Future of luxury travel? This company wants you to feel like you're always flying private

In the United States, airports are not places that people feel good in. They're crowded, there's lines, there isn't much to do or to enjoy. And so the opportunity to reimagine that year in the US was just really intriguing and something I wanted to diamond do. Welcome, I'm Michelle Toe, a journalist most recently with CNN and this is behind the business, a show about the people, behind top consumer brands, category creators, and emerging disruptors, and how they push through to make the most of both work and life each day. Today, I'm with Amina Balouzi-Dodd Porter, the CEO of PS, the first operator of private airport terminals for commercial flyers in the US. It's mission to make you feel like you're flying private, even when you're not. This means even if you're flying, let's say, coach with Delta Airlines, you're getting valet service, massages, caviar and champagne, a chauffeur waiting to drive you to your plane. This is what PS, the company formerly known as Private Suite, sees as the future of luxury travel, and it's betting many more people will see it that way too. In this episode, we actually go there. So you can see it for yourself, head to behind the business on YouTube to check that out. With respect, there are some people who could look at PS and say, you know, this is an embarrassment of riches. What problem exactly is this solving? Now, PS was first born in Los Angeles as a haven for paparazzi-were celebrities, helping high-profile people avoid traipsing through the airport. Now, the company's expanded to Atlanta, with more coming soon to Paris, Dallas and Miami. It was recently acquired by Group Adepet, the operator of dozens of airports around the world, including Paris, Charles de Gaulle. I just was acutely aware of the fact that airports in the US are a security product and not a hospitality product. Versus, say, airport experiences in Singapore and Dubai and Paris and London, if you want to skip the airport and get your time back and have a relaxing experience, I think everyone raised their hand up for that. Amina, here we are in studio. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, Michelle. Let's start with some context. Sure. Can you walk us through Amina a bit about your background and, you know, where you grew up and what shaped your ambitions early on? Sure. So, I'm Algerian. I was born in Algeria, maybe here in Sural, Algerian. I grew up in Abu Dhabi, though, in the United Arab Emirates. Before Abu Dhabi was the Abu Dhabi, we know what that's today. You know, it wasn't really a global city then. It was certainly on its way there, but not as much of a cosmopolitan center of commerce and tourism as it is today. grew up there, went to international school there. Very quickly knew that that part of the world was not where I wanted to be long term. I just had ambitions to kind of go west and west I went. I went to college in Canada for undergrad and then I spent six years living and working in China. Right. I studied Mandarin as a minor in undergrad and that fooled me into thinking that could speak Mandarin. It could not. But, you know, quickly solved that problem by living in China. And in China, I held various roles, all kind of touching the hospitality industry in finance, but also in development and operations, moved to the US a little over a decade ago now to go to business school, worked in private equity there. And then one day a recruiter called me while I was working in finance, overseeing investment deals for various real estate companies, some with an operating component, some without, you know, so office multifamily, but also senior housing and and student housing, things like that. But a recruiter called me and said a private equity firm is looking to recruit the leadership team for a novel concept. That was born within another portfolio companies of theirs, and it's essentially a startup, I mean, not essentially was very much a startup, and it's a private terminal for commercial flights. The second I read that, the job description and really the description of the company. I can't explain it. I just felt like I was designed in a lab to build this. I guess the need was clear, not that I was a premium traveler at all, but I noticed that as someone with an international background, with not a US passport, frankly with some, you know, some would say undesirable passport. I mean, you know, from Middle Eastern countries that are not, you know, that, you know, that get you through random screenings when you fly into the US and things like that. I just, it was acutely aware of the fact that airports in the US are a security product and not a hospitality product versus say airport experiences in Singapore and Dubai and Paris and London. Yes, of course they have security and security is very important, but they haven't sacrificed on the hospitality, the retail, the entertainment part of the experience, like some of those airports around the world are really enjoyable are places that people feel good in. And in the United States, airports are not places that people feel good in. They're, they're crowded. Again, the security element is front and center. It's really the defining part of the experience. They're crowded. There's lines. There isn't much to do or to enjoy in the time that you dwell, which is usually a couple hours. But the opportunity to reimagine that here in the US was just really intriguing and something I wanted to dive into. Yeah, so much to unpack there, but I guess my first question on that would be, had you ever been in a similar concept type of terminal before? Not actually, you know, I'd been in lounges and things like that, but lounges, you know, first of all lounges only serve you on a departure on arrival, you cannot access a lounge. Also lounges kind of reward you after, you know, elbowed your way through the roughest parts of the airport, the most painful parts. At the end, there's a pot of gold at the end of rainbow, which is, ah, you got to lounge. And so just when I was learning about this concept, and obviously I dove deep into it and researched the fact that similar concepts, similar private terms for commercial flights. Yes, do exist in places like London and Dubai and things like that. And it just made so much sense that there would be something that fills this very vast gap. Between private and commercial travel, because the gap is so wide from an experience point of view, but it's also so wide from a price point of view. And so it's not hard to imagine that there is a large cohort of customers that would pay more than the airport, which is free. And less than commercial private flights who have something in between just made so much sense. Yeah, you felt like it filled out white space that you didn't realize. That's right. That's right. That wasn't for me. I wasn't the target market, but I could quickly see through all my travels and my experiences that the white space was so vast and that this is a clear solution that I hadn't thought of. But that there's probably many solutions actually in that space. And I guess growing up, did you always have an edge to do something entrepreneurial, do something different? I would put it as, you know, be the architect of my own destiny. In whatever form that took, but I wasn't really satisfied with just sitting at a corporate job and having my destiny being the hands of politics or rank and file or other things. I was just, I was really aware of that. Maybe it's because my dad was health corporate jobs and I would always hear, you know, I got didn't get promoted because this gentleman, you know, those this person or do you know, and they just felt really unfair. I had that drive to put myself in situations where it was purely, you know, the outcome of my work was purely based on my own inputs and not on externalities, like say politics or, you know, things like that. So that was something I grew up with that I was very, I was very clear on that. And I guess entrepreneurship is a manifestation of kind of that desire. Yeah, absolutely. Well, fast words of college, though, you've shared that you moved to North America. Was it days before 9/11? Yeah, that's right. And I think it was three days before 9/11. Wow. Yeah, which, you know, first of all, I went to college in Canada. So it wasn't in the United States. But still, you know, I think there was there's always been a solidarity between Canada and the US in that sense. And being from that part of the world coming from the Middle East and then overnight having this stigma, I would say. [BLANK_AUDIO] against people from the Middle East, which is really jarring. It was really formative. Now, people were very kind and I wasn't subject to any prejudice or anything like that, but there was almost like a cloud a little bit over, not just me, but all of the foreign students from that part of the world as that culture was broadly tainted as evil. Of course there were very evil players, but I think it just got demonized a little bit and it was just a weird time. Totally. I can understand that. How did that shape, how you represent yourself and your community do you think? I think the way it's shaped me, and it's a very deep question, Michelle, but I think the way it's shaped me is that I'm not someone who assigns a lot of value good or bad to where you're from, because I think that those definitions have changed so much over time. It used to be, and they will continue to change. It used to be about your nuclear family, and it was about the bigger family, and then it was about the tribe, and then it was about the village, and then it was about the country, and now it's about a region, and I'm hoping that eventually it'll just be about like we're all humans on the planet earth, and these lines are so arbitrary, sometimes they're drawn on costs. Geographic lines, sometimes by colonists, sometimes by regional wars, sometimes by religion, I just don't think they're that important, and that 9/11 incident I think illuminated that for me, where I'm like, just 'cause those people are from there, doesn't mean the evil players, the evil actors, doesn't mean I have anything common with them, and so to bucket me or anyone into that is pretty asinine, and I think I've carried that with me, or it's like, I truly don't care where people are from in the sense that like it doesn't mean anything to me. Sure, obviously it's part of their circumstance, and affects them, but I don't assign any value, or I don't have any preconceived notions about it. - Do you feel like that maybe just reinforced your belief that you kind of just see things across borders, right? - Yeah. - Just really made you lean more into that international side of things, and the fact that people are really cross-cultural these days. - Yeah. - It sounds like that. - I mean, I look at, like, so I have three-year-old and a seven-month-old, and I look at my three-year-old preschool class, and everybody is like a quarter of this, a half-that, whatever. It's like, what does it even mean anymore? - Yeah, yeah. - And increasingly so, right? - Yeah, everybody, almost. This is like mixed in terms of ethnicity, religion. If you even care to like assign those things, so it's like, I think it is hopefully becoming more and more meaningless to kind of assign the past. Now, by the way, I'm a big proponent of tradition and culture and all that, but that can be the, that's such a personal definition, I think. - Yeah, absolutely. Well, you kind of touched on this as well, but you had quite a range of different experiences around the world in various industries before moving to the role that you're in now. Can you tell us a bit more about that because you mentioned that you were in China, your Mandarin is surely better than mine. - I think you're a polyglot as well, aren't you? - Yeah. - I thought that you speak five languages? - Yeah, four and a half these days back. My Spanish is really rusty, which is really ironic given I live in LA, and Spanish is obviously pretty prevalent here. There's no have the opportunity to practice it, unfortunately, or I don't find it. But I speak English, hopefully. I speak French. I'm Algerian and most Algerian and speak French. I speak Arabic. Now, Arabic is a weird one because Arabic is a very dialect-based language. So depending on where you're from in the Arab world, which last time it checked is 20 plus countries, you actually have different dialects that at times can't even understand each other. So it's one of those like a little bit of, not a useless, but like if you speak a certain dialect of Arabic, you can only speak to other people that understand that dialect. Spanish I studied, and frankly Spanish is quite easy to understand once you speak French. - Yeah, yeah. - I think we're man's languages. And in Mandarin, it's really hard to live and work in China for six years and not speak land, not end up speaking Mandarin fluently. You know, you sort of have to. So I don't really pat myself on the back for that one too much. It was kind of an output of my time. - You know, in China. - And you were in Shanghai specifically, right? - I was in Beijing for a year and Shanghai for five, yeah. - What were you doing there? You mentioned it was hospitality. - Yeah, it was various angles of hospitality. You know, my first job wasn't hospitality at all, but it touched hotels where I was an analyst for a hotel investment fund. So it was a finance job, but you know, the numbers on the spreadsheet were about hotels. - Right. - And then my second job was for global hotel interior design firm, kind of building out their business development practice in China and then more broadly, kind of Asia. And then my third job was I joined two friends who had just raised some capital to build the first boutique hotel in Shanghai. And that was a really fun entrepreneurial experience because there was no real job description. It was like one second, it was development and one second, it was overseeing strategy. One second is helping out with operations. One second, it was like trying to sign more leases and do partnerships with big Chinese developers. So it was very cowboy, I guess. But you'll learn a lot in those experiences when you don't have, again, any preconceived notions about the way things should be. So you're just figuring it out. And I always say that when I went to business school, I learned the fancy words and the terms to apply to the things that had already learned. - I see a through line emerging here, by the way. - Oh, do you? - Yeah, because obviously, there's so much to do with the hotel world and the travel business, even just like, peripherally. So it sounds like you were always somewhat drawn to the hospitality space, which makes sense today, doesn't it? - Yeah, I guess so. And I can't tell how much of it was by design or by accident. But it was definitely a consistent theme. - Right, fast forward to today, because you obviously now have been CEO of PS since 2017, 2018. We have now been to tour the PS terminal at LAX, which is part of this episode. So thank you for having us. It's such a haven. But what strikes me the most is, when you walk around, you get the sense of comfort and luxury and pampering. Though I learned recently that PS actually started out as part of a security and logistics business, tell us a bit more about that origin story, which I think not that many people know. - Yeah, and it's, I know, it's so critical to our DNA that I do love telling the story. So there is a very highly esteemed, very established, protective services, which is a way of saying security, or maybe even bodyguard, if I were to reduce it to that, it's a lot more than that. Company called GDBA, Gavin to background associates. That's the top of its field. The founder of that business, his name is Galvan's, name's Sake, this is business. Observe that is high profile clients. When they flew commercial, because yes, even they too fly commercial at times, would utilize services like what is now PS, where they existed, which is outside the US. So in places like London and Dubai, et cetera. When they flew commercial, they would use these private terminals for commercial flights. And so he pitched his investors, which at the time were a private equity firm, on developing this concept here, and he got it going. And we credit a lot of, we have to. I mean, he got that kind of a lot of the hard part going in terms of trailblazing from a regulatory perspective, especially in the operational perspective, the way that we can operate, which is as a private building, to act as essentially a de facto airport, have our own TSA agents, have our own customs and border protection agents. These are not easy things to do. He also secured the first lease, which was here in Los Angeles. - Because you lease the building from the airport. - Yeah, all buildings on airport land are for lease only. - Right. - Our landlords is essentially the airport. - But more than that. So of course, got it going with his, yes, know how, but also credibility and reputation, but also infused what is now PS, with an untenable sort of cultural imprint around precision and excellence, that is 100% necessary in the security space. For obviously reasons you have people's lives in your hands, right, so you have to be foolproof, and there is a zero tolerance for error. Now, if we came out of our business with just the hospitality Of course, hospitality companies, especially luxury ones, strive for excellence and precision. But you get someone's coffee wrong. It's not the end of the world, right? But we come at it with that same focus on zero tolerance for error. And I think that's allowed us to really thrive. Because some of what we do, there is zero tolerance. We're driving cars on the airfield, past, taxing, aircraft. You know, we are putting people through security. And we could not, I mean, of course, we wouldn't do that. But we're custodians of this really important relationship with TSA, Customs and Border Protection. So we hold immigration services and things like that. So having a zero tolerance approach is really important. And I think we've inherited that from that origin store. So it's funny how even as companies evolve and as the people completely switch out, the some pieces of culture remain. And that's a good one. I know that you've mentioned some of the regulatory hoops that obviously the business had to jump through in order to even provide this service, right? Did you mention that you guys had to lobby Congress for several years? Because obviously not only do you stringently follow TSA protocol, but also, you know, I imagine there's other clearances that you have to make sure you get. Since it's the first of its kind, it's unprecedented in the US. That's right. It's a privilege, not a right, which comes back to that like zero tolerance for error, because we have to make sure that we abide by all these rules and essentially promises that we made in order to have this relationship. And as a result, it's an ongoing, own called lobby, but, you know, assurance that we have to give double department of homeless security and rightfully so to ensure that we have this long term exception of our relationship. How long did it take all in to get that approval in order to run the facility? I want to say a few years. I want to say it was probably two or three years. Yeah. Well, it's really interesting because I've also seen you make an important point about airport congestion. You've said that the service improved security and congestion for all of, let's say, LAX's passengers, right? Sure. Because it's fully funded by those who create the most congestion issues, which are high risk travelers. That's right. Can you respond a bit on that? Sure. Sure. I mean, it used to be that before PS opened at LAX in Los Angeles, it used to be that, first of all, there was 100 plus, this is a fact, 100 plus paparazzi incidents. Not paparazzi showing up, but actual incidents where someone's getting her something's going on at LAX every year because if a high profile public figure walked through the airport, people are distracted, people are taking photos, people are taking autographs and extreme cases like crowds of people. It creates a security issue for everybody. TSA agents are distracted, people are overwhelmed. It's not good for anyone, not just the public figure, even kind of the public at large that's at the airport. And ever since we open, the number of those incidents has gone down to zero. So from a security point of view, the airport is now safer for everyone, not just the high risk travelers, which are usually public figures. It's just a smoother experience for everyone. And there's less congestion because, again, those public figures create congestion where they go. I mean, we know. And they walk into a restaurant. It's like a big crowd and, you know, frenzy. It's frenzy, right? And so now that calm that we've left a trail of calm at LAX because those people are choosing to come to PS instead. And that creates a much better experience for everybody. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm glad you shared that, I mean, because with respect, there are some people who could look at PS and say, you know, this is an embarrassment of riches. So what problem exactly is a solving, right? But you're here to say, listen, there's a serious concern that we're clearing up here. And we're very deliberate about that. Yeah, I mean, there's that. There's also the, you know, the honest answer, which is, there are and always has been. And always will be kind of many tears to travel, right? And so this is just like squeezing one in and between a few. But like, you know, you can make the argument, the embarrassment of riches about private jet travel or any luxury or any luxury or paying for allowance. Super yacht. Yeah, or a super yacht or paying for first class in that economy. Like, we didn't invent the fact that there are many tears to travel. Yeah. That is existed. We just slotted kind of one in along the spectrum. Yeah, to make it easier. Well, contrary to what some may think, PS is not just a private members club, right? It also allows folks to come use the space on an allocard basis, although you can get memberships. Can you tell us a bit just broadly without naming names? What does your typical customer look like? I think most people view us as a public figure or celebrity terminal. And that is a minority of our business. It's 15% or less, 10% to 15% of our business only is that. The rest is non public figures. It is a premium traveler or an occasional premium traveler. And what I mean by that, it is, of course, someone that probably travels at the front of the plane and is a luxury traveler, quite a bit of business travel as well. But also, it is occasional in the sense that it's your honeymoon and you're going to splurge once. Or it's your anniversary and you're going to splurge once. So we do have that as well. Almost all of our client base here in Los Angeles, at, sorry, for the PSLA external resides in LA. Almost all of our client base at our PSAtlana terminal resides in Atlanta. We suspect it'll be the same in Dallas and Miami where we open next. Because, you know, it's best used as your home airport. Right. And as it relates to membership to go back to your question, Michelle. So PS is, you don't have to be a member to use PS. As I said, it's your honeymoon. You can use this once and never again. And so you pay per experience. However, if you plan to use this many times, there are membership packages, which are just more interesting, both from an economic point of view. It ends up being more attractive. But also, you have other benefits, like priority reservations and complimentary valet and things like that. Yeah, absolutely. You kind of touched on this earlier with regard to how PS approached you. But tell us a bit more about the day you were called for this role. Because it's not every day, right? You get called to be CEO of a company. What was the first thought that ran through your mind? Yeah, I mean, it was exactly what I said. When I read the job description, I was like, this is it. This is the thing I didn't know existed. I didn't know I wanted to do, but here it is. And the courtship with the private equity firm at the time that owns it was quite long, as I guess it's not unusual for roles like this. It's really important to find the right fit. So there are many calls, many working sessions, many in-person meetings. But for me, the vision was very clear on what to do here. And I was not shy to share it. Because I also felt that that's how you get to yes. Well, to high quality yes is to say, this is what I-- this is essentially the business plan as I see it. Not because I was trying to impress them, just because like, if I'm going to do this, this is what I'd want to do. And so you have to be on board for this to be successful. And if you disagree, that's OK. That doesn't mean I'm not saying I'm right. But then you're looking for someone else, not me, right? So it was really thorough in that sense. In many ways, we executed almost not exactly, but almost to achieve the business plan that I wrote before I even joined. And by the way, that is-- it's not because I'm a genius, I'm definitely not. It's I think because of that rare moment that maybe happens once in a career if you're lucky. And I'm lucky it happened. Hopefully it happens more. Where again, it was the opportunity met my timing, my sort of vision for it. It was just kind of perfect in that way. Right place, right time. That's right. Yeah. Was it an executive search firm that high-quality? It was, yes. Right. I should say, by the way, in regard to that business plan, you are a Wharton grad if you're wrong. Yeah, so no surprise there, I think. But when you first took over, what was your biggest priority, I suppose, for the firm's growth? And how is the company involved since then? Yeah, the biggest priority. And this was, again, in that business plan. Because I had visited the terminal, so I'd done all the diligence. Obviously, you think you know everything about a business and you certainly don't from the outside. But I worked with what I had. The first course of action was to pivot the positioning. And when I say positioning, that's It's a very charged word that's the brand, the offering, the pricing, the experience, truly everything to pivot the business from a security offering to a hospitality offer. And that was essentially the crux of the business plan, was to say, hello board, in my opinion, if you want this to have a larger audience, and to be able to scale outside of Los Angeles, would you know, it's a P back business, of course they wanted to have a larger audience in scale. If it wasn't P back, then it was just, you know, a, you know, single, yeah, scraper or single owner, then you have a fine business plan as is, like, because by the way, these things involve money and capital and marketing, right? But if you do want those things, which generally private equity firms do, then I felt really strongly that the initial positioning as a security offering wasn't going to cut it, because first of all, not many people need privacy and security. What figures do, but, you know, the, you know, the successful business man, who's already going in the first class lounge maybe? Yeah, does not need security and privacy. Or at least they don't think they, then that doesn't relate to them, right? And I think that obviously market that needs that is very much over index in Los Angeles, because of Hollywood being obviously the prime minister. And so, like, if you could never go to Dallas or Miami or, you know, Chicago or even say Francisco with that security and privacy offering, because most people, yes, who could afford it, yes, who want to skip the airport wouldn't, that wouldn't resonate with them. They'd be like, okay, but I don't need security. Right. Right. So we shifted it to a luxury hospital experience, really saying, if you want to skip the airport and get your time back and have a relaxing experience, have a calm experience and have a bespoke luxury hospitality offering with no lines and no crowds, you know, I think everyone raised their hand up for that, right? So brought in the appeal in that way. So what did that entail specifically? Because it sounds like you were trying to shift the vibe, right? So we're trying to ensure that this feels luxurious. This feels like you're taking care of, you know, without interior design, without a bit of everything. It was everything. It was the soft product and the hard product. The hard product is the easiest part, right? The hard product is the branding, the interior design, the food, the, you know, drinks, the, you know, amenities, that's easy. You know, the soft product of how are we talking to our customers? How are we making them feel? You know, all these inputs to how do you make someone feel, right? Like, how do you deliver bad news? How do you deliver good news? How do you give them space or how do you give them all the communication they want? How do you make them feel, you know, like they're an luxury hospital experience? It's really hard to do that without the right training, without the right people, right? So it was also a shift in the way that we recruited in our training, you know, we started recruiting more people from that hospitality background and the mix that we have today, which is we have operationally minded people and hospitality minded people. I think that's where the magic is because we are at the end of the day. We are a logistics company. Don't be fooled. Has to be both. Yes. We're a logistics company. But the hope is the customer never, ever, ever sees or feels that. They only feel the luxury hospitality wrapper around it. Right. Well, you mentioned earlier as well, your line of work is very capital intensive. We've noted, obviously, that PS is private equity backed, but how did you approach things when it came to funding and working with PE backers, you know, like, was it kind of a mentality that unlike other traditional startups, you luckily hopefully do have that kind of cushion and that kind of funding that you need in order to provide this high end experience that you are set up to do. Yeah. And I think that that's exactly a macho. I think this, you know, I think it's really important that the right capital partner is paired with the right kind of business. If you're building a luxury business of any kind, certainly one that's capital intensive like ours, but a luxury business, you need to play the long game. Yes, be scrappy. Yes, be all that. But you have to play the long game. You can't sacrifice quality for short-term profits or short-term return. And so we're very lucky that we were, you know, as you mentioned, we're no longer PE backed or owned by a big strategic owner, go by the pay. But when we were PE backed by TPG, they played the long game, you know, we had their commitment that we were building a brand that's going to stand the test of time. And so you can't shortcut your way there. Now, you have to show results around the way and the pressure is super high. But I think if we were, you know, maybe venture capital backed or something like that, which is more used to like short sprints of capital, I think that would have been really tough for a company like ours. Yeah. I think that the story obviously differs from other kind of like you said, like mom and pop shops, right, where they might have a lot of struggles around that. So it sounds like it was well suited for the opportunity at hand. That's right. Absolutely. But it's extremely well suited for a growth because they are, you know, they own and or operate something like 25, 26, I think airports around the world, including Shalda Girl, which to me is a crown jewel in terms of what we talked about earlier, which is, yes, it's an airport but it has a sense of hospitality and retail to an experience in and of itself. So they know how to do that at its best in some of the most hostile environments, which are airports. As a long-term strategic owner, they're a great fit. Yeah, I was going to ask, how do you see the brown continuing to evolve under their stewardship now? They, first of all, you know, not to stereotype, but being French, they know a lot about building timeless brands and they certainly have an appreciation for that. And so that understanding is there. They also, with Shalda Girl, with their ownership of Shalda Girl and Shalda Girl, I think is the highest grossing airport from a retail perspective. And yes, they have all the beautiful brands, but also they know how to create an environment where people want to be there and spend that money and shop and drink wine and cheese and all that. So they've done that again in a hostile environment, which is an airport. So they truly understand what we do and they want to see it blossom and they, with their airport footprint, can help us open doors at more airport locations so that we can accelerate our growth. Because the hardest part, there's a lot of hard parts of this business, but one of the hardest parts is securing that real estate to open the next one. Because, you know, we're still a new concept. So when we approach an airport in the United States or elsewhere, there's an education process that is very long to even explain what we do and why we exist and how it works. And then you have to find the actual real estate, which is very scarce in general airport real estate is scarce. And then when you identify that, you have to go through a public bid process, which is long and technical and all that. So it's not impossible, but the road to getting another terminal is many years. I was going to ask, how long does it generally take end to end, right? From scouting the location to speaking to all the relevant authorities to actually getting things up and running to your standard. When you say years, it's up and running from when you, yeah, three to five, more like five than three. Yeah, yeah. A lot of people don't realize, right, just how much work goes into that part of it alone before you even launch. That's right. That's right. And at these airports, for the most part, there's one site only that works for us, maybe two. And sometimes it's not available, because there's a cargo building on it. And there are leases up in five years and you've got to wait. So it's not, you know, that ideal. But then at the end of the day, we, that also is how we maintain our monopoly. Are there any locations coming up down, you know, down the road that you could tease besides what we've already heard about Paris? Well, what I'll tell you is, you know, our goal is to be in every major airport in the United States by 2030. You know, we're in LA and Atlanta, we're under construction currently in Dallas and Miami. So there's like, you know, five other airports that make a lot of sense for us. They're pretty obvious, JFK, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, Boston, Houston, you know, and I know I listen more than five because there's five to make a ton of sense. But then there's probably three or four that make it also sense in different format that Houston's a Denver's Maybe Seattle's of the world right and it's we don't have the luxury of you know our road map is clear In terms of where we want to be, but we don't have the luxury of sequencing it perfectly because of what we described which is like You know when the right piece of land comes available we can't control that and so you know Houston might happen before JFK even though JFK is much more prime obviously a market for us in Houston So a lot of it is just explaining how You see this as the future of luxury air travel and the benefits to the airport that we described in terms of security Conjession and we're a big big revenue stream into the airport or a tenant We usually are the highest and best use of that real estate Right, and so it's you know it goes into the airport's budget and it's you know less taxpayer dollars that they have to raise Yeah, I mean I mentioned to you off air last time that I was really moved by your story just on a personal note Particularly hearing you speak about some of your past experiences in life in another interview you did Feel free to share as much or as little as possible here, but I think one big part of your story is that you Experience a tragedy early on losing your husband at a young age. I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you How did you navigate that and how did that shape your outlook on life and work? Um You know, I think it's so yes, so to recap some of my first Has been passed away Let's see in 2018 actually right I was as I was interviewing for the PS role Pass away in an extreme sports accident. So it was very sudden uh and quick and unexpected um I was 34 and he was just shy of his um 38th birthday um And you know that that kind of you know, we didn't have any children Uh, I say that as in like it was just him. It was just the two of us um and that turns your world upside down, you know um And in a way For me and I don't know. I can't speak for anyone that's gone through that kind of loss or grief. They brought me a lot of clarity Because in that moment um A lot of clarity about what I wanted to do with my life And what I didn't want to do right because I think at least I'm guilty of this we go through our day to day I should do this or social pressures or whoever or you know the negative talk we have in ourselves And when you go through a A tragedy like that in your life is literally kind of in a vacuum Everything suddenly becomes crystal clear like what's important to you? What's not what makes you happy? What's not it's kind of binary and not to sound Weird and making this about work but That was during the interview process for PS And that's when I was like I don't want to where I was working at the time and in private equity We'll say private equity and I knew in that moment. I was like I don't want to do this anymore I wanted to do something else and and PS was the opportunity that was excited about but like Regardless even if PS didn't work out. I just knew I was like I don't want to work in finance anymore In that moment, it was so clear Uh, and a lot of things became clear. I was like I also don't want to be living in Houston Just where we were living. I don't want it like just like everything becomes clear because Yeah, I guess you're forced into clarity um I think you asked what I carry with me um, you know a lot of things I think it shapes you I probably shaped me more than I know But one of the things that has done for me is it taught me to slow down I was too like focused on the future and And where I'm going and like you know typical type A driven and and now I am kind of like In a way, I'm like the worst thing that could have happened happened Obviously the unfortunately life doesn't work that way. I'm unfortunately there's probably a lot of bad things that happened in any lifetime but and I survived that so I take I think everything and every day with just more calm and more openness and less desire to like control and Fixing because fix things because you know you learn that life can change like that I think I heard you say like you just don't sweat the small stuff either No, I don't that's what I mean with like the calm and not one control. It's like Whatever I say to my employees they're like Can I talk to you something happened? I'm like did somebody die and they're like no, I'm like all right Let's talk about it like it's probably not that bad. It's like never that bad. Absolutely It's like 99.9% of things that happen are like not that bad. Yeah at all Right, so that really gave you that clarity and just shaped how you are now as a leader, I think yeah for sure I think I'm very I'm not That like cyclical in my Moves and and I could probably stand to be a bit more because I think you can get more done That's sometimes as a leader, but I just don't sweat the small stuff It's not worth it and actually Michelle one more thing so just going back to not sweating the small stuff My house burned down six months ago in the palisades fire Very tragic for a city of Los Angeles. I think 10,000 homes. I think Something like that We're burned to the ground between the palisades fire and the out to do the fire, but um So we lost every single thing that we owed like everything including memorabilia I have in my light husband like every single thing. Oh So sorry Thank you, but I think that would have broken me if I hadn't already gone through Obviously a much more meaningful tragedy which is losing, you know human being that you love so like Your first tragedy prepares you for the rest of the other tragedies right and make you more resilient And allow you to me. It was especially important. I guess to be resilient this time because I have children and You know, there's more people depending on me um And you know my husband and Whereas um the first time around in a way I was alone to deal with it You know, I had a great support system and everything, but it prepared me to now Ride hopefully the next tragedies of life More in a more centered way. Yeah, that benefits Essentially my children. Well said. Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like it gave you so much perspective You came out the other and stronger which I so admire you for by the way. There's many people that would have just gotten to bed for a year Thank you Not an option not to switch gears. That's which gears. This brings me to a segment We're calling what it takes. We're an audience member an entrepreneur gets to ask for advice And hear more on what it takes to get where you are So today Matt and e-commerce founder from London asked Many executives talk about how when you're building something you can't tell in the moment whether it's gonna work The outcomes only become clear in hindsight was there ever a time in your journey where you thought it wasn't going to work And you wanted to give up. Yes, Matt Definitely It's almost like a yes and no. I think it's really important to I'm gonna say two opposing truths To have very strong beliefs and convictions and to go into something Having done the work The research the visioning the strategic thinking But at the same time the opposing truth is to be flexible and open to what you learn Along the way It's like driving a car when you drive straight You're not actually just holding the steering wheel straight. You're kind of adjusted Right like we don't drive like this we go like that That's kind of how I see building a business is have your north star Be clear that the path there is kind of a little zigzaggy and take the feedback along the way and so Yes to second guessing yourself, but it's more about Taking what you learn and instead of second guessing adjusting Ever so slightly to find kind of the zigzag path to your north star Thanks so much for that Amina now we're gonna do a quick rapid fire round Don't overthink it just say whatever comes to mind. Oh ready What is your favorite way to unwind after a long day Watching Netflix for like six minutes before I fall asleep on the couch That's mom life. It sounds like oh my god. Yeah. How many hours of sleep do you get every night? Seven Oh, that's not bad. Not bad. If you could open a ps terminal anywhere in the world no restrictions where would it be Paris, but that's happening. Oh all right. How do you prepare mentally before a big event? Sleep hydration and like no actually no TV before bad so like getting to bed early reading a book Being very hydrated and kind of letting myself naturally go to sleep without screens or anything What's your biggest pet peeve in the workplace? Lying which is generally my pet peeve. What do you like to ask in a hiring interview? So many things but I like I like to ask people personal questions I always find that that's when you see their personality because everyone's putting on a show When responding to the answers, but then you see kind of the glimmer in their eye when you're like so what do you do for fun And they're like I love to dance. I'm a dancer and you're like whoa tell me about that and then that can lead you to Kind of more insights about the person - Right, more authentic answers. Interesting. What is some of the best advice you've ever received? - Slowest smooth, smoothest fast. - Thank you so much for that Amina. Well said, thank you for sharing your time and insight with us and also just your experience. We're so admire your story. - Thanks so much. - Thanks for joining us on Behind the Business. For more stories on business and leadership, follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you next week. (upbeat music)