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0:57

Welcome to In Her Shoes. I'm Lindsay Peoples

0:59

and I'm editor-in-chief of The Cut. On

1:03

this show, I get to talk to people

1:05

that we love and admire or some that we just find interesting. We'll explore

1:07

how they found their path and what maybe have gotten in their way and how

1:09

they brought others along now that they've arrived.

1:27

Shiza Shahid has been impressive pretty

1:29

much all her life. At 14,

1:32

she was working as a volunteer in women's prisons.

1:35

At 18, she was off to Stanford.

1:37

And a few years later, she returned home to

1:39

Pakistan where she co-founded the Malala

1:42

Fund with now Nobel Peace Prize

1:44

laureate Malala. These

1:46

days, she's running the cookware company Our Place

1:49

that has all the insta-girlies in a frenzy. But

1:52

the brand has a larger mission of telling stories

1:54

through meals that bring people together. We

1:56

got a chance to talk about her business, transitioning

1:59

from the nonprofit to the online.

1:59

world and what her day-to-day is like

2:02

in running a company. Shazia,

2:04

we always start by asking everyone

2:07

on the pod either what shoes are you wearing

2:09

today or what are your favorite shoes?

2:13

I'm wearing my Chloe sneakers.

2:15

They're... Let me see. They

2:18

have a name. Everybody... Oh, yes. Do

2:21

you know what they are? I don't know the name, but they're

2:23

the espadrilles. They're made from recycled bottles.

2:25

Nice, okay. They're really comfy. How

2:28

did you

2:29

choose them? Are they like a go-to

2:31

shoe for you or... Yeah,

2:33

you know, we've been traveling a lot this year

2:36

with the world opening up and

2:39

teams everywhere and artisans and factory

2:41

partners. So I needed something I could

2:43

walk in and they're just really comfy. Yeah,

2:46

they're very chic. Good shoe choice. Thank

2:48

you. Okay, onto more serious things.

2:51

You obviously started the Malala Fund,

2:54

which is centered around breaking down barriers for

2:56

girls and getting an education, which has

2:58

been incredibly inspiring. And I think,

3:01

you know, obviously such a big deal culturally,

3:03

but I'm sure behind the scenes so

3:05

much has gone into that. What

3:07

inspired you to transition into, you

3:10

know, into making that kind of work and then also

3:12

then going into cookware? Yeah,

3:15

thank you for saying that. I

3:18

grew up in Pakistan. I've

3:20

known Malala and her family for many years.

3:24

And when, as a result of her courage,

3:26

she was attacked by the Taliban. We

3:30

came together to co-found the Malala

3:33

Fund as a platform

3:35

to help the most vulnerable girls around the world

3:37

access an education and

3:39

to inspire more people to act. And

3:43

I had the immense privilege of being co-founder,

3:46

founding CEO and

3:48

worked side by side with Malala, her

3:50

father, the amazing team there to

3:52

set the foundation for that organization.

3:55

I have always also believed

3:58

in the power of business to have an impact. if

4:00

driven by a core

4:03

set of values. And I'm an immigrant,

4:05

my partner's an immigrant. We both

4:07

literally found our place in America by

4:09

cooking food, having people

4:11

come over, and

4:13

breaking bread at our dinner table together

4:16

and arguing over whose cooking is better. And

4:20

we

4:20

saw a gap in the market for a brand

4:23

that spoke to our values, that

4:26

designed products for how we actually cook

4:29

and live and gather today. That

4:31

represented and included our cultures and that used

4:34

healthy materials and cared about sustainability.

4:37

And that was really the origin of

4:39

our place, was building a brand

4:42

that would make cooking easier because

4:44

when we cook and share food, we

4:46

reconnect to our culture, our traditions,

4:49

our identities, our community, our

4:51

bodies, and that's what our place

4:54

is about.

4:55

Love that. What

4:57

would you say were some lessons that

4:59

you learned in leaving Malala

5:01

Fund and then going into the work you do now

5:04

that felt really relevant or that have helped

5:06

you in the transition?

5:08

You know, nothing that I have done in

5:10

my life was part of the plan.

5:13

Growing up in Pakistan, I thought

5:15

I would always live in my hometown

5:17

of Islamabad. I would work

5:20

in a local nonprofit. I'd

5:22

grown up doing a lot of work in women's

5:24

rights, girls' education,

5:27

and

5:28

in my life, I found there have just been these

5:30

moments

5:31

where I

5:33

have been presented with a choice and had

5:35

to make a decision about whether I was going to

5:37

rise to that opportunity,

5:40

rise to that call or not. When

5:43

Malala and her father asked me to start

5:46

the Malala Fund, I was a year out of college

5:48

working in McKinsey, a

5:50

consulting gig in Dubai.

5:53

I had a five-year plan. I was going to go

5:55

to business school and then maybe become an

5:57

entrepreneur, but I knew in that

5:59

moment, I had to make a decision and

6:02

I ended up quitting my job, moving

6:04

to New York and co-founding the Malala Fund. Similarly

6:06

with our place, we were

6:09

starting to think about this business at

6:12

a time of growing disconnection,

6:14

isolation, a sense

6:16

of otherness in the world, people

6:19

fearing one another, spending less time

6:22

breaking bread together. And

6:24

we just felt that

6:26

telling stories of culture, of food,

6:28

of tradition and getting more people cooking and

6:31

breaking bread together could be this incredible

6:33

antidote to that disconnection,

6:35

to that fear. And

6:38

so I was really

6:39

called into doing that work and

6:42

it's been this

6:44

incredible journey. I

6:47

think what I've learned is, I've

6:49

worked in the nonprofit sector, I've worked

6:51

in consulting and finance and now

6:53

I'm an entrepreneur. And

6:57

the

6:58

skills that we carry across

7:00

these roles are so transferable. People

7:03

will often say, well, did you go to school

7:05

for this? And I did and I studied

7:07

international relations, but

7:10

intuition and compassion and

7:12

creativity and so

7:14

many of the skills that make

7:17

you successful in one role are

7:19

so transferable to the next. So even

7:22

if you didn't study the exact thing that you're thinking

7:24

of doing next, don't let that

7:26

stop you. If you ask enough questions,

7:28

you'll get to the right answer.

7:30

Right.

7:31

I mean, obviously I wasn't

7:33

there so you will tell us, but I'm assuming that it

7:35

was really hard to make that transition

7:38

though and leaving the Malala Fund. What was that

7:40

transition actually like and what would you say

7:42

the hardest part of it was and what do

7:44

you miss about it?

7:46

I think the hardest part of

7:48

leaving anything is very often the

7:51

people, right? The people that you

7:53

love and work with

7:56

and spend time with. For me, that was

7:58

Malala and her father.

7:59

I'm very close to, but also a lot of the team

8:02

there. And I think a lot

8:04

of the meaning that comes in

8:06

work for us is from

8:08

our relationships with one another and

8:11

with our team. And

8:13

I'm really fortunate to have cultivated

8:16

that at our place where

8:18

we do have now 150 teammates around the world

8:24

or a female founded and led

8:26

business with people from all backgrounds

8:29

and walks of life and opinions

8:32

and experiences. And

8:34

we invest a tremendous amount in building

8:37

that culture and nurturing that culture because

8:40

we're driven by a mission. But

8:42

at the same time, what makes the day-to-day

8:45

impactful is the experiences

8:48

that we have together. And so

8:50

I think that's the most amazing part of

8:52

being in a place where you're happy

8:54

and fulfilled and inspired. And whenever you move on

8:56

to something else, that's probably the

8:58

part that you'll miss the most. But

9:02

even though friendships are often nurtured

9:05

in your workplace, they don't have to end because

9:07

you've moved on. Yeah. Yeah.

9:11

You talk a lot about our place being a mission-oriented

9:14

company. What does that mean? In

9:16

theory, a lot of people say that. But what does

9:19

that mean in practice to you?

9:20

In practice, to me, what

9:23

it means is making better

9:25

decisions every day. And in a business,

9:27

you get to make

9:28

a lot of decisions every single day. And

9:30

it's small decisions, like where are we

9:33

ordering food from for lunch today,

9:35

to big ones. How

9:37

do we set up our supply chain? And what materials

9:39

do we use in our products? And what

9:42

stories do we tell about food and culture?

9:45

And how do we credit the cultures that these cooking

9:48

techniques that we're celebrating first

9:50

originated from? And

9:52

so at our place, we're really looking at every decision

9:55

we're making and trying to make better choices.

9:57

And that's everything from building.

9:58

a diverse

10:01

team and an inclusive

10:03

culture to sourcing our

10:05

products from the best factories

10:08

and artisan collectives around the world, places

10:10

that are preserving heritage crafts. For

10:13

example, our glasses are

10:15

hand-blown in Thailand in the last

10:17

factory in Thailand that is still preserving

10:20

the art of hand-blowing glasses

10:23

there, to using

10:25

recycled materials in our products and

10:27

in our packaging and increasingly biodegradable

10:30

materials and working towards

10:32

a circular supply chain. To

10:35

telling the stories that we tell, we

10:38

talk about food, food is inherently

10:40

connected to identity, to

10:42

culture, and I think

10:45

in the food space.

10:47

There has been a very long history of erasure

10:49

of not crediting the cultures that

10:52

originated, the farming techniques, the cooking

10:54

techniques, the recipes

10:56

that a lot of us take for granted today.

11:00

And I'll speak for myself, as an immigrant,

11:02

as a Pakistani Muslim

11:04

woman, I had not seen my culture represented

11:07

in the mainstream. And so I

11:09

wanted to build a brand that celebrated all

11:12

of our cultures equally loudly and joyfully.

11:14

And so if you go to our Instagram feed today,

11:16

you'll see we celebrated 32

11:17

traditions last year

11:19

from Nooruz to Noce Buena, to Shabbat,

11:22

to Ramadan. And we told

11:24

those stories in a really inclusive and intersectional

11:26

way and partnered with the communities from start

11:29

to finish. Yeah.

11:38

Support for this episode comes from the meal

11:40

delivery service HelloFresh. HelloFresh

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makes it easy and affordable to cook tasty,

11:45

nutritious meals at home. Their

11:48

foolproof recipes come with simple instructions

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that any home chef can follow. And

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every meal is built from pre-portioned seasonal ingredients

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that according to HelloFresh goes straight

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from the farm to your home.

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your home in less than seven days. I

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recently got to try HelloFresh for myself

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and loved the bacon cream supreme spaghetti

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with broccoli. HelloFresh

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12:35

So we have to talk about the always

12:38

pan

12:50

because

12:54

everyone loves it and definitely

12:56

a fan favorite. Tell me about the

12:58

concept where the idea came from and

13:00

what it was like to actually get that kind of product

13:02

out into the market.

13:04

Our product design and it's true

13:06

if they always pan, it comes directly from our mission.

13:08

If we wanna get more people cooking and sharing

13:11

food together and if we wanna do that, we

13:13

have to make it easier and more fun

13:16

to cook because we know that cooking can be

13:19

empowering or joyful or it can be oppressive

13:21

and overwhelming. And a lot of that does come

13:23

from the way you cook and the

13:25

tools you use. I

13:28

grew up in Pakistan. My mother never taught

13:30

me to cook and at 18, I moved

13:32

halfway across the world on my own

13:34

to go to college at Stanford. And

13:37

I realized I couldn't feed myself. And

13:39

so I started learning to cook and I walked into

13:41

a kitchenware store and said, I need a starter

13:43

set. I'm just trying to make some

13:45

meals in my dorm room. And I was handed

13:47

a 16 piece cookware set. All

13:51

these pots and pans, all these very specific

13:53

shapes and sizes designed to do very

13:55

specific things. And I had grown up with two

13:57

pots, a round one and a flat one. So

14:00

I didn't understand why the industry was selling

14:02

all this clutter and I didn't have space for it. And

14:05

so really informed by our experiences, we started

14:08

to design products that were multi-use.

14:10

So the Always Pan is

14:13

a literal Venn diagram of eight different

14:16

pieces of cookware. It's shallow

14:18

enough to flip an egg, but it's deep enough

14:20

that you can actually fit an entire roast

14:23

chicken in it. And it's got

14:25

all these little details that just make it easier to

14:27

cook from being lightweight to having a nesting

14:29

spatula and steamer basket to

14:32

having a really great

14:34

ceramic coating that is toxin free. Most

14:36

nonstick pans use PTFE's,

14:39

PFAS, these are chemicals that

14:42

are potentially toxic that contain microplastics.

14:46

So stripping all of that away and just giving you

14:48

a product that's really, really easy

14:50

to cook with because if it's easy to cook and

14:53

if it's beautiful and it's always out on your stovetop,

14:55

then the next time you're about to go and order another

14:58

box of soggy takeout, nothing against

15:00

takeout, I eat it many, many nights,

15:02

you see it out on your stovetop and you say, you know what, I'll

15:04

just whip up something real quick. And that's what great product

15:07

design is about. It's about empowering

15:09

you to cook more.

15:10

At what point, though, did

15:12

you realize whether it was the Always Pan

15:14

or just the business in general was really

15:16

taking off and that you, did you notice

15:19

a lot of people using them on social media?

15:21

Like what was that turning point for you? Yeah,

15:23

you know, the business started and grew

15:25

in a really grassroots way. We're an L.A.-based

15:28

company. Everything is designed in

15:30

Los Angeles by our team from scratch obsessively.

15:33

We take, you know, a year and a half, two years on

15:36

every product, drawing it, testing

15:38

it, printing it, engineering

15:40

it, refining it and making it the very best

15:42

version it can be. And then

15:44

we ask people to use our products

15:46

and give us feedback. And

15:49

so we started to, you

15:51

know, very early on, see a lot of our

15:54

community in Los Angeles,

15:57

in New York, in places around the U.S. are

16:00

always pan at the time we also had,

16:03

we had just three other products, our main plates, our

16:05

drinking glasses, and our bowls.

16:09

Everything you need to just whip up a

16:11

beautiful meal. And

16:13

a lot of it started on social media.

16:15

We were in the pandemic, so

16:17

our ability to be

16:20

in person was really limited. And what we found

16:22

was people were finding

16:24

comfort by learning to cook. They

16:27

couldn't see their grandmother or

16:29

their dad,

16:29

but they could call them up and say, hey, grandma,

16:32

can you give me the recipe

16:34

for your soup dumplings? And that's how

16:36

we were staying connected and

16:38

learning to cook. And people were sharing

16:40

that on social media and sharing

16:43

stories. And we sort

16:45

of grew through that organic

16:48

connection with our community around food,

16:50

around cooking, and around

16:52

culture. And from there, we're able

16:54

to really grow the brand, expand the product

16:57

line. Now we have two retail

16:59

stores of

16:59

our own in Los

17:02

Angeles, one on Melrose, one in Venice

17:04

Beach. We're in luxury department stores

17:06

across the world from Selfridges to

17:08

Nordstrom and Herritz. We have

17:11

produced other products that simplify how

17:13

you prep, how you cook, how you serve,

17:15

how you gather, wander, celebrate. And

17:18

I think just sort of being

17:21

both on the internet and seeing

17:24

the product and seeing it in so many homes

17:27

and people sharing their recipes and their stories,

17:30

that was really the thing that was most

17:32

special

17:33

to witness.

17:35

And then I actually wanted to

17:37

talk about the expansion of things because I mean,

17:39

you guys started with the pan, but now you have the pot

17:41

and the cast iron. I know you

17:43

have kitchen tools and you had a collection with Selena

17:45

Gomez as well. What

17:48

has that expansion been like in running

17:50

a company, but also really wanting to be intentional

17:52

about the products that you're putting out? Yeah,

17:57

we don't make anything unless we

17:59

believe in it.

17:59

that we can make it better

18:02

than what currently exists. So, you

18:05

know, we have one kind of glass, our

18:07

drinking glass. It's beautiful, it's

18:09

hand-blown in Thailand. It's

18:13

stacks, it's microwave, dishwasher,

18:15

freezer, oven safe. It comes

18:17

in a range of gorgeous colors. But,

18:20

you know, you walk into any kitchen or store, they'll

18:23

present you with a hundred different glass shapes and

18:25

sizes, and so we're really doing

18:27

the work of saying, this

18:29

is what you need, and it's

18:31

beautiful, and it's functional, and it's

18:34

accessible. And

18:36

we do that across every category. So

18:38

we created, you know, everybody needs to chop

18:42

to

18:43

prep their meal. And so we created

18:45

a set of three knives. You don't need 15 knives,

18:47

you don't need 20 knives. You need your

18:50

chef's knife for most things, a paring

18:52

knife for tiny tasks, and

18:54

a serrated knife for bread and

18:56

tomatoes, and, you know, essentially anything

18:59

hard and crusty or soft and squishy on

19:01

the inside. So set of three

19:03

knives, the sharpest and easiest

19:06

to use knives you'll ever use, and

19:08

they come in our beautiful colors. And so,

19:10

you know, we do that with each part of

19:13

the cooking, gathering, hosting

19:15

experience, is making

19:17

it easier, making it more fun, taking

19:19

the guesswork out of it. And so we have

19:22

our prep tools, our cookware, our

19:24

dinnerware, our glassware, and

19:27

then we just bring in our signature aesthetics

19:29

and design. And so if

19:31

you go to our website, if you walk into the store,

19:34

we've done that work for you. You know, you're getting a really

19:36

high quality product, a beautiful product. You can

19:38

choose your colors, you

19:40

can customize your bundles, and,

19:43

you know, leave with everything you need and nothing you don't

19:45

to cook and share a meal with people you call family.

19:48

I find it so interesting how you've talked about

19:50

that you got over 300 rejections from

19:53

investors, which

19:55

I guess, you know, everything is always in

19:57

hindsight, but our place is such a unique.

19:59

and profitable company, what

20:02

was going through your mind in getting all these

20:04

rejections and what made you continue

20:06

to push past that, even though you

20:08

were getting rejections and just stick with

20:10

your gut to say, I know I have something special?

20:14

I was thinking, well, this is going to be hard. And

20:18

I was also thinking, that's OK,

20:20

because the things that are most meaningful

20:23

are almost always hard. They

20:25

have to be. If

20:27

it was easy, then everyone would do it. And

20:29

so it was a hard climate.

20:33

It still

20:35

is. And we

20:37

were penalized for the mistakes

20:40

of other e-commerce companies.

20:43

We were coming out of this period of excess

20:45

where a lot of startups,

20:48

mostly run by men, had

20:51

raised a lot of money, had spent a lot of money. And

20:55

you were coming off that early

20:57

period where there was a lot of romance

20:59

with e-commerce and investors

21:01

were going from, it's amazing,

21:04

it's magic, to this is not working.

21:08

So we were painted with this very broad brushstroke

21:12

that I think investors often see

21:14

industries with. They either love them

21:16

or they hate them. And

21:18

we were doing things very differently. Early

21:21

e-commerce businesses, they weren't profitable.

21:23

They were spending and spending on unprofitable

21:25

growth, whereas we were coming

21:28

into this with really strong fundamentals and

21:30

wanting to be scrappy and efficient from

21:32

day one. But also this category

21:34

hadn't seen any innovation. Cookware,

21:37

kitchenware, you'd seen innovation in fashion

21:40

and beauty. But this is a

21:42

category that's very old school. It's

21:44

dominated by incredibly old school players.

21:49

The way that they have made money

21:51

is by selling you lots and lots of things. So

21:53

16-piece cookware sets and

21:56

20-piece knife sets. And all they talk

21:58

about is how sharp it is.

21:59

up the knives or how many plies are in the cookware.

22:02

And they're sort of all selling, there's sea of

22:04

sameness. It's all the same product. And so

22:07

this notion of innovating on the product and challenging

22:10

product design, but also building a brand that people

22:12

connected with, a lifestyle brand, a brand rooted

22:14

in culture and values and design,

22:18

was very, very new. And so we had to convince

22:21

people that it was possible, even though it hadn't been

22:23

done before. And we also

22:25

had to convince people that a brand rooted

22:27

in culture had

22:29

a place in this world.

22:31

There was a sense of, well, people

22:33

don't care about that. They just care about how

22:35

sharp the knives are and

22:38

how cheap you can sell them for. So it

22:41

was an uphill journey. But

22:44

we started first bootstrapped

22:46

and raised capital and proved

22:49

out the model. And

22:51

I think what has always kept us going is we fundamentally

22:54

believe in what we're doing. And

22:56

we feel really proud to be

22:58

building this company with our incredible team. And

23:02

we never signed up for the easy job.

23:04

Yeah. I

23:07

guess on the flip side, though, now you

23:10

can go on Instagram, and there are so many cookware

23:12

brands, and

23:15

probably some brands that I think are making similar

23:17

products as well. How do you

23:19

deal with a sea of

23:22

a lot of people trying to now do the same kind

23:24

of business and also stay true

23:26

to what you want to do? Yeah, you

23:28

just out-innovate them. You out-work

23:31

them. You out-inspire

23:34

them. You

23:34

out-hustle them.

23:40

It's unfortunate that you

23:43

see this. With many founders and female founders

23:45

and BIPOC founders, they'll innovate

23:47

and create IP. And

23:49

then large brands will pretty much shamelessly

23:52

copy them. And

23:54

I

23:55

think that you have to just

23:58

say, you know what?

23:59

I believe in what I'm making. I'm

24:02

going to continue to innovate faster. And

24:05

I'm going to trust that while, yes, there may

24:07

be some folks who want to go and buy

24:11

this knockoff version that

24:15

isn't ethically produced, isn't sustainably

24:17

produced, isn't the same quality, isn't

24:21

made by a brand that cares

24:24

about the things that they care

24:26

about, that there is also a community

24:28

that actually really

24:29

proud to support a

24:31

brand that they believe in, that understands

24:34

that making high quality product

24:37

costs what it costs,

24:39

that understands the importance

24:42

of innovation and creativity.

24:45

And so you just sort of keep your head up, and

24:47

you keep working, and you keep innovating, and

24:49

you keep building something that people

24:51

believe in. And that's all you

24:53

can really do, and that's what we've done. And so we're

24:56

not alone in this. We see a lot

24:58

of other female founders, BIPOC

25:01

founders, also experiencing the same thing.

25:03

And it can feel hurtful in the moment,

25:05

but the only thing you can do is

25:08

keep moving faster than anybody else. Yeah.

25:11

And how would you

25:13

say, whether just in life

25:15

or in professional life, that you've been able to respond

25:18

to criticism and deal with that? Because

25:20

obviously running a business, and

25:23

I think, especially running a business in

25:25

today's day and age, people want to see the

25:27

person behind the brand. It's not just liking

25:29

the brand, and you're so transparent

25:32

about your values and community and things that you care

25:34

about. But

25:35

I think that also just leaves room for people to

25:37

criticize the more that you share. Yeah,

25:41

I like to really hear and understand

25:43

where people have a point. And

25:47

if they do, then I am very

25:50

grateful for it

25:52

so that we can get better. And

25:54

where people are just trying

25:59

to go viral on the internet. and that's

26:01

on your behalf. And so I'll

26:04

give you an example.

26:06

We launched our Diwali collection last

26:08

year. And it

26:10

was designed by a British Indian

26:12

and an American Indian artist. It

26:14

was produced in India. Everyone

26:17

who worked on that collection largely celebrated

26:21

Diwali. We worked with

26:23

many members of the community. And it was this gorgeous

26:26

and beautiful collection. And

26:29

we sent an email out about it.

26:31

And we got an incredible response. And

26:34

one person wrote in and said, hey, you know, I

26:37

really wish that you would call it Diwali.

26:39

Because in

26:42

my community, we call it Deepavali

26:44

in South India. And

26:47

it was one, you know, the email had gone up to

26:50

hundreds of thousands of people. This

26:53

was one email. And I read that. And I was like, she's

26:55

right. We have to say Happy

26:57

Diwali slash Happy

26:59

Diwali. Because

27:01

different people call the same celebration

27:04

by different names. And

27:06

you know, Deepavali has pre-colonial

27:09

roots. And now a lot of people say Diwali.

27:11

But both are important.

27:14

And so I sent a memo to

27:16

the entire team and said, please remember

27:19

when you're writing emails, when you're posting coffee,

27:21

just take up a little extra space and say

27:23

Happy Diwali, Happy Diwali. Let's include

27:26

as many people as possible. And so to

27:29

me, that was such a valuable. And we wrote back

27:31

and thanked her for it. And it was such valuable teaching

27:34

and learning. And

27:36

it came from a place of, I love this brand. And

27:39

I know that you want to

27:41

do good.

27:45

And so that's the type of feedback

27:48

that makes us better and that I'm constantly

27:50

seeking. And of course, there is

27:53

the flip side of it. And people who are

27:55

not trying to engage

27:58

in productive dialogue and. and

28:01

see the success of your brand

28:03

and think, well, maybe if I can

28:07

criticize them, I'll get a handful of more followers.

28:10

And so I think it's just for us, it's

28:12

just let's understand what

28:14

the community is saying and what we can learn from that.

28:17

And if we can learn, it can be one

28:19

person, it can be one opinion. We

28:21

will be up

28:24

at midnight

28:25

changing things because they

28:27

had a point and their point made us better. Yeah.

28:32

So what would you say is next for you

28:34

and our place? Well,

28:36

our vision is

28:38

to become the most beloved brand

28:40

and the most important rooms in every

28:43

home in the world. We're

28:45

three and a half years old. It's

28:48

been a journey. We have gotten

28:51

over a million people cooking more and

28:54

having more meals together. And we hope

28:56

that there is children

28:58

who are growing up with more home cooked meals because

29:01

their dad or

29:03

their mom saw

29:06

an ad or a post and

29:08

said, you know what, I think I should start

29:10

cooking more. We

29:12

are now in the UK and Canada

29:14

as well. So we're increasingly a global

29:17

brand. And for me, as someone who's lived in many

29:19

different parts of the world, that

29:21

was always going to be the case. It's

29:24

really important to us to have our mission

29:26

in different parts of the world. We're

29:29

still a direct to consumer brand, but we're

29:31

increasingly omni-channel where we

29:33

have our own retail stores. We're in luxury

29:35

department stores around the world. And

29:38

now that the world is opening up, we're doing a lot more with our

29:40

community in person events and book

29:42

launches and

29:45

cooking classes.

29:47

So that's been really, really fun. We have some

29:49

amazing new products launching this year that

29:51

we're really excited to bring to our community. And

29:54

ultimately, we are a brand

29:56

called Our Place, not our

29:59

kitchen or even-

29:59

in our home

30:02

because we believe food and home cooking is about

30:04

making place for ourselves and others at the table

30:06

so that mission of building a

30:08

bigger table is what we're most focused on through our

30:10

storytelling, our give back, our

30:13

collaborations and we're excited to do

30:15

a lot more of that.

30:16

So excited for you. Thank you so much

30:18

for coming on in her shoes we so appreciate

30:20

it. Thank you so much this was such a lovely

30:23

conversation. Now I'm hungry.

30:32

In her shoes is hosted by me, Lindsay Peoples.

30:34

Our producer and editor for this episode is

30:37

Taka Zen. Our engineer is

30:39

Brandon McFarland and our executive producer

30:41

is Hannah Rosen. The cut is made possible

30:43

by the excellent team at New York Magazine. Subscribe

30:46

today at thecut.com slash subscribe.

30:49

I'm Lindsay Peoples and thank you so much for listening.

30:57

Support for our show comes from Hello Fresh.

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