Entrepreneur Laura Baldini, The Flie Take Sports Stadiums by Storm

What’s up everybody? This is Fred Richani of TSC News on mnn we’ve right here on the line a very special guest an entrepreneurial guest. She is the founder of the fly she is somebody who found a great solution to those pesky queer bag policies at the Stadiums. We’re talking to entrepreneur Laura Baldini Laura. Thank you so much for the time. How’s everything going? It’s wonderful, Fred. Thank you so much for having me. This is great. Now, the fly this is a lifestyle brand handbags accessories, not just any handbags and accessories, but clear handbags ones that you can not only bring to a Stadium a concert or whatever and not get flagged by security the ones that are actually pretty stylish that you want to wear wear out wherever you go.

So, how did you come up with this whole concept. So, I seem to hear this story a lot. So, I’m sure some of your viewers will know it I went to gillette in 2017 for a YouTube concert and I had my bag taken away and the contents of my bag ended up in what looked like an evidence bag. But it was a ziploc and at that moment. I was like, what is happening here how am I supposed to know this and it turns out every NFL in every college Stadium has the same rule. They have to be clear. They have to be a certain size and those are the rules.

So, after a little bit of thinking about it. I got in touch with a person who knew how to help me create my bags and we designed a first line of six different clear bags. And then we designed another set of the little things that you can put inside, but everything adheres to the rules and you can be as posh as they are they’re as posh as they are practical they’re really cute and they work and I see you have some on screen, right there. Can you show us do yes. Our number one seller definitely everybody loves our concert clutch. You know, it opens obviously it opens, but it has a rose gold detail.

People love this one, I would say the vachetta also this is our other color. This is another very very popular one. We do totes. We do some cute cross bodies. We’ve done a lot of collabs with different artists. So this is one of my favorite with by betsy enzenberg she did little like pink spikes down it for me. You know, we’ve got little pouches and everything is made to adhere to all the rules. So, during during the pandemic, they were also great to take to the beach because you could just drop the sand out of it you’d know what you had moms love them because, you know what’s in the bag and what you’ve forgotten for your kids because you can do a quick scan.

So they really are quite practical actual actually I like that when you said, you know what’s in the bag I’ve had a million times where my sister or my mom, right? Can you get the keys in the bag or get this in the bag and I feel like I’m going through a whole maze. So, oh yeah. No, it’s a quick scan and plus you have to have it really neat and organized in here for if you have a clear bag. So you do kind of really need to know what’s just happening in there and you’ll Breeze right through security for sure. Now, how did you get the name and acronym to fly.

So the fly stands for fine love and everything. And I really believe that love and kindness and all of that stuff is just like a good way to live your life. And I also like dragonflies and butterflies. So it all sort of worked together, the transparency of the wings and transparency of the bags. Now, you’re no stranger to entrepreneurship and everything else, but fashion apparel is a completely different animal. So, when did you really decide to prepend a paper and really take action with this idea well that night my friend beth and I like on our first drink we’re like we need to make a concert clutch.

This is ridiculous like and why doesn’t everybody know. And then it was about a year later after doing some real research the idea just kept following me around and one day it all just sort of clicked and that was that. And so that was about 2018 and it took a year to get it to drop here from wherever. They’re made and have them all. So, then we had the pandemic, of course, which shifted things a bit, but it’s nice to be getting back on track and have events and Sporting events and concerts and all that good stuff going what challenges did you run into in the apparel industry compared to the under the other industries that you were pretty successful apparel.

I think is very different because people have to find, you know about you purchase you where if you’re a restaurant or a juice bar. They kind of just see you and walk by you and come in and check it out and you can get a little following in your city this being, you know, national is it’s different I got some you know, Boston being a great sports city. We there’s it’s a small little world here. So, had a really great footprint on my first like the initial launch. I feel like I got lucky there, but it’s definitely much it’s much more complicated than the other industries now from understand as well.

You’ve also produced a film in the past seems like you’ve done a little bit of everything we cover film as well here. Can you tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, I did executive produced a movie called the dust Storm. I think about seven years ago in Nashville. We had a very small budget, my friend anthony baldino and ryan lochen directed produced and wrote the script. I got involved with it. And then I read the script on the way to see it get filmed and like do that stuff which is a little bit reverse, but I believed in them so much. And I love Nashville.

And I love country music. So I knew that was all sort of what was happening in the film and was there for a few days and yeah, it’s been out for a while and it was really fun to do. Wow. So between producing a film between juiceries between your other background, I would imagine it helped you when it came to founding the fly and everything was there anything though that surprised you even even though you’ve been successful in the past. Was there something you said, man. Like I did my research I thought it was successful all these other things. But here was a roadblock that maybe I didn’t expect in apparel.

I feel like so my initial. I used to be in real estate for a long time and I then I was very active in like in Boston just doing charitable events and doing stuff with the museums or with our park systems. But I did a lot of stuff that got my name out there in my 30s. So when all of these things happened in my 40s. I already sort of had a good foundation to parlay my little businesses on. And the fly nation. We did great when my first we first launched it did wonderful, but I think I would attribute it to just the people that I know in the city and you know that whole thing about kindness.

You never really know who you’re talking to or what’s gonna happen 10 years from then and I think that helped a lot too to get it started. But I think really the challenges is just getting your name out there and who you know, who loves it. So, it’s definitely key you would say to get embedded in whatever community. You’re in get to know the people obviously treat everybody with respect because you never know. Hey, you know, maybe you’re launching another small business or some kind of venture and you’re gonna need those people in your corner. I mean, for example. I was I do some freelance work with a company.

That’s all global and one day I was in new York and I was talking meeting the new CEO of the company and they were like, oh, she used to live in Boston and turns out she lived in my building turns out that she was probably in the elevator with me a thousand times and that moment. I was like, oh my god. Thank god. I’m nice to people in the elevator because this would be a horrible introduction right now. So, I think that’s really I mean, I’ve always known that. But that’s when like the importance of it really stepped in and I was a graduation speaker this year at my high school.

So that was my message now it’s one thing to have the right people in your corner you’re behind the scenes. Helping you get business off the ground or get the word out there advertising if you’re buying any retail space anything like that. It’s another challenge to get people to endorse your products. It’s cool to have friends and family rock them. But when you have say players wives who are currently rocking them right now putting them on Instagram putting them on social media. How long did it take players wives and other celebrities to kind of gravitate towards your products? Well, so, I think that was sort of an advantage, I had at the beginning my list for my initial.

I sent like beautiful boxes with all the bags to a whole list of people when I first got them before they were on the website and that included giselle that included linda holliday tiffany Ortiz. Rachel Ray has one stelene who’s the editor in chief of town and country oprah. We sent one to I mean I had a great list going in eventually some of the girls started to find us or we reached out to them, but we have wives on both teams of the super Bowl that have them already, which is wonderful because they’ve already been rocking them and you know, again Mac Jones sophie.

Scott. I love Boston. So sophie has been a huge fan of our bags and new York post has done a few articles about her and she’s wearing it. So in that regard I got lucky. I know I have a lot more ground work to do, but we’re getting there as far as scaling with the fly did you was it different from some of your other businesses as far as like growing them over time because a lot of times when you launch a company. It’s great you’re doing really well and all of a sudden it’s like, holy crap. I’m doing everything myself, I’m gonna need to hire a team.

Absolutely. Well, I think my timing on this was just so off because I launched in 2019 in November. So I at that point it was just me. But along the way from my juice bar. I found this awesome girl and she was sort of my intern for a minute she’s involved in sports she wants to be a sports agent. She’s so smart she knows all of the players and their girlfriends with their wives and she was really my first employee and still kind of is. I’m getting there. It’s starting more people are getting added to this now. It’s starting to grow, but I think it took until now for that to happen and being a brand new company.

You’re a baby right away anyways and it takes a little it takes a bit. So, I think most marketing agencies, etc would be like you still need to grow a little bit more you’re still a baby business. And I know I am, but I’m excited for everything that’s happening and how it’s starting to pick up quick absolutely. I mean, you’re definitely on the right track you definitely got the right people endorsing you and you know, with more people going to Stadiums again and concerts and everything else. I’m sure we’re going to see, you know, more of your bags and accessories popping up and as far as advice for success?

Because you mentioned you’ve done real estate. You have the juicer you have of course this company that’s doing tremendously right now. What’s the best piece of advice you give for any business success that you just have to do it. You don’t if you doubt it. Don’t do it. But if you know that it’s going to work like mother juice. I never questioned it for a second. We started as a food truck. And I had no experience neither did my business partner. We just made it all up as we went and so far. So good. We have six of them here and then with the fly she had a baby and I was like, wait.

I need to have a baby. So then when the fly idea was going on. It was like I just knew it was going I couldn’t predict a pandemic, but I knew this was going to be great because all the girl like a lot of women the bags are not very attractive. They’re a little bit thin sort of like a mattress cover. Like the bag that comes in a mattress a lot of my male friends refer to the difference using using the mattress cover thing. But it was like, they just didn’t have any bags like this. So, I didn’t doubt myself that would be that would be my advice and you can always start over if it doesn’t work.

That’s the worst thing that will happen. How do you balance everything in life, you know, family time, mental health physical health and on top of that. Of course, running all these businesses in my head the first thing I was going to say. Well, when you’re single it actually makes it a lot easier. There’s no drama, but like you have to like not have a boyfriend single for that. I make a lot of whiteboards like me mother juice the fly other work stuff and I really sometimes just have to navigate it that way. But so it works most of the time. Awesome. Well, we’re definitely looking forward to seeing more of your company more of your accessories and bags popping up all over the place especially at the time recording this at the super Bowl.

Before we let you go, where can we find you and the fly online. Amazing. You can find me at LA LA Baldini on Instagram and you can find the fly on Instagram at the underscore fly and of course. It’s fine love and everything. So f L, I e.