Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - (EXCLUSIVE) Cara Santana Leto Opens Up About Addiction, Hollywood, Marriage & New Brand Lil Luv Dog

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

What if you hit rock bottom at 18 and almost lost your life to addiction. Do you think you could recover? EXCLUSIVE This is Cara Santana Leto’s first sit-down interview as a married woman, and she doesn’t hold back. From hitting rock bottom at 18 and nearly losing her life to addiction, to being ousted as CEO of her first company, to finding love again with husband Shannon Leto and launching a new brand, Cara is rewriting what it means to be a multi-hyphenate creative entrepreneur. How to perfect the role of “multi-hyphenate” creative entrepreneur How to leave something that isn’t working to find your truth How to start over time and time again without shame or regret How to find a whitespace in a saturated industry The inner workings of a Kardashian adjacent brand The beginning of lil luv dog Lessons from a second time founder for first time founders HSR listeners can enjoy 10% off at ⁠Lil Luv Dog⁠ with code HOTRICH10 ⸻ This episode is sponsored by: - HSR Newsletter - Get 3 months free using ⁠⁠⁠this link⁠⁠⁠. ⸻ Become an HSR Angel in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Global HSR WhatsApp channel⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⸻ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Hot Smart Rich, the podcast supporting women who own their worth — in business, wealth, and life. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⸻ 💌 Own your worth — and build the life you want. Subscribe to the Hot Smart Rich newsletter, the no-BS guide to startup life, consumer brands, and becoming your hottest, smartest, richest self, written by Maggie Sellers. Join 250,000+ women building wealth, confidence, and community on their own terms. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⸻ Follow Maggie: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tiktok⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Locker⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ShopMy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon Storefront⁠⁠⁠ ⸻ Follow Cara & Lil Luv Dog:⁠⁠ Instagram ⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠Lil Luv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by FedEx. These days, the Power Move isn't having a big metallic credit card to drop on the check at a corporate lunch. The real Power Move is leveling up your business with FedEx intelligence and accessing one of the biggest data networks powered by one of the biggest delivery networks. Level up your business with FedEx, the new Power Move. Across Canada, hourly Amazon employees can grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it.

Kara Santana Leto. Are you ready to get hot, smart, rich? I'm so ready to get hot, smart, and filthy rich. That's the best one I've ever heard. Thank you so much for doing this. Oh, thanks for having me. I'm so excited because there's a lot going on in your life, which we're going to talk about. But we always start with consumption habits.

What is the last thing that you put on your credit card? And then the last most expensive thing that you bought. Oh, my God. Well, the last most expensive thing that I bought, I can tell you, is the row bag I walked in here carrying my Margo. And I only know that because my business manager is like you're going to need to be eating ramen for the next month. So that's the most expensive thing. I bought, oh, God. the last thing I charged my credit card.

Oh, I'll tell you. A white cake from Ralph's that I am taking to my 12-step fellowship meeting because I have the cake commitment, which is how we celebrate anniversaries for people who have 365 days of continuous sobriety. That's the last thing I bought, and it was $6.99. Wait, I love that. Is that tonight? Yeah. Oh, my God.

I'm so honored that you're doing this right before you go. Thank you. Right before. Yeah. I have to ask about the row bag because I really want one. Is it worth it? Yes. Okay.

Courtney's going to kill me. Sorry, Courtney. Well, that's actually how we got brought together, but I've known who you are for so long. There's a lot I didn't know about you until I started doing research on this interview, which I'm so excited to get into. You are a Hollywood actor, producer, writer, director, entrepreneur, activist, now recent wife. What does a day in your life look like with that many hats? You know what?

I think it's ever changing and ever evolving, which is what I love about my life so much, is that it's never the same. There's no monotony. Every day is different and I really thrive on that, like, constant change. I think I would be very bored if everything look the same every day. When you wake up in the day, are you like, here's exactly what I'm doing. Like, you've scheduled it out. I do have a pretty, like, structured morning routine, so to speak, like the first thing I do is I roll out of bed and I hit my knees and I say three prayers.

I love that. And then I read a daily reflection. and I send it in a group chat that I have. And then I do a gratitude list using my five-minute journal. And then I meditate. Then I feed my dogs and let them out, set the sauna. I sauna for 20 minutes, and I cold plunge while the coffee is making. And then I'm kind of off to my day.

But I try not to like check emails or get into any of that until I've really sort of like set my head straight for the day. But that's pretty consistent. And then everything post coffee is always different. It's like a hectic storm. So going back to childhood, you were raised in El Paso, Texas. What was your house like as a kid? You know, I had a really traditional upbringing. My parents had been married for 46 years.

My mom's just a whip smart attorney. My dad was chief of juvenile probation. I had a baby brother growing up, and everything was just like super calm, super peaceful. It felt like a very nuclear, traditional childhood experience. I think the thing that was like most influenced. in my life and it's so topical right now as we grew up on the border of Guadis Mexico and that sort of informed I think the way that I see the world and the way that I view you know diversity and inclusion and the value of those things and so I grew up having this inherent belief in love,

tolerance and compassion and I think my parents were very influential in exposing us culturally to the differences of others, which has very much impacted my life. In your teenage years, if I were to ask your friends from back then what you would be doing, would they have said to me that you would be in the entrepreneur hat,

the storyteller hat of being in Hollywood, or the activist hat? I think they probably would say they're not surprised that I do all three. I was always someone who had a lot going on. I mean, I was always into the arts. I mean, I was speech and debate and plays. And so I think everyone knew I wanted to be a storyteller and that I was an actor, but I've always been outspoken.

I mean, I remember my mom always tells the story of like pulling up to Carpool and I went to this Episcopalian school. And on the marquee it said, goodwill on earth towards all men. And I said to the headmaster, like, what about women? And so I've always had this sort of outspoken nature. I've been suspended so many times in childhood. And it was usually sticking up for another child who I felt was being bullied by. a teacher and my mom would pick me up and be like you know you can't talk back to authority but I'm really glad you stood up for that kid so I think I already always had that um and then I've just

I think I've just always been interested in like creating and building things and so I don't think anyone surprised at how I turned out I'd have to ask my best friend she's known me my entire life when you picked up and left to come to Hollywood what was your first impression of Hollywood coming from that place in Texas. Well, I always knew I wanted to get out of El Paso, not because I didn't love El Paso and I didn't have a beautiful upbringing because I did, but I just always was ready to, like, start my life. And I went to boarding school for the performing arts. I, like, put together a PowerPoint presentation in high school, and I begged my parents to let

me, you know, move to California. And when I got here, I was just enamored. Like, for me, it was everything I thought it would be and more, and I was just, like, ready to hit the ground running. So when you came here, you were coming here for school. first and then how did that translate into like getting your first job as an actor? I went to a boarding school for the performing arts club called Ida Wild Arts Academy. It's about an hour and a half outside of Los Angeles and so while I was doing my traditional schooling I would take car services down to

Los Angeles and audition for jobs and I would like book I think the first thing I ever booked was like an Avril Levine music video and yeah and I was just like working as I was going to school and then finally I graduated. I graduated early. I did three years of high school, not four. And then I moved down to Los Angeles. I did a year at Cal State, L.A. to appease my parents who really thought I needed an education. And at that point in my life, I had other things going on. And I was really focused on working as an actor, but also was in the midst of a really crippling drug addiction. And so I dropped out of college and really just focused on my drug addiction and my acting career. That was actually going to be one of the questions I asked you.

I was going to ask you next, but can you take me back to that moment before you got sober? Who was that girl? You know, I think, I guess I can only speak for myself. There was always sort of this inherent sort of a partness to me as a child. So I had everything I ever needed or wanted, but I just inherently felt like I didn't, fit in. And I was always looking for some sort of external solution to this like internal, what I would call spiritual malady, which was my real ability to deal with life on life's terms. I was incredibly sensitive as a child. I could not grasp, you know, why things happened in the

world the way that they did, the injustices, the pain of other people that I would be exposed to. And I just, the world was just always too much for me. Okay. And I was always looking to escape that. And so I saw people around me drinking. I don't have any alcoholism or addiction in my family. But I saw that when people drank, they seemed to be relieved, you know, of whether it was anxiety or stress. And I was like, I think that could be a solution to my problem.

And so the girl who picked up her first drink was a girl who was really looking to escape her internal world that was really just this self-imposed crises that was occurring inside of me that I didn't know how to deal with. And that's like a big part of Hollywood. Like was it just around you all the time? So it was easy to fall into it. No, you know, it wasn't really. I was so young. I mean, neither of my parents would drink abnormally. And it wasn't ever really something that I observed being abnormal, but I knew that it alleviated something. And so when I got to boarding school, I mean, my first drink was really in Texas, just like a sip out of the cabinet, and I really felt the effects. I mean, my drinking started as it does for most young people, like a taste here,

or a party there or whatnot. But I think for me, it was just like it could never control and manage it. I would black out. I would have consequences. I was always in trouble as a result. of that drinking. And then when I went to boarding school for the performing arts, that was around and other substances were around. And so I started to partake and then ultimately, like, found the substance that really worked for me and was sort of off to the races. And then at this time, were you still, like, acting, booking jobs? Like, were you, so what was that, like, balancing that? I mean, the first job that I ever booked was a job called Strong Medicine. I was Taft-Heartlead. It was my first SAG job, which is the Screen Actors Guild, which is our union.

and I booked that job high the entire time filming I was doing lines of cocaine in the trailer and the dressing room and it became such a normal part of my life that I really could not imagine my life without drugs and alcohol and you know I'd like to think that I was functioning but I mean I absolutely wasn't but I was using and working at the same time and then what was that moment that you were like I am going to get sober I almost died of a drug over overdose and I was living in the valley, Van Nuys California in my little apartment, struggling actress, hiding this from my wonderful family and really dying of this disease, right, of addiction and alcoholism.

And I remember coming to and just going like, my incredible family can't know that their 18-year-old daughter died of a drug overdose in Van Nuys, California. Like that's just too cliche even for me. And I hit my knees and I just said, God, if you exist, like, please help me. And that's my sobriety day, April 1st, 2004. I've been sober 21 years and it's been quite a journey and it's been probably the thing that I am most proud of in my entire life. And something that is really like a guiding force in my life. And I'm, you know, so grateful for that experience.

But yeah, for me, it was very clear that if I continued the path that I was on, I would die because I almost just did. So that's when you decided to get sober. You're working as an actor. Walk me through now when you are like, okay, I kind of want to become an entrepreneur. So something people don't know about you is that you actually founded an app called the glam app. Where was this in relation to like your sobriety journey and where you are working in your actress career? Like is this out of necessity because you're not making money working or you're like, I have an I'm going to go with it. It was like I had this idea. Uber was like really taking off, which is like

what we know is sort of the marketplace model. And I was working as an actress. I was, you know, I was probably, I want to say 10 years sober at the time. I was having a lot of personal success for me at that point in my life. And I was like, wait, if people are building things, like I can do this too. Why has no one thought of a marketplace model for the beauty industry. And I was shooting a show at the time called Salem on Fox. The Witches Show? Yes. Oh, love.

Yes. And I was in Shreveport, Louisiana, which I don't know if you know much about Shreveport. Okay, well, there's, you know, not much to do on your off time, but I still love Shreveport, so don't everyone come from me. But, and I was like, I'm going to develop it. I'm just going to develop it. And I just started doing it. I really think that it's really just a matter of.

like I'm the kind of person. I've set my mind to something and I'm just going to fucking do it. So you're in Louisiana. You have this idea. What do you do next? I was like, okay, I want to understand sort of the operational landscape of being a beauty professional and what that looks like. And so I reached out to the man who then became my business partner.

And I was like, listen, I want to create an app. I offered him equal equity in the app, which if you're starting a business and you come up with an idea, I don't recommend that. And he was like. I know someone who I think would be interested in funding this. And I said, great. So I went to that person. I didn't know anything about, you know, I was going to my version of Harvard Business School in that moment.

And I said, I have this idea. And he thought it was great. And he wrote me a check on the spot. And I gave him equal equity. So I had two partners, which we all shared a third of the company. And I was sort of off to the races in developing the technology and the app. and then getting together a list of independent contractors in Los Angeles because we launched here first that were ready to sort of take their business into people's homes.

And that was how we launched. We launched in 2015. As a storyteller, this story does not have a happy ending. Can you walk people through how the story ended? Sure. I mean, I'm a big believer in there are good times and there are growing times. I try and see everything from a position of neutrality. So I'm not going to say that it was a bad ending.

But I learned a lot, you know, I learned a lot. And I think, you know, as a woman, it has been so ingrained in me, you know, to be fair, to be equitable, you know, to create a space of inclusion. And all of those things are really powerful ideas. That being said, I wish as a young person I had been more directed to like take care of myself set boundaries. and what ended up happening is my financial investor partner was going through a very contentious divorce. And he wanted to give his, soon-to-be ex-wife, his stake in the company. But we were closing our seed round of funding, which was converting the company from an LLC to a corporation with a board, vested equity, this entire different structure.

And I was not willing to give this woman a board seat of my company. And that investor told me, and he was the only investor I had had for three years, you know that if I didn't do that, there were going to be some consequences. So on the day before we were supposed to sign closing documents for the influx of new capital from our lead financier and venture capital company that was coming into the glen. Lamb app, he called me into our office with my other co-founder who, I guess he had approached without my knowledge. And they removed me from being the founder and CEO of my own company. And they were able to do that because in the operating agreement that I had signed three years

earlier, we had a stipulation that if there was a majority vote, that's all it took to make any change to the company. So they removed me. He gave, you know, his share and then my share of equity to his soon-to-be-X-wife in a defunded company, not to her knowledge, which ended up, you know, crushing the capital deal because our fund was like, well, we're not going to, we're not going to give you money if Kara's not the CEO, we're investing in her and in the business. So that capital got completely shut down. They ended up not being able to raise any money. I think they had a few angels that had come in and then COVID hit and the company closed down. And then you went from that to then being the global engagement officer at Glam Squad.

I love a pivot. Yeah. I'm like, how did that come about? Well, my largest competitor, the Glam Squad, saw what we were able to achieve at the Glam app when I was the sitting CEO. We scaled 24 markets in 12 months. We had a roadmap to product development. We were the number one on-demand beauty app in the business. And when I stepped down, they reached out to me and they said, how long is your non-compete? And I said, it'll be up in July. And they said, we'd love to have you on our C-suite. And I flew out to New York after that non-compete was up, met with them and became their global engagement officer, helped them launch their product. We launched both private label and white label. It was an amazing experience and super fun time. And then COVID hit.

And it changed sort of the infrastructure of that company. But I think, they're still operating and I hope they're doing well. It's so funny because my impression was so different of even like how that role came to be because I've actually in the past put celebrities, which I would put you in the bucket of as like the global beauty director of X or like, you know, you make up these titles. And even though they do actually have like a lot of influence in the company in terms of like creative and product, it's not at the level where I'm like, you were a legit tech founder that like knew how to build a business. Have you always been underestimated? because you've also worn the actor hat,

I think most women that I know are underestimated. But certainly, I mean, I remember raising money, trying to raise money for the glam app and during that seed round and people going, wait, so hold on, you're an actor and you founded this company and you do like influencer work. Like I don't get it.

Who's really running this company? It's like I'm really running this company. and I think people like to put women in boxes. You know, men don't really get put in boxes the way that women do. And so I think it's something that I've had to fight really my entire life, whether it's the way that I look, my last name, you know, what people think of me, my career choices, the relationships that I've been in. And you know what?

I'm fine to be underestimated and then overachieving. You've also lived a little bit of a public life. Where were you at in your personal life as you were going through all of this business change and getting ousted from a company and like that's a really unstable environment? Was your personal life stable at that time? You know, I was so young during that period of time and I was in a public relationship and I was in that relationship for a little over a decade. and there were times in that relationship, which I think is true for any relationship,

that were really positive. And during that particular time, our relationship was a really positive grounding force. And my partner was really supportive during that period of time. And I'm so grateful for that. I think ultimately the relationship deconstructed for a variety of different reasons and became a not stable relationship, but during that period of time, it was. When you're living out a relationship like that publicly,

it becomes unstable. Now being on the other side and finding your person and just having got married, what was it like to love again after that situation when it was so public? Wow, that's such a good question. I think one of the things, I don't know if people know this,

but I met my now husband. I've never, don't think I've ever said. I think does that sound good? Yeah, it sounds good. I haven't said it publicly like that. My now husband, Shannon Leto, he, I met him when I was 20 years old at a coffee bean. And the one on sunset? Yes.

It's not the one that's still a coffee bean. The one that's now a Starbucks. It's like fair back. Your equinox. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And I met him by chance.

and we dated, you know, not seriously for a couple of years on and off. And he actually is responsible for helping me get sober and walking me into a 12-step fellowship, which I'm still a member of to this day. And we stayed in touch and it just wasn't the right timing. And then I was in my then relationship for over a decade, like I said. And when that relationship ended, and I think. think this is true for a lot of people. It's like the relationship is deconstructing before it deconstructs, right? So I look back at my previous engagement with that person and what is very

clear is like we were two people who like were in a situation and didn't know how to get out of it. And I think that there was a lot of love for one another, but we weren't in love. And it was just circumstances that were sort of keeping us together. And we didn't know how to advocate for ourselves and when I got out of that relationship, I took a lot of time to really heal, you know, and do the work on like who I am now in my 30s, single, what kept me in a relationship that wasn't working for the period of time that I was and like, who do I want to be moving out of that relationship? And simultaneously, my now husband was doing similar work in his life. and we reconnected really platonically, to be completely honest, during COVID.

And we had a virtual relationship for nine months. We didn't even see each other. We were just talking and he didn't even live in California. He was living in Washington State. And then when we met for the first time that summer to reconnect, I remember driving up to his house in Mercer Island. And I was thinking to myself, this is either going to be the beginning of like the love story that I have for the rest of my life.

or is this going to be the end of a chapter. And the moment I saw him, I was like, oh, you're the man I'm going to marry. Oh, my God. That is the sweet. And I was ready. I was ready. I think is the point is like I was ready.

Yeah. I think you're always going to take with you the learnings or the experience of the past, but I work really hard every day in my marriage to ensure that I'm treating it with fresh eyes and not bringing any, you know, baggage or unheeledness. to that relationship.

But I was ready to like be in love and to be a partner and to be in a relationship. And I think being in a relationship is the hardest thing I've ever done more so than like founding a company, you know, diving into a theatrical project, getting sober. Like being in a relationship is so hard. And it is a daily practice to like show up and like be a partner to someone selflessly when you need to be and selfishly when you need to be. It's so funny. I was just about to ask you this.

You posted this caption on Instagram that's really stuck with me. This is a really long time I went very far back. Love is the hardest drug you've ever done. What does that mean? Well, I just, if you've ever been in love, you know that it is the most intoxicating feeling and it is the hardest thing to get out from. You know, it's just like no amount of cocaine or alcohol can. even compare to that intoxication of like falling in love and there is in my experience no harder

withdrawal than getting your heart broken and falling out of love with someone. Every ambitious woman has a secret weapon. So let yours be the hot, smart rich insights. It's how over 250,000 women are owning their worth in business, wealth, and life. Whether you're building a brand, making moves in your career, or wanting to get control over your finances, the Hot Smart Rich newsletter delivers the cultural context and consumer intel to keep you ahead. With only six months left in the year, it's time to make consumer trends, financial hacks, and HsR Insights your best friend, instead of mindlessly scrolling on social media. We've built one of the most powerful communities of women at the intersection of consumer, capital, and culture.

So join us with the paid version of our newsletter free for three months with the link in the show notes to claim your free offer. So now you're in love and you actually called your new company Little Love Dog. Can we talk about Little Love Dog? Yes. My husband actually came up with the name. Oh, wait, tell the story. So I'm like, hey, I have this idea. I want to, there's a 300 million pound waste deposit each year put on our environment

as a result of the pet care industry, okay? And there's zero barrier to entry when it comes to product formulation. There's no FDA regulating what we're putting on these animals. and I'm a huge dog person. I've, you know, fostered, I've adopted. Like, I'm just a huge animal advocate. And we were fostering, and I have this little chihuahua who's, like, ancient, no teeth, tongue hanging out of his mouth.

And we, he would always call our dog. He'd like, oh, you're such a little love dog. And I was like, oh, that's so cute. And so he would call Shepard, which we call Shepie, my little love dog, little love dog. You're such a little love dog because he's just such a little lover. And so when I was like, hey, I have this idea for this pet care. company. I want to fix like the waste problem and the clean problem in the pack care industry. And he was like, little love dog. And I was like, oh, my little love dog. Tell me everything about

the company. Like what is it? What are you guys doing? It's launching in August. Yes. So we launched August 26th. You know, little love dog has been a labor of a lot of love. I've been developing this company since December of 2022. I knew that I wanted to build something again. It's something that I'm passionate about. I love creating. I love storytelling, and that's pretty much in any vertical of my life, whether it's acting or directing or writing or building businesses. And I was getting a lot of offers at the time to license my name and likeness to beauty brands or personal care brands or home goods. And I was like, oh, all these verticals feel very oversaturated. But it was very clear that there were two proliferating trends, the first being a real big push in sustainability when it comes to packaging

formats and the second sort of clean and transparent ingredients. And I was like, where is there a white space? And I started looking into different areas of the consumer goods space that I was interested in. And Pet has always been something I'm very passionate about. And it tends to be recession-proof explosive market. Yeah. And so I was like, let me see what's going on. And I discovered what I just told you about the waste component and sort of this zero barrier to entry when it comes to ingredients. And I was like, that's what I want to solve. We got sort of those elements into play. And then I was like, you know, the sustainability component is so important.

And my best friend is a woman by the name of Stephanie Suganami, but I think most people know her as Steph Shepp, who was the CEO of Kardashian West Brands for a period of time and sits on Al Gore's Climate Reality Board and has this incredible platform called Future Earth, which is an educational forum online for people who are interested. about learning about sustainability but in a really digestible way. And I was like, hey, can I get your eyes on this?

And I was going to invite her in as an advisor. And it was just so clear she had so much to add and build in this business. And so I brought her on as a partner and as a co-founder. And together we really developed what little love dog is now. So we are launching with a dry shampoo, which is a bit of a category creator. If you guys can't see her, her jaw is to the ground. Oh, my God. wait. So you just decided you're like, I'm going to make dry shampoo for dogs.

Yes. How does that come to you? Well, the dry shampoo market is like a $4.9 billion industry in the personal care space. And washing your dog takes so much time. Yeah. So much energy and so much money. Not to mention most dogs don't really love being washed. and women are the leading consumers in the pet care industry. So the hypothesis and assumption that I hope is going to pay off for me is that women are going to naturally love this alternative of in-between washes so that they can save time, save energy, and save money. And so the idea was develop something that's already working in personal care,

apply it to the dog industry, and that's what we're launching with. And then following that, we'll have a liquid shampoo and conditioner, and we have a roadmap of product throughout, you know, 2028 at this point. But we're launching with a dry shampoo. We really wanted to sort of make a splash in the grooming space. Wait, I'm obsessed with this. We really wanted to build something for consumers like us. You know, this zalineal sort of Gen Z, millennial cusp consumer that is interested in like

a curated lifestyle brand. I felt like the pet care industry just feels so patronizing. Everything's like loud colors and it's so goofy. And it's like girls like me. we've got our little road lip gloss. We're going to community goods. We're using Necessar. Maybe we're splurging on our row bag.

Maybe it's Totem. Like we have a lifestyle. And people spend more on their pets than they do on themselves. And so I just wanted to create something that I knew women like me would want and use. And how can I simplify your life? How can I make a product that's good for pets, good for people, and good for the environment? And that's how we created a little love to use. So you've now launched, this is your second company.

What is the biggest difference that you're doing this time around that you did the first time? I felt in the first company that I really had to fake it till I made it. I really felt like I had to have all the answers. And if I didn't know the answers, I had to like phone it in because I couldn't let anyone catch me not knowing what I was doing. And I think as it relates to a little love dog, I only know what I know. and I don't know what I don't fucking know. And that is a strength. That is not a weakness.

Because I think as women, we do feel this need to like be over prepared or like have all the answers. And I think there's so much power in what you're saying by being like, I actually don't know. The difference between what I've noticed of people that will be successful and that won't is they know who to go to for the answers. They don't just say, I don't know. And it's like, well, this is a never ending problem.

They say, I don't know, but here's who I know to go to it. It sounds like you're really resourceful. For someone that's listening to this that maybe doesn't have the resources or the connections, like, where is the place that you would tell them to go and look for help if they don't necessarily like have the answer themselves? Or like, in another way, if someone is like, oh my God, she would be the perfect person to ask for help, what's the way that they could like send a DM to get a response from someone like you?

Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my head of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IG PrivateWealth.com.

Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero? More like habanier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. I mean, I think you just have to ask. You know, that's what I do. I just ask, you know, and the worst that someone can say is no or they don't respond and then you're really no better off than you were.

Yeah. There's so many people, at least in my experience, that genuinely want to help, that genuinely are passionate about supporting other women or supporting brands that they're passionate about. So I would just ask and like let people know. share about what you're interested in, share about the help you need. And I believe that when the student is ready, the teacher will come. Oh, I love that. Do you plan to build in public as a founder?

Or are you going to be more behind the scenes and like let the brand speak for itself? I want the brand to speak for itself. I, you know, Steph and I talk often about this brand feeling autonomous from Kara and Steph. And I think, you know, what is really special about little love dog and I think about us as founders is this is this is not a situation. where someone raised the money, they created the brand, and then they were looking for two front-facing creators or public-facing figures to come in and found the brand or lead the brand. Every single thing we have done ourselves. And that deserves to stand on its own. And I want Little Love Dog to be a brand that people know is good, that it works, that it has a message. And so

we'll be behind the scenes continuing to do what we do and we're going to let the product and the brand speak for itself. I love that. And honestly, it's one of the reasons I wanted to have you on because it's so interesting because I think you are going to face this battle of like there's a benefit to having a public persona, right? You have distribution. Do you feel like you have to work 10 times harder because people make the assumption that like you're just a face coming into this brand? I mean, here's the thing. People will always have opinions. And I try. to not get bogged down in what I'm afraid people are going to think, because that is a waste of my time and my energy.

All I can do is be really specific about every element of this business, intentional about how we launch it, how we roll it out, the people that we partner with. And so everything is super intentional and strategic and what people are going to think, people are going to think. But I know that I raised our pre-seat around. buy my own. I know that it was taking calls, you know, 7 p.m. on a Sunday night and 5 a.m. on a Monday morning and missing my husband's birthday because I needed to take that venture call because

we needed the capital. I know that I sat there and I interviewed every single hire that I'm the person that's had to do every single fire. You know, I know that and it's enough for me to know it. I don't really care if anyone else knows it. Wow, you are such a boss. I'm obsessed with you. Okay, we have to finish with some rapid fire. Oh, okay. Can we get a sip of water? Yeah, I get some water. Okay, would you rather be behind or in front of the camera? In front. Love that answer. You are so self, like, sure of yourself. Yeah. Were you always like that? You'd probably have to ask my mom, but I mean, I think, I think there's always, like, an inherent level of insecurity, but also I work at being competent and honest. Okay. This is not rapid fire, but like, if someone's working on being confident,

What is your number one piece of advice to them? I think for me, confidence comes from being willing to continue to do something and grow and being open. My favorite quote is like, take your criticism seriously, but not personally. Ooh, I like that. Oh, I'm definitely going to put that into like a newsletter and quote you on that. Would you rather pitch to VCs or do an audition tape? Oh, God. They both fucking suck.

Probably an audition tape. Okay. Would you rather be traveling or be home? That's so hard. There's a time for each. I love traveling. I love being home. God, I don't know.

Home is where the heart is. Yeah, I'm like that too. Would you rather have to pick up poo or wash the dog? Pick up poo. Hence why you're making dry gym poo. Exactly. If you could switch closets with anybody in the world, who would it be? Anyone in the world?

Dead or alive. I guess my best friend's step, but I do have actually. access to her closet, but her closet's pretty fucking sick. That's amazing. Does she let you borrow stuff? Yes, all the time. She's the most generous person I know. In fact, sometimes she'll see me and she'll be like, you can't wear that. Come over. Like, yeah. Or went on a bachelorette trip once and there was like a theme for each night and she was like, I cannot have you out there looking crazy. So come over and like, she's like, take this row bag and take this row pan and take this thin and then da-da-da-da. So yeah, she's very generous. I need to become friends with Steph shop.

100%. Everyone needs to be friends with Steph shop. Okay, you're very into both, I think. So this is going to be a good one. Fashion or glam? Ooh, fashion. I don't typically wear makeup. But you're such a beautiful, like beauty girl. I'm a skincare girl.

Okay. What's your go-to skincare product? Ooh. Rejuran. Rejurin. It's like the polynucleotides, which is basically like a fancy word for saying salmon sperm, but I use topical and it's changed my skin. Okay, we need to link that in the show notes.

Would you rather do night or morning dog duty? morning. You're a morning person. I'm a morning person. I'm a Monday person. I hate the evenings. I hate Friday. You hate Fridays? Yeah, because everyone's like, oh, I'm taking the day off or I'm like, it's Friday. It'll circle back on Monday. It's just like it's the end of the week. Like, you have to wait two days before like more opportunity and more like creativity. I know. But then don't you kind of love that you get your own time to just like do your own work on the weekends? Listen, I'm good no matter what, but I really like a Monday. Okay. I like it. Um, do you ever answer an unknown call? No. Me either. I just got one while I was prepping for this. So I was like, I have to ask her.

So my community is the best. They always want to know how they can help. Obviously, you're launching on August 26. Where are you launching? D-C. Okay. What's the website? Little lovedog.com.

And little is L-A-L. And are you hiring? Like, are there any other ways that, like, people can get involved? Are you doing meetups at, like, dog parks? Like, that's such a great question. We will be having. some of that so definitely follow us on Instagram but I think what we really want is user generated content of you and your dog. This is such a lifestyle aesthetic brand. We're really focusing on building

community and we know that so many of you all love your dogs. So any cute videos or cute photos like send it to us, DM it to us, DM it to me. Like we'd love to see you and your dog. And if you have a little love dog product and even better. Where can people find you? Oh, Kara, Santana Leto. I just changed my Instagram. How is that? It's like, oh, it's real. You're married.

And how is the process of, like, getting your new username? Oh, my God. Well, I'm so lucky that I have so many amazing friends at Meta. So I was able to, like, email someone. But I know that it is no easy feat. But if you need to anytime soon, I'll give you her numbers to text me. But yes. Kara, thank you so much for coming on.

This was honestly one of my favorite interviews. I'm so excited for this product. And I can't wait to try it when we have our eventual dog. I'm working on it right now. I really want a little mini long-haired dash hound working on Courtney. So we'll see. But thank you so much for coming on. And I can't wait to see where you take this brand.

Thank you so much for having me. It's been so fun. Bye, guys. Bye.