DeepSummary
Dr. Hazel interviews Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith, co-founders of the health and wellness app Kic, formerly known as Keep It Cleaner. They discuss their personal experiences with disordered eating and toxic diet culture in the modeling industry, and how that motivated them to create a safe space for their community to build a healthy relationship with food and exercise. They also talk about the decision to rebrand from 'Keep It Cleaner' to 'Kic' to move away from triggering language around 'clean' eating.
The conversation touches on the challenges of being female entrepreneurs and the biases they face from some older men in business settings. Steph shares her perspective on navigating motherhood while running a business, and the societal pressures around fertility and when to have children. They reflect on the privilege of being able to make choices around career and family planning.
Throughout the episode, Laura and Steph emphasize the importance of talking openly about sensitive topics like eating disorders and infertility. They aim to create a community that avoids perpetuating diet culture and promotes self-acceptance and balance. Their friendship and partnership is a key factor in building Kic and supporting each other through personal and professional challenges.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith started Kic to create a safe, supportive community promoting balanced lifestyles after their own struggles with disordered eating and toxic diet culture.
- They rebranded from 'Keep It Cleaner' to 'Kic' to move away from language around restricting 'clean' eating and diet culture.
- As female entrepreneurs, they face biases and lack of being taken seriously, especially from older men in business settings.
- Navigating motherhood and running a business is challenging, requiring accepting that balance is difficult to maintain.
- They aim to openly discuss sensitive topics like eating disorders, fertility struggles, and the societal pressures women face around careers and family planning.
- Their friendship and partnership has been key to building their business and supporting each other through personal and professional challenges.
- They want to empower their community to develop sustainable, healthy relationships with food and exercise free from guilt and obsession.
- Expressing gratitude for their journey and opportunities is important to them.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I mean, for us, when we started in 2015, we started with an e book, which was called keep it clean. And then we made a subscription website before the app, and that was called keep it cleaner. And then we kind of moved into the app under keep it cleaner and at the start of the year. And something that we've always been so bold on with what we do is, like, we say with kic, like, it's about how you feel. We want to create a safe place.“ by Steph Claire Smith
- “Like, there's so many other women that can, so why can't I? But it's not. There's nothing we could do to control it. So, yeah, I think it's just important to talk about. And especially as we go through, like, we were talking about it the other day, like, I used to think, like, my mom had me at 27, so I was like, I'm gonna have my kids at 27. And then I got there and I was like, well, I'm not ready.“ by Steph Claire Smith
- “Being here, you know, being able to travel again and. Yeah, meet incredible people from the other side of the world is super special.“ by Laura Henshaw
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Episode Information
The Food Medic
Dr. Hazel Wallace
11/13/23
Trigger warning: This episode does contain conversations around eating disorders and disordered eating behaviours.
This episode covers:
- Rebranding KIC from ‘Keep it Cleaner’
- Laura and Steph’s own experiences with food and exercise
- How they are helping others build a healthy and more sustainable relationship with food & exercise.
- Running a business with your best friend
- Their experiences as female entrepreneurs
- How steph navigates being a mum and running a business