Meghan Markle podcast Confessions of a Female Founder season one ends: What is next for the Duchess of Sussex | OPINION

OPINION — ”Well, that’s a wrap,” the Duchess of Sussex announced as the first season of her latest podcast came to an end.

After eight episodes, Meghan’s “girl talk” business-focused offering Confessions of a Female Founder is over, and now comes the inevitable speculation about what she will do next.

“Thanks for your support as you heard my story, little bits of it,” the duchess told her listeners as she signed off.

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“It’s just the beginning but my goodness, it’s been really great to be able to share it with you.”

But does the duchess have more to offer in terms of giving ”the kind of advice that turns small ideas into billion-dollar businesses”, as she had promised in promotional material for the podcast two months ago?

And is there an appetite for another eight episodes?

Throughout the first season, Meghan interviewed notable female entrepreneurs who shared their successes and failures, with some giving more insight than others.

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, was the guest on the final episode and others featured Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd, Cassandra Thurswell of Kitsch and IT Cosmetics’ Jamie Kern Lima.

Other episodes saw Meghan interview the heads of companies she has personally invested in, including Clevr Blends’ Hannah Mendoza and Kadi Lee of Highbrow Hippie.

It has arguably been a success for the duchess, and its production company Lemonada Media, with a reported 800,000 downloads since its launch in April.

Meghan’s first podcast Archetypes, with Spotify in 2022, was axed after one 12-episode season.

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This latest podcast was a tie-in with her newly-launched business, As ever and gave the duchess a platform to speak about the struggles she had in creating it, including the issues that caused her sleepless nights.

“Even with the best of teams, it’ll keep you up at night because every single decision, every micro detail, in that moment, it feels monumental,” Meghan said in episode one.

“I was absolutely consumed with packaging, boxes. It’s all I could think about. You know when your brain goes in a loop, those 3am loops.”

There were also the obligatory insights into her life as a mother to Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.

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The debut episode heard the duchess reveal she had suffered from postpartum preeclampsia, which she described as a rare “life or death” birth complication after having one of her children.

The condition, she said, was “so rare and so scary”, adding: “You’re still trying to juggle all of these things, and the world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly”.

In a later episode, Meghan confessed motherhood “was not the way I envisioned it”.

And then there were admissions of a lighter kind.

“I don’t have time to cook every day,” Meghan said in episode six, adding: “Even when I get takeout, I will try to plate it beautifully”.

She did, however, steer clear of going into any significant detail about the copyright issue which forced her to rename her lifestyle business from American Riviera Orchard to As ever, along with a row with a clothing brand of the same name.

These sort of details, many would argue, are what potential new businesses want to hear about when attempting to navigate the start of a company.

Interestingly, Meghan has been unusually silent about whether she’s been asked back for a season two.

In a new interview with US business magazine Fast Company to coincide with the final episode, the duchess didn’t give anything away.

There was interest in doing a second season, the article said, adding that Meghan had been approached by “many female founders….to be a guest on the series”.

“Meghan is now involved in such a wide range of projects, she’s sure to find some way to tell her story,” the article added.

“If I had to write a résumé, I don’t know what I would call myself,” the duchess said.

Meghan’s podcast brings to a close the third stage in her rebrand as a lifestyle guru following the launch of With Love, Meghan on Netflix in March and her brand As ever which sold out in less than an hour

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Products have not yet been restocked and Meghan told the magazine she’s now wanting to “focus on the hospitality angle of As ever”, with new products to be announced early next year.

A clothing line could also be in the works.

The duchess said: ”The category of fashion is something I will explore at a later date. I do think that’s an interesting space for me.”

For now Meghan, and her fans, will have to settle with her online shop, which offers her Instagram followers the chance to copy her style by buying the same high-end clothes and accessories she’s worn recently.

When fans make a purchase on some of those items, the duchess receives a commission.

Now Confessions is done, for now at least, Meghan’s loyal legion of followers will have to satisfy their need for more outpourings from the duchess by keeping across her Instagram account.

And with posts and story uploads coming on a near-daily basis, it’s pretty easy to keep up with all things Meghan.

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