Latest / Mini Scroll / Q & A: Business & podcasting journey, moving to Australia, handling online hate, friendship advice + more!

Transcript

Q & A: Business & podcasting journey, moving to Australia, handling online hate, friendship advice + more! · Mini Scroll

0:00
Hi everyone, welcome back to infinite Scroll.
0:03
So this week's vibe is totally different.
0:07
This week's episode I am doing AQ and A for you guys instead of
0:11
a typical deep dive. So Jordy and I would do Q&A's
0:15
usually at least once a season when we Co hosted the podcast
0:18
together. Obviously now the podcast is so
0:21
different the vibe has changed a lot.
0:24
It's much more, you know, of a scripted like video essay for
0:28
infinite scroll. So, so it kind of felt off brand
0:31
to continue that tradition. However, we have a lot of new
0:35
listeners and a lot of new subscribers on YouTube.
0:38
So a lot of you guys have some questions for me.
0:41
You want to know a little bit more about me?
0:43
And I have literally the busiest next two weeks ever.
0:46
There's so much stuff that we have to get done for different
0:49
clients. And we have South by Southwest
0:51
next week. This will go live on Friday.
0:53
So yeah, the coming week is South by Southwest and we are
0:56
doing a lot of stuff there. I'm also speaking on two panels
0:59
there. So the week is a bit of like a
1:01
write off in terms of like prepping a deep dive.
1:04
So I needed something that was going to be low prep to bring
1:08
you guys this week. And I could have just done no
1:11
episode, but obviously I just took two weeks off for Europe.
1:15
I didn't want to have no content.
1:16
I didn't want to like keep having no content.
1:18
So here we are and I have AQ and A for you guys.
1:22
But as always, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
1:25
Please sign up to our newsletter, which is also called
1:28
infinite scroll. We're on Fridays, we round up
1:31
the five biggest thing pieces on the Internet from that week and
1:34
exciting. We actually now have our full
1:37
videos on Spotify. So obviously our podcast was on
1:42
Spotify before, but just audio only.
1:44
So now you can watch this podcast on Spotify or YouTube.
1:48
Very exciting. And please review us on Spotify
1:51
just like a little star review. I'm trying to get to 500 reviews
1:54
on Spotify. Even if you don't listen on
1:56
Spotify, please just leave us a little star review because I am
1:59
headed to that 500 review mark. Also, I actually have a question
2:03
for you guys. OK, so charitable is the
2:05
service. It is a Spotify service is the
2:07
service that we have been using for years to look at our
2:10
international podcast reviews. Obviously we only have access to
2:15
Apple podcasts in Australia, so we can only see the new reviews
2:19
in Australia from like our actual app.
2:21
So we would use charitable and they would send us the reviews
2:24
internationally, like no matter where you guys lived, if you
2:26
left an Apple review, we would get it and then we could read
2:29
it. And now charitable is closing at
2:32
the beginning of December and I don't know where to find our
2:35
international Apple reviews. So if you guys know where we can
2:38
find that, if you have knowledge of like another platform that
2:40
will do that for us, please let me know, preferably free.
2:44
OK, OK, so I posted a question box on my Instagram and I also
2:48
asked you guys on YouTube to leave a comment or on Spotify.
2:51
So this is like an amalgamation. I'm going to try to get to all
2:54
the questions, but we actually had quite a lot of questions.
2:57
OK, so I'm going. To go and.
2:58
Order of how I received them on Instagram and then I'll get to
3:02
the YouTube comments. So the first question that I
3:04
have is how do you stay focused and locked in day after day?
3:10
This is a really hard question to answer because I think this
3:15
year like my schedule has quadrupled in terms of workload
3:20
and just expectations and so I don't really have any other
3:24
choice. However, some things that have
3:26
helped me a lot when Jordy first left business and I was kind of
3:31
doing rounds of like mentor meetings and just trying to
3:33
figure out like the direction of how I would take this by myself.
3:36
Now I met with this man who man scary, but he's very experienced
3:42
and his whole thing is to help newer or independent media
3:46
brands really scale and succeed. And he was so helpful in
3:50
everything that, you know, all the advice that he gave me.
3:52
And one of the most tangible things that I took away from
3:55
that meeting was it was so minor, like compared to all the
3:58
other stuff we talked about. But it was something that now
4:00
I've implemented day-to-day is he was like, OK, as a solo
4:04
founder, you are going to be stretched so thin.
4:08
And I like, I can't even stress how right he was.
4:11
I really thought he was like over exaggerating.
4:13
And I was like, OK, I've been doing this business now for four
4:15
years. Like I know what's up, it'll be
4:16
fine. No, I had no idea what I was
4:19
about to get myself into. So he was like, you are going to
4:22
need to time block, like get rid of your To Do List, you know,
4:25
get rid of your notion like this is all about time blocking.
4:29
Every single second of your day for this like seven days a week
4:32
needs to be time blocked. And he was so right.
4:36
I would be nowhere without time blocking.
4:38
I block out every single social thing I do.
4:41
I time block like every single weekend.
4:44
I mean, I always have to work on the weekends.
4:45
So, you know, I time block. Okay, so I go to the gym at 7:00
4:48
AM on a Saturday and then I literally will time block an
4:51
hour for my glam, an hour for the bus or my commute if I'm
4:54
driving, literally like 15 minutes to go get my coffee.
4:57
Like I time block it like that and it is so, so helpful.
5:01
So that is one of the biggest things.
5:02
And I'm like, I'm a Sagittarius. Like I don't want to have such a
5:06
strict routine. I really thrive in rituals, like
5:09
having rituals, but I do not like a routine.
5:12
But it is so necessary for like this stage of my business, this
5:15
stage of my life. So that's probably my one
5:18
biggest thing that I do. And I time block everything,
5:20
including downtime, like including watching housewives.
5:23
It's so important to me. And the other thing that I mean,
5:27
like I said, I don't really have a choice.
5:29
But the other thing that I kind of like carry with me and think
5:32
about a lot because I don't really move things to the next
5:35
day. Like I really get everything
5:37
that I need to get done usually every single day.
5:39
And one of the things that I constantly think about is Andy
5:43
Cohen did an interview recently. I think it was just last year
5:47
and somebody was asking him like, how will the interviewer,
5:49
obviously the journalist was asking him like how he juggles
5:52
his career and like his busy life.
5:54
And now he has two kids and he said, I literally just finished
5:59
everything that that I need to finish in a day every single day
6:02
before I go to sleep. Like whether that takes me from
6:04
the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep.
6:06
Like I don't stop until I'm done.
6:08
I don't take my rest period. I don't go to sleep.
6:11
I don't stop until I have finished everything I need to
6:15
get done that day. And I have literally just taken
6:17
that on board all year. And that doesn't make for a very
6:21
fun life a lot of the times. But that is just the reality of
6:26
like the phase of the business and like the founder journey
6:28
that I'm in right now. We were very much in the kind of
6:32
like very juvenile startup phase for the first four years.
6:35
And I didn't really realize that.
6:38
And now at the beginning of the year, I was able to get some
6:41
funding and like just, I've just had these kind of bigger moments
6:45
that have made it so that my business has been able to scale
6:48
much quicker than it ever was able to.
6:51
And with more money comes more problems, you know, a bigger
6:55
team, just more going on, way more responsibility.
6:58
And I really feel like I'm in like the true throes of startup
7:02
life now in a way that I wasn't before.
7:04
OK, The next question is, what are your favorite podcasts to
7:07
listen to? What are your favorite creators
7:09
to follow? OK, favorite podcast is
7:12
celebrity memoir book club, obviously.
7:14
I actually don't really listen to any other pop culture
7:17
podcasts. I will listen to Danny
7:19
Pellegrino's Everything Iconic, his housewives recaps because
7:22
he's so funny. But those are the only two pop
7:24
culture podcasts I listen to. And I used to listen to so many,
7:28
but I am like, I guess, and I am in my founder startup era, I
7:32
used to not be able to listen to those types of podcasts, like
7:35
interviews with founders or like business advice podcasts,
7:37
whatever. Like I, I would get like kind of
7:40
triggered by them. I think I knew that I wasn't at
7:43
the stage that I needed to be to be like truly scaling a startup,
7:47
but I couldn't like accept that to myself.
7:50
And so I just wanted to avoid any like education around it
7:54
because it would make me feel like bad about myself.
7:57
It would make me feel guilty. But now this year it's like a
7:59
non negotiable, like I just kind of had to start like taking any
8:02
resource that I could. And it's been so game changing.
8:06
So my favorite podcast now. I like certain interviews on
8:09
Diary of a CEO. It definitely depends on the
8:12
guest and the topic. I love we regret to inform you
8:15
the rejection podcast. I think that's a Canadian
8:18
podcast. It's by the Apostrophe podcast
8:20
network and they do like 30 minute deep dives into different
8:25
like either it's founders, celebrities, TV shows, companies
8:29
that that went through like their journey and all of their
8:33
rejection along the way. And it's really interesting.
8:35
So I started listening to it for the business stuff, right?
8:38
Like the the podcast episodes about different companies.
8:41
But now I listen to a lot of the TV show ones like The Sopranos,
8:45
Madman, Breaking Bad. And I think it's because it's
8:48
actually more relevant to like my business, even though I
8:51
didn't really think about it when I first started listening
8:53
to this podcast. But like listening to how long
8:56
it takes for like content to come alive and for a business
8:59
that's all about content and media to really like get off the
9:03
ground. Like those shows took like, I
9:05
don't know, 1520 years to really get made.
9:08
And the those showrunners who created the shows and obviously
9:12
that was the peak of their career.
9:13
Like some of them, it was like 30 years into their careers.
9:15
So those are like really inspiring stories.
9:17
So I listen to that podcast to like feel good.
9:20
And at the end they always say they always kind of give like
9:23
wisdom. So they'll tell you the story.
9:25
And then this like man who I think is the.
9:26
Owner of the network, he'll come in and he'll do a little spiel
9:29
on like. You know what you can learn from
9:31
this episode, like what you can take away and then he always
9:34
ends it with never ever give up. And that's just like what you
9:38
need to hear sometimes when you're on this journey.
9:40
Everybody needs to hear that sometimes.
9:42
So I really like that episode or sorry, I really like that
9:44
podcast. I really like acquired the
9:47
podcast. It's like every company has a
9:49
story and those are really long episodes.
9:52
Some of them are like 3 hours long and they just literally
9:54
talk about the story of companies.
9:56
I like Grace Beverly's Working Hard, Hardly Working, which is
10:01
again, interviews with different founders.
10:03
I like corporate gossip, which is stories of businesses.
10:06
So like I'm really in that era. I don't think that's so
10:09
interesting probably for a lot of people.
10:11
But like, that's what I am consuming 9 times out of 10 when
10:15
I'm listening to a podcast. And my favorite creators, so my
10:18
actual number one favorite creator on YouTube is a friend
10:22
of the pod, Melanie Lorraine. So I'll put her down below like
10:26
a link to her YouTube channel. If you guys like vlogs, like I'm
10:30
serious, I don't miss a single video.
10:32
If you guys like vlogs, she vlogs every single week.
10:35
She usually has a weekend vlog and a weekly vlog.
10:38
And she is a social media lead, social media director at an
10:42
agency. So it's like relevant to, you
10:44
know, my lifestyle and what I'm doing.
10:47
But I just she's like a comfort creator for me.
10:49
Now. She I think started watching me
10:51
on YouTube and then we started following each other and then I
10:54
didn't even know that she vlogged.
10:56
I don't even know. I guess I saw on her.
10:58
Instagram story something. So one day I was like, yeah,
10:59
I'll check it. I'm just like hooked like since
11:01
that first vlog, like I just can't stop.
11:03
I just am obsessed with her content.
11:04
It's just like comforting and it's so real, right?
11:08
Like she is just such like a real regular person.
11:11
But she has a very cool job and she does influencing as well.
11:14
But she's still so down to earth and I just love it.
11:17
And now I just like love everyone like in her periphery.
11:20
Like I love following her boss Mitzi.
11:22
Like, I watch her vlogs on YouTube like I'm becoming like a
11:25
Melanie world stand. OK.
11:29
The next question is how do we as elder Gen.
11:32
Z slash millennials combat fat phobia online?
11:36
That's a really hard one to answer for me because I feel
11:40
like I have to do a lot of work myself, like internally to
11:44
battle how I feel about like even wearing this top, I'm
11:47
wearing a vest. Like, you know, looking at my
11:49
arms and being like, I don't know if I should wear that on
11:51
camera today. Like that is still constantly in
11:54
my mind. And I'm sure it is for so many
11:55
women, but especially millennial women growing up in the 2000s
11:59
and all of that. But I would say the number one
12:01
thing is trying to work on body neutrality.
12:04
And that was a big point of conversation in my comments on
12:08
the most recent episode that we did about like TikTok turning
12:10
into Tumblr and body positivity and all of that.
12:13
And there are a few great body neutral creators to follow.
12:17
I'll put some links down below to different creators that you
12:19
guys can follow for body neutrality.
12:22
But I think in general, what's helped me is just noticing what
12:26
other people are wearing and you know, how they're they're
12:29
presenting themselves, how they're holding themselves.
12:31
Like, and I'm talking about this like in real life and realizing
12:34
that like, I think everyone looks good and I'm not looking
12:38
at someone and being like, Oh my God, they shouldn't be wearing
12:41
that. Oh my, I'm not noticing that
12:42
about people. So people aren't noticing that
12:45
about you, you know, like they might be looking at my vest and
12:48
being like, I love that vest. They're not saying like, oh, she
12:50
shouldn't have worn that with her arms, you know, So I think
12:52
that's a big part of it. But it is hard.
12:54
Like it is, it's so, so hard. And I'm definitely not the
12:58
person to necessarily like help you with that answer because
13:03
it's still something that I very much struggle with myself.
13:06
But I think if we can just all work towards body neutrality,
13:09
which is just seeing your body as, you know, like a vessel,
13:12
like something that is carrying you through life, something that
13:15
is allowing you to move and exercise and being grateful for
13:21
that. You know, I do.
13:21
I guess that's the way that I practice body neutrality is like
13:24
when I'm at the gym, I'll think like, I'm so lucky that my body
13:28
is able to do this, You know, that my body is healthy enough
13:33
and strong enough to be able to do this because not everybody
13:37
has that. And so, yeah, I think practicing
13:39
gratitude for your your body, the body that you have and body
13:43
neutrality. But yes, I will put some
13:45
creators down below because like I said, I'm probably not the
13:47
best person for that. What is your favorite podcast
13:50
episode? I got this question a couple
13:51
times. You guys, I have literally no
13:53
idea I think. I think Jordy and I had so many
13:57
fun podcasts that we recorded where we just like literally had
14:00
a good. Time so I think any of those
14:02
like the ones where I was recording with her were so much
14:04
fun I think now with the new kind of direction of the
14:09
podcast, I really like mini scroll.
14:11
I have the most fun doing mini scroll.
14:13
I love just like. Chatting with you guys and
14:15
sharing my opinions, but I don't really have like a favorite
14:18
episode. Probably just the ones where
14:21
it's like light hearted like we do tackle some bigger topics
14:25
here which. I think are important and I
14:26
won't stop that, but I just love when we can talk about like
14:29
petty, stupid drama online. OK, reading journey update.
14:33
I don't have an update like my reading journey completely
14:37
stopped this year with how crazy everything got.
14:40
I have read I think maybe three books in total this year.
14:43
But I would say like my the number one way that I'm like
14:46
staying plugged into my reading journey is by listening to
14:49
Melanie's podcast called Easy Reads.
14:51
Because even though I'm not reading those books, like I like
14:54
listening to them recapping books or like celebrity memoir
14:57
book club as well. I guess I'm like kind of a
14:59
reading podcast girly. I don't know.
15:01
And I've been listening to audio books here and there, but
15:03
they're all just like shoe dog, like business books, right?
15:06
Like not anything or like I I also listened to what one time.
15:12
What is it like 10-10 X is easier than 2X or whatever,
15:16
whatever that like business book is.
15:17
But yeah, so like I've listened to some of those, but again, I
15:21
don't really have much of an update, unfortunately.
15:23
Maybe for 20, 2025. OK, this one person keeps asking
15:28
when we're going to drop scroller merge.
15:30
I'm dead. It's every single day.
15:32
And our YouTube comments, I don't know, like Jordy and I
15:34
talked. About doing merch for a long
15:36
time, I don't think that I am quite there in terms of like the
15:40
business like not audience. I do believe that like so many
15:44
of you guys would buy it, but I just think I need to like get to
15:47
a. Different place in the business
15:48
where I can like, focus on finding a proper manufacturer
15:51
and like figuring that whole process out because I have
15:53
literally no idea. How to do it?
15:54
And I can't even like, handle the mental capacity of figuring
15:57
that out right now. So maybe 2025.
16:01
We'll see. Why did your business partner
16:03
leave? OK, I got a couple questions
16:06
about Jordy leaving. And honestly, it was genuinely
16:10
exactly what she said in our last episode.
16:13
Like, I don't want to speak for her, but I do want to address it
16:15
because I don't want it to seem like I'm avoiding it because,
16:17
like, we're friends. Like I'm seeing her this week.
16:19
She's still one of my favorite people.
16:21
Like, I love her so much. Like, I hope that we're always
16:23
in each other. Lives like there was genuinely
16:25
no drama. It was just to the point where
16:29
like her founder journey ended because like, it's exactly what
16:33
she said, like the mental load, the physical toll that running a
16:36
business and trying to build a business takes, the financial
16:39
toll. Like, it's so intense.
16:42
There's been so many periods. Over the last few years where we
16:45
would start paying ourselves and then we'd have to stop, you
16:48
know, or we would think that we were getting this like life
16:51
changing deal that was going to, well, not life changing.
16:54
For us, but like business changing deal and then it would
16:56
get pulled like it is so up and down.
16:59
And it just got to the point for her where she was like, I need
17:03
to prioritize something else. Like I need to focus on another
17:07
area of my life. And you know, she's also a lot
17:09
younger than me. So like I had several years of
17:12
career experience to like kind of figure out like what I wanted
17:15
to do, what I wanted to prioritize, like how I wanted to
17:18
go about building my career. And she was in a much earlier
17:22
stage of that than me. So that just makes sense.
17:25
Like you just try things in your 20s, you know, and sometimes
17:28
like they just don't work out. So or like it doesn't have to
17:31
just be your 20s, but you know what I mean?
17:33
Like your 20s are for that time for that like experiment and
17:36
like growth and all of that. So that's just like real, like
17:39
genuinely what she said in that episode, which which was like
17:42
the toll of being a founder and trying to build something when
17:46
it feels like it's not necessarily like clicking yet.
17:49
It's just a lot. So that's that.
17:51
OK. The next question is, are you
17:53
making or losing money being your own business?
17:55
This is a good question. So the business like I, I make
18:00
money like I make a salary, but like I said, it has not always
18:03
been that way. The business itself, it makes
18:05
money. So like in terms of our revenue?
18:10
Is higher than our costs, however, that can fluctuate
18:15
throughout the year. So, like, our business is very
18:17
fickle in the sense that, like, you might get paid more than
18:20
half of your yearly budget at once, like, you know, within
18:25
like two months, and then you won't get any deals for several
18:28
months. Right.
18:29
OK. If you guys watched Secret Lives
18:31
of Mormon Wives. They were actually talking about
18:33
that because it's a similar industry, like I'm not an
18:35
influencer, like I'm not doing like influencer stuff, but like
18:37
brand budgets. Like that's how we also function
18:40
because we work off advertising. And so that's kind of, you know,
18:43
it's similar to what they were saying where they're like we can
18:44
make all of our money at Christmas time and then we won't
18:46
make any money for like 3 months.
18:48
So it's kind of like that. But yes, the business itself
18:50
actually like makes more money than it spends.
18:53
However, like I said, we got funding at the beginning of the
18:55
year, so that is accruing some debt.
18:59
So it kind of just is just like how businesses work.
19:02
Like I'm still really trying to get a strong handle on the cash
19:06
flow. It's a journey for me because I
19:08
am not a math girl. But in general, yes, the
19:11
business makes money, but we also owe money, if that makes
19:14
sense. What is your favorite slash?
19:16
Least favorite part about recording the podcast?
19:19
Oh my God. I.
19:20
Don't think I realized how much time doing a daily podcast would
19:24
be. I was a bit like Delulu.
19:25
Even though I had four years of podcasting experience under my
19:28
belt. I didn't realize how I think
19:31
much time, how taxing that would be.
19:33
Like I'm actually genuinely exhausted by the end of the week
19:36
because I am performing on camera every single day, five
19:40
days a week. I find that difficult, but I
19:42
also find it really rewarding. Like I find mini scroll very
19:45
rewarding. That is my favorite part of
19:48
recording is like just talking with you guys and hearing your
19:51
feedback in the comments and showing up you guys every single
19:55
day. Like I love being able to do
19:56
that. My least favorite part I really
19:58
have a hard time with like the deep dives.
20:00
I really do not just prepping them.
20:01
There's so much work and Annabelle helps me.
20:03
Like some of them, she's almost completely done herself.
20:06
She helps me so much with that. I find the deep dives really
20:10
difficult to record. I don't know, I got a
20:12
teleprompter and it's helped, but I don't know what it is
20:16
like. There is just something about
20:17
reading a teleprompter and just trying to present like for 30
20:22
solid minutes. I find that so challenging.
20:25
I like, I find it vocally challenging.
20:28
I find it energetically challenging.
20:30
I have this like, mental block about it where I'm like, oh, the
20:33
deep dive. Oh my God, this is going to be
20:35
like so much work. This is going to be so hard.
20:37
And then I finish and I'm like, OK, that was actually fine.
20:39
But yeah, I I need to like, get into a better head.
20:42
Space with the deep dives. That's for sure.
20:44
Any chance of coming back slash relaunching on YouTube?
20:48
OK, so for anyone that doesn't know, I had a YouTube channel
20:50
and I was like posting all the time and that's kind of how I
20:53
grew a bit of a following, but I was working in media like
20:56
halfway through my YouTube journey.
20:58
So I started YouTube. I should give you some context
21:00
when I moved to Australia, so I moved to Australia and I like
21:03
documented that experience on YouTube and then I started
21:06
vlogging and making a lot of like moving to Australia content
21:09
and stuff. But I was also just like
21:10
vlogging a lot and whatever. And then I got a job that was so
21:16
I just loved so much. Like it was in media.
21:18
I was a beauty and entertainment writer.
21:20
I mean, that job just, I mean, it opened my world to being able
21:24
to do this, like to being able to do Centennial.
21:26
I interviewed Kim Kardashian on the phone in that job.
21:29
Like it was a fucking sick job. I loved it.
21:31
And doing that job. I was like, OK, actually like I
21:34
don't really want to be like a YouTube.
21:37
I'm realizing kind of like I want to be in media, like I want
21:40
to be truly like reported and journalism and like doing all
21:44
that stuff. So I stopped posting on YouTube
21:47
and then about a year, year and a half ago maybe I privated all
21:51
my videos. And that was just because
21:53
honestly, so many of those I can't, it makes me cringe
21:57
looking back. Like I can't watch all the
21:58
videos And a lot of them I don't necessarily stand by now.
22:01
Like I did a lot of like what I eat in a day.
22:03
Like I was really on like a fitness journey for a bit, which
22:05
I feel like they're a bit toxic. There's a lot of videos that I
22:08
made about like first impressions of Australia and
22:11
stuff, which I don't stand by now because I was just like
22:13
really young and stupid, you know, So I, I just took them all
22:16
down. I don't know, I, I might like,
22:19
I've considered it over the last two years, like do I start
22:23
vlogging again and stuff right now?
22:25
I just like genuinely don't have the time.
22:28
But I would never say never. We'll put it that way.
22:31
How and why did you move to Australia from Canada?
22:34
Actually got this question a little bit a few times.
22:37
So I finished university and then I was working for like 18
22:41
months and the company that I was working out at the time,
22:44
they got bought out by AUS company and then a bunch of us
22:48
lost our jobs, like almost half the company lost their jobs.
22:51
And so I had a severance package.
22:54
I had no job. I was living in Ottawa at the
22:57
time because my boyfriend who my like university boyfriend, he
23:01
was from Ottawa and he got a job there after university.
23:03
So we moved there together and I didn't really like Ottawa.
23:06
Like it was fine and I had a couple friends there but it was
23:08
like not my place and I knew I wasn't going to stay there.
23:11
So him and I, I had broken up, but like I'd stay there for my
23:13
job because I really liked my job.
23:15
And then when I was, you know, laid off, I was like, OK, well,
23:18
like, I don't know what to do. I had met some Australians,
23:21
including my now husband. They came to Canada to do some
23:24
like training because we had an Australian office at the company
23:27
that I was working at. And so I would talk to my
23:29
husband like all the time and I like kind of liked him and
23:32
stuff. But obviously he lived like so
23:34
far away. I knew a bunch of friends that
23:35
had done their working holiday visas in Australia.
23:38
After university, I was like, I could move back to Toronto.
23:41
Like I'm not going to move back in with my parents.
23:42
It's like I just, I left home to go to university at 17 and it
23:46
was just never in my journey to move back home.
23:50
Like I was just not like like once I was gone, I'm a
23:53
Sagittarius. Once I was gone, I was gone.
23:56
I was like. I'm not going backwards.
23:57
Like I'm not moving back in with my parents.
23:59
That's just like was something that I was very passionate
24:01
about. So I was like, I'm not going to
24:02
move back in with my parents. I could go to Toronto, but then
24:04
that's like where I grew up, but all of my friends are already
24:07
living in apartments all together and stuff.
24:09
So like I would have to figure out how to either live alone, be
24:12
so expensive or like live with flatmates.
24:14
And I was just kind of like not vibing that.
24:16
Like I was just like down for more adventure again.
24:19
Sagittarius. So I decided to apply for my
24:22
working holiday visa. I got the visa and then eight
24:25
years later, I am still here. What made you want to start the
24:29
infinite Scroll business? OK, so the business is actually
24:31
called Centennial World. It's called Centennial because
24:34
Centennial is another way to say Gen.
24:36
Z, which I feel like is not that well known.
24:39
But infinite Scroll is obviously like the podcast.
24:41
It's like our content arm now for the business, but we do a
24:45
lot of different things. Obviously, we're a media brand
24:47
and like I said, the podcast is kind of the main hub of that and
24:50
our TikTok. Those are like the two main
24:52
platforms, our newsletter as well.
24:53
And then we have a consulting arm as well where we help brands
24:56
figure out how to reach Genzed. So we started this business in
25:00
December 2019. I just was working in media at
25:03
the time. Like I said, I was like a beauty
25:04
and entertainment journalist and I would pitch stories all the
25:07
time about all of my favorite creators.
25:10
Like, I've just always been so passionate about like YouTube
25:13
and what's happening online and pop culture.
25:16
And I just was watching drama channels start to really
25:19
explode. And I would pitch stories about
25:22
like Jeffree Star's palette launch or like Jaclyn Hill's
25:24
lipstick gate, like whatever was happening online in the beauty
25:27
space because I was writing about beauty content.
25:29
And I'd be like, we need to cover this.
25:30
And at the time, like, it just wasn't mainstream enough.
25:33
And you know, this was like 20/19/20 or sorry, 2018-2019.
25:37
And my editors being like, we don't cover that.
25:39
That's like not mainstream enough.
25:41
And I was watching this drama channel get millions of views
25:43
per video. I was watching all these
25:45
commentary channels pop up to talk about what was happening in
25:48
the beauty industry, but like online beauty.
25:51
And I was like, this is the direction of media.
25:54
Like this has to be the direction of mainstream media.
25:56
Like we need to start covering what is happening in the online
26:00
space. And at the time, like, there
26:01
were so few publications, especially in Australia, like no
26:04
one was doing it. Even worldwide, people were not
26:07
covering the industry from this perspective.
26:10
And I just knew there was like a missed opportunity.
26:12
And because I was so passionate about this space, I was like, we
26:17
need a publication that is like for Gen.
26:19
Z, like for young people, that is all about Internet culture,
26:23
social media trends, like what is happening online, treating
26:26
creators like celebrities because that's really what they
26:29
are at this point. So that was kind of like the
26:31
inspiration behind Centennial and Infinite Scroll.
26:35
And I literally, again, I don't know how many times I'm going to
26:39
say I'm a Sagittarius, but I'm a risk taker because I'm a
26:42
Sagittarius. And I was like, I need to do
26:46
this. And I got really like fucking
26:47
into it. And so passionate about it, I
26:48
couldn't stop thinking about it. So I approached Jordy and I was
26:51
like, do you want to do this with me?
26:53
We worked together. So that's how I knew her.
26:55
And she was like, yeah, let's do it.
26:57
And then I quit my job and we launched six weeks later in
27:01
December 2019. Thoughts on Cody Coe's continued
27:04
silence? Oh my God, I think his hands are
27:08
tied. I think he can't address things
27:11
unless it's so, so carefully because he will risk admitting
27:16
to sleeping with a minor, which I assume is a crime in at least
27:19
most states. So I think he can't have that
27:22
risk. And there's so many sponsors
27:24
riding on this. So yeah, I think there's just
27:26
too much riding on his public perception and if he addresses
27:33
it in not the exactly right way, then it's a bigger risk.
27:38
I think that's why he's staying silent.
27:40
How did you meet your partner? Why did you move from Canada to
27:43
Australia? So I kind of already answered
27:44
that. But yes, I met Sean through
27:46
work. We met because we were both
27:47
working for this Canadian tech company.
27:49
He was working in the Sydney office, I was working in the
27:52
Ottawa office. And then, yeah, like I said, a
27:54
bunch of us got made redundant. We got laid off and I had a
27:58
severance package. So I did my working holiday
28:00
here. And like, we were talking all
28:01
the time anyways. But like, he was literally one
28:04
of the people that I knew here. And yeah, we basically just
28:08
started dating right away because we were talking all the
28:09
time. Do you have any ghost stories?
28:12
I wish, I wish so badly that I had a story like a ghost story.
28:19
I wish that I was like, had spiritual encounters or anything
28:23
like that, but I don't, and I wish I did.
28:26
I love, like, scary movies. I love spooky shit.
28:29
Like I don't. I think the problem is I don't
28:31
know if I believe in ghosts. Like I don't know if I believe
28:33
in all of that. So that's probably why I haven't
28:35
had any experiences. But I wish, but I haven't.
28:37
When did you first realize you had a passion for Internet
28:39
culture? So I've always just been like
28:41
obsessed with pop culture and celebrity culture my whole life.
28:45
Like I literally my walls at home growing up were covered in
28:49
posters of celebrities. Like I have just always been so
28:53
into celebrity culture. I've always paid attention to it
28:55
so much closer than anyone else that I knew.
28:58
And I got into Internet culture when I got into YouTube.
29:01
So I started making YouTube videos.
29:03
Obviously, my actual first like introduction to YouTube,
29:05
watching it consistently, it was ASMR and Trisha Adas and then I
29:11
started making my own videos. So I got more entrenched in
29:14
YouTube and so I started watching the beauty community a
29:16
lot because I love makeup. I've also always loved makeup
29:19
and beauty. Then when drama channels came
29:21
out, I kind of already said this, but like when drama and
29:23
commentary channels came out, like I couldn't believe it.
29:25
I was like, this is my dream scenario.
29:27
Like there's so many things that were happening in these videos
29:30
in these communities that I had no one to talk to about it.
29:33
And you know, nobody obviously was like reporting on it like
29:35
Entertainment Tonight or anything.
29:36
So I was like, Oh my God, this is what I've been looking for is
29:40
these videos like this dissection of what's happening,
29:43
like whatever. And so that's kind of my first
29:45
introduction into like Internet culture as a whole was like
29:49
getting really into drama channels.
29:52
What has been your favorite deep dive so far?
29:54
I kind of already answered that. Like, I really don't know.
29:58
They're I also feel like they're so different from actually, you
30:01
know what I'm going to say my favorite deep dive was the Gwen
30:04
Gwizz episode. I don't necessarily think we
30:06
handled it the best and it was before we like fully separated
30:10
the episodes from like viral culture, like recaps to like the
30:14
deep dive. So it is like an annoying
30:16
episode to listen to because we don't start to like an hour in.
30:18
That was like original reporting.
30:21
Like that was not like we did not find that information
30:25
anywhere else. Like that took weeks of like
30:28
putting that together. It felt like one of the most in
30:30
depth pieces of reporting that we had done thus far.
30:34
And that was a deep dive with Geordie.
30:36
So yes, I think that's probably my favorite one.
30:39
But again, and I don't think we necessarily handled it the best.
30:43
I think we were like a little bit judgmental.
30:46
And I just kind of look back on it and I'm like, that was maybe
30:48
just like not the best way to go about it.
30:50
But I still stand behind the work, if that makes sense.
30:54
What do companies need to know what when marketing to Gen.
30:57
Z? Girl, we get paid for that.
31:00
I mean, if you guys listen to this podcast, you probably
31:03
already know all this stuff. But if I was going to give like
31:04
one blanket kind of rule, I would say we need to stop
31:08
looking at what is happening off as like quote UN quote real life
31:12
to them or just like any of us, honestly, but especially younger
31:15
people who like grew up with phones, with social media.
31:19
Internet culture is culture at this point.
31:21
They are one in the same for younger generations.
31:24
There is no logging off. Like there is no such thing as
31:28
what happens online doesn't permeate into their real lives.
31:31
They are one in the same. Their lives are so blended.
31:34
So I would say considering that in every marketing effort that
31:39
you do and as a result, my number one piece of advice, like
31:42
blanket advice, again, like we literally do like private
31:46
personal consulting, one-on-one consulting for different brands.
31:48
So it all depends on your brand, your team, all of that.
31:51
But I would say as a blanket rule, you need to have someone
31:55
or people who are chronically online on your team because like
32:00
I said, Internet culture is culture for Gen.
32:03
Z and Gen. Alpha and any generation coming
32:06
up, there is no differentiation for them.
32:09
So you need to have people, people who fully understand what
32:12
is happening online, the culture online, how online is impacting
32:16
young people, what they're doing online, what they're seeing
32:18
online, what they're experiencing online because that
32:20
is their reality. It's the same thing as doing
32:23
market research on a generation and understanding, you know,
32:26
their habits and behaviors. You need to have somebody who is
32:29
on your team that is entrenched in the online world.
32:32
And if you don't have that, then you need to hire me.
32:36
What was your career journey to end up where you are now?
32:39
I'm always so fascinated to hear what people did before starting
32:41
their own business. And I think somebody else here
32:44
asked if I had any other jobs before Centennial and I
32:47
definitely did. So my career journey, I, I mean,
32:51
I guess I'm just going to go way back.
32:52
I was a lifeguard and a swim instructor when I was a
32:54
teenager. And that took me through
32:56
university. And then in the last like year
32:58
or two of university, I started working as like a promo girl.
33:02
I would be like a Vitamin Water girl at a festival or like a Bud
33:05
Light girl at a bar, handed out free beers, like that kind of
33:08
stuff. And I loved it.
33:09
And I loved the company that I was working for.
33:12
It was like an experiential marketing company.
33:14
And so when I graduated university, I wanted to stay
33:18
with that company. They didn't have any other roles
33:20
except for recruiting promo girls in the region that I was
33:24
living in. So I went to university in
33:25
Halifax. I went to Dalhousie.
33:27
And so I wasn't going to stay in Halifax after I graduated, but I
33:31
did for a year because I just like really wanted to stay with
33:34
that company. And again, I didn't really want
33:36
to like recruit, but I wanted to stay with that company.
33:38
Like I knew that working for that company was like something
33:41
that I wanted to see out. So I was like, OK, I'll take
33:44
that job. So I was like recruiting promo
33:46
models basically. And that was really fun.
33:48
It was a work from home job. And then like I said, my
33:51
boyfriend got a job back in Ottawa in Ontario.
33:53
So we moved there and that's when I got a job in tech because
33:57
I had recruiting experience. I got a recruitment job at a
34:00
tech company. So I was like the token
34:02
millennial on the team and they did hire me to help like find
34:06
and the younger talent, like the younger sales team and whatever.
34:09
So I did that for a year and then and I really liked it.
34:12
Like I really, I didn't necessarily like recruiting, but
34:14
I really liked my team. I liked the company, whatever.
34:17
And the money was good. Like I worked in tech and then I
34:21
got made redundant. Like I got laid off.
34:23
So that's when I moved to Australia because I had a couple
34:26
years of recruitment experience that was so much to my benefit
34:29
when I moved here because, well, I actually got a job before I
34:32
moved here, which I feel like it's completely unheard of now.
34:34
I don't even know. I felt like that was just so
34:36
lucky. But I got a job at a recruitment
34:38
agency. If you guys have ever worked
34:40
agency recruitment, you know how traumatic it is.
34:42
It is like the most horrific experience.
34:45
But it was a job they sponsored me.
34:47
You know, it was, it was, it was what it was.
34:50
It served its purpose and I made so many of my friends through it
34:53
because so many recruitment agencies, at least at that
34:56
point, it was, it was eight years ago, like I said, but it
34:58
was, you know, all expats, like British expats, Canadian expats,
35:02
all of that. So it was good because I met so
35:04
many expats, I made so many friends for that job.
35:07
But again, I was like, OK, this is like my third year
35:09
recruiting. I really don't want to be in
35:12
recruitment. I really don't want this to be
35:15
what ends up happening where I just end up like falling into
35:18
this career. And I've always thought like
35:20
that, which I think is important in your 20s, like you don't have
35:23
to be working in your dream job, your dream industry, like
35:26
anything like that. But I think having the
35:28
understanding that like, OK, if I don't really love this or like
35:31
this is not really where I saw my life going, like I need to
35:34
start thinking like, how am I going to get out of it?
35:36
Because if you don't want to end up getting stuck.
35:38
So I started thinking like that and I'd always had, sorry, I
35:42
forgot to say this, but I'd always have a blog because I
35:44
like have always loved writing. So I had a blog like straight
35:47
out of university, I started writing A blog and I kept that
35:50
up for the whole time. And then I started a YouTube
35:53
channel, obviously. So what ended up happening was
35:57
the recruitment agency that I was at, the government changed
35:59
like all these visa rules overnight.
36:02
If you guys were like in the Australian expat visa community
36:06
8 years ago, you might remember this, but it was literally like
36:09
we all woke up and like suddenly half the jobs were like right
36:12
off the visa list and all the pending applications were
36:16
cancelled. Like it was like a huge thing.
36:18
And so I was like fuck, I'm going to need to find a solution
36:20
here. So I knew OK, well I've been
36:22
dating Sean now for like a year. I knew we were going to do
36:24
partner visa. So I moved in with him and that
36:28
kind of bought me some time to figure out because it takes a
36:30
long time to qualify for partner visa.
36:32
So I moved in with him and I was on this like bridging visa where
36:36
I didn't really have a lot of working rights.
36:39
Like I don't think I could, well, I couldn't work full time.
36:41
I can't remember how many hours I could work.
36:42
But anyways, so that really limited my options.
36:45
But it gave me an opportunity to have a bit of like a career
36:49
break, like a step back. Not like a break, but like a
36:52
step back. I was working like odd jobs.
36:54
Like I was literally working as a promo girl and guys, I was
36:57
like 26 maybe. I feel like there's there's so
37:00
much pressure that young people put on themselves.
37:03
And I remember being like 2526, going to the mall to hand up
37:06
Flyers, like feeling like the biggest failure of all time,
37:09
feeling like I had ruined my life, moving here and trying to
37:13
switch careers and being on this visa where I couldn't work full
37:15
time and stuff. But like, you're so young in
37:17
your 20s, like it all works out. You need to try different things
37:20
and to like make transitions. There needs to be friction.
37:23
You're going to take steps back. Like it's going to be
37:25
uncomfortable. So if you're feeling that way,
37:27
just know like I have been there and it's normal.
37:30
But yes, so I was working like whatever random odd like promo
37:34
gigs and things like that that I could get because I couldn't get
37:37
a full time job. And then at that same time I
37:40
started really working on my blog and my YouTube.
37:43
So then when I finally had full working rights, I consider just
37:46
like trying to really do YouTube full time.
37:48
Like I'd started making some money and I had, I don't know,
37:50
maybe like 25,000 subscribers, like definitely not enough to be
37:53
a full time YouTube. But I was like, maybe if I could
37:55
just like keep doing what I'm doing, working like odd gig jobs
37:58
here and there while building my YouTube, I'll get to a point
38:01
where it's like full time income.
38:02
But I really wanted to move and we were living in this apartment
38:07
that Sean, you know, for the most part was paying most of the
38:09
rent because my income was like so little.
38:11
And I was like, no, like, I just, I need to live somewhere
38:15
nicer. I need to live somewhere bigger.
38:17
Like I need to have brightness. And like, you know, I've just
38:21
the apartment we were living in, it was totally fine, but it was,
38:24
it was very dark and it was like, like genuinely impacting
38:27
my mental health. So I started looking for jobs
38:30
that would be flexible in media, like I wanted it to be in media.
38:34
I knew that that would allow me to still do like YouTube and
38:37
blogging. And I found this job as a
38:39
community manager, which again is like entry, entry level at
38:43
one of the biggest publishers in Australia working for, I think
38:46
it was like just one or two websites at that point.
38:49
And so I was doing community management, which is just like
38:51
interacting with readers and community members and whatever.
38:54
And I was doing YouTube on the side, but it was kind of like
38:57
5050. And that was like the best.
38:58
Like I actually loved that period of my life.
39:01
It was so fun. And then I was offered a full
39:02
time writing job off the back of that at the same publication.
39:06
And I just loved it. So I was like, OK, yes, I have
39:08
to say yes. And Sean actually, like, didn't
39:10
want me to say yes. He was like, your dream is to be
39:13
doing like your own thing. Like I don't think you should
39:16
take a full time job. Like you've been building your
39:18
YouTube, you've been building your blog.
39:19
But I was like, no, like something doesn't feel right
39:23
about me trying to be like an influencer, if that makes sense.
39:27
Like making content. Like I want to make content, but
39:29
I don't want to make it about myself.
39:31
So yes, I basically decided I was going to take that full time
39:35
job again, had the best time, but that's the job where I
39:38
started. Like I was writing, so I was a
39:39
journalist, a beauty and entertainment journalist, and
39:42
that's where I started like ideating on Centennial.
39:44
That's where I met Geordie. And then that's the job that I
39:46
quit to do Centennial. How did you find your niche?
39:49
What made you start Centennial World?
39:51
I kind of explained, well, I did explain what made me start
39:54
Centennial World and the niche again.
39:55
It was literally just knowing that there was a gap for like
39:59
Internet culture reporting. I know so many of you guys.
40:01
Have found this podcast this year, but like I said, we
40:04
started in 2019 so well, we started the podcast in 2020, but
40:09
we only started filming it at the beginning of last year.
40:11
So that's kind of why the growth like it wasn't we didn't
40:13
prioritize the podcast growth at all.
40:15
Like we really prioritized the publication and the niche
40:18
actually started as beauty. So we were Centennial beauty for
40:22
like several years and we almost exclusively reported on the
40:25
beauty community. But obviously as TikTok got
40:28
bigger and bigger and bigger, the concept of Internet culture
40:31
and who was the most people on the Internet and like the
40:33
creators to follow and to talk about and stuff like that all
40:36
changed so quickly. So we rebranded because we were
40:39
covering topics that literally made no sense, had nothing to do
40:42
with beauty. We would talk about like Face
40:44
Clan and gaming, and we would still be Centennial Beauty and
40:47
advertisers and people would just be like, what?
40:49
So we rebranded to Centennial World last year.
40:53
How did you get into podcasting? So we, like I said, started as a
40:58
media publication, like primarily likea.com, Instagram,
41:02
TikTok, whatever. And we just knew to be
41:04
competitive in this new era of media, we had to have a podcast.
41:09
And so many publishers in Australia at that time and kind
41:12
of still, but especially at that time did not have a podcast arm.
41:15
And we just thought that was crazy.
41:17
So we knew we would have to have a podcast.
41:19
So we launched our publication like our brand, December 2019
41:22
and then we started our podcast February 2020 in ominous time.
41:27
How are you doing really? That is so sweet.
41:30
Thank you so much for asking. Actually, in this moment, I am
41:33
doing well. This year has been the hardest
41:37
year of my whole life, like hands down.
41:40
It's been an absolute roller coaster, the things that I've
41:43
had to deal with and make it through.
41:45
But I can say it feels like, knock on wood, but it feels like
41:49
I'm coming out the other side. I didn't realize how badly I
41:53
needed Europe. Like going on that Europe trip
41:56
with all my friends, having two weeks of like just checking out
42:00
basically. I was still like checking my
42:02
emails and stuff, but like, you kind of have to when you're the
42:04
business owner, you know? But I was like not working.
42:06
Obviously it was the break I needed.
42:08
And I did not realize that until probably this past week where
42:12
I've been like, holy shit. Like I feel so much calmer.
42:15
I feel like my nervous system had a chance to like kind of
42:18
come back down to earth and settle.
42:20
I feel so much more like secure and stable.
42:23
And I feel like my perspective this year, even though this year
42:26
has been so hard, like it changed my perspective on so
42:30
much. And having that distance from
42:32
the business going away for two weeks gave me that renewed
42:36
perspective. Something that really helped
42:39
renew my perspective was one of those like businessy podcasts
42:43
that I was listening to. And I was listening to some
42:46
founder talk about, you know, the startup grind and why he
42:51
feels like he is an early stage founder as opposed to kind of
42:55
like a middle or late stage founder where it's more like
42:57
business administration. And I feel the same way for
43:00
sure. But he was saying, like, one of
43:03
the best things, the most exciting things about running a
43:05
startup is that you have to fall in love with the problem
43:09
solving. It's all about getting thrown
43:11
problems and figuring your way out of it.
43:13
And that's like the high that you get.
43:15
Like, that's the rush. And I had never considered or
43:18
like looked at running a startup that way.
43:20
Like I have had so many problems this year, like problems that I
43:24
think are bigger than any problems I've literally ever had
43:27
in my life. Like genuinely through the
43:29
business and I would receive these problems and I would be
43:32
like, what the actual fuck? I would make it out.
43:35
You know, like we moved through it, we figured it out, but I
43:38
wasn't, I was seeing them almost as like failures, right?
43:42
Like I was seeing like, Oh my God, we keep having all these
43:44
problems because like of my incompetency, because I am bad
43:48
at this, because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.
43:51
And then having that one founder say that I was like, Oh my God,
43:55
that's just like what I needed to hear.
43:56
Like, I just needed to hear that, like, this is normal and
44:00
you have to fall in love with the problem solving because it
44:03
is going to be nonstop problems. And that really renewed my
44:06
perspective. And I feel like I came out of my
44:08
trip with like fresh eyes. Like I feel I do feel much
44:11
better. So yeah, right now I am doing
44:13
pretty well. And something else that made me
44:15
feel better as I was, I talked to my best friend about
44:17
everything all the time. Like every day we're voice
44:19
noting about like our own personal crises, crises, crises,
44:22
whatever. And you know, the business and
44:25
like everything, I'm always telling her about everything.
44:27
And she was like, you will make it through and like this will be
44:30
fine because your biggest superpower is your tenacity,
44:35
your resilience, your resourcefulness.
44:37
And those are the things that you need to be a good early
44:40
stage founder. She was like, you are like whack
44:43
a mole. Like the universe keeps like
44:45
popping up with problems and you're just like whacking it
44:48
back down. And I was like, Oh my God, thank
44:51
you. That's like the visual that I
44:52
needed. But it's so true, like I have
44:54
learned that like this is the journey.
44:56
And if I can get through the shit that I've been through this
44:58
year, like I genuinely can like make it through.
45:02
And it's, it's given me a renewed sense of competency.
45:05
Because I think when you're running a business and you're in
45:07
those early stages, everything feels new.
45:09
Everything feels stressful. Like especially like I'd never
45:12
run a business before. So I mean, I didn't go to
45:14
university for business. Like I just did not know what I
45:17
was doing. And I think you kind of always
45:20
feel like a fish out of water. So you start to question
45:23
yourself. It really is like a, you know,
45:25
it takes a hit to yourself confidence.
45:27
I didn't realize how much I had felt that over the last like 4
45:31
1/2 years until now. Coming into these last probably
45:34
this last month, I have a sense of confidence in my competency
45:37
back because. Before starting the business.
45:39
Like, you know, I knew what I was good at, I knew what I
45:42
wasn't. I knew I was super competent in
45:44
certain areas. And I have just, I feel like I
45:47
had lost all of that. So I feel like I'm getting a bit
45:49
of that back and I am doing pretty well.
45:51
How do you handle criticism and has your ability to cope with
45:55
any hate you get online changed as you've grown more comfortable
45:58
in your role? So I want to answer that
46:00
question after I just told you guys that I'm feeling better
46:03
because yes, like getting hate online, it was OK when I had
46:08
Geordie, like having someone else that you're doing that
46:10
with, it's like I would be down and she would be lifting me up
46:13
and vice versa, right? So like, it was much easier to
46:16
handle any hate that we got now. I found this year, like I found
46:20
it to be incredibly difficult. I found the first probably six
46:25
to seven months of the year, any criticism that I got online,
46:28
like I would try and absorb it because I also want to stay like
46:30
learning and open minded. Like I never want to, you know,
46:32
receive a comment and think like, oh, you just don't fucking
46:35
know. Like unless it's like a really
46:36
stupid comment. But if it's like genuinely
46:38
feedback, like I want to be receptive to that.
46:41
But I found it very difficult because I was in such a bad
46:44
headspace. I was navigating this all alone
46:47
now. And you know, like I said, I was
46:48
just going through so much in the business.
46:50
Like it was like genuinely a traumatic time.
46:52
Like one day when I write a book about this, you guys will read
46:56
it if you have been on this journey for this last year and
46:58
you'll be like how the fuck did all of that happen while she was
47:01
like showing up for mini scroll everyday.
47:02
Like it's been a fucking insane year.
47:04
Yes. I was not handling it well and I
47:08
felt like I was just putting 1 foot in front of the other every
47:11
single day for the last yeah probably like 10 months.
47:14
Like I literally felt like I was just dragging my feet.
47:17
Like I was depressed. I was anxious.
47:20
I would get a comment and it would just send my nervous
47:23
system into OverDrive and I would have a panic attack about
47:26
it for like a day. And you know, to having my best
47:29
friend that I could just like voice note to and obviously like
47:32
Sean and my husband and stuff. But like just having the women
47:34
around me who were so supportive, like I can't even
47:38
tell you how that just like helped pull me out of it.
47:40
I remember one of the worst things I was going through this
47:42
year and my God, I feel like I'm going to cry.
47:45
And my best friend was like, we're going to get you out of
47:47
this. Like we're going to figure it
47:49
out together. And that's just like what I
47:51
needed. So just having that community of
47:53
women around me was so helpful. Like obviously I had a great
47:56
time in Europe, but I really didn't realize it was like that
47:58
transformative, like, you know, but just having that distance,
48:02
like those two weeks, I came back and I feel so much more
48:05
rejuvenated and so much stronger.
48:08
And now I have such a clear perspective.
48:11
I'm like the shit that people are saying online, if they're
48:14
saying anything hurtful or mean or whatever, I'm like, I don't,
48:17
I have been through literal hell this year.
48:21
Like this does not faze me. I'm sure it will go up and down.
48:23
I'm, I'm sure that there will be periods moving forward,
48:26
especially as this podcast grows, you know, a wider
48:29
audience where I'm going to be unwell again.
48:31
But yes, my ability to cope in this current moment is much
48:34
better than it was because I have been through like real
48:38
problems this past year. OK.
48:41
And the last question is, hi, Lauren, hope you're doing well.
48:44
My question is, in your experience, how can you tell a
48:47
true friend from a fake friend? This is a hard one because I
48:52
think things change as you get older.
48:55
You know, I think my definition of a true friend would have been
48:59
different in my 20s than it is now.
49:01
And I have tried to make a very conscious effort in the last
49:04
probably like two to three years to be a better friend to the
49:07
people that I want in my life, but also who like are true
49:11
friends to me. So part of it is like you have
49:14
to realize there's different friends for different things.
49:16
And not all of your friends are going to be like really
49:21
supportive and caring and, you know, show up for you when you
49:26
need them. But that's OK because they can
49:29
be other things for you. Like they can be really fun.
49:32
They can invite you to big parties, they can be whatever.
49:35
Like they can be different. There's different types of
49:37
friends for different things. So that's, that's part of it.
49:39
But I think if you're looking for that like deeper connection,
49:42
something that one of my best friends has really taught me,
49:45
not like openly, but just like how she interacts with me has
49:48
taught me. This is I did not grow up with a
49:52
group of friends in high school or university with kind of the
49:55
type of friends where we would just check in on each other.
49:58
We'd be like, Hey, how are you doing?
50:00
Just never had that experience. And so that was not part of how
50:03
I showed friendship, how I expressed friendship, like
50:06
whatever, that was just not part of my friendship or experience.
50:10
And then I made a really close friend here and she is that kind
50:13
of person. I realize how much that's
50:15
deepened our connection. I realize that that keeps our
50:18
relationship moving forward and getting deeper and in no matter
50:22
like where we are in the world, even if we're not living in the
50:25
same city, like, you know, that keeps us connected.
50:27
And so that like having her in my life has taught me that like
50:31
part of being a really good friend and everyone's going to
50:34
express quote UN quote good friendship differently,
50:36
obviously. But for me, like as you get
50:38
older, part of being being a really good friend is
50:39
prioritizing, like checking in and seeing how people are doing
50:43
and just being there to listen. And that has changed a lot of
50:48
how I interact with different friendships and how I prioritize
50:52
different friendships, how I talk to my friends, that kind of
50:54
stuff. I don't know if that was a good
50:55
answer. I feel like I could have taken
50:57
the full 2 hours to answer that. I hope that gave you, you know,
51:00
a little tidbit to take with you.
51:02
ANYWAYS, guys, I feel like this has probably been the longest
51:04
podcast episode I've ever recorded.
51:06
Thank you guys so much for listening.
51:07
Thank you for all the questions. I'm sorry if I didn't get your
51:10
question and there were a lot of like double UPS, but I so
51:13
appreciate you guys, you know, listening every week and taking
51:17
the time to ask me these questions and learn a little bit
51:20
about, you know, Centennial and infinite scroll and me and the
51:22
journey. I love you guys.
51:24
Thank you for bearing with me in this busy time, but I am looking
51:27
forward to being back in your ears next week with mini scroll
51:30
and then a deep dive on the Friday after that.
51:33
All right guys, thank you. I love you guys.
51:35
I'll talk to you next week. Bye.