Building a business in public is hard. Building one when people already think they know you? Even harder.

Today, Sammi sits down with actor and founder Rebecca Rittenhouse to talk about reinvention—on her own terms. Rebecca shares how she went from studying business at UPenn to taking a sharp left turn into acting, landing her breakout role on The Mindy Project, and ultimately channeling those skills into launching her clean, brow-focused beauty brand, Privet Beauty.

Instead of launching with a sprawling product line or celebrity hype, she built Privet around a single hero product—bootstrapped, independently owned, and deeply hands-on at every step, from formulation with Korean chemists to brand storytelling. Rebecca opens up about the identity shift from actor to founder, how skills from acting translated into entrepreneurship, and why she chose independence over outside funding. 

Sammi and Rebecca also get into launching a brand with focus instead of scale, balancing two demanding careers at once, building a personal brand without losing yourself in it, and the scrappy, low-cost marketing moves that actually move the needle. 

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Here’s what Sammi covers with Rebecca:

00:00 Rebecca Rittenhouse’s Social Currency

03:25 Business at UPenn 

05:51Choosing Acting Over Business 

09:32 Early Acting Experiences and Challenges 

11:54 Breakthrough Role on The Mindy Project 

14:43 Launching Privet Beauty

16:59 The Importance of Eyebrows in Beauty 

24:29 Marketing and Personal Branding 

29:31 Substack and Personal Branding 

30:49 Dealing with Self-Doubt and Inner Criticism 

32:51 Building a Team  

35:58 The Challenges of Bootstrapping a Business 

43:15 Managing Time and Staying Organized 

46:35 Making Decisions and Handling Emotions 

52:32 Marketing Strategies for a New Business 

55:45 How to Show Social Currency Some Love 

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2025 was a transformative year. In this episode, Sammi shares the biggest lessons she’s internalized since launching her podcast this spring. She leaves no stone unturned and recounts her biggest milestones, mindset shifts, and the challenges she faced while building her business. From beginning her year at Amazon to creating her podcast studio and launching 'Social Currency,' Sammi details her leaps of faith and the importance of having a strong personal brand… and gets a little emotional in the process. If you’re thinking of making your side-hustle your main-hustle in 2026, this episode is a must-listen.

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Here’s what Sammi covers today:

00:00 2025 Year in Review

01:55 Deciding to Launch Social Currency

04:21 The LA Fires and Building the Podcast Studio

05:34 Launching the Podcast and Leaving Amazon

06:04 Growing the Business and Revenue Streams

09:33 Mindset Shifts for Success

11:53 Visualization and Outsourcing

14:46 Overcoming Comparison and Planning for the Future

17:02 What Sammi’s Thankful For

18:50 How to Support Social Currency

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Rebecca Minkoff’s origin story is not a glossy founder fairy tale—it’s a closet-bedroom apartment, a $3.25/hour internship, $60K in debt, and a single Rebecca Minkoff designed tee that ended up on Jay Leno. Today, Rebecca breaks down how that moment got her foot in the door—and how the next viral moment, the Morning After Bag, almost didn’t happen (FedEx late, no movie placement)… until it sparked the kind of sellout momentum every founder dreams about.

Then she gets brutally honest about what it takes to stay alive in fashion when the landscape is louder, more crowded, and algorithm-shaped: the “white lies” founders sometimes tell to level up, why you don’t need VC, and the real pain of taking money. 

Rebecca also unpacks the OnlyFans Fashion Week deal that covered a six-figure show—until the platform flipped back to adult content—how COVID wiped out 70% of the business overnight, and why she’s now widening the funnel with new channels like QVC. Plus, if you’re building a product brand and wondering how to get customers without pouring cash into Meta ads, her answer is refreshingly tactical: throw the “Tupperware party.”

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Here’s what Sammi covers with Rebecca:

00:00 Rebecca Minkoff’s Social Currency

02:14 Rebecca's Early Career Goals

05:49 Learning Business in the Trenches

08:04 The "I Love NY" Shirt Story

12:18 The Morning After Bag

15:07 Trend Spotting and Product Development

21:43 Besting the Dupes

23:24 VC, PE and Monetizing Creatively (Including OnlyFans)

30:15 COVID, Chaos, and Reinvention 

34:10 The QVC Rocket Ship

35:50 Inside the Female Founder Collective

36:33 Fundraising Advice Women Should Ignore

39:21 Marketing Tips

41:13 Fashion Lightning Round

42:36 Social Currency Corner

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Women in corporate America aren’t burned out because of how much they’re working—they’re burned out by how much the system isn’t working for them.

Today, Sammi breaks down the latest Women in the Workplace report from Lean In and McKinsey, and the findings are more alarming than the headlines suggest. For the first time in over a decade, women are less interested in climbing the corporate ladder—not because they don’t want success, but because the ladder itself is broken.

Sammi unpacks the data behind the growing “ambition gap,” the consequence of rolling back DEI efforts, and why women are still being penalized for flexibility and remote work—while men aren’t. 

Sammi connects the dots between structural corporate failures and the rise of an entirely new career model—one that could define the next decade of work in America. If companies don’t adapt, Sammi says, they may be staring down a long-term talent crisis.

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00:00 The Breaking Point

01:10 Inside the Women in the Workplace report

02:15 The Truth About the “Ambition Gap”

3:13 The Broken Rung Problem

5:58 Corporate America’s Retreat from DEI

7:03 The Rise of Portfolio Careers

8:45 The Future of Work

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Today, Sammi sits down with Andrew Chau, co-founder of Boba Guys—the brand that helped turn boba from a niche drink into a mainstream American obsession.

Andrew takes us back to the very first 2011 pop-up and the early decisions that shaped Boba Guys’ identity: choosing authenticity over gimmicks, educating customers on Asian culture without westernizing it, and designing drinks that were as aesthetic as they were meaningful. He reveals how Boba Guys became the blueprint for modern café trends—and why so many brands copy their drinks without understanding the deeper consumer psychology behind them.

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Here’s what Sammi covers with Andrew:

00:00 Andrew Chau’s Social Currency

02:05 Sammi’s Personal Tie-In

03:37 The First Pop-Up

08:01 Early Branding Decisions and Being Your Favorite Marketer’s Favorite Marketer

13:51 Educating Customers on a Product vs. Educating  Customers on a Culture

22:24 The Future of Cafés 

31:14 Vertical Integration

35:53 Matcha, Aesthetics, and Social Signaling

45:14 Consumer Behavior and Hot Takes

52:37 Social Currency Corner

01:03:17 How to Show Social Currency Some Love

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A blockbuster lawsuit just exposed the biggest fear in retail—but it could backfire spectacularly. Today, Sammi does a deep dive into Williams Sonoma vs. Quince, a case that’s revealing a seismic consumer shift: shoppers no longer believe legacy brands deserve legacy prices. Sammi breaks down why Quince’s billion-dollar rise is shaking old-guard retailers and how comparative advertising became the new frontline of the dupe economy. If you want to understand the next chapter of retail—pricing, branding, influence, and the power of “good enough”—this episode is your blueprint.

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Here’s what Sammi covers today:

00:00 Williams Sonoma vs. Quince

01:26 Quince's Disruptive Business Model 

06:28 Consumer Reactions and Feedback 

07:56 Quince's Foray into Food 

09:01 Implications of the Lawsuit 

10:18 Final Thoughts

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Luana Lopes Lara didn’t just build a unicorn— she overturned a 100-year old ban, sued the regulators and became the youngest self-made female billionaire in the process. Luana co-founded Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated prediction market that lets you trade on the outcome of real-world events. Kalshi is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the country; in fact, since Sammi spoke with Luana, Kalshi’s valuation has gone from $5 billion to $11 billion.

Luana shares the ripple effects of the 2024 election on the business, the decision framework around which events are “tradeable,” the psychology of Kalshi users, and why she thinks prediction markets might rival stock exchanges sooner than anyone expects.

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Today Luana and Sammi discuss:

00:00 Luana Lopes Lara’s Social Currency

02:14 The Early Days of  Kalshi

02:41 The Role of Ballet in Business

04:20 Understanding Prediction Markets

07:09 The Brutal Regulation Process

14:31 Marketing and Growth Strategies

16:18 The Impact of the 2024 Election

27:23 Sports and Other Popular Trading Categories

29:37 Ethics of Prediction Markets

33:33 User Behavior 

37:55 Hot Takes and Future Trends

39:24 Social Currency Corner

46:24 How to Show Social Currency Some Love

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Today, Sammi breaks down all things Meadow Lane—the Tribeca grocery store that launched like a luxury fashion drop and spiraled into one of the most chaotic openings New York has seen in years.

Founded by Sammy Nussdorf, the heir to a billion-dollar distribution empire, Meadow Lane was positioned as a bespoke, Manhattan-made answer to Erewhon. The result? A fandom of over 140,000 followers before the store even opened.

But that hype came with consequences. During opening week, Meadow Lane faced a perfect storm of PR disasters—raw chicken nuggets, mislabeled chili that triggered an allergic reaction, viral snark about $750 caviar, and one very viral mouse. Sammi unpacks what Meadow Lane tells us about status-ification of food, TikTok consumerism, and whether grocery bags belong next to designer handbags. 

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Here’s what Sammi covers in today’s episode:

00:00 The Grocery Store That Became a Cultural Event

01:58 Who Is Sammy Nussdorf?

03:20 Building in Public: TikTok, Fandom, and Hype

06:17 Opening Week Chaos: Raw Nuggets, Allergies & The Mouse Video

07:53 Meadow Lane vs Erewhon

08:55 Food as a Modern Status Symbol

10:49 Sammi’s Predictions and Takeaway

12:01 How to Show Social Currency Some Love

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Building a beauty brand that celebrates Latin culture while competing on a global stage is no small feat—but for Babba Rivera, it’s not just business— it’s personal. 

Babba founded Ceremonia to create a haircare brand rooted in Latin heritage, ritual, and community. Today, Ceremonia is one of the fastest-growing brands at Sephora, has raised over $11 million, and just took home an Allure Beauty Award. In this conversation, Babba shares how she built a company that’s as mission-driven as it is profitable—cutting marketing costs by half while still growing revenue—and what it really takes to lead a fast-scaling startup as a founder and mom of four.

Babba also shares about her early days leading teams at Uber and Away, the power of saying no to investors who don’t get your vision, and why she believes the future of beauty is community-first, not celebrity-led. 

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Here’s what Sammi covers with Babba:

00:00 Babba Rivera’s Social Currency

02:27 Growing Up Between Cultures

05:07 Early Beauty Rituals and Haircare Influences

07:00 Lessons from Uber

10:48 The Wild World of Away

13:11 From Marketing Agency to Beauty Brand

15:53 The Birth of Ceremonia

19:44 Navigating Funding During COVID-19

22:36 Direct to Consumer and Learning from Customers

27:00 Strategic Move to Credo

27:16 Scaling with Sephora

28:04 Challenges of Big Retailers

30:27 Allure Best of Beauty Award

33:46 Focus on Profitability

38:01 Representation in Beauty

45:11 Balancing Motherhood and Business

50:05 Daily Routines and Systems

53:31 How to Show Social Currency Some Love

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Celebrity brands never release their numbers — until now. Beauty brand e.l.f. didn’t just acquire Hailey Bieber’s Rhode… they published every single line item of the company’s P&L. From shockingly low cost of goods sold to a 9x marketing efficiency ratio, Sammi unpacks why Rhode operates more like a billion-dollar conglomerate than a three-year-old celebrity brand.

You’ll hear the real story behind the billion-dollar headline, why e.l.f. revealed Rhode’s financials days before earnings, and how a temporary sales dip shook Wall Street. Then, Sammi explains the record-breaking Sephora launch, the risks Rhode faces with limited SKUs, and why Hailey’s personal involvement is the brand’s ultimate moat.

Finally, Sammi zooms out: what Rhode teaches us about cultural capital, beauty economics, and the future of creator-led brands — plus how it all compares to Rihanna’s Fenty and the cautionary tales of celebrity beauty past.

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Here’s what Sammi covers today:

00:00 The e.l.f. Acquisition of Rhode

03:07 e.l.f.’s Unprecedented Financial Disclosure

03:44 Analyzing Rhode’s Financials

07:15 The Sephora Launch and Its Impact

08:17 Challenges and Future Prospects for Rhode

10:28 Comparing Rhode and Fenty

11:03 Future Predictions on Beauty

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