Meghan Ritchie and Tiffany Zhong turned their passions into careers. The two young entrepreneurs join Cheddar to give advice and perspective on how to lead and grow as a female inventor and trailblazer.
Zhong became a venture capitalist at just 19-years-old. Now, she has taken her experience and expertise with Gen Z to her own consumer insight firm, Zebra Intelligence.
Ritchie loved baking baked goods and started selling Megpies as a fun side hustle. Once it started to take off, she completely dedicated herself to the idea. Now, Megpies sell in Starbucks across the United States.
Howard Lorber, chairman, president, and CEO of Douglas Elliman Inc., and Scott Durkin, CEO of Douglas Elliman Realty, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about the real estate brokerage company's recent IPO launch on the New York Stock Exchange following the spinoff of its tobacco subsidiary Vector Group. "There are many investors that cannot buy tobacco because of their mandates," said Lorber. "And therefore splitting off Douglas Elliman the real estate, and there's a lot of people looking for real estate investments, so they'll be able to buy Douglas Elliman, and those that want tobacco can buy Vector alone." The pair also discuss the future of New York real estate and the auxiliary business the property broker sees as growth prospects.
Despite a champagne shortage ahead of New Year's Eve, adult beverage retailers are staying optimistic about 2022. Cathy Lewenberg, COO at online alcoholic beverages platform Drizly, joined Cheddar to talk about the sunny outlook for next year and the current state of the industry. She noted a 20 percent higher demand for champagne year-over-year has led to the holiday's shortfall and that the spirit category is continuing to thrive with tequila on pace to outsell vodka for the first time. "Tequila has just been on fire on our platform. It's grown 13 percent in share on our platform over the last couple of years where vodka obviously had been the leader," she said. "Tequila is the top thing in addition to bourbon that retailers are looking to give more shelf space to in 2022."
Travel expert Francesca Page joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to break down how the omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge of cases on cruise ships is impacting the industry, as the CDC is actively monitoring at least 92 ships for outbreaks. Page also talked about the upcoming expiration of the CDC's conditional sailing order mandating mask-wearing and addressed passenger concerns. "Everyone is asking, financially, should I cancel my cruise should COVID surges keep going, which it looks they are, and to a large degree I think that decision is very personal and is based on one's own risk tolerance," she said.
