INSIDE THE 80S SUPERMODEL WORLD — KATHY IRELAND & KIM ALEXIS

Welcome And Meeting Kathy Ireland

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi, I'm Kim Alexis. Today in Paris, Dr. Kelly is showing his collection of spring clothes. Hi, I'm Kim Alexis with your ticket to adventure. I'm Kim Alexis, and I'm here in New York City. We've got a great show coming up for you, so stay tuned. So I am here with model, CEO, founder, philanthropist. There are so many different uh ways to describe Kathy Ireland. Thank you for being here today.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Oh, Kim, thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yeah, so I looked through, I mean, your bio's amazing, and I love reading about successful people. Of course, you are the meaning of success and have won different accolades, but it started when you were four.

Painted Rocks Paper Routes Early Grit

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Describe what you were doing it for.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I was the annoying neighbor kid going door to door selling things like uh rocks that I would paint that people could use as a paperweight, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, I know. I love it. And your grandmother kept one and carried it around with her.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

She did, she did. She was deterred, she would always say, If if anybody messes with you, this is my plant. She had knitting needles, she was gonna poke them in the ankles. I don't know how that works. And hit them on the head with the rock.

unknown 1:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

But fortunately, she never needed to, but she she just had that confidence. You know, like when a child has been um equipped and trained and they know how to defend themselves, they kind of had that little confidence. Granny had that. So maybe it was the rock. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah. So you never kept any of them, did you?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Actually, I just found some. Oh I know we had a move recently and it was so sweet. I I found these, I think I was a little older than four on some of these because it was like, no, I I couldn't paint that that well. I think it was more like eight or something, but um, but yeah, it was really, it was fun. I mean, I was just always um uh I loved work and I loved getting good results and uh had a paper route for three and a half years.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I know you were the only paper girl.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Oh, it was um it was a challenge, but you know what, Kim, in so many ways it prepared me for life, for dealing with different personalities. I mean, you know, in in the modeling world, the the kind of personalities we had to deal with back in the day when I delivered papers, you had to go door to door collecting every month. And you would get the kindest people and you'd get some really cranky people and just some difficult personalities. So um, it was a good training ground. Yeah, and how old were you when that you did the paper route? I was um 11 and a half till I was almost 16.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

So almost 16. Now, here you were 16 and beautiful because you got discovered as a model. So I can't imagine you're showing up at doors. Can I have $10 for my paper? Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Oh, it was uh I you know, I was I was a most definitely an awkward, an awkward kid, an awkward teenager.

Faith And Self Worth Shift Everything

SPEAKER_01 3:14

But why do you think you were awkward? Oh, I I I know I was. I mean, I had a difficult time even making eye contact with an adult. And it just, you know, it just took time to to kind of grow into um, I think really like we have to recognize our value. And when I when I finally did that, it it really changed everything for me.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

So did you start recognizing that when you were 16 and all of a sudden you're discovered as a model? Did you think, oh, maybe they have something here, or was it before that?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

No, no, I mean I was I was awkward um when I was modeling, um, especially in the beginning. You know, it was really when um when I got my faith, when I first got my faith and recognizing that, oh, you know, God made me and He doesn't make mistakes. And so I'm just thinking about myself too much and how uncomfortable I am, and that's kind of selfish. And uh it it it was just so empowering to have that relationship and it uh it really took my eyes off myself and any awkwardness that was there. It just seemed to to melt away. I still have my moments, but for the most gone.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Right. So let's go back to 16.

Discovery And First Steps In Modeling

SPEAKER_00 4:36

So how I mean, I hate this, you hate it, but how for your for the audience were you discovered? You were in high school.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

And I was in high school. So I grew up in Southern California in Santa Barbara, and for my birthday, my parents gave me a course at a local modeling school that had just opened. Um did you it was for it or did they just out of the blue? No, it was out of the blue. I mean, it was a couple of things. Um, they said, well, when you were little, we weren't able to do lessons like ballet or piano. And I was a tomboy, and um, I mean, I was just I didn't have I didn't have a lot of uh poise and etiquette and all of that. I think they thought it might help clean me up a little bit. Um I I mean it and it was really surprising. A scout came to class one day, and she asked if I would be interested in going to New York for the summer, and everybody was as surprised as I was. It was um the look of the moment was changing, and I had one eyebrow, just one one big one. My hair was just fried. I, you know, just from being at the beach and my nose was always peeling. And it it was surprising. I didn't think it was an option, but the agency they they called, they said, we'll advance you the money, and if you hate it, you can come home. So I thought I better at least explore it. I could save money for college or to start a business. And the entire time I worked in that industry, I was trying and failing at businesses, and that's why my career in modeling went on as long as it did. It just took me a long time to get started.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

So I'm three years older than you, and I started when I was 18. So I was in New York City my summer of 1978 when I had just turned 18. So we didn't really run into each other, but you were starting, I was a couple years ahead. I ran into Carol Alt. I'd been working for a year, and her first day, she meets me. And um I was not nice to her because she said, John Casablanc has told me I'm supposed to ask you how to lose weight. And I'm like, So um, but I it it would have been so fun to be able to come alongside you. We didn't work a lot with other girls, we were always by ourselves, it seemed.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

I know, I know. Well, I certainly was very aware of you. I mean, by the time I um went to New York for that summer, I was 17 and it was uh 1980. Yeah. Um and no, I mean, I I just I mean, we all continue to be in awe of you, Kim. Just you have a and I I I think I know um with you, your your presence would just jump off the magazines, and it's you've got the the inner beauty as well as the outer beauty, and it just shines through.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

So well, you do also, but you were smarter than me because you had this opportunity for Sears. Take at first I love this whole thing. You had an executive, you must have been in some meeting, and I don't know how you were in meetings because my agents were always protecting me. Like I didn't show up at meetings. You've you have more business sense than I do. But here you are at this meeting, and this executive says, What do they say to you? Like, you can't, what was it?

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Um, I'm sure there were there were so many, Kim, where they said you can't, so I don't know which one this is.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Well, I what what you get from your you know research, and it said that they mocked you. And instead of listening to them, you decided to do something about it. That's what I love about you. I mean, you're just like, Oh yeah, really?

SPEAKER_01 8:32

But you know, the the modeling prepared me for that. Uh, modeling prepared me for the rejection because you know, when you when you go uh on the ghossies and there's they they pick you apart. And so when people would say no in business or tell me my ideas were stupid or whatever, it didn't bother me. I was so used to it. It was like, well, no, just means now we're talking, I'll come back tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Better mood.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

So at some point, so it's now 19.

Sports Illustrated Work Behind The Glamour

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Well, first I guess we have to go to Sports Illustrated. And again, you and I missed each other. I don't even know if I ever saw you in any of these other parts of the world. You did 13 of them. I only did six, but you did 13 years in a row and in between children.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

You know, I think Julie, um, at some point, I mean, it's just so sweet. And we actually we became closer after the work was finished. But I used to think, I think she brings me on these shoots to babysit the younger girls to kind of help. I I don't know, but it was um it was an adventure.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

It was we were all stacked, also. So let's say, you know, I remember a couple days with Elle and we were reminded for a little bit. And but Julie Campbell was the editor of Sports Illustrated Swimsuits, and we all loved her. So I'm just telling this for the audience, but literally we were on our own. I think she thought, you know, we'll overlap a couple if we want like two double shots or something, but she tried to give each girl her own special time, so that's why I didn't really see you. We didn't overlap really.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Right. No, I know. I think Kim, I think the first uh time I I saw you, I think was when we did Perry Mason together.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

I know we did a movie together. I know. Pregnant. We were both three months pregnant with, and that was in 1993, because I had Noah in April of 94. Yeah, and you had a daughter or a son?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I had our son Eric in uh May of '94. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, yeah. Okay. So my youngest now is a is a father, so I'm a grandmother. Oh, me too. What's your grandma name? I don't know. I don't know what to call myself.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Okay. What are you? Well, I I was gonna be grandma, but uh Daisy is our oldest. She's five, and she started calling me Yahya. So that's that's what they call me.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah, I want whatever he calls me. He's 10 months and he's not that verbal yet, but I whatever comes out of his mouth, I think will be more endearing than anything I can make up. So, anyways, that the whole I mean, that's a whole other story that we'll talk about. But you know, for 16 or 13 years do working with Sports Illustrated, and I mean being so celebrated because you got three covers and you're one cover in '89. That was in Thailand, because I was I just had my second son then, and I remember being not in great shape because it had only been five months, but um, you got that cover, and I guess it's really it, it is the cover, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:47

It won some award for um you you know I know what I know what it is. They I I think it for sales, because it was it was an anniversary um issue, and so it it um it also had a lot of marketing behind it, and um, but it won, yeah, for the for the number of sales.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah, yeah. Did you ever have your dad say to you, uh, what were you thinking with that shot? You know, I have myself thinking saying that.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Um I I have one or two. It's yeah, no, definitely. I mean, I grew up on the beaches of California, and I certainly wasn't a beach babe. I was a beach rat. And swimsuit was like a uniform. It wasn't a hoochie thing, it was really just like what what we did, um, what we wore when we were at the beach. And um, but when I look back, there's choices that I made back then that I certainly wouldn't make today. You know, we we grow and hopefully we never stop growing. We always grow and learn and all of that.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

But um behind you. He's so cute. Uh but yeah, yeah, you do you grow, you learn. I mean, I think we learned quite a bit from the Sports Illustrated because it was celebrated as being more outdoors and more health and fitness. And you and we were all putting our makeup on at like four in the morning in the dark, right? Doing our own.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, no, I Julie would always have me. I mean, these images usually never made the magazine, but you know, she'd have me climbing up coconut trees and doing all sorts of all sorts of activities underwater, yes, which they were never very attractive photos.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

But did you do the underwater in Bonaire? Did you do that? Yes, yes. Did you do that too? We were there at different times. Yes, I don't know if I was there ahead of you or not, but literally I remember, and I was a swimmer, so I never liked the whole idea of a snorkel or the aerator because the whole idea of breathing underwater is very unnatural when you're swimming so much. And so they would like they tried to pull me down 15 feet and perch me on a uh coral, and our hair is long and it's flowing in the thing, and you had to ask for the air, right? It was on a long stick, the aerator thing in the mouthpiece, and you had to ask for it and they'd shove it in your mouth, you'd breathe a couple of times, and you hold your breath again as you're like doing whatever, right? Oh my god, it was and then they said, Oh, well, your skin was blue, it didn't turn out. I'm like, Well, hello, we're underwater.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

I and I just remember my eyes stung so much because it was so salty. Remember those big salt mountains they had there?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Yeah, so we were in Bonaire, and they're known for making pink salt. So we would climb the. I did a picture with Kelly Emberg, so she and I were there at the same time in little white bikinis, and we're on this big salt mound, and people are like, Are you in the snow? I'm like, No, that was salt.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Yeah, oh, it was uh you, I mean, it it's it's interesting when it the finished product looks glamorous, but the process certainly is not.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Right. I mean, and there was a picture I I was trying to look through because I was trying to find that celebrated cover in '89, but uh, and I couldn't find it. But there was another picture of you and your head, your back arched and your head is back. And I'm thinking, oh, she had a backache after that. Because come home and and we'd arched our back so much that I mean, literally we were like sore. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Yeah. No, it was, I mean, in many ways, it it was like being an athlete because you had to be prepared for anything, you know, running, jumping, climbing, scuba diving, whatever, whatever the situation called for.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yes, exactly. And changing a different sh suit on the beach because they decided the colors were wrong. And so you're standing talking to everyone with this towel around you and like completely naked, standing in front, talking in front of people with this towel. So, yeah, those were the days.

Building A Brand Beyond Modeling

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Um so I also love that you knew that models had an expiration date. And the show, my podcast is called Unexpired. So you a long time ago must have looked, and as I said, you're smarter than I was, because you knew that models had an expiration date. And so, how did you position yourself to be able to work with Sears for your first deal?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Uh, so you know, from the very beginning, I remember being in Europe, and it was the Hoketure, the high fashion collections. And everybody was waiting for the designer to show up with, you know, this one-of-a-kind gown. And it finally arrived, and the the gown was ugly. I mean, it was so ugly. And everybody knew it was ugly, and everybody was silent, and then somebody said, Oh, it's fabulous, it's wonderful. It's, you know, everybody started, it was like the emperor's new clothes. Uh-huh. And I was pretty quiet, and especially though, there was language barriers. So there was things said that I wasn't always understanding. But I recognized that, you know, I am not going to let someone's opinion of me um just define me or destroy me. Whether they say a compliment or a criticism, I'm just, I'm here to do the job and get paid and go home. And that was that was kind of it. And I knew that um I didn't feel comfortable earning my paycheck off how someone else perceived that I looked. And I saw gorgeous women not make it in that career. And it didn't necessarily have to do with with beauty, but it's more of like a look of the moment.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Or even that they weren't smart with managing what they did on their off time or their money or how they managed and marketed their brand. And we didn't know to market our brand back then. It wasn't a thing, although it was a thing. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

No, it wasn't. So the whole time I was working in the modeling industry, I was trying and failing at businesses. And I finally started um with a pair of socks in '93. So it was like like right around the time I met you. And um it was in in the beginning, we were in a handful of sporting goods stores. We got our socks in big five and uh lots of lots of banging on doors and lots of rejection. And then um, and then Kmart, we we started selling there, and they um asked for exclusivity at their channel. So our brand grew.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

But didn't they also ask you for a flat fee contract and you said no? I mean, you were willing to walk away.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Well, I I was originally offered to model a pair of socks. And um I I was um, you know, an aging pregnant model, and um they were really nice people, uh, John and Marilyn Moretz from North Carolina. And it was a really tiny budget, so it was no like uh sports illustrated exotic location, nothing like that. Um they weren't even sure if they were gonna use my mug. They might have cropped me at the knees and just done a foot shot. That's where the career was. But it was a job, and it was a job when not a lot of job offers were coming my way. Um, and I liked the people, and I thought this might be a good place to start the brand because I I knew that if if the brand I built were dependent on any little celebrity I might have had as a model, it wasn't gonna last. And um, my customer wasn't gonna, wasn't going to buy that, had to have a good product that was well made and just had great value, great, great pricing, everything. Uh, I liked the people and talked with them about going into business with them rather than being a hired model. I I really wanted, I was trying to stop modeling. Right. And I but I was waiting for something to replace that income.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

And uh did you go to the meeting by yourself or did you were you did you bring like agents or managers or a lawyer or I mean, did you just have this innate knowledge of business at 30 years old?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Well, I I had been working on businesses. So I had been, I like, for example, I tried skincare and I just found uh a local chemist, and I was telling him what I wanted. We'd go back and forth, and um there was you know, someone else we were talking to, and I just wasn't satisfied. There were people who were you know testing on animals, and I didn't want to do that. And uh, and I tried another business that I tried and failed at was um was beer. Uh a friend gave me a book on making beer. I'm not a good cook, and the first batch turned out really good, and I was really taken by the the margins, and it's like this is really profitable. I could, and I kind of got a little carried away with myself because it was the first batch was good. The second batch tasted like a science project. So I was very humbled. I knew I needed some help. Um, this was in the early 80s or mid-80s, somewhere around there. And I contacted um UC Davis because I heard they had a brewmaster program. And I said, Do you have any students, maybe graduate students who might be interested in helping me? Because I I think I need to learn. I know I need to learn. They connected me with a couple guys, they were starting microbreweries, and that I That was the first I had ever heard of those. And I went in business with them, recognizing, okay, I've got a lot to learn, but this can be a learning thing. The biggest thing that I learned was that I didn't have a passion for it. Um, I was that business caused me to be around a lot of drunk people and I didn't enjoy that. And that was not fun. And I also have people I love who struggle with addiction. And I I just it wasn't a good fit for me. So so I walked away from that. And the socks, um, yeah, I had had I had a little team at this point in time, and um and it was it was exciting to try to determine what this little team could do with with a pair of socks and bring fashion, bring, you know, value, utilize it. The first socks were made with recycled soda pop bottles.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Um that might do ahead of its time.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Right. Yeah, that was well, and and I mean, truth be told, part of it was for economic reasons. And it's interesting because when we do things that are economically sound, oftentimes they're they're good for the environment too. So um, so that was a win-win. And my dad worked in labor relations, so I was always aware since childhood of what goes on behind the scenes and how people are treated. So we started by conducting surprise factory inspections. And um, and that's something we continue today. You learn you learn a lot when you show up unexpectedly.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

I bet, but I could just see you walking into the factory all beautiful, people all just here she comes.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Surprise, surprise. It's it's great. I mean, and and when you um meet people who are doing things well and right, and they're so proud of their work. You know, they're so proud of the stitching and the packaging and all the details that that go in. It's a great thing. And when you can work on products that bring jobs, I mean that's that's really rewarding and that's that's exciting.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

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SPEAKER_01 25:04

That I mean, that was tough. That was a big, a big learning curve right there. And one of the the big lessons in that was not to be dependent upon any one retailer. And uh, so we diversified. And people again, people said, well, it can't be done. You can't um you can't be at mass and then move up from mass. It's not been done. But when someone says it hasn't been done, um, I mean, that's not an answer. It's that's it's uh you can't nobody know the reason why why that couldn't be done. It was hard, it was a lot of work, but um, but absolutely if you believe in what you're doing and uh you're you're willing to put the work into it, uh though those negative opinions, they're not gonna stop you.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Right. Well, you also consulted at this point with Warren Buffett,

Warren Buffett Lessons And Scaling Up

SPEAKER_00 26:00

right?

SPEAKER_01 26:00

So I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Buffett. Um goodness, that would have been in the 90s. So when we started in the home industry. So it was it was like right about that time. And uh well, I I met him through uh someone who's become a dear friend, Irvin Susie Blumpkin. I was just with him last uh last week, um just with him recently, uh at the uh Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders meeting.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah. So just to go there, my husband grew up in Omaha, worked for the Blumpkins at the Omaha uh furniture mart there. I mean, he's right over here and he's like just dying in a seat because he wants to talk to you. But we literally went into that huge furniture mart in Nebraska that Warren Boffett ended up buying, and you your stuff was everywhere. I mean, your furniture line, everything was everywhere. So, I mean, that's the title.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yeah, that was I I remember it was our first um furniture market, and you know, you go to these markets, and this was in High Point, North Carolina, and I had read about Mrs. B. So uh uh just you know, an amazing, an amazing woman.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

She would towel things up in her head, so she didn't really have price tags, she would just keep it all in her head, and I guess Warren, she'd say, sell cheap and tell the truth. Oh, she was just amazing. I guess Warren bought her furniture mart, right? And then she or her sons were involved in something and she didn't want to stop working, so she took the land next door and made a competitive part.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

She was competing with her grandsons, and I mean, there's so many great stories, but there's this legendary handshake deal that she had with Warren Buffett, and he, you know, chooses businesses that are well run, so he doesn't have to micromanage them. And this certainly is one of those businesses. But I was I was so enamored by this woman and admired her from her story of coming to the country virtually penniless and starting the Nebraska furniture mark, what she endured um, you know, during like really crazy difficult times. And when at the first market, I see her grandson Irv, and he's standing there and he looks very stony faced, it's like, oh my goodness, that's Mrs. B's grandson. And I have this new furniture collection. It's it was a very um, and it is kind of an exclusive industry in some ways, and especially coming from a modeling background and then Kmart, people didn't it it didn't help in that industry. It wasn't, it was kind of frowned upon, um, even though that had nothing to do with what I was doing in the world of um home fashion and furniture. But Irv, um, he took a look at me and I think he thought I had an entourage because there was people around, but they were team members I was paying um to work to get our work accomplished. And he says, Kathy walks me through the showroom, and if she doesn't know her stuff, I'm not buying. And so I took a deep breath and I walked him through. And to this day, I am so grateful because he didn't have to give me a chance, but he did. And he expected the products to be good and um good price to value ratio, good quality, everything. And because I I mean, your husband will will know this because Nebraska furniture mart is so big, such leaders in the industry. So Nebraska goes, though, so the rest of the country goes. So that was it was extremely helpful. That's how I met Warren Buffett. Um, when he found out I had a paper route, I mean, he was just so intrigued because he had a paper route.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

I know, I read his book.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

So many lessons from him. And he so he asked me if I would compete with him in these newspaper tossing competitions at his shareholders' meetings. It's everything that he owns. Um, everything from trains to newspapers, jets, dilly bars, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Clayton Holmes, and newspapers. So he um, but he said, in my day we didn't have rubber bands. So I'd have to practice throwing newspapers with no rubber bands just all over the place. He made me a little tutorial video to show me how to do it, but he's very competitive. Oh, and Deb, who is his just amazing executive, she'd call me the night before and she'd say, He's practicing. I was like, I am too. I love that because even with all of his experience, he doesn't rest on his laurels, he doesn't rest on past success, he's competitive and he would practice and um he's a fierce competitor.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Yeah, I wish that that was that ever videoed or button the the competition the next day.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah, yeah, there's there's some of that on.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Oh, I gotta go look for that. That'd be fun. Yeah, well, who won?

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Well, um, Mr. Buffett. Uh Mr. Buffett won. We had some really close ones. He was trying to give one to me, and but he he won. We I did actually beat him in a putting contest, a little putting break. So that that was exciting.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Oh, how funny. Um he's a fierce competitor.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

He's really good.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love it. So then what happened after that? Um, you literally have grown from the socks to the furniture and then into 1700 products.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

So it's just been, I mean, it's been an adventure and it continues to be an adventure. Um, just different, different products. And we start when we started with socks, I knew it wasn't going to stay there, but that felt like a good foundation, a good place to start. But the mission that we started with was finding solutions for families, especially busy moms, because um, as you know, like when your child is born, you suddenly recognize how underserved busy moms are. Yes. And how heroic it is, even just to get to the store. Uh, you got a kid and put getting them in the car seat and they don't want to go, a temper tantrums, diaper change, just all of it. And if they've made that effort to shop and the store's a mess, or they can't find the product, or it disappoints them, you've you've hurt that relationship. So I really attribute our success. I'm so grateful and I don't take it for granted. It's because of the relationship with our customer. Yeah. And it's been incredibly loyal. I say she, um, our brand is for men as well, and we've expanded more um, you know, to serve the whole family. But our brand is really about solutions. And so the products and the services we offer today, uh, it's the idea is it's gotta make someone's life a little better. It's gotta bring value to their day and to their life.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Yeah, yeah. That's a lot of products, though. Good for you. So um with that represents all the skews. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah,

Betrayal Trust And Hard Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 33:33

yeah. But with success and with all this um wonderful um production and all that you've done comes sometimes betrayal. And you have publicly publicly talked about some of your partners and how they have literally betrayed you.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Uh really difficult, really difficult lessons. We're um we're still in the midst of this, so I'm not at liberty to discuss this. Uh yet what I can say is um, you know, it was a different world back. Um, I mean, you know, back when we were modeling and we were on the road, um, I had an accountant because there was no digital banking. And I had to make sure that my bills were paid. So the accountant would receive the checks and the bills and take care of everything. And um, that was that was a really good thing. Um there's been issues of misplaced trust and and it's sad and it's hard.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

And I'm I had the same thing. I mean, I he literally wiped me out. So it's like one day you think you're fine, and the next day, what do you mean there's no money in the account? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we it's it's us giving away our power, but in some ways, you're so busy. I was so busy that you feel like you're supposed to be able to trust people to do what you hire them to do. And that betrayal is hard. And I'm sure you had long relationships with these people. And so I my heart goes out to you. I feel poorly that you have to be going through this. And hopefully some good comes out of it at some point. But um, betrayal is hard. It really is.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

It's hard. It's hard. Life is hard, you know. Life is hard and beautiful, and we're not our circumstances. And I'm so grateful for that. And um as as hard as it is, uh, you know, a lot of beautiful good things have come from it. So I'm grateful for that.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Well, and that's what's good about our faith and loving God is putting your trust that He will. Number one, his He handles the revenge, which I love, right? Yes. I don't think you and I would be arrested for revenge, but uh I think that there would be some point where, you know, it would be like, oh my gosh, what are you doing? So to be able to let him handle it is it number one, I think it gives us peace and that we trust that God will work things out. So uh that that I think you both we both uh kind of agree on. But I even had betrayal with ex-husbands. I mean, you've had a wonderful marriage since you were what it's uh 1988, right? And you got married to Greg. Yeah, yeah. So I'm on my third. I finally found a good one. Um but the betrayal from a husband or ex-husband is very difficult, also.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

That's so hard. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Yeah, it's really hard. Yeah. Anyways, but the good thing is is that we pick ourselves back up and we dust ourselves off and we give back to

Philanthropy Purpose And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_00 36:39

others. And so you have done so much philanthropy work. Take me through. I mean, you there were so many different organizations that you work with. Which ones are you most proud of?

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Oh, thank you. Um, I I mean, there's so many. I'm so proud of my mom. She started uh the Barbara Ireland Walk for the Cure. She never had breast cancer, but um, her mom and her grandma did. And uh a dear friend of hers um passed away far too early from that. So she started a walk. She joined um a big organization, but she checked the books and she's like, wait a minute, um a very small percentage is actually going to the people who need it. So she started a walk where all the proceeds would go directly to research and she made sure the research was ethical and it was good. And so I'm super proud of my mom for that. And um, I have the privilege of serving as international youth ambassador for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. And I'm so grateful for the work that they're doing. And I serve on the board of directors for Angel Ministries with Anne Graham Lotz and Rachel Ruth Lotz. These women, amazing. Oh my goodness, this this board is made up of so much wisdom and some great women doing awesome things. And um recently joined the National Football Foundation and wonderful nonprofit that's doing some great work. So are you a football mom? Is that why? You know what? No, I um I served on the on the board of directors for the NFL PI. It's the licensing arm of the NFL. And this nonprofit um that I'm working with now, they work, it's um primarily with college football, but they do great work. They and I mean, one example is um work that they've done to help prevent head injuries. Um everything from technology that goes into the helmets to the practice sessions, you know, taking that into account of what this is doing to these players. Uh I had the the privilege of working on a football movie where I played a kicker and they did send me to football camp for a couple of months to learn how to kick. Can you kick? Did you learn? Yeah, I did. I um uh I had a stunt double. I had um, but but I did make it to from the 30-yard line at one point.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

There you go. There you go. I know it's harder than it looks, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yeah. Yeah. What else? I mean, so what's in your future? I mean, you have won awards, you have been on Forbes magazine three times as one of America's most successful self-made women. I mean, you're just you've done so much. What else do you feel like you want to accomplish? Oh, you know what?

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Um, even though I've been at this for many years, I feel like we're just getting started. And our company's gone through some internal changes lately, some big ones. And change can be hard, but it also can be really necessary and really good. And I am so grateful. I have the the best team right now. We're an intentionally lean team. Um, we work with many people, but the core um people who join me in decision making are just amazing, uh, brilliant, good people. And I recognize I love being at this stage of life because I feel like I've got some experience and some wisdom that I've learned from. And one of the things I recognize is how precious time is. And I want to be a good steward of every opportunity and of every every day, of every gift. And life is an adventure. And when you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work. Right. And especially with these major changes that I've made recently, there is a sense of so much freedom and so much excitement for what's ahead. When you go through a fire and you just keep going through, and um with the Lord guiding us, we come through stronger. And so uh I listen to him for my marching orders for what that looks like. And I just want to be ready and prepared for whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Yeah, I love that. And I think that that message can help resonate to younger women and men who are listening to this. And that's part of why I do what I do is because to me, change can mean strength. And you have, you know, people look at you and they're like, you're beautiful and you have everything and you never had a problem. And it's like, no, there's been struggle and there's been um intentionality, and I've chosen integrity and you know that you represent that and truly let you put other people first. And so I just really love that about you and how you've used that for so much good.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Oh, well, thank you. And that is, I mean, that's Jesus. That's that's what that is. Without him, uh, it'd be a be a big mess. Um I love, I love what he says um about putting others first, you know, consider others as more important than yourself. And people can get really, I've had people get really angry about that, you know, that that's just not right. You've got to put number one first, you've got to put yourself first. It's like, no, I don't. I I don't, it doesn't mean that I disregard myself. I I value myself because I know who made me and he doesn't make mistakes. But it my mom taught me years ago when you know kids were little and I was just frazzled. It was like I I could probably use therapy, but there's no time, there's not a minute for that. And she taught me how she'd just write on a piece of paper like J-O-Y, Jesus others you. So I would write that with a big Sharpie and I'd put it on my refrigerator, on my mirror, just anywhere I would look. And that was a quick, if I wasn't feeling that joy or the fruit of the spirit, if I wasn't having, you know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Um, it's like, okay,

Closing Thoughts And Where To Connect

SPEAKER_01 43:20

I'm I gotta rearrange. And um, it's uh it's really helpful.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Yeah, yeah. I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on unexpired. You are the definition of unexpired.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

Oh, thank you. Thank you, Kim.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

God bless you. Yeah, you too. That's wonderful. Thanks for watching the show. If you have any questions for me or you want any more information, go to Kim Alexis.com.