
NoBS Wealth
Welcome to the NoBS Wealth Podcast—where we ditch the BS, cut through the noise, and get real about what it takes to build wealth, especially for women, minority business owners, and those standing on the edge of their financial journey, ready to take that first bold step.
We’re not here to sugarcoat it. I’m Stoy Hall, your host and Certified Financial Planner, and I’m bringing you conversations that go beyond the spreadsheets. We're talking about the emotional, psychological, and real-life challenges of money—and how to crush them.
Why You Should Tune In:
- No Fluff. Just Actionable Advice: You don’t have time for complicated, jargon-filled nonsense, and I don’t have the patience to give it to you. Here, we’re breaking down strategies you can actually use—whether you're managing cash flow in your business or figuring out how to start investing without feeling overwhelmed.
- Your Money, Your Mindset: If you think the key to wealth is just about saving and investing, you’re missing half the game. We’ll tackle the inner work—overcoming financial fear, breaking generational money cycles, and adopting a winning mindset to keep you in the game long-term.
- Real Stories You’ll Relate To: We’re bringing on guests with stories like yours. Women and minority business owners who’ve been where you are, taken the risks, and come out on top. No “overnight success” garbage—just honest journeys filled with ups, downs, and everything in between.
Who This Podcast Is For:
If you’ve ever thought:
- “I want to build wealth, but I don’t know where to start.”
- “I’m ready to grow my business, but I need guidance on the financial side.”
- “I don’t come from money, and it feels like I’m playing catch-up.”
Then congratulations—you’re exactly who this podcast was designed for.
What You’ll Get Out of It:
- Breaking the Fear: We’ll help you face that first step head-on and show you that building wealth isn’t just for the rich or privileged—it’s for you.
- Alternative Wealth Strategies: From real estate to investing in your business, we’ll explore nontraditional ways to grow your money without drowning in “just invest in the S&P 500” advice.
- Practical Tools: Whether it’s tax hacks, cash flow management, or scaling your business, we give you the tools to act, not just dream.
It’s time to bet on yourself. Tune in, get inspired, and most importantly—take action. The life you want? It’s within reach.
Visit nobswealth.com to catch our latest episodes and join the NoBS movement.
And yeah, we get a little explicit around here. You’ve been warned.
NoBS Wealth
Ep. 124 - Liana Zavo's Raw Journey Through Resilience, Rejection, and Rebuilding Her Life
Shoot us a message, we are here for you and we listen!
In this no-holds-barred conversation, PR powerhouse Liana Zavo reveals how she transformed from a teenage mother with crushed dreams into a global PR force operating in 12 countries. Stoy Hall digs into the raw truth of her journey - the Russian immigrant who faced constant rejection, battled autoimmune disease from overworking, and ultimately built an empire on her own terms.
This isn't just another success story. It's a masterclass in using PR as your ultimate weapon - the "underdog" marketing tool Liana claims is more powerful than traditional advertising. She exposes the myths around publicity, shares her "BE EPIC" method that's transformed 3,500+ female executives, and explains why your story matters more than your credentials.
Whether you're a business owner wondering if PR is worth it or someone fighting to find your voice, Liana delivers the unfiltered truth about building unstoppable momentum in life and business.
Connect with Liana: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lianazavoprpro/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zavomediamogul YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PRMEDIAMOGUL
As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!
Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin
DISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.
I've been told many times that there's no such thing as good PR or bad pr, right? All PR is PR marketing's marketing. But today we're gonna take you through a journey of, of Liana Zavo, who also, by the way, cares deeply about women. You know, I do in terms of women business owners. And so we're gonna dive into her story, where she's at, and exactly how PR can, can affect you and be a positive to you. So without further ado, welcome to the show.
Liana Zavo:Thank you so much for having me Stoy. I'm excited to get into the details.
Stoy:Yes, absolutely. But let's give everyone a little background about you, you know, where it came from and how the hell you got into pr. Uh, let's start with that.
Liana Zavo:You know, I think it's just my grit, my resilience, and not taking no for an answer that is exactly. What my whole life was about from a young age, I've always been into sports. I think that in itself just always made me have this competitive edge to me. I love basketball. I love ice skating and falling down and coming back up like nothing happened and making sure I finish what I started. I think that in itself. Are the soft skills that entrepreneurs should have, and it's not about the college degrees. It's great to have them. I'm a college dropout. Not that I am saying that education's not important, but it's just that I had to drop out because I was, I got married when I was 18. I had my son at 19. I. I was an excellent student in high school. I even was not recognized as who's who among top high school students in America. I had it, I had excellence in in education. Learning was my thing, but life had its other plans for me, and so I had to detour and sway from my dreams. My grandmother was a journalist in Russia, so I had that journalism in me. I have storytelling ingrained in me. I love that side and that's why I wanted to pursue communications, but my mother didn't want me to pursue it because she. Saw her mother was traveling all the time, so she wanted me to find something more safe and secure. So, you know, do speech pathology, it's close or go become a doctor. And so I loved that adventure. I wanted to do something that would set my heart on fire. And so I, it took a ti, it took a long time to get to where I am today of these obstacles and hurdles Anders, I had to go through in order to, for me to become the, uh, successful PR expert that I am today. So that's just a little story of how I started.
Stoy:Yeah. So talk us through getting married at 18, having a kid at 19, but being, you know, being a top athlete. Right. Um, I played collegiate football, so going at that top degree. As an athlete, you are always like grinding, working, and have goals and aspirations. Talk us through how. Life happens. Right? So talk us through that kind of couple year period coming out of being like such a top athlete to now married with a kid, and what does that mean for you in your career and your future?
Liana Zavo:You know, when you are athletic and you're always finding ways to lead a team, it's that leadership skills that you have, right? And then when you fall into a marriage, it's like, okay, well I can't really have a voice. I can't have a say. You know, I. I got married to a partner who was very old school and and conservative in many ways. And so it was his way and everything that I learned in my years of being independent, um, I'm a very independent soul and so I love to lead people. Hence why I'm, I'm a great entrepreneur and leading my company and so. I lost that for a little bit. I lost that power to have a voice to say, you know what this is, I think this is how you should go about it. Like when you throw hoops, right, and you shoot, shoot ball, like you know that you have a two pointer, you have a three pointer. That's the angle you should be going at. So I have that side to me where I, I love to be very strategic and I won my. My voice to be heard. I want you to listen because I know the way to go about this. So, when I got married, obviously all of that got shut down that side of me. I had to, uh, kind of cater and serve and, and be a good housewife in a way. But I went to college at the same time and I was, I did banking. I was a teller. I did a lot. I had to, you know, but that personality when I growing up, being very athletic, just helped me through tough times because I know that even if I fall down, I get knocked down in my face. I get hit in my nose a lot of times by a six foot guy that I was playing against. I would have to just get up and, uh, have that, I had that tomboy side to me, which helped me a lot in my life.
Stoy:Absolutely. How much did this, like in our society, it's always like, you're supposed to, you know, grow up, go to school, um, go to college, get married, have a kid, have a career, blah, blah, blah. Very like rigid things. Yeah. How much did that play into you early on, and how has that mindset shifted now, mindset now,
Liana Zavo:you know, so I. Uh, I remember growing up and I had to take care of my sister, you know, my sister, four year difference. And I remember I was five years old. She's one. I grew up in Russia, and so when we immigrated to Vienna, Austria, it was like, you gotta take care of your sister. It's always a responsibility. You gotta do this. You gotta take care. I don't even remember playing with toys, to be honest with you. Right. I maybe I had like a little small little toy. Maybe it was like a ninja turtle or something, but it wasn't like a Barbie toll. And so that time, you know, of how I, what was ingrained in me is like, you gotta take care. You have to take care of the household. You have to make sure you helping out your parents. Now it's like I am free to revisit my childhood. I want to dive into who I am and, and relive that, that inner child that I have in me that I kind of neglected because I was always on the go, go, go taking care of my kid, you know, started off with my sister and that never stopped until recently. I would say maybe. Eight to 10 years where I said, you know what? I need to just rediscover who I, who I am, who is Leona, how can I find my inner child and be connected to that and not be always on the go, go, go. Just let it go.
Stoy:How tough is it to do that? Like to Well, I'm so happy that you, you found out, like you were like, you know what? I need to take a. A step back and kind of figure myself out, but I think a lot of women specifically and minorities, but mainly women, go through this transition period at some point in their life. I believe that I've seen both my experience and, and what I've read is the fact that like they go through this period of time, some. Don't go and it goes very quickly and then they're back into their normal cycle of whatever they were or others. Like you go, Hey, I'm gonna take the time. Talk to me about like, how long do you think it took you to truly recognize, Hey, I need to go get my inner child out and now who you are is truly who you are. How long did it take you to go from not being who you are to figuring it out to now? This is who Lean Ann is like, this is who I am.
Liana Zavo:Oh my God, it took a long time. I still, I think I'm still finding out, I think I'm still rediscovering myself. It's like an evolution, right? But I think, um, when I really started becoming more at ease is when I started my company. Um, the very first company I started was at 23 years old. I had a styling concierge firm, and that was also, I was on the go. I had the, the hustle mental mentality, and I, and that's how I got my autoimmune disease at 20, at 25, because I was so. Just out there trying to grind and. It took a while. So you would think getting married at 18, having this very first firm that I established my company at 23 and now at 38, I would say a good 20 years to understand, but I don't look my my age, which is a, which is a bonus. I can say that for myself. I do a lot. To biohack myself, I do a lot to just, you know, not to age gracefully, right? You need to understand, in order for you to find your inner child, you have to biohack yourself, and I'm very in tune with that side of me as well. I had to find ways to meditate, and so if I have to tell you how long it took, I would say. 18, getting married to 20 years, you know, to really honing in like now I am so, so confident and, and I think it's just gonna get better from here.
Stoy:I think it's a really important piece. What you talked about 20 years, it might be 10 for others, five 30, some of us maybe always on that journey. I think we are at some point, some degree. It's very important for everyone that's listening to understand like where you're at right now and where you want to be. There is no specific timeframe, right? Just because you see it in social media and all the stuff that you have, the people who have overnight fame or overnight success or success in three years, five years, or whatever, your path is truly your path. Whatever that may be. And if you own that, that path becomes more friendly. It becomes part of your lifestyle. There isn't this like thing holding over your head and being like, I need to be at X by 10 year anniversary in the 15 year anniversary. If you live life. Based upon your own path and your own journey, that's where I think you relax. That's where your inner child comes out. That's where you stop worrying and caring so much about the outside and just about you. So I appreciate you talking about that. Thank you. So let's, let's see. You launched a company at 23. Um, you are currently 38. Where did the PR come from? Because you know. One side to the other. Those aren't the same, like those aren't in the same industry. So what happened in that timeframe?
Liana Zavo:You know, it's, I'll be honest with you, it's not the same industry, but storytelling is there. I had to, when I was a personal stylist, I had to make sure that what you wear is your first impression and your last impression, what you say is the first impression and your last impression, right? It's very important. It has a lot of similarity. And so I started telling stories by what you wore. Galas events, charities, think about it. When you step into a room, you have to make sure you look like an authority. You have to have that presence about you if you're, you know, and I, and I worked with top high, top tier hotels in the city, so you can imagine the guests that came there from all over the world and they would attend galas and charity events. And so telling their story and, and it's very therapeutic, you know, going shopping with them and making sure that they feel the confidence in presenting themselves so. That was my very first step in introduction to storytelling. Through what you wear and, and I have to tell you, personal branding is about the image as well. The way you present yourself is one side of your story, and so it's not really different. All I'm doing now is I fostered so many relationship, relationship with journalists that I can, I know what angle to use in order to create a buzz around your story, right? So I had to hone in on those. Skills and how it started was I was discovered, her name was Marella Matan. She discovered me. I was working with a client at Berg Up Goodman in New York City, and she saw something in me. She saw how I was styling my other client and she wanted me to style her as well for her event. And so it came to be that she owned, um, a skincare line and she wanted me to become her consultant for her line. She wanted me to be that visionary and that was. Everything I wanted because I wanted someone to believe in me. She introduced me to her PR firm, and at that time my family was expanding from Queens, New York to Manhattan to open up more restaurants. I come from the hospitality industry, so we have a lot of restaurants and. When they, I knew the project is coming about in New York City. I knew that we needed PR for the restaurant and at that time, at the same time that I already have my concierge firm, I'm already applying to different PR firms. Now I get rejected from all five of them because of one thing. Do you have a college degree? No, I don't. But don't you look at my soft skills. Um. Ambitious. I'm hungry. I got a network of people. I have high net worth individuals. Can we find leverage here? Is it all about that? I'm like, look, I can come in as a consultant. I don't need to be a publicist. Just, no, it's all about it. It has to be like, you need to have a college degree, and so I. If it's not this way for me, if I can't knock on this door, I make sure I'll knock on another door and that door will open for me. You have to knock on doors because otherwise, you know, you can't just be stuck with that answer. I don't take no for an answer, and so when Marella Matan introduced me to this PR firm. I gave him an ultimatum. I said, look, I will have my restaurant, it's gonna open up in a couple of months, and if you hire me as your consultant, not only am I going to be consulting for more but your consultant for your eight PR firm, then I will bring on my, my restaurant VO as the very first, uh, client, and then I will add many more to that. And so, you know what they agree, they, they didn't say. See why not. And they were open-minded about it. So that's the relationship I started building and I learned everything I needed to know from from that PR firm.
Stoy:How long were you with them
Liana Zavo:for? About a year and a half.
Stoy:About a year and a half. And then you launched your own?
Liana Zavo:Yes.
Stoy:What made you transition from, from working for someone to working for yourself?
Liana Zavo:I never worked for them, never. I was a consultant freelance. I made my own hours. I got, I got paid out commission, I get paid. I got paid out on referrals. I get, you know, I never worked for, for them. It wasn't like set hours. I came in as a freelance contractor and then I decided, you know, I said to myself, I want to be recognized for myself for my own name. I have a name. The restaurant, Zao is my last name. So I already was building out my brand, right? And so I said, okay, well I'm, I'm, I'm a very good brand strategist, so I said, if I'm already doing it, I'm gonna go all in. My people need to know the household name in New York City. And by the way, we had to shut down, unfortunately. Due to Covid, but the name still stands there if you pass by 60th and, and third, across the street from Bloomingdale's. I'm not sure, I don't know how familiar you are with New York City, but the name still stands. You know, after so many years, we were attached to Dylan's candy shop and Dylan's candy shop is, that was the landmark for them. So we were recognized and I doubled down on my name. I said, look, this is what I need to do because I have a vision for myself. I, I wanna go big. And I never stopped. So that PR firm that I work for is only here in New York City. I went global. I took my company four years ago. I'm in 12 countries now because I was born in Russia because I immigrated to Vienna, Austria with my family. I love the global scale. I love working with founders from all over the world. Yes, it's challenging because there's so many different ways. You know, we need to find ways to work together, cultures and lifestyle. At the end of the day, I just love bridging the gap for founders, global founders in the American market and giving them recognition and the credibility that they deserve.
Stoy:That's amazing. That's amazing story. It's, it's one of those, I guess everyone calls it like the American Dream, and that's essentially what you're living, which is amazing. So thank you. Let's dive into pr, right? Um. From a personal brand perspective, a businessman brand perspective, if someone only has ever heard of PR because of, you know, your, your, your high celebrities or your giant brands and stuff like that, and they never think it's for them or their business, what would you say to that?
Liana Zavo:Yeah, I want to dispel that myth. That is something everyone needs pr, whether you are a small company, right? I work with small to mid-size companies. There are a few companies that are on a larger scale, but for me, I like to represent the face behind the brand. It's important it's not for a large company, PR is the most cost effective promotional tool out there if you think about it. First of all, it's underrated and it's an underdog what PR can do for you. Marketing and advertising will never do for you. And I'll tell you why. If you hire someone to do advertising for you, you know that they put your face in front of a billboard or in back of the bus and you know you paid for that marketing. Yes, there's a little storytelling going on. You know, they, but you know, you also paid for that in order to do marketing. But for pr, you can't directly pay a. Journalists to write about you. You can't pay directly a TV station to get you on air. So you come to a publicist and say, look, I'm ready. I'm a business leader. I'm a thought leader, and I want to expand my brand awareness. Can you get me on tv? And you work with a publicist and we work on an angle because not every journalist will take you on. We need to find an angle that makes you, it creates a buzz that makes you relevant. And so I would say that. It's better for those smaller companies. I like to work with smaller and you know, organizations that actually I can work with a face behind the brand. Like you, for example, I like to work with someone who's one-on-one, who has the attention from me so that we can craft your narrative and it's compelling and so that when you present yourself as a thought leader, you get more credibility because you've been vetted by third party. So CBS news wants to interview you because you are an expert in your industry. And they want to learn more about you. And so you, when you give your expert advice and think about it, that in itself is major credibility. And when you get Google indexed, right, that's already SEO embedded. So you don't need an SEO Agency marketing that's already organic marketing because you are going to be trending on Google. So you take that and then you distribute that on all the social media platforms. So PR is truly what gives you that. Push to your credibility and people should know that because if you are not being talked about by third party, like Forbes for example, like I write for Forbes, I'm a Forbes contributor, and if you are not being vetted and your story is not being fact checked, you can say anything you want, but journalism and pr, we fact check and make sure that what you're saying stays true to your, to your company.
Stoy:So talk to me about how, I know how some PR works, but like others out there would say, well, it's just an expense for someone to, you know, submit my name into, you know, a journalist or whatever. I. But there are PR firms out there that deal with the pay to play. For those that don't know what the hell that means is to get that segment, to get that article, you're paying for that, but also you're paying a publicist. Where does your company stand in terms of the pay to play, but also like making sure that you get results for your business owners?'cause ultimately, that's what we care about, right? Like, if I'm gonna give you money, I wanna see results. How do you deal with that kind of misnomer or that negative feel for your industry?
Liana Zavo:You know, at times when you have to pay to play in the beginning, I won't say it's the worst thing to do, is, is it the best thing to do? No, it's not. It's not the best because you know that you want the authenticity to be there. I do not like to, for someone to pay, to play for a journal like you pay me as a publicist so that I can get you into those relationships that I have. But if you don't have a publicist and you're doing pay to play, I won't look at it as a credibility because. You can just pay and to get your story out there, it needs to really hone in and make sense with that journalist to take on your story. So for me, that does not show much credibility. I wouldn't, I would not be against it a hundred percent because I. You know what? People think that a publicist has too much money, but it's not, you are actually wasting so much more money on pay to play when you have a publicist in your corner who can actually guide you and give you more. First of all, when you have, when you hire a publicist, you get strategic partners, you get the real deal, and you have those journalists that, that the firm is already has that relationship with. When you're just, there's a lot of LinkedIn too, when they send messages, oh, would you like to be featured here? Oh, just pay us this. But that in itself does not show your credibility. They approach everyone. But when you are really recognized for your work for who you are, that feels very special. You know what I, I was recognized by this publication. Can you imagine like out of all of them, out of all the founders, I was handpicked, you know, I was an editor's pick. So that is. Very significant. That is very unique and I think that people should. Stop doing the pay, pay for their play type of thing. But actually go the traditional route and make sure that the publicist reaches out on behalf of you. Or you can reach out yourself, reach out to a publication, reach out to a journalist that says, look, this is my story. Would you like to pick my story? Sometimes that can work as well, but if you have the, if you have the time and patience, you can do it. But if you're running a big company, nobody has time for that. That's why they have to delegate, and you have to delegate with the right team.
Stoy:How do you coach women or minorities?'cause a lot of us have this where we don't wanna be selfish. Right? Putting myself out there in terms of getting publicity somewhere, winning an award, whatever feels kind of like, right? Like I'm not doing it for that purpose. I get that way too, right? I'm not doing what I do every day for me. I'm doing it for the greater good of people. It just so happens to be what my skillset lies. How do you coach your clients? In regards to that, to get them to where they are confident to put themselves out there. Because once you start changing your brand that way, that's when great things happen. It's all of those other ones that are, their voices are behind the scenes. They're, they're a little, uh, I don't know if it's scared or whatever the definition is we want to use, but how do you coach, you know, specifically those women to move forward and to really put themself out there and be comfortable with it.
Liana Zavo:You know, I like how you say coach because as a publicist I do a lot of that and I mentor and I coach, and I instill that confidence in you. And that's the 80% mindset that comes in, right? Because if it doesn't stem from your mind and you're not confident, you can't really execute on your narrative. It has to come. And that's why I wrote my book as well be Epic and the be Epic method. Is the 80% mindset and 20% is the practice, and it's sold on Amazon. By the way, I'm an Amazon published author, which I'm very proud of, and what I developed was, and it's been tested, so 3,500 when you said coaching and mentoring, I've mentored over 3,500 female executives, and there are students and college students, all in all 500 people, where this method has been proven and tested that it works from having the belief. It's a one word acronym for B Epic. Having the belief becoming empowered. When you have the belief you can then find your core identity, right? Your core identity, who you are comes from the belief. But if you don't believe who you are, and if you think you have a story won't matter, then anything you say is not gonna work in your favor. And so I work on that. Um, I would say. Those five methodologies and, and then we go and actually start compiling your narrative. It's so important to have control of your narrative and. Finding that be epic. So peace for belief, ease for empowerment, um, peace for personal satisfaction, which leads to personal development, which then leads to public relations mastery. Then I, you know, comes in from. The inner voice, the inner, inner, uh, development, and an influential. When you have the inner voice guiding you, then you can build those influential relationships. And then the C is consistency, right? If you're not consistent in your brand, if you're not consistent and com coming out of your comfort zone, you have to get out of that comfort zone. In order to do that, you have to be consistent. And so that is what I teach and it's been really incredible journey for them, and they love how I hone in on that 80% mindset in order for them to really, truly be successful.
Stoy:What does it look like when someone comes aboard and they're looking for results? What is kind of like the timeframe? Obviously every person's different and every industry is different, so I'm not gonna make you quote that, but I'm gonna say like, if someone came aboard, what's onboarding look like? What's the process look like to them? And then what? What are some expectations that they should have of having a publicist specifically you, in regards to being out there and performing?
Liana Zavo:Yeah, so the onboarding process is very simple. We have a couple of questions for you to answer to understand what your mission is, why you even are motivated to hire a PR agency, and, and make them understand that we are not, we're not going to help you with marketing. That is not our job, right? We have to make sure that it's clear. We're not marketers, but we're publicists, and, you know, then we have a consultation, a one-on-one after they have this onboarding questions that they filled out and. We make sure that we are on the same page as well. Delivering. We are. So when I tell you that I overdeliver, I have to overdeliver to my clients'cause that's my reputation and it's not about, you know, just taking their money and saying, I. I'll, I'll deliver when I can deliver. Because when with PR firms, and when I hired my, the PR firm from my restaurant, Davo, I saw how they worked, right? It was great overall, but they didn't deliver every month. The deliverables weren't there. And I said to myself, you know, we are paying a substantial amount of money and I need to find a way that deliverables will be there. We can't just say that, well, we pitched to a journalist and it's taking a lot of time. Right? I, I can't operate that way. It's very frustrating because we. As a, as a founder, when you hire me as a publicist and a PR firm, you want to make sure that we are on top of your story. We're always finding a way to generate, uh, awareness and getting the public involved, right? And so whether it be podcasting, tv, whether it be anything else, I have to make sure every month there are deliverables. And so with a lot of other firms, they would say, you know, we just pitched to a journalist. It's taking time by the time they get back. But listen, by the time they get back, you can do something else for me. Create. Buzz somehow else, or take me into a studio, create a personal branding video, a professional branding video that speaks for itself as well, that creates buzz. So for me, it's very important to always be on that momentum, cash on momentum, and not just say, you know what? Well, I. We're just waiting to hear news back. For me, it's important that I cover all facets of pr. It's not just publications. It's also on video as well. Video is so important. If you're not doing short videos, if you're not doing any content creation, you're gonna fall off the track. You're gonna fall off the grid, so you have to make sure that while we're waiting for the publications, we have to get you in front of the camera and start telling your story that way.
Stoy:Yeah. And from a marketing perspective, everything we talk about perspective, you gotta get in front of the camera, right? And yes, it's gonna be shitty when you first start. It's gonna be uncomfortable. But you know, as former athletes, you keep doing it. You're gonna get better, then you're gonna get good, and then you'll see the limelight after that. So I, I love that push for it. But you might not say you talk about marketing or it's your role, but like that was pure genius. Go do content creation, make sure you're doing some marketing, because one, it's relatively easy and free for you to do. As a business owner, and it really does not take that much time once you understand how the hell to do it correctly. So I definitely appreciate that. Thank you. As we get towards the end of this, we always want to ask a couple questions. Okay. First one is, what was your first money memory?
Liana Zavo:First money memory was my style and concierge firm. That was when I. I mean, working with these amazing top tier hotels, that in itself was incredible. I mean, I would go shopping with them five, six hours and the hotel would pay me three 50 an hour, and then on top of that, you would get commission from, uh, the, you know, from wherever store you're selling it from. So that was like, wow, you know, I. Look, I come from a very successful family, but I never thought of, you know, being dependent on them. Always fun. You know, the journey was so much fun for me. I said I gotta go and find a way to make that money on my own. I wanna be proud of it. My son is looking up to me, you know, I wanna make sure that he's not gonna just say like, Hey mom, you just kind of, you know, married off maybe to a rich man. Nothing wrong with that, but that my thing, you know? I just like to. Make that on my own. And so that very first memory was when I styled a woman for five hours straight, got my$350 an hour, and then got an an crazy amount incentive from Berg, the Goodman. So you can do the math yourself.
Stoy:Where has that memory taken you now? Like if you, obviously we just reflected back on that memory, but tune into who you are today, how much of that memory is reflected on your day-to-day work now?
Liana Zavo:You know, it's interesting because I just had this whole video production I did with my client yesterday and she was asking me, so tell me, does this, is this a better outfit or this one, which outfit should I go with? So she would ask me for my opinion because obviously this is what, how I started telling stories through clothing, right? And because to be on camera and I said, look, no, this does not go well. It's. A little too stuffy. It's oversaturated. Let's go a little more simple. Make, make the shoe pop. You know? So for me, fixing her hair, doing this, so for me it's like I have it all. Like you come to me and I make sure that I take care of you. And if I even have to do your hair on set, I'll blow dry it as well. You know? That's what it takes, right? You gotta do it all sometimes.
Stoy:Yeah, absolutely. What is one thing you wanna leave all the listeners with that they could now like implement today to take that next step forward tomorrow? Because we all know that we all feel alone at some point in our journey, and we're not really alone, but there's a lot of us out there to help you. So what is one thing you can give'em today right now that they'll be able to take that next step forward
Liana Zavo:to founders? Correct. To business thought leaders. I would say that. Don't be afraid to share your story, no matter how ugly it can be. How successful the challenges you had to overcome. Speak your truth. Authenticity is what people want to hear. Authenticity shines. Don't be superficial. Nobody cares about what bag you bought. We care about what can you teach us? What value do you bring to your audience? At the end of the day, it's all about bringing value, right? And the reason why business thought leaders have to be also content creators is because. The culture has changed. We're in a culture of bringing immense value. So it's not about, yes, I run a multimillion dollar company. Great. Okay, but I've never heard you speak. I've never heard you, you know, gimme expert advice, no insights. Start speaking up, create a videos, start a podcast, or get on the podcast to whatever it is so you can be heard. You can be seen. If you can't hire a publicist right away, start small. But eventually you'll need a publicist.
Stoy:I love it. I love it. And as always, everybody reach out to us, right? Like share, do all that crap for the algorithm. Subscribe. That's fine. We don't care about the algorithm. We care about you. And the only way that we can help you is if you reach out, communicate to us. Right. I can't get my clients. You can get your clients unless someone has reached out at some point. So reach out to us, ask us questions. Also, that allows us to create more content that is directed towards you. But if we don't know what you need, we can't help you. So make sure you do all of that. Obviously go get her book. We'll have all of that stuff somewhere around, I don't know, I'm not the editor. It'll be in the description somewhere. Go get the book. If you need a publicist, she is readily available for you. And like always, like I always say. You're not alone. There are a lot of us out here to help you. Okay? So don't think you're alone. There's a lot of resources for you. Why don't you come talk to us? Okay? Thank you.
Liana Zavo:Thank you.