Amina Porter - CEO of PS on Reimagining The Airport Experience

Welcome to the Casey Adams Show. If you are new here, my name is Casey Adams and on today's episode I had the privilege of sitting down with the CEO of ps, Amina Porter. If you're not familiar with ps, it is a private travel experience for commercial airlines. We're currently in the private suite here at P.S. and throughout the conversation we share Amina's background of how she lived in seven countries when she immigrated to Canada, dealing with personal challenges in her life to now creating and being the CEO of an industry leading travel experience. This is a business that I am so excited about because it truly is a category creator. Managing customer experience with logistics to the safety element of what they deal with. It's truly remarkable. I've firsthand seen the value and been able to experience what they've created here at PS and I'm very excited for all of you to learn more. Enjoy today's conversation with Amina Porter. Make sure you subscribe and I'll talk to you soon. Welcome back to the Casey Adams Show. Today I am joined by a very special guest, Amina Porter, the CEO of ps. Thank you so much for coming the show today.

Thanks, Casey. Thank you so much for having me.

Of course.

So I guess I'm having you. Who's having who? Well, we are in at ps, we're.

In the private suites.

Yes.

And I gotta say, you run one of the coolest businesses I've ever really been able to step into. You know, I've interviewed so many people on the podcast, but what you guys have created here, and we'll obviously get into it, is so unique, you know, and I'll let you dive more into the details, but I had the experience of experiencing PS with my fiance, Jacqueline, and to see how you guys have brought this private experience to commercial travel is truly unbelievable. And I remember it's, it's one of those things that, you know, you experience a product or service and you can't stop talking about it. And that was my experience here. But for the people that may not know what PS is, I'd love for you to give a high level overview before we really dive in.

Sure, sounds good. Well, thank you first of all for that glowing recommendation.

Of course.

I love that. I love that I get to every day build something that people can't wait to tell everyone about. It's a very lucky place to be in. Right. And you know, we're creating a category here. And so, and that's the whole point, is that hopefully you've experienced something you've never experienced. Before that's exactly the emotion we want to give to people. And so what is, is we are an airport alternative. We are a way for you to fly commercial without stepping foot in the airport, which until now has been impossible. Right. The only way you can avoid the airport is to not travel at all or to fly private. And so the best way for me usually to describe it to someone new is to actually describe the experience. So if you want, I'll do exactly that.

Absolutely. So I have to cut you off and, and give you, you know, my bits and pieces as well.

But please, please, please, please. So, so we're here in L. A. This is, we're sitting here in one of our suites in our private terminal at P.S. we have a second location in Atlanta and we'll be growing to more locations to Dallas and Miami imminently and in one day to, to more major cities. But basically the concept is, let's say you're flying from LA to where were you flying actually, you remember, to Austin. Okay, not the best example. I'll explain why. Usually people use this on very long haul flights.

Yeah.

Because those are generally the most painful. Right. Just because, you know, of course, usually you're checking more bags.

Either extra early, you get there extra.

Early, you're flying further, it's more retiring. Right. So let's say you're flying from LA to London.

Yep.

Right. And you're flying direct and you're flying first class. And I say that because that's usually our customer. This is where this is more makes sense. It's, it is a premium offering, so. So you're usually adding it on to a premium experience in order to match the pre flight experience to that flight experience. The first class ticket. Right. And so let's say you're flying from LA to London on American Airlines. And usually, you know, you pull up to lax, it's right there actually to the airport. And from the moment you pull up, we all know this feeling. It's a horseshoe of traffic and a mess. And where's my which terminal and what door and where do I park? You know, just that we eliminate because we are on the other side of the tarmac or the airfield. We're one highway exit over. It's the same thing in Atlanta, it'll be the same thing in Dallas and Miami. So you don't even see the airport. You don't even have that feeling Once you pull up to our terminal, our own PS Building, the experience feels hopefully more like a members club or a boutique hotel. You know, we valet your car for you. If you drove yourself, if you've been driven, you know, we greet you right at the doors, we get your check bags out of your trunk and we whisk them away and put them on the aircraft. It's very complicated, but we won't get into that. And we don't want our customers to even know how complicated that is. Right. We don't want to involve you in that sausage making. Don't worry about it. The bags will be at your destination, Right. And then once you're here, you have the choice of one or two services. I think you did the salon, is that right? The salon is our social experience. It's a lounge that's centered around a bar. There's other people in there. It's not as crowded as airport. Airport lounges by design, you know, it's very serene. And then the private suites. Thank you. The private suites were in one of them here. They are exactly what they sound like. They're a private suite, its own restroom, a day bed. And it's really for the. Our customers that seek or need privacy. And so this is where you dwell, right? This hopefully looks very different than the airport.

It's gorgeous. If you're watching this video, if you're listening on audio, you got to go to the YouTube and go to the video portion. It's truly stunning, like what you guys have created here in each specific thing, whether that's the suite or the salon. It's beautiful.

Thank you. So, you know, you hang out here, you have some chef prepared food, some delicious cocktails, you can get a massage, you can get your nails done, you can get your hair done. And then when it's time to board, because you know you're still on American Airlines Flight 36 or whatever, and it's not going to wait for you. It's a scheduled commercial flight. We escort you through our own TSA that's here in our terminal. That takes five seconds because it's just you. It's very quick. And then we drive you to your plane in a BMW across the tarmac, which is still to this day, the wow moment.

It really is.

I travel a lot for work and for fun, and I get the pleasure of doing this when I travel. And every time I'm in that car in the tarmac, I've done this hundreds of times. I'm like, wow, this is amazing. Because there's something so majestic about just seeing those planes taking off, landing right by you, driving by them. Anyway. And then we pull up to your flight because your flight's still at gate B13 or whatever gate it's at. Right. And so we pull up to it like a car would pull up to a private jet and walk you up the exterior jet bridge stairs that are usually reserved for airline personnel and drop you right into the airplane. So you skip the airport altogether. And we do the same thing in reverse on an arrival. And you know, we do it for all flights, all routes, domestic international arrivals and departures. So it's a long explanation, but it's when you have a novel concept, you have to give it up. There's no 4 cent, 4 word explanation.

Absolutely. And I remember and people listening experiences. But hearing you talk about it, you kind of think to yourself, at least when I first heard about it, it's just, it's such a different concept of, you know, if you're not flying private. It's just this whole new category, as you said, where I remember the first time when, when I did it with my fiance. That wow moment is so surreal. Right? You're, you're in the car, you're driving by all the planes and you're just missing this, you know, usual stressful, chaotic, busy crowd. And again, I think that leads me to the next part of the conversation is just when, when you guys started here, this was the first private terminal for commercial travel here in the U.S. correct? Yeah. So I didn't know this, but this is, I've heard something that happens a lot internationally. Is that right?

Correct. Yeah. I mean, so this concept, the concept of a private terminal for commercial flights exists in almost every major city outside the United States now. Exists in different forms and shapes and flavors, but in London, in Paris, in Rome, in Hong Kong, places like that in the U.S. it hasn't. And I think in the U.S. you know, the airport is not a hospitality product in the U.S. right. It's a security product. And by the way, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, that's probably a good thing. But you know, other countries have found a way to blend to both of those aspects. And so we've seen an opportunity to do that here in the US to bring hospitality to a very inhospitable experience. Right, the airport.

Absolutely. I think you, you'd love this. So your past and background is, is very unique. One thing that we both share is a love for, or I, I should say I spent time in China and so actually the first time I ever traveled, I, I grew up in a small town in Virginia where I didn't fly in an airplane until I like Bought the plane ticket myself. But there was a school trip that I did and it was to China, Beijing, Shanghai.

What an incredible first, first international trip.

Yeah. And I remember the first flight anywhere.

More, more drastically different in Virginia.

Wow. My, my flight tolerance was just established then. The first flight was Richmond to Toronto. You know, short two hour flight or less than Toronto to Beijing. I think it was like 16 hours. So now I, I really look back, it really set me up. Or any flight. I've never, this is short. Yeah. I've never done like, oh, five hour coast to coast. Like that's easy. But you spent a lot of time in China. Six years. Bring us back to like the early days of your career. You've lived in different countries. You've been in the hospitality hotel business. What was your career like or early childhood like that led you to, you know, being in the world of business and entrepreneurship and just being in this hospitality business that we are speaking about today.

There's a lot of questions, but you know, I, I grew up in Al. I'm from Algeria, born and raised and, and, and sorry, born and, and was raised mainly in the UAE in Abu Dhabi. But I think when you're from somewhere like Algeria, which is quite unstable, not too much economic opportunity, you have no choice but to kind of crawl your way around the world and try to figure out what, what's out there and where you can make something of yourself. Right. I think people who are born in the US are very for have to move to a hundred different places to kind of find their way. Right. So, you know, so maybe some of it was innate, but probably necessity was, was sort of most of it. And I saw that in my parents. Like they moved to the UAE to start a new life because there was more economic opportunity and it was the right decision for a family. And then I grew out of that and said, well, I want more. So I went to college in Canada, but I ended up in China right after graduating from undergrad. And, and the reason was that China was the beacon of opportunity at the time. You know, we can debate now, but at the time it was, this was 2005.

Okay.

You know, there was a lot of, you know, China's the future. Learn Mandarin. And so I did all those things. I, I picked up Mandarin, I studied in undergrad. I thought I learned it. I moved to China, I realized I didn't actually learn it, but when you're in China you do learn it because it's survival. As I spent six years there first working on for a hotel investment Fund on the finance side and then with two friends working on developing and operating hotels in China. So, you know, kind of fell into stuff. But, but it was the wild, wild. I was gonna say west, but east I guess, where there was so much opportunity and so many ways to kind of roll up your sleeves and, and get a lot of great working experience. And I did. But you know, six years in, it was time for me to do something new. China was never kind of a permanent decision for me. It was a, this is the best opportunity right now. And then eventually the best opportunity for me was the United States. That's why I moved here to go to grad school and get my MBA and then, and fell in love with the US and you know, I think I'm here for a while, but you never know. You never know. And I think that open mindedness and that lack of geographic self limitation has served me well, which is like, I'll follow the opportunity.

Yeah.

And, and, and that's led me here to LA and to building P s.

I love that you said something about growing up and wanting more and even just you talking about going to China and like following opportunity, like where do you believe you get this drive from? I know you talked about your parents and you know, just wanting more out of life, but at what age or when did you recognize like, hey, I want more. I, I want to go build things and you know, like be in industries that are sort of category. You're creating categories in terms of like building boutique hotels in China to, you know, being CEO of PS where did this drive come from for you?

You know, I think I get it from my dad, but he's, he's way more risk averse than I am. So he has that thirst and I think he's always pushed me and supported me. And then there's like this fearlessness that I think comes from just hopefully realizing what's important. And what's important is the people you love and your family. And so I'm like, if this fails, so what? No one's dying, no one's sick.

Yeah.

You know, it's just business or it's just, you know, you can, you can do something else. You can wake up and do something else another day. And I think that served me well because it leads to the, to the ability to take risks. Calculated ones obviously, but the ability to be able to jump and know that like everything's going to be fine as long as I have the people around me that I love and my health, if that makes sense.

Absolutely.

I Think sometimes people get too caught up on business outcomes.

Yeah.

And only when you take risks do you kind of solve. I mean, building a business is essentially solving problems every day and you can't, you can't solve the problems unless you take risks.

Yeah, I love that. Speaking of just business, overall problems that you're solving, PS Is a business that, you know, as someone that's not in the business of travel or hospitality, there's so many hoops to jump through. You know, you're dealing with. You're in the airport, going through tsa and there's. It's a hard, logistical business you're running. When you stepped in and became CEO, what were some of the big problems that you, the team were really focused on? And where do you spend your time day to day? Within.

Because you kind of touched on it. And I was going to correct you, but I'm glad I didn't because this is the answer. The correction is kind of the answer is, is when, when, when you're creating a category and starting a new business, you almost don't even know what business you're in.

Right.

Like when we first started, we, we were in the logistics business and that's what the business we needed to be in, actually. Sorry, let me take a step back. First, we were in the security business. We were saying we are going to deliver this product to protect some people who cannot go to the airport because they'll get harassed, they'll get, you know, cause uproar, you know, and cause a security risk for themselves and everyone around them. That was the kind of the first iteration. And then it became a logistics business, which is. Okay, there's a lot of these, there's a lot of demand. So how do we work through this in the most time efficient way while still being successful? Right. How do we, you know, it's not just one person a day coming anymore. It's a lot more. Right. And so there's a lot of coordination. It's a lot of different airlines, it's a lot of different customers, it's a lot of different use cases. And then we decided and this was a choice, but it was also a reaction that we were also in the hospitality business. So that evolved kind of how what we had to learn and what we had to deliver and our processes and what standards we hold ourselves to. And now I think in this new iteration, we're now also in the real estate business in the sense that we're now going to start construction on two large projects in Dallas and Miami, which we are you know, building ourselves.

Yeah.

And managing ourselves. And like, we need to get that right. We need to have that core competency and we need to have those skills. And so as a business has evolved, the type of business we need to be in, or we are, has also grown, if that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah. It's very cool. I'm just curious, when it comes to the developing, the development of these locations as a business, are you guys buying the land or what does that look like? I'm just curious.

Or not. So in the US Airport land, serious about this. Yeah. You can, you can only lease it from the, the airport authority in whatever form it it is in. It's different. Sometimes it's. It's governed by the city, sometimes by the county, sometimes by the state, but you can only lease it.

Got it.

So they are long term leases. Yeah.

Very unique.

Yeah.

Yeah. So today, P.S. you guys have this location here in Los Angeles. You just opened up the second location in Atlanta. Talk to me about how you as the CEO, think about the future of the key cities. And just the scale of. As you said, you know, it isn't one person a day coming in here anymore. This is a product that the logistics matter, the security matters, and of course, the hospitality aspect matters. When you think about scaling a business like this, you know, there's a quote that I always love from and the founder of Airbnb, they started off with this whole concept of do things that don't scale. Right. Like provide that element of customer experience that just untouchable and perfect that. And as someone that's experienced, P.S. myself, I can say that you guys have done that, at least through my personal experience. But how do you think about that when it comes to like scaling this blissful experience that is something so unique to the market?

No, I mean, you nailed it. Is that you can't. It's a losing proposition to start designing with scale in mind because inevitably you're making compromises. Right. And you're cutting corners. And for us, we still, you know, we have two locations going on four. I think we still think ourselves as the same, as kind of one member at a time. Right. It's almost like all that matters is that next member and that next experience and nailing that and staying laser focused on one experience at a time. Because if you zoom out and look at the scale that we are and we're going to be, I think it's easy to start making broad strokes and saying, change this SOP and change the standard and. But. But we have, you know, for Us, It's. It's really important to stay focused on the member. And, and at the end of the day, that's what we're here for. And we do, you know, at the end. And I think it's really important. I think we even lose sight of this, that what we do is truly extraordinary. You know, we're helping people skip something that is, you know, usually unskippable. We're driving cars on the airfield. And so we need to hold ourselves to that standard in everything that we do. That everything we do has to be truly extraordinary.

Yeah. Bring me back to the first time you experienced ps.

So the first time I experienced PS was about. Let's see. Because I joined about nine months after it opened.

Okay.

Um, and it was a very different. We were in the security phase of, of kind of the. The. The iterations of the business, if you will. And so it was very different. There was no hospitality element. There was a logistics element, but it wasn't as perfected because it didn't need to be at that kind of low volume early days. But it was so clear that there was so much to do here. And again, it's. The vision was pretty clear, honestly, because it was really dictated by. I met a lot of our customers. They weren't my customers then. They were going to be my future customers. And how beloved the service was resonated so much. And that's all you want when you're looking for product market fit. You want the feedback from the customer. And it was so strong and it resonated so much with me that I just decided to jump in. And it was very clear that if we added these layers of hospitality and logistics, that we would take it to another level.

Yeah, that's wonderful. I love that. I want to step back to. We were talking about living in China. You were there for six years. You moved back to the US and you were in investment banking and the hotel industry. What led you to PS initially and what ultimately led to making that decision to step in as CEO and to go on this journey that you're on today.

Yeah. I mean, in a way, it feels like all the random shit. Can I swear?

Yeah.

All the random shit I did in my life led me to this moment, which, like, it didn't make sense at the time, even to me. Whereas, like, why am I in China? I'm doing hotels and I'm doing finance. And so when I saw this opportunity, to me, I was like, I feel like I'm designed in a lab to run this and I wish that feeling on everyone. And what I would say is, like, don't stop until you get that feeling. And you might not get it now because it's. So many stars have to align, but when you see it, seize it. Right. Like, I wake up every day and I truly feel like this is what I was born to do. I love that hopefully I'm right, but it almost doesn't matter if I'm right. That's how I feel. And it energizes me. It gives me clarity, it gives me confidence, and it makes me happy. Right. And it wasn't always this way, Right. Along the way, I've done a million different jobs in a million different industries. And this, it was just like, when it presented itself, I was like, I didn't even know this existed. But this, this is why exact my way over.

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's Steve Jobs says, right. So you can never connect the dots. Looking forward, only looking back.

That's right, exactly.

And I actually align with you and I. And I feel, you know, before the show, I was telling you about business.

And the same experience. Right. I mean, in different ways.

Like, My new company, listener.com is, you know, vertically integrated podcast network. And I look back over the last six years of my life, from running media companies to doing lots of live events, to building tech, to hosting my podcast, where when I'm telling clients or partners that I'm working with, I'm like, I feel that the last six years has literally prepared me to go run this company. And even you saying that, I feel just how I view it as well in my own life. So it's a very beautiful feeling.

It's a very lucky place to be. Right. And like, it's. And that's why when. When anyone sees that, it's a shame not to see that. Yeah. Because it doesn't. I don't think it comes along that often.

Yeah, absolutely. When you think about just the experience of P S and the members that are here and, you know, I remember when I first came across it, you guys do a great job on social at just showing people what the experience is and the expectations of it.

So hard to show it is when.

You said it is. It's. I mean, I remember, like the gates open and people come out to greet you, and it's just the whole staff is there. Ready. I'm like, oh, right. Like, there's things that you just don't know until you experience it. And I believe PS Is one of them. But when you think about growing the member base, you Know, it's one of those things that obviously you have two locations. How do you think about that in terms of is it primarily word of mouth? Is it social? Like, how have you guys gone about building this, you know, membership base here in Los Angeles and now Atlanta? What does that look like?

Yeah, I mean, you know, you touched on it at the beginning, but we're very lucky. And in that the effect that we have on especially a first time customer creates so much word of mouth and so much goodwill.

Yeah.

And we just have that kind of service and we've worked hard for this. We'll take a little bit of credit, but we have the kind of service where once you do it, you want to tell everyone you know, because you can't believe that this exists. Right. So that helps a lot. Right. And that's why we going back to what matters. What matters is the next experience. Right. Because that next experience that we deliver for that next person that drives into those gates is what builds the business is their satisfaction will tell more people will get them to come back. So we're always focused on that next experience. So the word of mouth is so strong. I wish we could quantify it. We don't, we take a very almost like light touch, hopefully high luxury approach to our marketing. Yeah, we're not, we never do email marketing. Like if you're our member, you hear from us only if you have a reservation and if we have something really important to tell you, like, you know, like there's a power outage and like, you know, we need to change your some. We're not very markety. We don't do too many partnerships. You know, I personally believe the world is over partnered. It's the same, especially in the luxury space. It's like the same 20 companies putting the same 20 benefits to the same, you know, 200,000 people. And so we don't play in that game. And really it's because we have like a very deep respect for this very savvy customer. And what our promise as a customer is delivering this experience. Yeah, that's it. Not getting you nine holes off at that golf course and 10% off at that steakhouse because you're a PS member. No, our promise is to deliver an amazing airport alternative experience. That's it. And to me, the more we focus on that, that's the marketing that creates ripple effects and dividends more than a billboard.

The product itself. Right. It's customer obsessed and built building a great product.

And you know, we're lucky in that we don't have competitors. Right. I think if. If you're in a space with competitors that's different, then you have to be top of mind.

Yeah.

You have to. You know, you have to make your.

Your.

Your differences clear and things like that. For us, our competitor is the airport. Right. And everyone knows what that's like. And. And by the way, airports are great, and they need to exist. This is just a different service. And so it's. We don't have to kind of fight for market share that way.

How do you think about that? Like, you know, people listening to the show, let's say someone's like, oh, my God, that's. I was. I experienced this. I want to go start something or, you know, a big company, they want to launch something. How difficult is it to, you know, you have this private space. It's this unique experience. You know, if someone, some savvy entrepreneur wanted to go try to build something like ps, it's not an easy business. Like, how do you think about competition in the years to come? Because, again, you guys are in this very unique category in which you're creating.

Yeah. I mean, the moat is pretty high because of the IP that and the tribal knowledge that we've developed over the years, and we're still developing. So it's one of those things where if a competitor. First of all, if anyone's thinking about doing this, just call me. Seriously, we'll do it together.

I love that. You need a lot of calls.

No problem. I'll take your call. And so that's the first thing. But the second thing is that we're seven years into this business, and we're still learning how we do things. And it's really a collaboration between us and a lot of critical stakeholders. US Airlines, tsa, Customs and Border Protection, the various jurisdictions, cities, counties, states in the cities we do operate in and the ones we will operate in. And it's. It's a lot. Like, everyone has to buy in, and it's a lot. We're kind of iterating together.

Yeah, right.

Because no one's done this before. Even having TSA in a private building is a first. We had to lobby Congress to get that. So there's a lot of complexities. This build business that, you know, if someone else wants to go into the space again, much easier to just call me and we'll figure out how to do it together in whatever market you want to do it. Because it's been a long journey.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So as CEO of ps, how often are you traveling and what does your Travel schedule look like?

I mean, I've been on five, four flights in the last three days. So. Yeah, I practice what I preach.

Yes, yes, absolutely. That's wonderful. So how long has it been since you've lived in Los Angeles?

So I moved here to join P.S. so it's been six years.

Got it.

And Los Angeles has been kind of the perfect model for what we do. You know, the markets really embraced us. Well, first of all, we've solved a really big problem for the airport here. It used to be that when a public figure would walk through the airport, it was Armageddon. No, really. Because people would very quickly notice security would have to be called on, TSA would get distracted. Sometimes it led to even security risk. Yeah, it is a security risk for everyone.

Yeah.

And that was a big problem for the airport. And I don't know if you've noticed, but there's no longer photos of public figures walking through LAX in Us Weekly. And that. We credit ourselves for that. But we've solved this issue for everyone that the public figure themselves feel so much more relaxed, so much more at ease using ps the airport doesn't have to draw on security resources for those specific incidents. Now, the paparazzi may not be so happy about it because they can't take those photos as easily, but I think they found different ways. Ways.

Yeah.

So LA was kind of the perfect first market for us, but we found that certainly in Atlanta, that this market is actually the demand for what we do is much broader than what we initially thought. It's because it's not just public figures, it's not just ultra high net worth individuals. It's. It's a celebratory market. You know, you're going on your honeymoon, you want to splurge.

Yeah.

You know, absolutely. You want to do it once. Great. Like enjoy. Right. Like you're going on your honeymoon. You're. You're buying a premium class ticket on your flight. You also want to skip the airport and drink champagne, have caviar before and celebrate bachelorettes, things like that. And that's, that's a big market. We love that. We're part of that as well. We don't want this to just be a very unique need for a very unique number of people.

Yeah. Even speaking of that, just for the context of the people. So we're in the private suite here. Like, what does this space cost as a customer or member? And for people that are curious, that are, you know, probably booking their next trip and are now watching or listening to this podcast what is the model for the people that are curious? Because I think it's not only unique, but just again, it fits into the celebratory aspect. It fits into just the. The person who wants privacy and then, of course, the public figure, celebrity type of character. But what is the model for people that are curious?

Yeah. So we have the salon and we have the private suites. And the way PS Works is it's a pay per use model. So you pay for each flight and you could also buy memberships that lower your pay per use. But if you're not a member, the private suite is $4,500 and the suite comfortably seats four to six people. And the salon is a per person price. It's 10, 95 per person. Now you can buy tiers of membership that lower those prices by 15, 20, 30%. And to me, it's best used on either. It's almost like the two extremes. It's either your most painful trip that you're dreading because you're flying really far and you're not going for that long, or you're going to a big meeting and you want to be relaxed, or like your happiest trip, like you're getting married, or it's a bachelor party or, you know, or it's just a group of friends. To me, those are the best two use cases to splurge on. P.S.

Absolutely. I love it. I want to take a step back. We were talking beforehand. Since you joined as CEO in 2018, Covid happened. What did you do and what was the thought process when Covid was first unraveling? When you're, you know, you're dealing with travel and travel's getting shut down and you've never seen a problem like this in the industry before.

No one had.

No one has. So what. How did you react to Covid and everything that happened with travel?

Yeah. So let's see. So Copus, it's like, it's like, you know, you like, have amnesia. Early 2020, right?

Is.

Is when. Yeah, like January started rumbling and then like by March.

Yeah, we weren't shut down. March 16, I had a trip to Australia and Bali in February 2020.

Did you go?

I went, wow. I remember that. I was sitting with my friend. We were about to cancel it and.

It was like, oh, at least you had that foresight. A lot of people, I think.

Yeah, we went and best time. And then we got back late February, early March. And then, you know, what happened next? It was like, oh, wow. Glad we. That was great timing.

Yeah. So around Mid March, obviously the world shut down. You know, our world shut down. So. So, you know, for context, we'd been open, let's see, under three years, which sounds like a long time, but it was not actually a long time because we were still iterating, finding product market fit, really getting to know our customers and their needs. And, you know, and I think we had just started hitting our stride. And at that time we only had private suites, we only had la. So Atlanta only opened about five months ago. So we only had LA and we only had private suites. We didn't have the salon. The salon was always on, on the drawing board of something we wanted to do, but we hadn't built it out yet. The world shuts down in March. Not a great time to be in the travel business, obviously, and especially like in, you know, now with hindsight, you know, travel kind of picked back up. October, November. At the time, you didn't know if this was the end of the world liter early or if travel was going to be stopped for two years. You know, we didn't know anything. We buckled down, we unfortunately had to furlough people. But we ended up, you know, there's a happy ending. We ended up rehiring everyone and then some. And what we realized as soon as travel reopened, the door opened a crack. I think it was in September, August or September, where some flights kind of resumed, is that we were accidentally in the business of social distancing. Before social distancing even knew what social distancing was. That was the business we ran because now you could travel through us and instead of seeing hundreds of people at the airport, you would see three before getting on your flight. Obviously then you're on your flight.

But.

But the airport was a big risk moment, right, for people because you know, you're standing in lines and all that. So our demand shut up. And we've benefited from that because it allowed us to introduce ourselves to customers that were maybe on the cusp of trying us, but weren't sure. That's what pushed them to try us and hopefully fall in love with us and have been customers of ours ever since. So our customer acquisition really skyrocketed since then. The other thing we did in August of 2021, where it was still, we were still in kind of like Covid gray zone, is we launched the salon. And that's because we wanted to offer a more accessibly priced way to experience P.S. especially during those times when people needed us the most. I do want to say that we did not close for one Day during COVID Wow. We wanted to keep that promise to our members of like, this is when you need us the most. Right. We're not going to send you to crowds now when crowds are the scariest because of, you know, of the risk of getting sick. So we stayed open every single day. So we put ourselves at risk in that way. But that was our promise. That was really important. I think, I think that that will never be forgotten amongst our members.

Yeah. I mean, especially for you as CEO. You're two years in. You get to experience this and learn.

I think once you survive that, you can survive anything. You know, that was the biggest shock to the travel industry ever.

Really. Yeah. I heard you say, I listened to a podcast on, I think it was called Second Life that you did. A wonderful host, wonderful show.

Yeah, she's wonderful.

And I remember you said you moved to Canada, I think September 8, 2004.

Yeah. 9 11.

So speaking of you living in this world of security, I was 1 years old when 911 happened for.

Please stop. Stop changing me.

No, but you moved to America and then this, excuse me, Canada. And then this world changing event happens. Where were you on that day? You know, you're just moving to Canada three days later.

I remember, I think everyone. Not you because you were one, but I think everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing on 911 because it was such a shocking event. Obviously. I remember. I remember waking up because I guess it was happening morning and I was three days into being college students. I was already embracing the college student life and I like slept in. I remember waking up in my dorm room. There was a lot of commotion in the hallway, going out into the hallway and everyone's like, did you see. And. And my girlfriend, who, you know, she wasn't really my friend yet. I just met her because I just. We just showed up three days before, but she's still a girlfriend of mine. She had a TV in her dorm room. I did not. And she's like, come, come look. And I remember seeing in that moment the second plane going to the towers and like everyone, we're just like, what?

Yeah.

And then only later was there the kind of bit of identity crisis of like, I'm from that part of the world. How do people view me? Do I need to like not say I'm from that part of the world? Do I need to make my political views clear that I don't believe? You know, it was just like a weird time to just move to North America. It all ended up okay. I didn't I didn't thankfully experience any prejudice or anything like that, but it was just an odd time to feel an us versus them. Because that division was, by the way, it still exists today. And to feel like. And to be like, oh, I'm the them. It was just. It was very odd.

Yeah, that's.

It was formative for sure. For sure.

So you're in college now. What was college like for you? I'm someone that. I didn't go to college and moved out of my hometown of Virginia to Scottsdale, Arizona, like a two, three weeks after I graduated high school.

Wow.

What was your college experience like and how did that set you up for, you know, your career? I remember you said in the show he had two finance degrees.

Yeah.

Mistaken, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what was, what was that like, moving to Canada? This world event happens. What was life like for you then?

You know, other than that, like, weird introspective introspection that happened because. Because of, of the events of 9 11. It was a pretty kind of typical college experience. What it did do for me was keep me wanting more. There was a very traditional path, I think that still exists today, which is if you majored in finance, especially at certain schools, then you either go into investment banking or management consulting. And like, that's your choice. A, you know, door A, door B. And I remember being like, repulsed by that was like, really? I clawed my way this far to still be constrained. I came here for more, not for less. Right. And that's why I moved to China. I didn't even attend my graduation.

Wow.

Because there was a language program that happened to start like, whatever day before my graduation. So just like, bye, everybody, I'm out of here.

That's great.

With no real plan, I just went to China to. The plan was to take a language program which lasted three or four months and then see, and. And then see turned into, you know, six years in China. But that's what China did for me, which was open up the world versus close it.

Yeah.

I just don't like constraints.

Yeah.

I never have. And especially I think at that age, I think you do yourself a. A favor by giving yourself more options because you don't know much, honestly. You don't know what you want, you know, what you're good at. You don't know what's a good idea and a bad idea. Like, you know, so. So I think it's good to have a lot of options at that age. It sounds like you did that for yourself by going to Scottsdale. Totally Just open up your world. Right?

Yeah, no, I was actually. The company that I was running was a media company, and it was this brand called Build your Empire. And I had partners. We acquired the. The More so the brand, and we actually. The first place I ever lived outside of my hometown of Virginia was this beautiful big house in Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Arizona. We sort of created this entrepreneur house. It was where, like, videographer was living. Myself, my partners, we were building a sales team there, and we were doing these monthly events where we'd bring on incredible entrepreneurs and founders, either locally in Scottsdale or fly people out to the house. And it was just this environment of, again, like, as you said, the doors opening, different people, different opportunities, conversations, like, learning so much. And, yeah, I think too, even, like, reflecting on where I'm from, it's the opposite. It's, you know, I won't leave this hometown. I'm only able to experience these types of opportunities. This is the path set out for me. Instead of, like, really pausing and saying, I want more. It's so. It was so foreign, especially where I'm from.

I think it's also important to note that for some people, that's good or that's what they want. Some people want safety and want security. Right. In which case that's good. But if that's not what's what your driving force is, which is not for me. For me, more is more is more is more is more. Like, I didn't want to be constrained by options, and Sounds like you didn't either. Right. And. And. And that's the harder path, I think.

Speaking of hard things in life, as entrepreneurs and people that set out to go get more out of life, you're going to have a lot of challenges, inevitably. And I remember hearing in that podcast that you dealt with a very traumatic experience, I believe. 2018.

Yeah. Good memory.

Bring me back to this moment for the listeners, the viewers, because I remember just getting the chills, and I even still feel that even bringing this up. But bring us back to 2018 and you know what you went through that year.

Yeah. So in 2018, I was married, very happily married, to the man I'd been with for six years, and he died in a sports accident in a really, you know, obviously surprising, shocking sports accident. His. His hobby, I guess you can call this a hobby, was wingsuit base jumping, which is obviously the most extreme of sports. It's not even. Yeah, it makes other extreme sports look really tame. And that's what he left to do. And, you know, he spent 13 years in the military, in Special Forces. So that was just a part of him and it brought him a lot of joy. And, you know, it just happened very quickly and instantly. But what, you know, what death like that does is it puts everyone around that person in a state of free fall, especially the people closest to them, like me and his parents and things like that.

Yeah.

And. And it obviously shakes your perspectives. Right. Needless to say. So for me, in that moment, I was working in real estate, private equity, and it just allowed me to step back and re evaluate everything that I was doing in that moment. You know, everything suddenly becomes very clear. Yeah, right. And I knew I wanted to be an operator and build something. I knew I wanted to throw myself into something, I guess, because there was nothing else to throw myself into. So I was like, you know, there wasn't a relationship, there wasn't a partnership in that way. But what I will say is that grief, you know, there's. They say that when you go through grief, you either have post traumatic stress or you have post traumatic growth. Right. I'm lucky that I experienced post traumatic growth coming from that. I wish I could tell you how or that I have a playbook or the secret formula to help others do that. I don't. I think it was a combination of the incredible support system I had in my friends and family. Maybe a little bit from my own gumption, but I think it was mainly my support system. But I'm lucky that it led to that and that I just grew a lot from that. And I also think my life experiences in a effed up way prepared me for yet another change because I was used to that. I'd lived in like eight, nine different cities, in like four or five different countries. I moved with nothing but like a suitcase. So I was used to just being scrappy and like, all right, let's. Let's figure this out. So in a way, I've been there before. Not with this kind of trauma and not missing a loved one, but I was used to my ninth life. Another ninth life. Right. And so I'm in a ninth life right now and like, I might have more night lives. Yeah.

I appreciate you sharing, of course, and going back there and even just on that, like the topic, it's that hobby of, you know, I have a friend that my former business partner, actually, he learned how to skydive.

Tell him to stop. Stop.

Now he stops. He doesn't do BASE jumping, but he.

Was telling me, but skydiving is a gateway drug.

Yes.

And then you BASE jump And then you.

That is the.

Yeah. And I'm not sure what to do next. I don't think you do much next because that's it. Right? That's it.

It's. It's one of the things. My former business partner's instructor was someone that similar thing. Right. He climbed the ladder and that he loved it. The people that do that, based on what I've observed and the rabbit holes I've gone into, it's just the thrill is so immense and that you love it, but it's also again, it comes with the territory of it's the most dangerous. And yeah, it's, it's very unfortunate. But I appreciate you taking us back there because it's a hard time in life. Absolutely.

Yeah. But it's a part of the story. Yeah, you know.

Absolutely.

It takes many, takes many pieces to make a story. If it's all rosy, it's pretty boring. You know, hopefully there's too much pain. But you know, every story has a little bit of pain.

Yeah. Even, you know, I was telling you beforehand, like how I got in this whole world of business was being a naive 16 year old kid that didn't really know what I wanted to do in life, but then gets injured playing football. I was diagnosed, it was called inner spine is ligament damage. So as a neck brace for six months, nearly paralyzed. And I remember the doctor do an X ray, expecting life to just keep moving on, go back to playing football. And the doctor comes in and says, I have good news and bad news. Good news is you're not paralyzed. Obviously that could have been an outcome. Bad news is you can never play football again. You, your spine is very unstable and you have to be in this neck brace for six months. And you know, we'll see how you recover, just depending on what you can go do. You know, I'm someone that grew up playing sports, hockey, lacrosse, football, snowboarding, Just so active. And it's these, you know, and you see this a lot in not only successful CEOs but just people that strive for greatness is these pivoting points in life that is surrounded by trauma, either personal or with loved ones or through just experiences. There's growth in that. Speaking of growth, when you think about where you are Today, outside of P.S. where do you find growth in your life today? You know, you're the CEO of this incredibly unique, innovative company. You know, you're, you have some of the most incredible customers and members and people you get to work with. What drives you and what growth do you seek out in your own life today.

Yeah. So what drives me is, is my son. So I'm almost two years into being a parent.

Congrats.

Thank you. And going back to sort of what we were saying earlier, where I think I take. I have maybe more levity towards business building than the average CEO. And maybe it's because of my life experiences and the trauma that I experienced from, like, at the end of the day, this isn't that important now. I'm gonna give it my all and I love it. And like, you know, if my board's listening, like, don't worry. I'm focused on this every day. At the end of the day, in the grand scheme of the world of life, of humanity, of the universe, like, it's not that important. The most important thing to me that has the most stakes is my son. That he's a happy, balanced, healthy person. That's it. And so everything else I do is kind of a means towards that. So even my own personal development as a leader, as a CEO, is for skills that hopefully he benefits from emotionally. Maybe, you know, maybe one day he'll. He'll be proud of his mom. You know, maybe financially I can give him a life that's really good. That's kind of the motive. To me, that's the highest stake. Everything else is. Is a video game kind of.

I. I love that.

You know, everything else is kind of like you're pac manning through, like, like chomp, chomp, chomp. It's not that important, if that makes sense.

I know, it's.

Sorry. Bored.

It's a true alignment of priorities. Yeah, I love that. That's a beautiful perspective. Last question, really, before we start wrapping up here. You're someone that has experienced so much from personal life to different businesses and opportunities. What's your advice to your younger self if you're going to go back to the young Amina that is about to move to Canada to experience this whole new life, what advice would you give yourself and why?

Yeah, I. I think, you know, it's. It's sort of related to what I was just saying right now. The advice I give to myself would be slow down, smell the roses, relax. Don't be so impatient to succeed, to get to the next. Next thing, to get promoted. Everything's gonna work out and if. And. And it's more about the journey, not to come back to travel to a travel expression. But it is more about the journey than the destination. It's about the people you meet along the way and the friendships you make and the things you see and the places you go and the hardships you endure and the conversations you have.

The.

It's not about, like, the title and the paycheck and the exit, like, who cares? Kind of. Right. And I think, you know, there was a time where it was. It was that.

Yeah.

Now I think it. It drove me. But there's a healthy balance between.

Is.

Is understanding again, coming back to understanding what's important. Very few things are important. There's, like, two things that are important, really. Right. It's. To me, it's like health and the people. I love. That's it.

I love that.

Yeah.

Last thing. Just on this. The journey. You know, we're here at P.S. and when you think about the journey you're on as CEO, I know we've talked about it before and throughout the episode, but what excites you the most as you continue to build PS and for the people watching, you know, where's the best place for them to follow along and really just to stay in touch with everything that PS has to offer?

I mean, what we're excited about is to build a network and be able to provide this service to our members, current and future, wherever they go. Right. Like, to me, that's the magic is one day, Casey, you're going to be able to fly from LA to New York to Miami and back to LA without stepping foot in the airport. And, like, it's not about. Yeah. And it's not about demonizing the airport. The airport's a great place and we need them. And, like, our business relies on them. But it's about the feeling that we're providing. Because at the end of the day, all this, you know, the nice furniture, the food and all that, it's really a feeling. And the feeling we're giving you is a feeling of not being stressed, feeling of not feeling like you're in a crowd, not feeling anxious and lost and. And late and. And time press. The feeling of just having control of your own time. However, whether you want to read a book or spend it more with your loved ones before you get on a flight or. Or enjoying a nice meal or. That's the feeling. And for us to be able to give our customers that feeling everywhere is really the vision. And for those who want to follow along, best places are Instagram at Reserveps. That's it. I was going to say dot com. That's not ReservePS or our website, www.reserveps.com. and if you plan to open one of these, call me. I'll help you.

I love that. I love that so much.

Thank you, Casey.

This is wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time be on the show today. And for everyone watching or listening, I will be sure to link everything down below so that you can either experience PS Yourself or just follow along to see everything that you guys have going on. So thank you again, Amina for coming on the show.

Thank you, Casey.