Transcription
You've been all over the place, and we were talking backstage about how, yes, you've been to Europe. You were just in New York, which congratulations. You just won a humanitarian award for your work with online safety for parents and children. Um, and you made it home for one day to see your kids.
Yes, I had to. We were talking about that because everyone said, "Oh, you must have gone from Paris straight to New York." I said, "No, I need to see my babies." So, I went back to California for a day and then, um, continued on. But I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you. Of course, and always job number one.
Um, so I want to rewind about five years ago when you and your husband left England and you descended on Montecito, California, and you planned what your next few years would look like in terms of the business impact you could have and the philanthropic impact you could have, and a lot of initiatives are going. But I want to just go back to that moment of, as you and your husband were planning this out, how did you think about what you wanted to do, what your ambitions could do, and from your seat, what you could do for women?
Well, I think five years ago was a very different situation for all of us. And, um, you know, Archie was so little, and I had just gotten pregnant with Lily around that same time. So we were nesting, nesting, and healing, and also, I don't know, I had the bandwidth at that time to think about what the big picture dream was. There was no plan. It was just, let's get through these next couple years, create community, which was always so important to both of us in our new environment. And, um, then as we started to get into our producing through our deal with Netflix, really creating projects that we felt were compelling. And then I said, "Okay, I've always loved being able to share. I've always loved being able to cook and entertain. Is there a business here?" And I think it was probably most people's assumption that if I was going to go into business, it would be fashion or beauty. But those five years at home, I wasn't running around wearing beautiful outfits. I was probably in Birkenstocks and sweats like the rest of us. Um, especially during COVID, or just barefoot at home, but I was making a lot of jam. So, it ended up becoming the thing that really was my passion project that I turned into a business.
Amazing. And that became As Ever, which you launched about a year and a half ago. Um, and went through a rebrand. I'm curious, you, you had one of your ventures was a podcast called Confessions of a Female Founder.
Yes.
About a year and so change after launching a company like that. What would your confessions be? Has it been harder than you thought, easier than you thought, more rewarding, harder? What's the take?
Well, I think year one for any founder is just a lot of learns. And so, uh, we founded As Ever earlier this year. Uh, I think the first drop was in February or March. And what you're looking for is what are the consumer behaviors and habits? What are the products that they're gravitating to? And I had this incredible fortune of having every SKU sell out within under an hour, which is amazing. And also, you don't learn a lot. Um, a lot about inventory management, supply chains, and all the rest.
Oh my gosh. So then I was doing Confessions of a Female Founder as I was building this, 'cause I'd always loved the podcast, How I Built This, and I thought, could we do something that feels a little bit like the tenor of how I'm building this, and really be candid, both talking to female founders who had scaled and sold, and equally to other founders that were on their first, their first run in many ways like I was. So, I was learning from a lot of the women that I invest in and also that I'm friends with. But, you know, I think my learns were to continue to give yourself the grace to have to pivot. And you do, because that first sellout, we said, "Great, let's 10x the inventory for the next seasonal drop. We'll get all the metrics that we need." And then it sold out within four hours. Um, which again, is amazing, but also not helpful. So, I think it's just been a lot of learns and then extending and expanding the product categories to really see what those habits are and how we can show up in your home for you. So, yes, jam was the origin story, but if I begin with that within your kitchen and that's the offering, how do we continue to grow into your lives with As Ever? So that's what we're working towards, especially for Q4, figuring out how to meet the demand that you have from your following.
Must be challenging. And I was hearing you say earlier that you had planned, "Oh, surely if we 10x this order,"
we will have this supply for months.
Yes, lo and behold, it's only a few hours, right? So, how are you navigating building the infrastructure behind the demand that you, as a brand, can make?
I think a lot of considerations go into which products become limited edition, which ones are going to be in steady state. What really is the brand identity beyond the jam, which, yes, is the hero product. But then as we've gone into different SKUs, flower sprinkles became quite a, uh, a thing, and that was that was really complemented by the show, with the series, with Love Megan. I was able to show people what I love to do, and then we had the brand where I could tell them how they could have a lot of those things in their own home. I think it's going to be a continued process, as most founders will find in year one and holiday. We have to be ready for holiday. So trying to be in steady state for most of the SKUs and really not being able to gauge how things are going to sell out, especially when you have people who have an appetite for the products in global territories, but we aren't selling internationally yet. And so they're finding workarounds where they'll have their friends stock up for them and then ship it to them separately. So the inventory is moving in a way that we hadn't anticipated, which is the biggest blessing.
And can you talk a little bit too about the show and how it matches with As Ever, the brand, and Netflix's role in this? I know they've been a big backer of yours. You've worked with Bela, their, um, chief content officer, to develop quite a relationship with Netflix over the years. Um, and that partnership just renewed with slightly different terms. I'm wondering if you could talk about what are the terms now and how has that helped you build As Ever?
Yes. Well, my husband and I were in an overall deal with Netflix, and then, not dissimilar to Higher Ground in the Obamas' deal, once that had come to its term, the extension of it, which was such an incredible sign of the strength of our partnership, was now being in a first look deal, which is also exciting because it gives us flexibility to go to our partners first, and then at the same time to be able to shop content that might not be the right fit for Netflix, but has a home somewhere else. So for our non-scripted team and our scripted team, we've been doing a lot of content development that can, um, meet different rooms. And then of course, for the business, it's been incredible because when you have female executive leadership that is so supportive of me as an entrepreneur, what we've designed is being able to have so much robust support in year one, where you have the show complementing the brand, where content and commerce are meeting, and then still enabling me to have autonomy to build out my own team and scale it in the way that I envision that will, I mean, that will go on the, the business will, of course, go on longer than a series. Um, and so it's, it's really been a, a partnership that I'm grateful for.
And I think there's a general interest in, will we be seeing a season 3 of With Love Megan? Will it be on Netflix? Do we know?
Well, the holiday special is coming out in November. And, um, and that's, it's a really good one. So I think looking at that format again, with a year of learns, so we're able to say eight episodes for two seasons, it's a lot of work. And having done Suits for seven years, I remembered what goes into a production. I also recognize how much people want content in different sizes. So part of what we're testing out now is, it's amazing to be able to sit and watch a show for 30 minutes, but how can I give you a recipe in two minutes, and where can I share that with you, and how that continues to grow As Ever? So exploring all the options of what it could look like.
That's great. So the holiday special in November, we'll keep an eye out for that.
Um, I do lots of gift wrapping techniques. You guys know I used to teach gift wrapping at Paper Source, um, and advanced gift wrapping. So, you know, all of those things that you do as an auditioning actor, you, that's not the full circle I was expecting, but here we are.
Yeah. You had a lot of odd jobs. Fro-yo was another one, I believe.
Yeah. Humphrey Yogart, that was my first job. And you know, when I used to do calligraphy, I used to do it for so many celebrity weddings and for hotels. And that was in between auditions. And I, at the time, I don't know why I didn't think to just buy a glove, but you don't want the natural oils from your hands to get on the beautiful paper. So I would just put a white tube sock on my hands.
Right. All these, all these very fancy cards for people.
So.
Amazing. Well, a long way from the white tube socks on your hands, but we all appreciate that.
Yes.
Um, so I'm curious as you think about expansion for As Ever. We've talked a little bit about obviously there's global appeal that you could tap into, and there's also stores. Um, right now you're direct to consumer. Um, can we expect to see some of your stuff maybe in like a Target or where could we physically buy it, do you think, in the next year?
Well, I think the retail component is so important, especially in growing a business. But also, what I'm really working to convey and my intention with As Ever is getting back to things that are tactile. How we connect with each other. You want to put your hands on it. How does it feel? And you can only convey so much of that, obviously, in videos or in e-commerce. So I think my intention would be to have really bespoke, small, um, retail collaborations, do some interesting ones as well in global territories. And then of course, as you think about scaling, you know, it's a, it's a brand that's accessible, but it still has a quality that feels as though it's mastige. And so when we think about larger retailers, I think in the next couple years that would make sense.
Great. And then I wanted to think about or talk about how you are, um, using social media to pair content and commerce and promotion. You took a hiatus from Instagram. You came back January. It's changed. You're back. You're in action. Um, but you're not on TikTok. I'm curious, will you be going on TikTok?
I don't know. I mean, I think, look, I, I have a very complicated relationship with social media, as you can probably imagine. And I also recognize the role that it plays in business. Part of it is, you know, equally the work that you were talking about earlier. My husband and I spend a lot of time working on online harms, specifically surrounding protecting our children, not ours personally, but all of our children for what they're susceptible to in the online space. So, I'm sensitive to that. I also recognize that if you can show up in these spaces and be on the side of good, there is tremendous value in that also. So, we're going to continue to expand the footprint in this social and digital space for the brand. For me personally, I don't know the last time I was on Instagram, you guys, Boomerang was a thing. That was a long time ago. Um, so having started in January, I just started to explore and play in the same way that anyone else does when they're online. I just happen to do it with a little bit more, uh, attention on what I was doing. Yeah, it's a hard decision to make because obviously people want to be hearing from you, but then they have lots of opinions that they stick in there that are not welcome, not helpful.
And I'm curious as you are, you know, founders always have to look for signals in what's working, what's not working, how do I tinker, how do I pivot. How are you able to decipher out, like, the constructive from obviously the not constructive that you need to ignore?
Well, there are certain things that I've done just for my own self-preservation, but also that I've applied to the brand and for the people that are incredibly supportive. I know, you know, the question can be around naysayers, but if you really see the groundswell of support that surrounds the brand and me, that's what I feel the most, and that's what I appreciate. But by design, I also recognize that a lot of those people aren't going to my page to see negativity. And so, not just protecting myself or the people that work with me, but also the supporters. So, I don't have the comments section on. That's a choice. And yet, part of that challenge that I was trying to solve for was then, how do I create community? That is so key to this brand, and it's so key to how I like to show up in the world. How do we actually connect if you can't have comments and exchange? So my social media manager would send me screen grabs of different things that people were posting in their UGC. And I said, "Okay, what am I going to do here?" They said, "You could do a text overlay and respond." And I said, "Oh, no." In the same way that on my own camera roll at home, I'll zoom in and I can scribble a little note and send it to a friend. I've just started this construct where I will start writing in my handwriting a note to users who put up content. So I said, let's find small and creative ways to engage the community and let them know that I'm listening, that I really see and appreciate their feedback. Um, so I think a lot of it is just designing what works best for you while also being really cognizant of what is going to help grow the business with an intentional and authentic point of view. And that's what I'm constantly working to try to achieve.
I think, um, it's so hard, the whole online experience. And we were talking also backstage about a study that I don't know how many of you saw this in the FT, uh, over the weekend. They were showing, have we possibly reached peak social media as of 2022? And, um, there's definite charts that show yes, engagement time on across social platforms has gone down, and it's being led by younger generations. Um, and so I think that's like a really interesting trend to pick up on. And as a print publication, at our heart, I'm very encouraged by the trend of going a little bit back. And I'm curious of what you think about other formats that are not digital. Have you considered a cookbook? Could we expect that in the future? Maybe a magazine. What do you think?
I love paper. Um, and I really love, again, the sentimentality of what happens. We all have those cards or issues of a magazine that you have held on to for so long for whatever reason. And so from my standpoint, if there's ways to really hearken back to a time where things were slowed down a little bit, whether that's in a limited edition, and yes, of course, digital is how people are consuming media, but I do think we can start new trends. And I love a classic. I love things that are, dare I say, vintage inspired. But for our kids, they would think a magazine probably feels a bit vintage. Um, you know, I, I do think there's something incredible about a handwritten note. I would love to be able to combine all of my loves that really are a little bit more old school into that type of forum. So, I would say, um, never say never.
That's great. Well, if we can help you with that, please let us know.
Yes, I know who to call.
So, I'm curious now that you have numerous businesses and ventures under your belt, and you're obviously still in the thick of it. What have you learned about yourself as a leader and as a CEO?
Thank you. You know, it's been incredible because when I was on Suits, that was my last time really in a position with a very large team. We had a crew of 200 people, and I worked on the show for seven years, and I loved the crew. I loved that experience and the culture that's on set as well. Um, and so I think being able to now have my own business, it's very different than being on set. And even the set for With Love Megan, that's a crew of 80 people. It's still a very large crew. But for my business, I've been very decisive about having a lean team. I think you want to have a great soundboard of people that are with you and with varied points of view. You want someone who's going to push back. You want someone who's going to be so creative and savvy in a space that might not be my skill set. So, I love creating that culture, having that camaraderie with my team, um, and playing and being curious constantly, just pushing the envelope to ask the questions of, how can we show up in a way that truly indicates that we are putting care into every detail?
And how do you decide what you lean into as a CEO? It's a small team. There's like 10 people.
Less than. Yes. For the, for the tight team. Yes, of course.
And so, how do you decide where you're going to show up in those moments? Because I know you love detail and you want to, you want to be in charge of a lot. So, how do you do that?
Well, I think you have to work as a team. You're only as solid as the rest of the people around you. And also, I want the life-work balance, if such a thing exists. You know, I'm, I'm still going to go and chaperone the first-grade field trip and then run back and try to finish the meetings. I love the creative part, which I think I've touched on quite a bit, and the brand is an extension of my aesthetic, but it's more than that. The operational side is so key, and I am constantly looking at ways in which we can, how do we adjust our margins? What does our spend look like? Really going through P&L. Um, so I think from my standpoint, it's really all of it holistically. And I don't think there's any founder in year one that would say something differently, not if they had the ambition to scale in the way that I do.
And for a final question, I know financial independence has always been important to you. Um, and you've said that it's the most empowering thing. I agree. And I think all the women in this room who are incredibly hardworking, every job is hard, but these career women also would agree. How do you think about that? Because you had a whole career, very successful, before you got married. You're having a whole other career now. What's the importance of financial independence to you?
Well, financial independence is what gives you the freedom of choice. And I think in this day and age, we all need to be able to have our autonomy. That is a huge element of that. Financial literacy, for that reason, is something that I spend a lot of time on, specifically for young girls and their empowerment. And I think as women, especially in a room like this, we can all probably agree that as women, when we're supporting each other for all of these elements that might not necessarily be the ones that people want to hear us talk about, there's nothing taboo, doesn't need to be anything taboo about talking about our financial independence or our independence overall. And as women, when we support each other, we are not simply supporting our each other's lives. We're supporting each other's legacies. And that's the piece that's so powerful. When I'm supporting or investing in another female founder, I am investing in what she is going to do for the culture, for her business, the legacy she's going to leave, how that brand, if it's a CPG brand, is going to show up in people's homes. So, it is all fundamentally important, and I don't think it's a conversation we should shy away from. I think it's one that we should really embrace together.
Thank you, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Such an honor to have you with us today.
Thanks for having me. Thanks, everybody. Have a great time. Thank you.