From an emotional rollercoaster after being on Shark Tank, Tereson Dupuy didn’t let that affect her for the long term and is now poised to tackle the world in her next venture.
TAMAR: Hey, everybody, it’s Tamar Weinberg. And today I am with somebody who has done some, wow, she’s famous, she’s been on TV. So it’s even cooler I have Tereson Dupuy with me and she is here to share her story about coming from an area of loss and to somewhere that means being on TV. So I’m very impressed that I’m honored to be graced with your presence here. And to have you join me and please tell me a little bit about yourself and introduce yourself.
00:52
TERESON DUPUY: Oh my God. So, first of all, I am not a celebrity nor am I famous. I like to say I’m an in level celebrity, like, way down the alphabet.
01:07
But yeah, a little bit about me, I’m an entrepreneur, and I’m an inventor. And the first product that I invented, I didn’t set out to disrupt an industry or make any massive change, I was just trying to solve the diaper rash problem for my own baby. And I had been looking for my million dollar idea for probably 10 years. I knew I was going to do something; I just didn’t know what it was. And when my baby had really severe diaper rash I thought outside the box and started using cloth diapers. And that was just really not my cup of tea, so to speak. So I decided I was going to make a better cloth diaper. And that worked for me. And turns out it worked for millions of other people as well. And it became a really interesting phenomenon as the modern cloth diaper movement was started, and I guess 2000 they had some diapers before then. But I didn’t like them. So I think a lot of other people didn’t like them, too. And it became the little business that grew like crazy. One diaper turned into four and four turned into 16. And before you know it, I have a manufacturing facility that I’m running and distributing products all over the globe. It was an incredible ride, but it was not easy.
02:28
So, I did that for about 12 years, went on Shark Tank with that product. And after that life took a very sharp turn left and something that Robert Hirschbeck had said to me in the tank, burned my eardrums. It just burned within my ears. And he told me the problem was me. And that’s a lot, but didn’t make it to air. And I was very thankful that it didn’t make it to air. But I heard him loud and clear, and I went home starting to think well, where was I the problem in my business, and figured a lot of that out over a span of five years, and somehow found the courage and the strength and to start another consumer product brand after selling fuzzy buttons and that traumatic experience and just doing it bigger and better and in a different industry and still trying to improve quality of life for people and take an active role in my own journey as well, and empowering other women to do the same. So that’s my story.
03:35
TAMAR: Wow. Yeah. So I can imagine that it’s difficult to kind of hear from somebody who I guess, I watch Shark Tank. So, actually I literally, I was grabbing, I eat one meal a day, I actually had been going to the gym and I just came to the gym, I just had food. And I was sitting and I just watched a shark tank, watch somebody in the tank. And then I came over here and we started this podcast. So I’m just trying to establish how close I just had watched the last version of my Shark Tank journey. I mean, it’s hard because you definitely see people who to some degree, a lot of people look up to as mentors saying things that are disconcerting, and definitely are blows to the ego, especially when you’re trying to build your own thing. So, how did you internalize that experience? And I mean, I don’t think it’s negative because I think it’s just a way for you to find yourself and to build yourself up even stronger. Yeah, naysayers are not like the premise of my brands. I started as fragrance brands and it’s all about being your authentic self being real about who you are. So in your story, just tell me a little bit about what, how that affected you because I’m sure that was hard.
04:53
TERESON DUPUY: It really was and I liked him a whole lot. He’s probably the shark that I liked the best. going in through Shark Tank. So, to hear that from him specifically, was, yeah, it was a huge blow to my ego and it hurt my little sensitive heart. But at the time, I don’t think I was in touch with that sensitive side of me. I was on success, it changed me. And in a very big way. When I started my business, I was this little hippie Birkenstock wearing crunchy Mom that’s using cloth diapers and attachment, parenting and all these things. And it got to a point where business suits took the place of Birkenstocks, and I started making money. And it was the first time in my life I’ve ever had money, and I just really got sucked into that, to that lifestyle. And it was not me, I was not my authentic self, at all. And really, and truly, in retrospect, when I look at everything that’s built my whole earlier career, it’s when I lost myself that my business started having some really big problems. The first five years were fine, the second five years or five to seven, they were not fine. And the one thing that I can pinpoint is, I got lost.
06:16
I lost myself, I started making really poor decisions that were based not really in the best interest of the company, but probably in the best interest of myself. And, yeah, ego has a way of really taking over even people with the best intentions. And it’s something I would have never said probably would have happened to me, but it did happen to me. So hearing him say the problem was me, all I heard was, well, how am I the problem? How am I the problem and started peeling back the onion. Well, I was using alcohol as a very big coping mechanism. My life was crazy. And that was my go to. At five o’clock opened up the bottle of wine, and that starts becoming more problematic, and then a real solution for me. So I had to look at my issues surrounding that, and I did, that had life changing results for me, as well. It’s amazing what happens when you remove alcohol from your life and start seeing things a little bit more clearly. And then, just looking into some of the more deeper issues within myself, and I’m a trauma survivor, and that had probably a bigger part to play for me in my journey than alcohol ever did. Alcohol is just a way for me to not have to deal with it. But removing that and I had to deal with all of those and effectively went on this really long, amazing healing journey into finding out who I really was, and what the problems really were. And recovering from that.
07:52
TAMAR: Yeah, I think it’s very challenging because in general, people, obviously, you’re investing so much in it. And yeah, in order to kind of be beholden to your stakeholders in whatever way, whether they’re your customers, or the investors, whoever, there’s definitely that element of changing who you are in order to accommodate the people around you. And that’s very difficult. I think people in general struggle with that. And yeah, definitely, I think people have lose touch with who they are. I’m trying to create a business to kind of overcome for me personally, the things that I’ve lost, but I wasn’t. I didn’t lose that in business, I lost that just in interpersonal relationships, only in the last, I would say, a year, I’ve really been able to start living again. And it’s hard. It’s definitely very, very difficult. So, yeah, tell me a little bit what that transformation looks like for you and how you’ve been able to take that and bring that forward for yourself?
09:05
TERESON DUPUY: Oh, God, that’s such a big question. I like the term failing forward, using all of my adversity and my failures and my trials to catapult life into something beautiful, but what did the journey look like? I don’t know life is really messy.
TAMAR: Right.
09:32
TERESON DUPUY: I don’t know, I use surrender on a daily basis and just kind of see what happens. I have a very robust spiritual life and that’s really what has done it for me. I don’t know, surrender and look for the next right thing in my path and feel confident that whatever that is, is what I’m supposed to be doing. So it’s just no reliance on something outside of myself because myself is all ego. Unless I’m tapping into something else, then I’m relying on me. And it’s never a really good place to be. So yeah, surrender is a big thing for me. And I talk about it a lot.
10:19
TAMAR: Cool. Yeah. So, good way to look. Do you? Do you use socially? Any of your family? Friends? Are they? Do they make an impact or influence you and do they motivate you in any way?
10:34
TERESON DUPUY: Um, I don’t know. I mean, I guess they do. I have a pretty good support system in my life. But I really don’t know what motivates me. It’s like this internal drive that I have. And it doesn’t come from outside, it never really has, and I’ve had it for a long time. It’s just like this inner knowing of what I’m supposed to be doing in my life. And this I set a goal for myself when I was 14 years old. And that was a really long time ago. I’m not going to say what my age is, but it was a very long time ago. And I’ve had my eye on this prize for 30 something years. And I don’t know that drive to make a difference in the world. And knowing that I can maybe even if it’s in a small, little bitty small way that drive comes from inside, it comes from my core, it comes from my soul, maybe I don’t know, I don’t try to figure those things out. I just tried to live by them.
11:32
TAMAR: It’s really interesting, a lot of what you’ve said, is very relatable to me. Like, for example, going through trauma, wondering for example, my issue with weight, the way things have performed to date in some of the things in the ventures that I’ve partaken in. And right now, what you said is, I have no external forces that are making me do what I’m doing. I mean, yeah, I have children, and I’m beholden to my family financially. But what is actually making me do these things. It’s me. It’s not anybody else.
TERESON DUPUY: Right?
TAMAR: And it’s also me trying to, for example, health is a big focus for me right now because like I said, I didn’t really start living till like, a year ago. And what is motivating me to make sure I’m running every single day or going to the gym. Honestly, I hate all of those things. But I do it because there’s like this flame inside of you and me, that is really kind of propelling us forward.
12:42
TERESON DUPUY: I love that you said flame because that’s exactly how I feel. It is like, I talked to people about being like this seed that’s planted, some sort of seed of consciousness that’s already preprogrammed and knows exactly what you’re going to do. If you just listen to that, and follow it, you’re good, you’re doing the right thing. You’re on the right path. I think we all have our own unique path that we came in here for and following it, our passions, our desires.
13:14
TAMAR: Yeah. Do you have any sort of internal motivators that help you like any cues, whether physical or mental or whatnot? Do you have any sort of regimen that kind of helps you in directing you?
TERESON DUPUY: Meditate, but I don’t know if that’s really what you’re looking at.
13:30
TAMAR: Exactly what I’m looking for. Yes. What’s your daily ritual here?
13:35
TERESON DUPUY: Oh, my daily ritual, I don’t skimp on this for the world. First thing I do when I open my eyes is just tap into that place of surrender and ask the universe, okay, what are we doing today? What do you have in store for me, I’m going to follow your lead because following mine is not the right thing. I can get confused up in my own head. But I tap into that surrender and ask for direction during the day and, and then meditate for a little while and then I get up and have my coffee and just be still. I used to get up and check my email at 6:30. Run to the kitchen, fix breakfast for the kids, go to work, and be like a maniac all day long. But having that morning routine for me, just starts me off on a good foot. I wish exercise was a part of that. It’s not maybe the next step for me. But I’m just being centered and mindful and calm. It’s a good way to start and it works.
14:45
TAMAR: Yeah, I totally agree. And it’s never too late to start with the exercise. I was athletic but then I took a hiatus for 30 something years and now I’m going 20 something years, but now I’m going back to it. And I just I look at myself, I started writing a memoir. And in 2014 it’s funny because I forgot about it. And then I reopened it like three days ago. And I started reading it. And I had this like introduction in 2014. And like I was defending the fact that I was sedentary. And I just look at myself now. And I’m like, what a difference. So yes, it’s definitely not too late to start off again. So yeah, those memoirs, those memoirs are powerful. I started writing one in 2013. And I’m about finished. So it’s a seven year journey of this entrepreneurial Cinderella story, which has been my life. And very, very interesting. It’s journaled, it’s what it looks like to really heal from trauma. It’s not an entrepreneurial story, although it begins with failing from one business and starting and succeeding with another win over seven years. It’s really about all the things that happened between those two things and how you get from one place to the other without wanting to kill yourself some days. And some days I did, it was pretty bad.
16:11
Yeah, I completely identify with that. I mean, I didn’t even realize I had 10 years, nine years of postpartum depression. Not to mention I was also like a trauma survivor. And not realizing rather that I was enduring the trauma while I was in the postpartum depression. So, it was taxing on me emotionally, like, it’s unfathomable. But you just don’t know that you’re there when you’re there.
TERESON DUPUY: Right.
TAMAR: But then when you’re out, it’s like, wow.
16:48
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, that was a massive awakening for me that you’d asked me a question a few questions back about, what that look like for you. And that was a very big wake up call for me that was going through this little group for trauma survivors, and you’re going through on how it affects your life, and I had always thought, oh, well, alcohol was really the problem, or this is why I was doing all these different things. But it was really the effects of trauma that was causing me to trust people that I had no business trusting in business, or allowing people to take things for me, because I didn’t know how to say a strong No. It all had its roots in early childhood experiences and would have never guessed it, I thought it was doing great, because I was making a lot of money. Right, but I wasn’t doing great. And I think this is a similar story for a lot of people, especially entrepreneurs that are looking outside of their business, for the things to make it work instead of looking at, okay, I’m the captain of my ship here. Maybe I should be in really good working order, it’s not just the marketing, or the balance sheet, or the product. We’re a part of this equation. And if we’re broken, parts of our business is going to be broken too.
18:09
TAMAR: Right. Yeah, there’s definitely that element of vulnerability that I think we’re all subject to, even when we’re okay. But yeah, I think it’s a lot more, it’s not a lot more pronounced, when we’re in this lower state. And it comes back to centering yourself, surrendering yourself, as you say.
18:29
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah.
18:29
TAMAR: So yeah. So tell me a little bit about where you are in your career right now. And where you think you’re going to be
18:46
TERESON DUPUY: Oh my God, this is such a big question. And I have such an amazing answer. And I thought about it last night because I felt like I’m at the bottom. Right. I’ve done this once before. I’ve had a really great career, I fell apart, my entrepreneurial life fell apart. But now I feel like I’m at the bottom. But it’s I’m at the bottom of the next amazing part of my life. I’m at the bottom of this second part of my life that’s just I know is going to be incredible, but I’m not at the bottom. I’m just at the bottom of the next phase.
19:21
TAMAR: I have a good visual for you. So you look at like hills, looks like you look at a big mountain range. And you’re like, you’ve come off the big mountain, but you’re not completely at the bottom of that mountain. You’re kind of at the beginning of the next mountain, which is still kind of there. I hope that visual.
19:38
TERESON DUPUY: Right. That’s perfect.
TAMAR: Yeah. Cool.
19:41
TERESON DUPUY: That’s perfect. I’ve done all this hard climbing and a summit the bottom of it called the apex of the mountain, or like, I’m at that little foot Hill,
TAMAR: Right. You’re not quite on the bottom of the first one because the second one kind of started in the middle of the first one.
19:41
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, right. But I’ve already climbed a mountain.
19:59
TAMAR: Exactly.
20:01
TERESON DUPUY: So, yeah, I’m just trying to get to that.
20:04
TAMAR: But there’s so much uncertainty, which is always a scary part. And I think for entrepreneurs in general, like you and me, there’s a challenge of, is this going to be our next? Is this going to be the next big thing, but we have faith in each other. And I think that it will be.
20:22
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, I went through a lot of uncertainty, maybe six or nine months ago. I
started working on my next venture 18 months ago. I was working for Fuzzibunz for three years. And decided I just couldn’t do it anymore. I just couldn’t, I was miserable. I was sick. It was going nowhere. I wasn’t being productive. And I just couldn’t do it. The founder didn’t want to invest any more money into it. And I couldn’t really blame him. But I decided to take this huge leap of faith and go, okay, well, I’m leaving everything, and I’m starting to work on my underwear, which I’ve been wanting to work on for 20 years.
21:01
And I did that, but during this time, I don’t know, where I’m going to, how I’m going to make money. I don’t know how I’m going to support myself and bootstrap this business at the same time. Like, there was a lot of that uncertainty and that fear of okay, if I go all in here, how am I going to pay rent? Like, that’s been my last six months. And for some reason, maybe it’s the surrender thing?
21:28
I don’t know, I’ve been provided for every single step of the way and I feel like whatever it is, that’s out there, making all of this stuff work. It has all those answers. And if I just let go and follow it, and look for the next right thing, it’s there for me and like, it’s become more and more clear, as I’ve looked for those signs that I am on the right track. But yeah, I was just crippled with I don’t know what to do. Do I look for a job? Do I keep on doing this full time? I can’t do both. But the answers have always appeared. I like the term miracles. I have miracles almost every day in my life and that fear has evaporated. I just don’t feel it anymore. And I don’t worry. It’s amazing.
22:22
TAMAR: Yeah, for me, there is a little bit of worry, but at the same time, it’s kind of dissipated a lot. There’s that self-trust, knowing that you would regret not having done it, and that’s the big thing. I’m reading a lot of books these this time, as part of my self-improvement, my exercise regimen, I’ve also adopted this religious reading regimen. I make sure that’s part of a ritual, whether or not it’s a morning ritual, it never is. But I make sure I do that. And a lot of these books, it’s just the same recurring theme.
TERESON DUPUY: Right.
TAMAR: If you didn’t do it, you would regret. People die not regretting the things that they’ve done, but regretting the things that they have it.
23:07
TERESON DUPUY: Right, right. That’s so true. I will die with no regrets. I can tell you that. Not one. So it’s an amazing way to exist. Yeah,
23:19
TAMAR: Yeah, yeah. And everything follows it. I agree with the word miracle. Also, I think that for me, there’s a lot of uncertainty because I’m at the point where I’m pre-launch on a product that I’m almost reeducating the market. Because I’m making personal fragrance into the wellness play, because for me, it saves me, it was a wellness for my mental health and my happiness. So all of that kind of is a tandem. They work in tandem for me. That’s a huge, huge thrust in a direction that the market hasn’t seen yet. And I would like to think it’s going to happen and I believe in it.
TERESON DUPUY: I can be healthy and smell good at the same time.
23:58
TAMAR: One hundred percent yeah, that’s what it is. It’s funny because it’s weird. I wasn’t invested in personal hygiene in this way. And now it’s not even it’s personal fragrance. It extends to everything else that I use and I bought. I went a little crazy. I bought native natural deodorant. I bought all of them. Because I got so into the sense that it extends to other products in the market. And it makes you happy. I think it makes me happy because of the mindset that I go into, bringing into. It’s really interesting. It’s something that seriously, not a year ago, about 16 months ago, I would never have predicted I’d be here.
24:43
TERESON DUPUY: So go figure.
TAMAR: Yeah, yeah.
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, go figure maybe followed that little voice inside.
24:52
TAMAR: I didn’t know that voice was there. But it all started with me being super depressed. And it was a trauma that I had just endured. And it was the postpartum depression that I didn’t realize was kind of lingering within. And I put on perfume one day. And because my mindset was so different I wasn’t putting it on for other people, which a lot of people do. I was just putting it on because I was curious. And that curiosity manifested somewhere else because your mind isn’t thinking about it in that same way. And all of a sudden, I started inhaling it and breathing it in and breathing in and throughout the day, because I put it on with a little spark of desire, like all of a sudden, I was desired, because I didn’t have any. I was like a bum. I was sitting there doing nothing. And all of a sudden, I put it on and throughout the day, I kept whipping it taking whiffs. And I was like, wow, I want to live again. Like, it was so weird. I can’t say was overnight because I decided I love this. And it wasn’t something I hadn’t tried before. It was not the first time I had worn this fragrance. But because of the where my mind was the mental state that made all the difference. And I decided to try things again. And again. I went to Sephora; I ended up asking the freecycle people do you have perfume that you don’t want. And I got a ton of samples and I was able to try different things. And it was like, I didn’t love everything. But there was certainly experiences that I was able to have, that I hadn’t had before. And trust me it pushed me in a direction of I got to do something in the fragrance business. And otherwise, where would I be professionally? Where would I be? So it really put me in this. I have to be an entrepreneur because it helps me and I think I can help other people but I also don’t want to be restricted. Really this isn’t for me. It’s not about a fragrance. It’s about a mission. Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because of the way it made me feel. And I think that literally everybody, even the people who say oh perfume gives me migraines. Everybody can benefit. Not all perfume gives people migraines. There’s certain chemicals that are made and I try to definitely keep it sustainable and all the natural oils.
27:07
TERESON DUPUY: Only natural oils on me.
27:10
TAMAR: Yeah.
27:12
TERESON DUPUY: Gives me a headache. I wish you’d be outlawed in church. That’s a challenge.
27:15
TAMAR: Yeah, the office environment in the churches and public spaces. It’s a talent. I definitely see that. But I think also in general, you’re not supposed to put it on aggressively for the world, for other people. Yeah, and airplanes. That’s a challenge, I don’t know if I would do it for airplanes. Because that’s really enclosed in that box for as long as you are in it. But it’s not about putting it on to overpower but it’s putting it on enough so that you throughout the day, if you sniff your wrists, it’d be first of all, should be something natural. It’s a natural who you are, I want sniffing yours to be something that people do not see as a weird thing. I do it throughout the day. And I it brings me back and it makes me happy again. Yeah. So and because it’s so good that’s also part of it. If you put on too much then yeah, it’s going to be a lot in all the public places. But if you put on just enough that you can continually experience it throughout the day, then that’s the difference. Essential oils, you put it on and it’s almost forgotten, but I’m creating a scent that is long lasting. But it’s not something that people around you might smell it, but it’s one of the things that around you it’ll die down. But when it’s with you, it’ll stay with you, if that makes sense. Yeah, cool. So yeah, so that’s part of my self-care regimen. I guess the question for you is tell me a little bit about your self-care regimen, your self love regimen, as you said.
28:46
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, I think just being mindful and kind with myself is just where I’m at today, setting appropriate boundaries with people. That was not a thing for me for a long time. I didn’t know how to do that. So yeah, protecting myself against toxic people. That pertains to business as well. Like everything that pertains to my personal life is carried over in business, which is good, and trying to eat healthy foods, use my essential oils when necessary, and just try to keep an environment that’s beautiful.
29:31
I feel beautiful on the inside. I want my outside environment to be the same. I can’t always make that happen. So, I limit my time in public, too. That’s because toxic people affect me. I’m very sensitive. And they can bring me down. So I’m very, very conscious about how I live my life and the things that I do and surround myself with. To me that’s self-love.
30:03
TAMAR: Yeah, it’s very difficult because toxicity is so pervasive, I think, I have some elements of that. And I’ve seen that. I mean, that’s where my recovery comes from. There’s toxicity that kind of put me in this thrust for better man.
30:23
TERESON DUPUY: Right, right. I didn’t realize how much a toxic person could affect my energy just from being in the same breathing space with them. Like they don’t even have to open their mouth. It’s just their presence that can put me in a bad mood. It’s really strange and interesting. So yeah,
30:47
TAMAR: I totally get that. The other day I was sitting next to somebody. I won’t elaborate on the specifics here. But I felt this negative energy that was so oh, my God, it’s like this. It’s weird. It’s such a weird thing, because you don’t really know that. But then I heard some words come out of this person’s mouth. And it completely reflected the fact that she was really exuding this negative energy. Like, it wasn’t something that I was sure of until words came out of her mouth. Right? It was just such that kind of stuff. I felt anxiety sitting next to that energy.
31:31
TERESON DUPUY: And yeah, leave someone else today for that same reason. Yeah, just to close in proximity. If I could live in a snow globe, I mean, that’s my running jokes. I know, I don’t watch TV. I live in my snow globe. That’s not in my snow globe. Get snow glow for two days. See you when I feel better.
31:56
TAMAR: I definitely appreciate that. I need to use that phrase. I have enough snow globes, that my children actually understand what that is. They would understand that I need to be shut down for people and shut down from the world.
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah.
TAMAR: I guess I could I assume that you’re an introvert to some degree that you do need to withdraw as well.
32:18
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, I thought I was an extrovert for a really long time. I’m an extroverted introvert. I have now realized .
TAMAR: I first said that on this podcast,
32:29
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah. It’s a challenge. But I think a lot of entrepreneurs are probably introverted people and that want to make a difference in the world, right? Like, why do we even go there? If we don’t want to make a difference? I do know some entrepreneurs start a business to make money. And while that’s definitely why I’m starting a business, it’s really a desire to make a difference. And I think that rings true for a lot of, especially female entrepreneurs. They’re trying to do something, they want to make the world a better place, they want to help people. And that’s all the telltale signs of introverts and highly sensitive people.
33:17
TAMAR: Right. And I’m sure there are entrepreneurs who are extroverts, but I also feel that they’re already happy in their people focused businesses.
TERESON DUPUY: Right.
TAMAR: They’re not thinking, oh, well, when I withdraw, because they don’t need to withdraw. They’re trying to mentally process what they could be doing. Right. So we have to withdraw when we withdraw. We’re not thinking about people, we’re thinking about, yeah, how do we make the world a better place?
33:47
TERESON DUPUY: That is an internal drive for me. I don’t know why someone asked me the other day she’s walked by, why are you so willing to put all of your trauma, all of your recovery, all of these personal things? Like why are you so willing to talk about that with people? And I’m like, well, because if it gives one person hope, it makes everything that I’ve had to live through worth it. If I can give one person hope that recovery is possible, that a beautiful life after severe trauma is possible, then I’ve done my job, it gives it a purpose because otherwise, what is it all for?
TAMAR: Yeah.
TERESON DUPUY: That’s how I feel in my heart and in my head.
34:38
TAMAR: I mean, yeah, when you’re in your lowest of your lows, you never think that you’re going to survive. And like you said, like, sometimes you don’t necessarily think you’re going to be living again or living that much longer. Right, all of a sudden, you come out of that. And it’s surprising. Wow, the world, your life could be better than it was for, oh, maybe a couple of years throughout.
35:03
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, I could not have imagined what’s about to happen or even being in a place that I am today seven years ago. I just couldn’t see it.
35:15
I knew that there was a purpose to everything that was going on. I knew it was preparing me for this this next journey. I just knew that in my core that it had some sort of a purpose. And so I just wrote it out. And kept that faith that something bigger is going on and I don’t have to understand what it is. I just have to participate and stay alive and stay sober long enough to have, to heal, I guess. Who knows what the universe has in store for me?
35:54
TAMAR: Right. And but the fact that we’re already here and that we’ve overcome so much, yeah, I think you and I, to some degree, we’re in our infancy in terms of launching our new initiatives. And yet, there’s no way looking back at what we were, what we have left behind in order to come here. There’s nowhere to go but up. So yes, you’re going right climbing that second mountain. And right that that mountain at the top of that is going to be amazing. And they’ll probably be a little more climbing to do to get to the top.
36:32
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah. Oh, no doubt, no doubt, but I do feel like the heavy lifting. Part of the journey is over, there’s nothing that can happen that would be as bad as the things that I’ve already experienced or had had to go through. My mind was like, well, someone can die.
36:54
Okay, well, that’s about the worst thing that I could get sick. And that would be okay, too. People get sick, people die, things change. There’s nothing that can compare to anything else that I’ve already been through. So it’s like, okay, my mantra, I surrender, and I accept whatever it is, that’s supposed to happen.
37:24
TAMAR: Yeah, and I completely understand. Like, I would look back at the things that kind of would be stressors to me today. And they would be massive stressors in the past, but now it’s, yeah, it’s an acceptance, knowing that it’s not so bad, and you could still change your reality. Do you want to change your reality? Like, God forbid, I mean, God forbid, in some way. Things don’t work out financially and you have to make some financial adjustments. Okay, so accept it, we have our family, we have our health and it’s weird to look at this, weird that my past self would not be able to see it in this light. It would be one of the worst things that would happen to me. And now it’s like, mentally I’m in such a different place, that I’m able to embrace this. And to recognize that there’s more emotional happiness that envelops who I am, that the financial stress of what it was in the past is still a stressor, but it’s not a stressor. It’s not the do or die kind of stressor,
38:33
TERESON DUPUY: Right. It is not the end of the world. There’s always a solution.
TAMAR: Yeah. And sometimes we’re just going to have to experiment to take the solutions into your hands, like the factors that I couldn’t figure out how to do that. And now I’m like, what, I’m creating my future. I need to do that. That’s what part of being an entrepreneur is part of like, being able to create, to not be beholden to other people, but to take your reality and seize it by its horns.
38:59
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, I just wrote a response to someone’s article about that very same thing. They were, complaining about the New Orleans ecosystem, not supporting entrepreneurs. I’m like, hold on, if you’re a real entrepreneur, you’ll go find solutions, the solutions that you’re looking for, you’re not going to sit around and wait for a place to evolve or more incubators to start or more people to invest. You’ll go and find the money; you’ll go find the resources and you will make it happen.
TAMAR: Right.
TERESON DUPUY: That’s what the entrepreneur is. It’s hard.
39:31
TAMAR: Yeah. It’s sort of the same thing as like a grunt worker and you’re so unhappy in your quote, unquote, dead end job. Well, you don’t have to be in that dead end job. Find, create your own. Either moonlight and build something separately, because you’re not working. Hopefully you’re not working 24 times seven hours a week. You’re not working all those time. You take an hour or two a day and start building something and then make that happen. Take the initiative to create your future because we all have the ability to do that.
40:03
TERESON DUPUY: Right. I totally agree.
40:07
TAMAR: Yeah. So let me ask you another question. I’m looking at yourself today. If you can give advice to your early self pre company number one, before 1998, whatever it was, if you can give yourself some advice, what would your advice be?
40:27
TERESON DUPUY: Keep the Birkenstocks on the ground.
40:30
TAMAR: I like it. I like it. Don’t dress up or don’t get business casual, because it’s all about enjoying the life.
40:39
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, don’t even buy that first Fendi purse or the boots or all of that stuff. Just don’t do it. Keep the Birkenstocks on your feet, stay grounded. And be aware of the Joneses. That would be my sink. My most valuable advice to myself, beware.
41:03
TAMAR: I like it. Cool, awesome. All right. So tell me Tereson, where can people find you, follow your journey and buy products or whatever? Share your social links and your URLs.
41:18
TERESON DUPUY: Yeah, there’s a few places people can find me and I’m going to spell my name because it’s not an easy one. They can go to teresondupuy.com which is t e, r, e, s, o, n, d, u, p, u, y.com. All my links are there, they can follow tereson on Facebook, if they care to or tereson on Instagram. I’m not a big Instagrammer. But if they really want to connect with me, they can buy my book Superpowers for Entrepreneurs on Amazon. And it’s everything that we’ve talked about, I outline exactly how to do the things that I’ve done, I’ve basically taken the 12 steps, which are made pretty popular in addiction recovery programs, and I’ve altered them for entrepreneurs, so no addiction required. It’s if you really want to run a business based in surrender, and you want to make sure that you are not the problem in your business, this gives someone all the tools that they need to start incorporating a little bit more spiritual power into their life, they don’t even have to be a spiritual person. But step one is, knowing what we can’t control, and we can get our heads around our control issues. We can be open something else is trying to guide us into doing and she talks about a little bit about a faith in the universe, or consciousness and meditation and looking at our own character liabilities and what might be based in trauma and how to let some of that stuff go. And it’s not that difficult, it’s not as hard as you might think. So, Superpowers for Entrepreneurs on Amazon, and then I coach sporadically when I have time, if people want to work with me and all that.
43:12
TAMAR: Cool. So your memoir is going to be another book then, I guess.
TERESON DUPUY: That’s going to be another book on this company called Uni Underwear. By the way, they can go to Love Uni. While you and I were looking for people to test their product right now. They’re not for sale, probably not until the first quarter of next year.
43:32
TAMAR: 2020 or 2021?
TERESON DUPUY: 2020. Yeah.
TAMAR: That’s very soon, very soon.
43:39
TERESON DUPUY: Yes, yes, I’m heading your way literally at 5am to go to go work with our designers to finish all the technical design on it. So, hopefully, if anybody leaks anything, if they need leakproof underwear, they can purchase them from us and hopefully won’t be one of our first customers. But yeah, the memoir is called Refusing to Drown. And it is my hope that that book just inspires people and gives them hope when they’re an entrepreneur, trauma survivor, in recovery, not in recovery, that somehow it sparks some sort of hope, because we all need that.
44:20
TAMAR: Well, I already feel hopeful just listening to everything you’ve said. And I look forward to reading all these things. I think, as you can tell, I surrounded myself with the books that helped me seize the day. And I do believe that these align with that completely. So I’m looking forward to that. And I can’t wait. So tell me when that memoir is about to come out because I am no radar.
44:45
TAMAR: Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
44:48
TERESON DUPUY: Thanks for having me.
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