Episode 283: How Sophie Strauss Became a Stylist for Regular People
“It's a tall order to feel 100% great about your body 100% of the time.”
- Sophie Strauss
Kate and Doree bring Stylist for Regular People Sophie Strauss onto the pod to talk about how she purposefully became a stylist NOT for celebrities, the importance of playing dress up even as a busy adult, and why paying attention to how clothes make you feel can help you find your style. Plus, they reflect on what they’ve learned from this conversation and some of its very real life effects.
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Photo Credit: Rocket Adlon
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Transcript
Kate: Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Kate Spencer,
Doree: And I am Doree Shafrir.
Kate: And together we are not experts.
Doree: We're not, but we are two friends who like to talk a lot about serums
Kate: And we're coming fresh off of the hurriquake that happened here in Los Angeles.
Doree: Kate, I just want you to note that you were, you and her friend Danielle were the first people I texted when I felt the earthquake.
Kate: Really?
Doree: Yes. I texted you before I even heard the emergency alert.
Kate: You were still quaking in your house.
Doree: I was still quaking and I'm like, I sent you, I said, are we having an earthquake? Not like did we just have an earthquake? But is there an earthquake currently happening?
Kate: Well, sometimes with earthquakes they can be subtle. So it's like It could be a truck driving by your house.
Doree: Yes, exactly.
Kate: Or it could be an earthquake. I had the same thing.
Doree: There's a famous time when I was actually at Danielle's apartment and we were watching soap dish as one does a
Kate: Classic. A classic.
Doree: And there was an earthquake, and I just thought it was, I'd moved from New York not that long before, and my head, my brain coded it as the subway.
Kate: Oh, yes, that makes sense. The low rumble of the subway.
Doree: Yeah, it was the low rumble of the subway and then it was like, no, that wasn't the subway. That was an earthquake.
Kate: Yeah. Yesterday were, I was watching Legally Blonde with my kids and it's just like I could feel the couch just start to kind of move back and forth almost like it was rolling and I just said, are we having an earthquake right now? Because sometimes a human in my house is moving or jumping
Doree: Totally
Kate: Or bouncing That I ask, are we having an earthquake? Quite often and most of the time we aren't. But yesterday we were. It made me realize you texted, my immediate thing is to text people and not protect myself by getting under a safe table. I had a friend who was like, I got me and my son right under the table, and I was like, oh, I didn't, I just sat on the couch and texted people.
Doree: Totally.
Kate: I'm not good in an earth. Is that just because I'm not from here?
Doree: I think it might be because we're not from here. If you're from here, you do earthquake drills at school. It's ingrained in you.
Kate: But my kids are from here. My kids do earthquake drills all the time.
Doree: That's true.
Kate: And they were all just kind of like shrug aug, dug.
Doree: Well, you know what, that's on them.
Kate: It is
Doree: They have no excuse.
Kate: Yeah. Someone has taught them how to live in an earthquake that's not their parents, but we were all kind of hunkered down for the hurricane, which was very bad in some parts of Southern California. Luckily not too bad where we live, but here we are. It's sunny. It's over.
Doree: Yeah, it's over. Now, Kate, in our little production notes document, you said that you are looking for a neutral pink lip gloss or lipstick or just sort of lip color. I really like the one that you're wearing.
Kate: I think I need to stop putting berry colors on my lips.
Doree: Oh,
Kate: I'm sick of
Doree: So more neutral.
Kate: I want something kind of peachy pink. Now let me put on my reading glasses to tell you exactly what I'm wearing. Doree can see me in the camera, and I am indeed wearing a berry pink lip balm from Elf Ride or Die Lip balm. Hold on. I still can't read the color. It's in Boss Berry. See, it's like a full berry.
Doree: I think it's really pretty.
Kate: I do want to note that I was distracting myself by looking at Sephora and trying to find this Clinique Pink honey lipstick stuff like Black Honey, but Pink Honey, which was sold out everywhere. But then, oh no. Is it not showing what I put in my basket? Then I started, oh, here we go. I started getting into finding some cream blushes.
Doree: Okay,
Kate: And look, I'm not clicking checkout yet because I don't need to spend this money. I don't need anything. I am really trying to slow my role when it comes to impulsive shopping. But I'll tell you what's in my cart right now,
Doree: Please.
Kate: I don't know how to say this. Huda Beauty, cheeky tint cream blush stick in perky peach. Then we've got merit's, flush balm, cream blush in Beverly Hills and then Mar's Bronze Balm, sheer Sculpting Bronzer.
Doree: Wow.
Kate: And a merit lipstick and a Clinique lip chubby stick and a tower 28 lip jelly. This is just sitting in the cart. This is in the cart. Hopefully I will not ever buy this. I don't need it.
Doree: Have you ever tried the Tower 28 blush cream blush?
Kate: Yes, I did try one shade and I didn't. You didn't? Didn't love the texture or the color. I am really looking for something very sheer. Say beauty has a bronzer that I like and that goes on really light, but I'm looking for something with a little bit more of a hue, a tint,
Doree: And look, I hate to say it, I don't know why I don't hate to say it, but you might just go back to a Glossier cloud paint.
Kate: That shit fades so fast on me.
Doree: It does fade very fast on me as well. But it offers, I think what you are looking for.
Kate: Well, you know what I think could do it, but I find this product bonkers is the Jones Road Balm.
Doree: Oh, the Miracle Balm.
Kate: Yes.
Doree: You find it bonkers.
Kate: I find it bonkers because it's enormous.
Doree: It is enormous.
Kate: I don't know, even if I was slathering this on my entire body, I don't know if I could finish it, but I do love, I do think this might be what I'm looking for in maybe, I don't know, the shade flushed. I'm looking on their website or Miami Beach, a warm, peachy coral. I'm kind of looking for a warm coral or natural, but it's like a huge amount of balm.
Doree: It is a lot of balm. I feel like they could totally make a smaller balm and be fine.
Kate: Yes. I need either the travel version of this or maybe someone wants to split one with me and we scoop it into tinier jars. I can't justify $38.
Doree: Oh my gosh.
Kate: On this giant thing, which I'll have for eight years, which again, maybe I'll just keep using it for eight years, but I am trying to use my products in a reasonable amount of time. That is really, anyway,
Doree: That's reasonable. Well, Kate, this is all good fodder I think to lead us into introducing our guest.
Kate: Oh, baby. What fun.
Doree: Oh, we had so much fun with her.
Kate: Okay, we got to talk to Sophie Strauss. So let me share with you her bio. Sophie Strauss is not a celebrity stylist. She's a stylist for regular people because she knows there is a literal infinite range of exciting, unique regular people out there, and they deserve access to style too. Her approach to helping people hone their personal style is inclusive, accessible, sustainable, and individualized. She doesn't believe in following trends or halls or purging your whole closet and starting over. She recognizes that for many people, getting dressed can be stressful and even triggering, and that for too long we've been made to feel like the problem is our bodies and not the clothes or the industry. Sophie has worked with over 200 clients of all ages, sizes and genders from around the world to help them feel like their best selves every single day. She is a fellow Angelino, but she works remotely and she's someone who I've been following on Instagram after a friend, actually worked with her and raved about the experience.
Doree: That was how she first came on my radar. So Kate and I have not actually used her services, but she comes very highly recommended by some people that we trust. She's a great Instagram follow, so at the very least you should follow her there, but I am dying to actually hire her, so
Kate: Me too.
Doree: Stay tuned. But before we get to Sophie, let's just remind everybody that they can visit our website. That is forever35podcast.com. There's links there to everything we mentioned on the show. We're also on Instagram at @Forever35podcast. Our Patreon is going Strong at patreon.com/forever35. We have a newsletter. You can subscribe to that at Forever35podcast.com/newsletter. I believe in the next newsletter, we have an exciting giveaway.
Kate: We do. I'm currently curating it. I'm putting it together, putting the items together. I'm very excited about it. It's very personal.
Doree: I'll give everyone a clue if you are at our last digital live show, the giveaway that show is similar to the giveaway in the upcoming newsletter. So that's all I'll say about that.
Kate: And you know what, as we're talking, I just realized one more thing I need to put in that giveaway.
Doree: Oh Yes.
Kate: Oh, it's going to be real weird. I can't wait.
Doree: You can call or text us at (781) 591-0390. You can email us at Forever35podcast@gmail.com. Alright. We're going to take a teeny tiny little break and then we'll be right back with Sophie.
Kate: Sophie. Hi. Welcome to Forever35. We're excited to get this party started.
Sophie: I'm so happy to be here.
Kate: We have a lot of questions because Doree and I, Doree, would you say we are still learning how to dress ourselves as women in their mid forties?
Doree: Oh yeah. This has been a topic of conversation on the pod. We for five, yeah, for over five years. The pandemic also kind of messed everything up.
Kate: Wow. Did it confuse everybody in their closets?
Sophie: I mean, I think it's not a coincidence that I pivoted to this job out of the pandemic because so many people were just like, I think we all now know what hard pants means. And that's really, I think all you need to know about how much style changed over the course of pandemic. That rings true for a lot of people.
Kate: Before we leap into picking your brain about how you dress yourself and how you dress other people, can you share with us a self-care practice that is influential in your own daily life? What does anything at all look like as self-care for you?
Sophie: So I have a 21 month old baby.
Doree: Oh my Goodness.
Sophie: And he's great. And I have recently noticed that it is very easy to spend time together like me, my husband and my baby. That feels like you're together. And really you're all kind of just in the same space and there's nothing connective about it at all. And so we've made a pact to go on one dinner, early dinner walk a week, and usually I try to leave my phone behind and usually then I make my husband bring his phone because then I get mom nervous and I'm like, okay, well somebody has to have a phone, but I leave my phone behind and it's just really nice to have that intentional time together where it's like, no, no, we're setting this aside for us.
Doree: Wait question, because we all live in Los Angeles, you live in a neighborhood where you can walk to get an early dinner?
Sophie: Yes. I'm in mid-City, so it's relatively flat and relatively central. We also really, both me and my husband really, we like to walk, so we'll go for something pretty far and it's hot. Sometimes it's a sweaty meal, but it's a meal.
Doree: Right, Right.
Sophie: Yeah.
Kate: Sweaty meals are fine. The intentional time that's so important. I think you make such a good point. There is, I do feel like in partnerships you're around each other a lot, but are you really engaging with each other? There have been moments where for sure in our house the answer is not at all
Sophie: And that it's like, but that it tricks you. It's not even because it's almost easier if you're like, I work from home, my husband works from home. My son is still mostly home right now at this age. And it would be easier if we were all at offices and at school because then you're like, I know we didn't spend time together, but now it's like a week can go by and you're like, hold on, we didn't actually have any quality time together.
Kate: Have we actually talked about ourselves and cared about each other together? It's kind of almost like the way in which social media tricks us into thinking we are in touch with people.
Sophie: Totally.
Kate: That's like a big problem I have like, oh, I just saw you and it's like, oh, I haven't seen you in person in four years, but I know totally
Doree: Sophie.
Kate: I love that.
Doree: Could you talk a little bit about how you became a stylist? Because if this is accurate, you were a musician.
Sophie: I was a musician, yes.
Doree: Okay. I mean, I'm sure you will probably always consider yourself a musician, but you were a professional musician and now you're a professional stylist. So what was that journey? Tell us everything.
Sophie: So it was really organic in that way that I almost thought was bullshit, where people are like, oh, you do a thing you love and you never work a day in your life. And I've come to actually just think it's a rare privilege that some people are lucky enough to stumble upon and be foolish enough to pursue or something. And that for most people really like jobs or jobs. And so I have always just loved clothes. There's these photos of me in preschool where this random photographer would come and bring all of these old dress up costume clothes and the parents would get a cute photo of their kid in an old gown or something, or the boys would be in little top hats and it was very gendered and none of the kids ever wanted to do it because it was so oppressive to be sitting in this photo studio except I loved it. And so I would get all the other kids' sessions, so my parents would come get this packet of I would have a 10 look photo shoot basically while the other kids got none. So I've always been like that, and I think that in a way that was sort of pretty from me. Neither of my parents cared about fashion or clothes, but my parents worked in television and growing up, I would do my homework in the wardrobe trailer after school while they were shooting. And so it was having fairy godmothers who knew what topstick was and how to fix a zipper. And it was like, this is amazing. And I never wanted to pursue it because I kind of felt like fashion was vapid and superficial and it didn't feel important. I believed in the sort of artfulness of what a great designer makes, but I sort of felt like, well, stylists, I thought of celebrity stylists and it just didn't feel exciting or meaningful to me. But I had on the side while I was pursuing music and I had a day job in TV for a while while I was doing music, and I was just always the person that friends would call when they got a new job, when their body had changed, when they were maybe experimenting with their gender presentation, they would say, can I borrow something? Can you take me shopping? Can you help me put an outfit together? They always called me. And I think a turning point was I had a friend post on Instagram, Hey, I have a dear friend who is in treatment for breast cancer right now, and she is going to an awards show with her husband and is just like, does anybody who loves shopping want to take her shopping? She's feeling so overwhelmed. And I was like, me, me, me. Absolutely me. So with a total stranger who I'd never met, I picked her up, she was in the middle of chemo and we drove around and we went shopping for a day and I was like, oh, this is really different. This is really kind of special. And I'm seeing how powerful this can be that this is somebody who's relationship with our body has changed really significantly in the last several months. And I'm facilitating a bit of agency and a bit of fun for somebody who is not accessing that otherwise right now. And even then, more and more stuff like that started coming up and I just kept sort of saying, yeah, let me help you. And I would put together a little Google docs for people. I had a few friends who were going through cancer treatments. I had some friends who were postpartum or who had gained or lost weight, and then it just kind of clicked and I was like, would people pay for this if I just put this as a thing for my job? And everybody was like, yeah. And so I started having people pay me way too little money to do this for a long time. And then I had a baby and I was doing this on the side and the TV show I was working on got very suddenly canceled because that's what that industry is like. And I was like, well, shit, I have a six month old and my husband is in grad school and let's do it. People are into this. And so I launched this business and it kind of was just immediately something that people connected with and here I am.
Kate: Wow. And you mentioned as a kid being drawn to this idea of dress up and the play of clothing, but have you felt like you've been on a journey to find your own personal style? And I know often we talk about the way in which that changes before and after having children, but even just tapping into knowing what your style is, was there a moment that flashed for you?
Sophie: I think I have been somebody who I always felt pretty confident in what my style was almost without needing to define it. And I think that my style shifts a lot. There's a big swing, but it always feels like me. Some days I dress sort of, I don't know, a high school basketball coach, and some days I dress in something very slinky and sexy and I don't feel like those things can't both exist. But I think doing this job more so than like, oh, I need to have three words that define my style. Because I think that's a lot of style advice. I see a lot of time. And I think that makes people kind of anxious. It can be useful to a place, but what happens when you change? Do you resist it because you've picked these three words? Also, picking the three words would make me go crazy. I don't think I could do that. But I think what I have, it's almost less about what is me, and I've been better about recognizing what's not me and being able to appreciate, oh, that's a beautiful piece of clothing because there's so much clothing. It's that I'm always going to see beautiful pieces of clothing that some little shopping part of me goes, Ooh, mine. I must have it. I must have it.
Kate: Well, I know that voice. Yeah.
Sophie: Yeah. We all have that voice. And I think that doing this job has made me better at going almost thinking of clothes. Sometimes art pieces that you get to see almost like the store or your shopping browser is like a museum or a gallery where you get to go, oh, how beautiful, and then continue on. So I think I've gotten better at that and going, yeah, that's not me. That's not what I like for myself. And that is what I really try to work with my clients specifically on developing that skillset of less about finding rules to rigidly try to live by and more about getting in touch with their sense of self. So that saying yes to things that feel right and saying no to things that feel wrong comes a little bit easier.
Doree: So could you walk us through what an initial consultation with a new client looks like? Where do you start? What questions do you ask?
Sophie: Absolutely. So in my dream world, I do what I call a consult sandwich with a client, which is that we start
Kate: Delicious
Sophie: by assessing the clothes that they already have. I think everybody has had that experience of going through their closet and being like, oh, I don't wear, I hate everything, blah, blah, blah. And then you find something and you're like, wait, I forgot I had this. This is kind of great. But it's also really easy to throw that piece away if you don't try it on and actually give it a chance. And a lot of people come to me wanting to just go, no, no, I know what I have. Let's just go shopping. I love shopping great, but I really like to either virtually over zoom, if somebody's not in Los Angeles or in person in their closet, if they're here, go through their closet either literally all of it. Or if we're not doing a full closet cleanout, then Doree, the question that I like to start with is, what's something you love but you never wear? And then I have them. Everybody has stuff like that. You're this thing, and either it's a style and then I say, let's put it on and you're not getting out of trying stuff on with me. You're going to sweat. It's not like the pretty woman montage of shopping. It's like a sport. You're trying on clothes, you're in your underwear, your boobs are out. I'm sitting on your floor with my water bottle. It's not glamorous, but it's fun. And a lot of times, either it's better than you remember, or it's something that is adjustable with a little styling or some tailoring. And we start that process and we do that sort of piece by piece. What's another thing? And people's memories start to get jogged. Oh, this is another one I've really been struggling to style. I always put it on and then I take it off, put it on, and then I take it off. My job is I'm looking for patterns. What do you seem to, what change do I make that's making this from a piece you like? When we tuck it in, when we add a belt, when we roll up the sleeves, when we wear it open, does that turn it into something you like? Then that tells me something about maybe the proportions that you're liking for yourself, the fit you're liking for yourself. Maybe a lot of your clothes have been synthetics and you're somebody who has really, you're sensitive to sensory stuff and you keep buying synthetics and then you don't like how they feel. I'm trying to pay attention to that stuff. And then I want you to understand, I want to sort of demonstrate for you and look in the mirror. Do you see this is like this, you don't like this, this, you do like this? And I really try to use that language you like or you don't, as opposed to, this looks good on you, or this doesn't look good on you because that's, that's not what I'm interested in. And then I identify, okay, what are the actual holes in your closet, which people always have, it's like, okay, you thought you needed more dresses, but you actually have 10 dresses you love, but what you don't have is all your shoes are brown. And so you put on a great dress that you're feeling so cute in, and then you put on a brown shoe and the brown shoe makes it feel like sexy. And then now you're in a brown loafer and you're like, shit, I don't like this anymore. So what if we got you one fun bright pair of shoes that was still comfortable? We didn't have to get you 10 new dresses, we had to get you one new shoe and now all your dresses feel exciting again. And then after we shop for those couple missing pieces, either in person we go shopping together or online, or usually it's some combination of the two, then I'll usually come back over and we'll do one more session where we style a bunch of outfits, we take pictures, we remember save them to an album or you print them out or whatever kind of person you are. That really helps. In the morning, especially a lot of my clients are moms. We don't have time, and we sort of do that final, here are all your outfits, look at all this stuff. These are sort of the cheat codes. We're not going to cover all the outfits, but here are all the cheat codes for outfits that you're loving on you. You could always swap this out or that out or this out or that out and off you go into the world. And so that's my sort of dream consult sandwich. So consult, shop, consult.
Doree: And how long does that typically take?
Sophie: I would say that a consult is usually between an hour and three hours, depending on if we're in person or not. Usually over zoom, it's like an hour to two. And then in person, sometimes it's two to three shopping tends to be a separate day. It's usually one day, somewhere between three and five or six hours, depending on your shopping stamina. I always make us break for lunch and for caffeine, that's very important.
Kate: Smart. I like this
Sophie: And then usually the follow-up session is one to two hours, it's more focused. And then if you're somebody who doesn't live in Los Angeles and the shopping is virtual, then that usually takes me about a week.
Kate: Got it. Okay. Now I want to talk about what your focus on regular people. You say I do not style celebrities. I mean, I'm sure look, when Jennifer Lawrence comes to you, maybe you would say yes. But my point is you really are interested and focused on styling the regular folks, not the influencers, not the celebs. And I was moved when I looked at the photos of some of your clients on your website because one, everybody looked at ease and joyful, but they also looked like regular people, which I feel like we are so not used to seeing. What called you to the regular person, because you live in Los Angeles, being a celebrity stylist is a thing. What made you go in this specific direction?
Sophie: I think it started again organically. It was just who I had access to. I didn't have most celebrities, if they need a stylist, they have a stylist. The people that I mostly knew were regular people. And so that's who was hiring me. And then I think I retroactively sort of teased out an ethos, like a value system once I was sort of in it. And I also think it, there's a lot of people who want to be stylists, want to style celebrities, and I don't know you guys have this, a podcast in my mind is very much a business. I think sometimes when you're starting your own business and it's kind of this wild west, it's easy to compare yourself, especially I think as women to other people to feel sort of competitive. And I think in my head in some ways I was like, yeah, this is my stepping stone to the big leagues of celebrity styling. And the more I did it, the more I was like, wow, everything about this is better than that except that I don't have a lot of photos with a Getty images watermark on it. And pretty much everything else, it was like I just was thinking about what is the life of a celebrity stylist? There's fame and there's appreciation and there's maybe book deals and whatever. But I was thinking about what it must be like for some of the celebrity stylists I admire. The person who comes to mind is like Carla Welch. I think she's a genius. Her work is so beautiful and I think about what it must be like to have 20 of the biggest celebrities in the world all essentially assume that your world revolves around them. And to lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day they're just close to be up at midnight about a dress, it's not worth it to me. I actually don't think it's that important. And instead of working with people who are entitled and who live in this really rarefied world that's sort of detached from reality, I get to work with people. I had a postpartum mom who sent me a selfie the other day and a dress that I found her and she was like, maybe this isn't cool, but the train conductor whistled at me and I've been feeling so terrible. She's like, I'm sure this is not feminist, but I just have been feeling so terrible. And the train conductor complimented my dress and I cried. I have felt so bad. And that's not to say my goal is I'm trying to work with a bunch of women so that they get cat called on the street and are attractive to men again.
Kate: Of course, of course.
Sophie: But I think that there's no, she's not trying to get on the best dressed list, which is such a meaningless thing. She's trying to feel like herself again and not by losing weight and not by changing herself, but by being herself. And when I also, I have styled a couple celebrities here and there for a minute, and I'm very picky with who those people are. They have to be people who are really grounded. I love working with them, but there's just no rush. Like the rush of a mom or a teacher being like, I felt so great today. I was so confident that I was like, I can't beat that.
Doree: Could we actually talk about the postpartum period and how fashion and style changes for people after they become mothers? For me, I know I can speak for myself. I felt like I almost had to rewire my brain after I became a mom in so many ways, not just when it came to fashion and not to mention also my body had changed. And I feel like this is also a question that we get a lot of, I don't know how to dress myself anymore, especially as related to postpartum. Obviously there's other big life changes and life events that happen where people have different style needs, but I do feel like the postpartum period is a very specific life event as you kind of just highlighted. So I was hoping you could talk a little bit about that and what you recommend for people. I mean, there's definitely clothes. I got rid of that I wish I hadn't, but I also feel like I waited too long to get new stuff and I was trying to fit into clothes that not only didn't fit me, but didn't serve me. So hoping you could speak to that.
Sophie: So working with postpartum moms is maybe my favorite thing. And postpartum moms to me is like anybody with a kid between the ages of zero and 18 and then beyond.
Doree: Thank you.
Kate: Yes, yes. We count. Yes.
Sophie: And I think that to me there's sort of two separate questions, which is there's the aesthetic side of it. What does this identity as a mom mean about how I should dress? And that should is really powerful. I think when you're a new mom, what should I do? What should't I do? And that's something that I kind of try to go fuck that there's no should, doesn't, right? There is, but it's not for you. I don't want to dismiss all these internal pressures and external pressures that we experience. Should I be sexier now? Should I be less sexy because I'm a mom? Should I be more sexy so that I can show that haven't my body hasn't changed and I'm still attractive to men? Should I wear things that are muted to demonstrate that I'm not the important one anymore? Should I wear things that are loud so that everybody knows that I'm still here and oh my God, please don't ignore me. I'm not gone. I didn't disappear. And that kind of stuff is so individual. I cannot prescribe anything that applies to everybody except that I can say that if you're feeling that conflict inside yourself, you are not alone. Every mom feels that way, but that what I try to do there is go like, okay, who are you when it's just you and what's the version of yourself you like the most? And let's dress her. But then there's the practical side of being a new mom. And there's a couple things. There's like, are you nursing? Do you need to be able to whip a boob out? Has your body changed? Is your weight fluctuating? Is your shape fluctuating but your weight is not? Who cares? But also, are you chasing after kids? Are you out the park? Are you sweaty? Are you milky? Are you these things? That stuff is very real. And so I don't want to ignore that stuff and be like, well, you're still a powerful business lady, so you better wear stilettos so that everybody knows if you love stilettos and you're like, okay, but you're at the park and you're in the sand and your stilettos are sinking into the sand, so I try to actually sort of assess what is your lifestyle as a mom? Are you really hands-on? Are you on all fours all the time crawling around to grab a toy car or are you at work? Everybody's situation is different as far as the fit and getting rid of clothes, that's a huge one. When do I get rid of clothes? What should I keep? I have so many clothes I got rid of that I'm just weeping about, I mean weeping about. And then I have stuff that I kept that I'm like, why did I keep that? And so again, it's different for everybody and I think it's really important to assess a couple things. One, is it a piece? Do I keep it? If it doesn't fit, do you really love it or are you keeping it as some sort of punishment? Are they just a random pair of skinny jeans that you're like, if I don't get back into these, I am not a worthy woman. Different. If that's why you're keeping them, you shouldn't keep them. If you're keeping 'em, you're like, these are the, oh, they're so I remember I was digging through these vintage bins and I found these and they were so perfect and I've always loved them. Maybe we keep them a little bit. How is it making you feel to see them in your drawer every day? Does that make you feel like, oh, I'm so glad I still have those. Or does that make you feel bad? Maybe we don't keep them in your drawer. Maybe we keep them in a bag, a pie on a shelf. They're still there, but you don't have to see them every day. And the other thing that I really work on is I want to be careful in that phase about how much we shop and for what kind of things because your body is in such fluxx, and I bought so many things immediately postpartum, either thinking I was going to be bigger or thinking I was going to be smaller. And so I have a class and a handbook that I often recommend for postpartum moms. I have a postpartum pregnancy style class that sort of unpacks what are the actual maternity wear pieces that are worth buying and what are the other ways to sort of extend what you've got. And then talks about postpartum nursing, stuff like that. Because also I think we all get, it's such a racket. You buy a nursing top and you're like, wait, I could just wear a button down. I can just lift up my, are you serious? I just bought this. But the other thing is I have that's a great flexible clothes handbook, which is a handbook just like a P D F that anybody can purchase and download. And it talks about the properties of clothing, construction, fabric, et cetera to look for. That means that they're going to fit you at a pretty wide range of sizes so that if you are going to buy something new right now, these are some traits to look for. And it has some links for pieces as well. So you can shop directly in the handbook, but it's explaining things like a jersey knit, a bias cut, looking for things like adjustable ties, ruching, smocking, all these sort of elements that make something and make your wardrobe versatile and that are going to fit you at a wide range of sizes. Things like a hundred percent cotton pants, but that have big Bud Press makes these work pants that are a hundred percent cotton, so they fit gorgeous, but then they have elastic just in the back so they don't stretch out and die. Stretch pants tend to, they hold their integrity, but the elastic has about a two inch give. So if you gain or lose a little bit of weight or your body changes, they fit. So stuff like that, that's all in this handbook of like, okay, if you are going to make a couple purchases right now, every postpartum mom I've worked with is like, okay, I have no pants. No pants. Yeah. So stuff like that.
Kate: I mean, yeah, I have so many pants and yet I have no pants.
Doree: Yes pants
Kate: Yeah, that's where I live. I live in that space.
Doree: So we're just going to take a short break and we will be right back.
Kate: So how do you kind of recommend people rehash their wardrobe? But I love the anecdote you gave about the shoes and I think it can be really tricky, especially postpartum, but at any time wanting to make some changes to our wardrobe. We have a limited budget. Fast fashion's very tempting yet it's not really good for anybody ultimately. But I also personally find thrifting and secondhand shopping extremely overwhelming. Where do you, what's the happy medium in all of this?
Sophie: Sure. Okay, a couple things. First of all, I think to do your own assessment, which is hard. There's a reason I have a job is you do it by playing dress up like a kid. And I think if we're in the mom zone right now, I feel like we're in the mom zone. That's extra hard when you have kids. And a slight, this will be a tangent that gets us back to the question, which is just, I think we all have moms, especially these two things that happen, which is every once in a while, maybe we have a date night or we're going to a concert or something that we're excited about putting a cute outfit together for. And inevitably that day comes and one of two things happens. You are like, oh my God, I fed the kids, I did the bath, I took a shower, I finished work and now I have 20 minutes to get ready and get out the door and I have no idea what I'm wearing. Oh my God. And so you either reach for your uniform, which then is like, okay, this makes me feel, but I feel a little bit sad. These opportunities to dress up don't come that often. And I feel like I miss an opportunity to wear something kind of fun. Or you reach for something fun that maybe you haven't worn in forever and you haven't really thought about. You never wear it like I got to wear this now, otherwise when am I going to wear it? And then you put it on and you spend the whole night doing the adjustment dance where you're pulling at it and you're like, this isn't right. And then you can't enjoy it because you're not comfortable. And my solution to that is giving yourself, even if it's just once every six months, an hour and a half to two hours where somebody, if you can get a little childcare, your kid's taking a nap, whatever, light a candle, have a glass of wine, put a cup of tea, whatever you do, put on music you like and play, dress up with the clothes that maybe those special pieces like a kid, theres no. How do you know that it's going to work? You don't know it's going to work. You got to put it on your body and you got to go. And when you put it on, you go, oh no, it doesn't work. Don't take it off right away. Go, what if I roll up the sleeves? What if I open this? What if I put on boots? Sort of just what if yourself through, what if I wore a belt over it? What if I wore two belts over it? What if I wore a sweater over it? What if I put 10,000 necklaces on? What if I took these all off and put on a scarf? There's no wrong what if, but what if your way through your closet a little bit and when you find something, you take a selfie and then next time you have that fun night, it's there. But the other thing as you're playing dress up to sort of go back to your question is if there are pieces that you keep going, Ugh, I have no blouse, all my blouses, no matter how much I play with them, feel right, write that down. Blouses, I need new blouses, right? If something like that comes up as you're going, make a note of it, write it down, put it in your phone, whatever's going to work for you. And then as far as the shopping, where do you start? What's the sort of happy medium? It's tough. It's tough because fast fashion isn't just the sheen and the Zara fast fashion isn't necessarily defined by its price point, although that's definitely a good sign if something is fast fashion or not. There's lots of mid-range to more expensive pieces that are still generated at a fast fashion rate. So it is hard to avoid as a person who lives in our capitalistic society, it's hard to avoid fast fashion. It's there. I'm a big fan of the RealReal. It's by no means a perfect solution. There's lots of shipping, there's still lots of inventory. But I like the RealReal because it's curated. I'm a big fan of filters, so I am a big filter user. When I shop for people, I set my price. Oh, I don't want to shop. I'm not looking above a hundred dollars. Great. You set your price filter at a hundred dollars. I'm a size large, I'm setting my size at large. I only the color, I'm only really looking right now for these colors. So you set the color filter there. I know I don't want short sleeves. So you click long sleeve as much as you want to focus it. I think that can really help the infinite scroll feel manageable if you're shopping online. The other reason I like the RealReal is that it is returnable if it's not over 40% off. So especially, especially for moms whose bodies are fluctuating and because sizes are bullshit anyway, there's no consistency at all. Even measurements, especially on the real world, are always off. You'll be like, it'll say it's a large and then it's like a 24 inch waist and you're like, what are you talking about? So you do that and then you try a couple things on, but I think the biggest thing because of how unbelievably prolific fast fashion is at this point is it's less about where you shop and it's more about how you shop. Are you shopping because you have something that you need and are you paying attention? Are you being thoughtful about it? Right? Maybe I have a hack. I try to let my tab sit for a day or so before I'll fill my card up because I find that when I come back 24 hours later, if I'm still thinking about it, really thinking about it, then maybe I really do want it. But if I'm like, wait, what? That's kind of then it was that marketing bug, that thing that just all of us have been inundated with since we were born of just consume, consume, consume, and then I don't eat it. So that's sort of my advice there. I love thrift shopping and vintage shopping. I think focusing, I think it can feel a little bit less overwhelming if you're going into a thrift or a vintage store with that I wrote down blouse and they need a colorful shoe to be able to just go to that rack and you can kind of tune the rest out. That can be helpful. But it's definitely a lot thinking about if you're thrift shopping, trying to look for things that are natural fibers like cotton, silk wool, hemp, bamboo as linen as opposed to a lot of polyester can help make it sort of call it for you. But yeah, it can still be overwhelming. Call me.
Kate: Yeah, I mean truly though, that is a really important point to make. You're a professional for a reason.
Sophie: This is true.
Doree: Sophie, you said something towards the beginning of our conversation that I wanted to go back to, which is that you don't, and let me know if I'm paraphrasing you incorrectly, but it was basically along the lines of you're not telling people, oh, that looks good or that looks bad. And I think something that I personally find myself sort of trying to thread this weird needle is like I'm trying to move beyond feeling like things need to be flattering or that they look good, but I also think I want to look good and I want my clothes and my style to feel like me, but I also feel like this other big factor is years of body dysmorphia mean that I don't really know what looks good. Sometimes I put on a dress and I'm like absolutely not. And then if I end up wearing it or I send a picture to a friend, they're like, oh my god, that's amazing. And I'm like, really? Okay. You know what I mean? So how do we kind of navigate all of that?
Sophie: Yeah, I mean it's certainly one of the trickier more nuanced parts of the job and I am always trying to thread a needle to, it's not something that comes just effort. Oh, I know exactly what to say here. I think that I really try to never use language myself that indicates that I'm concerned with making somebody look thinner or making them look better, that I'm really trying to use language one. How do you feel in that? What do you like about it? What do you not like? And that I'm also putting the judgment on the piece of clothing. What do you like about it? It's not like what do you like about how you look? Oh, I look thin. No. What do you like about the dress? How does that feel? And trying to take it away from the body a little bit, but it's impossible to totally, we can't separate our clothes from how we feel about our body. We're putting them on our body. I really try to use the language of proportions in a sort of valueless way as opposed to, oh, you need to make your waist look smaller. You need to make your legs look longer. Understanding that any of us are always working with either the proportions of our body and the proportions of the clothes and how those things sort of come together. And that on any given day, you have every right to want to play and push the proportions in any direction and that it can be artful and interesting and fun to play with an outfit where it makes your legs look super long. Not because having long legs is better, but because that's sort of a fun look for the day and then the next day maybe you wear a long dress that doesn't make your legs look long at all. Well, great, what a cool long, beautiful dress that these are all sort of valueless things that are fun and expressive. I also deal so closely with so many in the middle of people's relationship with their body and I have a complicated relationship with my body and I think I can't imagine anything worse than being naked in a dressing room with somebody who looks at you and you're like, oh, I just feel terrible in this. I don't like and says something mean about their body. And to have me look at you and go, you shouldn't say that. You should feel beautiful all the time. What a useless thing to say to somebody truly. So I usually kind of say the body positivity stuff is hard and it's not even necessarily what I believe is the best goal. I guess as the bar is changing or whatever, I would probably say I try to ascribe more to body neutrality. Your body is just a body. You don't have to be beautiful all the time. You don't have to feel beautiful. And that the pressures that make us feel like we have to look a certain way are not gone. In some ways the language has just changed and it's a tall order to feel a hundred percent great about your body a hundred percent of the time. And that I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you're wrong if you don't feel great about your body all the time. But that I can tell you one thing for sure, which is that your body is not the problem ever. Your body is never ever the problem. Your body is never why clothes don't work. It's never why clothes look bad, the clothes are the problem. Or if maybe they're not the problem but they're not right, you don't like 'em like that on you, great. Even if we were to scratch that surface and go, you don't like that on you because you're feeling bad about your size or your shape or whatever, we don't need to say it. And eliminating some of those things from your vocabulary goes a surprisingly long way for how our self-talk starts to shape.
Kate: Oh, interesting.
Sophie: And so when you start to go, I don't like this shirt as opposed to, I feel gross in this shirt,
Kate: I feel gross. The use of the word gross to describe ourselves.
Doree: Yeah.
Kate: Oh, that's one I've done many times.
Sophie: I also think about how I think of other people. I just see all my clients and I'm like, look at all these smoking hot babes. And sometimes it's not like, and then I'll hear how I sometimes think of myself and I'm like, man, nobody is thinking this except me. And who is waiting to capitalize off of me feeling bad about myself? What little corporation is lurking around the corner to go, oh, you don't like that? Let me sell you something that sometimes helps me push it away too.
Kate: Great words of wisdom, because I feel this on many levels with aging, with all of it that is intense. But I love the way that clothes, I don't know, it sounds like you are not attaching, morality is the wrong word, but kind of the same. They're taking some of the attachment out of the clothing while still making it fun.
Sophie: Yeah. I think we live in an era, especially when we're trying to promote our own business and we have feminism and all of these things where we're sort of supposed to be able to explain why whatever we do is the world's most empowering and important thing. And I do think that what I do is important, but if you were to ask me, even as a stylist, how important is style? It'd be pretty low on the list. It has tremendous power, but I don't think it's inherently, the world is not inherently a better place if everybody's dressing in a way that makes them feel good. If everybody's dressing in a way that makes them feel good enough to then go connect with people in their community to work for better working conditions for people, living conditions for people, if dressing in a way that makes you feel good leads to that, then great. And I think clothes are important in that the fashion industry is a really powerful player in what shapes our world's climate reality and financial reality and economic reality and labor reality. Retail has all retail and manufacturing, all these things play a really big role. So I think thinking about how we consume fashion is really important, but I don't think it's like, oh, there's nothing more important than being a well-dressed. It's so empowering to be well-dressed woman. There's some very terrible well-dressed women out there. It doesn't, Melania Trump was one of those people that everybody was like, oh, well she's wearing all these fancy clothes. It's like, yeah, that doesn't make her a good person.
Kate: She just got money and a stylist
Sophie: Money and a stylist. So yeah, I think it's easy to feel like it's a big deal and I think there are a lot of contexts where it's really meaningful on a personal level, but my hope is that it opens you up to thinking about it in a more connective way
Kate: Before we have to let you go, because we should, even though I could hold onto this conversation forever, do you prescribe to the belief that there is an item everybody should have in their closet? Do we all need a trench or is that kind of an overplayed concept? And really it's more about personal style and personal choice.
Sophie: Personal style and personal choice. I think so many of the capsule closet things and the basics are really tied up in western preppy kind of culture. There are so many cultures around the world who do not have a trench, who do not have a white t-shirt, who do not have jeans, and they're just fine. And everybody needs this. It's also so funny. You see that stuff market and it's like everybody needs this and then there's a new, everybody needs this every week. And you're like, so I need everything. Everybody needs everything. Eventually it gets to that point. But I love a trench. I love a trench, but you don't have to love a trench.
Doree: Look, I will just say I have tried trenches and they do not work on my body for whatever reason, which I know is antithetical to the whole sort of thing we're talking about, but I'm just not a trench person.
Kate: I know I want to be so badly.
Doree: I'm just not,
Sophie: You don't like trenches?
Doree: I don't like trenches. I don't like that color. I dunno. There you go. I have so many other questions for you, Sophie, but I'll just buy a consult with you and then we can really get into it.
Kate: Buckle up, baby.
Doree: Yes, let's do it. Sophie, if our listeners want to book a session with you, I know you mentioned you can do stuff virtually, you can do stuff in person. How do they do that? Can you give us a sense of how much it costs and Yeah, let's hear it.
Sophie: They can book it through my website. I would say my prices range from 100 to 500. If you're doing a bridal or I'm doing a full closet cleanout right now. My rate is like a hundred dollars an hour for various things. To be honest, I'm hoping I can raise that sometime soon because I think I want to make more money for the amount of work I do, but I'm not doing that yet. So for right now, it's a hundred dollars an hour and if I raise it, it'll be like 150. It won't be like I'm not raising it to five an hour or something. And they can book through my website, sophiestraussstyling.com, or they can always send me a DM or something on Instagram, which is at Sophie Straus styling, and I have a booking form there. They can also find on my website, my classes and my handbooks. I also have a membership on Patreon for people who are maybe consult curious and you're like, you want a little taste, but you're not sure the different tiers. There's a fun little community of fashion and style minded people who are all trying to be sustainable and thoughtful, but love fashion. And we have a little discord chat and people share ideas and outfits there. And there's sort of, depending on the tier, you can get access to all the classes and handbooks. So that's also a fun place for people if they're not necessarily sure they want to start with an actual session.
Doree: And that's at paton.com/sophiestrausestyling
Sophie: Strause styling.Amazing
Doree: Slash sophie Strause styling. Alright, well this was so great. I am inspired to go through my closet.
Kate: Do you also feel a little bit more like Doree? Do you also feel a little bit more just accepting of your style already? I don't know. Talking to you makes me feel like, oh, it's okay that I just want to wear what I want.
Doree: Totally.
Kate: And I don't need to do Barbie core.
Doree: No. Well, and also totally. And so much of our conversation is going to stick with me. But something that you said about maybe you don't need a new dress, maybe you just need a new pair of shoes to go with all the dresses. It's that kind of reframe. We always talk about reframes here, but it's that kind of reframe that I think is really powerful when it comes to your fashion and style. So I am going to be taking more of that sort of view. I think
Kate: What I hear you saying is we should just buy a lot of shoes. Just buy tons of shoes. Just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Sophie: Please buy a lot of shoes. Please buy a lot of shoes. Yeah. You guys can just extract that soundbite from me.
Doree: Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much. This was super fun.
Sophie: Thanks for having me.
Doree: Kate, did anything Sophie say, what has kind of stuck with you since we talked to her? Have you made any changes?
Kate: It's interesting. I was actually in my closet kind of putting clothes away the other day, and I had this thought to myself that is kind of a mantra I'm trying to recite because I tend to impulse buy without thought. And that is, I don't have the budget to be doing that. And it's also just not, I think it's an avoidance tactic, quite frankly, of avoiding dealing with other feelings. I know
Doree: Now we're getting somewhere
Kate: I know deep stuff. So I was in my closet and I just was putting, hanging something up, and I just said, you know what? I have everything I need. I have everything I need, I don't need. And look, let's rewind to me just rambling about how I needed a pink lipstick and I dont. I have everything I need. I don't need anything else. And that's a very felt, I was like, I'm very grateful I I don't need a new shirt. Don't need a new dress. You don't need new ballet flats. I don't need a new sneaker. I have everything I need. Use what I have. And I think it was related coming out of our conversation of just this idea of we don't even know what we have. And sometimes I looked at a shirt that it was sitting there, and how many times have I worn this without giving it really? And instead of giving it another chance or kind of reworking it, I'd just be like, I need something else. And I don't. So that is kind of what has stuck with me. And also the idea of I don't need to feel as hung up on trends as, I don't think it was trends. It's that as you age, I think you do start to feel figuring out where you fit in so many ways. And that is definitely kind of something I've been feeling in the last few years of as the trendsetters get younger and younger. I'm like, how I do I even tap into this? So that was kind of nice to dig into a little bit. I dunno, how about you?
Doree: I really liked how she parsed out the distinction between how something makes you feel versus how you look in something, because that I feel like is something that I am constantly working on.
Kate: Yeah. Do you have the thing of you get ready or you put something on and you feel amazing, and then you take a photo of yourself and the photo brings down the good feelings?
Doree: That has definitely happened. But then I try to think about the recent Reductress headline that was something like, wow, woman finally feels good about how she looks after looking at photo of herself from five years ago or something like that. It's something about how it's not exactly that, but it's basically whenever we take pictures, I shouldn't speak for everyone, but I know that I'm guilty of this, that you take a picture and you need to look at it and you're like, oh, I look terrible. And then you revisit that picture later and you're like, oh my God, it looks so cute.
Kate: Yep, yep, yep.
Doree: And that is a mind fuck. And so I'm trying to just, I don't know. I feel like it's just this lifelong process of body dysmorphia if I can't get really real. My parents were here recently and my mom had said to me when we went to Boston, she was like, Hey, if you have any exercise clothes you're not using, can you bring them? Because I need new exercise clothes. And I was like, I will try, but I don't think I've room in my suitcase. And indeed, I did not have room in my suitcase. But then when she was here, I was like, Hey, do you want to take some of these exercise clothes? So I'm giving her some clothes and she's trying them on. And she said, I gave her a tank top. And she was like, oh, well, I would only wear this at spin class. I wouldn't wear this in my Zumba class or whatever it is because of my arms. And I was just like, mom, is this what you're 73 and this is still your mindset? And I was just like, I can't live like that.
Kate: Yeah.
Doree: I can't live like that.
Kate: How did she respond when you said something to her?
Doree: She was kind of like, yeah, she kind of acknowledged it and she ended up taking the tank tops. We'll see if she actually wears them. But it was kind of like, oh, come on. This is your whole life. To just think about thinking this your whole life and how much brain space that takes up and how it dictates the choices that you make.
Kate: Yeah. And how no one, no one's immune.
Doree: Yeah, totally. I mean, I feel like I've already been on this journey, but that was kind of a big wake up call in a sense of I got to nip this shit in the bud, or I'm going to go to my grave being like, well, don't bury me in the sleeveless dress.
Kate: Oh my God. Oh my God, yes. Please don't cremate me in shorts.
Doree: Oh my God.
Kate: Oh fuck. It is so freaking hard.
Doree: Yeah, it's so hard. I don't blame her or fault her. That is shit that has been ingrained in her since day one. And in some regards, it's unrealistic to expect her to just completely change her whole outlook and mentality. But at least I, from my vantage point, can say, I don't want,
Kate: Yes.
Doree: I don't want that. Whereas maybe 10 years ago, my response would've been like, oh yeah, totally.
Kate: Right, right. You've done some growing.
Doree: I feel like I have. I mean, there's a lot more to go, but I do feel like at least I've done some of it. So I don't even remember how we got on this tangent. I think we were talking about Sophie. But yeah, I've definitely been doing a lot of thinking about that.
Kate: This does kind of lead me to what my intention is for this week. So I'll tell you, my intention last week was to stick with my consistent morning routine. I'm still figuring that out, but getting there, my goal is just to kind of wake up before everybody else because I just feel like it's sets the tone for the day, and I'm kind of doing okay there. But this week I have kind of been thinking a lot about aging And my feelings around my face and the way it's changing and the things I want to do to stop that, and why do I want to stop that and how it feels to get older when you don't feel old, and just all these kind of things. And so my only intention this week is just to keep creating space for myself to have these thoughts and to think about it without judgment. Because I do feel like I will often, especially if I'm looking at my wrinkles and then I'm like, oh, I should accept everything. I am hard on myself no matter what. I just feel I haven't really allowed myself space to be vulnerable and thinking about what it means. So that's where I'm at. I'm really, really middle aged and I'm thinking about it.
Doree: Okay.
Kate: How about you over in the intention zone over there?
Doree: Well, Kate, last week I was talking about my exercising schedule and my favorite class at the gym. They had changed the time, which was a problem for me. I have tried out another class at the gym a couple times, and the first class I was like, no. And then the second class I was like, okay, I actually, this will be fine. And it's at a more convenient time for me. So I think that will work out. I'm figuring it out. But one thing that I will say is I'm really enjoying strength training and it's fun to feel myself getting stronger.
Kate: Listen, talk about one of the best things you can do as a middle-aged person.
Doree: Totally
Kate: Pumping iron baby. thats awesome.
Doree: And it's also, And to our previous points slash conversation, it does feel very liberating to do it without regard to like, oh, I'm doing this to lose weight or, you know what I mean? That feels good. That's not even a factor.
Kate: Yes. That's very freeing.
Doree: It's very freeing. It's very freeing. This week I have some travel going to a conference and just, I'm going by myself, going to be in a hotel room for room of my own two nights. Can I just really try to
Kate: Oh, the dream.
Doree: Yeah. I know. I was talking to some other people who aren't going, and one of them was like, oh, I just didn't see the appeal of being in an airport hotel for three days. And I was like two nights in a hotel room by myself. Sign me up. I don't care.
Kate: I love an airport hotel.
Doree: I don't care if it's in the airport.
Kate: No, just, yeah, put me in a room alone and let me,
Doree: Yes,
Kate: Go to town.
Doree: I'm just excited about that aspect of it. So yeah, so my intention is to just kind of enjoy the conference, meet people, talk to people, but also have some alone time.
Kate: I like this for you.
Doree: Thank you so much, Kate. This is also the episode where we thank our Patreon supporters at the $10 level and above, which is one of the perks, one of the benefits of joining at that level. So Kate, last month, I read all the names.
Kate: Yeah. Because I was having a mild panic attack about messing up names, doing something wrong. So with that stated, I'm going to step into my power and I'm going to read and express our deepest gratitude to these folks. I'm going to read their names, and if you are listening and you hear your name and I mispronounce it, please email us at Forever35podcast@gmail.com and check me on that.
Doree: Okay.
Kate: Deal.
Doree: Deal.
Kate: Okay, Doree, here we go. Thank you to the following folks for supporting us with $10 a month. Alexandra Houghton, Amanda Sheer, Amy Meeko, Andrea Sepulveda, Angie James, Ann Rum, Becky Hobbs Haer, Beth, Bethany, Brianne, Macy, Caroline Cici, Chelsea Torres, Christine Basses, Coco Bean, Courtney, Gwen, Diana, Diane, m Martin, Dr. Josie Alquist. E Jackson, Elizabeth Anderson. Elizabeth. Clearly Cleary, Elizabeth Holland, Emily Bruer. I'm going with it.
Doree: Sounds good to me
Kate: Emily McIntyre, Evelyn Lin, Fran. Hannah Moss. Heather Kinka. J D K. Del Apte. Jennifer Barrett. Jennifer hss. Jennifer Olson, Jennifer Steele, Jess Koen, Jessica Gale, Jillian Bowman, Joanna Stone. Josie Sig. Julian Putt. Juliana. Okay. Juliana. I want to say Che. Or Che or Depe. Juliana. Duff. Kara Broman. Karen Perlman. Kate M, Catherine, Ellingson. Kelly Dearborn, Kelsey Wolfe, Denae, Carrie Golds, Kirsten, Collins. Krista, Kristin, Morris. Laura. Laura. Eddie. Laura. Hadden, Lisa, Travis. Lizette. Liz Rain, Lynette Jones, Marissa. Monica, Nick, Nikki, Bossert, Pam from Boston. Rachel Anderson, Sarah Egan, Stephanie Ana, Susan Beseth, Tara Todd, Tiffany Griffith. Valerie Bruno. And Zulema Lundy.
Doree: Kate, you nailed that. You did it.
Kate: Oh my gosh. I did it. I did it.
Doree: You did it. That was great.
Kate: Thank you. Thank you. Boy, I'm working on my fear of making mistakes again. Middle age.
Doree: And if we somehow missed you, please send us an email as well. Kate, this has been so fun to get to talk to you. Thank you everyone for listening. Forever35 is hosted and produced by me, Doree Shafrir, and Kate Spencer. Produced and edited by Sam Junio. Sami Reed is our project manager, and our network partner is Acast. Thanks everybody. Bye bye.