Crop Tops & $210M Exits: Anne Mahlum on Radical Responsibility and Winning on Your Own Terms

Have you ever felt like you had to mute your personality, change your style, or "fit the mold" just to be taken seriously in business? What if the very things people told you to tone down were actually your greatest superpowers for building a $100M empire?

Welcome to the premiere episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom. This week, Jess sits down with Anne Mahlum, the visionary founder of [Solidcore] and Back on My Feet. Anne famously raised $210 million from private equity while wearing see-through crop tops, proving that authenticity isn't just a buzzword—it’s a high-stakes competitive advantage.

In this raw and uncensored conversation, Anne pulls back the curtain on her $100 million exit, why she refuses to be a "one-hit wonder," and how she transitioned from a "starving founder" to a fitness mogul. They dive deep into the "hustle muscle" fueled by early pain, the importance of "happy endings" in business, and the biological shifts of entering her next big chapter: motherhood.

Tune in for:

• The story behind the see-through crop tops and why Anne refused to change her hair or style for private equity partners.
• Why "fake it till you make it" is bad advice and how trying to fit in actually makes you feel smaller and less confident.
• Anne’s three core values—Authenticity, Transparency, and Winning—and how they guided her through $100M negotiations.
• The "Chip on the Shoulder": Why many high-performing entrepreneurs are fueled by a need to prove themselves and the realization that achievement doesn't equal love.
• The $100 Million Exit: How Anne planned her last day years in advance to ensure a celebratory, "non-messy" transition.
• Financial Leverage: Why Anne advises founders to take money off the table early so they aren't "starving" when it's time to negotiate an exit.
• Radical Responsibility: Why claiming "it's my fault" for everything from low energy to a stalled career is the ultimate power move to regain control.
• Relationships and Polarity: Anne’s take on settling into a partnership with her husband as an ambitious, breadwinning woman.
• How to find a "game you can win" by sharpening your unique 8, 9, and 10-level skill sets.

About Anne Mahlum:

Anne Mahlum is a speaker, investor, and the founder of [Solidcore], a boutique fitness powerhouse she scaled to 100+ locations before a massive exit. She is also the founder of the non-profit Back on My Feet. Anne is a dedicated advocate for financial literacy and empowers founders to build businesses that reflect their truest selves.

Resources & Links:

• Anne Mahlum’s Website: https://annemahlum.com
• Follow Anne on Instagram: @annemahlum
• Brene Brown’s Values Exercise:
• Making It with Jess Ekstrom is produced by Walk West and brought to you by Mic Drop Workshop.

A Note on Radical Responsibility & Starting Blocks

In this episode, Anne and Jess discuss the reality of "starting blocks." While Anne emphasizes taking radical responsibility, she also acknowledges the statistical realities of the business world. For context, women-led startups received only about 2% of total venture capital funding in recent years, and for Black and Latina founders, that number often drops below 1%.

As Anne notes, recognizing privilege or systemic hurdles doesn't mean you stop working; it means you use your position to "lift others up" and change the statistics for the next generation of founders.

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