The Bossticks - Allison Statter On Building A Powerhouse Brand, Advice For Success In The Creative Industry, & How To Stand Out In Any Field

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

#822: Join us as we sit down with Allison Statter – prominent businesswoman & entrepreneur, best known as the founder & CEO of Blended Strategy Group. As a leading marketing and branding agency specializing in celebrity partnerships, influencer marketing, & strategic brand growth – Allison has leveraged her expertise among the most well-known brands & celebrities. In this episode, Allison gets real  about blending storytelling with strategic insights, her unique approach & qualities which attract the biggest names in the entertainment industry, knowing when to pivot a strategy, personal lessons from entrepreneurship, the importance of building a personal brand, & career milestones – including the launch of XOa.    To Watch the Show click HERE   For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM   To connect with Allison Statter click HERE   To connect with Blended Strategy Group click HERE   To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE   To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE   Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Get your burning questions featured on the show! Leave the Him & Her Show a voicemail at [phone].   This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential   Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE and LTK page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn's favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes.   Visit blendedstrategy.com to learn more about Blended Strategy Group.   Visit houseofxoa.com to purchase Allison's perfume XOa and use code skinny10 for 10% off.   This episode is sponsored by The Skinny Confidential   Optimize your daily beauty routine. Shop The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape at shoptheskinnyconfidential.com.   This episode is sponsored by Smart Mouth   Find SmartMouth at Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon or visit smartmouth.com/skinny to snag a special discount on your next SmartMouth purchase.   This episode is sponsored by Momentous   Go to livemomentous.com/skinny and try it today at 20% off with code SKINNY, and start living on purpose.   This episode is sponsored by Good Ranchers   Visit GoodRanchers.com today, and don't forget to use code SKINNY to claim your free meat for a year and $40 off.   This episode is sponsored by Purely Elizabeth   Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use code SKINNY at checkout for 20% off Purely Elizabeth.    This episode is sponsored by Nutrafol   For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code SKINNYHAIR.   Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a dear media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the skinny confidential, him and her show. Today we have our good friend in an absolute fore. joining us. She's a branding genius, powerhouse entrepreneur, and the go-to woman for some of the biggest names in the business. She's built an empire by understanding the intersection of culture, marketing, and relationships. Something we all know is more important than ever now in today's world, from working with some of the most recognizable names in entertainment to launching her own company. Alison Azoff Statter is the founder and CEO of Blended Strategy Group, where she helps brands and

talent connect in meaningful ways. But beyond that, she's not only an entrepreneur, she's a friend, she's a mom, and most importantly, someone who gets what it means to build a business. with integrity and authenticity. There's a lot to learn from this woman I know I have. With that, Alison, let's get into it. Welcome with the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Well, I'm excited that you're here doing the show under these circumstances

because I feel like half the time I call you, it's for you to help me solve a problem. I love solving problems. You're one of the best. I love it. How do you describe yourself and what you even do at this point of your career? because I was trying to even think about how to introduce you and I was like, I'm just going to let you do it because you've done so many different things. And even recently with the fire aid, the blended, with products, representation. How do you describe your profession? Yeah, it's interesting to hear you talk about it like that because I, when I first, like, it was very clear when I worked, I went to college, I dropped out, hated school, wanted to be a makeup artist, started working for my dad. And then when I, which will, which will, get into, which I did for 17 years. But when I left, one of the things that I wanted so badly was to be

like, I don't want to do 100 things. I want people to know exactly what I do. Because there's a lot of really incredible people out there that do do a lot. And people are trying to figure out, well, what do they do? And I think that to sum it up, I think that I'm a entrepreneur, entrepreneur. I am a pro, very pro female activist. Like I want to support women in my work. I want to support women across the board. And I am a strategic marketing, you know, I have this big strategic marketing agency and I, to your point, I'm a problem solver, right? Like I'm very goal oriented. So whether it's representing talent and figuring out if talent wants to, create their own brand, right? Like, I am very focused on how do we do that and what's the best

path to doing that? Or if I have a client that comes in and says, I need a go-to-market strategy on launching these vitamins, how do we do that? You know, so I do wear a lot of hats, but at the end of the day, I think that I sit in this really unique position of being a female entrepreneur that supports other women in business that is just trying to, like, pave her own path, you know? And for me, the output of my work is the most important thing. You're really a chameleon. I think I might be. But like I also would describe you as you said marketing strategist. I feel like you are a strategist. Yeah. Like, like a strategic problem solver. Like, okay, if somebody with the clients you work with, they obviously have the pick of the litter to be able to work with is anyone, right? Yeah. Why do,

why do they gravitate towards you? Like, what are you specifically, like if you could pinpoint one or two qualities that you're helping them with? What do you think it is? Two qualities. What are you? What do you think? I think there's two qualities that differentiate me. And the first one is that I have a small enough agency, right, in the sense that we can still be very white glove, right? So we can pivot quickly. We can, you know, really get our hands dirty in what the needs are and really get in there and work very, very collaboratively and closely with our clients as if we're on their team, as if we're part of that team. And I think that in today's era is very unique because you do have a lot more of these traditional agencies who are bigger

and who have tons and tons of clients and they're just servicing them, right? We're different. We're very white glove. We're very strategic. We're we build strategies. We then are able to execute them if you want us to. The second piece, which I think is incredibly unique is my network. There isn't anyone I cannot get to. And I say that humbly. I don't say it into like, oh, I'm friends with this person and I know this person. It's not that. It's more my approach and it is, yes, I do have a lot of incredible direct relationships that I've built over my lifetime. This isn't just over my career. It's my lifetime. I'm born and raised in L.A., the hub of entertainment, right? So I've had a lot of these relationships my entire life. And then on top of that,

I've built them through every facet and every area of my career. And then on top of that, I'm not shy to go find the person I need to get to. And I'm not shy or apprehensive about reaching out to anyone. I think I'm most quite, I mean, even the other day I was sitting with someone in my office and she was like, okay, we've reached out to this person for this collaboration and this person. I'm like, oh, I know someone here. Let me email this person directly. Let me text this person directly. And within 15 minutes, I was able to put them in touch with, you know, a handful of potential opportunities for what they were trying to do. How did you get so good at that? Because that is a finesse and skill that you might think a lot of people have and they don't.

There are people that have grown up in L.A. that have grown up with a shit. ton of money, famous parents, et cetera, et cetera, and don't know how to network like that. And the way that you network to me doesn't feel like try hard desperado. It's not. Yeah. So like how did you learn that? My parents. Would they teach you? Give us all the tips. I mean, honestly, just the exposure. Truly, it's like just being around it and growing up in it is very different than when you come to it. And you come to L.A. and you're trying to hustle for it. And by the way, I have mad respect for people that are not from L.A. that had to come here and had a dream of being in the entertainment business and just are like, I'll do anything, you know, and had to work at these relationships and had to figure out

who the people were to get connected. And, you know, that is so difficult as well. And for me, I think that because I was raised here and I was raised in the business, it was just I watched how my parents moved and I replicated it. When you say watched how they move, your dad is obviously very prominent in the entertainment space, but both your parents, what are, what are some of the things that they, like if you were to dumb it down, like what did they teach you? It's just never about them. It's about the clients. And it's about being the best for your clients and providing the best service for your clients. It's not about them. It's not about the manager. It's not, you know, for it's just about like being a good person and knowing how to help I mean that's truly what we do right

we have providing value was there any were there any of their clients when you were a kid growing up that like shocked you or blew your mind or was it just kind of like normal because you're talking about some of the biggest entertainers in the world like was it anyone or did it just be like oh there's you know there's bono there's stevie nix in my back house I know um I don't I just don't think I've ever been It's just normal to It's just normal I think that that that

But there was no one that was like Oh that one is actually like that's Prince Prince I will tell you there was one Where Rich and I were living at my parents' house For like a year when we were redoing our house Which was such a fun experience

And Prince came over to meet with my dad And I was like Holy moly I was like can I bring Sydney down He was a baby at the the time. I'm like for a picture, they were like, no. I'm like, okay. That was the one. That's it. That's it. So it just does, it seems like fame doesn't phase you. No. But what's so interesting about you is that you did grow up within this world of fame,

but you seem very comfortable and confident behind the scenes. Yeah, I'm most comfortable and confident behind the scenes. But yeah, I almost, if I were out as an outsider, you seem to really, just prefer it and you like being the Wizard of Oz. Kind of. I think I really just cherish privacy. You know, I think that there's something about privacy that is important for your sanity. And the other thing, too, is, look, I also am getting somewhat to your point about this podcast.

Like, I am getting a little bit more comfortable in front because I've found that in order to be relevant and in order to kind of have to, you have to play the game a little bit in order to get, especially now with social media and podcasting and everything. Like you almost, if you don't do it, it's like you're going to miss out on opportunity. I also think though you're thoughtful about,

like before you came on this podcast, I don't think you're trying to go on every podcast. I think you were, like we talked about it. Like it's like a thought out thing, which I appreciate. I think that's cool. It's a strategist. Yeah.

Again, did you always want to be behind the scenes because you were exposed to so many people who were so famous with so much overexposure that you were just more drawn to being behind the scenes? Yeah, I think that is part of it. I also think that, you know, it was just kind of always just reiterated to us. Like, we're BTS for a reason. And I actually appreciate, it's almost like a form of protection, I think, from my parents, you know. And even my dad still is uncomfortable with having to do press or like, you know, being on the cover of Billboard magazine or whatever. You know, it's so foreign for him.

And in a way, I think it's also because he doesn't ever want to upstage his clients. Because to him, that's why he is who he is, is because his clients are. his so important to him. I mean it's very powerful too. Yeah. There's something very powerful about privacy and my prediction is in the next 10 years privacy will will start to become your greatest asset. You know like we do the social media we've done this show for a long time and obviously like the you know we're not prints but it's it's you know you start to get you think your prints sometimes I would love to see your rendition of prints. Yeah what's in full costume by the way. You know what if I would have known, I would have dressed up for you.

He does wear heels. But I... Or he did. I talked to learn about... You have heels in your boots. What? No, I'm wearing cowboys. No, you're sometimes...

I talk about this all the time. I'm like, at some point, you know, like, there's... You could do something for a long enough time when then it starts to, like, kind of exponentially grow. And I get super cautious about, like, okay, how far do you push that thing? Because I value privacy, too. Yeah. And I'm actually used to...

I mean, you know, I'm used to being more behind the scene. then in front, like we do the show, but Dear Meida is what I do day to day. And you've done an amazing job. Thank you. But it's, I always, she came out tap dancing, so she's super comfortable with being in front. But I tell her, like, okay, at some point,

if you push it too far, then it's hard to turn off. You know, like somebody, the clients they were talking about with you, it's like they can't, they can never get privacy back. Well, and you also open yourself up for criticism. And you have to have a really thick skin for that. Oh, I'm good at that. I'm good at the criticism. You know, like, you have to be comfortable.

knowing that people are going to have negative mean, there's mean people out there, you know, who are going to say mean things. And you just have to let it roll off of your back. And that's where I think that's, that's what is also really scary, especially now, you know, even with the fire aid work that we just completed and we're still doing it, the blended team did such an amazing job. We had to drop everything. And we ran, we did all the. branding for fire aid. We did all the marketing assets for fire aid. We did all of the social media. We created a handle within 30 seconds and just started to be very like strategic and methodical about how we were going to communicate all of this information out because we knew that our Instagram

was going to be our main source of information as it related to fire aid. Wait, so go back. Okay, so the fires happened here in LA. Yeah. Quickly you guys jump, jump on it. In three minutes. In three minutes. Great fire aid. My mom and my dad were sitting home and everyone was like scrambling because our house was sort of in the line of the fire and we didn't know if we were going to be evacuated. It was very, it was all very chaotic. It was one of the, it was one of those experiences where you're like, wait, is this, is this real life? Is this really happening? We were here that day for one day. I remember you guys were in town and it was so chaotic. It was so scary. The sun would go down every night. you know, because these fires went on uncontrollably for night after night after night. And,

you know, we would be afraid to fall asleep. The kids were stressed out. It was a whole thing. You know, it was very stressful. And my parents were home and half of our family had to go to my parents' house. Like my brother's power went out. He had to go there. You know, one of my dad's clients lost power. He had to go there. Like, they were like running a hotel at this point. And then we were like, well, where are we going to go if we have to leave? Because those rooms, like, we don't know, you know. But I think in the midst of the chaos, my mom looked at my dad and was like, we have to do something. What can we do? And the only thing that came to them, not the only thing, but the easiest thing to them was music. Music brings everyone together. We have the capability and the ability to put together a show and

let's just, you know, do it. Let's put this live show and raise money and bring the community together back together through music. And that just snowballed. They called their friend at the Clippers organization, Gillian Zucker, who works for Steve Bomber and said, can we use the building at the Intuit Dome? Oh, wait, now we need two buildings. So it just kind of snowballed. So it was really a collaboration of efforts. And they looked at all of their different, the people around them that they could tap into, right? So they tapped into Live Nation because they knew Live Nation would be able to support from the live perspective. They knew the Clippers organization

was going to be able to support them with the venues, amongst many, many other things. The Bomber family has matched one for one, dollar for dollar, since the show went on Thursday, last Thursday, and we just got VOD rights

for the next 12 months, and the bombers are going to be matching dollar for the next 12 months. So anyone who donates to Fire Aid for the next 12 months is Steve and Connie Bomber are matching, which is insane. And in it they were like, you know, okay, Allison has this marketing agency. We'll leverage her for all of that.

And that's really how it all evolved. And we all came together and my team went into action. And to get back to what we were talking about and how it came up was the first minute we announced it, immediately people were saying mean things. Oh. What do you mean? Like, how could they say mean things that you're trying to help? I mean, if you look at some of the comments, especially about our ticket prices and, you know, I mean, people would say some of the meanest things on these comments.

And the girls on my team were like, are we allowed to reply? I'm like, no, you can't just let it go. There's going to be haters. So again, it goes back to that thick skin, right? Is that the typical answer? Don't reply. Don't answer it. It depends.

We're going to get into that. It really depends. I think you have to be super careful. Yeah. Because I think the more you engage. you know, that can cause a lot more damage sometimes than good. So what happened? We just were, I just stayed, we stayed very specific and very, I was just like, you know,

when we, at one point I was like, okay, let's address some of these questions. And so we put up a bunch of FAQs, you know, and address them. You know, we're getting today, we're getting hit with a lot of, how soon are you going deploy the money. Where's it going? Blah, blah, blah, blah. So we have to do an FAQ to answer all of those questions, but people can just write mean comments. Like, we put the merch, for example, up. And one comment was like, are they going to be, is it going to be as expensive as your tickets? And of course, the instinct in me wanted to be like, no, it's not, but just for the record, we're raising money. Like, we are raising money for one of the biggest natural disasters in California's history.

And there are so many people who need help across so many different ways, whether it's people who have lost homes, whether it's you have firefighters who lost homes. We had two different families who the husband went to go fight the fires and came back and his house was gone. Their houses were gone. Oh, you know, so, you know, you have animal shelters overflowing. You have people whose jobs were, you know, working at a lot of. these homes and now they're gone and they have no source of income. And it's just devastation in so many ways that people don't even understand. And then they can just fly off the handle on Instagram and write mean comments. But it happens to everyone. Someone will post a picture

themselves and they'll be like, oh, she looks fat. And I'm like, who, who, like, who even writes that? I, it's just like, can you imagine if you replied to someone on Instagram and was like, you look fat in this picture? Who says that? I don't. I think that they want acknowledgement. Right. Or to make themselves feel better. It's one or the other. And I think that the best thing you can do is ignore it or sometimes just diffuse it with a really neutral answer. Or just let the haters hate.

It's going to happen. It's part of it. And it's sad for them. I think the fact that you have access to all these incredible people. And I can only imagine Irving pulling out his. his phone book when he's like, who should I call to call up for firing? He pulls his phone book off. I don't even want to know what's in the moment. But a lot of people were calling him.

That was what was super interesting. He's a problem solver. Yeah, people were calling him and my mom and they were like, can we perform? We're in. Tell us what to do. Where do we show up? There was no ego at the door. How many artists ended up participating?

I think we had close to 40. Wow. And who were some of the top liners? Green Day. call it? Yeah. Headliners. I mean, the thing about it was is that there wasn't really a headliner.

It was all, everyone was just so willing to, you know, sign up and say, just tell me where to be and when and I'll show up and do it. And so, you know, I mean, we had everyone, Green Day opened the show, which was so amazing. Red Hot Chili Peppers were there. There was a Nirvana reunion. You had Billy Eilish. You had Stevie Nix. You had no doubt, you know. You had Olivia Rodriguez.

I mean, there was just, John Mayer, I mean, it was endless. It was every genre. Yeah. So they all do it for free to give back. And people are still complaining about the ticket price? Correct. Which, by the way, like, I get, I understand if you can't, if it's too expensive and you're bummed out, I get that. But it just again goes back to like, keep in mind this isn't just a for-profit concert.

This is a benefit that we're raising money for. and we were trying to raise the most amount of money to be the most effective and helpful to the community. I feel like you guys should do another line of merch that's like the same merch that you have, but do like, how do you say it, Servowski? Swarovsky.

Yeah. Crystal's on it. I know. And then that would piss people off even more and you could be like, no, we're donating it. Yeah, we're auctioning it. Diamond merch. I know.

We're auctioning it off. I know. Auction it off. Well, that's the thing about this raise is it's not going to end because there's going to be people, year over year over year who need help and support. And you guys are just going to continue to do everything you can to do that.

Yes. I want to switch gears for a second. So a lot of people that listen to this show are excited about the prospect of potentially building their own personal brand. I mean, everybody wants to do that these days. From what you've seen and the people you've worked with, like, what have you seen people do right and what do you think people do wrong when it comes to building personal brand? He's like, let me pull out my scroll.

Yeah, I'm like, well, I can tell you what I've done right and what I've done wrong because we all have it. I think that's one thing too is that, you know, from an exterior perspective, it's really easy to look and judge, you know, what, and everyone has a different, I think a different version of what success is, right? So some people will look and be like, oh my God, that company, that brand is so successful. I love it, love it, love it. But then if you go into it and you look under the hood, you're like, oh, God, this is a mess, you know. And I think I can tell you from my experience and the 10 years that I have been my own boss and left working the family business to start blended strategy, I can tell you I have learned more in those 10

years than I have in anything in my entire life. School, working for the family, anything. Like I dove head first thinking I was like, okay, I got that. this. I have learned so much. And I think the, the biggest thing that people have to know when they start their own business is once you start, there isn't really any stopping. Like you've got to, and if there is stopping, you got to know when that is, right? Because once you start, you're in it. You're in it. And, you know, not everything is going to work. I remember one time I was having a hard time with something and I called my mom and I was just like, oh, I feel like such a loser. And she said

two things to me. She said, the first thing she said is, you're going to be what you think you are. She's like, so stop thinking you're a loser because you're not. And the second thing she said was, if you think that your father didn't hit holes sometimes or have roadblocks or hit, you know, hurdles in his career, you're so wrong. But from an outsider, right? And I'm not, even from, like, to me, I'm like, oh my God, he's, you know, so successful and he's had all these things. But there are not everyone can do everything perfectly. And there are going to be things that are going to come. And you're going to have to just take them with grace and do your best to get through them. And starting your own business is a massive responsibility. And I think that that's what people are

losing in it. They're like, oh, well, if this person can just, you know, launch a fragrance on Instagram, so can I. And I can, you know, be the next this. And it just, it doesn't work like that. It just doesn't work like that. You guys know better than anyone. It is a lot of hard work. It all falls on you no matter what, no matter how good your bench is, no matter how many people you have working for you. At the end of the day, you are in charge, you have to make the hard-hitting decisions and you have to keep the business moving. It makes so much. It makes so much. much sense that you say that you've learned so much in the 10 years at Blended because I remember when I started my business 13 years ago, a lot of the people that I went to high school went to business

school. And I instead went and started a business. And I'm not saying that's bad. I'm just saying there's something different about throwing yourself in the deep end and like dog paddling out of it and figuring it out without doing the school route. I mean, I'm a college dropout. So I was never a good student. I had a really hard time with school. I went to University of Arizona for two years. I called my parents after my sophomore year.

And I was like, this is not for me. I hate it. I hate school. I hate being in these big classes. I'm coming home. And honestly, I'm just so grateful. they were like, okay. And that was it. I was like, great. And I came, I mean, they said, you have to get a job, like, you know, but I also got my first job when I was like 13 years old.

You know, I didn't want to go to sleepway camp so they made me get jobs in the summer. What was your first job? My first job, I worked for, to a father, son duo who were in the music business named Michael and Mo Austin. Unfortunately, Mo has passed. My, my husband. My, is still here and I love him deeply. We're all very close family friends. And they had, they were big in the music industry and I had known them from growing up through my parents. And I went myself with one other of my girlfriends and asked them for a summer job as the receptionist at their record label. It was called DreamWorks Records. And I was the receptionist and in the mail room with my girlfriend for, like, I think I did it for like two or three summers in a row. And I loved it. And I loved it.

I knew you would have a good first job Yeah I'm all mine was a lemonade and embroidery stand Allison's like a record label I was but you know what? I was a landscaper Oh really? No don't even start this store

You were a land rich would love that Oh it sucked no it was not fun Rich built his own garden No it wasn't that Michael hasn't done shit with that You do not have a green ball I got traumatized ever since No they haven't it wasn't like the nice gardener one

It was like pulling weeds With her first job and like made it into something bigger and you can't even plant or water a vegetable to save your life. No, I can, but I said, so I was talking to a buddy of mine a long time ago and I was like, what do you use your advice when you get married? He goes, buddy, he goes, set the bar low. He goes, if you go in and you set it too high, then that's going to get, you have to hit that all the time. So if I was planning, you know, I can't do all that. Mouthwash, let's talk about it. So Smart Mouth. It's the only mouthwash scientifically

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Why did you decide to start your own business? What was like the before part where you had this epiphany to do this? I think that, you know, one, I went to work for my dad after I had been working at a salon in West Hollywood called Art Luna. and I was working for the makeup artist at Art Luna. Her name is Chris Levine. I still see her and talk to her. I'm obsessed. She's the best. And she taught me how to do makeup. I was making $600 a week. I was so happy. And my dad called me one day and was like, oh, I need you to come into the office and I need you to work for two weeks. One of my assistants quit and I have all this going on. And I was like, I don't really want to work for you. And he was like, I know, but I really need you to. And I'm like, all right.

fine. And I had flexibility with Chris. Like she, she knew my family, so she was very flexible with us. And so two weeks turned into 17 years. I had one stint where I left for like six months and went to work for a PR company called Harrison and Shrifman. And I went back working for my dad after that six months stint because I just wasn't like the way that the, the organization, that I worked at wasn't right for me. And so I was like, you know what? I'm going to go back. He had just signed Jewel.

Remember Jewel? Of course you remember Jewel. He was like, I love her. I want Jewel to come on this show. Okay, we could probably make that happen. Yeah, I'll call you later about it. Okay, great. So he was like, oh, I just signed Jewel, come back and, you know, help me and you can do all

the day to day. I'm like, okay, great. So I went back and I was there again for a while. And I had my third kid. I was going through like all my pregnancies there and had all my babies there when I was there. And I had my third kid and I just had this epiphany where I was like, I am never going to grow more than I am here. Like he isn't, he doesn't see me that way. You know, he sees me as his little girl and he just wants it to be, you know, he doesn't.

you know, kosher and, and I just don't think he wanted, I was super focused on the brand stuff. I had started the brand division at the management company and I was like, this intersection between brand and talent is going to be massive and we have to have our finger on the pulse with it. And we have to be proactive for our clients. And he was like, great, babe, do that. No problem. And I was like, okay, great. Can I hire people? He's like, no. I'm like, okay. So like, there wasn't a lot of investment in it. And I don't blame him for it. I just, you know, I think that it was foreign to him quite transparently. He was just like, I don't know, like live touring and publishing and record labels. That's where he was focused for his clients, as well he should have been. And so I just had a

passion for it and I felt stunted. And I was like, if I'm going to leave my babies every day, it's it's got to be worth it. I had big dreams. I still do. And I just took this leap of faith. And I was like, I'm going to start my own company. And I'm going to be focused on the brand and influencer and talent. And, you know, and he was super supportive as was my mom. And I think it's come quite transparently full circle. I think Fire Aid was actually full circle when he, because he, they really, they really saw the nuts and bolts of what we do in, in what, in the work we just did. And so, yeah, it's been, it's been a wild ride since I left. I'm not going to lie. So did you quit and launch it quickly or was it like slow? How did that look? I think it was like over probably a six month period where I, you know, went to him and was like,

this is what I'm thinking and this is what I want to do. And here's my business partner and here's our business plan. And he was very supportive. And then, you know, over time, you know, over time it just kind of, I sort of like phased out of the day to day stuff at the management company and became, you know, really, really like all in on blended. Who was your first client? Who was our first client? I think Revlon was our first client. Who was your first person client?

I want to say, well, what's interesting is we, when I left working for him, he was like, well, who's going to do all the brand deals for my clients? And I was like, well, I don't know. He was like, no, I want you to still do that. And I'm like, I can still do that for you. You know, and we worked out an arrangement. So I still had all those talent clients that I was still working with. And they became, you know, like through full stop or at the management company,

they became clients to blend it. And then I think our first client that we signed that was non, non full stop was Jen Atkin. Oh, that's a great one. Yeah. Fresh. Yeah. Knows how to build a room. Yeah.

That was avant-garde too because people had just started looking at individuals like her with how people look at all those creators now. It's like that was still early before people were really paying that much attention to like these kind of creators. Oh, yeah. And I, the first year, two years even of blended, the amount of work we had to do to educate our clients on what an influence or what. was or what a blogger was.

You know, one of the things that I'm really, really proud of that I did with my dad was we invested in DBA very early. And if people don't know what DBA is, explain that. DBA was the first management firm to come to market that represented at the time bloggers.

I think Lauren was one of the first seven or eight clients. Yeah, you were. OG. Yeah, you are an OG blogger. That's when they called them bloggers. That's when they called them bloggers. bloggers. And you told your dad to invest in DBA. Yeah. Well, Raina and I are really close. And her,

you know, she had moved here from New Orleans and, you know, was like, I don't know what I'm going to do. And then she took the path of partnering and becoming one of the founding partners of DBA. And she would tell me about it. And like, educate me on what a blogger was. So, you know, I mean, that's all part of it, right? Like, that's why I saw part of the intersection of how big. this was going to be. And so I went to my dad and I was like, you've got to look at this business. This is crazy. And he was like, what is it? And I was like, it's just another, it's a management company. It's just a different level of talent. It's not a traditional artist or actor or model or photographer or whatever. You know, I was like, these are influential personalities. And so we invested in it.

And, you know, I mean, Raina did such a phenomenal job growing DBA and the whole thing. How do you spot when someone has talent? Because I feel like you've been around it so much you could spot it easy. Well, I think it's all subjective. Okay. Right? Because what I think might be talent and I'm drawn to might be different than what you're drawn to. Okay.

I think there's talent is also a broad word, right? you have people who are super talented in their craft of music and they have incredible voices. And then you have people who are just entertainers and are, you know, walk in a room and everyone is drawn to them, you know. And I think I'm a very instinctual person. I have really good instincts and I don't know. I just trust my instincts. I'm very, I very much trust my instincts. I'll be like, oh, that person gets it and understands. And I'm not always right, but I'm right a lot of the time. What do you think creates-

I tell Michael out about me too. Yeah, I think we're always right actually. I know. I'm not going to argue with that. You shouldn't. What do you think creates career longevity for the people that you've seen that really like go decades and decades compared to the people that kind of flash in the pan? Yeah, I mean, one is talent, right?

Like one is actual talent. Like the actors that keep getting hired and are able to move the needle, they're incredibly talented at their craft. So I definitely, you know, it's no different than a product, right? Like I always say that we're only as good as our work product, whether that's the service that we're providing it blended, whether it's the physical product that we're creating to bring to market, whether you're a musician and the music that you're bringing in the live show you're bringing or an actor that you're, you know, or a comedian. And our product is what keeps us and our business is moving. And so I definitely think that has a big piece of it. And then I also think, you know, I think hard work is really important, you know,

really, really, really, really important because it's not easy. It is not easy. You don't just wake up and find success. You know, you have to work really hard for it. it's in your personal life, right, in finding your significant other and building a family, whether it's in your friendships, you have to work really. I work so hard at all of the relationships in my life because they're so important to me. And then in business, it's, and talent, it's, it's really that. It's your, it's the output of what you provide. And then

being a hard worker, you know? When you look at everyone that you guys are managing it blended, brands everything, what are the biggest fires generally that you guys have to put out? You know, look, being in the client service business, I've been in it my whole life. And so I think that I'm, and I've gotten better with it year over year on not getting emotional about it and just really being, I think you have to be very problem solving. You have to be very, you know, let's not go back and play the blame game. Let's go forward and figure out how to solve it.

Very logical. Very logical. Yeah, you have to be that. I think we put out a lot of fires. I would say if we've gotten a talent for one of our brand clients and something controversial happens with that talent, having to quickly. know how to manage that is a big fire sometimes. What's, what do you do? What's the, is there a recipe? No, I don't think that there's a recipe because I think that each, I think each instance is really

different, you know, but for example, like when the fires happen, we're like, we should advise our clients. They shouldn't be posting right now. Let's halt all posts or anything that is promoting something. Let's be very mindful, whenever that is, whether that's a, was like the hurricanes or, you know, whenever something happens, COVID, what, you know. Well, you know, it's funny when you say that because if you do anything publicly on a public platform, I feel like anytime anything happens anywhere, you get all these people like, what do you have to say on this? What's your statement? It's like, totally. Like, maybe you shouldn't have a statement on everything that's going on in the world. No, you definitely shouldn't. Unless it impacts

you or unless you're passionate about it, you know, you just kind of have to let things play out and play its course. I mean, you know, we have, we have budget issues sometimes of fires that we'll have to put out where they'll be like, oh, we don't have enough money to cover this shoot and we need this or da-da-da-da-da-da. You know, I think I'd like to say we don't have to put out a lot of fires, but it's just client service. Is your phone ringing all day off the-all-day? Text messages. How do you keep track all those text messages? I don't know. I do, though. I actually, that's a lie. I have my text messages on my computer. That's so funny that you said that because

the other day I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do about text message. I'm feeling overwhelmed with it. And I went and bought a keyboard. I'm going to send you the link off Amazon that you put your phone on. And you can just reply. And so now I just take it to the footspah for two hours and respond to text messages. Well, I also think the amount of the different forms of communication is overreward. crazy. That's why I don't do WhatsApp. Everyone gets mad at me. Well, I have to do WhatsApp for my kids soccer teams because that's what everyone's on.

I hope I don't have my kids in soccer. I can't do it. It's Jewish work. And international. I like WhatsApp better than text, actually, because I feel like people don't. People abuse the text. I mean, WhatsApp is text. No, I know. But for something like people abuse. I feel like they get on WhatsApp, it's like, okay, there's got to be an intention behind

the message. Like sometimes people just abuse the text. I mean, there's WhatsApp, there's text, there's email, there's Slack, there's DMs. It's absurd. LinkedIn. I won't go on LinkedIn. I am not on LinkedIn. I'm not on Slack because I would get crushed. My email says I'm in focus mode.

If anyone emails me. By the way, I've noticed your emails are, you're in focus mode. And if you need something, contact this person. I find it to be brilliant. It's a boundary. I get it. You can only do, like, it becomes a point of working in your business or on your business. No, but then what she'll do?

I get it. I'm just going to call you out. I have a couple things I know. A month and a half will go by. Everybody has solved the thing that needed to be solved. A month and a half of a month. And then she responds a month and a half later and spams. Everyone's like following up on this.

I'm like, this has been done for a month and a half. But like that's okay. It's for her mental to know she replied. Yeah, exactly. It's my ADHD. And all you have to do is reply and say, we got it. Yeah. It's not hard.

I also will not go on camera or Zoom, not because I'm being a diva, but because I don't want to hurt my eyes all day. Yeah, Zoom, the pandemic and Zoom really changed our pace of work. Do you like your- Like faster or slower? Faster. Faster.

Yeah. Well, both. Okay. Both. I think faster in the sense that you can connect with people quicker. Okay. You can have meetings with people that you would normally maybe have to go fly to New York to meet with or, you know, wait for them to come here.

That's true. Or whatever it is. Like, you can connect. that way. Slower in the sense that for little things, to wait to schedule a 20-minute Zoom to get an answer is just not efficient. Yeah. Just be in the office.

Walk in and say, hey, can I show you this really quick? I know you have five minutes. And we're done. Michael and you could have this conversation all day. Yeah. It drives me a little nuts. This is Michael's favorite. It takes up more time than it needs to.

Because I'm like a pop or inner. Like I'll just like pop into people's offices real quick, you know? Yeah. Or like chat them up real fast. Yeah. Same. So I like, I like to be able to get to people. Yeah.

I make Taylor put on emergency bypass for my number when I call because he doesn't answer sometimes. My favorites when you call Taylor at 1 p.m. and he's still asleep and he actually. He goes, oh, hell, hello? Bitch, I can hear the fucking gruff in your voice. I'll be like, Taylor, are you just waking up or no, I know. I hear him crashing around. It's amazing. No, this is no way.

I don't judge Taylor. I'm not a morning person either. Oh, Taylor's not. the morning or afternoon person. He's not a morning or mid-afternoon person. I get it. I get it. I get it. 3 a.m. though and he'll be awake. I, well, maybe you should go to bed a little earlier. The funny thing is, I've known Taylor since he was 12 years old.

What? And he's worked with me in everything we've ever done. And he still to this, like, tries to pretend that I don't know, like, exactly who he is. Like, when he calls you, when you call him at 8 a.m., I sit there and I wait to hear him on speaker. He goes, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, well. Oh, hello? Michael's like, are you awake? It's weird. We're the same age, but I feel like he's like my son in a way.

It's kind of strange. I'm sure he loves that. I'm sure he loves that. Don't call me that. That's so creepy. I don't know if we need to go on the popper route. Yeah. Please don't.

What is your plan for what you want to do with the expansion of Blended? Do you have a plan? Yeah. We do have a plan. Listen, I think that's also a good note for people who want to start their businesses, his plans don't always work out how you map them out. You're going to have to be a little bit flexible. My favorite word is pivot.

And then I always think of, you know, Ross and friends when he's like, pivot, pivot, trying to get the couch down the chair, the stairs. It's like my favorite thing. And, you know, it's interesting. I think that I have for a very, very long time worked really hard for this moment. And I haven't realized that the moment is here. Right. Like, this is the time. Like, this is, we're, we're now at a level of, okay, you went through the first, you know, iteration of blended. You grew it. I think I stand behind my thesis of being a one-stop shop agency and having to have multiple capabilities under one roof to streamline work both for our clients, but also for our teams at the agency, right? Like, that I stand behind. And we did that over the past 10 years is we've brought capabilities in both through acquisition

and through starting from scratch, right? We started our influencer and celebrity marketing division from scratch. We started our PR division from scratch. We started our social media division through acquisition, right? We bought a little shop that we had already been working with. And we started our paid division as an extension of our social division and bringing an expert in who knows paid really, really well and UGC and all of that kind of stuff. And I think that for me now, growth is through consolidation is incredibly important.

I think that there's a lot of amazing, talented people out there in the service business across both the capabilities that we already have in-house at Blended, but also capabilities that we don't have that I would like to have. So for me, growth through bringing very talented people in from a staffing perspective is in the playbook. And then growth through mergers and acquisitions is where I'm focused for the next couple of years. I'm always focused on making sure that the foundation is there in order to do all of these things. I am always focused on driving revenue, driving EBITA, getting cool, great, clients, and to me, cool, great clients aren't necessarily like the shiny, cool brand. Cool great

clients are collaborative clients who really lean into who we are and what we bring to the table and vice versa, because that's when you're going to have the most success. I agree with you on all that. Very smart. What's wrong with PR today? Oh, God, that's a whole episode in its... I know. In its own. And by the way, PR is so important, right? And it always has been... been so important. I think that there's a, I don't want to say what's wrong with it. I want to say how it's shifting, okay? Because I think that's what's really important is there's a massive shift in two things.

One, how you go about getting PR. And two, the relationships have always been important. But there's this interesting gray area of editors. journalists and media properties being influencers in their own right and how you go about engaging with them to then generate the PR. So I think that's shifting. And I think, too, you know, you have so many incredible PR veterans that have been doing this for so long and who have the most incredible relationships and know all the pitching and know the angles and know everything. The problem with that is that that's just not what actually garners the results that

you're looking for anymore. And so I tell our PR clients a lot, the importance of them working with us across the board on the influencer space and the celebrity space and the social space and the content, everything, you have to be doing all of those things. That's what's going to get you the PR. Gone are the days of let's go sell this fragrance without that, right? You have to have that because that's what people are drawn to and that's what people want to see and that's what people want to read about. What are the best tips for someone who wants to open a PR agency today? Like how would you counsel them to stand out and create noise in the space?

Yeah. Well, first of all, there are a lot of PR firms that are opening. And I think that they're being, like, it's very rare that you see anyone that's just a straight PR firm anymore. You have everyone is doing PR. Even on the talent side you're seeing that they're doing, they're representing the talent for PR. Then they're opening a brand division and representing the brands of those talent clients. Then they're also representing some other brands for PR. Then they're also servicing brand deals for their clients.

Like, it is no longer just PR, because. because it all, it's all one in, it's all part of the formula, you know. So what I would say is if you're going to start a PR company, one, you need to start a marketing company, not a PR company. And you need to start a company that has, that's able to do or is knowledgeable about all of the facets that come with marketing because that's what's generating the PR. Right. Like when you go and you see what people are talking about, it's all about even what Vogue does, right?

Vogue is getting talent to come and create content for them on their platform, you know? And it's really smart. And that is a big get for talent to be able to go do that. And they're still covering all the fashion and they're still doing all these incredible shoots. And, you know, all that stuff still is there. But it's never just that anymore. You know, when Vogue puts out a cover, they have all of these other assets to support it. And so you have to be able to do that now.

And I would say, and this is something that I talk a lot to our senior team about is, you know, who are your hires? Who are we hiring? I don't want to hire just someone in PR anymore. I want to hire someone that is versatile, that knows all of the things that are going to be relevant to all of our campaigns and everything that we have to do. And by the way, from a staffing perspective, from a just P&L perspective, like you have to be able to do that. You know, we need to get those types of people in our doors. And that's happening, you know, and I think it's happening everywhere. I think people who had to learn it, you know, like I said earlier, we spent a lot of time educating

our clients early on on what an influencer was, how much money are you pulling? Where are you pulling it from. They were pulling it from their PR budget, right? They're like, well, I guess this is PR. They didn't know. They were traditional marketers. And so they were taking money to pay influencers from their PR budget when technically it's marketing, right? It's actually a marketing spend. It's not PR. It's marketing. So, and it all comes under marketing. But, so that's why the PR agencies had to quickly shift and learn influencer. And now they all do it. You know, all of my competitors do that. They all buy talent now. They all buy influencers. They're all servicing deals. They're all, you know, going out and pitching all of these things that they're then, you know, they're, let's say their NutraGina is their client and they're getting, you know, so and so for Neutrigina. They're taking that story and going and pitching it to press. And that's what's getting them their heads.

You're really good at the whole 360 approach. Well, because I think that's quite transparently. I think that's the only way you're going to achieve the goals that you're looking for. And I tell my clients all the time, I'm like, look, whether you're hiring us for just PR, you're hiring us for just influence, or you're hiring us for just social, that's fine. But we're thinking about it regardless, right? So we're all sharing information within the blended orbit. And that is helpful across every capability, whether we're being scoped for it or not. I'm thinking about it. My teams are thinking about it.

they're thinking about, you know, okay, if we're going to do an event, they're going to tap my influencer team and say who are the relevant influencers, if they don't know themselves, by the way, because a lot of the younger team members now know the cool people. But otherwise, they're going to go tap my influencer team and say, who should we be including in this? And by the way, vice versa, when my influencer team, you know, is executing a event to launch the new brand ambassador, they're going to go to my PR team and say, what media would you recommend we put up for this to attend? Because again, it goes back to a lot of these editors are also influencers now.

So there's that gray area of it. And then, you know, we're thinking about what moments are at that event that you're going to be able to capture content, that people are going to be super psyched to be there. And they're going to be like, I have to take this picture and want to be in that photo and have that photo on their, you know, social media. We're thinking about what's the takeaway from the event? What are we sending them home with so that they feel like they've, you know, really had an experience?

What's the content look like coming out of the event? What's the recap look like? What are the reels look like? What are, you know, how many photographers and videographers are we going to have there? You know, we're thinking about all of those things as we're putting these strategies together. I am all about a rebrand when it comes to kids. I rebrand everything. I have cookie water, which is electrolyte water. I have candy water, which is mango amino water. And I also have cookie granola. And the cookie granola is all thanks to

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it stronger. So what I've noticed is better tongue posture, better sleep, more energy in the morning. I cannot live without it. The other night I actually fell asleep for like two hours without my mouth tape and I woke up with the dry mouth. I felt like I was almost like hung over. I can't explain it. I have to have this as my nightly routine. So what I do is after my skincare, I put the skinny confidential mouth tape on. It has a tiny little slit so you can use a straw if you get thirsty in the middle of the night to drink and then I sleep with it all night. And then in the morning, I missed my face. I remove it. And it is the sleep hack of a lifetime. I know anyone who is looking for a better sleep, more energy in the morning and a more sculpted jawline will love it.

You can shop it now at shop skinnyconfidential.com. That's shop skinnyconfidential.com. How do you think about working with your husband, Rich? How are you guys synergistic together? is there a thing that you do at night to shut it off? What are your tips? Well, we would love to know. Rich isn't on the mic, but he is sitting next to me, everybody. So I have to be very very careful of how I answer this question. Yeah, like what is what is he to your yin and yang? Rich keeps me alive and keeps it all in perspective for me. So he's the one who will be like, you got to turn it off for a minute. And you've got to turn it off for a minute. And you've got to take a deep breath and you have to be present. Or, you know, if I am having a hard time with a

decision, I value his opinion probably more than anyone's. And he's typically always right when it comes to these. He's very like chill and non-emotional about some of the decision making. Get your not out long. No, I'm more like rich. Or I'm not, you know, and I've gotten better at it. But he's my ground grounding force like he is you are i'm not just i would say that even if you weren't here where did you guys meet we met at yumi sushi in beverly hills you told me that yeah at dinner yeah i just wanted to hear you say yeah sushi that's so cute yeah did he like come up to you no oh he's super shy oh yeah do you up to him i don't know we just kind of gravitated naturally towards each other wouldn't you say well it seems like it's worked out it has we're night how many years

19 years strong. And do you guys work together on a daily basis? No, but we have a lot of crossover, right? Like in his world of podcasting, he's in podcasting. He's been in media for his whole career. So we have a lot of things in common so we can share that. And I think that's helpful, right? Is you guys work together. I actually have asked Rich to come multiple times work with me and he said no just for the record. I'm like, can't you come just? Well, because, so Lauren and I do this show together

but I think people, like, and then I do do your media and she does this, but we, like, I think it's because we have separate things it works. We just did the same thing. Like, if she worked for me or I worked for her, there's no way. There's no way. Yeah, no. I don't think it's a work for each other.

I think it's just more of like, how do we build a family business together and make it the greatest for our family. It feels like they're terrible. two like separate divisions that are synergistic. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.

You guys are doing a good job. One day. It's working. It does. It works. But he's also like very calm and he can handle like anything pretty much. Like anything pretty much. Even when the fires broke out, he was in charge and I just did whatever he said.

He was like, here's what we're going to do. We're going to, I'm getting the roofing people here. And they have to come and put tape on all the vents so that no embers fly in. and we have to clean the gutters and we have to put all the outdoor furniture inside and blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay, whatever you say. He's like, you need to come home and start packing. And I'm like, okay, I was at the office until like eight o'clock at night, the day the fires started. And he finally called and was like, you need to come home now. I'm like, got it. And I've never packed so fast in my life. Like putting every photo album, every keepsake in our cars, like ready to go. And that's dramatic.

from his direction. This is like, this is like, that doesn't sound so great, but I find it interesting to think about what people go for in those moments. So for you is photo albums. Yeah. The irreplaceable stuff. It's all the irreplaceable stuff. Couple pieces of jewelry.

All my jewelry. Yeah. Some bags. I'm just going to say some bags. But then it's like letters. Yeah. All that like falls under the irreplaceable. Our passports, our birth certificates.

Michael would grab his hair gel. I get it. I did grab a lot of face stuff. I'm not going to lie. I had a, you know, now they're called go bags, by the way.

There's a thing now that people are supposed to have go bags packed. Well, if you move to Texas, you get a very specific kind of go bag. Simon has that company. Yes.

Ready. Set Judy. Is it Judy now? Just Judy. Oh, I don't know. Everyone should go by that after what just happened. Like,

that is so important. It's like a fire. it's in everything. I'm like borderline prepper status in my house now. I'm a go with the flow. Like Lauren doesn't even know what's buried in the house. Because we had that crazy freeze in Austin

and ever since that happened there's like random generators. I got emergency water supplies. I got all sorts of shit. I'm also very OCD about like organization and neatness. And Rich has learned my OCD so he's pretty good about it. but there's still times where I'm like, no, no, we cannot put that there.

Like, he wanted to order a water, because, you know, the water now is contaminated. You don't know, like, what the hell the water is. So he wants to order one of those, like, water things where you have it delivered and you can just put your thing in and whatever, whatever. And he's like, it could just go right there. The big silver one?

Yeah. And I'm like, no, no. Good idea. It cannot go right there in the middle of the kitchen. But it's like a big silver one, right? It's a sore eye. Like no one wants to look at that. Yeah, but it is, it is a good water filter though.

Yeah, but it doesn't, that's not where it goes. It needs to be in a closet. It has to spark joy. It just needs to be, it needs to have a home. We would rather drink sludge water than have this. I mean, that's kind of where I'm at. I'm kind of like, a mama three. I'm becoming a mama three.

How do you manage all these balls? Because it's like you have three kids, but you also have rich and a husband. And then you have all these clients. And my family and my friends. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. How? What's the secret? One, I think that I do better with high volume.

Like, I am just a very efficient, like, when I'm not busy, I freak out. Like, I literally freak out. I'll call my assistant, Emily. She's more than my assistant. She was like director of my entire office. She's amazing. She's been with me for, I think, eight years now or something crazy. And on a day where, like, my schedule isn't, like, packed to the minute. And I'm like, what's wrong? She's like, what do you mean? I'm like, is everything okay? Like, why am I not busy? And she's like, girl, it's okay. And I'm like, okay. Like, I just operate better that way. And so I think that that's how I manage it, quite honestly. It's like, it's just easier for me when I'm in it, I'm good at it. When it's when it's when it's, when it's, when it's, when it's, when it's, it's like not, then I start to get in my head and I'm like, oh, what's happening? But, you know, I do my best. And I think that I have been giving myself a lot of grace in certain areas. I've been doing a lot of

work. I know you're super spiritual as well. I'm, I'm not like, I'm spiritual. I'm spiritual. I believe in God. I think that is super important. You know, I grew up Jewish. That's been a whole horrible experience over the past year and change. But I also really believe in like energy work and light work and crystals and, you know, all of that. Woo-woo stuff is really, I think it's helped me tremendously a lot. I went to a workshop called Well Soul Workshop that is run by two women named Casey and Jackie. And it truly changed everything for me. It changed how I. spoke to myself in my head. It changed how I treated other people. It just really has helped me a lot in grounding, you know, and really grounding myself and grounding the people around me. And,

you know, I also think a lot of it comes with age. I turned 45 on January 11th. I did not know you're 45. Yeah, I think you're in your 30s. Thanks, babe. 45. 45. I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I turned 45 on January 11th and I think that, you know, age just, it's true. Like you, you gain perspective as you get older and your kids get older. You know, I have teenagers. I have all boys, by the way. My 10 year old said to me last night, I was putting him to sleep. He's like, mom, I'm not a baby anymore. And I'm like, no, no, you're my baby forever. He's like, what does that mean? Like, it means that I'm going to treat you like my baby for the rest of your life. I sing a song in my son's year. I say, he's living with him.

his mom for the rest of his life. He knows the song. We like dance to it and rap to it. Yeah, but at some point we're going to stop at that. We got to raise a strong young man. I am totally down to like live with them forever. My mom said the other day we were talking about something. She's like, yeah, you know, daddy and I are the tree trunk and you guys are our branches and those branches continue to grow and blah, blah, blah. And I looked at her. I'm like, I really want to get back in the trunk. I was like, it's really scary out here on the branches. I don't blame you. I was like, let me back in. You know, She's like, yes, I know that you would live with us forever. I was like, I would. I loved when Rich and I lived with my parents. It was so fun. My kids got, you know, like to see them. And it was

just, it's great. It's special. It is special. And I do believe everything starts in the home, you know. So if we set this example for our kids, then I think, hopefully, my hope is that this foundation that we're setting for them will translate as they grow old. and branch out and build their own families and have their own careers. You know, I really hope that we stay, you know, a unit because it's so important. When we went out to dinner, yes. You told me that you were launching perfume. And I found the reason that you were launching it to be really cool. It's a cool story.

Thank you. And then you showed it to me today and it smells so good. Thank you. So tell us the story and why you decided to do this. Yeah. Well, first off, thank you for being so supportive because I'm so grateful to both of you for the support. You guys have been in the product business for a long time, especially in beauty. So you get it and you know what it entails and all of the things.

Not easy. It is not easy. No. And I think this is a really awesome case study where I've taken all of my learnings from so many other things that I've worked on in my career and applied it to this. And this wasn't like a, I want to start a fragrance company. That did not happen.

It was more of, I have worn the exact same fragrance since I was like 12, 13 years old. I found it in a local beauty supply in Beverly Hills. when I was growing up and I never wavered from it. I wear it to this day. It was like my signature scent, the whole thing. And I couldn't tell you the name of the brand. It's like a random French brand. They stopped. The beauty supply shut down. I couldn't find it anywhere. And I started to panic. And then I finally found it on Amazon. And so I just would buy bottles and bottles of it on Amazon. And then I just get compliments. I would be everywhere and people would be like, you smell so good. Random, strangers. I'd be in an elevator and someone would be like, wow, you smell like a cupcake or you smell so good. What is that?

And I'd have to pull up Amazon and they'd take a screenshot on my phone. I'd be like, I can't tell you the name of the brand. I just buy it on Amazon. Here's what it is. And so finally, I was like, I'm kind of sick of driving people to Amazon to buy this brand that I can't pronounce. So I just want to do it myself. And I had the relationships with true beauty that I was telling you. I was telling you. you about. I've worked with them on a couple different projects over the years, and they're incredible partners, and I called them, and I was like, would you want to do this with me? And they jumped at the opportunity. They have been so incredibly collaborative and accommodating and just incredible to work with. And I said, you know, this is a fragrance that I've worn forever, and I want to put my own spin on it.

Like I want to recreate it, but I want it to have a little bit more vanilla in it. And I want it to have a little bit more like of the peach apricot to it. And I want it to last longer than what my other fragrance was. And so we worked on the juice for a while, actually. We did a couple iterations of the juice before we got it right. And then it just kind of started to take shape. And it was, you know, I was like, I just. want to be able when someone compliments me, when they say, what are you wearing? I can say,

oh, it's my own fragrance. It's called XOA. And here's the website. You can go and buy it. Like, I'm not, I don't have, like, a retail strategy. I don't have, like, you know, a big, I have big dreams for me and my life and my family in general. This is part of that dream. But this isn't a traditional, like, I'm launching a brand. Everyone takes, notice and wait for the next thing. Like this is, okay, let's see if this hits and how I do. I'm doing a really small run out of the gate. And then if it converts and people like it, then I can do another run.

And I can double the amount of units I buy and so on and so forth. So it's really one of those approaches where I'm going to let the market dictate how I go about growing it. I'm going to predict you're going to sell out. Oh, thanks, babe. And when you walked in and gave me the gift, it smelled so good. I was like, oh, my God, the gift smells so good. You're like, no, that's me.

I'm wearing it. Yeah. So I did what all the strangers on the elevator do. Yes. And said that. And here's something interesting. I have a sensitive nose. Ask my husband.

Interesting. If something does not smell good to me, I will go on and on. I just got hairspray sprayed on me, Ariel. Aquanette. Someone sprayed it on me. I was having a fucking meltdown. Aquanette. Was it that guy that was here? I was having a fucking meltdown in there. I'm like, he sprayed aquanette on me. This, I have no adversion to. Oh, that makes me happy. Says the pregnant woman with the big, I don't want to say big nose. I think I have a cute nose. Sensitive nose. It smells really fucking nose. Thank you. That's a huge compliment. And

I am just excited for everyone to be able to, try it. And it's simple. Like I didn't, you know, I didn't do custom tooling on the bottle. Because I, again, I've learned from everything that I've learned through all of my experiences. Like, I was like, let's keep this as low lift and easy. Because really, for me, the goal is to get the juice in people's hands and let them try it and love it. And, you know, that's what's most important to me. And it is a really, I think people are always like, you smell like a cupcake. And I'm like, oh, thank you. You know, it definitely veers very vanilla, very peachy apricotty. And it's a good blend of both of them.

There's some white florals in it as well just to give it that tiny bit of flower. But I'm really excited about it. It was supposed to launch on my birthday, but then the fires happen. So we're kind of in like a, let's retry this again. We're redoing. It's good. Do great. Yeah, thank you.

Where can everyone shop XOA? You can get it on our website, which is house of xOA.com. Yeah. And it's a simple, like, the cool thing about this is we did this all in house of blended. Every single thing was done in blended. So blended is very synergistic. It is. It is.

And the reason I called it XOA when we were like, they're like, what do you want to call it? I'm like, I don't know. Like, just call it XOA. That's how I signed every email. The most professional emails are still, it's not as sincerely. It's not a from. It's a, not a best. It's not a best or a thank you.

It's an XOA, every single one. And has been for my whole career. I don't know how that happened, but it has. And I have thousands of emails to prove it. It'd be weird if I was signing off as like XOM. Yes, it would. Somehow I've gotten away with it. And I don't know how.

That's what I'm saying. If I sent that, people were like, what is this creep doing? Yeah. Yeah. And so that was just, it was like a natural like, well, let's just call it XOA. that's how I sign everything. And it's kind of one of those things where it's like from me to you type of thing. I love it. Congratulations. Thank you. Where can everyone find you, reach out to you, stalk you? Well, since I don't like checking Slack or LinkedIn, please don't try me there. But my Instagram is Allison Statter with two L's and an eye. And I've been, again, another blended case study.

The team, my social team at blended, really helps. build and program my social channel. So they've done a phenomenal job there. And that's really kind of like my main place, my main destination. Alison, launch a podcast. Branding tips. Branding tips. I think you should. Launch a podcast. You just know a lot of different areas. Marketing strategy, strategist. Yeah. Behind the scenes. The one thing, but to go back to the very beginning of the podcast is, you know, I never want to lose sight of my goal, you know, of like building this great business and, you know, being successful in that. And I don't want to do too many things that distract me from that. I get it. You know, and your eyes on the ball.

Yeah, my eyes on the ball for now. And then we can see where it goes from there. But for now, I'm super psyched about, you know, the future of blended. We did our rebrand. So check out our website, Blended Strategy.com. It looks super chic and elevated and I love it. You can also follow us at Blended Strategy on Instagram. If you have brands or personalities want to work with you, what's the typical process? Info at Blendedstrategy.com is the best place. Come back on the podcast anytime. I would love to. Yeah, we could, I mean, I could talk to about so many different things. I know. And I'm so excited for you guys that you're having your third baby. Number three. Rich always said, I think I told you this when we had dinner that two's for quitters. Two is for quitters. Two is for quitters.

I'm not a quitter. Am I a quitter? No, you're crushing it. Fuck. You're gonna, it's great. The three feels like, like a, like complete, you know? Yeah, I do know because it did complete our family. He did. Even though I was like, oh my gosh, it's another boy.

What am I going to do? Yeah, when you said a lot of balls in there earlier, that's what I thought you were. I literally do. I have so many balls in the air of my house. There's balls everywhere. I know. I have told them every single. one, including my husband, that there is one toilet in the master bathroom that is specifically

for me and none of them are allowed to use. Is this spray everywhere? Everywhere. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're going to have to do a course on that. Yeah. I'm not a big... Sometimes you get a little spray.

No, you, there's pee on every toilet seat in my house. Can you guys not take a Kleenex and wipe it? It's so annoying. I can't even tell you. Also, like teenage boys start to really smell. That's what, you know, we had modern family, the mom. Oh, Julie Bowen. She's amazing.

Julie Bowen. And I love her, J.B. Scrub is so good. She launched it because her boys smelt. Yes, it's really good. My kids use it. I know her partner really well. And I love that product. Allison, come back anytime.

I will. Thanks for having me, guys. That was great. Love you.