Latest / Into The Mud Podcast / Ep. 86: The Fabulous and Chaotic Life of Dog Influencing with @LavenderAndLatte

Transcript

Ep. 86: The Fabulous and Chaotic Life of Dog Influencing with @LavenderAndLatte · Into The Mud Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: While others celebrate the win?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: We celebrate the mud.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Each episode has a special guest.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Tony nominated actress Broadway Lily Cooper.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a man! David A.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Gregory.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Getting messy with muddy topics.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: We are going to be talking about grief journey.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: With hilarious moments.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Now get over here.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And deep conversations.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Shame to even admit this, but this is what happens.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: This is Into the Mud.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everybody and welcome back to Into the Mud Podcast.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: While others celebrate the wins, we celebrate the dogs.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: The dogs.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have celebrities here today.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: We have the incredible lavender and latte.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's Lavender Marie and Latte Bean.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Kaylin Bergesson.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: This is going to be.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: Let's do it.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: We can totally do it.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: We can totally do it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: This is doable.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our topic today, which you can see right now, is the joy and the chaos of dog influencing.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because Kaylin here is a brilliant, incredible mommager to these adorable, adorable, very famous online French Bulldogs.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, oh my God, you guys.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hi.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hi.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Such cutie.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to introduce yourself?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Look at these faces.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Not the three microphones at once pointed at them.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know, right?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's full surroundings.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're used to it.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: They do their own little podcasts.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: The life of two spoiled Frenchies, correct?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: The life of two spoiled Frenchies.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so interested.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: Let's hear a little bit about the origin story here.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: How did this all start?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: But it started.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, you guys.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, can can mom tell her a story?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: It started as like my normal personal Instagram.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: I realized I was posting my dogs way too much on my own.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, not everyone wants to see that.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: So let's just make like let's just make um their own account.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: And we kind of went from there.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I did sort of have an account with my previous Frenchie.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: When he was nearing the end of his life, we did like a bucket list and that kind of went viral.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: We did like a different thing every single day.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like we went to like Shake Shack.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: We did all of like the dog friendly stuff and posted about that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Hans.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Hans Bruber from Die Hard.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: What a perfect name.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: For a tiny little dog.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was great.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: He was a tank.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: But then I just kind of kept that social media, changed the handle.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, then we just posted our lives and then it kind of took off.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: One day I decided to start posting every single day.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that was three years ago, I think, at this point.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: And we've just kind of been going since.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: How long have you had them?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: They are gonna be five in October.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's been about four years, over four years.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, latte's off on her own right now.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: Latte's my energetic one.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Lavender is my my calm one.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we have a million questions for you.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is, you know, perceivably, I think people would look at your life and be like, oh, your your job is being a mommager to these dogs for dog influencing.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: But my suspicion is that it's a side gig, right?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's like I I wear a lot of hats.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um what's your what's your your typical day?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's your what's your actual job?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I co-own a video production company that is based out of Orlando, Florida.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um like a lot of like ads and stuff down there.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: But most of my work is remote.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of am able to balance that.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, so we've been doing that kind of since COVID.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: And it was something that we were like, maybe we'll just see how this goes.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: And now it's been like six years and it's been great, but it's like also now I found myself with two full-time jobs, essentially.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, beyond full-time jobs.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty full plate.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of people don't realize how much time being like a dog influencer actually takes up.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: How many hours a day would you say or I'm so inconsistent?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like some days it is like strictly let me just work on my like actual business, and other days it's like let me wake up and film 10 videos with them so that I have enough content to post for like the week.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then if I have like a work trip coming up, like I have to make sure that I'm making enough content to post every single day, fulfilling all the brand needs, all of that stuff.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of crazy.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like before I got here, I was cutting out the letters happy birthday out of a slice of cheese.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just like you gotta.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, happy birthday fits in one exact circle of provolone, if anyone was curious.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: But that was for a brand.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so a cheese brand.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was a dog food brand.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: I just put it on top of their like food because they're celebrating their like birthday, they're giving something out.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, those things.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, okay, so this is this is it's crazy to me.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or not crazy, it's it's just like mind-blowing.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, I'm like a massive Frenchie fan.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So like my entire Instagram is filled with French, like famous French Bulldogs.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's like famous French Bulldogs and then randomly like space videos.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: But like, hi, welcome back to the conversation last year.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'll say you want to come back up here.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, honey.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you want to lay down there?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's you can hang out there.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: But watching the way that dog influencers manage their accounts and manage their daily lives is so fascinating to me because you are negotiating these brands, but you're negotiating for like uh obviously not a human being.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is it like when these brands come to you?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do they come to you?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do you reach out to them?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is it like a a tit for tat?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have an agent?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how is this working for you?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's a bit of both.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we did have an agent at one point, but then I realized like I maybe I'm too hands-on, or I'd rather control everything myself.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um so we, we, I say we, me as a girls, um, I manage all of their brand deals and everything like that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Now, most of it they've reached out to me.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, we just go back and forth and email.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: It feels weird.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like every day is so weird.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: When I like sit back and I really think about it, I'm like, yeah, no, I'm negotiating real money with real brands on behalf of my two dogs, and then having to conceptualize videos for them.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, it just it's kind of crazy.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Bless you that this is real life and that this is something I get to do.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I feel so happy that this is my life.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: What are some of the like talk us through some of the content that you'll do like each week?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it really depends.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if we see like a trending audio, we can try to do something like that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Or I try, I try to be as original as I can, which you do run out of ideas when you're posting every single day.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: But our main one that we do is the Day in the Life of Two Spoiled Frenchies.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: And we like wrote a book, we've done all of that stuff.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: I know we have a lot of like kid fans, so I've actually had to like tone down some stuff.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: When I first started posting the day in the life of two spoiled Frenchies, I think they were swearing.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um they don't do that anymore.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, they don't.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: They're ladies now.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're they're full ladies.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's basically what we do, and those ones are the most complicated to shoot, yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's the most involved versus just like setting up my camera and forgetting about it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: But well, because you're like out and about in the city.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like my ex and I were obsessed with the the videos that you would you would do about the like rating.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, they would go around and look at like holiday decorations and they would rate them on a scale of one to five bones.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, those are like those are like full shoot days.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a commitment to and it's as much as they can handle too, right?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because like I don't want to overwhelm them.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can I can only imagine.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's especially interesting, like because brands will ask for specific things, and it's like, well, they can't go out in the heat for like X amount of time because they can't breathe.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: So stuff like that we have to like navigate, but try not to overwork these girls, you know.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: How does it work for you, like when you're just like propped up in your own apartment?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are they diligent?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do they sit still?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do they more or less like kind of just go with the flow, or are they like being pop like being dogs?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: They do like spurts of zoomies right in the morning.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: They're very scheduled scrolls.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: They really are.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: Latte will wake up at 6 30 every single morning.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, it's time to eat, it's time to go outside.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Very food motivated.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then they come inside, they do zoomies around the apartment, and then they sleep the whole day.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's really okay.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: So they're actually pretty chill.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: They're very chill.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: When there's nobody else around, it's like all I hear is snoring all day.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: What is the smushy face?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: The the snoring, the the nasal brachiocephalic.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: Brachios, yeah.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's called brachiocephalic.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, it all goes down to like breeding.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: They've not needed, there's a surgery that some dogs need that like widen their nose noses.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: And my vet has said that I've never needed that with them.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank goodness.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank goodness, yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: My cousins had a Frenchie, and I yeah, it's such a such a um recognizable sound.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so cute though.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: I could not sleep last night because they were snoring so loud.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Some nights it really just It just really gets to the breaking point.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, that's so funny.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Was there a point when things like really started to take off?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: There was one video, and I honestly can't even really remember what it was.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was me constructing like their first like doghouse that got like over like 300,000 views, and I was like, oh my god, girls, we've made it, we've made it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're famous, we're famous.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I mean, there's some random ones.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's always the ones that you don't want to like pop off that really do, like the ones where you're looking really horrible and like all of that.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: And originally, like I was never really in their content at all, but sometimes I find my way in there.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't really love being in front of the camera.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: I was kind of like extra being here today.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Hell yeah.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: What's uh is your video production job like what kind of stuff do you do with that?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: And has that informed how you do any of this?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: So different.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, like I went to film school, so like I Where'd you go to school?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Georgia State.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Ah yeah, Atlanta.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's where I'm from originally.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I mean I I integrate like the principles I learned in film school and stuff like that, but like they're very different jobs.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is uh this you're not making a box office either.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: But more so I'm on the woman's producer side for both, but like when you have to do everything from from audio, from audio to camera shots to editing, all of that stuff.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's like all me when it comes to them.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: But like when I'm with my production company, I'm hiring out those positions.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just it's it's a very different.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's the same, but it's a different it's like different.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's so my day job is I'm a podcast producer for Indeed, the job search project.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we do the podcast here, we do everything.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: We do the lighting, the setup, the editing, the social media, blah, blah, like from beginning to end.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: But then when I'm at Indeed, it's I'm I'm struggling to figure out what my position is.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes because I'm kind of like, what am I supposed to be doing?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: What am I not supposed to be doing?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm so used to being like, let me do this.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: But there's there's an another team that's doing the editing for us.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a whole creative internal agency, and then there's a scriptor, and I'm like, okay, I don't like I never know what to do.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's weird having to wear both hats and like kind of jump back and forth.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm so curious though, like, what is it like?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you wake up in the morning, yeah, latte wakes up at 6 a.m.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then like get us through like 10 p.m.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Every day is different.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, for example, we're going to like an event at 9 a.m.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: on Friday this week, but then like this morning, I ended up attending a Zoom call for my normal business.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, that happened.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then we started filming our cheese video.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Provo Launch Cheese video.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think I did two videos with them today, just two in between Zoom calls.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: But that was kind of just today.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: And that could change from day to day.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there'd be some days I have no Zoom calls and no real job.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just like, let's just crank some content out.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go to the park.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like, yeah.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: I love being in control of my own schedule.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think I would give that up for anything.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: But it's very inconsistent.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: That was, we've talked about this quite a bit too.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like when you don't have like a designated like nine to five or someone telling you, like, hey, we need this by this time, and you have to self-start, self-motivate, plan your own schedule, and every day looks different.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious about like, you said things are inconsistent, but like, how do you like structure your time?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like, do you like on like Sundays, do you look at your week?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: Do you look at it at the beginning of the month?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you I kind of take it day by day, which sounds a little chaotic as I say it out loud.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but if it works, basically I see what deadlines I have because different things pop up.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'll get a brand or someone will reach out and they'll be like, hey, it'd be great if you could do this video by this happened to me today, so why I was working on the cheese video by Friday.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I have to get it to them by tomorrow so they can approve it so it can go live on Friday.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: So that becomes the top of the list that I have to do today.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: But then I also have to do all my Zoom calls.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: I have to do my other work, I have to do budgets, I have to do all of that stuff.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: So as long as I can fit all of that and then come to this, right?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's a lot of day-by-day time management.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then some days I just don't do anything.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like I just, it's a Tuesday and I'll just sit in bed.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's like because I totally know that when it's like things just come in on the fly, things come in, they're like, we need this tomorrow, and audition comes in, whatever, XYZ.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of spend all day, like, okay, what's the next thing?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: What's the next thing?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: And then when you have a free day, nothing comes up, you just kind of like, yeah.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: I totally, I totally resonate with that big time.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, controversial question, if you are comfortable talking about it, you don't have to, but is, you know, there's this large, large conversation right now about French Bulldogs and like the well-being of French Bulldogs, whether or not they should even exist because of the brachiocephalic structure.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: For a lot of them, like you said, it's hard to the it's like hard to breathe.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you know this, Alex, but was it three years ago?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think the Kennel Club named the French Bulldog the most popular dog, the Frenchie one best in show, and which is like amazing because I love French cheese, but it did trigger like a pretty significant backlash of like unethical breeding.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's there's like a complicated conversation now about French Bulldogs and the way that people are taking them in because they're also really hard to take care of.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're very expensive.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they do come with a lot of health issues.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: So what I guess first and foremost, have you had have you been dealing with any sort of health issues with the girls, or have they like more or less been pretty like healthy and good to go?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: They've been if you look at I like I go to the vet a lot, but it's mostly because they eat stuff they're not supposed to.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, especially in New York City.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they do stuff like that all the time.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: I have gotten an x-ray on latte and they say she's more prone to get IVDD, which means she shouldn't be jumping up and down from things, but she's so hard to control.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: But for those that don't know, IVDD is I don't know the acronym.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically like a slip disc in your spine and can lead to back leg paralysis, and that happens a lot for French Bulldogs.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: They say it's one in every it's 50-50 or 50%, right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like if you look at I've got two, like they're heavier than I than they look.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: They're 25 pounds.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, I had a Frenchie before then.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're already aware of what comes with it.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: He was a tank, like absolute, like could eat anything, run into stuff, like never had any health issues at all.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then he did end up with like a tumor towards the end of his life, and that's how he passed.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: But like no allergies, none of the normal like Frenchie issues.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you listen to all the stuff and you're like, oh yeah, maybe that's just like overhyped.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I was also really young when I got him and going through a breakup.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was just like a I need something to love me, let me get this dog.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what I did.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I didn't think about it, didn't make a decision.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was, I think, 20 years old at the time where you're like, you're not thinking.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Prefrontal cortex not fully developed.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: So that was just my dog.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I'm always gonna have a French bulldog.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like this one's great, like everything's perfect.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then I get these two princesses and so many allergies.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, so many allergies.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: This one, especially.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: She gets like terrible allergies, and they say it's this coloring.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, I've done a lot of research since I've gotten them.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: I should have done a lot more before I got them, but like I was basing it off of like my previous experience.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, this coloring gets more allergies than we've got the IVDD, all of that good stuff.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: So they're still very healthy, but they are four years old.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: But I think this coloring specifically is one that's like not even one of the ones that's like a reputable official color.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: There's some, there's like I think like three colors.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna sound uneducated, probably more, but there's like the Merle color, I don't think is like a standard one.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there's like the Merle Frenchies.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: I know they're so cute.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Those are like the like the speckled kind of grayish spotted ones, they're so cute.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see like the fluffy ones too?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like those ones definitely are not like the most ethical.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: When you go to buy a Frenchie, it's usually this the good ones, you're gonna be on a wait list for like a year or two years.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like you really need to do like your research.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: And they also say like reputable breeders don't usually give you of any dog breed two dogs at the same time because of litter mate syndrome.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Do you guys know about so litter mate syndrome happens when you buy buy adopt two dogs that are the same age at the same time and they're like puppies basically?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: They can either bond to each other so much that they ignore the owner, or they fight for the owner's attention so much that they actually have to be separated because they will fight like to the death.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I didn't know this was a thing.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: They get really aggressive.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: So does it happen with all dogs, all breeds?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: It it they don't even have to be the same breed.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like they could be completely disparate dogs.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like something that happens when they're under one.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't happen to all dogs, but like there are after I found out about this, after I get these dogs, I was like, oh my God, what have I done?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like by myself.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: My one bedroom apartment made two play pens for the dogs, kept them separated, but I had to keep them separated as much as I kept them together.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I would take them on walks together, take them on walks separately.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: I took them to training class separately.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: I socialized them with dogs together separately, took them to the vet together separately.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: So they wouldn't have anxiety when they were apart from each other and then they were they could bond to me appropriately.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was another I love a job, another job for me.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was another task.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: And again, it doesn't happen with all dogs, but after I made videos about that, talked about it, a lot of people have been like, oh my god, I didn't realize this is what my dogs are doing.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: This I don't really think.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Where did you find these gals?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: I got them out of a breeder in Miami.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: So from Orlando, drove down to Miami to get them.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I follow a lot of like, you know, adoption pages.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I follow a lot of breeders, but I also follow like a lot of adoption.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I when me and my ex got a French Bulldog, I remember saying to him, I was like, you have to adopt.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't shop, adopt, don't shop.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is like what we were fighting over.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then long story short, he ended up at like a City Pops, which is like a spooky pet store in Manhattan, and was like, I have a French Bulldog puppy.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, How dare you?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: But then I fell in love with the dog immediately and like slept on the floor with him.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I like loved them.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I've always told myself, I was like, okay, when I get a dog, I want to make sure I can adopt a French Bulldog, which like six years ago was not a thing.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you couldn't, you couldn't really adopt French Bulldogs unless they had severe health issues.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: But now, because of this like rise in unethical breeding, there's a lot of French bulldogs that are like sadly being dumped at breeders or um at shelters.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: What's the unethical breeding of French bulldogs?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's a like a bunch of variations.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's multiple things.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: So first and foremost, female dogs have to have c-sections.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is that correct?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So they have to have a c-section.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's already kind of like a really traumatic thing for a dog to go through.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a lot of crate sedentary dogs that they're strictly just there.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like the breeder will be like, great, you're there to like mate and to get pregnant and to birth the babies and then do it again with barely enough recovery time from something traumatic like a c-section.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so like there's you can see there's some French bulldogs that have what they call um I know too much about this.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is crazy.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, you're teaching me.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's called.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's called crate feet.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the females will have like big swollen feet and they're kind of bow legged because they've haven't been walking around like a normal dog.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're just kind of stuck in a cage, like being pregnant, and then like, you know, feeding and like a handmaid's tale.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's people who and then they'll, you know, people will just like sell the puppies online for, you know, thousands of dollars.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then other people who don't understand how much work comes along with it and the possible financial ramifications of it will then just be like, yeah, I can't deal with this dog too.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, taking it to a dark place.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's part of the like, it is part of the conversation.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: For all the cuteness, there is like a like an under a dark underside of it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think it's important that people, like whether it's French bulldogs or any breed, you do your research.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Are you getting like pushback from people in the comments ever of being like, your dog shouldn't exist?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Whenever we get like a big viral video, they're always people that and then if I ever talk about like how much we pay, we have pet insurance, but like how much I pay every year in pet insurance and how like all of this stuff, everyone's comments are like, you should never have these dogs, these dogs shouldn't exist.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: And like most of the time it's really like it has nothing to do with their breed, it's just normal dog stuff.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: Then also just has to do with people online because I get those same comments.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: You shouldn't exist.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Women shouldn't exist.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like what people are saying here.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: You're a woman and a day.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Days shouldn't exist, women shouldn't exist.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh my gosh.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, the internet's a crazy place.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: The internet's a crazy place.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: But we open ourselves up to it, so we do.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what's that like for you?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like you guys have a huge massive following.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you're doing all these brand deals and you're building all this content and putting it out there.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're you've got to be interacting with a lot of like wild people.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: So what is it like when you go out into public?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do people ever recognize you and they're like, oh my god, I know lavender a latte?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's when I'm with them, it doesn't happen a ton.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's nothing crazy.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: But the first time it happened, I was like, oh my God, this is like so weird.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what do you mean?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like you guys know my dogs.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: But it'll be like we used to frequent a farmer's market back in Orlando.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we'd see a lot of people there because it was kind of like our community, and like so people knew us from that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: But I remember it happening when it started to happen when I wasn't with the dogs, that was when I thought it was like really bizarre.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like I went on like a first date once, and someone literally came up to the table and they were like, I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you like Lavender and Latte's mom?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Mind you, first date.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I've not disclosed any of this information on the date.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um having this interaction with this person, and like they're like, Oh, can I show you a photo of my dog?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, of course, of course.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just like, you know, talking to them and whatever they leave.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then Data's like, So what?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, So what I don't where to begin.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: I guess that's also the funny thing, too, is like your dogs are famous.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're not.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not that you're not, it's like now you're in the content, but you know what I mean?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's like the dogs are the famous ones, but they also don't know that they're famous.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Which is strange.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is that like for you?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: That must be the dream for them.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um kind of email.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's funny because it's like, hey girl.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you're like, oh, can I get a photo?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, yeah, sure.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, and I like stand on the photo and they're like, no, no, no, just the dogs.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: You need to get out.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hilarious.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Nope.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: I yep, I know that.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: I understand.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I understand it.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's sometimes you can like spot the people who like recognize your dogs or like recognize you, and there's like a kind of like a something in their eye.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: You can see it.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh, they're gonna approach me, they're gonna ask me.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's me.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's me being like, I know that from a moment.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know them, I know them.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: I usually when I see people with Frenchies, like I I feel like, oh, they probably know who I am, which makes me sound like I have such a big ego.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: But one time I was like, Pretty big in the Frenchie community.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: No, I was out with like my parents or something, and I saw someone look at us and I was like, Oh, they're gonna come ask, and then I'm gonna look cool in front of my mom and dad.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: They come up and they ask for directions.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay, let's let's humble yourself, girl.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you're not that famous.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, let's calm down.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Never mind.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I mean, honestly, for them, they love people.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: So this is like the ideal job for them.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: If a dog had to have a job, like this is this is what they would choose for sure.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because I mean, they get to do this all the time.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like during our book signings, they heaven, absolute heaven, because they love love, love, love when people pet them and when they get attention.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: The attention.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: What was um when you talk to us about the book?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: It kind of came from their series, The Day in the Life of Two Spoiled Frenchies and us going to the farmer's market.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I know we have a kid-based audience.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to get like a book out there.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love writing, like, why not try it?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: So put that out in the universe.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been good.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: Probably gonna write another one, but when I, you know, have the time, right?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: What is what is something that people like wildly misunderstand about this career path you've chosen?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: People think it's easy.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it's yes, of course, it's like one of the easier jobs, I guess you could probably have, but it is still work.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, it's still, you know, conceptualizing, making emails, like my inbox is full all the time, just talking back and forth, negotiating, getting content approved, all of that stuff.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like that part is still real.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: I still have to edit, I still have to meet deadlines.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like I'm not gonna ever complain about that because I get to spend every single day with like my dogs, and so many people would just like kill for that.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I I wouldn't change it, but it is still, it's still work, right?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I want to hear more about like negotiation because you said you you like had an agent and then you didn't.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Agents and managers are there to kind of like be the bull in the room and yeah, nope, this more.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: We want this.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like, like, what's been your path on learning how to negotiate for for the team here?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like a lot of it also goes back to like my normal job because we have to like bid projects out.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of like you know, it's something that I'm relatively used to doing, but it's also hard because it's such a like production people can understand.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Influencing is a space that people just don't fully understand the value of.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like I know how much based on commissions I've made in the past with like other brands, how many units I've sold of certain products.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I can use that to like my hey, for this brand that was similar, we sold X amount if the brand is willing to give that like information out.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: I've had people flat out just been like, no, like that's completely out of our price range.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's like some big brands that have really under like undersold.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: Undersold.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: I can't do like I'm sorry.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: But then, you know, I'm always willing to like negotiate for smaller brands and all of that stuff.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: So it's yeah, it's always funny.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: I do voiceover work too.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: So it's always funny when I get one for like Google and they're like, This is how much?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And you're like, no, it's not.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, it's not.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know it always blows my mind, especially like the non-union world, when they like you will get lowballed so crazy hard.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you are a massive brand.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is going on?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: Trying to cut courses.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Who should know better?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: The influencing space with it being so like new.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like nobody understands the value of it.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ever have anyone that's kind of like, well, yeah, sure, they're they have great reach, but like they're dogs, so they don't deserve like a human rate.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is does that ever come up?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's never come up.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's literally.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: I guess it was hard to meet.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, is there like a human rate and then a dog rate?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: No, honestly, I think the pet industry is so massive.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: We went to like the pet expo this year, and there's just like so many brands and stuff out there.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, now with like the rise of like dogs instead of children, like people are treating their dogs as kids, and there's like there's so much value behind that.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like, sometimes I wonder if like there's actually more money to be made in dog influencing than like people influencing.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: I guess if you like if you're doing makeup, if you're doing whatever, like I know there's money everywhere, and it's kind of crazy how that that's the world we live in.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, it really is just advertising, it's just shifting your advertising budget to something else because media changes.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: So like this is it's lucrative.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: It can be lucrative.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is incredible.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I joke that they paid my my New York rent.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not a joke.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my God, that's incredible.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: You guys, you're working hard for the money.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, this is something that I mean, not to go morbid, but I'm gonna go morbid, but it's it's also knowing that like there's a limited time frame on the thing that is, you know, paying your rent.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: I know essentially like how wildly terrifying.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: I have no idea how to shift away from that.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just kind of like riding this wave while it's happening.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: And like, you know, I don't have like a five-year plan or anything like that.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um you guys are gonna live forever, so it's fine.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I just drink chickies here.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, no, I mean it's it's definitely something I think about and it's weird.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's definitely like, you know, something I've never had to think about with my previous dog or whatever.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, it's just like a weird relationship, I guess.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't because you didn't do influencing with the other.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do that.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: I made him an Instagram account, he had like a thousand followers.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um loved him.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: Such a good dog.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Sweet man.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: Also horribly trained.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I totally did things different with these ones.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: I like did not train that other one at all.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: He was crazy, but loved him.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, no, it's it's interesting because it's like I don't know, you know, where their page is gonna end up in 30 years, we'll say, because they're gonna be so old.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then what it looks like for me, and then I don't know.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I feel like I feel like I'm somebody who changes their career every like five years.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I love it though.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: It would just pivot, you know.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Right, but it seems like everything you've done is kind of fed into the production-y based.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean, I used to produce news like oh wow, even further back in Florida in Orlando.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: You said you're in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm everywhere.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh you are?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, I know.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds so ridiculous.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, what was that?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to hear more about that.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god, news is not for me.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: News, I thought, so graduated film school.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, I cannot with her.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, girl.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Graduate film school, thought obviously I'm gonna move to New York and make it big, and I'm gonna work for HBO and everyone's gonna want me.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was an intern at like adult swim.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm gonna be like everyone's gonna want me.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: Humbled very fast, was still working at the world of Coca-Cola selling tickets for a very long time after I graduated.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: And then I took the first job that I like got the interview for and got the job, and it was producing news in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: Never been the city for me.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, did not love it.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and news was definitely not for me.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: So quit that job, traveled Asia for two months.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hell yeah.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: What about news were you like hard pass?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: So it's what you're doing every day is researching basically the most depressing stories that you could look into, just so because you know that's what sells.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: Then you're writing about, and it's a small news station, right?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm doing everything, right?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like researching, writing, prepping the narrators on it, then watching the whole thing through, then going to sleep, doing it all again.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, if I do this by the time I'm 30, I'm going to like like it's not going to I can't, it's not for me.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it is for some people and love that for them, love that journey for them.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: But that's journalists and particularly right now.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, oh my gosh.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: How?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: How?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: How?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: I could I couldn't sleep, like I couldn't, like there would be no way.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: And applaud them for it because like we I mean, we need journalism now more than ever, but like of course, you know, it's like it's tough.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough right now.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's bleak, yeah.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really tough climate.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, does that bring you a lot of joy though, knowing that like what you're putting out into the world and what you're creating right now is like the antithesis of that?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like you get to kind of give everyone a respite with these girls.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yes and no.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's a difficult conversation, right?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's like at the I know the purpose of my platform and what I like to do is just like spread happiness, joy, positivity, like dogs or cute dog videos.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: But then um, and people have reached out and said, like, thank you so much for not getting political.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we need this like at this time.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: But then on the other side, I'm like, I should be political because I have this platform.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: But then I said, Is it misplaced when it's coming from the dogs?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like it just is weird.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's like my dogs aren't gonna say anything, you know.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I it's just a weird thing.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: How does Lavender latte feel about like Israel-Palestine?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, for real.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and then it's kind of like, I don't know, it's a I've been called out for it, but then I'm also been praised for it.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just a difficult line to draw, you know?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't really know where that's like.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, because we we've had a lot of conversations.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Alex is a stand-up comedian, as you know, and there's a lot of you know better about it than I do, but there's like a lot of comedians who have kept to themselves of being like, no, like my comedy is my thing.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then a lot of other comedians who have big platforms are like, no, like I owe it to the public to be political with my platform to speak up about wrongdoings in the world.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: I've never thought about it for pet influencers.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it's weird, right?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's like I, you know, I don't know.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: I struggle with that a lot, true, like truly, like what I should and shouldn't be doing, who I'm gonna offend, who I'm not gonna offend.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I guess everybody does that with like a following, but it's like at the end of the day, should you just like stand up for what's right versus just like cute post cute videos?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Unless posting cute videos is all anyone wants to see.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: And like who am I helping more?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: I was just having this conversation with someone, a friend about performing in Las Vegas, because it's a much more conservative audience, and I typically change up my set a little bit and leave certain kinds of jokes out.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: But then like the last couple times I've been there, which has been very recently, I've been like less caring about like offending or like pushing buttons or crossing the line, crossing the line.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Jokes that crush here that don't crush as well there.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: My feeling at this point is like if you're still in support of like what is like currently going on with this government, then like quite frankly, you don't deserve to laugh.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like straight up, like I'm not performing for someone who is like supports a pedophile or someone who like goes on a rant about blowing up Iran.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm like, actually, I'm not for you, and I don't think arts are for you.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_03: You don't get to enjoy, you don't get to like enjoy that.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's my I think I because even a few years ago, I'd be like, man, I really like I'm very like left on stage and I wonder if I'm isolating an audience or making people feel bad.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: And now I'm like, this is so far beyond like anything seen.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's the harshest critique you've gotten from somebody?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go into like details, but like, is it people being like, How dare you post that cute video when XYZ is happening in the world?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is it that?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, I've had a falling out with a friend over it too.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah a lot.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go that deep into it.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: No, phone number has been blocked, but it's just it would I don't know.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: We both said things that we probably shouldn't have said.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, like, I feel like on my personal, I'm very like political.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: And like it's like that's public.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if you want to know my opinion, it's there, but at the same time.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's like sometimes I and I will post stuff on like their accounts too, especially when it pertains to like people who are losing their their dogs, they get like detained, all of that stuff.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, posting about that because that is relevant to the dog platform, I guess.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the day, it's like, I don't, I don't, I don't know what people want to hear, you know?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just I'm just a person with two dogs.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's no, but I like that you have your own account and like that.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's, you know, people can find it.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: But there's still lots of reach there, right?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_03: So at the end of the day, am I doing wrong?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's a really tricky, tricky route.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's a lot of like, as we know with social media, there's like a lot of self-policing and like who says what and how dare you do that, and oh, you shouldn't have done that.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's really complicated.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: I remember like, and it was so heated during the pandemic.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: I remember in particular, like I remember the the gay community was so savage to each other because there would be these like oh parties and it'd be like parties.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or like they'd, you know, people would be like dying in the hospital and they'd be like having a blast in Puerto Vallarta.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone was like, What are you doing?
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe we don't post about it.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like this.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: Don't post from the comedy concert.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, what is going on?
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Those are human beings with their own opinions and their own actions.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like these are beings that don't even know that they're famous.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: They just want cookies and I mean they uh to be fair, they don't know that they're like if they're political or not.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: They just care about treats and food.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Treats and food.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you do the voiceover for them?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I just talk normal tone.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like so and then run it through a filter.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: I run it through like the it's like a very complicated process.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's not at all.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's I I literally put the trickster like voice filter on, which you can find in like Cap Cut.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: And she's just the trickster one.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: She's trickster with sweet is the other one.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god so that they kind of have a different voice.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just building these personal.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: No, when I yeah, when I like am I when I film their podcast episodes, I sit them both down and just point a camera at them for a minute and then point them individually for a minute, and then I go, and then I'm like, all right, what is this gonna be about?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then I just sit there and I talk to my computer, two different like clips of audio.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then I'm just like going back and forth trying to have a conversation with myself.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: With yourself.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's a little bit of insanity.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like I know my walls are thin and I have to wonder what my neighbors think.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: Truly.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, like yeah.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: Is it a podcast?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like pa?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: It okay, it's called a podcast, but someone said that before, the PAWD, and I was like, oh, missed opportunity.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: I should have started that.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, not that it's it's never too late.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can still do it.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: Never too late for a rebuild.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: But honestly, I mean it's like the greatest job in the world, like getting to hang out with them all day.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: Just get to hang out with the dog.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's something that I, you know, didn't get the opportunity to do with my other dog because he like I had like I was going to on set sometimes 10 hours a day.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: And like these girls I just hang out with every day.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: I form such a special bond with them.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh my god, they literally cannot die.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know what I don't know what they want.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna live forever, obviously.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, where can everyone find you guys online?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: We know, but let's just tell our followers out there where they can find you all while we have them cute and seated and they're at Lavender and Latte on Instagram and at LavenderLatte Kalen on TikTok because Lavender and Latte was taken.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is it like a coffee shop or something like that?
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, I don't even remember because it was so long ago.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, thank you guys so much for coming on.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any closing words?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Latte, do you have any closing words?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: That was great.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Lavender?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, perfect.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: Love.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: We agree.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right, everyone, we love you.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: And make sure you go follow these two brilliant, brilliant actresses.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, bye, everybody.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.