Lucy Osinski - Creator, Grl Swirl

On this week’s episode of Girl Gang the Podcast, we're in Venice to interview Lucy Osinski, Creator of Grl Swirl.

We talk about building community and knowing your worth.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to season two of[inaudible] the podcast. I'm your host, Amy will and the founder of Girl Gang, the label.com. My name is Lucio Sinskey. I am the co founder and creator of Girls Swirl and all women skate crew in Venice beach. And you're listening to grill gang, the podcast. He goes through your story before starting girl swirl. Yeah, so I was a professional ballerina growing up. I danced, Oh God. Like in a certain amount of hours, like straight from school till 9:00 PM at night and then full weekends and then summer program is all summer. Went to Houston Ballet and Orlando Ballet. Um, yeah, your life just kind of like gets really directed into that. But I also still had like a very amazing and hilarious best friend and like the coolest human friends and the world who are all just so weird and totally themselves. My Mom's an artist and my dad's a musician so it's definitely like a pretty, I've always was raised about, you know, just be totally who you want to be and contrasting with the stark ballet life, which is like fit in this small little bubble. And if you don't have your ribbon the same way as the 20 girls next to you, you're obviously like never going to make it. It was really hard. Um, and I went to college on full scholarship and point at point park in Pittsburgh and I was dancing and I remember one day I went to class and there was like a jet, like there was a jazz major there so I was a ballet major, one full scholarship. And then there's like the jazz majors who are also, they're on different scholarships and jazz dancers are typically not really like good at ballet. And I walked in and the jazz major, Major was like in the mirror dancing, like having so much fun, so excited about life. And I was like why is this person so excited? Like we're about to take ballet class, like the worst thing ever. Like, we have to go into ballet all day. And I like went over and I was like, you're like, what's up? Like you're excited. And she was like, yeah, like I get to do ballet all day. This is exciting. Like I am so excited to learn and I start to look round, may realize everyone loved it and like had so much fun. They were like really enjoying themselves. And I was like, you guys are, wait, what? I thought we were all just competitive. Like I thought it was just what was going on here. And I realized everyone was here just cause they like really? Yeah. Loved it. And I woke up the next day and I called my parents after them supporting my ballet life career that, you know, we definitely didn't have that type of money. Ballets, extremely expensive. Um, and they asked me a thousand times while I was dancing. Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Like, you sure we had to spend$3,000 this month for your career that you're going to have as a principal dance? Or I'd be like, yes, mom. Like, I'll kill myself if I have to. Um, and yeah, I had to call them and I told them I don't love this. I didn't know, like I, I, I didn't know. I think everyone else did and it all just kind of like hit me that day and I quit, went from dancing, you know, minimum five hours every day for like over 12 years of my life to just stopping. And it was such a big shock and I was so happy. I was so happy. I still like, I mean, I still have dreams where I'm dancing and I'm like, Oh my God, I'm not bad. Because in my head like, wait, if you take off one day, you're, you're behind three take off a year, a year, never dancing again. I've taken off like, you know, um, so I was like, wow, I'm giving up everything. But I was so stoked and my parents were so supportive. Like I, I could still cry talking about it. They were like, we'll support you no matter what you do. You could shave all your hair, will still love you. And I thought there'd be furious. I would hate, I'll be so mad at my kid, be so mad. And so yeah, they supported me totally. And I was, I was like, I need to figure out what I love. That's what it is, you know, like, so I was told, I saw on the movies like you got to find what you love. So I started, as I said, I had a radio show, I interned at a clothing company and a music amphitheater with the Dj who became Wiz Khalifa's Dj, like all these like random ass things in the world. Like I interned at a clothing, did I say clothing company? I don't know. I entered in all over just trying different industries essentially all while having a full time job. Uh, sorry. Parttime job, Gosh, in fulltime in college still. And then I realized, I don't know, I've always loved film and I didn't study abroad. I woke up one day and was like, I've literally not seen the world. Like I don't know what I'm doing. So I wanted to study somewhere, I'd have opportunities and I wanted to work in film and want to try that industry. So I found this internship opportunity in the south of France around the con film festival and I was like, hmm, that'd be cool. I had, there's no guarantee. It's just like there's a program there and my school would have let me go because of like the way our school was set up, like you couldn't get any scholarship or any financial aid and I had to like move mountains. I like sat basically petitioned on my bus every day. There's like a bus. I would go back and forth to campus. I'd make people sign this thing. I'll try to change the rule because if you went to a private institution and you tried to go to study abroad outside of your institution, there was like these laws set up that you couldn't do it, um, unless you paid completely out of pocket, which was impossible for me. And Yeah. And I was able to make it happen and like was able to get to the south of France and I studied in this little town called Auntie, but I ended up getting the internship. They chose like three people out of the 80 people who are there. But I had a lot of internship experience at that point and I studied, um, I went to the con film festival and I was stoked and I got there and all the other interns who were there were like, following the rules. They were like, okay, we have to hand out these flyers, we rent this like panel, then this thing. And they're like good to have these flyers and do what we're told. And I was like, girl, as in it's so many internships. Like you do not follow the rules, you find the person who runs shit and you make friends with them. It's like very simple. And I just like went and I like realized who the, who this company was called Winston Baker. I found out who the baker was. He's like, why not to them and introduce myself and um, yeah, heavily pursued it for like six months. Every other week I would email her just asking you to like have coffee. And she finally gave in and was like, you were so persistent and somehow not annoying. Like kind of charming. So I'm going to give you the job. And so I start working for a film finance conference. So we, I go to con in Shanghai in Zurich and I got to have any, you know, I lived in New York and then San Francisco and then I moved to the south of France all while getting to travel with this company, Winston Baker. So it was essentially a part time Gig, but I got to travel and really, um, yeah, it was funny, but it's like living two different lives. I would be like on a red carpet of VIP party, like at the Zurich film festival and then like go back to like waiting tables in New York City. You know, it was like a weird, cause you're just building, you know, just building those relationships and um, moved to San Francisco. I went and, sorry, when I graduated college, after south of France, I moved to New York, way to tables, then moved to San Francisco. No money, no anything. Just like me and my boyfriend, the time has gotten our car across the country. We're like, let's just go. I've always wanted to live in SF. It's like a dream of mine and I happen to like go on craigslist and find a girl who has a sick apartment and ocean beach for 500 a month. It was just like bizarre. Everything lined up and we just got in my car and left. We just left and did it. Um, I just got back in from Shanghai and was like, fuck this apartment, let's go. And he was like left and we got there and I got a job at Yelp, this tech company doing sales. I've never done sales before, like my company with my job with this film company was salesy but it wasn't full sales. And I started doing sales and working for Winston Baker and from my competitiveness I was like, where did all that go? Like where did all my ballet competition go? And I got into sales and in less than six months in like a 6,000 person company, I was number 13 and the sales organization and I was making so much money, I was sitting on fucking phones all day, like you're making phone calls essentially. And it was miserable. And my partner at the time was from Monaco, so we met when I was setting abroad. We're still together and his family had an offer to, we weren't always escaping the city, go travel and get in nature every weekend. We were like hiking somewhere to doing something. And yet it had an offer for us to purchase a farm out there in the south of France. And we were like, let's do it. Like, let's just do, let's go. And we, yeah, we dropped everything and we moved to France and we began the very hard journey of starting a permaculture farm, which is a type of farming which is all about share culture and community. And that's, you know, my life's work is pretty much like community, everything. So I thought this would make a lot of sense. You know, I don't have a lot of experience in gardening or farming. My mom, you know, obviously always gardened my whole life, but I don't know, like I'll try, um, as long as it's community oriented. And so we started a farm and it was really great for a while, um, until, uh, I realize like the south of France is the most magical place on earth to visit. But to live there it's very different. Um, especially when you're doing farming, you think people, they have a lot of money. They like we're going to open up their arms and offer everything to you. It was like they have a lot of money and they want to build big walls and keep it all to themselves. And it was very much this like weird. Like I would go stay in our apartment like across from Monte Carlo and then go off to my farm like an hour up north and just be like living with like people who had nothing. Like it was just every day. I never felt like I could assimilate into either culture and on the less French culture. Nonetheless, build a community around it and it was just really hard, you know? So I did a lot of internal work, listened to a lot of podcasts, meditated like crazy. Um, it was a great time, like in my life personally that I would never ever trade. Like I traveled every weekend. We lived on the border of Italy and France, so it was always traveling and it was just magical, but it wasn't right. And so I ended up moving to La to pursue producing and then uh, yeah, film industry, not my thing. Too many egos. Politics. And when I moved out here, I had met a boy, uh, of resilient boy. Um, and he taught me how to skate and I was like, wait, I don't want, I don't understand. I'm like a ballerina. Like I can't get on the skateboard. Like I will die, I'll break my ankle and like it will never dance again. And you know, I'll never be able to do anything ever. Like my future's gone. Like I just couldn't because I still go swing dancing. I still imagine one day all dance. But like, and he taught me the right way and I like was addicted immediately felt cause carving carver, the skateboard we use is like more flowy. You kind of like kind of go side to side. And it felt like dancing and I suddenly felt so bad ass in powerful and free and like all I wanted to escape every day. And so like my neighborhood, this is where I learned really to skate. I skied every single day for hours and hours and hours. Everything I would do would be back to get home to skate cause it, it was just like this crazy high, I can't explain it. People look at you differently when you have a skateboard. People, you know, you're kind of like an anomaly. There's not a lot of like girl skaters. And it just felt so good to like be able to do something that was in my head. Like you had to be from California and you've had to be bad ass and you had to be ripped. And I was like, I'm not any of those things and I am doing, I'm having the time of my life and I'm going to get good at this. Like I'm just going to get good at this. And I was skating all the time, um, and a lot by myself, mostly by myself. And I didn't really know that many people here. And uh, yeah, like him, that one girl who skated and we started to skate together and I had a full time job so it wasn't really focused on it. In one night we went with a group of girls and I was like, wow, these girls are so cool. And I then a few weeks later I had another little meetup and I just kept adding people on a text chain. I would chase girls down if I saw them on a skateboard. I would just like run across the street or skate to them and be like, Hey, I don't know. My Name's Lucy. Like, do you want to be at my text chain? I like, like to skate. Do you want to skate with me? And so one night a group of, I mean I stopped working on my fulltime job, had a lot of free time and I was like finally, you know, going into the Venice world and actually meeting people and not really focus so much on film, like more focused on my community. And yeah, I met a whole bunch of people at this cool party. My friend Kelsey, I've met her like once or twice. She owns this company called Luka label. It's like an all sustainable, beautiful clothing line. And there was like a release party and I just went that all these girls and got like 12 new girls on my text chain and I was like, let's have a group scale. Like let's all meet up. And I was like, I'm going to call it girl swirl. It's like ice cream swirled. Like everyone's swirling together like different colors and races and all of these different types of people like together. And I was like, okay, come to my, you know, little groups gate and these girls were there. None of the big group. There was eight other girls at that group skate who were like, I have never felt this much magic. Like it was a crazy feeling. Cause you go down, you know, you go down the street, um, like on your skateboard, especially the boardwalk and people holler at you or they stare at you because it's weird to see a girl on a skateboard, you know, you get unwanted attention, negative and positive and you get a lot of like they take your time, be careful. Like you may break a nail. Like it's like this weird people are so weird when you're alone. And so I wanted to start skating with other women and when we were together it was like wild energy. Like people cheering for us. People cheering like, yeah, like what? There's so many girls, they call it us Unicorns and cause you never see a girl on a board. They're like, look at all the unit. Cause like, you know, cause there's everyone's skating and on Venice beach so you suddenly you see like a group of girls. It's very confusing. Like what's up? Um, and just, yeah, the energy was so palpable between us and like people watching us and being around us. Like it was just weird. It was electric. And we sat down at night, we like went back to my girlfriend's house and we were like, let's actually do this. Like let's like make this a real thing. And that night we were like, we got the Instagram handle. We were like, let's actually like try and we, yeah, it's kind of like everything change since that. Oh, and how long ago was that? I was a little over a year. I cannot believe it's only been a year. Spooky hallmark. But that just shows when you're creating community Ed that has that spark and magic I'm sure. Like you know, obviously so much work goes into something like that, but there is a level of effortlessness when people just naturally gravitate towards what you're building. You're not like needing to shove a message down their throat or like explaining it. And how you and I met, we spoke on a panel about community and I could just hear your passion about that. I had no idea that before girl swirl, it was really engraved in your career path. But I think that um, it must be nice, like your passion with community. Now you're building this community that it's just so organic for people to get excited and want to be a part of it. And I love'em. I heard you say a few different times you'd, the word you used the word sisterhood, like it like the visual, it just looks like this like seventies sisterhood vibe. It feels like it too. It's weird. And I like the best way I always described everything we're doing is it's so grassroots, not just in person but digitally like people. I mean including myself, I, I run social media for many brands, including my own. And I hate it many times of the day, most of the Times a day. But when you see, um, something happened in like a truly organic way, that's when you're like, wow, this is amazing. And the grassroots version of this is like getting messages from girls in the middle of Italy being like, you changed my life. Like no one skates in my little town message from Dubai, Shanghai in New Zealand, we get them probably 20 a day minimum. Crosy they're tagging girl swirl or writing to girls swirl or saying you, you know, amazing words of like you've inspired me and changed my life like I need two years ago that was me. You know, like I was on the skateboard and I was looking at this girl Louise Maura sat and I thought she was so cool and I was like, oh man. Like I hope I could skate like that one day. And like everything we do every um, group Skate, every nonprofit of that, every piece of content we release is all genuinely like trying to speak to the person I was two years ago. Like I wish, I wish to God I had someone like that. I wish I had a group of girls I could go hang out and skate with or like get some advice from on how to do this or like feel excited or empowered or like I was new here. I didn't know anyone. Like you're just searching for community so desperately. And Yeah, everything we do is to like really inspire regular women to get in powered through skateboarding, you know, change your life through coming together with other women. You know, there's so many things we stand for. But I think the biggest thing is, you know, forever for me is women empowerment. It's always been, uh, like me and my best friend before I even moved here before girls where we started making buttons that said Grl Pwr and we would draw like fake little bottles of like, it looked like potion and would just say girl powers. And we just thought it was the great, like everything our life has been about girl power since we're a little, you know, from the spice girls on and on. Um, I know we were up with the spice girls and dusty, his child, like it has builtin are idea. I was just talking about that last night with my girlfriend. Um, and so, okay, so you, there's nine of you then total correct. Or like the founders of girls swirls. So you guys all come together and say, we want to do this. Let's just start going for someone that wants to build a community. Can you give some advice on next steps from that, you know, getting the Instagram handle and then what are those next steps after that that are some, a good kind of like zero to one action steps where a lot of people I'm sure really want to build a community based off something they're passionate about, but some people might get overwhelmed about the big picture so they don't take those first few steps. Yeah, I mean I think people are really intimidated still. When I talked to her, like our lawyers or anybody and I say nine girls, they like, whoa, like so yet to really make a decision of like what you actually want out of this. Um, the next step I would say is just set your values at the end of the day. Like, right this, the second thing I did was go home and start like writing down what I wanted this to be. Um, and I made like a long, long list, which included like, really I was at the time I was, me and my boyfriend were um, volunteering in a foster home, teaching Qi foster kids had skate. And that's kind of like what really kicked me, kicked me forward to wanting to teach other people. I like love teaching skates. One of my favorite things. Um, and so the biggest thing was like philanthropy was a huge part of our thing. Content, all my friends are photographers. I'm a photographer. Strategizing how we're going to grow, not through influencers, through photographers was a big idea that we really focused on. We shoot with, um, local photographers two times a week. So we've shot with like, I mean solid 60 photographers in a year. And that's probably why we have all this attention from brands and different, you know, we've gotten an in places that typically people wouldn't because we tried to look at an alternative strategy of growth, which is from my, you know, digital strategy background. But I'm kind of setting that up early on is like a priority was really important. Um, and then community obviously like having group skates. Um, those were just like kind of the pillars of everything we're doing. So setting up those pillars and then looking at the people around you and understanding what people want also. So like when you're building something with other people, not just saying, I want this, you must do it. It's like, I want this, what would you like, you know, like this is a collaboration, this isn't like me forcefully, you know, telling you what I need it. Like obviously stepping into that was really hard. Oh my God. So hard. Running a business and running nine or eight other women was, I've like a different person than I was last year, you know. Um, so yeah, just setting up simple values and kind of like asking what people want to do in and assigning people kind of where they could fit and just, that's like the simplest first step I would say. Um, but like the biggest advice I could possibly give, it'll repeat a thousand times and I still repeat is no one can stand up for you but you, and that was a big learning curve for me because I'd be in a group of eight girls and I'm super empathetic and I want everyone to be happy. And you know, one person wants this and one person wants this and if I didn't speak up for what I wanted, I was the one who lost, you know, and there'd be a lot of scenarios when you're growing, you know, when you start working with brand partners and you start working with like bigger groups of people and you start working with money and dollar signs and you know, things are moving really quick, you really have to like stand your ground and know what you want. And being a woman that's really easy because you're kind of taught to just like hide and be like, okay, like whatever everybody else wants. Like I'm fine with it. And I'd go home with like anxiety attacks and you know, like, what am I doing? Why aren't I just fucking speaking up for myself? So I started saying what I wanted and I started saying it clearer and clearer and clearer. And now today I walk into like rooms with like the CEO of Hurley and I tell them, hey, I want to skate tour. Like I need this, this and this, and we don't need you. If you don't want to work with us, it's okay. And if not, then this is what I need. You know? And it's like changed everything. People turned, the conversation flips, it doesn't, it's never anymore. Like I used to think people would maybe just give me what I wanted and I realize you have to ask for it. And that's like in every scenario from your job to your relationships to starting a business. If you don't say what you want, you will never get it and you're the only one who's going to suffer. So that was a big, that was like the biggest thing I learned in the beginning months for sure. That's good advice. Even, I need to always remind myself without someone to take that away from our conversation today. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean that I can't like know what I need and know what I want when I go in somewhere, I'm going to like say it, you know? And if they don't want it, great. But like that's negotiation 101. You don't walk in and say, you know, I want$100. You say I want a million and then they negotiate down. But if you don't have the balls to, you won't, you know? So I think, yeah, for me it was, um, it was definitely really hard to learn those lessons and it still is hard. Like there's hard conversations do you have to have every day as a CEO? It's really hard. So much like it's personal, especially when you're building a community with people that you're starting a business with. There's definitely this big catch 22 because the girl is who you need to pull their weight on a business end. Also, you know, on a business end that your business is trying to build a community, give girls community and then your community is also your business. It's very hard to like find where the line is like, uh, okay, well you're not pulling your weight here like, but see you later at the group Ski. You know, like it's really hard to build businesses with your friends and people have always said that. But when you actually do it, it's hard. And so those hard conversations get worse and worse. Cause now walking in a big meeting and asking for what you want is no big deal. But asking your friend who you really care about and really empathize and know their personal life to like work harder and give more when you know they camp out on a business end, you need it. Those are hard conversations and I, I like seriously sit in my car before them and, or like wherever I am. And I, I tell myself like, I like really say in my head out loud or whatever the fuck that it was say in my head. Um, you have to put your, I don't know why I say this, you have to put on your big boy pants. I don't know why I say that, but I tell myself, you have to pull your fucking big boy pants on. Like being an adult, like speak like don't like, it's always so hard and I do it and I don't die. I survived somehow and like I do it again, but it never gets easier. It's yet to get easy. What is it? Um, no pressure. No diamonds. That's what Corey says. So I love it. Yeah. We worked together and we have another business with one of our friends and it's like, uh, through, uh, everyone speaking up and saying what they want. Diamonds can be born, but if you don't have the pressure, you know, you never know what, what can come of it. Yeah. You just stay quiet or let other people be quiet. She would add to that. And I also think like, what, I mean also back to like speaking up like women, everyone's like, oh yeah, women empowerment, you know, every brand doing a fucking commercial about women empowerment. And women this and women that and it's like super trendy. But like when it comes to money, there's no women empowerment when you're in a meeting and people are like, we, you know, we were talking to Nike and they're amazing, you know. And like I said to them that exact sentence cause were they were saying, you know what, we sent them all a big pitch deck and ask for a lot of money. And in the conversation I, you know I was talking all men, of course there was actually one girl in the call and I said, you know, people always talk about women empowerment but like when we actually come down to it, this is the way to empower women financially, keeping them equal and if not like giving them support financially. Like that is a way to empower women right there. And it was so cool. They reacted so positively. They were like, you're right. Like absolutely. You know like it kind of switched in their head and I kind of expected them to be like, yeah, who the fuck is this schmuck? But they were really, and it was nice to hear like, I don't know, I think it's like there's a shift kind of when you're able to say those things and people are already on this mindset of like, okay, yeah, I want to work with women. I want to lift them up and spread that message. Not because it's only cool, but like, because I actually believe in it. And then you hear these CEOs and higher up people like get excited. They're like, you're right, it needs to invest. I need to actually invest in these people. I can't just like say it's cool and repost a photo. Um, so yeah, getting support from brands like that in that way is really cool. It's like I've been pretty mega. Yeah. So early on too. I still can't believe it's burning on, is there any partnerships or conversations you can talk about that was just like a crazy out of body experience for that one? It totally carver, carver skate. It's like the board I learned on, um, yeah, I was like a Namor and I could not believe these boards do this. And then I went to Barcelona like shortly after I first started skating and I saw people in carvers all over Spain. I was like, wait, what? Like how is this brand like everywhere, you know, I didn't know it was like so famous as Searcy cause it's based off of surfing. So Surf Culture, people essentially, you know, skateboarding started from people wanting to surf when there's bad waves and they were like, let me just put some rollerskate wheels on this, this piece of wood. And started skateboarding. So the I, the whole basis and everything that skate really started from is that, and that's what we really embody. Carver skate is that it serves skate. It's really flowy. It really translates balance, escape boarding as well as surfing. And I was just obsessed and when I saw it abroad I was like, this is so cool. And then I met the owner and he's just like literally a genius, like a genius human being. Like it is an actual spooky thing to witness. He is so humble. Never in a million years would you know, you know, he runs this huge company. When you meet him, you're almost like, does he know like I'm asking if I'd be like, do you know that people are writing this first? Cause he was like so calm. He's from his wife's from insurer. Yeah. So his wife is like the fuel of the fire. She is like the most bad ass empowered lady. I know. She's actually one of our advisors and like one of my daily, and suppose she, she is like an artist from the 70s. Um, like just stands. Her ground stands a for everything she believes in. She's like, goes into to like the mountains and forges for different minerals to use in her paintings. She has an art studio in Ventura. She's like just a force. She's an actual force, you know, and she's definitely the force behind carver in my opinion. You know, Neil's a genius, but she's like this fire that lights it forward and it's so cool watching their relationship. And when I met him I was just like, there's no way you know this guys. He that he never like he keeps, he's so steady with his emotions. He had this really successful furniture company and he spent like five years trying different versions of this truck. You know, skateboards are made up of trucks. He would just like manipulate them and try different things and there's all these old videos of him just like testing and failing a testing and failing and it was just, it's just so sick to be that so genius that he like went that far and such an inspiring person. And um, yeah. Long story short, we, yeah. Somehow in some way after like me being obsessed with them, like fast forward, six months in, we got sponsored by them. It was look the craziest exp. I could not believe it. I could not believe it. And our relationship with them is amazing. They're like just all made locally and Elsa Gundo they pay their workers really well. Their boards aren't made in China. They're all made here like lifetime warranty on the trucks. It's everything. I mean I essentially, I'm like a carver spokeswoman and I'm not being paid for to say that. I am just so like so fascinated with the way it makes you feel. I write it in the skate park like in the bowls and um, on the street. And we also just came out with the girls won't carver board our official like that was, that was the biggest ass body. This is like you only get a board when you're a pro model, you know that's like a pro thing and we're a group of girls. Like what Rio, a skateboard deck. What's that about? Like it's crazy. So we have our own deck and we're working with my dream brand and that's one of many brands. But that's definitely like the all say all end all like, and it's funny cause now that I look now that I'm in the position of running a business and like we had these big peaks, you know, you'll like, oh we got on CBS and we were on Oprah or like we hit this many followers or this happen and all these big peaks and I'm never satisfied. You know, and I, I look at and it makes a lot more sense why he is the way he is. Cause I'm like, I get it. Like when do you ever get satisfied with your growth? When you know it's so big, you can be so large. Like you're never like, it's always the next step, the next step, the next step. I'm like, I get why he's just like, yeah, it's really great that we did this. But like when do you really feel satisfaction? Like when do you really get excited? Like I don't get to see, I don't, I think especially when you're leading a company, um, it always feels like you're in a car and you're the driver and your friends or whoever's in your company with you. Like for my example, the eight other girls, they're in the car with me. Like they're on the journey, they're there, but I'm driving and I don't get to look out the window and never get to look out the window. Like I'm always just like, we have to get to the destination and I don't know exactly what that destination is. I know that I'm not able to enjoy it the same way they are in the back seat when they could really like hang out and look out the window. It's different when you you're like running it and I think that like speaks to a lot, you know, from standpoints, a lot of different directions. But uh, I've had to communicate that to the other women and say, you know, hey, I really feel it's hard. Like, you know, you have a big party or a huge event or groups gain 80 girls show up and it's like this big thing you should talk to a thousand people. Like when do you have a second to like really enjoy it. You're like, you have to just move so fast and you're constantly thinking of what's the next step? How am I documenting this? Like who's dealing with this? And then no, it's never like that feeling. So I now I look at Neil and I'm like, Oh man, I get it. I totally get it now. Like I was thinking like what does JC feel like? I was really thinking about the other day and I was like, is Jz after massage is no joke. We were just looking up here and net worth last night because I went to this um, uh, conference called network to net worth and all of these girls were talking about just like how much they love Jay z and the one person they'd want to talk to and no one brought up Beyonce. And I was like, I've always, I know I've always respected his, um, like, I mean she, I just internalized her energy but, and I've always respected his brand building. I just like have never heard like it was three different girls and three different panels talked about him and no one brought up. It was just random. Like they didn't even know the other ones we're talking about them. So it was like, I need to clearly dive deeper into like his entrepreneurship past. And like I knew he was a boss. I just like didn't realize how smart and strategic he was. So like on my recent from not even 24 hours ago, it was like deep diving into Jeezy's like net worth, like his successes, how he moves quickly passed his failures. I feel like he probably thinks similar to you where he's like always onto the next thing cause he like never let something sit long enough to be a failure. It's just a pivot. I was like, okay, I clearly need to like do my research more. But then we countered it with watching homecoming. So I was like, uh, I, we only watched like the first 30 minutes, but it was just like magical. Oh good. I'm just, cause I've watched like a lot of her documentaries and people like I sound like, Oh yeah, I'm one of the crowd. I love Beyonce, but she's like an amazing person that could just be curated that she's at amazing. But I've just decided that she definitely is and there's no way it was curated. Uh, yeah, I can't handle like living in the simulation thinking Beyonce is fake. Like it's all too much for me to process. So I just want to like, she's amazing. But I like gave my energy to her and gave my, um, business inspiration to him last night, surrender to it. And like I go into deep Beyonce holes pretty frequently. I like end up on videos of her like, oh, at 11 years old, like dancing in her living room with her dad. I'm like, oh, she didn't know she used to be that famous if only surely she knew. Oh my gosh. And then so I grew up doing ballet as well. I did ballet from four to 18, the like eight hours. Saturdays. It doesn't have to be ballet, but obviously we both can relate to this. I think doing some thing with major discipline growing up helps curate you into the type of CEO you need to be, especially as a woman because it sounds like you're the same. Like there's no option of opting out. You can't quit. There's no, no, it's just like a yes or a no. Not right now. And those even going back to like, you emailing someone, uh, like every other week until you get that yes. I think that it's so great to grow up and have that in the DNA, but, uh, maybe some people that didn't grow up with any around that type of intense discipline and they want to get into this, but they find themselves like not making, feeling like they can make the push. I'm not a skateboarder, I'm, and I'm in the skate world. So what does that mean? Like do I need to like suddenly become a bad ass skater? It's like a pretty heavy industry and I want to pay homage to it as much as possible. Um, and it's something that like has to be taken seriously. So like I grew up at ballet, all these people grow up with skate, right? So like they have this huge history of knowing all the names of all the people and all the tricks. And my boyfriend was every trick of everywhere and I feel just like totally lost a lot of times. And I find myself wishing I grew up in a place where they were surfing and skating and I was like all these other people. And like I feel so behind on that world. And in that culture and lost. And so what I do to combat that is a find my place in that. So, um, yeah, girls swirl is like a combination of like being that that's like where knishes are born. That's like where businesses are born is looking at the issue.

Speaker 2: 36:13

Nope, sorry.

Speaker 1: 36:20

No tough class. Yeah. So like I started, the first thing I thought was, you know like, okay, I'm not a bad ass skater but I want to ski. I want to be in this industry. So that leaves a hole for like other girls like me, you know, how can I make other girls feel that? So I think like recognizing the fact that maybe you weren't born a professional ballerina or whatever it is, recognizing it and kind of like trying to to see like there's other people around you who feel the same. Like how can I build value on that? How can I like relate to people? Um, does it, you do you want to a business, you want to just be able to talk to someone. It feels the same way. Whatever it is, just like recognizing is a big deal. So like recognizing that I'm not a rapper or a bad ass is like something I say a lot and I'm really okay with that being said, I do like make a lot of effort to learn about skate. I watch like a ton of skate videos. I watch like everything my boyfriend possibly sends me, which I asked him to send me everything. Um, I have definitely done my research and my homework and also spend an insane amount of time at the skate park meeting real people who skate all the time. Like all my friends are skaters from like old school, like guys who are in their fifties who ripped, still were like, you know the people started skateboarding too. Like guys who are pros now, you know, you meet like the array of people. And what that means to me is like doing everything with humility. I'm never walking into a place thinking that like, because you want something that you own it like coming in there and you know, being able to speak your piece and know who you are but like be humble always. Like there's a difference between like being like a bad ass, um, and like being a bitch being mean, you don't have to, like there's, there's a huge difference. So I think like when I go into the Skate Park, yeah, I'm like not good. Like I would love, I mean that's what I say. When I first got there, I'd be like, I am not good. Like I would love advice asking for help, like looking for the people around me, you know, always trying to figure out ways to to like make it clear that I'm not trying to like step in on anyone or take over an industry or do anything that I'm very clearly, hey, I'm trying to represent people like me. Um, and I think that goes throughout anything you do. So like, I don't know if you're starting a business and I mean I think typically people start businesses because they feel some sort of spark and if they feel like maybe they don't have discipline in their lives or they don't have a background in it, I would just say like, try to find other people who also don't have that background. Like, who also maybe feel like you and try to like come together and work on that as a group rather than just like suffering by yourself. Like the Internet is very, very fast. You can always find information and people that are somewhat, you know, going through something you're going through. So you know, just like this podcast, like building businesses, I w as a woman, like that's a, that's a whole, you know, that's why we have to like learn from each other. That's like one a one. So regardless of you've had a background of being, you know, super disciplined or not. I think like just like having curiosity and being humble is really important. In another takeaway I'm getting from everything you're saying, is that what it sounds like through and through you where it was authentically yourself? So that's like when I sit down with friends or get linked up with someone and they feel frustrated. They like have this side project that they wanted to turn into a business and it just kind of fizzles away. It's, I'm going after the perception of you can be rather than like going after what you want to be. So getting these titles and these like instead of just like authentically through and through, you're doing this because you truly love to do this, you're doing this because the day to day feeds your soul where I think it's also okay for some people to acknowledge like, okay, maybe like a CEO role or this like founder role. Like I love the idea of it being on my Instagram bio, but like maybe the day to day doesn't serve you and you want to do something else. And so, um, I just like to inspire people to be authentically themselves. And it sounds like everything you're saying too is helped you get through some of those barriers where some people might have not even started because they're like, oh no, I don't either want to be like the face of this and a pro skater or like kind of hide behind and never do this where you're like, this is why I love this and I want to make it and so I'm just going to find other people that resonate with that. And now this like huge authentic community has started because you've stayed yourself. Yeah, for sure. And I think, I mean I just also think it's fucking frustrating to not know what you want to do. You know? That's why people try to start all these all side businesses and figure out where I fit, where do I fit? I mean I did that for years. I was like farming and then I no know like you don't know where you fit sometimes and it's so infuriating, this concept that like you just wake up one day and you just like love your job or like love what you do. That happens to very few people. That is not like a thing. Typically people who do that really have a niche, like they were playing guitar since they were like three years old and they just worked so, so hard and they just love it and every day is a dream for them. Like and they have work ethic that is unfathomable and like they study all these different CEOs and people who are like super happy and it's because they've been working this certain type of way for so long and it's really because they love it and you get so discouraged, you're like, I don't know how I'll ever find that. And the whole point of the book is to say like there's not, you don't have to just like, and the whole thing is that there's no like recipe. You just have to every single job you do, every startup you do every like you could be working as a waitress. It does not matter if you are the best you possibly can be. People will notice you like you and life is built on connections. You will get the right connections. People will be like, you know what, she was a great, great waitress. Like I need a job for this. I'm going to hook her up. Like if you are the best you could possibly be at every single job and really give it your all, you will get career capital enough that will bring you to the thing that you want. You know like having all these specialties. Like my girlfriend graduated in marketing and she's not into marketing but like her whole college career, she like traveled in South America and is obsessed with coffee and learned everything about coffee. She got out of college, I was like, she's like God I don't want to do marketing. I'm like dude, you could do an amazing coffee business based on you know, marketing coffee. And she started to do that. You know, finding like the things you've done that commands in career diversity and why it's career capital, you know like just keep doing it and your things will line up. Like girls swirls, a culmination of all of my talents, truly like total diverse, weird background and it's all like put me in a situation where now everything makes sense and I'm really good at everything I do. And you feel like the best version of yourself and you feel like you're really able to um, like change people's lives and everything and it's like, yeah, there's nothing like it and it's just from trying over and over and over again and you've been so dedicated to the self work and you're putting in the hours. You know, I think if like someone at 35 if they're like, wow, I'm not happy, I'm going to start the self work. Not having distorted expectations where you're like looking at Instagram and it looks like everyone has it figured out. So you just feel bad that you don't have this quote I live by Steve Jobs said it in a commencement speech at Stanford was you can't connect the dots moving forward. You can only connect them. Looking back, I kind of do any days, any what I'm working on without passion. Like it would be impossible to fulltime jobs. Like, I'm killing myself. It's so much work. And uh, yeah, if I didn't have to, like I remind myself every day why I do this. Um, it's truly like community and like inspiring regular women. Like I wish I had that, you know, the same feeling. Um, cause we get really distracted. There's so many opportunities. It's way more inbound and outbound. So you know, every day like okay we're going to a TV show or working on merge and we're working on like breaking the world record. There's like all these things every moment there's like a thousand things to handle and to step back on a daily basis. When you come home and you're like, okay, what's the real point of this? Like what's the actual direction? And like re again bring yourself back to the core mission, the core values, everything else will pretty much like aligned from there. But like developing business strategy and all these different things like that just takes, I think that just takes learning. Like it doesn't happen overnight. You know, there's a reason businesses fail, there's a reason people need advice, all those things. It's hard. It's really hard. And there's a lot of like I have an insane amount of luck as well on my side. So I'm very like, yeah, stupid, lucky throughout my life. And not saying it just was only the things I did. It was a lot of luck. Any last words of advice for anyone? And then after that if you can also give'em your social handles and where people can follow girls swirl. Um, last piece of advice. Yeah, just yeah, like what can happen when you work together with the women around you is amazing. You know, you could be anything, you'd be Barista clothing designer, you know, an assistant at some mean film company, whatever it is. And if you work with the women around you instead of against them, if you really try to come together and find some sort of sisterhood within whatever you're doing, I think there is a real opportunity for change, not just like internally but externally with the other people around you. I think girl power is a very real thing. It's not just a cute saying that people are posting online like girl power is when women work together. And I think I'm doing that with skateboarding. I'm doing that with business and doing that with my relationships. Like if you find yourself judging another girl or being mean or harsh or whatever is like a step back and be like, we're on each other's side. Like maybe this time, compliment a girl and tell them how beautiful are fabulous. They are like try to lead every conversation with some sort of like kind of empowerment moment, like what you'd want to hear. So yeah, that's my big advice. I think what, there could be a lot more girl power out there. I'm in this environment of social media where like everyone, you know, either looks like a Victoria secret model or a world traveler, like maybe taking a step back and being like, wow, those are like real women also. And this like other girls. So as to maybe lay posts, pictures of her cats, like we all have the connect somehow. So yeah, that's my advice. Oh my gosh. I love that. And then, uh, where can our listeners find girl swirl and stay up to date on your guys's rapid growth and exciting journey? Um, girl swirl. You could find our Instagram. It's GRL. There's no ISO GRL and other word swirl, sw IRL girl swirl. And then we have a website,[inaudible] dot com Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, all that jazz. It's like all there. Um, well on that note, thank you so much for having me in your home today. We're in Venice, thriving. Got Your dog here. We need to give your daughter shout out. What's your Luna is pretty much the dream dog. She's from Italy. She only speaks French and she's honestly the prettiest dog in the universe. Oh my God. MERCI beaucoup. Luna.