When you think about the month of January, it's all about having that clean slate to really get into those activities that will take you to the next level personally, in your career, friends, family and your personal relationship with your significant other. It's about goal setting that we all do, regardless of who we are and what we do.
We sat down with one of our favorite power couples Giuliana and Bill Rancic. We know them from their successful show together that gave us insight into their lives and how they manage running their businesses, their family etc. We know that Bill is an entrepreneur with a number of successful projects under his belt and of course, Giuliana is synonymous with interviewing celebrities on and off the red carpet for E!. Together they are raising their son Duke, involved in an array of businesses that include lifestyle oriented ventures of food, beverage, apparel and more within their portfolio. But just like us, they are looking to optimize their life making key foundational decisions that start with their resolutions, accountability and of course, adding a bit of glamour in all that they do!
ATHLEISURE MAG: How important is it to make resolutions?
BILL RANCIC: I think it’s very important. It’s a way to create a roadmap for what you want in life and where you want that year to take you. If you want to get to the desired destination, you’re never going to get to where you want to and what you want to achieve in 12 months without it.
GIULIANA RANCIC: Bill’s all about the roadmap. And I love that about him. We always say that his .99 solution is a legal pad. He always says that the solution to where you want to be is only
.99.
BR: Well it’s not real until you write it down.
GR: Well you know, what we love to do is the family resolution – it’s the new resolution. The individual resolutions get broken early as there is a study that says it’s broken by the second week of Feb! But the family resolutions are those that can be written down together and you can help and support one another in terms of sticking to them.
BR: Well that’s what we do so if we’re kind of getting off the path, she pulls me up and if she is, I pull her up. Pretty soon, our son will be able to pull us up, one by each hand!
GR: That’s why you want to set family resolutions.
AM: Tell us about how your family, resolutions and your partnership with Marshalls will allow people to set and keep them as we continue through 2018?
GR: We’re really big fans of Marshalls. You should see me walking through here – I mean everything I’m wearing right now is from here – my shoes too! I love their clothes as they have a lot of high-end products, designer labels at affordable prices, wellness and they’re really focused on family. I don’t know if people really realize how family oriented it is. Everything you need for your family is there. Some store you go to, they have women’s shoes and men’s, but nothing for kids. For us, one of our family resolutions is to carve out a game night. So we do dinner as a family obviously, but what we want to do is to make a dinner and start it from scratch and then play a game. We’re able to do that as we can come here and get our games (I mean I’m talking to you and they’re right there) and then we can get our cooking items here – they have wonderful olive oils, pots and pans. In terms of home they have you covered and they’re very into wellness. They have activewear, foam rollers, fitness gear, even little kid weights.
BR: Our son loves working out with those!
AM: Is Duke a little yogi in training?
GR: No he likes lifting weights!
BR: He loves pumping iron haha. You know that apparatus where you strap yourself in and then go up? He wanted to go in there and do it.
GR: They did it together.
BR: Yes I helped him haha!
GR: In our home gym we have the foam rollers, mats, weights, and things we use at home. He can use them with us as obviously, we don’t take him to the gym with us. It’s fun and he likes to roll on the foam roller and he stretches with daddy on the mat. I buy all my soaps from here, candles, picture frames and I did a lot of them for Christmas as gifts. It’s really a family destination.
AM: What are your resolutions that you are making?
BR: First and foremost, Giuliana and I are going to do dinner at home one night a week with no cell phones allowed. Cook together with our son cooking and having that game night. Making it healthy and that’s the big one – we want to improve the quality of our time together.
GR: Do you know what’s nice about doing it together as a family and having a child involved? The resolution really starts to teach you more than just a resolution, it’s also about keeping it and having that conversation when there are set backs. If we miss a week because of a vacation, we know it’s ok because we can recover and come back from that. These are qualities that he can add into his life.
AM: How can other people adopt this and make themselves accountable?
BR: Well, once again, you have to write it down as it's not real until you do that! It needs to be in places that you see it. For us, I put it on the mirror of the bathroom. So every morning when you’re brushing your teeth, it’s a constant reminder of what you want to do.
GR: Obviously it’s also about having the right products. If one of your resolutions is that you feel like you don’t print out enough pictures (I was actually thinking about this the other day), I
was like, “Bill can we add another thing to the resolution?” We all have a million pictures on our phones and maybe our computers, but do we print any of these out? Where will they end up one day? You want your family and friends to be able to one day open up a book and see these pictures and not have to go looking for your old phones to get them! SO I wanted to make this a resolution to begin printing them out. So every month, I will go online and print a bundle of them out to create photo albums and journaling. So buying a few albums, picture frames, the journal etc – if you buy these items you’ll more likely to follow through. It serves as a great
reminder.
AM: We're in the thick of Awards Season and you looked amazing as you always do – what are you looking forward to?
GR: You know, I love glamour. The red carpet is the time to be glamorous and to wow us! You have to do something different. Red carpets have been around for some time now and have
been popular for the past couple of decades at least. So you've seen a lot of styles and silhouettes.
AM: Absolutely right now, our Style Director is focused on the Grammys as she's styling a few clients for it.
GR: Yes, so you know how it is! I was just trying on my dress for the Grammys the other day and I was like, I want to do something different – should I try a high boot? I never really do that with an evening gown but why not, because it’s about breaking the rules a little bit and changing it up. It’s ok that you’re not “Best Dressed”. I always say that the true fashionista is on the Best Dressed List and The Worst Dressed List as she’s taking chances and not just being safe.
So for me at the Golden Globes, for instance, it wasn’t a traditional hairstyle and I was like, “let’s do a knotted ponytail”. It was just fun. I do 6 big red carpets a year and I’ve done that for 15 years – you do the math, but my point is, I have done a lot of hairstyles to change it up. So resolution, I said I’m going to do something different at each one that is a departure – so I’m hoping to see that also translating to those walking the carpets this season.
BR: It gets you out of your comfort zone and I'm putting it on the list.
AM: So how is it living in Chicago?
BR: I’m from Chicago and I love raising our son there and having four seasons. And the people – it’s something about the Midwest, it’s hard to articulate it. When they see someone that is lost, you stop and say, “hey can help you get to where you’re going?” It’s pretty cool and people have great work ethics. The winters there are great character builders. It’s a great
character builder for mommy!
But I think that Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the world. We have world class museums, the lake front is spectacular and we live across the street from one of the greatest beaches that you could ask for – 6 months a year and then food! We own a handful of restaurants there.
AM: When are we getting an RPM in NYC?
BR: Hopefully soon!
GR: We’re looking at our next one and we have an announcement coming up soon. But we’re looking at NY, LA, Dallas, Nashville and a few other cities. I’m not from Chicago and am from the East Coast – from Maryland. Even I have embraced Chicago wholeheartedly, and for our son, it was just a deal Bill and I made. We have been married for 10 years, together almost 12 –
that was our deal from day one before we got engaged. We wanted to raise our son in Chicago and it’s been great.
The other day at school, our son was asked what Mommy’s job was and he said, “she’s a singer.” I was like thank you – he has no idea that I am a TV host and a reporter. He just knows that I love to sing and we sing together at home, we have a karaoke machine and microphones. So he doesn’t think that Mommy is on TV interviewing celebrities – he just thinks that I sing. He says, "we sing together and we have a band." It's really cute.
AM: What other projects are you working on that you can share?
BR: We just launched Giuliana Prosecco with our partners Terlato Wines (a luxury wine importer with over 80 global brands). Most importantly trying to be a great dad!
GR: Yes he’s a great husband and a great dad – great friend. We have so much fun together. It’s so important as time is so precious. Bill always says that you have to reverse engineer your life. Start at the end and work your way back. What will you say that you wish you had done more of versus what you would have done less of. You will never say that you wish that you had less time with your family or your kids. You’ll probably never say that you wished that you spent more time at the office for work. We’re really trying to use the past couple of the years and those coming to have a great family foundation and to nurture that.
We’re working on a couple of other things we have the wine, restaurant and I have my clothing line on HSN.
BR: We have a project we’re launching together as well – soon.
We'll have our eye on Giuliana throughout Awards Season as she reports Live from the Red Carpet on E! to see the array of looks for each show and how Giuliana continues to change it up on the carpet as well.
PHOTO COURTESY | PG 108 + 112 Courtesy of E!, PG 110 Photo by Stuart Ramson/Invision for Marshalls/AP Images
Read more from the Jan Issue and see It's All About Resolution with Bill and Giuliana Rancic in mag.