Good Life Project - Ellen Bennett | Crafting Aprons for the World's Best Chefs

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

Growing up in LA, Ellen Bennett had no idea her summer spent with her grandma in a small town in Mexico would play a huge role not only his how she saw the world and related to people, but also in the career she’d eventually pursue and the company she would build. Describing herself as half Mexican, half English, born and raised in LA by a fiery mom who calls her “Mami,” and having never met a color she didn’t like, she is the founder of Hedley & Bennett, a company that crafts some of the coolest, most beautiful and kitchen tough aprons, worn by a lineage of many of the top chefs in the most iconic restaurants and kitchens in the world.But she didn’t start out that way. Coming out of high school, without a strong sense of direction, she got on a plane to Mexico City, alone, and vanished into the culture, building a career and life before feeling called back to LA to make her mark cooking, under the guidance of two legendary chefs and restaurateurs. But a single, fateful moment, when she heard her mentor ask a simple question, then made a promise that, at the time, she had no idea how to keep, led her to launch her own company. The adventures that followed are the stuff of legend, many of the learnings and tales are shared in her wonderful new book, Dream First, Details Later (https://amzn.to/3aJf9kj), and we dive into it all in today’s conversation. You can find Ellen at:Website : https://www.hedleyandbennett.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/ellenmariebennett/If you LOVED this episode:You’ll also love the conversations we had with Samin Nosrat, chef, teacher, and author of one of the most beautiful and soulful cookbooks ever, Salt Fat Acid Heat, and host of the hit TV show of the same name. https://tinyurl.com/3phhve7n-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So growing up in LA, Ellen Bennett had no idea her summer spent with her grandma in a small town in Mexico would end up playing a huge role, not only in how she saw the world and related to people, but also in the career that she'd eventually pursue and the company she would end up building. Describing herself as half Mexican, half English, born and raised in LA by a fiery mom, and having never met a color she didn't like, she's the founder of Headley & Bennett, a company that crafts some of the coolest, most beautiful, kitchen-tough aprons worn by this lineage of many of the top chefs in the most iconic restaurants and kitchens in the world. But she didn't start out that way.

Coming out of high school without a strong sense of direction, she got on a plane to Mexico City alone and vanished into the culture, building a career and a life before feeling this sense that she was being called back to LA to make a mark cooking under the guidance of two legendary chefs and restauranteurs. But a single fateful moment in the kitchen, when she heard one of those chefs ask a simple question and then made a promise that at the time she had no idea how to keep, led her eventually out of the kitchen and into launching and growing her own company. The adventures that followed are kind of the stuff of legend. Many of the learnings and tales are shared in her wonderful new book,

Dream First, Details Later, and we dive into it all in today's conversation. So excited to share it with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist,

whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Growing up in Glendale, kind of North-ish, L.A.-ish. Yep. Growing up in Glendale, kind of North-ish, LA-ish, sounds like you described your upbringing there as like you were the kid that never quite felt like they fit in.

Yeah, totally. Tell me what was going on there. Well, you know, I had been raised with a amazing single Mexican mama, a little bit different than a lot of my peers at school, which was totally fine. It just simply made me, I guess you could say, stand out a little bit. And it was a different journey because maybe a lot of the kids had both parents and they had, you know, big, giant, beautiful houses up in the hills. And, you know, we lived in a totally modest little condo apartment in the middle of Glendale. And my mom was a nurse. So she worked all day, all night, you know, 12 hour shifts as an RN. And we didn't see her until the evening.

And we saw her very early in the morning when she left at 6 a.m. So it was independent as hell. But it was also one of those things where we just weren't exposed to normal life the way all these other kids were and whatever normal means. For me, normal was being with my sister at home all day and figuring out how are we going to entertain ourselves? How are we going to, we need groceries? Okay, well, I guess my mom left a credit card here. Maybe we should figure how to get to the grocery store. Let's walk there. And just being bored enough to figure things out was actually a beautiful thing. And I feel very grateful that it wasn't this like buttoned up childhood where I had a

tight schedule from start to finish and off to my soccer camp. Like none of that happened. So it just allowed me to kind of dream big all the time and try things all the time that were unusual for kids. Like there's a story of me painting my mother's bedroom bright yellow, like sponge painting it yellow while she was working. And she came home and she was like, oh, looks nice. Okay. Good night. It was it. There was no big commotion about me trying to do different things around the house. She was

just happy that I was doing something. Yeah. I mean, also I got to imagine that the level of self-reliance that you had at a really young age was probably really unusual for like friends of a similar age. Oh, definitely. And it made my daily life so different. And I felt like there were so many decisions I could just make for myself that my friends would have to, they had to call their dad, they had to call their mom, they had to get permission, they had to check in. And for me, it was just very, it was very unusual. It was very different. And when I decided that I needed to start driving because I would take the bus every day and I would walk my sister to school, which was almost over a mile away.

And when I finally said to my mother, hey, you know what? I think it'd be much more helpful if I had a car so that I could do a lot of things that you currently have to do on top of already working. So she said, all right, that's a good idea. Well, is there a car that you, you know, is out there that you want to get? And my mom has a Nissan Sentra. So I said, okay, I'm going to go find a used Nissan Sentra, get a good deal on it. So I walked my way over to Brand Boulevard, which was many, many blocks away from our house.

It's this street lined with car dealerships. And I negotiated an entire car for myself. I think I was 15 and a half. And I just told my mom, I need you to go to Ford, Star, whatever in Glendale and just sign the paperwork. We've got ourselves a good car. It's a good value. It'll be perfect. And it won't cost us too much money. This is how much it is. I've already calculated based on how much money you're

coming in every month, we can afford it. And she was like, okay. She drove down to Ford, Star, whatever, and she signed it. And that was how I got my first car. That's amazing. I mean, it sounds like your mom was also, it sounds like she was really open with you just about sort of like where things were with the family and like, this is us, this is how we operate. And like people around us may operate differently, but this is our reality and it's okay. Exactly. It was, she never made it feel like there was something wrong because we were different. She was just simply like, well, here we are. So let's go. Onward and upward. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting also. I know I actually grew up in a town where

there was an astonishing amount of wealth and not in our family, but in a lot of the town. And I caught myself, there were times where I'm sort of like, oh, so I can't go on this school trip, you know, because that's just not our family. And it was interesting because in hindsight, you know, to a certain extent, I'm like, oh, you know, like in the moment, I was probably feeling a whole lot of envy. But I think envy, especially as a kid, when you're surrounded by sort of like things that you see that maybe just, just not in a position to participate in at that moment, it can become, you know, constructive in that it becomes motivating or it can become destructive in that it sort of

just turns into like anger or rage or, you know, like othering. Right. Right. And I definitely feel that I took the motivation route and just said, look at all these things we don't have. And, you know, my parents separated when I was fairly young. And there's a part in the book where I talk about how I kind of realized as I was standing there on the side of the highway of life, I said, I think I just need to just make it work for me and march forward. No matter what is happening around me, I'm not going to wait or rely on someone to come together to rescue me. I'm simply going to start marching forward. And I very much live by that truth, even to this day. And as a leader now, I've definitely had to evolve my thought process to actually have a team that I can count on because I was so independent for so long and

so on my own for so long. Yeah. Which can be a huge challenge, you know, sort of like when you're just like, when you're, when you're wiring is okay, no one's going to figure this out for me. So let me figure it out. And then you realize you actually can, like you can become pretty, pretty good at most things. It's really hard to let that go when you're finally called to. Yeah. Well, just how I made that giant decision that I was going to be on my own and that I was going to figure things out and I was going to never have to rely on anybody for anything. I had to change my decision later on to be different. And that decision, a lot of what my book Dream First, Details Later is about is just these like decisions you make in your life that lead you from one place to the next place. But

it all starts with a decision to do or to not do, to begin, to not begin, to try or not try. And that gets the ball going. And then the world sort of, you know, molds itself to that. And then obviously it takes action and all sorts of things. But just how I decided I would be on my own, I later decided that I could have a team. And then I took a lot of action to be able to have a team. And I got an executive coach and a lot of things around me to just help because it was hard. Just because you decide doesn't make the journey easier, right? A hundred percent. Still have to put in the work. Right. But that decision though, I mean, I think it's really interesting because,

you know, there's this term helicopter parent now. Yes. I've heard of such parents. And we are, right. It's like, this does, it's almost like the exact opposite of your upbringing. But, you know, I think what we're seeing now a lot is that, you know, it's all done in the name of, I want my kid to be safe and I want them to be okay. But at the same time, like if, if as a parent, you're constantly swooping in and helping the process of decision-making, if not outright making the decisions, it's sort of like we inadvertently take this gift from kids, you know, which is the ability to just grapple with it,

figure out, make a decision and live with whatever that decision is. Absolutely. And that is a beautiful thing to be able to give to your kids. And I think that my little sister, who's six years younger than me, had way less of it than I did because we were both kind of trying to take care of her, my mom and I, and she definitely did not get as much open decision-making as I did. And I feel very lucky that I had all of that. And I do think, you know, my dad is a great person, but they separated for tough circumstances. But if he had been around, it would have been a very different

world for us. And I'm happy that it ended up being the way that it was, even though my mother for many years was very sad and bummed out that, you know, it happened the way it happened. And I was like, you can't be sad about that. And I'm grateful that we got to do things on our own. Yeah. I know. Um, part of your experience of, uh, growing up also was, um, yeah, Abuelita was, uh, down in Mexico and you would spend like solid chunks of your summer down there. Yes. Huge chunks of my time. And that was incredible because if my mother was this way, my grandma was that times 500. And I got to run around the streets of Mexico, playing soccer barefoot, going to my friends' houses. And what was beautiful about it was that I was exposed to a very different culture than what I was living in the U.S. And people were very poor. Like if we

had a modest upbringing, we looked like millionaires compared to some of my friends in Mexico. But they welcomed us in and they would invite me over for dinner and I would be so happy to sit down and have a bowl of beans with fresh cheese from the farmer's market and a stack of tortillas and like Coca-Cola for dinner. Nobody cared. And they were so content that it made me realize that money was not the thing that actually made people happy. And then I had all these friends in the U.S. that had so much money, but yet their parents were never around and they were crabby when they were, and they weren't necessarily happy. And a lot of the kids were,

the parents were depressed and it was just this whole different perspective happening all at the same time. And I thought, I like what's happening in Mexico more than I like what's happening in LA. Yeah. It's amazing to see those also, right? Because it's sort of like, it's like an invitation at a really young age to visit your values and really think about what really matters, which normally we never do until we're adults. And a lot of times it's way into when we're adults when we even do that, if ever. it just permeated my existence. It was just like, oh yeah, you make friends first, then you worry about the idea of business later. And my grandma used to sell clothes door to door in Mexico and she had all these friends and people would welcome her in and she was literally friends with everyone. And they loved buying things from her, but they never bought anything from her. They were actually just excited that she had something to share and they had bought anything from her. They were actually just excited that she

had something to share and they had something that they needed. And they happened to be doing this, you know, exchange of resources, but it was really a knowledge exchange. And there happened to be some dollars in between, but they were just pumped to get to do it with each other. And that's the beauty. And there's a whole chapter in my book about how when you have a company and you are out there trying to get your idea in front of people, I call it humble enthusiasm. That's one chapter. And then the other one is like commandeering your co-pilots. And it's how you go about getting the word out of what you're doing without making people feel like they're a transaction, right? You go to, I don't know, call it AT&T. You feel like a transaction. You call them, you are a number on the phone. But there's something that's so beautiful about

interacting with someone that makes you feel like they really care and they actually want to help you. And if they can't help you, they're not going to sell you anything. And that's the way I've approached everything with Hedley & Bennett and my team has also done the same. And that's the way I've approached everything with Hedley & Bennett. And my team has also done the same. And that is a beautiful, simple truth that more people should apply to business. Yeah. Do you think, I mean, as an adult and as a business owner at this point, looking back, you can sort of like look at this experience with your grandma and the neighbors and her going door to door and selling and give it this frame.

I'm always curious when you were a kid and you just saw what she was doing, did any of that land? Were you aware of the fact like, oh, she's got this really interesting relationship with people where they love her, they're part of the community. And at the same time, there is a transaction which tends to happen. And isn't this an interesting way to go about this? Or was that really just reflecting later in life? I just remember how vivid it felt that people loved her. Like you walked into the house and it was whatever house we were, you know, showing clothes to that day. And people were just like, you know, it was just like, come have coffee. How are your kids? Let me see what you brought today. And my grandma, my abuelita was so excited about what she had this week or what clothes she got from crossing the border and going into, you know, Brownsville to pick up clothes and bring it back

to Tampico that people were just like, oh my gosh, she went out on adventure and she brought it back and now we get to see it. Let's look at it together. And it was this like curiosity that kind of filled the room. That's what I remember so much. And when I looked back at that, I realized, well, she was never selling to them. She was actually offering this amazing service and friendship to them that made it easier because not everybody could go to the United States and buy clothes in that way. And so she got to bring them and she was just so delightful to be around. It made it easy. Yeah. That sounds amazing.

I mean, it sounds like part of what she was offering also was a feeling. Yeah. You know, like just this feeling of like, oh, we're in this adventure together. Like we see each other, we're with each other, which is kind of magical. She like made people feel important. It didn't matter if you were buying one thing and you owed her a ton of money from other things you had bought. She had a little notebook and she would mark down like, okay, this woman's giving me 10 pesos this week towards the money that she owes me. And she would just treat her just as kindly as the next lady

over that bought maybe five jumpers or whatever. And it was beautiful because I very much took that to Hedley and Bennett and treat anyone, you know, you can be a line cook or the head chef of a huge chain and everybody gets that same sort of love and treatment and respect because we're all individuals and we're all on a journey and we're all on an adventure together, right? So make people feel important because they are. And that feeling is, I strongly believe, one of the things that really took Hedley and Bennett from Ellen out of her house with $300 to now this much larger organization. Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, it sounds like that feeling also is something, the seed was planted with your grandma, but also that was, it sounds like those were summers and those were moments where an understanding of food, like the creation of food, serving others,

that seed was also planted in a really powerful way during those summers. A hundred percent. And seeing how it made people open their homes up and open themselves up through food was really beautiful. And it was very simple food, by the way. It wasn't fancy at all, but it was so delicious and it was made with so much love and care that it did give me this urge towards food and the kitchen and being a part of it in one way, shape or another. And I always knew I would end up doing something with food. I just didn't know exactly what it would be. So that's another part in the book, how I talk about how the road is very windy and it's not a straight shot, like, okay, and then you go to college and then you get a job and then you retire. Like,

that's like stuff you see on TV. That's not how the real world works. And I went on all these wild adventures to end up in a place where I figured out, well, I have a company that outfits restaurants and chefs, but I no longer cook myself, but I'm adjacent to that industry. So I get the best of both worlds. It took a long time to get to that place. Yeah. As it always does. Mythology, I completely agree that it's just this sort of linear trajectory. Maybe that exists in certain fields and for certain people, but I think for most people, actually, I saw data like a couple of years back that said the average person will literally change entire career or something like eight times, not just jobs, but careers,

which is, which I, and I think the pace of that is only accelerating these days. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

The Apple Watch Series 10, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's

a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot.

Flight risk. So you come back. You graduate high school. Mm-hmm. And you're in a place also where you're like, okay, so college isn't necessarily the next step for me. But you love cooking. You love people. You had all these lessons.

So you get on a plane and you go back to Mexico city alone with basically no plans, no job. And you're like, what was going through your mind? I, my mother being the magical unicorn that she is, she just saw me kind of waffling around in LA a little bit after I had graduated high school and all my friends were off to different schools and, you know, I'm going to go to Berkeley and I'm going to go over here. And it was all very proper. And I just kind of wasn't finding my footing. And she was like, well, why don't you, you know, maybe why don't you go to Mexico for a little bit and then come back and it'll be good.

Good change of environment, you know, just do something a little different for the summer. And so I was like, I think that's a great idea. I love Mexico. My family didn't know. I don't have any family living in Mexico City. So this is really kind of ballsy. So I go to Mexico City. I get there and I'm like, holy crap, this is incredible. Like it is so vibrant and alive and people are happy and it's loud and food everywhere. And I was like, this is it. I got to stay here. Like, this is awesome. And, you know, I caught a boyfriend and I found a place to live and I just bloomed this whole life into existence out of nothing and by myself. And I had to get a Mexican passport because it was much easier to be a citizen than to have all the,

you know, nuanced permits to work in Mexico as an American. It was actually quite hard. So I said, no, I don't want to do that. I'm going to get my Mexican citizenship. So I went through that whole ring of parole and it was just one adventure after the next figuring out how to get jobs in a foreign country, how to get set up with the IRS in Mexico, how to rent an apartment on your own when you don't have credit in another country. I mean, it was like battle after battle, but it was so exciting because I was on my own and I just decided I could do it. I don't know. There was like no other alternative. Also, my parents at this point, both of them, mind you, were like, this is now crazy. My mother had said two months. Now I was like really leaning into this.

And so they said, we're not going to be giving you any kind of money. You need to come home. So I really had to make things work because I was now proving them wrong. And so I got all these jobs and every single one of them helped me figure out how to make something out of nothing and how to, you know, the Ellen Bennett way, dream first, details later. And I just went from one adventure to the next and would be committed to it because I had no other alternative. There's nothing to fall back on. So I just had to keep marching forward. And that's a, it's a really tough thing to do, but it's also a really good thing to do because you're committing and then

you're following all the way to the end, no matter what comes your way. And it taught me that kind of grit and resilience to not give up, even when things get really, really hard. And I had some pretty rough circumstances at times in Mexico where people would, you know, bamboozle me literally and just things happen that were super tricky. And I had to navigate them on my own because nobody was there to rescue me. And that was a great thing. That was very hard, but very great an experience. Yeah, I mean, and it's sort of like, you know, with everything where you struggle and something goes wrong and then you make it through, it's all right, all right.

Well, if I could do that, you know, it's really just keeps building proof in your mind that there's kind of nothing that can knock you back. Yep. Yep. I call them, there's like a little section in the book, I call it like getting notches on your confidence belt. You just go through life and you're accumulating these experiences where you fall down and then you get back up and you're like, all right, I was able to do that. Now I can go do a bigger one and tackle bigger and bigger challenges. And it just gives you the feeling that you can, so you just keep going. Yeah. It's like exposure therapy, basically.

There you go. But in the real world, day to day, in one of the biggest cities in the world, in a foreign country where you have like, it's just you and that's it. Yeah. There's no safety net at all. Right. So when you're down there and you go through a series of jobs, like from acting, TV, and then actually, you know, like you're going to starting to just sort of like explore the restaurant industry and cooking. What is it that happens that makes you say, because you're succeeding, you're like, you're going from thing to thing to thing to thing, but you keep checking these things. What happens in your mind that makes you say, because you're succeeding, you're going from thing to thing to thing to thing, but you keep checking these things. What happens in your mind that makes you say, it's time to go back to the US? Such a good question. And it would have been a lot more comfortable. I say air quotes because it actually wouldn't have been. It would have been much more

comfortable to stay in Mexico because by the time I was 22 and 22 and a half, I had my own house. I was making a ton of money on my own. I was totally independent. I was a freelancer in all these different jobs. So I could work if I wanted to work if I didn't. And I had graduated my little culinary diploma and I had done all these great things. I had learned so much. And I just kind of looked around and said, okay, I'm 22 and a half. I've got this, this, this, and this. I got the money in the bank.

I've got this thing. And I'm like, so is this it? Like I made it, I think. And there was just something within me that said, this can't possibly be it. Are you going to just say you made it at 22? That seems like you're kind of copping yourself out here. And I felt that I needed to take what I had learned in Mexico and apply it and kind of plug it back into this life that I had in a way ran away from, which was LA. And I felt the need to come back and

complete what I had started, which was this love of food and to have my culinary career and have my restaurants and all the things I wanted to do. And it was the path less chartered, but it was the right thing to do because it was not as easy and it wasn't just available. And I thought, if I'm not doing this now, like, what am I actually going to do? I'm just going to stay here and get married and have kids and like call it a day. That seems really boring. And so I sold everything. I made the decision and I was like, okay, all right, let's do this. And I sold it all, which was a very therapeutic thing to do because I also realized that all this stuff didn't actually make me.

I had made it and it was like stuff at the end of the day. And I got rid of it. And then I went and traveled for like two months and then flew back home and moved back in with my mother. And let me tell you, that was weird because you had this whole life, four years on your own in a foreign country, living your best life. And now you're back in your mother's house, like with her yelling about, you know, cleaning the kitchen. It was so strange. But I said, if I could do it in Mexico, I can a thousand percent do it here. And ironically,

when I came back to LA, everything in my life had not changed in Los Angeles, but I had changed dramatically. And so I looked at life with such a different perspective and it felt like somebody had rolled out the red carpet and was like, which way do you want to go? Everything's so much easier in the United States. Easier also in air quotes. And that's when I went and decided to get different jobs in restaurants, find my way into the culinary world and begin from the bottom up and just make it happen just how I had over there. And somewhere along the lines is where I started Hedley & Bennett, also out of my house, also with $300 and with nothing else but myself. And I kept going. Right. So you basically drop into LA and hustle like crazy and

end up effectively working two full-time jobs. Yes. At two different restaurants, two different chefs. But the goal was, it sounds like, let me just learn as much as humanly possible and get a foot in the door. But I mean, I'm fascinated by that because like you said, you were doing great in Mexico city or make a lot of money on home and all this stuff. And then when you, you effectively start starting over, but in your mind, you know, that you've already attained this level of success. And then you you're literally walking into the kitchens of restaurants saying, you know, even with some, like I'll work for free

for a while, just to show you that, you know, like my work ethic and until you decide whether you want to hire me, um, it really requires you to humble yourself, you know? Um, and to say like, I am not just because I've had this thing that I've done and accomplished in my past, I'm stepping into something entirely new and nothing is above me, which is a really hard thing for most people to do. Yes. Yes, definitely. And as I've had in my business for eight years now, eight and a half years, humility is something that just is day to day. It's every day. I am the chief janitor. I am the chief person that deals with any shit storm that comes our way. And that is just the way it is as a business owner. But yeah, it took a lot of just not worrying about looks and perception and all that stuff and just recognizing I was there to learn. And that was it. And if that

meant starting at $10 an hour, that was what I was going to do because I wanted the value of the education was so much more important to me than the money I was going to do because I wanted the value of the education was so much more important to me than the money I was going to make. Yeah. I love that. And I know that experience a bit personally. I was in a very, very past life. I was actually a lawyer working at like one of the biggest firms in New York city. Oh wow. And I, I burned out in a really big way and I decided I needed to start entirely over and add a lifelong love of wellbeing and fitness and, and entrepreneurship as well. But I kind of knew if I was going to jump to that world, I had to start at the absolute bottom. So I went from making, you know, a healthy six figure

living with a really prestigious job to making 12 bucks an hour. Um, you know, like just working the floor to learn the business. And it's, it is, it can like, I had to swallow my ego a lot. But at the same time, you learn so much. Even if you could have talked your way into a management level job at a restaurant, you learn at a profoundly different level when you show up as a line cook. You understand the culture and what it really takes to actually create this thing. I think it's such a powerful experience if you're willing to go there. offer something that you have that someone else doesn't have and just show up and contribute in a way that outshines everybody around you and makes them want to give you an opportunity and not outshine in a bad way, but simply like if somebody shows up with a seven, show up with an 11 in terms of gusto. And when I first got my job at Providence,

this is a two Michelin star restaurant. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I barely knew it was a two Michelin star restaurant. I was just so in awe of everything about it that when I didn't know what to do, I would just clean and I would clean hard and fast. And that made them realize that I wanted this and that I was putting in the effort. And that is what people want. Even if you don't know what you're doing, if you show that you care and that I was putting in the effort. And that is what people want. Even if you don't know what you're doing, if you show that you care and that you're trying hard, people notice, they just really do. And I admire that so much, especially now as we continue to grow

and scale the organization. Every time we hire people, we are looking for people that are no ego. If you mention what fancy schools you went to, you actually don't need to mention that. It's on your resume. You don't need to talk about that. And I have so many incredible people that work for us that went to incredible schools. And I can tell you, nobody knows it. Nobody knows who went to Stanford versus who went to a community college versus who didn't go to college. People just don't talk about it because that's not the culture that we've created in the company.

We're about no ego, showing up, never stop learning, make magic. These are the values of Headley & Bennett. Yeah. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping.

And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone Xs are later required. Charge time and actual results black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS are later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday.

We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're gonna die.

Don't shoot him, we need him! Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. So let's talk about Headline Bennett because you've built something really incredible, but I'm always fascinated by sort of like the moment of inception. And for you, almost every business has this sort of like legend of a moment or something that happens. You're working as a line cook in the kitchen and you just happen to overhear something.

And then you make a promise that is almost completely fabricated, but then you like decide, okay, now I need to actually live up to that promise. Yep, yep. Yeah, it was a crazy, crazy moment in time. And I think all of us have moments like that that cross our lives

and you are either willing to take that leap at that moment or not. But I guarantee you, it happens to all of us. So you just have to be aware of it and be willing to make that jump. So for me, it was the chef said, hey, there's a girl, she's going to make aprons for us. Do you want to buy one? And I was like, chef, I have an apron company. I will make you those aprons. What's the turnaround? How long is it going to take? Like, give me the order. I will do this for you. And he's like, you're a line cook in my kitchen. What are you talking about? But I convinced him. And so he was like, okay, fine. 40 aprons. You got yourself an order. And that was how the company began. And it was very dream first details later. It was just like, decide it and do it. And I had to commit. My job was now on

the line. I loved my chef. He was an amazing person to work for and I didn't want to fail him. And I had already done all these crazy things in Mexico where I just kept showing up. And I thought, if I can do all of that, I can figure out how to make this happen. I'm in the U.S. and I have a car. I didn't even have a car in Mexico. It was so much easier to figure this out here. So with my amazing Latin community around me, I figured out somebody that knew somebody that could sew and pieced it together, really piecemealed it together and then delivered that first order. But by the way, Jonathan, that first order when I delivered it was far from perfect. And my chef was like, Ben, these aprons suck like 24 hours later, which almost killed me mentally. Right. Because it's part of it's the aprons for

you, but the part of it is also it's your job also. It's like everything's on the line here. Everything is on the line. And I was like, oh my God, what does this even mean? And so I had to repair the aprons and make them better and fix the straps. And it took the leap though to get me going. And then the path was just continue adjusting along the way and making it tinkering with it till it was better as the car was now moving. And that was my way. I know that there's many ways to do a business, right? You don't have to do it so by the seat of your pants. But the idea here is don't let too many of the details stop you from beginning. There's a line that I say, start before you stop in Dream First Details Later. And that's the whole idea. This isn't never do the details.

It isn't details never. It's details later. Just like begin. Yeah, I love that. There's, um, I was once told if you're not at least a little bit embarrassed by the first product that you ship, no matter what it is that you're creating, then you've waited too long. Totally. Yeah. And also, and this was a part of your experience, right? It's sort of like you can make something in your mind, which you think is really good, but you don't really know what needs to be fixed or what needs to be improved upon until it interacts with other people. And it's their feedback, but, but we're terrified because we're like, but what if it's wrong? And, and I'll look terrible, but it's like, but we need, we actually need their feedback to make it as good as we want it to be.

We're terrified of that at the same time. Totally terrified to hear it, but yet it is a part of the recipe. Feedback is in that equation. It has to be there. Yeah. I mean, what also occurs to me sort of like on a less obvious way, and I'm curious whether you feel this was a big part of it, is that for this chef to not just say like, these suck, I'm throwing them out. I'm going back to the original person ordering them because I know they're going to be a certain quality, a certain thing. There was something about the relationship that you had cultivated with that chef over time that led them to sort of like forbear and say, I'm going to give you time to make this right. And that's, to me, I wonder if a lot of this story, like the less obvious part of the story

is that you had built up so much trust over time by just showing up and by the work ethic that you devoted over time, that you earned sort of like this window of trust for him to kind of weigh. Wow. I had never thought of that. I love that. I hope that is part of the reason. I definitely feel like he just gave me this opportunity. It was just sort of like granted to me in a beautiful way. I didn't overthink it. And I think he didn't overthink it either. His name is Joseph Centeno. And he's just such a brilliant entrepreneur in his own right. And I always remember him being in the kitchen with a ton of paint on his shoes because he would be painting the bathrooms and painting the restaurant before the restaurant even opened. And then he would be on the line cooking with us and firing off orders and being like four steak, two fish, whatever. And he just got into the trenches with us. So he maybe saw that in me too, just this willingness and commitment to, to show up. But yeah, he was an incredible leader. I feel very lucky to have

cooked under him and Michael Cimarusti at the same time, because one was two Michelin stars and the other one was like volume. We were doing so many meals in one night and the other one was like pick herbs and perfection and everything being like everything in its right place. And it was quite kind of like my upbringing, this crazy cultural contrast that I seem to love. Yeah, no, I love that. And Joseph also goes on to then open a series of additional restaurants after that. Yes, yes. He becomes quite, quite successful. Yeah. So you find yourself then sort of like dropped into this world where you're like, okay, so I'm working two jobs. I'm, you know, doing this amazing stuff, but working a lot.

And now you're actually working three jobs because now you sort of like magically spun this apron company out of thin air. Yes. And did you have a sense for what you wanted it to become in the early days? Or were you just kind of showing up and saying, this is going to go where it needs to go? I mean, because I'm trying to think about, you couldn't have had literally even a matter of minutes on any given day to breathe. Yeah, it was pretty intense. Let alone really think about, let me plan the trajectory of this. Let me map it out and make pro formas. It sounds like you were literally just opening your eyes, working nonstop

for 18, 20 hours a day probably, and then closing them and hoping to make it through the next day. Yeah. No, 100%. And in so many ways, I just kept thinking, you just got to keep running. You got to keep going. You got to keep going. You got to reinvest every penny back to the business. Don't spend more than you make. Just go, go, go. And I don't know what or how, but there was just this desire inside of me to make this thing bloom. And I was so unclear about where it was all going to land, but it didn't matter because I was really enjoying it. I was really loving how I felt showing up every day and doing this. And I was like this scrappy underdog that was just figuring it out and nobody else was doing it. And so it

felt like this big, wide open field of opportunity. And I would look to my left and right and no one was around. So I was just running as fast as I could to get to as many chefs and as many people that I could help as possible and making all these friends along the way. And it was, I was like willing it into existence. But then there came a time when I started to get my head sort of slammed into the ground and it became not so pretty anymore and it became not so whimsical and not so like just shine it into making it right and make it happen miraculously. things started going wrong. And the time when I recognized I had to like get off the bike to adjust the bike and not just keep riding the bike, even though there was a tire missing and like the handlebar was falling off and I hadn't put any backend systems into the company and my team was getting burnt out and I was still working all these jobs and it was just rough. And I had to, again, make those shifts. And those were really hard. There were

some really hard times there where I think a lot of people maybe would have thrown in the towel because it was just not fun anymore. And a lot of my experience was very real life. It was very real time and it was showing up and getting to the right place at the right time. It wasn't planning oriented. And so I had a tough time getting over those hurdles and finding team members that would come on board and I would find team members, but they would be friends of friends. And it was just like havoc. It was people trying to just figure things out and not having alignment. And so we just kept stumbling and stumbling, but yet around us from the outside looking in, the business was growing. We were having, we had so many customers. We had everybody and their mother was contacting us about doing custom work. And we were outfitting big, big time chefs like David Chang and Martha Stewart and

Alton Brown and you name it, they were calling us and we were just the cool new kids in town doing something that was so different and so radical that they wanted a piece of it. But the opportunities were kind of killing us. Like we just, we were saying yes to everything and kind of getting indigestion from it and drowning in opportunity. And it was tough, really tough. And I had two amazing girls, Marissa and Allie, who worked with me at the very beginning and this other girl, Daisha. And between the three of them and I, we would sell and place the orders and try to get the fabric and put it in. And, oh, it was rough. So we went through this honeymoon phase into, oh shit, this is real phase. We need to do this better to then the evolution of recognizing we needed different people and different systems

and different processes as the business was evolving. And we couldn't just keep going like we were going. And we had to start growing up a bit. And that was very, very challenging. And it was also very mentally draining because my magic was making something out of nothing. And now to make something that already exists into something different was not my sweet spot. And I made a lot of failures and I messed a lot of things up from just delivering things not on time. Things started to slip and we would count on people and then the people wouldn't deliver and then we wouldn't deliver to our customer. And it was hard, but those were the parts where we kind of like had our heads hit the ground and we still got up every day because

there were all these people that wanted our stuff. So we had to keep going. There was no exit. It wasn't like, oh, we're having a hard time and we have no customers. It was like, there was a line out the building and we needed to deliver. So that went on for quite some time. And then I started calling in recruits and I did something that I had never done before. I started throwing money at the problem. And I had always kind of thought, figure it out, do it on your own, like just get people to help you. And I started hiring consultants, which I went on this great crusade of consultants, which was, oh my gosh, what a disaster. They would come in with all their fandangled ideas and we would begin some of them and we would leave some of them. And then we'd realize that's not a good idea. Then we'd move

on. And it was just this kind of finding your footing while the business is, mind you, still growing. It's like true, hard, horrible growing pains. And as a leader, I was doing a terrible job because I have an endless amount of energy and I can just keep going forever. And my team couldn't. And yet I wasn't even looking around because I was so busy trying to do everything all at the same time. So it was just failure after failure for quite some time until I got a couple of key people in the building with me that helped me see the light of day. And there's a whole chapter on that, how they kind of have like this big come to Jesus with

me. Like an intervention. Literally, it was a full-blown intervention. And they said, you got to do something different. You cannot continue continue this way it's not healthy for you or for the team or for anybody we need to do this better and so at that moment i kind of had to like let go of the reins that i had been like clenching so hard just trying to like bring this thing to life and not let it die and we we started doing it a different way. And that was a whole journey in its own right. But all of these things happen. They happen to people. They happen to you on the

path. And business books don't always share that. They're like, kind of skip over that section, the heartache. And then they're like, and then we sold the business. And you're like, how did you do that? So yeah, we get deep and honest and raw and very colorful because business is a colorful thing. It's not just black and white. Yeah, for sure. I mean, part of me wonders also, you know, when you go through those, those moments, um, and every business does, every founder does, you know, like there's, even when like you're humming from the outside, like from the inside, looking out so often, it's just like you're duct taping as fast as you can to try and keep things from like spontaneously combusting. But one of the things I was curious about, you know, we've

talked about from the outside looking in also, you know, Headley and Bennett becomes this, you know, probably the world's premier apron company, you know, like awesome designs, like it makes, but there's something else going on, right? And you allude to it from the very, very, very first moment, which is you're not just making aprons. Like this goes all the way back to your abuelita. You're not just creating an apron, which has a functional job, which is good and important and it has to work, but there's something bigger going on here, which I wonder how important the bigger sense of purpose, how these things made people feel was to your ability to push through all this adversity that kept dropping into your lap.

Yeah. And in a way, writing this book was my anthem to the adversity. It was me saying, this journey has not been easy and I've gone through it and I still every day show up and there's a different adventure and a different challenge ahead, but I can do it and you can do it too. And our product is designed to make people feel awesome. It's not just an apron. And because of all the people that wear Headley and Bennett, there's a whole like lineage of incredible chefs. So you put that gear on and it's not just an apron. This is the same apron that David Chang wore. And this is the same apron that all the chefs on Top Chef are wearing. And this is the same apron that, you know, on Final Table, on Netflix, every chef that won that show was wearing Hedley and Bennett. And so it's like almost a rite of passage and getting every person to be a part of that was the journey, right? It was like making the apron mean something in a way that was so much deeper than just the fabric. And I loved that. That has been my favorite part of building H&B because it's the community that's woven into that material and

gives people the feeling that they can do it too. Yeah. I love that. It's sort of like the feeling of having something awesome on you, but also the feeling of knowing that you belong to a lineage of people that are like going out and creating great things and affecting a lot of people. There's something really powerful about that also. So you go through a lot of these struggles and's something really powerful about that also. You know, so you go through a lot of the, these struggles and, and end up figuring out, okay, you know, we're kind of getting everything right from the inside out and growing like wildfire still. And then 2020 hits, right? You, at the end of the day, yes, you're making things for individuals who can buy it, you know, but at the end of the day, a huge part of what keeps your business alive is restaurants.

Totally. And all of a sudden, one of the industries that has utterly decimated over the last 12 months is the restaurant industry. And this is how you live. This is how you take care of your employees. This is how you take care of your community. You have nothing to sell if people aren't showing up in kitchens. Yeah. You have nothing to sell if people aren't showing up in kitchens. And that turns into a real moment factory here in LA becomes a face mask facility overnight the day of the shutdown. And it was one of these moments where very similar to when Chef said, hey, there's a girl who's going to make us aprons. It was like Governor Cuomo in

New York was saying they didn't have any protection. They had no more face masks. And I saw that this was happening. And I saw Christian Siriano, who had made my wedding dress, was like, well, I'll make you face masks if you need face masks. And I'm like, he makes wedding dresses. If he can make wedding dresses and make face masks, I better show up and do this too. And it was just this decision. Again, back to the decision. I just chose to do this. And then everything followed from there. And we did this radical shift and started making face masks overnight. Put it up on our website the next day. This was Saturday. And by Monday, we were cutting and sewing face masks and shipping them through a buy one, donate one model on our website, Hedley and Bennett. And we to date have made over a million masks and we donated half a million masks. And this was never part of the plan. We had not even thought about this. We didn't even know where to begin, but it took off like crazy because people

were at home and they didn't know how to help. And they thought, man, she took her entire factory and it's converted into this thing. Like we'll buy one and then she can get another face mask to someone on the front lines. And that's exactly what we were doing. And it was because of our community and all through social, by the way, like none of this was pushed in any way other than, you know, lots of press that's then started picking it up, but we just showed up and it was wild. My team really rallied to, to make this happen. Yeah. I mean, I can't even imagine, you know, beyond just knowing, you know, all of the really tough things that are happening in the world and

the community around you because of what was going on. Also like kind of waking up one day and saying, okay, I think we might be over, you know, or at least for the foreseeable future, like, like literally like the company is going to kind of need to shut down for now and maybe forever. Cause who knows to then within 24 hours saying, not only is there a way to potentially keep the company going and keep the jobs, but we can be of service in a, in a completely different way on a completely different level. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It was something. It was crazy. Yeah. So as we sit here today, we're sort of like having this conversation where there's a,

I think there's a sense of hope and emergence and things are shifting. Zooming the lens out as you sort of like look at the state of your life, your business, the world right now, if I offer up the phrase to live a good life, what comes up for you? You need to take care of others and not just surface level, but just really recognizing the people around you and what their needs are. And I think to live a good life is like in the service of others. If you are helping others, you are doing good. If you are contributing in some way, it could be big, it could be small. It doesn't actually matter. Just like show up for people. And the more you do that, the more fulfilling life becomes. Because when you

have a business and it's just for the sake of business, it's not fulfilling. If you have a family, you get to show up for them. If you have friends, you get to show up for them. So fill your life with as many things as you can where you get to show up for people. And that's when you're most fulfilled, for sure. Thank you. the conversation that we had with Samin Nosrat, chef, teacher, and author of one of the most beautiful and soulful cookbooks I've ever seen, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and also the host of the hit TV show by the same name. You'll find a link to Samin's episode in the show notes now. Even if you don't listen at this moment, be sure to click and download it now so it is ready to play when you're on the go. And of course, if you haven't already done so, be sure to follow Good Life Project in your favorite listening app so you'll never miss

an episode. And then share the Good Life Project love with friends because when ideas become conversations that lead to action, that's when real change takes hold. See you next time. The Apple Watch Series X is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum.

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