transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

Speaker 2:
[00:15] Okay, I just want to give everybody context that Melanie and I met up, how many hours ago?

Speaker 3:
[00:21] We've been yapping for two and a half hours.

Speaker 2:
[00:22] Two and a half hours ago to do this podcast, and there was a studio mix up, so we've been walking around Soho and yapping for the last two and a half hours. So it's gonna be funny to transition into, I'm like, what didn't we cover in our social broadcast?

Speaker 3:
[00:35] I'm like, what are we gonna talk about? Also, I'm really caffeinated now.

Speaker 2:
[00:38] I know, that shot of espresso really.

Speaker 3:
[00:40] Yeah, it's not free to space, I love it.

Speaker 2:
[00:41] Do you drink a lot of coffee?

Speaker 3:
[00:42] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[00:43] Yeah, same. But do you drink on an empty stomach? Do you know better? Oh, no.

Speaker 3:
[00:47] No, a few days a week, I'm like, I know I can handle it. I love Take Me to Space, you know?

Speaker 2:
[00:52] I know, I love that feeling.

Speaker 3:
[00:53] I love that time. Then for two days, I'm like, Rockies matcha, Rockies matcha. It's my redemption matcha.

Speaker 2:
[00:59] People love Rockies.

Speaker 3:
[01:01] It's the best quality.

Speaker 2:
[01:02] That's so nice.

Speaker 3:
[01:03] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[01:03] We've been friends for many years, and we often talk about work, but we don't talk about work, and I honestly don't really like to talk about work on this podcast that much. When we do founder interviews, I'm always like, I don't want to talk about it, but I do have so many questions for you, or just things that I think people should know, because we have spent the last two and a half hours being like, I don't think people really understand how hard it is to be an entrepreneur, and what a nightmare it is, and the logistics that you deal with. Literally, right before you turned the mic on, we were talking about shipping costs, and you don't think about the fact that the price of oil has gone up, so the price of shipping your goods is this constant influx. But let's start from the beginning, because you and I were both... I feel like there's only so many people our age who were like, Glossier and...

Speaker 3:
[01:55] Oh my god, that's true.

Speaker 2:
[01:56] You know what I mean? Who were around for like this...

Speaker 4:
[02:00] That whole era.

Speaker 2:
[02:01] What are we calling that era? I don't want...

Speaker 3:
[02:04] It was an era. It was like the rise of Instagram. I remember working at Glossier. I was young, and I wasn't working on your campaign, because I was doing the stores, but I remember the Body Hero campaign. And you know, it was like you were asking a bunch of like normal bodied girls to like get naked in front of the camera. And it was like there was a lot of intention on the team on making everybody look and feel good, you know? But and I remember your campaign was just so iconic. So great.

Speaker 2:
[02:30] That was... That's a big deal for that moment.

Speaker 3:
[02:33] It was insane.

Speaker 2:
[02:34] A really, really, really big deal.

Speaker 3:
[02:35] By the way, that Neroli oil smells so good. I still sometimes use it in the shower. I'm like, yes, Glossier, take me to Italy.

Speaker 2:
[02:43] What were you? How did you end up at Glossier?

Speaker 3:
[02:45] It was super random. I was working for Diggin, the restaurant group in New York. They were like farm to table, fast casual, one of the early ones. And then, you know, Glossier launched and it's the company that everybody was talking about. And I was a few blocks away because we were opening Diggin and Soho. And I very randomly at the dinner party, I met Henry, who was the CEO of Glossier at the time. And I guess he'd seen my work and he introduced me to Emily and we had an interview and one thing led to another. And they were really just looking for talent. They were hiring so quickly. I think when I interviewed, there were 20 people on the team. When I joined, there were maybe 80. When I left, we were 250. It was crazy.

Speaker 2:
[03:23] That was the time of over hiring, which I want to also talk about it. I know.

Speaker 3:
[03:26] I know. And I joined the team doing strategy, which was like the most elusive word. It was kind of like, she'll figure it out. And we had this little showroom upstairs, upstairs of the office.

Speaker 2:
[03:35] It was such a big deal.

Speaker 3:
[03:37] It was at the time, it was summer Fridays. It was only open on Fridays. There was a line at the door, the elevator would constantly break. And I was like, she just joined, she can do the showroom. And I had a very strong sense of design and aesthetic, which we also covered this morning. And I just would kind of bring up some ideas. I've never been afraid to speak my mind. And Emily really liked it. And honestly, she was like the most incredible boss because she trusted me. I was 26 years old. And she was like, you're going to open our stores now and you're going to design them and we're going to hire the team and we're going to, I was just doing all the thing.

Speaker 2:
[04:08] I love that era or like that moment in a company when there's a lot of growth to be had and you find somebody like Davide is really connected to his employee, Nathan. But I'm like, you need your next. Like there's always like what I was for Reformation or like our friend, Joe, is it Amelie Andor, like you were to Glossier, you know, where you find this like young person that you like get to give them kind of like their first chance, but you like know how creative they are. Yeah, I'm really excited to find my person for Baroncini. I'm like, who's my person?

Speaker 3:
[04:39] I need my person to. And I always say like, damn, I wish I could hire like me 10 years ago. But I think that some people also can be very protective of like, you know, they want to be the queen of the castle. And it's like for me, I want the brand to live through the hands of other people. And Emily, she was like, we were encouraged to put on Instagram about the thing. And she was like, every employee of Glossier is an ambassador. You're representing the brand. There was a lot of kind of responsibility of working at Glossier because everybody was just staring at you the whole time.

Speaker 2:
[05:05] We talked about that last night with Nicholas from Ralph, where we were like talking about the difference. Like when Davide worked at Brunello, like all the Brunello employees like could not have Instagram.

Speaker 3:
[05:15] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[05:15] It was like super off brand for them. This is like 10 years ago, which by the way makes total sense. But now all these brands are understanding the value of having all your employees be ambassadors. Talking about how sometimes I can go really, really wrong and how these kids will be posting stuff. You're like, oh my God. But when it works, it's just really, and he showed me the Instagram account. I'm sure you follow this person and I need to find him. I was three cocktails in, but some beautiful boy that works at Celine. I don't know what he does. I think he's a knitwear designer at Celine or something, but every day he posts a selfie and it's like a purple shirt with a red sweater over it.

Speaker 3:
[05:49] I've seen this guy.

Speaker 2:
[05:50] He's just magnificent. He's just a beautiful boy that lives in Paris, that has this very simple Instagram that's so genius and really beautiful. He was like, what a beautiful way to experience a brand through the eyes of the people who are working there. I think it's obviously really important.

Speaker 3:
[06:06] A hundred percent, and I think it's also a testament to your leadership. If people are able to develop as personalities. I was talking with a few friends of mine who work at Condé Nast. We won't mention which publications, but they're absolutely not allowed to have a sub stack. And it's like, what do you mean? Do you want the best writers? If you want the best writers, you can't pay them a hundred grand a year and then tell them to not have personal projects. That's ridiculous. That's why everything is like-

Speaker 2:
[06:31] I'm workshopping this in my head. I could picture them, not that it's a good thing, internally thinking like, why would you read from that writer on whatever.com if you can read it from their sub-stack?

Speaker 3:
[06:42] Yeah, but then you have to pay people way more. Also, with brand tutorial and whatnot, there's just so many constraints. Of course. I mean.

Speaker 2:
[06:52] No, it's a horrible thing to do, but I understand them panicking and being like, we don't-

Speaker 3:
[06:56] It's just a death sentence for your talent recruitment. You're not going to get the best people. So then it's like, if you don't have- all of these amazing companies, they're people-powered ecosystems.

Speaker 2:
[07:06] God, that's so- I never considered what writers would be doing. That's so-

Speaker 3:
[07:10] Of course, there's a media drain. It's like the brain drain of media because they're just not paid enough.

Speaker 2:
[07:17] Yeah. How did you start, Ghia? I know that you on your own just realized that alcohol wasn't for you, and wanted a sheikher alternative. By the way, it's so funny because we were talking about it today, how many brands that started after you, that have started and fizzled out, and drinks are now such an oversaturated market. But I see Ghia walking everywhere, and you are the non-alcoholic beverage at every event. It's like that's what people drink. It's so, you really like, you did that, and it's amazing to continue to go to every event, every restaurant, everything, and it's like, yeah, you have replaced soda with an elevated drink that people love, tastes delicious, they feel excited to have. It totally replaces a cocktail beverage on the table. I think people have that way more than they would order a mocktail or anything. But we always talk about how hard this is. How from you realizing, okay, there's a hole in the market and I'd like an option, how did it start?

Speaker 3:
[08:29] Yeah. It's interesting the way that things took off. I always say, I wish that I had known more about it because then I would have never done it. Beverage is just so freaking hard.

Speaker 2:
[08:40] I can't believe how many beverages there are.

Speaker 3:
[08:41] I was so ignorant. It's so fragmented. It's a total race to the bottom because price is so important. It's such a volumes business. I think that I did it because I knew nothing, but I was fresh out of Glossier and I was like, I don't really want to drink. I'm feeling good not drinking. I was so burnt out. I had been working so hard. I had an amazing experience at Glossier, but I just wanted to recoup. I was like, enjoy the moments in between.

Speaker 2:
[09:06] You left there just naturally. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[09:09] I left after basically taking the flagship through Black Friday at the end of 2018. I had created the retail channel and it was like, next year we'll do nine pop-ups. I was like, I don't want to do nine pop-ups. I had been there for a few years.

Speaker 2:
[09:20] You knew your time was done.

Speaker 3:
[09:21] I was fried. When the company scale, you have less of a need for generalists and I'm very much someone who's like, I'm good at math, but I'm very creative and I just want to do all the things. I think early stage startup is probably where I thrive, even though now I'm like, wouldn't it be nice to have a boss? Tell me what to do and I'll just do it the best that I can.

Speaker 2:
[09:42] By the way, I'm doing that with Baroncini. I'm looking for my operator and I want that person to like, tell me what to do. But I'm like, I need someone that every day tells me what to do. I don't want to be like, I'm the CEO and I'm this, I don't want to be the dumbest person in the room, where's my smart person?

Speaker 3:
[09:59] Yeah, I totally agree with that. So anyways, I started, I was like, wouldn't it be nice if everybody was calling me boring because I wasn't drinking. I was like, 2018 was a totally different time. I was like, guys, nobody here knows how to cook, first of all. I'm cooking for more people than their chairs in my apartment and I'm still feeling super fucking excluded because, sorry, you'll have to curse on the podcast.

Speaker 2:
[10:19] Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 3:
[10:20] Big curser over here and I'm feeling really excluded because I'm not drinking and I start looking at alternatives. There's a few in the UK and they're all talking about the non-alcoholic part of the drink, which is like, I don't want fake gin. If I'm not drinking, I don't want fake gin. That's just going to remind me that I'm not drinking.

Speaker 2:
[10:41] 100 percent.

Speaker 3:
[10:42] Someone needs to make something else and it's still about the celebration. I always say the companies that fail, the companies that are too obsessed with their product, and you need to be very obsessed with your customer. For me, it's like Ghia is the catalyst for a good time, but the hero is not Ghia, the hero is the customer, the hero is the good time. That's why we sit alongside brands like Pia Baroncini, brands that are about living. You and I talk about work a lot because we talk about how we optimize work so that we can have a better life. I feel like that's always through the lens of like, I want to do this better so that I can have more time with my family, more time with Davide, Adam, whoever, like our Italian men and just more time at the beach, more time looking hot, more time feeling good.

Speaker 2:
[11:24] Well, we also survived busy culture, a lot of busy bragging, which was a really big deal when, I hate calling it the boss, Bay Barra, but we watched that all happen, like the rise of every female founder.

Speaker 3:
[11:37] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[11:37] It was like every time you opened your computer or Instagram, it was like some woman on a cover had just raised 50 million, had just raised this, had just done that, and the way that we were propping them up, we were like everyone was looking for every excuse to tear them down as soon as possible.

Speaker 3:
[11:52] Oh, for sure.

Speaker 2:
[11:52] It was overwhelming and very scary, and over hiring was also such a big deal because I remember being like, once private equity and VC money came in, it all of a sudden became like every company had to hire this person who went to a Harvard Business School, period. They need to be here, we need this person, that person needs three people because then it looked at the companies, so you were spending more money that you were more successful, but the money really wasn't happening.

Speaker 3:
[12:19] Everybody wanted to be a tech valuation company, so everyone wanted to have these custom websites that just weren't working, and that was costing them so much money. It's kind of like promoting toxic hustle culture, and proving, I remember speaking to a founder, and she was like, I want to be on the cover of Forbes, and I want to be pregnant, and I understand that you want to show other women that you can do it all, but actually, it's a very exclusive way to think because a lot of women can't do that, and probably shouldn't want to do that. We're supposed to be nurturing our children, we're supposed to be in this way, I'm actually so domestic, I'm like, I want to be present for my kids, I want to be like, I don't know, I think there's phases of like, I want to work really hard right now, I don't have children, so that I can be like the best mom that I can be when the time comes, and have the time, those moments of emptiness are so precious.

Speaker 2:
[13:06] Totally. I'm always so excited to tell you about our sponsor, Avocado Green Mattress, because their certified organic mattresses are specifically designed to relieve pressure points, support your body the way that it needs, and help you actually get deep sleep, the restorative sleep that you've been missing. Every mattress is made with thoughtfully sourced materials built with real care, so you get incredible sleep night after night. And I'm trying to make more intentional purchases like this for my house, especially with the things that I use every day. You know, we have a lot of people in our house, a lot of human beings, a lot of dogs, and choosing an organic mattress or a solid wood bed frame, like Avocado's city bed frame, brings timeless design quality and sustainability into the bedrooms in my house. And I know that I'm not bringing any harsh chemicals into our house. These are made, not manufactured. Avocado focuses on thoughtful craftsmanship, creating products that feel intentionally made rather than mass produced, so you can feel so good when you buy. And they have natural materials that are really made to perform. They're made with real certified organic materials. They don't just feel better. They also provide better support, breathability and durability. Avocado products are made, not manufactured, thoughtfully crafted with real materials, delivering long lasting comfort and support. So if you go to avocadogreenmattress.com/best, you can check out their mattresses and furniture sale. That is avocadogreenmattress.com/best, avocadogreenmattress.com/best.

Speaker 1:
[14:45] Have you ever wondered why celebrities look so good or which beauty treatments are worth the money or even how to spice up your sex life? I'm Susan Yatta and we get into all of that and more on my podcast, Glow Lab. Every week I sit down with board certified doctors and also industry experts and insiders to answer the questions that you're already asking when it comes to beauty, plastic surgery, wellness and of course sex. Because looking and feeling good is one thing, but knowing how to get there, that's what we all want to know. So if you want real answers, make sure you check out Glow Lab wherever you get podcasts.

Speaker 2:
[15:26] I told Davide last week, really seriously, I opened my phone and there was some new rollout of these 15 women that had died. And it's women I know and I'm so happy for them, but something hit me. I love when I get these weird life moments. Sometimes it will just pop in my head and I'm like, oh, I'm supposed to follow this. My intuition told me, I said, I am not going to take part. When Baroncini relaunches and the whole press thing happens, which I love and is part of the thing and whatever. I'm so grateful to be able to talk about the brand and hopefully get it as new product rolls out, having it be placed in the right places. But I said, I'm not doing any interviews, I'm politely declining every female founder, Roundup, Inc, this, that, all of it. I don't want to be included. I don't want to be this thing.

Speaker 3:
[16:23] Well, it's like, can we just be called a fucking founder? Why do we need to be a female founder? I get it, you want to support the minority, but I think we just need to normalize women having businesses. We talk about this a lot, we need to normalize women wanting money, and women earning money. A lot of my friends are breadwinners. That's really cool. That's the new balance of, isn't it great that you can support your partner being creative, isn't it? I don't know, it feels very antiquated, the whole women's thing, it felt very progressive, and now it feels very passive.

Speaker 2:
[17:04] I just want it to be what's normal. I don't want to be like, here I am, a founder, and a creator. It's like, cool, you're running a company, and if you want to be an entrepreneur, you're going to innately have to do all of these fucking things, and it's hard, and it doesn't make you better than somebody who's taking a salary job somewhere and gets to leave their office at five or six and doesn't have to think about work when they get home. These are all just what works for people, and it doesn't make me better. This is like an odd path that I went down by accident, and I feel a lot of, Davide and I have had many conversations where we're like, should we just go work for someone? Yeah, totally. Which we don't mind, but I think there is a lot of ego involved, obviously, in wanting to see these projects through and get to the other side. I feel calling for Baroncini. I feel like it's something that is 20 years of accumulation.

Speaker 3:
[17:54] But it fits in your life so perfectly. And you too.

Speaker 2:
[17:58] And you see it, and you see when you make glasses or when you do the jerseys or when you do this and expand into your other products, it's like, it's your world. And so it feels natural.

Speaker 3:
[18:07] I started Ghia because I was so obsessed with the idea of this product and I wanted this product to exist. But actually, I had worked for CEOs for a number of years before and it was like an amazing place for me to go from being like a nerd to being a creative person. Like under, if I had worked for myself before working at Glossier, I would actually never have discovered this side of me. It was honestly fully Emily who kind of like pushed me. She was like, you know, with me, like, yeah. She was like, she was like this idea, but bigger. Like she was like, you want to blow people's mind. I mean, it was obviously a very cool job. It was also a moment in time when money was flowing. You know, like, I always say like people ask me about fundraising all the time. I'm like, I honestly can't help you. I wanted to raise $600,000 for Ghia in 2019. It took me a week and I ended the week with $900,000. Like, because it was so easy at the time. Everybody just wrote me like a 50k check and that was it.

Speaker 2:
[18:59] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[18:59] You know, that's irreplicable before. And like, it's nothing that anyone is doing wrong. It's just the markets, the ties have turned.

Speaker 2:
[19:06] Well, now there's, think about how many more brands there are. I mean, when I launched LPA, there were, it was like a big deal at the time. I mean, it is a big deal, but there was, now everybody has a brand. And by the way, thank God, and there's room for all of them. And it's amazing. But yeah, there's like not enough money to go around, which is like such an interesting, fascinating thing. And I think, I think what you have been able to do was also very timely. You know, like, thank God, you were like really at this like perfect time. Yeah. So I want to know, like, what are the two? We could do more than two. We could only do one. Like hardest aspects of running Ghia from a logistical standpoint that nobody thinks about that like you now even have empathy for when you think about like other people's, like with clothing, I'll be like people importing things. I'm always like, oh, my God, I wonder what the duties are like, or like, how did they get that here or like?

Speaker 3:
[19:59] Well, our drink is incredibly heavy to ship. So it's incredibly expensive to ship. And so you end up like naturally losing a lot of customers to places like Amazon that do their own distribution, which is really tricky. The other thing is we have a business that has to go through a distributor network. So even though and we're getting into the kind of like boring stuff about beverage, but people are like, that's so great. You're non-alcoholic, you can sell to anyone. Yeah, but not anyone is going to deliver to the local coffee shop, and the local restaurant, and the local movie theater. So you're actually totally stuck within this machine that was created by the alcohol world. I think the third thing is a bit more like marketing, but our product is really expensive to make because we only use a 100 percent natural ingredients. My yuzu comes from Japan. I'm just obsessed with ingredients and I'm like, well, if I'm going to do it with bad ingredients, why did I just spend 10 years of my life doing this? You lose the whole purpose of it. I stand by my formula, I stand by my ingredient. Ghia is dry, it's a little bitter, it has character, in a way, it's like me, and America loves sugar. The other thing is it's a perishable product, so we can't export it. It's so expensive. A lot of people want Ghia to be in France, and it's a month and a half on the boat, and duty, and whatnot, and my ingredients, people don't assign the same value to a product that doesn't buzz you, because it doesn't have, it has natural ingredients, so there's some functional benefits for a nervous system, but we're not trying to make you feel a certain way, we're not trying to make you feel drunk without alcohol. And the drink's just really expensive, and that's just the reality, it's a very premium drink. But I also feel fine when my friends, three-year-olds have a can. I feel good about this.

Speaker 2:
[21:43] It's really cute when all the little kids now drink it.

Speaker 3:
[21:45] The babies love it. They love the dry.

Speaker 2:
[21:48] I know every kid's birthday party has Ghia at this point, which I think is so cute.

Speaker 3:
[21:52] It's like bougie kids.

Speaker 2:
[21:53] It's like bougie kids. But I'd rather my kids drink something that I know is natural and yummy than like...

Speaker 3:
[21:58] I know I'm gonna jump off the wall after.

Speaker 2:
[21:59] No, and that's also I think really why a lot of parents have it around, is it's obviously we know that there's not sugar in it. Yeah, people don't think about the fact that products sit on boats.

Speaker 3:
[22:07] Yeah, it's busy.

Speaker 2:
[22:08] Or have to get on planes, or have to get driven across the country.

Speaker 3:
[22:12] Like America is so big, you know, like France is the size of Texas, so the freight costs are so crazy. The freight costs, you know, when there's a war, I mean, everything, it impacts everything. And like, yeah, our product is just really heavy.

Speaker 2:
[22:25] I had this conversation yesterday with somebody where I was like, people always want to be like, well, Italy is this and like, don't you just want to, and everything's better. I'm like, hi, Italy is the size of California, you guys. Obviously, things can be done much differently because America is fucking huge. Like, how can you possibly compare these two places?

Speaker 3:
[22:43] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[22:45] It makes no sense.

Speaker 3:
[22:46] It's also like, yes, it's a good life. I'll say this because I'm European, Italy is a third world country. I love it. I want to move there. Have you tried renting a car there? It's crazy. Have you tried doing any sort of home renovation there? It's just like, I love Italy, but I don't want to run a store.

Speaker 2:
[23:02] When these posts go online where they're like, a dollar for a villa and I'm like, you guys know why those are a dollar? Because the town is falling apart.

Speaker 3:
[23:10] It has no plumbing.

Speaker 2:
[23:11] There's nothing in it and try to get a man to show up to fix your toilet in Italy. Which by the way, is amazing. It's a completely different lifestyle. The comforts that we have here and the things that we take for granted all day long because everybody loves to pretend that everything's the worst. In other countries, there are things that are not, listen, I'm sure there are many expats who live there and absolutely loved and are having the best time. Doesn't mean it's not a place to be, but we have a lot of ease and privilege living in America that people take for granted all day long.

Speaker 3:
[23:40] There's a reason why we all come to America, and even though I disagree with a lot of things that America is doing right now, I'm also still here, so you have to be honest with the reason why. And yes, I hope that the next chapter of my life will have me slaving over Palazzo in Italy, but you'll tune in.

Speaker 2:
[24:09] I'm so excited to tell you about our sponsor, Koyuchi, especially considering April's Earth Month. Koyuchi is in a league of its own when it comes to bedding and bath and home products and their organic satin and flannel sheet sets are the key to a more comfortable, healthier, sleepier round. I found them on Goop years ago and started buying their products and have just loved them very deeply ever since. And since it's Earth Month, I've been trying to make small changes that actually matter. And one easy way to upgrade is by switching to Koichi bedding. They use organic cotton, fair trade, certified factories and really focus on responsible sourcing and manufacturing. It's just like one of those rare brands that feels really luxurious, but aligns with how we all are really trying to shop. So invest in your health and the best sleep of your life. All Koichi sheets are made of natural fibers and certified to be free of toxins, harmful chemicals that seep into your skin, which is like such a scary thing. None of us really think about that much. And also they're just so soft and gentle on your skin. You sleep well and safely with Koichi. It is luxury that you could feel good about. So whether it's bedding bath or towels, table linens, crib sheets or spa robes, all of their products are the absolute highest quality made with natural fibers, low impact dyes, certified fair trade. Koichi looks great, feels amazing, and is good for your health and the planet. So if you want healthy, organic, and luxury bedding that lasts the last time you need Koichi, get 15% off your first order when you visit koichi.com/best. That's koichi.com/best for 15% off. That is coyuchi.com/best. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, who is our exclusive snack and coffee sponsor. IQ Bar Protein Bars, also their IQ Mix Hydration Mixes and the IQ Joe Mushroom Coffees are absolutely delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuels that you need to absolutely win your day. I always say this, but the sampler pack is really going to be where you get like your mouth bang for your buck here because you're going to get nine IQ bars, eight IQ Mix Sticks and four of the IQ Joe Sticks that are all delicious. It's an assortment of flavors, you can pick your favorite. They're all clean label certified. They're free of gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, artificial ingredients. You know, Carmella and I are protein girlies and we love a delicious treat. We're also not trying to spike our blood sugar. And that is why we live and die by the IQ bars. They're plant and protein bars. It's just the smarter snack choice because they have plenty of plant protein, tons of fiber and no added sugar. They're so good. And by the way, IQ Joe is a mushroom coffee. That is awesome. It provides mental clarity. It has 200 milligrams of natural caffeine. It has four different flavors that are absolutely delicious, but get the little sample pack and you get to try all of them. IQ bar has become a huge part of my daily routine. And right now IQ bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ bar products, including the ultimate sampler pack plus free shipping. So to get your 20% off, just text best to 64,000. Text best to 64,000. That is best to 64,000 message and data rates may apply. So where is Ghia right now? Like, where are you mentally with the brand? I mean, how many years has it been?

Speaker 3:
[27:41] Ghia is turning six this year. I have been working on it for eight years. I mean, I started when I was, yeah, 28.

Speaker 2:
[27:48] Wow.

Speaker 3:
[27:48] And we launched when I was 30, and we are in Whole Foods now, which is really exciting. But it's also, you know, like, the middle part is not fun. Like, I love creating brands, and like, Ghia right now needs, like, fuel and scale. And that's the really hard part, you know, to get to the other side. Like, no, my drink doesn't have protein in it. It doesn't have, so, and it's also like, Oh, my God.

Speaker 2:
[28:13] I just had this, like, funny vision of you being like, protein Ghia, creatine Ghia, I mean, acid Ghia.

Speaker 3:
[28:19] We should have done this for April's food. No, but seriously, investors asked me that last year, and I was like, are you guys serious right now? And I want to build a company. We were also talking about this this morning. I want to build a company like I have time on my side. I want to build a legacy brand and like good things take time. But the problem is like time is money. And once you're in retail, things are really expensive. And it's like a race to basically protect yourself space. So, you add Whole Foods, buy it there, you know, it comes double for us. I'm trying to still, you know, have some fun with the brand and not just like optimize everything where, you know, my cookbook's coming out in three weeks, which is super crazy. And we're doing more collaborations. And, you know, I think that overall, like we are seeing that even though it became a very competitive space, there's been like, we have inspired a lot of non-alcoholic brands to launch. And like, you know, that was good. But a lot of them are going out of business because it's really hard business. And I hope that the category sediments and the legacy brands will survive.

Speaker 2:
[29:14] So, well, what I really think a lot of this comes down to, and like it came up yesterday when I had Yolanda on the podcast, we were talking about like the people's like intention around traveling.

Speaker 3:
[29:26] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[29:26] And like people's, and like what are we all really searching for, right? Because there's this whole trend on Instagram where it's like, I found this hidden gem. And I'm like, guys, like you didn't, why do you feel like it's okay to say you discovered something? Also, it's like super colonial. I'm like, why are you like colonizing a fucking beach in Puglia that like you think you've found? But not to be little and make fun of that, which is fine. And it's more so everyone is searching for this to post about this feeling that they're having in this place. Yeah. And it's like this hidden gem culture that all these like travel bloggers do are like, I found this thing. It's like, what's the impetus behind that? Is that somebody is trying to essentially just like feel something, right? So, you know, in the last 10 years, you've seen how many brands pop up, all these DDC brands with all this fucking funding, that was like a made up concept, you know, that someone was like, I'm going to disrupt this. And there's all these tech people behind it, and they could build it, and they could do the thing and da, da, da. But unless it's part of a real world, and people feel like they want to be a part of it, and by the way, that doesn't mean to me, mean that it's for everybody. If like a good amount of people are like, I love what's happening over there.

Speaker 3:
[30:46] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[30:46] And like, I want to feel in my home, like it looks to feel on this person's Instagram. Yeah. And I want to have that product because I feel like, and you're creating the lifestyle and that's branding, that's Ralph, that's everybody.

Speaker 3:
[30:58] Yeah, totally.

Speaker 2:
[30:59] But so you see when these brands kind of pop up and fall off, it's because they're missing that. And like when there's someone like you behind a brand, where it's like, yeah, like the bottle turned in, if the bottle turned into a person, it's you.

Speaker 3:
[31:10] Yeah, totally. People meet me and they're like, oh, this makes sense.

Speaker 2:
[31:14] 100 percent. The apartment, your life, your taste, your everything. And you didn't build a world, this is your life. And so I hate this like world building. I'm like, yeah, why are we building something? Why aren't, why doesn't the world give us the thing? You know what I mean? You're making a product from the world.

Speaker 3:
[31:29] It's like, why are you fabricating it? You need to fabricate it. Actually, like I really think about Ghia as like sharing, but there is this feeling of like escapism. And we always say like, what else are we bottling? It's not just that there's Yuzu in the drink. It's like, you're bottling joy in a way, and you're bottling the feeling of being together. And I think that, you know, we sort of created this aesthetic that was kind of the, it was like a, the post-Glossier aesthetic. It was like, everything was pastel and everything was surf because everything was made for the internet to be very legible on Instagram. And I was like, yes, for the real world. Like, we're going to make this font that's not a font that, like, people think the word is from different countries. And it was, you know, the idea was that it was just to have fun in real life. And like, yeah, like I launched in 2020, not ideal for real life gatherings, but we made it through. And it's, it's just about like having fun. You live your life the same way. You're always like, there's like, you know, many people's in the garden, like the dogs are everywhere.

Speaker 2:
[32:23] And like, well, that's why I'm not, I'm not nervous about it.

Speaker 3:
[32:25] Yeah. Like, like the olive oil is just the, it's like you need olive oil for the life. It's like the fuel.

Speaker 2:
[32:30] Yeah. And I saw another brand the other day and I don't, that is a similar category that has to do with Italy. And I was like, whoa, I was like, this is so fabricated. This is like, like the every post for the brand was a photo shoot. And sure, do I need campaigns around the tons of launches I'm going to have? Totally. But, you know, I'm like, every product is just in our home and it's going to like live on our wall. And, you know, like I've been trying to source like an antique, like plate racks because I was like, oh, I just want to like, every time we launch a new plate, it just like goes in the plate rack. And then we get to look at like our collection every day, like in our home, and it's not like a studio, there's no like fake photo shoot for the thing. And I was like, oh, wouldn't it be cute if like every time we did a launch, it's like, we just invite, even if it's like my mom or my siblings, like we just have a dinner and like someone's there with a film camera and it's not this set up wine being poured in a thing that's fake or whatever. Like even that's like a really hard part about us doing, why it was like we kind of why we stopped doing the cooking videos is it's really hard for Davide to wrap his head around making food that we're then not sitting down and enjoying as like a big meal as a family. And so he'd be like, why are we filming this at 10.30 in the morning?

Speaker 3:
[33:48] I was going to say, like, I mean, you know, obviously like my publisher, everyone is like, you need to be posting more cooking videos because in LA, I was doing so much of that. I love cooking. I grew up cooking. I grew up in the south of France. Like there was like all over the floor everywhere. I think you and I relate to that. And then it's like suddenly I'm living in an apartment in New York. I work in an office. I get home at 7 p.m. There is no light. Like you don't want to be looking at these cooking videos, you know?

Speaker 2:
[34:13] Totally.

Speaker 3:
[34:13] So I got my book deal because I was cooking all the time and like living that life. And the LA lifestyle was amazing, but it's just really difficult. And then I realized all these influencers are cooking dinner in the morning. That's so insane.

Speaker 2:
[34:25] Isn't that so funny?

Speaker 3:
[34:26] I can't be like, hey guys, I'm going to take Thursday off because I'm cooking pasta, limonade.

Speaker 2:
[34:31] That's what people do.

Speaker 3:
[34:32] What? No, you can't.

Speaker 2:
[34:33] And I'm like, Davide, I'm always like, this is like the only time your skills are that works. And he's just like, this feels really inauthentic.

Speaker 3:
[34:39] I know.

Speaker 2:
[34:39] And so I'm like, what a gift and a curse that like, yeah, we're not cooking limonade at fucking 9 a.m. in the morning because he's also just like, this is so wasteful. Like unless we all sit down, we should be able to get somebody over, but then like the lighting needs to be good. And then it's like a very, it's like an interesting problem, but it comes down to there being so much sincerity and like what we're doing that it's not. So yeah, it's just, so I've never been so confident. I'm sure you really feel this way about Ghia where you're like, that aspect of it, like the branding part, the lifestyle aspect that I think, yeah, oftentimes brands really worry about and try to like get the content. That's like the least thing that I'm worried about.

Speaker 3:
[35:19] That's the easy part because that just flows out of me. And even when we get copied a bunch and whatnot, I'm like, I don't want to do the same thing twice. Like I moved on. I'm like, I started this company when I was 28 and I was single, I just moved to LA. I was consulting for Sweetgreen because I was making money while I was building Ghia, I was doing all these things. I had just worked at Glossier and now I'm like, I'm 35 and in a relationship. I live in New York City. I own an apartment in Paris. I just like I want to be closer to my family. In a way, my life has changed. I'm just going to cook at night. You guys can look at the nighttime cooking videos.

Speaker 2:
[35:54] When does the book come out?

Speaker 3:
[35:55] April 28th. Oh my God.

Speaker 2:
[35:57] First of all, congratulations. It's so beautiful. The name Riviera is so to die for. But by the way, in my head, I'm like, well, you'll be in Paris soon for summer, and we get to see you make all the recipes in your apartment in Paris.

Speaker 3:
[36:08] Yes, and there's great lights in my apartment in Paris.

Speaker 2:
[36:09] Where do you go on vacation?

Speaker 3:
[36:11] We are going to go. So my boyfriend's family is from Corbara, and there's a tomato festival in Corbara. He's been dying to go to. So we're going to go there mid-July, and we haven't really planned the rest.

Speaker 2:
[36:25] Does your family always go to the water?

Speaker 3:
[36:26] My family is in the Levena in Provence, in Egyalière.

Speaker 2:
[36:30] So you're going to film your recipes when you visit your mommy?

Speaker 3:
[36:32] Yeah, exactly. Also, in France in the summer, it's nighttime at 10 p.m., so it works really nicely.

Speaker 2:
[36:36] So nice how late the sun is.

Speaker 3:
[36:38] My grandfather had an apartment in Cannes and was living in Cannes, and so we still have the apartment in Cannes that's on the water. It's so cute.

Speaker 2:
[36:46] It's a little two-bedroom.

Speaker 3:
[36:47] And you open the blinds, and the whole window is blue. It's insane.

Speaker 2:
[36:51] That's so beautiful. But that also really speaks to the visuals of your book.

Speaker 3:
[36:56] We actually shot the book in Cannes and in Nice. And my mom and my grandpa were from Nice. And we could actually talk. I have this vision in my head when you say the plate stand. We went last year to Puglia, and there's this place called the Convento, which is this woman, Athena. She's amazing. And she bought this old convent in Puglia. And her entire kitchen is plates from Puglia and these old wooden racks. It's insane. You would freak out. I'm going to find you some pictures on my phone and send to you.

Speaker 2:
[37:26] That's my vision for the Baroncini stores, is just all the plate racks and all the different plates.

Speaker 3:
[37:30] But by the way, my boyfriend and I were like, what are we going to do in Puglia? And we looked at the kitchen and we were like, we're finding a flea. And we drove an hour and a half to a random flea. I brought back a statue of Padre Pio in my carry-on suitcase. That's amazing.

Speaker 2:
[37:42] By the way, this is why we wanted to do Baroncini, because every time we would go to Italy, I'd want to buy ceramics or I'd want to buy the Mori heads. There's one place in Syracuse that makes ceramics, and they make these giant Mori planters, as you know, but they're the big ones that can sit on the ground. And for eight years, I've been trying to buy these fucking Mori heads and have them sent to me. And every year I go in and I'm like, okay, can you ship them to California? And they go, oh, mama mia, it's going to be expensive. I said, it's going to be $450. You know how much it's going to be? We do this every year. It's worth it. I really want to spend the $450. By the way, the planters were so fucking cheap.

Speaker 3:
[38:19] I know.

Speaker 2:
[38:21] I'm like, please send them to me. And I get on the fucking WhatsApp with them and they just can't figure it out and it overwhelms them and it goes to shit. And so I was like, I just have to be able to do this. I want to just be able to be the annoying American person that's making the things and making them easily accessible. I know. But now I have to figure out the logistics of that because I'm like, okay, if I'm importing all this stuff, it shouldn't then travel from New York to California because that's going to be extra cost.

Speaker 3:
[38:50] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[38:50] But the warehouse where this all should be, which is also have a studio in the warehouse so I can shoot out the product should really be in New Jersey because then I'm not, then all the products not going to be one million dollars. So I'm not, then I'm like, then how, so what I have to fly out here to shoot products? I know.

Speaker 3:
[39:05] And you also have the sunlight and yeah, you need to speak to Kendall at Olive Atelier. I feel like she figured it out.

Speaker 2:
[39:12] Literally, she's been one of my closest friends because we both from Jack revolve together. And she, by the way, still speaks about herself like she has not done what she's doing.

Speaker 3:
[39:23] I went on her site recently and I was like, oh, you have like a full blown like, like restoration hardware style collection of things.

Speaker 2:
[39:29] Can you believe what her fucking website looks like?

Speaker 3:
[39:32] I know. It's so amazing.

Speaker 2:
[39:33] When I place an order, I get, I don't want to be overly communicated with. I get the perfect message. Your order is on its way. I'm like, thank you for my one. And it's not also an email and also a thing. I'm not like, get away. You're like, I can't stand this. The websites to die for, the product. By the way, every time they have a launch, they completely re-merchandise that warehouse.

Speaker 3:
[39:54] Wow. And she hosts events there.

Speaker 2:
[39:57] She hosts events there. I see the perfect amount of ads for it in the most perfect places on the Internet. It's so brilliant. And the other day, I was like, I never ask other people if I could pick their... I'll text you every once in a while, like, what did you do for this? But I'm like, literally, Kendall, like, however you set this up, and she's like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm like, it's so funny that she still has imposter syndrome.

Speaker 3:
[40:18] She has a logistics business without knowing it.

Speaker 2:
[40:21] She has a logistics business.

Speaker 3:
[40:22] Amazing. Like, with the product being heavy, talk about the product being heavy. Like, I bought a mortar and pestle from her because she hosted an event at the Ghia house and on the bar. It was that marble. It's not marble. Maybe it's just like a stone. Mortar and pestle. That mortar and pestle is like 100 pounds. You know?

Speaker 2:
[40:37] I have one in my garden that I can't move anywhere.

Speaker 3:
[40:40] I'm moving to New York. I'm like, what the hell am I going to do?

Speaker 2:
[40:42] I'm going to get extra.

Speaker 3:
[40:44] Like, there's no way. You know? And like a friend was bringing her car back. And I literally put it in my friend's car because I love it so much.

Speaker 2:
[40:51] By the way, think about what an issue that was for you. She has a thousand of those things. I know we're going to start doing container. Like, it's just the whole thing is like, yeah. And logistics with someone in Europe, it's like, I'm on a WhatsApp with somebody.

Speaker 3:
[41:04] I'm just like, I know. Well, I love importing stuff from Italy. I was always like, your couch, your couch. Because I post my couch on Instagram a lot. Well, it's, you know, it's the place next to my window that has a mirror. And I'm like, yeah, I just bought that couch from like a dealer that goes to the fiesta every month. You know, I love her, Monica. She's great.

Speaker 2:
[41:23] I know. Davide imported his Defender that we bought for like dirt cheap and imported it from Umbria.

Speaker 3:
[41:29] And it's like, it's like a quarter of the price.

Speaker 2:
[41:31] Oh, my God.

Speaker 3:
[41:32] You just have to be willing to put in the work. And it's like, I never mind. Like when I did my apartment in Paris, Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had a six or seven AM call. And it was like a walkthrough and then a recap with my architect. And that's how we stayed on schedule. And it's like, you know what? Like I have to show for from the past eight years of like building this. I have like a 600 square feet apartment in Paris that is like top to like bottom to ceiling, like just me. It's all everything. It's in a tent. Oh, it's amazing. You have to go take Carmella. You go on a shopping trip.

Speaker 2:
[42:04] That's like one of, I think that's like the best neighborhood.

Speaker 3:
[42:07] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[42:07] The vibe in the tent.

Speaker 3:
[42:08] It's on the border of the second. So it's like near Arrémétiers. So you're like, you can walk in seven minutes. You're in, at Grave, you know, the coffee shop or Partisan. But also it's very residential. I have a lot of friends in a tent. I like just bike around everywhere. It's amazing. It's my happy place.

Speaker 2:
[42:24] Wow. Good for him. So happy for you. That's so amazing.

Speaker 3:
[42:27] I just put my boyfriend's name on the mailbox because we read at the mailboxes. And I was like, look at me. I have a house.

Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[45:15] Yeah. You know, I'm so grateful for the way that I get to connect, that I wait, that I get to make Ghia be personal. Like every email that we send from My Voice is like our top performing email. Every email that's like, sometimes we have emails that have like one Ghia link in there, but it's like what I read this month, what I blah, blah, blah. And it's always the best email. And I'm just like, because people like to have this kind of authentic voice behind it.

Speaker 2:
[45:38] Of course, it's you.

Speaker 3:
[45:39] But the whole like requirement of like the founder led marketing, the like, you know, being put together, being like, attending events, dah, dah, dah. Like, that's really hard for me. I don't have the headspace for it. I don't really have the time for it. I think that people love to, like, America loves the rags to riches stories. But once you're successful, like you're in, you know, like you are the way we're observed and the way we're evaluating all the time. Like, I find that really, really difficult.

Speaker 2:
[46:07] Yeah. What are you doing to like now?

Speaker 3:
[46:09] I mean, I don't, I mean, you know, we talk about this a lot. Like, you just, you like ignore it. You stop looking and you kind of focus on the good. Like, I want to believe that for every person that is very critical of the way that, you know, I show my life, there's hopefully like 10 people that were maybe wanting to not drink and, you know, felt like they got a little help from Ghia or maybe wanted to.

Speaker 2:
[46:29] Definitely like a one to 100 thing, because there's way more nice people than there are gross people.

Speaker 3:
[46:34] It's like, if I can, you know, inspire someone to like work really hard and like, like buy their tiny spot in Paris and do the thing. Like I was telling you, I was like, my mortgage in Paris is 1500 years a month. Like you can do it. It took me three years to find the spot. But like, if anything, like I want to, we talk about the whole like girl boss thing or whatever. Like I'm not interested. But if there's like young girls are looking at me and are like, oh my God, she did it and I can do the thing and I can be an expender for some of them. Like I want to do that, you know, like and in the same way that like you are an expender for me with like family, you're able to do so many things. Our friend Baba, like you know, she's like, she's four girls, she's a company, she has an amazing relationship with her husband, she looks amazing, she's training for Spartan Race right now.

Speaker 2:
[47:13] I can't believe where her output is, man.

Speaker 3:
[47:16] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[47:17] I got a little bit of a taste of how her life like logistically functions and like that she is like, she said she's like a quarterly with her husband.

Speaker 3:
[47:30] I know, she would have sub-stuck about it, it's insane.

Speaker 2:
[47:32] I want to have her on the podcast and not talk about anything other than like, okay, Monday.

Speaker 3:
[47:37] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[47:37] What are we doing?

Speaker 3:
[47:38] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[47:38] I can literally just go through her calendar. She said that she leaves her phone in her at-home office at 5 p.m. to go downstairs and she doesn't look at her phone again until-

Speaker 3:
[47:48] Until they go to bed, right?

Speaker 2:
[47:50] Until the next morning, babe.

Speaker 3:
[47:51] That's insane.

Speaker 2:
[47:52] It's insane.

Speaker 3:
[47:53] Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[47:55] She's like, I have a family iPad, but she's like, that's, we could, you know, if I need to, but she's like, it's, I'm not looking at anything.

Speaker 3:
[48:01] It's incredible. I mean, the way that her and her husband have, are so intentional in the way that they design their life is so inspiring to me. And they have been, you know, they met in Sweden when they were super young and they're just like rock solid.

Speaker 2:
[48:18] Yeah. What I liked about what I learned from her over the past couple of days is like, you know, because I think when you see another woman, like, and I see people just do this all the time. Like, it was like, well, she has money or she has this or she has that, but it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3:
[48:35] Like, by the way, she didn't know. She did not know, but I'm not.

Speaker 2:
[48:40] And like, I don't know why we're success shaming people. But if they had two pennies to rub together, their life would operate exactly the fucking same. Like, you can see how their brain, and what I loved that she brought up as an example was she was saying to her husband in one of these quarterly meetings, she's like, I haven't been able to work out. I need it for my mental health. It hasn't been able to happen. And it was interesting because it was like a group of women. So we were all kind of like, and a couple of moms were like, we don't have enough time in the day. And Baba was like, you do.

Speaker 3:
[49:11] Yeah, you do.

Speaker 2:
[49:12] So if you need to go to bed an hour earlier and wake up an hour earlier, that's what you do. And I started doing that recently, so I was kind of on my own. And listen, I still need to go to bed a little bit earlier. But that little thing is life changing.

Speaker 3:
[49:27] Life changing.

Speaker 2:
[49:28] Life changing. I'm optimizing myself so much. I'm almost 40. So at this point, should we talk about how much we are really enjoying AI and how we can use it to optimize our work?

Speaker 3:
[49:37] Do you want to talk about Claude, my best friend?

Speaker 2:
[49:40] I think we should talk about it.

Speaker 3:
[49:41] I know. That's ultimate. I know this is a very polarizing topic, and I think that it's really important to preface that we shouldn't choose for this to happen to the world. You know, America's obsession with oil is not my fault, like specifically, and like, yes, it's draining a lot of natural resources. But like, I'm talking about, like, people being mad at AI and deciding to opt out as a way to have, like, quiet resistance and really what's happening is that women are further falling behind, and I don't want to see that happen.

Speaker 2:
[50:10] No, and can I just say it's like this weird, if you really feel that way about lots of things, no one should be drinking almond milk. Like, no one should be, like, almond milk uses more water, like.

Speaker 3:
[50:21] By the way, I have a mill, I compost. Like, I'm obsessed with composting. I'm obsessed with reducing my, like, methane, you know, emissions. Like, it's like, I think that there's a level of intentionality. I don't use AI for everything, but there's definitely, like, hours in a day that you can take back. Like, I get this amazing, like, daily briefing in the morning with all my thing.

Speaker 2:
[50:37] Tell me about the daily briefing. So, we're talking about, so I've used Chat and Cloud. I still use both a little bit. I recently had Chat tell me everything about myself that I said I'm switching over. So, I just uploaded it into Cloud, so Cloud knows everything about me. And then I did Cloud, I downloaded Cowork on my computer and I synced it with my email. I mean, I'm sorry, I synced it with my calendar, but you have it synced to your email as well.

Speaker 3:
[51:04] I have it synced to my email. I have it synced to all my Google Drive. You know, you have to be essential with privacy and I was like, I'm giving the robot full access to everything.

Speaker 2:
[51:14] I really don't care.

Speaker 3:
[51:16] Like, I basically, and by the way, probably by the time the podcast comes out, this will be outdated because Cloud has been launching so many new features, but I also have it synced to my phone. And I have Whisperflow on my phone because I like to speak to my phone and I have an accent and Siri doesn't understand my accent. And that's like a very real reality of like, like, yeah, like Siri has no idea. And like, she still doesn't know how to spell Ghia and, you know, Whisperflow, I inputted Ghia in it. It knows, I send feedback to the team very quickly now. Like they have everything by the time they get to work in the morning. It's just like really optimized. And so, so one thing that happens is sometimes I get into these days where I have like 10 or 11 calls, right? And on every call, I promise people to follow ups. And I write it in my notebook and then like, you know, I have to go to something and like the notebook doesn't get reopened until the following morning and everybody on my team is waiting for stuff. I integrated, you can integrate it with like granola or Circleback, and it basically sends you all of your follow ups into one Slack. So it can either check it every two hours or have it at the end of the day. And it's like, here's everything that you owe people. But beyond that, you can also train it to like information digging. Like I don't have an assistant. We were talking about this. I have a really small team where seven people on the team at Ghia, three of these people on the sales team. I do everything myself. I write my sub-stack, I like do my paid partnerships. I'm like figuring out to use edits. And like, it's, I'm not trying to be a hero here. I'm just saying we're operating super lean right now. And so I will take all of the automations and help that I can get for the super mindless stuff, because at least for me, it has helped me to be more creative. And like, it means that on Saturday, I don't use my phone and I just write my sub-stack and I do my collages and like, that's my own creative moment. Like Claude is not involved in that. But like in the morning, I get a briefing that's basically like, hey, here are all the follow ups you need from Slack. I don't like opening Slack in the morning and looking at every channel has my name on it. Everyone, like being a founder means that everybody needs something from you.

Speaker 2:
[53:08] I took Slack away. I can't even look at it.

Speaker 3:
[53:10] I don't have a leadership team right now. Like it's just like everything. Yeah. I mean, I can't take Slack away because it's like the backbone of my organization.

Speaker 2:
[53:16] No, but to not have to look at it for you to be able to just, this is incredible.

Speaker 3:
[53:19] Like morning and night, Claude is like, hey, here's like what's happening in Slack and here's what you need. Here are all the follow ups you promised. It was like, okay, like for the flyer for your cookbook launch event, they're waiting for the fonts. Only you have them. I pulled up the email. Can you click here and send in this link? Like it pulls information from your email. So the information gathering part is absolutely incredible. Unbelievable. And I use it for, like it's colloquial. We were really trying to figure out how to get away for the weekend with Adam. Over the next, I have a book tour coming up. I have a lot of things and I was like, okay, every appearance that's either a podcast or something that's in person that you have to be camera ready for is now blue in my calendar. And I know that I am in New York and I'm like camera ready for these things. So if I have to shoot content with my team, it's going to be on those days. And then it basically told me like those three windows in the next three months where Adam and I can go away for four days, you know? And I was like, that would have taken me forever to figure out.

Speaker 2:
[54:13] Because by the way, if you do get an assistant, your assistant is going to be able to be your creative assistant.

Speaker 3:
[54:20] I know.

Speaker 2:
[54:21] It's going to be your workshop.

Speaker 3:
[54:22] 100 percent.

Speaker 2:
[54:23] Because this is what I just on boarded someone, and then I got Claude right afterwards. And by the way, this is where we can say that like Claude doesn't fucking replace human beings.

Speaker 3:
[54:32] No.

Speaker 2:
[54:32] I need an assistant because I need someone to bounce something off of. But if she's only fucking doing calendar invites and I can only afford to pay her X amount of money a month, why am I having her fucking add you to my calendar? So when I got, I was telling you today, I got a flyer text me yesterday. By the way, for years I've been like, fuck, I have to remember to put that in my account. So like take the time or I'll like retext it to my, I'm like how, because I'm doing so many things at one time. I took a screenshot of the text message with the flyer. I sent it to Claude. I said, add this to my calendar. It knew that I like notification a day before and 10 minutes before and it was in. Then Ari is not doing that. Then Ari and I can have a call for 10 minutes instead of going over calendar where she's like, where do you feel like you want to be more creative with your Instagram? Should we have you do a get ready video before you go out to dinner tomorrow night? And I'm like, yeah, what do we think it should look like? That's what makes me money. So the investment in her makes me money, not by managing my calendar, but by having creative fucking conversations.

Speaker 3:
[55:34] No, I know, it's so true. It's like, I really actually believe that after this transition period, AI is going to create jobs. It's going to make the economy better. It's going to be, I don't know, it's just an amazing tool. I think that I have been spending so much time doing things that do not nourish me emotionally, do not nourish me intellectually, that I'm like a huge bottleneck for my team. And it's just making, we're not removing jobs because of AI. At least on my team, we're not.

Speaker 2:
[56:00] As a female founder who has to constantly be scared, that if you do one thing wrong, then an employee is going to go right about it on fucking line. Which, by the way, all through my 20s, I worked for some of the craziest, meanest people. I'm not like a snitch ass fucking loser who felt like he needed to go like complain about it on the internet. Like I just like was like, this is a part of life and grit and experience. But regardless of that, I always feel like if you're bottlenecking your team, that this is something that they can complain about you optimizing yourself. This makes you a better woman. This makes you a better founder. This makes you a better partner. This makes you a healthier, more high functioning, optimized human being.

Speaker 3:
[56:36] Honestly, I think it's just an incredible technology. Obviously, people are going to try to cut corners and just overuse it.

Speaker 2:
[56:44] But that's with everything.

Speaker 3:
[56:46] That's with everything. At the end of the day, I feel very good about my ability to have taste and have judgment. Maybe the robots someday will be able to do that, but right now, they can't, and so I don't think that I'll lose my job because of it. I just want to still live better lives. The way that I've been working for the past 10 years is completely unsustainable. It's funny. I did this Q&A on Instagram where I asked people how they use AI, and I have so many mothers that have told me they make custom stories, feeding schedules, sleeping schedule, and it's really reduced the mental load out of even running a house. I think that's so interesting and so impressive. Yes, of course, moms carry so much of the mental of their household. I want to learn more about that.

Speaker 2:
[57:34] It's been really, I'm so happy that we got to have this stake of having to have these last two and a half hours together, because I've known you for so long and watching you get to this point, and I think we could have a whole other episode about dating and being single.

Speaker 3:
[57:48] Dating Italians, do we do a follow up?

Speaker 2:
[57:50] Dating Italians too, which is so good.

Speaker 3:
[57:52] I need to get approval.

Speaker 2:
[57:53] Thank you so much because you have been really working your ass off, really vulnerable about what's hard. I'm so happy for you for the cookbook. It seems like you're entering this next chapter. You seem so grounded and in love. It was really cute you watching us with Carla today because I was like, I know that you're manifesting this next chapter of your life. I'm so happy for you. Where can people get the cookbook?

Speaker 3:
[58:15] Everywhere that sells books, Barnes and Nobles, if you want to sign copy, there's a really cute bookstore called Books are Magic in Brooklyn. During the pre-orders online, it will get in before Mother's Day on the Ghia website. Anywhere you want to get the cookbook, you can get the cookbook. It's called Riviera, and you can get Ghia at the Whole Foods.

Speaker 2:
[58:32] Amazing. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3:
[58:33] Thank you, Pia.

Speaker 2:
[58:40] And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes this week's episode of Everything is the Best. I hope you enjoyed it. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that stuff. Maybe leave a comment. Go ahead and follow me on Instagram, PiaBaroncini, and I hope you have a fabulous, fabulous rest of your day.

Speaker 1:
[58:57] Love you, ciao.

Speaker 4:
[59:07] Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.