The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - how UrMomAshley made $100k in 3 MINUTES

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

https://youtu.be/eKk1EZocfhIYep. Ashley Alexander sold $100,000 matcha in 3 minutes. 0 ad spend.And she did it on  @shopify  Start YOUR dream brand TODAY https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedshopify @urmomashley  socials:YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@urmomashley Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aaashleyk/Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@aaashleyk?lang=enPodcast  @BeautifulTwinSistersPod  Nami https://www.instagram.com/namimatcha/Members: https://tapx.it/members.zoeunlimited✍🏻 if you want to build a following https://tapx.it/stanzoeunlimited👉🏻CHOOSE future topics https://tapthe.link/WDLnjLJy1 Learn & Grow with me.💖 Instagram: https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedig💜 TikTok: https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedtiktok🖤 Listen on Apple & Spotify: https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedapple https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedspotify🪭 All my outfits https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedltk👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedlinkedin🛒 Amazon Essentials https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimited👉use code ZOEUNLIMITED for 10% off ALL travels on Klook https://t.ly/aA76T📸My gear: (Sony A7Siii) [ZOEUNLIMITED15] https://tapx.it/lensrental 📧 Business inquiries: [e-mail] /🕙Timestamps: 0:00 Intro1:32 selling $100,000 matcha under 3 minutes with ZERO marketing spend5:05 building personal brand at 201315:47 building YouTube in college19:19 flop eras & views25:40 video ideas, editing & hiring28:20 the $3.71 b global matcha market35:10 birth of Nami39:41 pop up strategy42:45 the cost of running a matcha business48:58 running a matcha business vs media business54:53 the perks of being an influencer: NEGATIVE CAC57:23 building a secret email list1:04:11 bootstrapping1:05:53 revenue pie breakdown1:11:04 advice for landing top brand deals (dior, sony, capital one)1:16:54 the off camera lore of dating kelly1:25:24 what if fear does not exist1:30:53 Ashely’s *first business was not Nami1:37:50 story of the beautiful twin sisters//👗LOOKBOOK Revolve outfits: https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedrevolveAll my outfits https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedltkCream White Wide-Leg Dress Pants (M) https://tapthe.link/Pgvysbk5oVitaly gold collar https://sovrn.co/7wtgp38Athena ring https://bit.ly/3G54y1y👉use code ZOEUNLIMITED10 for 10% off on YesStyle//😋Fav proteins-BEST chocolate protein https://tapthe.link/huelzoeunlimitedget $15 off your entire order ZOEUNLIMITED- chocolate collagen protein: [code ZOEUNLIMITED20] https://tapthe.link/T-LEclSOa- tastiest bars https://bit.ly/3OpQoN8- 😋try my fav mango chili lollipop and horchata electrolyte https://tapx.it/tastesaludzoe10 🥭🩵 get 10% off with ZOE10 //💪🏻MY WORKOUTS11 abs routine https://youtu.be/D-8kLwf8xjcSlim legs routine https://youtu.be/Dd3Nbh7OXUUKpop idol arms routine https://youtu.be/6QlEAzstdI4//💦FITNESS -Resistance band: https://amzn.to/3w2k3o3-Current yoga mat: https://amzn.to/3CICqjf//✨Fav skincareFav skincare: https://amzn.to/40ciLWzToner https://shrsl.com/3st55Water sleeping mask https://shrsl.com/3st5jLip mask https://shrsl.com/3st5kDr Jart Vitamin mask https://shrsl.com/420l8Dr Jart hydration mask https://shrsl.com/4fl7n//📸 Camera: https://tapthe.link/wp8Yr0GlC//📕MY CPA EBOOK https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedcpabook//📚RECOMMENDED BOOKS1) This Is Marketing https://amzn.to/3ArHk7N2) Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable https://amzn.to/3CnlF133) Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://amzn.to/359KZUk4)The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business: https://amzn.to/2BUJwGC5) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck https://amzn.to/2VtNqQm//🎵 MUSIC Get FREE royalty-free music https://tapx.it/thematiczoeunlimitedIOSUB - Dreams - https://thmatc.co/?l=F1D5E3FECitrus Avenue - That Warm Glow - https://thmatc.co/?l=15D310C6Thank you Shopify for sponsoring and supporting the show!Sub count at upload:

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The most amount you made in a month for AdSense. I said it was 25K in one month. I think I beat it by. How do you attract brands? They sent me to a Dior fashion show. Did you like him at the very beginning? Oh my God. You might know your mom Ashley for her cozy vlogs and soft-spoken TikToks.

But did you know she made over $100,000 in matcha sales in three minutes with zero marketing spend? God forbid. I actually feel like a lot of of YouTubers. This episode is brought to you by Shopify, but more on that later. If there was a dream influencers brands would love to work with, it has to be your mom, Ashley. Your online BFF since 2013, she's cute, warm aesthetic, has no drama with a super loyal following,

and gets hundreds of thousands to millions of views with the most anti-clickbait titles and thumbnails. Such as, I made a mistake, it happened again, and big brands noticed. Dior Sony FAPLetics Capital One, but there was one small problem. Will this all go away the moment she stops posting? Welcome to the Marketing Bestie Podcast where we dive into branding with the smartest founders, CMOs, and culture shapers to help you and your business unlock your unlimited potential. In this episode, we learned about Ashley how to build a personal brand

that brands love to work with. I'm actually shaking right now. And more importantly, how in the world? Did she sell $100,000 of maja in under three minutes? Cheers! With zero marketing spend. The most delicious thing I've ever tasted. The most delicious thing I've ever put my lips on in my freaking life.

Ashley, welcome. Thank you. First of all, congratulations on all the major success in Nami. Oh my God, thank you so much. I love your little setup that you put here is so cute. I love the Nami Maja you sent me. It's so good. Oh, thank you.

and everything super delicious. Thank you. Can you even go to a cafe and order matcha nowadays? I mean, I really do make it at home, like a majority of the time. There are a few places in New York where I'm like, okay, if I'm out in about, like, for the cafe experience, let me get a matto here. But I do really like making it at home. It's also the cheapest in New York.

I feel like prices are a little crazy. Plus all the tips, inflation. Yes. And everything. Got to add that tip. They hit you with the 25, 35. It's now 35. Yeah.

One day it's going to be 50%. 50%. Why not? Exactly. Yeah, for sure. Well, I want to just read some very, very impressive stats here. Thank you. So Nami Macha, which was launched less than a year ago, right, officially.

It's currently available in 139 countries. Yes, it is. And you guys sold $100,000 of Mata in just the first three minutes. Yes. With zero advertising, like zero marketing spend. Yes, exactly. Just my life hours. But yeah, no marketing spend.

Still no marketing spend. Really? Just all organic. All organic, yeah. We're still, we're trying to maybe do marketing spend. My Instagram ads are not working. If someone works at Instagram, hit me up. We're having a lot of issues.

Wait, I'll help you with that. The meta ads. Yes. Bro. The bane of my existence. That was part of my job. Really? Yeah.

Oh, my period. Yeah. Okay. I might need your help girl. I'm excited for you. Oh, God, thanks. So zero adsman and you sold out starter kits that were like $104. Yes, exactly. Wow. Wow. Thank you. That is so impressive. I think it just speaks volume, the power of a strong personal brand that you built over how many years? It's been... I mean, it's been less than a year since I launched. I launched back in July of 2024. However, I would say it took around two years before that, maybe two and a half years before that for me to like fully build the brand behind the scenes. That's amazing. But I also think it speaks so much volume of the strong foundation you built for your personal brand. Yeah. Because without that, there wouldn't be no NAMI.

So I want to touch on a lot about like building a brand, working with brands as an influencer. Yes. And different platform strategies. But I think all of that really stems from the power of a strong personal brand that you've built for yourself as your mom, Ashley. Thank you. So let's take it back a little bit and chat about personal branding first. Already. Obviously, everyone here knows and loves your vlog content. Thank you.

Literally, you're one of my favorite comfort creators. And you just always give such a warm and kind and sweet vibe. And I think you're one of the founding fathers, founding mothers. Founding father, period. Yeah. of comfort creators. Oh, thank you. So, like, your mom Ashley,

started, correct me if I'm wrong, but it started as a meme in 2013. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I really, well, I guess I actually have no idea what my YouTube channel was called in 2013, but I started it in 20, yeah, I changed it once I was like in college. I literally don't know what it was called. I'm like, wasn't just my name, but, yeah,

I started when I was in middle school. I posted like 10 videos. I was like super into the, beauty guru era like bethany moda lord DIY like and it's so funny because now i'm like mutuals with them on instagram and i'm like if my 13 year old self knew that she would like i mean i would probably like cry or something like i don't even know i think so yeah like it's so crazy but so i really looked up to like all of the beauty gurus of that era back in the day so it's like super 2013 era and then posted like 10 videos i feel like high school kind of happened and i think also my mom was kind of like

there's random men watching your videos. And this was also like back in the day when I feel like doing YouTube was like way more random if that makes sense. Yes. So I was like, okay. And then I just didn't do it for like four years during high school because I was like, I'm just going to focus on school, whatever. And then went to college.

I was really on like a premed route. So I was like maybe I'm going to go to medical school, whatever. So I did like mostly like biosecology, that type of stuff throughout college. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Women and STEM. I went to like a really STEM-based school.

So I went to RPI. It's in upstate New York and it's like 80% male. Like it's so STEM-based. Like everyone there is an engineer. I was like, oh, I'm kind of feeling left out right now because I'm not in the engineering school. But I went there like to be on the pre-med route. And I kind of, at least in my freshman year of college, realized this might not be for me.

I feel like I kind of wanted to like maybe try something creative. And then I did that alongside getting my college degree because I kind of wanted to make sure I had something to fall back on. My parents also, I don't want to let them down. I'm like, okay, I got to get that college degree for them no matter what. But then by the time I was like, I think end of my junior year, maybe senior year, I was like, I'm going to switch to business, which is a really late switch. And somehow it's still worked and I graduated on time.

Look at you. I love that. I know. I think because like it was just so like stemmy there that like my physics classes and my cal classes like transferred into business credits, I don't know how that happened. But I'm like, I feel like I only took like a year and a half of business school and then just graduated with a business degree. Natural. Just, yeah, I'm just a natural.

But that's kind of like what happened there. And by that time, I had been doing YouTube for like a few years. And I was like, I'm going to do it full time after college. That's my whole spiel of my YouTube origin story. Love it. But yeah, when I restarted back in like 2018, I was like, I'm going to use the name your mom Ashley, which comes from my Spotify channel. Like so random. So random.

There's really like no reason behind it either. I'm just like, yeah. I think it really stands out though. Thank you. That's kind of what I was going for. I was like, it's different. It's a little embarrassing now for me to say, but, and hard for people to spell. But yeah, I think it's different.

So it kind of catches, it catches people. It's more memorable. It sounds like an essence of a pocket of the internet, which is like very endearing. Oh, I love that. And now it's, I feel like it's becoming synonymous with just this whole emotional brand archetype of you know warm protective chill chronically online but still like a little bit sweet and relatable thank you did you ever envision yourself becoming a massive YouTuber and having this like really really core fan base that loves you for being you oh my gosh hmm I feel like

when I first started YouTube I was a little bit delusional and I was like oh my gosh saying yeah I feel like how delusional were you I was so delusional I was like I'm gonna have a million subscribers like it will be so easy me too. Okay the first year I started YouTube I was like yeah I'm gonna get to like 500k I did not hit that but I did get to 100k that that's literally what happened to me too I think I thought not the list popping out I think I then I said I was gonna get like 300,000 within the first year and then I was like by year two a million and then I think I hit like a hundred or 70k or something within the first year which that's so good still like we made it enough that like I mean now we are up into millions, whatever.

So I think it's like, it's good to be delusional. You need a little bit of delusion to push yourself forward. And I think also another thing probably with the both of us is like we're okay with a little bit of failure per se. I really don't like the word failure. I had a lot of failure or learning. Yeah, yeah. It's learning experience.

But like some people would be like, I didn't hit 500K. I'm a failure. But we're like, we still kind of made it. Like, let's just keep going. So, yeah. That's the vibe. Yeah, exactly. It's like playing the infinite game.

Yeah. Like, you don't just win once. You just win by continue improving. Yeah. Exactly, yeah. I love that. So, vlogs are basically the hardest format to start on YouTube. Trust me, I've tried, and it's very, very difficult to have an interesting life that

people want to continue watching. I don't think my life is that interesting. I just, like, wake up, work out, work out. work. Yeah. And that's it. But you've grown your audience from vlogs. Yeah. Did you have a strategy or like how did you come about that? I definitely did have a little bit of a strategy when I first started. So I realized like I want to be a vlogger. However, no one is going to know you if you just start vlogging. I agree. So because no one's going to be like this random person is doing a random thing. I'm going to click on it. And even though it's kind of sad, you like have to come to that realization of like

no one knows me. They're not going to click on that just for no. reason. So when I first started, I really did a mixture of like halls. I did actually a lot of fashion content back in the day, which I really don't do anymore. Did you do vans? I did a vans hall, yeah. Bikini halls, right? Bikini Tri-on hall, yeah, like random stuff. I think my vans hall was my first one that hit a million views. So that was like a big milestone for me. Yeah. So I kind of started with that. And I think halls were way more popular back then than they are now. I don't see anyone. really do halls anymore. Because all these TikToks are like, I don't know, 10 outfits in like five seconds.

I know. So I'm like, no one's going to hear me talk about this piece of clothing anymore. But I kind of, I loved watching halls, but I would always feel like they're like a little boring. So I would do them with my siblings and try to make it like more fun and like more comedy based even, I guess. So we would do a bunch of like halls or like going to the thrift store or thrift halls, things like that.

And that's kind of where I built a lot of like my initial audience from and then slowly started, I guess turning into a vlogger from there. Oh, yeah. Because you have a lot of, I would say, like, anti-clickbaity videos that still do really, really well. It's just a true testament to, like, how much your fans are invested in you. It's the family and friends event at Shoppers Drug Mart. Get 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise. Two days only.

Tuesday, April 28th and Wednesday, April 29th. Open your PC optimum app to get your coupon. as a person, which really translates to the power of building a strong personal brand that helps push out your brand Nami Macha. Thank you. I am a little bit of a Macha connoisseur you might say, and I have my own Macha business, Nami Macha. Who are your main audiences?

Do you know what the audience profile looks like? For sure. I mean, I feel like if there's another girl out there that kind of looks like me, I'm like, we're probably like watching all the same YouTube stuff. Bro, literally. I'm like, I think it's Asian American girls is like the main audience that I have. I think, I mean, I can tell from like the numbers. It's like 18 to maybe like 28, I want to say is like probably my main age demographic.

And then America is my main country as well. But I think I can tell from like when people come up to me, it's definitely majority Asian American girlies. Oh, I love that. Yeah. It's so sweet because like whenever you. you meet these fans, you will actually be friends with them in person. Yeah, no, literally. I'm like, we're vibing right now, so it's really cute.

I love that. Yeah, but definitely mostly girls too. I think actually ever since I met my boyfriend Kelly, Mr. Kelly Waukosa, who's also a YouTuber. Yes. My demographic did shift a little bit more male, which was scary. Just kidding. You see how we eat more together?

Very demure, very mindful. I think it used to be like really highly female. like 80, 20, and I think now it's like 60, 40. So it's interesting. We kind of, and then his also got more female. So we kind of like mixed our audience a little bit, which has been pretty cool. So I think I'd definitely tune into more of Kelly's content after you guys started making couple's content.

So contributing to his female audience. Yes. Yeah. And we'll talk more about relationships and like how that panned out with content strategies or like your personal relationship and everything else. But I'm just really excited to hear like, what was your pinch me moment so far as a content creator or influencer? I mean, I feel like I've had so many pinch me moments.

I mean, the first like major, major one is like getting your one million plaque. You're like, I freaking made it. I know. Like, literally it's so crazy. Whoa. Gorgeous. I remember all in the same month, I graduated college and I got my one million plaque. Literally within like one week.

That's so good. Yeah. And then in that one week, I was like, I literally did everything I have to do in my life. And then I actually think my YouTube like plateaued after that because I was like, what do I even do now? Like, what's the next goal? I was so sad when I hit one million. I don't know if you. It was like, oh, I did it.

Yeah. It's like, I did it. And then I'm like, oh, like now what? Yeah. Because I think like, oh my God, two million when you hit one million feels so far away that I was like, am I just going to start from the bottom and try to get another whole. million like are you kidding me so i think i was just like kind of overwhelmed once i hit it actually and it was hard for me to like continue like doing youtube for some reason for a little bit also it was my first summer after graduating college i think that is a time where everyone in the world is

like what the fuck am i doing with my life so that year i remember being like kind of lost um but i feel like it's been i mean i graduated 2021 so it's been a little while since i've graduated now i feel like I kind of have my footing, so it's better. But definitely, like, right after I hit that, I was like, oh, what now? True. You also lost your routine in college, right? Also, it's really interesting how you kept up YouTube consistently while in college. Oh, my gosh.

How were you able to balance? Bro, I don't know. I really, I always think back about when I was in college, and I was like, my willpower to do stuff must have been, like, through the roof. Like, oh, my God. And, I mean, I think even still, I just. love making videos. And so especially in college, when college is one of your main focuses still at the same time, YouTube is really a passion project. And so you're like, I get to do this.

Like, I would be editing in my classes. Like I was posting like two, three times a week. And I was just like going to ham. Two three times. Long form. Yeah. I think back then you could also get away with a lot less editing. Yeah. So I posted like two to three times a week. I think also like trying to ride on that wave of momentum that I had. But yeah, back in college. I was grinding. I'm like, I don't even nowhere had time to do anything ever, but somehow I made it work. So maybe at the expense of my social life, but it's okay. And hopefully you got some sleep.

Yeah, a little bit. I think I did. Like, I don't even remember anymore, I think. I feel you so closely, though, but I think it's even harder to do YouTube while in college. I did it when I was working in corporate for two to three years. Even harder almost. Like, oh, my God. I didn't have to be in class.

I guess that's true. I felt a chip on my shoulder where I was like, oh, I'm in college. I want to excel at all the tests, even though it really doesn't make a lot of difference. No, literally. I was like, what if I don't get a job if I get a B? Yeah. Okay, maybe I'm like literally, I feel like so hard. Maybe it's just like in our nature then, but like I remember just in school being like,

I need to get such a good grade. And I would actually be like, wait, why do I even need to get a good grade? I don't know. But maybe it's like a self-validation thing, but I'm like, if I don't get a good grade, then I would feel like, so. so sad. So I feel it really speaks volume to like the quality of your content and the care you put into everything including Nami.

Oh, thank you. Yeah. Each of these took an hour to grind on a stone mill, even the mechanized one. So it takes a minute. And speaking of like quality, there is a really like increasing expectation of how good YouTube videos need to be nowadays. Yeah. And it's really hard to be a creator on the platform.

Yeah. I think, I mean, as creators, like, continue to grow and, like, learn how to expand, I think people literally expand and they have, like, huge editing teams and things like that. And then it really, as, like, a singular creator or someone just starting, you can kind of feel like, oh, my God, like, I don't even know where to start. Um, I do still love, though, I think with social media in general right now is the time where there's, like, the least barrier to entry to, like, begin and just, like, start doing, I mean, I feel like vertical format's really where people like start nowadays versus when when I first started back in the day it was just that long form so yeah I don't know

I feel like there's certain expectations but at the same time I think especially when it's like personality based people can really like instantly blow up that's true if they're funny or whatever that's true do you ever fear the sustainability of being so centered to the your mom Ashley brand because like there are a lot of creators who could more or less step away from their content and the content could still potentially work. Right. But your content is literally revolved around your whole life. Yeah.

Have you ever had burnouts? And do you ever get scared of, you know, what's your relationship with views and the algorithm nowadays? I mean, I think same with any creator. Like, of course, people will be like, I really try not to look at my views, like, whatever. But at the end of the day, like, it really affects, like, yourself, like, worth low-key. Like, it's so bad. But I try not to, like, let it obviously get to me that bad.

but I feel like every YouTuber checks their views and is like, hmm, like how are we doing right now? Am I in my flop era? Did I get a 10 out of 10 on my YouTube video? Which if you're a YouTuber, you know, 10 out of 10 is actually bad. It is not good. Terrible. The gray little down arrow. Damn it.

Yeah. So I think, I mean, for sure. I feel like I definitely have had times of burnout. And in those cases, I'll definitely take a break. I've never taken a break longer than probably a few weeks, which is not that. much time actually. I feel like maybe one of these days I should just do a month or two or something. Have you ever taken a long break off of YouTube? Also never more than a few weeks. There have been times where I was like, damn and nothing's working. I feel like maybe I should just like do something else. And then I

think about it. I'm like actually no. Yeah. Like I will continue going. Yeah. Until someone stops me. Exactly. When I was like working in corporate and making YouTube videos, I wasn't making a single cent, right? And I was just spending all this time doing silly little YouTube videos. And at the time, I was just like, it's so cringy, but someone has to, like, pay me to stop making these videos. Because it's so much fun. And then when I think about that time, I'm like, hmm, maybe I should just sit down and really think about, like, why do I create?

Exactly. And then sift through my thoughts and then find something that I'm that happy to create again. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think there can be times of burnout just from having also people's expectation of, like, you need to make a video, you need to make a video, can also wear on you a little bit. So I think sometimes it's good to be like, hey, I'm going to take a break. And then you can really take that time to reflect and be like, I'm here for my community.

I'm going to come back with a bang, whatever. But I think definitely we, as creators, we need to be a little easier on ourselves. And I think maybe in the future creators might take literally like summer breaks off of their content. I think that could be a thing that we end up seeing. But I'm not too sure. I feel like it's really hard. There's always the fear of if you stop posting, then you're immediately. irrelevant or like people will just forget about you but I've seen some of my friends take longer breaks

surprisingly the nice thing is when they come back I feel like their audience is still there they're still excited to see them um specifically on YouTube I think people are really there like for their creators I can't say I think I've taken breaks on TikTok when I come back on my TikTok is like a ghost town out there but on YouTube I think if I was to take a break and come back like my viewers would still be there for me so it kind of depends on the platform as well interesting speaking of platforms what's your favorite to create? And in terms of monetization, which platform brings you

the most amount of revenue? YouTube by far. So that kind of answers both questions. I mean, I think YouTube is my favorite. That's really like my home base. Like, that's where I got started. That's where I initially started watching content and got inspired from originally.

And then it's also, they have the best monetization as well. I think for me, at least, it's like light years better than my TikTok. Really? I think your TikTok engagement is great. Thank you. Don't pay me that well, though. that's true that's true honestly like speaking of nami i'm also curious to learn about like which platform

converts best for nami but one area that i think for future considerations you talked about potentially running ads in the future yeah because you make these super interesting macha recipes just organically getting so much traction that people love to share and save i think that could be good organic assets to turn into ads to run in the future too yeah for sure Yeah, we definitely got to pull my TikTok content. You sponsor your own brand. Yes, literally. I'm like, this is sponsored by me.

Yes. But no, we're definitely going to try to do that. I mean, even any of my matcha videos that I put out, they all kind of help towards the Nami marketing, which is really nice. And that's initially like why I wanted to have Nami in the first place because I drink Mata so much that my friends were like, why don't you just have your own brand if you're going to like promote Mata like so much?

And I was like, you know what? You're so right. So it really just like fits in super seamlessly with Mata. my content and like what I already do on the daily and like on my vertical platform specifically like TikTok Instagram I do post a lot or even YouTube sports I post a lot of recipe videos and whatnot I really like that direction how did you come up with the strategy or is it more intuitive and you just love making hot tar I mean I think it definitely is a mixture of both when it comes to vertical format I do not know why maybe this is the same with you I literally struggle so hard

to make a vertical video like no way yeah no I literally literally You seem like a natural though. I would have never known. When it's with the recipe, totally fine because I feel like there's something I'm doing. If you like put me in front of a phone and you're like, tell a funny story. I would literally have nothing to say. Like I just can't talk to my phone like that. For some reason, camera, long form, maybe because I feel like I have more talking space, I can do it.

I also. Do you feel the pressure to like be like, oh, this is only like 60 seconds, 90 seconds? I need to like speed up or whatever. Yeah, I feel like I need to like keep it. engaging and then I also feel like I have to have a hook which on YouTube I don't really feel like you have to have a hook and the hook stresses me out so bad so I like recipe content I do not like telling stories or whatever on my TikTok but yeah I feel like it's also a really good format that you can replicate and refine but also like the long form videos you do I don't know if you follow a format or not

it's also harder in my opinion to not have a format and continue innovating so I don't know how you come up with your ideas. It's really fascinating. Oh my gosh. Thank you. I mean, look, yeah, I'm just doing I'm just doing anything out here. You're just doing life. There's no format. Yeah, I'm just doing life. I think that's a fun part about vlogging is I'm just like, we're just going to do whatever today. And my audience, I'm lucky enough, they're always like, okay, I guess we're along for the ride on this one. I think a lot of my videos kind of have a similar format where there's intro, things happen. A lot of times I'll do it over like the course of multiple days. And then there's like the day night breakages of the vlog. But here and there,

I'll do like more idea-based videos. And that's where I kind of risk this could either flop or maybe it will do really well. I really like the cooking like Nora Smith. Yeah, thank you. That's one of my idea-based videos where I was like, please, I hope this does well. I edited that one super fast to make sure like I posted it at like the same time that she was like popping off on TikTok. You still edit your own videos? I have some editors that help me, but I do spend a lot of time still editing the videos.

Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it speaks volume. Like, it feels very personal and sometimes it's very hard to hand off your vision. It's so hard. Your personal story is someone else. I'm still working on it. Yeah.

I feel like if you're doing more idea-based content, it's a lot easier if you have a format and then you can teach someone. But when it's your life, it's like everything changes day by day. At least, like, when I've worked with editors, I'm always more so, like, assessing their vibe and sense of humor because I feel like it's so important when it comes into the editing process. But the way we kind of do our thing is I'll. organize a bunch of footage. A lot of times, like, sometimes I'll rough-cut parts of it or, like, add a lot of notes. They'll fine-tune things. I'll fine-tune it again. And then we kind of go from there. So it's definitely

like a teamwork process for our videos. I like that. I like the teamwork aspect. Yeah. It's good. And then I always still have my personal touch on the video. So, but I feel like when you make so many videos, it's really nice to have someone help you, like, cut things down and understand your style and just help you kind of expedite things so that I'm able to get out the videos that I want for my viewers in a timely manner. So true. Where did you find your editors? I did a Google form on my Instagram story. Are they your followers?

Yeah. Oh my gosh, see. I feel like that's the best because they know you. They know you. They understand. Is that for you as well? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. I love that. Very, very grateful. I think there are many talented young individuals in our audiences. Yeah. Who are just like eager to learn and grow with you. and that's the best type of relationship. Exactly, yeah.

No, I love that. I always, I'll, like, look through their resume and, like, I love when they have their own YouTube channel and they have, like, their own edits and stuff. I can be like, oh, perfect. Like, love it. That is really nice. So I only have two editors or three, if we count our podcast editor as well, that we work with right now.

That's really good. I'm still trying to build that out. It's very hard to find someone who understands your vision and can, like, be flexible enough to grow with you. Yeah. Yeah. But I do love my. current editor. She's the last. I'm glad. YouTubers I feel like can struggle if they don't have an

editor and they're like looking for one and like training people and the whole thing. So it's so nice to have editors. Shout out Jade and Camille. My rocks. You guys make the magic happen. Yeah, literally. Okay, I want to talk a little bit more about Maja. Sure. So the global matcha market was valued at $3.71 billion in 2024. Period. And as to reach $8.67 billion by 2031. Wow. And being a player of the market, what is like your big, hairy, audacious goal for Nami Masha?

I think my biggest goal for Nami is that despite it starting as an influencer brand, I would love for it to be big enough that people know it without it being attached to my name. Yeah. That's the goal. That it's just like, that's a Macha brand. It's not necessarily like, this is a creator brand. People just know it, like, for what it is, and that it kind of can live on its own as well. I think so.

Okay, flights on air Canada. Where'd you want to go? The Azores? For its hot springs and volcanoes? Hmm, speaking of volcanoes, what about Japan? Hmm, you know I love sushi. Not as much as I love tapas. Maybe, Majorca.

We could hit the beach, then go hiking. Hiking? Or how about a seaside stroll in Sicily? Ooh, I do love canolies. Wait, what do you think of... With a world. of destinations to choose from. Good luck picking just one. Air Canada. Nice travels. Need a vehicle that isn't afraid to make a splash? That's the Volkswagen Touse. Capable and

confident, the Volkswagen Touse is fit for everyday life, nimble in traffic, agile and tight spots, and still spacious enough for weekend getaways. While available 4-motion all-wheel drive gives confidence in rain and snow. The capable Touse, you deserve more confidence, visit vw.ca to learn more. SUVW, German engineered for all. Tell, like, as a consumer, purely from a consumer perspective, when I tried the matcha, I was like, oh, okay, I could see the quality, the details and the care put into the sourcing, and I do see the future of it becoming, like, a solid brand on its own, because that's the best part when you can breathe a little bit and not have that keyman risk in terms of, like,

this brand depends on you and you need to keep on pushing out content in order to like bring it to the market yeah i think it's important for the brand to be able to do well without my face being in all of our content for example like i want our instagram pictures and stuff to do just as well like if i'm not in it necessarily so i think it's me being part of it is such a key aspect of it still and i love that i am a part of it but i also think it's so cool that one day people will come across nami and just be like, oh, this is a cool matcha brand. And like, they might not know who I am. Yeah. What was the inspiration behind the name? Okay. So the name comes from, oh my God, I'm going to knock over the table. The name comes from extra dynamic, which is kind of a phrase that I've had

on my channel for a little while. And basically it comes from my siblings who, but they were just here. So Amber and Andrew, when we would film together, I would always have them be like behind the camera. I was literally so awkward when I first started YouTube that I was like, I need to. my siblings in it. Yeah. Oh, that's nice, though. I was awkward. I was awkward and alone.

I was awkward and alone. You're only child, right? Or no? Do I give only child lives? I don't know. I feel like I thought you told me you were only child. You have siblings, though? I grew up being an only child until I was 10, like nine and a half.

So I experienced both, but I do have a younger sister. And she's, whoa. Yeah. I love that. I feel like I remember you saying something either. Your only child, you do not give only child vibes, though. Oh. Oh.

No. Love the only children, though, period. I would take it as a compliment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think you might have told me you're like, oh, my sister and I have like a pretty big, like age gap or whatever. Yes, yes. Oh, my gosh.

What was I saying? Oh, the name. But basically, yeah, I was so awkward in my YouTube videos that I would literally, even if my siblings were in the video, I'd be like, can someone please hold the camera just so I can look at a person that's real when I'm talking. Wait, don't you get more nervous if someone is there? I would if it was someone that wasn't my siblings. But if it's my siblings, I feel like I'm so close with my siblings.

I'm like, I don't give a fuck. I think it's so precious. did your siblings start doing content because of you? Yeah. Like, it really changed the future of the entire family. No, literally. At one side note, I want to mention here is that this channel is all about empowering young women to, like, tap into their financial freedom and, like, their unlimited potential,

essentially. And something that you did really, really inspires me is that you freaking paid off your own tuition. And did you also help with your siblings' tuition and, like, with your family, too? Here and there, yeah, I feel like for my sister. That's amazing. That's so amazing. Like, I'm not a mom, but if I were like an Asian mom, I would be so proud. Oh my God. I would be like, no, my mom is so proud. The living in my mom was like, yeah.

I'm like, oh my God. My parents are super proud. They're so nice. But I think for maybe a little bit I helped my sister, but then she started doing YouTube and then she paid off her own tuition on her own. So my parents were like, oh, nothing to worry about it now, I guess. I love that. So, yeah, we all got to pay off our student loans, which was really amazing.

That's amazing. That's why whenever I like meet people who are like, I want to do something created, I'm like, just post that. Post that. No matter how cringy it is, you have no idea how much your life can change through this one small action. And this like one channel changed the whole trajectory of your whole family. And now you're making a match a brand that's going to leave a legacy. Yeah. I'm like, I'll hand it off to my children. Generational. It's going on for generations. But oh my God, back to the name because I'm literally so. off topic. I'm very 80. I feel like, and then, so the phrase extra dynamic, I'd be like, oh, Amber's behind the camera for extra dynamic. And like, she'll turn it and then be like,

what's up. And so I would always have that phrase extra dynamic. It's kind of, it just means like the fun and like the extra whatever that it is that's on my channel, like the extra little bit of pizzazz. And so I had like, that's like my merch line was called extra dynamic. And then when it came to making Nami, choosing the name for business is so hard. Right. I'm literally like losing my mind over what's a good name for this. Like it's so important. Because the bad name really ruins. It ruins the brand.

Yeah. So I was like, this is really important. I need to like hone in on this. And then I wanted to keep it still personal to me to a certain extent. So I was looking at the word extra dynamic. And if you take the word dynamic in, it literally is just Nami. Oh. So that's where I got it from.

Yeah. And I was like, this is cute, like short name. Short name. It means wave in Japanese, kind of like tsunami, big wave. was just Nami, meaning wave. And then I was like, I like this. Wave a flavor vibe. Maybe we can do something here,

and that's kind of where I got the name from. Yeah, it's a new wave of matcha. Yeah. Brought you by Ashley Alexander. Exactly. I love that. It's so powerful. And how hard was it?

Like, you were basically studying business administration. Yes. And you don't really have any experience in food or supplies or anything like that. Yeah. How did you learn that? Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's been a learning process from the start. I had a little bit of knowledge of supply chain organization. I did a lot of that. I did a lot of data analytics. Oh my God. I'm like, what was that all for? But maybe it's coming to work a little. I always think like no effort goes to ways and the dots always connect in retrospect. It will connect somewhere. So exactly. But when it comes to food specifically, yeah, definitely a lot of learning because then you're like, we got to run this by the FDA. You have to make sure of all of this stuff. Yeah. Was it hard to get the approval? and everything. Luckily, no. I think it's just more so of knowing what you need to get and like having the right paperwork. But as long as your product is good and you're not like violating anything,

then like it's easy enough to get it approved. Yeah. Nice. And it took two and a half years to bring the brand from vision to physical product in our hands. Exactly. So I think I first kind of started thinking about it. End of 2021, maybe early 2022. That's when I was like, maybe I could do this. Literally that's all I had was like, maybe I could have a mom. brand. And then from there, I kind of started thinking about the name, started thinking about how am I literally ever going to do this? And I'm really the best way I feel like I kind of got my foot in the door was just by speaking it out into the world, telling my talent management, like, I'm kind of thinking about doing this. Or I went on in Collin and Smears podcast. And I was like,

I'm thinking about starting a macha brand. And really, once I said it out loud there, that's when people started reaching out and it made it so much easier for me to kind of get started. I love that. manifesting out loud. Yeah, literally. Who was reaching out to, like, the suppliers? Yeah, I think there's like a good mix of suppliers, people in the food and beverage industry. And then ultimately, I ended up just going with my talent agency to help me launch it because I was like, I've been working with them for like years and years and years. I really trust them with my life. When it comes to like making a website or like going back and forth with suppliers and managing the supply chain, even though I have some knowledge on it, it's really, really nice to have a team that also

is on top of it for me just because since I am also a creator and kind of managing those two businesses, I am pretty like spread thin. So it's really so incredibly nice to have a team that also helps me work on NAMI. Oh, I love that. Do you mind me asking what percentage do they take from the Nami business? So basically the way that we work together is like they get a percentage of sales. And then that's how it goes. Yeah. And it's been so nice because I feel like they help me so much. Also, even though there's like certain things that's like, sure, you could do that on your own. I think, again, I'm so spread thin. Like, if they weren't helping me with it, like, I just wouldn't have the time to, like,

actually get it started. So they're kind of there just being like, let's get it moving, girl. And like helping me with all of like the little nitty gritty things. And it's been really nice. I think it's really smart that you're really just buying your time back and then buying other people's expertise for something that you don't have to relearn. Exactly. with all that upfront time, you have to reinvest back.

Yeah. And then you can just focus on your many, many other projects in terms of like making good content and assets to spread the word out. You have your own podcast. You have your main channel. And you have like a family to like keep in touch with. You have a boyfriend. You have your relationships to take care of and like live a thriving, vibrant life and do Pilates. And do Pilates.

And do Pilates. There's so much. There's so much to do. No, you're totally right. I think sometimes you need to pay for more time to do other things. Like I could do this by myself, but I think having a team for certain aspects of my life. Like, same thing goes with editors. I could do it all by myself, but I think the only way that I'm really able to thrive

and do everything that I currently do is by having the help of other people. And I think that's also a really hard step in the timeline of a lot of YouTubers is a lot of people can't give up kind of that like independence almost. And then it's really hard to expand. if you don't allow other people to help you. And I think it's okay to be helped. But a lot of people like don't want to be helped and it makes it a lot harder on yourself. So true.

Yeah. I wish I looked for help earlier on. Me too. I was running a one woman show while balancing a corporate job and doing YouTube. No, literally. I don't think I got editors until like end of 2021 maybe. It was like once I kind of like met Kelly, he was like, girl, why are you editing all of your videos?

And I was like, wait, you're so right. But I was just so afraid to have an editor, you know, because I had been doing it by myself for so long. But I kind of realized, you know, there's still a way for me to still edit and still have editors, if that makes sense. So it's good. And just kind of finding that balance eventually over time. That's so good. Yeah. Yeah.

I would love to chat more about, like, your relationship. But before that, I do want to touch more on the business side of Nami because it's super fascinating. Sure. I'm just so proud of how far you've taken the brand. First of all, congrats on the pop-up. Thank you. Was it with Shopify? Yeah, yeah, yeah, with Shopify.

So I did one back in New York in October. I saw the TikTok where, like, people were just lining up. It was so crazy. That really, like, just shows how strong your personal brand is and how you've really strategically teased it out. Probably through your content, you built it up through your content, like, to bring up the excitement and the announcement, like, throughout time. so it's nothing like unexpected and people were just so excited for the launch.

But basically like Ashley's doing another one tomorrow in L.A. with Shopify. Oh my God. Right. It's coming up so soon. I'm so excited. Thank you. How was that experience, a pop-up experience? I mean, oh my God, it's been great.

I loved working with Shopify. I used them to like run Nami, like my whole Nami website and businesses like run through them. And they've been really amazing, specific. with creator-run brands. Just being so supportive and helping out creators in a way where, like, we might not have access to, like, a storefront in Soho in New York. Like, getting a space like that, like renting out a space like that. It's just like so impossible if you're not like a huge corporation.

They helped you do that. And yeah, yeah, yeah. So they already, yeah, they had a storefront in Soho. They're like, just come have it at our store. I'm like, okay, it's like the most beautiful store like on Green Street, like cobblestone road, like the most ideal location ever. I was like, you guys are so nice. So they've been like super helpful.

They did all the project management for it. So it's been like really, really nice. And so we're doing another one in L.A. because the one in New York, I feel like did so well that I was like, we got to do it on the other coast of the U.S. I'm so excited to witness in person.

Yeah. Yeah, so it's in Venice this time. So it'll be cute, like beachy outdoors. I think it's supposed to rain. So pray for me, please. But we'll see. Rain or shine. It's going to be great.

It is going to be great. Yeah. And I think like, Shopify is really interesting because starting from like the mom and pop stores to like really unique brands like yours to for example Kylie Cosmetics and Jim Shark. They got everyone. Yeah. It's fascinating like the breadth, the extent of which like where you can take your brand on there. So yeah.

Fascinating. I love Shopify been partnering with them. Shout out. Shout out Shopify. And if you want to start your dream brand today like Ashley, you can start your trial with Shopify, which is a powerful set of tools that helps you. you start and manage your business, whether online or in person, with simple drag-and-drop store editor, easy to use marketing tools and a back office that oversees all your operations. Go to Shopify.com slash Zoe Unlimited and go make your business dream a reality.

Yeah, no, it's great and I think, I mean, that's the one thing is I know if Nami continues to grow, like Shopify, I can continue to use because if they can handle Kylie cosmetics, like they can handle Nomi. Oh, and skims too. Oh my God, they have, they got all the Kardashians. They really do. But yeah, no, they have like huge brands on there. So, yeah.

Speaking of which, how big is your team right now running NAMI? Yeah, it's like four people. So it's pretty small. That's a good size. Yeah, it's a good size. You don't need to over hire. You do not need more than that. I actually really don't think you need to overhire.

And what's nice about kind of the way that I work with most of the people that are working on Nami is like they're through my talent agency. So they just get that like percent of sales. I don't have to worry about like, salarying like specific people or anything so it's really nice because I feel like hiring could be such a headache if you don't have that experience and if you can have an agency to help you find the most suitable talent exactly it'd rather like yeah go that route yeah it was so nice so it like we have someone on our team that's like so knowledgeable about Shopify and like used to be a lawyer so it was like

so good at any of like the legal stuff and I'm like thank God that's so clodge yeah it is really clutch so it's good awesome can you give me a range of the margin of matcha. Because I remember researching, like, different macha and coffee brands. It really depends on... The spectrum is pretty wide, and is it more of a, like, a volume type of product.

Yeah. I mean, I think matcha generally is very expensive because it's coming from Japan. It is an imported product. I was going to ask you, is the tariff going to affect you? The tariff is going to definitely affect me, which is unfortunate, but we'll still be able to get by, so I will still have Nami for. you guys. We're not going to like shut down or anything, but we are taking a little bit of a hit. I will say that. Go subornami. Yeah, thank you. But yeah, it's just like it is an imported

product. I can't start making matcha in the United States because it would not be good. It's not like, yeah, I'm not going to start here. Actually, we're going to have American grown match. No, I just feel like, you know, Japan has like the climate. It has the farms that have been there for so many, so many years. So the tariffs are definitely taking a little bit of an impact. But yeah, it is an imported product. I feel like it depends. also on the specific machas, but we try to keep a pretty good margin on it, but, you know, everything takes a little bit of a chunk. Shipping takes a chunk.

Packing takes a chunk, the whole thing. Yeah. What's the most expensive cost item that, like, eats up the bottom line? I would say it's actually not the matcha itself, but we do a lot of ceramics. Oh, yes, it's beautiful. Oh, thank you. You could pick it up and show it. We have our little yellow ceramic right here.

and she's beautiful beautiful ceramics pain in the ass to ship oh my god because they break yeah so that's very scary now we have our packaging down where pretty much no breakages which is good but when i did our first run yours is all intact period but i did it the first run of PR and this is actually a really funny story but i literally sent probably 200 PR packages because i was like i'm so excited i'm going to send everyone somnami they all shattered and i was like well that's also my dissent influencers, a ton of broken glass. Yeah. And luckily it was just PR, so they were getting it for free. Most of them still came like mostly intact, but like this little guy, the whistholder, was the bane of my existence for a second because this one would really love to break. Because when

we first got our first packaging, they forgot to ship it with like packaging foam in there. So it was just loose glass. And like for some reason, the international packages all arrived fine because I bet the international partials are like here at your doorstep. But in the U.S. they're like, like, I don't give it a fuck. It's fragile. I don't care. Today's arm workout. No, like literally.

They're like, like shattered everywhere. I was like, okay, well, that's that. So they take a little bit of a hit in the beginning with the ceramics and they're still the most expensive like items that I buy inventory wise. Gotcha. But I think they're like super iconic and I love them. I think they're so fun. And we do like different drops of different color ones.

So it's been really fun. It's definitely like another kind of. portion of the business. I didn't anticipate like doing yeah or like doing so well actually but like people really love the ceramics. Wait so people actually buy the ceramics on their own yeah yeah yeah it's not just for PR we also have it on our website we did one like for our yame macha I don't know if it's up there this is this is our original commodori period um but for our yame macho we had like a green bowl for a strawberry matcha that's coming out we have like a pink bowl and strawberry match i did not know that existed yes until you told me yeah yeah yeah so that's coming

like end of April early May. Stay tuned, you guys. Stay tuned. And it's also green. Yeah, I have it in my back. I brought you one. I'll get out of the, I'll grab it for you.

There you go. It's a little pink tin. You guys. Yes. This is beautiful. Let's see. Wow. I'm so excited to try.

Yeah, of course. I don't know a single girl. Well, actually, I'm over generalized. But I feel like matcha is such a, just a girl drink, you know? I feel like that is the joke. There will be guys drinking macha on TikTok and they'll be like, but what does the little girl say? She's like, but why are you not serving our country or something? It's like the meme and they're like, men used to go to war and now they're drinking

macho lattes. That's like the whole joke. But yeah, I love like a pink strawberry macho moment. It's really cute. I love it. So is most of your customers also just your audiences? I think so. I would say it's mostly still female demographic, probably for Nami as well.

but I love that we got some dudes coming in and trying out the matcha. I feel like a little more than they did before. Yeah, I love that. It's just like skincare. Just because you're a man doesn't mean you don't need to take care of your skin. Yeah, exactly. Just because you like matcha doesn't mean you're less masculine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I feel like there's like, yeah, exactly. I think it's just internalized, whatever. I think so. So to all the men out there, don't be afraid to drink a matcha. Don't be afraid to drink your ice vanilla latte. I feel like I know some guys that are like I'm kind of embarrassed to order ice vanilla latte and I'm like, who cares? Literally who cares? Just order your sweet, order your sweet little beverage. Just like do what you want. Yeah. Absolutely. Nobody's going to like

audit your gut. Yeah. It's okay. That's super funny. But yeah, so we have little ceramics for all of those that we do as well. Amazing. I would assume that's like one of the things that you really did not see coming. What are some other things that part of the Nami business that you never saw coming? Oh my gosh, I think the amount of like inventory orders that I have to like send through or I think I'm still really trying my best to like figure out our like supply chain a little bit, which has been hard also with the matcha. Is there a shortage? Shortage.

That's, I couldn't come up with the vocab board. There is a shortage. And that also like impacts our business. But just because matcha like has become so popular, like even way more popular, I feel like within the last couple years. So I do also feel grateful that like I started Nami so that when I launched it. it was like at the peak of its popularity, which was so lucky. It's not the peak yet.

I feel like it will rise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But oh my God, yeah. It's so crazy. And yeah, with the shortage, it's just another thing. Tariff shortage, another thing to think about. Yeah. How different is it running a matcha business from running a content business?

Oh my God. I mean, just completely different. I feel like new skill sets, right? Totally new skill set. It is in a way uncomfortable for me because I'm not, I think I'm more comfortable now, but at first I was more uncomfortable, like being. a boss of someone, especially a lot of my employees are older than me. Oh, really?

Yeah. And then I'm like, um, I'm scared. 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 out of office has a forever setting.

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More like Habinier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. That's so very real of you because sometimes people have to put up this front. But honestly, like, I feel like for all entrepreneurs, nobody knows 100% what they're doing. No, literally. Ever, ever, ever. I think that's the key thing that leaders are able to do is just make decisions even if you literally don't know what's going on. You're just like, you've got to have that decision-making ability. and I think that's what makes like CEOs, successful CEOs,

and that's a lot of the times why they're like in positions of leadership is because they're able to just make decisions and then figure it out kind of afterwards. So I think a lot of my job is just adjusting to making a lot of decisions that I'm like, this matters a lot. I guess I just have to make a choice. And then, yeah, working with other people and being the boss of, I would say that, but I'm like literally the boss of other people. And I'm like, you are.

What? I'm like, I'm just a girl. But at the same time, I'm like, I shouldn't say that. I'm like, I'm a CEO. I'm a businesswoman. But it's hard to take on those titles, say it. Because even I feel like I do some talks here and there and I have to introduce myself as like, I'm the CEO of Namimacha.

And sometimes I'm like, wait, what? Like, literally who said that? But yeah. I feel like sometimes our identity shifts. There is a lag of how we see ourselves. For sure. With like all the growth, especially if you go through a period of really rapid growth and you step into a new role.

that identity shift like comes later the first time i was able to really say i'm a content creator came like two years after when i really when i had at least like five six hundred k subscribers oh my god because beforehand i was like i'm i'm a small YouTuber i'm like a youtube nobody i always like thought about that oh my god yeah it's really weird yeah i think that's how a lot of people i feel like are even for me i think i'm still getting comfortable with like calling myself a CEO i think also because it sounds so adult to me that I'm like, whoa, things are happening so fast. But yeah, I do think, though, something I talk a lot about is just like verbalizing what you want to be and just saying I'm a YouTuber, even if in your mind you're like, I'm a small YouTuber, I'm still in the process

of being a YouTuber. I think for anyone that's like aspiring out there, like just call yourself a YouTuber. Same thing with me. Like, I should just be like, I'm a CEO and like learn to say it with pride. And it really helps you like continue to manifest what you want. And just like, giving yourself that title, I think, also makes things like clearer and shoots you forwards. Yeah. Like, hello, you sold out $100,000 of MOTR in three minutes. That's so crazy. Don't forget about that.

Don't forget about that. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Is the model right now just DTC, direct to consumer? Do you plan on expanding it in stores? Hmm. I think I would love to have it in like a cutie like grocery store.

So grocery stores, hit me up. I really there's some in like New York. Yeah, yeah. Like having it in like happier grocery in New York or like there's like you like pop-up grocery places and stuff that would be really cute. I'm trying to think. Not Airwan or Whole Foods. Maybe Airwan.

Airwan hit me up. Whole Foods if you want to hit me up, hit me up. A Nami swirl. Yeah. That would be so. Oh my God. That would be fire actually. But I think another thing that we really want to look into would be like having Nami

available at cafe. So if you have a cafe and you want a wholesale Nami, definitely reach out. It's something we're still in like the process of just starting now. Yeah. But that's also something I totally did not anticipate doing at all like when I first launched. And then now I'm like, oh, we're getting so many requests. Like can you wholesale Nami? And I'm like, we just got the little tins right now. So we're trying to see if we can get like bigger bags and stuff. But yeah. Oh, yeah, I love that. Yeah. I feel like there's so many exciting paths that you can take. For sure. And it's just like within a longer period of time frame, it's all going to happen.

Who knows, like, two, three years from now. I feel like Nami's been like already just exponentially growing. So it's been pretty cool to see. And we've had like more product launches, which I feel like seem like they're coming out really fast. But I'm like, I've been working on these product launches for so long. Wow. I've seen the video where it was like 12 a.m. And you're still trying the different new flavors.

Yeah. Oh my God. The dedication is real. Me when I'm like, I'm not going to be able to go to bed, but I need to taste this so I can like tell our manufacturer my verdict. Yeah. it's too funny. I think like it will really pay off in the future where like you know that how you showed up for the brand every single baby step along the way.

So when you get there, you're like, no, it wasn't just luck. Like yeah, even if this all goes away, I can rebuild something very, very strong and yeah, powerful. For sure. Yeah. Thank you. I think, I mean, earlier you were talking about like, do you ever get scared about like having a YouTube channel that's so like attached to myself?

And I think another thing is like having a business like this makes it so that if in the future, I do want to take more breaks from YouTube, which I don't anticipate myself doing because I actually love making videos. So I really think I'm going to like, I'm going to be vlogging my 100th birthday. That's my joke that I always make is like, I'm going to be vlogging like forever. Wait, I love that. Yeah. I'm like, catch me on my 100th birthday vlog. But I mean, I can imagine like, I have kids. Maybe I literally need to take a break to like watch the kids or like, I need to go on maternity leave. When you actually become your mom actually. Yeah. When I'm actually a mom or something, then I'm like, I still want to have some stability in my life without feeling like,

I don't want to be in that point of my life feeling like I still like need to make videos to like make ends meet. So I think by having NAMI, it's first of all like one of my biggest passions, but also it helps create stability so that my entire like well-being isn't just dependent like on my YouTube channel. So true. Yeah. I think the content creation industry or as a career is really interesting because you could go two ways. You could either become a media company and do really well in terms of brand deals, which you have done. Thank you.

Like hello, you've worked with the coolest brand. Dior, Sony, Capital One, Gatorade, Fabletics. Oh my God, yes. Got it all in here. I'm like, how do you even know that girl? Oh my God, good memory. Yeah. And you can also just sell to your core audience who are just regular watchers who

trust you and you have a huge, huge advantage. I think a lot of people don't understand the true power of content is that when you launch a product, you actually have a negative customer acquisition cost. The KAC is negative because you are making. money while making content. Yeah. But it's also marketing your product, which is very, very genius. I think it's a true advantage of anyone who has a platform.

Wow. Yeah. It's like the NAMI marketing started in 2018 when I started my channel and I didn't even know it existed yet. Truly. Yeah. Have you ever calculated the LTV or lifetime value of a customer yet? Clearly, Dior and all these blue chip brands wanted to work with you.

Do you have any advice for? You basically showed. the start of your relationship with your boyfriend Kelly, where there are more stories behind the scene? I mean... Brutal. Yeah, it's crazy. He literally goes beautiful twin sisters! Hey guys, really quickly. Because of the low attention span on YouTube, this is only part of the podcast. The full dive will be available for intentional members who want to take the time to learn and really grow.

Part two will also be available on Spotify and Apple in a few weeks. But if you do have the attention spent and want to learn and watch the full episode, It is also on the member's Patreon and substack right now. So where can everyone find you if they haven't found you already? If you guys have not found me yet, my YouTube channel is called Your Mom Ashley. Spell you are space, M-O-M-M-Space Ashley. That's how I literally every time I give some of my channel name, I have to be like, you are? Yeah, it's like the whole thing.

And then my Instagram and TikTok is at A-A-A-A-A-ashly K. Another hard one to spell, which is amazing. It's a good name regardless. And check out Nami Masha. Yes, thank you. We have all the cool flavors and beyond. More exciting things coming. Yay.

And of course, subscribe to Ms. Zoe. Thank you for having me. Thanks so much for joining. Thank you. I hope you learned a thing or two that you can apply to your personal or business brand. And if you like this episode, check out these two videos. Rosen lasagna, medium power. 15 minutes.

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