Behind Her Empire Podcast: Hedley & Bennett CEO Ellen Bennett Says 'Start Before You're Ready'
On this episode of Behind Her Empire podcast, hear from Ellen Bennett, founder and CEO of Hedley & Bennett, maker of durable, functional and slick-looking aprons and kitchen gear.
After attending culinary school in Mexico City, Ellen cooked in some of LA's most prestigious kitchens and found that the aprons she wore fell apart. Thus, Hedley & Bennett was born. Her aprons are now found in more than 6,000 restaurants and hotels, as well as hundreds of thousands of home kitchens around the world.
Key Takeaways:
- Ellen thrives on the challenge and adventure of "the abyss" -- of not knowing what's coming next.
- After high school, Ellen moved to Mexico City and took on a bunch of odd jobs, including stints as an English tutor, model and lottery television announcer, before attending culinary school.
- Back in L.A., she cooked in some of the city's most prestigious kitchens, and while she immersed herself in the world, she and a colleague couldn't shake off the idea of reinventing the essential pro-kitchen tool: an apron. She wanted it to be "proper" and beautiful, so that the wearer felt awesome and legit — a product which, at the time, did not exist.
- It was the need for operational infrastructure that pushed Ellen to find a strategic partner.
By the time I was old enough to recognize happiness, I think that I could very clearly see people's genuine joy in situations that had nothing to do with resources, and they had nothing to do with money and it just had to do with life.
Today with Instagram and everything, you have to constantly be reminding yourself that everyone is on their own path. And just because something looks shiny on the outside doesn't mean that it's shiny on the inside.
Most of the time, you have the tools right in front of you. It's just like, how are you arranging your life and your time and your day to take advantage of them? And it takes hitting the ground floor of life sometimes to really embrace them totally.
—Ellen Bennett
Ellen Bennett was raised in Los Angeles. She was trained in culinary school and some of L.A.'s top kitchens before founding Hedley & Bennett
Want to hear more of the Behind Her Empire podcast? Subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Electric vehicle charging station provider EVgo is going public, joining a wave of companies in the electric vehicle industry hoping to ride on Tesla's soaring stock growth over the last year.
The Los Angeles-based startup, which operates a nationwide fast-charging network for electric vehicles, announced Friday it's going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company that will generate about $575 million in net proceeds.
The deal with the SPAC, Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corp., values EVgo at $2.6 billion. Shares shot up more than 66% on the news.
<p>The injection of funds will be used to help EVgo grow its charging infrastructure network and, "will enhance the company's position as the market leader in the transition to clean mobility," the company said. </p><p>Last summer, the company struck a deal with General Motors to create a nationwide EV charging infrastructure buildout. Under the agreement, EVgo will add more than 2,700 faster chargers over the next five years. Uber and Lyft also selected EVgo as one of their first charging providers. EVgo has also worked with Tesla.</p><p>After the merger, it will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "EVGO."</p><p>The company is joining a rush of other electric vehicle companies that have recently gone public including <a href="https://dot.la/canoo-spac-ipo-2649624038.html" target="_self">Canoo</a>,<a href="https://dot.la/fisker-gets-ready-for-wall-street-debut-picks-up-manhattan-beach-hq-2648211958.html" target="_self"> Fisker</a>, Lordstown Motors and Nikola. </p><p>EVgo CEO Cathy Zoi said that the need for fast charging is on the rise as improved technology, lower costs and greater selection is driving the electric vehicle market.</p><p>"An estimated 30% of Americans do not have access to at-home charging," Zoi said in a statement, "and EVs will be increasingly deployed by fleets to transport goods and people in an environmentally-friendly way. Time is precious for all of us, so a public fast charging option with an expanding footprint like EVgo is essential to meet the rapidly growing needs of EV drivers of all types."</p><p>Analysts say the demand for electric vehicles will continue to grow as regulators crack down on emissions and there's currently not much of an infrastructure for them. The incoming Biden administration has pledged to help develop an electric vehicle charging infrastructure as part of a jobs proposal for the automotive industry. And in California, Gov.Gavin Newsom ordered all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California be zero-emission by 2035.</p><p>"Starting from our IPO in September, we set out looking for a purpose-driven company making a meaningful contribution in the fight against climate change that was best in class in its sector. We are excited to have found that company in EVgo," CEO of CRIS David Crane said in announcing the deal.<br/></p><p>Founded in 2010, EVgo has become one of the leading providers of electric vehicle charging stations in the U.S. Its chargers are in more than 800 locations in 34 states with 220,000 customers. It was acquired by LS Power in 2019.</p><p>"EVgo is a crown jewel in our portfolio, and is one of the LS Power businesses leading the charge toward decarbonization," David Nanus, LS Power's co-head of Private Equity and EVgo chairman, said in the announcement. "EVgo's extensive nationwide network and deep relationships with its customers and other stakeholders create a real competitive advantage for the company, and this business combination, which will both fully fund and accelerate the company's growth plans, positions EVgo to further strengthen its market-leading position."</p>
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In 2012, Evan Britton founded a website premised upon what the web arguably does best: help people obsess over celebrities.
Britton launched his first site in 1999 as a senior in college and has since made his living monetizing web clicks.
When he created Famous Birthdays as a sort of Wikipedia of celebrities nine years ago, Tiktok wasn't even born and Snap had barely launched. The term "influencers" had yet to seep into the mainstream. But as social media created a new form of celebrity, the site has morphed into a pillar of the teen-centric world of online personalities and creators.
<p>
This month the company said it will surpass 35 million unique monthly visitors across its app and website. Third-party data providers, which use various methods to estimate web traffic, peg that figure anywhere between 4-6 million (Comscore) and 29 million (Similar Web). Many of those users are teens who use the site to browse celebrity profiles, contribute to popularity rankings and see who's trending.
</p><p>
"It's a pulse of the Gen Z community," said Talia Kocar, VP of Content at Mammoth Media, a Gen Z-focused mobile entertainment studio.
</p><p>
And as that community has expanded and entrenched its online presence, Famous Birthdays has ridden the wave. Britton's profitable website makes money from billions of programmatic ads that are generated from places like Google and Amazon and it has become a useful resource for the growing industry of monetizing online celebrity.
</p><p>
In April it will launch its third international off-shoot in French, joining Spanish and Portuguese, as the company anticipates the spread of influencer fever beyond America.
</p><p>
"Famous Birthdays is essentially the Wikipedia of influencers," said Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, a leading influencer marketing firm. "It has become a very valuable tool within the influencer industry to do quick research on creators and it's also very popular with young fans. They have found a unique niche in the fact that influencers are the new celebrities for Gen Z."
</p><p>
Britton hadn't originally intended on serving that niche. He'd started <a href="https://www.famousbirthdays.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Famous Birthdays</a> with A-listers in mind and a user-first focus on growth. The plan was to add new profiles to the database based on users' search patterns.
</p><p>
"The internal search data guides our roadmap," he said. About 90% of user searches on Famous Birthdays yield a hit. The other 10% help to indicate what else users want.
</p><p>
"We built technology around analyzing those missed searches," Britton said, adding that Famous Birthdays' search engine now receives over 1 million inquiries a day. "It lets us know before anyone else what's happening."
</p><p>
Early on, it became apparent that users wanted something more than A-listers.
</p><p>
They wanted social media celebrities. So Britton and his now team of 30, including freelancers, took to reaching out to up-and-comers that the data suggested were on the rise.
</p><p>
In late 2018, for instance, Famous Birthdays contacted Paige Mackenzie, an Arkansas-based teen who at the time had about 600,000 followers on still-nascent TikTok.
</p><p>
"I was like 'oh my god'; I had a fangirl moment," Mackenzie said. "I was a normal girl with a couple of followers, and they want to know about me? That was the coolest thing."</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><script id="infogram_0_bde6b6e3-9f0b-4097-92ae-015bb30b0f6f" src="https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?rFs" title="Famous Birthdays Growth" type="text/javascript"> </script><div style="padding:8px 0;font-family:Arial!important;font-size:13px!important;line-height:15px!important;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #dadada;margin:0 30px">
<a href="https://infogram.com/bde6b6e3-9f0b-4097-92ae-015bb30b0f6f" style="color:#989898!important;text-decoration:none!important;" target="_blank">Famous Birthdays Growth</a><br/>
<a href="https://infogram.com" rel="nofollow" style="color:#989898!important;text-decoration:none!important;" target="_blank">Infogram</a>
</div></div><p>Mackenzie has since grown her TikTok following to 7.5 million. She typically regales her fans with comedic videos she describes as "relatable," like when "your brother annoys your mom right when you're about to ask something important."</p><p>
When Mackenzie was added to the platform, Famous Birthdays had about 20 million users. That has since exploded beyond Britton's imagination.</p><p><span></span>"The platform has evolved quite a bit over the years – much like how Gen Z's (and my) definition of a celebrity has," said Kocar, who added that Mammoth "constantly references" Famous Birthdays to inform its content decisions.</p>
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@willywonkatiktok/video/6849877838120701189" data-video-id="6849877838120701189" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@willywonkatiktok" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@willywonkatiktok">@willywonkatiktok</a> <p>Thanks for making this happen :) Go boost me if ya want <a title="willywonka" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/willywonka">#willywonka</a> <a title="famousbirthdays" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/famousbirthdays">#famousbirthdays</a></p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - Greg and Zach" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6795947928369335045">♬ original sound - Greg and Zach</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
<p>"TikTok has been a wave that's really grown our platform," Britton said, noting that stars on the social-video stalwart are his site's most popular searches. "There's been a huge momentum for the creator economy and we've been on that wave because we were seated as the platform beneath all of that."</p><p>That momentum has led Britton to recalibrate his expectations.</p><p>"Six months ago, I would have thought our ceiling was maybe 50 million users, but I think we're gonna be there by the end of next year, based on how things are going," he said.</p><p>The company's <a href="https://es.famousbirthdays.com/" target="_blank">Spanish-language version</a> launched in July 2019 and now comprises about 15% of Famous Birthdays' total traffic, Britton said. The <a href="https://pt.famousbirthdays.com/" target="_blank">Portuguese version</a> launched in October 2020 and the French version will launch in April 2021.</p><p><span></span>Britton hopes to replicate his platform's success in those new markets. In the U.S., arriving on Famous Birthdays has come to be seen by creators as a veritable badge of honor.</p><p>When Duke Depp was invited to bring his online persona Willy Wonka to Famous Birthdays in July, he bragged about it to his nearly 18 million followers.</p><p>"Check it out my dear children, I finally made it on Famous Birthdays," he said. The post has since been liked over 412,000 times and received over 4,000 comments.</p><p>In September, Grandad Frank told his nearly 5 million TikTok followers that "Something crazy happened!!!!" He'd made it onto Famous Birthdays.<br></p>
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@billyvsco/video/6864718524619738373" data-video-id="6864718524619738373" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@billyvsco" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@billyvsco">@billyvsco</a> <p><a title="greenscreen" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/greenscreen">#greenscreen</a> thank you guys! Number 1 forty-7 year old. Y’all are awesome! <a title="waitforthegreats" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/waitforthegreats">#WaitForTheGreats</a> <a title="boost" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/boost">#boost</a> <a title="famousbirthdays" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/famousbirthdays">#famousbirthdays</a> <a title="foru" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foru">#foru</a></p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ borderline by tame impala - audioz !" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/borderline-by-tame-impala-6815764995805121285">♬ borderline by tame impala - audioz !</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
<p>Famous Birthdays currently hosts around 210,000 profiles, along with some 15,000 pages for shows, movies, bands and web groups. The team receives over 1,000 user-submitted edits and updates per day, Britton said, which they manually review and verify.<br></p><p>Using inputs like search volume and user engagement, Famous Birthdays also provides several popularity rankings.</p><p>The company has never raised outside capital and doesn't plan to start.</p><p>"Our vision is to build the Wikipedia for the Digital Generation," said Britton. "Given the scale we already have, we're confident that we'll be able to do it without raising VC."</p>
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In mid-March, a majority of companies had to send their employees home and tell them to stay there indefinitely. Most business owners were abiding by what they hoped would be a short-term situation. Few could have imagined 10 months ago that at the beginning of 2021 they would still lack a bonafide game plan to get back up and running. In fact, the longer this pandemic has dragged on, the more it's become clear that the typical, pre-pandemic workplace is not something we'll see again for quite some time.
Reflecting on what the country looks like today, it's a real possibility that in the not-too-distant future L.A. sets not only the stage but also a new standard for what a health-conscious commute and a productive work life looks like as a model for apprehensive Americans.
<p>
Commercial real estate brokers in crowded cities such as New York have heard from countless clients that the city's population density complicates matters materially. Even employers who hope to get back to the office as soon as possible are reluctant to return to buildings where they may deem it ill-advised to step into the lobby or to use the elevator to get to their desired floor. Safety comes first for everyone.<br/>
</p><p>
Sprawling Los Angeles, however, offers a different landscape. <a href="https://www.squarefoot.com/ca/los-angeles/downtown-los-angeles/office-space" target="_blank">Downtown L.A.</a>, once abandoned by businesses in favor of other neighborhoods and nearby cities, has seen a documented boom in recent years. It's a proud home to law firms and financial companies, yet it's not by any means the only area that appeals to L.A. businesses — and that's a benefit. What makes L.A. so unique is how expansive it is. There are so many options for where to plant your flag. Being in the city center is not necessarily the best spot for most businesses. In fact, there's very much a floating 'center of town,' depending on where tomorrow's companies intend to establish themselves.
</p><p>
For many decades, we've heard about how the so-called hub and spoke model - having one central headquarters in the heart of the city with smaller offshoot offices in the suburbs - would be the future of commercial real estate. Last spring, conversations began to bubble up again in that direction, though those realities haven't yet manifested. Companies ultimately want to keep their teams intact and together. In cities other than L.A., if that's your intent, you're stuck with the major downtown area, and paying a steep price for it since every other organization is looking at the same limited supply of offices. But, because L.A.'s culture and infrastructure is already spread out, there's no reason to hesitate to move your office headquarters elsewhere, where it makes most sense for your company, within L.A. County's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Los_Angeles_County,_California" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">88 cities</a>.
</p><p>
Moving away from the urban center is not as much a concern for L.A.-based businesses. In fact, with the state of affairs on the ground right now, it's a major draw. The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biggest-hurdle-to-bringing-people-back-to-the-office-may-be-the-commute-11587992400" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commute</a> is proven to be employees' greatest concern. A car-dependent culture such as L.A.'s doesn't require any rethinking or rejiggering of transportation to accommodate the same transit shift that is hitting other cities so severely.
</p><p>
In recent years, big tech companies including Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook have made sizable real estate commitments to shift their focus and operations, thereby considerably reimagining their local presences. Despite the ongoing pandemic, these projects are chugging along, and the payoffs begin with thousands of new jobs being created in the coming years. Expect this trend to accelerate in the future. If it's good enough for those giant tech companies, others like them will take notice, and smaller companies will follow.
</p><p>
For example, Hollywood is being transformed around streaming content, and it's all taking place within driving distance of the entertainment capital of the world. What's notable, though, is that these companies are deliberately choosing <a href="https://www.squarefoot.com/ca/los-angeles/culver-city/office-space" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">areas such as Culver City</a> to stake their claims. In such a city, they have the space to put down both traditional offices and fully built-out studios where they can shoot, produce, edit and release content. Although the technology and the thinking have evolved, Los Angeles remains at the epicenter of the global entertainment industry.
</p><p>
That's what makes L.A. such an exciting place to be right now. With an industry in transition, it creates opportunity for others to reshape what comes next. While those types of seismic moves take time, they begin with the biggest players' real estate investments that are then quickly followed by the next crop of companies looking to find their slice of the growing pie.
</p><p>
While there are still challenges in the world of commercial real estate, the office is not dead. As with many other industries, commercial real estate will have to adapt and grow to the needs of businesses and entrepreneurs across all cities. But if you're trying to figure out what possibilities lie ahead, and how innovation can take place within existing infrastructure, look no further than Los Angeles.</p>
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