105 - Luxury in the Outdoors: Elevating Your Camping Experience with LITO's Carol Carimi Acutt

Welcome to Listening with Leaders. I'm Doug Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker. I teach executive leaders how to listen to emotions rather than words so that they can become the leaders everyone wants to follow. And I teach those same leaders how to be authentically present, available, and connected to their families despite being insanely busy. I have learned that we are 98% emotional and only 2% rational. Learning how to listen to emotions is, in my experience, the foundational skill of life. Stick around to the end of the show and I'll reveal how you can be on our next guest in 15 to 20 minutes. So let's get started.

Gail Karemeyakut, welcome to Listening with Leaders. You are the founder and creator of Luxury in the Outdoors. And you can be found at litoluxury.com. That's spelled L-I-T-O-luxury.com. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

You're welcome. I know, Carol, that you do lots of things in your life, but today we're going to talk about your— this incredible idea you've developed over the years of, of luxury glam glamping stuff. Before we do that, just tell us a little bit about your backstory and kind of what led you into creating this business?

Well, I'm also, you know, documentary filmmaker, TV producer. So I love telling stories about real people. And it's a very intense job. You know, you work really long hours. There's really no boundaries of personal life when you're on a project. So camping was always like a great way to escape. Yeah, even though some people think of camping as being like, oh my God, it's so much work. You gotta pack all this stuff, you gotta, you know, plan the food. But for me, like the simplicity of that was an escape for me because, you know, producing television is very technical. So you're not only figuring out the story, but you know, you're dealing with edits. We deal with stuff down to the frame, 30 seconds per frame. Um, I'm sorry, 30 seconds— 30 frames per second. So, um, we're in the minutia all the time. And so camping was the opposite of that. So you're getting in nature, you're able to— like, sometimes your cell phone doesn't work, you kind of just put it down and don't look. It was a really great way to balance a very intense career with nature, you know. And I think it's really important in life is to find balance. I think we live in a very, um, we're really bombarded now with technology, with too much information. Besides your friend's text messages, you're getting emails and news headlines, and it's too much information for our brains. We— I don't think our brains are designed that way. And so I think we, in this new world that we live in, need to take control of that and get rid of it. You gotta kind of like put up your boundaries and say, I don't need it anymore. You know, I don't need any more random information that's not going to help my life and maybe possibly make it worse or more negative, you know. So, um, so yeah, we've been camping with our— my husband and I have been camping with our kids and a lot of friends. Fortunately, we have a lot of friends who have the same interests, and we would take our little preschool kids 2, 3, 4, 5 years old, and then we have not stopped camping with them since. And so we usually go with a big group of people, sometimes 1 or 2 families, sometimes 5 or 6, and we get out in the nature, and it's amazing for kids, and it's amazing for adults because you're really able to, you know, ground and connect with people. And I think that's the most important part of life.

I know we both live in California, and we were talking before we started, started talking on recording, is that the, the outdoor, the outdoor adventures in California are spectacular, and most people don't realize that. I mean, they think of California, think of coastal California. They don't realize that there are these massive mountain ranges that have an abundance of beauty and isolation. That give us all kinds of opportunity to do exactly what you're talking about, which is to get outside, decompress, just chill with nature, be awestruck by the views, and enjoy life in a really simple, elegant way.

Yeah, I, um, I, I think that put— putting kids in nature along with adults is really important. In fact, there's science to prove it. Um, you know, they've done studies in Japan with people who forest bathe, which is basically just walking in the woods. Like, it's not like you do anything special, but they found that the body's immune system improves. The— I think they're called natural killer cells— increase, which means they're killing, like, the cancer cells, the viruses. They actually increase in activity. So really, going out in nature is good for our bodies. We are supposed to be in nature. We're not supposed to be inside. Under, you know, fake lighting all day long. It's actually the worst thing we can do for ourselves. So, um, yeah, I— it was one of the reasons why I wanted to start Luxury in the Outdoors, because, um, you know, after camping for so many years with kids, it is— it is effort, let's not kid ourselves. But, um, the— there's ways to create ease and make it less stressful, like the things like preparing meals and the things that you have to do when you're camping. And so the first product that really launched the company was I found there were no tablecloths that worked because like I was constantly bringing cloth tablecloths and my friends were doing the same thing. We were all like had old tablecloths in the house. We'd bring them, we'd bring like 2 or 3, they would get filthy dirty. You'd put 'em in the bag to like wash at home.. And it really just wasn't a great way to go about it. Like, I like a clean table no matter what. So I, I bought some of the cheap ones that have been on the market for 50 years.

Right. The red and white, the red and white checkered one, plastic.

And right, exactly. I'm like, well, first of all, they're not big enough to fix the table. They're like for a 6-foot table. No table when you go camping is 6 feet. And they would tear and you'd have to throw them away like after like 1 or 2 uses. I'm like, well, this is really not sustainable. And really wasteful. So I decided, I'm like, I need to start a company like doing luxury products because I felt like, you know, shopping even in REI and like Patagonia, like those companies are really focused on the backpacker and they're very male-oriented, which is not a bad thing. It's just kind of where the company's focus, you know, they're not thinking about the family that's camping, and, or the, or usually the mom who's doing all the cooking, like, what does she need to like make her life more easy? You know, she doesn't want to cook on a little tiny stove. Like, that's a joke. Like, that's for the backpacker who's like going out, you know, in the wilderness for 10 days. But most people do not camp that way. Most people car camp, RV camp, and, you know, they tent camp, but they're, they're bringing their car with them.

Right.

So that's where my company comes in and I'm focused on that market, which I think is really, has been ignored. And so our products are about, they are about being practical, stylish, but durable. And so anyway, going back to the tablecloth, I found, I did a lot of research and found the material that worked the best and I have them manufactured in Los Angeles, and they are 9-foot, you know, they can fit a 9-foot table, and you can get— we will, you know, special order if someone wants a longer one, but they're pretty much one size fits all. Most tables are 8 feet in campgrounds, so they also come with straps because it's some reason every time you make dinner, it's going to get windy and everything's going to blow off. So The straps are adjustable with the width of the table, and they also can go anywhere on the table because my husband and I went and measured. We took this massive, like, national park trip in 2020 when things were starting to open up. So we hit like 7 parks in like 3 weeks. Wow. And so we measured every table, and the tables are all different. Like the bases of the table and the thicknesses of the table and the lengths are different. And so, you can't have a strap that can't move around. So, our straps, you can put them on the end of the table, the middle of the table, you can do it long ways. So, we're really thinking ahead of like what someone might face when they go camping and like what would work the best. And it comes with a backpack, like a storage bag. So, when you're not camping or you want to pack up, you have a place to put it., and it keeps things organized and neat. So that, that was our first product. And then we keep adding products to our line every year.

So what kind of— I remember in our Authority Magazine interview, you talked about dog leash with lights on it.

So there's a story to that. So we came out with dog leashes this year, and I had them like They're— I think you can't find any leashes like ours on the market that I know of. They're 20 feet long, so a dog can— you can hook your dog up to the table or wherever you're going to get ice cream, and they're allowed to run around freely. But at nighttime, like, usually people are at their campsite at night and they're cooking, they're hanging out, they're chatting, but you want to be able to see your dog and you don't want to trip over the leash because remember, it's much darker at a campsite than like in your backyard. You don't— you might has a few string lights up, but in general it's pretty dark, and you want it to be dark so you can see the stars. So we were camping with some friends, and the kids were running around having a great time. We have 3 dogs, all on leashes, and boom, my daughter tripped over the leash and like had a huge, you know, um, cut on her knee, tears. Patched her up, put on a Band-Aid. And then that was the moment I'm like, we need Light Up Leashes. Like, this is— I'm like, we need this product. And yeah, it's great. People really love them. And it really does make a lot of sense when you think about it. You do wanna see where your dog is. And most importantly, you, you don't wanna trip over the leash. It's very easy to trip over a long leash, but you want your dog on a long leash so they can walk around and like be by the family or go on their bed, you know, I'd say—

So you have a leash with LED lights in it that, that light up, battery operated?

Yeah. So our leash is charged. So you charge the leash and then it's good about 8 hours.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. And, and maybe even longer. So, you know, a lot of times people are only using the light up leash at night, like, I don't know, 2, 3, 4 hours. Right. It, it probably lasts a little bit more than 8, but I say 8 to be safe. Right. But yeah, and you can charge it with a battery as well because it has a USB connector.

Yeah. So what are the kinds of products? This is fascinating. What are the kinds of products?

So we have also matching collars. We have stainless wine tumblers, which also have leakproof tops. So that was always an issue I would find with other brands because You know, I love stainless, you know, tumblers, but if it would— like, you're driving and they, you know, you take a turn and the coffee spills, that's no fun. So when I came up, decided to have our own brand, the top was really important to me. So it— the top also has a straw hole so it can fit a, like, a stainless steel straw, which we, we do sell those as well, and then you can seal it so it doesn't leak. So that's— and then, you know, it's good for hot or cold drinks. And then we have, we have mason jar lights that are solar powered. So those are really cute, like on the table. And then we also have solar powered lights that you can hang that are lanterns, like hang— you can just take a rope and like hang them in your campsite. And it's kind of nice to have a personality for your campsite because first of all, if you're If you're walking around with your dog, you know where your campsite is, you can find it.

It looks different.

And then your kids can find it too, because it's nice to give them a little bit of freedom to like run around and have fun. Right. And I think to me, like camping is a, is a very special experience. And I say, why not make it more special? Like, I think we need to savor these moments because they're kind of rare. Like even if you camp a lot, you're not going to probably go more than a few times a year for a weekend. You know, it's not a lot of time out of your life, like, so why not make those 2, 3 days like extra special? Um, that's how I look at it. Um, so we have outdoor rugs. Those have been really amazing. Um, you can use them on the beach, you can use them outside your RV door, your tent, and, um, they fold up, they're super lightweight, they're made out of recycled plastic. So, yeah, I was, I mean, I, someone had suggested like, you should get some rugs. And I was like, yeah, maybe. But then I looked into it and then like we started to test them and I was like, actually, they're kind of awesome. Yeah, I should have thought of this a long time ago.

Wow.

So yeah, highly recommended.

So how many, how many products would you say that are on your, on your site now?

So we have about like about 10 different categories. And then we are expanding our line as we speak. I have new stuff coming in soon. We are getting like some more pet products and, you know, games and stainless plates and forks. And I'm designing a new backpack, like picnic backpack. So basically everything that comes into our line I only bring it in because I realize there's a need for it. So, or, and I don't feel it exists at the level that I think it should. So because when, because I've done so much camping, like I really know what people need and what I need. Like I'm really, I like to be organized, but I also don't wanna have too much stuff. Like I, I realize you, you wanna, you wanna have what you need, but you want it to be like have some quality, definitely. Why not have it stylish and, and also practical, right? So it kind of makes that picnic nicer than having all these random pieces and parts that don't go together.

Do you—

are all the products that you carry basically, um, custom designed by you, or do you—

not all of them, but we, we kind of like— some of them are, and then some we test and only pull from manufacturers that we approve, and then we brand them. Yeah.

Oh, you brand it? Branding it?

Yeah, you brand them. Yeah. Nothing on our website is not branded, right? It's like we're selling like a lifestyle and then philosophy.

Yeah.

You've been doing this since 2020, and obviously, as of expanding, you must be doing well or doing okay.

So, yeah, so we, we basically did our product research in 2020, and we started doing like some photographs, and then we— and remember, I'm producing television during this time. So, and then I started looking into, like, you know, website platforms and blah, blah, blah. We built the site in, like, 2021, but we really launched, like, with hardcore marketing with RV Life in March. So I, I, I feel like our launch date was really March of 2022. That's when we got on the map. Before then, it was sort of like testing and like, you know, building stuff from scratch and figuring out our products, stuff like that.

Excellent.

Yeah, we're pretty new.

Yeah, but it sounds like it's a pretty interesting endeavor and an interesting addition to cash flow. Yeah, film production.

Yeah, that's cool.

What is it that gets you really excited in the morning? It gets you out of bed?

Um, well, I, uh, love the idea of creating products that will help people go into nature. I mean, I think it's like one of the most important things that people can do right now. Um, there's a lot of chaos in the world between the news and the pace that people have to operate at is, is— I think it's abnormal. And I think we need to get back into nature and slow down. And I think that's good for us emotionally, spiritually, mentally. I think it's really important. And especially, I think it's really good for kids because, you know, if you live in the city, you know, we're in Los Angeles, it's super busy. You know, your kids don't have the freedom to, like, go ride their bikes wherever they want. There's a lot of traffic. There's maybe not the safest areas, you know. So when we're on the campsite, our kids can run around the campsites on their bikes and they have freedom. And so they get to experience adventure and like seeing squirrels and, you know, climbing up rocks. And I think that's really valuable. So that philosophy behind Luxury in the Outdoors is how can we help you with our products to get outside? So if I can give someone who's never camped before a tablecloth that's gonna last them a long time, it's not very expensive, it's $79, but it's kind of all you need. If I can give you that table and you don't have to get grossed out by like bird poop on it, you know, like no one wants to eat at a dirty table, right? And I've made your life more enjoyable for those 3 days you're camping, then that's— then I've succeeded. Like, that's my goal. So if I can encourage people to get outside more with our products and like the thought behind them, uh, then we've done our job.

Wow. Yeah. What is it— what is it you think that's unique about you with all your background that, that you bring to the table that makes this whole venture successful?

Um, hmm, well, let's see. I, uh, I'm a very curious person. Um, I read a lot, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I love learning about new ideas, new people. So, um, I mean, maybe that's what is unique about me. Um, and I also love connecting with people. That's part of being a documentary filmmaker, like You cannot be a documentary filmmaker unless you know how to connect with people because you're interviewing them, you're pulling stories from them that maybe they haven't told before. It's really about human, like being human. And I think camping is like related to that interest. And I'm also very interested in like how to be healthy. And I feel like that wraps into the camping as well. Um, so yeah, I would, I would say that would be— and I'm social, I like to be social that way.

So I mean, it's kind of a fun way to have a 3-day party with friends and kids and family where people have freedom to do what they want, but they also come together and it's just a really nice social experience.

Yeah, definitely.

And that's something that you really look forward to. When's your next camping trip?

Actually, in 2 weeks. Oh yeah.

Where are you headed?

Yeah, we're going to, um, Jalama Beach, which is about 3 hours north of Los Angeles. I've never been there, but I've heard it. Jalama, J-A-L-A-M-A.

Um, that's a bison.

Yeah, may— I don't know where it's, uh, I haven't been there before, but I've heard that it's like a great campsite. It's on the beach. So some friends like had an extra spot, so that's That's why we are lucky enough to go.

That'll be fun. Yeah, good for you. This, this, this show is called Listening with Leaders because as a lawyer turned peacemaker, I find listening to be a really critical skill, a foundational skill in fact. And I'm wondering about in your work, both as a filmmaker and as an e-commerce owner, how important is listening in your life?

Extremely important. So I'll start with the first career, which is, you know, being a producer. Um, um, so the type of producing I do is very creative. So, um, we'll like shoot things in the field and then come back into post and work with a team of editors, story producers, working with the networks. So, you know, when I'm running a team, I have to be a really good listener because you have the desires of the network, of their creative vision, right? Then you have the footage, which is the reality, what you have to work with. And then you have other people's visions, like the editors have input, the story producers have input. So you have to be able to listen to where everyone's coming from and understand where they're coming from. And then how do you get to that place where you can satisfy all these different needs and desires. And you can't do that unless you're a good listener. And then you also have to listen to yourself because it's like the creative leader. You have to know, yeah, that's a good idea. Oh, I'm not so sure about that one. But you still have to have an environment where people feel safe to express because sometimes, you know, something, an idea you may have not thought of, like, is, is great. And so that's why I love cooperation because There's never one way to make a film. There's like thousands of ways. And so the best way to approach it is to have a clear vision and then make sure your vision is in alignment with the network. But then at the same time, it's good to hear, bounce things off of your team and hear what they have to say because they may have seen something that you didn't see, or, you know, you had to be open to that. I think it's important to be open as a leader. You can't know everything, right?

Yeah, there are two kinds of listening that I teach: Type 1 and Type 2 listening. Type 1 listening is where you, you're listening for information, so you're listening to people to find out what their ideas are. You know, if you're doing any kind of reflections, typically paraphrasing their words, asking questions, and that's one kind of listening. And then there's another kind of listening that I call Type 2 listening, where the focus, you're listening from the speaker's frame of reference. And typically in Type 2 listening, you're doing a technique called core messaging and affect labeling, where you're listening to their emotions and you're reflecting their emotions. And the goal there is to make the speaker feel validated and heard, and in intense situations, to de-escalate them, to calm them down. I'm wondering if you were to think about what kind of listening you do, what's the balance between those two types of listening?

Um, I would say it's, uh, probably both.

Okay.

Because, uh, you know, filmmaking in general, like TV, is pretty emotional, dramatic work environment, right? Um, people are very, uh, emotional about their creative ideas, and it's very personal, right? So like, if an editor's cutting the scene and then you look at it and Maybe you like it, maybe you don't, but like, you gotta remember how personal it is. They made all those decisions to create the scene and pick the music and the pacing and all that. So, um, it's important, I think, to listen to people, and then when you give them feedback, to be very aware of how it will affect them. That doesn't mean you can't give your notes, but I think it's important how you deliver that message, and then also listening to them in how they feel about that feedback, you know what I mean? And so it's, again, it's about being collaborative because it is, it is emotional. So a lot of times you are listening to people's emotions even though they're talking about something that doesn't feel emotional, but it kind of is emotional all the time, right?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, it's, it's challenging, but I find that, well, I found that it's been in my work often I'm doing more type 2 listing than anything else because I'm called into situations where they're difficult conversations that people have to have, or there's just messiness, emotional messiness.

Yeah.

And the, the stuff that people need to have right then is they need to be heard, they need to be validated and listened to more than anything else. And so the Type 2 kind of listening, where I'm focusing on the speaker, not on myself, is really powerful stuff.

Yeah.

For that reason, for the exact reason you're talking about. I I have been involved in a little bit of filmmaking, not much. I've been interviewed in a couple of documentaries, but what's really interesting is I'm the co-founder of Prisoner Peace, which is a project I started with Laurel Crawford. You might have heard me mention that before. We took— in fact, it was 2020, the summer of 2020, over in Calabasas. We spent 6 weeks in the heat filming our entire curriculum. We hired a crew. 3-camera crew, producer, director, sound, the whole thing. Um, and, and took our entire curriculum and put it on film. And we brought in, um, people that had been released from prison who we had trained while they were in prison, and they were our trainers and, and did our stuff. It turned out amazing. But talk about detail work, I understand. We had a— we had an on-site editor right there that was editing as, as we were shooting. You could see, well, what do we get and what do we need, and that kind of thing, that which is the kind of your stock and trade. It was an interesting experience.

I bet it sounds like a great project.

Yeah, and the guys that did it were just really amazing. Um, we had a reality— a guy who was— came out of reality TV, came back from— he was living in Massachusetts, he flew out for the, for the summer to help us put it all together. And we had, like I said, a whole crew doing this thing. It's just a really funny story that the pandemic hit in March. We have all this funding and now we can't spend it because we couldn't get into the prisons to do the work, right? Yeah. So we call our funders and say, what do we do? And they say, we don't care, just spend it and spend it before the state. So we don't—

wow, that's a very rare problem.

I know.

And Laurel and I have always had the, the desire to put all our film, all our curriculum, so we can distribute it around the world. And so we said, okay, let's do it. And we went from, from like March 2020, we were all— we were shooting in June and July of 2020. That's how fast we put it together.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, so it was pretty cool. Um, I don't know, one more question and I'll let you go. So What's one thing about yourself, Carol, that we wouldn't know about unless you revealed it to us?

I mean, so many things.

One thing that's kind of fun.

Well, let's see. I, or two things maybe. I mean, I really am a certified yoga teacher. I did that for fun. And I do like to cook. Um, let's see. I don't know. I, I don't know. I have a lot of interests. It's hard to like nail down one thing.

Um, yeah, yeah.

I happen to be a jazz violinist.

Oh wow, cool.

That's one of— that's something most people wouldn't know unless I told them. There are a lot of other things too, but yeah, I have a lot of fun with.

Yeah.

Well, great. Thank you so much for your time today. It's been a really great chatting with you. Thank you.

I appreciate being here.

You're welcome.

Doug Noll here. Thank you so much for listening to Listening with Leaders. If you are a successful executive leader who would like to be on this program, please visit podcast.dougnull.com/podcast. If you got something out of this this interview, would you please share this episode on social media? Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on the social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag #ListeningWithLeaders. I love seeing your posts and guest suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content. To make sure you don't miss any episodes go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team.

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