We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aleksandra Lason a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aleksandra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

I’m actually in the rare and privileged position of starting over right now. After spending 12 years at one media company, the industry shifted – and so did my path. This fresh start has given me the space to apply everything I’ve learned with far more intention, structure, and clarity.

If I could share what I’d do differently (and what I am doing differently now), it would be these five things:

Build Systems From the Start: I’m documenting everything – how I work, why I make certain decisions, which tools I use, and the logic behind each process. This makes it easier to onboard future team members, minimizes training time, and allows others to spot inefficiencies I might miss. It turns my work into something scalable, not just personal.

Ask for Help Early and Often: One of the biggest shifts for me has been letting go of the need to know everything. I’ve created a circle of trusted advisors – people from various industries – who meet with me regularly. I walk them through my business, get their feedback, and lean on their outside perspectives. I also tap into my community when I’m stuck. I’ve learned that asking for help isn’t a weakness – it’s an advantage.

Understand Your Money: I now review finances weekly: I check our accounts, analyze our P&Ls, dig into expense software, and go line-by-line through statements with my bookkeeper. Understanding cash flow, burn rate, and runway isn’t just good business – it’s what allows me to lead confidently. Hire a bookkeeper early.

Hire Slow, Fire Fast: In the past, I rushed to fill roles out of urgency or emotional fatigue, not alignment. I’ve learned that the cost of a wrong hire – in time, energy, and culture – is far greater than the cost of waiting for the right one. We’ll never get it 100% right, but now I hire with clarity and intention. And if something isn’t working, I move faster than I used to. Not out of coldness, but because lingering mismatches hurt everyone. If a hire doesn’t work out, I want to know it wasn’t because we didn’t do our part.

Talk About What You Want: I used to gatekeep my own ideas – worried that if I shared too much, someone might copy me. But I’ve learned that when you clearly articulate what you’re building and what you need, people do show up. Whether it’s offering advice, making intros, or sharing their own experience, people want to help – as long as you’re clear, intentional, and show up with respect. Transparency invites collaboration. And collaboration opens doors you didn’t even know existed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Aleksandra Lason, but everyone calls me Aleks. I’m a mom, a wife, and the Chief Operating Officer of Let’s Cook Editing Services – a media company I run alongside my husband. Together, we’ve built and scaled two media companies, and this chapter – Let’s Cook – is all about speed, systems, and smart use of AI in post-production.

Before launching Let’s Cook, we led Chrilleks, a production company born in Toronto, Canada. We were among the first social-first studios pushing clients to break out of traditional formats like TV and lean into digital platforms. Long before it became standard, we were advocating for online-first content strategies – helping brands show up where their audiences actually spend time.
I led the move of Chrilleks from Toronto to Los Angeles, where we had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most iconic brands in the DTC space – including Gymshark, Shopify, and many more. We were working with these brands at such an early stage of their growth that we developed a deep understanding of product, community-building, and what it truly takes to scale a direct-to-consumer business.

That experience sparked a passion in me for building brands – particularly for women in sports. I eventually stepped down from Chrilleks to start my own venture, Fancy, which focused on building DTC brands that centered and elevated female athletes.

Through that work, I was incredibly fortunate to connect with Formula E driver Nick Cassidy and join his company Merchoe, where we led the development and management of merchandise for Formula 1 driver Alex Albon. It was an amazing experience that combined storytelling, brand, and commerce in a whole new way.

After some time off to reflect and reset, our advisory board encouraged me to return – this time to join forces with my husband, Chris, at his new venture: Let’s Cook Editing Services. Today, I serve as the Chief Operating Officer, where my focus is on scaling the company, building out strong operational systems, and creating a post-production machine that leverages speed, clarity, and AI.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I absolutely love this question because I adore our love story. Chris and I met in college and started out as friends. For some reason, we were always paired together on projects – we just worked incredibly well as a team.

Here’s the crazy part: Chris is actually the “media guy,” but he didn’t get into the program his first year. It’s crazy to think about now, because if he had gotten in right away, we might never have been partnered together. Let’s just call that fate.

On the very first day of college, our professor warned us not to date anyone within the program. Well, here we are – 16 years together, 11 years married, two kids, one dog, and countless life and business adventures later!

I feel incredibly lucky to be running a business with my husband.

Have you ever had to pivot?

“Powerful people know how to pivot” – Chris, North my executive coach – that’s something I’ve come to appreciate deeply in my journey. I’ll never forget a moment early on when a client, who also happened to be a friend, casually remarked how much our company had changed over time. At first, I felt a bit embarrassed by that comment, worried it might signal instability or lack of direction.

I realized that what they were really observing was growth – and the natural evolution that comes with building something meaningful. Pivoting isn’t a sign of failure; it’s a sign of responsiveness, adaptability, and learning. Every shift we made was rooted in better understanding our clients’ needs, the market, and ourselves. It’s how we stayed relevant, competitive, and true to our vision.

That mindset shift changed everything for me. Instead of fearing change, I learned to embrace pivoting as an essential part of the entrepreneurial process – one that keeps the business alive and moving forward. This is exactly why we were never afraid to lean into AI technology – in fact, we fully embraced it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.letscookedits.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alekslason/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandralason/