Latest news with #Sturino
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
How creators can launch businesses and reclaim their audiences
In the heyday of the creator economy, stars are made in living rooms. Ordinary people prove capable of extraordinary things, turning content into cash and ideas into empires. But while creator power is growing, the control they have over their own brands on social media is not. Payment structures for sponsored brand content have shifted, as have algorithms and platform rules. A significant majority of creators view their monthly incomes on social platforms as unpredictable, while 78% say appeasing algorithms impacts what they create, according to a 2024 Patreon survey. As many of them wade into entrepreneurship and launch businesses of their own, this restrictive social media environment can hinder their growth. According to Shopify research, almost a quarter of businesses that added the platform as a sales channel did so to gain full control over their online presence. Ownership matters, especially for creators who build their audiences around their deeply personal identities. Learn how two creators, Katie Sturino and Rajiv Surendra, pursued entrepreneurship to diversify their projects and income streams-and keep doing what they love, on their own terms. When "too real" is just right Katie Sturino started in the same way as many of today's top creators: posting authentic content that attracted a niche audience. But she was before her time. "I was warned by people that I was too raw, too real," she says. A decade ago, filtered images of perfectly poached eggs and sleek manicured hands reigned on Instagram. Sturino was here for real talk. "I started my platform because I just wanted to help bigger girls find clothes," she says. "Then I realized women of all sizes were feeling bad about their bodies." Her content appealed to a wider audience than expected, and expanded to cover other body issues. The internet was ready for it. In the years since Sturino launched her personal brand, creator aesthetic has taken on a more authentic quality. "I'm very comfortable with the new landscape because it's all about being real. That's easy for me," she says. For Sturino, starting a business was about filling a gap she identified by listening to her audience. "I wanted to challenge the beauty industry to put out products that help with actual problems, not made up problems," she says. Problems like chafing, sweating, and even hemorrhoids. Megababe launched in 2017, founded by Katie, her sister Jenny, and friend Kate McPherson. At the time, Sturino had around 55,000 loyal followers on Instagram. "It's not a lot of followers to launch a gigantic beauty brand," she says. But it presented another way to deliver value to her fans and deepen the relationship. Go-live day was tense, with Sturino's parents' garage filled with product that wasn't flying out the door. Then, after landing a spot on The Today Show, the flood of sales happened. Megababe has since grown into a force in the beauty industry, expanding product lines and leaning into major retail partnerships. And Sturino's personal brand has grown alongside it. She's become a leading advocate for size inclusivity and published her first book, "Body Talk," a guide to self-acceptance. Still, her social content isn't reaching everyone. "For the past two years, I've been on and off shadow banned," she says. She's seeing it in her own data. "Plus size bodies often get flagged as inappropriate." Some 60% of creators say Instagram does not always show fans their best work, according to the same Patreon survey. "It's a real balance trying to figure out how to feed it correctly while also putting out content that you want your audience to see," Sturino says. "Platforms change, algorithms change," she says. Diversifying her projects and platforms-she's now on Substack and is publishing a second book-means she has more control over her message. And through Megababe's website, Sturino isn't at the mercy of the algorithm. She calls the shots on how and when her brand shows up. Her success with entrepreneurship hasn't changed Sturino's approach to authenticity. "I think people are shocked at how hands-on I am," she says. "It probably feels like someone else is answering my DMs. I'm still here talking to people about their armpits." A little dark, in a good way Unlike Sturino, scaling an empire isn't in Rajiv Surendra's plans. While the world may know him best for playing the charismatic and shameless Kevin Gnapoor in "Mean Girls", Surendra lives a decidedly quieter life these days. In 2021, HGTV toured Surendra's NYC apartment. The resulting video has garnered over 4 million YouTube views. Prompted by the enthusiasm for his lifestyle, he started his own YouTube channel, broadcast from that very apartment. That channel became a window into Surendra's world, a place where he shared his passions for art, vintage, and creating by hand. It's a blueprint for slow living, a throwback to simplicity. Fans follow along as he collects silver antiques, canes a chair, and makes candles and soaps from scratch. It's the latter that opened up a new opportunity for Surendra: His fans wanted to buy his products. "I didn't even know how to make that work. I only make like twelve bars of soap a year," he says. Eventually, he relented, though, and launched his own online shop. "I finally decided to say, 'OK, but you can only buy what I have.'" Alongside soaps, Surendra sells his watercolor studies and clay pots, also made by hand. "It was a big question mark for me whether people would be willing to pay $50 for a bar of handmade soap, but they were," he says, "and the soap actually is the fastest-selling thing on my website." While his approach means the store is often out of stock (awaiting the next drop of slow-crafted goods), the move unlocked a few things for Surendra as an artist. First, the store became a natural extension of his personal brand and YouTube channel, unbound by platform parameters. He worked with a close friend to design it after the feeling and aesthetic of his own apartment-the space that started it all. "The website feels kind of quiet, it feels a little dark in a good way," he says. "It really feels like me." Having full ownership over his brand like this is a stark contrast from his days in the entertainment business. "You would not believe how restrictive these contracts are. They want to own the rights to everything and have a say in everything," he says. "When I'm creating stuff in my apartment, no one's telling me what to do and how to do it." This new shop, launched in late 2024, isn't Surendra's first foray into entrepreneurship. He ran a calligraphy business for 10 years, producing signage and other projects for clients. It was here that he set boundaries for himself, once even turning down a massive client while he was struggling to pay rent. "A lot of people would say it was a stupid decision," he says. "But I knew that the goal was longevity and the only way to get there was by keeping the passion, by being excited about it." And he's able to do just that with his new venture, controlling what-and how much-he makes and sells. Selling products on his own site means he's closer than ever to his fans, too. "Now that I'm engaging in transactions with viewers, there's an added element of obligation," he says. "There's this new facet to the relationship that feels more personal." Forging these relationships is critical in a reality where more than half of creators say it's harder to reach their followers today than it was five years ago, according to Patreon data. These days, Surendra is thinking a lot about compromise. While in the past he's rejected the idea of mass producing something so personal, he's now entertaining ways to scale. "Maybe there are people or companies that can make the soap exactly as I make it," he says. "I am starting to think about ways of making it work, but still keeping the passion alive." This story was produced by Shopify and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. © Stacker Media, LLC.
Newsweek
17-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Katie Sturino Is Ending Women's Body Shame, One Chafe Stick at a Time
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Summer: the time for pool parties, barbecues, beach trips and, of course, lots of sweat. It's something many women experience but rarely discuss. But after years of being unsatisfied with the lack of solutions to the discomfort of existing in the heat, Katie Sturino decided to take matters into her own hands. "My thighs rub together, my boobs sweat and my B.O. is the worst." That candid statement is the top line on Megababe's "About Me" page, setting the tone for the company and its founder. Women's Global Impact: Katie Sturino Women's Global Impact: Katie Sturino Newsweek Illustration/Canva Sturino used her background in beauty, fashion and public relations to start Megababe in 2017, offering a solution to women's sweaty troubles: a roll-on stick to prevent thigh chafing called Thigh Rescue. "The more I dug around in the chafe space," she told Newsweek, "all I could find were products for men or for athletes, people who are doing long cycling trips, nothing was for women who were wearing skirts in the summer [and] didn't want their thighs to chafe." After tiring of waiting for a bigger beauty brand to launch something to fit her needs, she decided to do it herself. The product line has since expanded to cover more personal care concerns, like boob sweat, razor bumps and body odor. But Sturino wants the brand to do more than just keep women smelling and looking their best; she wants to help them feel their best, inside and out. "[Through] multiple career shifts, the main thing that I have really enjoyed doing is supporting women, supporting women business owners and that has evolved into helping women feel good about themselves, which is something that I think we need more of," Sturino said. As an entrepreneur, author and body acceptance advocate, Sturino said her mission is to start an honest conversation about the physical struggles many women face but don't talk about. "I like to help women feel comfortable and confident and get rid of the taboo and the stigma that they might feel with normal, everyday body issues that so many people experience, what we've been made to feel ashamed about," she said. Sturino and her sister started shipping products out of their parents' garage, starting with the chafe sticks and the boob sweat spray. The initial 10,000 units sold out in the first month after Megababe launched, solidifying for Sturino that "we had something." Still, Sturino faced doubt from other business professionals about how profitable the product would be in the early days. She said critics weren't sure there was a market for the products because women would be "too embarrassed." "I had one manufacturer say, 'If you don't put anti-cellulite properties in the stick, women won't buy it.' So it was the kind of mindset that we were dealing with," she said. Sturino said it was difficult to convince a boardroom of men that her products were desirable because they directly solve major problems most women face every day. But it was her conversations with women that provided the anecdotal proof that inspired her to keep moving forward. "What really touched me is that I got to hear from so many different women who felt seen and who felt like less ashamed or less embarrassed about this normal stuff that was happening to their bodies," she said. "We pushed through, despite the funny looks and the weird comments we got." Now, her products are being sold in major retailers across the country, like Target, Walmart, CVS and Ulta. And Sturino said there has been a shift in business leaders starting to take her and her company more seriously. It's chafe season. Have you gotten your Thigh Rescue yet?. Megababe has grown at least 33 percent since its founding in 2017. Thigh Rescue continues to be the brand's top-selling product, with over 1 million sticks sold, according to the company. As of August 2024, the company's revenue increased 50 percent year-over-year. Inclusivity is the throughline for Sturino's personal and professional life. In a time when thinness and a "thigh gap" – where a woman's legs are so thin that her thighs don't touch – promotion is being targeted to women online, Sturino said her goal is "shame busting" and reminding women of all shapes and sizes that they deserve to be comfortable and not "suffer through" sweat, chafing and other body struggles. While social media feeds are flooded with plastic surgery, beauty filters and heavy editing to achieve one type of look, Sturino wants to normalize seeing different body sizes that are not ashamed of addressing these more taboo issues. "The norm on social is still to pose perfect, use filters [and] edit your photos," she said. "So not doing that, showing up with your body the way it is, no makeup [is] still pretty revolutionary." Even before launching Megababe, Sturino has been an advocate for plus-sized women. She started a plus-sized fashion blog called The 12ish Style and pushes for size inclusivity among fashion brands using the hashtag #MakeMySize on her Instagram, she posts side-by-side photos recreating celebrity looks to show how fashion works in any size. With #SuperSizeTheLook, Sturino wants to "help retrain your brain to see a picture of two women standing next to each other and not declare who wore it better, but that you can wear these looks at any size!" she wrote in an Instagram post. The company has a new TV ad that shows Sturino applying Thigh Rescue stick in public. The ad, which was also posted on the company's social media, has many comments from men and women expressing their "disgust" at seeing women apply the stick to their inner thighs in public places, calling the ad "nasty," "disturbing" and "unladylike." Sturino said the ad was kept from running on the Hallmark Channel for being "indecent" – thus proving the brand's entire thesis. Sturino responded in an Instagram post, saying she didn't expect controversy over thigh chafing eight years into her running her business, adding that these comments calling for the ad to be taken down prove that "we've got a major fatphobic problem still." "It is really helpful to have people see because it normalizes different size bodies be putting Thigh Rescue on when you're out and about and see the act of even needing something like Thigh Rescue or it's normal to have that kind of product," she told Newsweek. "So we come at inclusivity from a lot of different angles." Internally, Sturino is also keen on bringing diverse voices together in the business to create a collaborative environment where everyone's input is valued. "I think it's such a benefit that we come from different backgrounds because we all have different points of view and we're very respectful of our points of view, and I think we're also very aware of our strengths and weaknesses as leaders," she said. "I think being able to take feedback and criticism as a leader is something that is an underrated skill." Sturino also recently published her first novel, Sunny Side Up, that she said introduces a character "that is going to inspire and be relatable to a lot of different women." It's a romantic comedy about Sunny, a recently divorced plus-sized PR agent in New York City, with lessons of body acceptance sprinkled throughout. "She's kind of a shining example of you don't have to change your body to change your life," Sturino said. This summer, the company is adding a slate of new shaving products, including a pre-shave exfoliating Bumpy Bar and the Après Shave Oil. The products are also now sold in CVS stores, making them more accessible for people. "One of my goals is just to make sure that you're within five or 10 minutes of a chafe stick no matter where you are, and CVS has really helped us get that goal." As the company thrives, Sturino remains focused on her personal measures of success. "We have to know we're successful, because the point is that outside success keeps changing and shifting as we grow," she said. "So you have to know that what we've done is really special and that's just something you have to believe without the constant outside validation." Sturino is one of the panelists at Newsweek's upcoming Women's Global Impact Forum on Tuesday, August 5. The one-day event at Newsweek's headquarters in New York City brings together senior female executives and women who are "rising stars" in various industries for a series of panel discussions and networking sessions that will connect and inspire women in leadership to make a positive and lasting impact on the world. Learn more about the event and register here.
Elle
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Katie Sturino Tackles the ‘Revenge Body' Narrative
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. With Sunny Side Up, her first novel, Katie Sturino introduces us to Sunny Greene, the kind of divorcée you rarely see represented. As she recovers from her breakup, the 35-year-old publicist doesn't look to weight loss to increase her confidence. The concept of the revenge body, and the idea that women need to change their appearances to move forward, bothers Sturino, a body acceptance advocate and founder of Megababe Beauty. It's a message that she received after her 2016 divorce, and she finds it destructive. Sturino wants Sunny to be an example of a larger woman living a wonderful life, a narrative that she feels is rare. 'Something that's really interesting is if you look at my Goodreads reviews, the negative reviews really don't like the way that Sunny has success. What I think is so ironic about that is that same characters in romantic comedy books or movies have had those things always,' she says. 'When a bigger girl comes in and has success in those areas, it seems 'unrealistic,' but we don't question it when the thin main character has it all.' Sturino spoke to ELLE about the myth of the revenge body, what she and her protagonist have in common, and why writing a novel was a whole new kind of challenge. Sunny's life is already great. She's already successful. She's got a great wardrobe, she's got good friends. So often in stories of breakups or your life kind of crumbling, there's this theme that you now need to get better, and you get better by either getting the new job or getting the new body or getting the new wardrobe. There isn't a focus on [the idea that] you're good now, you just weren't in the right life. In my own life, I certainly have received the message quite often that the reason you don't have a boyfriend, or a promotion is because you are not thin, and that only thin people deserve success. It was really important to make sure that in my book you had someone who had success, who had the nice apartment, and didn't have to change her body to get them. I have things in common with Sunny like some of the professional aspects; we live in the same neighborhood, and I wanted her to have my Midwest roots. The story really is not my story, but I wanted to get the energy of what I needed during my own real-life experiences into this book. I needed a main character who could show me that I could find myself, find love, have success, and not have to start doing two-a-day workouts and eating delivery meals at a calorie deficit. I think there's a common message for people who either have a breakup or get divorced, that the first thing that they should think about is losing weight. It's not going to therapy or [understanding] what your life priorities should be, or figuring out how you let yourself stay in a relationship that wasn't right. That is just the wrong first step, but if you polled anyone, often the first response would be, 'I've got to get in shape. I have to lose weight.' I hope a reader finds this book funny and I hope that they walk away just feeling like they can do whatever they want to do and that they don't need permission from anyone else. The editing process was the most surprising part of it, because from the draft you turn in is so different from the book that is printed. Learning and watching that process was so interesting to me. You have to let go of what you thought it would be, because your precious baby gets changed and redlined. It's an exercise in letting go of control. This interview has been edited and condensed.
Business of Fashion
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
How Far Can Body Care Go?
Roger Ein's idea occurred to him in the shower, as they often do. Ein, a consumer goods entrepreneur and interior designer in Los Angeles, was rinsing off with a lover, who he watched apply a luxurious facial moisturiser to the skin on his butt — the moment that inspired his bodycare brand Buttface, which officially launches on Tuesday morning. The line will be sold directly on and will advertise on Pornhub. 'He said, 'They don't make this stuff for the butt,'' Ein told The Business of Beauty. He is correct, sort of. One could argue that the swelling global body care market — estimated to be worth just under $25 billion in 2026, according to data analytics firm Euromonitor International — caters more than enough to human skin from the chest down. But Buttface, and a number of new brands, hope that the standard can be raised by lowering its aim. Buttface's proposition, expressed in a three-step 'Protocol' including an exfoliant and 'BBL' moisturiser, incorporates ingredients typically found in facial skincare like ceramides and peptides but targeted for rear territory. Used as a routine, the products address inflammatory skin conditions like acne and keratosis pilaris and provide benefits like 'lifting.' The brand's three-product "Protocol" includes an exfoliant, sheet mask and "BBL Firming Cream" moisturiser, and costs $113. (Buttface) If the brand name is audacious,its positioning is not. Recent body care launches have manifested destiny on so-called 'facial-grade' ingredients below the neckline, with brands like Nécessaire and Soft Services minting retinols for the body and hand. Megababe, the purveyor of the modern anti-chafe stick, has expanded into a range of butt-specific products; their first, a glycolic acid 'Le Tush' mask, came out in 2020, while the latest, a hemorrhoid cream called Butt Stuff, launched in fall 2024. Katie Sturino, Megababe's founder, said she launched into butt care after her customers wrote to her asking for a butt acne solution. When Le Tush launched, 'People thought it was crazy,' she remembered. Then it started selling. The Bidet Bar, an intimate cleanser that launched last year, and Butt Stuff are now top sellers for the brand, with the latter arriving in a major retailer next month, Sturino added. Sol de Janeiro, Sephora's number one brand in the category, became a case study-level success for its caffeinated Bum Bum Cream, which encouraged users to celebrate their bodies while pursuing rear lifting and firming. Learning from its example, Sephora was bullish on the category as recently as last year. For all its tailwinds, butt care faces unique challenges, like a rising political climate at odds with the subcategory's inherent sex-positivity. The body care boom may too be headed for a natural bust, as economic uncertainty foments. 'People are going to be choosier with their personal care,' Sturino said. 'When people look at body products, they're going to want to see necessities.' Beyond Body Care Ein insists that, despite the brand's origin story, he's not trying to sexualise the beauty market. But, well, doing so is inevitable. Other labels in the so-called 'butt care' category are marketed, with varying levels of subtlety, toward people who have anal sex. While Buttface isn't using that approach exactly, Ein explained how Meta's conservative standards toward advertising inspired the brand to incorporate 'adult tube sites' like Pornhub and Xtube, which are serviced by the CPM network Traffic Junky, into its marketing strategy. These sites have 'really evolved in their marketing tools,' he said; Pornhub, for one, has Tiktok-like 'Shorties' that will lend themselves to content of creators using Buttface, alongside banner ads. The brand hopes to balance sex with sensibility by convincing consumers of its benefits, which is when it begins to mimic skincare brands; its $42 'BBL firming cream' is made with a sweet almond oil-derived peptide that comes with its own 'immediate lift' claim. 'A lot of firming creams are centered around caffeine, which is more of a marketing ingredient, in my opinion,' Ein said. 'We really wanted to find the future of skin technology.' This is no offence to Sol de Janeiro, whose recent marketing efforts included a bikini-filled ad for their Bum Bum Cream that beamed into NYC subway cars throughout the winter. But enhancing efficacy and pushing innovation, even toward unlikely territories, is driving the category forward. Megababe's Butt Stuff, a hemorrhoid cream, launched in fall 2024, and is already a best-seller on Amazon. (Megababe) Sturino said she develops new formulas based on consumer needs, be it a glycolic acid butt acne mask or a design-friendly twist on Preparation H. (Her customers 'were tired of a crusty old product that your grandpa has in his drawer,' she said.) Ein is a product developer, who has helped design for cannabis brand Grassdoor and outdoor label Agile Sportswear. He took no outside investment, and estimates he sunk about $300,000 into Buttface. While some Asian markets have already begun to produce sheet masks for the area, the brand's Taiwanese manufacturers of its hydrogel butt mask allegedly marveled at the size of the American rear, Ein said. On social media, the demand for butt care may only sound like a joke. Redditors have traded tips for years on how to treat issues like hyperpigmentation or inflammation like acne specific to the region. 'The skin there is delicate, but it doesn't get the same attention as hands/faces so it often winds up breaking out,' wrote one user on r/SkincareAddiction in late April, in a comment with over a thousand upvotes. (They continued: 'The Ordinary glycolic acid also seems to help my assne.') While the brand is sold online for now Ein hopes to engage wholesale retailers this year. 'Once people start to form a new skincare habit,' he said, 'the results are going to stand for themselves.' Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day's most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.
