How Julia Stewart Navigated Entrepreneurship After Leading a $5B Company

Episode Transcript
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Announcer (00:07):
This is the Female Founder Show with host and
entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrickexclusively on ASBN.

Bridget Fitzpatrick (00:18):
Hello everyone.
Today I'm thrilled to welcomeJulia Stewart to the Female
Founder Show.
Julia is the founder and CEO ofAlurx, a wellness coaching app
designed to make preventativehealth care accessible to
everyone, and soon to be poweredby AI.
Before launching Alurx, Juliaserved as chair and CEO of Dine
Brands Global, where she broughttogether two iconic names, iHop

(00:41):
and Applebee's, creating theworld's largest sit-down
restaurant company.
She's been recognized by Forbesas one of the most powerful
women in the U.S., and for goodreason.
You may have seen Julia'sincredible story circulating on
social media.
After being passed over for theCEO role of Applebee's, despite
doubling the company's stockand growing the brand, she

(01:02):
resigned, joined IHOP, and laterled IHOP's $2.1 billion
acquisition of Applebee's.
In a full circle moment, shebecame CEO of both companies,
now known as Dine Brands Global.
But that's not her full story.
Today we'll hear more about thecompany she founded, Alurx,
which focuses on helping peoplelive healthier, more balanced

(01:24):
lives, and how she's redefiningwhat leadership and purpose look
like in the next chapter.
Julia has had a very impressivecareer breaking glass ceilings,
building incredible teams,mentoring others, and now
leading a company that'stransforming preventative
healthcare.
I know you'll be inspired byJulia's story.
So with that, Julia, welcome tothe show.

Julia Stewart (01:45):
This is wonderful.

Yes, I'm excited to talk to you about
your journey as well as Alurx.
So now you've had such anamazing career from starting out
in restaurants to leading someof the biggest brands in the
country.
Can you talk to us a little bitabout the early days in your
career?

The early days.
So it really did start with myfirst job was as a food server
at an IHOP.
So I was young in high school,needed a car, so I needed to
raise money to get a car.
And so I went to work for alocal IHOP restaurant in San

(02:22):
Diego.
It was owned by a franchisee.
And I loved it.
I felt, excuse me, I fell inlove instantly with the family
atmosphere in the restaurant,the family team environment, uh,
the people who came into therestaurant.
And I think I loved the factthat I would get feedback every

(02:43):
day.
So at the end of every shift, Iwould have a sense of how did I
do?
What did people like?
What didn't people dislike?
You know, I just I loved thewhole environment.
And fortunately, I think forme, I went off to college and
while in college worked in arestaurant, uh, a high-end
steakhouse.
And then when I graduated, Iimmediately went into the

(03:06):
restaurant business.
So I spent, um, because mydegree was in marketing and
business, I spent the first 14years in uh marketing, all for
restaurants, and was learningthe business and getting more
and more responsibility andaccountability.
And then after 14 years madethe decision, I didn't think

(03:27):
anybody, and by then I knew Iwanted to be CEO of a restaurant
chain or at least a company.
And by then I knew that Ididn't think anybody would hire
somebody from marketing into uha CEO job.
So I went into operations,which was easier said than done.
Oh, uh, but finally got a jobin operations, spent 10 years in

(03:48):
operations for Taco Bell, andthen uh 20 as CEO.
So when you add all that up,it's a long time in the
restaurant business.
But it all started from being afood server at IHOP.

Which is great, uh such a great
foundation for anyone umbuilding their career to start
in that customer-facing role asservers do.
So I'm sure that you learned alot uh in those years as well.

Absolutely, and I've told everyone and anyone
that would ever listen uh if youcan't gain that sort of empathy
early on for the customer orwhoever you are uh facing,
whatever whatever businessyou're in, it's really hard.
So I always felt like I had aleg up.
Yeah.

So you made the move from marketing to
operations.
Was that a difficulttransaction or a transition for
people to um when they probablysaw you in this one role as
marketing and then to move intooperations?
How did that transition go?

That was not easy, that was very, very
difficult.
Um and I think the pigeonholingstill goes on today.
I'd love to say it's all overand you don't have those issues,
but um, that's part, I think,of corporate America.
They still have a tendency topigeonhole you.
So when I first I went to myown company and said, hey, I'd

(05:05):
like to leave marketing and gointo operations and the then
CEO.
So that's really the mostridiculous thing I ever heard
of.
So that didn't work so well.
So I went looking, and I hadheard at the time that Taco Bell
was looking for what theycalled advanced management
recruits, AMRs, they came fromdifferent businesses.
They could teach themoperations and they could bring

(05:26):
a whole nother level ofexpertise to the business.
And so I called the executiverecruiter, and the executive
recruit recruiter said,absolutely not.
You know, you don't you don'tmeet the profile, which I never
understood.
Isn't that the profile?
Is anyway.
Long story short, I was gettinguh the company that I work for
was getting an award, as wasTaco Bell.

(05:46):
So I was at the same uhconference in Chicago for the
National Restaurant Association,and um I had heard through the
rumor mill that the CEO of TacoBell was going to be there.
This is a true story, and sowhen no one was looking, I asked
the woman who was coordinatingthe meeting.
There was like a cocktail hour,and then there was gonna be

(06:07):
dinner.
And I said, Do you mind showingme where my seat is at the
dinner?
It was a ssigned seating.
And she took me to my seat andI said, Would you mind showing
me where John Martin, who thethen CEO was?
And she said, Well, it's wayover here.
And I switched uh seats withsomeone so that I could sit next
to him.
He never knew uh until muchlater.

(06:27):
And the rest, as they say, ishistory.
I convinced him that I would beright for the job.
And the next week the executiverecruiter called and said, I I
don't know what happened, butyou're going on an interview.
I mean, obviously there was alot there.
Sure.
And um, I convinced the peoplethat I was interviewing with,
and I got the job.

(06:48):
But I often wonder what woulda,coulda, shoulda had I not done
that um switching of the of thedinner cards.
I mean, who will ever know?
But it just goes to show you Icreated a little bit of my own
fate.

Yes, and two big lessons there.
You do not take no for ananswer, starting with the
previous company.
And then also um takingadvantage of an opportunity, you
looked for it, you found it,and you went for it.
So two big lessons there forsure.

Yeah.

Now let's talk about.
Now you've made the move fromyour massive success in the
restaurant world to launching awellness company, and that's
such a big shift.
What were some of thechallenges that you faced taking
this leap?

So let me rewind the tape a little bit.
So, in between taking that jobat Taco Bell, I had then become
CEO of a much larger entity, andI did that for 20 years.
And during that whole time thatI was running this public
company, um, 250,000 employees,2.5 million uh customers serving

(07:55):
a day, I witnessed and sawevery day many, many people not
taking good care of themselves,not learning healthy habits.
And I had been raised by twoteachers that it was always
about take care of yourselffirst and foremost before you do
anything else.
And that really was, you know,three basic components sleep

(08:18):
well, eat well, and exercise.
So that is the way I wasraised.
And it became, I think, becauseI grew up with teachers who
didn't have a lot, but theycertainly had this basic
fundamental belief in takingcare of one another and each
other and themselves, I sawday-to-day, both running the
company, looking at theinsurance, and then obviously

(08:41):
watching consumers every day,that healthy habits was harder
than you may think.
And for many, many, manypeople.
And I remember thinking somedayI'll be able to be in a
position where I might be ableto really impact and influence.
And during all of that time inthe restaurant space, by the
time I got to the brand, it waswhat we call everyday

(09:03):
indulgence.
So kind of hard to teachsomebody.
Um, although I can still teachyou how to eat for less than 500
calories at an IHOP, I canteach you how to use Weight
Watchers at Applebee's, I canstill teach you how to eat
differently at Taco Bell.
I it it's all doable, but mostpeople prefer the everyday
indulgence.
And when you do thatfrequently, in addition to

(09:25):
everything else you're doing inyour personal life, there's
there's nothing wrong with anoccasional indulgence, and and
we all do it, including myself,but the day-to-day, you have to
take care of yourself.
And frankly, that was sort ofthe epiphany I had in those 20
years as CEO.
And when I left, I decided Iwould begin looking,

(09:48):
researching, and betterunderstanding how I could make a
difference.
So, you know, I always tellpeople, I've never had anybody
say to me, No, I don't want tohelp you, no, I don't want to
give you advice, no, I don'twant to tell you about my world.
So as soon as I left and hadtaken a breather, I did a, I
don't know, had to be 50informational interviews with

(10:09):
people in the healthcareindustry, both physicians, both
advisors, clinicalpsychologists, behavioral
psychology.
I mean, I started talking toanybody and everyone who would
listen to me and began toformulate an idea, did some
consumer research, bothqualitative and quantitative,
and then began to began to writea business plan, which

(10:30):
literally was on all these wallsin my office, uh, about what it
would look like.
And that was the start ofAlurx.

Okay, so let's talk about Alurx for a
little bit.
Tell us what Alurx does forpeople.

So when I started it, it was all about how I
could take the an just a simpleapp and find out about your
needs initially just in sleep,nutrition, and stress
management, because at the time,those were the things that
people wanted and needed most.
And it was smack dab in themiddle of COVID.

(11:05):
And so Google would tell youthose were the three things
people were researching.
So it made sense that I wouldpivot to the three things that
people wanted the most.
And so created this app on theApple store that people could
sign up for, and you could onlysign up for one thing at a time,
and it would give you daily, itwould prompt and it would talk
to you daily in an app, and itwould tell you the kinds of

(11:29):
things you needed to do.
So, for example, you went on itand you talked about yourself
and you answered severalquestions and you said, I'm just
not sleeping.
Then we had physicians who werewriting programs depending on
where you occasionally haddifficulty, you had moderate
issues, or you had major issues.
And we had sleep experts whowere writing programs for you,

(11:52):
and we were putting that intothe database and into the app.
And we did that throughout uhCOVID.
However, we began to realizethat people's lives were far
more complicated and they wantedeven more personalization than
we were giving them.
And I was able to find uh someadditional tech help that would

(12:14):
get us literally using AI, notthe kind of AI you're used, not
Chat GPT, but proprietary AIthat would enable us to pull
specific data-based,science-backed research and
guide you through whatever youneeded in the way of your health
and wellness.
And so that is what we are inthe midst of building.

(12:37):
So the Alurx Wellness app isstill available on the Apple
store, but I am in the midst offundraising so that we can build
the next generation, which isboth scalable, sustainable, and
highly personalized.
But I will tell you, even inthe Alurx Wellness app, the
things I've learned to do that Inever knew box breathing,

(12:58):
meditation, things I never knewthat have just helped me.
And I'm literally proud to tellyou, I went to get my physical
um on last week ago, Friday, andthe doctor called yesterday,
literally yesterday called totell me that I have a body of
somebody 20 years younger.
And I'm convinced it is thedaily routines, all that I do to

(13:23):
stay healthy.
And healthy isn't justphysical, it's also mental.

Absolutely.

Uh, which I which I learned.
I probably took on, I mean, acertain amount of stress is good
for you, but too much stressand the inability to deal with
it creates uh longer-termissues.
So, but I'm telling you, it'sso gratifying.
Uh, just as the food servicebusiness was when people would
say, you know, I I thisparticular situation changed my

(13:47):
life, or this food server made adifference in, you know, my
family.
For me, people writing mesaying, Because of you, I've
gotten on a routine, I just hada baby, I just did this, I just
did that, and all of a suddenmaking a difference and
learning.
And at the key is learning.
I mean, that that's what I'mtrying to do.

(14:09):
I'm educating you, teachingyou, and then prompting you.
So, as my tech guy likes tosay, so Julia, I'm gonna use
this the rest of my life.

Yeah, and for so many people now,
especially, they want to know,they don't want to someone to
just tell them what to do.
They want to know why they'redoing it.
Um, stress management is a is ahuge part of that.
Yes, exactly.
And how?
How do I do that?

And so the my the doctor, the the my actual
doctor is also helping as well.
She she really becameinfatuated with Alorix.
And like she said one day,look, Julia, I write doctor's
orders all day long.
I tell you the what.
I don't necessarily tell youthe how.
And what I love about the appis you're like the how of

(14:52):
healthcare.
And I was reading an articlelast week that said by 2040, 65%
of all health care will befocused on prevention, which is
what we're about.
We're all about preventing uhand having you live a longer,
healthier life because you'retaking care of yourself every
day and getting healthy routinesand healthy habits.

(15:15):
And that was really born out ofwatching so many people not
take care of themselves.

Yeah, absolutely.
Now let's shift gears for asecond and talk about what has
been the biggest surprise aboutstepping into the founder role
compared to your time inrestaurants and hospitality.

So, and I don't know if you would know this, but
my entire 40-plus year careerin the restaurant space was
certainly company operated andowned restaurants, but largely
franchisees.
So I spent my entire career,you know, teaching, impacting,
influencing, coachingentrepreneurs, franchisees, how

(15:59):
to do a better job in theirbusiness.
So when you've been doing itfor 40 plus years, you feel like
you have some capabilityyourself, right?
So part of that, thetransition, which I think people
don't readily realize, cameeasy for me because I had spent
40 plus years coaching andeducating others.
So that part uh really wasn'tdifficult.

(16:22):
I think, and you know, thinkabout throughout my career,
whether it was doing MA orfinancial analysis or whatever,
dealing with banks and borrowingmoney or paying down debt or uh
high finance, it all came easy,right?
But when you're doing it on asmall scale and it's you and
it's your business, it was muchharder.

(16:43):
So I would say for me, and andattracting and finding a great
team wasn't difficult.
I mean, I'm very blessed that Ihave uh come across some
wonderful team members, and thatpart's easy.
Um, for me, I think the mostdifficult part was raising
money.
And it was probably it wasn'tinitially, uh, you know, the the

(17:05):
friends and family raise waseasy, but now raising this next
round for significant money.
It's been very interesting whatI have learned about uh VC and
private equity, which in theUnited States, not outside the
US, but in the US, 98% of allventure capital money goes to

(17:26):
men, does not go to women.
And so that was sort of like astatistic, like surely that
can't be right.
I mean, I you know, I rememberthe first time somebody told me
that fairly early on in doingthis.
I'm like, no, that that thatthat can't be a right statistic.
I mean, surely there's aproblem.
And so when I went back andvalidated it, it's absolutely

(17:47):
correct.
And I'm not sure I can tell youwhy, but I can tell you that
when I actually get people onthe phone and I explain my
42-year career and the last 20as a public CEO, and you know,
taking businesses from little tobig and taking the company I

(18:07):
last worked for from 400 millionand market cap to 5 billion,
people are like, what?
And now doing this, there is abit of a morphing, but I I still
think it's a um it's aninteresting uh dynamic that uh I
think uh in our lifetime willchange, but it's been slow to

(18:30):
change.
And I also think it is a formany women that I speak to uh
weekly and that I still do somecoaching and mentoring for, it's
a deterrent.
People get uh it's it's reallya deterrent, and you have to
tell them you gotta overcome it.
And it only takes one goodinvestor and you're fine.

(18:51):
So I think, but it's beeninteresting.
That has been surprising, Ithink the the biggest surprise.

Yes, and even with the career that you've
had and all of your accolades,you're still having a hard time.
You would think that peoplewould be in line to help you
with your project.

So I think that is the most interesting now,
having said all that to you, asI find the right places to go,
and I'm not being funny aboutthat.
Find the right people who tellyou to go to this person or that
person or introduce you.
I'm finding more women who arebecoming investors and are far

(19:36):
more interested in health techand healthcare and making a
difference.
Um, but it was trying to findthe right people, which
sometimes felt like a needle ina haystack.

Yeah, absolutely.

But it's um it's finally finding the right people
um in the industry, both in inin the private world and the
public world, who have realizedthat health care and preventive
health care is the wave of thefuture.
Really is and so it's gettingeasier today than maybe a couple
of years ago, but yeah,definitely been um a surprise.

(20:12):
Yeah, yeah.

Now you talked before about learning the
importance of empathy.
How has empathy played a rolein being a founder and leading
your business today?

So I I really am my father's daughter, who was a
teacher as well as my mother,and I he always used to say,
from when I can I can firstremember, you know, it's a it's
a privilege to be able to learnand to lead.
And so don't ever forget that,Julia.
Always be learning and alwaysput yourself in the shoes of the

(20:45):
person that you are impacting.
So I guess I just was fortunateenough that I I learned it and
it it grew into a real asset forme early on to have empathy.
And so by the time I went intothe into the work environment,
empathy and learning sort ofbecame you know cornerstones for

(21:08):
the way I operated.
And from an early age, Ilearned to ask people, I don't
understand that.
Can you help me?
And as I said to you earlier, Inever had anybody say, nope,
not gonna teach you, not gonnaeducate you, not gonna share.
I just never had that problem.
So if you ask people, I I don'tunderstand that business, or
can you help me with from anearly on that became part of it?

(21:30):
And then having a real empathyearly on for you know customers
or being in that shoe or beingin that role or understanding
it.
Um, and then frankly, as I wasclimbing the ladder, and my
ladder sort of looked like this.
Now I call it, we we've learnedto call it experience capital,

(21:50):
but back then I didn't know whatto call it, but that's what it
is, right?
I remember many a time thinkinguh with whether it was a
supervisor or the CEO of thecompany, learning very early on,
I don't want to be that way, Idon't want to do that, I don't,
I don't want to act that way.
And so it was taking all ofthat in and sort of developing

(22:15):
my own management style waybefore I was managing anyone,
was here's what it takes and mymind to be successful.
And so out of that, becauseI've often been asked, how did
you get your management style?
And it was frankly watchingpeople who were not successful
or who were not particularly, Ididn't see as great leaders.

(22:35):
And so it was learning andempathizing, I could do this
differently and better.
And then ultimately, not onlydoes the empathy make you a
great leader, a great mom, agreat sister, a great friend, a
great wife, a great whatever,but it also helps you in being a
great producer of a productthat consumers love, whether

(22:56):
that's in the restaurantbusiness or in health tech,
having that empathy for being onthe other side or experiencing
it yourself, I don't thinkthere's anything that really
takes the place of that.
And as I would climb theladder, I began to realize even
more so the importance ofempathy and learning, and you

(23:18):
know, not having to be thesmartest person in the room, not
having to have all the answers,um, it made me a better leader.

Now it sounds like from a young age,
your life has been veryserendipitous, but not.
It's really you have paved thisway based on your experiences
life and and what you havelearned over the years.
And every founder that I talkto has these moments of doubt
when they they made me think,what am I doing?
Um, this is you know, this isnever gonna work.

(23:47):
I don't feel like I I don'tfeel like you're the type of
person that's ever said that.
But have you ever had thosemoments of of doubt?
And if so-

No, it's interesting, it's a great
question, by the way.
And I I do get asked that, butit's funny, I don't, others do.
And so um when I think aboutum, I think in you asked a
question, uh, not not today onthe on on this, but I think you
said something about, hey Julia,you know, what's the most

(24:17):
surprising thing you hear frompeople?
It's that.
Um, I will talk to potential,almost always potential
investors who will say, so whatif this doesn't work?
What if you can't raise themoney?
What if you and and my answeris I that that's the least of
all my worries.
I mean, I would never be doingthis unless I didn't have

(24:40):
convention, conviction of heartand have done my research,
talked to enough people to knowthis is the future.
I mean, I'm I'm verycomfortable, and we're probably
disrupting healthcare as we knowit today.
So I'm very comfortable in whatwe're doing.
I think sometimes it's notletting others who, for whatever

(25:00):
reason, right, don't go there.
But for whatever reason, um,you know, I don't, I don't know,
you know, your own personalcareer, but I certainly had
maybe one or two occasions in mycareer where you worked in a
culture where my success meantsomeone else's failure.
And I don't come from thatworld.
So I come from the world ofeverybody has a chance to win.

(25:22):
Yeah.
And we can all be better forit.
So, but I do think it's I'vecertainly heard more than one
person like, why aren't you justgoing and sitting on a on a
beach somewhere and relaxing?
Because I don't want to.
Right.

And sometimes that doubt comes from
people very close to you, andthat's when it's it's very hard.
I know you talked about theinvestors doubting, and but when
you're talking to friends andfamily about a dream or a vision
that you might have and you'regonna do it, whether whatever,
it doesn't matter what they say.
And when you hear that, itdoes, it's it's it's difficult,
but-

Well, it's a learning for all of us when
someone comes to you and says,Um, I have a dream, um, listen,
because that dream can become areality.
And if you think about mostthings that you enjoy today,
right, in your day-to-day life,came from somebody dreaming.

(26:16):
Um, I'm a big believer that onemust spend time uh dreaming and
having, you know, those justmoments of I just want to dream.
And if you if you'resurrounding yourself with people
who um who don't want to letyou dream or who want to uh

(26:37):
quelch that dream, it it doesgive you pause for why is that?
And do I really need to bearound that person all the time?
And by the way, that's true notjust in your corporate life or
you know, you work for somebody.
Uh it's also true your personallife.
It's a very, it's a very faircomment about I I I want this

(27:00):
and I feel passionate about it.
Now, if you have to, you know,if you're financially in a
situation where you you can't dothat, then you do it on the
side until it becomes, you know,uh a possibility, which I I
still teach uh all the time.
Yeah.
Whether it's whether it's myown children or it's coaching
and mentoring others, don't giveup your dream.

(27:21):
You may have to pause that todo what you need to do to get
by, but um, never give up thedream.

Love that.
You were I heard I saw apodcast that you're on recently,
and you mentioned someone whenyou were very young told you, I
think it was a teacher, toldyou, that you can be anything
that you want to be.
I think that's so important asleaders to, as we're, you know,
building a team and and talkingto people every day to to keep
that mindset in front of them.

(27:49):
Um talk to us about theimportance of that, because I
didn't have that, and it it itmade things a little bit
difficult for me.
Things I still work on today,am I enough?
And all of the things that somany women and men deal with
every day.
But talk to us about theimportance of when you are
mentoring people, um, how tomake them feel like they can do
anything.

Yeah, it's funny you asked that question because
I would say sometimes I Ibecause I I do mentor uh at any
given time I try to mentor acouple people.
And and I that's my you knowhow part of what makes you
fulfilled in life is givingback, you know, paying it
forward.
I pay it forward by uh coachingand mentoring.

(28:30):
And it's a it's an interesting,interesting question that you
asked because as I reflect onthat, sometimes they just meet
me, need me to tell them, togive them permission, to tell
them it's possible.
Um, I often find, and I'm Imentor of all different levels,
men and women, right?
You know, starting out, justgetting out of college, uh,
where I had somebody the otherday and they said, you know, I'm

(28:52):
pigeonholed, I don't want to dothis for a living.
This I've made my decision.
I'm like, okay, well, then youhave to decide how you're gonna
get out from the position thatyou're in, which is something
they didn't want to do, and itget into something they have
passion about and care about.
And frankly, I kept telling herthe fact that you're 25 years
old and you already found thatout, you're light years ahead of

(29:14):
so many other people.
Conversely, I coached somebodythe other day who's a senior
executive in a major corporationand is very successful and is
part of the executive C-suiteand isn't happy, not because she
doesn't like her job, butbecause she doesn't like who she
works for.
And we had a lengthyconversation about how to

(29:34):
address that.
And again, I said, you knowexactly what to do.
You are very savvy and verycapable, but I think she needed
someone to give her permission.
So sometimes coaching andmentoring and finding that space
is also about just reinforcingfor me and my own personal life.
I've always had a plan since Iwas probably in college.

(29:59):
Um It's literally next to the,it's right there.
I always have my plan.
It's my top 10 items in my lifethat are critical to me.
And that plan changes for me.
It's usually changed aboutevery five to ten years.
But I always keep it beside meand I always remind myself this
is my vision.
This is my focus for mepersonally and professionally.

(30:21):
And it's really guided me aboutokay, it's about time to start
figuring out how do you get frompoint A to point B and work the
plan.
Like I told you early on, mycareer move wasn't like this.
It wasn't a straight ladder.
It was sideways.
I coach somebody who works innonprofit.
Same basic principle.

(30:42):
It doesn't really matterwhatever you're doing, whether
it's it's for corporate Americaor it's on your own or something
in between.
Working those plans becomecritically important and giving
yourself clear milestones,that's always been a guiding
force for me.
And if you ask me where thatcame from, I can't tell you.
I just somehow intuitively knewby the time I got to college, I

(31:05):
needed a plan.
So I knew even when I was inhigh school, I knew my parents
couldn't afford college.
So if I was going to go tocollege, the only way I could
think to do that was to earn ascholarship.
So what was I good at in highschool?
I was on the speech team.
So my whole thing was okay, ifI win, the odds are someone will

(31:26):
pick me up.
And that's exactly whathappened.

Well, they So the quote goes, if you fail
to plan, you plan to fail,right?

So well, and again, I I had a woman who's
very successful entering thesecond phase of her life and
doing something different.
And she made a reallyinteresting comment to me.
She said, Okay, I've done allthese plans, I I've followed my
own, but I'm I I got thrown a uha zinger.
And so not at all what Ianticipated.

(31:56):
Um and her position waseliminated, right?
And so now she has to start allover.
And I'm like, yes, but howwonderful for you that after all
these years, now you get tothink about what's next, and you
get to interview people, andshe's like, I've never been on
an informational interview.
And I'm like, here's how itworks.
Take some of the people you'veworked with or that were your

(32:18):
clients in the past and ask themabout what they like and what
they don't like.
She's like, I never thoughtabout that.
You know, it's like here's awhole nother phase for you.
So it doesn't have to befailure, it has to be what's
next and how to think about it.
And I do think it's about theglass being half full, not half

(32:38):
empty.

And I hear that in everything that you've
said today.
So I love your your positivemindset is yeah, I think you can
move mountains with that kindof attitude.

So that's absolutely, and and there will
be setbacks.
I've never met anybody whodidn't have a setback, uh
including my own and several ofthem.
But it's it's what you do withthat and how how that doesn't
have to define you.
That what defines you is whatyou want and how you want to get
there and who you want to be.
And the definition is is allabout you.

(33:10):
And I know we know that.
I think intuitively we knowthat it's the practicality of it
that sometimes needs arefresher or a reminder, or to
your point, someone in yoursphere of influence who can say
to you, You got this.

Yeah.
It's so important.
Now you have built incrediblerelationships over the years and
worked with so many differenttypes of people.
Um, I've even heard you talkabout um how you're good at
reading the room or reading thetable.
Um, when you're deciding towork with people now or bringing
people into the company, arethere any must-haves that you

(33:48):
look for in those people?

Yes.
And it's honestly, it's not anydifferent than when I was CEO
of a public company.
Many people will say to you,most people will say to you in
an interview, I'm a team playerand I want to be on a
high-performing team.
And not everybody really does.

(34:11):
They say they do, but then theyjust they exhibit signs that
say, I don't want to be a teamplayer.

That's right.

I want to do my own thing.
I don't like to work withothers.
You know, I always am criticalof others.
Um, I don't want to hold myselfto the highest standard.
Um, because when you're on ahigh performing team, that means
your peers are giving youconstructive feedback.
That means your peers aresaying, You, you, you didn't do
this, and I'm frustrated withyou.

(34:39):
That's a high-performing team.
Mom is not always at the leadtelling you what you did and
didn't do right.
A high performing team is yourpeers.
Yeah.
So you'd be amazed at thenumber of people who don't
really want to be on ahigh-performing team, or you'd
be amazed at the number ofpeople who don't want to be a
team player.
So I have three basicprinciples.

(34:59):
You have to want to be on ateam and be good at it, and you
have to have demonstrated thatyou know how to be on a great
team.
Um, you have to talk to meabout, give me examples.
And if you can't think of them,that's not a good sign.
Number two, you have to be goodat something.
There, there's a need setthere, right?
If you think about a greatcompany, even a small one, it's
the tapestry of people thatbring different expertise.

(35:23):
I want to know what yourexpertise is and how you're
gonna contribute to the whole.
And thirdly, if you don'tfundamentally buy into the
vision of the company, I don'tcare if it's big or small, um,
and you can't articulate that,and then in turn, I'm gonna
share with you the values of thecompany.
So I was talking to my daughterrecently and she was

(35:43):
interviewing, this was probablya year or two ago, and I said,
when you go on the interview, ifthe person you're interviewing
with can't tell you the valuesof the company, you're working
for the wrong company.
So you want to be able to fitthe needs of the company from a
vision standpoint, and you wantto fit the needs from a culture
standpoint.
If those three things don'texist, the culture and the

(36:05):
vision, the clear teamleadership and and and being
part of the team and beingaccountable, I don't think it's
gonna work for me to have youwork with me.
It's just inherently, it justdoesn't work.
And so people have said to me,so have you had to fire people
for any one of those threereasons?
And the answer is yes,especially since I interviewed

(36:28):
you.
I told you what the threenon-negotiables were, and you
promptly became not a teamplayer, didn't want to, you
know, support the vision, right?
I mean, those are like classic,and I think I am amazed at the
number of people who say theright words and then don't want

(36:49):
to execute.
So that's true of and thosethree things, by the way, have
sort of been my three things myentire career.
I those are not, and by theway, those are not necessarily
what I've seen in companies I'veworked for.
So to go back to what I toldyou earlier, I watched people up
above make mistakes, or Iwatched a culture that wasn't

(37:10):
healthy or that didn't developpeople.
Um, those are places youprobably don't want to work.
And in today's environment, youhave the choice.
I mean, you you you can prettymuch find a job in a company
where people care about yourdevelopment, they care about the
culture, they care about thevalues, they stand for
something.
Um, and I used to always say,even when I was CEO of a large

(37:34):
company, I don't think I went aday without making a decision
based on our values.
And today, running a smallcompany trying to become bigger,
it's the same thing.
It's all based on basic valuesof how do we help people?
How do we get people to workand live in an environment where
they have healthy habits?
What does that look like?

(37:54):
And how do we help people getthere?
That is not uniquely different.

Yeah.
No, those three things arefantastic, and I will be writing
them down and using themmyself.
Now, you've been giving backand mentoring and helping people
so much.
Have there been any mentorsthat um have made a lasting
impact on you?
Um, and what's the best pieceof advice that you've been
given?

So I didn't, I never worked for a woman, and I
never had particularly I I had afew people I worked for that I
that I valued and respected.
You know, we didn't call itmentoring in those days, right?
I mean, but there were peoplewho cared about me.
Um I didn't have a lot of umpositive influences.

(38:46):
Uh early on, I had a boss whotold me that my management style
was exhausting, and I thankedhim profusely, and he said, no,
it's not a compliment.
I and I said, I I know youdon't mean it to be a
compliment, I take it as acompliment.
Um, so early on I learned thatI mean there were certainly
things I could do more, I coulddemonstrate more, I could

(39:08):
showcase more, and and that Igot um because I asked for it.
I think in my career, um, bothon the marketing side and the op
side, right?
I didn't necessarily get a lotof really great coaching that I
I give today.
However, I would ask people,what can you give me?

(39:31):
What can you tell me that Ican?
And people would always say,Oh, you're doing a great job.
And I'm like, Yeah, but theremust be something I could do
more or demonstrate more.
Um, and because I, you know, Igrew up uh with a glass ceiling
on a regular basis, um I wouldoftentimes have to leave the

(39:52):
organization because I would betold you're the highest ranking
female and you're not going anyfurther, or you know, you're
you're and I know people look atme in a in aghast today about
that comment, but that wasfairly regularly.
So I would simply say, look,I've gotten to the furthest I'm
gonna get to.
Nobody is willing to allow me,even if I wrote my own
development plan to go anyfurther, so I'll have to look

(40:15):
elsewhere.
And so I really didn't minddoing that.
Now that's not for everybody,and easier said than done, and I
moved a lot.
So that's not for everybody,but each time I took a new role,
it was one of moreresponsibility, more
accountability, and I wouldlearn different things.
So by the time I got to thevice president level, I had

(40:38):
learned a ton.
So for me, it was all about I'mgonna show up having learned
more, done more, experiencedmore to be this better executive
to you.
Not necessarily becausesomebody gave me that coaching,
but because I kept drawing itout of each organization or each
individual.
I think today there arecertainly more people, uh, men

(41:01):
and women, trying to coach andmentor, but it's it's it's not
as easy as it sounds.
And I was just on the phone theother day with somebody I'm
coaching who's inmid-management, and she's like,
you know, I I just I I go to myboss and I tell my boss every
day that I'm I'm not gettinganything and I'm not getting any

(41:21):
coaching.
And he says, You're doing agreat job, but he keeps
promoting others and not me.
And I said, Okay, now we haveto have the difficult
conversation about do you workin the right environment and do
you have the right or do youhave to think about doing
something else?
I mean, it's it's okay to sayI've done everything I can
possibly do here, I've learnedeverything I can, I've brought

(41:44):
forward my development plan, butit it may not be the right
long-term place.
Again, I don't that's not a Idon't say that, I don't say that
lightly.
I say that with a great deal ofthoughtfulness, and it's also
about where you are and and howimportant, you know, can you do

(42:05):
something else and can you lookfor that?
And are you very thoughtfulabout that process?
Oftentimes I find that peoplehaven't written their own
development plan, right?
They're waiting for somebody inthe organization to say, here,
do this, and then, and that'sreally not how it works.
You look around and yourecognize I don't have any skill
set here, I'd love to volunteerfor that project.

(42:27):
Early on, I think it just cameintuitively to me.
I would volunteer for theprojects nobody else wanted.
I'd go to the places that, youknow, I talk about that fairly
regularly.
Early in my career, I keptbeing transferred because I
would take the job that nobodyelse wanted to go to the place
nobody else wanted to work atwhere there'd been all these
problems.
I'm like, oh my gosh, let metry turning around, you know,

(42:51):
um, a situation or uh, and itwas incredibly valuable that I
could then go to the nextposition and say, yes, I spent a
year and a half turning arounda market that was unsuccessful,
made it successful with the helpof a lot of people and grew the
business.
And go call them and ask them,they will tell you.
But that came from recognizing,yeah, I've done as well as I'm

(43:14):
gonna do here, but I look overthere and I see all this
opportunity.
I'm gonna volunteer for it.
No, maybe I don't knoweverything and I'm not exactly
sure how I'm gonna do it, butonce I get in the position, I'm
surely I can, you know, um makeit work or create the the
lemonade out of lemons.

(43:36):
And and so early in my career,not even realizing I was doing
it, I became a turnaround expertbecause I would go into these
places where they had failed.

Yeah, yeah.
And I think some really greatadvice you just dropped there
was the uh to speak up, speak upif you want something or you
you need more to do or you wantto turn something around.

And I think let's I I would say of all the
mentoring and coaching I talkabout, probably that single, I
call it a gift, that singleskill is not as um is not as
readily that one's hard for alot of people to stand up and

(44:21):
say, I'm not getting what Ineed.
I need more of X, Y, and Z.
Um, and I thought that wasgenerational.
It's it's not generational.
There are certain things Ithink that are more generational
than not.
Um you know, I think early on alot of us paved the way with
there's still a glass ceiling umfor people of color, for women,

(44:44):
but I think it's less prevalentthan it used to be.
I think today there's stillthis hesitancy um to say what
you need um or to ask for theask.

Yeah.
And it's hard as a leaderbecause you want people to speak
up, but if it doesn't comenaturally or that if it's
difficult or someone, it's hardto it's hard to navigate that
situation.

Yeah, and I think teaching, you know, it's I
think the thing I learned earlyon, and I'm not sure how or why
I learned it, but people wouldcome to me and say, I don't like
so-and-so.
This is too difficult for me.
I have a problem over here.
And I remember early on Iintuitively saying, and what

(45:32):
would you like me to do aboutthat?
But what would you like?
You want me to go to your peerand and fix that?
Or wouldn't you rather buildthat relationship and fix that
yourself?
I can certainly give you somecoaching, but eventually coming

(45:53):
to the boss every time you havean issue and expecting the boss
to fix it is kind of like acommand and control 1950s
environment.
That's really not how America,that's not how corporate America
or frankly, you know,nonprofits or small companies,
that's not how it works anymore.
Right.
You gotta fight the good fight.

(46:13):
Right now, if it's intolerableor there is harassment of any
kind, that's a whole differentscenario, which I experienced as
well.
But you know, again, what did Ido when I couldn't get any,
when it wouldn't get any better,I went somewhere else where I
knew it would be.
I mean, you have to be again, Idon't want to paint a negative

(46:34):
picture.
I want to paint a realisticpicture.
But I also think one of thethings that people are so
worried about finding a job,they don't ask the right
questions in the interview.
It wasn't the right job tobegin with.
So getting that fit, I probablytalk about more than any single
thing when I'm coaching,mentoring, or talking to my own

(46:56):
team.
Let's make certain we have agood fit here and that that
person fits in the wholeenvironment.
Remember, as you bring a newperson on the team, it's
everyone's responsibility tomake them successful, not just
the boss.
That's right.
I mean, I know you know this,but sometimes a lot of this is
intuitive.
It's just not as easy toexecute.

That's right.
That's right.
You usually know pretty earlyon when they're not the right
fit.
They might tell you everythingin the interview that you know
they are a team player, theythey want to be highly
successful and move up in thecompany, and all of these
things, and um and then yourealize pretty quickly when they
don't.

So I relate this to, you know, because I told you
I have on staff physicians,experts, behavioral
psychologists, and one of theand the behavioral psychologists
are teaching me every day howlong does it take to create a
healthy habit?
What do you do to destroy ahealthy habit?
How do you change behavior set?
Some of this goes well beyondhealth to just daily

(47:55):
environments in your personallife and your professional life,
what you do to sabotage yourown success.
And I think that for me hasbeen very interesting.
Um, especially people trying todo, and physicians have
probably taught me this morethan anybody.
People go to an app and say, Iwant to fix five things.
Well, it really doesn't workthat way.

(48:17):
Yeah, you aren't gonna fix fivethings at once.
If you focus on one thing andget it down and feel really good
about it, so it starts comingpretty easily to you, then you
can start moving on to otherthings.
But you're always gonna have tobe reminded some kind of prompt
engineering, which we have,about how's it going today?
Are you remembering to do allthose things you said you were

(48:38):
gonna do for sleep?
Right?
Because as you know betterbetter than most of us, that's
all integrated.
That you know, your sleep, yournutrition, your stress
management, all of that'srelated.
Yeah, and so if one of thosethings gets out of whack, the
whole environment gets out ofwhack.

Absolutely, absolutely.
So, what advice for those thatmight be thinking about starting
a business, uh, what advicewould you give to them?
I know.
It's a loaded question.

Yeah, um well, I think fundamentally, the
fundamentals, and I think Iwrote a uh seminar about this,
and and did it, if you go onalurx.com, you'll you can
actually see me talking aboutyou really have to have a clear
vision, something that you feelpassionate about.
It has to be differentiated.
I don't care what it is, aservice, a product, whatever it

(49:33):
is, it has to be unique in themarketplace or it won't be
successful.
So starting a business whereyou have clear conviction and
vision, you've done yourhomework, it has a
differentiator, and you're goingto stick to that path, and
you're going to surroundyourself with people who will
help you get there, especiallyexperts or advisors.

(49:54):
I can't underestimate the powerof those three things.
For me personally, even thoughI have all this experience,
ridiculous amount of experience,I still wanted advisors who
could help me in the healthcareindustry and insurance industry.
And so those kinds of advisors,and again, you you have to find
a certain kind of person whowants to help you, which um I've

(50:17):
been very fortunate.
I mean, I'm I I I couldn'tspeak highly enough of my
advisors that do this out of thegraciousness of their own heart
because they believe in thevision of what we're doing,
right?
So you need like-minded people,and these advisors have been
invaluable, invaluable ingrowing our business and getting
it to the next level.

(50:38):
So I don't want to everunderestimate that.
So let's say you're not tryingto start a new business, you
still need to find those people.
Um, and even when I didn'tnecessarily have mentors early
on uh through an organization, Imet other women who had gotten
further up the ladder than Idid.
And I would ask them, how'd youget there?
What'd you, you know, like Isaid, I've never met anybody

(51:00):
who's not willing to share.
I I just haven't.
Like, well, let me tell you howI got there.
And so I've always said, someof, and by the way, some of
those people that I would askwere direct competitors of my
own company, uh, but were veryhelpful early on.
The Carlas, the Pats of theworld who worked for competitors

(51:22):
and had gotten somewhere uhmuch faster than I had.
What was it gonna take?
Uh, and they had come fromdifferent walks of life.
And it was really interesting.
Um, many of it, much of whatthey described to me is what you
and I would call nuance.

Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Makes sense.

It was never do A, then do B, then do C.
It was, well, you gotta gohere, and then you gotta go
there, and then you gotta thinkabout that.
It was a lot of nuance.

Oh yeah.
No, if we got Yes, as we know.
Oh my.

And now you're breathing.

Right?
Thank you for that.

Yeah, there's there is, and that's you know,
that's alive and well.
And so, and I had somebody sayto me the other day, I just
don't know if I I have it in me,Julia.
And I said, you know what,that's okay too.
If that's too hard, and and youdon't sell your soul for any
company.
So if you think this is beyondyour reach, that it's just not

(52:22):
something, then then you'regonna have to start thinking
about something else.
But if you want to get ahead,if the company or you know, this
person had spent a fair amountof time explaining to me the
culture, the vision, okay.
And so I get your issue.
Your issue is very much theperson that is a stumbling block
for you, it's an individual.
Then you're gonna have to startworking on the nuance.

(52:43):
And I'll never forget the wordsused, which was I just I just
don't think I have it in me.
And I said, Okay, and andabsolutely that does happen.
Then you have to think aboutwhat plan B is.
That's part of that planning.
I you you can't just, it's notlike a bull in a china shop.
You just can't go in, you haveto have a nuance, read the
table, understand the players,and understand who's making that

(53:08):
decision, whether that'sturnable or not.
I mean, there is a certainamount of common sense that says
is that is that situationdoable, livable?
Yeah.
Um, the answer is, well, I'lljust wait until that person
leaves.
That's probably not a logical,but um, all of that is part of

(53:29):
the you know, the the world ofcorporate America and or even
even in general, any business,right?
Small, big.
Um I did some work with a womanin and nonprofit who it's the
same basic principle, right?
Um, you're dealing with people.

And you were dealing with people
starting franchises as well,which might not be this, you
know, it's a little bitdifferent than starting
something from total scratch,but you probably give the same
advice to them, right?

Well, if you if you don't like or are good at
recruiting and retaining people,I don't know why you'd go into
business to begin with.
So let's start there.
So I can teach you therestaurant business, right?
Yeah you have to have a certainamount of wherewithal and
income or financial securitysuch that you can start this
business and you have to likethe restaurant business, right?

(54:21):
Now we have some basicprinciples.
But if you are neither good atrecruiting or you're not good at
holding on to people, eitheryou have to you have to hire
somebody who does that for youor you're in the wrong business.
And it doesn't, I mean, that'sthe restaurant business, but
it's any business, yeah, right?

Right, right.

I mean, I've had my same team, my basic core
team, since I started thiscompany.
Those people, I care aboutthem, they care about me and
they care about the vision ofthe company.
Yeah, Alurx for them is is apassion for them.
So if you don't have thosekinds of folks, I don't know how
you get I don't, it's along-term kind of if you're not

(55:00):
thinking in that regard, kind ofhard.

Yeah, yeah.
So let me ask you this um withthe app that you've developed
and all that goes into that andum and specifically what the app
is about.
What does your morning routinelook like if you have one?
Are there any non-negotiablesthat you have throughout your
day?

I do.
Now, this is for me, um, andthis is not for everybody, but
for me, I have to start my dayby some kind of exercise.
And I don't do the same thingevery day I've learned long ago
that's not actually good foryour body.
So I do some form of exerciseevery single day.
It's just it's as much physicalfor me as it is mental.

(55:46):
So I get up, um, I get a half acup of coffee, I get a little
some kind of protein in me, I godo my workout, right?
I start my day, I practice someform of gratitude.
Sometimes it doesn't take long,but it's some form of gratitude
for the day.
I usually look at my day,right?
I'm planning ahead, and then Ibegin the day, whether it's um I

(56:09):
have you know, Zooms right in arow, or I've got to talk to
somebody, um, or I do a lot ofwriting.
It's and I know that seems oddto you, but in um in this world
where you're meeting withinvestors and you're trying to
pitch and you're talking,there's a lot of writing.
So I have trained myself.
I used to always think I had tobe in the mood to write.

(56:31):
Well, you don't have thatluxury, so it's all about how to
plan for my day.
And then it took me a while torealize I I um going back to
back for eight straight hours isnot healthy, right?
So I learned that through myapp.
So I take, and for me,sometimes it's a walk, it's just

(56:52):
a walk for two minutes, fiveminutes.
So helpful.
It's um it's something that Ido.
Um, and because I work a lotout of my home, it's even
something as as mundane as go doa load of laundry, just get up
and down, walk, do something.
Um, but that is my day, andthen um towards the end of the

(57:13):
day, start thinking about okay,what does dinner look like?
What am I doing?
How much, you know, can I putsome time in there that's just
me time?
But it is it's a full day,yeah, but I don't start my day
without, and then I'm big on umprotein throughout the day
because I have learned thatpartially because I do work out

(57:36):
every day, partially just ourbody wants.
Yeah.
So it's um, and I had to trainmyself through the app to learn
to eat in the morning because Ihad a tendency not to eat, and
that's really not good for you.
Okay.
So it's just it's just thelearning and then um running my
day accordingly, and thenstopping at least once or twice

(58:00):
a day, even if it's just fiveminutes, I I need that.
Um, and then if it's reallythere's something that doesn't
go well, um, I find more thananything box breathing is
incredibly helpful.
Breathing in, breathing out,holding, it's really incredibly
helpful.
So that I've learned as well.

It is.
And I have signed up for theapp and I have taken some of the
stress management classes inthere that are that are great.
Um so I appreciate that verymuch.
Um, but my morning starts outvery much like yours.
I think it is important to havethat time in the morning for
yourself, taking care ofyourself, and it's so much of
what Alurx is here to helpeverybody with as well.

(58:39):
That's right.

So that's right.

Now, when you think about the next five
years, what is your vision forAlurx?

I I will always be involved.
I mean, for the rest of mylife, whether I'm an advisor,
whether I'm on the board,whether I'm just a participant,
I will always be involvedbecause this is it's
life-changing.
Yeah.
So for me, um, this is this ismy this is my dream come true.

(59:06):
So I always want to be involvedin it.
And whatever that looks like inthe next five years, you know,
I don't, my ego's in check.
If the next five years involvesthe next generation, for
somebody to take it to a wholenother level, I'm very
supportive of that.
I don't, I don't need to be atthe helm to be um to feel good
about and proud of what we'veaccomplished, but I do see

(59:28):
myself involved one way or theother for the rest of my life.

Fantastic.
Well, you should be very proudof Alurx and everything that
you've accomplished so far inyour career.
I can't wait to see where thisgoes.
And I'd love to maybe a maybewe'll have to follow up on this
and a I promise.
Yes, awesome.

You go on the list.

Well, it's been such a pleasure today.
You've really been so inspiringand helpful.
I know everybody watching isgonna get a lot out of this.
So very much appreciate it.
Thank you so much for giving usall your time today.

Thank you for letting me come today.
That was really that was fun.

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This is the Female Founder Show with host and
entrepreneur BridgetFitzpatrick, exclusively on
ASBN.
If you're a female founder andwould like to help other female
founders with your inspiringstory, we would love to hear
from you.

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