Wow, thank you for the incredible response to our last blog, where we talked about the essential role of mentors in our personal and professional growth. Didn’t see it? You can click here.

Just as crucial as mentors are often the unsung heroes of your success — your support team.

If you want to be a luxury leader (and I use the word ‘leader’ for anyone who wants to influence their personal and professional life, no matter what is written on your business card, or even if you have a business card, I don’t care).

I think everyone can be a luxury leader.

As a leadership strategist and luxury expert, I have the privilege of keynoting and advisoring some of the most incredible brands around the world.

Part of my responsibility as a keynote speaker is to make it seem effortless keynoting on stage, and you’ll often hear me tell a client, meeting planner and event the audience, “It’s just a chat.”

Behind this ease lies a tremendous amount of planning, dedication, and a remarkable support system. I could never do what I do without a brilliant team.

If you follow me on social media it might look super easy and fun and glamorous (and by the way, it mostly is), but it has its fair share of travel challenges, ridiculously late nights, and insanely early morning sound checks.

During my career I have slept on airport floors, driven through the night to get to a client event, hired drivers to drive all night to help me get to where I need to be, run into Nordstrom’s to get entire new outfits due to luggage challenges, stepped on stage after receiving devastating news of loss, stepped on stage after doing full hair and make up at 33,000 feet in the airplane bathroom, getting changed in the back of an Uber — the list goes on, these are just earning your stripes in the professional speaking business.

Through it all, it is my exceptional team of professionals that enable me to shine on stage.

The Luxury Support Team

Our Luxury Mindset proprietary research underlines the importance of adopting a mindset that prioritizes excellence and extraordinary experience. It defines luxury, outlines how people THINK about luxury, and how luxury is a reward for hard work.

To you luxury might be time, choice, freedom, fresh flowers on your desk, or planning your next vacation.

Luxury helps us feel more confident, powerful, valued, and worthy. It’s why I am on a mission to make sure that everyone in my world feels seen and heard in their own luxury language, and help them understand that everyone deserves luxury.

This mindset extends to how I build my support team.

Your support team is more than just a group of people who work alongside you. They are the foundation of your success, providing the stability and structure you need to excel. My team ensures presentations go off without a hitch, clients are delighted, and audiences receive value every time I stand in service of them.

On my recent trip to Miami to serve the wonderful global leaders at Norwegian Cruise Lines (their brands include Norwegian, Oceania, and Regent Seven Seas), I made note of every person who helped me to get to the stage, and extended kindness — the list might surprise you:

My core team:

• Business Concierge – Jen in our office manages all things Neen — she liaises with our clients and my travel advisor, and the rest of the team to get me where I need to go.
• Sales Goddess – Sue works with our clients directly to understand their needs so we can design a program for them.
• Keynote Director – Mike is my keynote director who is constantly pushing me to improve my storytelling, focus on my transition statement, and have more impact sharing my message for the world.
• Travel Advisor – it’s no secret I am a huge fan of Virtuoso Travel and Nancy takes such great care of me and the insane logistics of my travel life.
• My good looking Uber driver – my honey Andy who is willing to get up at ridiculous hours to drop me at the airport (that is close to my home).
• Instagram help – Tif in my team posts to my account when I write the post and she uploads it for me. While I focus on content and strategy, she is the person who adds it to my grid. Yep it’s me building and sharing Reels and stories, but it’s her making sure I add content each day.
• Previous clients – those who recommend me to others in the industry so I can continue doing what I love.
• My brilliant friend – who challenges me to be better, do better, lead from my heart, and focus on achieving my highest potential.

On the road:

• TSA Agents – yep I do know some of the regulars at Tampa Airport.
• American Airlines Lounge crew – who provide a calm, quiet environment before the flight.
• Cleaning team at the airport – who keep the bathrooms clean for us all.
• Airline crew – the gate agents, the pilot, the crew on board, and the cleaning crew.
• The random man who saw me standing on my seat to grab my bag from the overhead and kindly took it down for me – I appreciate the kindness of strangers when I travel and also believe we should never travel with a bag that we can’t lift in the overhead, run through the airport with or carry up or down multiple flights of stairs! If I ever stop being able to do this or run through Atlanta airport to make a connection, I will need to retire from this business!
• Personal trainer – JJ has been my trainer for years and when I can’t work with her virtually 1:1, I use her Job1 Program on the road, at this stage in my life, with a body that is changing, and a lifestyle that means no day is ever the same, I need her now more than ever!
• The chauffeur – who picked me up and also made a stop so I could buy a few bottles of champagne for my presentations.

At the event:

• ​The JW Turnberry Hotel team – who greeted me at reception, bought room service, served breakfast in the hotel, cleaned the rooms, VIP services who found a makeup artist, and the bell captain who placed my bags back inside the car for the trip home.
• Make up artist and hair stylist – to allow me to focus on prep for each speech, I often hire a local artist to help me get ready in the morning.
• The AV crew – some of my fave people at any event! Several commented on my presentations, many followed me on instagram and one shared about me on LinkedIn. Side note: the GREATEST compliment to a professional speaker is when the AV crew loves your presentation! Why? Because they hear a gazillion speakers each year, so that’s high praise. Thank you to Derek, Charles, David, Andrew and Antoine from Encore. Yes I do make a point of learning all their names!
• Meetings and Events team – these people are deeply committed to creating an event that will create memories to last a lifetime – they work insanely long days, are on top of every.single.detail and I adore them. The team at Norwegian and the FIMI Group team are brilliant!
• My clients – the senior leadership team of David, Nikki, Shawn, John, Frank and so many others, you all are the BEST and thank you for making me feel part of your team.

While there are dozens more, you get the idea that these individuals are vital in my journey and their importance can’t be overstated.

We all know we never do it alone. It’s a lesson I’ve learned over the years (despite thinking I am fiercely independent — sounds crazy I know) and one that anyone aiming for success needs to take to heart.

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