De-Influenced with Dani + Jordan - A Lot Can Happen In A Year: 2024's Biggest Moments

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

While we’re on a short break from recording, we put together a little bit of a full circle episode to reflect on 2024. From an engagement to marriage, from announcing our third pregnancy to being ...ready to pop and all the career and life achievements in between. We've said it before and we'll say it again we love this podcast and all our listeners. Thank you so much for being on this crazy journey for us and for all your love and support on the rebrand and partnership with Dear Media. We can't wait to see what 2025 has in store for us and De-Influenced!! See you in the new year!! XOXO, D+J MINKY COUTURE: Visit http://SoftMinkyBlankets.com and use code DEINFLUENCED50 at checkout for 50% off all full priced blankets. RYLEE AND CRU: Visit ryleeandcru.com/deinfluenced to shop all of Dani’s favorite Rylee + Cru styles on sale! No coded need, sale automatically applies.  NANIT: Get TWENTY PERCENT off your first order with code DREAM20 at http://nanit.com RO BODY: Go to http://ro.co/dani to find out if you're covered for free.

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Starting point is 00:00:03 The following podcast is a dear media production. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Your Jesus. Do you Jesus. Do you Jesus.
Starting point is 00:00:11 Please get Danny to this. This episode. Please give me the energy to finish this episode and to go over an hour. Not under an hour. You should keep that. You should keep it. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:00:33 Hello. Hello. And welcome back to your favorite podcast. De-influenced. Oh, my goodness, it's almost the new year. Are you so excited? You guys, welcome back to the rebrand of D-influenced. Look, my name's on the door.
Starting point is 00:00:51 So this is insane. Jordan, we listened to what you guys wanted, your feedback, and Jordan is now a co-host of the podcast. Which is really tough for me, honestly, because, you know, we are 75 episodes into this podcast. This is our 75th episode. Which does not, it does not feel like that at all. No. Because we don't listen to any of them.
Starting point is 00:01:11 Never. And so it feels like maybe 20. Right. Which is wild. That's what I said. 20. Yeah. Whenever our podcast producer told us, like, she surprised us with this cake this morning.
Starting point is 00:01:23 And I was like 75 episodes. I would have said maybe 22 episodes. Well, it's so funny about where we're at now is that I think with my name on the door, it's like mentally, it kind of does something for me because this is always a project where I felt like I was a part of it, but I was always like, oh, peace out soon. Yeah, you just kind of show up and like, because, you know, when you started it, it was going to be like your thing. Well, that's why it was all pink.
Starting point is 00:01:47 The branding is all pink. No, I know. It's my favorite color. And so I very, very much felt like a temporary part of this. Yeah. And honestly, I just saw my name on the door the second ago. It kind of, it's a little bit more pressure. And we chose neutral colors for our rebrand.
Starting point is 00:02:03 Well, plus a pop of red, which was we were going to. to go just all neutrals and I literally had a dream about the pop of red in our podcast. Yeah. So like we had already gotten all this branding done. It was like browns and coffee and tans. And then I go to like our girl and I'm like, guys, no. Like we have to add the pop of red. So we did.
Starting point is 00:02:24 We had the pop of red. And then another big deal for us is we signed with an agency. Which is so crazy because in my 12th. almost 13 years of influencing, I have never worked with an agency. Everything we have ever built, Jordan and I, has been in-house. Even from like when we started hiring people for Divi, my personal team, we've always been very like ex- like stayaway agencies. We're very like hands-on entrepreneurs. Yes, yes. But we decided to sign with Dear Media and we're so excited. These are like our first partners. It feels really good to have like support.
Starting point is 00:03:06 The news is out. Rip it off. Just for the pod listeners. They already know. We're pregnant. We are pregnant. Do we say we? Yeah, we're pregnant.
Starting point is 00:03:19 We have our third baby coming in January. It was a really sweet moment when I told my parents because like this third baby is kind of like when I look at all my dreams as a little girl. Like when I have this third baby, like all my dreams will have come true. Yeah. I always saw myself as a mom of three minimum. You know I've always said minimum. Right. Four maximum.
Starting point is 00:03:46 And so it's like it's so crazy that it's like actually all happening. And my dad, after I told my dad, he walked out, he goes, you know, all my dreams are coming true because all your dreams are coming true. Wow. It was so sweet. I know. I heard him whispered something and then he, whenever he knows he's about to say something sentimental, he starts to. up. So I was like, my dad's very sentimental. My mom's like, wow. Like, how are we going to do another baby? Ooh, guys, you know how much our family loves minky couture blankets. I'm most upset because
Starting point is 00:04:18 Stella steals mine all the time. And she's never stolen my blankets before, but she's obsessed. I actually am going to order her like the kids version. They're seriously these softest, coziest blankets ever. And they just look so luxurious when you have them out on your sofa and your bed. We have one just in about every room in our house. And so I can have one available at all times because that's how much we love them. Miki Gator is the creator of the original hugs blanket, a stretchy plushed and double-sided blanket that hugs you right back. That's so true, I didn't realize how much they like they have like a stretch to them.
Starting point is 00:04:48 It really does feel like a hug. That's why our family loves them so much. Miki Gator is a female-owned business, love that, started by a mother who wanted to provide luxurious comfort to her daughter. Plus, they are also passionate about giving back to the community, donating over 30,000 mini-minis to NICUs across the country every year. There are so many different colors and sizes. There's a minky for everyone in your life, which means it is the perfect gift for loved ones this holiday season.
Starting point is 00:05:13 Sell and Stratton love them so much that they have actually asked for the kids-sized ones for Christmas. It's seriously the best blanket ever. It's so soft, the most luxurious feeling and looking blanket I've ever owned. You guys have to try them, and right now you can get them for half off. Visit soft minkyblinkieblinkets.com and use code de-implanced 50 at checkout for 50% off of all full-priced blankets. That's soft minkieblinkets.com. Use code de-influence 50 for 50% off of all full-priced blankets. Truly the best holiday Christmas give for pretty much anyone in your family.
Starting point is 00:05:47 If you've heard of OZMPIC or WeGOVi, you've probably heard three things. They're effective, but they're expensive, and they're hard to get. That's where Roe comes in. We've talked about OZMPIC here on the podcast as it took the internet by storm and proved to be really helpful for those in need. But with the heightened awareness of GLP-1s and what they can do for people who are overweight, it became harder to access. That's where Roe body comes in.
Starting point is 00:06:09 We're huge fans in this house of getting medical care and support you need conveniently. Through Roe, you can access prescription compounded GLP-1s with the same weight loss ingredient as brand-named GLP-1s at a fraction of the cost. Roe has compounded GLP-1s in stock now. You can get it in one to four days if you qualify. Roe members have support through the process. If eligible for medication, patients have access to their providers. or on demand for any questions.
Starting point is 00:06:38 And you can see if you qualify from the comfort of your home. This means no scheduling a doctor's appointment, no commute to the doctor's office, and no waiting rooms, which may eliminate a barrier for someone's GLP wants to help. If prescribed, your medication ships directly to you in one to four days. Go to R.O.com slash Danny. The membership starts at $99 for your first month. Medication costs are separate. That's R-O.c-O-C-O-Slas-Dany.
Starting point is 00:07:07 To learn more, go to road.com slash safety for blackbox warning and full safety information. Compounded medication is not required to and does not receive FDA review or approval. R-X-only. Landon getting engaged? Big. The miracle from God himself. We never thought it would happen. We tried, though.
Starting point is 00:07:31 We tried to force the timing before. I tried. We ran three seasons of the matchmaker for this guy. This is so true. You can't put a square peg in a round hole. Well, you can't force love. You know? You can't force it.
Starting point is 00:07:45 And you know what? Like God, God's timing, baby, not Danny's timing. Yeah. She tried to push it along. And God said, I got the perfect girl in mine for Atlanta. You just wait, baby girl. It's really all about me, you know. The craziest thing is I really have never seen him like this.
Starting point is 00:08:03 ever before. Ever. And that's why it feels very divine. And maybe this is like comforting for, you know, anyone single out there. But it was like, he was so just not ready. I mean, we kept forcing and we were like, man, this girl's not going to make it until Thanksgiving. And when he met Olivia, he was a, I don't think he had met the right girl either, to be honest. No, I know that.
Starting point is 00:08:24 But when he was sure, he's sure. Oh, I've never seen. I've never seen him sure about anything like that. And I'm so happy. But I'm going to be so big at Atlanta and Olivia's wedding. and I'm a bridesmaid. And like I'll be at the point in like pregnancy where like things are like actually big.
Starting point is 00:08:40 Like you know, like there's a point when it's like, oh, she's cute. Like he's pregnant. But like this is like when your nose starts to split and look like it's two noses in one. And it starts to like your voice starts to change. Like it sounds like you're like an old man. You're like, hoo, like you know. And like you remember like my laugh changes whenever I?
Starting point is 00:08:55 Do you remember like I got a really good voice with Stratton? Yeah. Do you remember? My voice was like really raspy. And like the baby was like sitting. on my diagram and like I was like a really good singer. Mm-hmm. I was.
Starting point is 00:09:10 You were. It was incredible. It was like Celine Dion. It was my wife. It was like low and like sexy. Yeah, like Adele. A lot of people said you sounded like Adele at that time.
Starting point is 00:09:20 I have gotten that before. Try and sing rolling in the deep one more time. Just wait until I'm like six weeks, six months pregnant. Then I'll sing for you again. That'll be the intro song. We, okay, we have a, did I tell you that I did it? Did what?
Starting point is 00:09:36 Okay. So the wedding, my brother's wedding is this weekend. Uh-huh. It's a miracle. Did you ever think we'd be saying this? Well, yeah, I mean, three, what, three seasons of the matchmaker? Yeah, three seasons. Three seasons?
Starting point is 00:09:48 And I'm so excited. I'm so obsessed with Olivia. They moved back to Nashville, as you guys know. That's probably where they're going to end up for good. And, which I hate, but it's okay. I understand it. They love it. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:10:01 You might be close to moving there on the path that you're on. We'll see. Maybe when I finish the book, we'll talk about it. But okay, so I really wanted to, this wedding process has been very stressful for them. And sweet Olivia, she's so sweet that I think that sometimes she, it's hard for her to make decisions because she doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, which is just, it's the best thing about her.
Starting point is 00:10:27 Because I'm like, Olivia, who cares? It's your wedding. You do what you want to do. And she's like, I want everybody to be happy and comfortable. and like it's really sweet um we're Olivia and I are such a counterbalance the Austin family yeah a great counterbalance to the Austin family it's it's so true like we need y'all um so I called their and I'm sharing this because this will come out after their wedding yeah and I don't know how I'm going to surprise them did I already talk about this on the podcast no I have no idea what
Starting point is 00:10:58 you're talking about so I called their wedding planner and I was like is there anything that and Olivia really wanted for their wedding, but they cut because of budget. Like, you know, or they just like decided it wasn't smart and they wanted to spend money like in a smarter way. And she was like, oh, well, there was this room that there's like a cocktail hour in and Olivia really wanted to drape one side of it to make it feel more intimate. And I was like, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing drapes. I was like, okay, what else?
Starting point is 00:11:29 And she's like, well, there's like, you can get like a wedding stylist and she can come. the day of and help all the bridesmaids. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. I'm like, I'm looking for like the wow factor. I'm looking for the ooze and the aze. And she was like, well, there was something that your brother really wanted. I was like, tell me more. She's like, we have these nine foot LED robots that come and dance on the dance floor
Starting point is 00:11:59 and like break dance on the dance floor. And your brother was really excited about them. but they were just like, it didn't make sense of the budget. And I was like, yes. Bingo. Bingo. Wait, they're nine feet tall? I don't remember.
Starting point is 00:12:12 I think I said nine foot because I just bought that nine foot nutcracker. No, I think they're, no, I'm sorry, I think they're taller. They walk around on stilts. Wait, wait, they like is in. Oh, I got two. So I told them my budget. First of all, these things are outrageous. Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:26 Let me tell you. At first I was like, you know, I want to put a couple grand in there. Like, I want it to be a big. Like, this is, I love them. This is my, this is my, only like this is the most important wedding of the year for me. And she told me that for like, I mean, I think it was for like two, it was for two robots. It was like six grand or something. Wait, can you pull these up? Yeah. I have to see these. So wait, I got the discounted for version.
Starting point is 00:12:52 I got the T-DGy box. It's from like, it's from like Alibaba. They like explode and it comes a fire hazard. They like glue those little glow sticks on them. They like, wait. So I I'm just so confused. These are robots. But here's the thing. I haven't told them yet. And the thing I told that, and I'm really trusting the wedding planner here because I was like, listen,
Starting point is 00:13:14 like, what if Olivia didn't want these? Yeah. Like, what if this was like, like, Landon thought it was cool and Olivia was like, no,
Starting point is 00:13:22 that's tacky. And she was like, no, no, no, like Olivia thought it was cool too. And I was like, okay, well,
Starting point is 00:13:26 I'm trusting you because we're going to have nine foot LED robots on the dance floor. So is the moment that they are, are going to find this out the moment these like come out from the smoke machine like onto the dance floor and everyone's just like everyone's just like what is this so I um I don't know I haven't planned it out yet how how it's going to happen can you I just won't say anything and I'll be like I don't know and if it goes over a ball I'll be like that was me oh my gosh I mean land and will for sure freak out everyone else is going to be in a state of utter confusion let's see
Starting point is 00:14:03 But it will get the party started. 100%. 100%. So you're telling me those are robots or that's a costume that someone gets in? Oh yeah, I'm sorry. It's a costume that somebody gets in. Okay, that's what I was confused about, Danny. Oh, I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:14:17 I'm sorry. I was like, you bought nine foot robots. No, but look how cool they look. You don't like it? No, it's... Your face is not. No, it's incredible. It's incredible.
Starting point is 00:14:29 Look at any dance. So you both had to hire someone to be on the stilts. Yeah, that's why they were so expensive. And this is a good market. If anybody's looking for a job, there's so many ways to make money these days. Oh my God. You know how like Jake Paul walks out with that robot when he boxes?
Starting point is 00:14:45 Yes. That's what it reminded me of and that's what it looks like. That's crazy. Yeah, so that'll be me. I guess if they need a third one, I could suit up. Babe, you can't do that. You got a bunch of hate for being on a ladder. People are so upset about my ladder content.
Starting point is 00:15:00 And I'm like, don't tell me what to do. Like, I'm a. woman still. I'm not like going to be a bedridden. It's just, you know what's so crazy. I was looking back at Stratton's. What? Nothing. What? It's just most of the time you are bedridden. No, I know. It's true. Baby number three is quickly approaching and we are so excited to shop for them at Riley and Crew. The Riley and Crew Collective combines art and imagination to offer unique clothing for modern children and moms. Each collection features hand-drawn illustrations paired with beautifully muted tones and timeless designs. Riley and Crew is more than just a clothing brand. It's a one-stop
Starting point is 00:15:39 shop that caters to you and your children at every stage of life. Whether it's welcoming the newest member of your family in Quincy May, dressing your child in Riley and Crew for the first day of school, or celebrating special occasions in a Norley dress, they have an outfit for every occasion. This has been a lifesaver because having our two older kids and a newborn on the way, there is something for each of them that perfectly fits their own stages in life and personality. With a focus on modern baby basics, Quincy May is your one-stop shop for baby and toddler essentials featuring a collection of beautiful, organic baby basics and earthy, solid colors, and subtle prints. The perfect harmony of quality and style, each Quincy May garment and accessory is made with 100% organic
Starting point is 00:16:22 materials, is GOT certified and is ethically made. And if you're looking for a special occasion outfit, they have you covered. Nora Lee is their children's occasion wear brand. They have the most darling wedding and ceremonial styles, tutus, and matching mama and mini styles for special moments. Visit Riley and crew.com slash de-influence and use code Danny at checkout for 15% off your first purchase. That's R-Y-L-L-E-E-A-N-D-C-R-U dot com slash de-influenced. Use code Danny for 15% off your first order. Speaking of our favorite brands as parents, we want to talk to you about Nanette.
Starting point is 00:17:02 Their baby monitor is a must-have tool that we give to every parent in our lives. With two kids and a newborn on the way, it is extra important that we have a baby monitor we can trust. My fellow parents know it's so hard to leave your babies for work, but with Nanit, I can keep an eye on things at home and check in right from their app when I'm on the go. It's truly given me so much peace of mind, especially as baby number three is quickly approaching, and things are about to get a little more crazy in the Austin Ramirez household. The Nanit Baby Monitor has won over 25. awards in 2024 alone, including from the New York Times, wirecutter, parents' magazine, and the skim. But Nana isn't just a high-definition camera. It also monitors your baby's sleeping and breathing patterns. Plus, it helps you not miss any of the baby milestones. With all these tools,
Starting point is 00:17:50 Nanit makes more sleep for your baby and you possible. Nanit parents tend to get an extra 36 nights of sleep per year and Nanit babies sleep 10% longer. I have one ready for baby number three, have already been using Nanit for Stellan Stratton, and it's just as effective for the toddler stage. The Nanit Baby Monitor is the MVP of Baby Gear. It's the one baby item we can't live without. And of course, we have a special offer just for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order with code Dream20. That's D-R-E-A-M-2 at Nanit.com. I agree, but there's been some really cool encouraging moments like getting
Starting point is 00:18:34 an all doors Ulta. That was a huge moment in 2020, 2020, because I can't say 2023. Because we were in Ulta, we were first online, and then we got into their sparked category, which was kind of like their new beauty.
Starting point is 00:18:50 And then now we're in basically all doors, Ulta, on the shelf, top shelf, people text me, send me pictures. You know who's there the other day? My friend, Brianna, was there all day. Every single hair of vitamin sold out. The shampoo, completely sold out. Like, scalps room totally sold out. And like, people send me screenshots of that all the
Starting point is 00:19:09 time. And that is so cool. It's so crazy. I just never thought that such a big retailer would ever notice us like that. And it's just very humbling. And so All Doors, Ulta was probably, I mean, top five, like work moment ever in my career. Divie launched in Ulta at Target. Crazy. Crazy because that was when I, when Divi had one skew, my goal was to get it at Ultim by Target. Does it feel like we're in Target? I feel like you and I both have been stressed about so many other things that it, like, the target, the fact that we're in Target kind of just like happened.
Starting point is 00:19:53 And we haven't really like high fived or celebrated about it. Well, you know, these things take so long. Like we knew this was happening months ago. But it's just now actually happening. So it doesn't feel like it happened because we've been working on it for like four or five months. That's true. You know? It's not like a moment.
Starting point is 00:20:08 Like it's like, this has been like a process. I think we should go to Cabo to kind of just like celebrate all these. I think we should go to Target and look at it. Okay. And then go to Cabo. Okay. I can agree to that plan. But all stores, all Ulta by targets.
Starting point is 00:20:25 That's a big deal. Babe. When I'm telling you, it's just wild. It's wild. You know what was the craziest thing to me, though? to be honest. How Divi was number four on Prime Day. That too.
Starting point is 00:20:37 Yeah. WWD article. That was big. That one, Ulta by Target and WWD, like were bucket list for me. And they all happened in one week. I know. I feel nothing. No, I mean, like Divi has like some of the best researchers, innovators, product development
Starting point is 00:20:56 people, marketers, like talent at the company. It's just been a, uh, it's been a hard thing just keeping that together. Keeping a team together just requires so much leadership. And leadership requires so much time and time is what we have the least of. And so it's just been like identifying that gap and that, you know, weakness and then figuring out how to fill it, whether that means like, hey, like, I don't know if I should be in this like CEO role anymore. Like should I hire someone else? And so, yeah, that's just been tough.
Starting point is 00:21:29 Yeah. Okay. So basically, let me just give you a back. background. We launched Divian in 2021. Self-funded. We worked out of Stratton's. He wasn't born yet, but we worked out of hers nursery. That's where we hired our first two employees. And we launched with just our hero skew, which was our scalp serum that I created with a chemist, essentially, and launched that and really had no idea where this thing could go. And it grew really really fast. The first year we did 40 million in sales of just that one skew. And that was mainly
Starting point is 00:22:06 because that was even outside of me. It was like mainly because of the, um, just like the word of mouth, the before and after pictures, people like the testimonies. We've sold a million bottles of that serum now. Over a million. Over a million. I think it's like 1.2 million. Yeah. Um, and so did not expect that. Yeah. And so honestly, ever since then, every product that we've come out with since has just been like listening to y'all and like hearing kind of what your concerns are what your hair problems are and coming out with solutions for that so now we have eight skews which is still like really small like you know um but you know we got into ulta ulta ult by target on amazon and i have a lot of i still have a lot of dreams for divvy i want to go international i also want to go more domestic
Starting point is 00:22:53 because we actually did this, this, like, survey, and Divi has actually pretty low brand awareness. Like, if you took, I think, how many people did they take a thousand? No, I don't know how they ran the survey, but our overall awareness score is 6%. So that means if you take 100 people, only six people, like random people. A neutral full is like 80%. Yeah, so if you take, like, 100 random people all over the country and you ask them, do you know about Divi, out of 100, only six people new. which is really exciting for us because that means that there's so much more growth that we could
Starting point is 00:23:27 you know have and um there's some like major cities that i really want to hit like chicago and some of the west coast and east coast because we're really like heavy in the middle but not so much in like the coast the coast so um anyway there's just we have a lot of dreams we hired our first CEO um this year in January and um that's why george and I have a marriage again. It was really hard. He was CEO for a couple years. Never again, guys.
Starting point is 00:23:59 I think what we... Hardest job in the world. Well, I think what we like to do together is we like to start companies and to grow them from zero to something, but not like run the company. Yeah. The way I characterized it is like, you know, when you're the CEO, you're responsible for everything. And I'm glad I had that experience for two years.
Starting point is 00:24:18 But I like where I'm at now. Technically, my role is chairman. Yeah. And I'm like fun uncle. Yeah, you get to come in and be fun. I like get to come in. I don't have to deal with any of the drama. And I can be like, hey guys, like we should do this idea.
Starting point is 00:24:30 Like TikTok shop is popping off. We should work on it. And then like, you know, there's smart people that like actually execute the work. Yeah, which is so great. And so anyway, we in June, you said. Yeah. In June, we started a process to find a, they typically call them like growth partners or private equity partners. Can I actually like go back a little bit? Yeah. To be honest, we didn't really start it. I feel
Starting point is 00:24:57 like we were approached a lot. Like my email every single day was like 10 PE firms being like, we want to work with you. We want to partner with divvy. Do you want to sell one day? And I was like, no, I don't want to sell. I like no, we're self-funded. We don't need you. Da-da-da-da. And then like these emails just kept coming in, kept coming in and we started having like more conversations. And we were like, wait, these people really know what they're talking about. Well, so here's what I would say is like the reason, and I don't know how much people care about this, but we'll put it in the podcast. So like basically I think that companies that are bootstrapped, you know, you typically have what I think are like very founder led companies. That's when the magic happens, right? You have these like really cool stories of companies popping off because it has a extremely passionate founder behind it. Right. So usually the challenge is when you bring in like other partners or other money, you kind of lose some of the magic. Right. And so we had always been like, hey, we. We don't really need other people to run our company. Like we're well capitalized.
Starting point is 00:25:56 It's a successful company. Well, we were trying to like, you know, they say walk before you run. We were trying to grow really fast. I was like, I don't want more stress. So we would have a lot of these investment groups reaching out. And, you know, usually they want to get in early enough. And typically what happens is they'll say, hey, like let us invest. We'll help you do this.
Starting point is 00:26:14 We'll help you do that. We'll help you grow. And we just kind of ignored their emails. Like I remember snoozing a lot of them because I was just like, I don't Now I look back at like who we're snoozing. I'm like, no, I know. It's horrible.
Starting point is 00:26:24 No, it's so funny. Like, I will say this and we'll finish this story. The group that we ended up going with, I'm really close to them now. Like, I've never asked this question. I think that they showed up in Dallas like three times just being like, hey, we're in Dallas and I literally snooze the email. We're like, sorry, we're watching the football game. But no, I never would even respond because I never wanted to give anyone hope or, because if you
Starting point is 00:26:51 And I didn't know who they were. No. Yeah. I knew who all the groups were. They're very prestigious. Oh, I didn't know. Like there's a group. Blackstone is like a big, huge.
Starting point is 00:27:00 They did goop. Like all of them were like world class premium, built the largest beauty brands type of companies. But I just didn't want to entertain anything and give anyone false hope. So I would snooze. Oh, false hope. I just didn't know who they were. I was like,
Starting point is 00:27:13 I was like, can you leave me alone? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny. And then they would get my phone number and call me. Yes.
Starting point is 00:27:20 They would call randomly and I would like answer and they're like, hi, this is so and so. And I would just be like, okay, can you call my husband? I'd be like, I don't know. I'm doing my makeup right now. Can you please call my husband? No, what's hilarious. This is what's so funny is that like, you know, we have an email for Danny that's like her divvy email, but like it was really set up just for like insurance purposes.
Starting point is 00:27:44 Because like, do I use it. You do? I mean, like probably once every two weeks. Well, what's so funny is like they would get my email and they would never. get a response and they would just email you, but it's forwarded to me. And so then I would just be like, hey, it's still me. We're not looking for capital right now. But anyway, so yeah, we would, we kind of just tried to like leapfrog the whole bringing in investors. But I think that what really changed our tune was like, Divi grew so fast and we were so tired as founders that like
Starting point is 00:28:13 we really just kind of like needed help knowing like, okay, if we want this to be a global brand, you know there's like kind of a mental toll that that would take on us by doing it alone yeah for sure that we're not really signing up for it there's a lot of value bringing in um people that have kind of done this before but also um it it came when like I just knew we were ready I felt like we had we had accomplished the goals that I wanted divy to accomplish and the next set of goals was over my head yeah like it was it was over my head I didn't know how to do it and there was too much on the line. There's too many people's jobs at risk.
Starting point is 00:28:52 There's too many. There's like, it's just, you can't make a wrong step. Like maybe you kind of can. But like I wanted someone to kind of hold our hands and help us. Going globally, if we ever went into other retailers or just like building our relationship with,
Starting point is 00:29:06 with Ulta. There's a lot of like politics that go into the beauty space too. Like that you just don't know how to navigate unless you've done it before. And so once I knew we were ready, I was like, okay, we can start having a conversation, but we're going to like still maintain majority of our company. It's going to be a minority partner that comes in that has a ton of experience
Starting point is 00:29:27 and can just help us get from point A to point B. And so we did like tons of interviews and talk to so many firms. And we found a firm that I personally love because it was an all female team. Not only were they all female, but do you remember the first time that we like hung out with them? I was like, babe, I love them. I could have a sleepover with them. And I'm so sick of like, it's, it can be really hard working with men in the beauty
Starting point is 00:29:57 space. Like I remember one of the scientists that we almost worked with was completely bald. And now we have an all. And like, you live and learn, right? And, and he was a male. And he was not our demo. He had no idea what, like, influencing. was and it was just so hard to create products with him because I want someone I can like text at like
Starting point is 00:30:23 7 p.m. and be like, hey girl, how's it going? What's the smell? Like should it smell more fruity? Should it smell, you know, whatever? And that's why we brought in like a female team of scientists because like I want not only that, but I want these girls to be the ones that like they're creating it for people like themselves too, you know? And so when I met with this team, I was like, not only are they all female. They're also like kind of around my age. Well, not, not Sonia, but like some of the other girls on the team. And they're like our demo.
Starting point is 00:30:52 Like they get it. And they were young and they were so smart. Like one of them went to Harvard, right? No, they pretty much all went to Harvard. They all went to Harvard. They all went to Cal Poly. They're all really smart. They're just smart people, smart gals.
Starting point is 00:31:05 And so I just felt, I was like, we have some synergy here. Like I can tell not only do they care, but they're the demo. And here's a thing. Like, it's so fun to work on growing a brand and growing products that you actually love. Thank you guys for listening. We will see you guys in 2024. We love our D-imluence community. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.
Starting point is 00:31:31 Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

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