The business power of your authentic self, with Ali Levine
Episode 13, Season 2 – Ali Levine

Welcome to the thirteenth episode of the second season of The Micro-Niche Mastery Podcast.

Our guest for today is Ali Levine. A TV personality and a podcaster who helps people with fashion, lifestyle and authenticity.

If you’re afraid to be vulnerable and open about your life, this podcast episode will empower you to be confident in living life without masks.

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  From audio journals and blogs to producing a podcast.  Listen to Ali’s podcast journey in the first part of the interview

  
  
  
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  How did Ali strip down to her authentic self? Listen at 3:40

  
  
  
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  The best accessory and your life’s superpower are at 6:25

  
  
  
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  Learn about Ali’s turning point from a picture-perfect life to a real and raw one as a mother at 8:34

  
  
  
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  Ali’s healing stories have resonated with many. How did she start a business out of this? Check out 10:36

  
  
  
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  The truth about making money by being vulnerable is at 13:24

  
  
  
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  Listen to Ali’s success stories through the Everything with Ali Podcast in the second part of this episode

  
  
  
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  Looking for a stylist? Ali is a celebrity wardrobe stylist and NY Times Fashion expert. Details here

  
  
  
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  “When you choose to step into your authentic self and own every single piece and part and shadow of you that you are. That’s where the magic happens. That’s where the gold is.” – Ali Levine

  
  
  

Important Links:

 

alilevine.com

dailycookie. co

Transcript:

Click Below to see the full transcript of this episode





Open Transcript

Voice over:

Welcome to the Micro Niche Mastery Podcast, where we help you establish yourself in the perfect micro niche. So you will get noticed and grow your business faster. And now your host, he published a fiction book about a spy who extracts information by being really good at talking with the kids of the targets, Ziv Raviv.

Ziv:

Hello, and welcome to the Micro Niche Mastery Podcast. I’m so excited to be here with Ali Levine for ali levine.com. Ali is a lot of things. She’s a podcaster with Everything with Ali Levine. She’s from Nashville, Tennessee. She’s a TV personality, and she helps people with everything around fashion and lifestyle and authenticity. And I came across you Ali and I was, uh, immediately, I fell in love with her, how you are authentic and, and the way that you help others become authentic. So hi Ali, how are you?

Ali:

Hi, I’m good. How are you? Thank you so much for that kind introduction.

Ziv:

Thank you for taking the time and being here. As a mom, I know you’re always super busy and you do a lot of things. So you’re busy naturally, too. I wanna ask you, where did the year to start a podcast for someone that actually makes a living from something so visual, like styling, where did you come up with the idea of a podcast?

Ali:

Absolutely. That’s a good question. So I had a podcast actually with one of my really good friends, uh, when I was in the Hollywood styling world called things which really easy to blog about, um, it a on hiatus, but it’s, uh, still does really well to this day. It was a really fun show of one of my closest friends that we kind of just talked about, all the things that we didn’t have time to actually blog about and talk about. And so it was a very kind of just fun flowing silly, but cool entertainment podcast. And so that was my first kind of dip into the podcast world. And then when we went on hiatus. I had gotten pregnant with my first daughter and I realized I didn’t have, you know, all the time in the world. And I was really sick in my pregnancies.

Ali:

So it was like, okay, we’re gonna table this for now. And then I went through my own journey in the beginning of motherhood, went through pretty heavy postpartum depression. And when I did one, I never expected it. I think most people that go through it don’t. And then when I did, you know, coming out of it, I was having a really hard time kind of healing and going through my own processes. I’m a very spiritual and more holistic type of person. And so I was doing a lot of my own work and I was, you know, working through a lot of just different holistic therapies and all kinds of things. And my therapist said, well, why don’t you start besides writing it down and blogging? Why don’t you start saying it out loud with things you’re feeling, the things you’re experiencing. And so I did, and essentially they were kind of just like audio journals for me, but a few of my friends heard them and other people around me, they were close to me and they were like, why don’t you actually like release this?

Ali:

And I was like, and do what with it. And they were like, I don’t know, make it a podcast or a show or something. And I never honestly thought it was gonna be that I just thought I was gonna kind of release and just, you know, use it to be able to get through more of my own stuff and ended up being so beautiful that it was actually originally called strip down with ally Levine two and a half years ago. And it was released. And, uh, for two reason since one stripping down to your authentic self was really, really important to me after going through all I had been through. Um, and it felt like I was truly naked and vulnerable in such a new way that I never experienced before, especially coming from the Hollywood space. So for me, it was really important to really have that picture painted and that visual way that when you saw that, you know, stripped out with Ali Levine, it’s like, we’re getting bear real and raw here.

Ali:

There is no filter. There is no BS, this is, this is it. And then the other part of it for those that, that maybe don’t know I was on a show on Bravo that was, uh, pretty, uh, well known and crazy about three and a half years ago now with my husband. And that was called stripped. And that kind of what gave me the idea of playing off of that. And so anyways, I started sharing journey and my postpartum depression, all the things I was going through as a new mom, things I didn’t expect to go through, especially in the public eye, um, was really hard for me. And so I really shared those kind of audio clips and they ended up becoming episodes and shows. And what was beautiful was as I was sharing them, I was having my own healing, but I was getting messages from all around the world from women and moms that having their own healing as well.

Ali:

And it was becoming cathartic to me because I was helping others heal. I was healing in the process and I was being more and more open and more vulnerable. And even in my social media space, I started sharing instead of just styling on my Instagram and my social space. I started sharing again, that more vulnerable side of me that I had never showed up in that space before and really sharing real and Rob my journey and what I was experiencing on a day to day basis and how hard it was for me. And so that was kind of where it, um, started. And then as always, you know, I think God always has bigger plans when, so as things kind of took off for me, mean that space opened up more than, of course the pandemic and everything shifted for everyone in our lives in 2020.

Ali:

And I just felt like I was no longer, longer doing a service to humanity by just doing moms and just focusing on mom struggles because everyone was struggling. And I felt like if I’m really gonna show up in an authentic way, how do I kind of let all these stories come through, but still really keep my idea of what was real and raw. And that was when I pivoted to everything with Ali Levine, because I wanted it to literally encompass everything and have everyone feel like, okay, I can share any story, whether I’m a mom or not. As long as I’m showing up here in a very vulnerable, authentic space, I will be sharing my story and hopefully helping someone else. And that was my whole thing was like inspire, empower, and hopefully help and transform because that’s how I always feel as a stylist.

Ali:

Why I love styling for so long is I want to inspire others. I want to empower them in what are wearing and what they’re feeling. And I’ve always said, confidence is your best accessory. And then once again, when I went through the journey of becoming a mom and really lost my own confidence, um, when everything happened with my postpartum depression, I kind of felt like a fraud showing up all these places in a quote, authentic space, because I didn’t feel authentic. I felt very fake because I didn’t know how to find my own confidence. And I realized as I went through this kind of dark journey and found my own light and the tunnel, what I was missing of that key piece of confidence was the authenticity piece. And when I started stepping into my own true, authentic self and not who people wanted me to be, or the I should be and showed up as me, that marriage of confidence and authenticity was truly this igniting empowering moment for me.

Ali:

And so now I always say, confidence is your best accessory, but authenticity is your superpower. And that goes for everyone. And so that’s kind of the little bit long story of how this all kind of started to play out and why a podcast. And now I’m getting ready to launch my second podcast where I feel very called to right now, because I feel as a collective, we’re being called on a very spiritual level to go into that authentic space, to really get uncomfortable with ourselves to further transform, to further shift our world, to further show up in our highest self and our highest power and do the most for ourselves and others. And so I’m really excited that hopefully the next month or so, if not less, depending on when this comes out, um, my spirituality podcast will be dropping soon.

Ziv:

So, uh, definitely there’s something to consider looking at into once you, once this show actually, uh, go live that the show my, I already be live your will be live. Will that be on the same website? Like alilevine.com?

Ali:

Yes, it’ll be on alilevine.com. It’s gonna have my name in it. I haven’t dropped the name publicly yet, so, but it will, you’ll be to find it. It has my name in it. It will be on alilevine.com and it’ll also be released on all my social and there’ll be also a Instagram handle for it once it goes live.

Ziv:

Sweet. So this is really very personal and I, I thank you for being vulnerable in sharing this here. And you started this podcaster originally back then as a healing process and something that was your way to use your voice and to actually share what you’re going through and what you’re feeling in such a brave way, because you were covering topics that are almost taboo like, the fancy, you know, shiny under the spotlight, world of people that are actors and whatnot, the entire industry, film industry, and TV industry, whatever, the people there are kinda had lot of pressure to always be glamorous and pretty yes. And to hide this very real part of life. And the part of who those people are, which is being a parent, being a mom.

Ali:

 

And I was there. That’s when I realized when I became a mom that that didn’t work for me anymore is when I kind of hit my own rock bottom of like, I can’t show up in this place. And like, pretend like I didn’t have the worst day because I’m a new mom and I’m struggling with breastfeeding and sleeping and all the things we all deal with as new moms. And we’re supposed to just pretend isn’t happening. And especially for me, it was like show up on the red carpet. You know, smile look amazing, even though my body did not quote unquote bounce back, which many women don’t. And I was under the impression mine would. And I was so shameful of myself of like showing up at this red carpet, not looking, you know, a hundred percent like I should look like and showing that I was tired and you know, that I was uncomfortable and all these things.

Ali:

And it was like, yeah, no, this doesn’t work for me. Like, I guess I could play in that space before I was a mom, because I, even though maybe there were things that were bothering me, I would just kind of push them to aside and just show up and put on a happy face because that’s what they teach you, especially in the industry to do. But when I became a mom that filter everything, I mean, it was gone. It was like, no, to know, there is no more showing up in this space. You’re gonna show up authentically as you, whether someone likes it or not. And that’s really where I got to.

Ziv:

And, nowadays like the fact that you are starting to, like you pivoted with the world with this COVID and, and, uh, found like additional people, that needs you. And then like moving from flipping down in the vulnerability sense in the like emotionally in authentic sense to everything. And now to the podcast that we will not name yet. All of this is amazing journey. And thank you for sharing this with us. I wanna ask you though, because you do make money from professionally from your services as a stylist. I wanna ask you for these moments where you started to see that started as a healing tool and created a lot of connections for you with, with other women who resonated, did it also affect your business in some way?

Ali:

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, it’s funny when I first moved originally from New York a decade ago to California, and now I’m living in Tennessee, but I was living in California for a decade. I moved out beginning of 2010 to California, and it was just to, you know, follow my dreams, essentially. I just wanted to get into fashion. I had opportunities from amazing, LA costume designers that I’ve been working with in New York and Atlanta. And I was just jumping into the costume world, kind of had no clue what I was doing. And then just kind of baptism by fire, you know, doing what I needed to do and networking and all the things. And of course I was very much in my ego because I was around all these celebrities, all these major players, and I’m getting opportunities to work with all these people and, you know, know, and, and all the things.

Ali:

And then before I knew it, I was dialing all these kinds of random nobody’s for the moment in, you know, Hollywood. And then all of a sudden, certain people would become someone and they would go from being a D Lister to a B Lister or A Lister, you know, that thing, those things happen. And so all of a sudden my name was associated with this. And so then it was like, oh, she’s getting, you know, this client’s getting best dressed and this is the person associated with, with it and, you know, and so forth. And then I started getting asked to be on camera to give my fashion tips and, oh, Hey, how did you dress? So and so, or tell us about this magazine cover and all these things started happening that I never experienced, uh, expected, you know, to experience. And then fast forward to then the whole styling to then going forward into the social media space.

Ali:

You know, when I was showing up on social media, when I was a stylist, it was just that ego. It was just look at the pretty picture of this person. They look amazing, they got best dressed, look at the fashion, this, that, and other thing, which was amazing, but there was no context behind it. There was no, you know, depth. It was just, here’s the pretty picture. And here’s the accolade that came with it. And there was no blood, sweat, and tears, even there was a ton of blood, sweat, and tears that went into it. And so fast forward to then, you know, me sharing so raw on my podcast then because of that, it kind of gave me her mission to start to show up raw on my social media and start to who share and post pictures of myself raw that I would’ve never posted before.

Ali:

I was always posting like, you know, the best selfie picture and the best light and the best makeup and all these things that like I thought were important, which obviously we’ve all learned since 2020 are not. And I was very much in that ego space. And so I, you know, would always show up like, Hey, here, look at me, you know, I’m in my best out outfit and look at this and cause that’s how I thought it was supposed to be. And then, you know, again, after going through my postpartum depression, the different things I experienced, I started realizing that like, yeah, no, I’m not doing a service to anyone and definitely not to myself. And so when I started feeling that permission to post raw photos of my body and of my motherhood journey, not only it was just so beautiful that so many moms and community rallied around me, but it opened up this space and business for me of like, oh, there’s this space for people who want to be vulnerable, real and raw.

Ali:

There’s this space for people who actually want that and yearn for that. And there’s brands that wanna partner with you for that. And they want to be associated with you. And that was a whole new concept for me because I can’t from a world again. That was like, if I’m gonna work with any brands, if I’m gonna do anything, everything looks perfect. Everything is camera perfect. Everything is this, everything is that. And so that was how I always was. So it gave me this like amazing like permission and also kind of this like glimpse into this world of like, oh, I don’t have to be perfect all the time. I can show up on a bad day. I can show up row and raw and I can show the emotions I’m going through. And I’m actually gonna still make money of this. Actually I’m gonna make more money than I actually did ever before, because I’m showing up in a real, authentic, vulnerable space.

Ali:

And that was a game changer for me to see myself step into that true authenticity of myself and not only shift my own narrative, it within my own self-limiting beliefs, but also with others, I have brands come to me and say, you know, we wanna feature you. We wanna work with you. We wanna pay you X for this campaign because we love what you’re sharing about your body. Or we want you to talk about your C-section and talk about what you went through and partner it with this brand. And we want you to do this. And it was just amazing how fast things align for me. And I think think we, as people have been taught for so long in the different programs and narratives that we’ve been around, that we have to be a certain way. And that’s just simply not true when you choose to step into your authentic self and own every single piece and, and part and shadow of you that you are.

Ali:

That’s where the magic happens. That’s where the gold is. And you have to be willing to go through those traumas and those things that are, we all have in different ways and say, this is where my gold is. This is where I shine. No one else has this because this is me individually is my unique soul. And this is how I get to show up. And I inspire others to do the same. And now that’s all turned into businesses for me. And that’s all turned into parts of my journey. And the more I dive in deeper, the more I see come abundantly to me. And I used to think like, that’s crazy. And, and even now, you know, I had these limiting beliefs last few weeks going around the spiritual part, oh, people are gonna think I’m crazy. What am I doing diving into this? This is in my space, et cetera, et cetera, all these things. And I’m like, no, this is where I’m feeling called to. This is where I’m feeling aligned. I need to show up again as authentically as possible, where I feel I need to share. And I’m sure there’s gonna be, of course, you know, some pivots and hiccups, like there always is as an entrepreneur, but you have to know that you have to go through that growing pain in order to go to the next level.

Ziv:

Wow. This is really interesting how you started from something very a niche that is painful for you, that like that your experiencing your very own hurdles, but that are very painful as a mother and the, like the pressure and, and all of the hard experiences that you went through in your life, but you were sharing them in the light and you were sharing that you can be beautiful and not perfect, and you can be beautiful and authentic, and the mom and, and talk about these things, but then through  your personal growth and your self-development and helping other inspiring others. You could grow to do more than that to be even as big as everything with Ali Levine and later on, be acknowledged for your journey by brands that chose to work with you. I think that’s really, really inspiring. Is there one moment you could share with us, like where you knew that this is like some sort of the tipping point where you knew for, for a fact that your podcast made this happen?

Ali:

I think, I don’t know if it’s maybe a specific moment, but I think more for me is just feeling that alignment for me, everything is really a feeling. It’s an energy. And if you can really tap into that, you know what that is, and we all have that. It’s just, you have to be willing to go there. And I think for me, it’s when I feel like I’ve shared something and then I get an email maybe from a brand who’s like, you know, I heard this episode or I saw this post or whatever it may be. And they’re like, I want to work with you. This inspired me. Here’s the vision that we’re doing. We would love to have, you know, your vision come to life with it. Would you wanna partner with us? You know, I think it’s those types of things, but then there’s also times where sometimes it’s even just different people reach out and say like today I had a bunch of DMS about one of my latest guests, Jake who was on my podcast.

Ali:

And it was all about elevating yourself and living beliefs and how you step out of that. And people were, you know, DM me like, oh my God, this episode was just fire. Like the two of you together. Like it was just so inspiring. And I just kind of felt that like tingle inside of like, all right, people are being wit up by this, you know? And, and maybe I won’t get, you know, a quote, unquote partnership of this one episode, but it doesn’t matter when you get that kind of feedback and you can see you’re making a difference and you can feel that true frequency and alignment with yourself. It’s like, oh yeah, big things are gonna come from this. Because again, you’re digging into that gold. So I think there’s definitely been moments for sure. Like, I know a big one for me when I was going through my motherhood journey was bio oil.

Ali:

Who’s like a really big, you know, brand reached out and they were like, we wanna fly you to New York. We wanna do a photo shoot with you. We wanna show your body, all these things. And I was like, wait, what you know is really surreal. And it was like, we want you to talk all about your motherhood journey and what you’ve experienced and why you still love your body. And we wanna talk all about that because our brand is all about how you love your body through your scars and your impurities and all the, you know, imperfectly perfect. And, and I was like, wow, this is so amazing. And it was truly surreal for me. I mean, even being flown and going, and, you know, being put up at the hotel and everything, it was like, wow, this happened because I was vulnerable. Like, and it’s so funny because I remember like, there were so many times where I wanted to go on all these trips and I was so in that quote, unquote, ego of myself, of like, oh, I have to be like so perfect.

Ali:

And I have to be this. And I have to be that thinking like that was what was gonna get me, those opportunity and those jobs and those things like never happened for me. And then once again, I chose to be vulnerable. I chose to show up as who I am, and I truly do believe, yes, some things may fall off, but then they’re not aligned for you. Like, I believe when you’re truly in alignment of yourself and you believe that wholeheartedly and you don’t let anything else get in the way, everything that’s meant for you will come for you and you, you will not be chasing it. It will just come right to you. And that’s where I think you see, you know, that shift and where you can say like, oh yeah, that came from that moment that I share to my podcast that came from that blog that came from me sharing my truth. That’s what I really think it comes down to for me is the more step into that authenticity. The more I share my truth as scary sometimes, and as vulnerable as it can be. That’s where I see that alignment. And that’s where I get to say, wow, I’m so grateful that this has not only led me to this path of my own involvement, but it also has opened up so many doors in my business as well.

Ziv:

Wonderful. I wanna thank you Ali Levine for the moment of sharing this with us and inspiring us that, uh, you could actually become like a magnet of opportunities and of connections if you are in alignment and authentic. And if you trust the road and the journey, and it’s not just numbers, it’s about feeling that you are aligned and that’s sometimes the key for business, uh, especially it was for you. And, thank you for sharing this with us. Is there any way, uh, that people can connect with you or, learn more about you Ali?

Ali:

Oh, for sure. Well, thank you for having me. And I would say this resonated with you. Please feel free to reach out on my socials. I spend most of my time on Instagram, just because of DMS and answering. And I do always answer, it may take me a moment, but I do always get back. So if something resonated or if you have a question or you just wanna say hello, please feel free to slide up my DMS and say, hi and reach out. If you have a question, I am still styling, but mostly remotely. So if you’re wanting to be styled by me, either feel free to reach out via DM, or you can go to my website, alilevine.com. I also work with a styling agency called style life. I can give that to you for the show notes, but they, you can also book me through there and yeah, if anything resonated, just reach out.

Ali:

I’m on all the platforms. You know, my website obviously has all that there, but my Facebook, my Instagram, my Twitter, my Pinterest, my TikTok I’m on all the platforms. I don’t necessarily show up on all of them, but I’m on all the, Instagram, if you’re looking to really connect with me community wise, um, just send me a DM. I love to say hello and meet, you know, new people. Or you can send me a message via my website, and I’ll get back to you. I’m please. If you do find anything that resonates with you, jump on and sign up for my newsletter. It’s free. You can just jump on, my website and click, you know, type your email in and sign up. I would love to add you into any of the kind of monthly thing I send out that I always try to inspire and empower others.

Ziv:

Thank you, Ali, for being here, I will put all of those handles in the show notes, including the website, alilevine.com. And thank you everyone for listening for another episode of the Micro Niche Mastery podcast.

Voice Over:

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