May 19, 2022 • 35 mins
Ariana Pierce is an entrepreneur turned Web3 expert. She has seamlessly transitioned from starting and growing a successful nail polish business to becoming a preeminent leader and educator on the blockchain.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to What's
Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a show
about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and personal journeys. Together,
we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors, and leaders
of the world's most iconic brands. Listen every Thursday or
join the conversation anytime on Instagram at What's Her Story Podcast.
(00:30):
Arianna Pierce is an entrepreneur turned Web three expert. She
has seamlessly transitioned from starting and growing a successful, now
polished business to becoming a pre eminent leader and educator
on the blockchain. One of the remarkable things about you
is that you transitioned from being this beauty entrepreneur to
(00:51):
being this sort of queen of Web three. How did
that come about? Really? I still do both. So I
love entrepreneurship. I love inspiring others to own businesses and
to have multiple streams of income. But through that I
also started investing. So I believe naturally investing came, you know,
(01:12):
just as a part of being in business. You know,
I'm in business now, I want to know how to invest.
So I was day trading and I was doing four
X trading and crypto trading, and I said, wow, this
is really awesome. And of course that is male dominated.
So I'm like, of course I'm getting into another industry
(01:32):
that is male dominated. I'm taught now. It was good
because I met my fiance, So maybe that was awesome
that it was male dominated, because when I went to
the meetings there was no competition, so no UM. But
on the other hand, I said, man, we need some
more women in this space to dominate, just like in
the entrepreneurial world, just like how I helped them to
(01:53):
build six and seven finger brands, Let's bring this over
into the investing world. So I got really good at that.
I ended up creating a strategy that goes along with
trading and UM foreign currency and how to move in
the markets. I end up creating my own strategy, which
led me to teaching and creating a group for young women.
(02:17):
And of course the men wanted to join as well,
so we let them join, and then which caused me
to get into n f t S because that comes
naturally with being in the crypto world. And so when
I got into n f t S, I said, okay,
yet again, this is a male dominated space. We need
to train up the ladies on how they can win.
(02:39):
Because I was talking to someone the other day and
I said, you know what, this really is an opportunity
for us to build wealth at a very early stage.
For example, what do I mean by that? You know,
there was the oil and gas industry. Those who took
advantage of that early they're uber wealthy. Right then you
had the car right industry. Then you had the software
(03:02):
or internet or the tech industry that launched. And those
that invested in that early, I mean now they're super wealthy. Okay,
Now I feel like we are on the brink of
another industry with Web three, with crypto, and those that
get in on it early, they're gonna be able to
change the financial legacy of their entire family. Why not
(03:23):
have women get involved in this because they can do
it now. In the past, there may have been some
restrictions and you know, restraints on women, But now they
can get involved with this because the one thing about
Web three and n f t S is that it
doesn't know your face, it doesn't know your background. It
doesn't know if you're a criminal or if you have
a squeaky clean background. And I'm not saying anyone should
(03:45):
be a criminal, right, But what I'm saying is is
that it does not know and you can really win
in this space, and I wanted to help my ladies win.
I feel like you're constantly learning and you're constantly challenging yourself.
If you ever get exhausted and not want to learn
the next definitely, oh yes. I mean there comes a
time where I'm just like, listen, I just want to
chill out. I want to watch some movies, and I
(04:09):
just want to do nothing. Don't bring a question to me.
I don't want to read an email. I don't want
to answer anyone today. That definitely happens. And what I
try to do is, at least once a week have
a brain break right where you just say, you know what,
I'm gonna chill out. I'm going to not answer any calls,
I'm not going to rush to do any emails. But
(04:31):
after that, I'm gonna get back to work. And I
look forward to those days. They're awesome. I spend time
with my family. We normally go out to a brunch
every single Sunday, so that gives us time to get
away from the office, focus on us, and really, you know,
what's really important and focus on our health and um,
you know, just our relationships with each other. So definitely, yes,
(04:53):
there are those times. But then I said, you know what,
I gotta get back to work because it's bigger than me.
It's not you know, I have to get out there
and help others really understand this. So, Marianna, you referenced
that you were again in a male dominated industry. Were
you referencing the beauty industry. Well, funny that you asked that,
because the beauty industry really is, or at the time
(05:14):
was male dominated. I remember going to meetings and it
would be a meeting with maybe another cosmetic company or
maybe we were doing some type of deal, and I
remember sitting there one being the of course the youngest
in the room, you know, I'm at the head of
the table like you know, the youngest, and them looking
(05:34):
at me like oh, because they didn't really know my face.
I didn't put my face with the company, so people
didn't know who was running it because I knew being
a young minority woman, right, young girl. Really at that time,
they may not take me seriously, so you didn't see
my face. This wasn't oh, Arianna, No, it wasn't that.
(05:55):
So when they contacted us and said, oh, we would
like to do a deal with you all, or we
would like to discuss this with this reality TV show,
maybe doing some type of collaboration. I would go to
the media with my assistant and they would be very
surprised and say oh wow, right, and it would be
a lot of men in the room, and of course
people to three times my age, So that definitely was
(06:17):
was something that was a factor. So you make Web
three seem like something that's approachable for anyone, right, and
you're encouraging everyone to participate. But what's the first step.
How do you get over that hurdle of feeling like
you missed the boat already? Well, let me tell you this,
you have not missed the boat. When it comes to
Web three. We are still in the very, very very
(06:39):
beginning stages of it. But I would advise people to
get in on it now, because of course, the earlier
that you get in, the more you are going to
be able to absorb absorb it, and the more that
you'll be able to win in this space. But the
first thing that I tell people is one follow those
who are already in this space. You don't want to
(07:00):
go on this journey alone because there can be a
lot of hiccups that come along with doing this. I'm
talking about n f t s being stolen, crypto being stolen,
you know, weird things happening to your wallet. You're like,
what just happened? How did that happen? So definitely find
some people that you can connect with. One of the
people that I really love, her name is board Becky
(07:23):
and you can look her up on Instagram, but she
has a great podcast on you know, n f t
s and this entire space, so it's really really awesome.
So really getting that education so that way you can
do this journey with someone who's already have navigated this space.
So follow those who are already in this space. You
can follow me as well. I do a lot of
(07:46):
UM teaching on how the basics of this. And then two,
I would say setting up your wallet, which would be
something like a meta mask. That's the one that I
recommended the industry standard learning how to set up meta
mask because if you're gonna be in web three, they're
always going to ask you, hey, where is your wallet?
(08:06):
So you want to be able to have a wallet
to participate in this space. Then the third thing that
I would say that's a basic is learning how to
buy ethereum. Now there are n f t s and
web three can be on many different block chains and
coincide with different cryptos, but the majority of them, again,
(08:27):
the industry standard is ethereum as of right now. That
may be changing, but right now ethereum. So learning how
to buy your ethereum would be something that's very important
as well if you're going to be in this space.
You said you met your fiance in the crypto space.
How did you meet and how did you know he
(08:49):
was the one for you? So we actually met in
New York City. I'm from Orlando, and so I was
traveling to New York for a tour that my mom
and I both hope it's our success tour. So we
host a success tour every single year, and we were
doing this one in New York at that particular time.
I remember it was in May of that year, and um,
(09:12):
we went to New York and I was asked a
few days before our meeting to speak on fifth AV
at a trader's event. Okay, so it was day Traders.
So I went there and I spoke about my story
with day trading, how I got started being in the industry,
wanting to impact more women's lives in this industry. Just
(09:35):
giving my full story about how I started with day trading. Well,
after that, we ended up going to dinner, you know,
all of us, and I of course was the only
lady there. So it was nice, you know, there was
a lot to choose from, I'll say that. And Um,
I went to dinner and there was a guy that
was sitting across from me, and he kept looking at me,
(09:55):
and so I'm like, is he looking at me because
I have something on my face? Or is it because
he like me? And so we just kept talking and
you know, just sharing within the room about day trading,
about crypto and different things like that. Then afterwards he
came up to me and said, hey, you know, UM,
I really enjoyed talking with you tonight. Can I connect
(10:16):
with you on Instagram? Now? Why he didn't ask for
my number? I guess maybe that's our generation's way of
connecting with one another. So he did that and I
said okay, and then I knew them when he asked
for the Instagram I said, oh, yeah, he really likes me, um,
and so and so we did that, and a few
days later, I invited him to our event uh that
(10:39):
my mom and I were hosting in New York, and
he was the only man that came, and I said, okay, awesome,
I'm glad you came. He was the only individual that
came from that group, and I said, all right. So
we were just flirting the entire day, and then that
evening we all went to dinner with our staff to celebrate,
and I invited him to come along with me, and
(11:02):
so we sat there we talked all night. It was
like no one else was in the room. He lived
in New York, I was in Orlando. So in the
back of my mind, I'm like, okay, this is nice,
but I don't really know how this is gonna work out,
but I'll try it anyway. And so we talked and
we have never stopped talking since. Well fast forward about
six months later, he said, you know what, I really
(11:24):
am serious about this relationship. I want to be with you.
I see myself marrying you. So I'm gonna move from
New York to Orlando so that way you can know
that I'm serious about this. Because he said, I know
that if I don't move You're gonna find someone else
and I'm gonna lose you. And I said, okay, So
I never told him that he had to move. I
(11:46):
just let it be his decision, and he did it
within that first year of us being together, and the
rest is history. And now we're engaged. So what is
a success tour? You said that you and your mom
were going to New York and success to her? What
is that? This is our tour that we host every
single year, and it's our tour where we inspire ladies
(12:07):
from around the world and we teach them about business
and marketing and branding, and so that's really our specialty.
We have an entire business school where we teach women
how to do this with taking their businesses from you
know where it is today to leveling up to that
next um you know, profit bracket or whatever that may
(12:30):
be for them, creating products, creating digital products, marketing in
their brands, getting into stores, all of those types of things.
We help them with that. And so we decided, Okay,
this is awesome. We love having our business school, but
let's take that on the road. And so we took
it on the road and we were able to travel
with that and so we call it our success tour
(12:50):
because we're helping them to be successful in their businesses
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(13:10):
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of the threads start what you've done is really the
(13:33):
marketing to all of these customers. How do you attract
the people on your success tours? Or how did you
attract your nail customers, your no polish customers? How do
you attract your now crypto audience? Well, of course, like
I mentioned with starting that nail polished company, it all
started with realizing, Okay, if I can connect and build
(13:55):
relationships with people who I have never met online, then
that that I can also attract people into my business
that I have never met through social media as well.
Of course we have ads that are going out, but
really under all of that, because you can have the ads,
you can make the social media post and still attract
(14:16):
little to know people. But really it's building a lifestyle
around your product and service. And that's been something that
has really helped us and really helped me go to
the next level with my um business. So what do
I mean by that? Not just delegating or telling people
what they should do, but really demonstrating it in our
(14:37):
own lives. And when they say okay Ariana or Dr
Station that happens to be my mother, um Ariana and
Dr Staa, they're doing this. They're succeeding in this there, Okay,
they are building wealth in this area as an entrepreneur.
You know, they're doing their conferences, they're teaching women this,
they're starting their business school. I want to do that,
so let me connect with them. I think that is
(15:00):
my secret sauce that I'm letting out today with more.
You know, of course you want to do those other
things when it comes to marketing and branding, but when
you can really show people the lifestyle that you are
also I guess quote unquote selling that is really where
you take your business to the next level. How do
(15:20):
you show people that lifestyle? What are they looking at
if they go to your Instagram or follow you? So
when you come to my Instagram, you see a lot
of travel, right, because I love being able to travel.
I love being able to really live a freedom based lifestyle.
What do I mean by that? You know, because we're
(15:41):
building our wealth portfolios because we have our own businesses.
That means that in the middle of the week, something
as simple as I can go get my nails done
and it's not bragging. So I don't want it to
sound like, oh, she's just bragging on her page. No, no, no,
that's not it. I want to show them that it's
real because I can tell you what to do all day.
But if I don't show you how it's done and
(16:03):
what it's done for me, then one you're probably not
gonna believe it, and too you may not believe that
it's possible for you. And again, I don't want to
sound like I'm bragging. So when you come to my page,
you're gonna feel motivated and not defeat it because I'm
not just showing you that I can do it, or
that we can do it, but that you can do
it too. Are you ever afraid of failing? Absolutely, especially
(16:24):
when I am launching something new, when I am maybe
introducing something new, when I have to get on stage
and tell others something about maybe I'm invited in to speak,
I'm like, man, I really hope that I don't disappoint
the crowd. I really hope that they get, you know,
(16:45):
what they came for. So definitely I do have that fear.
But then I also remember that I personally believe that
we were all created to help inspire others, and I
believe that when you're being authentic to what you know,
authentic to your destiny, authentic to your purpose, then you're
(17:05):
always gonna show up and deliver because you're being authentic
to you. It's only the times where I try to
be something else or someone else that I really end
up failing. And so I go back and I tell myself, Okay,
remember you don't have to try to compete against this
person or them because of their industry. You show up,
do what you were called in to do, and you're
(17:28):
going to be successful. How did you end up in Orlando?
Did you grow up in Michigan, which is how you
ended up at Michigan State. So I did grow up
in Michigan. I'm originally from Grand Rapids. Went to Michigan
State University, and then once I graduated from college, I
ended up moving down to Florida. And so my parents
always had this dream of, uh somewhat being in Florida.
(17:50):
I don't want to stay retiring in Florida because they
still are very active and busy and entrepreneurs, but they
always had this dream. You know. We would come on
vacation all the time when I was young girl, and
they said, I would love to live in Florida. We
were in the heat, There's Disney, there's Universe, so you know,
there's all these different things, and we're like, oh my gosh,
we would love to be in Florida. And it manifested
(18:12):
for us later on, and so the opportunity came up
and we ended up taking that dive and moving to Florida.
And I'm so happy that we did because I love
it here. I love having, you know, the warm weather
all the time. One of the most incredible things about
your story is how early it began. You started your
first business in high school. What made you think you
(18:33):
could do that? Yes, I did, so I started this
journey very very early. And what inspired me was seeing
my mom really as a female entrepreneur, I mean ever
since I can imagine growing up just UM, seeing her work,
seeing her be a mom, seeing her be a superhero
to myself and my younger brother. I wanted to be
(18:56):
just like her. And so when I was younger, I
would put on those Lemonates ends and I would ask
her to buy me the entrepreneurial books from American Girl
Doll and all of those things, and she said, Okay,
you have a bent that you want to go into,
and I see that it's entrepreneurship. And so of course
that's what launched UM. What made me launch my business
(19:16):
as a teenager, but really seeing my mom being this
superwoman made me want to do the same. What was
the first business and how did you come up with
the name. So my first business was the Billionaire Girls Club,
And we came up with that because we wanted every
young girl to feel rich, to feel wealthy. But also
this was a business UM that was centered around proper etiquette,
(19:41):
how to relate to your teachers, how to relate to
your parents, things that young girls go through. So what
happened was, over time, chapters almost like a sorority. Chapters
were started around the country, which was really awesome. We
would go and speak at these various events where young
girls would be, their teenagers would be, their high school
(20:01):
students would be there, and it really just exploded around
the country and we started chapter. So that's where the
name came from. And really just wanting, like I said,
wanting every every young girl to feel like they were wealthy,
that they were queens, that they were princesses, and that
they were worthy of success in their dreams. How did
that all become important to you? When I was younger,
(20:23):
I was bullied somewhat in school, in middle school and
in high school because of my weight at the time.
You know, young boys would come up to me and
laugh and they would say, oh my gosh, you look
like this, or you look like that, or we don't
like you because you know you're overweight or whatever those names,
and they would call me me names or you know,
(20:43):
I would go to class and they would say, why
do you look like that? Or why is your hair
like that? Right? Um, and so it it just made
an impression on me, and I said, I would come
home and I would talk to my mom about it
all the time, and really both of my parents and
I would say, I don't like how this makes me feel.
I'm sure I'm not the only person going through this,
and um, because of that, that's what inspired me to
(21:06):
really do this. How did you handle the nays I mean,
definitely it did come with some naysayers. It came with
people saying, oh, you think you're better than us because
you have a business now, or you know, I was
traveling at a very young age. I remember organizations would
bring me in to speak maybe to their young girls,
to say, oh, you know, this is what we can do.
(21:27):
This is an inspiration and they would say, oh, you
think you're better than us. But again, that came to
having an open, open conversation with my mother. And I'm
glad that she was in my face. Let me just
say that, I'm glad that she didn't just send me
off to school and just say, Okay, whatever happens happens,
let me not check in on you. But every day
(21:48):
when I came home, she would say, what happened at
school today, What did the students say to you today?
How did that make you feel? And so that opened
up the conversation for us, and it helped me to
do with it now. On the other hand, my parents
gave me great advice and they said things like, listen,
you don't have to worry about that. Yes, that's easier
said than done. But people are going to talk about
(22:10):
you when you're doing something in life. And then they
would show me real life examples. So because they were
in business, they would show me conflict or different things
that would happen with them as entrepreneurs. And I would say, Okay,
it's not just the kids in high school or middle school.
This is just what happens in life. You go to
(22:32):
college and you launched an entirely new kind of business.
Did you do that right away or did you first
become a college student and acclimate to the culture there.
I jumped right in. Okay. So when I was seventeen
years old, graduating from high school heading into Michigan State University,
I had already launched Superstar Nail Laquer, which is our
(22:54):
current nail polished company. All right, So I launched that
and it was let me tell you, it was not
easy because I didn't have the normal college experience. So
what it was like for me was, Okay, you study
early in the week, make sure your classes are on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Leave the weekends for your business. So sometimes I would
(23:17):
try to make it to a game. But when people say,
oh my gosh, you went to Michigan State, I know
they throw great parties, I'm like, I don't know about
those parties because I was doing my business right from
the jump. So it was something that I wanted to do.
And how that came about was I launched that business
with my mother, but because her career really took off
(23:38):
as a motivational speaker and entrepreneur, she said, Okay, you
really wanted to start this thing, so you're gonna have
to take it over. And I'm like, wait, wait, I
thought this was both. She said, nope, you're taking this over.
This is your baby. You're responsible for it. You gotta
make sure that it goes well. And I love that
she didn't baby me through that because it made me
(23:58):
into who I am today. So that's how it started.
So it was a much different college experience, but I
love it. It was amazing. So tell us about the business.
How did you first begin? And here are your customers.
I remember us wanting to get into the nail polish company,
and now it may be a little bit easier because
and that's not to put any other business down, but
(24:19):
now it's you know, it can be one of those
things where you pick some colors, you throw your name
on it, and now you have a company. Back then,
this was no you're picking the bottles, you're creating the colors.
You're doing the entire thing from grassroots. I mean, this
was serious. And so that first step was really gaining
(24:40):
the capital um to even start the business, because it
was a whole lot of money to get into the
beauty industry to break into that um. So that happened,
and really how we raised capital was by having garage sales. Um.
We did it the old school way. We didn't just
walk into the bank and say hey, can we have
a loan. That wasn't how that was working for especially
(25:00):
as a young girl. No, that wasn't happening. So it
was like, okay, sell some clothes, sell have a garage
selle put this out and sell it product, create a
product and sell it and make money for it. And
so that's really how it started. And then from there
are customers. What happened was the Instagram was not out
at the time, but we did have Twitter and we
(25:23):
had Facebook at the time, and this was at the
beginning stage of social media marketing, and so I said,
I was on there, and I said, man, if I
can make friends from around the world on Twitter, why
can't I get customers or gain customers from around the
world on Twitter and Facebook? And so I started to
(25:46):
use those platforms because at the time, I did not
have enough capital to just create a billboard or you know,
to do all these magazine ads in Vogue where people
would buy nail polish, and so I did that and
people started to test it out and say, hey, guys,
you gotta buy it in order to test it, let
me give you a discount because there were you know,
(26:08):
you couldn't try it on in the store. And um,
it blew up from there. And then I remember the
ah ha, my big aha moment was I opened up
Glamour magazine and I remember Eva Longoria was on the
cover of that magazine and they had our pink nail
polish and featured in that magazine. One of the editors
(26:29):
had picked it up. They put it in the magazine
as one of their UH Summer favorites, and so that
was really the aha moment that took it over the top.
What was unique about your nail polished compared to the others.
It was the first time where it was a vegan
type of nail polished. And I remember being teased about
that when I would go on these news stations, right.
(26:52):
So I would go, let's say, on a news station,
and they would want to interview me because they're like, man,
this young girl, she's you know, she's in my minority,
she's this and she has a nail polished company. We
want to interview you. So we were getting all these
interviews and I remember the news cat and it was
a woman as well. And remember I'm a young college
student and she's like, oh, it's vegan, does that mean
(27:15):
you can eat it? And she was making fun of it,
and literally on TV she makes fun of me, and
I'm like, wow, so I'm trying to keep my composure. Really,
what you need is proper education. A lot of times
when nail polished companies are creating polished with glitter and shimmer,
(27:35):
they use fish scales. We decided not to use fish scales,
and we decided to use other things that create glitter
or you know, something to that effect, and this is
why it is vegan plus. It was uh Famil to
hide Free and all these toxin free um in the
nail polished and she said, oh, okay, now I understand.
(27:57):
So um that's really what made its special show. It
was toxin free. It was one of the first vegan
nail polished companies, and we really created it with moms
and moms to be in mind. So how at your
age in college did you have this idea for something
that was really made partly with moms to be in mind?
What drove you down that path? Seeing my mom, she
(28:20):
was pregnant, right, So I always was praying. I was
praying for a younger brother, and I remember learning about
nail polish and learning about the toxins and nail polish
and what they do, even having friends around me who
were pregnant or aunts and you know, different relatives that
were around and them not being able to wear nail
polish win you know, they became conscious of it. And
(28:43):
of course you know that's where that idea came from.
So he said, okay, this will be perfect because we
can answer that question, um, but also just the nail
polished industry overall. I remember I wanted to be a
fashion designer at the time, and I knew aching into
the fashion industry it's pretty tough even now, you know,
(29:04):
even with as many opportunities that there are out there,
breaking into that industry now can be really, really hard.
And so I thought, I said, hmmm, if I created
a nail polished company, which was still not easy, but
it's a lot easier than trying to come up with
a clothing company at that time, let me do this
(29:26):
to break into the industry. And I ended up falling
in love with nail polish and now a quick break.
We are going to have to go to our speed around. Now, Aim,
do you want to ask the first question? What book
are you reading? Asked by Mark Victor Hansen. So your
parents dream was to move to Florida one day? What
(29:49):
is your long term dream? I would love to have
a home or maybe spend summers in Europe. I went
to school uh Impair Ris and London, Belgium, and um
a few other places in Europe, and so it was
the best experience that I ever had. So I would
love to be able to do business and still be
(30:13):
able to live in Europe and just have this amazing
summer in Europe cooking and you know, touring and doing
all these amazing things. So that would be my my
long term dream. Wait, when did you go to school
in Europe? When I was at Michigan State University my
last year, my senior year, I took pretty much the
(30:34):
entire year, almost the entire summer and fall to study
in Europe. And so I did that, and it was
a marketing program abroad, which really taught me more being
overseas and marketing in real life than being back on campus.
So stay at college. But it was a great experience.
If you can do study abroad, definitely do it. Who
(30:55):
leaves you start strack? Well, someone that inspires me would
be Sara or Blakely. She's absolutely incredible. I would love
to meet her one day and talk with her about
how she created her brand and how it became this,
you know, how she became like the superhero. Because as
I navigate, you know, getting married and of course having children,
(31:19):
I want to be a super mom like that. So um,
not someone that I'm really I look up to and say, wow,
she's amazing. What is your top and f T pic
right now, I would say Boss Beauties by Lisa Mayor
because of how amazing it is the utility that comes
(31:40):
with it, I mean what they have already giving us,
and not that you just get an n f T
for what they can give you. I'm not saying that,
but the utility and the community that comes with being
in the Boss Beauties community is absolutely incredible. Another one
that I really love is maybe on as well UM
with Michelle Reeve. So that's really awesome. That's nice one.
(32:01):
But I would say those would be the top my
top picks right now. Well, lu Burns has been listening
to this interview and he always comes on at the
end with the final question from the male perspective, I
want to know more about like what are you doing
with all this money you making? Like what are you
spending on? What are the charities that you fund? Really
(32:24):
I'm pretty conservative. Again, like I said, investing in women
UM really helping them to build their businesses and their brands.
And we do have some scholarships for those that are
in our business coaching or those who are who attend
our events, those who are in our Women in Wealth Club.
We do various things for them UM all throughout the year.
(32:45):
So that's where a lot of our money and a
lot of my money is going to. Of course I
love to give to UH. It's a place for young
girls who are troubled and who are struggling at home,
but they still to be in school, they still want
to go to the next level. So we recently just
paid for their entire prom for them to have their
(33:07):
own prom because we wanted them to experience those things
as well. Because you don't have to UM. Just because
you had a shaky pass doesn't mean that your future
has to be shaky. So that and then, of course,
on the other hand, spending money on n f T s,
learning these different projects, seeing what's out there, and buying
up crypto. So that's also what I'm doing, so a
(33:29):
lot of investing right now for my future, especially as
we're getting married. That's really what I'm spending a lot
of my money on. I don't know if you remember
in but the reason we first got connected to Arianna
because my best friend from high school, Larra sask she
is following Arianna. She's like super into crypto and she's
(33:50):
been following Arianna for a long time. Now. One of
the things that I think Arianna does exceptionally well is
she is the first person in the world who has
given me a basic understanding of Web three because she
breaks things down like everyone else. I'm like, you're speaking
German and I don't speak German, so we're not going
to be able to do this. And but like, Mariana
does an incredible job. And I think part of it
(34:11):
might come from the fact that she is clearly somebody
who is curious and learns and like really dives into things.
I mean, this is a woman who was constantly learning. Well.
She has an excellent way of describing things too. I
mean we saw that when we interviewed her a couple
of weeks ago on stage, and she just really is
able to pare it down without being condescending or patronizing.
(34:32):
She's just she want to learn more from her, You
want to spend more time with her, and I mean,
I want to take her course now. She teaches these
incredible courses online and in person, and she's really remarkable.
One of the things she shared amy that was so
fascinating to me was, especially with my background and personal branding,
I was like, Okay, she's a genius. The way she
(34:53):
shares her lifestyle and why she shares it was unlike
anyone I've heard about that before. It is okay to
plan what you share about your life and to be
intentional about it. In building your personal brands, like you
don't need to like put every single thing onto the internet, right,
share the parts of you that tie it all together.
(35:14):
Like that was really that was really interesting, Like building
a personal brand is great. You can monetize various parts
of your life and we all want everybody to make
a lot of money. Thanks for listening to What's Her
Story with Sam and Amy. We would appreciate it if
you leave her review wherever you get your podcasts, and
of course, connect with us on social media at What's
(35:36):
Her Story podcast. What's Her Story with Sam and Amy
is powered by my company, The Riveter at the Riveter
dot Co and Sam's company, park Place Payments at park
place Payments dot com. Thanks to our producer Stacy Para
and our male perspective, Blue Burns
I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to What's
Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a show
about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and personal journeys. Together,
we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors, and leaders
of the world's most iconic brands. Listen every Thursday or
join the conversation anytime on Instagram at What's Her Story Podcast.
(00:30):
Arianna Pierce is an entrepreneur turned Web three expert. She
has seamlessly transitioned from starting and growing a successful, now
polished business to becoming a pre eminent leader and educator
on the blockchain. One of the remarkable things about you
is that you transitioned from being this beauty entrepreneur to
(00:51):
being this sort of queen of Web three. How did
that come about? Really? I still do both. So I
love entrepreneurship. I love inspiring others to own businesses and
to have multiple streams of income. But through that I
also started investing. So I believe naturally investing came, you know,
(01:12):
just as a part of being in business. You know,
I'm in business now, I want to know how to invest.
So I was day trading and I was doing four
X trading and crypto trading, and I said, wow, this
is really awesome. And of course that is male dominated.
So I'm like, of course I'm getting into another industry
(01:32):
that is male dominated. I'm taught now. It was good
because I met my fiance, So maybe that was awesome
that it was male dominated, because when I went to
the meetings there was no competition, so no UM. But
on the other hand, I said, man, we need some
more women in this space to dominate, just like in
the entrepreneurial world, just like how I helped them to
(01:53):
build six and seven finger brands, Let's bring this over
into the investing world. So I got really good at that.
I ended up creating a strategy that goes along with
trading and UM foreign currency and how to move in
the markets. I end up creating my own strategy, which
led me to teaching and creating a group for young women.
(02:17):
And of course the men wanted to join as well,
so we let them join, and then which caused me
to get into n f t S because that comes
naturally with being in the crypto world. And so when
I got into n f t S, I said, okay,
yet again, this is a male dominated space. We need
to train up the ladies on how they can win.
(02:39):
Because I was talking to someone the other day and
I said, you know what, this really is an opportunity
for us to build wealth at a very early stage.
For example, what do I mean by that? You know,
there was the oil and gas industry. Those who took
advantage of that early they're uber wealthy. Right then you
had the car right industry. Then you had the software
(03:02):
or internet or the tech industry that launched. And those
that invested in that early, I mean now they're super wealthy. Okay,
Now I feel like we are on the brink of
another industry with Web three, with crypto, and those that
get in on it early, they're gonna be able to
change the financial legacy of their entire family. Why not
(03:23):
have women get involved in this because they can do
it now. In the past, there may have been some
restrictions and you know, restraints on women, But now they
can get involved with this because the one thing about
Web three and n f t S is that it
doesn't know your face, it doesn't know your background. It
doesn't know if you're a criminal or if you have
a squeaky clean background. And I'm not saying anyone should
(03:45):
be a criminal, right, But what I'm saying is is
that it does not know and you can really win
in this space, and I wanted to help my ladies win.
I feel like you're constantly learning and you're constantly challenging yourself.
If you ever get exhausted and not want to learn
the next definitely, oh yes. I mean there comes a
time where I'm just like, listen, I just want to
chill out. I want to watch some movies, and I
(04:09):
just want to do nothing. Don't bring a question to me.
I don't want to read an email. I don't want
to answer anyone today. That definitely happens. And what I
try to do is, at least once a week have
a brain break right where you just say, you know what,
I'm gonna chill out. I'm going to not answer any calls,
I'm not going to rush to do any emails. But
(04:31):
after that, I'm gonna get back to work. And I
look forward to those days. They're awesome. I spend time
with my family. We normally go out to a brunch
every single Sunday, so that gives us time to get
away from the office, focus on us, and really, you know,
what's really important and focus on our health and um,
you know, just our relationships with each other. So definitely, yes,
(04:53):
there are those times. But then I said, you know what,
I gotta get back to work because it's bigger than me.
It's not you know, I have to get out there
and help others really understand this. So, Marianna, you referenced
that you were again in a male dominated industry. Were
you referencing the beauty industry. Well, funny that you asked that,
because the beauty industry really is, or at the time
(05:14):
was male dominated. I remember going to meetings and it
would be a meeting with maybe another cosmetic company or
maybe we were doing some type of deal, and I
remember sitting there one being the of course the youngest
in the room, you know, I'm at the head of
the table like you know, the youngest, and them looking
(05:34):
at me like oh, because they didn't really know my face.
I didn't put my face with the company, so people
didn't know who was running it because I knew being
a young minority woman, right, young girl. Really at that time,
they may not take me seriously, so you didn't see
my face. This wasn't oh, Arianna, No, it wasn't that.
(05:55):
So when they contacted us and said, oh, we would
like to do a deal with you all, or we
would like to discuss this with this reality TV show,
maybe doing some type of collaboration. I would go to
the media with my assistant and they would be very
surprised and say oh wow, right, and it would be
a lot of men in the room, and of course
people to three times my age, So that definitely was
(06:17):
was something that was a factor. So you make Web
three seem like something that's approachable for anyone, right, and
you're encouraging everyone to participate. But what's the first step.
How do you get over that hurdle of feeling like
you missed the boat already? Well, let me tell you this,
you have not missed the boat. When it comes to
Web three. We are still in the very, very very
(06:39):
beginning stages of it. But I would advise people to
get in on it now, because of course, the earlier
that you get in, the more you are going to
be able to absorb absorb it, and the more that
you'll be able to win in this space. But the
first thing that I tell people is one follow those
who are already in this space. You don't want to
(07:00):
go on this journey alone because there can be a
lot of hiccups that come along with doing this. I'm
talking about n f t s being stolen, crypto being stolen,
you know, weird things happening to your wallet. You're like,
what just happened? How did that happen? So definitely find
some people that you can connect with. One of the
people that I really love, her name is board Becky
(07:23):
and you can look her up on Instagram, but she
has a great podcast on you know, n f t
s and this entire space, so it's really really awesome.
So really getting that education so that way you can
do this journey with someone who's already have navigated this space.
So follow those who are already in this space. You
can follow me as well. I do a lot of
(07:46):
UM teaching on how the basics of this. And then two,
I would say setting up your wallet, which would be
something like a meta mask. That's the one that I
recommended the industry standard learning how to set up meta
mask because if you're gonna be in web three, they're
always going to ask you, hey, where is your wallet?
(08:06):
So you want to be able to have a wallet
to participate in this space. Then the third thing that
I would say that's a basic is learning how to
buy ethereum. Now there are n f t s and
web three can be on many different block chains and
coincide with different cryptos, but the majority of them, again,
(08:27):
the industry standard is ethereum as of right now. That
may be changing, but right now ethereum. So learning how
to buy your ethereum would be something that's very important
as well if you're going to be in this space.
You said you met your fiance in the crypto space.
How did you meet and how did you know he
(08:49):
was the one for you? So we actually met in
New York City. I'm from Orlando, and so I was
traveling to New York for a tour that my mom
and I both hope it's our success tour. So we
host a success tour every single year, and we were
doing this one in New York at that particular time.
I remember it was in May of that year, and um,
(09:12):
we went to New York and I was asked a
few days before our meeting to speak on fifth AV
at a trader's event. Okay, so it was day Traders.
So I went there and I spoke about my story
with day trading, how I got started being in the industry,
wanting to impact more women's lives in this industry. Just
(09:35):
giving my full story about how I started with day trading. Well,
after that, we ended up going to dinner, you know,
all of us, and I of course was the only
lady there. So it was nice, you know, there was
a lot to choose from, I'll say that. And Um,
I went to dinner and there was a guy that
was sitting across from me, and he kept looking at me,
(09:55):
and so I'm like, is he looking at me because
I have something on my face? Or is it because
he like me? And so we just kept talking and
you know, just sharing within the room about day trading,
about crypto and different things like that. Then afterwards he
came up to me and said, hey, you know, UM,
I really enjoyed talking with you tonight. Can I connect
(10:16):
with you on Instagram? Now? Why he didn't ask for
my number? I guess maybe that's our generation's way of
connecting with one another. So he did that and I
said okay, and then I knew them when he asked
for the Instagram I said, oh, yeah, he really likes me, um,
and so and so we did that, and a few
days later, I invited him to our event uh that
(10:39):
my mom and I were hosting in New York, and
he was the only man that came, and I said, okay, awesome,
I'm glad you came. He was the only individual that
came from that group, and I said, all right. So
we were just flirting the entire day, and then that
evening we all went to dinner with our staff to celebrate,
and I invited him to come along with me, and
(11:02):
so we sat there we talked all night. It was
like no one else was in the room. He lived
in New York, I was in Orlando. So in the
back of my mind, I'm like, okay, this is nice,
but I don't really know how this is gonna work out,
but I'll try it anyway. And so we talked and
we have never stopped talking since. Well fast forward about
six months later, he said, you know what, I really
(11:24):
am serious about this relationship. I want to be with you.
I see myself marrying you. So I'm gonna move from
New York to Orlando so that way you can know
that I'm serious about this. Because he said, I know
that if I don't move You're gonna find someone else
and I'm gonna lose you. And I said, okay, So
I never told him that he had to move. I
(11:46):
just let it be his decision, and he did it
within that first year of us being together, and the
rest is history. And now we're engaged. So what is
a success tour? You said that you and your mom
were going to New York and success to her? What
is that? This is our tour that we host every
single year, and it's our tour where we inspire ladies
(12:07):
from around the world and we teach them about business
and marketing and branding, and so that's really our specialty.
We have an entire business school where we teach women
how to do this with taking their businesses from you
know where it is today to leveling up to that
next um you know, profit bracket or whatever that may
(12:30):
be for them, creating products, creating digital products, marketing in
their brands, getting into stores, all of those types of things.
We help them with that. And so we decided, Okay,
this is awesome. We love having our business school, but
let's take that on the road. And so we took
it on the road and we were able to travel
with that and so we call it our success tour
(12:50):
because we're helping them to be successful in their businesses
and in their brands. And now a quick break. Are
you a woman owned business looking for a new sales channel.
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(13:10):
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learn more at Join the W Marketplace dot com. One
of the threads start what you've done is really the
(13:33):
marketing to all of these customers. How do you attract
the people on your success tours? Or how did you
attract your nail customers, your no polish customers? How do
you attract your now crypto audience? Well, of course, like
I mentioned with starting that nail polished company, it all
started with realizing, Okay, if I can connect and build
(13:55):
relationships with people who I have never met online, then
that that I can also attract people into my business
that I have never met through social media as well.
Of course we have ads that are going out, but
really under all of that, because you can have the ads,
you can make the social media post and still attract
(14:16):
little to know people. But really it's building a lifestyle
around your product and service. And that's been something that
has really helped us and really helped me go to
the next level with my um business. So what do
I mean by that? Not just delegating or telling people
what they should do, but really demonstrating it in our
(14:37):
own lives. And when they say okay Ariana or Dr
Station that happens to be my mother, um Ariana and
Dr Staa, they're doing this. They're succeeding in this there, Okay,
they are building wealth in this area as an entrepreneur.
You know, they're doing their conferences, they're teaching women this,
they're starting their business school. I want to do that,
so let me connect with them. I think that is
(15:00):
my secret sauce that I'm letting out today with more.
You know, of course you want to do those other
things when it comes to marketing and branding, but when
you can really show people the lifestyle that you are
also I guess quote unquote selling that is really where
you take your business to the next level. How do
(15:20):
you show people that lifestyle? What are they looking at
if they go to your Instagram or follow you? So
when you come to my Instagram, you see a lot
of travel, right, because I love being able to travel.
I love being able to really live a freedom based lifestyle.
What do I mean by that? You know, because we're
(15:41):
building our wealth portfolios because we have our own businesses.
That means that in the middle of the week, something
as simple as I can go get my nails done
and it's not bragging. So I don't want it to
sound like, oh, she's just bragging on her page. No, no, no,
that's not it. I want to show them that it's
real because I can tell you what to do all day.
But if I don't show you how it's done and
(16:03):
what it's done for me, then one you're probably not
gonna believe it, and too you may not believe that
it's possible for you. And again, I don't want to
sound like I'm bragging. So when you come to my page,
you're gonna feel motivated and not defeat it because I'm
not just showing you that I can do it, or
that we can do it, but that you can do
it too. Are you ever afraid of failing? Absolutely, especially
(16:24):
when I am launching something new, when I am maybe
introducing something new, when I have to get on stage
and tell others something about maybe I'm invited in to speak,
I'm like, man, I really hope that I don't disappoint
the crowd. I really hope that they get, you know,
(16:45):
what they came for. So definitely I do have that fear.
But then I also remember that I personally believe that
we were all created to help inspire others, and I
believe that when you're being authentic to what you know,
authentic to your destiny, authentic to your purpose, then you're
(17:05):
always gonna show up and deliver because you're being authentic
to you. It's only the times where I try to
be something else or someone else that I really end
up failing. And so I go back and I tell myself, Okay,
remember you don't have to try to compete against this
person or them because of their industry. You show up,
do what you were called in to do, and you're
(17:28):
going to be successful. How did you end up in Orlando?
Did you grow up in Michigan, which is how you
ended up at Michigan State. So I did grow up
in Michigan. I'm originally from Grand Rapids. Went to Michigan
State University, and then once I graduated from college, I
ended up moving down to Florida. And so my parents
always had this dream of, uh somewhat being in Florida.
(17:50):
I don't want to stay retiring in Florida because they
still are very active and busy and entrepreneurs, but they
always had this dream. You know. We would come on
vacation all the time when I was young girl, and
they said, I would love to live in Florida. We
were in the heat, There's Disney, there's Universe, so you know,
there's all these different things, and we're like, oh my gosh,
we would love to be in Florida. And it manifested
(18:12):
for us later on, and so the opportunity came up
and we ended up taking that dive and moving to Florida.
And I'm so happy that we did because I love
it here. I love having, you know, the warm weather
all the time. One of the most incredible things about
your story is how early it began. You started your
first business in high school. What made you think you
(18:33):
could do that? Yes, I did, so I started this
journey very very early. And what inspired me was seeing
my mom really as a female entrepreneur, I mean ever
since I can imagine growing up just UM, seeing her work,
seeing her be a mom, seeing her be a superhero
to myself and my younger brother. I wanted to be
(18:56):
just like her. And so when I was younger, I
would put on those Lemonates ends and I would ask
her to buy me the entrepreneurial books from American Girl
Doll and all of those things, and she said, Okay,
you have a bent that you want to go into,
and I see that it's entrepreneurship. And so of course
that's what launched UM. What made me launch my business
(19:16):
as a teenager, but really seeing my mom being this
superwoman made me want to do the same. What was
the first business and how did you come up with
the name. So my first business was the Billionaire Girls Club,
And we came up with that because we wanted every
young girl to feel rich, to feel wealthy. But also
this was a business UM that was centered around proper etiquette,
(19:41):
how to relate to your teachers, how to relate to
your parents, things that young girls go through. So what
happened was, over time, chapters almost like a sorority. Chapters
were started around the country, which was really awesome. We
would go and speak at these various events where young
girls would be, their teenagers would be, their high school
(20:01):
students would be there, and it really just exploded around
the country and we started chapter. So that's where the
name came from. And really just wanting, like I said,
wanting every every young girl to feel like they were wealthy,
that they were queens, that they were princesses, and that
they were worthy of success in their dreams. How did
that all become important to you? When I was younger,
(20:23):
I was bullied somewhat in school, in middle school and
in high school because of my weight at the time.
You know, young boys would come up to me and
laugh and they would say, oh my gosh, you look
like this, or you look like that, or we don't
like you because you know you're overweight or whatever those names,
and they would call me me names or you know,
(20:43):
I would go to class and they would say, why
do you look like that? Or why is your hair
like that? Right? Um, and so it it just made
an impression on me, and I said, I would come
home and I would talk to my mom about it
all the time, and really both of my parents and
I would say, I don't like how this makes me feel.
I'm sure I'm not the only person going through this,
and um, because of that, that's what inspired me to
(21:06):
really do this. How did you handle the nays I mean,
definitely it did come with some naysayers. It came with
people saying, oh, you think you're better than us because
you have a business now, or you know, I was
traveling at a very young age. I remember organizations would
bring me in to speak maybe to their young girls,
to say, oh, you know, this is what we can do.
(21:27):
This is an inspiration and they would say, oh, you
think you're better than us. But again, that came to
having an open, open conversation with my mother. And I'm
glad that she was in my face. Let me just
say that, I'm glad that she didn't just send me
off to school and just say, Okay, whatever happens happens,
let me not check in on you. But every day
(21:48):
when I came home, she would say, what happened at
school today, What did the students say to you today?
How did that make you feel? And so that opened
up the conversation for us, and it helped me to
do with it now. On the other hand, my parents
gave me great advice and they said things like, listen,
you don't have to worry about that. Yes, that's easier
said than done. But people are going to talk about
(22:10):
you when you're doing something in life. And then they
would show me real life examples. So because they were
in business, they would show me conflict or different things
that would happen with them as entrepreneurs. And I would say, Okay,
it's not just the kids in high school or middle school.
This is just what happens in life. You go to
(22:32):
college and you launched an entirely new kind of business.
Did you do that right away or did you first
become a college student and acclimate to the culture there.
I jumped right in. Okay. So when I was seventeen
years old, graduating from high school heading into Michigan State University,
I had already launched Superstar Nail Laquer, which is our
(22:54):
current nail polished company. All right, So I launched that
and it was let me tell you, it was not
easy because I didn't have the normal college experience. So
what it was like for me was, Okay, you study
early in the week, make sure your classes are on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Leave the weekends for your business. So sometimes I would
(23:17):
try to make it to a game. But when people say,
oh my gosh, you went to Michigan State, I know
they throw great parties, I'm like, I don't know about
those parties because I was doing my business right from
the jump. So it was something that I wanted to do.
And how that came about was I launched that business
with my mother, but because her career really took off
(23:38):
as a motivational speaker and entrepreneur, she said, Okay, you
really wanted to start this thing, so you're gonna have
to take it over. And I'm like, wait, wait, I
thought this was both. She said, nope, you're taking this over.
This is your baby. You're responsible for it. You gotta
make sure that it goes well. And I love that
she didn't baby me through that because it made me
(23:58):
into who I am today. So that's how it started.
So it was a much different college experience, but I
love it. It was amazing. So tell us about the business.
How did you first begin? And here are your customers.
I remember us wanting to get into the nail polish company,
and now it may be a little bit easier because
and that's not to put any other business down, but
(24:19):
now it's you know, it can be one of those
things where you pick some colors, you throw your name
on it, and now you have a company. Back then,
this was no you're picking the bottles, you're creating the colors.
You're doing the entire thing from grassroots. I mean, this
was serious. And so that first step was really gaining
(24:40):
the capital um to even start the business, because it
was a whole lot of money to get into the
beauty industry to break into that um. So that happened,
and really how we raised capital was by having garage sales. Um.
We did it the old school way. We didn't just
walk into the bank and say hey, can we have
a loan. That wasn't how that was working for especially
(25:00):
as a young girl. No, that wasn't happening. So it
was like, okay, sell some clothes, sell have a garage
selle put this out and sell it product, create a
product and sell it and make money for it. And
so that's really how it started. And then from there
are customers. What happened was the Instagram was not out
at the time, but we did have Twitter and we
(25:23):
had Facebook at the time, and this was at the
beginning stage of social media marketing, and so I said,
I was on there, and I said, man, if I
can make friends from around the world on Twitter, why
can't I get customers or gain customers from around the
world on Twitter and Facebook? And so I started to
(25:46):
use those platforms because at the time, I did not
have enough capital to just create a billboard or you know,
to do all these magazine ads in Vogue where people
would buy nail polish, and so I did that and
people started to test it out and say, hey, guys,
you gotta buy it in order to test it, let
me give you a discount because there were you know,
(26:08):
you couldn't try it on in the store. And um,
it blew up from there. And then I remember the
ah ha, my big aha moment was I opened up
Glamour magazine and I remember Eva Longoria was on the
cover of that magazine and they had our pink nail
polish and featured in that magazine. One of the editors
(26:29):
had picked it up. They put it in the magazine
as one of their UH Summer favorites, and so that
was really the aha moment that took it over the top.
What was unique about your nail polished compared to the others.
It was the first time where it was a vegan
type of nail polished. And I remember being teased about
that when I would go on these news stations, right.
(26:52):
So I would go, let's say, on a news station,
and they would want to interview me because they're like, man,
this young girl, she's you know, she's in my minority,
she's this and she has a nail polished company. We
want to interview you. So we were getting all these
interviews and I remember the news cat and it was
a woman as well. And remember I'm a young college
student and she's like, oh, it's vegan, does that mean
(27:15):
you can eat it? And she was making fun of it,
and literally on TV she makes fun of me, and
I'm like, wow, so I'm trying to keep my composure. Really,
what you need is proper education. A lot of times
when nail polished companies are creating polished with glitter and shimmer,
(27:35):
they use fish scales. We decided not to use fish scales,
and we decided to use other things that create glitter
or you know, something to that effect, and this is
why it is vegan plus. It was uh Famil to
hide Free and all these toxin free um in the
nail polished and she said, oh, okay, now I understand.
(27:57):
So um that's really what made its special show. It
was toxin free. It was one of the first vegan
nail polished companies, and we really created it with moms
and moms to be in mind. So how at your
age in college did you have this idea for something
that was really made partly with moms to be in mind?
What drove you down that path? Seeing my mom, she
(28:20):
was pregnant, right, So I always was praying. I was
praying for a younger brother, and I remember learning about
nail polish and learning about the toxins and nail polish
and what they do, even having friends around me who
were pregnant or aunts and you know, different relatives that
were around and them not being able to wear nail
polish win you know, they became conscious of it. And
(28:43):
of course you know that's where that idea came from.
So he said, okay, this will be perfect because we
can answer that question, um, but also just the nail
polished industry overall. I remember I wanted to be a
fashion designer at the time, and I knew aching into
the fashion industry it's pretty tough even now, you know,
(29:04):
even with as many opportunities that there are out there,
breaking into that industry now can be really, really hard.
And so I thought, I said, hmmm, if I created
a nail polished company, which was still not easy, but
it's a lot easier than trying to come up with
a clothing company at that time, let me do this
(29:26):
to break into the industry. And I ended up falling
in love with nail polish and now a quick break.
We are going to have to go to our speed around. Now, Aim,
do you want to ask the first question? What book
are you reading? Asked by Mark Victor Hansen. So your
parents dream was to move to Florida one day? What
(29:49):
is your long term dream? I would love to have
a home or maybe spend summers in Europe. I went
to school uh Impair Ris and London, Belgium, and um
a few other places in Europe, and so it was
the best experience that I ever had. So I would
love to be able to do business and still be
(30:13):
able to live in Europe and just have this amazing
summer in Europe cooking and you know, touring and doing
all these amazing things. So that would be my my
long term dream. Wait, when did you go to school
in Europe? When I was at Michigan State University my
last year, my senior year, I took pretty much the
(30:34):
entire year, almost the entire summer and fall to study
in Europe. And so I did that, and it was
a marketing program abroad, which really taught me more being
overseas and marketing in real life than being back on campus.
So stay at college. But it was a great experience.
If you can do study abroad, definitely do it. Who
(30:55):
leaves you start strack? Well, someone that inspires me would
be Sara or Blakely. She's absolutely incredible. I would love
to meet her one day and talk with her about
how she created her brand and how it became this,
you know, how she became like the superhero. Because as
I navigate, you know, getting married and of course having children,
(31:19):
I want to be a super mom like that. So um,
not someone that I'm really I look up to and say, wow,
she's amazing. What is your top and f T pic
right now, I would say Boss Beauties by Lisa Mayor
because of how amazing it is the utility that comes
(31:40):
with it, I mean what they have already giving us,
and not that you just get an n f T
for what they can give you. I'm not saying that,
but the utility and the community that comes with being
in the Boss Beauties community is absolutely incredible. Another one
that I really love is maybe on as well UM
with Michelle Reeve. So that's really awesome. That's nice one.
(32:01):
But I would say those would be the top my
top picks right now. Well, lu Burns has been listening
to this interview and he always comes on at the
end with the final question from the male perspective, I
want to know more about like what are you doing
with all this money you making? Like what are you
spending on? What are the charities that you fund? Really
(32:24):
I'm pretty conservative. Again, like I said, investing in women
UM really helping them to build their businesses and their brands.
And we do have some scholarships for those that are
in our business coaching or those who are who attend
our events, those who are in our Women in Wealth Club.
We do various things for them UM all throughout the year.
(32:45):
So that's where a lot of our money and a
lot of my money is going to. Of course I
love to give to UH. It's a place for young
girls who are troubled and who are struggling at home,
but they still to be in school, they still want
to go to the next level. So we recently just
paid for their entire prom for them to have their
(33:07):
own prom because we wanted them to experience those things
as well. Because you don't have to UM. Just because
you had a shaky pass doesn't mean that your future
has to be shaky. So that and then, of course,
on the other hand, spending money on n f T s,
learning these different projects, seeing what's out there, and buying
up crypto. So that's also what I'm doing, so a
(33:29):
lot of investing right now for my future, especially as
we're getting married. That's really what I'm spending a lot
of my money on. I don't know if you remember
in but the reason we first got connected to Arianna
because my best friend from high school, Larra sask she
is following Arianna. She's like super into crypto and she's
(33:50):
been following Arianna for a long time. Now. One of
the things that I think Arianna does exceptionally well is
she is the first person in the world who has
given me a basic understanding of Web three because she
breaks things down like everyone else. I'm like, you're speaking
German and I don't speak German, so we're not going
to be able to do this. And but like, Mariana
does an incredible job. And I think part of it
(34:11):
might come from the fact that she is clearly somebody
who is curious and learns and like really dives into things.
I mean, this is a woman who was constantly learning. Well.
She has an excellent way of describing things too. I
mean we saw that when we interviewed her a couple
of weeks ago on stage, and she just really is
able to pare it down without being condescending or patronizing.
(34:32):
She's just she want to learn more from her, You
want to spend more time with her, and I mean,
I want to take her course now. She teaches these
incredible courses online and in person, and she's really remarkable.
One of the things she shared amy that was so
fascinating to me was, especially with my background and personal branding,
I was like, Okay, she's a genius. The way she
(34:53):
shares her lifestyle and why she shares it was unlike
anyone I've heard about that before. It is okay to
plan what you share about your life and to be
intentional about it. In building your personal brands, like you
don't need to like put every single thing onto the internet, right,
share the parts of you that tie it all together.
(35:14):
Like that was really that was really interesting, Like building
a personal brand is great. You can monetize various parts
of your life and we all want everybody to make
a lot of money. Thanks for listening to What's Her
Story with Sam and Amy. We would appreciate it if
you leave her review wherever you get your podcasts, and
of course, connect with us on social media at What's
(35:36):
Her Story podcast. What's Her Story with Sam and Amy
is powered by my company, The Riveter at the Riveter
dot Co and Sam's company, park Place Payments at park
place Payments dot com. Thanks to our producer Stacy Para
and our male perspective, Blue Burns
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