Most nepo babies deny the privileges afforded to them by their parents. Allison Statter isn’t one of them. She’s never been shy about having entertainment industry titans for parents, or about being Kim Kardashian’s lifelong BFF. But after working at her dad’s management company for 17 years, people started whispering about her legitimacy. To prove she could make it on her own, Allison kissed job security goodbye and launched her own entertainment marketing agency, Blended Strategy Group.
In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Allison shares:
A fact about Kim K that most people don’t know
How her parent’s working relationship stayed strong despite separating multiple times
How a 2-week temporary stint at her dad’s company turned in 17-year long career
Why the stakes are so much higher working in a family business
How she’s learned more launching a company than she has her entire career
On What She Learned from Her Parents Relationship Dynamics
I idolized my parents. I still do, right? But, I think that the journey for me becoming a parent and reflecting on my parents and what they have done together, how they have been able to create this family and how they've been able to build such a fantastic career…they are a package deal. My dad is no one without my mom. My mom is no one without my dad. My mom might not necessarily be the one who is technically managing the talent or in the room building the businesses, but she's actually my dad's closest confidant. She's who he goes home to every day and whose opinion he values the most if not the most. And so they are a package deal. Both of my parents have big dreams. The most insane work ethic. There was never a day in my life that I was not allowed to work if I wasn't in camp, if I wasn't in school, like, I always had to work. They have always taught us that none of this, nothing in life is free. And that has really shaped the type of parent that I am to my kids, right? And a lot of that trickles into how I raise my children and how I instill values.
On the Perception of Getting It Right 100% of the Time
Allison: There are so many women and female entrepreneurs who have to be the homemaker and the breadwinner, and we're in a double income house – it's challenging and it is hard to do both perfectly. And I think that my parents set an incredible example because I actually thought they did it quite perfectly growing up. I recently had a conversation with my mom where I was going through a hard time with something in business. She was like, “do you think your dad got it right every single time?” I said, “yeah.” She was like, “no, babe…” And I was like,” what do you mean?” I do think that they made it look somewhat simple and easy. And now, being in that same seat that they were in, it's interesting to reflect on it. I have kids and I know that they look at me and my husband and are like, wow, they've really got their shit together. And I'm like, if they only knew that I forgot to pick this one up, or I didn't get to do this work thing, or this deal at work didn't happen, and it was a big deal for us. They don't hear about them. I don't remember hearing about them growing up, and if I did, it, it didn't click for me. I think it must have come from the fact that my parents were so successful, right? So when you have that kind of success, you don't think that there's failure that comes with it.
On the Power of Female Friendships in Business
Allison: Most of my girlfriends work, if not all of them. Shared information is so important for us, so that we're making sure we're not undercutting each other on fees and setting the ceiling on fees out in the marketplace. And, I've really been able to not just leverage my family's POV and expertise, which I do use and love and I'm immensely grateful for, but there's also this incredible network of people that I've met through the nine years of building Blended who I really look to for advice especially on development. When it comes to running your own business, I find a lot of comfort – and I think Danielle and I spoke about this a little bit when we touched base [offline] – it is really comforting to talk to someone else who understands the intricacies of what it means to run your own business.
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