The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - How To Boost Your Metabolism, Immune System, & Quench Your Appetite With Jacqueline & Todd O'Gara, Founders Of Wanu Water

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

#318: On this episode we are joined by an absolute power couple, Jacqueline and Todd O'Gara. Jacqueline and Todd are the founders of Wanu Water which is a nutrient and fiber infused beverage taking the world by storm. On today's episode we discuss how to boost your metabolism and immune system implementing nutrient infused fiber water. We also discuss what it takes to boot strap a business from the ground up and turn it into a massive brand.  This episdoe is brought to you by Wanu Water To learn more about Wanu Water click HERE To connect with Jacqueline O'Gara click HERE To connect with Todd O'Gara 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 Wanu Water Wanu water (water + nutrients) is the first-to-market, best-selling nutrient-infused water packed with 10 essential vitamins including 24% of your daily fiber intake providing natural energy that boosts your metabolism, supports a healthy immune system and quenches your appetite while you hydrate. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. This episode is brought to you by One New Water. 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. Aha. What do you need? Like this is, I would give them the hard sell and this is junk and this is what your consumers want. This is San Francisco, better for you now. And so I would get orders before I actually got accepted into a distributor because then I took these order sheets and went to the best and biggest distributor in the area and was like, I have 180 orders for my product from 180 different retailers that you are,

that you distribute to. There's no way you can say no now. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show, everybody. That clip was from our guests of the show today, the founders of WANU Water, something that we've been talking about for a while now, Todd and Jacqueline O'Gara. We are almost through 2020, people. How are we hanging in there, Lauren? How are we hanging in there? Are we getting through it? We're getting through it, Michael. I was listening to a podcast with Ed Milet, and he was talking about separation season. And right now, I feel like it's the time for us to take advantage of. Instead of just slacking off and watching Netflix like we want to do, I think we should step it up. I did an Instagram post on it. And I'm not saying

that it's time to hustle. I think it's more time to go inward and time to work on our mindset and ourself. And whether that's books or podcasts or Audible or meditation or breathwork, whatever it is, take this time to look inward and get some clarity. This is a good time of the year to reflect. Everything's a little bit slower. Offices are closed down. People get a little bit of a break. It's been a tough year. For me personally, I've been doing a lot of reading, a lot of thinking, a lot of learning, and I've been completely staying off email, which has been incredible because obviously during the regular course of the year, we're constantly inundated with people giving asks and looking for us for answers,

you know, and jumping into our inboxes. And so now it's like a brief moment in time where a lot of us, many of us have a little break before the chaos of the new year or the chaos of every new year. And so I would highly encourage everybody to just take this time to learn, reflect, listen to shows like this that are going to provide value, listen to books on tape, read, just take some time for yourself so that you can reset and go into the new year strong. I know that this is one of the only times that I really get a huge stack of hardcover books. Normally I read on my phone or my iPad or Kindle. And this is the time where I just put my phone away. I put it in a drawer and I just focus on real books. This weekend, I completely got off my phone. I didn't check my email. I didn't check my text messages.

I just focused on learning and educating and just working on my mindset. And I think that everyone should take advantage, like Michael said, of this time. It's the perfect opportunity. And in this episode, we're talking to a power couple. This is going to inspire the fuck out of you, which is exactly what we should all be doing. We should be listening to things that inspire us. So that's my two cents. So like Lauren said, we are interviewing a power couple here, Todd and Jacqueline O'Gara. They are the founders of WANU Water. And if you've noticed, Lauren and I have been sharing about this product for a while now, been talking about it. It is our new favorite fiber-infused water. In this episode, we're going

to get into all the benefits around the actual product, but we're also going to get into the background of the founders and how they bootstrapped this business and how they've built it into a real national brand that has really just taken over. And it's a pretty incredible story about what you can do with hard work, grit, patience, persistence, all the things that we preach on this show and all the things that we try to interview the high performers that we interview on this show about. So with that, Todd and Jacqueline O'Gara, welcome to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. So what is in these jugs? Awesome. So we brought two different of our most popular, I guess, cocktails you can make with WANU.

One is a skinny, spicy peach margarita. It has fresh peaches, fresh lime, jalapeno, and then made with the WANU. So it's a healthier alternative with no sugar additives. And then the spiked blueberry lemonade. And that is made with fresh blueberries, fresh mint, and fresh slices of lemon. And just your choice, you know, vodka. And I decided to do the peach one because I'm a huge fan of the peach wanu water, but I'm also a fan of jalapenos and tequila.

So that's the one I'm doing. But that blueberry situation looks good too. You're doing both. Here's another. Let me tell you something. We went on a little mini weekend bender and I said, hey, I'm done drinking for a while. And here we are, not even 12 hours later.

Show's the self-control we have. It's literally Monday. Cheers. Cheers. Thanks for coming on, guys. Yeah, thank you. Nice to be here. Okay, I feel like we should give the audience a little context before we get buzzed.

Before the wheels really fall off this thing. First of all, let's go back. You guys are married. How did you meet? I was actually on a date with another girl. It was a group of girls, but it was back. You guys are married. How did you meet? I was actually on a date with another girl. It was a group of girls, but it was Halloween. I don't know. When was this?

You can tell your story, and then I'll tell my version. It was 2012? 11. 11. Dog years, 11. Yeah, exactly. Back from Miami. So my friends and I, the person that I was casually dating was like, do you want to go

out? I said, no, not at all. Cause I'm, well, you were just mentioning like 12 hour bender. Like I kind of want to relax, like whatever. But in New York, you're like, okay, single kind of like, let's just go. I'll do it. Like, and so I just moved there like a year and a half before that. So we went to a place called MPD that some of our friends had owned at the time and the meatpacking. Jackie was with the group of girls that we were meeting and her, one of her really good friends was her, I think her roommate had known him long story, boring. We had met and I got seated next to her and the girl I was kind of like casually dating was just in and out of relationship and was just

kind of really caring too much what other people thought. I was like, all right, we'll go sit in the back of the booth. And then I met Jackie and the catalyst and the idea behind one who was always like, you know, working with government agencies and developing countries, NGOs for infant mortality rates. And so she worked at the March of Dimes. And so she said, you know, what do you do for a living? I said, I said babies. And she's like, no, actually I saved me. So that worked the March of Dimes. Right. And so, you know, what do you do for a living? I said, I save babies. And she's like, no, actually, I save babies.

Because I worked too much to die, right? And so, you know, she was kind of a smart ass. You know, everything I loved. You know, strong personality. We hit it off. And, you know, we were kind of saying our goodbyes. And I was going back to my place. And she was still going to go out.

And she didn't give me her number. I gave my email. Her email address. It was like the blackberry days yeah so she was I looked at my phone I was in the cab getting out of the cab in front of my building paid for the cab looked at my phone said hey it was really nice meeting you and I like stayed there for a minute and I was like are you still out and she goes yeah I'm a provocateur and she's like come and I got back in the cab and went.

But it was kind of crazy. I was just telling this story to a friend of mine. Like, if I would have gotten the cab and went back inside, I would have never saved her. Like, we probably would have never hung out. You never know. And then from that day forward, I don't think we've spent more than, you know, five days apart.

No, yeah. So that actually ended in, when we met back up, what was supposed to be somewhat of a mellow night, turned it into a pretty wild night. I think we were so excited to meet each other. I think we together probably drank a whole bottle of 1942. I was like, what? That never happens. I was a normal girl with like a normal job compared to some of these like crazy nightlife girls. So I had to wake up, go to work the next day. And then he's like, hey, do you want to get lunch? Like shows up to meet me for lunch. I had to wake up go to work the next day and then he's like hey do you want to get lunch like shows up to meet me for lunch I had a meeting so we couldn't meet for lunch but then immediately was like let's go to dinner and I'm like I'm so tired and hungover from partying

so I was like the thing to him was okay I'll go out with you if I can wear a baseball hat somewhere so our first real date was at Ruby Rosa in New York so just like chill and you know we were pretty inseparable ever since then we moved in within like three months And, you know, we were pretty inseparable ever since then. We moved in within like three months of dating, you know, in New York City. I guess it's kind of normal because rent is so expensive. But we moved in pretty fast. And then the rest is history. I mean, we were really inseparable. And I always kind of helped him on the side.

So the moral of the story is if you go on a bender, keep going. Stay on the bender. Don't stop until you find your true love so have you already started wanting water without jackie or was that something that you guys created together water we created together the the formulation and everything i created when i attended medical and dental school and i lived in australia and going back that is like well wait a minute. Where were you born?

How did you end up in Australia? So I was born and raised in Reno, Nevada. Oh, yeah, yeah. You just told me about that. Okay. So I was like, you know, very active outdoorsy family, like snowboarding, skiing, water skiing, played all the sports, you know, like baseball, basketball, football, you know, tennis, everything we did, right?

Very athletic family, but like all in medicine, in real estate. And they, I just kind of grew up like in this whole huge health and wellness kind of driven family. Like if you weren't super active, you get like paid out by my dad. My dad'd be like, you know, I've already ran three miles a day. What have you done? Yeah. Overly competitive. And it was just kind of like ingrained. Like I love, I was really good at science. I loved medicine. I loved health, you know, got out of the country and studied in Italy for like a year, lived in Florence and really got to experience like the world, which I think, you know, unfortunately Americans, a lot of Americans aren't able to do that, which I think, you know, unfortunately Americans, a lot of Americans aren't able to do that, which I think is so important to like see other cultures and experience it. And I was like obsessed. And so I came back, you know, graduated and was like, I'm going to medical or dental

school and I'm leaving the country. I don't want to stay here. And my dad and parents were like, sure, sure. And so I applied and found Sydney University and went there got accepted and you did you know you did two years of medicine with four years of dentistry all within four years and and got accepted and went there and fell in love with it but like at the same time was really intrigued with business and favorite movie was like Wall Street you know Gordon Gekko the suits like you know the whole thing and you know growing up in Reno like you don't have any of that yeah so i was like i loved business i was very entrepreneurial i was always like trying to invent things and in an epidemiology lecture in d1 i i saw that infant mortality rates were through waterborne illness were at like five

percent of the mortality and at that point i was like just reading the wall street journal where vitamin water got acquired for 4.1 billion and i was like what if i could create something that was actually truly better for you now and like we could i mean vitamin water what i mean it was a great name and i remember when that came out but like you know you're not really sugar and it was sugar and one one vitamin yeah but without them they carved this category for me to dive in. Sure. Right. And, but I was in the same place you just said, I was like, there's no vitamins in this. It's, it's junk, but I really invented the formula is like a philanthropic kind of driven

thing. I was like, well, you know, very, you know, grew up in a family that's very short off your back, like religious, like, you know, wanting to help everyone. And it just like pained me to see like those statistics overseas. And so I was like, all right. So I, you know, kind of buried my head in the books, like did this on the side and then moved to South America in a city called Cochabamba in Bolivia. Damn, you've been all over. Yeah. Well, my parents wouldn't let me go to West Africa for the clinical rotation. Okay. Because they were like, well, you're going to die. And so me being stubborn, I went,

I researched for like months what was as bad from a public health standpoint as like Sierra Leone. And I was like- And how old were you when you did this? I was 25. Okay. Yeah. So did that, you know, picked up in Mu, lived there, finished off a lot of my credits in a residency kind of program, worked in clinics, hospitals, lived in the Amazon for a bit with villagers. And I was just exposed to some of like the craziest, craziest systemic health issues, much to like what, you know, the world is dealing with now. These countries have been dealing, but it's never gone away.

Like cholera is still like rampant in some of these countries. And so the straw that broke the camel's back for me personally was diagnosing a little girl. I think she was around six at the time with like malignant oral cancer and that had metastasized into her, in her jaw. And I was like, you know, this is a major issue. This is a public, public problem. And I feel I have something that can kind of, kind of change the world. I've always said that I'm so passionate about like what's inside our product because I truly, truly know it's, it's so much better for you than everything else that's out there. And it's readily available and it's not expensive. Like, you know, in these countries, like, you know, I think Coca-Cola sells more Cokes through their formula in Mexico and South America than they do the rest of the world.

And so it's readily available. It's cheap, but clean drinking water, healthy diet, vegetables, things like that. It's not available. It's too expensive. And so I really honed in on that. I worked on that, worked with agencies in Turkey, India, was in Riyadh for a little bit, South America, and was successful in doing so. And then I got to a point to where it became a little too corrupt. Like the agencies were now trying to do- What do you mean? Like they were trying

to change your formulation or make it more common? They would be like, well, we're going to pay you X, and then you're going to kick us back under the table Y. And I was like, no, that's taking to pay you X and then you're going to kick us back under the table Y. And I was like, no, that's taking away from the distribution of the product and like where it needs to go. So it started with that. And then it was like, you know, we were worried about them stealing the proprietary formulation and things like that. So I moved to New York, was going to go to NYU's bridging program, do surgery or pull teeth or do that and saw the societal shifts in consumer purchasing habits where sugar was now really bad. Carbonated soft drinks had been on the decline for over, I think, a decade at that point. And I just saw a huge window where I think

people were really looking for that health and wellness driven, better for you now product. I think we were really early in the game, to be honest. I think just now people are really realizing what we're doing. People are finally educated, right? Like for a long, like, you know, it's funny, I'll talk to guys my dad's age and they'll say like diet Pepsi and they won't, they don't really, like, they think that that is better than just drinking regular. I'm like, you got to see all the shit that's in that one. It's like, you better, maybe better off just drinking the regular one. A hundred percent because I mean, you know, NutraSweet and Aspartame and all that, I mean, it's actually worse. Right. So, you know, did that. And then I was, you know, NutraSweet and Aspartame and all that, I mean, it's actually worse, right? So, you know, did that.

And then I was, you know, just like, I'm going to go for it. And put everything, every last cent to my name, everything, put all my poker chips in the middle. It was like, let's go. I was like, I got something. And it was a little difficult telling my parents that I just spent a half a million dollars on an education that I'm going to go sell a ball of water now. But I'm very lucky. My parents have always been there. My grandmother, who just passed away Friday, was my first investor.

Like, was like, this is what you want to do. This is your passion. Go for it. So I had, like, the support system in place. You know, road less traveled, for sure. Trying to learn an industry. Had no business experience. an industry, had no business experience. Like I did no business at all. We had Sean Neff on the podcast. He's like an

incredible brander. He's so, so, so smart when it comes to branding. And he said that the smartest people take a category that needs an update and they find the niche while giving it an update. And that's exactly what you guys did. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, thank you so much. But yeah, that's what, that was always kind of our goal. But like, I think I've listened to a couple podcasts of your guys is talking about like so many successful people that have been on it, you know, just had no business experience either. And they just went for it. And I think there's something to be said with that as well. Like, I don't think you're scared. I don't think you have that, that background to where like, you'd be hesitant because I think if you are hesitant, then you're in trouble. I think you have to just go for it and with a hundred percent effort and, you know,

don't be afraid to fail because you're going to fail a lot, right? You're going to fail over and over and over again. As long as you're learning from that failure, you're going to be great. And, you know, it took a long time. We had a lot of expensive mistakes at the same time, but, you know, we just believe so much in this. And I think, you know, now consumers are really starting to, to see it. I mean, you know, COVID was catastrophic to a lot of businesses in this, in this country, in the world. And, you know, a lot of friends of mine are hurting as well, but, you know, I think COVID put a spotlight on consumers. I was like, okay, I really need something that's truly healthy now and not just something that's

a gimmick and, and, you know, trying to try to upsell me with a brand or whatever. This is like as transparent and authentic that you can really get. You, you also, you guys were almost on the pulse and very avant-garde of, of fiber. Yeah. Fiber was not cool, it seems like, at that time. And now fiber, people talk about fiber all the time. Did you foresee that becoming a very, very big deal in the future? Yeah, I did. I got a lot of sideways looks in the beginning when I kept talking about it. And I said, well, gut health is everything. I think gut health is where your immune system is built. And that's what I think is missing in a lot of beverages out there and like products out there is they're not highlighting how important your gut is. And that's what we kind of really focus

on. We're the first to market and we're the best selling fiber infused, nutrient infused beverage on the market right now. And so, you know, that's something to say that how the consumer shift from say like 2010 to 2020 has now come like almost full circle for us. I mean, I'll take fiber in my margarita. Yeah. That's kind of just like a natural thing. People just started like mixing it. And on social, we saw the engagement of people just looking for healthier mixers.

And, you know, obviously you can do that. There's also a mom's love to make homemade popsicles with Greek yogurt for their kids if they're picky eaters. But of course, I mean, personally, as a consumer, I try to get fiber from Whole Foods first. And then WANU is great for that convenience on the go. And then as I said, kids. So the average eight ounce juice is 23 grams of sugar. So we've seen that shift of people trying to give their kids WANU because even kids

need 19 grams of fiber a day. And I don't think people really realize that. I don't think people think about that at all. No. And so many of these snacks, I mean, our two and a half year old, I mean, she loves a good cheddar bunny. Like it's constantly like popping them. So but when as they start to eat whole foods, you'll see like with Zaza, you're making her her foods now. It's easy to control in the beginning.

But as they kind of get older and they go to school and they see what other kids are eating, their diet starts to fill up, you know, with more just naturally processed foods, as I said. So we exclusively give our daughter, we don't give her any juice. She's either drinking plain water or wanted water. So I feel good about balancing, you know, letting her be a normal kid and snack and not being too rigid there, but having that balance. And also healthy waste, so she's not bouncing off the wall and doing cartwheels. And there's so much sugar and added unnecessary ingredients in all those juices too. Let's talk about the benefits of fiber. Okay. Like let's really get into it. What are all the

benefits? So obviously from, we'll start with skin. Cause I know your listeners love that. So detoxifying the body. We love that. Just the fiber is going to cleanse your body out. And then obviously we just touched on immunity with the effects of COVID. So 70% of your immune system stems from your gut. And obviously, that prebiotic fiber feeds that good gut bacteria. So that's really number one. It also curbs your appetite. So for weight management, we've seen obviously, mostly women love our product, but guys too. And I think that fiber, as you said, we were kind of on the pulse of something. And now with that more awareness, it's not just your grandpa's fiber. It's not like, Hey, my old brand, we am running to the bathroom. There's so many great benefits from skin to your immune health.

And then obviously weight management, curbing your appetite. I do intermittent fasting a few days a week. And I feel like one who's a great way to extend your fast, especially if you're not too rigid at third, you know, it's less than 30 calories. So it's 20 calories for the full bottle. So it's not going to break the fast. Plus it's non-digestible. So it's really going to fill you up without filling you out and curb your appetite. Why does it curb the appetite? So I mean, well, so it's a zero calorie, it's non-digestible part of carbohydrates. So basically just adds bulk to your food.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, we've talked about fiber on the show for a while and both of us are fans. And I think, you know, sometimes people misunderstand it, it, it's sometimes people misunderstand like how to use fiber, but it gets everything going. And I feel like it's like the furnace for the gut. Absolutely. And, but what is most important to you is you can need a ton of fiber. Hydration with fiber is key to all of this. So you can be like, oh, it'll clear the skin, but you need something to be flushing it out of your colon. Yeah. You want to eliminate like the bloating aspect. Absolutely.

A lot of people complain like when they eat too much fiber. They're like, well, I feel so bloated. It's like, well, are you drinking water? Yeah. And they go, no. Well, that needs to flush the system like she was just saying. That's genius. My Pilates teacher, she's like rocking.

She's 65 and she always talks about how what you guys just said, people eat so much fiber, but they don't flush it out with the water. So with this, you can do both at the same time. Definitely. How do you guys like working together? And don't lie. It gets very, very detailed. How did that sort of happen?

No, I'll be honest. It's been really challenging. Yeah, it's definitely hard. I mean, even before- Let me pull out my scroll, Todd. Yeah. How much time do we have? No, I mean, look, like she's, she's been my ride or die for like

ever, but like, like you guys know, like it's, there's challenges with it. COVID was really, really difficult. I'll be very honest. Like I don't think human beings were designed to coexist in a confined space with a two and a half year old running around and, and working together. And Oh, by the way, your, your your brand and your company just exploded up 600% through the COVID months. So you're like, okay, we don't have enough hours in the day, but also there's just no time for this. There's no alone time. There's no, can I get a break? And then you're on each other because then you're working together, but you're also co-parenting together. So it was a challenge. And I think, you know,

there's, it's, this has kind of been the echo from a lot of people that I've talked to about it as well. I mean, I think we're really fortunate that our child is two and a half and not in school and not having to be a full-time mom, full-time dad and run your company together. Oh, by the way, and be teach my kid how to do arithmetic. Oh, and by the way, give me a blow job too. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, and there were few and far between in that area as well. So, you know, so COVID just sucks all around, right? Yeah. No, I mean, listen, I try to, on this show, when people ask like, how do you work together? I try to actually talk couples out of working together. I'm like, don't do it. And if they

still want to do it and they can get through it, then I say, okay. Because it is definitely extremely, extremely challenging. And most couples have the benefit of pre-COVID days. You go off to your thing, you go off to your thing, you connect in the night, you have a lot to talk about, you have a lot to catch up on, and then you get together and you get that alone time. But when you're with each other 24-7 and you're intermeshed in the business, and then you're in the parenting and then you're the relationship. Like you don't really know, like it blurs all the lines. Like I'm sure it's sometimes you're talking about the business. Like I don't want to talk business or you want to talk about it. He doesn't. And it's really difficult to know when to do certain things and when to like carve back out that those moments that got you together in the first place.

Yeah. That's so brilliant what you said. I think you're so accurate with, with that statement because you kind of, you kind of forget why you were together and like, you're so stressed out, but you're so exhausted at the same time. It's like, the last thing I want to do is like actually be alone with you. I want to like go in one of the rooms and like hide or, you know, and that's like, you know, I tried to play golf like every day. Cause that was like the one thing that was open and you could go walk the course. And she she'd get pissed and be like, well, I want that, too, which I totally get. Yeah. Yeah.

But, you know, Pilates studios weren't open. I'm like, I have no solitude. It took me at least I think I made it eight weeks. And then I called my mom, had a full blown nervous, nervous breakdown and like went to Target. And she's like, what's wrong with you? I was like, I'm like eating Oreos in the middle of Target. I have a good I'm freaking out. I have an idea for you that I did the other day. I'm going to admit this on air.

I haven't told you about this yet. Oh, great. The other day I told Michael that I had a workout. It was the workout scheduled. And I actually just needed a fucking break. Yeah. I drove with my mask on to this tiny little foot spa. Oh yeah, that's your spot.

Disgusting. I wouldn't have cared if you did that. Why would I care? You wouldn't care. with my mask on to this tiny little foot spa. Oh, yeah. That's disgusting. I wouldn't have cared if you did that. Why would I care? You wouldn't care. But I just needed like an hour and a half to myself. I booked 90 minutes and I laid there and just laid on my phone and got my feet rubbed. And I don't do anything but the feet. I say just feet only.

And then I just get all my emails and all my texts. So when I leave, I feel like I got some form of self-care. And I got my shit handled. And I swear to God, I walked in so stressed. And I walked out so relieved. So next time you feel like that, instead of going to eat cookies, go to the foot spa. Bring the cookies with you. I think at one other time, I think I drove up, got some to-go food,

and just watched Housewives in the car on my phone. Like, oh my God. Because our TV is owned by Baby phone. Oh my God, because our TV is owned by Baby Shark. You know what though? This whole year has been fucked because our whole perspective on the way we do everything is shifted. None of us are meant to be in these closed quarters with each other for this long. And so the way we're looking at it, the way we're working, the way we're eating, the way we're getting exercise, the way we're getting sunlight, the way we're parenting, all of these things, they're skewed the way we're like getting exercise, the way we're getting sunlight, the way we're parenting, like all of these things there's have been, you know, they're skewed the way we're all,

we're all operating, right? Like we, we're not meant to do it this way. And so everybody in the world right now is like, kind of like, what the fuck is going on? And you're, you're trying to live a life normally, but under completely unnormal circumstances. And it's, it's, it's really difficult because there's not like, oh, well, what did they do at this time? Right?

Like, you're just kind of. You don't like being with me every second. No, I do. But it's like you said, like, it's nice. It's weird because I want to be with my wife all the time. But now it's like you get that hour alone. You're like, oh, I love it. And it's not that I don't want to be around my wife, but like we were 24 seven. Yeah. Together. I literally am hanging from the fucking ceiling when you wake up. I would like to know selfishly. You guys are obviously very successful with what you do. What's the infrastructure of your business look like? Like, do you guys have teams for certain things? Is someone taking on social media? Like I would love to know as maybe I explore product

with the skinny confidential, how you guys have that. Yeah. So we have a operator. So I have a COO. I'm the biggest believer. And if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. I try to look for people that are just smarter at things that I'm not good at. And I try to put them in the places to be successful. And I think we've done a decent job doing. I mean, we have a really big team and I just didn't see it. I mean, we almost had 40 or 50 employees. I wasn't seeing the execution.

I wasn't seeing the results. And so I was like, well, why don't we just get like 10 to 12 people that are just like amazing at their job and can execute like a beast and put them in a position to be successful. And like, I'm not a micromanager. I'm going to know if you're working or not. I'm going to see the results and the results aren't there, then we'll move on. But if they are, I think you create a culture where people feel that they own something and they're a part of something that they can make decisions and feel confident about business decisions and not just doing it to where they're doing it to do it. Yeah. No, I think that's really smart. I think a lot of first-time operators or entrepreneurs,

they feel like they need to be the smartest person or they need to have their hands around all areas of the business. And for me, I, I could not agree with you more. Like if, if you are an entrepreneur and you're starting a business and you're the only person that can do it and you can't find somebody that can do it better, like there's no way you're gonna be able to keep up with that as a business scales. Like you need to be able to release control and get people that are much smarter than you in certain areas or else you're just going to get stuck. Yeah. Or you're not going to, like you just said, you're not going to grow because you only get opportunities once or twice. Right. And, and, you know, we've, we've

kind of, you know, been caught in some landmines and circumnavigated some others, but, you know, I think it's so important that like being able to trust your employees to do the right thing. And then therefore they appreciate that trust and they're going to work harder. They're going to work smarter and they're going to execute at a more proficient rate. What are some specific struggles or you call them landmines that you guys have gone through and how did you deal with it? Well, I can go first. I think you mentioned working together.

So outside of personal, I think I've started really supporting Todd with the brand of WANU in 2013. And I think early on, so I graduated from the Fashion Institute. I used to work for an array of PR firms. I've worked in record labels. And then when I first met him, I was doing special events. So I had this robust background in marketing, but never truly beverage experience. And I think that early on when we were scaling the business and taking money from different people and stuff, you know, like you said, he didn't have business, true business experience.

So he was getting people. And when you get sort of your investors, some of them think that maybe they're great in their industry, but they're not necessarily great for beverage. And so that really key right there was a huge curve for us. And not that we knew everything, but we were really in tune with hiring and bringing people around and supporting us with people that did know the industry. So I think that created maybe initially, specifically with me, I think being your partner, I always felt like I had to run twice as fast and jump twice as high to prove that truly I'm watching like brand studies. For instance, I really studied, I think this is when I first discovered Lauren was

Suja. I really credited them and their sort of, you know, route to market strategy because they were so great in isolating one retailer in terms of Whole Foods and really owning that, you know, that retailer and then scaling. And then they were really one of the first to use influencers. So this, remember, this is 2014, 15. I'm going into board meetings trying to be like, this is the power. This is the, you know, the future.

Shopper marketing is dated. And you're trying to really pitch this to some gray haired guys that don't really understand that, right? They don't understand Instagram. And so that was always probably the biggest challenge for me was really owning and staying true to what I believed was the best route to success. And maybe it was new age and they didn't understand it, but really trying to just like own that and just really try to pitch that to people. That was probably my biggest hurdle early on. And then I think though, that watching things evolve, like watching our team scale and stuff. And, and I learned early on, it's like, we've had people that have gone to really great Ivy league schools, but I would rather take somebody that's got grit and is like, maybe didn't even go to college.

You know, it's funny is I don't even, when I hire here, I don't even look at the, where they, I don't care what people went to school. I care about, do they have grit? Are they somebody that's going to get something done? Are they a figure it out type of person? Like, and we have a lot of young people here on this team. Great people. I don't know one place any of them went to school. Yeah. Nor do I care. I mean, that's, you know, I have like a, what, a regional development degree from university of Arizona, the Harvard of the desert. So like, I'm like, I can't put that standard on others if I'm not living up to it myself. Definitely. I think that people are like, oh, FIT. In their world, they were like Wharton Business School. It was very legally blonde. And I'm like, no, no, no, honey. That school, I was also working at Universal and

Def Jam. So I'm going to school, but I'm in the heart of the city, really getting true life work experience that really was critical to building that infrastructure when you're curating a company from the ground up. And so that was, you know, early on some of the early struggles. I expect, you know, he has his, we joke that this is probably the most expensive MBA in terms of. It's true. It's actually like being a practitioner though. I went to college for four years. I didn't learn one thing besides how to manage my time, which I still didn't really learn very well, but I learned way more from bartending. Yeah. Way more. People skills, talking, all that. I could teach you how to finesse, teach you how to sell. It teaches you all these different things. So it's so true. It doesn't really matter where you go to school.

Oh, yeah. If you have the right life tool. This is going to be fucked up to say, and I'll get in trouble because we have some friends that are still in, like they're our age, right? We're in our thirties and they're still in school going to get them, but there's nothing wrong with that. They're going to getting masters and all these degrees. But I think like, you know, I've been working, Lauren's been working since what, 2008 in businesses and doing things for that long. So it's been, you know, 12, 13 years now of experience doing this. And I think like you can have any degree you want, but you're going to come out of school and I'm going to have 13 years of experience. And it's not that saying I'm going to be better or I'm smarter. It's just, that's a lot of ground to make up 13 years of not, you know, getting started and actually doing something. You can always go to school while you work. But a lot of these people I know are like just in the school system, they're going, going, going, they're never getting started. I'm like that. I don't see how that's of service. Yeah. Not to mention the debt they're racking up.

Well, that's a huge thing. Yeah. You're going to have to make triple what you think just to pick up the debt. For sure. And I love a good, like I always bartended too in college. So I lived in the heart of Manhattan and that was like my thing because before I went to school at FIT, I was a division one swimmer at West Virginia and I was on scholarship. I gave my money back and went to New York.

And so my parents were like, great, get a job. So on top of going to school full time, working at all these different companies during the week, I was bartending in Queens on the weekend because you made more money outside the city. And then, which is a joke. I mean, we always laugh about this. I would literally wait in lines in like the middle of Soho and flip sneakers on eBay like back in the day. And that's like how I paid my rent.

So I teased him. I'm like, I don't mind rolling up my sleeves. I'm a hustler. I know what to do. And it's just I think that that is such a critical part when you build your infrastructure is to hire people that are willing to like really get in there,

especially in the startup world, because it's not glamorous. I mean, those early days of Bethany Frankel, like selling Skinny Girl, like doing store demos, that was us for years. And having an old lady like- We didn't have a car. We moved to San Francisco for six months because we had an opportunity to get into distribution.

I would rent a U-Haul and go and throw cases in there from Watsonville, which is two and a half hours away from the Bay Area. She would be sitting at a low rent cockroach infill. Corporate apartment. Corporate apartment on Pine Street. And we had no car. I'm riding around in U-Hauls going to like independent grocers being like, you know, what do you need? Like this is, and I would give them the hard sell and this is junk and this is what your consumers want. This is San Francisco, better for you now. And so I would get orders before I actually got accepted into a distributor because then I took these order sheets and went to the best biggest distributor in the area and was like I have

180 orders for my product from 180 different retailers that you are that you distribute to like there's no way you can say no now and so that's how we like initially got in to do it and that was just like a huge risk because like that was against like everything that everybody said. But I was like, they're not going to take me. They're not going to take our product unless I can show like proof of concept or something. So like, it was just like driving around doing that

with a little French bulldog in an apartment in San Francisco, just us that had been dating. We're not married. Yeah, this is like a year into our relationship. Like I packed everything up and moved to San Francisco with him. I'd turn on job at Goldman Sachs. And I think you guys actually had the guy from Ashland hard seltzer. I love his episode because he made such a great point. Josh, he was like your dreams either was an entrepreneur's

dreams, like live and die with their partner. And very much so. Like I always believed in this product. I knew maybe it was early. Like you said, people weren't really into fiber, but I always believed in the product. And most importantly, like believed in Todd, that passion, that grit. And so when you, you know, bring the most important thing. Yeah. Bring this full circle. You mentioned about our team. So now it's like our team's very lean, but every single person on that team, like rolls up their sleeves. I think that with COVID and we actually moved our headquarters recently to Austin, Texas. So coming from LA there, we brought about 17 members and we run lean. I mean, we're definitely leaning into e-commerce. And I think that, you know, with the

reach of digital, you kind of pull away from your sales team boots on the ground. And now there's so many solutions to for everything you do in our business now with brokers and different things. You don't need to have so many people in-house. So the industry has definitely changed that landscape and it's allowed us to mold our infrastructure to be more compatible with our long-term goals. Well, I think it's extremely smart that you guys are starting to lean into digital channels and e-com because I imagine many of your competitors, even if they're big, are not thinking about those strategies.

And it's a mistake. I always tell people it's better to be early and end up where the world's going, as opposed to be late and not be able to catch up to where the world is. Like, and there's a lot of people that, I mean, listen, take COVID, for example, so many brands got caught unaware just because they did not have any kind of e-com or digital strategy, like big, big brands. And so you start to see them sink and go under. And like, you know, with how big a lot of these businesses were, it wouldn't have been the end of the world for them to take like, hey, we're going to spend maybe 15 or 20% of our market share and cap and resources to go and figure this

channel out. Because, I mean, you would have a benefit of retail, but so many businesses just got obliterated with COVID because they didn't think about digital at all. Yeah. And I think that's like where all of our focus is really gone that's why we're having the year that we're having is because we you know last year like in q3 q4 i was like we're gonna go we're gonna go all ddc influencer marketing you know digital because like you're more likely to find my brand on instagram and research it on instagram first before you even go to our website that's where i found it yeah and i, and I talked to you guys about this. Like I found your brand on Instagram and was like, I have to have this and ordered the

peach and became obsessed. Yeah. And I think that's just like where consumers are going now. You get your news and you get to use news, new products. And I do it too. Like I, I found you guys on Instagram as well. Like that's. Yeah.

They even get hotels and where to stay and where to go. Like anytime you stay in a hotel, I always open the tag or the location. Be like, what does this actually look like? And then just go to the website. Yeah, a hundred percent. And then, and then I'll go to the website to learn more about it if I'm intrigued. But usually it's like, I'm going to your, your, your social channels the very first thing. And so that's where I think like where everything is really moving towards now. When did the coin flip for you guys? So you're in San Francisco, like you said, you're in a cockroach infested apartment. I mean, it's dramatic. Well, yeah, but I love the drama. Yeah. So, so dramatic. Okay.

I'm dramatic too. I love it. And when did it flip and you started to see, oh shit, this has momentum while we were in San Francisco, all of a sudden it scaled from like 180 stores to close to a thousand. And I was like, okay, it's good, but it's not great. We got to get better. And I'm always thinking that way. I'm like, okay, it's working, but we got to make it better. We got, we got to look ahead. Like you were just speaking about, like, I got to look three years down the, down the line, like what's going to happen. So we changed the bottle. We, we got into a proprietary bottle. We, our first packaging was good. It was like, it was like really colorful and

bright, but it wasn't, it wasn't game changing off the shelf. But can you talk about that actually just for a second? Cause I think a lot of young, there's a lot of young people that listen to this show and they look at something that like you guys have built and really admire it. But what you just said, there's keys. Like you didn't launch with this. I mean, you may be the formula, but like the way it looked, the way it was presented. And I always try to get that point across to people because now as a fully established business with thousands of stores, you can do this, but when you're getting started, like you have to do what you can. Maybe you could talk about that just a little bit. Yeah. I mean, you just can't be satisfied, right? You can't be married to just your first iteration, right? You got to look to

evolve. You got to look to innovate and look at things that are going to be what the market really wants, right? And our first bottle was terrible. It was a stock bottle. It was not attractive. The inside of the product was great, but it was confusing. It was like, okay, well, what is it, right? So we needed to change the name. We needed to get a new bottle. We hired a consumer marketing firm that looked at it, took all of our data. We're huge on data. I love data because I can kind of read the tea leaves, so to speak, and kind of figure out where the market's going. And this vertical branding is the first. We're the first to market in beverage and vertical branding with the split and also we

wanted the teal and white we love we wanted to own it we want to own the teal white why because you go into the and we were a white bottle before and we were getting lost in an ocean of white in the cold area or even the dry area and like look i mean people don't typically you know if you're going to like a bristol farms or you're going to a whole foods or you're going to a ralph's like you're inundated with thousands of products thousands you're like jesus christ like what the hell like what am i looking at now like fuck this you're like okay like let me just go with something i know but like what you know isn't really what's what's the best product on the shelf yet so you got to really grab their attention and we like our consumer studies were like this is grabbing everyone's attention it's sleek sleek. You can hold it. It doesn't panel, you know, we're, we're authentic

and it pops off a shelf otherwise in like a sea of white. And you're like, okay, I'm going to at least give it a try. And now like with the, with calling out the fiber, you know, exactly what we're doing. You know, we're not, we're not like trying to sell something that is ubiquitous. This is, we're owning the fiber aspect and we're going to, and we're going to roll with it. I guess though, what I'm saying is in addition to that, is that you were able to launch and get like your minimum viable product out there. And a lot of people think they need to have like millions and millions of dollars in finance

to get something out there. Like you can always work to, to this. Yeah, absolutely. And if you're not, I feel like if you're not embarrassed by maybe your very first rendering or like what goes out, then you're, you just have so much work to do because not does the industry evolve. And, and well, this is like all what I do is like our packaging design and stuff. So to see that white, I honestly think we were one of the first to do white, but then what happens is the brands that maybe have more funding and stuff start to take notice about what's disrupting them shop. And then, then you kind of look like a copycat because you don't have the resources to really get yourself out there as fast.

But I kind of look at it as like an outfit change and to really be polarizing. But one of the things that we did on top of anybody could do if they were just starting out. Yes, we worked with big fancy firms to get research and do focus groups. But shopper intercepts are something you can definitely do very grassroots. And you can take your prototypes, working with a store manager. And we had actually done this at Bristol Farms. So really close, just one of the locations where committed to working with us. So we came in there,

we put our two rendering options up on the shelf and just would intercept people that were shopping and say, hey, for five minutes of your time, we'll give you a gift card to Bristol Farms. Can you tell us what you like about these two packaging renderings? And it was just so something easy and grassroots that really for what? A couple hundred dollars in few hours and gift cards, you can totally do that. And honestly, I think the store manager liked it.

He liked being a part and he really liked that we were a local brand. So wherever you're headquartered, if you have a great retailer partnership, that's a really easy way. And then obviously through digital. I think one of the great things that I've seen so many brands do is involving your audience and your community in the evolution of your packaging is great. Share rendering, share ideas, share colors, see what people like. I see it all the time. You know, when you had your Facebook group, people were starting different businesses and they would share, hey, so different things. I think that there's a lot of opportunities to reach out whether it's social or at a retail level you know email marketing is great too how important is influencer

marketing you said you saw it and you tried to explain it to these older men like it's single handedly the most important part of it can you guys speak on that a little bit sure I'll do that too so this and and also too I mean speaking to the audience you said there was people that might be mindful listeners that are trying to do this themselves. I'm trying to communicate in a way from a big brand, but also to the listeners too, that are maybe interested in this. So I think that's twofold. Yes. Big elite level type influencers anywhere without like, you know, 500,000 following over, they cost a lot. So maybe you don't have that funding. Start small. Like some of the micro-influencers I think have the greatest engagement and that's really has been our sweet spot and that we've really have seeded and just really got the conversation going,

driving that affiliate marketing program, getting trial and awareness of the product that way. And then doing as you start to scale and you have capital and you can afford it. And also too, you're comfortable now with your packaging because you want that asset, right? You don't want to put something out there that's maybe not the best and you know you're going to change it. But when you're really comfortable with your packaging and it's for the long haul, start to invest in those higher quality influencers and then really work on a partnership that's mutually beneficial, that not just builds awareness, but is going to drive trial. And that's really has been the most successful for us. Well, I think it's also important that

you're right in that. But I think you also have to look at it like I want to do the diligence on the influencers as well. That's very important. And I want to know that our consumer is going to listen to this influencer. What's the due diligence? Tell me all this, all the things. I mean, we kind of run a bevy of it.

You know, we look at who our consumers follow. So we'll look at, you know, some of our followers, if they're following that influencer, you know, their backgrounds, you know, is there, you know, what, you know, are they going to speak to our consumer in a way that they're going to adhere to it and listen to it and get fired up about it as well? And, you know, then just, you know, basic background checks, seeing like what type of people they are. Is it morally ethical to like partner with someone? Are you on the same kind of page there? I remember you brought up one of the most fantastic references that I believe

in so much is on one of your podcasts is like, you know, partnering with people is such a dice game, right? Like if it works out, whatever, but like also from a morality standpoint, like, you know, like you, you obviously invest in brands and you look at brands and all that. So you can do the diligence as well. And it's, you know, like who you're, who you're like, are you a good family? Are you a good husband? Are you a good father? Yeah. I don't care what, like how much money someone can make if they're not, if they're not right. If they're not the right kind of person, then like, I don't want to say what you always say at dinner. What about you say this all the time when we're alone at dinner, I'm calling you out again, um, about a man that cheats. Oh, you say this all the time when we're alone at dinner,

I'm calling you out again, about a man that cheats. Oh, well, this is a full tangent, but like, okay, let's take it from the standpoint of like, you're going to partner with someone. This actually applies to men and women. And I find somebody, let's say it's you, it's not you, but let's just say, and they're like, hey, let's partner together. And then like you and I go out and we're having drinks and you're like, Hey, I'm fucking around with my wife. And you're bragging about it. Like, I'm going to look at that and be like, okay, this guy's about to get in biz with

me. This is, you're not the good example, but you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And he's telling me how he's fucking around on the most important person supposedly in his life. What that's going to get me to do selfishly be like, well, what the hell is he going to do to me? And so I'm not like this high, holy roller, but like, I'll look at things like that and be like, you know,

what is, what does someone's personal life look like? Like, how do they stand up for themselves or the people they care about? Like, are they honorable person? And if they're not like, if they're doing that to the people they care about most supposedly, like what the hell is going to happen to me? And I think that's important to think about when you get into business with anybody. It can't just be like, Hey, is it a good business idea? And is this going to be cool? It's like, who are you going to be in business? Who you're into business with anybody, it can't just be like, Hey, is it a good business idea? And is this gonna be cool? It's like, who are you going to be in business, who you're in business with and who you work with is way more important than what, what it is. A hundred percent. And that's, that's what I really, you know, kind of value is because if you're going to be like that,

you're going to, you're going to fuck me over too. And when you do that, you're also fucking over everything that I've poured my life into, in, into a partnership where you're trying to grow it. And if it doesn't work, say it doesn't work out the way that the partnership wanted, you're just going to, you know, cut bait and leave right away. Like I want people that are passionate, that believe in the same things I do, that want to be successful and like ride or die with, with you. And like, you know, a little hiccup isn't going to, isn't going to, you know, be the end all it and all of it. I tell people too, for dear media, like when we, you know, we obviously work with brands like yourself on a, not just on, on the show level, but on the network level.

And I tell them like, Hey, love the brand, but like, I know who our audience is. It's, it's very highly female centric. Obviously we produce a lot of female shows and like a brand will come up. Like, I really don't think this is going to work. And even if they come and say, Hey, I want to throw a bunch of money at you because we need to deploy our budget. I'm the first one to go back and say, listen, if Dear Media can't deliver, that's going to make me a bad partner. It's going to make

everything go straight. I'd rather just be upfront and say, hey, this is either going to work or it's not because I'm not looking for the first initial check. What I'm looking for is long repeat business and a long-term partnership. And if we can't get there, then listen, there's plenty of other brands and agencies and people to work with. And I think we've gotten to this place in the world now where it's all about short-term transactions and short decisions. And for me, that's just not appealing anymore. I also have a tip for influencers that's really important. I have seen that the most successful influencers talk about what they really like without getting paid. Because what ends up happening is there's a

category of influencers that will only talk about what they're being paid for. So there's the ones that, oh, if they're not paying me, I'm not showing what it is. Then there's the other category that will be like, oh my God, I love WANU water. I'm obsessed with WANU water and talk about it. And then what happens is maybe you guys see that and a natural partnership starts to happen. And it's so much better to have an organic partnership about that. So I would encourage any influencers, if you really like something, start to talk about it and be genuine. Obviously, don't just pick something that you don't really like. Pick something that you like. Talk about it on Instagram story. Tag the brand. And I always

say like give, give, give, give, give, ask. Maybe do a bunch of Instagram stories for a brand and then DM that brand and say, look at all the stories I've done. I really like your brand. I think that makes for a very organic partnership. So just going back, what are some more things that you guys look for in influencers to work with? Sure.

So for me, it's OK. A, does it make sense? Are they aligned with fiber, healthy living? Are they aligned with our core demographics? So obviously we target moms first. It's just a natural fit, that busy mom, because it convenes the product. But also too, I mean, are they really trying to lead

like a healthy lifestyle? Do they value quality ingredients, all that? And then most importantly too, I think that authenticity is key. So if it's something that just aligns with their brand messaging, you can totally tell as a consumer and we're consumers first, too. If someone just does like too many one-off random like, hey, drink this tea, like it's

not authentic. So I'm always looking for brand partners that are definitely invested where it makes sense, you know, mutually. And then also, too, organic, you know, they care about the product. Like you're saying, they're going to post about it and we're going to see that, you know, we're going to be like, oh, wow, that's cool that they genuinely like it before we even talk about a formal partnership. But I do see the value in long-term partners for sure. I think any brand can attest to that, that the one-offs don't make sense. People see through it. And so to find someone genuinely engaged in your product is key.

You guys are both successful, very successful. So I know our audience would love to hear any morning routines, any nighttime routines that you have. And I'm assuming your morning routine involves water. Yeah, mine is I got to get up and move around. So I usually work out early in the morning or go outside and run or walk around outside and just kind of clear my head. First thing I do is I drink, you know, I get up, I'll crush a Wano and then I'll go work out and I'll put some, you know, pre-workout in or whatnot and some creatine and then I'll work out or I'll

go outside. It's important for me to like, cause I think better when I move around. Me being in an office is just no good. I can't think I kinda, I'm not very creative. I'm not very, you know, I gotta get almost like a narrow minded kind of thought process going. I do really well. Like when I'm on a great call or when I'm pitching someone I'm up like pacing around or I'm outside or I'm even like on a bike or I'm running or I'm like playing golf. Like, like that's where I get like all of my creativity or thought processes from is like movement and being with a nature and, and all of that stuff. And then obviously having a two and a half year old, you know, you, you tend to, my little breaks are entertaining her as well. But for the most part, my, my morning routine is, is I got to get up and move, hydrate,

and think about what I got to accomplish for the day. My daily goals, I need to end up with more wins than losses by the end of the day. I'm super into skincare. So obviously, I always wake up. I try to get up before the baby if I can. And then I'm a big SkinCeuticals fan. So I'll do my little routine. I obviously drink Wanu. As I mentioned before, I do intermittent fasting. And I have hypothyroid. So you encouraged me to get my hormones checked. So I'll take that medicine, wait a little bit. I'll drink my WANU. Moscow, also pescatarian. So I love the B vitamins in there. So just to get some natural energy depends on the day and the schedule, but either I will try to do some yoga in Texas. The Pilates studios just started opening. So just depending on COVID,

I would try to go to a class or not. But now being home too with our daughter, some days I, we live like the hills. So I'm usually doing my conference calls, like hiking the hills with my stroller. But most importantly, just again, like, yeah, trying to move and set up the day for success because I feel like I'm genuinely a better mom if I get that out of the way. It's like, okay, I had me time. Granted, sometimes my daughter tries to mimic me and is like, I'm doing, you know, I don't know, some core workout and she's jumping on my back, but it's mom life.

Just use them as a weight. Yeah, just use them as a weight. Yeah, I do squats. I hold her. She thinks it's like super fun. I'm like, go bother your dad. I just started using her as a weight. Yeah, and I'm like,

I'm going to use you as a weight if you're going to jump on me. Absolutely. What are both of your mottos? You want to go first? Yeah, I mean, I can't live my life where there's going to be ups and downs. It's like a EKG reading,

like you can only control what you can control. But, you know, there's a couple. I'm a big believer in nothing changes if nothing changes. And, you know, just never quit. And that's kind of like what my motto is. I'm hyper competitive. I love to compete more than anything. I think it's healthy to a point, not overly competitive.

But I think having that competitive drive and wanting to be better at everything kind of, you know, is enjoyable. And I love the challenge. And I love to work. I love how hard it is, to be honest. I love the challenge and love how hard it is, to be honest. I love, I love the, the challenge and, and that it isn't easy. And I think if, you know, if you're looking for something easy to do is you're never going to be successful. I think, I think it takes so much, you know, grit, blood, sweat, and tears to be a success. And I think once you realize how hard it is to

be successful, you will look in the mirror and be like, okay, I'm now successful because I have that awareness of it. Yeah. I would say stay true to who you are. Definitely be confident in what you bring, you know, to the table, whether it's professionally, personally, and ultimately, you know, just lead your life with confidence. I just try to do that every single day. I obviously was raised with really great values and I try that no matter where I've gone in life, whether it's business or meeting different people, employees, anything, just always just trying to

do the right thing and just be confident in who you are. And if it's, you know, you're not, not everyone's going to like you and that's okay. You know, just be confident in what you have to bring. You have to leave our audience with your favorite one new flavor. And I just have to say mine first. I said it earlier. It's definitely the peach. Yeah, that's it. I love peach. And I feel like this peach margarita with jalapenos, the audience is going to fucking flip over. Awesome. So the peach is also my favorite too. Being that we had first came up with the idea in New York when we lived there before San Francisco, that classic peach Snapple. If you guys love that, peaches, you're definitely going to be your favorite. But we offer five different flavors. So we also have dark cherry, kiwi,

cucumber, watermelon, raspberry, the peach, and then the blueberry lemonade. If kids love the dark cherry, it's definitely our boldest flavor. They all have the same vitamin profile. So just more of like a preference on what you want in terms of flavor. The kiwi cucumber was inspired by a spa with like, you know, when you go there and they infuse cucumbers and fresh mint and stuff. So that's definitely our lightest, but I encourage everyone to check it out and try our variety pack so they can find their favorite flavor. But mine is definitely peach as well. I'm a little bit biased because I love that classic Snapple. So say like, let's leave. Todd has to give his favorite flavor, Michael.

All right. Sorry. I was jumping in. I was getting excited to ask. Mine's blueberry lemonade. I love it. I think I'm a big lemonade fan. Always have been. Just don't want the sugar and all the other stuff in it and what lemonade has. So I'm a big believer in our blueberry lemonade. And it's kind of refreshing. Kind of reminds me of summer. And I love summer.

I love warm weather. Taylor's sucking down a blueberry lemon vodka back there. Taylor's blacked out. He's passed out back there. Let's see this. So like average to healthy. I think most of the listeners are average to healthy diets. And I would say I'm in there as well. And they start incorporating one new into their diets. Like what are some of the, like the key benefits they can start to see over a course of time by just adding one new water to,

to their diets? Well, like you said before, so fiber is so many great benefits, but it just hydration is key. So if you're like decrepit in your skin, you drink a ton of water. So that's a key one, just basic hydration. And then obviously with the gut health benefits. So if you're bloated, if you're looking to curb your appetite, whether you also like do any special dietary thing, like if you are a diabetic, having Wano is an alternative because even other brands that maybe are diabetic friendly,

they are packed with sugar alcohols. And that consumed in large amounts is not healthy either. So being sugar free, free of sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners, Wanda is definitely great for that. And then also too, as I mentioned to the B12, so that's going to provide your body with natural energy. That's great if you have hypothyroid or if you're also just following a plant-based diet. And it also kind of like our tagline, like quench your appetite. So it kind of avoids those rampant like midnight snacking, you know, cravings that you might see.

Because the fiber fills you up. Because the fiber will fill you up. It's seven grams of fiber, you guys, and zero on everything. There's no sugar. And the carbs cancel out the fiber. So there's no carbs. It's zero net carbs. And I love how it says prebiotic fiber, vitamin B1, B3, B5, B6, B12, vitamin E, vitamin K,

folic acid, and biotin. Yeah. That is insane. Yeah. And no brand. Like I said, we were first to market with the 10 essential vitamins and the 24% of your daily fiber. So there's no other fiber and nutrient infused water packed with that many soluble vitamins

that has that much fiber. And then nothing like there's no preservatives. There's no dyes. There's no chemicals. Fiber and nutrient infused water packed with that many soluble vitamins that has that much fiber. And then nothing like there's no preservatives. There's no dyes. There's no chemicals. And then we lightly sweeten with a monk fruit stevia blend. Vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free, BPA-free, kosher. You guys are the best. Where can everyone find you?

Pimp yourself out. Your Instagram handles. People are probably going to want to follow your personal too if you have one. I'm not really that exciting. I am just like a mom. But yeah, you can check me out my personal handle is at jaclyn j-a-c-q-u-e-l-i-n-e dot o'gara and that's o-g-a-r-a and wanu can be found at at wanulife w-a-n-u-l-i-f-e yep and i am at todd t-o-d-d dot o'gara o-g-a-r-A. And then I Want New Life.

And then we're, you know, sold through Amazon. Check us out on our website, Costco, all over the Northeast, throughout the Albertsons, Safeway, Banner, Shaw's, King's and Balducci's in New York, Ralph's out in L.A. Yeah, so you need to go to our store locator. Yep, in our Shopify. Here's our scroll of retailers. You guys are an incredible example of a power couple who have put your heads together and created a real massive brand. So congratulations. Thank you so much for coming

on. Come back on any time. And I feel like we need to finish these tequila, vodka, blueberry situation. Let's get it. Thanks, guys. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Oh, hold up. You don't want to miss this giveaway. Wanu water is giving away a case of the peach passion. It is so delicious in cocktails. It's delicious alone too, but you get it. All you have to do to win is follow Wanu life on Instagram. And then tell us your favorite part of this podcast on my latest Instagram at the skinny confidential, super easy, and you'll be entered. I hope you guys love this episode. This went all over the place, so much value. And with that, we will see you next

time. This episode was brought to you by one new water.