Playing Zander on General Hospital, Carly Jean LA, & Raising 4 Kids: Chad & Carly Brannon | Ep.48

0:00 All right. So, I have to say, Carly, I think a lot of women would be very jealous of you because you locked down Xander from General Hospital. Lies. Oh, no. It was Thursday that I had to go back and film my death scene, which for an actor, this is like everything. Like, this is it was Shakespearean. It was dramatic. There was cop cars and I got shot by the SWAT team and I died in my ex-wife's arms. I mean, it was extremely dramatic, which is exactly what every actor wants, right? and Carly, a lot of our audience might know you predominantly from CJLA, which is Carly Jean Los Angeles, an incredible clothing brand. I started at junior college and I dropped out in a hot second when I was in a class that was we were making we had a like a shoe company we had to like create. Um I was like let's just go

0:46 start a real thing. Like forget the fake one. Let's just go do something if this is kind of the steps to it. So, I called my mom and was like, "Hey, what if we opened a store together?" And so, my mom and I uh started a little 400T shop in Burbank. Called it Carly Jean. My name's Carly. Her name's Jean. They're entrepreneurs. They come from the world of acting as well. At least one of them does. And so, we want to hear some of those experiences because I'm curious. It's a TV world, but it's a little different than yours, Ginger. I'm excited for this cuz actually, I have no clue what to expect. [Music] What's going on, guys? Ginger and Jeremy back for another episode of the podcast. We are so excited for this one. I think you guys are going to love this conversation cuz we have some very special guests. Yeah. And I think guests

1:32 that will have a lot of input for giving us a healthy Christian worldview. They've got a very interesting story. They're entrepreneurs. They come from the world of acting as well. At least one of them does. And so we want to hear some of those experiences because I'm curious. It's a TV world, but it's a little different than yours, Ginge. I'm excited for this because actually I have no clue what to expect. Yeah, it'll be fun. So, welcome Chad and Carly Brandon. Thank you so much. Thanks for having us. Yeah. So, a lot of our audience might know you predominantly from CJLA, which is Carly Jean Los Angeles. An incredible clothing brand, which I'll let Ginger rave about because I'm wearing it right now. Oh yeah, I was going to wear my my Carly jean stuff, too. And then I was

2:18 like, is that weird? Should I not? Should I just rep it? Yeah. Sorry. Today. I was like feeling so weird. What do I do? So, I didn't wear it, but I should have. It's all good. Anyhow, welcome. Welcome. Thanks for having us. Yeah, this is so fun. We are super excited to get into your story. I'm very curious how this whole thing started. Um because your brand, I've loved it in every season of life. I feel like it's it's one of those things that I will be able to wear before I, you know, had kids. It's great. And then pregnancy was one of those things. I literally showed up at a game and I saw y'all there and I was like, "Dang, I'm

3:03 wearing this shirt. I wear it every single day." I wore on the podcast. Like if you go back and look at all these episodes, it was like a button down that had so much like was it the blue with the white? Yeah. Well, that one too. But then the other button down that I had was the solid gray one that I wore. I would wear it with leggings. I wear it with jeans. And I wore every day. And then you guys showed up at this game and I was like, "Yep, that's all I wear every single day." I was wearing a compliment. I don't know why that thing. It was great. So I would wear it like every other day. Wash it, wear it, wash it, wear it. And that was the thing that got me through pregnancy. That's encouraging. And postpartum, it's been great. That's the goal. That's the goal right there. I'm glad it was. I'm glad it worked. Yeah. That's the testimony of CJLA that it's always the thing that you pick because it's just the most comfortable. It is. That's the win. We

3:49 try to make clothes that you actually live in, like clothes that you live. And that's living, right? Wearing it on repeat. And I introduced my sister um a couple of my sisters, but one in particular, she was out here visiting and she needed to borrow some clothes. So, I introduced her to your stuff and then she was like, "Oh my goodness, I need this stuff." So, I Yeah, it is. It is a favorite for sure. Sweet. That's encouraging. All right. So, I have to say, Carly, I think you are I think people are going to be a lot of women would be very jealous of you because you locked down Xander from General Hospital. Nice. Oh, no. And I feel like there's a little heartthrob action going on. Yeah. With that one. I mean, in the room I now I I gotta say I've I've never been a huge General Hospital watcher. Weren't a soap fan? You know, come on.

4:36 Didn't do the didn't do the soap operas so much. Yes. Okay. Uh but was familiar with General Hospital growing up. I'm sure I've seen you in action on General Hospital. Talk about Xander. I mean, he he's here in the flesh. In the flesh. Not dead. Come back to life. Yeah. Like couple times. Did Xander die? Uh number of times. Okay. And then came back from the grave multiple times. Yeah. Miracle he's here with us today. Yes. Exactly. So, we want to get to your story cuz I do think the lessons or the input you'll have about entrepreneurship and then also maintaining like a really strong Christian testimony in that space will be really cool. So, we want to hear all about CJLA, its birth, its origin story. We want to hear about how you guys got

5:21 together. So, give us a little bit of background on each of your stories, where you were raised, little little bio sketch. Sure. Born and raised in I I'll start with me. Kick it off. You're you're uh we'll get to you. The um born and raised in Houston, Texas and uh moved to Hollywood in 1999 to pursue acting and um got out here and thankfully just had quick success. I ended up on like five guest star spots within a year and then within a year or so I was on General Hospital and had been auditioning for that off and on a number of different times and then book General Hospital was supposed to be a six-w week gig and uh I was supposed to kidnap this girl and take her on the run and we fell in love on the road as things happen you know in life and uh the fans and the show liked it and they

6:08 liked our storyline and so they continued it and I was there for four years and um I I ended up winning an Emmy at the end of my time on General Hospital. So my last year in 2004, so that was from 2000 to 2004. And um yeah, so that's that's kind of the story of of Xander kidnapped the uh How's it feel to win an Emmy? It was awesome. Um it was a it was definitely the capstone to a really incredible experience working on General Hospital because it was an incredible cast, an incredible crew. Love being a part of that show. But connecting to the faith aspect, um just before I finished general hospital, this is kind of a fun part of the story is I had thought I was raised I mean I was raised as a Christian had thought I was saved and then I had a set of

6:54 circumstances that that uh sovereignly the Lord just used to bring me truly to faith. And um through the course of a conversation with some friends who were coming out for a conference that was out here and they were like, "Hey, can we come stay at your house?" and they came and stayed at my house and the night before the conference uh we started debating the gospel and through the course of the conversation debating the gospel we they took me to Matthew 7 um where it talks about so that you will know them by their fruit and uh it says many will say to me Lord Lord didn't we prophesy in your name and do all these things in your name but Jesus says depart from me I never knew you you workers of lawlessness and through the course of that conversation my debate was I know the truth I So the gospel I could share the Romans road with you. Um but

7:39 ultimately it was a question of the fruit in my life. And as you looked in the fruit of my life, as I looked at the fruit of my life through the course of this conversation, the Holy Spirit used that conversation to convict me that I had never truly said, "I want to make you Lord of my life, and I'm willing to abandon all my desires and hopes and aspirations and sin and say, I just want to follow you, Jesus, no matter what that means." And so that happened to be the same week that my character died on General Hospital. Oh wow. Really? Yes. For the final time. For the f Wow. Yes. The final time. And so that's a wild part of the story because I had gone to this conference and it was I remember being it was Thursday that I had to go back and film my death scene which for an

8:25 actor this is like everything like this is it was Shakespearean. It was dramatic. There was cop cars and I got shot by the SWAT team and I died in my ex-wife's arms. I mean, it was extremely dramatic, which is exactly what every actor wants, right? Soap operas are dramatic, huh? 100%. And as I'm dying, I'm literally sitting staring at the top of this huge movie studio and I'm like, I'm missing a conference. I'm missing something that I wanted to learn at that conference. like the Lord has just changed things so much in my heart and in my mind and my desires that I'm like, "Oh, I'm missing out on something that I want to learn about God." And um so that week was the end of my time on General Hospital and then it was just a couple months later that I won the Emmy. And by

9:11 God's grace, since I won the Emmy, I was able to proclaim Christ with the statue in my hand on national television. So pretty cool. Okay, there's I've got a lot of questions uh to dig into that to kill an actor like that. Was that your Were you being fired or was that just the progression of the show? Yes and no. I wasn't I wasn't being fired. It was kind of the end of my contract and I had had a desire professionally at that point to say like, man, I want to go try like prime time or movies and you know that kind of thing. And so I think they kind of felt that and we had kind of talked about that a little bit. So, it kind of just made it as a a good end and they were like, "Hey, yeah, let's let's let's do something special." I've always wondered about when they kill someone, what's going on behind the scenes. Yeah, that's at least my story. I think they kill people off because So, they do fire

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13:01 out here to I mean did you do the whole like you're a waiter at the restaurants and then in the meantime we're just going to audition after audition after audition 100%. Um and then you get your big break. I mean General Hospital it's a soap opera. That's a big break. like that's not just a background character and you were proving yourself and legitimizing yourself. Um you've made it and then all of a sudden you have this like shift in desire. Totally. And I felt that. I mean I was second year playing professionally. My whole life I was like consumed to be a professional soccer player. It was obsessive for me. And my first year pro actually in Finland um connected with these Christians. I start feeling this pull towards ministry and I'm like what is this? Yeah. What's wrong with me? like I can't go there

13:47 before. And so you're sitting there literally filming a scene looking up and you're dying, but you're looking up in this movie warehouse and you're thinking of all these opportunities, these open doors you would have and your your passion was I want to be diving into the word of God. Totally interesting. Yeah. And it's just such a testimony of how the Lord just, you know, takes away a stony heart and gives you a heart of flesh, right? And just the Lord just goes, I want to transform you into something fundamentally different. Grateful. Okay. So I Well, there's more to dissect in your story, but Carly, tell us where are you from? What was your journey? How did you come out? How did you become CJ LA? How did I become my name? Um, I'm from Los Angeles. Uh, I'm from here, born and raised here in LA. Um, my mom's an artist, my dad's a

14:34 musician, so I was like bound to do something cool weird, right? can't have like I can't I couldn't have been a doctor or a teacher or not going to be an account. It couldn't be something normal. Yeah. I had to be different. Um and so yeah, I grew up in LA. I think similar to Chad and like the creative side, I just I felt like even kind of growing up here, uh I do feel like this is always the land of possibilities. You're so close to so much. Um and there just is so much creativity here. And um I think I watched that around me a lot with watching my you know my parents and their friends and just our community where you're like man you kind of do anything here like anything's fair game. You could be an actor, you could be you know clothing person. I don't know. But I always loved clothing as like a young kid. I I I I come from a a grandma who was like a really talented seamstress

15:20 and then another one who was just really cultured and traveled and and knew she just had great natural style. And I always just remember learning from them and watching them. And um I always say like they kind of taught me the ways. One of like fabrics and textures and how things are made and then another of just appreciating just well-made things or quality things or just kind of seeing um you know what was unique and beautiful. And so I I attribute a lot I feel like to them and just kind of being around them growing up. I'm an only child so I was always stuck with some grandma or someone when people were busy. Um and so I feel like at a young age I was like I want to do something in clothing. I didn't know what that was. Um I didn't love school. I went because it was social. I was like fun. My friends are um but I'm probably not great poster child for college. Um you know I was

16:05 like I just want to get to this. I want to do something in this world. So um I started like junior college and I dropped out in a hot second when I was in a class that was we were making we had a like a shoe company we had to like create. Um and I'm probably too impulsive and too like let me just go do this. Um I was like let's just go start a real thing. Like forget the fake one. Let's just go do something. um if this is kind of the steps to it. So I called my mom and was like, "Hey, what if we opened a store together? What if we we both don't have any money?" Like, but what if we put everything we had, you know, in a bucket and I emptied my closet cuz I got plenty. I've been thrifting and estate sailing since I was little. My grandma would drop me off at the thrift store. No joke. Leave me at the thrift store and I cuz I would go and like scour everything hunting for

16:50 vintage designer stuff. Um and then I would go call her from the pay phone outside. That's how old I am. Um, people were like, "What's a pay phone?" Um, and and then she'd come pick me up and I'd go shop on like senior day, so we'd get it like, you know, it's thrifted already and then it's so Oh, I know what you're talking about. I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're talking about the thrifting princess here. No, I still love thrifting. But, um, yeah. So, I'd find stuff in that way. But, but all that to say, I probably had thrifted plenty and plenty of senior discounts. I had more product than anyone needed in their personal closet. Um, and so my mom and I, uh, started a little 400 foot shop in Burbank, called Called it Carly Jean. My name's Jean. My name's Carly, her name's Jean. Um, and it is my middle name. So, Oh, very cool. That's kind of the name of it. And, uh, we opened this little 400T shop. No social media,

17:36 nothing. No advertising. It was just like full word of mouth old school shopping. Um, but we were in Magnolia Park in Burbank, which is like a little antique district, kind of little vintage things in that area. and were right by the studios. So, proximity to Warner Brothers and NBC and all those places were there. So, I naturally had costumemers and actors and actresses that were like close by and around in the area that would come in and shop and then tell people about it and and became big fans. And became fans. Yeah, it was fun. It was just we're in a fun spot. And I always say too, like it's God's kindness. Like there's plenty of people that are creative and work hard and it looks different and so you know, no guarantees in that. So, I really do like it's the Lord. like I can't take credit for any of it. I showed up. Um but I I breathe because of him so I can't really

18:22 take much. Um but all that to say we opened this little store together quickly and I was it was kind of two paint I always say it was like two painters on one canvas a little bit cordial great but enough that we were like I feel like I'm like oo I'm very visionary in this. I feel like this needs to be like this and she was like well what if we maybe we both just do something different. Your mom you mean? Yeah. Why don't you take the store and you kind of do this but you have to pay me back. So, I paid her back every dime that she put into it because she's not like, you know, we got to keep this Yeah, that's great. Keep it clean. Uh, so I paid her back 500 bucks a month for I think a year for whatever that was that we had, you know, invested in it. And I kind of took it on to my own little journey. I met Chad at that time. We met at church. I was in high school on high school staff. And Chad was in the kind of young, you know, singles ministry at the time. And some friends of ours were like, "We have two girls

19:09 that you could work with." Oh, you're going. And so I was one of the girls. No, I'm not telling that story, but but I was one of the options. I didn't know about it. I thought we were kind of set up. So So detail a proper setup. A good setup. Set up. Set up the people. We feel like we need to do that now. What I'm curious about though, so we we've set people up. We're batting a thousand on our one for one. So keep it that way. You got good odds. Actually, it's a really funny story. There was a guy who was a buddy of mine in seminary. We're classmates and I was leading the college ministry, but there was a a girl, Constanza, who wasn't in college. She was 22, 23. He was probably 24 and she was a singer. She was

19:56 leading. And he just randomly came to Bible study one night and I get down from announcements and Constanza singing. Matt is right in front of us and Jinger nudges me and goes, "Kanza." I'm like, "What about her?" She goes, "For Matt." So I take a video. I zoom in on Matt and then I zoom out. Then I zoom in on Constanza and I do it about three times and text it to Matt. Yes. And that was the beginning of their love story. And they're married. They're married. Yeah. Happily married. Impressive. Nice work. So we do take resumes. But what I'm curious about this setup was we've never set someone up in the link below. Exactly. Never give them options. This podcast brought to you by Germany matchmakers. Imagine we just do a segment an ad segment. Awesome. Uh, what I'm curious about your setup is that they gave you options.

20:41 Like they were like, "Here's two girls." Open. Carly, you open the can of worms. I'm like, I mean, careful opening your mouth. I felt like it added some like dimension to the story, right? Otherwise, someone told us about each other and that's boring. And he chose you. He just was like, "You you're great." I actually think it was a fun story. So, um, the reality is is what we had done was we had tried to coordinate with this couple friend a way to set up that we could all hang out and it was kind of like on the DL, right? Nobody really knew it was up. So, the two the best way to set it up. Totally. You know, it's not like, "Hi, want to talk about things?" You know, it was No, we're going to like keep it on the deal. So, I was I was given the job

21:28 of bringing a bunch of single dudes and he and his wife were going to bring some gals. Two of them were Carly and this friend. It was like Christian Bachelor, you know, right there. What are you doing before Christian Mingle, before Instagram, before you got to you know? Yeah. So, send a telegram. What are you going to do? So, we sit down next to one another and this other gal and I are sitting next to each other and Carly is sitting across from me and this gal is an amazing conversationalist asking a thousand questions. Great convers. We're having incredible conversation, but Carly and I can't keep our eyes off each other. We're also sitting across from each other just like you're going to understand. I mean, we're married now.

22:15 It sounds like I was like swooping in. Like it sounds like I'm like how guys interpret. You're you're sitting there just staring in front of you and he's going, "She cannot stop looking." I mean, it was I was like I was like, "If it doesn't work out, like it was clicking. I am over here." But I was chemistry, but I was also being like I feel like respectful like it was. No, no, no. So then I leave and I'm like and they're like, "So what'd you think?" And I was like, "Oh, she's awesome." So what's the deal with Carly? And they were like, "Oh, you okay?" I mean, Xander, I don't know if you were Xander or Chad moment, but I think Xander was dead at that point. You died. I don't know. Sorry if I keep recently died. So it was just instant like we just it clicked and then it was

23:00 like all right. So then I I ended up chatting with a bunch of friends and it was like hey I think this gal could be the one like really quickly and we from meet to marry was less than a year. Really awesome. So yeah I think we met in it was like July or August and we got engaged in February and then got married May 10 months. 28th we celebrated speed just Oh yeah. What did you say? That's like Duggar speed relationships. That is you're done. When you know, you know. When you know, you know. Because you guys were were fast. We were fast. Yeah. It took a little So, I was from the outside of that circle and world. So, it took a while for me to, you know, get known and be known. But I had my eye on Ginger. We were interested. Once you made it in once, once I got in, a few checkpoints in all the family. Yeah. Once he was in, that's a lot of family

23:46 together. That's a lot of family. That was pretty quick. That's a lot. Yeah. That's a That's a big filter. You know what I mean? Yeah. 10 brothers, you know. Yeah. Good luck. Um, but yeah, then we were six months, right? Three months dating. Am I ever allowed? Am I allowed to ask a question? No. I'm sorry, Chad. You're not allowed to ask us question. I just want to know, was there like an outlying brother that you had to like prove yourself to? Was there like everybody else? About six of them. Yeah, that's about So, the younger brothers I got real easy like cuz they're just down for a good time. Sure. You know, although Jackson was a little skeptical. I remember Jackson you were a skeptical guy. Big Jack came up to me a few times with a couple challenging questions. He would just come up to me. He was probably what, 15 at the time or something. And he'd go, "So, what about this?" And I'd be like, "I'm sorry,

24:32 what?" He'd be like, "In Luke 12, it says this." And I'm like, "Oh, uh, because I was from a different I was like from a different theological camp, too." So, that's what a lot of the rip was. They were trying to figure me out. Yeah. Where you going? Yeah. And so, I remember one time in the kitchen, I remember one time I got cornered and it was Jed. It was and Jen and I have laughed about this. Um I forget who else it was. It might have been Jer, but Jer's like a lot more quiet, but they they came at me and we were, you know, all the questions. Uh cuz they want to know like, okay, what's your deal? And they want to know if they're going to stick around, what they're there for. And that's part of the deal. And so once he made it in, it was it was really fast. And then they love him to death.

25:18 Sweet. So yeah, he's I'd say he's a favorite, but I can't say that. So I can confidently say I'm her favorite. So that's good. Right. There you go. We'll say that. People always say when they meet Ginger and have seen the show or something, they'll go, "Oh my goodness, I love your wife." And I'm like, "Same." You know, Yeah. She's my favorite. Mine, too. It's wild how that works. I say that all the time. People like, "I just love your wife. She's so special." Like, "Yes, we're tracking." Yeah. So this is like love at first sight. Yeah. I think connect at first sight. Connect at first sight. Sure. Yeah. Chemistry at first sight. Then it was like, all right, is this real? All the things like, you know, and then we started getting, you know, hearing from other people in in our lives going like, is she this gal that I need to be with?

26:05 Is she godly? Is she serving? Is she, you know, is she like mature? Is she And same thing with me. I was I had been way vetted. I mean like our her pastor got involved who became my pastor and now it's like a dear friend and my pastor got involved and they became like let's talk this out. It was just like let's just make sure this is a right match. Make sure there's a good connection. I've got a question Carly then. As you're had you been walking with the Lord for a while at that point. Yeah. I got saved young. I grew up in a home and not probably traditional home. I feel like our church is amazing and so many solid families have been there forever. Um my mom and dad had me before they were married. we were not like the poster child for like you know what it you know was supposed to look like. Um but the Lord was so kind in that like I'm really grateful for just my life our

26:52 experience my just like walk with the Lord and how the Lord used so many different circumstances to bring me to him and um you know not in the cookie cutter maybe way that you would guess but I feel like the Lord just used um the church in huge ways. I grew up uh going to a Christian school and so I feel like I just heard God's word all the time and was just like oh this is the this is true this is real um and understood that and then I had the contrast too of having you know things at home where like oh wow this it's a little different than kind of what it is here I see the difference of those two things and I think just seeing how God's word is so clear that like this is how he's designed it to be and this is what he's created and just being like oh this is this is true this is real I'm I'm watching this or seeing that too in you know circ circumstances where you're like, "Wow, when you're not walking with the Lord, like what your life looks like

27:37 and how hard that is." And so, I think seeing kind of both sides of that as a kid. Um, and then, yeah, I feel like I got saved young. I feel like I just felt convicted in my heart was like, I am not the Lord's. I need to be saved. I need to, you know, come before him and repent of my sin and and turn and and turn to him. And um, but it wasn't until I was in junior high that I really feel like I saw kind of that maturity start to grow. I'm always like, you know, is that just because that's season of life that you're like, hey, I'm things are clicking and I'm maturing and just not a little kid anymore. Um, but yeah, I like the Lord just used different accountability. I there was a kid that used to sit next to me in a class and would always say like, "What are you learning? What are you what's God teaching you right now?" And I'd be like, "What are you reading your Bible?" And I'm like, "I don't know if I'm

28:23 reading my Bible." You know, just was so um convicted of like, "Yeah, if I'm a Christian, like my I should be I should have something." And again, not for to say for to you, but to before the Lord, like, am I seeking him? Am I wanting to grow and learn and um and so that was just convicting. The Lord used it to kind of wake me up and go like, "Oh, if I'm saved, then what is, you know, am I seeking him? Am I pursuing him?" And um so that was in that kind of later junior high time. And then high school came and I think the Lord really just provided um the church at a just amazing time. I think that's why we love youth ministry. We love serving. Um, I think I just watched God show me what the church is and what the church looks like and how it functions. And especially coming from a home that I come from a sweet home and

29:08 a good home, but um I think wasn't quite, you know, hey, here's what the church looks like and here's what this is and here's how to, you know, walk with the Lord. And so I think just being there, God just used it to at a perfect time. I was just in high school kind of going, okay, what way am I going? Am I, you know, am I choosing this? Am I choosing that? Am I being faithful? Am I am I going to stand out and be bold for my, you know, faith and show that I love the Lord, or am I going to be like, "Oh, I'm kind of lukewarm and I'm um following what everyone else in high school is doing." And I think the Lord just kind of used it to kind of make me clearly choose kind of where I'm going and what I'm doing and um so yeah, used the church in that way. And so I very quickly started just serving and I feel like we met shortly after. I was 21 and you were 25. Did you have I mean here's

29:55 this guy who's pursuing acting at that time. Were you still kind of in that world? Yeah. So, was that a concern? I mean, that's like the quintessential like red flags in LA is, you know, the acting scene and Hollywood and you could even say like soap operas which are all about drama and all this stuff. Yeah. And here you're a young lady who's serious about the Lord. Yeah. And you meet this guy at church. when you heard that he was Xander or was you were in other roles and other movies, was that a concern to you? Was that a red flag? Were you like, "Whoa, what's that about?" Or had you gotten to kind of know him at a point and go like it was kind of not a concern for you, I guess? Yeah. I think what I would I think the biggest thing that I feel like made me comfortable was how known he was. And I think we both pursued that like in the church. In the church like we were not

30:41 known. He was so famous. He was so popular. That's not proper dying. No, no, no. That I that was not what I meant. That sounded wrong. Um, no. That that we were both I feel like seeking the Lord and we were both seeking accountability. I think that was really something that was so so important for us was just that I felt like you could see that you could hear that you could look at his life and go, "Hey, there's so many people that know him that are spending time with him that have again that that season might not have been long. He had recently been saved, you know, but seeing that he was just faithfully pursuing godly men to hold him accountable and I think we both were I was pursuing women and we were both showing up and I feel like using

31:28 what we had to serve the Lord. Like I think you could see that. So yeah, go ahead. I had quickly gotten plugged into the church number one. So I was serving there as well and and I had also gone back to try and finish my degree in Christian ministry. So, at the time I was like, I don't know if I'm supposed to be a preacher. It sounds kind of like similar to what what you were thinking and what obviously has transpired in your life. And I was like, I feel like I just want to know more of God's word. So, I want to go plug in to learn. So, I'm going to go just finish my degree, make my mama happy to to get the degree on the wall and, you know, study Christian ministry. And and I was like, that's that's what I'm going after. So, that was happening as well. As a matter of fact, I remember I sat Carly down. We went to the House of Pie. I was literally going to say, were you going to say that? Go ahead. You tell it. No, I that just comes to mind. I think that

32:14 was I kind of was fully warned what I was signing up for. That's I just have to say that we sat down. I remember at House of Pie in Hollywood and he was like, "So, it was kind of like a was it kind of a DTR?" It was like a DTR that like, "Hey, I'm about to put a ring on it kind of, you know, like this is the feel. This is defined the relationship for those relationship." Yeah. But I remember him saying, and maybe I'll butcher it, maybe better you saying it, but I think he said like, "I'm either going to be like Dom Cruz or I'm going to be like a missionary in like a jungle." Like it was kind of the best. Yeah. It was like kind of crazy. We either can be on the red carpet. Tom Cruz who is a missionary. It was, you know, like we're going to be on the red carpet or we're going to be like dirt poor in a village. Like are you down for red carpet or village? like, "Oh my

32:59 gosh." And I remember being like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm down for red carpet village." Like, whatever it whatever it is, I knew that I think just seeing that he was pursuing the Lord and loved the Lord and his life was about the Lord, I think we both were like, "Whatever it's going to be, let's go." I think I I want to hear your guys' thoughts on this and yours too, Ginger, more because two things. One, I saw that same thing in Ginger where I remember literally thinking and praying that if the Lord called me to live in a hut in a third world country as a missionary, Ginger would be right there with me. And I I think that's it's not common for the Lord to call those types of missionaries. So, he does. But I think what we were recognizing you and each other and us and each other is

33:45 there's like a deep-seated submission to the Lord in that like wherever you go, I'll go. not a grasping at a certain way of life or a certain, you know, comfortability where you go, "Yeah, I'll follow Jesus if." Mhm. And I saw that Ginger like she'll go wherever the Lord leads us. And it gave me peace. But I I want to hear more on this because this is like a little PSA for young folks who are or not just young folks, but people who are seeking to get married is, and you brought it up, Carly, it's so insightful. Who knows that person? Mhm. And that is one thing that, you know, we were joking about Christian Mingle and all that. We know some incredible couples who've been married on Christian Mingle or met each other on Instagram or whatever. So, it's a wonderful avenue, but one of the downsides is you might get to know that

34:30 person in isolation. And dating relationships should happen in community because it's safer because you you see that person amongst the people who know them. Yeah. And so, you know, across a few DMs or a video call or a few dates, you can be whoever you want to the other person, but you can't fake that in genuine community. So, talk a little bit more. Give some insights and go deeper. Help our listeners who are thinking like maybe they haven't heard that or considered that, but how important it is that the person you're interested in is known by other people to have integrity. You know what I'm getting at? Yeah. Well, I think marriage is a circus, right? I mean, it really is. You get

35:15 into this thing and you go, "Hey, it's all about like there's the reason they call it the newlywed. Like, everything's great. You can't do anything wrong." And then you start getting into this thing a couple of years and you're like, "Oh, wait." It's why that book was written when sinners say I do, right? That you get on the other side of that and you're like, "Oh, actually, this is really challenging because you're sinful and selfish and I'm sinful and selfish and what are we going to do to work this out? Who wins?" you know, and if that's the battle, then everybody loses, right? And so, I think that's one of those things is that you have to find somebody that's willing to go into that with you that has the right tools for the war. Yeah. Because the war is about serving Christ, it's submitting to Christ, it's so, so you want to find people that know you, that are able to say, "That's who they are." So, even though I can promise you they're not perfect, I can promise you they're going to be selfish because

36:02 that's what every sinner is, but what you need is somebody that's going to go, I exalt God's word, at the end of the day, I just want to know what he has to say, and whatever he says, I'm going to submit my life to ultimately that they go, I'm abandoned to following Christ because that's what it means to be a Christ follower. So, I just want to be like him. And if we're both committed to that, that's going to solve the majority of our problems. If we're willing to go, know your way, know your way. Right? That you just go, I just want to work that out. and that you truly love each other, right? I mean, that's really what it is because Christ loves his church. He loves his church so much that he was willing to give up his life for his church. So, that's what we're called as husbands to do. And wives are called to respect and submit. And so, what a beautiful relationship. And you want to find people that are going to go, "Hey, it ain't going to be perfect, but they've got the right tools and they're

36:48 going to be the right person." Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's such a com It's interesting. I feel like it's such a common thing too to go if you are not known by people that might be because you might not be well one putting yourself out there in a sense of like maybe you're not even serving. Nobody knows you cuz you don't show up. Um maybe nobody knows you cuz you don't come to anything. Maybe you know any not that those things you know it's you need to attend all these things but I do think that we also live in a a time and a climate that everyone is so busy. Everyone's too busy to to serve, too busy to attend a Bible study, too busy. You're like, "Oh, I watched something on Instagram. I'm good." You know, like, but like like that community aspect of it of like fellowship and connecting with people, they're too busy to do any

37:34 of those things. So to me I'm like that's like a little bit of a warning sign of like hey if someone is too busy to show up to things or to be known or to be you know discipled or to be accountable I'm like warning they might be too busy to pursue that in the future. And I think it's also a pattern that you want to develop in life that you go that needs to continue because that's how the Lord built his church is he's like you're supposed to be in each other's lives right? You're supposed to love one another. You're supposed to speak into each other's lives. And so I think that's part of it is that that's got to be a pattern that started before because you're going to need the help on the other side. You're going to need somebody to go, let me help you. Okay. So you just said too busy and you're talking about serving in the church and you're a mother. Mhm. Yeah. Who's a wife

38:20 who's an entrepreneur in Los Angeles. Yes. whose business is doing very well and you're doing pop-ups across the country now in Nashville and you're talking about someone being too busy to serve in the local church. Yeah. So, I think a lot of mothers or a lot of people listening would go, "Wait, aren't you too busy? Like, don't you have too much going on?" So talk about navigating that space of the priorities in your life of having being a successful businesswoman and having this business with your family but then keeping the main thing the main thing like help us think through that because you're you're saying too busy and I'm going but Carly Gene LA is very busy. So yeah, I do have to give Chad some credit of just great

39:05 leadership because I do think there's times I'd be like, "Really? It was really late last night." And Chad's like, "Do we like pursue, you know, we'll we'll bend our back to do a tent sale till 1 a.m." He's like, "But we won't bend our back to show up for church." Like I think in the example that we set our kids about convicting the example we set for our kids, too. He's like, "So you want you want our kids to see us dive into our business and dive and sacrifice all these things but not do that on a Sunday morning?" He's like, "If we're going to sacrifice anything, show up on Sunday morning." You know, like he's like, "I don't care how late." So, I can't take all the credit because there's plenty of times that I'm like, "Really? Let's sleep in." Um, but I I But that's part of it though is the the partnership you have in your marriage. Sure. Is a component to that. Yeah. No, but I I think just the reminder of that like it's all the Lord's. It's all his. So, how out of

39:52 order is this going to be when we make all the time for these things and yet we don't make time for the Lord? And again, I I don't I think that we have to be careful with that, too. That doesn't mean, you know, there's there's times like, hey, it's it's okay. The Lord knows you love him if you miss a Sunday. I'm not I'm not saying that. But I think and I think you've been very consistent in that of saying, hey, like it's the pattern of that like what's the pattern of our life? What's the pattern that we're setting for our kids? The example of that like our hope again we it's not a formula. We can't save our children but we pray that our kids look back and go man our parents were really faithful and even in seasons of like the Lord blessing. I'm like that would be the worst. I think you should show up even more if God's being kind to to provide

40:38 and to bless your things. I'm like I feel like it's just honoring to him to go like hey this is where this you get the glory. this all comes from you and I want to just honor you in that. And I think to stay humble in that like the Lord can take it away in 5 seconds. So, who am I to who are we to be like, "Oh, we're so busy with all of these things that we can't put him first and put the church first." I think it's always such a reminder, you know, that just like all of these things of this world are all just passing away anyway. Sure. You know, so store up your treasure in heaven where moth and rust don't destroy. So, that's really what it's all about, right? And that can happen in in the midst of a business as you faithfully execute well according to God's will. But like it's in his church like he came to build his church. So that's what we're called to be a part of. And um great I was I was thinking earlier today about you know we're we're

41:26 in a really sweet season of life. You know six-year-old, fouryear-old, two-month-old and I come home and the kids you know run full speed into me. That's not going to last forever. You know just for safety precautions it can't. But it's a sweet season. And I was just thinking of this, you know, if if we're constantly chasing something cuz life does get busy. We'll find a lack of fulfillment even in the sweetest seasons of life. Yeah. Miss if Yeah. We'll miss it. And I don't want to look back on my life and go, "Oh, I missed it." Yeah. But if we keep like if we keep our well full and I mean like the well of our soul like Christ stands up in John 7 and it says if anyone thirsts come to me and from him will flow rivers of living water. You're not only going to be full

42:13 and satisfied yourself. He's saying you're going to overflow and become a life source to others. Yeah. And if we keep the church community because that's a means of grace. It's a means by which God keeps us on the right path and focused and prioritizing the right things. Then whether your business is thriving or maybe you're struggling or whatever you're doing in life, you'll find deep satisfaction and joy in that. Um whereas if you don't keep those things priority, you could be in the greatest season with wealth and family and health and be miserable. That's right. And we see that all around us. I mean, we see that here in Los Angeles everywhere. Yeah. Some of the wealthiest people in the world on the globe are the most miserable people. And it's because

42:58 they're missing that essential. And then you see people who are by no means wellto-do and they have the joy of the Lord. And it's like it's like if you thought of what gift should I give them? You couldn't even they have everything they need, you know? Um and so it's maintaining that focus and it's maintaining that priority in the busyiness of life. Yeah. Well, I have a question for you because I guess when did you guys first decide to have kids? Did you wait a while? Um because you have quite a few kids. Um and also I kind of like the second half of that question is um how did you navigate still having a shop? Cuz you had like a brick and mortar shop, right? For how many years did you have that? For six. I feel like I have a bad memory. I'm like

43:44 how long was that? I don't know. Um, yeah. Six. 2004 to 200 when 40 2010. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Awesome. And then when did y'all have kids? Was it like right away or did you wait for a bit? Pretty quickly. Pretty quickly. Okay. Yeah. So, you're young. Mid mid 20s. You're what? 25 when you got married. 22. Yeah. 21. 21. Yeah. 216. Yeah. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. So cool. So, did you have them back toback? Are they close in age or about two years? Yeah. Two years. I mean, full story. I actually I'll make it quick, but um actually got pregnant. I'm trying to think through within our first year of marriage and I lost a baby girl at almost 8 months. So, we got pretty far. We were pretty far along. So, technically I've been pregnant six

44:31 times. Uh but yeah, so we lost a baby girl and then I had Hudson, my oldest, uh pretty quickly after that. So, we had Hud and then forward then then we were on the two-year. So, so yeah, the Lord it was it was one of those two we were like I when we look back I'm like I know God loves us cuz he has constantly just walked us through all sorts of adventure along the way and tests along the way and yeah that was I think a quick very quickly I think I look back on that I'm like the Lord really used that in a lot of ways obviously grievous on one hand but on the other I think very quick a little maturity like steroid where you're like wait I'm 21 what are we walking through right now. Um, but I think it I think that prepared us for other seasons ahead of us that were

45:17 like, "Hey, we've been through some things. We've seen God's faithfulness. We've seen what this doesn't make sense to us." Um, and we've seen him carry us through. So, I think we look back on that, you know, in the moment like, "What is this for?" Um, but I I can so honestly, faithfully say like he has been in every little detail of it along the way. Well, thank you for sharing that, too. I know that's so difficult. I can imagine that pain. I had a miscarriage. Mine was early on, but just the pain that you feel and that loss like I couldn't imagine being in the place. And at the same time, you do I'd imagine like you're saying, you see that growth and probably even for the two of you being so young to rely on the Lord in a way that you never would have expected walking into early marriage.

46:03 Um, that's Yeah, that's incredible. And I think I think it took us it it made us a uh a very old couple very quickly. I know. And um and I think it it drew us really close to the Lord first um to go like is is your faith real and um and trials like that have a a way of of of bringing that clarity for you, right? It's one of the aspects of proving your faith to see, oh no, he's alive in me because I couldn't do this alone. And um so it definitely drew us close to Christ, but it also drew us close to each other. And I think it just made us go like, "Wow, we just lived a lot of life in a very quick way." And we were still very young um as as a married couple and youngest people to have to go

46:49 through that. So Lord was kind and and we had this we we had the church around us as well. We were serving in high school ministry and lots of people came around us and just loved us well and family did as well. And so it was uh it was a hard time but beautiful at the same time. That's Yeah, that's incredible. I have a logistical question because having little kids Yeah. How were you like with this I'm I'm assuming with this like you know boutique style like consignment thrifting all that. How did you source your clothes? Were you going out still to shops to source those unique pieces for your boutique? Like the brick and mortar with little kids like once you guys, you know, was that something that you were doing? I just picture you out there at the Goodwill like that. At that point, I had with a

47:36 baby carrier arm. I got I got pictures of it. I mean, yeah. I mean, a little bit of that. At that time, I was basically carrying local designers brands. Okay. So I still at the time again, you know, this is like very like grassroots. We're growing this on our own. Um I would go to different like manufacturers and even at the time like I didn't have enough capital to like buy full runs of things. And so I would basically buy samples. I would go and be like, "Hey, I'm a great treasure hunter." So I could go in and be like, "Okay, let me find the good things out of here." Um but I would source that way. And so that was kind of how it kind of started. And then I was working with different manufacturers and meeting different brands. I'd find brands like, "Oh, how do I get this?" So started with samples and as the as we grew as a store I was able to then be like okay now I can buy like runs of your pieces and as

48:22 we just started to grow. So yeah a little bit of that and then at the time we were doing estate sales stuff as well. So I would actually have people bring in stuff. So it was like technically curated and then they would come into the shop with you know set up an appointment and be like hey I've got all this stuff. Do you want to purchase from it? So some of that came to me but yeah a lot of it was I look back and I'm like I really don't know how we did it. I don't know how we're alive. That's incredible. I'm like how we're alive. What? Literally, I'm like, "What were we doing?" Um, God's kindness. I don't know. He He carried us through, but yeah, we I just remember one time it was like an accident. The stroller part forgot to get put in the car and I just had a I was like savage. Like we like had like the car seat carrier and I remember one day we had to You don't need a gym. No. Kids and we

49:10 were carrying like a car seat carrier all day. the car seat. The whole It was before. Yeah. No, I Yeah, we're talking pay phone time. So, um I did have a cell phone, but yeah. And Carly's gift, I think, is that she has incredible taste. She really has incredible taste almost in everything that she does. Like, she can find something and be like, I mean, I don't even go to regular stores, much less a thrift store without her cuz she could go into like the fancy people are going to be like, "Does she own a thrift store?" I'm like, "I actually have clothing company. It's not a thrift store." Yes. We're going to get into that. We're going to get into that. But that's the thing. I think it's gone from then, it's been a it's been a thing that's been consistent. She has incredible taste to be able to see from, you know, a young age to then starting her store to as it developed and matured

49:55 as a business and then to what we do today, her taste has stayed consistent. That everything that she chooses is just right. And and and then the other thing I think that her major gift is I think is that when people get a hold of that they go I want what you have. And I used to say that was my joke when we began the business was I was like Carly people want to know what toothpaste you use. I don't know why but they want to know everything about you. Right. And it was just they want what you they were like where'd you get that? I want that. Where where'd you get that? Can you tell me about where you got that? Like that's just what the story of Carly has always been. And I was like there's something here. and it's already happening, but like I think this could be a bigger thing. Yeah, she's got an incredible taste. How did that start? So, you you

50:40 started out kind of like just, you know, sorting through Goodwill bins and then you went to where you were sourcing your own stuff. How how did that, you know, when did that start and how did you decide, okay, I actually want to choose the things I'm going to put in the shop and start your own clothing line? Yeah, I feel like a little part of it just I I we didn't grow up with a ton. We didn't we didn't have we lived with family. I mean, we've had all sorts. I think people often think like, oh, Carla Jean, oh, it's this branch, it's this thing. I'm like, actually, like I don't come from a ton. Like, every little piece I feel like has been, you know, slowly built and grown and uh the Lord just used all those little parts to to lead us to where we are today. But yeah, I think part of it was just resourcefulness of just growing up as a kid, like, hey, you've only got this, so

51:26 make the most of it. Um and then I think yeah just soaking up things all around me just learning in unique situations. It wasn't always like oh I learned that from my own world but observing that from others like finding beauty in you can find beauty in anything you know. So I think part of it was that but uh the sourcing side yeah just using what I had and then as we grew and I think so much of it is how you present something and how you display something and how you story tell something and um are able to to piece things together. I think oftentimes everything's served on a platter and yet people don't know how to put it together. But if you can, you know, really show the how and the and the why and the what in something, I think it brings life to it. So I think we just did that in the shop and then um yeah, I would I mean I would just observe. I'd be in a in a Nordstrom or

52:13 whatever looking around like oo that's a cool that feels good. Oo that's like cool. What is this brand? What is this thing? And so um just learning brands and learn just honestly just being observational um and then would kind of source. Okay. Where do you find that? How do you buy that? Where do you go? Um I mean I I didn't go to design school. So much of it was just curiosity and curiosity watching and Yeah. And I think Yeah. Yeah. I think just being observant and then um yeah, asking questions. I think a lot of people could do a whole lot more stuff if they literally asked a question. The humility of that though, it takes a lot to like realize, okay, I have a lot to learn and to be able to learn that craft and that skill. not going to school for it. That's incredible. And it is a gift because

52:59 some people just have an eye for design and I love what you guys have done and branched out from clothes into the home side of things and everything that you have. I don't know how you categorize the style of CJLA, but it is it is so beautiful. Like that's all I say. classic, timeless, and that's what I love about your pieces that I get because I think, okay, if I get something from you guys, it's going to last and it's not there's a trendiness to it that's really fun. You'll have like fun pieces you put out, but I feel like I can wear it and pass it down to the girls because it's it's that timeless. And so, I don't know what you'd say the style is like. What's what's is it like your style? Are you more just like um looking at things that

53:45 you want to wear that are just more basics and is that your desire or you like the fun bold fun like No, I think it probably starts from my style of just being I you know I I want to build a closet and create um a home and those other things that are just timeless, right? I feel like everything is so fluid these days where something's cool for 5 minutes. I feel like that just creates a a wasteful lifestyle if you're using something that you can use for one time or you know whether that's your closet or the decor of your home. Um I think there really is a little system and rhythm where if you have those like base things that are beautiful neutral quality excellent those can carry throughout seasons and you can layer and mix um again from your outfit to your

54:32 furniture. Um you can change those things and update those things without like literally throwing your couch away. Um, so I think it kind of comes to that same thought with a closet where you're like, "Hey, if you have those base things, those great, beautiful basics that are cool that you I always joke I always say like you don't want something that someone's like, "Oh, 2025, you know, like, oh yeah, remember when we did that in 2025?" Um, I I want to build a closet and a home that you look back, you're like, I don't know what that's from, but it's classic. It's timeless. It's always cool. Well, and I think it I think it started I was going to say in that once you had had kids, you were like, "Hey, I would love to revisit this store idea and you were like, I'm tired of shopping in all of these different places." I want it all to come from one place and I think our

55:18 theme was like keeping ladies out of the mall since whatever. I did I did a newspaper article, you know, I did a newspaper article when I first opened the store like the time the Burbank Times over came was like, "Hey, you know, what's your, you know, little questionnaire thing?" And um they're like, "What's your like what's the point of your store?" I'm like, "I'm just trying to keep people out of the mall." Something like, you know, I don't even know where it came from. But it is that I feel like it was, you know, it was like shopping in a different in a different way, a different experience. Um that was our whole goal with the brand was just being able to shop somewhere and not, you know, be cared for in a different way, to have it curated in a different way. It's so fun. So, for those of you who don't know about CJ, you've got to check it out. Of course, we're going to have all of the links for you, but I have to just say the first time I think I came

56:03 to like learn about your product and everything, somebody invited me to a tent sale, I showed up and it I was like, "Where am I? This is I think it was in like Tarzana." Yeah. And there

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