WEBVTT - From the Archives: Joy Mangano: How the Miracle Mop Inventor Keeps Reinventing 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.680 So welcome back to she Pivots. I'm Joy Magano. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.360 Welcome back to she Pivots, the podcast where we talk 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.040 with women who dare to pivot out of one career 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.680 and into something new and explore how their personal lives 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.880 impacts these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.440 Today we're re releasing one of my all time favorite 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:40.239 conversations with Joy Mongano for a very exciting reason. The 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.840 new musical Joy is now on stage in New York City. 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.040 You know Joy as the inventor of the miracle mop, 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.840 the author and the inspiration behind the movie Joy, starring 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.239 Jennifer Lawrence, and of course. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.680 A previous She Pivots guest. 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.360 As a lifelong theater lover, I couldn't pass up the 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.640 chance to help bring Joyce story to the stage. It 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.920 felt like a full circle moment to come in as 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.640 a co producer of this show. Her journey is everything 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.600 we celebrate in She Pivots, Resilience, reinvention, and the magic 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:17.600 that happens when women bet on themselves. Now, Joy, the musical, 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.880 starring the phenomenal Betsy Wolf, is out this summer. Seeing 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.720 Joy come to life on stage has only deepened my 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:30.959 appreciation for the conversation that you're about to hear. She's funny, fierce, 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.640 and deeply honest about the highs and lows of building 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.840 a life and a business as a single mother of three. So, 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.240 whether you're discovering Joy through the musical or revisiting her 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.400 incredible story, I invite you to listen with fresh ears. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.600 This episode is a powerful reminder that the most extraordinary 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:54.600 pivots often begin in the most ordinary moments. So let's 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.080 jump back into Joy's story. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.680 So, my name is Joy Mangano, and I am first 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.360 and foremost a mom and an inventor. 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.560 I think I'm going to ask you this question now 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.800 at the beginning of the podcast and actually again at 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.079 the end. I'm interested to hear how it may change 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.120 once we go through many various steps of your career 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:18.639 in life. But the premise of this show is that 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.320 I'm trying to change culture, and particularly the culture around 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.000 the way we think about our careers and even within 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.520 that the interplay of how our personal decisions impact our 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.680 professional lives. And I think that's happened to you over 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.239 the course of your career, Like I feel like there's 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.040 so many pieces that I could point to, how do 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:44.040 you think your personal decisions have impacted your professional choices? 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:50.960 Well, my personal decisions guided everything in my career. They 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:56.400 were so intertwined. I always said, my life, my family life, 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.120 my personal life and principles are the same as they 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.760 are in business. It's not you know how You'll hear 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.840 people often say, oh, it's just business, don't worry about it. 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:12.880 So for me, you know, my growing up being a 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.919 caretaker so to speak, with my family going through the 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:20.560 various stages. You know, I grew up in an Italian family, 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.320 and of course you you know, they say, you grow up, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.799 you get married, you have children, and you cook, and 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:31.640 so you know, I started to follow that pattern rite 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:37.240 and things in that way kind of didn't go exactly 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.280 as it was supposed to. So I had to make 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:46.360 very hard personal choices and actually find the courage in 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.520 me to discover who I was and what I actually did. 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.440 Going back to not knowing, you know, I didn't start 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.720 my career, so to speak, in my mind until I 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:57.560 was in my thirties. 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:00.520 When you were young, did you think you would have 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.680 a career at all? How did you envision yourself as 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:05.200 being a grown up? 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:09.280 Right So when I was young, I always I loved animals. 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.080 I always thought I wanted to be a veterinarian, and 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:16.160 I was very, very studious person. So I graduated high 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:19.400 school a year early and I went to work in 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:25.040 an animal hospital and the doctor was creating a healthy 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:30.000 pet food before everybody was focused on that, and designing 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:36.000 the packaging and creating the recipe for that was fascinating 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:40.440 to me. So I ended up realizing the business aspects, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:45.240 the creation aspects in my brain took over everything else, 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.479 and that started me in the direction of product and 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.760 I actually invented my first product. 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:51.000 Then. 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.320 It was a fluorescent flea collar because at the time, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.480 the most common thing that happened in an animal hospital 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:03.120 where dogs or cats hit cars, and there was there 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.040 was no such thing at the time. So I said, 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.520 what does every animal? What does every owner put on 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.920 their animals? And it was a flea collar. So I said, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.240 if I can get one, that's make one that's reflective. Now, 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.719 remember you have to reel back how many years it 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:18.479 didn't exist. So I got a lot of veterinarians together 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.320 and I started it, but I never followed through with it, 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.600 and a year later, a major, major company came out 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.240 with the first ever fluorescent flea collar. So I said, 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.800 next item, I'm going to follow through with. So I 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:37.839 was doing that my entire childhood. I was transforming things 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.720 into other products because I see the world through product. 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.040 That's how I view the world. And so when we 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.080 went to build a treehouse in the back, you know, 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:49.480 my brother was like, you know, help me build a treehouse. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.760 And I built a seven story treehouse with slides and 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.760 this and that. And even before I even knew what 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.120 organic gardening was, I ripped up my parents back lawn 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:03.320 and was planted vegetables and things. I always tried to 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.440 create a better, better, a better mouse trap, so to speak. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.279 It was just something I did naturally, and I never 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:14.200 really thought about it. It just happened organically. I would 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.720 see something and I'd say, I'm going to do this 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.960 in a bigger, better way so that it helps the 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.440 person or helps people in a better way. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.240 Still, Joy did what was typical at the time. She 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.240 got married straight out of college and had three children. 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.520 And as someone who had three kids in four years, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:36.680 I know how overwhelming that can be. 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.960 It shifted everything I did, and much like you, I 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.159 just you know, when I decide things, I decide to 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.400 do them. So I had three children in three and 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.200 a half years, and it obviously was the life change. 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:56.400 That is, it's what I live for today. But it really, 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.920 you know, that's hard and it's you know, as everybody knows, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:01.840 it's a parent. If you put your heart and soul 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.599 into it, it's all consuming. So I was at the 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:10.320 time the miracle mop was in my brain. So I 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.520 would just be in my bedroom at night with them 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.520 and I'd be sketching and I'd be trying and I 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.360 and I kind of was almost like in a holding pattern, 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.000 knowing I was headed in a direction, you know, at 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.680 the time. So yes, that you know, that was a 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.760 time where I took a little bit of a time out. 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.000 I still, you know, because I didn't have a lot 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:32.960 of money or anything. I still was working doing things 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.200 here and there. I was making grapevine reafs and selling 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.760 them where I could at you know, fairs and flea markets. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.560 I always I was always working in some form or fashion. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.280 You know, It's just something I did. But it was 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.840 inclusive now of children. You know, I was pretty much 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.280 in a very short period of time doing it on 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.280 my own. But what I find more than anything having 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.000 had the children was that I learned this capacity of 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:03.120 love that I never had even knew I had, And 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.160 it just for me opened up a different kind of world. 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:11.520 It wasn't you know it was it was about me 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.000 and what I could do to make them have a happy, 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:15.960 healthy life. 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.160 Eventually, all her scheming and sketching led her to her 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.880 breakthrough idea, the Miracle Mop. By this point, Joy was divorced, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.680 a single mom, working tirelessly to make ends meet while 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:29.800 raising her kids. 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:31.200 When we come. 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.600 Back, Joy talks about what it took to get the 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:42.240 Miracle Mop off the ground. Well, you put so much 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.080 at stake to bring the Miracle Mop to the market 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.679 and mortgaging your house, going into debt. You know, you 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:50.439 put so much in there. But you had had a 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.920 number of ideas. What made you so sure that this 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:55.320 was the product that you should go for? 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:55.760 Broken? 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.480 Well, because I was broke. No, that's what you were true. 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.560 It was in my instincts. And I say, you have 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:07.400 to follow your instincts right, because you know it's some 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.520 people think they have a great product, but you know 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.160 their instincts are wrong. It's it's not right. But I 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:17.360 hate to say that, but nonetheless I knew that this 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.240 was a great product. It was a different mop. There 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:25.200 was a whole story behind it, And at this point 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:27.720 in my life, I said, you're either you know, you 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.000 don't know you're brave until you have to be brave, right, 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.200 So you know, I had really what were my choices, 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.280 and I said, I'm going to go for this, and 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.319 I am going to go for this. So it was 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.120 I put everything on the line. But it wasn't even 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:47.240 that simple. It was one obstacle after another. It was 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:52.280 it just from discovering something about the patent to discovering 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:54.400 that the people who I ended up you know, my 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.280 father actually ended up having make it were not reputable. 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.160 There was just every rediscovery along the way. And I think, 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.520 you know, that's why I say to somebody, just don't stop, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:10.200 because my if I stopped one hundred percent, I would 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.600 have failed. But if I tried to keep going and 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:17.360 figure out another way to get there, my odds were 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:18.840 still better than zero. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.600 She had risked it all and it was paying off. Soon. 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.320 She had hit her goal of selling to Kmart and 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.359 had a huge order in from QBC. 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.920 She was getting her legs under her or so she thought. 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.240 If you've seen the movie, you'll know that. 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.560 Joy soon realized that her manufacturer was taking steps to 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.600 steal the product, idea and freeze her out, all because 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.640 she didn't have proper guidance on her patent. 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.040 In fact, she had no guidance at all, just her father. 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.240 So my father was a kind of father like, listen, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.200 we'll do a deal. I'll take care of it. Don't 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.520 worry about it. So that's a lesson you learn right 0:10:55.559 --> 0:11:00.800 away after you know anyway, find out that there was 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.800 a gentleman we were paying royalties to for the patent 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.800 to make the mop, the mop that I thought I designed. 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:13.760 He said, somebody already designed it, which okay, so then 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:17.959 they started to manufacture it. He did a deal. I 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.960 discovery one night after, to make a long story short, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.600 that the patent we were paying royalties to was not 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.240 the mop I created at all. It was the mop 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:31.199 we were making, but it was my design, was an 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:37.440 original design. My father mistaken lee a very long story, 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:39.600 said oh, there's already a patent. We'll just pay him 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:43.480 a royalty. We'll make the mop. So this gentleman in 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.480 Texas knew it was not the mop we were making. 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.400 That he was getting a royalty on a patent that 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.880 was very different. So, to make a very long story short, 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:56.240 Eye and the people in California, what had happened is 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.680 I had been on QVC, it had been successful, and 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:04.199 they ordered sixty thousand mops. So the manufacturers in California said, oh, 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:05.720 we'll make the mops for you, but we're going to 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:07.400 raise the price, which would have meant we were going 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.280 to lose money. So my father said, and his girlfriend 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:13.920 at the time said, that's it. We're at a business. 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.960 We can't do this. And I said, Okay, I am 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.679 going to figure this out, and if I do, I'm 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.800 going to run this company, and so on and so forth. 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:29.840 So I flew to Texas. I literally showed him the 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.680 patent and what he had been getting royalties too, and 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.160 in a very serious way, I told him that that 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:42.120 was unlawful and that he had to sign a letter 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.760 to say that he would not get the royalties, and 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.960 that I could go directly to deal with the manufacturers. 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.640 So when I went to California, he did. When I 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.559 went to California, and I'm minimizing this whole thing because 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:59.160 it was really very like I could have been you know, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.640 it was just amazing how I was shaking when I 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:03.719 came out of the hotel room that I met him in. 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:08.199 When I went out to California claim the mop molds 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.640 because you have to make the mops from a mold, 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.160 I went there, landed there and they said, oh no, sorry, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.000 we don't have the molds. We're not giving you the molds. 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:22.400 We own them. And I said no, no, no, you don't, Mike, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.199 cause my father never did contracts with anybody. He never 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.600 signed contracts. So I said, no, here is the money 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.720 that's owed for the parts. I'm going to pay you. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:35.160 Those are my molds. And I'll never forget. This guy 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.760 was not a good guy. And I was sitting there 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:40.840 and he had a can of Pepsi on his desk 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.160 and he said, little girl, go away. He literally said, 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.000 little girl go away. You just don't. We're going to 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.679 do this and you're out of it now. I'll never forget. 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.280 I took the can of pepsi and I slammed it 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.840 on the desk and the Pepsi just flew all over him. 0:13:58.360 --> 0:13:59.920 And I said, you're going to see me in court 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.720 That night. I got the lawyer because I had brought 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:08.280 my lawyer with me. We met with a California lawyer 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.840 and it was an entire night of going through everything. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.520 They said, you can't go to court with this. No 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.880 judge will ever give you because I needed the mop 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.040 mold back to make the mops to make the order. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.480 And I said, no, we're going to go to court 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.400 because the judge is going to know with all this 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:27.840 information that I have, he's going to know who's in 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.280 the right and who are the bad guys. So they 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.240 were like, okay, we'll go to court, but there's they 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:36.200 never will hand these molds over to you. You're in California, 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.280 give them to you to take back to New York. 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.960 It's going to take years to make a long story longer. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.040 We went into court the next day, you know, and 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:49.040 the lawyer said to me, don't say a word, just 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.600 sit there right. So they walk in unbeknownst to me. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.760 I think they had been in front of this judge before. 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:59.400 So everything you know. They're saying, we have manufactured them, 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.200 we have no contract that she owns them. And I did. 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:04.640 I said, judge, here is the money that we know 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.960 she owes me money. I said, here's the money, here's 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.600 the you know the evidence that we paid for the mold, 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.600 so therefore we should own them, even though we don't 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.720 have a contract. And everything was done, and I hadn't 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.160 talked yet that they were showing all this information. And 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.040 the judge said, is there anything else? I said yes, 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:23.360 and I got up, and the lawyers were like, oh 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:24.920 my god, Oh my god, what's she going to say? 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.720 And I said, you know, this is my whole livelihood. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.600 And I talked earnestly to the judge. He sat back. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.520 I sat down, and he said, I'll never forget. He 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:41.000 slammed down the gavel and he looked at them and 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.440 he said, tomorrow at noon, I'm going to have the 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.320 sheriffs at your manufacturing plan and Joy will be there 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.880 as well. Joy. You're going to you have a truck 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:52.840 to take the molds. I'm like, yes, of course, I 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.640 had no truck and I had so and he said, 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.320 and if you don't hand over the molds to Joy, 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.520 I'm going to have the sheriff's arrest you. So the 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.680 lawyer at the time had never it's called a certain 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.240 kind of injunction. He had never seen it happen, and 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.800 he's never seen it happen. After that and he wrote 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:18.200 serious law briefs about this. It was the most incredible thing. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.240 And so the next day there was a truck there. 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.760 The molds were on the truck. They were headed back 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.840 to New York. I flew back to New York and 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:34.040 had to create a fine molders to mold them, create 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:38.320 a business to make the mops. And then the last 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.480 day that the sixty thousand mops had to be on 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.640 their way to QBC, sixty thousand mops were on their 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:45.440 way to QBC. 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:48.800 You were so young when you started. Do you remember 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.360 what was going through your mind when you not just 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.640 walked into QBC and said take my product, but then 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.800 you went back and said it has to be me. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.960 So at the time, as we know, you know, the 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.960 miracle mop was something that I did bring to fruition 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.200 and I thought the perfect place for that because I 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:11.960 used to go to fairs and flea markets and demonstrate 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:15.480 it and people loved it. Everybody who watched the demonstration 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:19.120 would buy it. So for me going to QVC being 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.439 able to replicate that, but on TV, I said, this 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.600 has got to work. And of course, at the time, 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.440 so it's interesting, you know, I was the only female 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.000 at a table with men. At the time, this was 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.399 an industry that loved celebrity, so there was you know, 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:42.480 I was like nobody again, you know. So they put 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.399 the miracle mop on the first time with one of 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.600 the hosts because they said, you know, you don't go 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.159 on to you. You know you're not who are you? 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.920 And it failed and I was I that was it. 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.720 I had everything to lose. So I said, you have 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.639 to put me on with that miracle mop and it 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:03.520 will work. So they did. You know, there was an 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:07.320 executive there who I could see. He saw the determination. 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.240 He said, okay, we're going to give her a shot. 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:14.919 I'm forever grateful for that. And it was unbelievably successful, 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:18.000 so successful at the time, it was probably out of 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.639 all the thousands and thousands of products they had. It 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.399 became their single biggest success. Not only did we sell 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.800 twenty thirty forty fifty sixty thousand in a day. At 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:33.800 a time, they created a commercial on TV and at 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:37.480 the time, if you remember direct Response, it's very interesting. 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:43.320 It was always a commercial with a male voice talking 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:47.240 through the commercial. Always. It was never any different. So 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.439 this same executive, I was like his thorn in his 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:52.560 side he said, we're going to make a commercial. It's 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.080 so successful. We're going to make a short form commercial, 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.280 two minute commercial with the miracle Mop, and we're going 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.439 to have a gentleman talking over it. And I said, no, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.000 it's going to fail. I said, I want to do 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.360 it this way with me demonstrating it with another this 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.800 other female host. And he said, okay, well we'll let 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.359 you do that, but we're only going to put a 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.320 budget of very little into it, but we're going to 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:16.920 film it the other way with a voiceover, and we're 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.320 going to test both. So they did, and the one 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:25.639 with myself and Jane demonstrating the mop, you know, naturally 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:30.199 organically right, was like through the roof compared to the 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.080 other one, and it became the number one direct response 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.520 TV product in its time at the time and first 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.640 time ever it was in the forum where you were 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.320 watching two women talk about a product. So it was 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:47.400 pretty cool. Hi, I'm Joymangano, and I invented the Miracle Mop. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:51.440 It's the original cotton self ringing mop, therefore the most absorbent. 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:53.920 It will clean that mess again and again and again. 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.679 And I'm daingered All Tracy host on QVC where we 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.120 have sold over three hundred thousand mops. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.280 To people all across the just like you. 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:03.640 In fact, let's hear from some of them. I love 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.840 your mop. It's been a lifesaver. This moth is wonderful. 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.760 I would tell anybody to buy it. I am Joymangano, 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.040 and I invented the Miracle Mop. It's the original content 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.960 self bringing mop. You've seen it, seen even the toughest 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:20.240 nets again and again and again. Hundreds of thousands of 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.040 satisfied customers have ordered their Miracle Mop and love it. 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:27.920 And now the Miracle Mop has earned the Good Housekeeping seal. 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:29.159 It's quite easy. 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.240 I mean it really changed the industry, Like it changed 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:35.440 the way that we thought about women marketing, women being 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:40.040 the face of something but also giving value, like business 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.400 value to a product that really only in this case 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:46.359 it was women because they were doing the majority of 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:51.399 the housework, could understand like considered a real serious business category. 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.200 Did you have those kinds of conversations at the network, Yes, 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:56.639 very much so. 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.600 So then at the time became this big aware that 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:05.560 you know, the story telling, the authenticity behind a product 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:11.560 is more important than just somebody talking about it or 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:16.000 a celebrity endorsing it. It's all about the authenticity. And 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.399 it's a funny thing that for now twenty five years 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:25.000 probably I do. I've always done the most business out 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.840 of any I just it's something that I do, right. 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.560 I can't sing or dance, but this I do. And 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:33.000 I've been creating product, you know, And it's an interesting 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.680 thing because you know when you create something new. Example, 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:41.120 for the first time, I launched the first non stick 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:45.879 ceramic cookware in the world before anybody was taught. Now 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:48.679 the whole industry is nonstick ceramic cookwaar. But I was 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:53.720 like possessed because I knew that the traditional nonstick was 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:58.160 not healthy when it got to high temperatures. And I 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.479 even with a chef. I got chef because they were like, 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:04.280 you know, you know you have to cook and everything. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:06.840 I'm like, fine, I'll get a chef and so we 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.960 for two years. I fought the battle to launch this 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:15.680 product because it's a healthier alternative to the traditional nonstick. 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:19.119 And I mean batteries of lawyers saying we're going to 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.840 get sued because there was only one major company that 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.199 made the nonstick in cookwear. And you can't say this, 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:27.240 and you can't say that, and they said they're not 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:29.440 going to understand it. The consumer isn't going to care. 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:31.240 And I said, oh no, they're really going to care, 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.040 because remember, you have to have a heart for that 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:38.760 consumer and know how smart they are. And we launched 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:44.760 it and the phones literally blew up. I mean literally, 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:49.040 the whole system went down. People were so excited about this, 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:53.840 and obviously we changed an industry, totally changed in industry. 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:56.520 So it was It's been an amazing path. 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:01.199 So you've told the story of your life yourself in 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:05.080 your own book and then became a huge blockbuster movie, 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:09.960