Hannah Bronfman (2:10)

Exactly. I feel like, for better or for worse, a lot of us millennials feel like almost being on the Internet in our twenties, almost media trained us in a lot of ways, and that we did need to show up polished, particularly black women on the Internet. And I'm really trying to show the process over perfection and really lean into that. And it's not about the finished product always. And again, like, stepping outside of this linear timeline that only exists in my head. And just kind of showing more of the raw, messy stuff. And I also really don't want to hoard content anymore. Like, I just want it to live and thrive and it doesn't matter if I took it three months ago or not. Obviously, timely issues need timely responses, but evergreen content is just postable at any time. So what are you doing with it? Sitting in your camera roll?

Les (3:08)

And are you hoping to feel more creative, to tell stories in different ways? Yes. Why is it important to you to step outside of that box?

Hannah Bronfman (3:18)

So much of what I've done as a content creator and influencer over the last, I don't even know, 13 years is adapt and change and go through my own personal, like, growth. I'm not the same person I was 10 years ago. My career isn't even the same as it was 10 years ago. So I have gone through all these different life shifts and moments. And so for me, it's really important that my storytelling also evolves and changes and reflects the phase that I'm in. I have felt a bit not stuck. It's not that I don't feel creative. I do feel creative. And I definitely want to continue feeling creative and inspired and motivated to execute on fun new ways of storytelling. So that's kind of what I'm trying to push myself to do. Like, I. I did vlogmas in December and I was a little late to the party. I don't know what day I started. It wasn't the full 25 days. It was probably the most challenging thing I'd done for myself as it pertained to creating content that I'd ever done. Really? Like truly. And I found myself posting day three while filming day seven. It was such a challenge for me, but it actually really helped me get over some of these humps, these barriers, some of the perfection stuff. I was like, whatever, we're, we're going with it and kind of letting some of the control, like, wash away. I am so used to everything being very polished and editing almost everything myself, and I'm trying to get out of that.

Les (5:00)

I've also been thinking a lot about just the different ways that I show up on different platforms and wanting to embrace different platforms. I recently started posting more on Substack. I know you are like a major substacker, which I love your substack. Just figuring out different ways to connect. Having a little bit more depth.

Hannah Bronfman (5:18)

Yeah.

Les (5:18)

And just tell stories in different ways.

Hannah Bronfman (5:21)

Totally. It's funny because even with my substack, it's like I do two substacks a week and I'm actually playing around with what it's going to continue to look like because I do one behind the paywall and one that's not. And usually it is a kind of roundup of my week. Like what events I went to, what's happening in pop culture, how does that relate to my life, what wellness things I'm doing. But it's funny because come Friday I almost kind of turn off on Instagram because I'm with my kids. I find it really difficult to find time to post. So the Tuesday send is really like the recap of the week. And that's really been like that flow feels really good for me. And so it's these intentional moments where I'm like, okay, how do I show up on all these platforms? What stories am I telling you? How do I get people to come from different platforms? Over to this one, I've been having a lot of fun on TikTok. I'm just unfiltered, trying to be more unfiltered, as unfiltered as I know how to be right now and just, yeah, trying to have fun and be myself in a non polished way because these platforms are so different and the audiences are very different.

Les (6:36)

I would love to talk to you a little bit more about how that has looked for you over the years, particularly as you've evolved using your platforms. I know, I remember the HB FIT days and like the really like wellness focused days kind of in the beginning. And then I think as your life has evolved, I think the ways that.

Podcast Announcer (6:54)

You have shared with your audience have.

Les (6:55)

Also evolved really beautifully. When you were talking about fertility and now motherhood and investing in the different parts of your life that you let your audience come into. I'm curious how that's felt for you to evolve so publicly and how you've approached that.

Hannah Bronfman (7:09)

It's a great question. I think it's funny because this is such a great theme for the month. I think because I, from a young age had never really fit into the box. I think my family anticipated for me or just like, I don't know, like the expectations that were put on me at a young age. I feel like I didn't know really where my life was going. And then all of a sudden my life was unfolding not just in front of me, but in front of everybody. It kind of all happened at once. Like I left college, I became a dj and all of a sudden social media came out and it just became a very parallel part of my life. And it's also what helped me excel in my, my DJ career, which then led me to all these other things, right? Because I was living this fast paced lifestyle, DJing around the world, flying three times a week, four times a week. I really was like yearning to like be grounded, hence my wellness journey, right. And so all of these things kind of bobbed and weaved into the next thing and I was just evolving as it was all going. Because at that time we didn't know that social media was going to be this crazy tool. We were just using it to, to have fun and to storytell and talk about things we thought were cool with one single photo, like, and being a part of that boom, the wellness boom, the Instagram boom. While really living it, it was hard to see what was going to be happening in the future, but I definitely had indications. And I think what's so beautiful about this life that we can cultivate for ourselves using social media is like, all of a sudden you have a urge to be an interior designer or get into design. All you need to do is start posting about that and just watch those opportunities come to you. Social media is such a powerful tool in that way. And so I leaned into that, I leaned into my own personal curiosities and things that I thought were really interesting and sharing that, and that led to opportunities within those sectors. It's definitely been vulnerable, emotional, rocky, you know, to share so much of myself online. It's funny, I have very clear boundaries, but I also really do believe that when you have a platform, it's important to use that platform responsibly. The things that I've gone through in my life are not isolated. I'm here to also storytell and share that and help educate and help people feel like they're not alone, de stigmatize all of those things. And so with that obviously comes, you know, vulnerability. And I think the other thing is I've always kind of known, or very early on I've realized that when you live your life on the Internet, there, there just simply can't be enough context. Everything is going to be taken out of context, right? And so, you know, people will have these thoughts and feelings about you, and it is what it is. And if that bothers you, then I think that you're probably in the wrong profession. Right? Because you have to give zero fucks.

Les (10:33)

So true.

Hannah Bronfman (10:34)

Literally, as long as you're staying true to yourself, that's all that matters. When I was sharing my fertility journey, which it's scary sharing something and not knowing if you're ever gonna get to the outcome that you're hoping for. It's really real. And for so many people, they don't get that outcome. I feel like I'm one of the lucky ones. I ended up getting my two babies, and it wasn't without pregnancy loss and hormones and shots and crazy bills and da, da, da. But, like, I'm here. I survived. I had my babies, and I'm. I'm still actually living because that's also a very real reality. It's all vulnerability. At the end of the day, I feel like, really, really like, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Like, all of this stuff is just to build resilience. Right. And to build your inner strength. And I feel like that's one thing I'm really trying to give to my kids is this idea of resilience and perseverance and that it's okay to fail or not to be good at something. I always say, you can do hard things. You might not know how to do something yet. Everything that I've gone through in my life has brought me to be able to actually, you know, say these things with real conviction and real experience behind me.

Podcast Announcer (11:57)

Yeah.

Les (11:57)

That piece that you just shared about resilience and really instilling that in your kids, I think it also ties well to what we were talking about at the beginning, about showing up with less polish, which is also something that I'm working on too. Even with this podcast, sometimes I'll go back in footage and I'm like, why do I sound like that? Why is my LinkedIn voice like that? When normally during the day I talk, I sound different, but it's like an unconscious thing. But I do think the more. More that we all give ourselves permission to show up imperfectly and give one another permission to show up imperfectly, the better.

Hannah Bronfman (12:30)

Yeah.

Les (12:30)

Because that just makes it okay for everybody. Totally.

Hannah Bronfman (12:34)

And, like, how much better is just a real authentic conversation than, you know, trying to memorize a script? Right.

Les (12:41)

It's exhausting.

Hannah Bronfman (12:42)

Exhausting.

Les (12:42)

Yeah. And kind of pseudo, like, resolution I've had is embracing my toxic traits more.

Hannah Bronfman (12:48)

Okay.

Les (12:48)

In the sense of embracing my shortcomings more and seeing them as opportunities to grow, but not something to fix. And I've even leaned into some of my, like, not as good traits anymore, where it's like, I'm a little messy. Not with. When it comes to space, but when it comes to, like, information or, like, if I hear a little, little bit of tea or a little bit of mess, I kind of like it. I like hearing a little bit of mess, even though a previous version of me would have pretended like, no, I'm.

Hannah Bronfman (13:15)

Too good for that.

Les (13:16)

I'm holier than thou and I don't ever talk about people or messy things. And I'm like, actually, I do. And maybe that's okay.

Hannah Bronfman (13:24)

Yeah, totally. Totally. We have all these things that we kind of grew up with or grew up thinking were proper or appropriate. We're in a different time. It's important to be ourselves, you know, around the right company. You can spill your tea and, you know, you just gotta make sure you're around the right company.

Podcast Announcer (13:43)

For sure.

Les (13:43)

That's that, like discernment.

Hannah Bronfman (13:45)

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Foreign.

Podcast Announcer (13:52)

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Les (18:36)

So your Instagram bio I love because you say thanks, I just, like, redid it. Yeah, no, I love it. Can we talk more about it? About the pivot and the blueprint?

Hannah Bronfman (18:46)

Yeah.

Les (18:47)

And what inspired it?

Hannah Bronfman (18:48)

I spent my 20s as a DJ, you know, flying all over the world and DJing for Fortune 500 companies and premieres and after parties and fashion weeks and whatever. And then the pandemic hit and my entire life changed. I became a mom. There were no more corporate events and I completely. My. My. All of my content had to change. Who was I going to be without this, you know, occupation that I was so used to having? We all kind of went through this pivot in 2020 and maybe it was a bit more unspoken. And when we kind of came out of the pandemic, I guess I had kind of already embraced this new kind of content that I was creating. And I didn't really want to go back to DJing. Now I had kids and. Or I had my one kid and I wanted to be there and spend time and I didn't want to be traveling so much. And so I needed to make a pivot. Even prior to I was a tech entrepreneur, I started a tech company when I was 23 years old. I created a company that allowed you to book last minute beauty appointments through a curated list of salon and spas. We went out for venture money. We were live in three cities. And then I had a co founder fallout. And what did I do? I had to pivot. I spent two years building a company that I thought was going to change my life, and then it was ripped away from me. You can't stay stagnant. You got to keep moving forward. So what is that? That's a pivot. Even in the last couple of years, I was working on something and I've recently had to pivot again. And I was like, you know what? This isn't so scary anymore because I've been here and I've survived it and I've actually thrived on the other side. That's the power of a pivot, right? Is really just understanding that all roads lead you to where you're supposed to be. And sometimes it feels really uncomfortable. It feels like you're like hitting a wall. Like I even remember just like maybe six months ago, I felt like, oh my God. Like, I can tell there's a Shift coming and it might not be right in front of me yet. And I don't see all the cards. Like, I need to trust the process. I need to tune into my gut. After this meeting. How did that make me feel? Do I like being in these types of meetings? Like, do I like the way people are speaking to me like around this concept? It's all information gathering to then be able to say, you know what, we gotta make a move, we gotta turn the other way or we gotta close that door and gotta cut this off and trim the fat here. Whatever the blueprint, part of it all really just comes from reflecting back and saying, wow, look at what I've done over the last 15 years. I don't think I would've ever imagined this for myself. It's funny when people say to me like, oh, well, what's your five year plan? I'm like, I don't know what my five year plan is. I actually think that's like a limiting belief. Because I can even tell you if I post one thing, I could have the craziest opportunity come to me that I've ever seen. And so you can have loose goals, of course, of like, and envision where you want to be. Especially if you've got these kind of, if you're maybe earlier in your life stages than where I am, whether it's, you know, you want to have kids or you want to be settled or you want a house or whatever. But saying like, oh, I want to be, you know, this career, have this da da, da. I just feel like that's limiting because really the world is so abundant. I don't think we can even quite measure how divinely abundant the world is. It's almost like sometimes things happen to me. I'm like, it gives me goosebumps because the world is so cosmic. And that's how I like to live my life. Very much in tune with myself. Knowing when to trim the fat. I like to own the narrative. So I always like to get ahead of things. I never want to get in something too deep where I'm like, oh, we don't have a way out of this.

Les (22:57)

That piece that you said about the five year plans being limiting, I can relate to so, so much because I feel like there have been so many things in my life that have been highlights and really good things that weren't necessarily on my bingo card or weren't necessarily what I anticipated but ended up being better than what I had planned. Yeah, that. It's almost like some things are beyond what you could even imagine right now. And there's, like, a level of goodness that's possible for us that we just don't even see yet.

Hannah Bronfman (23:27)

Totally. And for a lot of us, like, we haven't been taught to believe it.

Les (23:31)

I also want to come back to what you just said about owning the narrative, because I think that that's really powerful but also really interesting. I'm curious if there's an example you can give us of what that's looked.

Hannah Bronfman (23:40)

Like for you, let's say, like, even in, like, a business and entrepreneurial situation. Right. Like, okay, you want to own your narrative. You want to get ahead of the storytelling around what. What your product. Does the product market fit? Da, da, da. Maybe you've got a piece of press coming out. You just want to be able to storytell it the way you want it to be heard. If you let other people control your narrative, that's too. Listen, I know I like to. I'm a bit more of a control person, and so controlling my narrative is very important because otherwise it can really snowball into something that isn't great. Right. Like the couple who got caught on the cam.

Les (24:26)

Oh, the Coldplay cam.

Hannah Bronfman (24:27)

The cold play cam. You know, there was just an article that came out with the woman, and she was saying that it was. She wished she could have owned her narrative. Right. Because everyone demonized this woman. I did not engage in that at all. So I have no idea. But, like, I think she was already divorced. And so, you know, this one was labeled all this stuff because she had no control over her narrative. And you don't want to feel out of control or that you are constantly trying to save your name. You know, that's. That's the place I don't want to. I. That's not for me.

Les (25:05)

Yeah. It's like when. When you leave the telling of your story up to other people, they're going to invent facts 100%.

Hannah Bronfman (25:13)

Exactly.

Les (25:13)

Because they don't have the whole story.

Hannah Bronfman (25:14)

Right. Or they don't have the whole story. And there's context that's important that you know, the ones that choose to listen to the context, it'll matter. Yeah.

Les (25:24)

I also appreciated that you gave an example in there about entrepreneurship or how someone could own the narrative. Maybe if they're a founder, if they have a product, would love to talk to you more about entrepreneurship because that's also just such a big part of just your life, your work, your story. This podcast has shifted. A. Used to be very wellness focused. It's shifted to be more self Help entrepreneurship focused. So we feature a lot of female founders on the show. We also have a lot of our audience that's entrepreneurial, whether they're side hustlers, whether they're building companies, whether maybe they've tried, they failed, they're interested in doing it again. So I would love to hear a bit more about how your experiences, even if it's as a creator, as a dj, kind of culminated into your experiences as an entrepreneur.

Hannah Bronfman (26:10)

It's funny because I come from a very entrepreneurial family. My dad is. Comes from a kind of like a legacy business family. And my mom was a actress, singer and model. She was on Broadway and kind of in these cult 70s black Renaissance films. My mom talks about being an entrepreneur because being a black model in the 70s meant that you had to. You had to advocate for yourself and you had to negotiate on your own behalf. And I think for me, even. Even being a DJ out of college, I mean, like, this is seems like forever ago, but I felt so uncomfortable negotiating my rates. I did not like negotiating that with the people that were hiring me. I didn't want to be seen as being difficult. I didn't want it to hinder on whether or not I'd be hired again. I just wanted to be valued on the quality of my music and my abilities, not necessarily the behind the scenes things that most managers or someone would take care of. So I created a fake assistant so that way I could have this buffer between me and my employers and negotiate my rates and things like that. And so that was kind of like my first foray into kind of like my hustle culture, my entrepreneurship. This is kind of crazy, but When I was 18, I was working at Warner Music in France and I was dealing with international talent, so mostly US talent. And Paris Hilton had come out with Stars Are Blind that summer. We're going back to 2006 people. And she was going to be coming to Paris for a one night only Paris in Paris like party for the launch of this album. I was put on the party. I got to do a walkthrough with her. And when I had that walkthrough with her, she was not the Paris that we had all thought she was or that the Paris that we only saw on TV or in the magazines. She was decisive, she was articulate. She was. She had a completely different vocal tone. And that was really the first time I saw in real life a person who became famous off of being herself and had created a character that really stuck with me. So then I go into college, I start DJing and the DJ stuff takes off and I'm like, wow. Like, I. I am getting visibility for just being myself and my talent and doing me. And honestly, like, this whole Paris story, like, it has stayed with me for 20 years. I mean, that was 2006. It's 2026. It is still a relevant story in my life because I really was like, wow, she has so much power in being herself. She's got, you know, the upper hand in every situation. And this was like, before even having the tools for. For anyone to be able to do this. I find Paris so inspiring.

Les (29:38)

I love that story, though. And that example. I think Paris Hilton is such a good example of kind of the alter ego effect where she absolutely created this character that was rooted in probably what she had picked up on, realizing people wanted to see from her.

Hannah Bronfman (29:54)

Yeah.

Les (29:55)

Even though she knew that there was more to her. She is super smart and like an amazing businesswoman.

Hannah Bronfman (29:59)

So smart. Such a crazy businesswoman is killing it.

Podcast Announcer (30:03)

Yeah.

Les (30:03)

And has for decades. 100 that she was able to turn that ditzy blonde Persona that was probably a box that people limited her to into now. Decades of relevance. At this point, I would also love to talk a little bit about investing. So as, like, background, I've told my audience this as one of my goals for 2026 is to make my first angel investment.

Hannah Bronfman (30:25)

Wow.

Les (30:26)

I'm really excited to do.

Hannah Bronfman (30:27)

Okay.

Les (30:28)

Also something that I'm kind of scared. Scared to do, but mostly excited. And a lot of that desire for me came from previous jobs that I had where I worked in early stage startups during the fundraising process. And I was on the company side seeing what was happening as we're like, raising and seeing the founder raise and all of the different ways that we were able to, like, put that to use within an actual business. It just planted this seed of like. Well, that's really interesting. Well, I want to be able to do this. I want to give businesses money that can help them decide what's next. It's taken me several years to like, hopefully be able to actually do that.

Hannah Bronfman (31:02)

Yeah.

Les (31:02)

But it is something that I'm really excited to start doing this year. So that's another one of my big resolutions. I've also really appreciated the voice that you have had in the space when it comes to investing. And so I would love to step back a bit and talk more about some of the early investments that you made and how you got into that space.

Hannah Bronfman (31:21)

Space. I really got into this space because I was an entrepreneur. I was a founder and Had a failed startup and so I had a lot of lessons, I had a lot of learnings. I had gone through the fundraising process, I had had a co founder breakup. I had worn every different hat that you need to wear when you are getting something off the ground. I was also early on social media. So I basically kind of started mentoring founders and using my expertise in go to market strategy and influencer marketing. And then it kind of snowballed into getting sweat equity. Eventually I was able to like write some checks. And the first checks I wrote were small checks. You know, they were strategically aligned. I always have been a hands on investor, which some people are not looking for. Some people just want the capital and that's it. But I come with expertise and connections and a network and I, if I'm gonna put my money behind something, I want it to win. I always tell my entrepreneurs and my founders, you know, you need something from me, I'm just a phone call away. Like you might need to call me twice, but like, I will get it done for you. I stick by what I say I'm gonna do. I, I, I truly believe you can't make it in the world. But specifically in New York City, if you are one of those people who don't do what you say you're gonna do. And my reputation means everything to me. I really stand by what I say I'm gonna do. I really try and execute on all of it and try and be communicative through the process. And some of my early investments, I mean, let's see, do you remember the brand gold G O L D E? They were one of the first like turmeric.

Podcast Announcer (33:08)

Oh, yes, the drinks.

Hannah Bronfman (33:09)

The drinks, yeah. Matcha.

Les (33:11)

Trinity.

Hannah Bronfman (33:12)

Trinity, yes. Yeah. So Trinity was one of my first investments. Maybe I wasn't the first person drinking matcha on the Internet, but I was like pretty close. And I was obsessed with matcha and I felt like beauty from the inside out was going to be a big deal. It certainly did become a big deal. And I loved what Trinity was building and I really wanted to support her. So not only did I write her a check, I got some other folks to write her a check as well. And I was even negotiating some of those checks being like that check's not big enough, you need to write a bigger check. Because that's also uncomfortable conversations that founders don't really want to have. And it's hard, you know, when you're fundraising. It really just is you, you don't really have a support system or a cheerleading squad. So I Try to be that for some of my founders, but gold was one of my first investments. I've invested in over 60 companies, which is awesome. I will say for any, anyone who's looking to get into investing as an angel investor, there are plenty of risks involved. If someone had told me years ago that they weren't all going to hit, I would have been like, come on. Like, no, it's going to be an amazing, comfortable. They really, they do not all hit. And so if you are prepared. I think the biggest like thing for anyone wanting to write an angel check into a business is to know that you might as well just say, this money will probably disappear. It probably will not make a return from this. But you'll get a lot of learnings. You'll be able to advocate for your founder, the business, and you can learn a lot through the process and listen. And if it ends up working out, amazing, you only need one out of the ten to kind of make it all work right. If one hits. I truly believe in capitalism for a purpose. And if it's not to get more people that look like us on cap tables and to support more founders that look like us, I think capitalism gets a really bad rep. I get it, I get why. But I truly believe that our whole world could really benefit if some more people who believed in purposeful capitalism, capitalism were at the helm.

Les (35:29)

I don't think we're going to see capitalism go anywhere in our lifetimes. But what I would love to see is women having more capital and women founders having more capital. Absolutely. Because I think when women have more money, we redistribute it. Like we are the consumers, but not only that, we are the ones who are distributing it amongst our communities, amongst our families. Like when women have more wealth, we don't tend to hoard it in the same ways that our counterparts do. And so I think within the system that we have, what can we do to get the good people who are going to redistribute more, having more?

Hannah Bronfman (36:09)

We are about to see the largest kind of wealth transfer happen to women ever. So I think that's a very real plausible thing. And I completely agree. I mean, it's completely outrageous how little capital female entrepreneurs, black female entrepreneurs have access to. And yet black female entrepreneurs are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the country. They're fast growing, they're exceeding expectations, and they're still up against every single hurdle, you know, out there. And they're still surviving. They're still, I wouldn't say thriving yet, because there's lack of access for them. But they certainly are, I would say, like the most resilient and perseverant. Right. Because they just gotta keep going. And they are. And they're changing communities and they're changing lives and they're supporting their families and their communities and it's, it's pretty remarkable. There's way too many boundaries out there and hurdles to, to get over and I would really love to break some of those down. And I think by even talking about investing on my platform and other platforms and getting more education out there is just even one part of like the entire ecosystem that kind of all needs to shift.

Les (37:31)

I think the figures that have been around for a while is what, like 2% of venture capital funding goes to female founded businesses.

Hannah Bronfman (37:39)

Black women.

Les (37:40)

Women get 0.1%.

Hannah Bronfman (37:42)

Yeah. It's less than 2% and it's exactly.

Les (37:45)

While women control 75 to 80% of consumer spend. Yeah.

Hannah Bronfman (37:51)

And they are in charge of household decisions.

Les (37:54)

Yeah. I'm like, the math is not mathing.

Hannah Bronfman (37:56)

No, it's not mathing at all. And then, you know, women's health also specifically also gets less than 2% of venture dollars as well. And people are like, oh, like women's health, that seems niche. And you're like, what? We're 50% of the population? Actually 51%.

Les (38:11)

Yeah.

Hannah Bronfman (38:12)

It's insane.

Podcast Announcer (38:18)

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Les (43:04)

I at Afro Tech last year sat in on the fireside chat that you did with Morgan Debon, but I actually really loved that talk between the two of you. I might butcher this slightly, but you said something around why you invest heavily in women's wellness focused organizations and companies to help basically like solve the the problems that the health care system is not stepping up to the plate to do.

Hannah Bronfman (43:30)

I'm super passionate about women's health. Going through my own fertility journey and seeing how the system has failed women and black women specifically is just so disheartening. I can't believe that it takes all of these private citizens to create these solutions where there are all of these gaps in the health care system. The health care system I think really was designed to not keep people healthy. There's just fundamental flaws that would probably take decades to fix because at this point it's all a part of like the system. And you know, there's this hierarchy and there's a lot of stuff that we don't even know what's going on. People are in it for the wrong reasons and you've got racist doctors and I mean it's like you're a doctor, you're supposed to help people. A certain type of person, Anyone? Right? There's just inherent flaws everywhere and the patient experience is really lacking in care. It's crazy. We live in New York, right? We Live in New York City, where we have access to everything, the best of the best. And yet black women are dying at 12 times more likely to die in New York State. Horrific than the rest of the country.

Les (44:57)

Horrific.

Hannah Bronfman (44:57)

It doesn't make sense. So I got really tired of hearing all these stories and not doing anything about it. Simple as that. And I am really passionate about women's health, passionate about longevity. I'm passionate about positive care and being proactive in our health and being able to take authority and agency over our bodies. Got really curious about what that looked like from business standpoint and entrepreneurial standpoint, and from an investment standpoint, I've made a couple of really interesting investments. I invested in an amazing company called Origin. It's funny, I was waiting for the bathroom the other night at a bar, and, you know, I think I'm one of those people where people like to just, like, tell me things about themselves. And it's like, not their, like, darkest secret, but it's pretty like, you know, it's not necessarily something you, like, lead with, not light. And I was online for the bathroom, and this girl turns around, she was like, we're kind of talking about how it's, like, maybe awkward to stand online for a bathroom in a tight space or whatever. And then. And I was saying, oh, you know, it's funny, I actually. I don't really even ever go to the bathroom at bars because I can hold my pee for a really long time. And this girl was like, what? And I was like, yeah. She was like, I. I have to pee every 45 minutes. I said, oh, my goodness. And she goes, yeah, it's. It got really bad after I had sex for the first time. Oh. And I said, oh, my goodness. She goes, yeah. And then sex became painful for me. I said, oh, my gosh. Well, have you ever thought about pelvic floor rehab? She said, yeah. Oh, my God. Actually, I just found this company, and I started working with one of their practitioners last year. The company's name is Origin. I said, oh, my God, that's so funny. I'm actually an investor. I mean, it was the weirdest thing.

Podcast Announcer (46:50)

Yeah.

Hannah Bronfman (46:51)

And Origin is a company that is helping women all over the country via telemedicine, but also in clinic with their pelvic floor. That's like a part of the health journey. As a woman that probably doesn't get as much airtime as other issues like infertility or whatever, but it's still a huge part of our self esteem, our confidence, our sex life, our everyday health I mean, if this girl is having issues going to the bathroom, like pain peeing, I mean, that's horrible. It's companies like that that are doing amazing work helping hundreds of thousands of women and destigmatizing conversations around women's health. Kind of checks all my boxes. Yeah. And I got to use the company and the practitioners when I was postpartum with both my kids. And while I only needed to use the company for about, you know, three months for each other, people spend much longer or shorter. Just depends on what you've got going on. And that's the other thing. Every person's dealing with something different. Wellness is really not one size fits all.

Les (48:05)

I think it also helps with so many of the different things that we experience in our lifetime where care is often not sufficient. Like postpartum moms don't get enough support, not only socially, but medically. There's so much more that they need. Perimenopause is another big one that people are finally starting to talk about more. But it's like women have been going through this for generations with no support, no understanding of what was going on, and it's so important.

Hannah Bronfman (48:33)

I heard an insane stat which was. I can't remember if it was like, 2003 or something. Hormone replacement therapy was really on the up and up. So many women were starting to take control over their perimenopausal, menopausal experiences and really kind of getting that care they needed. And then this one study came out that was very anti hrt. And I think it was like Matt Lauer or someone went on the Today show and said, hrt is killing women. The cliff that happened that people stopped prescribing, you know, hormones for women. It just disappeared. And so for the last, like, three decades, women have been suffering, going through perimenopause and menopause. And in fact, the people who have. The women who have gone through this in the last three decades usually get prescribed an antidepressant. So you've got like 77% of women, perimenopausal and menopausal women who are dealing with real symptoms being put on antidepressants because their doctors think they're whining, not.

Les (49:52)

Addressing the root, which is a hormonal issue.

Hannah Bronfman (49:55)

I mean, it's just crazy. Yeah, it's just crazy.

Podcast Announcer (49:58)

Yeah.

Hannah Bronfman (49:58)

Yeah.

Les (49:59)

There's still just so much work to be done around the studies and support in Women's Health.

Hannah Bronfman (50:03)

Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I'm gearing up to go through that next phase of Perimenopause. And so I'm trying to get really in the weeds on the education and learn about everything. And it's fascinating. It's really, really fascinating. My grandmother unfortunately passed away of Alzheimer's, which can really kind of creep in during menopause. So it's been a really interesting journey going down this new rabbit hole. But that's what I love about being in this, in this work. Like I just, I love it. I love reading white papers. Like I read a white paper on creatine. Like, you know, a lot of people aren't necessarily into that and that's cool. But like this is what excites me.

Les (50:48)

That's why the work of what so many women founders doing is important because they're really trying to solve these very real problems. I'm curious if you think there are any industries that we are maybe over indexing on. I recently read a piece on your substack about the beverage industry. How it's like billion dollar beverage, I think you called it. About how like there's so many beverages and things were exploding where it's like, okay, are there things where it's like maybe there's enough or maybe things where you're like, eh, I'm not really interested in investing in that because I think there's other opportunities elsewhere.

Hannah Bronfman (51:21)

Everything is saturated, everything. But I think when you find something, maybe it's a new delivery mechanism, a new ingredient. I'm talking more from the world of like consumer products and wellness focused or digital health and things like that. Like I like to invest in areas that are, that I'm actually interested in. That shouldn't be a playbook for every investor. A lot of people want to invest in things that they actually, they don't even have to understand because they are like I, you know, it's a SaaS platform that works on the back end of, you know, medical supplies and whatever. It's logistics and I know that's a safe bet. Okay, cool. Well, for me I'd much rather know, I'd like to know how things work. I want to be kind of an expert in that industry that I'm investing in because I'm a hands on investor and I am a strategic investor. For most of my founders. It's important for me to have a semblance of knowledge, whether it's in R and D or go to market or how to help, how to create a board or whatever. All of these different types of things that I have no expertise in. Logistics. Right. So for me I'm not going to invest in a logistics company. But it's different for different folks. I digress. Everything is oversaturated. But like, even in supplements, I really do not work with brands that don't have clinical trials. I'm not just out here selling fluff to people to get a check. Like, everything's got to be rooted in science. But you know, the fda, I think we all know is a little corrupt. It's not, you know, the end all be all right. But like with like a brand, like Array, for instance, like when they came out with their product, like was supplement, were supplements oversaturated? Yes. But were they able to market better and create formulas that really were profoundly effective for consumers? Did it go like wildfire? Yeah, like even lemme, like, do we need another gummy supplement? Well, I'll tell you, I take the lemme burns. At some point you gotta figure out what your edge is, right? What's gonna make you stand out? What's gonna make you different than the other sauce company? Why is your makeup brand really going to penetrate at Target when there are 15 other products on the shelf? Is it because of your packaging? Is it because of your marketing? Is because of your ingredient profile? Is it because of the co founder you have or the scientist that you got on your board? Like, what is it? It's hard to differentiate, but that is what you have to do. In a saturated market, you can follow the trends or you can kind of try and get ahead of the trends or create the trend. So you just gotta kind of figure out where you, where you want to be.

Les (54:16)

Yeah, I think even the same can be said for content where it's like, yeah, it's saturated, but people blow up and pop off and create amazing new things every day.

Hannah Bronfman (54:24)

100%.

Les (54:25)

So.

Hannah Bronfman (54:26)

100%. I say this actually a lot. My husband and I talk about this all the time. There's hundreds of thousands of girls out there who want to be wellness influencers or influencers or fashion influence, whatever. And as my husband has grown, there are literally like five straight men on the Internet who like make the type of content my husband makes. And it's just so interesting the kind of, the differences that we are in. Even though we are in the same field, we have very different experiences. It's much more competitive on my side than I think it is on his side. But, but something I, I, I love and I'm grateful for is that I got to help inspire a whole generation of people who wanted to live their life on the Internet. Did I know I was doing that? No, but it's kind of the same thing with DJing. You know, when I started out DJing, we were five girls. We were literally five girls. I can name them. And we were DJing every single party, rotating between every single gala, brand, whatever, conference. And now there's hundreds of thousands of female DJs who are killing it out there. And I think a part of the responsibility of living your life on the Internet is opening doors for other people. And so while it might make my job a little bit more challenging today, it is what it is. And that's why you gotta keep evolving on your storytelling, evolving who you are. I saw something the other day that really resonates like if you haven't evolved, why do you think your audience will? If you haven't grown, why do you think your audience will? It's also fun to evolve and push yourself and get out of your comfort zone. At least I find that fun. I'm very grateful to even still be on podcasts all these years later and finding new ways to like reinvent myself and just stay true to like my path. I didn't know I was going to be this like founder friendly investor when I was an entrepreneur. When I had my co founder breakup, like, did I think that I was going to be here? No, I had no idea. But I just like was, you know, keeping it real with my community. And I think that that's like the key to it all is like you just gotta keep it real. Oh yeah.

Les (56:57)

It's all part of the path. And I mean, I'm sure, especially because you mentioned that you're a hands on investor, the experience that you have from that co founder breakup and when that.

Podcast Announcer (57:06)

Didn'T work out, I'm sure has been.

Les (57:07)

Supremely helpful to the founders that you support from the experience you had and can speak from.

Hannah Bronfman (57:12)

Yeah, absolutely. I actually had a founder who in the early days she had a co founder and she sent out an email to her investor saying, hey, I'm dealing with a co founder, like kind of fallout. I'm going to be the solo CEO of the company. And I wrote her back and emailed me like, hey, like I totally know this feeling and where you're at and how emotionally draining this can be. I'm here. If you want to jump on a call, talk through anything, let me know. And she wrote me back. She was like, I'd actually love to get on with. So we got on the phone, we spent about, I don't know, 90 minutes on the phone and as we got off the phone, she told me I was the only person that responded to that email.

Les (57:56)

Really? Wow.

Hannah Bronfman (57:57)

I've now done syndicates for her and I've brought amazing people into her company and I'm so grateful to be a part of the ride that of the company that she's building. And even that 90 minute conversation deepened our relationship to the point now where I am like the trusted investor who's now helping bring in other people and I'm that much closer to the company. All because of an experience that I went through that I was like, hey, I see you. I know that this is hard. Like, happy to chat it through. Yeah.

Les (58:28)

Another really good way to pay it forward.

Hannah Bronfman (58:30)

Yeah.

Les (58:31)

And share that experience.

Hannah Bronfman (58:32)

Yeah.

Les (58:34)

So before we go, I know you.

Podcast Announcer (58:36)

Also have a show coming out on.

Les (58:38)

Amazon that you're going to be a part of that I love.

Podcast Announcer (58:42)

If you could tell us a little bit more about.

Hannah Bronfman (58:44)

I can't even believe it. Really. So it's. So it's a reality show on Amazon prime that follows seven entrepreneurial women and our various companies and businesses and the sacrifices and what it takes and the stakes that are at play. And it's like a docu style. Some people film together here and there, but it's not, it is not a housewives type of show. We're not forced to be together to like have these conversations or dramas or meals or whatever. We, our lives come in contact with each other because of different business pursuits and some of us are friends. And so there's that as well. There's a really nice sense of camaraderie and uplifting each other. And I'm excited. I've been waiting to be a part of, like positive programming on a larger scale for a long time.

Les (59:45)

Yeah.

Hannah Bronfman (59:46)

I've probably met with every single production company out there. I've pitched at least 30 different shows over the last 10 years and a lot of networks, like, weren't ready for something they hadn't seen before. And I'm really excited about this. It's. It's an amazing cast of women. I'm inspired by every single one of them. I'm honored to be a part of it. And there is some drama like each, you know, there's drama within running your own business and starting something. It might not be the type of drama you're used to seeing in a reality show, but it's drama nonetheless. It's also uplifting and I hope that it'll also show young girls and women of all ages, really, that it's never too late to create something do something that you've always wanted to do and to own your own narrative.

Les (60:46)

So good. So excited.

Podcast Announcer (60:47)

And it comes out in February, right?

Hannah Bronfman (60:49)

February 23rd.

Les (60:50)

So exciting.

Hannah Bronfman (60:52)

It's called the CEO Club.

Les (60:53)

Yes.

Hannah Bronfman (60:53)

And you can find it on Amazon Prime.

Les (60:55)

Oh, my gosh. I mean, I'll definitely be tuning in. That sounds right up my alley.

Hannah Bronfman (60:59)

I hope so. Okay.

Les (61:00)

Very excited.

Hannah Bronfman (61:00)

Well, it's cool because all of these women are total badasses and have very different businesses from each other. So you're really getting, like, a great insight into a lot of different industries. Yeah.

Les (61:13)

So exciting. So, Hannah, before we go, I would love to hear if you think that there's one rule that our listeners, anyone watching now, should break in 2026, what do you think it should be?

Hannah Bronfman (61:26)

I feel like people should stop doing what they think they're supposed to do and start doing what they want to do, period. I love that. Yeah. Mic drop.

Les (61:42)

Thank you so much for joining me.

Hannah Bronfman (61:43)

Thank you so much for having me. This is so great.

Les (61:45)

Yeah, no, this. I feel like I learned so much. This was awesome.

Hannah Bronfman (61:48)

Okay.

Podcast Announcer (61:50)

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode.

Les (61:53)

Make sure you subscribe to she's so Lucky wherever you get your podcasts. I heard that if you subscribe and if you give us a five star review that something lucky happens. So I think you should do that to test that theory. And if you're watching on YouTube, drop.

Podcast Announcer (62:05)

A comment below letting us know what.

Les (62:07)

Rule you're going to be breaking in 2026. Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next week.

Podcast Announcer (62:17)

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of she's so Lucky. If you're ready to create your own luck, hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube so you don't miss an episode and head to the show. Notes for resources, links and discount codes. And if you are really feeling lucky, we would appreciate your rating and your review.

Les (62:35)

It really helps us be able to.

Podcast Announcer (62:37)

Improve the show, to get great guests and to understand what you want to to hear more of. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you next week.

Sheena Shay (62:51)

What's up, everyone? I'm Sheena Shay. You may know me from nine seasons of Bravo's Vanderpump Rules, but I'm here to tell you about my podcast called Shenanigans. We talk about everything from reality tv, pop culture, relationships, parenting, and invite you to join the conversations with Q and A sessions where nothing is off the table. There's so much more I want to share with you. Thanks for listening and make sure to subscribe to Shenanigans to stay up to date with new episodes every Friday.

Les (63:20)

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.