Latest / QUESTION EVERYTHING / Marianna Hewitt: "Why Not Me?" How The Super Influencer Amassed 1 Million Followers + Built A Successful Beauty Brand

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Marianna Hewitt: "Why Not Me?" How The Super Influencer Amassed 1 Million Followers + Built A Successful Beauty Brand · QUESTION EVERYTHING

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Speaker 1: The following podcast is a dear media production.
0:03
Speaker 2: Hey Sodel, Carrie Lee here.
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Speaker 3: So can we all agree that mental health is okay
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Speaker 3: to discuss and doesn't have to be so taboo. Life
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Speaker 3: throws curveballs at us in the daily and the least
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Speaker 3: we can do is cater to the relationship that we
0:14
Speaker 3: have with ourselves. So catch a new episode of my
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Speaker 3: podcast because life Every Wednesday? Do you hear me and
0:20
Speaker 3: a mental health professional go there as we dive deep,
0:23
Speaker 3: be vulnerable, probably cry, and definitely laugh discuss issues we
0:27
Speaker 3: all battle that become part of our mental health journey.
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Speaker 2: Look, I get it.
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Speaker 3: Life is hard, but talking about it together can make
0:34
Speaker 3: it a little bit easier. Tune in every Wednesday wherever
0:37
Speaker 3: you get your podcasts.
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Speaker 4: Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
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Speaker 4: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests
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Speaker 4: and I have conversations that put a new spin on pretty.
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Speaker 5: This is pretty.
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Speaker 4: Marianna Hewitt is an original super influencer, a leading voice
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Speaker 4: in social media with over one million followers, and was
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Speaker 4: named WWD Beauty Inc's Influencer of the Year. I've followed
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Speaker 4: her since I moved to La in twenty thirteen, and
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Speaker 4: I've always appreciated her warm and sincere approach to sharing
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Speaker 4: and her beauty acumen is on a ten makeup, clothing, skincare,
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Speaker 4: hair products. If I'm trying to figure out what lipliner
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Speaker 4: to wear, I look at Marianna's page. She's also the
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Speaker 4: co founder of Summer Fridays, the beauty brand whose iconic
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Speaker 4: jetlag mask became an instant Sephora bestseller.
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Speaker 5: Summer Fridays has amassed a cult like following.
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Speaker 4: There's no better person to dig into the evolving beauty world,
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Speaker 4: brands and business. You also may recognize her voice from
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Speaker 4: her own podcast, Life with Marianna. You grew up in Westerville, Ohio?
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Speaker 4: Were you fascinated by all things beauty from a young age?
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Speaker 1: So I've always been a lover of beauty. I actually
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Speaker 1: was raised by my dad. We lived in Ohio, and
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Speaker 1: he obviously didn't know how to teach me how to
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Speaker 1: do my makeup, so he used to take me to
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Speaker 1: beauty counters at department stores, and that's kind of how
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Speaker 1: I learned my love of beauty.
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Speaker 2: And I always kind of learned from them, who were.
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Speaker 1: Like the experts at the time of like showing you
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Speaker 1: a product, how to use it, what to buy, recommending
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Speaker 1: things to you. And ever since then, I had this
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Speaker 1: love of or obsession, I guess, with beauty products, and
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Speaker 1: I always wanted to find the best thing and share
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Speaker 1: it with my friends.
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Speaker 2: And now I just get to do it on a
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Speaker 2: really large scale.
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Speaker 4: So I remember I followed you for so long, and
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Speaker 4: I remember you posting about when you first moved to
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Speaker 4: LA and you talked about how you got your first
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Speaker 4: job and you worked in PR right, I did, that
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Speaker 4: was my first job in LA And how did that happen?
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Speaker 1: The summer before I graduated from college. This was a
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Speaker 1: time of like Perez Hilton and like Robertson was the
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Speaker 1: coolest street and Kitson. So this is in two thousand
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Speaker 1: and eight, and this is like I sound so old.
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Speaker 2: This is when there's not even navigation in your cars.
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Speaker 1: So like you had like a little tom Tom and
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Speaker 1: you would connect it to the window and you would
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Speaker 1: type in the address of the place that you were going.
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Speaker 1: And so we had a rental car.
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Speaker 2: I typed it in.
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Speaker 1: I typed not knowing not living in Los Angeles, there's
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Speaker 1: like North and South Robertson. Well, I put the wrong
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Speaker 1: address in. I ended up at the wrong address. I
3:32
Speaker 1: was like so flustered. I ended up finally getting to
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Speaker 1: the IVY because I was like I kept seeing it online.
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Speaker 1: It was like the coolest restaurant to be at. I'd
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Speaker 1: made my reservation like so far in advance, knowing I
3:41
Speaker 1: was coming to LA. I was late for our table.
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Speaker 1: They were like, I don't know if we can seat you.
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Speaker 1: I was like please, I'm like visiting from Ohio, can
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Speaker 1: you please seat me? And they're like, I could just
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Speaker 1: wait over here. Waited ended up getting a table and
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Speaker 1: in the front of the ivy there's like benches and
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Speaker 1: on one side, like everyone on the bench sits next
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Speaker 1: to each other and the people on the table have
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Speaker 1: like their own separate seats. This woman is sitting next
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Speaker 1: to my mom. She's just making small talk with us.
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Speaker 1: She overhears that I'm talking about Ohio and she's like, oh,
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Speaker 1: my gosh, I'm from Ohio. What are you going to
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Speaker 1: school for? And I was like, oh, I'm going to
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Speaker 1: school for broadcast journalism. My backup plan is PR. I'm
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Speaker 1: interning in PR this fall. She's like, I am a publicist,
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Speaker 1: and so she gave me her card. I basically bugged
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Speaker 1: her and stocked her for the whole year of my
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Speaker 1: senior year of college. When I graduated from college and
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Speaker 1: I moved to LA, I kept bugging her. She was like,
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Speaker 1: I don't have any job openings. You're welcome to come
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Speaker 1: like intern for free, and I did, and then someone
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Speaker 1: had quit while I was there, and that's how I
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Speaker 1: got my first.
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Speaker 2: Job in LA. Wow.
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Speaker 5: Do you believe in coincidences?
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Speaker 2: Definitely?
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Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was such a happy accident,
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Speaker 1: but I think it's like a common occurrence in my
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Speaker 1: life of like you think things are supposed to go
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Speaker 1: one way, and this detour kind of takes you somewhere else,
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Speaker 1: and then whatever was meant to be happened, even though
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Speaker 1: you never thought that's even the path that you would
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Speaker 1: go down. And so I'm now like, looking back, I
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Speaker 1: can't believe it so many years later. And I actually
5:03
Speaker 1: ran into her recently. I was like waiting at a
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Speaker 1: valet and she pulled up and she was like Marianna,
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Speaker 1: and I was like, I haven't seen her in like
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Speaker 1: a decade, and that was my first job in LA
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Speaker 1: And it's just so funny, like just life.
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Speaker 5: Sometimes she must be so proud of you that she is.
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Speaker 2: She's so sweet.
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Speaker 5: So how did you segue into TV hosting?
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Speaker 4: Because I remember one of my first paid gigs when
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Speaker 4: I moved to LA was a red carpet for a
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Speaker 4: digital media outlet, and I remember looking and researching their
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Speaker 4: channel and I saw this woman who I was like,
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Speaker 4: this person is something like you just had such knowledge
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Speaker 4: and such a light in you. It was something like
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Speaker 4: I identified immediately.
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Speaker 5: How did you go from PR to TV hosting?
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Speaker 1: Well, that's so kind of you to say, especially in
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Speaker 1: like such a format, because I felt like, I think
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Speaker 1: as a dream like growing up, I like loved watching MTV,
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Speaker 1: but like run home after school to watch TRL.
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Speaker 2: I thought that was like the coolest job.
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Speaker 1: These are the days of like Vanessa Minilo and Molly Simms,
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Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my god, this is so amazing.
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Speaker 1: I also loved Oprah. I wanted to be like Oprah
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Speaker 1: when I grew up, and so I had this dream
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Speaker 1: job of wanting to be a TV host in journalism
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Speaker 1: and that was always what I wanted to do. And
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Speaker 1: my parents are very much realists, and my mom said, Okay,
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Speaker 1: it's pretty difficult to become this. So she's like, you
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Speaker 1: need a backup job, something that you can actually do,
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Speaker 1: and so PR was my backup. So it was never
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Speaker 1: really what I wanted to do, but my parents were like,
6:31
Speaker 1: you know, being realistic, this is it.
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Speaker 2: So I was like, Okay, I'll listen to my parents.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to go do this thing.
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Speaker 1: And I found that when I was taking clients to interviews,
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Speaker 1: I still wanted to be the one interviewing them, and
6:43
Speaker 1: so that was the path that I kind of wanted
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Speaker 1: to go down always. So I was working full time
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Speaker 1: in PR at the time, and it's.
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Speaker 2: A very hard job. Like me, it's never ending.
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Speaker 1: The hours are crazy work nights and weekends because that's
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Speaker 1: usually when events and red carpets are happening. And I'm
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Speaker 1: all about putting in all the hard work if that's
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Speaker 1: ultimately what you want to do long term in your life.
7:06
Speaker 1: But if you're putting in all this extra work and
7:07
Speaker 1: doing all this extra work, but that's not really what
7:10
Speaker 1: you aspire to be or to have that job or
7:12
Speaker 1: this business long term, it's like, why are you working
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Speaker 1: so hard for something you don't even really want to do.
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Speaker 1: And so I was like, I still want to be
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Speaker 1: a TV host. So in Los Angeles, there's like hosting classes,
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Speaker 1: and hosting is a lot different than like being a
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Speaker 1: traditional news anchor. It's a different set of skills and
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Speaker 1: interviewing skills and on camera and things like improv comedy.
7:31
Speaker 1: I never knew I had to know how to do
7:33
Speaker 1: so if an interview is really awkward and it's live,
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Speaker 1: you can like pivot and make.
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Speaker 2: It like lighthearted again.
7:37
Speaker 1: So this is a very long answer, but that's what
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Speaker 1: I ended up doing.
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Speaker 2: I took my TV hosting classes.
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Speaker 1: While I was there, got opportunities to create my reel,
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Speaker 1: uploaded that reel on YouTube. This is a very long
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Speaker 1: time ago as well as before, you know, being a
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Speaker 1: YouTuber could be a job.
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Speaker 2: It was really a place for me to put my reel.
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Speaker 1: And as I was doing entertainment news, I realized I
7:58
Speaker 1: actually don't really like the entertainment side of it. I
8:01
Speaker 1: don't feel great going to these interviews and asking celebrities
8:04
Speaker 1: things that maybe they don't want to talk about when
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Speaker 1: they're here. They're here to promote their movie. They don't
8:08
Speaker 1: want to talk about their marriage. But you know, when
8:10
Speaker 1: you have a job like that and your producer says
8:12
Speaker 1: you have to ask these questions that's your job and
8:14
Speaker 1: you have to do that, and I didn't like how
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Speaker 1: it was making me feel. So I pivoted to fashion
8:18
Speaker 1: these things because I felt like, this is something I
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Speaker 1: really love and it makes people feel good, and if
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Speaker 1: you find things that make you feel more confident, it's
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Speaker 1: a way to give back to people without having to
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Speaker 1: gossip or do you know, clickbait type headlines.
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Speaker 4: I felt the exact same way, and you started doing that.
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Speaker 4: You were posting about fashion, you were posting about beauty
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Speaker 4: products you loved.
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Speaker 3: You know.
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Speaker 5: I think if if I take a.
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Speaker 4: Poll, I've done this with my friends and I ask
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Speaker 4: which influencer is do you like to follow?
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Speaker 5: Your name almost always comes up.
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Speaker 4: You have a really sincere and grounded and simultaneously aspirational approach.
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Speaker 5: I think, do you think that.
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Speaker 4: The positivity that you obviously part of that is just
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Speaker 4: your personality? But are you intentional about creating a positive community.
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Speaker 1: It's so funny because when you said that, I was like,
9:11
Speaker 1: it's not even anything I tried to do.
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Speaker 2: Really, I think if you've been.
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Speaker 1: Doing this for so long, it would be kind of
9:17
Speaker 1: hard to fake. So I think it's just genuinely who
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Speaker 1: I am, and you know, maybe at times it's caused
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Speaker 1: me not to grow as fast as I could on
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Speaker 1: social but I've just chosen to try to like stay
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Speaker 1: true to myself and like that positive outset and like
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Speaker 1: how I am, and I do have aspirational things in
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Speaker 1: my life that I love to share, but I'm also
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Speaker 1: very much like normal and I don't feel like I
9:40
Speaker 1: have to be ready all the time, and I like
9:41
Speaker 1: to show myself doing like my very normal things in
9:44
Speaker 1: my life. And so I love that you feel that
9:46
Speaker 1: way because it's not something intentional, but it's how I
9:49
Speaker 1: feel like I truly am in my real life. So
9:50
Speaker 1: I'm really happy that it comes across online.
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Speaker 4: It really does, because I think sometimes influencers can make
9:57
Speaker 4: people feel bad about their own lives. You do quite
10:00
Speaker 4: the opposite. So yeah, it's a really unique thing. I
10:06
Speaker 4: was curious as to what becoming an influencer taught you
10:09
Speaker 4: about yourself.
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Speaker 1: You know, it's a really interesting job because it's like
10:13
Speaker 1: unlike so many other types of careers, where someone's really
10:16
Speaker 1: investing themselves in your life and like they're choosing to
10:19
Speaker 1: follow you, and there's so many people to follow online
10:22
Speaker 1: and by posting stories or content each day, like they're
10:26
Speaker 1: allowing you into their lives and there's like a responsibility
10:29
Speaker 1: that comes with that, and like you want to do
10:32
Speaker 1: things that add value to their life and like whatever
10:34
Speaker 1: type of content you create. And I think for me,
10:37
Speaker 1: what I've learned is you can really make a difference
10:40
Speaker 1: in people's lives, even if it's really small. So it
10:42
Speaker 1: really isn't about quantity, It's really about quality. And I've
10:46
Speaker 1: met so many women, girls, people over the years who've said,
10:50
Speaker 1: you inspired me to go to college for this degree,
10:54
Speaker 1: or you inspired me to have this job or go
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Speaker 1: down this career path, and it's like, oh my gosh,
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Speaker 1: Like by me sharing this, you made this choice in
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Speaker 1: your life that ultimately affects your entire life and impacts
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Speaker 1: your life in the long run because you chose a
11:08
Speaker 1: career or a business because of me. And like, you know,
11:10
Speaker 1: what we do for work is how we spend a
11:12
Speaker 1: majority of our time. And so to feel like I
11:15
Speaker 1: could impact someone's life like that, or like pick a
11:18
Speaker 1: college degree because of me, it just seems so crazy.
11:22
Speaker 1: But I love that I can inspire people that way,
11:24
Speaker 1: because you never really know what's possible until you see
11:27
Speaker 1: somebody else doing it. And that's What I love about
11:29
Speaker 1: social is that you can see all these different career
11:31
Speaker 1: paths or opportunities and know, like you know that that
11:33
Speaker 1: is actually possible for me. And I can do this
11:35
Speaker 1: because I see someone who I admire who's doing the
11:38
Speaker 1: thing I want to do.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, there's this quote that Step Up Girls always says
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Speaker 4: that you can't be what you can't see.
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Speaker 5: So I'm with you.
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Speaker 4: I think social gives us just a larger view into
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Speaker 4: what's possible. Do you ever feel pressured to post about
11:54
Speaker 4: more personal things? And you know, I think obviously as
11:59
Speaker 4: time goes on, we all evolve as people, but like,
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Speaker 4: did it ever shift for you? Did you use to
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Speaker 4: post more personal things and now you know like you're
12:08
Speaker 4: thoughtful or how does that work for you?
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Speaker 1: I think people should just do whatever they're comfortable with.
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Speaker 1: And I know it's so hard because you see the
12:18
Speaker 1: things that are most engaging on the internet. It's like
12:20
Speaker 1: people love babies, people have relationships. It's like all the
12:23
Speaker 1: it's debate of like the things that you know, we're
12:25
Speaker 1: going to get a lot of likes and comments. But
12:27
Speaker 1: I think once you start going down that path, then
12:30
Speaker 1: you have to start sharing more because that's the new
12:33
Speaker 1: standard of like the bar of what your followers are
12:36
Speaker 1: expecting to get from you, And so I've always been
12:39
Speaker 1: mindful of that. Is, if I open up a little
12:41
Speaker 1: bit of this, I know that I will have to
12:44
Speaker 1: continue sharing this, so that will be the expectation. So
12:47
Speaker 1: I just am mindful of the things that I choose
12:49
Speaker 1: to share. And for me, I love to share content
12:51
Speaker 1: and it is what I do every single day. But
12:54
Speaker 1: it still is my job and I do need to
12:56
Speaker 1: have boundaries with myself of what I want to share
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Speaker 1: and what I not share.
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Speaker 5: It just listening to your internal compass.
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Speaker 1: Me choosing to be an influencer in my life wasn't
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Speaker 1: like automatically signing up all the people in my life
13:08
Speaker 1: to be online, right, So, like if they want to
13:11
Speaker 1: be online, great, if they don't want to, I don't
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Speaker 1: want them to feel pressured that when they're hanging out
13:15
Speaker 1: with me they have to get ready every time because
13:17
Speaker 1: I might put them on my Instagram stories. And so
13:20
Speaker 1: it's difficult, and I think each person's comfort level is
13:23
Speaker 1: really different, but for me it's always been I've always tried.
13:27
Speaker 2: To be very mindful of it.
13:29
Speaker 4: What's something about influencer life that's challenging that might surprise people.
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Speaker 1: I think people don't realize how much work there is
13:36
Speaker 1: of just like sitting on your computer and it doesn't
13:39
Speaker 1: sound very fun, But a lot of people, especially influencers
13:43
Speaker 1: who don't have managers. You are going back and forth
13:47
Speaker 1: with brands all day. You're negotiating campaigns, You're turning in
13:50
Speaker 1: your assets, you are submitting billing and invoices to these campaigns.
13:54
Speaker 1: You're chasing down brands for payments. You are filing your taxes,
13:58
Speaker 1: which are like weird taxes because it's it's not a
14:00
Speaker 1: consistent job with a consistent income. Since you're self employed,
14:04
Speaker 1: you've got your own health benefits you have to take
14:06
Speaker 1: care of. There's no paid sick leave or time off,
14:09
Speaker 1: and so there are so many great things about being
14:11
Speaker 1: an influencer and being self employed, but the same thing
14:14
Speaker 1: that comes with self employed is all of the responsibility
14:17
Speaker 1: falling on you.
14:18
Speaker 2: And so if there's a sick day, there's no one
14:20
Speaker 2: to fill in for you.
14:21
Speaker 1: If you have a campaign do and you're not feeling
14:23
Speaker 1: good and you have a due date and this brand
14:25
Speaker 1: needs it live by a certain day, you need to
14:27
Speaker 1: shoot it regardless because you owe responsibilities to people, and
14:31
Speaker 1: you've signed contracts that you're going to turn things in
14:33
Speaker 1: on certain days. And so I think there's so much
14:35
Speaker 1: back and forth of just like the admin of being
14:38
Speaker 1: an influencer that people don't realize until they get into
14:40
Speaker 1: it and just see the amount of echoes. And so
14:43
Speaker 1: I say all the time, if you are allow influencers,
14:46
Speaker 1: buy influencer content creator, and you see a friend who's
14:49
Speaker 1: got a sponsored post up, comment on their sponsored posts,
14:52
Speaker 1: use their promo code, go to their link, because it's
14:55
Speaker 1: really helping the overall influencer community as a whole. Because
14:59
Speaker 1: if everyone's ca pains are succeeding and being engaged, brands
15:02
Speaker 1: are going to want to continue working with more influencers.
15:04
Speaker 1: And so I think being an influencer has made me
15:08
Speaker 1: more helpful to my friends who are influencers. And I
15:10
Speaker 1: think being an influencer has made me a better brand
15:12
Speaker 1: founder because I really understand what goes into a campaign.
15:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up brand because I want
15:18
Speaker 4: to chat summer Fridays. I feel like you could have
15:22
Speaker 4: launched anything. You could have launched a beauty product, but
15:26
Speaker 4: you decided to.
15:26
Speaker 5: Launch a skincare brand.
15:28
Speaker 1: Why I love skincare, and I truly feel like skincare
15:33
Speaker 1: is the first step in my entire beauty routine. Like
15:36
Speaker 1: if my skin looks and feels good and I feel
15:38
Speaker 1: confident in my skin, my makeup looks better, or I
15:41
Speaker 1: wear less makeup, or my makeup applies better, or I
15:45
Speaker 1: just feel good in my skin that I don't even
15:46
Speaker 1: want to wear makeup that day. And I really felt
15:49
Speaker 1: like skincare too, could go across the most amount of
15:52
Speaker 1: people in my community, Like maybe everybody who follows me
15:55
Speaker 1: doesn't wear a makeup, but maybe a lot of them
15:57
Speaker 1: do wash their face and at least put a moisturizer
15:59
Speaker 1: on each day, and regardless of your age, your gender,
16:02
Speaker 1: I felt like the most amount of people could use it,
16:05
Speaker 1: and so I could really tap into my community there.
16:07
Speaker 1: And Lauren, who is my business partner and co founder,
16:11
Speaker 1: she was very early pregnant at the time and she
16:13
Speaker 1: was cleaning out her beauty closet and there were certain
16:15
Speaker 1: ingredients she couldn't use in her skincare routine. This is
16:18
Speaker 1: back in twenty sixteen. There weren't a lot of brands
16:21
Speaker 1: using like good for You ingredients that were also pregnancy
16:24
Speaker 1: and then breastfeeding safe while still looking chic and like
16:28
Speaker 1: brands that we loved and that resonated with us, that
16:31
Speaker 1: had products that were effective. And so we kind of
16:34
Speaker 1: took my love of beauty and brand and product and
16:37
Speaker 1: her need of like what she wanted and needed in
16:39
Speaker 1: that phase of her life and created summer Fridays.
16:43
Speaker 4: That beautiful blue is. So it is so summer Fridays.
16:47
Speaker 4: Like if I see that blue elsewhere, I think about you, guys,
16:49
Speaker 4: how did you choose blue?
16:51
Speaker 2: Thank you?
16:52
Speaker 1: I mean, that's it's so funny with brand because I
16:54
Speaker 1: feel like it's these subtle, like brand colors that you
16:59
Speaker 1: just recognized with things. So if you think of like
17:01
Speaker 1: Tiffany's blue, or like dunkin Donuts is like orange and pink,
17:04
Speaker 1: or like the Starbucks green. So when you see these
17:07
Speaker 1: colors in other places, you think of the brand. And
17:11
Speaker 1: if you've with you had followed me on Instagram at
17:13
Speaker 1: the time, if anybody else had, I was so blush,
17:17
Speaker 1: pink neutral. I would never post a color on my feed.
17:21
Speaker 1: I was so strict with what my feed looked like.
17:23
Speaker 1: And so many other people were the same time too.
17:25
Speaker 1: And when we thought about this blue tube, we thought,
17:27
Speaker 1: this is really going to stand out on social everybody's
17:30
Speaker 1: posts look like this. Everybody's posts are really neutral and clean,
17:34
Speaker 1: and by having something like this, it really stands out
17:36
Speaker 1: on Instagram, where there's a sea of people we're trying
17:39
Speaker 1: to compete with. And blue also goes with that feeling
17:42
Speaker 1: of like what jetlag mask is, which like hydration, and
17:44
Speaker 1: you think of like moisture and water, and then you
17:46
Speaker 1: think of the beach, which is so summer Fridays. And
17:49
Speaker 1: so this color became our brand color and now it's like,
17:53
Speaker 1: I have a closet full of blue clothes. I would
17:55
Speaker 1: have never thought and I love it so much, and
17:57
Speaker 1: I feel like it just goes so well with the brand.
18:00
Speaker 1: And it's really unique because a lot of other brands
18:02
Speaker 1: at the time were very blush and pink and feminine,
18:05
Speaker 1: and it was a way for us to really stand
18:07
Speaker 1: out on social and on shelf.
18:09
Speaker 4: It's interesting to hear that because it was you were
18:11
Speaker 4: really thinking about photographing it.
18:13
Speaker 1: Yes, I feel like at the time, this was before
18:16
Speaker 1: we knew we were going to launch it Sephora, and
18:18
Speaker 1: this was before Instagram stories had came out, and so
18:21
Speaker 1: we said, if you're going to live in an Instagram
18:23
Speaker 1: feed post how can you get people's attention because the
18:26
Speaker 1: formulas are amazing first and foremost, But if we are
18:28
Speaker 1: only available online and you cannot try or sample our
18:31
Speaker 1: product anywhere, what's going to make you want to stop,
18:34
Speaker 1: click and buy this product? It really needs to stand
18:37
Speaker 1: out in a photo. And so we always thought digital first,
18:40
Speaker 1: and it's something that's still top of mind for us
18:42
Speaker 1: is digital and social first, how we look and feel online.
18:45
Speaker 1: So then hopefully you go to the next step of
18:46
Speaker 1: either a website or a store to try our products,
18:49
Speaker 1: and so that was really important to us.
18:51
Speaker 4: Then, right when you recognize that the marketplace is lacking
18:56
Speaker 4: in something, what's your advice for taking the initial leap
18:59
Speaker 4: to filling the gap yourself?
19:01
Speaker 1: You know, I think people speak about this a lot
19:03
Speaker 1: when they're starting a brands, like find something that you
19:06
Speaker 1: need to fix, or like find a gap in the marketplace.
19:10
Speaker 2: Which is really hard because a lot of.
19:12
Speaker 1: Things already exist. And so if you want to create something,
19:16
Speaker 1: just because it already exists doesn't mean you can't do it.
19:19
Speaker 1: Just find a way to make it either better or
19:22
Speaker 1: a different price point or a different type of marketing.
19:25
Speaker 1: Because don't think you have to come up with some new, creative,
19:29
Speaker 1: innovative idea, Like there was already skincare brands before us,
19:31
Speaker 1: and there's a lot that have launched after us. That
19:34
Speaker 1: doesn't mean there's not enough space for all of us.
19:36
Speaker 1: We just all try to have a unique point of
19:38
Speaker 1: view to stand out. So if you are looking to
19:41
Speaker 1: start a brand, just find something that is unique to
19:44
Speaker 1: your brand. And even if there's another skincare, hair care,
19:48
Speaker 1: makeup brand that's out in the space, that's okay. They
19:50
Speaker 1: can even have the exact same product as you. But
19:52
Speaker 1: the way you speak to your product, the way that
19:54
Speaker 1: you speak to your customer, the way you photograph it,
19:56
Speaker 1: your tone of voice, that's what will make you really
19:59
Speaker 1: unique and star and out.
20:01
Speaker 4: You know, you've had a few transitions in your life
20:04
Speaker 4: that seem prominent. When you went from TV host to influencer,
20:09
Speaker 4: that was one, and then from influencer to founder that
20:12
Speaker 4: seemed huge. Your life changed a lot in a relatively
20:16
Speaker 4: short amount of time.
20:17
Speaker 5: How did your goals change?
20:19
Speaker 1: They're like ever evolving and ever changing. And then I
20:22
Speaker 1: have a lot of long term goals that have stayed
20:24
Speaker 1: the same. Like I am a big vision board person,
20:27
Speaker 1: so like every December, I sit down I'm a vision
20:30
Speaker 1: board like pictures, and on the other side, I read
20:33
Speaker 1: out a list of goals, like very specific things, and
20:37
Speaker 1: sometimes they happen in that exterer. And sometimes I have
20:40
Speaker 1: boards from like twenty eighteen, where like I keep writing
20:43
Speaker 1: the same goals over and over again, so it's top
20:45
Speaker 1: of mind for me, and they still haven't happened yet
20:48
Speaker 1: or some of them have adjusted because the way that
20:51
Speaker 1: social and brand work right now, like everything is changing
20:54
Speaker 1: so fast that I know I need to pivot and
20:57
Speaker 1: change these goals or maybe I don't even want this
20:58
Speaker 1: thing to begin with. It was kind of like when
21:00
Speaker 1: I thought I wanted to be an entertainment TV host
21:02
Speaker 1: and then it happened and I was like, Okay, I
21:04
Speaker 1: got here, but this is actually not what I want.
21:06
Speaker 1: And so you can have so many goals in your
21:09
Speaker 1: life and you can change and you can be so
21:10
Speaker 1: many things. And so for me, I have the goals
21:14
Speaker 1: that I know I for sure want to attain in
21:16
Speaker 1: my life, and then I have like my more flexible ones,
21:19
Speaker 1: and I'm even thinking of things like week to week
21:21
Speaker 1: of things that I want to accomplish. So for me,
21:23
Speaker 1: I am goal setting pretty frequently, but I'm also flexible
21:26
Speaker 1: with myself, and.
21:28
Speaker 2: I'm also not hard on myself.
21:29
Speaker 1: So if something's not working, I'm okay to be like,
21:32
Speaker 1: if it's not working and I'm not really trying to
21:34
Speaker 1: do this, maybe I don't even actually want this, and
21:36
Speaker 1: it's okay to change.
21:38
Speaker 4: Where do you have the confidence to have that flexibility,
21:41
Speaker 4: because I think so many people set their sights on
21:44
Speaker 4: a goal and feel like if they don't attain it,
21:47
Speaker 4: it's a failure.
21:48
Speaker 1: I haven't really ever thought of it as if I
21:51
Speaker 1: don't attain a goal, it's a failure. I think sometimes
21:54
Speaker 1: when you set goals, there's one thing that you have
21:56
Speaker 1: in mind, but kind of like, as life progresses and
21:59
Speaker 1: things happen, maybe you just didn't even want that goal,
22:02
Speaker 1: and it's okay to give that up.
22:03
Speaker 2: It's okay to change those things.
22:05
Speaker 1: I mean, when I was younger, I thought, Okay, by thirty,
22:07
Speaker 1: I want to be married and have kids. Well I'm
22:09
Speaker 1: not married, I don't have kids, and I'm thirty five,
22:11
Speaker 1: and like that goal keeps changing because it was like
22:14
Speaker 1: a milestone I wanted to hit in my life, but
22:16
Speaker 1: there was no reason. It was just a number that
22:18
Speaker 1: I had made up in my head. And so I
22:20
Speaker 1: was giving myself these artificial timelines and goals that really
22:23
Speaker 1: didn't need to be there, and maybe it was more
22:26
Speaker 1: of like a societal pressure of like I needed to
22:28
Speaker 1: do these things by a certain age, but just knowing
22:30
Speaker 1: myself and like in my own life now, I'm like,
22:32
Speaker 1: it's okay if that happens later, because I'm okay with it.
22:35
Speaker 1: And I think as I've gotten older, I've gotten more
22:38
Speaker 1: flexible with it, and so I think a lot of
22:40
Speaker 1: it probably comes with age.
22:42
Speaker 4: I really really admire that. I think it also it
22:44
Speaker 4: takes so much confidence. It's very cool. What do you
22:48
Speaker 4: think the game changing moment was for summer Fridays?
22:52
Speaker 1: Ooh, there was a lot, but I would say when
22:54
Speaker 1: we launched with jet lag Mask, we felt really confident
22:58
Speaker 1: in our launch. We felt confident in our brand and
23:01
Speaker 1: our product, but we had no idea it was going
23:04
Speaker 1: to take off in the way that.
23:05
Speaker 2: It did as fast as it did.
23:07
Speaker 1: And from the moment we launched, the Bend think like
23:11
Speaker 1: all this is aligned of like the right place at
23:14
Speaker 1: the right time, the right retailer with the people sharing product,
23:18
Speaker 1: with an amazing formula and great packaging and great brand.
23:21
Speaker 1: It was like all of these little things came together,
23:24
Speaker 1: and looking back, I'm like, oh my gosh, I wish
23:26
Speaker 1: we'd knew how to replicate that with every single launch,
23:29
Speaker 1: so that each launch could be how jet lag Mask
23:31
Speaker 1: was because it was just like all of these right
23:34
Speaker 1: things and I don't even know it could like take
23:37
Speaker 1: those learnings on my fiad again. But at that time
23:41
Speaker 1: when we launched, we had a really great support group
23:44
Speaker 1: of our online community who were buying our products and
23:48
Speaker 1: sharing them, our influencer friends who were so amazing and
23:52
Speaker 1: supportive and sharing the brand, and then the celebrities who
23:55
Speaker 1: shared the product too, and so it was like Jessica
23:57
Speaker 1: Alba and Kimi Kardashian shared it, and like the first
24:00
Speaker 1: week it came out and I was.
24:01
Speaker 2: Like, oh my god, and we're sold out.
24:03
Speaker 1: And selling out sounds really cool until you don't have
24:07
Speaker 1: any product to sell and it's the only product you
24:09
Speaker 1: have available, and as a new and indie brand, like
24:12
Speaker 1: cash flow is like your lifeline, and if you're not
24:15
Speaker 1: selling product, you don't have any more money coming in,
24:17
Speaker 1: and so it sounds really cool, but then you're just
24:20
Speaker 1: trying to get it restopped as fast as possible. And
24:23
Speaker 1: we went to this like ping pong of like our
24:25
Speaker 1: site being in stock and so for being back in
24:27
Speaker 1: stock until we could get a hang on like our
24:30
Speaker 1: development process of like how much we needed to have
24:32
Speaker 1: an inventory, and so it was a good problem to have,
24:35
Speaker 1: but it was a very crazy time.
24:38
Speaker 5: That sounds crazy.
24:39
Speaker 4: What was the best was yeah, because selling out is
24:43
Speaker 4: like every entrepreneur's dream in theory, but you're right in practice,
24:47
Speaker 4: it's super stressful.
24:49
Speaker 1: Yes, because it wasn't like it wasn't like we only
24:51
Speaker 1: made a small amount of things that we could say
24:54
Speaker 1: we sold out.
24:54
Speaker 2: It was like, no, we made so much stuff.
24:56
Speaker 1: We had like upped our inventory for our initial purchase,
25:00
Speaker 1: where like so many more times than we thought we
25:03
Speaker 1: were going to and it's still sold out. So it's
25:06
Speaker 1: so crazy to like go back and think of like
25:08
Speaker 1: this time in our life and like, yeah, it sounds
25:12
Speaker 1: like it's a very fun problem to have for the
25:14
Speaker 1: like the first day and then you're like, Okay, shoot,
25:16
Speaker 1: we need product to sell.
25:17
Speaker 5: Because I know your parents are so important to you.
25:19
Speaker 4: Did you feel like you made them proud or like
25:23
Speaker 4: it must have just been like a holy excuse my language,
25:26
Speaker 4: a holy shit moment.
25:27
Speaker 1: Well, parents, they're like literally the best Uh, they're so
25:31
Speaker 1: supportive now, but they my dad's in his eighties.
25:36
Speaker 2: The telephone wasn't even around like when he was younger.
25:38
Speaker 1: So like, this is a man like wrote letters to
25:40
Speaker 1: like his family when he moved there for the first time.
25:43
Speaker 1: So in his lifetime he went from like not even
25:46
Speaker 1: having telephone in his house to like me living my
25:48
Speaker 1: life on the Internet. And so it's so crazy to
25:52
Speaker 1: him when I even try to explain to him. Sometimes
25:54
Speaker 1: it's like, what are you doing tonight? I'm taking a
25:56
Speaker 1: picture for a brand. He's like, what are you doing
25:58
Speaker 1: with it? And I'm like, well, I'm gonna post it
25:59
Speaker 1: on my Instagram. He's like, wow, why. And so try
26:03
Speaker 1: and explain what I do to them is very funny.
26:06
Speaker 1: But they're so supportive now. But they're so proud. And
26:09
Speaker 1: they both love Summer Fridays so much. They use it
26:11
Speaker 1: all the time. And I think like the biggest moments
26:13
Speaker 1: for my parents are when they're alone without me and
26:17
Speaker 1: someone comes up to them and says like I love
26:18
Speaker 1: Summer Fridays or I use Summer Fridays, or.
26:20
Speaker 2: Oh, oh my god, I know who you are.
26:22
Speaker 1: And I think that's when they really realize, like, oh
26:25
Speaker 1: my gosh, like you're doing something really meaningful and.
26:27
Speaker 2: So they're just the best.
26:29
Speaker 1: But I will say when I first told them all
26:31
Speaker 1: of these things they want to do in my life,
26:33
Speaker 1: they were like, Okay, this isn't really a realistic job.
26:36
Speaker 1: And so even though they love me and support me,
26:39
Speaker 1: they didn't understand it at first. And sometimes the people
26:41
Speaker 1: closest to you in your life won't understand what you're doing.
26:44
Speaker 1: But don't let that discourage you from following your dreams,
26:47
Speaker 1: because sometimes you just have to prove to them and
26:49
Speaker 1: then they'll support you.
26:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, you had an inner voice, definitely.
26:53
Speaker 4: Is there a piece of advice that you're glad you
26:55
Speaker 4: didn't follow?
26:57
Speaker 1: I think when we first launched, we talked to a
26:59
Speaker 1: lot of friends and people in the beauty industry about
27:03
Speaker 1: what product to launch with first, and people had advised
27:07
Speaker 1: us not to launch with jetlag Mask first, and they
27:09
Speaker 1: were like, you need more of like a wow product,
27:12
Speaker 1: And for us, jet lag Mask was a wow product,
27:14
Speaker 1: and we did feel so confident in it, and we ultimately,
27:18
Speaker 1: even though people told us not to launched with it,
27:21
Speaker 1: and you know, we are where we are today because
27:23
Speaker 1: of it. And so even if people have more experience
27:27
Speaker 1: than you, and they know better and they've been doing
27:28
Speaker 1: the same job that you're hoping to do for a
27:31
Speaker 1: long time. Maybe because you're doing something for the first
27:35
Speaker 1: time you've never done it before. That's your advantage because
27:38
Speaker 1: you're doing things in a new and different way.
27:39
Speaker 2: That's not expected. And thankfully we didn't listen to people
27:44
Speaker 2: what they told us not to do.
27:46
Speaker 4: What's something that you wish people would have told you
27:48
Speaker 4: before starting a business.
27:50
Speaker 1: You need to want to run a company, and running
27:53
Speaker 1: a company and a business is much different than just
27:57
Speaker 1: the fun parts of running brand. And if if you
28:00
Speaker 1: don't want to run a business or a company or
28:02
Speaker 1: lead a team or all the things go to operations
28:07
Speaker 1: in finance and hiring and all of that, that's okay.
28:11
Speaker 1: But find a partner or hire the people to know
28:13
Speaker 1: how to do the things you don't know how to do,
28:15
Speaker 1: so you can focus on the things that you're good at.
28:17
Speaker 1: But you really are going to need to want to
28:19
Speaker 1: run a company, because, especially in the last year of
28:23
Speaker 1: like in COVID, there was so many unknowns and like
28:25
Speaker 1: being a business owner was really scary and being responsible
28:28
Speaker 1: for the livelihood of so many people, and so you
28:31
Speaker 1: have to know and be comfortable of leading a team
28:34
Speaker 1: of people, especially in the best or the worst of times.
28:37
Speaker 1: There's a lot of storms you have to weather, and
28:39
Speaker 1: so you just have to know or hope that you
28:42
Speaker 1: have the strength to get through those hard times.
28:45
Speaker 4: What do you think the biggest sacrifices that you've made
28:48
Speaker 4: on your path to achievement.
28:50
Speaker 1: I think time away from the people that I care about,
28:52
Speaker 1: And that's like the hardest thing because there are only
28:55
Speaker 1: so many hours in the day, and I have chosen
28:58
Speaker 1: to have a lot on my plate, and that's like
28:59
Speaker 1: a personal choice of the phase that I'm at in
29:02
Speaker 1: my life. I don't know if I can always do that,
29:04
Speaker 1: And thankfully the people in my life understand that I
29:08
Speaker 1: only have so much time. I'll see you and talk
29:10
Speaker 1: to you and hang out with you when you can.
29:12
Speaker 1: My friends don't get upset with me. But that's a
29:14
Speaker 1: sacrifice I've made because I have chosen to, you know,
29:18
Speaker 1: spend sphase in life working really hard so I can enjoy, hope,
29:22
Speaker 1: the rest of my life the hard work that I'm
29:24
Speaker 1: putting in now, so then I can spend time with
29:26
Speaker 1: my friends all that I want later in life. So
29:27
Speaker 1: I just try to have quality time with my friends
29:29
Speaker 1: when I can, and when I'm with my try to
29:32
Speaker 1: really print. I try to put my phone away or
29:34
Speaker 1: put it on silent. I don't even have it sitting
29:36
Speaker 1: on the table so it's not next to me, so
29:37
Speaker 1: I'm not just like randomly picking it up. So I
29:40
Speaker 1: really enjoy the time that I'm with the people that
29:42
Speaker 1: I care about, since I don't get as much of
29:43
Speaker 1: it as.
29:44
Speaker 2: I would like.
29:45
Speaker 5: Do you feel like your circle about smaller?
29:47
Speaker 1: I think I as I got older. It's not that
29:50
Speaker 1: it got smaller. It's the same with before I set
29:52
Speaker 1: about like quality over quantity is like I have a
29:56
Speaker 1: few really good friends and people in my life who
29:59
Speaker 1: I care about a lot, and like I care about
30:02
Speaker 1: them so much and they support me and love me unconditionally,
30:05
Speaker 1: and five ten of those really amazing people are better
30:09
Speaker 1: than like knowing a hundred people who don't really care
30:12
Speaker 1: about you. And it's hard, especially in LA, to find
30:15
Speaker 1: people who you feel like genuinely care and support you
30:19
Speaker 1: and are there for you. And so as I've gotten older,
30:22
Speaker 1: I've realized that. And then also without having too much time,
30:25
Speaker 1: it's like I want to make sure the time I
30:26
Speaker 1: do have, I'm spending it with the people who I
30:29
Speaker 1: love a lot, who love me a lot too.
30:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm with you.
30:33
Speaker 4: I think there's something too that when you're from the
30:35
Speaker 4: Midwest too, you want certain values.
30:37
Speaker 2: Definitely, what's something.
30:39
Speaker 4: That you wish people could see about you that they
30:41
Speaker 4: don't see at first glance?
30:43
Speaker 1: Ooh, I would say I'm probably pretty introverted. Well I'm
30:49
Speaker 1: not actually an ambrovert. So I was like, I don't
30:52
Speaker 1: really fully feel like I resonate with the word extrovert,
30:55
Speaker 1: and I'm not totally an introvert, but I'm somewhere in between.
30:58
Speaker 1: And I learned there was a word for it, and
31:00
Speaker 1: I feel like Ambergert like perfectly describes who I am.
31:03
Speaker 1: And so sometimes I really want to be around people,
31:05
Speaker 1: and I get all my energy from seeing people, being
31:08
Speaker 1: new places, being in crowded places, seeing how people live.
31:11
Speaker 1: And sometimes I just want to sit in my living
31:13
Speaker 1: room by myself and like silence, and I need that sometimes.
31:16
Speaker 1: And I think because I live my life online and
31:18
Speaker 1: I share all the time, that maybe people would expect
31:21
Speaker 1: that I'm like really extroverted since I've chosen to put
31:23
Speaker 1: myself out there on the internet. But really, sometimes I'm
31:26
Speaker 1: shy and so if you meet me and I'm quiet,
31:28
Speaker 1: or I'm introverted, or you see me by myself in
31:30
Speaker 1: a grocery store, I might be in like an introvert
31:33
Speaker 1: phase of that day.
31:35
Speaker 4: All Right, we do a little rapid fire. What's a
31:38
Speaker 4: motto that you live by?
31:40
Speaker 1: Don't miss out on something great just because it could
31:43
Speaker 1: also be difficult.
31:44
Speaker 5: You know, I've never heard that.
31:46
Speaker 1: I think it's a good one because I think people
31:49
Speaker 1: let the fear of things hold them back. And you
31:52
Speaker 1: can feel fear and excitement at the same time. You
31:55
Speaker 1: can be scared and happy at the same time, and
31:58
Speaker 1: so it's okay if something is hard, but don't let
32:01
Speaker 1: that fear of it being difficult hold you back because
32:05
Speaker 1: it could change your life.
32:06
Speaker 2: I really like that.
32:08
Speaker 4: What's a beauty product that you didn't create that is
32:11
Speaker 4: a must try?
32:12
Speaker 1: Dyson Air rap It is the best hair tool ever
32:14
Speaker 1: and I cannot may hair without it.
32:16
Speaker 4: Agreed a person that followed you that you got really
32:20
Speaker 4: excited over jay Loo.
32:22
Speaker 2: Which I hope she's still following me.
32:23
Speaker 1: And then Ariana Grande followed Summer Fridays and like the
32:26
Speaker 1: whole Summer Fridays team was freaking out.
32:29
Speaker 2: We have to.
32:29
Speaker 5: Rewind Jlo follows you, yes.
32:33
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I don't know, do I slide into
32:36
Speaker 1: her DMS like like what, but yeah, let me just
32:40
Speaker 1: check and make sure because this will be so embarrassed.
32:41
Speaker 2: Oh she still followed me.
32:43
Speaker 1: I was like, this will be really embarrassing if I
32:44
Speaker 1: said this and she doesn't follow me anymore.
32:46
Speaker 2: So Jayla is very exciting.
32:48
Speaker 4: I get when people, I mean, no one of Jlo
32:51
Speaker 4: proportions has followed me, but when people like that follow me,
32:55
Speaker 4: I now.
32:55
Speaker 5: I then get so like anxious about what I post
32:58
Speaker 5: because I'm like, well, they're watch so weird.
33:01
Speaker 2: Oh.
33:01
Speaker 1: Sometimes when I see like certain people's like little bubble
33:04
Speaker 1: come up on my Instagram stories, I was like, oh
33:05
Speaker 1: my gosh, I hope I'm like not embarrassing.
33:10
Speaker 4: Okay, tell me, oh something about yourself that sounds made
33:13
Speaker 4: up but is one hundred percent true.
33:15
Speaker 1: I was born in Germany and I lived between Germany
33:19
Speaker 1: and the States.
33:19
Speaker 2: Until I was in high school.
33:21
Speaker 1: How cool It sounds cool now, but at the time,
33:24
Speaker 1: it's like no Wi Fi, no iPads, so there was
33:27
Speaker 1: like no Internet or way to be connected to your friends.
33:30
Speaker 2: So I think now I would it would would.
33:32
Speaker 1: Have probably been easier, but when you were younger, it
33:35
Speaker 1: was really difficult to be away from my friends, especially
33:37
Speaker 1: like in the summers, when like all you want to
33:38
Speaker 1: do is hang out with your friends all the time.
33:40
Speaker 1: And so I'm grateful for it as an adult, but
33:42
Speaker 1: when I was younger, it was definitely challenging.
33:45
Speaker 5: When was the last time that you felt rejected?
33:48
Speaker 1: Ooh, probably like all the time. There's always always something
33:52
Speaker 1: no one would believe, whether there's like always something, whether
33:56
Speaker 1: it's like in brand where probably the most frustrating things
34:00
Speaker 1: like when we're trying to come up with ideas for
34:01
Speaker 1: products and then someone tells me like this is not
34:03
Speaker 1: possible or like we can't do this, and I really
34:05
Speaker 1: really want something to work, and I'm like pushing the
34:08
Speaker 1: limits of like Lauren and I really really want this
34:10
Speaker 1: packaging and really we really want this formula to do something,
34:13
Speaker 1: and we're told no. That's frustrating because we don't get
34:17
Speaker 1: to be the ones like physically making products in labs,
34:20
Speaker 1: so we can only do things to the best of
34:22
Speaker 1: like the ability of the people that we work with,
34:24
Speaker 1: and that's really difficult, and sometimes we have to learn
34:28
Speaker 1: to scale back our dreams a little bit to like
34:30
Speaker 1: fit into like what's possible. So that's hard being rejected
34:34
Speaker 1: as like an influencer. I feel like, oh my gosh,
34:35
Speaker 1: that happens all the time, Like you post something and
34:37
Speaker 1: a post doesn't do as well as you hoped.
34:39
Speaker 2: And I know that might.
34:40
Speaker 1: Sound like that's not a big problem, but when it's
34:42
Speaker 1: your career, and especially when the jobs are sponsored, that's
34:45
Speaker 1: really hard because you want people to like the content
34:48
Speaker 1: that you're putting out, especially when you put so much
34:49
Speaker 1: work into it. And then in personal life, I mean like,
34:52
Speaker 1: I feel like rejection happens all the time, like big
34:54
Speaker 1: or small, but I've kind of I've gotten okay with it.
34:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with you. I sort of feel like
35:02
Speaker 4: trying is winning, so.
35:04
Speaker 1: Always try, you like literally never know what could change
35:08
Speaker 1: your life. I was recording with somebody the other day
35:11
Speaker 1: for my podcast, and she was telling me she was
35:14
Speaker 1: reaching out to all these people trying to get a job.
35:16
Speaker 1: She had lost her job during the pandemic, and literally
35:19
Speaker 1: nobody was responding back to her, and so in her
35:21
Speaker 1: free time, she just was like, well, I guess I'll
35:23
Speaker 1: just like start making tiktoks because nobody is writing me back.
35:26
Speaker 1: And then her fifth video went viral. And now she
35:28
Speaker 1: has two million followers on TikTok because those people were
35:31
Speaker 1: rejecting her, and she used that free time to create
35:33
Speaker 1: content and it changed her life. So maybe it was
35:36
Speaker 1: better that nobody replied back.
35:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was.
35:40
Speaker 2: It worked out for her.
35:42
Speaker 5: Is there a book that changed your life? I know
35:43
Speaker 5: you're an avid reader.
35:45
Speaker 2: I am a big reader. I love to read.
35:49
Speaker 1: I have so many books in my place, and then
35:51
Speaker 1: my mom's always like, what are you doing with all
35:53
Speaker 1: of these books?
35:54
Speaker 2: And I always just feel like I like to read.
35:56
Speaker 1: I have a really bad habit of starting a lot
35:58
Speaker 1: of books and then I get really excited because I
35:59
Speaker 1: or another one, and then I don't finish them. But
36:02
Speaker 1: one of my favorites is The Alchemists. It's an amazing book.
36:05
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the theme of this whole episode
36:07
Speaker 1: of what we talked about is like following the things
36:09
Speaker 1: that you're passionate about and then having detours in your life,
36:12
Speaker 1: and the detour and the hardships along the way or
36:15
Speaker 1: just part of the journey, and sometimes those things could
36:17
Speaker 1: lead you to where you're meant to be if you're
36:19
Speaker 1: just following the path of your purpose. And I love
36:22
Speaker 1: that book. If anybody's looking to read something, you.
36:25
Speaker 4: Know, I always think that people that cite The Alchemists
36:28
Speaker 4: as their favorite book are such dreamers.
36:31
Speaker 5: I would put you in.
36:32
Speaker 4: I would definitely say I am yeah, you are okay.
36:37
Speaker 4: So I have a pretty smart card deck. I pull
36:40
Speaker 4: one at random every episode. Ooh, which personality trait has
36:44
Speaker 4: gotten you in the most trouble?
36:45
Speaker 2: Ooh.
36:47
Speaker 1: I'm very decisive, and I know that sounds like a
36:51
Speaker 1: good problem to have, but sometimes I'm too quick to
36:53
Speaker 1: make decisions. And sometimes when you're making choices, you need
36:57
Speaker 1: to like stop, take a beat, think about them before
37:00
Speaker 1: you react.
37:01
Speaker 2: And I'm working on reacting slower.
37:05
Speaker 1: And I think there's a balance of needing to be
37:07
Speaker 1: decisive but also needing to like think things through.
37:10
Speaker 2: And so I think sometimes.
37:13
Speaker 1: I could get me in trouble when I'm making decisions
37:15
Speaker 1: too fast and I'm making the wrong choice.
37:17
Speaker 2: So I'm working on being a little bit more.
37:20
Speaker 1: Mindful and taking a beat before I even reply back
37:23
Speaker 1: to people.
37:24
Speaker 4: I don't know. You got a gut instinct, girl, Thank
37:27
Speaker 4: you all right. Last question, the smartest decision you've ever made, I.
37:32
Speaker 1: Would say probably just like going for the things that
37:35
Speaker 1: I've wanted to do and like not listening to people
37:38
Speaker 1: along the way, And so I think for me, it
37:40
Speaker 1: was following my gut and the career I wanted to
37:43
Speaker 1: have in my life. So even when my mom said
37:45
Speaker 1: you need to have this backup plan of doing pr
37:48
Speaker 1: once I try to, I really thought to myself, like,
37:50
Speaker 1: this isn't what I want to do, And even though
37:52
Speaker 1: my parents think this is not the right path, I'm
37:54
Speaker 1: going to try it anyway. And so listening to myself
37:58
Speaker 1: and following my own dream was the smartest decision. Even
38:02
Speaker 1: if the people in my life didn't really understand what
38:04
Speaker 1: I was doing, yet I knew I could do it
38:06
Speaker 1: and then ultimately prove to them that I did make the.
38:09
Speaker 2: Right choice and now hopefully they're really proud of me.
38:12
Speaker 4: Did you have maysayers early on, like were there people
38:16
Speaker 4: from Ohio or like early in your life that had
38:19
Speaker 4: the whole mentality of like who does she think she is?
38:22
Speaker 1: It wasn't who does she think she is? It's just
38:25
Speaker 1: I think like it sometimes dreams seem so far fetched
38:29
Speaker 1: that it just didn't seem possible, and so it just
38:32
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, well you need to have like realistic goals.
38:34
Speaker 1: But to some people realistic goals are different, right, So
38:37
Speaker 1: like for me, I think to myself, if this person
38:40
Speaker 1: does it, why not me, Like if this person could
38:42
Speaker 1: make it, or they could try this thing or build
38:44
Speaker 1: this company or become an influencer, I can do it too.
38:47
Speaker 1: So I never had the mindset of like, it's not possible.
38:49
Speaker 1: I always had the mindset of, like, it is possible.
38:52
Speaker 1: I just have to like work to make it happen.
38:54
Speaker 1: And so I think the people in my life who
38:57
Speaker 1: didn't understand what I was trying to do just just
39:00
Speaker 1: didn't know the limits of what's possible in life. And
39:03
Speaker 1: I think now it's a really different time because people
39:07
Speaker 1: like I love watching Shark Tank. It's like one of
39:09
Speaker 1: my favorite shows because I love seeing so many different
39:11
Speaker 1: types of successful people come on the show and like
39:14
Speaker 1: the backgrounds that they came from and where they started
39:16
Speaker 1: from and how little money it was that they started
39:19
Speaker 1: their business. Because I'm like, oh my god, like with
39:20
Speaker 1: a little or a lot, these things are possible. And
39:23
Speaker 1: I love seeing that, and so hopefully myself, the people
39:27
Speaker 1: on my podcast, people that come on your podcast can
39:30
Speaker 1: inspire other people to see what's possible.
39:32
Speaker 4: It's honestly part of the reason I started the podcast.
39:35
Speaker 4: I think we learn through other people's stories, So thank
39:39
Speaker 4: you so much for sharing yours with us today.
39:41
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me all right.
40:00
Speaker 5: Today is a good day. To have a good day.
40:02
Speaker 5: I'll see an exit