Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Allie Guiang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Allie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Since I was little, I’ve always thrived when surrounded by others – whether it was sports, math team, or my college sorority – my energy battery is always recharged by community experiences. Before I officially founded LUL, I had been leading monthly accountability challenges for fun through my social media network. I personally have experienced the power of accountability challenges focused on improving metnal and physical health, and sought to share that with my network and would casually ask “who wants to join” – and to my surprise – I would get a lot of “I’m in” and “Omg I need this” type of responses. This type of community leadership is something I found true genuine joy and in the back of my mind I always had an “inkling” to make it into something more. But to be honest, with my full time career as a Flow Cytometry Sales Specialist which includes travel both nationally and globally, being a wife, friend, and dog mama I didn’t know if I had it in me to pursue that calling. It wasn’t until I was sitting in my favorite reading chair, going about my normal routine reading the book “We Should All Be Millionaires” where I legit had an “out of body experience” / epiphany or whatever you want to call it while reading a section titled “Your Million $ Squad” The author asks the reader about what an ideal community would look like to you and who would be in that community and asked “Who is your million $ squad?” The most powerful sentence was “If you don’t have this type of community, CREATE IT.” I put the book down, grabbed my notebook. and started writing feverishly. This is where I wrote down “Level Up Ladies” and jotted down the initial ideas that led to to the foundation of the LUL community. I knew I wanted to build a community of like-minded women who wanted to invest in themselves, their circle, and their mental, physical and financial health – something that I personally wanted to seek out for myself to help level up while also raising other women up.

Allie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Allie Guiang and I am a 31 year old half Filipino, Chicago (suburb) native, alumni of University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and career in the medical / life sciences research industry as a top performing sales executive for the past 10 years.

Being a woman in STEM, I’ve always looked for female centric communities to be a part of as most of my life my education, and interactions in my career have been male dominated. I also know that I’ve always been a natural connector – whether it’s introducing a friend to another friend who then become best friends, or referring a workout and studio to somebody I know who would love it – the power of authentically making connections is my innate skill or “superpower”.

That is why I knew I had to do something with this skill to actually make a difference and change lives. I am proud to confidently say I have done just that through the foundation and growth of Level Up Ladies. We offer an exclusive private membership community of like-minded women who are looking to invest in themselves and their circle to #levelup in all different types of ways – physically, mentally, socially, financially, etc. We have created a Chicago and SD based female social collective filled with 175 (and growing) amazing women (also referred to as LULs) who all have their own superpowers that we can lean on to help members grow in their own businesses, personal development, and social circles. Because it is a paid membership, the members are engaged and truly want to make the most of their involvement and growth – which is so important. We have a virtual community platform for daily support, engagement, goal setting, connection, virtual events and more. We have “channels” on the app focused around: lifestyle, interests (for example we even have an LUL Book Club), career and professions, and even a SOS channel where women can be vulnerable and ask for help, We also host 3-6 monthly events complimentary to the LULs as a perk of the membership. Our in person events consist of local coffee walk, workout / fitness class @ a local studio, GNO (girls night out) in collaboration with local businesses, and a virtual Financial Fitness $eries and GNI (girls night in ) Expert Series. The virtual community platform, and in person and virtual events are all included with the monthly membership – a huge perk for being a member of our community.

We also pride ourselves on the authentic and genuine connections and friendships that result from being a part of LUL. These women are truly the most supportive group of women I have ever encountered – it is truly something special. I feel proud when I see members of the community getting together OUTSIDE of the official LUL events, and supporting each other’s businesses and hyping each other up, without being asked.

I am most proud of the growth I’ve seen from the LULs. I’ll never forget one of our OG members Jaci had shared during one of our intentional conversations that she wanted to start a podcast. Less than a year later, she has successfully launched her new podcast and has credited LUL to helping make it happen – that is what LEVELING UP is all about for our community. I get to see women SMASH goals, make genuine connections, and grow themselves daily. And the most touching part of it all is when these women share that LUL has changed their lives – that is all I could ever have dreamed of!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

LUL was founded in January 2023 and we have grown the community to 175 members within the first 15 months. Whether or not that is an impressive # is not the point – the point is that there was a time when we were STUCK at 20-30 members for months at a time and I remember thinking – will this ever grow? Will this ever turn into the community I envision? Will anybody join? Will people stay? Is this worth it? DOUBT creeped up and I honestly thought of even walking away. I was investing more $ into my business than I was making… being in the red with little “hope” is not the best headspace to be in as a community founder and leader of one. I felt immense pressure to be successful and was disappointed it was not growing at the rate I thought it would. I knew this community could change lives – but I didn’t know if other people would see it that way.

I’ll never forget the event that changed my whole “stuck mindset.” It was one of our GNO x Picnic in the park where were doing a mid year audit and while engaging in vulnerable conversation, multiple of the LULs got emotional (yes, tears) and shared from their hearts how LUL helped them to get through various personal, lifestyle, and career obstacles that were thrown their way. Being in a circle surrounded by members who felt such a strong sense of gratitude to LUL and what it meant to them, reignited my WHY and gave me the strength and courage to keep going. I knew if I could change these women’s lives, there was no question that this community would grow and thrive.

Shortly after that summer month, we saw our biggest increase in members and hit 120 members by the end of our first year.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Social media and referrals, hand down. Working with a social media manager to handle the branding and content of our social has been the best business decision I’ve made when creating this community. It has proved over and over to be worth the investment and has relieved a lot of the pressure off running social from myself, as I am NOT a creative, haha. Showcasing our members and highlighting customer testimonials, has helped to create the reputation of the community as well. Also, LULs sharing their passion for the community has been just as much a success as our social media presence. There is nothing more powerful than word of mouth referrals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bit.ly/joinlul
• Instagram: we.are.lul

Image Credits
Photography: Ali Rose (@AliRosePhoto) Location: The Studio Chicago (@thestudiochicago)