← The Bossticks
The Bossticks
Ivanka Trump On Life Lessons, Leadership, Values, & How To Be Resilient Under Pressure
01:53:54
#796: Join us as we sit down with Ivanka Trump – a devoted mother, accomplished entrepreneur, visionary builder, strategic investor, bestselling author, philanthropist, & former Senior Advisor to the President. In this episode, Ivanka...
Loading summary
Transcript377 lines
- [00:00]
Michael Bostick
The following podcast is a Dear Media.
- [00:02]
Ivanka Trump
Production this episode is brought to you by the Skinny Confidential. I have had access to some really incredible scientists, doctors, experts, and over the last 10 years I have put together the top three things that I wanted in a morning water. And those things are electrolytes to hydrate in the morning before you have coffee, obviously colostrum to support collagen production, and pearl powder because it strengthens the hair, skin and nails. I could not find one product on the market that had these things combined, so I created my own. And I wanted it unflavored. Okay? I wanted it unflavored because I wanted you to be able to add it to anything. I wanted you to be able to add it to your water in the morning, your bone broth, your coffee, your tea, your smoothies, anything you're drinking. It's absolutely incredible. Before coffee. Like this is. This is the supplement before coffee. This is the way to optimize your morning. Get it before it sells out@shopskinnyconfidential.com we launch it today.
- [01:12]
Lauren Everts
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
- [01:15]
Michael Bostick
Fantastic.
- [01:16]
Lauren Everts
And he's a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostick are bringing you along for the ride.
- [01:23]
Ivanka Trump
Get ready for some major realness.
- [01:25]
Lauren Everts
Welcome to the sky, Skinny Confidential.
- [01:28]
Michael Bostick
Him and her.
- [01:32]
Ivanka Trump
I have had the pleasure of getting to know Ivanka Trump over the past few months and I can tell you that she is even more impressive than you could ever imagine. She is cool and thoughtful and well read and she's funny. I really like her. She's a devoted mother, an accomplished entrepreneur, a visionary builder, strategic investor, best selling author, philanthropist, and the former senior senior advisor to the President. I am very inspired by how she helped with the iconic redevelopment of the old Post Office building in Washington D.C. you guys also might recognize her from her global fashion brand. This brand generated hundreds of millions in sales in apparel, bags and shoes. I think people don't realize what a businesswoman Ivanka is. She also starred on the hit TV show the Apprentice, she's authored two best selling books, she's served in government, and she also led the effort to double the child tax credit. She's really done it all. This credit benefited 40 million American families and it also secured paid leave for the federal workforce. She's really made a mark. I sat down at lunch with her before this interview and I got to hear about how she's channeling her energy into investing and incubating businesses. She's really interested in helping entrepreneurs who align with her interests and passions, she's also returning to her real estate roots and developing luxury hotels. We're really excited though, in this episode to dive deeper into the story of Ivanka Trump. I wanted to hear from her directly about her journey from New York to D.C. to Miami and what she's learned along the way. In this episode, you'll get a bag of Chex Mix so you'll hear how her priorities have changed. You'll hear what brings her happiness, the impact she's made across all different industries, her thoughts on everything from creatine to Brazilian jujitsu. We get the Ivanka Trump smoothie, beauty, weightlifting, time management, and how she continues to shape the future through her passions and pursuits. She barely does podcasts, so I'm honored to welcome my friend Ivanka to the him and her show.
- [03:47]
Lauren Everts
This is the Skinny Confidential.
- [03:49]
Michael Bostick
Him and her.
- [03:52]
Ivanka Trump
This is your second podcast, right?
- [03:54]
Michael Bostick
Only second.
- [03:54]
Lauren Everts
This is the only second time you've done it.
- [03:56]
Michael Bostick
Uh huh.
- [03:56]
Ivanka Trump
Wow.
- [03:57]
Michael Bostick
I love listening to podcasts too. I started initially, I'm an avid reader, so I listen now to a lot of books and I toggle back and forth between them because I'm always like just pounding through books and it allows me to both have enjoy sort of the page and the feeling of having a book in my hand. But in Miami, I drive a lot, so if I get into a book, I normally start with it in hard form and and then I start listening to it if I really like it after I give myself like an hour if I'm into it, I also buy it on audible and then I go back and forth between the two. So I got used to because of that listening and it was right around the same time I got into podcasts and now I'm always listening to something almost to like my detriment because I think for all of us, we need sort of the calm, the peace, the noise to just be taken down. And I'm like such a voracious consumer of information that I find myself sometimes filling the quiet moments with learning or a podcast or a book. So I don't know. I think my commitment is to have more sort of quiet drives in 2025.
- [05:09]
Ivanka Trump
What podcasts are you listening to? What are your go tos?
- [05:12]
Michael Bostick
I listen to everything. I listen to you guys. I think you're great.
- [05:17]
Ivanka Trump
I'll take it.
- [05:17]
Michael Bostick
I love Lex Friedman. He's become a good friend of mine and I know he' austin based here. I recently met Theo Vaughn and I think he's so funny. He's such a nice Guy. He's so sincere and curious and I love the podcasts he does. He does these podcasts with just interesting people from all walks of life. So I find that really interesting. I listened to one recently with a carny. I listened to one with, with somebody who'd worked in sanitation, Staten island for 25 years. I think it's just awesome. So I like that a lot. There are a few business shows I really like. This guy Patrick has a great show. He just interviewed my husband and it was really interesting. What's the show called? It's called Invest like the best. He has great stuff. There's another great one called Acquired I really like. That's a great business show. And then a person who I'd been listening to for a while and subsequently I met, he's Miami based. David Senra has a podcast that's really good. You'd actually love it.
- [06:22]
Lauren Everts
Is it the founders one?
- [06:23]
Michael Bostick
Founders.
- [06:24]
Lauren Everts
Okay.
- [06:24]
Ivanka Trump
That one's a good.
- [06:25]
Michael Bostick
He is just so passionate about reading, specifically books on business biographies and autobiographies. And he made a podcast out of just discussing various books he was reading. And it's great because he'll read quotes from them. He'll talk you through the whole arc of the book. But over time, like Steve Jobs, he's done five episodes on Steve, so he'll pull in from other episodes and other biographies or autobiographies. He'll pull in material as well. So you really, over the course of an hour, you really get to know the person. He's profiling in a very intimate way. So it's great. And I've discovered a lot of really great thinkers through that podcast that then I've subsequently gone back and read their book. So it allows me like a little nibble at sort of their wisdom. And then sometimes I dive in more. It's really good.
- [07:19]
Ivanka Trump
Have you always been like this since you were a little girl? Were you always this learner, consumer of information when you go back?
- [07:28]
Michael Bostick
I've always really loved learning and I would say, like a constant in my life has been just a huge curiosity about everything. Like there's no obvious thread that ties it all together. You know, I was never. There were certain trends that I was, you know, I was always interested in real estate, I was always interested in design. I always loved history. But I find these things and my way of researching is to read my way of tackling new experiences. I've often found myself at, at the deep end of, of life, you know, having to sort of sink or swim and. And one of My the early ways I so of embark on the process of trying to meet the moment is through reading. It's amazing. I mean, for $30, you can learn somebody's life wisdom and they give it to you. And having written a book myself, my husband wrote a book, I know just how much work goes into a book. Somebody will tell you all their secrets. And so it's an amazing way to contextualize an experience you're having or to learn about something new. Like right now, I'm super fascinated in AI and robotics, so I'll call up a friend. Actually, I called Lex on this. He gave me some suggestions, but another professor, also at mit, actually, I called him up and I said, look, I don't need a degree. This was maybe two years ago. I don't need a degree, but I really want to understand at a higher level artificial intelligence and this sort of coming wave, the challenges, the opportunities, like, can you create a curriculum? As if I was a freshman at mit, can you just create something for me of materials I can read, of articles I can read, of podcasts that you think are particularly informative? And he said, sure. Three weeks later, I'd kind of forgotten about it. I thought he had as well. He sends me this beautiful curriculum that I pounded through over the next five months, and it was amazing.
- [09:29]
Lauren Everts
And is he a professor that does like, that teaches about AI?
- [09:32]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, he's. He's an AI professor at mit. So that was like. It was an easier ask of me to make. But I've done that with. With friends who are just subject matter experts in different fields where I start to get curious. And I realize that I could spend a lot of time trying to curate from a place that's not so knowledgeable, or normally you can make a few phone calls and, you know, somebody will help you out. So it's just. It's my way of learning and exploring topics.
- [09:57]
Lauren Everts
You sound like someone that when you get into something, you kind of get obsessed, but you don't necessarily want to dedicate your entire life. You just want like a base level of expertise. Does that sound accurate?
- [10:07]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, so it depends how far I want to go with it. I mean, something like AI not being a mathematician or a computer scientist, there's probably a cap on how far I can go with it. But one of the cool things about that particular space is the amount of entrepreneurialism, that layer. So if you know the capabilities and you have a lot of sort of reverence for it and a little bit of fear, there's just a lot of thinking you can do in collaboration with the people who are the subject matter experts.
- [10:42]
Lauren Everts
We were just talking about this the other day.
- [10:44]
Ivanka Trump
Not that you need another career, but you would be a good podcast host because you're curious. I mean, and you do know a lot of different people. You would make a very good podcast host.
- [10:54]
Michael Bostick
Well, thank you.
- [10:55]
Ivanka Trump
You've lived a lot of lives. You've been a businesswoman, an advisor, a mom, someone navigating politics, family entrepreneur. When you grew up with the last name Trump, how did that shape how you thought about success?
- [11:10]
Michael Bostick
You know, it's interesting. Growing up in Manhattan, I had a lot of people around me whose parents were very accomplished, were either public figures themselves or had experienced great success, wealth, fame, whatever it may be, and great, I guess, material success, I should say. And I found that their children tended to fall into one of two categories. They were either real strivers and oftentimes extremely successful, or they never got out of the gate and they never made an effort because they were paralyzed by a fear of failure and by not living up to the potential or the expectations that were set for them by society. I very seldom found people in the middle. You know, it kind of seemed to take two extremes, and a lot of people would really take themselves out of the game really young. You know, I'd see it at. When we were in middle school and in high school, you could just feel that they were afraid. They were afraid of not living up. And I think seeing my parents, their passion, their energy, their commitment to their work, it made the prospect of sort of accomplishing things in my life and having an impact exciting and something that felt aspirational. It felt aspirational in our household. But I also just chose to take the natural sort of insecurity, fear, self doubt, and. And harness it to propel me forward. And I see this in my daughter now. You know, she is. It's an amazing thing how nobody is going to motivate her more than she motivates herself. You know, that motivation comes from within, sometimes to a standard where it borders on perfectionism, where I'm the one actually pulling her back from striving to be so good at everything. And so I think the best kind of motivation is that that comes from within. And sometimes it takes a while to find. Sometimes it takes just being exposed to the right mentor, the right teacher, the right path. But early on, I used all of the insecurity I had and the doubt that others would thrust upon me that, you know, well, it's just because anything she accomplishes it's just because X, Y, Z. And I use that to really motivate me to work harder, to dream bigger, and to just go for it.
- [13:45]
Lauren Everts
Meaning, like, no matter what you accomplish, there's always going to be some people that will say, well, because of who the parents were or who your dad or your mom was, they're always going to. They're going to say, like, that was easy or given or granted.
- [13:57]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. And that's been true in every phase of my life, from real estate to fashion, and will always be true. And that's okay because I can't prove them wrong.
- [14:09]
Ivanka Trump
You know, I think you've proven them wrong.
- [14:11]
Michael Bostick
But it's not even. I don't know, like, I am who I am. I'm proud of where I came from. I had certain tremendous advantages in my life. I've had some challenges in my life as well. And so these are all things just, I have to be comfortable with who I am. And I also, you know, I think as I've gotten older and as I think about the lessons I pass on to my own children, you know, there's like, nothing out there. Nobody can validate you, and nobody should be able to take you down. Like, that all has to also come from within. So I think most people's suffering comes from the need for validation of other people. And that's true in one's professional life as well. You know, you have to be doing it for yourself and for the right reasons. Otherwise, I think there's a real ceiling on either where you can go, because nobody works harder than somebody who loves what they do. Nobody. Or a ceiling on your personal joy and peace and happiness within your own life.
- [15:16]
Ivanka Trump
Where do you think your confidence comes from? You're very confident. If someone's listening and they don't feel confident, how would you advise them?
- [15:24]
Michael Bostick
I'm not always confident. I have fears and anxieties, just like everyone. I think as I've grown into myself, I become more comfortable with who I am. And I've adopted an attitude of, it just feels better to be me, you know, than to try to be something else, even if people don't like it. So I think my confidence or any confidence that I project comes from just being increasingly more comfortable in my own skin. But I still have insecurities. And all the rest of the things that most people, if they're really being honest and if they're being introspective, will admit to also having. But I think also confidence. I mean, I look back and I think about me as a 16 year old, and I was so ambitious. And, you know, I was. There's some video footage of me looking out of over the New York City skyline and saying, you know, I can't wait to transform the skyline with towers that I'll build. And it's like, there's like a really cute confidence that comes with having not stepped out into the world yet, you know, that like, only almost somebody who's really young can have. And then there's real confidence, which comes from accumulated experience, hopefully combined with success. Right. And like, that you can't. Like, I look back and I was like, that's really sweet. Like, that's super cute. I see it in my kids. You know, the confidence that's just like being young and being totally unafraid. And then, you know, I think you learn lessons in life and even those small wins, like, some of the best things that ever happened to me were some of the victory laps. I'm sure you both have experienced this, that now you look back, you're like. I'm not even sure if that was like a real milestone, but it felt so good to like, you know, slay some task or to perform beyond your expectations. And you get a few of those and get going, and the momentum is incredible.
- [17:26]
Lauren Everts
I was fortunate. It sounds like you were fortunate as well. And so it was Lauren that we had parents that really encouraged us. You know, we know people that have had parents that have done the opposite where they kind of like, say, ah, maybe that's too much for you. Maybe you can't do that. You had two powerhouse parents that I don't think a lot of people realize. They work together on a lot of things. When you think back on their relationship and your upbringing, what. What lessons do you. Of all the things they've taught you, both your mom and your dad, what are some of the biggest lessons each of them taught you?
- [17:55]
Michael Bostick
Wow. So many. Starting with my mother, she really was this unbelievable role model for what a working woman could be. Almost in mythological terms, you know, she was impossibly glamorous while also being a working woman at a time when there were many, many more barriers, much higher expectations for both her in a boardroom context, much less forgivable absences for a school play or a doctor's appointment, but also a working woman at a time when, you know, other mothers would often look down on that. So she was straddling challenges that feel familiar to many of us, but in a different way because it was a different time. And she really showed me that I could pursue My dreams and be in a professional capacity and be a great mom. I used to go to her every day after school, and she was the CEO of the Plaza Hotel, the iconic hotel in New York. And I'd go with her on walks, and it was literally like a more well behaved Eloise at the Plaza. I'd run behind her and just watch her do her thing. And my father was the same. There was never explicit instruction. I kind of wish I'd gotten a little bit of that. Like, sort of sitting me down and saying, this is how I like to be. This is how I conduct myself. Did you notice this? It was purely observational. So they never jammed it down our throat, you know, come and work with us in this capacity. But if we were curious and if we were interested, like, they would always want us around. So I would spend my weekends on construction sites just trailing behind. And you learn a lot like that. But I remember my mother, her attention to detail is second to none. Like, it was amazing. And you could see that in the way she. She carried herself and, like, moved through the world, but also in the development projects and construction projects she managed. And later on, I remember once when I couldn't have been older than six or seven, and part of me thinks that this isn't even a real memory, that it was a dream because it's too fantastical. But I remember going to visit her at the Trump Castle, a casino in Atlantic City that she ran. And we walk into the lobby, and as casinos have, they have, you know, the whole ceiling is covered with chandeliers. And we get on the escalator and she points, like, one perfectly lacquered finger up to the sky and doesn't even tilt her head, at least in my memory, and says to the general manager, there's a light bulb out, and I'm like, whoa. And I'm like. And I look up and it's like more lights than there are stars in the sky.
- [20:50]
Ivanka Trump
I'm like, oh, that's funny.
- [20:51]
Michael Bostick
Where. Which one? I'm like, is she. Is there even a light bulb?
- [20:55]
Ivanka Trump
That's funny.
- [20:56]
Michael Bostick
But, like, that level of crazy detail was my mother.
- [21:00]
Ivanka Trump
She's also so funny, too. There was. I feel like there was like this energy where she didn't take herself so seriously.
- [21:07]
Michael Bostick
Oh, my goodness.
- [21:07]
Ivanka Trump
Which was like, she's so glamorous. She doesn't take herself so seriously. But then she's such an editor and curator. She was probably very disruptive for all these men.
- [21:16]
Michael Bostick
Oh, yeah.
- [21:17]
Ivanka Trump
Oh, I can imagine.
- [21:18]
Michael Bostick
Well, I told you, it's not Uncommon because I developed quite a number of buildings myself. It's not uncommon to have generational people in the trades. And I'd meet a grandson whose. I'd meet somebody on a job site who was the grandson of somebody who'd worked with my grandfather, whose father typically seldom at the time, mother worked with my mother. And I'd hear these crazy stories about how they'd hear her feet on, like, the concrete slab that had been poured three days earlier. She'd hear the heels and know she was coming. So she was just remarkable person. But I think, to your point, she was very funny. I mean, she. One of the most underrated things about my father is his sense of humor.
- [22:00]
Lauren Everts
I don't think it's underrated at all. I think he's one of the funniest.
- [22:02]
Michael Bostick
People are starting to get it, but for a long time, like, people didn't quite get it. I got it. But my mother was exactly like that, and she made him look PC. So she was like. It was a wild household I lived in. But she would say exactly what she was thinking, always, much to my chagrin as a child.
- [22:24]
Lauren Everts
Why I believe you is I told you when we spoke on the phone that we have a mutual friend with Nikki Haskell.
- [22:27]
Michael Bostick
Oh, yeah.
- [22:28]
Lauren Everts
And she sings your mother's praises and tells. She was telling us these stories years ago about how your mom would be in business settings and in the casino and how she was like the detail person.
- [22:37]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [22:37]
Lauren Everts
And she would recognize, like, every small thing you couldn't get to.
- [22:40]
Michael Bostick
Everything. Yeah, everything. And, you know, you said this in thinking about, like, that, that detail, the. In some ways over the top glamour. You know, she was like, glamorous in the way that the times were, the 80s, the 90s, the sense of humor. So I think a lot of that was her rebellion against the austerity of her upbringing. And she left only when she was in her early 20s. So this was really her whole childhood. I mean, she was in Prague at Charles University during the Prague Spring and the uprising. So this. She was skiing at the time. And she'd come back from ski meets. The only people in communist countries who are really allowed leave the country are athletes. So they allow them to go and participate in competitions. And so she was on the then junior national team. She would tell me how she'd come back after a ski race from Austria or wherever they had gone. And she had to first, before going home, check in at the local police department, where they'd interview her for two hours about her experience. Did you like the Food. Did you like the culture? Did you like the clothing? Testing to see if she was a flight risk. So she couldn't like it too much, but she couldn't be blase about it to the point where they would know she was faking. So at 14, she knew she had to navigate this middle ground. She actually told me that, you know, it didn't take long before all of these people became her best friends because she came home with perfumes and pantyhose for them to give to their wives. And she's like, they left me alone. My interviews were shorter than anyone. Smart. But, like, as a fortune, she was navigating this. And I think that's why when she got to America, she was so unapologetic about saying whatever she wanted to, wearing whatever she wanted to. And I think she really, really reveled and embraced that freedom when she came here.
- [24:37]
Ivanka Trump
At what point did she meet your father? And then at what point did they have kids and. Tell me, just so I know who was first.
- [24:46]
Michael Bostick
My older brother, Dawn. Okay, so I'm the middle child.
- [24:49]
Ivanka Trump
So how did that meeting go?
- [24:51]
Michael Bostick
Depends who you ask.
- [24:52]
Ivanka Trump
Okay. Because I read it in her book, but I just. I'd like to know from you.
- [24:56]
Michael Bostick
They had a pretty short and intense courtship. And, you know, she was skiing in Canada at the time and modeling and skiing up there. And she had come to New York as part of a group promoting the Montreal Olympics. So they met at, I think it was Maxime's, the sort of famous 80s restaurant, and hit it off almost immediately. But in, you know, they both tell some version of a hilarious story when they first went skiing together, and he didn't quite know how good she was at the time, which is kind of amazing that that didn't come up in conversation. But he didn't know she was as good as she was. So he had gone out, and the first few days, she hadn't been feeling well, so she stayed at home. And he'd gotten a couple lessons. I was feeling really good. He's like, well, you know, I got a couple of lessons. I'm doing well. I'm gonna show her how to do it. Day three, she comes on the mountain. She starts to ski. She's gone like she was. This was. I don't think I turned until I was 15 years old, because she wasn't one of these people to wait for you. So she did two turns and was at the bottom of the mountain. He's halfway up with his ski boots. So he jokes about how he took. He couldn't figure out how to get his boot out of the binding. It was only his third day, and he was so frustrated. He took off the whole boot still in the binding and, like, sent the mountain and walked up to the lodge. And it took him, like, another three months before they skied together again or another season, whatever it was.
- [26:22]
Lauren Everts
But she was very athletic.
- [26:23]
Michael Bostick
Very, very. Her father was also a great athlete. He taught her how to ski. They had no lifts, so they'd have to carry their skis on their back between each run. They'd walk up the hill. Anytime I complained about it being cold, you know, in Aspen.
- [26:42]
Ivanka Trump
Yeah.
- [26:42]
Michael Bostick
My mother would be like, get out there. Your first tracks. You're not off. Like, short hot chocolate breaks. Otherwise, I'm making you walk up the skill with your ski. Yeah. Up the hill.
- [26:51]
Lauren Everts
I think there's hope for Lauren. Lauren, I think there's hope for you. We're going to get you.
- [26:54]
Michael Bostick
I think so.
- [26:55]
Lauren Everts
We've had some rough roads on the slopes.
- [26:58]
Michael Bostick
I've taught many of my friends. I'm not ski skiing. You'd be like, putting my skis around you and carrying you down the bottom.
- [27:04]
Ivanka Trump
I think you'd be like. She turns into a bit of a.
- [27:07]
Lauren Everts
Different person on the ski slope. It's a bit jarring, to be honest.
- [27:09]
Ivanka Trump
I've thrown poles at him crying.
- [27:12]
Michael Bostick
Have you ever done the hook where you hook the back of their jacket?
- [27:15]
Ivanka Trump
I try. I've done all. I've hit you in the face, I mean, but similar.
- [27:18]
Lauren Everts
She throws the boots off and the skis on the middle of the slope and everything starts flying down.
- [27:24]
Michael Bostick
It's so good. I want to see. I want to see that. Oh, I want to see that.
- [27:27]
Ivanka Trump
It's embarrassing. When was the momentum in your career started? Like, what was the first thread where you realized you were entrepreneurial? And I almost think, like, go back, because I remember seeing a video of you modeling walking down the Runway when you were very young. Like, back, back.
- [27:44]
Michael Bostick
You know, it's always been really core to me. I was always conceptualizing the businesses I would create or dreaming of the buildings that I would build. It actually was more rooted in real estate early on in my life. But I always had, you know, something I was creating and selling to my friends or solutions I was trying to provide for them. So I would say it's always been, since my earliest memories, that's always been a big part of my life. And, you know, I find innovating to be really inspiring. I like problem solving. And I think when you're building businesses or you're sort of putting yourself in a space where you're identifying solutions for problems that haven't been devised yet. It's just fun, like you can do. And I think of stuff all the time that I'm never actually going to do, but I feel like it creates a certain flexibility to your thinking and it's a good skill. I play this game with my kids all the time where I'll ask them, if you could invent one thing that doesn't exist, what would it be? And I get the funniest answers. It's fun because they really have. With my son Theo, it's always something relating to football. But it's cute to see sort of what they see as sticky points in their own lives and sometimes really like almost comical and sometimes like brilliant solutions they apply towards it.
- [29:14]
Lauren Everts
Our son would just bring back the dinosaurs. That's all he would do right now.
- [29:17]
Michael Bostick
You know, there are, I've spoken to a few companies that are basically seeking to do this. They're creating through DNA, they're bringing plants and animals back from extinction. This is actually happening.
- [29:33]
Lauren Everts
I feel like if they bring back.
- [29:34]
Michael Bostick
The friendly ones, they're doing it with like a woolly mammoth and like a dodo.
- [29:37]
Ivanka Trump
They better be cute. Now that sounds like Jurassic Park.
- [29:39]
Michael Bostick
It's wild. And I feel like we've all seen the movie, so to speak. Like you really have to be careful.
- [29:45]
Lauren Everts
We've seen the Terminator, we've seen Jurassic Park.
- [29:48]
Michael Bostick
We know what could happen here.
- [29:49]
Ivanka Trump
So your company that you launched a while back was incredibly successful and I told you this on the phone, I cannot believe how entrepreneurial you are. How did you have that idea and how did you put it into action and execute it and make it so successful?
- [30:04]
Michael Bostick
It actually arose pretty organically. I met my first 11 different partners in my fashion and accessories brand on a real estate deal. He also was in real estate, but his primary business was fine jewelry. So we started talking about at the time how there was really no retail experience for self purchasing women. And so many of us didn't want to wait for anniversaries or Christmas or Valentine's Day to buy ourselves a bracelet we really loved with our hard earned paychecks. So we started talking about how we would create an experience that really catered towards that working woman who was a self purchaser. And that was the beginning. And it started with fine jewelry. And then we launched footwear and we had some great shoes. It is not uncommon for me to have three people stop me in a day and tell Me that they've resold the shoes 10 times because they miss them so much. They were chic and comfortable and accessibly priced and amazing. And then we went into apparel and we did some great dresses and coats and sunglasses and fragrance and handbags and the whole gamut. So it grew to be a very big business. But it really was just a response to a need that I saw in the marketplace. You'd look at what people were wearing during the workday and it was super non aspirational, like nobody was snapping a photo of like their, the outfit that they were wearing from Ann Taylor going into the office and nothing felt multidimensional. So you know, I wanted to have a dress that I put on in the morning that I could drop my kids off at school in that I could go to the office and feel confident and look professional and that afterwards I could go on a date with my husband or be sitting on the floor of, you know, my kids room playing block. Something that could take me through the day and help me feel confident in all of the dimensions in which I existed. So we set out to do that and it was great. It was like lightning in a bottle. We ended up growing the business. We were doing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales annually at the time I closed it down when I went into government.
- [32:23]
Lauren Everts
Did we force you to close it down or is it just a conflict of.
- [32:26]
Michael Bostick
Well, it was, you know, in accordance with the Office of Government Ethics. They basically look at every asset you have, every business you have, and tell you what they believe you should do with it to avoid a conflict of interest. And then you have to do those things if you want your form to be certified and be able to take a position work unless it's certified. So you have these third parties that have to certify your financial statements annually. So they went through everything and said, you have to sell this, you have to put this in trust, you have to divest, you have to whatever their litmus test. And I did it. So that was part of.
- [33:04]
Lauren Everts
Is that hard for you to do or was it.
- [33:06]
Michael Bostick
No. So I initially put it into trust and I had an incredibly capable group of people who were operating it. I could have no involvement whatsoever. But it's very hard to put something in a holding pattern for a number of years. So when it became clear to me that I was staying four years to have a business where you've put boundaries on it, where it can't grow anymore, you can't do new deals, you can't. I can't promote it, obviously, I can't have any transparency into it. It just felt like, you know, what this feels like. I'd prefer. I always prefer to end things on a high note. And four years without in a very static place, I think would have been anticlimactive for me. Plus, I also realized that, you know, coming out of government, my life would be so different and I'd want new challenges. So, you know, I'm always looking forward. That was an amazing phase of my life. And, you know, at the same time I was building that business, I was spearheading most of the major construction and development projects we had at the Trump Organization. So I was redeveloping the old post office in Washington, D.C. which is an iconic and beautiful asset right on Pennsylvania Avenue. I was rebuilding. I had bought and was spearheading the redevelopment of Trump Doral in Miami, Florida, which is hundreds of acres right in Miami. It was five golf courses. We sold one of them, so now it's four and over 700 hotel rooms, soup to nuts, redevelopment. So I had a lot of different things on my plate, but going through four years where I had to completely separate from my life, including the city I grew up in, New York City, everything. It's this interesting sort of wall that you have to create. When you come out, suddenly you're, like, really untethered. And for me, it was a time of amazing introspection rather than, I think, the tendency to just, like, go back to what you know and reconnect old wires, you know, rejoin our family business or relaunch something I'd previously done or anything. I really took a lot of time to think about, okay, what have I learned in the last few years? What did I learn during that period of time? What am I most passionate about? And what do I want this next chapter of my life to look like? So it's really been a time of prioritizing my curiosity and thinking forward while simultaneously just going super deep with my kids because I recognize they've always been my top priority. But my time in service was really. It was really challenging to find a balance that worked well. To parents serving in the West Wing.
- [35:52]
Ivanka Trump
If you are busy, I have a hack for you. If you don't have time to go on big shopping sprees, this is it. Our next partner really solved this clothing problem. They solved it once and for all. It's called Daily Look. So everyone wants to be fashionable, but between everything that's going on with your job, family, friends, for me recording this podcast, it's hard to stay up to date with fashion. But not anymore. Dailylook. It solves everything for you. This is the number one highest rated premium personal shopping service for women. With Daily look, you get your own dedicated personal stylist to curate a box of clothes based on your body shape preferences and lifestyle. This is absolutely amazing. When I got my first box from Daily Look, I was shocked. The stylist really nailed it. I even got to wear one of their outfits to record the podcast. It's chic, chic, it's effortless, like I said. And most importantly, I didn't have to put it together, which is great. Their mission is simple. It's to elevate your style. That's why they work with the most established brands. So think like Kate Spade. Good American. They sent me something from Good American, Spiritual Gangster and Girlfriend Collective. Daily look has sizes for almost everybody too, which is great. It's time to get your own personal stylist with Daily Look. Head to DailyLook.com to take your style quiz and use code skinny. You get 50% off your first order. Once again, that's dailylook.com for 50 off. And make sure you use our promo code Skinny so they know we sent you one last time. Dailylook.com promo code skinny.
- [37:26]
D
If you're looking to hydrate, plump and soothe your skin, you have to check out Lancome's Genifique Ultimate Serum. This is a serum that was recommended to Me by Dr. Sheila. She has a podcast on Dear Media called Derma Proved. And I invited her on the him and her show and picked her brain about all the best products. She told me that there's three ingredients that she looks for in a product and this specific serum hits all of them. She likes a pure licorice extract. This is gonna soothe the skin and even out the skin tone. And then she absolutely loves hyaluronic acid, which hydrates and plumps. This product also has beta glucan in it, which is absolutely amazing for the skin texture and the skin's moisture barrier. These are going to hit sort of all the concerns that most people have. I have uneven skin tone from my pregnancies, and so this is a really good one. But I also like to use this serum in the morning for my facial manipulation. I'll like stretch my fascia and drain my face. And like De Puff and I always need a really nice serum. And the serum that I have been using is this one. It's by Lancome. It's Genifique Ultimate. 95% of women had visibly reduced fine lines and wrinkles and 97% of women had smoother skin, which is amazing. I like how this brand does studies, their clinical studies. I also really like this brand because it's a brand that my mom used when I was a little girl.
- [38:53]
Ivanka Trump
So there's varying.
- [38:53]
D
It's like a nostalgic aspect to it. This serum is so good that I can tell you that Michael Boston put it in his own drawer in his vanity and he uses it now. It's a really luxurious, beautiful one and.
- [39:07]
Ivanka Trump
I think you guys will love it.
- [39:08]
D
To hydrate and plump and improve skin tone, they gave you a code. You can Shop now on lancome-usa.com and use code TSC20. You get 20 off the Genifique ultimate.
- [39:22]
Lauren Everts
Quick break to talk about YNAB. It is a new year. Let this be the year that you have financial freedom or start working towards financial freedom. There is nothing worse than taking your hard earned money and wasting it. You put so much time and effort into earning money, you deserve to spend it without stress or second guessing. With Ynab spelled Y N A B, you have a life changing app that helps you do what you want with the money you have. You'll create a flexible plan for your money through the simple practice of giving every dollar a job, keeping you focused on the life that you want. Whether you want to cover your mortgage or fund a 401k without sacrificing dinners with friends or that long awaited trip to Greece with ynab, you'll stop wondering where your money goes and start deciding where it'll take you. There is nothing worse than being financially stressed and not knowing where your money's going, how you're saving it, how you're investing it. Ynab can help you do that. 92% of users report feeling less money stress since using Ynab and the average ynab user saved $600 in their first two months and $6,000 in their first year. Imagine what else you could be doing with another $6,000 in your pocket. So check it out. Life is short. Spend it well with YNAB. Of course we have an incredible offer TSC him and her show list can claim an exclusive three month free trial with no credit card required at www.ynab.com skinny. Again, that's www.ynab.com skinny ynab.com skinny you know you and your family have always had a public platform and I remember watch used to watch you on the Apprentice back in the day. But when, when Your dad became president the first time. What was that shift like for you? Because I imagine that overnight everything kind of changes. Where you always had the public kind of platform, but now it's a much different kind of platform.
- [41:11]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, very different. Extremely different. And it was also a very emotional time. So people were sort of processing the experience for the good and for the bad and in very individual, unique, sometimes highly counterproductive ways. But it was a time of extraordinary personal growth for me and learning. You know, I had been exposed to extraordinary things in business and in travel and in life. But there are communities that I never would have visited. There were issues that I never would have internalized and understood, people I never would have met. So I really think in retrospect, I was able to break free of a bubble that I didn't even know that I was in of the sort of Upper east side of New York.
- [42:04]
Ivanka Trump
Can you give us a specific example of something that was really, like, crazy for you to see while you were in office that you helped with maybe at some initiative that you worked on?
- [42:14]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, I think there's a big misunderstanding of the role that you played in the administration the first time. Maybe not a misunderstanding as much as a misconception and maybe a lack of knowledge.
- [42:22]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. So, you know, the way I viewed it is you have, unlike what you're building here, you know, where you build for longevity, you build. You have a finite period of time to have impact, and you think about that every day. And that's part of why the balance is so hard, because, you know, it's sand through an hourglass. So when my father was elected, I had no intention of serving. And he came to me and my husband and he asked for us to go with him. And this was not what I had set my life up for. I loved the life I was building. Our young family in New York. I had an eight month old son when we arrived in Washington and two children not that much older. I had businesses I was building. The trajectory of my life felt really exciting, like I was at that place now where I'd laid the foundation and it was growing. But there was no world in which I could imagine 40 years down the road having sort of put my head in the sand, said, no, continue doing what I was doing, and not looking back with regret that I hadn't helped. And, you know, I had very specific things I was passionate about that he empowered me to run after, and I did. And I feel a tremendous sense of privilege for having been given the opportunity. I'm so happy that Jared and I were able to be there to help. You know, this time it's so different because so many people are raising their hands and I'm so grateful to them. You know, we were like the pioneers. And he really, he knew no one in Washington. And you know, I had worked with him at that time over a decade and he trusted my ability very much to help him execute and of course, Jared. So, you know, I really wanted to figure out a way to help working families, especially working women, and lighten their load. I saw firsthand, you know, my team was comprised mainly of young women and I know the supports that they needed and I need to be able to do the thing that we love and pursue our professional dreams and for many more. It's far more existential than that to be able to put food on the table. And so I went down to Washington with that goal and I was incredibly focused on policies like I fought like hell to double the child tax credit and was really proud at the end of my first year to have accomplished that in tax cut. And that benefited 40 million American families over $2,500 a family on average. So that is like exciting and meaningful. We were able to do even pre Covid. Obviously we accelerated it during COVID but the largest ever block grants to the states for childcare support for working families, which was incredibly meaningful in terms of, of creating access to safe, nurturing and affordable childcare for families across the country. I did a lot on workforce vocational education and policies surrounding job skill acquisition. Working with the private sector to commit to reskilling mid to late career workers, as well as to commit to upskilling young workers to fill the vacancy that employers know before the government which technologies they're investing in that are going to automate certain jobs out of existence. So I felt like it was our role and with the bully pulpit we had at the White House to really call on the private sector to step up and to help reskill workers into the jobs they so desperately needed. I mean, the economy was at this point just soaring. So an amazing statistic. At one point, this was right pre Covid, 72% of all new jobs were coming from outside of the workforce. Not even unemployment, because the unemployment numbers were so low. So it was people really getting an opportunity to work who had been totally marginalized. They had either taken themselves out of the economy or had been out of the workforce so long they didn't count in the numbers. So what is the employee? All of these business leaders who are saying we need more workers, we need More workers? What's their role in creating programs that can help skill those people that are on the sidelines? So over 15 million commitments were made by the private sector as part of this pledge to America's workers. I did a lot on human trafficking, which is something that I did not go to D.C. with the intention of advocating for. I knew very little about. But in the early days of my being in the White House, I took a meeting. And once you're exposed to the horror of human trafficking, I mean, there is no greater human rights violation.
- [46:56]
Lauren Everts
When you get in that position or in that role, are you immediately flooded with information that you just don't have access to as a regular citizen?
- [47:03]
Michael Bostick
You are like, your aperture goes like this. And I think that's what I've spent a lot of the last few years just backing entrepreneurs I believe in, in fields that I never would have even understood. Because you just learn, even if it's not part of your portfolio. You're exposed to so much in terms of what's happening in synthetic biology, quantum computing, you name it. That being in fashion and real estate in New York, you may not have otherwise dug into. So I. I feel like my world just widened materially, and not because those were the things that I was necessarily spearheading. But you learn and you become close with your colleagues, and they share that which they're passionate about. And it was. So. It was an extraordinary period of growth. But I think going back to the original question, I think where I changed the most and where I expanded the most was just meeting more people that represented different facets of America and American life and the American experience. And that, to me, is something that I'm so grateful for. And, you know, I. Because I was somewhat well known when I traveled, I would really meet people and they'd come to me and share their stories. And one of the unique things about being in that position is, is people will tell you in 40 seconds. You may meet them for a minute passing through an airport or at the end of a roundtable, and they will share with you their greatest fears, their biggest hopes, their most intimate secrets, things they haven't told their spouses, things they haven't told their children in this short period of time. And it hits hard, I think. Made me. I hope made me. I think, first off, being a parent makes you more empathetic. It should at least, I think. But this really opened my mind in a tremendous way.
- [49:09]
Ivanka Trump
You mentioned that you worked with your father before the White House. What are the traits that you and Jared bring to your father that complement his. Like, what would he. He obviously wanted to keep working with you.
- [49:21]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [49:22]
Ivanka Trump
So what are those traits that he loves about you?
- [49:24]
Michael Bostick
Well, the Secret Service nicknamed Jared the Mechanic because he is an unbelievable problem solver. You know, he sees the world.
- [49:32]
Ivanka Trump
It's great for you.
- [49:33]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, it's phenomenal. Yeah. And this does not just apply to geopolitics. It applies to all facets of life, including working the coffee machine. So that's the most important thing. Very importantly. Very importantly. But, you know, I think that for both of us, we're really good at execution. So when we run at something, we tend to get there. My father saw that in me, having worked directly with me, you know, as years passed, he put himself in the position that is every parent's dream when they're at the helm of a family company, where he could really step back and focus on that, which he enjoyed doing, knowing that all else was in capable hands. So he started really focusing on golf. He loves to play golf. So he would design the golf courses, and I would spearhead the acquisitions of the projects and the redevelopment of them. And I would come to him for advice and guidance and with a lot of humility around what I don't know. And I think he recognized in me that I was unafraid to say I don't understand, I don't know. It's part of my process of learning by asking the right people a lot of questions. And so I think he recognized that I had the ability to know what I didn't know and that I had a sort of drive and dogged commitment to accomplishing goals. That has always been helpful to him in business, and he thought it would be so in politics as well. Same with Jared.
- [51:03]
Ivanka Trump
When you were doing all of that, how did you think about health, beauty, all these different things? Cause you're doing such a crazy job.
- [51:11]
Michael Bostick
Oh, no. I was, like, vitamin D deficient.
- [51:13]
Ivanka Trump
Yeah, I did.
- [51:13]
Michael Bostick
I was like. I look back at these pictures, I'm like, oh, my gosh. I don't think I saw sunlight for four years. I exercise, to me at that point in time was going on a weekly run with Jared on Saturday mornings or chasing the kids around the house in the evening. So I think I had a good base in that. I was never a gym person, but I loved sports. So sports have always been this huge part of my life.
- [51:38]
Lauren Everts
What sports do you like besides skiing?
- [51:40]
Michael Bostick
So I love skiing. I love surfing, but that's a recent sport. I just love it. There's few things I enjoy doing More I like racket sports, so I grew up playing tennis, but now in Miami, everyone's into Padel, and I have friends who are into pickle. I play that less, but it's, you know, sort of fun and social. I most recently got into jiu jitsu, courtesy of my daughter Arabella, who I'm just so in awe of because this was. She's now 13, but at 11, and she came to me and said, you know, as a woman, I feel like I need to know how to defend myself. And I don't have a confidence level yet that I can do that. Can you get me. Can you sign me up for a self defense class? And my jaw just hit the ground because at 11, I don't know what I was doing. I was like thinking about boys or something, but I was not thinking about being able to physically defend myself. And so I thought it was the coolest thing. So I called a few friends and I asked for recommendations. And I got a recommendation for these brothers in Miami, the Valente brothers, who are amazing. And I started driving her to these classes. She started asking me to join, I joined. Then my two sons wanted to do what their older sister was doing. Then my husband joined.
- [52:57]
Lauren Everts
It's supposed to be really good for kids, right?
- [52:58]
Michael Bostick
It is good for everyone. And it's like multiple things I like. So it meshes physical movement. It's almost like a moving meditation because the movements are so micro. It's like three dimensional chess. You know, everything. And now it's funny. Like I'll watch like ultimate fighting. And you see some of these moves are so subtle and they'll like break out of a whole. It's like fun to watch it now having just sort of a. I mean.
- [53:25]
Lauren Everts
You can start going to the matches like a blue belt.
- [53:26]
Michael Bostick
So I'm not. I'm not really knowing what's going on, but I've just.
- [53:30]
Lauren Everts
I don't want to learn because she could fold me into a pretzel and I can't have that. I don't think that's. That's the last thing I need.
- [53:34]
Michael Bostick
I have a feeling, Lauren, you could already do that.
- [53:36]
Ivanka Trump
Ah, I could do a lot of things. A lot. I got a lot of things.
- [53:39]
Michael Bostick
And you may not always not want her to do that.
- [53:41]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, that's true. I am careful too.
- [53:43]
Michael Bostick
I'm going to be folded into a pretzel today.
- [53:45]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, let's see what happens.
- [53:47]
Ivanka Trump
I'm good right now. I'm actually good.
- [53:49]
Michael Bostick
It's. It's fun. You guys would love it. And It's. It, like, satisfies both. There's, like, a real spiritualism to it. Like, it's the grounding in sort of samurai tradition and culture and wisdom. I love philosophy. I would say one of the core parts of my life. And we were talking before about, like, knowledge acquisition. I've always loved reading philosophy. I use it as sort of a guide for life generally. And I find jiu jitsu combines physical movement and philosophy in an amazing way.
- [54:24]
Ivanka Trump
So I think you're selling me on it.
- [54:25]
Michael Bostick
Yes.
- [54:25]
Lauren Everts
You know, it's funny because my. I. I boxed when I was younger, and I. I don't regret it because you learn a lot, but I don't think it was the best. Like, I had a problem with the septum and nose has been broken, and probably because I wasn't good enough, but there's. I. I like jiu jitsu for kids because it. It feels like a competitive way to do combat sports, but without doing the damage that someone like myself did when I was younger. Does that make sense?
- [54:49]
Michael Bostick
Oh, 100%.
- [54:49]
Lauren Everts
Like, I don't. I don't think it's necessarily the best thing for kids to take a bunch of.
- [54:53]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, and it's also, you know, boxing. There's a reason why people wear gloves, because if you actually punch someone in the face, you'll break your hand. So I think what I love about Jiu jitsu is at least the discipline we practice is. It's very focused on extracting yourself from a situation and then doing harm only if you need to. So I like the fact that, in theory, I've not been challenged where somebody's confronted me, that having these skills make you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely to.
- [55:24]
Ivanka Trump
Don't mess with the fight.
- [55:25]
Michael Bostick
You know, there's no, like, aggressiveness. It's like, once you have a confidence that you can sort of move out of a situation, there's a real focus on elevating awareness, which I think. Like, I walk through New York and I'm, like, shocked every day when I make it 10 blocks and somebody on my left or right hasn't been hit by a car. You know, nobody looks up, everyone's on their phone. There's, like, a complete lack of awareness. And by the way, I'm. I'm. I'm guilty of this myself. But there's. I think this, like, having an awareness of what's happening around you is super important, and it's still the same.
- [55:58]
Lauren Everts
We did an episode with our friend who's a former seal, who's on the dev group. And we were talking all about just the basic safety of just being aware.
- [56:07]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [56:07]
Lauren Everts
Like of all the other things, you know, self defense and security, all that. Basically just being aware of what's around you. I always find it so crazy when. And you see these videos of people just getting nailed in the streets or pushed, and it's like all they have to do is just look up, look around.
- [56:24]
Michael Bostick
And we're getting worse in this regard, not better. For sure. Okay, so when you guys come to Miami, which hopefully you will, I'll take you to the studio and if you bring your kids, we'll bring all the kids and we'll do a little class together.
- [56:37]
Ivanka Trump
Oh, that's gonna be interesting. With my daughter.
- [56:40]
Michael Bostick
Oh, she'll love like Arabella walks. She loves that she has the capability of like flipping a 250 pound grown man. She's like, very cool. It is cool. The only problem for me is she's constantly like flipping her brothers and they're like eager recipients of her attention. So she's 13. I have an 11 year old son, Joseph, and we have an 8 year old, Theo.
- [57:02]
Ivanka Trump
I want to go back to after you left the White House and you started implementing all these different things, what were the other things you implemented? I know you started weightlifting too. What were. When you got out of that chapter, what was like sort of your wellness diet health list?
- [57:19]
Michael Bostick
Well, I think I just did like a recalibration across the board where I said, you know, this is super unusual to be 39 years old and to find yourself untethered to the past in the sense that I had to leave all my businesses, everything, in order to serve. I was in a different city. And so now you come out and you're as free as one can be at this point in their life with all of this experience. So sort of where do I want to aim my attentions going forward? And there were professional goals, of course, but my primary goals were just to like, be the best fricking mom I could be. You know, every time I had to miss something, I'm like, I will never let this happen again. The minute I leave the White House. It's hard. It's hard.
- [58:01]
Lauren Everts
It's because the demand was so high when you were there.
- [58:04]
Michael Bostick
It's hard. And you. I mean, I did the best I could and I think I was there for all the really critical moments. But, you know, you don't want to miss the small ones either, you know, and so I learned through that process. And part of the reason you Know, the main reason I am not going back to serve now is I know the cost, and it's a price that I'm not willing to make my kids bear.
- [58:27]
Lauren Everts
Have people given you pushback for that, for not coming back?
- [58:30]
Michael Bostick
Oh, I mean, I get the question a lot. And there's also, like, a lack. There's both people I served alongside of and also people who are just incredulous to how could you not, you know, which to me, it really feels like it's very easy to make a decision when it aligns around your core values. And my highest, most core value is family. And my kids were much younger, so it was easier to not be present. But when you have kids that are teenagers, about to be teenagers, like, your physical presence matters so much. It's crazy.
- [59:09]
Ivanka Trump
Justify it to people, to me.
- [59:11]
Michael Bostick
Well, you know, I don't, because I just tell them, like, that's, you know, that's them, not me. So I feel super great about this.
- [59:19]
Lauren Everts
Well, I think people can empathize with the price you have to put on your children in your marriage and your family to go back and you've already served and your kids are doing.
- [59:29]
Michael Bostick
I'm so grateful for all the people who are serving because I know how hard it is is and how taxing, and every one of them will do their best to balance it all, but it is hard. There's another element, though, for me. You know, I love policy and impact. I hate politics, and unfortunately, the two are not. You know, there is a darkness to that world that I don't really want to welcome into mine. To some degree, I'm, you know, at the center of the storm because my father is about to be president. But it's a very dark negative, and some people love, like, the gladiator aspect of it. You know, the fight that. That was never me. You know, I really did love the impact, especially as time went on and it wasn't theoretical. Like, people would walk up to you and say, you know, the child tax credit, or the fact that I was able to advocate successfully for getting paid family leave for our federal workforce, the largest employer in the country, or the first national paid family leave tax credit, or things like this that people benefit from. And then they tell you that, and it feels really good. But I also now recognize, like, there's so many ways to have impact. I mean, most of the compassion work happening in the world is being done outside of government. I also. And when you take ambition and ego and all these things out of it, I'm just not a believer that impacting one life in your community matters less than doing things with greater scale, both for your own heart and for the world. So I think there are a lot of microwaves you can impact. Just volunteering locally with your kids, setting a good example for them. And I'm so proud of the frequency in which they want to volunteer with me. And it's their idea, you know, as opposed to mine, and how it's become internalized as part of our life as a family. And then there are huge things, huge ways you can catalyze positive change through work in the private sector. So I think the impact I really loved, and hopefully I'll live a life that continues to be impactful regardless of where I do it. I went through years of craziness, and I've never become cynical about, like, I think, the fundamental goodness of people. And I really do think most people are good people who want to work hard, provide for their families, live a good life, have peace and calm, make a positive contribution. Like that is most people, I think just for a while, we weren't hearing from them. You know, they were busy building their lives and their families. And those of us in the public domain were hearing from. From the outliers. And I really think that's started to change.
- [62:21]
Lauren Everts
Again, I'll get shit for this, but I think as a society, we gave way too much voice to people that were causing harm. Meaning there was a lot of people that were screaming and yelling about a lot of negative things that we just paid way too much attention to. And I think people are now like, hey, if you walk around on the street as a normal person, you don't see these kind of people out in public. They exist in corners of the Internet where for whatever reason, we were paying way more attention than we should have. And I kept saying, like, it's interesting running a media company, but also doing a show. The high majority of people that write in are very positive, nice people. And the people you meet normally are very positive. It's very rare that you meet some of these crazy people, call them lunatics, actually, that are screaming and yelling about God knows what. And the problem is we are platforming those voices way too often. So I think people are now like, okay, enough with that.
- [63:10]
Ivanka Trump
Don't you think with what you've experienced too, there's some kind of exposure therapy where you've been exposed to so much that you almost have this muscle of resilience that you wouldn't have had if you didn't get exposed to that.
- [63:22]
Michael Bostick
You become a little Bit calloused, but, you know, I think it's for sure. I mean, if you're internalizing that as real, that's a recipe for disaster. I don't think there's longevity to that. So I think you have to build the skill to tune out that noise. I also just think about, you know, I chose and it. It was at, like, the most volatile time. I made a conscious effort just to, like, live in alignment with my own values and not allow, like, the outside world to tell me how I should be and what I should be. And for me, it doesn't feel right to be combative with a stranger on social. It's just not who I am. And so I took a lot of punches that I just absorbed and didn't punch back on. Sometimes I really wanted to because I had, like, a zinger. I didn't even write it out. But at the end of the day, I never pressed send. And I always felt good about that. And I now look like I try to live my life in a way that models for my children how I want them to be. Like, that's all I can do. I can't change anyone else. I can just live in a way that I'm proud of. And I'm really proud that I lived through a very emotional time where people were not their best selves and I kept my North Star, and I didn't become something that I wasn't just because I was thrown into an arena that was different, you know, the political arena that was different. And people acted differently than the previous arena of the business world and the private sector. So I look back at that with a lot of pride because I feel like I was able to maintain my composure and model for my kids. I always tell them, you know, that there's this concept in Judaism called la shinhara, which is literally translated to evil speech. And we talk about it all the time. Like, I just, like, will not abide by, like, gossip in our house. But it's bigger than gossip. It's also just sort of the use of words for ill. And it's something that I've internalized as an idea and as a message, you know, within our family. Or one could also call it the golden rule, right? One of my best friends, his family's golden rule is just don't be an asshole. It's so simple, right? Don't be, you know, and. And don't speak ill. And so we've done that, and I've been able to do that in my own life, and I feel good about that in retrospect.
- [65:47]
Ivanka Trump
I take creatine. Ivanka takes creatine. We love creatine. Creatine is all the rage with women. I'm telling you. I think it's going to be one of the top supplements for 2025 in saying that the creatine that I take, that I've always taked is by momentous. I, I love the research behind this creatine. They take it so seriously. How I take my momentous creatine is I will do a cup of water before I go to the gym. Like a bottle of water. I put two scoops of aminos in it and then I'll do a scoop of momentous creatine and then I'll froth it up. You gotta have a frother. And I'm ready to go. This is my gym drink. And what I've done is I habit stacked this drink into my gym routine. So I know right before I'm about to get in the car to go to the gym, I'm gonna put my aminos and my creatine in my water bottle and go. I drink it while I am working out. And I have just found that it's really, really good if you want those tight, like toned muscles because this is really weird, but the skin like tightens over the muscle from creatine. That's what I've noticed and I've been taking it for probably a year and a half. Michael's actually the one who got me on it. He takes this creatine too. This is the purest form of creatine on the market. It, it's monohydrate available, which is awesome. And it's the absolute best for both women and men for peak physical and cognitive performance. Some studies on creatine have said that it's so good for your brain, I would definitely look into it. Especially if you lift weights. I think you'll love it. To drink the creatine Michael and I take, go to livemomentous.com skinny and try it today at 20% off. You can use code Skinny. Start living on purpose. Livemomentous.com Skinny Every morning I wake up and I scrape my tongue. It's the first thing I do. Then I have my water and I have my multivitamin. I take essential for women 18 plus by ritual. And I can go about my day feeling like I got everything I needed to get in. So this multivitamin is formulated with clean, high quality key ingredients and everything is in their bioavailable form. It's vegan, non GMO gluten and major allergen free and everything is made traceable. So you can literally go on their site and see the sources and the suppliers behind their key ingredients so you know what you're putting in your body. You can take it into your own hands. Everything's third party tested for heavy metals which is amazing. I just think the owner and the founder who's been on the podcast twice really makes it her mission to do her research. Everything is clean. They also have a bunch of other options. So if you're pregnant or you need postnatal support or fertility support, they have it all. They have even a stress relief. She's really thought of everything. If you're into skin, they have a skin hydration supplement. Go to their site. You don't need to worry about what's in this supplement. Everything has done for you. You can kick back and relax. To try my multivitamin essential for women 18 plus you can go to ritual.com skinny start a ritual that's backed by science without the BS ritual is offering 25% off your first month at ritual.com skinny that's ritual.com skinny for 25% off.
- [69:07]
Lauren Everts
Quick break to talk about Seed Lip Guys, if you're like me and three out of ten Americans who made a New Year's resolution and you want to start thinking about drinking more mindfully, we have the solution for you and that is with Seed Lip Non Alcoholic Spirits Seed Lip is a non alcoholic spirit carefully crafted from a unique blend of botanicals and spices and is made to be used in your favorite non alcoholic cocktail. Seed Lip is crafted in four delicious flavors with no added sugar or calories and Seed Lip Non Alcoholic Spirits is on a mission to change the way the world drinks by inspiring a more sophisticated approach to mindful drinking. What I really like about Seed Lip is that it's not meant to recreate a non alcoholic gin or vodka or tequila, but it's actually meant to just be its own original and distinct flavor. Ever since I changed my relationship with alcohol and started limiting the use of it, I feel better, I perform better, my body feels healthier and you can feel the same way. And I'm certain that this trend is here to stay. Including Seed Lip in my rotation has been an excellent way for me to enjoy great tasting elevated cocktail with friends with none of the alcohol. Their in house developed recipes piqued my interest at the bar with spicy citrus notes in their spice 94 espresso martini. The bittersweet and smooth Trifecta is all there. I even learned how to craft them at home, making the Espresso Martini one of my signature drinks for hosting this season. So especially with the new year, embrace your new goals and mix up different ways to enjoy a cocktail with seed lip. You can even ask your local bartender to shake up a seed lip cocktail for you or craft your own seed lip cocktail at home. Of course, we have an incredible offer for our listeners and viewers. Start the new year right by visiting seedliftdrinks.com and entering the code Skinny Confidential to get 20% off your purchase. That's S E-E-D L I P-R-I N K S.com code Skinny Confidential for 20% off your next purchase. Promotion valid until January 15, 2025. Again, visit seedliftdrinks.com to learn more.
- [71:01]
Ivanka Trump
At this point in your life, Ivanka, how do you think about time? I'm so interested to hear this from you because you're juggling so many different balls.
- [71:10]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. So, you know, we were talking before about sort of balancing all these things and I think instead of balance, I like to think about my life through the lens of my priorities and have really clear priorities that I maintain integrity around. And so rather than balance, because we all know, like, your child gets sick one day, there goes balance, right? Like, it doesn't matter that you had a big presentation at the office, like if your kid's home with a fever, like, done. And so it's very like it can be defeating to maintain something which by its nature tips as the scales of life will cause to happen. But if you're living in alignment with your core priorities, I think then you can have like a bigger picture way of looking at the life that you've architected for yourself. So, you know, for me, first and foremost, it's my kids, it's my family. Now increasingly it's about taking care of myself so I can better take care of others. And that includes, includes fitness and nutrition. And we were talking about how I didn't have much of a regimen before. Now I look at my day and I think about the scaffold. Like, what are the sort of scaffolds for my day that I know I need? I want to exercise every day. You know, I want a resistance train. I want to eat well. So knowing that I want to do those things and knowing that those are best done for me in the morning, like, that is part of my life and that's part of how my day and that's part of how I choose to allocate and prioritize my time. I also know I want to be there with my kid at the dinner table. You know, on the weekends, three meals a day. On the weekdays, I cook breakfast. We don't have anyone who lives in with us, so I get them up, we make them breakfast.
- [72:53]
Ivanka Trump
What do you cook?
- [72:54]
Michael Bostick
Well, I should have said that Jared cooks the most successful breakfast. He makes pancakes. Wow. Really great pancakes, like, every other morning. I tried to make French toast the other day, and I'm actually, like, a decent cook, but because he was traveling as. I don't know if you're experiencing this yet, but, like, they can be brutal to me when I don't do something as well as their father. So my kids just looked at my. I tried to make this French toast, and then I was getting my son's lunch ready. I forgot about it. It burnt. And I heard for the next 20 minutes how my French toast will never compete with their dad's pancakes.
- [73:29]
Lauren Everts
I'm gonna give you a French toast recipe.
- [73:31]
Michael Bostick
And it was so unfair to French. I would like a French toast. Thank.
- [73:34]
Ivanka Trump
It's from the rock.
- [73:35]
Michael Bostick
And then I stole it from him.
- [73:37]
Ivanka Trump
Okay.
- [73:37]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, you can find it, but I think.
- [73:39]
Michael Bostick
I'm sure it's protein packed.
- [73:41]
Lauren Everts
It's all the bread.
- [73:42]
Ivanka Trump
No, it's not actually protein packed. It's the exact opposite.
- [73:45]
Lauren Everts
So maybe it's his cheat meal that he does, but it's the bread that matters. You have to get. That's like the main thing.
- [73:50]
Michael Bostick
It has to be a little bit stale, like a few days old. Right.
- [73:53]
Lauren Everts
Let it sit down for you.
- [73:54]
Michael Bostick
What I've always been like, so how long do you soak for? Because this is like a big thing. Like, we had a debate with the kids, like, do you don't want it to be soggy, but you need to be soaked enough that it goes through.
- [74:06]
Lauren Everts
That's why you got to get the brioche. And then you. I'm sure people are gonna love this. And then you put it in and you flip it once, twice, and you give a little squeeze, and then it kind of absorbs and you throw it right off.
- [74:14]
Ivanka Trump
Yeah, I don't overthink this like this. You guys should see me make French toast. It's. It's pretty efficient.
- [74:19]
Lauren Everts
I think every dad should know, like, at least a pancake or a French toast. I have a buddy. This is too much information that he'll even bring a girl on a date. And if it goes well and she's there the next morning, he'll do A buckwheat pancake. It's always a hit. So, you know, if you did the buckwheat pancake, that was good.
- [74:35]
Michael Bostick
So if they get, like, the oatmeal or the blueberry, it's like, if you.
- [74:37]
Lauren Everts
Don'T get the buckwheat pancake, it's probably not gonna. It's not gonna last.
- [74:41]
Ivanka Trump
So.
- [74:42]
Michael Bostick
Oh, my gosh, you know, there's somebody out there listening who, like, had a buckwheat pancake this morning, and it's like, I wonder.
- [74:49]
Lauren Everts
But, yeah, I think you could do the same thing.
- [74:51]
Ivanka Trump
So you cook sometimes for your kids. Breakfast, and it's French toast. What are you eating for breakfast?
- [74:56]
Michael Bostick
Breakfast, huh? I've got a shake. I'm like, sort of a morning alchemist. I've got all these things we want.
- [75:03]
Ivanka Trump
To hear exactly what's in the shop that are good.
- [75:05]
Lauren Everts
She's gonna make you give the details.
- [75:07]
Michael Bostick
Throw them in, and it's. It's. I would say it's a living organ. It's like a work in progress. So, like, I learned recently that creatine, which I had been dumping, and sometimes I make it the night before because really, like, the morning, we're, like, fast and furious. I get my kids up, and we have a half an hour to get them all up, for them to get dressed, for them to come down, for them to have breakfast, which we're making before I drive them to the bus. So it is like when people ask me about my. My morning routine starts after I've dropped the kids off. Like, I'll brush my teeth before them, but it's really like, I wake them up, run downstairs, and then while something's cooking, I'm, like, doing cleanup with, like, the inevitable one or two children that decided not to get out of bed the first time I came a knocking. So. So mornings are super chaotic, and they go to the bus so early that I actually, it's still quite early when I get home from dropping them off. So that's when I, you know, I'll work out and I'll do things for myself. I'll actually drink the shake that I've made for myself.
- [76:08]
Ivanka Trump
What's the. We gotta know the shake.
- [76:10]
Michael Bostick
So a lot of protein. So I try to get, I think, something that has been a massive change for me since I moved to Miami. I started prioritizing exercise, and initially that took the form of yoga and Pilates and these things that I'd done at various points in my life. But now I had the ability because I was on my own schedule to make them more consistent and a more regular part of my life. So I started doing that and then gradually I started doing more resistance and weight training. And that's when I saw amazing, massive difference. My whole body changed. I felt I'm just doing a little.
- [76:51]
Ivanka Trump
Instagram story about waiting for.
- [76:53]
Michael Bostick
It distracts me too.
- [76:54]
Lauren Everts
She throws me off sometimes, too. I'm like, what's going on?
- [76:56]
Michael Bostick
Look what I do do. I smile. But that's when I really noticed a massive change for me and my body composition fundamentally changed. I got stronger, I got leaner, and I could kind of get away with it because I'm really tall, so I could look lean even if I wasn't strong. And yoga and Pilates, while I enjoy them a lot more, to be honest, than resistance training, I was not able to develop muscle through them. And I really needed this. And I don't know if it's because of Abdala, I don't know if it's. But it's no, everyone needs to resist.
- [77:30]
Lauren Everts
It's like, it's. One of the biggest topics on this show is incorporating resistance training, especially as you start to age, because you got.
- [77:36]
Michael Bostick
To keep the muscle on and really basic stuff, you know, like I'll look in the gym and people are doing incredibly complicated things. I found what works for me is like the simple stuff like pushes, pulls, hinges, deadlifts. And again, I don't really enjoy doing it. I enjoy going for walks, I enjoy playing sports. I really enjoy Pilates and yoga. But I have seen such a transformation in terms of my health. But I can't mention that without saying the protein element, because it's that pairing of protein and resistance training and weightlifting that I think, like, for a while I was doing weightlifting and I still was not consuming nearly enough protein and I was not seeing the change. It's when I married those two things that I started noticing a difference. So in my shake, typically the morning is like, I'm just like, I want to get to the races. And it's also the time of like self care. And my self care is not. I'm not going to sit down and make myself a big breakfast. That's not where I choose to allocate the time I want to be, you know, get a workout in or go for a walk, meditate. So I try to make my own breakfast as quick and as impactful as possible. So I do protein, I do things to make it taste good, you know, banana, cacao, I put in creatine, which I just recently found out is not Water soluble. It's not sort of stable in water. So I was putting it in the night before, which it actually morphs into something else after around 10 minutes. So now I'll notice. I'll be in the gym and like, these, like, really, like, jacked people. I'll see them, and they're like, raw dogging creatine.
- [79:14]
Lauren Everts
They're, like, throwing piss when I do that. But it's. But that's how you do it.
- [79:17]
Michael Bostick
They'll throw it in their mouth, just.
- [79:18]
Lauren Everts
Suck it down with some water.
- [79:19]
Michael Bostick
It can't be. And I'm watching.
- [79:21]
Ivanka Trump
Sit in a water bottle.
- [79:22]
Michael Bostick
It doesn't work anymore.
- [79:23]
Lauren Everts
Lauren. I told you.
- [79:24]
Michael Bostick
It literally becomes. And you're. Somebody on the Internet's definitely correcting me, but it becomes, like, Kreline. It's something that sounds the same but doesn't. It doesn't get it done right away. Right away.
- [79:34]
Lauren Everts
She used the term raw. Dogging the creation. That's. We're gonna. We're gonna pull that. But yeah, that's how you do it. You take the big scoop, you dump.
- [79:40]
Ivanka Trump
It's a headline.
- [79:41]
Michael Bostick
Even I looked at these people. I'm like, that's gonna be the click. Listen, like, really, like. I mean, talk about, like, bare bones. Like, they can't even make themselves a morning smoothie. They're, like, throwing powder into their mouth. Like, it's next level.
- [79:55]
Lauren Everts
We're gonna get you there.
- [79:55]
Michael Bostick
And you've got around 10 minutes in water.
- [79:57]
Ivanka Trump
Okay.
- [79:58]
Michael Bostick
So now I have my little creatine on the side of my smoothie, and I, like, drink it really quickly.
- [80:03]
Lauren Everts
We can get you there. And then we're gonna get you some BCAAs. We're gonna get you some amino acids. You can put them together.
- [80:06]
Ivanka Trump
I bet you she already takes amino acids. She already takes amino acids. Michael.
- [80:10]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. That gentleman you mentioned before, Gary Braca, he told me I should start using something called perfect amino. So I have it in my gym, and I put a little scoop of it into my water. That and electrolytes. So when I work out, I just take my water. I have, like, a little basket. Put a little scoop of the perfect aminos.
- [80:30]
Lauren Everts
Before you leave. I'm gonna give you some kion aminos, and you can try also.
- [80:34]
Michael Bostick
A lot of this is new to me. Would you tell me just put in the water cream?
- [80:38]
Ivanka Trump
No, you have to do it in 10 minutes, though.
- [80:40]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, but you can put the aminos in your water. Whatever. For when you're training. And you drink it throughout. You'll feel really good.
- [80:46]
Michael Bostick
So I don't feel anything, to be honest. But I do the research and I feel like these are.
- [80:52]
Ivanka Trump
You look great.
- [80:52]
Michael Bostick
These are things but I don't notice it and thank you. But I don't notice with creatine. With. But I see the studies and I believe that these things work. So is your sleeping thing.
- [81:04]
Lauren Everts
Because the creatine also a lot of people don't realize it's not just good for the muscle, but it should give you better sleep.
- [81:09]
Michael Bostick
So I take a little magnesium before bed and I found that's been really nice for sleep. And you sent me this mouth tape and I view it as. No, it's once in a while I wake up with it in my hair because I've subconsciously taken it off at night. But it's really great. I view it as that night when I'm really gonna spoil myself and I'm gonna get into bed at 9:30 and I want the best night's sleep ever. I'll use it. And it's amazing. So like I love it. So thank you.
- [81:36]
Ivanka Trump
I got you five in here.
- [81:38]
Michael Bostick
Oh, I've got the little boxes. I think they're amazing.
- [81:41]
Ivanka Trump
Do not disturb for your husband.
- [81:43]
Michael Bostick
Sleep is like totally, totally. Sleep has not been a challenge for me ever. So I'm like, you know, I'm like one of those people. I could fall asleep here if you gave me 45 seconds. So like sleep I feel very blessed that even in times of a lot of stress and anxiety, I fall asleep easily. Sometimes I'll wake up and have that sort of 3am rumination that so many of us are, you know, where we, that's when we start to get our thinking time in.
- [82:11]
Lauren Everts
That's like 90% of the battle though is just getting good sleep, you know.
- [82:14]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [82:15]
Ivanka Trump
What are other things that you do wellness wise? Like are there. Do you cold plunge, do you sauna, do you do anything like that or is that off the table?
- [82:24]
Michael Bostick
No, I think all of that's amazing. So it's not like a daily part of my routine, but I think it's incredible and can feel, I mean cold plunging feels horrible, but you feel like some level of accomplishment. And I do feel like you for me I've felt like mood elevation from it and all of these things. The sauna's great, steam room's great, all of that's great. But. But as part of my daily routine it's pretty simple. I like to find and cultivate calm because I've at basically every phase of my life. So I've just now identified this as like the status quo. There's always a hurricane that I find myself in this. It's always so busy and active, whether that's in my role as a parent or professionally or otherwise. So things that help me with that, I think prayer is really helpful, I think being grounded in nature. So I take walks as often as I can. I was mentioning before that I love podcasts and I love audiobooks, and I actually make an effort when I take a walk now not to take my phone with me and not to listen to something, because I really just want to sort of be with myself and reconnect. And, you know, when I'm in beautiful areas, you know, in Miami, I love to walk along the ocean. Sometimes I'll wear a swimsuit under my clothes. I don't get out of the car. And after I drop my kids off, I'll drive to the beach, totally empty, and I'll jump in the ocean as the sun's rising. And it feels so good. So little things like that that tether me to nature are really important. Meditation I've been doing for years.
- [83:58]
Ivanka Trump
Is there a certain one?
- [84:00]
Michael Bostick
I've kind of tried a bunch of them, and I view them all as, like. Like quivers in my arsenal. Right. Like, at different times, they do different things for me. So I initially learned transcendental meditation with a gentleman named Bob Roth, who is amazing and a dear friend. And we'll still sometimes do it, even with each other telephonically or when he comes through town. And that's really helpful for me because there's nothing to do other than sit in silence. You're not being instructed to do anything. You have to sort of sit with yourself. And sometimes, actually, that's the most challenging 20 minutes. And somebody's. Nobody's saying, breathe in, breathe out. You just have to sit. So a lot of times I return to that because I think the discipline of not doing something is very good for me. I've tried qigong, which is like a moving meditation. I've tried breath work. I have a friend, Lucas Mack, who's amazing. Him and his partner, Heli, do these incredible breath routines that can be really centering and grounding. Yoga. Nidra. So this is when I talked about before, like, I get curious about. I get curious about this, too, like, different ways that I can sort of physiologically control my body and control my mood and control my nerves. And I think all of these different things serve a purpose. So I don't view it. I go in and out of different practices, but I view it as Just tools I have for whatever moment I'm facing. A lot of times people ask, how do you deal with stress? There's stress that is within your control and there's stress that's totally external to you. And I think the number one way I can deal with those things that I have little control over is just to prepare to meet the moment as my higher self and my best self. And that's really simple stuff. So as great as a cold plunge is, and it's great, more important than that is like going to bed early, like not drinking too much if you know you need to be on and you're going through a period of like high stress, nourishing your body little, you know, finding moments of calm and not being over scheduled, like making. Carving out time for yourself to be reflective and to think. And a lot of the people I admire most, they're not the people running from thing to thing. They're extraordinarily busy and they tend take great pains to carve out of their day an hour, two hours, and they'll sit and read and they learn and they're proactive around the knowledge they want to acquire and then how they want to utilize that. Charlie Munger is somebody who I've read so much of his work. I mean, he could argue for he lived over 100 years and was one of the most busy, productive people. And he would take large chunks of his day just to learn and to read and to explore. I'm not that disciplined yet, but it's an aspiration of mine. And I do try to look at my schedule and ask myself where I'll have the time to be proactive instead of reactive.
- [87:05]
Ivanka Trump
Busy's kind of overrated. It's. I think the nervous system is going to get the best PR in 2025. That's my prediction.
- [87:13]
Lauren Everts
I think busy and productive are not the same thing.
- [87:17]
Ivanka Trump
What do you say? Busy's for the bees.
- [87:19]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, everyone on TikTok gets mad at me, but I was like, yeah, listen, like bees work hard and ants work hard.
- [87:24]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [87:24]
Lauren Everts
You know what I mean? But I think there's. And there's people that do a lot of hard labor and really difficult things. But. And I'm not saying that I'm not taking anything away, but I think when people lead with how busy they are, my big question is like, well, how productive are you being with that business?
- [87:42]
Michael Bostick
100%. And I think there's an awakening to this. I remember early in my career in a very sort of professional corporate setting, there would be executives in our real estate firm, who would leave their jackets on their seats as they went home at night because they wanted people to think and leave their lights on because they wanted people to think they were there longer. It was an old mentality that they had probably inherited from a generation prior. What I find really inspiring is not only people who can create and build, but people who have great families, families who are well connected to their kids, who are kind like this. This full person is what I try to emulate. And I look back at different iterations of me and while my priorities haven't changed, my energy has. I had this like hardcore working mom energy when Arabella was first born. And I think that was born out of like an insecurity, you know, that I was still so young and I was playing and in the jungle of New York City real estate. And I had to be great even before I was great, you know, And I put a lot of pressure on myself and I felt like I didn't give myself the sort of freedom to be comfortable in those relaxed moments. Like I was like very. I was striving a lot, as one does when they're young. And I see my energy now and. And that kind of ambition is so much more fully integrated into me as a human being. I don't think there's anything charming about working so hard. You get sick that you don't give yourself enough time. After with Arabella, I mean, I fought hard for paid family leave in the federal government and we had some amazing wins on that front that delivered that policy to 9 million more Americans. Yet I was super uncomfortable with taking it myself.
- [89:41]
Ivanka Trump
Uh huh. I relate to that.
- [89:43]
Michael Bostick
I was so uncomfortable.
- [89:45]
Ivanka Trump
And then by the third baby, you're like, oh my God, I just want to be at home and just give. You can't even give yourself three months.
- [89:51]
Michael Bostick
And I'm like, almost. This is me being critical of my. But I'm almost like ashamed. I'm like, what was wrong with me? And it was because it's one of two things. It was either I was too insecure or I hadn't built systems that could withstand my absence. Both of those would my fault. Like both of those were me not being a good leader in those early days. And the fact that I felt uncomfortable, the fact that I couldn't really take the time off for myself psychologically or physically. And I'm just not that person anymore. So I'm much happier with this. So when I think about, like time, you know, how we think about time, it's so ephemeral. It's the one thing none of us can stop. I really think about living life in alignment with my core values, my priorities. And I guess I'm at an age and a point in my life where I have the wisdom to realize, like, that's the way to be happy as opposed to living for anyone else.
- [90:48]
Lauren Everts
Well, I mean this as a real compliment to you and your family, your parents and you and Jared, as you parent with how busy you guys are and how much you have going on, literally at the highest levels of the world, it seems like you're all very grounded in family and you keep that in perspective. Like, it seems your father seems like a great father, your mom seems like she was a great mother, and you guys parent. And there's a lot of people I think could get lost in the ambition of all the things that you've accomplished and that your family's accomplished, and they kind of lose sight of what's really important. And I think your family is one of the examples of, like, you guys have all kind of turned out well and stayed close together and parented well and have good kids. And I think that's right.
- [91:29]
Michael Bostick
Look, I think Esther Perel said something to the effect that the quality of your life is the quality of your relationships. And I believe in that. I think almost all sort of sadness and happiness arises from these interpersonal relationships and those that are strong, those that aren't strong. And I think it starts with family. It starts with friends. We were talking about what's self care for me, self care, A big part of my self care is staying connected with my friends, you know, just. Just reaching out when I need them, reaching out to check on them and, and making sure that I'm prioritizing that for them and for myself and, and really putting the work into these relationships that are so important in my life.
- [92:21]
Ivanka Trump
I bet that it's difficult at times when you have friends for them to be able to relate to what you've gone through. I mean, it's. It's like crazy what you've gone through.
- [92:33]
Michael Bostick
And it's like pretty crazy.
- [92:34]
Ivanka Trump
You maybe have a friend for each.
- [92:36]
Michael Bostick
Era, you know, like, some of my friends are. I've known since I was a little girl.
- [92:42]
Ivanka Trump
Yeah.
- [92:42]
Michael Bostick
So one of my best friends, I've known her since we were in kindergarten. We went to school together, and she's still one of my best friends today. One of my other best friends, friends I've met more recently, and we relate on sort of like this spiritual level. And there's just what we Talk about transcends the day to day. And I feel like I have these sort of philosophical and intellectual conversations with. And it's like, super nurturing for me as a human being to sort of step out of. Of sort of the day to day issues and have these more abstract conversations. So I love that. But yeah, you know, it was interesting moving to Miami because when I moved from New York, which had been my home base my whole life, I lost a lot of family, support system. You know, Jared's parents were really involved. They would take turns walking our kids to school on the days we couldn't do it. His mother used to fill our refrigerator for the first, like, 10 years we were married. She'd go on Costco runs to New Jersey. I'd get a call once a week being like, I'm going to Costco. What do you want? And some of my friends would be like, do you find that, like, annoying? Is she, like, overstepping? I'm like, I love it. Like, I don't have to drive to Costco. It's great. She'd fill and like the refrigerator at our office. So she knew every girl who worked for me, like, what they liked, and she'd bring it back for Costco. So it was. I love my mother in law for so many reasons, but that was one of them. But. But that was like an amazing support system. And we went to D.C. and. And we lost that. Obviously. My father was there, but he was, you know, pretty consumed with everything going on.
- [94:18]
Lauren Everts
A little busy.
- [94:19]
Michael Bostick
A little busy. So that was interesting on the friend front. You know, I made these amazing friendship sort of forged in fire because you're really, like, being thrown into a lot of intensity. So you really see who will be with you in a foxhole.
- [94:36]
Lauren Everts
Did you have some that pulled back? Like, did you have some friends that had been with you before the presidency that kind of, like, leaned out a little?
- [94:43]
Michael Bostick
Well, I had. You know what? I basically told a lot of my closest friends when I went to Washington. Like, I'm like, I'm gonna have the bandwidth for work and for family. And so, like, I really am gonna try not to be a bad friend to you for the next few years. But, like, give me some grace. Like, I'll be there if things are bad. Like, I'll be the best, like, bad time friend ever. I'll be on your doorstep with, like a box of tissues. But I may miss a lot of the celebrations in the coming years just because I know you might miss a birthday. I'm gonna leave it all on the floor.
- [95:13]
Ivanka Trump
If you have a friend that needs birthday, mine is the birthday.
- [95:16]
Michael Bostick
And that was true. And what I realized in coming out is, like, you need the birthdays too, you know, like, you need both. You need to meet her birthday.
- [95:23]
Lauren Everts
And I'm only just doing this podcast.
- [95:25]
Michael Bostick
There you go. But, yeah, there were definitely. It was not friends. I definitely had some acquaintances who, you know, their politics diverged wildly from that of my father's, and they took things personally or got overly emotional. But I'm actually really proud of the fact that that, like. And I think part of it was also growing up in the public eye, like, I had a pretty keen eye for what was real. And so the people I really had let into my life over the years.
- [95:55]
Lauren Everts
You already had a filter.
- [95:56]
Michael Bostick
Didn't surprise me. And I feel really blessed by that because I have friends who, you know, they don't speak to half their family because the time was that emotional. But I also don't. I'm. I never judge someone by their politics. So for me, it's not a litmus test, so I would expect that back from you. So I have friends across the ideological spectrum, and I view conversations with those who disagree with me as an opportunity to learn. I may not agree with them, I may partially agree with them, but I view that as. I feel like that makes you like a full human being when you have people in your life who disagree and, you know, politics. For most people, it's a small part of their life. There are a lot of other areas where you can vehemently agree. And so I focus on those rapid fire questions. Ooh, rapid fire. Let's go.
- [96:53]
Ivanka Trump
Rapid fire.
- [96:54]
Michael Bostick
Let me take some water before.
- [96:55]
Ivanka Trump
Yes.
- [96:56]
Lauren Everts
We've covered some ground.
- [96:58]
Michael Bostick
We have. You guys are really great at what you do.
- [97:02]
Ivanka Trump
Really.
- [97:03]
Michael Bostick
It's amazing.
- [97:03]
Ivanka Trump
Michael's gonna take that compliment and apply it to his own self.
- [97:06]
Lauren Everts
Later, I'm gonna pull that clip, and I'm gonna use it as my meditation on loop.
- [97:10]
Michael Bostick
Exactly. Your daily affirmation. Well, I'm sure you've been told about that.
- [97:14]
Lauren Everts
It's gonna start with the raw dog and creatine, and then you're saying you're really good at what you do. It's gonna be a loop.
- [97:18]
Michael Bostick
No, you're, like, amazing. Obviously, to be in this business, you have to be great conversationalists. But I feel. And this has been true, when I've listened to the interviews you do. I feel like you allow people to show who they are and you're curious to get to know them. And I feel like that when I've listened to different interviews that you've done. So it's, keep up the great work.
- [97:41]
Lauren Everts
I think we just like to learn about people and why people think the way they do and their backgrounds and, you know, doing this for as long as we've done it. You realize that most people come to their conclusions from, you know, a good player. And it's a lot of upbringing, it's a lot of culture, and it's a lot of family values, and it's a lot of who you know and where you've been. And I think when you look at people in that way, as opposed to some, like, prejudgment based on their politics or ideals, you really can get to know people a lot more than you can empathize, use the word empathy, like you empathize with why they believe or think the way they do.
- [98:14]
Ivanka Trump
Most people don't have bad intention. That's what we've learned from doing the show.
- [98:17]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. Carl Jung said that thinking is hard. That's why most people judge. And I believe that, like, it's easier to judge. And, you know, I like to listen, I like to learn, I like to ask questions. And that sort of informs me as a human being.
- [98:36]
Lauren Everts
My dad used to say 2% of the world thinks, 8% of the world thinks they think, and 90% never think. Which one are you?
- [98:43]
Michael Bostick
I like that. I like your dad.
- [98:44]
Lauren Everts
Not as nice of a delivery. Oh, yeah, my dad.
- [98:46]
Ivanka Trump
He's a favorite book you've read recently.
- [98:49]
Michael Bostick
Ooh. Oh, okay. Recently. That's helpful. So right now I'm reading something which is pushing it for me. It's outside of, like, my normal genre. It's like a cyberpunk sci fi book called the Diamond Age that a friend recommended to me that's, you know, rather different. I actually recently reread sort of Sci Fi or Sci Fi as well, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is a blast. So I've been on a little bit of a. Of a thread here, but I'm enjoying it. I also. I recently reread Jitterbug Perfume, which I think I sent to you.
- [99:26]
Ivanka Trump
You told me to read, which is.
- [99:27]
Michael Bostick
Such a wild ride. I love mythology. I love. It's. It's just such an amazing story. And I think for. For years I go through ebbs and flows. I go really hard on philosophy and psychology to some degree, and history and biographies that I'll go through these periods where I just want, like. I'm like, bummed. I'll be on. I'll be at like the beach with like something like ridiculous, like Plato's Republic. I literally did this at a water park. And I'm like, why did I pack this as my only book? And I'm like, why don't I have like fiction? So I actually have to force myself to read more fiction. And I think that's like the busy bee, like the doer, you know, that for some reason I feel like I'm accumulating a different type of knowledge in biographies. And that's like a false premise. Like, I learn so much from the fiction books I read. But it's also enjoyable. Like you get a good laugh and you can really sort of escape the world. So Jitterbug perfume I would recommend to anyone. And then there are some, you know, there are some tried and true. I. A friend of mine told me how she started reading every book that was assigned to her children. And now they call it. We used to call it like English. They call it language arts. And so I thought, what an interesting idea. So it's actually been really fun. So it's allowed me to revisit a lot of books. So I just read Fahrenheit 451 that my daughter was reading. My 8 year old is reading his first novel in class, which is the one and only Ivan. So that's been really fun because then at the table I can ask them specifically and I remember it not just like, it's really interesting and I learn what they like, what they don't like. So that's been.
- [101:15]
Ivanka Trump
You can test them.
- [101:16]
Michael Bostick
Really interesting.
- [101:17]
Ivanka Trump
Chapter seven. What happened?
- [101:19]
Michael Bostick
Exactly, Exactly.
- [101:20]
Lauren Everts
You remember the Outsiders? I'm rereading the Outsiders.
- [101:23]
Michael Bostick
I did. I never read the Outsiders.
- [101:24]
Lauren Everts
Oh my God. I read that and I was like, okay, it's leather jackets and slicked hair. That's the, that's who it is.
- [101:29]
Michael Bostick
I just read the Animorphs with my son, which is. Oh yeah, yeah. I remember reading those as a kid. And so there's like a whole series. So we read, we have this funny bedtime routine. He's, you know, my daughter at this point just like wants her space.
- [101:43]
Ivanka Trump
Yeah.
- [101:44]
Michael Bostick
My middle son, he wants like a good cuddle with his dog. And my youngest son, he just will like milk it for. If I gave him three hours. Our bedtime routine would be.
- [101:54]
Ivanka Trump
I love that my umbilical cord needs to be connected at that age too. To my son.
- [101:58]
Michael Bostick
Oh my. It's so. And you know, he's actually, he's so independent. He's my most independent because he's our third, but he's also like our most like cuddly and like, he's like our, you know, he quite literally is our youngest, but he still has like his beds full of stuffed animals. And every night we choose which stuffed animal we both get to cuddle with while we're reading. There's like every time I go on a trip, I bring back a new one. So it's piled up. We have all of these different things that I bring back or Jared will bring back from travels that we have to do as part of her routine. So we have a Tibetan singing bowl. We have these like chimes from Bhutan. I picked up a bell at a wedding that I went to in Mexico. And you know, I say whenever you hear this noise, it's me loving you. And so he like rings it when I'm not there. And we do this after reading. We say our prayers together and then I do, I do the chime, I do. I've got this like leaf thing, all of these wild little like noise things and they're all piled up on his bedside and we go one by one and do this routine and it takes a long time. And so I would live it up.
- [103:06]
Ivanka Trump
Until he wants to stop. I mean they want to stop at some point at 13.
- [103:10]
Lauren Everts
No, we're not at 13. We're not going to 13.
- [103:12]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. Honestly, like you wish you could make it.
- [103:16]
Ivanka Trump
I wish I could get in bed with my son at 13.
- [103:18]
Lauren Everts
You were going to like maybe, maybe like 13 for a boy. You don't want to be laying in bed with your 13 year old boy.
- [103:23]
Michael Bostick
Well, that's one of like the most interesting things about kids. Like I feel you see in their eyes, like when you're in that age. How old are your kids? They're four and two.
- [103:34]
Lauren Everts
Our daughter's turning five.
- [103:35]
Michael Bostick
Okay, so you're going to start to see with your 5 year old when they start to internalize like the messages of the world around them, both your expectations, society's expectations. And it's like really interesting because it starts to happen. I feel like most around like 6, 7, 8 where they become self conscious how they look, hugging you in public, what they are saying. Like there's nothing more amazing to me than when a child says something completely embarrassing because they don't care and they're not trying to embarrass you, they're not trying to hurt you, they're just saying exactly what you had said five minutes earlier or what's on their mind. They're not self conscious about being Loved and hugged. And as they get older, they start to, you know, sort of have this imprint on them. So for me, what I think about a lot with all of my kids is how do I maintain this? And, you know, obviously they have to be growing. They can't be naive to the world. But there's something so pure about just being.
- [104:37]
Lauren Everts
If my daughter stops hugging me in public, I'm probably gonna cry.
- [104:40]
Michael Bostick
For sure It'll happen probably for, like, a moment.
- [104:44]
Lauren Everts
Do you remember what we were doing at 13? You can't be laying in bed with our son at 13.
- [104:47]
Ivanka Trump
Let's not tell Yvonne we were doing at 13.
- [104:50]
Michael Bostick
No, I was. I was probably right there with you.
- [104:53]
Lauren Everts
Like I said, we've covered a lot.
- [104:54]
Michael Bostick
I don't know. I'll compare notes later. The rapid fire.
- [105:01]
Ivanka Trump
Your guilty pledge.
- [105:03]
Michael Bostick
Does it have to be one thing? No, my guilty pleasure.
- [105:06]
Lauren Everts
Maybe this is a notes comparing session later.
- [105:08]
Michael Bostick
I would say, yeah, you know, I would say, obviously there are, like, boring answers. Like certain types of food and that. I love. It used to be, like, really bad reality television.
- [105:20]
Ivanka Trump
That's mine. Housewives.
- [105:22]
Michael Bostick
So I got. It became a problem, though, because we don't have a lot of TVs in the house. And we have basically like two and one's in the bedroom. And my husband would lose his mind. He'd come in and he's like, I can't hear that. Like, turn off the squawking. Like, he would really.
- [105:38]
Lauren Everts
It's annoying as a side sound, if you're not an actor.
- [105:41]
Michael Bostick
It would drive him crazy. He's like. I feel like he would say he, like, feels himself getting stupider. So he'd make me. And it was this whole thing. I'm like, why can't you just let me watch my show? So I kind of have stopped doing that. And I actually say it. It's not, like, guilty. It's kind of nice. Is. I love, like, that time after your kids are in bed and you can, like, just take a minute for yourself. And, like, there are creams involved. And face. You know, I love that it's not like a long nighttime routine, but whatever it is, it feels like really good. And that's been kind of like the substitute for me.
- [106:14]
Ivanka Trump
That's my last and final rapid fire is, what are your. Your beauty tips? What are the creams you're using? What are the. The makeup products that you like? What are your go tos?
- [106:24]
Michael Bostick
So I have been using this makeup product from Estee Lauder since I was like, 14 years old. And it's A concealer that it's just. I mean, and basically the tube is this big, and I've probably only gone through three bottles. Like, this thing lasts forever, but it's amazing. So I love that. It's called maximum coverage. But I don't wear a lot of face makeup, so I'll use it a little bit under my eyes, even, like, when I don't need to. It's just such a part of my routine. I don't like. I don't love so much foundation or things. I prefer to focus on skincare rather than makeup. So I like a good mascara, especially when I feel tired. But I feel like when my skin looks good and feels good, I feel good. So that's where I'll prioritize. And I love, like, serums and moisturizers. And right now I'm using something called sea buckthorn oil. Okay. And it's just very moisturizing, and I love it. I. I am addicted to lip moisturizer. So I always have to, like, wherever I go. On my bedside table, there's a lip moisturizer, and my favorite one was by Glossier thebaum.com and they've changed the formula. So I'm, like, on a mission to find the original. I have a few bottles left that devastating for glossier. Honestly. My daughter walked in, and it was like she had found, like, gold. She had two bottles that she had found, like, somewhere in her room or one of her bags, and she's like, look what I found, Mom.
- [107:52]
Lauren Everts
Somebody over there is going to scramble to get that old formula.
- [107:55]
Ivanka Trump
So this is my recommendation. Lawless lip mask.
- [107:58]
Michael Bostick
Okay.
- [107:58]
Ivanka Trump
I feel like it's similar. It's like a lip mask that you wear.
- [108:01]
Michael Bostick
I just like feeling hydrated. So everything, like, some people, you know, don't like that. I really like, especially at night, feeling moisturized. So I like the thicker moisturizers. I use MBR moisturizer. I'm a sunblock fanatic. And that's. That's one thing that I'm just so. I have so many. I have sunblocks for every occasion. I have, you know, the heavy sunblock when I'm out doing water sports or surfing or, you know, doing something in, like, the hot Florida sun during peak hours. I have, like, that heavy zinc one that your face looks all white, and even, you know, with the best formulation, it's horrible.
- [108:36]
Ivanka Trump
It's good, though, because then people won't recognize you and come up to you at the beach when you're trying to have your meditation.
- [108:40]
Michael Bostick
There you go.
- [108:40]
Ivanka Trump
Yeah.
- [108:40]
Michael Bostick
There you go. It's a great way. So put on zinc. But you know, the ALT MD is pretty good for that. So I like that. And then I have the thinner ones. There's this new sunblock called Nuda that I love for just more daily wear. You gave me one that's amazing with the caffeine in it. So that's a great sunblock. I have sticks. I have, I have it all. So sunblock. I'm pretty nuts about that. And I think living in Florida, that's especially. That's especially true.
- [109:06]
Lauren Everts
Quickly I got one more.
- [109:07]
Michael Bostick
Oh, and one other product that I like, fell in love with recently. A girlfriend of mine came out with it. It's called Jaunty. It's a lymphatic drain. It's like a body lotion. And that's not an area I ever, you know, I always use drugstore products. And this is relative, you know, it's. It's relatively well priced, but it is so good and smells so delicious. And it's all these Brazilian. It's a Brazilian formulation that like, it just. It's amazing. It's.
- [109:35]
Ivanka Trump
And we both like Isabella Grootman's jewelry. I'm wearing her ring. You were wearing that really pretty. I think it was emerald ring.
- [109:41]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. Isabella is a dear friend and she's an incredibly talented jewelry designer and clothing designer.
- [109:48]
Ivanka Trump
Yes. I just had to shout that out. I know it's not beauty. What is your one last reference?
- [109:51]
Lauren Everts
Last one. And I know we got to get you out of here. We all got to jump. Your dad is about to become the president once again. What are you most excited about this time around compared to the time.
- [110:01]
Ivanka Trump
That's a good question.
- [110:02]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, I mean, listen, sorry, I'm more.
- [110:04]
Ivanka Trump
Curious about the creed.
- [110:05]
Lauren Everts
Listen, not to say I'm not.
- [110:07]
Michael Bostick
It's been years since I've been asked about moisturizer. That was great.
- [110:10]
Lauren Everts
I do remember did take a mental note about the body cream for myself, but I figured I'd end with this one.
- [110:18]
Michael Bostick
So, you know, it's. This ride that we've been on is so unusual. So, you know, most people who become president, they've cut their teeth on a congressional run or you know, something state or local. And then eventually they work up the ladder to running for president and maybe, maybe actually being elected. So the fact that he did it on his first go, first time out of the gate and then we had the experience the first time that there was a four year break and then he's come back in with such a strong mandate, probably Greatest comeback story in.
- [110:55]
Lauren Everts
Maybe the history of the world.
- [110:56]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, maybe. It's incredible. And he's got so much energy and support and. And excitement. And I think the four years has really allowed him to calibrate how he wants to spend this next four years. And he's incredibly excited and enthusiastic. And I think about my role, the first time was very different. We were like the pioneers. Nobody really knew what to do with him as a political figure. And now there's so many capable people around him, many of whom we've worked with in the past, almost all of whom we know very well. And so I think about in this moment how I can also support him, because I know what the job is in a very personal way, having been by his side for four years, and it's the world's loneliest position. The enormity of the decisions you're making on a daily basis. How transactional everyone is with you, your closest friends. Everyone's passionate about something, and they all want to spend the short time they have with you selling you on what they think is something good and positive and productive for this country and the world. So it's a very lonely perch. And I would often think about this during the first four years, but now I'm having a little distance from it. I think I'm most looking forward to just being able to show up for him as a daughter and be there for him, to take his mind off things, to watch a movie with him or watch a sports game. To know that he can be with me and be himself and just relax and for me to be able to provide that for him in a very loving way as his daughter. So that's how I'm sort of thinking about how I can best support him in this moment. But he's excited. We're excited. I think there's a general excitement in this country that has been catalyzed, and I think it will be a great fortune. Years.
- [112:54]
Ivanka Trump
And the inauguration's coming up.
- [112:56]
Michael Bostick
It's coming up.
- [112:57]
Ivanka Trump
Yep.
- [112:58]
Michael Bostick
It's in a little over a week.
- [112:59]
Lauren Everts
Week from when this airs. That's true.
- [113:01]
Ivanka Trump
I'm sure a lot of people already know where to find you, but if they don't, where can they find your book, your Instagram, your Twitter, all the things?
- [113:08]
Michael Bostick
Yes. You can find me at my handles. Ivanka Trump. And I'll be. I'll be in Florida meditating.
- [113:18]
Ivanka Trump
And your book, Women who Work, you can get it on Amazon. Yeah.
- [113:23]
Michael Bostick
Thank you.
- [113:23]
Ivanka Trump
Thank you so much for coming on the show. You're welcome back anytime. If you want to come back again to talk about more health, beauty, skin, diet, fitness tips?
- [113:32]
Lauren Everts
Thank you for doing this.
- [113:33]
Ivanka Trump
Maybe we'll kick Michael off.
- [113:34]
Michael Bostick
Thank you so much, guys.
- [113:35]
Lauren Everts
You can't kick me off. Thank you, Michael.
- [113:38]
Ivanka Trump
Thank you.
- [113:38]
Michael Bostick
I'll come sit right over there.
- [113:39]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, you can be the co host.
- [113:41]
Michael Bostick
You take over. Let's do it.
- [113:43]
Ivanka Trump
I could use a break.
- [113:43]
Michael Bostick
Interview Michael.
- [113:45]
Lauren Everts
Thank you.
- [113:46]
Ivanka Trump
You be sure to head to shopskinnyconfidential.com to grab the beauty water before it sells out. That's shopskinnyconfidential.
- [113:53]
Lauren Everts
Com.