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Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!

April 09, 2026 / 01:36:12

This episode features Ivanka Trump discussing her upbringing, career in business, and experiences in politics. Key topics include her mother's influence, the challenges of growing up in the public eye, and her decision to step away from politics.

Ivanka shares insights about her mother's teachings on ambition and resilience, emphasizing the power of being underestimated. She reflects on her father's presidential run and the unexpected challenges that arose, including the impact of media scrutiny on her childhood.

She discusses her successful fashion business, which generated significant revenue before she transitioned to government service. Ivanka highlights her accomplishments in the White House, focusing on policies that benefited American families.

The conversation touches on personal experiences, including the emotional toll of her mother's passing and the assassination attempt on her father. Ivanka expresses gratitude for her family's safety and the importance of maintaining a positive outlook despite challenges.

Finally, Ivanka shares her current projects, including Planet Harvest, aimed at reducing food waste and supporting farmers. She emphasizes the importance of authenticity and self-belief in achieving success.

TL;DR

Ivanka Trump discusses her upbringing, business success, and experiences in politics, emphasizing resilience and authenticity in her journey.

Episode

1:36:12
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She was extraordinary.
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Um, my mother taught me a lot about just
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like
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bringing intention to what you do.
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Bringing sorry
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and being the child of accomplished
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parents. Most people thought that I
00:00:23
would lack the ambition, the
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preparedness, but my mother taught me
00:00:27
that being underestimated is not a bad
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thing. It's very powerful thing actually
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and it almost always worked to the
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detriment of the person who
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underestimated me.
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>> From real estate to her own
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multi-million dollar fashion line,
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Ivanka Trump continues to carve her own
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path into the business world, succeeding
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at every turn.
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>> And then you learn 2 weeks before he
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announces your father decides he wants
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to be president of the United States.
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Did you have any sense that this was at
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all on the horizon?
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>> Not really. And then when he pulled the
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trigger, it was full steam. Well, most
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people wouldn't give up an $800 million
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annual business to go into government.
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Why did you?
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>> He asked us for help. He's like, "But I
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have to warn you. They're going to come
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at you hard. They're probably going to
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hate you." But one of the things I've
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learned in moments of tremendous
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pressure and scrutiny where any slip up
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is completely weaponized against you is
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to find the signal in the noise. I just
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don't get distracted by the outside
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noise. That's probably the thing that
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has been most helpful to me in terms of
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performance and success because you have
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a choice only in how you respond.
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>> You've said politics is a pretty dark
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world. This is quite a difficult
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question to ask, but when you heard the
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news that there was an assassination
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attempt on your father's life, do you
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remember where you were and like what's
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that like as a daughter?
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This is super interesting to me. My team
00:01:50
given me this report to show me how many
00:01:51
of you that watch this show subscribe.
00:01:53
And some of you have told us according
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to this that you are unsubscribed from
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the channel randomly. So favor to ask
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all of you. Please could you check right
00:02:00
now if you've hit the subscribe button.
00:02:01
If you are a regular viewer of the show
00:02:03
and you like what we do here, we're
00:02:04
approaching quite a significant landmark
00:02:06
on this show in terms of a subscriber
00:02:07
number. So, if there was one simple free
00:02:10
thing that you could do to help us, my
00:02:12
team, everyone here, to keep this show
00:02:14
free, to keep it improving year over
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year and week over week, it is just to
00:02:18
hit that subscribe button and to double
00:02:19
check if you've hit it. Only thing I'll
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ever ask of you, do we have a deal? If
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you do it, I'll tell you what I'll do.
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I'll make sure every single week, every
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single month, we fight harder and harder
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and harder and harder to bring you the
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guests and conversations that you want
00:02:30
to hear. I've stayed true to that
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promise since the very beginning of the
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D of Sio, and I will not let you down.
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Please help us. Really appreciate it.
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Let's get on with the show.
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>> Ivanka, you um you don't do many
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interviews, do you?
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>> Not really. No.
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>> Why don't you do much media stuff or
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podcasting or interviews?
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>> I actually don't know. I think I'm I get
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sort of really locked in and heads down
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on what I'm working on
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>> that
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I tend to kind of put on blinders and
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just go, but I like to have
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conversations in longer form with people
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that I admire.
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>> I think the reason why I um I do this is
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because I see I naturally see everybody
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as like a jigsaw puzzle.
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>> And you've lived an extraordinary life.
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you've lived an extraordinary atypical
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>> life that I mean it's safe to say almost
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nobody on planet earth has has ever
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experienced and so I think I asked that
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question just to be completely honest at
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the top because the life you've lived
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that we'll get into is is one that would
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have shaped you in a number of ways and
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one of them is I think from what I read
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things that you had said and different
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experiences you had as a child is just
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like trusting people
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>> you know it's interesting I I grew up
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the child of wealthy and accomplished
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parents.
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>> And so I do think there's like um a
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natural barrier that goes up. You're
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you're worried about people, especially
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when you're a kid, um liking you for the
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wrong reasons. I see this now with my
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son. You know, he wants to be loved by
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his friends, and I appreciate that.
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That's that's good for who he is, not
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for who we are, and certainly not for
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what we have. So I do think being the
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child of of of famous um parents and
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living such a privileged life, I had
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this
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guard and um that guard served me really
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well for a long time. Like I I didn't
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have any friends despite the
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really tumultuous
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life that I've had, ups and downs, who
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really disappointed me. meaning close
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close close friends who who didn't show
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up for me or or who changed because of
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my circumstances or
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>> what was happening around me and I've
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learned for me I mean you were saying
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the purpose of life for me it's you know
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the expansion and not contraction of the
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heart and that's hard as you get older
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you know how do you live a life of of
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service and rooted in and love and
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connection and I've learned more and
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more that those walls
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they don't serve you and the only way to
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have connection which is so fundamental
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to the human experience is to um is to
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build it and that requires trust.
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>> So I have to trust people. Now I have a
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good radar. I'm not foolish. I'm
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>> I think I'm a very good read of people
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and I think it's one of um my strengths
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>> and I think it's why I haven't been
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surprised by a lot of people. Um, so I
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read pretty quickly, but I also have had
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to teach myself rather than grow sort of
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cynical as one tends to as they get
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older. I've really actually taught
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myself to be more trusting. And to the
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extent that means periodically I'll be
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burned like that's I'm okay with that
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trade-off because I think it will lead
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to more meaningful connections in my
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life.
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>> Probably nets out better right in the
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long term.
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>> I think so. I have this photo here of a
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very smaller and
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>> so funny. I look at this and I see my
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daughter.
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>> Really?
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>> That was like the first thing when I saw
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that photo.
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>> At what age did you realize that life
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for you was slightly different from the
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average person? Like when does a child
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realize that?
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>> H
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I think there was always a lot of
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media attention and scrutiny. You see
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it, you experience it very early on. And
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I think my parents did a really good job
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trying to shelter us from it. And it was
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different then without social media. You
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know, not everyone I think the
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experience our children have where
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anywhere they go people have a recording
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device in their hands, their iPhone um
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and can take pictures of them and you
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know it's so um you're so exposed during
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um during your formative years and
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thankfully I did not have that growing
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up but there were times I felt it. I
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remember
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I wanted to be a dancer, a ballet
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dancer. And you know, my mom um was an
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incredible skier. She skied on the
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national team for then Czechoslovakia,
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now Czech Republic. And so she really
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believed in the importance of of sport
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for cultivating discipline and um so she
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really encouraged this. And I was
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dancing at Giuliard, the school of
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American Ballet here in New York. I was
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in the Nutcracker and I remember I was
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probably eight and I was, you know, like
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some small role in the Nutcracker. I was
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a party girl and an angel. Those were
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like the entry roles where you like
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dance at the party, uh, where the the
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man with the Nutcracker arrives and then
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you're in that angel scene. And I
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remember being so excited and was my
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first Nutcracker.
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And, um, Michael Jackson had just moved
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into Trump Tower and was literally our
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neighbor in Trump Tower. And my father
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sees him one day, you know, passing in
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the lobby. I'm with him. I said, 'You
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know, my daughter's in the Nutcracker.
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You should come. You should come see a
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performance. So, he comes to the
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Nutcracker with my father at the height
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of his fame to watch me dance. And now
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this in retrospect could be like, wow,
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what a cool experience. But I was
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horrified. I'm like, this is I was so
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embarrassed. I thought we had ruined the
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Nutcracker. Everyone was dancing with
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one glove. people who produced the show
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were, you know, hysterical that everyone
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was dancing with one glove. I thought it
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was all my fault and this was like just
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a wild childhood experience. I had
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things like that happen that were so far
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from normal that it's actually like
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comical in retrospect, but I think the
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the dayto-day was like really grounded.
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My grandmother and uh and grandfather
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before he passed on my mother's side
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really raised us. My grandmother cooked
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every meal we ate for, you know, most of
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my childhood.
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>> And uh Bubby
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>> Bubby Bubby.
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>> Yeah. So she taught me um a type of
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unconditional love and tenderness and um
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I think more than anything she was just
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this un that's her. She's um
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unbelievably nurturing. I'd come home
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from school and, you know, before I'd be
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out of the shower, she would have
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laundered my clothes and folded them and
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put them back on my bed. She was always
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feeding me and food for her was very
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much like an expression of love. I
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remember when I became a teenager and
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I'd sleep later and later, she'd wake me
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up for lunch, you know, just like, god
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forbid I wasn't being fed at all at all
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hours. But
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>> I can see she means the world to you.
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>> She does. She's 98 years old and um you
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know her health has suffered and you
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know it's it's been a little bit of a
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difficult time for her but I I feel so
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strongly for for me and my children to
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have the experience to be there for her
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in just like a small fraction of the way
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that she was there for me is such an
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extraordinary privilege. and for them to
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grow up with her at our table every
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single meal um each night and her
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telling her stories and stories of my
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mother who they sadly didn't get to
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know. Um
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>> are you okay? I can see
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>> No, I'm Yes, I'm great. I I have a lot
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of um I have a lot of love for this
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woman. So,
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This doesn't happen to me often.
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>> What is that um mixture of emotions that
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you're experiencing?
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>> Um
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she taught me so much just about love
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and we were talking before about
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connection. Um,
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and uh, you know, it's it's been hard to
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see her now as she as she struggles, but
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um,
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but she's uh, it's a blessing to have
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her in our home and living with us and
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very special person.
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Maybe I'll have a tissue.
00:11:17
Thank you.
00:11:20
It's a real credit to her.
00:11:22
>> Yeah.
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>> It's often a testament um to the person
00:11:25
and the value that they've added to your
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life and how they were there for you
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that you would feel
00:11:30
feel the way you do about her and that's
00:11:32
so like visible in your face. You know,
00:11:34
she must have been quite formative.
00:11:36
>> Oh, for sure. Um for sure.
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So, she's been
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she's an amazing person.
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You said that she she was really taking
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care of you
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>> and and sort of at the age of 10. Mother
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and father, I'm assuming very very busy.
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>> Yeah.
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>> Explain that to me.
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>> You know, my mother was an incredible
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trailblazer. Um an amazing example for
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me of
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strength and resilience and glamour and
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um determination and ambition. And she
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was a great mother, too.
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But she would also say like she couldn't
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do it alone and she wasn't pretending
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she could. So she surrounded us with
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people who loved us. We had um two
00:12:25
amazing nannies. One of them worked for
00:12:28
my mother until the day she died. The
00:12:31
other um is worked for my mother until
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the day my mother died um and still
00:12:36
works with us today. She worked as after
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we grew up she worked as my mother's
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personal assistant. So they were very
00:12:42
much part of our lives and and part of
00:12:44
our extended family and of course my
00:12:46
grandmother who she trusted completely
00:12:48
with us. So so she showed me a lot at a
00:12:52
time when
00:12:54
you know not many women were doing what
00:12:56
my mother was doing um inside the
00:12:59
boardroom and on the construction sites
00:13:02
all the time by the way with 5-in heels
00:13:05
and like perfectly caught hair. So she
00:13:08
made it look incredibly easy, but it was
00:13:11
and continues to be very challenging to
00:13:14
balance work and life like that,
00:13:16
especially at a time where what she was
00:13:18
doing was so singular. So she she really
00:13:21
and my mother served as an unbelievable
00:13:24
role model for me for what is possible.
00:13:27
How to be an amazing mother who is
00:13:30
loving and nurturing and fun and
00:13:33
provides for her children and and also
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to be unadashedly
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um
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and doggedly pursuing one's
00:13:44
goals in in a professional capacity. So
00:13:47
she did that when she was married to my
00:13:49
father. she did that um following their
00:13:51
divorce and um and really was just an
00:13:55
amazing an amazing mentor for me. You're
00:13:58
growing up in a context where your
00:13:59
family are privileged, they have um they
00:14:02
have no notoriety and the both parents
00:14:05
are quite absent by way of them being so
00:14:08
busy and they're also kind of
00:14:10
>> I wouldn't say absent but
00:14:12
>> you know my mother wasn't home cooking
00:14:14
us meals. my grandmother was.
00:14:16
>> Mhm.
00:14:16
>> But my mother was home when we ate them
00:14:18
and then she'd go out again. You know,
00:14:20
her and my father were actively building
00:14:23
their life and pursuing their passions.
00:14:26
And for my mom, much like me today, you
00:14:28
know, one of her creative expressions
00:14:29
came in the form of design and
00:14:31
architecture. She wasn't absent and and
00:14:34
you know, neither was my father. So, he
00:14:35
was filled more typical of that
00:14:38
generation male role where he was less
00:14:40
like present. But there was never a
00:14:43
doubt in my mind that I was his top
00:14:46
priority and that he was available to
00:14:48
me. So I used to call him from the pay
00:14:51
phone at uh at Chapen. It was in a broom
00:14:54
closet and never once did he not pick up
00:14:57
and sometimes his office would be filled
00:14:59
with people of um you know he'd be in
00:15:02
the middle of a deal or a negotiation or
00:15:04
some politician or whatever it was and
00:15:06
he'd always put me on speaker phone and
00:15:08
then start the conversation by telling
00:15:09
everyone how I got great grades and I'd
00:15:12
start to blush. Um but he always picked
00:15:15
up.
00:15:16
>> They weren't absent. Did I what?
00:15:17
>> Miss him?
00:15:19
>> No, because I didn't feel like they I
00:15:21
didn't feel like he was absent. it was
00:15:22
just different like he wasn't attending
00:15:25
all of our sports games but by the way
00:15:27
few parents were um you know four
00:15:29
decades ago there's a lot more sort of
00:15:32
active participation like the way I am
00:15:35
in my kids' life the way my husband is I
00:15:37
I think it is you know a little
00:15:39
different especially um for fathers
00:15:41
today than than 30 years ago
00:15:43
>> if I sat Avana your mother here next to
00:15:45
us at the same age you are now what
00:15:48
would be the the the fundamental
00:15:49
differences in in those individuals
00:15:54
You know, it's funny. I think back now
00:15:56
and um my mother
00:16:00
and I are both incredibly similar and
00:16:02
very different. So, she had like
00:16:05
over-the-top style and glamour, you
00:16:07
know, and I think in some ways it was a
00:16:10
reaction to the austerity and the
00:16:12
control of growing up in a communist
00:16:15
country in in then Czechoslovakia.
00:16:18
Like, nobody was going to tell her what
00:16:19
to do. nobody was going to tell her what
00:16:21
to say. So, she actually would make my
00:16:24
father look pissy and was hysterical. I
00:16:28
mean, I spent much of my childhood being
00:16:29
like, "Oh, mom, please stop." You know,
00:16:33
it was really interesting. Um, I feel
00:16:36
like today
00:16:39
because my mother passed away um
00:16:42
unexpectedly um from a fall a few years
00:16:45
ago,
00:16:47
there were just like I had a lot of
00:16:48
questions and um and I really dug into
00:16:53
her story and her history and
00:16:56
um and really studied her almost in a
00:16:59
way that I wish I had done when she was
00:17:01
living and I could speak to her
00:17:02
directly. And I think I understand her a
00:17:05
because I'm at a level of maturity and
00:17:08
I've have some of the same issues, you
00:17:10
know, having young children. And I think
00:17:13
I understand her though better today
00:17:15
than I did in some ways in in her life.
00:17:17
Like I see her more fully.
00:17:19
>> And what did you understand more about
00:17:21
her that you didn't understand while she
00:17:23
was here after she passed? She wrote a
00:17:26
book in the final years of her life that
00:17:30
talked a lot more about her childhood
00:17:33
and I think not uncommon um for people
00:17:36
who have experienced you know a lot of
00:17:39
hardship sometimes they compartmentalize
00:17:41
and it's like forward only and this
00:17:44
whole part of her life she never talked
00:17:46
about and I think when you're younger
00:17:47
you ask a lot less questions like now I
00:17:50
would tell everyone who's listening like
00:17:52
really ask the questions especially if
00:17:55
people are a bit of a vault and are less
00:17:58
inclined to to look back in the past
00:18:01
because I you know all of her life
00:18:03
experience very much shaped her.
00:18:06
>> This was a beautiful photo that I found
00:18:07
of of you and I.
00:18:10
>> That was in uh in Mara Lago on my uh
00:18:14
childhood bed. Very uh ornate.
00:18:19
Um, yeah, she was really I mean she was
00:18:22
impossibly glamorous.
00:18:24
>> Yeah, I couldn't find a photo where she
00:18:25
didn't like incredible photos.
00:18:27
>> 9 years old, your mother and father
00:18:30
split up, divorced.
00:18:32
>> It was quite well publicized. Um, that
00:18:34
your father had an affair with somebody.
00:18:36
And this is actually where the quote
00:18:38
that I referenced earlier about trust
00:18:39
comes in because
00:18:41
>> quite remarkably reporters were waiting
00:18:44
outside of your school to take photos of
00:18:46
you and ask questions about your your
00:18:49
father's affair. And the quote that I
00:18:51
read in GQ said this is a quote from
00:18:53
you. If I didn't have that lesson, I
00:18:55
don't know that I'd be tough. It taught
00:18:58
me not to trust anybody. You can never
00:19:00
let your guard down. And I never really
00:19:03
have since that time.
00:19:06
So that's probably the 25year-old
00:19:08
version of me
00:19:10
>> as as you know there's a lot of truth in
00:19:13
it and I think certain defense
00:19:15
mechanisms we create for ourselves are
00:19:17
actually healthy
00:19:18
>> because it was healthy for me not to be
00:19:22
trusting before I had honed my own
00:19:24
instincts and had learn to understand
00:19:27
people and read people. So I think there
00:19:29
was nothing wrong with a 25 or
00:19:33
27year-old
00:19:34
with my lived experience answering that
00:19:36
way. But um but I do like
00:19:39
>> I completely understand though like
00:19:41
every part of me completely understands
00:19:42
that reaction to that event at like 9
00:19:44
years old.
00:19:45
>> Yeah.
00:19:46
>> I mean reporters being at your school or
00:19:49
just generally you know how that must
00:19:51
have been as as a kid in school. Well,
00:19:52
there was a level of aggression that
00:19:54
like even today wouldn't exist with the
00:19:56
paparazzi then, like to be shouting
00:19:58
things and like reading um quotes from
00:20:01
from tabloids to me as I'm leaving
00:20:04
school. To put this in context, this
00:20:07
divorce apparently garnered more
00:20:10
headlines than the OJ Simpson trial. So,
00:20:14
that was a lot. The difference is that
00:20:17
once I stepped into my home, it was a
00:20:20
safe place. you know, unless the TVs
00:20:23
were blaring, which obviously they
00:20:24
weren't during that period of time. So,
00:20:26
I think the difference today for parents
00:20:29
and that I think about a lot with my
00:20:30
kids is you just can't protect them in
00:20:33
the same way. Like social media
00:20:35
amplifies everything. So, while that
00:20:37
experience with those reporters was
00:20:39
extremely combative and aggressive and
00:20:42
like totally unacceptable in a way that
00:20:45
I don't think society would allow today,
00:20:48
today it's very much more in children's
00:20:50
faces. you know, they can acquire the
00:20:52
information they need. And obviously,
00:20:54
when you're young, you're curious.
00:20:56
>> Again, I'm trying to like world build in
00:20:58
my head because I think understanding
00:21:00
that early context helps us understand
00:21:02
everybody. And if that was my early
00:21:04
context, I think you'd be you'd see the
00:21:05
fingerprints on me today,
00:21:08
>> you know?
00:21:08
>> Well, I think we're all, you know, I
00:21:09
think about it with my own children.
00:21:11
like I
00:21:13
I grew up with a lot of privilege and um
00:21:16
and I've lived an extraordinary life and
00:21:20
you know I never worried where my next
00:21:21
meal came from. I never worried about
00:21:23
being able to pay for the best school
00:21:25
that I was able to get into. And so by
00:21:29
so many metrics my life was extremely
00:21:32
comfortable and easy. And I do think
00:21:35
back like some of the challenges the the
00:21:38
moments that were disgusting or
00:21:41
uncomfortable or you know even just the
00:21:43
fact of um my parents' marriage being to
00:21:47
torn apart.
00:21:49
I think those create the pressure that
00:21:52
turns you into who you become.
00:21:54
>> Did you know what it meant at 9 years
00:21:57
old? Cuz I again I transport myself
00:21:59
back.
00:22:00
>> I probably then you couldn't look things
00:22:02
up as easily. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:22:05
Newspaper,
00:22:06
>> you know, I I don't know what I thought.
00:22:08
I I think I was probably more scared
00:22:09
than anything of like the mob and the
00:22:11
lights and um the surprise of it all. Um
00:22:14
>> do you know what them separating me?
00:22:16
Like did they have a conversation with
00:22:17
you and say, you know, we're we're
00:22:18
splitting up or was it
00:22:19
>> They did. And I think the experience I
00:22:21
had, albeit
00:22:23
it was televised. Um, but it was very
00:22:26
much like any other child who's dying
00:22:29
whose parents are separating. You start
00:22:30
to wonder,
00:22:32
you know, will I be loved? Will I be
00:22:35
forgotten? What does this mean? Um, you
00:22:38
want them to get back together. You're
00:22:39
hoping. You're trying to create peace
00:22:43
between them. Um, rekindle the love. All
00:22:46
the things that I think are like deeply
00:22:49
normal and and human. And you found out
00:22:52
about the divorce by seeing a newspaper
00:22:54
on your way to school one day.
00:22:57
>> Um, yes.
00:23:00
That wasn't the plan. Um, they used to
00:23:02
have uh the big news boxes with the
00:23:05
newspaper. So,
00:23:06
>> what did it say?
00:23:07
>> My parents had sat me down that
00:23:08
afternoon. That's when they had intended
00:23:09
to, but it had it had come out in the
00:23:11
morning.
00:23:12
>> What did the newspaper say?
00:23:13
>> I don't remember. I remember the photo.
00:23:15
There was a picture of them with a rip
00:23:17
down the middle. It was not an easy
00:23:19
situation for a child. But um that
00:23:22
experience I always look for like what
00:23:25
is the positive in any situation and you
00:23:27
know the positive for me and my siblings
00:23:30
were we really like bonded in a
00:23:33
different type of way because we were
00:23:34
going through it together.
00:23:36
>> It must be so interesting being in your
00:23:38
shoes because you look me and you're
00:23:40
both aware that people they want to
00:23:42
drive a a wedge between you and your
00:23:44
father. They want a headline. They want
00:23:46
you to say something. I can see it
00:23:47
within you that you have a real desire
00:23:48
to be like open and transparent, but if
00:23:50
I was in your shoes, I'd be thinking
00:23:53
like everyone's trying to trip me out.
00:23:55
Everyone's trying to make a headline um
00:23:56
on on me and my life. They want to drive
00:23:58
a wedge between me and my father. It's
00:24:01
difficult. It must be difficult. Like
00:24:02
even I think about it as a podcast. The
00:24:04
podcast, you know, the podcast gets big.
00:24:05
I say the wrong line,
00:24:08
>> you know. You know, I think one of the
00:24:10
things I've learned under moments in my
00:24:13
life of tremendous sort of pressure and
00:24:15
scrutiny is um to like find the signal
00:24:19
in the noise. And that's probably the
00:24:22
thing that has been most helpful to me.
00:24:25
It can become quite turbulent. I find
00:24:27
myself sometimes literally like dancing
00:24:29
in the eye of the hurricane. It's been
00:24:31
many years of my life, but there's a lot
00:24:33
of like peace within me. So I just don't
00:24:36
get distracted by by the outside noise
00:24:39
and um and I think if you know what you
00:24:41
stand for then it really is just noise.
00:24:44
>> When did you have to learn this? Because
00:24:46
am I right in thinking you this is the
00:24:48
first time that I saw the Trump family
00:24:50
during the apprentice. So obviously you
00:24:52
know growing up as a kid big fan of
00:24:53
business we had the UK apprentice but
00:24:55
the US one was much more interesting in
00:24:57
my in my opinion.
00:24:58
>> So this is when I first understand who
00:25:00
your father is and who you are. What was
00:25:04
the sentiment around you as a family at
00:25:06
this point? Because again, people can't
00:25:08
remember
00:25:11
>> pre vortex.
00:25:12
>> It was the biggest show in the world at
00:25:15
one point. Um, it was this massive
00:25:18
phenomenon. you know, he had been very
00:25:21
famous in sort of New York and in real
00:25:23
estate and in business circles, but this
00:25:25
kind of like expanded awareness of him
00:25:29
beyond those New York circles onto
00:25:33
um a global stage. So, there was a lot
00:25:35
of attention and a lot of excitement.
00:25:38
You know, he was very similar to how he
00:25:40
is now. He said exactly what he was
00:25:42
thinking, which could be polarizing at
00:25:44
times, but it's part of what people
00:25:46
loved about him. I think the thing about
00:25:48
my father and my mother is they're like
00:25:49
deeply authentic. So you can disagree,
00:25:53
but there's a certain amount of like
00:25:54
respect for the cander of it. Um, and
00:25:57
the lack of fear to say what you're
00:25:59
thinking because so many people are sort
00:26:01
of afraid to be them true, their true
00:26:04
selves.
00:26:05
>> You're more delicate with your words.
00:26:07
>> Yeah, but I know exactly who I am.
00:26:09
That's why the noise doesn't affect me.
00:26:11
I'm really proud of the fact that, you
00:26:13
know, I've lived through some incredibly
00:26:15
intense times where people are taking
00:26:17
cheap shots and swinging and I don't
00:26:20
punch back because I don't
00:26:23
believe in
00:26:25
sort of spending my time and focus like
00:26:29
being combative like jumping into that
00:26:32
particular arena and like the nasty
00:26:34
swirl of social media. It's just it's
00:26:36
not for me and I've been consistent in
00:26:38
that my whole life and I feel like that
00:26:40
sets an amazing example to my children.
00:26:42
>> Where did you learn that? What is it
00:26:43
that you've read? What are the sort of
00:26:45
>> you just have to be yourself and you
00:26:46
have to be true to yourself and like I
00:26:48
don't allow that noise to distract me.
00:26:50
We were talking um earlier about
00:26:53
stoicism. I think like Marcus Aurelius's
00:26:55
meditations is so informative on so many
00:26:58
levels. I mean here you have somebody
00:26:59
who was literally an emperor and he's
00:27:02
writing this journal in a tent in a
00:27:04
battlefield. So his perspective is
00:27:08
amazing and he once wrote that the soul
00:27:11
becomes dyed the color of its thoughts
00:27:14
and I think about that all the time. The
00:27:16
cost to me of living in a way that's
00:27:20
inconsistent and not aligned with what
00:27:24
feels right, what models the right thing
00:27:26
for my children, what feels inherently
00:27:29
true to me. It's too expensive. it's too
00:27:33
expensive for for my soul, so I won't do
00:27:35
it. So, you know, there there have been
00:27:38
times when the incoming and I say, well,
00:27:39
but that isn't right or this isn't right
00:27:41
or I want to correct it. And then I say
00:27:43
like, what's the cost of doing it? Theo
00:27:46
has another great quote. It's something
00:27:48
paraphrasing to the effect of, you know,
00:27:50
the cost of anything is the amount of
00:27:52
your life you're willing to exchange for
00:27:53
it. I focus on those things that like
00:27:56
elevate my soul, um my my joy, my
00:28:00
happiness, my connection to the people I
00:28:02
love and care about.
00:28:04
>> Have you always been there? Because you
00:28:06
seem more stoic now, but you know,
00:28:08
>> I have like I'm much more naturally like
00:28:10
this. Like I feel things like a lot of
00:28:13
things.
00:28:14
>> You're a bit of an empath, right?
00:28:15
>> Oh, for sure.
00:28:16
>> Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.
00:28:16
>> Uh so I have not always been like this.
00:28:19
It's like I had to work to be like this
00:28:21
and I had to I think mature and I had to
00:28:24
gain like confidence and it took me a
00:28:26
while to really let people in. And I
00:28:28
think it was after my children were born
00:28:30
that I really experienced a different
00:28:33
type of love. It like cracks you open
00:28:36
and you're never the same, you know, and
00:28:38
and you want more of that feeling. Like
00:28:40
I I'm very intentional about everything
00:28:43
that I do. even sitting here today like
00:28:46
I I have zero interest in spending two
00:28:48
hours having a conversation with
00:28:49
somebody I think is like a bully um
00:28:51
because they get good podcast you know
00:28:53
like I I like having conversations with
00:28:55
people I think are interesting and
00:28:57
curious but in business as well like I'm
00:29:00
I'm you know I do less things and I do
00:29:02
them with a lot more focus and
00:29:05
intention. You've lived an extraordinary
00:29:07
life and it's a very anomalous one. But
00:29:09
actually the lesson there about being
00:29:11
intentional
00:29:13
in every sense of the word, not just
00:29:15
with what you do every day, but also
00:29:16
what you let occupy your mind is one
00:29:18
that I think everybody listening
00:29:21
>> might derive a lot of value from because
00:29:23
we live everybody lives on a spectrum of
00:29:25
the world clawing at them
00:29:27
>> to deviate from who they are. um some
00:29:30
you know one end of the spectrum if I
00:29:31
take myself back to when I was I don't
00:29:32
know 16 years old the world you know
00:29:34
other than my mother telling me she
00:29:35
wanted me to go be doctor lawyer
00:29:36
whatever the world wasn't really pulling
00:29:38
me away from myself but then on the
00:29:40
other end of the spectrum you know I'm
00:29:42
33 now you know every time I have a
00:29:45
podcast guest on someone's mad at me
00:29:47
>> and everything I say can be spun in
00:29:49
whatever so you also on this side of the
00:29:51
spectrum you have to get really really
00:29:53
clear as you said on like who you are
00:29:54
and what matters
00:29:55
>> well I think that's key like if if you
00:29:58
don't know who you are the mob wins.
00:30:00
>> Oh, 100%.
00:30:01
>> Because they tell you who you are and
00:30:02
then you start to believe it.
00:30:04
>> Once you know who you are,
00:30:06
>> you feel sorry for the people who are
00:30:09
like screaming at each other on on
00:30:11
social media. It takes like a beat to
00:30:14
get there. Like I think it it takes a
00:30:16
lot of work to to really understand
00:30:18
yourself. And I think sometimes
00:30:21
modern society it praises sort of speed
00:30:26
and fast pace and um you know
00:30:28
accessibility and being available and
00:30:31
responding quickly then people wonder
00:30:33
like why don't they know themselves like
00:30:35
why aren't they connected to something
00:30:37
bigger and they're not taking the time.
00:30:39
I take time to shut down and like really
00:30:42
go inward and ask myself every time I
00:30:44
have a big decision like what feels
00:30:46
right and even if it's hard to make a
00:30:48
decision like whether it's a no or a yes
00:30:51
if it feels aligned with your values and
00:30:54
who you are like it never is a mistake
00:30:57
ever.
00:30:57
>> You grew up in the uh you know with a
00:31:00
with a family and a father that are very
00:31:03
prominent. at some point do you have to
00:31:05
make the decision to become your own
00:31:07
person like because I was wondering if
00:31:09
in that context you there's a there's a
00:31:12
pressure to kind of like be the same
00:31:13
person in every regard
00:31:15
>> to believe all the same things to live
00:31:16
the same life to go the same path
00:31:18
>> is there some point in your journey
00:31:19
where you where you go do you know what
00:31:20
I've actually got to like figure out I
00:31:22
can see a little smirk in the corner of
00:31:24
your mouth
00:31:24
>> well no I think about it with my own
00:31:26
children because as a parent it's very
00:31:28
easy to see them as
00:31:31
you know a lot of parents they they view
00:31:33
their children as extens ions of
00:31:34
themselves and I really try not to do
00:31:36
that. Like they are their own people
00:31:38
just like I'm my own person sometimes in
00:31:42
the context of a broader public
00:31:44
narrative.
00:31:46
Everything's sort of comingled and
00:31:47
related. But we're all our own people.
00:31:49
We obviously have conditioning. We have
00:31:52
learned behaviors. We have um some of
00:31:55
which are great. Some of which we spend
00:31:57
part of our adulthood um unwinding.
00:32:02
But we're all like fundamentally unique
00:32:05
and special. And I work really hard to
00:32:07
make sure my kids see themselves, each
00:32:10
of them individually, that they know how
00:32:12
much I love them as like perfect,
00:32:15
complete human beings, not I love you
00:32:18
because of this accomplishment or
00:32:21
because of this sort of external
00:32:22
validation that you've received because
00:32:25
you're sort of perfect as as you are and
00:32:28
like in your essence. So, so my parents
00:32:31
taught me a lot a lot. I love them so
00:32:34
much. I'm like them in some ways. I'm
00:32:36
very dissimilar to them in other ways.
00:32:38
But even though I was like the
00:32:39
peacemaker in our house, I was also like
00:32:41
very like true to myself. And they
00:32:44
created and I give them credit for this,
00:32:46
they created an environment where like
00:32:47
disscent was okay. And so I could agree
00:32:51
or disagree and share it with each of
00:32:53
them and um do so respectfully and and
00:32:56
privately. and that was our home.
00:33:00
>> Um, you started off in real estate. You
00:33:03
you worked in a It sounded like to me
00:33:05
you were basically an intern at a a a
00:33:07
different real estate company before
00:33:09
moving into the the family business and
00:33:10
in the family business, you know,
00:33:12
heavily male-dominated space. I heard
00:33:14
you talk about how actually being a
00:33:16
woman in that context proved to be in
00:33:18
your mind an advantage of sorts. What is
00:33:21
the the context there? And I'm in 2026
00:33:23
right now, so I don't have the
00:33:25
perspective of what it was like to be a
00:33:26
young woman in the real estate industry,
00:33:28
presuming in New York. Yeah.
00:33:30
>> Some sort of 20 years ago.
00:33:32
>> Well, I think I was like underestimated
00:33:34
twice. First, being the child of
00:33:36
accomplished parents. There was an
00:33:38
expectation that I on one hand some
00:33:42
people thought I was like a savant
00:33:44
because I was their child but most
00:33:46
people
00:33:48
thought they would be um that I would
00:33:50
phone it in that I would lack sort of
00:33:52
the thought process, the ambition, the
00:33:55
preparedness. So, I I always worked like
00:33:58
twice as hard as everyone else to sort
00:34:00
of prove my worth and prove um my
00:34:04
ability to to be in these rooms where
00:34:06
truthfully often times I was in them
00:34:08
before I was prepared to be in them. So,
00:34:10
that was, you know, on my mind. But I
00:34:13
think being underestimated is is not a
00:34:15
bad thing. I think it's like a very
00:34:17
powerful thing actually. And it almost
00:34:21
always worked to the detriment of the
00:34:23
person who underestimated me. So, I
00:34:25
think if you're somebody who's prepared
00:34:27
and somebody underestimates you, well,
00:34:29
guess what? They're not. So, when you're
00:34:31
dealing with people who are extremely
00:34:32
accomplished, like do the work. Like,
00:34:35
know what you're doing because probably
00:34:36
they haven't done the work when they
00:34:38
know they're dealing with you. And I
00:34:40
think as a young woman in real estate
00:34:44
especially, you know, there were there
00:34:45
were women in sales and there were women
00:34:47
in marketing, but there were very few
00:34:50
women in development and construction
00:34:52
and finance and acquisitions.
00:34:54
And
00:34:56
I think um I harnessed both the belief
00:35:01
some of it may be stemming from my own
00:35:03
insecurity but the belief that the
00:35:05
people would underestimate me. I
00:35:06
harnessed that like sort of fear, that
00:35:09
sentiment and I used it to sort of
00:35:11
propel me and I used it to give me
00:35:14
motivation and and drive and then I also
00:35:18
would use it against the people who
00:35:20
underestimated me just because I I was
00:35:23
always prepared. I was overprepared. I I
00:35:25
always did the work. I heard you
00:35:27
described as um from people that worked
00:35:29
with you at the time a naturalb born
00:35:32
deal maker. And this kind of overlays
00:35:34
with what you're saying there that if
00:35:35
someone underestimates you, they're
00:35:38
actually setting themselves up to be
00:35:41
surprised or
00:35:42
>> Well, I'd prefer to be underestimated
00:35:44
than overestimated any day of the week.
00:35:46
>> Give me specifics on what what
00:35:47
environment that creates for you to then
00:35:49
win in a deal. I think in in negotiation
00:35:52
it's like incredibly important to
00:35:56
know what the other person wants.
00:35:58
Sometimes you can learn that through
00:36:00
research. Very infrequently though, like
00:36:03
you have to listen. Like you're probably
00:36:05
a great negotiator because you're an
00:36:06
incredible listener. Silence can also be
00:36:09
a weapon. People get very uncomfortable
00:36:11
in moments of silence and then they
00:36:13
start talking. And I think the more you
00:36:15
can get a person to share with you
00:36:19
what they consider to be a win, the more
00:36:22
you can potentially accomplish something
00:36:24
where you give
00:36:27
where you really have like a mutual
00:36:29
win-win. Like I've seen negotiations
00:36:30
where you give up very little, but the
00:36:32
person feels incredibly happy because
00:36:34
it's what they wanted.
00:36:35
>> Yeah.
00:36:35
>> Right. Now, when you're dealing with
00:36:37
like a negotiation that's purely price,
00:36:39
that's kind of different. That's like a
00:36:40
very simple transaction. It's, you know,
00:36:43
but very few negotiations are purely
00:36:45
that, you know, one of first and
00:36:48
foremost in a negotiation like like make
00:36:51
sure you understand what the other
00:36:52
person wants because you may be able to
00:36:54
give it to them at at very little cost
00:36:56
and then everyone's happy. And I also
00:36:58
think there's a lot of value in like
00:37:02
authentically building relationships.
00:37:04
though, you know, some of the the best
00:37:06
deals I ever did were uh derivatives of
00:37:11
really like getting to know someone like
00:37:12
authentically and genuinely. And um they
00:37:15
want you to win, you want them to win.
00:37:17
And those are are like really beautiful
00:37:19
types of transactions. And you know, I
00:37:22
believe in you know, a lot of the
00:37:23
projects I'm working on now are about
00:37:24
like creating things. Like I like
00:37:27
building tangible things. I like
00:37:28
creating things that um that uplift. to
00:37:32
like solving challenging problems and um
00:37:37
and you don't do that alone. You do that
00:37:40
through partnership. You do that through
00:37:43
coalitions of people who share your
00:37:46
passion and interest and um and that's
00:37:49
very rewarding.
00:37:50
>> When you hire people, what are you
00:37:51
looking for for your businesses? Are
00:37:53
there I mean, everyone's got their own
00:37:54
hiring bias and it often stems from
00:37:56
their past experiences who's burnt them
00:37:57
in the past. when you're looking to hire
00:38:00
someone for one of your organizations or
00:38:01
for some of the projects we'll talk
00:38:02
about in a second, what what are the
00:38:04
like the key characteristics?
00:38:06
>> I think first and foremost, you want
00:38:07
someone with a strong sense of self and
00:38:11
a strong like orientation towards like
00:38:13
agency, like somebody who has agency.
00:38:16
It's very hard to teach people, you
00:38:18
know, you could have a brilliant person,
00:38:20
but if they don't have like good
00:38:21
judgment or if they're not like a
00:38:23
self-starter, it's very hard to give
00:38:26
them that. It's very hard to sort of
00:38:27
give them good judgment. And some of
00:38:29
it's like street smarts, right? We
00:38:31
talked before about, you know, how can
00:38:33
you both be trustworthy
00:38:35
and not be disappointed or burn too
00:38:37
often? You have an instinct about a
00:38:39
person
00:38:40
>> and you can read a room and and that's
00:38:42
like EQ skills and those are those are a
00:38:45
little bit harder to teach. So, I look
00:38:46
for that.
00:38:47
>> I look for good people at the end of the
00:38:49
day. like I don't want to do a deal with
00:38:53
I don't want to work with people I don't
00:38:55
enjoy that I don't think are like good
00:38:57
people um because I don't want to spend
00:38:59
my time with somebody who I don't trust
00:39:02
or who I don't respect. So that's like
00:39:04
really core and fundamental for me. you
00:39:07
know, for somebody who's working with
00:39:10
me, I actually tell my kids this all the
00:39:12
time because I think so much of the
00:39:14
outside world is like, "Impress me by
00:39:17
what you do." Like, "Impress me by what
00:39:18
you accomplish. The grades, the
00:39:20
trophies, the the badges of like
00:39:24
external validation and success." Like,
00:39:26
our whole life is oriented towards that,
00:39:29
the validation that comes from the
00:39:32
outside world. So like I always want my
00:39:34
kids to know like how I'm going to
00:39:35
validate them is like be a good person.
00:39:37
Like you want to impress me like be a
00:39:39
good person.
00:39:39
>> Was that the case for you? Cuz when I
00:39:41
look at
00:39:42
>> Probably not.
00:39:42
>> I look at the Trump family for me as an
00:39:45
outsider looked like a competition
00:39:47
between siblings and even when I think
00:39:49
about your father
00:39:49
>> I think because we're so competitive and
00:39:52
hard. Yeah. No, I think um I think it
00:39:56
all like worked out and we're all I I
00:39:58
like to think you know my my siblings
00:40:01
and I grew up with um like good values
00:40:05
and uh but no like we were in a more
00:40:08
like I was like very competitive with my
00:40:10
siblings like you know my mom was like a
00:40:13
disciplinarian there was like a high
00:40:15
expectation of like performance and
00:40:17
success um
00:40:18
>> and when you're in that when you're
00:40:19
calling collect your father he's
00:40:21
reciting your great grades to the room
00:40:23
of people He's in. No, no, no. That was
00:40:27
>> That mattered. And And it matters to a
00:40:30
lot of parents. And by the way, it's not
00:40:31
bad like having an incredibly high
00:40:34
standard. And to some degree,
00:40:36
>> Yeah. And I think look, I I think it's
00:40:38
>> a lot of parents like I think especially
00:40:41
like my mom was an immigrant to this
00:40:42
country, there's like a high standard.
00:40:44
Um and uh and she didn't like humor
00:40:48
fools, right? One of the things I'm most
00:40:50
proud of, I look at my daughter and
00:40:52
there's no bar I could set for her that
00:40:54
the bar she sets for herself isn't
00:40:56
higher. So like I actually view my job
00:40:59
as a parent with her is to like give her
00:41:01
permission to not like strive for
00:41:04
perfection.
00:41:06
>> You go on to build a business in the
00:41:09
jewelry industry and fashion industry.
00:41:13
Um there was I was reading about there
00:41:14
was a point in your career where you
00:41:16
were you were offered a job by Anna
00:41:17
Wintor. Yeah.
00:41:18
>> At Vogue. And your I think your father
00:41:20
did kind of want you to go in that
00:41:21
direction, but you wanted to go in the
00:41:22
real estate business direction.
00:41:24
>> She called me actually on the day I
00:41:25
graduated from university. I went to
00:41:28
Warden School of Business at University
00:41:30
of Pennsylvania and she offered me a job
00:41:33
at Vogue and I was like incredibly
00:41:35
honored and flattered and groggy because
00:41:38
she called me at 8:00 in the morning
00:41:40
which calling a college student at 8:00
00:41:41
in the morning, you might as well call
00:41:42
them at 4:30 in the morning, you know?
00:41:44
like that was that I was like deeply
00:41:47
aware from when I was a young girl that
00:41:49
like I wanted to go into real estate.
00:41:51
Life has taken me in different
00:41:53
directions and and interestingly now I'm
00:41:55
returning with some amazing projects
00:41:57
back to my real estate roots. But I love
00:42:01
architecture. I love design. I love it
00:42:04
as an expression of self. If you look at
00:42:07
a city skyline and it's an expression of
00:42:10
like a vision for
00:42:13
um of hope and optimism and the amount
00:42:16
of courage that took to build each of
00:42:18
those buildings and it's it's
00:42:19
extraordinary.
00:42:20
>> But you did go into the fine jewelry at
00:42:22
26 years old and then at 33 you launched
00:42:24
Ivanka Trump.com and you were in a huge
00:42:28
amount of major retailers including
00:42:29
Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and that's
00:42:32
really also that's what I knew you first
00:42:34
for. I knew you for running a fashion
00:42:37
business which was doing exceptionally
00:42:40
well. I think from what I read it was
00:42:41
making hundreds of millions of dollars
00:42:44
and then you shut it down.
00:42:45
>> Yeah. Yeah. It was kind of like
00:42:48
lightning in a a bottle. I caught a
00:42:50
moment. So, I was um still sort of
00:42:53
leading the charge at our family real
00:42:54
estate business. I had young children at
00:42:57
home um or was just starting to have uh
00:43:00
children when when I first launched Fine
00:43:02
Jewelry. Ultimately, we ended up having
00:43:04
11 different categories, apparel,
00:43:06
footwear, sunglasses, fragrance. Um,
00:43:11
but we created an accessibly priced line
00:43:15
that was feminine and beautiful, but for
00:43:18
like a multi-dimensional woman. Like, at
00:43:21
the time when I was coming up, the
00:43:24
outfits that women were buying for work
00:43:26
were so far from aspirational and they
00:43:29
couldn't transition with the woman to
00:43:31
the date night. they would have that
00:43:32
evening or after work drinks with their
00:43:35
girlfriends. It was like nobody was
00:43:38
posting on Instagram like what they were
00:43:40
wearing to work. And so we thought like
00:43:42
let's bridge the gap and create
00:43:43
something for a modern woman. And it
00:43:46
caught fire. And it was
00:43:48
>> how big an amazing success. We were
00:43:50
doing um close to $800 million in sales
00:43:53
annually um when I shut it down when I
00:43:55
went into government. It was great. But
00:43:58
>> you were doing 800 million in sales
00:44:00
annually when you shut it down.
00:44:02
>> Yeah.
00:44:02
>> Why did you shut it down?
00:44:04
>> I went into government and you always
00:44:05
have to sort of be moving forward and I
00:44:07
had built a team of women who were
00:44:10
oriented towards forward momentum and I
00:44:14
had to put it on ice and this was all
00:44:16
just part of the rules of complying with
00:44:17
the office of government and ethics. So
00:44:19
they basically look at everything you
00:44:20
have and they say sell this, put this
00:44:22
into a trust, do this, do that, do this.
00:44:24
So you do that and and for my own
00:44:27
business, they weren't allowed to use my
00:44:28
image. They weren't allowed to grow the
00:44:30
business in terms of new accounts or
00:44:32
internationally. And that was fine for a
00:44:35
moment, but at the end of the day, you
00:44:37
need like growth. And so I thought it
00:44:39
would be easier to end on a high note
00:44:41
than to um allow the business to sort of
00:44:44
stagnate. And I also felt like for
00:44:47
myself, I'm always looking forward like
00:44:49
I don't like to look back. And I feel
00:44:51
the
00:44:53
experience of of this new experience, I
00:44:56
mean, serving was so expanding.
00:45:00
>> Most people wouldn't give up an $800
00:45:01
million annual business to go into
00:45:05
government.
00:45:06
>> Why did you,
00:45:08
>> you know, I I
00:45:09
>> It's your baby as well. You know, it's
00:45:10
like
00:45:11
>> Yeah. I, you know, I thought about the
00:45:13
version of me in 40 years that when
00:45:17
asked the question to serve by my
00:45:20
father, who at the time knew no one in
00:45:22
in Washington DC at all, said no and
00:45:26
just proceeded with life as usual. And
00:45:29
that didn't like sit right with me. So,
00:45:30
I had no intention of serving. And a few
00:45:33
weeks after he won, he asked Jared and
00:45:37
me to go with him and sort of help him
00:45:40
navigate this new environment. And my
00:45:42
eyes grew big. And he joked with me.
00:45:45
He's like, "But I have to warn you,
00:45:46
they're going to come at you hard.
00:45:48
They're probably going to hate you.
00:45:49
You're too young. You're too." And he
00:45:50
like, I'm like, "Oh my god." I'm like,
00:45:53
"What?" That was like the anti- sale.
00:45:55
But, you know, he asked us for help. Um,
00:45:58
and I feel incredibly
00:46:00
privileged that he gave us the
00:46:02
opportunity to serve a country we love
00:46:04
so much. We hadn't been expecting it. We
00:46:06
hadn't set up our lives for it. We were
00:46:08
loving the path we were on and and the
00:46:12
work we were doing. But you also, you
00:46:14
know, can't put your head in the sand
00:46:16
and like life had changed. As much as
00:46:18
I'd like to say like, oh, he wins
00:46:20
business as usual, there is no business
00:46:22
as usual. Your life has changed.
00:46:23
>> You didn't choose this though. In fact,
00:46:25
you didn't choose most of these things.
00:46:26
I look at your life and I go that from a
00:46:29
very young age you've not chosen the
00:46:31
context which you've been thrust into
00:46:33
because of your your father's ambitions
00:46:36
and I mean I can see it in your face
00:46:38
that it kind of rings true
00:46:40
>> but I think that's true for all of us
00:46:41
right to some degree like our path is
00:46:44
determined by our circumstance I
00:46:46
>> not really not really in the same way
00:46:48
>> this is a little bit different with
00:46:51
politics and the presidency but
00:46:53
>> but even from 9 years old you know
00:46:54
you're not choosing to leave school and
00:46:56
have reporters uh treat you like that
00:46:58
and you're not choosing these other
00:47:00
things along the way and then your
00:47:01
father decides he wants to be president
00:47:03
of the United States. It's not like he
00:47:04
had a political career where he like
00:47:05
built up slowly. It's like he woke up
00:47:07
one day and was like
00:47:08
>> was drinking water from a fire hose for
00:47:09
all of us. It was a lot. Normally you
00:47:11
cut your teeth on, you know, some local
00:47:14
election as a family have the
00:47:16
experience.
00:47:18
The first time he ever run for office
00:47:20
was president and he won. So, it was a
00:47:22
radical adjustment period for um for all
00:47:26
of us. But
00:47:27
>> did you think you would
00:47:27
>> Boy did it. Oh, yeah. I did.
00:47:31
>> I mean, it was it was hard to believe
00:47:33
myself because everyone was saying that
00:47:35
he wouldn't. And I'd say, "Well, these
00:47:37
people probably know what they're
00:47:38
talking about, but it felt like he
00:47:40
would." And, you know, so for me, that
00:47:43
time was extraordinary because I really
00:47:46
believed, you know, I lived in New York
00:47:47
City. I thought I was around surrounded
00:47:50
by diverse minds and opinions and
00:47:53
perspectives and viewpoints and I really
00:47:56
thought I had sort of a lot of exposure
00:47:59
to ideas and
00:48:01
his campaign like ripped it open for me
00:48:04
and that I realized like the bubble that
00:48:06
I was in and suddenly I got out into the
00:48:08
country and I heard from people who had
00:48:11
very divergent views on a number of
00:48:12
issues. Some of it reinforced my
00:48:15
existing beliefs. Other times it
00:48:17
completely changed my perspective and
00:48:20
and orientation. So it was extremely
00:48:24
mindexpanding. So when you ask like,
00:48:26
"Oh, why didn't I go back to what I was
00:48:28
doing?" I think like, you know, you you
00:48:30
get thrown into something and you learn
00:48:33
and you grow and you change. And um and
00:48:36
I felt as challenging it was as that
00:48:40
moment in my life to um to say yes when
00:48:44
when my father asked us to to go help
00:48:47
him. I felt like it was an amazing
00:48:50
privilege to be able to serve. So new
00:48:54
year always has a strange energy to it
00:48:56
because people start talking about their
00:48:57
goals, fresh starts and new habits. But
00:48:59
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00:49:00
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00:49:03
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I'll see you over there. I watched
00:50:56
interviews going back to the 1980s where
00:50:57
it sounded like your father was playing
00:50:59
with the idea. I remember that Oprah
00:51:01
interview that's subsequently gone viral
00:51:03
of him saying that um if it got so bad
00:51:05
in the US he would never rule it out
00:51:07
totally. He thought he would win because
00:51:10
he's never gone into anything to lose as
00:51:12
I think you said and even 1980 in an
00:51:16
interview with Rona Beret can't
00:51:18
pronounce that name he said maybe I'd
00:51:20
run for president I don't know. Did you
00:51:23
have any sense that this was at all on
00:51:25
the horizon in
00:51:26
>> Not really.
00:51:27
>> That's interesting.
00:51:28
>> No, it was, you know, it was actually
00:51:31
where we discussed things that weren't
00:51:33
sort of the normal how was your day at
00:51:35
school. It was we spoke a lot about real
00:51:37
estate and about
00:51:39
um and about building and we were going
00:51:42
to go into the family business and and I
00:51:44
do think he sort of toyed with it in his
00:51:46
mind um for a while. I I do remember
00:51:48
once thinking it was real. I was 16 and
00:51:52
I was at boarding school and I called
00:51:53
him up. I go, "Oh my god, I read that
00:51:55
you're going to run for president. This
00:51:56
is going to ruin my life."
00:51:59
I think I was like hysterical and he's
00:52:00
like, "Don't worry about it. Not
00:52:02
happening." You know, I think he was he
00:52:05
was thinking about the options he was
00:52:07
given as a voter and he was dissatisfied
00:52:11
and I think he was beginning to
00:52:13
formulate his perspective on what he
00:52:16
would do differently. But it was not my
00:52:19
childhood that was not an ambition of
00:52:22
his that was at least articulated to to
00:52:24
us. You know some of the ideas you
00:52:26
mentioned that Oprah interview he was
00:52:28
talking about
00:52:30
um trade policy being deeply unfair to
00:52:34
American workers. you know, his
00:52:36
viewpoint remained consistent over time
00:52:39
and remains consistent to this day on
00:52:41
exactly that about trade policy and and
00:52:44
many of many of the things he
00:52:46
articulated then are very true for him
00:52:48
to this day.
00:52:49
>> And then in 2015 when you're 33, my age,
00:52:54
you learn two weeks before he announces
00:52:57
that he's going to announce that he
00:52:58
wants to run for president
00:53:01
>> again. How do you receive that? is in
00:53:03
like an existential panic like you have
00:53:05
>> we came together as a family in
00:53:06
Bedminster. Um and he shared with us his
00:53:10
intention and he asked me to introduce
00:53:12
him and I said to him I'm like well are
00:53:14
you really doing this
00:53:17
um are you really going to do this? He
00:53:19
was coming down the escalator and I'm
00:53:22
trying to like introduce him and give
00:53:23
this speech. I'm like, is he going to
00:53:24
get up here and actually? It was so
00:53:26
quick. But I think, you know, I think he
00:53:28
had debated it in his mind for a long
00:53:30
time and then when he pulled the
00:53:31
trigger, it was
00:53:33
full steam.
00:53:35
>> Life hasn't been the same since in many
00:53:37
respects.
00:53:38
>> Mm- No, it hasn't. But it's been I mean,
00:53:41
it's been an extraordinary ride. There
00:53:43
have been highs and there have been
00:53:44
lows, but um we've done a lot of living.
00:53:47
So,
00:53:48
>> a lot of living.
00:53:49
>> A lot of living.
00:53:50
>> Of which you spent four years working in
00:53:52
the White House.
00:53:52
>> Mhm. Some of your sort of key headline
00:53:54
achievements are doubling the child tax
00:53:56
credit from $1,000 to $2,000, benefiting
00:53:58
40 million Americans with an average of
00:54:01
$2.2,000 $2,000 per year, helping secure
00:54:04
paid family leave for federal workers,
00:54:06
helping pass the Great American Outdoors
00:54:08
Act, which is one of the largest
00:54:10
Conservative bills since the National
00:54:11
Park System was created, leading efforts
00:54:13
to modernize career and technical
00:54:15
education, providing 1.3 billion
00:54:17
annually to over 13 million students,
00:54:20
and helping to pass nine pieces of
00:54:22
legislation combating human trafficking
00:54:23
and child exploitation.
00:54:26
And then it ended.
00:54:28
>> Were you happy it ended? cuz I saw it
00:54:31
with Michelle Obama. She seemed happy.
00:54:34
>> I left it all on the field, you know? I
00:54:36
I don't look back and say
00:54:39
like I I I don't have regrets. Like I
00:54:41
worked as hard as I could and I'm
00:54:43
incredibly
00:54:45
proud of what I was able to accomplish
00:54:48
in in those four years. and um like I
00:54:51
don't regret it in any way, but it's you
00:54:54
know it's a sacrifice um to my children
00:54:57
and it's um and it's it's it's hard work
00:55:01
you know so I feel both incredibly
00:55:04
privileged for the opportunity but also
00:55:07
I don't have what they refer to as PTOIC
00:55:09
fever you know there's some people that
00:55:11
once they have the experience of of
00:55:14
being in those rooms and and close to
00:55:16
that type of power they just like hang
00:55:17
around the hoop constantly like cycling
00:55:20
back in. I feel like I wasn't expecting
00:55:23
to serve in this capacity, at least not
00:55:25
at this stage of my life. My father
00:55:28
asked me to help him. We uprooted our
00:55:32
lives and went and did just that and
00:55:34
scored a lot of wins. I mean, you think
00:55:35
about something like the child tax
00:55:36
credit. 40 million American families
00:55:40
benefited from that policy. An average
00:55:43
of $2,400 in their pockets.
00:55:47
That's extraordinarily meaningful and
00:55:50
consequential and I'm so proud to have
00:55:52
been able to do that. nine pieces of
00:55:55
human trafficking legislation, the work
00:55:58
that I did around vocational education
00:56:00
and skills training, which is all the
00:56:02
more relevant as we sort of surf the
00:56:05
oncoming tsunami that is AI. you know,
00:56:08
the fact that we were able to um get the
00:56:11
private sector to commit to skilling or
00:56:13
res-killing 16 million American workers,
00:56:17
the fact that we were able to facilitate
00:56:19
the creation of a million apprenticeship
00:56:22
opportunities in in the United States,
00:56:24
like these are are deeply meaningful.
00:56:27
So, I
00:56:29
I'm so proud of my service. I I feel
00:56:32
deeply honored that
00:56:35
he trusted me to pursue these different
00:56:39
verticals and and to work alongside of
00:56:42
him. And I also know that it's really
00:56:45
hard and for my children, you know, my
00:56:48
first responsibility is to be their mom.
00:56:50
It was true then as well, of course. And
00:56:52
and I did the best I could every single
00:56:54
day to be everywhere I needed to be. But
00:56:58
my kids are a different age now and
00:57:00
there's a finite period of time before
00:57:02
they leave our home. I think, you know,
00:57:05
I look at at my teenage daughter, she's
00:57:07
14 and even if like a quarter of my
00:57:12
interactions with her through her closed
00:57:13
bedroom door, like I need to be present
00:57:15
and I need to be there. It's not
00:57:17
theoretical for me because now I know
00:57:20
the sacrifice
00:57:22
that they would have to bear the cost to
00:57:25
them of if I went back into service and
00:57:29
I'm not willing to let them pay that
00:57:31
price. So for me it's like actually a
00:57:33
rather easy decision. I made it
00:57:35
immediately. You know that in this
00:57:37
moment I'm where I need to be. It's also
00:57:39
a different time. You know, now my
00:57:41
father has a deep bench of people
00:57:43
raising their hand who want to help and
00:57:45
participate. That wasn't true before.
00:57:49
He's really refined his policies, his
00:57:51
beliefs, and has a lot of conviction in
00:57:55
terms of what he wants to do. So, so I
00:57:57
feel like for him, it's amazing. He's
00:57:59
got the team he needs and um and for me,
00:58:02
I think, you know, my priorities are are
00:58:04
my family, and that just feels really
00:58:06
good and right for me.
00:58:08
>> What weren't you prepared for? I asked
00:58:10
the same question to Michelle when she
00:58:11
was here about, you know, you get that
00:58:13
phone call from your dad and he says,
00:58:14
"Come, come help. One has a vision of
00:58:17
what that might look like, but there's
00:58:19
surprises." Michelle talked to me about
00:58:20
so many of the things she had no idea
00:58:22
would be the case.
00:58:23
>> I wasn't prepared for you're not
00:58:25
prepared for any of it. There's nothing
00:58:26
that trains you for the experience. And
00:58:30
I think one of the things you realize
00:58:31
pretty quickly is like power, just like
00:58:33
money, makes people more of what they
00:58:35
already are. And you see that very much
00:58:38
in playing out in in politics and and in
00:58:41
life, right? I also think you realize
00:58:44
people are just people. Like you look at
00:58:47
and I'm you know I had exposure to some
00:58:50
of the great leaders of business and now
00:58:51
I was being exposed to um to leaders on
00:58:56
a global stage of countries. Um,
00:58:58
sometimes they were monarchies, other
00:59:00
times they were elected democracies and
00:59:02
then all sorts of varants of of that,
00:59:05
you know, were and and you realize at
00:59:08
the end of the day like people are
00:59:10
people, you know, some of them their
00:59:12
their kids don't speak to them. They got
00:59:14
in a fight with their wife that morning.
00:59:16
They're, you know, they're just people.
00:59:18
And now some of them feel
00:59:20
extraordinarily historic. You meet a
00:59:23
person and say, "This person feels
00:59:24
consequential." others of them you leave
00:59:27
and say, "I wonder how this person ever
00:59:29
got elected to to this, you know, high
00:59:32
office." But, um, but I think it it
00:59:35
removes the veil and and the mystery and
00:59:38
I think it removed for me a lot of any
00:59:41
of like intimidation I may have in like
00:59:43
interacting with another human being.
00:59:45
>> Your security situation must have
00:59:46
changed quite considerably. So,
00:59:47
>> it did. Yeah.
00:59:48
>> You know, and because politics is a
00:59:50
dangerous game. I think I I heard
00:59:52
something that said being president is
00:59:54
the most dangerous job in the world when
00:59:55
you look at the fatality rate and
00:59:57
obviously we've seen political
00:59:58
assassinations in this country even in
01:00:00
recent times but your father was also
01:00:02
shot at hit in the ear when he was on
01:00:04
the campaign trail more recently.
01:00:07
What's that been like and what does it
01:00:08
actually can you give me any specifics
01:00:10
on what that actually like means when
01:00:12
you become involved in politics? How
01:00:15
does life change from a security
01:00:16
perspective?
01:00:18
Yeah,
01:00:19
I think
01:00:21
well it changes radically. Now we're
01:00:23
protected by US Secret Service and I'm
01:00:26
so grateful to to the men and women who
01:00:29
who take care of my family um took care
01:00:31
of my father, protected him and uh
01:00:34
risking their own lives to do so and now
01:00:36
do so for for me and and my children. So
01:00:39
very grateful uh to all of them. But
01:00:43
it's it's it's scary. We live in um very
01:00:47
troubling times and like you know the
01:00:49
fact that there is a correlation between
01:00:53
service and violence is um
01:00:57
is uh terrible in and of itself. But but
01:01:00
that's the the world we live in. So, you
01:01:02
know, I have to acknowledge that reality
01:01:04
and defend my family as as best I can
01:01:07
and make sure they're protected. And I'm
01:01:09
very fortunate. The the Secret Service
01:01:11
are the best in the world at doing that.
01:01:13
Where were you in 2024 in July when you
01:01:16
when you heard the news that your father
01:01:18
had been shot in the ear? There was an
01:01:21
assassination attempt on his life. Do
01:01:23
you remember where you were? Like what's
01:01:24
that like as as a daughter? What are all
01:01:26
the feelings and thoughts?
01:01:29
>> I was in Bedminster, New Jersey, and um
01:01:34
there was a lot of commotion and um the
01:01:37
televisions were on so I saw it almost
01:01:39
immediately. Not in my house. I actually
01:01:42
don't love watching television.
01:01:45
Um but out by the pool in the beastro
01:01:48
and um it was almost real time. It was
01:01:51
before he had stood back up
01:01:56
that I had seen um what was transpiring
01:01:59
and um two of my children were there. Um
01:02:02
so you know my first reaction was to
01:02:05
turn them away. Um,
01:02:08
but
01:02:10
it was incredibly difficult.
01:02:13
Interestingly, I knew real time in that
01:02:16
moment that he was fine. Like, I had I
01:02:20
just knew that
01:02:24
like it wasn't his time. So, I was
01:02:28
horrified and I was scared and I was
01:02:31
protective of my children, but I also
01:02:35
I didn't believe like the worst possible
01:02:37
outcome had transpired. Thank God. And
01:02:40
um and thank God it it hadn't.
01:02:46
And then I saw him that night when he
01:02:48
came home from the hospital because he
01:02:49
was also staying. That morning he had
01:02:51
left from Bedminster. And that evening
01:02:54
he he returned after he left the
01:02:56
hospital and um it's late 1 2:00 in the
01:03:00
morning and Jared and I stayed up and we
01:03:03
met his his car as he was pulling in and
01:03:05
um I just feel
01:03:09
feel like just incredibly lucky that he
01:03:12
was protected on that day. But it's, you
01:03:15
know, when
01:03:20
you can't take things for granted in
01:03:22
life, and I've learned that in numerous
01:03:24
ways, that being one of them. Um, when
01:03:27
my mom passed prematurely,
01:03:29
when my husband had a scare with cancer,
01:03:32
you know, all of these challenges that
01:03:35
remind you how finite and how precious
01:03:39
every moment of this life we live are.
01:03:44
make you realize you just can't take
01:03:46
anything for granted. And I think as you
01:03:49
move through them and you know, God
01:03:51
willing, you're able to. And we were so
01:03:54
fortunate that day that
01:03:57
that this was a failed attempt to take
01:03:59
his life. Um, not a realized one. But
01:04:03
you just I think you you recommmit
01:04:07
to sort of love and connection and to
01:04:12
a recognition of um how short our time
01:04:16
here on earth is and how you have to
01:04:18
value it.
01:04:20
>> Someone shooting at your dad um and
01:04:21
trying to kill your dad. This is quite a
01:04:23
difficult question to ask, but it's like
01:04:25
if if um most of us will never be able
01:04:28
to relate to the fact that
01:04:31
members of the public want our parents
01:04:34
to be deceased and that's the reality of
01:04:37
the the situation for your father is
01:04:39
someone shot at him was trying to
01:04:41
execute him publicly. And um I wonder
01:04:45
how that again doesn't make you negative
01:04:49
to the world
01:04:50
>> because I don't allow it to.
01:04:53
What does that accomplish being negative
01:04:55
towards the world? I think that brings
01:04:59
more negativity into the world. Even for
01:05:01
the person that shot at your father,
01:05:06
>> there's a lot of sickness there. And
01:05:15
I,
01:05:17
you know, I think that
01:05:23
forgiveness is a difficult thing in in
01:05:25
this regard, but I think you have to
01:05:29
um
01:05:31
his living
01:05:33
was a blessing.
01:05:36
So I could look at what happened and be
01:05:40
rightfully traumatized by the experience
01:05:44
and nobody could really argue with that.
01:05:47
But
01:05:48
you have to you have to move through it.
01:05:51
And and on the opposite side of that is
01:05:54
the fact that he's with us today, that
01:05:56
he didn't die, that my father is alive.
01:05:59
And that is an extraordinary blessing
01:06:03
for me as his as his daughter. In life,
01:06:06
you have a choice only in how you
01:06:07
respond. And I choose to
01:06:11
see the positive outcome that
01:06:15
that transpired and dwell there.
01:06:18
>> The mind plays out scenarios, right? The
01:06:20
mind plays out the scenario that where
01:06:22
he he didn't make it, where the he
01:06:24
turned his head in the other direction,
01:06:25
the bullet hit him
01:06:27
>> and you presumably played out that
01:06:29
scenario of what how different life
01:06:31
would have been. Well, seeing it on
01:06:33
repeat for months on television on the
01:06:36
news was certainly like not the easiest
01:06:38
thing and you know that's part of why I
01:06:40
just even before I didn't I never loved
01:06:43
watching the news. I'll read the news
01:06:45
but but no I mean he's here you know
01:06:48
really felt like um a miracle and a
01:06:51
blessing and and that's what I focus on.
01:06:53
I can see the emotion again in you which
01:06:56
is again it's fascinating to me because
01:06:58
I've you know I've heard you know people
01:07:00
around you speak about it but the the
01:07:02
emotional toll seems to be more still
01:07:04
sort of present in you about that
01:07:06
incident than it does about other people
01:07:07
that I've heard speak about this
01:07:09
>> well he's my father he's my father and
01:07:12
he almost lost his life that day but he
01:07:15
didn't and I feel truly grateful for
01:07:19
that
01:07:20
>> and in this second season of his
01:07:22
presidential career you decide that you
01:07:23
want to pursue um many other things,
01:07:26
many other things, many other business
01:07:27
developments and um real estate
01:07:29
developments. You step away from
01:07:31
politics in 2022, I believe. You
01:07:34
announced that you would not be
01:07:35
returning for the third election
01:07:37
campaign. Uh you said, "This time
01:07:39
around, I'm choosing to prioritize my
01:07:41
young children and the private life
01:07:42
we're creating as a family. I do not
01:07:43
plan to be involved in politics." You
01:07:45
also said on Lex Lex's podcast,
01:07:47
"Politics is a pretty dark world.
01:07:50
There's a lot of darkness, a lot of
01:07:51
negativity, and it's just really at odds
01:07:54
with what feels good to me as a human
01:07:57
being. I was thinking this earlier on
01:07:58
about 30 minutes ago. I was thinking,
01:08:00
your nature, as I've known you, seems to
01:08:03
be the antithesis of this type of world,
01:08:07
like fame.
01:08:08
>> Totally true. You know,
01:08:09
>> there's this like gladatorial aspect of
01:08:12
it that's just like not for me. I care
01:08:14
deeply about policy, about helping
01:08:16
people, and I think there's all sorts of
01:08:18
ways to do that. and and and I'm doing
01:08:20
that now in in the private sector, but I
01:08:24
don't like politics, but I I do care
01:08:26
about policy um quite deeply and I've
01:08:29
tried to focus on on that element of
01:08:32
service.
01:08:32
>> And do you feel the need to express you
01:08:36
never do because you don't punch back at
01:08:38
the world publicly, which is I think
01:08:41
something to be admired. And I I've
01:08:43
learned actually quite a lot from
01:08:44
everything you said there about not
01:08:46
feeling the need to like punch back at
01:08:48
the world.
01:08:48
>> It takes training.
01:08:50
>> It like takes real training. I was
01:08:52
actually reading uh recently uh
01:08:58
about the crow and I thought it was like
01:09:00
a great metaphor for life. So crow is
01:09:03
like a highly intelligent animal,
01:09:05
extraordinarily so in some cases, but it
01:09:08
can get aggressive and territorial and
01:09:12
it's one of the only animals that will
01:09:14
actually attack an eagle. Like a crow
01:09:17
will go and just sometimes because it's
01:09:19
being territorial and other times for
01:09:21
fun. And the crow will actually like mob
01:09:24
the eagle and it will land on its back
01:09:26
and it will start pecking it. And the
01:09:29
eagle's response to this, which
01:09:31
naturally the eagle's
01:09:33
many times over larger than the crow,
01:09:35
isn't to like twist and turn and knock
01:09:37
the crow off or um defend itself and and
01:09:40
and then go on the offense. It's just to
01:09:43
fly up. And it flies up while the crow
01:09:46
continues to like just peck at its at
01:09:50
its back. It flies up and up. And the
01:09:52
crow is not built for high altitude
01:09:54
flight. So at a certain point as the
01:09:56
eagle flies up, not expending any energy
01:09:59
in the counterattack, the crow just
01:10:02
falls off.
01:10:03
>> It can't sustain the altitude.
01:10:06
So I and I kind of love that analogy for
01:10:09
life because you have a choice. You
01:10:11
know, you can turn around, you can fight
01:10:12
back, probably the eagle would win or
01:10:15
you can just, you know, play the game on
01:10:18
your own terms. And I I think about that
01:10:20
sometimes and I thought it was like a
01:10:22
brilliant metaphor for dealing with the
01:10:25
noise.
01:10:26
>> And you trained that muscle
01:10:27
>> for sure.
01:10:28
>> So there was a time when you did care.
01:10:30
>> For sure. Because I there was a time
01:10:31
when I was just like confused. I'm like
01:10:33
well but I didn't even do that. Like
01:10:34
what are you talking about? Like I don't
01:10:36
even know what you're and and then
01:10:38
there's a sense of well that's unfair.
01:10:39
Like that's an unfair attack. And then
01:10:41
you realize like a lot of it's unfair
01:10:43
especially in politics. It's like it's
01:10:45
just like a team sport and people attack
01:10:48
and you know and and people also, you
01:10:51
know, put you up on a pedestal and you
01:10:54
just can't get distracted by either. You
01:10:56
just have to be yourself and uh you have
01:10:58
to fly up, let the crows fall off and um
01:11:02
and that's it. That's all you can do.
01:11:04
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01:11:06
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01:11:08
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01:11:10
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the conversation cards with the 1%
01:12:12
diary. For those of you that don't know,
01:12:14
every single time a guest sits here with
01:12:15
me in the chair, they leave a question
01:12:17
in the diary of a CEO and then I ask
01:12:19
that question to the next guest. We
01:12:20
don't release those questions in any
01:12:22
environment other than on these
01:12:24
incredible conversation cards. These
01:12:26
have become a fantastic tool for people
01:12:28
in relationships, people in teams, in
01:12:30
big corporations, and also family
01:12:32
members to connect with each other. With
01:12:34
that, we also have the 1% diary, which
01:12:36
is this incredible tool to change habits
01:12:38
in your life. So many of you have asked
01:12:40
if it was possible to buy both at the
01:12:42
same time, especially people in big
01:12:44
companies. So, what we've done is we've
01:12:46
bundled them together and you can buy
01:12:48
both at the same time. And if you want
01:12:49
to drive connection and instill habit
01:12:52
change in your company, head to the
01:12:53
diary.com to inquire and our team will
01:12:55
be in touch. You are very different from
01:12:58
your father. Now listen, I know you you
01:13:00
know you love your father deeply and
01:13:02
I've watched you in every interview
01:13:03
you've ever done to talk to that love
01:13:05
and I have zero exactly zero desire to
01:13:09
to ask you any questions or ask anything
01:13:11
that's going to try and drive a a wedge
01:13:12
or get you to say something that I think
01:13:14
you know is is is not fair. But the
01:13:17
thing I find interesting is that like
01:13:19
how you make your way in the world and
01:13:21
like become your own person
01:13:23
>> when you do have this derivative noise
01:13:26
that's trying to define you through
01:13:28
things that you have never even actually
01:13:29
done.
01:13:30
>> Yeah.
01:13:30
>> And I just find that fascinating like
01:13:31
how and life has clearly made you a
01:13:33
stoic for this very reason because you
01:13:35
have to deal with I guess to some degree
01:13:37
being characterized in a certain way for
01:13:39
actions that you yourself haven't taken.
01:13:40
So one has to become a stoic or else how
01:13:42
could one possibly survive
01:13:44
>> like we all deal I think on microscopic
01:13:46
levels with like
01:13:48
>> the eye of the hurricane.
01:13:49
>> Yeah.
01:13:50
>> I think but like I I sometimes like feel
01:13:53
a lot of gratitude for it because I I
01:13:56
think sometimes you
01:13:58
keep being taught a lesson until you
01:14:00
learn it. And I think as somebody who
01:14:03
always wanted peace and harmony and I
01:14:06
think I needed to like maybe it took
01:14:08
this level of intensity to be like okay
01:14:11
you know like peace and harmony within
01:14:13
the context that I can help facilitate
01:14:17
you know like I can't control something
01:14:19
so much um bigger than that. So so
01:14:22
sometimes like maybe that was my
01:14:24
medicine you know.
01:14:24
>> Did you go to therapy?
01:14:27
not in my childhood in actually as an
01:14:30
adult I um I I have a lot of um friends
01:14:35
who are unbelievable either teachers,
01:14:38
professors, therapists and um and I have
01:14:43
like a very growthoriented mindset as
01:14:46
you could probably tell like I'm always
01:14:47
looking to learn about myself and about
01:14:49
the world and uh so they've provided
01:14:52
unbelievable perspective for me over the
01:14:54
years. I asked that because I imagine
01:14:56
there's lots of people watching now who
01:14:57
contend with their own struggles. Yeah.
01:15:00
>> Similar to that, dealing with the
01:15:01
outside world or
01:15:02
>> I think therapy can be amazing. Um I
01:15:04
think you have to have the right
01:15:05
therapist. Um and somebody who helps you
01:15:08
sort of process and move through. I
01:15:10
don't think it's like healthy to linger
01:15:13
too long. Um like I think you have to
01:15:17
move forward.
01:15:18
>> When did you decide to start seeing a
01:15:20
therapist?
01:15:24
um
01:15:25
in my adulthood like as an adult and it
01:15:28
was more just as like another tool for
01:15:31
me in the same way that I meditate you
01:15:34
know I view it as as an opportunity to
01:15:37
like
01:15:39
to do an internal inventory
01:15:41
>> was there a catalyst there's often a
01:15:43
catalyst when I interview people
01:15:44
something happened they realized that
01:15:45
they needed more tools
01:15:48
>> you know I I think um some of the
01:15:51
challenges es around um Jared's health.
01:15:56
>> I just left Washington. Our life was in
01:15:58
flux. Jared um was diagnosed with
01:16:02
thyroid cancer for a second time. Um and
01:16:06
uh and then my mother passed and I
01:16:08
wanted to make sure I'm I'm really good
01:16:12
at like being tough and I'm really good
01:16:15
at kind of compartmentalizing. So it was
01:16:19
more just like a check with myself that
01:16:21
I was also taking time to like you know
01:16:24
sort of like look inward and uh and like
01:16:27
nurture myself. So it was not it was not
01:16:30
particularly like formal um but it was
01:16:34
more you know and I think when you can
01:16:38
speak to people you trust who are
01:16:41
knowledgeable and just make sure you're
01:16:43
like taking time to like really heal and
01:16:45
not just move forward. You strike me as
01:16:47
someone that spent a lot of time being
01:16:48
tough
01:16:50
>> on the outside.
01:16:51
>> Um because
01:16:52
>> I like tough and super soft at the same
01:16:54
time.
01:16:54
>> But I see that.
01:16:55
>> But I' I've kind of But that's like
01:16:58
where you know I have to like watch
01:17:00
myself from because my life has always
01:17:03
had such intensity like I can like move
01:17:06
through things like I sometimes have to
01:17:08
pull myself back and say like process
01:17:10
because I don't believe that you ever
01:17:12
put something in a box. I think that
01:17:15
thing that you're hiding from yourself
01:17:18
is with you every time you make a bad
01:17:20
decision and like driving the bus, you
01:17:22
know, like it's you may not be like
01:17:24
fully conscious of it, but it's it's
01:17:26
like there so you better unpack it um
01:17:29
and as close to real time as possible, I
01:17:32
think the better.
01:17:34
>> Yeah. And in your context, I imagine as
01:17:35
well, you can't just offload like the
01:17:37
average person does in every context
01:17:39
like Yeah. because there's consequences
01:17:40
to that. Whether it's trusting people,
01:17:42
whether it's the media trying to get
01:17:43
something on you, what, you know,
01:17:44
whoever it might be. So, and then, you
01:17:46
know, you're in a family where,
01:17:48
you know, it's important to keep a
01:17:52
straight face, especially in public a
01:17:54
lot. And I was watching the footage from
01:17:56
>> Yeah. people think I'm like have like
01:17:57
sort of like a stoic look in public. I'm
01:17:59
very like,
01:18:00
>> but I but I spent time with you behind
01:18:02
the scenes. You do you have this sort of
01:18:04
bit of a dichotomy in the sense that
01:18:05
you're there's a real
01:18:10
like pure
01:18:13
um
01:18:14
soft
01:18:16
empathetic
01:18:18
soul. And then it appears to me that
01:18:22
life is
01:18:25
demanded for the survival in the context
01:18:26
you've been in that you pop a mask on in
01:18:29
front of that to keep a straight face
01:18:30
and a tough demeanor and to not punch
01:18:32
back and to to suppress that in certain
01:18:35
contexts because frankly you kind of
01:18:37
have to if you're in the shoes that
01:18:39
you've had to fill. And I guess one can
01:18:42
keep that that mask that tough exterior
01:18:45
on too long.
01:18:47
>> Yeah. Yeah. To the point.
01:18:48
>> Well, I think you actually see it with a
01:18:51
lot of politicians.
01:18:53
They feel inauthentic because they are,
01:18:55
you know, they've experienced so much
01:18:57
that they they never allow the mass to
01:19:00
slip.
01:19:00
>> Yeah.
01:19:01
>> I think one of the things that makes my
01:19:02
father so unique is how is he so
01:19:05
authentic in a world where so few people
01:19:06
are like in that profession, that realm?
01:19:09
And they're like almost like you look at
01:19:12
they feel like they're robots. the way
01:19:14
they speak, the way they interact, the
01:19:16
way they engage. Oftentimes you see that
01:19:18
when you're with them one-on-one as as
01:19:21
you do as it comes across like on a
01:19:23
debate on a television set. Um, so I
01:19:27
think there's a balance. Like I I don't
01:19:29
think you need to be
01:19:34
like your most vulnerable self in the
01:19:36
public. Like why? like what is I think
01:19:39
you want to be authentic but I think
01:19:41
like you should like you have to guard
01:19:43
things about yourself about your family
01:19:45
and I think that's like healthy and and
01:19:47
good and I do think there is a part of
01:19:49
me that's like there's never been like
01:19:51
uh there's no room for error you know
01:19:54
like even as a child like growing up in
01:19:56
the public eye was always nervous about
01:19:58
doing something and embarrassing my
01:19:59
parents and then politics and you have
01:20:02
to be perfect and any slip up is
01:20:04
completely weaponized against you so you
01:20:07
become very careful publicly. I think
01:20:09
the mistake though is people
01:20:12
get confused and they lose a sense of
01:20:15
themselves and
01:20:17
they bring that into their relationships
01:20:21
like off um the public stage and and I
01:20:25
think that's really unfortunate.
01:20:28
>> You mentioned um one of the catalyst
01:20:31
moments for you seeking out some sort of
01:20:34
more professional support was the death
01:20:36
of your mother. 2022.
01:20:39
>> Another beautiful photo of her wonderful
01:20:41
hair as well.
01:20:48
Try not to cry again.
01:20:49
>> It's okay.
01:20:50
>> She's extraordinary.
01:20:54
She was extraordinary.
01:21:02
>> It's okay.
01:21:06
She lived a good life though. You know,
01:21:09
I tell myself with my mom, she like
01:21:12
really lived she had fun. Um, so she
01:21:16
taught me a lot about just like, you
01:21:19
know, the presence I talk about about
01:21:21
just like
01:21:24
bringing intention to what you do.
01:21:25
Bringing Sorry.
01:21:32
Um
01:21:34
she uh
01:21:38
she was very herself and she was very
01:21:40
joyful and she loved to dance and she
01:21:43
loved to play and so um she lived uh she
01:21:47
lived a good life.
01:21:57
It's a really it's a unbelievably tragic
01:22:00
way to lose a parent is suddenly and
01:22:02
unexpected when they are
01:22:03
>> sure
01:22:04
>> strong. I mean it says a lot that your
01:22:06
grandmother which is her mother
01:22:08
>> still alive
01:22:09
>> still alive almost 100 years old and she
01:22:11
lost her life at 70 to falling down the
01:22:14
stairs in her her
01:22:15
>> By the way I said my grandmother was 98
01:22:16
she's 99.
01:22:17
>> Wow. Okay.
01:22:19
>> Crazy. It's amazing.
01:22:22
Yeah. No, it's it very challenging and
01:22:25
you know grief is just
01:22:32
losing a parent. It's it like hits
01:22:35
different you know um especially
01:22:38
unexpectedly especially sort of postco
01:22:42
which like kind of robbed so many of us
01:22:44
of so many years you know some for some
01:22:47
people they
01:22:48
>> sort of sheltered together um and it
01:22:51
actually created connection between
01:22:52
generations and you know unfortunately I
01:22:55
was she was in New York and I was in
01:22:57
Washington so
01:22:59
>> um there was the
01:23:03
there was distance there just
01:23:05
geographically. Um
01:23:08
but um but you know I I really like we
01:23:12
really I was telling you before we
01:23:14
really keep her memory alive like I
01:23:15
really took the time to think about her
01:23:20
not through the eyes of the child who
01:23:22
idolized her fully but through the eyes
01:23:25
of an adult who saw her clearly.
01:23:28
her strengths, her challenges, and like
01:23:32
I think about like my role as a parent
01:23:36
to my own children is
01:23:39
to sort of stand guard against like to
01:23:42
to make sure they're exposed to all the
01:23:45
elements of her that were amazing and
01:23:47
and share the stories and remind them.
01:23:50
Um,
01:23:52
and also to like kind of like a lionist
01:23:56
and guard against the passing on of of
01:24:01
you know challenges she had and and
01:24:03
struggles and um and so I try to do that
01:24:07
with my own family.
01:24:08
>> Have you grieved properly?
01:24:10
>> Yeah,
01:24:11
>> because you're very busy.
01:24:12
>> I think it's no I think it's super
01:24:14
important and that's part of the reason
01:24:16
I really got introspective. I think
01:24:19
wherever there's discomfort, that's
01:24:20
where you have to go.
01:24:22
>> And you know, I would talk about her and
01:24:23
start to cry just like I'm still doing
01:24:26
um but in a different kind of way, you
01:24:27
know, like I I was avoiding
01:24:31
for a moment, a very short moment
01:24:32
because I recognized in myself like the
01:24:34
discomfort and like you have to like
01:24:37
unlock that and you have to really make
01:24:39
the time to think about and talk about
01:24:43
and and process. On the business side of
01:24:46
things, you have started in 2023, I
01:24:49
believe, at 41 years old, you co-founded
01:24:51
Planet Harvest with one of your friends,
01:24:53
Melissa Akerman, inspired by your
01:24:56
experiences creating the USDA's farmers
01:24:59
to families food box program during
01:25:01
COVID 19. When I look at all that you
01:25:04
do, you know, there's you're doing this
01:25:06
incredible project in Albania to develop
01:25:09
the land there. You are investing in
01:25:13
technology companies. you you've got
01:25:14
this planet harvest project with which
01:25:16
is incredible and then you've got you
01:25:18
know um a family which you know you talk
01:25:20
about standing in guard in front of them
01:25:22
and so on and so forth.
01:25:25
How how do you balance all of this
01:25:28
stuff? How does one balance it?
01:25:31
>> You don't like balance is elusive. Like
01:25:33
I think of balance it's like a scale.
01:25:35
It's going to tip. You're one child's
01:25:38
flu away from like complete imbalance,
01:25:42
right? where you get the call from the
01:25:43
school nurse and your son has to come
01:25:45
home unexpectedly or um or there's like
01:25:49
a roadblock in a project you're working
01:25:51
on or you know you can't striving for
01:25:55
balance is not
01:25:59
like a practical pursuit. I think what I
01:26:02
strive for is to live a life that aligns
01:26:05
with my priorities and to have more days
01:26:10
than not that I feel like I've done just
01:26:13
that. And I think if you get that right,
01:26:15
most of the time you're doing pretty
01:26:17
well because balance doesn't work. It's
01:26:19
just like our lives are too hectic and
01:26:21
there's too much outside of our control
01:26:23
to to maintain
01:26:25
that equilibrium.
01:26:28
I'm so curious as to where you've um you
01:26:30
know I know you've read a lot of
01:26:32
stoicism and you read a lot of books and
01:26:33
you've you've been to therapy but you
01:26:35
know you've you contend with a lot
01:26:38
businesses investing the real estate
01:26:41
projects all the family stuff the
01:26:43
broader noise.
01:26:44
>> Yeah.
01:26:44
>> Um and you've really much of what I've
01:26:47
learned about you is that you've really
01:26:48
managed to center yourself on yourself.
01:26:50
>> You've managed to sort of pull yourself
01:26:51
inwards in a world that pulls all of us
01:26:53
outwardly. And is is there a particular
01:26:56
book you might advise people to read
01:26:58
about this or is there or they just have
01:26:59
to have life hit them?
01:27:02
>> Well, I think you know religion for many
01:27:04
people provides a beautiful framework um
01:27:07
whether it's the Bible, the Torah, the
01:27:09
you know of of like be a good person
01:27:12
like really um live a purpose- driven
01:27:17
meaningful life. Um, so I I think
01:27:21
there's so much wisdom there and I I
01:27:23
think, you know, we talked about the
01:27:25
Stoics. I think they're some of the
01:27:27
great guides. I also love some of the
01:27:30
Eastern philosophies. Like I love lu and
01:27:33
the taq ching is an amazing it kind of
01:27:36
reminds me of like the it was like
01:27:38
similar to the philosophy of of jiujitsu
01:27:41
around just sort of presence and and not
01:27:44
sort of fighting what is you know so
01:27:48
much of suffering comes from a rejection
01:27:50
of like what is um like fighting
01:27:53
something that it just is fact um as
01:27:56
opposed to sort of that which is within
01:28:00
our control. So I I'm actually very
01:28:02
drawn to sort of Buddhism and Dowoism
01:28:05
and um I personally feel um like very
01:28:09
alive. Like I think
01:28:11
you look at if you if you think back
01:28:14
over the last week and I don't know what
01:28:15
this is for you but you think back over
01:28:17
the last week maybe even the last month
01:28:19
or the last day like when you were in
01:28:21
like a flow state when you fel felt most
01:28:23
alive like that's your medicine like
01:28:26
that's like you in your essence. But so
01:28:29
I try to also like put myself in those
01:28:31
situations as much as possible and and
01:28:34
um and make sure to like bring that into
01:28:36
my life.
01:28:37
>> I'm fascinated by Planet Harvest
01:28:39
>> because you could have done so much with
01:28:41
the leverage and and experience that you
01:28:43
have and you chose to build a business
01:28:45
called Planet Harvest, which you can
01:28:47
find at planeth harvest.com that is
01:28:50
helping to reduce food waste and
01:28:52
creating change for farmers across the
01:28:54
country. why of all the things that you
01:28:55
could have aimed at um and I know you're
01:28:57
aiming at many at once, but why is
01:28:59
Planet Harvest so central to your
01:29:01
mission at the moment?
01:29:03
>> Thank you. I mean, this is truly like a
01:29:06
missiondriven
01:29:08
um passion and and pursuit of mine and
01:29:11
um I think I told you before that like
01:29:13
there's nothing better than
01:29:15
being obvious by being contrarian. And
01:29:18
and that's sort of how Planet Harvest
01:29:20
was born. saw through the co pandemic.
01:29:23
Um, I got really close to the farmers
01:29:25
because I created this farmertof family
01:29:26
food box program that created grants
01:29:31
that would enable farmers to sell their
01:29:34
perishable produce um to third parties,
01:29:37
distributors, NOS's, churches who would
01:29:41
then get it to the last mile of needs,
01:29:43
ensuring that when people needed food,
01:29:45
the food in the fields wasn't going to
01:29:47
waste by being tilled under as we saw in
01:29:49
the early days of the pandemic. You
01:29:50
know, the supply chain shut down. So the
01:29:53
restaurants were closed, the airlines,
01:29:54
the hotels. Um, so the farmers had no
01:29:57
place to to send their food and couldn't
01:29:59
afford to take it out of the fields. So
01:30:01
we created a grant program to enable
01:30:04
that connection. But it really got me um
01:30:07
very close at a at a farm level to to
01:30:10
the farmer and and and their experience.
01:30:12
And obviously that was a catastrophic
01:30:15
time when there was just zero demand.
01:30:18
But but I started seeing even in a
01:30:19
normalized situation the amount of waste
01:30:22
that happens on a food on a on a field
01:30:25
level and the amount of food beautiful
01:30:27
nutritious perfect food that's left to
01:30:30
rot in the fields while so many
01:30:32
communities want for for that form of
01:30:35
nutrition. and um and I I met a woman um
01:30:40
who's uh CEO of the company and we
01:30:43
decided to co-found an effort together
01:30:45
to utilize this excess and create demand
01:30:48
for it and and get it into the ecosystem
01:30:51
supporting the environment, supporting
01:30:53
um these great American farmers. Like
01:30:55
I'll just give you one example. I mean,
01:30:57
strawberries,
01:30:59
400 million pounds of strawberries every
01:31:02
year get left in the fields, not even
01:31:04
taken out and and given. Not because
01:31:07
they're imperfect. They're just don't
01:31:10
meet a really rigid
01:31:13
cosmetic specification that's defined by
01:31:15
retailers oftent times 20, 30, 40 years
01:31:18
ago so that everything's very
01:31:19
standardized. It's just a great way to
01:31:21
solve a problem, provide incremental
01:31:23
revenue for farmers, which is so needed
01:31:26
in such a tough business. So, we're
01:31:28
really proud of of the work we're doing
01:31:29
there.
01:31:30
>> It's a beautiful, beautiful cause. I'm
01:31:31
going to link link below if anyone wants
01:31:33
to learn more um as many details as they
01:31:35
can about the project and ways others
01:31:36
can get involved, whether they're
01:31:38
retailers or farmers or anyone that's
01:31:40
interested in getting involved. Um,
01:31:42
Avanka, we have a closing tradition
01:31:44
where the last guest leaves a question
01:31:45
for the next guest, not knowing who
01:31:46
they're leaving it for. And the question
01:31:48
that has been left for you, it assumes
01:31:50
you are a parent, so thankfully you are,
01:31:53
um, is if your oldest child came to you
01:31:56
and said they wanted to follow in your
01:31:58
footsteps, what are the three pieces of
01:32:00
advice you would give them that would
01:32:03
increase their probability of happiness
01:32:05
and success?
01:32:08
>> Oh, that's a great question. Um,
01:32:12
I think first and foremost,
01:32:14
>> that's your eldest.
01:32:15
>> Yes.
01:32:15
>> Arabella, is it?
01:32:16
>> Arabella.
01:32:18
So what would you say to Arabella? She
01:32:19
says she wants to be an entrepreneur and
01:32:20
an investor. And
01:32:22
>> I think first you have to love it.
01:32:27
I think especially if you want to be an
01:32:29
entrepreneur like the amount of work and
01:32:32
dedication and grind, the challenges,
01:32:36
um the responsibility as you build a
01:32:38
business for other people's livelihoods.
01:32:40
Um it's it's enormous and it's you know
01:32:43
this I mean it's it's it can be very
01:32:46
heavy um to carry and I have never seen
01:32:50
someone
01:32:52
at the peak of their game who doesn't
01:32:55
absolutely love what they do and I've
01:32:57
seen a lot of brilliant people I went to
01:32:58
school with many of them who were way
01:33:00
smarter
01:33:01
>> than anyone else in the class who flamed
01:33:04
out
01:33:05
>> by going in a direction that they were
01:33:08
capable and proficient
01:33:09
but not passionate about. So, it has to
01:33:12
you have to want it because if you
01:33:14
don't, somebody who's less um perhaps
01:33:18
less capable, perhaps less smart,
01:33:20
they'll work twice as hard and like you
01:33:22
can't compete with that.
01:33:23
>> Mhm.
01:33:23
>> So, that's number one. I think number
01:33:25
two
01:33:27
is um
01:33:30
you can't imitate anyone. You have to be
01:33:31
yourself. And we've talked a lot about
01:33:33
like knowing thyself, but um actually uh
01:33:38
Naval who's a friend of mine who's who's
01:33:40
great um he talks about like as an
01:33:44
entrepreneur the importance of
01:33:48
authenticity and how
01:33:51
it's like it's the key like when you're
01:33:54
copying you're losing like you have to
01:33:56
be yourself and then nobody can compete
01:33:58
with you. Um, and so I think you you
01:34:01
have to sort of find yourself, be
01:34:03
yourself. You can't be derivative of
01:34:05
anything else. Of course, you can learn
01:34:06
from others, but um, but you have to
01:34:09
blaze your own course and um, and as an
01:34:11
entrepreneur building something new, you
01:34:14
have to have also like a tremendous
01:34:15
amount of resilience through that
01:34:17
process.
01:34:19
And
01:34:21
you know it's um that's nuanced in and
01:34:23
of itself because that doesn't mean like
01:34:25
you have to wear blinders and go when
01:34:27
you know it's right but you have to also
01:34:30
I mean they talk about the famous pivot
01:34:32
right like in like you also have to
01:34:34
pivot sometimes right so it's not not
01:34:37
like a fault you have to still be
01:34:39
receptive to um to sort of incoming
01:34:43
information but for the most part like
01:34:45
you have to go and um and I think for a
01:34:47
young person I would tell my daughter,
01:34:50
you know, you're going to have to
01:34:51
believe in yourself before the world
01:34:52
believes in you. Like, you can't wait
01:34:55
for the world to believe in you
01:34:56
>> because if you haven't believed in
01:34:58
yourself, you'll never get there. So,
01:35:00
you have to start. And that's why like I
01:35:02
love talking like one of the things I've
01:35:04
I've been doing a lot of is investing in
01:35:08
technology businesses, AI, robotics, um,
01:35:11
incredible founders and entrepreneurs
01:35:14
doing building generationally defining
01:35:16
products.
01:35:18
um and and developing these amazing
01:35:20
ideas and I love seeing the belief and
01:35:24
the conviction they have in themselves
01:35:25
and sometimes like it's like their
01:35:28
experience doesn't match like their
01:35:30
confidence but like you have to start
01:35:32
somewhere and if you don't like believe
01:35:34
in yourself you'll never get out of the
01:35:36
gate. So, so believe in yourself,
01:35:40
charge forward, and um and then when you
01:35:43
start putting up some W's and getting
01:35:45
some wins, like the rest of the world
01:35:48
may or may not um start to believe in
01:35:51
you as well,
01:35:53
>> thank you.
01:35:53
>> Thank you.
01:35:54
>> YouTube have this new crazy algorithm
01:35:56
where they know exactly what video you
01:35:58
would like to watch next based on AI and
01:36:01
all of your viewing behavior. And the
01:36:02
algorithm says that this video is the
01:36:05
perfect video for you. It's different
01:36:07
for everybody looking right now.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most emotional
  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Most inspiring
  • 75
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • The Importance of Trust
    Ivanka discusses how she learned to be more trusting despite her upbringing.
    “I’ve really taught myself to be more trusting.”
    @ 05m 50s
    April 09, 2026
  • A Grandmother's Love
    Ivanka reflects on the nurturing love of her grandmother and its impact on her life.
    “It’s a blessing to have her in our home.”
    @ 11m 03s
    April 09, 2026
  • Navigating Childhood Challenges
    Growing up with privilege doesn't shield you from life's pressures and challenges.
    “Those create the pressure that turns you into who you become.”
    @ 21m 52s
    April 09, 2026
  • Finding Peace in the Noise
    Amidst scrutiny and pressure, finding inner peace is essential for clarity.
    “I find myself sometimes literally like dancing in the eye of the hurricane.”
    @ 24m 27s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Power of Being Underestimated
    Being underestimated can be a powerful motivator and a strategic advantage.
    “I’d prefer to be underestimated than overestimated any day of the week.”
    @ 35m 44s
    April 09, 2026
  • Privilege of Service
    Ivanka reflects on the honor of serving in her father's administration.
    “I feel incredibly privileged to serve a country we love so much.”
    @ 46m 04s
    April 09, 2026
  • Unexpected Presidential Run
    Ivanka recalls her reaction to her father's decision to run for president.
    “I thought it was going to ruin my life.”
    @ 51m 55s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Danger of Politics
    Discussing the risks of political life, including the assassination attempt on her father.
    “Being president is the most dangerous job in the world.”
    @ 59m 54s
    April 09, 2026
  • Choosing Family Over Politics
    In 2022, I chose to prioritize my young children and private life over politics.
    “This time around, I’m choosing to prioritize my young children.”
    @ 01h 07m 43s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Eagle and the Crow Metaphor
    Using the eagle and crow analogy to illustrate how to rise above negativity.
    “You can just play the game on your own terms.”
    @ 01h 10m 22s
    April 09, 2026
  • Grief and Reflection
    Losing a parent unexpectedly brings profound grief and introspection.
    “It's an unbelievably tragic way to lose a parent.”
    @ 01h 22m 08s
    April 09, 2026
  • Advice for Future Entrepreneurs
    Key advice for aspiring entrepreneurs includes passion, authenticity, and self-belief.
    “You have to love it.”
    @ 01h 32m 27s
    April 09, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • I’ve really taught myself to be more trusting.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • You start to wonder, will I be loved? Will I be forgotten?
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • Impress me by being a good person.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • I worked as hard as I could and I’m incredibly proud.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • You better unpack it as close to real time as possible.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • You have to love it.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!

Key Moments

  • Divorce Discovery22:52
  • Self-Discovery29:58
  • Career Journey41:53
  • Presidential Announcement51:55
  • Political Realities59:50
  • Eagle vs. Crow1:10:20
  • Self-Reflection1:16:43
  • Grief and Loss1:20:36

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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