The blurry line between business & personal, and TOW the F•R•I•E•N•D•S Reunion 📺
Plus, we wrap up the first season of What I Did Next.
A big shoutout to community member Bhavna, who supported us last week with an annual membership, even as we were still putting on a final coat of paint on the program. We're really grateful!
Her support means we're kicking off a new version of our newsletter today. Every few weeks, I'll jump on to share what's going on behind-the-scenes with our community, our shows and a few things in between.
We kicked off an action-packed last week by enabling commenting across our site for episodes, posts and newsletters. Aside from our episode releases for the week and a friend turning four-oh, I also met up with a group of upcoming podcasters who wanted to ideate their show and understand some of the nitty-gritty of getting started. The week closed out with a nostalgic me watching the the F•R•I•E•N•D•S Reunion thanks to OSN with bittersweet feelings.
Dry Bar co-founder Alli Webb on the line between business and personal 💆🏽
From starting the Drybar in 2008, Alli Webb grew the company to over 100 locations across the U.S. & Canada today. She then launched the Raising the Bar podcast to share her learnings, and talk about the things entrepreneurs don't really talk about.
I had the opportunity to speak with her a few weeks ago about how separating the business and the personal can be tricky, but can also really fuel creativity. In fact, Alli started both the Drybar and the podcast with her brother Michael Landeau, and now hosts the show with her partner Adrian Koehler, an executive coach.
You can listen to the episode on AM PM here, and also in podcast players.
Our community members have access to a video version of our conversation.
Turning the tables on What I Did Next host Malak Fouad 🎙️
The week also marked the end of the first season of What I Did Next. It's been incredible seeing the reception so far! I wanted to share a review we received when we were just a couple of episodes in:
This is the show I needed to reconnect with the Egypt I love and lost faith in in 2013/14. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
“Can’t recommend this enough. Gives me faith and hope in the future of Egypt, my country which I love but chose to leave in 2014. Can’t wait for more episodes.”
It's tough to describe how rewarding that feels. Reviews like these serve as a powerful reminder of what we can achieve when we create and collaborate, empower those conversations, shine that light, and in fact why I started all of this.
For the season finale, I turned the tables on the show's host Malak Fouad to ask her the questions she's been posing all season to her powerhouse roster of guests, Orascom founder Samih Sawiris, award-winning documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim and the first Egyptian to scale the 7 summits, Omar Samra.
If you'd like to check it out, Startup Scene published a nice feature on Malak and the show. Thanks guys!
We're working on Season 2 as we speak, and hope to tell you more about that in a few weeks. Until then, why not head over to the online version and tell us: who would make your ideal dinner party?
See you again in a couple of weeks,
Chirag