Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Replay: Hala on Badass Basic Bitch Podcast

Episode Date: August 13, 2021

Listen to Hala join Courtney and Brianna from the Basic Badass Bitches podcast as they talk about what it was like for Hala growing up, and how she got to be the CEO of a successful podcast marketing agency. Born and raised in New Jersey, Hala started her career at Hot97! After being fired and cut off three years into working for free, she used that experience to launch herself into success. But it didn’t come easy!  The next 5 years, Hala saw ups and downs, being promised two MTV opportunities to only be taken away. Hala Taha is now the host of Young and Profiting Podcast, frequently ranked as a #1 Education podcast across all apps.  Hala is also the CEO of YAP Media, a full-service social media and podcast marketing agency for top podcasters, celebrities and CEOs projected to generate over $1M in revenue in its first year.  She is well-known for her engaged following and influence on Linkedin, and she landed the January 2021 cover of Podcast Magazine. She started Young and Profiting Podcast and YAP Media as a side hustle, and now has several high-profile clients and over 40 employees.  Hala is an expert on networking, personal branding, Linkedin marketing, side hustles, entrepreneurship, and podcasting.   Sponsored by -  Setapp - Head over to setapp.com to try Setapp free for a week.   The Jordan Harbinger Show - Listen to the show here jordanharbinger.com/start    Social Media:   Follow YAP on IG: www.instagram.com/youngandprofiting Reach out to Hala directly at [e-mail] Follow Hala on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Follow Hala on Instagram: www.instagram.com/yapwithhala Follow Hala on Clubhouse: @halataha Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of YAP is sponsored in part by Shopify. Shopify simplifies selling online and in-person so you can focus on successfully growing your business. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash profiting. You're listening to YAP, Young and Profiting Podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. Welcome to the show! I'm your host, Halataha, and on Young and Profit. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Halla Taha, and on Young and Profiting Podcast, we investigate a new topic each week

and interview some of the brightest minds in the world. My goal is to turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your everyday life, no matter your age, profession, or industry. There's no fluff on this podcast, And that's on purpose. I'm here to uncover value from my guests by doing the proper research and asking the right questions. If you're new to the show, we've chatted with the likes of XFBI agents, real estate moguls, self-made billionaires, CEOs, and bestselling authors. Our subject matter ranges from

enhancing productivity, had to gain influence, the art of entrepreneurship, and more. If you're smart and like to continually improve yourself, hit the subscribe button, because you'll love it here at Young & Profiting Podcast. You're the CEO of YAP Media, which is a full service social media podcast marketing agency, and you are very well known for your influence

on LinkedIn. And this year, girl, I love this about you is that you found yourself on the cover of podcast magazine. Thank you for being here. Yeah, I'm so excited. This seems like such a fun show. Happy to be here and provide as much value as I can. That's how we like it around here. Lots of takeaways for everybody. Thank you. So just so we can give a general view of you, you're from the East Coast originally, right? Yes, I was born and raised in New Jersey. Okay, awesome.

I'm a fellow New Yorker. We're in New Jersey just out of curiosity. I was in watching New Jersey growing up and then I spent a lot of time in Brooklyn. So I lived in Brooklyn for like seven years, but I went back to Jersey for the pandemic to kind of hide out. And I typically go between like Brooklyn,

Montauk and New Jersey. Those are like my three locations. I love that. My dad was born and raised in Brooklyn, and actually just launched a jewelry line that is called Bowen Brooklyn and homage to him. But that's amazing. We love a good East Coast gal. Yeah, I spent a lot of time in Carol Gardens. So, I'm sure that's a Brooklyn.

Ah, that's a Brooklyn. Yes, favorite pizza place in Brooklyn. Yeah. This is a hard one. There's so many I can't choose. Yeah, I'm the same. I'm the same. All right, so you were born and raised in a jersey, spent a lot of time in Brooklyn. You did go to college. It's an interesting story, so I'd love for you to share how that started. Where did you start your college? I went to New Jersey Institute of Technology. I started as a chem major and I bring this up because my first goal was to create a makeup brand. I used to be

obsessed with makeup and skincare. And so my parents wanted me to create a makeup brand. I used to be obsessed with makeup and skincare. And so my parents wanted me to be a doctor. So my, my like compromises like, I'll go do chemistry and I'll start this makeup company. Didn't pan out. I was terrible at chemistry and just terrible at college in general undergrad. I did horribly.

I was really focused on being on the cheerleading team and in my sorority. And then I got this internship at Hot 97 and that changed my life. And I ended up dropping out of school and taking this full time internship at Hot 97 working for Angie Martinez, who was the voice of New York. And it was the number one hip hop and R&B station in New York. This was like 10 years ago. So back then, radio was everything.

And it was like, I had the coolest job for like a 19 year old. I was like this shit hanging out with Chris Brown and Drake and Rihanna and JLo. And I met all the celebrities. So it was really cool. And like I said, I ended up dropping out of school to work at the station full time and became the black sheep of my family because everybody was in medical school, all my siblings. And I, here I was like working for free at a radio station. So that's kind of what happens to me. I listened to a podcast of yours where you explain like you always loved singing and you always wanted to be some kind of singer or talk show host. So is that why you dropped out of your college because you thought

that would get you there? Yeah. So I was recording music and I had different producers and things like that. And I got the internship for the sole reason of pushing my music. I thought that I was going to push my music on the DJs, get my song broken on hot 97 and then become a famous singer. And that was like my goal. And then once I got to the station, they started having me do commercials and I was running the delet boards and then I had online radio shows with some of the DJs who are super famous now, but they were just up and coming like me back then. And then I fell in love with broadcasting. And soon enough, I realized that, you know, singing was really, really tough to break into. And I felt like I'd have a lot better chance of becoming a radio personality than I would a singer.

So I don't know if you know, that's probably not because I first conversation, but I actually went to Berkeley College of Music and that's kind of what I did prior to doing everything now that I do with socialism and the brands and podcasting. So we actually have a lot more in common than I realized, which is funny. You guys do have a lot in common. Yeah, I'm just, I was just noticing that when taking in your story over here. I like your beautiful makeup compared to my like total leggings jock. The time. One of the only times that I've actually showed up with makeup to your house, Brianna looked at me the other day and she's like, your eyelashes look really good. And I was like,

this is what they always look like. And then I realized that he was literally never seen you with makeup. I usually just walked down the street. And I'm like, hey, this is that's very true. That's very true. OK, so how long were you at Hat 97? Which, by the way, I listened to all the time in New York. So how long were you there?

I was there for three years. So I worked there as an intern. And, you know, technically I was unpaid because anybody who was in the studio. So I wasn't as an intern and you know technically I was unpaid because anybody who was in the studio. So I wasn't just like a regular intern in the corporate side or whatever. I was an intern in the studio area and I was literally the only girl in the studio area. And so all these celebrities would come in day in day out. Here I was like 19 year old Hala. You know I was pretty cute, really stylish like you know and so I got a lot of attention. And I worked there for free. And the reason why I worked there for free is because everybody who was

kind of being primed worked for free. Like all the young DJs would work for free who was at the station. And we all had key cards and everything like that. But it's like, if you were on the studio side, your benefit was being represented by the brand. Everybody knew me as like Hala from Hot 97. I grew like a Twitter following from that, and that was kind of how you got paid. You didn't get paid by being on the books. But for me, that was, you know, really rough.

I was a young girl. I had dropped out of college. I was making my money selling like showcase tickets for like hip hop underground, like showcases and then hosting them and making my money in like showcase tickets for like hip hop underground, like showcases and then hosting them and making my money in the clubs instead of like at my day job. And that was really tough to kind of explain to my like conservative parents what was going on, right?

And I really just wanted a minimum wage job. And so when a job opened up, the producer of the Angie Martinez show that job opened up. I was doing the producer responsibilities, but then they ended up giving it to DJ Drew Ski if you're from New York, you probably know him. And he got the job over me. He was like a couple years older than me. And I was like devastated.

And so I texted Angie and I was like, you know what? I don't feel good today. I'm not going into work if I texted Drew Ski thus I said, I'm not going into work. If you want to learn how to be the producer, go learn it on your own said I'm not going into work. If you want to learn how to be the producer go learn it on your own I'm not coming into work and Angie was pissed off. She fired me on the spot and that was it and she told all the DJs You're not allowed to talk to Holly anymore Really so she just like blackballed you. Yeah, she cut my key cards exactly. She slipped my throat and I was devastated

Yeah true New Yorker, right and but it was it was honestly I look back on it because now I'm a lot throat and I was devastated. Yeah, true New Yorker, right? And it was honestly, I look back on it because now I'm a lot older and I have a team of interns and employees and my interns after three months get paid. And I look at how I was taking advantage of for that many years and how I did everything for those DJs, for those people and how as soon as they saw me as like a threat, they fired me because they knew that they were wrong for not paying me for

three years and that they had a lawsuit on their hands. Like, let's just be quite frank about it, you know, I wasn't planning on doing anything, but they saw me as a threat, so they like cut me off. And you know, before I knew it, I launched something called the sorority of hip hop. I figured out how to build a website basically over the weekend. At the time, blog sites were huge. And so I recruited 14 girls in two weeks from Craigslist and Twitter. And I said, if you guys are pretty girls, if you want to learn how to blog, if you're

in the entertainment industry, come work for me. I'll teach you how to blog. And we're going to rock this this and we ended up being like One of the most popular hip-hop and entertainment sites like within three months and got noticed by MTV and got our first pilot shot by MTV within three months of Launching that website, so how do hustle I love that? So how old were you? When that's all happened. Yeah at that time when I launched the story of hip-hop I was like 21, 22-ish. So you're working for the internship three years. They hire someone else besides you.

You're not feeling it. You call and say, you get cut off New York style. And then were you just like automatically like, okay, what do I have to do next? Or did you soak and be like, what do I do next? Like, yeah, so I remember being hysterical because they didn't even fire me at work. I didn't even get like a closing, I didn't get to say goodbye. Like imagine it's three years of my life, all my best friends work at the station,

all my mentors are at the station. She didn't even let me say goodbye or go get my stuff. She just cut my key cards. Holla's not allowed to come to the station anymore. No one's allowed to answer her calls anymore. And then she apologized later on, but that's a whole other story. But like, so she cut me off. And I was devastated, but I quickly put all that negative energy into something positive and start like literally, I think I was fired on a Thursday and I built the sorority hip-hop website on Saturday, like literally.

And I just learned how to build a website and I just did it. And I just started focusing all my energy on that. I went back to school so that I could graduate and I just kept it pushing, you know? Job sometimes I feel like can almost be like relationships where for a minute there when they're done, you almost like idealize it.

And you sit there and you're like, here are the good things. And then when you find something that is actually a good fit for you, in which case this, I think was a way better fit. You're like, fuck that other thing. It was terrible actually. When you realize, and especially when you start building

your own team now and you realize that you kind of got taken advantage of essentially, it does make you want to treat people the way that you wish you were treated. I think back in the day, but... I can relate to you in the sense of when something doesn't go your way and you're really upset to me that actually motivates me. It lights a fire under my ass that I'm like, yeah, you don't want me.

I'm not good enough. Wait, like, when I'm done, they're not going to know your name. Yeah, you wait and see. 100%. So it's like, you wait and see 100%. So it's like, you have no idea. I feel a little silly because not silly, but like it's strange because Angie Martinez just followed me on Instagram.

So all these years, whatever, she apparently never followed me on Instagram or unfollowed me and followed me. And it's definitely because she's starting to hear about my podcast and she's probably feel sick. Like she probably feels sick that I'm blowing up right now. And it's definitely because she's starting to hear about my podcast and she's probably feel sick. Like she probably feels sick that I'm blowing up right now. And it's like, good, good. I hope you feel sick. Honestly, because you know, you tried to basically cut me off when I was a young girl and

I was and all I did was work hard for you. And as a woman who probably experienced a lot of people cutting them off and cold shoulder, like support your younger women coming in to empower them to be the next generation that's like behind you, right? You said of like, you're done. Exactly. Can I, how can I build you up? Well for me that honestly, and I don't know her personally, obviously, but that all comes

down to jealousy and feeling threatened because it's here. Yeah, insecurities because if you are secure in what you do, you can help and encourage and foster someone else and learn from them as you hope people do for you and so on. But if you just cut someone off like that, and then of course those people always come back and apologize when they're scared or when they feel like you have like a power or a voice and something. Yeah, exactly. But the moral of the story is, I just want it for your listeners is think about this. These DJs refused to pay me minimum wage. Then I go build this website and all of a sudden I'm the hottest club promoter in the city, right? With 50 pretty girls who are active on Twitter, that Twitter was a platform back then. And all of a sudden I was side by side flyer, like on the flyers with the DJs, the same DJs

who were cutting me off, were calling me up to host their parties and paying me as much as they were getting paid to DJ the party. And now I was like, they're peer instead of their little interns. So it was like, I did like a whole jump skip ahead of everyone and it was great. And it's the best, like you said,

revenge is like the best in those situations and using that negativity to do something positive, it works like a charm. Like all my success has been on the heels of failure. Yeah, I love that. I think there's a lot of truth. There's two different people, right? They either crumble and they victimize themselves

and feel bad and then there's the people that use that as a motivation and fire to like rise above it and be better than you were. So you start this hip hop blog, your promoting clubs. How long are you doing that for? I did that for about three years. Okay. And obviously you're getting paid.

Yeah, I mean, we were kind of monetizing the blog. Like it was really hard to figure out the advertising for the blog. We should have figured out, but we didn't. Like blogs were a lot of smoke and mirrors. So it's like we had a big blog, but the money that we generated off that wasn't a lot. We made all our money from hosting parties and concerts.

We also had a radio show and we get sponsors for the radio show, but really, there was 50 girls to like how much money really went around. Like not much, right? And so I was basically funding everything. And we were just getting by and kind of, there was a lot of volunteers. So we were all young girls.

And so there wasn't too much money involved. We would get sponsored a lot. And so we'd get a lot of free clothes from like an American apparel and Reebok. And so we always got free clothes and had really cool photoshoots. But the money really wasn't like flowing to do anything like crazy.

We thought we were gonna make money by becoming reality TV show stars. So like I said, MTV reached out to us three months in for a pilot. It didn't happen, but we figured, you know, MTV reached out three months in what's going to happen in the next three months, who cares, right? Three years later or two and a half years later, MTV reached out and was like, okay, guys, this is it. You guys are going to get a show. They signed, had to sign papers. I was the lead. They picked five other girls. They got to sign papers. I was the lead. They picked five other girls.

They got us a studio on Broadway, like the real world. With cool furniture, neon signs, all of that. We got our makeup done every single day. They filmed me at my parents' house at restaurants with my boyfriend. You name it. It was like, we felt like we were going to be the next Jersey Shore.

And it was right after Jersey Shore ended. And we literally thought, I'm going to be the next reality TV show superstar. And it was when MTV was huge. MTV is, I think, not that big anymore. But at the time, it was huge. But MTV also ripped us apart. They put girls who were really young as the leads. They picked six leads.

They picked girls who didn't deserve it. One girl who was one of the main girls in the sorority of hip hop didn't get on the show and then she left and it was like super dramatic. They had us fighting for the show. And then last minute they pulled the plug and we didn't get the show and I was devastated again. It was another one of those situations where somebody promised me something

or I earned something and I didn't get it. So basically you're saying they tore you apart, meaning like from the inside out, like you guys started fighting amongst yourselves and everything kind of started becoming a little bit toxic in that situation. Exactly. The whole sorority, I mean, first of all,

we were 50 caddy girls to begin with. So I think that's why they wanted the show because it was like lots of, it was already caddy to begin with, add on MTV and all these cameras and everybody thinking they're going to be superstars. We just blew up, you know, it was just too hard. We decided that we were going to fake shutting down and we did this whole fake strawberry blunt shut down campaign.

And then I was like, I don't want to turn this back on. And everybody like so many of the girls were so mad at me. But I was like, listen, I was the turn this back on. And everybody, like so many of the girls were so mad at me, but I was like, listen, I was the president of the sorority of hip-hop. I have 50 girls kind of on my shoulders, and I was so young, and I was like, I just can't do this anymore. I need to be successful myself first

before everybody else is successful. And I want to go out on my own, and I don't want to do this anymore. And so I shut down the website, and I shut everything down. We just abandoned everything. People were like, where did the sorority of hip-hop go? Where did the guys go?

We just disappeared. And I just shut everything down and went and got my MBA. Why not sell it? I was too dumb back then. I didn't know what I had. Like if I got the honest, I just didn't know what I had. And it wasn't like

that was a normal thing back then. What I was doing was so innovative. Like I was like pioneering some whole other thing. It's not like now where there's so many different influencers. There was no such thing as influencers back then. This was seven years ago or something. It's like all we had was Twitter. I had I was huge in in real life. And I had like a thousand Instagram followers. It wasn't, it wasn't the same. It's not like today. Yeah, it's completely different today. Speaking of personal experience as well, I started my site like six years ago. And it was the same thing. There was like four people that I knew that were doing it. It wasn't what it is today. So it's super new. And you are just figuring out as you go because there isn't a playbook for this stuff. So you go and you get your

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Shopify is a platform that I use every single day and it can take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com.sash profiting. Again, go to Shopify.com.sash profiting all lowercase to take your business to the next level today again that Shopify.com such profiting shop fly.com such profiting all lowercase. This is possibility powered by Shopify. So like I said, I had a terrible terrible undergrad GPA, like a 2.3 or something, but when I graduated NJIT because I was just so focused on hot 97 and all these other things. So when I went to go get my MBA, I had to basically beg the director of graduate studies to let me in the program. I told her all the stuff that I was doing. I liked stalk her and then they finally let me in the program and I got a 4.0. I was like, I promise, you let me in, I'm gonna get a 4.0, I'm gonna get a 4.0. So I went and I got a 4.0. I was like, I promise you let me in. I'm going to get a 4.0. I'm going to get a 4.0. So I went and I got a 4.0. I graduated number one in my class. I was the only one to do so.

And that enabled me to get a job in corporate. So I thought that like my entertainment career was over and then I was like, Holly's going to get a normal job now. And I went into Hewlett Packard. I got promoted four times in four years. And I was really scared that I was going to be behind everyone because I had been an entrepreneur right out of college and kind of failed. And I thought, well, everybody's been working in a corporate for three, four years now. I'm so behind. But I quickly jumped and skipped over my peers. And I think it's because I had learned so much on the internet.

And so when I went into the corporate world, I was so much more advanced in terms of my digital marketing than everyone else. And I really stood out like a sore thumb and I really like stood out and was the face of the young employees at Ulet Packard. I was president of the Young Employee Network and on the Global Young Employee Network Board and work for the CEO and the CMO.

And so I really enjoyed my time actually at Ulet Packard. I have a really tangible question for you and I'm excited for your answer for personal reasons as well. So we all have the same amount of hours in a day. Yeah. But people definitely don't get the same amount of shit done in a day. And I'm someone who, as you know, like runs several things, I'm a single mom, like I've got all this stuff going on as well. And my question is, how do you time manage?

Like what tips do you offer time management? Do you time block? Do you set specific days? Where you do specific things? What are some tips that you can give people for best managing their time to get like really good results and manage all the things at once? Yeah, I think that's a great question. And for context to your listeners recently,

before I quit my job at Disney streaming services because I went to Disney, I had a top podcast, a number one podcast. I had 35 employees for my marketing agency and a full-time job at Disney streaming services. For a point of time, I was balancing all those things, which was crazy, right? Yes. And so- Thank you for validating my question. Yeah, it was crazy. I was such a busy body. And now I'm an entrepreneur and things are still really busy. But back then, when I had a job plus everything else, it was just nuts. And I would say the way that I manage it all is by really understanding my priorities, by not being afraid to delegate, by putting in processes and templates so that my team can

can kind of replicate from the very start. I'm really familiar with bringing on interns and volunteers. Like I had the sorority of hip-hop, right? I had 50, basically 50 volunteers from when I was that young. And then I was president of my alumni association and had more volunteers. And then I was president of the Young Employee Network at HP and then had more volunteers. So lots of experience getting people to work for free and as interns for me and kind of mentoring and training them. And so for my podcast, what I did is I would bring in these volunteers who were fans who wanted to work on my podcast, teach them and then let them own something.

And then same thing with our intern program. It's like we have a very, very good intern program so that we can quickly kind of ramp people up and then they can own something. But the difference with me is that people actually get, once I started getting paid, people started getting paid too. So not like a like a slave labor type thing that was going on and hot and he's seven back in the day. But yeah, I do think that's a great point. And I try to tell this to people who want to be entrepreneurs, like think and even like in everyday life because a lot of my friends would be like, how do you keep your house clean? How do you cook dinner?

And it's like, it's not about that. It's about what is my personal hourly rate that I view myself and like, what am I taking on and what things can I outsource? Like yeah. And it's really about like outsourcing to the right person to get it done. You're the queen of that. I feel like I know how to outsource. I'm the fucking outsourcing queen. And that's what I do for companies is like, how do I take your process, scale it, outsource the things that you don't have to do internally, save you a shit ton of money and be efficient, scalable. Like, I love that. Yeah, so if you need tips, let me know. But if you, like, it's not even just like, I'm building a giant company.

It's even just a mom, a stay at home mom. Like, think about the time that you spend with your children and like how often you do laundry. I don't know, just a silly example. Yeah, I think that's a big, big secret here is, it's, I didn't do it on my own. From the start, from episode two, I had volunteers on my team.

Like, it happened that quick with the podcast. And I just never do anything on my own. I was trying to do it by myself. When I started a young and profiting podcast, I was like, I'm gonna do it by myself. I'm not gonna do it with 50 people this time. And then here I am with like almost 50 people on my team. So, yeah, and that makes a lot of sense.

So like prioritizing, delegating, outsourcing, prioritizing, delegating, I put things, everything scheduled on my calendar, literally, if there's no calendar invite, I'm not gonna be there. So all my work goes on my calendar. If I wanna study, it goes on my calendar. If I have to do an important proposal, it's on my calendar.

So I literally time block everything. And I also multitask a lot. So like if I'm studying for a podcast interview, I'm working out and studying, I'm driving and studying, I'm cleaning and studying, I'm always multitasking on the phone while cleaning, on the phone while cooking. I can't just do one thing, I feel like I'm wasting my time. And do you use Google Cal to be specific?

I like details. I like Google Cal, or yes, I feel like I'm wasting my time. And do you use Google Cal to be specific? I like details. I like Google calendar. Yes, I use Google calendar. And for a while, I was having to manage Outlook and Google, and that's that. But now it's just Google calendar. And if you've got out, Google is great. I really do. Another tool, if you're interested, I don't know if you've ever used a sauna.

I don't. It's a really great tool. And that's how I manage all of my projects. I have an assistant. And we you ever used a sauna. I don't. It's a really great tool. And that's how I manage all of my projects. I have an assistant and we communicate solely through a sauna. If I have anything, is it like slack? Basically, no. Slack is just like chat. A sauna is like a project management tool

and it helps you move all of your tasks forward. Cool. I can check. I can check. I can check. I can check. I can check. I can check. I can check. I can check. I can sure. Caddy's spelled that for our list of you. Hey. Hey. Hey.

Yeah. I found it is great. There's lots of good ones. We use click up. It's really good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've heard of click up.

Amazing. Okay. So I love that question. But let's go back. Because I think there's a couple of interesting things. And we haven't gotten to the biggest part of who Haula is. And you're at HP. You go to Disney somehow, what's that transition?

Yeah, so I actually, there's a big piece of this. So my last year at HP, I started Young & Profiting podcast. So like I said, I had thought that I was never going to get back on a mic. I had, I don't think I mentioned this, but I had multiple radio shows throughout my, throughout the time before HP, like, well, I was at hot 97. I had multiple radio shows throughout my, throughout the time before HP like, well, I was at hot 97. I had online radio shows when I had the story of hip hop, we had radio shows. And so four years into HP, I was like, this sucks. Like, I'm in a corporate job. Yes, I'm making six figures. Yes, I'm in an exact, it's great. I enjoyed the job, but I didn't feel fulfilled. And so I decided I was going to start young

and profiting podcasts. And, you know, here we are today. It's been three years and we're a number one trending education podcast. I've interviewed Matthew McConaughey. I was on the cover of Podcast Magazine. So really blew up this time. Like this was like my breakout show. And it was my first solo show and my first podcast and first business show. All my other shows was like interviewing celebrities, fun and games, stuff like that. Well, I saw a really fun picture of you where it was like a before and after and the before picture is you in like this suit thing in a conference room with a little tiny mic interviewing some older gentlemen and some like office conference room. And then like the now is like, Hala and Matthew McConaughey. And I was like, yes, girl.

And when was that first picture taken that I'm referencing? What year? That was in 2018. That was in 2018. That was like, I was interviewing some like NYU professors from random guy. And the episode never even came out. I mean, in retrospect, though, like looking at it collectively, like, that's not that long ago.

It's not three years. A lot to do in such a short period of time. So for all of our listeners who haven't heard your podcast, is it you talking the whole time? Because you said you used to interview people, and now it's just you. It's multi format. So I do interviews, one-on-one interviews,

primarily with like best-selling authors, CEOs, celebrities. And so I do one-on-one interviews primarily with like best-selling authors, CEOs, celebrities, and so I do one-on-one interviews, and then I do solo episodes, the App Snacks that are like short 20-minute episodes, and then now I do live clubhouse panels that I upload to the podcast too. So three different formats right now. Okay, we like that. We like our solo episodes and interviewing people like you as well, so it's fun to kind of mix it up. Yeah, totally. And now I get your background. I understand that you've been in a situation

where you have like a little blessing of a background where you have the hot 97 contacts. You've had the MTV contacts. You've threw out your career in your life. You've been able to make these networking contacts. And not everybody has that capability. And what advice do we give to people who are like, I want to do a podcast or I want to do anything? How do they network like that? Yeah, I think

the key is collaboration over competition. So actually collaborating with other podcasters, I think that's number one, I'm slow clapping over. Yeah, she's clapping over there. So like one of the things that I did when I was starting out is I started a podcaster community. So for a long time, my presence on LinkedIn was way bigger than my podcast downloads. So like the first two years of my podcast, it seemed like I had a huge podcast because I was like the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn.

But in reality, my downloads sucked, right? Because it's very hard to typically convert people from social media to your podcasts. So what I did, I did a couple things that had some collaboration involved with it. So first, I started a podcast like Influencer community. So I reached out to everyone on LinkedIn who had podcast in their title, who had a decent following and engagement. And I invited them to a WhatsApp chat and I was like, listen, let's support each other. You guys pop your links in here. And you know, at the time, I reached out to people who were bigger than me and smaller

than me. Now, I'm the biggest person in that in that chat, you know, but that's just how it worked out. Let's share these links. Let's support each other. We started an engagement pot. Me being that glue reaching out to all those podcasters was huge because it's like, I'm looked at as like a connector

and everybody will think of me that way. And then we had like monthly calls and we would do like these like, you know, now we do them on clubhouse because there's, but the cup house didn't exist back then, we used to do monthly calls. And then I would invite different like podcast vendors and software apps to do demos. So like I would have Riverside FM doing a demo or pod being come in and do a demo. And then it exposed them to people who could sponsor

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Yeah, I think providing people's value is always great where you can, whether that be in friendship and just providing like someone to listen to and bounce ideas off and give genuine feedback or in the workplace. A serious question going back to the scheduling thing, because this is really like a whole other job if we're being honest. Like now having to like communicate between all these people and like all these other things that you're doing at the time, do you sit and block in because I do this for my DMs? Because I love talking to my community. So I block off time a couple times a day to get into my DMs.

Are you blocking off time that you're communicating with these people on LinkedIn? Is that something that also goes on your calendar? Like is it that granule? Sometimes I usually like to fit those kinds of things in my routine. So before I had a team or a really big team, I would do all my DM engagement on the train. And so I always had a train ride to Disney. And I would literally sit there do my first post of the day on the train. And then my ride home was all my DM engagement responding back to my fans, responding back to the comments. And I would do that during lunch. So it's more about like building a habit around that kind of stuff. Whenever I have downtime to do it.

That makes sense. So I think there's two main things that I'm hearing that are super important is that all a build a community. Like, yeah, don't just try to fit into someone else's community because you're always that awkward, like third wheel that probably doesn't belong there. Build your own, right? Go and reach out and try to collaborate. And then the other thing is connection. Like connection matters with your,

whether they're your fans or followers or other people in your industry. Yeah, 100%, 100%. And then let me just explain the way that I like blew up my actual podcast, right? So for a long time, I was so worried about Apple podcasts, and I was like, I wanna be number one on Apple and I would always push my Apple link to everyone

and the responses I would get is like, I'm not on Apple, I don't have an iPhone, I don't listen on there. And then I started to like dig a little deeper. And I'm like, hmm, like maybe nobody really listens on Apple and I'm like shoving this down everyone's throat and they actually don't listen on Apple. And so I did some research and I found out that Apple only has 40% of the market share and 60% of the market share

are on other apps. And I was like, well, I have a big LinkedIn brand. I'm going to use that as leverage. And so I literally went, I reached out to all the different podcast apps, pod being podcast repub like, Pod to see good pods. You name it. And I went to them and I said, Hey, like my name's Hala, I have a, you know, a great podcast, great content, great guests. I have a great LinkedIn following. I'll run a contest for you if you feature me in app. But he said yes. Everybody featured me within like a three-month period. My podcast just blew up. Literally, it was like a straight line up. And that's another, that's another example of like being creative, putting yourself out there, not being afraid to ask, leveraging what you have, understanding your value,

and making good connections. It's another example of that. And it had I not done that, I would have never gotten the cover of podcast magazine, I would have never gotten Matthew McConaughey. It's like all of that happened because I put myself out there. And because I had that,

also had that podcast or community, because then I was like, hey, I'll do a commercial read for you on my podcast. I'll do a contest on my LinkedIn and you guys can promote your software or your platform to my 60 podcast influencers. Again, you're providing value for them and they're giving you value back. So it's like this exchange of value that I think is just motivating for people.

It's just true. I love that. And you always seem to think outside the box, which I think is another huge key. People for some reason, like if you do something, they're doing that on the heels and just following what they see, rather than thinking, well, how can I, like you said, sort of skip and leap over and swirl around until you get where you want to be? And that's what I'm doing on Clubhouse now. And now I'm doing the same thing on Clubhouse, being creative and figuring out how can I hack this thing?

So I'm dominating on this app and monetizing on this app. And now I'm doing the same thing on Clubhouse where I'm networking with the club owners. Now I've got programming on the biggest clubs on Clubhouse. And I'm going to be able to sell the biggest room on Clubhouse and then things like that. So it's all about being creative and understanding like who you need to know and leveraging what you have

as like, you know, a way to get your foot in the door and provide value. A lot of, like, this is not gonna work. I guess this is why I keep stressing it. It's not gonna work if you have nothing to leverage. If you go to these podcast apps or to anyone and you're like, promote me, but I have nothing to give you back.

That's, it's not gonna work. You have to build something first. You have to have one thing, one platform that nothing to give you back. It's not going to work. You have to build something first. You have to have one thing, one platform that's going to give you leverage. And content is king. I always say this from the day that I started my blog. I've always believed in really having a massive amount of value to provide the people that are in your community. So that those people, of course, trust you because you're being helpful and from a genuine place. But I think that's also something you can't just have like a big platform with nothing,

no like gusto behind it. Like you have to have people who love you and trust you, who will follow you to the different platforms and that's what you leverage more than just numbers because I feel like these days people can like buy that shit. You know, but they can't buy genuine followers. And the same is all like similar you, because you are an influencer, you offer a variety of things like all of the thing, like I'm on a podcast, I'm on clubhouse, I'm

on this. You're like, well, I'm providing different sorts of content. I have a blog, I have an actual line, I have this podcast. So it's like, yeah, you might be good in like one lane, but don't be too scared to branch out to similar things to continue to build horizontally instead of just vertically. Well, it's cool because not everyone consumes content the same way. So maybe somebody who isn't necessarily going to sit on their Instagram and like watch my story all the day is actually, you know, driving to their corporate job and a podcast is better. It makes more sense for them to get their daily dose of me doing that. Then it does to have something that's visually stimulating like Instagram. So recently,

I've been expanding to other platforms as well. And primarily because I kind of thought, like I didn't want to bore people. And at first, I didn't want to be like, well, I don't want to put similar content on TikTok as I do on Instagram as I do wherever else. But I quickly learning that all of the different platforms also have such a different followership that there isn't as much crossover as you would think. So if you are still putting up similar content, you're going to have like a totally different group of people watching it, then you would on your Instagram or wherever else. You probably find that all to be true for podcasts and clubhouse like totally different

audience. But they're thirsty for what you offer. Yeah, I love clubhouse for that reason, because I feel like everybody on LinkedIn knows who I am, and it was really hard for me to break out on Instagram. First of all, I think I'm Shadowband on Instagram, because I'm Palestinian, and I was always like pro human rights, so I feel like they Shadowband band on Instagram.

I don't even have Reels, so I don't have Reels. Everybody has Reels except for me in the world. So like, it was really hard for me to grow my Instagram. When I got on Clubhouse, it was really interesting because all of a sudden I was like, met all these podcast influencers on Instagram and they helped me out on my channel.

And then plus, the Clubhouse trickle down to Instagram is crazy because there's no DM feature on Clubhouse, although they said yesterday they're going to put one out. But right now, there's no DM feature on Clubhouse. And so everybody has to DM me on Instagram. My Instagram went from 4K to like 13K in three months. And it's like, I had no growth on Instagram before that. And it's all because of Clubhouse and kind of expanding my network and having that organic

growth on clubhouse. Instagram and general, I think makes it really hard to grow. And it's interesting that you say that because I've felt like that for a long time where they make it difficult to grow. I just thought that it was when you got to a certain level. I think it's just probably their algorithm changes. But when I hit like over 500,000, it was so much harder. Like you just feel like it's slow and it's crazy. I mean, they basically screw you a lot when it comes to views on stories and stuff

because they can be like, yeah, they can be like crazy good one day and then it's like cut in half the next day and then it's like really good again. It's it's this roller coaster ride and ride and from what I can tell, there's not a lot of rhyme and reason. Um, so it's it's interesting, which I think is another reason to put other things out there, which is why I love doing things like podcasting and blogging really because owning Your platform more so that way. It's just different than than being on Instagram where you can't really control all that stuff

Yeah, and you never know when any of these things are gonna go away They could shut down your account in a second you don't own them. So having that email list is super important That's why I love my podcast. I feel like I own all the 200K subscribers on my podcast. And I can tell them whatever I want and nobody's ever going to shut me down. You know, so that's a great point because I mean, that's very true. Like my Instagram could get shut down tomorrow. And I have no access to those folks. But if the majority of them are listening to my podcast, I still have that touch point and that connection opportunity.

Yeah. So I've actually thought about this extensively because I got hacked on Instagram like two Christmas's ago maybe, and it was so scary. Thank God I have a lot of very kind friends in the space that were all tagging Instagram for me because I couldn't log in.

And so a lot of my girlfriends were tagging, saying that I had been hacked and I friendly got a contact. But it's also, I feel like Instagram is this like hole in the sky that you can ever reach anyone else. So yeah, exactly. I feel like it's ridiculous that I don't have reals. I'm like, and I always ask people like, do you know anyone? Turn it on. Yeah, I know that's how I feel about even getting verified because they say one of the main things is that you have people who are, I guess like faking being you on Instagram and I get people sending me that all the time and it's really infuriating when people pretend to be you because they like steal photos and kinsley and stuff which really pisses me off but it's a whole other

a whole other topic but same thing. And again, though it's because there's not a lot of touch points there I think. I'm super super grateful for Instagram in many regards because they definitely went I have such an easy touch point with my followers who all feel like friends to me at this point if I didn't have that. So I'm like, highly grateful for it, but I do think it's good to diversify. Yeah. Hala, I'm gonna see who I know in Instagram to get you some real girl. Leave. I'll try to reach out to my contact spray. Okay, so for those of you guys who are listening, we're doing this via me and Briar at her house and then Holly, are you at your house?

Yes. Okay, Holly's at her house and but we're all like video calling so we can see each other and your makeup is fire and that does mean a lot coming from me. I will say so, so I'm curious. What are your favorite? Like give me top five favorite beauty products and you make it back? Hmm.

Great question. So I love Smashbox foundation. I actually started using it like six months ago. And I think it's so good. And halo. It's comes in like a glass bottle. Oh, it's the photo shoot one. I know you want.

Yeah. It's like comes on. I'll even do like a lot of moisturizer and put it on in my face won't be like super shiny. So it's really good. I love using the NARS the NARS stick blush. Sorry, I'm not good with names. No, I think you're good. It's like this like NARS, their NARS cream blush. So good. I love using good. I love using the, uh, that sexy mascara. What is that big two-faced? Yeah. Yes. The pink big fat lash mascara, whatever it's called big sexy lash or something like that. You know what? I'm not that like like you like we're like, I'm going to be like, Oh,

use this exact product. I have, I just like go to Ulta and spend a shit done of money. And I just see you like your writer dies. You don't have any other writer die less house. You like just such. just such. I like have you ever heard of Laura. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lureck lipstick. Oh my gosh. I like eat that stuff. That stuff is that lipstick is so good. It is so soft and like so moisturizing and really pigment rich. So if I had one thing, it would be that Laura lipstick. Okay. We like it. Cream lipstick is bomb. Perfect.

And and that that foundation that I totally those are my two packs. One one of the thing. Bye-bye under eye. It cosmetics is a miracle if you don't have sleep. I put like click just powder on it. It's so good. It's so thick and like you could get no sleep and look like amazing. Yeah, I need to retry it. Maybe have you tried the turret shape tape? I have, but it's so fragrant and I don't put fragrance on my skin. Okay. I think that's one of the reasons why I have like no wrinkles and I'm 30, you know, and it's because it's because I don't put fragrance on my skin.

I think that is the key. I use everything fragrance free even in my hair and I think it keeps me like super young. You guys are speaking German. Sorry, I'm back to what we're talking about. I'm kidding. I'll have to take your tips from, I'll write, I'm writing this down and I'm going to try that note.

What is it? Bye bye under eye. Bye bye under eye. That is, I think that is my number one thing. Like literally if I was on an island, I would take bye-bye under eye, even though nobody would see me, but that would be my number one. I think as women sometimes, so we're less concerned even about what everyone else thinks and sees, and we want to look good for ourselves, you know.

So you bring that under eye to your island girl. Oh my gosh. Okay. So if you could provide people with something that you wish you would have known when you started and something now that you are where you are, you can tell people just as a takeaway and some advice, what can you say for all the ladies listening? Okay, so something that I knew, that I wish I knew when I started, is that whatever you believe literally comes a reality. And when I was younger, every time I was like, just focus on my goals and myself,

I would just like, you know, skyrocket up anytime that I would listen to outside people and their beliefs and not my own is when I'd be stagnant, like working at HP for four years. I could have been a celebrity way before that. If I had just listened to my own gut instead of wanting to impress my parents or my boyfriend or whoever, like, you know, wanted something else for me than what I actually wanted for myself.

So actually listening to yourself and what you want, believing in what you want, believing that life is limitless, writing down your beliefs, and then executing on them, and kind of not listening to anyone who wants to give you advice that has never been to where you want to go. I wanted to be like a radio personality and online personality. Nobody in my life had that experience before. And so they always told me it's not

possible because they believe it's not possible for themselves, but it's not impossible for me because I have it within me and that's actually what I want. So just understanding that life is limitless is super important, especially when you're young and you, you know, you want to listen to your mom and your dad or these influences in your life, but sometimes even though they love you, they don't give you good advice. And so I think that's something to really, really take key to that. People who love you, be nice to them. They probably have your, you know, they have good intentions, but it's not in your best interest to listen to people who haven't been where you want to go. I love that. And what's that quote? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

It's not always going to get you where you want to go. And do you set goals? How do you do your, like yearly, monthly, whatever goals? Because you are just saying basically like you're speaking on goals. How do you do that? Well, I do a lot of visualization. So I feel like I manifested like everything in my life. I manifested being a number one podcast. I manifested being on the cover of podcast magazine. These are all things that I've thought about before and like wrote down and then they happened. Like it's freaking ridiculous. I can manifest to the point where the other day I had a viral post on LinkedIn and I told my team, we're gonna get to 30K likes, then we got to 30K likes

and it was stagnant and I was like, fuck it, let's get to 50K and then we got to 50K. I feel like I can manifest anything now. And it's just being so like really, really believing that it's already happened. And sometimes I find myself even exaggerating a lot because it's like, I know that that's part of getting what I want is exaggerating and like already believing that I have what I what what I don't have yet. Yeah, bam. If you're ready to take your business to New Heights, break through to the six

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Masterclass.com-profiting. Yeah, it goes back to the, you experience what you believe. Yeah. So what's next for you? Like are you gonna really hone down on the podcast and own that and drive that through? Do you have other? Well, I have an agency. So I started something called the app media where a social media agency would do LinkedIn, Clubhouse, Instagram, podcasting, production,

A-DZ. And so we have huge clients. It's already generated a million dollars in revenue. And so it's huge. I have 40 employees and that's growing and growing.. Eventually, I wanna get a COO to kind of manage the agency so that I have more time to record podcasts, to write a book, to do more speaking engagements. I have a TEDx in June, so like doing all that kind of stuff, wanna have a conference and a mastermind, eventually all this clubhouse sponsorship stuff, figuring that out, my company is becoming like a liaison between brands and influencers on clubhouse and monetizing

those rooms. So that's a huge project. There's so much going on. I want to be the biggest podcaster in the world. I want to be the biggest female podcaster in the world. And that's my goal. And this agency is great. It's funding everything, which is fantastic, but it's not my dream.

It's not my dream to be the CEO of a marketing agency. It's just kind of funding everything. It goes back to what you said earlier about doing something where you're kind of like the world's view of successful versus actually feeling fulfilled. So I want to walk through as I last little things. I think this is super valuable for people and it can be literally anything in your life, but walk us through how you personally visualize something into happening. That's basically what we're talking about here. Give me an actual step by step.

Any example that you want to use that can be big or small, give us some takeaways. Yeah, so this is really funny. For a long time, my podcast downloads were stagnant. I was getting great guests and I was huge on LinkedIn and everybody thought I had a big podcast and it was great. But like literally every month, I would be like 3,000 downloads, 3,000 downloads, 2,500, 4,000, like nothing big jumps, right? I would literally stare at my screen and I would imagine that the line was going straight up. And I would always imagine that. And I'd be like, this line is going to be at 100K. This line is

going to be at 100K. And like every day, I would like every time I'd open it. And I'd be like, this line is going to be at 100k. This line is going to be at 100k. And like every day I would like every time I'd open it up, I'd be like, and for a long time, I didn't do that. For a long time, I didn't even think about doing that. And then I was like, I need to start visualizing. And I would visualize that my, my chart was hockey stick. And I would write out, I would draw it out that my chart was a hockey stick. And as soon as I started doing that, I started getting creative ideas. And all these things that I was blind to, I started realizing people are not on Apple. Like I just told you, I started realizing

I could leverage LinkedIn. Let me email, let me shoot my shot. Let me just ask people to feature me in app. And once I started to visualize and believe that my chart was going to reach 100,000, it's like before I knew it, literally the chart that I drew in my journal to visualize and believe that my chart was gonna reach a hundred thousand. It's like before I knew it, literally the chart that I drew in my journal

is the chart that I have in my podcast app now. It's like literally like flat hockey stick. Like you know, it's crazy. And so that's an example of something that I manifested and how I did it. I love that. And I think it's really one of those moments where you can kind of like pire stuff on the back

because it's cool to think I saw a quote the other day that said something along the lines of think that where you are now is one day where you where you can kind of like pat yourself on the back because it's cool to think I saw a quote the other day that said something along the lines of think that where you are now is one day where you wish you would be. And it's cool because obviously I feel like all of us are super ambitious, we're always thinking about what's next, but it's important sometimes to take that moment to pat yourself on the back and say like, I visualized this, I manifested this, I wanted this so bad one day and now I'm here. And then obviously you can keep going, but I just think that moment of gratitude is so

important. And I want you to give us one more example of doing this in like an everyday life situation. Like say, you like me, like I've kind of like I've fallen off my fitness game a bit and I'm like trying to get back on like visualizing my best body, et cetera, nourishing myself properly, like all that. Give us like something like that where it's like an everyday example no matter what somebody does for a career that they can use in their life. Well, I love to manifest parking spaces. That's like my favorite thing to do. I love to

do that. I was just doing that the other day. And so the key is to like be super positive and you know, have no negative thoughts. Believe that you have a parking space. Say it out loud. It's waiting for you. Totally believe it. And then the other day, I just got my vaccine. And so I haven't done anything social. And I went to a party to meet some clubhouse people this weekend. And everyone was like, you got to take an Uber. There's going to be no parking. And I was like, I want to drive. I'm going to get a parking spot. I'm going to manifest that I literally got a parking spot right in front of the venue Like literally did not have to walk like two like 10 feet and I got my parking spot because I was just positive

And I manifested it and I was like there's no option like there's that I'm getting a parking spot So going back to the hockey stick chart numbers for your podcast I think that there are people that will open that and say, are you serious? That was an amazing episode. Why am I stuck at 2,500, right? And they go back and they're like, oh my God, what the hell? Like, I've been, that was an amazing guest. And it's like the why, why I deserve this.

But I think having that approach of like, I can do this. Well, because it's wasted energy, otherwise, what you're doing is you're, if you think about two different buckets of a negative energy and a positive energy, and think about what's one you're pouring into. If you're pouring into your positive energy, that's what's gonna get full and overflow, and if you're pouring into the negative energy,

that's what's gonna get full. So we wanna starve the hell out of the negative bucket and just overflow the positive. Yeah, and I think it's just like a mental shift to your point. When you're thinking so negatively, you're only going to track that negativity in your life. And when you're thinking about the future and believing that, you know, I am a top podcast or I'm believing that I did reach 100k, you know, downloads a month. Like I said, you start to realize that there's other opportunities out there and you, you start to just be more

aware. It's like these opportunities are probably flying by your face every day, but you're blind to them because your negative and your vibration is turned off and you can't attract, like, attracts like. So if you're negative, you cannot attract the positive. And so even if the opportunity is right around you in your face, you'll never see it. And so as soon as you kind of switch that mindset and become more positive, you actually see the opportunities available in your life.

And so that's what I think happened to me. I was working really hard. I was working just as hard. I've always been a hard worker. It was the mental shift that changed for me. And part of it was actually my father dying and me realizing that life has a time limit and I want to make sure that I can just go all in and take any opportunity and this is happening. I've already failed several times as you guys have heard.

And so I was like, this time it's it, it's now or never, let's go. Same, that's actually really crazy that you just said that because my dad passed away as well, like, two and a half years ago and it's just one more random thing that we have in common. But it really does make you realize like how fragile life is and how why not? I think that was a big turning point for me in propelling the things that I wanted to propel forward, not giving a shit what other people think if their opinion is just an opinion and really like viewing life from a different standpoint. It does change you. Like people ask me that a lot.

People say like, did your dad die and change you? And I think that they want the answer to be no. And the answer is yes. Like it does. It just does change you. And I think for the better, like although I would give anything for him to be here, I am so grateful for the lessons that I learned because I think that it built me into a stronger version of myself. Yeah, I totally agree.

I think my dad passing away gave me all the motivation in the world, plus the guidance, I think from him, from heaven, you know? And just everything just started falling in place. It's crazy. I see that all the time. And I've told like little stories of this, but not really either on my Instagram or like here on the podcast in my personal

episode that was the first one but my dad is like my my sign for him or the way that I know that he's here is always like a rainbow and it happened right after he passed and then like right after I announced my divorce I saw a rainbow anytime I need something or I have a question of something there is a a rainbow. And it's always when, I need it, I need it so bad. And there could be a blue sky. There's not a cloud in the sky. And all of a sudden, there's a rainbow. And it's like, you just can't make this up, you know? Wow. That's amazing.

I wish I still don't know what my sign is when he's around. It was pretty fresh, but here we are. Successful, ladies. And happy to be here at the Bad Ass Basic Bitch Show. Yes, girl, thank you so much for joining us. Hala, we loved having you, and I love to check out your podcast as well, so thanks so much for hanging out with us next time. We'll have to do this with a glass of wine or something, and you're amazing.

You are one Bad Ass Basic Bitch. Thank you. Thank you so much, Hala. Thanks, guys. You're so much fun. Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, to be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative? I'm Gretchen Ruben, the number one best-selling author of the Happiness Project. And every week, we share ideas and practical solutions on the Happier with Gretchen Ruben Podcast.

My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister Elizabeth Kraft. That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, TV writer and producer in Hollywood. Join us as we explore fresh insights from cutting-edge science, ancient wisdom, pop culture, and our own experiences about cultivating happiness and good habits. Every week we offer a try this at home tip you can use to boost your happiness without spending a lot of time energy or money.

Suggestions such as follow the one minute rule. Choose one-word theme for the year or design your summer. We also feature segments like, know yourself better, where we discuss questions like, are you an over buyer or an under buyer? Morning person or night person, abundance lever or simplicity lever? And every episode includes a happiness hack, a quick, easy shortcut to more happiness. Listen and follow the podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. DQ presents Picture this. You're getting together with all your best friends.

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