Heidi Klum
Over the years, I have been lucky enough to interview some very successful women.
The fact that they all also happened to be beautiful and famous didn?t resonate with me. I was more interested in how they got where they were?highly successful in their chosen careers, as well as harnessing their own brands and running their own companies.
These women had something different: business smarts. It was this acumen that allowed them to take their platforms?not even particularly influential ones?and it turn them into empires.
Of course, it takes any number of combined forces for this to happen. Personality, a strong work ethic, good management and luck all play their roles too.
But I want to focus on some of the unique personal attributes I noticed in each of these women, attributes that I believe aided them in their road to success. Not all of us have beauty, a great business manager, or a platform to reach millions, but all of us are capable of applying the traits I noticed in these women to our own efforts to succeed.
In a world of crash and burn celebrity, where it?s more common to implode after reaching the pinnacle than continue to rise, these women buck the trend. Each one of them is more successful now than when I interviewed her. And there?s not one arrest among them.
Heidi Klum
I interviewed Heidi for a profile that appeared in the 2008 Forbes celebrity issue. In preparation, Heidi?s publicist sent me a book called Heidi Klum?s Body of Knowledge. From the look and sound of it, it was going to be a bit of fluff about her exercise, diet and beauty routine. I leafed through it out of a sense of obligation. To my surprise, inside was a blueprint for success that the CEO of a multibillion company could have written. Here are some highlights:
When Heidi arrived in New York as a young aspiring model, no one wanted to hire her, despite the fact that she?d just won a very big modeling contest in her home country. Everyone thought she was too ?American looking??which is ironic, since she?s German. This went on for about a year, and Heidi describes how she watched as her aspiring model roommates either gave into partying or gave up and went home.
Not Heidi. After a bit of catalogue work, she began bugging her agency to send her to lingerie company Victoria?s Secret. Her agent assured her that she was not Victoria?s Secret?s type. She was too busty, too athletic, too this, too that. Her answer? ?Let them tell me that, not you.?
Of course, she eventually did get in to VS and became one of their biggest models. She got rid of that agent too. In fact, she got rid of any agent she felt didn?t dream as big as she was dreaming and who didn?t understand her vision.
By the time I interviewed Heidi, she was a mega-success, with the longest-running VS contract, two TV shows, and a major business empire. But one thing Heidi didn?t have yet was a Forbes cover, and she wanted it. And when Heidi wants something?step back.
Heidi hired her own photographer to do a photo shoot for the story. She also had her own designer (a Project Runway finalist) construct a dress for her made of dollar bills. When someone at the Forbes Video Network asked me if Heidi would film an online video for us, I had my doubts. At the time, we didn?t have many big names doing videos (that has since changed). Why, I wondered, would a supermodel like Heidi do an online video for us? When I called her, I got the same answer I?d gotten every other time I asked her to do something: I will do anything it takes to get that cover.
Her work paid off. Heidi got her Forbes cover.
Lessons: Let go of those who don?t share your vision. You?re never too big to work your butt off.
Tyra Banks
I met Tyra in 2006 for a profile. Like Heidi, she was a model with a CEO attitude that had successfully transitioned from pretty mannequin to media mogul. Tyra impressed me in many ways?for one, she was all business. As I say in my book (Tyra makes a brief appearance): ?She doesn?t giggle or bat her eyelashes.?� She also had a very keen understanding of her own brand. At the time, she had just come off an attempt to be a singer. Like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton, she could have easily gotten a record deal and churned out something sub-par that sold reasonably well because of her name. But after one single, Tyra gave up the endeavor, telling me that unless she could sing like Mariah Carey, she should not be singing at all.
But the thing that impressed me most about Tyra was her old-fashioned manners. After my return to New York, I received a small brown envelope with Tyra?s name in the return address. Inside the envelope was a little green and white thank you card. Tyra had written: ?Hi Kiri, just sending a hello. Much love, Tyra Banks.?
Of course, maybe her assistant wrote the card. But a few years later, I was speaking to Edward Razek, who casts the models for Victoria?s Secret and who knows Tyra very well. He told me a story about Tyra sending him a hand-written thank you note after he showed up at a mall appearance of hers?and this was way before she had a media empire. This gesture really stuck in Razek?s mind, just as it did in mine.
Lesson: Say thank you?even better if you can do it in a personal way.
Kathy Ireland
In 2004 I did a story on former Sports Illustrated supermodel Kathy Ireland, again for the celebrity issue. At the time, Kathy had somehow flown under the media radar despite having a business that generated $1 billion a year in sales. It was a modeling agent that led me to her by saying, ?I hear Kathy Ireland sells a lot of lamps.?
Turns out that Kathy was selling a lot more than that. She had started out a few years before with a line of Kmart socks, but by the time I interviewed her, she had her name on everything from clothes to home furniture to office furniture to gardening tools to lighting to wallpaper to? you name it.
Another thing about Kathy is that she is a devout Christian. This isn?t mentioned much in her press, and indeed I didn?t mention it in my story either, but Kathy is very proud of it. While Kathy is open to all kinds of partnerships, I know that she enjoys seeking out partnerships with other Christians.
Also, keep in mind that when Kathy started her empire, she had no real platform. She was considered a very successful model?she had been on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition?s cover a dozen times?but she didn?t have a TV show like Heidi Klum or Tyra Banks. Never mind. After her socks proved a best seller for Kmart, she founded Kathy Ireland Worldwide and began cementing partnerships with dozens of other companies. She didn?t let the fact that she wasn?t truly famous or highly influential stop her from moving forward with big plans.
Lessons: Connect with like-minded people. Dream bigger than you should.
Padma Lakshmi
I met Padma in May 2008. She had come to my attention because of the ubiquitous ads in the subway system advertising Top Chef. I?d never heard of the show before. At the time, Padma was in the midst of trying to figure out how to best leverage her platform?a cooking contest show?into a viable business. She was interested in several ideas, primarily a line of body scents, a line of India-inspired jewelry, and a food line.
I spent hours in a fragrance factory in Manhattan watching Padma mix fragrances. This wasn?t a woman who was going to slap her name on something she wasn?t hands (or nose) on with.
At the time, Padma?s fame on Top Chef was cresting. She knew very well that, according to the playbook, she should get together a bunch of product and toss it out the door immediately. Instead, she wanted to bide her time, to make sure that her product was exactly what she wanted and that it was a good match for her. It was more than a year later that her India-inspired jewelry line, now sold in stores like Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, debuted and seven months after that that Easy Exotic, her line of spice blends, teas, cookware and knives, made its appearance. As an accomplished cook, Padma knows not to take something out of the oven until it?s truly ready.
Lesson: Better right than right now.
Sandra Bullock
I met Sandra in 2007 for a profile. When I arrived at her production company?s offices, she got on the phone and began tossing around ideas for her upcoming movie, All About Steve, which she was producing. She wasn?t on the phone with a studio representative, the scriptwriter, or even her co-star, Bradley Cooper. She was on the phone with the costume designer! ?Maybe she pulls her skirt off, and she?s got shorts underneath,? Bullock said to the costume designer about her character. ?Maybe we see a close-up of her boot. And we know exactly why she chose that boot.?
That?s right, Sandra Bullock, the star of the movie, was parsing the tiniest details of her character?s costume with the designer. She had exactly what her character would wear in her mind?s eye, right down to what she?d be wearing under her skirt. She wasn?t leaving these telling little details to someone else. I have no doubt she is like that with everything she takes on, whether it?s her movies, her investments (she?s big on real estate) or her Austin, TX restaurant, Bess Bistro.
In fact, Sandra picks out the menu, the d�cor, the Bess-branded merchandise sold in the gift shop, and oversaw the renovation of the building where the restaurant resides. It came as no surprise to me that Sandra segued from Oscar winner to divorcee to mother in the blink of an eye. This woman can multitask.
Lesson: Pay attention to the details.
Jill Zarin
I met Jill a couple of months ago when I sat next to her at a dinner party. I had seen her reality TV show, Real Housewives of New York City, a few times, but not enough to be very familiar with her personality or life.
I found Jill to be straightforward, down to earth, and quite business savvy. We got talking books, since she?d written one with her sister, Lisa Wexler (herself a highly successful radio personality), called Secrets of a Jewish Mother. As the night was wrapping up, I walked over to Jill and asked if she?d like a copy of my book, since I just so happened (imagine that!) to have one with me.
Jill looked me in the eye and said, in a polite but straight-shooter way, ?I hardly ever have time to read.? Then her eyes widened, as if she?d said the wrong thing. But in that moment, Jill really won me over. I would much rather have someone tell me the truth about not having the time (or even the inclination) to do something for me, than to have them pretend they do and cause me disappointment when they don?t. Jill then offered to tweet about my book to her 113,000 followers, and did so the next morning.
Lesson: Be honest about what you can do for someone. Don?t over-promise.
Kiri Blakeley writes about women, pop culture, models and media. Her book, Can?t Think Straight: A Memoir of Mixed-Up Love, is out now. Visit her at kiriblakeley.com.
