Why Go On Reality TV? with Rebecca Minkoff

Summary

Smart Girl Dumb Questions: Episode Summary Title: Why Go On Reality TV? with Rebecca Minkoff
Host: Naima Raza
Guest: Rebecca Minkoff
Release Date: June 6, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of Smart Girl Dumb Questions, host Naima Raza sits down with fashion entrepreneur Rebecca Minkoff to explore the multifaceted reasons behind Minkoff's decision to participate in reality television, specifically Real Housewives of New York. The conversation delves into the intersection of business strategy, personal experiences, and broader cultural phenomena, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the motivations and repercussions associated with reality TV appearances.

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Rebecca Minkoff: From Fashion Mogul to Reality TV

[00:00 – 01:31]

Rebecca Minkoff introduces herself as a successful businesswoman who founded her own fashion label, achieving over a hundred million dollars in sales, authoring a book titled Fearless, launching the podcast Superwoman, and notably, joining the cast of Real Housewives of New York. Naima Raza expresses her curiosity about Minkoff's reality TV stint, questioning the rationale behind marrying a thriving business career with the unpredictable world of reality television.

Rebecca Minkoff [00:00]: "Why does someone subject myself to reality TV?"

Naima Raza [00:26]: "I needed to know why she did that last thing."

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The Pros and Cons of Reality TV Exposure

[01:29 – 22:09]

Rebecca Minkoff elaborates on her decision to join Real Housewives, highlighting the initial promise of showcasing successful, self-made women in New York City without resorting to typical drama and bashing often seen in such shows. However, she recounts the discrepancies between her expectations and the reality of the show, which ultimately led to her departure.

Brand Awareness and Business Growth

Minkoff emphasizes the significant boost in brand awareness—up by 20%—as a direct result of her participation in the show, equating it to tens of millions of dollars in advertising and marketing benefits.

Rebecca Minkoff [21:10]: "Brand awareness is up 20% over the decade. That's wild."

Challenges and Negative Experiences

Despite the business advantages, Minkoff shares her disheartening experience on the show, where her genuine efforts to maintain a positive and non-confrontational presence were overshadowed by edited portrayals that misrepresented her true character. Additionally, she faced increased trolling and criticism, estimating a 10-15% rise in negative interactions online.

Rebecca Minkoff [22:09]: "I had a bad experience. I never regret my decisions, especially when I feel like I thought about this one as thoroughly as I did and weighed the consequences. I don't regret it. I learned a lot."

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Navigating the Fashion Industry: Pricing, Tariffs, and Market Dynamics

[02:03 – 07:36]

The discussion shifts to Minkoff's core business—her fashion brand. She explains the evolution of her handbag pricing strategy, initially positioning her products in the contemporary $595 range which resonated well until the 2008-2009 recession prompted a downward price adjustment to remain accessible.

Impact of Tariffs

Minkoff addresses the uncertainty surrounding tariffs, emphasizing the potential impact on her brand's pricing structure. She advocates for tariffs that support domestic manufacturing while allowing businesses adequate time and resources to adapt, rather than abrupt changes that could destabilize operations.

Rebecca Minkoff [05:23]: "We'll have to raise our prices if they don't change. But I think that I just signed on to a petition... give us some money to open up some factories."

Consumer Pricing and Business Sustainability

She underscores the necessity of maintaining current price points to sustain her business, even in the face of rising costs due to tariffs, and discusses strategies her company might employ, such as launching non-leather, lower-priced bags to mitigate financial strain.

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Fashion Fundamentals and Trends

[11:11 – 18:46]

Naima and Rebecca engage in a playful "dumb questions" segment, exploring quirky aspects of fashion design and trends.

Buttons and Zippers: A Design Dilemma

They delve into the peculiar placement of buttons and zippers on men's and women's garments, with Rebecca proposing anatomical reasons for the differences rather than sexist intentions.

Rebecca Minkoff [11:27]: "Some clothes are sexist, but I think it is for anatomical reasons."

Fashion Mullet and Generational Styles

The conversation touches on the concept of the fashion mullet—styled formal in the front and casual in the back—and the influence of generational preferences on fashion trends. Rebecca expresses her disdain for asymmetrical styles, preferring harmony in design.

Rebecca Minkoff [12:35]: "I think I just want you all tucked in all around."

Secret Fashion Loves

Rebecca candidly admits that she doesn't hide any fashion choices, advocating for authenticity in personal style.

Rebecca Minkoff [14:02]: "I don't wear anything in secret that I couldn't wear out and about."

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The Role of Scientology in Rebecca's Life

[32:06 – 41:25]

A significant portion of the conversation delves into Rebecca Minkoff's association with Scientology, addressing public misconceptions and personal experiences.

Understanding Scientology

Minkoff clarifies misconceptions about Scientology, comparing its portrayal in media to other religions and emphasizing its role in her personal development and stress management.

Rebecca Minkoff [33:09]: "What I use to deal with stress and pressure and like, man, it's hard out there."

Public Perception and Media Portrayal

She critiques biased documentaries, advocating for balanced perspectives that allow individuals to form their own opinions.

Rebecca Minkoff [29:00]: "Any documentary that's going to skew 100% one way to me is in a documentary."

Personal Practices and Contributions

Minkoff discusses her involvement in Scientology, highlighting her financial contributions through courses and donations to community programs, emphasizing personal choice and autonomy.

Rebecca Minkoff [35:04]: "So if I'm taking a course, I'm paying for my course. They are as cheap as $60."

Gender Dynamics within Scientology

Addressing potential gender differences within Scientology, Rebecca believes the organization promotes equal self-improvement opportunities for all genders.

Rebecca Minkoff [38:21]: "I don't think women have a different experience than men."

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Final Reflections and Audience Interaction

[42:11 – 43:37]

As the episode draws to a close, Rebecca shares her curiosity about the fashion industry's success formulas, expressing a desire for universal strategies that transcend individual brands.

Rebecca Minkoff [42:35]: "The question that I'm asking... I want to know why successful handbag companies are successful."

Naima wraps up the conversation by highlighting the dichotomy between the substantial business benefits and the personal challenges Rebecca faced on reality TV, underscoring the broader implications of fame and brand recognition in modern entrepreneurship and media landscapes.

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Conclusion

In this insightful episode, Rebecca Minkoff provides a nuanced perspective on the allure and pitfalls of reality television exposure for business leaders. The discussion navigates through complex topics such as brand strategy, the impact of economic policies on fashion, the intricate relationship between personal beliefs and public perception, and the evolving nature of fashion trends. Listeners gain a deeper understanding of the strategic decisions behind public appearances and the broader cultural forces at play in shaping both personal and professional identities.

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Notable Quotes:

• Rebecca Minkoff [21:10]: "Brand awareness is up 20% over the decade. That's wild."
• Rebecca Minkoff [05:23]: "We'll have to raise our prices if they don't change. But I think that I just signed on to a petition... give us some money to open up some factories."
• Rebecca Minkoff [33:09]: "What I use to deal with stress and pressure and like, man, it's hard out there."
• Rebecca Minkoff [38:21]: "I don't think women have a different experience than men."
• Rebecca Minkoff [42:35]: "The question that I'm asking... I want to know why successful handbag companies are successful."

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This summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting Rebecca Minkoff's candid insights into the interplay between reality television and business strategy, as well as her personal journey with Scientology. By focusing on key segments and notable quotes, the summary provides a comprehensive overview for those who may not have listened to the full episode.

Transcript

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Why does someone subject myself to reality tv?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, like, why did you do it?

What were you thinking?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I remember speaking to a friend of mine. She's like, did you have a lobotomy before you made this decision?

[Naima Raza]

Did you?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, I did not.

[Naima Raza]

Smart Girl, Dumb Questions.

I'm Naima Raza. This is Smart Girl, Dumb Questions. And that is Rebecca Minkoff. She's a successful businesswoman who started her own fashion label, sold over a hundred million dollars of product, wrote a book called Fearless, launched a great podcast called Superwoman, and went on Real Housewives of New York. I needed to know why she did that last thing. And Rebecca is refreshingly candid in this conversation about the money and brand recognition and potential political opportunity that comes with being on reality television. There are also these rumors that questions around her practice of Scientology were part of the reason that Rebecca left the show. So I wanted to ask her about that and also ask her, what is SC Scientology? Because I know Tom Cruise practices it and raves about it. And I watched that HBO documentary that definitely doesn't rave about it, but I don't actually know a lot about Scientology.

And of course, while I had her.

Here, I had to ask her about her core business, fashion. Like, how much do things actually cost? And what will the tariffs do to the price of a T shirt or a handbag? Here's my conversation with Rebecca Minkoff.

Rebecca, thank you so much for doing this with me.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I'm so excited. You were just on mine, and now I get to be in the seat. In the mod seat.

[Naima Raza]

We're doing what is called a pod swap.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

It's like a swingers party, but for podcasts and not as exciting.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No. Because no sex comes of it.

[Naima Raza]

Well, hey, Rebecca. Ruling it out already. Okay. I'm so excited to sit down with you. I want to talk to you about Real Housewives, which I've never watched.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Don't bother.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. Shade from the go. Okay. And then I also need to talk to you about religion, because I do want to ask you a little bit about Scientology. I have a lot of questions.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Very curious about it.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

So first, let's start with Rebecca Minkoff, the brand.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So I started the company 20 years ago this year.

[Naima Raza]

And you were a baby child.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I was a baby child. I was 25 years old, and I really just had this. Well, I had an actress who asked me to design the bag, but when I designed the bag, it was the pinnacle of Sex and the City. We all wanted to be these strong, independent women and have our bags go with Us out to dinner, meet a guy, sleepover, go to work the next day. So that was the name morning after bag. And it just hit a nerve with people in terms of the style. The price point was a new price point for handbags. And just the idea of a woman kind of reclaiming this, what was seen as like something to be ashamed of, as like a proud moment.

[Naima Raza]

And you were. You were in the scene in New York in like the aughts. Right. 25 years ago. You were kind of out and about. Were you socialite? Can I, Can I. Is that.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I was definitely not a socialite.

[Naima Raza]

You were not a socialite?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, no, no, no.

[Naima Raza]

Are you a socialite now?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, I think a socialite denotes someone who goes the charity balls and it's very like, comes from family money and got it is like, you know, did that coming out ball. That's what I think is socialite.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. You're 25 years old in New York, dating, going out.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

And was Sex in the City out then?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes, it had just come out, which may be like a year in.

[Naima Raza]

And was New York like sex in the city there?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It really was. It was so fantastic. It was like, because you didn't have a cell phone, you made a plan, you stuck to it. No one was on their phones wherever you were going. So there was like communication happening between people. And we don't know what that's like anymore.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, we do not know what that's like. So you make this morning after bag, it takes off like crazy.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

And then how do you decide from making a bag to making a business?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Well, I think we began to see. And when I say we, my co founder was my brother. We began to see that the orders coming in and the escalation of sales was happening at a rapid pace and we could not keep up. And that's when you go, okay, there's something behind this. Like, let's get serious about it and formalize a business and take it out of Rebecca's personal bank account and her fifth floor walk up. And so it was slow to grow it, but it just kept growing. And it was this beautiful thing that, like, the orders would just come in, the bags would sell out.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

You know, you didn't have to, you know, do any crazy marketing back then. And, you know, it was just a love for the bag. And I think the price point especially was what determined a lot of its.

[Naima Raza]

Success and the price point wise again.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So back then there was luxury, as we know today. There was not even fast fashion that didn't really exist. So there was like, you can go to Target and buy a bag.

[Naima Raza]

There's like express and stuff, right? Yeah, but they didn't really limited to and stuff. Yeah, but bags was not there.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Correct. And so this price point which was kind of new and called Contemporary was the 595 range. And we held those price points and that was considered really great and affordable till the 2008, 2009 recession. And then it was like, oh no, that same lady does not have anything, so we're going to lower our prices.

[Naima Raza]

So then you went to what like.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

399, 295, 195 became the new arena that we still sit in today. We have bags at 395, but like for the most part our sweet spot is 195.

[Naima Raza]

And fast fashion is the fast fashion. And recessions are the number one driver.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Well, yeah, fast fashion now you can get a bag for 100 bucks. It doesn't last long.

[Naima Raza]

Do you think that if there is. There's all this talk right now about are we headed to another recession? I'm not going to ask you your economist opinion on it. But if we do, will it change the price of handbags?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

We cannot go any lower. You cannot go. We cannot go any lower and stay in business. So we will probably hold firm. We'll be launching non leather, lower priced bags, but we won't ever do leather below what we're doing now.

[Naima Raza]

And will these tariffs that are being discussed? It's late April as we're taping this. We don't know what's going to happen with the tariffs. One day they're on, one day they're off. It's like the best hot, cold relationship anyone's ever had. But if the tariffs kick in, is that going to. Are you going to be able to keep it at 195 for these bags?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

We'll have to raise our prices if they don't change. But I think that I just signed on to a petition. The founders of Juliet wine and about 39 other founders together we represent $1 billion of income that these companies could very well go away if he does not change his path on the tariffs. And I agree with the idea of a tariff, don't get me wrong. But you gotta give people like a year, maybe two years to find and get new sourcing. Not a month or a week. And you know what, give us some money to open up some factories. They don't exist here anymore. It's not like I can like close my eyes and like open a 3000 unit per day factory.

[Naima Raza]

You agree with the idea of tariffs, though?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Other countries have tariffs. Why, why shouldn't we? You know, And I think that if we can stimulate the economy in the right way by bringing manufacturing back here, but give the infrastructure, build the factories, you know, find the workers they need to be trained, you know, that, that all these happen. Before you go, oh, let me slap a tariff and like have you like scurry.

[Naima Raza]

So I've been talking to certain retailers who are like, you know, basically it's like tariff hacks. They're either opening factories abroad, but the, the suppliers in China are kind of like, hey, we can get this like, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. We can get this in through other ways. We can get this through going to some middle country. We'll get the buttons to Thailand and then you'll have them. And is that what's going to happen? You think people will find kind of workarounds to it? I'm not asking you if you're going to do anything illegal.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, I'm definitely not doing anything illegal. I think there'll be workarounds. But also you're seeing people just add a tariff tax at the end of, you know, the receipt.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

If the cost to us at the end of the day is $5, but by the time it hits retail it's 30. If I could just pass the through that $5 to you, I think that's a smarter way of companies to go about it. Again, that's not my arena. But if I could not do the markup to the five.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

And just at the end of the day the customer's paying 5. That to me is better, but it's complicated.

[Naima Raza]

The customer is always going to end up paying for it. Right. This idea that somehow businesses are going to or the consumers are not going to be because you're already squeezed through.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

We're already squeezed. And our factories, not all of them are willing to, you know, play with us in that arena.

[Naima Raza]

I feel like the prices for everything are higher and higher these days. What is the actual price for like the T shirt I'm buying versus the markup?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So the, the usual markup within brands and I can't speak. Luxury is crazier and then fast fashion is less. But we do two and a half percent markup.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

And that thinking is also about the costs of, not just the cost of the garment itself, the shipping, the shipping it to the eventual wholesaler. They will mark it down. So like usually when you see items on sale Within a department store, you, as the designer are also paying for part of that. And so that sort of 2.5 markup is what it is. But in fast fashion, that could be a lot smaller, and in luxury, it's a lot higher.

[Naima Raza]

So $100 item to make will cost $250 at wholesale. @ wholesale, yep. Okay. At a wholesale. So that's the price you sell it to Bergdorf's or whatever.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Correct.

[Naima Raza]

Okay, yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

And at retail, so then they usually mark it up 2.5. That. So like, I. If I'm making a $50 bag at retail, it ends up being what, like 395, 400.

[Naima Raza]

When, like, Bergdorf marks down something, you're actually paying for that, you're taking a.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Loss sometimes on that, sometimes you're paying for that. Some of these department stores have what they call margin agreements. So you are going to sell all the merchandise that you've shipped that week or that month out at a 58% Mar. If they don't sell through the goods and they go on sale, you've guaranteed them that margin. And so oftentimes, they then will take the invoice of what they owe you and adjust it to reflect the margin you agreed to. And we used to do that, and our business was much bigger but not as profitable. And now we don't agree to a margin, and we either take back the goods or we do a swap. Our business is much healthier.

[Naima Raza]

So the best thing you can do as a consumer for the brand, if you want to support the kind of fashion brands you love, is to buy directly from the brand itself.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Ideally, buy directly from the brand. I mean, we have incredible partners. But I would say also, you know, don't. Don't wait for the sale. Buy a full price. It helps us all, but no one.

[Naima Raza]

It doesn't help the consumer. How does it help the consumer?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

You know, I just buy when I'm in the mood. I don't wait for a sale. If I happen to get on a site and they're on sale, like, oh, that's nice. But I buy when I'm. When I want.

[Naima Raza]

You don't have like some people have? I don't have it. But this cookie called or on Google Chrome, it's like honey or something where you can get cheaper prices for things. I'm not advertising something that's gonna hurt your business on my podcast, but there are ways, like, I feel everyone's a deal Hunter. Now, you know this. It's like this in university education, my former colleague at the Times Ron used to do a kind of. He's the money guy at the New York Times and he wrote about this in college where like the average tuition in a lot of private universities is now around $70,000.

But no one pays that.

That's a sticker price. And everything's on sale. Every kid's getting like some kind of merit based aid to help them click through. And then it's often foreign students who are paying that price. So I feel like there's something similar in.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, for sure. I know there's coupon sites and you know, there's all those things. I just personally am. Not that I don't. I'm like, maybe I'm an anomaly. Maybe I should be hunting your deals. And I'm. And I could be saving all kinds of money.

[Naima Raza]

So I want to do a kind of dumb questions round on fashion.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

And ask you some things that have always perplexed me. Okay, so one, I want to know why women's buttons and zips are on like one. I don't even know. I gotta check. Like, I feel like we're on the.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The opposite side.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, we're on the opposite side. The men's are on the other side. The women's are on one side. What's up with this? Are clothes sexist?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Some clothes are sexist, but I think it is for anatomical reasons. You'll find that on the inside of a men's pant, it is the, the rise is a little deeper for the balls.

[Naima Raza]

Uh huh.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, okay. So that is sexist. But I mean, I don't need that extra room. Do you?

[Naima Raza]

No, no, no.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So that's why that's there. As for the left and the right, I think it's honestly so that you can just tell the difference between a men's shirt and a woman's shirt. Huh. Because you know, if you're going into a store and you know, now there's gender neutral aisles, but like if you were trying to find something, I could imagine that, you know, one's left and one's rights. You're like, oh, that's woman's versus man. But to be fully honest with you, I am not 100. So I'm curious to hear what America has to say.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. What America has to say. I love that.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Or they assume that more women are right handed and men are left handed. Which isn't the case.

[Naima Raza]

It's not the case. I think you, you're right, it must be. And anatomically, I wonder if like more men hang to the left or Right.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Also genetics. Maybe they have did a poll. What side do you. Hang on.

[Naima Raza]

That's what it would have.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The left handed zipper. Yeah, I guess.

[Naima Raza]

And then the buttons, they just were like, let's just go with the side of the zipper to keep it easy to the men.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Just keep it easy for them to, you know, switch.

[Naima Raza]

Okay, got it. What is the fashion equivalent of the mullet? Like business in the front, party in the back.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It was a nice way to show your outfit, but I against it now. It's when you would do the front tuck of the button up in, in the front and then leave it trailing in the back. I think that's a good equal like for a mullet.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, and they. Now you do the half and half.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Well, now you see like one side and one's really long and I don't like that either.

[Naima Raza]

You don't like that either? Are you into symmetry? Is that the thing?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I think I just want you all tucked in all around. And if you're, if you're too blousy, then you know, they need to make the women's equivalent of the Untuck it.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, I love it. As seen on tv. You do not make socks.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, we do not make socks.

[Naima Raza]

You know, there's been this kind of sock trend of like millennials wear the ankle socks. Gen Z wear the socks up. Now all millennials are wearing the socks up. Yeah, you're wearing your socks up today. Do you believe in this? Kind of like you can spot a generation by their fashion?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

For sure.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

And, but it's also changing so quickly now that sometimes I'm not certain. Like the lines between Gen Z and Gen Alpha for me are a little blurred because it's changed so quickly. And I'm like, wait, which one's doing the baby tees and the JNCOs and which one's doing like 2005, like juicy?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So it's a little hard, but for a while I was like, okay, millennial Gen Z Alpha, what is the least.

[Naima Raza]

Fashionable thing that you secretly love is like Crocs. A puffer vest. Like, what do you wear in secret that you couldn't wear out and about?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I don't wear anything in secret that I couldn't wear out and about. No, if I'm going to wear it, I'm going to wear it out and about. I don't know.

[Naima Raza]

Out and proud with.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I don't have Crocs, but I really, I want to want them, but I feel like I look so stupid in them. But I really I see other people who pull it off, and I'm like, oh, that's so. That's so cool.

[Naima Raza]

I've never seen someone pull off Crocs.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Literally does a great job of pulling off Crocs.

[Naima Raza]

How old is your son?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

He's 13.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. I've never seen anyone above the age of 16 pull off crocs.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I've seen some, like, monotone clad, like, people like the black socks, the black crocs. Maybe a cool charm.

[Naima Raza]

I just feel like if you replace those Crocs with anything else, that person's fashion is carrying the croc. Like, you could put a pair of sneakers on those Crocs and then that person would look better.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, I know it's a tough one, but I secretly want a pair.

[Naima Raza]

If your fashion routine had, like, a toxic trait, what would it be?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Maybe I'm learning too much about health. But now we can't wear plastic on our bodies. Apparently, everything is toxic. Everything is toxic. And I was listening to a podcast, and someone was going pretty deep on, like, your skin is your largest organ, and now it is breathing in this every day.

[Naima Raza]

I feel like at the end of this, like, health, wellness, economy, we're all just gonna be, like, naked.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Naked and afraid.

[Naima Raza]

I mean, there's. I have to do a whole episode on, like, is everything toxic? Because I feel I have so many questions. I live.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Everything is toxic.

[Naima Raza]

I go around my house being like, is my shampoo toxic? Is my toothpaste toxic? Like, I'm scared. Everything seems toxic. I'm so old.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Some of it I'm a little. I'm skeptical of, but I don't know. I need to get a doctor. We're not doctors. I can't answer this. We're not scientists. You know, I was talking to Brooke Devard about this. She has a podcast called Naked Beauty, and we're talking how beauty standards get set. She was saying there's basically. It used to be top down through the fashion. Like the four fashion cycles. Or is it four?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Four. Sometimes six.

[Naima Raza]

Sometimes six. Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

It used to come really from the designers and from the makeup artists, et cetera. Now it's a little bit more bottom up where, like, things are spotted on social media, influencers. And then there's this kind of. She described pendulum shift of, like, what's out is in, what's in is out. And that's a way to kind of get you to constantly consume.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yep.

[Naima Raza]

Do you agree with that? Is that the same in fashion as it is in beauty, that this is the way it's done, like top down, bottom up.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It's all happening at once. I would say that there are probably, you know, the top 10 luxury brands are definitely setting a sort of trend. There's, you know the term universal consciousness. You have.

[Naima Raza]

I don't know the term.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Okay. So it's like that we're all sort of tapped in somehow to something that we're all. I don't want to get woo woo, because I'm not a woo woo type. We're all tapped into something in the universe.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, you're talking about like the concept of universal consciousness. Okay, got it.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So I, I definitely think within the design realm, there's something to that because you'll see many of the same or similar things not just happen at luxury, but also with designers not in luxury. And it's like, is it green? Is it platforms, Is it bootleg pants? Like, something happens and then everyone or a large portion of them at the same time comes out with that. And then that will start a trickle down effect to trends. And then there are definitely a lot of maybe more technology savvy brands and consumers or sorry, creators who are then bottoms up. That they start a trend, it goes viral, and then a designer's like, oh, man, I gotta get on that.

[Naima Raza]

So God sets fashion. Well, not really God, slash universal fashion.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I mean, sometimes you're just like, wow, yellow's the color of the summer. And all the designers the season before did yellow. And you're just like, like, how did we all know that yellow? But I can't, I can't tell you how and why we know these things.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, it seems like a giant conspiracy. Like, I want to find out how butter yellow just came back.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah. Or like lilac, like, where did that come from? Because I think that's the worst color ever.

[Naima Raza]

It's very hard for me because I'm like, I can't do pastels. This is a very hard season.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It's a hard time. But I think now more than ever, fashion is truly. It's not about who set the director tone. It's like what makes and looks good on you. That's what you should wear.

[Naima Raza]

But don't you think that's true? But then when, sometimes when you put on a pair of skinny jeans just feels. Although I know now skinny jeans are kind of making a comeback, as are thin eyebrows. I feel like it's all, please don't.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Trim your eyebrows ever. They will never come back.

[Naima Raza]

When something is out of fashion, like that moment you put it on, I do have this feeling of like, I know this is out of fashion. Like, maybe it's my universal consciousness, you know, maybe it's the fashion God speaking to me, but I'm like, I have an allergic reaction. And I'm like, I must replace.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I think there's that, but I think there are things that are timeless and can be trendless, that no matter what's happening, you know, you should or should not jump on it. But, like, the classic white shirt, a great pair of jeans, straight leg jeans, I think can go always.

[Naima Raza]

Right?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

You know, they never went out of style even when skinny and baggy were happening.

[Naima Raza]

You made this decision to go on reality TV on Real Housewives of New York.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I did.

[Naima Raza]

I've never seen this show. Okay, but why does someone who is, like, successful in business, has what seems to be a lovely family and, like.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Lovely life, subject myself to reality tv?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, like, why did you do it?

What were you thinking?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I remember speaking to a friend of mine who's a journalist. She's like, did you have a lobotomy before you made this decision?

[Naima Raza]

Did you?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, I did not.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Several reasons. When I was speaking to producers early on, they said, this is a new direction for the show, or we're taking a new direction for the show. It's eight entrepreneurial women and all diverse, all self made, showcasing, like, their exciting lives in New York City. We want it to be mostly fun and funny, a little bit of drama. And I was like, wow, this is a great opportunity for women to see other women. Finally, a show that's going to showcase and celebrate women how hard they work. The drama that's already inherent in our lives. Not fake. And I made sure to say, I don't, I don't throw other women under the bus. I, you know, like, I'm not gonna start stupid drama about, like, you took my tea bag. Like, I'm not here for it. That is not what we're looking for. And I was like, okay, so maybe I'm naive. I believed what I was told. I clarified it many times, and then it wasn't that, which is why I'm not there.

[Naima Raza]

You really went into this thinking.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I really went into it, like, with.

[Naima Raza]

The same kind of heart that you just gave that public service announcement about the thin eyebrows. Don't do it. Do not, do not fucking thin your eyebrows. You went in thinking, this is going to help women. You're going to see something aspirational.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It's not like, oh, I was so helped by this TV show, but at least we could show on tv. Women in this environment, being successful, having fun. Yes. Having a little bit of drama, because that doesn't really exist on tv. It's always women bashing, Right.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. Although the Real Housewives of New York, I presume, has always been like women working. Because I feel like most a lot of women in New York, or at least maybe they go on the show and then they start the businesses. I don't know.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So the original franchise was literally most of them for Housewives.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Very, you know, married to wealthy men. The reboot was more self made women. And the first episode had a lot of drama. Not a ton, but a lot. And then this ep this season was supposed to be like, different.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

No, it wasn't different. It was.

[Naima Raza]

Do you think it would help your business as well?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I mean, it did.

[Naima Raza]

It did help your business.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

How much, like, can you. Can you.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I mean, brand awareness is up 20 year over decade. That's wild. Like, if you add up what that would cost. And I know one of the cast members likes to go on podcasts, be like, well, she did it for her business. But I'm like, you know what? I'm sorry that 70% of my business shrunk during COVID So if I've, if I have an opportunity to get eyeballs and grow my business. And at the time, what I thought was show this incredible story. I've always been about connecting with my customers. So to me, this was another touch.

[Naima Raza]

Point of that people get bashed for going on there. I mean, I presume, like part of the reason anyone goes on any kind of public platform.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I'm saying, when she says this bullshit, I'm like, and you went on there, what, just because. No, you needed exposure for what you're doing.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. Everybody.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I'm not sure what you're. You needed it. Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Okay, so the business up 20%.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Brand awareness is brand awareness. If you add in, that's tens of millions of dollars in advertising and PR and marketing, you got richer off of this show.

[Naima Raza]

Was it worth it then in the end because you had a bad experience?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I understand I had a bad experience. I never regret my decisions, especially when I feel like I thought about this one as thoroughly as I did and weighed the, the consequences. I don't regret it. I learned a lot.

[Naima Raza]

I am kind of curious. Like, by the way, now it's all clicking to me. Why Donald Trump is president. It's the reality tv. But the fact that name recognition is like the number one, but that is.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Like name recognition, it's huge. I mean, it's ironic you say that, because my friend, when I was considering not going back, he's like, you should run for governor of Florida.

[Naima Raza]

Wait, really?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

And I was like, no. He's like, yeah, but look, if Donald Trump can be president, you can be governor of Florida.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. I mean, I don't wanna go too deep into politics, but I wanna say, actually, I retract my original thing saying reality TV is reason. It's. It's people like your friend in Florida who are the reason why Donald Trump or anyone is a politician. That's like, Arnold Schwarzenegger became a politician. It's someone being like, you could do this.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah. And for a minute I was like, should I do this?

[Naima Raza]

Did you think about it?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Seriously? I mean, I. I wouldn't know the first thing about governing a state. So, no, but it was just a wild idea to be like, you know what? I bet I could run. I could. Because now I've been on reality tv, so why not?

[Naima Raza]

Are you gonna maybe do that? Have you ruled it out?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I have no desire to do that.

[Naima Raza]

But imagine what it could do for the name recognition of your business, the.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Brand awareness, Step away from your business to be the governor. So. Probably heard it, but yes.

[Naima Raza]

Hey, I still see Trump hotels everywhere I look. I'm just saying. Okay. I don't actually watch Real Housewives. I have to look at my questions here because I did not write these all myself. An audience question. What has your reaction been to seeing the way that Psy Airy and UBA laughed at you in Puerto Rico when you left the room after telling them to eat dinner?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, that was a really mean moment. Because my approach at the time was they were all drinking and not eating, and so. And then they were acting like toddlers. Who. When I. I have a toddler. So whenever I see my child freaking out or being a total piece of. I'm like, hasn't eaten or hasn't slept. So to me, I came into the room, I didn't know they were filming a scene. I just thought they were in the room. I knew there was a camera in there, but I didn't know, like, something serious was going on, what they were discussing. And I said, like, hey, guys, the food has arrived. You should probably come eat. We've been drinking a lot. Well, I hadn't been, but they had been. And then they were like, yeah, we'll be right there. And then. So I didn't see the laughing and being made fun of until it aired. And I was like, oh, cool, Nice. But I'm not Surprised by it at.

[Naima Raza]

All, like, but it was hurtful.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

You know what? That wasn't hurtful. That's just, like, par for the course.

[Naima Raza]

Okay, I take it they called you because this person also sent me a sec. You can tell I have no context.

For these questions, but the.

I usually do much more research, but I wasn't going to go binge watch Real Housewives of New York.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It's time. You never get back on your own.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. But then they asked if you, I guess that you were called a hall monitor or a mom or is there something like that? I don't know. Because the subsequent question here is, were you the mom or the hall monitor of your group?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I was the mom of the group. I attempted to be the mom. I was constantly like, how am I going to diffuse this escalating fight about nothing? How, you know, fed slept is my first two things I always think of. And so there was a certain point while filming where I was like, no one wants me to diffuse this. They're making tv, so I'm just gonna shut my mouth.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. And it was surprising to you because that's not what you thought.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It's not what I thought. But by the time I shut my mouth, I was like, well, I guess I'm here. So here.

[Naima Raza]

You know, the fact that people are so watching this minute moment in a hotel room of women telling other women to maybe eat and then other women laughing about the food is amazing. It's that. That's where we are in our culture. I have a. And I'm not judging it. I'm just saying, like, the fact that there's such a fandom for this show is actually, you know, the fandom for.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

These shows is incredible. I mean, the flywheel of podcasts that only touch on recaps of the show, the Instagrams that are dedicated it. Dedicated to it. It's. It's wild and they're. They're passionate, and it's incredible.

[Naima Raza]

So you said you had 20 brand.

Awareness on your business.

Do you have a certain percentage troll awareness or, like, increase in trolling? Oh, what's the percentage increase on that?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Well, I took a stance, like, block and delete. So I don't have a figure for you, but definitely on the.

[Naima Raza]

What would it be? Guess.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, at least 10 to 15%. I never had trolls and. And mean people prior. So this was like, wow, you are really strong in your corner of the Internet, little man. Or woman.

[Naima Raza]

And it seems that part of the kind of thing that this massive audience has said is that they didn't feel you were in the show a lot. They didn't get to get a sense of you. There was no behind the scenes on your business. They didn't get to meet your family.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

None of that was in my control whatsoever.

[Naima Raza]

So did you.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

We filmed all that stuff.

[Naima Raza]

You filmed all that stuff? So that was an editing choice beyond you.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yep. So we filmed some incredible things. And I. And I hope that the person listening this podcast hasn't listened to the 12 other ones. But, like, we filled content with my family. We filmed content with my office. We filmed content of, like, female founder, club, collective stuff and design. You know, the design industry.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

A lot of really fun stuff.

[Naima Raza]

Right.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So to see it all gone and then what they paired me back to, because I refused to get nasty and dirty, was like this weird character, like, that's not who I am. And as I was watching it, I was like, whoa, great. Now America thinks I'm this. Okay, so that was. That was disheartening.

[Naima Raza]

It sounds like it was not a nice experience for you.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It wasn't nice. But guess what? Like, we can't be bubble wrapped all the time. And. And so it's fine.

[Naima Raza]

One of the things that people, I think, wanted to learn more about was Scientology from you. And that. Was that an editing choice or was that something you didn't really want to talk about on the show?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So it was neither of those things. Can you imagine? So there was a bunch of people that were complaining, like, I didn't talk about it enough. And frankly, I answered questions when I was asked. But if I had gone on and be like, guess what? I am. I know everyone has questions. It would have been the opposite effect. She's trying to talk about it. She's trying to convert us. So I went, she's trying to convert us. I went onto the show knowing it's gonna get brought up and I'm gonna answer it honestly. But I'm not gonna sit here and give you a hundred, you know, answers to everyone's questions. Cause that's not what the show is about. There isn't enough time to answer these questions. And frankly, a dramatic reality TV show where you're not in control of your edit is not the place to discuss some of your most personal beliefs, in my opinion.

[Naima Raza]

Is it hard for you to kind of talk about Scientology because of the reception? I feel like there's a lot of criticism of Scientology. Larry Wright has done, you know, journalism on this at the New Yorker, written the book Going Clear, which is made into the Alec Gibney hbo, you know, award winning series. I would say, like, the culture has quite a negative perception of Scientology. Would you agree with that?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I would agree that he actually wrote a book that was not able to be published in two countries. And I would also say any documentary that's going to skew 100% one way to me is in a documentary. So to me, I'm going to make an extreme comparison. But if Neo Nazis made a documentary about Judaism, no, it's the same. Would you, as a Jew or someone go like, oh, that's what I'm going to believe? And that is the equivalent of that.

[Naima Raza]

Wow.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

That's how you see it.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

Because you think they were out to. They were. Wow.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I think when you're doing a documentary film, and I have many friends in the industry, you're giving the person who's viewing it, hopefully both sides, to make a decision for themselves.

[Naima Raza]

I think that. I imagine that they might say one of the reasons they made this is because they were concerned about people who might have been being taken advantage of by. So that comparison to Neo Nazis would be something that I imagine they would not accept. Not that they were going in to, you know, take out members of the church, but actually going in to protect and to, you know, to investigate. Just like there have been documentaries or exposes on other religious organizations where there is kind of bad behavior either on the. On the margins or full scale, as we've seen in the Catholic Church, for example. I'm not.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

But those comparisons, like, you know, I say this ironically on tv, on an interview, in any group activity, there's going to be dissatisfied customers. You know, whether it's bags at a restaurant, in a church, of course people. Not everyone's gonna have this, like, glowing time. But I think when I see the results I've had in my life and my friends lives and my family and, you know, being better at communicating or a mother or being able to deal with how tough life can be, or the fact that I was depressed and anxious as a teen and I'm not. I can only speak to that as my truth.

[Naima Raza]

It seems like kind of the challenge, and maybe this was a challenge on Real Housewives is like having to be the spokesperson for Scientology, which was never a job you kind of sign up to.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah. I mean, and it wasn't ever a challenge to talk about it, but I think, you know, how it was brought up. Let's just say with one of the cast members, she never even bothered to get to know me. Then she makes fun of My brand. And then she asked me about my religion. I'm like, do you think that after you threw my brand under the bus and you haven't even gotten to know me yet at all, now I'm going to talk to you about this. Like, it was just a very. And I said this to her. I like, I don't think anybody would talk about their beliefs if. If they had had that experience with someone prior. If that makes sense.

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[Rebecca Minkoff]

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[Rebecca Minkoff]

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[Naima Raza]

You grew up half Jewish, half Scientologist.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

And your kids are both half half Jewish or quarter Jewish or a quarter Scientologist.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Just let me clarify and maybe clear up some of the confusion. And I think a lot of it is, is this. When people hear the word religion, you think of God worship, and probably the two predominant things. Anything spiritual in nature, if you open a dictionary, can be considered religious. So when you're.

[Naima Raza]

Or cultural. Actually, like, I don't necessarily see it that way. And I'm not saying that you can't be half and half. I'm just kind of curious how you look at it.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah. But I think so. People are like, how can you be both? And so.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, I wasn't asking that. But yeah, that is a question that you get a lot. Because people see as incompatible. Oh, because like, you have. You can have like past lives in Scientology, but not in Judaism, for example, so that people see him as incompatible.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah. But I would say this in Scientology, you are either doing a class or counseling to help you spiritually improve yourself. And in Judaism, the culture and the heritage and the. And the prayers and the traditions and a worship of God are what they are. And so I think that, you know, people take one definition of religion and slap that on everything, and then you can't be both.

[Naima Raza]

Right.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

But to me, they've enhanced each other.

[Naima Raza]

If that makes sense, and it's enhanced your life. Like you've said, this is a. Scientology is a big part of self improvement for you.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah, it's what I use to deal with stress and pressure and like, man, it's hard out there.

[Naima Raza]

Scientology has a lot of followers inside Hollywood. Do we pay more attention because celebrities happen to be Scientologists, or is there something about being a celebrity that makes Scientology quite appealing? What you're talking about the self improvement or stress aspect of it?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

You know, I just think that when anyone's going to look for an answer, they're asking a celebrity. But I would say there's far more non celebrities in it. Just like, you know, again, I'm not too educated on this, but like Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, they all have a specific Christian, you know, following or path that they have. Right. And so they could be looked at as like, if you're gonna go ask someone, you might ask them or, you know what I mean? Like, you have these people and they're not the spokespeople, but they're like the example that people are like, oh, yeah, I see that guy doing it. So I don't. I don' think that as there's so many more and it's celebrity filled. I think, yes, there are celebrities, but there's plumbers and moms and doctors and whatever you want that are far more.

[Naima Raza]

How many people are in the Church of Scientology, do you know?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I have no idea.

[Naima Raza]

No idea.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I don't have millions, but I don't know the exact figure.

[Naima Raza]

And do you go to is like a church of science? Do you go to meetings or go to like a place of worship for.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah, there's no place of worship because we believe that there is a God or you don't even have to believe in God. It's like kind of like the. The founding principle. One of them is what's true for you is true for you. Like, no one should ever be told this is what it is. I'm shoving it down your throat. So if you don't believe it, then you don't believe it. If it doesn't work for you don't apply it to your life. And so when you're going into a church, that word, I guess, in this sense, is a place of community, and you're either there to do a class or do the counseling, and those are the activities that take place. There's.

[Naima Raza]

Do you yourself give money to the Church of Scientology?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

So if I'm taking a course, I'm paying for my course. They are as cheap as $60.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, okay. What's the last Scientology course you took?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The last Scientology course I took was I wanted to readdress my ability to be present in the moment and to communicate better and to be a better listener. So I took a communication course.

[Naima Raza]

And how long was that?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Well, so the. The length can be as long as you need to feel like you have the results. So you're not paying by the hour. You're like, here's my $60 class, and if I need a month to get this skill, great. If I need two months. So you go at your own pace.

[Naima Raza]

At $60 per class or $60 for.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The whole learning, $60 for the whole learning.

[Naima Raza]

And that's the only way that you give money to the church is through.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The paying for services you can donate. And they have a lot of different activities. So some of them are disaster relief in war zones, and you see your dollars impacted there. There's literacy programs. Like, there's an incredible one in Compton, Free for the people doing it. But you are funding these programs. There's educating children on Youth for Human Rights, which is actually written by Eleanor Roosevelt. But not many people know about what our human rights are.

[Naima Raza]

Right.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

There's a whole program to go into countries and educate people. So, yes, I donate, but it's completely up to me. And I know there are rumors out there that I have to give 10% of my income or whatever it is. I give what I want and that's it.

[Naima Raza]

Can you say how much you give or.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I mean, it differs by year. Like, if I'm having a great year, I'll give more, and if I'm, you know, not having a good year, income wise, then I'll give less. But it's like, many people donate to aspca.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, I'm not comparing it to anything. I'm just curious. I'm just always, like, curious about people's finances because, like, it's funny part of having a podcast, you get to ask people things about you.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Well, I was on one Trading Secrets, and I really told a lot of financial information.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, really? Do you think that being a scientologist would help you or hurt you become the governor of Florida if you were to run?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I can't answer that. It hasn't hurt me so far. I'm doing just fine. And, you know, who knows?

[Naima Raza]

Well, I mean, you haven't run for governor of California.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I have not. And please, for all the people writing about this later, I'm not running for governor of Florida.

[Naima Raza]

This is definitely going to be a Daily Mail story, by the way. I'm just telling you right now. Is there in Scientology, is there like a. I was raised Muslim people think it's a terrible religion to be a woman. I think it depends kind of where and how you practice it. And, you know, if you read this scripture versus see how it's applied in modern culture, or sometimes you read the scripture and it's worse than how it's applied, and sometimes the other way around.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

Do you think that women in Scientology have like a different experience than men in Scientology in any way?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I don't think women have a different experience than men. I think that the goal is to improve yourself as to the best of your ability and to improve and help support others people's lives. And so I'll make a. I'll make a weird example, like, do you go to the gym once a week to get in shape? Do you go five days a week? How you know. So how serious are you about finding out within you what you want to improve and to do it? And so you can't measure it on men versus women? It's like, how serious are you about.

[Naima Raza]

Self improvement on that idea of self improvement? Do you think there's anything that could be improved about the Church of Scientology?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I don't feel like I should be at tasked with giving that feedback.

[Naima Raza]

Just like, or. Or I could ask about Judaism. I mean, do you think you can perfect this, Perfect this religion, the scripture?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

It's just not feeling like it's my place to. Because it's not my genesis. Like, if you said to me what could be improved about Rebecca Minkoff's customer experience, that's my company. You know what I mean? But I think that when you meet people that are trying to help people every day or try, the goal is helping you become better. Like, I'm not gonna sit here and criticize, like, oh, you could have warmed up the eggs for me a little bit more, whatever, you know what I mean? Those two have nothing to do with each other.

[Naima Raza]

What is the dumbest question you've been asked about Scientology?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The dumbest question I've ever been Asked about Scientology.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, dumbest. Sometimes it's like, yeah, dumbest. You can also choose rudest.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I think the dumbest would be there's this whole like, alien thing and I'm like, I'm not sure where that came from.

[Naima Raza]

What's the alien thing?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, no, like when I like. Okay, let me break it down for you. When L. Ron Hubbard first started out in terms of how he was going to fund his research, he wrote some science fiction books as a fiction author in like the 20s and the 30s.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Became very successful, one of the most best selling science fiction writers. So people sometimes go, oh, the stories from that are this. And I'm like, no. He had to find a way to fund. He didn't want to take government funding or funding through a college, so he funded it by creativity. And so sometimes people ask me that. I don't think it's dumb because people, again, you know, don't go to the source. Source properly. But I think that's probably the, the one that I get asked the most.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. What's the one that's most offended you? The question that's most offended you?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I haven't had a question offend me. What offends me if. Is if someone comes in only one sided with preconceived ideas and their questions aren't because of curiosity. They're just to like, attack you. And I can tell the difference now. And so again, I wouldn't say I'm offended, but I'm like, oh, that's a shame. You're just trying to do this because you want some rise out of me or you want me to get upset.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I think in today' world we need to be more tolerant of your beliefs, of mine. I mean, we see what's happening, right, with our mutual heritages fighting, and it's. And it's sad because we don't. There's common ground for everybody. And just because you don't understand something to me, is not a reason to hate it.

[Naima Raza]

I mean, the show is all about being curious about things that you do not know and asking questions from that place of curiosity, not judgment, and making it safe. Again, because I think part of the reason people don't have. Have don't ask questions or have really firm sets of points of view is because they can't actually explore ideas with each other in real life. And so I'm. I don't expect you to be a spokesperson for Scientology, but I do appreciate you kind of talking about your own experience of it.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Yeah. And I think again, you, you hit it on the head. People are scared to ask questions. And so then you just go. And you're like, I shouldn't ask her this. And I'm like, ask me. You can ask me anything. I might not always have the answer. Like, I don't know how many, how many people are there, but I think that's how people learn. And so there are no dumb questions to me ever. There's just intention, which is like, easy to spot on someone.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. What is the kind of dumbest question that you have that you would like us to go out to answer? So this is my last question for every guest and we will actually go out and do the exploration, the journey for you. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, for example, asked, how do you get cranes to the top of the building? So we went and found a construction worker who had that answer.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Oh, my gosh.

[Naima Raza]

So what's something that you want to know from a place of curiosity?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

The question that I'm asking, and I don't. This is what I don't want. I don't want. Everyone has a different answer for this.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I want a sure fire performance and top of funnel for a handbag company. I want the secret. I want what works for everybody, not what worked for one that you try and replicate and do for another.

[Naima Raza]

So, like, why are the successful handbag companies successful?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Why are they successful in selling, let's say, products online at a, at a great roas and is that replicable for any handbag company?

[Naima Raza]

This is very. I feel like I know the answer. Do you know the answer? Do you have an answer here?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I'm curious.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

When you start doing the, the deep dive, well, this worked for this one and this worked for this one. And I'm like, you know what, when you go to bake bread, there's a recipe. Yeah, right.

[Naima Raza]

You want like a clinical trial of handbags?

[Rebecca Minkoff]

I do. I really do.

[Naima Raza]

I'm gonna call some, you know, recently unemployed people from, and maybe see if they can invest in this project for you. Thank you so much, Rebecca, for doing this.

I really appreciate it.

[Rebecca Minkoff]

Thanks for having me. Okay.

[Naima Raza]

On this core question of why would anyone do reality tv, I think Rebecca Minkoff just gave us a pretty good breakdown of the pros and the cons of that decision. And, you know, I get it. Her business was super hurt by the pandemic. This was an opportunity to boost brand awareness by 20%, it turned out, which is awesome. Of course, it came with that 10 to 15% estimated troll increase that she talked about, which is not awesome, and certainly doesn't make me want to watch Real Housewives anytime soon. I don't think Rebecca will be watching it anytime soon either. But I understand there's a huge fandom around this show and this franchise. So much so that it's apparently a lead in to political office. That was wild. Kind of blew my mind, and was just a statement about the role that name recognition and popularity plays in our elections, our democracy. Reminds me to do a lot more homework next time I go into the polls of just particularly those down ballot races where I know nothing about the names, but I'd like to make an informed decision. Now, when it came to Scientology, I think you saw or heard me. Just really caught off guard by what Rebecca herself called an extreme comparison. I don't think it's a fair comparison. It's not a fair comparison. I appreciated how Rebecca stayed in that conversation because she actually had a meeting that she had to run to, and she extended our conversations so that she could answer my questions around Scientology. I think that particularly because there's so much celebrity and Scientology overlap in our culture and our cultural understanding of Scientology, there's probably this, like, pressure to talk about religion rather than your latest project, your work. And I certainly was asking her to do that in the context of. Of this conversation, really trying to understand and be curious about it. And I learned a lot about the role that Scientology plays in Rebecca's own life. Her point about people informing themselves in every perspective is a good point of view. And I should, as a point of clarification, just note on her statement that the book wasn't published in two places.

I think she was talking about the.

UK and Canada when she referred to that. And I believe the book has since been published in both of those places. But the reality here is that the defamation and libel laws are actually really different in, say, the US versus say, the UK and particularly what the UK used to be, you know, 10, 15 years ago when this book was being published basically in the US because we have so much protection of free speech, when you file a defamation claim, it's up to you filing it to prove that what the person is saying was false. In the uk Meanwhile, if there's a defamation case, the defendant has to prove that everything they said was totally true. So I think it took longer for the book to come out, say, in the uk but it has since been published there. While we're doing fact checks, I should also note that Rebecca got back to me on the tariffs question and said that, you know, it's not all going to go to the consumer in the end that Rebecca Minkoff is actually going to take a 5% margin hit if these tariffs come through because that's what's best for the business. They're going to have to absorb some.

Of that hit themselves.

So, you know, I think that's an indicator that the cost is going to be a lot on the consumer. But businesses are as well might be hurt by these tariffs. We'll see what happens. And if these tariffs actually go through, because at the time I'm recording them, they're on pause even with China. Now on the last fact check, this is a more fun one. My producer, Healey Cruise was actually in touch with the Smithsonian to figure out and get to the bottom of this question about buttons being on one side for men and the other side for women. Now, there's no clear answer here, but some very compelling high hypotheses. First of all, you should know this has been going on for like hundreds of years. So historically, it's thought because women didn't dress themselves, they often had handmaidens dressing them, that women's buttons are placed here.

So that's easier for other people to.

Button or unbutton them. And men's buttons are on the other side because when men were kind of drawing their swords for war, they didn't want to snag up against their buttons or their rifles, as the case may be. So, you know, unclear. I don't know. But I thought Rebecca's hypothesis around the drop crotch pants and the balls was probably factually accurate. That's it for this week on Smart Girl DUMB Questions. I'm Naeem Raza. I'll see you next week for an all new episode. Today's show was produced with Claire Lichtenstein, Healy Cruz and Diana Dacosta with additional editorial from Andrea Lopez Crusallo. Our theme music is by David Khan and I'm your host Naima Raza. I want to know all your dumb questions so we can help answer them. And we'll do a better job than the buttons thing, which we can't get to the bottom of. So send them to me. I'm naimaraza101mail.com I'll see you soon. Thanks.