Candice: Life is not easy. Raising kids is not easy. Having a house is not easy. Working is not easy. It's having a positive mindset and that just sort of gives me clarity that I can accomplish one thing at a time and get things done.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the MILF Podcast. This is the show where we talk about motherhood and sexuality with amazing women with fascinating stories to share on the joys of being a MILF. Now here's your host, the [MILFiest 00:00:33] MILF I know, Jennifer Tracy.
Jennifer: Hey, guys. Welcome back to the show. This is MILF Podcast, the show where we talk about motherhood, entrepreneurship, sexuality, and everything in between. I am Jennifer Tracy, your host.
Jennifer: Wow. We are now less than two weeks away from the live show. I am super stoked. There's a few tickets left, so go ahead and go online and purchase yours because you do not want to miss out on this. You can go buy it on MILFPodcast.com or at DynastyTypewriter.com. If you go on my website, there's a link that goes straight to it and you can buy the tickets there. Super stoked. Can't wait. We've got Sabrina Hill Weiss, Wendy Miller, and Christina Grants all on my panel. We've got some pole dancing. We've got talking about sex. We've got some other surprises happening. I can't even ... I don't even know what else to say about it, except come. Because it's going to be a great time.
Jennifer: This month's give is Every Mother Counts. I've worked with them before. I'm bringing them back because I believe in what they're doing so deeply. There's a link to that on my website also. If you want to donate to them directly or, as always, if you want to write a review of MILF Podcast, then I will donate $25.
Jennifer: Today's guest is Candice Crane. Candice is the visionary founder and CEO or Petal. Petal is this absolutely stunning fizzy drink. That's what I call all bubbly drinks. It is just absolutely gorgeous. It's a floral tea that's sparkling. It's so amazing. When I booked her to do the interview, she surprised me and sent 12 of these drinks to my home. I've been able to enjoy them. I selfishly, it's just been so wonderful to enjoy them. Not only that, you've probably seen me posting about it on my Instagram, the designs of these cans is so beautiful. It's artwork. It's absolutely stunning. You'll hear the origin of all of this in her interview. It's really fascinating. I just it, that she had this vision and she wasn't going to take no for an answer and she just made it happen. Yeah.
Jennifer: Anyway, super stoked to introduce you guys to Candice Crane, such a joy to interview her. Here's the interview.
Jennifer: Hi, Candice.
Candice: Good morning.
Jennifer: Thank you so much for being on the show.
Candice: Thank you. Thank you for making a podcast called MILF. I'm so honored to be on it.
Jennifer: Yeah, babe. I'm so glad you're here.
Candice: I've been practicing my radio voice all morning.
Jennifer: It sounds really good.
Candice: Great.
Jennifer: Whatever you're doing is working. It sounds really good.
Candice: Great.
Jennifer: There's so many things. I have so many questions for you. First of all, I want to thank you for sending me a beautiful box full of your gorgeous beverage called Petal.
Candice: Thank you.
Jennifer: Everything about it is so luxurious. I love the packaging. I love how slender the cans are. Of course, I love the product. I've already tried two of them and I love them so much.
Candice: Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you for the positive feedback.
Jennifer: Yeah, it's so great. I want to kind of start from the beginning. You're in Chicago now. Is that where you're from originally?
Candice: No. Actually, I was born in South Africa.
Jennifer: Wow.
Candice: Yeah, quite far away from Chicago. I was born in South Africa. My family immigrated to Chicago in the '80s, in the late '80s. I was only three years old. My dad was in the packaging business. He used to build end of line packaging equipment. He was in the United States and he had an opportunity to buy a company in Schiller Park, Illinois, which is right by the airport. He called my mom, who had four kids, I'm the youngest of four, I have three older brothers, and he said, "Great news. I bought this company in Chicago. I have to be here to run it. So, what do you think? Should we move to America?" They thought it was the biggest dream come true, so they uprooted our whole family. We left a huge extended family on both sides. We left a beautiful country. We started our lives in Chicago. My dad built the business. He ultimately sold his business a couple years ago.
Candice: I grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago. We used to go back to South Africa every year for about three weeks and visit my grandparents. My grandparents have a beautiful house, but really in a beautiful setting, in the Garden Route in Plettenberg Bay in South Africa. That's really where my inspiration for my whole life, but really the beauty of Petal really comes from. Every afternoon, we used to have tea time. At four o'clock, you have tea time. My whole life, I've been concocting my own teas and ordering dried flowers and petals and different teas from all over the world. I'm just jumping around a bit, but ...
Jennifer: No, you're perfect. I was just thinking, as you're talking, I'm like, God, she's flowing so beautifully into the story of and you're connecting things. I was like, that's what I teach my students how to do. It's like the memory of something that was, because I'm a writing coach as well, the memory of something that was so influential in your life and made such an indelible mark that it kind of threads through your entire life, bringing you to where you are now.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Please, don't stop. I love every moment of what you're saying. I have questions, but I'm remembering them as you're going on.
Candice: It's funny actually, to play on that thought, it's funny. In your 30s, or maybe it happens to people earlier or later in life, but for me in my 30s, as I've pivoted and created this new beverage, I've looked in my past at different points in my life that didn't seem meaningful at all at the time but have played such powerful roles in my life now, as a mother ...
Jennifer: Yes, absolutely.
Candice: ... and as a business owner and as an entrepreneur. Back to the story.
Jennifer: Yes, yes. South Africa. Petals, teas
Candice: Yeah. Concocting my own teas. Always drinking. Always having tea time. Always serving tea to my friends and family. Actually, when I was little, whenever we used to go back, I used to pretend that I had my own coffee shop. It used to be Candice's Coffee Corner. I would serve all of our family coffee and tea in the afternoon. My cousin and I would write their orders, and I would serve their tea. That was just a fun little ... It's always been in my DNA to serve and create.
Candice: Ultimately, I grew up in Chicago, went to school at Indiana University, moved back to Chicago, and I worked at the Game Show Network for a couple years for a very cool ... I had an incredible lady boss that I worked for. Her name was Lee [Primack 00:07:34] and she really introduced me to the corporate world. I ultimately went to go work for the family business where I ran the marketing department for this packaging company, which was not glamorous at all but I learned a ton about ...
Jennifer: I'm sure.
Candice: ... manufacturing.
Jennifer: That's incredible.
Candice: Yeah. We would run around to all the packaging shows. It was just an incredible industry to be a part of. I married my husband and I had my first child. I worked part-time while I had her. After I had my second, I was mostly a stay-at-home mother, which I love. I have two little girls. They're so beautiful, so fun. I absolutely love everything about being a mom. I think it completely changed. It also gave me this force to do better and create something because they really gave me this purpose.
Candice: My daughters were four and one and a half, and I had this vision one morning. As I saw that floral flavors were starting to trend, I thought, the world needs a beautiful, refreshing botanical beverage. I'm going to take this ancient elixir, which is rose water, that's becoming so popular in the cosmetic industry, I'm going to deliver it in a clean, organic way. I had this vision, and my husband laughed. He thought I was crazy. I just got to work. I started formulating ... Our original three beverages were all rose water based. We had original rose, mint rose, and lychee rose. I just had this dream. I saw this white space in the beverage industry. It's a very competitive market. Many people told me.
Jennifer: I bet. There's so many.
Candice: Yeah. My dad likes to call the people with negative comments the reality check people, the people that are going to tell you how hard it is and how crazy you are. The people that give you a reality check. I appreciate those people, obviously, but there have been many people that have been very encouraging, the idea of the botanicals. No one was doing sparkling botanicals, so I really felt like this was my opportunity. Really, I was given an opportunity to create a brand from scratch, which was very cool. I thought, okay, this is our time. I get to create something as beautiful as I want it to be. It can be disruptive and gorgeous and empowering. I just want to bring some beauty into the world. If anything, I get to create something and I want to deliver something pretty and beautiful.
Jennifer: Wow.
Candice: That was really my inspiration. My inspiration was also for my grandmother who was always ... Both of my grandmothers were really this force behind my grandfathers' businesses. They were always so matriarchal. I have these two little girls at home. That was my dream, really, was to create a beautiful beverage to really empower women and send positivity. As you may know, rose water is said to vibrate at the highest frequency, so it really elevates your mood.
Jennifer: I didn't know that. That's why one of your taglines is raise your vibe.
Candice: Exactly.
Jennifer: That's cool!
Candice: Yeah. Our mission with Petal is a simple reminder to have a glass of Petal and raise your vibration and live your best life.
Jennifer: Wow. I love it. I love knowing all this backstory and your mission and your manifesto really.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Wait a minute. How old are you daughters now?
Candice: Now they are six and three. I have a kindergartner and a three year old. It's a beautiful time that we're living in because generations before us, it was very hard to be a stay-at-home mother and start a business. Now we're living in a time where technology ... We're a mobile company. I drove the carpool this morning, dropped my kids off at school, and I was able to be on a conference call five minutes later. I'm able to be on a podcast sitting in my home. We're living in an incredible time where we have this opportunity where we can do more than generations before us.
Candice: One thing that I was telling someone this weekend, that when I started the business, so many people said to me, "Oh my gosh, you're going to be a woman owned business. A woman owned business, you'll get so many benefits from being a woman owned business." I was almost offended. I was like, why is that even a thing still. As I looked around, I realized it really is a thing. It hasn't been easy for women to do it all. Someone actually, a close person to me said, "You're going to find it difficult to be a mother and a CEO." I turned to them and I said, "Grab some popcorn and watch."
Jennifer: Yes! Oh my God, I love it! I love it. You've been doing this for almost two years?
Candice: It's been two years. We launched in Chicagoland last May. The Friday before Memorial Day weekend, I stood in my local grocery store and I sold ... I invited all my friend and family. We didn't have any launch party or anything. That definitely wasn't in the budget. I invited my friends and my family to come to the store and buy Petal. We sold over 1,000 units in three hours. That was my launch.
Jennifer: How did that feel?
Candice: That was pretty cool. I actually went into, I went into this store, the buyer ... I went into the buyer's office a couple weeks before. He wasn't answering my emails, so I walked right in. He looked at his calendar and he's like, "Excuse me, do you have an appointment?" I was like, "No, but I'm here to make one."
Jennifer: I love it.
Candice: We made an appointment for later on that week. I came in with my distributor, my local distributor in Chicago. We sat down and we presented Petal. It was Tuesday. He's like, "Okay, I'll order some cases for Friday."
Candice: I was like, "This Friday?"
Candice: He's like, "Yeah." He's like, "I'll order 20 cases."
Candice: I'm like, "Well, you know, all of my friend and family are waiting to try Petal. They haven't tasted it yet. Why don't you order a pallet?"
Candice: He's like, "Lady, are you joking?" He's like, "I'm not ordering a pallet of Petal."
Candice: I said, "If you order a pallet, I will make sure it's sold."
Candice: He said, "Everything you don't sell, I'm sending it straight to the distributor the next day."
Jennifer: Wait. Hold on. For our listeners and myself, what is a pallet? He said 20 cases. A pallet is how many cases?
Candice: 182.
Jennifer: Yeah, girl. Oh my God! You have so much moxie. This is so amazing. I love this story.
Candice: He's like, "Whatever we don't sell, I don't have room for this on my floor, I'm sending it back to the distributor the next day."
Candice: I said, "Okay, that's fine."
Candice: We agreed on-
Jennifer: I just want to point out, too, that in this meeting that you had with this gentleman, there was nowhere where he was like, "Oh, you're a woman owned business. Let me roll out the red carpet for you."
Candice: No.
Jennifer: In fact, it sounds like it was the opposite.
Candice: No. He was like, "It's very sweet you live in the area. We like to support local. We're excited to support local." He really liked the beverage. He liked the idea of it. He wanted to bring in 20 cases.
Candice: We came to an agreement. We met in the middle. He brought in 90 cases. He looked at me. He said, "I cannot keep 90 cases in my store. I have to send it back to the distributor the next day."
Candice: I said, "That's fine. That's fair. I understand. Thank you. You're not doing my any favors, but thank you for giving me the platform to sell my beverage."
Candice: I stood there on the Friday afternoon. We announced it on social media. We sold out in I think two and a half hours.
Jennifer: That is so awesome!
Candice: Not only did he actually ordered another 60 cases the next morning for Saturday delivery, for Memorial Day weekend.
Jennifer: Wow.
Candice: That was pretty cool.
Jennifer: What an amazing and auspicious beginning.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: That's so great. From there, what was the growth?
Candice: From there, we opened up about 70 locations in the Chicagoland market, all my backyard. It was summer months, which as you may know, Chicago, the weather is quite drastic here.
Jennifer: You need a cool refreshing drink.
Candice: Yeah. The summer here is beautiful. The winter is ...
Jennifer: Brutal.
Candice: ... brutal. Exactly. We had the summer months to really launch this beverage. We have a beverage season, so we were running around from retailer to retailer. I was demoing in stores myself. I was doing events.
Jennifer: Did you have people to help you demo? Because you can't be in more than one place.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Okay.
Candice: I hired another woman owned business, Kaitlin & Co. They're a Chicago based company. We hired them to help us do some demos. I also like to do them myself because I like the feedback, I like to firsthand see strangers completely taste the drink. We had some really positive feedback from the summer, so much so that in the fall we signed on with a national distributor and started formulating on our next three flavors, which were not rose water, which were other botanicals. Now, we are so excited to introduce the elderberry, white tea flower, peach marigold with a hint of basil, and lemongrass dandelion with a hint of strawberry.
Jennifer: So yummy. I think I had the ... Is there another drink with a hint of basil or is just the peach marigold?
Candice: Just the peach marigold.
Jennifer: Okay, that's what I had last night. First, I had the original rose one yesterday morning, or late morning. I love it. As I told you when we were texting, I love anything rose. In a beauty product, in a beverage, I just love it. I can't wait to try the rest of them. I'm so grateful you sent me a whole case to try. I can't wait to share with my friends.
Candice: Of course, of course.
Jennifer: You said you're going to be here in LA in Gelson's soon.
Candice: Yes. My husband and I are coming next week. We're going to be launching in Gelson's.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh, I'm going to come see you.
Candice: Great. Let's make a plan.
Jennifer: Yeah. I'll text you. I'll bug you to tell me where and when so I can come see. I'll bring my son.
Candice: Cool.
Jennifer: Are you going to have your daughters with you?
Candice: They're staying back this time. They are staying back this time. They're staying with my parents.
Jennifer: Good.
Candice: Which is tough to leave them, but it's good for them to stay in school.
Jennifer: Of course, of course.
Candice: We'll be able to focus on some Petal meetings. We are going to bring them to California this summer and run around with them there. It'll be great.
Jennifer: Good. Good, good, good.
Candice: It's funny. I was actually in the grocery store with my daughter the other day. I hadn't taken her in a while. I watched her. Her eyes looked at the beverage cooler and her eyes lit up when she saw Petal. It was such a proud moment.
Jennifer: Aw!
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Yeah, because you're showing her ... What an amazing model for her of that model. As you said, we didn't have that to look at growing up, just because it wasn't really available in the way that it is now. What I'm talking about is what you referenced earlier, is that women weren't able to be ... Few women were CEOs to begin with when we were growing up. You weren't able to able to balance being a CEO, starting your own company, being a CEO, and being able to spend quality time with your kids. You were either in a corporate tower and you hardly ever saw your kids ... It's wonderful that she's seeing that and that both of them are going to know, I can do that if I want.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: That's amazing.
Candice: Not only for them, I hope to set that example for everyone.
Jennifer: Yes, yes. I want to go back to you growing up. This is so interesting. I've been thinking this whole time ... Do your parents, they must still have the accent because they were born and raised in South Africa.
Candice: Of course, yeah, of course. My brother-
Jennifer: They have-
Candice: They have thick accents, yeah.
Jennifer: That's so great. Your brothers?
Candice: My brothers, too. My brothers are 11, ten, and eight years older than me, so they were pre ...
Jennifer: Okay, they got more of it.
Candice: Yeah. They were teenagers when we moved to the States. They go back and forth. It depends who they're talking to.
Jennifer: Right. I'm sure. Congratulations. I'm so excited and I can't wait to see the next phase of this.
Candice: Thank you.
Jennifer: When you were growing up, I know you talked about having Candice's Coffee Corner, was it?
Candice: Uh huh, yeah.
Jennifer: So cute. When you went to college, what did you study in college? Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do back then? Or a different idea?
Candice: I actually studied production and design. I was really into production. I wanted to work in TV. I loved editing. After college, I got a job in sales at the Game Show Network, which wasn't necessarily what I even went to school for, but it was in this really fancy building in the city and I had a nice job. I just felt like it was going to be a fun time. I really did get this introduction to the corporate, and then I completely went a different direction into manufacturing. I always had this dream. I always really appreciated graphic design, even though I really wasn't that good at it. I always appreciated art and graphic design and production. I think that's all sort of molded into creating Petal and the design of the can and the artwork and the romantic copy and the imagery and our branding, is all really stems from my passion in production.
Jennifer: Interesting. You've always been a very, it sounds like, very visual, very experiential, very ... You have a beautiful, romantic sort of cinematic experience of life.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Even the way you describe going back to South Africa in the summers and experiences the colors and the textures of the landscape and your family and the food.
Candice: The feeling, yeah.
Jennifer: Yeah, the feeling. That's really amazing. Do you guys go back at all now?
Candice: I haven't been since I've had kids. Just the thought of taking my kids on that flight is ...
Jennifer: I'm sure. Yeah.
Candice: ... scary.
Jennifer: What is it, like a 19 hour flight? More.
Candice: Yeah. Yeah. It's basically crazy. My mom and I used to do it all the time. I just wonder, Mom, we just had coloring books in those days.
Jennifer: I know.
Candice: We haven't been back since we've had kids, but we will try to go in the next, we'll see, couple years.
Jennifer: Yeah. When you had your first child, did you have any ... You were working at the Game Show Network at that time?
Candice: No, I was working for the family.
Jennifer: No, you were working with your family.
Candice: Yeah, family business, yeah.
Jennifer: Then you just decided to take some time off when you had your second child, is that ...
Candice: Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer: Did you have any post-partum with either?
Candice: I didn't have post-partum, thankfully. No, I did not have post-partum.
Jennifer: I'm so glad. I'm so happy for you.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Your husband, what does he do?
Candice: He's an attorney. It's funny, when you were saying you don't complain about work, when I complain that I have a million and one things to do, he's like, "But look what you're doing." He wishes more than anything, and he actually is going to come work for us now as we grow bigger ...
Jennifer: Yay.
Candice: Which is quite exciting and scary and awesome and all the feels.
Jennifer: Yes.
Candice: As you can imagine. He simply reminds me, "Look what you are doing. Look what you're creating. It's something fun. It's something beautiful." He deals with people fighting all the time and litigation and arguments. Some days, he can't even believe what he's actually dealing with. He'd much rather work for Petal.
Jennifer: That's awesome. He'll be your in-house lawyer?
Candice: No. You know what, he's not going to be my in-house lawyer, although he does help me with a lot of our communication with our lawyers. He's going to help me run sales and operations.
Jennifer: That's so great.
Candice: Tackle ...
Jennifer: That's so great.
Candice: Yeah. It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd have my own business where my husband came to work for me.
Jennifer: How do you balance ... Running a company like this, especially at this stage, like you just said, you have a million and one things to do. Even though, we just shared that we're both very fortunate, we love what we do, it's still a lot to balance having two small children, having a husband. You kind of have to give him a little attention, too, sometimes.
Candice: Absolutely.
Jennifer: How do you carve out the time in your schedule basically to not overdo it?
Candice: Get it done. I'm trying to figure it out. That's really the honest answer. We're figuring it out. Just like raising kids, I think it takes a village. We are really fortunate that we have our parents and my in-laws who live near us, who are mostly around. We hired a nanny. I was a full-time stay-at-home mom before I started this, so that was a transition. I'm forgiving. I'm looking at my office right now. It's really messy, but I forgive myself because I don't have that time to do it. I just can't physically do it all, but I am trying my best at what I am doing, if that makes sense.
Jennifer: Do you feel like you have any time for yourself, just downtime for you alone? Or whatever that is that you love doing.
Candice: That's a good question. I get that question a lot. I answer it like this. I'm grateful for this period of my time. I have two small kids. They won't always be kids. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for this start-up business. I choose to enjoy what I'm doing at all times. It is all for me. If I go to the gym or if I take an hour here or there, I get to sometimes carve out that time for myself. I choose to be positive about all aspects of my life, that I don't feel that I owe myself time to take a break or I owe myself time off. I don't know.
Jennifer: Wow. That's such an amazing perspective. I love that. That's really the definition of being present in the moment.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: You've arrived. It's amazing. I'm serious. I'm in awe.
Candice: Thank you.
Jennifer: It's interesting. I've just recently, and I've shared this on the show many times, I struggled with post-partum depression. I finally got diagnosed when my son was two and got proper treatment and so forth. I suffer from anxiety. My experience with anxiety is that it robs you from being present in the moment and doing exactly what you just described, which is choosing to enjoy exactly what you're doing when you're doing it, whether it is being with your child when they're having a rough moment and crying and knowing it's the most important thing in the world for you to be steady and comforting, enjoying watching them learn something new, or being with a client, or whatever, all the different things, or getting to go to a yoga class or a massage. I think in my mind only those last two things were enjoyable and the rest was I was just living through it in order to get to that.
Jennifer: Lately, I've had this shift. I don't know, I can't point to one singular thing that's helped me make this shift because I do all kinds of things all the time to kind of help my perspective. I have had this shift where I'll be with my son, he's nine going on ten, and he's an only child and I'm a single mom. It's just me. My parents live an hour away, but they never come to LA. They will take him for the weekend and stuff, but I don't have other family or anything. That's not, oh, poor me, I don't have family. That's just the way it's always been. I think that's where I used to have this anxiety of, I need, I can't wait to get ... I don't even know what it is. I'm just sharing this because I'm discovering ...
Jennifer: My friend called me. I had a three day weekend with my son. Usually that sends me into a tailspin. I'm like, oh my God, three days! Or four days or something. Or spring break. That's what it was. It wasn't even a three day weekend. It was spring break. She's like, "Are you okay? Are you having anxiety?" I was like, "I'm just so relaxed and enjoying watching him be nine years old." Knowing also that he's never going to be nine again, he's growing up, he still wants to be with me all the time. He wants to do stuff with me. That's not going to last forever. Just really enjoying this. Putting my phone down and being with him. I'm just so grateful.
Jennifer: Thank you for that example of what you just said of it's not the destination, it's the journey.
Candice: Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer: Really being on the journey of this is it, I'm here right now doing this. That's very difficult for someone like me and I think for many people, because there's always this idea of there's a carrot dangling somewhere instead of, no, no, no, you have it in your hand, just look down. It's right there.
Candice: Right.
Jennifer: You know what I mean?
Candice: Yeah. I think I suffered worse anxiety when I was, I think, in college when I had no idea where I was going with life. I think that gave me a ton of anxiety. I think now, when my three year-old screams at the top of her lungs and she's uncontrollable and my husband and I go into this little tailspin and it sets my six year-old off, I kind of look at it and I say, "This will pass, we can deal with this. She's three and this is her time to be three." We just try to move forward.
Jennifer: Yeah. Because it's all part of it. It's all ...
Candice: Part of the journey.
Jennifer: It's all part of the journey, yeah. I remember when my son was a toddler and he would just have meltdowns, epic, epic meltdowns, especially from two to three.
Candice: Those are rough.
Jennifer: It's so rough. I just was like ... Thankfully, I had taken this class called RIE, Resources for Infant Educators. Anyway, their whole thing is basically teaching you how to allow your child to be in their process each developmental stage. You're not going to fix a tantrum, you're not going to stop a tantrum, you just kind of ride the wave of the tantrum and you be the safe haven for them of it's okay to cry, I understand you're upset, I'm here to keep you safe. You literally keep their body safe from hitting their head on the furniture or whatever it is. Just let the wave be. I would do that. There would be times where I was like, I don't know if I'm going to live through this, even though I knew I would because every time it would pass I would just go, "Okay, I survived that tantrum."
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: What it did for him was show him over time, and I was able to start pointing it out to him, you got through that yourself. I was here to support you, but you got through that. Now you came to the other side of it and you're playing with your Legos, or whatever it is. That is such a lesson of resilience, of it's okay if I'm not happy or if I have a perceived negative feeling. I'm going to make it through that because I made it through it before. Look at that, look at that, look at that.
Jennifer: To me, that's such a testament ... I barely know you now. I've known you for 35 minutes. To hear the story of you just walking into that manager's office and he's like, "Do you have an appointment," and you're like, "No, but I'm here to make one," that is so bad ass. That comes from someone who's dealt with life's blows and gotten you again.
Candice: Right.
Jennifer: That's so amazing. To model that for your kids and be that example is really profound, and for other women.
Candice: Life is not easy. Raising kids is not easy. Having a house is not easy. Working is not easy. It's having a positive mindset and that just sort of gives me clarity that I can accomplish one thing at a time and get things done.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Candice: Another thing, as you were talking earlier that I actually find that's really working with my six year-old is sometimes if she feels sad or ... I find myself relating to her and say, "I used to feel that way when I was six years old." Then she starts to ask me questions. That really lights up her eyes, too, that she can relate to me because I felt the same way. When I was in kindergarten and my teacher told me, I was learning to read. That really, really works well with my six year-old.
Jennifer: Totally, totally. My son will ask me, he'll be like, "When you were nine, did you this, did you that?" It's so interesting because he's just looking to my past experience as ...
Candice: Guidance.
Jennifer: ... strength.
Candice: Guidance and strength.
Jennifer: Guidance. Exactly.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Exactly. It's like if she made it through that and she's okay now, I can do this.
Candice: Right. Right. That makes me think that our grandparents ... My grandmother, who I glorify, listen, times were not easy for her either, but she made it look really good. She looked really good doing it. Unapologetically just beautiful. That's the image that we want to portray for Petal. We want to give our consumers a boost of confidence. I think we could all use it.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh, isn't that the truth.
Candice: I don't know if you feel this. I feel like everyone is becoming so insecure, especially with social media and how we feel and how we look. I just feel like I find people around me becoming so insecure about what they're saying and what they're doing and how they're acting. I just feel like we all could use a boost of confidence. I don't know if you feel the same way.
Jennifer: It's so true. Definitely, definitely. It's funny. Just yesterday, I post quite a bit on my Instagram ... I've had to learn how to do that. When I first started doing the podcast and I was reading up on marketing and social media, I was like, oh, you have to do stories and you have to do this. I was like, "Ugh, I have to put my face." I'm an actress. I've been an actress, but that doesn't mean I like to do selfies and put my face on camera. I'm not a big makeup person, so I'm not going to do my makeup every time I do a selfie. I'm also almost 44 years old. I haven't had Botox in over a year. I am going to make an appointment.
Jennifer: The reason I'm telling you that is because yesterday I posted this story. I don't know. It was just me talking, whatever. This woman that follows me that I've met her in person once or twice, and she's Russian so there's a different culture. She goes, "Wow, you look great." She comments. She DM'ed me from the story. "Wow, you look great. If those wrinkles bother you, you should see my friend Olga." I'm like, okay, thanks. I thought, gosh, I'm so grateful that that doesn't bother me at all. I talk about my wrinkles. I'm very open about it. I just embrace it as of course I have wrinkles, I'm almost 44 years old. I'm also very expressive with my face. It's just DNA and some people have more wrinkles than other, whatever.
Candice: Same, girl, same. I was going to throw in there I just love the sun so much. It feels so nice and warm.
Jennifer: It feels so good. Yeah.
Candice: I know.
Jennifer: It's your South African blood. You need that heat. It's also, it's interesting, my mom would always say, "Wear sunscreen. Wear a hat, wear a hat." She still is like, "Wear a hat." I'm like, "I'm okay." I don't sunbathe for hours at a time, but I do like to go outside and just feel the sun on my face for 20 minutes, feel the sun on my back. Am I getting skin damage? Probably. My God, you know what I mean?
Candice: Totally.
Jennifer: You were saying about the insecurity. No, it's true. I'll meet younger girls, girls in the millennial generation, and they're so unsure of themselves. Not all of the time. Unsure of how they look and what they look like. It's just like, oh my God. I remember being so caught up in that when I was in my 20s and pursuing acting and what's my butt measurement. It really actually does not matter.
Candice: Right.
Jennifer: Because there's this external messaging of look this way so that you can feel this way. Those two aren't necessarily intertwined.
Candice: Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer: I love that you're putting out a product that's like this product is beautiful and it makes you feel beautiful when you're holding it and when you're ... This is my experience, too, by the way ... and when you're drinking it. Knowing the story behind it now is even more powerful.
Candice: Thank you.
Jennifer: I love that.
Candice: Thank you.
Jennifer: I love that. I can't wait to see it here in California.
Candice: Yeah, me too.
Jennifer: And see you guys when you come.
Candice: Me too. Yes. We're going to make a date.
Jennifer: I can't wait. We've come to the time when I ask each of my guests three questions ...
Candice: Sure.
Jennifer: ... and then a lightning round of questions.
Candice: Okay.
Jennifer: What do you think about, Candice, when you hear the world MILF?
Candice: MILF. I think about power. I think that it's a powerful thing to be. I think it's beautiful. I feel like growing up it used to be sort of negative, I guess, on one hand, but now it feels so empowering, empowering to be a MILF.
Jennifer: What's something you've changed your mind about recently?
Candice: We're deciding actually if we should move to LA.
Jennifer: Yes! The answer is yes. The answer is yes.
Candice: We're deciding, I guess.
Jennifer: That's exciting to be thinking about. Now, what about your family, though?
Candice: Yeah, I know. That's the reason not to come.
Jennifer: Sure.
Candice: That is the reason not to come. We don't want to leave our family. I think our little girls would think it would be the most incredible adventure. We are thinking about coming for the year. We'll see.
Jennifer: Cool.
Candice: We will see.
Jennifer: Cool. Oh my gosh, keep me posted on that.
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: How do you define success?
Candice: By happiness. Honest to God. I've watched people have it all and I've watched people lose it all. I think success is if you're healthy and if you're happy and you're content. I think that everyone is on their own path and that you should never compare yourself to other people because we're all on this different path with different timelines. I think success is based on happiness.
Jennifer: Okay. Lightning round of questions.
Candice: Okay.
Jennifer: Ocean or desert?
Candice: Ocean.
Jennifer: Favorite junk food?
Candice: Chocolate.
Jennifer: Movies or Broadway show?
Candice: I would have to say movies, but ... That's a tough one. Okay.
Jennifer: I know. It is a tough one, isn't it?
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Because they're both so different. Daytime sex or night time sex?
Candice: Daytime.
Jennifer: Texting or talking?
Candice: Texting.
Jennifer: Cat person or dog person?
Candice: Hard question. My daughter is begging for a cat. Dog. Or cat.
Jennifer: Have you ever worn a unitard?
Candice: Yes.
Jennifer: Were you in a dance troop as a youth or did you wear it as a fashion statement?
Candice: I was the captain of the poms squad. We did not wear unitards.
Jennifer: You wore it for something else?
Candice: Yeah.
Jennifer: Okay. Shower or bathtub?
Candice: Bath. Every night, without fail.
Jennifer: So nice and relaxing. I think I know the answer to this because of your previous answer. Ice cream or chocolate?
Candice: That's tough. I would say ice cream though.
Jennifer: Okay. On a scale of one to ten, how good are you at ping-pong?
Candice: I would say a seven.
Jennifer: Okay.
Candice: I haven't played in a while, but I used to play all the time.
Jennifer: What's your biggest pet peeve?
Candice: I guess fakeness, disloyal.
Jennifer: If you could push a button and it would make everyone in the world seven percent happier but it would also place a worldwide ban on all hairstyling products, would you push it?
Candice: Sure.
Jennifer: Super power choice. Invisibility, ability to fly, or super strength?
Candice: Ability to fly I think would be really nice.
Jennifer: Would you rather have six fingers on both hands or a belly button that looks like foreskin?
Candice: I'm going to go with the belly button.
Jennifer: Okay. What was the name of your first pet?
Candice: [Shogun 00:40:14], and I have no idea why. My parents bought him for my brothers when I was born.
Jennifer: That's amazing. What was the name of the street you grew up on?
Candice: Churchill Lane.
Jennifer: Your porn name is Shogun Churchill.
Candice: Uh huh.
Jennifer: That is amazing.
Candice: Who's going to watch that porn?
Jennifer: Me. That sounds like a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Candice: Mm-hmm (affirmative). It's the most bad ass porn star you ever did meet.
Jennifer: That's right, that's right. Thank you so much, Candice. This was such a pleasure.
Candice: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited I have a new friend.
Jennifer: Yes, you do. If our listeners want to find you or find Petal and go buy it, where can they go?
Candice: Sure. We are available on Amazon. We have a store locator on our website with is www.drinkpetal.com. Petal. You could also follow our very cool Insta page at @drinkpetal. We'll be launching in some chains across the country very soon, so follow us and we'll be updating our tribe online.
Jennifer: Awesome. Awesome. Also, for my listeners, all of that is going to be on the show notes page, all of those links that she just mentioned and her Instagram handle and everything. Clicks to that will be on MILFPodcst.com, so you can find her there. She'll be all over my Insta today. All the time to come, you can find her through me as well. I definitely encourage you guys to go get some Petal and experience it, especially as we enter these beautiful summer months. So nice to have something so refreshing and effervescent.
Candice: Enjoy, guys. Cheers.
Jennifer: Yeah. Thanks, Candice.
Jennifer: Hey, guys. Thanks so much for listening. Hope you enjoyed my conversation with Candice. Next week on the show, I welcome actress Mindy Sterling. Can't wait to share that with your guys. In the meantime, enjoy your summer, don't forget to pick up your tickets to the MILF live event on July 24th at Dynasty Typewriter. Pick up tickets. You don't want to miss it. I love you guys.