This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:07] Laura Bell Bundy: Happy holidays.

[0:09] Shea Carter's's: I'm Shea Carter's.

[0:10] Laura Bell Bundy: And I'm Laura Bell Bundy.

[0:12] Shea Carter's's: And this is Women of Tomorrow, a podcast for women.

[0:16] Laura Bell Bundy: By women.

[0:17] Shea Carter's's: Nice trying, women.

[0:20] Laura Bell Bundy: One day you will get equality.

[0:22] Shea Carter's's: And that's what our podcast is all about: giving you the information that you need to make the world a more equitable place.

[0:31] Laura Bell Bundy: Dashing through the mall, trying to find a sale, got a $5 t-shirt, spent $25 on kale.

[0:38] Shea Carter's's: Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, here's a bunch of crap.

[0:42] Laura Bell Bundy: It'll be regifted.

[0:43] Shea Carter's's: We'll just change the wrap.

[0:45] Laura Bell Bundy: It's a week.

[0:49] Shea Carter's's: Have you ever asked yourself, why do I have so many clothes and somehow constantly feel like I have nothing to wear?

[0:57] Laura Bell Bundy: Have you ever asked yourself, why does this face cream smell like chemicals?

[1:00] Shea Carter's's: Or why does this purchase fake leather somehow smell like dead fish?

[1:05] Laura Bell Bundy: Why is everything wrapped in pounds of plastic?

[1:08] Shea Carter's's: How did I order one single lip liner and have it come in a box bigger than my cat?

[1:15] Laura Bell Bundy: Is my grandma gonna get me that same bath and body kit, adding 20 more body scrubs that I've never used, piling up under my sink every year?

[1:23] Shea Carter's's: She'll get that for you.

[1:24] Laura Bell Bundy: Who made these decisions?

[1:26] Shea Carter's's: Who made these products?

[1:27] Laura Bell Bundy: Why have I spent money on things that I barely like?

[1:30] Shea Carter's's: And here we have big box retailers who are able to sell pants for like $15, shirts for like five to eight dollars.

[1:37] Laura Bell Bundy: And the trick is we think we're saving money, but we are actually just buying more.

[1:43] Shea Carter's's: And because these things don't last, we're replacing them more often.

[1:47] Laura Bell Bundy: Purchasing power affects every aspect of economics, from consumer buying goods to investors buying stock, to a country's economic prosperity, and to who gets elected to positions of power.

[2:01] Shea Carter's's: Listen, it's Christmas, and the big corporations are ready to cash in on your desire to share with the ones you love.

[2:07] Laura Bell Bundy: But at what cost?

[2:08] Shea Carter's's: Hit them with the facts, LBB.

[2:10] Laura Bell Bundy: Apparel accounts for 10% of the world's carbon footprint.

[2:15] Shea Carter's's: One in six humans work in the apparel industry.

[2:19] Laura Bell Bundy: And 80% of those people are women.

[2:23] Shea Carter's's: And 98% of them do not make a living wage.

[2:28] Laura Bell Bundy: Look, this is a warning.

[2:30] Shea Carter's's: I'm about to break your heart and I'm about to make you feel a lot of shame.

[2:33] Laura Bell Bundy: Some of my favorite brands are on the naughty list this year.

[2:37] Shea Carter's's: So try not to tune out.

[2:38] Laura Bell Bundy: This can be uncomfortable because you feel guilty, but there is no need to feel judged or bad about companies you've supported in the past.

[2:44] Shea Carter's's: Instead, let's learn and grow and hopefully allow new information to change our spending habits for the better.

[2:50] Laura Bell Bundy: The pandemic has also left female garment workers who make up around 85% of the workforce at a greater risk of violence and sexual harassment.

[2:50] Shea Carter's's: In India, a 20-year-old garment worker was allegedly raped and killed by her supervisor at an H&M supply factory after months of harassment.

[3:08] Laura Bell Bundy: And let me get specific about not earning a living wage.

[3:11] Shea Carter's's: This is a quote from Chendon, 36, from Cambodia.

[3:15] Laura Bell Bundy: "I've got some work now, but it's not regular. Only hourly work in factories when they are busy. For a 10-hour day, I make around $10 USD, so about $1 an hour."

[3:25] Shea Carter's's: Before, my base salary was $190, which is the minimum wage for the garment sector in Cambodia.

[3:31] Laura Bell Bundy: Hosanna in Ethiopia says, "I've been working for five and a half years at the same garment factory. Since the pandemic began, our wages have been reduced. We haven't been told why. It was 1600 Ethiopian birr, which is $38 a month before, and now it's 1600 birr, and that's $33 USD a month."

[3:55] Shea Carter's's: Maria, 64, Los Angeles: "Even when I was working, I was paid much less because I'm undocumented. I was paid by a piece rate, which is equivalent to less than minimum wage. I used to make 400 to 450 a week, working almost 60-hour weeks. That's less than half the city's minimum wage. I also had no sick pay, no vacation pay, no rights."

[4:26] Laura Bell Bundy: Working conditions have deteriorated rapidly as both factories and in turn employees are under increasing pressure to produce garments more quickly due to price cuts from retailers.

[4:36] Shea Carter's's: There have been widespread reports of union busting with union members and labor activists disproportionately targeted by layoffs.

[4:55] Laura Bell Bundy: That means that when we choose not to buy, it has profound impact.

[5:01] Shea Carter's's: It means that what we do buy has profound impact.

[5:15] Laura Bell Bundy: Now 40% is coming from China, 9.8% Vietnam, 6.8% Bangladesh, 5% Indonesia, 4.3% Honduras, 4.3% Cambodia, 3.7% Mexico, and 3.6% India.

[5:31] Shea Carter's's: Three-fourths of China's energy supply is coming from coal, and that's the dirtiest form of energy.

[5:35] Laura Bell Bundy: And that's where 40% of our garments are coming from.

[5:40] Shea Carter's's: So as you can see, when the distance between the production location and the purchase location grow, what decreases is the accountability, sustainability, and transparency in our supply chains.

[5:53] Laura Bell Bundy: And this has disastrous implications to people and to the planet.

[5:57] Shea Carter's's: Listen, the biggest lesson I've learned was the cheaper the item, the higher the consequences, both for the environment and for the people that are making it.

[6:06] Laura Bell Bundy: So I decided to get myself a challenge where I couldn't buy anything new for a year.

[6:12] Shea Carter's's: And my initial interest in doing this was because I was super poor and I was moving to New York City with no money, and I was gonna try to save money and start to kind of notice where my spending habits were.

[7:00] Laura Bell Bundy: Telling people about my one-year challenge.

[7:02] Shea Carter's's: And then they would give me information about different ways that they were sustainable.

[7:06] Laura Bell Bundy: And I ended up learning so much that I didn't know before and being so much more conscious.

[7:10] Shea Carter's's: One thing that was brought to my attention that I had never considered was plastic and how when you buy skincare, it travels to you in plastic, and that plastic actually seeps into the product and makes the product full of plastic and clogs your pores and just has all of these negative chemical elements.

[7:31] Laura Bell Bundy: And so I then started to look for skincare that was ethical and sourced in glass.

[7:38] Shea Carter's's: And I found amazing companies like Derma E that are cruelty-free.

[7:41] Laura Bell Bundy: And it just found like the more I dug and the more investigation I did before buying a product, the more I was able to find conscious brands, find conscious products, find products that weren't gonna that were gonna help the environment.

[7:55] Shea Carter's's: And also buying pieces that I wasn't gonna get rid of immediately.

[7:59] Laura Bell Bundy: Or if I was buying skincare, it would come in packaging that I could reuse and use that jar as like a travel jar once the product was gone from it.

[8:08] Shea Carter's's: And everything works like that.

[8:10] Laura Bell Bundy: It's all circular, and that's how we want to shop.

[8:13] Shea Carter's's: We want to make sure that what we're buying benefits the person that's making it.

[8:18] Laura Bell Bundy: We want to make sure that what we're buying can be reused, recycled.

[8:22] Shea Carter's's: We want to make sure that what we're buying is something that we actually like and that we'll want to keep for a long time.

[8:28] Laura Bell Bundy: Um, and something that isn't going to make us sick.

[8:30] Shea Carter's's: All of this domino effect really helped me and taught me a lot of things, even really scary facts.

[8:36] Laura Bell Bundy: Like most pleather is treated with formaldehyde, and then you're putting that on your skin, and the cost of healthcare is so expensive.

[8:43] Shea Carter's's: And here we are putting formaldehyde on our skin.

[8:47] Laura Bell Bundy: A recent market investigation found that one in five fast fashion items of clothing had harmful chemicals, including lead, formaldehyde, PFA, PFAS, and other crap that I can't pronounce.

[9:01] Shea Carter's's: And that's wild.

[9:03] Laura Bell Bundy: One in five pieces of your clothing.

[9:05] Shea Carter's's: And that's not even counting the chemicals that are in our food, the chemicals that are in our skincare.

[9:11] Laura Bell Bundy: It's just it's a crazy Pandora's box of terror.

[9:16] Shea Carter's's: So here's the good news.

[9:18] Laura Bell Bundy: Where there's demand, supply will be created, and you have the power.

[9:22] Shea Carter's's: A whopping 66% of global consumers said that they would pay more for sustainable products.

[9:28] Laura Bell Bundy: Unfortunately, only 10% of that group said they actually buy sustainable products on a regular basis.

[9:34] Shea Carter's's: This means we have a huge opportunity to capture a massive percentage of consumers if we could make buying sustainably easier, which is why we are bringing you our guest Deshi and introducing you to her amazing company Apricot.

[9:53] Laura Bell Bundy: Feel good about every purchase and every recommendation.

[9:59] Shea Carter's's: Apricot curates a global selection of beloved cult lifestyle brands and also happens to be clean, sustainable, conscious, and or women and BIPOC owned.

[10:11] Laura Bell Bundy: How often do you text a friend to share something that you love all the time?

[10:15] Shea Carter's's: And how often are you rewarded by the brand?

[10:18] Laura Bell Bundy: Um, never.

[10:20] Shea Carter's's: Well, that changes now.

[10:21] Laura Bell Bundy: Apricot's goal is to lift all women and line their pockets while creating a shift in how we buy and consume.

[10:30] Shea Carter's's: Apricot is proud to help you discover mindful brands that are sustainable, small batch, female owned, conscious, and or cruelty-free.

[10:39] Laura Bell Bundy: The stuff you won't end up replacing in a month.

[10:42] Shea Carter's's: Apricot supports these businesses and provides them with a platform to succeed.

[10:47] Laura Bell Bundy: We are so happy to have Deshi Singh, who is the creator and founder of Apricot here to talk with us.

[10:56] Shea Carter's's: And I got that right. Did I get that right?

[10:58] Deshi Singh: I am the creator and founder. Yes, thank you.

[11:04] Laura Bell Bundy: Well, first of all, before we dive right in, I have a question.

[11:10] Shea Carter's's: What made you want to start doing this?

[11:16] Deshi Singh: That is such a great question. So, first of all, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here with you guys and chatting about this. Um, I think it's so important and it's something that deserves attention, time, thought, and conversation.

[11:30] Laura Bell Bundy: So, for me, I firmly believe that putting more money in the hands of women is very important, not just for them, but for our global economy.

[11:41] Deshi Singh: Um, you know, what I've seen is that women fuel our consumer economy with our behaviors. And you've already talked about this, but both on the supply, so creating the garments and manufacturing what we actually use and consume, but also on the demand side.

[12:00] Laura Bell Bundy: And so if women are fueling our consumer economy, why is it that we are not getting recognized for what I believe is actually unpaid labor?

[12:09] Deshi Singh: And that is taking the time to find products to bring into your life, to bring into the lives of the people that you love, to bring into your family's lives, right? To spend your time and your money to discover new products and new brands. That is work.

[12:28] Laura Bell Bundy: What the language is today is that it's frivolous that women spend a lot of money, that we're very good at shopping, but what we're not given credit for is the fact that we are the backbone of what our economy runs off of.

[12:42] Deshi Singh: So a few years ago, um, there was a stat that was quoted where you know women control over $2.4 billion in household spend. That is a huge number, right?

[12:54] Laura Bell Bundy: And that was from a few years ago. Imagine what that is today.

[12:59] Deshi Singh: So women have tremendous buying power. And if we can just start to think about that a little bit in terms of, well, what if we started to get compensated for this work? What if you started to get recognized from this work?

[13:10] Laura Bell Bundy: And what's really cool with Apricot is that we have found some of the most revolutionary brands on the planet.

[13:18] Deshi Singh: Um, these are also the conscious and cult independent brands that you're talking about. So they're mostly female-founded, socially conscious, eco-friendly. There's something about them that makes them quality products.

[13:31] Laura Bell Bundy: Um, but not only that, they want to pay you as a consumer to both buy and share their products.

[13:40] Deshi Singh: I mean, that's pretty mind-blowing, right? Not you as an individual, not just as an influencer with 100,000 followers or more, um, or you know, as an influencer with 15,000 followers and an account on one of the affiliate marketing programs, but as an everyday person and woman and consumer, your neighbor, your mom, your sister.

[14:02] Laura Bell Bundy: Imagine this idea of getting the most authentic and trusted referrals and recommendations from your closest people, but also getting paid to both shop and share.

[14:15] Deshi Singh: I think this is so interesting because I've found lately with social media feeling really frustrated and disheartened with all of the marketing from influencers because there's such massive budgets to do these big hauls and it's just so much stuff.

[14:32] Deshi Singh: And really, I do find myself wanting to ask my friends and family more because I trust it. I know that these people are paying these influencers a ton of money, and I don't believe it anymore. So the jig is up for me a little bit on that. How does somebody get paid for like telling their friends and family? How does that structure work?

[14:51] Deshi Singh: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, I think that you actually hit the nail on the head there just for a second. Over 80% of all Americans, both men and women, say that a recommendation from a friend or family makes them more likely to make a purchase. That's huge, right? And not only that, word of mouth referrals are the primary factor behind 50% of all purchasing decisions. So we are moving the needle for brands in a really meaningful way. And that is not being captured. So this authentic word of mouth referral that you're talking to. So you looking to your friends to ask them what to get, I mean, that's the holy grail of brands bringing new customers to find their product. So, you know, customer acquisition.

But brands today are actually trying to figure out ways to engage with their most loyal consumers. So they're starting brand ambassador programs, right? They're reaching out to nano and micro influencers. But as we've seen, and as what you just sort of outlined, is that a lot of what's out there today is not authentic. We can pay for reviews on Amazon today. So a lot of the reviews that you see are actually, you know, they're probably bought. This is becoming its own behemoth. But you know, as we shop and as we think about consuming, you know, where is the value in those platforms in the Amazons of the world of Airbnb, of you know, kind of any of the biggest platforms that you go to, you look for something, whether it's a destination, you find a home, and the first thing you do is you read the reviews.

You look up something on Amazon, it fits all of your criteria. The next thing I do is I read the reviews or see how many stars it is, right? So there's so much value in that behavior. How do we start to think about consumerism differently and also just the relationship between retailers, brands and consumers differently to start to put consumers and brands first?

[16:49] Deshi Singh: So why is this an optimal site for purchasing?

[16:52] Deshi Singh: Yeah, that's a really good question. So the better question is why would you shop anywhere else? So once you've decided to come in, you know, you're being presented with a highly curated selection of like I said, the best of the internet, right? And we have some awesome people curating the brands on our site including Kelly Patron, Jennifer Justice, she was Jay Z's personal entertainment lawyer for 17 years, our head of brand partnerships was the head buyer at Barney's for over a decade. The reason to come to Apricot is because we are recognizing that there's value in what you do already and that you should also recognize that. So the key here is that you're actually earning 15 to 25% of the retail cost of an item when anybody buys based off of your recommendation.

And you as a consumer are earning anywhere from seven and a half to 15% of the retail cost of an item on your own purchases in the platform. So just for example, if we were all members of Apricot and Laura, I'm shopping your collection, you earn and I earn. There is zero downside. What we've done is created a platform that is also creating a flywheel to say, hey, when you win as a consumer, me, your friend wins because I get to shop your curated list of recommended products. The brand wins because you're doing this authentic referral marketing behavior on their behalf. And Apricot is winning because we're putting all of the pieces together. What we're doing is taking a lot less of that slice than traditional retailers and traditional e-commerce.

And we're sharing what we would normally earn with you as a consumer, both the Apricot member and your friend who's buying from you, or some other Apricot member who sees your collection and decides that she wants to know what you like, what you use on your face, what you buy for your children. And she gets recognized for it, and you do. I also think this makes gift buying way easier. Because think about all the things you buy for someone and you hope that they'll like it. But if there's a face cream I see that you're always using, and I buy that for you, I know you're gonna be stoked on it. And then that just prevents that wasted gift, you know, where you just, you know, when you're buying something for someone and you decided to go thrifty instead of buying the one luxury item.

Yes, you know, yes. I've been starting to think about just the waste in that and the way that we give and wanting a big gift or wanting a big present. This is like seems like a really nice way to go on and see that you're getting something that that person already likes.

[19:21] Deshi Singh: Now, just to clarify, Apricot is for women only, right?

[19:27] Deshi Singh: Women, not women only purchasing, but women only curating stores. Anyone is welcome. The products that we have on our platform today, and as you know, we're relatively early, we're building up. We have over a hundred better brands on our platform today with over 50 on our wait list just trying to get on, but they're mostly geared towards women. So our categories are across wellness, beauty, home, children's, and accessories. And so if you think about who's really going to engage with that, we're talking about women in sort of their early 20s to late 40s. But Shay, to your point earlier, I actually wanted to say you're right. And what better gift can you give your friend than to shop their collection?

So not only do they get what they already want or love, but then you're also allowing them to invest in themselves and you're investing in them. And it's not gross as in your friend is making money off of you or you're making money off of me. It's hey, these brands want to pay you anyways. And what you do with that recognition, what you do with that money is you can spend it on the platform if you want to, but it's yours. You can pull it out in Venmo or PayPal, donate it to a charity of your choosing. There's so much or invest it. Why not take that and invest it?

[20:48] Deshi Singh: So we spent a lot of the first half of our podcast talking about the perils of the fast fashion industry and consumerism as we have become so accustomed to having a closet full of clothes we don't have room for, and yet looking at it and having nothing to wear. How is Apricot changing the game when it comes to supporting women all over the world that are making these products? And how does a purchase at Apricot also feel like a donation?

[21:29] Deshi Singh: Yeah, absolutely. So just getting back to what I said before is that at the heart of Apricot is a platform that's redefining the balance of power of consumerism, right? We're starting to think about this differently and giving our brands more of a say, these small up and coming brands, many of them are probably on a small to midsize, but some of them have also been around for over 15 years. So Feed is one of the brands on our platform. It was started by Lauren Bushler and she's a dear friend. With every purchase that you make on Feed or of Feed items, they're actually feeding children in need. So that's just a great example of your money doing good, not just for yourself in terms of oh, that handbag is really cute, but with the purchase of that handbag, you're feeding children, you're getting compensated.

Somebody else is probably getting compensated that's an Apricot member as well. So the idea of investing in better brands and putting your dollars in the types of companies that you want to see tomorrow that are also doing things to change the world around us, right? So let's start to find those companies that are paying their employees and manufacturers and where they're getting their products from a living wage. Let's start to invest in those companies that are carbon neutral or are doing something, thinking about what it means to have a sustainable world tomorrow.

[22:59] Deshi Singh: What I was thinking also is just the hours it takes to find conscious brands. And especially if you're trying to shop for multiple things, like I need skincare and I need clothing, and it's hard to not just want to go to Amazon that has everything and it's so convenient. What I like about Apricot and what I when looking at the site is it's really easy. It's really easy to find a lot of different things and a lot of different brands and have it be as accessible as an Amazon.

[23:27] Deshi Singh: Thanks for saying that, Shay. And I think that's what it has to be. And I think we have to be able to shop the way that we normally do. And Laura, I think you mentioned this before, but you know, everybody says that they want to invest in conscious brands, but where do they actually put their money? They're not necessarily going out of their way to find those conscious brands. And so with Apricot, we've created this really seamless consumer experience. I think that is part of it, is that we want what we want and we want it now. And we live in a culture that we get everything that we want instantly, which makes it even more of a challenge when we've gotten used to that pace of consuming, to do the research, right?

To stop and pause and go, is this purchase an ethical purchase? And it's great because you're doing it for us. We don't even have to think about it. We don't have to do the research. It's super easy. This laundry detergent is just gonna be, you know, a little bit better, or this particular fragrance is gonna be better. This thing that I could have gotten from my home at Amazon, I'm gonna get from Apricot because I know it's going to have a positive domino effect versus a negative one. Which is what I think, you know, where we're talking about the spirit of giving and what Christmas is and all of that, and we've become addicted to this sort of two months of consumption to buy people gifts they don't really care about.

And we can, you know, especially in the hardships that we've had over the last few years, when we know that people are struggling, we know that that garment workers, factory workers, et cetera, are making less than they used to make. It's harder to survive. That by making a purchase from a sustainable brand and a brand that has good business practices, that we're making a positive difference in that spirit of giving by the purchase that we're making itself.

[25:28] Deshi Singh: I love this idea of a circular economy too. And we're hearing these things said more, right? Like, how do you consume consciously? How do you have a circular economy? And this idea that everybody's benefiting in this, you're also getting things in small batches. You're also not having to do all this research for yourself. Your friends and family benefit when they purchase. It's like I love this idea that there's plenty of money to go around because I think we have this massive wealth gap because in these industries, we have a few people getting extremely wealthy, and we have other people living in extreme poverty. And so that's one thing I love about a site like this, especially for me, because this research is really hard to do.

There's a lot of money behind these major corporations hiding what factories they use. And so you can look up and find three different articles that says H&M just did a whole revamp and it's all eco, but that's not necessarily true. They have a few factories that are doing right by their employees, but then there's what happened in Bangladesh, where 2,000 garment workers were killed, and which is now part of like how the Bangladesh economy is setting up minimum wage or keeping it really low in order to get these big contracts from outside governments. So it's not easy to shop in this way. And so I'm excited for more companies to exist like this where it becomes more accessible to the consumer to find small batches.

[26:48] Deshi Singh: That's the goal. It really is. But you know what that also takes? It takes investment in female entrepreneurs. So, you know, I think that there are so many women, especially as we've come out of the pandemic that have started companies because it's never been easier to start a company. But what is harder than ever is to get eyes on your company, right? So you could have the most amazing product in the world if you're not on the shelves of Walmart or Target or you know, some big box retailer, or as you talked about, you know, the monopoly within the consumer economy right now, or you don't have a big enough ad budget to spend on Facebook, Instagram, and Google, nobody's gonna find you. So, how do we start to give those brands a platform to find their own flywheel outside of traditional marketing channels?

One of the first brands was a company called Genesee, and they were an amazing sustainable eyewear brand, manufactured in Flint, Michigan using recycled plastic water bottles. They had an incredible patent on the technology. The female founder behind it was creating jobs and reducing waste, you know, kind of at the height of and amid the Flint water crisis. So they also sold over 12,000 pairs of glasses and were featured in Vogue multiple times over. And I got an email from her not too long ago saying that they were going under because they couldn't get investment. That is not the type of company that should be going under. There should be dollars being thrown at her to continue to build what she's building because she's investing in people, in better sustainable practices, in products that you're talking about, sort of that circular economy from start to finish. You could send back the glasses and they would turn them into something else later. Those are the companies that we need to see around. And that's a big reason for Apricot.

[28:43] Deshi Singh: We partner with our brands. We want to bring them to the forefront. We want to give them another platform to connect with consumers and who will be their most loyal consumers in a way that feels authentic. Let's tell their stories, right? At least for me, I know that I get a lot more excited about the brand when I hear the story behind the founder. Why did they do this? Why is it important? Why should I go out of my way and shop your product versus Amazon's product? And so a big part of what we're trying to do with Apricot is to build that community, to tell those stories, to give both brands and our members the platform to connect with one another in a way that is not happening in traditional commerce, right? And to be able to invest in that full site.

[29:28] Laura Bell Bundy: Right. And just the waste, like I'm more likely to get rid of something not knowing the backstory of where it came from, too. So that's gonna have me as a consumer want to hold on to the thing I purchased. I was noticing that about Apricot too. I was reading one of the stories, and they were making these cool like stone planters and stuff. They were super amazing. It was a couple, and I guess they were like always mining. Yeah, I loved them. And I'm like, oh, I loved hearing their whole story. I really want one of those little planters. And it would be it's so nice to know that when you look at something, you understand who made it. You understand how the difficulties they went through in order for you to have this thing that's beautiful that they're passionate about. And then I think that really prevents us from just buying a bunch of stuff and constantly throwing it away.

[30:13] Deshi Singh: 100%. Apricot is empowering female entrepreneurs and supporting female-owned businesses.

[30:19] Laura Bell Bundy: And how does that impact the economy?

[30:23] Deshi Singh: Oh my gosh. It has a huge impact on the economy. I'll get you a number on that in just a second. But you know, this has been widely reported that women run better businesses. Diversity makes companies more profitable, less risky, and more innovative. And studies also show that startups with at least one woman founder perform better. You know, not only that, and I think we really saw this through the pandemic, that in times of crisis, women-led companies have tended to weather storms better. And I think it's really fascinating when we consider how women tend to be a little bit more conservative, although a lot more thoughtful on how we make business decisions, and especially, you know, kind of coming off the heels of what's happened, not just with Adam Neumann, who was the founder of We Work and recently got 350 million for his next venture, and the blow up of what's going on in FTX.

[31:17] Laura Bell Bundy: And you can also cut all of this if you want, but only 2% of funding goes to...

[31:23] Deshi Singh: I think the impact on the economy.

[31:26] Laura Bell Bundy: No, I actually do I do I do, I do I am interested in that. And I am interested in this idea that it is harder for women to get funding.

[31:37] Deshi Singh: And a man can get funding no matter how much he fucks up.

[31:40] Laura Bell Bundy: Yes.

[31:41] Deshi Singh: It's so true. Honestly, it's ridiculous like I bet they're gonna give the fire festival guy some money to do some shit I've heard that you know he's got more money for something you know he does Donald Trump how many failed businesses and bankruptcies did he have for those companies that he still would manage to get more investment one swing and a miss and you're out of the game.

[31:43] Laura Bell Bundy: Well and I think also women the way that women we have like this sense of perfectionism if we don't do it right we beat ourselves up we are our worst enemies in terms of that and I think because we kind of look at it we don't have many opportunities to get this type of investment that we're really hard on ourselves when things don't succeed or they don't go in the way that we think they will but what's exciting about this is these stats about women performing well and their businesses performing well and it should feel and we should change the conversation around this that giving a woman a loan for a business or investing in her business is not a handout it is not giving to charity it is a true investment and you will see the reward so if you are safer investment stats according to safe statistics it's a safer investment listen a woman knows how to do 300 things at the same time that means that she can be the owner the founder the secretary the treasurer all at once and also be getting herself coffee you know what I mean she's her own assistant at the same time and and I do find that environments that have women working together, contrary to popular opinion and belief, that we are in fighting and catfighting, I have not experienced that.

[33:27] Deshi Singh: The majority of people that I work with are women. I find that it is it allows for an environment of openness and vulnerability, an environment of communicating positively, and a woman respects another woman by paying her properly in most cases.

[33:41] Laura Bell Bundy: So I'm gonna let you finish, Deshi. Deshi hit us with those stats.

[33:45] Deshi Singh: I mean, I listen, just so you know that female founders are currently attracting just 1.9% of overall VC dollars. And that's according to PitchBook. That number is down from 2.7% in 2019.

[34:01] Laura Bell Bundy: And female What is a VC dollar?

[34:03] Deshi Singh: Uh venture capital.

[34:05] Laura Bell Bundy: So venture capital.

[34:06] Deshi Singh: Yeah, so getting money from elsewhere to help build a business that is scalable. So not just putting your own money into something. So, as you know, when you start a business, whether it's a technology product like Apricot, which is very expensive to build anything today on, you know, in tech, because you have to hire engineers and product developers to think about consumer behavior and there are all of these various pieces to it. But regardless, even if it's skincare, so that face lotion, it costs money to have that developed, to get the packaging, to put in a minimum order. And oftentimes women are having to take out loans, which are also very difficult to get, right? Or find somebody to invest in their business so that way they can grow and scale it. Everything costs money, and we all know that it takes money in order to make money.

[34:57] Laura Bell Bundy: So this gets back to the idea of putting more money in the hands of women to start thinking about your own financial health, your own financial wellness, what it means to invest in yourself, and also what money gets you. So if you start with even shopping and getting $25 back on this, $15 back on that, before you know it, that starts to add up.

[35:20] Deshi Singh: And if you take that money and invest it. So when I first started investing, I invested in the total stock market fund in Vanguard. I didn't know anything. And that's funny actually, because I came from an investment banking background. And even me working in finance, I was really insecure about investing my dollars. I had no idea how to go about it. And if that's me, I can only imagine how other women feel, right? Like we don't even know where to start. But guys have this confidence that they exude. They'll put some here, put some there, see what works. It's okay if we lose it. There's this sense of like, you know, you'll figure it out. And girls, you know, to your point, Laura, earlier, is that there's a sense of perfection that we want before we really swing for it.

[36:05] Deshi Singh: Getting back to those stats, even with Adam Neumann raising $350 million for what is essentially a commercial real estate business that was yet to be defined after what the New York Times quoted his last venture ended in an implosion, unlike any other in the history of startups. That is mind-boggling to me that anybody would then go and give him more money to do something else. And with the FTX founder, he's 30 years old and he's lost over 30 billion dollars. Think about that for a second. A billion years. A lot of money to live. I mean, think of what we could do with even a fraction of that for all of the women that were out there raising money, starting companies in need of child care, in need of structural support to allow them to invest in themselves, right?

When you invest in a woman, when a woman is happy, when she feels fulfilled, you're not just investing in her, it's everybody she touches and generations to come. And as a mother, I know that when I'm in a good place, my kids are way better off. My husband is way better off, right? When I'm in a good place, I'm able to give the best of myself to my kids, to my three boys to make them productive members of this society, to make them kind humans, to think about all of those things, to have those conversations.

[37:58] Laura Bell Bundy: And I do believe that you're changing the game here with not only supporting women who are entrepreneurs, but supporting the women who are consuming and buying and selling. So a woman can have a business on Apricot and have a store and thrive and support the female entrepreneur that she's posted the items from on her store and the person that's buying from her. And it's I think that's a really beautiful ecosystem that is also improving sustainability and it and the environment.

[38:37] Deshi Singh: So, how do you best grow and start your store on Apricot?

[38:41] Laura Bell Bundy: I say Apricot, I say you say Apricot, Apricot, Apricot, Apricot, Apricot.

[38:45] Deshi Singh: Let's call the whole thing. You can call it whatever you want. We get it.

[38:50] Laura Bell Bundy: Um we get it. So this isn't supposed to be difficult, right? It's supposed to replicate something that you do already and something that you want to have fun doing already. So what you're just doing is you're going on, you're signing up, and you're able to both shop and to curate your own collection or store within this community that's almost like a shoppable Pinterest, right? So people can shop from your collection, whether they're Apricot members or not, it just depends how you want to share it. But me as an Apricot member, I can go on and browse, and I do, I see who's new, I see what they're adding. It's really exciting to be inspired by what other people are doing. But the key here is that it's easy and it's meant to be easy, and it's meant to have you think about your value and your worth a little bit differently as well. So all you have to do is go on and sign up, and that's it. And that's the beginning of changing your life and your financial well-being and your financial independence.

[39:48] Deshi Singh: Um, and that's a big part of what this is, right? It's time to start getting women paid and putting a dollar value behind what has been unpaid labor. And that is both shopping, taking the time to invest in better companies, right? Putting your dollars into what will give us a better tomorrow, and also investing in yourself and the work that you do as a consumer.

[40:09] Laura Bell Bundy: Yes. And also, I do want to mention that Women of Tomorrow has a curated store on Apricot. And so if you don't know where to start, you can go to Women of Tomorrow. You can find our store. It's W-O-M-X-N of Tomorrow. And you can begin to shop and check out what we have. We're curating products that are sustainable and are great for women and benefit women.

[40:39] Deshi Singh: Laura, thank you so much for being here with us. Uh, and thank you for doing what you do. Because I do believe that the work that you're doing has an impact. It will continue to have an impact, and is the type of thing that a lot of people wonder in their lives whether what they're doing on a daily basis is making the world a better place. And I truly believe that you are doing that. And this is so truly well thought out. And I know it's not easy because you are also a female entrepreneur who has started your own business with three kids with three children, and um very inspired by the work that you do and inspired, you know, by the causes that you support.

[41:28] Laura Bell Bundy: Thank you so much for saying that. And it's such an honor and a pleasure to be here. And let me tell you, I am equally as inspired by everything that you do with Women of Tomorrow, um, with what you put out there, Shay, with you know what your work is, and I just feel so blessed and so grateful to have met you both along the shortcut. The truth is that we are not going to stop consuming and we shouldn't. Consumerism keeps our economy thriving and creates millions of jobs. We just need to keep it all in balance and create a better system for commerce and e-commerce that benefits everyone and our planet.

[42:07] Deshi Singh: Go for quality rather than quantity to try to minimize waste. I promise you'll spend less.

[42:14] Laura Bell Bundy: Definitely. And let's value the producer and the planet by buying small batch and from smaller companies and using amazing things like Apricot. Remember that being willing to pay just three to five percent more for a product can be the difference between extreme poverty and a living wage. So happy fucking holidays. Get out there and do some good with what you buy. You can also find our store, link to our store, and a link to Apricot in our show notes. Check that shit out. Get to shopping.

[42:47] Deshi Singh: Hey, hey, she came to play.

[42:50] Laura Bell Bundy: Oh, oh, get out of her way.

[42:53] Deshi Singh: Thank you, mama.

[42:54] Laura Bell Bundy: Thank you, friend.

[42:55] Deshi Singh: I got front row seats to watch the queen ascend.

[42:59] Laura Bell Bundy: Baby, how you feeling? Breaking that glass ceiling.