The Aspire Playbook: How Allison Ellsworth Turned a Kitchen Experiment into a Billion-Dollar Brand

22:22You couldn't do events. You couldn't do sampling. Just even the way you're talking to everyone, I think TikTok just changed the consumer where, you know, they're more authentic. They're real. They're, they put their self out there. And I think that we were kind of bored out of that. So I got onto TikTok really early and I'll - Like TikTok for yourself or for the brand? For the brand. Okay. We were one of the first brands to get on TikTok. I remember I was like, Hey, you guys, there's TikTok. And they're like, no, no, brands aren't on there. Even at the board, even like Rohan and Steven was like, no, Alison, that's silly.

22:51Don't do that. And I was like, look, you guys, I will do this on my weekends and on nights, I won't take away from the business or take resources, but I think there's something here. And for three months, I posted on the Poppy account. I did dances. I did recipes. I did talk to cameras. I did anything you could think of. And then finally one night I sat down and I just told my story. I had no makeup on. My hair was wet and I hit post. And then I got calls the next morning. We did a hundred thousand dollars where we were sleeping on Amazon. Grocery store shelves were cleared out and everyone was like, oh my gosh, this is the wild, wild west.

23:24And we started moving all of our funds over there. And just for context, we almost have 3 billion views on TikTok on our page. And one third of the platform has seen my face seven times. That's absolutely insane. One third of the platform has seen your face seven times. Yes. Including like my kids' Is that annoying when you go? I'm like, wait a minute, is that good thing or a bad thing? I mean, excellent for business. But it's so interesting, right? Because I think that when I first started, you know, in business, it was all about Facebook. And then the arbitrage of Facebook, you know, Facebook got really expensive and we all migrated over to Instagram if you were smart.

23:59And brands were definitely slow to go to TikTok because it was unplanned. Like at least with Instagram, we could create our beautiful content. We could schedule our beautiful content. We could put it out in a brand appropriate way. Whereas TikTok, all the brands were like, hang about. They're like, those are just cute dancing kids. Yeah. And not even just cute dancing kids, but we were just like the speed at which you needed to be in the mix to create the relevant content felt unsafe for a brand. But seemingly you embraced that and your audience understood it. Did you know that what you were doing was something special or were you just like, I'm just moving the way someone in their 30s who has a brand moves?

24:37I think we were one of the first brands to take it serious. And by serious, we didn't take ourselves too serious. So I think we were really good at understanding what each platform was for. So Instagram is basically your new website. Facebook is maybe for a little bit older consumer, which we love our older baddies. But TikTok was just somewhere you could post three times a day. You could just be a little bit unhinged and go viral. Nowadays, I feel like everybody's on there and this sounds like really familiar, but those early days is where I feel like we built a community that is ride or die.

25:08And we were able to move at the speed of culture. We have community, we're really creative. and it just established us as just a brand of the community and of the people of Gen Z, which I think is really a big reason and why Pepsi was interested in us, like the next generation of soda drinkers, right? And I feel like you've completely rewritten the playbook. Like when you think about the future and what's happening, like, are you as boisterous about TikTok and the future of like you guys on that platform as you were like maybe a couple of years ago or is it moving on? You know, I think as you have a business and I'll be real, as you get older comes lawsuits and you have to be careful with music.

25:49Thank you for being truthful. Yes. And so like I think - The game has changed. You're not the scrappy little babies anymore. As where we are, which actually pushes us to be a little bit more creative with our own content. But I always say to new businesses, it's going to be your best avenue and cheapest. And everyone doesn't want to be the face of their brand. But I do think that, hey, it's free. It is free. Like if you, do you want to be successful? Like get on TikTok. You don't have to be it, but hire someone. Take it serious. Like it's not going away. Even everyone thinks it's going away. Like I really don't.

26:19Even when we really thought it was going away, it didn't go away. I don't think it's going anywhere. Were you in mourning at that moment or was that like something you were concerned about considering it's such a revenue driver for you guys? You know, I mean, I think it's a great part of our 360 mix. Now, if it were to go away, I think my, the saddest part would be like our community on there more than impacting the business. For me, when it was doing that, it was like downloading videos. I had like a glass of red wine. I'm like sitting back and my husband's like, go put the kids to it. I'm like, I can't.

26:49It's the last night of TikTok. And then the next day I was like, oh wait, that was dramatic. I think it's fine. And honestly, I think if it goes away, that community will find them somewhere else and someone else will come up with something else. For sure. I've read somewhere that you make somewhere between 50 and 100 pieces of content every month. Is it? Is it that about right? Yes. That's a lot of content. How reliant has the brand become on TikTok to kind of remain relevant? Do you think that if you didn't have that in your business, that the brand would have less relevancy? No, because I think we've kind of moved past it, right?

27:23We've run a lot of linear TV. We've done a couple of Super Bowl ads. We launched our own clothing line with Target. Like what, you know, what kind of soda brands are like doing these type of things. We do these pop-ups where we get our community, like we're doing a lot more than that. But I think nowadays you have to be a digital first brand. Yeah. Not only that, but I also think you guys have the distribution at this point, right? I think people have an over-reliance on marketing and imagining what that can do, but it's like you also have to have the distribution. Or traditional, boring marketing, like performance marketing, that everything's tied to an ROI, which I would say for the first four years of business, our number one goal was brand awareness.

28:01Now we have a pretty high brand awareness. Over 50 % of America knows what Poppy is. And so now it's moving maybe a little bit more into, okay, now we need to convert. How's that for your brand recall? Does that make you get so proud when you say things like that? It's like, well, I'm a business woman, so I'm like, wait, I need more. You're like, wait a minute. I want to be like, I want to be like Pinsky over here. I know. I never stop and smell the roses. I'm always like, there's still more work to be done. So you still have a level of ambition for Poppy. I'm so hungry. Like, it's so hard to turn it off, right?

28:33When you start something, it just excites me. I'm very much a doer. Like, I can get in. I can solve any problem. Still to this day, probably people that shouldn't be calling me are, like, having me call me to, like, solve the— And I'm like, I'm here for it. I still love it. But I do think it's— And this point, I've gotten to a point where I have so much trust in the team there because they've been a lot of them are like our first, second, third, fourth employees still there. That's so amazing. You must be very proud of that. Before we go into the acquisition from PepsiCo, I want to talk to you a little bit about the investment piece because it's such a key part of your journey and obviously changed the trajectory of what you were doing.

29:11What is the truth of taking investment? What has that been like for you? You know, our story is very different because we've had one investor. And I think there's two things with that is we had a lot of opportunity to focus on the business and not raising money. It's so hard when you have momentum, if you pull back on momentum because you don't have money and you're having to raise to get that momentum again, it's probably one of the most difficult things in business. So we were able to have it pour gas, have the momentum pour gas because we had a great partner and always funding us along the way.

29:50So not meaning that you didn't have to keep raising, you just kept raising with the same person. Correct. So good. So you could keep your focus and your eyes on the prize. I mean, like there was like times where we thought about going outside and we did maybe try a couple of rounds where we did that. I think the only outside investment that we took was celebrity investment. Right. But there were obviously a couple of funds because that's how I got my little inching. Yeah. Yeah. But there were usually like people that were like more so on like the celebrity side. We're all connected strategic people.

30:19I mean, I jumped at the opportunity to invest in you guys because, no, because I saw you and I was like, that's the girl I believe in. I think the product is amazing. I think the category is amazing, but it was definitely about you from the outset. That's for sure. Aside from the obvious with equity, what did you give up bringing investment in? You know, you give up a lot of control and we gave up control pretty early on. You know, obviously Rohan got a bigger chunk of the company early on of everyone's diluted. I mean, it's, it's like the way it went. I gave up a lot of control because at the end of the day, like Poppy is me.

30:53I am the vision. I, every idea, every little thing, it's just like, it's, it just like oozes out of me, but I'm not good at process, you know? And I, I probably shouldn't be the one running a P &L, even though I do know how to read one, right? I think that's important to know, but it's one of those things that they helped like professionalize the business. And like, that was a huge growth for me personally. And I think as all of us as entrepreneurs, like egos can get in the way of growth. They can get in the way of like what's good. So that was the biggest lesson for me is, is that growth of early on, we brought in a CEO.

31:29I think it was like year two. And then a year later, we brought in a CMO. But the difference is, is because I was part of that conversation where I think a lot of people resist it and then they get placed and kind of pushed out. I was part of those conversations, even though I cried, it was hard. There's ups and downs. There's so many things that go with it, but I just knew I've never built, I've never bought a super robot. I've never built a business this fastest and I had an opportunity to learn. Oh, not a lot of people have, yeah. So I would say like it was one of the hardest and best decisions that I've ever made.

32:02And so I just always recommend just like be part of that conversation and don't resist it. It's a hard thing as an entrepreneur. I think that that's really, really good advice because look, one of the most important things that I've learned is to know what you don't know. Like nobody is excellent at everything. And the reason you've been able to build and then able to exit is because you've had focus. Like you've been able to do what you uniquely and nobody else could possibly do. And then you've surrounded yourself with people that knew the stuff that you didn't know. Like it's really simple when you say it like that.

32:35And I get that it can be tough for the ego, but look what you've been able to do in the time you've been able to do it. And you bring in people that value what you're good at. So I'm really good. I ran the creative, all the creative at Poppy, you know, face of, you know, all the culture, like cool social, like all those things. Like I still got to do all of those things and have, have really big impact there where that was my main focus, which I think was the driver of the brand and the growth. So not easy, but best decision. Best decision. If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?

33:06You know, I think I would have told myself earlier on that, like, I knew what I was doing. I think it's really easy as you're growing and you have a lot of people coming in, you can kind of get lost a little bit. And it took me, there was a few years in the middle that I kind of lost my voice. And I think it hurt the business. There were certain things that we were doing, weird marketing things. I was like, I'm going to trust. Like, you do need to trust your team, but at some point you got to keep them on. the straight and narrow the straight and narrow for sure so looking back just having a little bit more confidence and when I do this again when you do do it again when I do do it again when hopefully I get to invest again yeah I'll remember that I love it no but when you do do it again will you do something differently do you think you know I think that me and my husband I will 100 % do it with him again oh so nice I'm so happy to hear you say that he's so good at everything that I'm not he's good at all the business stuff I'm great at the creative brand vision we're a great partner I think that I will bring in team earlier yeah I think that's another really big mistake that we probably didn't hire quick enough because maybe we just didn't know now I know you didn't know but also yeah you didn't have the experience and maybe you didn't have like the free cash now you're rich rich rich so you'll definitely do things exactly there's that part there's that part there is that part talk to me because again you know I'm going to go back to the money but I'm interested to understand when you lose your voice, which I think happens a lot, when you bring investors in, when you have, you know, more senior management that comes into a company, you can get a bit lost.

34:38How did you claw it back? Because being a woman, I can imagine you would have been surrounded by a lot of dudes telling you what was right based on all of their experience. So how did you get back into the driver's seat? It was really hard. It's almost like you have to like let it go to allow them to realize it. And I know that's not like maybe the best advice, but I kind of stepped back and I was like, fine, you guys figure it out. And then when things started getting wonky, certain people were fighting for me to get back involved. If I were to be like, I need to do this and I want to be involved, that only makes them want to push you aside.

35:14And even though it was really hard, I was like, and you know what? I always thought to myself, if I do step away and then it's successful, good. There's that too. You know what I mean? And I've had to learn that. If you would have asked me that maybe two years ago, I might not have said the same thing. But I stepped away. I was like, I can't be psycho. I can't be crazy. I got a coach, a business coach. You did? I did. I love that for you. I've done exactly the same things. I tried therapy. It didn't work for me. And look, I'm here for it. But I needed someone being like, what do you want in life?

35:44I mean, it's like a therapist, right? Depending on who you have. I mean, I have a business coach and it's right in the midst of, you know, therapy and, you know, just traditional coaching. And just learning to find my voice, learning to find like me again and all of those things. And honestly, it put me to a better place to be a better leader to allow us to continue to grow. I wasn't showing up for my kids. I was tired all the time. I was grumpy. I wasn't being a good wife. And even my husband was just like, I don't even know who you are right now. And so I think once I went through that and came out of it, it was almost so good to go through that because I truly believe it made me a better leader.

36:17It made me a better mom, a wife, like all of those things. And so I wish more people would like talk about these things because it's like entrepreneurship and business is not easy. Alison, what do you think we're here to do today? We're going to talk about this shit. We have to talk about it. Listen, I am never going to ask you about balance because I don't believe in it. I want to, every time somebody's like, how do you balance it all? I'm like, I want to retch at the question. But I do want to ask you how you've been able to build this incredible company, to have your three kids, to hopefully be like a good wife.

36:48You've now got other things that are happening in your life. And I'm assuming like loads and loads of opportunities that are coming your way. So what have you done to be able to get to where you are? And honestly, like what gives? Early on, me and my husband had a conversation. It might sound sad, but we were like, there's three things we can focus on our marriage, business, and kids. I said, I'm going to give you the freedom within our marriage to, I'm not going to guilt you over Valentine's day. I'm not going to guilt you on my birthday. We don't have to go on date nights. I'm just going to stop.

37:18Like, I don't want, like, Valentine's Day, I don't want flowers. Like, let's just focus on our kids and our business. And then when we had those little moments, it was almost more special. So letting go that, like, expectation in life, because we set those expectations for ourselves, right? Another thing was, I think it's really important to just stay grounded. Yes, I have, like, a lot of money now, but at the end of the day, I still am at soccer on Tuesdays and baseball on Fridays. And my kids are running around without shoes on. And I'm like, where are your shoes? Like, I think it's really important to like spend time with your kids and family and just stay grounded and just be like a normal human being.

37:54But I imagine there must've been times when you weren't able to do those things, right? There'd be times when the business is a grind. And did you ever have to make sacrifices? Oh, I mean, I would say I'm on the road more than my husband traveling, doing these things, but I've always had a good support system with my mom and my husband who stays home with them way more than I do. And yes, I look at it as sacrifices for like a greater thing that at the end of the day is for my kids and for my family. Everyone's like, but they're little. You're never going to get these years back. So a lot of times we would like take them with us to events.

38:27They've been to a ton of poppy things. Or like, if I know I'm going to be in New York, we'll go a day earlier. We'll go spend a week in the Hamptons or something like that. And I just feel like don't guilt yourself. Like let the guilt go. That's what I mean. Like release that guilt of mom guilt, guilt, you should do this, whatever. And it's just that expectation. and once you kind of let it go, it's kind of nice. It's kind of amazing. I don't believe in balance. I don't remember. Just literally, we sold the company and I worked out seven times in like the first two weeks. I don't think I've worked out seven times in the last two years.

38:56Like, I just - So that's what gives. There you go. No self-care. I don't know what that means. No, it's hard. But I love that you made those decisions because I do think it's so much easier to accept the trade-offs if they're your trade-offs, right? And they're different for each one of us. But the idea that you decided as a couple to like let some of the, I'm not saying like the romance, but it's like some of those extra things that are maybe unnecessary. It's like, I know that you love me. Like I'm good. This stuff doesn't matter. Let's like double down on our kids. You know, we're going on a work trip.

39:26We'll go a couple of days early and look at the sites in New York. Like those are your choices. And then you can reconcile with them so much easier than if they're happening to you. You know, I feel like when you are suddenly like, I have to go on this trip and you haven't thought about what you're going to sacrifice. It makes it so much harder. I'm very self-aware. Like I'm a very self-aware person of like, I see something happening and I'm pretty blunt and I dress it head on. And I feel like I don't allow things to happen to me. I make things happen. And I do that within my business and within my life.

39:56And sometimes people are like, Alison, you're so blunt. I'm like, let's just cut to the chase. Like, let's not dance around this. And so, I don't know, I think that's helped. But no, I agree with you. There's no work like that.

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43:08Do you think there's parts of your personality that have allowed you to be super successful? And if so, like, what are they? I know what I want. I'm direct. And I also feel like I have a lot of empathy and I am kind. And I think if you can just be a real human, I think if you can combine all those things, like you get to know people, you get to know they work, but at the end of the day, it's a business. Like I, it's something that always kind of bothers me. And this might be controversial is people are saying, well, my poppy is my poppy family. I'm Like we're not family. We work together. We can be friends.

43:42We can do stuff outside. We can celebrate. We can vacation together. But we are here to do business. And so I feel like I've always been really good to like understand you can have relationships, but we're here to do something. Well, it's only controversial because you're a girl. I know. That's probably true. Nobody thinks like that that would be controversial if a man said it. I think it's because you are kind and because you're empathetic and because you're sitting there dressed in pink and you look fabulous that suddenly when you say something that's seemingly so blunt, i.e. we're not a family, we're here to create a business, it feels really harsh to people.

44:16And I mean, I feel like I get that all the time, but I believe exactly the same, right? I look at myself and I'm like, I'm the coach, right? I am here not to go out and score the goals. I'm here to put the team together, to play the best players and to set everybody out for a win. Like that's my job. And sometimes I need to take someone off the field because you're not doing what you need to do. like I need to bring somebody else in. I found a new star. Like, you know, it's like all of those things happen. But I think the minute as a woman that you start sounding a way that people find unpalatable, there's a lot of backlash.

44:50Have you experienced anything like that in reaction to things that you've said or an attitude that you've taken or coming back to you from your own staff, for instance? Yeah, I think like I like to get things done. So if I get a no, instead of just allowing it to happen, I'll like call 38 people. I will get that. Yes. I will go around you. I will do this. I will make it get done. And a lot of people are like, well, you're just a bulldozer. You know, those things that's like, and then I'll see like a couple other men do those same things. And it's like, oh, they got something done. So like, yes, but I've always been a really big person of like putting, like, I don't allow, like everyone was like, oh, you're such a successful female founder, you have done so many things that so many women want, but I'm like, I also think it can be a mental space that you put yourself in.

45:39It's like, I deserve to be here. I deserve to be successful. And I actually feel like the time of the female founder is now like the, there's so much happening and beauty and fashion and food and Bev that it's just like, it's growing in the competencies there. So I think we just have to like, not put ourselves in that box. And I know easier said than done, but I think it's like a mental state that I've been able to really do a good job at personally. I mean, I couldn't agree with you more. I think you've done an amazing job at it. What do you think, like just in terms of women being able to get out of their own way and the things that you've done, like what do you do uniquely that sets you up to behave differently or differently than what's expected of a typical female founder, if we could even use that language?

46:24I know. I don't know. I'm a Capricorn. I'm a Capricorn. It's so funny. It's so cute. No, because people ask me this all the time. And it goes back to that like key thing. Like they want this like success. I don't know. I don't know. Magical thing that you can do. And I'm really big on no self-pity. Like no poor me's. I almost feel like I operate a little bit like a man would. And then I'm very self-aware when I'm pushing people too hard in a room. I can read a room. I feel like women are very like aware of their surroundings. So like, you know where to push when to not. But I also think at the end of the day, if you know you're right, stand up for yourself.

47:07Yeah, absolutely. So no imposter syndrome. Yeah, no, I know it's ever, never. No, no, there is sometimes like there's certain things where I'm like, everyone always like, you're so successful. You've done all these things. And I'm like me. I'm like a mom from Texas like me. Yes, you. Yes, you. Yes, you. Yeah. So I think that does happen quite a bit, but it's, but I 100 % believe I deserve this too. Because you do. Yeah. Or because it was your idea and you worked really hard. Really hard for this. No doubt. Like literally still working really hard for this. It's like been a little bit hard for me to let go of Poppy and I'm still pretty involved.

47:43So. So talk to us about post-acquisition. Yeah. How does that even come about? Were you setting the company up for an acquisition? Had you said like, I'm ready to tap out now, or that was just like the trajectory that you went on? So in beverage, it's really, you have to. There's maybe three people that can buy you. Pepsi was one of them. Because if you really want to become a global brand, it all comes down to distribution. Will you explain that a little bit for everybody that's listening? Because it's very similar to beauty in that way, right? It's like there's a couple of main big players. If you want shelf space, if you want to be in the right fridges, you've got to play the game.

48:21You've got to be in it to win it. So currently, for example, we have 180 distributors that distribute probably just in the US. There's more in Mexico. There's more in Canada. If we wanted to go to the UK, it would be a new distributor potentially too. You're not in the UK yet? Well, we're working on it. Please be the people in the UK. Come on. We're working on it. I bet within a year we'll be there for sure. I love it. No doubt. I feel like Pepsi can make that happen. For sure. Sure. Well, that's the point, right? And so we are now going to go from 180 to one. So you have one workforce working towards you.

48:54You're managing one customer, then distributing you and putting you on the shelf. Like that alone is a game changer. Also, soda is traditionally has like pretty intense contracts. So we weren't able to get on college campuses. You cannot get on fountain soda. You can't go into a lot of hotels, fast, casual, Like the Taco Bells of the world. Is the big three players own all the shelf space, all the distribution, and you're essentially locked out unless you're part of one of those three, correct? And I feel like we did a really good job. And yes, we could have gone IPO, but that still doesn't solve the distribution problem.

49:29So when you are starting a beverage company, you want that to happen, right? And so that was always like from day one goals, not to sell out. A lot of people are like, you're selling out. But I'm like, no, hon, And this is how we are going to get Poppy into more than half of the households in America. We're going to be able to really be, Poppy will be the soda my kids and grandkids drink and know as soda. And without that, we wouldn't have been able to do that. And so it's, yes, strategic. It's, yes, you know, people might call it like selling out, but it's to me the American dream. It is totally, totally the American dream.

50:04For you to start something in your kitchen, go from farmer's market to Whole Foods to, you know, billion,$1.9 billion sale with PepsiCo. Like that is, that is it. It is. That is it. Who taught you about the trajectory and the way the business was going to go? Did you have advisors who was around you? Like who even set you up or set you on a path? Or did that all come from your investor? Yeah, no, Rohan was really great with that stuff from day one. He had been part of other incredible beverage brands. Yes, he's an investor, but he'd been working in the industry for years himself. I think that in Beverage, it's a really small community.

50:40So we hired on great talent really early on. Our second employee is still with us today. He's our chief growth officer, senior VP of sales is still with us. Wow. Our influencer manager is now a VP of culture. Like, I think we brought in really good people that had been doing it at other brands before. Clearly hired really well if those people have been able to stay with you. Yeah. And just had really good advice. What roles did you hire? Because you're what, 200 people now? We're like 250. 250. So what roles did you hire too early? And what roles do you feel like you could have, you hired too late?

51:10I think one of the best roles, especially, and this is specific, probably more to CPG, is sales. Right. You have to get into the stores. And at the end of the day, it's all about relationships. If you have a good product, if you don't have a good product, you're probably not going to get in anyways. Totally. And then I think early on for us, it was on the marketing side. So we hired on an influencer manager really, really early. I think a lot of people, I think our first two years, We didn't spend a single dollar on like any paid media or anything. So I think a lot of people think you have to bring on a PR agency and do all this stuff really early on, which a good PR agency is going to be north of$20 ,000 a month, which people don't realize.

51:45So I think we maybe run on PR too early. But if you have nothing press worthy, like you don't need a PR agency or anyone to even run PR. Now we desperately need a great PR agency. And I'm obsessed with that. We have a director of PR and all of that stuff. But I think a lot of people think they need to do that too early on. And you just eschewed that somehow. Yeah. Yeah. Well done. That was like exactly the thing to do. I just wonder, and again, because I feel like people are loath to talk about the mistakes and the things that maybe didn't work out. Have you had those moments in this business?

52:17And how have you been able to correct them or change them or learn from them? Oh, gosh. It's so funny. I'm like with the mistakes, it's like childbirth. You forget about it. I would say for us, there was one thing that cost us millions and millions and millions of dollars was we were so focused on building the brand that we really wanted our cans to be gorgeous and jump off the shelf. And so we had them in sleeved cans for like two years. Well, a lot of people don't know when it comes to CPG, the packaging is the most expensive part. It's not the stuff inside. Right. Right. And it's pretty fixed and there's not a lot you can do about it until you get bigger and you scale and then the price comes down, right?

52:58It's simple economics. And it's like one of those things that the sleeved can was the most expensive thing on our can. I think it was like 20 cents a can. And then we knew if we went into printed cans, we would be able to drop it in half right away. And then I'm sure it's gone down even since then. But we stayed in it for almost 12 months too long, which cost us worth of like probably$15 million because we thought it was cute and that it looked better on the shelf. Like, like what? Like, and then now we're in printed cans. And honestly, it's so much better, but you don't know what you don't know.

53:35Yeah. And so it's like those things where it's like, you feel like you get into your own world and you're so obsessed and you're not really like thinking about the business. And, and sometimes I'm always one to lean into the brand first. Like what is best for the brand? What looks best on shelf? And it can be very blinding when you're such a brand forward brand to like, you know, it's okay to be in printed cans or to not have printed trays and like all those like little things that used to drive me up the wall because it wasn't cute. Yeah. Well, there you go. You wanted things to be cute. I understand why you make those mistakes, but you live and learn.

54:07Are there other things that looking back you got flat out wrong at Poppy? No. That's so nice. No. Really? It's literally, I don't know. It's like, it goes back to, I think the personal stuff, the growth for me, it's so hard to look back at the mistakes because yes, there's operational mistakes. There's personal mistakes. I think one time we brought in a CMO before our current one, that was probably one of the hardest moments of like my career at Poppy where we brought her in and she just was a wrong cultural fit. So I think a lot of people don't understand cultural hires and cultural fits and how you can bring in like one bad person and how it literally sits some of like our employees into depression and like we had people quitting and all those things because of one thing.

54:55And so we realized that really quick. Like there's little things like that, that I think a lot of people are like, well, we hired them. We paid a recruiter fee. You keep them in place. Yeah. You're like, no, no. If they're a culture killer, like that is one of the most toxic things in the company that you can do. And it's hard to realize it. Yeah. And you can only really learn that the hard way. There's no easy way to learn that. You have to have that person. You have to inevitably keep them in the business too long to learn that you should have got them out a lot quicker. It's just, that's it.

55:22Culture's key to invest in culture, invest in your people. And by that, it's not meaning like having a gym in your office or the perks, it's the people. Yeah. It's really the people. Do you look at your life and think there are specific things that you do that allow you to be who you are? I'm like hyper obsessive focused on certain things. So someone will give me a task. I can go down like a deep, dark hole. I will figure it out. I will call. I'll do all of these things. And it can be like, even in my personal life, if I'm planning like a birthday party for my kids, I think for me, it's like that hyper fixation on greatness in all aspects of my life while still allowing for chaos.

56:02So I love chaos. I love, I'm a creative. Why is that not important, allowing chaos? Because perfect isn't fun. You know, I, I'm like, okay with the clothes, like thrown on the floor and not unpacking for three days after a trip. and it drives my husband up the wall. I would kill you. Literally, he wants to kill me. It's literally not cope. I want to come to your house and unpack Casey's book right now. No, no, no. I need help to come. So it's like one of those things like I like chaos. I like moving on to the next. And I love just like what's the coolest? What's cultural? I also think what's really important is I don't love planning, but I love planning.

56:41So I love to plan like 80 % and then to leave 20 % for pure freedom, chaos, because like, how are you going to live life? How are you going to have like special moments if you're so over-programmed? So I feel like that's something we've done really well at Poppy that like kind of brought in from like me personally that Poppy's allowed us to do. So we'll do like our AOP planning. We're planning like 80 % of the calendar and these cultural events. But then I'm like, let's leave 20 % up. And just for example, the first year we bought Super Bowl, we bought it three days before the Super Bowl. Wow.

57:10Yeah. And it was just like a good piece of creative. It was something that I just was so in love with this. And I was like, you guys, we've got to do Super Bowl. We were able to define one. And that was just like a last minute moment thing that I feel like would stress a lot of companies out probably. Definitely. But that's like how my personal life, I feel like is really part of the culture of Poppy. Yeah. You've just allowed yourself to be nimble. I also think that suits the way you guys market because you're so like in the moment and in the zeitgeist of what's happened. So you're literally like, this is what's like moving the culture right now.

57:40Great. We're going to be there. We're going to be aligned with the trend in the moment. But then can I ask you a question? Because I feel like Skims is the same way, but on like a way larger scale. So you guys must be so good at it too. I think that it's a very, very similar thing that we are reacting to what's happening in the culture all the time. And we're really lucky because the, you know, where I work in the company, you know, it's like I'm a cross product and I work so far out, but our marketeers have the freedom and the flexibility to be able to go like, that's working, that's trending.

58:10We're loving this show right now. Let's double down on that. And I'm often the one that's kind of sitting there going, wow, that was amazing. Because I forgot the product. You know, that happened to me 18 months ago. I'm like living in the future somehow. So I think that's key. It's important. You want to be culturally relevant. You want to move at the speed of culture. And it shows that like a smaller brand like Poppy can do that. A big brand like Skimset, like anyone can do that. I feel like people feel like you have to stick to your plan. And I'm very much like, no, you don't. No, you can have a little bit of nimbleness.

58:38All right, I'm going back to this acquisition. So you know from your investor, like where you're kind of going, where the company's heading, how does it all come together? Talk me through that moment in time. You know, it was interesting. We knew there's three buyers, right? And so you kind of do the dating, you kind of like talk. And the difference with Pepsi is they just really got us. Was everyone courting you? Was everybody coming after? So we never did official process. Oh, okay. Like where you like hire a banker and you're like, hey, we're for sale. We never kind of did that because— There was no official process?

59:14No, there was no official process. Woo! Yeah, because we weren't quite ready. We were having crazy growth. I mean, we went from like 200 to 500 in a year. Like in year four. Like it was just so much. We were like, how far can we take it? And you don't want to do it too soon, but you don't want to be like too big. Like it's such a balance. And so it was one of those things that like just going into this year, we were looking just at our distribution and how we wanted to start going globally. And we were just like, maybe this is kind of the right year. So we kind of actually decided it last year and started working through it.

59:47And then it just really sped up this year. And honestly, Pepsi reached out to us and we just started talking to them and it just clicked like their senior leadership got it. And their biggest motto, which was really important for me, is they were just like, let's let Poppy be Poppy. I think they're, you know, obviously getting us for our brand and our people and our product. But that's always someone's biggest fear is they're going to come in and just change your company overnight. And I truly feel like they made that promise to us and we're seeing it happen. And so I think that was, you know, made me feel like, oh, my kid can go off to college and now I can like, you know, go to Europe for a month.

1:00:20Totally. And there was nothing in you that felt obligated to go around and see what else you could get. You know, I think there's a part of it that if they really wanted it, they would have come or you don't want to be curious. Like, didn't you hear a number and be like, okay, I'm going to shop this around. Like, I'm going to go and see if I could get X, Y, or Z. Well, I think M &A has been finicky the last few years. Yeah. M &A, mergers and acquisitions. And beverage historically hasn't done well. So some of these bigger strategics have made purchases and it's not gone well. And they've overpaid by quite a bit.

1:00:57And there was like certain things and they've kind of learned their lesson. So I I think the more it's like it's timing market. And it was one of those things that like, like I said, we didn't want to go IPO. It was just like one of those moments that it just felt right. And we could have said maybe it was too soon, but it still felt right. Maybe it was too late. Like, I don't know, but just kind of, it came together like really easy. It did. Yeah. I would say it's like one of the fastest M &As ever. Like we started talking to them. Basically, we talked to them a little last year. We had like a little meet and greet and then we got an offer in February and closed like six weeks later.

1:01:28Yeah. It was really quick. and it was just like, like we just, I don't know, just like connected. It just worked. and that's how you just know it's right. Did you have a number in your head where you were like, if I get this, then I'm doing this deal? Yeah, I think like it was 2 billion. Whoop, whoop. And you're like, but you know what, if you would have asked me four years ago, I would have said 500 ,000. You know, you asked me before, I would have said 200 ,000. Like you just, I always thought at least a billion and now it's like, you don't know until the goal moves every year. Yeah, totally.

1:01:59Kind of goalpost. And I'm just really excited with it. And within it, they bought 100 % of the company, which is also rare. Wow. They bought 100%. So what is your role go forward? Are you totally out now? So I'm totally out. No. Yeah. Okay. How does that feel? It feels, okay. So exciting, scary, amazing, terrified. They're keeping me on as an advisor. Okay. To still do all the fun, like social stuff. And then I did run the creative and like all the vision and all that stuff. So it's really hard to be like, okay, bye. so I'm going to stay on and advise for a few years on that stuff which is kind of fun it's like I get to do all the fun stuff which is my wheelhouse what I'm good at but there's no incentive there for you to like remain in the company while it grows yeah you've sold you're out I'm out I'm 100 % out but they put some incentive for me to stay like like some goalposts there's a little there's a little sweetener in there for you somehow which is you're not giving creative for nothing.

1:02:55Exactly. Fair enough. Exactly. That makes a lot of sense. I'm a businesswoman. Yeah, as you should be. And do you have like restrictions? Are you going to go and start something else now? I don't know. I like, it's in my head, like I'm still so in poppy. So I've committed to be like, I'm still working 40, 50 hours a week right now. I'm still in it. I'm doing all these things. And then I'm going to take a family vacation, which I've never done. And I think it'll allow me to be with my family, be creative. And then after that, I think I'll have a lot of clarity. You'll no doubt have clarity. Where have you been left after this last five years of building this incredible company, getting what you quite rightly deserved at the end?

1:03:32You're left with what type of feeling? Because your kids have watched their mom and dad build a$2 billion brand. You've obviously made a lot of sacrifices in that time. So like, what is like, how do you feel about the next couple of years of your life? Have you planned it? Are you doing the 80-20 rule like you do in the rest of your business? It's like, what does this look like for you right now? Honestly, you might be able to relate to this. The most overwhelming feeling I have right now is freedom. I literally can do whatever I want. at this point. Whatever you want. And it's such a freeing feeling of, I have no boss.

1:04:06I have no one to talk to. You know, my husband could say the same, but he still has me. But I do feel very free to like, just if I want to be with my kids, I can. If I want to go on a girl strip, if I want to start another company, I can. And so it's really like, like I'm like dreaming for the first time and like years and all of these things. It's just, it just feels really good. But I can just tell that you're going to go on this European vacation. I know, come back. You're going to cease it. You're going to have like a, you know, your notes section of your phone's going to be full of ideas.

1:04:40I already have two ideas. Do you really? Yeah. I love it. Can you see yourself going back into startup mode? Does that feel like part of the future? So I think the number one thing people want for me right now is my time more than my money, right? I think we are going to definitely invest, but my knowledge and what I've built is the most valuable asset that I can give. So in my head, I think I'll pick like a few companies to like advise and really give. But I, I don't know, for me, it's like, why would I do that when I can just do it myself? I see that. I mean, I've known you for 20 minutes. I don't know.

1:05:13And I feel like you're already going to start something. I mean, listen, of course, needless to say, you have so much to give and you have so much great experience and you've done things in a one of one way. but there's something about that founder energy that gets into your bones and gets under your skin. And it's very difficult when you've had that kind of like unbelievable acceleration for you to kind of go around and advise people. I'm not going to retire at 38. I just don't feel like you're a sideline lady. I'm not a board girl. I mean, like, sure, I could be on your board, but I'll just help you spend your marketing budget.

1:05:48Exactly. That I have no doubt you would. Is there anything like, is there a company that you look at and you're like, I could be so useful to them. Like I'd be so great. Yeah. There's a lot of probably food and Bev, I would say traditionally in the CPG. But I think the key things I look for are, are they digital first? Because I think that's one of the hardest things to teach people nowadays is to be digital first because they get caught in their own ways and they just want to like run the business. I'm like, honey, this is the future. So anything I do or anyone I spend any time or invest in, you have to be digital social.

1:06:25And I mean like social first. Social first. Yeah. I really want to talk to you about that social first piece because I feel like you guys did it in such an interesting way. It's like these kind of tiny repeatable actions that you just kind of owned, right? They were like things that were uniquely you and uniquely poppy that I guess I feel like the rest of the industry kind of copied in a lot of ways or tried to emulate in a lot of ways, which is really wonderful. But they originated with you guys. Do you think that you could do the same thing again? Or do you think that everything's changed? I think everything's changed.

1:07:00And the people that I think that's the problem. You have your marketing playbook, you think it works, then you try to like put it into something else versus what is uniquely going to work for this business and what is their story that they need to tell. And I feel like at the end of the day, I'm just a really good storyteller. And that's what marketing is. And so what's going to work best and resonate for that particular business or whatever I do next, just redoing the same thing I did. Look, TikTok isn't the Wild Wild West anymore. It's a pay to play game, right? It's a pay to play game. And so I think understanding that with anything is what is the next Wild Wild West?

1:07:36You think there's one coming? Oh, yeah. There's always something new. Is it AI? I don't know. But there's something, I'm sure. And I'll be the first to learn it and be on it. Are you like obsessed with AI right now? I'm obsessed. I just, you know, wish that it was more attainable and easier for just like people to understand. Does that make sense? No, it totally makes sense. Like it's like the people that are just like obsessed with it. And you're like, okay, but. I know. I'm feeling like I might send myself to like Harvard. Like there's a couple of courses I looked at the other day and I thought maybe I actually just need to go to AI school for a month and like teach it to myself and like just embed it in my head because I'm using it like a 42-year-old lady right now.

1:08:22And I'm like, I really feel like there's more to this. There's more than chat GPT. Exactly. No, but I think that's beautiful. I'm like, when you only have like four apps on your phone, I'm like, this feels like I'm going to be left behind. I better get on this. That's what I'm like. I want to learn. I want to start like I joined like an AI cohort. I'm trying to learn about it. But I think also I think it's what you said is as a leader, you have to learn it. You can't leave it up to your employees because I think that strategy has to come from the top down and understanding. I think that was a big piece of our success on TikTok.

1:08:54Like I got it. I get it. Yeah. And that is, that is the big thing because if the founder isn't there with that behavior, you can't expect everybody else to just pick that, pick up the slack for you. It's either ingrained in the culture and it's coming from the top or it's not. And it's never actually going to be a real part of the business. Or a priority. Yeah. Or a priority. Exactly. That's, that is the absolute truth. I want you to talk to me a little bit more about like your kids and how you're, you know, because now you're an extremely wealthy, rich family. You've had this amazing business success.

1:09:28What are you teaching your kids right now about what it takes, you know, who your family are? How are you going to raise them with this like unbelievable wealth that you have now? It's like such an overwhelming feeling more so than having the money, but just like, how do you make your kids not be little turds? You know what I mean? Because they're already trying. I know what you mean. And I have three boys. They are boys, man. How old are your boys? Three, six, and eight. You are in it. Yeah. Bloody noses and stitches and just like, they're so little right now. So I think the tone that we set so far is, wow, mom and dad created something and they work really hard.

1:10:10Now, to your point, the money comes. So I think the next level is they have to learn to work hard. And that's something that's a really big focus that annoys me sometimes my husband's like, we have to teach them to do this so they can't, you know, like fly first class because this, but I'm like, but that means I can't. I know. I always think about that. The idea of like your kids going in the back. I'm like, well, I'm not going back. I did my time in the back of the bus. Like, so what are we doing here? We're splitting up as a family. It's a nice idea, but it's not like. It's not reality because my, you know, everyone's kind of said like, yes, okay.

1:10:43You're not flying first class, but then you're going and you're staying at this villa in Tuscany, like they get it. Right. So like that can't be the bandaid that can't be the solve. So I think it's foundational hard work, continue to teach them to be good people. And at the end of the day, we're good people and we're good adults. So I'm hopefully it'll, it'll rub off at some point. Um, and then I think that if you instill that, then hopefully the next generations, because yeah, we've created generational wealth for them. And it's always, what do they say? Like the first generation builds It's the house, the second lives in it, and the third burns it down.

1:11:16Yeah, there you go. Let's hope not. Let's hope not. So how are you planning to put this money to work? Are you thinking about investing right now? Yeah, so I think that's something that's really important to people just starting out as well to understand. We started planning for this three and a half, four years ago between estate planning and trust planning and wills and just like how we're going to work through all of our gifting and family, right? There's so much that goes into that. There's so much that goes into it. And we invested really early. So when it did finally happen, we were really set up for success.

1:11:48We have a great wealth management company. We are going to invest and have fun in some things of these little things I've kind of told you about today where I'm like, I don't know, this is interesting business and personally invest my time and money. I think we'll do some traditional safe. We'll do some risky stuff. And I also think something that's really important is, you know, it just happened to not go buck wilds. And so we're going to stay in our current house. and I just want normal. You mean you're not doing a massive splurge, moving, building a McMansion somewhere? We will, but I do think it's like people, I don't want to be like where you get all this money and then you don't know what to do if you make really dumb decisions.

1:12:25I'm just not that type of a person, but I mean, I do go shopping and we are going to go spend a month in Europe. Like, don't get me wrong. I will spend some money, but I also just don't even know what that reality is yet. And so, I don't know, just stay level grounded and then like we'll slowly ease into it and then make those big life decisions. I'm interested as to how you are even learning about this stuff, because I think that I speak to so many female founders that, you know, make a ton of money. And then perhaps, you know, that money, I will never forget my meeting with one said founder, and she had made an unbelievable exit and all the money was in her regular account.

1:13:03No wealth management, no investment strategy, just like sitting there in a regular interest account. But that happens to people. It happens to people more often than you think. So where did you and how have you started to educate yourself about money? And as a woman, what's the exposure that you've had to understanding how to manage and invest what you've got? It was advice from another founder early on. And we ended up talking to a couple of different people. And I think it was just, we took that advice early on. And we just believe - Like a founder friend or someone that just - A founder friend that was like, hey, you guys have something special here with Poppy.

1:13:40like you need to have these conversations now. And I think we're only doing like 20 million in revenue. And I was like, yeah. And they're like, no, no, no. Even if you sell the company for 20 million, like that's real money for you guys. Like it doesn't have to be a billion dollar exit for you to think about financial future. Yeah. And so we started planning and all that. The really kind of boring part of it. And the most expensive thing through that process as a lawyer, because any good finance company is not going to charge you and they're going to help advise you and invest in you. And if they don't, then you need to find someone else.

1:14:09And so for us, the biggest piece of that was the lawyer fees, which can be really expensive to get all that stuff set up. And that was the main investment. And you know what? We just didn't go on vacation that year early on, right? Like pick your battles. And so I think my husband is, I'm fortunate. He's very, very buttoned up in that world. And I do join all the calls because I want to educate myself on it. And I'm not like burying my head in the sand. I wouldn't say I'm the strongest in it, but at top level, every decision I've been a part of, I understand, you know, as much as I need to, I don't need to really understand how the stock market's like going in the detail of every little thing, but I have that on my phone.

1:14:46I can look at everything right now. I can see how much money I had today. And I think that's, that's like the balance that works for me where some people I think they're like, oh, I left it up to my financial advisor. And like, you don't, you don't want to be in that position either. Totally. When you meet other founders now, because I'm sure you're doing a bit of mentoring and you're teaching people everything that you've learned over the last few years. What advice are you giving and what questions are you asking them? Oh gosh, it's the brand first always. And then I think understanding process.

1:15:19So I used to just be so annoyed if someone was like, I have an agenda and like, we have to do something. You're probably like, no, I love agendas. but I'm a creative I never think of myself as a process orientated person but I guess I am like it's not even that I like an agenda I just I'm like I get in a meeting and I'm looking for the out of the meeting so I'm like how can we be the most productive we can be with this time because I don't like sitting in meetings you know I feel like there's so many things that drain my day and emails and meetings just feel like the worst way for me to spend my time I never respond to emails so I'm like just don't send me an email didn't we just walk past each other in the corridor don't like ask me.

1:15:59That's how I feel. We don't need 30 minutes. No, I think so. Like that, that's like a really big piece of advice that I always give is like probably get the process in pretty early. You know, for example, I spoke at Target HQ last week and I had a founder come up to me and she was just so desperate for advice. And she said that someone was telling her to change who she was. They were telling her to change her outfits. They were telling her she needed to be more business-like. And I said, why? Like, does that bring you happiness? She's like, well, I need to come across more professional. And I said, well, I wear pink and I'm professional.

1:16:35That has nothing to do with anything. And so it's just having little moments like that, where I can be like, don't lose yourself and your company. Because I think a lot of people feel like they have to change and lose themselves of who they are. You can grow and get better. Yes, you can. But you don't have to change who you are. You can get stronger, but don't change. because that's what you started this company. I told her that. I said, don't lose your confidence. You started a company. And you know what? That person didn't. Exactly. Do you feel like you've had to change along the way? I wouldn't call it change.

1:17:06I would say growth. You evolved. I evolved. And I think people that are don't want to evolve and don't want to change. That's someone no one wants to work with. I think if you just hold on and you can't change and you can't grow. I don't know. I actually embrace change. I wouldn't say, I mean, I've cried over change. It's not easy. Change is not easy and it's not hard. And I hate getting feedback and I hate saying sorry. Ugh, I think I've said sorry. Could you take feedback? It boils me. But then I usually have to like sit back with it. I'm like, okay, fine. I've learned something from that, whether it's good feedback or not.

1:17:40But it's helped me learn to give better feedback when I get feedback. It's like these things. But like, I don't think you start a company to do like a mid-year review, right? So like as an entrepreneur, you have to learn all these things. Yes. Yes, but you do have to learn it. And then you owe it to the people that work with you. And so sometimes it's just not about you. Like, I feel like that was my biggest learning curve, you know, because for so long it was all about me. And then I moved to America. I was like, oh, it's not about me anymore, you know? And as things get bigger and you like take on so much responsibility for so many people, you have to change and adapt and do the things that are less comfortable.

1:18:14I always say that I kind of love companies when they're like 20 people. That's like my sweet spot. when I know everybody's name and when like that's my happy, happy place, you know? Yeah. Cause now you get big and everyone knows who you are, but you don't know who they are. Yeah. And that's a really hard place to be because it feels uncomfortable, but that's okay too. Yeah. No, it's a really hard place to be. I wanted to ask you because I work with my husband and you've worked with yours for so long. How has that been on your relationship? Obviously Has it all been what it seems? No, real talk.

1:18:51The one piece that's always been really important is we value what the other person is good at. To the core of my soul, I value what he does and I know he values what I do. But the difference is because we're so opposite in what we do. Sometimes I think mine's probably a little bit more important than him. Or vice versa. So - When he's wrong, you mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, for example, he was running our entire operations in our innovation team. So, he had PhD scientists reporting into him. We had labs. He had a team of 50, like, huge. And I'm, like, running the brand and the creative and, like, all of this stuff.

1:19:32I'd be like, well, the event's going on. He's like, well, I have an off-site. Well, I'm like, well, obviously the event's more important. Like, you have to stay home. Like, you know, and he's like, no. So like that was a big piece that was always like a part of contention of like, just because my work's not as fun doesn't mean it's just as important. I'm like, yeah, maybe supply chain is important. You're like, maybe. Maybe we need to get this product into the hands of people after I've killed it with the marketing. And then like you're together all the time. So then you forget to have real conversations about life, marriage, planning, kids.

1:20:03And like that was something that we had to like physically be like, like, wait, wait, we haven't talked, actually talked in like a week. Actually talked. Yeah, because some people would be like, hey, did you talk to Stephen about XYZ? And he's like, I'd be like, no. They're like, you're with him all the time. You live with him. I have people in my office say that to us all the time. I also think it's difficult when you have a really brilliant, exciting business because you want to talk about the business. So there's no like, okay, I'm so over this. Like, let's just forget about it. You're like, this is exciting.

1:20:31Like we've got so many great things to talk about. So it does become all about the business. Were you able to like, Like, I mean, obviously you have a marriage and you're still together, but how did you navigate? Like, how did you create a way for you to be happy, married, romantic partners and have this company together? I think giving mid-year views and feedback in our marriage, literally. Like, no, I mean, it's like one of those things where it got hard a little bit a few months ago when we were like really busy and I was traveling and doing all sorts of press and all of these things. and he was kind of like, and then I would get home and I'd be exhausted.

1:21:09And then he'd be like, the kids just want to be around you. I'd be like, I'm tired. I can't like, whatever. I just need to go to bed instead of staying at. He's like, I've been putting the kids down for like a week and all those things. So he finally sat down and he was just like, the kids just want to be around you. Like, you have to go to these things. And I thought, I was like, you know what? No, I don't. And I started kind of clearing my schedule and I was home more and it made me happier. But like, I didn't think about that. I was grinding, grinding, grinding. And he was like, do you not see like what's going on?

1:21:37Like you need to slow down. And sometimes I need to be checked. And like, that's what I mean with like the feedback. And even though I hate to say he was right, but that was like, that's, that's kind of how we like have conversations sometimes. Like we're really open with like our feedback and like being like, Hey, it wasn't like drag down fight. Like we don't, we don't really fight. And people always think we're like crazy because we don't fight, but like we were real and we have conversations. And, and then I found just being home more made me happier. Me and all my kids made me happier, made me a happier person.

1:22:05So, yeah, I think it's not easy, but I will 100 % do it again. Any business I ever do again, I will do with my husband. You will? I can't wait. Oh, I love that. Do you think he feels the same? Oh, yeah. He wouldn't do it without me either. He's like, no way. Honestly, there's certain things he wants to do, but I will say his biggest fear is if it's not my idea, I won't get behind it. and he's been really honest with me with that. He's like, what if the next business I come up with? And I'm like, I don't know how I feel about that. I'll let you know. Tell me your idea. I'll give you a mid-year review on that one.

1:22:43Yeah, exactly. That's crazy. I want to ask you, like, how do you feel? Like, do you walk around like feeling like so proud? Do you feel a bit sad? Like, what's the feeling now? Probably a little bit of both. You know, I think one of the biggest, things was when it was finally said and done, I, you know, the day of me and my husband, all we want to do is like go to lunch or do something together to kind of celebrate like the actual day that it funded. And we ended up kids screaming horrible night. Couldn't get to bed. It was like 11, really go to bed. The next day I just cleared my schedule and we went to yoga and went to lunch.

1:23:19And I was just like, that was so much better. But it, it was just a good reality check that like, life's really not that different other than that freedom piece. But But it is sad. You know what I mean? Like it's the end of an era of something I've been working for for seven plus years. The futures, there's a lot of unknown, which is exciting. And I've never in my entire life felt every emotion all at once. Within an hour, you're happy, you're sad, you're crying, but you're happy crying. And like, it's a lot on a person's like body. And so I've been very like conscious of taking care of myself.

1:23:58Like even though there's a lot of really great things going on, there's a lot of loss. And I think like anyone that says otherwise is crazy or not truthful. I really want Poppy to be successful. Honestly, if they would have offered me a Pepsi like badge and like kept me and I probably would have worked another three years and got stopped. You're like, I'm coming in. I'm going into the office. Literally, like that's just like how much I love Poppy. But I just know that's not sustainable. It has to stand on its own. I really do think the brand is standing on its own at this point. What would be your nightmare to see?

1:24:32What's the one thing that you're like, if I see this, I'd just die. I would just die if I saw like a really cheesy commercial where people are sitting around a pool and they crack open a coffee and they're dancing and like cheersing and smiling at the camera. And like today, like we don't use like models in any of our stuff. We use real creators or real people or real community. or me. It's like hiring on actors to like walk around like a cheesy old soda commercial. Totally. You just die. I literally think about that all the time. It's so funny. I literally sent it in a message the other day because someone, one of a brand made that and I was like, this is my worst nightmare.

1:25:12Please never do this with my brand. What would make you so happy to see? What do you want in five years, 10 years, 20 years time? To continue seeing Poppy everywhere I go. So if I check in my hotel, I see Poppy. If I go to Europe, I see Poppy. And just anywhere I go, it's within arm's reach. I wanted to see it in every restaurant on Fountain. I really, when I say I want Poppy to be the soda, my kids and grandkids know is soda. Yeah. I think you have a good chance of that happening. And not better for you, soda. I just want them to be like, mom, can I have a soda? Can I just have a soda? And it's Poppy.

1:25:51Benchmark. I'm so happy to meet you and so happy to have this conversation. And like, I don't want to sound patronizing, but just like so proud of you and so happy for you because it's so major. So few women that can say they've started something like this and they've seen it through to fruition. It's special. Stacks of cash just sitting there because of it. Period. Congratulations, thanks. It's amazing. Now we only have the rapid fire to do. Okay. Here we go. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Coffee and TikTok. Together. Scrolling while drinking coffee. I love that.

1:26:28And what's the last thing you do before you go to bed at night? Don't say TikTok. Wine and TikTok, no. It's great combinations. These are things I could get with. No, probably watching reality TV or hanging with my husband, yeah. Love. What's your reality TV? I love Love Island. I love the Kardashians. The English one, Love Island? I haven't watched that. I love Love Island. Oh, okay. No, Love Island America is. Oh, Love Island America. Okay. Everyone in England is obsessed with Love Island. I'm obsessed with The Only Way is Essex. That is the show. I've seen every season. Basically, I grew up like right there.

1:27:09Yeah. I'm from East London and Essex is where you go. I've been watching it for like 20 years. Literally. It's been around forever. I know it has been around forever. I used to like download it. They are having like such a run. It's crazy. Okay. What are you currently aspiring for in your business life? I had normalcy. What are you currently aspiring for in your personal life? Normalcy. I'm so boring. It's not boring. That's amazing. You've done enough. You can take a seat. You're good. What is a book that's changed your life? Okay, so I love this question, but I don't have time to read books.

1:27:45I love you. Can I send you a bunch of books just for the vacation? Yes, okay. I have things for you. I will just text me what it is because I'll download it and I'll listen to it. I feel like you're a download girl. I'm going to totally do that because I just feel like you're going to have this dreamy vacation and you are going to get ants in your past. I love listening to books. Literally, I... It's the best. What is something that you valued when you were starting out that you don't value anymore? I used to really value recognition and the attaboys. and now I know I get it, but I don't need to hear it.

1:28:26Even though it's nice to hear, but it's like a lot of people feel like they need it to be successful. You don't need it anymore. It's wonderful. And what's something that you value now that you didn't when you were starting out? Honestly, I didn't value other people's thoughts or opinions. I thought mine were the right. Like I was always right. And now I really value other people's opinions and thoughts and collaboration. That's some real growth right there. Amazing. Thank you so much. This is such a pleasure. You're amazing. Thank you, darling.

1:29:05If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click follow on your favorite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review and a five-star rating and share an episode you loved with a friend. You'll be so grateful. A Spy with Emma Greed is presented by Odyssey. I'm your host, Emma Greed. Our executive producers are Corrine Gilead-Fisher, Derek Brown, and me. Our executive producers from Odyssey are Maddie Sprung-Kaiser, Leah Reese-Dennis, Asha Saluja, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Justine Dom is our senior producer. Our producer is Kristin Torres. Sound design and engineering by Bill Schultz. Angela Peluso is our booker.

1:29:41Original music by Charles Black. Video production by Evan Cox, Kurt Courtney, Andrew Steele, Carlos Delgado, and Arnie Agassi. Social media by Olivia Holman. Special thanks go to Brittany Smith, Sydney Ford, my teams at Jones Works and WNE, Maura Curran, Josefina Francis, Hilary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson-Rose, Tim Meekle, Sean Cherry, and Lauren Vieira. If you have questions for me, you can DM me at Aspire with Emma Greed. Greed is spelled G-R-E-D-E That's Aspire A-S-P-I-R-E With Emma Greed Or you can submit a question to me on my website emagreed.me Lemu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual But now we want you to feel it Cue the emu music, Lemu Save yourself money today Increase your wealth Customize and save We say That may have been too much feeling Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty Savings vary underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts