[Top Women Series] Why Relationships Drive the Best Business Opportunities With Meghan Fialkoff

Meghan Fialkoff is the Co-founder of The Modern Day Wife, a lifestyle brand renowned for producing luxury events that unite women, brands, and influencers across North America. Under her leadership, the brand has hosted over 50 events with audiences of up to 2,000 guests and has partnered with companies like Bloomingdale’s and W Hotels.

Meghan has been recognized by LA Style Magazine and Modern Luxury, and was named a 40 Under 40 honoree by Beverly Hills Living Magazine. With a background in nonprofit leadership and philanthropy — including ringing the Nasdaq Opening Bell for her charitable work — Meghan is passionate about creating meaningful connections and empowering modern women through entrepreneurship and community.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [5:12] Meghan Fialkoff shares how Madonna and Samantha Jones inspired her leadership journey
• [10:45] The relentless hustle behind launching Modern Day Wife during Covid
• [13:33] Pro tips for connecting with high-profile speakers at the perfect time
• [14:22] Why Meghan values relationships over ROI for long-term success
• [17:41] How Modern Day Wife transformed simple vendor booths into full-scale productions
• [23:55] The creative revenue models powering large-scale luxury events
• [27:43] The secret to consistently filling events with hundreds of guests
• [38:57] Hard-earned business lessons inspired by Meghan’s entrepreneurial father

In this episode…

What does it take to unite hundreds of ambitious women, brands, and creators and keep them coming back? Behind every standout event are bold choices, creative pivots, and a focus on meaningful connections. How do some entrepreneurs turn gatherings into thriving communities instead of one-off experiences?

According to Meghan Fialkoff, a visionary entrepreneur and community builder, thriving events grow from authentic relationships and creative partnerships rather than rigid business models. She explains how prioritizing genuine connections turned early digital gatherings into large-scale experiences with major brands, influencers, and loyal attendees. By experimenting with ideas such as themed sponsor activations and immersive fashion shows, she transformed basic vendor setups into memorable productions. Transparency and consistent value have helped her build a strong, expanding community across multiple cities.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Meghan Fialkoff, Co-founder of The Modern Day Wife, to discuss building impactful event communities. They explore launching events during a pandemic, turning simple booths into immersive brand experiences, and building partnerships that drive packed events. Meghan also shares insights on creative sponsorship strategies and maintaining authenticity while scaling a growing brand.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Meghan Fialkoff on LinkedIn
• The Modern Day Wife Website | Instagram
• Modern Day Wife, The Podcast
• Let It Go: The Memoirs of Dame Stephanie Shirley by Dame Stephanie Shirley and Richard Askwith

Special mention(s):

• Elena Cardone on LinkedIn
• Meagan Elieff on LinkedIn
• Greg Wasserman on LinkedIn

Related episodes:

• “[Top Women Leaders] Empowering Women Investors and Founders With Robbie Hardy of xElle Ventures” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Women Leaders] Women and the Burden of Success With Jess Begen Galica, Founder of Reclaim Your Career” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Women Leader Series] The Secret to Standing Out and Growing Your Business With Winnie Hart of TwinEngine” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “Breaking the Glass Ceiling & Paving the Way for Women Entrepreneurs with Dame Stephanie Shirley Founder of The Shirley Foundation” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moments:

• “I’ve always wanted to be on the world stage, connect with influential people, and do exciting, impactful things.”
• “Relationships built my success. Hard work comes next — connections are the foundation.”
• “Once I’m following someone else’s advice, it stops being fun. We have to carve our own path.”
• “You just have to say it — and put it in writing. That’s what comes back to bite you if you don’t.”
• “Anything is possible. I don’t listen to anyone who says, ‘You can’t.’ Says who?”

Action steps:

1. Build authentic relationships first: Focus on genuine connections and helping others, not just ROI, to create opportunities that transactional approaches can’t.
2. Consistently deliver value and experiences: Make attendees and sponsors feel important by creating memorable moments that foster loyalty and set you apart.
3. Communicate clearly and set expectations: Be direct and put agreements in writing to prevent misunderstandings and build trust with partners.
4. Leverage timing and offer support first: Reach out when people are most accessible and lead with how you can help to create stronger partnerships.
5. Refine your approach with feedback: Adapt event formats, panels, and strategies based on what works, continually improving to overcome obstacles and seize opportunities.

Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here of InspiredInsider.com. Today’s guest was great. Meghan Fialkoff. TheModernDayWife.com. We went and talked about a lot of different topics and we jumped right into the conversation. So I’m recording this after the fact. But I want to give a proper intro to Meghan.

Before I introduce Meghan, this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help businesses connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. And Meghan’s really all about relationships and partnerships. So this is perfect. We do this at Rise25 in 2 ways. One, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, accountability, the full execution and production behind the scenes to make it easy. Number two, we’re an easy button for a company’s corporate gifting. So we make gifting staying top of mind for clients, partners, prospects, even staff from a culture perspective. Simple, easy, affordable companies just give us addresses of those people and we do everything else. Okay. And you don’t just send one off gifts. Usually, think we send 3 to 4 gifts a year for 4 to 5 years, right? And we’re not sending tchotchkes like pens and mugs. It’s usually delicious snacks because I like to get the delicious snacks.

So we kind of call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background and make it stress free for a company to build amazing relationships. And that really is what we’ve done with Rise25 over the past decade, and I found no better way to profile people and companies on my podcast and share with the world what they’re working on and send them sweet treats in the mail. So check out Rise25.com or email [email protected].

And today’s guest, Meghan Fialkoff. She’s co-founder of The Modern Day Wife. The Modern Day Wife is a lifestyle brand. They’ve produced over 50 luxury events. They get, you know, anywhere from 500 to 2000 guests at their events, and they’re all over the country and even internationally. The company has an influencer program, podcast, Beauty Box Magazine, they’ve partnered with Bloomingdale’s, W Hotels and so many more. They’ve been featured in LA Style Magazine’s most influential and Modern Luxury San Diego Dynamic Women issues, named 40 under 40 honoree by Beverly Hills Living Magazine and much more. And here’s the episode. Enjoy.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, Founder of InspiredInsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders today is no different. It’s Meghan Fialkoff. You can check them out at TheModernDayWife.com and their Instagram. Meghan, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out.

Since this is part of the Top Women Leader series, I’m going to pull up. If people are watching the video, they can pull this up. There’s some ones I wanted to point out. And by the way, all the people I’m pointing out for, probably if it comes to a city near you, you can check out their events, the modern day life events. And so we have, you know, Robbie Hardy, she talks about kind of empowering women investors in that transition from corporate America to entrepreneurship. We had Jess Galica also from corporate to entrepreneurship, and she’s a coach speaker. There’s another really cool one I want to point out, Winnie Hart of TwinEngine. She’s got a great book that came out as well, but this is one of my favorites. Meghan, you’ll appreciate this one.

So Dame Stephanie Shirley created a multibillion dollar software empire. Okay. As a woman, when there were no women business owners, there was no women, hardly any women. It was male dominated. She used her name. She used the name Steve when she was messaging people because she didn’t want that stigma. And she wrote the book Let It Go. But she’s got a crazy story of she was a child refugee, so in the war. So she wasn’t caught up with the Nazis. Her parents sent her on a train when she was five to go to England to get her out of harm’s way. And she talks about that in her book, Let It Go. I just looked it up. I mean, I interviewed her years ago and she died last year, unfortunately, 91, but she donated over £67 million to different charities over and probably more. This is when I interviewed her. So that’s like a must read book for me and anyone else. And there’s many more on InspiredInsider.com. So check those out. Yeah. But those are good ones.

So here are some of your favorites. And I’m gonna, we’ll get to the, you know, formally introducing. But who are some of your favorite women leaders? It could be entrepreneurs, speakers. Talk about some of your favorites that I should check out.

Meghan Fialkoff: 05:12

Well, I’ll start with more. So what motivated me and what resonated with me as a child. And I’ve kind of come full circle. So when I was like ten years old, there was VH1 and there was the Madonna concert where she wears the Jean Paul Gaultier bodysuit. And I was like, that’s what I want to do. So I’m like a little weird, you know? I was definitely couldn’t wait to be a woman. And I wanted to speak on stages or perform on stages and lead. I always knew that. I never considered that it was unusual. I never really thought about what other women wanted to do.

It’s not until recently that I started thinking about how am I different than other people. But I always wanted to be on the world stage and be connected with influential people and do influential things, because I think it’s fun and I think it’s exciting playing a big game. So I would say that was my first idol was Madonna. And then as I grew up, these are all going to be very strange answers. Okay.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:30

I like strange. That’s fine.

Meghan Fialkoff: 06:32

Okay, good. So. Then when I was in high school, the show Sex and the City came out and Samantha’s job was she owned a PR firm. And I’m in high school. I don’t know anything about anything yet. Right. I’m just living my high, high school drama. Right. But there was something about her role in how she was that I liked. And when I was in college, all I used to tell people is I would, they would say, you know, what are you majoring in? And I would say, I want to do what Samantha Jones does. And then I remember I had a roommate who started answering that and I’m like, you copied me. Right? But essentially, it was people who were the leaders and people who were still had big personalities.

Now, if you would say, who do I look up to? The truth is, I actually don’t know if I have a person I look up to for everything. I think it’s for bits and pieces and I’ll finish the answer. But essentially, like, I think it’s admirable. Martha Stewart, how she created all these different talk shows and lines and so on. And that’s something that I kind of want to do. I don’t love J. Lo’s. I think she’s a little selfish, but I do look up to her and that she wears many hats, which I like. And. I don’t know if there’s anyone else that comes to mind right now.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 08:08

Who are some of the fan favorite speakers? You’ve had a lot of events. I think I was reading over 80 events possibly, yeah. So who are some of the fan favorite speakers at some of these events?

Meghan Fialkoff: 08:20

Well, that’s an interesting question because people in different cities have different likes. So for example, we were just in Chicago and the beauty and wellness panel seems to always be our most popular panel, where they are just usually small business owners that have something to do with beauty and wellness. It could be a red light, could be a med spa, it could be a makeup or skincare brand. For some reason, that’s always our number one attended panel, even over a celebrity panel.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 08:52

Really.

Meghan Fialkoff: 08:53

And the celebrity panel is always the least well attended panel.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:00

That is strange, shocking.

Meghan Fialkoff: 09:03

And so. Essentially, yeah, like it’s shocking.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:09

People are in health and wellness, right?

Meghan Fialkoff: 09:11

They’re into beauty and wellness. The business and entrepreneurship panel is usually very well attended, if you ask me, like a particular person, I don’t know if I have one specific speaker that sticks out in my mind. To be honest with you, I more so remember people that I thought did a good job speaking.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:31

Yeah. Any stick out? I’m going to mention one who because, well, because I think it, I don’t know if it all started, but really the beginning event was around. I thought Elena Cardone and your partner Meagan, that event. I don’t know if you want to talk about that for a second.

Meghan Fialkoff: 09:52

Sure. Okay. Well, that is how Meagan and I met. So basically I ran a charity for almost. I still am involved in it, but I was very directly involved with it at that time. And they were doing one of the first digital modern day life events during Covid. And it was Elena Cardone. And Elena and her husband are very big on 10X and, you know, expanding your life and giving back and so on. And so this whole event, all the proceeds were going to my charity. So she’s, I mean, she was on the podcast recently.

She’s definitely well known, but more so in certain circles. So yeah, she was, she was a big speaker, but she was digital.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:31

So that’s okay.

Meghan Fialkoff: 10:32

Yes.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:33

Still effective. Yes. And so talk about the idea. Well, we’ll talk about what you did before, but talk about the idea. How did you know it progressed from there once you teamed up with the other Meagan?

Meghan Fialkoff: 10:45

Yeah. So I had moved to California, and when I was in New York, I worked with my dad and we ran this nonprofit together through his periodontal office and our duo. We both didn’t believe in red tape. We both moved very fast. It took us five seconds to make a decision and so on.

And when I moved to California, I was looking for someone to start a business with who would be that type of person. And somehow I knew it was Meagan, and Meagan knew it was me, and I knew it was also my ticket to creating the schedule that I wanted as I was pregnant when I met her. And so what we did when we partnered was we launched it now in the US and to my network, Meghan’s from Canada, so it was mostly Canadian at that point. And we launched it in the US and just went full in. I mean, I was seven months pregnant, I took no maternity leave and I worked till midnight every night building this business that first year.

And so essentially, we took advantage of Covid and we put on a major digital event every single month. And when I mean major, I mean, pre-filmed segments, we researched platforms. We use this platform called Hop in. We had digital marketplaces like we, and they were major productions and we did them every single month. And that was what grew our business.

The other thing was that celebrities at that time were very willing to speak at events, so it was very easy for us to get celebrities at that time, whereas now you have to pay them more and it’s definitely a harder process. So in a lot of ways, Covid worked to our advantage. One other way it worked to our advantage was we also started doing in-person events in April 2021. No one was doing in-person events, but we were like, we are. And people came.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 12:37

You know, it’s interesting, you know, Meghan, you first of all, we’ll get into how the events work. But I do want to know about what you learned from your dad. I find people in the dental space are very entrepreneurial. My dad is actually a dentist also. So and you know, the talk around the dinner table was about staff, employees, business and things like that.

I do want to point out one thing you said, though, about timing, because you talked about celebrities more willing to do that because of the timing, because of whatever Covid and digital. But I find that to be the case where you can sometimes reach hard to reach people in certain times. Like if someone’s coming out with a book, they’re more willing to do something. So if they’re launching something, I’m willing to do something. So sort of highlight that fact of what you said, because it is important.

If someone wants to reach hard to reach people, there is a timing to it too.

Meghan Fialkoff: 13:33

Totally. Or reaching out to someone to help them because people all the time are reached out to, perhaps to help someone else. So sometimes I like to go in on like, how can we help them? Like here we have this great event. We would love to give you the opportunity to promote blah, blah.

And just give it to them for free. Instead of asking them to help you.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 13:57

Yeah. And that’s you. I’ve heard you talk about this before, and I really like your take on this because it’s really about helping others and it’s really about relationships. So you can talk about ROI because people ask you about ROI all the time versus I don’t know if it’s versus, but it’s adjacent to how do you think about relationships and ROI? When people ask you.

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