We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Charrier. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission through Jia+Kate is to design clothing—loungewear, daywear, and adaptive clothing— that allows women to feel completely and authentically comfortable, particularly in their own living spaces. This mission is so important to me because of the struggles I had when I first became a step-mom. When I moved in with my new husband and the family, my new home life came with tween boys and the unexpected dilemma of finding “appropriate” loungewear. It was a huge pain point for me, because I could be at home but I didn’t feel I could ever fully relax—specifically, I didn’t feel comfortable being braless in front of the step kids. It’s just a boundary I chose to maintain. Therefore I was either having to be uncomfortable in my bra under my pajamas, or find some other type of bulky cover-up. This led to a lot of discomfort and awkward frustration. When I thought about designing a clothing solution, I realized there would be were many, many other women in similar situations—whether roommates and guests, step-kids or in-laws, neighbors or other passers-by, are preventing a woman from fully letting loose in comfortable clothing. It really made me realize how instrumental a functional piece of comfortable clothing can be on one’s quality of life. If you never feel you can really relax or be yourself in your own home, your mental health can really suffer. Having a piece of clothing that allows you to be fully, truly comfortable, without having to be self-conscious about your appearance, is such a life-changer. I finally perfected this product and I want to provide this feeling to others, and that’s why my mission is important.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Yes! I recently realized I had to pivot away from the original ideation of the company “Jia Loungewear” and I decided to re-brand to “Jia+Kate.” It was an extremely laborious and humbling process. After receiving many messages and reviews from happy customers wearing “Jia Loungewear” to work, for traveling, and beyond, I realized that calling the brand “loungewear” was really putting us all in a box. It was limiting the types of styles I felt comfortable creating, and it seemed to limit the customers’ mindset on when and where the pieces “should” be worn. I could tell they felt a little guilty wearing their so-called “loungewear” anywhere and everywhere, even though they physically felt confident and covered doing so. In the re-imagining of the brand, I had to re-do everything from USPTO applications and business documents, to logo and website and messaging and beyond. Of course, if I had foreseen the impact of wearing these pieces as daywear, or adaptive wear for those unable to wear a bra for medical or other reasons, or just because the customer wants comfort all day, I would have started without the designation of “loungewear” in the name. But it seems there is no way to start a business from scratch without learning more and pivoting along the way. And I’m sure this won’t be the last pivot. But I do hope it’s the last re-brand!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think the biggest lesson to un-learn, that is still a work in progress and probably resonates with many other impromptu startup entrepreneurs, is related to how I self-identify. We all have an image in our mind of ourselves, what we’re capable of, what our skillset might be, and how we see ourselves in the world. This is based on all the conditioning and lessons we’ve learned along the way—from parents and teachers to societal expectations in general. I have had to uncouple my worth and identity from my day job of being an eye doctor, and open my mind to the possibility that I could be, and would like to be, a full-time CEO when Jia+Kate sees continued success. I have had to start un-learning the narrative I’ve told myself that I’m an introvert incapable of putting myself, or a creation of mine, out into the world for potential failure or rejection. I’ll have to continue to un-learn these limitations and more, in order to become the leader that this company will need as we grow. So I think mindset and self-identification lessons are the hardest and also the most important to un-learn. And that is likely a life-long process, but just magnified and accelerated by startup ownership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jiaandkate.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jia.and.kate
• Facebook: facebook.com/jiaandkate
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-charrier/

Image Credits
Photos (except for my first image) are by Samantha Lynne Photography