Meghan Markle’s new podcast endeavour — Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan — has debuted today. Produced by women-led podcast network Lemonada Media, the format will see the Duchess of Sussex welcome a weekly guest for eight weeks to discuss being a woman who founded a business.
The debut episode features Whitney Wolfe Herd, the 35-year-old Tinder co-founder and Bumble founder. Like Meghan, Whitney lives in Montecito, California, on a ranch with her Texan oil and gas heir (and cowboy enthusiast) husband Michael Herd. The women met when Meghan invited them over for a New years Eve Party, and Whitney has been on hand to provide advice as the former senior royal launched her lifestyle business As Ever last week.
So, were there any juicy confessions?
Given both women are highly media trained, nothing they didn’t want us to hear. But there were some intimate revelations made, including Meghan’s serious pregnancy health scare.
Meghan’s “scary” postpartum pre-eclampsia diagnosis
Along with a pre-occupation with starting businesses, Meghan and Whitney both experienced “huge medical scares” following the birth of one of their children. Called post-partum pre-eclampsia, it occurs between 48 hours and six weeks following birth and the main symptom is high blood pressure. It can cause strokes, seizures, organ damage or, in some tragic cases, death.
“It’s so rare and so scary,” said Meghan. She also discussed the impact of handling this medical crisis under the scrutiny of the media “The world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly, and in the quiet you’re still trying to show up for people”.
Do you “cower or conquer”?
The two women also share an experience of being on the receiving end of intense and often negative media focus. Whitney settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with her former Tinder co-founders when she left the company in 2014. The Bumble founder said she was shocked by a recent trip through an Irish airport where she saw Meghan’s face on the cover of “every” newspaper and magazine, and commented that the Duchess must be a “strong cookie” to cope.
Meghan shared her personal motto for dealing with it all: “There’s going to be a point where you’re going to take a hit, and you’re going to have to decide whether you’re going to cower or your going to conquer and rise above it.”
She’s losing sleep over boxes
While asking Whitney about her own career, Meghan shared some of her big fears around launching her brand As Ever. Namely, getting the packaging right. She knows those unboxing videos will be all over social media, so she’s been lying awake at night stressing over those boxes.
“It will keep you up at night, because every single detail decision, every micro detail, in that moment it feels monumental,” said Meghan. “A month ago I was absolutely consumed by packaging. Boxes. It was all I could think about. And I would sit there doing the unboxing in my head. Is there tissue paper? What about the packing peanuts? But they’re biodegradable? Where does the sticker go?” Sounds like the one per cent’s version of the Sunday Scaries.
What’s a “porch pirate”?
While designing said packaging, somebody (presumably an employee) had to explain to Meghan that it would be unwise to put any branding on the exterior of the boxes they shipped in, lest they become a target for thieves.
The Duchess was bemused by the phrase “porch pirate”, slang for people who pinch packages left on people’s doorsteps by delivery people. “What’s a porch pirate?” she exclaimed. “Had never heard that before.” Presumably her porch is far too well protected for the Sussex’s post to go AWOL. Sometimes the rich and famous are not just like us, eh.
Meghan’s a fan of WFH
Becoming a parent in the post-pandemic era, Meghan says she enjoys being able to work from home. Lili, her three-year-old daughter, still naps during the day, and sometimes comes to sit on her mother’s lap while she takes important video call meetings.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said. “I don’t want to miss those moments, I don’t want to miss [school] pickup”.
The Sussex’s celebrate “East Coast New Year’s”
Meghan and Whitney first met when the former invited the latter to join them at home for a low key New Year’s Eve party. Whitney and her husband turned up dressed in full rhinestone cowboy attire, in keeping with a theme party they were attending later that night. But Harry and Meghan don’t like to stay up until midnight these days. The Duchess professed she prefers to celebrate an “East Coast New Year’s” where they ring in midnight at 9pm then head to bed.
Personal brand is out, “bottling your essence” is in
Yes, a podcast about female founders does feel a bit like the legacy of a bygone girl boss era. But the lingo has evolved, and Meghan speaks in fluently. “High value”, “pivoting”, “the grind” etc. ad nauseum.
Her favourite phrase is about “essence”, the distillment of your self that you can then bottle and market to the masses. It’s basically your personal brand, but even more marketable. “All I control is this extension of my essence and my aesthetic and what I want to share with people,” said Meghan. Translation: buy my products to get a sniff of my lifestyle.
No drinking but there is swearing
“Imagine if they had given us a bottle of rosé for this conversation!” Whitney said at one point. Alas, this was a dry podcast with no boozy disclosures. There was one swear — and S-bomb — although not from the Duchess.
So is it Markle or Sussex?
Unclear. In the podcast, it’s just Meghan. No surname required.
