What's up, DTC Pod? Today we're joined by Courtney Klein, who's the co founder of Stork. So Courtney, why don't you kick us off, tell us a little bit about the brand that you've built with Stork, the products that you offer, and all about the business that you're building.

Sure. So I am the co founder of Stork, as you mentioned, and we sell maternity, nursing and parenthood apparel and accessories.

Cool. So why don't you kick us off and tell us a little bit more about when you guys started the brand, a little bit of the inspiration behind the brand. What gave you conviction that this was an opportunity that you wanted to pursue?

Yeah, sure. So my background is actually in digital strategy, so I was a partner at a digital design agency in New York and needed to move west. And when I got out here, I thought I would stay in client services, but very quickly realized that it was a great opportunity for me to start doing something completely different. And as part of that strategy, background ethnography was always a big part of my work. And so I also happened to be at that age where a lot of friends and family were starting to have babies to talk about parenthood. And I kept hearing this refrain over and over again from people, which was, there's nothing in this space that speaks to me. And I didn't have any children at the time. Now I have two, but I was kind of going into it blind. And as I started digging and looking at the statistics and the demographics, it was really fascinating.

So more children are being born, and again, if you live in an urban area, this won't surprise you, but more children are being born to women over 30 than ever before in American history. When women give birth later and stay in the workforce longer, they have more money to spend because their incomes are usually higher. And so also they have different needs. When you're having a baby in your thirty s and you're established and you're in the workforce when you're younger, in your 20s, those are totally different needs. So as we started digging into it, I realized there was a real market opportunity to address what we now call millennials, but the millennial parents, and looking at what kind of things they cared about when it came to the clothing that they wore and that the apparel that they used. And now that I have children, I think a lot of this is borne out, which is as soon as you become pregnant, it's like this monumental shift. It's a super exciting time, but it's also a time when your entire identity changes. And what was out there in the market was largely cheap, mass market and kind of assumed that when you became pregnant, you were this sunny, happy, shiny, glowing person.

And that wasn't the narrative that everyone was experiencing. So my partner and I, Grace, we scanned all sorts of moms groups. We recruited ladies to talk to people to talk to who were pregnant and just said, what are your pain points with the clothing that you're wearing? How does this category make you feel? What could be better about this? What are the key items that you're missing from your closet that you wish you had? And that was kind of the very beginning seed of the company was, okay, we're going to start this company that helps pregnant people and parents maintain their identity and style. And so from there, we created these four pieces, which were the capsule collection. And we had this idea that these are the only four things you really need in your closet when you are pregnant. And that was a tank top, a pair of leggings, a skirt and pair of legging tape and a skirt. Oh my gosh, why am I not? And a dress. I'm like, I know why.