How To Bank Like A Boss In A Male-Dominated Industry With Breanna Armstrong

Breanna Armstrong and I met on Twitter over a decade ago. She always struck me as a go-getter, and right from the start, I knew I would have to put on my running shoes to keep up with her. She towered over the male-dominated industry for many years and eventually went out on her own and created a very successful digital marketing company that caters to beauty influencers and brands. Bre has two of her very own podcasts—Ambition for Breakfast and VSG Tea—as well as creating her own content for her WLS account that has just skyrocketed over the past year. We’ve had our hearts broken, and our egos bruised countless times over the years, but we stand tall today united in the same goal – to take over the world!

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How To Bank Like A Boss In A Male-Dominated Industry With Breanna Armstrong

We have Breanna Armstrong with us. She is the Founder of Editour Media. It is a digital media company. She represents brands and influencers in the beauty space. She also has a long history in journalism. We met in the MMA industry. She has written for one million different publications. She’s well versed in media, public relations, digital content, all of the above. She also has her own weight loss surgery show called VSG Tea and another show about women in business called Ambition for Breakfast.

She’s got her hand in everything. She is an amazing person and a friend and truly one of my personal inspirations. Even though she is a couple of years younger, she has always been a mentor of mine. I can’t wait for you to learn about the experiences and stories that we shared. We even talked about our struggles with weight loss, body dysmorphia, photoshopping our pictures to death and how far we’ve come on that journey. Grab a snack, sit down and enjoy this episode of the show.

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Joining me from sunny Orange County, California is one of my best and longtime friends, Breanna Armstrong. How are you?

I’m good. How are you?

I am so wonderful because I’m seeing your shining face.

Male-Dominated Industry: If you’re writing about bow hunting, you don’t have to go out and literally do it. Just learn about the best bows on the market and try to capture the essence of these niche markets.

I’m excited. Thank you so much for having me on.

I was on your podcast and that was a fun experience. We probably could have droned on for 3 or 4 hours on that easily.

We had a long one. There’s a lot to talk about.

You have your own podcast that you came up with out of your incredible brain. You had gotten into the space of content creator for yourself. Normally, your job is to create content for others. Now, you are creating content for your weight loss journey. You tapped into this market and blew the eff up. It grew 15,000 followers in a year. Your show, VSG Tea, has thousands of downloads internationally. You do it with your friend, Sammi. How has this journey been navigating away from focusing on content for others and going to focusing on content for yourself as well?

It’s been such a trip but rewarding. I didn’t think that I would find a form of therapy out of this. Honestly, posting on my behalf and being my number one advocate, giving myself some space in this space that I know so well has been rewarding personally. It has been a form of therapy because I’ve found an amazing community in it. For once, I’m not talking about work. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m a huge workaholic and my life is mainly work. That’s not healthy and I can admit that. That’s why I took this huge leap to go and find my journey through getting healthy. I learn new things every single day. It’s crazy.

You filmed John for your story and your like, “How much time would you say that I spent relaxing?” I was thinking in my head 20% and he said 25%. I was like, “It’s 80/20, for sure.” Even when you and I have been on vacation together, you’re creating content, on email, on the phone or on a conference call. You’re always doing something even when you’re trying to have a good time.

I love that you’re adapting a little bit more to peeling yourself away from that. I love that you pull yourself away from work for your workouts. That’s positive for you. I like that you are so hyper-focused on also holding yourself accountable for others because it holds you accountable. I love to see that from your content. You look amazing and good.

I have such a huge base for accountability and it makes me more motivated. I’m like, “I’m out here doing the most and I have to walk the walk and not just talk about it.” It’s been wild. I am at the point in my life where I realized that I need to unplug. That’s even from my social media at this point too. We’re doing a series of hiring because, at this point, I am solo on running our influencer relations for our company. We manage some of the biggest names in beauty. It’s gotten to a point where it’s like, “If I want to scale this part of our company, we need to hire someone to help.” We are doing that. I have never been able to see light at the end of the tunnel but I’m seeing that I’m going to have a life.

“Started from the bottom and now we’re here,” is your motto in life. You started right out the gate. You knew what you wanted. You had this laser focus, went out and got it. I’m more than half a decade in front of you and you got your own company going and everything figured out. You got your own house with your boyfriend. I’m trying to catch up. Everyone has their own journey.

When we met, you were still working for another company. You were working for this big publisher at the time and covering all different kinds of material that most women wouldn’t have a clue about. It wasn’t like you were working for Good Housekeeping. You were talking about camping, guns, MMA, all kinds of stuff. You didn’t go to school for that particular stuff. Did you absorb it when you were reading and interviewing people? How did you learn about all those various topics?

Even though I was a longtime magazine editor, many magazines, it’s a lot of reading, for me, what’s best is I immersed myself into that genre. Not that I was out bow hunting and getting my ten-point bucks but I was trying to learn about the best bows on the market and trying to capture the essence of these incredible niche markets.

I had a female byline, so I knew that whenever I wrote anything, it was going to be studied and looked at even harder. That was the case with MMA. MMA became so natural for me. I was one of the first females on the West Coast to cover the sport. I was comfortable with every single organization, promoter, fight camp and fighter. That didn’t come right away. That came from being immersed in that community for the amount of time that I did.

Into the gun world, at the time, I was already editing Gun World Magazine, World of Firepower Magazine, American Survival Guide Magazine, Concealed-Carry Handguns Magazine, Bow and Arrow Hunting Magazine, all these different gun magazines. When I was able to start immersing into that community, it was a lot because you need to use know the ballistics, be out there on the range and test guns. You’re one of the first people to test the guns. Especially because I was a female, everyone stopped and watched me testing the gun. That was a different experience.

I felt so comfortable because I was confident in my craft. I’m a writer. I love to write and be creative. I haven’t been able to write in a long time. There are different ways. It translates in social media. It wasn’t overnight. It was something that I wanted to make sure that I was immersed in so that when you read one of my pieces or one of the magazines that I was the editor of, it translated, “These people know exactly what they’re talking about.”

I remember writing a couple of articles for you. I found myself fully immersed in the Survival Guide article. I even sought out experts. There’s Mykel Hawke. He’s this survival expert that had his show on Discovery Channel. I reached out to him on Twitter. Twitter was my main resource for everything because everyone always used to answer me. He helped me research that article. He was like, “Try this one. This is good.” I’m getting legitimate advice for the Survival Guide. That was a hard article.

You did great.

Thank you. We should tell everyone how exactly we met, which was on Twitter. Here we are years later and we’ve been on multiple trips together. I’ve come out to see you. You are a part of the family. You’re officially a sister. It’s all from one tweet. Was it that creeper guy that connected us? Who was it? Do you remember that he bent over and sent a naked selfie of his butthole to me?

Who was that?

I don’t remember. I sent you the screenshot of it. You probably blocked it out of your memory.

I blocked it out and rightfully so. Shout-out to butt boy.

I was like, “I don’t need to see either the front or the back.” He tagged us both in something probably MMA-related and I don’t know what it was but I was like, “She’s pretty. Her thing is MMA girly,” which doesn’t exist anymore. You were like, “Come cover Lion Fight with me,” which is a Muay Thai promotion. I was like, “Sure.” We met in the hotel room in Vegas. We were immediately close friends. I love that.

Male-Dominated Industry: In order to write about something, you have to fully immerse yourself in that community and genre. You’ll be comfortable in your work if you’re confident in your craft.

Don’t get me wrong, they were females in our industry but not so much in the Muay Thai industry as far as girl goes but it was a breath of fresh air. For a long time, I was always feeling that I was the odd woman out. All of a sudden, I have a girlfriend here. We’re covering this sport and empowering each other. It gave me another form of confidence. It was exciting and special.

Was that the same trip that we went to the gun store as well or was that a different trip? I don’t remember.

Remember, I was only on MMA. I was immersing in guns. We went to the gun store that next trip with our buddy.

You made the transition and created your own business, Editour Media. Anybody who wants to make a name for themselves in the beauty industry needs to be attached to you. You’re so organized and your brain works in such a creatively different way than anyone I’ve ever seen. That’s why I told you that, one day, I want to be underneath your little Editour umbrella.

I see the way you work, how professional you are and how you handle your clients. Not only your brands but also your influencers and how you represent them, they’re always taken care of. They’re like an extension of your family. Congratulations on such a successful business. It’s going to only grow and skyrocket. You’re going to be a multimillion-dollar business. When did you decide, “I’m going to step away from MMA as well?” Both you and I were super passionate about MMA. I had my reasons but what was yours?

I took my MMA career as far as I could go. There weren’t a lot of monetary benefits, honestly. I applied to the big leagues. MMA Junkie, I was on there. I’m like, “If you need me, I would fulfill it for you.” There’s something in me that I feel like I can do anything. Looking at my career, I’ve been able to get to these milestones I never thought I’d be able to get to and it’s because I truly believed in that. Honestly, I knew nothing about manifesting back then. Looking back, I was manifesting it a little bit. When I was getting some noes from Fighters Only and MMA Junkie, I’m like, “There’s not more than I can do at this point.”

I was the MMA reporter of the year in 2014, which was so awesome. I gracefully dipped out. At the time, I also was handed these two beauty magazines to start from scratch. It was the perfect timing because I was saying goodbye to my beloved MMA and the fighting world and I was going into beauty, which was so natural. I didn’t have to backcheck anything, worry about anybody reading my work and being like, “What?” We go look this up. It wasn’t like, “Go this and we’re done.” It wasn’t afraid of doing sumo with a fighter. It was much more natural for me.

Talk about an explosive career in the beauty industry even before you got on your own. You had people on your magazine covers and interviewing people that were blowing up on YouTube like Jeffree Star, Patrick Starrr and Manny MUA. At the time that came out, they were three of the biggest people in the world on YouTube.

It was iconic and it was before its time. The magazine that I was at was a 25-year-old publication. It was very old school. I gave that company a heart attack because they’re like, “What are you doing with three boys and makeup on the cover magazine?” I said, “Let’s go.” There are 9 million impressions in the first 3 weeks of that magazine. It was the most attention that the magazine had gotten. That’s what I love to bring to companies. It’s like, “Let’s think out of the box, boss up and elevate.” It was scary but it worked.

How do you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s trending in beauty? Is it Instagram, reading tangible magazines or researching on the internet? What do you do?

I get a lot of my research in the meetings that I have. I have meetings almost every single day. You have to know exactly what you’re talking about. This industry evolves so much, so if there’s something in the meeting I don’t know about, I make sure that I know about it in the next meeting. I’m not an expert but I can become pretty knowledgeable about a subject pretty fast, which is always great.

I taught myself how to video edit, edit and write, be a backpack journalist and do photography when I was in college. I was a woman with many hats, a Renaissance woman. I bring that into my research too. I would say mostly in meetings and real-life situations. Secondly, I am on Instagram. That is where I see the trends, a little bit of sprinkling from TikTok. I lean on this amazing team that I’ve been so blessed by for some of that market knowledge too because they’re more in tune with TikTok than I am.

Sometimes I spend too much time on TikTok but I truly am inspired a lot by things that I see on there but there’s the point where you’re like, “I’ve been scrolling for two and a half hours.” I’m would throw my phone away like, “Get this thing away from me.” I’ve been creating more content on TikTok and you’ve been slowly starting too as well. TikTok is so unique because you don’t need a big following to go viral and get one million followers. That’s the cool thing about that platform. Are there drawbacks to it? Yes. The trolls on there are a lot. They are ruthless down there. It’s heavy.

It is so heavy. You do have to. I started TikTok and then I had my first one go viral. That doesn’t happen often but it did. Honestly, I still haven’t read the comments because I got 5,000 followers over the amount of a few weeks. I went from 100 followers to 5,000 in a matter of a few weeks. I have comments on there and I won’t even read it because I can’t. I don’t have a heart for it.

I’m getting hives thinking about it for you. People say stuff all the time about me too. I’ve been on this weight loss journey. I even had the surgery and everything. People are still like, “You’re not sexy. You need to go do cardio.” I’m like, “I had a back injury, so calm down. I’ll get there.” I don’t cry over it anymore. You know me, I used to cry over things like that. Now, I’m like, “That’s annoying.” I’ll still talk about it but I’m not crying over it, at least anymore. Speaking of growth, we need to touch on a very sensitive subject for both of us. We used to Photoshop our pictures.

I was introduced to Facetune on a trip with Steph. She’s my best friend in the entire world.

Your parents and us were in Hawaii. On that trip, we went to the Big Island and O’ahu for a couple of days in Honolulu. I remember you took this picture of me on the beach. I felt good in my head and then when I saw that picture of me, I was like, “Is that what I look like?” I was so evil to myself. I warped my body into a completely different body. I don’t even know what I looked like.

The pictures are gone.

I don’t want to see that anymore. I deleted it. I’m glad we have our pictures before our bigger weight losses but I wish I’d kept it to see the progress. I put on Instagram that I had to unfollow Khloé Kardashian. I liked her but she was photoshopping her pictures so much. I can’t wrap my brain around it. Kim, for example, I love her. She’s had all the surgery. Who cares? I can wrap my brain around the surgery. I can’t wrap my brain around altering it digitally anymore. It’s a trigger. If you’re a cigarette smoker and you stop smoking, you hate cigarettes so much. It’s like that.

I get that. It’s good to know because I was looking at that picture that you were talking about and I know that they Photoshopped her swimsuit. I’ve been thinking this entire time that this is her actual body but I’m like, “Who has a body like that? Tell me.”

The whole episode with her publicist and trying to take down that picture off the internet, it’s not like she looked bad. I get wanting to have creative license over what the content is you put out there but to make such a big deal out of it to where she was threatening to sue the people who wouldn’t take the image down that her mema put up, I felt her crippling body dysmorphia and it triggered me. It stems a lot too from her relationship and problems. I’m speculating. I don’t know her personally. People judge her as the big fat one all the time, evil things people say.

It is rough. I’ve seen her in person too. I’m like, “She is a boss.” She’s so stunning. I’m trying to remember what picture it was that her mema posted.

It was a bikini pic. They were in Palm Springs. She was in a black bikini. She looked amazing but it wasn’t edited to her aesthetic.

That’s exhausting, especially being in this community I’m in. I haven’t touched base on my body since starting this account because I don’t want to mislead one person. People already are asking me all the time, “Have you had a tummy tuck?” I’m like, “No.” I don’t want anybody to think anything different. I don’t want to have any smoke and mirrors because I don’t need it. The second I started becoming myself on social media, it’s paid off. It’s been the missing link.

You gave me some good advice. You were like, “You need to be more vulnerable.” I took that to heart. It’s benefited me. My female following and the engagement of the female following have increased because of that. Thank you for that piece of advice. I thought that I was being vulnerable but I wasn’t. I was holding back a little bit.

I’ve seen a huge improvement on your page. You’re killing it. You mean a lot to a lot of people. Your story is important.

Thank you. I know you get thousands of messages like this but when people write me stuff and they’re like, “You’re the person who made me feel okay to take a picture in a bathing suit,” I’m crying. It makes me so happy to hear it.

I love that. That means a lot because look at all the times where we’ve spoiled a trip to the beach because we’re trying to get a bikini picture.

Do you remember that one picture where we were at your secret beach and you sent it to your friend or something and she photoshopped it? It looked like you were an alien.

Yes. She was like, “I know how to edit your cellulite out.” I’m like, “What?” I didn’t know I had cellulite.

You don’t have cellulite. You have perfect legs. Your gams are a chef’s kiss.

Thank you very much. I blame the eleven years of soccer and running like a psycho in every single sport. I’m like, “Thank God.” I love your body.

Thank you. I have a different body than you. We have completely different bodies. When you’re like, “Try the sports rods. It’s so amazing.” I tried it and I was like, “My back fat is hanging off.” It hits me differently than you and that’s okay. We have different bodies but we both love each other’s bodies for who we are. I like the little fits that you have, like the sports bra with leggings. You show a little bit the top of the belly. It looks good. You would have never done that before.

No way. I didn’t even know how far gone I had gotten, honestly. I wasn’t even looking at myself for years in the mirror.

There was this video that you posted of you in that very sparkly dress. It was a year since you had worn the dress. It was to a gala, award show or something. I don’t remember what it was. What was it for?

It was an influencer event.

I cried watching the video because I saw the joy in your face. It’s not even your transformation. What got me and my heart was the joy on your face. You could tell it in your brain like, “I didn’t even realize that I looked like this.”

I have bad body dysmorphia and I still do. Sometimes when I do my side to side, I have to ask John or one of my girls, “Is this dramatic enough for me to post?” They’re like, “What are you talking about? Are you okay? She’s out of her damn mind.” I’m like, “Honestly, I feel like I look the same.” It’s like, “You’re insane.” This is the icky part of it.

I do, too. Sometimes I’ll be laying on my side and I’m used to my stomach hanging out. I reach down to touch it and it’s flatter. I forget it. There are pictures of myself sometimes still where I’m like, “Ew.” Don’t ew yourself. You have to switch your mindset. When you have body dysmorphia and people telling you you’re fat for many years, it’s hard to get out of that.

When you’re doing it in front of a community that’s also going through that, that’s what has helped me, honestly.

Male-Dominated Industry: You get to know what’s trending in beauty by going to meetings and just real-life situations. You can also see what’s trending on Instagram or TikTok.

You’ve come out a little bit about your weight loss. How are you feeling about exposing Breanna Armstrong versus your VSG family to everything?

I was going to go on my close friends on my Bre Armstrong page, which has probably over 25 people. I was going to go on and let them know, “If you haven’t seen me for a while, you can follow me here.” I had a client follow me. I almost choked to death. I’m not ready for it. I’m like, “She doesn’t need to be seeing bikini pictures.” I had to block a few people. Rachel’s mom followed me and I had to block her because I was like, “I’m not ready for it.”

There are some people who I’m not ready for. This is such an intimate part of my life and I don’t want anyone to feel like they have any reign over it or can connect with me on this level. I’m like, “I haven’t chosen to connect with you on this level yet. This is going to be my choice whether I do or not.” There are still some people that don’t know.

That’s something we’ll discuss when your episode comes out of what you want me to tag and what you want me to do because I want to respect that part of your life. I’m proud of you at the same time. There are so many times where I want to repost something of yours and I have to respect the privacy.

It’s true because we have so many cross people.

I remember your new page got suggested to me and it was right after you’ve made it. I was like, “I’m not going to follow it. I don’t want to invade her privacy. When she’s ready, she will tell me.” When I told you about my surgery, you told me about yours.

I’m serious. There are still friends that don’t know. It’s not that I’m trying to hide anything, especially with friends. It’s all in good time.

It’s crazy. If they google your name, they will find your show and everything.

I don’t use Breanna Armstrong on my show. People know me in the community as Bre, which is a bummer because I have big things happening. I’m collaborating with some big brands and coming out with a lash with a brand. I’m not going to have my name tied to it anywhere. If I ever want to get verified on Instagram, I’m like, “There go my chances. I’m not tying the Breanna Armstrong name to it.” It confuses me sometimes. I’m like, “Should I dive right in?” That was my back and forth on TikTok.

In our community, you know how fast it is to grow on TikTok. It fast that I was like, “Do I even want to?” People were using my pictures on TikTok. I was like, “Let me tell my own story on TikTok.” That’s the only reason why I posted. It was forced upon me. I’ve run into a couple of situations like that where I’m like, “What am I trying to do over here?”

What does your boyfriend, John, say about letting the other people in your life know about it? Does he say, “Whatever you want?” I know him. He’s so sweet. What does he advise you?

There are some of his family members that don’t know if they’re all being lift, which I would hope so. With the entire journey, it’s whatever I feel like. He goes with the flow. He’s helped me build this brand, Editour, which is awesome. He loves my vision for things, appreciates and respects it.

What’s it like having a supportive partner when you have your own business? How does that benefit you?

Relationship stuff used to flood my thought process. Even if I was dating someone and they maybe send me a short text, I would think about it all day and it would affect my work. If I was getting ready for a date, I’ll be thinking about that date the entire time. Not that I don’t think about John all the time because look what I’m doing for us and what I’m building together with him but it’s night and day to have that support and I don’t have to worry about relationship stuff.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that our relationship is on the back burner but there are times where our relationship does have to be on the back burner because of the volume and pace that I’m working at. It is nice. I have ADHD too. Sometimes I’ll be talking to you right here but I’m thinking about something completely different and I’m not present. Sometimes it’s hard for me to be able to communicate with people, especially when I’m busy in my brain. He knows that and he’s able to champion that. No one my entire life has ever been able to do that, not even my parents. I appreciate it.

He’s very calming to you. Whenever you do get a little flustered, he keeps his cool, which we both super need.

We went to The Four Seasons Westlake back in March 2020 and there was something going on. We were in a lockdown for the pandemic and they weren’t allowing delivery companies to come to the actual pool and drop off the food. It was the room service. Stephanie was told that she ordered room service and they would come in bring it to her at the pool. They didn’t bring it to her at the pool. They were going to make her go and get her room service herself. It’s very upsetting. I would have never let that fly either. She pulled somebody aside.

The manager was like, “I got you, Stephanie. Don’t worry. We’ve got this under control.” I was doing an influencer thing for them for the cabana. They were giving us the cabana for free and I had to do the post. I was expecting them not to give me food for free but at least to help me out and deliver it for God’s sake or at least put it somewhere accessible. I don’t want to go up to my room carrying this big tray back downstairs, through the corridor, out to the pool. It’s too much.

The manager was MIA. She could get the manager. She talked to somebody else and said, “This isn’t Four Seasons standard.” It was probably the most serious moment of this person’s life who worked there. We were like, “Is she going to be okay or be pissed still?” She turned around, started laughing and we all started laughing.

You know that I am going to get what I want. That’s my Luxury Dropout life. That’s where it comes back into play where I’m like, “This is what I’m used to.” I’m still polite. If you’re paying $700 a night for a hotel room, I’m sorry but you have to say, “This is not the standard care that I’m supposed to be receiving. This is not Four Seasons standard.” Four Seasons, I love you.

You’re probably not reading but if you ever do, work on that. Step up the room service game. No matter what their request has been, any Four Seasons, it’s always been yes. That was the first time at Four Seasons that they’ve told me no. I worked for them. That was my first job out of college. That’s how I knew what the Four Seasons standard was. Sometimes the luxury part of me is still in there.

I’m glad that this is the name you came up with because you and I were brainstorming.

It was hard.

I was like, “You need an antithesis.” Here we are.

I love the VSG Tea. I love their rhyming. I love that you have the little clinking of the glasses. It’s well put together and cute. I was like, “I need to come up with a good idea like that.” You encouraged me to think about what embodies you. It needs to be something that’s a juxtaposition between your old life and new life. Here we are. I used to go, spend $11,000 on an outfit and be in debt for 6 months. For what though? It’s different if you have the money and you can drop that but I didn’t have the money to be doing that. I would be miserable on the inside and look okay on the outside for one Instagram picture. It’s not worth it.

Honestly, my mom is pretty bougie and can be very bougie. One of my first experiences with a friend who was interested in that was you. We have matching rings.

At least these appreciate over time. They hold their value.

I learned a lot about certain things through you. I’ve been inspired by certain designers that you have supported and that’s fine. I love that you’re getting to the point where you’re like, “I don’t need to be spending this if I need to be doing X, Y, Z first.” It’s putting those goals. I use luxury as a goal setter for me in my career where I’ll spoil myself. It used to be once a year. It’s crept its way up to more quarterly. Ordering a shirt like this, I would have never done it before I met you. Honestly, I was thinking, “Why not?”

Christy was the same way. She never ordered anything designer ever. I go to her closet and it’s fully designer. I’m like, “Who are you?” She’s like, “This is your fault.”

You rubbed off on us. Honestly, it’s fun. You get the designers and have the people that you shop with. It’s a good time.

Do you remember when we went to Nordstrom and we had that debacle with the woman who’s helping us?

Yeah. I’m like, “What is the commotion?” I had an issue.

Here’s what happens. You don’t judge people by what they wear when you walk in a store as an associate. I know that because I did high-end retail forever. The people who are the most dressed down are the people who spend the most money. It is what it is. I remember Nicky Hilton would come into where I worked. She is super loaded. I wouldn’t have recognized her because she’s wearing no makeup. She had brown hair at the time. It was pulled back in a ponytail. She was super low-key. I looked at her and I was like, “That’s Nicky Hilton.”

You have to focus and see that she’s not decked out. Maybe she was carrying a Balenciaga motorcycle bag at the time. It was popular. That was it. There were no other indicators. This woman didn’t want to help me. They were like, “It’s over there.” As soon as I started looking at the designer stuff, all of a sudden, she wanted to help me. The other lady had already started helping me. There was a debacle between them, fighting over who got to help me. I ended up saying, “Eff it. I’m not going to even buy anything because you guys are super crazy and annoying.”

I saw you’re wearing the jacket.

We ended up getting our friendship rings.

I use it as a motivator sometimes. I haven’t been able to get a house yet. I didn’t have those goals when I was doing my taxes. I still have to find new goals. My splurge wasn’t the house because I wasn’t able to get it at the time but it’s been my little trinkets here and there.

You deserve it. You work so hard. If you don’t reward yourself a little bit, what are you going to do?

That’s how I feel too.

We should go on a vacation at some point in 2022. You and I are very similar when we travel. It’s hard for me to travel with a lot of people. I can’t stay at a Holiday Inn. It’s not me. I understand it’s supposed to be Luxury Dropout but I need luxury where I’m sleeping. To me, that is a quality experience and I’m going to enrich my life by staying at a quality place. I will be miserable if we go and stay at a two-star place. I won’t like it.

That’s our hobby. That’s what brings us joy. We like to have luxury on the road.

That would be fun. If you want, I could be the third wheel. I don’t care.

We’ll go somewhere cool. I’m also very comfortable with going somewhere that’s out of my comfort zone. You know how I feel about Mexico. I don’t do anything overseas. We don’t have to. We can go and do something fun. That’s the whole thing about Bali. We were talking about going to Bali and I was like, “I’m scared.”

It’s a lot. When I went with Christy, I had to take full responsibility for the travel, getting us to the destination, through the airports, everything. She doesn’t talk. At least you’re not shy where you would help me out. When I got to the hotel, I was like, “Can you pay attention to this part?” She was like, “No. You’ve got it.” I’m like, “No. You will pay attention to this part.” I am dead because we’ve been traveling for 24 hours. I want to go to Bora Bora or something like that. My parents would never go because it’s fully a relaxed type of destination. My dad is not about that.

Male-Dominated Industry: Find a supportive partner who can help you build your business. Find someone who shares your vision for things and appreciates and respects it.

I’m down for that too. I would love to have gone to Bora Bora for my honeymoon but then it stresses me out to be so far away from the business. I have very odd priorities and they will get strained out.

You’re not odd. That’s normal. Hard-working America is ingrained within you. I have a little bit of the European like, “Let’s take a nap from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM.” You’re like, “God bless USA,” at all times. You’re so patriotic. On the 4th of July, I fully expect to see an American bald eagle in your living room.

I’m going to DC when I’m back East and I got this t-shirt.

She’s holding up a t-shirt with an American bald eagle holding an American flag. She had it on her table. That is funny. When are you going?

I’m going to be at one of my good friend’s weddings. She was supposed to get married in 2020. Her wedding is going to be at the Mondrian in Park Avenue. We’re going to stay there for a few days and fly into DC because John’s never been to DC. I am obsessed with DC. I love history. We’re going to stay at St. Regis right by The White House.

They have a good afternoon tea there.

You would know about that. That’s where you stayed.

I didn’t stay there. We stayed at a different place. The name is escaping me but it was good. It was a super nice place. We were there one night. Christy lives in Maryland. I flew in there, left, came back, stayed overnight and then left. I was only there one day. The Smithsonian is disappointing. I was sad.

Have you ever been before?

In eighth grade. To be frank, I don’t remember it.

I remember loving it. I love the outfits.

This was the Natural History Museum, not American history.

We’re not going to natural history. We’re going to the Arab one and then the American one. We’re doing that, fly over to Tennessee and visit Rachel in her new house.

You get to see everybody and all the kids. That’s great. I saw that Rachel sent two of the kiddos to public school and I was shocked.

She was considering maybe even sending more than two and maybe having Jamie and Benny start in public school. She’s not going to do that. It’s great because Rachel’s homeschooling everybody and it’s a lot to have all the kids home at once.

She never gets a break.

She’s a mom all the time. We’ll see. Also, the school systems in Tennessee are night and day from the school system in Hawaii. They’re the worst in the nation. It’s tragic.

I set my Hinge profile to Maui. They’re like, “What are you doing here?”

You have too much fun on Hinge. I love it. You use it for your entertainment.

I don’t even plan on meeting anyone on there but I have so much fun fucking with the guys on there. They’re easy to mess with. Truly having gone on a date from it, I’ve not even tried. There was one guy that I talked to for a couple of days and then it immediately fell off. I don’t think I’m ready for it. When the right guy arrives, I’ll be ready. I don’t feel like I’m focused on that aspect. Do I get lonely? Of course. There are some nights where I’m like, “It’d be nice to have a dude here.” I’m good without it.

I’m very proud of you because I don’t want you to settle.

We were settling for a little while. That’s the escape to Orange County. It was great. I couldn’t have made a better decision. You have met him and then it was over.

There was some manipulation that was trying to come into play. You deserve so much more. I’m proud. You are sound-minded about that.

I get sad when sad things happen to me but I’m more resilient than I used to be. I’m handling it a little bit better. You’re handling stuff so well too. You used to fall apart easily as I did but you hold all your things together. I don’t think I’ve seen you cry for a long time.

It’s hard to hold it all in. I was talking to my cousin about this because she was handling something super mature. She’s like, “We’re adults. We’ve grown up.” Maybe this is what happens when you grow up and you’re an adult. You feel things a lot better.

To be fair, I was in my late twenties or something when I met you. I should have been an adult already. I don’t even think I found my footing until I aged.

I’m not even a real adult yet. My friend, who comes and films with us, we used to be the best of friends in college. We were in the same cheer team together. She was like, “Can you believe that we’re actual adults?” She’s got two kids and married. I’m like, “It is insane. This is it. This is our life. We’re here to live it.”

I look at my parents still for a lot of stuff. Another reason why I admire you is because you’ve lived away from your parents and far away from them for a long time. Even when I was in Vegas and they were here in Houston, I was struggling so hard, even something as small as me being sick and I don’t have anyone.

At the time, there was no Uber Eats when I was living in Vegas. There was no delivery or grocery delivery. I would want someone to bring me a Sprite or something. Nobody was around and that was hard. You have John but you were alone before. You had to go through all of that alone. I admire that a lot where I’m like, “She’s got it together.”

That helped me to hunker down with work because I didn’t have a lot going on in my home life. When Rachel and Chad moved over there, I was like, “I have to pave my own way, make my own path and have my own life.” I did go through a rough transition into coping with that though.

Your faith is important to you as well. You and your parents share that. That probably has kept you close. Your dad’s a chef. You talk on the phone and he’s instructing you. The deviled eggs on Easter were truly a real undertaking. You’re like, “Dad, I did that already.” They were good, though.

This is what he’s used to. He’s multitasking while making his own Easter feast.

When we go to your parent’s house in Hawaii, we grub. It’s so good. The view from their house, you’re on a cloud in heaven. I’m getting nostalgic thinking about it. Our personalities showed on that trip because we did stuff together. We did the volcano together, which is a whole other story in itself. We hiked to a volcano for 10 miles. It was insane. I remember the last day I wanted to see the dolphins. That was my trigger word and kryptonite. I was like, “I have to see the dolphins.” You were like, “I want to go play golf.” I was like, “This is the difference between the two of us.” You’re the adult and I am the child who’s like, “I want to go to the animals, mommy.”

When in Hawaii, you know how to live it up.

I came across this video of us at The Waikoloa Hilton. That’s where the dolphins are. There’s that bridge across the pool. You were working on it and I was like, “She can twerk. She’s good at it.” You were twerking that whole trip.

Twerking had just started. You’re like, “Are you going to twerk?” I’m like, “I can try.” I can’t now. Something happened. I can’t twerk as good as I used to, that’s for sure.

I have one question that I ask everybody that comes on the show. I’m so interested to hear your response because you’re going to give me a thoughtful one. If you saw twenty-year-old Breanna walking down the street and you wanted to go over to her and give her a big hug. As you looked at her, you wanted to tell her one thing as you aged. What is the one thing you would tell her?

Honestly, care less about what people think about you and your career. You’re doing great. Stay focused on God. Not every man who talks to you is going to want to marry you. FYI, keep your number down a little bit lower. Stay focused on God. That’s it. Honestly, I did and still do care so much what people think but not as much as I did back then. It’s been a big battle. Honestly, in 2020, I’ve been way freer of that than anything.

Isn’t that incredible how things change?

Yes.

People say 2020 was the worst. For me, it was the best. Not for civilization but for me, I feel like my growth has been exponential and it’s been the same for you.

I do too. I’ve seen so much growth in you that I’m proud of. I wish I could be more president with you. Honestly, the small things that I have been able to contribute, how you take it and run with it, even with the small introduction with your platform. I want to see you succeed. I am a true believer that if I can do it, you can do it 100%.

I love you so much because you’re so supportive. You remind me all the time, “I can’t believe that you’re doing this.” You’re always so encouraging about my business and stuff. Honestly, I look at you and I’m like, “You can do this as well.” I’m proud of you. I’m very thankful that you have this platform because people can feed off of your joy. That are some of the things that I’ve been seeing pop up in your stories that people talk about. It’s like, “We’ve met with Stephanie Joplin. She’s full of joy and a blast.” It’s like, “Good.”

I love having these conversations with people. There’s never an awkward moment. Sometimes we talk for two hours and I’m like, “We have to get off. We can’t edit a two-hour podcast.”

Same here. We try to do 1 hour and when we go over 1.5 hours, we’re like, “We got to hop off here.”

Male-Dominated Industry: When you grow up and become an adult, you just handle things and problems a lot better.

At some point, it’s still interesting content but I don’t think the followers are going to want to stick around for two hours. You’re going to lose them. I also wanted to go back real quick about your number. I was talking to these girls from this podcast called Hotter in Person. They’re funny and explicit. They talk about sex a lot. They don’t hold anything back. Your language is gift-giving and so is mine. I love giving gifts. I like words of affirmation. Also, I give words of affirmation.

When I was in my early 20s or mid-20s, I was like, “If I give my body to this guy, he’s going to love, accept and want to marry me.” That’s a good lesson for a lot of younger women in their 20s, early-20s or whatever. We have to remember that is not what is going to make a man fall in love with you. No matter how good you are in bed, it’s not going to work.

You got to fall in love with yourself first.

There are hard days where I’m mad at myself and I’m like, “I’m so frustrated with myself.” In the end, you have to speak kindness into yourself. You and I both have done a good job of rewriting the script on that because we used to be negative with ourselves and bodies. It’s like, “Why are we like this? Why are we so fat? We’re ugly. We look like this. I can’t wear this. Don’t post that. I look like shit. Don’t do it.” Now, we’re so much better about it.

We’re more comfortable with ourselves. That happens. It takes time.

You miss out on a lot of life when you are constantly so amped up about that. We need another voyage to Hawaii. Thank you so much for spending time with me. I know you have a busy schedule. I text you incessantly and sometimes you can’t respond. You probably read it and you’re too busy to reply. Know that I admire and love you. You are such a creatively wonderful person. You will always be a close friend of mine no matter where we are in life, what age we are, no matter the distance. You’re always going to be a huge part of my life.

I love and adore you. I’m proud of you. Keep up the good work. Thank you so much for having me on.

Thank you.

—

That’s it for this episode of the show. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Breanna. She is such a light. We always cackle and have so much fun. We’re sometimes screaming in laughter on the phone with one another. I hope you caught some of that vibe. If you’re watching on YouTube, make sure you like, comment and subscribe to the channel. Don’t forget to hit that notification bell. If you are streaming audio, please don’t forget to leave a review. I am glad that you’re here. I am thrilled that you’re coming along on this journey with my friends and me. Until next time. I’m sending you love. Stay well. I will see you soon.

Important Links:

• Editour Media
• VSG Tea
• Ambition for Breakfast – Apple Podcasts
• Tummy Tuck Surgery And Postoperative Care With Stephanie Joplin – Previous episode on Podbay
• Hotter in Person – Previous episode
• YouTube – The Luxury Dropout Podcast

About Breanna Armstrong