How Angie Nwandu Turned Her Side Hustle Into A Media Empire

Angie Nwandu started The Shade Room in 2014 with nothing but an Instagram account and a love of celebrity gossip. Today, The Shade Room is a media empire that covers culture, politics, investigative stories, television and more across a host of platforms. And that Instagram account now has over 26 million followers. She tells Nora about how she bootstrapped the business, why she decided to only take one singular VC investment, and how she monetizes the business. For more info on our presenting sponsor, check out

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0:00 Intro
2:50 Ice breaker question
3:45 The evolution of The Shade Room
7:00 Effectively using investments
9:00 The Shade Room’s only initial investor
15:00 The business model of The Shade Room
17:00 Brand partnerships
25:00 Can you grow a media company without a social media presence?
27:00 How do you approach focus?
30:00 The origin of The Shade Room-nothing to lose
32:00 Risk and decision-making
35:00 Question section
38:00 Credits

#business #morningbrew #media #socialmedia

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