The following is a conversation with Ivanka Trump, businesswoman, real estate developer,
and former senior advisor to the President of the United States.
I've gotten to know Ivanka well over the past two years. We've become good friends,
hitting it off right away over our mutual love of reading, especially philosophical writings from
Marcus Aurelius, Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, Victor Frankl, and so on. She is a truly kind,
compassionate, and thoughtful human being. In the past, people have attacked her, in my view,
to get indirectly at her dad, Donald Trump, as part of a dirty game of politics and clickbait
journalism. These attacks obscured many projects and efforts, often bipartisan, that she helped get
done. And they obscured the truth of who she is as a human being. Through all that, she never returned
the attacks with anything but kindness, and always walked through the fire of it all with grace.
For this, and much more, she is an inspiration, and I'm honored to be able to call her a friend.
Oh, and for those living in the United States, happy
upcoming Fourth of July. It's both an anniversary of this country's
Declaration of Independence, and an anniversary of my
immigrating here to the U.S.
I am forever grateful for this amazing country, for this amazing life, for all of you, who have
given a chance to a silly kid like me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I love you all.
This is the Lex Friedman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description.
And now, dear friends, here's Ivanka Trump. You said that ever since you were young, you wanted to
be a builder. That you loved the idea of designing beautiful city skylines, especially in New York
City. I love the New York City skyline. So describe the origins of that love of building.
You know, I think there's both an incredible confidence and a total insecurity that comes with
youth. So I remember at 15, I would look out over the city skyline from my bedroom window in New York
and imagine where I could contribute and add value in a way that, you know, I look back on and
completely laugh at, you know, how confident I was. But I've known since some of my earliest memories,
it's something I've wanted to do. And I think I fundamentally, I love art. I love expressions of beauty
beauty and so many different forms. With architecture, there's the tangible. And I think
that marriage of function and something that exists beyond yourself is very compelling. I also grew up
in a family where my mother was in the real estate business working alongside my father. My father was in
the business and I saw the joy that it brought to them. So I think I had these natural positive
associations. They used to send me as a little girl renderings of projects they were about to embark on
with notes asking if I would hurry up and finish school so I could come join them. So I had these
positive associations, but it came from something within myself. I think that as I got older and as I
got involved in real estate, I realized that it was so multidisciplinary. You have, of course,
the design, but you also have engineering, the brass tacks of construction, there's time management,
there's project planning, just the duration of time to complete one of these iconic structures.
It's enormous. You can contribute a decade of your life to one project. So while you have to think big
picture, it means you really have to care deeply about the details because you live with them. So
it allowed me to flex a lot of areas of interest. I love that confidence of youth. It's funny because
we're all so insecure, right? In the most basic interactions, but yet our ambitions are so unbridled
in a way that kind of like makes you blush as an adult. And I think it's fun. It's fun to like tap into
that energy. Yeah. Where everything is possible. I think some of the greatest builders I've ever met
kind of always have that little flame of everything is possible still burning. That is a silly notion
from youth, but it's not so silly. You know, everybody tells you something is impossible,
but if you continue believing that it's possible and have that sort of naive notion that you could do
it, even if it's exceptionally difficult, that naive notion turns into some of the greatest projects ever
done. A hundred percent. You know, going out to space or building a new company where like everybody
said it's impossible, taking on a gigantic company and disrupting them and revolutionizing how stuff is
done or doing huge building projects where like you said, so many people are involved in making that
happen. We get conditioned out of that feeling. Yeah. We start to become insecure and it's,
we start to rely on the input or validation of others. And it takes us away from that sort of core
drive and ambition. So it's fun to reflect on that and also to smile, right? Because whether you can
execute or not, time will tell. But yeah, no, that was very much my childhood.
Yeah. Of course it's important to also have the humility. Once you get humbled and realize that it's
actually a lot of work to build. I still am amazed just looking at big buildings, big bridges that
human beings are able to get together and build those things. That's one of my favorite things
about architecture is just like, wow, it's, it's a manifestation of the fact that humans can collaborate
and do something like epic much bigger than themselves. And it's like a statue that represents
that and it can be there for a long time. Yeah.
I think in, in some ways you look out at, at different city skylines and it's,
it's almost like, um, a visual depiction of ambition realized, right? Like it's a testament to
somebody's dream, just not somebody, a whole, um, ensemble of people's dreams and visions,
um, and triumphs. And in some cases failures, um, if the projects weren't properly executed. So,
so you look at these skylines and, and, and it's a testament to that. I actually heard once
architecture described as frozen music that, that really resonated with me.
I love thinking about a city skyline as an ensemble of dreams realized.
Yeah. I remember the first time I, I went to, um, Dubai and I was watching them dredging
out and creating these manmade islands. And I remember somebody once saying to me there,
an architect, um, an architect actually who collaborated with us on, on our tower in Chicago.
He said that the only thing that limited what an architect could do in that area was gravity and
imagination. So it's, it's, you know. Yeah. But gravity is a tricky one to work against.
And that's where civil engineer is one of my favorite things. I used to build, uh, bridges
in high school for physics classes. You have to build bridges and you compete on how much weight
they can carry relative to their own weight. Yeah. You study how good it is by finding its breaking
point. And that was a deep appreciation for me on a miniature scale of, on a large scale,
what people are able to do with civil engineering because gravity is a tricky one to fight against.
It definitely is in bridges. I mean, some of the iconic designs in, in our country are incredible
bridges. So if we think of, uh, skylines as ensembles of dreams realized, you spent quite a
bit of time in New York. What, what do you love about, and what do you think about the New York
city skyline? What's a good picture? We're looking here at a few. I mean, looking over the water,
well, I think the water is an unbelievable feature of the New York skyline, um, as you see the island
on approach. And oftentimes you'll see like in these images, you'll see these towers reflecting off of
the water surface. So I think there's something very beautiful and, um, and unique about that.
When I look at New York, I, I see this unbelievable sort of tapestry of different types of architecture.
So you have the Gothic form, um, as represented by buildings like the Woolworth Building, or you'll
have Art Deco as represented by buildings like 40 Wall Street, or the Chrysler Building, or Rockefeller
Center. And, uh, and then you'll have these unbelievable super modern examples or modernist
examples like Lever House and Seagram's House. So you have all of these different styles. And I think
to build in New York, you're really building the best of the best. So nobody's giving New York
their sort of second rate work. Um, and, uh, especially when a lot of those buildings were
built, there was this incredible competition happening between New York and Chicago for
kind of dominance of the sky and for who could create the greatest skyline that sort of raced to
the sky when skyscrapers were first being built, starting in Chicago and, and then New York surpassing
that in terms of height at least, um, with, with the Empire State Building. So I love sort of contextualizing
the skylines as well and thinking back to, um, when different components that are so iconic were, were
added in, in the context in which they came into being. I gotta ask you about this. There's a pretty
cool page, uh, that I've been following on X, Architecture and Tradition, and they celebrate sort of
traditional, uh, schools of architecture. And you mentioned Gothic, the tapestry. This is in Chicago,
the Tribune Tower in Chicago. So what do you think about that? Sort of the, the old and the
new mixed together. Do you like Gothic? I think it's hard to look at something like the Tribune
Tower and not be completely in awe. Like this is an unbelievable building. Look at those buttresses
and you've got gargoyles hanging off of it. And you know, this style was reminiscent of the
cathedrals of Europe, which was very kind of in vogue in like the 1920s here in, here in America.
Actually, I mentioned the Woolworth Tower before. The Woolworth Tower was actually referred to
as the Cathedral of Commerce. Um, and because it, it also was in that Gothic style.
Amazing. So this was built maybe a decade before the Tribune building.
But the Tribune building to me is, is, it's almost not replicable. It personally really resonates
with me because one of the first projects I ever worked on was building Trump Chicago, which was this
beautiful, elegant, super modern, all glass skyscraper right across the way. So it was right
across the river. So I would look out the windows, um, as it was under construction or, or be standing
quite literally on rebar of the building, looking out at, at the Tribune and, and incredibly inspired.
And now the reflective glass of the building reflects back not only the river, but, but also,
um, the Tribune building and other buildings on Michigan Avenue.
Do you like it when the glass, the reflective properties of the glass is part of the architecture?
I think it depends. Like they have super reflective glass that sometimes doesn't work. It's distracting.
And, um, I, I think it, it's, it's one component of, um, sort of a composition that comes together.
I think in this case, the glass on, on Trump Chicago is very beautiful. It was, uh, designed by Adrian
Smith of, um, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, a major architecture firm who actually did, um, the Burj Khalifa
in Dubai, which is, I think, like an awe-inspiring example of, of modern architecture. But glass is tricky.
It's, you have to get the shade, right? Um, you know, some glass has a lot of iron in it and gets super green.
Um, and that's a choice. And, uh, sometimes you have more blue properties, blue silver, like you see
here, but it's, it's, it's part of the character. How do you know what it's actually going to look
like when it's done? Like, is it possible to imagine that? Because it feels like there's so
many variables. I think so. I think if you have a vivid imagination and if you sit with it, and then
if you also go beyond the rendering, right, you have to, you have to live with the materials. So you
don't build a 92-story building, glass curtain wall, and not deeply examine the actual curtain wall
before purchasing it. So you have to spend a lot of time with the actual materials, not just, um,
the beautiful sort of artistic renderings, um, which can be incredibly misleading. Um, the goal is
actually that the, the end result is much, much more compelling, um, than, than what the architect
or artist rendered. But oftentimes that's very much not the case. You know, sometimes also you mention
context, you know, sometimes I'll see renderings of buildings. I'm like, wait, what about the building
right to the left of it that's blocking 80% of its views of the, you know, they'll, the, you know,
architects, they'll remove things that are inconvenient. They'll see. So you have to,
you have to be rooted in reality, in reality. Exactly. And I love the notion of living with them,
with the materials in contrast to living in the imagined world of the drawings. So the, the both,
both are probably important because you have to dream the thing into existence, but you also have to
be rooted in like what the thing is actually going to look like in the context of everything else.
One of the underlying principles of the page is just mentioned. And I hear folks mention this a
lot is that, uh, modern architecture is kind of boring, that it lacks soul and beauty. And you just
spoke with admiration for both modern and for Gothic, for older, uh, architectures. So do you think
there's truth that the modern architecture is boring? I'm living in Miami currently. So I see a lot of
super uninspired glass boxes on, on the waterfront, but, um, but I think exceptional things shouldn't be
the norm. You know, they're typically rare. So, and I think in modern architecture, you find
an abundance of amazing examples of, of super compelling and innovative building designs. I mean,
I mentioned the Burj Khalifa. It is awe-inspiring. This is an unbelievably striking
example of modern architecture. You look at some older examples, the Sydney Opera House. And,
you know, so, so I think there's unbelievable. There you go. I mean, it's like a needle in the sky.
Yeah. Reaching out to the stars. It's, it's huge. And in the context of a city where there's a lot of
height. Um, so it's, it's unbelievable. But I, I think one of the things that's probably exciting me
the most about architecture right now is the innovation that's happening within it.
You know, there's example of robotic fabrication, there's 3d printing, um, your friend and, and who you
introduced me to not too long ago, Neary Oxman, what she's doing at the intersection of biology and
technology and thinking about how to create more sustainable development practices, quite literally
trying to create materials that will biodegrade back into the earth. I think there's something
really cool happening now with the rediscovery of ancient building techniques. So you have self-healing
concrete that was used by the Romans, an art and a practice of using volcanic ash and lime that's now
being rediscovered and is more critical than ever as we think about how much of our infrastructure
relies on concrete and how much of that is failing on the most basic level. So I think actually it's a
really, really exciting time, um, for innovation in architecture. And I think there are some incredible
examples of, of, of modern design that are, are really exciting. But generally, I think Roosevelt
said that comparison is the thief of joy. So it's hard, you know, you look at the Tribune building, you
look at some of these iconic structures. One of, um, the buildings I'm most proud to have worked on was the
historic old post office building in Washington, DC. You look at a building like that
and it feels like it has no equal. Also, there's a psychological element where people tend to want
to complain about the new and celebrate the old. Oh, it's like the history of time. So there's just,
people are always kind of skeptical and concerned about change. And it's true that there's a lot of
stuff that's new. That's not good. It's not going to last. It's not going to stand the test of time,
but some things will. And there's, uh, just like in modern art, there's in modern music, there's going
to be artists that, uh, stand the test of time. And we'll later look back and celebrate them. Those
are the good times. Yeah. When you just step back, what do you love about architecture? Is it the beauty?
Is it the function? I'm most emotionally drawn obviously to the beauty, but
I think as somebody who's built things, I really believe that the form has to follow the function.
Like there's nothing uglier than a space that is ill-conceived that, that, you know, otherwise it's,
it's, it's, it's decoration. And I think that after sort of that initial reaction to seeing something
that's aesthetically really pleasing to me when I, when I look at a, um, when I look at a building or,
or a project, I love sort of thinking about how it's being used. So having been able to build so many
things and, um, in my career and, and worked on so many incredible projects, I mean, it's really,
really rewarding after the fact to have somebody come up to you and, and tell you that they got engaged in
the lobby of your building or they got married in the ballroom and, um, and share with you some of
those experiences. So, so to me, that's equally as beautiful. Um, the, the use cases for, for these
unbelievable projects, but, but I think, I think it's all of it. I, I love, I love that you've got the
construction and you've got the design and you've got then the interior design and you've got the
financing elements, the marketing elements, and it's all wrapped up in, um, in this one effort.
So, so to me, it's exciting to sort of flex in all of those different ways.
Yeah. Like you said, it's dreams realized, hard work realized. Um, I mean, probably on the bridge
side is why I love the function in terms of function being primary. You just think of like
the millions of bridges, uh, go, go down. You had, look at that. Yeah. This is devil's bridge in
Germany. Yeah. I wouldn't say it's like the most practical design, but look how beautiful that is.
Yeah. So this is probably, well, we don't know. We need to interview some people whether the function
holds up, but in terms of beauty, and then like, like what we're talking about, using the water for
the reflection and the shape that creates, I mean, there's an elegance to the shape of a, of a bridge.
See, it's interesting that they call it devil's bridge, because to me, this is
very ethereal. You know, I think about the ring, the circle, um, life.
There's nothing about this that makes me feel, maybe they're just being ironic
in the names. Unless that function's really flawed.
Yeah, exactly. Maybe. Nobody's ever successfully crossed.
Who crossed the bridge. Yeah. But I mean, to me, there's just iconic,
I love looking at bridges because, because of the function it's the Brooklyn Bridge or the Golden
Gate Bridge. I mean, those are probably my favorites in the United States, just in a city to be able
to look out and see the skyline combined with the suspension bridge. And thinking of all the millions
of cars that pass, like the busyness, like us humans get getting together and going to work,
building cool stuff. And just the bridge kind of represents the turmoil and the busyness of a city
as it creates. It's cool. And the connectivity as well. Yeah. The network of roads all come together.
So the, there, the bridge is the ultimate combination of function and, and beauty. Yeah. I remember when I was
first learning about bridges, studying the cable stay versus the suspension bridge. And I mean,
you actually built many replicas, so I'm sure you'll have a point of view on this, but they're,
they really are so beautiful. And you mentioned the Brooklyn Bridge, but growing up in New York,
that was as much a part of the architectural story and tapestry of that skyline as any building that's,
that's seen in it. So what in general is your philosophy, philosophy of design and building
in architecture? Well, some of the most recent projects I, I worked on prior to government
service where the old post office building and almost simultaneously Trump Doral in Miami. So these
were both two just massive undertakings, both redevelopments, which in a lot of cases, having
worked on ground up construction, redevelopment projects are in a lot of ways, much more complicated
because you have existing attributes, but also a lot of limitations you have to work within,
especially when you're repurposing a use. So, so this, um, the old post office building on
Pennsylvania Avenue was so beautiful. It's unbelievable.
So this was a Romanesque revival building, um, built in the 1890s on America's main street to
symbolize American grandeur. And, um, at the time there were post office being built in, in the style
across the country, but this being really the defining one. Still to this day, the tallest habitable
structure in Washington, um, the tallest structure being the monument, the nation's only vertical park,
which is that clock tower. But you've got these thick granite walls, those carved granite turrets,
um, just, just an unbelievable building. You've got this massive, um, atrium that, that runs through
the whole, um, center of it that is, is topped with glass. So, so having the opportunity to, to spearhead
a project like that was, was so exciting. And actually it was my first renovation project. So
I, I came to it with a tremendous amount of energy, uh, vigor and, and humility, um, about how to do it
properly, ensuring I had all the right people. We had countless federal and local government agencies
that would oversee every single decision we made. But in advance of even having the opportunity to do it,
there was a close to two year request for proposal, like a process that was put out by, um, the general
services administration. So it was this really arduous government procurement process that we were
competing against so many different people for the opportunity, um, which a lot of people said it was a
gigantic waste of time. But I looked at that and I think so did a lot of the other bidders and say,
it's worth trying to put the best vision forward. So you fell in love with this project.
I fell in love. Yeah. So what, is there some interesting details about what it takes to do
renovation? Is there about some, some of the challenges or opportunities? Cause you, you want to
maintain the beauty of the old and now like upgrade the functionality, I guess, and maybe modernize some
aspects of it without destroying what made the building magical in the first place.
So I think the greatest asset was already there, the exterior of the building, which we meticulously
restored and any addition to it had to be done sort of very gently, um, in terms of any signage additions.
And, um, the interior spaces were completely dilapidated. It had been in a post office, then we was used for
a really rundown food court and government office spaces. It was actually losing six million dollars
a year, um, when, when we got, um, the concession to, to build it. And when we won and, and became one of,
I think a great example of public private partnerships working together. But the, I think the biggest
challenge in having such a radical use conversion is just how you lay it out. So the amount of time
I would get on that Accela twice a week, um, three times a week to spend day trips down in Washington.
And we would walk every single inch of the building, laying out the floor plans, debating over the
configuration of a room. There were almost 300 rooms and there were almost 300 layouts. So nothing
could be repeated. Uh, whereas when you have, when you're building from scratch, you tend, you know,
you have a box and you decide where you want to add, you know, potential elements and, um, and you kind
of can stack the floor plan all the way up. But when you're working within a building like this, every
single room was different. You see the setback. So the setback then required you to move the plumbing.
So there was no, um, it was really a labor of love and to do something like this. And that, and that's
why I think renovation, we had it with Doral as well. It was 700 rooms over, um, over 650 acres of, of property.
And so every single unit was, was very different and complicated, not, not as complicated in some
ways. The scale of it was so massive, but not as complicated as the old post office, but it required
a level of, of precision. And I think in real estate, you have a lot of people who design on plan, um, and
a lot of people who are in the business of sort of acquiring and flipping. So it's more financial
engineering than it is building. And they don't spend the time sort of sweating these details that
make something great and make something functional and you feel it in the end result. Um, but I, I mean,
blood, sweat, tears, years of my life for, for those projects. And, and it was worth it. I, I enjoyed
almost, I enjoyed almost every minute of it. So to you, it's not about the flipping to you,
it's about the art of the, and the function of the thing that you're creating a hundred percent.
What's design on plan? I'm learning new things today. Um, when, when proposals are put forth by
an architect and, and really just the plan is accepted without, and in the case of a renovation,
like if you're not walking those rooms, the number of times a beautifully laid out room was on a blueprint.
And then I'd go to Washington and I'd walk that floor and I'd realize that there was a column that ran
right up through the middle of the space where, you know, the bed was supposed to be, or the toilet
was supposed to be, or, um, or the shower. So there's a lot of things that are missed, um, when you do
something conceptually without sort of rooting it in, um, in the actual structure. And that's why I think even,
you know, with ground up construction as well, people who aren't constantly on their job sites,
constantly walking the projects, there's just a lot that's, there's a lot that's missed.
I mean, there's a wisdom to the, the idea that we talked about before, live with the materials and
walking the construction site, walk in the rooms. I mean, that's what you hear from people like Steve
Jobs, like Elon, that's why you live in the factory floor. That's why you constantly obsess
about the details, the actual, not of the, the plans, but the physical reality of the product.
I mean, the, the insanity of Steve Jobs and Johnny I working together on like making it perfect,
making the iPhone, the early designs, prototypes, making that perfect, like what it actually feels
like in the hand. You have to be there, like as close to the metal as possible to truly understand.
And you have to love it in order to do that. Right. It, it shouldn't be about the, how much
it's going to sell for, all that kind of stuff. You have to love the art.
Because for the most part, he can probably get 90, maybe even 95% of the end result,
unless something has terribly gone awry by, by not caring with that level of
almost like maniacal precision, but you'll notice that 10% for the rest of your life.
You know? So I think, I think that extra effort, that, that passion, I think that's what separates
good from great.
If we go back to that young Ivanka, the, the confidence of youth. And if we could talk about
your mom, she had a big influence on you. You told me she was an adventurer.
Yeah.
Olympic skier and a businesswoman. What did you learn about life from your mother?
So much. She passed away two years ago now. And she was a remarkable,
remarkable woman. She was a trailblazer in so many different ways, um, as an athlete and growing
up in communist Czechoslovakia, as, um, a fashion mogul, as a real estate executive and, and builder.
Um, just this all around trailblazing businesswoman. I also learned from her, you know, aside from,
from that element, how to really enjoy life. You know, I look back and some of my happiest memories
of her are in the ocean, you know, just lying on her back, um, looking up at the sun and just so,
so in the moment or dancing. She loved to dance. So she, um, she really taught me a lot about living
life to its fullest. And, um, and she had so much courage, so much conviction, so much energy,
um, and a complete comfort with who she was.
What do you think about that? I mean, Olympic athlete, the trade-off between
like ambition and just wanting to do big things and pursuing that and giving your all to that and
being able to relax and just throw your arms back and enjoy the moment, every moment of life.
But like that trade-off, what do you think about that trade-off?
I think because she was this unbelievable, formidable athlete and because of the discipline
she had as a child, I think it made her value those moments more as an adult. I think she was
a great balance of the two that we all hope to find. And she was able to find both incredibly serious
and formidable. I remember as a little girl, I used to literally traipse behind her, um, at the Plaza Hotel,
which, um, she oversaw and actually kind of was her old post office. It was this unbelievable historic
hotel in New York City. And I'd follow her around at construction meetings and on job sites and, um,
there she is dancing. See?
That's funny that that's the picture you pull up.
I'm sorry. The two of you just look great in that picture.
That's great.
She had such a joy to her and she was so
unabashed in her perspective and her opinions. I mean, you know, she made my father look reserved.
Whatever she was feeling, she was just very expressive, um, and, and a lot of fun to be around.
So she, uh, as you mentioned, uh, grew up during the Prague Spring in, uh, 1968 and that had a big
impact on human history. I mean, my, my family came from the Soviet Union and then, you know,
the 20th century, the story of the 20th century is a lot of Eastern Europe, uh, the Soviet Union tried,
uh, the ideas of, uh, of communism. And it turned out that a lot of those ideas resulted into a lot of
suffering. So why do you think the communist ideology failed?
I think fundamentally as people, we desire freedom, we want agency, you know, and, and my mom was like
a lot of other people who grew up in, in similar situations where she didn't like to talk about it
that often. So one of my real regrets is that I didn't push her harder, you know? So, but I think
back to the conversations we did have and, and I try to imagine what it's like. She was at Charles
University and, and in Prague, which was really like a focal point of, um, of the reforms that were
ushered in during the Prague Spring and the liberalization agenda that was happening. The dance
halls were opening, the student activists, and, and she was attending university there right at that
same time. So the, the contrast to this feeling of freedom and progress and liberalization in the
spring, and then it's so quickly being crushed in the fall of that same year when the Warsaw Pact
countries and, uh, and the Soviet Union rolled in to, to put down and, and ultimately roll back all those
reforms. So for her to have lived through that, you know, she didn't come to North America until she
was, uh, 23 or 24. So that was her life as, um, as, as a young girl, she was on the junior national
ski team for Czechoslovakia. My, my grandfather used to train her. They used to,
put the skis on her back and walk up the mountain, um, in Czechoslovakia because there were no,
there were no ski lifts. She actually made me do that when I was a child, um, just to, to let me
know, uh, what her experience had been. If I complained that it was cold out, she's like,
well, you didn't have to walk up the mountain. You'd be, you'd be plenty warm if you had carried
the skis up on your back and, uh, up the last run. I feel like they made people tougher back then.
Like my, my grandma, you mentioned, it's funny. They, they go through some of the darkest things
that a human being can go through and they don't talk about it. And they have a general positive
outlook on life. Like, uh, that's deeply rooted in the knowledge of what life could be. Yeah.
Like how bad it could get. My grandma survived, uh, Hadamor in Ukraine, which is mostly a mass
starvation brought on by the, the collectivist policies of the Stalin regime. And then she survived
the Nazi occupation of Ukraine. Never talked about it. Probably went through extremely dark,
extremely difficult times, and then just always had a positive outlook on life. And also made me do
very difficult physical activity. Like just, you mentioned, just to, to humble you. Like kids these
days are soft kind of energy, which I'm deeply, deeply grateful for on, on all fronts, including
just having hardship and, uh, including just physical hardship flung at me. I think that's really important.
Mm-hmm. You wonder how much of, of who they were was a reaction to their experience. You know, would
she have naturally had that sort of forward-looking, grateful, optimistic orientation? Or was it a
reaction to, to her childhood? I think about that. You know, I look at this picture of my mom and she
was unabashedly herself. You know, she loved flamboyance and glamour and, and in some ways I think it
probably was a direct reaction to this very austere, controlled childhood. You know, this was one
expression of it. I think her, you know, how she dressed and how she presented. I, I think her
entrepreneurial spirit and love of capitalism and all things American was, was another manifestation of
it and one that I grew up with. I remember this story she used to tell me, um, about when she was,
uh, 14 and she was going to neighboring countries. And, you know, as an athlete, you were given
additional freedoms, um, that, that you wouldn't otherwise be afforded in, um, in, in these societies
under, under communist rules. So she was able to travel where most of her friends never would be
able to leave Czechoslovakia. And she would come back from all of these trips and the first place where
she'd do ski races in Austria and, and elsewhere. And the first thing she had to do was check in at
the local police. And she'd sit down and she had enough wisdom at 14 to know that she couldn't appear
to be lying by not being impressed by what she saw and the fact that you could get an orange in the
winter, but she couldn't be too excited by it that she'd become a flight risk. So give enough details
that you're believable, but not so many that you're not trusted. And imagine that as a 14 year old,
you know, that experience and, and having to navigate the world that way. And, um,
she told me that eventually all those local police officers, they came to love her because one of the
things she'd do is smuggle that stuff back from these countries and give it to them to give their wives
perfume and stockings. And so she figured out the system pretty quickly. Um, but, but it's,
it's a very different experience from what I was navigating and the pressures and challenges me as a
14 year old was, was dealing with. So, so I have so much respect and, and admiration for her.
Yeah. Hardship clarifies what's important in life. Uh, you and I have talked about Man's Search for Meaning,
that book, uh, having kind of an ultimate hardship clarifies that, uh, finding joy in life is not
about the environment. It's about your outlook on that environment. And there's beauty to be found in any
situation. Yeah. And also in that particular situation, the, when everything's taken from you,
the thing you start to think about is, uh, the people you love. So in the case of Man's Search for Meaning,
Viktor Frankl, thinking about his, his wife and how much he loves her. And that love was the flame that
the, the, the warmth that kept him excited, the fun thing to think about when everything else is gone.
So we sometimes forget that with the business of life, you get all this fun stuff we're talking
about, like building and being a creative force in the world. At the end of the day, what matters
is just like the other humans in your life, the people you love. It's the simple stuff.
You know, Viktor Frankl is, is somebody, I mean, his, that book and, um, just his philosophy in
general is, is, um, is so inspiring to me. But I think so many people, they say they want happiness,
but they want conditional happiness. You know, when this and this, a thing happens or under these
circumstances, then I'll be happy. And I think what he showed is that we can sort of cultivate
these virtues within ourselves, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. And
in some ways, I think the, the meaning of life is the search for meaning in life.
It's the relationships we have and we form. It's the experience we have. It's how we deal with
the suffering that life inevitably presents to us. And, uh, and Viktor Frankl does an amazing job
highlighting that under the most horrific circumstances. And I think it's, it's just
super inspiring to me.
He also shows that you can get so much from just like small joys,
like getting a little more soup today than you did yesterday.
I mean, it's like, it's the little stuff. If you allow yourself to love the little stuff of life,
it's all around you. It's all there. So you don't need to like have these ambitious goals and the
comparison being a thief of joy, that kind of stuff. Just like it's all around us, the ability to eat.
Like when I, when I was in the jungle and I got severely dehydrated because there's no water,
you run out of water real quick. And I mean, the joy I felt when I got to drink,
like, I didn't care about anything else. Speaking of things that matter in life,
I always, I would start to fantasize about water and that was bringing me joy.
You can tap into this feeling at any time.
Exactly. I was just tapping in just to stay positive.
Go into your bathroom, turn on the sink and watch the water.
Oh, for sure. For sure. I mean, people really, I, it's good to have stuff taken away for time.
That's why struggle is good to make you appreciate, to have a deep gratitude for when you have it. And
water and food is a big one, but water is the biggest one. I wouldn't recommend it necessarily
to get severely dehydrated, to appreciate water, but maybe every time you take a sip of water,
you can have that kind of gratitude.
There's a prayer in Judaism you're supposed to say every morning, which is basically
thanking God for your body working. It's, it's something, you know, so basic, but
it's when it doesn't that, that we're grateful. So just reminding ourselves every day, the basic things
of, of a functional body of, of, of our health, of access to, to water, which so many millions of
people around the world do not have reliably is very clarifying and super important.
Yeah. Health is a gift. Water is a gift.
Yeah.
Is there a memory with your mom that had a defining effect on your life?
I have these vignettes in my mind, you know, seeing her in action in different capacities.
A lot of times, um, in the context of things that I would later go on to do myself. So,
you know, I would go every day, almost every day after school and I'd go to the Plaza Hotel and I'd
follow her around as she'd walk the hallways and just observe her. And she was so impossibly glamorous.
She was doing everything and, you know, four and a half inch heels with this
bouffant. And so it was almost, it was almost like an, it's almost like an inaccessible visual.
But I think for me, when I saw her experience, the most joy tended to be by the sea. Um, almost
always not, not a pool. And I think I get this from her. I, pools, they're fine.
Um, I love the ocean. I, I love salt water. I love the way it makes me feel. And, um, and I think
I got that from her. So we would, we would just swim together all, all the time. And, and,
you know, it's, it's a lot of what I love about Miami, actually being, being so close to the ocean,
I find it to be super cathartic, but a lot of my memories of my mom seeing her really like just
in her bliss, um, is, is floating around and in, in a body of salt water.
Is there also some aspect to her being an example of somebody that could be
sort of beautiful and feminine, but at the same time, uh, powerful, a successful businesswoman
that showed that it's possible to do that? Yeah, I think she really was a trailblazer.
It's not uncommon in, in real estate for there to be multiple generations of, uh, of people. And so on,
on job sites, I, it was not unusual for me to run into somebody whose grandfather had worked with my
grandfather in Brooklyn or Queens, or whose father had, um, worked with my mother. And, and they'd always
tell me these stories about her, you know, rolling in and they'd hear the heels first.
And, and a lot of times the story would be like, oh gosh, like, you know, really,
it's two days after Christmas. Like we thought we'd get a reprieve. Um, but she was, uh, she was very
exacting. Um, you know, so I had this visual in my mind of her, you know, walking on rebar,
you know, on the balls of her feet in these four inch heels. I'm assuming she actually carried flats
with her. Uh, but, but I don't know, that's not the visual I have, but she was, um, I loved the
fact that she so embodied femininity and, um, and glamour and, um, and was so comfortable being
tough and ambitious and determined and, um, and this unbelievable businesswoman and entrepreneur
at a, at a time when she was very much alone. Even, you know, for, for me and in the development
world and so many of the different businesses that I've been in, there really aren't women
outside of, of sales and of marketing. You don't see as many women in the development space, in the
construction space, even in the architecture, um, and, and design space, um, maybe outside of interior
design. So, and she was, you know, decades ahead of me. So it was, I love hearing these stories. I love,
I love hearing somebody who's my peer tell me about their grandfather and their father and their
experience with, with one of my parents. It's, it's amazing. And she did it all in four inch heels.
And she did it. She used to say, there's nothing that I can't do better in heels.
That would be your, that would be your exact thing. And when I complain about wearing something,
you know, it was like the early nineties, everything was also like uncomfortable. These
fabrics and materials. And, and I was, I would like go back and forth between being super girly
and a total tomboy. Um, but, uh, but she'd, you know, dress me up in, in these things and I'd be
complaining about it. And she'd say, Ivanka Payne for beauty, which I happen to totally disagree with
because I think there's nothing worse than being uncomfortable. So I haven't accepted or internalized
all of the, um, this, this wisdom, so to speak, but, um, but, but it was just funny.
You know, she had, she had a very specific point of view.
Mm-hmm and full of good lines, paint for beauty.
It's, it's funny because I mean, just even in fashion, if something's uncomfortable,
to me, there's nothing that looks worse than when you see somebody like tottering around and like
their heels hurt them. So they're kind of walking oddly. Um, and you know, it doesn't,
they're not embodying their confidence in that regard. So I'm like kind of the opposite. I start
with, well, I want to be comfortable. Um, and that helps me be confident and, um, and in command.
A foundation for fashion for you is comfort. And on top of that, you build things that are beautiful.
And it's not comfort like dowdy, you know, there's that level of comfort, but, um,
Functional comfort.
But I think you have to, for me, I want to feel confident and you don't feel confident when
you're like pulling at a garment or, um, you know, hobbling on heels that don't fit you properly.
Um, and she was never doing those things either. So I don't know how she was wearing stuff like that.
That's like a 40 pound feet of dress. And I know this because I have it and I wore it recently.
And I mean, I got a workout walking to the elevator. Yeah.
Like this is a heavy dress and you know what? It was worth it. It was great.
Yeah. Um, she's making it look easy, but she, uh, she makes it look very, very easy. So
do you, uh, miss her? I'm so much. It's unbelievable how dislocating the loss of a, of a parent is. And,
um, her mother lives with me still, my grandmother who helped raise us. So that's very special.
And I can ask her some of the questions that I would have, sorry, I wanted to ask my own mom, but
it was beautiful to see. I've gotten a chance to spend time with your family to see so many
generations together at the table. And there's so much history there.
No, she's 97. And, um, until, uh, she was around 94, she lived completely on her own, no help,
no anything, no support. And, um, and now she requires really sort of
24 hour care. And I, I feel super grateful that I'm able to give her that because that's what she
did for me. It's amazing for me to have my children be able to grow up and, and know her stories,
know her recipes, um, Czech dumplings and, and goulash, um, and
kitzelitsa and all the other things she used to make me in my childhood. But, but she really, she was a
major, she was a major force in my life. My grandmother, she, um, you know, my mom was working.
So, you know, my grandmother was the person who was always home every day when I came back from
school. And, um, I remember I used to shower and it would almost be like comical. I, I feel like in my
memory, I'm, and there is no washing machine I've seen on the planet that can actually do this. But in my
memory, I'd go to shower, you know, and I dropped something on the bed and I'd come back into the
room after my shower. And it was like folded, pressed. It was all my grandmother. She was like
running after me, um, taking care of me. Um, and, uh, so it's nice to be able to do that for her.
Yeah. I got from her reading my grandmother. She would,
she devoured books, like devoured books. She loved the more sensational ones.
So like some of these like romance novels that would pick them up, the covers, but she could
tell you, she could look at like any royal lineage across Europe and tell you all the mistresses,
all the drama, all the drama. She loved it. Um, but her face was always buried in a book.
You know, my grandfather, Dedo, he was the athlete. Um, he was, um, he swam professionally for,
or, you know, on the national team for Czechoslovakia. And he helped train my mom,
as I was saying before in skiing. So he was a great athlete and she was at home and she would read and
cook. And, um, and so that's, that's something I, I remember a lot from my childhood. And she would
always say like, I got, I got reading from her.
I mean, speaking of drama, I had, uh, my English teacher in high school recommended a book for me
by D.H. Lawrence. It's supposed to be a classic. She's like, this is a classic you should read.
It's called Lady Shadow is Lover. And so I've read a lot of classics, but that one is straight
up like a romance novel about a wife. We like just cheating with a gardener. And I remember reading
this, like what, like in retrospect, I understand why it's a classic because it was so scandalous to
talk about sex in a book a hundred years ago, whatever.
In retrospect, do you know why she recommended it to you?
I have no, I think it's just sending a signal. Hey, you need to get out more or something.
I don't know.
Maybe, maybe she was seeking to inspire you.
Yeah, exactly. Um, anyway, I mean, I love that kind of stuff too, but I love, I love all the
classics and they get, they get, there's a lot of drama, human nature drama is part of it. So
what about your dad growing up? What did you learn about life from your father?
I think my father's sense of humor is sometimes underappreciated.
Uh, so he had an amazing and has an amazing sense of humor. He loved music. I think my
my mom loved music as well, but you know, my father always used to say that in another life,
he would have been a Broadway musical producer, which is hilarious to think about, but he loves,
he loves music. That is funny to think about.
Right? He does, now he DJs at Mar-a-Lago. So people get a sense of, you know, he loves Andrew Lloyd
Webber and all of it, Pavarotti, Elton John. I mean, these were the same songs on repeat my
whole childhood. So I know the playlist, probably Sinatra and all that love Sinatra loves Elvis,
you know, a lot of, a lot of the greats. So I, I think I got a little bit of my love
for music from, from him, but my mom shared that, um, as well. I think, um, one of the things,
you know, in, in, in looking back that I think I inherited from my father as well as this sort of,
um, interest or understanding of the importance of asking questions and specifically questions of
the right people. And I saw this a lot on, on job sites. So I remember, uh, with the old post office
building, there was this massive glass topped atrium. So heating and cooling the structure was like a
Herculean lift. Um, we had the mechanical engineers provide their thoughts on how we could do it
efficiently and, um, and so that the temperature never varied. And it was enormously expensive, um,
as an, as an undertaking. And I remember one of his first times on, on the site because, you know,
he had really empowered me, um, with this project and he trusted me to, to execute and to also, you know,
rope them in when I needed it. But one of the first time he visits, we're walking the hallway and
we're talking about how expensive this cooling system would be and heating system would be.
And he starts stopping and he's asking duct workers as, as we walk, what they think of the
system that the mechanical engineer has designed. First few, fine, you know, not great answers. The
third guy goes, sir, if you want me to be honest with you, it's obscenely over designed. In the
circumstance of a 1000 year storm, you will have the exact perfect temperature if there's a massive
blizzard or if it's unbearably hot, but 99.9% of the time you'll never need it. And, um, and so I
think it's just an enormous waste of money. And so he kept asking that guy questions and we ended up
overhauling the design pretty well into the process of the whole system, saving a lot of money, creating
a great system that's super functional. And, um, so I, I learned a lot and that's just one example of
countless. That one really sticks out in my head because I'm like, oh my gosh, we're redesigning the
whole system. You know, we were actively under construction. So it was, um, but I would see
him do that on a lot of different issues. He, he would ask people on the work level what their
thoughts were, ideas, concepts, designs. And, um, there was almost like a Socratic sort of
first principles type of way he, he questioned people trying to get down to sort of trying to reduce
complex things to something really fundamental and, and, and simple. So I, I try to do that
myself to the, to the best I can. And I think it's something I very much learned from him.
Yeah. I've seen great engineers, great leaders do just that. You see, you want to do that a lot,
which is basically ask questions, uh, to push simplification. Yeah. Can we do this simpler?
Like why the basic question is like, why are we doing it this way? Can this be done simpler?
Yeah. And not taking as an answer that this is how we've always done it?
Sort of not, not allowing yourself. Like it doesn't matter. That's how it was done.
It, what is the right way to do it? And what is, and usually the simpler it is,
the more correct the way has to do with costs, has to do with simplicity of, uh, of production
manufacture, but usually simple is best. And it's oftentimes not the architection,
the engineers, it's, you know, in Elon's case, probably the line worker who sees things more
clearly. So I think making sure it's not just that you're asking good questions, you're asking
the right people those same good questions. That's why I like, uh, a lot of the Elon companies
are really flat in terms of, uh, organizational design where the, the, any, anybody on the factory
floor can talk directly to Elon to just, there's no, there's not, there's not this managerial class,
this hierarchy where it's travel up and down the hierarchy, which large companies often construct
this hierarchy of managers where no one manager, if you ask them the question of like, what have you
done this week? The answer is like, it's really hard to come up with. Usually it's going to be a bunch
of paperwork. Yeah. Uh, so you're like, nobody knows what they actually do. So when it's flat,
you can actually get as quickly as possible. When problems arise, you can, you can solve those
problems as quickly as possible. And also you have a direct, rapid iterative process where you're
making things simpler, making them more efficient and constantly improving. So, yeah, it's interesting.
Well, when large, I mean, you see this in government, a lot of people get together, a hierarchy is
developed and that somehow, sometimes it's good, but very often just slows things down. And you see
great companies, great, great companies, Apple, Google, Meta, they have to fight against that bureaucracy
that builds the slowness, the large organizations have, and to still be a big organization and act like a
startup is the big challenge. It's super difficult to deconstruct that as well once it's in place,
right? It's, it's circumventing layers and asking questions, probing questions of, of people on the
ground level, um, is a huge challenge to the authority of the hierarchy. Um, and there's tremendous
amount of resistance to it. So it's how do you grow something in, in the case of a company, in terms of a
culture that can scale, um, but doesn't lose its connection to, um, to sort of real and meaningful
feedback. It's, it's not, not easy.
I've, uh, had a lot of conversations with, uh, Jim Keller, who's this legendary engineer and leader,
and he, he has talked about, like, you often have to kind of be a little bit of an asshole in the room,
uh, not in a mean way, but like, it's uncomfortable. Yeah. Like a lot of these questions,
they're uncomfortable. They break the kind of general politeness and civility that people have
in communication. When you get a meeting, like, nobody wants to be like, uh, can we do it way
different? Everyone wants just, just like this lunch is coming up, you know, I have, I have this trip
planned on the weekend with the family. Everyone just wants comfort. They get the, when humans get
together, they kind of gravitate towards comfort. Nobody wants that one person that comes in and says,
hey, can we like do this way better and way different? And everything we've gotten comfortable
with, throw it out. Not only do they not want that, but the one person who comes in and does that
puts a massive target on their back and is ultimately seen as, as a threat. I mean, nobody really
gets fired for maintaining the status quo, right? Even if things go poorly, it's the way it was always
done. Yeah. Humans are fascinating. Uh, but in order to actually do great, big projects to, to reach
for the stars, you have to have those people. You have to, you have, you have to constantly disrupt
and have those uncomfortable conversations and really have that first principles type of orientation,
especially in those large bureaucratic contexts. So amongst many other things, you created a fashion
brand. What was that about? What was the origin of that? I always loved fashion, um, as a form of
self-expression, as a means to, to communicate either a truth or an illusion, depending on what kind of mood
you're in, but, um, this like sort of second body, if you will. So I loved fashion and look, I mean, my
mother was, um, a big part of the reason I did, but I never thought I would go into fashion. In fact,
I was graduating from Wharton. Um, it was the day of my graduation and Anna Wintour calls me up and, um,
and offered me a job at Vogue, which is a dream in so many ways, but I was so focused. I, I wanted to go into
real estate and I wanted to build buildings and, um, and I, and I told her that. So I, I really thought
that that was going to be the path I was taking. And then very organically fashion, you know, it was
part of my life, but it came, it came into my life in a, in a more professional capacity, um, by talking
with my first of, of many different partners that I had in the fashion space about, he, he actually had
showed me a building, um, to buy. His family had some real estate holdings and, and I passed on,
on the real estate deal, but we forged a friendship and we started talking about how in the space that
he was in, fine jewelry, there was this lack of product and brands that were positioned for
self-purchasing females. So everything was about, you know, the man buying the Christmas gift, the man
buying the engagement ring, the stores felt like that. They were all tailored towards the male
aesthetic, the marketing felt like that. And, and what about the woman who had a salary and was really
excited to buy herself a great pair of earrings or, um, or had just received a great bonus and, and was
going to use it to, to treat herself. So we thought there was a void in the marketplace. And, um, and that
was the first category I launched, Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry. And we just caught lightning in a bottle.
It was really quickly after that, I met my partner who had founded Nine West Shoes, really capable
partner. And we launched, um, a shoe collection, which, which took off and, uh, did enormously well. And then a
clothing collection and handbags and sunglasses and fragrance. So, so we caught a moment and, um,
um, and we found a positioning for this, for the self-purchasing multi-dimensional woman. And we made
dressing for work aspirational. At the time we launched, if you wanted to buy something for an
office context, like the brands that existed were the opposite of exciting. Like nobody was,
you know, taking pictures of like what they were wearing to work and, um, and, and posting it online
with some of these classic legacy brands, really, it felt very much like it was designed by a team
of men for what a woman would want to wear to the office. So we started creating this clothing that
was feminine, that was beautiful, that was versatile, that would take a woman from, uh, the boardroom to
an afterschool soccer game, to, um, a date night with a boyfriend, to, uh, to a walk in the park with
her husband. Like all the, the different ways women live their lives and creating a wardrobe for
that woman who works at every aspect of their life, not just sort of the siloed professional
part. And, and it was, it was really compelling. We started creating great brand content and we had
incredible, um, contributors like Adam Grant, who was, um, who was blogging for us at the time and,
and creating aspirational content for, for working women. It was actually kind of a funny story, but
I now had probably close to 11 different product categories and we were growing like wildfire.
And I started to think about what would be a compelling way to sort of create interesting
content for the people who are buying these, um, these different categories. And, and we came up with
a website called Women Who Work. And I went to a marketing agency, you know, one of the fancy firms
in New York and I said, you know, we want to create a brand campaign around this multi-dimensional
woman who works. And, um, and what do you think? Like, can you help us? And they come back and they
say, you know, we don't like the word work. We think it should be women who do. And I just started
laughing because I'm like women who do. And the fact that they couldn't conceive of it being sort of
exciting and aspirational and interesting, um, to sort of lean into, to working at, at all aspects
of our lives was just fascinating to me, but showed that that was part of the problem. And, and I think
that's why ultimately, I mean, when the business grew to be hundreds of millions of dollars in, in
sales, we were distributed at all the best retailers across the country from, you know, Neiman Marcus to
Sachs to, um, to Bloomingdale's and beyond. And, and I think we, it really resonated with people and
in an amazing way and, and probably not dissimilar to how I have this incredible experience every time
somebody comes up to me and tells me that, um, that they were married in a space that I had painstakingly
designed. I have that experience now with, with my fashion company, the number of women who will
come up, tell me that they, they loved my shoes or they love the handbags. And I've had women show
me their engagement rings. They got engaged with us and, um, it's really rewarding. It's really beautiful.
Yeah. When I was hanging out with you in Miami, the number of women that came up to you
saying that you love the, the clothing, they love the shoes is awesome.
All, all these years later, all these years later, what does it take to make a shoe where
somebody would come up to you years later and just be just full of love for this thing you've created?
What's, what's that mean? Like, what does it take to do that?
Well, I still wear the shoes.
I mean, that's a good starting point, right? Is to create a thing that you want to wear.
I feel like the, the product, I think first and foremost, you have to have the, the right partner.
So shoe, building a shoe, if you talk to a great shoe designer, it's like, it's architecture. Like
making a heel that's four inches that feels good to walk in for eight hours a day, that is an
engineering feat. And, uh, so I found great partners in everything that I did. My, my shoe partner, um, had
founded Nine West. So he really knew what went into making a shoe wearable and comfortable. And then you
overlay that with great design. And, uh, and we also created this really comfortable, beautifully
designed, super feminine, um, product offering that was also affordably priced. So I think it was
like the trifecta of those, of those three things that, that made that, I think it made it stand out
for so many people.
Can you speak to, I don't know if it's possible to articulate, but can you speak to the process you go through
from idea to the final thing, like what you go through to bring an idea to life?
So not being a designer, and this was true in real estate as well, I was never the architect,
so I didn't necessarily have the pen and in, in fashion the same. I was kind of like a conductor.
I was, I knew what I liked and didn't like, and I think that's really important. And that became
honed for me over time. So I would have to sit a lot longer with something earlier on,
than later when I had more refined my aesthetic point of view. And so I think, first of all,
you have to have a pretty strong sense of, um, of what resonates with you. And, and then as in the
case of, of my fashion business, as it grew and became, um, quite a large business and I had so many
different categories, everything had to work together. So I had individual partners for each category,
but if we were selling at Neiman Marcus, we couldn't have a pair of shoes that didn't relate
to a dress that didn't relate to a pair of sunglasses and handbags all on the same floor.
So, you know, in the beginning it was much more collaborative. Um, as time passed, I, I really
sort of took the point on deciding, and this is the aesthetic for the season. These are the colors we're
going to use. These are fabrics and then working with our partners on the execution of that. But I,
I needed to create an overlay that allowed for cohesion as the collection grew. And, and that was
actually really fun for me because that was a little different. You know, I was typically initially
responding to things that were put in front of me. And towards the end, I was, it was my partners who
were responding to the things that myself and my team, but it's still, it's, you know, I would
always, I always wanted to bring the best talent in. So I was, I was hiring great designers and printmakers
and, um, and copywriters. And so I had this, you know, almost like that conductor analogy. I had this
incredible group of, in this case, women assembled who, who had very strong points of view, um,
themselves and, and created an, a great team. So, yeah, I mean, great team is really sort of
essential. It's, it's, it's the essential thing behind any successful story, but there's this thing
of taste, which is really interesting because it's hard to kind of articulate what it takes, but basically
knowing a versus B what looks good or without a B comparison to say, like, if we did, if we change
this part, that would make it better. That sort of designer taste, that's hard to
make explicit what that is, but the great designers like have that taste, like this is going to look
good. And it's not actually, again, the Steve Jobs thing is not the opinion, like you can't
poll people and ask them what looks better. It's, you got, you have to have the vision of that.
Yeah.
And as you said, you also have to develop eventually
the confidence that your taste is, is good such that you can like curate, you can direct teams,
you can argue that no, no, no, this is right. Even when there's several people that say this doesn't
make any sense. If you have that vision, have the confidence, this will look good. That's how you
come up with great designs. That's, it's a mix, a mixture of great tastes as you develop over time
and the confidence.
And, and that's a really hard thing, especially, I think one of the things that I love most about
all of these creative pursuits is that ability to, to work with the best people. Right now I'm
working with my husband. We have this 1400 acre island in the Mediterranean and we're building,
bringing in the best architects and the best brands and, but to have a point of view and to
challenge people who are such artists respectfully, but not to be afraid to, to ask questions. It takes
a lot of confidence to do that. And, and it's hard. So these are actually just internal early renderings.
So we're in the process of doing the master planning now, but this is beautiful. I mean,
it's early vision. Yeah. It's going to be extraordinary. Amon's going to operate the hotel
for us and they're going to be villas. And, uh, we have Carbone who's going to be doing the food and
beverage and, but it's, it's amazing to bring together all of this talent. And for me to be able
to play around and flex the, the real estate muscles again and, and have some fun with it is,
real estate, the design, the, the art, how hard is it to bring something like that to life?
Cause that's like, that looks surreal out of this world.
Well, especially on an Island, it's, it's challenging, meaning the logistics of even
getting the building materials to an Island or no joke, but, um, but we will execute on it. So,
and it, it may not be this, this is sort of, as I said, early conceptual drawings, but it gives a
sense of sort of wanting to honor the topography that exists. And, um, you know, this is obviously
very modern, but, um, making it feel right in terms of the context of, um, of the vegetation and, uh,
and the terrain that exists is, and not just have, you know, a beautiful glass box. Obviously you want
glass, you want to look out and see that gorgeous blue ocean. But, um, but how do you do that in a way
that doesn't feel generic and isn't a squandered opportunity to create something new?
Yeah. And it's an integrated with a natural landscape. It's, it's a celebration of the
natural landscape around it. So I guess you start from this dreamlike, because this feels like a dream.
And then when you're faced with the reality of the building materials and all the actual
constraints of the building, then it evolves from there, right?
Yeah. And so much, I mean, so much of architecture you don't see, um, but it's decisions made. So how do you,
how do you create independent structures where you look out of one and don't see the other?
You know, how do you ensure the sort of the stacking, um, and the master plan works in a way
that's harmonious and view corridors and all of those elements, all of those components of decision
making are super appreciated, but not often thought about. What's a view corridor? Like to make sure that
the top unit, you're not looking out and seeing a whole bunch of units. You're looking out and
seeing the ocean. So that's where you take this and then you start angling everything and you start
thinking about, well, in this context, do we have green roofs? So if there's any hint of a roof,
it's camouflaged by vegetation that matches what already exists on the island where the engineers
become very important. How do you build into a mountainside, um, while being sensitive to,
to the beauty of the island? It's almost like a mathematical problem. I took a class computational
geometry in grad school where you have to think about these view corridors. It's like a math problem.
Yeah. Well, but it's also an art problem because it's not just about making sure that there's no
occlusions to the view. You have to figure out when there is occlusions, like what is the vegetation?
Is it, you have to figure all that out and there's probably, so every single, every single room,
every single building is a, is a thing that adds extra complexity. And then the choice is like,
how does the sun rise and set? Yeah. So how do you want to angle the hotel in relation to the
sunrise and the sunset? Do you, you obviously want people to experience those? Um, so which do you favor?
Uh, the directionality of the wind and on, on an island and, you know, in this case, the wind is
coming from the north and the vegetation is less lush on the northern end. So do you focus more on the
southern end and have, you know, the horseback riding trails and amenities up towards the north? So
there are these really interesting decisions and, and choices you get to reflect on.
That's a fascinating sort of discussion to be having. And probably there's like actual constraints
on like infrastructure issues. So all of those are constraints.
Well, the grade of the land, right? If it's super steep. So also finding the areas of topography
that are flatter, but still have the great views. So it's, it's fun. It's, I think real estate and
building, it's like a giant puzzle and I love puzzles. Every piece relates to another and it's all sort of
interconnected. Yeah. Like you said in the whole post office, like every single room is different.
So every single room is a puzzle when you're doing the renovation. Yeah.
That's fascinating. And if you're not thoughtful, like it's like at best, really quirky.
At worst, completely ridiculous. Quirky is such a funny word.
It's such a like. You've walked into, I'm sure you've walked into your fair share of like quirky
rooms, you know, and sometimes like that's charming, but most often it's charming when it's intentional.
Yeah. Through like smart design.
Yeah. You can tell if it's by accident or if it's intentional, you could, you could tell so much.
I mean, the whole hospitality thing is, it's not just like how it's designed. It's how
once the thing is operating for the hotel, like how everything comes together.
Yeah.
The culture of the place and the warmth.
Yeah.
Like I think with spaces, they,
you can feel like the soul of a structure. And I think on the hotel side, you have to think about
like flow of traffic, use, all these things. When you're building condominiums or your own home,
you want to think about like the warmth of a space as well. And especially with super modern design,
sometimes like warmth is sacrificed. And I think there is a way to sort of marry both. And that's where
you get into sort of the interior design elements and disciplines and how fabrics can create tremendous
warmth in a space, which is otherwise sort of cold or raw building materials. And that's a really
interesting, like how texture matters, how color matters. And I think oftentimes interior design is
not, it doesn't take the same priority. And I think the, I think that underestimates the impact it can
have on how you experience a, a room or a space.
Yeah. Especially when it's working together with the, with the architecture.
Yeah.
Yeah. Fabrics and color. That's so interesting.
Finishes, you know, the choice of wood.
That's making me feel horrible about the space we're sitting in.
It's like black curtains, the warmth. I need to work on this.
No comment.
This is a big two-door.
This is a big two-door item. You're making me feel, I'll listen back to this over and over.
I think you may need, there may be like a woman's touch needed.
A lot, a lot.
But I actually, I appreciate the vegetation.
Yeah. It's fake plants.
You know what I love about this space though, is it's, is like you come through. Like every single
element. There's a story behind it.
So it's not just some, you didn't have some interior designer curate your bookshelf.
You know, there's like, nobody came in here with books by the yard.
This is basically an Ikea. Like this is not, this is not deeply thought through, but it does bring me joy.
Which is one way to do design. As long as you're happy, that usually means if your taste is decent
enough, that means others will be happy. Or we'll see the joy radiate through it.
But I appreciate you were grasping for compliments and you eventually got that.
No, I actually, I love it. I love it. You have like a little, I love this guy.
There's, yeah, you're holding on to a monkey looking at a, at a human skull, which is particularly
irrelevant.
And this, I mean, I feel like you've really thought about all of these.
Yeah. This there's robot. I don't know if, I mean, I don't know how much you looked into robots,
but there's, there's a way to communicate love and affection from a robot that I'm really fascinated
by. And a lot of cartoonists do this too. You have to, when you create cartoons and non-human like
entities, you have to bring out the joy. So with WALL-E or robots in, in Star Wars, to be able to
communicate emotion to anger and excitement through a robot is really interesting to me. And people
that do it successfully are awesome, are awesome.
To make you smile.
Yeah. That makes me smile for sure. There's a longing there.
How do you do that successfully as you, as you bring them, your projects to life?
I think there's, there's so many detailed elements that I think artists know well.
But one basic one is something that people know and you now know, cause you have a dog
is the excitement that a dog has when it, when you first show up, just the recognizing you and like
catching your eye and just showing his excitement by wiggling his butt and tail and all this kind of
this, this intense joy that overtakes his body, that, that moment of recognizing something.
Yeah.
It's the double take that you're, that, that moment of like where this joy of recognition takes
over your whole cognition and you're just like there and there's a connection. And then the other
person gets excited and you both get excited together. Um, it's kind of like that feeling,
um, what would I put it? You know, like when you go to airports and you get to see people,
uh, who haven't seen each other for a long time, all of a sudden recognize each other and they're
meeting and they're all like, run, run towards each other and the hug, uh, that moment.
Uh, by the way, that's awesome to watch. There's so much joy.
And, and dogs that will have that every time you could walk into the other room to
get a glass of milk and you come back and your dog sees you like it's the first time.
Yeah.
So I love replicating that in robots. They actually say children, like one of the reasons why peekaboo is
so successful is that they actually don't remember not having seen you a few seconds prior.
Um, there's a, there's a term for it, but I remember as, um, when, when my kids were younger,
you leave the room and you walk back in 30 seconds later and they experienced the same joy
as if you had been, you know, gone for four hours.
And, uh, we grew out of that. We become very used to one another.
I kind of want to forever be excited by the peekaboo phenomena, the simple joys.
We were talking about on fashion, having the confidence of taste to be able to sort of
push through on this idea of design, but you've also mentioned, um, somebody who admires Rick Rubin
in his book, The Creative Act, it has some really interesting ideas. And one of them
is to accept, uh, self doubt and imperfection. So is there some battle within yourself that you have on
sort of, um, sort of, um, striving for perfection and for the confidence and
always kind of having it together versus like accepting that things are always going to be imperfect?
I think every day, I think I wake up in the morning and, you know, I want to be better.
I want to be a better mom. I want to be a better wife. I want to be more creative. I want to be physically stronger.
And, um, and so that very much lives within me all the time. You know, I think I, I also grew up in the
context of being the child of two extraordinarily successful parents. And that could have been
debilitating for me. And I saw that in a lot of my friends who grew up in circumstances similar to that.
they were afraid to try for fear of, of not measuring up. And I think somehow
early on, I learned to kind of harness the fear of not being good enough, not being
competent enough. Um, and I harnessed it to make me better, um, and, and to push me outside of my
comfort zone. So I think that's always lived with me and, and, and I think it probably always will. I think
you have to have humility in anything you do that you could be better and, and strive for that.
I think as you get older, it, it softens a little bit as you have more reps, you know,
as you have more examples of, of having been thrown in the deep end, um, and figured out how to swim,
you, you get a little bit more comfortable in your sort of abstract competency.
But if that fear is not in you, I think you're not challenging yourself enough.
Harness the fear. Um, the other thing he writes about is, um, intuition.
They need to trust your instincts and intuition. Uh, that's a very recruitment thing to say,
but so what percent of your decision making is intuition or what percent is through rigorous,
careful analysis? Would you say it's both? It's like trust, but verify, you know, I think you,
I think that's also where, um, age and experience comes into play because I think you always have
sort of a gut instinct, but I think intuition, like well-honed intuition comes from a place of,
of accumulated knowledge, right? So oftentimes when you feel really strongly about something, it's
because you've sort of, you've been there, like, you know what's right. Um, or on a personal level,
if you're acting in accordance with your core values, you know, it just feels good. And even if it would be
the right decision for others, if you're acting outside of, of, of your sort of integrity or core
values, it doesn't feel good. And, and it, you know, your intuition, um, will signal that to you.
You'll never be, you'll never be comfortable. So I think because, because of that, I, I start
oftentimes with my intuition and then I, and then I put it through like a rigorous test of, of whether that
is in fact true. Um, but very seldom do I go against what my initial instinct was, not at least
at this point in my life. Yeah. I had a, actually a discussion yesterday with a big time business,
uh, owner investor who, who's talking about being impulsive and following that, like on a phone call,
shifting like the entire, everything, like giving away a very large amounts of money
and moving it in another direction on an impulse, making a promise that he can't at that time
deliver, but knows if he works hard, he'll deliver and all doing just be following that impulsive
feeling. And you said now that, you know, he has, has a family that probably some of that impulse
is quieted down a little bit. He's more rational and thoughtful and so on, but wonders whether
it's sometimes good to just be impulsive and to just
trust your gut and just go with it. Don't deliberate too long. Cause then you won't,
you won't do it. It's interesting. It's the confidence of stupidity, maybe of youth
that leads to some of the greatest breakthroughs. And it's like, there's a cost to wisdom and
deliberation. There, there is, but I, I actually think in this case, as you get older, you may act
less impulsively, but I think you're more like attuned with, um, you have more experience. So you're,
your, your gut is like more well honed, you know? So your instincts are more well honed. I think,
um, I, I found that to be true for me. You know, it doesn't feel as like reckless
as when I was younger. Uh, amongst many other things you were on The Apprentice.
Yeah. People love you on there. People love the show. So what did you learn about business,
about life from the, uh, various contestants on there?
Well, I think you can learn everything about life from Joe Burgers. So I'm just, I'm
Got it. You're from just that one human.
She was amazing. Um, but you know, I, it was, it was such a wild experience for me because I was,
I was quite young, um, when I was on it, just getting started in business and it was the number
one television show in the country. And it went on to be syndicated all over the world. And it was just
this wild, like phenomenal success. You know, a business show had never, um, had never crossed
over in this sort of way. So it was really a moment in time. And, um, you had regular apprentice
and then the celebrity apprentice, but, but the tasks, I mean, they, they went on to be studied
at business schools across the country. So every other week I'd be reading case studies of how the
apprentice was being examined and, um, taught to classes and this university in Boston or,
you know, so it was extraordinary. And, and this was like a real life classroom I was in. So I think
because of the nature of the show, you learn a lot about, you know, teamwork, um, and you're watching
it and analyzing it real time. You learned a lot about, um, a lot of the tasks were very marketing
oriented, um, because of, you know, the short duration of time they had to, to execute. Um,
a lot of, um, you learned a lot about time management because of that short duration. So,
you know, almost every episode would devolve into people hysterical over the fact that they had 10
minutes left to, um, with this Herculean lift ahead of them. So, so it was, it was a fascinating,
it was a fascinating experience for me and, and we would be filming. I mean, we would film first thing
in the morning at like five or 6 AM in Trump tower oftentimes, like in the lobby of Trump tower.
That's where the war rooms, um, and board rooms of the candidates were, the contestants were. Um,
and then we would go up in the elevator to our office. We would work all day and then we'd come
down and we'd evaluate the tasks. It was this weird, like real life television thing,
experience, um, in the middle of our sort of on the bookends of our work day. Um, so it was,
it was intense. Um, so you're, you're like curating the television version of it and also living it.
Living the, and oftentimes there was like an overlay, like there were episodes that they came up with
brand campaigns for my shoe collection or my clothing line, um, or, um, or design challenges related
to, you know, a hotel. I was responsible for, for building. So there was this unbelievable crossover
that was obviously great for us from a business perspective, but, um, it's sometimes surreal to,
to experience. What was it like? Was it, was it scary to be in front of a camera when you know so many
people watch? I mean, that, that's a new experience for you at that time, just the number of people
watching. Yeah. Was that weird? It was really weird. I, I really struggled watching myself on the
episodes. Like I really, I still to this day, like television as a medium, like the fact that we're
taping this. Yeah. I'm more self-conscious than if we weren't. I, I just, it's, um, Hey, I have to
watch myself as after, after we record this before I publish it, I have to listen to my stupid self
talk. So, and so you're saying it doesn't get better. It doesn't get better. I, I still, I
feel myself, I'm like, does my voice really sound like that? Um, you know, why do I do this thing or
that thing? And I, I find it, some people are super at ease and who knows, maybe they're not either,
but some people feel like they're super at ease. Feel like they are, yeah. You know, my father
was, I think like who you, who you saw is who you get. And I think that made him so effective,
um, in that medium, uh, because he was just himself and he was totally unself-conscious. I was not,
I was totally self-conscious. So it was, uh, it was extraordinary, but, um, but also a little
challenging for me. I think certain people are just like born to be entertainers, like
Elvis, like on stage, they come to life. Yeah. This is where they, this is where they're truly
happy. I've met, I've met guys like that, like great rock stars. Like this is where
they, they feel like they belong on stages. It's not just a thing they do and they, there's certain
aspects they love, certain aspects they don't know. This is where, this is where they're alive. This
is where they, they've always dreamed of being. This is where they want to be forever.
Michael Jackson was like that. Michael Jackson. I saw pictures of you hanging
out with Michael Jackson. That was cool. He came once to a performance. I wanted to be,
one moment in time, I wanted to be a professional ballerina. Okay. Yeah. Um, and
I was, you know, working really hard. I was going to the School of American Ballet. I was dancing at
the Lincoln Center in the Nutcracker. I was super serious, you know, nine, 10 year old.
And, um, and my parents came to a Christmas performance of the Nutcracker and my father
brought Michael Jackson with him. And everyone was so excited that all the dancers, they wore
one glove. But I remember he was so shy. He was so quiet. Um, when you'd see him, uh, like in,
in smaller group settings, and then you'd watch him walk onto stage. And it was like,
a completely different person, like the vitality that came into him. And you say,
that's like someone who was born to do what he did. And, and I think there are a lot of performers
like that. And I just, in general, love to see people that have found the thing that, uh, makes
them come alive. Yeah. Like I, um, as I mentioned, went to the jungle recently with, uh, Paul Rosely,
and he's a guy who just belongs in the jungle. Yeah. Like that's the guy where like, when I,
I got a chance to go with him from the city to the jungle. And you just see this person change
of the happiness, uh, the, the, the joy he has when he first is able to, uh, jump in the water,
the Amazon river, and to feel like he's home with the crocodiles and all that, and with what he's
calling friends and probably dances around in the trees with the monkeys. So he, like he, this is,
this is where he belongs. I love seeing that. You felt that. I mean, I, I watched the interview
you did with him and, and he felt that like you, his passion and enthusiasm, like it radiated and
captivated. I mean, I'm, I love animals. Like I love all animals, never loved snakes so much.
And he almost made me, now I appreciate the beauty of them much more than I did, um, prior to listening
to him speak about them, but it, it's an infectious thing. He actually, we were talking about skyscrapers
before I loved, he called trees skyscrapers of life. And I thought that was so great.
Yeah. And they are, they're so big. I mean, just like skyscrapers or large buildings,
they also represent a history, especially in Europe. I like to think, looking at all these ancient
buildings, you like to think of all the people throughout history that have looked at them,
have admired them, have been inspired by them. You know, the great leaders of history in France,
it's like Napoleon, just the history that's contained within a building. You almost feel the
energy of that history. You could feel the stories emanate from the buildings. And that same way,
when you look at giant trees that have been there, uh, for, for decades, for centuries, in some cases,
you, you feel the history, the stories emanate. I got a chance to climb some of them. So you feel like
there's a visceral feeling of the power of the trees. It's cool.
Yeah. That's an experience I'd love to have to be that disconnected.
Yeah. Being in the jungle, uh, among the trees, among the animals, you remember that you're forever a part of
nature. You're, you're fundamentally our nature, that this is a, uh, earth is a living organism,
and you're a part of that organism. And that's humbling. That's beautiful. And you get to experience
that in a real, real way. It sounds simple to say, but when you actually like experience it,
it stays with you for a long time, especially if you're out there alone. I got, I got a chance to
spend time in the jungle solo, just by myself. And you sit in the fear of that,
in the simplicity of that, all of it, and just no sounds of humans anywhere.
Yeah. You're just sitting there and listening to, uh, all the monkeys and the birds trying to have
sex with each other all around you, just screaming. And there's like romantic, I mean, I romanticize
everything. There's like birds that are monogamous for life, like macaws. You could see like two of
them flying. They're also, by the way, screaming at each other. I always wonder like, are they arguing
or is this their love language? That's very funny.
You just have these like two birds that, you know, have been together for a long time
and they're just screaming at each other in the morning.
That's really funny because there aren't that many animal species that are monogamous. And you
highlighted one example where they literally sound like they're bickering.
But maybe to them is beautiful. You know, I don't want to judge,
but they do sound very loud and very obnoxious. Um, but amidst all of that, it's just, I don't know.
I think it's so humbling to like feel so small too. Like, I feel like when we get busy and when
we're running around, it's easy to feel we're so in our head and we feel sort of so consequential,
like in the context of even our own lives. And then you find yourself in a situation like that. And
it's, I think you feel so much more connected knowing how minuscule you are in the broader sense.
And I feel that way when I'm on the ocean on a surfboard. Um, you know, you just, it's, it's really
humbling to be so small amidst that vast sea and it feels, um,
it feels really beautiful, you know, with no noise, no chatter, no distractions,
just, um, just being in the moment. And it sounds like you experienced that in a
very, very real way. And in the Amazon.
Yeah. The power of the waves is cool. I love swimming out into the ocean and feeling the power
of the ocean underneath you. And you just like the speck and you can't fight it. Right. You just
have to sort of be in it. And I think in surfing, one of the things I love about it is I feel like a
lot of water sports are like manipulating the environment, you know? Um, and there's something
that can be a little like violent about it. Like you look at windsurfing and, um, whereas with surfing,
you're like in harmony with it. So, um, you're not fighting it. You're, you're flowing with it. And
you still have like the agency of choosing which waves you're going to surf. And, um, you sit there
and you, you read the ocean and, and, and you learn to understand it, but you can't control it.
What's it like to like, like fall on your face when you're trying to surf? Like what? I haven't surfed
before. It just feels like I always see videos of when everything goes great. I just wonder like
when it doesn't. Those are the ones people post. No. Um, well, I actually had the unique experience
of one of my first time surfing. I only learned a couple of years ago, so I'm not good. I just love
it. I love everything about it. I love the physicality. I love being in the ocean. I love
everything about it. The hardest thing with surfing is paddling out because when you're like committing,
you catch a wave, obviously sometimes like, you know, you flip over your board and that doesn't
feel great, but when you're in sort of the line of impact and you've maybe surfed a good wave in and
now you're going out for another set and you get sort of stuck in that impact line, there's like
nothing you can do. You just sort of sit there and you try to dive underneath it and it will pound you
and pound you. So I've been stuck there while, you know, four or five, six waves just like crash on top
of your head. And, and the worst thing you can do is get reactive and, you know, um, and scared and,
and try and fight against it. You kind of just have to flow with it until inevitably there's a break
and then paddle like hell back out to the line, um, or to the beach, whatever, you know, whatever
you're feeling. But it's, that's, to me, that's the hardest part. Um, the paddling out.
How did life change when your father decided to run for president?
Wow. Everything changed, you know, almost, almost overnight, we learned that he was planning to
announce his candidacy two weeks before he actually did. And nothing about our lives had been constructed
with politics in mind, you know, like most often when people are exposed to politics at that level,
that sort of national level, there's first like city council run and then maybe a state level run.
And, um, and maybe, maybe, uh, you know, Congress Senator, um, ultimately the presidency. So it was unheard
of to, for him never to have run a campaign and then run for president and, and win. So it was, um,
it was an extraordinary experience. There, there was so much intensity and so much scrutiny and,
um, and, and so much noise. So that took for sure like a moment to acclimate to. I'm not sure I ever
fully acclimated, but it, it definitely was, um, was a super unusual experience.
But I think then the, the process that unfolded over, over the next couple of years was also like the
most extraordinary growth experience of my life. You know, suddenly I was going into communities that
I probably never would have been to. And I was talking with people who in 30 seconds would reveal
to me their deepest insecurity, their gravest fear, their wildest ambitions, all of it, with the hope
that in telling me that story, it would get back to a potential future president of the United States
and have impacts for their family, for their community. So the level of candor and vulnerability
people have with you is unlike anything I've ever experienced. And I had done The Apprentice before.
People may know, um, who I was in some of these situations that I was going into,
but they wouldn't have shared with me these things that you got the impression that oftentimes their own
spouses wouldn't know. And they wouldn't do so within 30 seconds. So you learn so much about
what motivates people, what drives people, what their concerns are, and you grow so much as a result of it.
So when you're in the White House, people, unlike in any other position, people have a sense that
all the troubles they're going through, maybe you can help.
Yeah.
So they put it all out there.
And, and, and they do so in such a raw, vulnerable, and real way. It's, it's shocking
and eye-opening and, um, and super motivating. I remember once I was in New Hampshire and
early on, right after my father had, had announced his candidacy, and a man walks up to me in, in the
greeting line. And within around five seconds, he had started to tell me a story about how his
daughter had died of an overdose, um, and how he was worried his son was also addicted to opioids,
his daughter's friends, his son's friends. And, and it's heartbreaking. It's, it's heartbreaking. And
it's, it's something that I would experience every day in talking with people.
And those stories just stay with you always, you know, I, I, uh, took a long road trip around the
United States in my twenties. And I'm kind of thinking of doing it again, just, just for like
a couple of months for that exact purpose. And you can get these stories when you go to like a bar in
the middle of nowhere and just sit and talk to people and they start sharing. And it's, it's, it reminds
you like how beautiful the country is. It reminds you several things. One that people, well, it shows
you that there's a lot of different accents. That's foreign. Uh, but aside from that, that people are
struggling with all the same stuff. Yeah. And, um, at least at that time, I wonder what it is now. But
at that time, I don't remember on the surface, there's like political divisions, there's, uh,
uh, Republicans and Democrats and so on, but like underneath it, there are people were all the
same. The concerns are all the same. There's not that much of a division right now. The, the surface
division has been amplified even more, maybe because of social media. I don't know why.
Yeah. Uh, so I would love to see what the country is like now, but I suspect probably it's still not as
divided as it appears to be on the surface, what the media shows with the social media shows. Um,
but what did you experience in terms of the division? I think a couple of reactions to what you just said.
I think the first is your, when you connect with people like that, you are so, um, inspired by their
courage, you know, in the face of adversity and, um, their resilience. And it's like a truly remarkable
experience for me. The campaign lifted me out of a bubble. I didn't even know I was in, you know,
I, I grew up on the Upper East Side of New York and I felt like I was well traveled and well educated.
And I believe that I believed at the time that I'd been exposed to divergent viewpoints. And I realized
during the campaign how limited my exposure had been relative to what it was becoming. So there was a
lot of, there was a lot of growth in that as well. But I do think, you know, you think about the
vitriol on politics and, um, you know, whether it's worse than it's been in the past or not,
I think that's up for debate. I think, you know, there have been few, there have been duels and
there's been screaming and there's, you know, politics has always been a blood sport and it's
always been incredibly vicious. I think in the toxic swirl of social media, it's more amplified and,
um, there are, there's more sort of democratization around participating in it perhaps.
Um, and it seems like the voices are louder, but it's always been, it feels like it's always been that.
Um, but I don't believe most people are like that. And, and, you know, you meet people along the way and
they're not leading with what their politics are. You know, they're, they're telling you about
their hopes for themselves and their communities. And, uh, and it makes you feel that we are a whole
lot less divided than, um, you know, the media and, uh, others would have us believe.
Although I have to say having duels, it sounds pretty cool. Maybe I just romanticize Westerns.
Anyway. All right. I miss Clint Eastwood movies. Okay. But it's true. Like you read some of the
stuff, like in terms of what politics used to be in the history of the United States,
those, those folks went pretty rough, like way rougher actually, but they didn't have social media.
So they had to go like real hard and the media was rough too. So all like the, the fake news,
all of that, that's not recent. It's, it's, it's been nonstop. You know, I look at the surface
division, the surface bickering, and that might be like just a feature of democracy. That's,
it's not a bug of democracy. It's a feature we're in the constant conflict and it's the way
we resolve. We try to figure out the right way forward. So in the moment, it feels like
people are just tearing each other apart, but really we're trying to find the way we're like
in the long arc of history, it will look like progress, but in the short term, it just sounds
like people making stories up about each other and calling each other names and
all this kind of stuff. But in the, there's a purpose to it. I mean, that's what freedom
looks like, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. And it's better than the alternative.
Well, I think that the vast majority of people aren't participating in it.
Sure. Yes, that's true also.
You know, I think there's a minority of people that are doing most of the yelling and screaming.
Yeah.
And the majority of Americans just want to send their kid to a great school and want their
communities to thrive and, um, want to be able to realize their, their dreams and aspirations.
So I saw a lot more of that than it would feel obvious if you looked at like a Twitter feed.
Mm-hmm. What went into your decision to join the White House as an advisor?
You know, the campaign, I never, I never thought about joining. It was kind of like,
get to the end of it. And when it started, I was like, everything in my life was almost firing on
all cylinders. I had two young kids at home. During the course of the campaign, I ended up,
um, I was pregnant with my third. So, um, this young family, my businesses,
real estate and, and fashion and, um, working alongside my brothers, running the Trump Hotel
collection and we had so many, my life was full and busy. And, um, and so there was a big part of me
that was just wanted to get through, just get through it, um, without really thinking forward to
what the implications were for me. Um, but when my father won, he asked Jared and I to join him. And
in asking that question, you know, keep in mind, he was a total outsider. So there was no bench of
people, um, as he would have today. He had never spent the night in Washington DC before
staying in the White House. And so when he asked us to join him, he trusted us. He
trusted in our ability to, to execute. And there wasn't a part of me that could imagine
the 70 or 80 year old version of myself looking back and having been okay with having said no
and going back to my life as I knew it before. I mean, in retrospect, I realized there is no life as
you know before, you know, um, but, but just the idea of, of, of not saying yes, um, wherever that would
lead me. And, um, and so I, I dove in, you know, I was also during the course of the campaign, I was just
much more sensitive to the problems and experiences of Americans. I, I gave you an example before of, of the,
the, the father in New Hampshire, but, but even just in my consumption of information, I, you know,
I had a, a business, um, that was predominantly young women, you know, many of which were thinking
about having a kid, had just had a child, um, were, were planning on, on that life event. And I knew
what they needed to be able to show up every day and, and realize this dream for themselves and, and the
support structures they would need to have in place. And I remember reading this article, um, at the
time in, uh, one of the major newspapers of, of a woman. She had had a very solid job working at one of the
blue chip, um, accounting firms and the recession came. She lost her job around the same time as her
partner left her. And over a matter of months, she lost her home. So she wound up with her two young
kids after bouncing around between neighbors living in their car. She gets a call back from one of the
many interviews she had done for a second interview where she was all but guaranteed the job should that
go well. And she had arranged childcare for her two young children with, with a neighbor, um, in her
old apartment block. And the morning of the interview, she shows up and the neighbor doesn't answer the
doorbell and stands there five, 10 minutes, doesn't answer. So she has a choice. Does she go to the
interview with her children or does she try to cancel? She gets in her car, drives to the interview,
leaves her two children in the backseat of the car with the window cracked, goes into the interview
and gets pulled out of the interview by police because somebody had called the cops after seeing
her, her children in the backseat of the car. She gets thrown in jail, her kids get taken from her
and she spends years fighting to regain custody. And I think about, that's an extreme example, but I think
about something like that and I say, if I was the mother and we were homeless, like, would I have gone to
that interview? And I, I probably would have. And that is not like an acceptable situation, you know?
So you, you hear stories like that and then you get asked, will you come with me? And it's really hard
to say no. You know, I spent four years in Washington. I feel like I left it all in the field. I feel really
good about it and, um, and I'm, I feel really privileged to have been able to do what I did.
A chance to help, to help many people. Saying no means, uh, you're kind of turning away from those
people. So you felt like that to me. Yeah. Yeah. But then there's the turmoil of politics
that you're getting into and it really is a leap into the abyss. Um, what was it like trying to get
stuff done in Washington and this, um, place where politics is a game? Uh, it feels that way,
maybe from an outsider perspective. And you go in there trying, given some of those stories,
trying to help people, what's it like to get anything done?
It's an incredible cognitive lift. That's a nice way to put it. Yeah.
To, to get things done. You know, there are a lot of people who
would prefer to cling to the problem and they're talking points about how they're going to solve it
rather than sort of roll up their sleeves and do the work it takes to build coalitions of support and
find people who are willing to compromise and move the ball. And so it's extremely difficult. And,
you know, Jared and I talk about all the time, it probably should be because these are highly
consequential policies that impact people's lives at scale. Shouldn't be so easy to do them and they
are doable, but it's challenging. You know, one of the first experiences I had where it really was just a
full grind effort was, um, with tax cuts and, and the work I did to, um, get the child tax credit
doubled as part of it. And it just meant meeting after meeting, after meeting, after meeting with
lawmakers, convincing them of why this is good policy, um, going into their districts, campaigning in their
districts, helping them convince their constituents of, of why it's important, of why child care support is
important, of why paid family leave is important, um, of different policies that impact working American
families. So it's, um, it's hard, but it's, uh, it's, it's really rewarding. And then to get it done,
I mean, just the child tax credit alone, 40 million American families got an average of $2,200 each year
as a result of the doubling of the child tax credits. That was one component of tax cuts.
When I was like researching this stuff, you just get to think the scale of things, the scale of
impact is 40 million families. Each one of those is a story, is a story of struggle, of trying to give a
large part of your life to a job while still being able to give love and support and care to a family,
to kids, and to manage all of that. Each one of those is a little puzzle that they have to solve.
And it's a life and death puzzle. It's a, uh, you can lose your, your home, your security, you can lose
your job, uh, you can screw stuff up with parenting. So you can mess all that up and you're trying to
hold it together and government policies can help make that easier, or can in some cases make that
possible. And you get to do that on a scale, not of like five or 10 families, but like 40 million
families. And that's just one thing. Yeah. The people who shared with me their experience and,
you know, during the campaign, it was what they hoped to see happen. Once you were in there,
it was what they were seeing, what they were experiencing, the result of the policies. And,
and that was, that was the fuel, you know, on the hardest days, like that was the fuel.
Child tax credit. I remember visiting with a woman, Brittany Houseman. She came to the White
House and she had two small children. She was pregnant with her third. Her husband was killed
in a car accident. She was in school at the time. Her dream was to become a criminal justice advocate
that was no longer on the table for her after he passed away. And she became the sole earner and
provider for her family. And she couldn't afford childcare. She couldn't afford to stay in school. So
she ended up creating a childcare center in her home and her center was so successful because in
part of different policies we worked on, including the childcare block grants that went to, to the
state, she ended up opening additional centers. I visited her at one of them in Colorado. Now she has
like a huge focus on helping teenage moms who don't have the resources to afford quality childcare for
their kids come into her centers and programs. And, you know, it's stories like that of the hardships
people face, but also what they do with opportunity when they're given it. Um, that really like powers
you through tough moments when you're in Washington. What can you say about the process of like bringing
that to life? So, uh, the, the child tax credits, so doubling them from a thousand, two thousand per
child. Well, like what are the challenges of that and getting people to compromise? I'm sure there's a
lot of politicians playing games with that because maybe it's a Republican that came up with an idea
or a Democrat that came up with an idea. And so they don't want to give credit to the idea. And
there's probably all kinds of games happening where they, when the game is happening, you probably
forget about the families. Each politician thinks about how they can benefit themselves. You forget
like the serving part of the role you're supposed to be in. There were definitely people I met with
in Washington who I felt that was true of, but you know, they all go back to their districts and I
assume that they all have similar experiences to what I had where people share their stories. So there'd be
something really cynical about thinking they forget, but you know, some do. You helped get people
together. What's that take? Trying to get people to compromise, trying to get people to see the common
humanity. Well, I think first and foremost, you have to be willing to talk with them. So, you know,
one of the policies I advocate for was paid family leave. We left and 9 million more Americans had it
through a combination of securing it for our federal workforce. I had people in the White House who were
pregnant who didn't have access to paid leave. So we want to keep people attached to the workforce,
yet when they have an important life event like a child, we create an impossibility for that. You
know, some people don't even have access to unpaid leave if they're part-time workers. And so that and
and then we also put in place the first ever national tax credit for workers making under $72,000 a year
where employers could then offer it to their workers. That was also part of tax cuts. So,
you know, part of it is really taking the arguments as to why this is good, smart, well-designed policy
to people. And, you know, it was one of my big surprises that on certain policy issues that I
thought would have been well-socialized, the policies that existed were never shared across
the aisle. So people just lived with them, maybe in hopes that one day they would have the votes to get
exactly what they want. But I was surprised by how little discussion there was. So,
I think part of it is be willing to have those tough discussions with people who may not share
your viewpoint and be an active listener when they point out flaws and they have suggestions for changes,
not believing that you have a monopoly on good ideas. And I think there has to be a lot of humility in
in architecting these things. And a policy should benefit from that type of well-rounded input.
Yeah, be able to see, like you said, well-designed policies. There's probably like the details are
important too. Like, there's just like with architecture and you walk the rooms, there's probably
really good designs of policies, like economic policy that helps families, that delivers the maximum
amount of money or resources to families that needed and is not a waste of money. So like that,
there's a probably really nice designs there, nice ideas that are bipartisan that has nothing to do
with politics, has to do with just great economic policy. It's great policies. And that requires listening.
Requires trust too. Like I learned tax cuts was really interesting for me because I met with so many
people across the political spectrum on advancing that policy. I really figured out who was willing
to deviate from their talking points when the door was closed and who wasn't. And it takes some courage
to do that, especially without surety that it would actually get done, especially if they've campaigned
on something that was slightly different. And not everyone has that courage. So through tax cuts,
I learned the people who did have that courage and I went back to that well time and time again
on policies that I thought were important. Some were bipartisan. The Great American Outdoors Act
is something, it's incredible policy. I love that one.
Yeah, it's amazing. It's one of the largest pieces of conservation legislation since the national park
system was created. And you know, over 300 million people visit our national parks, the vast majority
of them being Americans every year. So this is something that is real and beneficial for people's
lives, getting rid of the deferred maintenance, permanently funding them. But there are other issues like
that that just weren't being prioritized, modernizing Perkins CTE, you know, and vocational education.
And it's something I became super passionate about and helped lead the charge on. I think in America,
for a really long period of time, we've really believed that education stops when you leave high
school or college. And that is not true and that's a dangerous way to think. So how can we both galvanize
the private sector to ensure that they continue to train workers for the jobs they know are coming
and how they train their existing workforce into the new jobs with robotics or machinery or new
technologies that are coming down the pike. So galvanizing the private sector to join us in that
effort. So whether it's the legislative side, like the actual legislation of Perkins CTE, which was focused
on vocational education or whether it's the ability to use the White House to galvanize the private
sector. We got over 16 million commitments from the private sector to retrain or reskill workers
into the jobs of tomorrow. Yeah, there's so many aspects of education that you helped on. Access to
STEM and computer science education. So the CT thing you're mentioning, modernizing career and technical
education, that's millions and millions of people. The act provided nearly 1.3 billion dollars annually
to more than 13 million students to better align the employer needs and all that kind of stuff.
Very large scale policies that help a lot of people. It's fascinating. Education often isn't like the bright,
shiny object everyone's running towards. So one of the hard things in politics when there's something that
is good policy, sometimes it has no momentum because it doesn't have a cheerleader. So where are areas of
good policy that you can literally just carry across the finish line? Because people tend to run towards
what's the news of the day, sort of to try to address whatever issues being talked about on the front pages
of papers. And there's so many issues that need to be addressed. And education is one of them that's
just underprioritized. Human trafficking, that's an issue that I didn't go to the White House thinking
I would work on. But you hear a story of a survivor, and you can't not want to eradicate one of the
greatest evils that the mind can even imagine. The trafficking of people, the exploitation of
children. And I think for so many, they assume that this is a problem that doesn't happen
on our shores. It's something that you may experience at far-flung destinations across the
world, but it's happening there and it's happening here as well. And so through a coalition of people
that on both sides of the aisle that I came to trust and to work well with, we were able to get
legislation which the president signed, passed nine pieces of legislation, combating trafficking at home
and abroad, and digital exploitation of children. How much of a toll does that take, seeing all the
problems in the world at such a large scale, the immensity of it all? Was that hard to walk around
with that, just knowing how much suffering there is in the world? As you're trying to help all of it,
as you're trying to design government policies to help all of that, it's also a very visceral
recognition that there is suffering in the world. How difficult is that to walk around with?
You feel it intensely. We were just talking about human trafficking. I mean,
you don't design these policies in the absence of the input of survivors themselves, so you hear their
stories. I remember a woman who was really influential in my thinking, Andrea Hipwell. She was in college
where she was lured out by a guy she thought was a good guy, started dating him. He gets her hooked on
drugs, convinces her to drop out of college, and spends the next five years selling her. She only
got out when she was arrested. And all too often that's happening too, that the victim's being targeted,
not the perpetrator. So we did a lot with DOJ around changing that. But now she's helping other
survivors get skills and job training and the therapeutic interventions they need. But you,
you speak with people like Andrea and so many others. And I mean, you can't not your, your heart gets
seized by it. And it's, it's both, it's motivating and it's hard. It's really hard.
I was just talking to a brain surgeon, many of the surgery has to do. He knows the chances are very
low of success. And he says that that wears at his armor, it chips away. It's like only so many times
can you do that. And thank God he's doing it. Because I bet you there are a lot of others that
don't choose that particular field because of those low success rates. But you can see the pain
pain in his eyes, like maintaining your humanity while doing all of it. You could see the story,
the, you could see the family that loves that person. Just, you feel the immensity of that.
And you, you, you, you feel the heartbreak involved with mortality in that case,
and with suffering also in that case, and in general, and all these in human trafficking.
Um, but even helping families try to stay afloat, trying to break out or escape poverty,
all of that. You get to see those stories of struggle. It's not easy.
Um, but the people that really feel the humanity of that, feel the pain of that are probably the
right people to be politicians, but it's probably also why you can't stay in there too long.
It's the only time in my life where you actually feel like there's always a conflict,
right? Between work and life and making sure, you know, I, I, as a woman, I'd often get asked about,
you know, how do you balance work and, and family? And, and I never, I never liked that question
because balance, it's like elusive, right? You're, you're one fever away from like, no balance,
you know, like your child's sick one day. Uh, uh, what do you do? Um, there goes balance or,
you know, you have a huge project with a deadline, there goes balance. Like, I think a better way to
frame it is, am I living in accordance with my priorities? Um, maybe not every day, but every week,
you know, every month and, and reflecting on, have you architected a life that aligns with your
priorities so that more often than not, you're where you need to be in that moment and service
at that level was the one time where you really, you feel incredibly conflicted about having any
priorities other than serving. It's finite, you know, in every business I've built, you're building
for duration, you know, and then you go into the White House and it is sand through an hourglass,
whether it's four years or eight years. It's a finite period of time you have, and most people
don't last four years. I think the average in the White House is 18 months. It's exhausting. Um, but
it's the only time when you're at home with your own children that you feel, you think about all the
people you've met and you feel guilty about any time that's spent not advancing those interests in,
to the best of your capacity. And that's a hard, that's a hard thing. That's a really hard feeling
as a parent. And it's really challenging then to be, to be present, to always need to answer your phone,
to always need to be available. It's, um, it's very difficult. It's taxing, but it's,
it's also the greatest privilege in the world. So through that, the turmoil of that, the hardship
of that, what was the role of family through all of that, Jared and the kids? What was that like?
That was, that was everything, you know, to have that, to have the support systems I had in place with,
with my husband. And, you know, we had, we had left New York and wound up in Washington. In New York,
I lived 10 blocks away from my mother-in-law who, if I wasn't taking my kids to school, she was. So
we lost some of that, which was very hard, but we had what mattered, which was each other. And, um,
and, you know, my kids were young. When I got to Washington, Theo, my youngest was eight months old.
And Arabella, my oldest, my daughter was five years old. So they were still quite young. We have a son,
um, Joseph, who was three. And, uh, and I think for me, like the dose of levity coming home at night
and having them there and just joyful. And, um,
it was super grounding and important for me. I still remember Theo, um, when he was around three,
three and a half years old, Jared used to make me coffee every morning. And it was like my great
luxury that I would sit there. He still makes it for me every morning. I told him I'm never,
even though I, I secretly know how to actually work the coffee machine, but I've convinced him
that I have no idea how to work the coffee machine. Now I'm going to be busted, but, um, it's a skill
I don't want to learn because it's, it's one of his like acts of love. He brings me coffee
every morning in bed while I read the newspapers and, um, and Theo would watch this. And so he got
Jared to teach him how to make coffee. And Theo learned how to make like a full-blown cappuccino.
Nice. And he was so, he had so much joy in every morning bringing me this cappuccino.
And I remember like the sound of his little steps, you know, like the slide. It's, um,
it was so cute coming down the hallway with my like perfectly foamed cappuccino. Now I try to get
him to make me coffee and he's like, come on, mom. That was a moment in time, but we had a lot of like
little, um, moments like that, that are just amazing. So yeah, I got a chance to chat with him
and he has a, his silliness and sense of humor. It's, um, yeah, it's really joyful. Yeah. I could
see how that could be an escape from the madness of Washington of the adult life.
And they were young enough. We really kept like our home life pretty sheltered from
everything else. And we were able to do so because they were so young and because they
weren't connected to the internet, they were too young for smartphones, all of these things. We were
able to shelter and protect them and allow them to have as normal as upbringing as was possible
in the context we were living. And, uh, and they brought me late and continue to bring me so much,
so much joy, but they were, I mean, without Jared and without the kids, it, it would have been much more
lonely. So three kids, you've now upgraded two dogs and a hamster.
Uh, well, our second dogs, we, we rescued him thinking he, we thought he was probably like part
German shepherd, part lab is what we were told. He's now, I don't even know if he qualifies as a
dog. He's like the size of a horse, a small horse, Simba. Um, so I don't think he has much lab in him.
I think we, Joseph has not wanted to do a DNA test, um, because he really wanted a German
shepherd. So he's a German shepherd. He is, he is gigantic. And we also have a hamster who's
the newest addition because my son, um, Theo, he tried to get, um, he tried to get a dog as well.
Our first dog, Winter, um, became my daughter's dog as she wouldn't let her brothers play with him
or sleep with him and was old enough to bully them into submission. So then Joseph wanted a
dog and got Simba. Theo now wants the dog and, uh, has Buster the hamster in the interim. So we'll see.
What advice would you give to other mothers just having, planning on having kids and maybe advice
to yourself how to continue figuring out this puzzle? I think being a parent, um,
um, you have to cultivate within yourself like heightened levels of empathy. You have to really
look at each child and see them for who they are, what they enjoy, what they love and, and
and meet them where they're at. And I think
that can be enormously challenging when your kids are so different in temperament, you know, as they
get older, that difference in temperament may be within the same child depending on the moment of
the day. Um, but it's, it really, I think it's actually made me, um, a much softer person, a much
better listener. I think I see people more truly for, for who they are as opposed to how I want them to be
sometimes. And I think being a parent to three children who are all exceptional and all incredibly
different has, has enabled that in me. I think for, for me though, they've also been like some
my greatest teachers in that we were talking about the, the presence you felt when you were in the
jungle and the, the connectivity you felt and sort of the simple joy. And I think for, for us as we grow
older, we kind of disconnect from that. Like my kids have taught me how to play again. Um, and that's
beautiful. I remember just a couple of weeks ago, we had one of these crazy Miami torrential downpours
and Arabella comes down. It's around eight o'clock at night. It's, it's really raining and she's got
rain boots and pajama pants on and she's going to take the dogs for a walk in the rain, which, you know,
she had all day to walk, but she, but she wasn't doing it because they needed to go for a walk. She was
like, this would be fun. And I'm standing at the doorstep watching her and she goes out with Simba
and Winter, this massive dog and this little tiny dog. And I'm watching her walk to the end of the
driveway and she's just dancing and it's pouring. And I took off my shoes and I went out and I joined
her and we danced in the rain. And even as like a preteen who normally, you know, she like allowed me to
experience the joy with her. And it was, it was amazing. We can be so much more fun if we allow
ourselves to be more playful. We can be so much more present. I look at Theo loves games. So we play a
whole lot of board games, any kind of game. So it started with board games. We do a lot of puzzles.
Then it became card games. I just taught him how to play poker.
Nice.
He loves backgammon, like any kind of game. And he's so fully in them. You know, when he plays,
he plays. My son, Joseph, he loves nature. And he'll say to me sometimes when like,
I'm taking a picture of something he's observing, like a beautiful sunset. He's like, Mom,
just experience it. I'm like, yes, you're right, Joseph, just experience it.
But, you know, so, so they, those kids have taught me so much about sort of reconnecting
with what's real and what's true and being present in the moment and, and experiencing joy.
They always give you permission to sort of reignite the inner child, just be a kid again.
Yeah. And it's interesting what you said that the puzzle of noticing each human being,
like what makes them beautiful, that the unique characteristics, like what they're good at.
Yeah.
The way they want to be mentored. Like, I often see that, especially with coaches and athletes,
young athletes aspiring to be great. Each athlete needs to be trained in a different way. Like I,
for example, with some, you need a softer approach. Like with me, I always like,
like a dictatorial approach. I like the coach to be this like menacing figure. That's when I,
that brought out the best in me. I didn't want to be friends with the coach. Like I want to almost,
I think it's weird to say, but yelled at, like put to be pushed, but that's, doesn't work for
everybody. And that's a risk you have to take is in the coach context of like, because you can't just
yell at everybody. Yeah. You have to figure out like, what does each person need? And when
you have kids, I imagine the puzzle is even harder.
And when they all need different things, but yet co-exist and are sometimes competitive with one
another. So you'll be at a dinner table, the amount of times I get, well, that's not fair.
Why did you let, and I'm like, life isn't fair. And by the way, like, I'm not here to be fair.
I'm like, I'm trying to give you each what you need, especially when I've been working really hard.
And, you know, in the white house, I'd say, okay, well now we have a Sunday and we have these hours
and I'll, I'll have like a grand plan, you know, and we're going to make it count and it's going to
involve, you know, hot chocolate and sleds, you know, whatever, whatever it is that like my great
adventure that we're going to go play mini golf. And then I come down all psyched up, all ready to go.
And the kids have zero interest.
And there have been a lot of times where I've been like, we're doing this thing. And then I realized,
wait a second, you know, like sometimes you just like plop down on the floor and start playing
magnet tiles, you know, and like, that's where they need you. And so, so those of us who have sort of
like alpha personalities who sometimes it's just, just witness, like witness what they need. Don't
like play with them and allow them to lead the play. Don't force them down a road you may think
is more interesting or productive or educational or edifying, you know, just, just be with them,
observe them and, and then show them that you are genuinely curious about the things that they are
genuinely curious about. I think there's a lot of love when you do that.
Also, there's just fascinating puzzles. I was talking to a friend yesterday and she has four kids
and they fight a lot and she, she generally wants to break up the fights, but she's like,
I'm not sure if I'm just supposed to let them fight. Can they figure it out? But you always
break, break them up because I'm told that it's okay for them to fight. Kids do that. They kind of
figure out their own situation. That's part of like the growing up process, but you want to always,
especially if it's physical, they're like pushing each other. You want to kind of stop it. But at the
same time, it's also part of the play, part of the dynamics. And that's a puzzle you also have to
figure out. And plus you're probably worried that they're going to get hurt if they're.
Well, I think there's like, when it gets physical, that's like, okay, we have to intervene.
I know you're into martial arts, but that's normally like the red line.
You know, once it, once it tips into that, but there is always that, you know, like you have to
allow them to problem solve for themselves. Like a little interpersonal conflict is, is good.
It's really hard when you try to navigate something because everyone thinks you're taking their
side. You have oftentimes incomplete information. It's I think for parents, what tends to happen to
is we see our kids fighting with each other in a way that all kids do. And we start to project into
the future and like catastrophize, you know, if like my two sons are going through a moment where they're
like oil and water, anything one wants to do, the other doesn't want to do. It's like a very interesting
moment. And so my instinct is they're not going to like each other when they're 25.
You know, you sort of project into the future as opposed to recognizing this is a stage that I
too went through and it's normal and it's not building it in your mind into, into something that's
unnecessarily consequential. It's short-term formative conflict.
Yeah. So, uh, ever since 2016, the, the number and the level of attacks you've been under has been
steadily increasing has been super intense. How do you walk through the fire of that? You've been
very stoic about the whole thing. I don't think I've ever seen you respond to an attack. You just let it
pass over you. You stay positive and you focus on solving problems and you didn't engage while being
in DC. You didn't engage into the back and forth fire of the politics. So what's your philosophy behind
that? I appreciate your saying that I was very stoic about it. I think, you know, I feel things pretty
deeply. So initially some of that really took me off guard, like some of the derivative love and hatred,
um, some of the intensity of, of, of the attacks. Um, and there were times when it was, it was so easy
to counter it. I'd even write something out and, and say, well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna press send and never
did. I, I felt that sort of getting into the mud, fighting back, it didn't run true to who I am as
a human being. Like it didn't, it felt at odds with, with who I am and how I want to spend my time. So
I think as a result, I was oftentimes on the receiving end of a lot of, a lot of cheap shots.
And I'm okay with that because it's sort of the way I know how to be in the world. I was focused on
things I thought mattered more. And, you know, I, I think part of me also
internalized, there's a concept in Judaism called Lashonhara, which is translated into,
I think quite literally evil speech. And the idea that, you know, speaking poorly of another
is almost the moral equivalent to murder because you can't really repair it. You can apologize,
but you can't repair it. Another component of that is that it does as much damage to the person
saying the words, um, than it does to the person receiving them. And I think about that a lot.
I talk about this concept with, with my kids a lot. Um, and I'm not willing to pay the price
of that fleeting and momentary satisfaction of, of sort of swinging back because I think it would be,
it would be too expensive for my soul. And, and that's how I kind of made peace with it because
I think that's just, that feels more true for me.
Okay. But it is a little bit contrary in politics. It's, uh, it's definitely, um,
it's definitely a contrarian viewpoint, um, to, to not get into the fray. I actually,
someday I love Dolly Parton says that, um, she doesn't condemn or criticize. She loves and accepts.
And I like that. It feels, it feels right for me.
Okay. I also like that you said that words have power. It's not, sometimes people say,
well, words, when you speak negatively of others, oh, that's just words. But I think there's a cost
to that. There's a cost, like you said, to your soul, and there's a cost in terms of the damage
you can do to the other person, uh, whether it's to their reputation publicly or to them privately,
it's just as a human being psychologically and, and in the place that it puts them
because they think they start thinking negatively in general and then maybe they respond and there's
this vicious downward spiral that happens that almost like we don't intend to, but it destroys
everybody in the process. You quoted Alan Watts. I love him in, uh, saying quote, you're under no
obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago. So, uh, how have the years in DC and the years
after, uh, change you?
I love Alan Watts too. I, I listened to his, uh, lecture sometimes falling asleep. He's got like,
and on planes, he's got like the most soothing voice. But, um, but I love what he said about you
have no obligation to be who you were five minutes ago because we should always feel that we have the
ability to evolve and grow and, and, and better ourselves. Like I think further than that, if we
don't look back on her, who we were a few years ago with some level of embarrassment, we're not growing
enough, right? So there's nothing I, when I look back, I'm like, oh, you know, it's, I feel like that,
that feeling is, you know, because you're growing into, into hopefully, you know, sort of a better
version of yourself. And I hope and feel that that's been, that's been true for me as well. I think the
person I am today, you know, we spoke, um, in, in the beginning of our discussion about, um, some of my
earliest ambitions in real estate and in fashion and those were amazing adventures and, um, and
incredible experiences in government. And I feel today that all of those
ambitions are more fully integrated into me as a human being. I'm much more comfortable with the
various pieces of my personality and that any professional drive is more integrated into
more simple pleasures. Like everything for me has gotten like much simpler and easier in terms of what
I want to do and what I want to be. And, and, um, I think that's where, you know, my kids have been my
teachers, just being fully present, um, and enjoying like the little moments. And it doesn't mean I'm any less
like driven than I was before. It's just more a part of me than, um, being sort of the all-consuming
energy one has in their twenties. Yeah. Just like you said with your mom, be able to let go. Yeah.
Enjoy the water, the sun, the beach. Yeah. And enjoy the moment. The simple, the simplicity of the moment.
I think a lot about the fact that, you know, for, for a lot of young people,
they, they really know what they want to do, but they don't actually know who they are.
And then I think as you get older, hopefully you know who you are and you're much more comfortable
with ambiguity around what you want to do and accomplish. You're more flexible in your thinking
around those things. And give yourself permission to be who you are. Yeah.
You made the decision not to engage in the politics of the 2024 campaign. If it's okay,
let me read what you wrote on the topic. Quote, I love my father very much. This time around,
I'm choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we're creating as a family.
I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father going forward,
I will do so outside the political arena. I'm grateful to have had the honor of serving the
American people. And I will always be proud of many of our administration's accomplishments.
So can you explain your thinking, your philosophy behind that decision?
I think first and foremost, it was a decision rooted in me being a parent,
really thinking about what they need from me now. Politics is a rough, rough business. And I think
it's one that you also can't dabble in. I think you have to either be all in or all out. And I know today
the cost they would pay for me being all in. Emotionally, in terms of my absence
and such a formative point in their life. And I'm not willing to make them bear that cost.
I served for four years and feel so privileged to have done it. But
as their mom, I think it's really important that I do what's right for them. And I think there are a
lot of ways you can serve. You know, I think there's obviously we talked about the enormity,
the scale of what can be accomplished in government service. But I think there's something equally
valuable about helping within your own community. And I volunteer with the kids a lot and we feel
really good about that service. It's different, but it's no less meaningful. So I think there are other
ways to serve. I also think politics is a pretty dark world. There's a lot of darkness, a lot of negativity,
and it's just really at odds with what feels good for me as a human being. And it's a really rough
business. So for me and my family, it feels right to not participate.
So it wears on your soul. And yeah, there is a bit, at least from an outsider's perspective,
a bit of darkness in that part of our world. I wish it didn't have to be this way.
Me too.
I think part of that darkness is just watching all the legal turmoil that's going on.
What's it like for you to see that, your father involved in that, going through that?
On a human level, it's my father and I love him very much. So it's, it's painful to experience,
but ultimately I wish it didn't have to be this way.
I like it that underneath all of this, I love my father is the thing that you lead with.
That's so true. It is, it is family.
Uh, and I hope, uh, amidst all this turmoil, love is the thing that wins.
It usually does.
In the end.
Yes. But in the short term, there is, like we were talking about, there's a bit of bickering,
but at least no more duels.
No more duels.
You mentioned Dolly Parton.
That's a segue.
Listen, I'm not very good at this thing. I'm trying to figure it out.
Okay. Now we both love Dolly Parton. Um, I mean, so, uh, you're, you're big into live music.
So maybe you can mention why you love Dolly Parton. I definitely would love to talk to,
I would love to interview her. She's such an icon.
Oh, I hope you do.
She's such an incredible human.
What I love about her, and I've really come to love her in recent years, is she's so authentically
herself. And she's obviously so talented and, um, and so accomplished and this extraordinary
woman. But I just feel like she has no conflict within herself as to who she is.
Um, she reminds me a lot of my mom in that way. And, and it's super refreshing and, and really
beautiful to observe somebody, um, somebody who's so in the public eye being so fully secure in, in
who they are, what their talent is and, and what drives them. So I think she's, she's amazing. Um,
and she leads with a lot of like love and positivity. So I think she's very cool. I hope you have a long
conversation. Yeah. She's like, okay. So there's many things to say about her at first, like incredibly
great musician, songwriters, performer also can create an image and have fun with it. You know,
like have fun being herself, like over the top. It feels that way, right? Like she's really,
she enjoys after all these years, it feels like she's enjoying, she like enjoys what she does.
And you also have the sense that if she didn't, she wouldn't do it. That's right. And just an iconic
country musician, country music singer. Yeah. Um, there's a lot, we've talked about a lot of
musicians. What do you enjoy? You mentioned Adele, seeing her perform, hanging out with her.
Yeah. I mean, she's extraordinary. Her voice is unreal. Um, so she is, I find her to be so talented
and she's so unique in that three-year-olds love her music. She was actually the first concert Arabella
ever went to, um, at Madison Square Garden when she, we, she was around four and 90-year-olds love
her music. And that's pretty rare to have that kind of, um, bandwidth of resonance. So, so I think
she's so talented. We actually just saw her. I took all three kids in Las Vegas around a month ago,
Alice Johnson, um, whose case I had worked with in the White House. Um, my father commuted her sentence.
Her, her case was brought to me by a friend, Kim Kardashian. And, um, and she came, uh, to the show.
We all went together with some mutual friends. And I was like a very profound, it was amazing to see
Adele, but it was a very profound experience for me to have with my kids because she rode with us in,
in the car on the way to the show. And, and she talked to my kids about her experience and her story,
um, and how her case found its way to me. And, and I think for young children, it's very abstract,
you know, policy. And so for her to be able to share with them, this was a very beautiful moment
and led to a lot of really incredible conversations with each of my kids about
our time and service because, you know, they gave up a lot for, for me to do it. Actually,
Alice told them the most beautiful story about the plays she used to put on in prison,
how these shows were like the hottest ticket in town. Like you could not get into them. They always
extended their run. And, um, but for the people who were in them, a lot of those men and women had never
experienced applause. Nobody had ever shown up, um, at their games or at their plays or, and, and clapped
for them. And the emotional experience of, of just being able to give someone that, you know, being
able to stand and, and, and applaud for someone and how meaningful that was. And she was showing
us pictures from these different productions. And it was a really, it was a beautiful moment. Alice
actually after, um, her sentence was commuted and, and she came out of prison together, we worked on 23
different pardons or commutations. So, so the impact of, of her experience and how she was able to,
to, to take her, her opportunity and, and create that same opportunity for others who, who were deserving
and, and who she believed in was, was very beautiful. So anyway, that was an extraordinary
concert experience for my kids to be able to have that moment.
Oh, what a story. So just, that's the sort of the, uh,
because here we are dancing at Adele.
Exactly. Exactly. It's like that turning point.
Six years later was almost to the day six years later.
So that, that policy, that meeting, meaning of the minds resulted in a major turning point in her
life and Alice's life. And now you're dancing with Adele.
And now we're at Adele.
Yeah. I mean, uh, you mentioned also there, I've seen commutations where it's, it's a, it's an
opportunity to step in and consider the ways that the justice system does not always work well.
Um, like in cases when it's nonviolent crime and, uh, drug offenses, there's, there's a case of a
person, uh, you mentioned that received a life sentence for selling weed.
Yeah.
It, you know, and it's just the number of, it's like hundreds of thousands of people are in the
federal prison and jail in the system for drug, for selling drugs. That's the only thing with no,
no violence on their record whatsoever. And it's obviously there's a lot of complexity. There's
the details matter, but oftentimes the justice system does not, um, do right in the way we think
right is. And it's nice to be able to step in and help people like, and directly.
They're overlooked and they have no advocate. Jared, um, and I helped in a small way on his effort,
but he really, um, spearheaded the effort on, on criminal justice reform through the First Step Act,
which was an enormously consequential piece of legislation that gave so many people another
opportunity. And that was amazing. Uh, so working with him closely on that was, was a beautiful thing
for us to also experience together. But in the final days of the administration, you know, you're not
getting legislation passed. Um, and anything you do administratively is going to be probably overturned
by an incoming administration. So, you know, how do you use that time for maximum results? And I really,
like, dug in on, on pardons and commutations that I thought were, were, um, were overdue and, and were
worthy. And, um, and my last night in Washington, DC, I, uh, the gentleman you mentioned, Corvin, I was
on the phone with his mother at, uh, 1230 in the morning telling her that her son would be getting
out the next day, you know? So, and it felt really, it's, it's one person, but you see with Alice, like
the ripple effect of, you know, the commutation granted to her and her ability and the impact she'll
have within her family with her grandkids. Um, and now she's an advocate for so many others who are
voiceless. You know, it felt like, it felt like the perfect way to end four years to be able to,
um, to be able to call those parents and call those kids in some cases and, and give them the news that
a loved one was coming home. And I just love the cool image of you, Kim Kardashian, and Alice just
dancing on Adele's show with the kids. I love it. Well, Kim wasn't at the Adele show, but, but she had
connected us. It was beautiful. Yeah. The way Adele like can hold just like the badassness she has
on stage, like the, she does like heartbreak songs like better than anyone or no, it's not even
heartbreak. Like what's, what's that genre of song like rolling in the deep, like a little anger,
a little love, a little, like something, a little attitude, and just like one of the greatest voices
ever, all of that together, just her by herself. Yeah. You can strip it down and the power of her
voice. You know, I think about that. One of the things we were talking about live music. I, one of
the amazing things now is you, there's so much incredible concert material that's been uploaded
to YouTube. So sometimes I just sit there and watch these like old shows. Um, we both love Stevie Ray Vaughan,
like watching him perform. You can even find old videos of like Django Reinhardt. You got me. I got
you. Texas Flood. We had this moment, which is hilarious that you said like one of the songs you
really like of Stevie's is Texas Flood. Well, my bucket list is to learn how to play it. It's a bucket list.
This is a bucket list item. You made me feel so good because for me, Texas Flood was the first solo on
guitar I've ever learned because for me it was the, like the impossible solo. Yeah. And then
that was, so I, I worked really hard to, uh, to learn it. It's like one of the
most iconic sort of blues songs, Texas blues songs. And now you made me fall in love with the song
again, want to play it out live at the very least, put it up on YouTube. And that's because it is,
it's so fun to improvise. And when you lose yourself in the song, it truly is a blues song. You can have
fun with it. I hope you do do that.
Throw on a Stevie Ray Vaughan. Regardless, I want you to play it for me.
A hundred percent. A hundred percent.
But he's, he's amazing. And, and, you know, there's so many great performers that are playing live now.
Um, you know, I just saw Chris Stapleton show. He's an amazing country artist.
He's too good.
He's so good.
That guy is so good.
Lucas Nelson's one of my favorite to see live. And there's so many incredible songwriters and
musicians that are out there touring today. But I think you also, you can go online and watch some of
these old performances. Like Django Reinhardt was the first, because I torture myself, was the first
song I learned to play on the guitar. And it took me like nine months to a year. It was, I mean, I
should have chosen a different song, but Ue Tu Mon Amour, his, um, one of his songs was, and it was like
finger style. And I was just going through and, and grinding it out. And, and that's kind of how I
started to learn to play by playing that song, but to see these old videos of him playing,
you know, without all his fingers and, and, and the skill and the dexterity. One of my favorite
live performances is actually who really influenced Adele as Aretha Franklin. Um, and she did this,
she did a version of Amazing Grace. Have you ever seen this video?
No.
I cried. Look up. It was in LA. It was like the temple missionary Baptist church. Talk about
stripped down. She's literally, I mean, just listen to this.
Well, you could do one note and you could just kill it.
The pain, the soulfulness. The spirit you feel like in her when you watch this.
That's true. Adele carries some of that spirit also, right? Yeah.
And you can take away all the instruments with Adele and just have that voice and it's so commanding
and it's so amazing. Anyway, you watch this and you see like the arc of also the experience of
the people in the choir and them starting to join in. And it's, anyway, it's, it's amazing.
I love watching, uh, Queen, like Freddie Mercury, Queen performances.
Yeah. Like in terms of vocalists and just like great stage presence.
That Live Aid performance is like considered one of the best of all.
I've watched that so many times. He's so cool.
Here we pull up that for a second.
Go to that part where, where he's saying Radio Gaga and they're all, um,
um, mimicking his arm move. It's so cool.
Look at that.
Oh man, I miss that guy. So good.
So that's an example of a person that was born to be on stage.
So good. Well, we were talking surfing. We were talking jujitsu.
I think live music is one of those kind of rare moments where you can really be present.
Mm-hmm. Um, where something about the anticipation of choosing what show you're going to go to and
then waiting for the date to come. And normally it happens in the context of community. You go with
friends and, um, and then allowing yourself to sort of fall into it is, is incredible.
So you've been training jujitsu.
Yes. Trying.
Um, I mean, I've seen you do jujitsu. You, you're extremely, you're, you're very like athletic,
you know, you know how to use your body to commit violence.
Maybe there's better ways of phrasing that, but anyway.
It's been a skill that's been honed over time.
Yeah. I mean, um, what do you like about jujitsu?
Well, first of all, I love the way I came to it. It was my daughter. Um, I think I told you this
story. She's at 11, she told me that she wanted to learn self-defense and, um, and she wanted to
learn how to protect herself, which I just, as a mom, I was so proud about because at 11, I was not
thinking about defending myself. You know, I, I loved that she had sort of that desire and awareness.
Um, so I, I called some friends, actually a mutual friend of ours and asked around for, for people
who I could work with in Miami and they recommended the Valente brothers studio. And, um, you've met all
three of them now. They're these remarkable human beings and they've been so wonderful for our family.
I mean, first starting with Arabella, I used to take her and then she'd kind of encourage me and she'd
sort of pull me into it and I started doing it with her. And then, um, Joseph and Theo, uh, saw us
doing it. They wanted to start doing it. So now they joined and, um, then Jared joined. So now we're,
we're all doing jujitsu. And for me, there's something really empowering knowing that I have
some basic skills, um, to defend myself. I think it's something as humans we've kind of gotten away from.
You look at any other animal and, you know, even the giraffe, they'll use their neck, the lion, the
tiger, every species. And then there's us, you know, who most of us don't, and I didn't know how
to protect myself. And I think that it, it gives you a sense of confidence and also gives you kind
of a sense of calm, you know, knowing how to deescalate rather than escalate a situation.
I also think as part of the training, you, um, you develop more natural awareness when,
when you're out and about. And I feel like especially, you know, everyone's, you get on
an elevator and like the first thing people do is pick up their phone. You're walking down the street,
there people are getting hit by cars because they're walking into traffic. I think as you start
to get this training, you become much more aware of the broader context of what's happening around you,
which is, which is really healthy and good as well. But it's been beautiful. They actually,
the Valente brothers, they have this 753 code that was developed with some of the sort of samurai
principles in mind. And all of my kids have memorized it and they'll talk to me about it. Theo,
he's eight years old. He'll, he'll able to recite all 15. So, you know, benevolence and, um, and
fitness and nutrition and flow and awareness and balance. And it's an unbelievable thing. And they'll
actually integrate it into conversations where they'll talk about something that happened. Yeah.
Rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, loyalty. So this is not about jujitsu
techniques or fighting techniques. This is about a way of life about the way you interact with the
world, with other people, exercise, nutrition, rest, hygiene, positivity. That's more on the
physical side of things, awareness, balance, and flow. It's the mind, the body, the soul effectively is
how they break it out. And, and the kids can only advance and get their stripes. If, um, they really
internalize this, they give examples of each of them. And, and my own kids will come home from
school and they'll tell me examples of how things happened that weren't aligned with the 753 code.
So it's, it's a framework, much like religion is in our house and, and can be for others. It's a
framework to discuss things that happen in their life, large and small, and, um, and has been beautiful.
So, so I do think that like body mind connection is, is super strong in, in jujitsu.
So there's many things I love about the Valenti brothers, but one of them is the, uh, how rooted
it is in philosophy and history of martial arts in general. You know, a lot of places you'll practice
the sport of it, maybe the art of it, but to recognize the history and what it means to be a
martial artist broadly on and off the mat. That's really great. And the other thing is great is they also
don't forget the self-defense route, the actual fighting routes. So it's not just a sport,
it's a way to defend yourself on the street in all situations. And that gives you a confidence
in just like you said, an awareness about your own body and awareness about others.
It is, you know, sadly we forget, but there's a, so it's a world full of violence or the capacity
for violence. So it's good to have an awareness of that and a confidence how to essentially avoid it.
A hundred percent. I've seen it with all of my kids and myself, how much they've benefited from it,
but, um, that self-defense component and the philosophical elements of, you know, they, Pedro
will often tell them about like Wu Wei and sort of soft resistance and, um, and some of these sort of
more Eastern philosophies that they get exposed to through, through their practice there that are
um, sort of non-resistance that, that are beautiful and, and hard concepts to internalize
as an adult. But, but especially, um, you know, when you're 12, 10 and, and eight respectively.
So it's, it's, it's been an amazing experience for us all.
I love people like Pedro because he, he's like finding books that are like in Japanese and
translating them to try to figure out like the details of a particular history. Like he's a,
he's like an ultra scholar of martial arts. And I love that. I love when people give everything,
every part of themselves to the thing they're practicing.
You know, people have been fighting each other for a very long time. And I love from the Coliseum on,
you can't fake anything. You can't lie about anything. It's, it's truly honest. You're there
and you either win or lose and simple. And that's like, it's also humbling that the reality of that
is humbling.
And oftentimes in life, things are not that simple, not that black and white.
So it's nice to have that sometimes. That's, that's the biggest thing I gained from jujitsu is
getting my, in my ass kicked, which the humbling. And it's nice to just get humbled in a very clear
way. Sports in general are great for that. I think surfing probably, because I can imagine just,
you know, yeah. Face planting, not being able to stay on the board. Uh, it's humbling.
And the power of the wave is humbling. Uh, so just like your mom, you're an adventurer.
Are there, your, your bucket list is probably like 120 pages.
Is there things that just pop to mind that you're like thinking about,
especially in the near future? Just anything?
Well, I hope it always is long. You know, I hope I've never like exhausted exploring all the things
I'm curious about. I always tell my kids whenever they say, you know, mom, I'm bored.
Only boring people get bored. Like there's too much to learn. There's too much to learn. So I've got a long
one. I, you know, I think obviously there are some like immediate tactical, you know, interesting
things that I'm doing. I'm incubating a bunch of businesses. I'm investing in a bunch of companies
that hopefully I'll always can continue to do that. Some of the fun things I'm doing in real estate now.
So those are all on the list of things I'm passionate and excited about, you know,
continuing to explore and learn. But, um, in terms of the, like the, the ones that are more pure
sort of adventure or hobby, I think I'd like to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I actually, I know I
would. Um, and I, I, the only thing keeping me from doing it in the short term is I feel like it'd be
such a great experience to do with my kids. Um, and I'd love to have that experience with them.
I also told Herbella, we were talking about this archery competition that happens in Mongolia and she
loves horseback riding. So I'm like, I feel like that would be an amazing thing to experience together.
Um, I want to get barreled by a wave and, and learn how to play Texas Flood. Um, I want to see the
Northern Lights. Like I want to go and, and experience that. Um, I feel like that would be
really beautiful. I want to get my black belt like you have.
Black belt? Nice.
I asked you, how long did it take? Um, but so I want to get my black belt in jujitsu. That's like a,
that's going to be a longer term goal, but with, within the next decade. Um, yeah, a lot of things,
you know, I'd love to go to space. I'd like not just space. I think I'd love to go to the moon.
Like step on the moon. Yeah. Or float, you know, in close proximity, like that famous photo.
Yeah. It's just you and, uh, the space, dude. I feel like Mars is at this point in my life.
Well, the moon's like four days feels more, more manageable.
I don't know. But the sunset on Mars is blue. It's the opposite color. I hear it's beautiful.
It might be worth it. I don't know. You negotiate with Theo. Yeah.
Let me know how it goes. Let me know how it goes.
I think actually just even going to space where you can look back on earth.
Yeah. I think that just to see this little pale blue dot, pale blue dot, just all the stuff
that ever happened in human civilization is on that. And to be able to look at, look at it.
Yeah. And just be in awe. And I don't think that's the thing that will go away.
I think being interplanetary, my hope is that that heightens for us how
rare it is what we have, like how precious the earth is. I hope that it has that effect.
Because, you know, I think there's a big component to
interplanetary travel that kind of taps into this kind of manifest destiny inclination,
like the human desire to conquer territory and expand
the footprint of civilization that sometimes feels much more rooted in like dominance and conquest
than curiosity, wonder. And obviously, I think there's, you know, maybe an existential imperative
for it at some point or a strategic and security one. But I hope that what feels inevitable at this
moment, I mean, you know, Elon Musk and what he's doing with SpaceX and Jeff Bezos and others, it feels
like it's not an if, it's a when at this point. I hope it also underscores like the need to protect what we have here.
Yeah. And it's, I hope it's the curiosity that drives that exploration and I hope the exploration
will give us a deeper appreciation of the thing we have back home and that earth will always be home
and it's a home that we protect and celebrate. What gives you hope about the future of this thing we
have going on, human civilization, the whole thing?
I think I feel a lot of hope when I'm in nature. I feel a lot of hope when I am experiencing people
who are good and honest and pure and true and passionate. And that's not an uncommon experience.
So those experiences give me hope.
Yeah. Other humans, we're pretty cool.
I love humanity. We're awesome. You know, not always, but we're a pretty good species.
Yeah, for the most part on the whole, we do all right. We do all right. We create some beautiful
stuff and I hope we keep creating and I hope you keep creating. You've already done a lot of amazing
things, build a lot of amazing things, and I hope you keep building and creating and
doing a lot of beautiful things in this world. Ivanka, thank you so much for talking today.
Thank you, Lex.
Thanks for listening to this conversation with Ivanka Trump. To support this podcast,
please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, let me leave you with some words from
Marcus Aurelius. Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.
Thank you for listening. I hope to see you next time.