After more than a decade at the helm of AZIONE PR, Leland Drummond and Michele Thomas know exactly what it takes to turn a good idea into a brand people actually care about. But after years of helping others do it, they decided it was time to build something of their own.
Enter LDMA (Life Deserves More Action)—their modern intimates and essentials brand designed for real life, real movement, and real women. Now, they’re taking that vision one step further with the launch of their new bodywear category, a natural evolution of their mission to create pieces that move seamlessly from workouts to everyday life.
As the duo celebrates the launch, we caught up with them to talk about building a business rooted in trust, translating PR expertise into product, and why their latest launch might just change the way you get dressed.
After years of building other brands, what made you say: “It’s time to build our own?”
LD: After more than 15 years building brands at AZIONE, we kept noticing the same thing — we’d help a founder unlock something special, watch it scale, and think: we know exactly how this happened. We had a front-row seat to how the most culturally relevant consumer companies are created, from inception to Fortune 500. We helped launch DTC leaders like Away, partnered with global brands like HOKA and REI to build deeply loyal communities. At some point, that pattern recognition stops being something you only want to do for other people. You start seeing a white space no one else is filling, and you realize the only thing stopping you from building it yourself is the decision to go do it. So we made that decision.
What specific gap did you see in the market that led to LDMA?
MT: We started with active intimates, which remain the core of our brand. We saw a clear gap in the market—no one was truly focused on perfecting underwear that could perform during your hardest workouts while still being the most comfortable thing you put on all day. That balance of performance and comfort felt overlooked, and it became the foundation of LDMA.
LD: It was also deeply personal. As founders, mothers, and active women, constantly moving between meetings, travel, and busy everyday life—trying to stay fit and healthy on top of it all—we needed staple pieces that could keep up with our lives without requiring multiple outfit changes.
LDMA is rooted in “real movement and comfort”—how did you translate that into actual product decisions?
LD: ‘Real movement and comfort’ isn’t a tagline for us, it’s the filter every product decision runs through. When we’re locking line plans, the question is always: Does this make a woman’s day genuinely easier, or just look good on a social media post? That means we design for how women actually move through their whole day—not just a 45-minute workout, but the school drop-off, the lunch meeting, the errands after.
MT: At the end of the day, we are the consumer. We build pieces that move with us and for us.
You’re launching a new Bodywear line. What can you tell us, and what prompted the new category?
