Second Life Podcast: How Hannah Bronfman Survived Her Worst Career Breakup

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief innovation officer at Who What Wear's parent company, Clique Brands, each episode will give you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes, and stay tuned—we'll be releasing new episodes on Mondays.

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(Image credit: Second Life )

As it turns out, Hannah Bronfman's most valuable college experience came from outside the art-strewn walls of the classroom. While attending liberal arts college Bard in upstate New York, where she was a sculpture major, she started deejaying at a small bar once a week. The side gig was enough to spark a change of heart for Bronfman, who soon realized that her dream of pursuing fine arts probably wasn't going to pay the bills.

Through connections with friends, Bronfman started deejaying at nightclubs in New York City but quickly burnt out on the all-nighters that put her love for cooking and working out on the back burner. Alas, there was a solution: She realized she could transition to deejaying fashion and corporate events, where she could maintain more reasonable hours. It was during this time that Bronfman began to understand her worth and learned to stick up for herself—which involved creating an email address for a fake assistant named Virginia so she could negotiate rates without seeming like the "bad guy." Brilliant, right?

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From there, Bronfman went on to launch the first on-demand beauty app, Beautified, which allowed users to book last-minute appointments with a selection of handpicked salons and spas. But a falling-out with a business partner triggered the app's demise, which was a punch to the gut for Bronfman. "It was the worst breakup I've ever gone through," she told Kerr of the end of Beautified. "By the way, no romantic [relationship] had ever made me feel as heartbroken as I was about my business."

Listen to Episode 44 of Second Life to find out the lessons Bronfman learned from her business failure and how she pivoted into the wellness space to run her lifestyle company, HBFit; represent Adidas as a global ambassador; and author a new book, Do What Feels Good.

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Head to iTunes to subscribe to Second Life and hear the full episode.

Associate Director, Fashion News

Erin got her start as a Who What Wear intern over 13 years ago—back when the site only published a single story per day. (Who What Wear has since increased that number twentyfold.) She graduated magna cum laude from USC, which is how she ended up moving to Los Angeles from her hometown of San Diego. In college, she also interned at Refinery29, where she was promoted to editorial assistant and then assistant editor. After nearly three years at R29, she came back to WWW in 2016, where she currently holds the title of Associate Director of Fashion News (as well as the unofficial title of resident royal expert—in case you haven't noticed her numerous Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton stories). She spends her days trying to incorporate her idols, Anna Wintour and Roger Federer, into as many stories as possible. Outside of work, she loves tennis, classic rock, traveling, and smothering her dog with affection.