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Fashion People Podcast Episode Notes
Episode Title
Sims City Episode Description In this episode, host Lauren Sherman is joined by supermodel, actress, podcaster, and founder of YSE Beauty, Molly Sims. They discuss Molly's modeling career, her transition to Hollywood, and more. Additionally, Jacob Gallagher from the New York Times joins to discuss Grace Wales Bonner's appointment as creative director of menswear at Hermès.
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Key Participants
- Lauren Sherman: Host and writer for Puck, covering fashion and beauty.
- Molly Sims: Guest, supermodel, actress, podcaster, and founder of YSE Beauty.
- Jacob Gallagher: Fashion reporter from the New York Times.
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Episode Structure
Introduction
- Lauren introduces the podcast and its purpose of exploring behind-the-scenes discussions in the fashion industry.
- Brief reminder of the Puck subscription for exclusive fashion insights.
Segment 1
Breaking News (Jacob Gallagher)
- Discussion of Grace Wales Bonner's recent appointment as the creative director of menswear at Hermès.
- Jacob shares insights into Bonner's career and her acclaim in the fashion community.
Key Points from Discussion
- Appointment Significance: Bonner's long-time dream to work at Hermès.
- Design Style: Emphasis on craftsmanship, tailoring, and the opportunity for creative exploration in her new role.
- Customer Demographics: Challenges in appealing to Hermès' established clientele, particularly the older demographic.
- Transition from Previous Director: Reflection on Veronique Nichanian's 37-year tenure and her understanding of the Hermès consumer.
Segment 2
Interview with Molly Sims
- Introduction of Molly Sims and her background in modeling and acting.
- Discussion of her podcast experiences and the evolution of her career.
Key Topics Covered
- Modeling Career:
- Early experiences and challenges in the modeling industry.
- The transition from modeling to acting, including taking acting classes and landing pivotal roles.
- Personal Branding:
- The importance of authenticity and hard work in her career.
- Navigating the pressures of the beauty and fashion industry.
Insights on Beauty and Entrepreneurship
- Molly discusses her skincare line, YSE Beauty, and the journey to creating it.
- Exploration of the beauty industry landscape, including the challenges of launching a product line.
Key Takeaways
- Product Development: Focus on key active ingredients and effective formulations.
- Resilience and Judgment: Importance of having a clear vision and being strategic in business decisions.
- Experience vs. Youth: Reflection on the pressures and advantages of starting a business later in life.
Conclusion
- Discussion of future aspirations, including potential books and further entrepreneurial ventures.
- Reflection on personal growth and maintaining balance as a working mother in the industry.
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Major Themes
- Resilience in Career: Both Molly and Jacob emphasize the importance of persistence in the face of challenges.
- Evolution of Fashion: The transition in leadership at Hermès exemplifies shifts in fashion leadership and creative direction.
- Personal Branding: Building a business around personal experience and authenticity is highlighted as a pathway to success.
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Final Thoughts The episode provides a fascinating look into the interconnected worlds of fashion, beauty, and personal branding, showcasing how personal experiences shape professional journeys. The discussions with Jacob Gallagher and Molly Sims reveal insights not only about the industry but also about personal growth, resilience, and the importance of authenticity in building a career.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:03Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Clucks fashion and beauty memo line sheet. And today with me on the show is model, actress, podcaster, and founder, Molly Sims. We get into all of it. Plus, up top, Jacob Gallagher from the New York Times joins me to discuss the appointment of Grace Wales Bonner as creative director of menswear at AirMez. Before we get going, I wanted to remind you that if you like this podcast, you'll definitely love Puck, where I send an email called Line Sheet. If you're a fashion person, you get that reference. It's an original look at what's really going on inside the fashion and beauty industries.
0:46Line Sheet is scoopy, analytical, and above all, fun. Along with me, a subscription to Puck gains you access to an unmatched roster of experts reporting on powerful people and companies in entertainment, media, sports, politics, finance, the art world, and much more. If you're interested, listeners of fashion people get a discount. Just go to puck.news slash fashion people to join puck or start a free trial. Happy Friday, everyone. This is a special little intro with none other than Jacob Gallagher of the New York Times. What's up, Jacob? Hi, Lauren. Good to talk to you again. I'm so happy for you to be here.
1:29We had to emergency pod because of some breaking news that you broke. Yeah, I guess now it's if this is on Friday, this is four days after. But yeah, it breaking insofar as it happened this week. But yeah. Well, here's the thing. There's I don't know if I'll ever have to do an emergency pod unless someone like even if like anyone died. I was going to say, don't say a name. Don't put that out into the world. You know, if someone there is like one person, if they die, I think I'll have to do an emergency pod. We all know who it is, but I don't think that person is going to die for like 15 more years.
2:03I probably won't be doing this anymore. Anyway, so we, for the past week, we have been speculating on who might be the next designer of Hermes menswear. And on Tuesday, the company announced via a story in the New York Times, don't credit other people, people. Don't link to the trades. It was Jacob who got the scoop. Although I did mention her name the day before. I just want to say that that Grace Wells Bonner is the new menswear creative director for menswear at Hermes. And I wanted to have you on really quickly to discuss and what you think about it. You've been covering her career since the beginning and, you know, probably more about Grace than any other reporter.
2:48So what what do you think about this appointment? Well, you know, it's funny you say that because I think probably this is a designer who, you know, know similar to a lot of designers that come out through london through the central saint martin pipeline you know i think she's someone that has a lot of name recognition and a lot of acclaim through the the kind of british fashion universe like i think here in america i was probably one of the reporters that spoke with her the most um but you know certainly and and i want to give credit to you know all those reporters in the uk that have been covering her career you know since she was at central saint martin um i think that this is probably for her to speak about her first This is probably the best appointment imaginable.
3:29I mean, there is something. I led my story with this, and a lot of people picked up on this same piece of an interview she did many years ago. And then as if it came out of nowhere, we're not noting that I had found this first. But she told System Magazine many years ago that it was her dream to work at Hermes. I think that that's really valid. Like she is that kind of designer where she has such a taste for craft and for, you know, I think, and that's such a trite thing to say, but I think it's very true for her where she had a real eye for tailoring and for, you know, more sort sartorial references and through lines that she wasn't always able to, I think, bring to life through her brand.
4:12a lot of the tailoring that she in kind of outerwear more formal outerwear that she would show on her runway was produced by anderson shepherd she and then there was always a question of how much of that would then make it to her commercial lines and let's talk about hermez i mean she this is not an lvmh brand where it's going to be as much attention on pumping pumping pumping and getting you know i think i certainly i think hermez was like her collections to sell but i think she's going to have a lot of room to explore again her sensibility and and and really i think offer this vision that she's always had you bring it to life more this this kind of more sooty more romantic aspects of her brand i can definitely see those coming through more as for hermes i mean you know i i think it's so hard to wrap my head around uh veronique not being there you know she's been there for 37 years like her smiling at the end of those runway shows and doing the full walk and waving to everyone like that's such an integral part of of what the that menswear line was and you know she had such an intimate understanding of what that their wealthy consumer wanted i think that is probably in my eyes the big question for how wales reaches kind of that entrenched often older client that Hermes really has.
5:36There's a lot of excitement and vitality to what Grace does. I would love to see, I'm really curious how she's going to kind of broaden that scope to target that Hermes consumer. But she has a lot of time to do it. You had in her newsletter that she starts in June. She actually starts in January. I'm aware it's been updated. So her first show is in January. So she has more than a full year to work on this. And I think that that goes to show how Hermes is kind of a label that, though it is huge, it moves slower. It's going to give her time to develop. Yeah. So I want to talk a little bit more about Grace.
6:10But first, let's talk about Veronique and what. Can you discuss her sort of place in the menswear ecosystem? Because I have gone. I don't go to, you know, I dip in and out of mens. But when I go, I do usually go to Hermes. And I find it to be like everything about Hermes, sort of like separate from the rest of the industry. But also for menswear in particular, she seemed really important. Like it's like you all have an opinion about her. Whereas I think in women's there's a much a lot more noise where she was a really big part of the conversation every single week. Can you like explain her as a designer and also like what that who that customer is, is the customer sort of the proto Laura Piana customer?
7:04And that's what Grace is going to have to be thinking about. Or like where does Hermes menswear fit into the menswear ecosystem? You know, it's tricky because as you say that, I'm thinking, where does Hermes menswear fit in with Hermes? Like we have to note that Hermes is a luxury house that has creative directors of so many, like Grace is now one of, I think at least I'm going to get the number wrong, but it's like at least 10 creative directors that Hermes has under their whole umbrella because they, you know, it's housewares, it's accessories, it's ties, it's scarves, it's bags. It is a very siloed design structure there.
7:42And obviously they all correspond and work together. And it's a whole universe when you go to the store. But her focus is on menswear. And I think those Veronique shows, they would always... Listen, it would be easy to say this was a designer who was there for 37 years. She's 71. She's leaving the brand. It never felt like it was getting stale or getting stodgy. It certainly wasn't guiding trend per se, or it wasn't a show where you'd go and say, oh my God, this is the fit or the silhouette, the color of the season, what have you. But they were really strong clothes. There was always a lot of energy through texture and through color and what she was doing.
8:23you know but then at the same time like i remember there were a few seasons where i was like whoa those pants were quite slender or or you know whoa this is a more challenging silhouette here she was really trying to shape that that customer but again i'm saying shape that customer the hermes menswear business you know listen it's it's a specific thing the runway to the store i don't know if you you know went to their store here if you would see all those clothes in the store. Like, I think we need to do we need to recognize that a little bit, how much there was concept on the runway and how much there was the commercial sensibility.
8:57But, you know, they were very wearable, very lush, very opulent clothes. And you could see the kind of client there in the leather jackets and in the big sweaters. And that was really what they were kind of, I think, offering to that client. The way Hermes works is that every store director buys the collection for the store. And this is very rare in at this level of luxury to have that. So you go into a store and I've I've mentioned this to people at Hermes that I think they should do like a pop up with Nadege's whole collection so that like fashion girls will want to go buy it. And I wonder if someday they'll do something like that because you go and look at the rack and there's like a couple runway pieces.
9:41But usually they are buying a they're really focused on accessories and home because that is what's driving a lot of the business. But B, it's really about like, who is the local client in Nashville or Miami or Lisbon? What are they buying and how can we customize for them? And I think the interesting thing to me about Veronique was that it didn't feel dated to me. No, I totally agree with that. And that is amazing. Like, let's say we love Karl Lagerfeld. That was not anything. It didn't connect. She was connecting to real humans in her designs. Those were real and you could see them and they were of the conversation.
10:23Yeah. But really quickly back to Grace and then I'll let you go because I don't I don't want to keep you for too long. We could talk for an hour about this. But I think the one thing I'm curious about, what do you think is going to happen? Because I had heard some stuff about her business and like I went to her tenure. I was in London and I got to go to her or maybe it was in Paris. Oh, it was Paris men's. I got to go to her 10 year show, which I think you were, you were on leave. I think I was on leave. Yeah. And it was great. She's really good. I went backstage. I really like her. She's, she's obviously also just how influential she has been on a lot of American designers.
11:02I think you're right that like, she's not super well known in the U S but she's been very influential. so you know like i just whispered someone's name we're not gonna offend them right now um but she's and i do think her like her attention to detail that when you're a really detailed designer that becomes that influences other designers and and so one there are two two parts to this question one is what do you think will happen with this business like i wonder if they'll just keep it because adidas carries the business everyone knows that i she wouldn't she would say that too, I'm sure. Maybe they'll keep the ideas line is great.
11:43Maybe they'll keep doing that. But the other part is women's. And I think Leandra and I discussed her at length on Tuesday's episode. We didn't know we recorded it on Monday that she was actually the designer. But I think there will be more overlap in the because now people just shop like men shop women's women shop men there's like a lot of I have friends who buy Phoebe Philo male friends who buy Phoebe Philo shirts like there's there's more overlap but I do I have some of her pieces like I'm a really big fan of her work do you think that she'll do you think she'll keep the business and secondly like what do you think happens for her kind of expression as a women's wear designer I think it's interesting because to me what I always think of with her is kind of that she was you know there there are trends that we've seen like to your point about her influencing american designers like i think she you know as i said in my piece like and then this is the adidas collab but she certainly is deserves a lot of credit for pushing the samba back that like you know that was part of like that that moment with adidas and gucci and her and and and that i think the samba revival she gets a lot of credit for but also that kind of sportswear hybrid like her tracksuits were a really popular item and continue to be like that's kind of i think the expression of her brand that we see the most is is her jersey you know again for for probably commercial reasons and also just just for you know what she was able to put forth uh production wise um from the runway to to her stores where it goes from here i i don't know i mean this is this is she would be um the first designer in a long time to have her own brand and also be doing hermes you You know, I think we'll see, but certainly there is that legacy there, you know, La Mer and Margiela, they continued onward with their own brands, you know, post their time with Hermes.
13:37But, you know, I think we'll have to, you know, wait and see. This is a designer who, again, like I've always thought like those runway collections would feel really full and really thorough. And there would be just that open question of how much of that would end up in stores. And I'm sure we heard a lot of the same rumors and speculation about where her business was and how much of how how frankly how real it was and how much of of her sales did come from it from Adidas or what have you. But, you know, I think whenever this happens, you know, it's just more it's more financial resources. It's more, you know, production resources at one's disposal that, you know, hopefully she'll be able to flesh out her own brand further if that's what she desires.
14:25But, you know, I think I just think and then, you know, we can kind of wrap it. But I'm really curious of how much that her her hit making ability with Adidas. I mean, her Adidas collaboration now is has been going on for so long. And there are so many skews within that. I'll be curious. It's not like Hermes. You know, we're in a moment where designer sneakers are kind of fading and over a little bit. Yeah. But, you know, it's like, will she be able to pull something off like that with Hermes? You know what? How much is Hermes going to be looking for that from her? That would be really interesting because it's not like Hermes is a brand that in the past has had the hit shoe, the hit kind of accessory for men.
15:03They would be I'll be really curious to see if she's able to kind of inject something like that into Hermes. Yeah. And also how she'll work with Pierre Hardy, I think, who does the shoes shoes. I think Nadege has done a really good job working with him. Like the we were Leander and I were talking about the cowboy boot. If you're going to buy a designer cowboy boot, it's going to be from Hermes now. And that has a lot to do with how they've been able to work together. Yeah. I mean, if I was advising her, I would say keep doing the Adidas line and close the rest of the business. Like I personally think do this.
15:40Enjoy your life. Do the next 10 years. You can always look at what LeMere did. Like he did Hermes. He was doing his other line. He left. He really built out. Now that business is giant. It has just exploded. and I think if I was advising her, which no one's paying me, that is what I would say to do. But I think it's going to be really interesting. I think with Smart of Them, I think it's amazing that she gets a year to, well, a year and a half really to, I really would have loved to see her project. Maybe someday. Someday, someday. Jacob, congrats again. Thank you. You got to come on soon. We got to do a me, you and Becky.
16:21We'll figure out a good topic. We'll figure out a time. All right. Thanks, Lauren. Good to see you. Thank you. Good to see you too. And now let's get going with Molly.
16:32Molly Sims, welcome to Fashion People. Hello, Fashion People. We were just discussing I might be the first model ever on your show. I think I need to start because we've definitely done more than 100 episodes. I need to start being better. Do you do this with your podcast? Like when you have a 50th episode or 100th episode, you do a sort of celebration. Are you all good at that? Yeah, I'm good. I do it by years. So we're on the rim is now four years old, which is crazy because it's amazing for someone who didn't want to do a podcast. I'm still going. It's with your really good friend, right? Yeah.
17:15It's my best friend, Emisha Gormley. She lives in New Jersey, New York, and I mainly, I'm in New York now, but I mainly live on the West Coast. And yeah, it's six kids between us, a tall one, a short one. You know, we're very different, but very alike. And it's really fun. I mostly listen to it via clips on Instagram. Like when you had on, I think you had on your personal trainer or something. about how much you should be strength training. Oh, yeah. Sarah Ragley came like up 45 times for me. But yeah. You were targeted, Lauren. I mean, I was like, should I try to see this woman? Actually, I was the girl in the back of SoulCycle when they were like, now we're going to take our two-pound weight.
18:14I was so like oh my god I can't I'm gonna gain muscle from the two pound weight yeah I was that girl yeah you're you're an inspiration all around I want to ask you I I want to rewind but I do want to ask really quickly on this point because it's your friend and because you've been doing it now for four years so you weren't at the beginning of you're not Marc Maron who's been doing it for 15 years, but you weren't like that's during COVID era when a lot of podcasts got really popular. How is the parasocial relationship thing? Because you've been famous for a long time, but like this is a different kind of famous.
18:56Do you feel how is it like do people DM you a lot? Do you get approached in public a lot more now? What is it like? Yeah. I mean, who needs a TV show. No, I'm just joking. Or a film. No, I'm kidding. I think we kind of resonated. You know, we started the podcast because, granted, not everybody needs to take my advice, listen to my advice, or even do my advice, whatever. But I was a little, I didn't love the gatekeeping of Hollywood, of beauty, of, oh my God, I, you know, I got a lot of sleep. And you know, when people, I'm from Kentucky, so people would ask me like, okay, I've done this. I've starved for three days.
19:42I did this diet. I sat in, you know what I mean? Like I went to We Care. I did that. I was always honest. But what I found when I would ask people, they wouldn't say like what they really did. And I always found that, and listen, we are four years now, you got Kylie Jenner giving you her under the muscle breast implant size, which, you know, we've just come so far. But at the time, it really bothered me. And the one thing Emisha and I were really good about, and I had a baby about two years, 18 months before she did, we were always really good about sharing information, meaning, bitch, you got to do this, or you got to do that, or I figured this out so you can never do this again.
20:34And it was just a safe place that I thought women could come and learn something. You're always going to learn something by the end of the, at the end of the episode, whether it's the tips and tricks of an incredible actress or a plastic surgeon or I'm never doing this or I don't know. I think it just came from a place of, honestly, transparency. I love it. I'm going to ask you a bunch more questions about this later. On the subject of transparency, the first thing we usually ask, which we jumped into other things immediately, is what did you have for breakfast this morning? I had grazed scrambled eggs.
21:18what are what is grace what is great he just had i made him scrambled eggs and then this is your kid and then i ate them i thought this was like some like special farm wherever you are no no no no i made a scrambled eggs and then there's this really very expensive horrible but amazing place called round swamp that if you buy anything it's i mean you can't walk out of there without at least spending$100 and you've only gotten like a half of a thing. But there are these cinnamon rolls and we get them like once every two weeks is just like a treat. And he was a really good boy this weekend. And so I got him the cinnamon roll and then I ate the last two bites.
22:02That's a perfect protein first. It's funny. So this is the second time Round Swamp has appeared on Fashion People. The first was with Nick Brown, I'm sure you know, and he recommended the granola. And then one of my colleagues, John O 'Ran, who writes about sports, he got the granola and he's been messaging me. He's like, I spent all this money on the granola. So we bought the granola. The granola is out of this world. I can't even imagine what the cinnamon rolls are like. It's so good. I mean, what they're very, very famous for and I actually have a recipe that it's close. I'm close to it. I've been in the Hampton since 1999.
22:44I bought my first house with my first modeling money. Amazing. The chicken salad. The chicken salad is the single best chicken salad. I'm from the South, so everything is made with mayonnaise. But it is the single best chicken salad you will ever have. But it will cost you. It's a lot. what i can recommend to our our listeners who are not in long island is order some of the stuff we got the jam we got the we're big squirrel jam people in our house but we did buy some of this round swamp we bought the granola and if you are in the vicinity of long island go to round swamp and get this chicken salad and maybe a cinnamon roll pretend you're going to like a really extensive dinner and you're not really going to eat a lot, but it's going to be amazing.
23:34Right. That's, you know, I, you can't, I can't afford to go there. I mean, it's so, we literally do it like on special occasions, but it is delicious. So good. Okay. So you said you bought your first place with modeling money in the late nineties in the Hamptons. Tell me, I'm sure you've told the story a million times, but how did you, from the South, how did you get into modeling? What was the industry like when you entered the market? And what were you sort of bringing, other than being beautiful and engaging, to the table for brands and all of that stuff? Lauren, I did not enter at a good time.
24:18I entered into the Heroin Chic era. Kate Moss, who's incredible. um yeah rende was a very famous photographer who took in incredible pictures of of her at that time it was just very very gaunt very thin very again very waif-like um the problem for me is that i wasn't a waif and i you know wasn't the bone structure was was not built like that but i was that I went to public school, Murray, Kentucky, shout out. My mom and dad were self-made. I've been working since I was 14. Well, 13. I was a full-on babysitter. But my mom and dad had two companies. They bought the books back when you would go to college and your professor would be like, got a second edition now because they want to make money.
25:10And then my dad would buy back all the first editions and he would. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So that's kind of in my, they made like, recycling from the books to paper. It was a whole thing. I went to Vanderbilt. Amazing. I wanted to be a lawyer. I've never met a dateline that I didn't love. I fully bought a subscription to Court TV for the Karen Reed trial. I just always want, that's what I always wanted to do until I was a, in between my sophomore and junior year, I went and worked on the Hill because I thought maybe political law, clearly after that, it was never happening because nothing ever gets done.
25:56But during that time, I had some pictures made. I've been my height since I was, oh my God, I'm a 41 shoe. I've been 5 '10 since I was in eighth grade, 5 '9, 5 '10 since I in eighth grade. I had, you know, school, Vanderbilt was amazing. I, I loved it tried out. So I don't want to like put anything down. I just, I'm just not the girl who like everyone does the same thing and looks the same. I appreciated it. I loved it. There's some incredible, my best friend who I work with now on a daily basis for why she's my legal counsel, by the way, she is incredible with a highlighter and a note and an email.
26:40But that just kind of, I don't know, for whatever reason, I just wanted to do a semester abroad. I was going to do the London School of Economics. I just wanted to do something. I was from Kentucky, got out of my comfort zone. I'm an hour and a half away in Tennessee. And then someone had said, take some pictures. They got sent to New York. I went there for the summer with my mom. And I was already, I have the letter to Vanderbilt in my journal. My dad, both my parents recently passed away. I'm sorry. So sad. It's horrible. But I found the letter and the letter was like, I am just taking one semester off.
27:24I have an opportunity to travel. Don't think I can make any money and I will be back. And it's interesting because I found the postcards and then I found one postcard. I was sent to Germany, which I was supposed to be sent to Greece because at the time, you know, how many magazines were in New York or in LA? I mean, maybe 10. But if you went to Europe, you had the opportunity of Italy, Mexico, Prague, I mean, all over Portugal, wherever you had so many opportunities to get tear sheets, which made a book, which made you could work. Long story short, I ended up in Germany. I was really unhappy. I was told I was too heavy.
28:06I was overweight. I would never make it. They had actually forwarded my, given me the ticket for the money. It was like $780 something dollars, told me that I would never be able to repay them. And my mom was like, you know, I was living with someone who, an older woman who didn't, who I actually ended up loving, who didn't really speak English and I definitely didn't speak German. But I don't know. There was one day, one instant on one casting that I think they liked me. I was nice. I was kind. I was a fucking worker. I mean, today I work like I'm poor. Like, I just, and then I just kind of learned, right?
28:48Like, yes, probably was I a size 6 gene or a 4 gene? I was. I mean, it was really embarrassing when someone makes you go get your jeans out of your suitcase and you just have come from chocolate chip cookie dough dipped in a frosty fry with a frosty and a fry from Wendy's. Like, it was definitely a mindfuck. You know, I never knew. And I started when I was 21, 21, I think I started modeling until 19, 20, 21. I never knew my nose was crooked. so it definitely but then I just started figuring it out and I also was that classic pretty I wasn't you know I wasn't too skinny I wasn't and I just kind of just made it through that you know it was a very difficult time in my life oh man um then i moved to london but i found a postcard and then when i was in london i was like i think i might can make money i think i might can do this and then i went to paris and i tried it i cut off all my hair i dyed dyed it jet black i tried so hard to be goth and emo i try i tried i I starved.
30:12I, God, I fucking lived on rice crackers and fucking honey, which, by the way, is a carb on a carb on a sugar. But when you're 20, if it's not that many calories, it all is the same, right? Yeah. And then then you kind of figure out that you're not that. And I don't know, I think my success was definitely not the prettiest, definitely not the tallest, but I was a good client. Like I would show up, I would do my job. I would, you know, I had cystic acne at the time. So it was always a little tricky with my skin. And, you know, I have to say, you know, you're retouching. You're not. I mean, with a pencil and a hand.
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30:54You're not like, let's fucking face tune it. But yeah, I mean, I think, listen, it was really difficult. There's no way I don't have body dysmorphia to this day. You know, I always buy four times larger than my body type because I'm just so paranoid of, I remember my first when I kind of went over to hosting and acting, I remember a stylist came to me and she was like, okay I've got you know I've got some looks for you I have two four six eight ten and I was like come again I could not believe that because for me getting into a size zero or a ten I always had to be really disciplined and like I said I wasn't lifting the two pound weight and soul cycle.
31:47Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, listen, I'm super resilient. I think for whatever it's worth, I got to travel. I got to figure out my, the world. I always say I got to learn fashion. I got to live in London and be British and punky and learn about Vivian Westwood and wear studs. Then I got to live in, you know, Paris and smoke and wear great jeans and no makeup that make it look effortless with a lip. And then I got to be in Italy. And I mean, I don't know if I live in Italy, but I mean, you know, dressed in a sexy slip dress. I don't know. I just I grew in a different way. And I got to the best thing about it is my passport became bigger and I got to understand different cultures.
32:35I got to understand how different people are, but we're also the same, right? Like it was a really good education while Vanderbilt, I didn't end up graduating. I got to be such a, like more of a whole person in terms of like looking at the world. I just had my 50th birthday and I cannot tell you how many people that kept me alive, right? Like I met my roommate and on the floor of a casting and she was like Jessica Rabbit and I was dressed like a tree stump. And, you know, we've been best friends for 30 years, right? So I've made such incredible relationships in just that time, even though it was fraught and difficult.
33:24It was good. Do you think that because you started when you were in your early 20s and you, A, have obviously had a really solid family background, but also have that experience of going to college? Because I feel like 18 to 19 is really hard for a lot of people and it's that separation from family and that for and the gap year thing is so important for so many people do you think that going into it and being in these like really challenging situations that I'm sure still happen today but the world has changed so much it's probably morphed a bit do you think it gave you said the resilience do you think a lot of that came from the fact that you didn't start when you were 13 or 14 and you sort of had I mean Giselle and I always talked about that.
34:15You know, it's, I just, I graduated from high school. I went to my prom. I had two years, an hour, 45 minutes away in Braskin dorm, having to be with, you know, women and figuring out the dynamics and the relationships and what works and what didn't and just figuring out life. how the fuck did you? You know, my mom was a great ironer. She was just like, excellent with fucking laundry. I'm really good at laundry. Just so you know, shout. I love you. But yes, I think it's super important. Like my son who just turned 13, I was on speakerphone and I don't know, we were talking about like what I thought about college and what I thought about, you know, and I'm like, yeah, I don't know that they'll go to college.
35:07I don't know when they'll go, how they'll go. I don't know what that will look like. I literally thought Brooks was like, are you talking about me? Are you saying like, you don't know? And anyway, I finished my call and I looked at him. I go, we're going to figure it out. There's no, everybody think, oh my God, I got to get my kid into this. Oh my God, I got to do it. There are so many ways to cut that pie. And there is a recipe that looks so different, but could be just as delicious and amazing. And I think we get into this habit of like, oh my God, I got to do this. And then I've got to do that.
35:50And then I've got to do this. And that's the one thing I mentor a lot of girls. And I'm like, girl, get ready with change. Say yes. Lean fucking in. There's not enough of that. I think it's incredibly, for growth as a child, you need it. You need it. And it can look a lot of different ways. But I think it can be a slippery slope. I mean, I cannot imagine. You know, I was thinking, someone was talking about Justin Bieber the other day. And I was thinking, I'm like, Brooks just turned 13. He's going into seventh grade. I'm like, I can't imagine fame hitting my 13-year-old now. It was weird to put into perspective.
36:31I mean, I've known Justin B. You know, we love him and his music and we've grown up with him. But now that I have that 13 year old. Yeah. It's mind blowing how young some of these children started. It really is. And now, especially because everything is so instant and up close of the relationships you have with people and just the dynamics of celebrity now are so much even more complex. used to be able to like get away and now he he goes to starbucks and it's it's national news and that is it's a heavy burden whether you're 13 15 60 it is a glass castle that i think people don't realize the pressure i mean i'm i you know i get insecure and i'm like i'm not not that i'm a nobody.
37:26I'm not saying that, but like, I'm not, I can't imagine because it can be crippling. It's almost like the kind of fame that Michael Jackson had, a lot of people have it now. Whereas it was like a few, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, and I don't, Princess Diana and Carolyn Bessette. Like they had a certain kind of insane fame that was scary that even for people watching and now there are hundreds of people that have or thousands of people that have that level of fame and that is that it is it's shocking commenting you know just the freedom of a comment and it's you know look i'm not able to read all of my comments but sometimes you're like really kind of hurt my feelings but again resilience i learned it quite young by the time I got into hosting and acting I don't think there was your calves are fat you're too tall you're too fat you're too blonde you're not dark enough I was saying this to a little girl I was she had was the only one and it was with us and she was from a neighboring state and she got cut and she was devastated yeah that's into me I go I'm going to tell you a couple stories and you're never going to believe me.
38:50I go, you're going to get cut and you're going to get cut again and it's going to make you better and it's going to make you stronger and you're going to cut again and you're going to get told no. And here's what you're going to do. You're going to keep working and you're going to keep opening that door. And I'm telling you, I sometimes think no is not always bad, right? You learn from no, right? You learn from things not always working out. You know, you learn from rejection. Again, I'm not Mel Robbins, but I do believe that things sometimes happen. That is a red flag. I had something the other day and I'm like, I don't think I'm going to be able to work with this company.
39:33Like that's a huge red flag. And it was something so minor. But again, you start to clock these things, right? Like I have really strong boundaries now, Lauren, that I'm from the South, so I don't really have any. And so that is one thing that I've worked on and worked on and really kept precious with Stuber and my family, like, you know, having those boundaries and being very public, but also like there's boundaries, right? Yeah. Which is not easy in our business.
40:11Okay, so you clearly a big part of your sort of life. If you if I look back at life lessons from Molly Sims, it seems feels very much like you put in the work and it does pay off. What was But sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't pay off in the way you think it's going to pay off, but it might pay off in a different way. I think timing is everything. I'm sorry I interrupted your question. No, no, no. I was going to. Maybe we can frame it that way. I want to talk about the transition from modeling to acting and presenting because because so many models try and and don't do it. And you have had a really big acting career.
40:57It probably top five of famous models when you look down and you're you're a working actress who's been extremely successful at it. But I'm curious, like, because thinking of your career as a business like Molly Sims Inc., what was the sort of turning point in modeling when you realized, oh, I'm not going to just make like a little money. I'm going to make I'm going to be able to, like, build a life and a business around this. And was that turning point like was it a failure or was it, you know, a big break or a failure? I just knew that I couldn't stand there and just have people critique me all day long.
41:46Again, they weren't really critiquing me. They're critiquing the clothes and the photo and the thing. But I knew that I had a voice. I've always loved art. I've always loved, you know, again, I was not prolific in fashion, but I've always had a great appreciation for nice things and looking at things. and how did they happen and how did that end up trending? You know, I've always kind of been curious naturally about that. I knew that I could not stand there day after day. And I don't know. It wasn't a one-day thing. It was just, I just knew that I couldn't. And listen, I was getting, I had gotten a turning point.
42:28You know, I'd stopped doing the shows. I had gotten on the cover of French Vogue of September, which is, if anybody doesn't know, it's a pretty mature gain. 2000, I'm living in Europe. I'm dating a French man. I was taking the Concorde in Paris and then doing a, you know, doing a shoot in New York in the afternoon. But I knew something in me just kind of new. And then, I don't know. And then I started working a little bit more back in New York. And I was really tired one August. And Europe shuts down. And I don't know, I had started doing a commercial. And there was a very famous photographer, director named Matthew Ralston.
43:16And he was very video, he was very music. And then he started doing film. And I got this Old Navy commercial and only said three words, only, no forwards only at old navy and i crushed it i don't know but i kind of got up there i kind of did my thing and i really enjoyed it and i ended up getting a cover girl contract and within those kind of situations i got to show my personality right but i was really tired one august and i was like i think i'm gonna go to i read about this class this sanford meisner acting intensive, whatever, in the valley. I don't even know how I found this thing. So I moved to LA for the month of August and like 2002, I don't even know.
44:06And I took this class and I didn't have any makeup on. No one really knew who I was. It was always at night. I'd go in, I'd drive on fucking Lancashire Boulevard. And I don't know, at the end of that class that month, I like kind of like this start to know kind of like what I'm doing and then from that August I took 77 red eyes and I did almost a two-year acting course during this whole time I was still modeling and trying to live in Paris and New York and you know getting my part work done with my partner my scenes and monologues and I don't know and at that time during that time I got MTV and you know I remember I was Chad was my producer was like I ended up getting it it was after Shalom and Amber Cindy had retired they took over House of Style is what we're talking about yes and then I remember when you got it.
45:15Yeah. And they were like relaunching it, right? And I would stand there and he's like, okay, say your name. And I'd be like, hi, guys. I'm Molly Sims. Welcome to House of Style. The only problem is I was so nervous and I didn't know what I was doing. And, you know, I'd never done a Q car. I'd never. I'm like, how do I learn all this on Q? I'm like, what the fuck is happening? And then I'm like, oh, you have to interview Aliyah. I was like, oh, I'm not. And I've never interviewed anybody in my life. And I would sway. So people watching me would be drunk watching me because I would be like, hey, guys, I'm Molly.
45:51And then I would sway back and forth on the screen. They made me watch myself 150 times. I ended up doing this show called Mission Makeover that Adam Scherr, who was the only friend in my business, he was at WME. I only knew him. and I ended up doing House of Style, finishing my course, trying to model. And then they said, hey, there's this reoccurring three episode part to play Jimmy Kahn's daughter. And I'm like, well, hey, I'm not from New York and I don't have a bra. I don't have like a New York accent. Like, I can't pull that off. And they're like, I know, but whatever. Like, don't worry.
46:39You're never going to get it. Anyway, I remember because at the time you have to remember, Lauren, you didn't want to come off as a model. And so I went to the audition, jeans, a camo t-shirt, Gary Scott Thompson called. They're like, does she not want to be like pretty? Or I looked terrible. But then I did kind of lean into my modeling. I did kind of lean into it because I was so I wouldn't have gotten to be where I was without it. And a lot of girls didn't do that. A lot of girls just gave up their modeling and I didn't. Anyway, I got the show. Then they made me a series regular like two, I don't know, three weeks later for a thing called Upfront.
47:20I'm like, I can't be a series regular and you're paying me no money. I'm making this in 10 minutes. And they're like, don't worry, nothing ever goes it's only going to be like nine months 24 episodes I'm like okay but that seems like a lot I don't even know anyway five years later we did it I got the best acting experience of my life working with Jimmy Conn um it's awesome I got to play tennis every day with him for four years I got to did you keep doing things like Victoria's Secret that kind of thing when I drove of my fucking product. I still drive productions crazy. I'm like, don't worry. I'm the last seen out on a four.
48:05I'm on a red eye. I'm in Paris. I will be there at four o 'clock in the morning on Monday morning. And I was I mean, I gave them like a bonding insurance heart attacks, but I did it. How much of this is you in your head being like, OK, I need to be strategic here because Because doing this helps this other thing or is it about more just like instinctual that you like to do the work and so you kept doing all the as much as you could because that's the way you are? I mean, I didn't have money. Yeah. So I didn't grow. I mean, yes, we grew up upper middle class, but wasn't like, you know, my parents were not support.
48:49I mean, yes, they had the crazy phone bill from Europe, from Germany that was like, this cannot happen again. But they did it. I'm a Gemini. I don't know. I don't know if it was just strategic or it was just like survival. I was always worried. I always have like a plan. Like if something doesn't go through, I'm like, OK, I'm really good at pivoting. I'm really good at problem solving. I'm really good at, all right, I don't think this is going to go my way, right? Like I don't, I think my timing has come to an end. Not in a bad way. I didn't feel like, oh, 30, I had an expiration date. But you also have to be realistic with the industry that you're in and how can you still stay relevant?
49:36Same thing that happened to me, you know, when I decided I wanted to have kids, right? I had to stop being a fucking gypsy. Yeah. Right. Like I walked by, I went to try to freeze my eggs when I was 35 and I walked by this cover of Heidi Klum and I'm like, fuck her. I was like, fuck her. And it wasn't because she was on the cover because she was married. She had four kids. She had this life that like, I mean, I was one day here, four days there, you know, Dating, loser, actor, hipsters, like who didn't have jobs, who could travel. Like I, yeah, it was, yeah, you wake up one day and you're like, wait a second.
50:20And so, you know, I've had to sacrifice my acting career. I can't be in a trailer in Durango, Mexico, or I want to do something. There's this new Jon Hamm thing that's coming back that looks so good. and it's six months and outside, I don't even know, Canada, Montreux, Winnipeg. I mean, yeah, I would be divorced, but that would be fine. But you always have to try to figure it out. Yeah. But it is innate that I do work hard. Obviously. I love it. It's interesting. I moved to LA five years ago, on not on a whim but not for any particular reason and now I have a lot of friends who work in the industry and a lot of female friends directors producers I never really considered how difficult it is we and they all have young kids like me and it really is not conducive to having children like and and for men too but obviously the a lot of pressure is put on women I travel a lot for work and I so many people say to me, how do you leave?
51:35I mean, it's it's for at most two weeks and only a couple of times a year. And I'm lucky my husband has a flexible job and we have amazing support so we can we can make it work. And my kid travels with us sometimes. But the point being that, like, if you're going to go for six months to a set and your kid is seven, you're going to take the kid, the kids out. Like it's and yeah. And listen, I travel with him as, you know, as much as we could. And he would work and I would work. And we lived in Boston for Ted. We lived in, you know, we were he did safe house. And so that like we did. But at one point, like I'm there with three babies and they're not social.
52:21They're not. This isn't conducive to like them being gypsies. and them. And so then you start to feel not relevant. Then you start to feel like you're losing because you, you know, I never felt like I was losing to be really truthful. You know, I don't really have FOMO. I kind of check those boxes, which was really good about having kids late. I don't ever think like, oh my God, could have showed a wet on that one. Like I feel, and that's why I always say like, if you can wait, if you can try to figure it out, you'll be a better mom. You know what I mean? Because trying to figure it out, you're always trying to figure it out.
53:06But if you can have more of a sense of who you are and be really solid, it's like the pilot of the plane, put your seatbelt on your oxygen mask and get ready for that fucking ride because it's a ride and you are the mom and you have to navigate, but it's not really inclusive. It's not really, um, in Hollywood, aging is very hard. It's very much pressure. Maybe because I had such a pressure at an early young age, I don't feel it as much. Um, but I feel it. I did a shoot the other day for a cover that's coming out and I'm like the first time in a really long time I felt 52 I was like fuck I need better lighting let's let's that thing I'm like I'm a little like you know I'm like got tape ends and I'm like maybe I'm gonna fucking put some tape on my neck and like but it was you know you start to become aware yeah yeah I don't have to tell you you look amazing I mean I you know I do have a skincare company, Lauren.
54:12But listen, I think it's always, I don't think I, and I can speak for women and I know men have different, but I think sometimes women just think you have one chapter. Yeah. And you don't, you can have a lot of different chapters and you can live a lot of lives and it doesn't mean one's better than the next, you know, like we were talking about this on the podcast. It's like, oh my God, I'm like, oh my God, I had so many incredible loves, right? Like it was so many incredible experiences and where I lived and what I did. And I just think that sometimes women get stuck. They're like, their kids are gone or they're little.
54:52And they're like feeling that all they're talking about is, oh my God, how did he sleep? And did you put the sleep sack on? And what are you feeding him? And did he make the fucking club soccer team that you You know what I mean? I don't know. Yeah.
55:11So you, that sort of desire to keep your life moving, it sounds like. Let's talk about beauty. Did the brand kind of come from, because it's only two years old, which is amazing. Raymond came from my manager. I wanted to I was with the manager for a very very long time in Hollywood who I love and I kind of wanted to you have to understand when I'm the girl who's always hawking the fucking product I'm the girl at the end that's the pretty picture somewhat redutched whatever I'm the end game I'm I show up I do my job I leave I'm really proud of it but you have to understand never being in the inception of something, be in the beginning of something, creating something.
56:07No, I did not know that would be a skincare company, but it started naturally. I wrote a first book. My kids were my little ones. I only had one, I think at the time. Then I had two in the second one, the second book, I was trying to stay relevant. The third one, I was kind of writing this book called Unstuck. It's about kind of another chapter, getting stuck, getting out of your comfort zone, da-da-da-da. But I'd started, I'd always read for my husband, because you can make something doesn't mean you should try. You know, I feel like I have good taste on, it might be not everybody's taste, but on what I like, what I don't like, how I see it, whatever.
56:48And it kind of started with Clea and Joanna. I was writing my second book and it was called Everyday Chic and I needed these women to help me. I was nesting and showing people how to get organized before they have a baby and what you do and how to do it. And anyway, they came into my house. We did the pantry. I'm in overalls. I'm seven months pregnant. And I don't know. I hear them in my pantry. They're laughing. They're yelling at each other. I look at, I was like, Scar came and was like, what the fuck is happening in the house? Like everything was pulled out. And I was like, I'm like, I really think these girls, like, I don't know.
57:33They kind of got something. And long story short, got them an agent. We did a AT &T, like digital show, whatever, sold it to Reese Witherspoon's company. then we all got together revamped it sold it to netflix i don't i don't do reality but it was the first time like i felt like i was a part of something from the beginning right again reality is not my thing but just that feeling yeah and then i kind of liked it i don't know and then my my my manager i was like i just i want to kind of do something different i I was writing a second book and I was writing a third book and I didn't want to go on a trailer.
58:18I just didn't, I didn't want to go be in a trailer. I just, I didn't want to go and be gone for six months, three months. I just done the wrong Missy. I had a script given to me from an elementary school teacher that I went to school with for my kids. Somehow I was like, I don't even know, come back to me. I didn't really mean it because everybody and their mothers, brothers, sisters asked you to read a script. And then she came back to me and it was kind of like kind of what I'd gone through. One day you wake up and so those little seeds were all planted. And then I met this woman who was a really good friend of mine.
58:59She had incredible clients, but she was more in kind of the brand building part of our world, not just acting and TV. And she was like, listen, I think you're great. And I was like, it's not going to take me. I was like, what? And she was like, but I think you don't know what you want to do. And I was like, but I do. She's like, I don't really think you do. And so she was like, come back to me in a few months and give me kind of like a five year plan. I was like, what the fuck? I was like, I don't have a five-year plan. But boy, did it get me focused. And boy, did it get me strategic. And did it really make me think.
59:48And it really, and anyway, I ended up meeting a woman named Kim Kruseberger who had just left a big company. call and I was Will Rogers standing there in the rain, AYSO. And she's like, oh my God, I haven't seen you in so long. And I was like, oh my God, how was everything? And she's like, good. I kind of went off on my own now. I was like, really? She was like, yeah, I named it Pivot Projects. I was like, what are you pivoting? She goes, I'm kind of helping people figure out what they want to do. And I'm like, what? Anyway, she came to my house for two weeks. they went through my entire life fashion interior website tiktok every every part of my life and they were like there isn't anything that you like i'm like well i like baking i'm like i don't want to be in fashion i don't want to like i'm not a cook i always burn shit like i i don't i'm southern i can do like really amazing casseroles and things like that but i can't do.
1:00:46And then I don't know, on a whim at the, on the second to the last day, I was like, I've had this really bad problem with my skin. And I know this is going to sound weird, but I stopped everything. And she was like, okay. And so I went upstairs and I brought down like 15 products. And I was like, I start with this. Then I do this. Then I do, I do biologic research P50. Then I do this glycone. Then I do eyes clinical. And I was like, I don't know whatever it's worth, But like my hyperpigmentation is like crazy better. And I haven't done a laser. I haven't done a peel. I haven't done. And she's like, really?
1:01:26And about two weeks later, she was like, I want you to talk to someone. And that's how it started. That's fascinating. Were you a PF50 1970 girl? The Biologique PF50 1970. Me too. We got it RIP'd about seven months ago. But now you have your own thing. But now your favorite egg stads. That is the base of the Biologique Recherche without burning your face off. That's good. And not smelling like a barbecue. And not feeling like you've been burned. Human barbecue. And like feeling like you've been burned. Yeah. Listen, I crushed it. I sold millions of tubs. That's awesome. Yeah. That's why it took so long to develop that product because I had to get the, I mean, I would have one pad here with this strength, one pad.
1:02:18And what I realized that it was missing was all the things that I would do after. So ectoine, humectants to make it not burn and drip and like pull layers off of your skin. So that's why they're so successful. so I know of Kim because of all the places she's worked I've actually written about her before and she's awesome she has an amazing reputation that's so interesting I think I remember hearing that she was doing work with you at some point but I didn't realize that is what she had had sort of developed and there I have two more questions for you and maybe the the we'll do the the first one last but so the big question for you is so you start this like how did you start the company did you raise money did you do it yourself did you and also like go coming into beauty in 2023 which is only two years ago which is crazy because I feel like this brand already brands launching right before me and and it feels like it's been around for a long time and I think You are a testament of having an amazing spokesperson and a person behind it who really believes in it, who happens to be famous, is helpful and great.
1:03:38But the product has to be really good, too. And you're this brand is and what was it like coming in? What have you learned about the world of beauty that you didn't expect? All of that. Ignorance is a blessing. I worked initially with a contract manufacturer. And they were like, we've never done a deal like this. We'll help you. We'll take a certain percentage. And they helped me. And then I'm like, I think I can do this. And so I still work with them. I got them out. And I'm like, back to my old modeling money, all the things that I'd done. I'm like, I'm pulling my bonds. I'm pulling it. um we were self-funded for oh my god it's going on five years so the first four years we raised money a little bit last summer and i needed it strategically i needed let me tell you i had no idea i never knew that you could white label you could just slap a label on which i would never do I never knew.
1:04:49I knew I but I knew my shit. I'm not a chemist, but I've been in there's never a French pharmacy that I haven't loved. I have getting shots in my ass of caffeine is mesotherapy. 30 years later, it's it's called microneedling. I was definitely educated. I was definitely educated, but I was also educated in actives. I knew beta gluconolactone. I knew ectoine. I knew glycolic. I knew salicylic. Like I might not knew how to put them together and I didn't know like why. And I'm also hero driven. I don't believe that you need 17 lines of one product, right? Find your fucking holy grail and make it great and make it do a lot of different things.
1:05:31I now have a master's at Harvard in business school. Kidding. I can do ops. I can do supply chain. I can do social marketing. I am genius at HR. I can build really good teams of unicorns with no money but it is the single hardest thing like I was in the shower today and I was like and then you have this thing called a forecast right so you forecast it heck you make the forecast you're like you go a couple hundred thousand over the forecast then they they double down on the forecast and make it for it and then I don't know you never kind of feel but yeah we're crushing it we're hoping and then i mean we'll almost be doing 10 million it's insane and yeah that's awesome expensive and you have to buy all this years in advance but i love my team at sephora i got in last um they said yes june 19th my son's birthday last year we launched this june 13th um it's amazing so again i mean we're like a toddler walking.
1:06:38We just did. We just pulled up and now we're taking steps. I have learned to appreciate every modeling job that I ever got that at the end of it, I stood there and I'm like, man, you made a great product. But I think, you know, I always used to ask my husband, like, how is it that you can make a bad movie? How is it that you can make a bad product? How is it that You can you work so hard. You again, the recipe, the pieces of the puzzle, the pie, however you cut it. And it's really hard. It's really, really, really hard. Yeah, it really is hard to make something good, even if everyone involved it.
1:07:23It's still unlikely. So when it happens, it feels like, wow, this amazing. But the thing and this is my last question for you. Throughout this conversation, what I have seen is that you have very good judgment. It might also be like high EQ. But you're talking about the home edit ladies. And I had to I was like, who is she talking about that organized her pantry? It was the home edit people. who are the fact that you saw that that could be something bigger than just them having this very lucrative but kind of private business that they could be stars you have very good judgment you look at your career you and I know some of it is luck but a lot of it is obviously very picky but I'm I I when people ask me I'm very easy to work for because I know exactly what I don't like.
1:08:15Yeah. I know that sounds weird, but I'm like, no, I'm packaging is like that. I know if I like it, I know if I don't like it. I know I don't take on a lot, like even my production company, like I was pitching on something in the other day and this, my partner was like, tell them, I'm like, okay, but they could probably look it up on IMDB, but okay, I'll give the pitch. But I was like, damn, I do have a good slate, but I only have a slate because I don't take that much. Think about it. We look at 25 projects a week. Everybody. Oh, my God. Everybody wants it. Everybody's I mean, as you know, in Hollywood.
1:08:53Yeah. Everybody wants everything. And I'm like, no, that that's not what I want to make that. I don't think I can get it made. If I have an inkling that I don't think I can get it made, I do not take it. It's too hard. Yeah. Last Mrs. Parrish, I called Liza Chaston and Kira Goldberg on October of 2020. And I'm like, listen, I was actually calling Dana Spector about another book that the Liv Constantine sisters had sold it to. And I'm like, why do these always get those men to do it? And I casually asked, whatever happened in that book? That was such a good title, but a woman wanting another woman's life.
1:09:41Be careful what you wish for. And she goes, well, she goes, you're never going to believe it. She goes, it's coming out of option in two days. I go, what? I go, Dana, I know you don't know me. I know you know Scott Greenberg and you know my husband Scott Stewart I go but if you could just hold this for two days I'm not a producer but I think I can make this shit happen and she was like I'm sure she was like yeah sure girl um but called Liza I'm like I'm telling you I will get you the coverage I'll get somebody from my husband's company to get you the coverage no he was at he was at Netflix at the time I could get coverage but I don't really never ask to get any coverage from somebody.
1:10:27But I'm like, I will figure it out. Call Kira. I'm like, get someone to read it. I'm telling you. And we're making it with, we're starting in September with Bob Zemeckis and Jennifer Lopez. And I don't know. I'm just like, I'm just like an engine that doesn't quit. I just like keep trying to start it up. It's amazing. I love it. What's your next book going to be about? Being an entrepreneur? or a life of entrepreneurship? I still kind of want to go back to my idea about the third book because I think so many women just get so quickly defeated. And I just wish I could say, just keep going. But there's caveats.
1:11:12You have to know your why. What is your why? What is your why? You have to believe in it so much that you can live and die off of it. Right. Like you have to believe in that. Say that. You have to believe. I told him I'm still on a podcast. I texted him. I'm like, my husband just came in. You don't come in. He goes, I could see it because it's one. I don't like don't come in before one. And he came in. Sorry. And don't repeat it. Word to word to. But I. Yeah, I know you have to be more passionate about it than anyone else. Right. You have to, like when I was launching before those five celebrities, of course, I always feel like everybody can play in the same sandbox.
1:11:58But boy, it went back to my modeling days of like, really, do we really need another celebrity skincare brand? And it just, again, it was kind of like that resilience in me. I'm like, well, this actually isn't one. This is a routine for hyperpigmentation. Anybody who's had a baby and it works. It's all about really good actives, being consistent, having them clinically tested. And I think because I've always kind of had that chip on my shoulder, even as a model, like, she's just pretty. She's just pretty. Like, I had it with a fractional person the other day. I'm like, you're a fucking misogynist.
1:12:37And before I went on my board meeting, I looked down. I was probably having a hot flash. I don't even know what the fuck was happening. I was so fucking hot. But I looked down, I'm like, I will never, you are done in my mind. I don't care if you are the best piano, like you sucked, by the way. And turn on my Zoom and I'm like, let's fucking go. Out, 30 seconds, cold, I didn't do LinkedIn, cold LinkedIn this person who I'm like, yes, it's really me. And yes, this is really weird that I'm writing on this platform. I don't even know it. and I two months later I wrote like a passion letter to him I'm like I know this is gonna sound weird I'm not trying to put down this this huge star but like I'm like I'm the better bet I'm like I know it's fucking weird and you're gonna laugh when you read this sentence I even said that but I'm the better bet you are the the better bet Molly is gonna come in here no you're You're amazing.
1:13:36Thank you so much for spending so much time with us. You're an incredible interviewer. We love your podcast. I would love to have you on. I would love to be on. That'd be so fun. Have fun with your kids and congrats on everything. Write the book. I don't know. I mean, well, you'll help me. So maybe you help me write it. Let's talk about it. We'll talk soon. Fashion People is a presentation of Odyssey in partnership with Puck. This show was produced and edited by Molly Nugent. Special thanks to our executive producers, Puck co-founder John Kelly, executive editor Ben Landy, and director of editorial operations, Gobby Grossman.
1:14:14An additional thanks to the team at Odyssey, J.D. Crowley, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Bob Tabador.
From the publisher
Lauren’s guest is supermodel, actress, podcaster, and YSE Beauty founder Molly Sims. They chat about everything from Molly’s early experiences modeling to building a career in Hollywood, and plenty more. It’s fun. Up top, the Times’s Jacob Gallagher also joins Lauren to discuss Grace Wales Bonner’s appointment as creative director of menswear at Hermès.
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