shopBURU | Q+A with Morgan Hutchinson

8.11.2014

after i gave birth, there were three things i was really looking forward to: a large glass of red wine, being able to see my feet while standing, and wearing jeans without an elastic waist. 

the feet and wine situations were easier to take care of than fitting into a pair of jeans. i lived in leggings the last few months so i was weary to put my buns into anything that wasn't as comfortable. enter: the boyfriend jean. it was the one item i had no problem splurging on primarily because it was not only forgiving and comfortable, but it also greatly contributed to how i felt about my new post-baby body. i mean, anything that makes ones' ass look even remotely close to good after it's expanded twice its' normal size is worth the money in my book. you know? you know
unfortunately, as a new mom, i had yet to discover the beauty that is shopburu, an online shop curated with the new mom, specifically the new nursing mother, in mind. 

after having her own daughter, morgan hutchinson, along with her husband, set out to make dressing every womans' post-baby body (and boobs) easier because you have other things to worry about after giving birth like... i don't know... your new baby. 
i sat down with morgan after a very fun visit to the goldsign showroom in manhattan where we looked at the upcoming fall styles and asked her a few questions about her well-intentioned company, running a business with her husband, and her experience as a new mom. 

ps. use code notjustforkids for 25% for your entire purchase through today. and tune in tomorrow for my seasonal takes on the white boyfriend jean. and, yes, they can be worn year round. 

tell us a little bit about your family, where you live, etc. 
my little family of three and i live in small town kentucky. after almost four years of living in beijing, brett and I moved back to the states when I was 35 weeks pregnant. we made a fast decision after a quick sale of his company…so we landed in my hometown (a place I hadn’t lived since I was 17). it has been quite an adjustment (from 25 million to 25 thousand people) but we are so grateful to be surrounded by family. plus, it is a nice spot to run a start-up business. we do have a rule though…we never go more than four weeks without travel.

how did Shop BURU come about? 
the week after we brought olive home from the hospital, i ordered a handful of loose fitting shift dresses to accommodate my post-baby body. they came in and i put one on. olive let out a “hungry cry”. i took off my dress and nursed her.  clearly, my new dresses were a big fat fail. stripping off your dress in public to breastfeed is sort of frowned upon, no?

i wasn’t keen on the idea of going back to maternity stores to shop, and i suspected that other new moms felt the same. sifting through department stores for nursing-friendly styles was not only a time drain, it was a pain to squeeze the stroller through small aisles and into tiny dressing rooms. it seemed to me that the market had a big void in the way of curated ready-to-wear dedicated to the mommy lifestyle ….so we created BURU to fill it.

BURU’s mission is to help every mother, in the breastfeeding phase and beyond, look and feel her best. i still hand-pick each item and try everything on when it arrives to give our customers the best first-hand information that i can give.

what is your favorite/least favorite part about being a mother?
favorite part: seeing the world through her eyes. olive is hilarious and her sweet soul observes things in a way that I never would. she teaches me more everyday that i will ever be able to teach her. least favorite part: disciplining. completely necessary and not really fun at all.

what advice would you give to new mothers in terms of fashion and feeling good about their postpartum bodies?
first I would say – be patient. it took 9+months to make the little nugget and your body may need a minute (or two) to get things back in order.  then i would say, in the meantime, don’t get stuck in a fashion rut of wearing sloppy sweats and ratty t-shirts. it is amazing what a shower and a cute outfit can do to a mama’s mojo. yes, there is a new life to love and dote on, but mama still matters. for me personally, the better i feel about myself directly translates into my energy level and the happy vibes i put out there in the world. i know that olive and brett benefit more from “feel-good morgan” than “unshowered-day-old-clothes morgan”. i say to all the mamas out there – remember to treat yourself at least once a month – a new top or date night dress - or even a new lip gloss can add a little pep to your step.

what is the best/hardest part about owning your own company/working with your husband?
funny you ask. we literally answer this question every day. best part: we are truly experiencing life together.  when something great happens – we are there to celebrate together, on the spot. and when something not great happens – we are there for each other to lift up the other or be lifted up. worst part:  it is hard to turn off “work talk” at the end of the day.  so often BURU creeps in to date night conversation. that is not always bad...just a challenge we have to work on.

what's an average day like for you and your family?
everyday is a little different, but we have a pretty good weekly schedule worked out. we like to break up olive’s child care so that we can have lunch with her and play a little before her nap – so a non-travel day typically looks like this:

7AM – family trip to the coffee shop then stroll through murray state’s campus & play time in the quad area for olive while brett and I organize our day
9:30AM – 12:30 – first child care shift arrives (or in the fall she goes to her little school) & brett and i put our noses to the BURU grindstone. 
12:30-2PMlunch with Little Bee (olive’s nickname) and then we work while she naps
2PM-5:30 – 2nd round of child care arrives and B and I are back to BURU business
evenings -- family time, dinner time, and most often…a little BURU time – but we definitely make time for some wine and bad TV.

what's next for Shop Buru?
we recently purchased a sprinter van and the inside is currently being made into a traveling showroom.  starting in august, we will bring “BURU to YOU!”.  by making house calls to our BURU mamas and their friends, we hope to make #momstyle easier and more fun!

a few of morgan's favorite things: 
oscar blandi dry shampooTom Ford #10 cherry lush lipstick | a cosmo-tai blow-out at the Drybar | assouline coffee table bookspretty much any bottle of Amarone I have ever had | my OLIVE necklace (by Naomi Gray designs) – a christmas gift from brett | vintage chocolate soup and florence eiseman dresses for Olive. the new stuff just isn’t the same…| 

2 comments:

the communal closet said...

great interview! loved the evening we spent with Morgan...and you're looking so sexy in those white jeans!

Unknown said...

Love when a piece can be transitioned through the seasons, although, I can never quite get my whites to stay white white lol suggestions?

 

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