Building a Business Empire: Insights from Lisa Vanderpump

Make sure that you bring you to it, because none of us are the same. But really do your research, check out your competition and know and look for the niches. That's, to me, the most important part.

How much more successful would you be if you had lunch once a week with insanely successful entrepreneurs who share their biggest secrets on how they think and achieve success? Grab your seat at the table because this is Business Lunch with Roland Fraser and Ryan Dice. Welcome to another episode of Business Lunch. And today's a snackable episode with Roland where he's going to get into some more tactical strategies that you can start using to live a rich and happy life. If this is the first snackable episode you're hearing, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to some of the other episodes that Roland has put out. And if you want to get notified every time we release a new episode, go to the new businesslunchpodcast.com website and we'll send you detailed notes along with every episode. That's businesslunchpodcast.com www.businesslunchpodcast.com and you can sign up for the free email newsletter where you'll be able to get all the highlights and resources from the episodes.

Welcome, welcome.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah. So. And you just recently had a birthday, I believe. Is that true?

I did have a birthday. I did indeed. And I had a wedding anniversary of 40 years. 40 years.

That's awesome.

And you know what? I chose not to celebrate my birthday because I figured I'd celebrate my wedding anniversary because it's easier to stay alive than to stay married for 40 years. So, yeah, you've been.

How did you celebrate? What did you do?

Oh, I had a massive party and it was all red rubies because that's what you're supposed to do on your ruby wedding anniversary. And it was beautiful. And I think I just passed out. And we didn't consummate the night because that's what happened on your wedding anniversary.

You've been around in the entertainment world for a long time, since you're about 13 years old, so a long time in the. In the industry. What are some of the big takeaways that you'd say you've had for staying in that industry for so long and being continually relevant and reinventing yourself?

Wow. It's been a very, very unusual ride. I came to America about 17, 18 years ago. We'd sold out twice our restaurants to a public company in England. Ostensibly, we thought we'd retire, but I think anybody that's Here you have ambition, you have energy, and you have drive. Know that you might think that's what you're aiming for, but once you actually get there, it's not what you want to do because you get bored. And so then we started again. We moved here and we opened a restaurant which has actually been very famous and worldwide called Sur, which has been the focus of Vanderpump Rules. It was actually a coincidence because we walked in there and we needed a visa to stay in America. And we just basically said to this guy, had this 30 seater restaurant. I mean, now it's like a 400 seater restaurant. And we said, do you know of any restaurants for sale? And he said, well, I'm looking for a partner. And I'm like, okay. And he said, but I need to move quickly and I'm buying this guy out. So I said, okay, well, I've got the cash in my handbag. So he said, I'm serious. I said, I'm serious. Anyway, we ended up shaking hands that night and that was the beginning of that story. And we developed that restaurant. We expanded it, we expanded it and expanded it again. And now it's been on this show kind of worldwide for 10 seasons. We just finished our 10th season. And yeah, I can honestly say it's been a great success.

That's awesome.

It's not normal for us to have partners as a rule. Ken and I are pretty kind of autonomous and we like to work alone, so to speak. But in this case, we needed to invest in a business. And, you know, I don't know whether it's because I'm a narcissist or I believe I like to have complete control. But we had just 51%, so there's a very minute percentage difference. But it makes a difference when it comes to making decisions. So always be aware of that whenever you go into anything.

Yeah, I like that. So. And as far as from the entertainment standpoint, you have a lot of people here who are either influencers themselves trying to build personal brands, or they are working with influencers. Anything that you would say kind of take away from the experience you've got that would be helpful maybe to either side of that equation.

Well, I think really, you know, when I start a new business and like we've just opened our. God, no, I think, I think it's 37th restaurant Las Vegas, which is so unique and it's so different. I would say it's arguably the most beautiful restaurant in Vegas. I think whatever you do really do your homework, know your competition. I Think that's one of the biggest things I always think, know what you want to deliver and make sure that you're delivering something different than everybody else. So put your unique spin on it. You know, it's very easy to see success and think, I'll follow that. But always have your bring your own personality to it. Because if you look around the room, every single person is different. And I've done a lot of inspirational women speaking. And I think one of the most frustrating things for me is the fact that people don't have the confidence to be themselves. But it's you being yourself that makes you different, that makes your brand different. Couple that with hard work, tenacity, drive. You know, people say, like people said to me today, where's all your people? You know, I don't have any people. I am my people. I don't even have an assistant. I have a lot of people, probably 500 people that work for me on the ground, boots on the ground. But as a team is Ken and I. My new design company is my partner and I, which has kind of gone on to become very successful. But I can always say that I've always known the direction that I want to go in and I've really sought out all the avenues. You know, for instance, opening a restaurant in West Hollywood is not going to be a Michelin star restaurant. It's going to be something that people in West Hollywood, the casual vibe, want to go to. So I took this car park and ended up putting 10 huge olive trees in the middle of this car park and created a garden. Normally people change a garden into car park. We changed car park into a garden. But it was a great success because that's what people needed. So my kind of message is always find out, bring your own vibe to it, but find out what people need and find out what you don't have in your area of expertise.

What was that, would you say with sir? What was that thing that wasn't there and that special thing differentiating sir?

Well, that was different. I mean, sir had been in existence for a long time, quite a few years. It was a little kind of hole in the wall, you know, 30 seater restaurant. But it had potential to expand. And I always look for potential for growth. And I saw the place next door and the place after that and slowly we started to build it into the business it is today. I'm somebody that my mind never stops working. I wake up, I'm thinking about it, I go to bed, I'm thinking about it. I enjoy that kind of Rumination of really kind of letting my mind build. And I also view stress as something that's quite good. A lot of people think of stress as very negative, but if you think of stress as excitement, like going back there, I'm not like, oh, I'm so stressed. I'm like, I'm excited to go on and talk to you guys. So sometimes when you guys feel really stressed and overcome and overwhelmed, think, no, this is the engine that's driving me, that's giving me fuel, that's going to push me along. And that's a good thing. You know, as long as you don't let it get too debilitating, you start shaking and pass out and stuff like that.

You have had a long relationship with a lot of different celebrities that I found out when I was.

No, I haven't. Sound like an old Todd.

You have been connected to. Connected to.

Connected to, right?

But you were on the Rolling Star. You went along on the Rolling Stone. Steel.

No long relationships there.

Just tell us a little bit of what that was like.

Oh, the Rolling Stones. Where did you find that you've been doing your homework. Well, that was in 1989. Oh, my gosh. This was when there was no political correctness in the entire world. You know, everybody's free to grab everybody else's ass and to talk inappropriately. You know, it was like that. I mean, it was the 80s. Yeah, exactly. Now we're all very well behaved and I'm not sure that I can say I like it better like this, but anyway, life sucks, right? So Bill Wyman, who was the bass player for I think 40, 30, 40 years, was actually one of our closest friends. No relationship there either. Don't start these tongues fucking. And my husband was actually his best man and my daughter was his bridesmaid. And we went on tour with them. And Bill was actually. Can't believe I'm talking about him. Actually, Bill was actually the really normal one. When you see the Rolling Stones, they're so kind of crazy. And their whole experience every backstage was like a nightclub. But Bill was the one that would never go by helicopter. He would only drink a vodka and tonic. He would always have an English cup of tea. So he was a very, very down to earth one. And he taught me quite a lot. You know, it was 1989, so I was 29. Yeah, 29 years old. And to see somebody that was at the height, very pinnacle of their fame, the Rolling Stones really being second to none. So down to earth, humble and not kind of at all patronizing. How so many celebrities that I've seen are guilty of. He was very. He didn't really have a clue. Like, if we went into a supermarket, I'd be like, no, it's this way. What are you doing? Going to pay over there. He was kind of like a little clueless in terms of people managing his life and what he had to do. But he was very, very down to earth. And he taught me a great lesson. Just about treating people the way you want to be treated. I think that's a big one. And things I see in this life, especially in the celebrity culture. Simon Cowell said to me, I'm always gracious to everyone I meet because that person will tell 10 people, and those 10 people will tell 100 people. So sometimes it's hard, especially when you live in a life where you're very. I'm in my restaurants, people come and sit on my lap if they want, almost. But you always have to remember, please don't do that, though. You have to remember that it might be their first time and it might be your hundredth time. So however successful you become, I think my message is always be, you know, have a humility about it. Be humble and remember, you know, just because, like, you might have been treated like an asshole for long enough, you know, your whole life, you don't have to turn into one. You know what I mean? Like, once you get to that top of that ladder, treat everybody the way you want to be treated.

You do such a great job of that. On the. On the shows we see what, like, particularly at the restaurant, you have some very challenging personalities.

Oh, yes.

What do you tell yourself not to just actually have them killed?

Well, not to slap them, you mean?

Yes.

Well, yeah, we edit that out. If I actually jump across the table and I slap around the back of the head, we edit that out. Sometimes it is challenging, but we could make a show about the other. Say it's about 12 characters or people that have worked with me for a long time on the show. It could be about the other 400 that deliver the crispy chicken to the table, and it gets there very successfully. And you guys would all change the channel. So you have to understand that to be a great reality star, it's got to move quickly. You've got to have people that are happy to express their sentiments and emotion. And with that, it gets complicated. But. But one thing, as a producer on that show, I think the main thing I can always say is authenticity is absolutely key in business, in programming, in producing. You see some other Shows where they plant people in and they expect them to be part of a friend group where the stakes aren't high because nobody really cares if it's somebody that's just. But when you really see, you know, like a group of people that been friends for years and years and years, the stakes are much higher. And that's what I always strive for. Everything I do is, you know, coupled with authenticity. If you see all the brands and the things I'm involved in, albeit design. Well, we've designed all our own restaurants, our own houses over the. You know, and we used to have a property company, the wine business. We sell it at our restaurants. It's always authentic. So I think we're always better when we have our passion and it's something that we believe in and we're authentically entwined in it. I really do believe that. So, yeah, I'm not selling bullshit anyway. If I could find a way to sell bullshit, I would, but I can't.

You have a whole lot of different businesses. I have a question about that. But just so that we can all understand, would you mind sharing kind of what you and. You and Ken are into as far as business wise across the spectrum of the different things you're doing right now.

As opposed to personally wise?

Yes.

Yeah, I was trying to help you with that. Either way, we're here.

Well, we've had many. Yeah, no, there's not much.

It's just the two of us here right now.

Right. Our little secret. Well, we've had many restaurants. I. Ken is looking forward more to retiring now. I mean, he's very involved in us setting up a new restaurant. Me, my passions are design. And Ken has done so much with his life. I have so much admiration because Ken started with nothing as a young boy. And I always say when I interview people, it's great having a college degree. It's great having that.

But.

But also you want to see that scrapper in some way where you can fight your way out of it or you can fight for survival, you know, And Ken was very much that, you know, he was neither of us, we came from, you know, I had nice schooling and that, but I didn't go to college. I was signed by a television company at the age of 17, so. But I had a job since I was 13 years old, so I was always a bit of a scrapper. And Kem was very much like that. And we worked together. We had 12 restaurants. We sold out to a public company. We started again, we sold out again. Now we have the Family wine business, which has done very well. But again, authenticity. I taste that thing until it gets on the shelf. It's been, in fact, I quite enjoy the process. We taste it and we taste it and taste it until we get it right. And one of the things as well, because I'm very aware of the people that follow me, and I've met so many thousands of people at wine tastings. I stay there till the last person is seen. And they turned up at these events. Unbelievable, unbelievable turnout. It's authentic, but it's also, it's not too expensive. Our wines are kind of hovering around the late 1920, and we score 21 on Wine Spectator next to some of the big guys, you know, that are really expensive. So to me, to bring in a great product that looks beautiful and is attainable is ideally what we want to do. We want to do that in our restaurants, we want to do that in our design, and we want to do that certainly in our wine business.

Some of what's your favorite wine? Do you have a favorite wine or top five?

Well, I mean, we now we've just launched a Cabernet and a Chardonnay, both from Sonoma. We decided to go Californian because we spent so much time here. Our came from France. We lived in France for seven years, and I loved every minute of it. So we brought over the French. At the time, the market really was, like, pretty minimal here. It wasn't like it was in Europe. Now it's kind of oversaturated in a way, but we've managed to find a niche in the market and it's done very well. But again, it will be curated and it will be tasted and the bottle design by us as a family. Another thing I talk about my book that I'm writing, second book.

I'm going to ask about that.

If I had a dime for every time the publisher said, when's it ready? I wouldn't have to write it. But I brought my kids up to be able to, you know, my son started washing dishes, and then he started bussing tables, running tables, and then waiting tables, and now he can manage. And my daughter is like that as well. I encourage you to always with your children, you know, teach them from the ground up. Then they have the confidence to speak to others. Because my son is a manager in our business can say, oh, that, that, that, that. Because he's done it and he's been there. You see these wealthy people putting their kids in at the top level without understanding the tears. That doesn't garner respect so, sorry, what was the question?

I'm trying to figure out, what's your favorite wine? That's.

Oh, yeah.

Other than the wines that you serve.

It depends what I'm eating. In fact, we just had a wonderful wine pairing contest. Because when we talk about reaching out to the audience and getting people engaged with our brand, we had a wine pairing contest. And we said, okay, everybody's gotta come up with a menu, choose their wine, and then it will end up on the menu in one of our restaurants in Vegas. And it was so much fun. I encourage you to come up with innovative things, you know, where you can engage your audience and things like that. Like when I go to wine signings all over the country. Covid did shut us down, but I would go all over the country, and it was an incredible experience. And for me to engage with people that, you know, have followed me really, and have kind of really supported me over the years is very, very important.

That's awesome. How do you. So with all the different things that you have going on from a business standpoint, how do you keep up with it? How do you monitor to see that things are going the way you want without being sucked into so much of it that you don't have any time for personal fun?

Well, I actually. I think I find business fun. And one of the things I always say is, if you find a job you love, then you never have to work a day in your life. I mean, of course, that. You know, I don't mean to take that too literally, but I enjoy working, so I enjoy going into my restaurants. Unfortunately, I nearly always see what's wrong rather than what's right. And sometimes the manager will say to me, why, look, it's really busy. And this, that, and the other. I go, yeah, but the lights on over there on that side. So sometimes I have to remind myself of the good job they're doing rather than the things that, you know, aren't. But I really do get involved. Like, I could spend a whole day designing and get carried away with it. I'm very, very involved in everything I do. Otherwise, I don't want to do it. And maybe that comes down to being a control freak or a narcissist, but I just love to make my own decisions and really be involved with it. Now, do I have fun? Yes. We do take our downtime. Do we take as much as everybody else? Probably not.

Yeah.

How do you keep track of kind of what's going on? You're very on the curve for trend and design, and across a Lot of different things.

Yeah.

How do you stay up? And what are some of your favorite resources for keeping abreast of what is current?

That's a good question. When you've got a lot of young people working for you, you do see a lot of, you know, there's a lot of interaction with that. And my feet are firmly on the ground. On social media, I see a lot. I really engage on Twitter and Instagram, and I follow people that I think are just fabulous and kind of. But I suppose. I suppose I just kind of. I'm in that. And I look at what's changing, and we've all had to change. If anybody's running their business the same way they were prior to Covid, you probably wouldn't be in it. So we all have to be aware of what's changing and how we're going to change it and adapt as things move along. And I just. I do keep my finger on the pulse, but I don't sit there reading magazines, pulling tear sheets out. I think those days are gone for most people. We snoop around on the Internet. We go out, we see other people's businesses excite me as well. I enjoy seeing it. I enjoy seeing what happens in Vegas. I still want to be the best, but I enjoy seeing other people. Like, Martha Stewart just opened next door to me. And to me, they put the Arc de Triomphe. They put this huge picture. I mean, when I say huge picture, it's like 90 foot this picture. Nobody wants to see themselves, their face, 90 foot. But anyway, luckily, Photoshop and airbrushing, they put Martha Stewart next to me, who's, like, iconic to me. And I always thought, wow, Martha Stewart. I'd always looked at her and she'd been this household name in America. I suddenly thought, how did this happen? I'm right next to. And I learned that it was her first restaurant she'd ever opened. And she was looking to me and saying, wow, you know, you guys have opened. And I was thinking, how did this happen? So I'm always looking to other people for inspiration and their ideas. And a lot of our friends are in the restaurant business equally. A lot of our friends in the restaurant business have gone out of business as the same as the 110,000 restaurants that closed down across America through the pandemic, which was very, very disheartening, and it was hard to keep going.

How did you deal with that? Because you guys clearly impacted by the shutdown. What did you do to. When you found out that it happened? How did you deal with it initially. And then how did you adapt? And is there any change that's going to be enduring as you go forward that kind of sticks through, do you think?

Well, I. You know, I've had so many conversations with people and seen. There's so many things I'm involved with, with suicide prevention and being an advocate for the Trevor Project, LGBT youth. You know, there's been a lot of depression around and feeling of hopelessness and people thinking. But I have to think that this, what we've been through, is certainly the. One of the toughest things I've been through in my generation. This has been our war of our lifetime. I mean, my parents went through the Second World War. My grandmother went through both of them. So this has been something we have to fight, we have to pull together, and we have to make it work again. But it was very difficult, you know, suddenly shutting everything down. Initially, we thought it would be for two, three weeks. That's what we thought. Nobody envisaged kind of what they told us right later, that we'd still. So it was very disheartening to see the way that it was being handled. I don't feel the government did exactly, but it was an unknown quantity. It was like the blind leading the blind. And see, so many people just give up. I mean, we still see the empty spaces all around us. And retail took such a hit as well. What do we do? Cut is half empty, half full. It's an old adage, but it's how you look at it. I did say to my husband also, we live in a big house that we worked hard for. Nobody gave us for sure, but I always had help. I was in the door, out the door, running here. Suddenly I was in this big house, and there was nobody there. And I was thinking, okay, our businesses are all shut down. What shall I do? And I was like, I'm going to keep our life, keep our standards. We prepared for a rainy day financially, but now it was fucking thunderstorm, it was pouring. It was just like roofs were leaking, literally in our mind. Everything was just. It seemed like a hopeless situation, but we got through it, and we came out of it the other side. And I'm proud to say so many of our friends did, but at times it was like, where will we go from here? What will we do? We shut down, and we made the most of it. There was nothing to do. And as we opened then we started to change things. We started to pivot or spin. You know, we had to learn QR codes, masking, sanitization distancing, you know, moving. It was a very different animal to the animal that we'd worked before. You know, before it was open the doors and everybody kind of coming in, trying to get a table. Now it was much, much different.

So is there anything that you think will be enduring like, that you started doing different, that you were like, hey, this is actually kind of a positive thing that will carry forward, or was it just kind of adapting and then going back?

I think it's just adapting and going forward and really understanding that we are fallible. It's like we see these pandemics, and everybody's kind of cautious now, but. But also maybe just to. In the event of something happening in the future, you're a little more prepared. But, you know, how could anybody be prepared for that?

That was. Yeah, it was a surprise. So you mentioned before you just recently celebrated a 40th wedding anniversary, and you've worked with Ken for how long now?

13,485 days.

All right. Like that, almost.

Yeah, it's been a lot. It's been a lot. We've certainly had a lot of experiences, and it's been incredible experience. It's great. People say, how do you work with your partner? But it's also wonderful to have your partner on your side and have somebody that you can trust as well. But there are times when you get frustrated. I don't think any relationship is going to. You can work side by side your partner without wanting to punch you in the face at some point or strangle them.

Is there anything that you like, maybe separating responsibilities or because it's hard to own a business together. Any tips for people that are working with their spouses?

I think to draw the line sometimes and also to be able to say to each other, okay, now let's not talk about it. Let's actually, you know, pretend we're married rather than business partners, pretend we have a romance instead of that. I think that is a very important, important part of. But also, you know, you see on Vanderpump Rules this season, when lines are blurred with partnerships. Another thing that I've learned being in business, when you get into bed with somebody in business, make sure those lines aren't blurred. Make sure, you know, this is what you're going to do. This is what I'm going to do, because that's when it can get really messy. And on the season of Vanderpump Rules, it sure gets messy. It gets messy.

So over the roughly five decades that you've been in the public eye, you've had to evolve your brand personally. And a lot of people, especially here, have personal brands. What would you say are some of the takeaways to help people stay relevant and also just not go insane during that?

Well, as I said before, make sure that you bring you to it, because none of us are the same. But really do your research, check out your competition and know and look for the niches. That's to me the most important part. Because when I starting a restaurant, there's a million restaurants out there. How am I going to make mine different? How am I going to make that more unique? You know, opening my restaurant in Paris, I suddenly looked at this incredible venue of the Eiffel Tower right in the middle of Vegas. And I walked through it and there was nothing really in this whole Eiffel Tower situation that really reminded me of an authentic Parisian restaurant. And I said to the owner of Caesar's property, that is what I'm going to deliver. I'm going to make you walk in and feel that you're in Paris. And that's what we achieved. So I think when you really, really think, okay, what's out there? What can I do differently? How can I do it better? And you know, just research, research and then put you into that. Hey, listen, nobody can guarantee success that, you know, it would be foolish to think that. And don't be afraid of failure because, you know, we've had ups and downs and sometimes no is, sometimes no actually pisses me off. And then I really get going. When we had our Vanderpump cocktail garden in seasons, they tried to give me Elton John's recipe restaurant with a terrace this big. Well, I'm like, that's not going to work. I ended up with a terrace 40 foot. I did a couple of lap dances. I don't care how I did it, but I got it going. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes you've got to fight for what you want. And if you're really confident in what you want, you've really got to lay it out there. And I knew that me having a restaurant with a five foot terrace wasn't going to work. So I think hold out for what you want. If you know what you want, you've done your research, suddenly say, hey, give me a break, trust me and let me show you. And that restaurant went on to take five times the forecast profits that Caesars envisaged. So, hey, my lap dance was worth it. It's awesome.

So you mentioned that you are involved in some partnerships now, but that you Generally don't move in that direction. Tell us about, like, what are some of the partnerships that you're doing right now, and what do you like about what caused you to want to get into them?

Well, I think we opened a cocktail bar restaurant, and one of the things we were blessed, I have to say, is through the pandemic, the restaurants we had had beautiful outdoor spaces already. So that really, really helped us because a lot of people just did not want to be inside. But we opened Tom Tom, which is a great brand, and it's a great restaurant called Cocktail Bar. We came up with these really innovative cocktails, and we asked Tom and Tom before we named it Tom Tom if they wanted to be involved in this restaurant. But they bought in at 5% each. So obviously they're not kind of operating partners or 5% each. But to me, I felt it brought a youth, you know, it brought, like, excitement and their crazy kind of activity to. To it. And TomTom was voted the number one cocktail bar in Southern California.

Oh, was it?

That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, it was really good. But you know what? I think don't be afraid to take chances as well. It's like if you look at our restaurant and our menus and our cocktail lists, especially in Paris, our newest one, they're innovative. It's all changed. Everything's changed. Remember when we used to go into bar, we used to order a vodka coke, vodka and soda, a scotch, and this. Now it's like, I'll have an edible thing with a TPPT thing, you know, and I'll have a. I mean, it's all so complicated. It's like a science. And I would say In Vegas, probably 90% of your sales are cocktails. So it's again, about keeping your finger in the pulse, moving forward with the times, understanding what's exciting, what are other people doing. How can I. I do it better.

So lots.

I'm assuming that you get approached quite a bit about doing partnerships. Is that a fair.

I do, but I'm. Apart from marriage, I'm not a very good partner. I mean, I've had a great partnership, as I say, with our original partners in SIR They've been fantastic. But I just. I like to invest in my own brand and really kind of. Yeah. But saying that I work with my family because. Quite closely.

Yeah. How is that?

Well, sometimes, again, you know, I think we have a lower tolerance level when it's your family or whether it's. When it's your friend. And you've got to kind of remind yourself that, you know, to keep it civil or try to. But we have a very close relationship and I'm very proud of my kids because they can step into nearly any position. If somebody goes, you know, arrive, something goes awry. They actually have the education to be able to kind of fill in any of those gaps, which is pretty unusual.

So when you do, on those rare occasions, do a partnership and things don't work out because not all of them do, unfortunately. How do you go about ending that? And if you have any dish on.

We'D love to hear. Well, we've been left in positions, you know, we have our own 501C3, the bandit pump dog foundation. And our main guy there really that was running the foundation, suddenly upped and left. And it was really difficult to. When you've got sanctuaries in China and you've got hundreds of dogs here and it's our own 501C3, to be left without the rudder of your ship was difficult. But again, thankful Pandora knew my daughter, how to actually step into that. And as a family we managed to maintain it. And to this day we have saved nearly 3,000 dogs domestically and thousands worldwide.

Yeah, would you tell us a little bit about that? Because it's really an amazing thing that you've done. How did you find out about the challenge that was going on? Because I don't know that everybody here knows what exactly what you do. And it's amazing and super cool.

Well, it was on social media. I really engage in, you know, what's happening in the world. And I saw these absolutely horrific, horrific pictures you could ever see of dogs being boiled alive, scrambling to get out of pots. I can't even tell you the horrific images because it was so devastating. And I turned to Ken and I said, and you know, when a lot of people say I can't see it, I can't see it because it would just. Well, that's how I feel. And that's how I felt. But that's what motivated us to do something. So we started our own campaign against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. And Yulin Dog Meat festival was about 20 torturing dogs and eating them. We marched to the embassy, we gave out flyers, we went on this huge campaign and then we ended up opening our own 501C3 to end the inhumane dog treatment of dogs worldwide. We co wrote resolutions, I went to congress. The Yulin Dog Meat Festival now is very and dense to what it was. There's a lot more knowledge about it and it's certainly Changed things. We've co written resolutions and Vanderpump Dog foundation does something which I'm so proud of because we take on so many special cases that others would deem just hopeless. And we have so much engagement in the audience of people that have followed the Vanderpump Dog Dog foundation because they seen these stories and they follow them to the bitter end. And sometimes it is a bitter end. But we're a non euthanasia facility. So every dog that we bring through the doors, we give it the best we can. And that's expensive. We do dollar donations. And to keep it going through the pandemic, a 501C3 was very, very challenging. So the most tenacious person I know, which is me, decided to get on Cameo. And I suddenly saw this opportunity with Cameo and I managed to do so many cameos, I was sick of myself, literally. And raised $370,000 that went straight to the Vanderbank Dog Foundation. So that basically saved a lot of the dogs lives and our sanctuary in China. And it was a lot of hey Mary, how are you? Happy birthday. I send you lots of love. And I did that I don't know how many thousand times and I still do it. And I'm comforted by the fact that every penny that we make on Cameo goes to the dogs.

What do you do? How does it work as far as when you set that up, you decided you wanted to do it yourself. What does the charity do exactly?

The charity, basically we take lots of dogs. We just take any dog that's in need. We get lots of people, drop off dogs. And I never criticize people for dropping off dogs at our foundation because it's a non euthanasia facility. They know that we're going to take care of the dog. We save dogs from the kill shelter. That's a huge part of, of our kind of our foundation. We reach out everywhere. We have sanctuaries, we have a sanctuary in China that has hundreds of dogs that have literally been pulled from the meat truck just as they were about to go and be slaughtered. We produced a film, the Road to Yulin and beyond, which was quite traumatic to watch. But I mean, it could have been a lot worse. We edited it and put it in as much as we could, but it really did make a difference. And I think it's about awareness. And I also encourage all of you, whatever business you're in, always have some aspect of your life that is philanthropic because I just think when you add that to a business, even if it's in the community or whatever you do, it really brings in a lot of people, a feel good factor. I know our restaurant, Villa Blanca, that closed in the pandemic. The lease was up after 15 years, that restaurant. And I think a lot of restaurants should do this if they're open in the day, because I understand staffing. And this used to be open in the day, this restaurant. We fed the homeless every week for 12 years through that restaurant. And I don't know why more restaurants don't do that, bring people. I don't know, because you gotta bring a couple of people in early. We cook the food and then we deliver it to our church. And I think anything you do always have that philanthropic. You know, even if you put an extra 50 cents on something and you say, this money is going to our charity, people feel good about that. Especially now, people feel good about that. So, yeah, we do get involved in a lot of charitable aspects.

So you mentioned a little bit ago that you have a second book that's about to come out.

Oh, my God. Don't you stop.

And I read that you said that you're writing it because you wanted to share all of the things that you wish you had been told when you were younger.

Well, a lot of it. I see a lot of young people that have followed me, especially on Vanderpump Rules or a lot of women. I just, you know. Yeah, a lot of things I wish I'd learned when I was younger. I think a huge one now, and I think it's dangerous for a lot of young people is what they're putting out on social media. I think you have to take responsibility for what you put out there. You might think it's funny today, but it might come and bite you in the ass, literally. And I've seen that happen to people that have worked for me, that suddenly something has come back and it's there forever. So it's almost like, look at your history. Delete it and scrub it clean if there's anything. Because it's always out there. So try and kind of always be really cognizant of that. But also about confidence. I think a lot of people are scared to talk publicly. I think a lot of people are intimidated and don't have the confidence that they should have. And I used to teach at the children's school for three years when we lived in France, and I would see kids that grew expensive exponentially. Like in doing a play just in, you know, so many people. I bet most people now if I said, come up on the stage, and please talk to the audience. Most people would say, I don't want to do it. I can't do it. Well, everybody can do it. And everybody needs to kind of have that confidence and belief in themselves and take baby steps. Because at some point, you will be asked to speak publicly in your life, whether it be a wedding, whether it be at an office, anything. And for most people, it terrifies the thought of it. So it's about, I think, little baby steps, you know, take your moment. Even if it's. I used to hate it when people used to say, make a speech at a birthday party. I think, oh, no. And, you know, it was talking about baby steps and how you get there. And I just think you should always think where you want to be. And then you should think, how am I going to get there?

That's great.

And I think, challenge yourself. Yeah.

Does the book have a name yet?

No. Don't even publish your kids. Schuster. Yeah, Simon and Schuster. Trust me, I'm in trouble.

They just texted me and said, when will it be written?

Yeah, I know, right?

So no name yet?

No name.

Is there anything in the works for it that you're thinking about, name wise?

No, not yet. I just got to finish it. I've written 53,000 words, and I think that's a lot, and that should do. But they're like, no, we need to keep going. So I need to focus on that. But I've just opened my restaurant. I broke my leg in four places in March on my horse cantering. My horse. My horse fell over and I broke my leg in four places. And that kind of knocked me off my pedestal a little bit. And now I'm back. I'm just happy to be back working.

So you also recently launched a podcast.

Lost it? No, I actually launched it. Oh, launch. Yeah. I started through the pandemic, and I have to say, it was one of the most rewarding things I've done because everybody has a story and everybody has something to say. And I would meet people from all walks of life and I would just love it. I mean, people that you wouldn't, you know, I would never have any kind of hope of meeting normally. And they would come as sit down and tell me stories about their life. So I found that a really, really fascinating experience. And I have been asked to do a radio show, but right now, honestly, it's not in the. Because the podcast, a lot of work, research. And so in the pandemic, it was great, and I met some incredible people.

Do you have a favorite episode or that you would share with us the content of. And then we have to tell people what the name of it is so they can go and listen Course.

Oh, what the Vanderpump. All things Vanderpump. I don't know, really, that I could say. It was just so diverse. It was just people from all walks of life, all ethnicities, ages. It was just a very varied, colorful fabric of different people that I spoke to. But that's another thing. I think that we should never dismiss anybody. We should listen to what everybody has to say because everybody has a certain. And we can always learn something from everybody. And people often say to me, oh, you're so funny, and you say things like that. I listen. I listen to what people say, and then you bounce off it. And I think sometimes we're so intent on getting our story, but I think we have a lot to learn from other people. And that's. Yeah. And through the podcast, it was pretty amazing, I have to say.

That's really cool. What are you most excited about as you go forward into the next year?

I really loved opening new restaurants. I'm excited about my book that's never going to come out. I'm excited about a new restaurant that we're just starting to design now. And my Vanderpump Elaine design Company is such a passion to be able to create anything and build it in our factory with my design partner who's, I think genius is just magic. And if you go to Paris, my restaurant in Vegas, it's just such a wonderful experience and unique. So I really, really love doing that. And I don't mind, actually, I think I might start replicating some great restaurants, because creating is much more difficult than replicating. So if any of you've got something that really works and, you know it's good to lay it out, that's awesome.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come.

You're finished with me.

I appreciate it. No, we stay here all day, but thank you so much.

59. Yeah, four seconds.

That's telling me we're over. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

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