Female Founders: Lauren Imparato of The Association On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Entrepreneurship will be one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters of your life — get ready for the ride! There are countless highs and lows and you need to be prepared to roll with all of them and learn along the way.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Imparato
Lauren Imparato is an innovator, entrepreneur, author, world-renowned speaker, and Co-Founder + CEO of The Association — a global organization of ambitious, extraordinary, go-getting women. Lauren has become revered as one of the globe’s top entrepreneurship experts and keynote speakers after having left her corporate job on Wall Street to self-start one of the first boutique fitness and wellness companies in 2009. She thrives on creating something out of nothing and turning back of the napkin ideas into reality.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Absolutely. I have had a non-linear career path with lots of turns and transitions. Upon graduating from Princeton University, I began my career on the trading floor of Wall Street. After stints starting businesses for the firm in New York, London, Istanbul and Latin America, I quit my job as VP of Morgan Stanley Fixed Income in 2009 to self-start I.AM.YOU., which was a first of its kind health, wellness & fitness company. I operated and scaled profitable digital, brick & mortar, and cpg verticals, and wrote a multi-country Best Selling book, RETOX (Penguin Random House, 2016), which led me to ample speaking opportunities for audiences of ten thousand on the Great Lawn of Central Park and two to three thousand each in Times Square, Madrid, Barcelona, Panama, opening weekend in Ibiza, the Cannes Film Festival, and more.
After a decade, I exited I.AM.YOU. and have since advised a portfolio of companies on the nexus of business and brand strategies. I additionally write on Between the Waves, am a lecturer at Princeton University, a Member of the Board of HearMe and Delphos Holdings, a Board Advisor for LYNK, Lada, Aphrodite Health, Women in Innovation, and The Sunny Center Foundation, as well as the Chief of Staff and Chief Branding Officer of Delphos Capital, a women-run Impact Investment Group. Most recently, I co-founded The Association, a first of its kind global leadership community of ambitious, extraordinary career women.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
As a non-feminist feminist, it has been interesting to see and experience the many nuances that are involved when working with women. Women operate so differently than men do — from scheduling and styles of communication to sensitivity points, response times, and directness. All of this has really come to light since launching The Association. When my business partner, Janelle Hallier, and I first started interviewing prospective members, I don’t think we realized the degree of these nuances and how important they are to recognize in order to help women succeed. It took us time to figure out how best to deal with this reality, and as a result, we had to tweak our method to ensure it caters to women and all of our varying complexities. Now, after having interviewed thousands of women and counting, we know what to expect when working exclusively with women — even seemingly small things like our members having multiple names and figuring out which is the right one! Women have married names, maiden names, professional names, etc., and this is all part of the process.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
There have been so many mistakes and blunders along the way and I truly feel like most of them are funny in retrospect. When I first began my career, I was working as an analyst on the trading floor at Morgan Stanley, and this was before there was any kind of instant messaging technology we have now. There was a situation where I needed to ensure a colleague got an important message so I took off running down the staircase to the floor below to deliver the message and in my haste, the tip of my boot got caught on the bottom of my pants, and I went flying down the very public staircase as a young, frazzled first-year analyst for everyone to see. From that very embarrassing mistake, I learned that taking just two seconds longer is the right move, even when something feels urgent. Allowing yourself to take an extra moment can often prevent you from making embarrassing (or dangerous!) mistakes and I’ve taken that lesson into every step of my entrepreneurship journey.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My husband is the reason I am where I am today. He is my best friend, biggest supporter, and an unwavering partner. With his support, I worked up the courage to leave my job at Morgan Stanley to start my first business, I.AM.YOU, a first-of-its-kind fitness and wellness brand. He was even the one who helped me realize I was ready for another new chapter and exit I.AM.YOU. a decade later. We weren’t yet married but we were living together and he took on a lot of responsibility at home which gave me the space to turn my dreams into a reality. He has been there with me every step of the way through all my transitions, including post the I.AM.YOU. exit, figuring out what I wanted t o do next, and founding The Association.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I think the lack of a supportive partner or partners is a huge obstacle for many women who have dreams of being a founder. In my experience, it is impossible to be successful without a supportive partner. Entrepreneurship is a game of highs and lows and growing a business is like raising a child in many ways — it requires a lot of love and attention, and having a partner who understands that is key to your success. It’s not the same as going into a corporate job where you’re receiving a steady paycheck — you have to work on weekends and holidays and you are always running the show. I think motherhood is another big challenge that holds many women back from entrepreneurship. I.AM.YOU was my first child and once I left that business, I felt a kind of empty nest syndrome. Having to go through an experience like that while having an actual child would be extremely difficult.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Recognizing if you are struggling in an unsupportive partnership is one hard reality many women have to face and address in order to succeed in entrepreneurship. Additionally, having a group of trusted peers and unbiased voices of reason to bounce ideas off of and troubleshoot with is a great solution to overcoming obstacles. This is the whole purpose behind The Association. We curate each member’s Personal Board of Directors to help each woman assess and achieve their greatest goals, challenges and opportunities in their careers and lives. And while there are countless women’s groups out there, there are very few that cut through the noise of negativity and competition to actually empower and energize each woman to be the best versions of themselves — especially in an un-biased way. At The Association, we’re hyper-focused on uplifting the individual and the collective. Lastly, I think that setting clear boundaries for yourself and your company is important to succeeding and overcoming the entrepreneurship hurdles. I had no boundaries with my first business, but I have learned to create them and now I carve out sacred time away from my business or else I will get burned out.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Women make such excellent founders because we are creative and often bring out-of-the-box ideas to the table. We also have the ability to multitask well. I know there is a lot out there that says multitasking isn’t actually a thing, but it is, and you have to be able to do it to a certain extent as an entrepreneur because there is so much to juggle. Women have been multitasking for generations, balancing work and home lives, and we tend to be better at it.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
A lot of people perceive entrepreneurship through rose-colored glasses and think it’s incredibly glamorous based on the way it is portrayed by the media and social media, but more often than not, it is really hard work! You have to wear many hats and constantly clean up problems, which is anything but sexy. You may be the CEO of your company but that doesn’t make you immune from having to get down in the trenches to do administrative tasks or deal with the harsh realities of not always having a steady paycheck or having to work when everyone else is sleeping. I have worked during every single holiday since I left my job at Morgan Stanley because they tend to be quieter times when I can really buckle down and get things done. These real stories matter and I think more founders need to be honest about them rather than contributing to this narrative about it all being so easy. Being a founder is incredibly rewarding but I would be lying if I didn’t say that it is hard and takes a lot of time and dedication.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
No, not everyone is cut out for it at all. The ability to deal with rejection and take it well is absolutely critical as a founder, as you will likely be rejected more often than not. You have to be able to pick yourself up and keep taking shots, the way that athletes do, all while having the discipline to set your own deadlines and meet them. Having ideas is important, but being able to execute them in any way that is necessary to get the job done is vital to being a founder and that may require wearing lots of hats. Beyond having thick skin and being a self-starter, if you don’t do well without set structure, pursuing a “regular job” as an employee with more of that in place might be a better suited career path for you — and that is okay! We need great employees for our businesses to succeed!
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Entrepreneurship will be one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters of your life — get ready for the ride! There are countless highs and lows and you need to be prepared to roll with all of them and learn along the way.
- Entrepreneurship is more tiring than a corporate job. This differs from draining because you’re fueled by your business but it can be all-consuming and oftentimes we don’t take breaks like we do as an employee.
- You have to wear many different hats and assume lots of responsibilities. This came naturally to me but it is something I have had to tell a lot of other aspiring entrepreneurs. You have to spend time in the trenches doing the things you may not necessarily want to do, but that’s all part of the journey.
- Asking for help is not a bad thing! Men are always asking for help in business while women are less likely to lean on others. I think a lot of women perceive it as a sign of weakness when in reality, it doesn’t make you weaker, but stronger.
- Be prepared to face rejection. You will be rejected often so learning how to deal with that and handling it gracefully is a skill you need to hone.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I honestly have not set out to make the world a better place as a whole, but I think that helping people through my businesses over the years has had a collective impact. When I created I.AM.YOU in 2009, I wanted to make fitness accessible during a time when it was not at all readily available to people. I.AM.YOU was a pioneer in boutique fitness, which was not even a fully formed industry yet and I’m proud to have been a leader in bringing that to more people and helping to standardize that space which is still booming today. With The Association, Janelle and I have used what we’ve learned as entrepreneurs over the years to perfect our leadership organization’s method that helps our members succeed in their own careers and lives. Playing a role in helping women thrive is very important to me.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
It sounds simple, but the movement I would want to inspire is the mere act of responding to each other. When we acknowledge and respond to others, we feel more connected and I think if we all took the opportunity to further connect with people outside of our immediate circles, we would find ourselves in a better place.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
It would be an honor to break bread with Michael Jordan (living) and/or Tom Petty (dead). Both of them have been my idols since I was a child because while they are in completely separate industries, they both became the best of all time in their respective fields through the same tactics — dedication and never-ending practice. They spent countless hours perfecting their crafts which gave them staying power. They embody the spirit of how hard work breeds success and continue to inspire me as a leader.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Lauren Imparato of The Association On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.