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

Summary

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

Podcast Information

• Title: The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast
• Hosts: Lauryn Bosstick & Michael Bosstick / Dear Media
• Episode: Allison Statter On Building A Powerhouse Brand, Advice For Success In The Creative Industry, & How To Stand Out In Any Field
• Release Date: March 27, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, hosts Lauryn Bosstick and Michael Bosstick engage in an insightful conversation with Allison Azoff Statter, the founder and CEO of Blended Strategy Group. Allison is renowned as a branding genius and powerhouse entrepreneur who has built an empire by bridging the gap between culture, marketing, and relationships. The discussion delves into her journey in the creative industry, her strategies for building a successful brand, and her advice for standing out in any field.

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Early Career and Professional Identity

Allison Azoff Statter begins by describing her multifaceted role in the business world. She emphasizes her identity as an entrepreneur, marketing strategist, and female activist.

[01:45] Allison Azoff Statter: "I think that to sum it up, I think that I'm an entrepreneur. I am a pro, very pro. Female activist. Like, I want to support women in my work... I am a strategic marketing... I am a problem solver."

Allison highlights her dedication to supporting women in business and her strategic approach to marketing. Her ability to pivot and wear multiple hats has been instrumental in her success, enabling her to cater to diverse client needs effectively.

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Building and Leveraging Your Network

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on Allison’s exceptional networking skills, which are rooted in her upbringing in Los Angeles within an entertainment-centric environment. She credits her parents for imparting invaluable lessons on client-centricity and relationship-building.

[05:58] Allison Azoff Statter: "There isn't anyone I cannot get to. It's my approach to networking that sets me apart—building lifelong relationships and being proactive in connecting the right people."

Allison explains how her lifelong connections in LA have provided her with unparalleled access to influential individuals, which she leverages to benefit her clients. Her proactive approach to networking ensures that opportunities are swiftly identified and capitalized upon, setting her apart from larger, more traditional agencies.

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Maintaining Privacy in a Public World

Despite her deep roots in a world of fame, Allison maintains a strong preference for privacy. She discusses the importance of keeping personal and professional boundaries intact to preserve her sanity and effectiveness.

[09:05] Allison Azoff Statter: "I cherish privacy because it's crucial for maintaining one's sanity. Even though I'm more comfortable behind the scenes, I recognize the necessity of engaging publicly to remain relevant."

Allison elaborates on how she balances the need for public engagement, especially through social media and podcasting, with her inherent desire for privacy. She emphasizes that while visibility is essential for business growth, safeguarding personal space is equally important to sustain long-term success.

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Navigating Crisis: Fire Aid Initiative

A pivotal moment in the episode is Allison’s recounting of the Fire Aid initiative during the devastating wildfires in California. She details how her strategic marketing agency, Blended Strategy Group, mobilized swiftly to support the community through collaborative efforts.

[13:21] Allison Azoff Statter: "When the fires broke out, my parents initiated the Fire Aid project, leveraging music to unite the community. We collaborated with major organizations like Live Nation and the Clippers to organize a benefit concert that featured top artists like Green Day and Billie Eilish."

Allison discusses the logistical challenges faced during the crisis, including rapid campaign deployment, managing social media responses, and handling negative feedback. She emphasizes the importance of maintaining a clear focus on the mission despite external pressures and negativity.

[16:52] Allison Azoff Statter: "We had to address negative comments by posting FAQs and affirming our mission to support those affected by the fires. Ignoring the haters was crucial to maintaining the integrity of our efforts."

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Personal Branding: Do’s and Don'ts

Shifting the focus to personal branding, Allison shares her observations on what individuals and businesses do right and wrong when building their brands.

[21:37] Allison Azoff Statter: "One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that there’s no stopping once you start your own business. You have to persevere despite setbacks because building a personal brand requires relentless effort and resilience."

Allison advises aspiring entrepreneurs to set realistic goals and remain committed despite challenges. She highlights the misconception that success can be easily replicated and underscores the importance of hard work and maintaining a clear vision.

[25:08] Allison Azoff Statter: "Throwing yourself into the deep end and figuring things out without formal education can be daunting, but it provides invaluable real-world experience that you can't gain in school."

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Evolving the PR Landscape

Allison provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of public relations, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach that integrates PR with various marketing strategies.

[53:47] Allison Azoff Statter: "PR is shifting dramatically. It's no longer just about pitching to journalists but also about leveraging influencers and social media to generate comprehensive PR campaigns."

She stresses that modern PR requires versatility and a deep understanding of multiple marketing facets. Allison advises new PR agencies to adopt a 360-degree approach, integrating traditional PR with influencer marketing, social media strategies, and content creation to create impactful campaigns.

[57:09] Allison Azoff Statter: "Our holistic approach ensures that every campaign is cohesive and maximizes exposure across all platforms, which is essential for achieving the desired outcomes."

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Strategies for Business Growth

Discussing the growth strategies for Blended Strategy Group, Allison outlines her focus on consolidations, mergers, and acquisitions to expand service capabilities.

[48:53] Allison Azoff Statter: "Growth through consolidation is incredibly important. We're bringing in talented individuals and acquiring complementary businesses to enhance our service offerings."

Allison emphasizes the importance of maintaining a strong foundation while scaling the business. She highlights the necessity of driving revenue, improving EBITDA, and attracting collaborative and innovative clients who align with Blended Strategy Group's values.

[57:09] Allison Azoff Statter: "Having a 360-degree approach not only benefits our clients but also fosters internal collaboration, ensuring that every team works synergistically towards common goals."

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Launching a Signature Fragrance

In an exciting segment, Allison unveils her personal fragrance, XOA, detailing the inspiration and development process behind the product launch.

[74:04] Allison Azoff Statter: "I've worn the same fragrance since I was 12, and I always received compliments. I wanted to recreate that signature scent with my own twist, adding more vanilla and peach apricot notes for longevity."

Allison shares the challenges of launching a fragrance independently and the importance of maintaining authenticity and simplicity in the product design. She credits her strategic marketing expertise and her team at Blended Strategy Group for executing a successful launch strategy.

[78:00] Allison Azoff Statter: "We kept the launch streamlined to focus on getting the product in people's hands and letting their experiences drive the word-of-mouth marketing."

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Balancing Entrepreneurial and Family Life

The conversation concludes with Allison discussing the dynamics of balancing a demanding entrepreneurial career with family responsibilities. She highlights the support system she has in her husband, Rich, and the importance of maintaining personal boundaries.

[69:15] Allison Azoff Statter: "Having an efficient team and a supportive partner helps me manage the multiple roles I play. It's about setting boundaries and ensuring that both my personal and professional lives thrive."

Allison emphasizes the significance of family in her life and business, noting that her relationship with Rich provides stability and perspective, especially during high-pressure situations like the Fire Aid initiative.

[73:41] Allison Azoff Statter: "Everything starts in the home. Building a strong family foundation translates into building a strong business foundation."

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Conclusion

Allison Azoff Statter’s journey exemplifies the synergy between strategic marketing, robust networking, and personal authenticity. Her insights offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs and creative professionals aiming to build impactful brands and navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape. The episode underscores the importance of perseverance, adaptability, and the unwavering support of a strong personal network in achieving sustained success.

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Notable Quotes

• Allison Azoff Statter [01:45]: "I am a strategic marketing... I am a problem solver."
• Allison Azoff Statter [05:58]: "There isn't anyone I cannot get to."
• Allison Azoff Statter [09:05]: "I cherish privacy because it's crucial for maintaining one's sanity."
• Allison Azoff Statter [13:21]: "We collaborated with major organizations like Live Nation and the Clippers to organize a benefit concert."
• Allison Azoff Statter [21:37]: "Building a personal brand requires relentless effort and resilience."
• Allison Azoff Statter [53:47]: "PR is no longer just about pitching to journalists but also about leveraging influencers and social media."
• Allison Azoff Statter [57:09]: "Our holistic approach ensures that every campaign is cohesive."
• Allison Azoff Statter [74:04]: "I wanted to recreate that signature scent with my own twist."
• Allison Azoff Statter [69:15]: "Setting boundaries ensures that both my personal and professional lives thrive."

This detailed summary captures the essence of Allison Statter's discussions, providing valuable takeaways on brand building, strategic marketing, personal growth, and maintaining a balanced life.

Transcript

[Michael Bostick]

The following podcast is a Dear Media Production.

[Lauren Everts]

She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Fantastic.

[Lauren Everts]

And he's a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostick are bringing you along for the ride.

[Rich]

Get ready for some major realness.

[Lauren Everts]

Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her.

[Michael Bostick]

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential him and her show. Today we have our good friend in an absolute fort force 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. Allison 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 to the Skinny Confidential him and her show.

[Lauren Everts]

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.

[Unknown]

I love solving problems.

[Lauren Everts]

You're one of the best.

[Unknown]

I love it.

[Lauren Everts]

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 gonna let you do it because you've done so many different things. And even recently with the fire aid, with blended with products representation. Like what, how do you describe your profession?

[Unknown]

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 we'll 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 a hundred 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 activists. 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 it, 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You're really a chameleon.

[Unknown]

I think I might be.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

But like, I also would describe you, as you said, marketing strategist. I feel like you are a strategist.

[Unknown]

Yeah, Like a strategic problem solver.

[Lauren Everts]

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.

[Michael Bostick]

Right?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

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. Like what, what do you think it is?

[Unknown]

Two qualities.

[Lauren Everts]

One or like what do you think?

[Unknown]

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 and 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'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 in a like, oh, I'm friends with this person and I know this person. It's not that. It's more my approach in 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 la, 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 full 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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 LA 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.

[Unknown]

It's not.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah. So, like, how did you learn that?

[Unknown]

My parents.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

What'd they teach you? Give us all?

[Unknown]

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 LA and you're trying to hustle for it. And by the way, I have mad respect for people that are not from LA, 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, 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.

[Lauren Everts]

When you say watched how they move, your dad is obviously very prominent in the entertainment space. But both your parents, what are some of the things that they like? If you were to dumb it down, what did they teach you?

[Unknown]

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. For. It's just about like being a good person and knowing how to help. I mean, that's truly what we do, right?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

We help providing value.

[Lauren Everts]

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 there anyone or did it just be like, oh, there's, you know.

[Unknown]

There'S Bono, there's Stevie Nicks in my back house. I know. I don't. I just don't think I've ever been. It just.

[Lauren Everts]

It's just normal too.

[Unknown]

It's just normal.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I think that, that.

[Lauren Everts]

But there was no one that was like, oh, that one is actually like, that's Princess Prince.

[Unknown]

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, that's a good one. Holy moly. Can I. I was like, can I bring Sydney down? He was a baby at the time. I'm like, for a picture. They were like, no. I'm like, okay, that was the one.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That's it.

[Unknown]

That's it.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So it just. Does it. See, it seems like fame doesn't phase you. No, but my. 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.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I'm most comfortable and confident behind the scenes.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

But yeah, I almost. If I were out as an outsider, you seem to really just prefer it and you like, like being the wizard.

[Unknown]

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. To get. Especially now with social media and podcasting and everything. Like, you almost. If you don't do it, it's. It's like you're going to miss out on opportunity.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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. A thought out thing, which I appreciate. I think that's cool. It's a, It's a strategist.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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?

[Unknown]

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, 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 COVID 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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.

[Lauren Everts]

You know, like, we do social media. We've done this show for a long time and obviously, like the, you know, we're not Prince, but it's, it's, you know, you start to get.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I think you're Prince sometimes.

[Unknown]

I would love to see your rendition of Prince in full costume, by the way.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You know what?

[Lauren Everts]

If I would have known, I would have dressed up for you.

[Unknown]

He does wear heels, but I. Or he did.

[Lauren Everts]

I talked to Lauren about heels.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

In your boots. No, you're something.

[Lauren Everts]

I talk to Lauren about this all the time. Like, at some point, you know, like, there's. You could do something for a long enough time, and 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.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

And I'm actually used to, I mean, you know, I'm used to being more behind the scenes than in front. Like, we do the show, but dear me, it is what I do day to day.

[Unknown]

And you've done an amazing job.

[Lauren Everts]

Thank you. But it's. I almost. She, she came out tap dancing, so she's super comfortable, like being in front. But I tell her, I'm like, okay, at some point if you push it too far, then it's hard to turn off. You know, like some of the clients that we're talking about with you, it's like they can't, they can never get privacy back.

[Unknown]

Well, and you also open yourself up for criticism and you have to have a really thick skin for that.

[Lauren Everts]

Oh, I'm good at that. I'm good with the criticism.

[Unknown]

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.

[Lauren Everts]

Wait, so go back. Okay, so the fires happen here in la.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

Quickly you guys, jump. Jump on it and you.

[Rich]

Three minutes in.

[Unknown]

Three minutes.

[Lauren Everts]

Great. Fire aid.

[Unknown]

My mom and my dad were sitting home and, 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 gonna 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?

[Lauren Everts]

We were here that day for one day.

[Unknown]

I remember you guys were in town and it was so chaotic, it was so scary. Every. The sun would go down every night, you know. Cause these fires went on uncontrollably for night after night after night. And you know, I. 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 gonna 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 they're. 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 Ballmer, 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. And they looked at all of their different. The. 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 them from the live perspective. They knew the Clippers organization was going to be able to support them, you know, with the venues, amongst many, many other things. The Ballmer family has matched one for $1 for dollar. Well, since the show went on Thursday. Last Thursday. And we just got VOD rights for the next 12 months. That and the Bombers are going to be matching dollar for 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.

[Rich]

We'll let.

[Unknown]

We'll. We'll leverage her for all of that. And that's. 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.

[Lauren Everts]

Oh, what do you mean?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Like, how could they say mean things that you're trying to help?

[Unknown]

I mean, if you look at some of the comments, especially about our ticket prices, and, you know, I mean, they. People would say some of the meanest things on these comments. And my. 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?

[Lauren Everts]

Like, is that the typical answer?

[Michael Bostick]

Don't reply.

[Lauren Everts]

Don't answer it. Is that, like.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It depends.

[Unknown]

It really depends.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

We're going to get into that.

[Unknown]

It really depends. I think you have to be super careful.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Because I think the more you engage, you know, that can cause a lot more damage sometimes than good.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So what happened?

[Unknown]

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 to 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.

[Rich]

God.

[Unknown]

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 of themselves and they'll be like, oh, she looks fat. And I'm like, who?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Who?

[Unknown]

Like, who even writes that? I. It just like, can you imagine if you replied to someone on Instagram and was like, you look fat in this picture? Who says that?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I don't. I think that they want acknowledgement.

[Unknown]

Right. Or to make themselves feel better.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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 gonna happen. It's part of it.

[Unknown]

And it's sad for them, I think.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

The fact that you have access to all these incredible people. And I can only imagine Irving pulling out his phone book when he's like, who should I call to call up for firing?

[Unknown]

He pulls his phone book off.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I don't even want to know what's going on.

[Unknown]

But a lot of people were calling him. That was what was super interesting.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Problem solver.

[Unknown]

Yeah. People were calling him and they. And. 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.

[Lauren Everts]

How many artists ended up participating?

[Unknown]

I think we had close to 40.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Wow. Or who were some of the top liners.

[Unknown]

Green Day, you call it. Top liners. 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, put. 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 open the show, which was so amazing. Red Hot Chili Peppers were there. There was a Nirvana reunion. You had Billie Eilish, you had Stevie Nicks, you had no Doubt. You know, you had Olivia Rodrigo. I mean, there was just. And John Mayer. You know, I mean, it was endless. It was every genre. Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So they all do it for free.

[Lauren Everts]

And people are still complaining about the ticket price.

[Unknown]

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 money, the most amount of money to be the most effective and helpful to the community.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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? Swervoski.

[Unknown]

Swarovski.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah, Crystals. On. On it.

[Unknown]

I know.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And then that would piss people off even more. And you could be like, no, we're donating it.

[Unknown]

It's like we're auctioning it.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Diamond merch.

[Unknown]

I know. We're auctioning it off. I know.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Auction it off.

[Unknown]

Well, that's the thing about this raise is it's not going to end because there's gonna be people year over year over year who need help and support.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And you guys are just gonna continue to do everything you can to do that?

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Lauren Everts]

I wanna 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?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

He's like, let me pull out my scroll.

[Unknown]

Yeah. I'm like, well, I can tell you what I've done right and what I've done wrong because we've, 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, I, I, I can tell you from my experience and the 10 years that I have been my own boss and left working for 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, I dove head first, thinking, I, I was like, okay, I got this. I have learned so much. And I think the, 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, you, you gotta know when that is, right? Because once you start, you're in it, you're in it. And, you know, not everything is gonna 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 gonna 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 gonna come and you're gonna 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 is they're like, oh, well, if this person can just, you know, launch a, 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It makes so 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 with 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.

[Unknown]

I mean, I'm a college dropout, so. 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 up, 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 sleepaway camp, so they made me get jobs in the summer. And what was your first job? My first job, I worked for two, a father son duo who were in the music business named Michael and Mo Austin. Unfortunately, Mo has passed. Michael 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 from for like. I think I did it for like two or three summers in a row. And I loved it.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I knew you would have a good first job. Yeah, I'm all. Mine was a lemonade and embroidery stand. Alison's like, mine was a record label.

[Unknown]

I was. But you know what?

[Lauren Everts]

I was a landscaper.

[Unknown]

Oh, really?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

No, don't even start this story.

[Unknown]

You are. Rich would love that.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Sucked.

[Lauren Everts]

No, it was not fun.

[Unknown]

Rich built his own garden.

[Lauren Everts]

No, it wasn't that.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Michael hasn't done shit with that. You do not have a green bed.

[Lauren Everts]

I got traumatized ever since. No, they hadn't. It wasn't like the nice garden one. It was like.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Actually I 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.

[Lauren Everts]

No, I can, but I said I. So I was talking to a buddy of mine a long time ago and I was like, what is your advice when you get married? He goes, buddy, he goes, set the bar low. Because if you go in and you set it too high, then that's going to. You have to hit that all the time.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

So if I was planning, you know, I can't do all that.

[Rich]

Mouthwash. Let's talk about it. So smart Mouth. It's the only mouthwash scientifically proven to eliminate and prevent bad breath for 24 hours with just two rinses a day. So what it does is it essentially prevents bad breath 12 times longer than the leading brand. But what I personally like about this is that when you pour the two solutions into the cup, you're activating their smart zinc technology. And this zinc ion activation is the key to eliminating and preventing sulfur gas, AKA bad breath. And it really is the secret to all day fresh breath. So if you're someone who has to talk closely to a lot of people, or, I don't know, maybe you're just getting hot under the sheets, you gotta check out Smart Mouth. It's developed by a dentist and it's dentist recommended. It has a unique dual chamber bottle. And that's where you get the two powerful solutions. They're separate. And then when you're ready to rinse, like I said, you just pull them together. So if you're looking to upgrade your mouthwash, you have to check them out. Never have bad breath again. Find Smart Mouth at Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon or visit smartmouth.com skinny to snag a special discount on your next smart mouth purchase. That's www.smart M-O-U-T-.com skinny. Don't miss out on 24 hour fresh breath. Your mouth will thank you.

[Michael Bostick]

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[Allison Azoff Statter]

Why did you decide to start your own business? What was like the before part where you had this epiphany to do this?

[Unknown]

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, you know? And he was like, I know, but I really need you too. 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 Schiffman. And I went back working for my dad after that six month stint because I just wasn't like, the way the. The. The organization that I worked at wasn't right for me. And so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go back. He had just signed Jewel. Remember Jewel the artist? And he was like, I need someone. He was like, I need to. I love her.

[Lauren Everts]

I want you all to come on this show.

[Unknown]

Okay, we could probably make that happen.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah, I'll call you later about it.

[Unknown]

Okay, great. So she. 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 gonna 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, kosher. 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, you know, 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 he. As well he should have been. And so I just had a passion for it and I felt stunted and I, I was like, if I'm gonna leave my babies every day, it's. It's gotta be worth it. I had big dreams, I still do. And I just took this leap of faith and I was like, I'm gonna start my own company and I'm gonna 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. Cause 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 gonna lie.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So did you quit and launch it quickly or was it like slow? How did that look?

[Unknown]

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 like, very supportive. And then, you know, over time, it just kind of. I. 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Who was your first client?

[Unknown]

Who was our first client? I think Revlon was our first client.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Who was your first person client?

[Unknown]

I wanna say. Well, what's interesting is we. When I left working for him, he was like, well, who's gonna 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. Yeah. 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 Blended. And then I think our first client that we signed that was Non, non, Full stop was Jeanette.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Oh, that's a great one.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Fresh.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Knows how to.

[Michael Bostick]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

I feel like at the time, yeah, that was avant garde too, because people had just started looking at individuals like her with the type of. With how people look at all those creators now. It's like that was. That was still early be like before people were really paying that much attention to, like, these kind of creators.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Oh, yeah.

[Unknown]

And. And I, the first year, two years, even, have blended the amount of work we had to do to educate our clients on what an influencer 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And if people don't know what DBA is, explain that.

[Unknown]

DBA was the first management firm to come to market that represented, at the time, bloggers.

[Lauren Everts]

I think Lauren was one of the.

[Michael Bostick]

First seven or eight clients.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You were og.

[Unknown]

Yeah. You are an OG blogger.

[Lauren Everts]

Wait, that's when they called them bloggers?

[Unknown]

That's when they called them bloggers.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And you told your dad to invest in dba?

[Unknown]

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 gonna do. And then she took the path of. 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. 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, Reina did such a phenomenal job growing dba, and. And the whole thing.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

How do you spot when someone has talent? Because I feel like you've been around it so much, you could spot it easy.

[Unknown]

Well, I think it's all subjective.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Okay.

[Unknown]

Right. Because what I think might be talent and I'm drawn to might be different than what you're drawn to.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Okay.

[Unknown]

I think there's. Talent is a. 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. I don't know. I just trust My instincts, I'm very. I. I very much trust my instincts. Like, 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.

[Lauren Everts]

What do you think?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I tell Michael that about me, too.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I think we're always right.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I know.

[Lauren Everts]

I'm not going to argue with that.

[Unknown]

You shouldn't.

[Lauren Everts]

What do you. 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.

[Unknown]

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 at 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 comedian. Like, our product is what keeps us and our businesses 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, 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. Whether 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, 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That you guys are managing it, blended brands, everything, what are the biggest fires generally that you guys have to put out?

[Unknown]

You're like, oh, you know, look, being in the client service business, I've been in it my whole life. And so I think that I'm. I've. 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Very logical.

[Unknown]

Very logical.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Very logical.

[Unknown]

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.

[Rich]

What's.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

What do you do? What's the. Is there a recipe?

[Unknown]

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 fire was like the hurricanes or, you know, whenever something happens. Covid. What? You know.

[Lauren Everts]

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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

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.

[Unknown]

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. 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Like, is your phone ringing all day off the.

[Unknown]

All day text messages?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

How do you keep track all those text messages?

[Unknown]

I don't know. I do, though. I actually. That's a lie. I have my text messages on my computer.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That's so funny that you said that because the other day I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do about text message. I'm feeling overwhelmed with it. And I went and bought a keyboard. I'm gonna send you the link off Amazon that you put your phone on.

[Unknown]

And you can just reply.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And so now I just take it to the foot spot for two hours and respond to text messages.

[Unknown]

Well, I also think the amount of the different forms of communication, it's overwhelming, crazy.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That's why I don't do WhatsApp. Everyone gets mad at me.

[Unknown]

Well, I have to do WhatsApp for my kids soccer teams because that's what everyone's on, I hope.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I don't have my kids in soccer. I can't do it.

[Unknown]

It's Jewish work and international.

[Lauren Everts]

I like WhatsApp better than text, actually, because I feel like people don't. It's. People abuse the text. Do you think they abuse the text?

[Unknown]

I mean, WhatsApp is text.

[Lauren Everts]

No, I know, but for something like people abuse. Like, I feel like they. Then they get on WhatsApp. It's like, okay, there's got to be an intention behind the messages. Like, sometimes people just abuse the text.

[Unknown]

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 don't. I am not on LinkedIn. I am not on Slack because I would get crushed.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

My email says I'm in focus mode if anyone emails me.

[Unknown]

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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

A boundary. I can.

[Unknown]

I get it.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You can only do. I like.

[Lauren Everts]

No.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It becomes a point of working in your business or on your business.

[Lauren Everts]

No, but then what? She'll do this. I'm just gonna call you out.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I have a couple things.

[Lauren Everts]

A month and a half will go by. Everybody has solved the thing that needed to be solved a month and a half ago. And then she responds a month and a half later and spams. Everyone's like, following up on this. Like, this has been done for a month and a half.

[Unknown]

But, like, that's okay. It's for her mental to know. She replied, yeah, exactly.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It's my adhd.

[Unknown]

And all you have to do is reply and say, we got it.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It's not hard. I also will not go on camera for Zoom. Not because I'm being a diva, but because I don't want to hurt my eyes all day.

[Unknown]

Yeah, Zoom, it hurts. The pandemic and Zoom really changed our pace of work.

[Lauren Everts]

Do you like faster or slower? Faster.

[Unknown]

Faster.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Well, both.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Okay.

[Unknown]

Both, I think faster in the sense that you can connect with people quicker.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Okay.

[Unknown]

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 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And you could have this conversation all day.

[Unknown]

Yeah, it drives me a little nuts.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

This is Michael.

[Unknown]

It takes up more time than it.

[Lauren Everts]

Needs to because I'm like a popper inner. Like I'll just like pop into people's offices real quick, you know?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

Like, or chat them up real fast.

[Unknown]

Yeah, same.

[Lauren Everts]

So I like, I like to be able to get to people.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

I make Taylor put on emergency bypass for my number when I call because, because he doesn't answer sometimes.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And my favorites, when you call Taylor at 1pm and he's still asleep and he actually.

[Unknown]

Oh hell.

[Lauren Everts]

Hello?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I can hear the rough in your voice.

[Lauren Everts]

I'll be like, taylor, are you just waking up? No, no. And I hear him crashing around.

[Unknown]

No, this is Judge Taylor. I'm not a morning person either.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Oh, Taylor's not the morning or after.

[Lauren Everts]

He's not a morning or mid afternoon afternoon person.

[Unknown]

I get it, I get it.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

3Am though, and he'll be awake.

[Unknown]

I, I, well maybe you should go to bed a little earlier.

[Lauren Everts]

The funny thing is I've known Taylor since he was 12 years old.

[Unknown]

What?

[Lauren Everts]

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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Like when you, when he calls you, when you call him at 8am I sit there and I wait to hear him on speaker. He goes, hello? Michael's like, are you awake?

[Lauren Everts]

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.

[Unknown]

I'm sure he loves that. I'm sure he loves that.

[Lauren Everts]

Don't call me that.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That's so creepy. I don't know if we need to go on the papa route.

[Lauren Everts]

Please, please don't.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

What is your plan for what you want to do with the expansion of Blended? Do you have a plan?

[Unknown]

Yeah, we do have a plan. Um, listen, I think that's also a good note for, for people who want to start their businesses. Plans don't always work out how you map them out. You're going to have to be a little bit flexible. Oh, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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. 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, is in the playbook. And then growth through, 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 ebitda, 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 gonna have the most success.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I agree with you on all that. Very smart. What's wrong with PR today?

[Unknown]

Oh God, that's a whole episode. And it's, I know in its own. And by the way, PR is so important, right? And it always has been so important. I think that there's a. I, 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 and journalists and media properties being influencer 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. 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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?

[Unknown]

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 it all. It's all. It's all one in. It's all part of the formula, you know? So what I would say is, if you're gonna 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. 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. 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 they're. Neutrogena is their client, and they're getting, you know, so and so for Neutrogena, they're taking that story and going and pitching it to press, and that's what's getting them their heads.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You're really good at the whole 360 approach.

[Unknown]

Well, because I think that's rich, quite transparently. I think that's the only way you're gonna 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 influencer, 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. The younger team members now know the cool. 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. To attend? Because again, it goes back to a lot of these editors are also influencers now, you know, 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.

[Rich]

I am all about a rebrand when it comes to kids, so 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 purely Elizabeth. My kids love this. It's like delicious granola with crunchy clusters, and everything is filled with ancient grains and superfoods. And they are so tricked, it's not even funny. They don't know that they're eating ancient grains and superfood seeds and everything contains no artificial flavors. No. They think they're eating cookies, which I'm fine with. I really, personally, if I was gonna start you off on one, would recommend their cookie granola. But don't sleep on their original ancient green granola. My kids like that too. And sometimes I'll put like a little chocolate mushroom sauce on top and they think they're having a full on dessert. They have tons of granola flavors to choose from. They even have chocolate sea salt. They have like a blueberry hemp that is so good with milk. They even have vanilla almond butter. Everything's certified USDA organic. And let me tell you, it is good. It's delicious. It is one that you will be stealing from your kids and your kids will like it. A little organic oats, some nutritious ancient grains and superfood seeds.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Rich]

There's like chia quinoa. It's good. Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use code skinny at checkout. You get 20% off. Purely Elizabeth. Taste the obsession. My hair has changed. Let me tell you. It has gone through a transformation. Okay? Stylists who do my hair now are some of the same stylists I had when I was blonde and they cannot believe how much my hair has grown and how thick my ponytail is. I've done a lot of things which we'll get into, but the number one thing that I think makes a huge difference is supplementation. So internutrophil. It's the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. See thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months with neutrophil. So I supplemented, I do micro needling on my scalp. I do tons of scalp massage. I also have like water filters in my shower and I don't wash my hair a lot. I'm very, very specific when I wash my hair. It's probably like three times a month if I'm being honest. Start your hair growth journey with Nutrafol. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month subscription and you get free shipping. When you go to nutrafool.com enter the promo code skinny hair. Find out why over 4, 500 healthcare professionals and stylists recommend Nutrafol for healthier hair. Nutrafol.com spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code skinny hair that's nutrafool.com promo code skinny hair one product that has transformed not only my sleep, but my jawline is mouth tape. I mouth tape every single night. There is not a night that goes by that I miss mouth taping. And the first thing that I notice is I wake up with way more energy. When your nose breathing all night, you get so much more oxygen. It's incredible. And also it supports your tongue posture while you sleep, which sculpts your jawline and makes 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 a dry mouth. I felt like I was almost like hungover. 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. 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 mist 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 [e-mail] that's shopskinnyconfidential.com.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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.

[Unknown]

Rich isn't on the mic, but he is sitting next to me, everybody. So I have to be supportive, very careful of how I answer this question.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah, like, what is, what is he to your yin and yang?

[Unknown]

Rich keeps me alive and keeps it all in perspective for me. So he's the one who will be like, you gotta 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.

[Lauren Everts]

Get your notepad out, Lauren.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

No, I'm more like Rich where I'm.

[Unknown]

Not, you know, and I, I've gotten better at it. But he's my ground, grounding force. Like he is. You are. I'm not. I would say that even if you weren't here.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Where did you guys meet?

[Unknown]

We met at Yumi Sushi in Beverly Hills.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You told me that at dinner. Yeah, I just wanted to hear you say Yumi Sushi. That's so cute.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Did he, like, come up to you?

[Unknown]

No. Oh, he's super shy.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Oh, you up to him?

[Unknown]

I don't know. We just kind of gravitated naturally towards each other, wouldn't you say?

[Lauren Everts]

Well, it seems like it's worked out.

[Unknown]

It has. We're how many years? 19 years strong.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And do you guys work together on a daily basis?

[Unknown]

Our. No. But we have a lot of crossover. Right. Like in. 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.

[Lauren Everts]

I'm like, can't you come just because. So Lauren and I do this show together, but I think people like. And then I do Dear Media, and she does this. But we, like. I think it's because we have separate things. It works if 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.

[Unknown]

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?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It feels like you said there are.

[Lauren Everts]

Two, like, separate divisions that are synergistic.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

You know what I mean?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You guys are doing a good job one day. It's working.

[Unknown]

It does. It works. But he's also, like, very calm, and he can handle, 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 gonna do. We're gonna. 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. 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, 8:00 at night. The night. The day the fire 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 traumatic from his direction.

[Lauren Everts]

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, it was photo albums?

[Unknown]

Yeah. The irreplaceable stuff.

[Lauren Everts]

It's all the irreplaceable stuff.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Couple pieces of jewelry.

[Unknown]

All my jewelry.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Some bags.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I'm just gonna say some bags, but then it's like, letters.

[Unknown]

Yeah. All that, like, falls under the irreplaceable. Our passports, our birth certificates.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Michael would grab his hair gel.

[Unknown]

I get it. I did grab a lot of face stuff. I'm not gonna 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.

[Lauren Everts]

Well, if you move to Texas, you get a well specific kind of go back.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Simon has that company.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Judy Set. Judy. Is it Judy now? Just Judy.

[Unknown]

Oh, I don't know.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Everyone should go buy that after what just happened. Like, that is so important. It's like a fire.

[Unknown]

It's an every.

[Lauren Everts]

I'm like, borderline prepper status in my house now.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I'm a go with the flow.

[Lauren Everts]

Like, Lauren doesn't even know what's buried in the. In the house. There's. Because we had that crazy freeze in Austin, and ever since that happened, there's, like, random generators.

[Michael Bostick]

I got.

[Lauren Everts]

I got emergency water supplies. I got. I got all sorts.

[Unknown]

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.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

And he's like, it could just go right there.

[Lauren Everts]

The big silver one.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And I'm like, no, no, good idea. It cannot go right there in the middle of the kitchen. I don't.

[Lauren Everts]

But it's a big silver one, right?

[Unknown]

It's a sora. Like, no one wants to look at that.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah, but it is a good water filter, though.

[Unknown]

Yeah, but it doesn't. That's not where it goes. It needs to be in a.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It's not aesthetically pleasing, Joy.

[Unknown]

It just needs to be. It needs to have a home.

[Lauren Everts]

Like, we would rather drink sludge water than have this.

[Unknown]

I mean, that's kind of where I'm at.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I'm kind of like a mama three. I'm becoming a mom of 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.

[Unknown]

And my family and my friends.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah, it's a lot.

[Unknown]

It's a lot. How?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

What's the secret.

[Unknown]

One? I think that I do better with high volume. Like, I am just a very efficient. Like, when I am 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? 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, is like, it's just easier for me when I'm in it. I. I'm good at it. When it's. When it's like, not, then I start to get in my head and I'm like, 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 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 11.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I did not know you're 45.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I turned.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I thought you were in your 30s.

[Unknown]

Thanks, babe.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

45.

[Unknown]

45.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Damn good.

[Unknown]

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I turned 45 on January 11. And I think that, you know, age just. It's true. Like, you. It. 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, like, no, no, you're my baby forever. He's like, what does that mean? And like, it means that I'm going to treat you like my baby for the rest of your life.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I sing a song in my son's ear. I say, he's living with his mom for the rest of his life. He knows the song. We like, dance to it and rap.

[Lauren Everts]

Yeah. But at some point, we're gonna stop at that. We gotta.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

No, we're not.

[Unknown]

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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I don't blame you.

[Unknown]

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 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It's special.

[Unknown]

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. I really hope that we stay, you know, a unit because it's so important.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

When we went out to dinner.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You told me.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That you were launching perfume. And I found the reason that you were launching it to be really cool. It's a cool story.

[Unknown]

Thank you.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And then you showed it to me today, and it smells so good.

[Unknown]

Thank you.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So tell us the story and why you decided to do this.

[Unknown]

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.

[Lauren Everts]

Not easy.

[Unknown]

It is not easy. No. And I think this is a really awesome case study that, 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. 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 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, just 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. 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 take 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I'm going to predict you're going to sell out.

[Unknown]

Oh, thanks, babe.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So I did what all the strangers on the elevator do.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

And said that. And. And here's something interesting. I have a sensitive nose. Ask my husband.

[Unknown]

Interesting.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

If something does not smell good to me, I will go on and on. I just got hairspray sprayed on me. Arielle Aquanet. Someone sprayed it on me. I was having a.

[Lauren Everts]

Was it that guy that was here?

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I was having a meltdown in there. I'm like, he sprayed Aquanet on me. This I have no aversion to.

[Unknown]

Oh, that makes me happy.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Says the pregnant woman with the big. I don't want to say big nose. Yeah, I have a cute nose.

[Unknown]

Sensitive nose.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

A sensitive nose. It smells really good.

[Unknown]

Thank you. I. 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's. It definitely veers very vanilla, very peachy, apricot Y. 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. 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

It's gonna do great. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Thank you.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Where can everyone shop XOA?

[Unknown]

You can get it on our website, which is houseofxoa.com cute. 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

So blended is very synergistic. It is that name to xoa.

[Unknown]

It is. And. And I've 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 sign every email. The most professional emails are still. It's not a sincerely. It's not a from. It's a not a best. It's not a best or a thank you. It's a 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.

[Lauren Everts]

It'd be weird if I was signing off as, like, XO M. Yes, it would.

[Unknown]

Somehow I've gotten away with it and I.

[Lauren Everts]

You can get away. That's what I'm saying. If I said that, people were like, what is this creep doing?

[Unknown]

Yeah. And so that was just. It was like a natural, like, well, let's just call it xoa because that's how I sign everything. And it's kind of one of those things where it's like. Like, from me to you type of thing.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I love it. Congratulations.

[Unknown]

Thank you.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Where can everyone find you? Reach out to you, stalk you?

[Unknown]

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 I. And I've been again, another blended case study. The team, my social team at Blended really helped 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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Allison, launch a podcast. Branding tips.

[Unknown]

Branding tips. I think you should launch a podcast.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

You just know a lot of different areas. Marketing strategy, strategist.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Behind the scenes.

[Unknown]

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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

I get it.

[Unknown]

You know, and so your eyes on the ball. Yeah, my eyes on the ball for now. And then we can see where. 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 if you have brands or.

[Lauren Everts]

Personalities want to work with you.

[Unknown]

What's the typical process [e-mail] is the best place.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Come back on the podcast anytime.

[Unknown]

I would love to.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Yeah, we could. I mean, I could talk to you about so many different things.

[Unknown]

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.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Two is for quitters. I'm not a quitter. Am I a quitter?

[Unknown]

No. You're crushing it. Fuck. You're gonna. You're gonna. It's great.

[Lauren Everts]

No, three feels, like, complete, you know?

[Unknown]

Yeah, I do know. Cause it did complete our family. He did. Even though I was like, oh, my gosh, it's another boy. What am I gonna do? Yeah.

[Lauren Everts]

When you said a lot of balls in there earlier, that's what I thought you were.

[Unknown]

I literally do. I have so many balls. There's balls everywhere. I know. I've. 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 because spray everywhere. Everywhere.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

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.

[Lauren Everts]

Sometimes you get a little spray.

[Unknown]

No, you it. There's pee on every toilet seater.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Can you guys not take a Kleenex and wipe it? It's.

[Unknown]

It's so annoying. I can't even tell you. Also, like, teenage boys start to really smell.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

That's what. You know. We had Modern Family, the.

[Unknown]

Oh, Julie Bowen. She's amazing.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Julie Bowen.

[Unknown]

And I love her. JB scrub is so good.

[Michael Bostick]

Yeah.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

She's saying she made it, launched it, because her boys smelt.

[Unknown]

Yes. It's really good. My kids use it. I know her partner really well, and I love that product.

[Lauren Everts]

We like her a lot. She's cool.

[Allison Azoff Statter]

Come back anytime. I will.

[Unknown]

Thanks for having me, guys.

[Lauren Everts]

Thank you, Allison.

[Unknown]

Love.