Podcast appearances and mentions of amanda what

Amanda and Jenn discuss books set in Chicago, love-to-hate-them protagonists, magical realism, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. Feedback Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright (rec’d by John) Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose (rec’d by Amanda) What is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi and Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler (rec’d by JB) Questions 1. I would love some recommendations for books set in Chicago. I used to live in the city and have been finding myself missing it lately. Since I won’t be able to travel there anytime soon (thanks, COVID), I’m hoping to read something that will allow me to visit without the actual travel. I usually prefer to read literary fiction, memoir, historical fiction, and narrative non-fiction, but I’m fairly open in terms of genre (would prefer not to venture too far into SFF though). The most important thing is that the books that are Chicago-centric and capture the essence of a particular place and/or time in the city. Books I’ve Already Read Set in Chicago: The Devil in the White City; The Time Traveler’s Wife; Native Son; Divergent; There Are No Children Here; The Warmth of Other Sons; The House on Mango Street; A Raisin in the Sun; Twenty Years at Hull House; Gang Leader for a Day; Never a City So Real; The Good Girl; Becoming; The Story of Jane Thanks, -Sarah 2. I have always been the “fall hard, fall fast” types in a relationship. Me and my boyfriend have been together for almost two years now and I have known since the first day that I was completely in love. He’s more of the “take things slow and enjoy the moment” kind of person. We live together and bought a house together last year. We are in a serious relationship and talk about our future as life-partners, but I can’t get over how much I want to get married. I don’t know what it is about this totally antiquated idea, but I think about it all the time. He used to say he wasn’t sure about getting married due to issues in a past relationship and his fear of getting hurt/loss, but over time we’ve moved into talking about marriage as “when we get married.” Even though he’s evolved, I know marriage is still far-off in the cards for him. I’m looking for recommendations, fiction or nonfiction, to help me be patient while waiting for him to get a place where he’s ready or one that shows me that the future I want is possible or even that partnerships don’t have to be defined by marriage. I’m not looking for anything to criticize my desire to be married (because yes, I know the yearning is ludicrous), but something to keep me hopeful about the future. I love most genres, especially mystery, thriller, literary fiction or the ill-named “chick-lit”. Other than Red, White and Royal Blue, I don’t love romance (though I’m tolerant which I know is really silly considering my question) and don’t love what I would consider “foofy” novels that are all rainbows and butterflies and irrational hope or cheeriness. I like serious plots, in-depth stories and am a sucker for a long book. Hope this isn’t too difficult considering all my caveats and that you don’t take too long, because I’m clearly impatient. (Lol, just kidding.) You guys are amazing and I’m so grateful for your podcast. -Maddison 3. I’m re-watching the TV show House, and Gregory House is one of my favourite characters ever. It got me thinking about how I’d love to read a character like him. An intelligent curmudgeon, sometimes you love him sometimes you hate him and can be humourous and charming. A sidekick like Wilson is a bonus. What books have a love to hate/hate to love protagonist? The character doesn’t need to be male. And please, no Poirot or Holmes. Literary fiction, mystery/thriller and light science fiction welcome. No fantasy please. Thank you and happy reading! -Michelle 4. Hello Ladies! Thank you for the podcast! I have found so many lovely books from listening to your recommendations. I was hoping you could help me with finding more memoirs to enjoy. I am not a big nonfiction reader generally, but have really found that memoirs (or essay collections on personal experiences?) really speak to me. Huge bonus if I can get it in audio, especially if it’s read by the author.  Some that I have read and loved (mostly recommended here or on All the Books) are Black Widow, The Clancys of Queens, You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, Solutions and Other Problems, Born a Crime, Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, Educated, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, A Man Without a Country, Marathon Woman, and Furiously Happy (which is truly what started this). I am a long-time listener, so show favorites and more recent recommendations are likely on my list. In writing this I’ve realized that my listing is pretty US-centric and mostly Black or White authors. I’m open to more of the same, but if you have any good recs from authors of other backgrounds/countries, that’d be very welcome too. I am not against graphic novels (I also read and was floored by John Lewis’ March), but I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for. I am also not generally super interested in celebrity memoirs, unless they’re something like Born a Crime which fully stands on its own. Thank you! -April 5. I need y’all’s help finding a lush, whimsical magical realism book. I loved Smoke by Dan Vyleta, The Minimalist by Jessie Burton and Things In Jars by Jess Kidd. I love luxurious, rich writing and am always drawn to the Gothic stories where a house, city, place are a character.  Full high fantasy can be a lot for me, but the fun magic/whimsy/spirits/etc just a touch outside of reality is what I love. I love the show – thanks so much for the help! -Alex 6. So I’ve just finished Reverb by Anna Zabo which Jenn recommended in the Handsell a couple of weeks ago. I devoured the first half of the book so fast—the characters’ chemistry and buildup is just so good—however for the latter part, I consciously took my time and savored each page. I was filled with dread while reading the last couple of pages, I just didn’t want to bid goodbye to these endearing characters. But all good things must come to an end, right? Now I don’t think I can ever find something within the genre that’s as good as this. Those were my running thoughts up until I tuned in to ep 269 today and realised that help is right in front of me, or in my ear or whatever. Just like what you did in the Handsell, I hope you can give me another unproblematic queer contemporary romance fiction that’s as good as Anna Zabo’s or better. Maybe one with loads of angst—the only thing Reverb kinda lacks.  Bibliotherapy helped (and still helping) me cope with the pandemic and our still ongoing lockdown. I’ve been listening to your past and recent episodes every workday since I discovered your podcast 2 weeks ago, really amazing stuff you’ve got going, Cheers! -G 7. I retired late summer 2020 from my job of 15 years.  I had not planned to do so, but budget cutbacks related to COVID, and job frustrations sped up the decision.  I now find myself adrift in my personal life and my reading life as well.  I want a book that reflects my stage of life, re-invention, and moving forward.  I also like quirky characters who find happiness and purpose against the odds.   Some favorites in the past few years.  Brit-Marie Was Here, A Gentleman in Moscow, Hamnet, The Dutch House, Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine.  I really need a book to resonate right now.  Any ideas?   -Karen Books Discussed Chicago by Alaa Al-Aswany The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (tw: domestic abuse) Serena Singh Flips The Script by Sonya Lalli (cw: domestic violence) The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso (tw racism) The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani (cw: war crimes) Fairest by Meredith Talusan  The Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh (cw: domestic violence, self-harm, violence against women) What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur Small Change by Roan Parrish (cw: discussion of depression and self-harm) The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward (tw: suicide) Dakota Blues by Lynn M Speer See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spokesperson: Neil Patel (Sr. Technical Marketing Engineer)  Topic: Zero trust and segmentation market   http://brakeingsecurity.com/2020-023-jame-nelson-from-illumio-cyber-resilence-business-continuity   What is Zero Trust and why should companies adopt a Zero Trust philosophy?   Amanda: What are one of the more important steps someone should take when looking to implement zero trust? How does segmentation fit in a Zero Trust model? What are some of the challenges and benefits that come with segmentation?   Are there real-world examples of how segmentation has stopped a breach and how that relates to the Zero Trust philosophy?   How can Zero Trust principles help prevent the spread of ransomware or another security epidemic?   Do you need 100% asset mgmt already before implementing or is that part of what you do as well?   Integrations: you mentioned auth functions, but how integrated can Illumio go with your env? EDR? NDR? (saw on your site, you’re fully integrated with Crowdstrike falcon)   Tell us more about the Forrester Wave? What do the findings mean and why do they matter? https://www.illumio.com/resource-center/research-report/forrester-wave-zero-trust-2020  https://www.illumio.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/illumio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/illumio/mycompany/

Amanda Hesser believes that food is at the center of a life well-lived, and it is that belief that led her to co-found Food52 in 2009.  Food52 is a community-centered blog and eCommerce store that reaches more than 24 million people a month. But no platform builds itself, and in the case of Food52, this massive community of users was brought together through a set of unique engagement tactics that Amanda has iterated on and refined over the decade-plus that the company has been around. It’s a strategy that any company would envy, and one that she shares with us today.  On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Amanda explains how she and her team were able to use high- and low-touch ways to get users involved, and why that engagement created a sense of buy-in that made Food52 scalable. As Amanda explains, engaged users don’t just help with content generation, they also provide valuable insights into consumer trends and have helped inform Food52’s latest offering, an exclusive product line that is helping further boost its revenue into the tens of millions. From tips on building a community, to dropshipping products, and launching a new product line, tune in to find out all of that and more. Main Takeaways:   Building A Community: The platforms that last are those that give users a sense of ownership in the community being created. Engagement is necessary to achieve that end, but not everyone wants to engage in the same way. That’s why it’s important to create high-touch and low-touch ways to get — and keep — people involved. Getting the Feedback You Need: Your customers are full of ideas on what’s working, what’s not, and what to try instead. But tapping into those ideas is easier said than done. To access that honest feedback, you need to meet your customers where they are. Generic product surveys often go ignored. Instead, hang out on social media, ask open-ended questions, and engage with your customers in an organic way. It’s Never Easy: Whether you are creating content or building a user base, there are no infallible methods to find success. You can’t be wedded to any one idea, platform, channel or content type. Try new things, explore new strategies, and don’t fall into the trap of becoming complacent just because one thing is working right now. For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length. --- Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce --- Transcript: Stephanie: Welcome back to another episode of Up Next in Commerce, this is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder of Mission.org. Today on the show, we have Amanda Hesser, the co-founder and CEO of Food52. Stephanie: Amanda, welcome! Amanda: Thank you so much for having me, hello. Stephanie: So, I was just looking through the Food52 website, and it's absolutely beautiful. I love everything about it, the theme, the concept, I mean, the design, really, really beautiful. Tell me a little bit about how you came upon starting it. What made you want to found that? Amanda: Sure. Well, my co-founder Merill Stubbs and I co-founded it together, and we did so because we were both journalists and editors and trained cooks, so we were professionals in the field, but we were professionals because it was a passion of ours. We love food, we love home, we love cooking and traveling and eating, and we just felt that a couple things were happening. One was just that food was really shifting from being this niche topic in our culture to something that was just much more ingrained in Americans' identities and lifestyles, frankly. Amanda: And there was this real sea change happening in the industry and that was really exciting to us, as people who care about food. But we also felt like as a result, what we were being served with as consumers, meaning the content that we had available to us, the products, the conversation, interaction, the community was lacking and really wasn't keeping up with the evolution of its place in our culture, and we felt like there was an opportunity to serve people better to create a very different kind of company than had existed before, one that was much more a 360-degree and also selfishly, we wanted to create this world and this hub for ourselves. You know? We felt a lot of great companies are born out of an unsatisfying consumer experience, and I think that definitely was a piece of what drove us to create Food52. Stephanie: That's awesome. So, how long has it been around? Amanda: So, we launched Food52 in September of 2009, so we are 11 years old, which is both I think on one hand, is an incredible accomplishment and is also... It is not a surprise to us that it has taken us sort of this amount of time to get where we are, because we understood going in that when you're building a brand, when you're really trying to create an emotional connection with your readers and your followers, that it takes time. It's not something you can do overnight. On the other hand, being a startup and being 11 years old, I think once you pass the three-year mark, you start entering dinosaur-hood. Stephanie: Yeah, everyone else that you started with is gone. You're like, "Oh, it's just me left." Amanda: Yeah, there is a survival feeling, which is nice. But also that it's an industry and world that is always looking for the next. So, if you've made it beyond three years, you're no longer the news. But it's actually I think in many ways, in terms of running the company, it's been so great to... Actually, I think once we hit kind of eight years, where we're really not only just more of an established company, but able to really broaden what we were covering as a media company, really ambitiously pursue our commerce business. Amanda: The business just became much more interesting, and it's a complex business, so it's not something that you can... We started focused on content because we understand the power of content to build that relationship. And also to really build brand identity and that was to us, the most important thing that we could do in the beginning. And then we methodically kind of added, layered on all the things that we do now. And I think that even if you were starting today, that is the way to do it, because you couldn't... A, you couldn't get funding to do all the things that we do now. But also, we wouldn't want to, because it's sort of... You really need to build that relationship and you can't just kind of [inaudible] press the consumer with like, books and a site and recipes and content across cooking and home, and a presence on all the social channels. There's a lot of stuff that we do that I think had to sort of slowly evolve. Stephanie: So, yeah. I want to kind of dive into the evolution of your brand, because I think I recently read that you guys reach 24 million people month, is that right? Amanda: Yes, mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. Stephanie: That's amazing. So, I want to kind of hear how did you all start out, and then where are you now? Amanda: Sure. So, as I mentioned earlier, we started by focusing on content, and we started very much in the kitchen. Because we felt that is the core of our premise, which is that we see food at the center of a well-lived life. And we serve people who believe in that. We felt like the kitchen and cooking was always going to be kind of our core strength, and so when we began, the vast majority of our content was focused on cooking. We did recipe contests, and we did that because it was a way to test a content model that we felt like was underused online. Which was there was lots of user-generated content, but it wasn't done in a way that really served other readers well and really celebrated the content creators. We wanted to become this platform for them, and what we provided was in some ways, you could look at it as production services, right? People could contribute their recipes, and then we would photograph, then we would test them, and then we would distribute them across a bigger platform, our platform. Amanda: And that was the way that we built community and we created lots of ways for people to get involved. So, it wasn't just for the people who were creating recipes, it was also for people who if you wanted to become a recipe tester, you could do that, or if you wanted to vote on the recipe contest. We created lots of different kind of high-touch and low-touch ways for people to have meaningful engagement and involvement in the curation of the content, and that was something that really hadn't been done well before, and we felt like it was a way to not only build community, but also create a scalable model and send the message that this is a community-driven company that cares a lot about high-quality content, and we can build this together. And we can start with recipes, and then we can build out from there. Amanda: And what we did do was through our recipe contests, we were able to identify really great home cooks who maybe they had a blog, maybe they didn't, but they didn't have a platform that was sizeable. And we were able to provide that for them, and we got them to then write articles for us, and some have done cookbooks for us and many of them have gone on to do their own cookbooks. And I think that building that sort of trust and that relationship in the early days with our community is what has allowed us to get to where we are now, which is a much bigger site, and we still have recipe contests, but fewer of them. But we have other ways for people to be really deeply involved in what we do. And so, for instance, I'll just give you kind of a smattering of examples. Amanda: We have a hotline and on our hotline, anyone can ask any cooking or home or food question, and it gets answered by the community and answers can get voted up or down in a kind of stack overflow fashion. And so that's a community resource. We do our own kind of set of social contests on Instagram. That's really how we built our Instagram community and following was through creating a hashtag called #F52Brands, where we named themes and then people would tag us with photographs relevant to that theme, and then we would repost our favorites. And so, people posted, tagged us, let their friends know, and that's how we built our following which is at 2.8 million. We have a product line called Five Two, and we have a drop ship shop where we sell hundreds of products, really thousands of SKUs at this point, and those are products that are produced by other vendors, that we drop ship through our site and our platform. Amanda: But we wanted to create our own line of products once we had gotten our sea legs in commerce. And so, when we went to do that, it made total sense for us to actually call on our community for their input on the products, and not just in a shallow way, but a really kind of deep and extensive way. We had the data on what people were shopping for, what was selling well on our site, what materials. But we really wanted to hear... and our first product, just to give you a specific example, our first product was a cutting board. Amanda: Now we already sold a lot of cutting boards, so we knew what materials sold, what price point sold, what sizes sold. But we really wanted to just go to our community and say, "What do you want?" In your ideal cutting board, what does it look like? What is it made of? What do you use it for? What features do you want? And we did a survey that was 11 questions, which goes against all rules of surveys, too long. And more than 10,000 people answered, and in great detail what they wanted. And so, we created a product that reflected their feedback, and that's how that has formed the DNA of that whole product line, is using the input of our community to create better cooking and home products than we could have otherwise come up with ourselves. Stephanie: That's amazing. Such a good evolution of the business. How are you encouraging your community to fill out those surveys or want to engage? I mean, I'm sure there's your power users who are like, "Anything Amanda does or puts out or the brand puts out, we're ready to help." But then for newer people, I'm sure there's a little bit more maybe convincing, so how do you strike that balance to get people to help decide on the product decisions or what's next? Amanda: Yeah. I mean, I think there's a couple of different ways that we do it. One is as we saw that there was great interest in having a say in the products we created, we decided to create what we call the Five Two Design Team, and it's essentially a communication channel for that group who wants to have all the latest news on what products we're thinking about, what surveys are coming up, what products are launching. They get a sneak peek. They help us test those products, we'll send them prototypes. And so, people could sign up for that. So, that's one way that people could kind of engage at whatever level they're interested in, but of course, that also attracts people who tend to want to be more engaged. The cutting board survey I think is maybe a bit of an outlier in that it's probably one of the more extensive surveys we've done. Amanda: What we tend to do is kind of lighter touch things on social. So, we'll go on Instagram and we'll ask three to five questions on an Instagram story. And you can vote right there on the story, so we give you the choices and just press a button and let us know, and then we do like to make sure that we give open-ended, sort of open field questions so that people who are extra passionate or who have detailed information they want to share, they have that opportunity. But they can do it in a medium that's right in front of them. For instance, if they're on Instagram already, we want them to be able to do it right there, not have to flick over to our site and fill something out. Amanda: And I think this is not just with our product line, I think this is with everything we do, is meet people where they are and serve them well where they are. And so, that's really the way we think about it, and we also try to frankly, just make it fun. So, it's not just these surveys to feel like we're giving a homework assignment. We want them to be presented in a fun way, and it should be entertaining, but it also should be substantive. Stephanie: Yep, I love that. So, you're getting a bunch of data from these surveys and from the community. Are there any tools or tech or are you using AI or ML or anything to kind of sort through all this data to help make decisions, whether it's for new products, or a new direction that the community wants or anything? Amanda: I would love to say yes. The answer is no. I mean, we have just found honestly that the best way to... We've created for some of the survey answers, our team will create pivot tables so they can kind of group things together. But frankly, the best ideas have come from just reading through people's answers. I think we've gotten better at structuring the questions we're asking, so that many of them can be answered through multiple choice and therefore, you have very straight up data. But the best product features, they come from those open field questions, and we want to make sure that there's space for that and that we are reading through them. And we also have a group, it's kind of VIP shoppers, called Club Sandwich. Stephanie: I like that name. Amanda: And we reach out to them and we ask them for feedback, and actually, I guess with Five Two, we do this too. And sometimes, we'll just send notes to the group and we'll say to the Five Two Design Team, "Hey, we'd love to hear your thoughts on X, Y, and Z, or if you have any product ideas, let us know." And we always say, "We read every email." And it's true. We just, we do. I mean, maybe there will be a point at which we can't do that, but we're a pretty sizable business, and I think that we created the community because we wanted people to feel like they could connect with each other. Amanda: Food is inherently social, and we wanted to create ways online that you could really feel connected to one another, but likewise, I think it's really important for our team to feel connected to our community and to what we're doing and their thoughts on what we're doing. I think when you create more of a wall, that's when you start having... That's when you can have real challenges in your comment section, and you can attract trolls. Our presence and engagement is I think just as important in terms of allowing people to feel like it's not just that they're connecting with each other, but that this hub through which they are connecting with other people has a sense of place and of people. Stephanie: Yep, yeah. That's great. I think a good reminder too about crafting survey responses in a thoughtful way, so then you can actually curate the data easily, but then also leaving the long-form answers. Stephanie: So, one thing I saw was a mention of the film Julie & Julia, and I wanted to hear about that and some opportunities that have come up while building Food52. Amanda: Sure. Well, that particular opportunity came up based on a story I wrote in the New York Times when I worked there. It was actually the sort of dawn of food blogs, and this blogger Julie wrote a very funny blog, which believe it or not, had no food photos because blogs didn't even have photos back then- Stephanie: That's great. Amanda: ... about cooking every recipe and mastering the art of French cooking. And she had an amazing writing voice, very funny. So, I wrote this story about her and it got a lot of attention, and then eventually, Nora Ephron wrote the screenplay for Julie & Julia, where she kind of took Julie's blog and then also juxtaposed it against this memoir or... I guess, yeah. It was a memoir of Julia Childs' time in France. And then created the movie script out of that. So, yeah. So, I ended up playing the part of myself interviewing Julie in her Long Island City apartment, just like I did in real life. And then that sort of story coming out, and having a big impact on her career. Stephanie: That's so fun. That sounds like just a very fun and cool experience to have now. Amanda: Yeah, yeah. I always joke that I had the perfect Hollywood career. I auditioned, which I did actually have to audition for the part for myself. Stephanie: That's great. Amanda: And got the part, it was... Meryl Streep was in the movie. The movie was a success, and now I'm out. I don't ever have to try again. I was like, "I'm good." Amanda: But yeah, it was a fun dip into a very different world. Stephanie: That's really cool. So to shift over into your guys' product line, Five Two, I wanted to hear a little bit about when you knew it was the right time to launch your own products instead of sourcing them from other vendors. Amanda: We launched commerce in 2013, and we didn't launch Five Two until 2018. So, I would say that we took our time getting experience in the commerce space, and I say that but with a caveat, which is that commerce, and I would say especially... Well actually, retail and ecommerce have gone through such immense changes and shifts in the past decade that everyone's learning all the time, even if we've been in the business forever. When we started our drop ship business, there were so many companies who just didn't drop ship. Amanda: So there were great products out in the world that we couldn't sell because the companies were not willing to do a drop ship model. They wanted only to sell inventory, which we understand, but we were betting on the fact that the world would shift and the industry would shift, and our bet has paid off. But it did take time to really build up a strong assortment of products in our category to build relationships. I think that was sort of the big [inaudible] of learning for us, was that commerce is very much about relationships, and it's not just about people wanting to sell their products, but they want to sell them through outlets that they get along with, where you really are partnering with each other. Amanda: That takes time to evolve. So, I think the first couple of years was very much about relationship-building, really understanding logistics. We built our own commerce platform. We don't use Shopify. We didn't do Magento or any of those things. We built it from scratch because the nature of our commerce business is very different. It functions differently than the sort of larger platforms allow for. Stephanie: Yeah, there's a lot going on there. Drop shipping, your own product, blogs, community. A ton. Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. So, we had our hands full with things that we needed to both learn but also refine. We built this platform. It did what it was supposed to, but for the kind of commerce business we are today, it was simplistic, so we've had to over the years continue to develop the platform itself, improve our checkout, improve basically kind of every aspect of it too, kind of reflect the kind of business we are now. Amanda: Anyway, so the first couple of years we knew was going to be learning and then also, the other thing that we learned was what people trust us for and what do they look to us for, and what do they want to be buying from us? Once we felt like we had a real handle on that, then it was a matter of... I think everyone from probably day one wanted to create our own product line. But deciding when we're ready I think ultimately just took us saying, "We're going to do it this year," and that was 2018. You know? It was just pulling the trigger, because everyone's busy, right? In an organization like ours. And so, it's not that people don't want to take on something new and big like this, but they know that if we do, they're going to have to re-organize all their work streams and really devote new time to this. Amanda: And so, it was a matter of finally just kind of biting the bullet and saying, "We're doing it, and we're going to aim for a fall launch," and then working backwards from there therefore, to see how to make it happen. And I think similarly, our growth into retail will be a similar thing. Are you ever ready for retail? I don't know. It felt last year to us like a good time, and we'd started exploring it very seriously, and then COVID hit and so we just hit pause, but we're thinking about it again for next year. Obviously, post-COVID, knock on wood that it will be post-COVID, it may look quite different. But I think it's something that we are committed to pursuing and better understanding and figuring out what makes sense for us. Stephanie: Yep, that makes sense. So, you were just mentioning COVID and I want to hear a little bit about how has that shifted your business? Because a lot of people are home now. I'm sure maybe you have a lot more orders as well, because people are wanting to cook and trying new recipes, where maybe they didn't have time before. But what does that look like for you all now? What have you seen behind the scenes? Amanda: Yeah. It's been a tremendous year for us in terms of our audience growth and our revenue growth. Obviously not something that anyone would have wished to have spawned that growth, but it is what it is. I think what we've come away from this having learned was a couple of things. One is just it's been a real validation of what we do. I think we in our hearts have from the very beginning understood that food and home are such incredible and vital parts of one's life, and that they are worth investing time and thought into, and that's really what we've been pushing as a brand since day one. We were building this company knowing that there was kind of a growing understanding of that. I think COVID really just rapidly accelerated people's understanding, I think across our entire culture. Right? Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative), yep. Amanda: Because I think suddenly people saw that having a place where you feel safe and comfortable and being able to feed yourself and your family and loved ones is just so important, and so it's been great to be a company where we feel like we can serve people in a positive fashion during a time that's really stressful, and that... and I think that we're able to see now what specifically people are interested in. We've been able to adapt with our product lines. For instance, there's a textile company that we've worked with for many years, and their main products, there was less demand for. Amanda: But they were able to make masks, and so we sold masks. We've sold tens of thousands of masks. And not just through them, but through some other vendors who also had the capabilities to make them. There are categories that have shot up that were previously doing fine, but now have become really significant. For instance, hand soap, hand sanitizer, things like that. And then obviously, our sort of traditional kitchenware and kitchen gear sales have really gone... have wildly increased because yes, more people are cooking and they're home. And they're realizing, "Oh, my saute pan isn't in such good shape, or I actually need a different size," and ideally, we're helping them out with that. Amanda: But then I also think just from a maybe more unexpected internal team benefit that we have seen is that we had some people who were working remote previously, but we had offices... We have offices on 26th Street in New York City, and that's where sort of the vast majority of our team worked. And when we had to shut down, we had to shut down our photo studios, our video studios, our test kitchen, we were really faced with a big challenge of how do we produce content without all of that support? Sometimes, not having everything really inspires creativity and I actually think that what we've learned is that we can do a ton with very little and also that people respond to it in a different way. Amanda: We're sort of known for our visual aesthetic, our photography, and kind of the sort of beauty of what we do. And that's great. I think we also pride ourselves with being accessible and relatable, and I think while we were achieving that, I think we've learned from COVID that we have so much more potential if we're actually shooting in real people's homes, not just in our pretty studio. But if we're showing kind of real life, it makes people feel much more at ease and also more open to the content and feel like they can be a part of that. And so, that's been really eye-opening and exciting, because I think for having... Our content team is 30 plus people. And having that many kind of creative minds together, I think has been really inspiring for all of us to just think differently about what we do and what we can do. Stephanie: Yeah, I've heard of quite a few brands saying the same thing of, "We maybe never would have tried this model before, because maybe we thought the way we were doing it was what everyone expected and wanted," and it's been in some ways a good shake-up to be able to see kind of, "Oh, this is actually not only just working, but it's also maybe something to keep for the long term." Amanda: Yeah. And in fact, it's a very common comment on our Instagram TV videos, is "Please don't go back to doing these videos in your office." Stephanie: Oh, wow. So are you guys going to stick with that? And/or are you going to do a mix going forward, once you can re-enter the office? Amanda: Yeah. We are. So, one piece of our office we have reopened is our photo studios, and primarily for things like our product shots in our shop. [inaudible] in a setting. We have not gone back to doing kind of our food videos and things like that. Stephanie: So I wanted to quickly talk through user acquisitions? So, I know you've talked quite a bit about Instagram, and I wanted to hear how you find new users, and what platforms are working for you or what strategies outside of the contests and Instagram stories, what else are you guys experimenting with and seeing success in? Amanda: Yeah. There's no silver bullet, and that's good. I remember the early days when everyone was just relying so heavily on Facebook to grow their traffic, and that was when social sites were really fine with referring back to sites. And I remember that we were uncomfortable with that then, and we didn't... It felt sort of too easy, right? That's one thing that I think people who have been in content for a while, it's never easy and that's okay, and that's what makes it interesting, right? Because you have to constantly be nimble and experiment and keep evolving. Amanda: And so, I think that's been really key, is not getting too wedded to any one thing that's working and seeing it as not just... that that's not a lack of efficiency, it's actually an opportunity to make sure that you're reaching people across lots of different channels. So, there are a couple of different ways we do it. One is sort of channel-specific, right? This year, we launched TikTok. We're still just early days there starting to experiment. We got into Reels, we really expanded our IGTV. We're starting to really invest more time and understanding where we should... how we can add value to Pinterest, right? And create an experience that people will be interested in. So, I think that constantly sort of making sure that you're experimenting, trying new things, and then adjusting across different channels. We just launched a podcast this week. Stephanie: Oh, nice. Congrats. [crosstalk] What's it called? Amanda: Oh, thank you. So, it's called The Genius Recipe Tapes. And it's based on Jamie's Recipes, which is our most popular column. And these are recipes that... It might be a recipe for something like meatloaf, but there's something about that meatloaf recipe that has a particular technique or an unexpected ingredient that really changes the way you cook meatloaf forever. So, it's these recipes that really are stand-outs, and a celebration of the people who have come up with them. And so- Stephanie: That's cool. Amanda: ... Genius Recipe Tapes grew out of the videos that we do where Kristin, who writes Genius Recipes, she invites the creator of the recipe onto the video to talk about how they came up with it, and just talk about their life and cooking. And there was so much good material that we realized that we could create a podcast out of it. So, that's our first podcast. We have one called Burnt Toast, which is on hiatus right now. But this is the first in a push towards building a podcast network. Amanda: So kind of expanding across channels is one way, but the other is expanding across the landscape of contributors who we work with and just really broadening it, so that we are working with people in lots of different voices, lots of different perspectives, and also lots of different expertise, so that we can go deeper on topics like bread or spirits, but we also can bring people who just have a really sort of unique perspective on cooking or home and who will have their own followings, and who we can kind of fold into our world a bit and broaden our audience by reaching theirs, and vice versa, help them build their own following by having them be on our platform. Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. So, I want to hear a little bit about your podcast strategy, of course, that's top of mind for us. I mean, we have a lot of brands coming to us, asking to help them build a podcast or think through that, and I'd love to hear your idea around what does success look like when you're thinking about building out these podcasts, and what should maybe other ecommerce leaders think about when they're thinking, "Oh, I want to build a podcast for my brand?" How are you guys approaching that? Amanda: Well, the way we approached it was we looked at the landscape of what kinds of podcasts were in our space. And obviously, we had some sense of that based on our existing podcast, and feeling like there were... Are there unexplored topics or voices that weren't kind of getting out there, or even just concepts? Previously, we had this one podcast, and we were kind of reliant on it to kind of do everything, so to speak, in our podcast footprint. And I think that what we realized is that in topics like cooking and home, there's a lot to cover, and there are a lot of specialized interests. Amanda: And we felt like if we could create a suite of shows and we could create some in-house, but we could also again act as the sort of platform for creators by partnering with them to create shows that they would like to do but maybe wouldn't have the full source of... Oh, sorry, to give the full resources to do themselves, then we could build on this idea of a suite of podcasts that are around related topics. And then do a lot of cross-promotion between them, and then ideally monetize them collectively, as opposed to trying to just build up one show. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, I love that. Cool, so we don't have much time left, and I want to hop into a lightning round which is where I ask you a question and you have a minute or less to answer. Stephanie: All right, so lightning round brought to you by our friends at Salesforce Commerce Cloud. I'm going to throw a question your way, be ready. I'm actually starting with three different ones this time that I haven't asked before, but I think it'll be interesting to hear your answers to this. So, these three questions are going to be called Lessons Learned or Hiccups, and it's the first thing that comes to your mind when I ask this question of something you learned or wouldn't do again, or would tell a new founder like, "Oh, make sure you avoid this when starting this." So the first lesson learned is around drop shipping. What's a good lesson there, or what's a hiccup you made early on where you're like, "Make sure you don't repeat this?" Amanda: We launched in August, and for November, we decided to sell frozen turkeys, heritage turkeys. So it was a fresh ingredient, that can spoil if not shipped properly in an efficient fashion. And we sold 80 turkeys that year, which we felt like was a pretty big amount given that we had just launched. And 79 of them got to the homes on time, happily, everyone had their Thanksgiving- Stephanie: That's good. Amanda: ... ready to go. But you don't want to not get somebody's turkey to them for Thanksgiving. So that one person's turkey took five of us to track down and then replace and then send an apology gift basket. It took us two days. And so, the person got their turkey for Thanksgiving, but we came away knowing that we were not ready, sort of from a supply chain logistics perspective to be handling fresh foods. So, we stuck to our dry goods. Stephanie: Oh my gosh, that's a great story. I mean, the customer might not like this, but having a good social story about that of like, "Where in the world is Sharon's turkey?" And trying to figure out where it went. Amanda: Well, there's a UPS truck broken down on the side of the road in Florida, and I guess another truck came up and was like, all the packages were shipped over, but the turkey did not make it- Stephanie: Oh no! Amanda: ... in the transfer. And so, somewhere in Florida was that turkey, and pretty close to its final destination, but it just never made it there. But anyway, we learned all sorts about sourcing turkeys, finding delivery companies in Florida, and it's always... Yes, it was a race and every little triumph of figuring out one piece of the logistics was fun. But it was not the most relaxing Thanksgiving for us. Stephanie: Oh my gosh. Well, that's a pretty good lesson when it comes to drop shipping. One, be careful if you're around holidays. I like that, because a customer might actually get upset, and then yeah, the perishable thing is tricky. That's a good one. All right, the next lesson learned is around creating a new product line. What would you advise people against trying or any hiccups you had early on with that? Amanda: Well, I think the hiccup we've had with new products that we've developed is frankly, just not building production delays into our timelines. And it's hard to estimate, right? But I think when you're new and trying to get a product line launched, those launch dates have such importance, and if you can't stick to them, or you... If you can't stick to them, yeah, it causes a lot of high blood pressure. So, yeah. I think that mapping out realistically and not... and making sure that you're building in as many buffers as possible. It is best. What one of the things that we did to kind of get around this was what we did was pre-sales. Sometimes if a product was not going to be able to be released on the date that we thought, we would do a pre-sale for it, being clear about when the actual delivery date was. But it allowed us to kind of soft launch a product and let our community know about it without having a long delay between product launches. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, that's a good answer. All right, easier questions up next. What is a favorite recipe you're trying out right now? Amanda: Hmm. Well, let me see here. What am I going to be trying in the near future? Oh. So, Joanne Chang who has Flor Bakery in Boston is known for her egg sandwich, and it's a baked... She bakes the eggs in a water bath, and they're just so light and fluffy, they're one of the most popular... It's a really popular recipe on our site. And I've eaten them, but I haven't made them. I'm going to just follow her recipe sometime this weekend. And I like the idea of not having to fry an egg last minute before making an egg sandwich. I like the idea of it sort of getting cooked in this very sort of slow, controlled environment so you can have a great breakfast sandwich without adding stress to your morning. Stephanie: Yeah, oh, that sounds interesting. I've never heard of baking an egg in a water bath before. I've heard of poached eggs, but never baking it. So, I will have to also find that recipe. We need to get the link to that so our listeners can try it out as well. Amanda: Great. Stephanie: All right, and the last question, slightly harder. What one thing will have the biggest impact on ecommerce in the next year? Amanda: I mean, I think it's what we're seeing now. COVID has just accelerated this industry shift, where larger, more traditional retail companies were being squeezed by ecommerce and the retail landscape was shifting. Obviously, we've seen a lot of bankruptcy since COVID hit. So, it kind of sped up the process a bit. And I think that ecommerce, most ecommerce companies have benefited from people being home more and people not wanting to go out to stores. I do think that mindset of ordering online, while obviously it was well underway before COVID, I think is going to be more firmly part of the way people shop than maybe they had previously. So, I do think ecommerce is poised to have a great benefit. And I think for companies like ours, the big challenge is, if they've had this influx of new customers is, "Okay, now how do you keep them and how do you keep serving them well beyond this extraordinary and unusual time?" Stephanie: Yep, yeah. That's a great answer. Well, Amanda, this has been such a fun interview. I'm a little bit hungry now after hearing about that baked egg. But where can people find out more about you and Food52? Amanda: Oh. Well, on Food52.com and on our social channels, which are @Food52 and @Home52. And we also have a bunch of cookbooks, I hope you will check us out. Stephanie: Cool, thanks so much for joining.

Fun fact: If Amanda wasn’t a lawyer then she would be a personal shopper for gift giving. Amanda is a Dallas business lawyer with a passion for elevating entrepreneurs and creatives. Her story and why she works with creatives is so inspiring. Follow Amanda’s IG because she constantly educates on law in her stories and posts and is always open to connecting to creatives! Throughout this episode, you will learn a lot of helpful knowledge as a creative in a business world so make sure to take notes! We can all learn more about the legal side of doing business. Show Notes: 00:20 Intro with Amanda: What she does and why. Amanda has been an attorney for 11 years. She also started her own firm based on ethics and lifestyle choice! 2:42 The 5 questions we always ask each guest. 9:05 Harlee asks, “You mentioned you work with creative business owners a lot so do you only do business law or do you practice other types of law, too?” Amanda goes on to explain what she practices and focuses on, such as contracts and bigger transactions with companies. 10:10 Amanda discusses the point in which a business owner should invest in a business lawyer or have a contract written up. The hands on experience and having an attorney who has your best interest is important, even when you’re starting in the beginning stages of an LLC. 11:50 What is a registered agent? Amanda breaks down what this is and you have to have one when you file for an entity (LLC, Corporation, Partnership, etc). 13:50 What is the meaning and importance of copyright and intellectual property? How does it work? Creatives – listen up! You OWN your work! 22:05 What does it mean if you are a sole proprietorship? 23:00 Why being in a partnership is or is not desirable vs LLC, Corp, or S Corp. Statutory guidelines and company agreements are KEY. 25:05 Amanda breaks down the liability protection between each entity. If you were to be sued then what happens to your assets? 27:20 Contracts: Many of us creatives can improve our contracts and it doesn’t have to be expensive to get a contract from an attorney! It’s worth it because you will use the contract countless times. Amanda explains how amazing a “pause clause” is when added into a contract – great if you’re working long-term with a client! She also discusses how much a contract can protect your time and services and give you clout when you need it with a client. 33:30 How to find and choose a lawyer in your area. 36:10 Amanda tells us the most difficult part of working with creatives (hint: creatives and being on time or working with deadlines don’t mix well). 38:10 Amanda talks about protecting her time and her lifestyle choices as a lawyer. “You should observe boundaries and take care of yourself…” We pitch in with our opinions on giving into “the grind” versus maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 42:12 Your “why” is important and Amanda explains hers! “Rage against the machine” moment is definitely included. Her mission relates very much to ethics and inclusivity. You can find Amanda here: https://www.instagram.com/amontgomerylawyer/ https://www.amontgomerylaw.com/instagram You can find Creative Banter Podcast here: Website - https://creativebanter.wixsite.com/podcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/creativebanterpodcast/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/creativebanterpodcast/

On today's episode of Gritty Founder, Kreig Kent and Mada Seghete talk with Amanda Bradford about how she built and grew The League. Amanda shares advice on finding product-market-fit, raising money, getting press coverage, and generating revenue when you are just starting off. Amanda Bradford is the Founder & CEO of The League, a dating app that combines data and social graphs from both Facebook and LinkedIn to offer more privacy, more context, and a curated community of ambitious singles who want a partner that shares a similar drive. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon with an engineering degree, she worked at both Salesforce and Google in a variety of technical and product roles before attending Stanford Graduate School of business, where the idea for The League was born. The League raised $2.1M in seed funding in January 2015 and is a membership dating app designed cater to people who want privacy and control over who can view their dating profile. Some Questions Kreig and Mada ask Amanda: - What is some advice you can give founders who are in the beginning stages of starting a company? (4:56) - Can you give some advice to non technical founders on how to find technical talent in order to get an idea off the ground? (8:46) - What is your PR strategy and what is some actionable advice you can give founders looking to get press coverage? (13:44) - What was the biggest challenge and how did you overcome it? (26:45) - What does your day and routine look like? (28:24) In This Episode, You Will Learn: - Know if there is a demand and a clear need in the market (5:15) - Amanda’s experience and thoughts on raising money (11:51) - When pitching a journalist, prepare and put yourself in their shoes (18:44) - Think about revenue early on (32:00) Connect with Amanda Bradford: Twitter The League Also Mentioned on This Show... Amanda’s favorite quote: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ―Mark Twain Amanda’s book recommendation: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast 132: Marketing to Increase Private Bookings with Amanda Mays   Description: How can you market your yoga business without seeming pushy or salesy? What kind of strategies can you use to attract your ideal client? Amanda Mays joins Shannon on this consultation call to talk through her struggles with marketing herself and putting her yoga business out there. Amanda is self proclaimed yoga and happiness ambassador. She works as a freelance editor and occasionally teaches e-courses on writing, specifically journaling, and how to use that habit to fuel a bigger writing practice. She is also raising six children apart from all this, and has very limited free time. Amanda wants to expand her yoga offering to begin working with private clients, and to become more purposeful in her approach to teaching yoga and marketing her business to the right clients.Shannon coaches Amanda through her mindset blocks of not wanting to market herself while offering actionable advice on how best to move toward offering more 1:1 private yoga sessions. From tips on how to use social media to promote her yoga business, to goal-setting, Shannon guides Amanda to find clarity in her aims for her business.If you're like Amanda and worry that your marketing efforts are too pushy, or feel like you're being pulled in too many different directions promoting your yoga business, this episode will help you get some clarity around how best to get the word out about your yoga offerings.P.S. Since this episode was recorded, Amanda has grown her yoga business from zero private clients, to about five 1:1 clients a week! Key Takeaways: [5:17] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Amanda Mays. [7:50] What is Amanda's biggest challenge in her yoga business? [9:19] What are some of Amanda's top ideas that are calling to her? Shannon suggests doing a free writing practice. [12:43] What is the one thing that can increase profit and growth in Amanda's business? [14:22] Why does Amanda want to move towards 1:1 yoga? [17:14] Shannon goes through an exercise with Amanda to create an ideal week and how to bridge the gap between her current schedule and ideal schedule. [21:08] Amanda's biggest hurdle is marketing herself. Shannon shares an anecdote from her personal experience running a farmer's market to help her with this mental block. [24:06] What is something Amanda's ideal student is struggling with? [27:27] Shannon and Amanda discuss setting measurable goals for her yoga business, and how sharing her story can contribute to making the 'ask'. [32:25] Shannon highlights why it's important for Amanda's social media to reflect her business and how to leverage that to reach her ideal clients. [40:21] Shannon shares her tips on doing live video. [46:35] Shannon and Amanda set some goals for her to start doing live videos! [48:59] Shannon prompts Amanda to think about how people can book 1:1 sessions with her. [52:53] How can Amanda figure out her core values as a yoga teacher, and some of her discomforts around marketing herself? Shannon suggests the "I believe" exercise. [1:00:45] Amanda shares more about her fear of niching down. [1:03:07] Amanda struggles with how she can incorporate some of her previous e-courses and journaling activities into her offering that all target the same ideal client. Shannon has some suggestions. [1:10:55] What's your biggest takeaway from this consultation call? Share your comments or questions with Shannon!   Links: Amandaa Mays Amanda Mays on Facebook Group Coaching with Shannon Crow and Amanda McKinney The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 095: Making a CEO Business Plan with Shannon Crow The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 094: Instagram Content Strategy and Stories with Tyler McCall The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 107: Launch & Promote Your Yoga Offering with Abby Herman The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 086: Live Video for Yoga Teachers with Ian Gray Mindbody 1:1 Consultation with Shannon Crow   Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity and Pelvic Health Professionals   Quotes from this episode:   "This is what I want to do, but I can't quite figure out how to put the steps together." - Amanda "What if we instead, really focus on who might be your ideal student?" - Shannon"The thing is with working 1:1, is it takes time to build it. Our best advertising is someone telling someone else how great they feel." - Shannon"People are excited to invest in the why, why you do something and the whole story behind it." - Shannon

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! My guest today is Amanda Gallinger of Creative Business Collective, a marketing and business strategy expert who helps passionate creatives build profitable online businesses. What blows my mind about Amanda, aside from all the business-changing advice she’s about to share with you in this episode is that a few years ago, she found my free 5 Day Website Challenge and used it to learn WordPress and build all of her websites. I mean, she’s a massively successful business owner and I had no idea that she’d used my training to help her get a handle on WordPress! So she’d been on my mailing list for awhile, which I also had no idea, and then she replied to one of my newsletters one day and asked me to do a bonus training inside of her Soulful Selling course to walk her students through what they needed to do to get their websites set up - which of course I said yes - and then as I always do, I used an invitation to be on the podcast as a way to get to know her better and pick her marketing expert brain for you guys! My interview with Amanda left my head spinning, in a good way!! So typically when a guest comes on the show, I’m recording from the moment they hop on, we chit chat, I do a little countdown and then I introduce them and we just roll from there… But with Amanda, we hit it off so well at the beginning that we just rolled right into to it - so let’s go ahead and dive into my interview with Amanda Gallinger of Creative Business Collective. Today we’re talking about: How Amanda made the transition from corporate to self-employed How Amanda she helps her clients identify their zone of genius and helps them package it as a premium service. Why Amanda started selling her coaching packages at a premium price from the beginning (and how you can too). The one thing your website must have on it to stand out online. The number one thing that will lead to your success. Why hourly pricing isn’t good for your or your ideal client and what to do instead. What a “value ladder” is and how to use it in your business. Why you feel so busy but you’re not making any money - and how to fix it. Amanda’s 90 day rule and how to apply it in your own business. Amanda’s advice for someone who is just starting out and struggling to get traction. The one belief Amanda had to change about herself to get where she is today. My favorite quotes from Amanda: “What’s in your tool box that you can turn around and use to reinvent yourself?” “When someone buys from you, often times they are buying from you because they really like you and they want to be in your energy.” “When people pay, they pay attention.”

Chris is sad. Jared is happy. So lets talk circumcision! Hello - 00:00 Around the world and into your home. The gay headlines that touch your life. With Jared Lenover, Chris Farias, and Hugh Downs. (Not really with Hugh Downs.) • Gay Utah GOP Leader Says Too Much Sex Drives LGBTQ People to Suicide  • Austria Denies Asylum To Afghan Man For Failing To Act Or Dress Sufficiently Gay T • time - 15:50 The T stands for truth. These hostesses are both open books. Jared is full of words. Chris is more pictures you can colour.  Questions from you. Answers from them. While they eat cake. Questions: Vegetarian in the streets? Vegan in the sheets? Giselle: What’s your favourite tv show / movie couple? Katherine: What are your biggest pet peeves as a couple? Amanda: What’s something you love / hate about Hamilton? Dear Jesus - 30:300 Religion. Jared is a born again Baptist and Chris leaves the “T” out of Christmas, making it more personalized to him. We’re talking: Hallowe’en… Evil tradition or good clean fun? BONKERS - 38:20 Tools for keeping your mental health in check. Today's Tool: Understanding S.A.D. Gateway Gay - 44:40 If you're straight and narrow, this fab duo will help you navigate the rainbow-coloured waters, and get you safely across the yellow brick road. Animal terms for gay “types.” Pitch, please - 51:45 This is Chris's opportunity to convince Jared of the impossible. Today's pitch: NEW SEGMENT!!!

Welcome to Everything Trying to Kill You, the comedy podcast that talks about horror movies! Join Maegan, Mary Kay, Mary as they discuss Cory Finley’s film, Thoroughbreds. They answer questions like these: What’s your relationship with horses? Did you think this movie was funny or scary? What is its genre? Does the movie oversimplify or romanticize mental illness? Does Amanda ACTUALLY have no feelings? Is Lily a monster for not liking the sound of rushing water? Where exactly was Mary’s dad’s friend’s marina when she was a kid? Do you identify with Amanda? What is it about the score that made it fucking impeccable? What’s with all these follow shots? Do we like the camera work? Why is ambivalent always the answer? Why are there horses throughout this movie? Is a cigar ever just a cigar? Do sentience and feelings equal humanity? Does humanness hinge on morality? Are animals moral? What do the dreams at the end mean? What's the takeaway of this film? Might it have been more fun as a really glossy music video? Do we like the moral ambiguity? What happens with Lily and Tim?Thoroughbreds (2018) Written and directed by Cory Finley. Starring Anya Taylor Joy and Olivia Cooke. Genre: Horror, thriller, suspense, drama, dark comedyFriends Lily (Anya Taylor Joy) and Amanda (Olivia Cooke) reconnect in suburban Connecticut after years of growing apart. Lily has turned into a polished, upper-class teenager, with a fancy boarding school on her transcript and a coveted internship on her resume; Amanda has developed a sharp wit and her own particular attitude, but all in the process of becoming a social outcast. Though they initially seem completely at odds, the pair bond over Lily's contempt for her oppressive stepfather, Mark, and as their friendship grows, they begin to bring out one another's most destructive tendencies. Their ambitions lead them to hire a local hustler, Tim (Anton Yelchin), and take matters into their own hands to set their lives straight. (Written by Focus Features)My Cousin Mose (The Office as a horror movie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP2JNTxP2V0&feature=youtu.be

In our ongoing quest to become better librarians by reading every genre (regardless of our actual interest) we tackle Cozy Mysteries.   Listen to your hosts Anna Ferri, Meghan Whyte, Matthew Murray, and Amanda Wanner discuss why people read cozy mysteries, character vs. plot, how everything seems to be a series, and their favourite punny titles. Your Hosts This Episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner Cozy Mysteries We Read (or kinda): Recommended The Handsome Man's Deluxe Café (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, #15) by Alexander McCall Smith Books Can Be Deceiving (Library Lover's Mystery, #1) by Jenn McKinlay The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart (I finally finished it!) The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley Read Ming Tea Murder (Tea Shop Mystery, #16) by Laura Childs Swag Bags and Swindlers (Haley Randolph #8) by Dorothy Howell The Body in the Library (Miss Marple, #3) by Agatha Christie The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing (Vish Puri, #2) by Tarquin Hall Thread and Gone (Mainely Needlepoint #3) by Lea Wait (almost recommend; not terribly badly written; I just felt the plot/mystery solution was a bit weak) Pushing Up Daisies (Dirty Business, #1) by Rosemary Harris Did Not Finish Ghoul Interrupted (Ghost Hunter Mystery #6) by Victoria Laurie Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints (A Brothers Grimm Mystery #1) by P. J. Brackston From Fear to Eternity (Immortality Bites Mystery, #3; Immortality Bites, #8) by Michelle Rowen Six and a Half Deadly Sins (Dr. Siri Paiboun #10) by Colin Cotterill Brewed, Crude and Tattooed by Sandra Balzo Little Shop of Homicide (A Devereaux Dime Store Mystery #1) by Denise Swanson More “books” we mentioned Shutterbug Follies by Jason Little (recommended) Bucko by Jeff Parker and Erika Moen Detective Conan/Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama From a dog’s perspective: Dog On It (Chet and Bernie #1) by Spencer Quinn Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (recommended) Bookmobile mystery series include: Bookmobile Cat Mysteries by Laurie Cass and Portland Bookmobile Mysteries by B. B. Cantwell The Punniest of the Month Don't Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami (Ruby, the Rabbi's Wife #3) by Sharon Kahn Crime Brûlée (A Carolyn Blue Culinary Mystery #1) by Nancy Fairbanks The Square Root of Murder (Sophie Knowles #1) by Ada Madison Feta Attraction (Greek to Me Mystery #1) by Susannah Hardy "With her career as a dress designer in shreds, Polyester Monroe is looking forward to a fresh start. But as it all unfolds, the pattern to a new beginning looks a lot like murder. " - description for Suede to Rest by Diane Vallere Dearest Constable Evans and his Heavens Oh Glorious, Glorious Puns! Other Links Defining the “Whodunit” VPL’s online form for Readers Advisory: What Do I Read Next? Mysteries with recipes Murder most cosy: why mystery novels involving quilts and cats are big business VPL Recommended Reads Cosy vs cozy Diverse cozy mysteries Questions Will someone please write Death By Squats for Meghan and Amanda? What are your favourite punny book titles? Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the Cozy Mysteries people in our club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: An Interview with Amanda Steinberg CEO and Co-founder, Daily Worth and Soapbxx Date: December 13, 2010 NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes [intro music] Lee Kennedy: Hi, this is Lee Kennedy. I'm a board member for the National Center for Women & Information Technology or NCWIT and I also started Bolder Search. And today, we are here to do yet another interview as part of series of interviews that we are having with just fabulous female entrepreneurs. And they're women who have started IT companies in a variety of sectors, all of whom just have fabulous stories to tell us. With me, here today, is Larry Nelson from w3w3. Hey, Larry. Larry Nelson: Hey, I'm happy to be here. This has been a wonderful series. We host all the interviews not only in the NCWIT.org website but also w3w3.com and we get very heavy traffic and that makes us feel good. Lee: Super. And also today, we are interviewing Amanda Steinberg, whose professional experience spans entrepreneurship, website and software development, business development, and online community development. So, Amanda is one busy gal and she's had two really interesting ventures going on now. She's CEO and co-founder of Soapbxx. Did I say that right, Amanda? Amanda Steinberg: Yes, you did. Lee: OK. Well, welcome Amanda. We are really excited to have you today. Just a little more about Soapbxx, and Amanda you can expound if I leave anything out, it's a Web 2.0 consultancy firm. Tell me a little more about it, because I'm probably just going to mess it all up. Amanda: No problem. So, yes, I run two companies and I have two children under the age of four. Larry: Wow. [laughter] Lee: Yeah, as parents of three and five kids here, we know what you're up against. Amanda: Yeah, definitely. It gets exhausting but I love every second of all of it. So, yes, I run two companies right now and I'll talk about the management structure of each and how I am able to run two companies in the limited work day that I do have. So, Soapbox is a website consultancy. We are most specifically focused on online fundraising and marketing strategies for nonprofit organizations. I was previously the Internet director for the American Civil Liberties Union and I was able to take that experience from back in 2004/2005 and bring it into a consulting environment. And we have been serving many other national nonprofits in the same capacity of what I did for the ACLU. Lee: Cool. Larry: Yeah, that's fantastic. Now, tell us about the other company. Amanda: DailyWorth.com is a long-time dream of mine coming to fruition. DailyWorth is very simple actually. It is a daily email, a free daily email, that teaches women about basic finance. We currently serve 50,000 members and it's growing quite rapidly. And having run Internet consultancies of one form or another for 10 years, I really was drawn to the "low overhead, high margin" nature of a daily email, daily newsletter company. Lee: Wow, I love it. Larry: Yeah, fantastic. Lee: I'm signing up. Larry: Yeah, my four daughters are, too. Amanda: Fantastic. Larry: Yeah. Lee: So Amanda, we just love to hear about how you really got into technology, and today, what are some of the coolest technologies you think are out there? Amanda: Well, I got into technology, funny enough -- my mother, back in college in 1964, majored in math and minored in computer science. The industry had just come to fruition. Lee: Trailblazer. Amanda: And I think she was the only woman in her class doing this. Lee: That is so cool. Amanda: And then when I was three or four years old, she got her MBA in Management Information Systems. So whereas most kids were doing arts and crafts, my mom plunked me down in front of the computer. And I think I really got into technology. You know, I actually was following a career path of politics, but through many convoluted means I got an administrative position in college where I graduated into doing BB scripting for databases. And despite my leanings -- my extroverted leanings towards politics -- I actually really fell in love with technology in college and realized, "Hey, my brain actually kind of works this way. I think I'm going to do this as a career." Lee: And that is such a cool story because how many of us had mothers that we learned from, at least the technology side. So it's very cool. Amanda: Yeah, it is very rare. It's a very rare situation, indeed. Lee: Yeah. Larry: So, what are some of the technologies that you think today are very cool? Amanda: I'm such an Apple geek these days. I mean, lately, I'm just amazed at how connected I feel to my iPhone, much to my husband's some sadness at times. My latest and favorite technology right now is -- I guess I'll talk about two things. The first is something called HeyTell, H-E-Y-T-E-L-L. It's an iPhone app that turns my phone into a walkie-talkie. So I'm able to have these kind of intermittent conversations with all sorts of people in my life -- anyone that I've convinced to download it. And it is much better than voicemail, but it's more personal than an instant message and I'm really encouraging everyone to try it out. The other thing, from a work context, is that I'm just getting into Skype Group Video Chat. I have probably 12 employees and contractors reporting to me now across two companies and no one is in a central location. So we all talk as a team throughout the day, and I really appreciate the group video technology that enables that. Lee: So glad that you brought that up because it is such a... Well, I should say "underused technology," but so many people are starting to use it and it is so cool. Larry: Yes. I use it from time to time, also. We have clients overseas and that really is handy then. Amanda: Really. Yeah, and the fact that we can all save time and money and a commute, and I can hire my director of marketing in Bozeman, and be coached by my mentor in LA, and I'm based out of Philadelphia. You know, it really just makes all of that so much more fluid. Larry: Yeah, that's fantastic. Lucy Sanders really likes us to ask this question. Why are you an entrepreneur today? Amanda: Oh! How could I not be an entrepreneur? I spent -- in the two years that I spent at the ALCU, which I loved, by 11:00 a.m. I was kind of banging my head against the table because I need to have my hands... I did not like being "siloed" in the IT department. I wanted to be involved in strategy, and I wanted to be involved in creative, and I wanted to... As much as I was in a leadership role there, it just felt segmented for me, and I know that would be the case for me in any corporate environment. And the reality is, is that I really thrived as an entrepreneur. I was the managing director of a website consultancy when I was 22, and I was the top-selling manager there. And I realized that because I'm able to generate business and because I do have certain leadership attributes that I have to be an entrepreneur, it's just not even a choice for me. Larry: Excellent. Well, then what is it about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? I know you hit a number of points, but is there anything else? Amanda: I just really enjoy setting big goals and working toward them, and building teams and building networks. Despite the fact that I'm a home-based mother entrepreneur, I'm highly extroverted and need to be constantly connecting and interacting with people. So, I'm not sure if that's entrepreneurship that's making me tick or if it is the way that I tick that feeds into the fact that I'm an entrepreneur. But it's kind of this... I love kind of wild chaos towards big goals and seeing things come to fruition. And especially with DailyWorth, as we've grown to 50,000 members and we've signed on sponsors including ING Direct and H&R Block, and we have a pipeline of advertising revenue that makes my heart sing. After two years of constant endless workdays into the wee hours of the morning, I'm really seeing it come to fruition, and it's just -- I can't imagine doing anything else. Lee: I think you've summed up being an entrepreneur. Larry: Yeah, you got it. Lee: It's wild, chaotic, and thriving on it. Amanda: Yes, for sure. Lee: So, you had mentioned earlier that your mom was a big influence that really opened your eyes to the whole IT world. Who would you say have been other role models or mentors? Amanda: I have so many. It's really impossible to summarize. I think everyone I've worked for and worked with, I've learned something in some way. But I guess I'll talk about two in particular that have really helped me as of late. The first is a gentleman by the name of David Ronick. He runs something called upstartbootcamp.com. When I had my idea for DailyWorth two years ago, he was the one who really said, "OK, you need a business model. You need to understand your inflection points. You need to understand the revenue and the funds that you have to raise." And he really helped me put this -- what seemed like a wildly complex business model, spreadsheet together at the time, that now is really the blueprint of how I'm growing the company. So, he's been critical. I recommend that everyone has an MBA to lean on. And then the second person who's really, really transformed my world is a woman by the name of Jen Boulden. She is based in LA. I talk to her... It was twice a day. I think now it's probably three times a week as I've matured. She built the company called Ideal Bite which she successfully sold to Disney two years ago, using a very similar email newsletter model that I'm using. So she, as I joked, she's actually not very nice to me -- she is very nice to me, but she's not there to be nice to me. She's there to hold me to very high standards and point out all of my shortcomings and I've grown so much as a result of having her. I owe so much to her. Larry: Yeah. Boy, that's fantastic. You have two young children. You have two companies that you are running. What is the toughest thing you've ever had to do in your career? Amanda: The toughest thing I had to do in my career, no doubt, was back in 2001, after 9/11. As I mentioned, I was the managing director of a different website consultancy and we had grown to about 20 people and the sales just were not there to support the office. We had really high overhead and it was extremely painful. And I was responsible for laying off five people in a single go at the same time. I know you hear stories about people being fired and how horrible that is and it is absolutely excruciating. It was definitely, probably one of the worst days of my life, when I had to deliver those words to a group of people at once. Lee: I have to say that's probably about 95 percent of the other gals that we've interviewed have said. It seems to be unanimous, almost. Larry: You bet. Lee: So, Amanda, one of the things we'd like to do is have you give your advice about being an entrepreneur. We have a lot of young people, and people that are just starting to think about being an entrepreneur, so what advice would you give them? Amanda: The advice I would give them is that I find a lot of entrepreneurs that are really interested in coming up with their idea, their big money idea. And what I found is that I'm not so particularly interested in entrepreneur's ideas. I'm more interested in their business models, and how those models make money. Because I have seen countless times, amazing ideas fall flat because there wasn't the revenue or the scale to support them. And at the same time, I've seen some businesses entering crowded markets that don't seem so innovative that are really successful because they're simply improving upon one or two things that the rest of the market isn't. So, I would say, look at the businesses that really interest you. What is it about the operations of that business that are really exciting? And then, figure out your idea. That's what I did, and I can't tell you how happy I am that I took that path. Lee: That's great because it's probably a little-known fact that most of the most successful businesses out there weren't started with the actual idea. It morphed and changed along the way to find something that was really successful and a niche in the market at that time. Larry: Yeah. Amanda: Absolutely. Both of my businesses look nothing like what they were when they started. Larry: [laughs] Amanda, what are the personal characteristics, I know you've hit on some as we've gone through this but, that has given you the advantage of being an entrepreneur? Amanda: The first thing is I think I'm a little bit crazy. I don't seek balance in my life. I love to work. Work is very much enmeshed in my life. I am very ambitious, and I think you really kind of need that manic optimism to be successful, because it can just be so hard, so hard on so many levels. So, I think that's been helpful, honestly. I've definitely met other entrepreneurs who I think mirror those traits, and we often kind of laugh about how crazy we feel and yet how instrumental that is in being successful as an entrepreneur. The second thing is just being highly extroverted. I love nothing more than being dropped in a room with a thousand people I don't know. So much of building a business is about building a team and building the people to support you, not necessarily about what you can do on your own. So, I collect people as a hobby. I love -- I'm just genuinely interested in other people, and I think that's absolutely critical to any business as well. Lee: That's cool. Well, you kind of put me in a conundrum here because our next question is how do you bring balance into your...? Amanda: I did that on purpose. [laughter] Lee: So, obviously, you don't bring balance. But how do you survive? Maybe that's the better question. Amanda: You know, it was 11:00 last night, and I was making my son's and my daughter's egg salad sandwich for their lunch, and I was thinking about this slide I needed to update for my investor presentation at 9:00 a.m. this morning, and I really was cross-eyed. I was thinking "Oh, my God! I am in the depths of darkness right now. I am so tired. All I want to do is go to sleep." But somehow, I am able to survive. This is not my long-term plan -- to be living like this -- but I think if you have a certain level of ambition, you have to match it with that energy, and you have to make some sacrifices. I'd say my day is 95 percent energizing and five percent exhausting when I reach the darkness of 11:00 and the lunches still aren't packed, and I still haven't done the laundry to get their socks ready for the next day. So, I'll take that 95 percent positive, five percent pain point for what I look forward to in the future. Larry: Wow. Well, Amanda, you've got two companies that you're working and running right now. You've had successes in the past. Amanda: I've had a lot of failures, too. I've had so many failures. Larry: Oh, I'm so happy to hear that, yes. My wife and I, we started 12 companies and some were learning experiences. Amanda: Yeah. I've started probably seven to date, so, yes. Larry: Wow. Well, what's next for you? Amanda: What's next for me? Well, DailyWorth is really interesting because it's about empowering women in the area of finance. We have 50,000 members, and I know that it's applicable to reach millions of members. So, what's next for me is I'm raising around about 750,000 in Angel capital which will enable me to take my amazing DailyWorth team full time, and work toward our goal -- which is to reach 300,000 by the end of next year, and then a million over the next four years. So, that's really what I'm focused on. Larry: Excellent, that is super. Boy, I want to say that I am so happy that we had this opportunity to interview you. This interview will be heard by many people, many managers, entrepreneurs, and a number of young people who are looking into technology and entrepreneurship, so thank you for all your ideas. Lee: Thanks so much, Amanda. Amanda: My pleasure, and if I could just invite everyone to check out DailyWorth.com. For all the women interested in finance, I invite you to sign up. For anyone in the nonprofit world, Soapbxx -- spelled S-O-A-P-B-X-X -- .com is a great solution provider in the nonprofit space. Thank you. [laughs] Larry: That's excellent, and yes, we will. We'll also put it on our website so that people can link right to it if they hadn't taken that down. They can listen to this 24/7 at w3w3.com and ncwit.org. Lee: Thanks so much, Amanda. Amanda: Thank you. [music] Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Amanda SteinbergInterview Summary: Like many women, Amanda Steinberg came to a tech career through a back door. But when she realized that it interested her and she was good at it, she used it to kick-start her career as an entrepreneur. Release Date: December 13, 2010Interview Subject: Amanda SteinbergInterviewer(s): Larry Nelson, Lee KennedyDuration: 16:13

Thank you Sita for the intro to our guest today, Amanda Groves ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-groves-42b67037/ ) , one of the partners at PLUS Capital ( https://www.pluscapital.com/ ). PLUS Capital is an advisement and venture fund trusted by elite artists and athletes to invest in and build transformative companies. We talk about how to think about analyzing true value from celebrities to brands, what a successful partnership could like it and the most surprising partnership on paper she's come across. The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25 Full Lineup and to purchase tickets: *Summit.theconsumervc.com* ( https://app.redcircle.com/shows/3af1af78-a3bd-428f-a8f8-947073d6388c/ep/0fb856e1-7f1c-4c67-8a98-4c414cd58645/Summit.theconsumervc.com ) Enter *CONSUMERVC* at checkout for 20% off A couple books that inspired Amanda: Greenlights ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593139135/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?creative=9325&creativeASIN=0593139135&ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&linkId=d7c71d159c44765676d6b8e62365e38e&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Matthew McConaughey Big Lies ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062390864/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?creative=9325&creativeASIN=0062390864&ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&linkId=fd03692c8978b9bda292e128d6c9c70b&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz Here are some of the questions I ask Amanda - * What was your attraction to finance and technology? * What led you to joining PLUS Capital? * Talk to me about the ways you engage with celebrities? * Talk to me about how you manage the fund vs. advisory practice. How do you think about making investments and manage LPs, that are family offices as well as celebrities? * When a celebrity does decide to make a check and participate, are their certain activities or clauses the celebrity has to do in order to own up to receiving a larger stake in the company then what the check size is? * Are there specific categories or types of companies that your celebrity clients tend to find interesting? * Has there been any surprises when it comes to a partnership between a celebrity and company? i.e. company was very different to perceived interests from celebrity? * We've seen more and more celebrities become founders and start their own businesses rather then just becoming endorsers. Does this affect your advisory position? * How do you think about authenticity when a celebrity and a company collaborate? * What's your due diligence process when find attractive opportunities? * What are some current trends that you are focused on? * What's one thing you would change about venture capital? * What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally? * What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?