We recently connected with Olivia Mott and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Olivia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
The biggest risk I have taken was following my gut, my senior year of college. I went into my freshman year of college declaring my major as Speech Language Pathology. I have always loved interacting with others, lending a helping hand and being on the go. This career was introduced to me by a few different people I knew and resources from my school. I really believed that I belonged in the medical field because I wanted to change lives and be an advocate for children. The first two years of school was the basics of being an undergrad so I really did not get into the nitty gritty of what it would be like to work in this field. Unfortunately the two pivotal years of my college career was taken away from me due to the worldwide pandemic. I wasn’t able to get in-person clinical and observation time under my belt. I never had my “a ha moment” of this is what I want to do for the rest of my life!
I knew that my passions lied somewhere else but I never had it in me to come to terms with the fact that I didn’t want to pursue what I have been studying in school for the past four years. When Taylor, my business partner, reached out to me in the spring wanting help launching her brand on social media as an intern, I was so excited but frightened at the same time. I didn’t know what my parents or my peers would think of me because in my mind I was disappointing them for going in the opposite direction. When I talked about what brought me joy to Taylor and Casey, It was super clear to them that fitness, social media and entrepreneurship was what I really wanted to pursue, without officially saying it!
Taylor and Casey helped me realize that a career path isn’t all about the yearly income, the quote on quote status and validation from the people around me. It is all about leaning towards joy. Building a life that is in alignment with my values and passions.
I took the risk of not going off to grad school to further my education in the bachelors degree I received; to start my journey helping build an innovative female founded brand. I can say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I haven’t felt this content and confident in a very long time. I finally get to be creative in my own way while inspiring thousands of women through the power of storytelling.
Olivia , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Olivia Mott and I am CAKESbody first employee/hype girl and now part owner of an amazing female founded brand. CAKES was founded by sisters Casey and Taylor Capuano. Years ago, they had this idea to create a simple solution that can replace the annoying pads that come in our workout tops and swimwear. Casey and Taylor launched CAKESbody at the end of January this year to friends and family. It started out through word of mouth and posting on Instagram/Tik tok to our very small community. Taylor reached out to me, March of 2022, looking to have someone join to the team to officially launch the brand on all social media platforms. I grew up with Taylor and Casey’s parents but never got the chance the build a relationship with them as there is a 7 year age gap between us. Our work relationship quickly turned into a forever friendship. These women were mentors to me being fresh out of college entering the real world and they became the older sisters I’ve never had. Shortly after joining the CAKESbody team (of 3) as social media manager, we launched our Hype Girl Program, which is our affiliate program. This took our business to a whole new level because we were getting real customers involved with spreading the word about our small business through social media or word of mouth. The Hype Girl program is special because this community has first access to new products we are developing, future events, customers photoshoots, focus groups (we call hype girl happy hours), giveaways, earning commission and much more. This community of women is the reason why we are on a path to develop innovative, comfortable, flattering alternatives to the traditional bra, that work for ALL body types. We originally thought we would use the content from our hype girls in ads because these are real people with normal size followings, but the content is working because it is authentic coming from trusted people. As of December 2022, we have 300+ Hype Girls. These women and our loyal customers are the foundation of the brand. They truly inspire us to live with contagious confidence and bold spirits.
CAKES started with a simple solution to combats NFO (Nipple Freak Out) in workouts and swimwear – very quickly we heard from women from all backgrounds (breastfeeding mothers, women going through menopause, women experiencing mastectomy scarring, and women simply wanting to feel good in their clothes) that CAKES helped them. Today, we are working on expanding our line to include more solutions for women while supporting women’s health causes. We donate $1 from every pair of CAKES sold to women’s health organizations (currently donating to Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester).
CAKES are the first reusable, washable, non-adhesive silicone inserts designed specifically for workout tops, lounge, and swimwear. CAKES are made out of high quality, medical grade, non-adhesive silicone that adheres naturally to body heat. The shape & size are designed to seamlessly give coverage under workout tops, bodysuits & bras. Our design is about twice the size of a standard nipple cover or nipple pastie and the non-adhesive silicone allows you to wash and reuse literally hundreds of times. Although there isn’t any of that gross, irritating adhesive, the silicone binds naturally to the skin with body heat under any snug fitting top or sports bra.
A few months ago, we launched CAKES (+) the largest nipple cover on the market. This was in collaboration with our DDD and up customers looking for extra seamless coverage under any snug fitted top and our Breast Cancer Survivor customers. Soon after launching we got a message from one of our first customers letting us know that CAKES are “life changing” because the non irritating silicone is so comfortable she forgot she was even wearing them and after having multiple reconstructive surgeries the CAKES were actually smoothing out her scars and puckered skin.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
We keep in touch with our customers and hype girl community by constantly interacting with them on social media. Our Tik Tok pages have become the place where we earn peoples trust, bring in new customers, show personality and drive sales, where our Instagram is our community of existing customers. We show our day to day lives and behind the scenes of product development on Instagram Stories. We involve our community in daily polls, fun interactive activities and have in depth conversations through Instagram DMs.
Our Hype Girls receive monthly emails personally from me with exclusive content and details for the month ahead. I let them know about the highs and lows of a small business and how much there support is valued to us.
We are much more than a nipple cover brand, we are an outlet for full time working moms, fitness enthusiasts, beauty gurus and women who simply enjoy supporting other women. Our community always has the opportunity to get involved with what comes next for the brand. Three women who started out as our customers, then loyal Hype girls are now officially apart of our CAKES team running our customer service, managing PR and one is a former nurse helping us identify to the best way for us to get CAKES in the hands of Breast Cancer Patients.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I actually grew up with the founders, Taylor and Casey’s parents! We knew of each other but never built a solid relationship because when I was still young they were in college. My mom was telling me all about the brand they were planning on launching the beginning of this year. In the beginning of the pandemic, I created a fitness account on Instagram for my close friends and family to follow along at home guided workouts. My instagram page became something much deeper because I was starting to inspire strangers to better themselves and focus on their mental health during such a unpredictable time. I loved editing content, creating personable stories that were vlog style and being vulnerable to my audience. As a 22 year old, I’ve grown up watching the evolution of social media and how these platforms can become a huge part of peoples lives.
In March of 2022, this is when I received a phone call from Taylor on my 45 minute commute home from school! We talked about the plans for the brand, how they were going to possibly spread the word about CAKES through social media, my plans post grad and so on! I picked up the phone not thinking much out it, but by the time I hung up I was officially CAKESbody intern. The entirety of the spring I was getting to know Taylor and Casey on a whole new level and basically following their lead. Fast forward to May of 2022, I graduated with my Bachelors from the University of Connecticut and was officially hired as CAKES first employee.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cakesbody.com/
- Instagram: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjv3LG89uX7AhUxnnIEHU15C1sQFnoECAkQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fcakesbody%2F%3Fhl%3Dam-et&usg=AOvVaw2yxT4TGFa-RJMgq1AV8RBz
- Other: Tik tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorcapuano1?_t=8Xxg8laSLDq&_r=1
Image Credits
Lexi Jameson – founder of The Creator Code Owen Capp – founder of Capptivate Productions Jessica Thibault – Jessica Kelly Photography