My guest today is jewelry designer Jennifer Fisher plus Salt Bay. She has a line of salts. She had a line at CB two. She's one to be reckoned with. Since launching Jennifer Fisher Jewelry, she relocated to New York and her brand continues an eclectic expansion that now includes fine jewelry, a singular fragrance I want the Fragrance, by the way, and a line of kitchen salts. Now we are diving in to talk all about her business on just be influenced.
Let's get into it. She works with her husband. That's a therapy session in and of itself. Jennifer Fisher, jewelry designer aka Salt Bay. So I can't believe I'm saying this sentence, but I think I first and only met you at Jennifer Lopez's house.
I was going to say the same thing I was going to say. I wonder if she remembers that. But yeah, it was fourth of July and we met at Jlo's house, which.
Is like, I don't say that because it doesn't happen. I don't go to Jalo, Like I'm not like at Jalo's house. That just one year, I happened to be at Jalo's house, but it's not like a typical traditional thing for me. Every Fourth of July, Jalo and I are just hanging out with Ben and everybody else. What about you? How are you there.
Fourth of July parties? I think that was the third time I was there.
Wow, Okay, she likes hoops, to be fair.
She does. Yeah, so she likes my hoops. So that's a lucky lucky girl. But I haven't been there a while, so not since Ben.
I'm sure she'll invite you after hearing this podcast, both of us will go there.
By the way, she has good Fourth July parties. And they played volleyball with her family and it was like this funny story. Were you there when we were playing volleyball? Was at a different year and.
I think that you guys were playing, but yeah, I were on the same team.
And she's like, there can only be one Jen. Get on the other team because people are like Jen, Jen, that's hilarious.
There can only be one Jen, And I'm not sure if it's hard to it's hard to compete with j Loo. So how did you get so?
So?
How did you get started as a jewelry. Are you a jewelry designer or just like a curator? How did you get into the jewelry business and the jewelry designer?
So okay, So I went to USC. Well, first of all, I studied I grew up in Santa Barbara, California. I went to USC. I studied business marketing. But you know, little did I know? My grandfather was a polo player up in Santa Barbara, old school cowboy, would wear a cowboy hat. And my dad was in the car business. But my dad also readd Spanish homes up in Montecito before Montecita was like you know, Oprahville and everything right
like a beat little sleepy beach town. And my dad always made sure that my grandfather had a space to do his silver work, which he was a silversmith in his spare time. And I would literally sit on the washermand dryer and watch my grandfather make these amazing you know, rodeo buckles, bolo ties money and he was kind of a badass, like he taught like Tommy Lee Jones and Sophster Stallone and all those guys how to play polo.
He's like this old school cowboy. And so I didn't really think about it much because I was kind of a tomboy as a girl, and I, you know, I were a lot of vintage, didn't wear a lot of jewelry growing up. I wasn't a girly girl. And after I graduated USC, I thought I wanted to be a publisher of a magazine. And I got my first internship at La Style magazine. And if you remember that magazine, yes, I was on the publishing side. And I watched the rocks of clothing go by, and I was like, you know,
I've always loved clothing. I was like lucky enough. When I was little, my mom got me a subscription of Vogue magazine and I literally like plastered my entire wall and covers and spreads. And I always loved fashion, and I was like, this is not for me. I need to work in fashion, and YEA literally moved. I switched. But I had a whole career before I was a jewel designer. I was a wardup stylist in in California. So I styled like, you know, sets and sets of
and of commercials for TV. I fell into the business. My friend worked for commercial director of Propaganda Films and he literally.
Remember wasn't propaganda film.
I was like Michael Bay and Anton Fwakwall, like all those big movie guys started there as commercial directors. And that was like in the nineties. Like I dated Matt LeBlanc because you like, we worked on the NBC lot together when I worked at Aaron's for Aaron Spelling. Like, I had this whole career in wardrobe before I was a jewelry designer, so amazing had too. Matt and I
broke up. I came to New York with one of the guys that was on the soap opera that I worked for for Aaron Spelling, and met up with one of my best friends brothers, groups of friends, and there was this cute guy there named Kevin, and we started dating. It was and it was my best friend's cousin, and he lived in New York. I lived in LA and we would literally every two weeks get on a plane
to see each other. And I turned I was just watched in thirty and I was one day at a wedding at Tribeca rooftop under Rosas Street, you know, and I had a strapless dress on and I had like the lighting was real.
I lived right there. I lived right there. I lived in the same building jay Z and Beyonce lived in.
I know that was right, my friend in that building. It's a great building.
Uh huh.
So I had this lump on my chest and I was like terrified. It was right before I turned thirty, and we couldn't figure out what it was. And thank god Kevin's dad was a doctor. We thought it was breast cancer. Flew to LA to see a breast cancer specialist and it turns out it's something called a desmoid tumor, which is a rare soft tissue sarcoma that basically is a kiloid scar that turns into a tumor. It's wow,
women get them their uterses after having children. It's like a trauma scar on the interior of your body that turns into a tumor. This is all has meaning in the story.
So not it has meaning without the story.
That's insane to the jewelry. I meant, but I went through chemo there, so at the time, people didn't really know how to deal with these types of tumors. And thank god my father in law, well my boyfriend's father at the time, had ends at UCLA and one was a soft tissue tissue cancer specialist, and he got me in right away and he's like, listen, we don't really know how to deal with these types of tumors, but let's try chemotherapy before radiation. We can always go to radiation.
We've seen it work in some cases. So I went through twelve rounds of hydros methotrexate chemotherapy. I did it at Cedar Sina in Los Angeles, and then I did it here at Saint Vincent in New York. And this is how long ago. This was When I was thirty and I'm fifty two now.
Oh same age, where the exact same. So this is traumatic, wow, and a lot.
It was a lot. Yeah, you know we were dating. He proposed while I was going through chemotherapy, and then we got married like nine months after I finished chemotherapy. I like had to wear hair piece. I didn't lose all my hair. And by the way, now super clear, it's not cancer unless it's given blood flow, So mine technically is not cancer. It's a sarcoma. So I just wanted to be really clear about that.
Yes, okay, I don't what is a sarcoma? What does starcoma.
Mean, it's like a soft tissue tumor.
Which is different than an actual cause answer, it's like what is it because it's like control, it's like isolated, Like it's isolated.
So if you cut. So the guy who actually did the biopsy on it, you couldn't get anything out with a needle biopsy, so he did a regular biopsy on it, and which he probably should have never because it could have given a blood flow and it could have turned into an actual CANCERUS tumor, which it hasn't. So like, yeah, migrated, okay, totally. So I worked the whole time. I was still a
commerial style. I said this amazing director in LA that let me do jobs in New York and California while I was going through all this, and it was it was hell. It was really really hard and you know, sounds horrendous. I was really sick. But anyways, got through it, tumor shrunk, We got married, and then when we wanted to have children, my own colleges was like, no fucking way, you can't carry a child. Your tumor grows from estrogen.
So you know, I knew this going through this, and that's I knew that I cut to prior to the story. My tumor grew quickly because I had switched my birth control pill when I was thirty. So that's how that tumor how it anyways, So we at the time it was illegal in the state of New York to have a surrogate care for you, which is really interesting. It was legal in New Jersey, Vermont, Florida, and California. So at the time we're like, Okay, Kevin grew up in Brentwood.
I grew up in Santa Barbara, and both of our parents sets of parents were alive at the time, so we're like, let's do it in California because we can have the baby and then spend time with the grandparents. Went through the whole process of surrogacy, which is a long process. You're like selling yourself. There's like books of you and your family. And we found an amazing surrogate that lived in Sacramento, went through IVF. She got pregnant
the first time, miscarried at twelve weeks. Second time we saw heartbeat, and then she miscarried at sixteen weeks. I was like, oh, oh my god, Oh yeah. I was like at the Hilton and Sacramento, like by myself, and we found out there was no heartbeat, and I had to go through the DNC with her. It was horrible. I felt so bad for her, and then she quit and so then I came back to New York. I went through IVF on my own, even though they didn't want me to do it. I was like, I'm going
to try it. So I went through IVF here unsuccessful.
Yeah, but I thought you said it was bad for the cancer. So it wasn't about you not being able to do what it was about being well.
They never they didn't want me to carry. Yeah, they thought that my be an influx eshered in my body by carrying my but we didn't know I'd never been pregnant before. So okay, I went through the eye of just to see if we could get more eggs, and we couldn't. They were not lining up. They're like, sorry, we think something happened a chemo. We thought the met the tricks, it was fine, but obviously something's going on with your eggs that you know you have to adopt
to get an egg donor. So we were literally like what are we going to do? And I got pregnant. Wow, you know what, I'm going to keep this baby and I'm going to see what happens.
It's a miracle.
Yeah, And that was my son, Shane. And so I had Shane. It was a totally normal pregnancy and my tumor did not grow. I was high risk, but it wasn't even a high risk pregnant. I was completely fine the entire time. Wow, and my tumor actually shrunk. I'm a case study at Emory University of women of child bearing age that have gone and to have kids with this tumor and habit not grow. So anyway, so that was my sage. That's magic. Yeah, it was crazy. It
was literally like the miracle child. So when yeah, people started giving me a little gifts to represent him, and I was like, Oh, that's so sweet, that's so cute, that's so pretty, But that's just so not me. I'm not going to wear that. I wanted something heavy and cool and customized, and I wanted to just write because it was a really big deal that I had this kid. Right Oh. I literally being a resourceful stylist, I went up to forty seven Seventh Street and I was like
knocking on doors. I'm like, well, someone like drew it do on a pieces of people like, well, someone make me this dog tag? Please don't someone to make it? And finally I found this one person that would make it for me and it said Shane and I would wear. I wore it on a heavy gold chain and it was sort of like down low and I was, you know, wearing tank tops onset and all the grips and the gaffers and all the guys are like what does that say?
You know?
It was like an instant conversation piece. And I started literally making them for people on set Bethany and really yeah, literally, and I'm yellow gold. I was silver, yellow gold, And it's just different, like people always used to charm bracelets, not really charm necklaces. Back then. It was like there wasn't really anything out there that was like edgy and cool enough that really like worked for me. So I made one for Uma Thurman and she got it delivered
the day I was run through her hairsteck. And it got delivered the day that she was shooting a Glamor magazine cover and she wore it on the cover. Stop yeah, And it had her kids names on it when her moon moon was her daughter and then Circle was her son and had her kids' names and and so she wore it that and people were like, oh, you know, celebrity mom jeweler.
And it was just of course like the one you know, Jala wore that necklace that Ben got her that like then that brand everybody knew about. And it's the same one Kelly rip about me, you know the brand recently who cares. You'll know it has like almost astrologic right you know. Okay, so all right, so that happened.
Yeah, So so that happened. And then I literally was like still styling on set and working, and I was like, I really hate this. It's like four am on on on set. I'm like I don't want to do this anymore. And I would, you know, my husband would come home from work and he worked in finance, and he'd be like, Jen, this is like a business. You've got orders all over the bedroom. I was literally shipping and fulfilling orders out of my bedroom in Soho and I started.
Making any money or no.
Yeah, I mean it's you know, it was pretty good. It was gold jewelry, and I was selling it direct to consumer, and I was like, you know, I was talking to a bunch of people that were selling jewelry, and everybody was like, you know, don't wholesale the fine jewelry because they take everything on consignment. So I was like, you know, my business model is going to be direct to consumer for the fine jewelry only. Still to this day,
we sell it direct to consumer only. We don't sell it to department stores.
So that's what they meant by don't whole So they mean, don't go sell it to a store, don't have a middle person.
Well, yeah, don't go sell to a store because you've got to put millions of dollars of inventory out into these games.
No, not even just that there's a middle person, but that you have to write the net thirty and all that stuff. Okay, got it way? You know that is yeah, okay, but little in the.
Struggle is real. Like I, you know, I just hustled, and you know, I always loved fashion and it was charms, and so I became friends with a lot of editors and they were saying to me, you know, it's charm jewelry, Like it's not really magazine cover jewelry, Like we need stuff that feels more editorial. So I was like, you know what, let me try to make some things. So I started making some things in brass and sending them to magazines sort of, I'm just so they looked like gold.
And we started getting placements and magazine covers, and I was like, okay, this.
Is okay, hold on, so this is a brand. This was then not a brand. Then it was a side hustle. But you were still making money.
Well, no, I quit. I quit styling at this time at one point.
How much money did you make on this business to then say I'm quitting, you know, like.
You know, not that much. I was like, you know, I was a stay at home mom. I was then pregnant with my daughter, Drew, and I had another child, so I have two kids. So I was still a side hustle.
You were making money, but like money okay. And then and then what were the struggles? Like what was the problem? What did you run into that you didn't think you run into because I did this with at the same time you were doing that, I was doing that with pesh minas when that exploded, and the same type of thing I had, like every I was the first to do pash mina in La. They had it at Nieman's or a few stores like one or two shawls, but it wasn't a real business. No, it wasn't a business
at all. And I started ordering them. I was completely broke, but ordered fifty from India. They were charging five hundred of nemens. I ordered fifty from India, and then I started like displaying them in like gradations of the color next to candy from this bulk candy place. And so Mahayek was buying, and Susan Sarandon and everybody in the industry was buying because I knew everybody. And to the point of what you're talking about. When you LA's very small,
it's different than New York. You know everybody. You go to a scholar for lunch, you know every person. You just know everyone, so right, so everybody just knows everybody, and that's like a way to end. Celebrities are everywhere, so the same thing, Like I could just get a pachemna into a celebrity and then you're the person that sold pesh meenas to celebrities that don't even know who I am, but they had my shawls, right.
Like same kind of thing that you did. Like I was like a hustler, like I, you know, I didn't have the marketing dollars to pay celebrities to wear my stuff, which you know, that's all They didn't.
Even exist then, that didn't even exist.
Then, It's like and I was like, listen, I'm going to make sure that I leverage every relationship I had from when I was a stylist to get this jewelry on whoever I can. And I literally get the products.
I always say, I put the product in the people's mouths. If it's food, so you put the product in the people's mouths. But my problem was getting excited and believing my own bullshit. I was broke.
I wasn't a mom.
I was really broke, and I was like, I thought, this is it because we were selling so many pashmina and I did a trade show. And then when I got jammed up was when I over expanded, meaning I made too many different things. I should have the passmina was being copied and sold on streets and Lexington Avenue a couple of years later, so I was making pajamas and ponchos, but it didn't hit and it was like more expensive to make those samples. So that was my mistake.
What was yours? I totally got it. I still have this mistake to this day. Like, you know, skew reductions too many products, Like it's so typical for like every business to go through this. You know, you have a product that you think is going to hit and it doesn't. You know, you're like, this is gonna be the greatest thing, and then you know, I made these these puffy heart earrings recently, and I was like, no one's going to buy these, and then people went fucking nuts for them.
The heart. Oh we'll get you some puffy hearts. These giants heard earrings and people love them, like we can't keep them in stock. It's like it's like you can't guess what's going to hit. Like if you try to guess, you're automatically guessing wrong. Right, it's like an.
Entrep So what are the cautionary tales? So what all the cautionary tales are? You have to make so much from one thing that you are playing with the houses money to expand to another. You have to take the risk, Like what are you telling the people who are starting businesses?
I think I think you have to take the risk. You're not going to know, but you have to be able to come back around and regauge and refocus quickly. Like that's what I think a lot of people, especially a lot of women that are trying to start businesses and don't know what to do is you know, they're they're paralyzed by fear of rejection of you know, failure, failure, thank you of failure. And it's it's something that you just have to like work through, Like it is terrifying.
I'm fulfilled a fear every day that I wake up. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not terrified. You know why, It's just, you know, what are you afraid of? We've we've bootstrapped this company with our own way. I haven't taken any outside investors. You know, it's my whole life is in it. It's it's scary, Bethany.
And why do you what do you want changing that?
Now? We're changing that. You know, we want to bring in a strategic partner. You know, we've we've uh, we've made our product too small for too long. You know. It's sort of those things where you.
It's very You're saying, it's like Barnies, where it's special and bespoke, but you need to like blow it out and go more mass.
Right, Well, you know you do in a sense because you need you need better, You need your cogs be better. You need to make sure you're making more money. You know, you've got more overhead, you know, opening stores. You have to just make sure. It's like such a balance, you know, you know it's from going through with your businesses.
It's like, yeah, of course, so, but they don't want to understand the model. So who's the WII?
You said, We, Oh, my husband and myself.
My husband, My husband runs the business with me, so he this is his business like in other words, he doesn't he's not finance anymore.
Correct.
Okay, so it's your husband and you. That's another podcast on another time working your.
Husband that actually we should talk yeah over because i's a lot of messages from women or are just people in general of like working with spouses. That's like a whole other.
How many people work for the whole for the company.
We've got forty about forty plus now, so.
You're responsible for forty people and they're all like housed in the same place, like they're in some office space in New York.
Two stores we've got an office in Fifth Avenue in New York, and then we've got a store in Los Angeles and a store in Soho in New York.
So that's that's where you get into the challenge because now you've got like overhead, and you've got rent and you've got Okay, so you've got forty and forty people I've never had just for people listening. There are so many different models. I know pub assists that have not one hundred and fifty people to work for them. I have two assistants, and I have all like monthly consultants and lawyers, and but no one that I'm responsible for
except for like my house staff. So it's a model, and I'm not good at that, Like that would not I would do.
You're smart, though, you know it's it's one of those things where you know, you make choices to build your business certain ways, and you learn over time, like you know, you listen to people like you that are doing it leaner, and that's the smart way to do it.
Well, not necessarily. I mean what you were living on new media had hundreds of people in house and then they became public. It depends on There are so many roads to Rome. So it doesn't mean it's right or wrong, it's you're also manufacturing. Is everything where is it being manufactured?
Being manufactured in New York City?
So the forty people aren't part of that stuff. The manufacturing is not that fortunate.
Is outsourced. So we have people, we have we have contractors that work for us doing that.
So you are so you have forty people that are working in what like sales and marketing and PR and.
Marketing, PR, CFO, CMO, CRO, digital, amazing, all of that stuff. So you know we have so we've got so we built, we built and opened our first brick and mortar store during COVID. Wow, well I want to talk about I learned how to put on my individual eyelashes during COVID.
God my co oh, I'm sure that's still That's why I'm like, that's a major COVID scale.
It's a good. Yeah, we should talk about that lighting and lashes, Yeah, totally.
So all right, so you have forty people and now you guys want to take in a strategic investor.
Yeah we need Yeah, that's the plan. That's what we're working on right now.
So and what brand do you look at that you would like to follow the model.
So this is what's weird. So can we talk about how weird my business is the Salt You know that that's a.
Whole Oh wait, we didn't get into the furniture and the salt and the CB two, which you're a hustler, how you get these collabs. So but but before Salt was CB two, which was very impressive. And I have some of the things. I bought the dog separator. Yeah, I bought a lot of the ship the stuff that was really good. Your stuff with all that marble, it was amazing.
I remember you messaged me and you needed something and I was like, dude, it's sold out.
Like I I know, no, I love I always go back and look forward like it's still going to be there. I thought that was amazing and.
That's still happening, Like it's still they. I don't think they'll ever stop selling our swirl dish, the swirl dish, which is like this cut.
With the jewelry. Yes, but that's not there's a dish for jewelry too.
Yeah, there's all kinds of stuff, but this these dish sets outsold the white dish for the company wide.
Like, oh, so you still make money on that. You still have a license with them. Yeah, we do amazing, but I love Okay. So, so Jennifer did a collaboration with CBE two. By the way, they've done stuff with freaking Lenny Kravitz that I bet you hasn't even done as well. I mean it did. It was very good.
We were their best selling collob I mean to to. I don't quote me on this, but we were to the date, the best selling collab that they'd ever done. So much so.
Exactly see, I know my shit, I knew it. I could feel it. I scoured the catalog. I love CB two, and I was like everything was just I was like customer.
The desk was good, right.
The desk that was like a console. I remember, I think that's what you needed. A quiz, Yes, needed I never got it. You could give me a quiz.
I could give you.
I could do it.
I was on it all so much. Yeah.
There was some outdoor yeah yes, okay, yeah.
And it was a gray pwise points sold so fast, so great. So it was well that they're like, okay, let's do it. And so during COVID so okay, I literally launched it though beath Andy like when the world freaking shut down. We launched it on February twenty eighth of twenty of twenty twenty.
That thing but I'm talking about that was then that wash We watched it.
When the world shut down with COVID. The world shutdown was mark my my son's birthday.
Was that's great though, and was on looking at their computer.
Right and they're also sit stuck in their homes wanting to yes their houses in a way, in an affordable way.
And it was all of the stuff that I did, like I didn't made sure nothing was like freaking purple, like I'm my color palette was very new, neutral, always will be, always is who I am SA and I just kept it really simple and I just designed a ton of stuff that I you know, I originally don't sign like three hundred things, but we ended up going live with one hundred and eight pieces of just things that I thought were just regular things but cooler and
little did I know, it was sort of like the jewelry, Like people were like, oh my god, that's great, I want that too, amazing. I started cooking on Instagram, but before the CB two, I had launched the salts, Like I put the salts up on India.
So let's discuss a trip to salt. You go from Charms to Uma Thurman to CB two to salt. Like, I want to understand that term.
I'm weird. I'm just I've always just kind of done stuff that feels right for me, like like, what what are you gonna do? Like him? I am like you doing skinny girl? Like that? Like right like or whatever?
Mingle mock This is my mocktail. It's like, why because it's the sickest thing ever.
I need that because I stopped drinking alcohol about it. It's an half ago.
The best thing ever.
You'll freak out.
They're amazing because it's effectively like, am ready to drink mocktail. It's not the fake vodka or the fake gin. Ready to drink matya.
It's so good. So the salt. So the salt came from literally like I couldn't find what I wanted to put on my I have hashimotos also, do you know? Ah, yes, immune disease. Yes, So I've had to hashimoto since I was in high school and always like white weight, fluctuating, kind of not feeling great, brain fog to lethargic. And I found it intercronologists here in New York that got me off of gluten and had me eating protein in
the morning. And I couldn't find anything to put on my eggs that didn't have it wasn't like potpourri or like a barbecue rub. So I literally made like a little concoction of all the things that I like on a in a bowl on the side of my on
the side of my stove. The first one was the Universal salt, which has dil parsley crushed chilp So my dad used to send me his lemons from Santa Barbara when he was alive, and I would grate the lemon rind because I didn't want to waste any process, yes exactly, but not the piths, not the white part, just the.
Top of the zest, just the zest. So you used to do that with a microplane.
You get it. So yeah, I would dry it and I would use it in recipes. So I threw lemon in there and that was Universal salt, lots of black pepper, and I was started to put it on everything, and my husband was like this tastes really good, Like what are you using And I was like, it's that salt.
Concoction that I made on the side of the stove, and one day, as one did back on Instagram being annoying, when everyone was putting up their egg avocado toast, I put up mine next to like a picture of Rihanna and like hoops, and people were like asking more comments because I weren't DMS. Then like what is on your First of all, you can poach an egg. That's crazy, you can cook, and then also like what is that
what's that seasoning that's on your egg? And I was like, it's this concoction that I keep on the side of my stove, Like, well, where can we get it? And then editors started asking me, you know, how can they
get it? And we did it as a holiday gifting to all the editors back in the day when they still worked in magazines and at offices, because you know, they're all getting like chocolate bars with like brand logos or like people's face and I was like, let's give them something nourishing that they can actually eat at their desk when they're working crazy hours doing gift guides. So we set them an avocado a lemon. It was like
this crazy circus trying to get it done. So the avocado didn't freaking rot and like sit in the mail room at that so we uh chips like it's chili oil and my salt and it was the spicy salt and literally be any more. People and editors and chiefs were like, this is amazing, thank you so much. And it really resonated and then they all started to wanted to write about it and figure out how to buy it. So we figured out how to package it. I put it in this that you know you have them, the real.
Jars, And why isn't CB two carrying those? Because that feels very Oh okay, great, Well I just want to call them if there's a problem.
Okay, yeah, no, isn't aware. No, they do carry it.
But you need to get into like salt peppers and shakers like Airwin.
But you know, it's like the whole thing with Airwan is like.
Yeah, but are you going to get is that really? Is this profitable now? The salt thing? No, the subside thing.
We sell about seven hundred thousand dollars with the salt a year.
Okay, you get to a million, Okay, Okay, let's keep focused on the Let's keep focused on the jewelry.
Yeah, and home and all this. I really love doing all the interior stuff and it's you know, it's fun. You know. I did a scent during COVID. That was fun to do, you know, I.
You did a cent night, Yeah, I mean that's so. The home stuff is a no brainer. Jewelry is unrelateable.
It was so fun. I would love to do more furniture. I would love to do. Oddly, how weird is this office furniture love? Because there's like no cool office furniture, like those desks that they did. I feel like there just isn't a lot in that space, you know, So we'll see what happens office furniture, what, you know, any kind of home stuff. It's it's so fun to do.
And so after we did that, we did a Christmas collaboration with CB two, and then we did the kitchen collaboration because I was cooking so much on my because I have Jennifer Fisher Kitchen, which is my food Instagram where I like literally just like stick my camera in like the pot of whatever I'm cooking, and I like show everybody hit to cook, and like all the recipes are on my website too, So it's all those anti.
So you doing so your husband is what operations. He's operations and you are the creative, so he has to like lasso you in. Sometimes you're the idea hamster.
Constantly all day long. No, no, you're the idea hamster.
And he has to be like, we gotta get back and get focused, because you got if you try to please everybody, you please nobody exactly, Like you know what I mean. So he wants to protect the realm and he wants to focus on the skews that are really working, and he wants to build that business and he wants to like.
Blow that out right.
So you work with your husband for.
How long he's been with the brand for eight years?
That must have been a decision and a discussion like who decided that and how did that come up?
You know, he's cool. The great thing about Kevin my husband, is he's got zero ego and he is like, you know, at anytime it's time for me to exit, I'm out. I'm here. I was here to help you build the brand. You're my wife. It was like the perfect timing. It wasn't like he it wasn't like I'm going to leave to go build your brand. He was an exit from where he was going. He had to leave. It made perfect sense because it wasn't a competitor. So he came and helped me out and then just didn't leave. So
that's sort of the arrangement. So the arrangement is he will exit at some point, but just not yet.
And it's very obvious what he does and you do because those that goes right down the middle with the operation ones.
Right, and now we're building a team around us, which is like we have this killer team around us, which is makes all of the difference in the world. So it's not just him and I when like what do you do? What do you do?
You know?
Right, they know that they've did what they've done that worked at like big, very very big brands before, and know how to grow brands and how to scale and how to make sure that we're you know, positioning ourselves right, how to make sure that we're you know, we're merchandising correctly, how to make sure that we are you know, our ske count is correct.
You know, there's a lot of that that's very hard. I could tell you I that, like people listening, there are so many different models to business, Like I have a very different model, and it probably could have been so much even more. We are massive in many ways. If I had an infrastructure and operation like that. You have to do what is right for your personality. Like your husband's doing operations, you're doing the creative. You have these people around you. It's almost like you have advisory
and board and all these things. I it's it's it's very it's to be applauded. It's very hard, like you have all these elements. And I think that that's extremely amiable. To be honest, it's not for everyone, and not everyone can do it and nail it.
Yeah, it's really it's like I said, it's like I said, it's scary and it's hard, and it's our own cash and it's our own money, and it's you know, it's that's what it is.
And it's so, what mistakes have you made? What really big mistakes have you made? What would you do differently?
We make so many mistakes, I would say, you know, one of the big mistakes is probably you know, thinking that we could do it on our own for as long as we have. I think that you know, asking for help and getting the right people in and building the right team around you is really really important.
You mean spending that money that's hard to spend on these big salaries to have people under you that are experts in their field.
Is that what you mean? Because you know, like one of the people that works for me is one of my family members. You know, he's a cousin. You know, there's people, there's ways, there's creative ways of doing it, so you're not you know, killing yourselves on salaries. But you know, I think back end and things like that. Yeah, I think that. I think that, you know, having a product to deliver. I mean, you know what this is, having products and producing products and sourcing is key. You know,
I wish I had sourced earlier. You know. Also, what's kind of weird about our brand is that no one, no one else, Like there's really no other brands that have fashion jewelry the way we have the Hoop earrings and all of that fashion jewelry and then also have the fine jewelry component.
Yeah, there's a couple, but it's confusing. Yes, I understand what you're saying. You have to market that.
Two separate manufacturing chains, you know, So it's it's a lot there's a lot of moving parts. So you know, I wish that I, you know, earlier we worked on sourcing and manufacturing, you know, not necessarily the United States.
Okay, so you said two things. First, you said there was some mistake, was that you had to bring in other people around you that are experts. But could you afford to do that in the beginning, No, you can afford. Yeah, But then that wasn't a mistake because in the beginning you can't afford that, right, you know.
But it's sort of those things like I wish I had asked around more. I wish I had, you know. That's another thing too. I think this is a good thing to point out, is that you know, you I wish also that I, you know, at fifty two, when I turned fifty, I also have this mindset of I'm sure you do too, of sort of like I don't care what people think about me any longer. When I was earlier in my career, I was I was more guarded. I wasn't as open and transparent as I am now.
I was more concerned about what people thought about me and my brand. And then when I honestly, Bethany, I started like just being myself and like I don't you know? This is it, This is who I am, and I take it or leave it, And is when my brand really started to change and you know, we started to grow. I think people you know you.
Well, you allow for the possibility that it could fail because you're not so desperate about it. But then good things happen in a way, like you're kind of like, you know, new things, new things open up that you didn't think about because you're seeing it differently, like you don't nobody and for me, nobody has anything that I
want at this age. So it it opened leaving Housewives twice, like me leaving millions stuff because I and so it opened up other things that I didn't even think about or was looking for because I was just open and free. And I also didn't care. People thought I.
Was going to call you. I got a phone call to like talk to them, and I was like, I'm gonna call about the name.
Then I was interesting and I was like that now or back when they did.
This eason that they're doing now, that makes sense.
Then.
Fact, I've been asked a few times, but I've never gotten into any serious conversations with them. I've only just spoken to like the casting director, and then I was like, it's not right for me. At one point, I think it was when you were going back on the show, and I think they wanted another business woman on the show. Oh okay, looking for someone to sort of like be along there with you that had a company.
Well in a constructive way. I would say this. Until I left, I wasn't able to really creatively and freely think about my business and brand as a whole. Meaning I had made a lot of money on the on the Cocktail, and I made a lot of money doing the show and different things and had different licensing deals and they did really well and still do well, and you know, you know, a lot of money, like but it wasn't really nurtured and each thing wasn't really taken
care of in a holistic way. And when I left, I was able to have the breadth and the brain power to think about everything, because you can't really run a business while that you're having that diversion. You have four months of really filming, and your business becomes a side character. It cannot be the main character. They pretend that it's. You cannot run your business and be the main part of a show like that because you have to do things that you would never normally do in
gold places, you don't fit into your normal schedule. So now your business takes a back seat, and then you're also dealing with all the media.
Right.
Media is another job, and it's I watched them.
I watched them, and I watched them having to do it's like those posts that they have to do to watch the show, and I watch you know, I see them in it.
It's it's just and it also is Pete. It's they'll get four hundred and something thousand viewers for an episode. Now you could do an Instagram post and get close to that. Like, it's just the medium.
It's there.
They're working on soap operas ten years, fifteen years ago, or twenty years ago, whenever, So that's like the medium is. It's not the future, it's the past. So that's those are my reasons for you.
Right, No, I just didn't feel right for me and where I was with my business. But whenever they've sort of reached out. But yeah, but at one point was like I'm gonna call, I'm gonna text me that than you didn't get in touch with her and talk to her. But then I just didn't.
Yeah. I mean, if I was on, I would have told you to do it because it can help. But it depends on what you want. Like anything else, it depends on where you are. It's good for a lot of people who need a next chapter and they maybe they got a divorced or maybe they have financial issues and they like really want a burst of like relevance or something to happen that like they have an idea for something exist something. But you yeah, exactly something I've
spoken about it. Yeah yeah, yeah. So okay, So you said those were your mistakes, which doesn't sound like you've made any colossal mistakes to be perfectly honest, And what have you done that was really right? Like what did you nail?
What was really right? I think those collaborations like CB two was a really smart move. I think that. And it was like it was one of those things too that just was it was natural. They came to me. I really, it's right. Yeah. I met with the head of CB two responded over the fact that our kids played basketball, and like it was just like a natural it just felt right. It was one of those things. They were so easy to work with. They're based in Chicago,
they're the nicest people in the world, you know. And also I think it was one of those things where, you know, fashion is so hard and it's such a hard, hard edged business, and then when you step out of it and you get to work with people that aren't in you know, high fashion and just lovely human beings in the Midwest, it's just like it's such a nice it makes you want more of that in your life. Especially living in New York City. You know, it's such a breath of fresh air to be.
So you're getting into beauty, and I don't say that to anyone because I think it's so overcrowded and so competitive and there has to be a very distinct way to enter that is interesting. Maybe for you it's salt scrubs or products or something, but I would say beauty.
I think it's hard because I've had so much work done that I openly talk about. Yeah, but you can.
Find your way. And there's salt bad salt salt scrub. Maybe you make it salt because it's connected.
But I love I love like lipsticks and lip gloss, and I'm like, when it comes to that kind of stuff, I love beauty products like I love like, I have all of this stuff here. I was like, I'm gonna show her all the stuff that I love.
Tell me your stuff. I know everything now and I know, but.
I'm going to show you and I'm going to talk. So this is Geomonica Blunder. Do you know her?
Oh? Yes I do, yes, Yes.
This is the best undercover I cream. They have every single shade she did, like, I'm a four point two five under my eyes.
She's amazing you as good jog store of that right now. It's shocking Katrice. It's Katrise has an amazing under eye conceal or brightener like you'd think it was elite, like department sick.
Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. Merit Beauty Beverly. I love Marit. I just did I just did something with them. I'm like two red. But oh, one thing I did wrong. Let's talk about that. My new website relaunched last week and there was an issue that for some reason, the coding team missed that was written into like we're not I'm not entirely sure about it, but basically, we launched our new website and then all of the images got sucked out of the website. I can't even talk about.
Oh my god, Danessa Merris makes the best you can I use this. People love her bombs too. This contour what is it?
Light?
One is literally the best mascara, Mabeling sky High. Do you like this one?
I like it?
I like it. My favorite is I think it's superhero is Mascara two? Do you like this one? I like the brand, I like aub I like a tubing mess scare because.
I know then you would love Thrive.
I loved him. Yeah, I was probably one of the best messcaras. And it's so funny. I went to go check out the other day four because I wanted another one because I feel like they dry out quickly. But and I went to check out and I got distracted and I didn't do it. So you just reminded me I need to.
I'm so proud like that. I know you know that. A year and a half ago, I didn't know any of it, not one of these things that I've known. One thing you were talking about.
You know your ship, and I follow you and I know my ship pretty well too. You really know your ship like you are really good.
But it's because I never wore a makeup. So it's fun to.
Watch you too, and you can do your own makeup. Patrick Tye like his I like his eyebrows.
His whole brand. And you probably like the design that the bronzer love but you hate the fingerprints.
She's I hate that.
I hate hate.
It makes me crazy. Do you know GV, this smaller beauty brand. These girls, these girls are Yeah, they're really I.
Feel like I've seen it, but I don't know that product.
They make a really good golden globe bronzer. And they're lovely women. The company was started by their mom. They're from Canada. They're lovely, lovely. Yes, Natalie is my friend. She lives in in Miami.
Do you use for fie the lash brow thing? The brow thing, yes, it's the one I have. Is thicker though it's not like a little ball. It's like bar and white.
The ball have jy.
I like the longness.
I don't know. I kind of like the ball for some reason. Have just interesting, but also like they're this powder that's kind of wet people.
Yes, but I didn't think it was actually that good. I just like the concept.
I kind of love it. I like you for me. Well, okay, well this is the other one. If you tried this Charlotte Tilbury air brush. Yes, I have it. I have, I keep it so I keep She's funny and she's cool. I keep this in my bag when I go to like work parties and stuff, and I'll like, blot, could you have? But you need a tiny brush for this. This is where Monica's brushes are really good too, Monica Blunder's brushes because they're tiny and I can like get in here, so I put that.
I I don't know why you like that REFI because it's I didn't think it. I think it was creasy, but I like the concept.
It's a good one.
You would like Patrick Star one size. He's got a cheek a three palette that has that pink. It has a bomb and it has a shimmer. It's a trio. You gotta get it because that color. And it's even more calm than that color, Like it's not as like cool, it's insane. Yes, it's the best.
I used to use a Kylie Cosmetic one that like someone gave me and like that was this do your one is way better? But I I don't do any kind of highlighters because I look oily all the time, Like I have oily skin.
Oh okay, well, well that's different, and I use it.
I don't really wear a lot of eye makeup like you do shadows and stuff. You're good, but I don't. I just use that. I just u the fake lashes and I use this tom Ford, these little individual This charcoal gray is like the best sub for black, so it's not too aggressive.
I like that.
One more thing, lawless, forget the filler. This is the best lip gloss in the entire world. It's kind of gloopy, but it like, it's literally the best lip gloss in the entire world. Why do you love it? The metic? I love the glass because my lips are really red and I don't like how red my lips are, so I like to make them a little gray. And then obviously Charlotte Tilbury Iconic Nude is like.
Okay, I think it's official. You should get into beauty. I'm gonna tell you they pass. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the things. But I want to get back to the REFI I'm annoyed that I got rid of it because now I'm feeling like I want it back.
I really like it. I use it every day and I use you.
Know what the key is as what it's your like non shine powder.
Yes, so I use this. So they have this and you have to like like touch like and you have to like barely and then tap it all off.
I I know I've used it, but I just I don't know you're about to find out because then shocky, all right, I'm gonna go back and get it again.
You know what you fucking need? You need a Cottage cheese fucking deal with friendship work.
Well, you know it's fucked years ago. I got a deal, sure, now I want friendship. First of all, years ago, Cottage cheese. People say that I'm like copying other people, and I go bananas because I was offered several hundred thousand dollars years ago for this Cottage cheese deal. It's not any of the companies you just mentioned, and a reason that I can't explain that I had to turn down the deal.
It's a very bizarre reason. Okay, And now I'm like, friendship Cottage Cheese needs to come to me and give me a deal. I mean it's ridiculous.
Say you're eating that stuff with it, and then I'm getting mad.
Now like now I want a deal.
You need a fucking deal. Because every time I go on Instagram, you're eating the cottage sheese and it looks good. It's enough. You should do all that. She is a thing like your snack kit whatever it is.
Like jamas and everything bagel season, And.
That's that's how most people eat.
By the way, that's how what am I going to start lying about what I eat? I eat on a cracker. Like I went to college school, I could eat whatever I want. I could order lobsters every night. I want to a fish on a cracker what.
I want and way more than me and I have recipes on my website, so like, it's what I want to eat.
I don't care what anyone say, Like I I'll want I'll take Captain crunch with my hand, and that's what I'm eating. And people are like, oh, don't you like rich and successful? I'm like, yes, a rich and successful person wants Captain crunch. Leave me alone. People are like, enough, what the cottage cheese. I'm like, no, I'm keeping up whatever you want. Oh my god, all right, well this was so fun, so fun. That was so fun.
It was like a bag of nuts, this whole thing, like yeah, well, welcome to the crowd.
Tell your husband. I think you guys are doing an amazing job. So I'm impressed and I hope to see you soon. Beauty, you have to yes, because the logo, the packaging is already there. It's like, so no, no, no, you should have a beauty deal. And believe me, I've been offered beauty deals and I should not have a beauty deal.
You should have a beauty deal. Great, all right, there's my own.
Well, i'll give you mine. I'm gonna tell them to call you instead, all right,