December 24, 2024 • 29 mins
LaraDutta gets real on Women Beyond The Judgement by IndiaPodcasts Originals!
Beyond the labels, lies the true power of a woman’s voice. 🗣️💪 LaraDutta shares how breaking stereotypes shaped her journey. Let's redefine the notion of beauty and strength.
From being labeled a beauty queen at 16 to breaking free from societal boxes, Lara shares her empowering journey. 🙅♀️✨
Hosted by AnkuGoyal, this episode is all about smashing stereotypes.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indiapodcasts-we-hear-what-you-want-to-say--4263837/support.
Beyond the labels, lies the true power of a woman’s voice. 🗣️💪 LaraDutta shares how breaking stereotypes shaped her journey. Let's redefine the notion of beauty and strength.
From being labeled a beauty queen at 16 to breaking free from societal boxes, Lara shares her empowering journey. 🙅♀️✨
Hosted by AnkuGoyal, this episode is all about smashing stereotypes.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indiapodcasts-we-hear-what-you-want-to-say--4263837/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It doesn't matter who you are, or what you look
like or whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It really does boil down to how you make somebody
feel when they're in your presence, the.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Most real person you met in your industry, you in
the industry you've met.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I always I hated these labels. You were either a model,
you were a beauty queen, you were an actress. You know,
it's not really about the degree that you hold.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's about the interest fashion that you have, the curiosity
that you have in order to be able to learn
constantly in life.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hello, Lara, thank you so much for your time on
in your podcast. It's my the moment for me to
have you around.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Have you been my pleasure?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
How are you feeling today?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Honestly, I'm feeling great.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm physically not at the best of my abilities, but
in general mentally have feeling great. I can actually hear
my own voice in my years because my cold is
so bad near my own echo.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, those are the only time of our cold days,
and we realize our health is so important. You know,
we kind of lose track of it, but crazy. Yeah,
now I want to know from you. You know, we're
doing this whole series called Beyond the judgment, because that's
what I think we all have been quite trying to
deal with in our lives. How do you resonate with
this thought? What is the thought that comes to you
(01:24):
when you say beyond the judgment?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, I think you know, all my life, I've kind
of fought against being sort of labeled and boxed ever
since I entered the industry, and I entered it quite young,
when I was just sixteen years old. I always I
hated these labels. You were either a model, you were
a beauty queen, you were an actress. You know, people
felt that if they could put a label to you,
then you were far more easier to relate to or
(01:48):
you know, then they knew, okay, now this is who
she is. That's how we have to you know, kind
of relate to her data. So yeah, I think it's
about time that people, you know, dropped this labels. And
the problem is that most of these labels create, like
you said, you know, very strong preconceived notion or preconceived
judgment of therefore what a person should be. And I
(02:09):
think it's about time that everybody started literally looking beyond that.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
You know, if we could go back to your journey,
I think, as you said, started quite early, twenty one
year old, being there, you know, winning over for the
representing India. At another level, I wanted to know you
you were there as a very aware person as we
got to know how you won the pageant and got
the crown? Did you ever have to think twice before?
(02:34):
You know, once you stepped onto the being Miss Universe,
how difficult was it to carry that? It was a
glorifying moment, but how difficult as a thing to carry
through in your journey because then you stepped into different
rules that you stepped in as an actress and an artist,
as a you know, pace for the beauty, you know,
representing women as the most beautiful face. How difficult was that?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I mean to be honest, you know, I don't think
I've ever considered myself the most beautiful woman in any room.
I consider myself an intelligent woman, yes, But having won
something like Miss Universe, which is essentially a beauty pageant,
you know, I learned that around the world, whenever people
know that Miss Universe is coming, they're very you know,
(03:19):
they're very ready to see a beautiful woman step into
the room, not necessarily an intelligent you know, so a
lot of times people were quite surprised that, you know that,
oh she can also speak a lot of sense, So,
you know, there was an expectation, I think for a
lot of people where they expect, you know, just a
pretty looking face to kind of come in and do
(03:41):
the uh you know, cookie cutter responsibilities that they.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Assume Beauty Queen's had.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And I'm very glad personally to have one something like
Miss Universe because Miss Universe has never really been about
the quint essentially good looking woman. It's always been about advocacy.
It's always if you look at the previous Miss Universe spinners, uh,
they've all been women with very powerful voices, you know,
including during the two COVID years. Uh Sozubnitunzi, who was
(04:09):
from South Africa, uh, you know, spent her an entire
rain locked in an apartment in New York and yet
still had such an incredible voice. Uh you know, and
for what she did for women from the country that
she comes from, is was really incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So I think for me, I was very fortunate to
have one, uh you know, a contest which really does
allow women that that gives you that I'm not going
to say platform, because that word is so used and
abused when it comes to beauty pageants. You know, but
but but just gives you the opportunity to connect with
a wider a worldwide web that allows you to reach
(04:47):
out and be like And for example, the only reason
that I was good Will Ambassador for you an FBA
for fourteen years is because I was this universe, you know,
and the work that we were able to get done,
including passing of the pcpnd D law in India, you know,
which which does not allow the sex or the fetus
to be sort of disclosed.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Those were all things that that I was part and parcelot,
you know. So you worked at things from grassroot level.
You did a lot of advertacy for HIV AIDS in
some you know, Sub Saharan and Southeast Asia region.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And those are opportunities that you wouldn't get just by
being a pretty face, you know, which is why again
we go back to this whole topic of flood we're
discussing today, which is beyond the judgment. You know, you've
got to look at what these incredible women are doing
around the world rather.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Than just saying she's a beauty queen, big deal. You know,
or shoots an actress.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Did you ever come across like this head come as
being judging you again, like, oh, Laura, you know she's
been miss Universe. It's easier for her whether she steps
in as an actress, gets her projects there, or becomes
entrepreneur today. So was it like you were also given
that kind of a judgment. They're like, oh, for her
it is as it's not as easy for us because
you know, she's already got that kind of a crown
(06:01):
which leads away. Did you kind of go through that
kind of objective?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, but I think yes, of course you get it
from certain sections of society, but also nobody handed that
crowd to be on a silver platter. It wasn't like
I was born or I inherited it to something like that.
You know, I worked really hard to get it, and
I think I've been very fortunate at least the way
that I've conducted my life, my career. You know, I
know that I have a fan base. I have a
(06:25):
lot of young women that really look up to me.
It's a huge responsibility. It's understanding that you know you
have that they're people looking at you, they're people who
are fashioning their entire lives and their careers based on
what you've done before, and I've done, I've had the
same right.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
They've been women that have been.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
For me, icons who have been role models for me
that I've wanted to emulate and fashion my career down.
And I'm pretty sure that they two broke a lot
of stereotypes in order to be able to create that
path for us for the ones that followed, which in
a ways what we've been able to do for the
girls who followed, you know, since.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But yeah, I mean, you know, of course there is
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No matter whether you've be in this world Miss Universe,
you can get a poothold into the film industry, for sure,
but if you don't have the talent, there's no way
that you going to last it, you know, So there's.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Only that much that that can get you through.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
After that, You've got to be able to have the
talent in order to stick it out to remain relevant.
I mean today, I'm in my forties and it's been
twenty two years since Miss Universe. You know, you can't
just rely on that one live in the past, in
your past glories that why was Miss Universe? You know
in two thousands the miss universe of the millennium, and
that's the be all end all of who I am
(07:38):
going to be and what I can do.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know, when was that moment as a child, because
you were so early there out there in the world,
you know, being the voice for many many people, was
there a moment in your life where you thought like
you were so aware of your power? It's very It's incredible,
even today in the Zenz generation at twenty one, to
be so aware of your self, power of being to
be able to answer, is this something natural? You feel
(08:03):
like I'm a superwoman, like I have something differently, you
have a daughter, But it doesn't come very natural to
be so powerful as a young person, you know. And
even though although we see you quite evolved as a soul,
but did you ever feel like sitting at the window
that I don't know how I was so different?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's not a you know, So I think there are
a lot of factors that you know, like they said,
the universe conspires. So I think for me, there are
a lot of factors. A. I'm the youngest of three kids.
I'm the youngest of three girls. I was raised in
an Air Force family, which means we travel constantly from
base to base. So I had to learn to adapt
(08:40):
very quickly to different schools, different environments, different groups of friends,
make friends, lose friends.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You know, at a very rapid sort of a pace.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So one is that that gives you a sense of adaptability,
you know, you learned that everything is transient, that you
learn that everything kind of moves on and you've got
to move forward. The fact that I was the youngest
of three kids and my sisters are quite a bit
older than me. Also when that by the time I
was born, my parents so like, okay, we're done with
the parenting. You know, You're pretty much on your own.
(09:11):
So I grew up having to entertain myself. I had
imaginary friends that I spoke to and that had all them.
I named them all kinds of different names, you know,
so I could entertain myself for hours. Maybe the gift
of the gap from there, because I would make up
my own games and have these multiple characters, and I
was all the characters, and I had voices for all
the different characters, you know. So I learned to be
(09:35):
on my own as well. Quite early on in life,
I learned to depend on myself you know as well,
quite early in life, and I mean I still remember
when I was about six seven years old, maybe I
used to love watching Miss World and Miss Universe. They
would these thick, you know, very they used to be
these obviously they were the prime time big television shows,
and at that point of time there was no satellite television,
(09:56):
so you know, these were the big TV properties that
you to kind of look out for. And then I
would very carefully hear that last question and answer and
watch the crowning moment, and then I would run into
the bathroom, locked the door, put a balti ulta stand
up on the balty, because otherwise I would see myself
in the bathroom mirror and then ask myself that final
question and say, what would I have said if that
(10:17):
question was you know, asked.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
To me at seven years old.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So somewhere down the line, you know, there was there
was a prep there was a there was obviously an interest.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I don't know you actually prepared for it for more
than a decade, was manifested exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It's not exactly secrets. It's not easy.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So no, and for some people like they say that,
you know, things are a mix of hard work of
lack of a lot of things. I think so for me,
somewhere down the line now, when I look back in hindsight,
I can see how the universe kind of conspired, you know,
so nice was conspired to make you what more?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
But coming to the entrepreneur journey, I mean, did this
also happen to you while doing your other roles in life?
And you became a mother? Because being an entrepreneur honestly,
as an experiences, it's more like being a parent. It's
your baby. No one can be as attached as you
are to it. So how is your thought of again
becoming a mother with it?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So I think for me this is you know, business
is something that I've always wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, And I think, you know, I sort of have
a very very vast.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Very deep interest in finance, in the way money markets work,
in the way the business world works. And it hasn't
come from any textbook. It just comes from being able
to understand, you know, consumer consumption. It's being able to
understand the way you know, consumer goods and durables work.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
It's it's you know, it's I mean, I love it.
I Mean, I've always been fascinated by it.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I'm fascinated by you. I mean business journalist. You can
smell out these terms, that's all. This is shocking for.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Me, No, but I think it's for me. I think
it was just a natural transition. But you know, like
everything in life, everything has its own time and space.
You can't do it all no matter even if you
want it to. You'll end up making a bit of
a kidged of it if you try it. So I
think for me it was very important. I mean when
I was in my twenties, I did enter the film industry.
(12:21):
I built my name from there. You know, you build
a fan base, you build people get to know you,
they understand, they love your movies, they watch you with
the theaters.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I had my daughter when I was in my thirties,
so I took a break.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I enjoyed motherhood, you know, and when it was time
to kind of step back in a lot of I
have a lot of women who say to me, you know,
how do they achieve financial independence again after having kids?
So how do they step back into a workplace? And
it isn't easy. It takes a tremendous amount. You're constantly
when you become a mother, you get onto the guilt carousel,
(12:53):
and it doesn't stop. You know, You're you always feel
that whenever you're taking time away from your children that
you you're constantly beating yourself up about it, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
But I think for me, it was such an.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Integral part of who I am that I felt that
I could only be a better mother to my daughter
if I was doing the things that I really loved.
I wanted her to see me working. I wanted her
to see that it wasn't just about the financial independence,
but it was also about the fact that I had
a job that I loved and I was passionate about,
you know.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And I did this stumble into mixing skincare and you know,
something leading to again beauty and there so.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Skincare for me was something you know, that I've been
I started my modeling career when I was sixteen years
old when I won Glad Drags, you know. And so
for more than twenty five years now, I've been in
the beauty and fashion business and I've worked with the
best makeup ARTI is, the best skincare experts, but I
never really found any one Indian grown, homegrown skincare brand
(13:52):
that addressed the needs of Indian skin and the way
Indian skin ages, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
From end to end. I mean, we have a lot of.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Fancy international brands that cost the earth, and we all
go out and buy those fancy pots of cream, but
because they're so expensive, we use it so sparingly that
it isn't really doing you know, the wonders that it's
supposed to actually do to last skin. And secondly, I
don't Indian skin ages very very differently from the skin
that those products actually manufactured for, you know, because these
(14:22):
all manufactured for Caucasian skins and Far Eastern skins. But
we have and we have environmental factors that are different.
We have you know, pigmentation, sun spots and special pollution exactly.
So I think for me, I was fascinated about wanting
to create a skincare brand that was made essentially for
(14:43):
the way Indian skin ages and the care of Indian
skin requirements. So I'd spent about two three years almost
in research and development with skincare experts from across the world.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And of course Indian skin.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Ga experts and then develop Arise that nice. I've been
absolutely hands on all and the soft name Arise, what
does that mean it's my daughter, Sarah's name spelled backwards.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
That is also beautiful. I hope she knows that business.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Of course she does, hopefully if she wants it, if
she wants.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
It to have a cosmetic brand, and her name only
a skincare brand.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Well from from being a skincare brand, we've also expanded considerably,
so we launched her I Skincare Fragrances about four and
a half years ago. This year in January, I launched
a ies home with the Neilcomel groups. So we're in
all the at home stores and we cover you from
soft furnishings to crockery and cutlery.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
And class wars anything.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And we just launched her Ice Kids with First Cry,
which is this most amazing eco conscious fashion Brian.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So, I think I need to take some entrepreneur tip
before I get to that is so much. I think
I can go and talk to you. Had your cold
not be a reason today and not being given a
time allow I want to first take you to a
fun segment. This is because beyond the judgment, we do
a survey around. So there's a segment on how natural
people are, how to see a natural and real segment
(16:22):
and We want to know very quick things from you
if you can just give it in one one answer method.
The most real person you met in your industry. You
in the industry of metal, no, no, in the Bollywood industry, yeah,
or or the business industry now that you're on both sides,
real and natural person. Wow, you met.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
It, Yes, and he's incredible. What an inspiration? Then?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
The most natural thing that you use for your skin care?
What you suggest people to use for your skin care?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
H your skin? Tomatoes?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, are the most important ingredient in your your skin get.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
No, no, no, no, no, I have I have the
most incredible pumpkin line that's out right now, which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
But yeah, a quick fix is a.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Tomato, organic food product that you always have with you.
You you rely on that, a healthy food product or
a natural food product seeds, seeds, and a beauty tip,
a beauty hag that you want to give people immediate
way to just prep up your skin or you know, when.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You're out there, stop messing with your skin and stop
putting on a thousand products. I know that it's a
The world out there is bombarding you constantly with the
newest wonder you know product in the market, but you
just don't bombard your skin. I mean, I'm almost forty
five years old or forty five yet, but I have
(17:54):
very few blemishes, very few lines, but definitely nothing injected
into my face. So the only thing that I can
tell people is just be kind to your skin, and
I promise you it will take you such a long way.
So don't load your skin up with every product on
the market.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I think then just go and use a ryas. I
think that is the safest use.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I definitely use a rise. It's so gentle on your skin.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
True that now we have picked up some stereotype situation
where we see people go judging. Just help us. If
you match close to the answer, then we have a
sweet hamp over you. We have done a survey and
the survey says, what is judged more in the society today,
whether we judge a woman body or women clothes? According
to you in a percentage of one hundred percent, how
do you see people judge women body more or their clothing?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
How they I don't know. I think they judge their bodies.
Every woman that I meet, the first conversation is, so
my god, you've lost weight? Oh weight?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So I would not go on percent judging, but you're
close to the answer. Seventy percent said we judge body
more than that. How many choose judge the choice of
career to the success in your career, because now that
you have had many choices, how.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Many I think they look at success they judge success.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
More than seventy five percent? People say that you're judge
the success? How many women? How difficult was it being
a woman entrepreneur or being a woman artist? How more
judged you are when you're women businessman or a woman artist.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
A woman artist? Really?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Oh my god, I think there we failed. The answer
was sixty percent judge when you're a woman entrepreneur. And
as you said, I think you've answered about the health thing.
If you're fat or if you're skinny, when are you
judged more?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
And you're fat obviously.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
To get comments and remark when you're fat. So coming
back to some question on realizing your journey, I want
to know what do the if you can share some
moments that you made through self judgment in your life
being a mother, was there a moment of self judgment
when you went.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, you know, of course, I mean I just was
mentioning this in an interview that nobody really prepares you
for motherhood.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Everybody tells you how amazing and how great it is
to have kids, and how wonderful it's going to be,
but nobody nobody tells you how difficult and hard.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And miserable you're also going to be, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
And I think there are lots of times when, especially
after I had my daughter, where my body didn't look
anything and hasn't ever looked anything like it was a
pre pregnancy, you know, and then your heart on yourself.
I haven't lost the weight as quickly as I wanted to.
I'm gaining weight so much faster now, you know. I
just that's it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I'm giving up.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I'm just going to binge eat. It's not worth it, uh,
you know. So there are a lot of times when
we're very hard on ourselves, and I think it's very
normal and it's very natural. I don't think there's any
woman in the world who can say that, oh, I've
just been absolutely perfectly fine, you know, with myself.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, but so I think that, you know that, I mean,
there's still.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Days where I will judge myself, but then I have
to also understand and realize that nobody is going to
be kind to me except for myself. If I'm not
kind to myself, I can't really from anybody else.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Do you have a moment of self judgment being a businesswoman?
How was this journey?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Not really while being a business woman.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So I had a very interesting transition right before I
became an entrepreneur, because I was also one of the
first few actresses, I would say, the first first few actresses.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Within the bodily would industry to turn producer when I
did tellow the leading.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yes, and I think I faced a lot more prejudice
and I faced a lot more prejudice in judgment when
I turned producer as a woman, then when I but
then as an entrepreneur. In the business world, actually it
hasn't been that difficult to be taken seriously as a
as a business woman. But in the film industry at
that point of time, you know, everybody was willing to
sit down and discuss creative aspects of a project with you,
(21:41):
but not necessarily the financial and the business aspects of it,
you know, So they were constantly business that exactly, you know,
So they're constantly looking behind your shoulder to see there's
going to be a man walking into the room, who's
now going to come step in and take care of
all the business aspects of things. It made men uncomfortable
to have those kind of conversations with a woman. But
I think I took those learnings when I went into
(22:02):
my entrepreneurial journey, and maybe that's why it made it
easier for me.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
So I don't say.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
As a businesswoman entrepreneurs I.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Did, and I learned how to navigate it better. You know,
I learned how to navigate male egos better.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
That I have to take this what is that trick?
Then you know how to do you have a team
of women in your company, I do.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I have more women than I do men. I have
more women, and I think that they're far more efficient
than men are. You know, my my husband is always
complaining saying, oh my god, we're just dealing with all
these women who are all having that period at the
same time, and they're all like, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Maybe he was happier so that he has a whole
beauty work.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And I just know, and I just keep telling him.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'm like, you know, you have to be thankful every
single day that you've got these women, because there's so.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Much even with their period.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Even with men who pause, you know whatever, there's so
much more efficient than the men now because they just
get what you want to tell them.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
They get it and they implement it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
There's not telling somebody something twenty five times in order
before they get what you.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Actually want done.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So I thought to take away anything from the men,
I have some incredible men as well, working you know
for me, which and they're fantastic.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I think your husband is the first one who's working
for you right from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yes, yes he is.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You should give that.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I've trained him well.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
I think that's the right attitude. We should keep them
so happy to hear these tricks off, but exact trick
is hard. What is there a line you do to
keep men pretty much in their.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yes, there's it's just no I think you know, as
a woman, and this is really true, you have to
work thrice as hard as any man in any field
in order to be taken seriously and in order to
be accepted and to thry. So I just feel that
if you want to venture into any kind of field
that you're really passionate about, it's very very important to
(23:59):
do your homework. I mean, you know, we were laughing together,
and you were saying that I sound like a business
journalist or whatever. But I sound like that because ippid
in the effort to know what I want to discuss.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So I hate walking into a meeting and not knowing, you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Know, what is.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So I don't want to be just because someone's done.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
An MBA and as a Harvard brad and you know,
has got some business degree from Stanford that the person.
I would never want someone like that to talk down
to me. I want to be when I'm at a table.
I want to be an equal when it comes to
doing business. And some of the most successful business people
in the world are people who've hardly had any education.
So it's not really about the degree that you hold.
(24:40):
It's about the interest fashion that you have, the curiosity
that you have in order to be able to learn
constantly in life. And so for me, that's it. That
curiosity is what's really helped. So when I make sure
that if I'm prepping for a meeting, before I go
into it, I work thrice as hard. I make sure
that I've everything that may come up, you know, So
(25:02):
I'm not flying by the seat of my pants. I've
actually you know, I'm walking in there prepared.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I think you answered the question I had, and what
we should keep in mind to be a successful business
woman is to take your work seriously before you just
go out with this whole idea of I want to
be a business woman.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
You know, of course tomorrow one so successful. No, no
man is going to say, you know, question your integrity
or question your business acumen because you proved yourself you're
successful tomorrow that when you're successful, people just want to
be associated with. Make sure that, but getting there doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Open.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
But if there was one answer which just went viral also,
I have to see one answer is the one you
gave on the global platform, and everybody remembers that, right,
So there was another answer I think in one of
the pageants video I had seen where you said that
you should be known for your legacy and how you
treat people. That one line of yours I think went
viral across. So just one thought, I want to hear
(25:55):
this from you again. You had said this that you
know if you remember at.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Some point, yeah, well it was I think they were
celebrating twenty years of my win at Miss Universe, so
you know it was.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
It was twenty years. I got two decades.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Since I won, and I think that's the one thing
that I've learned along the way, right in my entire
span of my career. But it's it's really about interpersonal relationships.
It's you know, we're very fortunate as celebrities to have
so many people who genuinely are true fans, you know,
who follow you with every step of the way, you know,
(26:34):
who pay attention to your career, can sing your songs
from movies, recite lines from you know, dialogues that you've
given upte number of kids who've come up to me,
you know, and recited that final question, the answer.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
That I gave on the Miss Universe stage, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
And that's why I'm saying that that gives you such
a sense of humility and of responsibility that I've realized
that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter
who you are.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Or what you look like or whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
It really does boil down to how you make somebody
feel when they're in your presence. Do you make them
feel valued? Do you make them feel like you're listening
to them?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
You know? Do you make them feel special?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
You know that that they really matter to you? In
your life, and I think that's what's really important.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
You know, to Mari, we ask you, you have to
ask Clara the question when she's almost in a forty five.
Going back to that moment, what question you would ask
yourself on that pageant?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I mean I always say I don't think.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I don't think that there's anything that nobody has not
asked me in my life so far, I think pretty
much with people have covered every single thing.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So what is that thought you want to leave us with? Lara?
A book written on you? How should we title that book?
What is that you want? Your life journey? You've played
so many roles you're on going to be. You are
an entrepreneur, businesswoman, actress, mother, voice for the nation, you depageant,
Oh my god, I can't get produce, So what have
(28:02):
you left?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
No, I think that there was a book ever written
on me. I think the title of it would be
very short. It may not make sense right now because
there's you know, obviously there's a posse behind it, but
it would be one small three letter word and it
would be called lit.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So I think you actually your thoughts spell out more
intelligent than me I really know about. But thank you
so much, Lara, But I'm not going to let you
go like that. I want this one. We have this
thing of leaving us with a song. Now that you've
got a code, but even more reason.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
For you to go.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There's no way that I'm going to be singing guys,
guys followed my career. I hope everybody knows that my
singing is definitely not something that I'm don't.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
For especially, but it is something thought or a song
or two lines that you can take it from you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
A thought or a song two lines. Well, I'll leave
you with a song.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Actually I'm not going to sing it for you, but
John Lennon's imagine since we're talking about going beyond judgment tribes,
so imagine all the people.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, I'm going to pay that song. Thank you so much.
Last it was a pleasure. It was a pleasure knowing
you today more as a businesswoman and how your whole
journey has played a major role in bringing up and
it is the moment for me. So thank you for pleasure.
It doesn't matter who you are, or what you look
like or whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It really does boil down to how you make somebody
feel when they're in your presence, the.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Most real person you met in your industry, you in
the industry you've met.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I always I hated these labels. You were either a model,
you were a beauty queen, you were an actress. You know,
it's not really about the degree that you hold.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's about the interest fashion that you have, the curiosity
that you have in order to be able to learn
constantly in life.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Hello, Lara, thank you so much for your time on
in your podcast. It's my the moment for me to
have you around.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Have you been my pleasure?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
How are you feeling today?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Honestly, I'm feeling great.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm physically not at the best of my abilities, but
in general mentally have feeling great. I can actually hear
my own voice in my years because my cold is
so bad near my own echo.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, those are the only time of our cold days,
and we realize our health is so important. You know,
we kind of lose track of it, but crazy. Yeah,
now I want to know from you. You know, we're
doing this whole series called Beyond the judgment, because that's
what I think we all have been quite trying to
deal with in our lives. How do you resonate with
this thought? What is the thought that comes to you
(01:24):
when you say beyond the judgment?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, I think you know, all my life, I've kind
of fought against being sort of labeled and boxed ever
since I entered the industry, and I entered it quite young,
when I was just sixteen years old. I always I
hated these labels. You were either a model, you were
a beauty queen, you were an actress. You know, people
felt that if they could put a label to you,
then you were far more easier to relate to or
(01:48):
you know, then they knew, okay, now this is who
she is. That's how we have to you know, kind
of relate to her data. So yeah, I think it's
about time that people, you know, dropped this labels. And
the problem is that most of these labels create, like
you said, you know, very strong preconceived notion or preconceived
judgment of therefore what a person should be. And I
(02:09):
think it's about time that everybody started literally looking beyond that.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
You know, if we could go back to your journey,
I think, as you said, started quite early, twenty one
year old, being there, you know, winning over for the
representing India. At another level, I wanted to know you
you were there as a very aware person as we
got to know how you won the pageant and got
the crown? Did you ever have to think twice before?
(02:34):
You know, once you stepped onto the being Miss Universe,
how difficult was it to carry that? It was a
glorifying moment, but how difficult as a thing to carry
through in your journey because then you stepped into different
rules that you stepped in as an actress and an artist,
as a you know, pace for the beauty, you know,
representing women as the most beautiful face. How difficult was that?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I mean to be honest, you know, I don't think
I've ever considered myself the most beautiful woman in any room.
I consider myself an intelligent woman, yes, But having won
something like Miss Universe, which is essentially a beauty pageant,
you know, I learned that around the world, whenever people
know that Miss Universe is coming, they're very you know,
(03:19):
they're very ready to see a beautiful woman step into
the room, not necessarily an intelligent you know, so a
lot of times people were quite surprised that, you know that,
oh she can also speak a lot of sense, So,
you know, there was an expectation, I think for a
lot of people where they expect, you know, just a
pretty looking face to kind of come in and do
(03:41):
the uh you know, cookie cutter responsibilities that they.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Assume Beauty Queen's had.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And I'm very glad personally to have one something like
Miss Universe because Miss Universe has never really been about
the quint essentially good looking woman. It's always been about advocacy.
It's always if you look at the previous Miss Universe spinners, uh,
they've all been women with very powerful voices, you know,
including during the two COVID years. Uh Sozubnitunzi, who was
(04:09):
from South Africa, uh, you know, spent her an entire
rain locked in an apartment in New York and yet
still had such an incredible voice. Uh you know, and
for what she did for women from the country that
she comes from, is was really incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So I think for me, I was very fortunate to
have one, uh you know, a contest which really does
allow women that that gives you that I'm not going
to say platform, because that word is so used and
abused when it comes to beauty pageants. You know, but
but but just gives you the opportunity to connect with
a wider a worldwide web that allows you to reach
(04:47):
out and be like And for example, the only reason
that I was good Will Ambassador for you an FBA
for fourteen years is because I was this universe, you know,
and the work that we were able to get done,
including passing of the pcpnd D law in India, you know,
which which does not allow the sex or the fetus
to be sort of disclosed.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Those were all things that that I was part and parcelot,
you know. So you worked at things from grassroot level.
You did a lot of advertacy for HIV AIDS in
some you know, Sub Saharan and Southeast Asia region.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And those are opportunities that you wouldn't get just by
being a pretty face, you know, which is why again
we go back to this whole topic of flood we're
discussing today, which is beyond the judgment. You know, you've
got to look at what these incredible women are doing
around the world rather.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Than just saying she's a beauty queen, big deal. You know,
or shoots an actress.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Did you ever come across like this head come as
being judging you again, like, oh, Laura, you know she's
been miss Universe. It's easier for her whether she steps
in as an actress, gets her projects there, or becomes
entrepreneur today. So was it like you were also given
that kind of a judgment. They're like, oh, for her
it is as it's not as easy for us because
you know, she's already got that kind of a crown
(06:01):
which leads away. Did you kind of go through that
kind of objective?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, but I think yes, of course you get it
from certain sections of society, but also nobody handed that
crowd to be on a silver platter. It wasn't like
I was born or I inherited it to something like that.
You know, I worked really hard to get it, and
I think I've been very fortunate at least the way
that I've conducted my life, my career. You know, I
know that I have a fan base. I have a
(06:25):
lot of young women that really look up to me.
It's a huge responsibility. It's understanding that you know you
have that they're people looking at you, they're people who
are fashioning their entire lives and their careers based on
what you've done before, and I've done, I've had the
same right.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
They've been women that have been.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
For me, icons who have been role models for me
that I've wanted to emulate and fashion my career down.
And I'm pretty sure that they two broke a lot
of stereotypes in order to be able to create that
path for us for the ones that followed, which in
a ways what we've been able to do for the
girls who followed, you know, since.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But yeah, I mean, you know, of course there is
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No matter whether you've be in this world Miss Universe,
you can get a poothold into the film industry, for sure,
but if you don't have the talent, there's no way
that you going to last it, you know, So there's.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Only that much that that can get you through.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
After that, You've got to be able to have the
talent in order to stick it out to remain relevant.
I mean today, I'm in my forties and it's been
twenty two years since Miss Universe. You know, you can't
just rely on that one live in the past, in
your past glories that why was Miss Universe? You know
in two thousands the miss universe of the millennium, and
that's the be all end all of who I am
(07:38):
going to be and what I can do.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know, when was that moment as a child, because
you were so early there out there in the world,
you know, being the voice for many many people, was
there a moment in your life where you thought like
you were so aware of your power? It's very It's incredible,
even today in the Zenz generation at twenty one, to
be so aware of your self, power of being to
be able to answer, is this something natural? You feel
(08:03):
like I'm a superwoman, like I have something differently, you
have a daughter, But it doesn't come very natural to
be so powerful as a young person, you know. And
even though although we see you quite evolved as a soul,
but did you ever feel like sitting at the window
that I don't know how I was so different?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's not a you know, So I think there are
a lot of factors that you know, like they said,
the universe conspires. So I think for me, there are
a lot of factors. A. I'm the youngest of three kids.
I'm the youngest of three girls. I was raised in
an Air Force family, which means we travel constantly from
base to base. So I had to learn to adapt
(08:40):
very quickly to different schools, different environments, different groups of friends,
make friends, lose friends.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You know, at a very rapid sort of a pace.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So one is that that gives you a sense of adaptability,
you know, you learned that everything is transient, that you
learn that everything kind of moves on and you've got
to move forward. The fact that I was the youngest
of three kids and my sisters are quite a bit
older than me. Also when that by the time I
was born, my parents so like, okay, we're done with
the parenting. You know, You're pretty much on your own.
(09:11):
So I grew up having to entertain myself. I had
imaginary friends that I spoke to and that had all them.
I named them all kinds of different names, you know,
so I could entertain myself for hours. Maybe the gift
of the gap from there, because I would make up
my own games and have these multiple characters, and I
was all the characters, and I had voices for all
the different characters, you know. So I learned to be
(09:35):
on my own as well. Quite early on in life,
I learned to depend on myself you know as well,
quite early in life, and I mean I still remember
when I was about six seven years old, maybe I
used to love watching Miss World and Miss Universe. They
would these thick, you know, very they used to be
these obviously they were the prime time big television shows,
and at that point of time there was no satellite television,
(09:56):
so you know, these were the big TV properties that
you to kind of look out for. And then I
would very carefully hear that last question and answer and
watch the crowning moment, and then I would run into
the bathroom, locked the door, put a balti ulta stand
up on the balty, because otherwise I would see myself
in the bathroom mirror and then ask myself that final
question and say, what would I have said if that
(10:17):
question was you know, asked.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
To me at seven years old.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So somewhere down the line, you know, there was there
was a prep there was a there was obviously an interest.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I don't know you actually prepared for it for more
than a decade, was manifested exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It's not exactly secrets. It's not easy.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So no, and for some people like they say that,
you know, things are a mix of hard work of
lack of a lot of things. I think so for me,
somewhere down the line now, when I look back in hindsight,
I can see how the universe kind of conspired, you know,
so nice was conspired to make you what more?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
But coming to the entrepreneur journey, I mean, did this
also happen to you while doing your other roles in life?
And you became a mother? Because being an entrepreneur honestly,
as an experiences, it's more like being a parent. It's
your baby. No one can be as attached as you
are to it. So how is your thought of again
becoming a mother with it?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So I think for me this is you know, business
is something that I've always wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, And I think, you know, I sort of have
a very very vast.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Very deep interest in finance, in the way money markets work,
in the way the business world works. And it hasn't
come from any textbook. It just comes from being able
to understand, you know, consumer consumption. It's being able to
understand the way you know, consumer goods and durables work.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
It's it's you know, it's I mean, I love it.
I Mean, I've always been fascinated by it.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I'm fascinated by you. I mean business journalist. You can
smell out these terms, that's all. This is shocking for.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Me, No, but I think it's for me. I think
it was just a natural transition. But you know, like
everything in life, everything has its own time and space.
You can't do it all no matter even if you
want it to. You'll end up making a bit of
a kidged of it if you try it. So I
think for me it was very important. I mean when
I was in my twenties, I did enter the film industry.
(12:21):
I built my name from there. You know, you build
a fan base, you build people get to know you,
they understand, they love your movies, they watch you with
the theaters.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I had my daughter when I was in my thirties,
so I took a break.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I enjoyed motherhood, you know, and when it was time
to kind of step back in a lot of I
have a lot of women who say to me, you know,
how do they achieve financial independence again after having kids?
So how do they step back into a workplace? And
it isn't easy. It takes a tremendous amount. You're constantly
when you become a mother, you get onto the guilt carousel,
(12:53):
and it doesn't stop. You know, You're you always feel
that whenever you're taking time away from your children that
you you're constantly beating yourself up about it, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
But I think for me, it was such an.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Integral part of who I am that I felt that
I could only be a better mother to my daughter
if I was doing the things that I really loved.
I wanted her to see me working. I wanted her
to see that it wasn't just about the financial independence,
but it was also about the fact that I had
a job that I loved and I was passionate about,
you know.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And I did this stumble into mixing skincare and you know,
something leading to again beauty and there so.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Skincare for me was something you know, that I've been
I started my modeling career when I was sixteen years
old when I won Glad Drags, you know. And so
for more than twenty five years now, I've been in
the beauty and fashion business and I've worked with the
best makeup ARTI is, the best skincare experts, but I
never really found any one Indian grown, homegrown skincare brand
(13:52):
that addressed the needs of Indian skin and the way
Indian skin ages, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
From end to end. I mean, we have a lot of.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Fancy international brands that cost the earth, and we all
go out and buy those fancy pots of cream, but
because they're so expensive, we use it so sparingly that
it isn't really doing you know, the wonders that it's
supposed to actually do to last skin. And secondly, I
don't Indian skin ages very very differently from the skin
that those products actually manufactured for, you know, because these
(14:22):
all manufactured for Caucasian skins and Far Eastern skins. But
we have and we have environmental factors that are different.
We have you know, pigmentation, sun spots and special pollution exactly.
So I think for me, I was fascinated about wanting
to create a skincare brand that was made essentially for
(14:43):
the way Indian skin ages and the care of Indian
skin requirements. So I'd spent about two three years almost
in research and development with skincare experts from across the world.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And of course Indian skin.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Ga experts and then develop Arise that nice. I've been
absolutely hands on all and the soft name Arise, what
does that mean it's my daughter, Sarah's name spelled backwards.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
That is also beautiful. I hope she knows that business.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Of course she does, hopefully if she wants it, if
she wants.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
It to have a cosmetic brand, and her name only
a skincare brand.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Well from from being a skincare brand, we've also expanded considerably,
so we launched her I Skincare Fragrances about four and
a half years ago. This year in January, I launched
a ies home with the Neilcomel groups. So we're in
all the at home stores and we cover you from
soft furnishings to crockery and cutlery.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
And class wars anything.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And we just launched her Ice Kids with First Cry,
which is this most amazing eco conscious fashion Brian.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So, I think I need to take some entrepreneur tip
before I get to that is so much. I think
I can go and talk to you. Had your cold
not be a reason today and not being given a
time allow I want to first take you to a
fun segment. This is because beyond the judgment, we do
a survey around. So there's a segment on how natural
people are, how to see a natural and real segment
(16:22):
and We want to know very quick things from you
if you can just give it in one one answer method.
The most real person you met in your industry. You
in the industry of metal, no, no, in the Bollywood industry, yeah,
or or the business industry now that you're on both sides,
real and natural person. Wow, you met.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
It, Yes, and he's incredible. What an inspiration? Then?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
The most natural thing that you use for your skin care?
What you suggest people to use for your skin care?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
H your skin? Tomatoes?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, are the most important ingredient in your your skin get.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
No, no, no, no, no, I have I have the
most incredible pumpkin line that's out right now, which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
But yeah, a quick fix is a.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Tomato, organic food product that you always have with you.
You you rely on that, a healthy food product or
a natural food product seeds, seeds, and a beauty tip,
a beauty hag that you want to give people immediate
way to just prep up your skin or you know, when.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You're out there, stop messing with your skin and stop
putting on a thousand products. I know that it's a
The world out there is bombarding you constantly with the
newest wonder you know product in the market, but you
just don't bombard your skin. I mean, I'm almost forty
five years old or forty five yet, but I have
(17:54):
very few blemishes, very few lines, but definitely nothing injected
into my face. So the only thing that I can
tell people is just be kind to your skin, and
I promise you it will take you such a long way.
So don't load your skin up with every product on
the market.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I think then just go and use a ryas. I
think that is the safest use.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I definitely use a rise. It's so gentle on your skin.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
True that now we have picked up some stereotype situation
where we see people go judging. Just help us. If
you match close to the answer, then we have a
sweet hamp over you. We have done a survey and
the survey says, what is judged more in the society today,
whether we judge a woman body or women clothes? According
to you in a percentage of one hundred percent, how
do you see people judge women body more or their clothing?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
How they I don't know. I think they judge their bodies.
Every woman that I meet, the first conversation is, so
my god, you've lost weight? Oh weight?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So I would not go on percent judging, but you're
close to the answer. Seventy percent said we judge body
more than that. How many choose judge the choice of
career to the success in your career, because now that
you have had many choices, how.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Many I think they look at success they judge success.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
More than seventy five percent? People say that you're judge
the success? How many women? How difficult was it being
a woman entrepreneur or being a woman artist? How more
judged you are when you're women businessman or a woman artist.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
A woman artist? Really?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Oh my god, I think there we failed. The answer
was sixty percent judge when you're a woman entrepreneur. And
as you said, I think you've answered about the health thing.
If you're fat or if you're skinny, when are you
judged more?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
And you're fat obviously.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
To get comments and remark when you're fat. So coming
back to some question on realizing your journey, I want
to know what do the if you can share some
moments that you made through self judgment in your life
being a mother, was there a moment of self judgment
when you went.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, you know, of course, I mean I just was
mentioning this in an interview that nobody really prepares you
for motherhood.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Everybody tells you how amazing and how great it is
to have kids, and how wonderful it's going to be,
but nobody nobody tells you how difficult and hard.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And miserable you're also going to be, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
And I think there are lots of times when, especially
after I had my daughter, where my body didn't look
anything and hasn't ever looked anything like it was a
pre pregnancy, you know, and then your heart on yourself.
I haven't lost the weight as quickly as I wanted to.
I'm gaining weight so much faster now, you know. I
just that's it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I'm giving up.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I'm just going to binge eat. It's not worth it, uh,
you know. So there are a lot of times when
we're very hard on ourselves, and I think it's very
normal and it's very natural. I don't think there's any
woman in the world who can say that, oh, I've
just been absolutely perfectly fine, you know, with myself.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, but so I think that, you know that, I mean,
there's still.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Days where I will judge myself, but then I have
to also understand and realize that nobody is going to
be kind to me except for myself. If I'm not
kind to myself, I can't really from anybody else.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Do you have a moment of self judgment being a businesswoman?
How was this journey?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Not really while being a business woman.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So I had a very interesting transition right before I
became an entrepreneur, because I was also one of the
first few actresses, I would say, the first first few actresses.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Within the bodily would industry to turn producer when I
did tellow the leading.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yes, and I think I faced a lot more prejudice
and I faced a lot more prejudice in judgment when
I turned producer as a woman, then when I but
then as an entrepreneur. In the business world, actually it
hasn't been that difficult to be taken seriously as a
as a business woman. But in the film industry at
that point of time, you know, everybody was willing to
sit down and discuss creative aspects of a project with you,
(21:41):
but not necessarily the financial and the business aspects of it,
you know, So they were constantly business that exactly, you know,
So they're constantly looking behind your shoulder to see there's
going to be a man walking into the room, who's
now going to come step in and take care of
all the business aspects of things. It made men uncomfortable
to have those kind of conversations with a woman. But
I think I took those learnings when I went into
(22:02):
my entrepreneurial journey, and maybe that's why it made it
easier for me.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
So I don't say.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
As a businesswoman entrepreneurs I.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Did, and I learned how to navigate it better. You know,
I learned how to navigate male egos better.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
That I have to take this what is that trick?
Then you know how to do you have a team
of women in your company, I do.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I have more women than I do men. I have
more women, and I think that they're far more efficient
than men are. You know, my my husband is always
complaining saying, oh my god, we're just dealing with all
these women who are all having that period at the
same time, and they're all like, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Maybe he was happier so that he has a whole
beauty work.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And I just know, and I just keep telling him.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'm like, you know, you have to be thankful every
single day that you've got these women, because there's so.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Much even with their period.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Even with men who pause, you know whatever, there's so
much more efficient than the men now because they just
get what you want to tell them.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
They get it and they implement it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
There's not telling somebody something twenty five times in order
before they get what you.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Actually want done.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
So I thought to take away anything from the men,
I have some incredible men as well, working you know
for me, which and they're fantastic.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I think your husband is the first one who's working
for you right from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yes, yes he is.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You should give that.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I've trained him well.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
I think that's the right attitude. We should keep them
so happy to hear these tricks off, but exact trick
is hard. What is there a line you do to
keep men pretty much in their.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yes, there's it's just no I think you know, as
a woman, and this is really true, you have to
work thrice as hard as any man in any field
in order to be taken seriously and in order to
be accepted and to thry. So I just feel that
if you want to venture into any kind of field
that you're really passionate about, it's very very important to
(23:59):
do your homework. I mean, you know, we were laughing together,
and you were saying that I sound like a business
journalist or whatever. But I sound like that because ippid
in the effort to know what I want to discuss.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So I hate walking into a meeting and not knowing, you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Know, what is.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So I don't want to be just because someone's done.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
An MBA and as a Harvard brad and you know,
has got some business degree from Stanford that the person.
I would never want someone like that to talk down
to me. I want to be when I'm at a table.
I want to be an equal when it comes to
doing business. And some of the most successful business people
in the world are people who've hardly had any education.
So it's not really about the degree that you hold.
(24:40):
It's about the interest fashion that you have, the curiosity
that you have in order to be able to learn
constantly in life. And so for me, that's it. That
curiosity is what's really helped. So when I make sure
that if I'm prepping for a meeting, before I go
into it, I work thrice as hard. I make sure
that I've everything that may come up, you know, So
(25:02):
I'm not flying by the seat of my pants. I've
actually you know, I'm walking in there prepared.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I think you answered the question I had, and what
we should keep in mind to be a successful business
woman is to take your work seriously before you just
go out with this whole idea of I want to
be a business woman.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
You know, of course tomorrow one so successful. No, no
man is going to say, you know, question your integrity
or question your business acumen because you proved yourself you're
successful tomorrow that when you're successful, people just want to
be associated with. Make sure that, but getting there doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Open.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
But if there was one answer which just went viral also,
I have to see one answer is the one you
gave on the global platform, and everybody remembers that, right,
So there was another answer I think in one of
the pageants video I had seen where you said that
you should be known for your legacy and how you
treat people. That one line of yours I think went
viral across. So just one thought, I want to hear
(25:55):
this from you again. You had said this that you
know if you remember at.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Some point, yeah, well it was I think they were
celebrating twenty years of my win at Miss Universe, so
you know it was.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
It was twenty years. I got two decades.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Since I won, and I think that's the one thing
that I've learned along the way, right in my entire
span of my career. But it's it's really about interpersonal relationships.
It's you know, we're very fortunate as celebrities to have
so many people who genuinely are true fans, you know,
who follow you with every step of the way, you know,
(26:34):
who pay attention to your career, can sing your songs
from movies, recite lines from you know, dialogues that you've
given upte number of kids who've come up to me,
you know, and recited that final question, the answer.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
That I gave on the Miss Universe stage, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
And that's why I'm saying that that gives you such
a sense of humility and of responsibility that I've realized
that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter
who you are.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Or what you look like or whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
It really does boil down to how you make somebody
feel when they're in your presence. Do you make them
feel valued? Do you make them feel like you're listening
to them?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
You know? Do you make them feel special?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
You know that that they really matter to you? In
your life, and I think that's what's really important.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
You know, to Mari, we ask you, you have to
ask Clara the question when she's almost in a forty five.
Going back to that moment, what question you would ask
yourself on that pageant?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I mean I always say I don't think.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I don't think that there's anything that nobody has not
asked me in my life so far, I think pretty
much with people have covered every single thing.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
So what is that thought you want to leave us with? Lara?
A book written on you? How should we title that book?
What is that you want? Your life journey? You've played
so many roles you're on going to be. You are
an entrepreneur, businesswoman, actress, mother, voice for the nation, you depageant,
Oh my god, I can't get produce, So what have
(28:02):
you left?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
No, I think that there was a book ever written
on me. I think the title of it would be
very short. It may not make sense right now because
there's you know, obviously there's a posse behind it, but
it would be one small three letter word and it
would be called lit.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So I think you actually your thoughts spell out more
intelligent than me I really know about. But thank you
so much, Lara, But I'm not going to let you
go like that. I want this one. We have this
thing of leaving us with a song. Now that you've
got a code, but even more reason.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
For you to go.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There's no way that I'm going to be singing guys,
guys followed my career. I hope everybody knows that my
singing is definitely not something that I'm don't.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
For especially, but it is something thought or a song
or two lines that you can take it from you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
A thought or a song two lines. Well, I'll leave
you with a song.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Actually I'm not going to sing it for you, but
John Lennon's imagine since we're talking about going beyond judgment tribes,
so imagine all the people.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, I'm going to pay that song. Thank you so much.
Last it was a pleasure. It was a pleasure knowing
you today more as a businesswoman and how your whole
journey has played a major role in bringing up and
it is the moment for me. So thank you for pleasure.
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