Laila Ali, the undefeated boxer and spice blend expert, sat down with host 'Celebrity Lemonade Stand', host Shannon Lanier to talk about her brand, keeping up a healthy lifestyle, and winning in and out of the kitchen.

Laila Ali is both an undefeated boxer and a spice blend expert. Since retiring from the ring, the daughter of Muhammad Ali has taken her brand Laila Ali Lifestyle to the next level with her balanced and nutritious seasonings. She sat sat down with <i>Celebrity Lemonade Stand</i>&nbsp;host Shannon LaNier to talk about her brand, keeping up a healthy lifestyle, and winning in and out of the kitchen.

Celebrity Lemonade Stand

How Laila Ali Went From Boxing to Business

today on celebrity Lemonade stand brought to you by me and the bees boxer author and lifestyle expert, Leila Ali, she's undefeated in the ring and she comes from greatness now Layla has taken that winning spirit to build her own brand, Leila Ali lifestyle, which features her balanced and nutritious spice blends. Who would you want to join you in the kitchen, join me in the kitchen, Michelle Obama for sure it's a sin. She gonna throw down with me the sister. Yeah, Okay. See what Michelle is cooking up. It's not just my name on it. I sourced where I get my spices, I source the custom containers. I source the team to create my labels. It was like my passion project that is still a passion project join me as we peel back the layers into the rarely seen lives of our favorite celebrities. They'll take us on the journey from their first jobs to their latest money making venture. Okay, so I'm excited to talk to you because you are a former pro athlete, boxer, the best there is undefeated. Hey, you're also an author, a cook. You do it all. And now you have an amazing lifestyle brand. We're gonna get into all of that. But first we want to take it back a little bit to that very first job you had, what was it? The very first job that I had working for? Someone else was at Mcdonald's. Yes, I remember going to visit my father for summer vacation feeling like I want to start making some money because I wanted to be independent and we went to the local Mcdonald's um and I got a job. Okay, so what were you doing? You know, flipping burgers, you know, making fries, everything. So what do you think having that first job really taught you about life and some of the lessons maybe you're still using today in business or your personal life. I think it taught me independence discipline. Um because you know, you have to be at work on time, there's certain jobs that you have to do, you have to take orders, you have to work as a team. And it taught me that I was gonna get paid, you know, for going to work and to be consistent if I'm a trash man, I'm gonna be the best trash trash man. If I'm a pilot, I'm gonna be the best pilot. If I'm a boxer would be the best boxer. So really what that entails is learning what it takes to be the best, being consistent and constantly, you know, willing to grow and check yourself, you know, so that you can get better at what you do. Well speaking of boxing, what led you into the room seeing women's boxing on television for the first time? You know, a lot of people assume Muhammad Ali's daughter boxing, I was not an athlete growing up. I never wanted to box until I visually saw women boxing for the first time. I went to watch a mike Tyson fight at a friend's house and these women came in on the undercard and I was amazed and surprised and couldn't believe I didn't know about it. And that's when I decided to get into it and start training. Did your dad give you any advice about the business behind boxing? My dad's advice was don't do it, it's not for you, it's too hard, it's a man's sport. And I was like, daddy, I think I'm going to show you, but he did give me his blessings eventually and he said I was wrong, you can do it. Women can fight and you know, I'm proud of you. So yeah, it was, it was amazing, but I'm his baby girl. I'm the youngest out of nine, you know, I think the main thing is just my father was super sensitive, people know he's kind, they know he's giving but he would cry a lot. He was so sensitive to people's feelings and to see such a strong man able to cry, you know, able to say sorry to me when he was wrong about telling me about my life path and what I couldn't do and admit when he was wrong, you know, it's just like, it really gave me a balance and outlook on how a man can be and a man should be, that's awesome to be able to grow up with that type of influence now to pass those qualities down to your kids, but you're not only a mother, you're a businesswoman too from your days of Mcdonald's and then a pro athlete to now a lifestyle brand. Talk to us about later ali lifestyle and why you decided to go into that direction. So I've done so much right, I have this really long resume and hosting television shows and doing all this and when I retired from boxing it took me some years to really figure out what could I be passionate about? Like I was with boxing and in the background, I was always helping people reach their weight loss goals, writing meal plans, helping them with information about non GMOs and organics and just trying to help people be the best version of themselves and I decided to start Leila li lifestyle and turn it into a business because I was like, man, this is what I would do for free, this is what I love to do. How can I help people on a larger scale. But do you think it was difficult trend positioning from a boxer from an athlete, someone who is always in the ring to now being taken seriously as a business woman, you know, I don't really worry about that because I was serious and I think that you know, when you're putting in the time and you're really doing the work, you don't have time to worry about who's not going to take you seriously. Um it took many, many years, put it like that. I mean in terms of making sure strategically I was doing the right thing. I started hosting cooking shows, right? I went on chopped one a couple of times, so people are like okay, I came up with my cookbook, food for life and so I built it up. People don't, didn't know that I've been cooking since I was nine or 10 years old, right? So then I came out with Leila ali spice blends, but I didn't just like just slap it out there, right? But there's always gonna be those people was like, wait a minute, she's a boxer, she has spices. But the stories, they're the foundations there, the credibility is there. So I don't really worry about that. It's almost like you spent your whole life preparing for boxing and your whole life simultaneously preparing for a lifestyle brand, Somebody had to cook and it's always been me, my mom, I didn't cook when I was growing up. She, that was her thing. So I I started at a very young age but over the years I learned how to cook food that was good and good for you. Like for example people like what do you mean? Instead of using regular white bleached flour, I use cassava flour instead of using regular spices that have chemicals and fillers and refined white salt that's not good for you and my spice blends, I use organic, non Gmo spices and sea salt, you know, and then all of the flavors are there because I've actually, myself hands on created these recipes. So you're in their tasting everything that comes out, you're physically like in the kitchen, in the test kitchen, making sure everything is the way I actually created these spices in my kitchen in terms of the recipes and then of course they're mass produced but there are recipes that I've been using for years and then I'm creating more as we go. But I literally myself, it's not just my name on it. I did that I sourced where I get my spices, I source the custom containers, I source the team to create my labels. It was like my passion prop that is still a passion project because it's not like the biggest part of the businesses that I have, but I'm so passionate about it because I literally created it from the bottom of Okay, well I want to taste some of this, we have some fries, I'm gonna have one of our stage produces some fries, I'm sorry, it's not as healthy. That's okay. Some vegetables fries. I think you should do the soulful, soulful season. Okay, how am I allowed to put a lot of sense healthier just Oh I like the way it comes down. Yes. Yes, yes, so so the soulful seasoning salt is extra special. So most seasoning salt have like 95% salt. Mine has about 73% salt and the rest of organic herbs and spices, but it tastes like I'm getting salt, you're getting salt? Absolutely, but you're also getting a whole lot of other flavors, what I'm saying. So I tasted these without it and now I'm tasting it with it. This is hands down the best seasoning salt you're gonna get, then you got garlic goddess, which is salt free, it's amazing. It's a delicious on everything. And then you have the goat seasoning blend, which I dedicated to my father, the greatest of all time blend. I have six flavors. These three are some of my most popular blends that if I had to choose, but they're all amazing. It's really hard. But yes, it's balanced for you. So a lot of people can't get their flavors right when they're cooking. So that's the difference between my blends. If you just Sprinkle them on, you don't need really a recipe, you got your vegetables or you have, you know, your pasta or you have your meat or salad, whatever it is, you put it in there, it's gonna make it better. So I need you to take this away before I eat them all because I didn't get one way, it's cheap, cheap, cheap that we enjoy that, enjoy that handles off, you know, I gotta ask you, you know, as an undefeated athlete. 24 oh, alright 21 let's get it right, it seems like you were always winning in the ring, was there a time where you felt like you weren't winning in business or things didn't go your way? And what did you do a lot of the time? I mean, anyone will tell you this. Anyone successful will tell you there's been a lot of failures along the way. There's been a door slammed in your face many times where people don't necessarily believe in your idea. I remember when I was pitching a cooking show, it was like, we're not really in the celebrity cooking shows right now. So there's this wave, right? And then I'm like, what? And then like six months later they're back into celebrity cooking shows, but I'm I'm doing something else, but I didn't let that killed my dream. It was like, okay, they're timing isn't right. And I just went on to something else. I think that my mindset is is that when you expect that there's gonna be challenges there a little easier to handle. Just a hurdle to get over. I mean, you're not gonna get faced with something you can't handle. So it's just really about putting your head together with others, a team of people around you that can help you and just coming up with a solution, you know? But yeah, there's always gonna be challenges. It's not easy. And as a business owner, what would you say that? Oh my God, we're about to play a game called celebs squeeze. So I have four celebs in my hand and I'm gonna ask you rapid fire questions, you're gonna pick one of these celebrities and tell us why. All right, are you ready? Okay, so we have of course fictional boxer Rocky about bo we have Dwayne the rock, johnson actor and athlete and we have Jessica alba entrepreneur and actress and the first lady Michelle Obama. Alright, so your first question is drum roll, Who would you want to be your spokes first person for your brand? Michelle Obama. And that would be because she had a big initiative for for people to get fit. She um she definitely um will resonate with my core audience and obviously she could speak. Yeah, she should be the one. Who would you like to defend your brand in the ring the rock because he is big and strong, he gonna knock everybody out like me. So I'll take the rock. Okay and who would you want to be your taste tester for the brand? Probably Jessica Alba, because we have um similar ideas when it comes to you know, clean products because she has her honest product that she started. So she's all about non Gmo organic healthy product. So she's gonna yeah, she'd be my girl for that. Who would you want to join you in the kitchen, join me in the kitchen. Michelle Obama for sure. It's a sister. She's gonna throw down with me. The sister. Yeah, see what Michelle is cooking up so she can't cook like me though? Oh no, of course not. But her spot, your spices might help her. Who would you not want to compete against in the kitchen? I would take them all. There's not one I'm not afraid in the kitchen, just like I'm not in the ring. Yeah. You know, I competed on chopped and I won a couple times like champs. Okay. Yeah, I'm not afraid. None of these. This is Celebrity Lemonade stand a lot of times those lemonade stands are run by kids. So we want to give you an opportunity to get some questions from our kid preneurs, are you ready? Yes. Okay, well the first question comes from 11 year old brady, who do you think would win in a fight you or Buzz Lightyear? Oh man, definitely. Buzz Lightyear. I would just go ahead and give it to him. Yeah. Buzz buzz for the kids. Okay, kids next question is from 12 year old Landry, what advice would you give to your younger self? My younger self would definitely be, take your time. Don't try to grow up too fast because at a certain point you're gonna have to pay all the bills, right? And yeah, enjoy life, learn and enjoy your freedom. Yeah, I wanted to grow up too fast. So all right, next up we have 13 year old Taylor, what's the smartest investment you ever made? The smartest investment was investing in myself. So definitely you wanna take the time to get some knowledge, you know, learn how to get really good at something so that you always have that skill. So you've always been an entrepreneur. Oh yeah, Well, I appreciate your honesty transparency. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you so much fun. Yeah.