Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV and/or listening to the Marie Forleo
Podcast.
So if you've ever had a great idea for a product or a service and you told it to people and
nobody got it, or if you ever felt like you were too young, too old, too fat, too something
to really make it in your industry, you are going to love today's interview.
I have the one and only Katie Sturino on, she is the founder of Megababe, which is an
incredible company that creates nontoxic products for things like thigh chafe and boob sweat
and butt pimples.
I really think you're going to enjoy this episode, so let's get into it.
Katie!
Oh my goodness.
Hi.
Thank you so much.
I've been wanting to have you on the show for so long as you know, because we talk about
it.
Same.
I know.
It's like now we're doing this and we're in different parts of the country.
We have so much to talk about today, but I want to dive in with your badass company,
Megababe.
Where did the idea for a Megababe come from?
Tell us the backstory.
I have had thigh chafe my entire life and I always thought I was kind of alone in it
because I didn't see anyone talking or hear anyone talking about it.
I didn't hear of any solutions that really made sense to me or appealed to me.
And then when I started my blog right around April, I would start to talk about chafe season.
I'm like, it's chafe season girls.
What are you going to do?
Are you doing short shorts?
Are you doing those lace band things?
What's your program?
Because I would try everything.
And then at the end of that summer I was like, why the F am I hyping other people's products
that I don't even care about and why is there nothing out there in the world that is really
just for a cute girl who's looking to walk to work without getting a thigh burn?
Yeah.
And how many years ago was that?
It will be three in June.
Wow.
So not that long ago.
No.
And when I was doing some background research, which we do for every interview, I read somewhere
that you shared, the only products on the market were like for guys and sweaty balls,
essentially.
Deez nuts for her.
Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's true.
It feels like anything that was made for sweat or chafe is kind of awful marketing and you
don't really want to talk about it.
Right.
And so when you had the idea for the company, you've never run a company that's a product-based
company before, right?
So was there any part of your mindset or just the conversation even internally that was
like, can I do this?
I don't know how to do this.
How do I get started?
Walk us through what you were thinking.
I still feel that way.
I'm always looking to people who have done this before and I'm looking to them for the
answer.
Then I find time and time again, they don't have the answer.
So that's a thing that you just keep having to learn no matter...
As the stakes get higher, you're just like expecting someone to come in and tell you
how to do it.
Yeah, I was very concerned that I was starting up a... everyone kept calling it niche.
My least favorite term, niche.
They were like, it seems like I'm a niche product.
I don't think you're going to sell much of it.
I don't know how many people have that problem.
I've never heard of that problem.
These are the common things I heard when I was launching and I really had no idea if
they were right.
I mean, I thought just like scientifically, mathematically that they were wrong.
Yeah.
Because I didn't think I had a very unique problem.
But yeah, I really had no idea if this was going to be a thing or if it would just die
on the vine and we'd have 10,000 units of thigh rescue in my parent's garage, so...
So even creating more context, before you started this company, so you had your blog
and what was your main career or source of income at that point?
What were you doing for a living?
What I still do right now, which is I'm a style influencer.
So I work with brand partners and that's how I make my income currently.
I have a collection with StitchFix that's launching.
We're launching our third collection on June 2nd, so that's going to be really exciting
and yeah, brand partnerships are how I make my income.
I still don't take a salary from Megababe.
No one does because we're self-funded and we just... all of us are lucky enough to have
a secondary income, but it also means that our time is split.
Yes.
Yeah.
I want to talk about, first of all, I think the branding for Megababe is so genius, I
loved it from the moment I saw it.
I mean, I loved you from the moment that we met.
I love you.
I was like, we're meant to be friends.
But I want to talk about the writing and the positioning aspect of Megababe products.
You have products called Rosy Pits and Bust Dust and Le Tush Butt Mask and Thigh Rescue.
What's your process, if you have one, for naming things?
Do you do the copywriting or someone on your team?
Is it collective?
My best friend Kate is my...
So it's my sister and my best friend Kate, and we are the founders of Megababe, and neither
of them have thigh chafe, by the way.
It was just like, I was like, "Guys, I'm going to make a stick," and they were like, "Okay,
we're with you."
But it's basically Kate and I'll get on the phone and we start to spitball ideas and right
now we're naming a product for the fall and we're kind of stuck on it.
So that's what we do.
We go back and forth and then we have a small group of people, just friends that we'll send
names to and we're like A or B and they'll let us know.
I mean, that's how it is.
Yeah.
No, I think naming is so fun and I think that, for me, because I'm into copywriting, I love
teaching people about writing and also just the power of using the right words to describe
something.
You can have a product that's amazing and if it’s positioned in one way it feels kind
of boring.
Yes.
And then you do something else and all of a sudden people are like, "That's fun and
it's effective and I want that.
How do I go get that?"
So I think you guys do a brilliant job of that.
Thanks a lot.
You're welcome.
So, okay, three years in, Megababe.
I know you also just launched this not too long ago.
Hand sanitizer.
For those listening on the podcast, I'm holding up one of Katie's newest products, which she,
thank you by the way, you were so kind to send me.
Josh and I went on a bike ride yesterday.
We had to get something from the hardware store and he's like, "I'm taking this Megababe
hand sanitizer."
I'm like, "Yes you are."
Yes, you are.
Yeah.
When did the idea for this new product come?
My sister had a baby about a year ago and she's like a psychotic new mom.
Look, I'm holding my microphone like I want my microphone to be on a stand like your microphone.
It just keeps inching up like this.
You're adorable.
It's almost like a little ice cream cone, too.
You're like, "Oh, hi."
No, I'm like, okay, I'll just keep it here.
My sister had a baby about a year ago and she was using Purell and her hands were just
cracked, and I was like, "This is awful.
Have you looked at yourself recently?"
We need to make something better.
And then we found through the research when we started developing it that most inexpensive
hand sanitizer is full of fillers and chemicals and all the things.
So I was like, we can do better.
We can have a better hand sanitizer experience.
I'm a big hand sanitizer fan.
I always carry a little bottle in my bag.
And so we went with plant-based alcohol.
We took out all the fillers and we put in oil that made sure that your hands won't crack.
And isn't that interesting how far back...
We launched in January.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
And we launched in January and then all hell broke loose.
Yeah.
And has it been selling out?
Have you been able to keep it in stock?
Yes, not easily.
My sister basically is like a bulldog and she is taking on everyone from big hand sanitizer
companies that need components to every small brand who's trying to capitalize on what's
going on by launching a hand sanitizer now.
So we have been fighting for raw ingredients.
Fighting for bottles, caps, pumps, everything.
And we have been able to stay in stock.
We were out of stock for two weeks.
Wow.
And now we've been back in stock and we should have enough inventory to...
I think other people will start launching hand sanitizer soon, but we're selling it.
In Target it sells out like anytime it goes live, it sells out right away.
Ulta, it's still in stock on Ulta, which is good.
But yeah, it's been tough.
And it's also been really interesting because it's kind of, the whole world is derailed
right now, but it's derailed our...
We were laser focused heading into... this is our third summer, chafe, this is our thing.
We're going to have a breakout summer, we're going to spend some money on marketing for
the first time, and then it just completely derailed.
And now we've been really grateful for the hand sanitizer.
Incredible.
Yeah.
So for anyone listening right now, and I want to get to size inclusivity and the amazing
stuff that you do in a little bit, but I want to stay in the business and the product-based
business for just a second.
If anyone's listening or watching right now and they're like, I have an idea for a product,
what do you wish that you knew three years back when you first started Megababe?
Is there anything that you would tell someone who's just at the beginning of their journey?
This is going to sound negative, but it's not meant to be negative.
It's just reality.
It's just that every step of the way I expect someone to save us.
Meaning, I thought, you know what?
It's like we got to keep pushing so hard on D to C as soon as we into a big retailer,
which we did like a couple months after we launched, we were in every single Ulta across
the country and I thought this is it.
This is where we take off.
But getting into Ulta just added a whole new set of production problems and new marketing
costs and now you've got to acquire those customers.
And then we got into Target and I was like, if we could just get into Target and Ulta...
That's, I think, a mentality that I've had to really work on getting away from, is like
that something will come to make it easier and it's not.
It's never easier.
It's always harder.
It's that arrival fallacy.
Yes.
I feel like we have that in business and we also have that in our lives.
I mean, there's been so many times, we human beings do this, I'll raise my hand to that
because it's how we're built.
It's like, oh, when I finally get that VP of Business Operations, then the business
is really going to take off and run.
When I get that next XYZ person, or even personally, right?
When I have X amount of money in the bank or we have this house or whatever the thing
is, it is almost like a fantasy that things are going to magically change.
And we're like, "Nope, that's not how it works."
So I love that.
Interesting.
I don't think it's negative at all.
I think it's actually realistic.
It's so interesting that you say this.
I've never connected this before, but it's kind of the way I feel about my body, which
is like...
I look at women all the time and I'm like, your life doesn't start when you lose weight.
That's not how things work.
And then I have never thought to apply that to my professional career.
It's interesting.
Yeah, it is.
Sorry to be a...
No.
Just a listener on your show right now.
No, I think this is awesome.
And at some point we should talk about create before you consume, because that was super
fun when we first met.
Okay.
But I want to actually talk about your blog 12ish Style.
What does that name mean and why did you start the blog, and how long ago was that?
I started the blog in 2014 and I called it the 12ish Style because my weight's always
fluctuated and I was kind of going between a 12 and a 14, and I felt like there was just
this whole group of women that didn't feel plus size.
They didn't identify with the plus size community and the plus size community didn't identify
with them.
And I still feel that way in some sense of the word, even though I use the word plus
size all the time.
Because a size... it's very complicated in there.
There's a whole, not hierarchy, but everything is separated into small fat and infini-fat
and all these different categories of fat that you can be.
Fat being used in an acceptant, positive way.
And I still don't feel like I belong in any of the categories, I guess.
Anyway, where was I going?
Oh, 12ish.
Yeah.
So I wanted to address women who felt like the fashion world didn't really care about
them, and the plus size world didn't really care about them.
It was more of like a size purgatory.
You're not...
Like the French designer who stops at a size 10 doesn't care about you.
And the at the time, the plus size designers were starting at like a size 16, 18 so they
didn't care about you either.
So the 12, 14 was really lost.
And I am now a size 18, I gained 62 pounds during my divorce, which happened after I
started the blog.
And so I've had to deal with a whole new body and a whole new set of shopping issues and
everything that goes around it.
So it's been really interesting.
So the blog was really your way to say, “Hey, I'm a whole bit of this market that is being
completely underserved.
No one's talking to us.”
And it was like you were filling in this space where you just like, who is taking care of
us right now?
Nobody.
No one, yeah.
I'm going to fill that.
Yes.
That's amazing.
So you were, I love this, you were quoted in a Glamor article called Everyone Is Terrified
of Getting 'Quarantine Fat' and Just Enough Already.
I saw you talking about this on your Instagram because I love following you on Instagram.
This is such a, I'm just going to...
It's a dumb thing.
What the hell is quarantine fat?
This is ridiculous.
I don't know.
It's just... it was very interesting to me that in the middle of a global pandemic that
suddenly everyone was like, "Oh, bikini season, beach body.
I need a redo on my beach body prep."
And I was like, this is the thing you're going to grab onto?
Right.
I mean there's a lot of...
I love jokes, I love it.
I have a great sense of humor, but I just felt like, couldn't we have...
You know what?
It just showed me how deep the diet culture runs in our society and how scared people
are of fat.
They're so scared to be in that category, and we talk about it a lot also, it's just
like the worst thing you can do or be called is fat, and how crazy that is.
Especially during a global pandemic.
Mmhmm.
One of the other things I admire you so much for that you do so well is your #SuperSizetheLook
and #MakeMySize.
Can you tell us about both of these?
Yeah.
Supersize the look is something that I came up with because as I was new to being a fashion
blogger and I didn't realize, and if any of you out there are deciding to become... that
you want to share your style with the world, you realize quickly it's a lot of production
to put out content every single day.
Especially with the outfits, the clothes, calling things in.
And if you're not at the point of calling things in then you're buying or you're returning
and it's a lot of work.
So basically Super Size the Look came out of me finding inspiration in celebrity looks
and then realizing that when I would talk and be like, "Hey, I saw this on Jessica Alba,"
people would be like, "Oh, I love her style.
I can never wear that."
And so I think I just want to show people who it goes beyond like, I can't wear someone
else's style but like, I can't wear shorts, I can't wear this.
I can't wear that.
We have all these rules for ourselves.
And I just wanted to show people that they could achieve the kind of look that inspires
them and they don't need to hide in black jersey or...
I mean, I can see it from 10 miles away when someone is uncomfortable with their body because
they are in head to toe black, which is different than New York black.
It's like head to toe black, it's stretchy and they're hiding.
And hashtag Make My Size.
You have actually shifted the way that people make their clothing.
Am I right?
Yes, I think so.
Which is crazy.
I think so.
I love it, because when I'm on your Instagram and I see you in a dressing room, and just
with your classic Katie Sturino face, like what?
And it's like you got your boobs squished or you know what I mean?
So you were like, "This is just not working," and I'm like, I love you so much.
And I feel like there's a way in which you do it, which is like, “hey brand whatever,
I would really love to shop at your store, but guess what?
I can't because of X, Y and Z.”
And so what's that been like for you?
Have brands reached back out and actually started a dialogue?
So that's really scary.
It was really scary to do because you don't call out brands.
Brands pay your rent.
Brands are very...
And also you don't want to be the girl on the internet who's like, no, no, no, no, no.
No one wants to be that girl and no one wants to work with that girl.
So that's why I thought it was really important, and I always whenever I do a Make My Size,
I want to let the designers see on my physical body how far away their largest size is from
fitting me because all the time, all the time designers will reach out and be like, "We'd
love to send you something."
Go to the site.
It stops at a large and extra large, and may think that they see me on the internet and
that they think that their largest size, well, why wouldn't it fit you?
They don't have perspective on it.
So I just need to visually show them how far they are away from making my size.
But it's been so cool because brands like Veronica Beard, DVF, they've seen it and they
react and they do something about it.
And that's what's really crazy.
I think it's so exciting.
It just goes to show the power of using your voice.
And I do think you do it very deftly.
I feel like whenever I've read your captions, it's not necessarily like, “I can't stand
you.”
It's like, hey, it's this version of, “look, I am a beautiful, powerful woman.
I'm in your store and I would love to achieve this particular look that you're so great
at putting out, but we need to have more bandwidth here in all the ways.”
I admire you so much and I think you're one of the funniest people ever.
And I just think it's just so important for we as human beings to see ourselves, all of
ourselves represented and to remove any kind of shame away from our real bodies or aging
or our passions.
Oh, aging.
I mean the whole range of who we really are.
So I just think you're brilliant.
For anyone listening who might not be familiar with the body positive movement or who feels
like, even right now as they're listening to us, they love this, they're inspired by
it, but there is still that voice in their mind that says, you know what, I'm not going
to be happy and I'm not going to feel good unless I radically lose weight, change the
shape of my body, whatever.
What can we do to start being kinder to ourselves?
What's the first step that we can take?
So this is interesting because I think some people hear my message and they think, okay,
I don't know what are you condoning, gaining weight and all this stuff?
That's not what I'm condoning.
I'm saying if you're in a body like me, I'm a size 18, 20 right now, will I be an 18,
20 forever?
I don't know.
But what I've been able to do is disconnect the shame and the feeling of needing to like,
oh well, when I lose that weight, when I lose the weight, then I'll do that, then I'll do
that.
I've disconnected that.
So weight loss has become more of like a health thing if I'm interested in that right now
and I check in with myself about that a lot.
The first thing, because the thing is the reason my blog switched from being a clothing
blog to really a place of body acceptance at all sizes, because thin women are the hardest
on themselves.
If you're a big girl, I've always been a big girl, you know you're a big girl and the expectation
is you're never going to be a zero and the idea is to stop looking at the zero as like
someone who has it all figured out.
But women are so hard on their bodies.
It's a real...
I don't know why we're doing it and I don't know who it serves.
But getting to my tip.
My big tip is that you have to notice yourself and your self talk when you are looking in
the mirror, when you are trying something on, when you are getting dressed in the morning
you need to say...
And you're grabbing your stomach and you're going “ugh,” that's how people talk to
themselves in the mirror.
You need to just notice it and try to stop it.
Just notice it is the first step, and be like, oh, I did just say something mean.
Oh I did just say something mean.
And then you kind of start to like...
It's not magic.
You just start to notice the behavior and then you can start to change the behavior.
Have you seen for yourself any shifting over time that isn't necessarily due to perhaps
self-awareness, but maybe just experience and age.
So I'll call myself out for this.
When you said sometimes thin women can be the most brutal on themselves, I have been
so hard on myself about my body, since I was little.
I don't know if it was when I little little, it was probably like...
I mean, I just started feeling different when I was starting to get pubic hair, and because
I'm Italian, you know I wrote in the chat, people are like, "Oh my God, Marie, your hair,"
I'm like, "Oh yeah?
I got hair everywhere."
And I was the little girl with the unibrow and the hairy arms...
Mustache.
...the hairy legs.
Absolutely.
Major mustache.
Yeah.
I just felt so much shame about who I was.
And then I remember just from the twenties and the thirties and just being so hard on
myself and my body.
And the one thing that I so appreciate about getting older is giving so many less fucks
and loving myself so much more and noticing as I walked by the mirror how grateful I am
that my body works, and that I can dance and that I can move.
And when I see things that I used to be so critical on, I just remember how much fricking
time I wasted.
I remember wasting so much time trying to perfect my legs.
Does that make any kind of sense?
Yeah.
Oh gosh.
But do you think that has to do also with the fact that once you go through an experience
or two where, it goes back to what we were talking about earlier, where you think life
will change when, what did you call it?
The arrival fallacy.
It's something...
Yes.
Yes, arrival...
Yes.
Because I think that starts with, at least for a lot of girls in their twenties it starts
with getting married.
You think that it's all about the... you're just prepping to get married.
I think this happens with women in their twenties.
It happens absolutely for...
I didn't have that particular arrival fallacy, before we even started recording, like, Marie
is that an engagement ring on your finger?
I'm like, yeah, I've been engaged forever.
Josh and I have been together for 17 years.
Last night we were joking, making dinner, and he's like, "Oh, I can't believe we still
like each other over seven years."
He keeps making these jokes that we haven't been together as long as we are.
But you're right though, I think society has just fed all of us so many narratives about
what it means to be successful, powerful, beautiful women.
And rarely do we stop to challenge that narrative and say, wait a minute, where did that come
from?
Who fed us this and why are we trying to live up to these ridiculous expectations that have
no root in my own heart or my own soul or my own wildest dreams of who I want to be?
All exterior.
Yeah.
All exterior.
I'm with you.
And I guess one of my goals is to get... is to wake women up before they've wasted so
much time.
Yes.
Yes!
Oh my goodness, yes.
I mean, I'm thinking about just the times I've spent going down the internet rabbit
hole for this fix or that fix or whatever.
And even as a fitness person, I spent a good part of my career teaching fitness, here's
the good thing for me about that.
I feel like society in general is coming around to, moving your body is about feeling strong
and about mental health and keeping yourself really clear and creative and energized.
And for me, that's what it's about now.
And I know...
What's some of your favorite fitness classes?
How have you been doing in quarantine as it relates to just even movement?
Yeah.
So we left New York City on March 4th because I'm just an anxious mess of a person.
I don't do well, no one does well in a global pandemic...
I left.
Okay.
I did it.
Right?
Yeah.
And we're in Maine and so I go for walks every day and then I do a Megan Roup class.
Have you ever worked out with her?
Megan Roup?
Yeah, she's in my DMs right now.
I have so many friends that love her.
She's great.
And I hear she's brilliant.
She kicks your butt.
And then Marnie Alton, do you know her?
No.
She's new to me.
She just launched her online platform.
But what I like about her is that I am always exhausted when I'm done, but she works me
out in a way that I don't even know how hard I'm working and she stretches me.
Yes.
And so I go between those two platforms.
And you want to know something?
Is that I pay for both of those platforms, and I'm a notoriously cheap person.
And I feel like that's a testament to how much I really benefit and get out of those
workouts.
Yeah, I feel like I've discovered so many new ways to move and also so much more efficiency,
to be honest.
I love going to the gym, when we all could, but now that my home workouts, it's like I'm
here in LA, we go for walks with the dog, we do bike rides, which have been amazing.
And then I'm always finding all these new workouts online and I'm like, "This is so
fun."
So it's been good.
Who do you work with?
Marie Forleo: Katrina Scott, the Tone It Up girls.
I'm friends with those girls.
I love them because Katrina is a dear friend, and I like it because they actually laugh
through the workout and they don't take themselves too seriously and they're really loving towards
each other.
And I like that it's not like, you have to do this so perfectly.
It's like, why don't we take a break for a sec?
It's just, it feels more fun and gentle and like friends working out.
And then I've been sampling different things on YouTube just to switch it up.
Like I'll put in “15 minute workout, no weights” or “20 minute workout with little
dumbbells” just to see what comes up on the YouTube roulette machine, and then I try
something and I'm like, "Okay, that was fun."
I've also been really enjoying Yoga With Adrienne.
I think...
I don't know this.
You should check her out.
Okay.
She is...
I really like her style.
There is something really approachable and gentle and welcoming and just there's like
an ease to it with her that I really appreciate.
Not too much woo-woo.
Not that I don't like woo-woo, but it's just great.
It's like, hey, let's stretch our bodies, move, let's breathe and then peace out, bye.
I think we're exiting the 2012 to 2020 trend or 2019 trend maybe of the robotic workout.
Yes.
Maybe?
100%.
And I've even gotten into...
So I've been doing Self-Care Saturdays on Instagram Live and I've dusted off all of
my teaching abilities.
I think I've done two workouts so far where I just designed, it's just simple body weight
with just a yoga mat and went back to my old school days of taking people through a 15
to 20 minute workout and that's been actually super fun, too.
Oh, I got to join next time.
Yeah.
They're on IGTV so I'll put it up.
Okay, so you and I could talk forevs.
It's true.
For anyone listening who wants to experience more Katie Sturino...
Oh, we'll tell one more quick story.
Okay.
You and I met at a Create and Cultivate event, and then we had so much fun having coffee
and getting together, and I want to just really appreciate you because we had a talk about
loads of things and I was sharing with you an idea from Everything Is Figureoutable called
create before you consume.
And I just want to thank you because I think I overlooked the power of that idea or just
thought it was such common knowledge, and after working with you on it and just playing
together on text and DM, I really saw it as this whole other thing that it can become.
You've been such a champion for that idea for me.
Thank you.
But it really...
I have to tell you that I have not been able to, since we...
I have not been able to get back to it, I don't know, in that eight months, nine months,
like a really long time, consistently.
The way that we did that full detox, we did the whole challenge and then I was in it and
then I lost it.
But I have never, I have not felt that open in years.
It's reminding me of that I need to do it again.
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
Okay, so once we will actually set it for ourselves, but I think we can do, I think
what might be fun, maybe over the summer...
My team's probably going to be like, Marie, what are you promising?
But I think this could be cool.
I think if we did like a community-wide create before you consume challenge with a bunch
of us, I think it could be super, super fun and get people really reset, especially after
all of the stuff that we've all been through.
We need to punch out a little.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
So if people want more Katie Sturino, where can they find you and where can they find
Megababe products?
They can find me @katiesturino on Instagram, and Megababe is sold on our website, megababebeauty.com.
We're also available at Target, Ulta and Goop.
Awesome.
Anything you want to say to the folks?
Anyone who's inspired by who you are, what you do or what you create?
My God.
Oh, it's such a big opportunity.
I feel like I'm going to blow it.
Adopt, don't shop.
I don't...
That's it.
Yeah.
That's good.
Adopt, don't shop is good, mama, well.
Right.
I mean, if people follow you and your brand, they will continue to be inspired like I have
been.
Thank you so much for making time for us today.
You're just fantastic.
Thank you.
Wasn't that awesome?
I had so much fun.
Now, Katie and I would love to hear from you.
So we talked about a lot of different things and I'm curious, what's the biggest insight
that you're taking away?
And most important, how can you put that insight into action starting right now?
I want you to go leave a comment over at the magical land of marieforleo.com because that's
where all the great conversations happen.
And when you're there, be sure to subscribe to our email list and become an MF Insider.
You will get instant access to an audio I created called How To Get Anything You Want.
It's really, really good.
So thank you so much for watching and as I always say, stay on your game and keep going
for your dreams because the world really does need that very special gift that only you
have.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time on MarieTV.
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