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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 being in the public eye, and her decision to step away from politics to focus on family and new ventures.

Ivanka shares how her mother taught her the importance of intention and resilience, emphasizing that being underestimated can be a powerful motivator. She reflects on her father's presidential campaign and the unexpected challenges that came with it, including the assassination attempt on his life.

Throughout the conversation, Ivanka discusses her successful fashion line, which generated significant revenue before she decided to shut it down to serve in government. She highlights her commitment to public service and the importance of family, especially after the loss of her mother.

Ivanka also talks about her new business ventures, including Planet Harvest, which aims to reduce food waste and support farmers. She emphasizes the need for authenticity and self-belief in entrepreneurship, offering advice for her children and others looking to follow in her footsteps.

The episode concludes with Ivanka reflecting on the balance between personal and professional life, and the importance of prioritizing family amidst a busy career.

TLDR

Ivanka Trump discusses her upbringing, business success, and stepping away from politics to focus on family and new ventures.

Episode

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

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Episode Highlights

  • The Expansion of the Heart
    Ivanka reflects on the importance of trust and connection in life.
    “The purpose of life for me is the expansion of the heart.”
    @ 04m 54s
    April 09, 2026
  • A Grandmother's Love
    Ivanka talks about the nurturing influence of her grandmother in her life.
    “It's a blessing to have her in our home.”
    @ 11m 03s
    April 09, 2026
  • Navigating Childhood and Divorce
    Growing up in a public eye, the impact of parental separation is profound.
    “You start to wonder, will I be loved? Will I be forgotten?”
    @ 22m 30s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Power of Being Underestimated
    Being underestimated can be a powerful motivator in a competitive industry.
    “I’d prefer to be underestimated than overestimated any day of the week.”
    @ 35m 44s
    April 09, 2026
  • Valuing Character Over Accomplishments
    Ivanka Trump emphasizes the importance of being a good person over external validation.
    “Impress me by being a good person.”
    @ 39m 39s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Decision to Serve
    Ivanka reflects on the personal sacrifices made when she chose to serve in government.
    “I thought about the version of me in 40 years.”
    @ 45m 17s
    April 09, 2026
  • Life After the Presidency
    Ivanka discusses how her father's presidency changed their lives forever.
    “Life hasn’t been the same since in many respects.”
    @ 53m 38s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Danger of Politics
    Politics is a dangerous game, with a high fatality rate for those involved.
    “Being president is the most dangerous job in the world.”
    @ 59m 54s
    April 09, 2026
  • Choosing Family Over Politics
    I’m prioritizing my young children and the private life we’re creating as a family.
    “This time around, I’m choosing to prioritize my young children.”
    @ 01h 07m 41s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Eagle and the Crow
    A metaphor for dealing with negativity by rising above it.
    “You can just play the game on your own terms.”
    @ 01h 10m 20s
    April 09, 2026
  • The Weight of Grief
    Losing a parent unexpectedly reshapes your perspective on life and relationships.
    “It's an unbelievably tragic way to lose a parent.”
    @ 01h 22m 00s
    April 09, 2026
  • Advice for Future Generations
    Key insights on entrepreneurship and self-belief shared for the next generation.
    “You have to believe in yourself before the world believes in you.”
    @ 01h 34m 51s
    April 09, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • It's a blessing to have her in our home.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • I think those create the pressure that turns you into who you become.
    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!
  • My first responsibility is to be their mom.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • Forgiveness is a difficult thing in this regard, but you have to move through it.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!
  • Balance is elusive; it's like a scale that tips.
    Ivanka Trump: My Dad Told Me Two Weeks Before He Ran For President!

Key Moments

  • Political Pressure01:06
  • Grandmother's Influence09:07
  • Childhood Reflections20:30
  • Teaching Values39:39
  • Family Competition39:56
  • Government Service45:01
  • Proud Accomplishments54:45
  • Assassination Attempt1:01:16

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown