Eat My Words

Johanna Almstead:
Hello everyone. I am in my favorite part, my little menu planning mode for my next guest, and I'm feeling very seafood inspired because I just went to this wonderful seafood shop near me where I can get the most fresh, most delicious things, and I'm feeling the summer vibes and kind of all I want to do is drink chilled wine and eat yummy seafood.
So for my next guest, I'm going to go chilled oysters. I saw these gorgeous oysters today and I was like, those feel luxurious, just like my next guest, she's quite luxurious. Some beautiful, beautiful East coast oysters, I'm going to serve those with some lovely tangy mignonette, and then also a traditional kind of cocktail sauce. And I like to serve those with just some yummy, beautifully fresh baked breadsticks, good salty breadsticks, and nice butter. Not crazy, just a little bit of crunch and a little bit of salt and a little bit of butter to soak up some of the champagne that I think we're going to open. Champagne and oysters, why not? And there's this champagne that I get at a local place near me called Pierre Peters, and it's not super expensive, but so, so delicious, so we're going to have that.
I'm going to do oysters and champagne and crispy breadsticks, and that's going to be our starters, and then just all these gorgeous tuna steaks. So I'm going to actually do some seared tuna, and I'm going to do two little dipping sauces on the side. I'm going to do a spicy mayo, ala a spicy tuna roll sort of vibe, and then I'm also going to do a little ginger soy that's not as heavy, and then you can kind of just dip your seared tuna into either. I'm going to do that with a shaved snap pea and pistachio salad that is so yummy and so summery and just crunchy and bright and delicious.
I'm also going to do another salad that I do that's really, really simple, but I think it'll be delicious with the tuna, is I just make this really, really simple cucumber salad. It is like dumb, dumb salad. It's so yummy though, just sliced cucumbers, a little bit of champagne vinaigrette, has to be champagne vinaigrette, so it's a little bit milder, tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a little splash of water and a little dash of sugar. So it starts to kind of bring out the sweetness of the cucumbers without being overly heavy, you almost start to get a little pickly vibe, but you still keep it really crispy, you don't let it get soggy. So I think those two salads on the side of the seared tuna will be delicious.
And I think I might try to do a little cold sesame noodle salad. I have never made one of those before, but I feel like it's sort of in the vibe here of just summer and light, and it's so hot out right now here where I am, and I think it'll be nice to have sort of a chilled cold salad instead of anything too hot. And with that, I'm actually, this may be controversial for people, but I'm actually going to serve this with a red wine. I'm going to serve it with a very, very, very chilled red, light, light red, like a Pinot Noir, or it's not really Beaujolais season, but you could do this with a Beaujolais also. I think tuna, because it's a bit heftier and it has a little bit more body and a little bit more flavor, I like a tuna with actually a very chilled red wine, so I'm going to do that and hope that she likes it.
And I'm feeling like a real mashup for music. I've been listening to Desiree like a lot, old school Desiree, maybe a little Fleetwood Mac, maybe some Haim, so that's what I'm feeling vibes wise. So I'm really excited for you guys to meet our next guest. She is beautiful and thoughtful and so wise, and has a very deep and rich and spiritual soul, and she cares deeply about beauty, and she cares deeply about women and making women feel beautiful. So I'm really, really excited for you guys to meet her, and I'm quite certain this is going to be a really great conversation, so let's dig in.
Hello everyone, and welcome to Eat My Words. I am so excited for my guest today. She is a highly acclaimed hair and makeup artist and owner of two salons, one on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and one in Pound Ridge, New York. She is regarded as a foremost authority on beauty. She is an award-winning author, beauty and style contributor, as well as a television and radio personality. She has worked with a long list of celebrities, who shall remain nameless, and legendary photographers, such as Patrick Demarchelier, Bruce Weber, Albert Watson, Norman Jean Roy, Nigel Parry, and Elliott Erwitt. Her work has been featured on the runways of New York Fashion Week for brands like Catherine Malandrino, Takun, Cynthia Rowley, DKNY, and more. Her extensive television experience includes several years as the resident beauty expert on NBC's Martha, as well as guest appearances on shows such as Katie Couric Show, CBS Early Show, Good Morning America, and many more.
For six years she hosted Beauty Talk on Sirius XM, a one-hour weekly radio show all about beauty and wellness. Her many industry accolades include Allure Magazine's Best of the Best and Bridal Beauty Experts, New York Times Styles' the Expert List, and Gotham Magazine's best hairdressers. She and her work have been featured in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, New York Times, Shape, Marie Claire, Martha Stewart Living, and Women's Wear Daily. She has also represented and consulted for high-profile beauty brands of companies including L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and more.
When not doing all of this and traveling for business, she works in her salons actually doing people's hair. She manages a full book of clients, training her staff, she's running her advanced academy for hairdressers from around the world, and I think most importantly, setting the creative tone for her company and the industry. Her approach to beauty is holistic and individual to each client, and being in her chair feels like a combination of super advanced beauty school, therapy, a science lab, and a great catch up with a dear and very knowledgeable friend. She's a wife, a dog mom to her Rhodesian Ridgeback Roman, who is gorgeous and the size of a small pony. She's an Airstream owner, a traveler, a speaker, and an educator. Eva Scrivo, welcome to Eat My Words. Thank you so, so much for being here.
Eva Scrivo:
It's so nice to see you, and thank you for such a beautiful introduction.
Johanna Almstead:
Thank you so much for taking time out of your crazy life. Where did your journey begin?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, I'm from the Midwest and I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. My mother was a model, my father, a pseudo designer/plastic surgeon.
Johanna Almstead:
Wow.
Eva Scrivo:
Wannabe plastic surgeon, a thespian, but he was an interior designer.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh wow.
Eva Scrivo:
And I grew up with a lot of design around me and a lot of excitement around femininity and fashion, and that was really celebrated. My mother was extremely glamorous, she was with us until a year ago, and she was forever an inspiration for us. And my father was actually a hairdresser before he became a designer, I'm a third generation stylist. My grandfather-
Johanna Almstead:
I didn't know that.
Eva Scrivo:
My grandfather was a barber from Italian heritage, and the concept of design and shape and communication with who we are and how we live our lives was always a part of how I was raised and my environment, and beauty felt like a very natural progression, and it almost felt like an element of design for me where shape and the haircut was about the couture and the shape and the design, and the color was like paint and artistry, or perhaps makeup or fabric.
So I look at beauty as a design, bespoke, very personalized approach when I work with clients. I've always been motivated by fashion. Coming from Detroit, there's a lot of creativity that comes out of Detroit. I mean, from Motown to incredible music and fashion designers, and somewhat very close to New York. And we're very Eastern influenced as a state, it's only an hour away from New York. So my dream was, of course, to move to New York, coming from a small town in Michigan, and be a small fish that could rise to become a big fish in a big pond, but to be around other creative people, not just be a big fish in a small pond, but to be inspired and learn and grow and be mentored by the best of the best. I knew I wanted to be in New York from being a teenager, really.
Johanna Almstead:
And did you know that you wanted to work in the beauty industry or you just wanted to get to New York?
Eva Scrivo:
I wanted to be in a creative field. I had always worked with my hands, I threw pots, I was in art school. I went to drama school and theater school growing up, so I loved connecting with people and talking and sharing and expressing myself. And I think that coming from such a creative environment that was very supportive of a craft, I wasn't encouraged to go to college if I didn't want to, I wasn't encouraged to do anything my parents wanted to do, it was really about what I wanted to do, and I feel very lucky in that way.
Johanna Almstead:
I think that's rare too.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes, it is.
Johanna Almstead:
I think that a lot of, especially back then, I feel like a little bit more now parents are sort of understanding that you got to let people do what they want to do, but I feel like back then there was a lot of expectation around, at least in my house there certainly was, but I think a lot of my friends too, people had pretty strong expectations about what they thought their kids were going to do, and should do, and the kind of school they should go to, and all that stuff.
Eva Scrivo:
Well, it's often a projection of what they want to do, or what they didn't do, or what they can be proud of. So I think the best parenting comes from really tapping into the individual and connecting with what's important to them and what resonates with them. I feel very lucky to work with my hands. I will not be replaced by AI, I know that.
Johanna Almstead:
That is true.
Eva Scrivo:
I love working with people, I love having client interface, I love training and teaching my staff. I think people who work with their hands are actually less depressed. It's proven.
Johanna Almstead:
Is that proven?
Eva Scrivo:
It's proven, yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Is that real fact? I love that.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely something to creation and making the makers, right? Doing things with your hands. I think that's kind of amazing.
So how did you get into the business? What did you do when you came to New York?
Eva Scrivo:
I first moved to Europe when I was about 18, 19 years old, and I assisted a lot of very talented people, really working for free, offering my services, connecting with photographers, designers, doing as much as I could do. Never saying no I think is really important, and to be really open and vulnerable and happy to have these experiences and these opportunities. So I rarely said no, I worked seven days a week, and I soon realized that Europe was amazing for the opportunities, especially in fashion, they have over a hundred magazines at the time to our top 10 in the '90s, so there was just a lot of opportunity there.
So working with all of these photographers, I soon realized that America was the place to make money and become successful, and Europe was a wonderful place to enjoy it, and I feel so proud to be an American citizen and so fortunate to be a woman born in this country that I pretty much ran back to the United States after a couple years of experience and working there, and I knew that New York would be my home professionally. I wanted to be in a European influenced environment, I think New York is an island somewhere between America and Europe, and I love it, I fell in love with it. I moved to the East Village immediately, I lived in a rent controlled apartment that I was fortunate enough to come across, and I had a lot of support and love around me, but I really didn't know anyone.
So my first job was at Bergdorf Goodman actually, where I had a background in sales, which I think is super important for any entrepreneur to have, a way to learn to communicate about yourself and connect with others, and customer service being such an important part of all business, gave me such a unique opportunity. I also worked at a beautiful couture store in Michigan that I put myself through beauty school, it was called Clara Perrone, which was very much like a Charivari in the '90s in New York City. And that taught me a lot about customer service and really understanding how to make women feel good, how to connect to what they really want, how to choose the most flattering shapes and work with their personal style. So it was great experience, I recommend working in retail or a restaurant.
Johanna Almstead:
I say that to everyone, everyone in the world should work in a restaurant once and should work on a retail floor once.
Eva Scrivo:
And it's not so much being subservient to people, it's really caring about the customer experience and being invested in making sure that somebody is really engaged and having a wonderful time. And no matter what business you're in, that is going to greatly affect your success and the amount of people that you have in your life.
Johanna Almstead:
Totally.
Eva Scrivo:
It all affects the bottom line. And so I always say happy customers lead to glowing, beautiful faces, which lead to compliments and lead to referrals. I've never used social media as a platform to run or grow my business in any way, I was always lucky enough to have referrals and have clients be walking advertisements. So I think that there's a lot of power in numbers, of course, and I'm lucky to have always had a lot of clients, but I'm a big believer that get people talking about you, connect with one person at a time, and you'll have many.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I think that's so true. It's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about is the culture of your company, because being a blonde in the fashion world, I've made the rounds of all the best hair salons in New York City, and yours always feels so different to me. It feels calm, which is saying something in a business that is, I know, a lot of high pressure, and there's a lot of handholding, and you have to have a certain number of people through the door. But it also feels to me the most creative. I feel like your process feels individual to me every time, and very fluid. You're constantly tweaking and improving, and when you have some help to get as blonde as I get, often when I would go to other salons, you get your recipe, this is your formula, this is it, and they sort of slap it on, even in these very, very high end salons, and there's no massaging it, there's no working through it, there's no, let's talk about this, we do something different.
And I feel like every time I come to you, and it feels to me like the other artists in your salon also take the same approach, every time it's like the first time. Every time we're like, "Okay, what are we doing here? What are we doing?" You're tweaking, you're always halfway through, you're like, "I want to try something new." And I think that that's very unique. I would just love to hear a little bit more about how you foster that environment in a place that can be challenging to be creative. You're being creative all the time, but to really take the time and the thoughtfulness and that extra bit of time with each client to work through it, how do you make that a priority in your culture?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, it starts with an attitude around learning, and we never stop learning, and once we stop learning I believe we stop caring, actually. So the process of learning, and any great scholar continues to read literature no matter how well-read they are, no matter what a great writer you are, you're constantly seeking and searching and articulating our own language, becoming better at speaking English even is something that I think that we all strive for. So the room for improvement is endless, and hair is no different, beauty is no different, business is no different, that we have to constantly evolve and move forward, refining our techniques and refining the way that we approach business. The way that you were 20 years ago to who you are now as a business woman has manifested into something very beautiful and different.
So we have to, I think, have the attitude that this is always an ongoing conversation, this is always an ongoing process, and we can never stop moving forward and feeling the sense of moving forward, and I think that's part of really our own humanness is that we always have to feel that we are moving forward towards something. And when we lose that essence of movement, this is when I think we become very down on ourselves, depressed, feeling stagnant, not knowing where we are, because we have to naturally feel we're moving forward, and I have that same approach to my work.
I also am vulnerable enough that I want to be learning and growing all the time, so I'm very open to client feedback and client experience, and all of that is really information. It's unfortunate in our business of beauty how there's a lot of misunderstandings, like one being that you're going to hurt my feelings if you communicate to me something that you're not happy with. And actually it's not about my feelings at all, it's craft, number one, it's a service I provide, but it's really about your feelings. And when I take my feelings out of it and I can focus on your feelings, you are going to feel a lot more comfortable communicating with me, and I'm going to be a lot more successful in the process because that dialogue has to be there and clients have to feel that openness. And this applies to every business out there, when the communication stops, everything stops.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, so, so true. So how do you bring your team along with that same kind of energy? I get that that's you, and obviously you lead by example, but are you giving them pep talks? Are you getting in there and saying, "Guys, we have to keep learning, we have to keep curious, we have to do this," or how does that actually in day to day as a business owner and as a leader and as the creative visionary of your business, how do you, what's the word, propagate it? How do you get it out there?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, it is a great question. There are hard skills, the actual meat of what we do, the technical aspect of it, and of course the soft skills, the chair side manner, learning how to communicate with people, how to receive feedback, customer service, how to listen, and all of these are soft skills that are important in any environment in business, and those are always a little harder to teach. And you have to really look for like-minded people, and it's not always the most talented people, it's sometimes a combination of talent and openness. So I look for a personality that is open, excited, ready to learn, open to feedback, and has enough room and vulnerability almost for us to break in a little bit.
So you're looking for someone who maybe isn't that confident all the time, because sometimes that confidence can be a mix of different things, from narcissism to ego. And of course you want a certain level of healthy ego, but you also want that vulnerability. So it's looking for the right people, knowing how to interview, knowing how to fire, of course, when you don't have the right people around you, knowing how to train with these hard skills, these soft skills, leading by example is critical, and having regular meetings with people.
I spoke to one of my friends who was head of HR for a major, major company, a pharmaceutical company, and she passed on a great piece of advice to me, and she said, "Never let anything grow into a big problem. Connect with your employees and your staff when things are small. When there are small problems, they're easy to fix. It's when things get big that they're harder to adapt and adjust and to cure." So having these constant conversations, lots of communication, and I often will regard if a client wants something a little bit different, say she bought a size six and it doesn't fit her in a store and she brought it back and she wanted a size eight dress, and it's just as transactional as that.
Johanna Almstead:
Right, it doesn't have to be personal, it doesn't have to be taste related. Yeah, that's great advice.
Eva Scrivo:
So to be really open and being able to look inward. As an artist, it's important to look inward because all of this is a part of who we are, it's our skill set, it's our refinement, it's honing in on our skill set and saying, this is what I need to work on, and that openness and that attitude within me, I look to find that in others.
Johanna Almstead:
So I want to talk a little bit about this balance of artist and businesswoman, right? Because I think that-
Eva Scrivo:
It's very hard. It's a hard one.
Johanna Almstead:
What would you say is your default setting? Is your default setting an artist, or is your default setting a business person.
Eva Scrivo:
An artist.
Johanna Almstead:
An artist. And so you had to learn the business part of things?
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. I'm also very fortunate to be in business with my husband. He's my husband-
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I want to talk about that.
Eva Scrivo:
My business partner, and even my mentor at times. He has so many of the soft skills as well, but he had a lot of the hard skills that I didn't have. Arik has an MBA, he has a lot of corporate experience, yet he also has an artist within him, he wanted to be a hairdresser.
Johanna Almstead:
Really? No way.
Eva Scrivo:
But coming from Jewish immigrants, they're like, I did not move to this country for you to be a hairdresser. So he-
Johanna Almstead:
You're going to go to business school.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes, he of course was pushed into college and had a more traditional educational background. But he has this artistic side to him, and to have a business like this, you really have to, and you have to be able to wear different hats. And there is no such thing as I'm the artist, he's the business person, we're constantly changing hats, we're constantly communicating.
So it's that ability to change hats and wear different hats at different times, especially having a small business, that's really important, and to be flexible. So I look to him for the things that I don't know, and vice versa. We have this funny thing that happens in the office where he's like, "I don't know, go ask Eva." And I'm like, "I don't know, ask Arik."
Johanna Almstead:
Not it.
Eva Scrivo:
Because we really trust each other and we know what we don't know, and the most important thing about any business partnership is that you don't feel that you can do what they do better, and that you don't feel that they're replaceable. And whether you work with your husband or you work with another type of partnership, it's so important to fully respect and honor what that other person knows, and it might be much better than what you know, and to really accept that and to know that.
Johanna Almstead:
That's beautiful. Has he always been your business partner, since you first opened your salon?
Eva Scrivo:
Yes, we actually opened a business, well, let's see, we moved in very... Let's see. We met one month before 9/11, so that instantly bonded us because of going through such a traumatic experience together after only dating a month. And within the first few months of knowing each other, we opened a salon.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God. Really?
Eva Scrivo:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Post-9/11 early days of your relationship.
Eva Scrivo:
And that happened quite naturally. And everything was accelerated at the time because of 9/11. He had lost his job. He was in marketing. He said, "Let me help you. I know you want to expand." I was working in the East Village and had a three-chair salon on 7th Street. And...
Johanna Almstead:
That you owned?
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. And I was going crazy. I was ready for something bigger and more exciting. I was on set a lot. I was working very closely with Martha at the time. And having such a large, looming presence of entrepreneurship and female power, to say the least, was very inspirational. So I would get very antsy when I would get home from a shoot with her and I'm like, "Oh, I should be doing this and I should be doing that. Why didn't I develop this? Oh my God, I have to..." So I was very inspired by her. I met her in my 20s.
Johanna Almstead:
Wow. What an amazing person to have as first-hand experience while she was building her empire. That's crazy.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. Before she went public, we met and we bonded. And it wasn't just a hairdresser-client... Or I shouldn't say just. I don't believe there are any justs in the world, I want to say. Everything is important. But when I met Martha, I was 26, 27, and I really enjoyed being a part of such a glamorous, beautiful world. And I learned how to cook obviously. I learned how to iron a shirt perfectly.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, that's amazing. I never thought about that. She's like, "No one works for me Who doesn't know how to trim hedges even if you're just doing my hair."
Eva Scrivo:
Well, I ended up staring at a monitor all day looking for touch-ups and learning while I was doing this.
Johanna Almstead:
That's so cool.
Eva Scrivo:
So I really enjoy the domestic arts to say the least, because of having this amazing type of college that I went to. And being a part in her trust and her talking freely in front of me about business experiences and ventures, and contracts. It really was a great experience for me. I worked there for over 13 years.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my gosh. It's better than any business school.
Eva Scrivo:
It was. I know we often say like getting an MBA, working for Martha Stewart living, we got an MSL. And so we had a lot of up close and intimate experience learning from Martha, and she was a great inspiration to women, to say the least. We had a lot of fun together. I not only did hair and makeup for her, as I was saying, I also traveled the world with her. So I had incredible experiences with artists and statesmen and political people. And it was just a marvelous experience.
It really opens up your eyes to the world in a different way. And when you work so closely with high profile people, you gain their trust, obviously, whether you sign an NDA or not. To even have you in the room, you have to be a trustworthy person. And the type of personality that wouldn't betray somebody for your own advancement. So I was privy to a lot of wonderful conversations that Martha had with people, and I learned a lot from it. But that type of personality that you look for in business, I think it is also very important. People that you can trust. That is harder these days than ever. Because of the internet it's like there's no secrets anymore.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, no secrets. And everyone has social media and no one cares about NDAs anymore. It's hard.
Eva Scrivo:
So to have someone's trust is really important. And when you're working with high profile people, there's a lot of communication and there's a lot of feedback from our directors and talent agents to PR people. Everyone is giving their opinion on your work.
Johanna Almstead:
A lot of collaboration.
Eva Scrivo:
Right. So it's important to be open to criticism, however that looks and whatever face that that has.
Johanna Almstead:
So speaking of trust, I want to actually go back to working with your husband for a second. How do you keep a balance of a healthy business partnership and a healthy and happy marriage? If it's okay if we talk about this?
Eva Scrivo:
Absolutely. I have a lot to say on this.
Johanna Almstead:
[inaudible 00:29:44] all the things because I feel like it could be really difficult.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes, it is very challenging. We have been married for over 20 years and we've been in business for 23 years.
Johanna Almstead:
Which I love. I love that you were in business longer than you were married.
Eva Scrivo:
It was like having a child out of wedlock.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Eva Scrivo:
It's important to keep in mind that you have to have boundaries. Boundaries with time. And there has to be a point in the day that you stop talking about the business. Family and dinner really can set that interruption from the day. I remember this hilarious quote that Leonor Helmsley said that the meeting was over once you fell asleep.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, geez.
Eva Scrivo:
And the meeting started again once you woke up. And I completely relate to that because that's what it was like for years in the beginning, which was part of our beautiful chemistry that we had that we just talked and we just... Like Hillary Clinton said about Bill, they started a conversation 40 some years ago and just never stopped talking.
Johanna Almstead:
That's beautiful.
Eva Scrivo:
And that's how it is when you have this amazing chemistry. And chemistry isn't just about the bedroom, it is about the boardroom. It is also in business that you have chemistry. Whether you have a great idea, whether you have a business partner, it is about chemistry. And if you don't want to sit and have a conversation with somebody and have a drink and a meal, they're probably not the right business partner for you either.
Johanna Almstead:
That's such a good point. I feel like so many people get in partnership, maybe even marriages, but business partnerships with people that they...
Eva Scrivo:
Don't even want to sit next to.
Johanna Almstead:
They don't even want to have a meal with. That's so huge.
Eva Scrivo:
Because it's not about money. The money comes, the money eventually comes, whether it's sooner, whether it's later, but it's really about having that chemistry there and then everything can blossom from that. Having the trust of course and really knowing what you don't know. I don't really have this desire to be right or to have my husband really see what I'm feeling or thinking. We're so past all that. I already know that. And this constant power struggle that men and women have and partners have, business partners have intimate partners have, that is what gets you into trouble.
Johanna Almstead:
So true.
Eva Scrivo:
The back and the fourth and the bickering and then sharing your bickering with a third party to try to have somebody on your side, triangulating, the conflict. So a lot of this comes from having a great marriage, but also choosing the right partner. I knew right away that Eric had a lot of respect for the feminine, a lot of respect for creativity. It's starting off And not trying to make somebody into someone else and hoping for the best, whether it's a child that makes them more loving or a business that makes them smarter. It's not going to happen. The personality that you have is very much ingrained.
But spots on a leopard do change. They actually change configurations every so many years. And so people are capable of change if they want to. If they're not happy, it's not worth being right. So you either choose between being happy or being right. And that's a very important question to ask yourself. Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right?
Johanna Almstead:
That one hits hard. That one hits hard for me.
Eva Scrivo:
That's not just in business, obviously. That hits us in our personal life. And as women, of course, we grew up with people who didn't listen to us and honor us, and hear us, and believe us, and think they knew better. We have to be so careful that we don't take that into our adulthood to the point. And we all have, and we all do, including myself, but to the point that we don't see or hear anything else.
So being smart enough to realize what you don't know, honoring what you do know, and choosing the right people in your life that honor you. And that honor has to be extended towards them as well. Not interrupting each other, letting people really finish their thoughts and their sentences, pausing before you chime in. Maybe that person just needs an extra moment to formulate that sentence and that constant cutting each other off and needing to be right, and needing to be seen.
As a woman, and I know this being past my middle age, there's not one person out there that is going to meet every need that you have and is going to see you for everything that you are. And you're not supposed to have that. That's why we need many people in our lives and a community of people and close friends, and family, and connections, and a spiritual path because if you're looking for this one partner to be your everything, you're going to be very hurt and you're going to be walking around feeling very misunderstood. So knowing the limitations, really accepting your partner's humanity and being able to feel different about things. And that's okay.
Johanna Almstead:
And did you kiss a few frogs before you found your prince or were you always this enlightened in choosing people? Because I feel like you make it seem like really easy.
Eva Scrivo:
No, so many frogs. It's a lot of self-reflection. Owning my own behavior, knowing that life is a process. It's about a journey and not a destination. I kissed so many frogs. I wasn't married until I was 32. I was a total party girl. I wanted to be out dancing and having fun every night with my girlfriends in the East Village and in New York. I met a lot of different potentials, but nobody that I never lived with a man until I met my husband. I kind of thought that that was important to really get to know somebody before you moved in with them, opposed to moving in and then getting to know them.
I definitely took it slow. I mean, my career was always important to me, but really learning and connecting and growing and traveling, and experiencing my life and my body. That's how I was really kind of moving through New York City. And it's very hard to form. You often end up with the wrong person in New York because you want someone to split your rent.
Johanna Almstead:
Because you're like, "Oh, you have a two-bedroom? Sweet."
Eva Scrivo:
"We could cut all of our costs in half and travel." So there's a lot of very quick cohabitating in New York that takes place. And especially with artistic people just to make it. Just to [inaudible 00:36:55]
Johanna Almstead:
To make ends meet. Right. I never thought about it like that.
Eva Scrivo:
So people are a little quick to move in with each other and cohabitate and form partnerships before they really actually know people. And that goes the same for sleeping with people too quickly where you just... It's hard to see the wrong in people when they're delicious and sexy and wonderful. So it's important to have these boundaries and get to know people before you become intimate on any level.
Johanna Almstead:
Very, very good advice. Very good advice.
Eva Scrivo:
That's what I tell all the girls.
Johanna Almstead:
Slow down, everybody.
Eva Scrivo:
Slow down.
Johanna Almstead:
Slow down. So I want to talk about your longevity in this business. I mean, you have survived and thrived, not just survived in an ever-changing beauty business. It feels like it is a different business probably than it was when you started in it. What do you attribute your success to?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, we've seen a lot of natural disasters, my husband and I in our business, and some horrific man-made disasters from 9/11 to the housing crisis, COVID, wars in the world that we have now. So how do you survive all of it? It's an important question to ask yourself. What are you willing to do? It's not only what's going on in the world, but how hard are you willing to get hit and still get back up? Again as Rocky put it so eloquently or Rocky's coach actually. I use that quote a lot because it is the ability to dust yourself off and get up again. I think it has to do with a lot of willfulness and tenacity.
Johanna Almstead:
Tenacity. It's one of my favorite words. I love the word tenacity.
Eva Scrivo:
And controlling how much you let people take your sparkle away. And it can really chip away at your soul, especially if you are a feeling person and you're a good person and you like to connect with people and you're good to others. You can be taken advantage of very easily and bring in some of the wrong people into your life and your business. And those disappointments and betrayals really can chip away at your sparkle and take away the passion and the love that you brought into your career and the beginning and what made you successful can actually be to your detriment.
The ability to connect with people, the ability to make people feel good and gain people's trust was actually really difficult for me running a team and managing people because those are all the things that helped me build a clientele. But those were all the things that hurt me in managing a company. So it's a lot of self-reflection. It's a lot of work. Going back and saying, "How would I do this differently? Not only what my part in this was, but how do I heal and move forward and do things differently to prevent this from ever happening again?"
I think having a yoga practice is very important. I think whether it's yoga or some other form of exercise, yoga for me as a spiritual path, it's not only about stretching, it's a way of exploring a quiet space within you and expanding that. And that helps me really focus and calm down. And the breath work and all of it is so healing for me. Reading about other people's journeys and how difficult it is to build a brand and what companies go through, I mean, Goldman and Sachs were knocking on doors. They were two men. And remember that all big business starts from small business.
So everyone has had these difficulties in starting something big. And a big idea starts with a small idea and a lot of hard work, and a lot of pain, and suffering, whether it's Walt Disney who could not get a loan, the Diary of Anne Frank could not find a publisher. Otto Frank, which I just saw this incredible movie on Netflix called A Small Light that I was so inspired by. And when I read that Otto Frank could not find a publisher on unbelievable work of art that sold over 70 million copies, I believe, it's just an incredible reminder that even if it's the truth, sometimes people don't want to hear it.
When you're in hell, keep moving. Just keep walking because if you stand still, you will get burned and you will die. Just keep moving forward. And that's a great line that I learned from Tony Robbins actually, who I think is a very inspirational, beautiful man that I had the privilege of meeting. I went to some of his business classes and his personal courses. I went with my husband actually and I recommend doing these types of things together. It really helps build a dialogue of healing, a dialogue of moving forward, looking at the past, not only with regrets, but with a real learning.
Johanna Almstead:
Being able to look back and see what's the lesson here?
Eva Scrivo:
What is the lesson? Mistakes are very expensive.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. So what would you say is the best part of your job?
Eva Scrivo:
Most recently we've launched a product line and we've-
Johanna Almstead:
Yay. Talk about that.
Eva Scrivo:
... small rollout of magnificence happening right now. It's just so exciting. I've been working on a product line for the last four years, and our first product to launch is called Recover. It's a beautiful treatment for the hair that a professional strength, serum-based treatment that women can do at home. I've been thinking about this for years, and these beautiful treatments that we're able to have in salons. Why couldn't they be professional strength for women at home? So we created that and we're launching this week with it. Can't wait to give it to you.
Johanna Almstead:
Yay!
Eva Scrivo:
And being able to, whether you create a product or you share your story, when I wrote my book, it was such an honor to share my story and connect with people on a broader level and have it to be so intimate and honest and communicate with the reader as if I was having a conversation with many. So that was really an incredible point in my life as well, getting a book deal. It's wonderful to be acknowledged and honored in that way. I just recently had a really beautiful partnership with my New York City salon in Vidal Sassoon.
Johanna Almstead:
I was going to ask about that. You just announced this recently.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. And it was just such a wonderful opportunity of shared philosophies.They approached us and we kept talking and sharing. I had originally went to the Sassoon schools when I had started my career and learned a lot of hair cutting and sectioning and elevation from the Sassoon, ABC techniques in Canada. I went to school there, off and on throughout early in my career and loved it.
So it's really full circle for me. He was such a great man. And speaking about adversity, he was a Hungarian Jew that was basically orphaned at a young age. His mother put him in a orphanage so that he could survive because it was during the war and he couldn't be fed. And you think of what people go through and what they can survive. And what something small can shatter a human being, now especially. And what people have went through historically and survived, and actually thrived from, that's something that gives me a lot of strength.
Looking at what people have been through, looking at their stories, reading, honoring their stories, and learning from people who have really went through tremendous turmoil and whether it be war, starvation, persecution, and survived, and thrived.
Johanna Almstead:
And thrived and built a whole new life afterwards.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. So we have to keep things into perspective. There's so many things going on around us in the world right now that we could have completely tear us down and apart. And look at what you can do every day to help others enrich your own life, continue to grow and learn and build, and being more positive. I think that that is critically important to being happy, is to being positive. And if you're not, whatever you need to do to get there, you need to go there. You need to make that happen because no one is going to do it for you.
And once you really make that commitment to yourself, I think a lot of people see and feel that energy and are very... They're attracted to you and they want to be in your orbit. You attract a lot of what you give out.
Johanna Almstead:
So true.
Eva Scrivo:
If you're not happy with your life, think about the energy that you're projecting. Think about what you can do about it. So I think responsibility is what I am feeling talking to you that is so important and being completely accountable for not only for your successes, but also for your failures.
Johanna Almstead:
What is the worst part about your job?
Eva Scrivo:
I think the worst part is taking all the risk.
Johanna Almstead:
And it being on you. My husband, who's a business owner, he always talks about that of like, "No one who works here understands the responsibility of the risk that I've taken. No one.” The only other person that understands it is a fellow business owner, right?
Eva Scrivo:
It's the risk and the personal sacrifice. It takes up a lot of space in your head. And if things are going on, it affects your sleep. It can affect your health, your weight, cortisol, your hormones. It can affect all sorts of things, and it can set off a cycle of not feeling great. And it's just because of what you have in your head and in your heart and trying to process it all and being able to talk about it. You often don't have the luxury of being able to communicate how you're feeling. It's either seen as weakness, you don't want to open yourself up for betrayal and share too much about yourself. You don't want to cross boundaries with people, you want to have healthy relationships. And just I think the face that you always have to have is very challenging, constantly being strong, not allowing a crack to open to have somebody come in to hurt you or your business.
And it was the opposite of how I grew up. I come from this Italian background where everyone was in the kitchen eating all the time, and everyone was always laughing and very demonstrative with each other. And the control that you have to have in your life as a business person sometimes doesn't really feel like me. I think that the hardest thing is keeping that layer of protection while being true to yourself and happy.
Johanna Almstead:
Well, and also and being creative. Part of creativity is being vulnerable, but then part of having to be a business owner is having to be protective of that vulnerability, so that's a tricky tightrope to walk on a daily basis.
Eva Scrivo:
It is. And I'm sure that a lot of people feel this way, this constant double personality that you have to have. And it's finding some type of honest midway point where you can vacillate and have this happy medium and not be vacillating all over the place and just feel a sense of calm in the storm that you're in every day in business.
Johanna Almstead:
And then what do you do to get back to the you-you when you can take down a little bit of that protective layer in your home or you're out of the salon or you're off camera?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, I think exercise is a really important modality to connect with yourself. Breathwork. Cooking is, I think, the essence of our health. I like to read, learn, do something that is completely different from what I do. Learn about something completely different than... Nothing to do with fashion or beauty, even health. And to try to take yourself out of an environment really helps you even go back to a creative environment. You have more to offer. I like to be super focused when I'm in that environment. I don't even look at my phone during the day. And there's this study how we no longer have the ability to concentrate for over four to five seconds.
Johanna Almstead:
So scary.
Eva Scrivo:
Which is frightening that we are being constantly interrupted by pings and dings. And so that ability to concentrate I think is critical for any business mind, whether it be creative or administrative. And the fact that I don't look at my phone all day helps me be better at what I do because I do not want to be distracted. And I understand that some people can't; they don't have the privilege of that. But if you can, try to limit the way... Just don't respond to every vibration and every ping. Try to know that that is a huge universe, that little square, and that you're putting yourself into such a force field of power and negativity. And you have to protect yourself from it so that you can really focus and do what you do and do what you love really well.
And that most of the inventions that are critical in the world that we rely on, whether it's electricity or what have you, this has all been created and found in quiet rooms. And when people can concentrate and have privacy, and sometimes in darkness, these are the times where you can be the most creative and the most problem solution-oriented. The phone is a wonderful thing, the internet's a wonderful thing, but it's a resource, it's not a way of life.
Johanna Almstead:
It's so interesting, and this makes so much sense being client of yours and having spent many, many hours in your salon, there's often days... The day when my hair turned green, I was there for, what, seven hours?
Eva Scrivo:
That was from a pool.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes, you did not make my hair green; you fixed my hair being green. But one of the reasons why I don't mind being there for seven hours is because of the level of calm. And we spoke about it a little bit earlier, but... And it's quiet. It's so quiet in your salons. It's like you have beautiful music, but there's nobody yelling, there's nobody... And it's so calming on my personal nervous system, which is a pretty sensitive one.
And I watch you bounce between sometimes three clients, usually not too much more than that. And you are in such a flow. And you will be having a very intense conversation with me about what's happening with me, and then you'll just float over to somebody else and get deeply focused and deeply attuned to that person and then float to somebody else. And it's so interesting now that you say it's clearly that it's very intentional in the space that you've created and the way you work, but it's beautiful and brilliant to watch because you don't get to watch that very often as a lay person. You don't get to watch someone's creative process and their flow, which I get to watch with you when I'm there.
Eva Scrivo:
Well, it's nice that you notice. And I'm happy that that is translating through what I do to clients. We have become in the last 10 years so used to interruptions and a lack of focus and eyes rolling around and people looking at their phones while they're talking to you. And it's become commonplace to not be focused. And coming from a background in retail and customer service, and all of these things are inappropriate to do in the workplace, but they've somehow become very common in the workplace because of the change of culture. How do we find ways that our customer, our audience can focus and feel that relaxation, feel that trust? And I think that there's ways that we can improve that while still being connected. There has to be a certain level of boundary and time and a real discernment.
Johanna Almstead:
And manners and etiquette.
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. And I think when we're in environments like that, people do notice. And that lack of focus leads to only more distrust where people don't want to open up to you for whatever reason for whatever environment they're in. And it also takes the professional away from their personal process, and you're getting a lot less from them. That constant interruption.
I think it's really interesting because if you would see a doctor or a lawyer or somebody constantly looking at their phone while they're talking to you, you certainly wouldn't feel comfortable receiving a service from them. There's a reason why phones are not allowed in the operating room. I think it's surgery when I'm working. I'm a doctor of hair, and I take it pretty seriously.
Johanna Almstead:
Which I appreciate very much. Okay, what is one thing that you've once believed about yourself that you have since outgrown?
Eva Scrivo:
That I'm fat.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that answer.
Eva Scrivo:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Isn't that wild?
Eva Scrivo:
I always thought I was heavy because, well, my mom was really tall and I was a couple inches shorter than her. Being in the beauty business, you are around a lot of models. You're around very skinny people, so I had a lot of dysmorphia around my weight and my own looks because of the comparison. I can't even imagine how people feel now with filters and everything being changed about anything that is posted. Again, I look back at pictures of myself and I'm like, "What a shame." I wasted all that time.
Johanna Almstead:
"I was gorgeous. What was I thinking?"
Eva Scrivo:
Being a size six and not a two or a four. I think that New York is also very twisted in that aesthetic and the fashion industry in particular. But girls now are at a new height of anorexia and bulimia as well. It's nice to see people of all sizes now being embraced in fashion ads and advertising. It's really nice.
Johanna Almstead:
How did you change your belief? What did you do to make yourself realize that you were not?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, I think love can be very healing. And my husband thought my body was perfect, even though I was curvy and fuller-figured. And I think that he helped actually put it into perspective for me. And also seeing yourself with a more clear lens. I always saw myself different than who I was. And some people see themselves better than who they are too. There's all types of us, and there's this range in the middle. But trying to get more clarity and where did that come from? I figured out where it came from. You have to find out where that blueprint in your brain, how that was set for you. Who put it there, who said it to you, how you twisted it, and how this morphed into what it is. Because it has an origin, and you just have to literally find the cancer and cut it out, because if you don't go inside and figure this out, you just waste precious beauty cells on obsessing about this stuff. And it's a waste of time and life and breath.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Is there anything that you have said no to that you wish you had said yes to?
Eva Scrivo:
Oh my God, hundreds. So many things.
Johanna Almstead:
Really?
Eva Scrivo:
I laugh to myself when people say they have no regrets. How is that even possible? Are you even looking at your life, for God's sake? There's so many beautiful, interesting opportunities that come into our lives all the time I think that we don't pay enough attention to.
I remember years ago, QVC came to me and called for a meeting and said, "You're great. Whatever you make, whatever you do, do it and we'll sell it." And I was like, "QVC." I was like, "Really? Is that even a thing?"
Johanna Almstead:
Did you even take the meeting?
Eva Scrivo:
I took the meeting. And I didn't handle it way that I should have because I was too young or too full of ego. And I was-
Johanna Almstead:
Were you snobby about it?
Eva Scrivo:
Maybe I was snobby, or maybe I didn't understand distribution and marketing and scaling. And I was-
Johanna Almstead:
Volume.
Eva Scrivo:
Volume, numbers.
Johanna Almstead:
Numbers.
Eva Scrivo:
I was chic, hopefully still am, into New York City and top of the top and the best of the best was, so I had a very junior approach to the whole thing, and I wasn't sophisticated enough to know the difference. And sometimes, well, I thought it was too sophisticated, actually. It's interesting how life works. And there's always a lot of opportunities I think that we walk by. And it's important to look ahead, keep your eyes open.
Another thing of looking down at your phone is that you're not really looking in front of you. And sometimes there's this incredible thing in the room looking right at you. And we're not taking advantage of all the opportunities that we have with all of the technology and distractions around us. And we're not focusing and putting the time that a lot of things deserve right now because we're so distracted.
At the time, I was very distracted by my business and people and the politics and the management, and I was stuck in the weeds, and I wasn't really looking beyond the weeds at the horizon and at the sky. And it's important to look up and just see that we are just on this planet moving at this crazy force, somehow stuck to the earth, but we're basically suspended in the universe. And we're all grounded in some weird way, but there's just so much around us that we just don't even realize.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. One of my former guests said that that was the best advice she ever got was look up. Get out of your phone. Just look up. And she said, "I've missed so many opportunities." She said, "I probably have had several husbands that have walked by me in a hotel lobby, and I didn't ever look up."
Eva Scrivo:
Look around you, be aware and pay attention.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I know you're passionate about good food and good wine and cooking, and we love to talk about those things on this podcast. Who does the cooking in your house?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, now both of us do. Since COVID, we bought a huge pizza oven, and my husband learned how to cook, and because it was about fire and wood chopping and getting the right size of the wood to burn correctly and the shape of the oven, and it was all this science involved. He's a really great cook, and he's learned a lot, but I probably do the majority of it. And I'm Italian, Welsh, English heritage, so I love to be in the kitchen. I love to bake, even, but cooking my thing.
And I think that it's the essence of healing. I think without the right fuel, we can't even have the right thoughts. I take it very seriously. It's preventative medicine for me. And I feel very passionate about the connection of health and food and longevity. I think that it's paying it forward and having the best insurance possible.
Johanna Almstead:
Amazing. Well, that is a really good segue into our round of silly questions because a lot of them are food related, partially just because I really like to talk about food. Don't overthink these. First thing that comes to your head. What is your ultimate comfort food?
Eva Scrivo:
Pasta.
Johanna Almstead:
And any particular sauce?
Eva Scrivo:
Red.
Johanna Almstead:
Just like a marinara. Marinara.
Eva Scrivo:
Mm-hmm. Five ingredients. All perfect, of course.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay, wait, five ingredients: olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, basil?
Eva Scrivo:
Basil, anchovy. It gives incredible body and depth. You saute the onions with the anchovy, and you can also put a little bit of tomato paste. And the whole thing caramelizes and almost has a meat texture and flavor profile.
Johanna Almstead:
Yum. And now, what shape pasta are you a fan of? Or does it matter? You're spaghetti? Are you a fettuccine? Are you a penne? Are you a [inaudible 01:12:14]?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, you have to get pasta from bronze plates in Italy. Has to be from Italy. And if you go to Italy in the city or any kind of Italian grocery store, it has to be imported. The pasta has a lower gluten and non-GMO and all of that, but it has to be made in a bronze plate machine, which is basically not even made at this time. There are these ancient machines that cut the pasta, and it really affects the flavor of it. Getting the right pasta is critical and one that holds the sauce. I like things that have not exactly fusilli, but a certain shape that can hold the sauce.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, yeah, like a little bit of a curve.
Eva Scrivo:
A little bit of a curve to it. [inaudible 01:12:57] are nice. Linguine is also really nice for certain things because it's a flatter noodle, but the origin of the pasta is the most important.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that you could sit and talk to me about pasta for probably three more hours. I've had to stop myself from talking about pasta for the entire podcast sometimes.
Eva Scrivo:
Well, food is the form of chemistry, and hair color is chemistry. And once you understand something, you're just better at doing it.
Johanna Almstead:
Totally. When you were really little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you want to be a hairdresser when you were really little?
Eva Scrivo:
No, I wanted to be an actress or a nurse, weirdly enough; taking shit from other people. No, I wanted to act. And I went to drama school at Cranbrook in Michigan.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, Cranbrook. Yes.
Eva Scrivo:
And I continued with theater and was always in a play. Really enjoyed digging deep and finding what you could use, finding the pain to communicate with others. And acting like a different person is really interesting. It's the hardest thing you can do to not be you. I have a great respect for film and acting in general, and I'm fascinated with the process. And if I would've pursued it, I knew it would've been a tremendous sacrifice also financially. And just really, you have to embrace poverty. And I wasn't able to do that because-
Johanna Almstead:
Me neither. Me neither.
Eva Scrivo:
... it was always on me. I lived by myself in New York, and I didn't have the infrastructure to pursue that, but that is definitely something I wished I would have spent more time doing.
Johanna Almstead:
What was your first paid job that you ever had?
Eva Scrivo:
I was 13 working at a resale consignment store in Arizona that I was there for the summer and it was my first introduction to fashion and vintage, and I was forever obsessed with vintage clothing and jewelry and photography and fashion was my first job.
Johanna Almstead:
That's a fun job. What is something you're really good at other than hair? We know you're amazing at hair.
Eva Scrivo:
I'm a little psychic, I'm a bit of a witch, and I'm really good at seeing people for who they are, what things that they're good at, understanding some of the things that might be holding them back.
Johanna Almstead:
Little mystical.
Eva Scrivo:
Psychology, really. Part witch, part psychoanalyst. I call it hairapy when people are in the chair. I'm good at listening, but I pick up on things and I've done a lot of self-work and self-reflection and therapy where when people are talking, I can kind of sense different things that hold them back and keep them from being at their potential.
Johanna Almstead:
That's beautiful. What is something you're really bad at?
Eva Scrivo:
Staying organized.
Johanna Almstead:
Really?
Eva Scrivo:
Yes. I have to constantly go back and do everything in my house. Martha would be appalled. I'm in the moment all the time. I get home and I rip all my clothes off and I don't go upstairs and I don't put my clothes away. So I'm trying to be more organized and I've been reading Marie Kondo and all that just because it is so helpful. I'm just kind of in the moment and I'm spoiled. I have a lot of assistants around me now at work and they're all amazing, so I don't want to be there.
Johanna Almstead:
You just need them to follow you home.
Eva Scrivo:
Exactly. So I'd like to be a little bit more organized and I'd like to be a little less hard on myself.
Johanna Almstead:
That is a common theme that comes up on this podcast of women being hard on themselves.
Eva Scrivo:
Really?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes, it is.
Eva Scrivo:
I think we have to all show ourselves the same compassion that we show others, and that's a really good thing to remind ourselves every day to do.
Johanna Almstead:
I think it's extraordinary to me how many women I have in my life who are total empaths, total wonderful listeners, best cheerleaders, best support system for their friends, their families, their loved ones, and they're the hardest on themselves. They're terrible at it for themselves. It is an epidemic, I think.
Eva Scrivo:
I agree with you, and I see this all the time with clients and friends and people in my life that no matter what they do, it's just not good enough. And this requires a bit of self-control for you to say, "Stop it. I have just sacrificed my entire life for you. You are the focus of everything I do," whomever you're saying this to, just think of yourself, who you would be saying this to, and I give up everything and you are the focus of my day, morning, noon and night. I can do this one thing and not feel like a bad person for it. And focusing on everything that you do do well and not the one or two things that you fall short on is really important to look at the majority of it, the vastness of the good, going back to being positive and powerful within your own self and being quiet, just looking at constantly this frenetic mess that everyone is in to give to others. So self-care is really important, but this constant guilt that I hear, I don't understand it.
Again, it's coming from a deeper place. It's something we have to acknowledge. There is nothing wrong in taking time for yourself. It is very important. And children were raised in communities and villages. The saying it takes a village because that's how everyone was raised. No one was alone in a house with 50 responsibilities by themselves having to do everything until very recently, like the Industrial Revolution maybe. So it's just too much. You need help, you need a lot of people around you to support that, whatever lifestyle you choose. And that also includes doing things that you enjoy and time to yourself. And it doesn't matter if you're not there for every this and every that and every ... It's okay. I hear this a lot with women, this guilt of not showing up to every single thing in their life and that they're a bad person. And why are we on the verge of feeling like a piece of shit all the time is really the real question? Why are we on the verge? Why are you one inch away from being a bad whatever?
Johanna Almstead:
That hits me to my core.
Eva Scrivo:
So in that case then, what about asking yourself can you be comfortable being uncomfortable?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. This is something I've been working on for many years.
Eva Scrivo:
It's like, let it pass.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, just let it pass.
Eva Scrivo:
People's feelings pass, people's disappointments passed, temper tantrums pass, everything passes. And if you can just know that all of this is in the moment, we can all get through it because everything will be different one day. That [inaudible 01:20:50] control.
Johanna Almstead:
Working on it. Working on it. What is your favorite word?
Eva Scrivo:
My favorite word? There's just so many words. There's so many words. We'll come back to that.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay, we can come back to it. What about your least favorite word? Sometimes this one's easier for people.
Eva Scrivo:
Definitely. Phlegm.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, that's a new one on this one. And oh yes. That's awful. Ugh. Yuck. Okay, that's awesome. What is your least favorite food? Deal breaker. Never crossing your lips. No way you're not eating it.
Eva Scrivo:
Bad food.
Johanna Almstead:
You hate bad food?
Eva Scrivo:
I detest bad food in all forms.
Johanna Almstead:
What's bad food to you? Because I feel like bad food could be one person-
Eva Scrivo:
Processed.
Johanna Almstead:
Processed.
Eva Scrivo:
Poisonous. Tortured food.
Johanna Almstead:
Oof. Yeah.
Eva Scrivo:
Animals that are mistreated so they can wind up on our plate. Anything that's suffered for our enjoyment, that to me is the worst food.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Eva Scrivo:
So this has to do with business and it's not what you might think. So everyone starting a business, they say, "Well, if something bad happens," and the real question is not a question. It's when something bad happens, it's inevitable.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Eva Scrivo:
So it's not asking yourself the if something bad happens, I'm going to do this or that. It's when something bad happens. So we have to assume that something bad will happen because it always does in business and that's what business is. It is not a trajectory upward. It is constant hills and valleys, crashing accidents, incredible soaring heights and everything in between. And I think that the flexibility is really important. I know the flexibility is really important and to not have every failure define you.
Johanna Almstead:
That's huge. That's such a perspective shift I think for people. It is for me even. I tend to get very derailed when things go wrong.
Eva Scrivo:
Because we are more defined by our achievements to many and by our failures because the failures are the lessons and it's the things that we have to work on. And it's the things that we missed, that we didn't put enough time into or enough due diligence or our ego kept us from really fully exploring that.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Eva Scrivo:
So our failures are just huge points of information and they define us. Just as important as our achievements.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. If your personality were a flavor, what would it be?
Eva Scrivo:
Like an ice cream flavor?
Johanna Almstead:
It could be any flavor. Could be chili peppers, it could be green onion, it could be strawberry shortcake.
Eva Scrivo:
A fig.
Johanna Almstead:
Ooh, a fig. I like that. Okay, last supper. You're leaving this body and this earth tomorrow. What are you eating tonight?
Eva Scrivo:
I would start with caviar, fresh champagne, some nice pasta and a whole fish, phenomenal wine, gorgeous dessert, fruit, chocolate, kind of like Mediterranean.
Johanna Almstead:
I'm coming to your last supper. That's like exactly what I want to eat all the time. And what do you do with your caviar?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, my husband's Russian, so ...
Johanna Almstead:
You just scoop it out and eat it right from the spoon.
Eva Scrivo:
It's really fun to eat with a horn spoon and a little bit of lemon. So a lot of Russians don't really mess with all the other stuff.
Johanna Almstead:
Don't put it on the blinis or the cucumbers or the potato chips or anything.
Eva Scrivo:
Potato chips are delicious if they're unsalted.
Johanna Almstead:
I love it-
Eva Scrivo:
And you can make your own potato chips in an air fryer super easy and not use salt so it doesn't affect the caviar taste. But interestingly enough, when I was last in Russia, they created these caviar burritos where they took a blini that was-
Johanna Almstead:
More like an actual pancake size, okay.
Eva Scrivo:
And you put the caviar down the middle and you just roll it and you cut it with a knife and fork. I've actually been at some very sophisticated, beautiful, amazing places in St. Petersburg and Moscow that have eaten caviar like that. And they eat golden caviar, not black. And I mean, caviar is of course a very unnecessary thing for us all to eat, but just speaking about complete luxury right now, that is how Russians eat caviar with very little accoutrements around it. But just the pancake and it's rolled.
Johanna Almstead:
And no creme fraiche or any ...
Eva Scrivo:
Nothing. All of it is supposed to take away from the beauty and the essence of the caviar. But I recently saw a beautiful recipe that I'll share. You take a little bit of shrimp and linguine and you toss it in a little butter and you take a dollop of caviar and you put it on top. Super easy. Everyone can do that. Very special, nice to make on a holiday.
Johanna Almstead:
That was actually my dad who was not very fancy and certainly was not buying caviar on a regular basis. There was some recipe in the New York Times a thousand years ago that was a caviar pasta that it was, I think it was ... I didn't even have the shrimp and stuff in it. It was just like a caviar. And that was his favorite. His wife would make that for New Year's Eve. That was his favorite meal. He would have that on New Year's Eve, and it was so funny because it was quite unlike him, somebody who also couldn't really cook. He loved that. He just thought that was the most delectable thing in the world. Okay, so if you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, don't worry about nutritional value, it'll sustain you. What would you eat?
Eva Scrivo:
Sushi. Kind of get all of it. Protein, carb and the nori, the mineral to keep my thyroid moving quickly and effectively, keep the weight down.
Johanna Almstead:
I agree with that-
Eva Scrivo:
Vegetables are really important for health. Without iodine, you just can't have proper hormone function too.
Johanna Almstead:
I was just reading this article that apparently women in France are taking iodine on a regular basis, like an iodine supplement, a very pure iodine supplement that that's part of women's health norms.
Eva Scrivo:
If you're ordering salt from Sardinia that has iodine, natural iodine in it. You can get it online. It's fabulous, delicious. And I think I feel the difference, so I highly recommend it.
Johanna Almstead:
Ooh, I need to do that. I brought some salt back. I was in Sardinia last summer. I brought some back, but I think I already went through it, so maybe I need to order some. You'll have to send me the link. Where's your happy place?
Eva Scrivo:
Tuscany. Well, second to actually my home in Bedford, being in my backyard, gardening, swimming, yoga, walking my beautiful dog, being with other dogs, other animals, being in nature.
Johanna Almstead:
Nice. What do you wear when you feel like you need to take on the world? Big day, big meeting, big client. You just need to have that extra pep in your step. What is your go-to?
Eva Scrivo:
Something slimming obviously [inaudible 01:31:18]. I think just like a beautifully tailored dress and a high heel and a good blowout. You just feel like so pulled together. Of course, jewelry, I love all of that, but tailoring is so important and feeling good in your clothes and just investing in a couple of really good dresses, a couple of high-end designers here and there, whether it's vintage or new, it just makes all the difference how things fit and it really makes you feel better about yourself. And I think hair is a lot like that too. It's a lot like tailoring. Hair is like fabric. It can be cut and shorn and dyed and stretched and bleached and shaped in a myriad of ways. And hair is very much like fabric. It's like a natural substance too. So I think a haircut is tailoring and that's why you can look fat if you don't have the right haircut.
Johanna Almstead:
So true. So true.
Eva Scrivo:
You can look 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 20 pounds thinner if you have the right haircut, and it's the right shape for your face and the right length, and it's hitting you at the right place and has the right layers and it's hitting you at the right point. So it's kind of like tailoring.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Okay. Most memorable meal you have ever had?
Eva Scrivo:
I've had many. Being with Martha was pretty special, the food.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh gosh, yes. You must have had extraordinary eating experiences with her.
Eva Scrivo:
We had Iranian caviar on a private plane one time that was pretty high up there with just the best of everything around us while we were sitting in leggings and getting ready for a big trip. I think we were on our way to Europe for a shoot, but that was pretty high up there.
Johanna Almstead:
That was probably a pinch me moment?
Eva Scrivo:
And some really nice moments in Tuscany too, like eating from the land, going there on different trips with my husband, we go all the time, having porcinis be like 8 to 10 inches high and I mean, just crazy ... The beautiful ingredients of Italy. I think we just look at that time whenever we were there and we actually cook in Italy so that we can shop and have access to ingredients that you just could never get here.
Johanna Almstead:
So fun. Okay. What's your go-to mechanism on a bad day? Because given your work, you can't just melt down in the middle of the day. What do you do when things are going haywire?
Eva Scrivo:
Well, a nutritious snack does help because just kind of raises your glucose and has your brain work more effectively. Taking a walk, doing breathing exercises is critical, knowing that you can restart every day at any point of the day that you want to, and you can just reset and you can just set a different intention, pretend you're waking up and just starting all over again. And we have that ability to reset. We just have to use it. And knowing that this too shall pass. There's such a sense of depth when bad things happen, but things change and things kind of work themselves out. And just giving those issues the time that it needs and not being so reactive to things and using breath and state of mind to recenter yourself I think is very important. Everyone talks about managing a business and managing other people, but you certainly can't manage other people if you can't manage yourself.
Johanna Almstead:
For sure.
Eva Scrivo:
And that type of self-control is very important. And not even just controlling an emotion, but how you process it is very important. How you process pain and disappointment, shock, abuse, whatever you're faced with at that moment, and not absorbing these things and allowing these things to move through you and to pass through you and not get stuck in front of you or in you. A Chinese healer once told me to not only were bracelets to kind of cut off the energy of touching people that might be toxic or troubled, whatever it might be. But to just really imagine glass or some kind of shield in front of you. It's just an energetic bubble around you of protection. And if you feel like you're too open of a person, how can you confront that and protect yourself while still being available to people? And I love the feeling of glass around me where I can see you and you can see me, but you can't touch me.
Johanna Almstead:
That's huge. I imagine that must be very important in your work.
Eva Scrivo:
It is.
Johanna Almstead:
What is one thing that you know for sure right now in this moment?
Eva Scrivo:
I know for sure that I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing in my life.
Johanna Almstead:
That's huge. Oh, that's great.
Eva Scrivo:
And that everything that has happened to this point has prepared me for what is next. And there is a real meaning to all the lessons that you go through and the loss that you feel. And it doesn't always make sense at the time. It's kind of like you have to get past 45 to have this really make sense. When you have a little less estrogen coursing through your veins, you have a little higher IQ or something, but you kind of make sense of things in a way where you care a little bit less what other people might think and more how you think and how you feel about things. And that's really nice to feel a little bit more in my body right now and knowing that I've been through a lot of experiences and they've shaped me in very positive ways to feel really good about myself and where I am in my life, and not just financially or in business, but just psychologically.
Johanna Almstead:
That's beautiful. And what a wonderful place to be and a wonderful note to end on. Please tell people where they can buy your new product. Where's it going to be?
Eva Scrivo:
It's available in our salons and at evascrivo.com.
Johanna Almstead:
Amazing. This is so exciting. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for taking so much time with me. I hope it brings connection and insight to our listeners, so thank you so much.
Wow, that was amazing. She, I feel like, can talk for hours so wisely and so wonderfully about so many subjects. I could have done this for hours with her. So thank you all for tuning in and please share this episode if you liked it, please send it to your friends, your girlfriends, your sisters, your coworkers, anyone you think might benefit from it. We are growing this community. Honestly, it's amazing. You guys are helping us so much. As one of my guests says, we're like gremlins and we're multiplying, and that's because of you and your support. So download it. If you'd like to leave us a review, please tell us the good, bad and the ugly. We'll take it. Please follow us on social media. We are at Eat My Words, the podcast, on both Instagram and TikTok. And as always, thank you for your support. Thank you for tuning in and I'll catch you at the next one. See you soon.
This podcast has been created and directed by me, Johanna Almstead. Our producer is Sophy Drouin. Our audio editor is Isabel Robertson and our brand manager is Mila Boujna.