I am so glad you're here for this incredible part two episode with founder and CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolf Herd, who shares stories and insights she's never shared before. Coming up in this episode.
Whitney crying, I am crying my lashes off. On the outside, the world watched this incredible woman with an 18-month-old son on her hip take Bumble public. I remember seeing it everywhere, the confetti, your yellow blazer, you on the cover of every magazine. Everyone watching with awe and inspiration. You've shared that while it looked one way on the outside, it was actually one of the worst days of your life.
Definitely. I went home and cried after the IPO. Why was I crying?
You had a download at 17 saying this is your purpose when you were at one of the lowest moments in your life, trying to come out of an abusive relationship. Now millions of people have been impacted by what you've imagined and helped create.
I will share one story of something that changed my life. This is so wild. If you're not a believer, take a coffee break. I was in the hospital with postpartum preeclampsia, thinking this is hell on Earth. A nurse came in, grabbed my hand, and said, 'You're Whitney from Bumble, right?' She told me she was in a toxic marriage for a long time, read about what I did with Bumble, and it gave her the courage to leave. She rebuilt her strength, downloaded Bumble, and met her fiancé, whose name is Bobby Lee. After an abusive marriage, that was my whole purpose. If that's not the universe telling you the intention was pure and good, I don't know what is. She's the one to tell you you're going to be okay when you literally don't know if you're dying.
Have you ever or do you ever now deal with impostor syndrome?
Not anymore. No. I was riddled in it. I climbed up to the top of this mountain and then crashed down. The stock fell 80%. I stopped getting invited to the cool conferences. It hurt. Many tears were cried. But that's where I'm at now, Jamie. You can't hurt my feelings anymore. I went through an ego death, and now I lead with love, not fear or insecurity. I genuinely do not care what people think. I wasn't there a year ago.
And I wasn't there a year ago for you to have two days crying just over a year ago, and then to come out of it with this kind of freedom. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
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Jamie Kern Lima. Whitney Wolf Herd, welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima Show.
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
When you talk about doing it for us, and you shared everything you went through as a teenage girl, the moment on the floor after Tinder, realizing how you're going to help the collective us. Can you share the number of people who have written you messages because of their experience with Bumble? Who have gained confidence, gotten in touch with their self-worth, left abusive relationships because of what you've created? How does it feel in your soul to know how many people continue to share stories with you on how what you've created has changed their lives?
Well, thank you for acknowledging that. You said a very important word: team. The team you're surrounded with is where the magic is. I'm deeply grateful to our team past, present, and future. I will share one story that changed my life. After I had my first son, Bobby, my husband's grandfather, Bobby Lee, was a huge inspiration. He was hanging on to see the baby be born. Our son was born on Granddaddy's birthday, December 9th, and we named him Bobby Lee II. Granddaddy passed five days later. I woke up with a terrible headache, checked my blood pressure, and it was 180 over 125. I had postpartum preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, which can be fatal. I was in the hospital, alone, my husband at the funeral. A nurse came in, turned on the lights, and said, 'You're Whitney from Bumble, right?' She told me she was in a toxic marriage, read about me, and it gave her the courage to leave. She rebuilt herself, downloaded Bumble, and met a man named Bobby Lee. She said, 'I met Bobby Lee on Bumble after an abusive marriage. That's my whole story, my purpose.' It was Bobby Lee's funeral and baby Bobby Lee was at home. If that's not the universe telling you the intention was pure, I don't know what is. She's the one to tell you you're going to be okay when you don't know if you're dying.
Whitney, I am crying my lashes off. That's so powerful. I think a lot of people have gone through hard times, and through hearing your story, they'll understand that their best days can be ahead. Your worst days can also be little cracks of light. That was the worst day ever, but it ended up being profound. We have to fall down to learn the lesson or see the good.
I love one of the things I love so much about this show is we often talk about the story behind the story. That's where people get inspiration and see what's possible. On the outside, the world watched this incredible woman with an 18-month-old son on her hip take Bumble public. I remember seeing the confetti, your yellow blazer, you on the cover of every magazine. Everyone watching with awe and inspiration. You've shared that while it looked one way on the outside, it was actually one of the worst days of your life.
Definitely. I went home and cried after the IPO. Why was I crying? On the surface, I should be popping bottles celebrating. I was a wreck. I was so depleted, so disconnected from myself. It was all about getting to the top of the mountain. Exhaustion. That beautiful baby on my hip hadn't seen his mom rested in so long. I felt like I had to get there, do it. The quest for the greater good can come at the expense of ourselves. That's a lesson I've learned over the last year. I don't call it time off, I call it time in. We need to go in and reconnect because it's all so crazy out here. If we don't replenish our energy, we're just shells. This year in has been a gift because I've had time to pause and realize the shiny objects don't matter. If you're not healthy, your team's not healthy. You have to set the tone at the top. Don't pretend to women around the world that you can balance a baby on your hip and take a company public for $15 billion all on a Monday and it's all gravy. It's hard, and that's okay. You can do it, but you can't do everything all at once without something breaking. The thing that broke was me.
