Womansplain

Katherine Lewin turned a cold call to a Greenpoint broker into Big Night, the dinner party shop with three NYC stores, a cookbook, and its own product line. Before that, she was employee number five at The Infatuation and left as editorial director, after starting her career at Vogue and J.Crew. We talk about the Jenna Lyons moment that started her career, learning retail from Mickey Drexler’s loudspeaker, a one-year lease on 240 square feet that she built out for $13K and had profitable by about month three, the cold email to Campari that paid for her book tour, and why “shoot your shot” still runs her week. Big Night’s Olive Everything Picks ($36) are in the Womansplain Eat, Drink & Host Guide and The Good Host box ($99): womansplainpod.com/gift-guides/eat-drink-host The Womansplain Collective is open for 2027: founder matching, members-only dinners, and your ticket to next year’s Summit. womansplainpod.com/membership Find Big Night: shopbignight.com | @bignightshop Find Womansplain: @womansplainpod | [email protected] | womansplainpod.com/newsletter

Former POPSUGAR host Allison McNamara turned a canceled show into MARA, the algae skincare brand she has self-funded for eight years and grew into Sephora. She launched in 2018 with one face oil, and her cleansing oil got 11 orders on its first day before Hailey Bieber made it a bestseller. Allison covers naming the brand on the Sea of Marmara, two years of R&D on top of other jobs, her three-step rule, years of Sephora “not right nows,” designing the packaging herself when an agency quote matched her whole budget, what it costs to own a formula, and why she’s raising outside money now. Her Chia + Moringa Algae Enzyme Cleansing Oil ($58) is in The Night In gift guide at womansplainpod.com/gift-guides/night-in. Use code WOMANSPLAIN20 for 20% off at themarabeauty.com (excludes sets and bundles, can’t be combined with other discounts). The Womansplain Collective is open for 2027: founder matching, members-only dinners, and your ticket to next year’s Summit. womansplainpod.com/membership Find MARA: themarabeauty.com | @themarabeauty | @allisonmcnamara Find Womansplain: @womansplainpod | [email protected] | womansplainpod.com/newsletter

Catherine Baxter is the founder and CEO of Nettie, the design-forward pickleball brand sold in Dick’s Sporting Goods nationwide and featured on the Today Show. She started it in 2020 after more than six years running business development at The OpEd Project, when her in-laws built a pickleball court in their Manhattan apartment. We talk about her “biggest smile” award, 15 summers carrying canoes at a no-tech girls’ camp, the Björn Borg meets Wonder Bread design brief, pitching Dick’s early, solving seasonality with gift-ready packaging, the Barbie and Hamilton collabs, and why founders should talk about their ideas before they’re ready. Nettie’s Starter Pickleball Paddle ($39.99) is in the Womansplain Wellness Guide and The Reset box ($149): womansplainpod.com/gift-guides/wellness Use code WOMANSPLAIN for 20% off sitewide at playnettie.com. The Womansplain Collective is open for 2027: founder matching, members-only dinners, and your ticket to next year’s Summit. womansplainpod.com/membership Find Nettie: playnettie.com | IG @playnettie | TikTok @playnettie Find Womansplain: IG @womansplainpod | [email protected] | womansplainpod.com/newsletter

Allyse Cirillo helped scale a shapewear brand from $25M to $400M, then lost 85 pounds while building her own skincare company. Her manufacturer flew in to back her, and SAINT JŌ is now a plant-based, five-step ritual with a 40%+ repurchase rate, stocked at John Bell & Croyden in London. SAINT JŌ is in two of our holiday gift guides. The Complete Travel Set ($99) is in The Corporate & Travel Guide and the Brighten Serum ($90) is in The Beauty Guide. You can gift either one on its own or in The Frequent Flyer ($149) and The Glow ($189) boxes, both shipping before Christmas: womansplainpod.com/gift-guides We cover the margin fight that pushed her to go out on her own, why every bottle is numbered 1 through 5, earned media in Glamour, Cosmo and Forbes within six months, angel investors who came to her before revenue, a UK launch that started with one event connection, and only four returns on 5,000+ bottles. Allyse spoke on our Fashion & Beauty panel at the first Womansplain Summit last week and sent every speaker home with SAINT JŌ. The Womansplain Collective is open for 2027: founder matching, members-only dinners, and a ticket to next year’s Summit. womansplainpod.com/membership Find SAINT JŌ: shopsaintjo.com | IG @shop.saintjo | TikTok @shop.saintjo Find Womansplain: IG @womansplainpod | [email protected] | womansplainpod.com/newsletter

The best moments from Season 6 of Womansplain, from Robinhood CIO Stephanie Guild to a $3M round raised at 26. Hosts Sola Park and Brooke Sowa revisit the founders behind Scarlett Chase, Sonsie, Nelle Atelier, Mize Dining, Sundays, Wayan, Musaafer, Barrière and more. Summit weekend only: use SUMMIT15 for 15% off Womansplain Collective+ membership at womansplainpod.com/membership, through Sunday, October 18. Inside: five years spent perfecting one pump, a $600 sample quote that ended with a fast exit from an LA factory, a two-month deadline to leave corporate for good, a furniture brand launched three months before the pandemic, a recipe learned from a cab driver’s wife, why one founder went to Germany for her supplement formulas, and the sunk cost fallacy in relationships. The inaugural Womansplain Summit is this Friday, October 16, at The Malin Chelsea, keynoted by Robinhood CIO Stephanie Guild. It’s officially sold out. The Womansplain Collective+ is open: founder matching, member dinners, and next year’s Summit ticket included. womansplainpod.com/membership Find Womansplain: @womansplainpod | [email protected] | womansplainpod.com/newsletter