From Sibling Rivalry to Startup Success: How to Build a Successful Business with Family with Maggie Sellers & Katie Sellers

Ever wondered what it's like to work with your sister or how HSR runs as a business operation? In the second episode of Hot Smart Rich, you'll intimately meet Maggie's sister and co-founder, Katie Sellers, who joins for an unfiltered conversation. Together, they unpack the evolution of their sibling bond into their business partnership, from their early creative clashes to building a bold, bi-coastal media and investment platform. With candid stories about taking career risks, redefining traditional roles, and balancing creativity with execution, this episode dives deep into what it takes to grow a business, foster resilience, and work with family. As a bonus, they break down the business of Sabrina Carpenter, Celebrity Perfume Lines and more cultural moments shaping the last year of pop-culture. ✨CONNECT WITH HER✨: INSTAGRAM: ⁠@maggiesellers ⁠ TIKTOK: ⁠@maggiesellers_ ⁠ YOUTUBE: ⁠@hotsmartrich ⁠ LINKEDIN: ⁠Maggie Sellers ⁠ ✨CONNECT WITH KATIE✨: INSTAGRAM: ⁠⁠@katiesellers_ ⁠⁠ TIKTOK: ⁠⁠@katiesellers_ ⁠⁠ YOUTUBE: ⁠⁠@hotsmartrich ⁠⁠ LINKEDIN: ⁠⁠Katie Sellers ⁠ ✨READ THE NEWSLETTER✨: ⁠HSR ICYMI ⁠ ✨SHOP HSR✨: ⁠HSR MERCH⁠ ⁠SHOP MY⁠ ⁠AMAZON⁠ ✨ ABOUT MAGGIE✨: Maggie Sellers is revolutionizing modern female empowerment, leading the charge as the Canadian-born, Los Angeles based multi-hyphenate creative entrepreneur and investor, unapologetically blazing new trails. The founder of Hot Smart Rich, a media and investment platform, Maggie is on a mission to help women embrace their hottest, smartest, richest selves. Known for shaping iconic consumer brands and global superstars, she seamlessly blends the worlds of entertainment, branding, and venture capital, and was the first to carve out a space where influence and investment collide. Maggie’s meteoric rise began on TikTok, where her candid, sharp-witted content struck a chord with over 180,000 ambitious Gen-Z and millennial women, rapidly expanding her influence as the blueprint for the future of influence. But Maggie’s vision extends beyond content. Hot Smart Rich is reshaping how modern power players connect and collaborate while her investment arm, HSR Ventures, backs some of the fastest growing consumer brands like Allara Health, De Soi, Mixlab with equity stakes in 18+ brands across the consumer ecosystem. Maggie’s influence goes far beyond the brands she builds and invests in. Forget outdated notions of female empowerment, she’s redefining what it means to be an empowered woman in today’s world. Maggie Sellers is setting a new standard—unapologetic and impossible to ignore. This episode is produced by HSR Media, a d... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  If you're starting a business, there are certain things that are so fun to think about. Y'all know I love a mood board, so everything that relates to the creative, the name, the brand, the website, the vision board. But then there are the things that make you pause and ask, am I even doing this correctly? Or do I even want to be doing this? Like forming your business, getting the right documents, keeping your personal information private. This is where our sponsor, Northwest Registered Agent, is so helpful. They're a one-stop shop for founders who want to launch and legitimize their business without turning it into a giant admin spiral. They help you form an LLC or a corporation, act as your registered agent, and give you tools like a business address, operating agreement, website, phone number, professional email, and free guides.

• 0:43Maggie Sellers Reum?

  They also have real corporate guides who know your local laws. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree.

• 1:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it.

• 1:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay. One, two, three.

• 1:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  One, two, three. Okay.

• 1:26Speaker 01

  Rolling.

• 1:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Rolling. Katie Sellers, are you ready to get hot, smart, rich?

• 1:31Speaker 01

  I sure am.

• 1:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Are you nervous?

• 1:33Speaker 01

  A little bit.

• 1:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Is this your first podcast?

• 1:35Speaker 01

  No, I've done lots of other podcasts, but none on film. Like, look at the way I'm sitting right here.

• 1:41Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I was actually gonna start this out by being like, this is the business visually. So like, you're super put together. I'm a little bit more not.

• 1:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:51Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Tell me about your outfit today. Why did you wear this?

• 1:54Speaker 01

  Well, burgundy's my favorite color.

• 1:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And the color of our business.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  And red is the color of our business. It's also the color of the past year or the season.

• 2:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 2:04Speaker 01

  And...

• 2:05Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Which we'll get into later.

• 2:06Speaker 01

  I get so many compliments on these jeans when I wear them.

• 2:08Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  And I just thought it was cute.

• 2:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But I think like the meaning of it is like when you saw what I was wearing, you said to me, why are you wearing that?

• 2:17Speaker 01

  What are you?

• 2:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Gonna wear.

• 2:19Speaker 01

  What are you wearing? And even down to the shoes, I was like, why are you not gonna put on normal shoes?

• 2:25Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, I think again, it goes back to like, do what you're best at. And what we were just talking about is how different it feels when you have a microphone on versus like, we've been saying to each other for the past 24 hours since you got here, like, save it for the podcast, save it for the podcast.

• 2:38Speaker 01

  For the podcast.

• 2:40Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Because things are just so much better when it's natural.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:43Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And that's why I asked you to come on, which this is technically gonna be, I think, episode two.

• 2:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But we're filming it before episode one.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:51Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Because there's nobody.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  Just to get the heebie jeebies out.

• 2:53Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, there's nobody else in the world that I feel more myself around. And I feel like the one thing that's so hard is everybody tells me, you're so much better in person. When I meet you, I'm like, oh, my God, I want to be a part of that. I still struggle to translate that onto the video side of things.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So I'm hoping that today you can help just relax me and we can just get into it.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  Just bring out, yeah.

• 3:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  Okay, for sure.

• 3:17Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So where I wanted to start was obviously our history of working together. And maybe, actually.

• 3:23Speaker 01

  I think we need to do an intro.

• 3:24Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Let's do a little bit of a backup. Why don't you just tell the listeners, hopefully there's some new people, who are you?

• 3:30Speaker 01

  Okay. My name is Catherine.

• 3:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  No.

• 3:33Speaker 01

  No, I'm kidding. Um, I'm Katie, I'm Maggie's.

• 3:37Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Oh, my God, your voice just did the change.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  Did it?

• 3:39Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yes, just be natural.

• 3:41Speaker 01

  It's so hard to be natural. I'm Katie.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  I had to do media training at Missouri and it was so hard for me. Like, I still can't do it.

• 3:49Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 3:50Speaker 01

  Um, I'm Katie, I'm Maggie's sister and business partner slash co-founder of HSR. And I am based in Toronto.

• 4:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  And you're in LA, so we're a bi-coastal duo.

• 4:04Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  Which is honestly like the best of times, the worst of times, you know, like it works in our favor a lot, but it also then the opportunities to sit down.

• 4:13Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What'd you do before?

• 4:14Speaker 01

  And my background, I always explain to people on the phone, like you and I are very, have a lot of similar experience, but different at the same time. So I, I don't know what side of the brain is the right and the left, but if you're the left, I'm the right.

• 4:28Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay.

• 4:28Speaker 01

  And we cross over and.

• 4:29Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But I would also say, I would argue that you're kind of both, actually.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  I am kind of both, but like.

• 4:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And so am I.

• 4:34Speaker 01

  In our normal roles, we have clearly like, I'm the right, you're the left. And we converge.

• 4:42Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 4:42Speaker 01

  But, okay, so my background is similar to you. I went to business school, but then instead of being creative, I went into accounting at a big four. I worked at Ernst & Young for almost six years, which is.

• 4:52Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Crazy that you survived that long.

• 4:54Speaker 01

  Long time. Three years in Toronto, three years in San Francisco, working in large publicly traded technology clients. And, but when I lived in SF, I really caught the startup bug. So when I moved back to Toronto, I, I am creative. I love consumer. I love products. I love interior design, clothes. So I was like, I'm never going to be happy learning about mining and banking in Toronto. So I wanted to find a business where I could work in consumer and be creative. And so I literally.

• 5:26Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Can we just like, wait one second, I have to interject. You didn't just want to be in startups. You decided to go into crypto before like anybody was in crypto. And I remember when you did that, I was like, why is she going into a currency that doesn't exist?

• 5:40Speaker 01

  So I went on to Crunchbase and I literally like listed businesses that were headquartered in Toronto.

• 5:47Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Which there weren't very many cool businesses back in the day.

• 5:49Speaker 01

  No. So I literally wrote a list of businesses and Missouri was one of the only consumer brands at the time.

• 5:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Like, looking back at that time, I think there was only two consumer brands I would have wanted to work for back in the day, which was like Missouri and Nude Sticks.

• 6:05Speaker 01

  Nude Sticks.

• 6:05Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, based in Toronto.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  It still was even like Nude Sticks was super, super early. They hadn't probably raised money. So I might've not even been aware of them at the time.

• 6:14Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  And then there's brands like Shopify. But anyway, Missouri was the top of the list. They weren't hiring. So I, you're right. I did end up working in crypto in like 2018. I, back in the day, put $500 into Bitcoin.

• 6:26Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Do you still have it?

• 6:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:28Maggie Sellers Reum?

  How much is that worth?

• 6:29Speaker 01

  It's not worth as much as you would think. It's like, it's. Five, five figures, but it's not.

• 6:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  From $500?

• 6:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:38Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay, slay?

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, which in the last couple of weeks, it's actually, I just keep going in and checking.

• 6:44Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Wait, that's amazing. I can't even remember the logins to any of my accounts to get my crypto.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  Well, you should find them.

• 6:49Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  Okay, keep going. Um, which was a very interesting experience, but also a little bit, you know.

• 6:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Sketchy.

• 6:56Speaker 01

  Sketchy, early days of a new type of currency and business, no regulation. And then Missouri literally posted a job for Director of Finance in 2019 while they were raising their Series B from NEA. And it was like a five-month process, but I eventually got the job.

• 7:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Wait, and we need to tell a little backstory on how we actually first started working with Missouri.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  You tell it.

• 7:21Maggie Sellers Reum?

  We had a blog. Katie and I have tried a million different businesses together. We've done gift wrapping, we've done.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  Calligraphy.

• 7:28Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Calligraphy. We've, we've done so many things.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Etsy, like making cards.

• 7:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, and it never worked out because we always ended up fighting. Um, but we did start a blog called Pepper and Piper back in the day.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:41Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And it kind of has the undertones of what HSR has turned into, which is really interesting. And our first ever brand deal was with Missouri.

• 7:49Speaker 01

  It was.

• 7:50Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  And I remember going to their store opening in 2018 on Dundas and vividly Nora and Ayla, who I worked with for a long time at Missouri, were standing at the door greeting people. And, um, yeah, we got this deal to like, and I still have.

• 8:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Promote the store.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  That stay gold tee shirt to come to the store opening. And then it was full circle. I ended up leading their finance team for three years.

• 8:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay, and B, don't be humble. Tell a little bit about how big the company was or how many people you even managed by the time you left.

• 8:23Speaker 01

  So I joined in May of 2019. They just raised Series B, so it was still sub nine-figure. It was like low eight figures in revenue. And by the time I left, we were, you know, approaching that half a billion dollars in revenue. We'd raised Series C and D, had. A unicorn had reached unicorn valuation um in twenty twenty one and uh I was on the executive team and managed a group of twenty five people on the finance team.

• 8:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You know what's so interesting when you repeat your story back to us is like we grew up in such a risk adverse household like so risk adverse I can't even tell you but I do remember one thing that dad would say to us when we were little which was like if you want to have because here's the thing we did grow up extremely privileged in a lot of different ways but we always like I had my first job at twelve yeah actually I had my first.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Off the payroll that's what our dad would always say to us.

• 9:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  We never had an option to move back home after we were done college he was like you're out on your own um and so I remember there was a few things dad said when we grew up he was like if you want to be financially okay have a salary for the rest of your life if you want to be fucking wealthy become an entrepreneur.

• 9:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:37Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yet he was so risk adverse that like the fact that I just literally bet on myself when it was like in the middle of covid I had another no other options and then you were in crypto you left an amazing job at Missouri to come and join me when it was still so early is so interesting to me because those are such big risks that like why do you feel like.

• 9:59Speaker 01

  We took them.

• 10:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Well actually I don't think that and we've talked about this so hopefully you don't get mad for saying this but I really did take the big risks first and foremost to start this right? And then once there was legs and there was like opportunities and you were like wait you're getting deals with like Dell and you're getting speaking opportunities and you're changing people's lives then you took the risk to come.

• 10:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:21Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But why do you feel like you left well paying successful like high tier job at Missouri to come and join me at what we're doing at Heart Smart Rich?

• 10:31Speaker 01

  Well I feel like you kind of said it before about me I am also multi hyphenate in a lot of ways like I can draw a self portrait of myself that actually looks like me.

• 10:41Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Exactly like you.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  And I also can like figure out how to issue an S one for you know like your annual financial.

• 10:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Sorry what's that I'm just kidding.

• 10:50Speaker 01

  And I think that has a lot to do with it. Like you said, I am multi hyphenate in a lot of different ways. And I think like, even though I was in a great job at Missouri, I was running a finance team. I wasn't a COO, I wasn't

• 11:04Maggie Sellers Reum?

  A CMO.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  A CMO. And there, as much as there was creative conversations that I was a part of, I wasn't making decisions or really being creative in a lot of ways. And so I was finding the hamster wheel of it's this month, it's this quarter, it's this year, it's time for taxes, it's time for this. I was like, I can't do this anymore.

• 11:25Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  For the rest of my life until I'm 65 and I retire. Like, it was not going to be stimulating enough for me, which is why I was like, I need to do something that's not just finance.

• 11:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Well, we should tell the story of what it was like when I asked you to come over and like what it's been like working together. So do you remember what I said to make you convinced to come?

• 11:46Speaker 01

  Well, I don't maybe remember the exact words, but I remember you were, I called you and it was May of 2020 or

• 11:53Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 11:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, 2023.

• 11:55Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 11:55Speaker 01

  And my son had just turned a year old. I was taking an 18 month mat leave.

• 12:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Which is crazy that in Canada, you get 18, well, 12 months.

• 12:03Speaker 01

  12, you can extend to 18.

• 12:04Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  And you were like, you should come to New York with me because I found her made on a panel. My in my intern who works with us from Columbia Business School is like coming and going to be part of it. And I was like, wow, this is so cool. And it was my opportunity in a mat leave world where like, you're literally at home all day, every day with a baby to experience something new. And for me, that was like the first opportunity to see what you had really started to build.

• 12:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 12:33Speaker 01

  And that for me was like the being of, okay, there's actually like legs to this.

• 12:38Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And it's so interesting because I think I grew up so much in the first year. I was kind of like, I mean, I wouldn't even say I've done it officially for a year before that, but I used to be so attached to things like titles and like my ego drove so many of my decisions. And I knew that I was out of place. And I say this to you all the time. I am the best thing that will ever happen to this business and I'm also the worst.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:58Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And there was a Growing point where I was just like, I know that if I don't bring on help, like this won't work.

• 13:06Speaker 01

  Yes, that is what you said to me. I'm the best, I'm the best thing and I'm the worst thing, but I'm at a point where like, I can't do more than I'm doing right now without having someone else.

• 13:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Well, and I think that's what works so well about you and I working together is like, one, the first day that you didn't even really start, but you were like, in New York with me. I'm like, here are all the bank account passwords. Like, here's like every bill that needs to get paid. Like, here's this, here's that. But I think it's also been this like very fluid relationship where it's like every single day is new. We're kind of learning together. But I know one of my strengths is like, I am, I'm an amazing leader. I'm an amazing charismatic leader. I have vision.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  You're very visionary.

• 13:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Very visionary.

• 13:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:46Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Execution is like, it's just not in my DNA and I can do it.

• 13:51Speaker 01

  You can do it.

• 13:52Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I've done amazing things in my career, only possible because I could execute.

• 13:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But in terms of growing a big business, like I just realized I am never going to be able to manage even five people.

• 14:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I don't have the patience. I don't have the skill set. And quite frankly, it's not what I'm good at.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:08Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You are amazing at people management.

• 14:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So the way that we've even structured the business is so unique where it's like you kind of technically report to me.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:17Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Even though.

• 14:17Speaker 01

  I don't report to anyone.

• 14:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  No, even though I was gonna say one of the things that's so interesting is like, not only did I give you the bank accounts the first day, but I was like, you should have a title of co-founder.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And you should have forty-nine percent of the business. I just want fifty-one. And um, now everybody ladders up to you, which works really well.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  Which I do think though, is quite common in, let's talk about like in a creator-led business, right? That is the way it shakes out a lot of the time because the creator is the person who is this visionary. I have all of these ideas. And to your point, you don't even want to be spending your time managing a team of five people because it's not what brings you joy or you're passionate about. And I think this is what I wanted to say, actually. The number of times I get asked by people when I, I, I, I always introduce myself. Hi, I'm Katie. I'm Maggie's co-founder. I also happen to be her sister. We have the same. Last name, I just like to get it out of the way.

• 15:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Same.

• 15:12Speaker 01

  Cause there are some people who are like months later, like at the nude sticks campaign shoot, they're like, so how long have you been working with Maggie? And I was like about thirty years and they were like, what? I was like, yeah, she's my sister. So even though we kind of look alike, talk similarly, have the same last name, some people still just don't get it. And the number of people who are like, oh my God, like what's it like working with your sibling?

• 15:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What is it like working with your sibling behind my back?

• 15:40Speaker 01

  I only ever have the best things to say and it's, it's similar to another like co-founder sibling duo that we.

• 15:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  My boyfriends?

• 15:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I didn't know what you wanted to say.

• 15:51Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Just go.

• 15:52Speaker 01

  Like he says, it's the best of times, it's the worst of times. And it truly in this business with the two of us would not work with you having any other business partner. Or with me because we live on two different coasts, there's a very big time change and we call each other, it's like six o'clock in the morning your time, or for me, it's nine o'clock at night, it's the weekend. It just wouldn't work if you're not family and others.

• 16:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  And then because you're so creative and it's a lot of it is your life.

• 16:22Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And there's things that like are, I don't even feel like I am ready to deal with, like on a personal level nor share. But I know that I'm going to have to, and I think that's one of the biggest things that's like, one, I'm so happy that we created this business in like the mission. Just so everyone knows is like HSR is to like empower women to know and build their worth. And it started off being very much like business one-on-one. And then I was like, fuck, I don't just talk about business all the time. Like I am not a robot and I was really struggling with this dichotomy of like, I have all of these other passions and things that like I want to talk about. And I'm sorry, but like, I don't care if I don't grow as quickly. I have to be able to talk about different things, otherwise like I will burn out.

• 17:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And it like, almost two years later, like I have not burned out. I never do because there's different seasons of my life. There's seasons.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  I will say you, you've learned how to take pauses though.

• 17:13Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 17:13Speaker 01

  So you don't burn out and we have gone through phases over the last year where you're like. I'm not in much, in as much of a creative mood and we've learned how to manage that for you as the creative.

• 17:26Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Which I don't think I could do, and this is like having spent time in talent management. It's like your manager is kind of a babysitter, right? Like you are dealing with like the highest fires and like the smallest fires.

• 17:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:38Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I think for me, I don't, I never really wanted to sign with a traditional management company because what we do in my opinion is so much like, like I have such a bigger kind of vision for where I see HSR going. Um, but I also feel like it's so highly personal and like there's so much like finances that get brought into it that it could never be.

• 17:56Speaker 01

  We have this whole venture arm also, right? It's not just like, oh, Maggie makes content on TikTok, you know? It's like we're, we have over seven figures invested in consumer brands. And we raise money in SPVs, we do investor reporting, we have updates from our portfolio companies.

• 18:14Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Portfolio companies.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  And um, that's also a whole other layer of like me coming in and your experience where like I have later stage consumer experience. And know what the expectation of these businesses are going to be that we're helping. And they're just honestly like, it was just so serendipitous that it all came together with like the experience that I had had and built, what you had. And the reason it didn't work for us to work together before, even with Pepper and Piper, like transparently is because we both were very early in our careers. We hadn't had the experience of building on our own and developing different skillsets and knowing what our swim lane is. And now that's really defined and you are the creative that comes up with the vision and I can help execute on that.

• 19:00Speaker 01

  Which is what I like.

• 19:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 19:02Speaker 01

  Where we struggled before was like two creatives wanting to put their own idea of their DNA of what the creative was going to look like. Or the Instagram or the blog or the product, whatever. And like that didn't work.

• 19:14Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, no, that didn't work. And I think that's like something that I have figured out later on is it's like, you really need to get clear on what your role is going to be. And for me, it's even hard to say out loud, like I'm not a great people manager because as a great. charismatic leader, I want to be able to be a good manager. I'm just not.

• 19:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And so it's like being able to.

• 19:34Speaker 01

  You are, but yeah.

• 19:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I, I honestly don't think that I am though, and I don't enjoy it at all. I like get very annoyed very easily because you and I both say this all the time. We can just do things better than most people, which controversial.

• 19:48Speaker 01

  Sounds bad, but I agree.

• 19:50Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I stand behind that. Like you are the only person that I've worked with that I'm like, if it can't be me, it should be Katie.

• 19:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  There's nobody else like that I would ever trust that for.

• 19:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But I do think it's really interesting because I remember when I first started dating my boyfriend. He had been working with his brother for like seventeen years.

• 20:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:08Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And they have a very similar archetype of person.

• 20:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And they've worked incredibly well for this period of time, but he said to me when we first started dating, he's like, don't you think your sister is gonna get upset that like you're the one in the spotlight and you have the limelight and she's kind of behind the scenes?

• 20:25Speaker 01

  No.

• 20:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Literally. That's what I said to him and he was like, oh.

• 20:30Speaker 01

  And now, once he's met me, he's like, got it.

• 20:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  You know?

• 20:34Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But so do you?

• 20:35Speaker 01

  That doesn't mean that I can't be creative in my own ways though, but like I'm not gonna be the one to be the person who's hosting my own podcast or like, posting on TikTok three times a day. I do it in spurts where I'm like, I need some creativity right now. I kind of like this trend. I'm gonna post something.

• 20:52Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 20:52Speaker 01

  And then I get my creative outlet in so many different ways where it's like the HSR holiday suite. I'm doing all the creative. I'm doing the table scape.

• 20:59Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And can I just say?

• 21:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I empower you to do that. Like often in front of people, I say, I don't want people to think this is all me. Like, Katie, you're the best at table scapes, at flower arrangements. Like that is not.

• 21:12Speaker 01

  Lays, the invitations. And it's weird because you're like, I don't, that's not my skill set, but you're the creative. I'm the operator, but that's my creative.

• 21:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Which is where it goes back to like, I think we're such a unique duo. And little fun fact about me, I'm ambidextrous. And I'm ambidextrous, really triggering story we'll talk about later. But I feel that I go really well between being whatever you said, like the left brain and the right brain. And so do you. But it's taken this like magic dance for us to figure out when we lean in and when we don't because it, we do fight.

• 21:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I think one of the things that I'm

• 21:49Speaker 01

  You get over it a lot faster than I do.

• 21:51Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I get over things, I'm like a dude. Like, we, I, we get in a fight, I talk about it, and I'm like, moving on, and you're sensitive Sally over there, being like,

• 22:00Speaker 01

  But we've been that, we've been that way since we were little kids also.

• 22:04Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 22:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:05Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I was always just extremely risked, like, I was always taking risks, I was always breaking bones, I was always trying different things, I was always trying different things. I started my first business when I was seven years old, taking care of our neighbor's pets.

• 22:17Speaker 01

  Or, and I was running to mom, being like, Maggie's doing flips on the trampoline, and I don't like it.

• 22:22Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, like, I was always just getting into trouble, and like,

• 22:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:26Maggie Sellers Reum?

  being curious, and I think it's so interesting, I did this, um, Berkman test the other day, which is around, like, it's a coaching method.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I scored ninety-nine percentile in science. And I was like, sir, I think the results are incorrect, like, I was not good at science and math, I was more of an English person. And he was like, no, it's actually really interesting, science is more towards your curiosity. You are the most curious person I have met. He has done four thousand Berkman tests, he said he's never met somebody like me. You know what, I scored zero-

• 22:56Speaker 01

  She's one of a kind, everyone.

• 22:57Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I scored zero percent on administration.

• 23:00Speaker 01

  Not surprising.

• 23:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Which goes back to like, I don't want to look at statements, I don't want to be bogged down in details, and that's where I think you work really well with me.

• 23:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:10Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And, when we're doing even like, case studies or business dives, we bring two totally different perspectives.

• 23:15Speaker 01

  Totally. Which now that we've been working together for a year, like, we do also meld together on different things.

• 23:21Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, we, we need to talk about some drama, though, but when we first started working together. So, I can recall the biggest fight that we probably got into was around tone of voice. I love how you knew that. Um, please describe your tone of voice in three words. And then I'll go.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Direct.

• 23:41Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Direct.

• 23:44Speaker 01

  Direct.

• 23:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yes. I would describe your tone of voice, previous to us, me having a talking with you was curt.

• 23:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:51Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Direct and short.

• 23:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:53Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And that doesn't-

• 23:54Speaker 01

  I was gonna say short, yeah.

• 23:55Maggie Sellers Reum?

  That doesn't work. So, we kept getting into these little tiffs because I talk very excited. Well, actually, wait. What are my three words that you would describe my tone of voice as?

• 24:05Speaker 01

  Excited. Passionate.

• 24:10Speaker 01

  Lengthy.

• 24:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yes. So, my, this is hilarious. I am doing a bunch of book hauls right now and I bought this book called Smart Brevity. And my boyfriend saw me and he's like, "Oh, damn it. That's one of your Christmas presents because you talk so lengthy. It's so annoying." But, so, I'm reading this book, Smart Brevity, which is all about how to condense how you speak because you just waste so much time with words. I could talk and I still have no idea what I said.

• 24:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:36Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Um, but, I do think that when we first started working together, you would speak to the HSR community from email in like a very direct, curt, short tone and that didn't work for me.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Which doesn't work, yeah.

• 24:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Because HSR is, like I said, bigger than me. It's a brand that we've built and birthed and it has a personality.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:56Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And it's excited and passionate and I'm trying to be not so lengthy.

• 24:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:59Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But, it was interesting because when I first gave you that feedback, how did you feel?

• 25:05Speaker 01

  Well, I think like where, I'll back up and explain like where it sort of comes from for me. Of like the way I've developed in my career and why I speak like that in a lot of cases. Because I think like, this also comes back to the convergence of like where we both are in our careers. I've worked up until like this past year in a corporate structured environment, right? Where you took risks a lot earlier in your career and left like from Salesforce, freshy, dosist and then you were off doing your own thing where things are just- Different, right? Dealing with different types of personalities.

• 25:42Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Talent and like, yeah.

• 25:42Speaker 01

  Talent, etc. I was never in a role or a job where I had to speak to people to make them feel a certain way.

• 25:49Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You had to speak to people, wait, you, you had to speak to people?

• 25:53Speaker 01

  To get shit done.

• 25:53Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 25:54Speaker 01

  And I grew up and worked in an environment where I was always the only woman at any table, any dinner, any conference room. At like, whether it was Ernst and Young, even at Missouri at a lot of times, I was the female leading the finance team. But if I was talking to the bank or an investor or other executives, like there were other men who were part of those conversations. And I, from, I'm going to say, a young age, like, working, had to figure out how to speak and communicate to people in a way that was direct. So that I didn't get stuck in the like, oh, you know, she's just a cute little girl who doesn't really know what to say and is being overly pleasant, etc.

• 26:35Speaker 01

  And especially when it came down to managing people, the way that I've had to like evolve the way I speak and manage people is like, the whole, you know, care personally challenged directly from Radical Candor is like, I just had to almost like trick my brain into speaking that way so that I could literally just get through the day.

• 26:57Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 26:58Speaker 01

  Of all of the things that I had to do, managing 25 people, talking to investors, talking to the bank. And so I just was never in a role where I had to like, you know, think about the community aspect of making people feel good.

• 27:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 27:12Speaker 01

  And that's been a big learning of like, you know, sending you all that hot, smart, rich energy is like not the way I would speak over email, but now when it is to the community, I do.

• 27:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, but again, I will say like, there is an art and a science to learning how to work with people. Cause like, I do deal with executives at investment banks and at venture capital funds. And I'm not sending them an email signing off, sending you hot, smart, rich energy, baby.

• 27:37Speaker 01

  No, obviously not.

• 27:38Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But like, I think that again, working in a startup and like, this is where I always have identified patterns. And there's patterns of successful startup founders and it's like, they know when to do certain things and when to turn it off and on. And for me, I can be at like, and this happened this summer. I'm at Wembley in the Queens Box. And I'm able to speak to someone that like is super high up in society and in business.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:01Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And they walk away being like, she was lovely, professional, like

• 28:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 28:05Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Direct. And then I can go down to somebody that is graduating college and is looking for life advice. Their boyfriend just broke up with them and they feel relatable to me.

• 28:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:14Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I think that is kind of one of my superpowers. And it was something that was obviously hard for us to work through, but I think we've gotten to a good point on it now.

• 28:21Speaker 01

  For sure. But it's also like, um, something that you weren't even the first person who told me.

• 28:27Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 28:27Speaker 01

  Like even working at Missouri, people are like, you know, you don't put any emojis in your messages. And I'm like, why do I need to?

• 28:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, you're scary. Okay, moving along. Um, so we're still TBD on when this episode is gonna come out because there's just a lot of moving parts. Um, but I do think that there are some major themes in pop culture that I want to touch on and just get some hot takes on.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:49Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So regardless if this is like a little bit out, I still think it's relevant because this was like moments of the year. So Pantone just named that Mocha Moose is their Pantone of the year 2024. What are your thoughts on that?

• 29:02Speaker 01

  I mean, I love a neutral.

• 29:04Maggie Sellers Reum?

  So that you love a beige.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  I love a beige.

• 29:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Do you love a sad beige?

• 29:09Speaker 01

  I don't love a sad beige. I've moved on from sad beige. I think it needs to just be like, I love a beige in the right context.

• 29:16Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Can I tell you something that I've thought that I've never said out loud about branding?

• 29:20Speaker 01

  What?

• 29:21Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I think I betrayed my millennial self for a minute when Gen Z started popping up everywhere. Like I loved glossy branding. I love Missouri. I aspire to be the millennial decorator.

• 29:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:33Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I was like, I'm usually really opinionated and set in my ways. And like, I don't really like, what's the word I'm looking for? I don't really, um, like change my mind on things based on what popular.

• 29:45Speaker 01

  Hard to like change your perspective.

• 29:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Based on like what's cool. I usually go against the green. But when Gen Z was building brands and they were colorful and fun, I was like, I want to be colorful and fun. But then I kind of look back at everything and I'm like, that's not me. Like I like millennial pink. So I'm really happy that this year was Mocha Mouse.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:07Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I feel like I'm over-

• 30:08Speaker 01

  I'm kind of over Brat Summer and the green.

• 30:10Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah, I'm over it.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I think, you know, who's done no better job at capitalizing it than this woman is Sabrina Carpenter.

• 30:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 30:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  What are your thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter?

• 30:21Speaker 01

  Um, I think she's someone who's taken the, like, the opportunity she's been given and is riding the wave. Cause I saw something on Instagram before we were filming this that was like talking about the Eras Tour and like everything that has happened in the context of the Eras Tour in a period of time. And Sabrina Carpenter started as the very first opening act for Taylor Swift. Was nowhere close to where she is today and it, before the Eras Tour ended, she released a whole new album and became a headliner of her own sold out arena tour. Or maybe not arena, but state, whatever, not the one that Taylor Swift did, but like Scotiabank Arena, arena tour.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  And so she's someone who really was like, took an opportunity and really ran with it. But she's also not an overnight success. Like when we were doing all of our, you know, getting our event ready for the founders we took to the concert, it's like she has nine studio albums.

• 31:18Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Well, that's actually what I wanted to bring up today because she just released Me Espresso, which is her new perfume flavor. So I was doing some research on it. This is not her first perfume launch. If you look back-

• 31:30Speaker 01

  No, it's not.

• 31:31Maggie Sellers Reum?

  No, you would have no idea.

• 31:32Speaker 01

  No.

• 31:32Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But I'm actually gonna do a video on why celebrities launch perfumes before they launch their own line. It's the smartest thing a celebrity can do. Alex Earl, if you are watching this, like, do not launch anything but your own perfume first and foremost. There's-

• 31:44Speaker 01

  Why?

• 31:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  A few reasons. Like it's genderless, so it's like you can sell it to both audiences. It's one SKU. So you don't have to develop an entire, if you're doing makeup and concealer and you don't have certain skin tones, like you're canceled before you even start.

• 31:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:58Maggie Sellers Reum?

  It's usually a licensing deal, so you will carry none of the risk from like an inventory perspective.

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Got it.

• 32:03Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And it's really easy because celebrities are unattainable people. You can't look like Sabrina Carpenter. She wears a wig.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  But you can smell like her.

• 32:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  You can smell like her. And so there's a reason that celebrities do perfumes before they do anything else. But going back to Sabrina Carpenter, this is her, this is her fourth scent. Her first was-

• 32:25Speaker 01

  Wow, fourth?

• 32:25Maggie Sellers Reum?

  In 2022. Then she launched caramel in 2020-

• 32:30Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Three, then there's Cherry. So this is her fourth. Look back and maybe we can have a graphic of what the old perfume bottle looked like. It was horrific. It looked like Bath and Body Works. And now it's like she's evolved to have like the culture. She, everything she's doing is playing into the culture while being authentic to her. Her first scent revolved around chocolate and food. So it's really interesting. Everyone thinks Sabrina Carpenter is an overnight success. She's been working at this for nine albums. Four perfume scents, like multiple rounds of wigs. Like she is not an overnight. Yes. Which is why I was really happy. I was actually a music hater of Sabrina Carpenter earlier this year.

• 33:11Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Ended up loving it. But I was really happy to see that her song was the number one on 2024 Wrapped. Because I actually think she is who people should aspire to be.

• 33:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, she deserves it.

• 33:21Maggie Sellers Reum?

  She deserves it.

• 33:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Um, I really quickly want to touch on Taylor Swift. We kind of talked about how her tour was like the number one. Are you a Swiftie?

• 33:31Speaker 01

  I have always been a Swiftie. Like, I can remember first year at university, I'm Canadian, everyone.

• 33:39Speaker 01

  Being in our dorm rooms, literally listening to Fearless, like on a CD, on repeat.

• 33:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I was not that old.

• 33:46Speaker 01

  But there were definitely eras of hers, like folk more, ever more, like, that wasn't my vibe.

• 33:54Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Yeah.

• 33:54Speaker 01

  But like, her most recent album, huge fan.

• 33:59Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I love Taylor Swift because she's a baddie. She's a silent baddie. Taylor Swift is actually like a womanizer in disguise. Like, she is, she has dated the most like amazing men in Hollywood. But the thing I respect the most about Taylor Swift is she is one of the few musicians, and I used to work in music for people that don't know, with some of the biggest artists in the world. I've launched so many brands. I've invested out of a music record label, corporate venture arm. And she is one of the few musicians that has built a billion dollar empire off of music. Most people build it off of their clothing brands, their alcohol brands. That's where the money is. Which is why we've seen just an influx of products from celebrities.

• 34:40Maggie Sellers Reum?

  But Taylor Swift is the one that I respect the most because she's done it from her craft.

• 34:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:45Maggie Sellers Reum?

  She's not putting more shit into this world.

• 34:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:48Maggie Sellers Reum?

  That we don't need. And when she does launch something, I have a feeling it's going to just be the next fucking P and G because it is going to be that big because she's waited as long as she has to find the right thing.

• 34:59Speaker 01

  Does she have a perfume?

• 35:00Maggie Sellers Reum?

  I need to look into it.

• 35:01Speaker 01

  I don't even think she does.

• 35:02Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And if she does, it's a licensing deal, so it doesn't even count. Okay, um, I think we should wrap for there for today. I think the rest honestly are going to be too long and I would like to have you back on to the podcast. I think I'm my best self when I'm around you. I always tell you that. But thank you so much for coming on.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me.

• 35:19Maggie Sellers Reum?

  And I'll see you in bed tonight when we share the bed.

• 35:22Speaker 01

  Yes, let's cuddle.

• 35:23Maggie Sellers Reum?

  Okay, love you.

• 35:28Maggie Sellers Reum?

  If you're starting a business, there are certain things that are so fun to think about. Y'all know I love a mood board, so everything that relates to the creative, the name, the brand, the website, the vision board. But then there are the things that make you pause and ask, am I even doing this correctly? Or do I even want to be doing this? Like forming your business, getting the right documents, keeping your personal information private. This is where our sponsor Northwest Registered Agent is so helpful. They're a one stop shop for founders who want to launch and legitimize their business without turning it into a giant admin spiral. They help you form an LLC or a corporation, act as your registered agent, and give you tools like a business address, operating agreement, website, phone number, professional email, and free guides.

• 36:12Maggie Sellers Reum?

  They also have real corporate guides who know your local laws. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/hsrfree.