Executive Exchange

On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh sits down with Tecovas founder Paul Hedrick and CEO David Lafitte to discuss a recent fashion trend has swept the U.S.: Wearing cowboy boots to the altar. Ahead of that trend is the western style apparel company based out of Austin, Texas. Paul and David discuss how Tecovas launched in 2015 as the first and only digital-first cowboy boot brand in the market. In the early days, Paul would drive up with his mom to his former elementary school and sell boots out of their car. He was looking to create a brand that could fit into his everyday lifestyle. David breaks down their consumer, which are known as the "Millennial Trailblazer," which appeals to the 25-35 age gap. In 2023, Tecovas crossed over $200 million in sales and is expanding their reach into the Northeast by opening shops in Philadelphia and Boston. They currently have 32 stores in operation, where they created an environment that they call "Radical Hospitality" by offering customers free drinks and custom designs on their boots. They also talk about how recent trends, such as Beyoncé's new album Cowboy Carter, and Country music's popularity, have given the brand a boost in recognition, especially customers going down to the Sun Belt and southern states in the U.S. David feels that the trend will continue and Tecovas is gearing up to ship their products internationally in the near future.

On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh sits down with legendary Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer and former CEO Randy Garutti to discuss the latter's departure, what he accomplished at the burger empire for over 2 decades, and what lies ahead for the brand. What started out as a hotdog cart in Madison Square Park in 2001, has now transformed into a $4 billion global behemoth. Former CEO Randy Garutti talks about working alongside Danny for 24 years in the restaurant industry and the impact he's had on his career throughout their time together. Randy leaves the company that now has over 540 restaurants in 19 countries. Danny reminisces about meeting Randy for the first time at his very first restaurant, Tabla, when he hired him to become manager of the restaurant. But once Shake Shack started to hit its stride in Madison Square Park, Randy was ready to step up to the plate and lead the team. They also discuss the new CEO, Rob Lynch, stepping in from Papa John's to lead the team and if there's ever going to be pizza on the Shake Shack menu. Their vision for Lynch is to mold new leaders in the brand to step up into larger roles in the future, just as they had done previously with Randy at the helm. Finally, the two discuss the latest conflicts in the Israel-Hamas conflict and the boycott that happened at the company as well as what their favorite orders are at Shake Shack. Danny is a little surprised at Randy's go to order.

On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Mielle CEO Monique Rodriguez sits down with host Ruth Umoh to discuss how her company started with the tragedy that sparked her entrepreneurial journey, the haircare-wise acquisition by a Fortune 50 company, and her reaction to criticism over selling a black-owned brand to a non-black parent company. After experiencing the loss of her son due to complications at birth, Monique experienced postpartum depression and no longer was invested in her full-time job as a home health nurse at the time. She had started working on a side hustle that turned into Mielle Organics. It was a risk that she knew she had to take because she didn't want to risk anyone's life working as a nurse. On May 23, 2014, Mielle launched with one product and never turned back. Since launching, they've always made a sale. And in 2023, the company was acquired by Procter & Gamble that expanded Mielle's reach to customers. It also allowed them to scale their nonprofit, Mielle Cares, to fund additional economic opportunities for Black and Brown communities.

On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor and Host Ruth Umoh sits down with cofounder and CTO of Duolingo Severin Hacker to discuss how AI can help with learning new languages, its popular owl mascot Duo, and why the company is now offering math and music lessons. Severin talks about how he got his start in Switzerland and wanted to take the opportunity to learn in the U.S. after going to university in his native country. He took that chance as a foreign exchange student and went to study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. When he got there, he met Luis von Ahn, who was a consulting professor in the Computer Science Department at the time, before he became cofounder and CEO of Duolingo. Severin says that his Duolingo work was the first and only full-time job he's ever had. He's endured tough times with the company, sharing that in the first five years of the business Duolingo made no revenue. That's when they decided to launch Super, which is a freemium subscription to the platform. Severin also talks about using AI within the company by introducing a feature called Roleplay where you can interact with a server at a restaurant in another language and learn to speak the language you're learning. He also touches on the layoffs Duolingo has had earlier in 2024, stating that all the layoffs were only done to freelance contractors because of AI's capabilities within the company. Plus, Severin shares how Duolingo is making the jump from teaching languages to now teaching music and math to users on the platform. They believe that learning by doing will lend itself well to those subjects for people. Finally, Severin dives into the creation of their mascot Duo, and how using the owl in their TikToks skyrocketed their popularity on the media platform to new heights.

On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, host and Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh sits down with DraftKings cofounder and CEO Jason Robins to discuss the partnership between LeBron James and how their deal came together right before Super Bowl LVIII. Jason discusses how the NBA changed the rules to allow active NBA players to endorse betting companies and that LeBron was their top target to sign. DraftKings also recently partnered with Barstool Sports once again and talks about why it made sense to bring them back as a sponsor. Jason also talks about the growth of the company since starting it in 2012 as a daily fantasy sports betting platform in Boston, Massachusetts. Now, DraftKings offers real time sports betting and an online casino in select states and countries around the globe and lobbying to include more states in the future such as Texas and California. Finally, Jason touches on the 9/11-themed 'Never Forget' parlay bet that was issued last September 11th and how to deal with situations that are challenging when running a company. He gives insight on making mistakes that you can learn from and turning that into a stronger person.