BY Charles Myambo BORN in Saint Louis, Missouri, Christy Curtis Buss has an impeccable repertoire as an actress and television personality. Away from the showbiz life, she is a world-renowned businesswoman who has achieved several great feats in her career. Buss has changed and impacted many lives through teaching, mentoring and her business ventures such as Hedoskin. She is someone who has remarkable humility, despite having achieved many great feats. Her father-in-law is the well-known Jerry Buss regarded as the greatest sports team owner in the history of sports. Jerry was the owner of the NBA leading franchise known as LA Lakers which is now owned by his daughter Jeanie. United States-based NewsDay Life & Style correspondent Charles Myambo (ND) caught up with Buss (CCB) and below are excerpts from the interview.
ND: You are a world-renowned actress for your marquee role in Private School, a dancer, a choreographer and an exceptional businesswoman. How can one person be this multifaceted?
CCB: “Thank you so much. I studied acting in Los Angeles in the early 80s and I was fortunate enough to get parts in Daytime Television and a few Movie roles. One was Private School and I had a great experience working with wonderful professionals.
“Each time you participate in any film or television role, you grow as not only a better actor, but a better businessperson which helped me with entrepreneurship. Everything is relative and the bottom line is to be as successful as one can be in anything you do, so it only helps being successful with life experiences.”
ND: What were you thinking when you founded your sublime skincare company Hedoskin. Why skincare? Did you identify a gap in the market or a growing need?
CCB: “I had a passion to take care of my body as a professional dancer and choreographer at an early age. My body was my instrument. So, I was doing my own talk show called Ageless Ambitions and I had a friend as a guest. She was a skin professional and I was intrigued with her background as she owned three Med Spas at the age of 30 in the San Diego area.
“I really connected her passion with mine and after that interview, I wanted to learn more. I got excited as I did when I first owned my Dance Studio 28 years ago and I just wanted more. So, I started going to San Diego for seminars on skin and discussed with her about starting my own skincare line. The gap in the market was the passion I had in dance and creativity of the body and I wanted it to relate to that and that is how HEDO skin was born. HEDO is derived from the word Hedonism which is self-indulge, self-love, self-care. When you dance you have all those components to feel and relate to your body, mind and soul.”
ND: One of the many remarkable traits about you is your humility. Given all the tremendous feats you have achieved, how is it that you are still as humble as you are?
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CCB: “Thank you so much. I was born in St Louis Mo. I am a Midwesterner at heart. I have compassion to do the right thing to never take advantage of anyone and always have put others first before me. I have also learned that sometimes you do need to put yourself first and I am growing every day to do what is best for me and my business. So, everything is a balance.”
ND: Basically, most of your adult life was spent in the limelight and at centre stage. Does it ever get exhausting being a public figure and are there specific days when you wish you were not as well known?
CCB: “Again, from my last response I believe there has to be balance. So, you can be a public figure, but you can also be a human being of reality. I am not in the public eye like some celebrities, but I do know the ones that put balance in their life are probably happier in life.”
ND: You obviously did a remarkable job building your own legacy as Christy. That said, the “Buss” name is one of the most famous names in the world and it so happens to be your last name. How do you handle the expectations of your individual huge legacy as Christy, while also handling the collective expectations that come with the “Buss” family name?
CCB: “Dr Buss was my father in-law. I learned so much from him as well as Johnny Buss. So many people love the Los Angeles Lakers and I am blessed to have experienced so much as a family member.
“I believe that expectations of myself with the family name is to understand you represent something very special and never take advantage of that. I hold myself to a high standard to make sure to be my best self and that in itself goes a long way if you remember that.”
ND: Speaking of powerful families and moguls, what do you think about the Sam Levy Family, Nigeria’s Dangote and Zimbabwe’s Strive Masiyiwa? Taking into account your top tier business acumen, would you say there are aspects of any of these aforementioned people that resonate with you or stand out to you?
CCB: “Wow, they are very powerful. I am sure with their accomplishments hard work and integrity is what comes with their success. That is what I feel stands out and I feel that is how the success of the Lakers and the Buss family thrives. I can say exactly the same thing for the Zimbabwean moguls.”
ND: At what age did you realise that you were going to inspire millions of people worldwide and help transform lives through your stellar ventures such as HEDO? On that same point, what advice would you give to aspiring business women and men alike?
CCB: “I must say the most important people I have inspired are my kids who I taught for over 28 years while owning my own dance studio in Los Angeles. Every day I hear from my students and they tell me thank you Miss Christy for teaching me not only the art of dance, but teaching me how to be a strong independent person with strong ethics and discipline.
“It makes me emotional every time because if we can impact our youth, we will have a better world all around. So basically, all throughout my teaching years I realised that. I then I applied that to what I am doing now to impact the world to watch. So many believe in themselves with better self-care, self-love and the impact of how they feel about themselves with the results of their appearance with a great skincare line HEDO that changes their lives.
