Ep. 116/ Lucie Fink on Taboo Topics, Transparency, and Becoming A Self-Made Lifestyle Host
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Lucie Fink is a lifestyle host, video producer, media personality, and mom normalizing conversations around the most “taboo” topics with her brand-new podcast, The Real Stuff With Lucie Fink. She was a lifestyle host for Refinery29 before branching out on her own. If you’ve ever wondered how someone manages to balance a successful career in content creation while navigating the joys and challenges of motherhood, then this episode is for you.
In our conversation, Lucie opens up about the importance of confidence in her work and how delegating tasks has been a game changer in her career - going from handling every aspect of her content creation to building a team that she trusts. Motherhood has had a profound influence on Lucie’s content and decision-making process and she discusses the delicate balance of maintaining authenticity while sharing personal experiences and how her content has evolved as she embraced her new role as a mother. Lucie shares the struggles of imposter syndrome and dealing with negative feedback, emphasizing the importance of having a stable and supportive real life to buffer the impacts of online negativity.
Lucie’s story is not only a testament to her incredible resilience and passion but also an inspiration for anyone looking to navigate the complex world of content creation and personal identity.
You will learn:
Starting your journey to success while at another job - 14:33
How to delegate and free up your time - 17:59
Embracing vulnerability on social media - 24:44
Anticipating challenges as a content creator - 26:48
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In this episode you will learn:
Starting your journey to success while at another job - 14:33
How to delegate and free up your time - 17:59
Embracing vulnerability on social media - 24:44
Anticipating challenges as a content creator - 26:48
Quotes from our guest:
"Give yourself time to capitalize on where you are and use them as much as they're using you to build up to where you want to be." - 15:05
"When you find the right people and people that you really trust, you can really let go of a lot of stuff that you thought you would never let go of ever." - 20:16
“ If you're going to put yourself out there, you're going to get nastiness and mean things written about you. …And I remember having this inner dialogue of, Lucie, is this what you want to do? …But I just knew that I loved so deeply being on camera and making lifestyle content, and that seemed so much more fun. But it's like it comes with high highs and low lows.” - 24:44
“My real life fills my cup overflow. So if people are poking holes in it and it's draining out, it's just always being refilled by the actual real stuff that's going on in my life.”
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LUCIES’S LINKS:
Kim (00:02):
Our guest exploded as the star and producer of Refinery 20 Nines. Try Living with Lucie YouTube series. And now she joins us to talk about her brand new podcast, The Real Stuff with Lucie Fink and we talk about so much more salary transparency, how she believes in it, but struggled with it herself in the past. How to stay balanced when your whole business is being on social media and what surprised her about being a new mom. Plus a little bonus of course two video experts ended up using a tissue box. As a microphone stand for this interview.
(00:35):
Welcome to the Exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Do you work for yourself and want to supercharge your business while still having fun? Well, this is your go-to podcast part MBA Part Cheer Squad. Every week I'll be joined by top business owners who share the secrets to their success. After I found myself working during childbirth true story, I quit my executive media job to bet on myself fighting the fear and imposter syndrome to eventually earn six awards, an in-demand speaking career and features in Fast Company and Business Insider. Now I'm here to celebrate all you rock stars betting on yourself, and I want to help you win. Tune in every Wednesday to hear from remarkable founders and don't miss our Solo Friday episodes, a treasure trove of video and podcasting mini masterclasses with me. Exit the Grind, enter success on your own terms. Don't forget to subscribe today and grab my free video tips at my website, kimrittberg.com.
(01:37):
On today's episode with Lucie, we're talking all about content, being creative and putting yourself out there. And if you're looking to be better at public speaking, be more confident on camera. Join my seven day on-camera challenge. It's really fun and it teaches you all about how to feel confident, how to be better on camera and in public speaking, and has a built-in accountability to make you start showing up. Make sure to check it out. I'll be linking it out in the show notes and you can check it out at kimrittberg.com. As usual, you can message me. Name my social channels Kim R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. All right everyone. I'm really excited to bring in Lucie Fink. She is lifestyle host, video producer, media personality, and mom, and she's normalizing conversations around the most taboo topics with her brand new podcast, The Real Stuff with Lucie Fink. The show launched in February, 2024 and became an instant hit with episodes dropping weekly.
(02:29):
She chats with notable talent experts and even shares the mic with her listeners who have the opportunity to dial in anonymously. Each week her guests open up about the relationships with sex, money, and mental health. As Lucie drives the conversation deeper, her hope is that discussing these vulnerabilities openly will help others feel less alone. From hosting multiple digital series to being one of the most desirable public speakers in the lifestyle space, Lucie continues to bring her value as one of the most sought after storytellers in the industry. Lucie's authenticity and innate curiosity are the driving forces behind the deeply personal connections she has fostered with her audience, whom she lovingly refers to as the think Fanm intruder, her mission of inspiring people to step out of their comfort zones and embrace humanity. Lucie's may be best known for the series she produced and started on Refinery 20 nine's YouTube channel. Try living with Lucie and Lucie for hire. Both interactive social experiments followed Lucie as she immersed herself in a new habit for five days or tried out other people's jobs. These videos garnered millions of views launching Lucie into a new sphere of notoriety and showcasing her obvious knack for entertaining. Her digital series racked up several awards and nominations including best web series and best lifestyle content for the tele awards and a web nomination for best web host and personality in 2018. Lucie, thank you for joining us.
Lucie (03:39):
Woo. What an intro. Thanks, Kim.
Kim (03:41):
I know you're like, it's longer than I thought it was going to be. I always felt that way. When someone's reading my intro, I'm like, it feels so long. I do. I'm going to give people a little behind the scenes. So Lucie is just a super expert in the content space. I'm an award-winning marketing expert. I promise you Lucie's microphone is in a tissue box right now in case you'd
Lucie (03:57):
Like to see here we are.
Kim (04:00):
I always like to tell people, it's always just funny moments like that that people can't see but are very important for them to see. Lucie, I want to jump right in. Talk to me about this podcast. I really want to know what made you want to go in that direction and specifically those topics, why that show?
Lucie (04:15):
I've been an avid podcast listener for years and it's been something that various audience members have requested that I start for a very long time. But being a YouTuber and an Instagrammer and a TikTok or and whatever else I am as a content creator, always feeling like video first was my thing. I knew deep down as a content creator that a podcast was going to be a big lift. I think a lot of people think of it as, oh, just add a podcast, but you need a lot of resources to do that, or it just needs to be your primary source of attention. And I never was really feeling called to start one until recently when I realized I really can't stop consuming podcasts. And I was starting to notice that there was this gap in the podcast marketplace for podcasts that we're bringing on the creators and the talent that I wanted to hear from, but we're asking them questions that we're not hearing them asked elsewhere because I can't even tell you how many times I will see the same creator pop up.
(05:17):
Clearly they're on the podcast circuit, they're on multiple podcasts in the same week and every interview is the same. And I love this creator, so I'll go listen to multiple episodes, but I'm hearing the same phrases. They're answering questions in the same way and I'm not getting anything new. And I thought, who is asking these people some of the more taboo questions? The things they've never been asked, things about sex and money and mental health that they might be a little uncomfortable answering, but the questions people actually want to know the answers to. And I figured, what if I start this platform where I can ask people these taboo questions and listen, if they don't want to answer a question, that's fine. It's not my place to push someone past a, but when people don't want to answer a very sticky question, we then get into why that question is off limits for them or why they think it makes them uncomfortable to talk about that. And it's proven to be really interesting, and I've had some really great convos with creators. I've also, as you've said in the intro, I allow my audience to write in to tell kind of crazy stories or to come on to talk about taboo topics. And some of them want to be anonymous, some share their names and faces, but we've just had some really great conversations on the show
Kim (06:28):
And I love that you're doing things like salary transparency and transparency about money because I think there's one of those things, even though every year we get better and better about knowing that it's important to share and people are sharing more, it's still taboo. It's still not like everybody is like, this is what I charge for this, this is what I charge for this. So I love that you're doing that. So tell me more about that.
Lucie (06:51):
Yeah, so I love money podcasts too. One of my favorite podcasts is called I Will Teach You To Be Rich. The host from Ramit Sethi has a Netflix show and he basically brings on guests who just share a whole spreadsheet of all their investments, all their checking, savings account, their debt, their net worth, everything. And I'm always blown away that these people come on and open up about that. And so I one day randomly decided around the launch of this podcast, I'm going to share an Instagram story with a question box and I'm going to see if people will be comfortable sharing their field. They work in their age, location and their salary. And then I could share it anonymously. And it was the most engaged box I've ever had on my Instagram. People were, I think because they knew I was going to share it anonymously, everyone was sharing their salaries with me.
(07:39):
And I ended up kind of categorizing it by age and sharing, here's what some people in their twenties are making. Here's what people in their thirties are making. And I posted it and it was, people found it so fascinating, so voyeuristic, I think it was also useful. A lot of people wrote to me saying, wow, I'm in that field and I'm massively underpaid, and now I am getting a raise tomorrow. And so turned into a great conversation starter. And then as the host of a podcast who was about to start a podcast where I knew I was just about to start asking my content creator guests and audience guests, how much money are you making in a year? I felt like a little bit of imposter syndrome of who am I to ask these people to open up about this if I'm not going to also give my numbers?
(08:26):
Which felt a little bit weird because everyone else got to be anonymous. And then I was like, here's my business revenue. But I did it and I opened up about it, and it was actually a big milestone for me because I feel like I've avoided talking about income and money for years and years. I was actually asked on live TV in 2019 or something, how much money I make being a creator. And I had a fight or flight moment where I totally froze, got beat red, answered in some obscure way and moved on from it. But it was almost like I broke the ice. And now that I've come out and talked about this, I just feel so comfortable talking about how creators make money, how much money I can make, my different forms of revenue and income and how I've set up my business. And now that I've come out about that, I think that goes back to your other question. It's another thing that makes my guests comfortable already shared my side. So it's almost like the playing field is level.
Kim (09:23):
And I want to let listeners know, so I told Lucie this before we started chatting, but when I had launched the video unit of US Weekly, this was really the early days of digital media revolution. Not that video didn't exist, but media companies, legacy media companies and modern media companies going all in on video. And so on. My team, one of my editors was following Lucie and she showed me her videos and I was like, oh yeah, she's doing cool stuff. It's fun for me as a marketing person to have Now I call myself a marketing person. I really am like a TV and video producer in the past, but now I call myself a marketing person. That's what I do. Me as a TV and video person. It's fun to have you on. I wanted to ask you, what made you leave media to work for yourself?
Lucie (10:07):
Well, I had been at Refinery 29 for five years almost. And the series that I was producing there were doing really well. They were getting a lot of comments on them on the YouTube channel of people saying, I'm subscribed to this channel for this series or for this girl. And it was just very clear that people were kind of following me to my own social platforms. My Instagram following was growing a little and on the side, on the weekends, I would post on my own YouTube channel, but I didn't have a lot of time to invest in building up my own platforms. And it was really like the start of that content creator boom where brands were starting to reach out to creators and ask for influencer style content, can we pay you this amount for a post? And I was doing some of those.
(10:55):
And I remember in those early days I was sort of just managing myself, negotiating rates, figuring out what I felt comfortable doing, and of course working around my full-time job schedule. So I didn't have all the time in the world to do it, but I was doing it and having a lot of fun with it until I realized that working for a third party media company while I was also trying to do some of my own stuff was becoming limiting in a lot of ways. Not only time-wise and my schedule in a day, but also the brands that I could say yes to and that I could work with were becoming fewer and far between. Because for example, if Refinery 29 was doing a partnership with Nike and they were doing a whole year long thing with Nike, and then Puma came to me to do an Instagram post, even if I was not part of the Refinery 29 and Nike deal in any way, it wasn't a good look for Refinery's primary talent to be working with a competitor.
(11:52):
So I was getting told a lot, you can't work with that brand or Here's the stipulations. And it was limiting around 20 17, 20 18, I had a handful of managers and agents start reaching out to me to see if I was represented by anyone and I wasn't. And I started having those conversations about what it could look like if I went off on my own. Everyone across the board seemed to tell me that based on what my salary was there and based on what I was charging for these one-off brand posts, that they could make me more successful financially if I were off on my own and not tied to this other entity. But it did take me a long time to make the leap because I was so comfortable and I was really happy and I didn't feel like I was done doing what I was doing there yet. I felt like the series had more life to it, and Refinery was getting more flexible in terms of allowing me to capitalize on some of the brand partnerships, selling episodes of my show and giving me additional bonuses for that. And it was like I just kept doing it until I felt like I hit the very end when it was time.
Kim (12:59):
So how many years were you in media full-time before going on your own?
Lucie (13:03):
I guess I was in media for about five years. I graduated college in 2014. I started working in production at an ad agency for a year and then went to Refinery 29 in 2015, and I went off on my own in 2019.
Kim (13:18):
And how long did it take for you to match or exceed your media salary working on your own?
Lucie (13:24):
I mean, my first year of being off on my own, I actually through the power of my talent agents that I signed with at the time, I had a really great situation where I left Refinery 29 as a full-time employee, but we both unanimously agreed that we wanted to keep doing my show, so we signed a contract for me to create and produce a set number of episodes of the show for them in that first year that I was off on my own. And that one contract for I think it was like 16 episodes of the show that I would deliver to them was more than my whole salary. And keep in mind, when I was doing this as a job, I was responsible for at least 52 videos in the year because it was a weekly series. And so to go from 52 videos to 16 videos at a higher rate, that was just the power of agents negotiating on your behalf.
Kim (14:21):
So if someone were listening and they're considering seeking out an agent or a manager, not even if they're a creator, just in general you feel like obviously you must be a big advocate of trying to see what else is out there and negotiating for it.
Lucie (14:33):
Definitely. And I think there is power in giving it some breathing room and some time to build up your clout, and I don't even know if clout is the word to build up your own success while you're at this other company because I can't say I would be where I am without the opportunity Refinery gave me and without being on their platform, I wouldn't have been able to go off on my own. I don't think if I had just started posting on YouTube, my series would've blown up. It blew up because it was on Refinery 20 nine's channel, giving yourself time to capitalize on where you are and use them as much as they're using you to build up to where you want to be. And then once you feel like you're definitely in a secure position where you have enough people that followed you or enough people in your corner that you could go off and do it on your own, it just feels so much less risky to leave. When I left, I felt no sense of, oh gosh, I hope this works. It was more just like, I know this is going to work because it's been working and now I have more time to do it.
Kim (15:35):
Right. I asked you before we started chatting about lessons that you've learned from working on your own and advice you'd give others, and one of them really jumped out at me is your advice for people to delegate. And I'd love for you, and I'm asking this specifically because I feel like you are someone who has a really strong voice. I don't know if you shot and edited your own content originally or if you were just shooting it and someone else edited, but you have a feel a voice, a tone for your content that I assume is really hard to delegate out. So when you tell people it's really important to delegate, how much of your content do you delegate? How did you start to relinquish some of the control to other people? Take us a little behind the scenes on that.
Lucie (16:16):
That's the hardest part because even to this day, I have various people that work for me in various ways, but I still feel like as the executive producer of all of my content, I want final eyeballs on everything or the final say of any piece of content that gets published, which is still how it works at the refinery, was when I first learned that if you want to have a successful series or a successful anything, there are so many pieces of the puzzle. It's not just one person. So I was obviously producing and hosting this YouTube content, but they had a robust editing department that I probably more so than other producers was woven into in that I would give copious notes on every cut to make it exactly how I wanted. Some other producers would just let the editors do their thing, but I was always pass it off to the editor for the main bulk of the work.
(17:09):
There also was a team for every single platform. So the videos going on YouTube, there was a YouTube expert team that was doing all the SEO optimization, making the thumbnail, uploading it, community management. Then every piece of content was going on Facebook, another team was cutting it down in the right shape for Facebook, writing the captions, community managing there, everything was going on Pinterest. We had a whole Pinterest team, Snapchat. Every platform had its own team, and if I were the one who was responsible for taking this one piece of content and putting it everywhere, that's just too much. I was able to really focus on the final video and shooting editing and making the package that was then being shared elsewhere, look how I wanted. So when I went off on my own, I think that was just one element that I not didn't think about but didn't realize, and I thought it would be easier.
(18:00):
I'm on my own, I'm making my own YouTube content, but then I realize I'm pouring all this time into this YouTube, but now I have to be the one to upload it, write the caption, write the title, do the SEO optimization, make the thumbnail, put it on Instagram, put it on this, put it on that. And it probably took two months of me being on my own to realize this is kind of wild and I need to really pick and choose where my attention's going. So within the first year of me leaving, I think it's pretty much been virtual assistants or assistants, people who can kind of take off some of the busy work tasks that I still have the final say, but they will do the first pass of something. So whether it's the first pass of an edit that I then give them notes and I'm still the one finalizing, or whether it's they're writing the description box and a title, and then I'm looking at it and tweaking it based on their bare bones first start thing.
(18:58):
It's kind of works like that where I started with assistance on the side of actual monetizing and working with brands. As I told you, that was something I was handling, like negotiating rates. And pretty quickly it turned into with these talent agents or managers just being comfortable giving an email address. I have an email address in my Instagram bio that if a brand were to come and try to email me, it actually doesn't even go to me. It goes to this third party team, and then they will be funneling that inbox and checking it. And if they get a brand that wants to do a partnership with me and they get a firm offer, then I see the offer and can decide if I want to do it. But that was hard to let go of too. I was like, I want to see everything that's coming in and I want to be copied on everything, but it's like I don't need, there's probably 90% of the stuff that comes to the inbox doesn't turn into a paid partnership, so I got to declutter my tech space by not seeing everything that's not relevant to me.
(20:01):
And so at this point, I have just this past year, I've hired a full-time employee who works remotely, but she is a full-time salaried employee. And it's been amazing at how when you find the right people and people that you really trust, you can really let go of a lot of stuff that you thought you would never let go of ever. And she's now logged into all of my accounts. She has the power to post on my Instagram without me. I would never have done that until I gained the trust that someone was going to use all the proper grammar and do things the way I would want it done.
Kim (20:41):
Totally. It's important. You have to be trusting them to even get to that point. And I know that you are a mom, I'd love to know how, and I'm not going to be like, how did motherhood change you a million ways, but how did motherhood change the way you make decisions about your work and your career?
Lucie (20:57):
Yeah, so many ways. I mean, first of all, it changed just the nature of my content and I think my audience has been watching me evolve over the years. When I first started at Refinery, I was not even engaged yet. I was with my husband, we've been together since high school, but I was a 20 something in New York City kind of making more young type of content. And then they watched me go through the engagement stage and the marriage stage and the moving stage multiple times, and then they watched me get pregnant, have a baby buy a house, move to the suburbs and now have a second baby on the way. And of course, throughout that whole five, six year period, I have gained new followers that are in the motherhood world. So I'm sure a lot of people have followed me from some of my baby specific content, but a lot of my old followers that have just been watching the journey and maybe aren't even anywhere near marriage or babies themselves are still there.
(21:56):
I said adamantly when I was pregnant with my first that I was not going to become a mommy blogger. I just didn't want to become a channel that was just posting about my baby and baby content. And in some ways it's like I think I've done a good job at that, in that, I mean, we're definitely not like a family vlog channel. My husband has no interest really in being in my content, so I show him and my kid sparingly, but I'm cautious about the amount. But I think overall the biggest difference is that my brain all day is in business owner slash mom mode. So it's hard to just squelch who you actually are now. And now that I live in the suburbs and we send our child to school and we're in a community with all other parents, it's like our lives now. We are parents. We are in the thick of New Parenthood days and it would be hard for me to just pretend I'm bopping around New York City being a 20 something not so I have to sort of show what's authentic to me, and it's definitely changed what kind of content I produce, but I also am pleasantly surprised that creatively and from just a content creation standpoint, I've still been inspired to make content and create creative content that's not about being a mom.
Kim (23:19):
Basically the overarching, it's very hard to not be a mommy blogger when you have babies.
Lucie (23:24):
Exactly. It's harder than I thought, especially in those early days when you're just in a bubble. I don't have anything else to talk about right now. This is what I'm talking about with my husband and my friends and my family. And so coming out and just talking about my skincare cream at that time is not really authentic.
Kim (23:41):
You're like, this is my skincare cream, which makes me look less exhausted. Yes,
Lucie (23:46):
Everything ties back to the main point.
Kim (23:48):
This is the medicine I take to make me not yell, and I feel like my kids are nine and seven. And so I think that so much happens, but it doesn't happen each week. There are overarching things I talk to my friends about. I'm like, what are you doing for this? What are you doing for screen time? And what do you think about this? How is this happening for you? But it's not the first few years. So much happens every day, every week, every month, and it's really hard to not have it be a essential part of your life. I mean, it's a huge thing. That totally makes sense. I have a question for you. I feel like a lot of the times on the show I talk to people about imposter syndrome and confidence and all that. I feel like you are someone who maybe has never doesn't have that. I feel like you have so much confidence and you've been doing kind of badass things from an early age, and I read you went on the Today Show when you were college, when you were in college, have there been times where you felt, okay, I can't do this or faced with imposter syndrome?
Lucie (24:44):
Yes. I mean, listen, as a content creator when you're putting yourself online, I think I was blessed that at a very early age, like college time and even after the Today Show stuff, but in college I was making YouTube videos for Johns Hopkins University and had an open comment section that I could read very early on and kind of realized early on what it meant to be a public personality in any way. I mean, not even at the celebrity level, but just at the YouTuber level. If you're going to put yourself out there, you're going to get nastiness and mean things written about you. And I remember when I took the job at Refinery 29 because they hired me to be a YouTube face. I knew very well what was about to come. I mean, honestly, I didn't even know some of the negative that could come, but I did know there could be some.
(25:35):
And I remember having this inner dialogue of, Lucie, is this what you want to do? Because I was previously working as a producer behind the scenes at Ogilvy and Mather, and I was like, I could just stay here and make branded content and work in media and not be vulnerable with myself. But I just knew that I loved so deeply being on camera and making lifestyle content, and that seemed so much more fun. But it's like it comes with high highs and low lows. And I said, do I really want to do this because I don't have to. I could pick an easier, more chill scenario. And I came to the conclusion that at the end of my career, I would be happier if I had done this path that sounds more exciting to me, even despite the negative stuff than I would be if I played it safe.
(26:27):
And I feel like I could see myself not having gone down this path and just being a consumer of content. And every time I opened my Instagram, I would just be extremely jealous of everyone I saw who was doing this job, and I would be only not doing it because I was scared of what negative comments could come in. And I made that decision early on. And so therefore everything that did come in was kind of like, I anticipated this. I knew this would come. Not to say it wasn't heart wrenching or gut wrenching or you still get extremely angry or embarrassed when there's a mean comment and a public video about you, but it was almost like I knew what was coming and I expected it. I think the other thing that has been so vital for my journey as a content creator, which I made a video about recently, it was called like, here's How I Stay Sane as a public content creator. And basically my answer to that is having an actual healthy and secure and stable real life.
(27:35):
The fact that my relationship with my husband and my friends and family in real life is just very positive and good. It's almost like I think of the internet and social media as this intangible cloud that's just kind of not real. And of course it's real. I know it's real people, but it's so not impactful in terms of my real life. And I gave this analogy of when you think of a cup that's being filled, my real life fills my cup overflow. So if people are poking holes in it and it's draining out, it's just always being refilled by the actual real stuff that's going on in my life. Whereas a lot of content creators don't have any sort of personal life and they turn to the internet as their community and that's their place. And I could see how if they were getting mean comments or trolls or haters, they'd just be drained all day because it's not enough to sustain the cup.
Kim (28:35):
I love that. I love that metaphor. Okay, Lucie, are you ready for rapid fire before we wrap? Yes. Alright. Rapid fire. What does success mean to you?
Lucie (28:44):
I think success is truly enjoying your actual life, not doing what looks good, but just really being happy internally.
Kim (28:54):
Weirdest job you've ever had.
Lucie (28:56):
I'm going to go with being a dog walker, which was part of my Lucie for Hire series. I got to be a dog walker in the West Village for seven huge dogs at once, and it was pretty crazy.
Kim (29:08):
An embarrassing moment in life or work or parenting
Lucie (29:11):
One time. One time I was on stage in a high school production and those chicken cut lip bras that stick to your boobs, it just fell out of my shirt on the stage and suction cup to the floor. And I didn't realize until I ran off stage and I looked back and it was stuck to the floor.
Kim (29:29):
Did everyone know what it was?
Lucie (29:30):
No. I don't even know. I didn't even hear it fall out, but I was just like, oh my god, my sticky lube is on the floor.
Kim (29:36):
I haven't heard the phrase chicken cutlet in so long. I missed that. I know I don't miss the item. I miss the word chicken color. Yes.
Lucie (29:42):
They have some better ones now that are not sticky, but they adhere to your body sweat.
Kim (29:47):
Oh, beautiful. Amazing. Everybody wants an adhesive sweat.
Lucie (29:50):
Agreed. A sweat boot,
Kim (29:51):
Sweaty breast. First thing you do every morning.
Lucie (29:55):
First thing I do, wake up and look at my Aura ring score and check out how my sleep was.
Kim (30:00):
Ooh, something you hate.
Lucie (30:03):
What do I hate? I'm going to go with anchovies. They really freak me out. I don't know how people are eating those.
Kim (30:10):
I like anchovies, but I hate olives, which I feel like to me are the same salty. I
Lucie (30:13):
Love olives. Everybody loves olives, but I hate anchovies.
Kim (30:16):
Everybody hates me for hating olives. I
Lucie (30:18):
Want to love anchovy so much. They're so good for you. But I'm like, that is a whole scaly fish.
Kim (30:24):
I mean it's also less related to sardines mentally.
Lucie (30:26):
Yeah. Yeah. Oof. Both of those.
Kim (30:28):
I dunno if they're biologically related, but they're mentally related.
Lucie (30:30):
Yeah, yeah, they're mentally related.
Kim (30:32):
How many hours of sleep do you get
Lucie (30:34):
On average? I would say seven and a half.
Kim (30:37):
Okay. Worst advice you've ever gotten?
Lucie (30:40):
I did have a college professor when I was expressing interest in media and YouTube and was working in the admissions office making YouTube videos kind of tell me that it wasn't really a field and that I shouldn't be focusing on YouTube content, but that I should probably, I was at Johns Hopkins for medicine initially, so I was a pre-med neuroscience major, and they were like, that is definitely the better route to go down. And I'm just so happy I don't work in a hospital. I'm so happy I'm not still in school. So many things about that advice were not good.
Kim (31:17):
Something you wish you had known earlier.
Lucie (31:20):
I definitely wish I knew when I had my first son that your life will kind of go back to feeling the way it felt once they're a little bit older. I mean, I'm sure you feel this to the max now with a seven and 9-year-old, but even with a two and a half year old, I feel like my life now is operating almost pretty similar to how it was pre-baby aside from the day schedule. But in those first few months or year, I remember just being so sad that my life was over. I remember being like, I can't go to a coffee shop with a friend anymore because I have this baby, but now I go for coffee with friends all the time, so everything changes
Kim (32:00):
The first few months. You're basically just a rocking chair mixed with a milk machine. That's it. Oh
Lucie (32:04):
Yes,
Kim (32:05):
That's it. That's all you are. How is your work life balance?
Lucie (32:10):
It's decent, and I will say it's probably because we have childcare and that's been really insanely helpful. I mean, my husband and I both work. We both work from home, which is great. And our son is in a preschool program where it's five days a week, the whole first half of the day. And then partially because of our nanny who's there on the afternoons, but also because of our other village, our families. And he has both sets of grandparents that are close by. So he's pretty much with people that he loves and knows all day. And my husband and I can also pop out from our offices multiple times throughout the day to see him. And it allows us to really be busy doing work when we need to, but to also feel like we're all at home as a family during the day. So I think it's going pretty well. I dunno how having a second is going to throw a wrench in this flow that we're in. I'm sure it will. I'm so grateful for us being able to, we were just talking about how we love working and how we get a lot of fulfillment from working, whereas a lot of other people, the fulfillment comes from being at home with the kids and I just think everyone should be able to pick which path they want and not feel judged or judgment or guilt about it. And so if it's working, it's working.
Kim (33:34):
I love that. Alright, Lucie, this was so great and I know there's a million places where people can follow you and find our listeners now that they love you. Where should find you
Lucie (33:43):
Now that you hopefully love me
Kim (33:45):
Now that you obsess with Lucie, even if you don't, it's okay.
Lucie (33:47):
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok. My handles Lucie b Fink, and it's L-U-C-I-E-B-F-I-N-K. And then also my podcast is on Apple, it's on Spotify and on YouTube is the video version. It's definitely a fun podcast to watch as a video because of the discomfort on people's faces and body language, and that's called The Real Stuff. And yeah, my website is Lucie fink.com. You can find out some more about the various services I offer. I occasionally will do, as you said, like coaching and consulting for people who want to be content creators, that kind of stuff.
Kim (34:24):
Amazing. Lucie, this was so fun. Thank you for joining me.
Lucie (34:26):
Thank you, Kim.
Kim (34:31):
Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to exit the grind and enter success on your own terms. This is the exit interview with Kim rit. Don't forget to grab my free download, how to Grow Your Business with Amazing video at kimrittberg.com and linked out in the show notes. I love to hear your feedback. Make sure to submit to me what you learned from the show and how you are crushing it on your own terms. Connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim Rittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. And this show is edited by Jillian Grover and produced by Henry Street Media. I'm your host and executive producer, Kim Rittberg.