I'm Bethenny Frankel. My workdays in Florida involve beach walks, supermodel snacks, and running my dating community from my phone.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 55-year-old Bethenny Frankel, former star of The Real Housewives of New York City and founder of The Core, a private dating membership community. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I have a much bigger business now than when I was on The Real Housewives of New York City, was running Skinnygirl, my lifestyle brand famous for its low-calorie cocktails, and landed on the cover of Forbes.

I got a big one-time check when I sold the liquor arm of Skinnygirl, but what I'm doing now, through The Core, my private dating membership community, influencing, and investing, is bigger than ever.

I'm busy, but I'm not sitting at a desk every day. My brain works well, I have a phone, and that's really all I need. I wrote most of my New York Times bestselling books on a BlackBerry.

Here's a typical day in my life.

I start my days with a beach walk at 7:30 a.m.

I wake up fairly early. I let the dogs out, then go give my daughter a hug and a kiss if she lets me in her room for a second. I really love that. I tend to troll her by sitting on her bed for a few minutes, but I've learned that teens don't like to talk in the morning.

I make myself a strong iced coffee with my Cumulus coffee maker and feed the dogs. My dogs are really important to me, and I try to get as many good snuggles in with them as I can.

Between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., I usually go for a walk on the beach. I moved from New York to South Florida in March 2025, and I love wandering around like a weirdo on the beach. I often finish the walks by jumping into the sea.

I like taking calls while walking on the beach. In the morning, these are usually with one team member handling brand partnerships and appearances, and with my COO, where we discuss bigger deals, contract negotiations, and my investments.

My work on The Core involves sending texts and voice-noting team members

Since we launched The Core in December, it's taken up a big part of my day. It brings together the trust I've built as an entrepreneur with my crazy Rolodex of incredibly powerful and successful people.

I'm passionate about it, and passion is my thing. When I start obsessing over something — it was the same with BStrong, my disaster-relief initiative I launched in 2017 in response to that year's devastating hurricane season — it's the only thing I'm talking about.

Like every other business I've run, it's a case of building the plane while flying it. A lot of the work involves responding to texts and voice-noting somebody, asking them to do something.

If someone wants to get on the phone with me, I'll often take the call while I'm in the car. Otherwise, that time is wasted, and I don't waste time, food, or money.

Podcasting feels like a therapy monologue

My days aren't tightly structured, and I don't like feeling shackled by having too many things I have to do. The day often gets away from me before I've even showered, and my team will remind me that I have 15 minutes until I need to record my podcast, "Just B with Bethenny Frankel."

I record the episodes at home. Mostly, I don't care about having guests on. If I talk about my pillowcases and the bacterial facial infection I got on vacation, it will rate just as well as having Madonna.

I'll usually rant for about an hour. I only like to sit and talk about what I want to talk about. It's almost like my own personal therapy monologue.

I usually eat lunch between 1 and 3 p.m.

This year, I've been more open to meeting people for meals and coffee.

Otherwise, I have my "supermodel snacks" for lunch, often seaweed stuffed with salad or turkey or rice cakes with avocado or cottage cheese.

I like to give gifts to anyone who's done something nice for me

I don't plan to record my social media videos; it's mostly spontaneous. I don't post them as much as I used to. I've told my team I only want to put out excellent content, not filler.

Often, my posts are just about something that's happened to me, and that leads companies to want to do brand deals. Once a week, I bang out those brand videos. The companies send the products to my home, and I film for two to three hours.

I'm constantly being sent expensive things by major brands, from mattresses to nonalcoholic drinks to vape pipes. I also buy a lot of products to try myself. Once that stuff arrives, I want it out of my house as quickly as possible.

As a result, gift-giving has become a huge part of my day. If anyone does anything nice for me, whether it's at the nail salon or anywhere else, I want to give them a gift. I feel like the universe gave the "get stuff" crown to the right person: I like to share the wealth.

When I choose to wind down each night isn't the same every day

In the evenings, I try to protect my peace and avoid getting too activated by anything. I like to find a TV series that has thousands of episodes to work through. Right now, that's The Walking Dead, which I've been watching in my nightgown. I'm in my nightgown era. I also like to take a bath before I go to sleep.

I listen to my body. I'm an efficient, very organized person, but I'm also a lounger, a pyjama-wearer, and a relaxer. I chill a decent amount each day.

I also listen to my body for cues on when to eat or snack. I'll make dinner reservations, but often change them because I'm not hungry enough.

Sometimes, my daughter and I decide to have breakfast for dinner at 4 p.m.

I couldn't care less about traditional meal times.

The other night, I went to Trader Joe's and cooked a big dinner at home for my daughter, the guy I'm seeing, and a girlfriend. In Florida, I'm more sociable than I was in New York. I'm actually seeing other human life, outside of dating or being paid.

What I cook often depends on what's already in the fridge. I enjoy the process of taking ingredients out, laying them out on the counter, and cooking.

I also feel pride that my daughter sees that, even with how busy I am with my career, I'm able to do this really normal thing for her. That's meaningful for me.