[MUSIC] There are studies in the body of research is growing. And what we know is that weight and pressure, which is also called deep touch pressure, it provides these therapeutic benefits that includes lower anxiety and increasing calm. By tamping down your body's fight or flight response, it activates the paris of the vet-in-nervous system, which boosts production of so-called happy hormone. So it helps you feel grounded, safe, and secure. [MUSIC] Welcome back to another episode of Everyday Endorphins, a mental health podcast that discusses the importance of finding joy and happiness in daily living. I'm your host, Stella Stuff-Napolis, and this week is all about the science behind weighted pressure. I recently discovered the benefits and the joy of having a weighted blanket, and have become obsessed with having my own for the past few months. So I felt like there would be no better guest to bring onto the podcast than my friend Marina Kiddical, who is the founder of Huggamals World. Huggamals is an award-winning weighted stuffed animal for kids and adults that feel like they're hugging you back and help to lower stress and anxiety and also help with your sleep and focus. Since Marina launched Huggamals in the summer of 2022, it's been named a winner of Times Best Inventions. It was a toy of the year finalist and was also featured in Goop, NBC, Buzzfeed, Refinery29, and many more. In this episode, Marina and I talk about the science behind weighted pressure, why products like these are so popular these days, how weighted pressure can help to relieve anxiety and stress in your life, and can be also part of your own wellness routine. We also talk about Marina's journey becoming a founder after leaving Thrive Global where she served as the chief content officer. Lastly, we end with Marina's perspective on health, wellness, happiness, and what brings her endorphins in daily living. Before we dive into the episode, I have a brief message from my sponsor, Infer. Hi Marina, thank you so much for coming on to Everyday Endorphins. Thank you so much for having me, Stella. It's so great to be here with you. I can't believe the last time we got to actually see each other in person was years ago pre-COVID at Thrive's offices in Soho. I know, it feels like it was simultaneously yesterday and a decade ago. Exactly. Since then, so much has happened. Today we're here to talk about Huggamals, which is such an incredible company that you started. I know when we had initially connected and met, it was with Thrive. Starting there, I'd love for you to share a little bit about your career as a health and wellness journalist. So previously, you were at Thrive and then eventually you made your way into this entrepreneurial pursuit. But can you talk a little bit about that transition and kind of the work that you've been doing in the health and wellness space? Yeah, absolutely. And I can start even before that. I mean, when I was growing up, I was a child of immigrants, my families from Russia. So I was too when I moved to my family in a graded state. So my parents didn't really speak any English. I always felt like an outsider. So growing up, when magazines were a lot more popular, I would read magazines and teen magazines and all sorts of magazines. I would especially love the advice and the advice columns. And I would go through them and learn how other people reacted to things, what problems other people were writing in about getting the advice that maybe I couldn't even really ask my mom about because she wasn't from this country. Like sometimes didn't know the logistics of what I was dealing with. So ever since I was really young in doing that, I really wanted to be on the other side of those media properties and those mass heads and be the one who was sort of reporting on those issues and helping other girls and women with the advice that they were asking for and really needed. So I always sort of wanted to do that and growing up in an immigrant family, mental health was not really something that was discussed at all. I had questions about it and I wasn't really getting the answers. I needed the closest thing was reading these magazines and trying to see how other people dealt with issues. So I went into journalism and from the beginning of my career as a magazine editor, I covered a lot of mental health issues. It was always from that place of never feeling okay to talk about it, growing up and wanting more information and wanting more sharing. I was always curious about it. So I started in the health and wellness space. I started in team magazines and then worked in places like Waitments Health and Cosmopolitan and Glamour. I covered a lot of different issues, career, love and relationships, but always mental health was a through line. And so when I got to thrive, that was really cool because it was a magazine, obviously magazines went through this transition where everyone just goes on TikTok and Instagram and gets information. So it's not really the same as it was, but so I wanted to work for a startup. And this was an amazing woman started bound up, the startup, Arion Hoppington is the founder and thrive has this focus on mental wellbeing and small tips called micro steps you can take in your daily life to improve your mental wellbeing. So it has been sort of the through line of my career trying to help people improve their mental health through journalism and content. That's such an incredible story and my mom is actually an immigrant. Her family came to the United States when she was I think five from Greece and so I think culturally when you're coming to a new country especially at that time when mental health already wasn't really talked about, it's I think it's even harder to like conceptualize it and have those conversations. So it's really interesting to hear you share how that was kind of the beginning of like what got you interested and throughout your career working at different publications and being at thrive. How have you seen the coverage around mental health shift because I really do think that especially from COVID but even prior to COVID really in the past few years we've seen this mental health epidemic that we're all living in especially in my generation. Now it feels like there's a lot of conversations around destigmatizing mental health and mental illness and opening up really a dialogue about this space. So in your career how have you seen those conversations perhaps even evolve? Yeah I mean you're right Stella you know it wasn't something that was really you know fully on the surface this conversation of mental health until you know I would say maybe like a few years before the pandemic we really started seeing a lot of efforts to destigmatize mental illness and different mental health issues and help people talk about them. And you know I'd like to think you know some of the publications and media outlets that I worked out play the part in helping to do that destigmatization. I remember working in teen magazines and writing about anxiety and depression really nobody was talking about it and then of course you know it places like women's health and then later thrive. It was our focus. It's a thrive specifically really focused on you know the business cost of not investing in your people and your employees mental health. So it had gotten our own it had been you know ahead of our time on a lot of things including sleep but very much on mental health and employee mental wellbeing. So definitely we've gotten to a place where I feel like it is destigmatized and a lot of people are talking about it but how are they talking about it right? Like we see the proliferation on tick-tock of non experts giving mental health advice and that can be really problematic because they are not licensed in any way and they're just sharing and people are taking them at base value. And so it's almost gotten to this you know critical mass where people now have to shift through information to figure out like what is legit and what really isn't. The great thing I think is that we're at this place where people feel very open to talk about it. So I hear from a lot of my customers, a lot of readers, a lot of friends, even you know my nieces and college college students are very much talking about this in a way that they weren't you know when I was when I was a student. So I think that's amazing and I think that there's absolutely a lot of room to now talk about what do we do. So I think the stigma has been cracked you know people feel comfortable talking about it but there's not a lot of great places to go for science back kind of research back answers and I do appreciate a lot of outlets and therapists experts who are using their voice to sort of give that advice on Instagram, on tick-tock and in different outlets I work with an outlet called Wondermind which was founded by Selena Gomez and Daniela Pearson and Selena's mom Andy Teefe and it's a really great outlet and you know for them I actually talk to a lot of really amazing credentialed therapists who are also really skilled at putting mental health advice and really relatable charms which throughout my career as a journalist I realized a lot of you know a lot of practitioners were not skilled at that so I'm excited to see more coming out who knows.
know how to, you know, it's not therapy, but it's relatable and it's, it's going to be nice. So I'm really excited about where it's going. That relatability is so important because especially with platforms like TikTok, if you for a moment ignore some of the downfalls that can come with these platforms like people pretending to be experts in certain areas and perhaps spreading false information or information that's not actually productive and helpful. If you put that aside, I think that platforms like TikTok, Instagram, social media at large, they're creating a space for conversations around mental health to feel relatable and even can infuse like elements of humor. And I think in that humor it lightens it up a bit and it makes people feel like, oh, I'm not alone in this struggle. Someone else is kind of experiencing a similar challenge or issue or suffering and feeling like you're part of that collective experience, I think makes it feel more okay and more normalized, which is great to see. And also even seeing celebrities like Selena Gomez, for example, be super open about mental health, Demi Lovato, Kid Cuddy, even like it's so great to see these figures who are very influential, taking it into their hands to spread these messages around mental health awareness. I wanted to touch on one other point that you had brought up around how are these conversations being had about mental health. Something that I really admire about thrive is not only the philosophy, but really the name of the company. Having the emphasis on thriving, a big part of my podcast and what really got me interested in this concept around putting your attention towards things that bring you in dolphins, enjoy in your day to day life, really comes from a positive psychology class that I took in college. And in that class I learned about really, you know, the positive psychology space, but more so how there's this irony around mental health in our society and that being that when we talk about mental health, the conversations are largely focused on mental illness, all the things that are wrong with us, anxiety, depression, etc. the list goes on. And there seems to be a disproportionate amount of attention that's given towards things that actually make us feel good and things that we can do to strengthen the qualities of our life that are already going well. And so what I love about thrive is like it really brings back the emphasis towards like what are some things you can do? Micro steps rather that you can implement in your day to day to thrive to be 10% happier to feel 10% better. So that's something I've always admired and I feel is really synergistic with the podcast, but also from my own firsthand experience working in a corporate environment at a job that has a partnership with thrive. I get to see kind of the firsthand benefits of having these conversations about mental wellbeing, but bringing it to the workplace. So I know I kind of touched on a lot of different parts of your response, but I have a lot of thoughts clearly about this. And so it's really great to see kind of thrive move the needle in that way and other outlets as well. I agree. I'm like nodding vigorously with everything you're saying because when I was starting out, you know, in the media, I covered celebrities too. I basically covered everything. When I was working in magazines, and I just remembered celebrities, publicists would always tell them not to talk about anything that would make them look vulnerable or not okay or struggling. And just seeing that crazy 180, you know, like there's amazing 180, I should say, it's really great where celebrities are now coming forward and being vulnerable and being relatable. I think it's incredibly powerful that so many celebrities, like the ones you mentioned and you know Lady Gaga and a lot of sports stars even are coming forward and creating conversation and community around mental health is great. And I also very much agree with you that there's not enough conversation about living, you know, with less anxiety, less stress and more joy and how to achieve that. And you're totally right. One of the reasons I loved working at Thrive was because that was the focus. And as you said, you know, micro steps, I wrote an entire book for Thrive about micro steps called your time to thrive. And what I love about that and ultimately, Huggermost also plays into this. It's, you know, both of these ventures are allowing people to live with less stress and more joy without having to work super hard at it. I think it can feel really daunting. And people are like, okay, well, do I need years of therapy? Do I need to do a life overhaul? Do I need to change everything about how I'm living in order to feel better? And the answer is no. And Thrive, you know, with micro steps, we covered a lot of little teeny tiny steps you could take that like add up. For instance, one of my favorites, you know, I totally side-eyed this at the beginning and then I started doing it. And I was like, oh, it actually helped my life. It helped me live with less anxiety, which is not checking my phone for one minute after I wake up in the morning, which doesn't sound like a very long time. But I was, I think like a lot of us just like checking it before I was even fully awake. And you start the day, focus on what other people want from you and what inspires other people and the scary news headlines of the day rather than being focused, starting out your day focused on what you want out of your day. So I just take that minute and either drink a glass of water, which is another micro step or set my intentions for the day. And over a little bit of time, it really helped me not wake up with this anxiety spike that I was feeling. So, Huggermoles is, we can talk more about the science behind it, but it's also a very easy way to start boosting those happy hormones and feeling a little bit more converted and less anxious. Yeah, and the morning is such a critical period of time because I personally find that if I wake up on edge or if my cord is all spiked from either checking my phone, which I do too often, or I don't know, like if they're, if I do something the morning that just immediately induces stress, it's so much harder to move throughout the rest of the day, feeling like calm and collected and like ready to kind of take on whatever I have to do that day. So I try to find the time in the morning to do something for myself, whether that be working out, going for a walk, making a nice breakfast, like something that's nourishing all parts of myself is super important to me. This is a great transition into Huggermoles because another thing that has been really nourishing me lately is sleeping with my weighted blanket. I'm obsessed. I've been wanting one for so long and I never really understood the hype around them. And I finally got one and I am having the most restful sleeps ever. And the synergies clearly between a weighted blanket and Huggermoles is this weighted pressure. And I would love for you to talk more about really what got you inspired to start Huggermoles and go into this new venture and become an entrepreneur after your departure from thrive. But really like what got you into the science behind weighted pressure and wanting to build a product that people can feel those benefits from? Well, I created Huggermoles for myself, honestly. People see stuff the animal and sometimes they think, oh, it's for kids, which it is, but it's also for adults. So I was going through a period where I was having a lot of anxiety fueled insomnia. So my mind was spinning. I couldn't fall asleep. I was just like anxious mind, racing thoughts, and there's nothing I could do about it. And I had had a weighted blanket for a long time. Actually, I called one in when I was still working in magazines and weighted blankets still hadn't come out of the special needs market, which is where they started. The weighted pressure was first and often used with people who are on the autism spectrum or have sensory processing disorder and were used by a lot of occupational therapists and doctors for people in that market. And I as a journalist was looking for something to help me sleep. So I called one in. And I really liked it at first, but it became really hot for me and too heavy. And it's hard to travel with. It's kind of cumbersome. I would wake up over heated and kick it off. And then my mind would start spiraling again. So what I was doing, I was using my partner Mike's arm as my weighted blanket. And he, which we're still okay for a little while, but then he was like you have to find something else. Like this is only comfortable for one of us, not both of us. And I was like, okay, there must be something else that's not as heavy and cum
bersome and as a weighted blanket. So I started researching, but my journalist had on and researched other weighted modalities. So there's weighted best things like lap pads. And I did find some weighted flush in again, deep in the special needs market. They were only marketed to people with special needs and clinicians and things like that. And I found the weighted stuffed animals to be really cheaply made. And, you know, I was looking for really beautifully designed ones, something that I would want out in my home, something that I'd want to gift. And I couldn't find it. And I thought, okay, well, somebody must be making it. So again, as a journalist, as sort of like a spy, I went to New York toy fair, which is the biggest sort of toy convention. There is a couple years in a row.
to look behind the curtain of the biggest toy and flush brands and seeing if they were making one of these, something that was nice and nobody was. So that's when I decided I really need to go for this because as we mentioned, as a journalist I had seen even before the pandemic, the spiking numbers of anxiety and mental health issues and the experts calling for action saying, "We're on the brink of a crisis and mental health crisis." And to see none of these companies responding to it at the time, everything was about a stem to it, which is also really important. But I saw this crisis rising and I saw the marriage behind the physical relaxation benefits of the way that blanket and the emotional kind of connection of a favorite stuffed animal. And I didn't find one that I liked. A lot of them just had their weight stuffed in a ball in the middle and I was like, "Where are the ones that hug you back that have the weight, you know, throughout the arms and body and limbs?" And I just didn't find what I wanted so I felt like I had to create it. It's such a cool story how it seems like it's been a long time coming. Like you identified this problem, you couldn't find it out in the market and so you decided to create it yourself. And you mentioned you'd gone to the toy fair like a few years in a row. So it must feel so rewarding now to have your product out on the market, you know, to have built your own company. So congratulations, it's really amazing to see the journey behind hugimals. When I was younger, as probably most kids, I had like a ton of stuffed animals and a lot of them were super nostalgic to me and meaningful. So I totally see what you're saying, like the connection behind this emotional relationship that we build with these stuffed animals when we grow up. And even as an adult, I mean, I don't have a stuffed animal now, but like at my parents' apartment, I still do. When I see them, it's very comforting. So I think that emotional feeling coupled with the actual physical and mental health benefits behind weighted pressure, it kind of makes for such like a beneficial product. And going off of the science behind weighted pressure, can you talk a little bit about the specific physical benefits, but then also the mental benefits that come with feeling that weight on your body? Yeah, absolutely. And what you are saying about still sleeping with a stuffed animal when you go to your parents' house, it's so common. And survey found that 40% of adults still sleep with a stuffed animal, which I was not really even surprised at. I was surprised at first, but then the customer-based for hug animals is really like half kids and parents and half adults, which is really cool. And there's also been research about the stuffed animal side, like a recent study published in journal psychological science says, "Touching a stuffed animal can help relieve existential angst, can help with feel like social connectedness, can help relieve anxiety." So this stuffed animal part of it has research behind it as well, but the weighted pressure part of it, that research has been building. So I feel like everyone got or gave a weighted blanket for holidays last year, and weighted blankets have like fully gone mass market, which is amazing. But the research hasn't really caught up. There are studies in the body of research is growing. And what we know is that weighted pressure, which is also called deep touch pressure or deep touch stimulation in the scientific community, it provides these therapeutic benefits that includes lowering anxiety and increasing calm by tamping down your body's fight or flight response. And that's what we know about the most. And we know that the most important thing is that we have to be able to do that. And we have to be able to do that. Or like a puppy on your lap are holding a baby. A lot of people who pick up a hug and will for the first time say it feels like holding a baby or a puppy. And that's very comforting for them. But yeah, so it really taps down that fighter flight response and ups your parasympathetic nervous systems relaxation response. So it helps you feel grounded, safe and secure. And it sort of, you know, sometimes when people feel anxious, they feel like they're sort of not grounded to the earth. They're like, you know, out of control and kind of like flying out into space and weighted pressure can really help that proprioceptic input and help help people feel really safe, secure and grounded. It's also been found, you know, to help ease people into sleep. And interestingly, it has been weighted pressure has been found to increase on task behavior in kids with attention difficulties. So it can potentially help with focus as well. And a lot of people who get a hug and will talk about, you know, working or taking Zoom calls with their hug and will on their lap. And it like tamping down their, you know, anger at their co-workers or their, you know, kind of need to, you know, to be distracted. So I hear that a lot too, but there is, there is growing science behind that weighted pressure specifically in mostly within the special needs community. Last thing I'll say is when I was researching Huggamalls, again, like I wasn't going to just do it without tapping a lot of experts and doctors and occupational therapists and psychologist and things like that to get all the details right. Like how heavy should they be? What should they look like? What color is it? Should their facial expression be? I did a ton of research. But the first thing I asked was, okay, you know, I've seen weighted items like this in the special needs community, but could they work with for anybody with any kind of situational anxiety? And all of the experts unanimously said, yes, like weighted pressure is the best kept secret that we have. We use it in our practice, we use it with our kids, like you have to do this. So I did it. I think like that concept of getting back into your body is so powerful. I know that, you know, sometimes when I'm working from home, I think you mentioned this in your response, but like all sometimes have like a blanket on my lap or just I don't have unfortunately I wish I had a pet. The one thing I wish I grew up with was a little puppy, but you know, sometimes my co-workers will say like, yeah, like my dogs sitting on my lap or my cats coming to, you know, to join the call. And I think obviously like animals can be very therapeutic, but there's something about holding something or rather like having something on you like a blanket is just it's so comforting and like brings you back into the present. It's grounding it brings you back into your body. And so with hugimals, is this a product that let's say children, for example, do they sleep with it? Do they play with it? Do they just hold on to it? Like what is the optimal environment for using a hugimal? It's a really good question. So I have to start by saying hugimals are aged two and up. They are not for infants. The occupational therapists I spoke to were like, don't be afraid of weight even for kids. So they weigh four and a half pounds, which I said a lot is sort of the optimal weight for kids and adults. So, you know, there's a lot of different use cases of them and a lot of things that I hear. You know, kind of the most some of the top ones are like we said when you're working and you have it on your lap, it can help you focus, it can help you calm. But also like at the end of the day, you know, after a hard day of school or work, a stressful day, like just chilling with your Heavimal on a couch, with it on your lap or on your chest or on your belly, you feel sort of that comforting weight and you could, you know, what I hear is that people feel like the stress sort of leaving their body. So it's using it as a self-care tool like that. A lot of people do sleep with them. Both kids and adults I hear like the way helps them calm their racing mind, which is why I created them in the first place. So they can then fall asleep. So it's a tool to help you fall asleep and if you wake up, it's very comforting to put it back on you and fall back into a restful sleep. I also hear that they're really great for travel and traveling anxiety. So a lot of people, you know, kids in the back of a car on road trips or in a plane can get really kind of anxious and one mom of a tween daughter said that her daughter always has panic attacks on planes. When she took her home for the first time was the first time she didn't have a panic attack, which was a pretty amazing piece of feedback. So, you know, they're great for traveling, anxiety, they're great for bedtime and another expert has said that they're good transitional objects for kids going into a new environment to bring something from home that also something with science back, that the science back physical comfort tool is another use case for them. Yeah, it really depends. You know, kids, adults, teens, tweens, you're from a lot of what college students who are really stressed out, you know, on campus. And this is something that helps them when they're studying or when they're just relaxing. A reason why I loved my stuffed animals growing up minus the weighted pressure part of it, but just having stuffed animals around is because I didn't know.
have the comfort of a dog. And so it was nice to have something there that was comforting. So it killed two birds with one stone. When you were also thinking about the different types of animals that you wanted to create for the product line, what was going through your head? How did you settle on, I think you have an elephant and a few other animals. I can't remember off the top of my head, but how did you decide the core animals that be part of the product line? Yeah, so we have four hogimals that we launched with and we just launched the summer. So they're pretty new out of the gate and we're working on a fifth character now. So we have emery the elephant, Sam this lost, Darby the bear and Charlie the puppy, they're all gender neutral. And again, it was doing tons of research creating this. Like I couldn't stop the journalist part of me. So I wanted to have animals that, you know, people loved and had association, good associations with and everyone loves a puppy, a teddy bear as a classic, an elephant is like a baby elephant is very soothing and a sloth, you know, I think sloths are sort of like exploded and everyone loves a sloth. And it's just like the idea of a sloth on you as a hogimal like this weighted thing feels right. And they're cute too, like they're cute, they're sleepy, they have like the whole vibe. Yeah, exactly, they're sort of even though they're stuffed and weighted, they kind of feel under stuffed and like, you know, they want you to hug them, they want to hug you back, they need to be taken care of, but at the same time taking care of you. And you know, everything was intentional, the colors I wanted to, you know, I see some of the other products out there, they're like neon colors and bright colors, but I wanted the color stories to be calming. So that was out of research, all the colors are based on river stones. And the facial expressions, you'll notice that they're not smiling and that's also intentional. And that's because a lot of the experts I spoke to and creating these, you know, gave me the tip that a neutral expression helps you express any emotion you might be feeling and no judgments on. So, you know, if you're not feeling like smiling, you kind of don't want to be looking at something like stupidly smiling at you all day. So that's intentionally sort of project whatever emotions you're feeling onto the hug and they project it back. And so what's really cool is we've heard a lot of positive feedback from, we've had a lot of orders from therapists and from teachers in schools. And so one preschool teacher ordered some for her classroom. And like the feedback made me cry. She was like, this is a complete game changer. Like it helps kids stay calm during story hour. It helps them, you know, focus and it also helps them like in times of frustration bring their emotions back to center. Like when you give them a hug and they hold it, they feel safer. They don't feel so out of control. So it's, it's really awesome to hear that they are resonating and working the way that they're supposed to because really they're, you know, they're a stuffed animal, but they're a therapeutic product sort of masquerading as a favorite stuffed animal. Yeah, I mean, I even see it being a part of like a social emotional learning curriculum in elementary schools even as like a physical tangible product that can be part of some sort of course around like, you know, bringing more education around mental health into the school system. Like I can see it even being used in that way, which is so inspiring to see it must feel so rewarding to see here, to see all this positive feedback come through and and recognize like how impactful these the huggamos have really been for not only, you know, for various communities, children and adults alike. I love that idea, Stella. That's an amazing idea that social emotional mental health kind of curriculum aspect and it is, it's, it's really rewarding. I mean, it's rewarding to see, you know, huggamos winning awards, you know, we were nominated for a toy of a year award, three months after launching, which is in where the first way to flesh out to be nominated, which is amazing. We won, you know, the favorites awards from parents and good housekeeping and people's products were the hype, but honestly, the most rewarding thing is hearing from like that preschool teacher. Also before launch, I partnered with the toy foundation to do a pilot program in five children's hospitals around the country because I wanted to kind of solidify the efficacy, right, before we launched them out into the world and the toy foundation got winnepogamal, they wanted to do this. So we tested them in five children's hospitals and the feedback was unanimously positive. The child life specialists, a lot of them reordered. They said that huggamos really provided that extra kind of comfort and sensory support to patients in need of a little bit of extra comfort and their families too because they're navigating the healthcare experience. It's a really hard time for them. And the fact that the hospitals have reordered and in fact one large hospital in Miami, children's hospital now uses it as, uses huggamos as a standard response tool for what they call code bears. So if a kid needs extra intervention, they don't say code red over the loudspeaker, they say code bear and they summon doctors or whoever they need. And so they give huggamos to those kids and they told me that the huggamos changed their perception of what's happening in the room and calm them down within minutes. And I cried. I thought feedback. I was like, I have to launch these and it was a really hard decision to leave my job, leave my full-time job to become a horse, time solo entrepreneur. But I believe in the product and mission so much that it has been worth it. And I've gotten contacted by some nonprofits and that's also a huge part of my mission like the hospital is getting huggamos into the arms of people who need them, who very much need them. So we're working with an FBI, a J-Scent Nonprofit who just reordered actually, they're seeing a lot of success using huggamos as a comfort tool for victims of traumatic crimes being investigated by the FBI. So that kind of stuff is like, well, it's happening, it's helping and it's making it worth it. Yeah, I mean, even beyond just the everyday application of having a huggamo in your apartment and just needing to decompress from a stressful day, you know, these everyday challenges that we experience, there are extremons of the spectrum where, you know, you have children in hospitals with maybe terminal illness to this use case with the FBI nonprofit like with trauma. So it's incredible to see such the wide variety of impact that huggamos is having and will continue to have. And you mentioned that it was definitely, you know, a challenge to make that decision to leave your full-time job, to leave thrive and pursue this full-time. How did you decide or how did you come to that decision? As you progress throughout this entrepreneurial path, what challenges have you experienced along the way and how do you face those obstacles? Wow. I feel like there are so many challenges as a first-time entrepreneur. There's so much I don't know, you know, having been in, you know, a content career for many years, I felt like, okay, like I know how to do, I know how to do this. And with this, there's more things I don't know than what I do know. I never expected to leave my career and launch a company like this and be a founder. It was just even there recently that it was okay with like, okay, I guess I'm a founder. I was featured on a list from Morning Brew of 20 founders to know. And I was like, I saw my name and I saw next to the work founder. I'm like, okay, I guess this is this is Albinic, I'm a founder. But I didn't expect to at first I wanted to license the idea and because I always had full-time jobs. And it was a big challenge to navigate because I licensed it at the very right before the pandemic on February 2020. And I worked with the company licensed it to create this beautiful product. And we had all these units and then the company got bought by a media company that didn't put out any physical products. And so they were like, here you go, you can have your inventory. And at that point I was like, oh wow, I have two choices. I could throw them in the ocean or leave my job and launch the same on my own. And I chose the ladder because at that point we'd already done the hospital pilot. I'd seen the efficacy. And I just believe in it so much that I knew it was something that I had to do. But even that, you know, lots of challenges. I trusted some advisors that led me down a wrong path. And it took, you know, a few months for me to dig myself out of that hole and really learn that I should have trusted my gut. You know, I kind of knew that this wasn't the right path or partner for me. But I doubted myself in this industry. I'm like, well, I'm a 20-year-old, I don't really know. I've never launched a product. So I guess the right and I never should have done that. So even along the way, there's been there's been some challenges, you know, learning to trust myself, learning to, you know, surround myself with people much smarter and more knowledgeable than me on certain things. So the whole thing has been a challenge and that still is.
And what helps really is meeting and getting to know other entrepreneurs, you know, at my stage or even a year or two out from where I am and hearing their stories and feeling that sense of camaraderie has really helped. But the challenges don't end. I feel like every week something great happens and something terrible happens and it's that thunder rollercoaster that you always hear about and I'm just like, oh, okay, it's real. I'm experiencing it every single day. How do you navigate those extreme emotions, like feeling so proud and so accomplished and so passionate about what you're doing? And then also navigating the emotions where it's like, this is so difficult. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'd like maybe even feelings of imposter syndrome because I think the sweet spot is that equilibrium. How do you achieve that? You know, people talk about work like balance or just balance in general. I feel like it's such a scam. Like balance doesn't really exist. You know, you can work towards it and it's about integrating all those things. So honestly, I'm still learning. I'm learning not to be like live and die by the positive stuff and the negative stuff and get pulled in either direction too far. But it has been time, has been helping just learning that like, okay, every week something bad is going to happen. And so think it is probably going to happen. So just to expect it and try to be a little bit stoic about it. I've worked a lot on like not being so immediately reactive, right? Like an email will come in or text or like something's happening and I just try really hard to take a breath and ask myself, do I have to deal with this right now? So like take the smallest possible step towards some sort of action. I don't have to do it all, you know, in a minute I can take one tiny step towards something and know that I've accomplished something. So you know, something you said is really true. It's sort of you mentioned like, you know, being super proud of yourself for some of the things and feeling like an imposter for the other things and it's true. It's sometimes it's hard to feel proud of yourself when you feel like, you know, I have this mountain to climb. I have all these things to do. But I have to try like in your, you know, positive psychology courses, you've probably talked a lot about, you know, and we talked about this too at Thrive as a micro step. Like either keeping a folder or like thinking of one good thing that you've accomplished can really help offset some of the negatives of that day. So it's a, you know, it's a combination of trying to be stoic and trying to, you know, not forget the positives and then look for those little like positives or glimmers and then otherwise negative day. That's actually called the negativity bias, which is the tendency to fixate on the negative things in life more so than looking at the positive things and it's human nature. We do it all the time. I very much guilty. I mean, even with what I'm doing, you know, it's very easy to feel that sense of imposter syndrome or like I'm not doing enough or I'm not accomplishing enough and once at least speaking for my own experience, once I have those thoughts, it's, it's easy to be really reactive to them and then start to really believe them and then think more of the same negative thoughts. So something that I've been trying to do is in addition to my gratitude jar, which I think is an amazing practice, essentially, I try to at the end of every day write down something that like happened that I really enjoyed or something I'm looking forward to. But aside from the gratitude jar, something I've been trying to do now is keeping a, keeping like a running list in my notes folder of like all the cool things that like I've happened to do with the podcast or with everyday endorphins that in the moment like is amazing and then maybe the next day I forget about. But if I can keep a running log of it, it's so gratifying to look back and think to myself wow, like over the course of XYZ months or XYZ years, I've actually been able to do these things that I couldn't have ever anticipated. I would have gotten to do if I hadn't pursued this opportunity. So whoever's listening out there, whether or not you're a founder or a podcast host or just looking for advice on feeling like you're doing enough, I think we would both agree on the value of keeping some sort of list or some physical manifestation that can show all of the accomplishments that you have like to date to kind of change the script and change the narrative in your mind. That is so key. That keeping that file or that folder in for me, like somebody gave me the advice to keep a folder of the pop of the feedback and the customer reviews, you know, that I get from a moment now and it really does keep me going. Not only does it remind me like, okay, you're doing this for a reason, it's helping people and like, you know, if you're not succeeding in this, you have succeeded in helping these people, you know, feel less stressed and live with more joy. But also it does into your point's de la gratitude is hugely important. I do the same thing and I try to do a gratitude practice. But it reminds me like, I'm grateful that I get to affect, you know, these people's lives in a positive way. Yeah, so that advice is really key. Like keep a folder, keep it in your notes, keep it wherever you, you know, is easily accessible because that like, you know, hit of those, you know, positive neurotransmitters can really help bring you back from that place of, oh, everything is going wrong or imposter syndrome. Yeah, totally. And there's a million other pieces of advice that I'm sure is out there. Some things I've gained from experts on TikTok, not the non-experts, but like the doctors and therapists that are on TikTok and have a great platform and other things that I've learned through my interviews and I'm just through conversations with friends. But there's so much you can do to help reinforce more positive self-talk, which is super powerful. I have a few more questions for you, Marina. And this portion of the interview, I really want to focus on the concept of finding endorphins and everyday living. So in your career as a journalist and the health and wellness space and writing so many articles, pertaining to mental health and well-being, how have you come to define for yourself what it means to lead a healthy and a happy life? That's a great question. And a lot of my time as a journalist has been, as a health journalist, like all different types of health, women's health, mental health, physical health. And I would be writing these service pieces, these advice pieces about how to be healthy and all these different ways and sometimes I wasn't doing it. And it's hard not to feel like, oh, I'm just not living up. I know these things, but going from awareness to action is a different thing. So it was hard and sometimes still is to give yourself that grace of even though you know everything you should be doing. And for me, especially as a journalist, health journalist, I know the stats and studies, all the things. But doing it is different. And we can't always be 100% doing what we think or know we should be doing. So just giving yourself living with that in that state of grace of like, okay, like today I didn't work out, like I wanted to or whatever it is. And that's okay. That has really helped me continue to like have days where maybe I didn't live up to what I wanted to do, but I still noticed the glimmers or notice the good things and it wasn't a lost day. So just having that understanding that you're not going to be at 100 every day and that's not a realistic expectation to have of yourself. And if you did one thing that day, like sometimes doing that my first step was just drinking a glass of water when you wake up. I'm like, oh, if I do nothing else, that's good for myself today. I will have hydrated. I will have had a glass of water. And that is good enough today. But I think like being content and happy with like doing some of the small things can really add up. Yeah, it's some advice I need to take more consistently. I really love the way you put that, like the difference between awareness versus action. And it's something I even find like every interview or every episode as an interview with someone like yourself who's in the health and wellness space. And I'm learning so much through these interviews and I feel like I have this awareness and this knowledge, but sometimes even for me, it's so hard to implement into action on. And so something I'm really working on is figuring out how I can give myself more grace to give myself a pat on the back when I do what I set out to do, but then also tell myself it's okay if I only did one out of the five things that I really wanted to accomplish health wise that day or that week. And it's really like you said about celebrating the small wins. And I think that's a consistent theme that I've heard across my interviews and also really ties in nicely into my final question to you, Marina, which is a question that I ask every guest that comes onto the podcast aside from weighted pressure and the joys of being an entrepreneur in the health and wellness space. What is something that brings you a bit of endorphins every day? Well, okay. So we're talking about giving ourselves grace. And I normally would have said like walking, like walking outside, walking in nature, but like as a founder, as an entrepreneur, like sometimes in my days, I just don't even have time to do that.
But a lot of the times, just even walking from my rework home, it's like a few minute walk, but I look at the buildings, I live in New York, I look at the buildings, I kind of look at the sky, I look at the people around, and it's just like this sense of, there's so much out there that's larger than my problems, that helps sort of give me a shot of endorphins. And it's hard not to right now get endorphins from the positive, the reviews and feedback that I get about what I'm putting out there, because I mean, that signs back to helping others and giving and gratitude is not just altruistic, but it also really feeds into our own happiness, enjoy. So giving through a company I'm trying to grow is I can see why mission-driven founders are so passionate, because it really does kind of selfishly fuel you a little bit too. And then the last thing I'll say is, in a stressed out moment, or when I have a break in the day, I look at videos of cute animals. Like, I mean, there's nothing, there's nothing that gives you that wholesome endorphin shot faster than scrolling through videos of cute animals. In fact, a lot of zoos have live cams that they do, like this, the San Diego Zoo has a really good one, and you can choose between like, I have a lot of penguins, I'm a lot of the orangutan, I want to look at whatever it is. And it's like, it's just so, it's just such a shot of happy in your day. - It is, I mean, I bet you're like Instagram discover page or TikTok discover page or whatever. It's probably all animals. Now I know to DM you like cute videos of puppies, 'cause that's what's coming up on my, my for you page now. - Marina, it was such a pleasure having you on the podcast, where can my listeners connect with you, where can they find out more about huggamoles, get one for themselves, all the good stuff. - Yeah, I mean, they can connect with me and find me on LinkedIn. That's where I do most of my posting about the entrepreneur journey that I'm on and that roller coaster that like, I'm not scared to get real about, 'cause it's hard. So Marina could definitely find me on LinkedIn. And you can find
[email protected] and at huggamoles on Instagram, which is where we post the most. And you can follow us there. But I'd be really psyched to hear from from your listeners. And I think this is just like a really important and amazing podcast. I'm so proud of you from, you know, when I knew you as a thrive intern to, you know, this illustrious podcast, which has so many cool people on it. Like I've learned a lot from it. And as you said Stella, it's really important to not just focus on, you know, the negative side and the problems, but also really like give people those tools, you know, to tap into those blemars and to tap into those endorphins and moments of happiness. So I'm really proud of you. I love this podcast. - Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate the kind words that's gonna go in my gratitude jar tonight. It was such a pleasure. And hopefully everyone out there listening can go and grab a huggamole. 'Cause although I do not have one yet, I can definitely attest to the benefits of weighted pressure with my newfound obsession with my weighted blanket. But my next purchase is huggamoles and good thing Christmas is around the corner. But with that, thank you again, Marina. - Thank you Stella. (upbeat music) Thanks for listening to this episode of Everyday Endorphins. If you liked what you heard, make sure to like, rate, and review this podcast on whichever platform you prefer. You can also follow along the Everyday Endorphins Instagram account to stay up to date with episodes, future events, and all things related to mental health, well-being, and happiness. Don't forget to keep spreading endorphins and find things in life that bring you joy every day. Until next time. (upbeat music)
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