QUESTION EVERYTHING

April Showers is the first female, Black-owned business to own a licensed character brand in a major retailer. She is the creator of Afro Unicorn, a brand designed to represent the uniqueness of women and children of color in a truly diverse and inclusive fashion, selling apparel and accessories to toys, puzzles, books and more. Today she shares: How karma played a huge role in her success. What it’s like having Disney and Star Wars as her main competitors. How she launched the brand amidst some of the hardest personal moments in her life.  How she got into her first big box retailer. Why her approach is “All gas, no breaks.” The surprising way she learned all about licensing her brand.  Her visualization and journaling practices that helped her as she’s built her empire. The most pivotal decision she’s made in her business. Why she says you can go after exactly what you want.  How she thought her life was going to end when she got pregnant because she hadn’t seen a positive image of a single mother + how she feels about it now.  The surprising lesson she has learned from her two sons.

World Renowned Psychic Medium and Best-Selling Author Rebecca Rosen joins PRETTYSMART to talk about her new book, “What’s Your Heaven: 7 Lessons to Heal the Past and Live Fully Now.” She shares: 3 tangible ways to raise your vibe + frequency. The one major thing that might be blocking you from manifesting the things you want. How to tell the difference between intuition + anxious mind thoughts.  Who is Team Spirit?  And how we can all utilize them to help us + guide us? A new way to reframe when hard things show up for us in life. What spirits want us to know while we are still living.  Why meditation is key to help us tap into our higher self (and her advice if meditation is hard for you!)  The one question to ask yourself before you make any decision. Reincarnation, soul contracts and soul groups: What they are and how they can help us better understand our life experiences.  Why we don’t have to wait to die to experience heaven. Follow Rebecca Rosen on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mediumrebeccarosen Buy Rebecca’s book What’s Your Heaven: https://tinyurl.com/45w42fyu

Adriana Carrig founded the original word bracelet– Little Words Project. What started in her parents basement has now grown to 40 employees, 7 locations, and huge brand collaborations with companies like Nike, Barbie, WNBA, Dunkin Donuts. Just like so many great companies, Adriana’s was started from pain– she was bullied as a young person and wanted to inject the world with some more kindness. Although the company has grown and changed, that mission of kindness has sustained throughout. Despite doubters, Adriana hasn’t changed her core perspective in the last decade of building her company. By staying true to her brand’s values and taking bold, strategic risks, she’s been able to serve the original customers who keep the brand growing year-after-year. She shares Why the key to taking on any tough project is to “just start beading” When she knew she really had something special (post sorority). How facing cruelty + bullying throughout her life inspired to build a brand of kindness. Why she breaks the stereotype that women are risk averse. How her brand continues to grow on the strength of the foundational original customer. Why copycat companies don’t faze her at all. What it feels like to grow from a family-size business to dozens of employees. How she went from making her bracelets in her parents’ house to the CEO of a multi-million dollar business

Why do women cheat? Author, journalist, podcast host of the new series She Wants More, Jo Piazza tries to uncover the truth behind women’s infidelity. Danielle and Jo listen to several clips of women’s stories of affairs and discuss: Why is women’s Infidelity is on the rise? The 4 different types of affairs Why women cheat vs. why men cheat: does Jo agree with Esther Perel’s hypothesis: “men cheat out of boredom and fear of intimacy and women cheat out of loneliness and hunger of intimacy.” How much does lying play into cheating? Is cheating forgivable? Does unequal household labor (chores) increase women’s likelihood of cheating? What do we expect from our partners nowadays + what are we willing to outsource? (Is it OK to outsource sex?) 1 piece of love & marriage advice Jo has learned from her years of interviewing people + writing about relationships.  What does the future of relationships and marriage look like?  Listen to "She Wants More" on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-she-wants-more-107769177/ Follow Jo Piazza: https://www.instagram.com/jopiazzaauthor/?hl=en

What happens WHEN WOMEN LEAD? What are the key commonalities of female leaders who thrived in spite of the challenges? Can some of your weaknesses actually trun into your greatest strengths? CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent Julia Boorstin wrote a book about it. She spoke with more than 120 female leaders, from Goop’s Gwyneth Paltrow, Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd, Jenn Hyman (Rent The Runway), Lena Waithe and more to determine their strategies for success.  Julia’s had her finger on the pulse of tech and business as a correspondent for more than two decades. She launched and oversees the CNBC Disruptor 50. Currently CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent, she’s also been a fixture at CNN Headline News. She’s even worked for the State Department and Vice President Al Gore’s domestic policy office. Needless to say, Julia understands leadership. She shares: What the 120 female leaders she interviewed all had in common Why do stock prices increase when a company has a female CEO? How to turn your weaknesses into strengths (example: CEO Jennifer Holmgren on negotiation) Why women are more likely than men to make swift decisions. How gratitude can make you money. Mentors vs. Peer to Peer mentorship. How the Mark Zuckerbergs and Elon Musks contribute to a myth of the “Male Visionary” or “Boy Wonder” How to ask tough questions. Julia’s thoughts on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to step down. Buy Julia’s Book: When Women Lead: https://amzn.to/3ekjT4Y

How do you get to where you want to go—the dream job, the dream life? That’s a big question we all ask ourselves. We know WHERE we want to go, but don’t always know HOW to get there. Via engaging stories of some of the most successful people in the world as well as practical advice from Matt’s own successes and failures, this book shows you how to win. The title speaks to a major theme in the book—overcoming fear. Matt explains how to break the patterns holding you back, and go after what it is you truly want. He says you must “burn the boats”.  Matt is an entrepreneur who has reached the pinnacle of 5 industries (Founder RSV, Investor (Gary Vee’s largest investor), Guest Shark on Shark Tank, and executive fellow at Harvard Business School). You would probably never guess that he dropped out of high school. Matt shares: How you can throw Plan B away and go all in on your dream!  Growing up in poverty and how it pushed him to make his first all-in decision The TWO TRAITS he looks for when investing in people What happens to people who don’t take risks. How to get over fear of failure  Cancer taught him to have greater compassion for himself, and others at work. Why the right life partner for you acts as a force multiplier How celebrities like Kim Kardashian + Tracee Ellis Ross + Scarlett Johansson that guest speak at his Harvard class have burned the boats.  How the law of compound interest applies to ideas and achievements Buy Matt’s Book Burn The Boats:  https://tinyurl.com/bdzfvh55 Follow Matt: https://www.instagram.com/mhiggins/

With 1.6 Million followers, TikTok star Tefi Pessoa has built a community where she has become famous for her thoughtful and heartfelt advice on love, mental health, heartbreak and more. There’s a reason she’s been called the internet’s BFF.  Today she joins PRETTYSMART to delve deep into all things love, dating and heartbreak. She shares: Why men are who they are at 35. What she’s learned from heartbreak. Why even after heartbreak love is still magical. How to not let heartbreak or bad relationships break your spirit.  How she is able to never compromise who she is in relationships.  Why it’s helpful for her to enlist her tribe before she breaks it off with someone. What she finds she is really mourning when a relationship ends. Why some traits are not going to change in the person you're dating (and how to figure that out).  When to listen if people tell you “you can do better”. Navigating a breakup in the public eye. Why there’s courage in normalcy.  How men and women handle heartbreak differently. 

We often frame modern relationships through a transactional lens, but what if instead of concerning ourselves with what we can get from somebody we ask ourselves what we can give? Rachel Rischall believes generosity for generosity’s sake is ultimately the best way to form strong, valuable relationships. A 20-year vet in public relations, Rachel is the founder of Three PR (she's an EXPERT). She says her superpower is she can and will talk to anybody. She’s an expert on finding ways to connect and help others. In the end, everybody comes out ahead. Rachel shares: Why she feels called to helping others as often as she can When to start being generous every day (it’s first thing in the morning) Why introducing people to each other is an incredible gift How to overcome the cold e-mailing jitters (and the best way to follow-up when they don’t email back) Navigating generosity in a world comfortable placing women in positions of service How to evolve professional connections into professional relationships

After this interview aired I got messages from women all over the country. It seemed to have a domino effect inspiring book clubs, and other interviews with Alicia! Her book changed me and it gave me so much joy to hear that this conversation changed so many of you too. As it was one of the earliest episodes of the pod I felt it deserved a re-air: Award Winning Journalist + MSNBC Anchor Alicia Menendez explains how The Likeability Trap can keep women from achieving their ambitions. Women are stuck in an impossible bind known as the Goldilocks Conundrum: be nice, but not too nice. Talk about what you bring to the table without sounding like you’re bragging. Strong women are often criticized for being cold, while warm women may be seen as pushovers.“ The constant chatter of how women lead impedes them from leading. In trying to be everything all at once women are straight up exhausted”. But in being aware of The Likeability Trap, we can push up against it. Alicia gives us tactical tools to be more practiced in leadership, how to receive feedback, break free of the trap, and succeed as you are. 

Linguist and writer Amanda Montell discusses the power of language, reclaiming gendered insults, and sexism in our language. She explores the innovation of language by young women, the historical evolution of slurs against women, and the connection between language and power. Montell also emphasizes the importance of reading the room when it comes to language and the power of reclaiming words versus abolishing them.