run run
38:58
Speaker 2: a franchise. And so for me that was very clear.
39:01
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not I'm not an operator. I don't
39:03
Speaker 2: come from retail operations, and there is so much nuance
39:07
Speaker 2: in that space to get right. And so what really,
39:11
Speaker 2: you know, I know how to do is build a
39:13
Speaker 2: brand and tell a great story and connect with people
39:15
Speaker 2: and motivate and inspire. And that's, you know, that's what
39:19
Speaker 2: I want to do for our future operating partners. And
39:21
Speaker 2: let let the operating partners who are true operators and
39:25
Speaker 2: that's their passion, you know, do what they're good at.
39:27
Speaker 2: And I think that it will be the perfect, the
39:30
Speaker 2: perfect balance.
39:35
Speaker 1: Interjecting big word here into today's episode to give Athletic
39:39
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39:42
Speaker 1: I'm constantly on the move. This past weekend, I was
39:46
Speaker 1: up in Boston, and the first thing I do after
39:49
Speaker 1: taking my suitcase out of the closet to pack it
39:51
Speaker 1: when I go away is go to the kitchen and
39:53
Speaker 1: grab a few packs of Athletic Greens. I'm telling you,
39:56
Speaker 1: no matter where I am, no matter where I'm running around,
39:59
Speaker 1: taking a Athleticgreens first thing in the morning just makes
40:02
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40:06
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40:10
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40:14
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40:17
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Speaker 1: hurdle to grab yours today, no code necessary. Let's get
40:45
Speaker 1: back to it. So then, what does life look like
40:52
Speaker 1: these days for you? It's definitely different.
40:55
Speaker 2: I pinch myself every morning when I wake up, just
40:59
Speaker 2: because I'm so grateful for the chance to, you know,
41:03
Speaker 2: to have this opportunity. I've got an office in the
41:05
Speaker 2: back of the shop in Studio City. So I'm in
41:07
Speaker 2: there every day with the team, which is really great,
41:10
Speaker 2: Like it's been so neat to be able to interact
41:13
Speaker 2: with our guests and our team. I'm you know, I
41:17
Speaker 2: pop in a couple of times during the day to
41:20
Speaker 2: our breakroom and I wash dishes, and I catch up
41:22
Speaker 2: with our therapists, and then I'll break our matre d's
41:25
Speaker 2: and be up front for a little while saying hello
41:28
Speaker 2: to guests.
41:29
Speaker 1: So I think that that I mean, obviously.
41:31
Speaker 2: That won't be forever, but for now, it's really great
41:34
Speaker 2: just to ensure that we're again doing the best we
41:37
Speaker 2: can with the experience, making it right each and every time.
41:41
Speaker 2: And then it's also a lot of trying to focus
41:45
Speaker 2: on the larger strategy and growing the company. So I
41:48
Speaker 2: you know, as I mentioned, we're working on getting our
41:50
Speaker 2: FDD together and a lot of our operational and training
41:53
Speaker 2: documentation and protocols so that we can support our franchisees
41:56
Speaker 2: in the best way. It's a lot of me with
42:00
Speaker 2: amazing people also to learn from them. This has really
42:05
Speaker 2: opened up a lot of cool doors for me personally,
42:09
Speaker 2: just to connect with people who are incredibly influential in
42:13
Speaker 2: the retail and franchising space and just branding space, I
42:16
Speaker 2: guess also, so I'm certainly learning something new every day,
42:21
Speaker 2: and I think that that is such an important part
42:25
Speaker 2: for everyone to be able to do regularly, is you know,
42:29
Speaker 2: just continue expanding your mind and growing and learning and
42:34
Speaker 2: challenging yourself, because that leads to a lot of fulfillment,
42:38
Speaker 2: even if it's small.
42:39
Speaker 1: So a lot of people when they are looking to
42:41
Speaker 1: give back to themselves, when they're getting out of the
42:44
Speaker 1: office and trying to relax a little bit, they come
42:46
Speaker 1: to something like, what you're doing, how do you give
42:49
Speaker 1: back to yourself? How do you take some time for you?
42:52
Speaker 1: I get massages a lot too.
42:54
Speaker 2: I definitely take advantage of.
42:57
Speaker 1: Being in the space every day. But I also.
43:01
Speaker 2: You know, as I mentioned, I get up early every morning,
43:04
Speaker 2: I do a gratitude journal, I meditate, I pray. I
43:06
Speaker 2: feel like that really sets my mindset for the day.
43:10
Speaker 2: And then also I suffered a pretty bad back injury
43:15
Speaker 2: two years ago, towards the end of my career at Drybar.
43:18
Speaker 1: It was quite debilitating.
43:20
Speaker 2: Actually, I was in Florida and through my back out,
43:23
Speaker 2: so I had a her needed disk in my in
43:26
Speaker 2: my lower back and it led to what's called leg retraction,
43:28
Speaker 2: where literally your leg pulls itself back into your body.
43:32
Speaker 2: So I couldn't straighten my leg, I couldn't walk. It
43:34
Speaker 2: was terrible. I went to multiple ers, I had to
43:38
Speaker 2: cancel several flights. I was basically, you know, in bed
43:43
Speaker 2: for several months after, and I really had a hard time.
43:48
Speaker 2: I was always active prior to this, but had obviously
43:52
Speaker 2: let myself kind of just get drained with work and
43:56
Speaker 2: travel and you know, which obviously led to led to injury.
44:00
Speaker 1: But in any case, I couldn't.
44:02
Speaker 2: It was hard for me to find something as I
44:04
Speaker 2: was going through my healing process that I could strengthen
44:08
Speaker 2: my body but not hurt myself. And I found this
44:11
Speaker 2: place called plate Fit. It's a fitness concept that's out
44:15
Speaker 2: of Los Angeles. Here there's four locations currently and I'm
44:18
Speaker 2: sure many more to come. And it's a it's a
44:21
Speaker 2: vibration workout, so you work out on a vibrating plate.
44:25
Speaker 2: It's only twenty seven minutes, which is also like game changing,
44:28
Speaker 2: and no joke, I mean you're like dripping in sweat
44:31
Speaker 2: by the end of the workout. So it's an incredible workout.
44:33
Speaker 2: But what it allowed me to do is is get
44:38
Speaker 2: my strength back again without without injuring myself because it's
44:41
Speaker 2: high intensity but low impact. So the vibration like it's
44:45
Speaker 2: working your muscles, but it's also offsetting just the.
44:48
Speaker 1: Easier on your joints, et cetera, et cetera.
44:50
Speaker 2: So's but that's what I do to just like clear
44:53
Speaker 2: my head, to sweat every day to make sure that
44:55
Speaker 2: I'm taking care of my body. I always say, taking
44:58
Speaker 2: care of your body and working out it is great.
45:00
Speaker 2: Great for the body, bit better for the mind. So
45:04
Speaker 2: I've got to know more about this plate fil Oh
45:05
Speaker 2: my gosh, you have to go.
45:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I should go. So is it?
45:09
Speaker 2: So?
45:09
Speaker 1: Like what kind of stuff are you doing throughout the workout? Everything?
45:12
Speaker 2: Every like, okay, you do push ups and squats and
45:16
Speaker 2: planks and tricep dips and weights and sit ups and.
45:20
Speaker 1: This is using the plate? Yes, interesting, it's wind Wait
45:24
Speaker 1: how does it? Well? Like running in place? Gotcha? Okay?
45:27
Speaker 2: Okay, wish everyone can see me, But I.
45:30
Speaker 1: Say, I'm like, where where are we running? No? It's fine? Okay, So, wow,
45:34
Speaker 1: that's so interesting. I've heard of it before, I've just never.
45:37
Speaker 2: Been Oh my gosh, it's it's amazing, Like it's such
45:40
Speaker 2: an incredible workout.
45:41
Speaker 1: Okay, and it's twenty seven minutes long, right, why the
45:44
Speaker 1: science between twenty seven minutes? I wish I knew more
45:47
Speaker 1: about that. I should.
45:48
Speaker 2: I should because I talk about it so much, so
45:50
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly, but but I'm I mean, I
45:54
Speaker 2: feel like that's probably what got me to go to
45:55
Speaker 2: it for the first time.
45:56
Speaker 1: It was like twenty seven minutes done. I mean, I
45:58
Speaker 1: feel like signature twenty seven minute Highing says the interval
46:02
Speaker 1: training workout. Yeah, with the power plates legitimately high end
46:06
Speaker 1: and make it happen. We utilize the signs of vibration
46:08
Speaker 1: to wake up your cells, increased circulation during and detoxify
46:11
Speaker 1: the lymphatic system, reduce inmplammation, and accelerate recovery time. Well
46:15
Speaker 1: that's a lot of really great promises. Actually, no, but
46:17
Speaker 1: it truly does.
46:18
Speaker 2: And they have, Speaking of recovery, they have this recovery
46:21
Speaker 2: class where you turn up the vibration of the plate
46:25
Speaker 2: itself and you stretch and then they massage your muscles
46:31
Speaker 2: into it so it like breaks up all your lactic
46:33
Speaker 2: acid and helpless cellulite. And that's I actually think that
46:38
Speaker 2: the recovery class.
46:39
Speaker 1: Is part of what got me back to.
46:43
Speaker 2: Being healthy so quickly is I never felt sore because
46:47
Speaker 2: I was always breaking out my lactic acid and like
46:49
Speaker 2: working at you know, working out what I had just
46:51
Speaker 2: worked out. So I cannot say like enough good things
46:57
Speaker 2: about plate Fit.
46:58
Speaker 1: Well, Platefit, you are welcome for the free seven minutes
47:02
Speaker 1: of advertising. But I mean on the also, while we're
47:06
Speaker 1: like jamming about buzzy La fitness things, I just heard
47:10
Speaker 1: for the first time about SM Stretching, which is just
47:13
Speaker 1: a stretch based class. Because you're talking about recovery. There
47:16
Speaker 1: are all of these places that are now like stretched
47:20
Speaker 1: in New York, and I think there's one out here.
47:22
Speaker 2: I actually go to Stretch Lab, which is in Studio
47:25
Speaker 2: City exactly. It's fantastic also.
47:27
Speaker 1: Right, So all these assisted stretching facilities, But this SM
47:31
Speaker 1: Stretching that I heard about for the first time this
47:33
Speaker 1: week is actually like a stretching class. So it's not
47:36
Speaker 1: like yoga and that like it's super active and you're
47:40
Speaker 1: moving through different flows and all these things. It's literally
47:42
Speaker 1: just like I think it's a forty minute class where
47:45
Speaker 1: like you stretch together, and I feel like that's a
47:47
Speaker 1: really good idea.
47:48
Speaker 2: That's actually neat because the thing about stretch lab, and
47:51
Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of the other stretching concepts, is
47:53
Speaker 2: they actually have a stretchologist that stretches.
47:56
Speaker 1: Great, stretches you great name which yeah, stretch I can't
48:00
Speaker 1: that's so naturalologists, I know.
48:03
Speaker 2: But what sounds neat about this concept that you're talking
48:06
Speaker 2: about is they probably give you a lot of tips
48:08
Speaker 2: and tricks to do at home, whereas this it's like
48:11
Speaker 2: someone is it's assistant stretching, So somebody's stretching you know,
48:15
Speaker 2: in ways that you can't personally.
48:17
Speaker 1: So I imagine that that's actually pretty great. I know obviously
48:21
Speaker 1: that you have a background in marketing and you are
48:23
Speaker 1: not a massage therapist, but how often would you recommend
48:26
Speaker 1: people get some sort of bodywork done.
48:30
Speaker 2: I think, if you can afford it, both financially and
48:33
Speaker 2: from a time standpoint, a weekly massage is truly, like
48:38
Speaker 2: so important for your your health. But if you can't
48:43
Speaker 2: do that at least once a month.
48:45
Speaker 1: What do the massage prices start? At Squeeze? So we
48:49
Speaker 1: offer two memberships.
48:51
Speaker 2: Our mid Squeeze membership is seventy nine dollars a month,
48:55
Speaker 2: and that gets you one fifty minute massage plus additional
49:00
Speaker 2: acounted pricing if you were to come more often. We've
49:02
Speaker 2: also eliminated a lot of the barriers to signing up,
49:04
Speaker 2: so you're you can cancel any time you're not signing
49:07
Speaker 2: up for a long period of time. You can pause
49:10
Speaker 2: your membership. Your benefits roll over every month, so if
49:13
Speaker 2: you have, you know, a bunch extra, you can actually
49:16
Speaker 2: gift them to a friend or family member as well.
49:20
Speaker 2: And then our second program or second membership is our
49:23
Speaker 2: Main Squeeze, which is ninety nine dollars and it's for
49:26
Speaker 2: a monthly eighty minute and then.
49:28
Speaker 1: You get all of the same added perks. I love
49:30
Speaker 1: Main Squeeze and on that cube.
49:32
Speaker 2: I mean that's like such a fun thing about the
49:35
Speaker 2: name squeeze is you know, like in the beginning we
49:38
Speaker 2: were just talking about so many fun ways to use it.
49:41
Speaker 2: I mean we say, like easy, peasy squeeze and squeeze
49:44
Speaker 2: for your main squeeze and squeeze the ones you love.
49:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, there's just so many great
49:49
Speaker 1: ways to use the word. Now, then that's where your
49:53
Speaker 1: expertise comes to shine and Cam comes to shine. Okay,
49:57
Speaker 1: so once weekly massages is the goal, and people are
50:00
Speaker 1: coming in for all different sorts of reasons, right, It's like, yes,
50:03
Speaker 1: like it can be super relaxing, but there are also
50:05
Speaker 1: the people that are crazy active that really do need
50:08
Speaker 1: to break up that fashion and move things around. And
50:10
Speaker 1: so I'm sure you see people for all different sorts
50:13
Speaker 1: of reasons.
50:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean stress management, sleep management, just health and
50:17
Speaker 2: wellness in general, relaxation, sports, recovery, pain.
50:22
Speaker 1: Let's talk about sleep management. Oh man, what's the deal
50:25
Speaker 1: with that?
50:25
Speaker 2: And massage is well, I mean it just helps to
50:29
Speaker 2: relax your body. You know, we have so many We're
50:31
Speaker 2: open until ten pm, so we have a lot of
50:32
Speaker 2: people who are booking at like eight thirty for a
50:35
Speaker 2: main or nine o'clock for a mid again eighty and
50:37
Speaker 2: fifty minute massages and just go directly to bed afterwards.
50:42
Speaker 2: But to talk about sleep really quickly, I mean sleep,
50:45
Speaker 2: I feel like is such an important component to health
50:48
Speaker 2: and we don't get enough of it, right, so it's
50:51
Speaker 2: so critical of course, But yeah, I mean there's so
50:55
Speaker 2: many benefits to massage, you know. I mean again, like relaxation,
50:59
Speaker 2: muscle work, pain management, you know, definitely just balancing your
51:07
Speaker 2: your internal well being. Part of that does you know,
51:11
Speaker 2: I believe come with better sleep and just also giving
51:17
Speaker 2: yourself time to like unplug, right, I mean, how many
51:20
Speaker 2: places do we go and we're still looking at our phone,
51:25
Speaker 2: We're still checking our email. I mean, it's so hard
51:27
Speaker 2: to just detach. And massage definitely allows for that.
51:32
Speaker 1: I love going to hot yoga because I can't stand
51:35
Speaker 1: the feeling of my watch on my wrist in a
51:37
Speaker 1: hot room, so I'll take it off. And that is
51:39
Speaker 1: literally one of the few times that I don't, like
51:43
Speaker 1: have awareness that I have like a vibration happening on
51:46
Speaker 1: my wrist from the Apple Watch. I love my Apple Watch.
51:49
Speaker 1: I wear it religiously, but man, is it like such
51:52
Speaker 1: a treat When I get onto the yoga mat and
51:54
Speaker 1: I take it off and I put it next to me,
51:56
Speaker 1: and nothing's going to pop up, And I'm like, wow,
51:59
Speaker 1: this is where we are now. Yes, I'm not anywhere
52:02
Speaker 1: else exactly. Did not bother me exactly? I know.
52:05
Speaker 2: Even on airplanes now we can't, we can't have we
52:08
Speaker 2: must connect to the Wi Fi in sky, we must
52:12
Speaker 2: do it. Okay, So then once weekly massages.
52:16
Speaker 1: Yes, life is pretty good now, Yes, what's going on
52:21
Speaker 1: with your husband? How are you guys doing He's doing great. Yeah, Yes,
52:24
Speaker 1: he actually passed his five year mark two years ago now,
52:29
Speaker 1: I think twenty seventeen was his five years, which is
52:33
Speaker 1: a huge step for cancer recovery. No, he's great, he's
52:39
Speaker 1: he plays tennis, he keeps himself active. Also, I mean
52:42
Speaker 1: we definitely try and be mindful of our of our diets.
52:48
Speaker 1: I think we all know how you know how that
52:50
Speaker 1: plays such a big role in longevity. And we're really great.
52:56
Speaker 2: I mean, we're we are very fortunate to you know,
53:00
Speaker 2: to live a comfortable life, and we're very grateful for
53:03
Speaker 2: it and try and give back in both our time
53:06
Speaker 2: and resources when we can.
53:08
Speaker 1: So no complaints. When you look right now on your career,
53:14
Speaker 1: so far from the drive Bar phases, and maybe before
53:17
Speaker 1: that even the agency phases, and now here we are
53:19
Speaker 1: with Squeeze, what would you say has been one of
53:22
Speaker 1: the best pieces of advice that someone has offered you?
53:25
Speaker 1: I would say I feel like there's a lot of
53:29
Speaker 1: great advice that I've received along the way, but probably
53:33
Speaker 1: I'll give a shout out to Michael who he challenged
53:36
Speaker 1: me all through my time at Drybar and certainly as
53:40
Speaker 1: we started Squeeze to.
53:42
Speaker 2: Not let perfection get in the way of progress. I
53:46
Speaker 2: think women in particular, we want to do everything just right,
53:51
Speaker 2: and sometimes that can be a blocker and a barrier
53:54
Speaker 2: to momentum and keeping things moving, which is just far
54:01
Speaker 2: more important than it being perfect. And that has been
54:04
Speaker 2: something that has stuck in my mind consistently and I
54:08
Speaker 2: think really has helped, you know, move us forward in
54:14
Speaker 2: various ways that.
54:15
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's I think it's an important
54:17
Speaker 1: thing to try and remember. And I'm sure that gratitude
54:19
Speaker 1: also helps with like shifting this concept of what perfection is, right,
54:23
Speaker 1: because you were pointing out that a lot of the
54:25
Speaker 1: things you were writing down were very small, and I
54:28
Speaker 1: think when there aren't blaring successes and happy things and
54:33
Speaker 1: all of these things that feel like they're hitting us
54:34
Speaker 1: in the face, sometimes it's easy to say, yeah, today
54:37
Speaker 1: it was fine. Yeah, But when you take a step back.
54:41
Speaker 2: Exactly well, and we live in a picture perfect world,
54:44
Speaker 2: I mean we are we are literally looking every single
54:47
Speaker 2: day at everyone's highlight reel and we're not seeing the
54:52
Speaker 2: true realness of life to remind us that we're it's
54:56
Speaker 2: okay to not be perfect. So I think so, yeah,
55:00
Speaker 2: I think having that perspective is incredibly important.
55:05
Speaker 1: I always close out the pod by with the same question.
55:09
Speaker 1: You have an opportunity right now to offer the Brittany
55:13
Speaker 1: who is going through that really tough time. It's after
55:17
Speaker 1: she has gotten that scoop out of her lower leg.
55:20
Speaker 1: It's now your now husband is diagnosed with cancer, You're
55:24
Speaker 1: about to take on this new job, all this stuff
55:26
Speaker 1: is going crazy. What piece of advice do you offer
55:29
Speaker 1: her right now? I would say, let yourself feel. You know,
55:36
Speaker 1: it's okay to be scared. It's okay to have moments
55:38
Speaker 1: of sadness and sit in the reality of what is
55:47
Speaker 1: going on. But pull yourself up from that as quickly.
55:53
Speaker 2: And as often as you can to you know, to
55:57
Speaker 2: keep focus on your dreams and your hopes and what
56:00
Speaker 2: you want for the future, and also appreciate the goodness
56:06
Speaker 2: that exists in your life, all of the love that
56:08
Speaker 2: you have, all the support that you have, and that
56:11
Speaker 2: it's going to be okay. You know, even I think
56:14
Speaker 2: about this a lot, actually, like even had it not
56:16
Speaker 2: worked out the way that it did for you know,
56:18
Speaker 2: my husband and myself. There's so many amazing people who
56:22
Speaker 2: are able to impact our world and the people around them.
56:26
Speaker 2: With such good from from true devastation. You know, and
56:32
Speaker 2: I think that I think that knowing no matter what,
56:36
Speaker 2: that there will be good that comes from you, know
56:41
Speaker 2: that comes from your experience, will will help to keep
56:44
Speaker 2: you on.
56:46
Speaker 1: The right track and again staying as positive as you can.
56:49
Speaker 1: Thanks for shutting down with me today. Thanks for having me.
56:52
Speaker 1: This is so fun. Please take a moment and leave
56:54
Speaker 1: a quick review of the podcast by clicking the link
56:57
Speaker 1: with the description to this episode. We all face multiple
57:00
Speaker 1: hurdles in life. I want to hear about yours. Reach
57:03
Speaker 1: out to me at Emily at hurdle dot us. Connect
57:06
Speaker 1: with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter at Hurdle podcast.
57:09
Speaker 1: Brittany where do they find you? Where do they find Squeeze, Squeeze,
57:13
Speaker 1: massage dot com.
57:14
Speaker 2: We are at Squeeze on Instagram and I'm at britdrisk
57:18
Speaker 2: on Instagram b R.
57:19
Speaker 1: I T D R I s C. Getting at Squeeze
57:23
Speaker 1: is probably a big deal. Oh, it was a whole thing.
57:27
Speaker 1: If you can help me get just at hurdle, well
57:30
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that after. Oh yeah, we'll see if
57:31
Speaker 1: I can help you another hurdle concerd Catch you guys
57:36
Speaker 1: next time.