Meghan Markle broke her quiet on the drama surrounding the name change of her brand after it came to light her company was rebranding from the American Riviera Orchard to As Ever.
At last, Meghan Markle breaks her silence on the story behind the name change for her brand, American Riviera Orchard, and discusses the move to ‘As Ever’.
She tells guest Kadi Lee, on the third edition of her new podcast series, “I had secured As Ever as a name in 2022, and then as everything started to evolve last year, and bringing in a partner the size that it was, it was just so interesting.”
The Duchess of Sussex recalled her past inclination, saying, “You remember, I said, ‘I like American Riviera as an umbrella,’ and then be able to have verticals beneath it. And perhaps have the ‘Orchard’ somewhat small. But when it became impractical… it turned into this word salad all of a sudden. I didn’t love that very much.
Meghan continued her story, “I was like, ‘OK, let’s go back to the thing that I have always enjoyed. Let us go under the name I guarded for a purpose that had sort of been under wraps.”
“And then we were able to focus in the quiet and put our heads down and build on something that no one was sniffing around to even see about,” she said, realizing the advantages of running without the glare of the spotlight in search of the best path for her brand. Having that peaceful time was really rather beneficial.
growing on that idea, Meghan said, “It was just really, really helpful to have that quiet period which you would know after spending so many years working on something, building it and the pivots that you had to take with it.”
In this episode of “Confessions of a Female Founder,” Meghan’s guest owns the buzz-worthy Highbrow Hippie salon in Los Angeles’s Venice area, well-known for caring to stars like Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt.
Meghan Markle was spotted beside the founder and friend after gracing the brand’s opening event in Venice, California in November 2024.
Ms. Lee disclosed during their interview that they first met paths in 2020, the same year Meghan, together with Prince Harry, withdrew from their senior Royal responsibilities and moved to California with their family.
Their conversation coincides with Meghan’s firm, American Riviera Orchard, having to modify its previous name since she thought it “limited” her. This caused debate about Meghan’s new brand name “As Ever,” since its logo resembled the insignia of a Majorcan town.
The most recent offering from Meghan’s new eight-part podcast series with Lemonada Media is this episode, which looks at creating “billion-dollar businesses”.
“Meghan sits down with co-founder of Highbrow Hippie and go-to colorist for some of Hollywood’s most well-known names, Kadi Lee,” the episode summary states Originally a blog, what started out as a brick-and-mortar salon and a carefully developed product line—all created with heart and the best of attention to detail.
“The pair address what it means to grow something from the ground up, how to lead with your values, and why staying connected to your community is the ultimate marker of success.”