Hollywood celebrities and tech entrepreneurs typically give canned interviews. Not RE/SHAPE founder and actress Ali Landry. In a fascinating new interview on Unfolding Leadership with Lacey Leone McLaughlin, Landry breaks down how to build a brand and how female business leaders can help each other. Women
The interview is the latest on McLaughlin’s buzzed-about podcast. Previous guests include She-Ra showrunner ND Stevenson and Fremantle company president Jeff Hasler. The podcast comes on the heels of McLaughlin’s executive coaching career. McLaughlin started her business career over 20 years ago, eventually becoming one of the top executive coaches in entertainment, aerospace, and other sectors. Over the past years, McLaughlin noticed that executives had one conversation in public and a very different conversation in private. She believed both bosses and employees would be better served if these frank, refreshing conversations happened in public. Landry is up to the task. Women
Landry takes business leaders on her business journey. She begins with her humble beginnings in Louisiana. Landry’s mother worked as a hairstylist, and to put herself through college, Landry sold beauty products at a salon. After college, Landry decided she wanted to build a business career. So what did she do? “Like any southern girl, I competed in a beauty pageant, and I won!” Landry tells McLaughlin. Women
Her goal was to move by winning a competition. And she won more than just any competition. Landry won Miss USA and transformed the prize into a launchpad. First, Landry started acting. One of her first roles was a Doritos commercial that went viral before viral was an Internet term. People still remember the ad today, and it shot Landry into a landmark hosting and acting career. Women
During all her television endeavors, Landry aimed to create her own businesses. Long before every influencer on Instagram was launching a start-up, Landry saw Hollywood as a means to build a business. And Landry built the perfect foundation to launch a brand. A few years ago, she founded RE/SHAPE. The company sells beauty, fitness, and lifestyle products. Landry envisioned the company to help women battle brain fog, thinning hair, digestive issues, and depression. The idea for the start-up was generated when Landry was sitting around with girlfriends, discussing problems in her life. They relayed that they faced the same issues. Landry decided to create a business to overcome these challenges.
“I have been super committed to doing the work,” Landry tells McLaughlin.
She embarked on researching solutions, reading everything she could find, and calling every expert she knew. After months of painstaking research, she launched RE/SHAPE. The brand took off, and now Landry is working to help other women found businesses. She is working on a new book, set to be published by HarperCollins, and encouraging other women to create the companies of their dreams.
What would Landry tell female mentees?
“If you’re not satisfied with an area of your life or your relationship, or your work,” she says on the podcast. “You have to do that work to figure out why you’re there and where you want to go.”
Landry knew where she wanted to go, and she took her road to that destiny. She’s advocating for other women to do the same.
By The Moment Collective Editors