Female Founders: Naz De Bono of Xali On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
1. BE READY — !
I had no idea how much time it would take to build a company from scratch — When you decide to start your own business — It pretty much consumes you. You need to be ready for that. I wasn’t! if I tried to do something for too long, I would feel guilty I wasn’t working on my business — Breathwork. Things you can do for yourself in small chunks is key.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Naz De Bono.
A passion for the physical body within herself, and that of helping others reach their best place of physical health, fitness for Naz has never been just a job, it’s an innate, fire-in-the-belly passion. After having her own very lonely and confusing experience of Perimenopause and Menopause, Naz realised that she wanted to combine her knowledge with her own personal journey to drive the creation of XALI, and build a safe, supportive community for women to access.
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?
I wanted to be an actress, or an air steward — being in the fitness Industry was the furthest thing from my mind! I hated Physical Education when I was at school. I did anything to get out of it. Yes, including using my menstrual cycle as an excuse. I didn’t like it because my body never seemed to work well for me. However, I got into fitness in my early 20’s when I discovered my passion for Kungfu — which soon turned into an addiction!
My fitness career was booming when I had my first injury. I was skiing in Courchevel and I fell, snapping all the ligaments and muscles that attached to my knee. My knee completely fell apart which took me months to recover from.. I needed reconstructive surgery and I was on crutches for 11 months and lost my job. I subsequently tore my hamstring while I tried to rehab myself..Over the years, I had a number of injuries. A foolish incident on the dance floor ended up with my neck severely dislocated, nearly broken and I was told my life would be very different. My rotator cuff on both shoulders were torn, which eventually led to shoulder reconstruction surgery. And then to top it all my right hamstring became detached from my butt which makes it impossible to sit down for more than 20 minutes without the most excruciating pain or crazy amounts of pharmaceuticals. I have this really weird and rare connective tissue disorder called Elhers Danlos Syndrome. EDS is a disorder of the connective tissue and affects both my gut and the ligaments and tendons and tissues that hold our muscles and joints together. This is undoubtedly why my injuries were always so severe. But I never let this condition define me. I fund ways of making my life successful, happy and fulfilling all my dreams IN SPITE of EDS.
I got back into coaching when we moved to Australia and my husband converted our garage into a gym but I wanted to reach more people. That’s how my first online business started, RE-DUX, which featured 14 day challenges and extra burn workouts. It was popular but It was aimed at people wanting to push pretty hard with Bodyweight Workouts & intermittent fasting. By following this plan and eating only whole foods and restricting their carbs, people would get big results — FAST.
I then created Xali after going on my own journey with peri and menopause, and finding it an incredibly lonely and confusing time. This is something every woman on this planet experiences yet we hide from it.
I’m 50, I’m in the middle of menopause and I realised that instead of fighting it, I needed to accept that something profound is happening to me. I’m not the same as I was before. As a woman we are more than just our physical shell. Once I realised that I needed to express the emotional as well as the spiritual side of myself, I was able to find true wellness.
As a Health Coach I’ve been trying to train myself back to my 30’s. But I realised that woman has gone. There’s a new woman, the wise woman that I’m in the process of meeting. But I was scared, because I didn’t want to become irrelevant and that was keeping me disempowered. I am learning ways to meet this woman, find out who she is, what she looks like and how she occupies space in this world. Now I am really claiming my power! Xali is a safe space to do this, and I invite everyone to join our community… It’s not menopause, it’s metamorphosis.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
As our team began growing, I didn’t really know what they expected of me as a leader. I didn’t ever think of myself as a boss, just someone trying to bring an idea to life, except instead of doing it alone, I had a team of people around to support me.
Once I stopped trying to be who I thought they needed me to be, and became myself, things started getting interesting and a lot more fun. It created an amazing work environment, and connected us all. It wasn’t unusual to start our day with either breath work, meditation or picking 3 cards from my animal dreaming deck.
In fact, Steve, (Sound Engineer) and Krystle (Make-up Artist) would always ask for their cards before filming any content for our platform.
So by bringing my slightly crazy true self forward, it made us incredibly connected as a team and more productive in bringing the magic. I believe this is what makes Xali special and different to other digital fitness platforms
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?
When I first started to film content on my iPhone, I would have so many epic fails. It was only when I allowed these ‘fails’ to be seen that I realised how endearing they were to people and how they made me more human. People seem to relate to that.
And there were a few funny ones, most of them including animals or actual environments which resulted in me messing up a video. But hell, I didn’t have the time or money to keep recording new ones!
What did I learn from that? As long as I wasn’t hurting anyone physically or emotionally then it was going to be released!
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?
I am enormously grateful to my husband who has always believed in me. Always.
My first business venture was called Nazworks in London. There were many films being done locally, and I figured I could physically train the actors for each of their roles. The idea was to have a lorry with a fully equipped gym. I would travel around from film to film set training celebrities.
He then took me skiing and I tore all the ligaments in my knee! He always joked that he ‘broke me’! so I was no longer able to fulfill that particular dream. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
Nevertheless, my husband has always been my biggest supporter, my biggest critic, and my biggest motivator and as long as he thought I was capable & qualified, he would push me as well as support me financially and emotionally.
What I find incredible, is that my husband knows my words better than myself. He knows me that well. So he must have been listening all those times I was rambling off about my dreams and visions of what I believed in. Even though he takes the mickey out of me he also believes in my intensely spiritual side. Just because I am grateful to him doesn’t mean that he doesn’t wind me the hell up though!
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?
In my opinion, there are a couple of things. We have so many different jobs to do, and so many different roles in our lives, not to mention the gender biases women still face in business (even in 2022)..
So in the new time that we’re heading into, things are changing that women have the edge and this is definitely the time for women founders to step forward and we need to support one another and build our fellow women up in their business journey.
I feel that when women are operating at their best potential, men can harmonize into that balanced state of being. To quote the Dalai Lama “The world will be saved by the western woman”. So step up ladies! I am not sure it is about who is more powerful in business i.e. men or women — it’s how we all learn to work together to bring about greatness or magic. I myself feel ever more powerful in my feminine essence WITH the constant emotional support of the men in my team. Although not true for all, many women are more connected to their emotions and instead of being a negative thing as a society may have us think. I feel this gives us the edge as we move into a world that is having to shift into this more feminine space.
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?
I think women need to support other women, but perhaps equally as importantly, we need to back ourselves. It takes guts to start your own business, but you have to back yourself to make it successful.
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?
Emotional intelligence is being recognised more and more as something that we need to place more emphasis on and really succeed in the world that we’re walking into now.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
You don’t have to be an academic to be a founder, because the most intelligence you need to have is to be a leader who inspires. Another myth is being afraid of failing. I believe an essential part of creativity if not being afraid to fail
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?
As long as you have a vision, a passion, and an idea that will make the world a better place. So like Walt Disney said: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”
Furthermore, being a founder is a hard job and requires a lot of energy. So if you are someone who prefers to be led, or someone that is wanting to be of service to another’s vision, then being a founder isn’t for you and that is totally fine. Everyone is driven by different things and everyone wants different things out of their career/job.
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.
1. BE READY —!
I had no idea how much time it would take to build a company from scratch — When you decide to start your own business — It pretty much consumes you. You need to be ready for that. I wasn’t! if I tried to do something for too long, I would feel guilty I wasn’t working on my business — Breathwork. Things you can do for yourself in small chunks is key –
2. WHO INSPIRES YOU?
Far too many people to list! Listen more to the people you admire and the steps they took to succeed. It’s that simple.
3. EMERGENCY CONTACT!
Don’t drop your friends. My life became about being the best I could with XALI and I lost many connections — it can be lonely starting your own business. Make sure you make the effort to stay in touch with at least 5 people who allow you to be you.
4. TEAM FAMILY!
Be very smart about building your team — you will spend more time with them than your family so you need to get along … really well! I got very creative when interviewing people, to work out if they would bring an extra za za zing, or if they didn’t really get it!
5. IMPOSTER SYNDROME!
If it’s your idea — YOU are the Expert. Believe in yourself, back yourself. Passion, Patience, and Persistence are the ingredients to be an entrepreneur.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
The whole concept of Xali is to ask women not just how they feel today, but how they want to feel. Whether they want the exercise to invigorate, strengthen, or repair. Whether they want food to fill them with zest, to calm inflammation or simply to nourish. I’m figuring this out as I go through hormonal changes — but in hindsight it’s what I have always needed.
I would like to use my success to spread the word about how we women work. To communicate the concept that when a woman says “I’m feeling hormonal today”. That it isn’t a negative thing. It’s a normal thing. It’s only ever understood as an excuse for an off day, maybe a crazy day. But what it might be is the reason why we’re ready to conquer the world today, ready to smash it. The reason why I was not only ready to have kids, but I am also strong enough to raise them.
Going through menopause has put my hormones front and centre; so I want to take the stigma out of hormonal and I want people to see it as the empowering state it is and women as the powerful people we are.
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.
My movement would be to bring horses into schools, into all areas of learning, struggle and development. From old to young, or at least made them easily accessible because of the incredible benefits of Equine Therapy. There have already been very successful programs run in prisons, and residential homes to help rehabilitate or revitalise seniors.
I feel this would connect people to their emotional centre and immediately following that therapy important talks could be had. Subjects like anti bullying, understanding how to really support children going through puberty, mental health, supporting females from a very young age. Equine therapy opens up the heart centre, after that you have the important conversation
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 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.
Hands down, No question…. Angelina Jolie! She is the biggest inspiration in so many ways. So yes please, hook me up so we can cook up some magic together ❤️
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
Female Founders: Naz De Bono of Xali On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.