The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Danielle Bernstein AKA We Wore What - How To Create Your Dream Job, Overcome Challenges, & Build An Online Presence & Brand
Episode Date: October 23, 2024#768: Join us as we sit down with Danielle Bernstein – a NYC fashion influencer turned business mogul & the visionary behind the fashion brand We Wore What. From transforming a passion project into... a thriving fashion & business empire, Danielle has continued to pioneer & evolve her entrepreneurial spirit. In this episode, Danielle discusses leadership dynamics to build a strong team, balancing personal relationships with business, navigating the challenges of an online community, & embracing authenticity in all aspects of her journey. To connect with Danielle Bernstein click HERE To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn’s favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes. Visit istandwithmypack.org to support I Stand With My Pack’s (ISWMP) mission by donating or adopting. Every contribution helps! This episode is sponsored by Branch Basics Save 15% on your Starter Kit or their new Hand Soap when you use code SKINNY at branchbasics.com. This episode is sponsored by Cymbiotika Just go to cymbiotika.com/theskinny and use code SKINNY to save 15% off on your subscription order. This episode is sponsored by Stakt Visit shopstakt.com/tsc and use code SKINNY at checkout for 20% off your purchase. This episode is sponsored by First Aid Beauty Don’t wait, get 20% off with promo code SKINNY at FirstAidBeauty.com/SKINNY. Produced by Dear Media Â
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The following podcast is a Dear Media production.
This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential.
Brow peptide. Okay. I was using like a shitty white-labeled castor oil on my eyebrows for
like a year to grow them. And then I started using the castor oil on my lashes, and I noticed that
it was the best way to cap off my skincare routine. My eyebrows were growing, my lashes
were growing, and I was like, how can I do this but do a Skinny Confidential spin on it?
So I worked with a chemist behind the scene to create a castor oil brow peptide. I added peptides
to this castor oil so it would really take it up a notch. And with that, we launched the Skinny
Confidential's brow peptide. I use this every single morning and night as the last step in my skincare routine.
It's such an easy habit stack. You're already doing your skincare routine.
So to just pull out the little spoolie and put it on your brows, and then we also have a little
custom spoolie to put it on your eyelashes, is really the creme de la creme to finish off your routine.
What I've noticed since using the brow peptide is my eyebrows have grown like no other,
so much so that I have to get them waxed more. And I'm also noticing a really pretty lash.
I am just such a big fan of castor oil. And with the added peptide, it's a no-brainer.
For this week only, we're giving you guys 15% off. All you have to do is go to shopskinnyconfidential.com and use code BROWSE. I recommend getting on subscription.
While you're on the site, I also recommend getting the mouth tape and the sunscreen.
Those are some good ones. Go to shopskinnyconfidential.com and use code BROWSE for 15% off.
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic.
And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get
ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.
There was a time in both of our careers where I'm sure we were going to every single event
that we got invited to. And that's because it was so bright and shiny. And then I quickly,
fortunately realized, wait a second, I can't be everywhere. It's not good for my time,
my time management. Like I need that time at night to not go to an event and maybe to a content plan
for the next week or to work on something outside of my company or to work on time for myself.
So I think that learning when to say no
goes across so many different parts.
Daniel Bernstein of WeWoreWhat is on the show today.
And I have to tell you,
I am really delighted to have her on the show.
She was a breath of fresh air.
I think the internet runs wild
with certain celebrities and influencers.
And to be able to sit down with them and have a conversation in long form gives a lot of context
and a lot of depth to who they are. And I think that's what this episode did, is it showed Danielle
in a very multifaceted way. It shows her many sides. And I thought it was really authentic and organic.
And I have to tell you, I enjoyed her so much that we actually exchanged numbers.
And I found her nothing but lovely. She's very down to earth. She's cool. She's charismatic.
And I think it'll be so cool for so many people to listen to her on a platform that is long form.
She doesn't do a lot of podcast. She is a New York City fashion
influencer turned business mogul. She's the visionary behind the fashion brand WeWoreWhat.
And she's a hustler. At the end of this episode, she gives you guys a code to shop.
And there's a jacket that she's wearing. If you're watching this on YouTube, that's so good.
I think it's going to sell out quickly. I want it for myself. I literally thought the jacket
she was wearing was a $3,000 jacket. And it was actually a jacket that she had designed.
So definitely wait until the end to get the code and go shop all her cute pieces.
On that note, Danielle, welcome to the Him and Her Show.
This is the skinny confidential Him and Her.
So one of the things I think that has made you so successful from afar is the momentum.
And there's something about New York City mixed with your momentum that's unique.
Has anyone ever told you that?
I have a lot of energy.
And I think that's a question I get asked about all the time.
Like, how do you do so much? How? I mean, a lot of different things. One, I live by my schedule.
So my Google calendar, my Gmail is my Bible, basically. And I really follow a very strict
schedule, which includes content time, personal time, date nights, dinners, whatever I
have, even meditation time is in there. And it's really important because I like to be on a schedule
and it's not like I don't go off my schedule every so often. I'm not so strict with it,
but it really helps me to get done everything I need to get done in a day for all the different
companies I work across. When you were a little girl, did you have these big ideas? Like looking back,
do you pinpoint little times where you were entrepreneurial? I've always been very
entrepreneurial, whether it was, you know, running something for my high school or working in a
clothing store when I was younger and doing five different jobs at the same time. I grew up very
privileged, but if I wanted to buy something clothing wise or I wanted to get something for
myself, my parents didn't hand it to me.
They said, go work and get it yourself.
So I always had to be very entrepreneurial in the ways that I either wanted to get certain things or, you know, just create different businesses.
What would your mom describe you as?
My mother would say that the easiest part of raising me was my birth.
She always makes that joke. It's actually quite funny because it's true.
But no, I've always been a hustler and I've had this like natural born confidence and energy,
even when I was in glasses and braces and definitely wasn't cute. I thought I was the
hottest thing ever. So I've always had this like crazy amount of confidence, this go-getter attitude. You know, I'm a very decisive person. So when I set my mind to
something, I go out and do it. Like I'm a big executor. If someone's listening and they want
to execute something, say you're their mentor. Okay. What advice are you giving them?
I mean, at a certain point, you just have to do it. There's a reason, and I've had tech companies
where you put out the MVP,
the most valuable product that you can at first, and then you innovate from there. So you just have
to launch. You just have to get started and then learn along the way, find the right business
partners, find the right people who compliment your strengths and weaknesses, and just go for it.
I was thinking about you and Lauren and some people that have been,
I think, at this kind of game for a while. 13 years.
When I think back, like when she first started. She's an OG.
Yeah. And I think a lot of people, this has now become a career for many people.
Right. When did you start putting yourself out there on the internet? And when did you realize
that you could do this as a living? Well, 13 years ago is when WeWoreWhat started
and it started as a street style blog,
which is why it was even called WeWoreWhat.
It was we, as in the girls of New York City,
what are we wearing?
And I was photographing street style
around the Fashion Institute of Technology's campus
where I went to school to show my friends
that were at the Big Ten schools and in other states
and weren't surrounded by the street style
I was seeing every day to be like,
here's your daily source of outfit inspiration.
And then I would link to similar items.
Then I flipped the camera on myself
and the whole we wore what origin story
is that I started photographing my personal style,
was an early adopter on Instagram
and sort of put the proof in the pudding
of why influencers are the most modern form of advertising,
why we are better paid than
a billboard in Times Square, and how we have such a direct access to a consumer that this is why
this is where the marketing dollars should be spent. And so I spent basically my entire career
proving that concept. And then obviously creating my own brand was just really backing myself 100%.
What was the goal for you in the beginning?
Did you even know what you were doing?
It was totally a passion project.
And obviously that's not the norm anymore.
It doesn't just start as a passion project.
People want to be an influencer.
That wasn't a career.
I was a blogger at the time.
There wasn't a career in being a creator.
So for me, it was a passion project that I then realized,
okay, I can start charging for something like this because I'm producing sales for this company. So why shouldn't
I be making commission? Why shouldn't they be paying me to advertise their products? And so,
you know, we, as in all the OGs sort of created what it meant to be an influencer and what we
should be charging for things like that. And it was a very gray area and still in so many ways
is a gray area, But, you know,
we were making up the rules as we went along until it really became more of a defined industry.
Is it hard for you to date as all this is going on? I can imagine we've had a lot of strong women
on this podcast and I always ask this question. It's intimidating to a lot of men, I think,
and they don't almost know how to take it.
And I think they think they want it.
They think they want to be in on the relationship and they think they want to get a little speck
of the fame and they want to get on Instagram.
But when they get it, it's not quite what they thought.
Yeah.
I mean, I've had a long dating history.
I've had.
Let's go through everyone.
I've had a few.
It's in my first book that the dating history is in my book, but, um, I've
had some very long-term serious boyfriends over the past decade. And, you know, about a year and
a half ago, got out of a four-year relationship with somebody that I thought was the one.
And I think that you just have to find someone that really compliments you. That's your best friend. And I was not necessarily focused on the right qualities in a man in my past relationships.
And I'm in a very healthy, loving relationship now with somebody who is very confident.
I think it takes a really confident guy to be with a pretty dominant, strong woman like me.
I just go cry every night in the room.
You know what it's like.
When this is over, I go cry for about 20 minutes.
You know, what was also really important for me was for, to find a guy who really helped me tap
into my more feminine side, especially in those private moments that you don't see on Instagram.
Like I do feel really feminine and, and like the, the woman that I've wanted to feel like,
while also being the strong woman that everyone knows. Yeah. You know, it's so funny. I was,
what episode was this?
We were talking, like, I think Lauren and I work for a few different reasons, but there's
a very feminine side to Lauren mixed with a very masculine side when she's doing the
things that I think you need to do in order to be successful and put yourself out there
and all those things.
Right.
And I do think there's a masculine.
And he thinks those things are hot, which I'm sure you do too.
Yes.
But what I do tell her sometimes if it's too great like say we're in the bedroom together
i'm like sometimes i look at like hey put your fucking balls away because it's you know i mean
like you don't want to like why i haven't told that not like while we're having sex you're not
like put your balls away why we're fucking i think that there's a there's a moment where like and
also for men i think that and people get mad about this topic but i think tapping into masculine
feminine energy but you don't want to be so far one way and so far the other way all the time.
I like to be a perfect mix of both feminine, masculine, whatever it is, just like in my career,
I like to be the perfect mix of relatable and aspirational. I think it's all about finding
the balance and with a relationship, it's all about that healthy communication. So a lot of
what my boyfriend and I did from an early stage was talk about what we wanted
and needed from each other.
And, you know, how would we like things in the bedroom to be?
How would we like things to be when we go out to dinner?
Something that makes me feel really feminine is, you know, not bringing a credit card out
when we go out to dinner and not being the one to, you know, handle the tip or the bill
at a table, even if I'm splitting everything 50-50 or even if we deal with our
finances separately, like him having cash to tip somebody when we're on vacation. Those are things
that make me feel more feminine for some reason. And I was very open about communicating that to
him from an early time. And so that I think has really helped us. I don't like to bring my credit
card anywhere, no matter how much money I make. Well, now you don't need to because of Apple Pay.
I don't like to bring a credit. I'm just not a credit card kind of bringer gal.
No, but I think we got into a weird place a period of time where you couldn't say those
kind of things or people didn't like you saying those things.
Like, I think it's okay.
I don't know.
It's weird.
There's just weird.
Like, as a man, I-
You can be a really strong woman and also not want to hold a credit card.
Yeah.
And as a man, I like the feeling of like taking care of my wife
when we're going out. It makes you feel masculine. What has it been like putting your relationship
on social media with all the feedback? Yeah. So after my last relationship, I pretty much vowed
to never put a relationship on social media again. I just wasn't sure if I wanted that kind of
exposure and outside opinion again.
And then I found myself in a really loving, healthy relationship that I was so excited
and proud to share with the world.
But I didn't do that until he was fully prepared for what came with that.
And so when I decided to finally share us on social media, I said, OK, here's the best
case scenario and here's the worst case scenario.
And so I very much prepared him for the types of comments he would get, the types of companies or publications that would write
articles about us, the kind of digging they would do into his life or his career. And so we were
very prepared for what it came with. And it may seem like I show a lot of my relationship, but we
definitely don't. We keep a lot of things private. And I think that that's really important to have
those boundaries. And we're constantly checking in with each other when
it comes to that. What did you, so what were the things you were guarding him against? Yeah. What
is this conversation? I said, I said, okay, the worst, you know, what's going to happen when I
post you, you know, there's going to be some Reddit comments. There's going to be this, that
the worst thing is probably the New York post to write an article. And then you're going to get a
ton of phone calls about it. And that's like exactly what happened. Just that he's dating you. That's what they write about. They said,
this guy's dating. I don't know why it was so interesting to people, but it was. And it was
fine. It wasn't that big of a deal. So when he gets a negative comment on his Instagram, did you
give him? Oh, he doesn't. He's private now. I mean, I'm going to go private before. Okay. Let's
say he sees a negative comment. Does he react to that or does he now, does he know what to do because you've sort of
coached him through it? He doesn't react to anything now. Yeah. I think at first to anybody,
even to my friends, to my family, when they get comments, it can be a little bit shocking. Like
I had to talk to my brother and sister-in-law who just had a baby. Like, are you okay with me
showing her? And they're like, yes, up until a certain age, when she starts becoming recognizable,
then we don't want her shown anymore. So that's just a conversation I always have with my friends
and family to kind of, you know, I chose this career. I chose to be a public figure. So I know
what comes with that. But everybody in my life did not. And so I'm always really cautious and
sensitive to that fact that even one comment when I get thousands a day can be really intense for somebody to deal with.
How do you combat any negative comments?
Is there something that you do now,
a practice that you have?
I feel like listening to you on Melissa,
it seems like you've had a full mind-body evolution.
Totally.
I used to address a lot of them
and now I do not pay attention to it.
And I truly mean that.
It's not like I like go behind and I read it and I cry about it separately. I literally don not pay attention to it. And I truly mean that it's not like I like go
behind and I read it and I cry about it separately. I literally don't pay attention to it. I either
laugh at it or I changed my mindset to really just feeling bad for people who take the time to write
a negative comment about someone else. Like you have to realize someone like that must be in such
an unhappy place that you have to feel sorry for them because hurt people hurt people. And so once
I had that mindset, I was like, all right, I'm not going to address the negativity
because I don't want to put that out there to my platform and my community. I'm going to keep it
cool here, even though I'm very vulnerable with my followers and authentic. And I like to tell
them if I'm having a bad day or if something's happening that I want to share about, I will.
But it's just about not addressing it. It's just comes with the territory.
Heidi Powell just came on the show. She's in the fitness industry.
And she said how she deals with it is the same way.
If the stove is hot and everyone tells you that the stove is hot, why would you keep touching the stove?
And that's what going on hate sites or looking at comments.
Why would you even go there?
You would stop touching it.
I think it's challenging because early day i'll
just use this show like you guys have been putting yourselves out there longer than i have but doing
early days of this show we would take a lot of feedback because we were forming the show and
what do people want to do and i think the general temperature of the internet now is productive
people that are doing well typically right like simple simple, nice, love it, great, move on. But the stuff that's longer winded these days is a lot of negative stuff. And the question you have to
ask yourself is, is this productive in a way that I can take this information, use it to improve the
platform? Or is it just hate stuff that's tearing you down? And at some point, if it's the hate
stuff, it's not productive for you as a person in any endeavor to pay too much attention to it.
Because in order to do anything, put yourself out there publicly, run a company, take a chance on an idea, you almost have to kind of like put the blinders on and just do it.
Because there's so many naysayers and so many forces against you that if you pay too much attention to that, you just get derailed.
Yeah, I love constructive criticism.
And I'll ask my followers all the time. If I saw there was a slow seller for my clothing brand, I'll be like, what didn't you guys like about this collection?
Or what do I need to do more of going forward? And so I'll always ask for what type of content
do you want to see? What am I doing right versus wrong? And I welcome that kind of criticism
because it's really helpful for me to then be flexible and to innovate and to transform whatever
we're doing with the brand or with my platform or whatever it may be. But, you know, you can't you just can't add fuel to the fire. And I think
that's the moral of the story with anything like we went through it for so many years, especially
during cancel culture, covid time where, you know, we were I was particularly addressing basically
any accusation or negative comment that came my way. And that was a really unhealthy mental mindset for me to be living in.
But the problem is, and this is what I think a lot of people don't realize,
is there's no rule book that we got on how to deal with when you're dealing with the world.
And it's almost like you have to have an evolution through it. You have to get through it to get to
the other side to realize what you should be doing. Like now this generation has more of a playbook because they can look
at what we've done and they can see, oh, okay, maybe I shouldn't. I should. I think that you
have done a really good job putting yourself out there in an authentic way and kind of not
giving a fuck what anyone has to say about it. I think that that's also going to come with hate.
It's like part of the gig. Totally part of the gig. And yes, you're right. There is a playbook
now for how to handle those types of situations. And I get approached all the time by other
influencers and creators or even some celebrities who will be like, how did you handle this type of
thing? And I'll always give them the same advice. Just literally don't address it unless you really
have something to apologize for. Then just get in front of it, apologize for it and move forward. Don't continue
focusing on it every single day because you will end up bringing more attention to something than
people already know about and more people will end up. It's just fuel to the fire.
It's almost like do nothing. Well, just do nothing. It depends on it's obviously situational,
but a lot of the time it's like people are on to the next thing the next day.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Have you ever seen a bully start bullying someone and then it's kind of like somebody
starts getting beat up and everybody piles in, like some kid gets jumped or whatever.
It's like.
Yeah, that's the internet.
It's kind of like the internet.
It's literally the internet.
But if you're just like, hey.
Keyboard bullies, we call them.
Yeah.
And if you're just kind of like, hey, I don't care.
I'm not part of it and I'm not sorry.
If it's something you're not sorry about, then like, I just think people like, okay,
move on to something easier.
Yeah.
Right.
And I always see, you know, maybe wearing the, some other hats I wear, the people that
are, are so afraid and constantly trying to like apologize for everything, even if they're
not sorry, those are the ones that get it the worst.
You welcome that sort of attention and that, and if you're giving it the time of day, then more people will want to come out and take part in that. And that's
what I found was happening. And all of a sudden, when I changed my mindset, I changed my attitude.
I worked a lot on my mental health. I worked with my life coach to really figure out like,
what is my position on social media and this platform? What am I here to do? I'm not here
to talk about these things every day. I'm here to help inspire people, to talk about my business, to share great clothing. Like that is
not really, it didn't feel true to me. And it also was having a very negative effect on my mental
health. And then once I made that switch, I was in such a better place as a person.
What are the things in your toolbox that you've used to shift mind, body, spirit?
Lots of things.
Yeah, give us, this is the podcast to give us every little thing.
Having a life coach who I've worked with
for around seven to 10 years now, she's been incredible.
And what I like about a life coach more than a therapist
is that she just tells me what to do and how to do it.
Like, it's not as much of, why are you this way?
And let's talk about your feelings.
It's like, okay, here are the tools you need to become a better person, put them into practice and let's start doing it. And one of the first things she ever taught me was what happens
when you get in an Uber? I was like, what do you mean? I get in the Uber, I'm on my phone and I go
off to my destination. She's like, do you ever talk to the Uber driver and have a conversation
with them? I said, no, not really. This is about seven years ago now. And she said, next time you
get in an Uber, say hello, how are you? And find out about the person. And I did. And I swear it
changed my life. Having that conversation with a person. And not only did it change my life,
but that person's day, I guarantee you, has changed because of that interaction too.
And so that's something so little, not even to do with business or relationships, that
totally changed the way I was going about my day,
the way others felt around me. And that's what working with a life coach has done.
I've also meditated in the form of breathwork, which Melissa and I, Melissa works with Erica
now too. She's the best. Breathwork has been really instrumental in just helping me to stay
calm and to get out of my anxiety. But really working out is the way that I take care of my
mental health. Working out is my escape. It's when my phone's put away, whether it's 30 minutes,
45 minutes or a full hour, a combination of all my different workouts really helped me to like
ground myself. What's the workouts that you do? So I do floor Matt Pilates type workouts with my
friend Grace. She's incredible. She's up and coming. I do Melissa's workout.. We don't as much have time for each other anymore, but when we find that time
together, it's so special. And then I do a lot of weight training. I love weights. So I'll do that
about twice a week, twice a week, and then walks on the West Side Highway. What are other little
wellness things you do? Do you cold punch? Do you sauna? What are all the little things? I don't
really cold plunge or sauna, although I just got a sauna sauna so i'm trying to get into it more um it's hard in new york city to cold plunge i know where the hell am i gonna
cold i mean can you get one in your house can we like not really i bet you could do like a custom
japanese bathtub or something that would fit maybe i should there's probably ways to do it now i mean
they're being yeah there's a lot of work to go and leave your house michael and do it and then
you're out in the cold lesson if you have if you have Taylor's trench, you're fine.
The lesson is if things are going well, you just get in the cold plunge.
You just get in the cold plunge.
What are your other wellness tips?
I mean, I take a ton of supplements.
I love my supplements.
Do you want me to like name them?
Please.
Really?
Okay.
I take every morning.
I start my morning with Omnibiotic, which is like a powder version of seed, but more effective. It's a great probiotic in the morning. I take L-theanine in the morning,
which is for stress. I take vitamin B, vitamin, sorry, vitamin C, vitamin D, and Wellbel,
which I brought you guys some because I want you to have it.
And it grows your hair.
Wellbel is the reason. Thank you for giving me the plug. No,
well, Belle has really changed my life. I mean, you knew me when I was blonde, fried hair,
extensions, the whole thing. Your hair has grown so much. Yeah, it's truly the best hair supplement
out there. And I'm an advisor for the company, so I need to preface it with that. But I started as
it's like first user. I wasn't always that way. It was created by my doctor, actually.
Talk to us about how you look at investing because you do a lot of behind the scenes
stuff that I think people don't realize. Totally. Companies where I know I can be
instrumental, whether it's helping in their promotion, which is the obvious,
but the rebranding, the digital marketing strategy, strategic introduction. So I'm
involved in companies all over the spectrum from health and wellness to hospitality,
food, beverage, tech, all of it.
And you do MoAssist?
MoAssist as well.
Yeah.
Okay.
Is that yours or is that something?
Yeah, MoAssist is our tech platform.
It's in the middle of some innovation right now.
So we're working through what the next phase is, probably an AI play.
But really my focus as far as my investments go, Wellbell is definitely number one. It's my
biggest. And then obviously my own brand, WeWoreWhat. What's some bad advice that you got
along the way as you've been growing? Bad advice. Bad advice. Some things that you look back and
like, oh, that was not good advice. Because there's a lot of people that are trying to do
what you have done now. Yeah. I think that delegating is extremely important, but there's
a level to delegating and stepping away that I think there'sating is extremely important, but there's a level to delegating
and stepping away that I think there's a balance that needs to be found where you're not too
removed from any major decision making in your own company, at least.
And I think there was a time where I removed myself from part of the processes in my business
that I then saw the effect of.
And so needing to stay involved on at least very high level executive decisions
and having an approval process
with certain parts of my company was really important.
So while I get the advice to delegate,
and that is really important all the time,
there's a certain aspect of control
that as a perfectionist
and someone who knows what's best for my company
that I don't want to give up and will not give up.
Give us an example of something that you delegated that you actually look back on and you're like,
OK, so for a certain point in the WeWoreWhat brand, I removed myself from fittings because
we used a traditional fit model for them. And there was like a season. There was, I think,
three seasons of collections that were just using a fit model where I didn't, I wasn't as involved or didn't
have approval over the final fits of some of the clothing. And that was because we really wanted to
hit industry standard and make everything size inclusive and, and really fit very well. So we
were using a very traditional model, but then I looked at it and I said, wait, but I need this
jacket to be oversized. And I want that waist to be super tight. And I want the clothing to fit a
certain way. And I noticed in my products that I wasn't happy with the way it was looking. And so I got back involved with the
fitting process and now I'm totally involved with it. And it's really been a game changer for the
business. I was really interested when you talked on Melissa's podcast about the structure of your
infrastructure, like how you think about your team. Your team seems like it's very important to you.
Extremely.
Can you kind of talk about that? I think people are interested in the behind the scenes.
Yeah. You asked how I do so much in a day. And one of the answers I should have given you first
and foremost was I have an amazing team. I have such a badass team of women that are by my side
and that work really hard and that feel the company is their own as well. And that's all
about creating great company culture, you know, being respected versus feared as a leader
because there's a big difference
that I had to learn along the way
and really putting that trust and faith in my team
to feel passionate about whatever they're doing.
And so we have a big team,
bigger than people would expect actually,
you know, internally the day-to-day operations
of We Were What is about eight or nine
people. And then throughout the brand, we're about 40. Lauren and I have spent years on this show
talking about how to better your life, how to clean up the things that you eat, how to make
sure that what you're putting in your body is good for you. We have also recently started talking
about how important it is to make sure the stuff that you're cleaning with, your household supplies
have clean ingredients. They don't have a bunch of fragrances. They're
safe to use around your children, your pets, yourself. There are so many hormone disruptors
in our typical cleaning products that you find on the shelves of regular stores.
And this is causing all sorts of harm in your body, potentially creating health implications
that you're going to have to deal with throughout your life. This is why Lauren and I love Branch
Basics so much. We've had the founder, Allison, on this show twice to talk
about all of the benefits of switching to Branch Basics in your house for cleaning supplies.
Just search Branch Basics, Skinny Confidential, and you'll find those episodes. What we love
about them is their premium starter kit replaces all of your harmful cleaning products in the home.
Branch Basics now also has a new luxurious gel hand soap made with only the safest ingredients
to nourish your skin. And Branch Basics is free of fragrance, hormone disruptors,
harmful preservatives that wreak havoc on our health, and is even safe enough to use around
your babies and pets. It's an absolute no-brainer to switch to Branch Basics and get rid of all of
these harmful chemical supplies that are in your household right now. Since making the switch,
Lauren and I have noticed a huge difference.
Why would you continue to use things that you know are harmful when there's a better alternative?
We, of course, have a special offer for our listeners. Save 15% on your starter kit or their new hand soap when you use code SKINNY at www.branchbasics.com. Again, that is code SKINNY
for 15% off when you purchase a starter kit or their new gel hand soap at branchbasics.com.
You know we are huge fans of Symbiotica
and their line of supplements and products.
We have had the founders of Symbiotica
on this show multiple times.
We could talk to them for days, hours, weeks.
We have at times all about all the things
that they're creating over there at Symbiotica.
What we love about Symbiotica
is most of their supplements are in liposomal form,
which means you actually eat them like food.
This is gonna give better delivery to your body and immediately give you the benefits
of taking these supplements. Some of the standout stars that we love are their magnesium threonate.
This is one of the best sleep products. You can also put it in your morning coffee.
So many of us are deficient in magnesium. Their glutathione is one of the best on the market. I
think it's one of the best antioxidants out there. They also have one of the best vitamin D3 and K2 combinations. If you're taking vitamin D
without K2, you're maybe not getting the benefits that you want. So they have a great one as well.
And they have an amazing B-complex formula. So those are just some standout stars. They also
have some sleep supplements, some magnesium sprays. They really have everything. They have
stuff for gut health, protein. They've really done it all at this point. So many supplements contain fillers or harmful ingredients, but
Symbiotica's products are truly made with intention. They are formulated with the highest
quality ingredients out there. No seed oils, preservatives, toxins, artificial additives,
or natural flavors. Plus they taste so good. One of the things I do with the magnesium is put it
in my morning coffee or tea or matcha, whatever you want to do.
Lauren and I could not be bigger proponents, bigger fans of the brand. So give them a try.
Start your Symbiotica subscription today. You can save 15% on your order with our code skinny.
Just go to www.symbiotica.com slash the skinny and use code skinny on your subscription order. Again, that's symbiotica.com slash the skinny. I work out at home a lot.
Sometimes when I can't get my trainer to weightlift or if I can't get to a Pilates class,
I'll just lay out my mat and do a little workout.
And I have been using the coolest mat.
You guys are going to be so obsessed with it.
So it's by this brand called Stacked.
Stacked is a female-founded
wellness brand that believes movement is important for a well-balanced life.
So you may know them from creating the Stack Mat. It's a first of its kind. It's a foldable
fitness mat that doubles as a block to enhance or modify your workouts. So you know how sometimes
you have your block and your mat and all this stuff. This one just folds up into everything. But this year, Stacked expanded its vision beyond just the mat. With the
recent launch of the Stack Mat Pro, a more durable and grippier version of their iconic mat,
and their newest innovation, the Stack Weight, they continue to elevate your everyday fitness
needs and inspire movement. So if you go on their site, it's so beautiful. Like if you're a big
workout person like I am, and you want to work out at home and you like saving if you go on their site, it's so beautiful. If you're a big workout person
like I am and you want to work out at home and you like saving time, go on their site and look
at how beautiful their pieces are. The foldable fitness mat is unlike any other. I love it in
black. They also have the most beautiful weights, like I said. Go check them out, especially if you
work out from home. Visit shopstacked.com slash TSC and
use code skinny at checkout. You get 20% off your purchase. That's S-H-O-P-S-T-A-K-T.com
slash TSC and use code skinny for 20% off your order. I mean, that's a big team that you're
managing. It's not, I think that that's what's so interesting about what you've done to me is it's like you, you content marketed, you, you were an influencer. I don't
look at you as an influencer anymore. I look at you as full entrepreneur, business woman,
you're, you're a CEO founder, you're sort of running the ship. And I think sometimes a lot
of influencers get stuck in the mud with being an influencer and they don't know how to transition and evolve into something that has more sustainability in the long term.
Yeah.
You've done a really good job of that.
Thank you.
How do you look at each?
You don't have to go through each one, but you said you have a team of eight that you work with every day.
What does that look like?
Give it to someone who has no idea.
You have a COO.
Tell us the details.
Yeah, so Mo is my COO.
I have my assistant who's here with me today who is basically my second mom. I love a COO. Tell us the details. Yeah. So Mo is my COO. I have my assistant
who's here with me today, who is basically my second mom. I love you, Soph. I have my entire
content and marketing team, my sales team, my production team, my tech designers, my wholesale
team. There's so many of us. Too many to name right now. And I'm definitely going to forget
people. But I think that we all work really well together. We work across two different offices. So my brand
is structured as such where the creative team is in one place and then the design brand and the
tech team is in another place. What is the difference between being respected and feared?
And is that from your life coach? How did you learn that? Totally. Does it sound like it was
from my life coach? I don't know. Taylor, I need you to fear me at all times.
I mean, there's a big difference between being feared versus respected.
And as a leader, you want to instill that, you know, I'm your leader and certain things,
this is the structure of the company and certain things need approvals and this and that.
But I want you to feel comfortable coming to me with anything and feedback is welcomed.
And finding that balance along the way with my attitude has really been because I can come off like pretty harsh sometimes.
And I'm obviously I'm pretty dominating. I'm strong, but I have that soft side of me and
leaning into that soft side doesn't make me weak. It just makes me stronger, actually. And so
learning how to lean into that, just like I do in my relationship with the feminine side,
has been really helpful when finding that right dynamic with my team. I think when you're
someone who is so time oriented, like I feel like you're like me where you think your time is your
currency. Totally. Time is money for sure. So when you're giving feedback and I have to work on this
too, the feedback is sometimes so curt because I don't want to waste any time.
Yes.
But then I'm like, wait,
I need to like do maybe a compliment sandwich
or like a little softer.
Compliment sandwiches are amazing.
But I do that with you sometimes.
But I think that that's a conversation
that could take place where you're like,
I think you can sit down with people and say,
and just say it like that.
Be like, hey, I'm not curt and I'm decisive
and I'm not trying to be short with you,
but time is this and we're all busy and we're all, you know, trying to, I say all the time be like, Hey, I'm not curt and I'm decisive and I'm not trying to be short with you, but time is this, and we're all busy and we're all trying to, I say all the time, like, does the meeting
need to really be an hour 45? We can skip the pleasantries and do that later, but here we go.
And I'll start meetings that way too. You know, like, let's just, for the sake of time, for the
sake of everyone's time, let's just start. And when I hire new people on my team, I always say
to them, I text without punctuation. I will say things pretty blunt and
clearly. And please know that that is not my attitude, that that is not my tone and that
there is nothing meant by it other than let's just get this shit done. And I have to be very
clear with my team and I'll even, I have, you know, they'll go to Mo or they'll go to Jess,
who's my brand director. I just hired my best friend as my brand director, which has been
amazing. We have a friendship contract and that is a whole other thing we should talk about.
A friendship contract?
Yes. Working with your best friend can be tough. We all know that.
Sure.
You work with your husband and wife. You guys know it. How do you structure your day to get all of this done? And I mean from a really micro level. Are you scheduling photo shoots on one day? Are you time batching? Are you taking calls one day? What's the structure of your flow look like? full back-to-back meetings scheduled either every half hour on the half hour with either 10 or 15 minute breaks so that I can have time for to eat or to drink to go pee exactly or you know every
hour on the hour depending on what the meetings need and most of our meetings are held on zoom
now and then I go between my offices across the street from my apartment so I go back and forth
all day and my other office is very close so I'm between a ton of places at once and handling a lot of different things and somehow
finding time for content, too.
What's the behind the scene thing that you do that maybe people who follow you don't
know when it comes to content or your or your clothing line?
What's something that you do that Sophia would know that maybe someone who's listening?
What do I do that people wouldn't know about?
She's like, hold on, let me look.
I'm on Zoom all day,
but I'm in my bathroom getting ready half the time.
So I won't like get ready in the morning
and then be done for the day and leave.
I'll like shower and then sit with a wet head
on my first meeting
and then hop onto my second meeting
and be blowing my hair with an AirPod in
or something like that.
Like I will not just get ready and leave the bathroom.
So I'll probably spend like three hours a day just kind of standing in my bathroom with the laptop open. Are you doing
your hair like this yourself? No, my Andy came over and did my hair today, but I can do my hair
myself. You can do your hair like this. I don't think I've I need to maybe teach me. I don't
really know. I do tutorials all the time. How do you how do you do your own hair running? It's not
that easy, right? It's not that easy.
But it's like,
I can understand you.
And it's time consuming.
You have so much going on.
The fact that you're actually
blow drying your own hair,
Michael,
I know you don't understand this,
although he does take three hours.
No, it doesn't take me long.
It's just a quick push back.
It's not a quick push back.
My boyfriend has long hair like yours.
You guys should talk about products.
You know,
I'll give him some products,
but as somebody who doesn't,
you don't know
because you don't do your hair, so you just don't know what it takes. You never do your own hair. Never. Because I'll tell you some products, but as somebody who doesn't, you don't know because you don't do your hair,
so you just don't know
what it takes.
You never do your own hair.
Never.
Because I'll tell you why.
It looks a little ratty
after a while
if we don't get somebody in.
I don't wash my hair.
I wash my hair,
you're going to die,
twice a month.
Twice a month?
You're joking.
No.
Hey, by the way,
I wash my hair twice a week,
which I think is not a lot.
Twice a month.
But that is shocking.
It's grown my hair.
I don't wash my hair that often.
Maybe once a week. Well, we're not talking about your hair.
You have completely different hair. It's good for your hair growth.
It's good. You need natural oils.
We're going to have to talk about this more. It's the best tip ever.
Everyone is over washing their hair.
That's crazy. And you know what I do?
So I cold plunge and I dunk my head under
and then I just wash it out with water. I don't put shampoo in it.
Oh, so you're getting your hair wet
more than once a month. I probably get it wet three or four times a month, but I'm washing it
with soap and shampoo. I'm shocked right now. Talk to my hairstylist. He's so like- I think
I have a pretty good routine down. Twice a week, I think is the perfect amount for your hair health.
Okay. Talk to us about your hair, your beauty, all your tips. Oh my goodness.
My hair has been quite the journey.
I started out with pretty good hair in high school and growing up, but then once I moved
into the city and started experimenting with everything fashion related, I dyed my hair
blonde. I bleached it. I went balayage and gray and ashy blonde, and I did all the things and I
really damaged my hair in my twenties, like very much so. And then I had tried Nutrafol,
I tried Begumar, I tried all of the different pills. None of them worked for me. And then
that's when I got introduced to Wellbel, which like, I feel like I could talk about Wellbel
this whole episode, but it is the one supplement that I've ever found actually works. And a lot
of people that make the switch from these other brands will say the same thing. Like I've never
felt better. My hair, my skin, my nails, everything like this glow from within that just happens
with these supplements that were created. The doctor that created it is a gay man who decided
to not wait for the right partner and has two kids on his own. He's incredible. And he created
the supplement for his sisters, his three sisters who had postpartum hair loss, alopecia areata from
stress. And he was like, they, my sisters need a solution for their hair and I'm going to create it. And I, he was my doctor at the time. He's like a Harvard triple board certified,
incredible doctor. And he was like, Danielle, you need to take this. And he handed me this
little white bottle and it had no branding on it. Or it was like very sciencey or something
bad at the time. And three months in, I was like, whoa, I'm starting to see a huge difference.
Got rid of my extensions. This was around COVID time. And I said, I'm going to be a part of this company,
but we need to do a total rebranding.
And now it's gone crazy.
It's gone crazy.
But you know, they've never taken outside investment.
So they're just growing on their own
with community at the focus.
And it's really just been like such an incredible brand
to be a part of because it helps people feel
so much better about themselves.
And it's really like beauty from within.
And it has changed my confidence completely. Like I love my hair and it's and it's such a part of me now. And it's really helped me regain my confidence after so many years of
damaging. When you're looking at a deal to invest your own personal money, I think that you are the
perfect person if a brand is listening. Tell them what you're looking for.
I am looking for a company where I know that I can help you increase your revenue and really
be a strategic partner for you.
But I'm more so looking at a company who, when you invest in a company, you really are
investing in the founders.
So I'm looking at the founders, like, are they hustlers?
Do they know what they're doing?
Are they smart?
Are they, you know, humble enough to find the other right partners if the other right partners to complement their strengths and weaknesses, like I said earlier?
And I'm looking for companies that are profitable, that are not throwing a shit ton of dollars into
the influencer universe and waiting to see what sticks, that are really purpose-driven
and that actually work. That's the whole thing. They have to actually work, right? We both
love Array. You love Array. Love Array. Love Array. Love SIF. I was like, I want to be, I didn't
invest. I would love to invest in our company, but they're a longtime partner of mine. And that's
because it's a product that actually works. So it makes it so easy to talk about. And the beauty I
have as an influencer with a brand now is that the brand is like 90% of my revenue. So the
influencer stuff is just the cherry on top. So I'm brand is like 90% of my revenue. So the influencer stuff
is just the cherry on top. So I'm able to be very selective about my partnerships that comes with my
investments because my investments become my partnerships. And so I only want to work with
companies that are actually making a difference in work. I have a question in relation to that a bit.
When people come to you at this stage of your career that are aspiring to do what you've done
or what Lauren's done, what are some of the things that you tell them that maybe you wish
you knew earlier when it comes to putting your life out there like this? That's a tough question
because I feel like the way I put myself out there over so many different years taught me so much and
helped me grow up as a person and shape who I am. So do I wish somebody
told me like, don't do this and don't do that? Maybe, but then I wouldn't be who I am today.
I think that's a healthy way to look at it. But I guess if you were coaching somebody.
Learning how to say no is probably one of the hardest parts of our career because
you want to say yes to every tummy tea and whatever deal that comes your way,
but that is going to make you so much less authentic as an influencer. And then you're not going to have longevity. Your followers are not
going to trust you. Also, Ryan Holiday said something that I feel like very much applies
to you is that he said when you put yourself out there and you start to gain fame and notoriety and
influence, you start to get invited to all this stuff, right? Maybe you're invited to
something political, maybe like a movie star is doing something. You start to get invited to all
these different things, but it sort of ends up taking your eye off the ball of why you started.
So you have to have the ability to even say no to the bright, shiny things.
It's not only just the money, I think. It's also the time.
Yeah. There was a time in both of our careers where I'm sure we were going to every single it's not it's not only just the money I think it's also the time yeah it's it's I mean there
was a time in both of our careers where I'm sure we were going to every single event that we got
invited to I don't know if you were I was for sure and that's because it was so bright and shiny
and then I quickly fortunately realized wait a second I can't be everywhere not only is that
not good for for my brand image but you know it's not good my time, my time management. I need that time at
night to not go to an event and maybe to a content plan for the next week or to work on something
outside of my company or to work on time for myself. So I think that learning when to say no
goes across so many different parts. If you can't be everywhere, it also makes the price go down.
You know what I mean? It's to like have a little scarcity a little absence
yes a little mystery it's easy to say that in a position of success but I think in the early days
like we talked about this too it's like in the early we said yes to a lot but I think later you
got it's almost counterintuitive well there was an aspect of networking and a lot of the earliest
parts of my success I owe to being a fearless networker and so a lot of going to those events
allowed me to do that and so I understand when a new influencer comes onto the scene and wants
to go to all of those things while you have the energy to do it too, like Godspeed, let her rip.
But eventually, you know, creating that scarcity is important.
What is the behind the scenes of fashion week that we need to know about? Give us the real
juicy details. It looks very different for me now as a brand owner. This season, I did my first ever Fashion
Week presentation. And it looked really cool. It was so cool. I'm so happy I did it. I think it
was the right time for WeWoreWhat to have that moment at Fashion Week, especially since we were
a see now, buy now, wear now presentation. Everything that you saw was basically launching
that day or in the next like two months. Wait, that's so smart. So the consumer who was watching
the show could buy it right away. And we invited consumers to the show, which was really important
for me to include my community and fans and customers in that experience. Because like I said,
and being the perfect mix of relatable and aspirational, that relatable part of it,
it's like come to this really cool fashion week presentation, but also you can buy everything. And guess what? It's all
under $150. Talk to us about the relatable and aspirational things. This has been a huge
conversation on this podcast, relatability. How do you think about both of them? I think that a lot
of my followers, customers, whatever you want to call our community, they've been following me for a long time. And so I have shared every apartment move,
every time I bought myself a nice bag or have really grown in my success in my career and have
taken my followers along on that journey. And that's the part that I think keeps me relatable
because there's no way you can look at my lifestyle now and be like, that's relatable
because it's not necessarily. But there are still parts of my life that I share
with my followers that I know other people can relate to, like my breakup, like family dynamics,
like things in business that just happen and things don't always go the right way.
And so just sharing vulnerable and remaining really transparent with everybody, I think has
kept me relatable. But of course, like, you know, I'm buying designer bags
or I'm traveling on luxury vacations
and I live in an inexpensive apartment.
So that's the aspirational part of it.
Why did you decide to talk about your breakup?
What provoked that?
It was a few weeks after we actually broke up.
So I think it was something that I felt like
because I had shared so much about it,
I almost not owed it to my followers because I think that was something that I felt like because I had shared so much about it, I almost
not owed it to my followers because I think that's a very unhealthy relationship to feel
like you owe your followers something.
But they're my friends and I know they care about me and most of them, right?
Not all of them.
Yeah, I'm sure there's, we have all different kinds of-
People that listen to the show, they love everything about us.
They love you guys.
No, everything.
There's not one person on the internet that says-
Not one hater. No. You know what? You guys are just the best. They love you guys. No, there's not one person on the internet that says. Not one hater.
You know what?
You guys are just the best.
That's not true.
If you go and look on the internet and you Google us,
you'll just find nothing but love.
Yeah, with a relationship and a breakup.
People were always saying,
oh, when are you going to get married?
Or you're definitely getting engaged this weekend.
And that even happens now with my new relationship.
So I just felt like this was something that I was really struggling with and was figuring out my own way of how to move on
and sharing that would not only help me to find a feel free of it, but to help other people as well,
which in turn it did. I think when it comes to this kind of topic about relatability and what
you share and how people feel about it, I think it's important for anyone that's putting themselves out there to maintain. You have an element where you're
sharing a lot, but if you ever get to the point where you feel like those people have ownership
over the way you live your life, I think that's a very difficult way to live. So for me, I've
gotten into a lot of positive, like who aspires to relatability? The whole thing is you want to,
everybody in life, you want to grow and you want to end up better than where you started i think sometimes
people have a difficult time watching someone as far as you've come or as far as lauren's come
because it started so humbly right and it's gone so far and I don't think that's not relatable.
Like, I think that's the story.
That's like the American dream.
That's why anyone out there aspires to do anything.
But I think where people get in trouble in your worlds is they try to say we're still
relatable and we're still like everybody else all the time.
The whole thing is like what you've done is you've actually become not like everyone else.
There's still probably-
You have to be self-aware enough to be like listen i know this is not relatable but you know here i
am still sharing everything because that's what i'm here to do there's also a way to curate
relatability which i know and i'm not going to name people but we know these people that go and
it's like hey like this is i'm still it's like no like you're sharing a part that you think is going
to resonate like they're making millions of dollars a year,
but they're pretending like they wake up at 11 a.m.
and like they're in bed and like,
it's just,
there's no,
I think that's why your content resonates with entrepreneurs.
Because we can't put 11.
Because you show the hustle.
My perspective,
you know,
you show it.
Because I'm not a quote unquote influencer or creator,
and I'm more of an operator.
Like,
I hope that people take from this,
like,
hey,
you can start with a gem of an idea or something small and you can turn it into something
big. It takes a lot to do that. But what I don't want to do is like, Hey, if you're just relatable
all the time, then you're just going to, it's because it's not, it's not, it's not a realistic
message for people that are trying to make something happen. Does that make sense?
You just have to be real. That's it. It's so hard to come by in our industry.
And it's very refreshing when we can just be like, let's just be real with each other
and with our audience.
And that's what I try and do all the time.
And hopefully people respond well to it.
But, you know, you just have to stick to what is true to yourself.
And that's why I love long form content.
You can see through long form content. You can
see and you can hear who is sort of real and who is not. I did a lot of long form content
surrounding our Fashion Week event. I did a play on Seven Days Out, which is a Netflix show. Did
you ever see that? It's amazing. So cool. It shows like the Chanel fashion show or the 11
Madison Park Seven Days Out from the opening or the show. It's really cool. So I did
a behind the scenes raw footage. I said, I want I want no editing like you just chop it up, but I
don't want any like voiceovers, this fixing of things like no, no filters, just cut it up and
show what the days look like each day, five days out from our show. Show the stress. Show me in the
bathroom getting ready. The things we had to deal with models canceled. This happened, putting out
fires, whatever it was. And people responded really well to it. Now,
I don't know if Instagram is the place for that long form content. Like, I think it would have
been nice if I did that to maybe launch a YouTube or some other platform I can't keep up with. But
I think it was a really cool, authentic way to show the nitty gritty and the behind the scenes
of planning something so major like that. I also think your content to me is a mix of you talking and visual. I think because you're in
fashion and the fits and everything, it's good to see it. First Aid Beauty, if you have dryness,
if you have dry knees, dry elbows, there is this cream by First Aid Beauty.
Okay. It's called the Ultra Repair Cream. This moisturizer works. Okay. It hydrates to repair
the skin surface two times faster than anything. And the reason it does that, I think, is because
there's a colloidal oatmeal in it. I know all about oatmeal because when I was little, I got the chicken pox and my mom used to use oatmeal baths to heal me. And I remember just feeling so
moisturized. So it's no surprise that I'm attracted to First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Cream. This is
something that people rave about on Instagram. They say it improves their skin without feeling
greasy. This is a good one if you get really dry
skin or maybe you have a rash. It's just very luxurious, but also really works. It hydrates
while repairing the skin surface two times faster. It also doesn't clog your pores, which we love.
The dry skin cycle ends here. Demand more from your moisturizer. Order First Aid Beauty's Ultra
Repair Cream today. And we're excited to share a special offer available now just for our listeners.
Get 20% off when you visit our exclusive URL. Go to firstaidbeauty.com slash skinny and use
our promo code skinny. That's firstaidbeauty.com slash skinny. Don't wait. Get 20% off with promo
code skinny at firstaidbeauty.com slash skinny.
Quick announcement, everybody that wants to get live in person, interact with people,
have a good time. We are coming to New York. And when I say we, I mean, Dear Media,
a lot of the companies coming out there. Dear Media does these amazing events called Dear Media
IRL, which stands for In Real Life, where we have
incredible lineups of the Dear Media hosts come out for a day of programming. We have activations,
we have happy hours. It's really an awesome networking event. It's also a great social event,
and we have a ton of fun. I also like to think that they're jam-packed with value. For example,
this year, the lineup in New York, if you're out there there includes Amanda Hirsch, Taylor Strecker, Shannon Ford, Caroline Budino, Remy Cruz, Alicia Marie, Lauren, me, Whitney Port, Pia. We have an incredible
lineup. Lindsay Metzler, Brittany Xavier. Like I said, it's just jam packed. It's a day of
incredible programming with incredible hosts and talent. And it's a great place to meet people and
have, you know, just a really productive day. So with that being said, I want to make sure anyone
that's in the New York area or that's been thinking about traveling to the
New York area, Dear Media IRL should be on your list of things to do. It should be on your stop.
It's something that you should even plan a trip around. It takes place this year on November 2nd.
And like I said, in New York, the last two we've done have been in Austin, Texas. So this is going
to be the first time Dear Media does an IRL event in New York, big, big city.
And we're super excited about it. So tickets are on sale right now. If you just go to dearmedia.com slash IRL, you can find them there. They have all sorts of packages and hotel packages,
but the tickets are going to go fast. So make sure you check it out. Again, that's
dearmedia.com slash IRL, or just go to dearmedia.com and you'll find it. And we'd love to
see you out there. Lauren and I will both be there as well as some incredible hosts. See you there. As you know, Michael and I are very
passionate about the charity I stand with my pack. They're a female run nonprofit that's dedicated
to saving animals and preventing cruelty. I support them wholeheartedly because I know every
dollar goes to helping dogs in need. I have had the team on the show. I always
post the dogs on Instagram who need a home or need to be fostered or supported. So once a month,
I will share a dog of the month. And today we have Murphy. He was saved from being euthanized.
He's potty and crate trained. He loves people and dogs and enjoys cuddling with his foster brother. He also thrives
in the midst of activity and he'd be a wonderful addition to any home. If you guys know anyone
who's looking for a dog, please direct them to Murphy. You can go to I stand with my pack.org
and you can support Murphy or you can donate to I stand with my pack. You can foster, you can adopt
every contribution helps. That's I stand with my pack.org. You can foster, you can adopt. Every contribution helps.
That's IStandWithMyPack.org. You can also follow them on Instagram at I Stand With My Pack.
We get to talk to a lot of people and some that are much older and further than all of us, right?
Yeah.
And I remember of all people, Jillian Michaels came on the show and I was asking her about
career longevity. And she said, listen, there's people that love me and people that hate me, but nobody
is questioning where I stand or who I am.
She's so authentically herself.
And I think I took from that, if you're going to have any kind of longevity putting yourself
out there as a creator or a public person or whatever, it's really hard to fake it for
a long time. Like you might as well
just imagine 13 years of faking it. No. And so I know at any given time, I was joking about like
people, everyone loved me. Like I know there's people out there that can't fucking stand me.
And there's people that can't stand Lauren. And I know there's, yeah. But my thing is like,
I don't have the personal energy to try to curate and pretend and try to do this. Like I have to just be who I am and the world's a big place and we're going to like it. So we're
not. Yeah. Talk to us about your egg freezing journey. Ooh. Okay. Change of subject. A little
change of subject. Sorry, Michael. Yeah, no, my egg freezing journey was a personal decision that
I made for myself after my last breakup. You know, I learned
very quickly that like we plan and God laughs and I was, I'm a planner. Okay. I'm planning out years
in advance for myself. And I had always planned on being married and having kids at a certain age.
And so it was a wake up call for me to really realize that like, this was no longer in my
control. And I just needed to focus on being the
best version of myself that I could be at that time. And so I didn't want to have the pressure
of kids and my biological clock weighing on my relationship decisions. And so I decided to freeze
my eggs and had to go through the egg freezing around twice, which was really difficult, really
hard on the body. And I decided to document
that version because I felt like I didn't know anything about it going into it because people
talk about it, but really not as much as they should. And so I wanted to share everything I
was learning about the process, document my journey so that I could help teach other people
and help normalize something that felt so hush hush for so long. Like I remember, you know,
I have friends or families who have frozen their eggs and they kept it a secret and they kept it
a secret from their friends and they kept it a secret from family. And I was like, why? This is
something women should be talking about. This is something that gives us security, insurance,
gives us a future with being able to have children. And so I felt really
great about my decision. I planned it. It was about two months of my life that I was going
through it. And I'm so happy I did it. I really am. Because now I have that as a, I don't need
to rush to make any decisions about my life partner. I don't need to feel the pressure.
Even though I want to be a young mom, I do. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. All my friends have kids or a lot of them do,
but it's not going to affect my decision and I'm not going to force anything or move life
faster than it's supposed to because of that. Now, did your followers respond well to you sharing?
Yes, I think that because I didn't have a medical reason to do it, besides the fact that I'm 32 years old and, you know, your biological clock and all of that. Some people were like, well, you're very privileged that you're able to do this, which I fully acknowledged and was always very self-aware of because it is an expensive process. Right. You're like, oh, another thing. But I was very aware of that and
very sympathetic towards it, that this was a choice I was making. It wasn't something I had to do.
But 99% of people responded so well to it and were thankful that I shared and they learned so
much from it and encouraged. I actually froze my eggs alongside one of my best friends, Julia,
and we shared like best friends freezing our eggs together. And so a lot of RMA, who's the facility I did it with, with Dr. Lucky, they told me that a lot of best friends
are coming in together now and freezing their eggs at the same time and being that emotional
support for each other. Hold on. If I freeze my fucking eggs, I would like Dr. Lucky to be,
that's good energy. That's a good vibe. Yeah. Dr. Lucky. She's incredible. Dr. Lucky is her name.
She's incredible. She is the is her name? She's incredible.
She is the best.
I recommend her to anyone.
What do you think it is about you that strikes such a nerve with people?
Meaning like you're telling, I'm listening to you.
I don't know you that well.
I'm listening to you most of the time as we talk.
And you're saying you share this journey.
And there's a segment of people that are upset and screaming about you. As opposed to saying like, wow, that's really nice of you to share and document and give other people.
What do you think it is that strikes such a nerve about what you're doing in you? I don't know. If you could tell me, that would be great. I think it's the
confidence. I think she's really confident and maybe that can be polarizing. Yeah, definitely
that. I can come off strong and confident, almost cocky sometimes, which is not how I mean to come off,
but it's inherently what happens. And I just think I have this much softer side of me that
people don't really know about that. Maybe it's because I don't share enough of it. Maybe it's
my own fault, but you know, you just can't have three plus million followers and be in the public
eye and not have haters. It just comes with the territory. Yeah. But your territory, you get,
you get a lot of, like I'm aware, like I said, I've been aware of you and known you for, I mean,
there's a few people that I'm actually not as aware of a lot of, there's so many new people.
Right. But early days, you know, there was not a lot of people like you and Lauren that were doing
this kind of thing. And it was also an, it was a period of time where people maybe didn't take
the space seriously. They're like, imagine you remember like, hey, how does this work?
Prove it.
Now, you're nuts if you're not paying attention
to what's going on here.
But you in particular, for whatever reason,
you do rile the internet up.
I do, yeah.
Don't you think it's kind of funny?
Like, be honest.
Come on, what's the real comment?
To me, you can't take it so seriously. I don't, which is why I'm able to be- I get so comment? To me, I mean, every day. I take it so seriously.
I don't, which is why I get so much hate on every.
I pronounce words wrong.
I say stuff wrong.
People get mad.
I don't.
I said the other day something about soy and boys.
Everyone got mad.
I mean, I'm to the point where I just don't give a fuck anymore.
Yeah.
I'm just like, this is who I am.
That's how I get changed the channel.
But that's come with age and maturity and just being more confident in who I am. If you don't like it, change the channel. But that's come with age and maturity and just
being more confident in who I am on the inside, not just like this confidence that you see
portrayed that you said could be polarizing. And so I don't really know exactly what it is,
but anyone that meets me that takes the time to get to know me is like, oh, wow, I didn't,
I didn't know you were like that. And they're kind of almost surprised by it, which I'm like,
that's why I wrote a book in the first place, which like, you know, I thought would give people more of an inside look as to who I am and my upbringing and why I am the way that I am.
But, you know, going through a divorce at a really young age and how hard I had to become and emotionally strong I had to become so early on.
So, yeah, I don't think there's like a really like perfectly clear answer.
I just think that it's something that you know i
always used to say like haters mean you're doing something right so you can't you can't do what
you gotta just have that attitude and and keep on moving on it gets what's the quote was it um
is it mark train or oscar wilde maybe this one it's like the only thing worse than being talked
about is not being talked about totally yeah to a certain extent for sure i got that quote right
it's a similar quote but don't worry the internet will tell you um uh burnout how do you avoid burnout i think that this is you're the
perfect person to ask this question to what are the things that you do i don't get burnout often
okay i don't know how but you know this past or, two weekends ago, I went upstate with my boyfriend
and I turned my phone off for the weekend and deleted the Instagram app or I didn't delete it.
Actually, I moved it off my home screen, which was really important. And it was a little scary
to me because I found how often I was opening my phone and pressing this spot that was empty.
And I was like, oh, yeah, it's time for a break. So it was 48 hours. And just taking that break off social media,
taking some time outside of the city to just like connect with nature, as cheesy as that sounds,
actually really worked really well for me. What are the healthy habits that you're applying to
this new relationship that seems like it's the one to me? Constant communication, being really
good at communicating and checking in with each other, you know, keeping the fun alive, date nights and prioritizing each other,
prioritizing trips away, just the two of us, as much as we love a good, fun group trip.
And the thing that my boyfriend and I have bonded over so much is our importance of family. And he
has a really close family and I have a really close family. And so we've brought our families
together a lot and that brings us so much joy. And so really like becoming a bigger family together has been
something that has made us so close and really see a future together. How do you balance your
friends in the city with all you're doing? Is that difficult to balance friends? I like to say,
and I've always said, it's great to have a gaggle of friends. And I read this book a long, long time
ago called The Gaggle. And it just means that you have lots of different pockets of friends and they don't have
to be one big friend group and they don't have to all serve the same purpose. Like you can have
your therapist friend, you can have your going out party friend, you can have your friend that
you grab to go with you to an event or to be your wing woman somewhere, your friend that you call
just to talk about your feelings, whatever it is. But you don't have to have just like one group of
friends, especially in New York City, because it's so easy to bop around.
And so I have a ton of different friends. I have really close high school friends and
childhood friends. I have my city friends, my friends that are from the industry, but not
totally, but that we can go to events together and really feel like we're not at a work event.
And that to me has been kind of how I've found my way throughout
the city. And then my boyfriend is three years younger than me. And when we first started dating,
I thought, oh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to be friends with his friends because they're
younger than me. And I'd always dated older guys. And I like all of some of my closest friends,
like Melissa's 10 years older than me. And I loved having older friends because I felt like
I was, you know, always older than my age. But I have
found ways to relate with a lot of people. And I'm a very trust until proven otherwise person,
which in my position is sometimes has, you know, not been good. But, you know, I like to trust
people and I like to think the best in people still, even after all the things that I've been
exposed to in my position. But I think that it's just been fun. I like going out, meeting new people, experiencing new things.
What do you do with friendships where you were friends with someone and you've kind of
gotten this fame and spotlight and it's hard for them? You just kind of like...
Yeah, you have to cut out the bullshit in your life and the people that not aren't serving you, but that that don't bring a positive energy around you. And so I have had to end friendships where there wasn't that positive energy and that it wasn't 100 percent supportive. And maybe there was jealousy or maybe there was, you know, whatever it was. But I think that, you know, you have to just surround yourself with good people
that make you feel good and that help keep you grounded as well. Like I think, especially with
newer friends, you have to make sure that they're looking past just that career side, the we were
what side. And once you find those real people, like I think it's still possible in our position
to make adult friends that are close. What's the coolest thing that you've ever done?
Wow. That's something that's a crazy question. You've done a lot of different things. So what's the coolest thing that you've ever done wow that's something that's a crazy
you've done a lot of different things so what's something really cool yeah what is that's a hard
question you go first what's the coolest thing i've ever done hard probably i mean that's that
is a hard question probably interview incredibly interesting people as you're gonna say like have
our children yeah that's what i thought come on okay the children's the obvious answer answer that's too obvious like you want me to jump out of a plane together one
time no that's not the coolest thing i've ever done i hate to break it to you no that was not
what do you think the coolest thing i've ever done is yeah you do he's known me since he's 12
what's the coolest thing i've ever done it's not a pr pitch i'm trying to think of the coolest
thing i've ever done i've gotten to travel to so that's what i mean whether you want to include
this or not i don't care i've gotten to travel to so... That's what I mean. Whether you want to include this or not, I don't care.
I've gotten to travel to so many amazing, cool places,
Africa, all over the world for my work.
So that's really cool.
But writing a book and having it become a New York Times bestseller,
those career accomplishments, I think,
are part of the coolest things I've ever done.
My problem is I'm always disappointed with everything I do.
That's cool.
Because you experience stress.
I always think it's going to be better than it is.
And then I get there and I'm like, ugh. No, you're constantly editing. You you experience stress. I always think it's going to be better than it is. And then I get there
and I'm like, ugh.
No, you're constantly editing.
You just can't be in the moment.
You build up the hype too much.
It's called the saber-toothed tiger.
Anywhere we go,
he's looking for the saber-toothed tiger.
He's looking for where it is.
I'm like, just enjoy the moment.
You know what it is?
What's in my brain
about what the experience will be?
Even if it's a great experience.
And then I get there,
I'm like, oh, it's not as good
as what I thought it was.
So what has it been like to be married to me because that's been the polar opposite
it's the coolest thing i've ever done the coolest thing you've ever done is marry this
this podcast right now i think people i'd rather like go through life pleasantly surprised than
constantly disappointed i don't think you're in a position to be that way though what do you mean
like it's just not our reality because i don't think i would just walk around like being pleasantly
surprised i have high expectations for everything so now i have very low expectations you're gonna
just so we should have low expectations before you're joining us on this no i don't want to
have i i don't want that either i don't like that i like high expectations like okay okay say i want
to go i'll just say like okay i want to go to a restaurant a date it's going to be like i've
read all it's going to be the greatest thing.
And then it's like, if it's not.
Oh, I'm sending you guys to Corner Store.
What's Corner Store?
New restaurant that just opened.
Anyways, what I was saying is I build it up too much in my mind.
Yeah.
A lot of people do this in dating.
Can you give the audience and us selfishly some tips to New York City?
What are the like places that no one's looking?
Oh, you know what?
I'm actually not the person to ask this anymore.
OK, I love New York and I will tell you lots of cool things to do in New York.
But I have become more of a homebody and a members club girl.
So I don't really go.
I'll try new restaurants and stuff.
But like people like, where do I go out?
And I'm like, ask my Gen Z employees because they know everything and they're way cooler
than I am.
And they help keep me cool.
Sophia's got to give us a list.
Sophia knows all the places.
I mean, we just went to this cowboy bar in Brooklyn called Desert Five.
I think you have one in LA, actually.
And it's sick.
It was so much fun.
I love country music.
So, okay.
You guys got to come to Austin.
Yeah.
Austin.
Sorry.
I forgot who you guys live in.
I was going to say LA.
You're in LA, Taylor, right?
Yeah.
Well.
What's it called in Austin? That's a different story. Desert Five. Desert Five. Oh, no. it's not in austin it's in alaya yeah oh it's in la beauty questions a million bars like that these are
rapid fire okay and you give us products if you have them your favorite skincare hack
literally i don't wash my face ever what do you mean we have makeup i barely wash my face i use
a neutrogena makeup wipe,
which I know is like a no-no, but I, there are some people that just naturally have good skin,
whether it's like the well, but whatever it is, I don't really use that many makeup products. I
use a hyaluronic or that many skincare products. I use a hyaluronic serum or I use a moisturizer,
but that's it. Hold on. How do you wash the makeup off your face? I use a
makeup wipe and then I splash water. Okay. I like, I like the truth in that. Can I get you to try a
Korean oil cleanser? For sure. I'll try anything. I'll try anything. You're going to think I'm
fucking crazy. Is the makeup wipe is pulling your skin down unless, and maybe you do this,
you're pulling it up as you do it. So when. So the only thing you really pull when you're using a makeup wipe is your eyes for the mascara.
So I always go up and then I rub up here versus down here.
That's acceptable.
But no, I don't have some elaborate skincare routine like people think.
Okay.
I thought you were going to pull out like a full 10-step.
But I have great makeup products.
I'll share with you.
Okay.
Yeah.
Give us some makeup products.
I can't wait.
Yeah.
Where's my bag?
People love to see what's in your bag. And you have to tell us what the bag is and what all the different things are glad I brought
a good bag I didn't know the bag was going to be shown yeah the bag's going to be shown tell us
each detail so Michael can take notes okay what is in my bag okay so I have my Romar go bag which
I'm obsessed with I feel like it's going to be a good investment too in the future, huh? I think so too. I mean, it's such nice quality and it's big and I like the suede. Okay. Is it suede? Yeah, it's
suede. Okay. Mophie. Okay. Charger. Always need that. Mini hairbrush. You never leave without a
mini hairbrush. So I just pile these on. Michael, get excited. All right. All right. We love Array
Blot Pills. I have blotting papers from Clean and Clear,
like just drugstore brand. Love it. So easy. I have my little makeup bag. So this is like,
I always bring a few products out with me. This is my blush that I talked about. My two lip liners,
wherever walnut and anywhere caffeine for makeup forever. Oh, Tom Ford lip blush. It's like a clear
lipstick that I'm obsessed with. So instead of a gloss, I use this Lip Blush. It's like a clear lipstick that I'm obsessed with.
So instead of a gloss, I use this.
Okay.
A little less.
It's not sticky.
And then Fenty's Invisimat.
Yeah.
Super good.
Bethany Frankel says if you don't carry a clear plastic bag with your makeup in it in your bag and you let it go all around your bag, you're a psychopath.
Yeah.
There's like some lipstick stains in here from that. Okay.unchie okay a new scrunchie a tampon from Cora love it Cora
is a really good tampon brand my little vintage camera do you actually use that yeah we use it
for photo shoots a lot okay so one of someone on my team where I always have one she reminds me
so much I just realized who it is sorry I have to pause and say this. Your sister, Tara.
Yeah, they're similar.
Oh, my God.
I've been trying to figure out this whole episode.
She's gorgeous.
You look like her.
I want to see.
I'll show you after.
Go ahead.
Sorry.
Hair clip.
Okay.
My wallet, which I don't know why I have it today.
Well belt.
And sunglasses.
That's it.
Love it.
Oh, I have Listerine in here in my keys as well.
That is what is in Danielle's bag of WeWoreWhat. Where can everyone find you? Tell us where we can buy
your book, your clothing. Tell us the, you have to tell us what the product, not I guess what the
item in your line that you would buy if you could buy one thing. I mean, everything I'm wearing
right now is WeWore What besides my Saint Laurent shoes.
The jacket is?
Yeah, this is coming out.
It'll be out by the time
this comes out.
The jacket,
I literally thought
was Saint Laurent.
Yeah, thank you.
That was the goal.
It looks regal.
It's really nice.
Thank you.
You know what it is?
It's the fit and the scrunch.
It's going to be like
$130, this jacket.
Wow, you guys,
I would say the jacket.
It's cool.
The jeans are mine too,
these relaxed baggy jeans, which are great. The white t-shirts are. Yeah, the jacket's great.
Yeah. It's a beautiful color too. I appreciate that. Burgundy is the color for fall. Okay,
so where can everyone shop? Where can they find the jacket? Everything on WeWoreWhat,
WeWoreWhat.com. My book is called This Is Not A Fashion Story, but keep in mind I wrote it
when I was 25, so it would be a very different book if it came out now. Well, you have to write another one for sure. You're welcome to come back
on the show anytime. Thank you for doing this. Danielle gave you the code skinny. So go use the
code skinny for 20% off at weworewhat.com. You get sitewide, including the new leather and outerwear
collection that launches today. I highly recommend checking
out all of her leather. It's so major. It looks so plush and expensive in person.
Go to WeWoreWhat.com and use code SKINNY for 20% off.