The Viral Spiral: Why Authenticity Wins on Socials

Stefanie Maegan: We just dedicate those days to making content and we always have the best time afterwards. And I think that's important is to make sure that you're having fun while doing it because I know it could feel like work because it is work. It really is. But to remind ourselves that it's just social media and you're putting content out on your page. That's for you or for a brand, but you want it to just be fun and people want to be entertained.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Stephanie Megan, born and raised in Los Angeles is a creative spirit who has found many artistic avenues as the host and creator of broke girl therapy podcast. She delves into dating, sex, relationships, and really captivating audiences by her storytelling. While building her podcast, Stephanie balanced multiple jobs, including a hair salon front desk job. Now she's a full time content creator working on her podcast and working alongside celebrity clients and creating captivating content on their social media.

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Shanalie Wijesinghe: Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us. We're so excited to have you here today. So Stephanie is a celebrity in her own right.

Stefanie Maegan: Okay. Barely haha.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: So we are so excited to be talking to you about your incredible podcasts and really learn from you when it comes to all of your marketing tips and all the strategies that you have implemented to help your own content go viral and be working with so many great folks out there. But before we dive into that, we want to get to know you a little bit. So please tell us like, who are you? Tell us about Stephanie.

Stefanie Maegan: Oh my God, this is always like the most awkward question because sometimes I'm like, who am I? I host the podcast Broke Girl Therapy and I used to work with you. You were my boss in a salon in West Hollywood, and you changed my life.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Hardly.

Stefanie Maegan: Stop. No, you really did, because one, you hired me because I need an extra job for money, and so I was able to use that money and start a podcast, because I started a podcast when I was working at that salon, which is now Broke Girl Therapy, and it was back in 2016, so here we are now, and I feel like I've just, I've done so much since then. And I feel like I've just, and you didn't fire me, so I'm just grateful. Cause I was the worst.  

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Okay. This is just the perfect example of how you need to separate the person from the work. I always loved Stephanie the person, but I didn't always love Stephanie, the receptionist. Okay haha. Listen, we aren't our jobs.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, I'm just a personality hire. I've just implemented that to what I do in my real life because I just wasn't good at my job and I say that all the time on my podcast. I've been fired from more jobs than I've actually quit.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: That's hilarious.

Stefanie Maegan: So from working at a boutique clothing store to a hair salon to like corporate jobs to everything. And I think it's because I was just meant to do something for me and something that I need to like, have fun with. Like, I can't be restricted down. I need to make every situation fun. And I think I just find that in the podcast and social media.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Absolutely. There's a saying where the universe will do for you what you can't do for yourself. So I think you losing those jobs was probably the kick you needed to go out there and actually do what you need to be doing.

Stefanie Maegan: For sure. Yeah. And I think I even called you crying one time because the salon job was like my second job. I got fired from my main job and then I was like, I needed my second job to help with everything, of course. To pay my bills and so you helped me with that. So I just want to say thank you. She's always the best.  

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Oh my god, that's very sweet. And I'll pay you for saying that later, haha. You'll get your fee for that shameless plug. So tell us like so before you became a podcaster you had a relationship with beauty like in the beauty industry So like what brought you to the beauty industry initially?

Stefanie Maegan: I guess I've always been interested in hair and makeup and all that stuff. I was working in fashion at one point, and then again, I was looking for a second job. The salon in West Hollywood was where I really was able to be introduced to the beauty industry. And at some point I was wanting to be like a hairstylist, like working, I was very curious. And then I realized, oh wait, I think I just want to get my hair done and not actually do someone's hair. So I would learn that quickly, but I did learn a lot just from all the stylists that worked there. Cause I've realized like, it's not just, showing up every day at a salon and just doing hair and booking appointments. It's really, it's a whole business. It's having to, not just market the salon, but market yourself as a stylist. So I think I really took a lot of those tips from the people  that we worked with because there were so many successful people around us. So I think that did inspire me to just keep going.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, we had, we worked with some hustlers.

Stefanie Maegan: Like people were working so hard! And then their clients were great too. So then that was also okay, like I want to be in this world where I get to be creative. But also being a creative, you have to be a business owner. And so I learned that very quickly working at the salon.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, I think there's this common misconception that you could just be like, “Oh, I'm a creative and that's the only thing I do.” But now in this space in 2024, there's no such thing as being a creative without having the business knack, right? Like, you need to understand your numbers, you need to understand how productive you are, how your content is performing, like there's numbers that are involved in creativity, too.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, and also building your skill set, like being great at what you're doing and not just depending on everything else. But yeah, it all comes together and it's a lot. But working at the salon, I think, was such a huge inspiration for me.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Oh, I love that. So tell us what inspired you to start your podcast and start a career in marketing?

Stefanie Maegan: So basically why I started was, I think going back to just who I was as a kid, like I've always been… for instance, I would always steal like my, parents, or my family video camera and just would tell my brother because he's an actor and like a performer and a singer and does all these things. I would always like, have him as my muse and I would write skits and stuff like that and make him perform it and then I would produce it, shoot it and even act in it, so I loved being in front of the camera and behind the camera. And yes, I think that was just like something that was always in my soul like I've always wanted to express myself in some sort of way and when I was in my 20s, I think around, like I don’t want to age myself because I'm a cute 33 right now. But when I was like 25 or whenever I started I was just going through so many just awful relationships and situationships. Like I couldn't keep a man to save my life, like they just, I was like, why aren't they staying? What's wrong with me? And so I needed something to just talk about it, but also make light of it. And, I heard about podcasting and I realized that, Oh, anyone could just do this. I don't need to get a network. I don't need to be signed to like a record label or whatever. Like I could just create this content myself. And so I just started looking up how to make a podcast and started, I didn't even have a MacBook or a laptop at the time. So I would borrow friends and stuff like that. And so I just built this brand. Broke Girl Therapy made sense to me because it was like, therapy is too expensive. I got kicked off my dad's insurance. So I was like, I really can't afford therapy, and also it's a play on words, like broken, like I'm broken. I'm trying to figure this out. And so I did this podcast and I would interview exes or guys I was hooking up with at that time and just figure out why they couldn't commit. And then from there I just started having my friends on and it just really became like this journey of just documenting me over these years of just dating and trying to learn about myself. Yeah.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, wow, so cool.

Stefanie Maegan: I know. That's basically the summary.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, no, it's great. And I know to some, they might look at your like, social accounts and be like, oh, she's like an overnight success. But, you were hustling it up and doing it for so long. Tell us about some of those challenges you faced when you were early on, like just doing things on your own, like borrowing computers and whatnot.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, so I had a friend help me out. We did have a falling out, but that's a story for another time. But she did help me out. Again, she had a computer, and then I saved up money for a microphone. And it was just this one microphone. I didn't even have chairs in my basement that I lived in. So me and my guests would just sit on the floor and we would just have this mic and we would just talk. Like, it was just, this was just crumbs. Like, I literally just had nothing. I was trying to make do with what I got. But over time, I’m just working two jobs, like I'm investing, I'm working and hustling to make money to invest and to get more equipment. So I think that was the biggest challenge was just like not having finances to do it. But then I wanted it so bad. Like, I just loved doing it. Like it, it just worked and it fulfilled me. Like being a receptionist working at my other job just wasn't fulfilling. But it was helping me fuel what I really wanted to do. So I was willing to work seven days a week to do this podcast. So over time using the money that I would make to invest back into the show, eight years later, the struggles look a little different. It's almost just like having to compare numbers. I think it's more analytical, but I'm like, damn, eight years ago I was even so blessed to even have these numbers, so I think now it's just okay, this episode did really well this one time. Why are my episodes doing well? So it's always trying to keep the consistency of having your followers and keeping them engaged and stuff like that.I think it does become like a struggle, but it's, as long as I'm having fun, it makes it worth it.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Absolutely. So, it's almost like once you've hit a number, cause you've gotten millions of views now on a lot of your content, so like you've set the bar so high for yourself. So you're like competing against you at this point is what it sounds like.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah. Like before the bar was just so low. I was just trying to, I was just trying to survive, trying to get to the bar, but now it's definitely I'm so blessed to have seen so much success with it. So now it's like having to maintain that success and I'll be honest, it's not always just like going up up, there's moments where it's like you're going up and you're on a high, but then there's moments where it's really quiet. And so it really just, it goes up and down and, but I think that's just the beauty of working for yourself and doing something that you love, is that you always want to be challenged. You can't, doing one thing isn't always going to be the same. Be what works for the next time, so it's always like, how do I get more creative to make this take it to the next level?  

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Definitely. So I know our listeners are dying to know like, everyone wants to know how to go viral I think, and you're like, a great person to talk to about that. So tell us a little bit about the first time you realized your content was like blowing up and doing really well.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah. Yeah. So like I said, I started the podcast in 2016. Social media looked completely different. There wasn't any TikTok. I think when I started, at that time, Instagram stories just became a thing. Like it was all about Snapchat, whatever. So it was really hard for a smaller and newer creator to go viral. But again, I wasn't thinking that I was like, I just want to, I just want to make what I love. With that, I started doing video with my audio podcast and years before TikTok, which was in 2020, I would create clips from the episodes and I put on my Instagram stories for like my friends because it was only my friends following me for my friends to see. And you know, hopefully get traction and there was just from like word of mouth and like my community and I think they would love to see the consistency too and so that I was creating these like batch of content and so when TikTok happened, I remember my friend was like, “Steph, like you need to get on TikTok.” And at that time it was just like Gen Zers dancing and I'm like, I don't know if I want to do that, are you ready to do the dance? I'm not really ready to do the renegade thing. I don't want to do the, I don't, like I love to dance, but it's not for me. But I was like, let me just go on and claim my handle. And then I was like I have all this content from years, let me just put it up. And so I did. And then it just instantly it was like going to 15,000 to eventually a video hit like a million. I was like, what? And it just because back then it was so hard to like that viral moment and not that it was impossible, but it was, it just looked different. And I think now what I love about TikTok and like how Instagram is even reformatted is that it's really helped a lot of just like independent creators, blow up. So I'm grateful for that.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Are, like, are there things that people should know about Instagram and TikTok as they're, like, stepping out on their own, putting out, whether it's their salon or med spa and trying to get, clients through there what should they know about these platforms that people are heavily using to find their next whether it's a hair salon or what if we use it as our new search tool? So what should the folks listen and look for.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, I would say definitely consistency is one of them. I think TikTok and Instagram really do reward you when you are posting a lot. So I would say, and also I feel like it's trial and error too. Like you, sometimes you could post something and you're like, I think this could do well and it doesn't, but then the video that you thought wouldn't do well, does do well. So I think just using it as a tool because the algorithm changes so much. So if you're consistent and you're putting out content, you're able to catch what the algorithm wants and then it gives you a higher chance to even catch the algorithm, so it's really hard to answer the question, like how to go viral. Just find what is it that you know that you need to do and see how it goes. But it's almost like a gamble.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah.

Stefanie Maegan: So you always want to just like, that's why I say be consistent and also know and keep yourself aware of what other people also are putting out, and then just put your spin on it and just like higher your chances of doing it. And also just post something that you love. I think just thinking about it too much sometimes could really take away the joy, but it's just, it's all about Instagram and TikTok. Sometimes it's such a gamble, so it's really just like that's why you gotta keep going because just because one video didn't do well doesn't mean another video won't so you just can't get discouraged by it.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, I know. That's great. I think there's a lot of people that are stuck between authenticity and then trying to do these trends. Yeah, I know you work with tons of folks that do both right when they are authentic. They do, play with the trends and have fun with it. So where's that middle ground, right? Like how do you help someone stay true to themselves, their brand, their business, but also tap into some of the fun stuff that's going out there, the social platforms?

Stefanie Maegan: So, what I do for one of my social media clients – she does do a lot of different trends, but we try not to make it original, so just redundant of what other people are doing. We try to make it into something that makes sense to her. So she's a client that loves fashion who is like funny, so we really try to tap into that. And so if we're doing a dance, okay let's switch it up to make it funny because she's so good at that. And she's, and people, her audience loves to see it. So I think you could do the trends and honestly they work. I will say they really do, but use it to where it, where it looks like you're just having fun, and I think people really could feel that. And so when it does feel super scripted and staged or inauthentic, like people know. Like we all have instincts and so I think just if you're having fun doing it. There you go. That's how, and so I even remind myself of that, too. When I post clips from social media, I'm like, “Do I actually like this clip? Am I laughing from this clip? Am I, do I agree or disagree with this?” So I try to just make sure like I'm feeling something towards this and not just doing it because I feel like I have to post.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah. It's almost if you were stumbling upon your social media, how would you take that information?

Stefanie Maegan: Here's the thing though, like doing, the celebrity client, like everything is so produced, like it is a production to do social media, but is it still fun? Yeah, you have a script or you have a microphone and there's lighting and you hired a whole crew. Is it, are you still having a good time doing it? Are you putting out content that makes sense to you? That's just what matters.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Haha, I love that.

Stefanie Maegan: Authenticity all the way.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, and you're right. I feel like people can sniff out, especially now in 2024, and the younger generations, like Gen Z. They can smell, it's like blood in the water. They know when you're faking it. When you're trying too hard.

Stefanie Maegan: Totally.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: I think millennials were really pumped on that “fake it till you make it” type stuff, which I think, there's a lot of that where it's be the person you want to be as much as you can and try and step into that as you're building, but authentically do that. Don't try and be somebody else.

Stefanie Maegan: Yes, exactly. And I just think, the weirder the better, honestly.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: I love that.

Stefanie Maegan: Like it's just for me. I'm not, I don't know. I just, I feel like it, I used to be so scared of talking about my sexuality or talking about even the fact that I've had sex or something like that. Doing the show has helped me like open up about it and I never come off as, “Hey, I'm a sex expert or I'm an expert at dating.” Like, I come off as I love talking about this, but I don't know what the F I'm doing, and that's why people gravitate towards the show and the concept is because it's authentic. You're not trying to be this thing, just to prove something. Who gives a f**k? They can feel you're genuine and they're learning with you.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, exactly. I love that.

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Shanalie Wijesinghe: So what advice do you have for folks about your creative process? I think people would love to know like what you're doing from an expert. Can you walk us through, give us a little taste of your creative process and how do you plan some of your content? How do you bring some of these things to life? I think for some folks it feels like climbing Mount Everest when they think about starting. Like, you were like, post as often as you can – post every day. And that sounds like even for myself, I work in marketing as well. And I'm like, Oh my God, every day. Yeah. I'd love to understand how you tackle some of that.

Stefanie Maegan: So there's two different ways I go about it. One, with me and the show, and there's with the client that I have with me and the show, it's obviously based on real life situations. So I never really pick a topic. I just honestly, I'm very disorganized. And I have ADHD. So I try not to be not as structured and that actually helps. I'm only structured when it comes to editing or whatever. But when it comes to having a conversation and what content I'm going to put out or talk about or what guests I have, I just try to go off of who do. Who do I want to talk to today or who do I want to talk to this week, and what do I want to talk about? What do I need to get off my chest? So I really just try to tap into me and what I feel like talking about and go from there. And I think as far as the lighting and all that stuff, obviously I have structure towards it and all that stuff and production. I like, I put it on my calendar. I have a Google calendar of what episodes come out what week and stuff like that. So that, I'm like organized with, but as far as what I want to talk about, I'm just, I'm just freestyling most of the time. But as far as my social media client, so we, what we do is I create like a shot list, and I spend a day or two just like studying what's on the internet right now. And so I'm scrolling. Sometimes I take a nap in between because it makes me tired, because you're scrolling while I lay down.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: It'll do that. Yeah.

Stefanie Maegan: So I'm scrolling. I'm taking things down and taking note of all the different trends, the different, just what people are talking about. Music, culture, whatever. And so I create a shot list of stuff so it's not even stuff that we're copying. It's just really like a starting point. This is some inspo. And I create like maybe 10 things. And then I present it to her and I show her like all the things are happening on the internet. This is what I feel like this could work for you. This could be really fun. And so we'll pick maybe five or something that day and we'll batch it out, and we probably meet like every week or every other week and it's really just coming together and making sure you dedicate those days of just okay, I'm gonna be really creative this day, and so we come in with the plan. And then as we're shooting it, we're just like, “Okay, let's do this. Let's do that.” And we don't try to like, pigeonhole ourselves to just doing this one thing. Sometimes we do a video inspired by one thing, and it completely just takes a left turn into something else, we're like, Okay, let's go with that. And I try again, going back to just not structuring it too much. I just try to be like, “Okay, we could talk about this, or we could do this. But let's just see where it takes us.” When we're shooting it, when we're, how we're feeling, what's making us laugh. And we just dedicate those days to making content. And we always have the best time afterwards. And I think that's important is to make sure that you're having fun while doing it. Because I know it could feel like work because it is work. It really is. But to remind ourselves that it's just social media and you're putting content out on your page that's for you or for a brand, but you want it to just be fun and people want to be entertained. So I think just, I try to make those like content shoot days, just a fun day to be creative and to not be so set on something and just. Let our minds run wild.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: I love that.  Yeah, like having structure in the right places around like posting and editing. Yeah, research. It sounds like goes into it, but then allowing yourself the space to have a little creative freedom and go on a tangent and do that. You never know what'll come out of it, It sounds like.

Stefanie Maegan: Exactly, yeah. And that's like those are always the best ones is when you're just you know, like you're intentional, but you're having fun and it's, you know, and then later on in post, just figure it out.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah.

Stefanie Maegan: And that's why I love editing, too, because I'm just like, I'll just figure it out later. Let me just have fun now, and then later on, I, we'll figure it out.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah. Are there any tools that you love working with when it comes to your planning or editing and things like that for some of our listeners?

Stefanie Maegan: I do love my Google calendar. Like I love her. And then with editing I love Adobe premiere. She's my best friend. I'm with her all the time. Like I sometimes dream, like I'm in Adobe premiere, which is so weird. That's how, like I edit tricks, but like Adobe, I'm just, it's, I don't know how, whatever, but it's, yeah, it's, the Adobe Premiere is my girl. I used to do Final Cut, but I think once Adobe Premiere, you could you feel like you could do a little bit more.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah. So what's one unexpected aspect of creating viral content that most people might not know? What's come along with having this many eyes on your content?

Stefanie Maegan: It's like an amazing high because you've got so many notifications and like a lot of love, but then it also is like f-ed up because like with more love it comes hate and I've been called Shamu like so many times.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: No….

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, someone just called me a solid four in my comment section five minutes ago.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Why are they following you?

Stefanie Maegan: That's what I'm like, look at their profile because I'm like trying to block them because I'm like you don't need to see this then and then I'm like it says follow back because they follow me and I'm like whatever. So it's just, it's, there's a lot of hate on the internet. I think we all know that there's so much negativity on there. And I try to remind myself to just separate myself from that and that, that they're making the engagement higher. But then also there is a place in time where if it's not worth your mental health, just take it down. I'm all about just archiving it, taking it down. It's really not worth it, if it really is messing with you. So yeah, so I think just, so many people are focused on going viral, and it is an incredible thing, but also mentally prepare yourself for the hate that comes with it, and people doubting your work, people doubting your skill set, people judging your every move.

So just having, so before you get to that point, I think just know who you are, absolutely.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, and so one more question, I think there's so many businesses out there like even I was like a manager like this, too, and I was working at hair salons where I think “Oh my gosh, like I have to be working with influencers I have to be working with these types of folks” Like, I have to be giving them free stuff like and yeah and all this stuff, you know. What would you say to folks that are like on the fence about influencer marketing or trying to tap into that avenue? Do you think it's worth it? What should folks really look out for if they decide to take that leap?

Stefanie Maegan: I think it's worth it. I will say, like the following count. yes it matters, but it's more so what is their relationship with their audience. Because I've even had a few years ago, my following was a lot lower, but I did have a brand deal and it did really well. And I remember the brand was telling me like, “Oh, yours did better compared to the other, influencer that we worked with that had a million followers.” And it's because the relationship that I have with my audience is like, Oh, they trust me. I didn't, with what I'm selling to them or what I'm influencing them on, is something that makes sense and something that I believed in, you know? So just making sure that an Influencer is there for the right reasons. I know that it could get really exciting to see them like, oh my god I have a million followers like it should have all of this impact, but I think what really matters is the relationship they have with their followers. Do you see that people listen and care and are they authentic? Going back to being authentic, are they calculated, saturated, so I think not just focusing on the following account, but just you know, like their presence in the relationship, how folks engage with them.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah. Yeah.

Stefanie Maegan: Cause there's so many influencers now and there's so many people, doing brand deals and stuff and there's always someone trying to sell you something, and even for me, I don't like to just tell my followers about a brand that I don't believe in, it just doesn't make sense. So I get excited, like telling them something that like, “Oh, like I, I use this vibrator I love this vibrator guys. This is great.” And when I'm glad that they give the product to me to try that because I don't like selling or you know influencing or making a video on something that like I've never even tried because that's just a no go. So I like to try things first and then make the video. So I think it does work. It's just being particular on who you decide to work with.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, don't be blinded by the big following Yeah, I mean your micro influencers might even do you better sometimes? Yeah?

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, sometimes. Yeah the smaller ones you will probably make more of an impact because they're like, oh, they're not huge, you know. So what they're saying is probably it has a little bit more value trust.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah Exactly. All right. We got the next couple questions we ask everyone. So we call this The good, the bad, the ugly, we want to hear some tea, give us a story. Like whether it's a personal horror story, it could be something from the salons. It could be, working with the client, it can be an achievement, a heartwarming, literally anything we love to hear some insider info.

Stefanie Maegan:  I just texted my boyfriend to ask because I can't think of an embarrassing story, but he just thought of this moment because it pissed him off. I think he's traumatized from it. So I mentioned I have ADHD. Sometimes, we forget or sometimes we just don't think about things. I don't know. We were, I was rushing to get ready and we were going to our friend's wedding. This is when we lived in Oakland. So we live in Oakland. And, east Oakland, shout out to Oakland. East Oakland. I love Oakland. And so I'm rushing to get ready and we're going to Fresno for the wedding. So we run out the door, we go and we drive over to Fresno, which is like a two and a half hour drive. It's a drive, it's far. And so we're in Fresno at this wedding. I'm thinking… did I close the door? The front door. I'm just sitting there, like, the whole wedding. I'm not telling my boyfriend s because it's like we're trying to have a good time. He's vibing and so by the time it gets to like the end of the wedding I was like, “Brian, do you remember if I shut the front door?” He's like, “Oh sh*t, we got to go.” So he just, literally we didn't even say bye to anyone except like one of his friends. He's like we got to go. So then we like drive from Fresno for two and a half hours, just silent. And we get there. I didn't close it.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: All your stuff was gone?

Stefanie Maegan: No. Okay.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Okay. Okay.

Stefanie Maegan: Okay. To be fair, there's two doors. There's one metal one and one. Is the actual door. I closed the metal one, but the other door was wide open, but you could see everything Inside and like in the bay, people are always scared of being robbed. So like people are always getting robbed. Yes. Hello people are like we've everyone gets robbed everyone gets

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Unfortunately, it's happening a lot.

Stefanie Maegan: It's unfortunate thinking of that. Yeah, and like prayers up for the bay because everyone gets robbed.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Yeah, and it wasn't always like that. I'm a bay area girl, okay, so i'm not trying to give the bay a bad name, but there's some you Petty theft going on right now. It's a problem right now.

Stefanie Maegan: It is. Like we need to raise awareness. We can do better. We're going to do better. So yeah, but so like you could see everything and so that door wasn't closed. Okay. Embarrassing. I don't know. But that's the only thing I've ever thought of.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: No, you're good. Don't worry I've been there, done that apparently on this podcast. Everyone's doing it these days. Thank you, Stephanie. Our final question will be, this is another one that we're asking everyone, how do you define success? I know it looks different for a lot of people, so we'd love to hear what you consider real success.

Stefanie Maegan: I think what defines success is, this is cliche to say, but like, all the small wins. I think, sometimes I even forget those, and I'm like, wait, why am I not Alex Cooper with a 60 million Spotify deal, but I'm like, wait, not that I'm not incapable of that. However, look at everything that I've done, from building a show to even just being consistent is a small win, and to be able to make money from it, to be able to like have the skill sets. So I think for me, what measures success is just everything that you do along the way. And I think, to me, that's what made me feel like fulfilled and successful is that I'm able to commit to something and achieving everything that I want to do with it.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Love it. Yeah, do your own thing, girl.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah, I'm still waiting for like a rich girl therapy spin off.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Oh That will be the next level of success. It's like you're like sex in the city version, right? But like realistic.

Stefanie Maegan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Hilarious. Stephanie, thank you so much. It's always such a pleasure to see you. I love you. I love you so much. How

Stefanie Maegan: I love you so much. Look how far we've come. Thank you for not firing me and for inviting me on the show.

Shanalie Wijesinghe: Of course. Full circle moment. Happy to have you. We appreciate all your knowledge and thank you again for joining us.

‍Stefanie Maegan: Love you.

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