Interviews with people who run the show + inspire us to live well.
LK: What drip are you getting?
BB: I am getting the NutriCleanse, which I am hoping will do a lot of things I need it to do because I am exhausted. I am exhausted because I have launched a few new businesses, and I’ve been lucky enough to be traveling with my husband and meeting up with the kids for NYC dinners.
LK: We’ve known each other for several years, and so I already know your nonnegotiables are coffee and tequila, but it’s also going out to dinner, right?
BB: I go out to dinner probably four nights a week. I’ve gotten really good at what I am ordering. I ask them to prepare something special for me, like a plain grilled fish, and a steamed vegetable and ask for olive oil on the side. And vodka, I’m on vodka now. I put it on ice, I mix half of it with water and put cucumber in it so it’s a spa drink. I am really into a Titomojito without ice.
LK: What’s your go-to meal at home?
BB: Scrambled eggs. Cracked pepper and everything bagel seasoning. Fresh truffles if I am lucky enough to have some. My son owns a truffle bush in Italy. Or if I have any caviar hanging around, there is nothing like caviar and scrambled eggs.
LK: What do you like to do to chill?
BB: The best way that I chill is when I go to the Bahamas. We have a home in the Bahamas and it’s honestly one of the few places I can sit in a chair and read. I’m not a sun worshipper anymore, when everyone else is jumping in the water and day drinking, I’m sitting under an umbrella and reading or doing something on my iPad. I’ve read a whole bunch of memoirs and biographies and I actually just bought a book of Mrs. Bettencourt, one of the founders of L’Oréal and she has quite an interesting background.
LK: So when you go to the Bahamas, do you disconnect there?
BB: I wouldn’t say I am disconnected. Anywhere you go there is wifi, there is cell. Certainly if it’s a Sunday or a holiday I don’t talk to anyone on my team but when I am there during the week I am constantly on. I actually get a lot more work done when I am there like editing pictures and writing for JustBobbi and I actually just discovered the easiest thing in the world. I am using VoiceMemo and now I just talk into it and someone transcribes it and then we edit it. I don’t know how to type so it is very challenging for me to write. I have written all nine of my books by hand.
LK: So staying out of the sun is your anti-aging skin secret?
BB: I wear a hat and I walk for about an hour and a half in the morning. I play pickle ball in the afternoon so I’m out in the sun, I’m just not laying on the beach. And by the way, I was the kid that was a sun worshipper, with not only oil, but baby oil and iodine. I grew up in Chicago so as soon as the sun came up in March I would lay in a box that had tin foil in it. It was like an old refrigerator box and my friends and I would just look at the sun and put the baby oil on. No one knew it was bad for you back then! We were also smoking cigarettes at 16 too (quit at 21). Things have luckily changed.
LK: How do you prioritize your health while running a business?
BB: My health honestly has to be #1 because if I don’t take care of myself I won’t have energy. This morning I did yoga. Every Monday morning I have a yoga instructor come to the house. I have a Peloton in my bedroom so there are no excuses. I just started doing their weights. And I walk. Walking for me is probably the most beneficial thing I do because it helps me de-stress. I listen to podcasts or I talk on the phone – either business meetings or catch up with friends. A couple of my besties live near me and we walk for an hour and a half on the weekends. You just get it all out. It’s like seeing a shrink.
LK: What wellness trend you want to see more of?
BB: I would like to see more of something I haven’t done at all and that is meditation. That is something I really have to do. I don’t know how to sit still mentally, my mind goes a million miles an hour. I have downloaded the app and in yoga you do a few minutes of it. We have a tree on our beach in the Bahamas and I bring a chair down there and I’ll meditate for 3 - 5 minutes.
LK: Anything you haven’t been able to get on board with?
BB: Probably so many things. I have tried everything – intermittent fasting, doesn’t work for me. Keto. Doesn’t work for me. What I have learned is just because it works for the thousands of instagrammers doesn’t mean it works for you. I tried the celery juice. Didn’t work for me either.
LK: It is so true. It is all very individual and honestly those two that you mentioned [keto and intermittent fasting] are not for everyone and should be tried with a lot of caution. Keto is very intense.
BB: And for me, as is being a vegan. I’ve tried vegan delivery services and all I get is stomach aches. It’s too much fiber, too many carbs, too much something for me. I’ve learned what works best for me, and you have known me a long time so you know I have been trying to deal with my digestion forever and I have finally figured things out. I can’t eat a lot at the same time. If I eat small amounts I digest things fine. Probiotics -- I take all the time and it makes a big difference.
Of the products in my line, I am completely addicted to the Afternoon Chocolate because it fills me up, it gives me energy, there is no refined sugar and it also keeps me full for like 3 hours. And then there is the overnight vanilla, which is collagen based. It has magnesium so it helps you relax, it has hyaluronic acid so it hydrates your skin, but it literally turns off your sweet tooth. So you can come home at night and have this really warm vanilla tea and you don’t open up the cabinets and search for something sweet.
LK: With that said, what is your current wellness philosophy?
BB: Not to be too extreme. Try to find out what works for me. Really enjoy the moments I am out to dinner because I am usually with my posse, which are my three sons, my husband, nephews, girlfriends and honestly that is really what life is about. It’s really special time and time to just focus on each other.
What’s next?
I’m currently working on a podcast called Long Story Short, I have already done 40 different episodes, JustBobbi.com the editorial site, and Evolution18. I’m really excited to have such a giant platform with Walmart for Evolution18. It’s really a great price point for people who don’t usually spend a lot of money on themselves. It’s a combination of me being able to empower, teach, and help people learn how to live a healthier, better life.
BB: Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur by the way. Us entrepreneurs need a second in command and a third in command. But if you are an entrepreneur you should make sure you have a product you believe in. Not just because it looks like someone else’s or because you want to have a granola company. It better be something that there is a point of difference, you better think it is the best thing on the market and just know that whenever you have a business it is like having a child. You have to nurture it, you have to take steps back, you have to put your all into it. It’s nonstop.
Do you have any words of advice for entrepreneurs or people wanted to start their own business?
BB: Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur by the way. Us entrepreneurs need a second in command and a third in command. But if you are an entrepreneur you should make sure you have a product you believe in. Not just because it looks like someone else’s or because you want to have a granola company. It better be something that there is a point of difference, you better think it is the best thing on the market and just know that whenever you have a business it is like having a child. You have to nurture it, you have to take steps back, you have to put your all into it. It’s nonstop.
LK: How do you look for that second and third in command? What would you look for?
BB: I always look to people who support me to have skills I don’t have. I also look for people to be kind, funny, super smart with a thick skin, and a wicked sense of humor.
Tell us something nobody knows.
BB: I am self diagnosed OCD and ADD. So I am either lining things up or messing them up. Sometimes it is a struggle when I feel either of those ways and the only way for me to get control of it is to exercise, hydrate, and breathe. Hydration is so important for your brain. I put sea salt in my water and it is one of the reasons I made a hydration capsule to help it get into your system.
Photos by Diana Zapata.
Clean Market is a modern wellness destination in the heart of NYC. Explore purposeful nutrition at our organic cafe, stock up on effective and clinically tested products at our apothecary market, and utilize innovative services (IV drips, cryotherapy, full-spectrum infrared saunas, and more) to optimize, energize, and transform your life. This is modern wellness for everyone, everyday.