The Duchess of Sussex has admitted the original name for lifestyle brand As Ever became a ‘word salad’, as she released the third episode of her new podcast. Meghan Markle originally introduced her latest business venture selling products such as raspberry spread as American Riviera Orchard in March last year. However, she faced trademarking setbacks and switched the name to As Ever in February, just weeks before the launch – with Netflix now a new partner in the business.
The Duchess spoke about the name in the third episode of her podcast Confessions Of A Female Founder, in which she interviewed her friend, hair colourist Kadi Lee. She said: ‘I had secured As Ever as a name in 2022, and then as everything started to evolve last year, and bringing in a partner the size that it was, and it was just so interesting. Because you remember, I said, ‘I like American Riviera as an umbrella,’ and then be able to have verticals beneath it. And maybe have the ‘Orchard’ really small. But when that’s not feasible… suddenly it became this word salad. I didn’t love that so much.’
Meghan continued: ‘I was like, ‘OK, well let’s go back to the thing that I’ve always loved. Let’s use the name that I protected for a reason that had been sort of under wraps’. And then we were able to focus in the quiet and put our heads down and build on something that no one was sniffing around to even see about.
Meghan’s guest Lee runs the Highbrow Hippie salon in the Los Angeles area of Venice, with her clients including Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Sigourney Weaver. The Duchess revealed last November that she had invested in the company, telling InStyle at the time that she was ‘so proud to invest in her as a friend and as a female founder’. Meghan also attended a launch event for the brand in Venice and posed for photos with Lee and celebrity hairstylist Serge Normant, who styled her hair for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor in 2018.
Meghan Markle with Kadi Lee at a Highbrow Hippie event in Venice, California, last November
The Duchess described Lee in the podcast as a ‘dear friend’ and said people ‘can’t get enough’ of Lee’s products. Lee also said they first met in 2020, which was the year Meghan stepped down as a senior royal with Harry and moved her family to California. Meghan and Lee met through Normant, and Lee styled Meghan’s hair last year for the Los Angeles children’s hospital gala in October, the ESPN Espy Awards in July and the Invictus Games One Year to Go event in February.
The Duchess of Sussex launched her ‘Confessions Of A Female Founder’ podcast last month
Their brand also promotes ‘conscious living’ and sells smokeless incense, California olive oil, Mason Pearson hairbrushes and magnesium food supplements. In 2020, the pair attended a Black Lives Matter march and highlighted how they were the only black-owned business on their street. In May 2023, the salon revealed that Meghan had booked in for a hair colouring session with Lee ahead of the Women of Vision awards in New York.
Meghan with poet Cleo Wade (left) and Kadi Lee (right) to celebrate her 42nd birthday in 2023
Their conversation is the latest instalment from Meghan’s new eight-part podcast with Lemonada Media, which promised ‘girl talk’ and advice on how to create ‘billion-dollar businesses’. It follows the Duchess’s Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan coming out last month and the launch As Ever, which is selling flower sprinkles and herbal tea.
Kadi Lee’s celebrity clients include Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts (pictured together)
In February, Meghan revealed she had renamed her lifestyle brand to ‘As Ever’ and posted a rare image of her young daughter Lilibet to accompany the announcement. She said at the time: ‘Last year, I had thought ‘You know what, American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name, it’s my neighbourhood, it’s a nickname for Santa Barbara’. But it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area.
Meghan with Kadi Lee and her hair stylist Serge Normant at the Highbrow Hippie event in Venice, California, in November 2024
The latest episode of Meghan’s podcast comes after she spoke about ‘juggling it all’ and nursing a poorly Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet at home in episode two last week. Meghan revealed how, at the time of recording, one of her children had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) – a common cause of coughs and colds – and the other influenza A – a form of flu.
Serge Normant styled Meghan’s hair for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor in May 2018
Speaking to Reshma Saujani, founder of the not-for-profit Girls Who Code, she also touched on her experience of miscarriage and having to ‘let something go that you plan to love for a long time’. Meghan had a miscarriage in July 2020, when her eldest child Archie was one, revealing her heartbreak in an article for The New York Times later that year.
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