Lead with Love with Alina Villasante

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Kim Gravel: LOL with Kim Gravel, and I'm feeling really swell. We're gonna talk, we're gonna love, we're gonna chat with Alina and she's much funnier than John Cena. .

Zac Miller: There you go. There you go. Yes.

Kim Gravel: Hey y'all. Welcome to LOL with Kim Gravel. This is a comedy podcast for women. We laugh about the messiness in life and turn that mess into a message of confidence and hope. My mission is to see every woman lifted up. Everybody lifted up, really. And this shows all about how we can embrace our real selves and laugh about all this.

Stuff that life throws our way. So if you're ready, I know I am. Let's live out loud. Let's laugh out loud and let's laugh out loud. And y'all we're gonna do it right now.

Hang on. Did you know that we've got video episodes of LOL with Kim Gravel on QVC Plus? So just head on over to QVC plus the link is in the show notes and just wait, the audio version's great, but wait till you see it on video. Comes to life. Check it out. All right, Zac, it's gonna be a good one today. We are bringing some Latin flavor into lol. So it's not like, No, lemme just tell you it's not. It's live out loud. Love out loud. Laugh out loud and Latin out loud together.

Zac Miller: There we go.

Kim Gravel: We haven't brought you an Alina Hush. We haven't brought you in . I love when the guests are just like, no, I'll talk now. And two, because I've got one of my most favorite people on the planet, one of my dearest friends.

It was kismet, kindred spirits, and just absolute sisterhood the day we met everybody. Welcome, Alina Villasante.

Okay. We have to just jump right in because everybody watching on QVC Plus and everybody listening, everybody knows Alina Villasante, and instantly when we met at at the Q, I knew we were gonna be besties.

Alina Villasante: Same. It was, it was one of those things that you just, money can't buy . There's nothing you can do.

When you got it. You got it.

Kim Gravel: Some of my best friends and some of the best memories have been in those green rooms together. You're going, Do you like this? Do I like this? How do these shoes look? What is this?

Alina Villasante: You know what? I really. At, you know, where I am in my life. My kids were grown up, my career and everything that I already had, all the friends I needed, and boy, wow.

All of a sudden I go on QVC and I have a whole new life of people. People we just love so much.

Kim Gravel: Not only a dear friend, but your story is amazing and so many people, like even QVC, You know, viewers and, and people all over the world really don't know how you started. I think you are the epitome of manifesting and adventurous risk taking, educated risk taking, entrepreneurship.

When it comes to a woman, you are the epitome of how to do it. You know how to find your. So tell everybody listening who've never heard your story. How peace, love world came into being cuz I was buying peace, love, world before you even came to QVC.

Alina Villasante: It's honestly a dream come true that I never consciously imagined I was dabbling into these designs that I had the heart, I had all the beautiful designs, but I always knew something was missing.

And I go, I give my cousin a birthday party and one of my best friends makes me a shirt that says I am love. And she goes, I made this for you because of your. And I said, Oh my God. That's what's missing. And that's where I am peace. I am love. I am blessed. I am happiness. I am grateful. I am chaos.

We're all born. It was a hobby and I invested a little money. Yeah. In this little hobby with, with no business plan. Which by the way, I don't recommend to anyone. Mine has turned out okay. Yeah, right. But I was so passionate about the messages and I had traveled the world and I realized that everybody in the world is looking for the same thing.

We all want to love. Yes, we all want to feel loved. We all want to find happiness, feel joyful. And I don't care where you come from. You want that at the end of the day when you pitch your pillow on the bed, I gave it to my kids. I said, Do something with this cuz we're about to lose everything. And my kids were selling $85,000 a day lines of people at my house to get their hands on this merchandise that were just black and white hoodies, t-shirts, I mean, you name it, American Apparel. I was printing on somebody else's brand. And here I am 11 years later living my dream.

Kim Gravel: I think a lot of people mistake entrepreneurship and business mindset and success with bottom line facts and numbers, but you and I are kind of lockstep with this whole.

Feeling thing. And I, and I don't, I'm not talking about it in a trite way. So, you know, so many people I've sat in, in meetings and, you know, Harvard MBAs are like, Well, what do you mean, you know, are very almost judgey about what, how you and I really kind of run our business. And I know you run it from a place of for a place of that message more so.

Alina Villasante: Yes, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, look, I always say this, I mean, even QVC and our businesses, you know, it's all about making money. We have to make money. The bottom line is you have to make money at the end. It's a business. It's not, Yeah, we gotta eat sport, right? Yeah, we gotta eat, but. When you have a business mindset that's driven by passion and by something that moves you to wake up in the morning and it moves you to live your best life and to get dressed and to work out and to do all those things, you're in the right place.

So your business side of your head is like, Okay, are we wasting all our money here or are we making money? Yes, we have to make money at the end. I think that the best entrepreneur business ideas are the ones that are doing it from this place of love and passion and excitement and something that makes you wanna feel alive in the morning, but in a smart way where you're buying correctly, you're selling correctly, but your passion on the end product cuz product is, So you've got to be able to give somebody something that they want, whether it's a feeling, an emotion, a tangible piece of something.

When they wear my clothes, I want them to feel what I did when I was making it.

Kim Gravel: Alina this month is, Hispanic Heritage Month, and

Alina Villasante: yes it is.

Kim Gravel: You're a Latino.

Alina Villasante: I am. I'm cuban immigrant.

Kim Gravel: You're sexy, you're hot, you're young, you're violent, you're brilliant. I wish I was Latino.

Alina Villasante: You're all those things when you're not Latina.

So I wouldn't change a thing about you.

Kim Gravel: Now tell us a little bit about your heritage. Cuz I like, I love your mother, I love Mia, your daughter.

Alina Villasante: You know, we're like wildly passionate. I mean, we really, I would say all of us are very intense in our family and I love, I love it. You can probably relate to a lot of these things in your own family.

Kim Gravel: Of course I do.

Alina Villasante: But Latino women really, really lift each other. Yes, there's sense of passion and bringing each other up. And with family. It's all about your family and your mother and your grandmother. Like my mom says, You know, my boys don't call me every day. When I was in Cuba, my grandparents didn't have to call me.

We, it was our responsibility. I said, Mom, we're in America. Just call your kids if they don't call you .

Kim Gravel: I agree with her though. I agree with her a thousand percent. Okay, Alina, really quick, I want you to name a couple of celebrities. People don't realize how well connected you are in Hollywood because there were so many celebrities that hopped on to your passion, your passionate message.

Wouldn't JLo Jenny from the Block?

Alina Villasante: Yeah. And Kim Gravel, JLo, All the Kardashians had it on their show for a year.

Kim Gravel: Oh my God. Oh my God.

Alina Villasante: Oprah. And I went on tour with her for 12 weeks and merchandised her entire line. Jennifer Gardner, Halle Berry, Britney Spears. It goes on. I mean, listen, for anybody who thinks that they can't dream, I never dream this to be my life.

And I have to tell you, I love anybody, as much as I love those celebs, I can see anybody walking down the street in one of my pieces and I'm just like, jumping up and down. You are because it's like you're seeing, you're heard, you're loved and, and that's what you want.

Kim Gravel: But my I know, but my point to you and my point about making that is, is cuz.

You're so not a celebrity culture type person. You're, you're just such a homebody, but you didn't try to make that happen. It just unfolded. My point is, when you walk down the path that has been laid out before you, you know, I love that, that, that saying, and that scripture that says a lamp into my feet.

You know what I'm saying? Like we just have that next step, that next step laid out, and I think that's why. What peace, love world has done is, is so magical because it was not laid out in a business plan. It was not for thought and planned out methodically how we're gonna connect. It was just that one foot in front of the other.

And I think we take that for granted sometimes. I think we think that's humble beginnings and how could stuff been so massive and so, you know, Hollywood and sales and of how could that not be planned out? But I want you to tell people it really is about what comes from within, because I don't know if people just believe me when I say that.

Like, Look, I don't know what I'm doing about half time.

Alina Villasante: I think I lured them in with emotion because at the end of the day, You know, they, it, the higher you get in life, the lonelier it is, the less people think that you're approachable or that you're relatable. And it's not true because we are all creatures of God and we are all craving the same thing.

And you know, when any of them were getting divorced or, or they had anything in their life, they would come out in one of my messages to let the world. You know, I'm blessed or I'm happy, or I'm love. And it happened so many times. It became a thing with the celebrities when they got into the, into the media and they weren't speaking, they would come out with my clothes to speak to the media and they would be like, Whoa, so and so's saying she's happy.

She must be glad she split from so and so. And then my beautiful Kris Jenner, I have to tell you the family, they fell in love with the. Wore it for an entire season and Kris would even hang it in front of the closet if she wasn't wearing it, you know, invited me to her home. I really got to know a lot of these people and they're just people like us, but who are doing just incredible things in their own right.

You know. So for me I'm so grateful for anyone who joined me in my. And really celebrated all the beautiful emotions that I put out there.

Kim Gravel: What I hear you keep saying, Alina, is you've gotta know why you're doing something. It's not just to do it to make money or do it to be important or famous, or you have to know why.

And I think that's probably. . I think that's, I know that's why I bumped into what I'm doing is, But you know, our messages are very similar. Although they're different. Yes, they are. They're real. They're very similar in the fact that we both started our brands with messages with a message. To people, Not so much just merchandise.

Alina Villasante: We started with a feeling with an emotion. We started with what people were hungry for. Why? Because we were probably hungry for it.

Kim Gravel: Oh. Because I'm still hungry for it.

Alina Villasante: Why? What exactly? So I think when I design something and I say something beautiful is coming your way or everything will be okay, it's probably because that's what I'm.

And we are all the same with different pains and different struggles. So I think what makes our friendship so beautiful is that we are in tuned with each other. We love each other. We respect each other. We lift each other. I mean, I know you and I have called each other like crying. I mean, you, you're a little more out.

I'm Are you sure you're not latina? ?

Kim Gravel: I'm Southern Latina. Y'all girl,

Alina Villasante: Girl. I can't, I can't, I can't notice anymore. Wait, you know what I do? I hope this doesn't get cut, but you know what I do when she calls me like that, right? I laugh. I laugh, I laugh,

Zac Miller: Wait, why do you laugh? Now I need advice for it.

Alina Villasante: I laugh. I laugh because, you know, whenever we feel overwhelmed as people, yeah. We all have our way, right? And that is Kim's way. It doesn't mean anything except I'm overwhelmed right now. Like, probably the kids left bananas upstairs in her bed and she did 10 shows. Yes.

Kim Gravel: This is the thing I can't do

Ok. No, let me tell you. So let's translate that. Okay. Okay, so, So Alina is Latino, right? So this the Southern way, when you go, I just can't do this and I can't, I can't do it. That means please go get, Some chocolate cake in a Coca-Cola cuz I need some serious therapy. That's what that means.

Alina Villasante: The most beautiful thing is the authenticity of calling someone you love, regardless of what you're going to say.

And they don't take, so help me serious, but they make you feel better.

Kim Gravel: Oh God no.

Right. Alina and I take a road trip with my BFF Amy, and we all go to LA, right? Alina Kim in LA. That's a TV show, but that's a whole nother situation. So we go, we have meetings, the best time, we have meetings all day and we hang out with Laurie and we had the best time and me and Laurie Feld are sitting here talking to some executives at a tv.

She goes, Can y'all get me in a Hallmark movie?

Alina Villasante: Wait, hold on. Can I show you what, Kim set me up.

Kim Gravel: Yeah, go get it. She said, Can y'all get me in a Hallmark movie? And I mean, she's like, I was like, Yeah, you know, we're all talking and I'm like a Alina, you know, we trying to give a little picture going here, whatever. And she's like, my whole life's goal is just being in one Hallmark movie.

So for Christmas I put a caliente Christmas hot, Christmas. Okay, Alina, I've gotta tell you a look of something. I've gotta tell you a little something that I have done for you. So it's not Hallmark, but QVC is making a Christmas movie. Oh. Like, like, okay. I've already reached out to the production team and told them, You must be in it.

Alina Villasante: Oh, you see, it manifested differently.

Kim Gravel: So you might be getting a call from Shannon or Mike or what, Like you have to let her be in it. It's a, it's a Hallmark esque movie that's going to air very soon. Look in the camera. Be very serious. Say to me. I need some hot chocolate.

Yes.

Zac Miller: Yes. That leads me to Zac Attack. Okay, so for today, for this Zac Attack, we are going to do in accent. Okay, so that means, Alina, I want you to think of one phrase in Spanish that you're gonna teach to Kim and Kim's gonna nail with a perfect accent. And Kim, I want you to think of the most southern draw.

Phrase mm-hmm. . First, Alina, I want you to teach Kim a phrase in Spanish. And Kim, I want you to focus on nailing this accent.

Kim Gravel: Okay. I, So how? The stress, The stress of all this.

Alina Villasante: Ready? Here we go.

Lord, I can't do this anymore.

Zac Miller: okay. Okay.

Kim Gravel: Do it one more time. Say, say it one more time. Say it one more time.

Was that right? Was that right?

Alina Villasante: Is my God, Like my Lord, I can't do this anymore.

Zac Miller: I think you got there. Okay, Kim, Now Kim. Okay. I want you to think of the most Southern expression.

Kim Gravel: I've already got it.

Zac Miller: And Alina, you gotta nail this accent. Okay.

Kim Gravel: You mess with the bull. You gonna get the horns.

Alina Villasante: You mess with the bull. You're gonna get the horns .

Kim Gravel: No, no, no. You mess with the bull. You gonna get the horns.

Alina Villasante: You mess with the bull. You're gonna get the horns.

Kim Gravel: You got, you going get, you gonna mess with the bull. You're going to get, not get, get you going to.

Alina Villasante: You going get you going get.

Kim Gravel: There you go. There you go, girl. There you go. Here we go. All right.

Okay. That was amazing. I mean, we got all the crossover right there, the Cultural Crossovers Act.

Zac Miller: We have a lot of cultural understanding on this show. That's what's up.

Kim Gravel: Love it. Ok. Okay. Yeah. I wanna do something really quick cuz we do it every episode. Okay. Alina, we're going to do the rapid fire question, the first thing that comes to your mind, pop out out with it. Who's your celebrity crush?

Alina Villasante: Liam Nielsen.

Kim Gravel: Liam Nielsen. What is the name? Wait, now it's

Zac Miller: It's Liam Nielsen.

Kim Gravel: He's hot either way.

Alina Villasante: So can you give him a call?

Kim Gravel: Okay, I'll call him. I'm call Liam. Call me honey. I got your, celebrity crush right here. What do you feel most comfortable wearing?

Alina Villasante: Oh, sweatpants.

Kim Gravel: What are three phrases in Spanish every American should know?

Alina Villasante: Jo Taro. Jomo.

Kim Gravel: What do those mean? What do those mean?

Alina Villasante: They are are two ways to say I love you. And comas is, How are you, Ola?

Kim Gravel: Okay. What is the funnies thing that's ever happened to you on live TV at QVC? ?

Alina Villasante: So my puppy, my puppy kept jumping on my leg, so the camera was just on my body. And then I was, you know how you do your leg like that so the puppy can play with your foot?

So I'm doing like that with my foot, and the producer goes to you may not wanna do that. It looks like you're kicking your dog.

Kim Gravel: what is your favorite food?

Alina Villasante: Ooh, my favorite food right now, it's the almond milk that I make. I'm obsessed.

Kim Gravel: Okay. I'm gonna hang up this call right now. I'm gonna have to call you back, . Come on. Audiobooks or read books?

Alina Villasante: Audio.

Kim Gravel: Ah, I'm liking audio too lately. And let me tell y'all something. A lot of little surprises are in those audiothat aren't in the book. I say do both. What does faith mean to you?

Alina Villasante: Everything. Without faith, you are nothing. It means to rely on the man upstairs and go to him whenever you need him and don't forget when you got what you got that he helped you through it and always keep him front and everything.

Kim Gravel: One last question. What would you tell the 12 year old Alina Villasante today?

Alina Villasante: You know what? Walk with love and not fear. Always with love, lead with love and put that fear aside because you know, I think all of us, every day, no matter how successful we are, we have, we do have a, a fear. I mean, I don't know if you do, but there's always a little bit of fear on what could happen.

But if you live in the present and you live with faith, you know, you have to believe that the best things are going to happen. And you gotta do the work too. You don't just sit there and you know, wait for the big Lord upstairs to make it all happen for. But I do think that lead with love and just put that fear in the back burner.

Kim Gravel: Well, I've gotta tell you right now, you are one of the most magical people I've ever known on my entire life. We're gonna leave this entire episode with one little small writing utensil. Do you have him?

Alina Villasante: Of course I have. I have a few of them. ,

Kim Gravel: that's her Jesus pen .

Alina Villasante: And it doesn't matter, it's just a pen, but to me it.

And to me it's protection. For me it's guidance and yes, and sometimes when I have big emails to send, I hit enter with my pen .

Kim Gravel: All right, girl. I love you so much. I love you too, so much.

Talking to Alina just reminded me of like how we started our brands and how really how everything's, how you started producing the podcast. And yeah, it just, you have to find that why, why do you wanna do something? Because if you don't have that, you won't. You won't move in it, don't you think?

Zac Miller: I definitely know, like in my career, I've gone down like wrong turns and I'm just like, you get to a place and you're like, Then the why it's like, why am I here?

Kim Gravel: Right? Get your why before you have to an ask why for the wrong reasons, right? Like you're just like, What am I doing here? For sure. So finding your why is so important and also knowing that you have a why. Yeah. Like a, a lot of people are like, Well, that's great for Alina, that's great for Kim, it's great for Zac.

Or look at whomever you know that that is doing maybe what you wanna be doing. Maybe you wanna start a bakery, maybe you wanna go back to school. Maybe you want to you know, lose 30 pounds. Whatever your dream is, you. Just believe that you can do it really. And moving that emotion. Alina kept saying that over and over and over.

It starts with a feeling and an emotion. And I agree with that. So repeat after me today, I'm gonna find my why, and I'm gonna move in that find your why and move in that. Mm. Mm-hmm. Good show today.

Zac Miller: I love it, Kim

Kim Gravel: and, and everybody remember that, you know, life gets tough and it might seem like it's hopeless, but as long as you live out loud and you love out loud, and you laugh at this crazy life out loud, and you do it together with somebody who loves you, who stands in the gap for you like we do, you can never go wrong.

We love y'all until next. Find your why.

So many great people help make this show possible. LOL is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant at Brunette Exec production help from Emily Bredin and our cover art is designed by Sara Noto and Mike Kligerman edits the show. I got his name right.

I'm so excited. Head to lolkim.com to sign up for our mailing list. And y'all, thanks for listening. We love you so much. Till next time, live out loud, laugh out loud, love out loud together. We love you. How we can turn the messiness of our lights. Sorry. So loud. It was too loud. Okay. Let's start over.

Let's start over. I'm a pseudo like closet rapper.

What's that wrestler's name? John Cena. First of all, let me just say that tracksuit is hot. That tracksuit is hot.