Ummm… April Fools? But, made ya look. 😜 I’m not giving away a million dollars. But I’ll giveaway plenty of info how to become one in a future newsletter. 🤑

The REAL Title of today’s edition:

Good Things Take Time: The importance of being underestimated

Today, I’m San Francisco bound. ✈️

The bustling tech scene and “I’m smarter” or “I’m a cooler artist than you” vibes of SF have always felt like a warm blanket of pretension; a different type of all-consuming coziness and stimuli that rivals LA or NY. To me, San Francisco is like if Denise Huxtable of the Cosby Show were a city.

We will not be discussing anything else Bill in this newsletter… also I have to be to the airport in two hours and somehow need to pack yet and film an entire audition. Go me!

Although I may do a drop-in to a show or two while in the city this week, I’m not there for comedy. My co-founder at My Break-Up Registry is based there, is an adjunct professor for design and entrepreneurship at California College of the Arts, and she is also currently lead UX designer at Meta - badass much?

I’m popping to SF until Friday to regroup with my co-founder and speak at her college for the second time. As a comedian, turns out I’m great at teaching kids how to speak in public, present using anecdotes and humor, and pitch the fuck out of their ideas.

I have no interest in being a teacher, but when I was in high school, the class that I was most excited for and volunteered to go first in every class for - and eventually became the TA for my senior year - was public speaking. I can speak or present on anything. I love to sell ideas and make lame shit fun. It’s honestly what makes comedians great business people, because most speeches suck to listen to, and interesting people are just more… interesting. Go figure.

I’m excited to dip my toes back in San Fransisco, and maybe inspire a foreign exchange student to test out an open mic while I’m at it.

The Hustle

So, what exactly is going on with My Break-Up Registry?

I’m excited to share, but not just yet. 😈

When I first launched the company, it released the day after my special “I Was Supposed To Get Married Today” dropped on Amazon. I had been sharing my canceled wedding journey in public, and I built the company in public.

What is building in public, you ask? It’s when you openly share your journey, from ideation to build to launch to scale, with your audience and the general public, more or less. It’s a concept that is bold; allowing people to come along on the gritty path that is entrepreneurship and experience the ups and downs along the way.

Why build in public? What if somebody steals your idea?

Blatant truth: nobody gives a fuck about your idea. Everyone’s too consumed with their own minds and lives to even try stealing what you’re building. And even if they did, nobody’s story is your story and nobody can replicate what you build surrounding your story in the way YOU can. Be not afraid, and also, get over yourself. 😉

When I was first sharing the behind-the-scenes of my relationship crumbling, filming the special on my canceled wedding day, and my emotional ups and downs, my inbox and DMs were flooded with people also experiencing the similar crises. My Break-Up Registry, although initially a kitschy idea to build a wedding registry but for break-ups and divorces, started to take shape over the next two years into a much larger source for assistance and awesomeness.

So that’s what we’re building. Just a little less in public, for now.

I met my co-founder Larissa completely on accident. In 2021 my company and I partnered with a beverage brand on a few event activations, and the following year she came out of the woodwork as the human and brains behind this brand. As a seasoned Silicon Valley brand, creative and design expert, we started meeting in early 2023 and I officially offered her co-founder in late 2023.

But Natasha, why give away part of a company you built alone with your own funds based on your own idea that’s literally an integral part of your personal story?

To build better, you need brilliant minds. To build with the right brilliant minds, they have to be organically drawn to your story and care about it as much as you. To build with people you can’t afford yet, you gotta give them some skin in the game.

Would you rather own a company, alone, that’s worth a million dollars? Or co-own a company that’s worth $100m? Yup. And what she does is make $100m+ brands and companies happen.

So that’s what I’ll share for now. Expect we will be building in public again soon, but I’m excited for some of the major pivots and additions we’ve been able to quietly work on. The blessing of bootstrapping is agility. Being self-funded, we have no investor stress to pivot in the wrong ways, and we get to freely build in a way that feels aligned to our lives and existing careers while creating something the people actually want. So, that’s exactly what we are doing.

More on this in the future. 😎

The Chill

In 2014, only four years into standup and three years into living in Los Angeles, I got into one of my favorite comedy festivals in the country - Big Sky in Billings, Montana.

I loved this festival because you truly get a throwback to a middle school lock-in type of feel; comedians are paired with other roommate comedians from different cities, all activities with the industry judging panel happen with the comedians, and over the course of five days everyone really gets to know one another. Pranks, inside jokes, and heavy banter ensues.

That year, I was paired with the brilliant Jessa Reed as my roommate. If you don’t know Jessa, she was a former meth-head turned comedian, and her stories on her wild past made epic debuts on Comedy Central and her multiple podcasts.

I remember walking back from one of the shows one night with her, and I was complaining a bit about feeling like I was being underestimated as a comedian (LOL I was only a few years in, what an ego?? We’ve all been there… overly confident early on before you get a full shake up and actually find your voice and realize you weren’t shit and need to start over entirely. I digress.)

Jessa in her sage-ness stopped walking, looked at me and said something I’ll never forget:

“The most powerful thing you can be is underestimated.”

My perspective completely shifted at that point. We talked about this for hours in our hotel room that night, how but being underestimated actually is a power move. Zero expectations. Zero pressure. When you show up and deliver, you blow everyone’s mind, even if you deliver just slightly better than expected. Because the expectation wasn’t shit to begin with.

I’ve found freedom floating through my world of entertainment and entrepreneurship being underestimated. It’s completely removed undue stress, and reminded me to have fun, be myself, and let “them” figure it out in their own time.

The “let them” theory is actually a real thing:

Let Them Underestimate You. It’s an Advantage.

If someone doesn’t see your potential, let them. That’s their limitation, not yours.

If they assume you’re not ready, not talented enough, or not serious - let them. It gives you the freedom to move in silence, build without pressure, and shock the hell out of them later.

If they count you out, let them. The best revenge isn’t proving them wrong - it’s proving yourself right.

Being underestimated is a gift. It means you don’t have to explain yourself, justify your dreams, or beg for validation. You just get to be - and when the time is right, they’ll see exactly what you were capable of all along.

I’m thoroughly enjoying this medium, and I’ll be launching both an audio version and a long-form podcast surrounding a lot of this subject matter very soon!

If you have anything you’d like to hear my perspective on in here, simply reply to this newsletter. I read and reply to all responses!

You can read all my past issues on the main subscription page: https://hustleandchillwithnph.beehiiv.com/

I suggest getting caught up if you’re new here 😎

Upcoming Shows I’m excited about:

I get back from SF Friday, so keep an eye on my Instagram stories if you’re in Chicago to see where I’m dropping in this weekend…

April 8-15: St Croix Baby!!!! Tickets + Info: www.nphcomedy.com/stx2025

Easter weekend: Laugh Factory Chicago

Mon April 21: Laugh Factory Chicago

Thurs April 24: Headlining Big Break on the north side of Chicago

Tues April 29: Best Night Ever 8pm at Lincoln Lodge

May - tons of dates in and out of Chicago (TBA)

… and finally, VERY excited for this show. I have two group chats with all comedians that happen to be women, one with all my girls in LA and one with all my girls in Chicago. I’ve done some epic shows already with my LA ladies, but NOW we have the first ever:

GROUP CHAT show at Zanies Rosemont May 22nd - TICKETS - featuring my most favorite badass bitches of comedy in Chicago. It’s a MUST to come to.

Love you all and cheers to the hustle + chill. We overdeliver to the under-estimators.

xx NPH