#062: How Liv Schreiber Created a 60,000+ Community by Never Ignoring a DM

If you want to be successful, you are not letting an email pass you by. I will not sleep until I have answered everyone. I don't care how long I have to stay up.

I'm the same.

I remember when my email inbox was at zero and I had to fight to get anyone to answer me, and now that they are flooding in, who am I to complain? You've never met a community better than this one. Everyone comes with such beautiful intention and energy, and they're so kind. Guys and girls from all different ages. So that similarity of intention and character allows them to be extensions of me for each other, which is comforting.

Liv Schreiber, founder of Hot and Social, Camp Social, and Brand Caffeine, has made a name for herself by creating spaces where people connect and build authentic relationships. With a community of over 60,000 people, Liv's work centers on curating events where people arrive as strangers and leave as friends, from exclusive New York City gatherings to transformative adult sleepaway camps. In this episode of Turning Pro, Liv dives into the hustle behind running multiple ventures, managing influencer partnerships, and staying true to herself amidst the chaos. She shares insights on balancing work with personal life, overcoming adversity, and maintaining authenticity on social media.

Welcome back to Season 3, Episode 5 of the Turning Pro Podcast. Today we have Liv Schreiber, who is the founder of HotnSocial, Camp Social, and Brand Caffeine, joining us.

Thanks for Thanks so much for having me, guys.

Where do you want to start? You— so just for a little bit of context, Liv is a very good friend of mine. Uh, Liv was one of my least favorite people the day we met because she was the only person of 37 people to show up late to a massive production and has turned into one of my very close friends. But if there's one thing I've learned about Liv is she's a wild card, which is what I love about her. So I think with that, I, I want to take this conversation in whatever direction you want to go in.

You lead me.

I think, I think it's probably for people listening, it would be most helpful for them to get an understanding of like what you do and what your why is. And from there, I think we can, we can go wherever, meander.

Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for having me, guys. I would say that my purpose in life is to curate community. I think that's a big buzzword now, but I would like to say I was on it before it was. I started a company in New York City called Hot and Social. Everyone arrives solo and leaves as friends. Um, we have over 60,000 people in our community. And from there I started Camp Social, a 3-day weekend Ben has been to, he's coming again, where all women from around the world come solo, leave as friends, and show up for adult sleepaway camp. So it's super exciting. And I run a marketing agency with my brother for the past 5 years, so pretty much runs itself. And shout out to my team for allowing me to venture off.

For clarification, I'm the kickball instructor. It's like 200 women, 250 women. How many this year?

We 3x in size.

How many are showing up to one this summer?

You'll see when you come.

I'm like one of 4 guys there. I was one of the instructors. You made the list?

Yes.

Why kickball specifically?

I just get told what to do and I say yes and smile.

There we go.

I don't know why we're really good friends.

That definitely counts. We're across those 3. We're like in real time today, this week. Where is a lot of your energy and excitement around right now?

It's around Camp Social because we are launching a few different brands at camp. So for example, we're launching the Saucony shoe with a 5K run with Saucony at Camp Social. Um, we're doing facial bunks with SkinCeuticals, so on a lot of calls with them.

So by the way, this will be live after camp already happened, so if there's any like secrets you can spill them because this won't go live for a few months.

Yeah. So I'm really excited. We're talking to a lot of CPG, alcohol, beauty, cosmetic companies who want exposure to women and also men for our hot and social events.

Can you walk us through like the economics behind that? For context, my girlfriend used to work at Dermstore and Skinstore, so I've heard a lot of these brand names before. But in terms of like launching a brand and getting exposure to— is it individuals? Is it micro-influencers? Do they want to make sure a certain amount of photos are like Walk me through the economics behind it.

You got it. So I'm an influencer on social media, not just an influencer because that term kind of makes me want to throw up because influencers are known to be very self-absorbed. And I actually think that it's— people have it wrong and it's the opposite. If you're an influencer doing it correctly, you should be providing value to your audience every second of the day. And we talked about this on our walk yesterday. So I started Hot and Social and Camp Social because I want my followers and community to feel like influencers. At the end of the day, the consumer is buying the product. I'm just the vehicle. It's not about me, it's not the Liv Show. So Hot Social and Camp Social offer exposure for brands in a multitude of ways. Number one, we have our newsletter, um, that has a 70% open rate. I'm really proud.

70%.

70%.

That's crazy.

Thank you, thank you.

So we're always offering tips and tricks— New York City, Boston, Miami, LA, Chicago. What to do, where to go. And from there we have a Hot and Single series. So if you're single— I once interviewed Ben when he was single— um, we have brands that sponsor that series. So I'll say, what's your name, where are you from, and, uh, do you use Cetaphil? And that's a great exposure op. And then we offer gifting and signage decor partnership for our events where we sell out 400 tickets in a matter of minutes.

And so when brands are coming to you and saying, hey, I want exposure, is it around specific audiences? What deliverables are they expecting? Like, really walk us through.

Yeah.

So typically we like to customize à la carte for brands. Every brand is different and we treat them like our children if we had children. Every, every brand has different needs and different ROI expectations. So for example, right now for one of our deals, uh, we do monthly dinner series where everyone comes solo, leaves his Friends, we have an alcohol brand that wants a TikTok post, a reel post, and stories across our 300,000+ followers. They want newsletter features, discount code on all the tables, signage, um, an event activation A to Z with staffing, bar content, and then content usage for a year with professional photos and videos.

That sounds like a lot of monies.

It's a lot, but it's worth it. Because if you think about it, we're an influencer activation, an event, and a content photo shoot all wrapped up in one package.

So I think we're very similar in this sense where there is like 1 million things going on in your head and in your life at the same time. And it's like from the outside looking in, people are like, what the actual fuck is going on? But it's organized chaos, right? Like it makes sense in your head. Your ability to maintain and manage so many relationships across so many businesses with so many different contexts, whether it's Camp Social, like a Brand Caffeine, just like client, or like an influencer deal. How do you think about prioritization? And then the second piece of that is, how do you think about putting your energy into the things that are exciting to you in that moment?

Everything's exciting to me, otherwise I wouldn't do it. Um, and I just feel really blessed. I know what it was like being in real estate, working in a room, no windows, having a really terrible boss. I used to cry every day before work, so I don't have an excuse to not get up and love what I do. I feel so grateful that I'm able to be here at 2 PM on a Tuesday. I could have never 5 years ago. I don't see it as chaos. I just see myself as a vault. So I know I'm a very public person on social media, but I actually only show you what I want you to see. So everything is pretty strategic. Very organized internally. Uh, I have a great team and have hired for my weaknesses there. Um, and what was your other question?

I mean, the other piece of it was I feel like you're someone who, when you're passionate, you get very deep on something. But I think part of that is there's definitely things that have come and gone where you're like, this doesn't align with me, and you don't even— like, I feel like you're just relentless.

Yeah, I, I'm pretty— I'm a very friendly person socially, but on email, absolutely killer.

Like, scary.

Yes, I do scare the boys, especially if like we're friends first and then we get on email.

Like, I am honest, I don't like to waste time, and I'm the most responsive person. And I say that with pride because Mark Cuban and, you know, you know, um, who's the guy, White Party, Michael Rubin, like those guys are known to be the most responsive. And if you want to be successful, you are not letting an email pass you by. I will not sleep until I have answered everyone. I don't care how long I have to stay up.

I'm the same.

I remember when my email inbox was at zero and I had to fight to get anyone to answer me. And now that they are flooding in, who am I to complain?

You know who talks about that actually a lot is Cyrus, who's coming on the pod after you. That there is an absolute correlation between people who respond quickly and success.

Oh yeah.

And I, and I fully, I fully agree with that. I think sometimes I probably err on the side of almost being unproductive because you're so fixated on like getting back to people. Yeah, but I feel like as you move up the ranks in business building at the helm of any business, that's your job.

Yeah.

Like your job is to be that touchpoint of contact and relationship and negotiation. If you're not answering people, like, what are you doing?

Well, I think specific, you know, Andrew Wilkinson from Tiny, he talks about himself as a router, a router of ideas, people, capital. And once you've built a business to a certain extent where you have a team and you've hired for your weaknesses, he's just routing incoming requests to the right people. And one question I had for y'all, I feel like a lot of the time people want to block off their mornings. Like Shamit was talking about this, that, you know, no phone for the first hour. I don't know if this comes from a place where kind of a scarcity place where a few years ago I didn't have a company and like it took a while for me to even be on an email thread with people. And a lot of the time when I wake up now, it's not— I check my phone right away and it's not out of like stress or anxiety. I'm just excited to see who emailed me. Like when I'm always excited, like when I go on, I'm like, okay, I filter out these and then like, okay, someone signed or a new project proposal or someone pinged me. And increasingly, like there's a lot of volume now and that's a separate question. But I'm just excited that people are emailing me in the first place, right?

It's like, what an honor. I'm so grateful. This is awesome. And if it's something that sucks, like, you know, a bill or taxes or whatever, like, that's the duty you got to pay. So stop procrastinating and get on it, because then you can get forward and move forward to other things.

I want to talk about sacrifice for a second, because to get where you are, you've, I'm sure, had to sacrifice, whether it's social life, personal life, whether it's What?

I don't have a life.

But what if you had to kind of walk through, you know, there's like daily and weekly sacrifices of you can't do this dinner because you need to respond to everyone and finish work. And then there are the big life sacrifices where you're like, for the past 4 years, I have not been able to do XYZ things because I've wanted to build my kind of ecosystem in the way you have. What are those bigger things?

Ben always jokes that I'm going to end up like missing out on because I'm so committed to what I'm getting to be involved with. So, you know, I think a lot of it has to do with girl groups, maintaining those girl group, group chats and friendships. That right now I honestly just have one-off friendships with people because it's so much easier to maintain and keep tabs on. Um, I think as a female that's very controversial to say you're not a part of a girl group, um, especially when you're in your late 20s and, and start— people start talking about bridesmaids and bachelorette trips, and you can sort of start to think, oh wow, did I mess up by not— but I never fit into a group, so there's that. Um, I would also say other sacrifices are you just have to build your schedule how you want it to be. So I'm probably not committing to make myself available to someone who I'm not close with. If like Ben hit me up yesterday, Monday night, and was like, let's go on a walk, I'm immediately available for my best friends and people in my inner circle. I will never say no to. It's just about saying, okay, let's go on a walk so that I can brainstorm outside and get my walk in and get to hang out with one of my good friends simultaneously. So I don't really feel like I'm sacrificing much.

I like that note about groups and how you were nodding along. I was at a friend's wedding from college, all my really close kind of college guy friends, and it was a great time, caught up with everyone. And then at the end of the night, it was like 2 AM, and I was catching up with a friend. He was like, dude, I haven't seen you around for like 2 years. Like, where have you been? And in my mind, I'm not even thinking about that that was a sacrifice. And he's like, we've all— like, we all see each other for dinners, and we go on trips together. And in my mind, I didn't even notice, which, you know, a separate conversation. But yeah, it's this weird moment where you're like, whoa, that is actually a sacrifice. I don't view it as that, but things kind of fly by and pass you by, and you're like, wait, I haven't been doing this thing for a while, right?

And also, as adults, like, it's— how old are you?

28.

Okay, I'm almost 28. And like, it's gotten to a point where— and our parents always say, like, you know, we maintain our friendships with people as we grow and age. It fluctuates, and people are here and there. But in my mind, a friendship is a tie that As long as you water the seed, it doesn't matter where you are. You can always come back to where you left off if they're, if they're truly, you know, a great friend. And it takes effort on, on both sides. So, um, that's why I was really passionate about starting Hot and Social because I know what it's like to feel lonely. I know how important and valuable friendships are. Um, and there are so many stats about how we're healthier and happier and live longer with good people around us.

I appreciate Ben as a friend that we've gotten to know over the past couple years. What about Ben specifically have you learned from him?

He's the most honest friend I have.

Like, he will just rip into you and tell you what you need to fix or change, like, unsolicited. And unsolicited, it is, it is just so great because I know that Ben always has my back and will never let me fall and is watching out for me where I think It's easy to be a yes person and to tell someone they look good or applaud them, even if, you know, behind their back you're like, yeah, I don't like that, or I don't think that's good, that's a good idea. But Ben will straight up tell you, and that's the, that's the type of friend you want to have around.

But I think I'll be the first to admit that sometimes it rubs people the wrong way. But I think what's—

yeah, but then they're not for you.

But the point is that you need to live in your truest self. Like, I think if I wanted someone to describe me, it would be authentic. But like, I, I know for sure there's people who don't, don't jive with that. And I'm okay with that because it's like, don't waver from who you are.

We used to go to Kabbalah classes together because like we wanted to explore spirituality and we're both Jewish and we're like, let's try this. And like some of the concepts were not rubbing either of us the right way sometimes. And I knew I'd like turn it, Ben next to me, and like we'd be sharing the same thoughts about someone or something.

So I like that we're always on the same page and that you're never afraid to just be who you are. Also though, I think by me being Ben's friend, not to toot my own horn, but I think Ben has a very hard outer shell and he acts like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you actually, if you get to know him well, he'll let you in to see a more vulnerable side that you usually don't expose to other people. So I've enjoyed having the macho side but also the deeper.

I think a lot— I think, I think most of my close friends would, would agree with that though. Like, I don't, I don't think it's like a secret necessarily. I guess it's a secret if you're not like one of my close friends.

Yeah.

Uh, but I do think there's definitely a filter to some degree. But it actually goes into my next question for you, which is just how you think about relationships in general. I think what's really interesting and challenging at the same time is building community at scale where you feel accessible to your community, but the reality is that you're actually very inaccessible because there's just only so much time in the day, there's only so many conversations you can have. And it's like you have, you know, community of 60,000 people or whatever the number is, but not 100. Okay, but like that, but that— oh yeah, so I, beyond the Hot and Single or Hot and Social, sorry, but it becomes a challenge of how do you maintain that level of intimacy, whether it's digitally or in person at these events, but also like keeping that healthy balance for what you need for yourself. And then the second part of the question is the importance of family to you, because I think— I don't— Adrian wouldn't know this as much as me, dude. I've never seen someone who, number one, like puts their parents and grandparents in their content more than Liv, but it's awesome. Like, it's so genuine, authentic, and hilarious. And I really do think that you make, uh, a point more than probably any of my friends in my life to let it be known how important, like, family—

I appreciate that. Um, I would say it's really hard to— I think social media makes it really hard to connect with everyone because if like TikTok is popping off and my Instagram DMs are going off and we send out a newsletter, like it's a lot of responses and a lot of people that are asking for things and commenting. So I do the best that I can. Um, I list my email publicly and actually when I first started Hot and Social, I would text from my personal number, like thousands of people, like early invitations and early access if they were on our waitlist, from my number. So thousands of our OG Hot and Social people actually have my number because that's how I started. Um, and our text app crashed when we were launching a few parties, so I would just text everyone and sit there and text them from my phone. I would say too, like, I'm always there for email advice, and if someone emails me, I will get back to them right away or connect them with someone. And we have a group chat on Geneva of 5,000+ people, so I'm always writing in there. And having the ability to connect everyone to each other is really important because you've never met a community better than this one. Everyone comes with such beautiful intention and energy, and they're so kind— guys and girls from all different ages. So, um, that, that similarity of intention and character allows them to be extensions of me for each other, which is comforting.

What about on the family side?

I love my family. I am— maybe that's why I don't have like a particular girl group, because I'm too busy being obsessed with them. I visit my grandparents almost every weekend.

Wait, hold on, you have to tell him the story. This is one of the craziest and funniest stories I've ever heard. Do you know, do you know what story I'm gonna bring up?

My grandpa's grave.

No.

What?

Your family going to Africa?

What about it?

So her family planned this safari trip to Africa.

Yeah.

And she deals with some medical challenges and like, couldn't have an autoimmune disease, couldn't be there.

I wasn't going to be the one to say it and couldn't be like physically was not feeling well enough to go on this trip because it's like a huge excursion. So I was like, all right, like, are you sad? Like, what are you doing? And she's like, we're bringing this safari to my grandparents' backyard instead.

Yeah, I, I have the best time with my grandparents.

Like, I wanted to dress up in all khaki colors and like take pictures in my grandparents' backyard.

Yeah.

And like, you're joking, but like, but yeah, actually serious.

My grandparents are in tons of ads, and same with my parents. My dad was just on my Amazon Live show. Like, I have learned everything from my parents and grandparents. I talked to them multiple times a day. So why not open that up and allow other people to have the experience I have? They're incredible people. My grandpa and I have gone to his grave twice this past year because he wants to see if he'll fit in his plot. So he lays down— he's 88 years old— Grandpa Lyle lays down in front and like makes me take all these pictures of him posing in front of his grave. And then he'll steal a rock because it's a Jewish cemetery.

Which I know this is not kosher, but he takes— he's like, that person has a lot of rocks I can borrow. And I'll take a rock from someone's grave and be like, I'm putting this on my own just to save for later.

So he wants to bury a Subway sandwich this weekend so he can save it for later when I love that.

It will be ready. It'll be perfect, in perfect condition.

We'll see.

Uh, tagline is Subway: beautiful from beginning to end.

Wow, that's so poetic. There's one more person in the family that hasn't been mentioned.

Oh God.

One of my favorite people in the world.

Yeah, he steals all my friends.

She has a twin brother.

Oh, also in New York.

He has a brand. He's a brand. He— their family has a brand. He runs the brand with the father.

Uh, it's called the Tico Leathers, the handbag company. And our, our marketing agency is called Brand Camp.

He also runs the agency. He's a killer. He's a savage. He couldn't be more different than Liv in almost every single way.

Everyone—

introverted, chill, Like, yeah. And I, and I hang out with both of them, like, independent of each other.

Yeah.

Which is a really, like, cool experience for me. My childhood best friend since 2 years old has a twin sister, but, like, we're not close. I'm genuinely close with both of them independently, and it's been really cool. It's been really cool to see them as individuals and then as twins. It's like a dynamic that I can't really explain. But I want you to speak a little bit about Uh, number one, why you even started Hot and Social, because I know he had something to do with that. And then number two, what it's like to have a company with him.

Oh gosh, two loaded questions.

Um, first of all, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm having a lot of fun. Number one, I would say my brother was single, so as every twin sister loving would do, I only have female followers because I don't have boobs.

I don't show my boobs on the internet, not that anything would happen if I did.

And so I decided to throw a party where everyone comes solo and leaves his friends. And, but it was really for my brother because I have all these single girls that follow me. So, um, that's how Hot and Social started. We are both incredibly entrepreneurial. Our parents are entrepreneurs. We grew up inventing things at our kitchen table. And so the fact that the one thing I never intended to become a business did, it's pretty ironic in how, um, things happen. You know, when you least expect it. And then the second thing is, uh, starting Brain Caffeine in 2019, 2020 with my brother. He and I are opposites, so his strengths and how he communicates with people is so different than how I do. So we had to learn and almost have our own sibling therapy in terms of how that would work. But we've gotten it down to a craft.

How do you think about the relationships that you kind of let into your inner circle? And I'm curious because I feel like a lot of my really, really close relationships, you don't even think about them as they're in your inner circle. And I was talking to Karina, my girlfriend, the other day, and she was like, who would be kind of like, who would be at your wedding? Who's in your inner circle? And I was listing off people and I was like, she was like, what about Ben? I was like, oh yeah, Ben's like one of my best friends. And you don't even think about that. Like with your really close friends, you don't even think about like, where are they?

The girlfriends are on.

Well, because the part— no, but the part that they don't understand The part that they don't understand is that when you think about it, like, on a time spent basis, maybe from their lens it's not like I'm spending every Saturday night with him or whatever, but I spend more time with him than like most of my childhood friends. Yeah, off of this alone. Yeah, like, we, we're spending 6 to 8 hours a day together multiple times a week— or sorry, multiple times a month— like sitting in a chair next to each other. Like, I know more about his life than a lot of people do, and vice versa. And so I think even though we're not necessarily doing all the extracurriculars together because we're both in relationships, we both have our own companies, we're both very busy on a relative basis for founders. When you think about how much available time you have to spend with other friends, like, we're way above the norm.

Yeah, that's awesome. And it's also cool because like you guys get to know the level that you're at now. And I think there's something very special about, yes, kindergarten friends and friends you've grown up with, but maybe even something more special about growing with those people and also those adult friendships where you're becoming who you want to be. You've taken these choices that have shaped you into who you are, and getting to connect and resonate on that level that you've gotten to is really cool.

I want to talk about girl relationships versus guy relationships. There's a lot of like memes and reels on TikTok or Instagram Reels about how quickly guys become friends. Have you seen those? It's like first day of work, they're like, what's What's up, man? Second day, dabs him up. Third day, making fun of him. Fourth day, like, do you want to come to my bachelor's party? And it really does happen that, like, if you get along as a guy, it does happen that way immediately. Like, when Karina was asking about who's, who's at your wedding and I just list off people, she's like, who are some of these people? I was like, a lot of them are clients and people I do business with. And I'm like, oh, they're just, they're like my best friends. Like, I hang out with them all day. And she's like, I haven't met them yet. I'm like, I know, we just became friends like immediately and went really deep. Walk me through, does that happen with women? How are the relationships a little different?

Oh, that's a great question.

I would say because it depends on how you were raised. So like for me, I had my twin brother and all of his friends around all the time. So it's very easy for me to hit it off with my guy friends and like call them in 2 seconds and they pick up and we have a very funny relationship. I would say like we're very honest with each other. The box theory goes where you, you put people in different boxes as you meet. And so I believe in the box theory. Do you?

I don't think I'm like— I think generally yes.

Yeah. So the box theory is like, you know, if you want to marry someone, you put them here. If you want to be friends with them, here. My relationships with my guy friends is very like, we're friends for life and I have your back, you have mine.

And they are the most loyal dogs like ever, don't you think?

Yeah, I would say so.

Yeah. And then relationships with your girlfriends, I think, is more emotional, more deep. You have to get to a level of connection. There's some stat about how many hours you have to spend with someone to get them to that level. Like, you can literally Google, how many hours do I need to be with someone, um, to feel close with them? And girls definitely are harder because there's a conversation happening here, and then there's a conversation happening here.

I have a question about this because I've gone back and forth about this with my best friend, which is when you think about like a wedding, for example, and a bachelor party and a bridal party, do you prioritize the people you're closest to the day that it happens, or do you care, or do you hold on to like, but these are the people that I grew up with? Does the question make sense?

Stages of your life, childhood versus college, fully prioritize who's important to me now.

So I agree, and my best friend doesn't necessarily agree with that, which is fine. Like, we all have our own opinions, and his reasoning valid. Like, I'm not going to sit here and say it's not valid. I think it was just really interesting to hear a different perspective, and maybe part of that is me feeling like the evolution I've gone through as an individual that has definitely been driven by business, right? Like, becoming an entrepreneur, you feel so much less relatability to a lot of people that you grew up with. Where I feel like in some areas I'm like sitting in a room full of people who— and I'm like the misfit, and I'm like, you don't understand me. But then like you put me in a room with like you two and I'm like, they get me, right?

Yeah, I, I would say focus on who you're close with now. Also, there's a new trend which I'm so relieved to see of girls doing things differently. Like the idea of a Bachelorette with me wearing a sash and holding penis stickers like is so unappealing to It's the last thing.

Sounds pretty unappealing.

It sounds absolutely awful. And like running around in different theme colors. I, I'm not gucking anyone's yum. I've done that. I love that for them. I love how happy my friends are when they have bachelorette parties, and I'll probably do some form of that. But I think it's cool that this wedding culture allows us to— like, I might just want to do a sauna and spa day with everyone I love and have that be my bachelorette. So I encourage people to think outside the box.

What are things that keep you up at night?

Oh my gosh, we just segued. I probably— family members dying, um, and, uh, things that are last minute that I want to solidify for certain events and activations.

I want to get more specific around like business though.

Family dying?

No, that's, that's like— no, that's, that's more— that's morbid, but but it's also like, I'm being honest. Yeah, but it's like, no, it's fair. I'm not gonna— you're being honest. But I'm more curious, uh, from like about that every night, from a business perspective, as someone— things that you think about frequently at night where it's like you're not on Instagram, you're not, you know, around people with this big smile doing all the things. Like, what, what are those things? Because I think it's really important for people who are either part of your community or first learning about your community, if they go to your Instagram, like, it's you dancing around and jumping around with like a new top on. Like, it's like like, oh, go look at this new shirt. I'm like, yeah, her energy is just— it's electric all the time. But I, I know her on a level where that's not live 24 hours a day.

Correct.

What are the things that are in your mind or in your life that are allowing you to like turn that off sometimes, or that you can't prevent?

I honestly just keep going until I go to bed. Um, I love everything I do, and I feel like it's my responsibility and such a blessing that we have social media and How could I not take advantage of it? 100 years ago, I'd be forced to be a secretary or to be a mom and not get a job. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I want to be who I can be, and every day I just fight to become that girl. So we were just featured in People magazine, in Daily Mail, in New York Post.

Hell yeah.

I'll be on NBC again in August.

And not a big deal.

I think my favorite thing though is getting to share that this is something that like I can help the world with. Like I love helping people and helping people learn that there's no timeline on friendship. There's no timeline on trying new things. You can make a new friend at 36 or try something new at 39 or 40 or 27. So the drive to help people keeps me up.

You actually bring up a point that I want to talk about, which is how you can't imagine a life without social media. Something that I've thought about often, because I would say that like I don't post as much on social media as maybe you do, but like for your average like software founder dude, I would say that I definitely am on like the—

yeah, you're pretty—

the other end of the spectrum. But something I struggle with every single day, and I admire about people like you and people who I would say it's way more prevalent in their everyday life is the fact that you've— you're able to live your authentic life in such a way that you just can capture every single moment. Because I think about it, like, I, I'm convinced that there's a lot of people who don't actually live the life they want. They live the life that needs to be captured online.

Correct.

How do you strike that balance? Or as for advice to someone who, as we talked about yesterday, wants to get more active with it, one of the reasons I think I struggle to get active with it is I find that it causes like friction at some points in my day or my life where I have to do things like a little bit differently to capture it on camera, and I'm like, fuck that, I don't want to. And then I just don't, right?

Oh, there are two— I'm gonna turn my fingers like this because I have self-tanner everywhere. There are two really important things to consider if you want to have a social media presence. Number one, you have to be real. If you are fake, if you— if someone— if a follower comes to hug you on the street and you are with your friend in the middle of a conversation and they come up to you, you should not switch and become someone else. You maintain that identity. You maintain who you are to a friend. That is who I am. This is who I am. If a follower walks in the room, I'm the exact same person. Or if my grandpa, or if a client walks in, I am me. So that's number one. You cannot exhaust yourself being other people. There's one version of you. Be her or be him. That also makes your life way easier and also allows your community to actually know who you are. Number 2, I would say make sure that you're not posting anything in real time. I have a stalker who's been in jail for like 5 years now, and when he first went to jail was when I started posting on social media, and he still was like kind of in and out of jail at that point. So I would always post my location and everything that had happened after it happened. And not only does this make your vacations so much better when you post and you say you've arrived on the third day, it makes you safer.

And also when you get home and you still pretend you're on that vacation, that is a vacation in and of itself.

Wait, okay, so there's two things that we need to talk about of what you just said. Uh, number one, we're gonna go a lot deeper. I actually compartmentalized that experience completely, and we've talked about that detail before.

Yeah.

And I actually completely forgot about it until you just said that. Um, but before we get there, your point about not posting in real time— do you find, number one, that that helps you be more present in the things you're doing? Okay. And then my second question is, how do you think about like velocity and cadence?

I don't.

So what I mean— okay, but so do you have any recommendations? So I guess the point I'm saying is, let's say the next week I'm on like a vacation and I take a bunch of content and I don't sit there and like post it on Instagram every day. It's like, do I get home and then one day just like rip everything, or you're kind of like every day you make a point to post a couple things from like a few days prior?

Okay, I take it back. There is a cadence and there is a consistency strategy. Number one, I like to have at least two Instagram Reels up a day, um, as well as posting on Threads.

And two Reels a day, can you like—

more than I do in a year.

And at least, you know, two or three TikToks and at least 6 Instagram stories. So yes, I know that sounds like a lot, but if you're obsessed with everything you're doing— your shoes, aka I posted a video about how great these shoes are, I posted stories about how great these shoes are, and then I posted what I'm wearing today, um, what I'm excited about. I just stopped at a PR showroom, I showed them what that was. I'm gonna look at them, I'm gonna look at your Instagram, and I did an ad. So that's like my story quota for the day. I also love posting.

You hit 2,000 posts. Congrats!

Oh, thanks!

2,000.

Oh, that's great. I don't know how many have been deleted, but I think that's on grid, so I actually think I have way more than that, whatever that means.

Got you.

I want to talk about your comment on self-identity. Have you seen Hitman, the new Glen Powell movie?

I've heard— I've seen trailers.

It's the new Gary Linklater movie. And Ben, have you seen this?

Sorry, what?

Glen Powell's new movie Hitman? No. One, go watch it. Very, very good. A big part of the movie is that he before he started kind of like working for the police and, you know, essentially impersonating hitmen to get people, you know, not captured but go to jail. Before that, he was like this nerdy history teacher, philosophy teacher, and he had a cat at home, and, you know, it's overdramatized, but he was such a different person. Then he becomes this hitman, something goes wrong, and he has to act as like this hitman with bravado and charisma and this crazy life and dresses really different. And a big part of the movie, the moral, one of the morals of the story is that once you become this identity, your identity can change. And not in a bad way, in like all the things that you want to become. If you just start acting like that every day and every hour, you're not faking it anymore. That just becomes you. So I'm curious, in your life, have there been any kind of transitionary periods where you specifically kind of took a real look at yourself and said, I don't like this part, this part I want to become, this part I want to be part of my identity. And just did that every day to a point that like you're posting this amount of content and you're this active and you're this authentic? Or has this always been yourself?

I've always been me. And anyone who like— there's a ton of Reddit and, you know, a ton of posts about gossiping about people and who they are online. And I'm lucky to have gotten to that point where people talk about me.

That's when you know you made it.

But it's also really hurtful at the same time. And a main comment that I see pop up a lot is like, 'Liv Schreiber, she's so fake, she's always so happy.' And like, this is just who I am, and my friends will tell you that. And, um, I've been through experiences that make me this way, so I just am who I am. And if you don't like it, you don't have to follow me.

I want to talk about the stalker.

I don't really, but okay.

I want— I want to talk. We don't have to go into too much detail, but I do believe that it's a very crucial part of your story. Okay, with like— no, I think I really do believe that like you being willing to share your story online and not only being able to overcome that, but like you still do what you do, which I think is the craziest part but also most impressive.

And I host events and tell people, here I am.

Yeah, you do, you do like community things. You're in the spotlight still every single day even though you had like a very traumatic experience. We don't have to go like deep, deep down the rabbit hole, but I want you to like give a little bit of a high-level overview of like what you endured and then how you've like overcome that to be able to still live in the life that you do with doing all those things.

Oi, okay. I went to Wisconsin and I, uh, had this whole mindset that I would go to Wisconsin and I was a girl from New Jersey and I wanted to have the Wisconsin experience. So I rushed a Wisconsin sorority. I lived in a public dorm where a lot of other people from the East Coast lived in a private dorm together. And I really wanted to get the most out of this Midwestern life. And I noticed that in the library that I would always go to, there was a guy that would always stare at me. And every night from 6 to 12, he would be staring at me. While I was doing work. And at first you start to feel like you're crazy. And so I started wearing baseball hats, which was my signature look probably up until like a few months ago actually, um, to block him out so that I wouldn't have to feel like the pressure of his eyes on me. Um, I was dating a hockey player at the time, and so I started moving from seat to seat because him and his teammates told me to move around. And I knew it was a real issue when this guy would move and like have this, this smile. Everyone called him the Smile Guy. He had this smile and it wasn't a warm smile, it was a really scary smile, kind of like a 'I'm after you' smile. So he would move, so we'd be playing basically seat chess and checkers every night because he'd always be across from me no matter where I moved, and he'd just be smiling like haha, you can't get away. So I started telling people about it. No one believed me. I even talked to the campus police and they didn't file anything, um, because they didn't believe me. And I knew I was right at my core. And it was the first time when you're 19, 20, you're like, am I crazy? Is it just me? Or does everyone else just not believe me? Um, so campus police would walk me home But eventually it got to a point where I was being stalked in the library and then on the street I would turn around and he would be behind me smiling. So it was really hard because I talked to everyone and everything and I got to be so scared that I was always looking over my shoulder. I had anxiety. I didn't even know what that was. And he tried to follow me into my dorm. Um, and then I went away to Spain for the summer because I was like, I just literally need to get out of the country. Like, I'm just going crazy. I come back, it's sophomore year, I turn on the news. My friend's like, Liv, Liv, look at the news. I'm like, what? On screen it had a picture of the guy's face and it said, guy attempted to stock strangle and murder a classmate of mine. So I spent the beautiful college years in and out of the detective office. I would get picked up from my sorority house by a big black Suburban, go straight to the police station because they really found out that— because I spoke up, I was able— actually, because I spoke up and the police didn't believe me, that this guy was dangerous, 21 women were victims of his. Uh, he didn't end up killing anyone, which is great, because the girls escaped. But the police didn't believe me. And not only that, they raided his apartment and they found a kill list. And where was yours truly? I was the month of January when it all happened. The police discarded, uh, the kill list So they actually proved the kill list to not be evidence in his trial because they mishandled removing the kill list from his apartment. He was released from jail after only 3 years, and then he was put back in, thank goodness, about a year ago, deeming him unfit to be in society. So that's this beautiful story I had to— kind of put my dream of being on social media on hold because I didn't want him to follow me. And, uh, that's why I wake up every day really excited to get to connect with my audience. And I'm happy he's in jail.

That's a wild story.

So listen to your gut.

So happy you're okay, number one. I'm glad he's still in jail.

I just think the part that I am so fascinated by is the fact that she's still willing to like live in her truth of what she's like put on this earth to do. Yeah, despite knowing that, that just like he's there.

Well, I saved my own life, and that's what the cops and the detectives all say. And he also took up a lot of time from my life. I had to write a letter to court, and I had to, you know, they try to make a victim group chat, but like, I, I don't view myself as a victim. I actually feel that it has strengthened my belief in myself. I trust myself whenever I meet someone. I trust my first instinct. Um, and I have a lot of security and protection at all of my events. You just can't see them. So, um, that's why I post delayed. And I think it's really an important story for everyone to tell the women in their lives, um, because if you feel something, even if everyone tells you you're wrong, you need to believe yourself because you can save yourself.

I think that note around instincts is so much broad applicable, applicable, like ability, applicability across life, romantic relationships, friendships, business. And I feel like a lot of, a lot of my friends or colleagues that don't like it— you seem very authentic and you're kind of living in your truth and living in what really fulfills you. I think I would deem you as the same. And a lot of our friends that really seem to be thriving, almost every one of my successful friends or colleagues that are really doing well, they're all living exactly what they should be doing. And I feel like a lot of it was not down to some, like, crazy effort on their part. Yeah, there's a lot of hard work and late nights, but a lot of the time it's just like they trusted their instincts. Yeah. Whether that was like some divine intervention to be like, go start this company. They just trusted that instinct. Or like, hey, this, you know, relationship isn't making me happy. I'm going to end this relationship. I'm going to trust that instinct. Would you— do you see some overlap with kind of like your relationships and things that you've done?

I definitely see overlap with trusting myself and vibes and energy, and that's always exciting and, and a beautiful, um, good thing that has come from bad. I also look at bad things and things that we may not expect or we may not want to happen way differently now, because when you realize that you could have been dead and you're not, uh, the way you look at life. And shit happens, fine, but your reaction to it and not being able to control everything, just allowing that energy to maybe not sweat the small stuff, has contributed to my positivity.

So yes, to my haters, that is why I'm always really happy, because I'm alive.

I mean, it's, it's crazy because I feel like I, I mean, I haven't had a traumatic event, God willing. That's like—

I didn't see it as traumatic.

No, but I think something— and we actually were talking about this with Shlomit a lot, which is like the idea of being able to be present and to understand what really matters. And I think oftentimes when you're competitive, when you're driven, you get caught up in like things that just in the grand scheme of things are not worth stressing over. And I am the most guilty of that. Like, I beat myself up over things that are just like ridiculous. And so I think it's an ongoing daily struggle for me to figure out like what are ways that I can like give myself a little bit more grace to not feel so uptight and so worried about the next thing having to be done versus like enjoy the, the now because you don't know what the next thing really holds.

Correct.

I think the flip side of that is, you know, you're talking about getting stressed and uptight about maybe having to respond to everyone by the end of the day. I want to talk a bit more about your maybe behind the scenes of a lot of people probably don't realize when they see your posting and run around doing podcasts like this that I'm sure there are days where you're just working like 10, 11 hours just on the computer and you work out and then you go to bed. I know obviously we spend a lot of time together, but I'm sure people see you on socials and doing the podcast and everything seems to be going well, but I know you're just hunkered in your room most days, just all an illusion. In part it is.

It is.

And so tell me more about that behind the scenes. Of what it actually takes to kind of run some of these things and have this degree of success?

That's a great question because I always say that influencers are master manipulators, and it's true. I mean, it's totally true, and so is everyone around you. They show you what you want to see, and unfortunately it's not usually the boring videos and pics of us in— at our workspaces for 12 hours straight. But I, I look at myself as kind of like a magician. People don't realize all the hard work that goes into it. And so whenever people ask me, like, how do you deal with a copycat or someone trying to rip you off or rip off your business?

I always say, let them. Like, literally, I say, toodaloo, have a great time, have fun. Because what you see is not ever the full story.

And you have to really be so hungry and be obsessed with being better and being a better boss, leader, client, partner, friend. If you're not hungry for that, best of luck to you. I always like to say you can replicate the recipe, but you can't make the same sauce.

100%. I started my company like 2 and a half, 3 years ago, and I think only over the past 6 months it's like actually become fun. For the first couple years, it just sucked.

It was like, yeah, long—

I run an agency. And so like service business especially, you started with an agency too, you run an agency. Every time there's like small people popping up and, you know, investors will text me like, oh, do you see this company? And they just launched kind of like with our same tagline and same hero copy on the website. And if anything, I— not pity, but I feel a lot of, uh, I sympathize with them a lot because I know what they're going through right now. And by all means, like, if you it's gonna suck for like 3 years and then it may get fun if you make all the right decisions, right? But for those first 3 years, it's like, it's gonna be brutal.

Yeah. I'm like, have a good time.

It also validates— number one, it validates what you're doing. And number two, like, I was that 13-year-old kid who'd be like, oh, you want to hear my idea? Like, sign the NDA, right? Like, not actually knowing that execution is everything when you're building a business, especially what you're doing. Like, sure, you might have like nuanced secrets of like how you growth hack things, whatever, but It's not a secret. You're building a community that has a lot of components. And I would look at that and be like, that's the scariest thing ever to try to like rip that off. Like it's, it's, it's a compliment for people to want to try to do what you're doing, but ultimately like you are better than everyone else trying to do what you're doing because it's your thing and you truly internalize it. So I, I think in the early days when you start business building, you get like very caught up about it. You get upset about it. You are worried that you're gonna lose because of that. If your business fails, it's not because someone else made Hot and Social 2.0.

Correct. Correct. And that's so cool. Like, you have to stay the best in your game and keeping up with who you were a year ago or yesterday is such a cool challenge. So I welcome as many community-based businesses in the space, as many marketing agencies, like, go for it, do your thing. I think there are so many people in the world who all need what we have to share, and the more of us, the better. I love our founder meetup, so getting to meet other people who are in this space is so awesome. And also a thing that I think you learn, like you were saying, the first 3 years are really hard. After that time period, you realize that collaboration is way better than competition for yourself, for your business, for learning things. And I actually think hanging out with a lot of male founders for me is really beneficial because I find that— not to knock on my female founders, I love my female founders— but it is very interesting to see how guy founders tend to share their networks, their tools, their secrets with each other. Whereas I think in like the female influencer community, it is silent. No one talks about rates.

Interesting.

No one talks about their tools.

So they just—

talk about their managers. No one talks about their agents and to see the dichotomy of the two industries I'm involved in is very interesting.

That's so fascinating. I mean, Cyrus, who we're having on after this, is a great example. Like, once you get along and you have enough mutual interactions, they can vouch for each other and you like each other. I think immediately I was just like, my network's your network. Like, anywhere I can help you. Like, I'm also a customer of his, but like, that happens right away if that connection is established.

And there's a difference between the male influencers and the female influencers in the fashion space. Male influencers in the money space— like, I went to one of the money influencer meetups, not that I'm a money influencer, but they all are in a group chat and they're sharing what brands are offering them for their rates. Fashion influencers are not in a group chat and they're not sharing rates. Imagine how much higher we could get our rates up if we just shared. So, um, it's, it's pretty wild.

Yeah.

Turning pro. I want to double-click into the moment in your life where you feel like everything changed for you and you took things to the next level right now, sitting next to you.

What was, what was the moment where everything changed?

You just feel like you got up from one poker table and went to a more high-stakes table where things just became more real. It's like a realization or experience you had. Where you just feel like you became a new version of Liv?

Like when you became a professional at what you do?

Oh gosh, I, I would say probably two moments. One was when I decided to graduate a year early from Wisconsin.

I went abroad to Australia and decided, ain't no way I'm going back to the basement of Madison, Wisconsin. The boys here are way cuter walking with their shirts off and bare feet. How could I ever go back to Wisconsin? No.

I wanted to make money and hustle, so I called my senior year my bonus year. And graduating early, even though I was hysterical, I knew that I wanted to jump before someone pushed me. So taking that leap was pretty major. And then the second thing was probably at my first job. Uh, I was in real estate. I was a broker, still have my license. And I remember looking at myself in the mirror and saying, this is not the end, this is only the beginning. And that is a very significant moment for me, and I, I fondly reflect on it.

I love it. That's a great place to wrap. Anything else on your end? Hell yeah.

That's all I got for you. Thanks for coming on today.

Wait, I want to ask you guys a question. For my girls and guys listening who have come to this podcast What's some advice that you would have for them? Like, what's one thing that you wish you could tell your past self?

Go.

Bet on yourself over and over and over and over.

Oh, I like that. Go.

Uh, live in your truth a lot earlier in your life. Like, be more authentic quicker. I think a lot of people wait too long to do it. Like, you live in this life of fear because of judgment of other people around you, and some people end up going through their entire life doing that. Some people figure it out. But my advice would be, if you're listening to this and you feel like you aren't your authentic self because you fear judgment, like, you got to start tomorrow or now, because I think it's just a way more fulfilling life.

And thank you for tuning in to my podcast, Turning Pro.

Where can people find you?

@turningpro.

No, uh, plug it. @livschreiber, L-I-V-S-C-H-R-E-I-B-E-R, and Hot and Social, H-O-T-A-N-D.

Sociaal and Camp Social, which Ben's coming to. Camp Sociaal.

Go see Ben teaching kickball.

Thank you guys for having me.

Thanks for coming on. That's a wrap.

Hell yeah.