An Interview With Edward Sylvan
When customers come in and ask about me, I always use the opportunity to discuss my anxiety and how I’ve learned to cope with it, this opens the door for them to tell me about their anxiety or in most cases parents who are concerned that their kid won’t leave the house or is depressed due to anxiety. I usually have them bring in their daughters and I tell them my whole story so she can hear it without feeling like it’s an intervention. I have also had tons of people reaching out to me, due to the show, thanking me for sharing my story and it has just opened the door for me to have those conversations and genuinely help people.
As a part of our series about stars who are making an important social impact, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Lexi Zanghi.
Lexi Zanghi (23) is the owner of Always Reason Clothing an online store that recently opened up its first storefront in Huntington,NY. Lexi has battled anxiety most of her life but that hasn’t stopped her from becoming a successful Entrepreneur.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you share with us the “backstory” that led you to this career path?
Thanks for having me! I grew up watching my dad run a successful Tree Service so I always knew I wanted to be my own boss. After High school I was planning on attending LIM college in NYC to study Fashion Marketing — things changed when I had a panic attack orientation day, so I packed up my stuff and went back home to immediately start my own Business. I always loved fashion and it was the one topic that the actual history of it compelled me, that’s when I knew I wanted to be in this career field.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career? What was the lesson or take away that you took out of that story?
So at Always Reason we refer to shopping in the store as a shopping experience because we offer a lot of different unique experiences. When we first opened the store every time a customer came in they got a “speech” of everything we offer .. let’s just say I would run out of breath…it was quite long. Some people’s reactions to it were so funny, I had a girl just scream out of excitement once and I was scared that I was doing something wrong, but she was just blown away by it all! A lot of customers were excited and shocked when I made the speech, they had never heard of a store offering different things while they shopped! We stopped doing it because of potential anxious customers that prefer to shop in complete peace.
What would you advise a young person who wants to emulate your success?
I would tell them to be consistent with social media posting. If you have an idea that people might think is crazy-DO IT…that just means it hasn’t been done. Lastly, don’t give up…ever!
Is there a person that made a profound impact on your life? Can you share a story?
My fiancé, Tim for two reasons. We started dating at the beginning of High school and he was just a genuinely nice person which is rare but even more rare to find someone like that in a sea of teenagers. It ultimately led me to want the kind of heart he had, this made me an overall better person physically and mentally. After High school, when I started Always Reason, he also started his own company. The name of his company is Next Level Landscaping, watching him get up early everyday and work so hard inspired me to become a better businesswoman.
How are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting causes you are working on right now?
When I opened Always Reasons store I wanted a unique experience for customers. We offer around 4 unique concepts, one of which is that you can book a photoshoot with us! This was because social media is a toxic and fake place that ultimately causes so many people anxiety, people look at other people’s posts where they use filters, it can make you feel like you aren’t pretty enough or you aren’t good enough. So if you book a shoot with us we style and help you with poses to show that they can also take those same pictures that are causing this self-doubt, all they need is a little direction. So far I have done over 100+ shoots and have seen girls cry and ask “Is that REALLY me?!” as they beam with excitement! It’s been beautiful. I have also been an advocate for mental illness and shared my story on Born For Business, a series following the lives of four entrepreneurs that have a disability. This led to many people reaching out to me, so we are having customers feel like they have someone to talk to when feeling anxious. I’m also super excited to start a podcast that will discuss anxiety, social media and fashion!
Can you share with us the story behind why you chose to take up this particular cause?
For me, it was the thought of helping someone who experiences anxiety. I struggled by myself for years and nothing helped me. I truly believe that if I watched someone like me tell their story back then, it could have really helped me.
Can you share with us a story about a person who was impacted by your cause?
When customers come in and ask about me, I always use the opportunity to discuss my anxiety and how I’ve learned to cope with it, this opens the door for them to tell me about their anxiety or in most cases parents who are concerned that their kid won’t leave the house or is depressed due to anxiety. I usually have them bring in their daughters and I tell them my whole story so she can hear it without feeling like it’s an intervention. I have also had tons of people reaching out to me, due to the show, thanking me for sharing my story and it has just opened the door for me to have those conversations and genuinely help people.
Are there three things that individuals, society or the government can do to support you in this effort?
It would be amazing if society can get together as a whole to start normalizing anxiety and do their part on social media by hiding the number of likes a person gets, not using Facetune or even just showing the parts of their lives that aren’t glamorized but real and raw. A lot of the problem is with influencers showing too much of the good in their lives but what their followers mentally need is to also see the bad and vulnerable parts.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or an example for each.
5 things I wish someone told me would be:
1. “People don’t care as much as you do” this is regarding my brand- I looked into EVERYTHING.. every post, caption, website details you name it- the truth is its my brand so i overthink everything but others aren’t even paying that much attention to it.
2. “Being a young entrepreneur is more challenging” Due to my age people expect me to not know what I’m doing. Whether it’s a confused look when I say that I’m the owner or feeling out of place in a networking situation, it would have helped me if I realized that people didn’t expect me to have any knowledge about running a business at my age.
3.”Being a millennial gives you a massive advantage” The world of business has changed more than ever. Social media is a key component when running a business so being younger definitely made running all social media platforms easier for me.
4.” The anxiety from this will change you forever” I knew when I started Always Reason I would be anxious but i would have never guessed how much anxiety it would have caused. It led to me becoming physically sick and throwing up everyday, I have a fear of posting on social media (something my brand needs everyday) I overthink everything and wonder how I’m being judged.
5.” Succeed in silence” Every time you get a small or big win regarding your brand you want to shout it from the rooftops but in reality you should take the win and feel pride within yourself not show it off to others for validation.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Im a creative person so I love this question! I can think of so many unique ideas. I’ll make a small list for now.
1. Top celebs and influencers posting something super raw and vulnerable on #Mentalhealthawarenessday pushing followers to do the same
2. Putting an event together in NYC where people write on themselves all their insecurities, names they have been called or words they feel about themselves and others helping replace words with something nice they feel about that person
3.Popular podcasts/Youtubers/Tiktokers discussing anxiety more — kind of like how Call Her Daddy is doing right now! I think it’s awesome!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you explain how that was relevant in your life?
My favorite quote is probably “Let nothing hold you down, Your doubt most of all” Having anxiety means a ton of doubt and lack of faith in myself, but I am a fighter and won’t let anything stop me… like the constant “voices” in my head trying to.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Politics, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
What a fun question! hmm… maybe Selena Gomez because I feel like I see her anxiety and relate to the comments on it that she’s made in the past. Just to thank her and be even more inspired by her would be amazing.
I also love the brand Mayfair Group! We actually carry them in our store but it think its lovely and genius how they’ve made so much success out of beautiful quotes that are always aesthetically pleasing! They know how social media works and they are using it to get amazing messages across.
Thank you so much for these amazing insights. This was so inspiring, and we wish you continued success!
About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color.
In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction.
Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business.
With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.
At Sycamore Entertainment he specializes in print and advertising financing, marketing, acquisition and worldwide distribution of quality feature-length motion pictures, and is concerned with acquiring, producing and promoting films about equality, diversity and other thought provoking subject matter which will also include nonviolent storytelling.
Also in 2020, Sylvan launched SEGI TV, a free OTT streaming network built on the pillars of equality, sustainability and community which is scheduled to reach 100 million U.S household televisions and 200 million mobile devices across Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV and others.
As Executive Producer he currently has several projects in production including The Trials of Eroy Brown, a story about the prison system and how it operated in Texas, based on the best-selling book, as well as a documentary called The Making of Roll Bounce, about the 2005 coming of age film which starred rapper Bow Wow and portrays roller skating culture in 1970’s Chicago.
He sits on the Board of Directors of Uplay Canada, (United Public Leadership Academy for Youth), which prepares youth to be citizen leaders and provides opportunities for Canadian high school basketball players to advance to Division 1 schools as well as the NBA.
A former competitive go kart racer with Checkered Flag Racing Ltd, he also enjoys traveling to exotic locales. Sylvan resides in Vancouver and has two adult daughters.
Sylvan has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and has been seen on Fox Business News, CBS and NBC. Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Alexis Zanghi Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.