Herspiration Happy Hour, Season 9, Eps. 18: Closet Confidence with The Hanger, Lady Donna Salter

Hey HERspiration Happy Hour fans! What if transforming your confidence started with something as simple as opening your closet?

In tomorrow's all-new episode, the ladies sit down with Donna Zalter, founder of All Hung Up Hangers and affectionately known as “The Hanger Lady,” for a lively conversation about organization, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and the everyday spaces that influence how we show up.

Donna shares how her experience in real estate revealed that messy, mismatched hangers could undermine even the most beautifully staged home. That observation inspired her to create stylish, durable, retail-quality hangers that bring function, beauty, and boutique-level polish to closets everywhere.

The conversation goes beyond closet organization as Donna discusses recognizing an overlooked business opportunity, creating a distinctive brand, and turning a practical solution into a growing enterprise. The ladies also explore the connection between our surroundings, our energy, and the confidence we carry into the world each day.

Pour your favorite cocktail and join us for a happy hour filled with business wisdom, closet revelations, and practical motivation to clear the clutter, both inside and outside the closet.

In this episode:

• How Donna became “The Hanger Lady”
• Why an organized closet can change how you begin your day
• Turning an everyday frustration into a viable business
• Building a brand in an overlooked product category
• Combining luxury, functionality, and accessibility
• Making sustainable choices by replacing disposable hangers
• Using the reverse-hanger method to identify what you actually wear

Discover All Hung Up Hangers at https://allhunguphangers.com/.

Connect with the hosts on IG:
@iamdrpgurley
@thegirlfriendtherapist
@dianarichardsonphillipus
@coachofcourage

Subscribe, share, and join the conversation with HERSpiration Happy Hour!

#HERSpirationHappyHour #TheHangerLady #DonnaZalter #AllHungUpHangers #ClosetConfidence #ClosetOrganization #WomenInBusiness #WomenEntrepreneurs #FemaleFounder #Entrepreneurship #OrganizedLiving #DeclutterYourLife #SustainableStyle #LuxuryCloset #BusinessInspiration #WomenSupportingWomen #PodcastEpisode #Season9

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Are you ready for cocktails and conversations? Are you ready for cocktails and conversations? Are you ready for cocktails and conversations with your host, the unapologetic diva Dr. G, the girlfriend therapist Dr. Cortina Lewis, and the networking extraordinaire Diana Richardson Philippis? Are you ready for cocktails and conversation? This is Herspiration Happy Hour. Happy Hour.

unknown 0:38

Happy Hour.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another episode of Herspiration Happy Hour. It's season nine. This is episode 18. And this is your unapologetic Diva, Dr. G.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

This is Doctor Cortina Lewis, aka the girlfriend therapist.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And this is Diana Richardson Philippis, your networking extraordinaire.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

All right. Happy Wednesday, ladies. And as always, this is uh, you know, it's when it's winning Wednesday. So what are we celebrating today? What anybody have anything to celebrate?

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Hmm. Celebrations. What are we celebrating? Uh everybody going back to school. The kids, the college students, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Look, I and so you kinda bittersweet for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

But this hopefully the semester goes by quickly, and I mean she'll be back up, I guess, for Thanksgiving, or no? Maybe she has two jobs, so I don't know. Oh my, okay. Well, go Morgan, right? Working woman. Uh she's got responsibilities now. Yeah, that's the down. That's adulting. That's you know, that's something that they don't really tell you when you're young. You just want to grow up so fast, and then you grow up, and adulting lies to you, tells a whole lie. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

So, what about she left? But she left, and then she was like, She got home. She was like, I just want to let you know I made it, I made it here safe. I'm going to put my stuff in storage because she can't officially move in until Saturday, but she has to go back to work, so she's staying with her lying sister. And so she was like, Okay, Ma, can you give me a little bit of money? I need something to eat. I said, It's starting already, Morgan again. She was like, Yeah, I got money, but I can't spend that money. Can you just I was like, Oh gosh, oh no, child, just get just get the card out.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Just give the cards. I sent it $20.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

She can get something with $20.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah. Uh Diana, what are you what are you celebrating today, or what's what can we celebrate with you today?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, um, as always, my first thing is just gonna be celebrating life. Yay, I am here, I have made it another day. That is always cause for celebration in my book, and just some new things coming down the pipeline for me. Um, not officially announcing it yet, but just know, people, there are some great, great, great things that are in the works to soon um be announced. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Okay. Uh let's see. I am, I don't know. I've had such a good week thus far, and I'm just celebrating positivity. I'm feeling great. I feel amazing. I'm getting good sleep. I am doing my meditation. I am listening to different audiobooks now. I am being more intentional about how I am showing up for myself, even though I have been. I sometimes you just get lazy and I've been wanting to listen to different audiobooks, but now that's what I do before I go to sleep. And I actually I go to sleep, I set it so that it, you know, it'll go off by itself. But I go to sleep listening to my audiobooks now. And and it's it's just it makes me wake up far more exhilarating. And even though I don't have to, you know, be at work until eight, I'm still up at six. And by when I say have to be at work, I mean it means rolling over and then getting on my coming to my office at home and getting on my laptop. So yay for me. I'm doing small celebration. That's the other part, is that I'm intentionally showing up to celebrate little mini moments that uh that just makes me feel good, that just adds joy to my life. So if that's not a testament when people think that they don't have anything to celebrate, you have you, and I'm certain you've had a small win today, even if it meant you didn't have traffic coming home. That's a win. It's a small win, it might be a big win, depending on where you're at. So okay, yay. All right.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

So what are we sipping on today? Well, we are sipping on, and this is to represent um our topic or our person uh for this evening, who we who's gonna be joining us here shortly. And our drink for tonight is hanger management. A little twist on words. So this cocktail is fruity and refreshing, and you are gonna use one half ounce of tequila, a half ounce of triple sec, one ounce of pineapple juice, one ounce of strawberry lemonade, and one half ounce of not not one half ounce, a half ounce of uh fresh lime juice. You're also gonna add to the top a splash of Sprite and a drizzle of grenadine and a lime wheel and a strawberry fruit garnish. So, how do we make this sweet treat? What you are gonna want to do, you're gonna fill a cocktail shaker with ice, you're gonna add one and uh one and one half ounce of tequila, half ounce of triple set, the one ounce of pineapple juice, and the one ounce of strawberry lemonade, and the half ounce of fresh lime juice. You're gonna shake it well for about 15 seconds, then you're gonna strain it into a glass that's already filled with ice, and then you're gonna add your splash with Sprite and a little drizzle of grenadine over the top. And like I said, you're gonna garnish it with a lime wedge and the strawberry, and there you are, your hanger management. Okay, that's so cute.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

That's a lovely.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

This sounds really refreshing and tasty. I'm talking about it right now.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

No, I just feel like it's I need to simplify the ingredients. That's a lot of it's a lot of ingredients for me. I don't know. Is that wrong? Yeah, I feel like it. Well, I mean, I like simple drinks, so you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Well, that's a splash, splash is splash of spray. I'm more like pineapple juice and strawberry lemonade and the fresh lime.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

That's probably what caught me on the this too many sweet things going inside.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Oh, so it's a sweet, it's a sweet and fruity drink, so yeah, you know, you you know, you know, you didn't like my sweet gin drink.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

So I did not. I have to say, I did not. Gin is not made to be sweet, unless you put it. I mean, you put it with orange juice, but I feel like gin is not really made to be overly sweet, and unless it with champagne with my French 75, that's probably the extent of my sweet that I like in my gin.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

So otherwise, mine was gin and pineapple. That was my drink in college and pineapple juice.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah, I don't I don't mind, I can do a splash, I can do a splash of pineapple. I can't do a whole lot of pineapple because then it makes it too sweet for me. But so we already our guest is here already, so we're gonna bring her up because let me tell you, I am very interested in our guest today. Uh, our guest today is Donna Zol, founder of All Hung Up Hangers, and also known as the the hanger lady. Donna's journey began as a real estate pro who realized messy, mismatched hangers sabotage even the best-staged homes and wanted to create an affordable retail quality fix for closets everywhere, not just not just in the homes that she was selling. Her virtually unbreakable hanger line fuses practicality and style, giving closets a store-worthy glow-up and even reducing landfill waste. I mean, if you're a fan of plastic hangers, that's a conversation I'm gonna have to have with her too. Because I mean, I I thought that that would be something that's recyclable, but maybe not. So, without further ado, we're going to bring on our guest today, Donna Zalter.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

How are you? I'm good. I want to apologize in advance because I have a barky dog and I'm so nervous he's gonna start barking in the middle. So I apologize. Okay. I know, I just we get it. He's like he's gearing up. I don't know what he wants.

unknown 9:06

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Well, introduce yourself to our listeners, and I mean, and you know, give us a little bit of background right after you introduce yourself on why hangers of all things.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

So uh my name is Donna Zalter. I live in Florida. Uh, I started this company about five years ago, we're really to market about three years ago, and uh the reason I started the company was exactly as you said, but I have a little bit of working for me. My dad is uh he owns the a hanger manufacturing company that sells to big stores, so you know, so he just ships containers, and I thought growing up around hangers and buttons and all that, that um, because he also did use to do buttons, that there was a niche for um direct to consumer because no one knows how to find nice hangers, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:02

So that's interesting. So and so you this started in real estate that you realized there's no good hangers, right? So it's so you gotta you have to kind of break that down for me because even when I'm going and I'm looking at houses, are you saying like when things are staged or or things like that? So I know when I go to hotels, I I'm mindful of the hangers, I like their hangers there.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

So when I saw your hangers, I said, oh, those look like the ones that I like at hotels, right? So we're a little different than the hotels. First of all, we're unique. We no one else makes what I make. Um but the question was what set me off was basically walking into these mil mega million dollar condos, because I mostly sell condos in Miami, and seeing that they just the owners or their a lot of times their staff or their house managers didn't know where to get hangers, so they were just using dry cleaner ones, tubular ones, those cheap velvet ones that I don't know. Do you guys use them? No, I don't I do.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

I'm laughing hangers. How often do they break?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Here's my cocktail.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

So this is the thing. Uh, depending on where I get them from, some are a lot more durable than the other ones. But you know, if you pull a little too much, yep, one side of it is going to break.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yes, a hundred percent. So if you were to find a hanger that was just a couple dollars more per hanger, but would last a lifetime, and I mean it, like without you know, stomping on it or you know, would you consider buying that?

SPEAKER_03 11:52

I would. Do they come in colors? Oh, yeah. Oh, well, yeah, absolutely. Okay, see now I'm I was just gonna ask if you had something.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Of course. Are you prepared? I'm at oh, yeah. I'm out of the closet. Okay, so this is the thin, this is my thin black one. As you can see, it's just as thin as your um velvet hangers, and they don't slip. People are like, oh, but I like the velvet, it doesn't slip off. But what I did as a female, as a woman, I made notches for thin straps. You see, yeah, and on the shoulder, there's rubberized stuff, so nothing's gonna fall off and yet. I can't show you because I didn't prepare, I should have, but if you can yank your pants off of these, I have videos that you you know, but you can actually yank clothes off this, which my boys I have two boys and a girl. My boys love it because you know, boys are lazy and they just yank and the heaviest jeans you can just yank off because the secret is these were created for a retail chain that went, let's say they're out of business, and uh and so wheel in the mold. No one else can make these. This is my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Look at Morgan, look, look every time I see these. Um, this is really nice, and so they come in pink, black, white, and and um white, and with the clips.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Um, I'll show you the clips. Also, I added rubber so it grabs your clothes but doesn't wrinkle your clothes. And this is my navy blue, and I have a clear one also that it's like a cloudy clear that I I don't have on me. I don't know why. I did have it, someone stole it. Um, and then of course I have uh four other hanger styles that it just gets too much to show everything, but right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

So I have a question. You only do you let's see, might be a good idea for you too. Do you do um like smaller hangers for kids or pets or like I'm just saying for my pets?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I know. So the market for that is so small. First of all, little kids, most of their stuff gets folded, and for a bigger kid, my my it's a 17-inch hanger, so most kids' stuff will fit, but also the clips are movable, right? So if it's a smaller pant or a little we can just adjust it, but uh the kids' hangers are just more of a novelty, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:31

So you yeah, and and so you said yours are different from others. Is it because they don't break?

SPEAKER_00 14:38

They don't break, they're made out of solid plastic, which is made out of a combination of some recycled plastics. I cannot guarantee how much of it is recycled. They use mostly recycled plastics, but I can't certify it as organic, uh not organic, as um sustainable. Yeah, um, but yeah, it in those other hangers too, the velvet flopped ones, they're made out of plastic, too. I mean, you've broken a few, so you know. So you but those ones are going right into the landfill. This is gonna have a long life, so we're gonna keep it out of the landfill because I'm also born and raised in Canada, and I was I'm so mindful of that kind of stuff, like it was just the way I was raised. So, um, so these are gonna be way more stronger. I'm trying to bend them, I can't, and um, and they're just gonna last. So, you know, I I think of it as like a kind of a piece of furniture, you don't throw at your furniture, you know, you want your furniture to last. So it's you know, that's that's just yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

So so I have a question. So because you've been selling this product for a few years, what would you say that you've learned about selling your hangers to people, you know, that people use every day but rarely think about? I I have to say, I don't think about hangers very often. And in my mind, I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna go get some hangers. If they break, they break. If not, then I'll just go get some more. So what have you learned about real nice selling hangers and marketing for something that people don't really think about as much or as often?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

So, okay, so there's two points, two parts of that question. One is most people do think like you, so it is a tough sell. It's not an easy to sell because I'm more expensive when you go online and everything you see them are more expensive. But what I have learned is that people that who indulge themselves or choose to buy them, I mean, I get reorders all the time. I actually, it's so I'm still small enough that I get to see who reorders, and and mostly like people will start with the small order and then they'll start to fill up their closet. So, and except for two spam reviews, which are killing me right now, I have five-star reviews for all my hangers. So it's pretty good. It's it's but it's you know, e-commerce is not for the faint of heart. You got it, there's a lot of noise out there, and it's a challenge. So I appreciate you having me on. No, it's not, it's not. Oh, so maybe I'll speak to you later.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Absolutely. I have a question as well. Yeah. First, I want to say, congratulations. Thank you. Right? Because it's no small feat to see a gap in the market and to move on something that you wanted, right? So, congratulations to you first and foremost. I think that your idea is amazing. Um, I will personally be purchasing some hangers. I use the plastic Walmart, I'm not gonna lie. I use the black plastic ones from Walmart, they break all the time. I'm so excited for getting some hangers. I am thrilled.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I really but Mark, if you drop your address, I'll send them to you for free. I said if you drop me your address, I'll send you them. Don't worry, you don't have to break them. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

You know what? Well, I'm thank you again, but uh you can send me some for free, but just know that I'm gonna buy some more. Um I'm definitely gonna patronize your business. All right, I appreciate that. But thank you. I appreciate that so much. But the question is this so once you am I breaking up y'all just a minute? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

A little bit a little delayed.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

I can hear you whatever's going on per usual.

unknown 18:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Isn't it always the case, right? Okay, I'm gonna make my question quick.

unknown 18:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

So once you identified um the gap in the market and what you wanted to do, how long did it take you to bring it to actually get it done and bring it to the marketplace?

SPEAKER_00 19:00

So, okay, so I had nepotism and I'm I was 55 at the time, so I'm proud of that. I don't care. I worked hard my whole life, I can use what I got. Um but I was able to get to get the initial stock took about a year between design and shipping and all that. And then I really thought I had a game plan by knocking on doors to closet companies, manufacturers, and saying, Hey, add this as an a line item, a line item. No one bit, no one, so then I had to reinvent and learn e-commerce, which is not easy at all. And you know, it's not easy. So are you willing to sorry, are you willing to share some of your challenges? Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Okay, I but I I read your instructions, I'm not supposed to talk a lot, so I'm trying to no, it's okay, but no, I'm but I just wanted to as you're saying if you as you're sharing that and you said there's a lot of challenges, I would like to okay you to elaborate on that specifically as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Okay, so the number one challenge is that I'm over 55 because I've already divulged that, and I had to learn uh, you know, I had to first of all, I started with Google Ads and I wasn't getting any traction. It was an order here, an order there. Then I had to sort of find, I had a lot of people offer to work for me as consultants, a lot of liars out there, and I don't mean to be harsh, but I am harsh. So a lot I had to learn from a lot from my experience that everyone is an expert, they are not. Finally, I found a really good team. I have someone from Serbia, someone from Moldova, I think she is, and someone from uh in Indonesia, I think she's from Pakistan. So those three, and they're all women. I don't know if I'm allowed to, you know. I find that the women are less full of BS, let's just say. So once I've gotten all those little components, and then they suggested I go to Amazon. So I was getting great traction at Amazon, but Amazon is a beast and very, very not vendor friendly, but really good for scaling and finding that I had a product to sell because again, the five-star reviews and just the feedback from the market that I had a saleable product. Because you never know, everyone has these ideas, but someone has to want to buy it. And I do have a saleable product, so now I have to get off Amazon, and that's the challenge that I'm facing right now, and what I'm gearing up for. I'm launching an updated website that's more upscale, and that should be launched any minute, but again, just everything takes time. Um, I'm getting on a TikTok shop, but again, that takes time. And then I'm gonna revert back to Google Ads and um uh in combination with what I have going on Amazon. So did I answer you like that?

SPEAKER_02 22:04

You did. I don't think most people, I don't think people realize how much work goes into building, marketing, executing all of those things. And there are there's a lot of areas like people immediately think I'm gonna go, I'm going to sell on Amazon, and think that they're gonna do very well. And they don't share these stories to help out other people who want to be in the vendor space on Amazon. Right. I think if people had these conversations more, they can how do I overcome these challenges? Right. What do I need to do to better scale to better market? And you like you said, it a lot of people don't like to invest in building a team, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Right. I mean, it's the only way I couldn't do it myself. I didn't have the know-how, or you know, and I'm I would love to be able to get off Amazon with no disrespect from Amazon, but there's a lot of little they'll dim you for anything, anything like on July 4th. Like I have a built-in shipping time of five days of shipping and handling because they gave me one day and I had to figure out how to change that. And I was always shipping late. Yeah, it's not, it's like I felt like I was the Jetsons on the you know, the uh the the treadmill. I was like, no, no, um, it didn't leave me any room for shipping late. And if you ship late, they ding you and you start to get and your metrics go off and all that. So I built in five days. I usually get an order out the next day, but I needed that cushion. But over July 4th, um, I guess UPS or and and FedEx, I ship both, slowed down. I guess there were less drivers and whatever. So my shipping metrics were off and they dinged me. And so you actually lose what's called a buy box. If anyone is familiar with that, when you go on Amazon, now you learn something. You'll notice that on the right, there's a buy box, it's where you buy things. And so it bought where it says buy now or add to card. They take that away from you if your metrics are off. You can still buy, but the average consumer doesn't know that. So I lost that for July. My sales were terrible, and then they forgot to put it back. Like we're still working on that. My August is terrible too now because we don't know why, and we're trying to investigate why. So I'm beholden to Amazon, which is why I need to bounce off Amazon and you know, but but you can buy directly from me, and I will include extra hangers. I have a question.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

So, because I'm a therapist and I'm the resident mental health person, we always talk about how decluttering your space and getting more organized also can help to declutter your mind. Right. So, from your experience when you go into homes and when you're looking at hangers and when people are buying hangers, what's your experience with the way someone's closet is or isn't? How it impacts their emotional wellness, their mood, and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

So it's hard for me to answer that because I'm not a therapist. Um, but I can only speak for myself because I'm a very hyper-organized person who post-menopause a little bit scattered, right? You know, that just happens. Um so I really feel, and that was part of my impetus for creating this, is that if you can see all your clothes, you'll wear all your clothes. When I had little kids, I made sure all the kid toys were put back to where they belong because otherwise the kids wouldn't play with them, right? They just wouldn't. Same with clothes. Like if you don't see what you have, you're not gonna wear it, you're gonna keep buying. I mean, some people take true pleasure out of buying, so I'm not gonna discount that, but it's just better to know what you have, right? And then to to be able to get well, for me, I gotta get dressed so fast in the morning because I've so much to do, but that's me personally. I think I think I sell more to people that care about that. I mean, there's a huge population of people that just don't care, right? I'm not, and they're not my market. I don't even espouse to convert them, you know. I but for those that really care and are organized, that's my target market. And I've gone to do home visits and I'm I'm jealous of their organization. Like, you know, these are the people that care.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Because I can even say, just, you know, and I know you said earlier, I'm not a therapist, but I don't think you have to be a therapist. If that is where you see where people are buying and organizing, I think if you walk into a house where there's stuff everywhere versus where there's a clean space and you can see, yeah, it can help you feel less chaotic, right? Less clothed in. I can speak for me. If I'm like, okay, I try to fold my clothes as soon as they come out of the laundry and hang them up. And when I don't, it takes me forever to get motivated to do it. And I feel like, oh my gosh, this is driving me bananas. This is driving me insane. So now I'm adding more anxiety to my plate because this is not done. And when I walk into my closet, sometimes I pull stuff and it's just hanging on the side. But when everything is organized and in the color coordination, because I hang up by color, okay, uh, it just is like, oh, it feels so great to walk in here, but then when it's not like that, I'm like close to the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So I mean, having the right hangers will definitely help because you know, those those I don't want to say those cheap velvet ones, but those cheap velvet ones, I mean, they kind of hang like this and then and then the hooks, you know. So I mean, this is just gonna create an orderly, it's a retail grade hanger. So yeah, you're gonna, and then my other ones, I have a luxe, a wood lux, they're all on my website, but I have a wood lux for you know, coat closets or professional office. I don't know where you guys are located, but if you have a winter, if you have winter and you want to have and you have an office space and you want to have a professional looking um like I don't know, closet coat coat area, like he buys six hangers. I've actually sold one of my my proud, not proudest, but like memorable moments is I sold to a choir master for a church choir, and he was so thrilled to find these hangers. He he sent me pictures and everything. That's my premier locks, not these. He wanted, yeah, he didn't want his robes to wrinkle, and it's that silky polyester that just falls off. So these were perfect.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

So and your website is all hung up, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:03

All hung up hangers.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Okay, yeah, and okay, so I can't wait to get away.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Yeah, all hungup hangers.com. Yeah, yeah. Are you in Miami? I'm out of Miami, but I ship anywhere. Okay, no, I'm in Florida too, so that's why I'm in Mount Dora, a little bit more of Orlando.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

It's on my radar though.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

It's the festival city, they have more festivals than anywhere else.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

When's the next one? So I I'm just recent, so I gotta do things on the weekend or I'm gonna go bananas. Is that your daughter on your website? It is, but that's seven years ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

But you know what? I saw it because I I was like, Oh, they look like she looks like her. That's why I asked.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Yeah, she does.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Yeah, and just so you know, you don't you don't look like you are 55 at all. Okay, that's good because I'm not at all. I was like, wait, she said 55. What I'm older than that. She got into it when she was 50. Oh, yeah, she said, oh, oh, well, you don't look like you are in your 50s at all. Well, that's because I'm not.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

No.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Well, I know you're not in your 60s. Are you serious? See, you know what? That's that that's that Canada water, I'm convinced.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah, but I live in the Miami sun, so I don't know. Yeah, I think it's because I grew up in Canada Sun eight weeks a year, yeah, and I I was worried tonight because I'm in Canada right now and there's a storm, and I'm like, I'm gonna lose electricity.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

Yeah, we have you we have you here. I'm gonna share that I I am one of those people that my closet and its organization and the color schemes have to be there for me to feel good, right? What annoys me with my closet is when I pull one thing down and then I have stuff slipping off the hang. Yeah, so when you said that with the the extra ridges so that it does not come off, I'm like, oh yeah, okay, yeah. I'm mad that I have so many hangers I would have to replace, and my OCD won't will not let me have two different types of hangers in my closet.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Well, we'll give you a gift and you'll have to slowly transition.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

So, yeah, well you you'd have to know me.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

I'm so excited, I will be immediately transitioning because the way that stuff be yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll love it, and they take up almost less space than the other, even though they're just as thin, but because of the the way the other ones like kind of shift and turn and uh it's called Oh, I just have the plastic ones from Walmart. Oh, like the tubular ones, yeah, yeah, no offense.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

I never really thought about hangers until when when I was reading and I went to your website, I said, Oh, this is really interesting. I never thought of having so many different types, and just other than black and white, I've yeah, occasionally I've seen a purple one or so, but I don't put that much mental stock in hangers in terms of how do I want my clothes to be hung up and not slide off? How do I want certain my delicates to be hung up so that they are well taken care of instead of just slip sliding everywhere and praying that when I'm doing laundry I find the right hanger because if you don't, then you you're using like the little small hoops when you really need the main product, yeah. So even though well, I just said I'm not a hanger person and I'm over here describing hangers to a T.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

But great, but that's because they're ordering my hangers because I am so I'm gonna get a I'm gonna get an I'm gonna get an email right now.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

I'll be like, look at this. You guys are awesome. I think you guys are amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

So let me ask you, let me ask you this. In your opinion, because you created this, what do you what do you think is the biggest closet misconception when it comes to I mean, just organization, period. What is the biggest misconception about that? Because like using the right hangers or whatnot, but just from something that you created.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

So so it's the answer to me is that people aren't using the correct hangers. I mean, you invest so, but you you said not to answer it that way, but I can't help it because it's a lot of no, well, because a lot of people buy very expensive, they spend a lot of money on their clothes and then they just put it on and they get wrinkled or they pull them out, and it's just a mess. Um, the other thing that drives me nuts are having shoes all over the place, but I don't do anything for shoes. So I'm not gonna maybe soon a new venture, might be a new venture. Let me get this one going first and then we'll see. I actually have a my my company name is all hung up hangers, but I have uh another name reserved for me called perfectly closeted because the vision was to create to to bring in other products, but I need to get this one going first and then we'll we'll figure that out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

What so what else did you have in mind? And when you say perfect perfect, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Perfectly closeted. So uh maybe shoe racks, maybe um belts, racks and stuff, and stuff that I can I have the ability to manufacture or create, and if someone has a great idea, I can we can do it, but I I that's later because I have to really really focus on this. The belt thing is a problem, yeah. Belts are a problem, purses are a problem, unless you're mega closets, right? So but right now I just have to constantly if you have too many skews on e-commerce, it does it. I got an order. Um, if I have too many skews on um on the web on the you know, through e-commerce, it's you can't you can't push them because the money that has to go behind each item is a lot to push it out there, yeah. So you make okay, I'm done.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

It's Diana Richardson Philippus. I place my order. I am excited.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

So I do have a question. So I want to know of all the hangers that of your the types of hangers that you have and makes and what is your favorite? What is your typical go-to and what do you hang on?

SPEAKER_00 35:35

These ones are my favorite because I actually have a super small closet. Like I can't even do my videos in my closet because I live in a very old house, and so those are my go-to. The ones that I think when I get a really sexy closet or whatever, I have the suede luxury ones, which are a little thicker, they're like that, and they have that. I don't know if you've been to Lululemon or anything, but that they have that it's not a it's like a gummy, but it's not really gummy because not it's not sticky, but that's the finish that that one has. That's another one. And my best sellers are my uh premium luxe, which are the thick wood ones that people buy, they'll only buy you know 30 at a time, whatever. Then those are for suits or blazers or or coat closets. So yep. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

So since you said you don't have, you know, you have a very small cop, you have a very small closet. What is what is the most surprising item in your closet then?

SPEAKER_00 36:34

For a small closet, all the cluttered boxes that my husband keeps all his old crap in. I'm like, just get rid of this. Yeah, what other surprise? Oh, I have an old Nikon camera that I'll never use, but I just don't want to get rid of it, you know, like an old one with film. Oh yeah, what else is in my closet? So many pairs of shoes that I wore before COVID that I will never go on my feet again, like high heels, right? Like those, you know, since COVID, it's like, oh, I can't do that anymore. See, and we're talking about decluttering, so why do you hold on? What makes it actually been trying to sell them, but there's no market for that, so I'll probably get rid of them. There's really it's really hard to sell stuff, like like there's too many people doing it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

So I know I'm gonna back up a little bit because I want to know what your inspiration, like, what was your real inspiration to just really dive out there? Like, what what did you have to tell yourself to take a chance on a market that was very difficult to crack into?

SPEAKER_00 37:38

So I don't think I thought about it because I think if you think about it too much, you never do things. Like, I'm a very impulsive kind of person. I'm I'm very strategic. Um, but I but I'm an idea person and I didn't have any clue. If I knew how hard it was, I wouldn't have done it. And that's not you're asking for honesty, but here I am, here I am. So, you know, I'm I'm I'm just here I am.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

So I'm hoping I love that you said that. And and so do you feel rewarded now that you did, even though you're like, oh, if I had to do it again, I I wouldn't, but then but it was there a gratification that I would have done it differently, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:23

So so you so Diana's like the business consultant. I I didn't know to reach out to someone beforehand, I didn't know, right? And that's the way anyone who's going into a new business venture, and I have a business degree, right? But the world's changed and it's it goes so fast now. There's so many different platforms, and there's so many different ways to to execute that um I wish I had met my professionals first and then you know, strategize on what stock I was pulling. And I have way in the beginning, I had way too many SKUs, like just you know, I'm trying I've liquidated a lot, but that would be the answer. Is just I wish I had better planning. I think I'd still do it with the right hand holding. Um, and what was the impetus? I actually want to be a business owner. Like I always wanted to, you know, I I'm a real estate agent, I theoretically own my own business, but there's something sexy about a woman running a product-based business that it doesn't happen very often, right? So we're very much in the service business, all of us.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

I was gonna ask you, were you still doing real estate? Um I'm still doing real estate.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Um bananas, I'm going bananas today from seven in the morning to still working. Yeah, I'm I happen to be good at that job too.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

So I was gonna say you said you do condos in Miami, you know, there's a lot of stuff, you know, in the Miami area, depending even in the Fort Lauderdale area and Hollandale Beach, there's a lot and you know, Miami Shores area and everything like that. I'm a South Florida girl through and through. Um, I used so I used to live in this. Oh I used to live in Palm Beach and I used to be over three counties. So Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach when I was in corporate. So going, you know, in Kendall, Hyalea Mart, like all of the places down south. And so there's a lot of high-end individuals there. And so you know, once they get a word of you know, your product and everything, because all it is is word of mouth a lot of times.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

I'm really waiting for that wheel to start turning. I can tell sometimes I get cluster orders and there's a wheel, you know, but again, it's I rely on Amazon too much, so trying to get off of it.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Someone I was gonna say, um, it was just me. I was just gonna say, you know, there there's always, I like to say there's more than one way to skin a cat. And being in a product-based business, you have to continue to bring your product to the marketplace, you and when you said that you're still in real estate, like I just saw bells and whistles going from all over the place. If you're still that is the perfect opportunity if you're selling high-in properties, your hangers go with the contract, your hangers are on the contract too. Okay, so just know that you have a different and unique angle. You really do. Amazon is your bonus, okay. Your real estate is the plug. And that that's the plug right there. Okay, you can after the show.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

I would have I do, except I do mostly list things, so it's a little bit of a I guess I could leave it with the flu buyers. Yeah, I can leave it with the flu.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

You can always, and I know that if you're staging, you can stage with some of your hangers. That's I mean, just because just like when I stay in hotels, I'm always interested in what hangers they have. I hate the ones that have the interlock and whatnot. But I hang my clothes up every time I go to a hotel. I almost don't care what it is. I unpack and yeah, I unpack even for one night. I'm like, well, maybe not one night, but I immediately you know take everything out and hang things up. So that's that's a way to kind of get things out there. And you just say, you know, if you're interested in the hangers, you know, you have a little tag on there. They don't even have to, you know, for hangers, you just put your information on there where they can buy them. Right, good idea. Very easy. I mean, and it's right in their face, and especially when they can see the organization of it, because most people, if they can see it, then they a lot of times they want it, right? Because they say, Uh oh, I like this hanger. Oh, I I have something that would be great. And you hang different types of garments, right? Pearl, whatever the best fit for that hanger is. So there you go. Um that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

Get rid of I'm gonna take out all my garbage clothes and put them in, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Hang them up and show them what it could look like. Right. When you get an idea, yeah. That's a great idea. I've got a bunch of houses just over the last few over the last few weeks, and I tell you that thankfully none of them were staged, but um I can see that where in but in before when I was house hunting and they are staging things. I don't really ever see people stage a closet.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

No, they usually leave it blank or they leave it blank, so that's an opportunity to do something different.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Right. I'm gonna go with so tell your team like consider that like okay, let's let's do some staging. I'm gonna do that. I'm I'm writing it down. Where's my pen?

unknown 43:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

I see, or and even in the kids' closets, if there's a kid, you know, if there's some little bonus rooms, hang those pink ones up, hang those blue ones.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

So yeah, little nuggets that you get to take with you, take with you today. I think another thing that might be cute too is so because you're a realtor, I'm also not I'm not only a therapist, I'm also a realtor as well. So, you know, when people give their new their buyers gifts, like housewarming, you give them a little nugget, they would be like, Oh my god, I love these hangers. Where did I get them from? And they can also be like part of what the realtors give to the part of their welcome home, you know, buyer gift. You give them like two hangers and you have the business card on there. If you want to order more hangers, guess what? Because a lot of times people don't want to bring old stuff, old hangers, especially if it's new construction, they want everything new, right? So, oh, I like this hanger. My clothes don't fall off. I got the car, I know exactly where to go order.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Okay, I'm gonna reach out to my friends.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Okay, yeah, I mean, I think business, and some high end property, that rate, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Right, that's your market, though.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

Right, absolutely, especially for people who like to shop. I'm excited, yeah, right, yeah. See, that's a this is the good thing with having all business women in some kind of capacity on on one podcast is that you can bounce different things off, um you know, building authority different in different areas because we all do different things, right? I think even with being an author and selling books on Amazon, I I never put all of my stock in Amazon, I'd much rather go about it the way that I chose to, which is focus on schools, hit hit schools, not Amazon. Amazon is just like Diana said, Amazon, Amazon's a bonus for me. I'm yeah, I'm going after the bigger fish. Or it's maybe an Achilles heel.

SPEAKER_00 46:13

I'm trying to decide.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Yeah, no, I did Amazon with my first business because I have a product, um, a cosmetic line. That was my first business. So I know I I stopped. I couldn't, I couldn't keep up. I could as great as Amazon was, I couldn't do it. I did you make money with Amazon neighbors trusting me out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

Were you profitable? It's very hard to be profitable with them.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

Like you I was profitable on Amazon. I was, yeah, but I went into beauty read on retailers, and so I was like, you know what? I did both for a long while, but I couldn't keep up with it. I just couldn't do it. And it was too many bells and whistles, and then they're dinging you for this, and then if you don't give it out, I was like, nope.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

Yeah, I don't know how they can do it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. Yeah, it's it's really good for proof of product, that's what it's good for, and then you gotta figure it out. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Yeah, so I do have a I have a question regarding your hangers specifically because I want people who to go back and and who watch this and play it and as we are creating clips. I would like to know, like, what should shoppers consider when choosing between wood, suede, slim, I mean, all the different types of hangers, what should they be considering for the type of hangers that they should be purchasing?

SPEAKER_00 47:37

So the number one thing I would say is decide how well how large your closet is will determine how thick you want your hangers to be. And I and they range from like one eighth of an inch to two inches for the premier luxe. But then budget, right? So my thin, my thin plastic ones are my least expensive, though they're more expensive than you know the cheap velvet ones, but the last, I mean, the return on investment is so much greater, I think. Um so that determines the size of the closet. But if you have a bigger closet and you like the the look of wood, I have what's called faux F A U X plastic, which look like wood. And they're about a half an inch wide. Um and they they're almost the same price as my thin plastic ones. So if you like that look and you have the room, but you don't have the budget, I I accommodated that as well. So I believe in quality.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

So um for the thin hangers, what so what can you hang on those? I mean, can you just hang it okay?

SPEAKER_00 48:46

The heaviest jeans, the heaviest winter coats, they are retail great. They're meant, they're meant to sustain wear.

SPEAKER_01 48:55

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

So that's good to know. So for people who might be looking at a more economical way to rebuild their closet and or reorganize their closet with your hangers, then they it's not a it's it's more of look of what you're looking for, not so much the sturdiness of the hanger. So even if you purchase the thin one, it's still going to hold your heaviest jeans, your heaviest coats, all of those things.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

Yeah, and your heaviest jeans, you'll be able to yank off if you want. Okay, ask my boys.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

Those two different types of hangers, right? The ones that you can yank off, that's a different type of hanger.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Well, I have them in both. You have the the yeah, you have a top hanger and the top, you have the option. I just don't have them, and I didn't bring all colors because if this has clips, and this is okay. Has no clips, right?

SPEAKER_02 49:46

No, I I love all of that. And can you believe it? We're already at the top. I know at the top. I'm gonna go tomorrow. I'm gonna go on there and and look and see how many I'm going to order because I mean uh Cortina, you hit the nail right on the head when it's like, you know what, when you're moving, you want something new, so you know. Okay, you're about to move. Congratulations. Wait a minute, let me let me like take a peek on there. That's why I'm asking you in terms of you know, the specific sizes, and I mean, my clothes are not that big. I'm I'm a small, extra small, so um, I don't want any, like I wouldn't want the bulkiness as opposed to having more hangers, but I do want I do believe in quality and getting the right hanger if I'm going to be hanging something that's heavy, like my wedding dress. That's did you just get married or you're getting two years ago, two years ago, but uh or two and a half years ago now. However, I don't box my dress up because I wear it every year around my anniversary. And I do random, random stuff in it. Like I think I was nailing, putting nails in the wall or hanging photos before I was having coffee on the couch with my dog the first year, so I'm just doing different fun things. I think next year I feel like I want to roller skate in it. So I was I want to roller skate down the street with my wedding dress. So I don't know. That could make national news, girl.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

Please make sure you hit in the train up before you somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

I would hold it, I would be holding it in my hands as I am, as I'm roller skating. But I just want to I feel like for the expense of that dress, I'm I'm gonna uh dry clean it and then I'm gonna wear it every year until I even if when I can't fit it, if I can just put it around my waist, I am going that's what it's gonna be. So I'm gonna take pictures.

SPEAKER_00 51:38

I know we have to go, but I have a funny story. Uh my cousin, I did we didn't do this for her 25th wedding for her friend's 25th wedding anniversary, they all had to wear their wedding dresses and come down. And this house that it was in, they had a really nice staircase and they had to come down like fashion, and most of them like didn't fit. So you have it, you have incentive to stay the same size. Yeah, isn't that a good idea? Isn't that a fun party? Yeah, oh my gosh, you all care.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

You just actually somebody somebody's a birthday is is about to have, like you bring your wedding dress, right? Right, yeah, yeah. So thank you so much for coming on. Tell everybody where they can find you at, um, and if you know how to connect with you on social media websites or all and all of that.

SPEAKER_00 52:30

Okay, so I'm all hunguphangers.com. I'm all hung up hangers on Facebook. I am uh all hung up, I forget my handle on Instagram, all hung up hangers, I think, or me all hung up hangers one. I've gone through a few gyrations of different social media, and I will be starting my TikTok store shortly. It's just yeah, so we're gonna have TikTok shop and Pinterest too. So it's a lot of work, and of course, on Amazon, but it's I prefer if you guys stayed away from Amazon.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

So find her, you know, go get your hangers at www.allhunguphangers.com. Thank you again so much for going and just sharing her. It's an inspiration, and now you have my wheels turning around. Hangers of all things like okay. Sorry, or good or happen, or thank you. If there's any other way that we can support you, please let us know. Reach out.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

I will plus we'll be getting some hangers, so okay. I this was so fun. Like, I was like, Oh, seven o'clock, late, but I had a great time. Thank you for making my evening.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Oh, you're very welcome. This is this is why we do this. I think you know, it's just a casual background. It's it's it's having happy hour with friends. It is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

What a great, what a great concept. Thanks so much. Thank you. Okay, I'll just even bark. I'm amazed. Okay. Bye, guys. Thank you for having me. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

Bye-bye. Oh, she was so amazing. Yeah, I'm she's awesome. I am about to tear my closet up. Do you hear me?

SPEAKER_01 54:17

Girl, the way I'm about to revamp the whole closet with her hanger, I cannot wait until I get it because I literally just had a hanger break today. That this dress was on. One of them black hangers, and I just took the hanger, like, why? Like, just why I was so over the black hangers from Walmart.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

But no, I get it. Mine pop it off. Yeah, mine pop off off the top. I'm hanging pulling them down. I keep the whole circular piece, but the piece that hangs always pops off. And I'm like, okay, there's another one, but I have so many. So now that but I already have all of my clothes packed, so which is good. So when I get to the when I get to the other house in a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_03 55:04

Wait, all your clothes. So did you okay? We can do this offline. All your clothes?

SPEAKER_02 55:09

No, not all. I except for what I will be wearing for like the next two and a half weeks. Everything else is pretty much packed up. And I I utilize every suitcase I had. But I also are we on?

SPEAKER_01 55:21

Are we on? Because you ain't said nothing.

SPEAKER_02 55:26

Um we'll talk.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

It's a simple yes or no. What's that? Are we on? Oh my god. She says she packed all her stuff up. Is it yes?

SPEAKER_02 55:42

Oh, I think it's yes. Well, you already knew it was leaving. I was moving. I always came later weekend. We were moving moving this stuff down.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

Meaning, but did you do it? Is it solidified?

SPEAKER_02 55:56

No, um, I'm I'm waiting.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

We'll talk about it offline because you're trying to act like you don't know what I'm talking about, and I know you do.

SPEAKER_02 56:03

I know what you're I know what you're talking about. I'm just not answering. Uh, but we're at the top of the hour. So Diana, where can everybody find you at?

SPEAKER_01 56:12

You can find me at Diana Richardson Philippis.com, uh on all social media platforms and the website. There you go. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

And Dr. Lewis, where can everybody find you at?

SPEAKER_03 56:24

You can find me uh at the girlfriend therapist on all social media platforms. Uh, you can also find me at the newir, you know, I R Center on Instagram, and you can find me at Smile Facilitation Services on Instagram as well.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

All right, and you can find me on all social media platforms at I am Dr. P Girly, which is right here up there. Uh I-A-M uh I A M D-R-P-G-U-R-L-U-Y. I know it's tearing this up right now because you got me in a tizzy mentally. And of course, thank you so much for tuning in and the playbacks and all of the playbacks. I'm telling you, the whole time we were on hiatus, and I think I might have shared this last week, the number of shows that people were tapping into and responding to made me feel super overwhelmed. And so I'm grateful that you know you all are tuning in with us. I want y'all to do definitely go out and support Donna. Everybody knows how hard it is being a business owner. Get you some hangers, get you some organization in your life because a decluttered mind is a joyful mind.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Uh, with that, we will get to vote in the primaries. Please go out and vote. So the people that hopefully you voted for will end up in the midterms on the ballot. So be responsible with your civic duty and go out and vote. I was happy to take my daughter and my niece voting for the first time in their lives because now they can. And we did that, and so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:00

All right, your voice matters. Yes, and we'll see you back here same time, same place next week uh for an all-new episode. Have a great rest of your week and a great weekend coming up. And as we always uh dip out of here, cheers. Cheers. This is Herspiration Happy Hour.