Welcome to Unstyled. I'm your host, Christine Barbric, co-founder and global editor-in-chief of Refinery 29.

Each week, I invite a notable person to come in and talk with us as we explore the funny, inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking tales of life, work, and love, as told through the things that we wear.

Most of us were first introduced to Bethany Frankel as, quote, a housewife.

She was famously cast as the sole single woman on the debut season of the real Housewives of New York.

But for her, Housewives was just another step in a much bigger plan.

Bethany was a born businesswoman, with an uncanny knack for spotting opportunity, everywhere.

She got her first show business gig at 21 when she was seated next to a Hollywood producer on a standby flight.

She struck up a conversation and soon landed herself a production job on Saved by the Bell.

Bethany always knew how to get a deal done because she had to.

She'd grown up in a fractured family where money was always an issue,

be it her parents' child support battles or her stepfather's

gambling debts. So Bethany entered the workforce determined to build her own financial security

and success. After completing chef's training, she launched one of her earliest businesses,

Bethany Bakes. Four years later, she and her company competed on The Apprentice.

She didn't win, but she learned how powerful a platform reality television could be.

She took her brand and moved onward and upward.

Way upward.

In 2008, Bethany was the breakout star of the Real Housewives of New York.

Within a year, Bethany had published a book,

her first of eight, and soon debuted Skinny Girl cocktails, which we watched come to life

through her own instincts and experiments right on the show. Under her leadership, Skinny Girl

exploded into a $100 million operation, producing everything from snacks and beverages to lingerie, and most

...