Every Body is a Swimsuit Body - feat. Joyann King Michael and Chrissy McCurdy

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Interview with Leslie Heaney Episode: Every Body is a Swimsuit Body - feat. Joyann King Michael and Chrissy McCurdy
Release Date: June 19, 2025

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Introduction

In this inspiring episode of The Interview with Leslie Heaney, Leslie sits down with her friends and the visionary minds behind the innovative swimwear brand, Stylist—Joanne King Michael and Chrissy McCurdy. The conversation delves deep into the journey of transforming a poolside wardrobe mishap into a nationally acclaimed swimwear sensation that seamlessly blends beautiful design with effective shapewear.

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Origin Story: From Pool Party to Startup

The brainstorming session that led to the creation of Stylist began organically at a pool party in Millbrook. Leslie recounts how Joanne hosted the party to make new friends after relocating from New York City, inadvertently sparking the idea for a specialized swimbra.

Notable Quote:

"We were looking up and there's, you know, quick Google searching. I'm like, not really anything that's being truly marketed for this." — Joanne King Michael [10:37]

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Identifying the Gap: The Need for a Swim Bra

The guests discuss the lack of swimwear designed to provide adequate support and coverage, especially for women with larger busts. Chrissy shares her personal struggles with fitting traditional bras under swimsuits, highlighting the necessity for a product like Stylist's swim bra.

Notable Quote:

"I've been to every single product that Spanx has ever designed, so I feel like a shapewear expert. And I'm like, what? What are you doing?" — Joanne King Michael [07:29]

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Product Development: Overcoming Challenges

Developing the first-ever patented swim bra involved meticulous research and sourcing specialized fabrics. The team discusses the technical aspects, including waterproof materials and seamless designs that ensure comfort and functionality.

Notable Quote:

"We chose a fabric that historically had not been used for swim, now it had all the swim capabilities." — Joanne King Michael [25:33]

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Fundraising and Building the Brand

Joanne and Chrissy share their experience raising capital through friends and family, emphasizing the importance of believing in their vision despite initial skepticism from others, including Chrissy’s husband, Jeremy.

Notable Quote:

"If what you launch is perfect at launch, then you've waited too long." — Chrissy McCurdy [27:28]

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Recognition and Growth: Oprah’s Endorsement

Stylist's breakthrough came with endorsements from high-profile platforms like Harper's Bazaar and Oprah Daily. Leslie highlights Oprah's significant role in elevating the brand through annual Swim Awards, which have consistently driven organic traffic and sales.

Notable Quote:

"Oprah has given us her stamp of approval now two years in a row." — Joanne King Michael [33:54]

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Expanding the Product Line: Beyond Swimwear

While Stylist remains committed to swimwear, the team discusses introducing complementary products like the COVID ups, versatile garments that can transition from poolside to evening wear seamlessly.

Notable Quote:

"We want that lifetime customer that knows she can always come to us and trust us." — Chrissy McCurdy [42:41]

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Customer Impact: Confidence and Inclusivity

Joanne and Chrissy emphasize the emotional impact of their products, aiming to eliminate swimsuit anxiety and promote body confidence. They share heartwarming customer stories that underscore how Stylist has empowered women to embrace their bodies and enjoy swimwear without self-consciousness.

Notable Quote:

"We want our customers to understand that like we want them to feel like they can wear whatever they want and they don't need to have the swimsuit dread." — Joanne King Michael [44:16]

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Future Plans: Focused Growth and Market Expansion

Looking ahead, Stylist plans to deepen their presence in key retail locations like Nordstrom and upscale resorts, ensuring accessibility for their target audience. They aim to remain highly curated, focusing on perfecting their swimwear before considering broader category expansions.

Notable Quote:

"Our tagline is 'Sexy and Sculpted,' and it really captures what we're about." — Joanne King Michael [41:05]

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Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Joanne and Chrissy offer valuable insights for those looking to start their own businesses. They stress the importance of moving forward despite uncertainties, defining a clear brand vision, and understanding the target customer deeply.

Notable Quotes:

"Don't worry about all the things that you don't know yet. Trust me, you're going to find out." — Joanne King Michael [49:08]
"Forge ahead. You know, there's always a problem every day, so, you know, live with it." — Chrissy McCurdy [50:34]

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Conclusion: Empowering Confidence Through Innovation

Leslie wraps up the episode by expressing gratitude towards Joanne and Chrissy for creating a product that has transformed her own experience with swimwear. The conversation highlights the power of recognizing a market gap, leveraging industry expertise, and fostering a supportive team to build a successful and impactful brand.

Notable Quote:

"Thank you both for creating something that allows me to swim in public. I'm very grateful to you both." — Leslie Heaney [51:49]

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Key Takeaways

• Identifying Market Gaps: Recognizing unmet needs can pave the way for innovative solutions.
• Persistence in Development: Overcoming technical and logistical challenges is crucial for product success.
• Building a Supportive Team: Collaborative efforts and diverse skill sets enhance entrepreneurial ventures.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Focusing on empowering customers fosters loyalty and brand strength.
• Strategic Growth: Staying focused on core products while planning for scalable expansion ensures sustainable growth.

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This episode serves as an inspiring blueprint for aspiring entrepreneurs, demonstrating how passion, expertise, and resilience can lead to groundbreaking success in the fashion industry.

Transcript

[Leslie Heaney]

Foreign. Hey, everyone, it's Leslie. And you're listening to the interview with Leslie Heaney. Today, I'm sitting down with two great friends of mine, former neighbors in Millbrook, Joanne King Michael and Chrissy McCurdy. They are two of the three women behind the game changing swimwear brand Stylist. Together, these women turned a poolside wardrobe mishap, which we discuss in detail in this episode, into a national swimwear sensation. So the Stylist bathing suits, for those of you who don't know, basically combine beautiful bathing suit design and shapewear. So it's shapewear that sort of sucks your body in. And they've also created the first of its kind swim bra. And stylist has been praised and celebrated by Harper's Bazaar and Oprah Daily and Womenswear Daily in Town and country. Oprah herself apparently is a huge fan and stylist customer. She's awarded them the Oprah Daily Swim Awards every year since they've started. And just a few days before we sat down, Chrissy and Joyin announced they had received a patent for the first ever swim bra. So these women basically have redefined what it means to feel confident in a bathing suit, which for, for me, prior to my stylist purchases, I hadn't been since 1980. Chrissy and Joy Ann are smart and they're funny and they're really inspiring. These are women who saw a gap in the marketplace, had an idea, took their contacts and backgrounds. Chrissy had been a buyer at Saks and Ralph Lauren, and Joanne was a editor at Harper's Bazaar and Elle Decor. And they took their work ethic and their passion and they created this brand that women truly can't live without. So if you've ever dreaded swimsuit season dream, dreamed of starting something new, or just love a good reinvention story, this episode is for you. I'm so excited about this week's sponsor, the 10 Mile Distillery. 10 Mile is an American single malt distillery based in the Hudson Valley, about 90 miles north of New York. And it is the maker of the award winning Little Rest Whiskey made through a slow distillation process with all New York state grains by master distiller Shane Fraser from Scotland. And when I say award winning, I mean it's earned a 95 out at the whiskey competition in San Francisco and a 96 at the New York International Spirits Competition. This is delicious. If you do not believe me about how delicious this is, the good news for you is that if you're in the New York area, you can go visit this incredible and beautiful distillery yourself. It's set among the most beautiful apple orchard with beautiful views of the mountains behind. Stop by for a leisurely tour or tasting or even enjoy an expertly crafted cocktail. They also have gin and vodka available. They also have this incredibly delicious Thai restaurant that is in residence there from Thursday through Sunday. To learn more about the distillery, you can Visit them at 10mile distillery.com theinterview. All orders will receive 10% off if you put in promo code the interview at checkout. So go to www.tenmile distillery.com the interview to get that discount, that 10% off. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

[Joanne King Michael]

Here.

[Leslie Heaney]

I'm thrilled to be with my two good friends who happen to be two of the three ladies of stylists. And we were just chatting before the record button began about my technical challenges of my. My home studio here. And I was about to say that my. I too, am not really on. On a. Having a hair and makeup day. It's. But you guys look great.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

You look great, Leslie.

[Leslie Heaney]

You always look great.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Oh, I love our eyes.

[Joanne King Michael]

I love the podcasting glasses. I think this is a good look for you.

[Leslie Heaney]

Here's the problem, by the way. I need to get progressive, which means, like, just take me up behind my shed and shoot me. I mean, the fact that I'm, I'm like, have to constantly go to the eye doctor. So you can see the reflection in the light. Right? Which is totally not professional. But I need them to read. But I can't see. I can barely see you two, which is, you know, I can hear you. I can see actually the background of your beautiful swimsuits.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

No, we have all the colors represented.

[Joanne King Michael]

So we're in Millbrook. And this is actually, we like, jokingly call this stylist hq. It's where we keep all of our samples, our other business partners down in Charleston, and she keeps some stuff there. But, like, every rack, every piece of stylist, every design idea comes through this office. So, yeah, we get. We always have the fun background. This is all our beautiful rainbow colors.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Our wardrobe too, at our disposal.

[Leslie Heaney]

Okay. So, you know, your story is just so incredible to me because it is a real story of just organic entrepreneurship. I mean, you two, I want you to tell us about how you met. I mean, I know obviously about it, but I want our listeners to hear about it. And then you literally had a conversation about this need that you saw. Very practical, Chrissy. You can speak to that.

[Joanne King Michael]

It was actually even more organic than that. It Was literally at a pool party while we were drinking in the summer right after Covid, when you could, like, when you were allowed to go outside and socially. Distance. Right. Jeremy and I had been. Had basically said, okay, we're going to do this. We're going to leave New York City and we're going to move up here full time. We had an 18 month old. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm gonna need to make, like, more friends. So I was like, throw a big party. And instead of like, individually girl dating and I'll just invite all these women and say, hey, bring your besties. Right?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah. I mean, the. Or I remember that story is probably the favorite. My favorite part of our story. Cause it's not only the start of our company, but it's like the start of the friendship.

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh, don't make me cry.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Of the three of us. Because Aaliyah was also there. Aaliyah was there as like, Joanne's wing. Wing woman.

[Joanne King Michael]

Well, I was like, what if everyone sucks? I need someone there. That's fun. And Aaliyah, at the time, was living in Connecticut. We had met in our early 20s. We shared a desk at Elle magazine. I had been best friends at this point now for almost 20 years. So I was like, I'm throwing this big party. Come on down, stay the night. You'll meet all my friends, you know, some of them here. And like, she's an amazing stylist. Like, Chrissy's been to her home in Charleston. She can put together. She could take. Go in your basement and redecorate your entire house. She's just like, very handy like that. So I was like, come style the party, blah, blah, blah. It was a great Milbrook party. I mean, everything is great except for the fact that I'm 18 months postpartum and I'm throwing a pool party where you're supposed to wear a swimsuit. Like, okay.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

It was really hot that day.

[Joanne King Michael]

It was hot. And, you know, honestly, like, I care about fashion style. Like, it. Part of the costume of getting dressed up for a party is important to me. And I'm like, what am I going to wear? I don't, you know, I don't feel like myself. You know, I gained a bunch of weight from my first pregnancy, not to mention pregnancy or not. Just gravity, the whole thing. So I end up wearing this Carla Coletto black bathing suit. It was ruched across the belly. It had a built in underwire. It might have cost me over $500. I mean, it was a very expensive swimsuit. But, like, not. Didn't particularly, like, bring me joy. Like, I tried this rack, and this is, like, this. This is, like, beautiful colors, like, fun fashion, you know, happiness. So I'm like, whatever. It's doing the job. But I'm not thrilled. Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I don't think I've ever seen you wear just black.

[Joanne King Michael]

No, I actually don't really like to wear black at all. So Chrissy walks in, and once we're in the pool, everyone's having a good time. She has on this adorable J. Crew, like, little Liberty print, like, ballet. Ballet necked, one piece, and it's so cute. And that's when Jen Thorne turns to her. We're all in the pool, and she goes, honey, your bra is sticking out of your bathing suit. And she gives her the little ye. Adjustment. The adjustment. And my head went on a swivel. Truly. And so did Aaliyah, and Aaliyah's did. Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And she was like, wait, what?

[Joanne King Michael]

And we were like, a bra? Yeah. I was like, I've never. And I've worn every single product that Spanx has ever designed, so I feel like a shapewear expert. And I'm like, what? What are you doing? And she was like, this?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah. I mean, I probably could not have worn that swimsuit without the bra. And that's how I sort of discovered it. I had, like, my first girls trip after having my kids, but breastfeeding boobs were like an E, down to a B, back up to a F, like, all over the place.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

I always love telling that joke to my husband. I'm like, you married one woman, and you got six different sets of breasts. I mean, you've gotten.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Honestly, it's true. And they. And they flux within the month with it. You know, minor changes are constantly changing. So, you know, as that first, like, big girls trip with my college roommates, and I wanted to look good, and I went to Bloomingdale's, and I remember just kind of being like a puddle on the fitting room floor. And, yeah, nothing was working. And I was so frustrated, and I had an old Victoria's Secret bra with me to try on dresses and whatnot. And I was like, what if I just jerry rigged this under some of the suits that I had already tried on that loved but didn't give me any support? And I did that, and I go, oh, okay, this works.

[Joanne King Michael]

Boobs up.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Looked great. And then was, like, my little hidden trick that I did for years. And by the time we get to that pool party, I think that.

[Leslie Heaney]

Would you wear the Same bra. Because this was like the one that you wear.

[Joanne King Michael]

The same one. And I actually still have it.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I'm like, this is a good. This still pretty good.

[Joanne King Michael]

But you had to squeeze the water.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah, it wasn't made for water, so it would, like, fill up with water and, you know, I'd have to adjust it and whatnot. So it wasn't engineered for water, but it did the trick. So it gave me that lift and allowed me to wear some swimsuits that I wouldn't have been able to wear otherwise. And so that bra came along with me on every single vacation, which is what led us to the pool party and the bra sticking out of my suit.

[Joanne King Michael]

So the party goes on, blah, blah, blah, and Aaliyah stays the night, as I had said. And we were just kind of like, this is like a genius idea. I mean, my job at Harper's Bazaar was to know everything in the market, right. Know what was out there, and then curate recommendations for women based on what they were, you know, interested in or what was, you know, kind of in, on trend. And I'd never seen. I'd never been pitched by anyone the idea of, like, that you could. That you could actually layer something under a swimsuit to give you that, like, that advantage. Right. That support, whatever you were looking for. Tummy control, chest. Chest. Chest support. Those are really, like. Those are kind of the two biggest culprits. I feel like that women want the most of coverage. Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Coverage.

[Joanne King Michael]

All of it. Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah.

[Joanne King Michael]

Feeling appropriate. So Aaliyah and I, we actually get into an argument with Jeremy that maybe that night, because he's like, just for.

[Leslie Heaney]

Listeners, Jeremy is your husband?

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh, my husband. Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yes.

[Joanne King Michael]

He goes, of course there's a bra designed for the water that's like. There's toilet paper. Of course there is. You guys are not geniuses. What are you talking about? Like, we're looking it up and there's, you know, quick, quick Google searching. I'm like, not really anything that's being truly marketed for this. I mean, you had some, like, you know, some religious based kind of dressing solutions out there. You know, a lot of women, I think Chrissy isn't the only one who was sort of doing this on their own, kind of grabbing a bra that's meant to, you know, just meant to go under ready to wear and putting it under swim, but no one really saying, what if we thoughtfully designed a bra to actually. Because, you know, swims cut differently than a dress, so to kind of have those, like those curvatures they need. So they don't stick out.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I'm actually wearing it right now.

[Joanne King Michael]

There.

[Leslie Heaney]

There it is.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, she's always.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I wear it all the time.

[Joanne King Michael]

She has it on all the time.

[Leslie Heaney]

Queen.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I don't know if you really are one. Tricking my own horn. It is, like, the best.

[Joanne King Michael]

She has it on every time I see you. I mean, she always goes, actually, I'm wearing it right now.

[Leslie Heaney]

Well, listen, that's the best sales right.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

There because there you go.

[Leslie Heaney]

Great in a dress. I mean, the other thing is, like, you're, like, you know, from. From daytime to pool, I mean, you're. You're ready to go.

[Joanne King Michael]

It is the best strap time bra. Exactly.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

It really isn't. It's like a vacation staple. So if you're going on vacation, you have it under your swimsuit, and then you just throw it on the balcony to dry, and then you put it on your. Under your dresses at night.

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh, and you won't believe this. Your podcast. Timing is perfect. Was it Friday? Friday. We just got approved for our patent on our bra that we. That we've been working on for three years. We got the patent.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We have a utility.

[Leslie Heaney]

So I say, I saw. Is that on the world's first and.

[Joanne King Michael]

Only Flimbra is Dreamsculpt.

[Leslie Heaney]

The pat. The patent.

[Joanne King Michael]

That's a trademark.

[Leslie Heaney]

That's the trademark.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Trademark. But now we have a real deal IP utility on the.

[Joanne King Michael]

On the. On the way that the product looks and was built. So.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

So it's like a very big deal.

[Leslie Heaney]

So how did you. Okay, so you. You're up with Aaliyah, right? Chrissy's gone.

[Joanne King Michael]

Jeremy's saying, this is a bad idea. We're like. And Aaliyah's background is in marketing, and she's. He was. He was like, it's a bad idea. He's like, what are you talking about? A bra for the water? I mean, no imagination. But Aaliyah's background was always marketing, I think, to be totally frank, maybe products that she didn't believe in and was always kind of having to go on that journey of, like, I don't know, being really creative. Yeah, being. And she goes, wow, this is like, my head is already spinning. It's such a unique idea. It's a solution. It's not like a piece of fashion. This is like a utility to someone. I think she was just, like, writing marketing campaigns in her head that very moment, and we couldn't stop talking about it. So I was like, well, let's call Chrissy. So, like, three or four weeks later, we Asked her to lunch at Mashomik. She comes in. She knew what we were doing. She showed up with it. She pulls it out of her. We're like, at Mashomik on the lake, which for those of you who know my showmach will appreciate. She rips the bra out of her bag and she's like, I know what you guys are going to ask to me.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I had the old.

[Leslie Heaney]

Did you really had it in my bag.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We took a picture.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, we have a picture.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We're like, we need to document this moment.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, we knew. I think. I think we knew. I mean, to take a picture. We're holding the bra and we just said, do you want to, like, explore this together? And we st. That's. That was like in August. And then we started, like, research and development on the. On the swim bra. Really? In September. We didn't mess around. I mean, we really. We know.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I knew real quick. So I. I had now my background, so I hadn't worked in like 10 years. So when these girls.

[Joanne King Michael]

Did you have a computer or did you not?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

No. So this is. This is really funny. After this michomic lunge, I was like, this.

[Joanne King Michael]

This.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

They're not gonna have an Etsy shop. Like, this is serious. Like, I gotta. I gotta get my big girl pants on. I'm like, I need a computer. I. The last time I worked, I had a BlackBerry. Like, this was like dusting off Irene.

[Leslie Heaney]

Well, you know, you're talking to.

[Joanne King Michael]

You're.

[Leslie Heaney]

You're preaching to the choir right here. The podcaster was like, you know, who doesn't know how to operate her computer?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

But Patrick, get me to the Apple store. We need a comp. These girls are tech mavens. Like, I need to get, you know, dusted off here. So the timing for me was. Was great.

[Leslie Heaney]

But you also worked in fashion. You worked for Ralph Lauren.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I did, yeah. I worked at Ralph for about 10 years. I started in stores there right out of college and worked there all the way up through, like, around 2007. So I started in stores. I was in the Vegas store, then in Bal Harbor.

[Joanne King Michael]

Major stores.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah. So Las Vegas was in Caesar's palace. This was the 90s, like, when, you know, online shopping wasn't a thing. And like, really in store experiences were such, like, a big thing. And Vegas was really like a shopping destination at that time. So that was like. So I could do a whole podcast just on my one.

[Leslie Heaney]

The Vegas Diaries. I mean, I like it. I mean, I had questions.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Miami, you know, I started dating a pilot and he was like, well, I'm going to be in the Caribbean. I said, well, I'm not moving to the Caribbean, but I'll go to Miami. So I end up in the Bell harbor shops, which is another, another whole, you know, world. That is unbelievable, the shopping there.

[Joanne King Michael]

She dated a pop star.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah, I dated like a Mexican pop star.

[Leslie Heaney]

It was just, I mean, the Ricky Martin day, though, actually. I don't know if Ricky's. I think Ricky might buy a different bus, but that was the first person that I thought of.

[Joanne King Michael]

He was.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah, he was friends with Ricky Frenemies.

[Leslie Heaney]

Maybe what you just said, Joanne, about Aaliyah being like, this is something that she could really get behind because it has real utility.

[Joanne King Michael]

There's so much out there. I mean, you, I'm sure you guys are on Instagram, TikTok, wherever you're, and you're just getting served, you know, thing after thing after thing. And it's like to really, to have a unique idea and a unique message, really, and to tell someone you're going to solve a problem for them, it really helps you cut through the crap of all the stuff out there that there is to buy. And I think that excited all three of us collectively. I mean, as a marketer and head of marketing, Aaliyah, I think has, you know, she's like, I'm working with a really good value proposition here. I'm not trying to sell you something just like a trend like, here's, you know, a ruffled skirt that you need. Like, no, I'm going to give you a body transformation and provide you with a stylist solution to something that you, that you need. I mean, most women can't get away without a new swimsuit.

[Leslie Heaney]

I think the bra component, I mean, I am, you know, despite having maybe hit a double D at some points, you know, with, with, with newborns. I mean, I am not a large breasted person, but my friends that are, you know, and I have a, you know, child that is like, you know, certain bathing suits, it's very, it's very.

[Joanne King Michael]

It'S all over the map.

[Leslie Heaney]

It's. Well, it's also they, they feel very self conscious. Like you don't, you know, I don't think that every bathing suit is really made for full breasted women. It sort of, you know, kind of seems to lean a bit towards people in my, my size space and that can be, you know, very uncomfortable for people that have bigger breasts. So solving that by giving them the support that they need and the coverage that they need, as you said, is it kind of a huge deal.

[Joanne King Michael]

It's cool because we sell across, like, a really interesting spectrum of sizes. When we first launched, we didn't, you know, we had limited money to buy what we wanted to buy, and we bought cups B through, I think E. Yeah, E, which is a double D interchangeable.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We skipped a.

[Joanne King Michael]

We skipped over A completely. We were like, she doesn't need this. We went to market with stylist 18 months after that meeting. Um, so, like, April was very. It's just really fast looking back. I. I can't even believe that we did that. And we actually ended up coming out in April, not just with the swim bra, which was. Was one of our premier products, but also what we called, like, a system of. Of swim. So we had the swim bra, the actual suit that was going to give you the full body sculpt, and then, you know, the COVID up, because nobody stands around with their butt hanging out by the pool unless they have to. So it was kind of like the full look. Like, we wanted to sell you an outfit, and that was really Aaliyah's idea as a former stylist. It's like, you know, the full look. The full look. You don't have to think, mom. You know, you're slathering sunscreen over someone. You're yelling at your kids to get dressed, and like, you kind of need a full.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

You're the last to get dressed.

[Joanne King Michael]

It's all proof plan. And I. I've learned that, you know, sort of the hard way over being in fashion for, you know, and in magazines. For 20 years, I had to get dressed all the time. And it was, you know, a lot of times, a constant state of stress, even though this was supposed to be what I knew how to do. And now it's like, I'm so much more into the uniform dressing now, and it's, like, so much easier. I wish I'd done that in my 20s. Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

100%.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I wish I had stylists after my kids.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. Oh, I mean, totally.

[Joanne King Michael]

It is.

[Leslie Heaney]

By the way, they're the only bathing suits that I wear, and I have the COVID ups to go with them so that I don't even have to think about to your point, like, what I'm putting on. Okay, so you will. You have that meeting, that lunch. You pull out a bra at a private club sitting next to the lake. That was. So what is next? Because you mentioned that you just had the technology patented. So how does that work? Do you have.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Are there people that are an llc?

[Joanne King Michael]

We formed up an llc. We did some legal stuff.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We did some legal.

[Joanne King Michael]

We had no idea what we were doing. Oh my God. I mean, I still don't. I'm like, like anything legal and accounting someone. And you're a loyal help. Like call and help.

[Leslie Heaney]

Oh, 100% still on chat.

[Joanne King Michael]

GBT asking questions about that stuff. Like, I. It makes my eyes cross.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

So we formed our company and then we. We needed to find our, Our fabric.

[Joanne King Michael]

Well, yeah, and. And we. We really started getting on LinkedIn and looking for. For people to help us develop the bra. We actually.

[Leslie Heaney]

What I mean, are there like clothing engineer, how do technicians.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

In the past you have to like make the argument. Right. About how it's unique and why it's something that's.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah. And I had some background in bras because I, I did work. So I worked at Ralph Lauren and then I was, you know, in merchandising, buying. I ended up going to the executive training program in New York and then went on to be a buyer and then I moved over to Saks. But my last job before leaving to become a mom was with a family owned, really a sleepwear company. They're the largest sleepwear company in the world. And they had a intimate side as well. So I knew some parts. Yeah, I had seen like when they, you know, acquired DKNY Intimates and Sleepwear, I saw, you know, a lot of what went into the actual bra side. And I was like, guys, bras are really hard to make. They're almost virtually impossible because you have A cups through expand all the way. We go all the way up to G, but you can keep going and going. And then you have all your band sizes. So there's all these components that need to be graded up and down.

[Joanne King Michael]

It's a real nightmare.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And there's like 30 some odd parts to each bra. So all those things need to be perfect and need to be designed perfectly. Plus you have the. You're adding in. The nuance of this bra needs to be waterproof. So you have to have a fabric that can, you know, resist chlorine. You need to have cups that expel the water that don't absorb it and make it heavy. It needs to be seamless. It has to disappear underneath. Not just our suit, we did Target.

[Joanne King Michael]

We tried it under J Fruit Air.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I mean, a full screen under Aires.

[Joanne King Michael]

By the way, it does. It makes there as wearable for those of us who have nipples. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I, I think, I think part of what got us really excited, the three of us coming Together. And I. I feel like we always gloss over this, but we were all. This is all, like, very clearly, like, a second career for all of us. Aaliyah had been in a transition. She had been at Ann Taylor Loft at kind of like a big style director job there, head of marketing, sort of this mass retail thing. I'd been at Harper's Bazaar for 10 years and was doing a stint at Town and Country and was looking for, like, the next thing. Right. So this for all of us was like, a big trick.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

You had a job.

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh, I worked.

[Leslie Heaney]

Oh.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And Aliyah had a job.

[Joanne King Michael]

We worked those 18 months. That's just crazy. I must have been. I couldn't have been doing that much. I mean, I don't even know.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

But you were also El Decor, too.

[Joanne King Michael]

That was like the. That was just the drive. I mean, you know, the New York hustle. Like, you know, when you're in that wheelhouse, you just. You can't. You almost can't be stopped. But the three of us did feel really confident. Not that we knew everything to do, but that we could call anyone and figure it out. And I think that has proven to be a magic. Some magic for us, because, you know, we're like, day, actually. Yeah. Like, oh, well, we don't know how to do that. But so. And so probably does. And people would call us back because we had. You know, we were kind of. We were proven. We. You know, we had.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We had formed relationships.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And we had 20 years in New York City. You formed those relationships, and you.

[Joanne King Michael]

And we are still. We are still using that. And, you know, and I think that people have been so supportive, like, just a network of people. We did land on a woman who started off as our designer, and this is kind of a funny story. She was on LinkedIn and got a message from a man in who. I'll just keep all names confidential, but in gonzo, who did lingerie and knew that she was a lingerie designer. That's who we hired. We hired a lingerie designer.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

That's right.

[Joanne King Michael]

We went and found a lingerie designer who ended up introducing us to, like, a nice. You know, a nice kind of circular people in the production world of bras. And this man reaches out to her and says, I own a lingerie factory. Do you have any clients that would be interested? And she. She introduces us. He is now, to this day, our number one supplier and has been, like, a big stylist fan the whole time. You know, he was working with us when we were placing 50 units of style which is crazy love.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Think of how many people just like.

[Joanne King Michael]

This is linked to you.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And you just ignore, you know. Yeah, yeah, Jen.

[Joanne King Michael]

And he's been.

[Leslie Heaney]

But it was so she was the connector. So you guys, because you have all this background in this industry and just contacts and you know, we're. None of us are 25, so the longer you live, the more friends you make. Right.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Earned it.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. So you're making these calls and you're kind of piecing together your team. And because of Chrissy, your background in intimate wear. Right. You sort of knew. You kind of. Bras were tricky. You find this designer, the designer connects you with the factory. Factory. Then you all. I guess maybe you're simultaneously sourcing the fabric. Right. Because you said you had to find this certain fabric.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

It was a big deal.

[Joanne King Michael]

We hired a woman who had spent the majority of her career sourcing fabric for Victoria's Secret. She knew what we wanted to do just from a phone call. And we walked in for our first in person meeting and she whipped out this fabulous luxury compression fabric. And she goes, I've always thought this would make amazing swimwear. It would be amazing for your bra as well. It's not cheap. And so it has never really made benefit for my clients. But I thought of you guys immediately and, you know, we've got, we've got diamonds in our eyes. Next thing you know, that's our fabric. That's stream sculpt, which is our, our four way stretch compression fabric.

[Leslie Heaney]

Putting my, my glasses back.

[Joanne King Michael]

That you know and love. Yeah, yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

I was gonna say, what was she using or what were people using that fabric for before? Before it was just for clothing.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We, we confidentially, it's used for one thing, but we can't really say.

[Joanne King Michael]

I mean, like leggings, I guess, but.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We move for a very high end.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Company.

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Like top. I'm not going to say Birkin bag, but okay. One other company uses our same exact, same exact fabric. Not for, not for swim.

[Joanne King Michael]

So we.

[Leslie Heaney]

Not for swim.

[Joanne King Michael]

I mean, I think we were very bold to choose a fabric that, you know, historically had not been used for swim. Now it had all the swim capabilities. It's not, I don't know if you know the brand like Hunza G or even an Erez, where if you are holding that swimsuit in your hand and you can really stretch it long. Yes, you can stretch it wide. And ours is, you know, we're delivering total body sculpt. So you really cannot stretch ours much more than whatever we've intended in that pattern. So we took on a big project fitting it because it's like, these are fit like couture. They're not fit like one size fits all. I don't think we even realize that. We just love the fabric first. Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Normally you fit on them, you know, one size, like you're medium and then you just sort of graded up and down. Well, we had to realize, subtract. We could not do that. We had to fit on almost every size for every single style and then several fits just because it is so precise, because of our fabric. And that's what gives you that, you know, that extra sauce, that Holden feeling.

[Joanne King Michael]

So we. We, like, race in place. We get this collection done, we go to market. April 2022, we did this really great photo shoot in LA with Adam Franzino and Marquita Pring, who still does our campaign. She's like the best. And we just got it out there. And, you know, I think. I think it's Sarah Blakely that always says, like, to form a company, it's. You have to imagine it's like you're jumping off a cliff and you're just going to assemble the plane on the way down. And I think that we really adopted that attitude. And that's exactly what happened. I mean, since the product we have now is not the product that we launched with, we've continued to perfect it. We. We will never stop fitting. But I think if you.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Who was it? Sasha said to us, because, you know, of course, you launch and if things aren't perfect, you're like, oh, but it wasn't perfect. But Sasha Martin from Cara Cara said something to us that stuck with me. She said, if what you launch is perfect at launch, then you've waited too long. So I'm like, that's what I tell ourselves. Like, no, I think that needed a little bit of tweak, or if our lifeline needed to go a little bit more. All those things will come as you get the consumer feedback. And, you know that, like, waiting for perfection is not what we were looking for.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, well, I mean, you're speaking to someone who still has not appropriate lighting. And my husband's like, where's the hair and makeup? You're in a podcast. I'm like, I like to save money. I don't, you know, so I'm with you with sort of evolving as you go along. But I, you know, there are so many people, you know, myself included. It was like 10 years ago. Andrew said to me, he said it'd be a Great idea. Like someone who would make like homemade dog food and send it to people. I'm like, who would. Who. I was the Jeremy of this conversation, by the way. He's like, who would pay that. Who would pay to have dog food ships? So, you know, here you. You all see this need, right? There's this gap in the micro, the marketplace, clearly, because you, Chrissy, have retrofitted this yourself. You see the value add. Joanne and Aaliyah immediately do too. And you actually take this idea and you do it. Do it, which is huge. So what part? I mean, obviously you have the three of you, right, which is great to have that kind of support and all the different skill sets and contacts that the three of you bring.

[Joanne King Michael]

People always say three is a crowd. But I feel like it has been such an asset to have. We're all moms, which working moms with like, you know, prioritizing our family, our kids, and there's not enough hours in the day. I mean, both of our husbands are on the road all week. We're home alone. And I think having three people to really support everything going on has been so integral. I mean, we battled. You know, we've had.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We've had a lot.

[Joanne King Michael]

We've had first babies, we've had NICU babies, We've had breast cancer. We've had, you know, we've gone through a lot, the three of us.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And perimenopause.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, please. Please.

[Joanne King Michael]

I mean, which I guess is never going away. Right? Right. Chris, he's got a teenager now, which scares the out of me. Yes. It's just like they pick you up. They pick up slack when you can't. When you can't be a hundred percent or they know something you don't know or they want to do something you don't want to do. I mean, it just. It's been. I don't. I don't know if you could do this at 25, like, but I think it's like, if you're wise enough to understand that, like more is more, you know, it's been amazing. It sucks that Aaliyah doesn't live in Millbrook. Not that she would want to, but she loves Charleston. But I think that, I mean, aside from not getting to spend enough time with her face to face, it's been. Three's been magical. Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

So how do you also there at some points, because, Joanne, you and I have talked about this just sort of startup stuff of like the piece of sort of getting investors or sharing your story with people. At what point did you all start to do that? Like, did you. Was that your first year that you said, we want to. You know, I think we started.

[Joanne King Michael]

We started raising capital the September after we formed our llc. So one year later, where we had more than just idea on paper, I think, you know, we had the fabric, we had the designs, we had prototypes, we had a blueprint for what we thought our launch should look like. We had a wish list for, like, our web developer. You know, your website is your storefront. And, you know, we wanted to. We didn't want to have a crappy website, which could be expensive, you know, and we wanted to have beautiful campaign imagery that was important to us that, like, our editorial background came across and that. That we. We kind of came out with high quality with a bang. Right. And kind of looked a little bit bigger maybe than we were. So we started talking to really friends and family, and they were. I love it. My dad said, well, sounds like everybody's gonna need one of these. When I told him about the bra, I go, that's a stamp. He goes, every in America is gonna need one of these. Yeah. So you go to your big. You go to your biggest fans. And we did. And. And a bunch of friends in the industry that were just looking to do something fun, you know, and support. Support us.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

And that was something we had never. None of us had done before.

[Leslie Heaney]

No.

[Joanne King Michael]

No.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

So that was. That in itself is a learn. Was a learning journey throughout.

[Leslie Heaney]

I think they. But they clearly knew that you had the perfect formula. Right. Of, like, the great idea.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

And, you know, three people who really had experience in the space, the context in the space, and were three women who were not gonna, you know.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Well, they're betting on you. Cause, like, a lot of people have ideas, but to actually take the idea and then make it into something tangible is like, that's. That's the trick. So I think they were. They believed in us.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Knowing that we were going to get it across the finish line.

[Joanne King Michael]

And a lot. I mean, a lot of those. A lot of those investors. And now, you know, we have a really amazing cap table. They are all friends and family, plus some halo, you know, of friends and family. They all sort of end the conversation always saying, well, what can we do for you girls? Like, yeah, how can we help? And that. I think that's. Those are the people that you're looking for. I mean, raising capital is hard. I feel like, you know, we're still doing it, but we tried to just be ourselves too, because. Made sure that we didn't act like we knew everything that we might not know. I think they appreciated that. It certainly made it easier for us just to say, this is what we're doing. It's not perfect, but we think we can do a really good job.

[Leslie Heaney]

That's a really important point, though. I think when you're looking for investors, and I think most people when they are starting a business, their first stop is friends and family or friends of family or those kind of closest and nearest dearest to us. But the perfect match, it's like Shark Tank when those people are evaluating which of the sharks and looking to see who they think or the voice or any of these shows, who is going to bring the most to the table for their particular brand or who's going to be able to help develop this product and take it to the next level. So 2022, you all. That was that second year. Right. You launched in April, in September. Right. You're kind of sort of getting your first funding. And then somewhere along the line, Oprah, weren't you an Oprah swim winner, by the way? I love that Oprah's got different categories.

[Joanne King Michael]

Of the, you know, Oprah has given us her stamp of approval now two years in a row. We won last year. We are tankini, which is like such a great, it's such a great suit. If you want like a little bit of, if you want a little bit of skin showing, but not too much. Yeah, we want us Oprah Swim Award for that. And then this year, we won for our one shoulder Super Chicago.

[Leslie Heaney]

Oh, I love your one shoulder.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

And I love the belt. The belt just finishes it and makes it feel.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Well, the belt is its own world.

[Joanne King Michael]

We're, we're like, are we a belt company?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We're a belt company.

[Joanne King Michael]

This was totally by accident. I mean, she loves the belt.

[Leslie Heaney]

It was an elevated, like, me feel like Wonder Woman. It's something about, like, putting it on. I'm like, I have got this together. I mean, or at least as together as I'm ever going to be.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, we sell a lot of belts. It's in our, it's in, like, our top four top styles, which is fun. And I think it gives you that complete look and also, you know, gives you shape and, and all the things. And people like to color block them and do all kinds of stuff with them.

[Leslie Heaney]

You can keep mixing and matching. Like, I have a couple of the ones I have, I'll mix. I'll put my blue belt sometimes in my red suit if I'm wearing rainbow, you know, I kind of gives it.

[Joanne King Michael]

Like a little bit of shack.

[Leslie Heaney]

So what happens when Oprah makes you or picks you as the swim, that swimsuit of the year? I mean, it's.

[Joanne King Michael]

Well, it's sort of long fought.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

You.

[Joanne King Michael]

You go in the dead of winter, usually, like, I think it was like January the first time we went. We went to the Hearst Building, my old stomping ground, which felt really surreal. And you go and show the editors the line. Right. And so, first of all, you have to corral the meeting. You have to bring, call the collection there, set it up. We don't own our trunk. We don't have assistance. We. This is it. We're doing it all. Yeah. And you then present the line to them and kind of walk them through, you know, the concept behind the product. And not only that, but then the fashion colors and. And sometimes right then and there, they'll get excited, which actually happened to us with Oprah. And she took, like, six swimsuits off the rack from that meeting in January and sent them to the studio to be shot. So that was like, we were really exciting. We knew that, like, we were onto something with them. And then we. You usually get, like, an email about, like, two weeks before it's coming out. It was also featured in print. And then they recreate the whole swim awards for their website, and they're like, basically, yeah, you get a letter of congratulations that you're going to be included. So it's so exciting.

[Leslie Heaney]

Oh, my God. And then. But is it like the next day or when she launched, when she announces it right. Publicly, or it's on her site or in her magazine, or are the orders just like, what is that like? Or do you get people on.

[Joanne King Michael]

You see an immediate uptick. But it's crazy about the Internet. And what's different than it, you know, magazines 20 years ago where once the March issue, it was April and it was in the trash can. Digital coverage is like the gift that keeps on giving. So if someone, if a customer is, you know, about to go on a trip to the Bahamas, and she goes and says, oh, I'm looking for, you know, tummy control swim. And she puts that in Google and Oprah's Swim Awards come, comes up. It could be two years old and she could find that and go, oh, I love that stylist Tankini. And boom, she's on our website. So we see that revenue coming from those accolades, like, all year later. Yeah, on all year long. So it's. It's a really smart way to. To drive organic Traffic. Yeah, yeah, it's great.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We launched on Harper's.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, that was cool. My old team was so supportive and we did like a fun exclusive with them which felt really good and they've been, they've been super supportive. I have a lot of good friends still there particularly Nicole Fritton the fashion director and she's been, you know again one of those people that helps and gives you feedback and I, right, I.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Can call and she wears it and that's the thing. It's like these people love the product too and that's what gives.

[Leslie Heaney]

How about that? Are you all at all involved in like sort of influence? I don't know anything about that space but would you ever send it to like.

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Oh send it.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah we just had Daphne Oz, Molly Sims wear it. Oh yeah, yeah, Nikki Hilton. We, you know, we've given a lot to Jenna Bush. Yeah, we're dying, we're dying for Jenna Bush.

[Leslie Heaney]

Does she wear it?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We don't know.

[Joanne King Michael]

We don't know.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We just send it to her.

[Joanne King Michael]

She doesn't post a ton of swimsuit. She loves car. Well we've been on her show twice so she, you know her and her producers love it but I don't know if she personally loves it but I.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Feel like she, I feel like she.

[Leslie Heaney]

Would, I think it sort of fits. Would sit her. Yeah she has a bike profile. She's kind of in our age group and you know she's totally, I mean what's not to love? Honestly? It is, it, it has transformed how I feel about, I mean I was like a cat before stylist. I wouldn't want to go near the water. I didn't do. Yeah, I had none and none of it and now I. And what's also great about the COVID ups is you can wear them in the water.

[Joanne King Michael]

Well you know we don't actually suggest you go swimming in a dress however if you're good if your kid splashes you or you fall into the pool or you're having to sit by the kiddie pool like I am. This is all going to be fine if it gets wet. Yes.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, I know, I. Wait, I'm a waiter. I'm a waiter. So tell me, so what is next for you all? I mean you're, you have, you're on your website, right? There's probably a lot of direct sales through the website, through social media. What other stores people want to come kind of see it in person and try it on. Are you in Saks? I can't remember all the different places where you all are carried. We were.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

But Shopbop is really our.

[Leslie Heaney]

Okay.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

One wholesaler are also on Tuckernock. Great website.

[Joanne King Michael]

And we're launching.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We're launching. This is a big deal on. Hopefully tomorrow, Nordstrom.com, which will be.

[Leslie Heaney]

Oh, amazing. Amazing.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

That's new for us, so that's exciting. You heard it here first.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah. Be. I think you're going to see our wholesale business really grow over the next three to five years. We found great partners. I mean, Shopbop's awesome. I think Nordstrom is going to be banging more resorts. You know, we're at the.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah, we're going where she got like, we're at your club. We're going to. You know, we're at the Four Seasons.

[Joanne King Michael]

We're.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We're trying to be in places where we know our customer is. So we know she's online mainly, but when she's on vacation, we want to be available to her, too.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. Listen, I appreciate that. As you know, I mean, I need to, you know, get. Get some of my new stylists when I'm. Because sometimes when you're there and you.

[Joanne King Michael]

You're.

[Leslie Heaney]

You put on an old suit, you realize sort of you just want something more.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Especially being like.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, they're kind of moving on their own, as you mentioned. I mean, I, you know, I feel like I'm more at a risk of having my breasts, like, interfere with me tying my shoes these days than any other. So I think, like, sometimes you don't realize that then you put a bathing suit on, you're like, this is not. I need support or I need, you know, so having. Having the accessibility is great, but I noticed on your website that you're doing blazers now. So what is. What is the vision? Or where do you all see yourself in three years?

[Joanne King Michael]

I think, truthfully, we see ourselves as a swim company. We had a really great launch of two pieces this year. We weren't sure if she was going to want to buy bikinis from us, you know, and turns out if you design them really thoughtfully and make sure that they have the right amount of coverage with the right amount of sexy, you know, we're learning. She. She still wants to be sexy, which totally tracks. But she wants to be appropriately sexy, and she wants to be sexy and flattering.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Sexy and sculpted.

[Joanne King Michael]

Sexy and sculpted. That's our tagline.

[Leslie Heaney]

So these are bumper stickers that say that. I mean, I.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

It's our billboard. Sexy and sculpted.

[Joanne King Michael]

It is. And I totally get it. It makes sense. You don't want to feel like you. You don't want to feel like you're wearing your grandmother's suit. Like.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah.

[Joanne King Michael]

That's when you know that we've done something wrong. And the two pieces we sold out of everything, we basically have none left, which is.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

We had more.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, we wish we had more. We'll have more next year. So that's like a big, A big goal. We did day sculpt, to your point, Leslie, last fall, and it was really strong product. I think you'll see it beautiful. You'll see it on Shopbop to continue there. And I think, you know, as we get bigger, we'll continue to, to look at category expansions. But I. But really, like all in on Swim, we're only three years old.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah.

[Joanne King Michael]

I mean, from the cons to the consumer. Right. We've been doing it for closer to five, but we're still a very young company and I think we're just really getting. We're getting really good right now. Year three kind of a moment. And I think that companies can expand too fast, do too many categories and kind of fall on their face. And I think what our goal is to just be like, highly curated and like, do the best. The best one pieces and the best two pieces we can do. And that's. I think that we're just kind of trying to stay focused on Swim. Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

I think, I mean. Yeah. Good sense. Because particularly, I mean, for women and my age group, I just keep going back to stylist because I know that I'm going to feel good in it. I love the way it looks. So it's like once you have that customer, you know, every year if I'm buying one or two new bathing suits.

[Joanne King Michael]

You'Re going to rinse and repeat it.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. Just kind of go back to who you, you know, who and what you trust.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

That's exactly what we're looking at. We're want that lifetime customer that knows she can always come to us and trust us, and she knows that she's going to get the best quality and the best fit, and she's. Time after time can always come back to Stylist. That's what it's like.

[Leslie Heaney]

Just this past weekend, as you know, I had a dear friend down to Nashville for the weekend. I referred to her as a party terrorist because I've, I'm still recovering. It's Monday. I mean, I, we. We talked about having cocktails during our, our interview, and I can barely even look at a glass of wine after what happened to me this weekend. But I said to her, you know, what are you doing this week? I said, oh, I'm interviewing my friends who started Stylists. I love stylists. I haven't. I want to get one of their suits. I really love their new two pieces. And she was. So this is someone, you know, who's like a little excited.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah. For the random.

[Leslie Heaney]

This is Randall. Chrissy. Yeah, this is Randall.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I love that.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, he's really excited. But so, but if you are, if you are a two piece wearer, I think two piece wearers, even if you're 60, want to kind of stay in that. I haven't worn a bikini since 1978, so I don't.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I. Until this year.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, I think I would wear yours 90s. Yeah.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Because it just seems like you had.

[Joanne King Michael]

To go design your own.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I'm like, this has.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, I could be a guinea pig for the person. I mean, but I just, it's like the one inch of flesh underneath my, you know, my. But anyway. But I think that there people want to sort of stick with what they are comfortable with and want to do, but have all of the wonderful elements of your suits brought to bear. Like all this, you know, sculpting technology.

[Joanne King Michael]

We sort of like jumped over to kind of. And Chrissy has so many customer stories. But like, I do think something that you're going to see more of from stylists is us really getting into the emotionality of swimwear and confidence. And I think women, a lot of times there's like swimsuit avoidance happening. You know, swimsuit stress. I had my second child on this stylist journey and I was going to Bahamas when he was three months old. If I had not founded Stylist, I would have been so stressed out, freaking out, like, just like, am I going to enjoy myself on this trip? I'm not ready to put a swimsuit on. Instead I adopted the mentality of like, this is my post pregnancy size. I know Stylist is going to make me look great exactly where I am right now. I'm going to be have fun. I'm gonna like, you know, take my cover up off on the boat. I'm gonna swim with my kids. And I think we're gonna, you know, and we've, we talk about that a lot at the office and like on calls and with people. But you know, I want to make sure that our customers understand that like we want them to feel like they can wear whatever they want and they don't need to have the swimsuit dread and they should feel present. And this is like, we're trying to pump them up.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah.

[Joanne King Michael]

I mean, you've so many cool customer stories of which crying.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Well, yeah, we have a ton of those. And just back to, like, how kind of women beat themselves up over, you know, getting in a swimsuit. When we first launched, we hit the road and we went on a lot of trunk shows, and, you know, we're sort of trained to have this, like, you know, where we brutalize ourselves, like, oh, this I look fat. Or this looks bad. And you get in the fit.

[Joanne King Michael]

Not good enough.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Fitting rooms with women from, you know, Dallas, Charleston, New York City, and it's the same theme. It doesn't matter if they're like a size 2, a fit 10, you know, it didn't matter. Like, people were. These women were so brutal to themselves, and it made me actually go, okay, your inner dialogue needs to change because you need to reflect that back on these women. And, like, you have to, like, you know, you have to give them that, like, you know, the pump up. Exactly. So when they would put it on, then they would feel so great. And now it's like, see, you can get in a swimsuit, you can look amazing and stop beating yourselves up. And. And we would say it to each other.

[Joanne King Michael]

She'd be like. She would grab. If they were like, you know, hemming and hawing. Oh, I'm not. I'm not good enough. I don't look it up. She would grab their phone and she'd go, let me just take a picture.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

I'd say, well, take a picture, really? And take a picture of you, and I'm going to show you what you actually look like, not what you think that you look like in your warped mind. And they would go, oh, not bad.

[Joanne King Michael]

Take one in every color with a belt to match.

[Leslie Heaney]

So interesting.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Well, the women brutal on themselves. And I was like, hopefully we sort change that mindset as well.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, well, you are. You are giving us ladies, particularly me, who's. I feel like these days, like Buffalo.

[Joanne King Michael]

Bills, you can laugh about gravity. It's not that. I mean, I think we can laugh about. But, you know, that moment after your first postpartum experience can be really tough. And also just. I don't know, I feel like when I was younger, I was always, like, waiting for perfection to. You know what I mean? I. I think that is a mistake. And usually when you're putting on a swimsuit, you're usually going somewhere fun, you're with people you love, you're going to the beach, you're going to your pool to enjoy a nice day. Like, you know, I just want. I want to take that away, that beer for women and so that they can feel good. But wear the really fun orange swimsuit, not the black ruched grandma.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. Yep.

[Joanne King Michael]

And be present and, you know, not worry about what size you are, but feel held in. Look, I get it. I mean, I think wanting your beer boobs up and your stomach looking a little flatter and more toned is totally acceptable and fine.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Who doesn't want that?

[Joanne King Michael]

Totally. And that's what we give you. But, like, it's not about, you know, I don't know, it's just being present and. And. And confidence. I mean, I think that's when we're all feeling sort of our best, no matter what size we are, how old we are, or where our, you know, boobs really look like without the bra. So that's.

[Leslie Heaney]

I'm with you, sister. I can't wait for next season. You know, I think it's for people.

[Joanne King Michael]

We're in the grandma bikini.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Oh, yeah. You would look good in the grandma bikini.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah, you know, I like that one that. The one with the zip that Ashley wore in the barrel tub.

[Joanne King Michael]

Oh, that was the first photo shoot.

[Leslie Heaney]

That's a great one.

[Joanne King Michael]

Good eye.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

That is a good one.

[Leslie Heaney]

So for people that are listening who are just sort of their. Your kind of entrepreneur story kind of resonates with them or people who are thinking about starting a business or, I mean, what kind of advice would you give to someone who sort of has an idea and is just sort of like, it could have been me. I could have been the owner of Farmer's dog. Like, if you just want to take that step, what's the. You know, what is the. What kind of advice or what would feedback would you give them and just start.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah. I definitely agree with Kristen is that don't worry about all the things that you don't know yet. Trust me, you're going to find out. Yeah, it is. If I look back, I'm like, look at all the mistakes we've made. It's been. It's just been a. It's been a roller coat, highs and lows. I also do think, though, if you have, like, particularly like, a consumer product in mind, Aaliyah really was really hardcore with us in the beginning because she had been down a few startups as a consultant, and she really had us do some, like, branding exercises that really helped to define who we wanted to be outside of just our product. I just. Just outside of our swimsuit what kind of brand did we want to be? Who did we think we were talking to?

[Chrissy McCurdy]

What car do you drive?

[Joanne King Michael]

What literally you have, like, you create a customer, like a. Like a Chrissy. Chrissy lives in Milbrook and drives, you know, and you kind of create this version of who you think you're selling to. Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

Interesting.

[Joanne King Michael]

And it. And. And sometimes it helps you. It takes you maybe sometimes where you don't think you want to go, but maybe you need to go there. I think you need to have a little bit of a vision, aside from just like the I'm gonna make dog food. Well, maybe it's more like I am going to change the health of pet animals and make it easy for the owners and.

[Leslie Heaney]

And who's my buyer? You know?

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, I think that. I think those exact. Are important. Make whatever we learned.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Don't waffle.

[Joanne King Michael]

Like, just go, oh, yeah. Make decisions quickly. I. I agree with that.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Forge ahead.

[Joanne King Michael]

Forge ahead. You know, there's always. There's a problem every day, so, you know, live with it.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Pick your battle.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah, Definitely pick your battle. Customer's always right.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah.

[Joanne King Michael]

Even when they're not.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. I love that.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

So, yeah, I can tell you a few that are not right.

[Leslie Heaney]

Yeah. I can't wait for our offline. I'm gonna dose you two with, like, bottles of rose this summer to find out who. What other, you know, company makes incredible secret things with your. Your fabric. I'm gonna find it.

[Joanne King Michael]

Yeah. I'll tell you in five minutes.

[Leslie Heaney]

But I can't wait to see you in July. I'll be up in Millbrook in July. I'm gonna get eyeless out. I'm gonna. You're gonna watch me swap my belts around and come over here, and I know I need to find you that filter.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Yeah.

[Leslie Heaney]

I love seeing what I'm for. People that are listening. You may want to check it out on YouTube. So you can see all the beautiful swimsuits in the back, but YouTube stars. Oh, yeah. I have to. I mean, this is. I'd rather, you know, streak a highway, but apparently I'm supposed to be putting all these things on a video anyway. But you two look terrific, so don't worry about it. About that part. But anyway, I really appreciate you both being on. I'm so happy to see you.

[Chrissy McCurdy]

Well, it's been an honor to be on Leslie. Thank you so much.

[Leslie Heaney]

That brings us to the end of this episode of the interview. Huge, huge thank you to Chrissy and Joanne for joining. I loved every minute of it, and thanks to them and stylist. I am not dreading the summer before me, so thank you both for creating something that allows me to swim in public. I'm very grateful to you both. Also like to thank our sponsor, 10 Mile Distillery. 10 Miles Spirits, their whiskey, Little rest, their gin, their vodka or spirits that none of you can live without. They should be on all of our bars. You will thank me later, trust me. And it's the perfect hostess gift for people this summer, so check them out. They can ship directly to you at www.tenmiledistillery.com. and as always, thank you all for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can rate it. Review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We have a lot of great episodes coming up this summer. So until next Wednesday, this is Leslie and thanks for joining the interview.