CBI: You’re the daughter of the boxing great who’s generally regarded as the best-known sports figure in the history of the world. Did your dad, Muhammad Ali, and your mom stress athletics and fitness when you were young? Did you want a career in professional sports?
Laila Ali: It was never a goal when I was growing up. Both of my parents—my dad, obviously, but my mom as well—were very active, and fit, and pursued a healthy lifestyle. Just watching them kind of taught me right from wrong. Once I was old enough to understand how important lifestyle choices were, I just naturally followed their example.
Highlights
Boxing champion
Business lessons
Club suggestions
Future objectives
CBI: Given that, what led you to become a professional boxer?
LA: I didn’t want to be a fighter until I saw women boxing on TV, in action, for the first time. As soon as I saw it, I said, “Oh, my God, how did I not know about this? I want to do it!” Somehow, the fact that dad had done it had never translated, for me, into the fact that I could conceivably do it as well—until I actually saw women fighting. It was right up my alley.
CBI: You were also drawn to business at a rather young age, weren’t you?
LA: Yes, believe it or not, when I was 16, I went to school to learn how to do nails. Then I went to Santa Monica College. I’d always wanted to have my own business, because I wanted to be my own boss. I had this grand plan, and everybody knew it: “When I’m 18, I’m going to do nails. That way, I can go to school, and run my own business, and work my own hours, and make my own money.” And that’s exactly what I did. By the time I was 18, I was operating Laila’s Nail Studio in Marina Del Rey, California. I only had one employee working with me, but we had a full clientele.
A few years into that was when I discovered women’s boxing.
CBI: Athletics and business—that’s a combination of interests that many club owners and operators can certainly relate to. How serious were you about the studio?
LA: I took what I did very seriously. I always wanted to improve, to get better, and I was constantly taking classes. It takes time to hone your craft. It took me two years just to get good enough so that my clients wanted to come back. You have to build a clientele—customers just don’t walk in out of nowhere. I remember making fliers, and passing them out, and, occasionally, giving my services away for free. It took time to begin making money, but, eventually, we got to the point where we were always busy—booked and full.
It took a lot of perseverance and a real belief in myself.
CBI: That sounds like the story of every small new business. What sort of advice would give to some other young entrepreneur who was just starting out?
LA: You really have to know your market, whatever it is. Do some market research. Put together a solid business plan. Be prepared for the possibility that, initially, you may not necessarily be making any money. Regardless of what you’re doing, particularly if you’re offering a service, you have to know your clients well. For instance, in the case of a nail studio, if you’re sitting there, talking with women, and they’re getting personal with you, they’re going to want you to be able to pick up on the conversation where they left off two weeks earlier. Most importantly, try to be the very best at what you do—constantly. Never stop striving to be better.
CBI: Given the fact that, for years, you were the world’s foremost woman boxer, it’s obvious that you take your workouts very seriously. But we were wondering: Do you belong to a club?
LA: I actually belong to two different clubs—the 360 Health Club, in Reseda, and an Equinox facility in Woodland Hills, California. The 360 is an older club, but it has a boxing gym, a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, a sauna—everything you could possibly imagine. I go there primarily for the boxing gym and a special area that they’ve set up, specifically, for athletes. When I just feel like working out or taking a Spinning class, I’ll go to Equinox. But a lot of the time, I simply work out at home in our garage. I have a Pilates machine, a Spinning bike, and a resistance-cord strength training system that my husband and I both love. I get bored really fast, so I like to mix things up.
CBI: Okay, so if you owned a health club of your own, what sort of services and programs would you emphasize?
LA: Well, it probably comes as no surprise to your readers, but I think that a club’s cleanliness is incredibly important. And, sometimes, they’re overly crowded. When you have to wait for machines, and too many people are milling about—you’d just rather not be there. I’d try to devise a way to keep members from being so social: I just want to work out! I also think it would be great if clubs provided their members with more information about nutrition and proper eating. A lot of people aren’t educated about that. It’s sad that so many Americans are overweight or obese, and especially disturbing in the case of children.
CBI: Anything else?
LA: Well, as a relatively new mother, I definitely think that good daycare is important. Even though I belong to two excellent clubs, I’ve yet to leave my son at either one. Not that anything’s wrong—not at all! I might just be a little bit crazy about this, but it’s hard to assure yourself that everything’s of the best quality, the very highest standard, when it comes to daycare.
CBI: That’s right, your son, Curtis, is just 14 months old. What sort of an impact did the pregnancy have on your “fighting shape”?
LA: I’ve just now managed to work off all of the baby weight. It took me 10 months—the same amount of time it took me to put it on.
CBI: A very small percentage of Americans—IHRSA puts the number at approximately 16% —belong to a club. What do you think operators could do to convince more people about the benefits of exercise and a club membership?
LA: Just 16%, really? Sixteen? One-six? Wow! People out here, in Los Angeles, or California, are much more health-conscious, so we tend to forget about what it’s like in the other states. Here, the figure’s much higher than 16%.
That’s really crazy because, with all of the attention that’s recently been focused on obesity, dieting, diabetes, heart disease, and so forth, you’d think that people would have heeded the wakeup call. I would have thought that they’d have caught on by now.
I think that, somehow, health and fitness really need to be positioned—discussed, demonstrated, and, eventually, regarded—not as a chore, or task, or series of activities, but, rather, simply as a lifestyle. Perhaps, if we could get more people to begin taking their kids to clubs, if we could begin teaching them when they were young, they’d grow up to understand, and accept, that critical, valuable concept. It would be great if clubs introduced more kid-oriented options—something, like rock climbing, where they could come in, be active, and take part in some sort of challenge or competition: you know, like an American Gladiators for kids.
I think that, if we want to have a brighter, healthier future, it’s important to start by educating our youth.
CBI: You’ve been involved with a number of different television shows, and are currently a contributing health, fitness, and beauty correspondent for CBS’ The Early Show. What’s next in terms of your business career?
LA: I want to continue to be active in the area of fitness, wellness, and lifestyle. I’m very interested in getting into the licensing and branding of apparel and fitness, healthcare, and skincare products—that’s my primary objective, today, in terms of business. I intend be very careful, mindful, and responsible with any products I put out there. Particularly now that I’m a mother who’s concerned about what’s best for her child, I intend to be very involved in the process. I want to educate people about their product choices. Too often, they think that, if something’s on a shelf in a store, it must be safe, but that’s not always the case.
Americans need to make informed choices—in terms of the things they buy, the things they eat.
These are things that I’m passionate about. That’s why I’m involved with the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and Subway’s Fresh and Fit campaign.
CBI: You’re a woman with very strong convictions. Do you have some sort of a personal philosophy that you adhere to?
LA: I believe in being a leader, not a follower—that’s my basic message. Whatever you want to do, don’t let anybody stand in the way. You have one life to live, and every single person you come across is going to have an opinion; but, if they’re not someone you trust, and respect, and who’s made something out of their own life, why listen? When I was just starting out, if I’d let other people steer me, I wouldn’t have become a fighter. They were saying things like, “It’s too dangerous,” and “You’re too pretty.” For a while, I got caught up in that, but then, I just decided to go for it. I followed my heart’s desire. I think that’s what everyone should do.
- Chris Mann, telewriter@comcast.net
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The youngest daughter of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali and Veronica Porsche Anderson, Laila Ali, 31, is a winning mix of her father’s fighting spirit and her mother’s businesslike tenderness. Once the proprietor of several successful retail businesses, she followed her father into the ring in 1999, and claimed the first of several super middleweight and middleweight titles in 2002. In 2007, however, after having won all 24 of her professional fights, 21 by KOs, Ali hung up her gloves to become a health- and fitness-centric TV personality. Since then, she’s tangoed her way to the finals on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars; co-hosted NBC’s American Gladiators; served as a contributing health, fitness, and beauty correspondent for CBS’ The Early Show; and hosted the N cable network’s The N’s Student Body. She married Curtis Conway, a former wide receiver with the NFL in July 2007, and, in August 2008, gave birth to their first child, Curtis Muhammad Conway, Jr.
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