WEBVTT - Girlboss Gang: Creating IP with the Community 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.760 I'm off my game today. No, you're not. People are 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:05.640 going to have to start making better content. I think 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:07.120 we're gonna be talking about this for a long time. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.159 When you program for everyone, you program for no one. 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.280 I think it's a more purpose driven platform. Like we're 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.640 trying to get to substance. How was that? Are you 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.200 happy with that? This is marketing therapy right now? It 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:28.040 really is? What's up? I'm Laura Currency and I'm Alexa Kristen. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.520 Welcome back to Atlantia. We're getting so close to summer, 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.839 which means you're in slave list. It's getting warm with that. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:41.880 I bought um, but we are getting so close um 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:44.360 to can and all the exciting things that happened the 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:48.519 industry to celebrate creativity. And there's so much going on 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.279 right now outside of like the industry kind of like 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.160 same old events. There's events that are happening that are 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:00.520 getting a lot of buzz, and we actually someone in 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.000 today to talk to them about it. Yeah, I'm really 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.520 excited to have a discussion with the founder of girl Boss, 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:10.240 Sophia m Arosso on the heels of her l a 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.440 girl Boss rally last week, right, and I think you 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:15.920 know you bring up a great point that so many brands, 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:17.240 and I think we've heard it over and over again 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.240 on this show, UM are asking for a looking for 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.040 UM the opportunities to create, experience and engage communities in 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.520 the real world. And Sophia has tapped a nerve with 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.200 a segment that is seemingly very difficult to reach, and 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:36.800 that's young eighteen four, maybe thirty four women, the largest 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.880 buying power in the world or soon will. Yeah. And 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.119 also I think what she's figured out that somehow many 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.720 people have missed is that this is a group that's 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:51.320 hungry for information UM, that wants hands on training, that 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.200 wants to hear from people or I should say practitioners 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.720 who are in the mix of developing businesses, have success 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.240 stories and are willing to impart knowledge UM so that 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:03.840 they can follow in their footsteps. I think what she's 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.920 tapping into, to your point, she's tapping into a like 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:12.440 a life blood, a bit right of females all over 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.000 the world, all over the world. This isn't about behavior. 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.520 This isn't about you know, you buy your boots from here, 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.840 you this from there, you're that from there. This is 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:26.440 about desire. This is about women wanting to own something 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.160 of their own, women wanting to be independent, and that's 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.519 just that's like basic life, right, And I think when 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:35.760 you hear her story, right, so she is very openly 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.400 going to talk to us about her first company, Nasty Gal, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.200 filing for chapter eleven, and then sort of moving into 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.800 this media world that sort of fell into her lap 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.000 in Netflix wanting to create a show on the heels 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.200 of that, which might not have been the best timing 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.440 and this show was a flop, And she's very open 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.400 about talking about that transition and then sort of filling 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.320 the white space, which is I think is a very 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.480 interesting way of describing how Girl Boss Media was then founded. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.359 I have to tell you I lot creating it, right, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.560 that's finding it and filling it. I had a lot 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.079 of preconceived notions about what she was building and who 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:14.880 she was, just having read the story through the press, 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:17.880 and I got the opportunity to meet her and was 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:22.799 very quickly taken aback by the thoughtfulness and the accountability 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.600 and the responsibility to understand um the empire that she 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.560 had created, the lessons that she learned from it, and 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.480 her willingness and drive. And I think she talks a 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.720 lot about this in the interview to sort of keep going. 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:37.720 And then I went to the Girl Boss rally in 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.000 New York City and I've been you know, in this industry, 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:41.560 we go to a lot of conferences, a lot of 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.840 events that media companies put on, and you can almost 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.320 sort of predict the ebb and flow the energy based 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.600 on who's speaking programming. You can actually predict the programming 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.720 right a great point, And there was an energy before 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.400 you even sat in your seat and watching UM. The 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.080 programming is excellent and I think you know her ability 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.920 to draw from different industries UM and not sort of 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.400 program for what people UM have come to expect, but 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.440 programming for things that people need and want and want. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.000 Aside from all that, the people that were just sitting 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.680 in the audience, and you could see like people were 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:20.640 not on their phone other than to be what I 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:22.919 assume they're taking notes or tweeting, because the level of 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.960 attention that it was commanding, and the conversations that were 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.640 so real and authentic and from this place of this 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:33.599 is a personal experience, not a list of pr points UM. 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.000 And then the conversations that then spilled out into the 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.600 hallways and over the lunches and sort of these networking 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.720 spaces that she created. I mean it was electric. Well, 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.400 it's so funny that you're saying that about about the rally, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.000 because I think that there are a couple of brands 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:52.839 that are starting to tap into this and they're not 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:59.400 selling people. They're not selling consumers them they're selling consumers themselves. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.720 Does that make sense? And holy fuck, Holy fuck, that's 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.599 a big deal from a brand standpoint, and even you're 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:13.200 enabling them, you're enabling tools to realize the thing that thereafter. Yes, absolutely, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.600 Glossier is doing it as just female beauty, right, and 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.360 that's how they've like to totally positioned themselves. And I 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:25.080 think what Sophia's hit on is this deafening silence almost right, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:30.280 it's actually profound about getting to the female desire to 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:34.880 be successful, and it's not pandering, and it's not selling 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.520 them a product, and it's not selling them something and 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.440 it's not selling them an ad unit. It's actually selling 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.360 them the ability to be better. Yeah. I love that. 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.599 And the brands that integrate into the rally are not 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.960 there to give you a swag bag. They're there too, 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.720 although they do have great swags, do have great swagbags, 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.040 but that's not that's not the thing, right, that's not 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.919 the focus. Like bumble biz. That the integration of the 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.560 New York rally where they hired glam Squad to come 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.279 in and do you know, makeovers to get your head 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.719 shot done for your LinkedIn profile. This is a utility. 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.120 Like if I'm a if I'm a budding business entrepreneur, 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:17.280 I need a head shot. And by the way, head 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.200 shots aren't cheap. So now whatever ticket I've paid for 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.840 this rally has afforded me the head shot that I needed, 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.600 my deck or my pr or my whatever collateral and 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:30.560 like that sort of value exchange, Like she's filling the space, 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.479 and she's filling a need, and she's coming at it 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.880 from a place of I'm listening to you. I have 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.680 a roll a deex deep of people who can help you. 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:44.880 And oh, by the way, I am you. So we'll 0:06:44.920 --> 0:07:00.080 be right back. So we're back in the studio. Go 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:09.520 with a cross country phone call to the girl boss herself, Sophia. So, Sophia, yeah, Sophia, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:15.119 you are like girl Boss extraordinaire literally literally defining what 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:19.720 the future of badass media publishing for women looks like. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.440 But obviously that's not how you started. Can you give 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.800 us some background on one of my favorite lines that 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.400 you always talk about, This is the second business you founded. Basically, 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.920 this is the second brand I've created, but the first 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.080 I've created on purpose. So my first business was called 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.480 nasty Gal. I started it when I was twenty two. 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.440 It was vintage clothing, and then it exploded because I 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.640 just like used my wits and didn't spend money and 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:47.760 figured it out and figured out what people liked and 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.760 figured out how to write about it and take photos 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.320 and style and buy and all the things that create 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:58.280 a brand, and a brand isn't media, but the conversation 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:03.200 that a brand creates, the feeling of emotional connection, all 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.760 of those things are the voice really was half of 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:11.000 Nasty Gal's success in my opinion, and being able, you know, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.400 to have a business now where the voice is the 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.160 product is like the most fun business ever because I 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.960 don't have to have a warehouse in Kentucky with you know, 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.400 five with the heat, ten year lease and five hundred 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.400 thousand square feet, which is probably a bad idea. So 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.239 you've obviously you've pivoted from um sort of a comb 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:34.360 fashion extraordinaire, and as a result, of sort of the 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.520 first the ending of that brand, and obviously it's been 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.200 well documented that it kind of ended in a way 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.400 that I'm sure it wasn't the ideal, But you've you 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:47.120 pivoted and you sort of landed in this opportunity or 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.800 this white space that you clearly at some point recognized 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:55.640 was an opportunity to re emerge and launch girl Boss Media. 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:58.920 What was that white space? Was there in a ha moment? 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.760 Was there a gradual build? How did you make the 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.560 pivot and why? Yeah, So, for those of you that 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.480 don't know, Nasty Gale filed for chapter eleven at the 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.760 end of sixteen, and at that point it had been 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.320 ten years of my career. It had been I mean, 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.120 I used to say my entire youth, but I think 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.840 he is not an age. But it was a long 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.280 time and so I was as as awful as it 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.120 sounds to say, I was ready to move on. And 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.120 the book girl Boss had been written three years prior 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.680 to that happening. It's been four years now since I 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.560 wrote Girl Boss, And during that time, the community just 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.760 really started to grow it naturally, the word became part 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.240 of the night guist. It wasn't always attributed back to me, 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.360 but that word wasn't used before I wrote that book, 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.760 and you know, started my own podcast, girl Boss Radio, 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:53.440 which we still have today. Uh. And then right after 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.199 I left Nasty Gal, Netflix was about to blast the 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.400 name girl Boss with the Lifted series based on my 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:05.520 book based on my life, totally strange, with a character 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.360 Sophia building a business at two years old called Nasty Gal. 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:13.000 So here I am trying to restart my career when 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:18.040 like million people are seeing this story of who I 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.599 was ten years ago streamed into their homes. It was 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.080 a really strange time. But I also understand the power 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.280 of striking when the iron's hot, and that there are 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.800 windows of opportunity that opened and closed. If there's one 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.920 thing I learned from my agent at w ME, it's 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:36.840 that uh. And I saw that this this wall, this wave, 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:42.160 this massive tsunami of Netflix was coming, and holy sh it, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:46.119 I better build something to catch the wave of awareness 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.080 that was about to happen for girl Boss. And so 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:53.120 I got up and by March of four months later, 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.600 was hosting our first conference with five women called the 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.640 girl Boss Rally. And I just kept going and the 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.520 white face was I like to think the white space 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:07.280 was created by our community while I was, you know, solving, 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.080 trying to solve my last company's problems, and I'm we're 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.520 just meeting her there, Like we didn't create it. There, 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.160 They've created it, the communities created, and we're just we're 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.599 just showing up now. So I think there are a 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.559 couple of really interesting things. One, you talk about restarting 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.000 these the word restarting your career. Did it Did you 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.199 actually feel like you were restarting your career because in 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:35.840 an interesting way, your brand really grew up and Nasty 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.840 Gal kind of went away. Yeah, sunset it and you 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.000 kind of became the sun. Did you feel at that 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.560 point that you were actually really restarting your career? Was 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:49.480 it just I wasn't sure. I knew I had to 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:51.640 be brave and keep going even though there was still 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.040 like really, you know, the show got really bad reviews. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.640 I was someone who had been like publicly sued and 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.280 like had you know, there were reports of top exit 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.360 culture and all these things that happened. We have no 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.439 idea what you're doing at twenty two years old and 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.440 start a company and wind up ten years later like 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:11.120 Inheriting all the dumb decisions or not, just like non 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:15.600 decisions you had made um and I didn't. I didn't 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.240 like there's nothing to rebound from. I knew that I 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.960 felt like I was damaged goods. I wasn't sure if 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.360 I was like bankable as like talent. I thought about 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.440 going to talent route, like why would I ever employ 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.040 people again? I could just go do a bunch of 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.440 brand deals as an influencer and go be like a 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.160 talking head or have a non scripted show or be 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.840 my own like Mariam News or something like that. But 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.199 the thing is, she's Greek. She's Greek. But you can't 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:45.080 exit being talent. Once you become talent, your talent for 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:47.520 the rest of your career. And that's never Like I 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.160 love writing books, and I love being behind the scenes, 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.520 and I'm learning how to be upfront on a stage 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.600 and all these things we do twicee your conference, But 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.000 that's not the life that I want. And I also 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.800 understand the value what what's created when you build a 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:06.240 business that has enterprice value where it's not about necessarily 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.880 all the profit that's falling to the bottom line. It's 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:13.640 about the value of the business that ultimately will hopefully 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:17.720 create value for a lot of shareholders, possibly a larger 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.280 company someday, most of all, value for the audience. There's 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.680 no way we would be doing this conference if it 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.000 were like some kind of white label thing that an 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.760 agency had put together. Yeah, totally. So you're so you're 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.360 talking about, you know, profitable for investors, and I vividly 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.000 recall you kind of hitting the pavement um this past 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:40.839 winter as you were kind of on the hunt to 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.000 raise around Can you talk about what that was like 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.760 in the restart or the comeback or the emergence and 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:48.880 you know, the pivot that you made to media companies. 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:50.240 I think you were in the first people that like 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.280 brought to light how difficult it is to me to 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.400 raise money as a media company, let alone sort of 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.600 the reputation or sort of background that you were coming 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.640 to the able with. What did that look like for you? 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:06.480 You know, I raised forty million dollars in twelve into 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.640 Nasty Gal when I owned a hundred percent of the company, 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.600 and the valuation after that was three d and fifty 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.800 million dollars. And when I did that, I had built 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.440 this profitable company to thirty million dollars, just literally bootstrapping 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.720 it with like no credit cards, no no debt, no 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.840 prior investors, and it was kind of this freak thing. 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.080 And adventure capitalists showed up and they were like, Holy 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.360 sh it, this thing. That's when we went from one 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.520 to six and a half to twenty eight million dollars 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.480 in revenue in two years. And I didn't have to 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.200 have a plan for the future. I didn't have to 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.280 have a pitch. I showed up and I had never 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.720 built a deck before. When they pumped forty million dollars 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.240 into my company, it's a kind of like scary thing 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:49.120 to do. So this process has been really different. Um. 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.240 I mean there was no process. M I didn't have 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.480 to ask, and now I'm asking. I'm saying girl Boss 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.720 is a thing. Look, there's brand equity here, but as 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.800 a business, it's brand new U. Um. But I have 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.040 a lot to build off of. I have a rolodex 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.200 that's like miles deep. I have a community of women 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:11.440 that's only growing. And the mission of girl Boss is 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.960 even more relevant today than it was yesterday. This is 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.360 something that people need. But when I started having those 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.720 conversations in early twenties seventeen, just months after my last 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.840 company had face planted, I didn't really know how to 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:26.440 talk about what we were doing. I was like, we'll 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:30.760 have a subscription box called girl Box. Like I was 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.000 really just kind of like, Okay, what could this be? 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.000 We could do all these different things. Is it about 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.400 merchant licensing? Is it about creating content? How much about 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.600 creating content? Is it? How big can like an ad 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.840 or brand business be? And you know, it was always 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.480 media to some extent, because the book was a piece 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.360 of media. The podcast is media. The Netflix series is 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.360 a media, and so girl Boss already existed in the 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.520 media landscape. But more than that, girl Boss is a brand. 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.040 And you know, Jonah had to create tasty to be 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.160 a brand and to go transact in a bunch of 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.000 different directions. And that's what we're starting with. And I 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.840 think that's really valuable. And initially I called the company 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.320 girl Boss Media because because there was already a show 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.280 called girl Boss and I wanted to differentiate it. But 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.200 the word media was really limiting. And we're not media, 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:20.360 like we create content, but we're not selling like impressions 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:25.160 or page views, or we're not really doing media deals. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.880 We're doing partnerships um and some pretty large partnerships. And 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.320 Google's or largest client. We're working with the best brands 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.680 in the world, but it's to solve a different problem 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:39.960 than than like why relatively anonymous reach. But the future 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:44.760 looks less like a media company and more like a 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.840 place that a lot of people can go and be 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.680 safe and learn and meet one another on the Internet. 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.120 So talk more about the community, because I think at 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.800 the end of the day, like you said, the community 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.800 actually created themselves versus a media come any coming in 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:06.159 and trying to create audience. Like, what what is the difference? Um, 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.159 We're in a world where these platforms and these and 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:14.040 these publishers are just so agnostic. They're creating content. They're 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:18.399 pupping out stuff about pop culture, news, more news, more news, 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.720 and then there they may kind of like slather on 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.640 a layer of meaning because it's trendy. And for us, 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.080 that's where we come from. And I think not about 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:32.480 competition by what content is being created or where revenue 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.080 is being generated. Yes, will always be competing on some 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.600 level with anybody who does deal with brands of any kind, 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:43.520 But we are competing with anyone who's users coming to 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.520 them for the same reason as ours as ours. I 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.040 think about it by the motivation of the people that 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.760 are coming to you, because that's the way that you 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:56.399 can create programs, whether they're sponsored or not sponsored, that 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.399 create value um, that are natural role that aren't jerry 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.640 rigging some conversation into a place where people don't want 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.040 to have it um and so our growth coming to 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:12.639 us for really actionable advice, real talk mostly about working 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.320 money in a in a world where you know, a 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.119 bunch of white guys invented Forbes magazine and put themselves 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.280 on the cover, Like what does success look like for 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.960 this new generation of women who have access to all 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.320 the tools, who are starting businesses, who are entrepreneurial even 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.760 if they're not entrepreneurs yet they liked percent of our 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.200 audience wants to own a business at some point when 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.440 we pulled them. And just like I have eBay, now 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:43.280 we have squarespace, et s, Shopify, uh, Gusto, quick books, 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:48.240 you know, fresh books, like every last possible thing to 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:54.440 run nimbly a small company with the professionality I guess 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.720 of a of someone who's been there before. There's a 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:03.320 lot of categories like financial services and technology who don't 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:05.800 have a place to go naturally to have the conversations 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.280 that they're having, whether it's chromebooks and we have women 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.360 learning how to build a P and L at our 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:15.880 conference in sheets and learning how to create a presentation 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:20.960 in Google slides, or a conversation about finance that we 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.080 do with quick books like these are conversations that our 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.560 audiences coming to us for we want to have anyway, 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.399 and is a natural conversation for our partners to be 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.560 having with them. So it's like it's a win win win. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.480 And when things are that aligned, it's just like it's 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.119 just it just feels like this guy's the limit. What 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.359 you just described is you're actually creating school, the b 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.560 school for the next generation of women UM, and you're 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.720 bringing in partners that are providing utility and services that 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.840 in typical business school you only read about UM and 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.560 you might go out and obviously have working experience to 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.560 kind of experiment with, but you're actually putting people in 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:02.600 real life stitues to kind of develop that UM practice 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.520 on the spot. We didn't leave business school and think 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.280 there's a white space here and then like play deck together. 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.720 You know, it's like it's happened very naturally and and 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.200 the time is right, and you know, brands are worried 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.200 about brand safety, and users are skeptical of the platforms. 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.640 People don't know whether to believe the content that they're seeing. 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.960 And you know, there was a piece in Fortune today about, 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.679 you know, world where platforms are stumbling when women are 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.679 creating their own social communities. That's in some way what 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.240 our future looks like, and it feels good to be 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.680 on trend. I guess when you talk about that future, 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:43.320 my head like automatically goes to a group of small 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:46.600 businesses that are hanging off of girl Boss. You know, 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:50.000 do you see do you see this future like of 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:53.639 investing in women and actually creating products and services that 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:56.480 are coming from the community directly? I don't know. I 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.480 whoever create things on behalf of our community. I want 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:04.480 to be the vehicle for them to discover themselves, learn 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.520 about their businesses and other people, and maybe have a 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:13.199 platform with some kind eventually. I mean eventually eventually, and 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:15.639 who knows if I'll have time while I'm running this business, 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.720 certainly not right now. Like, investing seems really fun, and 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:21.879 I've done a tiny tiny bit of it, I advise 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.719 a little bit, but it takes time if you if 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:27.360 you really care, it takes time, so talk about like 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.200 why now right, So obviously you've the Iron tot. You 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.080 just talked about being on trend. I think it started 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:35.720 with the book, And as far as being on trend, 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.000 it's it's convenient, but it's not why we're doing this. 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.640 Like the book happened four years ago in a time 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:45.360 where I took for granted that everybody understood what feminism 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.639 meant in the world was like fine, and Obama was 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:51.800 president and then like everything kind of flipped. And I'm 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:54.520 embarrassed to have ever felt that way, but I don't 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:57.560 think I was alone in that It's it's about time 0:21:57.600 --> 0:21:59.840 to build Girl Boss because it was something I like 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.200 kind of wanted to do even and could only really 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:07.200 do the podcast while I was still in my fashion company. 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.560 And four years ago we ceded this conversation that went 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:14.120 into every bookstore and every airport in the country and 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:16.680 spent twenty weeks on the York Times best seller list 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.240 and sold half a million copies. Not to like brag, 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.800 but that's where, you know, that's where it began, and 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.520 it's been marinating for four years. It's been marinating women 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:27.359 have I can't tell you how many women have come 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:29.720 up to me and said, you're the reason I quit 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:32.040 my job and started a business. You know, I used 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.160 this metaphor at the rally when I kicked the day off. 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:38.280 Um and I know you guys will noticed scene. But 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:41.000