and I said to your mom I know I'm a lot older than her I I love your daughter my intention is to marry her our age GB is 18 years by the way I told your mom I said look I can only imagine like as a parent you might have an issue with this and then her response to me was how did you think the our age difference like would play a role in our relationship like did you think about that when we got together and when we started becoming like getting serious no it look I knew chronologically how much how much older I was than you yeah but in terms of my interaction with you and you specifically I felt we had a lot in common we had great chemistry we still do I never felt older than you mentally mhm chronologically and just like reality yeah I know I'm older than you but besides that I never felt that there was any kind of it wasn't it wasn't weird it wasn't like a novelty it wasn't strange it just you just felt like the person I love and it didn't cross my mind like you know now from a practical perspective and I've told you this before well you a very practical guy that's why I'm asking like the your train of thought when you decided okay this is so I had a friend of mine when you and I were dating I literally talked to nobody about about like because I'm not I was never the kind of person that if I was dating someone I never needed anyone's opinion or validation cuz I didn't care I don't know why I know it's important I feel like it's the age it's the even even when I was younger really yeah I never cared it just if I liked somebody liked somebody if I didn't like somebody I didn't like somebody right and I always found you know what I always found it strange when my friends would come to me and say hey what do you think of her like if like my friend would start dating somebody and he'd say what do you think of her or if like uh like a female friend of mine would say hey what do you think of this guy I'm dating I'd always think it was strange why are you asking me I'm like I don't know I'm not dating them what's the difference what I think of them right so I always found it strange so I never really it never really registered to me but one person did say to me and he kind of just blurted it out he said women live longer than men you're already 18 years older than her she's going to have to live for probably 30 years after you're dead and that really that's something that I had to think about that's the only thing to this day that I think is the biggest disadvantage to our age difference is that I know that you're going to be alive a lot like you're going to live a long time after I'm gone and that that that kind of bothers me not that you're going to live a long time it bothers me that I won't be around for it right and that I'm going to leave you alone so that to me is like the saddest thing about our age Gap that's the only negative that I can think of today there there might be some negatives in the future like when I let's say I want to retire you're not going to be retired so there might be just some like lifestyle um kind of not problems but just challenges not even challenges I I mean what can the challenge be instead of living I don't know somewhere on the beach we're going to have to be somewhere more in a like you know in a City where you can continue doing what you do but to me I'm not a picky guy I don't care I don't care if I live on the beach as long as I'm with you and by that time as long as like the kids are somewhere in in our vicinity or like easily accessible to them and their families then I don't I'm good what did your mom say when you told her that you are going to marry a 20-year-old nothing really yeah my mother it it's different listen when I'm you know I'm 38 I was 38 years old already that's true a grown man there's not a conversation if I would have come to her and said I'm marrying a marrying a if I was 20 and say I'm marrying a girl and she's also 20 no she probably say something about it because I would still be her kind of kid but I wasn't her child anymore it's funny because I think for me uh when I told my mom about meeting you I don't know if it's the culture I guess maybe like the Russian culture it wasn't like a shock to her again I always dated older and I think for her that also it wasn't like a negative per say she just wanted I guess to know that it's like is this a person that you love is this a person that you know you can build a life with is this a person that's going to be there when you need him to and I and that's it like that's why I think when we started when I went on social media and stuff and I started showing our lives and when I started getting these like age Gap questions or like you know kind of uh people being shocked I kind of didn't understand I think you're being really polite people were rude about it people were rude about it people still are rude about it to me it kind of I I didn't really understand cuz I was like yeah he's older than me but and but yeah it it wasn't anything like out of the ordinary I remember when you know we started dating and about 10 days after we started dating I said to you you're going to be my wife cuz I knew I knew you're going to be my wife I told you it's not going to happen I'm not asking yet so you don't have to freak out but that's where we're going and that's that's what's going to go down mhm I think you were a little you didn't show it to me I didn't sense in you that you were scared at all but I think inside you may have been a little scared and that's when you went to your mom and you said to me when I said that to you you said come and meet my mother and if my mother approves of us dating we're going to continue dating yeah I said no problem we went to meet your mother she looked at me I think I had already met her briefly before probably at like a Russian restaurant somewhere social not socially I think she was the manager or owner of the place and I was at a party or something she came outside she goes come with me outside for a smoke and I said I don't smoke she goes just come with me outside right she just wanted to she wanted to talk to me so I went outside with her and uh she goes she looked at me she goes what do you want like not not even polite just like what do you want like that was it wasn't like small talk and stuff she like we got outside like she was walking ahead of me I remember it so clearly she stopped she turned around she looked at me she goes what do you want no she says like what are your intentions right man I said to her listen I I I love her I I love your daughter my intention is to marry her this was like on the 11th day of us dating I said my intention is to marry her and I said to your mom I remember I said look I know I'm a lot older than her and to be honest with you if I had a daughter and she came to me with a man that's as much older than you know than her as I am older than Valeria our age gab is 18 years by the way 17 and change it's like 17 and 3/4 yeah every month matters 17 and quarters and and I told your mom I said look I understand like as a parent as not as a no I wasn't a parent I said I can imagine I wasn't a parent at the time I can only imagine like as a parent you might have an issue with this because although it may have seemed normal to your mom because she grew up in a very different culture where it was normalized I didn't I grew up in Canada when I was 20 my girlfriend was 19 right so I was concerned that I didn't want to offend her so I said look I understand if it's a problem for you but we can talk it we can talk it out and I'll help you get over that problem like I just told her I'll help you get over it meaning it wasn't I I didn't say to her if you're not okay with it I'm going to go away I said if you're not okay with it I'm going to help you get over this problem that you have of not being okay with it right and then her response to me was if she's okay dating you continue dating and see what happens I said okay she goes okay and that was that and then he took sh vka but you know what I do yeah but I do remember when I bought the ring I came over to your mom's I came over you and I were together I had the ring and I had to like ask in the absence of your father I had to ask your mother for your hand in marriage MH so I remember we always we always have we always have important meetings outside me and your mom I said to her uh can you come outside with me I want to show you I bought a new car so I use that as an example I just bought a new car and I said that oh I want to show you this new car that I bought meanwhile I it didn't matter but she's like okay so I go outside oh she looks at the car oh nice nice nice I go listen I'm going to propose to Valeria she's like I knew it she goes you got the ring I go yeah I got the ring and I showed her the ring she's like okay good she goes when are you going to do it I said we're going to go to Israel I'm going to propose to her I said don't you say anything I said don't you say anything she goes I'm not going to say anything did she say anything no nothing no it was uh no it was awesome I love your the relationship you have with my mom actually that's one of the things that I makes our family so special and unique you guys are really close I have a good relationship with her we have our ups and downs but our ups and downs are mostly situational meaning when I get stressed I get a little more like distant but it's something I'm working on because I do value her a lot the reason your mother and I get along and it's going to sound like I don't know it's going to sound almost like it's this is a forc statement or it's fake but it's not it's because your mother is a very good and moral person really is and the more I think about it and the more I see examples of other people where that morality isn't there I value your mom more and more cuz your mother from day one even though I'm an older guy and even though I had already you know kind of established myself financially when you and I met I never felt from her that she ever tried to take advantage of me or that she was ever anything but respectful to me so it's not a secret that your mom she can go off sometimes she sometimes can be abrasive me her in a bad way and I'm certainly not badmouthing her but she can be abrasive and she often is but she's NE no but she is what's abrasive listen she comes from a place where you have to like fight for survival she came from a very rough place and I appreciate that very different from where I grew up I was in Canada since the age of three so I didn't have the challenges she had yeah she's rough she can be rough she's elegant but she can be rough and tough and mean mhm and sometimes when she would talk to C people in a certain way that I was like you know I was shocked that she would she never in the 12 years going on 13 years that she's known me she's never said anything to me that would offend me even though I know it's in her nature to offend people sometimes but she's never done it with me she always knew not to do it with me and it's out of her love for you and out of her love for me too but mainly it's out of her love for you because she understands she can't talk to your husband that way so I always respected her for kind of going against her nature and always being like and to this day so it's it's great no I love your mom when we met did we have anything in common you feel my thought process on this and at the time and even now I don't look at compatibility yeah with you or just in general between people as like sharing common interests so if you liked crocheting and I didn't like crocheting it doesn't mean we're incompatible it just means you you like a stupid hobby but I mean who the hell who crochets why are you hating on Seline oh I'm sorry I'm sorry Seline I'm sorry Seline does great crochet by I'm sure my point my point is is that like things like hobbies and stuff like that that that to me is not I don't think that's relevant you know where you and I have something in common and kind of what what really binds us is our you know it's our morality it's our belief systems yeah and that's that's what matters the fact that you you know I like sports cars or and you like uh I don't know like uh reading a lot like who cares like who cares if that's it's not the same thing it doesn't matter it's irrelevant so do you feel like being with someone that's much younger than you myself uh influence your perspective or view on life yeah yeah it has it reminds me of the sweet ignorance of Youth so there are things to me that are obvious about life MH that I can't explain to you and I can't explain it to you even though I explain a lot of stuff to you and I share with you the the advantage of my extra 18 years mhm but there are things that can't be explained they have to be experienced yeah so there are certain things that I just and I know you're going to get to it so observing you kind of going through certain things and learning certain things especially professionally and I know we're going to get we're going to talk about the business and stuff but especially professionally I know that as much as I I feel like I provide you with a lot of shortcuts and a lot of knowledge to help you along I I think that my guidance has certainly accelerated your growth as an entrepreneur but there are certain things that I know there's no point right and and I I would get in the past I would get more and more upset about it I'm less upset about it now because I know you just need to go through it yeah but yeah I mean I think that's what it is I think observing your development it yeah it just kind of reminds me of myself also when I was younger and the fact that I had to go through certain things I love the term ignorance cuz I feel like I'm trying to hold on to it a little bit longer I think before I used to look at it as something negative like I should know these things and I should you know understand this and I should and now I actually in a way like you're enjoying watching it I'm enjoying experience it I'm like enjoying the humbling experience of making the mistake and then learning from it and just kind of going that you know like take life stage by stage CU I feel like for a long time I tried to rush and maybe because I was with you maybe because you're trying to catch up yeah maybe because I'm like oh I want to make sure that you know we're kind of on the same level and I think that something shifted for me I would say maybe this year where I was like wait no no no this year yeah cuz I yeah I was trying like something that I love about our age Gap is because you have more experience because you have more knowledge and wisdom which actually I don't know if it's because of the age Gap like I think you're just a very wise person in general and that's what attracted me to you I was trying to make sure that you know I can provide the same value as you um in certain like aspects I understand what you're saying but I you know I want to say something that I I don't want to kind of I'm not trying to put myself down by saying it it's just I feel it's just a fact your capacity to learn is is better than mine like you're a faster learner Than Me Your Capacity to take in knowledge process it and apply it you're just faster at it than I am so just because I've been around long that doesn't make me better at figuring things out so at this point I'm better at you than figuring things out but it's not because I'm able to process information better than you like whatever whatever we're working on it's already happened to me 17 times so I can take the information the I can I remember the information from actually doing stuff and apply to a current situation whereas you can take new information and process it much quicker than I can I don't know why you just are and you just have a natural skill MH um I would say I'm probably above average in terms of my ability to like process information and then come up with like and solve problems with that information but you're like way above average you're exponentially above average and I and I feel that's why you're successful in what you do because I I and and I recognize that in you and by the way I didn't see that in you when I proposed right so I didn't I didn't know that you're a genius but you are thank you I'm like mm yeah correct I wanted to touch on the ignorance I'm I'm really enjoying it I guess we both of us we get reached out by quite a few people that are in relationship with an age Gap asking for advice or asking for any kind of things to look out for do you ever answer those like what yeah what you I try I try to answer as much as I can time permitting but what do I say I think the first thing and I think like kind of like as a like a foundational element to this is that you you absolutely have to not care what people think so I think the stress that people have from being in a relationship that have like an age Gap but any relationship that's uncommon it could be an interracial relationship I don't know different ethnicities different whatever it is cultures culture political opinions whatevers there's there's a million different things regardless of what it is the thing is is that if you're happy in that relationship that's your relationship and a relationship really does come down to the two people that are in it and so my advice to people when they talk about an age Gap and actually people have reached out to me also about like ethnicity differences and whatnot and my first thing that I say to them as like a foundational element is you you first the first thing you need to do is not care what other people think yeah and I believe I firmly believe that in the relationship that you're in and regardless of what the differences are if you stop caring what other people think you're going to you're going to basically eliminate 95% of the problem of that exist with that relationship right so that's it 95% of it is stopping to care what other people think mhm the fact that I don't care at all what other people think the fact that I'm older than you at all all of those nasty comments on social media they don't even phase me at all I think as we just we just have something so unique and so special like I really feel like this marriage was meant to be you know what I mean I agree I I just think I think I think we just it's TR look the correct relationship transcends age and everything else yeah however from a practical perspective there are limits right so when I hear about people with like a 35 year age difference yeah yeah like that's just going to be problematic MH I feel there there are negatives even to our age difference M but I think the more you go the more the problem is going to be I didn't I didn't think like I didn't take to consideration those realistic practical things when we got married you were 20 you didn't was 20 even now I feel like you talk about mortality way more than I do and you especially since you turned 50 that's one of those things that I can't explain to you that you're going to have to live and figure it out on your own because when you're going to be this age you're also going to be thinking about it and it's less mortality you know what it is it's mortality and sucession so I need to make sure that you and the kids are okay so that's something that's on the front of my mind at all times you also start when you get older you also start thinking like you start taking inventory of your life like what haven't I done yet or what should I have done or am I not successful enough at a certain you know these certain aspects of life and so you know you don't have that yet and there's no way a 32y old would I certainly didn't the world was my oyster at 32 I was like you know I didn't think of these things but you have to start you not that you have to you naturally will start thinking of these and I think that's a big divide when we talk about the differences in our age from a a mentality perspective that's I think one of the really big differences yeah I think the urgency that you have I don't feel yet especially in the business yeah but with the business it's not only because of my age but it's also because of my experience in business all those years before I met you that I understand the urgency of business cuz I had made a mistake of being comfortable in one of my early businesses that we were making you know decent money with we were making good money with and I got comfortable and I should have been progressing and I probably lost 8 years of hard like Pro of progress because I got comfortable cuz I didn't know yeah and so I'm always rushing you because I know you're going to come to the same conclusion when you get to where I am yeah and you're going to and I don't want you to look back and say I should have done more that's why I push you so hard in business I know I I actually I value that a lot and I love it and I love hearing your introspections about your own journey and your own experience some of them I may not understand understand because just from sheer experience and age and some of them you may not agree with and that's fine too some I may not agree with I agree but I think it gives me such a different perspective on life my growth in certain areas the one that I decide to accelerate my growth in are obviously like those areas benefiting from that a lot okay so speaking of the business because we do work together I think that you know the dynamic of married couples also working together and building something thing is a complex one at times so we've been working together now for how long 7 years in a business capacity I mean we were working together from the day we met we were we we worked to get married we worked on our life we we worked on decorating we worked on everything together yeah but how do let's actually rewind a little bit and talk about how we got into business together because when I started with social media I didn't start it from a place of like oh this is a business and with your experience erience um you actually came one time to me and you like hey what are you doing you know you saw that I was kind of doing YouTube a little bit here and there filming came in come on you know what happened yeah you saw money came in but you also saw that I was doing something and you're like what is this and when I showed it to you based on your kind of knowledge of the media industry of the internet business you're like this is this is something this is big so let's back up for a second I want to I want to back up for a second and I've told you this a lot of times so this isn't going to be a surprise to you when you and I got married it's from the day we met yeah and I decided you're going to be my wife it never crossed my mind what you would do professionally it didn't cross my mind I never thought about it you know what I mean so to me it's just like I always thought as a man and as a traditional man I'm going to work and you're going to do I didn't think I'm going to work and you're going to stay at home I thought I'm going to work and you're going to do whatever you want yeah that was my intention to give you that life from day one so to me the fact that this happened happened and I saw it I spent some time kind of on my own and I thought okay like now she's going to have to work like am I okay with her working but then I thought I was like looking around and I saw everything that was going on in social media and I thought if she's going to do something this is the thing to do because not only is this like I think going to be a big hit financially but this is cool like this is cool and fun and interesting and I imagine this life for you where you're a huge celebrity you I'm glad you don't cringe when I say that anymore so that's progress I Envision that you're going to be this huge celebrity super influential um helping millions of people and I'm like this is it this is what Valeria was meant to do and oddly enough this is what I was meant to do I was meant to be the support and the Catalyst to get it done because it's funny because then I realized my purpose when I saw how talented you were at the time and still are obviously and I was like this is my purpose M and I had met Chris Jenner about maybe a year and a half prior to that so I had met her for some other business dealings and I was actually in her home twice and I met with her and I remember it so vividly like we were in her you know we were in the kind of main area of her house and then we went to her office and in her office you know I was sitting there and her phone kept ringing you know she's this whole Mamer thing and saw the photos on the walls it wasn't photos it was framed magazine covers of all of her children so Kim was there and Chloe and all of them North North ran in that was cool when North ran in I was like oh my God it's like I didn't think it's it's north it's Kanye's daughter any that's that's a different story but the point is is that in meeting with Chris I saw this business and I was fascinated by it I was fascinated and you hadn't even you weren't even doing any social media at that time but then fast forward maybe you were but no I think I was I I didn't pay it wasn't in my scope of vision and then you know whatever it was like a year later this happened and I had that flashback to my time with Chris and I actually spent some time with Kim at Khloe's house and we talked and I just kind of felt even though it was brief but I I kind of felt the infrastructure and I felt the business side of it you know and so when you started making content that was the Genesis of like okay this is what she's going to do this is what valer is going to do this is what you was born to do and I got very aggressive in terms of like we have to push this through we have to push this through and I was also in between businesses I had a business that folded that was shut down right before that and I was like it's perfect this is fate This was meant to happen cuz I had in that business that that shut down I had gained a lot of knowledge about media in general and like the data behind media and all the kpis that drive it and then you did this and I remembered Chris and Kim and I was just like it everything just came together and I remember I said to you Valeria you are going to be the Oprah of your generation you're going to be a huge star we're going to push this thing through this is while we're sitting in like a suburb of Toronto living this Suburban life with little kids and I was just like no no no that's it you're you're a star you're going to be the biggest star ever you truly are the Visionary between us that's for sure you thought I was crazy honestly I still think you're crazy at times but I think that's what works in our Dynamic and um to touch on your point first of all I wanted to mention that I very much appreciate that when we got married you didn't in our relationship it wasn't like okay what do you do how do you contribute uh you know what do you do for work do you are you going to go back to school like I I shared with you that I'm kind of like I don't you know I'm interested in this and this and this but you created this space for me to explore what I liked and you know I actually got to touch different interests of mine like with the holistic nutrition with all these different things when I was doing that I was like again you created a space where I was like I have the freedom to try these different things and to see where I'm good at and what I'm not so good at and things like that and that's how I got into social media so I had the time I had the luxury to do that and I really I really appreciate that uh but once you did recognize that oh like you're you're talented in this and this is something that will you know be a huge thing and you pressed on it I think and we started working together that's when we had I think the most kind of um how do you say it how do you say this it's not even conflict but it was challenging to find the balance of like the business and our family life it wasn't for me it wasn't for you because I feel like for you it's all together but for me I needed that separation yeah but that's I feel that that's like a that's like a nostalgic look at it where oh we have to to separate work from life and blah blah blah blah blah it is very old school but at the time that's what I knew it's not old school I think it's just an ignorant way to look at life to me look to me there's one thing to me there's one thing right there's one thing yeah the one thing to me is the benefit to the family so to me the benefit to the family is the one thing so that's one thing so no I'm gonna explain it to you yeah I'm gonna explain it to you okay right now you and I just got back from anguila yeah right and in Anga we actually we reconnected we had some time together the kids weren't with us we didn't have a lot of kind of work stuff we actually we had a we had a really nice time so to me the benefit of that trip in anguila was that you and I reconnected and we're happier because we're happier the kids are happier because we're happier the business progresses better you're talking about it's no no but hold on it's all no I'll get to it so it's all to it's all work the benefit of us going and relaxing on that trip even though on the surface it appeared to be a pleasure trip and it was for us just to be together yeah but it it contributes to the benefit of our family we're sitting in this podcast right now this is our business this is our work this is contributing to the benefit of the family yeah right when we're making a deal with a brand it contributes to the benefit of the family when you and I are talking about business I know I think you're everything flows into the same place yeah but you're answering something different I feel like first of all the na na I'm sorry that was annoying said you said the ignorance I was like you don't have to you don't whatever but um to me I'm not talking about that I'm talking about our relationship as a husband and wife moving from that way of being of a husband and wife to moving now of you and I running a business I'm the talent and you're kind of the you're more than you're more than the talent no I'm more than the talent but you were you were very much pushing I didn't know where to push I was pushing on my talent but you were pushing on all these different things in in the business business right like we built an infrastructure and you were very much heading that you know um evolution of the business but when you would come to me and you know let's say during dinner and we're talking about you know a deal or something that we disagree on there was quite a bit of tension between us yeah in the beginning of the business because back then it was you me and one employee I think right we had Emma that was doing video and that's it so that was difficult for me I loved doing invoices invoices was my favorite you were you were better at it than I was that's I clearly was better at it than you but it's like the thing I hate doing the most shout out to Kieran or CFO I know but back then like that was challenging for me cuz we were like you know running our household together very tightly and then now we're also running the business very tightly it was a lot for me because at the time you subscribed to tra to traditional male female roles in a marriage that was your thought pattern because that's what you knew that that's what you knew growing up that a man does this a woman does this they they separate to accomplish their separate goals then they come back together to have their personal life and to raise children so you were you were living in that you were living in that societal box that was created for you whereas for me I grew up in a very different situation where I didn't have like a stable family unit so to me there's just I'm like unidirectional it's just we have to achieve we have to achieve we have to uh gain we have to do you know so to me I don't have these boundaries that these artificial boundaries that Society created that you subscribe to I don't have them yeah to me it's just like benefit all the time Chase benefit whether it's Health money uh Evolution spirituality whatever benefits us we just go for I don't I don't have these constructs that I subscribe to you definitely changed that a lot for me because yeah it's true I had a very specific idea in my head of how everything need needs to go down and when it didn't it was very difficult for me to reorganize the way I Envision My Life um and our life together I had to learn a lot too because for me I S I saw the path clearly mhm and I would push you and I saw that you would resist and I had to learn and I think the tensions got less when I had to learn to let you learn at your own pace and then you would meet me where I was already standing with for you yeah and I think we've gotten there and I think I think we've done we we've had a lot of progress in that a lot of progress I mean it's been also seven years I'm happy that there is but most of the progress has been recently yes a lot of breakthroughs yeah you never had any reservation about us working together it never crossed my mind were you scared when you decided to really go all in into kind of my personal brand because I feel like you mentioned that you were in between businesses but you're already doing your own thing you know you had your own entrepreneurial path did it not scare you to lean into this so heavily was scare me what do you mean like what what would I be scar your identity um your again you're you're subscribing to some construct that was taught to you that doesn't exist okay so talk walk me through it so you didn't have any reservation to go all in into this business and like putting me as like I this is this is the phase this is the brand for the effort and time that either you and or I would put into it the maximum yield financially would be from this so that was just a very simple like that was that was my feeling so when I kind of looked all over at what the opportunities were at that time MH I was just like this is the the best opportunity right now so where I'm going to put my effort Is Here Yeah so Valeria has time I now have time we want to make money we want to achieve this is the best and most efficient use of our time to create something that's going to have value what that item was the fact that it was your personal brand whatever okay cool that didn't that wasn't so that was one aspect to it and then the the other aspect to it was I felt that it was I was very motivated by the early feedback from the audience you know like when people are yo Valeria we love you you helped me blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I I read and I still do I read every single comment even the nasty ones and I read them all and that really motivates me when people especially young women talk about how much you help them and how you motivate them and how you inspire them that's really fuel for me that that you know so when it was happening in the early days that to me I knew we were on the right path any Venture I had before that it was always like only about the money do you know what I mean and the value that I would provide I knew I needed to create value in order to make money right but what was driving the creation of that value in any of my businesses was making money right but I discovered with you something knew that yes I knew I had to create value you and I had to create value through your content in order to make money but the creation of the value also gave me satisfaction right whereas in my past businesses the creation of value didn't give me satisfaction the only satisfaction they gave me was they led to making money here the value that you create and that I help you create through the structuring and through all the stuff that you know I've done is that we're actually creating value that is Meaningful to the world and my perspective changed on creating meaningful value versus values strictly engineered for financial gain is that now we have children and now as they become more College sensient in terms of their Consciousness as they become as they awaken more from being children and they start being really conscious of their their surroundings I place a huge value in them looking at what you and I are doing yeah and being like those are my parents and setting that example for them so my priorities have shifted since we had children so I see a lot that's why I love this business that's why I love what do you think we would have worked together if it wasn't this do you think we would have gone into business together I don't know I guess we'll never know remember when Kanye said what what would happen if I stopped winning I guess guess we'll never know okay let's talk about um kind of the evolution of our business because when we started and I was actually had a podcast recording last week and I was talking about it I was talking about how with who with live thank you I was I had a a recording last week with Lea Perez and we were talking about building a legacy brand and it's interesting because her perspective was like you know valer it feels like you're not just a content creator just like an influencer there's something like bigger behind it she also said like I didn't know you have you know the this whole company and the whole infrastructure and that's when you know that idea of like we're building a legacy brand really kind of came out out of me we talk about it often but I knew from day one we talk about it often but I never voiced it like that you know and for me it was a big shift let's talk about how and when we decided to move from you know looking at it as like oh I create videos on YouTube to we're building a media company uh what do you mean for me it was right away as soon as I as soon as I decided to put my time into it it was a business yeah for me I guess for me it was a slow that's like so interesting and I think that's why there was a a lot of U I have to give it to you you were you were very patient you know because but I was always Al I was also very aggressive too well I I do get asked all the time if we represented by external agencies CU a lot of you know it's a big industry now the influencer or the Creator economy and there's so many external agencies and when we started um I remember we probably were signed to an agency for like two weeks not exclusive more than two weeks but they want that exclusivity and I said no again thanks to your kind of experience you just very early on recognized that we need to build everything in house because the way we want things to be done won't be done by other people that wasn't why so why well I just thought we could do a better job of doing whatever they said that they were going to do we could do a better job ourselves yeah like for example when an agency said give us your inbox and we're going to take your deals and negotiate on your behalf I said you're not going to negotiate better than me and they said no no we will they didn't know kind of my background they said no no no we're going to wear really good I'm like okay and I humored them and I said great I want you I want to I want you to CC me on all the emails I want to see what you're saying and so when they would respond their response was so weak when a brand would reach out they didn't know they're hand they're dealing with a sales person no I understand but like their response was just so weak they weren't positioning it to close they weren't they weren't trying to extract value they weren't asking the right questions they just weren't doing it right so I said there's no way you guys are getting the inbox so if you want to go non-exclusive whatever deals you bring up us you can bring them to me I'll look I'll look at them and then I'll bring them to Valeria and we'll decide if we want to do them but there's no way you're managing you're not running our deals yeah I think that in general um historically and currently I think that I'm so proud of the organization we' built and the people that you know we have that run all the different departments in our business that every time we try to do anything with external um it doesn't really work for us because we kind of have our own way of doing things at this point like we created our own but it's not it's not for everybody look I also think that with external organizations you're leaving your fate in their hands you're basically sitting around and waiting for them to bring you opportunities and the thing is is that when you're dealing with an agency and there's nothing wrong we work with a lot of agencies so I'm not going to sit here and like talk talk badly about them no that's different but they they bring us deals and then you know we work with them but the thing is is that with an agency it's that if you're waiting for an agency to bring you opportunities the problem with that is they're also bringing opportunities to hundreds of other Talent yeah so you know you don't even know but you're competing in this pool and they're going to bring it to whoever is most beneficial for the client and for themselves which is what they should be doing yeah why create an additional layer of competition so we're already competing for the Brand's attention to come to us now you want to put it through a another layer which is another company and now in that company you're competing because they're going to decide who to give the deal to whether it's you or to another influencer so it made it never made any sense to me I mean when I was modeling and I was with agencies it was the one thing that really burned me it was really difficult for me I was blown away I remember you you would tell me I did this job a year ago I'm still waiting to get paid like what are you talking about you did that a year ago what do you mean you're waiting to get paid I hated that whole thing uh and there was a lot of politics there was a lot of like relationship keeping you know like there's always someone that kind of is in charge of your sure of your success uh so so that was I feel like once we started building our own infrastructure I think that was the most the thing that I am the most proud of and that makes me feel we did that from the beginning yeah makes me feel free uh let's talk about our each of our areas of expertise because I mentioned how in the beginning when we started working together it was myself you and a videographer editor no in the beginning it was you and me we hired we hired Emma yeah we hired Emma before Emma we had brand deals and for Emma we were cre we were Crea cont I remember I used to like hire Our Ladies like random what you talking about I was I was shooting you everywhere we went no no you see you don't even know that was before you were part of this you had Nori shooting you in front of the house that is correct nor used to take my garage photos bless Nori my queen I hired I remember a couple of times these young girls that I would find randomly on Instagram being like hey can you assist me for the day and we would like take brand pictures and then you started with me you were taking my pictures and you were very resistant to it um but then you got better I come on give me the credit I made you the Instagram husband no you did the cuz you didn't tell me what you were doing because we would go out for dinner and you're like okay you got to take a picture of me I took a I'm like okay here's a picture no no no it's not like this you got to get the light like this you got to do this you put the angle and I'm like it's I didn't understand it was for business I was like why are we doing this I go can we just go to dinner we're here to meet people everyone's waiting inside we're all ready late now you want to stand outside the restaurant and you want me to do a photo shoot for what purpose Valeria come on let's go yes but you you were trained uh pretty well and pretty fast and you cut up with it and then we got Emma in for our to do editing and video correct and then slowly we started adding people in but again we used to work very closely together slowly but okay I mean it was all kind of in conjunction with the revenue that was coming in yeah so as sales came in we decided to reinvest continue to reinvest back into expertise yeah and what that helped was to slowly build out a company and slowly build um the separation of working of our departments like we each decided okay this is what you're in charge of and this is what I'm in charge of and I think that helped us a lot at least for me I think that's what I needed I just needed like okay I need my own kind of agency to do the things that I want to do creatively where you can I can come to you and ask for your opinion but you're not in it you know and then for you on the business side and on all these different initiatives that you are trying to push through you don't need me to constantly you know you know what the difference between you and me is yes tell me I don't care I know that you don't care differ and that's so wonderful that's great for me because it's so easy to be married to you I do whatever needs to be done so something needs to be done I do it some things that I some things that I hate doing like taking care of like Renovations in the house I'm pretty vocal about about the fact that I hate it and I'm upset at myself for being as vocal I should just suck it up and be a man and do it anyways but you did buy a hammer in the thing I bought a little Hammer yeah it's a small one yeah but my point is is that I just do what needs to be done so if you need me to be creative and take pictures I can be creative and I think I'm pretty good creatively you are I can I can take pictures and be creative I can do videos and by the way the top performing videos are ones that I shot when you didn't even know I was shooting so I I nobody captures you like me so I I just do whatever it takes so when you ask about kind of the delineation between our roles it's not like there's a complete segregation but there is like we e we each have our own kind of expertise if that makes sense and then we both work together when needed for different projects sure this is this is the case but it's irrelevant to me so if I needed to be beside you for 12 hours a day and shooting content with you uh shooting content for you if I whatever I'm trying to answer the question why you that's okay we're having not having a discussion is the goal to answer the question or to have a discussion we're having a discussion but your discussion is I don't care I'm trying to understand what your you want to know what so tell me my expertise is if something needs to be done I become an expert at it that's my expertise whatever needs to get done Gary takes care of it you know people sometimes ask me what do you do like what do you do for a living my answer is whatever it takes whatever it takes that's what I do I don't know you and Seline have lots in common there you go there you go I don't know what do I do I so if you're asking me practically what I do I mean as of as of now Rachel runs the day-to- day which she does very effectively but Rachel and I worked very closely together for three years it's actually funny she texted me today and she's like you and I haven't talked in a while which is a good thing which means that you know everything is running smoo Rachel's our CEO she goes which is a good thing because it means that everything's running smoothly but I'd like to just catch up with you and I love it when she does that because it's like she knows that I'm busy doing what I do and you're busy and everything and she she cut up with me so at this point yeah like I I continue to oversee things and I started my own podcast which you know I'm I'm I'm really happy that I'm doing it's literally the first time in my life where I've started doing something with zero understanding of whether it's going to make money or not I know I love it I think you needed it it's fulfilling to me because I enjoy the subject matter that I'm talking about and I enjoy the people that I'm talking about and I'm I'm really enjoying the connections that I'm making like I well you know like we had dinner with um John Anda and I interviewed I interviewed John from curated from the car dealership and he has these classic cars and stuff such a fascinating guy in such a fun story this is somebody who like you know we're friends now and it's it's great but anyways yeah I feel like that helped us building that structure helped us to kind of separate our own roles and now it's different I feel like now we kind of went up to a different level uh CU even three years ago we were operating differently than the way we operate now where to your point now you're even higher on the like overseeing and now it's kind of Rachel and I that are more in it and every day and then you're just kind of which was the goal so listen for the record I think it took some time but I'm very happy with the way everything's going but when goes down then I I step in and I take care I'm a firefighter I take I take care of it but it's rare because it's got to be like a five alarm fire and that's when I step in but everything like Rachel's taking she probably takes care of Five Alarm fires that don't even get to me to her credit yeah so I'm only taking care of stuff that really like comes across my desk how do we actually deal with disagreements on the business side and not let it affect our kind of personal lives you know the thing is is that they're not there's no such thing there's no disagreements they're not I'll tell you why they're not because you and I have the common goal you and I have a common goal to win for you and I to win as a couple as individuals for kids to win for everybody to win and everything to get better so the Topline kind of goal there's no disagreement there it's within that goal what are the things that happen that we don't see eye to eye on yeah but the goal is the same so we disagree so we agree on what's important yes you know it's how to get there that we may want to kind of steer it in a bit of a different way so I think the first thing is when you're asking me how do we do it the first thing is first identifying that the high level goal we're in agreement on mhm once you decide that you're in agreement on the high level goal and what we're doing and how like what we want to do to get there yeah kind of work backwards and everything else is kind of simple yeah so the first thing we do just like we do in all aspects of our life is I drop my ego and so do you so none of our discussions are ego- driven we don't care who wins the debate on how to do something we care about getting to to the solution and for both of us whether we get there and it's I'm still working on it you still have an ego about it sometimes I feel like I still have resistance like I feel like I just want to be like no I said that I some I feel like sometimes you just want to be resistant because you just just for the fancies of it no I just think you're still you you're still trying to prove to yourself not even to me right you're still trying to prove to yourself something but I don't think yeah it's I've seen much worse you're you're good but yeah I definitely think that we we work backwards because I think we're so aligned on the big Vision we're able to have the kind of communication that takes us step by step of what we need to align with in order to get a resolution and I think that working together now that I actually think about it the fact that we work together I think improved us and our communication and the way we handle life on like on our personal life the way we run our household the way we raise our kids I think it definitely optimize I don't know if that's a the word but I don't think it's perfect I mean it will never be but I'm excited to see progress I'm excited to see progress in our home life in our business with our children they're not SE students as you thought they were they're actually all Ace they're all straight A students okay I have to there's so we're in anguila we're having dinner such you're you're such a Jewish Mom it's unbelievable I think I'm just a mom a mom I don't know anyway we're sitting at dinner I look at Gary we're having like a wonderful dinner right there's nothing wrong everything was wonderful and I'm like you know our kids are failing school and you're like what what are you talking about like yeah I remember seeing their report cards cuz we never really sat down and talked about it we didn't talk about it but I reviewed the report cards I just reviewed it four months ago so I didn't remember the exact right but I was like there are a few c's for both of them and you're like no way that's not there's no way show it to me and I pulled it up and we're I'm just like I'm all getting all royed up I'm like how are we going to handle this what are we going to do first we checked Ben so first we checked Ben Gary look cuz he's holding the phone you're looking at the thing and you looked at me you're like are you okay look and it's all like a plus a plus a plus he had no he had a couple of a and he had one a minus why he had one Aus he had an A minus in what I don't remember who cares it's an A minus it's not we don't but then we open Jake you open Jake and everything like same thing right it's all like in the A's they're both straight A students yeah and you just look at me like you need to I felt silly yeah you were you were Silly you're basically I know but you're basically navigating the way you talk to our children with the mentality that they're really bad at school it's where in reality they're really good at school they're not but I don't want them to feel too comfortable anyways but you know it's like they don't feel comfortable I don't know how it was for you but when I used to come back from school and I would get I don't know like 85 and I was like yes this is amazing I don't know what it is in be is I I don't know B minus or something or B 85 yeah I don't know that might be an that might be an A minus anyways I would come to be like look at this Mom Dad look what I did and they're like why not A+ no that's just an but that's a very like Soviet mentality that's also something the word balance I feel like a lot of people ask us about balance how we balance this like being together um working together and then having kids and then you know having a relationship as a husband and wife and all the thing and to me it's not balanced to me again it's the same thing I'm always on it's to me it's I'm I'm level it's always the same thing when I'm talking to our kids or I'm disciplining them or anything I'm doing with them I'm in the same mindset as when I'm speaking with any member of our team about getting a deal done or getting some Logistics done or I'm speaking to you about planning our next trip or um I don't know any of the things that I do on a regular basis or when I'm sitting and hosting my own podcast or when I'm a guest on yours to me it's all the same thing I have the same mindset in everything I do I think you're slowly getting into my head like I'm slowly getting more levelheaded because of your practicality to life I'm like it's it's it's rubbing on me I don't know how practical I am because a practical person would still be living in Toronto with you and the kids and we wouldn't have moved to Miami and done this crazy thing okay so not practical so how do you call it you just got to get done I don't know like it's the mindset and the mentality that you need to have on a regular basis yeah to get done and that's it o okay let's talk about our achievements do we celebrate do you feel like we celebrate our achievements no I know why don't we do that I'll tell you why we don't do that we don't do that because for me when we achieve something I don't think it's extraordinary like we're supposed to achieve stuff I don't know like oh we made this big sale I'm happy that we made the sale and I congratulate the team members who were involved in making I congratulate the whole team and I and I'm very proud of them and I'm and I'm very happy about it but like I'm not sitting there throwing a party in my head I'm just like I don't know we're supposed to do that let's say our business grows one year and have like an extraordinary growth and it grows and I was like look we grew we grew like okay you're supposed to grow I don't know well I think that for me the reason why we don't celebrate achievements is I think we're celebrating the dayto day like I honestly I I thought about it today I woke up this morning and I'm just like I'm so excited today we have this and this and this and I feel like in a way I'm celebrating a little bit like every day so I agree the big stuff like the big sales or Milestones or follower C whatever it is or something goes viral that's not like a thing that excites me per se like it's not something that I would celebrate it's something that is just kind of a green light for me like okay keep on going listen I'm I'm grateful that we're doing what we're doing I think honestly I think we're we're so cool I think this is the no we are I think this is such a cool thing that we're doing like it is it's cool and I really feel it you know what I enjoy what and to me I'm I have Micro celebrations so when that's what I said okay but I'm just saying it I'm saying you also have Micro celebration no no no you now you're you're using my I called it micro celebration oh you also have my no I said it I said it me it's my term micro celebration um so when you get stopped and I've told you this in the past when you get stopped by followers when we're in when we're in like a public place like just at the airport it was happening I was playing it cool I was like sitting there eating my sandwich and uh and this this girl ran up to you my God Val I love you so much to me that's such a that's a celebration to me that's a big win for me when I can see the emotion in real life versus just like a comment like in you know in the comments when I see emotion in real life how people react to you that's a that's a celebration to me I mean I remember specifically when we were in Dubai and we were at that party oh I didn't think You' remember that you were so embarrassed no you were literally crying yeah yeah because of the reaction from the because of the reaction from those people yeah we were at this party it was an after party we were walking through and this woman sweet woman stops me and she just honestly she said the nicest things she stopped us she was talking to both of us right she was talking to both of us and she said the nicest things and all I see in the corner of my eye is Gary standing there and his eyes are getting all like wed up with tears you're literally about to cry yeah yeah because it means that much to I'll cry now too because mean it means that much to me we love a man that cries yeah no it means a lot to me and when the to see the reaction that people have from the effort that you and to a smaller degree me put into this it's a satisfaction I've never felt before with with strictly financial gain yeah I agree it's just incredible very special and you know it's funny because even when I talk to people that I've known for many years the level of respect that I feel like they feel for for me and you is just very satisfying because it's not the it's not the same when someone's just like really successful financially do you know what I mean it's different because they have this lens and they can see you know a filtered version of our lives through the content people are just really connecting to you so it just makes me really happy oh thank you but to me that's the celebration you know the the financial Milestones are great so I'm just I'm just grateful overall but I think that once we hit like a certain cuz in my head I I like I know where I wanted take this with you which required convincing cuz you didn't want it you're like I don't want that life I don't want fame I don't want all of this stuff and I was like no no no like this is good this is this is the way it has to be and to me I I think when we hit that I feel like this journey also like I'm telling you everything is so happens for a reason why we work together and the business that we're in and everything that we do because you see I share with you a lot that I have these personal breakthroughs through actually our business and you know the work that I do every day I have a lot of personal breakthroughs and you know a lot of the kind of touch on how earlier in my career I was like I don't want to be famous I don't want to do this you so saw that it it came from a place of not believing in myself and not understanding myself worth and playing small that you just you just recognized and you said like I'm not having it like this is not you're not your life is not going to be this small just because you don't believe in yourself I recently told you that you must be crazy if you think I'm not I'm going to allow you not to live up to your potential I won't allow it I just won't allow it yeah it's I it's my personal responsibility and my mission you have to live up to 100% of your potential even more you have to push yourself past what you think you can do and become more and that's I feel that's the best thing that I can do for you and that's the best thing from a legacy perspective that I can leave behind is to put all my effort into making sure you're the absolute best version of yourself possible I appreciate that yeah no problem and make sure you have enough left for the children I was well you that's that was the next sentence that was going to come out of my mouth is that now it's like I have to do that for the kids so I have to multiply this effort by four yeah and it's not a small task right to do this for four people like you and you and our three boys it's it's not a small thing and so I'm realizing how important it is to do mhm so that yeah that's that's kind of the that's the goal let me see what's next hold on do you influence each other's style any funny stories about trying to keep up with the latest trends or introducing each other to different styles all I know is that I'm so damn happy you stop buying those stupid Balenciaga whatever what is it called the hoodies oh my God because Balenciaga broke my heart no their in general the things they used to buy like Lord of mercy so I feel like yeah I feel I don't know if I influenced you cuz I never I never said it directly to you but I was kind of you were buying some silly stuff before you were trying to find your style I'm in I'm in the hats now ever since the dermatologist told me I can't be in the sun anymore can you can you pass me my hat it's right there I just have stuff in it I've never seen a person oh it's denim oh it's full denim you're so on Trend we're actually doing a denim on denim YouTube video yeah this is denim on my head huh but you're also the kind of person when you you buy something you like it immediately after you go and buy 10 more of the same thing no not of the same thing different colors remember how you were into when you wanted to do the biking what is it called all my Spandex outfit when you came one day you're like hey my friend he started doing the biking on the road cycling and you went to the store you spent so much money you bought a whole thing you did did it for four time four times you did it right maybe more I wish I still have the bike you know what it is I'll tell you why I stopped yeah tell I stopped I stopped because I felt it was unnecessarily dangerous cuz if I get hit by a car I'll die but I wish you like tried it a couple of times and bought the whole like that was a mistake and and the Balenciaga hoodies were a mistake too and all the matching sets those were all mistakes yeah I agree those are mistakes but I feel you have to make mistakes you know you got to take some pain in order to grow yes it's the you know ignorance of Youth yeah how has your style changed have I influenced your style not at all my style changed based on the era I was in you know so I had like my trophy wife era I had my like I had different eras that I was dressing accordingly so I think now I'm in my true self era your true self era yeah that's incredible yeah hold on there's more questions let's just we'll wrap it up soon I'm just having fun I don't get to talk to you much so this talking about all we do is talk this morning we have our morning coffee we talk in the morning at 6: a.m. it's dark outside we talk and then you come back from the gym and we talk and then at lunch we talk yeah it's nice when one of you feels overwhelmed or uncertain how does the other step in to support or provide reassurance I don't know why but I feel like I'm always the overwhelmed one well I think you're overwhelmed because you have a lot more going on your schedule is mad but you're very good uh you're very good with supporting me you and and the team but I feel like you take action how do you mean I mean when I when I tell you that I'm stressed um now I think I I also learn how to communicate sooner before I kind of hit a wall when you see that I'm getting stressed you're kind of right away going to be like okay let's look at your schedule let's see you know maybe take a vacation maybe go do this maybe do that like take a few days off you're very good with that so I think that helps also I think you know although I might roll my eyes often when you talk to me about the same thing over and over and over again but it does penetrate so if I if I have something that kind of blocking me a certain topic or something and you talk to me about it who is that it's the security hold on my God hello five minutes later I think we should yeah but you can't you can't just wrap it up you take off your hat why I like you don't like my hat I like it but let's uh no but like it's cool don't it don't you feel it gives me like more of like a kind of thuggish vibe no with the beard in the Hat the full denim hat I don't know bro pass me my sunglasses oh my God no these are no these are the ones no these are the thanks man it's giving witness protection you can't really see your you're doing great how's that I mean it's giving what does giving mean I never you know what this whole thing of like I remember people used to say oh it's giving like Vibes this like it's giving like like Florida Vibes or it's giving whatever Vibes and then and then your generation decided to take out the word Vibes My Generation I adapt to what the young kids say and now it's just giving can you take off your hat so we can see your face or are we just going to go Anonymous so pass you that thanks D okay so what is our future looks like keep that yeah so where's it going where is it going you're the Visionary it's on a good trajectory um it's no don't laugh our life in general look for the business in general I'm not currently satisfied to me the future is leveraging this the the new scenario that we put ourselves into so we put ourselves in in a place where we're closer to Opportunities okay we're in we're in closer proximity to Opportunities and we put ourselves in a place that's more inspiring to you as a Creator and to all of us in general so those are kind of the what we've invested in yeah and now we have to cuz I feel we're get we're coming to the end of this this really um transitional time with a new home and putting the kids in a new school and everything and so now I see us really stepping on the gas and I see you becoming you know just becoming so let me add a little fairy dust on it so I think that our trajectory is wonderful I love that we're getting closer and growing together as a couple and as business partners the business I think is going to do amazing and I just see abundance and a lot of joy in our life and that's it you're just very specific with that I'm not happy with the great I'm not saying I'm not happy I'm saying I'm not fully satisfied cool we'll get there we're on our way yeah keep going I love you thank you for coming thank you for coming yeah I I live 7 minutes away thank you for coming and sitting on this chair and and sharing can I use this for can iuse your studio for some of my podcasts yes sharing is caring thank you so much for watching this episode I hope you enjoyed it don't miss my newest episode right here and if you're listening to the podcast on Apple or Spotify please go and leave a review with your biggest takeaway I love reading your thoughts and if you have any suggestions for guests or topics you can leave them in the comment section and always always remember you are not alone