April 1, 2024 • 37 mins
Does the prospect of going into business with your bestie make you sweat or squeal with delight? We talk with two friends and co-founders who quit their day jobs to start an organic period care company together. Their story is featured in the new Roku docuseries “Side Hustlers,” from Hello Sunshine. Plus, our thoughts on Beyoncé’s new album, now that we’ve had a few days to process. What’s your favorite track? We want to hear from you! You can reach the show at: hello@thebrightside.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello from the dark Side.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Just kidding you, guys, it's still the bright Side. It's
April Fool's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Hello Sunshine, It's definitely still the bright Side. And today
we're talking to business bestie's Valerie Emmanuel and Rebecca Capudo.
They're the two moms behind the period care company Riffcare
and two of the stars in the Roku series Side
Hustlers and later, Simone and I are going to take
our relationship to a whole new level with a game
(00:30):
of two truths and a lie.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's Monday, April First. I'm Simone Boyce and.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I'm Danielle Robey. This is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
D what's going on? How is your weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I mean, I've had Beyonce on my mind all weekend.
I feel like we don't even have time to catch up.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
We have to just get into it. I think you're right.
Should we just get into it?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Hmm?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Okay, of course we're talking about Beyonce's new album, Cowboy Carter.
It's been out for three days. But y'all, this is
more than an album. This is a genre bending, genre
blending odyssey. Now, Danielle, I know that we both grew
up listening to country music. Do any of these songs
have you in a choke hold right now?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
First of all, the whole album is exquisite, and I
haven't said that about a full album in so long.
I have three major favorite tracks, and the first one
I have to preface because I actually sang growing up,
and for my first recital, I chose the Dixie Chick
song Earl had to Die, and my mom wanted to
(01:31):
die in the seat watching me because she was like,
why did you choose this man hating song?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
But I really love a Delulu revenge fantasy. I cannot
help it. So I have to call out Jolene.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I love that Beyonce is bringing it to the next generation.
And I also love the Miley Cyrus collab. I thought
that was so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
You did two.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, those two that you just mentioned, those are up
in my top three for sure.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
My only last one that I want to call out
is sixteen Carriages, and she put that out early on
as one of the singles. But it is so gorgeous,
like it makes me cry in my car.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's so good. I love Blackbird.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think I love the nostalgia element that she's infusing
this album with I mean, these are the the classic
rock yacht rock country music songs that I grew up
listening to, And I mean, she's just she's really not
tiptoeing around here. She's totally declaring a rebirth of the genre.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It's interesting you say tiptoeing because I usually think that
Beyonce says things without saying them, Like she doesn't really
put captions on her Instagram posts, she doesn't really do interviews.
To me, She's always spoken through her music, and I
think you're right, she's really doing that here. I also
think it's interesting that you brought up Blackbird, because part
of what I think she's saying without saying is I'm
(02:55):
here and genre does not matter to me. I will
inful trait any genre, like it was almost like a
test and Blackbird's roots John Lennon was really vocal about
how that song was inspired by the Civil rights movement.
So I think she's saying something there. I think she's
saying something on Spaghetti, which features the long absent black
(03:17):
country singer Linda Martel, and I think that she's she
never really states it explicitly, but I think she does
with all the undertones, Like I think it was a
really strategic and thoughtful album.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, I actually think she's very explicit here.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I mean, she's coming out and she's saying I think
she's calling out the whole country music industry. And I
think if you look at the first track, American Requiem,
like if we think about what does that term requiem mean,
it means an act of remembrance for someone who has passed,
and it can also mean a piece of music that
has performed at a service for the dead. So she's
truly deliberately burying these outdated ideas and she's saying, I'm
(04:00):
giving you something new, and something new will be born
from the ashes of this genre and what you thought
it represented. I think that patriotism is actually something that
she's addressing here very much. So we talked about how
it was a deliberate move to feature the flag on
the cover of the album, which the flag has become
(04:20):
such a loaded symbol as of late, and I think patriotism,
the word patriot that as an identity has become really loaded.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Very and her holding it loudly and proudly says to me,
this is my America, and that's like something no one's
doing right now, and Beyonce's music has a way of
uniting people, and with the explosion of this album on
social media, I hope that we feel some unity here.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I'm so glad that you mentioned that you're patriotic, because
I am too. I'm really patriotic.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Every fourth of July, I lead my family and friends
in an a cappella rendition of Lee Greenwoods. God Bless
the USA. I love this country. I love her, even
though she's flawed, like this is my home, and lately
it's been feeling like do I even get to claim
ownership over that? Because it feels like all these other people,
these groups that I don't want to associate with, are
(05:14):
co opting patriotism.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I agree, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So I think in the same way that certain groups
have co opted patriotism, she's rejecting the co opting of
country music culture because we have black cowboys, we have
black rodeo queens, we have always had black country music legends.
And she's saying, listen, black folks, we have always been
the genre. This genre is rooted in black blues music.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I think she's very much saying that I agree with
you and with that I think sometimes we forget this
is her eighth album. She has this unwavering presence in
the pop culture zeitgeist and has for over two decades. Like,
we grew up on Beyonce, and she's one of the
few artists who when she drops an album, the internet
and the world stops for a minute. It totally transcends age, genre, race, gender,
(06:06):
any of it. And so in this moment in our
country where so many people are craving unity, I actually
think this album means more to people than just a
musical album. I actually think it music has the power
to bring us together, and so I'm looking forward to
seeing what this album does for people this entire year.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
She brought her daughter Roomy into the track Protector. You
hear her voice at the beginning of that song, And
as we're talking about this event, the cultural impact of
this album, I'm thinking about all the little black and
brown kids who are growing up in the country or
in the South who are going to feel protected by
Beyonce's lyrics. I was once a little curly haired, barefoot
(06:49):
chick in Tennessee, and I had to have my own
requiem for my relationship with country music. Because as she's
talked about I didn't always feel welcome in spaces where
country music was being played, and I see a huge
bright side here. I think that this is also a
past the mic moment, like she is just one voice
in the music industry, but her voice is so powerful.
(07:10):
I'm looking ahead and thinking about all the ways that
this can open up opportunities for black creatives and country music.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh yeah, this is a legacy moment for her.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
All right, Jelle, Cowboy Carter is out in the world.
Now do you agree with our take or do you
have a different one? Send us your thoughts to Hello
at the bright sidepodcast dot com.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Now we can talk about Beyonce for this whole podcast,
but I think the Internet has declared this the year
of Queen Bee, so we're gonna circle back to her soon.
But simone, do you ever fight text aka fext Are
you a fexter?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I have a history of fexting.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I am always working on myself, you know, I'm on
my personal development tip, so I try not to do it,
but I will say, the urge to fext is strong
with this one.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I get it, people have I've been fixting since the
years of flip phones and Blackberries, but recently the site
Every Girl looked at fexting in relationships to try and
determine whether it's beneficial or not.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So the takeaways were very much as expected.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Some people say you can't really e gauge tone or
body language, and then other people say it helps them
gather their thoughts and respond rationally.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
But you know who's a fixter?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
The first Lady, Doctor Biden, told Harper's Bizarre that she
and the President fexed get out, yet they do it
to prevent the Secret Service from knowing about.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Which I love. This is so juicy. I know, who
do you fix? Do you fix your husband?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We don't fix anymore. I have fexted with him. It
never ends well. I don't think fexting is the pathway
to a sustainable marriage or romantic relationship.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So I'm doing better in that department.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
But I will say I have the temptation to fex
my friends a lot, Like if they do something that
bothers me, you know, or hurts my feelings, I just,
you know, a text. This is the problem with texting.
It's so easy to just fire one off really quickly
without being really thoughtful about how you're doing it. So
(09:11):
my solution is to write a draft in my notes
folder and then just delete it. Like I think the
act of actually texting it out but not sending it
to anyone is actually healthy for my brain.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
That send you always regret it. Yes, I have a
no fexting policy, no matter how much I want to
do it. But here's the reason that I have a
no fexting rule. I actually fixed it in the past
and it just really didn't end well. Tell me, and
I'm going to tell you the last time I fexed it,
but I have to warn you that the story is
(09:46):
going to make me.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sound a little nuts. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
So I was dating a guy and we were in
two different cities, and he had work in La so
I let him stay in my apartment while I was gone.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I was actually with my dad on the.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
East Coast, and in my apartment, I have a ring
which is like an alarm system, and part of the
ring system is motion detectors, and so I could tell
when he was in and out of my apartment even
if he didn't set the alarm, And so I would
kind of look on my phone every so often, like
where is he is he.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
In the apartment?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Is he out of the apartment, and on a Friday
or Saturday night, he was out of the apartment, and
he was out of the apartment for a long time,
and then the clock struck midnight and then one am,
and he wasn't replying to my text messages, but I
could tell he was out of the apartment.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So I started fixing, and I got so mad. I
couldn't help myself, and it just.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Didn't end well because I ultimately had to admit to
him I was monitoring him through my ring camera.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It's not good. And that was the last time you
ever fixed.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, that was the last time, because I really felt
like psycho.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It was a tiny bit unhinged nunched.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Anyways, I think the moral of the story is fixting
doesn't end well.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Leave fexting to the president and the first lady.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Are you a psycho like me? Or are you normal
like Simone? Are you a fexter? Do you have any
rules around it? Please let us know.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Chime in.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I'm dying to hear your thoughts on this.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Hit us up at hello at the bright Side podcast
dot com. We'll be right back with a side hustler's
success story. We're talking to Valimanuel and Rebecca Caputo about
going from best friends to business partners.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And we're back talking about Hustlers.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Our guests, Valemanuel and Rebecca Kuputo are mom's best friends
and they're also in business together now. A few years ago,
they each left their day jobs to start the organic
period care company Riffcare.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Valen Rebecca join us fresh off this season of the
new Roku docuseries Side Hustlers. This show is all about
female entrepreneurs turning their side hustle into their main hustle.
It's also produced by Hello Sunshine. So Val and Rebecca
Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
This is Rebecca's first podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
This is my first first, This is my first podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Good.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I love that you guys are best friends.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
Yes, Oh my god, I think it was best friends
from the get go.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Okay, can we get into that. Can we get into
your friendship story a little bit?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
How did you meet? How did you become bessies?
Speaker 6 (12:30):
We actually met at a community picnic in Culver City
and we were in line getting food and we were
both complaining honestly about how bad the food was and
the options, like nothing was vegan, and like they cut
the watermelon.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
All wrong and so la I know exactly, and we
just got.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
It, started talking and we honestly fell in love, like instantly.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
Rebecca had a car, We became partners in crime. We
drove everywhere together. We started going to the club together,
many dances, like teenage dances.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know what's so funny about your story. I've met
some of my best friends either in lines or bathrooms.
I feel like that's that's the place you got to go.
If you're looking for friends, just stand in line and
start talking exactly. Yeah, I have to say I tried
your tampons and I think they are fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Y'all have that stealthy cotton. What does stealthy cotton mean?
It was like it was in there. I didn't even
know it was in there. Like it's really comfortable.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Yeah. No, I feel like there's itchy.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
There's like itchy, you know, yeah, irritating products, and then
there's comfortable products. And so when people are always like, oh,
would you switch, would you pay like a dollar more,
I'm like, when you feel the difference seventy two hours
a month, like, come on, you would.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
One thousand percent? Yeah. I have yet to find a
tampon I.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Like you got to try theirs. Okay, So we talked
a little bit about your friendship history. But when did
you decide to start a business together and why period care?
Speaker 7 (13:51):
The start in the business conversation was kind of random
with Rebecca. So I had the idea to start a
reusable period care brand that was made out of hemp
a few years ago, I think in like twenty nineteen.
But then I was looking at the market and I
was like, h the market's not that big. And then
I tried to trademark the original name, which was Reef,
because I thought the company would be all like recycled
(14:12):
ocean plastics mixed with hemp and we'd have this whole thing.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
And then it just wasn't working.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
And in twenty twenty, I had the idea that I
wanted to make disposable products, but then I emailed hundreds
of factories and everyone's like, you can't make hemp into cotton,
Like you can't.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Do that yet.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So I was like, Okay, I kind of dropped it.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
And then I had the idea again and I told
this guy about it who just happened to be an investor,
and he's.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Like, oh, I want to give you a check, and
I was like, what stop, No.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Really, I've never heard of an investment in a startup
happening that way.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, I just offered you money.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
He was like, what do you need to make this happen?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And I was like, start a business. Someone's just coming
in business. Someone's just gonna hand us a chat. But
what do you think he saw?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Like what did you tell him and what did he
see that he just wanted to write you a check
because there must have been something.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
I started talking about this to this guy who was
an investor and he had a and he didn't know
any of this stuff. So I think even though he
couldn't relate, you know, there are a lot of men
who are very empathetic to women's situations because we're learning
so much about women's health right now and it's in
the news and everyone can see it. And then I
was like, Okay, I have my first like twenty thousand dollars,
but I can't make a product with that. I'm going
(15:16):
to do a kickstarter. So I made the kickstarter and
Rebecca's like, this is amazing, but like you can't spell gee,
I bet the kickstarter up and there were so many
typos and Rebecca was like, what the heck is this
and so she just kind of started working on it
with me. I've never had anybody come into anything and
work so hard on it, and I had other people
(15:36):
ask me if they could be my co founder. But
I mean, when I Becka started working on it, I
was like, there's no way this business is going to
exist without a Rebecca in it.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
I'm going to chime in on that because I was
literally on break at my real job.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
It was I was a scientist.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
I was a pito geneticist before coming on as a
co founder for Riffkaren, and I was like, you just
need some help, and you were my best friends, so
I'm going to just take the extra hour out of
my day and work on this.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
And you know, we had this relationship as best friends
where like we saw each have every few months, and
we did stuff with our kids. We have kids the
same exact age, we're pregnant at the same time, so
I think there was also that trust there. There was
never any time where I was like, oh, I'm out
of money, we have to try to, you know, make
this look perfect. There was like this is my best friend.
I already call her when my tampon is stuck, like
why can't I call her about any and everything? And
(16:23):
so that's how our friendship and like business partnership works.
We are pretty much married.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Now I want to talk about the name of your company.
So RIFF stands for Regenerative International Female. Why regenerative regenerative?
It really is like using hemp is a regenerative crop.
It sequesters carbon, it regenerates our soil, meaning like it
adds nutrients to our soil. It's antibacterial, no pesticides, all
this stuff, and so it's like super sustainable. But it's
(16:49):
also like, as women I think we regenerate the planet
in a lot of ways, you know, by bringing in life,
you know, And that's so much about our story and
like our vision for what we want to impact on
the world is that, like it's full circle. It's more
than just like this one thing.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Here at the right side.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
We love talking about second acts, when a woman pivots
into her truest self and discovers new goals that really
excite her and bring her alive. So you both had
full careers before you started riftcare Rebecca, you talked about
how you were a scientist before and then val you
started a talent agency out of Los Angeles, And sometimes
we can be in a job that we don't really
(17:28):
want to be in, but we also don't realize how
much we're learning and how those learnings and skills can
help us at that next stage. So I'm curious to
hear how did those jobs that you had before prepare
you to launch this company.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
I think for me it was I had such a
strong background in research and just environmental and sustainability practices,
and so that just came naturally. I think it's like
being a first generation, like you just get things done
and you just don't take no for an answer, and
you just keep going like, oh, that didn't work.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
Rebecca's also the organized one, which I think comes from
being as scientists.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
You have no idea how organized she is.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
Like we would have phone calls and we'd get off
the phone call and she'd have Excels with like every
note and then all the tangents, and she typed so fast,
and I was like wow. I was like, that's a
corporate job skill that I never had because I never
worked in corporate.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
I've never worked in corporate.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
How did you guys know when to quit the main
job and turn Riff into the main job.
Speaker 7 (18:25):
When Riff started becoming more successful than my other business,
and also when the other business changed in twenty twenty,
when no one could work in person anymore, models and actors,
like we weren't making any money. I mean, it wasn't
an industry that I enjoyed being in. I created the
Talentations because I wanted to have change within the entertainment industry.
I feel like I really successfully made that change, me
(18:46):
and my partner, and so this was just a new
change that I need to make in a different industry.
I started working on this and I was like, this
is not passive at this point, right because we're putting
so much work into it. We have to be there
every single day, even on the weekends. But I was like,
I think we could really build something that not only
creates something that people can use right now, but also
creates wealth for us in the future.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It also sounds to me, tell me if this sounds right,
but it sounds to me like you really wanted ownership.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
Yeah, And I think with the other business, you know,
as much as I did own it, I was always
under the pressure of casting directors and producers and like
working on those timeframes of the entertainment industry is extremely difficult,
but it's just very different. It's a much less stressful industry,
where like there's different stresses, but the stresses are not
people in entertainment industry.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
I think for me, it was a little bit different
because the effects of the pandemic were so harsh on
my family life. So I actually stepped down from my
role as a scientist to take care of my family
because my grandma had to gotten diagnosed with dementia. So
that's actually like my full time hustle is taking care
of my family. And I think about that because I
(19:53):
beat down on myself to think like I'm not doing enough, right, So.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
I'm like doing riff.
Speaker 6 (19:57):
I'm taking care of my family, taking care of my grandma,
and it's okay, but I should still be doing more.
And I think the point in which, like, oh, when
you turn like your main hustle into your side hustle,
it's like do I believe in myself enough to do that?
Do I love myself enough to like believe that I
can do that? That's really what it is, especially in entrepreneurship.
If you don't think that like this is it. If
you don't believe that, like this is your golden ticket,
(20:19):
you are not going to succeed in anything, because it's
like you don't actually feel confident enough that there is
so much energy around what you do and what you
say that like, if you don't put one hundred percent
of your time into something, it's not going to succeed.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
I would also say that we do have a bit
of a safety net, right.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You know.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
Rebecca had obviously like had her job which she had
a steady income at before this. I kind of came
with like no steady income. But I also am the
content creator, so I know that for me, that's something
I can do like when I need to, when I
want to, and then I can do this because I
know a lot of people who want to jump into business,
but they're like, I don't have savings, But I always
tell people to having a little savings is also could
(20:56):
be really smart when you're jumping into your next thing.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
I was just thinking about that because if you have
savings and stuff, so much of our lives, I think
we're so focused on survival mode that like you can't
focus on your energy. You can't supplit your energy unless
you feel safe. Yeah, and so I think establishing that
safety like for me, it's within my marriage, you know,
for you, it's knowing that like you can support yourself,
and I think that helps us.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Rebecca, I'm so glad that you brought up being a
caretaker because caretakers are often invisible in our society. But
there are so many people who are listening right now
who I'm sure can relate to that. It's such a
worthy job.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, and caretaking is also unpaid labor. What I'm hearing
from both of you is that this really fit into
the lifestyle that you wanted to create for yourselves totally
or did you.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Make it fit?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Sometimes you have to make the moves and make the
changes to make it fit.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And get work for you.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
You definitely have to leap, you have to jump.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
Yeah, we make our own eighteen hours a day that
we work now instead of being on someone else's.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I want to hear about besties in business. I want
to hear about what it's like to work with your
best friends. Yes, it is one way that working with
your best friend has empowered your business.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
Okay, So I think the main way that I'm empowered
in my business because I'm working with my best friend
is because Rebecca has a different skill set.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Than I do.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
And I realize that I meet a lot of other
co founders where they're both really good marketers, right, but
like who's the digital marketing expert, who's the influencer, and
then who does the finances. So I think knowing that
you have a different skill set in your back pocket,
holding hands with the person who has that different skill
set every single day helps me walk with so much
more confidence I had the person with the missing skill
(22:34):
set that I don't have.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Who's with me twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I think acknowledging where you compliment each other is half
the battle, especially when it comes to resolving conflict when
you work with your friends in business. Can you offer
our listeners any advice as to how to resolve conflict
when you're working with a friend.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
You can't have any ego about it.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
You can't think like, oh I'm right and you're wrong,
that there is a right and wrong. There's just what
works best, what makes the most sense. And I think
we both are able to get into that mindset every
single time, and it makes it so much simpler.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Like we disagree on things for sure.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
Once a day. We disagree on things, but it's always
links to day.
Speaker 7 (23:15):
We'll have like ten times a day, but it's always
like within five texts, it's like, what's the best for
the business. And then that's when it's like, oh, the
easy answer is right in front of us all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Across the board.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
That's the advice that I hear whenever I talk to
entrepreneurs or listen to entrepreneurship talks on that.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, it's a trust.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I think that makes it really solid, you know, Like
that's what's empowering about this friendship and this partnership, you know,
it's that we have this layer of trust that is
not going to be broken down by somebody saying no,
by something hard, something challenging.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
We're always going to get over it together.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Okay, So we're all here because of the show Side Hustlers,
which is hosted by entrepreneur Emma Greed and model Ashley Graham.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So how has the show changed your business?
Speaker 5 (24:01):
I mean leaves and bounds.
Speaker 7 (24:02):
Honestly, it's doubled our sales, which is wow, amazing. So
we are like, Okay, people are going to continue watching
the show and it's going to continue to bring people
to our website, you would have never heard about us before,
and we're hoping that also is happening in retail. I mean,
like we check our retail numbers quarterly, so we don't
know yet and it's only been a month since the
show came out, but we're really excited to see what
(24:23):
it's going to continue to do for our business. I
think just being affiliated with Ashley and Emma is huge
for any female owned business.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So if you haven't seen the show, Rebecca and Val
are mentored by Emma and Ashley alongside some other entrepreneurs.
But in the final episode, you have to present your
final pitch to Emma and Ashley with the hopes that
they will invest in your business. And I was really
inspired by the way that you both advocated for yourself
in that negotiation session. Because Ashley throughout an initial offer
(24:55):
for you, you were like, this doesn't work for us.
You took some time to talk about it, come back
and present her with a new officer, and she wound
up taking it.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
That was the scariest twenty minutes of my life.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I'm not even gonna lie to you.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
We knew how much like equity we could part with
and when we had to step out. We talked maybe
again five ten minutes, and then we had to walk
back in. And fully that walk there, we were both
just praying because we knew if she didn't accept those terms,
we would have to walk away.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
So that was the scariest Yeah, And the scariest part
about that too, is we realized if we were gonna
walk away, we're gonna have to go back into fundraising.
We're like, we're gonna have to start at square one.
And the fact is, you know, we have all these
retail launches that have happened this year. We have so
much that's going on, so we're really counting on getting
an investment in the show. It wasn't like, oh, we'll
be fine, We're like.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
No, we need this to happen.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
So yeah, as Rebecca said, we knew how much equity
we could part with, and when she said yes to it, honestly.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
The chills that went through my body and we were
just like, thank you God.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
She also said, I really have faith in your business.
What is your relationship like with Ashley now now that
she's an investor and also involved from a talent perspective.
Speaker 7 (26:06):
Yeah, I mean her team is so incredible. You can't
see this on the show, but her team was there
the entire time going in there talking to her about it.
There were so many ideas she was giving us. She's like,
this is what I think we should do for talent,
for your size inclusivity. So she has so many great ideas.
Also because she's invested in other consumer products. She also
invested in a period care company that ended up being
solds worth like half a billion dollars. So we trusted
(26:28):
her and her team know exactly what to tell us
with our specific category to get us to the next level. Right,
It's like, now we're trying to get to the first million,
but they also know what it's like to be on
a team that goes from five to one hundred million,
So that's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Can you tell everybody what you walked away with?
Speaker 6 (26:46):
We got Ashley to sign on for one hundred thousand
dollars at five percent equity, so it was exactly what
we wanted. And I still can't describe how it feels
because I've been following out since she was on Sports Illustrated,
you know, like the first front cover, and so it
was just like a dream come true on like so
(27:07):
many levels.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Did you splurge on anything to celebrate ice cream?
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Ice cream?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
No, well I'm talking like, you know, did you treat
yourself to a nice bag or something.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
I'm like, wait, that was the truth.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
We're on a budget, right, respected We're like all the
money goes into the business.
Speaker 7 (27:25):
I mean, honestly, this is one of the reasons that
we do need to fund raise more this year because
we don't take a pay check. I mean like sometimes
when we've got an investment, we've paid ourselves like one
thousand dollars a month for a few months, and they're like.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That was enough.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Now the money must go back into the business.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Only.
Speaker 7 (27:37):
Probably total, since we've started this business, we've paid ourselves
each about ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
I also want to note that our business is one
hundred percent women owned still, so me, Ashley, and Rebecca
own one hundred percent of the business, which I think
with a startup, a lot of people raise money very
quickly and they raise a lot. There's not many businesses
that can say that when they're growing like we are.
So that's also something that we're very proud of.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
So as a working mom, I know it's hard not
to think about how our kids factor into all this.
What is the legacy that you want to build for
your kids through this business.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I think the.
Speaker 7 (28:11):
Legacy I want to leave for my daughter in particular,
like having a little girl, I just know that she's
so persuaded my images she sees and products that she sees,
and I just would love if she was in a
world where everything that she wanted was safe for her.
And so I'm just trying to create a product that
is safe for her and that maybe encourages other women
who are starting companies to do something sustainable.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Also, if my daughter.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
Can look and go, wow, my mom created something that
actually made the earth better, that makes me happy.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
I think for me, it's more because of the journey
that we had to go through to get to this point.
Being able to provide something to somebody that makes that
part of the month a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
If I can help one woman with.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
Her like health journey and wellness journey, like I did
my part, just that one little.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Thing, caretaker through and through. Yeah, it's beautiful. Thank you
so much for being here with us today.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
It's been an honor.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
You guys brought some environmentally safe sparkle to us.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
As we try.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
We literally just drizzle drizzle like pads everywhere, like you
need a spin the padre goods.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Wherever we go, you can see that there was pads there.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Valamanuel and Rebecca Caputo are founders of the period care
company Riffcare. Season one of Side Hustlers is available to
stream for free on the Roku channel. Now, all right,
bright siders, we're back and Simone, We've been on the
(29:44):
air for a full week now and working together for
a few weeks. So now that we know each other
a little bit better, I think it's time to put
our knowledge to the test with a classic game. We
both really love games. We are gamers, So drum roll please.
Simone and I are going to play Two Truths and
a Lie.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I'm so excited for this. Let's go, let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
So the rules of two Truths and a Lie are
really simple. You and I are going to take turns
reading three statements to each other. Two of the statements
will be true and one will be false, and it's
up to us to guess which one of the statements
is the lie.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I'm ready Okay, I'll start us off, Danielle. I grew
up in Miami. My favorite band is in Sync, and
my first job was working in a haunted corn maze.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Whoa uh. I know you grew up in Miami for
a lot of your childhood. The corn maze feels you.
So I'm gonna go in sync is the lie? Whoa whoa?
Shots fired? Yeah? That is so rude. Yeah, okay, it's true.
It's true. I did work in a haunted corn maze.
(30:52):
In Sync.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I love that band, but not my favorite band of
all time. So you nailed it.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yes, okay, next up. My first pets name was Lola.
My favorite movie is First Wives Club, and my go
to breakfast is egg whites with the side of avocado.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Okay, I know that your favorite movie is First Wives
Club because we discovered this in one of our first
chats together.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
My mom told me never to tell anybody on a date.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Might scare them off a little bit. I'm gonna go
with the lie. Is your pet's name?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yes, I never had a pet. You were petless. I
was petless.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Okay, moving on. I like my coffee with oat milk.
I have zero point five siblings, and I prefer cold pizza.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
You can't call someone half a person. What do you
mean you have point five siblings? Just answer the damn game.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
No, okay, well, I know you like your coffee with
oat milk. I've gotten I've seen you drink it. I
feel truly confused about the slings. And if you prefer
your pizza cold, I think you prefer your pizza hot.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I'm going to say that's the lie. You nailed it,
that's the lie. Can you please explain the point five sibling?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
This is a very long story, but I have a
half sibling that I did not grow up with.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Wow, yes, where do they live? He lives in Philadelphia. Hi, Jason,
I love you. That's awesome. Yeah, I get the point
five Now it makes more sense. Yeah, okay, moving on.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I was voted most likely to be a lovable in
high school. I can play the cello, and if I
could have dinner with one person dead or alive, it
would be Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Most likely to be a What a lovable? A lovable
like a noun? Yeah? Like what are the Laker girls called?
Speaker 7 (32:51):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Okay, like Laker girls? Laker girls? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Every team has one. The Chicago team is lovables. Oh, Okay, ls.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I thought that was uh prediction about like your character
or something.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I was confused that I should have explained it.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Okay, it's hard.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
In this game.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Okay, so I know Hillary Clinton is true because I
know you're a stan. I'm gonna say that superlative is
accurate because I could totally see you crushing it courtside.
I'm gonna go with you did not play the cello.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I did play the cello for like six months, but
I cannot play the cello. And what's funny is I'm
five to one, and so I kept my cello in
my bathroom. I never played it. You had to pick
an instrument in high school. I never played it, and
the cello was bigger than me.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
You relegated it to the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
I had no other place to put it. I never
wanted to see it. I hate I was so terrible,
But yeah, I was voted to be a lovable I
was on dance team in high school and was very smiley,
still am today.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, I love that about you. That's one of my
favorite things about you. Can you teach me how to
be a dancer, how to do like TikTok choreography?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I think I have some trauma because my mom one time,
I think we were like at a wedding and my
mom was like, you forgot how to dance? Like what's
going on here? And now I feel like I'm a
bad dancer, so I never dance anywhere.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Shoot, I think we need to work on some TikTok
choreography together and get back.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I think so too. I feel like this Beyonce album
is going to give us that mm hm and how
Danielle got her groove back? Next?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
When I played basketball in high school, Disneyland is my
favorite amusement park. I've broken zero bones in my life.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Disneyland. I know you love You're a Disney adult and careful, careful.
What was the first one I played basketball in high school?
Speaker 4 (34:40):
That's not true.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It's true. You don't think I can ball. I feel
like you told me you didn't play sports growing up.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, it's true. See, we know each other too well.
At this point, I didn't even play this game.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
I feel like you should have played basketball. I should have.
They all tried to recruit me. You just never wanted
to be a baller. Not all tall girls can ball.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Okay, my favorite subject in school was English. My first
car was a Jetta, and I love to hike on
my downtime.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Girl, I know you ain't hiking in that downtime. How
do you know that you told me you.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Don't like to go outdoors. Don't even lie, don't even
try this.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
No, I lay outdoors.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Everybody thinks because I'm like a really active person. Everyone
thinks that I'm a big hiker. But I wear these
ridiculous sun hats. Like if I go walking outside, I
have like so much SPF on ridiculous like walking sun hats,
and so hiking for me feels just like so much sun.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
This is so high maintenance. It's so high maintenance. But
I'm like so scared of the sun.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
I used to like be in the sun tanning all
the time when I was younger, and I realized it's
not good for you. So I just became a psycho
about it. Like the bigger the hat, the better. And
hiking seems like a lot of sun.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So if I invite you on a hike, you're gonna
embarrass me.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
If we go at six am or like seven thirty pm,
when the sun's down, I won't But otherwise one hundred
percent I'm wearing my son hat and I'm probably bringing
one for you.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Oh my gosh, this is what I deal with you, guys.
Is host of the bright Side, Danielle. That was actually
really fun.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
That really was and I feel like there's a lot
more where that came from.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
I'm here for it.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Okay, bessies, that's it for today's episode of the bright Side.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Here's our daily spark, just a little parting thought to
take with you throughout your day.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
And that is the best investment you can ever make
is in yourself.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
That was the best investment I ever made. So I
just think it's universal.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
It compounds over time, and you will never regret it.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
All right, don't forget to send us your friendship dilemmas
because we've got an expert on all things friend related
coming for our new segment called Asking for a Friend,
and she is amazing. You don't want to miss this,
but write us a note or send us a voice
memo to Hello at the bright Side podcast dot com.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts so you
never miss an episode. And if you're enjoying the show,
please leave us a little love note in the review section.
I'm Danielle Robe and you can find me on Instagram
and TikTok at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
That's ro b a Y. And I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
You can find me at Simone Voice, on Instagram and TikTok.
We'll be back tomorrow with a new episode, same time,
same place.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Keep looking on the bright side.
Hello from the dark Side.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Just kidding you, guys, it's still the bright Side. It's
April Fool's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Hello Sunshine, It's definitely still the bright Side. And today
we're talking to business bestie's Valerie Emmanuel and Rebecca Capudo.
They're the two moms behind the period care company Riffcare
and two of the stars in the Roku series Side
Hustlers and later, Simone and I are going to take
our relationship to a whole new level with a game
(00:30):
of two truths and a lie.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's Monday, April First. I'm Simone Boyce and.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I'm Danielle Robey. This is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
D what's going on? How is your weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I mean, I've had Beyonce on my mind all weekend.
I feel like we don't even have time to catch up.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
We have to just get into it. I think you're right.
Should we just get into it?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Hmm?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Okay, of course we're talking about Beyonce's new album, Cowboy Carter.
It's been out for three days. But y'all, this is
more than an album. This is a genre bending, genre
blending odyssey. Now, Danielle, I know that we both grew
up listening to country music. Do any of these songs
have you in a choke hold right now?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
First of all, the whole album is exquisite, and I
haven't said that about a full album in so long.
I have three major favorite tracks, and the first one
I have to preface because I actually sang growing up,
and for my first recital, I chose the Dixie Chick
song Earl had to Die, and my mom wanted to
(01:31):
die in the seat watching me because she was like,
why did you choose this man hating song?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
But I really love a Delulu revenge fantasy. I cannot
help it. So I have to call out Jolene.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I love that Beyonce is bringing it to the next generation.
And I also love the Miley Cyrus collab. I thought
that was so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
You did two.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, those two that you just mentioned, those are up
in my top three for sure.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
My only last one that I want to call out
is sixteen Carriages, and she put that out early on
as one of the singles. But it is so gorgeous,
like it makes me cry in my car.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's so good. I love Blackbird.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think I love the nostalgia element that she's infusing
this album with I mean, these are the the classic
rock yacht rock country music songs that I grew up
listening to, And I mean, she's just she's really not
tiptoeing around here. She's totally declaring a rebirth of the genre.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It's interesting you say tiptoeing because I usually think that
Beyonce says things without saying them, Like she doesn't really
put captions on her Instagram posts, she doesn't really do interviews.
To me, She's always spoken through her music, and I
think you're right, she's really doing that here. I also
think it's interesting that you brought up Blackbird, because part
of what I think she's saying without saying is I'm
(02:55):
here and genre does not matter to me. I will
inful trait any genre, like it was almost like a
test and Blackbird's roots John Lennon was really vocal about
how that song was inspired by the Civil rights movement.
So I think she's saying something there. I think she's
saying something on Spaghetti, which features the long absent black
(03:17):
country singer Linda Martel, and I think that she's she
never really states it explicitly, but I think she does
with all the undertones, Like I think it was a
really strategic and thoughtful album.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, I actually think she's very explicit here.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I mean, she's coming out and she's saying I think
she's calling out the whole country music industry. And I
think if you look at the first track, American Requiem,
like if we think about what does that term requiem mean,
it means an act of remembrance for someone who has passed,
and it can also mean a piece of music that
has performed at a service for the dead. So she's
truly deliberately burying these outdated ideas and she's saying, I'm
(04:00):
giving you something new, and something new will be born
from the ashes of this genre and what you thought
it represented. I think that patriotism is actually something that
she's addressing here very much. So we talked about how
it was a deliberate move to feature the flag on
the cover of the album, which the flag has become
(04:20):
such a loaded symbol as of late, and I think patriotism,
the word patriot that as an identity has become really loaded.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Very and her holding it loudly and proudly says to me,
this is my America, and that's like something no one's
doing right now, and Beyonce's music has a way of
uniting people, and with the explosion of this album on
social media, I hope that we feel some unity here.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I'm so glad that you mentioned that you're patriotic, because
I am too. I'm really patriotic.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Every fourth of July, I lead my family and friends
in an a cappella rendition of Lee Greenwoods. God Bless
the USA. I love this country. I love her, even
though she's flawed, like this is my home, and lately
it's been feeling like do I even get to claim
ownership over that? Because it feels like all these other people,
these groups that I don't want to associate with, are
(05:14):
co opting patriotism.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I agree, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So I think in the same way that certain groups
have co opted patriotism, she's rejecting the co opting of
country music culture because we have black cowboys, we have
black rodeo queens, we have always had black country music legends.
And she's saying, listen, black folks, we have always been
the genre. This genre is rooted in black blues music.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I think she's very much saying that I agree with
you and with that I think sometimes we forget this
is her eighth album. She has this unwavering presence in
the pop culture zeitgeist and has for over two decades. Like,
we grew up on Beyonce, and she's one of the
few artists who when she drops an album, the internet
and the world stops for a minute. It totally transcends age, genre, race, gender,
(06:06):
any of it. And so in this moment in our
country where so many people are craving unity, I actually
think this album means more to people than just a
musical album. I actually think it music has the power
to bring us together, and so I'm looking forward to
seeing what this album does for people this entire year.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
She brought her daughter Roomy into the track Protector. You
hear her voice at the beginning of that song, And
as we're talking about this event, the cultural impact of
this album, I'm thinking about all the little black and
brown kids who are growing up in the country or
in the South who are going to feel protected by
Beyonce's lyrics. I was once a little curly haired, barefoot
(06:49):
chick in Tennessee, and I had to have my own
requiem for my relationship with country music. Because as she's
talked about I didn't always feel welcome in spaces where
country music was being played, and I see a huge
bright side here. I think that this is also a
past the mic moment, like she is just one voice
in the music industry, but her voice is so powerful.
(07:10):
I'm looking ahead and thinking about all the ways that
this can open up opportunities for black creatives and country music.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh yeah, this is a legacy moment for her.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
All right, Jelle, Cowboy Carter is out in the world.
Now do you agree with our take or do you
have a different one? Send us your thoughts to Hello
at the bright sidepodcast dot com.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Now we can talk about Beyonce for this whole podcast,
but I think the Internet has declared this the year
of Queen Bee, so we're gonna circle back to her soon.
But simone, do you ever fight text aka fext Are
you a fexter?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I have a history of fexting.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I am always working on myself, you know, I'm on
my personal development tip, so I try not to do it,
but I will say, the urge to fext is strong
with this one.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I get it, people have I've been fixting since the
years of flip phones and Blackberries, but recently the site
Every Girl looked at fexting in relationships to try and
determine whether it's beneficial or not.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So the takeaways were very much as expected.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Some people say you can't really e gauge tone or
body language, and then other people say it helps them
gather their thoughts and respond rationally.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
But you know who's a fixter?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
The first Lady, Doctor Biden, told Harper's Bizarre that she
and the President fexed get out, yet they do it
to prevent the Secret Service from knowing about.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Which I love. This is so juicy. I know, who
do you fix? Do you fix your husband?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We don't fix anymore. I have fexted with him. It
never ends well. I don't think fexting is the pathway
to a sustainable marriage or romantic relationship.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
So I'm doing better in that department.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
But I will say I have the temptation to fex
my friends a lot, Like if they do something that
bothers me, you know, or hurts my feelings, I just,
you know, a text. This is the problem with texting.
It's so easy to just fire one off really quickly
without being really thoughtful about how you're doing it. So
(09:11):
my solution is to write a draft in my notes
folder and then just delete it. Like I think the
act of actually texting it out but not sending it
to anyone is actually healthy for my brain.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
That send you always regret it. Yes, I have a
no fexting policy, no matter how much I want to
do it. But here's the reason that I have a
no fexting rule. I actually fixed it in the past
and it just really didn't end well. Tell me, and
I'm going to tell you the last time I fexed it,
but I have to warn you that the story is
(09:46):
going to make me.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sound a little nuts. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
So I was dating a guy and we were in
two different cities, and he had work in La so
I let him stay in my apartment while I was gone.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I was actually with my dad on the.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
East Coast, and in my apartment, I have a ring
which is like an alarm system, and part of the
ring system is motion detectors, and so I could tell
when he was in and out of my apartment even
if he didn't set the alarm, And so I would
kind of look on my phone every so often, like
where is he is he.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
In the apartment?
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Is he out of the apartment, and on a Friday
or Saturday night, he was out of the apartment, and
he was out of the apartment for a long time,
and then the clock struck midnight and then one am,
and he wasn't replying to my text messages, but I
could tell he was out of the apartment.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
So I started fixing, and I got so mad. I
couldn't help myself, and it just.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Didn't end well because I ultimately had to admit to
him I was monitoring him through my ring camera.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It's not good. And that was the last time you
ever fixed.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, that was the last time, because I really felt
like psycho.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It was a tiny bit unhinged nunched.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Anyways, I think the moral of the story is fixting
doesn't end well.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Leave fexting to the president and the first lady.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Are you a psycho like me? Or are you normal
like Simone? Are you a fexter? Do you have any
rules around it? Please let us know.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Chime in.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I'm dying to hear your thoughts on this.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Hit us up at hello at the bright Side podcast
dot com. We'll be right back with a side hustler's
success story. We're talking to Valimanuel and Rebecca Caputo about
going from best friends to business partners.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And we're back talking about Hustlers.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Our guests, Valemanuel and Rebecca Kuputo are mom's best friends
and they're also in business together now. A few years ago,
they each left their day jobs to start the organic
period care company Riffcare.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Valen Rebecca join us fresh off this season of the
new Roku docuseries Side Hustlers. This show is all about
female entrepreneurs turning their side hustle into their main hustle.
It's also produced by Hello Sunshine. So Val and Rebecca
Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
This is Rebecca's first podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
This is my first first, This is my first podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Good.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I love that you guys are best friends.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
Yes, Oh my god, I think it was best friends
from the get go.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Okay, can we get into that. Can we get into
your friendship story a little bit?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
How did you meet? How did you become bessies?
Speaker 6 (12:30):
We actually met at a community picnic in Culver City
and we were in line getting food and we were
both complaining honestly about how bad the food was and
the options, like nothing was vegan, and like they cut
the watermelon.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
All wrong and so la I know exactly, and we
just got.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
It, started talking and we honestly fell in love, like instantly.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
Rebecca had a car, We became partners in crime. We
drove everywhere together. We started going to the club together,
many dances, like teenage dances.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know what's so funny about your story. I've met
some of my best friends either in lines or bathrooms.
I feel like that's that's the place you got to go.
If you're looking for friends, just stand in line and
start talking exactly. Yeah, I have to say I tried
your tampons and I think they are fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Y'all have that stealthy cotton. What does stealthy cotton mean?
It was like it was in there. I didn't even
know it was in there. Like it's really comfortable.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Yeah. No, I feel like there's itchy.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
There's like itchy, you know, yeah, irritating products, and then
there's comfortable products. And so when people are always like, oh,
would you switch, would you pay like a dollar more,
I'm like, when you feel the difference seventy two hours
a month, like, come on, you would.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
One thousand percent? Yeah. I have yet to find a
tampon I.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Like you got to try theirs. Okay, So we talked
a little bit about your friendship history. But when did
you decide to start a business together and why period care?
Speaker 7 (13:51):
The start in the business conversation was kind of random
with Rebecca. So I had the idea to start a
reusable period care brand that was made out of hemp
a few years ago, I think in like twenty nineteen.
But then I was looking at the market and I
was like, h the market's not that big. And then
I tried to trademark the original name, which was Reef,
because I thought the company would be all like recycled
(14:12):
ocean plastics mixed with hemp and we'd have this whole thing.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
And then it just wasn't working.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
And in twenty twenty, I had the idea that I
wanted to make disposable products, but then I emailed hundreds
of factories and everyone's like, you can't make hemp into cotton,
Like you can't.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Do that yet.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So I was like, Okay, I kind of dropped it.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
And then I had the idea again and I told
this guy about it who just happened to be an investor,
and he's.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Like, oh, I want to give you a check, and
I was like, what stop, No.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Really, I've never heard of an investment in a startup
happening that way.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, I just offered you money.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
He was like, what do you need to make this happen?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And I was like, start a business. Someone's just coming
in business. Someone's just gonna hand us a chat. But
what do you think he saw?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Like what did you tell him and what did he
see that he just wanted to write you a check
because there must have been something.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
I started talking about this to this guy who was
an investor and he had a and he didn't know
any of this stuff. So I think even though he
couldn't relate, you know, there are a lot of men
who are very empathetic to women's situations because we're learning
so much about women's health right now and it's in
the news and everyone can see it. And then I
was like, Okay, I have my first like twenty thousand dollars,
but I can't make a product with that. I'm going
(15:16):
to do a kickstarter. So I made the kickstarter and
Rebecca's like, this is amazing, but like you can't spell gee,
I bet the kickstarter up and there were so many
typos and Rebecca was like, what the heck is this
and so she just kind of started working on it
with me. I've never had anybody come into anything and
work so hard on it, and I had other people
(15:36):
ask me if they could be my co founder. But
I mean, when I Becka started working on it, I
was like, there's no way this business is going to
exist without a Rebecca in it.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
I'm going to chime in on that because I was
literally on break at my real job.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
It was I was a scientist.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
I was a pito geneticist before coming on as a
co founder for Riffkaren, and I was like, you just
need some help, and you were my best friends, so
I'm going to just take the extra hour out of
my day and work on this.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
And you know, we had this relationship as best friends
where like we saw each have every few months, and
we did stuff with our kids. We have kids the
same exact age, we're pregnant at the same time, so
I think there was also that trust there. There was
never any time where I was like, oh, I'm out
of money, we have to try to, you know, make
this look perfect. There was like this is my best friend.
I already call her when my tampon is stuck, like
why can't I call her about any and everything? And
(16:23):
so that's how our friendship and like business partnership works.
We are pretty much married.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Now I want to talk about the name of your company.
So RIFF stands for Regenerative International Female. Why regenerative regenerative?
It really is like using hemp is a regenerative crop.
It sequesters carbon, it regenerates our soil, meaning like it
adds nutrients to our soil. It's antibacterial, no pesticides, all
this stuff, and so it's like super sustainable. But it's
(16:49):
also like, as women I think we regenerate the planet
in a lot of ways, you know, by bringing in life,
you know, And that's so much about our story and
like our vision for what we want to impact on
the world is that, like it's full circle. It's more
than just like this one thing.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Here at the right side.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
We love talking about second acts, when a woman pivots
into her truest self and discovers new goals that really
excite her and bring her alive. So you both had
full careers before you started riftcare Rebecca, you talked about
how you were a scientist before and then val you
started a talent agency out of Los Angeles, And sometimes
we can be in a job that we don't really
(17:28):
want to be in, but we also don't realize how
much we're learning and how those learnings and skills can
help us at that next stage. So I'm curious to
hear how did those jobs that you had before prepare
you to launch this company.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
I think for me it was I had such a
strong background in research and just environmental and sustainability practices,
and so that just came naturally. I think it's like
being a first generation, like you just get things done
and you just don't take no for an answer, and
you just keep going like, oh, that didn't work.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
Rebecca's also the organized one, which I think comes from
being as scientists.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
You have no idea how organized she is.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
Like we would have phone calls and we'd get off
the phone call and she'd have Excels with like every
note and then all the tangents, and she typed so fast,
and I was like wow. I was like, that's a
corporate job skill that I never had because I never
worked in corporate.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
I've never worked in corporate.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
How did you guys know when to quit the main
job and turn Riff into the main job.
Speaker 7 (18:25):
When Riff started becoming more successful than my other business,
and also when the other business changed in twenty twenty,
when no one could work in person anymore, models and actors,
like we weren't making any money. I mean, it wasn't
an industry that I enjoyed being in. I created the
Talentations because I wanted to have change within the entertainment industry.
I feel like I really successfully made that change, me
(18:46):
and my partner, and so this was just a new
change that I need to make in a different industry.
I started working on this and I was like, this
is not passive at this point, right because we're putting
so much work into it. We have to be there
every single day, even on the weekends. But I was like,
I think we could really build something that not only
creates something that people can use right now, but also
creates wealth for us in the future.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It also sounds to me, tell me if this sounds right,
but it sounds to me like you really wanted ownership.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
Yeah, And I think with the other business, you know,
as much as I did own it, I was always
under the pressure of casting directors and producers and like
working on those timeframes of the entertainment industry is extremely difficult,
but it's just very different. It's a much less stressful industry,
where like there's different stresses, but the stresses are not
people in entertainment industry.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
I think for me, it was a little bit different
because the effects of the pandemic were so harsh on
my family life. So I actually stepped down from my
role as a scientist to take care of my family
because my grandma had to gotten diagnosed with dementia. So
that's actually like my full time hustle is taking care
of my family. And I think about that because I
(19:53):
beat down on myself to think like I'm not doing enough, right, So.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
I'm like doing riff.
Speaker 6 (19:57):
I'm taking care of my family, taking care of my grandma,
and it's okay, but I should still be doing more.
And I think the point in which, like, oh, when
you turn like your main hustle into your side hustle,
it's like do I believe in myself enough to do that?
Do I love myself enough to like believe that I
can do that? That's really what it is, especially in entrepreneurship.
If you don't think that like this is it. If
you don't believe that, like this is your golden ticket,
(20:19):
you are not going to succeed in anything, because it's
like you don't actually feel confident enough that there is
so much energy around what you do and what you
say that like, if you don't put one hundred percent
of your time into something, it's not going to succeed.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
I would also say that we do have a bit
of a safety net, right.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You know.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
Rebecca had obviously like had her job which she had
a steady income at before this. I kind of came
with like no steady income. But I also am the
content creator, so I know that for me, that's something
I can do like when I need to, when I
want to, and then I can do this because I
know a lot of people who want to jump into business,
but they're like, I don't have savings, But I always
tell people to having a little savings is also could
(20:56):
be really smart when you're jumping into your next thing.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
I was just thinking about that because if you have
savings and stuff, so much of our lives, I think
we're so focused on survival mode that like you can't
focus on your energy. You can't supplit your energy unless
you feel safe. Yeah, and so I think establishing that
safety like for me, it's within my marriage, you know,
for you, it's knowing that like you can support yourself,
and I think that helps us.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Rebecca, I'm so glad that you brought up being a
caretaker because caretakers are often invisible in our society. But
there are so many people who are listening right now
who I'm sure can relate to that. It's such a
worthy job.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, and caretaking is also unpaid labor. What I'm hearing
from both of you is that this really fit into
the lifestyle that you wanted to create for yourselves totally
or did you.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Make it fit?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Sometimes you have to make the moves and make the
changes to make it fit.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And get work for you.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
You definitely have to leap, you have to jump.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
Yeah, we make our own eighteen hours a day that
we work now instead of being on someone else's.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I want to hear about besties in business. I want
to hear about what it's like to work with your
best friends. Yes, it is one way that working with
your best friend has empowered your business.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
Okay, So I think the main way that I'm empowered
in my business because I'm working with my best friend
is because Rebecca has a different skill set.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Than I do.
Speaker 7 (22:11):
And I realize that I meet a lot of other
co founders where they're both really good marketers, right, but
like who's the digital marketing expert, who's the influencer, and
then who does the finances. So I think knowing that
you have a different skill set in your back pocket,
holding hands with the person who has that different skill
set every single day helps me walk with so much
more confidence I had the person with the missing skill
(22:34):
set that I don't have.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Who's with me twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I think acknowledging where you compliment each other is half
the battle, especially when it comes to resolving conflict when
you work with your friends in business. Can you offer
our listeners any advice as to how to resolve conflict
when you're working with a friend.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
You can't have any ego about it.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
You can't think like, oh I'm right and you're wrong,
that there is a right and wrong. There's just what
works best, what makes the most sense. And I think
we both are able to get into that mindset every
single time, and it makes it so much simpler.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Like we disagree on things for sure.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
Once a day. We disagree on things, but it's always
links to day.
Speaker 7 (23:15):
We'll have like ten times a day, but it's always
like within five texts, it's like, what's the best for
the business. And then that's when it's like, oh, the
easy answer is right in front of us all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Across the board.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
That's the advice that I hear whenever I talk to
entrepreneurs or listen to entrepreneurship talks on that.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, it's a trust.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I think that makes it really solid, you know, Like
that's what's empowering about this friendship and this partnership, you know,
it's that we have this layer of trust that is
not going to be broken down by somebody saying no,
by something hard, something challenging.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
We're always going to get over it together.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Okay, So we're all here because of the show Side Hustlers,
which is hosted by entrepreneur Emma Greed and model Ashley Graham.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
So how has the show changed your business?
Speaker 5 (24:01):
I mean leaves and bounds.
Speaker 7 (24:02):
Honestly, it's doubled our sales, which is wow, amazing. So
we are like, Okay, people are going to continue watching
the show and it's going to continue to bring people
to our website, you would have never heard about us before,
and we're hoping that also is happening in retail. I mean,
like we check our retail numbers quarterly, so we don't
know yet and it's only been a month since the
show came out, but we're really excited to see what
(24:23):
it's going to continue to do for our business. I
think just being affiliated with Ashley and Emma is huge
for any female owned business.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So if you haven't seen the show, Rebecca and Val
are mentored by Emma and Ashley alongside some other entrepreneurs.
But in the final episode, you have to present your
final pitch to Emma and Ashley with the hopes that
they will invest in your business. And I was really
inspired by the way that you both advocated for yourself
in that negotiation session. Because Ashley throughout an initial offer
(24:55):
for you, you were like, this doesn't work for us.
You took some time to talk about it, come back
and present her with a new officer, and she wound
up taking it.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
That was the scariest twenty minutes of my life.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I'm not even gonna lie to you.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
We knew how much like equity we could part with
and when we had to step out. We talked maybe
again five ten minutes, and then we had to walk
back in. And fully that walk there, we were both
just praying because we knew if she didn't accept those terms,
we would have to walk away.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
So that was the scariest Yeah, And the scariest part
about that too, is we realized if we were gonna
walk away, we're gonna have to go back into fundraising.
We're like, we're gonna have to start at square one.
And the fact is, you know, we have all these
retail launches that have happened this year. We have so
much that's going on, so we're really counting on getting
an investment in the show. It wasn't like, oh, we'll
be fine, We're like.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
No, we need this to happen.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
So yeah, as Rebecca said, we knew how much equity
we could part with, and when she said yes to it, honestly.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
The chills that went through my body and we were
just like, thank you God.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
She also said, I really have faith in your business.
What is your relationship like with Ashley now now that
she's an investor and also involved from a talent perspective.
Speaker 7 (26:06):
Yeah, I mean her team is so incredible. You can't
see this on the show, but her team was there
the entire time going in there talking to her about it.
There were so many ideas she was giving us. She's like,
this is what I think we should do for talent,
for your size inclusivity. So she has so many great ideas.
Also because she's invested in other consumer products. She also
invested in a period care company that ended up being
solds worth like half a billion dollars. So we trusted
(26:28):
her and her team know exactly what to tell us
with our specific category to get us to the next level. Right,
It's like, now we're trying to get to the first million,
but they also know what it's like to be on
a team that goes from five to one hundred million,
So that's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Can you tell everybody what you walked away with?
Speaker 6 (26:46):
We got Ashley to sign on for one hundred thousand
dollars at five percent equity, so it was exactly what
we wanted. And I still can't describe how it feels
because I've been following out since she was on Sports Illustrated,
you know, like the first front cover, and so it
was just like a dream come true on like so
(27:07):
many levels.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Did you splurge on anything to celebrate ice cream?
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Ice cream?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
No, well I'm talking like, you know, did you treat
yourself to a nice bag or something.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
I'm like, wait, that was the truth.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
We're on a budget, right, respected We're like all the
money goes into the business.
Speaker 7 (27:25):
I mean, honestly, this is one of the reasons that
we do need to fund raise more this year because
we don't take a pay check. I mean like sometimes
when we've got an investment, we've paid ourselves like one
thousand dollars a month for a few months, and they're like.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That was enough.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Now the money must go back into the business.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Only.
Speaker 7 (27:37):
Probably total, since we've started this business, we've paid ourselves
each about ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
I also want to note that our business is one
hundred percent women owned still, so me, Ashley, and Rebecca
own one hundred percent of the business, which I think
with a startup, a lot of people raise money very
quickly and they raise a lot. There's not many businesses
that can say that when they're growing like we are.
So that's also something that we're very proud of.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
So as a working mom, I know it's hard not
to think about how our kids factor into all this.
What is the legacy that you want to build for
your kids through this business.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I think the.
Speaker 7 (28:11):
Legacy I want to leave for my daughter in particular,
like having a little girl, I just know that she's
so persuaded my images she sees and products that she sees,
and I just would love if she was in a
world where everything that she wanted was safe for her.
And so I'm just trying to create a product that
is safe for her and that maybe encourages other women
who are starting companies to do something sustainable.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Also, if my daughter.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
Can look and go, wow, my mom created something that
actually made the earth better, that makes me happy.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
I think for me, it's more because of the journey
that we had to go through to get to this point.
Being able to provide something to somebody that makes that
part of the month a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
If I can help one woman with.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
Her like health journey and wellness journey, like I did
my part, just that one little.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Thing, caretaker through and through. Yeah, it's beautiful. Thank you
so much for being here with us today.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
It's been an honor.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
You guys brought some environmentally safe sparkle to us.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
As we try.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
We literally just drizzle drizzle like pads everywhere, like you
need a spin the padre goods.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Wherever we go, you can see that there was pads there.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Valamanuel and Rebecca Caputo are founders of the period care
company Riffcare. Season one of Side Hustlers is available to
stream for free on the Roku channel. Now, all right,
bright siders, we're back and Simone, We've been on the
(29:44):
air for a full week now and working together for
a few weeks. So now that we know each other
a little bit better, I think it's time to put
our knowledge to the test with a classic game. We
both really love games. We are gamers, So drum roll please.
Simone and I are going to play Two Truths and
a Lie.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I'm so excited for this. Let's go, let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
So the rules of two Truths and a Lie are
really simple. You and I are going to take turns
reading three statements to each other. Two of the statements
will be true and one will be false, and it's
up to us to guess which one of the statements
is the lie.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I'm ready Okay, I'll start us off, Danielle. I grew
up in Miami. My favorite band is in Sync, and
my first job was working in a haunted corn maze.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Whoa uh. I know you grew up in Miami for
a lot of your childhood. The corn maze feels you.
So I'm gonna go in sync is the lie? Whoa whoa?
Shots fired? Yeah? That is so rude. Yeah, okay, it's true.
It's true. I did work in a haunted corn maze.
(30:52):
In Sync.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I love that band, but not my favorite band of
all time. So you nailed it.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yes, okay, next up. My first pets name was Lola.
My favorite movie is First Wives Club, and my go
to breakfast is egg whites with the side of avocado.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Okay, I know that your favorite movie is First Wives
Club because we discovered this in one of our first
chats together.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
My mom told me never to tell anybody on a date.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Might scare them off a little bit. I'm gonna go
with the lie. Is your pet's name?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yes, I never had a pet. You were petless. I
was petless.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Okay, moving on. I like my coffee with oat milk.
I have zero point five siblings, and I prefer cold pizza.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
You can't call someone half a person. What do you
mean you have point five siblings? Just answer the damn game.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
No, okay, well, I know you like your coffee with
oat milk. I've gotten I've seen you drink it. I
feel truly confused about the slings. And if you prefer
your pizza cold, I think you prefer your pizza hot.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I'm going to say that's the lie. You nailed it,
that's the lie. Can you please explain the point five sibling?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
This is a very long story, but I have a
half sibling that I did not grow up with.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Wow, yes, where do they live? He lives in Philadelphia. Hi, Jason,
I love you. That's awesome. Yeah, I get the point
five Now it makes more sense. Yeah, okay, moving on.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I was voted most likely to be a lovable in
high school. I can play the cello, and if I
could have dinner with one person dead or alive, it
would be Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Most likely to be a What a lovable? A lovable
like a noun? Yeah? Like what are the Laker girls called?
Speaker 7 (32:51):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Okay, like Laker girls? Laker girls? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Every team has one. The Chicago team is lovables. Oh, Okay, ls.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I thought that was uh prediction about like your character
or something.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I was confused that I should have explained it.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Okay, it's hard.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
In this game.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Okay, so I know Hillary Clinton is true because I
know you're a stan. I'm gonna say that superlative is
accurate because I could totally see you crushing it courtside.
I'm gonna go with you did not play the cello.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I did play the cello for like six months, but
I cannot play the cello. And what's funny is I'm
five to one, and so I kept my cello in
my bathroom. I never played it. You had to pick
an instrument in high school. I never played it, and
the cello was bigger than me.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
You relegated it to the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
I had no other place to put it. I never
wanted to see it. I hate I was so terrible,
But yeah, I was voted to be a lovable I
was on dance team in high school and was very smiley,
still am today.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, I love that about you. That's one of my
favorite things about you. Can you teach me how to
be a dancer, how to do like TikTok choreography?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I think I have some trauma because my mom one time,
I think we were like at a wedding and my
mom was like, you forgot how to dance? Like what's
going on here? And now I feel like I'm a
bad dancer, so I never dance anywhere.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Shoot, I think we need to work on some TikTok
choreography together and get back.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I think so too. I feel like this Beyonce album
is going to give us that mm hm and how
Danielle got her groove back? Next?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
When I played basketball in high school, Disneyland is my
favorite amusement park. I've broken zero bones in my life.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Disneyland. I know you love You're a Disney adult and careful, careful.
What was the first one I played basketball in high school?
Speaker 4 (34:40):
That's not true.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It's true. You don't think I can ball. I feel
like you told me you didn't play sports growing up.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, it's true. See, we know each other too well.
At this point, I didn't even play this game.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
I feel like you should have played basketball. I should have.
They all tried to recruit me. You just never wanted
to be a baller. Not all tall girls can ball.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Okay, my favorite subject in school was English. My first
car was a Jetta, and I love to hike on
my downtime.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Girl, I know you ain't hiking in that downtime. How
do you know that you told me you.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Don't like to go outdoors. Don't even lie, don't even
try this.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
No, I lay outdoors.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Everybody thinks because I'm like a really active person. Everyone
thinks that I'm a big hiker. But I wear these
ridiculous sun hats. Like if I go walking outside, I
have like so much SPF on ridiculous like walking sun hats,
and so hiking for me feels just like so much sun.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
This is so high maintenance. It's so high maintenance. But
I'm like so scared of the sun.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
I used to like be in the sun tanning all
the time when I was younger, and I realized it's
not good for you. So I just became a psycho
about it. Like the bigger the hat, the better. And
hiking seems like a lot of sun.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So if I invite you on a hike, you're gonna
embarrass me.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
If we go at six am or like seven thirty pm,
when the sun's down, I won't But otherwise one hundred
percent I'm wearing my son hat and I'm probably bringing
one for you.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Oh my gosh, this is what I deal with you, guys.
Is host of the bright Side, Danielle. That was actually
really fun.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
That really was and I feel like there's a lot
more where that came from.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
I'm here for it.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Okay, bessies, that's it for today's episode of the bright Side.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Here's our daily spark, just a little parting thought to
take with you throughout your day.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
And that is the best investment you can ever make
is in yourself.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
That was the best investment I ever made. So I
just think it's universal.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
It compounds over time, and you will never regret it.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
All right, don't forget to send us your friendship dilemmas
because we've got an expert on all things friend related
coming for our new segment called Asking for a Friend,
and she is amazing. You don't want to miss this,
but write us a note or send us a voice
memo to Hello at the bright Side podcast dot com.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts so you
never miss an episode. And if you're enjoying the show,
please leave us a little love note in the review section.
I'm Danielle Robe and you can find me on Instagram
and TikTok at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
That's ro b a Y. And I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
You can find me at Simone Voice, on Instagram and TikTok.
We'll be back tomorrow with a new episode, same time,
same place.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Keep looking on the bright side.
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