Melinda Spigel: Melinda Maria Jewelry

This week, Melinda Spigel of Melinda Maria Jewelry stops by to talk about her go-getter attitude and hustler energy. Listen in on her story about how she grew her business that is now loved by celebrities and the masses alike. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi everyone, I'm Rachel Zoe and you're listening to Climbing
in Heels. This show is all about celebrating the most
extraordinary superwomen who will be sharing their incredible journeys to
the top, all while staying glamorous. One of the best
parts about doing my podcast is learning more about so
many amazing women that I am lucky enough to call friends.

(00:28):
Our guest this week, Melinda Spiegel of Melinda Maria Jewelry
is an incredible jewelry designer, and when I tell you
her story is so unique, inspiring and entertaining, I promise
you I'm not lying.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
You are going to agree with me.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Melinda is truly the epitome of a go getter, a hustler.
Her passion, her ambition, her positivity is truly part of.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Everything that she touches.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
I'm so excited for you to hear her incredible story
and to learn more about how she grew her incredible
business that is loved, worn, and adored by celebrities and
the masses alike. So let's get right into it. You
are going to love this episode. I started Climbing in

(01:20):
Heels because, just like you, I'm surrounded by the most
incredible women that do amazing things and like have all
really climbed to the top of their fields in such
a myriad of ways, and everyone's story is so unique
and different. And I speak very candidly on the pod

(01:44):
and in interviews that I've done over the years how
I was really not supported or lifted by women throughout
my career, very rarely, in fact the opposite, In fact kicked,
kicked in the stomach, kicked in the head, kicked in
every possible way. And I think that the impetus for
starting this podcast was, like, you know what, I actually

(02:06):
am the opposite, and I actually like to celebrate and
lift up the women in my life, especially the ones
that I'm so impressed by and have these incredible stories,
because I think what I'm hearing a lot of now,
especially since the pandemic, is how many women have started
off as one thing or a few things in their

(02:28):
lives and get to this point whatever the age is, thirties, forties, fifties,
even sixties, and going what is my life and what
am I doing? And I've done this for so long.
I've been in a tech company, I've been in corporate America, whatever,
you know what I love X and this is what
I want to do now and at what point is
it too late to pivot?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
And how?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
And I think as women, you know, and Sarah Foster
said this once that for some reason, our culture has
raised us to think that for women there's only one
or two spots in everything for us, right, and so
there's this fierce like jealousy and competition very often in
different fields, and it's like, oh, how did she get
that book deal? Why aren't I have that big deal?

(03:09):
How did she get into selling at Burgdors, Why aren't I?
And so I really wanted to start climbing in heels
to have the conversations of how these incredible women that
I know And I think regardless, you have to celebrate
people's success and hard work and.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Look at women like when I started this company, which
is so funny, I just realized I started in two
thousand and five, and I always thought it was really
or seth like so long ago.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
So you're almost twenty years though. We have to like
next year, we got to do a thing, Melinda, I.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Got to do a thing.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
So like for the last year, I've been like you know,
we've been when I'm an interviewed like seventeen years and
I'm like, I should really check on that, because.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
When I started, it was such a I didn't know
what I was doing. I had no idea.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
I was like, I was sort of giggling when I
went in to get my business license.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
I was like, this, it's funny.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well, okay, so I want to talk about that. It's
hilarious because.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Wait, hold up, hold up, because we need to address
the story. Because I need to share that I have
become very close with miss Melinda of Milinda Maria Jewelry,
which most of you probably know in love already, but
if you don't, you will.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
But over the.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Last I would say a year mostly, but like I
feel like it's been ten because I feel like I
know everything about you. But but I heard about little
tidbits of your story and how you came to be
from someone in the industry, and I said, I speak
to her twice a day, seven days a week. How

(04:50):
do I not know the insanity of this story? And
so I forty lifetimes away, right, but it it was.
But here's the thing. I think it's incredibly important to
share because it is so unique, and you know, I
would say that of all the women that I've had

(05:11):
on the pod, there are.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Definitely common threads.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Right, There's a lot of women that were raised by
single moms, single working moms, some that were raised with
barely anything, who learned what work was at a very
young age, survival skills, and.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
You know women that have grown up all over the country.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
But ambition obviously is the common thread, of course, But
there is no story that is exactly like yours or
even close so. And you know, all different levels of education.
Some have gone on through all the way plus plus
plus some have barely graduated high school. But your story,
I want to first go back, where did you grow up? A?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
And B? How did you get out?

Speaker 4 (06:05):
I grew up in Spokane, Washington.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
I mean it was honestly like the most loving, like
we kicked the can every night, and like I lived
right next to all my best friends within like blocks
away from each other. It was very idyllic in that way.
But there was I always felt like there was something.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
And we didn't.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
And how many siblings? How many siblings?

Speaker 4 (06:24):
I have two sisters who are my besties.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Shout out to Sarah Hamilton and Ashley, both entrepreneurs, amazing
women and my.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
Brother Jeff, and it was very idyllic in that way.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
But I didn't. I was such an artist. I always
had this intuition that, like, I didn't fit here. There's
something was.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Look at my dog, Oh yeah does.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
So there was always this intuition that something was not right,
like I didn't fit in here, even though I fit in.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Everywhere like I was, you know, with friends of every
you had a.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Void, you're you're there was something missing for you this
you're like this hint.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
My forever wasn't my forever.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
And I didn't have like I think.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
We went on one vacation growing up and we drove
down to like Disneyland and stayed at this motel with
an m and my kids had no idea what that means.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
And I love him.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Now do you know what a motel is?

Speaker 2 (07:20):
They're like, what, No, Levice does not know what a
motel is.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
No, he definitely does it, especially because I like share
Brie and shoot over your son all the time. Anytime
I put out for Shooto and Breeze like, well, Linda,
this is my favorite snack, I'm like, come on, Sky,
let's have some Brion proshudo and truffled.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
At one am.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
I was dying.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
I was like, of course you are Rachel's son, so great,
and then my kids were like, huh, anyhow I have
this like instinct in me that I guess I listened
to I actually cut to. I always made jewelry, so
I was super artistic. I always made jewelry. It was
what I spent like my my birthday money, on my
babysitting money on. There was this little store calls rings

(08:05):
and things, and I would go down there and just
like how you were a stylist always, I was always
a jewelry designer and like I was obsessed with jewelry.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
My mom really didn't have any.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Actually she had one pair of ruby earrings that I lost,
per se and I should actually replace those.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
That's actually a great yes you should, yes, you should, yes.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
But so that was like my outlet is this place
rings and things, and I would like live down there
and I would always like make little things, and this
is like and.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
How old are you? How old were you at the
same I think.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
I started when I was maybe like ten, So like
my obsession with that, like I would I remember for
my prom I saved up so much money to buy
a pair of miguel Asis. I don't know if you
remember miguel A seats, but it is all these gorgeous
beat it and he was like my like everything right
that It was like miss miguel I looked you looked

(08:57):
at designers, and I looked at like jewelry. But I
remember from my prom I bought those first, and I
remember thinking, I cannot believe I'm spending I think it
was like one hundred and twenty dollars, which was crazy.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, of course I wish I still had we had
for jewelry.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
We had like our heroes were like at that time,
like ylang ylang Rock, Sanna Sulin, like all the gold and.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
The big gold like right thing, the hearts and the thing.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
But I was there was no internet, and I just
had one store and it was North Strums and they
were not carrying the.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Right ro not in Spokane.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
So anyhow, so I had just like that was like
my obsession.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
That was literally in my obsession.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
So when I left, I remember, like, it's funny, I
told you, I like recently went to this executive program
at Harvard.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, oh, we're going to get into that. We're all
we're going to get in to that I would really
go to college, right.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
But I was asking my mom because I was so
interested in it, and I was so the buy in
was so great for me because now I have a
business and it was interesting to me.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
And I asked my mom.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
I was like, what kind of student was I don't
remember because I was not interested in going to college right,
And she was like, you were really good at what
you wanted to learn, and that was it, and like
the other things. You were like, I have no time
for this, Like there's zero time in my life for this,
because I was always busy making stuff. I was making
crowns out of sticks or flowers, or I was constantly

(10:32):
putting on makeup and constantly trying different makeup looks and
so anyhow, so I was like, I just got to
get out of here. I was like, I don't know
where I got to go. And my parents were like, well,
if you're not going to I mean, my best bet
was going to a junior college.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
I'm like, I'm not going to a junior college right now.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
And so I just looked up in the Yellow Pages
and I was like, I got to go to New
York City and they were like, you've never been to
New York City. I'm like, I know, that's exactly why
I got to go, and they would go, how are
you getting there?

Speaker 4 (10:59):
I'm like, I don't know. I'm going to figure it out.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
And so I don't even remember like even the term nanny,
Like there wasn't even I mean my in my neighborhood,
like nobody had even a housekeeper.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Nowhere nanny, like nothing like that.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
You gave me stat yourself right by the time you could.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Like sit up right, which is so wild, because we
won't leave our kids alone for thirteen seconds. We won't
leave our kids alone for thirteen seconds.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
So oh, I know. Now my oldest d well, you know,
Maxie like a man totally he's fine.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
But so anyhow, so I looked up in the yellow
Pages of nanny agency in Montana and I remember calling
them being like, Hi, I'm a senior in high school
and I need to get to New York City and
be a nanny.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
And they're like, okay, great, and so signed up.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
They called me a couple of weeks later they're like,
we placed you with a family and it's right in
the city on Park Avenue. I don't even know what
that was. Did not even know what. I didn't know
what Park Avenue was. Rachel I was like, okay, great,
it's like park Park in eighty eight.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
N nice nice address.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
Yeah, it was a great address. I love when people
are like, oh, you lived in New York. I was like, yeah,
they're like whereabouts?

Speaker 3 (12:07):
And I lived in Parking eighty eight in the kitchen,
literally off the kitchen, in a closet.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
So get the call, so I meet the family whatever.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
And then the first day, this woman was like Letty
Aaronson and she's like, you're my brother's going to come
over and you're going to sort of help nanny, you know,
like babysitting.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Because because the guy can't watch the kids alone.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you're getting dangerous waters.

Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah he hasn't. He was like.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
She was like okay, So I opened the door and
literally the most famous person I've ever seen, which like
God bless him because he's a talent and he's an
American treasure, is Alfonso Rivero.

Speaker 4 (12:51):
He was like doing it.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
I think he was doing like a Michael Jackson like
imitation tour, and it was like very exciting and Spokane,
he was very excited, so that he was the most
famous person I've ever seen. Oh, and Richard Simmons. Richard Simmons,
I tried to sell him. I was selling chocolate bars
for our church and Richard Simmons pot passed by me.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
He's like, swayty, you know, I do not eat that stuff.
But here's one hundred dollars. So shout out to Richard
Simmons for helping me out.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
So I opened the door and it's Woody Allen, and
I like kind of knew who he was, and he
was wearing the full fisherman's hat and the glasses and
ever He's like him, Woody, would you like to play
McDonald's playto Playland with me and my son Satchel? And
it was Satchel at the time. I think it's now
rown in And I was like sure, So I was
like this is wild. So then I was like exposed

(13:40):
to all this stuff. Like we went on the set
of Bullets over Broadway and I was just like my
head was like spinning, and the culture and the lights
and everything.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
I was like it was literally like auttor.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yes, I can't get enough of this.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
I was paid one hundred and seventy five dollars a
week a week week and I thought I was like
living fat.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
I mean I was.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
I was doing seventy five dollars a day, three days
a week.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
Exactly exactly because you loved it. Well, I love.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
This wasn't my love, but you were living your life.
You were.

Speaker 4 (14:16):
I was like, oh my god.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
And I remember downstairs they had an.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
Account and I'd never heard of that.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
They had an account at like the little you know,
like fruit market, like grocery sort of like the little stand.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
They were like, you can just get anyone thing and
you wanted. And I gained so much weight.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Because I was eating these sugar free Hawking dust bars
that were probably seven hundred calories each, and I think
I gained like my freshman twenty just from this stand.
They probably now that I look at it, they probably
looked at that bill. I was like, what is this
girl eating? She is like I was like a pig
and shit. Like when I went to the grocery store
with my mom growing up, like I would always beg

(14:54):
to go like it would I'd be lucky if I
got like a box of Grand records.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
So this was like I was.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
I was a pig and shit in New York like
one hundred and seventy five dollars a week and living
in a closet by the kitchen and Park Avenue.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
It was with an account at a at a Dolly
like grocery store where you're get anything you want.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
I was like, that's wild.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
So anyhow, so then you know, I had a time there,
and I was like I really did want us to
keep living there, but I was like, I don't want
to be a nanny and I didn't want to.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
I couldn't afford to live in New York.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Like I was like, ok how can I who can?

Speaker 4 (15:30):
Could not afford it? So I came home.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
I was sort of deflated, and I was like, okay,
Mom and Dad, I'm gonna I'm going to go to it.
All the time, I was making jewelry right right, and
I would just give.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
It to people and right, great, well great. Then I
was like wait, wait, entrepreneur.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
And then I was like, oh no, I was nothing.
I didn't know what the hell I was doing. And
tell maybe like seven years ago.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
So then I went to Then I came home and
I was like, okay, how can I make a living?
I think I went to beauty school, so I remember
my dad got me. I was like, Okay, I'm going
to go to beauty school, and yeah, that's what I'm
gonna do.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Great, I'm going to be to beauty school.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
And so I remember my dad saved up like five
hundred dollars for the beauty school kid.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
It was at a community.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
College, and I quickly realized that I wanted to be
in the chair rather than behind the chair.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
So I was like, this is not going to work.
I want to be in the chair.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
And so I had like worked at a restaurant and
my dad, literally my dad like never shut up about
the five hundred dollars he wasted like for maybe seven.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Years because I quit. So then I.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Saved a little bit of money and I decided I
was like, I'm going to go to Los Angeles.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
Parents again, like.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
My poor parents honestly, like they were last them though
that they just were like, okay, go not.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
A lot of guidance. There not a lot of guidance
like to be quit frank like I did. I could
have been sold off into like some sort of awful
human being in like Saudi Arabia when I went to
New York. But like it's cool. They didn't check where
I was going. There's no checking, there's no checking references.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
There's no phone call.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
I like came home at Christmas. I was like, oh, yeah,
I'm dannying for what are you on? They're like, yeah,
didn't he Isn't he dating his niece?

Speaker 4 (17:19):
I'm like, yeah, yeah he is, or whatever is his stepdaughter.
So not a lot of guidance there.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
So I went.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Down in LA and driving down and the car breaks down,
like okay, like I think I have like the story
change is a little bit.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
It's like eighteen, it's between anywhere between fifteen and like two.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Thousand dollars okay, okay.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
And I got to LA and I like stayed in
a youth hostel and I was like, oh fuck, this
is not stainable for me.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
And so how old were you then?

Speaker 4 (17:49):
Like I think I was like twenty three, Okay, so.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
You're grown up. This is like you're you have to
start life now, like for real.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
Yeah, although I wasn't you're you're a thing like that.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I was like whatever, you're like, I've been starting my
life since I was fifteen.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Cool like literally, So then I called this guy. I'm like, shit,
I don't know anybody down here. And I remember I
met this guy who's just this wonderful, wonderful human being.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
But haven't kept in touch with him since then, My god,
I should call him. I called him and I knew
he was.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
He was in Spokane when I met him, and he
was from here, and he's so so sweet. He's like, well,
I was like, I'm really in a buy and like
I drove down here and I don't.

Speaker 4 (18:33):
Know where to stay. I don't have any money, I
don't have a college degree or a job.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
And he's like, okay, sweetie, He's like, okay, why don't
you let me call my mom and let me see
if she'll like she has something for you. And so
I remember I was at a payphone in Venice and
she called me back on the payphone and she was like, sweetie,
why don't you come and stay?

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Do that what I got? You can call people back
at payphones?

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yes, yes, So Shell, She's like, come drive, Come drive
to me, and and you know, we'll figure out what's
happening with you. She's really sweet, and so I drive
and like driving in these gorgeous neighborhoods, and it was
in Palas Verdes and all of a sudden, these giant
gates open and it's on the water and this woman
comes out in this full linen outfit and she's like Melinda,

(19:21):
and I'm like I'm home. I'm like, yes, this is
where I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
This is it. I didn't know what it was, but
this is it.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
I feel safe. Everything's beautiful.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Oh this is my people.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
So literally I lived with her, and like I lived
with them.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
I can't remember how long.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
It was, maybe like six months or seven months, and
I worked for them.

Speaker 4 (19:50):
I like helped them around the house. I did for them.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Their parents were there and they were older, and I
helped with them. And then I got a job, but
still I was always literally making jewelry. So then I
got a job at MTV, and I like hopped around
and then I was a makeup artist and I got
a job at MTV for a guy that I mean,
I had no resume. He clearly like just wanted to
hook up with me.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, man.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
I was a terrible assistant, awful and so but I
like then went around and did like PA stuff and
then I started doing makeup a different makeup counter, so
I would like travel. I was like that just like
get norths or yeah, I would column be up and makeup.
And then I was making jewelry. So then I sort
of like got on my feet a little bit and

(20:35):
I was realizing. I was like, Okay, I really want
to be a jewelry designer, Like this is what I
want to do, but I didn't really know how to
do it. So I started going to Starbucks. This is
I think where you heard the story. I started going
to Starbucks quick. Where where do people like go? Where
can I like get people's attention. I'm like Starbucks was
like the place, and Starbucks was like you had money
if you for me, you had money if you were.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Going to Starbucks for getting a lot, right, like that
indulgent for me.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
And so I would sit underneath where people got their
drinks at Starbucks and I would make jewelry like where
they I mean, you know, think about that turn.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
You're like, every yeah minute, someone's passing by you. So
I mean I think it was pretty genius myself.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yes, I would be. It's a very high traffic area, very.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
High traffic and very low rent for me for me,
really low.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yes, So I would literally be selling my jewelry at Starbucks.
I would go to Santa Monica one. I would go
to the Robertson one. I would go to the Beverly
Hills one Robertson one. That's where I got Lisa Klein
my first store to remember Lisa.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
Why course? And so I mean there were days where
I was like, oh my god, I just told like
a thousand dollars, Like what.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's insane, That is insane. And I trust me. I
know that Starbucks because I was living at Curve and VNA.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
That's right, we were just ships past there, my god,
but we were there for each other.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
But where does the game show come in? Because I
cannot not talk about that.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
I still had a bunch of I still had a
million jobs. I still was like I didn't like park
it at Starbucks full time. I still had a bunch
of like little freelance jobs and really not making barely anyone,
like barely paying my rent.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
And then I was like, okay, the way, which is
so terrifying though, like were you ever?

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Just like I'm scared were you ever?

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Like because you're such like a positive person, but like
and obviously as you sit here successful today, like you know,
I don't want to play down the fear of what
that is, because I.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Know all I knew was I wanted to do what
I wanted to do when I wanted to do it,
Like that was my personality. It wasn't like I wasn't
a big planner. I had no hopes and dreams to
be a big jewelry designer. I really just wanted to
like pay my bills and live in a tiny apartment
and you know, be able to do what I love

(23:08):
and to go like I remember when I went to
I could never afford to go to Whole Foods at
the time and get the salad bar because it was
too expensive. I remember I felt like I really had
made it when I was able to go to the
salad bar at Whole Foods, and I was like I
don't even have to like weigh this the truth, Like
I remember, like this is amazing. This is amazing. So

(23:30):
I didn't have those like everyone's like, oh, what were
your goals?

Speaker 1 (23:33):
I'm like I didn't have one, and I really were
like I'm surviving. I want to stay here and I
want to be able to live my life here exactly right,
Like that was the goal.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
I wanted to not move back to Spokane even though
I love it now and I go back every year
and it's the best place on earth to raise kids,
but I just knew it wasn't for me.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
I want to talk about that for one minute because
I think, as we mentioned at the beginning of this
sort of like us, is success, whether you're born into it,
whether you're born privileged, whether or not. But I want
to just talk about that for a second, because well.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
What is success?

Speaker 1 (24:10):
But also like just for me listening to your story, right,
like I did grow up in without having to think
about these things, and I want to. I don't want
to underplay that because I think it is such a
part of who you are still, because I know you

(24:30):
now and I know the difference, and I know how
you work, and I know how you hustle. And I'm
not saying that someone who grew up in privilege doesn't
work as hard, but it's different because the measure of that,
it's also the fear.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right. So the one thing I always say is.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
A point of differentiation, yours in your mind was always
like if I don't make it here and I don't
make enough money to pay my rent, I'm going back.
I'm going back to Spokane, right like I'm going back
to live with my parents.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
There was no backup, there was no hey mom.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
For one time, I called my dad and I was
falling and I was in my car, and I remember
so vividly. I was raining and my car was like
it needed to be fixed and I didn't have money.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
For rent, and I was like, I have to borrow
money from you.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
And my dad took it really seriously, and I took
it really serious, right, And maybe that's, you know why
I respected it so much, But.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
Yeah, I mean it was it was survival.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
It was like my option was to go back to Spokane,
and I just wasn't happy.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
I knew that wouldn't be I wouldn't be happy doing that,
so sure for me, that was my drive.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
Is like I just loved it here, like even though
I was struggling and it was so hard and it
was so lonely, especially because.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
I moved here without.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Like it anyone go to college here and.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
I didn't have a face, I didn't have any connections
to anything. I just moved and knew nobody, but I
just knew like I wanted to be around like excitement
and I loved the weather and it was so happy
but with all the hard times I had, I had
such wonderful memories of the struggle.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Totally, totally was.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Every little win I had, Like the I was able
to get the salad bar and I didn't ask to
worry about paying for it a whole foods like that
was such a win for me. Or when I was.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Not beautiful, that is so beautiful.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
Bedroom with the girl I had to share a bedroom
with me because I earned my company, I had no money,
and I was like, I was like my friends were
in a nice condo with like a nice car, and
I was sharing a crappy bedroom in Santa Monica because
I hadn't pair back in order to start my company.
But like the first time a celebrity wore something or whatever,
Like even though like I was so broke and I

(26:49):
was so lonely, I was still the things that made
me happy were making jewelry, being in California in the sun,
and like seeing people walking down Rodeo.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Or not Radeo.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, yeah, like Robertson.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
The stores are just walking into stores where I saw
fashion that I was like, this is Garman is so beautiful,
Like I couldn't afford it, but I still looked at.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
That as like a beacon of something.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Ye anyhow, it's amazing, but I decided to I was like, okay,
well maybe I could try to start this, but I
don't have any money, and I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
I wasn't like educated. I didn't know that I could
go actually raise money.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
You didn't know you could like go around and ask
people to I didn't want your business.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
They're right.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
So I was like, okay.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
I was watching Jeopardy and I was like, okay, I
can't go on this show because I don't know anything.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
On this show. I know like two questions and they're
in the pop culture section. I was like, I was
like okay.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
I turned into the next channel and I was like, oh,
here's Hollywood Squares. This idiot just said X and O
and he won more than the guy on Jeopardy.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
I'm going on that show.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
So I looked it up again, get my pages, got
my up pages out, and I was.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
Like, okay, it's on ABC. And I called them. I'm like, oh, hey,
how can I get on Hollywood Squares? And they told
me how to get on? And I went on. And
you do this mock game show and they you take
a test and.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
I was shocked that like three quarters of the room
didn't pass the Hollywood Squares test.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
And so that took all those people out.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
And then you do a mock game show and I'm
fairly charismatic and so fairly yeah. They called me like
two weeks later and they're like, okay, can you be
down here whatever? And I remember I was like, I
had like a babysitting job like lined up for that weekend.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
And that would have brought me a lot of money.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
And I really had to decide like, Okay, am I
going to babysit or am I going to go do this?
And I called the person I was babysit and I'm like, hey,
I know this is last minute, and tell me if
you if you can't find anybody, then I'm gonna babysit
just like I said I would. But I got called
to be on this game show and I know I'm
going to win a car and a lot of money,
and they were like, oh, okay, okay, crazy, I'm not
going to be watching my kids anymore. Bye. And but

(29:04):
I swear to God, I like secreted the shit out
of that game show and.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
I want a car.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
I want like sixty grand worth of cash and prizes.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
I won, like.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
That is this sickest thing, all this.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Sudden, and I was like, I remember putting like thirty
thousand dollars in my bank acount.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
I was like, I'm so rich. This is crazy amount
of money. And then I heard that I had to
pay taxes on it.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
What's that?

Speaker 3 (29:30):
So I had to sell my ma'sam YadA Oh. I
took it for a spin a few times. The mist
that my taxes and then that sort of like was
my seat money. I'm like, oh my god, I'm going
to call it every game show in Los Angeles. And
so then I went on one of my friends, this
girl that I was friends with in New York.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
She was my other like nanny friend. She's from Austria,
and she's like, I'm.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Coming to LA and I really want to visit you.
I'm like, okay, come stay with me and the person
I'm staying with in our room great, and she's like,
I really want to go on the price is right
and I'm like, oh me too, but I'm like, but
I'm going to win.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
So I went on there and one.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
On there and it was Bob Barker and I won
like seven or nine hundred dollars barbecue or nineteen hundred
dollars barbecue or something, because.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
I got it right on, so I got to reach
in his pocket. So that was creepy, a.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Five hundred dollars reach around pocket grab. But I was like,
it's fine, it's five hundred bucks. I'll take it. I'm
taking it.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Then, and I went on.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
It's actually cut.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
Two years later, my publicists like, hey, do you want
to go on Hollywood Spore or do you want to
go on Prices right as a Barker's Beauty to give
away a collection of your jewelry.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
As like one of the things they've been on. And
I'm like, oh my god, this is the best social moment.
It was great.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
But that was true Caret. And then that was Drue Carrot.
He was like, oh, I heard you were on here before.
I'm like, yeah, that's how I started company.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
I legitimately cannot believe this. So okay, So this was
two thousand and five, now okay, okay, so no, no.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Hold on so then so not yet, not yet, so
I hadn't like started my LLC.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Okay, okay, aren't timeline?

Speaker 4 (31:19):
So like I got to do like a lifeline that, babe.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Babe, my whole life's a blur, Like right, don't you
feel like.

Speaker 4 (31:25):
You're like, wait, it was two thousand and five, No,
it's twenty seventeen.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Okay, it's only when I do things like this and
people interview me, I'm like, right.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Oh, so wait that was bad.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
Right or ten years ago? Not sure which.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
So then I was like, okay, So I got onto
this like I guess casting call of this casting director
and she would always call me and be like, hey,
do you want to be on this reality show?

Speaker 4 (31:51):
And I was like, no, I don't want to do reality.
Do you want to be on this show? Reality? It
was all reality. I was like, I'm no interest being
in a reality show.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
And so then they were like, okay, do you want
to come and be on this dodgeball game show on
the Game Show Network? And I was like, all right,
brass tax lady, how much can I win? I was like,
I don't care about anything. I don't care about dodgeball.
I just care about some winnings. And she's like you
could win, Like I don't know. It was like twenty
five brand something. I'm like I'll be there, I'm right there.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Did you win?

Speaker 4 (32:16):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (32:17):
So then I went on that and that's where I
met my husband, Literally where I met my husband. Yet,
so game shows, I have a very sob.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Babe, do you still watch them? You must be like obsessive.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
No, I really want to go on family feud with
my sisters. I'm like, you have to go on in
my niece's so you know that.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
I've been a question on Jeopardy a few times, and.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
Of course you have, You're a legend.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
No, but like, I found that so shocking because I've
never played any of those.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Take a photo of that and frame it and put
it in your office, because that's legendary, that's epic.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
That's when you know you have.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Really Oh my god, I can't wait, Melnda.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
That's one of the questions I could have answered.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
This is the sickest.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
This is one of the greatest stories I've ever heard.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
No, but truthfully, because funny.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
When I look back and think about all the things
that happened, it was just crazy. Then my husband's like,
you're all over the place. He's my Jewish husband. That
was like, let's get the shit together, because then I
was doing I was just like an artist doing.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
A million things, and he was like after. It was
so funny. We looked at when I started my company.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
So we met in September and he was like, you
need to really get your shit together and do one
thing and quit everything else. And I was like, and
he's like, and then pair back all your expenses. And
I'm like, okay, I want to be a jeweler designer.
And he was like, all right, that's what you're gonna do.
I'm like, I am.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
He was like, yes. I mean I knew.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
I wanted to tell that course, but it didn't seem real.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
You had no mentors. I had nobody in the fashion
industry I knew. I had nobody that I knew that
was really sort of in the business world at a company.
I didn't know one person except for you know, my husband.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
But also I think I want to pause on that
for a second because I think as I'm listening to you,
and you know, listen, I've spoken, I've had so many
amazing women on here, and like, the thing is with
you is that it sounds to me that you've basically
been It's almost like you were going at such a
lightning speed because you were in such like survivor mode.

(34:28):
You're like, I need more money for this. Okay, I
got to do this. Okay, I got to get off
the couch. I want to be able to get food.
I have to be able to like And I think
that's the thing. And I think when you're in that
like survivor mode and you don't even realize it because
the ramification like that the alternative was leaving La. So

(34:49):
I think for you, you're like your focus, You're you're like
light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Was like, I'm not leaving La.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
So whatever it takes for me to stay here, I'm
doing the next game show, I'm meeting the next person.
I'm like, and I think beyond you, going what is
my number one focus of what I love the most
and whatever? Because at that point, you're like I need
to do what I need to do to get to X.
And so I think Art was probably the first person

(35:18):
that was like shh, yes, sit down, take a breath,
and like, what do you want to do with your life?
Because right now you're not starving today, so like, let's
now discuss what you actually are going to do and
that's what you're going to focus on.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
And I think that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
It's sort of like you've been living at this frenetic
survival pace for.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
What fifteen years? Ten years at this play?

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Right?

Speaker 4 (35:47):
I mean we met when I was almost thirty.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
I was twenty nine, right, Yeah, that's wild, that's my good.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
Fifteen years September of two thousand and four, I guess,
and I started my company. I just saw the LLC,
like the business paper. I just stumbled on it, like yesterday,
cleaning out this drawa, and it was when it was
just so October.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
No, we met September, so it was.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Like January is when I went and got my business license.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
It was like two months later or something.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
So then I just like I was like, okay, like
let me go through my expenses and see what I
can pare down.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
I sold a car that I had that wasn't even
that nice.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
I think I got like six seven grand for it,
and I think I got another car where I had
to put a down payment for fifteen hundred and it
was like a total shit car.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
And then that was like really some humble pie.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
My little sister's friend, my little sister's ten years younger
than I am. She was like, I'm going to move
to LA and she was going to nursing school or
he'd just become a nurse or something.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
And I'm like, great, can you share a bedroom with me?
And she was like she was more like can I
share the apartment with him? Like do you want to
share a bedroom? So I moved.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
Out of my room that I was sharing with another
couple of girls, and I had to share a bedroom.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
And yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
Mean, I just I didn't do anything. I didn't go
at any club.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
That didn't go I mean, I never was really interested
in that anyhow. I was like totally a homebody and
more like a health person.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
But how did you decide, like what kind of jewelry?
Because obviously there's a lot of jewelers, there's a lot
of jewelry in the world.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
But your brand I find to be very unique. I
think it's very unique.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
I couldn't afford to start a.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
We'll talk about that, because it's very expensive to do that,
to start a business.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
Very expensive.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
No, mine was more like, how do I I love
the look of diamonds.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
They're so sparkly.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
I don't wear like when I wear my big tennis
necklaces that are diamonds, you know, car stimulate diamonds like
I wear it because it I feel sparkly in it.
I don't wear it because I'm like, I want to
show somebody.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
How much money they think.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Right.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I look at people that have just like you know,
so flashy with things and like just labels over everything, right,
I need Like that to me is like an insecurity
a little bit.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
Maybe I'm like I wear I.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
Wanted to wear something that I was like, I don't
get to buy that, and I probably I mean that point,
I was like, I never will, right, and so I
wanted to, like I wanted to wear something that looked
like a diamond necklace, but I couldn't afford it, right,
And so that's really where it came from. It came
from like a need of like I want. I mean,
that's always what my designs are of, like a need
of pretty much what I want to wear. But for me,

(38:34):
it was just like how do I how do.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
I get that look? Because I want it too.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
It's not fair that like I can't have a diamondize
something you like it so and I still feel like that.
I still feel like I want to design, you know,
for the working woman that like self purchases that like
is never going to be able to have that discretionary
income to buy a diamond tennis necklace but.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
Really wants one.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
But the irony of Melinda Maria is that you know,
and I know that we're seeing the biggest celebrities in
the world who can buy, who can buy the real
thing ten times over, and are opting to wear Melinda Marias.

Speaker 4 (39:13):
Yeah, I know. That's the fun part.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
I think when I think about celebrities, like, you know,
I really love when I see women. My most favorite
thing is when I see women on the street that I.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Of course out in the wild.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
Probably get that that's so fun in there, and they're like,
your pieces make me feel so good.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
That's my most favorite.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Part myself, because it's nobody that you asked to buy it.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
It's nobody, you know.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
It's not a favor they opted with the two thousand
jewelry brands out there to wear yours and to buy.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Yours literally two or three thousand.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Yes, But about the celebrity, it's not so much about
celebrity obsessed. It's more like, oh, well, I know, Jennifer
loc Has can borrow be a late diamonds and he's
wearing my diamond hoops instead, Or when somebody wears like
a five thousand dollars gown.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
And Taylor Swift.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah yeah, and then they're wearing a sixty eight dollars
pair of earring right that twenty five thousand dollars gown
on the red carpet.

Speaker 4 (40:08):
Like that's really fun. So I feel like.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
I was, you know, maybe one of the first to
sort of infiltrate maybe the stylist world of like people
really putting the not real diamonds on people on the
red carpet. And you know, now there's a lot of brands,
but like that was that part is really fun because
I know they can pull anything.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
I mean, as you sit here today, do you still
like are you aware of like you know, because we
talk about it right, like we're talking about it now,
But like I feel like you're the same person as
the person that like left with nothing and left Spokane

(40:48):
to just like do the dream. Because as we sit
here and you and I talk about this a lot,
you know, the coddle generation that we are now trying
to employ have a very different work ethic. In large part,
there are still superstars. Don't get me wrong, there are
still superstars. But I guess what I'm saying is like,

(41:09):
as you sit here today living your life, because I
do consider you still probably one of one of my
most rational friends, and like you still like it's funny
because we talk about this all the time. When we're
talking about planning an event or whatever. You're like, oh,
I'm not using that person. That person wanted to charge
me some insane amount of money. You're still very scrappy

(41:30):
in your mind, and I think that's an entrepreneurial thing.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
But when I listen to your story, like.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
Because I won't overpay for things, especially like you know,
I know too much, right, but I know too much.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
But when I listen to you, I'm.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Sort of like, well, it's also because this is how
she built herself, right, Like you are not going to
get taken advantage of You're not going to spend stupid
money no matter how much money you have, right Yeah,
because now you have this tremendously successful company. But I
want to talk about that because I want to talk

(42:05):
about for a second, like what because you are such
a positive person and I I'm not as positive as
you are. I consider myself to be a bit Roger
says negative. Sometimes I say realist. I like to predict
things before it happens, because I like to.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
I like to.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
You love to think things through I do.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
I do bottle.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
I think you like to think things through. Your very
thorough about that. For I'm a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Like, Oh, it's gonna be fine, right exactly and so
and so. I think there's there's something to that. And
I think, as as an entrepreneur, I think that skill
is very valuable because I think that it's very scary,
as you know, yes and can and you know I
always like to say the highs are the highest, and
the lows or the lowest and the scariest, and all

(42:51):
the things I.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
Have been on my knees crying several times.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Tell me about that.

Speaker 4 (42:56):
So to quit this business? This is what am I doing?

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Right? And so I want to talk about that last.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
Four years, but all the other years, yes.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
All the other years, the other years, and how did
you come out of that?

Speaker 2 (43:12):
Because it is terrifying.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
And I think as an entrepreneur, I think the thing
that I would always say and tell me if you agree,
it stops at you. There isn't a person above you
to go when this isn't working, How do I fix it?

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Help me?

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Get out of this. You have to figure it out, right, Yeah? Yeah,
So how do you keep going in those moments? And
like what scares you the most and what is the
most exciting for you to come.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Interesting?

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Okay, what keeps me going in the times that are
really hard is basically it's such a simple answer for
me my kids. Now it's different because I have children,
because that's what keeps me going. I realized the influence
I've had on them seeing my work ethic and seeing
work hard as something.

Speaker 4 (44:03):
They also see the things that don't work out.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
I think it's just as important to show your kids,
like the things that you've worked at that don't work out,
and you're like, did not work out, This is a bummer,
this is a flop or whatever, like those are really
important lessons to learn to teach your kid, but even
maybe more so than the successes.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
But so now it keeps me going is my children.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
But the bigger picture of I didn't have the kids,
which is such a telling Okay, that's a boring answer,
but honestly, and this is what I think is so
important to figure out for our kids.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
Is what are you dying passionately to wake up and
do every day.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
So what kes kept me going through all the years
that were so tough, and trust me, like my god,
the first ten years were absolutely brutal, like brutal and
kicked in the stomach and the teeth and the tits go,
and like just the the ego part of it, Like

(45:07):
if you actually, I do.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
Want to talk about ego in a second, But.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
My burning passion and love for jewelry is what kept
me going to period that and like not wanting to
move because I didn't have a backup because I loved
I loved living here and I always felt like grateful
that I was found my way here. But yeah, I
think it's like I just love what I do. I
love the jewelry part of it, Like I never ever

(45:32):
ever would have made it this far had I not
loved the daily part of.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
What I do.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
So that's for you too, Like I remember when I
watched your show, which is like the best, the absolute best,
and that was so inspirational for me, Rachel, Like I
don't even know I've ever told you, Like just watching
you and what you did was so inspiring to me honestly,

(45:59):
Like it's it's so so You're such a real person.
That it's just that, you know, how you meet somebody
and they're like so nice and so real, like the
demystified like stardom sort of like ways or like you know,
like he's not there anymore, but like you're such a
legend and like, so yeah, you're so inspirational to me.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
I mean, nothing makes me happier because, as we've talked about,
like that show was so hard for me. It was
so hard for me because I was I had eight
hundred real like day jobs and night jobs, and so
doing this show was an additional full time job and
it was grueling and I had a lot to protect
and a lot to sort of do.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
In that show.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
But at the end of the day, in retrospect, the
impact it had on so many people that I know
and don't know, nothing could make me happier, truthfully, truthfully,
because but that's the thing. And I have found that
the impact, the largest impact it had is on people
exactly like you, who were in a small town or
wherever they came from, and I'm like, hey, shit, I

(47:03):
can do this.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
No, no, no, I'm doing that.

Speaker 4 (47:05):
I got it, Like, oh my god, what is she
doing That's so cool? I didn't even know that existed.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
It's amazing and just.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
Like all that you know, but again, like going back
to like it seeped through the television, how much you
loved style.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
Of genuinely free anything for free?

Speaker 4 (47:24):
Were probably for many years a.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
Lot of it.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
That's a part somebody that that has the perseverance to
make it over those years. I mean, it took me
many years to be profitable, many many many many.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
Many many many many many.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Many unprofitable And the only thing that really kept me
going was well two things.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
A was not wanting that I had no other backup, right, a.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Little bit of fear, fear honestly backup.

Speaker 3 (47:52):
And actually I was very stubborn and I just didn't
want to do it, like I said before, Like I
had no interest of doing anything that I didn't want
to do.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
But that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
And then just my love of jewelry, my love of
the designing it and seeing it and then seeing how
it makes people feel when they wear it, and you know,
having those little first little shows in my apartment where
I would invite all the Starbucks scales over and you know,
having them like fawn all over it and then talk
to me about it, like I was like, this is

(48:21):
if I could just make a.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
Living and live in an apartment for the rest of.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
My life, Like this is good. I'm good, I've done good.
This is great.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
No, but now I have lost your life.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Well now, but I.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
Would have exposure to like the bigger world of business
and things like that. So now now I see I
have way more exposure to what's possible. I mean when
you had touched on earlier about like females like not
like looking at something and being.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Like I want that, or you know, why does she
have that or whatever.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
I always look at those things like like I'm giving
kender Scott, who I guess could quite possibly be.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
A competitor of mine, who she is, But I always
looked at.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
Her like, oh my god, she's amazing and she does
exactly what I do. We're in the same category, and
I'm like, her business is so amazing and she started
where I did, and her business is so in I mean,
she's multi billion dollar companies.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
But that's smart. That's smart you look.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
At women and are like, oh, I want that. So
I do that all the time. I'm like, oh my god,
you've been a you ot a beach house.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
I want that. Too, right, But it's not I don't
want you to have that. It's like, I'm so excited
for you to have this beach house because I'm going
to fucking be here every day until I.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Get one, and then I'm going to have you over
the month. Yes, but it's the I want that too
is okay, that's okay to feel that, but it's the
I don't want you to have that.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
It's the problem.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
So you know what that is.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
And it's the first lesson I taught my kids as
soon as they were old enough to speak. The difference
between envy and jealousy and those are That is the
most important lesson. I think we can teach a ourselves,
but be our children, because jealousy is the most evil emotion,
hands down. It makes you do crazy things, it makes

(50:03):
you mean, it makes you vindictive. And envy is something
where you say, wow, you're fucking badass.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Shit.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
I want that. I'm going to figure out how how
to get there. I want to be where you are.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
Yes, And also I'm also excited for you because you are.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
You earned this.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
So like somebody like a Kender Scott was like a
beacon for me, and she still is. She's like phenomenal,
and you could quite literally say she's my competitor. But
I still it doesn't matter to me because I look
at her and I'm like, she is doing rad shit
in my category, and she for me was like this trailblazer.
And so anytime I'd be like, oh, should I be
doing fine jewelry, I'm like what am I doing, I'm like, Oh,

(50:44):
I just got Kendra Scott on the She's number fourteen
on the Forbes Most self Made Women in the World.

Speaker 4 (50:51):
I think I'm good.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
So like she was always that person for me that
you know, that sort of like that example.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
But I think that's an entrepreneurial lesson, to be honest,
because I had someone on the pod actually yesterday who
is very interesting who said who was the exact same
way as you are, which is so positive in that Okay, Well,
because that person sold her company for a billion dollars,
that only helps me because now I know this category

(51:22):
is working and it is filling a white space and
it is doing all those things. And I think that's
such a lesson for me on climbing and heels in general,
for my listeners to really understand that when you're starting
a business, yes, you don't have to be the only
one doing this. Look around you see what's working, see
what's not working. Have your own mark, have your own stamp.

(51:46):
You're a message or a niche, whatever it is. But
like if someone's winning it something in a space that's similar,
like that's huge.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
That does not mean you can't Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 4 (51:58):
You a weekend to go. Yes, And it's possible.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
It is because I didn't know.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
I mean I didn't know very many fashion jewelry designers.
I really didn't, especially none with the pieces that I
was no. So you know, yeah, you need those beacons
of people in success.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
But I also think you're being humble and I do
want to shout out to that. Melinda not only works
so hard, like still, she works really hard. She goes
to the office, she works really hard. She has three
incredible boys who are at tough ages. I mean ten, ten, thirteen,

(52:38):
and fourteen literally like the fifteen, like literally the closest
in age that siblings could be.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Yeah, well they're almost twelve and thirteen.

Speaker 4 (52:48):
Raging.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
There are are raging at our house. Mormones are a
raging and it is a crazy place here.

Speaker 4 (52:54):
But we have fun. We laughed so hard.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
You do laugh so hard, so hard.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
Like one thing I love about my kids. They all
have insane sense of humor.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
They do, and so we die laughing.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
But when I first met your son Levi, who is
one of Skuy's best friends, one of the things that
I found I fell in love with him because it
was when they first became friends. And I walked upstairs
and they hang out in the playroom and they were
I say playroom, but I guess it's now a wreck
room because they're teens, but they yeah, And they were
sitting there and just listening to music, talking and Levi,

(53:29):
I was on the phone with someone and he's like, yeah,
He's like, she sounds a lot like my mom, and
you know, reminds me a lot of my mom. They're
both really pretty and they work really hard and have
great businesses and like you. I thought about me, but
comparing me to you and I and I called you
because I was like, that was one of the best

(53:50):
because because it means you're doing something right. He's like,
my mom is really beautiful but nice and works really
hard and has a business and like so there was
this description of his mom that was so accurate. But
also like he was proud. It wasn't like, oh, my
mom works so I don't get to see it. It wasn't
like that. It was like, my mom is our shit together.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
You know.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
I'm real with my kids.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
I'm like, this is my fucking job, and your job
is to do well in school and be a good
human being.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
That's pure.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
I have all the privileges in the world. You don't
have to worry about anything. Your bills are taken care of.
You've got great teeth, Like my I couldn't.

Speaker 4 (54:27):
I didn't even.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Afford I couldn't afford races growing up, like like literally.

Speaker 4 (54:31):
I got to have a visiline when I was like
thirty eight.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
So I'm like, this is your job and do it well.
And this is my job and period, end of story.
And I'm not going to make it to every single game.
I'm going to make it to what I can and
I'm not going to make it to every single thing.

Speaker 4 (54:46):
And like it's just life.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
So I think my kids know that the world doesn't
like they are my world, but the world doesn't revolve
around that, right.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Which is hard. Which is hard. I find that to
be the hardest thing to straddle.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Yes, you know, I think maybe i'd maybe i'd be
less like that with girl. I don't know, but like
we have a very I'm like, yeah, I'm like a
tough I'm literally I.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Smother like I think you'd be tougher on your girl.
I think you'd be. I think you'd be harder on
your girl.

Speaker 4 (55:17):
Maybe i'd be what girl? You sure you're sure?

Speaker 3 (55:19):
But anyhow, my kids know, like yeah, they're like, we work.
This is what this is what we do. Like there's
no I'm gonna leave work, you know.

Speaker 4 (55:29):
And I don't know. I actually take back. I do
leave work sometimes to be at their things.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
But like there's a line, there's a line. They know.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
I think it's important to maybe be late to pick
them up every once in a while. When my friend's like,
I feel so bad I'm laking them, and I'm like
why because they had to wait five minutes?

Speaker 4 (55:47):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 3 (55:49):
But yeah, wait, Like leeve I called me the other day,
he's like, where's somebody to pick me up? That he
was about done with baseball and I'm like mcgauley will
be there in like twenty five minutes, and.

Speaker 4 (56:00):
He's like, oh, oh my god. I'm like Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
What I'm like, I have to sit with my friends
at school for twenty five minutes. So I literally did
that to him and he was like, starts laughing, He's like,
oh my god, you're right, you're right, you're right.

Speaker 4 (56:11):
I'm like, okay, goodbye, I got to work now.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
But see, Melinda, that's important. That's important. That's really important,
because honestly, I'm guilty of that because I was the
kid left at school and I was the kid waiting.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
Well, look how you turned out. You're super hard working woman.
Like hello one just two weekals three three.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
You know what I'm saying, Like, it's okay to be
left on the bus stop for a little bit.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
It is, isn't it okay?

Speaker 4 (56:38):
Can we please normalize that?

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Oh my god, maybe it's actually good for them. Wait,
maybe we should, Maybe we need to talk about this.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
But you're also part of this, and I want I
want to finish on this because I want to dress
this because I do a couple of things. One is YPO,
which is Young President's Organization, which I grew up in.
This organization. It was this organization for entrepreneurs. There was

(57:05):
requirements around it. I grew up because my parents were
in it and still in it at eighty.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
Six and at bel Air.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
Okay, okay, So it is very hard to get into.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
And Melinda is a member.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
So I want to say, this girl that did not
go to college, that came from Spokane and all of
these things, is a very active member at YPO, which
is not easy to be in.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
And you are in a very.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Tough, smart, successful group of people around the country and
the world, around the world.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
So every membership or every chapter has a different like, yes,
I think our membership goal, our membership is like I
think for consumer products, you have to be doing thirty.

Speaker 4 (57:50):
Million a year.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
Deal employee, thank you for our chapter. Correct, So that
is a big deal. I want to just say that.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Women. So, No, when I joined YPO, like it was
really funny. I was, I was in the backyard, I
was with Nora. Shout out to Nora and Brian Whitstein,
and I had, you know, we had had like a
sort of rocket ship success. I think it was maybe
like I'm back in twenty eighteen or nineteen or something.

Speaker 4 (58:18):
Maybe it was like twenty nineteen and Brian was like,
you should apply for YO, and I'm like, huh.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Oh, that's so funny, like because I knew about YPO
and I was like, oh, that's something I will never
be able to get into. Like it wasn't again, no
goals for that nothing. And he's like, I that you
qualify and I was like, oh, oh, I probably do.
So when I went and applied, I was like okay.
I was like, I'm just gonna be myself, like I

(58:46):
am the least I stick out.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Like thor same babe, same, same and yeah same, And
I was just honest.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
I was like, look, I you know, everyone's like not
everyone with a lot of people went to the business.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
School of course, and.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
I was like, hey, I got my seed money on
game shows and I think, Likewick College, no money.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
But they were probably obsessed with that.

Speaker 4 (59:09):
They loved it.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
No, no, no, they love It's the most special group
of people and it really has been a profound effect
on mine and my family's life. It's it's amazing. But
the funny part is is like like I said, like
I had just joined this thing. I had gotten into
this thing where I could do this executive.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Well wait, okay, I'm getting to that because so this
girl from Spokane, Washington who is sitting here telling me that, this, that,
and the other thing, and she didn't know anything about
business and blah blah blah blah blah. She was unavailable
to do a whole bunch of things a couple of
weeks ago, and she's like, I'm studying. I'm studying, I'm studying,
I'm studying. I'm like, are you going to grad school?

(59:49):
Like what's happening. She's like, I'm going to Harvard for
this business school for this program and blah blah blah.
And I'm really excited and I'm really nervous. And I
was like, that is fucking badass, and I'm so impressed
that you worked so hard to do it. It's so hard,

(01:00:10):
it was so hard and you went and it's like
a really big deal and you did it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
I decided a while ago that I wanted to do
things that scared me. I decided maybe like six months ago.
I was like, I want to do things that really
scare me. And you know, there's been a few anything
that's has opportunities that I can do. You know, I'm
an okay public speaker, but like any time I have
some sort of opportunity that's something that scares me, I'm

(01:00:36):
like that's going to be like, ooh, I'm going to
do that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
So there was this thing, this email that went in.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
They're like, you can apply for this program, this executive
program at Harvard Business School through WHITEPO. You have to
be a member of WYPO, an active member. And I
was like, oh my god, that is so scary. And
I've never studied in my life for anything. And I
studied more in this time to prepare for the schooling
that I had to go to and when I went

(01:01:03):
to Boston than I ever.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
Did in my entire life. The accumulation of studying that
I did. But yeah, it felt really good. I mean
it definitely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
Felt like, no, it's accomplished, Like you did the thing
that you thought you would never do.

Speaker 4 (01:01:17):
Yeah, well it was.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
It was another one of those moments where I was
laughing to myself so hard. Like after I started my
business and I was I had a business license, I'm like, oh,
this is hilarious. And then when I had my first
few employees, I'm like this is funny. And then when
I had my first office space, I was like, this
is weird. And then when I got you joined YPO
or was able.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
To call it's all the nevers. It's all the never nevers.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
And or the first time that I was in People magazine,
the first time celebrity waring thing, or when Julia Roberts
called me to her her hotel room with her stylists.
We're like, hey, can you come style us where my
whole tour of this next movie we're doing, And I'm like,
this is hilarious. So all of those sort of like impops. Yeah,
simple a moment, they just get maybe a little bit bigger,

(01:02:04):
but you're and then you're just a little bit more
older to be able to handle them. But then you
always get there and you're like, oh, this is what
I thought was such a big deal, Like this is
what I was scared of, Like this is what I
thought people were better than me about like who they're not.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
Nobody ever is like gott to dispel.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
Those things that like you you think these big curtains
are held up and there's something magical behind it and
this is the only the people that can be here
are And you get there and you're like, really, huh,
I'm fine here in or you know, I'm I'm I
should be sitting at this table.

Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
So yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
It's yeah, it's been quite a journey when I think,
I mean even just sitting here with you now, Like
I was doing pilates before this, and I was telling
my instructors.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
She's like, oh, what do you have going on today?
I'm like, Oh, I have to work and I gotta
do this podcast. She's like, oh what podcasts? They said, Oh,
Rachel Z. She's like, oh my god. He like casually
like are you serious? She goes, She's a legend.

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
So funny as I had my legs and my straps
and because I know you and I so don't put
people on pedestals, but I like, you were so influential
in my life.

Speaker 4 (01:03:15):
But I realized, I'm like.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Oh that is a me. This is incredible that I'm
doing this with Rachel today, Like this is a moment.
I'm like, you're somebody that I watched your show that
inspired me a million years ago when I was sitting
in my shitty apartment that like was scary to live
in and watching your show and being like, oh, this
is so cool. But I always looked at things of like,

(01:03:38):
well why not me? It's going to happen some well
why not me?

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
But see that is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
That's I think that that is what actually took you
over the wall ultimately, because I'll tell you, I posted
this thing very late last night. You know how you
got served to all these silly things on Instagram that
you really never followed or never whatever, And all these
things show up and I couldn't fall asleep, and all
of a sudden I see George Clooney, who I love,

(01:04:05):
and he said this thing. He was doing this interview
and someone cut this clip, this this thing that he said,
and I said, God, that's so epically fucking true.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
He said.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
He said, you learn nothing from success. You learn everything
from failure and fear. He's like, success is easy. He's
like being successful is easy. You don't sit there and learn.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
You go. You just are like, how can I do
this next? How can I do this?

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
You're not learning When you do the thing that scares
you and you fail, that's where you learn, because if
you don't and any he gave this example, He's like,
you could wake up at sixty five and go, well,
what if I tried all that?

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
I wonder what would have happened?

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Or shit I did that, it sucked, I failed, But
guess what it took me to the thing that ended
up being the winning ticket for me. Yeah, and I
true think there's one other element to that, or one
other piece of that is that I look back and
I think, why did I come down.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
Here with my money and no friends and no education
and know nothing. Why did I, you know, make jewelry
and sit at that Starbucks? And I was rejected, you know,
quarters of the time or word in that of people
wanting to buy something, or people probably looked at me
like what the.

Speaker 4 (01:05:21):
Hell is she doing? This girl's weird, like she's making
jewelry and Starbucks.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
I go away, and I'm very well aware there's probably
a million people like that or made fun of me.
Or if I, you know, walked into stores and be like, Hi,
I have no idea what I'm doing. And I walked
in with jewelry to the stores I wanted to be
in and be like, can.

Speaker 4 (01:05:39):
You buy some of my jewelry?

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
I'm a jewelry designer, like and I knew in my heart,
like I didn't really know what I was doing. Or
when I called the editor of in Style because I
found her phone number and I was like, Hey, I'm
a jewelry designer and you know all those times I'm like,
why did I do that? It's because I didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:05:54):
Have an ego?

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
Right, It's true, You're right go.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
And was so worried out what are my friends going
to think that I'm sharing a bedroom at thirty years
old and I drive a really shitty car and.

Speaker 4 (01:06:07):
I'm still starting in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Like if I was so worried about what my friends
thought or what people thought about me, or worried if
I you know, whatever, the.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Failure part of it, like I would ever have done
any of it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
You're a hundred percent ego, and.

Speaker 4 (01:06:23):
That like need to present.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
Something that who you are is very scary to me
for anybody, because I think it prevents prevents people from
doing like more exciting, risky things.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
You're a two thousand person, right, because people will go
down in flames to save face. And I see it
and I'm watching it happen in my life right now
to say not or not you know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
Take risks or pivot or do pivot and be like, Okay,
this isn't working, like because they're so desperate to hang
on to their like title, Like I had a job
as an assistant at like MTV. All my friends thought
it was the coolest thing ever, but I was like,
but it's wasn't great.

Speaker 4 (01:07:12):
So, like to my friends in Spokane.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
Me were getting moving to Los Angeles and getting a
job at MTV was like.

Speaker 4 (01:07:18):
Literally I had like gotten the short ticket. I no,
this isn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
So had I needed to had I needed to like
to keep that like title for myself, I never would
have started this.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
And I think you're right, and I think I want
to close on that because I think it's something we
haven't really talked about on climbing and heels, is ego
and what role that plays in this process. And I
think it's such an incredible point because I think also
I think just being a woman in general, we have
an ego because we have we we live our lives

(01:07:55):
like we have to prove ourselves ten times over. So
it's like it's like smoking mirrors, right, It's like.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
No, we got this. Even if we don't got it,
we're like we got it. Yeah you know. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
So I do want to really point that out as
a takeaway for our listeners because I think to go
at something you're scared of without ego, you're going to
go at it much freer. And more fearlessly than you
would otherwise if you're like, oh god, I can't. I

(01:08:27):
can't fall. If I fall, the everyone's going to laugh
at me. And I can't if I fail? How am
I going to go talk to people? How am I
even going to go to dinner with my friends?

Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
Yea, yeah, cant Can I tell you?

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
You're so much more interesting person to talk to. Have
you done things and then fail than just not like
you're a You're a better conversation at a dinner party.
If you tried something, it's more interesting, it's true or
you know, Yeah, it's that that part of it is
so ego is that's a whole, a whole other episode.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
I love.

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
It's a whole nother And I'm part too of climbing
in hills Melinda Melinda Spiegel, Melinda Maria, I love.

Speaker 4 (01:09:07):
You very much, Legends.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
I love you.

Speaker 4 (01:09:09):
I'm legends.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
I'm so happy for you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:12):
And if for some reason you don't know Melinda Maria jewelry,
you need to because it's the thing that you need
to buy for yourself everyone in your life. But also
like it's okay to spoil yourself with Melinda Maria because yeah,
you get.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Sixty bucks for a time in Dina's necklace or earrings.
And by the way, it's fucking beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
Like my sister literally took the earrings out of my ears.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
The other day.

Speaker 4 (01:09:39):
I need to send her a packet.

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
Oh don't worry. We'll be in your living room this week.
She's here for another five days. All right, I love
you madly.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
See you tomorrow. Okay, bye.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
It's that time of the show when I answer to
listener questions. So let's see what we a have today.
What is one piece you are investing in for the spring?

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
My answer to that is usually a great new bag
that I can carry like through the season and always
that I don't get sick of because you'll never regret,
you know, a really good bag, you'll wear it forever.
But truthfully, I'm starting to lean more on fresh, like
new jewelry, like a big piece of jewelry for me
that sort of changes anything. And I find that when

(01:10:28):
I get a new pair of like really big statement earrings,
I find that I just keep throwing them on over
and over, and I wear them with jeans and a
leather jacket, or I wear them with a suit or
I wear them with a cocktail dress and it makes
every look better. So I'm here to say, like, whatever
that is for you, like a big necklace or just
a great pair of earrings, I think it's a game

(01:10:50):
changer for any season, not just spring. Okay, what are
your tips for sourcing vintage or resell pieces?

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
I have a lot of time.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
It's almost like an episode in itself, but I would
say that if you're looking for just special pieces to
add some flavor to your sort of daily uniform that
you don't care if they're designer or collector's pieces, it's
a lot easier because then you just go to your
local vintage store and just scour and, like you know,

(01:11:20):
get as many great pieces as you can for as
little money as you can. But it's different if you're
collecting like I do, because I'm actually looking to buy
very wisely and look for a piece that's in perfect condition,
that's priced well but not too high that it'll still appreciate.
And that's sort of more of my method. So it

(01:11:42):
really depends on if it's for your everyday life and
you don't care about the label and you just want
special pieces, because then that's really fun and you go
to you know, flea markets and thrift stores and army
Navy supplies and things like that and find really good treasures.
But otherwise, you know, if you're doing doing something like
the Real Real or Vestier or one of those or Rebag,

(01:12:04):
then you have to go to trusted sources like that.
And it should be you should just scour for the
thing you're dying for that you didn't want to spend
the money on, but now will be marked out because
it's pre owned, and that's sort of I think the
best approach for that. You have to be focused or
you're just going to start buying things you don't need
or want. Okay, don't forget to submit your questions for

(01:12:26):
next week's episode. All you have to do is DMUs
your questions to at Cleming and Hills pod on Instagram
and I may just answer your question. I want to
thank Melinda so much for being on the pod today.
I had so much fun. I thought I knew everything

(01:12:47):
about her. I clearly don't. Her story is even more
amazing than I actually even remembered. And I think she
really downplays it like it's not something she wears on
her sleeve. And I think the more. I sort of
was pulling back the layers of how she got to be.
I was so incredibly impressed not only what she's achieved
with her business, but how scrappy, how painful, how many

(01:13:10):
falls she had to keep getting up, and really just
sort of like the journey here, which is why I
started climbing in hills. And I think in this episode
you really see how important the journey is into creating
not only your business, but what kind of parent you are,
what kind of person you are. But I think the
greatest takeaway of all the things, truthfully for me, is

(01:13:31):
check your ego because it will only drive to more
success and less fear. And also, it's okay for your
kid to wait to be picked up. That's a big
parent takeaway because there's this vicious cycle now of our
kids being so coddled and not feeling any adversity, and
I'm honestly guilty of it, i am, But I'm starting
to see the adults that that creates, and it's not

(01:13:53):
always amazing, honestly, because they don't know how to deal
with challenges, and you know, we're going to end up
with a bunch of twenty five year olds that still
need to call us twenty times a day to do anything,
and that's not what we are trying to do. I
don't think as parents. I know I'm not anyway. Thank
you so much for listening. Please don't forget to write
a review wherever you get your podcasts. I loved this episode.

(01:14:15):
I hope you did too. I love reading your comments
and your reviews. And while you're at it, follow me
on at Rachel Zo and at Climbing Inhales pod on
Instagram for more updates on upcoming guests, episodes, and all
things here Toork.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
I'll see you next week.

Speaker 4 (01:14:29):
What