When I grew up in New Orleans, my mother was a fabulous Creole cook. Everything we ate involved butter and fat, with lots of starches. I just figured that was the way to eat.
My mother was always overweight after having six children. I was the youngest, and I never saw her thin. She died when she was only 49 from a stroke. Looking into that mirror, seeing her there in myself, made me realize that if I wanted to live to raise my two daughters, I had to watch my weight.
With regard to my own weight problem, I was figuring out what to do. I was always one to exercise, and I wasn't losing weight. You'd talk to a doctor, and he would just say to eat less. That was the standard reply. Just eat less than you're eating.
What really started me off in this business was my own research into what kinds of foods I should be eating.
I was sure there were a lot of people just like me that want someone to tell them what to do.
Whoever heard of cholesterol when I first started in this business in 1959? People didn’t pay any attention to what they ate. I noticed a need before it was a whole industry and in that sense, I was entrepreneurial.
Sid ran an ad in the paper. I had just sold my business, and I was looking for a franchise. I thought it sounded interesting so I went in to see what it was all about.
Sid called me up one day and asked if I would open Chicago and I agreed to do that. I eventually became national director of operations.
I kept saying to Sid's partners that the world is changing, and we really need to start offering more nutritional guidance. But the partners wanted to keep everything status quo. Their attitude was that if something is working, don't change it.
So we gave them three options. Sell to us, buy us out, or you take half the centers and we'll take half.
We were both fifty when we went to Australia in 1983 and laid everything on the line.
When we asked why they said because we like dealing with a person rather than a corporation.
The markets where we had the most competition were our best markets. I realized why. There was greater awareness of the risks of obesity and a major reason is the advertising we and all the other companies were doing.
Of course, we didn't have success stories the first day we opened. So, I said, well, I'll go out there and do it. And I did, and it seemed to be working so I just continued to do it.
Our timing was good, but as we realized after opening on a Monday with full-page newspaper ads, we had 11 competitors with a foot already in the door. We knew the competition was there, but were surprised at how strong they were in terms of advertising. We realized that we had to do something different.
That's when we started researching frozen dinners and found that no other company was offering frozen dinners on the premises. Weight Watchers had frozen dinners in the supermarket, but they were not part of their program.
Life should be enjoyed, not wasted counting fat grams and calories.
[My husband] always tells me that I'm the most unrelenting person he's ever met, and it's true. If I make a commitment to something I will stick to it no matter what.
I always told people in Australia that I had a 24-hour job because we’d get up in the morning, talk business at breakfast and again at dinner. Our whole life was the business when we were developing the company.
I fell asleep and my head fell forward, resting on my chest, as it happens sometimes, I guess my mouth was open. A commercial came on the television really loudly and when my head snapped up my lower teeth locked over the upper teeth and I had to pry them down.
I said, ‘I’m going to keep trying to find someone who can help me.’
I'm happy to be able to communicate, I'm healthy, and I have a great life. I have so many things to be grateful for, I can't focus on the one negative.
I can’t wait for tomorrow. You can do anything and be anything you want.
I was open to anything that was available.
I thought, you know, you have so many positives in your life, you have a wonderful family, you have good health, you have had wonderful success in business, why focus on the one negative thing? So I just kind of gave myself a talking to and said look, you know, get this thing done. You can do it.
I am an extreme optimist, while [My husband] likes to play the devil’s advocate. He wants to know the worst thing that can happen. I don’t even want to think about the worst case. I provide the discipline and stick-to-it-iveness.
I really love what I do. It’s extremely motivating to me.
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