MAGIC Interview – Linda (CEO of MAGIC Bodyfashion)

Seven years ago, in 2012, Linda Leestemaker and her partner Marc de Graaff purchased MAGIC Bodyfashion and became MAGIC’s CEOs and Owners. Since then, the company has been lifted to a new and higher level, and many new milestones have been achieved.

Last week, we sat down to talk about the goals, challenges and passion of THE woman behind the Total Body Solution company, Linda Leestemaker.
Where does your passion for female body solutions come from?
I am really involved with how every woman feels. I think she should feel confident and I think she should be happy about the way she looks. To give her more confidence, body solutions are key. I see so many women smile when they wear MAGIC Bodyfashion… That makes me happy, and that’s where my passion comes from to keep building our business every day.
We try to continue to empower women by looking for solutions, so they can be confident to wear that specific dress that she would never have worn if it wouldn’t be for MAGIC Bodyfashion.
What inspires you to create new products?
We are very fortunate to travel the world, since we have customers in about 60 countries, and we see so many new things every week. We visit a lot of shops and beautiful stores around the world. By traveling and speaking to people from different cultures, who wear different types and styles of outfits, I continue to get inspired.
What’s your favorite MAGIC product?
My favorite MAGIC-product is definitely the Tummy Squeezer with Lace. I think it’s sexy and beautiful; especially during the summer months I will wear it under every dress I wear.
Who are the women who inspire you?
There’s two women in my life that inspire me the most, and they are my daughters. I have two beautiful daughters: Candice and Kaylee. They both have been working in and for our company in different areas and different ways. Their energy and viewpoints inspire me to think out of the box and make me stay on my toes. Both of them are still very involved in the business. Candice helps to advise from a distance, living in the USA and working in the Fashion Industry. Kaylee still works for us, mainly towards design.
Also the girls in the office inspire me. I work closely with all the girls in the office that have a Fashion Education or a background in Fashion. They come with fabulous ideas!
And let’s not forget about my dear sister, Wilma. She is 12 years older than me and always has been a big example in my life. She still teaches me to be down to earth and not to act too crazy.
What keeps you motivated?
What keeps me motivated is that the sky is the limit. My mind is so full of ideas that I will never have enough time in my life to realize all of them. That’s what keeps me motivated, there’s always another solution and something new to try.
Have you always wanted to be the CEO of a company?
Of course! I think that’s a dream many people have. It’s very nice to have a good job and to be successful in your career, but nothing is better than having your company, making your own decisions, doing everything the moment you want to do it. It’s like a dream come true.
How would you describe yourself to people who don’t know you?
I am a strong leader that likes to inspire others daily. I am also social and enjoy seeing people around me smiling. But most importantly; I am true to my word, people know they can trust me and can rely on me.
What advice can you give to women who are successful in their careers?
Whatever your job is, always act like it’s your own company. If you actually think of yourself as your own ‘little’ CEO within your job, only then you can be successful, and only then you can reach what you want to reach.
How is it to be the Co-Owner of a company together with your partner?
It’s actually a lot of fun. We get up together in the morning and we leave our house to go to the office we share. Whenever we travel, we travel together, so we are together 24/7. We’re having a great time doing it this way! We both have our own responsibilities, but we make sure to discuss everything with each other high level, so we both know what’s going on in the entire company… We love it! A huge advantage is that we can make things happen immediately while we are with our customers or suppliers.
What made MAGIC successful as a brand?
Definitely a combination of product, marketing, and quality. We deliver what we stand for, and we support that with a whole bunch of women around the world who continuously test our products. That’s definitely the key to success.
MAGIC Bodyfashion is the only Total Body Solution brand out there in the world. That’s what we stand for. We offer any type of solution to make every woman feel beautiful and confident about herself. No matter what type of product she’s looking for, we help her from top to bottom, head to toe.
What is the mission of MAGIC Bodyfashion?
The mission of MAGIC Bodyfashion is to provide the best service throughout the world. That applies to the consumer who’s buying the products, but we also want our B2B customers to be happy. We want to ensure they can give a nice presentation of our products and take care they have great sales with our brand. We say what we do, and we do what we say.
And of course that cannot be done without our team. We think it’s key that we treat our people right, and that they are happy to work for MAGIC Bodyfashion.
Only when all the people working with or for the brand are happy, that’s when you succeed with your mission.
What’s the biggest challenge you have overcome as the CEO of MAGIC Bodyfashion?
In the beginning, when we had just purchased the company, we knew the products were great and we had a great future ahead of us with MAGIC Bodyfashion. However, there was one big challenge: the stock. We are a ‘never out of stock’ company, but most of the time we wouldn’t be able to ship complete orders to our customers. So, the first year we worked really hard to get it right. We promised all of our customers that the deliveries would become more complete, and now here we are, shipping all of our orders with an average of 96% completeness.
How are you anticipating the eco-friendly fashion movement?
Everybody in the world is now looking for sustainable materials, sustainable products… Every individual person is starting to aim to contribute to a better world. As a company, we definitely follow that trend.
We want to think sustainable all the time, with our internal processes, but also working with our suppliers. We want to use more and more sustainable materials. So, definitely, that’s something that has our attention.
We’ve already launched a beautiful line in Bamboo, and we’re coming with our next launch of sustainable materials in a few months made of waste and plastic bottles.
Where do you see MAGIC Bodyfashion moving towards the future?
MAGIC Bodyfashion will keep expanding towards the Total Body Solution concept, because we want every woman, whoever she is, whatever age she has, wherever she comes from, whatever body shape she has, to be able to buy MAGIC Bodyfashion anywhere.  We want to present ourselves as THE Solutions Company of the World!


- Linda Leestemaker and Marc de Graaff at the Salon International de la Lingerie (Paris, France), July 2019.

MAGIC Bodyfashion BV is a global company with a unique “Total Body Solutions Concept”. Our motto is ‘by women for women’, and we follow our motto by creating beautiful, functional, and comfortable solutions for our customer. In our collections, you may find shapewear, bras, accessories, active wear, and much more. MAGIC Bodyfashion distributes to 60 countries globally; and can be found at prestigious department stores, e-commerce channels, and specialty stores.