The Duchess of Sussex expands her business and nears billionaire status. Photo / Leon Bennett / FilmMagic
The Duchess of Sussex expands her business and nears billionaire status. Photo / Leon Bennett / FilmMagic
The Duchess of Sussex has high hopes for online shop and lifestyle brand, a well-placed source reveals.
The Duchess of Sussex is convinced her new business ventures will make her extremely wealthy, The Telegraph can reveal.
A well-placed source said Meghan “thinks she’s going to be a billionaire” and that the team of executives she has hired can get her there.
It comes as the Duchess promised her new “girl talk” podcast, Confessions Of A Female Founder, will advise listeners on how to turn “small ideas into billion-dollar businesses”.
However, speaking in a short trailer for the series, she reassured one guest it was more “dolphin tank” than “shark tank”, adding: “These are friendly waters.”
The eight-part podcast, which launches next month, will mark the latest in a flurry of output from the Duchess, following the release of With Love, Meghan, her widely criticised Netflix lifestyle series.
On Monday, she launched an online shop, offering her followers the chance to emulate her style by snapping up the same high-end clothes and accessories she wore either during the filming of the show or on recent engagements.
She will receive commission on some, but not all, of the products featured.
Her initial collection included items such as a £712 ($1606) handbag from Cesta Collective, a brand she revealed she had invested in last summer, and items made in collaboration with friends including Abigail Spencer, her former Suits co-star, stylist Cleo Wade and designer Clare Waight Keller.
Meghan Markle's new online shop.
The Duchess has also added a beauty collection to her website, promoting products including a £195 ($440) Tata Harper face mask set and Weleda Skin Food, a popular moisturiser.
The list of 25 items also features a Mac eye liner, a dry shampoo, shellac nail varnish and a $24 (£18.50) Laneige “lip sleeping mask”. Also promoted is a product owned by Kadi Lee, her friend and hairdresser, otherwise known as Highbrow Hippie, described as a “root replenish active growth serum” that costs $88 (£68).
Meanwhile, the Duchess is also preparing to launch her brand, As Ever, which will promote a domestic idyll with the sale of food and kitchen paraphernalia such as dried biscuit mixes and edible flower sprinkles.
The podcast will feature the Duchess interviewing notable female entrepreneurs as she explores “the twists and turns of building a business”.
‘I’m building a business of my own’
In a short trailer released on Tuesday, the former Suits actress said: “I’m Meghan, and this is Confessions Of A Female Founder, a show where I chat with female entrepreneurs and friends about the sleepless nights, the lessons [learned] and the laser focus that got them to where they are today.”
She added: “We’re diving into the highs – and the lows – and the kind of advice that turns small ideas into billion-dollar businesses. And of course, we’re going to get some girl talk.
“And through it all, I’m building a business of my own and getting all sorts of practical advice along the way that I’m very excited to share with you.”
Her words, broadcast against an upbeat track called Crabbuckit by k-os, a Canadian hip hop artist, were interspersed with audio from the show as various unidentified guests spoke about their own successes and struggles.
“It just started climbing and climbing and climbing, and there was 5000, 10,000 people on our website,” one said, while another added: “I’m sitting there the next day, I’ve pissed off everybody, I’m broke, and no one is calling me.”
Another unidentified guest said: “I knew in that moment I’d rather stand for something than sell a whole tonne of product and stand for nothing.”
Hinting that business was not the only topic under discussion, the Duchess was also heard asking a guest about her relationship status.
“Are you saying you’re not single now? Have I missed something in the past couple weeks? What’s happening?” she asked, as they both laughed, while also reminding themselves to stay focused.
It was announced last year that the Duchess had signed a deal with Lemonada Media, a US-based company, to record new shows.
The podcast is the first by the Duchess since Archetypes, which she released on Spotify in 2022.
The 12-part series was the only offering to emerge from the Sussexes’ $20 million Spotify deal, aside from a brief “holiday special”, and was not renewed for a second series.
A few months after its release, it was confirmed Spotify and Archewell Audio had “mutually agreed to part ways”. A Sussex spokesman said Meghan would continue to “develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.”
The Duchess said at the end of the new trailer: “So join me for Confessions Of A Female Founder from Lemonada Media, which, by the way, is also female-founded, launching April 8, wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s do this, ladies.”
