Speaker 1: Hi guys, and welcome back to what is the season
Speaker 1: three finale of the Let's Be Real Podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Sammy Jay, and welcome. We are ending the season on
Speaker 1: a very, very high note with the incredibly talented entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: businesswoman actress Jessica Alba. We talked about a lot in
Speaker 1: this episode, and I usually give you a quick downlow
Speaker 1: on well what's about to happen, but I really just
Speaker 1: want to let this episode speak for itself. I just
Speaker 1: want to thank Jessica for coming on my podcast and
Speaker 1: for all of you for listening every week or this
Speaker 1: is your first week listening. I have enjoyed this journey
Speaker 1: so much, and I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Jessica,
Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled and honored here on my podcast. Thank
Speaker 1: you for having me. This is We're exciting. I have
Speaker 1: looked up to you for such a long time, specifically
Speaker 1: as a businesswoman, because something that I've tried to do
Speaker 1: or learn about is just I love creating things. I
Speaker 1: love the process of developing something and then seeing it
Speaker 1: come to fruition and the process of that. And that's
Speaker 1: what you do now, like you're the products. You're producing.
Speaker 1: They're not only doing that, but they have an incredible
Speaker 1: mission behind it. When you first started, honest um, what
Speaker 1: was the process like of developing products? Because that's a
Speaker 1: completely separate world than acting. Um, I think the process
Speaker 1: was more satisfying actually, because I actually got to have
Speaker 1: an idea and watch or create essentially create the process
Speaker 1: to make it happen. Because I didn't I've never seen
Speaker 1: that before. I didn't know anyone who'd ever done that before.
Speaker 1: And um, I think it took three years before I
Speaker 1: even got a solid business partner to join me. So
Speaker 1: it was me putting it down on like a vision
Speaker 1: board and then turning my vision board into like like
Speaker 1: a visual book. Um. And so my vision board became
Speaker 1: like a visual book, and then I categorized this book
Speaker 1: with a lot of photos, a lot of values, and
Speaker 1: then I had to So it's like taking something from
Speaker 1: your brain and this idea, and then how do you
Speaker 1: create something tangible so that when you sit down with
Speaker 1: someone for an hour they understand what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: And I got a lot of people looking at me
Speaker 1: pretty confused about what I was talking about because I
Speaker 1: think for them, they were like, why is this idea
Speaker 1: so big, and I think my husband in particular, it's
Speaker 1: not that he didn't think I was capable of it.
Speaker 1: He was like, can you walk before you run? Um?
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, I want to have like
Speaker 1: a global, you know, business that stands for these values,
Speaker 1: and I want to create safe and healthy products and
Speaker 1: frankly a lifestyle around honesty and being honest and authentic
Speaker 1: not perfect. Um. I felt like anything that was natural
Speaker 1: ish or better for you was for like a certain
Speaker 1: type of person that lived off the grid and did
Speaker 1: yoga all the time, which more power to you, but
Speaker 1: that wasn't me, um or it was for a group
Speaker 1: of people that, you know, just lived in a certain
Speaker 1: tax bracket. And while I had at that point made
Speaker 1: money in a different way, I grew up with family.
Speaker 1: You know, my family was living paycheck to paycheck all
Speaker 1: my life growing up, and so I was just like,
Speaker 1: this shouldn't just be for wealthy people. This should be
Speaker 1: for everyone. Everyone should be able to live a healthy life.
Speaker 1: Everyone needs tips and tricks on how to like hack
Speaker 1: their way through parenthood or had to change the dip
Speaker 1: for really quickly, but then also how to do a
Speaker 1: five minute face if you need to just get out
Speaker 1: the door or you know, and throw an amazing dinner party.
Speaker 1: And so I was like, there has to be a
Speaker 1: and that kind of stands for these things, but could
Speaker 1: also give you sort of tips and tricks along the way.
Speaker 1: I think it's so crazy that you talk about is
Speaker 1: just a clean, honest brand. Is should be what all
Speaker 1: brands are, you know what I mean? But unfortunately they're not.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of secret chemical ingredients. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of misinformation on packaging that make the consumer to believe
Speaker 1: something that isn't necessarily true. What was the process and
Speaker 1: uncovering that was there? Like certain products you're trying, You're like,
Speaker 1: this feels a lot worse on my skin than it should. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so how did I test products? Well? I would oftentimes
Speaker 1: the big one was seeing if it was if it
Speaker 1: had perfume or fragrance. So something and an ingredient list
Speaker 1: has perfume or fragrance, Immediately it was like nope. And
Speaker 1: what's confusing is a lot of times there would be
Speaker 1: pictures of nature. It would look like it was something
Speaker 1: that you would assume was more natural leaning um, but
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, they still used perfume or fray grunts.
Speaker 1: The other big one for me was looking at sort
Speaker 1: of the ingredient list and then comparing it to a
Speaker 1: conventional and I would see, oh, just because it has
Speaker 1: a it's a brown packaging, it's four times more expensive,
Speaker 1: and the ingredient list looks pretty much the same as
Speaker 1: the conventional. What's going on? Just yea, and so you're
Speaker 1: often paying so much more money for alternative packaging, but
Speaker 1: the juice inside was different. And UM, what I learned
Speaker 1: is that the only way we could really differentiate and
Speaker 1: create products that stand for our values and are we
Speaker 1: call it our no list of chemicals we won't use
Speaker 1: is by having our own labs in house, having not
Speaker 1: just a team of chemists, but then also a regulatory
Speaker 1: team UM and a supply chain operations team that can
Speaker 1: source raw materials that can help create these formulas and
Speaker 1: find third party manufacturers to make it, but then also
Speaker 1: be there when the manufacturers are making it, showing their
Speaker 1: team how to batch something and be there kind of
Speaker 1: for the It's it's a it's a long and drawn
Speaker 1: out process, but it's the only real way to create
Speaker 1: the types of products that have the integrity that we
Speaker 1: want behind our brand, but then also effective. It really works,
Speaker 1: and it's not using a ton of these chemicals that
Speaker 1: we just are choosing not to use in our products.
Speaker 1: So it was it was a hard lesson to learn
Speaker 1: because it's expensive to invest in that much of R
Speaker 1: and D supply chain operations. And it's also again, I
Speaker 1: never knew how to do this stuff. Like you know,
Speaker 1: in movies, most movies or TV shows that you see,
Speaker 1: they've been in the works for ten years before you
Speaker 1: ever see them, you know. And that's something that a
Speaker 1: lot of people don't talk about in Hollywood, and probably
Speaker 1: most people don't even know. So I, you know, I
Speaker 1: didn't have time to wait around for ten years for
Speaker 1: someone to like get with the program. I love that,
Speaker 1: and especially like you can't wait on other people to
Speaker 1: do something. That's the biggest lesson I've learned. The best
Speaker 1: way to do is by starting and by going and
Speaker 1: trying and trying and it and failing. It's as long
Speaker 1: as you learn from it, that's the best lesson you
Speaker 1: can have a lot of the time. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: think that's like a great way to think about, especially
Speaker 1: because you're so young in life, not necessarily looking at
Speaker 1: quote unquote of life experiences as a failure, but you
Speaker 1: should like it really is the lesson. Um, you embrace it.
Speaker 1: You only learn by trying, right, Um, you only get
Speaker 1: better by it not working, and you only know how
Speaker 1: to iterate and refine it literally because it didn't work
Speaker 1: the first time. Uh, and that is how you create
Speaker 1: incredible things. If we all had an idea and things
Speaker 1: just sort of fell into place as we thought it would,
Speaker 1: what would be the point of life? That would be?
Speaker 1: Everyone could do it? Yeah, if it was easy, and
Speaker 1: if you could think of it and it just happened,
Speaker 1: you know, by snapping your fingers, then what what is that?
Speaker 1: It wouldn't even be. I don't think as as gratifying, um,
Speaker 1: anything in life that you really love and appreciate, Um,
Speaker 1: you spent time on it, You've iterated it, you've refined it,
Speaker 1: You've learned what didn't work in order to know what
Speaker 1: does work. And so I think I think through life
Speaker 1: if you maybe don't think of the word a failure,
Speaker 1: but think more of like, this is me trying it
Speaker 1: so that I can be better at it the next time.
Speaker 1: Something that I've been trying to do is look at
Speaker 1: everything as more of a experience and a journey, not
Speaker 1: what the final outcome is. But the process of getting there,
Speaker 1: because that's where you learned so much, is what I'm realizing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great one. I didn't learn that until I
Speaker 1: was thirty. What made you learn that? I think just
Speaker 1: all of the outcomes were so disappointing, and Hollywood especially,
Speaker 1: I was like, this is so out of my control.
Speaker 1: Why you know, you would have a big weather issue,
Speaker 1: and you know, if of the country is frozen, guess
Speaker 1: who's not going to the movie theater that opening weekend?
Speaker 1: But you're slotted for that certain opening weekend. You just
Speaker 1: spent you know, I think collectively, like I said, ten
Speaker 1: years someone had spent on this project. You've spent at
Speaker 1: least two years of your life and you think it's
Speaker 1: going to turn out some way, and then the country's
Speaker 1: frozen over and no one can leave their house. Does
Speaker 1: that mean it's a failure? No? Does that mean can
Speaker 1: they take away from your experience creating it and wanting
Speaker 1: it to be good? No? But I always looked at
Speaker 1: that final sort of outcome as that's what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to retrain my brain heart. That's a hard lesson it,
Speaker 1: but in a way, it sort of releases you from
Speaker 1: what's out of your control, and it allows you to
Speaker 1: sort of really be present in the moment and make
Speaker 1: the most with what you got. Absolutely, and I think
Speaker 1: something that I'm someone that likes to have control, I overthink,
Speaker 1: I like to I'm a perfectionist and something that I've
Speaker 1: very quickly learned is that is not the business to be.
Speaker 1: And like I, things happen and that's a part of life,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to embrace that. Um And I think
Speaker 1: something that I'm also learning currently in dealing with is
Speaker 1: being burnt out. And I'm so curious how you run
Speaker 1: this incredible company, you act you're running a family at
Speaker 1: the same time. How do you stay inspired and motivated
Speaker 1: but not let the nose get you down. I would
Speaker 1: say that being a perfectionist and wanting everything to be
Speaker 1: just so is for me another lesson that I had
Speaker 1: to learn. And the more I paid attention to every
Speaker 1: little tiny detail, the in a weird way, the less
Speaker 1: happy I was in the end. Because you're so caught
Speaker 1: up on those details, you're always going to be disappointed. Um,
Speaker 1: nothing will ever live up to being one hundred all
Speaker 1: the time. It's just not possible. And also you're not
Speaker 1: focused on the right stuff, and so burnout for me
Speaker 1: comes when I'm focused on all of the small details
Speaker 1: and I'm not living in the moment of what really matters.
Speaker 1: It is a great way to distract yourself from probably
Speaker 1: what you're meant to deal with. I think it's it's
Speaker 1: a great way to um feel like you're doing something
Speaker 1: by busying yourself. But ultimately, what I have found in
Speaker 1: my life is I'm probably running away from the thing
Speaker 1: I actually should be focused on, which is like, where's
Speaker 1: my heart? What am I really struggling with? Where am
Speaker 1: I emotionally? Is this filling me up? We only have today,
Speaker 1: we don't really have tomorrow. There's nothing guaranteed. So for
Speaker 1: me preventing burnout um or when I start to feel
Speaker 1: burnt out, it's usually because I'm not focused on the
Speaker 1: right stuff. Interesting, I haven't heard that perspective. I like that, though,
Speaker 1: What do you do to stay in the moment? Because
Speaker 1: I find being present can be difficult. Sometimes it is
Speaker 1: difficult and I'm and I my mind wanders man um
Speaker 1: and so I have to make a concerted effort to
Speaker 1: surround myself with reminders to be present. I think weirdly,
Speaker 1: my children are all right. My family um naturally forced
Speaker 1: me to be present because they don't give a flying
Speaker 1: fuck about tomorrow, about five minutes from now, none of it.
Speaker 1: They just care about what's happening right now in this moment.
Speaker 1: And they're so visceral in the way that they operate.
Speaker 1: You know, they all have all of their emotions and
Speaker 1: there what's going on in their head and what they
Speaker 1: think it should be, and they all have their own
Speaker 1: individual experiences and they're all three very different um and
Speaker 1: at different stages in their life experiences. So being around
Speaker 1: them forces me to be present. And and it's not
Speaker 1: fair because if you don't have kids, how could you
Speaker 1: ever have a takeaway? Um I would say. Another thing
Speaker 1: is I found that I nat really compartmentalized things in
Speaker 1: order to be productive as a young person, because that's
Speaker 1: what I do too. I got very distracted and my
Speaker 1: mind wanders. And so if you can figure out how
Speaker 1: to sort of compartmentalize your time in a way where
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, this is going to be the time
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna focus on studying, and this is going
Speaker 1: to be the time that I'm gonna focus on talking
Speaker 1: to my family or my I'm gonna do a FaceTime.
Speaker 1: And I find that even facetimes force you to be
Speaker 1: more present in your communication with your loved ones versus
Speaker 1: you can be on the computer and on the phone
Speaker 1: and whatever. If you do have that face time, you know,
Speaker 1: force yourself not to be on another device and force
Speaker 1: yourself to be present. So I think that's a big one.
Speaker 1: Um and compartmentalizing. So it's like, this is my study time,
Speaker 1: this is my friend time. And when you are around
Speaker 1: other people, try not to be on your phone, try
Speaker 1: not to be on a tablet, try not to be
Speaker 1: on your computer, and really then dedicate your work time
Speaker 1: to work. And if it's like, gosh, these four hours
Speaker 1: are going to be my study time, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to break them up because I get exhausted when it's
Speaker 1: a four hour block, it's gonna get myself an hour
Speaker 1: in the morning, maybe an hour in the early afternoon,
Speaker 1: an hour in the early evening, and one late at
Speaker 1: night because I'm a night All great, but then you
Speaker 1: know you have four hours that are just dedicated to
Speaker 1: that work, so you can be effective all the other time, though,
Speaker 1: should be filling you up spiritually, intellectually, emotionally. Time management
Speaker 1: is so important and yeah, it's tough though it is,
Speaker 1: but if you can get time management down, I feel
Speaker 1: like that is such a tool to have in your
Speaker 1: toolbox for the rest of your life, work or in family. Um,
Speaker 1: you just filmed a movie and I know your work
Speaker 1: schedule was very hectic around that. It's very ambitious. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't tell people this is you. Yeah, tell
Speaker 1: people the situation that you put yourself there. That was dumb. Um.
Speaker 1: So we've been developed. I've been developing this movie for
Speaker 1: about four years and it was finally going to happen,
Speaker 1: and it just happened to happen like right after I
Speaker 1: took the company public, and so I just felt like
Speaker 1: there was no way I could completely neglect honest and
Speaker 1: I know face time matters, especially right now, right after
Speaker 1: you take the company public and people are feeling fragile
Speaker 1: about is a company going to be need different and
Speaker 1: are we going to operate differently? And you know you
Speaker 1: need to implement new standards and practices, but people need that.
Speaker 1: And after COVID there's there's a sensitivity and a vulnerability absolutely,
Speaker 1: and so especially with my leadership team, I just felt
Speaker 1: like it was important for me to show up for
Speaker 1: them and be there. Um. And then I also shoot
Speaker 1: a ton of content um from a creative standpoint, and
Speaker 1: I'm the chief creative officer, so I have a lot
Speaker 1: um of say in that content and how it gets
Speaker 1: sort of yeah, you're not just a faith of it,
Speaker 1: like what people don't realize. You run the business, which
Speaker 1: I help. You know, I'm definitely a strategic arm and
Speaker 1: how we communicate with consumers and go to market and
Speaker 1: how we show up on packaging on our website all
Speaker 1: of that, so yes, I am you know, part of that.
Speaker 1: And then as well as like formulas and ideation around
Speaker 1: new categories and all the things. So I just felt
Speaker 1: like I needed to be here. But then we were
Speaker 1: shooting in Santa Fe, which is a beautiful place, but
Speaker 1: you know, those hours are long. I'm doing an action
Speaker 1: movie and certaining energy and being on set. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of hurry up and wait. It's there's no waiting,
Speaker 1: there was no there was no way, only hurry up.
Speaker 1: I'm in every scene and there's a ton of action,
Speaker 1: so I had to learn choreography for these action sequences
Speaker 1: and a lot of it is me um, you know,
Speaker 1: mourning my only family member that that has passed. So
Speaker 1: it's like days after my only family living family member
Speaker 1: that like raised me as my grandfather in the movie
Speaker 1: and he's uh, he dies and so I'm mourning him,
Speaker 1: and then I'm uncovering how he was, how he died,
Speaker 1: and then killing a lot of people. They need to
Speaker 1: die in the process, and so or defending usually defending
Speaker 1: myself itself defends sometimes they needed to die. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: this to me was like an important movie. The directors
Speaker 1: a woman, the DP as a woman, that the producers,
Speaker 1: the key producers on set, we're women, and we were
Speaker 1: doing like a very intense action movie with a lot
Speaker 1: of feminine energy, and it was cool. So I was
Speaker 1: like passionate about doing it. But then and and it's
Speaker 1: a modern day Western, which I've always wanted to do,
Speaker 1: and instead of guns, I use knives, and so just
Speaker 1: like flipped a lot of those uh the genre, flipped
Speaker 1: a lot of the stereotypes around. And I just so
Speaker 1: I did that five days a week, and the hours
Speaker 1: were brutal. I'm in every scene. It's very physical and
Speaker 1: emotionally exhausting. And then I would get off at work
Speaker 1: at six am, get on a plane at six thirty
Speaker 1: and I'd fly home. I'd land here like seven thirty
Speaker 1: because it's an hour time difference, and sleep and seem
Speaker 1: usually trying to see my kids for five minutes as
Speaker 1: they were running out the door to go to school,
Speaker 1: kiss them, jump into bed, and then I'd get into
Speaker 1: hair and makeup at one to do UM shooting until
Speaker 1: like seven pm, sometimes eight pm, try and get home
Speaker 1: for dinner, try and connect with the kids, talk to
Speaker 1: them about their day, their homework. Again, they do not
Speaker 1: care about me being gone, me filming, none of it.
Speaker 1: They are like they want to go in you know,
Speaker 1: and I've been gone for the week, so they want
Speaker 1: to catch me up on all the tea of their
Speaker 1: life and school. If school is back in person, then
Speaker 1: there's actual so they're telling me all the drama. But
Speaker 1: then also like I have this thing coming up in
Speaker 1: this exam or you know where they're they're they're academically.
Speaker 1: They want to show me um. And then the next
Speaker 1: day nine am to five thirties, my all day meeting
Speaker 1: with my leadership at Honest, so I had to go
Speaker 1: there and then I would go straight to the airport
Speaker 1: from there, jump on a six o'clock flight, fly back
Speaker 1: to Santa Fe, have a four thirty am call in
Speaker 1: the morning. How long was How long? Did this last?
Speaker 1: Two months? Okay, it's finished, finished, so exciting. Have you
Speaker 1: done anything to celebrate? Well, last week I did three
Speaker 1: add jobs okay, so I basically worked every day. Okay,
Speaker 1: And are we doing something to celebrate? I hope I
Speaker 1: can sleep soon. Um, I need to sleep. I need
Speaker 1: to hang out with my hids. I want to figure
Speaker 1: out how to carve out me time and also like
Speaker 1: husband time and then also kid time, because like I
Speaker 1: kind of feel like when you work, work, work work,
Speaker 1: which is my tendency. Again, I'm focused on all the
Speaker 1: details and I'm not living the life in a full way.
Speaker 1: And I only really get filled up when I have genuine,
Speaker 1: like tender interactions with my family, so and my friends.
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to figure out how to do more
Speaker 1: of that. It's a journey, though, you know, It's one
Speaker 1: of those things that is what has it been like
Speaker 1: going back into acting, because I know you took a
Speaker 1: break for a little bit, You know what. I was
Speaker 1: such an insecure actress when I was younger, really so
Speaker 1: wildly insecure about my abilities as an actress. UM, I
Speaker 1: felt so judged. I was quite criticized. In my head,
Speaker 1: I was my worst critic. I think I didn't feel
Speaker 1: work the UM and so I was so in my
Speaker 1: head and so paralyzed with fear that I never had
Speaker 1: a real liberating, fun experience. Like I just admired people
Speaker 1: who just we're swaggy on set, just like we felt
Speaker 1: like they were just in the zone. And you can
Speaker 1: tell when someone's in the zone and when they're just
Speaker 1: when they just feel good. And I think taking a
Speaker 1: break for so long from it and literally having no
Speaker 1: consequence to whether it works or not, it allows me
Speaker 1: to have the freedom as a storyteller to just be
Speaker 1: completely present and try things and and and I really
Speaker 1: love it and it and it's like it's brought me
Speaker 1: like real joy. That's incredible to have that outlet. Also,
Speaker 1: and I feel like and a nice balance to the
Speaker 1: really logical, pragmatic day to day of running a company. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for surely, Okay, we have to take a quick break,
Speaker 1: but when we come back, I want to talk more
Speaker 1: about your acting career, the way the media and Hollywood
Speaker 1: has portrayed you over the years, your thoughts on social media,
Speaker 1: and much more. We'll be right back, and we're back.
Speaker 1: The way Hollywood is structured, especially the way they treat
Speaker 1: women like you were sexualized at a very young age
Speaker 1: and then starting your company, did that affect the way
Speaker 1: you were perceived and just being a badass, smart business women.
Speaker 1: Did people not realize that because of the way movies
Speaker 1: you were in portrayed characters or the way Hollywood or
Speaker 1: the media did you know? What's interesting is like I
Speaker 1: don't even know if the characters I played were hyper
Speaker 1: sexualized as much as the media around me as a person,
Speaker 1: and when they would advertise said project, I wasn't that person.
Speaker 1: And so you know, when you have a studio advertising
Speaker 1: this piece whatever it is that they need to come out,
Speaker 1: and then you have these various publications that are trying
Speaker 1: to give their audience clickbait or now it's a clickbait,
Speaker 1: but like those you know, headlines that will get the
Speaker 1: readers to want to read the article. They're looking for provocative,
Speaker 1: controversial kind of things. And you know, for me, I
Speaker 1: guess in a weird way. I know social media is
Speaker 1: really um it's a hot topic, but for me, social
Speaker 1: media gave me a way to speak my truth through
Speaker 1: my lens and the tray myself the way I wanted
Speaker 1: to be portrayed and not always be sort of um,
Speaker 1: the pond and someone else's chess game, which is sort
Speaker 1: of how I felt in Hollywood. You know when I
Speaker 1: when I really embraced social media and was actively on it.
Speaker 1: I guess that's kind of how I've always viewed it.
Speaker 1: And then I also view it as like it is
Speaker 1: a business, right, um and I and I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't feel like I overshare. I think that I was
Speaker 1: being hounded by the paparazzi and and and in a
Speaker 1: lot of these um places, we're going to write stuff
Speaker 1: about me anyway. And in a way, it's sort of
Speaker 1: like diffused it all um, and I didn't become a
Speaker 1: target anymore. And I got to really sort of feel
Speaker 1: like I was in control of something that felt so
Speaker 1: out of control for so long. Um the power back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then when I started my business, I had already
Speaker 1: been active and starting to really own my own narrative
Speaker 1: for about three and a half years before the company
Speaker 1: was officially founded. I guess my whole journey with Honest
Speaker 1: was me more and more getting more comfortable in my
Speaker 1: own in owning my power, not apologizing for myself, and
Speaker 1: just feeling worthy, I guess, And that's something that I've
Speaker 1: realized from doing the podcast, a passion that I've kind
Speaker 1: of stumbled upon, um in realizing that the media has
Speaker 1: kind of taken the human out of a person they portray.
Speaker 1: They put people on a pedestal, and it's so easy
Speaker 1: to forget that these people are, like, there's just a
Speaker 1: human being. And I feel like social media, for as
Speaker 1: many great things, it does accelerate that a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I aspire to be more like you in the
Speaker 1: way you view social media as a business, because I'm
Speaker 1: trying to do that. But at the same time, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm nineteen. I'm a nineteen year old girl, and then
Speaker 1: I have the effects of social media, but I'm trying
Speaker 1: to think of it as a business. What advice do
Speaker 1: you have, because I know you say you compartmentalize pretty
Speaker 1: well to kind of not feed into that world. I
Speaker 1: would say, it's interesting if I was a nineteen year
Speaker 1: old girl, what would I do if I was going
Speaker 1: to leverage social media as a strategic business, you know, Avenue,
Speaker 1: I would probably unfollow most people that I know, and
Speaker 1: I would probably only follow people that I aspired to
Speaker 1: be like or people they wanted to work with. And
Speaker 1: I would obviously follow my mom and dad because they
Speaker 1: you know, probably and they would want me to see
Speaker 1: their their posts. Um. But then your feed is really strategic.
Speaker 1: What you're seeing reminds you while you're there, and if
Speaker 1: I you know, for me, I follow a lot of
Speaker 1: people that I think just do a good job on
Speaker 1: social media and resonate with people, and I'm like, God,
Speaker 1: they do a really good job at making people feel
Speaker 1: like they're getting an intimate sort of snapshot of their life.
Speaker 1: It they're not really saying much. It's just like them
Speaker 1: like feeding their dogs cereal or you know, it's like
Speaker 1: they're just like taking a selfie on set whatever. But
Speaker 1: that's like, it's the BTS. It's the BTS, And there's
Speaker 1: something that feels so intimate about it because their coffee
Speaker 1: is spilled on their shirt and that feels so human, right,
Speaker 1: and so I the bar is so low. But I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, like they there are certain people that are
Speaker 1: really good at social media, and so I would follow
Speaker 1: those people, and then I follow just people that I
Speaker 1: think would be cool to collaborate with, or to do
Speaker 1: a skit with, or do something on YouTube with, or
Speaker 1: to do a podcast with. And so I just follow
Speaker 1: a lot of people like that as well that I
Speaker 1: think would just be like a good business partner. And uh.
Speaker 1: And then some news feeds that I think are cool. Um.
Speaker 1: And if you do follow entertainment news feeds, I think
Speaker 1: you should accord order of your news feeds should be
Speaker 1: entertainment and gossip related if you are someone that you
Speaker 1: know follows those feeds. But I think three quarters of
Speaker 1: it should be about real things that you care about,
Speaker 1: inspirational quotes, something in science or math or the media
Speaker 1: that you really like, you know, whatever, it is a
Speaker 1: bird species, you know, you can kind of go in
Speaker 1: on any of it. Social mediabit hole, it is a
Speaker 1: rabbit hole. But I think funnel your feed so that
Speaker 1: it's serving you and the algorithm picks up a more
Speaker 1: healthy mental process for yourself. I like that idea a lot,
Speaker 1: and I'm very much going to consider that and do
Speaker 1: more research on that, because you know, do you know
Speaker 1: my left my life motto is for the past, Like
Speaker 1: it's a eight months tell me fuck it? Why not
Speaker 1: suck it? Why not put it? On a shirt. I
Speaker 1: think it works because something I've realized is the amount
Speaker 1: of time I spend on my phone in high school,
Speaker 1: especial you joined the pandemic, it was like thirteen hours
Speaker 1: a day, and I was like, that's terrible, and so
Speaker 1: I started being very aware of it. I started deleting apps,
Speaker 1: just spending less time of it, and then I got
Speaker 1: creative again, and then I wanted to develop more things.
Speaker 1: And I think we can live in a world where
Speaker 1: it can be hard to know where to start. I
Speaker 1: always say the hardest part is starting something. Um, what
Speaker 1: would you say the best way to start is, whether
Speaker 1: that's creating a business or starting a career in an aspect,
Speaker 1: would you say it's doing research on it or would
Speaker 1: you say it's going full steam ahead? I would say
Speaker 1: how to start something. I'm a fan of a vision board.
Speaker 1: I think I love a good vision board, you know,
Speaker 1: cut out and do it in real life, something that's
Speaker 1: I r l um. Go to like a flea market,
Speaker 1: thrift store, magazine stand and just get things that make
Speaker 1: you happy or look pretty, and gets a hot glue
Speaker 1: gun and some poster board and just start together a
Speaker 1: mishmash of things that just bring you joy, um, and
Speaker 1: if you can focus it on a something that reminds
Speaker 1: you of whatever for you. If you're like I want
Speaker 1: to make films or documentaries or produce you know, something specific,
Speaker 1: and it's like, okay, so what documentaries inspire you and
Speaker 1: what stories inspire you? And you'll just almost if you
Speaker 1: like meditate and you just like sort of quiet your
Speaker 1: mind and take like three breaths and you just say, like,
Speaker 1: I just want to be open to the stories that
Speaker 1: I should be telling. And whoever you believe God, your
Speaker 1: spirit guides yourself. UM, guide me to where what I
Speaker 1: should care about and stories that I should care about,
Speaker 1: and and the things will come in when you're open,
Speaker 1: Life will hand you everything that you need. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: the first vision board I created, I photoshopped my face
Speaker 1: next to um people that I wanted to interview, and
Speaker 1: I would take an interview and I photoshot my face
Speaker 1: on top of the interviewer just to like see it visually.
Speaker 1: And I think that really helped. And those there were
Speaker 1: and it happens, many of them happened. I'm the manifested.
Speaker 1: Do you believe a manifestation? Of course? Okay, because I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get more in it, and I you know
Speaker 1: that you you just explained it. See I agree with that.
Speaker 1: But then when I talk to people, some people are like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not a thing. It's in your head. Why isn't
Speaker 1: that a thing. That's what manifesting is. You have to
Speaker 1: first have the thought that it's going to happen, and
Speaker 1: then if you need to solidify make that thought more tangible,
Speaker 1: you create a vision board. Otherwise, if the thought is there,
Speaker 1: you and you create. I mean, you're interviewing people, so
Speaker 1: there you go. You manifest unintentionally manifested acts. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you can either call it manifesting or not,
Speaker 1: but it is what it is. It's just facts. That's
Speaker 1: what you've done. I guess, so I haven't really thought
Speaker 1: of it like true story. Okay, we have to take
Speaker 1: one more quick break, but when we come back, I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about what it was like
Speaker 1: on the day your company went public and how your
Speaker 1: new children's book is giving back to those in need
Speaker 1: in an amazing way. We'll be right back and we're back.
Speaker 1: What was it like going public with your company? It
Speaker 1: was like an out of body experience. I mean, I
Speaker 1: can only really liken it too. I never had a wedding,
Speaker 1: and I've never really had like a big celebration that
Speaker 1: I like planned for for months um, And so the
Speaker 1: only thing I can really think about that it could
Speaker 1: be like is maybe wedding um, where you like plan
Speaker 1: all the details and you like have an idea and
Speaker 1: there's speeches and there's you know, a time when this
Speaker 1: is gonna happen and that is going to happen. So UM.
Speaker 1: It felt weird because we were planning for it for
Speaker 1: so long um leading up to it, and then when
Speaker 1: it actually happened, it was like very surreal. It was weird.
Speaker 1: It was like a really cool experience because my family
Speaker 1: was there, my friends were there, and this journey was
Speaker 1: like so wild and and no one in a million
Speaker 1: years ever thought that it could ever be possible. And
Speaker 1: so when it comes to manifesting, I think me acknowledging
Speaker 1: that I manifested that and I created that reality and
Speaker 1: giving myself the space to enjoy that moment and really
Speaker 1: um be present, I think that that was like the
Speaker 1: most important thing for me. And regardless of sort of
Speaker 1: like anyone else's experience in it, I had to take
Speaker 1: ownership and and really lean into what my genuine take
Speaker 1: away and experience what I wanted it to be, and
Speaker 1: be okay with that because I love to distract myself
Speaker 1: with like is every is what are my kids going
Speaker 1: to think? And what is what are the bankers going
Speaker 1: to think? And what is you know, a leadership team
Speaker 1: going to think in each one of them and thinking
Speaker 1: of where they are in their life. Because I'm very
Speaker 1: um an EmPATH, right, and so I try to take
Speaker 1: on everyone else's experience and and see through their eyes.
Speaker 1: But um, I really disallowed myself to be completely present
Speaker 1: in my own body and it was wild. That's a
Speaker 1: great state to be and demeditate. I should meditate more.
Speaker 1: I want to try. I have troubles like being still
Speaker 1: for that long. Yeah, you don't necessarily. It's interesting because
Speaker 1: I don't think meditating is the same for everyone, and
Speaker 1: I think it can take on different forms. I like
Speaker 1: actually like to listen to and be guided through meditations.
Speaker 1: Um And there's actually a lot of like brain um
Speaker 1: sort of like frequency music that you can listen to.
Speaker 1: You can even get it free like on Spotify. Um
Speaker 1: And it it's just like meditating to me is when
Speaker 1: you can sort of like allow yourself to breathe and
Speaker 1: even let your mind drift, but then sort of like
Speaker 1: rest your mind from the busy the busy stuff in
Speaker 1: and all the details right and just be able to
Speaker 1: just sort of like drift um. And sometimes it's going
Speaker 1: on a run, sometimes it's on a spin bike. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's doing yoga. Sometimes it's listening to, you know, a
Speaker 1: guided meditation. Sometimes it's listening to like frequency sounds. So
Speaker 1: I love listening to frequency sounds on you the see.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm realizing many things I do now have
Speaker 1: titles they didn't even realize at this point. That's what
Speaker 1: I think. We are living in such a world where
Speaker 1: everything is so go, go go. Taking the time to
Speaker 1: kind of acknowledge everything that's happening and take a moment
Speaker 1: to think about where you want to go forward is
Speaker 1: so powerful and something that we don't do enough in society.
Speaker 1: And I feel like we're always focusing on the next thing,
Speaker 1: but being present is so important. Yeah, And I think
Speaker 1: it's like sometimes when you're so focused on the future,
Speaker 1: you forget to be grateful for what's happening right now.
Speaker 1: And if you're always living for tomorrow, you're almost never
Speaker 1: going to be satisfied, right, because it's hard for it
Speaker 1: to live up to a fantasy. And so I do
Speaker 1: think that there's something that I've been doing lately as
Speaker 1: well to sort of help with that focus. Is there's
Speaker 1: certain crystals that kind of like remind you of certain
Speaker 1: um things. And one of them is like a rose
Speaker 1: quartz crystal is really it symbolizes like a heart opener um.
Speaker 1: And so if you're like listening to your frequency sounds
Speaker 1: and you just have your like a rose quartz crystal
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what size it is um and you kind
Speaker 1: of like lay it like in the here, like next
Speaker 1: to your heart, and you just sort of like lay
Speaker 1: there with the crystal there, and you just think about,
Speaker 1: like I just want my heart to be open, and
Speaker 1: I want to be open to what I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: be doing in this life, in this moment, and just
Speaker 1: like kind of say that in your head a couple
Speaker 1: of times while you're listening to your music, maybe you'll
Speaker 1: get some kind of opening that, yeah, you know, you
Speaker 1: never had before. I love that you're doing a lot.
Speaker 1: We can also now add children's book author to them.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to talk about this because I'm also
Speaker 1: developing a children's book right now you are, I am, um,
Speaker 1: what was the process like of creating it and what
Speaker 1: is it like now that it's out? Well? I I
Speaker 1: collaborated with my friends. My my girlfriend, one of my
Speaker 1: best girlfriends joined a charity called Baby to Baby, and
Speaker 1: another with another friend of ours, and they really took
Speaker 1: it from being kind of like a small uh nonprofit
Speaker 1: that takes gently used items and you know, so cleans
Speaker 1: them and distributes them to people living in poverty. And
Speaker 1: when they came on and I joined the board, we
Speaker 1: sort of we were saying, you know, the goal is
Speaker 1: to really like think about the scale of children living
Speaker 1: in poverty who don't have access to things like a
Speaker 1: clean diaper, basic human miss as these, yeah, that we
Speaker 1: don't even realize that people just don't have access to.
Speaker 1: And because um the government UM programs like WICK and
Speaker 1: and different government programs, they don't um actually allow you
Speaker 1: to buy diapers or feminine products with uh food stamps
Speaker 1: and things like that. It's actually looked at as a
Speaker 1: luxury item and they tax for and they tax it
Speaker 1: like like they tax a luxury item like tobacco and alcohol.
Speaker 1: They tax diapers and feminine care outside of California. That
Speaker 1: is an interesting cycle of poverty where something like diapers
Speaker 1: is literally like the difference between a family being able
Speaker 1: to like go to work, pay the rent if they
Speaker 1: do have a roof over the head put food on
Speaker 1: the table, Like they have to choose. Am I gonna
Speaker 1: put food on the table. Am I going to pay
Speaker 1: the rent? Am I going to keep the lights on?
Speaker 1: Or am I going to diaper my child? So they
Speaker 1: use dirty diapers and reuse them on their babies. Um,
Speaker 1: a lot of these families don't have a safe place
Speaker 1: for their babies to sleep. A lot of children get
Speaker 1: smothered because they have multiple children in a bed um
Speaker 1: and they just don't have kind of any other way.
Speaker 1: And especially COVID really knocked people sideways. Um. So we
Speaker 1: at Baby to Baby have distributed two hundred million items
Speaker 1: to families living in poverty, and a hundred million of
Speaker 1: those items have happened during the COVID pandemic. But to
Speaker 1: be able to like collaborate with my my girlfriends and
Speaker 1: create this this book that teaches a child about giving back,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to have like an Afro Latina as
Speaker 1: our main character. Um, there's actually more animals that are
Speaker 1: leads in children's books than um children people of color
Speaker 1: and grow rolls. Um. So what is the world we
Speaker 1: live in? It's the truth And so for us it
Speaker 1: was like also just showing up my kids are mixed,
Speaker 1: their black, Mexican and white, and just to have that
Speaker 1: representation of like our family and then it's so important
Speaker 1: and heard right, it's it is important. That's awesome, And
Speaker 1: I think having that representation and having those lessons instilled
Speaker 1: is hopefully can to make the country much better because
Speaker 1: I think we can all do better. I think the
Speaker 1: more diverse our country is, the more women stand up
Speaker 1: for themselves, the more people of color stand up for themselves,
Speaker 1: and the more that we all decide that we deserve
Speaker 1: to be treated equal, the more we're going to continue
Speaker 1: to expose the injustices that have been afflicting us for
Speaker 1: thousands of years. Yeah, And I think it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where you inspire me to want to have
Speaker 1: a business because the way, in my opinion, you said
Speaker 1: you look at success is doing good instead of making money,
Speaker 1: which I think is so important. I feel like if
Speaker 1: we all looked at the world like that, we can
Speaker 1: make such more of a positive impact. Yeah, and I don't.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, like I'm not. My business is a business.
Speaker 1: It's not a charity. But you can align yourself. You're
Speaker 1: doing charity. So when you buy Honest, you are supporting
Speaker 1: baby to baby, you are supporting March of Times. You
Speaker 1: are supporting. We wouldn't be able to do what we
Speaker 1: do and with the nonprofits we work with or give
Speaker 1: back the way that we do if people didn't bring
Speaker 1: on us into their homes, into their lives. So the
Speaker 1: more you support us, the more we can do good
Speaker 1: on top of standing for sustainability, transparency, clean ingredients, and
Speaker 1: high ethical values and standards in the way that we
Speaker 1: run our business. Yeah, I love your business structure. I
Speaker 1: think it's so more people to do it. Thanks. I
Speaker 1: hope it becomes a trend. Well, Jessica, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on my podcast. I know you are insane. Um,
Speaker 1: it's been a few years in the making. I know,
Speaker 1: and I you know. I hope you get to sleep soon.
Speaker 1: You know what me too. Yeah, thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for listening to the season three finale of the
Speaker 1: Last Bieral Podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If
Speaker 1: you haven't subscribed to leave a comment, you, guys, if
Speaker 1: we want to force season to happen, we need some comments,
Speaker 1: We need some good recommendations. So that would mean so
Speaker 1: much to me. And thank you so much, Jessica for
Speaker 1: taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule to
Speaker 1: chat with me. I think this conversation, I think all
Speaker 1: of us can agree that it was really refreshing to
Speaker 1: hear the truth about what it's like to be such
Speaker 1: a inspiring and hard working woman in this day and age.
Speaker 1: If you haven't followed Jessica on all her social media,
Speaker 1: and follow me on Instagram and it's Sammy J. That's
Speaker 1: I T S S A M M Y j A
Speaker 1: y E. And I will hopefully see you next season.
Speaker 1: All right, bye, guys,