Episoder
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On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh sits down with Tecovas founder Paul Hedrick and CEO David Lafitte to discuss a recent fashion trend has swept the U.S.: Wearing cowboy boots to the altar. Ahead of that trend is the western style apparel company based out of Austin, Texas.
Paul and David discuss how Tecovas launched in 2015 as the first and only digital-first cowboy boot brand in the market. In the early days, Paul would drive up with his mom to his former elementary school and sell boots out of their car. He was looking to create a brand that could fit into his everyday lifestyle.
David breaks down their consumer, which are known as the "Millennial Trailblazer," which appeals to the 25-35 age gap. In 2023, Tecovas crossed over $200 million in sales and is expanding their reach into the Northeast by opening shops in Philadelphia and Boston. They currently have 32 stores in operation, where they created an environment that they call "Radical Hospitality" by offering customers free drinks and custom designs on their boots.
They also talk about how recent trends, such as Beyoncé's new album Cowboy Carter, and Country music's popularity, have given the brand a boost in recognition, especially customers going down to the Sun Belt and southern states in the U.S. David feels that the trend will continue and Tecovas is gearing up to ship their products internationally in the near future. -
On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh sits down with legendary Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer and former CEO Randy Garutti to discuss the latter's departure, what he accomplished at the burger empire for over 2 decades, and what lies ahead for the brand.
What started out as a hotdog cart in Madison Square Park in 2001, has now transformed into a $4 billion global behemoth. Former CEO Randy Garutti talks about working alongside Danny for 24 years in the restaurant industry and the impact he's had on his career throughout their time together. Randy leaves the company that now has over 540 restaurants in 19 countries.
Danny reminisces about meeting Randy for the first time at his very first restaurant, Tabla, when he hired him to become manager of the restaurant. But once Shake Shack started to hit its stride in Madison Square Park, Randy was ready to step up to the plate and lead the team.
They also discuss the new CEO, Rob Lynch, stepping in from Papa John's to lead the team and if there's ever going to be pizza on the Shake Shack menu. Their vision for Lynch is to mold new leaders in the brand to step up into larger roles in the future, just as they had done previously with Randy at the helm.
Finally, the two discuss the latest conflicts in the Israel-Hamas conflict and the boycott that happened at the company as well as what their favorite orders are at Shake Shack. Danny is a little surprised at Randy's go to order. -
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On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Mielle CEO Monique Rodriguez sits down with host Ruth Umoh to discuss how her company started with the tragedy that sparked her entrepreneurial journey, the haircare-wise acquisition by a Fortune 50 company, and her reaction to criticism over selling a black-owned brand to a non-black parent company.
After experiencing the loss of her son due to complications at birth, Monique experienced postpartum depression and no longer was invested in her full-time job as a home health nurse at the time. She had started working on a side hustle that turned into Mielle Organics. It was a risk that she knew she had to take because she didn't want to risk anyone's life working as a nurse.
On May 23, 2014, Mielle launched with one product and never turned back. Since launching, they've always made a sale. And in 2023, the company was acquired by Procter & Gamble that expanded Mielle's reach to customers. It also allowed them to scale their nonprofit, Mielle Cares, to fund additional economic opportunities for Black and Brown communities. -
On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor and Host Ruth Umoh sits down with cofounder and CTO of Duolingo Severin Hacker to discuss how AI can help with learning new languages, its popular owl mascot Duo, and why the company is now offering math and music lessons.
Severin talks about how he got his start in Switzerland and wanted to take the opportunity to learn in the U.S. after going to university in his native country. He took that chance as a foreign exchange student and went to study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. When he got there, he met Luis von Ahn, who was a consulting professor in the Computer Science Department at the time, before he became cofounder and CEO of Duolingo.
Severin says that his Duolingo work was the first and only full-time job he's ever had. He's endured tough times with the company, sharing that in the first five years of the business Duolingo made no revenue. That's when they decided to launch Super, which is a freemium subscription to the platform.
Severin also talks about using AI within the company by introducing a feature called Roleplay where you can interact with a server at a restaurant in another language and learn to speak the language you're learning. He also touches on the layoffs Duolingo has had earlier in 2024, stating that all the layoffs were only done to freelance contractors because of AI's capabilities within the company.
Plus, Severin shares how Duolingo is making the jump from teaching languages to now teaching music and math to users on the platform. They believe that learning by doing will lend itself well to those subjects for people.
Finally, Severin dives into the creation of their mascot Duo, and how using the owl in their TikToks skyrocketed their popularity on the media platform to new heights. -
On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, host and Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh sits down with DraftKings cofounder and CEO Jason Robins to discuss the partnership between LeBron James and how their deal came together right before Super Bowl LVIII.
Jason discusses how the NBA changed the rules to allow active NBA players to endorse betting companies and that LeBron was their top target to sign. DraftKings also recently partnered with Barstool Sports once again and talks about why it made sense to bring them back as a sponsor.
Jason also talks about the growth of the company since starting it in 2012 as a daily fantasy sports betting platform in Boston, Massachusetts. Now, DraftKings offers real time sports betting and an online casino in select states and countries around the globe and lobbying to include more states in the future such as Texas and California.
Finally, Jason touches on the 9/11-themed 'Never Forget' parlay bet that was issued last September 11th and how to deal with situations that are challenging when running a company. He gives insight on making mistakes that you can learn from and turning that into a stronger person. -
Fresh off her exit from Barstool Sports, former CEO Erika Nardini sits down with Ruth Umoh, host of Executive Exchange, to discuss her nearly decade-long run as one of the most powerful woman in sports media.
Erika opens up about her decision to leave as CEO of Barstool Sports, saying that she took it from a $5 million revenue business when she joined in 2016 to a now nearly $300 million revenue business. She feels that she's accomplished everything she wanted to do there and wants to start on a new path in the near future.
Erika dials back her time at the media company and shares a few stories from when she was CEO. She says even though there have been some challenging times at the brand, she never once thought about quitting until she did it on her own terms.
Erika also talks about working alongside Dave Portnoy, who has courted controversy over the years, including sexual misconduct allegations. But through those allegations, she believes that there is opportunity to start a new venture for herself and let Portnoy take control of the "pirate ship" and steer it in the right direction. -
On this episode of Executive Exchange, Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod sits down with host Ruth Umoh to discuss the online dating business, AI and how he transformed the company from a less than $1 million revenue business in 2017 to one that's projected to rake in a whopping $400 million by the end of 2023.
Justin reveals some useful tips for people who are using the dating app to find their ideal match as well as breaking down the philosophies of what works and what doesn't for each individual user. Compatibility and the use of AI is what Justin thinks will improve the app over time for users looking to meet their partner.
Justin also talks about the beginnings of Hinge, starting it in 2011 while he was attending Harvard Business School and slowly over time making changes to the app that now is the number three dating app worldwide.
Finally, Justin takes a look at Ruth's Hinge profile and shares his thoughts on what he likes and what she can improve on her matchmaking journey. -
In our latest episode of Executive Exchange, Ruth Umoh sits down with founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements Tariq Farid as well as President and eldest daughter Somia Farid Silber to discuss the current state of the company.
Now known as Edible, we dive into what it took for the brand to become a household name and how they're trying to ditch the "Grandma brand" moniker to appeal to millennials and the Gen-Z crowd.
During this robust conversation, we discuss the decision for elevating Somia to her position as President within the company and what the strategy for Edible is going forward. And even when the time comes for Tariq to step out of his CEO role, he will still somehow be apart of the business so long as it stays in the family.
Tariq then dives into his background of coming to the U.S. at 12 years old from Pakistan and why working at Burger King and McDonald's were the best jobs he's ever had in his life. He also details the first time he made his first million dollars and why that was such a monumental moment for him in his career and for the company.
Somia also shares Edible is set to make $500 million in sales in 2023 and is hoping that each store's target yearly revenue is between $800,000 to $1 million heading into 2024. -
On this episode of Executive Exchange, Founder and CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com Jim McCann joins senior editor and host Ruth Umoh in our Fortune studios to discuss how he turned one flower shop in Manhattan into a $3 billion company with worldwide recognition.
Jim details how he started his career in social services, working at a non-profit organization in Queens, NY and bartending in Manhattan on weekends to supplement his income. One day, a customer came into the bar where he was working and told him that he was going to sell his flower shop. Jim, eager to learn about the business, asked the customer if he could come in on Saturday afternoons to work for him. Eventually, the customer sold the shop to Jim for $10,000, which started his journey in the flower business in 1976.
Jim would buy more flower shops until he hit a crossroads. He wanted to expand his businesses, but wanted to extend further than just the New York City area. So, he wound up buying 1-800-Flowers from original founder Carl Westcott, and surprisingly took on $7 million of debt once he acquired the company. But that didn't stop Jim from disrupting the flower space, selling the stores he owned to regain capital and even changing the name to 800-Flowers. He also became a franchisor, which allowed him to sell stores off to franchisees to make more money and get out of the hole he acquired.
A major turning point for the company came from a phone call from AT&T. They asked Jim if he would appear in a commercial for them to promote 1-800-Flowers, a name he had to go back to so people knew that it was a phone number. The commercial was only supposed to run for a week, but the spot tested so well that they continued to run it and was even featured during the broadcasts of the 1992 Summer Olympics. That exposure brought in not only sales, but new ideas for Jim and his brother Chris to keep up with current technology and grow the business to new heights.
They then created their website in 1991, hiring engineers to build out the website, and was the first company on AOL to make a sale online in 1994. They launched the website in 1995 and continued to develop their technologies to keep up with the times. That innovation helped the company become a household name around the world in the years to follow.
Today, Jim oversees a sprawling $3 billion multi-platform e-commerce site that sells much more than just flowers, including The Popcorn Factory, Cheryl's Cookies, Harry & David, and Wolferman's Bakery. -
On the premiere episode of Executive Exchange, senior editor and host Ruth Umoh sits down with personal finance guru Ramit Sethi in our Fortune studios to discuss how he was able to achieve self-made millionaire status (Hint: He invested early in Amazon), his hate for Robinhood, and how he wound up hosting his own Netflix show titled, "How To Get Rich."
Ramit is also the author of the 2009 New York Times bestseller, "I Will Teach You To Be Rich," and podcast host with the same moniker. His money advice may be seen as a bit new age, rather than not spending money on a latte or avocado toast, Ramit encourages people to live their rich life and think critically about the things you purchase in your life that will make you happy.
Ramit dives deep on why he personally rents instead of owns a home and breaks down the cost of when it's the right time to buy a house. He advises that total housing costs should be less than 28% of your gross income.
Ramit also says that 90+% of people do not need a financial advisor, but he does relate to managing money as parenting your kids. He says it affects where we live, what we eat, and who we are as a people. Even saying that money is a political topic, whether you agree with that or not.
