Inside Alex Cooper's $125 Million Deal To Grow Her Multi-Media Empire | Forbes Cover Interview

I know I can walk into any single room in business and I can get the deal done it's really just like my emotional EQ like being confident and calm that goes farther half of the time than what's actually coming out of your [Music] mouth Alex Cooper Welcome to Forbes thank you so much for having me I'm super excited to chat with you today you've had a massive 2024 six years of call her daddy $125 million deal with SiriusXM finishing your second live tour going to Paris for the Olympics like it has been an insane past

couple of months how are you feeling I'm feeling exactly where I should be I think that like whenever it's more chaos I feel more at ease like when things are quiet and slow I'm like what's going on like I need to start doing something so I feel really good yeah what has been the most exciting thing over the past year that you've been a part of I mean I definitely think that this new serious deal is really exciting just because anything that I do that allows me to give the daddy gting more content I'm immediately

like yes this is fabulous and a multi-year deal is something that's really exciting for me and most importantly my audience but I would also say my tour I think like being in person with my audience is something that I don't get to do as much as I would like to and podcasting is a very isolating experience like you just press upload and you can go about your day and I remember in the beginning of Colorado people used to be like how does it feel like it's like the number one show and I'd be like feels

great like I went to the GR grocery store today after I like like did an episode so it feels incredible to be in person physically with them and get to see what we've built as a brand it's really exciting yeah and to take that offline and to you know seeing people face to face I'm sure totally changes like your relationship with your audience it just makes me even more grateful because I think I see people writing in like I'm in my DMs every single day getting stories about women getting cheated on or struggling with a

toxic relationship and I'm messaging these people but to get to meet them like there's one girl I remember that has been to almost every single live show and I see her every single time so it's a very it's a really exciting experience yeah so let's go back a little bit 6 years ago when you started call her daddy it was a very different show than what it is now you were talking about sex and relationships your life as a 20-some year old girl to today where you're now interviewing people like the vice president of the

United States like that's a huge transition to make can you walk me through like what the transition looked like for you and why you decided to kind of make that pivot into a different sort of format I mean when I first started to call her daddy I had previously just gotten fired from my job so I was pretty in a desperate situation like my parents were like we're not we can't afford to help you live in New York City and I remember being like okay I just have to figure out what is my next move

and podcasting did not seem like the natural next move at the time really no one was podcasting except some of the older generation I felt like my dad listened to podcasts and so when I first started call her daddy I was really just trying to replicate what had been happening in my college soccer locker room like I was the most outgoing in my locker room and my friends were always so fascinated by what I would talk about so openly just because that's how I was in my house and my parents raised me like that so

the Genesis of K herad was being authentically myself when I was 22 23 years old talking about my escapades in New York City and I loved every second of it but naturally as I have gotten older and I'm growing up um I have different interests and as much as I still like to talk about my sex and not dating life cuz I'm married now but married life um I also wanted to just change things cuz I Am Naturally Creator and I need to be creatively stimulated when I'm making content and I think that the not

that it was a shtick but like it kind of ran its course of only talking about sex and relationships sex and relationships every single day and the pivot was really just natural like I think a lot of people are like was it's strategic of course everything I do is strategic when it comes to my business but it also was natural at the same time I didn't want to just keep talking about the same thing over and over and then it just kept growing from there totally what has the intention behind call her daddy been like

throughout these different phases of your career I mean like maybe once it was to disc connect with people now you're having like very deep insightful conversations about things like addiction mental health you know across the board how is the intention behind like what you're sharing with people changed over time I mean I think think in an odd way it looks different but it's always kind of been the same at the core like the beginning was it felt like there was no one online for women talking so openly about sex and sexuality and embracing our sexuality

and men can have these conversations but why can't we um and then I think as it progressed I recognized how much people were enjoying me talking about things that weren't as spoken about publicly maybe privately but not as publicly so I do think the natural progression was more of just like oh they just want more so what else and that was when I talked to people about getting into therapy and being open about my struggles and then having other people come on I think it's been a really natural progression of just this show is meant

to bring people together and it's meant to make people feel not alone in the things that all of us are dealing with um and it's just kind of like progressed layer by layer and it hasn't really been this like very strategic like on this year at this date I'm going to talk about X like a lot of times there are topics that maybe I haven't even personally experienced but I know someone else has and so I want to bring them on cuz I know my listeners can relate turning that like love of empowering women and

having conversations with women into a business is like a very like you said maybe it was strategic in some ways but also like you just saw that there was like a need for it in the world can you talk to me a little bit about how you realized that this was something that could turn into something big like you know like you said in your locker room at bu you were just having conversations so was there a moment that you feel like like really flip that switch in your mind of like this is a business

I can build for myself I think it yeah I think it is all based in my audience I think a lot of times creators are very focused on creating and they're happy when they see their numbers coming up but I don't think that every creator has the intense relationship that I do with my audience like with the daddy gang it is a two-way conversation I remember someone randomly in business one time was like don't ever listen to your audience then you'll just be playing whacka and oh all I do I listen to my audience every

single day and that may make me crazy and that make me be on my phone all the time looking at these messages but it's important for me to have my pulse on what's going on socially in pop culture and also just what young women are experiencing I think when I started to recognize how much every single week people kept coming back desperate for information like I've learned so much from my show I'm also benefiting from it right I think that was the moment that I recognize that like there's a lot of women that not are

not being served like we as women are underserved in this country I mean look at what is going on in this country we are still less than so I think it was an obvious next step of how do we just continue to amplify for women then the business idea came of just continuing to push in ways that maybe at first it started as a show and then a brand and then a lifestyle and now here we are totally and I want to get into all that and like the importance of like diversifying and expanding in

different ways but I want to know first before we talk about like how you you've built it has there been a moment in the past couple years that has been your like I made it moment I feel like I keep having them like I feel like I feel like I remember the first time that I saw call her daddy at number one on the iTunes charts before I even signed with Spotify and I was like whoa like this is epic like younger me I I still can't really comprehend it and then I think the moment

of taking the show away from bar stol and signing with Spotify and having one of the biggest podcast deals ever um and being one of the few women at the top in that conversation I I hold that with great responsibility so that was an I made it moment of like whoo yes my bank account changed and that's cool but like the brand itself so deserved that number next to it and I remember so many women in the industry reaching out to me just like yes like I now know I can get myself a deal like

that and it was really exciting of how empowering that moment was for women it like went beyond me it transcended just Alex Cooper from Pennsylvania um I would say interviewing the vice president yeah was it was kind of a big one seeing Secret Service and being like whoa I I didn't I didn't picture that for myself so I think I keep having these moments and I just try to stay as grounded as I can and just I'm very grateful for what I do I'm aware I have one of the coolest jobs in the world so

I'm just prepared for like the next W moment it just keeps getting better definitely I want to talk about that vice president Harris interview with you a little bit you for years have like sworn off Politics on callor Daddy you said go on Fox go on CNN like this is not the show for you clearly you had an internet breaking episode come out recently with the vice president I want to know a little bit about that why was this something that you felt was so important and how was the reaction online that's been you know

in some ways pretty divisive how has that impacted you yeah so I yes I have never wanted to have politicians on and the first time I did anything quote unquote political on call her daddy was my episode covering the overturn of Roby Wade and I remember when I decided to do that it was it really wasn't that hard of a decision at all I understood that it is a political conversation really it should just be a human rights conversation um but I remember when I did that episode I was nervous only because I knew people

weren't EXP ing it from me and I was really really proud of that episode and to this day it's probably one of my most proud moments of something I've released for call her daddy that made a genuine impact so when the vice president's team called I was like oh my God here we go again so they reached out to you yeah they reached out to me and um I recognized that maybe in a different election it wouldn't be the case and who knows in future elections what I'll do but this specific election the entire focus

is on women's bodies and we're losing rights by the day and so to have the most popular female podcast where most women listen to this show in the country it felt like a no-brainer just of like how as a woman am I not going to do this how am I going to look back at myself one day if I have children and look back at this decision I'm really proud I did it yeah um the second half of your question about the backlash listen I knew it was GNA come I am very aware that my

audience is very split and I again take that with responsibility I don't want to alienate people but I did feel like I had a sense of sense of responsibility so I kind of like didn't care when I pressed upload I was like not that I didn't care what people would think but I knew there was going to be like cancel Alex and do all this I have been doing this for long enough now that every time that happens Matt always looks at me my husband and we'll be like two weeks and I'm like two weeks

two weeks means two weeks and the internet will be so over whatever happens and so um not to like not take it seriously but I also think you have to have tough skin in this industry like people can say they're going to cancel me all day they're still listening so yeah so it's been worth the oh it was totally worth it and you know what it's like the noise always comes the negative and then it was overwhelming the positivity I saw like it was a lot of people coming forward and speaking up and thanking me

um and just it also just created I think a lot of conversation which I was really proud of I think a lot of people were having debates and conversations over the episode and that was exciting yeah and that's kind of the point of a lot of media right now was to get people talking and get people engaging in one way or another something that you guys spoke about on that episode and I want to talk about how this kind of relates to your own life is that not all women want to be made to feel

humble all the time and you as like a leader in both the media space but also in business with you know record-breaking deals time after time you have not had to be humble about your accomplishments how has that sort of mentality impacted what you're building and how you kind of go about creating your career there's still so much work I have to do because I can forward facing come off as very very confident but I'm still like inside that young girl that we all experienced of like the shame and the judgment and as a woman

you're told to just like just be quiet and like just like know your place and like don't upset anyone and if there's a man in the room like let him talk and like don't like stand out and I feel like through this show I have gained confidence like I almost look back at when callard Daddy started and a part of it was a Persona that I was like embodying and like it's like when when you go out with your girls and you're like I'm going to be this version of myself tonight like I got to

show up to work every single day as that best version and I think it really transformed my confidence cuz I have not always been conf confident um and I think as time has gone on I have been able to yes recognize it's probably better that I don't feel like I need to be humble as the vice president said because what why why should I be humble I'm so proud of myself and women should also any step that you make in your career and your personal life forward it is an achievement and you should celebrate that

and anyone that makes you feel wrong for that is trying to dim your light yeah and so I've just kind of leaned in and I kind of I'm having a great time yeah how cuz you mentioned there that when you first started it was like kind of a Persona that you put on how different is Alex the podcaster versus Alex the person I'm more quiet like I talk all day for a living so I would say when I get home Matt's always like she just wants a chicken parmesan reality TV a glass of whiskey and

she wants to be quiet like I would say I'm I turn off and I really like my alone time um I feel like on the podcast I can't shut up um which is still a part of me you know I am a Leo I can't stop talking but I I do have those down moments where I'm like everybody leave me alone I want to be alone for 24 hours and I'm going to lay in bed I want to talk to about this new deal that you've signed with Sirius XM when you spoke with Forbes a

couple years ago it was right when you had signed your $60 million deal with Spotify can you walk me through what this new negotiation process looked like why what you were really even looking for in the first place kind of this partnersh came to be oh my gosh it's been a roller coaster because in the middle of all that I was planning a tour and producing call or Daddy it's like getting married yes getting married that's the that's the fun thing about business is whenever something comes out it's like Oh and by behind the scenes

I was doing 19 other things that some people haven't seen yet or you've seen so far but it was an incredible experience to recognize that the brand had only grown since being at Spotify and recognizing that this is a brand that is staying and here to stay um when I recognize that my obviously my deal was coming up I think it was just having conversation with everyone on the market like every single player in Hollywood I sat down with all of the executives and I just listened of like why should I bring call her daddy

to you and it was a very powerful moment for me because I remember pre- Spotify kind of not that I had to pitch myself myself but I was really having to pitch like where the show was going like I was pitching I was going to do these interviews when I before I I was spifi I had barely done any any interviews right so it was like I was kind of pitching the dream now the dream is here and I'm kind of like being able to turn around and see like who wants to work with me

which is definitely really exciting and I think any business owner that's an exciting moment when the doors are just open now instead of me having to bang them down and be like I trust me like listen to me it's going to be great um so this time around it was more relaxed I was kind of like showing up in my sweats no I did go to one business meeting my sweats cuz I was coming from an interview but it was a lot of conversations because the IP has grown so much and the unwell Network now

I have many shows that would be coming with me um that they would just be like helping sell their advertising obviously call her daddy is the motherload of the deal um but it was a lot of long conversations and a lot of just like what is going to be the right home for call or Daddy was it the financial aspect that was ultimately like the deciding factor were there other parts of what these Partnerships mean to you that really Drew you to Serious versus some other conversations you were having yeah I mean I think there

were many it was not just Financial if anything I knew the money would be there and it was more about like what other things are going to people be able to give to call her daddy and unwell that will help us grow I think the longevity aspect of building a brand you want a partner that is invested in you and I had that in Spotify I think as business goes though like sometimes you got to just switch it up and I think with serious them offering radio and different type of talent support and they just

have a vision for the next few years that in those meetings privately they were explaining to me a vision that I just couldn't turn down and I think as a Creator when someone puts your creative at the Forefront that is a no-brainer for me yeah do you especially since you've built a whole brand off of empowering women and encouraging them to go after things that they want finances are in some cases like a very touchy topic for a lot of women like you said like in a board meeting like you know women can be quiet

men can be the ones that speak up all those sorts of things do you have any advice in terms of negotiating either whether that's like a deal a Business Partnership a salary increase do you have any advice for women in you know going into these experiences and you know these conversations I would say number one practice the conversation whether it's like with your mom or your friend or any like when you have something that you want to say I'm always practicing before I go in because you don't want the thing you're leading with to be

your nerves and it is nerve-wracking to go to someone in a position of power that is above you and be like I think I deserve more um you could get turned down but I think the way that you present yourself half of business is the way that you're just presenting like I feel like I am now at a point in my career which I feel really fortunate for because this is not how it started like I know I can walk into any Le room in business and I can get the deal done and half of

it has nothing to do with my business IQ it's really just like my emotional EQ like half the time I'm leading with EQ not IQ because that's what moves the needle so I think practicing what you want to say to someone and how you are going to approach it and how you are being confident and calm that goes farther half of the time than what's actually coming out of your mouth so practice and is that like in the mirror you're practicing prac theor I would write down what you want to say I always have notes

I get that from my mom when I go to my mom's house she's like oh my God I have these notes from when you were in college sophomore year on this date you said this like I learn from her write everything down so notes do it in the mirror or to a friend or call someone but practice it out loud yeah that helps though because then the first time that you're projecting it to someone you're like oh I've done this so many times now you get to practice like your swag and how you're sitting and

is my leg cross and am I using my hands and am I making eye contact that's how I go about it yeah no I love that I want to talk you mentioned your mom there your dad has also been a big part of your life especially in growing up with him in the sports industry and I want to touch on your Olympic partnership this year you went to Paris for the Olympics hosted your own show with them can you tell me a little bit about how that came to be and like how you felt as

a former athlete coming back into the sports space I felt incredible it was a very full circle moment for me I'm like pinching again I continue to have these moments in my career where I'm like oh my God young Alex would be freaking out right now cuz it's really cool like I grew up just hoping I could be at all a part of Hollywood and now that I am in it I take every day like I'm just very grateful the Olympic situation was really fun because Matt and I some days will just have brainstorm sessions

where we're like what what do I want to do next and what do you want to do next and what like movie do you want to produce and like what should I do and it was just one day that we were watching sports and Matt was like I feel like no one really really knows like how into sports you you are and I'm like yeah I guess I've never really flexed that part of myself on call her daddy cuz that's not really like what call her daddy is and Matt ended up getting connected with someone

that worked at the Olympics and then Molly Solomon who runs the entire Olympics was like let's have a sit down and I remember we went to brunch at the peninsula in Los Angeles and I was like eating my eggs and she was pitching me the dream and I was like sign me up like where can I get involved and from the minute that I signed up to the end it was such an incredible experience working with a company like nbcu was fabulous and I felt like it was fun to just try something different for myself

I am very competitive with myself and so whenever I feel like I've I'm kind of like stagnant or I'm like doing the same thing over and over I'm like What's Next what am I doing and the Olympics was that next thing what is your vision for the future of call her daddy unw train like what is the vision for Alex Cooper the next couple of years I mean to grow but not to grow so rapidly like I have we have no interest in making this like a 200 person company where it's like overflowing and I

don't want to sign 16 more creators this year like I'm not trying to be in the quantity business it is about the quality business and premium content I do see when you start a brand and it's so interesting because it's like I wish I had a documentary just following me around all day but like the Inception of unwell and the unwell Network and the company started on a piece of paper and slowly I remember Matt and I on a Christmas break like drawing like how it would look and how it would flow and to see

now how it's already running it's been a year and like a month truly that like unwell has been like up and running for a year and to see what we've done Live Events sold out events um throwing parties in the Hamptons throwing out the first pitch for the Boston Red Sox um that was a massive success like merchandise business that is thriving and making millions and millions of dollars like there's all these different parts to the business that are thriving I think it's just to continue to rise All Ships essentially when one person is thriving

the rest is thriving obviously I know caller daddy is that like mother ship and so there is a lot of pressure on me to keep it moving um but I love pressure um but it's just to keep growing and I think again it's like film TV podcasting Live Events um that is what we're focused on how are you going about staying relevant in the cultural Z Guist we've been talking about like just how fast this is changing like trying to predict like is this a is this someone with staying power how are we going to

keep moving forward how are you going about making sure that that can happen for yourself I mean for myself I think it's like a little bit of both there's yes being aware that you need to stay relevant but I also think that people that are just chasing relevancy 247 they don't actually have a core to like what is your brand and what do you actually stand for so it's constantly checking in with internet but also knowing like you know what callard daddy is you know what to expect when you're listening to an episode and so

it's not going too far away from what I've built but of course dipping into reality TV moment or you know Tik Tock moments that I'm like oh I want to have this person on because they're noisy right now and recognizing they may not be relevant in two more weeks but if I get them on it'll be great for the show and for the audience it's a balance but not letting yourself get too caught up in it because you also stay relevant by having a great product definitely and no one's going to keep listening If the

product isn't great for sure what's your advice for up and coming podcasters or people who want to be a podcast right now like do you even advise people to enter the space given how much more saturated it is now compared to when you started I absolutely would encourage people to I I think long form content at the end of the day is going to be something that everyone is almost forced to do if they want to have staying power in this industry so I definitely think podcasting is the medium for that I definitely think think

when anyone tries to tell you or pitch you what your show should be just do the opposite like too many people are copying people right now and you should have as much of an original idea as you possibly can um how can you stand out because I that's how call her daddy stood out in the beginning like it was so heavily edited you don't even edit podcasts usually I did I was like No we're going to edit this thing so it's like a vlog like you have to find your Niche within this huge Community CU

it is oversaturated yeah being part of you know the under 30 Community you made the list a couple of years ago what do you think being under 30 means to you how does youth impact like what you are building today oh my God a part of me feels like I'm like 65 but I'm also like still 14 um I think that age is a very odd thing that I have kind of come to not focus on much I think I am very aware that I have I have done a lot in my 20s and entering

my 30s I'm now excited to continue to build and to grow but I also think there are so many CEOs and billionaires that got their start at 40 so I think like any advice I also have for young people listening is like there is no date or time that like if you didn't do it by then like it's not going to happen like absolutely not like for me when I was a kid I thought it was going to happen I'm like I'm making these movies in my basement m like why haven't I blown up on

YouTube like for me I was like a failure in my brain and it took me into my 20s right right why at nine did I not pop off like what the heck so I think age and youth is it's exciting but I also am really enjoying aging and I'm really enjoying growing as a person cuz I've never felt more sure of myself 22 23y Old Alex like I knew nothing compared to what I know now right so I think especially to women aging is the most beautiful thing that you can do in life so totally

do you have any predictions for the future of the media and podcasting space in the next let's say one to three years oh my gosh um I definitely think the premium creators in shows are going to probably rise even more I don't know how much I mean this is like too business oriented but like I don't know how much funding like creators are going to get now in terms of if you don't have a loyal fan base that you have like an IP and you have a catalog to show I think people are more hesitant

to buy into shows and to like give minimum guarantees I think it's more going to be like rep share splits until people can see like your lasting power which again is a very exciting thing for young creators like don't be freaked out if they don't give you an mg and they're like here's $200,000 like if you're just doing a REV share I think it's a great opportunity for you to have autonomy and control over your product and prove throughout you building your catalog that you have lasting power and I I always say to people episode

one it's okay if it's not a massive hit but the goal is by episode 50 someone goes back to episode one to listen because they found you somewhere along the way yeah I love that my last question for you we and by the way I love that business answers like this is forb give it to me this is not a business question what do you prefer the sweatpants or the Blazer the sweatpants like these are lightly unbuttoned that I me like I'm like I need my elastic pants on at all times I prefer the sweatpants

but I think some people are always like why the sweatpants one I have been an athlete my whole life so sweatpants were always the thing but two I think I never want when I sit down with someone their focal point to be like oh my gosh like her makeup looks so nice and I'm feeling insecure today or her outfit is so much cuter than mine like when I'm interviewing someone it's not about me it is about my subject and the person I'm sitting in a cross room and so I know people were like I even

saw people with the um vice president interview being like how dare she wear a hoodie it's like I'm not going to change for anyone I'm going to do the exact call her Dy formula when anyone sits down in that chair um no matter who it is and I was proud of myself for sticking to what I know Works totally it's Alex Cooper brand it's the Alex Cooper thing well thank you so much for joining me today this is awesome to chat thank you thank you so much [Music]