With more than 500 podcast episodes to date, members of The LadyGang have cemented themselves in the realm of podcast royalty. Becca Tobin, Jac Vanek, and Keltie Knight have grown a space for women to be real and unfiltered. Now they are taking that same energy to their new book "Lady Secrets."

With more than 500 podcast episodes to date, members of The LadyGang has cemented themselves in the realm of podcast royalty. Becca Tobin, Jac Vanek, and Keltie Knight have grown a space for women to be real and unfiltered. Now they are taking that same energy to their new book <i>Lady Secrets</i>.

Celebrity Lemonade Stand

The LadyGang: From Hit Podcast to National Book Tour

today on Celebrity Lemonade stand brought to you by me and the bees, podcasters and authors. The lady gang, Becca Tobin Keltie Knight and Jack Vanik George Clooney, we're choosing because he acted like we were friends and we are not friends. Who would you want to spill your secrets? I think leo probably has the most dirt. I think there's a lot of dirt in this uh style. I'm a big data person. I'm always looking at like what people are sir searching on our website, what episodes of the podcast And then even if it's not the thing that you in your heart want to do, you have to follow the data, join me as we peel back the layers into the rarely seen lives of our favorite celebrities. They'll take us on the journey from their first jobs to their latest money making venture. I'm excited Jack Keltie and Becca in the building because you guys have one of the most popular podcasts out there. Lady Gun. Okay now you have the new book, Ladies Secrets. I am so excited to get into all of this. So we got to talk about you guys becoming friends. You seem like you've been friends forever. How did this friendship come to be? Well, we actually hate each other. You're good fakers secrets out. Yeah, Keltie and I lived in new york at the same time, she was a Radio City Rockette. I was dancing on broadway and we would bump into each other in that world. She and I just felt like we were so sick of like waiting to get picked for acting jobs or for hosting jobs and we needed something that was all of our own. So kelty had the foresight to know that podcast, we're about to be really big, but then we were like, well we have no street cred, we have no no education past, you know tap dancing. Yeah, and so we needed a female entrepreneur and that's Jack who's self made and kind of a boss. So you got to talk about the lady gang, how did you even come up with that name? Y'all sound like, y'all coming in thuggish, like what? We actually had a different name for the 1st 11 episodes of our podcast um and then we got sued because we didn't, we didn't get the name is kind of like Voldemort, like we don't say it anymore, but we did, this was before somebody else owned the trademark of the podcast and was going to sue us if we didn't change the name. So, so we changed the name and then we basically wrote out every name for a club and every name that represented like women, girl lady and then we're like, well we're a gang of ladies, it seems like you have a very loyal following, I mean you're going on tour right now and people coming out in droves to be part of the party just to get an opportunity to get to know you guys, what does that feel like? So it's crazy coming to these shows and there are hundreds of girls that the podcast has changed their lives in many different ways, whether it's like a silly way or really heartfelt way, so it's pretty crazy like to actually see everybody in person. So what is the key to creating that successful podcast, do you think? Because so many people have tried and not succeeded, especially not to your level? I think part of it is when we started, they had no other option. So it was like if you want to listen to a podcast with women, it was just us. So we trapped a few listeners right away. Um and then I think they stuck around because everyone was like, we're so authentic, were so real, you know, all this stuff, but we genuinely were, I don't think you talk about, you know, your boyfriend finding your dirty underwear in the parking garage without getting some street cred for being really authentic and that's sort of what we did on the lady gang from the beginning. So it seems like you guys put everything on the table, you're so transparent and nothing's off limits. Do you think that that has contributed to your success? We're not trying to be above any of our listeners at all. Were three ladies just living their lady lives and it's messy and it's crunchy and it's embarrassing and it's smelly sometimes and it can be very vulnerable and we're just trying to live our lives just as women like it's not us trying to be like, you know, we're gonna tell you like how to do it and I think I don't know how to do it because we are literally stumbling along the way. So I think that that's what resonates with all of our listeners because we're just like another were another girl on the street really, but you guys have also become a brand. You're not just a podcast, you know, have merch out, you have the book out. So you got to talk to me about ladies Secrets. It seems like it's so fun and also like a peek in on your show. Jack designed that cover by the way. Yeah. And I designed all of our merch. I do kind of like all of the branding with the lady gang but the lady secrets is kind of you know, we started our podcast sort of sharing our lives and some of those things are secretive things. Yeah, we had the whole community write an anonymous Secrets. We set up a hotline 1844 sexy ladies where you could call and you could just blurt out your deepest darkest secret. We couldn't call you back, we didn't know your name. So it really was anonymous and out of 10,000 submissions. We chose the juiciest ones to go into this book, how did you guys narrow that down? That must be so hard. A lot of listening and a lot of reading a lot of secrets, some of them were like too scary to put it in the book because they might be illegal and we don't want to feel liable for that. And then some of them were like kind of boring secrets, so we got the best of the best. Okay, and when you're making these decisions, not only on what secrets going to the book, but on the merge, on the business, on where do you go if even if you should take a tour, how do you do that? Because there's three of you and sometimes people can butt heads when they're in a business together, we vote Yeah, we vote. The reason this book exists is because I got voted out of not doing it. So they wanted to write a book and I didn't. So it is almost better having three partners than two because the majority roles in any situation anything. So this is different from some businesses because some businesses, they said the product or they have something to push it, but you guys are really the product, you are the brand, you are the business. So how is that different from some of the other things that you're doing in your life and are you ever worried that what you do outside the lady gang could affect what you do with the lady gang? It's usually the other way around because being an actress for myself, there are moments where I get a little terrified if I book a job that someone's gonna do their due diligence and go on a dive into the lady gang and maybe decide to recast me. Yeah, sometimes it's scary, but so rewarding, so it's been worth it. Yeah, and how do you come up with all the merge and the products that you guys have as well, I'm a little bit of a merge queen, that's what my, my main busy, this was selling graphic tees. I started my business when I was in college, so when we started doing the lady Gang, it was only natural for me to kind of take that expertise and apply it to the lady gang and our girls love a piece emerged were only more so than the book to be honest. And and by the way we failed at a lot as well, you put things out products and stuff that have bombed like, but it's just a numbers game, right? You just keep going, you get over that rejection and then you're like, okay, well let's try this and there are a lot of times when that happens in businesses, so how do you get over the bad stuff? The challenges that have happened along the way to continue to have the energy to go forward. I think the thing that we've done really well is have eggs in a lot of different baskets, so if something does fail and something is going to fail no matter what right, like you're bound to fail at some point we make it so we kind of have like a fail safe situation. So if this one basket is horrible and it failed, we didn't put all of our money into it, we didn't invest everything we have into it. So now we can have other things to rely on. We're still doing our full time jobs on the side and more, but lady gang is definitely our priority. Yeah, yeah definitely. We still, we like turned our side hustle into the main hustle and our main main hustles became the side hustles and what about advice for other entrepreneurs? Is there anything you learn along the way like do not do this or definitely do this? I think you really have to listen to the data. I'm a big data person. I'm always looking at like what people are searching on our website, what episodes of the podcast and then even if it's not the thing that you in your heart want to do you have to follow the data for instance with the lady podcast. It really started as a celebrity podcast and we had big name stars on every single week and then we for some reason we can book someone some weak and we started just doing the three of us that episode blue with the others out of the water and then every time it's just the three of us talking about our own lives. Those episodes kept doing better and better and better. So now we barely have a celebrity on and we're mostly just doing the three of us. But like we really had to listen to that data and really look at what do people want, what are they attracted to? What are they searching for? Interesting. We're gonna play the game called celebs squeeze. So I have four high profile celebrities in my hand. I'm gonna ask you rapid fire questions. You'll answer them using one of these faces and tell us why you picked that person. So we have first up George Clooney, actor and producer, of course we have actress and singer. Leah Michelle knows? Well we have a comedian and actress, Chelsea handler and of course the boss lady herself, former real how wife of new york star Bethany frankel, three or four people on the bottom. I wrote a story about George Clooney in the book. All right, so the first question is who would you want to co author your next book with Chelsea handler? She's the queen. I mean her books have all been some of my favorites. Yeah, I mean, it's basically the inspiration behind both of her books. Yeah, 100%. Who would you want to spill your secret or not spill your secrets for that matter? I think leah probab the most dirt on you. I think there's a lot of dirt in this uh style. She's got some dirt on me. Okay. Next up, who would make the best audio book for Ladies Secrets George Clooney. We're choosing. He could read the anonymous secrets and he could also react to the story that I wrote about him in the book when I named him the best actor alive because he acted like we were friends and we are not friends. All right, next question is, who would you want to host your next book launch party Bethenny frankel if we can get some free skinny girl one? Yeah, we're drinking. She's very smart. She'll bring us some drugstore makeup. I love her. Tiktok, she's killing it. She is definitely a boss who would be the best podcast guest. These three were three of the best favorites. We'd have them all back. You would have them all back. Is there any worst guests that you would? Not back? I mean she's not here right now, but she exists. Okay, deep breath. Since a lot of these lemonade stands are run by kids. We have some kids manure questions and we have all little ladies today with the lady gang. All right, okay, so here is our first question from eight year old Hannah. Hello, My name is Hannah. My question is, what's the biggest secret you've never told anyone by Hannah, I have nothing left because it's all in the book and the biggest secret is that sometimes in business. If someone will pay you to put your secrets in the book you take that check, that's a good answer. Take that check and put it in the book. That was right, boom. Alright so next up we have 10 year old hated what is one thing you'd want your business to go viral for, I think one thing that we did this past year that was really cool is we teamed up with a menstrual company and we donated for every purchase at our store, menstrual cup to a woman in need and the news does not want to cover as much good news as it does bad news, so it's hard to get the good news out there and I thought that was a really cool initiative and we were able to help a lot of women, I love that because people don't even know that there's an issue in this incredible you guys are doing good work. Alright so next up we have 11 year old anime genie granted you one wish for your business. What would that be if we could have one wish for the lady gang is that we are successful long enough to employ her one day if she wants a job and she won't, she won't, she'll be overqualified but that's okay we want to be successful for that long gangbusters. I love it. Alright so eight year old Reese what is your best experience as a kid that has helped you as a business person Reese I was a dancer when I was young and I never in my entire life ever won first place in anything being a kid and never getting picked first and never winning first place. Really set me up to have this tenacity and this drive and be motivated and be really good at not being the best. And so yeah, that's it. Just being good at rejection and being good at maybe not getting a trophy for everything. Well now life is rewarding you and all of you and all of your success, Bestselling authors. The lady Gang, thank you guys so much for hanging out with the kids. My God.