Katie Sturino’s Next Chapter
Katie Sturino started her career two decades ago in fashion PR, schlepping samples for Dolce & Gabbana. But as a “size 12ish,” as she puts it, she felt excluded by the industry — straight sizes were often too small but plus sizes too big (or unavailable). She also didn’t see many women her size represented in fashion media. So she began documenting her outfits on Instagram and her then-blog, the 12ish Style, which quickly amassed a following for Sturino’s shopping advice and messages of body acceptance (“Figured your brain could use a visual of a size-18 woman in a swimsuit living her life”). Today, she has over 800,000 followers.
In 2017, Sturino leveraged her audience to start Megababe, a beauty brand that launched with an anti-chafing stick called Thigh Rescue. It was a hit — last year, Megababe sold an average of one stick every 30 seconds — and the company now sells a range of cheerfully packaged products, including deodorant and a hemorrhoid cream called Butt Stuff. “I’ve never been afraid of the taboo,” Sturino says.
In addition to being an entrepreneur and influencer, Sturino is now a published novelist. She describes her new book, Sunny Side Up, as an “unapologetic beach read”; its protagonist, a plus-size publicist who dives into the dating pool after getting divorced at 35, has more than a few parallels to Sturino’s own life (she got divorced in her 30s and has since remarried). “I wanted a story about a woman who finds love after divorce — but without the revenge-body part,” she says. Here, she explains how she managed to write a book on top of two other jobs and why help is the best thing money can buy.
On her morning routine:
I wake up naturally between 5 and 6 a.m. I reach for my phone as soon as my eyes open. Then I meditate using Insight Timer, usually for seven to ten minutes, and I play Wordle. My husband, John, and I walk the dogs and go get coffee when the coffee shops open at 7 a.m. After we come back home, we have a house meeting; we talk about what I’m doing today, what John’s doing today, what we’re doing tonight, what needs to get done, and then we go our separate ways.
I work out at home three to five mornings a week. I’ll do a Sculpt Society video or some other program on my phone. Then I putter around the house until my assistant, MK, comes at 9 a.m. I’ve worked from home since I was 26. I got an office once, but I hated it. I don’t even have a desk. I prefer to work at the kitchen table — and by kitchen table, I mean our only table.
On (not) setting boundaries:
Part of being a business owner and an influencer is that it leads to a real phone-addiction problem. I am not someone with clear work boundaries and a wellness schedule. I think the front of my brain is being eaten by my phone. Pretty much the only times I put my phone away are when I’m working on my computer, doing an interview, shooting something for content, or out at dinner with friends or with John.
On her relationship to her body:
I do have moments when I look in the mirror and I’m like, This doesn’t look great on me, but I don’t stay in that thought. I cut it off, and I don’t let it continue. It’s taken ten years of work to be able to do that — the thought pops in and I’m like, Nope, not doing it. What’s next?
On deciding what to share online:
I share most things. But I don’t share my negative experiences about products, restaurants, hotels, or other businesses. I don’t do that because, first of all, there’s enough negativity online; two, maybe it’s something you love, and I don’t want to be like, “This sucks”; and three, I understand that there are business owners behind everything, and in most cases I am not going to talk badly about your business to a large group of people. So I just don’t talk about it if I don’t like it.
On toggling between three jobs:
I have three channels: Megababe, influencer stuff, and now the book. Every day is different, but it’s not like the skill sets required for these roles are so different. They all use my creative brain and my desire to make women feel good about themselves. Everything funnels through MK, and she keeps me organized. Right now, the book launch is occupying a lot of my time, and it’s Megababe’s busy season, so the influencer stuff is taking more of a back seat. But we planned for that and banked a lot of content in advance. Ashley is the social-media director for Megababe, and she helps me organize my own social account. We’ll do batch shoots where we get 60 pieces of content in three days and then we can spread those out for months. Day-to-day, I still run my own socials. Influencer work is where my income comes from. Megababe is self-funded, so we don’t have any outside investment. Any money we make goes back into the business, and I do not take a salary.
On the people who help her keep her life running:
My husband is a lawyer, and he does all my in-house legal work for brand partnerships and stuff like that. He is also in charge of the home. If something goes wrong, he’s handling it. I have a housekeeper named Isabelle, and I love her. She’s been with me for a long time. She comes once a week, and she’s always surprised that it’s just as messy as when she showed up the week before. Then I have my teams at work. For Megababe, my co-founders are my sister and my best friend from camp, Kate. They’re in the weeds with everything so that I don’t have to be, including managing our 11-person team. I have my PR firm that works with me on my personal stuff and Megababe. And then the whole team at Celadon, my book publisher, has been incredibly supportive. Bringing in support is the best thing that money can do for you as a business owner. Building your team and asking for help is the only way you can take on this much.
On dealing with stress:
How I handle being overwhelmed depends on the time of the month. Sometimes I break down crying and call my sister. MK can tell when I’m starting to freak out. She’ll be like, “Okay, go take a walk around the block. Have a cookie. One foot in front of the other.” Everyone around me knows that I’m a very anxious and sensitive person, but I also bounce back. I don’t stay down.
On treating herself:
Whenever we’re celebrating a milestone, my husband and I go to the Polo Bar. We had our wedding dinner there, and we’ve made it our thing. When you don’t have kids, you don’t always have those anchors to give you consistent traditions. So that’s become our place to mark things. I am always ready to treat myself. I’m a big handbag girl. I don’t know if I’m a victim of early-aughts “It” bags or what, but I love them.
On dealing with setbacks:
I got fired when I was 25, and you don’t ever forget getting fired. The major thing I learned from it is that it doesn’t really mean anything. You can’t live in that shame. You have to keep going, and it’s no indication of your future. Learn but don’t obsess.
On publishing a novel:
I’ve wanted to write this book basically since the ink dried on my divorce papers in 2016, because I needed this story at that time. I wanted it to be about a woman who’s already successful, who already knows herself, and who doesn’t lose the baby weight or get a new wardrobe and still has a great time dating. Maybe it seems random that I wrote this book on top of the other things I’m doing. But everything I do is about trying to make people feel less alone in their issues. It’s always rooted in taboo.
Writing the book was very hard. My assistant put writing blocks in my schedule and then she’d be like, “Did you write?” And I’d be like, “No.” I did, eventually, but it was always past deadline and never when I was supposed to — during the day, during the weekends. Putting the book out into the world is bringing out a lot of impostor syndrome. I connected with the author Jennifer Weiner a while ago, and she was kind enough to give me a book-tour pep talk. She told me to focus on connecting with people who find the book meaningful. Then I got an email from someone who said, “Your book convinced me to make a dating profile.” And I was like, Yes! That’s where I get my energy from.
On maintaining friendships:
In the past few years, I’ve made a new set of friends who are all women with their own businesses. They’re not “work” friends, but we can all have dinner and share the same struggles and root for each other. That has been a really powerful change in my life. Because at a certain point, your friends who aren’t running a business, they don’t really want to get on the phone with you and hear you complain about how your supplier changed something.
On her evening routine:
I love a 5:30 p.m. dinner. You can get into all the best restaurants, and you don’t even need a reservation. And then I’ll be out by 7. Maybe one or two nights a week, I will have an event or something for work — and then one or two nights, I’ll go out with friends or with John. But otherwise, I’m happy to be home on the couch. I never cook. I order in everything. Living in New York, you can get food from anywhere. I love matzo-ball soup from Katz’s.
On winding down:
At the end of the day, I like to smoke a joint and look at the RealReal. That’s my alternative to social media and email. I try not to work at night, and I’m getting really into resale. I’m a nighttime beauty person. That’s when I do my red-light mask and my Ziip thing. I start around 7 p.m. because if it’s any later, I’ll be too tired. My husband also does a red-light mask. We do ’em together; you can’t leave your man behind with their skin. I’m asleep by 10 p.m. I wish I were someone who read every night. But when I do, it’s almost like cosplay. Let’s be real: I’m going to watch Love Island before bed.