Description
In this insightful episode, Brittany talks with Lily Bond, the 21-year-old entrepreneur behind Spice Girlz, who launched her successful spice company at just 13. Lily shares her personal journey navigating the unique mental health challenges faced by Gen Z, from the pressures of social media to the struggles of balancing entrepreneurship and well-being. She opens up about her experiences with anxiety, the importance of community, and the strategies she employs to prioritize mental health. Join us for a candid conversation that highlights the resilience of young entrepreneurs and the vital conversations surrounding mental health in today’s world.
Transcription
Welcome to the Dear Brittany Show. This is a podcast where you'll hear everything I always wanted to say and everything we're all thinking. I know it's you too.
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So get ready for a raw slice of reality. I'm your host Brittany Crisantos and I am an author, speaker, mental health advocate and host of a mental health series. I am very proud to say I have made an impact on the mental health of others for a decade now.
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Ask me, talk to me, tell me what we need to figure out for you. Looking to spice up your meals? Discover Spice Girls, where better for you meets better tasting. Their all-natural, preservative-free spice blends are super versatile, low-sodium and lots of fun.
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Founded by the talented Lily Bond when she was just 13 years old, Spice Girls has been locally made in Ottawa, Canada for 7 amazing years. They currently offer 10 unique seasoning blends, all available at SpiceGirls.com or at select Farm Boy locations, that's Spice with a Y and Girls with a Z. Shop our website today and use promo code DearBrittany for 15% off your purchase. Remember at Spice Girls, our motto is Spice It Right.
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Don't forget to share your culinary creations with us. Use the hashtags Spice Girls, Spice It Right and Spice Girls Seasonings in your posts and be sure to tag us. Visit us at SpiceGirls.com and elevate your cooking today.
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Okay, so welcome everyone to the Dear Brittany podcast. In today's episode, we're diving into a very important conversation. How are Gen Z facing mental health struggles? Joining us today is an inspiring young woman, Lily Bond.
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She's a remarkable young woman entrepreneur and she's going to be talking about her personal experiences with mental health and the fact that she created a company at such a young age called Spice Girls. She was 13 years old launching a business that is so inspiring and of course in light of World Mental Health Day, which is coming up, we wanted to talk about mental health because we believe it's so important that young people, you know, talk about mental health and we can inspire the Gen Z. So Lily, welcome. Hi, nice to meet you and thanks so much for having me on.
Of course. I would love to hear, first of all, the fact that you were 13 and you started a business. Can you just tell us that? Like how does a 13 year old start a business? Yeah, so I always love talking about the origins of Spice Girls.
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I started, I was being, the whole story was I was being raised by a single mom and I was going into high school and I needed to buy a computer. At the time I was 13, I couldn't legally get a job. So I decided, you know, I'd watched my mom run businesses all my life and I thought, OK, you know, entrepreneurship is the perfect solution.
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And how I decided on Spice Blends was I noticed in grocery stores there weren't any really good options for Spice Blends, especially taco seasoning. I remember looking at the back of the packaging. It was way too salty and I'd try it.
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It was really bland. And my mom and I were really big foodies, really into cooking. And the Spice Blends we were using weren't cutting it.
So I thought this was a clear gap in the market at 13. And so I, yeah, we spent a month creating the best taco seasoning, I like to say. And I was selling at farmers markets for my my first kind of year in business.
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And then it was really my side hustle when I was in high school and I would do it during the summers and eventually grocery stores started approaching me. And I remember I'd go after high school and I'd bring my orders and I was negotiating with the store owners. And that was a really interesting experience for me.
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And it absolutely running Spice Girls at a young age was really like, was really impactful in developing the person I am today. So I'm incredibly grateful for that experience. And, you know, it's my it's my full time career now.
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So I like to say I've set myself up well. But yeah, the business is growing. We're in major grocery chains now across Ontario, working across Canada.
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So I'm really proud to see how far Spice Girls has gone. And can I just say, everyone, she is 21 years old. She is in full time school right now.
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Am I correct? Part time. I always say that my business is my main focus where I do school as a hobby. That's so fun.
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She has a full business and school is her hobby. You never hear that. You never hear of school as my hobby.
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I'm doing it for fun. She has a hobby and it's school. Okay.
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And full time business all across Ontario. I'm a Canadian. I know what it's like.
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I go to grocery stores all the time and her stuff's in there. It's insane. And being the fact that you were 13 years old starting this.
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So could you tell us a little bit more about, you know, the struggles of being a young person starting a business? Yeah, I think. Well, first of all, I think I was I was really grateful to have support from my mom, like guiding me in the that was definitely like when you're young starting a business, it's definitely a different experience. And relating to people around me was definitely challenging.
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I making friends that were relating to my peers at school. But I was I was really lucky to be surrounded by a great community of entrepreneurs, the farmers markets. My mom being an entrepreneur was able to guide me as well.
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The struggles being, yeah, I think being a young female entrepreneur, especially when I as I got older, it was hard when I would get myself set up with contractors to do work for me. And oftentimes they wouldn't take me seriously. And then sometimes I was taken advantage of.
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So it was it was it was really hard. But what it did teach me was the lesson of how to advocate for what you want and speak up for yourself. So that was a really good lesson in how to stand up, how to stand up for myself, how to stand up for what I want, which is incredibly important in business.
Incredibly important as a young person as well. So that was a good learning lesson for that. But unfortunately, yeah, being a young woman in business, like oftentimes you won't always get the respect that you deserve.
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So unfortunately, I had to go through a few situations like that. But you know, the other side and you learn a lot. Yeah, well, being 13 years old and people are so insane.
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I think that is what's so special about the Gen Z. Our generation is the fact that we're so young, we're evolved and we understand there's more out there. And I think it's so important to encourage other young people that if you have an idea, you want to have a business, don't wait until you're 30, 40 years old. Start it now.
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Start it like Lily did. Become a 13-year-old successful businesswoman or businessman. And I think that is so inspiring.
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But as a young entrepreneur, how do you manage stress and maintain your mental health while running Spice Girls? I can't imagine the stress that you go through. I mean, the stress you have is what probably like a 60-year-old man or woman has, you know, like you're young and you have the stress. So what do you do to maintain that? It's definitely a lot to manage.
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And I definitely do get old, to say the least. But I think one thing that I've done that's funny is this summer I got really into mountain biking. And it's something I've wanted to take up for a while.
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But I think I really adopted a kind of a 1970s, 1980s lifestyle. I like to say I got off social media. I mean, I have it for Spice Girls as a social media account, but my Lily Bond personal one is gone.
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So I ditched social media. And I've just been mountain biking all summer. I joined a mountain biking club at my university.
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I do board game nights with my friends. I read books. I get outside.
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And I think that's been really good for my mindset. My mental health is doing things like that. So basically, you know, nearly dying of a heart attack, biking up a mountain and then scared for my life on the way down.
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But no, it's a great community of people. And it's a lot of fun. And I would find myself like middle of the week and really stressed out.
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I'm like, OK, I just I have to go mountain biking tonight. I got to get my mind off things. I got to recenter myself.
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And it was yeah, it's been it's been the best thing for me. So I think really just getting outside and finding good, clean, fun hobbies is helping me. Yeah, you need that.
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You need like as much zen, as much relaxing as you need because you're in school and you have a very successful business. So yeah, that is incredible. I love board games.
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I'm going to be hanging out with you and be like, Lily, let's go play. Let's go have some board games. I'd invite my friends over for beers and Cards Against Humanity.
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I love Cards Against Humanity. We played it the other day. My family and my co-host, Nikki, who is not here today because she is not available, I guess.
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And we played Cards Against Humanity. And it was so funny. And I was like the whole time I was like, why is nobody picking my jokes? I think I'm hilarious.
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Like I'm like the most I'm the person that like if someone says farts or like, you know, it's embarrassing. Like I'll laugh. Like if someone farts, I'll just laugh.
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So like I have the most weirdest humor ever and nobody was picking my jokes. So I was like, okay, I guess I'm not funny. It's so funny.
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It's funny because my neighbor's girlfriend, Maria, she's just like very, she's so sweet. She's so nice. And you know, she's a little on the quieter side.
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But Maria, you put her in Cards Against Humanity and she won every single round. Wow. You were like Maria.
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And then the next game we played a card game. She won too. So we were like, this is ridiculous.
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Game's night. I need to play with her. And she's teaching me her humor because I clearly am not winning.
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I was like, hello. The penis jokes was funny. Like why didn't you pick that? The old man joke was hilarious.
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Why is no one picking that? But that's funny. So going back to mental health and Gen Z, Gen Z mental health. I want to dive deep into a little bit about your personal journey.
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Can you share some things we went through regarding mental health? What you've gone through today, yesterday, being 13. Any experiences that you went through that you want to share with other Gen Zers? Sure. And I think one thing is that everyone struggles, right? Everyone's going through something and you never know what the next person is going through.
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So it's important to not feel alone because people go through things and you don't even know. I mean, I've always been an anxious person, a nervous person. So I struggle with anxiety.
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But I think ADHD has definitely been my big one. So always as a kid. School was always hard for me.
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That was the big one. I did well in school, but it was really a hard journey to get there. And then as I got older, it started to weigh on me a little bit more.
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I've always been really ambitious, a high achiever. And it was hard when I'd get really discouraged. And also being hyperactive.
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And when I was a little younger and I was in middle school, especially, I was bullied. I remember the teachers actually used to kind of get in on it a little bit. But I remember looking back and there was always a list on the chalkboard about how many questions Lily's allowed to ask.
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Because I got very excited about school. I had a lot of energy. But they'd often tell me to shut up, Lily, or stop talking, or stop asking questions.
So that was hard on me. And I remember walking through school and my confidence wasn't very good. I was a little more down on myself.
And then eventually, I actually think it was around the time after I left middle school, and when I was going into high school, it was starting a business. And it was when I really came into myself. And I really developed my self-confidence.
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And I really became to like, yeah, I love who I am. Because I had this thing of my own. And I realized I was making a difference in people's lives by sharing something that I created.
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And that was just wonders for my self-confidence. And talking to people, getting to meet people, and having this special thing that was my own and that I created. And I just felt, yeah.
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So it was really impactful for me. And as well, it was like an outlet for my ADHD. So while school, I'd get down on myself that maybe math wasn't working out for me.
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Or online school, especially during COVID, was really, really hard. And it was hard to learn. And I used to have teachers snap in my face in classroom, clapping like, Lily, wake up.
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And it was hard. So the standard learning environment was not necessarily the most supportive for kids with ADHD. So I think it was when I was able to channel that energy into a business, I was able to see how I was able to flourish.
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And that was great for my self-confidence and feeling like, yeah, it is a superpower. Because my mom always used to tell me as a kid, hey, it's your superpower. Don't get so down on yourself.
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But it was hard when I was placed in an environment where I wasn't necessarily able to blossom and flourish in the way I was supposed to. But running a business has been great for that. So I'm really thankful for this opportunity.
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Of course. Well, it really does seem like your business has helped with your ADHD. And you were confined in a box, almost, being so young and hyper.
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And no one understood what was going on with you. But then look at you here, starting a business at 13. It really seems like your business has helped with your mental health, which then helped with your ADHD, which then helped with who you are today.
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So do you think that your business, Spice Girls, helped you become who you are today? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because when you're 13 years old, that's a very developmental year of your life, those teenage years.
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So, oh my gosh, it was absolutely. I think I'm so grateful for it, for the self-confidence it's helped give me. And I'm feeling proud of myself.
And of course, it's given me great life skills as well, learning financial management and organizational skills and general management skills. But overall, just learning about people in the world around me. I mean, it's been hard.
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I won't say running a business is challenging. But it was going through these milestones in the business that was a very interesting and different experience as a kid. But it helped me grow up in a way that absolutely I'm grateful for.
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Because I like the person I am today, you know? And so, yeah, the business was definitely what did that. It was my teacher. So.
Yeah, no, I believe that. I think even for me, being that I'm 26 years old, I see you as a 21-year-old. And I see that you're going to have a huge future ahead of you.
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The fact that you've already accomplished so much, you know, you're so confident in what you do. And the fact that you have taken something that most people would perceive as a struggle, and you turned it around into something that is your superpower. And then you're encouraging other young girls out there to also find their superpower and also, you know, become who they want to be.
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You can be anything in this world. And so as we go back to the whole mental health and young people are struggling and young people don't know who they are in this world, what would you say is the best thing that helped you become who you are today? What encouraged you to be like, this is what I want to do with my life? Yeah, and also just I want to go back to one thing as well is that like, I'm not perfect now when it comes to like self-confidence. I definitely have moments or times of self-doubt and imposter syndrome is real, especially as women.
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And it's just monthly cycles. Yeah, it is hard, right? So it is a battle to continue going, continue believing in yourself. So, you know, I just want to say I haven't fully reached it there.
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I'm pretty, I'm not bad, but it's definitely still on the journey. But we're people, we're people. We struggle.
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We have horrible monthly cycles. We're total biatches. We like want our like chocolate and our ice creams.
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And we're totally like, we're females too. We're young females. We could be our bitchy.
We could be bitchy sometimes. And then of course, life happens. You know, you're 21, you're young.
So tell me some of the things going on in your life, the struggles you're going through because you're 21. Like, it's a very hard time, even though you've accomplished so much. You also are young and it comes with experiences.
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And, you know, I remember my first heartbreak at like 20. It was like, I felt like the world was ending, you know? Yeah, I think one thing is relating to people around me, making friends. I mean, I've got a good little circle of friends, but I think definitely when I was younger, finding really like-minded people was hard for me.
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So my mom actually, one of the reasons my mom was more like, okay, just like she didn't, I was never pushed into going to university, but I went, she's like, okay, go to university, focus on the business. But, you know, have it as a social experience. Meet some more people because it is a lonely journey, right? Being, running a business on your own.
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So yeah, definitely some moments of loneliness. So I was happy to this year make some more friends. Still like, you know, it's hard to find like-minded people.
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Like, it's always the journey you're on. But, sorry, what else was the question? That's a good question. And what was the question? See, our brains are tired.
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Basically, you know, just like realistically, you said you're 21 and you're not perfect. You've accomplished so much, but you're not perfect. You still struggle.
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I was saying that, you know, I remember my first heartbreak at like age 20. And I was writing books and I had a book at 16. And I was, again, to people, accomplished, but I wasn't in my head because I was still struggling.
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And you're not perfect. We're not perfect, of course. You know, I had a freak out last night, a breakdown with my friend, right? So it's like, we're not perfect.
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And for the Gen Zs, other people, other 20 year olds listening to this right now, talk to them, like, what do you want to say to them? Because you're not perfect. And what are some of the things you go through on a daily basis, being that you're a 21 year old? Yeah, I think the biggest thing that's helped me through whatever, you know, struggles I've had was having grace for yourself. Like every single person I know is going through something hard.
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Like all my friends are struggling with their mental health. And it's funny because I would talk to them individually and they'd be talking to me about their problems. We'd be sharing and they're like, oh, but, you know, and I'd tell them, I mean, you know, everyone is struggling.
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What do you mean everyone else seems fine? I'm like, ah, that's the thing. Everyone seems fine, but nobody's talking about it. So you don't know that everybody is struggling and you're not alone.
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And I found that when I've told people that you're not alone, that was really impactful, right? Because you don't feel so like different or weird that you're going through something hard and that there's people around you that, you know, different experiences, but they know what it's like to be really down. So it feels a little more okay to be that way. And I think the most important thing for yourself is to have grace.
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And, you know, sometimes if you're not performing at 100% all the time, because whatever you're going through, that's okay. Because you're a human being at the end of the day. And I think that's been something that's really helped me.
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I used to put a lot of pressure on myself, especially in high school. It was funny. It was all self-inflicted pressure.
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Like my mom was always really like cool. She's like, oh, just, you know, try your best and it's okay. So she was always really easygoing and supportive.
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But I think it was, I was always really hard on myself for whatever reason. So I think it was eventually getting to this point now when I'm older, it was more of the, you're a human being, Lily. And it's okay, you know, sometimes you get up and you keep going and you just keep moving and keep going and it's okay.
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So, you know, I think, you know, I remember seeing one of your questions was like young professionals, right? Everybody is a high achiever and there's a lot of pressure, especially when you see on social media, people talking, especially in the entrepreneurship world, especially on LinkedIn saying, oh, I started this business, you know, overnight success, a million dollars in like a few months. And that's not reality. And you see that it makes you feel bad about yourself.
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So it's, you know, never compare yourselves to others because you don't know what other people are going through. And, you know, it's like, don't compare yourself to people who have it better or worse because that's just a losing game, right? We all sometimes fall into that trap by saying like, ah, you know, like my life's so hard, they have it so much better. But you have no idea what people are going through.
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So I think the best thing is to just, you know, keep going, keep going on your own journey and know that other people are struggling around you. You don't know what's going on. So that helps you have more empathy for others, but also just, you know, focusing on yourself and never compare yourself because you never know.
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Oh, I can't hear you. Whoops, that was muted. Something that you said there that was so key is the fact that you said you are a human being and we're all human beings.
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We all struggle. We all go through things. We go through breakups.
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We go through bad periods. If you're a female and you're fertile, you go through, you know, annoying friends. Sometimes you go through loneliness.
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You go through heartbreak. You go through, you know, struggles of, I don't know what I'm doing with my life right now. A lot of people, the younger generation, from our generation, the Gen Z, they're facing struggles like, I don't know who I am.
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I don't know who I'm becoming. And I think that is something that we should normalize. We should normalize the fact that, hey, it's okay to not know.
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It's okay to not know where we're going or who we're becoming. But luckily, you know where you're going and you know what you're doing. But maybe sometimes in life, you're going to have questions like, is this right for me still? Do I want to do something else? And that's totally normal.
You said something before that I want to kind of touch base on again is the fact that you said your mom was a big influence in your life. So could you share a little bit more about being raised by a single mom and how she's impacted your life, your business and who you are today? Absolutely. My mom's my best friend.
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You know the show Gilmore Girls? No, that is us. It's really funny. So like, if you're imagining what my relationship is like with my mom, it's basically Gilmore Girls.
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I love that. That was my favorite show. I know my mom and I, when we finally watched it, because somebody had told us, they're like, you know, you're like the Gilmore Girls.
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We're like, what's that? So we watched the show. We watched the revival. We watched all of it.
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My mom and I were laughing. We're like, they copied us. So it's, yeah, no, my mom and I do everything together.
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It's just, just the two of us in our little house in the country. And no, like she's definitely was my inspiration for starting the business. And she continues to help me a lot in the beginning.
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And now she, you know, she continues to advise me. She continues to help me. She drove the U-Haul truck today to the farm boy when I was dropping off my orders.
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So, you know, she's, yeah, she's part of the Spice Girls team. Yeah, she's my best friend and my inspiration. And I honestly couldn't have done any of this without her.
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So I'm really grateful to have that support. Yeah. That's so beautiful.
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I can just imagine that you both are like on the couch eating like, you know, popcorn, watching TV, like Gilmore Girls. I remember that scene. I think that's so special when you have a supportive mom in your life, being a female, just having that presence and that motivation.
And it clearly shows that she's been a big influence in your life. Yeah, yeah. So very, I'll always be grateful for my mom.
Oh, I love that. That's so beautiful. Honestly, that's really beautiful to see.
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I think for me to see such a young, inspiring woman like you, who is making changes in the world, that is doing something with her life. If anyone's listening to this right now, you know, Lily Bond is something that you all need to listen to and learn from, because that is inspiration for any young generation out there to become something in the world at such a young age is the goal. And you're becoming something and you're going to continue to become even more because that's who you are.
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You're, you have a beautiful soul and you're, you know, making changes and you're changing the way that the old mindset is that the fact you got to go to school, you got to be 30, 40 years old and then you've got to make a career. But you're like, no, I was 13 and this is who I am. And I became successful at a young age and let's change and normalize things because you don't have to be the old ways.
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You don't have to be a man in a suit becoming successful. You could be a woman and you could be young. I think also one of the biggest things is one of the best advice I can give to young people is being yourself and authenticity.
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And that was like my mom's biggest thing she pushed on me as a kid was be yourself. Always be authentic. Don't put on a fake face to like please others or to fit in because a lot of, and this is hopefully be helpful for people that are watching, is that I know in high school, you know, or middle school, whatever school environment you're in, it's the safe path is to like fit in and morph yourself into being like the people around you because it's, you're not sticking out.
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You're less likely to be, you know, I don't know, targeted or point, or like it's called weird or pointed out. So I think it's, I think being, I remember I saw this quote once and it says that in a world, it's like being yourself is an act of bravery in a world that like where people, everyone's trying to be the same. So to stand out and to be yourself is, it's an active, it's an active self-love, right? Because you're honoring who you are as a person.
And that is really what has helped me become the person I am today and be loving myself and self-acceptance is, yeah, just loving that I've always been different, right? And I've always felt different. And I love that about myself. You know, I'd rather be an oddball and a little bit weird, right? Than like every single other person out there.
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So, you know, it's hard. And I know it's scary for a lot of people, but I think once you come to this place of self-love and loving yourself as being a little bit different or a little bit out there, I think it's the biggest like release, right? And the biggest, like, you know, it's yeah, it's the best thing. So I think being yourself is like my number one, my number one advice.
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Mm-hmm. I love that, just being yourself. I remember being 16 years old and just feeling like I was a misfit or outcast with my generation.
And like, I remember always having conversations with older people and I didn't understand why I couldn't relate to people my age. And it seems like you're very similar to that. I absolutely, yeah.
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I always got along better with adults. Like I'd go over to my mom's friend's house and they always say, oh, Lily, the kids are in the basement. I'm like, ah, can I hang out with you guys? That's so funny.
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Like my best friend right now, who's also the co-host of this podcast occasionally, she's 50 and I'm 26. And I make jokes and I'm like, my best friend's 50 years old. But you know, it's okay because you are an old soul and you relate to older people like me.
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So I think that's great having older friends. I know. And I think another thing too is like, some people I talk to, or I was talking about this with somebody and it's, you know, be yourself with everybody you're with, kind of thing, you know? And I think if people don't, if you don't feel comfortable being yourself with a certain group of people and they may not be the people for you and that's okay, right? So if you can't, if they can't accept you for who you are, then, you know, don't try to change yourself to fit in and that maybe that's, and that's okay, right? Because I'd rather be happy, comfortably being myself than be unhappy trying to be somebody I'm not, so.
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I agree with you. I'd rather be by myself and no friends and have fake friends around me. And I think people always say to me, oh, don't you want more friends? No, I do not want more friends.
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If it comes down to it and I get married one day, I don't have anyone to walk in my wedding. I'll hire someone to walk in my wedding at that point. I don't want fake friends.
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I don't want, like, I'm done it, been there, don't need it. I don't need it. Because people just bring you down.
Why do you need these fake friends? I'd rather be lonely or have my dog and my grandparents and my friends. You don't need fake friends. Protect your peace.
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You gotta protect it. And protect your happiness. And surround yourself with people that lift you up and support you and want to see you win.
So, you know, that's another big piece of advice I can give to people. Because your support network and people around you is everything, right? You can have people that are bad influences around you because your people, your circle is definitely formative for who you are as a person. So when you have good friends, supportive and good influences, it's definitely a help.
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So as we're talking about support and community and having good people around you, I want to touch base on the fact of, you know, how important is it for community support for Gen Z when it comes to mental health? How important is our generation to have support around them? Absolutely very important. I mean, that's the biggest thing, is when you're, like I said before, when you're going through a hard time, like, you don't know that there are other people around you who are struggling. So, I mean, and it is hard to sometimes open up about these things.
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And I find it hard sometimes to open up about struggles or things I'm going through. So when you do find a trusted person that you can talk to about it, you don't feel so alone. And that's definitely the biggest thing.
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I think it's things that have helped me and things I know that have helped my friends and people around me. So I think if you could find a good group of trusted people, it makes things feel a little less lonely. I like that.
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It makes you feel way lonely. And, you know, you don't have to be so alone in this journey. I think you said it perfectly.
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People don't have to be alone. And that's what's so beautiful about this. What do you think is the most challenging things that the Gen Z, younger generations, are going through right now today in today's world? Well, I think social media is definitely hard.
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Social media sucks. I think it creates unrealistic expectations. And, you know, I think that, I mean, I obviously use it for business, but I think in my personal life, I'm so much better off.