Thomas Wolf, co-founder of Hugging Face, the leading platform for open-source machine learning models, datasets, and applications, joins us to talk about the future of open-source AI, how non-coders can build powerful apps, what it really means to “own” your AI-generated content, and how robotics and LLMs are reshaping our world—from startups to our kids’ education.We also dive into the future of jobs, open-source trust, vibe coding, and whether your next AI assistant will be a talking duck.
She started with YouTube workouts for 40 people — and ended up building two multi-million dollar apparel brands. In this honest, behind-the-scenes conversation, Cassey Ho (Blogilates) talks about content, community, AI theft, burnout, growth, and what it really takes to build something real in 2025.
In this episode, Marina Mogilko interviews Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub — the world’s largest platform for developers. He shares why now is the most exciting time to be a developer, how AI is reshaping developers work, how “vibe coding” changes everything, and what skills actually matter in the AI-powered future of work.
Follow Thomas Dohmke on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtom/
And GitHub on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/github/
Follow Marina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/
Silicon Valley Girl Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirlpodcast/
In this powerful interview, we sit down with a world-renowned coach and entrepreneur Marie Forleo who walked away from Wall Street, turned down Vogue, and built a global business by following one simple rule: if it’s not a full-body yes — it’s a no.We talk about burnout, fear of irrelevance, financial anxiety, choosing freedom over prestige, and why success without alignment just isn’t worth it. If you’ve ever felt trapped by your own ambition, this one will hit home.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
00:42 – A better way to make big decisions
03:16 – How to know you’re on the wrong path
04:01 – The most important career advice you’ll hear
05:45 – When is it time to change your career?
08:23– The 80/20 rule for stress10:47 – “Bring the party”: reframing boring tasks
12:47 – What you need to continue and what do you need to drop 14:00 – Operating from Sustainability vs. Operating from Fear
15:48 – When you are mentally ready to say NO16:55 – Giving up prestige to follow your calling
18:40 – How to understand if this an emotional inner voice or logical inner voice 20:00 – How to practice hearing your inner voice22:30 – Financial freedom and the fear of losing it
25:16 – Do you really need to stay hungry to succeed?
29:20 – What success looks like now
31:40 – Choosing not to have kids
34:48 – Shiny object syndrome and staying focused
instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl
In this deep-dive conversation with Ankur Jain, founder of a $3.1B startup Bilt, we explore the untold truth behind building a company, solving real-world problems like housing, and how he’s hacking credit systems to help people save money and live better.
Links:
🎙️Follow my new Instagram to stay up to date with this podcast: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirlpodcast/
My personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/
📌 My Companies & Products: https://marinamogilko.ru/collabyt
Timestamps:
00:35 – How to stop flying economy using Ankur’s app (and how it actually works)
2:13 – $7,900 monthly rent – how much do you earn in rewards?
2:30 – Where can you spend your rewards
3:36 – How rewards convert to real dollars
4:08 – Why no one has done this before
5:20 – How COVID shaped his startup journey
6:18 – The ultimate entrepreneurship guide
7:18 – 2 years of hearing no
7:50 – He spent 18 months in Washington DC changing regulations from within
10:16 – Entrepreneurial mindset – prepare for everything to go wrong
11:12 – What happened to solving big problems?
12:34 – Housing crisis, mental health – why the government doesn’t fix it13:20 – Founders don’t want to solve problems anymore
13:49 – His mindset for building a $3.1B company
15:34 – The problem with raising money in Silicon Valley
17:37 – His upbringing: his parents’ American dream
19:43 – Startup life as a kid – growing up in an innovation environment
23:35 – Why NYC beats Silicon Valley for startups
26:07 – Starting a company? 2 things you must know
In this episode, we talk to Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, the founders of Unacademy — a $3B edtech giant that started as a simple YouTube channel. They share how they scaled to 100+ channels, built an AI-powered English learning app disrupting the industry, and grew without spending on ads. We dive into the highs and lows: layoffs, panic attacks, going public, and what it really takes to build a billion-dollar startup in the age of AI.
00:00 – Teaser
00:42 – From YouTube blog to $3B edtech unicorn
02:35 – Why they focused on YouTube for education
06:20 – How their AI app is disrupting Duolingo in just one year
09:20 – The depressing phase: no sleep and panic attacks
10:17 – How they earned $2M/year with zero ad spend
11:35 – IPO prep while losing $150M/year?
13:33 – Did they consider shutting down?
14:19 – Men don’t talk about it
16:02 – Are they replacing teachers with AI?
19:14 – How they started
21:52 – Decline in viewership when Roman stopped posting; 1000 teachers creating instead
22:40 – Netflix for education: managing 100+ channels
23:55 – How much it costs to run a single YouTube channel
25:42 – Their marketing strategy
26:50 – Why videos now get only 200–300 views
28:00 – Laid off teachers
29:27 – Advice for YouTubes
30:12 – Leave your ego behind: let others do the work too
31:35 – Moving to the U.S.
33:50 – What will happen in 5 years with AI
34:50 – Advice for first-time founders in 2025
For over two decades, Coco Rocha has defied fashion industry expectations, balancing her supermodel career with motherhood while working with top brands like Chanel and Vogue. Despite facing setbacks, including contract losses due to pregnancy and backlash over her TikTok presence, she became a key advocate for labor laws protecting underage models. As an entrepreneur, she founded the Coco Rocha Model Camp and co-owns Nomad Management, where she mentors and shapes the next generation of talent.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Teaser
00:42 – How she manages it all: the real support behind Coco
03:00 – The reality of working with her husband
06:15 – How to stay relevant for 20+ years in fashion 08:02 – People gravitate toward how you work, not how you look
08:26 – Will AI models replace humans?
09:10 – The skills AI can't replicate — how human models stay irreplaceable
10:47 – Models should learn from content creators 11:54 – 'There’s no traditional path anymore' — why aspiring models need to throw out the rulebook
13:21 – The backlash from the fashion industry over her TikToks
15:18 – The confession: "I’m actually a stay-at-home mom most of the time"
18:00 – "If you see me on an airplane, I’m crying"
19:33 – Why she chose to have 3 kids while still modeling
21:35 – She lost contracts because she got pregnant — the industry's brutal response to motherhood
22:23 – The law she helped pass that changed fashion forever
23:00 – The unexpected backlash that followed
24:08 – How she deals with hate and negativity
26:20 – The power of not responding right away
27:28 – Coco’s beauty & travel survival tips
29:25 – The craziest thing that happened to her on set 30:42 – What she’d tell her 15-year-old self
32:05 – 'Here’s where I see myself in 5 years'
Blake Scholl is the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, the company revolutionising air travel with supersonic jets. Blake openly shares the mindset shifts that helped him overcome rejection and industry skepticism, transitioning from a software engineer at Amazon to leading an aerospace company valued at more than $1 billion.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Teaser
0:54 - His early career, 14 years in tech
2:12 - "People have to declare big things for big things to actually happen."
3:31 - Working at Amazon with Jeff Bezos, the lessons he learned there
7:38 - What led him to transition from a corporate job to starting Boom
8:20 - Why he quit his stable job at 33, with newborn twins and a toddler daughter
9:06 - How much money he saved for his startup 9:44 - How he managed his time with family while building a startup 10:30 - How he started a company without formal education
12:57 - How he moved from theory to practice
14:30 - Challenges in hiring the right people
15:50 - "When I told people I was building a supersonic jet, they said, 'Are you crazy?'"
17:18 - Why you shouldn’t listen to industry experts and should check the information yourself
19:20 - No one can tell you what you’re capable of, except yourself 19:56 - The failures that can turn out to be winning moments 20:33 - The hardest day at Boom
21:17 - 3 weeks from bankruptcy – What separates a successful founder from a failing one?
22:00 - Why 99% of startups fail
22:30 - How close they are to launching
24:00 - Legal bans and challenges that stopped them
26:12 - How everything can change in just 4 weeks
26:20 - How to navigate the challenge of 3x the carbon emissions that jets use
28:58 - The costs of flying on a supersonic jet
30:18 - Why increasing speed is important and how it can drive growth in other fields
32:45 - How he manages work-life balance while working at a startup
33:35 - "The world is really open to supersonic right now. We have to move fast. I haven't had a day off in 4 months."
34:40 - The story behind the Trump photo
37:00 - Advice for someone who’s stuck with their idea of building a startup but is facing obstacles
38:00 - Stop being afraid of failure 39:18 - What he would say to the younger version of himself
00:00 - 00:25 Teaser
00:25 - 01:06 Meet Humphrey Yang
01:06 - 02:08 Budgeting strategy for 2025 (how much you need to save in cash, how much to invest)
02:08 - 03:48 Investing strategy for beginners
03:48 - 05:44 How to start your business with a website
05:44 - 06:37 Three-fund portfolio: low downside risk and strong performance during prosperity
06:37 - 07:30 Higher-risk instruments with potentially higher returns
07:30 - 08:47
When to start investing in the stock market
08:47 - 09:12 Investment schedule: how often you should invest and how to automate it
09:12 - 09:36 The main rule of investing
09:36 - 10:12 3 recommended brokerage apps
10:12 - 13:15 Pros and cons of starting a 401(k) at the beginning of your investment journey—or should you start with just a brokerage account?13:15 - 15:43 Rent or buy: which is better?
15:43 - 17:00 Investing in real estate
17:00 - 18:10 Crypto: what to buy in 2025
18:10 - 18:47 The dangers of the crypto market
18:47 - 20:05 How to pick meme coins to invest in
20:05 - 20:24 How many coins does Humphrey own right now?
20:24 - 21:22 Which platform to use for crypto
21:22 - 23:20 Recommended % of your portfolio to allocate to Bitcoin
23:20 - 24:00 You have a lump sum for investment in Bitcoin this year. When should you buy?
24:00 - 24:56 How often and where to make these investments
24:56 - 26:06 The worst financial decisions people can make
26:06 - 26:50 When you should sell your car
26:50 - 29:18 When Humphrey sells stocks
29:18 - 29:57 "Ideally, I keep all cash in my investment portfolio."
29:57 - 30:46 Emotional investing: What Humphrey bought that wasn’t part of his investment plan
30:46 - 32:08 How to decide what information to use when investing
32:08 - 32:28 Best way to pick meme coins to buy
32:28 - 33:10 The % of your portfolio to allocate to individual stocks
33:10 - 34:53 When to hire a financial adviser
34:53 - End How to stay sane when the market goes down
DISCLAIMER:This content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Always consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Unlock the incredible story of Jenny Lei, founder of Freja New York ― a vegan leather handbag brand that has taken the fashion world by storm. After arriving in the U.S. without a passport, Jenny was driven to build her own business as the only way to stay in America. What began in 2020 with just 300 bags has grown into a multimillion-dollar company's. Today, her bags are adored by top influencers like Hailey Bieber, Matilda Djerf, and Katie Holmes. Tune in for a conversation that will change the way you see setbacks-and success.Links: 🎙️Follow my new Instagram to stay up to date with this podcast: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirlpodcast/ 🤳 My personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/📌 My Companies & Products: https://marinamogilko.ru/collabyt
Reid Hoffman is a Silicon Valley legend — co-founder of LinkedIn, one of the world’s most influential investors, and an early believer in Facebook and Airbnb.
In this episode, we talk about:
– The skills that will matter most in the coming years
– What to learn to stay relevant in 5, 10, and 15 years
– Promising niches for future entrepreneurs
– And why AI isn’t a threat — it’s an opportunity
Follow Reid:
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@UCmeNQxKCoV3cULPuPbcj7Ag
Twitter - https://x.com/reidhoffman
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reidhoffman/
You can order Reid’s book, ‘Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future’, here: - https://geni.us/0zd7X
Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/
Meet Samir Vasavada, a young billionaire who left school early and built a $1 billion AI company by the age of 24. He discusses the changing credibility of college and believes that universities and degrees are officially outdated.In this episode, Samir talks about how he trusted his vision early on, bet everything on artificial intelligence (AI), and grew Vise into a company that's transforming wealth management.He discusses starting from scratch, the future of investing with AI, and what it takes to hire and lead in today's world. He also reveals how to unlock your unique superpower.If you’re figuring out your own path without a traditional college degree, this episode is for you!
