The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - How An Assistant Became An Executive Producer & CEO With HelloGiggles Co-Founder Sophia Rossi

Episode Date: September 20, 2019

#216: On this episode we sit down with our friend Sophia Rossi to talk about hustle! Sophia started as an assistant and baby sitter and hustled her way to the top to become an executive producer on The Hills. She also co-founded and was the CEO of the female focused entertainment and lifestyle website HelloGiggles. On today's show Sophia discusses what it takes to excel in any career path to produce your best results.  To connect with Sophia Rossi click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential 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 SMART SWEETS. If you have a sweet tooth and are looking for a healthy alternative to some of your favorite candy, you have to try SMART SWEETS. To try smart sweets visit www.smartsweets.com and use code Skinny15 at checkout for 15% off your entire order.   Produced by Dear Media 

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. 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.

Don't wait too long to raise money. Don't wait too long to believe that it's a thing. Him and her. been like, can you believe that? I waited till we had 8 million new meets a month and then went out and then everyone sort of gave me pushback. People love the idea before it exists. Hey, Michael. Hey, Lauren. What's up? Not a lot. Waiting for you to do the introduction. Getting a little antsy, huh? Yep. Got to get going. All right. Okay. So we're here. We have Sophia Rossi on the podcast. She is a fucking badass. She has done a lot. She's done a lot. And we're going to dive into that in a minute. But before we do, there's a lot of young people that listen to this show. We're young people too, Lauren. And I think that a lot of the questions that come in to our DMs and to the podcast backend and to the email is people trying to figure out their passion and their set of expertise right now,

early twenties, getting out of college, getting out of high school. And I wanted to talk a little bit about why you don't need to do that so early. Here's my thing that I've always given advice to any mentees that I have. And I talk about this a lot. It's the upside down triangle method. So my advice is if you're out there and you have a hundred passions and you want to do all these different things and you want to explore all these different avenues like Sophia has done, I think that you should pick one thing. And it doesn't necessarily have to be the thing that you're most passionate about. It could just be one thing. So for me, when I started, I picked health and fitness. At the time, I was teaching Pilates and Pure Bar, so that was really relevant

to what I was doing. I also had just obtained my nutrition license. So I felt like I had a lot to give on that subject. Now, obviously, 10 years later, that's turned into so much more. It's turned into beauty and wellness and lifestyle. And now baby, I mean, it's just transformed into a podcast. So the point is, is like you pick one thing at your upside down triangle at the point of your triangle and you do that and you do it really well and you provide as much value as you can, whatever area or business that you're in. And then as you go on, you slowly expand out. So I was looking back at my blog 10 years ago and it was crazy because I hadn't really introduced Michael as a character until two to three years in. I mean, you showed up here and

there, but you weren't a strong character on the blog. I slowly introduced him. And I think that that's okay. You don't need to do everything at once. You can pick one passion and slowly grow outward into that upside down triangle. Well, the most important thing I think for people to understand is the world is not set up the way it used to be, right? Before you went through college, you specialized in one thing and most likely you got, you went into a field or a job that required that's very specific specialization. When I'm hiring for Dear Media now, I'm looking for young people that can wear multiple hats because it's important in a 2019 world, right?

There's so many different things going on that we're working on now. Back in the day, you wanted to have an advertising department. Normally, you know, for small businesses, you outsource that to an advertising company. There's so many young people now that can jump into an organization and maybe you're brought on to be, I don't know, I'm just going to use an example. Maybe you're the finance person, but maybe you really have an eye for design and you can run a social media account. I'm not saying that that's necessarily the path, but the point is, if you look at both Lauren and I's path, right? Like I started thinking I was going to be in real estate. That's what I studied in college. That's what I did. I was doing residential remodels and

commercial remodels. And then from there, when the real estate crash and the market crashed in 2008, I had to pivot and I got into selling beds for corporate and private aircraft, completely random, had nothing to do with anything I ever studied. And I had to figure it out. From there, I had to learn marketing from there. I had to learn how to run product-based businesses. And now I run a fucking podcast network that I had no expertise in, that I never studied in school. And my point of telling this story is that it's all possible if you apply yourself. It's not necessarily so important at this stage of your life to have it all figured out. If you would have asked me eight years ago, five years ago, if I'd be doing what I'm doing now,

I would have looked at you with a strange look on my face. I would have been like, what are you talking about? I never thought that we would have a podcast, let alone run a podcast network. Anyways, I'm not trying to get too long winded here. My point is, is if you're sitting there and you're stressed out like I used to be thinking that you need to have a very specific set of expertise and a very specific set of education and background, you don't. My point is, is you can get out, kind of dabble in a bunch of different things.

And by doing that and figuring out what you like and dislike, tasting different things, you're going to actually find your path. I love tasting different things. Here's what I would recommend that you guys do if you're feeling that you have 20 passions and you don't know where to start. Draw an upside down triangle, put where you're going to start at the tip of that triangle, and then put different things that you're going to expand out to until it's the full top of the triangle, if that makes sense. If this doesn't make sense, because obviously this is audio, go to the skinnyconfidential.com upside down triangle and you can see a visual of what I'm talking about.

This also plays into, Michael, having a strategic future and building your own future and making sure that you're doing things for a reason. Yeah, listen, it's good to have a goal and a vision. I think it's extremely important. All I'm saying is that there's certain paths in life that are going to present themselves that you may not realize are going to present. Like I said, running a podcast, hosting a podcast, being on a podcast network. There's things we did and things that we developed along the way that made it possible,

but I would have never thought that this was going to be a path along the way. So out of this episode, I hope you guys can see that you never kind of know what's going to happen if you dive right in and you go all in on one of your passions, because Sophia has obviously done a lot of different things. I mean, she's done everything from Hello Giggles. She was a producer on The Hills, and now she's starting a new company. She's also very, very smart when it comes to business. So I was super excited to pick her brain. This episode's a good one. So pull out your Trapper Keeper composition notebook and get ready to meet Sophia Rossi. Before we get the juice on that, let's discuss kicking sugar, specifically with SmartSweets.

Michael, am I a good wife? You are a phenomenal wife. Good. You know why I'm even a better wife though? You can get better than phenomenal? Okay, let's hear it. Because I've been replacing your gummy bears, your nasty rat gummy bears with smart sweets. I effing love smart treats. And I didn't say the F word because I don't know if this sponsor is going to like it or not, but I effing love smart sweets. You guys, they have all the nostalgic flavors. Okay. Gummy bears, peach rings, remember peach rings,

sour blast buddies, and sweet fish, but without the added sugar, artificial colors, or artificial flavors. For me personally, though, why I like this brand and why I've been a fan of this brand and why I'm always pimping this brand out is because it's filled with fiber. So each bag has 33 grams of carbs, but then it has 28 grams of fiber, which means there's only five carbs per bag, and there's only three grams of sugar and 80 to 90 calories per bag. This is perfect to throw in your handbag when you're going to see a movie. So you're telling me that I don't have to eat those cardboard crackers and I can just eat candy all day and I'm good. My digestion will be on point. I'm telling you, body will be a furnace.

Yeah. And if you want to like test this out on your significant other, take a candy bag and put smart sweets in it. They will not even notice the difference. Like my friend Weston couldn't believe it. You should also know it's a young female founder and the bags that they designed are so cute. They're like pink and turquoise and yellow. So fun. So now you can feel good about your candy.

You can get all nostalgic. You'll have something cute to post on Instagram story and there's no need to feel guilty of forgetting the candy that you love. I personally would start with the Sour Blast Buddies. They're my favorite. They're like these sour gummies and they're just delicious. Okay. You're going to love them. This product is going on the Skinny Confidential Masterlist. If you guys want to try it out, you can use my code SKINNY15 for 15% off your order of $30 or more at smartsuites.com. Again, that's promo code SKINNY15 for 15% off your order of $30 or more on smartsuites.com. And they ship to the USA and Canada. Get excited. All right, let's get back into the episode. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her.

Introduce yourself to our audience. You have done so many different things that I don't even know where to start, but let's go way, way back and kind of give us background. I mean, at this point, how do you even describe yourself? I think that's probably a challenge you have. Yeah, I have a very hard... I feel like my biggest asset is I'm really comfortable with giving my opinion. And so I think that that sort of sets the tone. The context of that is usually an entertainment or lifestyle.

And that has now moved on to food. But before, I just loved music videos when I was 18. I worked for a music video producer. And then I just started getting into production. And it was just really that I was really confident. And I'm really confident in my opinion I really don't waver on it but I can't believe you're friends with Raina shocking really no I'm because she's the same way yeah I'm just like okay I'll say my opinion and like and honestly I'll

double down sometimes and sometimes I like won't mean it in an hour but I have no problem just having a hot take like right away and I don't really spiral after the take of it I probably should yeah I think it's just having an opinion and feeling like my opinion is worth discussing. It doesn't mean it's the only opinion, though. That is for sure. And I can definitely feel like I can see both sides and stuff like that. But I really started off in entertainment. I just loved TV and music videos and all that stuff. And then I worked really randomly for a hip hop producer, Damon Dash. And I moved to New York to work with him at like 19 to 21. I also did Bolthouse clubs out here before. That's sort of why in producing The Hills,

like a lot of the locations were things that I had done from being in LA. And I just got really into storytelling through emotional empathy, I think is like my... So many people are afraid to give their opinion. Can you go back to your childhood and remember like how that's is it just natural were you born like that is there something that sort of it's been something we've been talking about a lot lately is like where this type of confidence comes from the difference between confidence and arrogance like i know my opinion doesn't necessarily need to be right but i think from childhood i think it's growing up in la like i'm from here and everyone

moves to here and so there's a different energy around that. And so I love LA, but like I get so excited to be in like a small town back east. I'm like, this is amazing. And so I think that my confidence is sort of like got the picture early on that everyone wanted something out of LA. And then I was like, well, I'm already here. So I must have some sort of insight that I can just lean into, you know? So how did you get into producing the Hills?

So you use, I mean, you kind of said it was the Bolthouse thing, but like, can you give us specifics for some of the millennials? I think this is what people want to know about you is when you're going, you're like, Hey, I'm doing these music videos producing. I was in a creative and then I produced the Hills. I was like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Yeah. You got to give us. Okay. Yeah. Here's the thing. I will say this. And to this day, I have been many things, but the thing that I'm at my core, it was like excellent executive assistant. And that just sort of extended itself to just more titles. But like I can make things happen. Like I never say in terms of production, I say no in my personal life, but I just am constantly trying to find the solution of it. So I was 19. I worked for Dave Myers, the music video

director who did all the like Missy Elliott videos back in the day. And then I worked for Damon Dash and Damon Dash had the show on BET called The Ultimate Hustler. It was sort of like his version of The Apprentice for BET. And on that, one of the producers was a producer who was leaving being a freelance producer to work in production at MTV. And he was like, there's a show Laguna Beach. I actually am born in Laguna. And he was like, there's a show Laguna Beach and we're going to do a spinoff in LA if you'd want to come do the pilot in LA. And I was 22. and I was like, I kind of want to move back from New York. And they're like, LA is going to be a character. And it was the same way, like around sex in the city where like New York was a character. It's like, well, I don't really know much about entertainment,

but I know LA. So I came in and did the first job, which the Hills sort of invented this thing. It's called like the talent producer. And now rally show has it but you basically are like a psychiatrist to the talent that then you move that along into what that looks like how does that work so like my first phone call on the hills was like i did a conference call i had like a flip phone like a motorola one i remember they used to be like hello moto that was like martin's i joke me heidi and lauren and i just did a phone call with them and i'm like oh my god how do you feel about being in LA? Like the point is to always sort of be like camp counselor, big sister. You like keep the energy up and you're like, what's going on in your life?

And like, you really realize that people, when you are asking them a question, need to know that the energy feels safe. So I'm like, do you have any crushes? Like, what's the vibe? Like, and they'll be like, I like this guy. And I like, don't know if I should talk to him or not. I'm like, interesting. I'm like, when do you think you'll see him?

They're like, it's someone's birthday next week. And I'm like, oh, you need to go meet him. And so then that's like one conversation. But from that conversation, I have to take that back into like a production manager, a production assistant. Like they're going to have that first date at Koi on La Cienega. And they're going to have the people invite them to like, I have to process. You're a strategist.

So there's an element of the reality to it, but you're basically setting the stage for that reality to present itself. Is that? Yeah. And the reality of it itself, like we took a lot of effort in how it looked and how it was shot. Like these aren't just like follow handheld cams that the real world or 24 seven. So we had, you know, the Hills looked so beautiful because it was pre-lit for an hour, every location, you know, and we picked all these locations based on that. So the conversations would be real, but they were organized by our minds and they didn't know LA, you know, like they were living at the villas. They needed that too. You know, they needed to know that we were going to guide them into just being in LA. And there were certain places where like, you didn't have to do very much. You can pre-light Ledoux, a club and just be like,

I'm sure they'll be fine. Fun fact. I worked at Ledoux you did six months yes whoa i know vintage fun fact i used to sneak into ladue you did or i had yeah back in the day really is it still around for anything because the location was really like where was it again near las palmas i remember the back upstairs room was like production room and like we would just sit in that room there'd be like sometimes like a random mattress the upstairs room was the chic room to be in yeah that's where we well we could pre-light there were downstairs there was like no it was too popular to be able to walk remember the club element too there was the club called element next door yes but element was something before too it was this is vintage yeah this is. Yeah. And then area on Las Vegas that had, I did a lot of that.

I just, I worked so many clubs that I cannot imagine. And I'd worked so many clubs with Bolthouse and then so many clubs with Hills. Like I can't imagine. I think of clubs as like a production set. Like if I walked through, I'd be like, I'm pouncing through that thing. So when you were doing the Hills, did you know that it was going to be this moment in time that was so nostalgic? Did you know how major it was going to be or did you not really see it when you were in it? Well, I think the major part was Laguna. I had sort of enjoyed that as a fan and that was like the simplicity of feeling like you're in high school. So we were just an extension of that. I think the main takeaway I had was how

difficult reality is to do in actual reality. Like we'd have to actually do set up shots and then they became more famous than their own characters. And it's like hard to tell Lauren to take an assignment seriously at Teen Vogue to like, you know, sew some dress when she's on the cover. You know, it's hard to like mentally make her understand that. And it's hard to play around with that. And they would really want to try to work hard and be like, I have to finish this assignment for Vogue. And I'm like, you're on the cover. Like, can the PA just come in here and like help fix this? You know? So they didn't even really put it together at the time. No, because we wanted it to, I mean, once it got so big, I think it was different, but we wanted them

to feel like this was their first internship and their first job. But then they're getting offers to host birthday parties in Vegas on the weekend. Like now that's so normal. But that was really distracting for us. We didn't film 24-7. So we would have breaks where they would like literally break up over. And we'd like, what do we do for storytelling? Or like, you know, Heidi and Spencer got married in Mexico without telling us.

Like there was like a lot of things that they would sort of act out. And you're like, I have to read about the stars of our show from these publications. How am we ever going to make a show like that? Who had the it factor? Was there anyone on the show that you immediately knew had that it factor? Okay. So one of these editors told me about this and I always mean to look it up and I forget. There is something in film school that people study about people's reactions. And Lauren Conrad has a face that you can put anything towards and it can tell you anything. I just told her this the other day. She can be happy. She can be sad. She has has this, like, it's not a blank stare. It's just, she just has this thoughtful approach to how she holds her face that you really, once

you put music towards it, any emotion can be conveyed. So it's not about like, like the cry, the cry. Yeah. And she just knew, and she, and she has one liners and, you know, she got really good at playing herself, you know, and, and that sort of helpeders and you know she got really good at playing herself you know and and that sort of helped but like kristin cavallari is a star and she's like sassy and she's you know like she's fiery but if you're playing operation in a way to like put together a full show someone who can pause and really just emote emotion without having words is like the star quality really that is so interesting. Because anyone can start a fight. But reality, a lot of times we would, when we were casting the City

Whitney show, they would all be like, I'm more the Audrina. Or I'm more than I'm like, no, I want you to be the you. Like, who are the you in it? But now there's archetypes. So it's really just about someone who almost doesn't want to be there, but is there. That's the real thing. Because then you feel like you relate to it. Like Lauren still sells covers of magazines because there's something about her that feels approachable. Right. You know?

So when you sit back now and you turn on E and the Kardashians are on. Well, I had a big mistake on the Kardashians. I was, so Brody was on, not a big mistake, but I, I have good opinions and I have hot takes. And this one I was wrong at is that Brody was on our show and they were like, they're starting a show called the Kardashians. He can't work that many days a week because he's going to have to go on this show. And I'm like, oh, this show is going to be nothing. Like, what are you talking about? Like so wrong. I mean, I was so in it and I'm like 25 or 26 and like needing to like have our talent show up. Like,

and so I was like, I don't really get it but like okay and then she came on our show she came to like a housewarming thing for and she was so sweet and then the show just like blew up and it's one of my favorite shows so i think but what the tone they did really well is they doubled down on the way laguna is is the pacing of that show is so therapeutic that it should feel like the way mtv used to be on in the background for all of us growing up. You feel like they're in your home. They're in your home, but they're not. If you actually ask the end of every episode what happened, you might not be able to answer that. That is so crazy because you're so right. I cannot tell you. They don't do like a whole

cliffhanger, like what's happening thing. It just kind of feels like it's going. No, it's like Norman Rockwell-ish. It's in your home and it's just the tv's on and like you're doing other things you're used to their home their colors of their house the way their flow of conversation yeah you're not like that episode she was really nervous about getting a job interview and didn't get the job you know like it's like that's interesting yeah you're just like this is just fuel for like what i need it's almost like background music like elevator music totally and so then i was like that was the key to knowing that reality is like that. Do you think that's the formula for their show? Do you think that's why it's so successful? Cause it feels like it's in

your home. Well, I think they're like, we're a family. This is something we're going to be on for the next, they have the long game. They're going to do this forever. They're naturally have drama by being a family and exposing themselves on camera. They don't need to produce it. I think the ones that fuck up the most are when they try to create a false chemistry. It's the worst. Right? They've approached us in certain scenarios like that.

And they're like, we don't know these people. It wouldn't be good. You can look at the shows that are successful. It's like, no, those people have real chemistry and real relationships. When you try to put a random group together and then throw them out on the camera, it just doesn't, it doesn't feel authentic. Vanderpump Rules has done an incredible job. I mean, like that's a good example. They have real chemistry.

They have real chemistry. And I think that would be a few of our producers from the Hills went over to Vanderpump. You know what I'm saying though about like manufactured chemistry? Yeah, but I think, you know what? The most manufactured thing you can do is setting. And so like why The Bachelor works, why any episode we do that would work being out of town is that if you remove the elements from your life that make you stress and you're just like drinking and you don't have your phone,

like you actually can find connection. Like those people are best friends in one hour, you know? And that's what like I related always to summer camp. Like you leave summer camp and literally, I was a counselor last week, seven hours in these girls are holding hands. They're best friends. They can't imagine they weren't together. i'm like in no other scenario but they were

across each other at a dinner would that intimacy happen so when you have cameras and you know the crew is there to support you there's a false sense of intimacy but also like elevates it too but yeah storylines where they're like you're gonna get this job and you're gonna it never worked we would try so hard to cast like the perfect date or the perfect exciting Vogue storyline. And we'd be like, oh, this is so boring. Like we would bore ourselves. It seems like as a living, you are a storyteller at heart. So how did you make the transition

from storytelling with The Hills to Hello Giggles? Well, I love what we were doing on The Hills. And I felt like it was not like any other reality shows, but it wasn't scripted. And I was like, I want, I don't know how I'd go work on a scripted show because I'm not a writer. I'm like a storyteller. And then I sort of, I freelanced for like top model. I tried some reality shows to see how that would work. And I just didn't really like it. There are a lot of competitions, a lot of logistics. I just,

I didn't like that aspect of it. And then I started, started to see that people were doing a lot of branded videos and there was funny or dying college humor. And there wasn't a female version of that. And I was like, my friends are really funny. I mean, here's the thing. The reason why I can talk about the Hill so much is like, it's one of the funniest times in my life. Like I've never laughed harder with editors. Like we've never laughed harder with cast. Like you're watching a dinner for three hours in a van with some of your best friends, like delirious. Like it's so funny. And they're just, you're watching them order. You're watching them just be like themselves all the time. So it was a comedy to us, you know? And so I was like, this isn't a great example, but like, how do I like extend this? And then I met my friend,

Molly McAleer at the time who was sort of doing this freelance writing for Gawker. She would write eight posts a day for different people and it would be a job. And I was like, whoa, like that's crazy. Like you don't have to work for one magazine. And then Zoe Deschanel was my other partner and we had grown up, grown up together, but hadn't really like become friends. And she was like, I'm really scared of the internet. Everyone is so mean. And I was like, I think there's a way to do the internet where it's not my best friend, Catherine had started who, what, where with Hillary. And I was like, I don't care about fashion. I care about like interesting, nostalgic things. And then we sort of were like, let's ask 50 of our friends to write something that's relevant,

not topical. So that way we weren't boxed into something of it. And then we just created a contributor model. So like, I didn't really do a lot, but curate other people. Like you guys would have been a perfect partner. I'd be like, great. You can use my platform. What do you guys want to write about?

Like, it's the perfect relationship for me. Just curating the content. I have talent. Yeah. All I have to do is create a platform that expands it that you're wanting to do. And we tried staff writers. We tried telling our own story. It's not interesting, you know? So in a nutshell now, when you look back on Hello Giggles, like what do you, how do you explain what it, what it was in this landscape now? Cause it was, I mean, it was a lot of things. I think it would be a lifestyle contributor

model. And I think that now we're seeing that's the norm, which I'm excited about. Like a lot of our girls, when they were first writing for us, we couldn't afford them to be full-time. So they'd be writing for refinery. They pop sugar or bustle. And now that's how people make their living and do that. Before we dive into that, I am going to tell you all about Grove Collaborative. So who wants their laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, soap in general delivered to their door? I know I do, guys. It's so nice to have everything just at my door. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to go to the grocery store, park, go in, carry all that heavy shit out to my car. I can just have it ready to go streamlined and know that it's all natural.

That's what Grove Collaborative does. Another reason you don't want to go to those grocery stores is they don't always have the best products. Every Grove Collaborative product is healthy, effective, eco-friendly, and affordable. So you don't have to worry about those nasty generic chemical cleaning supplies. Yeah, I've gotten Michael into this. He's very much about all the products they have, like Mrs. Meyers, Seventh Generation, Burt's Bees, and they even have Grovemade products. Like Michael said, it's eco-friendly.

They have 100% recycled plastic trash bags, which we love, and even tree-free paper towels. Tree-free. That's pretty impressive. Guys, you're going to use the same supplies every month, every couple of weeks. Why not make it easy? Why not just go in and reorder? No, it's going to show up straight to your door. Take the pain point of having to go to the store right out of the process. I'm even more psycho about this whole thing since I've become pregnant. I want to just make sure that all the stuff in our house is dialed out. It's all natural, especially for when the baby comes, because I feel like that's going to be a whole chaotic thing. So to just have everything ready to go, I got this organizer for everything. All the labels are facing out and I know it's all natural.

Join over half a million families who trust Grove Collaborative to make their homes happier and healthier. Plus their shipping is fast and free on your first order. For a limited time when the Skinny Confidential, him and her listeners go to grove.co slash skinny and place an order of $20 or more. You will get a free five-piece cleaning set from Mrs. Myers and Grove. It's a $30 value, guys. That's grove.co slash skinny to get this exclusive offer, grove.co slash skinny. So when you were at Hello Giggles, can you walk us through the beginning

to the end? Because I'm sure there was a lot of struggle and a lot of in-between. Yeah, I didn't know what to do next. And so I was like, I'm just going to start it out of my apartment. One of my big advices that I got from Catherine was like, don't wait too long to raise money. Don't wait too long to believe that it's a thing. And I think for so long, I was like, I'm just trying out this thing. And like, you know, because of Zoe's reach, because of our backgrounds, like we had 2 million uniques the first month. That should have been something I should have been so proud of and gone to market and been like, can you believe that? I waited till we had 8 million uniques a month and then went out and then everyone sort of gave me pushback. People love the idea before it exists. And then when something exists, they want

to like describe it. Yeah. So they'd be like, what are your metrics? I'm like, okay, I am in my myself doing this. Like, how are you not impressed just with this? It's almost harder to raise capital once your business is launched. And a lot of people think it's good to just bootstrap it. I'm going to get to a million dollars in sales and then go raise. It's like, no, cause once you have a number, then it's much more difficult. It actually was super frustrating for me. I was like, I can't believe I started something to then be compared to something. It's so much easier if it just like came up with the idea because you're selling the idea. And so I think that I say this all the time.

I brought in grownups. I was having meetings with people about raising money because I was like, I don't know how to do this, like, but I know I have an audience. Talk a lot about that because there are people that are listening that are in the midst of raising money. Do you have any tips and tricks when it comes to that on a micro level? Micro level, the people that you get the least amount from will be the most helpful. So if you think, okay, I have to just, let's say you have to raise $500,000. If someone's willing to offer you $5,000, but they really believe in it, it might be $5,000 for them that they don't necessarily have to just give away, take it from them because they're going to be the one that will introduce you to people, tell you what they need to do

because they gave you $5,000. The guy who wrote me a check for a million dollars, I literally joke around. I could see him on the street. Amazing guy, Pritzker family. He wouldn't know. I don't even think he would know my name. And I sold my company for like a 4X times. Like he'd have to say the company Hello Giggles, but like he would not. And he's just in some giant fund and he's just like, it's one deal of many probably. Yes. And I don't blame him for that. I'm just saying there's not like building on that. And I could call anyone from his office and still get help if I needed to. But, you know, I had a friend, my friend, Mark Webb, who directed Spider-Man gave me $25,000 and he never invested in like tech stuff before. And he was just so proud of it. Like he would constantly be like, oh, there's this

artist I'm talking to, or do you want in this movie wants to do like, he would constantly just try to see ways that he could help me because that felt like a lot. And they talk about it all the time to everybody. They're the biggest cheerleaders. A hundred percent. So that was like a really interesting approach for me about raising money that I was like, I friends and family aren't always your actual friends and family. You know, that's a big thing. My family doesn't have any money. Like I don't come from money, but that friends and family are your extended friends and family, you know? So someone that I have four meetings with might feel like my friend and family. And do you recommend raising more money than you think or staying,

like being a little bit more conservative? I think it's a balance. I'm hearing a lot about people saying instead of raising money, that they're doing debt and like loans from their friends, which I thought was like a note, like, well, no, no, less a convertible. No, like a truly like a, like a 10% taking debt on it just because proof of concept first is probably going to market with, even if it's like a micro level.

Like I think about it the way Razor scooters did really well in Venice and now they're just everywhere. If they just would have suddenly been everywhere, you would have been like, this is creepy and weird. Like got to do one place really well. And, you know, having specific demos like you guys sort of have of it. But yeah, so I raised money and got grownups in and then they sort of made it. Then I suddenly was working at like a real company and that was really scary.

How did you simultaneously raise money and also be creative and working on your projects? Like did you take like a hundred meetings? Like I've just heard so many different stories about raising money and it seems very stressful while you're also trying to do all your other shit. We actually sold because we were expanding so much that they were like, raise money in September and we started the negotiations to sell in May. And they were like, by May, we had raised, usually raised for 18 months runway, but we were expanding so much that they were like, we're going to have to go out for another round. I was like, I don't have it in me. And they're like, if you don't have it in you, we should talk negotiations to start selling. Why didn't you have it in you though? Cause it was, it's so much work to do

while you were running the company. It's like, you're a salesman, you know, and you're spending your days selling yourself and you're selling yourself often at that point. Like a lot of it was men who were like, didn't really understand it. And then you kind of have to have this arrogance about yourself that like, of course I know what I'm doing, which is exhausting end of the day when I'm like, I have like 40 like awesome people back at the office who are like psyched about this. Like, why do I have to, you know, and then you feel pressure for their payroll and stuff. I think that the easy money goes a long way. So I thought it was going to be a really big distraction to me. And it was a lot of grownup things that I had to learn, like convertible notes and what that is. And you're the face of your

company. Like I had a CFO who was my business partner. She was amazing, but she knew very much to be like, no, you need to sell them on the vision, like passion. It's got to be the person. It's got to be the person, you know, and then you you hype yourself up and you're like, this is going to be a thing. And the next time they're like, I don't know, like we're thinking like there's other companies out there like that. I'm like, you just wasted my whole morning. Like, it's like rude. And the Pritzker family, one of their investors, one of their advisors was like, media is changing and it's going to be worth nothing.

And so you better sell now. And I was scared and I was so mad, too, because I was like, you guys don't believe in us. Like you guys, they want us to sell early. And I could not have been happier. I don't even know what I would do with a media company. So you sold in May. Yeah. I mean, it took six months of negotiations, but yes. And then, so what do you do when you sell? Is it like a champagne dinner? Like you're, you're a young girl and you sell your company. Well, I fixed my credit because I was like a rapper. Like I became a millionaire with like who had bad credit. So that was the

first thing I did. You know, you work there for the next three years. That's what you have to remember. So a lot of times the money you make and the salary you didn't take for a bunch of years are kind of going to match up. So it's important to say, I want to sell for a lot of money because I didn't get a salary for a very long time. I did very well and I'm so happy for it. But next company, I'm like, oh, go bigger because I put in a lot. And build yourself a salary. Yeah. And what do your employees think when you sell? Like what's what's the vibe of the office? Well, a lot of people had equity. And so they got to some people on vacations. And then the idea is that you can't really like keep them to stay. So you have to still make it a fun environment that they're

not going to want to always suddenly leave and you have no culture. You know, the biggest downfall is that once you're bought by someone, we were bought by timing. They were bought by Meredith. Yep. A lot of transition, a lot of holding and waiting, a lot of things that don't get approved by corporate. So the energy really shifts from it. But I'm an entrepreneur. I'll have many companies in my life. And I thought Hello Giggles was going to be mine for the rest of my life. And now I'm like, oh, that's not true. But I'm so proud of it. So when you sell for the first time. Oh, people are talking about being depressed. Yeah. You're on this high to get the money. You're on this high to be like,

that's the best thing in the entire world. Of course you should buy this. Like this could be anything. This could be a podcast network like this. I mean, everything I would have on my old deck is what exists now that like goop does so well at like a million people are, you know, click is doing so well at infrastructure and capital is why and playing the long game. You could do all this stuff. And then you're like, i have cash i can buy a house but what am i doing you know and then you just people i have a lot of co-founders who i know say the hardest time is after they sell you ever heard of mark manson he wrote this so i'm not giving a fuck and then new one called hope everything is fucked a book about hope and he was saying that like basically his life goal

was to become a new york times best-selling author and then to become a speaker and to sell X amount of copies. And what happened was, is he thought it would take him like 45, 50 years to get that. But it happened in a span of three years where he was in every airport, millions of copies, Amazon, even though things were better than ever in cash and money, he got so depressed because it was like, wait a minute, what am I supposed to do now? It was like, he already hit the pinnacle. And so he just like sat around and was like, he felt hopeless. And I think a lot of people don't talk about that side because like, once you have that massive accomplishment and you have the house and the money, it's like, then what? Yeah. I mean, I think there's like a privilege in that for sure. But then I became obsessed with purpose

and I didn't know what that would look like. But then I'm also like, to me, a win is making money because I know I can do good things with that. And so I was like, I don't want to go work at a nonprofit, but like, how do I find purpose? I'm finding that storytelling is interesting to me in terms of community, in terms of having a tangible product or a location. I'm less interested in like content, but content does drive all those other things as well. Like I want to like, I joke around, but I'm like kind of serious. Like I want to run for mayor. It would be as being a person who had a business who understands that like the-

Let's take it right now. Let's go. What's your, what are you running on? I'm running on homelessness for sure. It's a big problem here. It's a, it's like more than a big problem here. I think worse than like almost anywhere in the United States. Oh no, maybe not.

Well, the count, I guess, went up 13%. A lot of it, there's a lot of business solutions to how to fix that. And so I'm interested in just seeing what that looks like. But I love our city. And I love that if I have a business the same way I had a business and I could have everyone contribute for us. What's my version of starting a spice company or whatever I do next and being like, how

do I have access to the whole city? Because I have a product that will introduce me to people. How did you manage a team of 40? How the fuck do you learn how to do that? I could use some tips. Okay. I think keeping the high energy, keeping the boundary of separation. I thought when people were in my apartment, they were like seeing me cry and be upset. And there was like two or three people. I was like, oh, I don't get to be the fun friend. I don't get to necessarily hear about the date after work. I go into my office. I come out for a birthday cake and I say, and I keep the high energy and I keep it, you know, very thoughtful and curious, but it is not appropriate to talk

to your boss about, you know, she's not your best friend. And they actually don't want that. They wanted the space with their friends of it. But that was really hard for me because I would see a girl crying at her desk and I'd be like, what's the protocol? And I'd be like, is everything OK? You know, and like, great. And then I don't know, there's this level of like the caretaker in me wanted to come into my office and like we will take care of this. And it's like, I don't know that that's actually helpful. You know, like maybe it's like you want to go take a time to go be with your friend and go for a walk.

It's definitely not helpful if there's a situation where you have to give somebody like some feedback. Maybe like if a task isn't being done, you just consulted them and said, Hey, like, you know, you're crying. And the next thing is like, Hey, you know, I wish this task could be a little bit better. That's a very dicey ground. Michael Taylor is this. I'm going to give you a little fake story. You walk out right now and Taylor is crying at his desk over his foe that he's eating. I thought you were going to say about his terrible haircut. Yeah. And what are you going to do with Taylor? Well, Taylor's a different story because he's been with me for so long.

So you're going to pull him in the office? Probably give him a little smack, give him a little pep talk and get him going. But I can't do that with everybody else. I can probably do that only with Taylor. Yeah, I mean, you know what you can't. I mean, a lot of times that level, there's HR and you do everything

with someone else as like a witness, you know? And yeah, I think just to maintain creativity in that is to keep a boundary and separation. And what about culture? Do you have any tips on that on really cultivating the culture? I mean, you said to keep the energy high. Is there any other things that you did? Like, is there wine night? Like, what did you do? We would get sent a lot of free things and we would have, and they still have it. They just have like a huge desk with everything sent for free. And it's like a free for all for everyone to go through. Small little gifts that are special to go a really long way. You know, like fun beverages in the office, fun snacks, like a

happy hour always feels forceful. Like people are going to want to go out on their own or they do, or they don't. Like those were like sort of the most awkward times when we would be like, we're doing bowling for all of us. And you're like, this is so antiquated. Like, honestly, they just want to like, it's like a setup of the hills. Yeah. You're like, just send someone like, I saw ClickHead Drybar come do blow dries. I'm like, honestly, get just click blow dries. Like, let's figure out. I, one of my best friends started the wing and I was like, how much of it is for, you know, there are 400 employees. And so much of what they do is like their programming should excite the people there. And so what can you program for your employees? Great talks, like access to other information

that might help their life outside of work. When you're like free lunch at work, it's like, well, we know that. So you just don't leave your office. Like, thank you. I'll take that's interesting. You know, like that's what people really like usually used to do is be like the unlimited like foods and snacks and like keep them in there. And it's like, well, maybe they're interested in other things and they can have like a discount to like Tracy Anderson. I don't know. Get them off.

Get them outside. Get them outside and make it feel like we took over the Netflix rule where they could just take any days they wanted off. They'd have to just be responsible to their manager. And you actually realize that people like want to work a lot more because they can feel like they can take a four day weekend if they want to. We did that here today with Dear Media. And literally I walked in and there was like, they get the whole, if they want Friday off, they can take the whole day off. Oh, that's awesome. And we walked in and there was like five of them in there working. They don't have to be

here. I don't have a nine to five thing because I don't work nine to five. I work whatever odd hour I want to work at. So I don't have nine to five, but my employee, it's so funny. She's in there at seven o'clock in the morning. Well, it's a good thing. Yeah. And there are people who actually like structure. Like we would say work from home people in the same way. And they'd be like, that actually makes me really anxious to work from home. I prefer to like get in my car and go somewhere. And you have to respect everyone's path on it, you know, but the person who wants to work from home definitely should be allowed to. It's just giving them options. I feel like, you know, what drives me nuts sometimes about entrepreneurs is when they

get mad at whoever's working with them, that they're not working as hard as them or harder. And I'm like, you know, they don't share in the same upside as you. So why? Like, you can't expect that. You want to create an environment where people can thrive and build their own life. And if you can get the most productive work out of them, great. But like, you can't expect them to do everything you do and more. It's just not realistic.

Yeah. And I actually don't like working hard. i think i'm far more productive doing less i'm having like this like ptsd from like the movement of like having to be like a boss and and a ceo and like on all these panels and stuff and i want to like really respect that i think that that is really amazing to be a girl boss or to be all this stuff but like it just doesn't define me like after i sold hello giggles i was so depressed because I was like, is this what my identity is? Like people always only talk to me about Hello Giggles. Like, and I was so social about it. And I was like, I actually like care about a lot more things. Like it's one part of

my life, but this boss persona is just, and it also like alienates me from other aspects of your life. Like that would be such an excuse for me to not like date as much as I'd like to to or be around my family. Cause like my, my family was just so used to hearing me say like, I have work and like that didn't, I think it was what I needed at the time. But now I'm like, who is that serving? If you love it and you thrive for it. And it's like an athlete who loves training and working in business is great. But if you also don't, you can still be really successful. There's plenty of people who do it. Working smart, in my opinion, is so much better than work. I don't want to say working hard, but it's just like be strategic with how you work. For instance, I love to answer an hour of emails on the treadmill. I love that. You know what? I watch your stuff and that was

a real good answer for me. I do it all the time. I do it like five days a week and I do in the back. Yeah. Whatever it is like get a blowout and, and, and work. Like there's so many creative ways now to work and to be creative and strategic with your time. Well, we were programmed for a long time. I'm in our parents' generation where you had to go to a place and you had to work brick and mortar and you didn't have this technology. And if you left the office, you weren't talking to the person until you came back on Monday. And so like, now we're so connected that there's options to us. You don't have to do it the way that it's always been done. So after you left Hello Giggles, what did that look like?

How did you find out what you wanted to do? Like, how did you get from that to where you are now? Okay. I went to this place called Hoffman. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. There's like an article about Bieber and Vogue that he left there. So it's a week off and it's like emotional therapy and the slogan is when you're serious about change.

And so I'd sold my company and I went and I was like, okay, like, what am I gonna do next? Like, I don't see myself working at timing because I could work at Hella Good Goals and then maybe take on other properties there. And what I really came down to was like, I loved the win and the success and stuff, but I wasn't like, my goal is to be the head of a content company. It was never as much

as that. So I went to this place, I went offline. And then what I was like, okay, I came back saying I wanted a place or a location. I have to know what they do at this retreat. They do a lot of like, you do a burial of your family. It's a lot of like coming down to your authentic self. So if you're your authentic self, you can make any decision that you want. If I'm in line with the way that I am, any decision that I have is actually pretty easy. And it's, you know, in the moment of it. But if I have all these anxieties or if I'm like reacting in a certain way that like they say, like it's been given to you by your parents, you have to like really do a lot of paperwork and be like, what are these patterns that I have? And then you take each

pattern and then you like break them down. And it's group therapy. And then, you know, there's two days where you don't even, you're in silence. And it was just so much work. I'd never worked on, I'd go to therapy for an hour. I do, I love healers. I love psychic. I mean, I love growing, you know.

But this was like truly, I didn't go to college. And this was like, oh, this was like midterms week or something. Like I really went in it, learned about myself. And then you don't know what anyone does for the end of the week. And end of the week, finally, this was like midterms week or something. Like I really went in it, learned about myself. And then you don't know what anyone does for the end of the week. And end of the week, finally, everyone's like saying their jobs. And they'd be like, I'm head surgeon at NYU. Or like, I own a vitamin company. And I was like, oh, we were just all here.

And I thought you were stressed over, you know, your marriage. You're so much more than your job. And that was a big step for me where I was like, these people are trying to figure out how to be better people in the world, not how to like optimize their like work and success. You know that. And I thought that was really cool. And I just came back being like, all right, I'm ready to incorporate optimizing myself and the business will come from that rather than I have my next like business. So what do you, what's the space? What do you do to get from out of Hoffman to now?

Okay. So I meet Roy Choi, this chef from LA. He started the taco truck revolution in LA. I meet and I see that he has healthy fast food in low-income areas. And I'm like, this is amazing. I want to do a development project here in Watts and do it. I get so excited about it. I'm like all purpose. I'm like, I know my Soul Cycle friends, my dry bar friends, like how can we all not come to, you know, this area and support it? Also, that's like gentrification. So after that sentence, like you see where the passion sort of is like, is this the right approach for me? Then I saw that people couldn't really afford food in the area and they were having white rice and they were just putting spices on it. And I was like,

okay, is spice like an equalizer? If I can't have a location, I want a product that's in a bodega in Watts and Brentwood. What is that? GT kombucha, kettle chips, like things that everyone should just have access to because it's just good. And I was like, that is what I want to do. I want to have a product where like, I am the kind of person who wants to meet in front of like, you know, like a merchandiser at Ralph's and also go to a goop summit. Like I love that sort of collaboration of it. And so I want a product that I can do that. So that's just a curiosity about those ranges. And, but the product happens to be what I'm proud of, but it's truly just like a way to get into society that I want to learn about. So tell us about the new product.

Okay. So it's still really early on. It's called high note. And I got it from my friends who do those great Jones cookware. I don't know if you've seen that. She was a magazine writer for food. And she was like, I was trying to explain to her what the product is. I'm like, you want to add it to your salads. You feel full, not satisfied. Shira, the food therapist or nutritionist from Goop talks about food memory. You have a lot of, yeah, we love, like if you have a lot of flavor to your food, you make better decisions. So I'm like, I don't want to be on a panel talking about like anti-inflammatory cinnamon. Like I just don't know enough, you know, like don't put me, I love that stuff, but like spices are inherently good for you.

So like maybe there's something that you want to carry around and like add it to your sweet green salad that gives you a little feeling. Like truly the demo is someone like you, like where like you care about adding little things to your day that it's experience to it.

Like I love that, you know, it makes me feel special to like pour a little dry hot sauce on a hard-boiled egg. It's self-care. Yeah, it is self-care, but it's self-care. And I have a whole other thing where I think wellness and self-care really can be insular and that it's important to have wellness and self-care be a shared thing. And it's doing little things every day that make your cortisol go down. I turn on my oil diffuser every day and it's something little, but it just makes me happy.

Yeah, I mean, those are more things that I was listening to one of your old podcasts and I was like, I need to have more things like that, like the humidifier, like I want more gadgets. But the spices are like that. Yeah, no, thank you.

But I want to have that be a lifestyle approach because I think if you can sort of produce your way through the world with things like that, whether it because of access or privilege like it's worth doing it's good for just like a little reset calm down do a couple rituals yeah you know even like i was never that person i was like i gotta just go go go and then she started showing me this i'm like oh that is kind of nice what's what's your one thing that you he loves the salt i mean i do a lot of things now but that's just i've had the benefit of talking to people like you for 200 times. We have a wave machine in our room.

Whoa, what's the wave machine? It makes the sounds of waves. It's like a white noise machine when you're sleeping. You know, because we're in West Hollywood here, and so it gets a little noisy sometimes. It's like calming. I feel like we live in such chaos all the time. LA is just... Your environment needs to be low cortisol.

And I think spices, like I put spices in my coffee every single day. Like that makes me happy. It's a little thing, but I know it balances my blood sugar. Put a little turmeric in there, cinnamon. Yeah, I mean, I would love, we're sort of simplifying it into being like this is, we have one called Sweetie, which is like a date sugar, coconut sugar, cinnamon. And that's like a more barista. But then I was like, I had to learn a lot about people's relationship with sugar.

You know, like I would say, I kept scaringaring Roy being like, they're not going to want to have sugar. It's coconut. And even if it's coconut or date and our R&D chef was like, there is sugar in a tomato. Like, I need you to calm down. I would like date sugar in my coffee. That sounds good. But I also respect that some people are like, no, we want no sugar products. Like everyone's going to have a different reaction. And so as a company, I'm like, I don't really want to tell people where to, you know, can you give us a couple of the names of the products or is it right now we have spicy, cheesy and sweetie and cheesy is actually vegan. It's a nutritional yeast based and that, but I learned on nutritional yeast. Cause I would see a lot of people use it was that people use it as an umami flavor and it has texture to it. So it's

good for popcorns. It's good for vegetables. It's good. And that it just adds that like sort of texture to what you would be having Parmesan style of it. So that, and it has like a little peppery sauce. So that's been really great. Hopefully the goal is to do more in fast casual. Like we're not going the grocery route. Like I want you to be able to use, see this product everywhere and you'll know how to use it because it's in tangents. I'm going to carry it in my purse. I mean, I think that's a big market of it. But what I'm also betting on, hopefully, is that you're at your local Sweetgreen or

Poke and you can have this and just add it the way people had salt and pepper packets. It's very new age Heinz. Yes. I say in the pitch more dried condiment because there's so much sugar in actual the sauces of it. People are eating so many more flavors. Like growing up, did you imagine that you would have pho and Thai food and Chinese food?

We just had Mark Season on here yesterday from Primal Kitchen. Oh my gosh. And we were talking to him and when I was thinking, I was like, I never ate vegetables as a kid because I just couldn't stomach all this. We had no options. But now with Primal Kitchen, they've got like 16 different dressings. I'm like, I'll eat salads all day long now

because he has so many different flavors. You guys, you have a lot of parallels. Yeah, I'm so fascinated by that company. And just to know that he started blogging before. I can't wait to hear the episode. You guys have a lot of parallels. Oh, I'm really excited. You two should actually talk and meet.

I would love to. Oh my God, he's like, I mean, these have become my new celebrities where I'm like, yes, the guy who sold that for that company. Like, that's so exciting to me. It's fucking smart, too. It's so dope.

And so it comes out in October. Yeah, it comes out in October. Working on where we'll see it first. But when I was saying about changing the patterns of which I worked, like now I have one great lunch with someone who, you know, works for the Clippers. And they're like, oh, I was like, what would it look like to have courtside, you know, popcorn toppers, you know? And she was like, oh, we can maybe do that. And I was like, great. I want to know what it's like to go to a Clipper game and have my spice. Like,

I'm in a whole new world. Fun. And that's cool. You know what I love about you is that I feel like we're told that you have to do this and this and this. And like, we have to live like this very structured life. But I really like how you're like a nomad. Like you've gone from so many different careers and you've pivoted and moved. And you almost have gone sort of where attention goes from the hills to hello giggles to what you're doing now, which is so relevant. I think it's really cool. I love trends.

And I love like, like that was part of the reason that I connected with you is like anyone that is passionate about something and curious is just magnetic, you know? And so I might not always get it, but like, I just recently got really into sports. I have no idea what's happening, but I love collective energy. You know, there's a collective energy around wellness and skincare that like is, and beauty that is, I'm not necessarily always a target audience, but like, I love knowing what people are using as their skin product. Like that feels intimate. it's smart for people when they can recognize like i don't maybe you don't necessarily always identify or understand what that movement is but you can see someone so clear about it like that's one thing i've had to learn like maybe sometimes even if i

don't get something if i can see something that's just like so clear and they know like okay i better pay attention that because there's something i'm missing you guys bet on podcasts and now it's like would be the most obvious thing that people would say in a meeting and they'd roll your eyes. But like that was a transition, you know, to give that a little bit of a push. I'm excited to see what happens for you. I think it's going to be major. I mean, honestly, like I can't wait to try it. What's a book, a resource, a podcast that you can leave our audience with that's brought you a lot of value. Could be a Netflix show, anything that you consume that you think is super valuable. It could be in any kind of regard, too.

Okay, honestly, it's going to sound vaguer than that, is that I'm really into, and I have to do more of it, is keeping Shabbat is where I turn my phone off. And so what's really valuable, actually, is not more information, it's less information. That is a fucking great answer. And so I don't, I

feel like, I think there's a lot of information out there. I think the internet is one of my favorite things in the entire world. There was a joke that someone said on a podcast. And they're like, if I were like a billionaire, I would never use the internet or have a phone. And I was like, I get that. Like, there's a part of me would be like, we should feel so rich that we never need to do. To be connected again. To be connected again.

If that's what we, you know, define it that way. So yeah. So I think my real key would be like just getting offline and offline i've just turned my phone off and just sleep and read and and like and not just be just an hour 45 minutes a day like you know sometimes doing for 25 hours once a week that's what we're doing this weekend you're doing it everybody turn this podcast off right now we're doing this this weekend we're just laying in bed and reading and eating and hanging out with our dogs. It's our favorite thing to do.

We actually do it a lot. But with what Lauren does and with the podcast, people think that we're plugged in a lot more. But I mean, we'll have a full weekend where we're just like, it's the best. It's so important. Don't you feel like you recharge and you're like, I have an actual different personality? But you're a battery on a mobile phone. When you're functioning at 1%, I have to recharge. It's like Spider-Verse.

I feel like when I turn my phone off, the are like not coming out i'm like oh we're done like we're not i went to go buy some t-shirts the other day and i left my phone in the dressing room and i like i walked out and i went into a panic for like two minutes i was like why am i like whoa whoa whoa like why am i panicking about this stupid phone like it's your emergency contact yeah but i was just like i just walked outside the door what's gonna happen someone's gonna run in and take it and like look at my contact it's like okay contact. Yeah, but I was just like, I just walked outside the door. What's going to happen? Someone's going to run in and take it and look at my contact. It's like, okay, I got to calm down. Where can everyone find you?

Pimp yourself out and tell us where they can find your new company in October. Hellohighnote.com for High Note. And we're at High Note on Instagram. And then my personal one is at Rafifi on Instagram. And Sofifi on Twitter. I still do use Twitter. So I can go follow High Note right now? You can follow High Oh, that's exciting. Can I post it on Insta too? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to show you guys samples too. I need, what am I spelling wrong? Oh, you know, it's H I cause

they're, we're going to link all of it properly. H I note. Perfect. So cute. Well, I have to do more branding on that. So I would love, I'm into it. This is so cute. This is going to look great on my feed. You were not, not an inspiration. So just, just remember you're a demo that I always reference. I'm like the skinny confidential to one point. They were like, you need to ask her if she would have sugar or not, because you keep saying she wouldn't.

I'm in. And then I sort of came back and be like, I think she would do date. I have, I had to think. I love a date. Yeah. I think she would. Okay, great. Yes. I think what you're doing is amazing. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Guys, we want to do more solo episodes for you. So what we're wondering is what kind of solo episodes do you want to see from Michael and I? Do you want Michael to get on the mic and talk about podcasting equipment? Do you want more beauty tips for me? Or do you want something that's more about relationships?

Let me know on my latest Instagram at the Skinny Confidential and the Skinny Confidential team will pick a bunch of you to send pink sparkly pop sockets. We take your feedback so seriously and we love dropping into your DMs and getting your mailing address and sending you some goodies. So let us know what solo episodes you want to see on my latest Instagram at the skinny confidential. And with that, we'll see you next time.