Everyone’s Favorite Influencer

0:03Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion and Beauty Memo memo line sheet. And today with me on the show is Katie Storino, owner of the hit beauty brand Megabave, body acceptance advocate, and author of the brand new novel, Sunny Side Up.

0:27Before we get going, I wanted to remind you that if you like this podcast, you'll definitely love Puck, where I send an email called Line Sheet. If you're a fashion person, you get that reference. it's an original look at what's really going on inside the fashion and beauty industries line sheet is scoopy analytical and above all fun along with me a subscription to puck gains you access to an unmatched roster of experts reporting on powerful people and companies in entertainment media sports politics finance the art world and much more if you're interested listeners of fashion people get a discount.

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1:11Happy Friday, everyone, and happy 4th of July. I hope you are not working, or if you are working, you're working a little less. Wherever you are in the world, it's Friday. Don't work that hard. If there was breaking news today, you won't be hearing it from me though, because I am taking the day off. I'm recording this Thursday morning. This is famous last words. Anyway, if you read line sheet this week, you did get plenty of Intel. I had the scoop on the next Marnie designer. We did some American Vogue content head speculation and Rachel Sturgatz told the untold story of the bestselling brand at Sephora.

1:48What more could you want for the first week in July? I hope you also enjoy this interview with Katie, whose book Sunny Side Up is out now and a perfect summer beach read. It's like Bridget Jonesy, but in New York. And I highly recommend it. Also, just wanted to note a few hours or maybe it was days after mine and Katie's conversation. She made an announcement on Instagram addressing some speculation about her own use of GLP ones, you know, of the Ozempic, whatever the other ones are called, Variety. I know, as you all know, if you read Line Sheet, I cover these pretty closely because I'm very obsessed with the connection with the fashion industry and the use of these and how it could affect the business.

2:36But we do get into the use of them and their impact on society, et cetera, on the podcast. And I just want to say that as someone who is pretty obsessed with these drugs and how they're changing the world, I have to commend Katie on her thoughtfulness and transparency and everything she does. That's why she's successful because she's realistic and real and also doesn't bullshit people. And I don't know. You've got to love that. So let's get going. Katie Storino, welcome to Fashion People. Thanks for having me. What did you have for breakfast this morning? Oh, I made Kodiak waffles with strawberries.

3:20What are Kodiak waffles? Is this a special brand of waffles? They claim that they have protein. It's a way that I can eat like French toast sticks and waffles and pancakes and feel like I'm having a protein smoothie instead of just like a five-year-old's dream breakfast. I wonder if I should get these for my five-year-old. You should because I got it. I got this from... He's four, but whatever. Four or five, they're going to love it. My brother-in-law uses this to make my nieces and nephews are on probably the same diet as like pro athletes. They like understood lots of protein eating their weight and protein protein.

4:08It's so they're getting way more protein than I'm getting. And like their protein, their veggies, they like haven't seen like refined sugar ever in their lives. so my husband actually makes my kid we have tried to be very um not really talk about food and be like eat growing food you can have if he wants if we go out and he wants ice cream whatever we get it for him but we are always like okay but you have to eat some growing food first my friend Emily uses this term, which I think is good. And just try to like, not, what's the word? Not prescribed, but. You're not going to label the foods like that.

4:50Yeah. Like we can't have any more of this. Yes. However, like he's always like, I would like more, like I would like, you know, you know, It's just that it's so so. But every morning from when he was very little, my husband, well, I started and then, of course, my husband is the one who kept with it because he is the primary caregiver. But we started making him these little buckwheat silver dollar pancakes when he was little. So he could have a pancake for breakfast every day, had no nothing in it but buckwheat. And and we would put like a little cinnamon, maybe some peanut butter. He didn't know what maple syrup was for for two years.

5:31But now it's gotten more elaborate. And now they get a waffle. They got a waffle maker and they have any as well. So he just expects a lot. So my husband was out of town this weekend. We did have some frozen waffles, but then we ran out of them and he was like, I would like some. I feel like we need these Kodiak waffles as you do in In case my husband's on town, because I'm not making a waffle. No. And I'm just going to I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you that it's actually the French toast sticks that you're going to want to get because those are incredible. Make them in the oven. Thank you.

6:08Thank you. So, Katie, we were talking briefly before we started here. And first of all, you've come up a because you have this amazing book coming out. I want you to tell us all about it very shortly. but also you've just been coming up in like, not, I, I follow you very closely on social media, but my friend, Amanda, who is a very famous podcaster, she, she podcasts about the, um, movie industry and she has this great podcast called jam session. I don't know if you know her, but she Amanda Dobbins. Yes. She just, I was listening to a podcast she did with, uh, one of like an episode of the big picture, one of her podcasts.

6:50And she was like, Katie Storino is my favorite influencer. I love her. She was going on about mega big, babe, your amazing line of care. There's so many, you have tons of products in there. So I want to talk about that too. And how the book and, and the, but I, I was like, oh my God, it's so funny that I, Katie is, I'm going to talk to her on Friday morning, but then I was doing a little bit of research on you. And it did come up on, I hope you never look at Reddit because I personally don't any, I'm only on Reddit like twice and it's just mean things. But the thing that comes up about you on Reddit is this person is, I don't like influencers, but I like Katie.

7:32She's my favorite influencer. Like people just love you so much. And I, but so I feel like I know you because of what you do. But also, I do think we have met. I think we met like 10 years ago. But how did you get into the fashion industry? What was your way in? Because I think that's probably how we know each other. Amanda Dobbins is new to me. This week, she talked about me on that podcast and said the nicest things. And then when I heard her talk, I'm like, are we kind of the same person? So I messaged her and I was like, I think we should just be friends. I don't know. Yeah. It's so funny.

8:12You should go on Jam Session. I'm going to text her right after this. It's so funny. So how did I get into the fashion industry? Well, I came into the fashion industry in a couple of different ways. I started on the PR side. So I was doing I had my own PR company and I was doing smaller like woman owned accessory brands. And and then I entered in a different way through like more editorial because of my my 12 ish style, which was the name of my blog. I think, can you call it a, like, it was a blog. It's just what it was. Yeah. Uh, which I started in 2014. Um, and I started that because there was, there was a lack of representation of like girls who were not a size zero or two anywhere in fashion.

9:06And it's weird to think about how recently that was in history that we had nothing, um, to look at other than one body type, But that's how I started. And I started I started doing regular features on Man Repeller and Glamour. And so I came in like I came in that way to the editorial side, but I had been working in PR for a long time. You know where I think it probably it might have been is did you ever do anything with Lucky Magazine? For sure. Were you in the Lucky Style Collective? I think that might have been pre-12-ish. If you started in 14, because this is like, I worked there in 2011. Were you in 2000?

9:51No, I was going to say, were you there when I brought my dog in to do some twinning with Eva Chen? No, but I wrote for them when Eva was the editor. I was a freelancer at that point, but I did write for them and I remember that. Maybe I was pitching you. we you you might have been but i don't get pr vibe from you no offense i love my prs i really do but um i don't get pr vibe from you so i don't know are you friends with john januzzi no no that's amelia was friends with john januzzi yes amelia yes i go john januzzi and he makes cookies maybe he did make cookies for a while he was a when when i worked at lucky he i don't know my social media person.

10:38Not at all. We'll find out someday. There was some stupid party we went to. Okay. That's for sure. I feel a party at a store with you. That's all I know. Okay. That's what's coming to your energy right now. You're like, it was a store event. Yeah. Anyway. So you, oh, you had, and you had an adorable dog. Yes. That's how I got into social media. My dog was famous, Toast. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And I used to go - Yes, John Genuzzi was obsessed with Toast. Okay. That might be why Amelia found me then. So I owe John Genuzzi a cookie. Oh my God. Toast. So tell us, we'll go very briefly, but tell us about the experience with Toast and what that taught you about the internet and who Toast was.

11:27Being Toast Doggager was a life highlight. It really was such a special time. So essentially I had two King Charles Spaniels and one was Toast. They were both puppy mill rescues. And Toast was just a special dog. I knew she had like a unique personality. She also she let me like pose her and and like put clothes on her. And we did we did these because of my my PR background. I was like, how do I get this girl some attention? So we used to go around and go to different offices and like just do meet and grief. And then like the they'd post on social and and we'd start getting attention that way.

12:10So Toast actually ended up getting married on Real Housewives at the at the. Which franchise of Real Housewives? Original cast with Sonia and Carol. That's not the original, right? I have no idea. I'm sorry. I don't watch the show. No, no, no. That's okay. But I was friends with Carol Radswell. So she was the one who brought me into that and was like, we can get a lot of attention on the puppy mill issue. Amazing. And it was awesome. And she wrote she wrote a book with HarperCollins called Toast Hampton. Oh, my God. Yeah. No, she had an incredible life and it was so fun being a doggager. But I learned like all the I basically got to like mime being talent without being talent.

12:59Like I got to see like what what that is like. And then when it came time to like put to step in front of the camera, it took me like a year to get comfortable being the one that is like in front of the camera, essentially. Yeah, that's so interesting. It's such and what other than the fact that at the time there wasn't really any. I mean, I remember having this conversation at Lucky Magazine and they were like, should we do a plus size page? And I was like, can we just have people who are not a size zero in some of the photos like that? That to me was the solution. And I feel like I mean, there aren't really magazines anymore.

13:43So that's different. but I feel like it did get evolved in that way. But other than the idea of there was nothing for people who are not a size zero or two, and also that there was just this sort of explosion of women creating their own little magazines, including, I mean, Leandra's became a big magazine, but on the internet, what made you want to get in front of the camera and do it? I did it for I guess I did it for me because I wanted to. I did it for the me who didn't have anyone to give them inspiration. And so I was like, fine, I'll do this. And it wasn't always natural. And it was cringe and painful for me sometimes.

14:31But it I guess I just I wanted to provide the example. And I was able to see that there was a need for that other than my own brain. Because when Man Repeller did a story about me, the comments were all like, oh, my God, I never see my body like ever on any of these places. So thank you. And that's when I was like, wait, I should just do this. And how did it must have picked up so fast? you can tell when something has the right thing behind it because it had it gets like energy you know what i mean like sometimes you put something out and it's like you like you got to push it up the hill like my book feels a little like i'm pushing a boulder up the hill um i'm a first-time author it's like it's i i feel like i'm like you know bothering people is talking about it so it's like it's a whole thing um but now it feels like there's some momentum with the book but But I really, I felt that there was, there was like a lot of like positive feedback and people wanted to write about it and people wanted to, brands wanted to send clothes.

15:41Like I felt like that was like, those were first signs that it was, it was going to do well. And when did you launch Mega Babe in that journey? Like five years in or? Like two years in. Oh, wow. Yeah, two years in. So I only had like, I think 50 or 60 ,000 followers when I launched Megababe. I was very clear and careful to try to not make it an influencer brand because I didn't want, maybe you don't like me or maybe you like hate my face. I don't know. But you like are deodorant. So I just, I wanted to have the products stand by themselves. So for two years, I wasn't even on the website. I just like I talked about it on my channel, but it wasn't like I'm an influencer.

16:28Here's my brand. Because I really wanted people to attach to the brand without me. And how did you develop? First of all, can you kind of give the log line for Mega Babe what it is? Obviously, you have a hero product, but it's a lot more than that. And then also, how did you develop it? Why did you do beauty, not clothes, all of that? Yeah. No, I developed it because in that community, in those two years talking to people, I was always looking for chafe solutions that were not made for men and that were not toxic, that were cute, not embarrassing. You know, I'm a fashion girl. Like I have my handbag.

17:05I have my outfit. Like I don't want to bring out like a baldio to like, you know, out of my handbag. So I wanted to make something that people were proud to carry and something that worked. so I talked to my sister and my best friend from camp and we not none of us had beauty experience um but we decided that we were going to give this a try they didn't even neither of them had thigh chafe either that neither of them had experienced it at the time so they were like we don't even know what this is but we'll believe you um and trust you and that was really it was it was really interesting because we had the product idea and then we made a talc free boob sweat powder that like you pump into your bra or in your underwear, like to help like absorb sweat.

17:54And so we were tackling these two issues and that became kind of the theme of Mega Babe. It was like, let's stop the stigma. Let's stop having like shame about these really normal issues that a lot of us have and that we don't talk about and that we're meant to feel embarrassed about because big beauty has not presented us with any options so it must be a you problem not like a big problem um so we want we ended up doing like the minimum quantities um were so high they were 10 000 units of of each product which is like think about like you're just a person like you're you have no idea if you're going to sell these products so we put them in my parents garage and they ended up I'm helping us ship, but we sold out of everything we made in the first month of launch.

18:42So for me, that was like, it was like the naysayers, the like, what are you doing? The all of that. It was a big green light for me to quote Matthew McConaughey. Oh my God. Is that from his book? Did you read green lights? I haven't, but you know what I have to say is you'd really need to be friends with Amanda because she certainly has read that book. I love green light. No, I love Matthew McConaughey. I can't wait to link to that in our affiliate links at the bottom of this podcast. Speaking of PR and things, this reminds me, shout out to Daniel McGrory. Oh, my God. Your longtime partner who is one of the best in the world.

19:24She absolutely is. She is so awesome. And her agency, Communite, has handled Mega Babe Press and My Press for seven years. Everyone hired Danielle. Yeah. Great person. I also studied abroad with her. She used to have long hair. No, you didn't. Yeah. You know, it's really funny. We met when she worked at Intermix. And then she actually when she went to KCD. Yeah. And she had worked at Intermix. And I was like, you look so familiar to me. I don't know what it is But I know I know you Yeah And then Like a year and a half later I had this vision Of that we studied abroad We were not friends When we studied abroad Like Yeah It was not because She went to BU I did the BU study abroad program And it wasn't like a thing of We just didn't know each other No You just saw You recognized your face From across the room Yeah And I remember She had very long hair Crazy Which is so funny Now it never goes like It never goes an inch below the job.

20:28No. So you have all this product. It ships fast. It's proof of concept. Have you raised money for it? No. How did you... You have not raised money, but you're in... What's your distribution like? Are you in a lot... For the first year, we were direct-to-consumer, but then Alta took a chance on us and put us full chain across the country. And then the year after, Target put us full chain. And then two or three years later, we got into Walmart, Boots UK, which I'm very excited about. And then this summer, we just launched in CBS. Wow. Yeah. Good thing you're not in Rite Aid because they've gone through bankruptcy twice and now their shelves are not full.

21:20That's amazing. That's a big team. And you haven't sold it or anything. What? No, we didn't raise money. We're self-funded. Do people try to buy it all the time? I assume so. No one's ever trying to buy us. What? I know. I keep waiting for someone to tell me that they, I know I'm not, I've been instructed, I'm not supposed to talk like this anymore. But since the first day I started this, I was like, is someone going to buy us yet? Cause this is, yeah. Um, but we're, we're self-funded and we, um, we kept it that way. Cause we just, we didn't want any bosses and I've heard too many bad stories about bad investors.

22:01And, um, we, you know, we put like, I think like the initial investment was not much. And then we just kept putting the money back in, back in. And we didn't hire anyone for years. And then now we have 11 people working for us. Wow. So we're really scrappy. We're really lean. We just started doing out of home, which means like buses and billboards. And by buses, I mean we have two buses in New York and one bus in Chicago. And it is so exciting to see them. Oh, my God. I love that. I'm going to Chicago in a couple weeks. Maybe I will see the bus. Oh, please. Send me a photo. I will. Get me on a group chat with me, you and Amanda Dobbins.

22:43Amanda Dobbins is going to be in Chicago, too. No, why? Yes, because they are filming an episode of the big picture there. No. Yes, and I am attending it. What's the date? It is, let me look. I want to say July. I have July 21st is the, are you going to be there? No, I'm there July 9th for a book event. And I was like, hold on. Are we going to just meet up? Oh yeah, no. Uh, but, but we'll both look out for it. This is all very, very exciting. So this is the thing. Yes. Someone needs to buy this company. But you're, you're reminding me of my Doan Queens who raised less than a million dollars and just, just recently raised what I reported as exclusively reported.

23:39No one else could find this information out because they weren't willing to share it, but I did, but 25 million and they were valued at like more than$200 million. dollars. The, but they waited 10 years. Like this, but the product range, the thing that I think the thigh rescue, the, the chafe stopping is the thing that like you launched with, but then you became a real deodorant brand, which I think is, is, is challenging for a new brand to enter that market because yes of course I don't know if it's um if yours is like totally natural or not um we are we're aluminum free and uh non-toxic um and I think what's interesting is that when we started we launched our first deodorant rosy pits the in the second year yes we did that because um my sister and myself our mom had breast cancer um and we were like let's get out of the aluminum But what are we going to use?

24:46It's not going to be like any of this stuff. So we we made our own. We wanted like a luxury smelling deodorant. And that became such a big part of our business. We leaned all the way in and then with three different founders and three different sets of armpits. And they both have had multiple babies during this process. Everyone's like stink has evolved. So we ended up making we have our Rosie Pitts formula. We have our like smoothie Dio formula, which has no baking soda. And then we have a Geo Dio that has baking soda. And then we have a Cream Dio. So we have all these different formulas and then many scents within those formulas, which is very confusing.

25:32But we just wanted people to have variety and options, knowing that they could find something with us that will work for them. Yeah, because there is one natural deodorant that makes it makes like I get a rash from it. I think it's the baking soda ones. I forget which it is. Baking soda is a major is a major issue for a lot of people. They don't know what it is, though. Yeah, it's interesting. So so but this is the thing like what you have created. First of all, the branding, the marketing is fabulous. Thank you. But it is also it's really fun. Like it's it reflects you as a person, which is you have a great sense of style.

26:13You're beautiful. You're cool. You also have like you're very frank and straightforward. And it's and it's just a fabulous brand. And, you know, the M &A market and beauty is really heating up. So let's get you sold. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And I think it's just, I think it's interesting because it's just taken so long for retailers understood us faster, but it doesn't mean that there's like necessarily space for us in those places. So we're in the deodorant aisle at Target. And whether you're shopping in Target still or not, like if you're ever in there, just know that our brand is the only self-funded brand in the aisle among like billion dollar brands.

27:04So you see us, you know, consider us because like we are really fighting the David and Goliath. Yeah. Well, congratulations.

27:18so you're building this self-funded bootstrap brand that is permeating culture getting rid of thigh chafe which is a horrible thing and great that you were able to address that inspiring a bunch of copycats yes inspiring a bunch of copycats at the same time your internet persona and the like, I hate the word content creator, but your life as a content creator is evolving and you suddenly at some point, and I know this isn't the only thing you do, A, you really started to advocate. I love your going into stores, trying stuff on, saying this is the biggest size, how it fits me, that sort of series.

28:05And then you have this other series where you do essentially get the look, the celebrity look, if supersize the look, supersize the look. Yeah. And the, the, this is all going to intersect when Blake Lively comes up, comes to a book event that you're doing. And you had done a supersize the look with Blake Lively. And obviously you guys have become friends or whatever, but she, she is very, I love that she like commented and was very, it says, so it's like all your worlds together. But when did, as, as blogging people moved away from blog spot or what have you, and now they're on Substack, which is so similar to blog spots.

28:48So interesting. You on Instagram, you started these series where it, tell us about that and how it sort of, as, as you're building this business, your other business evolved? Yeah. So Super Size the Look started because for a couple different reasons. One, getting new content every day on the internet is quite hard. And one of the ways that, one of the things that Super Size the Look did for me, which is where I look at the outfit and I copy it to my best ability is very rarely do I get the exact piece. and it does two things. One, it shows women that they can wear the looks that inspire them, that like the style that they really like, but they're like, I can't pull that off because X, Y, Z.