Meghan Markle Admits to Having ‘Self-Doubt’ Over Launching As Ever

• Meghan Markle spoke about having “self-doubt” while building her lifestyle brand As ever on the May 6 episode of her Confessions of a Female Founder podcast
• “I got into that same headspace that any of us can, because some might look at it and say, at least for me, it will have so much exposure,” she said
• The Duchess of Sussex launched the first collection from As ever at the start of April

Meghan Markle is opening up about her insecurities in launching her lifestyle brand.

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, shared on the May 6 episode of her Lemonada Media podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, that she went through “self-doubt” in starting As ever after being under a “microscope” in the public spotlight.

“I had a moment last week … I made a phone call, I said, ‘Is this gonna work? Like, is this actually gonna work?’ But I had that self-doubt,” Meghan said while speaking with Hannah Mendoza, founder of Clevr Blends, the plant-based, superfood latte brand of which she is an investor.

“You can’t bring self-doubt to your team that’s junior to you. They have to believe in what you’re creating and the vision and how you hold the line,” she continued. “But you still have to be able to have someone you can go to to be human and say, ‘I don’t know. Can you just tell me that this makes sense?’ ”

Meghan said in those moments of self-doubt, she’s grateful she can confide in her company members. “Thankfully, my partner said, ‘Are you joking? We’re so energized, this is amazing!’ But I did. I got into that same headspace that any of us can, because some might look at it and say, at least for me, it will have so much exposure,” she shared.

Meghan added of the intense scrutiny she’s under, “Whatever I put out in the world will have so much attention. I go, yeah. And there’s a flip side to that coin, which we know. It’s a microscope that a lot of people don’t have to experience.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, the Duchess of Sussex spoke about re-establishing herself as an entrepreneur, a journey which started after she and her husband Prince Harry stepped back from royal duties in the U.K. and relocated to the U.S., where they now live with their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 3.

Meghan said she leaned on her close friends while building her brand. “The safety of stream of consciousness with someone who understands it … That is part of that sisterhood and that understanding of, ‘Okay, every day is not going to be the same. Some days are going to be harder to show up as your best and shiniest self,’ ” she shared.

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The Duchess of Sussex said launching As ever, which sold out its first collection in under an hour on April 2, was a “big milestone” and its success reassured her that people were invested in her vision for the business.

“Netflix coming on as my business partner is huge. Just having a global powerhouse that believed in me, and the site selling out in the first 45 minutes of launch – everything, every single piece that we had been working on,” she said. “That told me that customers — people — believed in me and this vision. That’s all you really want as a founder. That becomes your proof point that those late nights and the midnight musings are worth it.”