Podcasts about universal standard

Kate Carroll is a stylist and retail expert with a background in fashion and apparel design. She thrives on building meaningful relationships, managing projects, and creating seamless experiences. With a keen eye for detail and a data-driven approach, she brings efficiency and impact to every role. Outside of work, she enjoys shopping, reading, Pilates, and indulging in martinis and oysters—always with a great outfit for the occasion.In this episode, Kate speaks with Fatima Ahmed about her career journey in retail. Kate shares her upbringing in Seattle, her education in apparel design, and various roles she held in fashion, including pattern making, buying, and styling. She shares insights into her experiences at Universal Standard, her personal growth, and the importance of advocating for oneself.

With over 15 years of experience, Fatima Ahmed has developed a career with a strong passion for inclusivity in fashion. Most recently, with Universal Standard, she was part of the team that brought the brand to its current 00-40 size offering. Fatima is currently a consultant with The øther, a brand exploring the dynamic relationship of cultural identity and personal style through clothing and storytelling.In this episode, Fatima chats with Kate Carroll about her history of sewing clothing in childhood to studying art and transitioning into fashion. She shares her experiences at various companies, including her own brand, and her work in menswear, technical design, and plus-size fashion. Notable achievements include her impact at Universal Standard and ongoing projects with brands like The Other, showcasing her passion and evolution in the industry.

You're listening to Burnt Toast!We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay, and it's time for another Indulgence Gospel. It's the last week of our summer break, so we'll be back after Labor Day with all new podcast episodes for you. We so appreciate everyone who has been continuing to listen and support the podcast during our hiatus. It means a lot to know that our community enjoys our work and cares that we're able to make it sustainable too. So as a thank you for listening, today's Indulgence Gospel rerun has no paywall. We've realized that so many of you on the free list almost never get to hear how hilarious and smart Corinne is — and as paid subscribers know, Indulgence Gospel episodes are truly the heart of the podcast. They are the most fun to make, because they are the episodes where we feel truly in conversation with all of you.If you love this episode, of course we hope you'll consider a paid subscription to Burnt Toast so you can get every paywalled episode we make. And we also hope you'll subscribe to Big Undies, Corinne's new Substack about clothes. And, if you subscribe to Big Undies, you can take 20 percent off your Burnt Toast subscription or vice versa – either way, it gets you all of our content for under $12 per month.This episode contains affiliate links. Shopping our links is a great way to support Burnt Toast! Episode 157 TranscriptVirginiaYou're listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I'm Virginia Sole-Smith I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter.CorinneAnd I'm Corinne Fay. I work on Burnt Toast and run SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus sized clothing.VirginiaWe have so many good questions this month. A lot of parenting food questions. I think maybe because I just ran the lunchbox piece in the newsletter it's on everybody's minds. But also, as usual, some fat fashion stuff. Clogs are coming up later. And Ozempic, because obviously. So it's gonna be a good one.VirginiaSo before we dive in, how are you doing? What's new with you, Corinne?CorinneI'm doing well. One thing that's new with me is: I just signed up to do a powerlifting meet. So I'm feeling nervous. VirginiaWell, yeah. Is this like a competition thing, where people come and watch? CorinneI think so. I mean, obviously, I've never done something like this before. It's in Albuquerque, and it's being run by my gym. And it's all women's. VirginiaThat sounds very cool. CorinneI'm just having a little of like, Oh, what did I do? Let's see. Wow. Am I going to be the most amateur, weakest person there? I might.VirginiaBut you'll still be super strong and amazing. Because the weakest person at a powerlifting competition is still the strongest person in most other rooms.CorinneThat's a good point. And I think one great thing about lifting is, it's really more about your own goals and competing with yourself. But still.VirginiaSo is it like whoever lifts the most is the winner?CorinneSo my understanding is very loose, but I know there are different weight classes. So you compete against people who are roughly around the same size?.Virginia Interesting. Okay.CorinneAnd then I think it's a cumulative weight of how much you lift, like combined squat, deadlift, bench press. VirginiaWow, that's so cool. Julia Turshen recently did one of these.CorinneI feel like I was slightly influenced by Julia Turshen.VirginiaDid she enable you? Julia, good job! The pictures and videos she posted of it looked super exciting. And it looked like a very professional athletic setting. I would be intimidated for sure.CorinneThe other thing that I'm sure we'll end up talking about again, but you have to wear a singlet which is like, where am I gonna find a singlet? And knee socks.VirginiaKnee socks! Why knee socks? CorinneI'm like, oh my God, I'm never gonna find knee socks that fit me, but I'm trying to figure out if I can wear Universal Standard body shorts as a singlet, because I already have one of those. VirginiaThat feels like a great solution. CorinneIt's singlet-esque? But I don't know what the actual requirements are.VirginiaGirlfriend Collective also has a shorts body suit thing.CorinneI should look into that. VirginiaBut I feel like you should be able to work with what you have. Especially for your first one. Once you're a pro and doing this all the time, you'll get, like, something with rhinestones. CorinneOnce I'm a sponsored Olympic athlete. Yes.VirginiaI love that like we're getting to follow along on the journey. Obviously we're going to need another installment on this afterwards.CorinneOkay, yes. And just to be clear, the meet isn't until July, so, so I have a lot of time to think about it.VirginiaI'm just saying though. A few months ago, you were recommending Casey Johnston and her couch-to-barbell program. And you were like, “I'm just using a broomstick.”CorinneIt's true. VirginiaAnd now!CorinneIt's true and now I'm lifting actual pounds.VirginiaVery, very cool. CorinneYeah, what's new with you? VirginiaI feel like what's new with me is that I am surviving, not thriving a little bit. So this is going to come out in mid-April. So we'll be two weeks out from book launch. So I will either be better or I will be way worse. I mean, having had two children, it's sort of similar to the last month of pregnancy when you're like, it's all you can think about, this thing is happening, but you have no control over it. I mean, at least with the book, you know, like the date it's coming. Which with pregnancy, they have yet to really figure out, unless you're scheduling. But I counted it up this morning, I have recorded 18 podcasts so far. Of other people's podcasts. Like for talking about the book. 18 people's podcasts. CorinneOh whoa. That's wild.VirginiaAnd like, seven of them were in the last week and a half? So I feel like my voice is hanging on by a thread. And I'm just getting a little mush-brained about it. I need to step back a little.Obviously, I am super grateful. I love that people want me to talk about the book. I love that people are excited about the book. I cannot wait for it to be out. But it's just at a point where there are a lot of details. Like, review all the press release materials, review the marketing plan…. I forgot we were recording today. And it's not the first thing I've forgotten. Like, I forgot the kids had a dentist appointment. We made it, but I'm just like, my brain is holding too many pieces of information. Some things are getting dropped. I'm just coming in with a sort of scattered energy. But I've got the Throat Coat Tea that I'm living on right now. And we're gonna do it! CorinneDo you have any upcoming book promo stuff that you're really excited to do?VirginiaWell, I did an interview yesterday that I can't talk about yet, because I don't think it will be out by the time this launches. CorinneTop secret. VirginiaThere are two top secret ones that will be coming out in the week or two after this podcast episode. And they're both very exciting. And I will say that I was very happy with my outfit for one. So that was good. And the other one the outfit matters less because it is not visual. I will say no more! And yeah, that part's been fun, actually figuring out clothes for like the book tour Dacy has been helping me and maybe some time we'll do a follow up about finding clothes for this. Because it's a very specific level of, how dressy do you want to be versus comfortable? So maybe there will be an essay of what I wore for the book tour.CorinneI would love to read that.VirginiaOkay, so we're going to do some questions! The first one is a hot take opportunity. This came in over Instagram multiple times. People would like to know what we saw of Jia Tolentino's Ozempic piece in The New Yorker.CorinneOkay, well, now is my time to be embarrassed when I admit that I read it really lightly. I did a really light skim sort of read, and was like, seems fine. And then I've seen everyone else being like, “This article is horrible.” And I've been like, wow, I really need to revisit that and find out why people are so upset.VirginiaI'm glad to hear people are saying they're upset! I felt like no one was talking about it at all for a little bit. And I was like, what is happening? I feel like the New York magazine piece came out, which I wrote about and that was not great. And then this piece comes out two weeks later, and I'm just like, why? Why did it come out? It's the same piece really. And I want to be clear that I love Jia's work. I loved Trick Mirror. I think she writes phenomenal stuff. The piece she did on Angela Garbes last year was just incredible. And this was… not that. It is very much centering the story on thin people who would like to be thinner if they take Ozempic. There's one fat person interviewed for the story. And, you know, of course, every fat person is entitled to their own experience of fatness. But her quotes just reinforced so many stereotypes. She talks about wanting to lose weight because she feels like she can't hike or run at her current size. And it's like, come on. We can do better. CorinneIf you want to hike and run, you could work on hiking and running?VirginiaRight! There are so many fat hikers and runners on Instagram. CorinneI thought the compounding pharmacy thing was kind of interesting.VirginiaOh, like explaining how sort of like loosey goosey it is and getting the drugs? CorinneBecause I've seen a lot of people on TikTok being like, I'm getting this patented drug from a compounding pharmacy. And I'm like, wait, is that real? Like, what is that? So I thought that part was interesting.VirginiaIt was interesting. But when she goes through the process of getting it herself, I always just worry—this is the eating disorder handbook stuff.Corinne True true. You're literally telling people how to do it. VirginiaAnd I get that that's not hard to find. We all have Google. But is that something The New Yorker should be doing? Does The New Yorker need to teach us how to get our weight loss drugs? I don't know. I feel like the general trend in the Ozempic coverage–And this is not just Jia, not just New York Magazine. But by and large, this coverage has this underlying question of: If we have now found a silver bullet that will make people thin, does that mean we can just forget about anti fat bias? And that is so dark. We cannot just say, now that we have a way to make everybody thin, it's okay to hate fat people, because we can just make them thin.CorinneThat's a good point.VirginiaI'm not judging anyone's individual decisions about this. But this larger discourse is not helpful. That's my hot, grouchy take. CorinneThat's the hot take! I would love to know also, if any listeners have strong feelings about it? VirginiaYes. Comments are open!CorinneOkay, the next question is:Q: The one thing I can't shake as a new mom is worrying about making my daughter fat. How do I shake that? I grew up fat and it was hard. I want better for her. But does that mean dieting?VirginiaThis is a very understandable fear. But no, it does not mean dieting. CorinneI want to validate this parent's worries, because you're coming from a place where it sounds like you struggled a lot. And you don't want your kids to struggle, and that totally makes sense.VirginiaI think what I'm stuck on is, “I grew up fat and it was hard.” Yes, absolutely. Not denying that. But was it hard because you were fat? Or was it hard because the world made fat not okay?And so, this is kind of the Ozempic thing, right? Is the answer to erase fatness by which we mean erase fat people? Or is the answer systemic change and unlearning this bias on a personal level? But I know, that is a terrible question. You cannot make all those systemic changes by yourself. That is not doable. So it is really, really hard.CorinneThe one thing that's sort of not explicit in this question is whether the kid is actually fat.VirginiaShe says she's a new mom. So I'm thinking she has a baby. So she probably doesn't know? CorinneBecause my next thought was, you could talk to your kid about it being hard. But maybe not for a newborn.VirginiaBut maybe start now! Get the conversation going.CorinneStart thinking about it. You can talk to yourself about it. I think now might be a time to start therapy. VirginiaTherapy, always a great option.You are not going to make your daughter thin or fat. You don't actually control her body size. The number of factors that go into determining body sizes is this sort of endless and murky list, and no one really knows what are the largest drivers. But how you feed her, and how much you make her run around are not the largest drivers of her body size. And putting all your energy there is only going to cause damage, which you yourself probably know, because when you say it was hard, I'm guessing that some kind of childhood dieting might have been a piece of that.So I feel like we need to let you off the hook of the “I'm gonna make her fat.” She may be fat. There is nothing wrong with that. It is not your fault. And what she really needs is for you to unconditionally accept her body.CorinneI also think this could be a really good time to think of some advocacy you could do, whether that's looking into school policies about bullying or even at the legislative level, like laws about anti fat bias. Or just trying to be an advocate in your community for body liberation or fat liberation? VirginiaI love that. And I just wanna say this is hard. It is really unfair that that is asked of us. But that is where we are on this issue. And we're only going to make progress if we all approach it from that perspective. CorinneAnd I want to reiterate: The thing about bias is, the solution is never to get rid of the people we're biased against. Or to change them somehow.VirginiaRight. So it's okay. Maybe your daughter is going to be fat and how are you going to support her and advocate for her and make your home a safe space for her body?CorinneAll right, I'm going to read the next one too: Q: I am trying very hard to be very neutral about food with my son who's four years old. From the start, I have not labeled foods as good or bad. I have not restricted access to sweets or desserts. But lately, I've started questioning this. I've always felt pressure because I am not able to manage cooking meals. So from the start, my son was fed using a grazing technique where I would put together various foods and he would eat what he wanted. As he has gotten older, he is more specific in his tastes in a way that feels normal to me, pretty much macaroni and cheese or similar foods most of the time. There are other things he will eat, but I feel a lot of grief about my inability to get it together and provide regular hot balanced meals, also for myself. Recently, I've been trying to limit his intake of sweets just a little bit and it feels like a backside but I've been confused. Only two cookies and even suggesting he eats something before he gets the cookies. This week's mailbag episode made me reorient when you talked about not doing this and reminded me why I wanted to avoid this restriction based language. And I admit the reason I started thinking about this was twofold. I filled out a research survey that made me admit a lot of things about our household eating that I feel low level guilty about and I felt the sting of perceived societal shaming.And my son started talking about treats. I was a bit miffed as categorizing something as a treat, as opposed to food which he labeled the rest as, was something I was trying to avoid. Then I realized this could have come from daycare television, the fact that we give the dog treats, and so I am overreacting. I find it's so hard to be consistent in my parenting in many avenues and food encroaches on that too. Giving food as a reward for example, this is something I do for myself, and I like it. But perhaps it is part of the problem of saving food for a special occasion as opposed to having it because you want it.I need some perspective, please. Is it ever useful to direct a child to a more balanced diet as opposed to just modeling it? I do not mean telling them that specific foods help your eyes. What a relief to see that debunked, but more that many foods are yummy. And basically some form of kid specific ‘everything in moderation.'VirginiaThe first thing I want to say is: You are doing a great job. You are feeding your child. It does not matter that you are not cooking. And that the food is not hot or homemade. It does not matter at all. You are meeting your son's needs by making sure he is fed every day, and making sure that he has enough to eat in order to grow. That's the most important thing and you're doing it. You're winning! You're doing great. And this really drives home for me the stigma we have around the idea that you can't feed kids processed foods, you have to cook meals. All of this is so unhelpful because there are just so many reasons why that model of family meals is not a good fit. There could be disability issues. There could be cost issues, time bandwidth issues, all sorts of hurdles. There could also just be that you don't like cooking. You can still be a good parent and not like cooking. It's not a requirement. SoI just want to encourage you to take some of the shame away. Corinne That's a great place to start. I totally agree. I was thinking about the study that you mention in FAT TALK about how it doesn't matter what you're eating and it much more matters that kids are just eating. VirginiaOh, that's a quote from Katherine Zavodni, who's one of my favorite pediatric dietitians. So teaser for everyone who hasn't read the book yet, but it's a quote that I want to put on our fridge! She says, “The most important thing about good nutrition is making sure kids have enough to eat.” Because if you have enough to eat, all the minutiae of micronutrients, and macronutrients tends to work itself out. Now, obviously, there are kids with severe food issues like feeding disorders, allergies or other medical conditions where it may be more complicated. Their nutritional needs may be more specific. But if your kid is not dealing with one of those things, and has enough to eat on any given day, you have done your job as a parent.CorinneAnd you also talked about the studies on family meals, right? And how the benefits come from eating together rather than making sure it's a home-cooked meal. VirginiaI'm so glad you brought that up. All the research on family dinners, which talks about how important they are for kids' overall well-being and health—it's because families are spending time together. So you could do that around breakfast, you could do that around a snack, you could do that in ways that have nothing to do with food. Like maybe you regularly have a long car ride to commute to school and work together. And that's when you talk and catch up on your day. Kids need connected time with their caregivers. Food is just one helpful way to do it.CorinneIt doesn't matter if you are eating snack plates, or macaroni. VirginiaSome of my most connected meals with my kids are when we're eating takeout or bowls of Cheerios for dinner! Because everyone is relaxed and you can focus on each other. And you're not in this place of, “I put all this work into this meal and nobody likes it.”. So then let's talk about feeling like you need to limit his intake of sweets. I think you're going there because you're feeling ashamed about what you're doing. So I'm hoping just lifting some of the shame lets you step back from that a little bit. I also think the research shows pretty clearly that requiring kids to eat in very specific ways, like micromanaging their plate by saying “you have to eat something else before you get the cookies” or “only two cookies,” does not. in the long-term, serve kids' relationship with food. It tends to result in kids who are overly fixated on the foods that have a lot of rules around them. You're going to find yourself in power struggles where it's like, why only two cookies, why not three cookies, why not two and a half cookies.Don't feel bad that you've done this, because I think we all get into these sort of panic moments where we do this because we're just struggling and it feels like the “right thing to do.” But I don't think it will ultimately serve you or serve your child. I think modeling eating a variety of foods is the best thing we can do. And even using phrases like “balance” or “everything in moderation,” I don't love because not every day is going to be about moderation. And that can turn into a rule. Because what is “moderation?” And then the last thing I'll say is, I think we touched on this in a previous episode. But I don't think treat needs to be a bad word. Yes, we give the dog treats. Dogs' existences are largely treat-based, at least in my house. We give ourselves food as rewards when we're stressed out or we need some extra comfort. When we talk about keeping all foods neutral, I think we can take it too far, to this place where it feels like we're not supposed to have any feelings about food at all. And that is not realistic or fair, or in line with how humans interact with foods.So we do use the word treat in our house. And this came up with the lunchbox piece because I have a category of treats on the little chart I made for Beatrix and folks were like, “I can't believe you have a treat category.” And I realized they had a different definition of that word. If you don't have restrictive rules around when or how much treats you can eat, then treat is a neutral word. It just means foods that feel extra fun. Just something extra fun you want to have on your plate along with your other foods. And if you're not saying “we only eat treats once a day,” or “we only eat treats on Saturdays;” if it's not paired with restrictive language, then it's still keeping foods neutral. Does that make sense?CorinneI think especially with the lunch box example, you're using treat as a category to make sure you're getting a treat. That seems really positive.VirginiaBecause I want them to know that those foods are welcome in their lunchboxes. Yes.CorinneOr required, even! VirginiaNone of it's required, Corinne, they can skip the treat if they want! But it's a part of the meal. CorinneMaybe that's a way that this person could reframe it. It feels like you're hearing your kid say treat and thinking they're feeling like it's something to be restricted. When could you be like, “Let's make sure you're getting enough treats.”VirginiaThat's a great re-framing. I hope this helps. This is a big question. And I can tell you're working through a lot of big stuff. So we would like an update. Please keep us posted!CorinneYou're doing a great job.VirginiaYes. CorinneI'm gonna read the next one as well. Q: My daughter is in fifth grade. At school she's often given food in addition to what she brings for her lunch and snacks. Candy is handed out as an incentive. Snacks, as well as non-edible items, are available to purchase with Classroom Bucks earned for good behavior. Several days a week she has after school activities that include a good deal of snacking. For the most part, I've accepted that I have no control over what she eats when she's away from me. However, she is regularly coming home not hungry for the dinner I've prepared. It's becoming more frequent lately that she'll snack so much at school, and at after school activities, that she will eat only a couple bites of dinner, and occasionally nothing at all. Dinners are usually meals she likes and she always has the opportunity to choose a backup option if she doesn't. So I don't think it's an issue of filling up because she won't get food she likes at dinner. She chooses and packs her own lunch and snack. We generally have a rule that if you put it on the grocery list, Mom will buy it, which is to say she has a lot of control of choice and regular access to candy and snack foods, both at home and in her lunch.Is it diet culture to expect her to come to dinner ready to eat? Or is it valid for me to feel miffed that she's already full? And yeah, I realize we'll all have an off day or skip a meal once in a while. This is becoming a regular occurrence though.VirginiaI don't think it's diet culture exactly. I think it's performative parenting culture a little bit, where we are very tied to this idea that, again, the family dinner is this all-important cornerstone of the day, where we have to provide a certain kind of meal. And that it is only successful if our children eat the meal. If they participate in, and enjoy the meal. And even if we're like, “they can choose how much they're hungry for,” if they don't want to eat it at all, it's really hard.I say this from extensive personal experience. It's really hard to not feel like you failed because you're like, “I just spent 40 minutes making this and you ate two bites and ran away.” But what I also want to say is: 9 out of 10 family dinners in my house involve one or both children eating two bites of the meal and running away. I think it's very, very, very common at sort of all ages. And yes, it is often because they had a lot of snacks in the afternoon. Because that is when they were really hungry and needed to eat. And so my expectation that 5:30 or 6:00 pm is when we're all going to sit down and eat this big meal together is out of line with the reality of at 3:30 or 4:30 pm, they are ravenous and need to eat. And so we're just always going to have that mismatch and it is what it is. Nobody needs to feel bad.CorinneThis relates back a little to the parent who's feeling guilty about not cooking meals. It's kind of the flip side where this parent is cooking meals and feeling bad about them.VirginiaI also want to speak to the piece about food given out at school. I don't love candy being handed out as an incentive in class. And that is not because I don't want the kids eating the candy. It's because I think it does play into making candy seem so special and coveted. And for kids who have more restrictive relationships with candy at home, I don't feel like it's helpful. Does that make sense? I don't have a problem with there being a birthday party in class and everyone's eating cupcakes or candy just being there, like if the teacher just wants to have a candy jar on their desk and kids can help themselves. But it's layering on the messages about earning the candy that I really don't love. Because diet culture is going to teach kids so many different ways that you have to earn your treats.But I have not figured out a way to eradicate this practice from the American public school system. It's a very common tactic. And I think teachers have very, very hard jobs and if handing out M&Ms for getting math problems right makes it easier to do their job? I don't know, man, I think that's where we are. CorinneYeah. VirginiaAnd if it's happening in the context of, your child also has all this great regular access to candy and treats because like you said, you're involving her in the grocery list and lunch packing and all that, then I don't think it being handed out as an incentive is going to do that much damage.They can understand that at school, M&Ms are being given as a reward. And at home, there is a bag of M&Ms that I can just eat.CorinneWith the teachers handing out candy as incentives, I'm worried more about the kids who are not getting candy as incentives.VirginiaOh, what a terrible message. That's so sad. You did this wrong. No candy for you. It is tricky. And I mean, I don't mind kids purchasing snacks with Classroom Bucks. That feels a little more diffuse to me. That's giving them some independence. And after school activities should include snacks because the majority of children are starving after school. I think the key here is don't demonize the way she's eating because she's getting her needs met. Just maybe take some pressure off yourself. If dinner is usually something she likes, if there's an option to choose a backup option and she doesn't, then she's just not hungry. CorinneAnd maybe that can take some of the pressure off dinner. Like maybe you just make a snack plate.VirginiaSomething simpler. Or make something you're really excited to eat.CorinneSomething you like! VirginiaThat's what I often do when I can tell the kids are not in like super dinner oriented phases. I'm like, Okay, then I'm picking what I want. And we also do a bedtime snack. And in fifth grade, she's probably staying up late enough that she's up a few hours after dinner. And if she was really hungry for dinner at 3pm, and then she wasn't that hungry for real dinner at 6pm, by 8 or 9pm, she probably needs something before she goes to bed. Alright, should I read the next one? Q: My question is about restricting food, not for dietary reasons, but because of the financial and waste concerns. My spouse and I wince when we see our kids drowning their waffles in maple syrup and leaving a plateful of it, eating all the prepackaged expensive foods we try to save for their lunches and eating all the Girl Scout cookies so they don't have to share them with a sibling.I've told my kids that they never need to hide food, but I find them doing so in order to get the last of something like the Oreos they want to keep from their brother. I buy Oreos every time we go to the store, and our house has plenty of sweets and other snack foods, but eventually we will run out of things. How do we keep them out of the scarcity mindset while still dealing with the realities of eating with a family? I really feel you on the syrup. It's so expensive. CorinneI know I was thinking you're basically watching your kid pour gold on their pancakes. VirginiaIt's so much. CorinneI mean this whole question is relatable to me. I definitely had some anxiety growing up about like, I feel like my dad would always eat stuff that I wanted, like leftovers or like the last cookie or something, you know?VirginiaYeah, it's really tricky because the bummer answer to this is: A finance-based scarcity mindset can be just as damaging as a diet-culture based scarcity mindset.CorinneSo true. VirginiaKids who grow up without enough to eat, or with this sort of ever-present worry about there being enough to eat often end up with some disordered eating stuff down the road, understandably, because when there is food, they'll feel like, “I have to eat it all. Because I don't know what I'm going to eat it again.” It's totally logical. So this can be really tough. And I'm not sure from this question, if you are struggling to afford these foods? Is there a true food insecurity issue in your house? Or if it's more just, you are on a budget. CorinneYou only go grocery shopping once a week and Oreos don't last the whole week.VirginiaSo I'm not sure which one we're dealing with. But I just want to say if affording food is really hard for you, then obviously, your first priority is getting whatever support you can around that. Which could be finding out if you're eligible for SNAP benefits, making sure your kids are on the school lunch program, all the stuff that I am sure you are already doing. And don't need me to explain to you.If it's more just the “Good God, that was a $9 bottle of syrup” moment, I think it's okay to say to kids, “This is a more expensive food.” So we're going to be mindful of that. With syrup, if you have little ramekins or bowls, you can say, “We're going to give everyone their own syrup.” And pour generously! Don't flood the plate the way they would flood the plate, but pour generously enough so that every kid feels like they have their own and they don't have to share it.We do this sometimes with something like brownies. Or if we have cake or some dessert that we don't have as often. When I know the kids are going to be really excited about it, I often will just go ahead and portion it out. Not because I'm trying to control how much they eat. But because I want them to know, “I'm definitely getting mine.” This actually just happened with Cadbury Mini Eggs, which are just a prime example of a scarcity mindset food because you can only get them for a month a year and they're the best candy. It's so hard! Dan brought home a big family-size bag from the grocery store. And between me and the girls, it was gone by the next night and he was like, “Really? Really? There are none left?” I think he was mad he didn't get any. But I was like, “Yeah, no there are none left.” I know that you thought that was a big bag, but we haven't had these in ages and we're all real jazzed about it.CorinneYou need to start portioning out some for Dan.VirginiaI suppose that would have been nice of me. CorinneSo if you're portioning out the brownie—what does that mean? Like you cut the brownies into four squares and give everyone a square? VirginiaI usually give everyone two squares because I feel one brownie is never enough.CorinneOh, you cut them into normal sized pieces. VirginiaOh yes. I just cut up the brownies. But rather than put the pan of brownies in the middle of the table, which might make everyone worry, like, “Am I going to get the piece I want?” Especially because, in my household, center-of-the-pan brownies are highly coveted. It's a whole thing.  So I'll just go ahead and be like, “Here's your center brownie.” So they don't have to be anxious about whether they'll get one.Maybe also, talk to your kids about which foods they worry about wanting the most. It's useful to know what that is. So you can think about how to ease up that fear, in a way that is in line with your budget. But maybe the kid who's hiding the Oreos, you buy them their own jumbo bag of Oreos and they don't have to share. And maybe if that's in your budget, you do that for a few weeks and see how that goes. And maybe every kid gets their own favorite snack food in that kind of quantity, which they don't have to share with a sibling. And then it's understood that all the other stuff is shared. It's not teaching restriction or scarcity to say, “Okay, let's make sure everyone has their seconds before you have thirds.” That's manners. That's okay. CorinneOr to maybe just one week buy like super extra amounts of Oreos and be like, eat as many Oreos as you want this week. VirginiaAnd see what they do with that. That would be interesting.CorinneAll right. Here's a question for you: How comfortable are your Charlotte Stone clogs?VirginiaThey are comfortable for clogs, is what I would say. And I love clogs very much. But they are a little bit of a scam in that they are not actually the most comfortable shoe. So I do not equate them to sneakers. For sure sneakers are more comfortable. Birkenstocks are more comfortable. But I wear my Charlotte Stone clogs the way other people might wear a ballet flat, or a loafer, like a dressier shoe. And I feel like no dressy shoe is ever really that comfortable. They're pinchy or they give you blisters. And so by that standard, these are quite comfortable. Because they have a built-in memory foam padding situation. So you're not walking on a block of wood the way you are with some clogs. I feel like I got shin splints from those, back in the day. They're definitely more comfortable than that. But I wore them downtown yesterday. And I did move my car to avoid walking two blocks because it was uphill. So I don't wear them for extensive walking. CorinneBut you would say they're more comfortable than some clogs?VirginiaI think yes. Of the various cute clog brands.CorinneFashion clogs.VirginiaThey are the most comfortable fashion clog I have tried and I have tried probably three or four brands. Like they're better than Number Six. They're better than Swedish Hasbeens. CorinneMy issue is that clogs are always too narrow for me. I can never find clogs that fit.VirginiaYeah, and I mean I have narrower feet, so I don't know how useful Charlotte Stone is on that front.CorinneThey do have a lot of sizing info. I tried some Charlotte Stone non-clogs, like they had a cute sneaker-ish thing, because they go up to size 12. Which should be what my size is, but they were way too narrow. Like I could not even get my foot in.VirginiaThat's such a bummer. Somebody could get into the wide width clog market and do very well.CorinneOh God, seriously. I found one clog that works for wide-ish feet. It's called Haga Trotoffel or something.VirginiaThat sounded like a very accurate pronunciation. CorinneI've had a pair, but it's the non-padded pure wood kind. So it's just not super comfortable to me.VirginiaThose are rough. Ever since I sprained my ankle, I am very cautious. Where am I going to wear these clogs? What sort of terrain am I walking? I really want to find some cute ones with a strap at the back for more stability. I think Charlotte Stone has ones with a strap that I'm thinking about trying, except I don't need more clogs. CorinneNumber Six also has some that are really cute and the base is almost flat. That might be more uncomfortable. I don't know.VirginiaWell I wear the lowest height Charlotte Stone clog. I do not go for their super platforms. I am not 22. That chapter of my life is closed. But they're not a Dansko clog! Let's be clear. And, I would say to be realistic that if you live on the east coast, or the Midwest, they're like, a three month a year shoe. They're great in the spring. They're great in the fall. They're going to be too hot in the summer and they're going to be useless in the winter. So factor that in. Okay, so next up: Q: I have a question about chafing. Since giving birth for the second time in 2021, my body has changed and I probably fall in the small fat category. I've dealt with chafing between my thighs and in the summers before, but now that I have to wear outside clothes and get out of the house more, I am dealing with chafing in the groin area even in the winter, which is the thing I didn't I don't have prior experience with. I am looking for recommendations for underwear that have a wide enough gusset to hopefully prevent this. And any other tips to be more comfortable in this regard with this new body of mine? Corinne, you're the underwear queen!CorinneI have a lot of thoughts about this.VirginiaYou are the resident Burnt Toast underwear expert.CorinneMy first thought is: Are we sure this is a chafing issue? VirginiaOh, what else could it be? CorinneWell, another thing that can happen when you become fat is you get irritation in your skin folds area. So just something to throw out there, because I've heard people having confusion around that before. It's like a yeast infection you can get in your skin folds. It's like a diaper rash. And you can treat it with diaper rash cream or zinc cream.VirginiaAquaphor?CorinneNo! Aquaphor? Isn't Aquaphor like Vaseline?VirginiaYeah, but I used it on my kids' butts when they had diaper rash. CorinneOkay, well, maybe I don't know anything about diaper rash.VirginiaMaybe that was a bad move.CorinneI feel like a lot of diaper rash cream has zinc in it, and it coats your skin to protect it. VirginiaI know what you're talking about now.CorinneIn terms of wider gusset underwear, there are not a lot of good options. The one option that I have found out about which I have not tried but have ordered and am currently waiting on is this underwear from the brand Panty Drop. I'm kind of confused about what's going on with them because it seems like they merged with another brand which was Kade & Vos. Okay. But they claimed to have wider gusset underwear. And another thing you could consider would be boxers or boxer briefs.VirginiaI was wondering about even a boy's short underwear. Something that has a longer thigh situation.CorinneIt goes down further.VirginiaOr bike shorts as underwear. CorinneAnd I mean, people definitely make chafing shorts. VirginiaYes! I just ordered some from Snag.CorinnePeople also like Thigh Society. So you could shop around and look for chafing shorts that you could just wear as underwear. VirginiaRight, just under your jeans or other hard pants, And where are you on MegaBabe or the other chafing balms? Do you have one you like?CorinneI have MegaBabe. I almost never need it. Just, whatever way that I'm designed, it's not an issue for me right now. Virginia I get chafing but I haven't tried MegaBabe. I actually have a very low tech hack. But I use Old Spice antiperspirant, which is my husband's antiperspirant, and I use that as my antiperspirant. And so then I just put it between my thighs as well. And I find that holds up pretty well. I sometimes have to reapply it during the day, like on a very hot day. And one of the reasons I think I don't wear dresses as much anymore is, chafing is an automatic reality in dresses. And some shorts too, depending on how they're cut. So we feel you. This is a reality of fat life for sure! CorinneIf you have fat friends, you can talk to them about it because a lot of people have this problem.VIrginiaIt's an evergreen conversation. Everyone will have opinions.CorinneOkay, next question: Q: Any tips on changing the dialogue with mom friends or friends in general who are progressive and informed otherwise, but still mired in diet culture? I feel like I'm the only one who isn't intermittent fasting or doing keto.VirginiaI posted a meme on Instagram today, there was something like to all the women who are bullying each other to order salads, aren't you so sad that you hate your life so much. And my DMs are currently flooded with people asking some version of this question: How do I keep going out to dinner with my friends who are so in this space? One person was telling me about being out to dinner and this group of women were trying to split tacos. Like tacos are small to start with. And they were all like, “Well, I can't eat a whole one.”CorinneI'm like, “Am I ordering 9 or 12.”VirginiaCorrect. The number of tacos I need to be full is a very high number. I would not split one in two. It's already only two bites!CorinneIt's like trying to split a popsicle.VirginiaIt's a total mess. So I feel like my first piece of advice is, can you make new friends? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know. CorinneMy first piece of advice is just like, Man up. Tell them you don't want to talk about it.VirginiaThat's better than mine.CorinneI mean, maybe it's harsh. It's a little tough love. Your advice is good too. There's gotta be other people out there who are sick of this. Like, every person I know could benefit from some examination of their relationship with diet culture. So I just feel like, you can't be the only one who's struggling.VirginiaThere are almost 30,000 people subscribed to this newsletter, who probably feel the same way as you because why else are they reading the newsletter and listening to this podcast?.CorinneOkay. Actually, this is a little off topic. But can I tell you something? So, as previously discussed, I go to the gym. I have a trainer there. And this week, when I saw her, she was like, “Hey, so this person contacted me who found me through Burnt Toast.” VirginiaYay! CorinneSo I'm just saying what that basically means is there is another person in the city that I live in, who's reading Burnt tToast who I don't know. And none of my friends know. VirginiaRight! But who maybe would be an awesome friend. CorinneOr who at least also has some skepticism of diet culture stuff.  So that's got to be true for you as well.VirginiaAnd you have powerlifting in common! Yes, in my close group of friends, we really never talk about this. And maybe it's because they read the newsletter and know that I'm not the friend for this. CorinneThey're scared. VirginiaBut we have so many better conversations because this is off the table for us. And we never made a conscious decision to do it. It just kind of happened. I do feel like in the past, we had more diet-y conversations. And we've all kind of shifted away from it. And it's been lovely and great for our friendships. And so maybe you do need to officially say it to these people: I love you. But I just don't want to talk about diets. This really isn't good for me. I just end up feeling shitty about myself. And there are so many more interesting things to talk about here.CorinneYeah. I think it's good for people to know that too. If people are totally unaware that talking about their diets constantly is hurting people, then they should know. And they deserve to know that.VirginiaCompletely agree. And often this talk is very performative because we think we have to talk this way. And so you being the first one to say, “What if we just ordered what we wanted to eat and didn't do this whole dance?” I call it like playing the game of Salad Chicken, where you're like,“Could I order the pasta? No, not if she's ordering the salad.” Like, if you could not do that? Man, dinner is gonna be way more fun. So just give people permission to not do it and see what happens. And if they really can't get there, then I circle back to: Can you have other friends? Or can you say to them, I don't want to spend our time talking about this but I'm really sorry you're struggling and how can I support you?CorinneOh my God, I love the idea of responding to someone who's excited about intermittent fasting with, “I'm sorry, you're struggling.”VirginiaHow can I support you in this starvation?CorinneI'm so sorry that you're not eating food.VirginiaYou're right. That might not be the moment.CorinneNo, I like it. VirginiaI think it could work? I think it's an option. CorinneI mean, I think this is also that sort of situation where you can be like, “It's so interesting that we're all so focused on our weird diets.”VirginiaThe patented Corinne “It's so interesting!”CorinneJust an anthropological, outsider observation.VirginiaIt's always, always a good moment for that. All right. Should we do Butter? CorinneYes. I do have a Butter. What I want to recommend is this recipe called Trouble Cookies. It's from a cookbook called Mother Grains, but it's also on the Bon Appetit website. And I feel like it's a little annoying to recommend because it does have a really annoying to find ingredient which is sorghum flour. [Reminder that if you preorder FAT TALK from Split Rock Books, you can also take 10 percent off any book mentioned on the podcast!]VirginiaOh Lord.CorinneBut you can order it from the internet!VirginiaCorinne will find a link for you.CorinneBob's Red Mill's has it. So if you have that kind of grocery store. Anyways, they also have coconut cashews and toffee bits and are extremely delicious. I've been trying to get my mom to make them for like a month and now I'm moving on to the Burnt Toast community. Please make Trouble Cookies and tell me how good they are.VirginiaI will try them. I will report back if I can get it together to get sorghum flour. I could use a new cookie. We're just a standard chocolate chip cookie household. CorinneI feel like chocolate chip cookies are good. But sometimes, a different direction is really good, too. VirginiaIs there chocolate in it? CorinneNo, it's coconut toffee bits cashews.VirginiaCould I put chocolate chips in instead of the toffee bits.CorinneI mean, I feel like you could? But it's really good. Do you not like caramel-y, coconut-y stuff?VirginiaAmy will tell you it is very hard for me to have a dessert that doesn't have chocolate in it.CorinneOkay, this one is not for you. VirginiaI'm just always like, but where's the chocolate? CorinneOh my God.VirginiaWhat am I doing here?Corinne I'm the opposite. And I mean, I really like chocolate. But I also really like a coconut-y caramel-y vibe. VirginiaI do too. I'm just like, but how much better if there was chocolate. That's all I'm saying.CorinneI feel like maybe you could dip it in chocolate? VirginiaAll right. I don't know. I'll try them out. I'll report back. Maybe I'll do half the batch with the toffee, half the batch with the chocolate chips. I can tell you my kids won't touch them if there's no chocolate. So that's like a non-starter. CorinneReally? Wow.VirginiaOh, please. CorinneI feel like a lot of kids don't like chocolate. VirginiaThat is not the case in the Sole-Smith home. See previous anecdote regarding Mini Eggs consumed in a day. And center brownies. It's very clear what we've come here to do.CorinneAll right, what's your Butter?VirginiaAll right, my Butter is, I am breaking up with underwire bras. Breaking news. CorinneThis is big news. VirginiaYou've all been wondering. I'm not totally breaking up with them because I haven't quite found a non-underwire bra that works under every outfit. Because there can be a uniboob situation? But I have recently purchased some non-underwire bras. And I realize now that I don't know how I made it through the whole pandemic while still wearing underwire bras every day. Every day!CorinneMe neither! I feel like when we originally talked about bras on a mailbag episode, I recommended the bras that you ended up getting.VirginiaThe True & Co bras? CorinneYes! And you were like, “Oh, never heard of them.” VirginiaWell, you influenced me. And then Marielle Elizabeth really influenced me. And I bought a bunch of them and they're awesome.CorinneThey're really good. The sizing is super flexible. I can wear anywhere from a 1x to a 3x. And I have a big chest.VirginiaYou do have to look for the full cup. Because I ordered some that were like a half cup and they do not work if you are someone with a big chest. CorinneYes, they have full cups and regular cups. VirginiaSo you have to look for the full cup. I can only find them on Amazon right now. I don't know. CorinneThey're only on Amazon now. VirginiaIt's really irritating. I would like there to be other options. But the other one I'm wearing a lot of, is I have some of the Paloma bras from Girlfriend Collective. And actually, this one isn't the Paloma, it's the high necked? I don't know. But I like it because it feels just like a tank. Yeah, I don't know why it's taken me so long to get here. I will be 42 a few weeks after you hear this episode. It's taken me a while. But now, I realize that I don't have to accept permanent marks on the side of my body from bras. Like what was I doing? I think I thought I really needed more structure. I'll unpack it all in an essay at some point. But for now, I just want to report the liberation that I am wearing underwire bras much less frequently. And it's delightful. CorinneI love that. VirginiaAll right. Thank you all so much for listening to Burnt Toast!CorinneIf you'd like to support the show, please subscribe for free in your podcast player and leave us a rating or review. These really help folks find the show.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith (follow me on Instagram) and Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, and Big Undies—subscribe for 20% off! The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Jeff Bailey and Chris Maxwell.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another episode of the Threads of Conversation podcast. This week I'm trialling a new format called ‘A Thread about my career'. These conversations will cover the career journey and learnings of various fashion industry experts.My guest this week is Henrietta Gallina, a creative director who's currently the Global Director of Image and Content at Mulberry. Prior to her role at Mulberry, Henrietta worked for brands like Topshop, Fred Perry and Karla Otto, and was Creative Director at Universal Standard in New York. She's also the co-founder of Citizen, an independent magazine documenting culture through the lens of Blackness. Recent cover stars include Andre3000 and Kendrick Lamar. Click here to see pictures of some of the projects we discuss in the accompanying newsletter, and subscribe for more Threads of Conversation. Get full access to Threads of Conversation at threadsofconversation.substack.com/subscribe

I am thrilled to share today's episode with you featuring plus size model, former fashion editor and plus size clothing designer Lauren Chan.Lauren was recently featured on the pages of the 60th anniversary Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and she's here talking today about her experience shooting for the magazine, the changes in plus size modeling over her 10 years in the business, how she manages her own body image and so much more.I discovered Lauren through Sarah Landry of The Birds Papaya when she posted an unposed photo of herself at the end of her SI shoot day—and seeing my own body reflected in her photo was one of the most powerful and significant experiences I've had for my own body image. Here's a peek at what you'll hear during our conversation:How and why we need to stop comparing ourselves to models and influencers The evolution of plus size modeling and body inclusivityThe specific skills and tools Lauren uses to work on her own thoughts and body image issuesA behind the scenes breakdown of everything that goes into the final image we see in a magazine or on social media and how to not compare your self to what you seLauren's experience of coming out and experiencing the female gaze vs the male gazeHow Lauren navigated her body size and shape as a girl and young adultWhat does the word flattering actually mean and should we be using it? Lauren's experience with disordered eating and how she has healed from itThis conversation is no question a top 5 moment of my career—I am incredibly grateful to Lauren for honesty and vulnerability. She reminds us that we are never alone in doing this work, that beauty is in bodies of all shapes and all sizes and how to truly learn to see and believe that.Lauren Chan is a size-inclusion activist, having made an impact on the fashion industry over the past decade as a model (JAG), fashion editor (Glamour), and exited plus-size clothing brand founder (Henning, acquired by Universal Standard). In 2023, she became a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit rookie and has since branched into television hosting. Chan identifies as AAPI and LGBTQ+; her pronouns are she/her.  Follow Lauren on InstagramLotte Van Ejk, the influencer Lauren referred to during the episode Connect with JordanaFind me on InstagramSign up for my Monday newsletter with lots of nutrition, body image and mindset tipsSchedule a free discovery call to talk more about working together Listen to more episodes of The Diet Diaries

Lauren Chan is a size-inclusion activist, having made an impact on the fashion industry over the past decade as a model (JAG), fashion editor (Glamour), and exited plus-size clothing brand founder (Henning, acquired by Universal Standard). In 2023, she became a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit rookie and has since branched into television hosting. Chan identifies as AAPI and LGBTQ+; her pronouns are she/her.   Laura opens the show by talking to Lauren about when she came out as gay and what her adolescence was like. This leads Lauren to talk about being married to a man for 13 years before she realized she was queer. Lauren talks in-depth about her realization and discusses what being a part of the LGBTQ+ community means to her.  Lauren talks a bit about being Canadian but spending most of her time in New York, while still being able to go back to Toronto once a year. Laura then asks Lauren about being a size-inclusion activist and a plus-size model. This leads to a discussion about societies beauty standards and how they change over time.  Before they wrap, Lauren talks about how she first got into modeling, and what that was like while being plus-size. Lauren also talks a little bit about her Chinese and Armenian heritage.  For More On Lauren Chan:Email - lowe@ssmandl.com Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/lcchan/?hl=en  Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/laurenchannyc/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@lcchan Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenchannyc/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/only-one-in-the-room--6052418/support.

In Dinner for Shoes episode 26, Lauren Chan on Body Inclusive Fashion + Self Discovery, podcast host Sarah Wasilak is joined by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, mental health advocate, and Henning CEO Lauren Chan. Lauren recently used her Sports Illustrated feature to come out and open up a personal conversation about exploring her sexuality and defining her identity. Sarah and Lauren discuss breaking into the fashion industry, dressing for the male gaze vs. dressing for the female gaze, embracing a style evolution, and, of course, the Henning x Universal Standard collection, which comes at an accessible price point in sizes 4XS-4XL (00-40). Before heading into the conversation about plus size fashion and representation, Sarah tests out a universally beloved product that she's never tried, Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter. Just like Lauren Chan, it kind of blows her mind.  THIS DINNER Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter THESE SHOES VIVAIA Scarlett Pointed-Toe Kitten Heels THIS OUTFIT DVF x Target Seamless Collared Ribbed Polo Sports Bra DVF x Target Utility Cargo Pants Marrow Fine custom rings THESE CHAPTERS 0:00 - WHO IS LAUREN CHAN? 3:03 - THE OUTFIT BEHIND THE SHOES 7:10 - TRADER JOE'S COOKIE BUTTER 12:35 - LAUREN'S CAREER AND INCLUSIVE MISSION 17:42 - COMING OUT IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 19:57 - LAUREN'S STYLE + SELF EXPRESSION 24:11 - HENNING X UNIVERSAL STANDARD 33:54 - PLUS SIZE BRANDS LAUREN LOVES  37:50 - WHAT I LEARNED FROM LAUREN CHAN THIS PRODUCTION is created, written, hosted, and produced by Sarah Wasilak. is creative directed and executive produced by Megan Kai. is tech supervised by Nick Zanetis. includes photos and videos in chronological order by Sarah Wasilak, Megan Kai, Sports Illustrated / James Macari, Lauren Chan @lcchan on Instagram, and Henning x Universal Standard / Lily Cummings. references Wray, Warp + Weft, Big Bud Press, and Miaou. is made with love. Dinner for Shoes is a podcast hosted by Sarah Wasilak, a fashion and food enthusiast with her mouth full. With appearances by her cats, Trish and Kit, and agendas that almost always go to shit, we aim to dive into a discussion about fashion and style and break some bread in each episode.  Dinner for Shoes podcast episodes are released weekly on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple. You can follow along for updates, teasers, and more on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. If there are any fashion topics you've been pondering or good eats you think Sarah should try, don't hesitate to send a DM or an email. Dinner for Shoes is an original by The Kai Productions. Follow Dinner for Shoes: @dinnerforshoes on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube  Follow host Sarah Wasilak: @slwasz on Instagram  Follow producer Megan Kai: @megankaii on Instagram  Get in touch: dinnerforshoes@gmail.com To make this video more accessible, check out YouDescribe, a web-based platform that offers a free audio description tool for viewers who are blind or visually impaired. 

Taking a stand against the forceful bullying of political and religious fundamentalists. Also giving personal examples of evidence of women becoming more clairvoyant. Hanging out for a little pre funk thanksgiving festivities.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.comIt's time for your September/October Indulgence Gospel! Corinne is here. We're getting into the tyranny of portion control, meal trains, and whether Virginia's house is really that clean. If you are already a paid subscriber, you'll have this entire episode in your podcast feed and access to the entire transcript in your inbox and on the Burnt Toast Substack.If you are not a paid subscriber, you'll only get the first chunk. To hear the whole conversation or read the whole transcript, you'll need to become a paid Burnt Toast subscriber. Also, don't forget to order Fat Talk: Parenting In the Age of Diet Culture! Get your signed copy now from Split Rock Books (they ship anywhere in the USA). You can also order it from your independent bookstore, or from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Kobo or anywhere you like to buy books. (Or get the UK edition or the audiobook!) Disclaimer: Virginia and Corinne are humans with a lot of informed opinions. They are not nutritionists, therapists, doctors, or any kind of healthcare providers. The conversation you're about to hear and all of the advice and opinions they give are just for entertainment, information, and education purposes only. None of this is a substitute for individual medical or mental health advice.BUTTER & OTHER LINKSPhilly Fat ConPriestess of the Indulgence Gospel t-shirts!!!(Proceeds go to National Network of Abortion Funds)It's Been A Minute on pumpkin spicethose New York Times recipe commentersdo older people eat lesscar sushi essay for the New York TimesEileen Fisher lantern pantsMonday pants from Free Label (also Loretta pant and Sophie slacks)Universal Standard—every year we debate how to pronounce “ponte.”Corinne's Universal Standard jeansVejasReebok Club C 85SabahsBoston clogsPuzzle set-up: a pretty cute chair + a little table + puzzle tableThis American Ex-Wife: How I Ended My Marriage and Started My Lifethis hatface shield trendVirginia's favorite sun hatGriefcatpartytime on InstagramCREDITSThe Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith. Follow Virginia on Instagram or Twitter.Burnt Toast transcripts and essays are edited and formatted by Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Jeff Bailey and Chris Maxwell.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet body liberation journalism.

Lauren Chan, the founder of Henning, is on the Female Founder World podcast with Jasmine Garnsworthy! Lauren Chan was working as a model and editor when she saw a glaring gap in the fashion world for luxury plus-sized fashion. In 2018 she launched Henning, the answer to that white space, and this year it was acquired by Universal Standard.  Listen in on Lauren's interview on the Female Founder World podcast to learn how she funded her idea (hint: it wasn't the typical VC-route), how she landed some amazing partnerships, and for Lauren's growth tactics you can copy and paste into your business.  Links Get the Female Founder World newsletter https://femalefounderworld.beehiiv.com Join our NYC hangout with Babba Rivera  Become a Business Bestie subscriber: femalefounderworld.com/subscriber Get our quick case studies on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@jasgarnsworthy Shop Lauren's brand: https://www.universalstandard.com/signup/henning

Today Virginia is chatting with Mary Carney, the founder of Towel, a new size inclusive lifestyle brand. Because a towel that doesn't wrap around your body is just a classic example of anti-fat bias in action. If you want more conversations like this one, please rate and review us in your podcast player! And become a paid Burnt Toast subscriber to get all of Virginia's reporting and bonus subscriber-only episodes—including the director's cut of this conversation where VA and AHP answer all of your gardening questions. Disclaimer: Virginia is a journalist and human with a lot of informed opinions. Virginia is not a nutritionist, therapist, doctor, or any kind of health care provider. The conversation you're about to hear and all of the advice and opinions she gives are just for entertainment, information, and education purposes only. None of this is a substitute for individual medical or mental health advice.BUTTER & OTHER LINKSTowelMeet the towels: Ava, Joni, and GemmaTowel on Instagram BT episode on Old Navy's failed plus size promisesMia O'Malley on making sure your life fits your bodywe have mentioned chairsReally Big Towelthe viral pajamasMaddeningly, Virginia's jumpsuit seems to have sold out right before publishing, BUT there is a really good buy / sell / trade group for Universal Standard on Facebook. FAT TALK is out! Order your signed copy from Virginia's favorite independent bookstore, Split Rock Books (they ship anywhere in the US!). Or order it from your independent bookstore, or from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, or Kobo or anywhere else you like to buy books. You can also order the audio book from Libro.fm or Audible.CREDITSThe Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith. Follow Virginia on Instagram or Twitter.Burnt Toast transcripts and essays are edited and formatted by Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Jeff Bailey and Chris Maxwell.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

Save up to 80% off on generic drugs at visoryhealth.com. Get a free pair of jeans from Universal Standard at universalstandard.com/signup/girlboss-free-jeans, and putting in your email. On this episode of Girlboss Radio, Avery is joined by Lauren Chan, a career chameleon who's worked as a model, fashion editor, brand founder and inclusivity spokesperson. Recently, Lauren also became the first queer, plus-size Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie. Avery speaks to Lauren about her journey going from small-town Canada to becoming the fashion news editor at Glamour, a role where she pushed for size inclusivity in the magazine's content as well as what prompted her to start Henning, her luxury, size-inclusive fashion brand that was recently acquired by Universal Standard. Plus, the two chat about what it's like to go through major career milestones while your personal life is also going through major transitions, and get into Lauren's current fashion ins and outs. Get your very own Workplace Affirmation Deck from Girlboss at girlboss.com/affirmations! Sign up for Girlboss Daily, our must-read morning newsletter, at girlboss.com/newsletter. You'll get A+ career advice, dream job postings, free coffee every Friday and a few emojis (because we're fun like that), delivered right to your inbox. Looking for your next dream employee? Post your open role on our Girlboss Job Board at jobs.girlboss.com. Girlboss Goods, our women-owned and operated marketplace, makes it easier for you to vote with your dollar while also championing small businesses. Head to girlboss.com/goods. Happy shopping!

Charlie Tuxworth, Founder and Director of Celsio, joins me in exploring the fascinating world of innovation. We discuss the challenges, joys, and excitements of creating a universal standard around innovation. Is it possible? Can it be applied to everyone, both inside and outside of corporations? Tune in to learn more. Charlie is an expert in helping companies set a clear direction for innovation and develop the capability and confidence to deliver it. He shares his journey from taking on the innovation brief in a UK financial services company in 2013 to founding Celsio and co-founding Innovate Island.  Listen in as Charlie discusses the challenges he faced when tasked with making a company "more innovative," revealing the power of diverse perspectives and finding better ways to solve problems. Charlie shares his captivating stories, from his experiences with international innovation consultants to the inspiration he drew from Winnie the Pooh in finding creative solutions.  This interview will leave you pondering the importance of innovation and the potential for a universal standard that could change how we approach and think about innovation across industries.  

Brigitte Quinn has the afternoon's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom.

"Our mission is to redistribute excess food to people experiencing food insecurity— and make food rescue the universal standard rather than the exception." —Robert Lee   Food insecurity and hunger is a tragic reality. Despite the overwhelming abundance of food, millions of people around the world are still hungry and do not have regular access to enough nutritious food to support a healthy lifestyle. Hunger does not only affect individuals, but also has socio-economic impacts on communities and countries, affecting economic development, education, health, and even security. To address this global problem, we must prioritize creating equitable access to quality food.    Robert Lee experienced first-hand what it was like to live with food insecurity as an underserved child. This prompted him to create Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) in 2013, a nonprofit organization that seeks to prevent the waste of food and end hunger. In the following years, RLC's work has helped in drastically reducing how much food is wasted each year and improving food security for thousands of people.   Listen in as Justine and Robert talk about the mission of RLC, how food rescue can solve world hunger, our role in making food rescue a universal standard, the importance of getting educated in entrepreneurship, the importance of processes and boundaries in business building, the best way to start in business, and the next steps for RLC. Meet Robert: As someone who experienced food insecurity as a child, Robert Lee was very familiar with the wasted food and hunger issues facing our society. That is what led him to launch Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC), a nonprofit organization that targets both the prevention of wasted food and putting an end to hunger, in New York City in the summer of 2013. He left his full time job at J.P. Morgan in 2014 to run RLC full-time, using seed money he and co-founder Louisa Chen won at a venture competition during their senior year at NYU, as well as corporate donations from his former employer. In the eight years since, RLC has expanded to 8 regions and rescued over 7 million pounds of excess food.   Website Facebook TikTok Instagram LinkedIn YouTube Connect with NextGen Purpose: Website Facebook Instagram  LinkedIn YouTube Episode Highlights: 01:14 Food Rescue— Making It a Universal Standard 05:27 How Much Excess Food is Thrown Away? 08:25 How to Grow Your Company 11:04 The Importance of Learning 14:06 What's Next with RLC?  17:40 What We Can Do to Help

The scripture reference in "The Universal Standard" is Luke 21:1-4.

In 2014, friends Polina Veksler and Alex Waldman went clothes shopping at a major department store. To Polina's surprise, Alex's options were quite limited, and tucked away in one of the store's less-traveled upper levels: the ‘plus-size' section. This unnerving realization that women could have such completely different shopping experiences at the same store drove Polina into research mode. She found that about 70% of women in the U.S. wear a size 14 or larger, but less than 20% of clothing is made in those sizes. Meanwhile, much of the double-digit-sized clothing available is fast fashion: not particularly well-fitting or built to last.Alex and Polina decided to create Universal Standard: a clothing brand where size was irrelevant – where any woman could shop and ask herself, “do I like this?” – not “does this come in my size?”This week on How I Built This Lab, Guy and Polina discuss the $100 billion opportunity to serve women of all sizes, as well as the challenges that come with building a size inclusive clothing brand.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today is Monday, July 18, and we're looking at Old Navy vs. Universal Standard.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The average American woman wears between a size 16 and 18, according to the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. Yet plus size clothing is still hard to come by. Today, we talk about size inclusivity in the fashion industry. Alex Waldman joins us, co-founder of fashion brand Universal Standard, that offers sizes 00-40. And later, we hear how fashion colleges are including subjects like size inclusivity, gender identity and sustainability as part of their core curriculum. When you walk into a store, how easy is it to find clothes in your size? GUESTS: Kenlyn Jones - Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the fashion department Gianluca Russo - Fashion Journalist and author Power of Plus coming out in August Alex Waldman - Co-founder of Universal Standard Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How you feel about your body does not exist in a vacuum. It’s not just about your body, it’s about all the things in your life. So I ask people to really reflect on how size-friendly is their life? Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I am chatting with Mia O’Malley, a content creator on Instagram and the creator of @plussizebabywearing. Mia’s work sits at the intersection of fat advocacy and momfluencing. She’s doing a lot of important work on access to fat friendly doctors and we also talk about influencing—and the potential and promise for fat advocacy in the space. PS. Friends! The Burnt Toast Giving Circle is up to almost $8,000! We are so close to our goal. And if you’ve been thinking about joining, we still need you! Here’s the Burnt Toast episode where I announced it, ICYMI, and the link to donate.Episode 36 TranscriptVirginiaHi Mia! Can you tell listeners a little bit about you and your family and your work?MiaHi, I’m Mia. I am @MiaOMalley on Instagram and @plussizebabywearing on Instagram and TikTok. I’m a content creator. I’m based out of Connecticut. I’m a mom of an almost four year old and I do a lot of work on my social platforms on advocating for people in larger bodies and sharing resources for people in larger bodies and how to navigate the world. I’m a babywearing educator, as well, with a focus on celebrating parenting in larger bodies.VirginiaSara Peterson was on the podcast recently and we sang your praises on the babywearing piece in particular. That was something I struggled with, with both of my babies. The bias against fat bodies, fat moms— all of that came into play for me. So I’m grateful for the work you’re doing to change that conversation. As I was doing my homework for this episode, I read your interview on Cup of Jo—which has great fashion inspiration—and I love that you said you look at fashion as an advocacy issue. Was this always your plan? How did this come about?MiaI was pregnant with my son around 2017-2018 and I felt very isolated as a fat pregnant person. I had taken these beautiful maternity photos. But when I shared them, I was like, “This isn’t the whole story.” Because those photos were really hard for me to take. I couldn’t find anyone who looked like me who had done maternity photos. Like for inspiration, if you looked on Pinterest, there were no bodies like mine. And that’s how I felt going through all of my pregnancy. I never saw people in similar bodies being pregnant. I felt very underrepresented and isolated. So when I posted my maternity photos, I kind of said that quiet part out loud. I said, “I feel invisible as a plus-sized pregnant person.” And my world kind of opened up with that post, just in the sense that I kept saying those things that I kept to myself. I realized that there are other people like me who are feeling the same way. To be in community with those other people is amazing. It made me realize that the fat experience is so, so shared. We’re all going through a lot of the same things, across generations. And fashion is just another one of those issues. I can’t talk about fashion without seeing it as an advocacy issue. There are people who can’t find winter coats! There are people who literally don’t have a bra that fits them at their size. It doesn’t exist. I talked to someone who was a C-suite executive and she has nothing to wear to meetings with her colleagues! She had no suits that fit her. She talked about just how humiliating that was for her. When we say those quiet things out loud, they become advocacy issues because so many people have that shared story. So yeah, I talk about fashion, but it often becomes about sharing resources because there’s so many people that feel like certain things are inaccessible for them—and are truly inaccessible for them. The same thing goes for babywearing. So many parents said to me, “I didn’t even think I could wear my baby at this size.” And that’s not true! There are plenty of options for all bodies to wear their babies. But there’s a perception that this is an inaccessible thing to do because of marketing, because the lack of representation. VirginiaWas it scary to start sharing? Because I think a lot about how what advocacy asks of us is to share in this very personal way. It’s so important because you’re articulating something that someone else hasn’t been able to say out loud, but that also means you’re the person who has to say it out loud. MiaI have to take really long breaks from some of the work that I do. I will take a week or two long break where I don’t post content and I step away, because I hold so many people’s stories. Most of my time spent online is in DMs, sharing stories and resources. But that comes a lot with having to face my own experiences that were hard. It’s a lot to hold on to. So I do take a lot of breaks and I do experience burn out, but I also find it incredibly rewarding. It’s the part of this work that I love the most.VirginiaI’m glad you have that strategy. It has taken me a long time to figure out that I also need those breaks and need to build in that time. Previously my experience as a writer / advocate was as “medical mom,” and a sort of similar thing happens where once you’ve been public about your experiences, people send you their stories and those stories are often tragic and linked to my own trauma. I can imagine there’s a similar thing here where people are sharing with you traumatic experiences that you have also lived. MiaThat’s why I’m so passionate about resources. Some people will ask, “What’s your advice for feeling better about your body?” And there are so many strategies and there are people who do this professionally. But I tell people that how you feel about your body does not exist in a vacuum. It’s not just about your body, it’s about all the things in your life. And so I ask people to really reflect on how size-friendly their life is. How comfortable are you in your body on the day-to-day? Is your work chair comfortable? Is your partner supportive of you? Is your car comfortable? Do you have a winter coat to wear? What is your workspace like? How comfortable is your bed? Is your couch comfortable? You know, all these things. It’s about the world that we operate in and how comfortable we are in the body that we’re in right now. That really influences how positively we can feel about our body. It’s just not about how positively we feel about our thighs or our belly. It’s much bigger. VirginiaDiet culture teaches us that weight is this personal responsibility project. And we know that’s b******t. But often, the next part of the conversation is that loving yourself is a personal responsibility project. And that’s also b******t, in a world that’s not built to support your body. Instead of saying, “How do you do this internal work?” which may or may not need to happen at some point, it’s “How do you recognize how the larger systems of your life are failing to support you?” MiaYeah, it has to be looked at that way. And we can’t discount how chronic discomfort and chronic pain influence how we feel about our bodies. Sometimes there are small changes that can make you physically comfortable. But a lot of us who exist in larger bodies are so disconnected from our actual bodies that we can’t even tap into that. VirginiaSo I recently wrote about this big debate that comes up every so often about whether to get weighed or not at the doctor’s office, and if you do want to decline it how to decline and I think it’s an important conversation. If you have a fat friendly doctor, it basically becomes moot because even if you get on the scale, they’re not going to use that number against you. If you don’t have a fat friendly doctor and you’re fat, your weight will be weaponized whether or not you get on the scale. So you have been doing the hero’s work of building this database of fat-friendly health care providers. So tell us about this project.MiaI would love to, but first I do want to shout out Jen McLellan from Plus Size Birth. She’s @PlusMommy on Instagram. Literally, her work changed my life as a pregnant person. She wrote the book on plus sized pregnancy. Her resources on plus size birth are so critical. And she does a lot of work training other medical professionals on how to be more size friendly. I just want to shout out Jen, who I’m proud to say is my friend. She has a directory for for doulas, OBGYN, and midwives on her page. There’s another colleague of mine, Nicola Salmon, who runs Fat Positive Fertility. She also has a book and resources on fertility services for people who exist in larger bodies and how to support yourself as you’re navigating how to conceive in a larger body, which is incredibly fatphobic and very hard to do. She also has a directory! So I want to shout out those two resources. Obviously, there are other directories that exist, but my community is a very interactive community for Instagram. We share a lot of recs and I couldn’t get around not sharing recommendations for health care providers. People need size-friendly care providers. I don’t know that a lot of people understand how critical it is to connect with a medical professional that does not operate with a weight bias or weight discrimination. It’s a literal life or death issue. So I have a sheet—a Google Doc, basically—of providers that have been recommended to me that I’m pulling together into a more formal database as we speak, actually. But right now, it’s a Google sheet of shared recommendations. Having a size-friendly care provider means that you have people who are going to see a doctor more. A lot of preventative care can happen there. It also can mean a vastly different experience in your pregnancy, your birth, your postpartum. I have spoken to countless people who have been trying to conceive for years and have been told to freeze their eggs and seek weight loss surgery first. I have talked to people who have been unable to have doulas at their birth because of a high risk determination that was not evidence-based, because they are with a non size friendly care provider. I’ve talked to people who have serious issues, life or death issues, that were ignored for years because everything was so focused on weight. This is such a critical resource for people in larger bodies to have. Just to be able to do that work is the most important thing to me, out of all the things that I spend my days doing. VirginiaWe will definitely link to the size friendly care provider list. You also have a form for people who want to submit their providers. MiaYes, I hope that there’s going to be more of a universal database. Also Jen is focused on the training, and I think that’s something that needs to be talked about more. As well as the sharing of these gems of care providers that are somehow treating us with dignity and giving us medical care that we need. I was four months postpartum and I had decided to go to my PCP at the time. I had horrible, painful water retention and my legs were swollen. It was hard to move my legs. It was hard to sit down. She barely looked at my legs, she was focused on the fact that I had gained weight after my pregnancy. She really dismissed me. It was because of my community that six months later, I went back and I demanded that I get a water pill. Within like a week after that, my swelling was gone. I’m not directing anyone to go get a water pill, but I am directing them to advocate for themselves if they feel they’ve been dismissed. And immediately.VirginiaThat’s six months you were in pain.MiaI was in so much pain! Immediately, you have to seek out those other care providers. Those care providers that will treat you well and will listen to you, they do exist. You have to decide that you want this for yourself. If your insurance allows for it, if you’re able to make that change, please make that change. Because those care providers do exist.VirginiaI’m so glad Jen is working on the training piece because it seems like we haven’t even yet agreed upon the standards that you should have to meet to be a weight inclusive provider. What I was seeing come up in a lot of my DMs were people saying like, “Well, I don’t know if this person is really Health at Every Size, but at least they didn’t give me a hard time about X.” The bar is way too low about what we’re willing to accept. We need more of a consensus about what this really should look like and what you should be able to demand. I think fat people are just so used to expecting nothing—or worse than nothing—that it can be hard to even know where to start advocating for yourself. MiaIt also becomes really tricky, because fatness is a spectrum, right? So, someone who goes in at a certain weight might be treated one way. Someone who is 30 pounds over that weight might be treated vastly different and categorized completely different. Then you have further intersections of that—if you are BIPOC, if you are of the LGBTQI+ community—those intersections would make one healthcare provider considered size friendly by one person be completely different with another. So it does get tricky. I would always tell people to call first. Or if you don’t feel comfortable calling, maybe have a friend or a partner come with you or advocate for you. Or you can go in and and talk to the front desk and just say these are the things that I’m looking for. Or you can email, whatever. Somehow to just start the conversation and go in advocating for yourself and be ready to advocate for yourself because even with these directories, you never know what the experience is going to be like and you have to be prepared to advocate for yourself.VirginiaShilo George, who is a wonderful advocate on these issues, I interviewed them for a Health.com piece last year, and a strategy they have is writing up a one sheet of your primary health concerns and stating some of your boundaries. Just being clear about what you need from the provider. I think that can feel very scary and people are worried that they’re going to make the doctor angry or start off on the wrong foot. That tool may not be for everybody, but I just want to throw it out as another suggestion. I think there are ways to do it that can be really empowering and very helpful.MiaYeah, it could be good. It could be a gentle hand. There’s a lot of different ways to do it. Ragen Chastain, on Instagram, has amazing resources and a course that you can take and a lot of free resources, and has been doing this work for so long—discussing medical fatphobia and how to advocate for yourself. VirginiaI do think it’s worth thinking through what strategy feels comfortable to you. Maybe you want to write down that sheet and it’s not something you hand to the doctor but it just helps you organize your own thoughts. That could be a useful tool. MiaI just want people to know that if you are in a larger body, you deserve to be treated with respect in a doctor’s office. Shame is not a an effective tool. If you don’t want to talk about weight, you do not have to talk about weight. I want more people to realize that that’s even a thing, because there was a time in my life where I didn’t realize that was a thing.VirginiaI’m curious, for someone who’s doing the work and doing the work in a fat body, how do you think about your work as an influencer? What do you love about it? What do you want to see change?MiaThat is such a good question. I don’t know where the industry is going, but I do know that the representation has gotten much better since I started doing this in 2017. As more body positive influencers become parents, it’s changing the momfluencer world to be a little more inclusive. But I think that some of the strongholds in mommy brands and parenting brands need to also change with that. I’m not necessarily seeing that change in terms of choosing parents that are in different bodies or represent different communities. I think they could be doing more to use different bodies in marketing. Why am I not seeing more bodies that represent the average? When you go on Pinterest, and you’re looking for maternity outfits for your photoshoot, or you’re downloading an app for your pregnancy and the first thing it talks about is “belly only weight gain”— is that influence really happening? Is it influencing the spaces that it really needs to to change how people feel about their parenthood? VirginiaIt’s making me think about when we do see influencers in bigger bodies doing a campaign with a brand, it’s often because the brand has decided they want to brand themselves as body positive, right? We’re not yet at the point where body diversity is a given, and you would just be the influencer selling this brand of cute diapers because you had the platform and the metrics they wanted. You’d be selling cute diapers because they went about running a body positive campaign this one month and that’s it. That kind of thing is coopting the rhetoric of the movement rather than furthering the movement.MiaThis is such a pain point for me, too, because there are so many brands that will do a campaign about plus size clothes that they have, right? They will work with plus size influencers to market that campaign and use the budget to market that campaign for those clothes. And you walk into the store, you can’t buy those clothes.VirginiaRight. They’re not stocked.MiaSo, they’re using these campaigns to look good as a brand and you’re not actually given the access that everyday people can use to make their, their lives easier. Old Navy was one of these! They’ve changed. I forgot what they called their campaign, but they’re now have all sizes in stores except for size 30. That one is that one’s online.VirginiaSo close, Old Navy! Almost there.MiaBut for so long, they excluded plus size from coupons. They excluded plus size from stores. Not to make it about Old Navy, but they have such a huge customer base that’s plus size and they actually were excluding us from so many different things, yet doing campaign work with plus size influencers. The same thing happens within the momfluencer space with brands. I think there are brands that are doing great things, especially in the babywearing community. But some of the very popular websites and apps and things for pregnancy where pregnant people really need to see themselves represented to feel good in their bodies and to feel good going through this special time. We need to see more.VirginiaAubrey Gordon had a great tweet recently where she said when brands do that kind of thing, they’re really using plus size people as cover to make their thin customers feel better. This is a brand that’s trying to be inclusive without having done the work of talking to fat customers, of making things that that customers need. I think it’s important for all of us with any degree of thin privilege to think about. We might feel good that Anthropologie is carrying our size now, but who are they not serving? How much further do they need to go? And how do we hold them accountable? MiaWho’s not at the table with me? That’s something that I’m asking myself a lot, as I do this work. I gained weight after my pregnancy and that shift from a size 16 to a size 20 was so eye opening for me. Because I was either out of certain ranges for certain brands, fashion-wise, or I was like the last size, right? So I found that things I was sharing, people were like, “I wish it came in this size!” or “Oh, that won’t work for me.” It’s really hard to share something with your community and then realize that so many people are left out. So I try to share as many inclusive brands as I can that have an extended size range or have a very inclusive size range. I wish there were more of them. The same thing is true of the momfluencer space. Who isn’t coming with me? You have to look around.VirginiaI just love that you are using your role as an influencer so thoughtfully and raising these questions that are sometimes uncomfortable but that really need to be asked. It’s really important work, so thank you.MiaI try. It’s a lot of reflection and I’m certainly not showing up perfectly. But, I hope I’m getting better every year. Butter For Your Burnt ToastMiaClothes-wise, Universal Standard has some amazing pieces out, like these foundation turtlenecks. They have my favorite t-shirt, which is the Tee Rex, and they have the essential tee. I highly recommend those. They are pricier but they last and they are really worth it. You’ll be happy with the quality. VirginiaYou’ve been influencing me about this turtleneck the whole time we’ve been chatting. It’s very cute. I’m very glad that that was your recommendation because now I can go look it up. My recommendation is going to be pretty off topic, as they usually are. My recommendation is to go buy yourself some flowers. It is March. March is very long. I live in the Hudson Valley of New York where March is 19 months long every year because spring does not happen. This is when I’m just really grateful we have a very cool local flower store. So I go in once a week and buy myself some flowers. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on this, but the amount of hope I feel having like something green and pretty is worth it.Thank you so much for being here! Tell listeners where they can follow and support your work.MiaThanks, Virginia. Mia O’Malley and Plus Size Babywearing on Instagram and you can find me on TikTok on under Plus Size Babywearing, which is not just baby wearing—it’s a lot of everything.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by me, Virginia Sole-Smith. You can follow me on Instagram or Twitter.Burnt Toast transcripts and essays are edited and formatted by Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Jeff Bailey and Chris Maxwell.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting independent anti-diet journalism. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

The average American woman wears between a size 16 and 18, according to the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. Yet plus size clothing is still hard to come by. Today, we talk about size inclusivity in the fashion industry. Alex Waldman joins us, co-founder of fashion brand Universal Standard, that offers sizes 00-40. And later, we hear how fashion colleges are including subjects like size inclusivity, gender identity and sustainability as part of their core curriculum. When you walk into a store, how easy is it to find clothes in your size? GUESTS: Kenlyn Jones - Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the fashion department Gianluca Russo - Fashion Journalist and author Power of Plus coming out in August Alex Waldman - Co-founder of Universal Standard Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shot Show 2022 - Novagrade Universal Standard Digiscoping Adapter for Smartphones

Nick Brown is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Imaginary Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on the consumer, product, and retail enablement sectors. Founded in partnership with Natalie Massenet, founder and former CEO of Net-A-Porter, Imaginary invests in brands, platforms and entrepreneurs that are changing how a new generation of consumers live, eat and shop. Some key investments include Everlane, Reformation, Glossier, SKIMS, FarFetch, Universal Standard, and Daily Harvest.

Nick Brown is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Imaginary Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on the consumer, product, and retail enablement sectors. Founded in partnership with Natalie Massenet, founder and former CEO of Net-A-Porter, Imaginary invests in brands, platforms and entrepreneurs that are changing how a new generation of consumers live, eat and shop. Some key investments include Everlane, Reformation, Glossier, SKIMS, FarFetch, Universal Standard, and Daily Harvest.

Shane Neman, the founder of Neman Ventures, joins me in a conversation about PropTech. We also discuss how COVID has pushed more investment into property technology. Shane also shares what emerging technologies he's excited about. Shane Neman has always been a problem solver and a consummate optimist, which are traits that have been significant advantages in his life as a serial entrepreneur. His experience and expertise in business span many industries, from technology and telecommunications to real estate and hospitality. After earning a computer science degree from NYU, he started three tech startups (two of them – EZ Texting and JoonBug – were acquired) with hundreds of employees and tens of thousands of customers. He's a prolific backer of startups including Impossible Foods, Convoy, Prose, and Universal Standard, Apostrophe, MeetMindful, MapAnything, VinePair, Smylen, Hyperice,, Teamflow HQ, ResiDesk, Symmetry Systems and more. He's also a real estate investor and developer with more than two dozen large-scale properties across the US ranging from commercial shopping and industrial centers to residential buildings.    

One of my absolute favorite people to follow on Instagram is here! Ayana Lage, blogger, Instagrammer, writer, mom of cute baby, wife of cute man...Ayana Lage! You may be wondering about the title of this episode. It is derived from the title of this movie. That's really all I can say. Also: Candles from everywhere.Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Candles Hoe (aka Candleshoe): https://movies.disney.com/candleshoe Hotel Lobby Candles: https://fave.co/36DvYuT Hotel Collection Candles (NOT THE SAME THING, but 25% off site-wide): https://fave.co/3xKQSUt Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It's free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. On this special episode I am thrilled to be sharing with you my interview with  Universal Standard Co-founder and Canadian retailer Alexandra Waldman with a special Conversations with CommerceNext podcast edition of The Voice of Retail. I launched Conversations with CommerceNext podcast with my partners CommerceNext co-founders Veronika Sonsev and Scott Silverman in early June, and its been an amazing start with a great audience.  Check it out where you enjoy your podcasts today. So here is my full length feature interview with Alex from women's apparel retailer Universal StandardWho just last week, The Times of London called "the most revolutionary brand in fashion." Thanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail.  Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed  this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests on the show. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you're looking for more content, or want to chat  follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Until next time, stay safe and have a great week! 

Dan Nosowitz is back for another episode of Gee Thanks! The first time I invited him on he listed all of the things I bought in 2020 that he hated. Now I invite him to talk about gadgets, his favorite $35 smartwatch (seriously), and our LITTER ROBOT!Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:The Anker PowerCore Fusion Two-in-One Charger: https://amzn.to/2UFbf6QFlavor of the Week: https://geethanks.substack.com/ AmazeFit Smart Watch: https://amzn.to/3hSlJIe Litter Robot: https://fave.co/3hvrVH4 Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It's free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Meet my old “work buddy” Lauren and learn about what it's like to start a bathing suit line from the ground up! Ricki Rum is a self-funded, sustainable swimwear line with plans to keep expanding sizes and taking over the world. Plus, BACK PAIN. Plus, MIGRAINE CARE! Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Ricki Rum Swim (Use GEETHANKS2021 for free shipping!): https://www.rickirum.com/shop-1 The Back Buddy: https://amzn.to/3hw6mor Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It's free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Okay, not a LITERAL shower WITH HIM (that's not my place to offer), but celebrity stylist Lo VonRumpf (who also hosts podcast The Lo Life) is here to talk about the $20 addition to his shower routine that's left him feeling zen and left his feet feeling much cleaner. Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:The Inspirational Water Bottle: https://amzn.to/3wXckW8 The Ped Egg: https://amzn.to/2T9oJYa The Shower Foot Scrubbers: https://amzn.to/35OZld4 Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It's free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, Season 1, Episode Two  , I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with CommerceNext and presented by Wunderkind.Alex Waldman, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Universal Standard, has guided the company's marketing process with two truths. The first: authenticity is everything. The second: generosity is never lost on the consumer.In this episode of Conversations with CommerceNext, Scott Silverman and Michael talk with Alex  about joy as a career strategy, the marketing process for ethically motivated brands and building genuine consumer-company relationships.“This is where I find myself right now; I am the ‘changer' of the thing that has brought me a lot of anguish...” Alex sheds light on what it's like to champion change for women in an industry that has otherwise been hostile and exclusive. Universal Standard is a New York based e-commerce fashion brand that represents a paradigm shift in the inclusive-size segment, delivering fashion fundamentals and a style footprint not available until now.Alex Waldman is a trailblazer who is determined to deliver impactful change, from the product and the bottom line, to the consumer and the greater community.************Thanks for tuning into this episode of Conversations with CommerceNext.  Please follow us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform where we'll be sharing career advice and marketing strategies from eCommerce and digital marketing leaders at retailers and direct-to-consumer brands each and every episode.   CommerceNext is a community, event series and conference for marketers at retail and direct-to-consumer brands. Through our online forums, interviews, webinars, summits and other in-person events, we harness the collective wisdom of our community to help marketers grow their businesses and advance their careers. Join CommerceNext events to meet other industry leaders and learn the latest ecommerce and marketing strategies. You can find upcoming events at CommerceNext dot comHave a fantastic week everyone! ABOUT US: Scott SilvermanAn ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org's scholarship fund. Veronika SonsevVeronika Sonsev is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. She also leads the retail practice for Chameleon Collective and is a contributor for Forbes on how to grow retail and ecommerce in the age of Amazon. Having spent the last 10+ years working with some of the largest retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, Veronika has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing retail and ecommerce today. She is also an advocate for women in business and founded the global non-profit mBolden, which is now part of SheRunsit.  Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus        Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  and       The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.  You can learn more about Michael       here  or on       LinkedIn.  About CommerceNextCommerceNext is a community, event series and conference for marketers at retail and direct-to-consumer brands. Through our online forums, interviews, webinars, summits and other in-person events, we harness the collective wisdom of our community to help marketers grow their businesses and advance their careers. Join CommerceNext events to meet other industry leaders and learn the latest ecommerce and marketing strategies. You can find upcoming events at https://commercenext.com/commercenext-webinars/.   

The New Yorker's Helen Rosner is here to talk about the beauty of a chain restaurant salad bar (bacon bits 4eva) and her favorite crisp white tee shirt. No, really, she owns 30 of them and says they're perfect under the GWOs (garden witch overalls, duh).Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:The Urban Outfitter Men's Standard Cloth Scoop Neck Tee: https://fave.co/3wCLYZnThe “Skinny Shirt” (it's like a Dickie's big sister): https://fave.co/3q45jQJ Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It's free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

*This episode is about weed!* Hallie Bateman, author of DIRECTIONS, is here to talk about art, creating, and her journey into the world of cannabis. We also discuss the absolute horsesh*t inequalities surrounding the recent decriminalization of weed, taking a break from smartphones, and much more.Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Hallie Bateman's Books: http://halliebateman.com/project-category/books/Hemp Plastic Cigarette Rolling Machine: https://amzn.to/3iLRZirPrison Reform Project: https://prisonreform.comFollow Hallie on Instagram!: www.instagram.com/HallithBates Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It's free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

*This episode contains explicit content* Welcome to Nicola Bonn, host of the Outspoken Beauty podcast and my new best friend. Two words: Ceramic Dildo. You guys asked for more sex toy content and Nicola was up for the challenge! Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Prudence, the ceramic sex toy: https://www.finebone.co.uk/Nose hair trimmer: https://amzn.to/3wYi55kOutspoken Beauty Podcast: https://outspokenbeauty.co.uk/ Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It’s free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dia and Co. founder and CEO Nadia Boujarwah knows a little bit — okay, a lotta bit — about plus size clothing, bathing suits, and wedding dresses. Plus collagen in her coffee, GrandeLash on her eyelashes and much more.Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Dia and Co bathing suits: https://fave.co/3oZRuSYVital Proteins Collagen: https://amzn.to/3wJ6bfNGrandeLash Serum: https://myshlf.us/p-88830GrandeLash Brow Serum: https://myshlf.us/p-88831 Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a twice monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin Subscribe to Flavor of the Week, a weekly newsletter featuring one product we love, why we love it, and where you can get it. It’s free! https://geethanks.substack.com/p/hello-flavor-of-the-week As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The inimitable Julia Turshen is here to share her new cookbook, Simply Julia, her new job at the farm (and her fav farming boots), and her new gmail extension obsession. Also: Bravo shows, dog drama (Lottie ate a piece of a foam mattress mid-recording), and reclaiming “healthy food”. Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Simply Julia: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/9780062993335 Muck Boots: https://fave.co/3wseWux Boomerang: https://www.boomeranggmail.com/ Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a once monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to Burnt Toast, a newsletter from Virginia Sole-Smith, which you can read about here. If you like what you read today, please subscribe and/or share it with someone else who would too.Time for another audio newsletter! It’s like a podcast in your email. You can listen to the episode right here and now, or you can add it to the podcast player of your choice and listen whenever. And just in case you don’t like listening (or that’s not accessible to you), I’m including a full transcript (edited lightly for clarity) below.This conversation builds on my previous piece on how to dress our post-pandemic bodies, which might have changed a little or a lot over the past year and a half. If you missed Part 1, you can read that here.VirginiaHello and welcome to another audio version of Burnt Toast! This is a newsletter where we explore questions, and some answers, about fatphobia, diet culture, parenting and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, a journalist who covers weight stigma and diet culture, and the author of The Eating Instinct and the forthcoming Fat Kid Phobia. And today, I am chatting with Shira Rose, who is an amazing eating disorder therapist, activist and body positive style blogger who really gets fat fashion. About two weeks ago, I wrote about this topic, and you guys had a lot of questions. So I am bringing Shira on to talk more about all of this. Welcome, Shira!Shira Rose Thank you. It’s so good to be here.VirginiaI should also say that Shira and I are also In Real Life Friends, not just Internet people. We met when I was reporting a story on weight stigma and eating disorders. And then we bonded over our mutual love of puppies and giant chocolate chip cookies and many other things.Shira Rose Oh my God, I miss those Levain bakery cookies.VirginiaOh, yes. Okay, Shira, I’m excited to talk to you about clothes. But before we get to that, why don’t you tell us a little bit about why you became a body positive style blogger in the first place and a little bit about what clothes mean to you?Shira Rose I think a big reason why I became more into fashion than the average person was because growing up in a larger body, I had no access to clothes. And so I remember being a teenager, and dressing like I was 70 and 80, which is not what a 15 and 16 year old wants to be doing. And that was just another way that I felt different. I mean, I already felt different cause I was bigger than everyone else. And the world let me know that that wasn’t okay. But then on top of that, I couldn’t even dress in a way that reflected who I was. And I don’t think people understand it. It’s like, “it’s just clothing, it’s not a big deal.” It is a big deal, when clothes become another way that you’re different in a world that already makes you feel like your body is wrong for being larger. So I think not having that access made me feel just even more uncomfortable in my body, more isolated, more separate from everyone else. And so it was really important to me that I try to make my blog as inclusive as possible so that I’m never another place where people feel like they don’t fit in. And then, of course, I’m a therapist, and I treat people with eating disorders as well as being in my own recovery. And so Health at Every Size, and intuitive eating, and fat positivity are topics that are incredibly important to me.Virginia Totally, that makes sense. You’ve shared some on your socials and on the blog about how, as you’re progressing in your eating disorder recovery, clothing becomes complicated at these different points. There’s a lot that clothing sort of continues to bring up. And you recently had a pretty big deal event of burning some old clothes that were too small and that you had been holding onto for a long time. So, tell us a little bit about what that was like. And, you know, how you’re feeling about clothes right now?Shira Rose I’m kind of glad you asked me this question because I feel like social media maybe portrays this idea that I just burnt these clothes, and it was so cathartic, and it was so liberating, and now I feel better and I can close the door and move on. And the reality was that I didn’t feel this like I had some aha moment, when I was burning my clothes. I felt sad the whole time. Then I locked myself in a bathroom and cried for two hours. It was really, really hard. And just to be clear: A lot of people that have eating disorders do not lose weight, and their eating disorder is still valid and severe and is worthy of getting help. I want to put that out upfront. But with my eating disorder, I did go from being in a larger body to being in an average to small body. And it was a small body that I was dying in, but I was congratulated for every step of the way, because I finally looked the way people thought I should look. And [now in recovery] losing access to the clothes that I had in that smaller body is really hard. It’s once again a reminder again that my body is different and I can’t just walk into a store and find clothes that fit me anymore. And that’s been really, really, really hard to contend with. I think fashion has come a little bit of a way since I was a teenager, but now people are like, “Oh yeah, but these three stores exist! Everything’s great!” And that’s not the case.VirginiaLike it’s three stores, compared to the world.Shira Rose Exactly. So at nine out of 10 stores, I’m not going to find clothes that fit me and I’m saying this as somebody in a small fat body, so it’s significantly harder for someone that’s in a mid- to super-fat body who literally has access to maybe 10 stores total in the entire world. And if that’s not your style, too bad, that’s all you have.VirginiaThat is your style, because that’s the only clothing you can put on your back.Shira Rose Yeah, unless you learn how to sew somehow. So I think it’s been really hard. But it was important for me to do that. Because I think leaving the door open is risky. When I have the clothes in front of me that are too small, I can be like, “Well, I know how to go back and fit into them.” But I really want to make sure that that’s not an option. And I want to close as many doors as I can to my eating disorder. And so it was important for me, but it’s still really, really hard.Virginia That’s interesting. So for you, it was not this sort of cathartic release of the eating disorder. It was more of like, a tool for protecting yourself and protecting your recovery. But then, of course, there’s all this grief that comes with that.Shira Rose I mean, there’s definitely also the drama of lighting it on fire! And just to be clear, I donated and sold nine gigantic bags of clothes. This was just stuff that I couldn’t sell or donate. But yeah. I would have liked it to be cathartic, but it wasn’t quite that. You know what it was, it was working really hard to let go of an eating disorder that I’ve had for 22 years. There has been a lot more grief with that than I expected.Virginia I think so many people listening to this can relate to how clothes can kind of symbolize and hold those feelings for us. I think that’s very relatable and very real. So now I have some questions from readers. And this is more practical shopping stuff people are struggling with and because you are so plugged into particularly plus size, fashion and fashion in general. And it’s weird that we separate them out, they should be the same thing.Shira Rose I wish. One day.Virginia So I thought you would have some really good ideas for people. So, the first question, this person writes: I wear a size 22 US women’s sizing and tend to dress very casually for the most part. I feel very frustrated by how many garments are made with extremely thin, clinging material, or polyester blends that look ratty after a few washings. But I don’t even know where to look for good quality plus size clothes. A few people have suggested Universal Standard, but their casual stuff also tends to be made with thin, drapey, clingy material, any idea of somewhere else I can look?Man, that polyester blend is the worst, and it is everywhere.Shira Rose It really is. And I think what’s hard is that you can’t go, most of the time, you can’t walk into a store and touch things and feel them and try them on. With plus size fashion, you’re kind of limited to ordering all the things online and then trying them on and then having to return, if you have the energy to do that.VirginiaUntil your credit card explodes.Shira Rose Yeah. So Universal Standard is a great place, but there are going to be some things that are more clingy and some things that are not. And it’s really about looking at the materials of the clothes, and then maybe ordering a few things and trying them. And if you have the energy returning the things that don’t work. Some other brands that I thought of were WRAY or Nettle Studios, because they’re the more sustainable brands, which I found have better quality fabrics. But they are very specific styles. So if that’s not your style, then you might not love it. But I just wanted to throw out those options. I would just look at the materials, and also just try all the things on.VirginiaThat makes sense to check the fabrics. I do find that plus size clothes, you tend to see less of things that are just made with just cotton or just linen and I don’t know if that’s because they think they’re creating a more comfortable fit? Do they think stiffer fabrics are harder to fit to bigger bodies? I don’t know what the behind-the-scenes math is on that, but it is very irritating. Okay, next question: I would love to hear about navigating swimsuits and activewear. I love swimming, but it’s hard to find a plus size training swimsuit, almost everything is cut to be very modest, which means I can’t really move around, those high cut legs make it so I can actually move around and kick. Similarly, I would love to wear sports bras and racerback tops for hiking or yard work. But I’m not sure where to start, particularly with how expensive activewear can be.And I’ll also add that I feel like the flip side of plus size swimsuits is that they’re often very cleavage-y and there’s no boob support. It’s like one or the other. And that’s not great for being active either. Like if you’re me, and you’re chasing your kids around on the beach, and you don’t want your boobs falling out in front of everyone.Shira Rose Okay, so I have good news and bad news for this question, I think. I’ll start with the bad and go to the good after, so we can end on a high note. But when it comes to swim, I don’t know if it’s even worse this year because of COVID, but there really are not a lot of options. I can throw out the ones that most of you have already heard of, which are Torrid, Eloquii, Swimsuits for All. And then maybe department stores that might sell a few plus size swimsuits. But to be honest, they’re not that great. I mean, I haven’t found great options that I like, at all.VirginiaI’m gonna add Lands’ End swimsuits. Which I think I told you that once and you were like, “those are mom swimsuits.” And they kind of are, but actually like, I have a really cute navy blue one with a little eyelet lace ruffled trim, and it’s not too cleavage-y. I don’t know that it would be good for active swimming. But yeah, they definitely have more sporty options, too. And they have very inclusive sizing.Shira Rose You reminded me, I did see a cute little tie-dye, colorful one from them that was not that bad. If you’re into that.VirginiaAnd like, if you just want like a basic black situation, Lands’ End has a good, solid selection.Shira Rose I think they go to 24? I don’t know exactly. We could probably check afterwards. VirginiaI can put that in the transcript with their ranges. [UPDATE: They go up to size 26.] Did you say you had any good news?Shira Rose Oh, yeah. The good news is that I feel like activewear has some really cute things and they’ve come a long way. Some of my favorites, I would say Girlfriend—and they're sustainable too, which is nice—they go up to 6XL. Day Won, they go up to size 32 and they have some really cute pieces. And then Superfit Hero goes up to 7XL, which is really nice. And then if you want a more budget-friendly one, I would say Old Navy. They go up to 4XL and people really actually like a lot of their things. So I feel like there's a lot more going on with cute and comfortable activewear.VirginiaWhich is great, that's huge. That's a big change. Okay, next question is: “What can I wear that isn't a tunic and leggings but also is a tunic and leggings because that's all I wear?” I love this question.Shira Rose This question makes me laugh and like, you do you, first of all! I would think of ways maybe to spice up the leggings, if that’s something that you’re comfortable wearing. So maybe finding really comfy, cute jeggings or finding leather leggings for more of the winter/fall.VirginiaI thought of your leather leggings for this! You have really cute ones.Shira Rose Thanks, I don’t know that those are still going to fit, but hopefully I'll find a good replacement.VirginiaYeah, they were great.Shira Rose Anyway, so you could spice up the legging game. If you are into dresses, maybe try a comfy, flowy oversized dress and you have a tunic look. And then depending on what your thighs feel like, I always wear bike shorts underneath for comfort and for no horrifyingly uncomfortable chafing. But you know, also, if you like wearing leggings and tunics, that’s fine too.Virginia I also think that kind of outfit combination gets demonized as a “fat girl outfit.” And I think we need to reject that. Because it can be really freeing to find a uniform that works for you. And that feels good on your body. And then you can just like get three or four or five versions of it and like have your week figured out and remove the stress from your life, it can be so helpful. And I feel like not getting hung up on is this outfit on trend is helpful. f it feels good in your body then just go with that. I think that's great.Shira Rose Exactly.Virginia The last question we're going to do is: “Jeans for a bigger belly that stay up?” I have this question. This is like the story of my life with jeans. If you are more of a—to use women’s magazine terminology—“apple-shaped person.”Shira Rose Yes. We are fruits. VirginiaYes, exactly. But a lot of women’s jeans are assuming an hourglass figure, so the waist cuts in. So if you’re not shaped that way—which I’m not—you end up having to buy bigger to fit your waist, but then the legs are too big, so you’re just like constantly yanking them up. It’s a whole journey we’re on.Shira Rose That is like the literal story of my life. I have tried on more jeans this month than I’ve tried it in my whole life, which isn’t saying much considering I grew up in a cult and didn’t wear jeans, which is a whole other story. But oh my God. [AN IMPORTANT NOTE OF CLARIFICATION: Shira asked me to add that she regrets her use of “cult,” here. She writes: “I don’t feel that way about the religion as a whole but my specific upbringing made me feel that way at times. I’m sorry for using that word and honestly, if I could take it back, I would.” —VSS]Okay, this is a weird find that’s only helpful if you’re under size 18, but I love my Express jeans. They have these knit ones that feel like leggings but they look like jeans and they have cute styles. I feel like a lot of jeggings are kind of boring, but they have cute ones but you have to be under a size 18 so it’s not going to be accessible for everyone. And then honestly, this is also again, not ideal, but the Old Navy jeggings that have the elastic top. So you wouldn’t want to wear anything tucked in for that because that’s not the cutest look, unless that’s what you like. And they’re cheap, but they they stay up pretty nicely. And so any jegging type of jean that has that elastic top.VirginiaLike the Rockstar jeggings?Shira Rose Yeah, but only some of them have that top so look for those. But also like Liverpool denim, like, a bunch of different jeans have that kind of style. And those seem to hold up more because they’re more like the legging style.Virginia Another reader recommended the Gena Fit pants from Eloquii. So I can include that link that’s not Shira-endorsed or me-endorsed, we didn’t try it, but someone liked them. And I actually have a pair from Universal Standard that I like. The problem there is I’m really between two sizes, and so it’s like the smaller pair actually works better but only after it stretches out a bit out of the wash. This is kind of my jeans journey.Shira Rose I’m in the same boat, too, by the way. It’s so annoying.VirginiaIt is! Because the bigger pair feels really comfy straight on but then two hours later, you’re yanking them up because they’re stretching out and falling down. Anyway: Tunic and leggings sounding better and better. Well, Shira, thank you so much, this was super helpful. Why don’t you tell our listeners where they can find more of you and follow your work because you are often posting so many great fashion finds? An then also, all your other work on eating disorders, which is so important and I want everyone to know about it.Shira Rose Thank you. You can find me on Instagram and my blog theshirarose.com and Twitter and you know all the socials and if you specifically want to find out about more of my work as a therapist, that’s www.shirarosenbluthlcsw.com.VirginiaAwesome. Thank you so much, Shira!You’re reading Burnt Toast, a newsletter by Virginia Sole-Smith. Virginia is a feminist writer, and author of The Eating Instinct and the forthcoming Fat Kid Phobia. Comments? Questions? Email Virginia. If a friend forwarded this to you and you want to subscribe, sign up here: This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

I’m Mr. Napkin Head! Illustrator Ellie Ediger is here and Caroline has bought nearly all of her Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron movie house prints on Etsy. Now you can, too! We’re here to discuss everything Nancy, Nora, and how to make our kitchens feel cozier with the product she brought to the show.Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit and here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Soft Pink Light Bulbs: https://amzn.to/3y5mxAVEllie Dawn Designs on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/elliedawndesigns Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a once monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Diet culture, starving ourselves, food guilt, being at war with our shape, fat phobia, body shame. It's a special kind of torture and what I've discovered is that no woman is immune to this hell. For plus-sized women, magnify the feelings of pain by 100 because of how our culture responds to those who don't fit in, literally. Listen in as we talk about Sarah's life growing up as a fat and happy child and what her uncle told her about her weight and her worth. Hear about how the fashion industry disregards plus-sized women and how much of the population that actually omits. Gain insight into how fat phobia is literally everywhere in our culture and why it's so important that we start to recognize how we unconsciously perpetuate it. Fall in love with Sarah's fierce rebellion as she shares a story about literally prying her braces off of her own teeth with a pair of pliers and why she was so hell bent to make everyone around her stop trying to make her conform to their standards of beauty. This woman is a beautiful force to be reckoned with, taking plus-sized to the mainstream without asking for permission. GO SARAH! Sarah Hamel-Smith aka @thecurvytrini is a New York based TEDx presenter, plus-sized model, storyteller and digital influencer represented by TRUE Model Management. She is the co-Founder of Plus Amplified, an organization dedicated to educating and empowering those who live in plus-sized bodies and serves as a catalyst for cultural and internal shifts towards size equity. After being body shamed for many years she decided to be one of the people who changes the way beauty is defined in society. Sarah has worked with several major fashion brands as a model, motivational speaker and influencer including Eloquii, Veronica Beard, Universal Standard and Tommy Hilfiger at Macy's and has been featured as a model and writer in BTFL Magazine. Sarah has presented at NYU and NYWICI as a subject matter expert in influencer marketing and at FIT as an expert in Plus Size Fashion. Sarah has been featured on CBS News and Crain's New York speaking out about the dangers of diet culture and has modeled on Good Morning America and as well as InStyle Magazine as a plus size style icon and featured on Billboards in Times Square for New York Fashion Week.

Forever35 co-host and my boss (ish!) Kate Spencer is here! We’re talking about Mother’s Day grief and bird feeders, and yes, these are more related than you might think. Also, squirrel chairs!Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpod and shop all of our recs here: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit Mentioned on the show:Bird Feeder: https://amzn.to/3o6AgCZSquirrel Chair: https://amzn.to/3tsPjrkElsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin: https://amzn.to/3xT8RJ2The Dead Moms Club by Kate Spencer: https://amzn.to/3eUjtPa Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a once monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fashion brands are upping marketing rhetoric and imagery to include a wider range of body types, but many companies are still failing to serve the plus-size consumer. The market for plus-size fashion is worth nearly $30 billion in the US alone. But while brands are upping marketing rhetoric and imagery to include a wider range of body types, many companies are still failing to serve the plus-size consumer. In the latest episode of The BoF Podcast, chief correspondent Lauren Sherman speaks with Marie Denee, creator and editor-in-chief of The Curvy Fashionista, Alexandra Waldman, co-founder and creative director of Universal Standard and BoF’s senior editorial associate Alexandra Mondalek about the right way to do plus-size fashion. Plus-size customers want one thing: choice. But too often they’re left sifting through limited ranges that reflect a narrow view of how they should dress. “Give us the same assortment,” Denee said, adding that brands must unlearn tropes about what the industry can offer plus-size consumers. Lazy marketing that co-opts the language of body positivity without really serving plus-size shoppers is also a problem. “We have to learn to speak to a consumer that has been not just ignored, but belittled… it’s an emotional minefield,” said Waldman. “Body positivity is a personal journey.” Companies need to invest in plus-size ranges too, taking the time and spending the cash to perfect fit, style and branding. “You have got to be led by the change and not the money,” explains Waldman. Related Articles: What Fashion Can’t Seem to Get Right About the Plus-Size Market Unravelling the Plus-Size Problem How to Make Your Brand Size-Inclusive   To subscribe to The BoF Podcast, please follow this link. Join BoF Professional for the analysis and advice you need. Get 30 days for just $1 or explore group subscriptions for your business. 

Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka is here and we’re talking about her amazing grandma, her amazing earrings, why she doesn’t have a Go Bag (for earthquakes) (and fires), and the pandemic purchase she ended up sending back the day it came in the mail.Follow along with recs (and share your own via DM) on the “Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!” Instagram: www.instagram.com/geethanksjustboughtitpodMentioned on the show:Zojirushi Hot Water Boiler: https://amzn.to/3nA8ZZ7Zojirushi Rice Cooker: https://amzn.to/3t4THwAMin and Mon: https://minandmon.com/ Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020! Shop the store for more: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a once monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I can't believe it's finally time to share my story with the world (at least on this podcast): Lea Michele is my enemy and has been since December 2007. Also, Jackie and Caroline discuss the merits of the Peloton (which Jackie owns) and the Soul Cycle bike (which Caroline owns). Think this isn't connected to Lea Michele? Wrong!!!!! If you have a Lea Michele story email me: caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.comMentioned On This Episode!Lea MicheleThe PelotonThe Soul Cycle BikeWant more minis? Every other week you can find them on Natch Beaut's feed! Subscribe!Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8. The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFOAnnnnd: 1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltVisit www.geethanksjustboughtit.com for even more recs and shop the Gee Thanks! Shelf: https://shoplist.us/geethanksjustboughtit See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dreams come true! Caroline's first housewife guest, RHONJ's Margaret Josephs comes to Gee Thanks! to talk about her new book, the bag she can't live without, and the shocking product she uses to wash her face. We also discuss: Teresa's taglines, Joe Benigno, and of course, Marge Sr.Mentioned On This Episode!The Beck Bag: https://fave.co/3ve5M45Irish Spring Bar Soap: https://amzn.to/2S1iqW1Evelom Facial Balm: https://www.skinstore.com/eve-lom-gel-balm-cleanser-30ml/12303056.htmlBaby Foot: https://amzn.to/3aulGPSCaviar Dreams, Tuna Fish Budget by Margaret Josephs: https://amzn.to/3sJT6QW Top 8 Best Selling Products in the Gee Thanks! Community in 2020!8.The Hot Tub ($529): https://amzn.to/3aYP1TO7. Digit for saving: https://digit.co/r/GeeThanks?ab6. Rakuten for cash back while you shop: https://www.rakuten.com/r/CAROLI33174?eeid=281875. Universal Standard: https://fave.co/3l5KtN74. LED Lights: https://amzn.to/2WZO9WG3. Home Comforts: https://bookshop.org/a/9875/97807432728652. The Revlon One Step: https://amzn.to/3o96cFO1. The Garden Witch Overalls (Size up!): https://amzn.to/383oGltSubscribe to Hotline Skin, a once monthly newsletter about skincare product recs from Jolie: https://www.geethanksjustboughtit.com/hotline-skin As always, reach me at Caroline@geethanksjustboughtit.com, @geethanksjustboughtitpod on Instagram, or leave me a message at 424-245-0736. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Creating an Ethical, Sustainable, and Inclusive Brand with Erin Donaghy Do you feel like you always have to keep up with the latest fashion trends? Have you ever felt pressured to get the newest clothes and accessories?  Fast fashion's business model is to quickly produce cheap and trendy clothes. They encourage consumers to buy more and buy often.  However, it is harmful to the environment. Fortunately, more people are now becoming aware of the adverse effects of fast fashion. There are now more fashion brands that have sustainable and ethical practices. In this episode, Erin Donaghy joins us to discuss the alternative to fast fashion. Erin is the founder of Applause Lingerie. She shares her journey of creating a brand that is sustainable, ethical, and inclusive. We also talk about how she handles all her responsibilities as a brand owner, a full-time teacher, and a mom. If you want to learn more about the wonders of sustainable fashion, then this episode is for you! Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode: Discover the truth about fast fashion and how it hurts the environment. Learn how Erin turned her dream into reality and built her brand. Erin shares her top advice for women feeling overwhelmed with all their commitments. Resources My first book, Relationship Ready: How I Stopped Fucking Randos and Started Cupcaking My Soulmate, is available on Amazon and Audible. FREE workbook! Apply the lessons you learn from this episode as you listen! Subscribe to my mailing list, and I'll send it right away! Sewing Bras: Designer Techniques with Beverly Johnson  Universal Standard  Check out Sarah's fashion brand—Sarah Donofrio.  Fake Famous Bryan Washington's novels  Visit Applause Lingerie's website for sustainable and ethical lingerie! Follow Erin and Applause Lingerie: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok.   Episode Highlights Erin's Journey to Creating Applause Lingerie  Erin started sewing around 20 years ago as a hobby.  She then started taking classes and eventually made fashion her profession. Applause Lingerie was Erin's dream brand that came true. Lingerie drew Erin in because of its beauty and functionality, but also she thought she could keep this business going by solving the lingerie problem that women have.   Listen to the full episode to hear Erin talk about launching her brand from doing shows to home shoots.   What Fast Fashion Is and Why It's Bad for the Environment  Fast fashion is an industry that copies elements from high-end trends. By simplifying the construction process, they produce clothes quickly. Fast fashion promotes the idea that people have to change looks frequently. Because their products are cheap, you don't think of saving up or focusing on quality.   Overproduction is one of the main problems in fast fashion.  Lots of clothes get thrown away and even burned. How Applause Lingerie Is Different from Fast Fashion  Erin shops at thrift stores for fabric and upcycles yardage instead of ordering tons of them. Erin also does in-person fittings to make sure that the size is as it should be. Erin does not want to make a bra that someone won't love.  Applause Lingerie is slow fashion. It's about putting in the time to get it right. Erin's Notable Pieces Aside from bras and panties, Erin also likes making Kimono-style robes. The fabric of bras and certain types of laces are delicate and challenging to work with.  Erin admits that there are times that a good idea doesn't always translate to a good product.   As a zero-waste designer, Erin takes these failed experiments apart and puts them on a save-someday pile.  The Challenges in Creating and Delivering a Sustainable Brand Because Applause Lingerie is a smaller brand, one of the challenges is sourcing materials. As much as possible, Erin tries to use materials that are sustainable and ethically made.  When the COVID pandemic struck, in-person fittings became a lot more challenging.  Since people wanted to feel more relaxed while working from home, bralettes became high in demand.  They also couldn't go pop-ups anymore.  Erin is also hesitant to have influencers promote her brand.   The Importance of Diversity in Fashion Applause Lingerie's products are made-to-order.  Because of this, Erin can accommodate people of diverse body sizes while solving the problem of overproduction.  Erin also tries to improve the models she uses to showcase different types of bodies.  On Erin's Teaching Career and Her Family Erin is also a full-time Montessori teacher for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders.  After teaching online for almost a year, they're finally going back in person within two weeks.  Erin is thankful that her two teenage daughters are adaptable and self-directed. Despite having little free time, Erin doesn't feel resentful because she loves what she's doing.  Erin's Daily Non-Negotiables  Erin likes to have a big breakfast and read the newspaper on the weekends. Erin tries to set 20 minutes aside to do some reading before going on TikTok.  Erin's Advice for People Who Are Suffering  It's okay to feel down if you're suffering because of the pandemic.  If you're able, work towards a goal in small steps. With things so out of control, it's nice to do something for yourself.  5 Powerful Quotes from the Episode “When you launch a business, you're ideally solving a problem for someone. And lingerie is a huge problem for women in a lot of different ways.” “Fast fashion is an industry that basically takes trends, something that would have been seen on a bigger runway from a, you know, high-end designer, takes elements of it, copies it quickly, gets it into production really, really fast, and simplifies the construction process.” “So many women have been turned off by, you know, ‘oh we don't have that size,' or, you know, ‘we don't make that size.' That's, you know, I don't want to put out that message at all.” “Because I do love my work, I don't feel resentful or grumpy, or, you know, I am doing like, what I love to do… But yeah, building a small business, it's definitely for the courageous.” “It is important too, if you can, to try to work towards a goal in small steps no matter what it is…  I think it's nice when you can carve out a little something for yourself and be like, ‘I can actually control just this little part, and then I'll try to bring myself joy.'” About Erin Erin Donaghy is the founder of Applause Lingerie. Her company is a sustainable lingerie brand based in Tucson, Arizona. Applause Lingerie aims to make women feel beautiful. They can also rest easy knowing that their shopping choices help the environment. By choosing upcycled fabrics or deadstock, Erin strives to be ethical in her production process. Applause Lingerie also promotes inclusivity.  It aims to show diversity in its models through skin color, age, and body size. Besides being a brand owner, Erin is also an experienced lead teacher with a demonstrated history of working in Montessori education. She is currently teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th graders full-time while raising two teenage daughters.  Are you interested to know more about Erin and her work? Connect with her on LinkedIn or check out Applause Lingerie's website. You can also follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Enjoy the Podcast? Learning how you can improve your relationships, be it romantic, familial, business, friendships, and with yourself, has never been this easy. If you enjoyed today's episode of The Relationship Ready Podcast, then hit subscribe and share it with your friends! Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can also share this with your family and friends so they can feel empowered and inspired to reach their dreams. Have any questions? You can contact me through email or find me on Instagram or Facebook. Thanks for listening! For more updates and episodes, visit my website. You may also tune in on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To being relationship ready, Heidi B

What does size equality really mean? Does it mean carrying just a few extra sizes beyond a 0 - 12? Or does it require reevaluating and truly understanding how to embrace size equality? In today's episode, Sam chats with Alex Waldman, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Universal Standard. Universal Standard has been heralded as "the world's most inclusive fashion brand" for their 00-40 size range. Alex discusses what size equality really means, and how embracing our size can be our superpower.  Check out Universal Standard's Vote with Us: https://www.universalstandard.com/collections/vote-with-us Universal Standard's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/universalstandard Sam's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onceandmoreco  Sign up for O+M Marketing EDU: https://go.onceandmore.co/0aab9 Episode mixed by Cooper Ogborn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/q00per/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/q00per/)

Together with cofounder Polina Veksler, Alexandra Waldman created Universal Standard in 2015 to obliterate the dividing line of size—a style barrier which often determines who has the privilege and freedom to dress with quality and style. Starting with the premise that clothes should look and feel good on everyone, Alex and Polina set out to design a line of contemporary, elevated essentials for all women and allow a size 2 and a size 32 to shop in the same way – using style as the only filter. Available in sizes 00 to 40, Universal Standard is currently the most inclusive brand in the entire world. This week Alexandra Waldman sits down with The Creative Muscle Podcast to discuss the meaning of clothes, who pays the price for fast fashion, and the role of fearlessness in generous creativity.

When Alex Waldman, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Universal Standard realized that plus-size fashion was not as accessible, she decided to change the “industry standard” of sizes and introduce accessible and inclusive fashion for all women. On this episode, Alex talks about how she got her start in the fashion industry,  getting away from “the bully in your head”, and the importance of having courage to change the status quo. She also shares her tips on starting a business, as well as the power women can have to affect change in companies.

Polina Veksler and Alexandra Waldman sit down with Jenna to share how Universal Standard is creating enduring change in the fashion industry — From building a size irrelevant brand to introducing their Fit Liberty Program and eliminating the notion of paying an emotional price for clothing.

Full Body Frequency Episode 220 We're barely three weeks into summer and it feels like it's almost over; and, frankly, I can't think of a better time to talk fashion! Steffany Allen, Full Body Frequency's fashion contributor and celebrity and brand stylist, is here to talk summer fashion, give us a fall fashion preview, and share the inside scoop on this year's Full Figured Fashion Week. Publicist and coach Natasha Nurse of Dressing Room 8 tells us how fashion can be used as a tool to take us to the next level, personally and professionally. Rounding out our show is none other than Alexandra Waldman, co-founder and the creative director of Universal Standard. Alexandra will talk about the revolutionary mark Universal Standard has made on women sizes 10-28. AND, she'll make a major announcement about Universal Standard's expansion into the world of accessories. You won't want to miss this! Steffany Allen: http://steffanyallen.com/ Dressing Room 8: https://www.dressingroom8.com/ Universal Standard: https://www.universalstandard.net/ Connect with Full Body Frequency: https://www.instagram.com/fullbodyfrequency/ https://twitter.com/lauraricedesign https://www.facebook.com/FULLBODYFREQUENCY/ Full Body Frequency is a production of The Power of Voices, http://thepowerofvoices.com/, Los Angeles, CA.