Second Life

Jenni Konner always knew she wanted to work in entertainment, but she didn’t necessarily know that she’d find herself executive-producing one of the most talked-about TV shows of our time. On this week’s episode of Life Lessons, find out how Konner found her way to Girls (which she ran alongside Lena Dunham) after spending time in writing rooms on shows like Undeclared and Help Me Help You, and discover valuable lessons she’s learned along the way.

After working as a special assistant at the White House, then in brand marketing for companies like Tiffany & Co., Kathryn Duryea started Year & Day, which is shaking up the tableware space with its chic, minimal plates, flatware, and glasses.

Karla Welch is the in-demand stylist behind some of the biggest names in entertainment, from Justin Bieber to Tracee Ellis Ross to Elisabeth Moss. In the first episode of the Life Lessons series, listen to how she got her start in the industry, ramping her way up from scrappy shoots to working on Apple’s memorably iPod commercials and eventually taking on clients as a personal stylist. She’s had a serious effect on celebrity fashion, and she’s also changing the way we get dressed by way of her cool, in-demand collaborations with brands like Levi’s and Hanes.

Erica Chidi Cohen is the co-founder and CEO of Loom, the Los Angeles–based empowered education and wellness center that focuses on everything from periods to parenting. In the latest episode of Second Life, listen to how she parlayed a background in the culinary and fine art worlds into becoming a doula and eventually co-founding Loom, where she’s helping people truly understand their bodies in a feminist, inclusive, sex-positive, and fact-based way.

Reshma Saujani once had political aspirations, even becoming the first Indian American woman to run for Congress. Now, she's the CEO and founder of Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that aims to close the gender gap in technology. Learn about her inspiring career path on Second Life.

What happens when you leave an established finance career in NYC to open a nail salon in Los Angeles? Olive and June founder Sarah Gibson Tuttle has some answers. She had spent 10 years working as an equity sales trader at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley when she noticed a white space in the beauty industry. Listen to Second Life to hear her story.

Korean skincare expert and Glow Recipe co-founder Sarah Lee spent years in the corporate beauty world at L'Oreal Paris before making the leap to start her own company, which has created cult products that have sold out numerous times on Sephora. Learn about her fascinating career journey on the newest episode of Second Life.

Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li has more on her plate than just her music career. In the newest episode of Second Life, she tells Hillary Kerr about co-founding an all-female mezcal brand called Yola Mezcal, which aims to economically empower women in Oaxaca.

Acting on not one but two hit shows may be satisfying enough for some, but Pretty Little Liars and You star Shay Mitchell is determined to pursue a variety of other interests. She's already written a YA novel and has developed a successful YouTube lifestyle channel, but now she's pivoting once again to travel entrepreneurship.

How does one go from a job in the district attorney's office to a career as a hotelier running some of the coolest hotels in the U.S. and Mexico? Austin-based hotelier Liz Lambert, who runs the impossibly Instagram-worthy Hotel San Cristóbal in Todos Santos, among other properties, sits down with Hillary Kerr to share her journey from Manhattan to Texas and beyond.

Where do you get your news? If Jessica Yellin's Instagram isn't at the top of your list, it will be soon. The former chief White House correspondent for CNN and founder of #NewsNotNoise tells Second Life how she took her Emmy-winning reporting skills to both social media and book publishing.

Sophia Roe's passion for food and wellness started as a distraction from her tough childhood. Growing up with parents who were substance abusers and eventually ending up in the foster care system, Roe found comfort and stability in both food and music. In the new episode of Second Life, Roe tells Hillary Kerr about overcoming unconventional beginnings, dropping out of college twice, and becoming a chef, wellness expert, and thought leader.

Armed with experience in finance and fashion buying, respectively, sisters-in-law Veronica Miele Beard and Veronica Swanson Beard started their fashion brand with a single jacket style and no business plan. A decade later, they have a successful label with seven brick-and-mortar stores. Here, they speak about working with a business partner, learning to trust your gut, and the question Anna Wintour asked them.

All of our guests have changed careers at some point, but Susan Tynan's path took several different turns on her way to raising $67 million in venture financing for Framebridge, a quick and affordable custom framing site. The founder and CEO, a Harvard Business School graduate, shares advice on how to accept "no" in your career, how to run a business ethically, and how to lift women up.

It started with a crush. Renowned chef, restaurant owner, and author Nancy Silverton first developed an interest in the food industry because she had a crush on a student cook at the dining hall of her college dorm and convinced him to hire her in the kitchen. Learn how she went from being a pastry chef to running her own empire and winning the food industry's highest honor.

L.A.-based retailer Revolve paved the way for influencer trips that now take over your Instagram feed, and Raissa Gerona is the brains behind the site's innovative strategy. Early in her career, she dealt with her parents' disapproval of her career path and a business failure, but you can bet she learned a thing or two on her way to becoming Revolve's chief brand officer.

Erin and Sara Foster are nothing if not honest. In the newest episode of Second Life, the sisters get real about feeling in over their heads, pursuing careers that paid the bills but weren't fulfilling, and regretting not going to college. Whether you know the Fosters from their parody-reality show on VH1, Barely Famous, or from their current positions as the heads of creative at Bumble, you'll learn a whole new side to the sisters.

Shiona Turini has the résumé that anyone with a dream of working in fashion envies. In episode 50 of Second Life, she shares what she learned cutting her teeth at the industry's major print magazines before fearlessly moving into freelance styling and finally transitioning into costume design for HBO's acclaimed tv series Insecure.

Everyone has interests outside of work, but not everyone knows how to turn their side hustle into a successful business. But it's safe to say that Sierra Tishgart, co-founder of cookware brand Great Jones, knows a thing or two about the transition. In the newest episode of Second Life, Tishgart tells Hillary Kerr how she went from being a Teen Vogue intern to becoming an entrepreneur in home cookware.

How do you go from being a hat maker to running a billion-dollar jewelry brand? In episode 48 of Second Life, Kendra Scott tells Hillary Kerr about the embarrassment of dropping out of college, learning retail "the hardest way possible," and how she transitioned from running a hat store to creating one of the most successful jewelry brands on the market.

Like many of us, Hannah Bronfman's most valuable college experience came from outside the classroom. Bronfman successfully pivoted from being a sculpture major to becoming fashion's favorite DJ and wellness master. In episode 47 of Second Life, Bronfman tells Hillary Kerr how she's learned to cope with the failure of a business venture, understand her worth, and inspire fans to lead a healthier, happier life.

Aimee Song's rise to fashion blogger stardom is a lesson in what you can accomplish by following your passions. The fashion guru behind Song of Style got her start working as a receptionist at a construction company right out of high school while saving up money to pay her own college tuition. It was there that she got her first taste for architecture and design and decided to go to school at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. However, one job interview changed everything. "I got the job because of my outfit," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 46 of Second Life.

Jamie Kantrowitz co-founded Countertop with Nicole Rice based on the goal of helping people focus on wellness through simple and delicious home cooking. Today, the duo sells a variety of products from seasonings to honey, all meant to enhance both the flavor and nutritiousness of your food. But before all this, Kantrowitz was following a very different career path. She spent her twenties working in politics and digital media at companies like Rock the Vote and Myspace. "Even though I've jumped industries, there are common threads that go through it," the entrepreneur tells Hillary Kerr on episode 45 of Second Life.

Everybody knows that before Jennifer Lopez was the multihyphenate superstar she is today, she was Jenny from the block. But most people don’t know how she made the leap from a dancer to an actor to a singer to an icon. “I always knew from a very young age that I loved performing,” Lopez tells Hillary Kerr on episode 44 of Second Life. With the help of Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas (then her agent, now a producer), who’s had a few career swaps of her own, J.Lo catapulted herself to international success. Lopez’s philosophy for mastering the pivot? “If you feel like you need to move, move.” Find out how both women paved their own paths.

Kerry O'Brien never could have anticipated that her career in public relations would lead her to become an underwear designer, but that's exactly what happened. The entrepreneur started out in corporate PR, quickly making her way up the ranks (she was a vice president at just 25 years old). However, when September 11 happened, she felt like she needed a change. She quit her job without a plan, but it wasn't long before she found her next passion: women's underwear.

Carla Hall was always a creative, but before competing on Top Chef, authoring cookbooks, and starring on The Chew, she was auditing at a big accounting firm and pursuing modeling in Europe. When she returned home from Europe—where she'd also taken up cooking—she stumbled into her own lunch delivery service that parlayed itself into catering, culinary school, and her rise to foodie fame. "It was really an adventure," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 42 of Second Life.

Meredith Melling is proof that landing your dream job isn't the end of your career path. In fact, it might even just be the beginning. Melling always wanted to work in fashion, and with a bit of luck, good timing, and the smart decision to dress for the job she wanted, not the job she had, she landed the coveted title of a fashion assistant at Vogue early in her career. But that was only the start of her journey toward creating her own consulting business and co-founding fashion brand La Ligne.

Tyler Haney knows activewear. She was raised in Boulder, Colorado—a town known for its outdoor activities—and grew up running track and field. With a few courses in business and design under her belt paired with the desire to create a sporty uniform for recreational activity, Haney eventually became the CEO and founder of her own brand, Outdoor Voices. However, her journey was filled with challenges and missteps that she looks back on as lessons learned.

Before Christina Tosi started Milk Bar—the trendy bakery known for its covetable, playful desserts—she was studying math and Italian in college with dreams of becoming a mathematician, a UN translator, or a perhaps a truck driver (yes, really). "I like to be uncomfortable," the entrepreneur tells Hillary Kerr on episode 39 of Second Life. Drawn to restaurant life with a passion for baking, Tosi moved on from her mathematical endeavors to pursue cooking at culinary school and (with a lot of hard work) went on to found her very own wildly successful bakery. Here's how she made it happen. Sign up for Christina Tosi's new Beyond Baking mailer at christinatosi.com.

If you've ever visited NYC's trendy new spa-salon-café hybrid, Chillhouse, you can already appreciate the way Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton is cashing in on the wellness industry one adaptogen latte and hangover-curing massage at a time. The "destination for modern self-care," as she describes it, is stylish, relaxing, and affordable—not to mention incredibly Instagram-friendly. But Fulton wasn't always involved in the wellness world, though. In fact, she dropped out of college to work in the nightlife world promoting clubs before ever landing her first desk job.

Eva Chen's résumé reads like the front row of a well-stocked magazine stand. She's held jobs at publications like Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Teen Vogue, and Lucky (where she was editor in chief, no less). Although landing a job as editor in chief of a major publication sounds like the peak of one's career, Chen was just getting started. Now, she's catapulted to director of fashion partnerships for Instagram, has written her first book (a children's story called Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes), and is trying her hand at design with the launch of a capsule collection with Janie and Jack in conjunction with her book.

Kerry Diamond has been starting businesses since she was in the third grade launching a school newspaper. "I am very fortunate in that I knew from a very early age what I wanted to do," she tells Hillary Kerr in episode 36 of Second Life. Although she started out in hard journalism, the entrepreneur pivoted to the beauty space and catapulted from beauty director at Harper's Bazaar to head of PR at Lancôme. All before striking out on her own to co-found Cherry Bombe, a biannual indie magazine that celebrates women in the food world.

Busy Philipps always knew she would be an actress. In fact, she was studying theater in college when she landed her first major role as Kim Kelly on the coming-of-age hit Freaks and Geeks. While she found success early on at the age of 19, her career hasn't been without setbacks, rejection, and grit. "I never have really fit into a lot of people's molds," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 35 of Second Life. But Philipps persevered in a male-dominated industry fraught with unrealistic expectations to come out the other side more sure of herself than ever.

Interior designer Amber Lewis, the force behind Amber Interiors, is proof that you don't necessarily need a college degree or a straightforward career path to find success. With just a few semesters in an interior design program at UCLA, Lewis found work as an assistant at an interior design firm, and eventually branched out on her own. At the same time, the creative was getting married to a musician, having her first child, and taking every opportunity that came her way. "I was a perfect storm of...luck, talent, and timing," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 34 of Second Life.

Amanda Hesser is responsible for the chic e-commerce and community site Food52, which she launched with co-founder Merrill Stubbs in 2009. Before she struck out on her own, the foodie had a thriving career as an editor for The New York Times and as a cookbook author, both unexpected paths seeing as the entrepreneur studied economics and finance in college. "I had no idea really what I wanted to do, but I knew the sort of lifestyle I wanted," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 33 of Second Life. Here's how she made the leap from cooking to writing to running her own company.

If you've given or received a gift in the last six years, you've probably heard of Sugarfina, the luxury candy brand made for grown-ups. The champagne gummy bears and other adult-friendly candies wouldn't exist had it not been for Rosie O'Niell and a particularly good date she went on to see Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with her now business partner and fiancé, Josh Resnick. Prior to starting her own whimsical venture, O'Niell was working in brand management at Mattel for Barbie. "When I did eventually step away and start Sugarfina, it's like I knew how to do it and I didn't even realize I knew how to do it," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 30 of Second Life.

Emma Grede is the CEO and co-founder of Good American, the hugely successful, size-inclusive fashion brand that she started with none other than Khloé Kardashian. But starting this business wasn't the first time Grede struck out on her own. She'd long been making a name for herself in the fashion and entertainment industries on the business side of things and had already checked starting a company off her list. "I am a person who can sell anything, and I think I just had that naturally," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 29 of Second Life.

Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein, co-presidents of the nonprofit Baby2Baby, met on a blind date. Well, a double blind date with their husbands, orchestrated by Patricof's father-in-law. Since then, Patricof and Weinstein married their passion for helping others with their unique backgrounds in fashion and law to head up operations at Baby2Baby—an organization that started with just three women collecting donations for local families in need that has since blossomed into a wildly successful nonprofit backed by some of the coolest moms in Hollywood.

If anyone has mastered the art of the hustle, it's Ellen Bennett. The entrepreneurial powerhouse behind Hedley & Bennett, a Los Angeles–based chef wear and handcrafted apron company, started her own business at age 24 while working as a line cook at not one but two prestigious restaurants in L.A. "I was permanently running on adrenaline, and I loved it," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 29 of Second Life. Now, she's outfitting top chefs around the world, including the likes of Martha Stewart, Jamie Oliver, Jon Shook, and Vinny Dotolo.

Emily Henderson is proof that when you're passionate about something, you can turn it into a thriving career—no matter what you studied in college or where you started out. “I learned on the job and I think it’s a very good way to start and build your career," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 28 of Second Life. Find out how Henderson went from being a prop stylist to running a design blog and getting her own show on HGTV without any traditional design or business education.

When Jaclyn Johnson held the first Create & Cultivate conference in 2011 out of a desire to form a community of like-minded, creative women, she viewed it as a passion project, not a business. In fact, she still had a full-time gig running her own company at the time. "You have to have irons in the fire, and you've got to see what burns," she explains to Hillary Kerr on episode 27 of Second Life. That's how Johnson turned her side hustle into a thriving business that supports more women achieve their goals.

Shani Darden is a name that rolls off the tongue of celebrities like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jessica Alba, and Chrissy Teigen when they talk about their skincare. Now an expert esthetician with a client list that reads like a who's who of Hollywood, Darden wasn't always sure of her career path. In fact, she first moved to Los Angeles from her small town with dreams of becoming a model (and she has a Destiny's Child music video credit to prove it). "I just think it was one of those things where it took me so long to realize, like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to do," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 26 of Second Life.

There was a time when Aurora James never thought she'd have a seat at the proverbial table. Now, after dipping her toes in multiple industries, she's at the helm of the sustainable fashion company Brother Vellies and is proof that if you have a goal, you can make it happen, even if that means finding a new way of getting there. "I always knew that I wanted to work in fashion. I just knew that fashion wasn't working for me in a way that I needed it to," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 25 of Second Life.

When Linda Wells landed her first job as an editorial assistant in the beauty department of Vogue, she didn't have so much as a five-year-plan. She admits she could never have planned how her professional life—beauty editor turned editor in chief of a new magazine (a little publication called Allure) turned chief creative officer of Revlon and creator of the cosmetics line Flesh—would have turned out. On episode 24 of Second Life, Wells dishes about how she leaned into challenges and major changes to build the impressive career she has today.

Former broadcast journalist Whitney Casey and model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker know something you don't. You spend years of your life—10 to be exact—picking out clothes to wear and to pack for all of life's many occasions. After identifying a massive white space in clothing and tech space, Casey and Decker figured out a way to give that precious time back to people with a seriously smart app called Finery. On episode 23 of Second Life, the two share how they turned one brilliant idea into a thriving company (without any formal business school or training).

People with curly and straight hair alike know the power of a good blowout. It was this simple idea that catapulted Alli Webb from former hairstylist and stay-at-home mom to the haircare maven behind Drybar, the blow-dry bar that specializes in blowouts. Before discovering this untapped market in L.A., Webb honed her craft at beauty school on the East Coast, pivoted to a career in PR, and eventually found her way back to hair, where it all began. "It was just a whim and a hunch," Webb tells Hillary Kerr on episode 22 of Second Life.

Andrea Lieberman knew that she was meant to work in fashion ever since she moved to Manhattan at age 13. "I realized at a very early age that I just found what I was meant to do," she tells Hillary Kerr in episode 21 of Second Life. Lieberman parlayed her passion for the fashion industry, an education from Parson's School of Design, and over 10 years experience as a celebrity stylist to eventually launch her own line A.L.C.

Not everyone is lucky enough to stumble upon a career they're passionate about early in life. For April Gargiulo, the founder of skincare company Vinter's Daughter, it took three college degrees, stints in the design world, and time spent working for the family wine business for her to truly find her calling, and she's just getting started. Despite her untraditional path, she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 20 of Second Life, "There's nothing I would have done differently."

Lauren Conrad ended up on one of the world's first major reality TV shows at the tender age of 17. Since then, she's grown into the cunning, experienced entrepreneur you know today. According to her, she wouldn't be where she is now—a New York Times best-selling author eight times over, designer of her own fashion line LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl's, and philanthropist behind the non-profit The Little Market—without the mistakes she made along the way. “I believe in mistakes," she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 19 of Second Life. "I think that everything I know is because of a mistake I made.”

When you grow up in Ohio with dreams of moving to Los Angeles, becoming a TV host, and owning a Range Rover, people don't always take you seriously, according to Marianna Hewitt. However, with a bit of luck, perseverance, and the skills to turn her dreams into reality, Hewitt moved to L.A. and not only became a TV host but parlayed her experience into a career as a YouTube star, blogger, influencer, and now skincare brand co-founder. "My mentality is someone out there is doing the thing you want to do. Why can't it be you?" she tells Hillary Kerr on episode 18 of Second Life.