111. The Future of Leadership & Regeneration: Miki Agrawal on Soft Power & Plastic-Eating Mushrooms

Episode Transcript
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Miki Agrawal (00:00):
Coming into a relationship with with full cup

(00:02):
and and from a place of pureself love is actually like the
way you're you're meant to gointo relationship, not when
you're having them try to fullfill a a hole inside of you.

Kate Northrup (00:11):
Totally. It's like the best

is when both parties do the deep work, when
they're both on their own likereal self love journey, and then
you come out of it and you'relike, I love me, you love you.
I'm me, you're you. Can weactually like co elevate
together? Yeah. Let's fuckinggo.

Hi. Welcome to Plenty. Today, I have the
pleasure of sharing beautifulconversation with you with
someone I have known for ahundred million years. She and I
met back in our twenties, like,kicking around New York City
when she ran a vegan pizzarestaurant. And she has gone on

(00:46):
to found 2 9 figure companiesand revolutionize several
industries.
Mickey Agarwal is the bestselling author of Do Cool Shit
and Disrupt Her. She's thefounder of Thinx period
underwear. She is the one whoinvented period underwear and

(01:08):
made it normalized across theindustry. And she is also the
founder of Tushy, which is anincredible bidet attachment for
any toilet. And Mickey's newestproject, I'm so excited about
because it has to do withmushrooms that eat plastic.

(01:28):
So in this conversation, we divedeep into motherhood and how it
changes our relationship withwork. We dive into how she
healed and put down her sword asa business owner and how she has
stepped into what she calls softpower. So if you wanna play a

(01:49):
bigger game in business, ifyou're afraid to disrupt things
but you know you have big thingsto do, if you are wanting to
learn new, softer, more feminineways of leading while remaining
fully in your power, this is theepisode for you. Enjoy my

(02:10):
friend, Nikki Agarwal. Welcometo Plenty.
I'm your host, Kate Northrup,and together, we are going on a
journey to help you have anincredible relationship with
money, time, and energy, and tohave abundance on every possible
level. Every week, we're gonnadive in with experts and

(02:34):
insights to help you unlock alife of plenty. Let's go fill
our cups. Please note that theopinions and perspectives of the
guests on the Plenty podcast arenot necessarily reflective of
the opinions and perspectives ofKate Northrop or anyone who
works within the Kate Northrupbrand. Welcome.
I'm so happy you're here. Issuch a joy. I wanna know,

(02:57):
speaking of joy Yes. What ismaking you come alive these
days?

Wow. That's such an interesting question at this
exact moment. This is why we'reI feel like we're having this
conversation for a reason.

A %.

Because I was literally so yesterday, as you
know, I went to Lindtwist'seightieth birthday twenty four
hours in Mexico.

You saying that just, like, kind of gave me,
like, a nice little rush. I justgot a physical sensation.

It was it was such a joy not only to celebrate this
incredible magical woman, butalso meet her seven best friends
from different eras in her lifestarting from her sister. So
eighties, women in theireighties, seventies, sixties
mostly, and then my twin sisterand I went kind of last minute.
And it was so powerful just tosee and witness. All of them had

(03:52):
two to three marriages. They'veall, like, been through so many
different ups and downs, so nowthey're just, like, laissez
faire.
There's no care in the world.They have the Buddha's laugh
about everything, and it's just,like, this magical cacophony of
just laughter and just like, youknow, making fun of each other.
It was just like one of us Yeah.You know, but like in their
eighties. And so Yeah.

One of us with a lot more wisdom.

%, obviously. Yes. Yeah. So, like, you're on your
fur you're on your first roundright now.

You know, I'm out of

a marriage recently. Oh, not a couple years
now, but Yeah. Out of a coupleof long like, relationships
after, it's been sort of like,you know, a a recalibration. And
I think, like, I'm in for thefirst time in my life, I've
decided to just date myself justfor a little bit. I've I've

(04:42):
literally I realized I've gonefrom one partner after another
for my entire adult life, andthe most amount of time between
is two weeks, or overlap, orthere's like it was like Of
course.
You know what I mean? And so

kind of insane. That is pretty insane.

And so I just was like, wow. Like, would meet
someone right away, and I wouldjust kind of fall right into it,
and I just love being loved, Ilove loving, and I love giving
it's just like such a thing, andso I just decided, I'm like, you
know, I just need a beat. Idon't need a lot of time, but
just in this time, it's alreadyit's been about a month.

Mhmm.

As long as I've ever been not in partnerships.
I've been just really datingmyself. Like, I woke up this
morning and played with my ownhair, and I, like, crest my own
cheeks, and I, like, you know,like, really just, like,
massaged my own body and justreally took care of myself. And
one of the things I realized isthat, like, I've had this such
longing and such a yearning tobe, like, taken care of. You

(05:38):
know, as a woman in power, as awoman in business, I do all the
taking care of in a lot of ways,financial, I have employees, the
home, I'm a mother, I take careof my child.
I'm like really, like, primarybreadwinner, like, you know,
just like always been thatperson. And so I've always been
the taken care taken care of.And so there's just been, like,

(06:00):
this longing to, like, feel,like, truly taken care of. And,
you know, as different, youknow, partners would come
through, they would take care ofme their own ways. But for me,
it was like, I want you to just,like, you know, like, take care
of me financially for a littlebit.
Like, I I don't need it. I neverneed it. I've I've built $2.09
figure companies. Like, I don'tneed it. It's an energetic

(06:21):
thing.
Or just not even just financial,but just like, it's an
energetic. It's really energeticof like, I've got you. You know?
And what I learned in thatyearning of, like, the external
yearning of, want you to takecare of me, is that, like, I've
really like, while I dobodywork, like, five like, four
to five hours of bodywork everyweek, I really I work out. I eat

(06:42):
really clean.
I take my vitamins. I do takecare of myself, but really
emotionally taking care ofmyself, it's something that I
just have overlooked. Yeah. Youknow? And just like because I'm
just like, I'm I'm taking careof I'm just constantly on the
go.
Yeah. And so to really justsavor my time with myself, like
journal, sit on my altar, prayto goddess Kuan Yin, look at my

(07:04):
trees, I call them my cheeringsquad, my trees outside my you
know, and just, like, hang withme and nature and just, you
know, so many downloads havebeen coming through, which has
been so magical as well. Like,in this space, you know, you go
from one guy to another, there'sno space to integrate.

Yeah.

There's no space to really be like, wait. Wait.
Who am I today in this upgradedstate? Like, where did I what
have I learned? Have I grown?
Like, what is the integrationperiod? And when we're moving so
quickly in business or

in the world, it's just there's such a hard
time

It's incredible. Hard time to integrate.

I'm so happy for you.

So I've had these, like, deep revelations

Wow.

Over the last this past month.

And what would you say, even just one month in,
which, again, in the grandscheme of things isn't that much
of your life, but given thatit's double the amount of time
Right. You've ever really beenby yourself in your adult years,
what's a revelation? What do younow know about yourself that you

(08:05):
didn't know a month ago? Well,so first of all, just

to give context, I'm a twin, identical twin.
Right. And so I from inception,I was like in a pretzel. So I'm
I'm like my place is like this.And so because of that, I've
just been so used to be inpartnership.
It's just like my natural stateof my twin or some I've just
always had someone on my arm nomatter what. And so it's really

(08:29):
like hold myself. It's actuallya really important inflection
point. So I was like I sharedthe story a few times. I'm gonna
share it again because it's sointeresting.
I I had this I I've been I Imoved to a new place in Barton
Creek, which you're welcome tocome and check it out. It's
amazing. It's just nestled bynature. Such

a beautiful area.

Ugh. It's nestled in nature. Only it's only ten
minutes from Yeah. Easy. Right?
Yeah. Oh my god. So low. Soit's, like, nestled two and a
half acres. It's like a singlestory, you know, like Frank
Lloyd Wright style overlookSpartan Creek.
It's just, like, quiet andpeaceful, and I just feel
hugged. And finally, I'm, like,close enough because was living
on on Lake Travis when I firstmoved here. It was really far.

(09:11):
It was really far. And so Ifinally because I'm closed Yeah.
I've now started hosting these,like, music nights and hangs
and, like, I'm starting tocommunity build again. It's just
really create experiences justlike hangs, which I used to do
all the time in New York. And acouple of Sundays ago, I was
just, you know, at my at thishang, I had a bunch of people

(09:35):
over for music. And this guy,John Wineland, who's a friend of
mine. Yeah.
He had he had he had run aworkshop for a 50 people. And
then these these these two guys,these two friends of mine, Sky
Justin, Mike were had attendedhis his his his thing. And they
came to my house first to kindof hang with music night. And

(09:58):
then and then this and then Johnshows up and and then he just
collapses and just starts cryingbecause he just experienced,
like, 50 people's, like, deepestyearnings for love and
connection, intimacy. And it'sjust like, it's just a lot to
hold, you know?
And so and then and then thisguy Mike and Justin just just

(10:21):
just held him as he cried andand massaged him and took care
of him. And it was like, I wasjust sitting there, like,
witnessing just these men justtaking care of each other
because they've done this kindof work. And, you know, I've
been around men and men's work,like, a lot, but, like, there
was, like, this beautiful takingcare of, this beautiful
devotion. And I just really,really was inspired to, like,

(10:47):
wanna be devotional too for thefirst time. I mean, not for the
first time, but, like, reallyjust be devotional to the
masculine in a lot of ways.
You know, I feel like so thenthe next morning, I did breath
work and in my in my altar, andI just realized in the breath
work that that, wow, like my dadgrowing up, you know, was a

(11:10):
strict Indian father, and hegrew up with three three
daughters. He had threedaughters and a wife, so he was
like the patriarch, you know, ina very old school patriarchal
condition way of being. Andthere was a part of me that
always felt quite defiant to,like, serve the masculine
because I had to growing up, youknow, and there's always this
kind of fight between us around,like, power. And so I always

(11:31):
kind of vowed to myself thatmaybe I would select people who
would sort of devote to to meYeah. Versus me necessarily
devote to them because I wasalready doing so much taking
care of being the financial andall this and all that.
So I was like, so basically tookon the pants role, you know? And
I just had this, like, yearningto, like, be devotional. You

(11:54):
know? And I was like, I justwanna be devotional. I wanna
experience that, which is itsown different form of love and
expression.
And it's something that I Igenuinely am now curious about.
And so now I'm, like, enteringthis dojo with a couple of
friends to practice being inservice, in devotional service.
So, like, hosting a dinner. Ihaven't done it yet, but I'm

(12:16):
about to. Hosting a dinner whereI'm going to just serve and just
be, like, fully devotional ormaybe a kimono and just be in
this devotional space.
So that's really, like, one ofthe revelations for me. I'm
like, wow. Like, I wanna bendthe knee and just devote.
Because for me to receive thecare that I want, I actually

(12:38):
have to be the one to do itfirst Mhmm. Both for myself and
for the other.

A %. Yeah. And you may already know this, but
the parts of our brain, the partof our brain that lights up when
we are receiving also lights upwhen we're giving.

Of course.

It's the

same way. A %. But there's

Because there is no separation, actually.

A %. A %. And yet there's a thing where it's like,
have this story that I just giveso much, which I do. I've give
to the world. I give to my team.
I give to my to my son. I giveto my friends. I give so much
already, and I'm always like Ioften, like, am the, again, the
energetic financier, you know,in that way for my
relationships. And so it'salways been like a really yeah.

(13:23):
I guess there's a part of methat is conditioned as well by
the patriarchy to, like, the manneeds to you know?

I think that it is so interesting Yeah. And fun
Yeah. To play on that edge andinstead of being, like, when
you're in this place of reallywanting to feel held. Yeah.
Wanting, like like that longingthat you are meeting that need
within yourself to then just

Do it. Play Yes.

With like what would it feel like just in a
container that you've made Thesame. The rules that you you
know, there's there's zeroobligation, like Right. You're
full in choosing Yeah. You're inthe full yes, and you get to
stop anytime you want Yeah. Tojust play in like, what would it
be like to be in this devotion

Right.

To the masculine in in men Within myself but
certainly within yourself andthen certainly also even within
friends, you know, it'sinteresting. I was I was talking
about my friend Liz. She's likevery

much here even though she's not here.

And, oh my god, I totally just lost my train of
thought. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wheredid it go?
Anyway, it'll come back to us.

Friend Liz.

Yeah. Yeah.

What were we talking about?

I know. Do. That happens to all the time.

My brain. I know.

So many channels. Exactly. Right. We're out there.
There's so many channels.
Yeah. I'll come back. Yeah. ButI do wanna ask you I do wanna
ask you about your currentthoughts Yeah. Given this
conversation Yeah.
On marriage as an institute. Asan institution.

Yeah. Yeah. It's institute. It's institute to to
correct.

Institute of marriage. Yeah. The institution.
Yeah. Just like, what do youthink these days?
What are you thinking about inthis period of time where you're
dating yourself? Yeah. Do youhave a desire to be married ever
in the future? And just sort oflike, especially having just
flown back from spending thistime with these incredible seven
women

Yeah.

In their eighties.

We've been married two, three times. Yeah. Like,
what do you think? I mean, itwas interesting because I had
the same exact conversation withthese Crohn's, these incredible
women, these magical women. Andone of them said, you know, I
got married again for the thirdtime because I didn't want like,
you know, it's what's sobeautiful about all these women

(15:42):
is, like, when you get marriedagain, you inherit their
children, and then they becomeand then you inherit the next
guy's children.
And there's, like, see, it'sthey're just a gaggle of, like,
family members that they've nowinherited, and it's just fun.
Yeah. And they said they were,like, you know, when when you
wanna be taken seriously by thechildren, instead of being like,
this is my new girlfriend versusmy wife, you know, has a

(16:05):
different level of like oomph toit. And so I was like, wow,
that's interesting. That's veryinteresting.
Very interesting.

It's something I would never I would thought.
Right. Why would you? Right.

Yeah. So like, you know, I I definitely would
consider getting married againif there was the right the right
configuration. If I was reallybeing met and it wasn't like I
ended up being, you know, like,again, like, a power dynamic
structure that felt that didn'tfeel like I can really drop into
my feminine. Like, I reallywanna be in a in a dynamic where

(16:33):
I'm really able to just rest andjust be in my feminine. Like,
I'm already, like, deeply in mymasculine when I not masculine,
but, like, more masculine as in,like, just the go getterness
doing

in the world. Making visible results happen.

That's right. And it's like, you know, what's
interesting about that is that Ihave created a new framework
called the soft power framework,which I'm starting a new,
mastermind actually called thisyeah. Called the new paradigm
mastermind. Love that. And Imake it I'd love to send you the
details for it to share withwith this crew, but, this
mastermind is really aroundknow, I've built 2 9 figure

(17:08):
businesses.
I've done it with a sword in myhand on on a horse charging
forward a hundred miles an hourwith epic, epic generals and
coconspirators to really make ithappen. And I really believe
like, so I sat on the board ofConscious Capitalism for for
four years with John Mackie, thefounder of Whole Foods, and a
bunch of epic consciousentrepreneurs. And one of the

(17:30):
things that is interesting andimportant about conscious
capitalism and just to kind ofexplain what it is, it's that
instead of it being ashareholder model, it's just the
shareholders who win, it's astakeholder model where every
stakeholder wins. And it turnsout that when the share which
shareholders is one of thestakeholders. So it's
shareholders, customers, itssuppliers, its employees, and
it's the environment.

(17:51):
If every single stakeholder inthe ecosystem wins, it turns out
that a conscious businessoutperforms a pure shareholder
led business by a factor of 10.5to one over a fifteen year
period. And so it conjures up by10 times, like, we should all
just create businesses that wererising tides raise all boats,

(18:11):
and yet, which was focused somyopically on the shareholder
value and on just increasingyour own equity versus actually
when everyone wins, you're 10 xyou're doing 10 times better.
And so, what I believe is youyou you you tack on the soft
power framework, which I'vecreated on top of the conscious

(18:32):
capitalism framework, I thinkyou can a hundred x. I think
that's an another 10 x ofpositivity because it's
irradiating from the inside out.So, like, soft power is a
framework around it's anenergetic framework.
And, you know, like, asentrepreneurs, we're so, like,
factual, and this is the way itis. But I've learned over the
years being have Buddhist,Hindu, and also being in the

(18:53):
spiritual community and alsojust, you know, really, really
understanding the energetics.And, you know, people have been
studying energy for thebeginning of since the beginning
of time, and there's some peoplewho don't believe in energetics
and some people who do, energydoes heal. It's a powerful
powerful force for good, forhealing, for for creativity, for
downloads, for magic, forinvention. And and it's just

(19:15):
it's a it's a it's an energeticradiating from the inside out,
but it comes from this softgentle place inside of
ourselves.
And it's a soft power frameworkthat starts with yourself into
two person dynamic and then intowithin company and community and
then the planet. And there'sthis, like, remembering and
radiating from the inside out.So it's a it's a framework which
I'm gonna be teaching, which isso exciting because there is

(19:39):
very, very tactical thingsaround it. But my my point of
saying that is that, like, thereis the masculine piece around
building companies, but Ibelieve that if you actually can
build it from your soft power,you can even do it 10 times
better. So

I'm so excited.

I'm I'm in the practice and the discovery of
that right now. Well It's stillhard because it's when things
are stressful and things arehard, you tend to go back to the
old way. Tend back

to the old way. All the evidence that

it works.

But, you know, I think you and I have been
playing very, very differentbusiness games. Right? Because
I'm in the personal brandingspace, and I just sort of make
money talking about whatever Iwant,

And here Which is great. So good. So great.

It's very, you know, freedom oriented. However,
and and so I have found, and ofcourse I don't know exactly like
what you're describing in theways that you're describing it,
but it feels deeply resonantwith the way I have operated in
business Yeah. Really since myfirst daughter was born, which
changed everything for me, and Iwanna circle back on that for

(20:42):
you around motherhood and andwork, but I'm excited to have
this conversation led by you andand, you know, others as well,
but someone like you who isplaying a very large, like,
quote unquote, very officialMhmm. Game. Yeah.
Right? Yeah. Sitting in theserooms at these particular

(21:06):
tables, making physical productsthat revolutionize complete
industries and complete ways ofbeing, you know, as a huge fan
of things, huge fan of Tushy,like, I'm so excited about your
next company hero. So anyway,all of that will get there. But
I'm just I'm excited for eventhat conversation, you know,
because I sat down with my newliterary agents, and they're

(21:31):
kind of like mucky muck NewYork, you know, like Yeah.
Big deal people. And I showed upat that meeting, and I just was
like, ugh, eff it. I'm justgonna, like, he asked me at the
top of the meeting, what well,like, what what gets you up in
the morning? Like, why do you

do this? Why do you

do this? And something came over me, and I
was just the most honest thatI've ever been in any kind of
official meeting, and I think,well, again, I don't know all
the details of what you'retalking about with the soft
power framework from how you'redescribing it Yeah. It was that
just, like, full on channeltrust. I'm gonna be the most
authentically me. I'm not gonnaperform in this moment.

(22:07):
Right. I'm gonna tell the truthof, like, what actually is true,
you And I said, I am I serve thegoddess. I am here on behalf of
the female body, and, like, I Ihappen to teach about money,
but, like, ultimately, I'mreally here to get people
plugged into source Amazing.Through being present in their
in their bodies. And it was socool because in that moment,

(22:31):
there is what you're talkingabout soft power.
Yeah. There's a magnetism. Yeah.And I could he I could feel like
that in that moment, the leanin, even though we're talking,
you know, twenty years ofofficial Hoozy, like very
business y. It was like, oh,okay.
You know? And that was cool. SoI'm curious, since this

(22:57):
framework has started bubblingup in you,

can

you tell me a story of when you've used it at
a big table?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, mean, the first part about it is
actually just how it createsinspiration at all, and so it's
the listening. And I think, youknow, creating HERO, my next
company, I'd love to share withyou Yes. What it's what we're
creating Please do.
We launch email.

The reason I even reached out to you is because I
think Emily Fletcher had likeposted the video you'd put out
about it Yeah.

Like just the

I I don't know what you would call Yes. The
teaser thing. And I watched it,and I was like, I mean, you you
and I have known each other along time.

I would

have always had you on, but there was just this
moment of like, oh, let likenow. Yeah. That's a conversation
I want to be part of spreading.So anyway, I'm very
enthusiastic, but please tellus.

Well, as a mother, you have how old are your kids?

Six and nine, but we're we're we're thinking about
adding a third to the mix.Amazing. So it's actually like
very timely with your product.

Amazing. I know.

I don't know. Like the door is closing, and
I'm like, let's just throw athird one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm in there. I'm there.

I'm not.

I know. Babies are so They're the best.

And I sort of I didn't, like, enjoy the early
stages with my girls in the waythat I wish I had had the
capacity to It's beautiful.Yeah. Amazing.

I love that.

You know what I mean?

I'm with you a %. I my sister and I were probably
gonna just, you know, harvest,this summer just as a final, so
we can maybe have a gaggle inour fifties. That's incredible.
We'll just, like, have otherpeople, like we'll carry one,
and we'll have other peoplecarry

some interesting longevity data Yeah. About
people having children older,which I'm loving. I'm feeling it
thought you make it verybolstering. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. About like living longerwhen you have babies when you're
older.

A %. I'm like, that's cool. That's really cool.

Because it does feel like they take years off
your life, but apparently not.

I know. Know. If you have help, you're good.
Okay. Yeah.

So back to hero.

Well, so, you know, I don't know if you know,
like, some of these crazy stats,but, like, when your when your
babies were in diapers, like,each baby takes an average of
6,000 diapers in their lifetime,you know. That's 12,000 diapers,
and and each diaper takesbetween four and five hundred
years to break down in alandfill. And that's like a real

(25:09):
thing, and the very firstdisposable diaper is still in
the landfill somewhere today.Every every single year, the
amount of diapers that end up ina landfill can circle the earth
33 times. And so the it's justthis accumulation.
It's the number one householdplastic waste item, number three
waste item in a landfill. It'scausing this leaching of
microplastic. It's justterrible.

Terrible.

And, you know, let's be honest, cloth diapers,
we key doesn't work. It's justterrible. They you know, and
then I had a fantasy

Yeah. That I would be a cloth diaper mom, and
then I became a mom, and I waslike, this shit is hard AF. I
can't Right. Do that also.

Right. And then eco diapers actually suck when
it comes to performance. Theyreally do. They just suck. The
bamboo diapers are terrible.
Terrible. They

just fall apart and you're

just And then the baby pees for one second, the
diaper rash.

You're just also like To change the diaper pee
all over you always, like, whyeven wear one? Then just be one
of those moms who does the youknow, the people who do the
thing with the no diapers. AndI'm like, okay. That's amazing.
Yeah.
But that's also a full time job.

That's like a mom just, like, looking at their
babies all the time. And I can'tyou know? So it's like the cue.
You're like, okay. Does it youknow?
No. No. Yeah. Yeah. No.
It's like you simba over thetoilet. You're like, okay. I
can't.

So do, like, god bless anybody who does that.

I bow. Totally. But, like, it it's it's a really
small small group. Yeah. And so,like, there really has been a
deep, deep need for a highperforming diaper, a diaper that
actually works and actually doesbreak down and turn into nature
and is is good for the planet.
There really hasn't been onethat's both ever. And so I was

(26:46):
having this thought in my headone morning. So I read I I
basically watched Bill Gates'documentary about sanitation
because Tushy is all aboutsanitation, and we've you know,
Tushy has funded, you know, thebuild out of clean toilets for
over 60,000 families in India.You know, we've we have funded
reforestry and resellingprojects all over South America.

And just for those who don't know, Tushy is
the most incredible attachment Abidet. Existing toilet that's a
bidet, so easy to use. We areobsessed at our

house. Amazing.

It's the greatest. And the kids love it.
Oh my god. The giggling ishysterical.

Yes. They just like And they're clean.

And everyone's clean.

Yes.

The best.

It's the modern bidet that washes your butt
clean after you poop. Huge fan.Thank you. And it and literally,
we've yeah. We've sold, like,several million of them, and
it's doing really we're changingit's it is changing culture
because it's the obvious, again,thing.
It's like wiping with dry paperwith trees. It doesn't make any
sense. Like, are we? Are wesavages? Like, what are we
doing?

I and I know, like, there's many other
countries where it's not like,it's bidets are are common, but
they're not just, like they'restill not everywhere.

Yeah. In in America, it's under 10%, so
we're still there's still a longroad ahead to really get it to
to bidet ubiquity, but that'swhere we're going for it with,
with at in in America for forTushy. But I was watching this
documentary that Bill Gates didbecause, I was really interested
in I'm interested in sanitationcrisis. You know, 3,000,000,000
people still don't have accessto clean san clean toilets and

(28:14):
have an unsafe you know, areunsafe when they're going to the
bathroom, and it really, reallyaffects villages, communities,
especially women. And so inwatching this documentary, one
of things that actually stoodout was that he would take a bag
of books to nature once aquarter or half twice a year and
just lock himself up in a cabinand just read and just think and
just be.
Yeah. So, you know, it's justhis time to think.

Right. Think weeks.

Think yeah. And I think it was seven years ago, I
start I decided to just takeFriday thinking days where I
don't take calls or meetings onFridays, and they're my thinking
days where I just sit and justlook out the window. It's not a
day off. It's really a day to,like, for creativity, for
downloads, for ideas to comethrough. It's the energy.

(28:57):
It's like opening up theenergetic field to allow for
things to come through. And soon a particular thinking day
when I was like, god, diapers,like, this is fucked up.

How did diapers even come into your

Because my son with Kira was two years old.

Got it. Yeah.

And I in the diaper world. World. Yeah. And I
was just like taking a giant bagof heavy trash to the to the
trash Every day. Other day.
Right. Yeah. Every other day,like, if two kids like, it's

just insane. It's insane. I only had two in
diapers for six weeks, butstill.

Yeah. Still. But since yeah. I mean, it was just
insane. He was going hero wasgoing through so many every day.
It was insane. So so on thisthinking day, I was like, wait a
minute. Breast milk is liquidgold, and therefore baby poop
must be fertilizer gold. Andright now, we're wrapping this
baby poop fertilizer in plasticand throwing in the trash, and

(29:49):
we're using, like, pig poop andcow poop to eat eat our to
fertilize our food, and we'renot using our own mother's
breast milk lead baby jujupotential energy for good.
Billions of pounds end up inlandfills.
What what so I had this, like,download moment. And in that
moment, I was like, wait aminute. The baby poop the baby

(30:09):
poops into the diaper, what ifthe baby poop can fertilize
something to grow in the diaperand eat the diaper? And I was
like, what could eat plastics?And then in that moment, my son
hero comes running into my room.
He's two years old, can't read.He starts saying, pacha, pacha,
pacha mama, which means motherearth. And I'm like, okay. He

(30:31):
points to a book in mynightstand in my bedroom, and
there's a book in my nightstandcalled Pacha's Pajamas about
this young girl who grows up ina polluted world, and in her
dreams, she and the animals inthe forest save the planet. And
it's this girl this is a bookfor this for teen for
adolescents, and I don't evenknow how it end up in my
bedroom.
It was given to me by this womanat a conference, and it ends up

(30:52):
in your bookshelf downstairs,

two door two store do you know what

I mean? I do. But somehow, it ended

Well, unpacking your suitcase and then you're in
the bedroom.

And then my nanny no. No. My somewhere to clean it
somewhat, it ended up in mynightstand in my bedroom. When
you were in your bedroom, youhave

like three books that you're kind

of going through and it's one of the books. And
my son could at two, couldn'tread, and he says, pacha pacha
pacha mama. And I pick up thisbook called Pacha's Pajamas, I
start reading it. By page three,he's running away because he's
two. Yeah.
But it's my thinking, guys, so Ikeep reading. And on page 31, it
says there's certain types ofplastic that can be broken die
by fungi. Right. And plasticthere's certain types of fungi

(31:30):
that can break down plastic. AndI was like, woah.
Like, I was just like it wasthink about that. I was like,
what could break down plastic?My two year old son, Hero, comes
into my room, points to a bookcalled Pacha about Pacha Mama,
the mother earth gives us theanswer through the child.

Time.

So good. And and and if we weren't energetically
open the field, we would havemissed it. Yeah. And so I I just
was like, wow. This is this isthat soft power moment.
This was a soft power momentwhere I was like, could have
been in the hamster wheel, but Iwas sitting in reception, a
receptivity Yes. In thecontemplation of, and the

(32:12):
universe just delivered me theanswer. And that is what led us
to start this company, HeroTechnologies, which is over the
last four and a half years, wehave looked at thousands and
thousands of strains of fungithat can break down plastics.
Because it turns out thathundreds well, billions of years
ago, fungi came to the earth.First being on earth that

(32:33):
actually could take down rocksand turn it into soil.
And it it so then trees overthen from billions of years to,
like, hundreds of millions ofyears, trees would then die, but
there was nothing that canactually turn the trees back
into soil, and the fungi werestill learning how to do that.
Mhmm. And so these trees wouldthen get super, super scrunched

(32:53):
up under the rock, and that'swhat actually gives us oil. So
the oil that we all use isactually from dead trees, dead
animals from billions of yearsago. That's actually where where
oil oil comes from.
But then over the over forbillions to a hundred millions
of years, mushrooms, fungi havebeen learning, evolving to learn
how to then break down trees,the hardwoods called lignin, the

(33:13):
hardest hard parts of the trees,and turn them back into soil,
into nature so that it can bereused and just the circle of
life can continue. And it turnsout that the carbon backbone of
trees are very similar to thecarbon backbone of plastic.
Really? Yes. And so we can Iknow?
Right? So we can actuallyharness these plastic eating

(33:36):
fungi these fungi Tree eating.Tree eating fungi that can break
down these trees and harness itto break down plastics too. And
so we've brought in the topscientists, top micro
remediation PhDs, microdegradation PhDs, like biology
PhDs, the top diaper engineerfrom Procter and Gamble. From
decade, he built Pampers Pure.

(33:57):
Like, we have, like, the top ofthe pops. Taro, my cofounder and
CEO, is the founder of FourSigmatic.

Okay.

He built Yeah. Mushroom coffee. He brought
functional mushrooms to America.He's a thirteenth generation
mushroom farmer. He literally,like, made mushrooms cool in
America in the realm of coffee,mushroom coffee Yeah.
Adaptogens, and it's now abillion dollar industry, and he
really led that. And he's ourcofounder and CEO. And, like, we
literally built the dream teamwe called the Ocean's Eleven,
like, of plastic eating fungiCool. To really serve this

(34:28):
important important challengewhere 91% of plastic is not
getting recycled. It's ending upin our landfills, in in oceans,
in our water systems, andleaching into our brains,
bodies, and reproductive organs.
We're now ingesting, you know,credit cards of plastic every
month. It's just absurd. And soit's time that there's a little

(34:49):
engine that could that can solvefor this. And so we want to
target the very hardest, biggestproblem, which is baby diapers.
So our ultimate goal is to bethe global supplier of plastic
eating fungi so we can actuallysupply every plastic because we
need plastic.
Let's be honest. We're vilifyingsomething that we need. It
without plastic, we wouldn'thave medical. We wouldn't have
car transportation. We wouldn'thave so many of the things that

(35:13):
we just, you know, take forgranted every single day.
There's celebrities that wehave. It's just that the end of
life is the problem. Yes. We wehaven't figured out how to
dispose them. Yes.
We can, of course, minimize, youknow, single use. Like, that's a
real we can be less lazy. Imean, there are certain things
that can be better, but thingslike diapers, there's poop in
it. There really isn't a realsolution. Right.
So can we harness fungi to breakdown these plastics of these

(35:36):
diapers? And the answer is yes.We've done it in our lab. We've
now taken it out into the realworld, and it's like we're
seeing true decompositiondegradation, and we're
officially launching in Aprilwith our hero diapers that come
so the diapers come with theselittle packets that you just add
as you're changing the baby. Youdrop a little packet in the
diaper, and then you throw itthe trash like normal.

(35:56):
Great. It's one little extrastep, but first, you want the
moms to get comfortable first ofthey're edible mushrooms. Yeah.
They're safer than the diaperitself. Yeah.
The toxicity of the diaper, Ourdiaper, by the way, is made
with, like, the best, the firstdiaper that has unbleached
cotton backsheet. It's got anunbleached inner core, so the
parts that are touching the babyis unbleached. There's no

(36:17):
wetness indicator. You knowwhere you're like the wetness
indicator that tells you if thebaby's pee? That's called that's
made with bromothymal blue.
It's toxic. You should never usea diaper that has one of those
wetness because it's convenientfor you. Just look. It takes a
second.

A %.

You can pretty much stress pee. On it.

It's a it's a texture thing.

It's a It's a texture thing, and it's a

marketing tactic.

Basically basically, these big diaper
companies have want because whenyour baby poops, like, a piece
of drop, and it turns to toblue, then you have to change it
in advance when you don't needto. No. You just don't need to.
And so they did that so they canmake more changes.

Yeah. How can we

have more diaper changes, and they're not
thinking about nature and theplanet?

Well, they're not conscious capitalism.

Right. Well, so what we're trying to do is not
necessarily vilify the plasticmanufacturers. We wanna
ultimately supply them with ourfungi and say like, hey.

Percent. Like, if it if they're gonna go keep
doing that, which we like, let'shaving a business model that
doesn't vilify Right. Is verysoft power. Right.

I imagine. That's also soft power. We're there's
no villains here. Yeah. We'reall learning and growing
together like a mycelialnetwork.
We're all serving and supportingeach other. Yeah. Let us be your
end of life provider. Right? Andso we'll start by having our
hero diapers.
They're the best performingdiapers on the market. Like, I
can tell you that. There arepeople choose that over coterie,

(37:35):
like, on a blind test, and we'vehad hundreds of moms choose that
over over the existing diapersthat exist from a pure
performance perspective. Thenyou tack on High performance
diaper. It's a high per peoplecare.
Moms get that's No.

Because that is a quality of life issue.

It is. And honestly, if if if it's not
working, the mom won't care ifit's sustainable or not. Like,
I'm exhausted. Part.

There's a small group of moms that will
sacrifice, but that is a verysmall.

It's a very small. But what if there's no
compromise? What if you haveyou're the best performing
diaper that you just add alittle mushroom packet to, and
we we, like, eat thesemushrooms. That's how that's
how, like, healthy they are.They're they're safer the class

gets it after the kid has gone to the bathroom

As you top? You're changing the diaper, you just
drop it in the and then youclose it, and you throw it in
the trash. Great. That's thefirst iteration.

Yeah.

We're then gonna put it inside the diaper once
the parents feel safe and Yeah.Yeah. Once, you know, people
just there's just there's we'restill early days. Right.

Because people yeah. Whatever.

There might be a little like, is this gonna but
it's like Yeah. It's safer thanthe diaper itself. They don't
understand that yet becausewe've just so lost touch with
nature.

Yeah. Oh my god. We've just so

lost touch.

Yeah. You know? The number of like when I
because I'm raising girls in acity right now, which is like

I know we're such city monsters.

What I expected. I I grew up in a small town in
Maine, like I'd lived like inthe gully in the forest, like,
making mud pies. That was mythat was my childhood. So the
fact that I'm raising my kids ina condo right now, just I'm
like, what's even happening?

What is it? Sorry.

It's wild being such a I'm like an Earth mama.
Yeah. And it's reallyinteresting to hear their
friends on the playground or theother moms talking about like
how they need to be so carefulabout like, don't touch that.
That's dirty.

Right.

Oh, don't like all the things, like, that
they're terrified that, like,their kid is gonna get some
disease from picking up afeather

I know.

In the park. I'm like, no. No. No.

Like Yeah. You've lost

needs that. Like like, you know, eat the earth.

I know.

Totally. Anyway, like, put some put some
mushrooms in your vag.

Like Exactly. Good idea. Exactly. And they're
adapted. They're safer.
Like I said, we're so they'refriendly. We're called the heros
friendly fungi. You know? And,you know, it's just again, it's
a relearning. Each Exciting.
Yeah. And each box is gonna comewith a little storybook that the
mom can read to the kid thatwill grow up with the kid Wow.
Over the next three years. Everymonth, you'll get our our
subscription's called the hero'sjourney. And so you'll be on,

(40:00):
like, the hero's journey withus, which is really cool.

So fun. Yeah. Okay. I wanna know so you say
you started this four and a halfyears ago Yeah. And you're now
launching in April.
Yeah. When this comes out, it'sit's probably May, so you're
out.

Yeah. We're

out. This is available. Go get your diapers.

Get them.

How have you personally handled the patience
of, like, having the big vision,knowing what's possible, and
then melding that with three dreality of, like, how long it
takes to get things done.

That also is a soft power

frame Yeah.

Framework. It's like nothing happens overnight.
It's not the shareholder nextquarter. It's a long term view
of collaborating with nature.It's a co creation.
It's a collaboration, and itrequires so much time for me to
just understand how the fungalkingdom works. Like, I'm still,
like, just a blip ofunderstanding. Like, all the
things we talked about, that'sthat's all information I I

(40:58):
learned over these over theselast four years, and I'm still,
like, a deep early days studentof this work. And so co
creating, collaborating withnature is a long term vision.
And it yeah.
Like, that is that's soft power.What's beautiful about nature is
that it's it hugs you. It'ssoft, but it's also fierce, and

(41:20):
it is unforgiving when it needsto be. And so it has seasons and
it's most of the time it's in ahugging state, but they have
storms. She has, you know, allthe different parts and they're
all welcome.
You know? And so I think in thesame context, like, to really
think about the soft powerframework, one of them is, like,
seasonality, like seasons. Like,we we operate in seasons and we

(41:43):
forgot. Even us as women, wehave four very distinct parts of
our cycle. We don't even we pushthrough, like, luteal phase,
our, you know, all the differentphases.
We have the the menstrual phase,you know, the the follicular
phase, you know, and all thephases of our menstrual cycle
ask for different parts of us tocome out, and we often push

(42:05):
through, you know, the differentversions of us because we're not
really tuned attuned to thecycles of our own systems. And
so how can if not we're not evenattuned to our own systems can
be attuned to nature's naturalcycles. Nature is not saying
reap when it's winter. No.Nature is saying Rest.

(42:25):
Rest. You know? Recalibrate.Recalibrate. And nature is
saying when it's summer and it'slike everything is harvesting,
like, that's when you harvest.
And when I think about mybusiness Tushy, for example, you
know, we harvest in our fourthquarter because it's like a
very, you know, giftable, youknow, bidets. It's a gift that
keeps on keeps on giving, and wedo 40% of our business in our

(42:46):
fourth quarter.

So interesting. What a great gift idea.

It's the best gift idea.

I love that.

Yeah. Because it's really it's a gift that keeps on
giving. And so people just lovegiving tushy. It's the right
price points, like a hundredbucks

Yeah.

Price points. Just the right and it's truly,

like, it's it's game changing. Clean, but for
the holidays.

And every time you think about me, you'll you'll
every time you take a shit,you'll think about me, you're
walking

out me. Yeah. Funny because in my second book,
Do Us, I really do a lot ofcyclical, like, you just
described is the framework forthat book. It's really about
making more by doing less.

I can't believe it. My my I wrote an album, and
my opening single's called DoLess Be More. I will send it to
you. You have to play it.

To hear it.

It's called Do Less Be More, and it's like I
wrote a seven an eight songalbum during my divorce.

Oh, I can't wait to can't wait to listen.

And my the song the song that it was a favorite
song Most People Must Be Well,

on our team meeting today, we just had a
team meeting, we just onboardedtwo new team members, so it was
like all our little squares likethe Brady Bunch. Yeah. And we
suddenly were like, we need ateam song, so maybe that's it.
That needs to Oh. Maybe it's the

team I'm excited. A it's a dance

is like working for us. It's a dance song. Okay.
I'm so excited. Gonna listenright

after this.

But anyway, in now I'm off track. Wait. You had
said oh my god. I got soexcited. Yay.
My brain shut down. You had saidabout oh my god. I've lost

We're we're

so about You were talking about the seasons.

Oh, yeah. Seasons. Right. And so we just just
Something. I know.
We were just talking about howin the in the soft power
framework, there's such aseasonality to everything.

There

is. To our bodies, to nature. You know, you're like

There's something else. Start, but it'll it'll
come back or it won't and itdoesn't matter.

Yeah. Does matter.

Yeah. I'm like such a golden retriever with
you.

I know. I know.

It's like, oh, I know. Like really excited about
what you're up to and all of theconnections between it. Okay. So

Do less. Is your book about do less Yeah. But
there was something. Yeah. Yeah.

So I would love to know how did motherhood Yeah.
Change your relationship withworking?

Oh my god. It was it's a completely different
thing because the one thing Ilearned is about having a child
is you actually can't do twothings at once. You just can't.
You can't be on the phone whileyour kid's like, mama, mama.
Like, it's you both suck.
Like, they're both bothexperiences for both parties %.
Doesn't work. So you actuallyhave to be like, I'm putting my

(45:22):
phone down and I'm with my kid.And anytime I try, it's just
frustrating for everyone. And soROI diminishes dramatically.
It does. And so, like and it's aconstant remembering because it
because, you know, when you'rewith your kid and the phone
rings, you

kind of it's also ball,

and then you're like, it's the friend, and
you're like, I can't. I have tostay present. And so there's a
lot more I've learned about justbeing present. I'm still
learning and growing. There'sstill moments where you're like,
shit, I forgot to, you know, butlike for the most part, when
it's hero time, it's hero time,especially now since we do week
on week off.

Okay.

Yeah. So it's week on week off. I really cherish
our time together. Even whenit's Andrew's time, I still, I
do, like, go to his house to seeHero all the time. So, like, we
have a good good relationshipenough that I could do that.

Is there anything that you would wanna pass along
to folks who are, working outtheir co parenting agreements
that's really supported you too?

Yeah. I think if the kid is under five doing it's
like a the it's the, two tothree structure for for for like
time. Because like in thebeginning, you don't want to be
away from your kid for more thana couple of days, especially as
a mom. But after like seven, youknow, six or seven

And your kid's now how old?

He's seven.

He's seven. So he was a he's a twenty eighteen
baby?

Twenty

seventeen. 20 17. Okay. Because my Ruby is gonna
be seven in April. Okay.
So okay. So he's

like He's

turning eight. Six months.

Okay. He's turning eight in in July.

Okay. So he's, like, a year, nine months older
than that.

Yeah. It's so crazy the time goes by so fast.
It's so crazy. It's insane.

Yeah. It didn't when they were little. I know.
For real. Dragged, and now it'sgoing fast.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like what they say.
It's like long days, shortyears. Yeah.
So

02/23.

Yeah. 02/23. When they're and then week on week
off because

they need they they need to know

where they are. You know? He needs to know where
they need to know where theyare. They're like, am I here? Am
I there?
Because if it's too, like, wheream I again today? Yeah. It
becomes disorienting. So Ithink, like you know, and I
think the most important thingis is to have a a good like, a
really solid relationship withthe part with the ex partner and
an ex partner's new new newpartner. You know?

(47:36):
And I think, like, one of thethings I'm very, very proud of
myself for doing is, like, whenAndrew and I first got divorced
and he was, like, you know,having his first, you know, two
months long Yeah. Summering withhis new partner, I like, we did
one month each. It was our firstmonth. You know, I get one
month, you get one month for thesummer. And I was like, I'm

(47:58):
gonna spend the whole month ofhis month wherever he is because
I'm just gonna show up everyday.
And so for his month, I I wewere there in Costa Rica, so

I like, okay. I'll go

to Costa Rica Costa Rica. So I so I so I
checked in at the Bodhi TreeResort

Yeah.

For a month for thirty days, and they were
staying like a few minutes away.And Andrew and I were not in a
good place at the time. We werenot we were we were we were,
like, you know, coming offdivorced battle of, like, who
gets what and just, you know,just that. And and and even with
all that, we we kind of landedthe plane pretty good. But it

(48:30):
was it was still justcontentious a little bit.
And I knew that if I spent onemonth in Costa Rica showing up
at the beach every single dayfor three to four hours where
they were gonna be, kind of likethe third wheel ex wife chick,
you know, being like, me again,you know, playing with hero in
the ocean every day and justletting it all go in the ocean,

(48:52):
I knew that those thirty dayswould pay dividends for the rest
of our lives. And every day, Ishowed up for three to four
hours on the beach, like Hi.Kind of like the chick, the ex
wife chick. And I became friendswith Andrew's new partner and,
you know, I mean, she and I wereclose from day one, actually.
She's we call her best casescenario.
She's truly amazing.

What a dream.

Yeah. And they're pregnant now, and I'm so
excited, and it's beautiful.Wow. It's amazing.

But They've got the diaper solution all over the
place.

Yeah. Yeah. No discounts, but I'm just kidding.
Yeah. No.
No. So

so yeah. So I mean,

you know, we I've I'm very, very again, by so by
first week, you know, we werethere's still, like, what are
you doing here energy. And thenby, you know, the second week,
you know, when I was playingwith with Hero, he'd be like, I
can come play with you guys. AndI was like, great. You know? And
so then we would slowly start tomend, and then by the fourth

(49:47):
week, we're all like Kumbayahugging.
And so, you know, like I said, II'm very proud of, like, the
just the just the swallowing of,the ickness and the awkwardness
of the moment to just movethrough that time to get to the
other side of just, like, wejust washed it all in the ocean.
It's like, you know, we had agreat beginning, middle, and
end, it ended. Like, I wantsomething deeper and like, ugh,

(50:10):
like more intimate for me. Youwant what you want, like
beautiful. Totally.
Like, there's no wrong. Right.Which is why, like, dating

(50:30):
myself right now is quitelovely. I'm just like, this is
I'm like, looking at my mirror,I'm like, wow. Have beautiful
eyes.
Like, you know, like,complimenting myself. Like, for
the really, like, you know, justhonoring myself, it just really
feels good. It's not from anegoic place. It's from a place
of true self love, and it's likethere's a very big difference.
There's a

very big difference.

Yeah. It's actually, like, coming coming
into a relationship with withfull cup and and from a place of
pure self love is actually likethe way you're meant to go into
relationship, not when you'rehaving them try to fill a hole
inside of you. Totally.

It's like the best is

when both parties do the deep work, when they're
both on their own, like, realself love journey, and then you
come out of it and you're like,I love me, you love you, I'm me,
you're you, can we actually,like, co elevate together? Yeah.
Let's fucking go. Yeah. Youknow?

Something that I've witnessed in you, I don't
know you well. Right? So justlike from afar. Yeah. Right?
From afar, and in reading yourbook Disrupt Her Yeah. And and
just the way you described yourchildhood Yeah. And the kind of
more patriarchal structure ofyour family. And in this
conversation we're having rightnow, I'm witnessing this
beautiful opening of, like,putting down the sword, as you

(51:45):
said, getting off the horseYeah. And and not needing a
fight to be a primary.
Right. You know, a primary, andand of course, like, don't know
you well enough to know Yeah.Whether that was or or or not,
but, you know, so we've got Idid you sell things? Yeah. Yeah.

(52:05):
So you've we we had sellingthings and and, you know,
starting Tushy and divorce and,you know, some publicity things
and

the The album. Oh, yeah. The the takedown.

Right. There was that in Throw a takedown while
I'm pregnant while I'm pregnant.Just while pregnant and just
like, you know, life has sort oflike sanded some corners.

Yeah. I call it I've I've been rounded by the
ocean.

You've been

rounded by

the ocean. You're a beautiful river stone. Yeah.
Or, you know, rounded by theriver. Yeah.
Yeah. So I wanna know if, youknow and and again, like,
Disrupt Her came out in 2019, soa lot of water water under the
bridge since then, six yearssince its publication date, but,
know, of course, gotta write thebook, like, well before it comes
out. Yeah. Who even knows whenyou wrote this?

Totally. Was I wrote it the first two I wrote
it the first two months

of Hero's birth. When Hero was born, I

wrote the book the first two months of his birth.
Because I went through the takedown So

I'm sorry. So you were two months postpartum?

No. No. I was the for the the first like,
literally, he

I gave birth and then you wrote a book. I wrote a
book for two

Wow. While it was the first two

months Postpartum.

And recovering from c section. That's wild.

Yeah. Was that just like a timing thing?

It was that it was because deadline? No. It was
because I had gone through thetakedown Yeah. While I was
pregnant. Attempted takedownbecause I I won in the courts
and everything, and it was all,like, thrown out and everything.
But, like oh, I'm hungry. Like,my tummy's growling. So I I so
it was like a a whole, like, itwas like a real, like, I was

(53:35):
hold I was really protective ofmy baby inside my belly, and so
I had so much I wanted to sayabout feminism, patriarchy,
people using feminism andpatriarchy for self gain, like
the world of power dynamics,like all this stuff, emotional
capacity, like how when we gothrough something really
painful, it's actually abeautiful experience because
your emotional capacityincreases. Like, all this of

(53:57):
what does love actually mean andlook like, all this stuff was,
like, swirling inside of mewhile I was hormonal and
pregnant, but still veryprotective of the media saying
crazy things about me, justbeing so cruel and unfair, and
just, like, no fact checking, noasking me what actually
happened.

Right. You you don't have any control

over your area of And because my board at the time
forced me to to have to to nottalk, I couldn't actually even
defend myself. It was like awhole because my equity was on
the line. It was just like awhole

It is really the ultimate surrender.

Thing. So I have I was just like, it was the
ultimate surrender. I just waslike, okay. Yeah. There's this
universe is giving me a deepgift right now.
In this moment, it's very, veryhard hard to see it, but I know
there's a gift in there, andultimately, it was the expansion
of my emotional capacity. Like,did become a softer human
because I had to soften in thatprocess while giving birth. And
I think I had so much I wantedto say, but I my tongue was cut

(54:49):
off during that period of timeby my powers that be at the time
was really it was the wholething was so, like, a game of
power money. Like, it was like,ugh. Anyways and so then and,
know, I wasn't perfect either.
I was, like, you know, a tough,like, boss. I didn't do those
things, but I also was, youknow, like, again, like, we were

(55:10):
all trying to build a company.We made mistakes, but it wasn't
like those kinds of mistakes. Itwas different kinds of mistakes,
but whatever.

You're like, at least take me down for what I

asked you. Take me down for, like, being a bitch
sometimes, but, like, notnecessarily,

like Like, hi. Welcome to being human.

I know. It's like we're we all have bad days.
Totally. Fuck you. Yeah.
Anyways. And one of the thingsin the hot soft power framework
is, like, going from pedestal topath. Like, people put you in a
pedestal when you're a leader,people put in a pedestal when
you're, like, in the world,people put you and it's like and
it's just like versus I'm on apath of growth just like you.
I'm on a path of making mistakesand coming back from it just

(55:45):
like you. There's no pedestalingof any kind that we do because
you're only you're only aputting yourself down by
actually pedestaling someoneelse.
And then when you're looking forsomeone else to fail, that's
another way of putting yourselfdown versus just like we're all
on a path of growth. We're allfiguring this out. We're all
hormonal at times. We're allunder slept at times. We're all

(56:05):
going through shit at times, andwe're not gonna be perfect all
the time and or ever, you know,and that's all okay.
You know? So and so why I wrotethe book this first, because I
just the baby was born, and Iwas like, oh, my baby's healthy.
It's born. Like, I had a Csection. I was holding so much,
but once the baby was out, Ijust needed to get all the

(56:26):
things I wanted to say out of mybody, and that's what this book
Disruptor is about.
This book is literally, like,from the heart of, like, the
experience of the takedown ofthe patriarchy of the feminism
of the what people wanna sayabout me, like, putting people
like, the chirping, thecomplaining, the like, just the
talking shit energy, like, justthe swirl. I just needed to get

(56:48):
it out of my body, and that was,like, the most cathartic thing I
could do. Kind of like when Igot know, ended my marriage
Yeah. I wrote my book my album

Your album.

You know, because by What's

the album called?

It's called it's called, It All Exists.

It All Exists.

By the moniker Soul Gate. So my friend Happy
and I, you know, she you know,we collaborate together on
actually making the music. Iwrote all the words because it
was from my, like it was fromthe yearning and from the heart
and from the stuff, but it'scheck out It All Exists by Soul
Gaze.

Okay.

And there's two versions of the album. There's
the dance album, which I do allthe spoken word for, and then
there's the acoustic album,which Happy does all the
singing, and, but I wrote allthe lyrics. And so it's sort of
like this I call it kind of likea a love op opera. Like, it
really kind of walks you throughthe kind of like the the whole
it all exists. Like, love existsin so many forms.

(57:37):
It's all beautiful. There'sthere's nothing wrong with it.
It's all beautiful. So so it'ssort of like this disruptor was
that cathartic, like, I had toget it out moment After a baby,
right after my baby

was born. Right after your baby. Yeah. And then
this cathartic creation afteryour divorce. Yeah.
So you may already know this,but I just wanna, like, pin for
listeners that when we create,when we are in an act of
creativity, whether it's writinglyrics for an album, writing a
book, making soup, cutting outsnowflakes on a cardboard, you

(58:11):
know, like on a constructionpaper with a paper. Like,
whatever. When we are in the actof creation, it actually is
metabolizing stress. Yeah. Itactually is rewiring our nervous
system.
It actually is alchemizing theemotions. Like, that is a
profoundly healing act, and itchanges our physiology.

Yeah.

And I think some of what I'm witnessing emerge
with with you, with this softpower movement, and and and what
you're stepping into is suchevidence Yeah. Of taking
experience and metabolizing itthrough art, and it's really
critical.

Thank you. And creation. I mean, ultimately,
like, after I stepped down fromthings and and and then and
then, you know, really took thereins for Tushy, and with
Justin, my now co founder andCEO of Tushy is amazing. And our
team is amazing. Our Tushyteam's amazing.

(59:05):
It was just putting my heartinto something new was also
really amazing and it was itsown redemption in a lot of ways.
Right? It's like, you know,people are like, you know, it's
like, oh, she's like got luckyor like with things or like
right timing and right peoplelove to bring people down of
just saying like, right time,right place, like all the

(59:25):
things. But then, like, youknow, and then and then I
couldn't defend myself. Was cutcut my my tongue was cut off,
and so I put my head down andcreated, made made made wrote
the book and built TUSHY.
TUSHY's, you know, done over,you know, few hundred million in
revenue, like we've raised only4,000,000, like we're it's
really cool.

It's really cool. Yeah. And just the way, like, I
just I'm just, like, excited bythe way you've revolutionized
the things that come out ofhuman bodies. Okay. So as we
wrap up here Yeah.
I would just love to know onething that between when you

(01:00:03):
wrote this in 2017 Yeah. And nowthat you would add as like a
piece of wisdom well earned, andthen where people can find all
the things.

Miki Agrawal (01:00:13):
Yeah. I think I I I have an the next book is gonna

Kate Northrup (01:00:17):
be called Soft Power.

Of course.

It is Naturally. We'll have you back on when it
comes out.

For sure. Yeah. And it's it's gonna be this it's
I'm on the journey right now of,like again, it's like when we
know what's worked in the pastand we, like, kind of, like, get
back on the horse with thesword, and then you're like, no.
No. No.
I don't want It's it is it's ait's a true rewiring and it's a
practice. It's a daily practice.I just started working with a

(01:00:41):
coach again. I I had my I had mysomatic therapist every twice a
month as well, but then I juststarted working with my coach
again every week to really dolike, to work on the left hand
path, to really focus on, youknow, freedom of self and, like,
what what am I holding on toand, like, what can I let go of,
like, all the time? And, youknow, I think it's creating this

(01:01:05):
new company, this new project,this new communing with nature.
It's gonna be a very differentexperience than the first two,
and that's what I'm excitedabout. It's not the what. Like,
of course, we're gonna be ableto build something. We we know
kind of a lot of the steps onhow to create something and
build something, but it's theenergetics around it. It's like
the how we're doing it that I'mjust in the yearning and in the

(01:01:26):
in the curiosity of like howit's going to go down because I
do find myself when I'mstressed, like, you know, being
back in this old old way, andI'm just like, no.
No. No. No. I have to go back tomy altar, sit on my altar, pray,
work with my coach, go work withsomatic therapist, just sit and
pray, talk to the trees, like,sit and breathe. Like, it's a
it's a it's a real practice.

(01:01:47):
It's a real rewiring, and andI'm excited. Like, you know,
Harvard Business School did acase study on things Amazing.

Which is huge. That is huge.

And as a company, you know, disrupting the
industry, etcetera, and I'm soproud of that. I'm excited about
the potential of HarvardBusiness Review doing a case
study on soft power on leadingfrom the soft part of us, not
the hard part of us, and howthat can make 10 times, hundred
times more difference if youtack on conscious capitalism on
top of that. So that's my that'smy quest.

That's a good

one. And so I think it's about the softening,
the remembering, it's theforgiving and continuing again,
getting back, trying again andagain and again, and that's this
journey. It's not like there'snothing that's absolute. It's
not like, well, I've I'vearrived. You know?
I've done the thing. I'm nowgoing from disruptor to soft
power. I'm good. You know? It'sa it's a real daily moment to

(01:02:42):
moment practice.
I love

Amazing. Okay. So where should people come to find
you? Where can they get theirdiapers? Yes.
Where can they get their HelloTushy? Their Tushy with
hellotushy.com. I know that one.

Yeah. And books and everything.

Where? Okay. Where should they go?

Well, first, just at Mickey Aggarwal on Instagram.
That's I I mostly just doInstagram. And then hero it's
hero@hir0technologies is ourcurrent, but when we launch,
it's gonna be herodiapers.com.Okay.

Great. So it's it's launched now. It's
launched. It's Herodiapers.com.

H I r 0 h I r, pronounced hero, not hiro, hero.
And herodiapers.com, Tushyliterally will change change
your life forever.

It will change your life.

It will change your life forever.

Yeah. It will.

Hello Tushy.com. Don't go to Tushy.com. It's a
very graphic anal porn site. Goto hello

How exciting.

Tushy.com. That Yeah. That was always
interesting. Investors would belike, oh god. Not.
You don't want that cookiefalling. No. Basically. Yeah.
No.
So hello tushy.com. And then andthen the book Disrupt Her, Do
Cool Shit. Good. And then myalbum, go to Spotify. It's on
Spotify.
It's on all the

Okay.

Great. Different things. It all exists by Soul
Gaze. Check it out. It really isfrom my heart, and you'll you'll
feel it.
And I think when you readDisruptive, you'll you'll now
now you have context as to,like, all the shit I went
through, and then it was, like,truly just, like, the coming
back story is in there is inthat book. What did you get out

(01:04:16):
of it real quick?

Oh, my gosh. Well, I just I I love like,
first of all, I love the art,the graphics I do all of I
didn't know. Was like, this bookis so beautiful. Thank you.
Like, first of all.
And I have personally, like, oneof my things is undoing my good
girl patterning. So for me, it'sso much permission, like, you

(01:04:41):
are a living example of, justfreaking do the thing, you know?
And and like, yeah, of course,you're gonna have feelings about
it. You're gonna, you know, pushpeople's buttons, like whatever.
And like, we don't changeculture without pushing the
boundary, without thedisruption, without getting out
there and being willing to makepeople uncomfortable.

(01:05:03):
Yeah. You know? And so for me,it's like very permissive. Mhmm.
So I appreciate that.

I love that.

And I appreciate you.

I appreciate you.

Thanks for being so open. Thanks for telling all
your stories, and thanks forbeing you.

You too. You look great. You look good. Skin looks
great.

Wow. Well, thanks.

I mean, really. It's amazing.

So does yours. Thank you. A couple months ago,
I was at the Miraval Spa andResort in Austin, Texas with a
group of women I'm in a peer ledmastermind with. So we are all
multi 7 figure business owners,and we gathered together to

(01:05:41):
mastermind, to do hot seats, tosit in the hot tub, to get
massages, to do, you know,aerial hammock meditation yoga.
And it was incredible.
From the staff, to the food, tothe services, to the offerings,
Miraval was absolutely awonderful place to host this
retreat. So if you're needingsome r and r, if you need a

(01:06:02):
reset, if you wanna get togetherwith girlfriends, or just find a
place or a partner and find aplace to reset, Tap into your
deepest truth, calm your nervoussystem so you can hear your
intuition, and really take abeautiful break, a beautiful
powerful break, check outMiraval Spa and Resort in

(01:06:24):
Austin, Texas.

Hi.

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