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Pull up a seat at our table, where badass women from all walks of life—fashion, beauty, design, music, philanthropy, art, and more—come together to share honest stories, serve truths, and dig into the realities of modern womanhood.
Johanna Almstea...: Hi everyone. I am menu planning for my next guest, which I'm super excited about. I think I'm going to start with a tiny little crudité, just a little bit of like... I'm going to do some really crunchy vegetables. I'm going to do some radishes, some raw radicchio, a little bit of endive, some carrots, and I'm going to do that in a really herby green goddess dip. And I'm also going to serve... They're called Devils on Horseback. They're like bacon wrapped dates and they're sort of salty and sweet and kind of warm and cozy. So I'm going to do those. And with those, I think we're going to open like a white burgundy. I love a white burgundy.
Then for dinner, I'm going to make this gorgeous baked skate wing with olive oil, capers, lemon butter sauce, which is delicious. And I'm going to serve that with a gorgeous couscous on the side and some roasted vegetables. I'm going to roast some fennel, some cherry tomatoes, some onion, and going to serve that all together with some nice crusty bread. And I think I might even open... Skate's kind of like a... It's like a meatier fish. I might even open a little chilled red, like a little Beaujolais with that.
And then for music, oh my goodness, what am I going to do for music? Okay. How about a little Fugees, a little Gigi Perez and some HAIM. Why not? Let's throw it all together. She's fun. She's energetic. She's smart. She's driven. She's such a good time. So I hope that you guys enjoy this conversation as much as I do and that you're inspired by her. So let's dig in.
Hello everyone and welcome to Eat My Words. I am really, really happy today to have a new friend. She is the former beauty director at Cosmopolitan. I was about to say Cosmo, but I suppose I should say Cosmopolitan. And former beauty editor at Shape Magazine. She is now a full-time content creator and consultant working with so many amazing brands like La Mer, Chanel, Dior, Dove, Four Seasons, Auberge, John Frieda, Apple, ROAD, and Margiela, just to name a few, guys, just to name a few. She's a slacker. She's become a well-respected voice in the beauty community and beyond where she creates content that focuses on the intersection of beauty and wellness. She is also an angel investor, a mother, a wife, and a friend. One I'm very happy to call a new friend for me. Carly Cardellino, welcome to Eat My Words.
Carly Cardellin...: Thank you. That was a lovely intro. And all true.
Johanna Almstea...: All true. Do you want me to put it on a t-shirt for you and you can wear it around town?
Carly Cardellin...: No.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: But I appreciate the offer.
Johanna Almstea...: Thank you so much for being here and taking the time out of what I know is a very full life of motherhood and career and marriage and all the things. So thanks for being willing to go through this process with me.
Carly Cardellin...: My gosh, I love a podcast. Happily.
Johanna Almstea...: Yay. So I like to tell our listeners how we know each other, and I feel like it's weird that we didn't know each other earlier in our lives.
Carly Cardellin...: I agree.
Johanna Almstea...: Because our worlds literally circled each other all the time. When you were an editor in the beauty industry and I was a PR person in the fashion world and we did a lot of beauty stuff. And it's very weird that we didn't cross paths then, but then we were actually set up on a friend date by our mutual and amazing friend, Lorenza, who was just a guest on the show. She was a big hit, by the way. Her episode-
Carly Cardellin...: Her episode was so good.
Johanna Almstea...: Wasn't she good?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. I don't have a 400-year-old legacy to go off of, but I'm going to do my best.
Johanna Almstea...: Me neither, girl. Me neither. Can you imagine you're like, "My ancestors will content creators back in Rome"?
Carly Cardellin...: "They were on the Oregon trail just with their selfie stick."
Johanna Almstea...: I love it. So I like to start with this question just because it's always fascinating to me to see where people start is where did your journey begin? Where would you say your journey began?
Carly Cardellin...: I would say my journey began when I was four in dance and just loving the whole theatrics of putting on makeup and kind of... I look back, it wasn't really taking care of myself in a self-care way, but I loved putting nail polish on and things like that, doing makeup. My aunt used to be a model. I was always with her and my cousin Charity, and we would always be putting on dance shows and little recitals for the fan. We'd be like, "Everyone sit down and watch this." Obviously, no one wanted to. But it was that type of thing where we were always in costume and it really started there for me. I have this picture, but it's literally me in a power pose with a Ninja Turtle suit on and some flapper headband and big grandma earrings and it was just perfect.
Johanna Almstea...: Yes. I need that photo.
Carly Cardellin...: And I look back at that and I'm like, "I literally was this person I am today, but then." So it really started there for me. And then I didn't really realize when I was collecting the magazines and ripping out Jonathan Taylor Thomas and putting him on my wall, that the words I was reading were actually written by real people. And what had happened was my cousin, my other cousin, Leah Wyar who's now the president of People, she was at Health Magazine and I had said to her, "I really want to come to New York City."
And she said, "Come over spring break. You can stay with me." So I ended up doing that. I went to visit her at her office and she was the associate beauty editor at Health Magazine at that time and she was under this other woman, Colleen Sullivan, who both of them are my mentors to this day. And she said, "We're looking for an intern. Would you maybe want to do it in the summer?"
Johanna Almstea...: How old were you?
Carly Cardellin...: I was a junior in college. So I was about to go into my summer before my senior year. And she was like, "This is the beauty closet. This is what I do." And I was like, "Say less. I would love to see if I can do this."
Johanna Almstea...: "I'm home. Mama, I'm home."
Carly Cardellin...: "I am here. I've arrived. I'm fulfilling my four-year-old life, basically." And we checked with Time Inc. at the time to make sure you could hire a family member. It was a paying internship, so we just wanted to make sure everything checked out there and they approved me and I had the best literal hit the ground running experience ever. My cousin is... People who have worked for her know that she is like this, but she has tough love, but she knows what she's talking about and she will get the job done. And I think because I had that to look up to, I just was like a sponge, fully absorbing everything she said and just kind of walking in her footsteps that whole entire summer. And after that, I went back to school, graduated. I had gone to Penn State for the basically majority of my college career.
And then my parents were going through a separation. I moved home and I graduated from Pitt University, but the satellite campus in my town. So after that, I was literally shopping at TJ Maxx maybe two months before I graduated and my cousin Leah called me and she was like, "There's a job open at Shape. Do you want to put in for it?" And I was like, "Yes, I'll go home right now." So I put in for it, took three separate train rides to New York City for the interview process and they hired me on the spot and I had my job two months before I graduated and that's really where it all started.
Johanna Almstea...: Amazing. So you had a job even before you were done with college?
Carly Cardellin...: Which is unheard of, I feel like.
Johanna Almstea...: It is, but it's like not in our world, weirdly.
Carly Cardellin...: Oh, not in our world, yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: I feel like... Oh, Danielle Prescott, who you also know, she was talking about how she wasn't going to go to her graduation because she was already working at Teen Vogue, I think at the time or something. And that basically Taylor Tomasi Hill was like, "No, you need to actually go and graduate from college."
Carly Cardellin...: She was like, "Oh, okay. Fine."
Johanna Almstea...: "Okay. Fine. I'll go." But yeah, I feel like it's sort of a theme in our business and on this podcast, it's like this hustle and you get this job and you're like out the door of college before it even ends. You're like, "I'm done. I've already seen... I've gotten a taste of this world and I'm not going back, not going to fraternity parties."
Carly Cardellin...: Honestly, I feel like an example of one of the events that I would go to when I was interning was Henri Bendel's, RIP, which is not around anymore on Fifth Ave.
Johanna Almstea...: So sad.
Carly Cardellin...: I know. They used to have this huge breakfast and it was not really a breakfast with food. It was just where you went and editors would see all of the new products and everything. And you basically just filled up two huge totes so big. You would put a dehumidifier in one of these totes. I'm like down Fifth Avenue with two of these shoulders breaking and just walking along back to my office, but that's like one of the events that I went to. So I was like, "Yes, I'm definitely doing this for a living. This is so much fun."
And I think the thing that I really got the most out of it was that I really love helping people. I love learning things and then telling people in a distilled way that's very easy. And that's actually what you have to do as an editor anyway because you're talking to hairstylists and dermatologists and nail artists and all of these different experts and they might be going on and on and on about something, but you hear like a nugget that you're going with. So I feel like that was really the thing that just excited me the most is the learning part about it and then helping other people understand what I learned in a really succinct way.
Johanna Almstea...: Yes. And you learned that because you were an assistant at health? Not Health-
Carly Cardellin...: I was just the intern at Health. And then I moved to Shape as-
Johanna Almstea...: To Shape.
Carly Cardellin...: ... assistant beauty editor.
Johanna Almstea...: Assistant beauty editor.
Carly Cardellin...: And I assisted the editor in chief, which you kind of can't do both jobs, but really when you're getting a job, you're just doing everything, everyone's job, every job anyone's asking you to do, which I feel like is much different than a lot of the generation now is we really were like opening the mail, going to get coffee. I would be writing out the cards for one of my bosses to go on the Today Show. I was doing many, many, many things.
Johanna Almstea...: You just got exposure to like every aspect of that role and of that side of the business.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. And you just feel so grateful to do it. Whereas it's not true for everyone coming up in this new generation, but I feel like they are hardworking in other ways, but it's just not what we knew. It wasn't like the Devil Wears Prada bringing up, which is what a lot of us had.
Johanna Almstea...: A lot of us had and loved. It was kind of miserable in the moment, but loved it.
Carly Cardellin...: I know. Are we masochists? What's wrong with us?
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. But we got all that free stuff.
Carly Cardellin...: I know. It really was pulling the veil over our eyes.
Johanna Almstea...: They were like, "Here. Shiny objects."
Carly Cardellin...: They're like, "Look away. Your mental trauma, just look away from that."
Johanna Almstea...: "It's okay." Okay. So then at Shape, how long did you stay at Shape?
Carly Cardellin...: At Shape, I was there for six years. So I graduated my Shape era as the beauty editor and I saw a job posting on Twitter for Cosmopolitan. My friend Dawn Davis was leaving and she had posted it on Twitter and I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm never even on Twitter. So thank God I signed on this day." And I put my resume in there, had a couple interviews and then I got the job and I stayed there for eight years.
My last year I took Leah's role. Leah went to Byrdie and she was also the beauty director at Cosmo. So that was very fun because we were like coming up together. I was doing the digital and she was doing the print. So we would work together, which was just like also another happenstance that she was just at that job at that time.
Johanna Almstea...: That's amazing.
Carly Cardellin...: So yeah, it was really just so fun. I saw her every day. I saw her a lot when I was a kid too. So it was just kind of like just seeing your family all the time.
Johanna Almstea...: That's so cool.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, it was very cool. But after she left, she went to Byrdie and then she climbed up the ranks at Dotdash Meredith which is now People Inc. And she's now the president of People. But I took her job after I had to interview for it again to be like, "I'm the one you want." It's just nothing is easy, which I guess my husband always says, "Things that are worth it are just not easy," which I get, but it's always so frustrating in the moment. But then I was over in print and digital for a year and I decided that I wanted to leave and go the freelance route and be home with my family more, but also do content creation and consulting. And this is kind of where I'm at now.
Johanna Almstea...: Can we talk a little bit before you left? Because I don't know if people fully understand that role that many editors, particularly beauty editors, have when they are kind of at a senior level at a magazine. You and I talked about it another time, but then you were also just alluded to it when you were like, "I was like writing the cards from my boss when they were going on the Today Show."
Because I think this is an important step in what got your wheels turning in as far as like, "How I can turn this into something myself and do content creation," all that other stuff. So can you talk a little bit about what that is, this idea that when you have this role as an editor, you're not just working in house with your head down, that you are also the public face of the magazine and what that looks like?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. So there were a couple of different people on our beauty team and everyone really had their own face and place in the industry. So when you're a beauty editor, it means that you're meeting with brands ahead of their launches. They're telling you what they're coming out with. You're then figuring out and editing down what you want to put in stories, whether it's like a holiday gift guide or best red lipsticks or the best skincare devices that are actually worth it, that type of thing. So that's one aspect of the job.
Then you're also collectively thinking ahead of the time. I felt like when I was an editor, I was never really living in the present time because especially for magazines, you're always writing things that are three months down the road, so you're never really actually living in today. You're just like... If it's January, you're in March and you're shipping January, but then also deciding for the future. So then you're doing product run throughs and you're bringing ideas forefront to the editor in chief to either get green lit or like a no-go.
And then you're going to events. You're going to a Jo Malone event. They're saying, "Okay, this is what we're coming out with in July." And then you're trying to figure out how to weave certain things in for advertisers. That's another whole piece of the puzzle, which I always felt like was so tricky because you never want to feel like you're just catering to the advertisers, but the advertisers are the reason why your lights are on. And subscriptions as well if you're talking print. So there's that part of it.
And then there's going to events, as I mentioned, and then there's also being the face of the department for ad sales calls. So there's many different things that you could be doing in one day, which is also why I just loved my job in general. I don't like doing the same thing every day. And that really just catered to that need and want of-
Johanna Almstea...: Your personality. Yeah. So can we go back? Because I think there are still a lot of people in the world, maybe not people who listen to this podcast because they probably know, but I think we should talk a little bit about the relationship between advertising and editorial because I think it's important for people to know. So basically if you open up... Let's use People Magazine because you mentioned it. People Magazine as a consumer, as a reader, and there is an ad for Dove whatever. There is most likely somewhere else in the magazine, a editorial mention of that brand. And it feels quite natural and it feels off the cuff. And maybe it's like, "All of our celebrities are wearing lip gloss this season," and you happen to put a Dove or Chanel or whatever the brand is, lip gloss in that roundup or whatever.
And so I think it's important for consumers to understand that there is a element of pay for play that has become much more influential in media now than it used to be. There used to be this idea that you ran an ad in a magazine and yes, we understood that they were keeping the lights on, but that there was also a lot more editorial freedom and control over what was actually featured in the magazine. And I feel like in the last... It's been a while, but 15, 20 years, that area has become much more gray.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. And I think it's because different things are happening with media. We're seeing brands like Teen Vogue fold and things like that. So these brands really want to be the best partner that they can to the advertising portion of the puzzle that gets put together to create a magazine like Cosmo, for example. It's like when you're watching a football game and you see an ad for poppi soda, it's like obviously the players aren't drinking poppi soda on the sidelines. It's just like a little different. So I think because this huge media giant that is magazines and even, I guess, online to a certain extent, you're really just trying to cater to the advertisers, be the best partner. When I was in this role, we had to go through the magazine and count the credits that we would give to different brands.
Johanna Almstea...: Totally. That was my first job at Prada was I had to go through every magazine every month and I had to count all of our ads, all of our mentions, all of our editorial actual photos, all of our features, and all of our competitors. So I had this ginormous machine that was like... I'd have this huge pile of magazines and it's real. It was a tally. And if Giorgio Armani had more mentions than us, you better believe someone was making a call from product to that magazine.
Carly Cardellin...: I know. The making of the call. So scary.
Johanna Almstea...: So many calls. So many scary, scary calls.
Carly Cardellin...: Imagine the beauty version of going to the principal's office.
Johanna Almstea...: Totally.
Carly Cardellin...: Someone's ringing us up and we're going to have a talking to.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. So you were sort of wearing all these hats as the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. You were going out to events. You were making TV appearances also on behalf?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. So for people who don't know this, it's like if you're watching the Today Show and they're like, "Next up, we're going to do a segment on spring colors and how to refresh your look for spring or whatever." Carly would be the person who's on there. "We have an expert from Cosmo Magazine. She's the beauty director. She's going to be the one who tells you what products to use and how to use them," and all that other stuff. So that's like a whole other part of your job that you're not getting paid more for, right?
Carly Cardellin...: No.
Johanna Almstea...: It's all part of your salary. It's all part of your job description, right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: And I think that's what's interesting to a lot of people. I think people don't know that. I think they assume that that's like something else that you do for fun.
Carly Cardellin...: No.
Johanna Almstea...: No, it's not.
Carly Cardellin...: I did love doing it and would love to do more of them just on my own because I always thought that they were very fun. And I used to do a lot of them when I was an assistant, not as the actual person who is on camera, but that's what I would prep my one boss for, Jackie Stafford. She was in fashion at Shape, for example, and that's who I would write the cards out for, like what we needed to say, the model, any other stats. And that's where I was like, "This is all just so fun." I just looked at it with just like my eyes were so open wide and I was just down to do anything. And I just feel like I have carried that into my career as well today.
But it always was just like, I was able to always pause and be so present to say like, "This is not normal. What I'm doing on a daily basis is not normal." I would connect with some of my friends from my hometown and they would be like, "Oh, I'm teaching or this and that." And I almost felt weird saying what I did in a day because it was kind of so unhinged. "I saw Usher this morning. He sang my brother happy birthday on the phone." Or "I walked down a tunnel with Beyonce for her fragrance launch." It was just kind of... I don't know.
Johanna Almstea...: It's wild.
Carly Cardellin...: It seemed unhinged.
Johanna Almstea...: Well, and it's funny because I think people don't necessarily know... They don't connect like, "Wait, you're a beauty director at a magazine. Why are you hanging out with Beyonce?" It's like they just don't realize the sort of exposure that you get when you're working for a media giant like Cosmo and a publishing company that is that big and well respected and powerful, the kind of exposure you get to things. So I do think it's just sort of a funny thing. People are like, "Wait, what? How does that... I thought you talked about lipstick."
Carly Cardellin...: I know. You're with celebrities a lot of the time. Not only because would they be coming in to maybe meet with the team or do a fitting. And from the digital side, we would have them coming in to do projects with us and videos and then you're getting really close with the hair and makeup team because then you're working with them on visuals and kind of what you want to happen. So I came up in the era of Jen Atkin and Chris Appleton and Makeup by Mario. They're all my friends. And it's an interesting... I think to look back and be like, "Wow, that's just so fun and so cool." And to look at everyone thriving is just so, also, awesome.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. So when you were still at Cosmo, had you already started making your own content? Had you already started your Instagram and stuff? I can't remember.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. I think I actually started Instagram when I moved to Cosmo, which was in 2012, I think.
Johanna Almstea...: And so did you already have a decent following by the time you decided to take the leap and go out on your own or was that...
Carly Cardellin...: I think I had around like 40,000 followers or something like that, which is like nothing really that crazy. What had happened in that moment of time where brands were starting to-
PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:23:04]
Carly Cardellin...: ... in that moment of time where brands were starting to come to me and saying, "You are posting a lot and we would love to work with you." And I was always taking it to my publisher to say, "Could I do this?" Because I wasn't going to just go rogue, because obviously people at the brand were always watching their star people to say, "Okay, are they within the parameters of what we need them to be?" And Hearst had started doing a little bit of I guess this thing where they were paying people like myself when they would sell a package to Dove or T3 Hair.
Johanna Almstea...: An ad package.
Carly Cardellin...: Whatever it was.
Johanna Almstea...: An add advertising package. Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: So they would say, "Okay, then you're going to use Carly, or here are the editors you can choose from." They would say, okay, for some, they would say me, and then I would get a small split of payment, which had to be capped and it was very, very low. So that's what they started to do, and that's where I was like, okay. Well, when you're in these ad sales meetings, I remember I was in an ad sales meeting for Neutrogena. They were like, "We want to do a campaign that is around acne and the transformative power of these products that we have coming out that are in the makeup space." And so I was sitting there just thinking about this and I was like, "Okay, what if we did three women of three different skin colors, had them come in, we gave them the products that you want them to use, send them off, also meet with a facialist, and then we can just track how their skin was reacting to this and do like a before and after?" And they were like, "Great, we love that. Let's do that."
$2.5 million later, I'm getting nothing and it's my idea, and then I have to execute it all and make sure it looks great. It was just like, "I feel like we could be doing this better. Let's incentivize the people who are giving you the ideas to also get a little bit of this." I feel like the editors weren't asking for much, and when you are an editor, you're not making that much money by the way. I think when I got my job at Shape, I was making $32,000 out of college, and I don't even think I was through a couple of raises down the line, you're still like at 60, you know what I mean? Living in New York City, mind you.
Johanna Almstea...: Right, and being expected to be out and about in fabulous clothes and good outfits and good hair and all the things that you have to do to work in fashion and beauty.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: So I think it's interesting because I think it sounds like it was that time, because I was on the brand side of things at the same time, and it was when social media was really emerging and really blowing up, but the brands, including Hearst and Cosmopolitan and all these other things, and including fashion brands, were still trying to control it so much. And I think it was like they held those like, "Well, you wouldn't get this job if you weren't the editor here, and so you need us more than we need you," kind of thing, and I think that they just weren't really-
Carly Cardellin...: And they had to scare you.
Johanna Almstea...: Right. And then they don't want you to go out and speak out of turn or out of classroom as a brand ambassador for their masthead. So I think it's changed a tiny bit, it feels like, or at least editors have gone in and they're a little bit more savvy and a little bit more insistent upon making sure that when they get hired, if they already do have a social media presence, that they are allowed to do certain things. Okay, so you were seeing yourself basically sitting here giving people great ideas, making the company a lot of money, you not seeing a bump at all or a very, very little one in your own income and then having to execute these ideas, which got your wheels turning, saying, "Wait a minute, could I be doing this out in the world without the big machine behind me?" Right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. And what made you finally just take that leap?
Carly Cardellin...: So the thing that actually made me take the leap was Botox had come to me and they had said, "We want to use you for this campaign," and I don't even remember what the campaign was at this time but it was obviously about botulinum toxin, which not all of us dabble with, but some do.
Johanna Almstea...: Many people dabble with.
Carly Cardellin...: Many people do. And so I was like, "Okay, yeah." So I went to my publisher, I asked May, "I do this?" And she said, "Sure, I don't see there being a conflict of interest." And I was like, "Yeah, I'm just going to post it after we shoot it and that'll be the end of it." And then Business of Fashion, which I didn't know this, was simultaneously doing a story on how brands were targeting editors to basically be content creators, and then they used my beautiful picture as literally the front page of their newspaper. I was above the fold. I'm like, "Okay, that did not go as planned."
Johanna Almstea...: So much for flying under the radar.
Carly Cardellin...: I was like, well... You know? Obviously, I knew that people who were higher up than my publisher at the company were going to possibly see this, but I wasn't doing anything wrong. I did ask, and at the end of the day, it's what told me that I was able to do this, and then other brands started coming to me and that's really where I was like, "Okay, I think I can do this and make a career out of this, because I want to bring my editorial insights and the learnings and continue to do what I'm doing, but just do it on my own."
And if it doesn't work, then I always know I can go back to writing or we already had our daughter Delfina, so also, my husband, when you have a great partner who is also just thriving in what they're doing, it makes you feel a little bit more fearless. Not that I was going to ever fall back on him because I like to make my own money and I like to do my own things, but it just made me be like, "Okay, I can do this. I want to try."
Johanna Almstea...: And you had a safety net, right? You had an emotional and financial safety net with him that was like, "Okay, I can try this." Because there are some people who can't, right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: So can you explain to people how those brand deals work? Because I think there's a lot of people... I just actually saw this on TikTok the other day where she's like an interior designer and she actually showed the email that she got from one particular brand that wanted to pay her like $110. It was not a lot of money. It was like $110 to post about specific things, and she's like, "I want to be very transparent, so I want you guys to understand that if you start to see a bunch of interior designers that you follow posting about this particular chair or this particular collection from CB2 or whatever it is, that this is what's happening." So it was very interesting, and I hadn't thought about the fact that there are people who don't know that that's how brand deals work, right?
Can you just tell people a little bit about how that goes and how that worked for you? Because you were like all of a sudden, were you like, "Hey guys, I'm not with Cosmo anymore. I can do what I want to do?" Or how did you market yourself? How does it work with the brands?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, I think it was just like a word of mouth thing with me. Obviously, it was January 2020 so it was right before the pandemic, which obviously, I had no idea what was going to be happening. But I left and I was like, "This is going to work out," because it just felt very organic to me, the storytelling of it all. I talk about products that I organically use, or obviously if there's a new product that's coming out, I'll try it for a little bit of time, maybe like a month and a half, which is enough time to see if your skin is going to react to it or how it's going to work for you. So brands typically reach out over email or DM. They'll say, "We'd love to partner with you on this product. Have you ever tried it?" Or, "We saw that you've been loving XYZ face wash. Would you want to do a campaign with us? We're going to be doing a whole package around XYZ in March."
So then you can look at the terms and conditions and decide for the usage, are they going to use this for six months? Are they going to use it for a year? Are they going to whitelist it? Are they going to-
Johanna Almstea...: What does that mean? What does whitelisting mean? Tell people.
Carly Cardellin...: White listing, it's basically like a certain granted access of your content that they can keep reusing.
Johanna Almstea...: Right. Isn't it almost in perpetuity? It's like they can use it forever if you signed that.
Carly Cardellin...: Well, yes, you can do in perpetuity, which you would never do. I would never do that. I would never say. So they send you different terms and conditions, you have to agree to them, and then once you come to an agreement and figure out the rate, then you go from there.
Johanna Almstea...: Got it. Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: And then you create content on your channels that follow the guidelines that they want you to do, right? Because sometimes they'll-
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, because they'll send you a brief.
Johanna Almstea...: Right. They'll send you an actual creative brief that says you need to show the bottle, you need to... Whatever it is. Give us examples of what a creative brief would be like.
Carly Cardellin...: Okay. So the creative brief would say Chanel, and then you would scroll down and it would say, "Here are the products we would like to highlight. These are the dos and don'ts. Do shoot in wonderful lighting. Don't talk about other brands during this video," that type of thing. Some of them are no-brainers and some of them, they want you to be specific, like don't wear highly patterned shirts when you shoot this, it might merray or move on camera type of thing. So it just depends on the brand in terms of their dos and don'ts, but the brief just says, "These are the points we want you to highlight. It can boost your collagen, add brightness with niacinamide," so they tell you the ingredients that they want you to call out in a natural way where you're not sounding like an ad necessarily, but everyone knows it is an ad.
Johanna Almstea...: Right. Does everyone know? I think they do nowadays, right? So how do you deal with... Because I feel like there's like a, I don't know if it's ethical, but yeah, I guess it's an ethical part of it. Do you get offers from brands that you're like, "Oh, this is so good. This would be so much money, but I just don't believe in it. I can't do it"? How do you manage that part of this business? Because it feels like there's got to be tons of stuff. You must get offers from everyone and there's got to be stuff that you love dearly and that you've already used or that you begin to use and you love, and then there's stuff that you're like, "Meh." How do you personally, what kind of compass do you use as a filter to decide what you do and don't do?
Carly Cardellin...: So I have to be either using the product organically, as I mentioned, or if it's a new product, then I will test it for a little bit of time, and if I don't like it, then I will not do the job.
Johanna Almstea...: You'll go back to them and be like, "I'm testing this." And then three weeks later, you're like, "My skin looks like shit. I can't do this."
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: And now, people know that my skin is just super sensitive, so any ingredient label, I will copy and paste it and put it into my esthetician who is incredible. She's a celebrity esthetician but she keeps her celebs close to her vest. So her name is Sofie Pavitt. On her website, there is a little button called ingredient checker, and you can cut and paste the ingredients to any product and put it in there and then it'll show you or tell you if it's known to clog pores or if you're good to go.
Johanna Almstea...: Really? Oh, that's so cool.
Carly Cardellin...: It's so cool. Because she transformed my skin, I just live and die by this ingredient checker, even though that I know there's ratios to things, right? So there might be an ingredient in there that could clog pores, but if it's just a small amount in a certain product, it might not make a huge difference on someone's skin, but my skin is just so reactive that I just know how it is and I don't even mess with it.
Johanna Almstea...: That's so hard to have super reactive skin as a face of beauty things, isn't it?
Carly Cardellin...: I think my skin wasn't always like this, and I think because I was putting so many things on it, I think my skin just tapped out and it was like, "Babe, we had a good run. We're done now."
Johanna Almstea...: You've abused me for too long.
Carly Cardellin...: I was like, "Oh, okay. Well, I need you because we're still in this."
Johanna Almstea...: Because this is how we pay the bills.
Carly Cardellin...: We have many things to do and we are... You know?
Johanna Almstea...: So I want to talk a little bit about you running your own business, because running your own business is very, very different than working for a legacy publishing company, which is where you started your career. How do you manage it? Is it fun for you? Is it hard for you? The tactical stuff of running a business, what does that feel like for you? Because it's a lot.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes, it is a lot, but I think it's like because I have such a great Rolodex of people, and I'm just so grateful that I've had such great relationships, I think in any job, relationships are so important and I always have done my best to foster those relationships, whether I'm meeting people that I haven't seen in a while for breakfast or for lunch, or I always do go to every event that I'm invited to if I'm able. And that's really, I think, the biggest part of my success, is that people know I'm authentic. I'm not going to talk about something that I don't actually use, and that is really, really important to me because once you build this reputation, you have to keep it. You have the trust of people and reputations can be lost in a second.
Johanna Almstea...: Right.
Carly Cardellin...: It's just so fragile, I feel. So my relationships help me continue to build my business. I have a manager who basically does all of the things that I don't know what they mean, just no in perpetuity. I'm like, "Okay, great." No, they know what they're doing there, so that's fine. And then I just keep an Excel spreadsheet of all the jobs that I have and the rates and the briefs, links to those, so that I know what I'm doing and I know what I've made so that I can just keep track of that on my end, and then the invoicing is really the last part of that. And then you have to send your analytics into either the brand or into your manager after the job is complete for like, maybe it's live for a week or maybe it's live for a couple of weeks. They tell you when you need to send in the analytics, so then you just do that, and that's really like the end of the job then.
Johanna Almstea...: Wow. Okay. And what happens if it's a flop? Have you ever had a flop? What happens if you're like, "Here are my analytics and they weren't very good"?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. I feel like there are people who can really move product like the Alix Earles of the world. I don't know if you know who she is.
Johanna Almstea...: Yes, I do.
Carly Cardellin...: Right. You're on TikTok so I know you do.
Johanna Almstea...: I am on TikTok. So she, I feel, really moose product and she's very authentic and so sweet. I actually love following her. I think she has a great speaking to camera voice. It just really feels like you know her, which is obviously a huge part of her allure, and there are some people who bring awareness to your brand. I do move product but not like her, but I would say I'm more of your awareness person where the people who follow me are vast. So I have celebrities, I have influencers, editors, people in the world from different coasts, Paris, London, per my analytics. So I look at that and say, I was a former editor. I'm now doing this. I can bring awareness to your brand in many different ways, and that would really be my strong suit. Something-
Carly Cardellin...: And my credibility too, right?
Carly Cardellin...: And my credibility.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah.
Carly Cardellin...: Some things do fly off the shelves for me, like the Sofie Pavitt mandelic acid, which I use, like my Saie tinted SPF which I have on my face that I love. That's the glow that you were asking me about. That's that product. I'll send you a link after.
Johanna Almstea...: Guys, I was saying how glowy she looks and I want her glow. It's so glowy.
Carly Cardellin...: It's literally just that. I saw a girl last night at dinner and I said to her, "Your skin is so glowy." I was like, "But I know exactly what's on your face." And she was like, "Really?" And I was like, "Yeah." I was correct."
Johanna Almstea...: Oh my God, you have to send me the link right now.
Carly Cardellin...: It's so good. But this is how it works, right? Send you the link, that's how it works. But because you see it on my face and if my skin is good, then you want your skin to look like that. So sure, can anyone be an influencer? You can wake up and decide that you want to... Everyone has influence. It's just your level of commitment to it. I do think that something I'm still learning how to do is consistency. It's like if you never know when your favorite show is going to be on, how do you watch it? I feel like the influencers who post every single day really are just above and beyond other influencers. For me, I have to say, I have a family, I have other things going on, and I just want to have some mental peace about that.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay, so let's get into that a little bit. When you and I sat down a couple of weeks ago, we talked a lot about this, of trying to balance motherhood and a career that is... I feel like your career is a lot of giving of yourself. You have to look a certain way, you have to sound a certain way, you have to be present either physically at an event or on your social media platforms, and then you also have these two beautiful little humans who need you to be present, so how do you draw boundaries? How do you... I don't even like to ask the question balance because I don't think there is ever a fucking ounce of balance when you're a working mother.
Carly Cardellin...: Not at all.
Johanna Almstea...: But how do you manage it all? How do you take care of yourself in the process? How do you find the places to put your attention? How do you do all that?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. I think I have to be even better at time management, so I want people to know that even people who you feel like might be killing it at what they're doing still might be bad at that. Me.
Johanna Almstea...: Here you go, guys. There's hope for you yet.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes, there's hope for us all. I literally will be like... Sometimes I'll say to my husband, "Oh, I have to film this thing," and he's like, "We're going to dinner in like 30 minutes." And I was like, "No, I know. I'll nail it. Just don't worry." Because I'm just like, I've written my script out, I know the things I need to do. I'm very fast when I do it and I will just humbly say that when I turn projects in, I very rarely get edits. I think maybe two times in my whole career did I get edits.
Johanna Almstea...: Do you credit that from your experience of just from the get go, being in a fast-paced, crazy, high expectation environment?
Carly Cardellin...: I would say it's fast-paced, and yes, crazy environment, but also from a storytelling background, because as an editor, you're always writing a story. You want to get to the point, you want there to be a hook, you don't want to draw it out because you want to keep people's attention, so it's that type of thing. And I think it's just so ingrained in me that I know what I need to hit and I know what's going to be like the high notes of this story or reel that I need to create.
Johanna Almstea...: Got it.
Carly Cardellin...: But I think from the moment I wake up, I'm like, what do I need to do for myself first to make myself good? So whether that's like, I have this balance plate that shakes for lymphatic drainage, so I'll get on that maybe for three minutes, I'll make my bed. Sometimes I won't do the shake plate, I'll just make my bed. That's a small win for me. We're already killing it.
Johanna Almstea...: If you make the bed?
Carly Cardellin...: You have to start low, right? You're just like, we're-
Johanna Almstea...: Listen, the bar is so low around here right now, I got you.
Carly Cardellin...: You got to grab the low hanging fruit because it's going to build us up so that we can do the other things that are going to be really wows later on in the day.
Johanna Almstea...: Right.
Carly Cardellin...: But I think it's just like looking at my day and then trying to figure out where I can fill in pockets of what I need to do for myself. I will even just... If I need a break, my husband will go work out. I just need to go to a vintage store and look around. That fills my cup in a minute. I'm just like, "Leave me be. I will be right back in a half an hour," and I'll be a new person.
Johanna Almstea...: Really?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Where do you go? Which ones do you like to go to?
Carly Cardellin...: I have many. There's a really good one. I don't know if you've ever been to the Fairfield Antiques in Connecticut.
Johanna Almstea...: No. Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: Oh my gosh, we have to go there together. It is so good. The prices are incredible.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: It's iconic and it's massive.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, okay.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: We need to go. You know I have a house to fill.
Carly Cardellin...: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, honestly, there's so many things there and it's really just so fun, and the prices are pretty good.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. So the middle of the day, you'll just get in your car and drive there.
Carly Cardellin...: Middle of the day, because obviously I'm making my own schedule, so I'll look at my schedule in the morning, say, okay, obviously I know I'm getting my kids to school. Either myself or my husband drops them off, because we live very close to our school so it's really not necessary for them to take the bus, because they're the first pickup, so then they'd be on the bus for 40 minutes, so it doesn't make any sense.
Johanna Almstea...: I'm in the same situation and I hate it. Yeah, okay.
Carly Cardellin...: So then after that, they're at school safely. I come back and it's do I have time to film content or am I getting on calls right away? Because also now, I've started working with a venture capitalist firm and I am a consultant to the beauty brands that they have. So this also started when I left Cosmo. My husband had met the CEO of K18. His name's Suveen, he's literally a gem of a human, and he was talking to him about his product which is a hair mask, which actually, you would benefit from. Have you ever used it?
Johanna Almstea...: No.
Carly Cardellin...: Oh yeah, you need to use it. I'll give you some.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay, good.
Carly Cardellin...: We have some here. And it is for chemically treated hair, bleached hair, highlighted hair, relaxed hair. And at the time, my husband was like, "Oh my gosh, you need to connect with my wife because she literally has all of exactly what you are trying to cater to." So we met, really got along, and he was like, "I would love for you to help us seed celebrities and influencers, editors, that type of thing." So-
Johanna Almstea...: So wait, let's pause there for a second. Seed means getting the product.
Carly Cardellin...: Seed means sending product to X person.
Johanna Almstea...: And that they're going to basically open it because it's from you, right? It's not just some blind package.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Sometimes it is, but often, if you are a person of influence or you're a...
PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:46:04]
Johanna Almstea...: ... but often when if you are a person of influence or you're a celebrity or you're a big hotshot in your field, you're sent a lot of product and a lot of the time it's just too overwhelming and you don't pay attention to it. But if you have somebody who is an expert or has a relationship with you and you're like, "Hey, I'm going to send this to you. Carly called me today. She's going to send me this hair mask." I'm going to open that package first and I'm going to use it because Carly recommended it. So that's basically what this person who had this product asked you to do was like, "Hey, can you help me get this in the right people's hands? Help me decide who the right people are and then get it into their hands." Right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: And I only signed on with them because I used the product once and it completely changed how my hair felt. My hair was so wiry and just starving for some hydration and moisturization. And I used this product once and what it is it's a hair mask and it's biomimetically put together, which means it mimics the keratin that's already naturally existing in your hair.
Johanna Almstea...: Ooh.
Carly Cardellin...: So while our hair is dead, if you have two... Let's say this is a strand of hair and their bond is broken in the middle. If you put on the hair mask, it bridges that bond. So it creates as if it's repaired.
Johanna Almstea...: Amazing.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. It's really, really cool. So anyway, I would reach out to Chris Appleton and all of my contacts in the industry saying, "I'm going to send you a package." They were like, "All right, perfect. We're going to look out for it." And then it honestly just went wildfire. It was so crazy. I had Chris always messaging me like, "I need more of the K18." He then used that on Kim Kardashian. She was obsessed with it. She did a whole interview with Allure and talked about K18 for free. And they were like, "Holy shit." So it was just one of those things-
Johanna Almstea...: They were like, "Thanks, Carly."
Carly Cardellin...: They're like, "Thank you." But honestly, their team really is so hit the ground running as well and they always have been. So I worked with them for a couple of years and then moved off the project, but now I've been doing other things with different brands and I just love it. I think that's just such a fun way to also use my brain in a different way when people listen to you. And when people don't listen to you, you're like, "I don't know if I can help you because I'm telling you what's cool and what to do, but if you're not doing it, then I think we might be done here."
Johanna Almstea...: Right. I'm very familiar with that scenario.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Are you consulting them on formulation of product or more like marketing or getting it out into the world? At what point in the product life cycle are you coming in and consulting with those brands?
Carly Cardellin...: Honestly, there's been different stages for different partners. I'm working on a company right now, which is going to launch in January and the founder had the formulation, super high end, like awesome formulation. It's not for beauty, but it's for wellness. I just can't say too much more. But I was coming in really to help with the buzz part of it. So reaching out to editors, influencers, I'll be co-hosting the event, that type of thing. But I have a partner whose name is Lauren Cosenza, and I worked with her at Shape and she also worked at Cosmo before I worked at Cosmo. And she is just like a brainiac there. She actually has her own hot sauce company with her husband. I don't know if you like hot sauce, but-
Johanna Almstea...: My husband does. He's a [inaudible 00:49:29].
Carly Cardellin...: Okay. It's called Señor Lechuga Hot Sauce. It's so freaking good, so hot.
Johanna Almstea...: Really?
Carly Cardellin...: There's no preservatives in it. Yeah. They just use salt like normal. So the sodium levels on it are like so low and the flavors are incredible. They use Carbonaro peppers. They use real truffles, which a lot of hot sauce brands don't. So anyway, she's like a brain herself. So we have partnered up. We don't even have a name. We just go on, I don't know, we're like renegades, but we work with these different beauty brands that everyone knows and just kind of help them in whatever stage that they're maybe feeling stuck at.
Johanna Almstea...: Amazing. I love that.
Carly Cardellin...: It's been really fun.
Johanna Almstea...: Did you, when you were younger, back when you were like putting on the grandma earrings and the makeup and the outfits, did you have a picture in your mind of what having it all looked like or what success looked like for you?
Carly Cardellin...: No. I actually was thinking about this the other day and I was always very outgoing, but I talked a lot, which has served me now, but people were always like, "Stop talking," or like this and that. I know that you've asked people about this about math. I wasn't good at math, but probably because when I did my math homework, I felt like my dad who I loved to death was just like, "Why aren't you getting the end of this math problem?" And I'm like, "I don't know, but like I'm definitely not going to get it now that you're like coming at me this way." And I feel like there were very many instances that I told myself that I wasn't smart and that took me a really long time to get out of.
And when I was in my editing career, I was like, "No, I am smart. I have these great ideas. I'm somebody who like ideas just come to all day long. Not everyone is like that." And I had met with this energy healer and she was like, "Ideas just flow to you all the time." And I was like, "Okay, yeah, I felt like that." I really do have like a lot of ideas to the point where I just like get idea paralysis and I can't even create content because I'm like, "I just have these ideas, but I don't want to do all of these ideas, so I'll just do none of them."
Johanna Almstea...: Right.
Carly Cardellin...: Which does not serve me as my job is that. So looking back at that girl who was in power pose and really seemed like she was going to take on the world and who did in a sense, I never really like saw this whole thing coming for myself. And when I left Cosmo, I thought to myself like, "I really hope this succeeds because I don't want to let my own self down, but also, what am I going to turn this into?" Because I don't necessarily want to do content creation for the rest of my life as a job like that, but it does come so easily to me. So I'm like, "Well, why wouldn't I or why couldn't I?"
Johanna Almstea...: Right. It's so interesting too, I feel like when you got to the magazine, I felt like this when I got to fashion school, again, I was like, I was smart. I did okay. I did fine. I did well in school because I had to because that was the expectation, but it certainly wasn't like my natural state. And I remember just getting to fashion school and being like, "Oh, I know how to do this. This is what I'm good at. My brain works in this way. This is so fun." And I think it's so important, especially because we have a lot of younger listeners who are just starting out their career. I think it's so important to like, don't talk yourself out of something. Keep trying and don't let somebody else's expectation of how you're supposed to be. Like your dad thought you needed to get that math problem. Okay, fine, but did he know you were going to do this?
Carly Cardellin...: I know.
Johanna Almstea...: I think it's like, just take that stuff and say like, "It's okay. I'm going to be good at something else."
Carly Cardellin...: Well, I think my dad's brain explodes on a daily basis when I just tell him the wildest shit because when I said, I said to him like, "Oh, I'm going to go to New York and get this job." And he was like, "Okay." And my dad's always been so supportive in terms of like, "This girl's going to do it. Whatever she needs to do, she's going to do it." I'm so resourceful. Sometimes to a point where I do surprise myself, I'm like, "How did I even do that?" I'll give you an example. I was doing a job with Eighth Day skincare and they have this serum that is incredible that I have used in the past and they had hired me for this job and they were wrapping the New York Times with their ad. So we live in New York, but not New York City and so people don't get like the Times delivered here. Maybe some people-
Johanna Almstea...: Well, some people do.
Carly Cardellin...: Not a lot.
Johanna Almstea...: Most people read it online now.
Carly Cardellin...: [inaudible 00:54:11]. I tried to call everybody I knew. So I was like, "Okay, I'm going to go to the grocery store, get the Times in the morning and we're going to be good." Not thinking that it wasn't wrapped because I don't live in New York City.
The content was due by like noon. I go to the grocery store at 7:00 AM. It's not wrapped on the New York Times. So the ad is nowhere to be found. I'm like, okay. I came back to the house. I was like, "Gio, I need to drive to the city right now." And on my way to the city, called every single person I knew who I thought was bougie enough to get the New York Times delivered at their freaking apartment or house. No one. So I'm like, all right. I literally, one of the PR women that I spoke to, her name's Jenny Ruff, she's a dear friend of mine, she was like, "Call the Carlisle Hotel because they have people who live there and they probably get it delivered." And she was like, "They'll probably have it." And I was like, "Genius." So I called the Carlisle Hotel, the lady at the front desk, I give her my spiel.
I'm like, "Do you have the wrap?" And she was like, "Yes, I have it " And I was like, "Put it aside for me. I'm coming to get it." And she was like, "Okay." And literally went and got it, drove the whole way back home an hour back home. So now I'm like, this is a whole to do.
Johanna Almstea...: This is all at like 8:00 AM.
Carly Cardellin...: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: I was like, "Do not give this paper to anybody else, please." I was like, "I will pay you whatever." She didn't even ask me to pay her, which I thought was so nice of her. But then I came back, shot the content, and it was up a little bit after the deadline, but at least we did it.
Johanna Almstea...: Right.
Carly Cardellin...: But it's like stuff like that where I'm like, "You know what? I'm not good at math, but I will get whatever you need me to get done. Give me the task."
Johanna Almstea...: You're scrappy.
Carly Cardellin...: Scrappy. And also I feel like I do thrive in a storytelling setting and that just makes sense to me.
Johanna Almstea...: So you're going to do whatever it takes to get the story.
Carly Cardellin...: Right. That is as well. I would be interviewing people and I would have to ask Kim Kardashian the most insane question and I would be able to do it because we were talking for so long and my editor would be like, "Make sure you ask her this at the end. So if she does end the interview, you're not without the rest of the interview." But it was always in a way where it didn't seem like I was trying to pry to get this information because I think that how just I am naturally makes people feel like they're in a safe space and I would actually never want to ask someone something that put them in a place that was like, "We're going to monopolize on this answer."
Johanna Almstea...: Right.
Carly Cardellin...: They were almost happy to tell me whatever I was asking because maybe they knew that it was safe with me. So I'm good at that.
Johanna Almstea...: Add that to my list of life skills that I'm really good at. But I just think it's so cool because it's like these are things, again, that you didn't know when you were in your power pose when you were little. But as you go through your career and you start to pay attention, it's like you realize that these are actual skills that will take you very far. And it may not be a degree from a fancy college. It may not be that you studied abroad and did all these crazy things. It may not be even... Some of it is like obviously you had a pretty stellar resume actually with the places you worked, but it's also just these like, I don't even call it like soft skills, but these other things of like gut and intuition and stick to itiveness and like all of these things, your ability to make people feel comfortable. Those are kinds of things that I feel like now in my older age, I'm like, yeah, those are what served me through my entire career. Those were my secret sauce.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. And I think also when brands come to me, they know that it's going to be an easy exchange. I'm going to say, "What do you need from me?" And then I'm going to deliver that. It's not going to be like, "Oh, well you didn't say this one thing." I'm checking off the brief when I go through it and then I'm making sure that it doesn't sound like an ad to the best of my ability. I mean, I'm posting something today and it's about like shaving my legs. I mean, the phone is obviously in the bathroom because we're doing something. We're not just randomly in there together. So sometimes it's just... But I do think it's hard with ads because people just kind of like roll their eyes at it, but it's like you have to look at the person who's doing the ad and just saying, "Are they having a good meter on are they taking every single job or are they using things that they actually organically love?" And that would be, from my perspective, what I do.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. Okay. So you have any moments in your life, like major pivotal moments in your life where you think, holy shit, like if I had not done that, my life would be totally different.
Carly Cardellin...: If I had not moved to New York, my life would be totally different.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah.
Carly Cardellin...: I think a place calls you because you have stuff that you need to do there and I wouldn't have had my career, I wouldn't have met my husband, I wouldn't have had my kids. It's kind of so crazy. And my zip code where I grew up, 15904, is the same numbers as my husband's where he grew up, 10594.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, my goodness.
Carly Cardellin...: Isn't that so insane? And I was like, "We were just like meant to be." We had to come to New York City to like meet.
Johanna Almstea...: That's so cool.
Carly Cardellin...: I know.
Johanna Almstea...: Would you say now that you've gotten this far, what are some sacrifices that you've made to get this far? Because you're clearly, you're killing it, you're successful, you're balanced, you're happy, you have healthy kids, you have a nice family. I would say you're like pretty close to having it all. What are some sacrifices you've had to make to get here?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. Honestly, I really do feel like I am in a place where I have all the things that matter to me and that to me is having it all. I have my family, they're healthy, my immediate family is healthy, my parents, my brother, we get to see our family a lot, which is so nice and I still get to do what I love doing. I would love to live in the city still. So I had sacrificed moving outside of the city because my husband felt like we should have a different upbringing for our kids just for what we had talked about wanting, the freedom of just opening the door and letting them go outside. And that has been wonderful, but when I first moved out of the city, I cried so much.
Johanna Almstea...: I can relate to that.
Carly Cardellin...: I think my friends are going to forget about me. I need them and I have wonderful friends here like Lorenza, our dear connector, but I get energized when I get to the city. It's like my testosterone level is where it needs to be when I'm there. We were talking about this. My testosterone level is not where it needs to be.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, my God. It's a result of living in the country. My testosterone drops.
Carly Cardellin...: I need to go back and get like my energy.
Johanna Almstea...: Get your nervous system really jacked up. I know.
Carly Cardellin...: My dad's like, "I just don't understand how you just feel calm in that city." And I'm like, "I felt safer there than I did when I first moved here," even though where we live is a very safe space. But I don't know.
Johanna Almstea...: No, I feel very calm. I feel very calm there.
Carly Cardellin...: I just vibe there automatically.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, me too. I feel very... Well, I'm also very inspired there. I think that's part of it. I think if you're somebody who needs a lot of visual and cultural inspiration to make you feel balanced, I think it's hard to find that if you're not in a big city.
Carly Cardellin...: Also, anything can happen in New York City. Anything.
Johanna Almstea...: Literally.
Carly Cardellin...: I stayed at my cousin's house. She lives in Tribeca because I had a late night event. I woke up in the craziest outfit of pajamas and a sweatshirt and clogs. Went downstairs to a Blue Bottle Coffee place, ran into this woman who I used to work with at Cosmo. And I had been wanting to work with David Yurman Jewelry. And I was just saying to her, "How are you doing?" Blah, blah, blah. She was like, "Oh, amazing. I'm literally having coffee with the president of David Yurman Jewelry." And I was like, "Oh my God, not in this outfit, please. This is a joke." And she was like, "Come over. I'll introduce you to her." And I was like, "Oh my God, also." I was like, "Okay, yeah." So I went over, had a great conversation with her. I was like, "Please excuse my appearance. I just woke up."
Johanna Almstea...: You can check out my Instagram. I'm really cute in person normally.
Carly Cardellin...: Please look somewhere else because this is not it right now. But it's just those type of things. You could literally run into anyone who could change the trajectory of your year or your life in a moment's notice.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. I love it. I mean, you don't have to convince me.
Carly Cardellin...: I'm not trying to sell you on it. Yeah. We're both moving back.
Johanna Almstea...: We're both moving back. I always say I'm going to be a fancy lady who just goes to museums and out to dinner and stuff in my old age.
Carly Cardellin...: You're already fancy, but yeah. I'll support your museum dream.
Johanna Almstea...: Thanks. What is an achievement, because you've had a lot of them, that you're most proud of?
Carly Cardellin...: I was a part of K18 and worked hard for them and they sold to Unilever. And that was just such a major mind-blowing thing for me that I was a part of that. And then it made me an investor.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. So let's explain a little bit to people who aren't familiar with how this kind of thing works. So we talked a little bit about how one of the reasons they wanted to work with you is because you had the connections and the ideas to get their product into the right hands. So as part of that, did you get equity at that point-
Carly Cardellin...: At the beginning.
Johanna Almstea...: ... if you can talk about it? Yeah.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. So as part of that, often with new brands that are starting out or a new product that's coming out, they will want to work with experts in their field like you, but they won't necessarily be able to pay you cash at that time because they're putting so much capital into all these other things. Or sometimes it's a combination, right? Sometimes they'll pay you and they'll also give you equity, which is a percentage of ownership in the company. And equity is kind of not worth anything until it's worth something.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. Right. And you never know if it's going to be.
Johanna Almstea...: So equity means you have whatever, however many points on the business. And it's not like a percentage of profits at that time. It's basically like if something big happens, which we call like an event or an acquisition or a sale or whatever, then that business is valued at a certain dollar value and your equity percentage equates that dollar value. So they sold, it was a short amount of time, right? Wasn't it only a couple years, like a few years?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, it was like four years.
Johanna Almstea...: So they launched a brand-
Carly Cardellin...: In 2020.
Johanna Almstea...: ... in 2020.
Carly Cardellin...: The sale happened in 2024.
Johanna Almstea...: In 2024. So within four years, basically, and you were working with them that whole time?
Carly Cardellin...: No, I was only working with them 2020, 2021 into, I think, the beginning of 2022.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. So you had earned this percentage of equity in the business and then they were so successful that Unilever, which is a huge conglomerate, ginormous company that often looks to beauty and wellness, especially brands to pick up and off the market as soon as they can, bought them.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Right? So that becomes actually like a cash exchange and you get paid out as a percentage of that whatever equity you earned.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, you can choose to or not.
Johanna Almstea...: Right. You could choose to leave it in the company and then have equity in technically the Unilever business or you can get paid out of it.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: And so that is something that a lot of people and a lot of consultants, particularly in tech, fashion, beauty, wellness, will do. They'll take the risk. They'll invest their time, which is called sweat equity. So it's like it's time for equity. They'll invest their ideas. They'll give you everything they got for sometimes a lower rate or no rate and just an exchange for equity in the business with the hopes that something like this will happen.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: So this was your first time ever doing that and becoming a true, like you made real money on it. It makes you an actual investor in their business and now you can be an investor in other businesses, right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. It was actually just so much fun. And I remember my cousin who was helping me, she's a lawyer. She was helping me with my paperwork on the back end when I first got involved with them and she was like, "Don't get your hopes up. Nothing might happen." And I was like, "Yes, totally." But then when it all happened, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is crazy. This is happening."
Johanna Almstea...: It's happening.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah.
Carly Cardellin...: But it was so awesome. And I'm so happy for the team and so proud of the CEO because he really is such a leader from the top down and such a hard worker working at trade shows all of the time to get all of these things done and just get the name out there and going to all the different Sephoras. And it was just like a real hustler, such a kind guy.
Johanna Almstea...: I love hearing that. I love when big nice things like that happen to really good people.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: That's amazing. Okay. So you kind of said it before, but I like to ask this question. Is there anything that you once believed about yourself that you've since outgrown? Was there something you thought about that you thought you were and you're now you're like, "Yeah, no, I'm good."?
Carly Cardellin...: I guess it would just be that, I guess I just kind of wondered what I was going to do because I think even in high school I'm like, "I'm not really like,"... I mean, I was good at writing English papers, but I was like, "Nothing's really speaking to me here, not science, not math." So it was almost just very eye-opening that I came across this job that is beauty editorial, which has now turned into content creation.
Johanna Almstea...: I mean, it's still beauty editorial, right? Like you're still doing-
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, it's still a version of beauty editorial, but that even existed because as I said, I saw the magazines, I was ripping pages out of them, but I didn't really feel like a human was behind it writing the words. Why didn't I think that? I don't know. But where did they do it? Who knows? And it's like in all these towers in New York City, it turns out.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. One of my guests one time said, she's like, "I just remember being in New York City and being like, 'If I ever live here and have a reason to go into one of these big buildings, I don't know what happens in there, but I want to do that.'"
Carly Cardellin...: And there's so many of them. So you're like, "What is all happening here?"
Johanna Almstea...: What goes on here, right? That's so funny. Okay. So how do you nourish yourself? I feel like you seem to... Because partially, I think part of your world is wellness, so you're not as, I don't know, bad at it as some of us. How do you nourish yourself physically, mentally, spiritually?
Carly Cardellin...: I love sitting on the couch in front of a fire with some peppermint tea and some vanilla creamer in it. That would be an ideal situation for me. I love having friends over. I'm a social butterfly. My husband is also social, but needs more alone time. I need...
PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:09:04]
Carly Cardellin...: ... is also social, but needs more alone time. I need alone time too to recharge, but not as much as someone else would. I'm more filled up by being with the people who I want to be around to talk about literally whatever.
Johanna Almstea...: Got it. Do you have time to dream? Do you dream? Do you allow yourself to dream these days? What are you dreaming about?
Carly Cardellin...: I don't know. For a while, I was dreaming of having a horse, and then we moved to the country and I was like, "Whoa, the expenses of a horse and all of that just..." I was like, "You know what? I'm okay."
Johanna Almstea...: I still dream about the horses all the time.
Carly Cardellin...: I know, I love horses. I grew up riding them. We didn't talk about this before, but I grew up riding them.
Johanna Almstea...: No, we need to.
Carly Cardellin...: And I think in Pennsylvania, it's much less expensive to have a horse. You can get a great horse for like $2,000-
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, it's a little different here.
Carly Cardellin...: ... ride them all around. Here, that's not the case. You couldn't even lease a horse here for $2,000.
Johanna Almstea...: No, you cannot.
Carly Cardellin...: So I don't know. The dreams I have are probably just places that we want to travel to as a family. We have everything else that we need in terms of things that make our family function. You could always see something else that you like, "Oh, I would like that for the house," whatever. But my home is fully furnished and I'm not looking for something, maybe one more mirror for my dining room, but that's about it.
Johanna Almstea...: No more dreams of mirrors.
Carly Cardellin...: That's a good place to be whenever you're not thinking of, "How do I fill this room up?" With not just going to one store, because I love having things that people don't have and things that have stories, it just really fuels me and fills me up to be like, "Oh, I got this from this, and this is where it came from." That's fun.
Johanna Almstea...: That's fun.
Carly Cardellin...: Like all this stuff behind me.
Johanna Almstea...: Look at that.
Carly Cardellin...: [inaudible 01:10:54] like, "Why do we have so many things around?" I'm like, "It's called character."
Johanna Almstea...: It's called vibe.
Carly Cardellin...: He's like, "I need to see the countertop." And I was like, "Okay."
Johanna Almstea...: Countertops are so overrated, come on.
Carly Cardellin...: He's like, "I can't cut the chicken." I'm like, "Well, just move things aside."
Johanna Almstea...: It needs the vibes, it's all about the vibes.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, it's the vibes.
Johanna Almstea...: Is there anything you've said no to that you wish that you said yes to? I feel like especially for someone like you, who has so many offers and so much coming in, are you ever like, "Shit, I should have said yes to that one"? Or any opportunities or adventures or...
Carly Cardellin...: I've taken a lot of my opportunities that have come my way. The opportunities that I have passed on were just because it wasn't a good fit. So I feel like while I know that some of them are going to make great amounts of money, I think that's the hardest part is that you have to say, "Okay, what is the daily expense on your mental health, is that going to be more than what you might possibly make if this brand does X, Y, Z?" And I think you really have to look at that. And I was having that happen to me with a brand, and I was just saying to myself, "You know what? I need to be there more for my family and just not think about this more than I am." So I think it just happens with... There's been many times where that's happened. So it's like, where do you want to put your energy?
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. And trusting the process, right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: What is your idea of a perfect day off? Do you have any days off?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. Essentially, I could clear my calendar, but then I would make no money. My perfect day off would be no one's asking me questions, everyone's just playing by themselves or getting themselves breakfast, doing what they're doing, they've slept in until like 7:00 or 7:30. My kids wake up at 6:30 chronically. I'm like, "I just need till like 7:00, just give me the extra half-hour."
Johanna Almstea...: [inaudible 01:12:49] if I looked at the clock and it was after 7:00, I was like, "Whoa, this is a win."
Carly Cardellin...: I know. That happened today, and I was like, "What's happening?" Then I would maybe go horseback riding in the morning, after I had my tea with vanilla creamer. I just love vanilla creamer, and anything I can put it in is the vehicle that I absorb it. Chobani vanilla creamer, to be exact. It has no gums, it's very good. It's just like cane sugar, if people are asking. Because I feel like people consume so much creamer and it has all this shit in it.
Johanna Almstea...: I know. Creamers are generally pretty shitty for you.
Carly Cardellin...: Well, that one's not.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. Sponsored by.
Carly Cardellin...: [inaudible 01:13:28] no, that's not sponsored, but I'm happy to have it sponsored. I'm happy to have them sponsor-
Johanna Almstea...: Chobani, are you listening? I also use the Extra Creamy Oatmilk for my coffee. We could do a duo.
Carly Cardellin...: Look at us. You might have a new sponsor soon.
Johanna Almstea...: I love it.
Carly Cardellin...: And that's how it happens, folks, that's how the sausage is stuffed.
Johanna Almstea...: How to become an influencer 101, we just did it. You just witnessed it.
Carly Cardellin...: And then, I would love to go on a horseback ride during that perfect day, fly to Italy.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay, good, yep.
Carly Cardellin...: Now, we're dreaming, right?
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, no. What are we doing when we land in Italy?
Carly Cardellin...: We're going to Positano. We're going to walk over to this little red flag and wait for this guy, Da Adolfo, to come pick us up and take us to his random restaurant that you cannot reserve a table at. You just have to literally be by this flag or maybe know someone famous. And then, I do kind of love the idea of camping outside, which sounds like something that would not come out of my mouth, but I used to go camping with my dad a lot and I haven't done it. But I would want a no bear zone, because there's bears here, coyotes, and we don't need all of that.
Johanna Almstea...: No, that's a little... Well, maybe you just go camping in Positano.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, perfect.
Johanna Almstea...: There's fine. And there's Aperol Spritzes.
Carly Cardellin...: Exactly. And then, I think I would end it by a fireplace under the stars with all of my friends here and my family.
Johanna Almstea...: That sounds perfect.
Carly Cardellin...: Isn't that fun?
Johanna Almstea...: That's so good. Yeah, I want to come. Can I come? Am I invited?
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay, good. Okay. Now, we're at the very, very, very exciting time of the lightning round of silly questions. Again, do not overthink this, it's meant to be fast. A lot of them are food-related, but they're not all.
Carly Cardellin...: Okay.
Johanna Almstea...: So favorite comfort food?
Carly Cardellin...: Lasagna.
Johanna Almstea...: Lasagna? Ooh.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Do you put meat in your lasagna?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: I also like butternut squash soup, so that's neck-and-neck tied.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. What is something you are really good at? Is not food-related, by the way, or can be.
Carly Cardellin...: I would say connecting people and maybe making them feel safe when they're... I don't know. I can really warm somebody up, but I don't mean to do it, I just think-
Johanna Almstea...: You just naturally do it.
Carly Cardellin...: I don't know, that's just me.
Johanna Almstea...: It's just who you are.
Carly Cardellin...: I've just been told that I do that, so now I'm like, "Well, I guess I'm good at this."
Johanna Almstea...: "Well, put it on my list of skills." What is something you're really bad at?
Carly Cardellin...: I would say math. I have to say it, I don't want to add to the long list of people, but I tried to... At a dinner last night, we were tasked to figure out our life's number, our life's path, and there was so many adding of things and it was so confusing, even though it was just addition. The addition part wasn't confusing, it was just like this... And I was like, "Let's just throw this in Chat, everybody, it's going to be better." And then, everyone did, and we were like... Everyone at the table was struggling, by the way, it wasn't just me.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. I'm telling you, it is a theme on this podcast.
Carly Cardellin...: It's a thing.
Johanna Almstea...: I think for those of us who are big idea people and big creative people, math isn't always at the forefront of our brains.
Carly Cardellin...: And that's fine, we have other people to do that.
Johanna Almstea...: We are so good at so many other things.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. What's your favorite word?
Carly Cardellin...: My favorite word, I would say, is yes. I love going to things, I love doing things, I want to say yes to everything.
Johanna Almstea...: I love that. What is-
Carly Cardellin...: Except for helping my daughter with math homework, that's a no.
Johanna Almstea...: I hate that too.
Carly Cardellin...: Pushing that aside to somebody else.
Johanna Almstea...: Right. Because I also don't want to give her a complex about it, it's just so many multilayers of problems.
Carly Cardellin...: I know. When I'm helping her with it, I'm like, "You're doing great." Meanwhile, I'm like, "This is definitely the wrong answer, let's figure..." But she actually is good at math, so that's amazing. But when I went in for her parent teacher conference, I thought they were going to be doing like 5 + 3, and it's really not, it's so much more than that. No wonder she feels like maybe she doesn't know the answer to this, neither do I.
Johanna Almstea...: Because this is hard. We don't know how to do it. Okay. What's your least favorite food?
Carly Cardellin...: Cilantro.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, you're one of those? Does it taste like soap to you?
Carly Cardellin...: I don't know if it tastes like soap to me, but I just hate it, and I feel like anything it's in, it ruins.
Johanna Almstea...: It's like a thing. You know this is genetic, right?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes, yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay.
Carly Cardellin...: It doesn't taste like soap to me, it just tastes disgusting.
Johanna Almstea...: Right, okay.
Carly Cardellin...: So whatever that is.
Johanna Almstea...: Whatever that... But you have a violent reaction to it?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Like people who are like, "I fucking hate cilantro."
Carly Cardellin...: That is me and my husband. We're like, "Don't bring us anything with cilantro."
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, you guys are soulmates, that's so nice.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. Least favorite word?
Carly Cardellin...: I think moist or-
Johanna Almstea...: You're not alone on this podcast.
Carly Cardellin...: ... something like that, yeah. I did see when Lorenzo said brekkie, I texted her and I was like, "I knew we were friends." Just don't say brekkie to me.
Johanna Almstea...: No. And we did get clarification, my friend, Lindsay, who's living in Australia right now, did clarify that that is an Australian thing. Lorenzo was trying to say it was a Midwest thing, and I was like, "No, it's an Hispanic thing."
Carly Cardellin...: I had never heard it in Pennsylvania [inaudible 01:18:31] like that, but...
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, no, it's dumb.
Carly Cardellin...: I don't want to hear it.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. I don't want to ever hear it again. Best piece of advice you've ever received?
Carly Cardellin...: Best piece of advice, that what is for you will not miss you.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, what is for you will not miss you, I love that.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, it's really good, because I feel like people spin their wheels on what they should be getting or what they could be doing, and just go about you, do your thing, and what is for you will not miss you, because then it just makes making sense of it all so much easier.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, I love that. If your personality were a flavor, what would it be?
Carly Cardellin...: I even knew you were going to ask this, and why don't I know the answer?
Johanna Almstea...: Is it minty with vanilla creamer?
Carly Cardellin...: It's not vanilla, because that sounds boring. No. But that basically consumes my whole body's internal, I'm just like vanilla up to here. I feel like I'm bright, I feel like I'm bubbly and glass half-full. What flavor is that?
Johanna Almstea...: Are you like a spritz? Are you like a Paloma?
Carly Cardellin...: Maybe a strawberry Pop Rock or something like that.
Johanna Almstea...: A strawberry Pop Rock, I love it. Maybe you're a strawberry Pop Rock, like, "Zzz."
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, okay. Yeah, you're a strawberry Pop Rock.
Carly Cardellin...: And then, when I'm done, I'm done. I'm just like...
Johanna Almstea...: And then, you die.
Carly Cardellin...: And I'm exhausted.
Johanna Almstea...: And leave some sort of weird toxic residue? No.
Carly Cardellin...: No. Without the film.
Johanna Almstea...: I like it. A non-toxic strawberry Pop Rock.
Carly Cardellin...: Organic, yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, no pesticides. Okay. Last supper, you are leaving this body and this Earth and you're going on to better things, it's not sad, it's like a celebration, what are you eating tonight?
Carly Cardellin...: Maybe I think I would have butternut squash soup, I would have filet mignon, strawberry rhubarb pie, which is my favorite, mashed potatoes with gravy. It's random. And I would have some Ruinart champagne.
Johanna Almstea...: Ooh, I like it. Okay. Have you ever had a moment... I shouldn't even say have you ever had a moment, because everyone's had a moment. But is there a moment you can think of where you have had to eat your words, you've had to take it back or apologize?
Carly Cardellin...: Oh yeah, many times. I feel like I was interviewing Mila Kunis once from That '70s Show, and again, my editor was like, "Ask Mila this, blah, blah." And I waited until the end, and it was not about her liquor, which she was hawking, it was about something else. And she went in on me, and I was just like, "Okay, I didn't even want to ask you this question, but I had to to keep my job basically."
Johanna Almstea...: Really?
Carly Cardellin...: It wasn't even anything offensive, but I think she just really took offense to the fact that I was asking about maybe her and Ashton Kutcher or something like that, and at that moment, I would have liked to eat that entire sentence and swallow it back into my body.
Johanna Almstea...: What did you do? What did you do in that moment?
Carly Cardellin...: I remember it vividly. What I did after was just tried to turn it around to the... I actually asked this in the middle of the interview, which is why I say never ask the hard question in the middle of the interview.
Johanna Almstea...: Wait till the end in case they get up and leave?
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. But I didn't know how many questions she was going to give me. So then, after that, she still wanted to keep talking, and I was like, "You just read me my rights here, I thought we were going to be done." I was like, "Okay, well, I'll ask you my other two questions." But in that moment, I was like, "I don't want to be here at all."
Johanna Almstea...: I don't want to do this, this is awful.
Carly Cardellin...: "And I'm sorry I asked you this, but I'm not going to be the only one probably."
Johanna Almstea...: Right. "So get ready."
Carly Cardellin...: "So there's other people outside, they're going to ask you the same thing."
Johanna Almstea...: "And your publicist probably should have given you an answer for this.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Every day, it's going to sustain you, you don't have to worry about protein and nutritional content and stuff, just you're stuck on a desert island, this is what you want to be stuck with.
Carly Cardellin...: We make these peanut butter banana and egg pancakes, and they're really great and they stick together like a pancake, but there's just no gluten in them. We're not a gluten-averse family, but they're just great tasting, and that's probably what I would have.
Johanna Almstea...: Wow, okay.
Carly Cardellin...: The kids love them, so write down the recipe.
Johanna Almstea...: I need the recipe.
Carly Cardellin...: It's literally two eggs, one banana, and then one tablespoon of peanut butter.
Johanna Almstea...: And you just mash it all up?
Carly Cardellin...: And that'll make three to four pancakes, so you just keep doubling that until you get to the amount that you want.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. Where is your happy place?
Carly Cardellin...: I think on the back of a horse, to be honest with you. I've had a couple of friends fall off horses, which I think when I was younger, I was like, "That doesn't really happen to people." But no, it definitely does.
Johanna Almstea...: It definitely does.
Carly Cardellin...: Just in the middle of the woods on a trail or running fast is perfect.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. What did you have for dinner last night?
Carly Cardellin...: I was at an event, so it was very specific. But we had panko-crusted tomatoes, we had spicy rigatoni, skirt steak, we had broccoli with salsa macha on it, and then there was some sort of salad with walnuts, and then tiramisu for dessert.
Johanna Almstea...: Wow, I love it. It's so funny, because sometimes I ask that question and they're like, "I had a pickle and a scoop of peanut butter," or something, and you're like, "Okay." Yours is very-
Carly Cardellin...: [inaudible 01:24:20] eat more.
Johanna Almstea...: It's like, "Remember that whole question about nourishing yourself? I think we need to talk about that."
Carly Cardellin...: "Let's go back to that."
Johanna Almstea...: "Let's go back to that." What do you wear when you feel like you need to take on the world, like you have a big meeting or a hot date, what is your go-to power outfit?
Carly Cardellin...: I love a matching set, I just think it's so easy. I like to grab things. I love putting outfits together. I don't have a specific style. If you need me to be preppy, I can do that. If you need me to be fancy, long gown, I can do that. I like that that's how my style is. But I feel like when I'm going somewhere, I love a matching set.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. I like a matching set too. That's fun. Most memorable meal you've ever had?
Carly Cardellin...: I would say probably the meal right before we got engaged at Le Sirenuse in Positano. Everything was melting in our mouths, and then we got engaged and I wanted to throw up, because I was like, "Whoa, I didn't know that was going to happen."
Johanna Almstea...: Aw, I love that.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, it was great.
Johanna Almstea...: You kind of said this already, but your go-to coping mechanism on a bad day, if everything's going sideways, what do you do?
Carly Cardellin...: I would go outside and do box breathing, which is four breaths in, hold for four, four breaths out, hold for four. If you're feeling anxious about anything, it can really take the anxiety down after maybe three sets of that and it's really powerful. I would go to the vintage store, and then if that's still not working, I would drink a glass of Chablis that's not too acidic.
Johanna Almstea...: I love Chablis. That's so funny.
Carly Cardellin...: So good. Oh my gosh.
Johanna Almstea...: I feel like you and I need to drink Chablis, because I feel like Chablis is the dark horse, no one really ever thinks about Chablis anymore.
Carly Cardellin...: I have one that literally tastes like water, which is I know not the point of drinking, but I don't want to taste it, I just want to feel like the little-
Johanna Almstea...: You just want to get a little buzzed.
Carly Cardellin...: ... in my clouds, yeah.
Johanna Almstea...: We're going to drink Chablis together, that's going to be so fun.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, let's do it.
Johanna Almstea...: Okay. Dream dinner party guest list, dead or alive. They're all going to say yes, they're all going to come. So who are you having at your dream dinner party?
Carly Cardellin...: I used to watch a lot of movies with Sophia Loren in them, I feel like I would want her. Everyone used to tell me I looked like Jackie Kennedy Onassis when I had my brown hair, so I feel like maybe she would be fun to hang out with.
Johanna Almstea...: Totally.
Carly Cardellin...: If my husband were there, he would want me to say that we were also inviting Bon Jovi. And then, my grandmas who passed away.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh, I love that. Do they like Bon Jovi?
Carly Cardellin...: I don't think so. They like the Lord.
Johanna Almstea...: Maybe you should invite Jesus. Maybe Jesus should come too.
Carly Cardellin...: I do love the Lord.
Johanna Almstea...: So Jesus could sit with the grandmas, and Bon Jovi could sit at the other end of the table.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. A well-balanced table.
Johanna Almstea...: Well-balanced table. Okay. What is one thing you know for sure right now in this moment, you don't need to know it tomorrow and you didn't need to know it yesterday, just what's one thing you know right now?
Carly Cardellin...: That everything you need will come to you.
Johanna Almstea...: That's lovely.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah. I just really feel that. If you actually don't really need it, it's not going to be yours.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah. Oh, that's interesting, I like that.
Carly Cardellin...: You know? Obviously, there's things that we want, I love nice things, but like actual need just to make your heart feel calm.
Johanna Almstea...: Yeah, that's beautiful. Please tell the people who are listening where they can find you, especially if you're a brand and you want to pay her lots of money to post about it.
Carly Cardellin...: Yes. I'll happily accept your cashish in exchange for authentic content.
Johanna Almstea...: In exchange for something that I feel deeply authentic about, if I use it organically.
Carly Cardellin...: So mainly I'm on Instagram, which is just my name as my handle, so it's carlycardellino. I'm on TikTok, but I honestly have not cracked that nut. I know it's a sillier thing and I might just be media-trained by the media giants to death, but I can't get into my groove. I'm just not funny there like I am right now.
Johanna Almstea...: It's really hard.
Carly Cardellin...: If you I think I'm funny.
Johanna Almstea...: It's really hard. I can't say that I have cracked it at all, but I am learning it, and it is so different and it's so different, number one, than you were media-trained, it's literally counterintuitive to everything you learned about media training. And then, it's also very counterintuitive to being successful on Instagram, I think. So you came up in the Instagram era and you cracked that nut, and now I feel like this is totally different, it's very different. Okay. So you're on TikTok, but most of your stuff is on carlycardellino, and it's with Cs, both have Cs.
Carly Cardellin...: Yeah, yes.
Johanna Almstea...: Well, this has been a blast.
Carly Cardellin...: So much fun.
Johanna Almstea...: Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day, and I appreciate you sharing your stories with us.
Carly Cardellin...: Thank you so much. Yay. Bye.
Johanna Almstea...: Oh my gosh, that was so fun. I feel like I want to just hang out with her and get all the beauty tips. I need her to send whatever was making her look so glowy on this. But I hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did. She's so smart and so inspiring and such a go-getter, man. I'm hoping that if you are feeling like there's something you want to go after, I hope you're feeling inspired to do so after hearing her story.
If there's someone you know who you think might benefit from this episode, please send it to them. You can copy the link, you can send it over Instagram, you can send it over text or email. Every like, every comment, every share, all those things help us so, so, so much, so thank you in advance for doing that. And if you haven't done so already, please follow or subscribe to the pod, that helps us a lot, and please download every episode if you can. I hope you're inspired, I hope you're feeling like you can go after your dreams, and I will catch you on the next one.
This Eat My Words podcast has been created and directed by me, Johanna Almstead. Our producer is Sophy Drouin, our audio editor is Isabelle Robertson, and our brand manager is Mila [inaudible 01:30:31].
PART 4 OF 4 ENDS [01:31:11]