Female Disruptors: Cleo Anderson of The Anderson Media Group On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

Don’t be afraid to follow your dream and don’t wait for things to be perfect — rather than expecting things to be perfect before you make your first step, make incremental steps. It can be as small as reaching out to someone on LinkedIn in the same field and asking if you could have a quick 10-minute chat, or learning about something on YouTube every morning. Don’t stay in your head, take action.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Cleo Anderson.

Cleo Anderson is a luxury travel expert, and the Principal and Founder of The Anderson Media Group, a multi-award-winning Forbes-featured PR agency specialising in luxury lifestyle. Cleo is also the Host and Co-Producer of ‘Wanderluxe with Cleo Anderson’, a luxury travel show on LUXE.TV, which premiered to its 462 million subscribers earlier this year.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I fell into PR purely by accident and was assisting a lady who had a boutique PR agency in Bel Air, California. Most of our clients were in the lifestyle space and we also had a couple of celebrity clients in addition to that. I learned the ropes really quickly (within 3 months) and decided that I would like to work for myself. I started my own agency — and the rest is history.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I have found a way to disrupt the travel PR industry by developing, hosting, and co-producing a brand-new luxury travel show for LUXE.TV. Typically, in PR, a PR agency such as The Anderson Media Group (https://www.theandersonmediagroup.com/) pitches stories to media about their clients in the hope of getting their client coverage. By launching my own travel show on such a huge luxury platform (LUXE.TV has 462 million subscribers in 65 countries) I have turned the way that we work on its head by essentially becoming a media platform and being able to select who we feature on the show.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I was new to the agency in California, one of our celebrity clients was extremely cold and rude every time she called the office and, initially, it made me quite defensive — I simply didn’t want to deal with her. Over time, I realised that killing someone with kindness is often a better strategy, and over the course of three weeks she softened and started taking advice from me. She and her fiancé — they were a well known celebrity couple — were about to get married in Hawaii and we had a mutual friend who was left off the guest list, but who told me she really wanted an invite to the wedding. One day, over an hour-long phone conversation, I managed to convince our client to invite the mutual friend to the wedding. This taught me the power of kindness and empathy in influencing people — often, though not always, soft is the way.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

One of my mentors while living in California was a lady named Frankie — she took me under her wing and personally introduced me to a number of celebrity contacts — for example, Toby Maguire — as well as influential people within the luxury hotel industry. She was very generous in helping me with introductions to influential people, and I am thankful to her for doing that when I was new in town and just starting out. She became a dear friend. It highlighted to me that generosity can be about time and kind gestures, not just about money.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Generally speaking, being disruptive is a good thing because it means developing an industry or bringing it forward into modern times. For example, by launching the travel show I am disrupting the travel PR industry by creating a media platform upon which our luxury PR clients can be featured. This is really unique, and it is not something every PR agency can do, so it is definitely disruptive. The one thing I would say is that we are really careful to ensure that the luxury brands we feature are a genuine fit for the show. If that were not the case, then the disruptive move would lack integrity.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

1. Ask for what you want — when I was approached by someone at LUXE.TV about collaborating with our clients I made it clear that I had always wanted to do a luxury travel show. Only then did they offer me the opportunity. You never know who may give you the opportunities you desire.

2. Don’t be afraid to follow your dream and don’t wait for things to be perfect — rather than expecting things to be perfect before you make your first step, make incremental steps. It can be as small as reaching out to someone on LinkedIn in the same field and asking if you could have a quick 10-minute chat, or learning about something on YouTube every morning. Don’t stay in your head, take action.

3. Learn to develop a thick skin — you are always going to come across people who could possibly be against you in some way. Everyone hears the word ‘no’ in their life; don’t internalise it and keep going. Don’t take it personally. Take a breath and start again.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I would love ‘Wanderluxe with Cleo Anderson’ to become an iconic show that people and brands want to appear on. Beyond that, I could see myself developing more shows, perhaps in the luxury real estate world. Watch this space.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Women can sometimes struggle to be taken seriously — especially if they are young or attractive — so it takes confidence and expertise to get your peers to accept your word. Being a woman, men can sometimes believe that they can override you; that can look like negotiating to diminish your worth or expertise, for example. You have to have the confidence to stop them in their tracks, redress the balance, and command respect.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

I really loved the book called ‘Ask and It Is Given’ by Esther and Jerry Hicks — this book opened me up to the idea of aligning yourself with the things you want, and allowing them to come to you. A great example would be that I had been thinking for a while about doing my own travel show and, in the end, the way that it came to me was very easy and effortless. It turned out to be the perfect fit.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I have always thought about initiating a program to help give the homeless meaning — to help them find their passion and give them the tools to succeed in life.

Also, something I am very passionate about is letting young black children understand that the world can be their oyster. Sometimes you have to ignore society’s narrative and just have the confidence to go for your dreams.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Ask and It Is Given” — Ask for what you want and if you are unwavering in your vision, then what you have asked for will be given. You do have to be able to disregard other people’s opinions and other people’s negative or contrary opinions; you must focus purely on what you want.

How can our readers follow you online?

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleo-anderson-815880136/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/cleo.b.anderson?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Website: https://www.theandersonmediagroup.com/

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!