Mental Load Meets Marketing: Navigating Invisible Labor & Content Strategy as a Founder with Paige Connell

Ever struggle to explain why you're exhausted—even when everything looks fine on the surface? This episode is for you.

We're talking with Paige Connell, the content creator and advocate behind She is a Paige Turner, whose work around the mental load, gender equity, and motherhood has gone viral for a reason. But this isn’t about going viral—it’s about giving women the words to describe the invisible labor they’ve been carrying for far too long.

We dig into how to actually talk to your partner about the mental load, why so many moms feel burnout before they even finish their coffee, and how content can become a catalyst for change in our relationships and our culture.

Whether you're a founder, a content creator, or a mom trying to do it all—this episode will help you feel seen, empowered, and better equipped to lead with intention in your home and business.

Plus, Paige shares how she built a sustainable content strategy rooted in real-life conversations and community—and how you can, too.

🔗 Connect with Paige Connell (@sheisapaigeturner)

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheisapaigeturner
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sheisapaigeturner
🌐 Website + Newsletter + Audio Course: https://www.sheisapaigeturner.com

Looking for a networking event that actually feels good? The Social Media Mixer is a virtual space where founders who support moms can connect, collaborate, and get actionable social media insights—without the awkward Zoom rooms or salesy pitches. Join us every six weeks for fun, structured conversations and strategies you can actually use. Grab a seat or get the All-Access Pass here: theconsistencycorner.com/mixer

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode, and follow along over on Instagram!
@ruthie.sterrett
@theconsistencycorner

Transcript

Ruthie Sterrett (00:01.149)
my goodness, Paige, I'm so excited to have you on the consistency corner today and chat with you and share with our audience, you know, the powerful blend of personal experience and purpose that you have weaved into your content and into your business. If you're not familiar with Paige, like her Instagram content is literally on fire. I mean, no joke. It is one of my favorite accounts to consume and I've shared it with a lot of people because you get it. Like you totally get it with what moms are dealing with with the mental load.

Paige Turner (00:19.233)
No.

Ruthie Sterrett (00:28.721)
So I'd love to hear the story of kind of how this came about, how you became a full-time content creator and how your business kind of was born.

Paige Turner (00:38.902)
Sure. It was an accident as it usually is. I prior used to work in apparel and we acquired smaller apparel businesses. And one of the things we were learning about at the time was TikTok and how to use it for marketing and specifically growth marketing. And we were trying to understand the algorithm a bit better for organic content and none of us really understood it. Right? Like we were all consuming TikTok, but we didn't quite understand how to kind of hack

the algorithm. And so I on the down low, created a profile and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm going to be brave and I'm going to post something. I'm gonna kind of try to figure this out. And so I decided to make a silly handle that is not my name, which confuses everybody and post videos about my life. I didn't know what else to talk about. I didn't have a niche. I wasn't there for any real specific reason other than to try to understand tick tock. And so I started posting about being a working

parents, a working mother in particular, and my experience of that. And at the time I was about six months postpartum with my youngest, who is now almost three. And, you know, I just started sharing bits about my life. And it was interesting because I would share things that seemed like no brainers to me or conversations that I would have with my friends that I really wasn't afraid to talk about. But we're really eye opening for other women and conversation starters for these kind of like larger

ideas and specifically, you know, the very first time I went quote unquote viral was talking about my childcare costs and how much I spend on childcare. And it wasn't just how much I spend, it was the response to that, which was like, then why do you even have a job? And so I responded to that, right? And kind of shared my perspective on why I work and why it's important to me. And so it was interesting. I really just kind of stumbled into this and about six months in, I realized, you know, the

information I was sharing was something that not every woman had access to. And in sharing this, we get to kind of learn from one another and grow within our experiences of being mothers, whether you work or you stay at home, we can grow within our relationships. And that is really how I stumbled into this being a career, but it was still, you another two years before it actually became an actual career. But yeah, that is kind of the story of how it happened.

Ruthie Sterrett (02:58.055)
You know, and it's so funny because we all can like roll our eyes at social media and groan and we know it can be a huge downer and drain on our energy. But I have to be grateful for the fact that like it gives us access to information that we wouldn't otherwise have access to. And like you said, there were women that were responding to the content you were putting out there of like, hey, let's talk about this because nobody in my life is talking about.

Paige Turner (03:11.522)
Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (03:22.872)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, and it was interesting because the childcare one was the first one that really kind of caught people's attention. And it was because I said out loud how much I pay for childcare. And it's an astronomical amount of money. And it was interesting because so many people said, my gosh, me too. But it feels taboo to talk about this, right? In the same way that we were conditioned not to ask somebody how much money they make. And now with my friends, I'm like, no, seriously, tell me how much money you make because we need some transparency here. Like we need to be able to advocate for ourselves and understand.

Ruthie Sterrett (03:42.407)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (03:55.104)
what our counterparts are getting paid because when we don't, we end up getting paid less than our male counterparts and all of these things. And so I was kind of saying this quiet part out loud and I found that so many women felt kind of emboldened to also share their experience. And I think there's so much power in sharing information with one another. The more information we have, to a point, the more information we have, the better equipped we are to navigate tricky situations.

Ruthie Sterrett (04:24.209)
Yeah, you you share a lot about mental load and then invisible labor. What are some of the biggest like light bulb moments that you've seen in your audience when it comes to the experience with the mental load?

Paige Turner (04:28.013)
I

Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (04:38.946)
Yeah. You know, it's so interesting because I think the mental load is hard to describe for many people because it encompasses so many things. It's not just, you know, scheduling the kids' doctor's appointment. It's managing the kids' emotions and planning and anticipating needs and all of the things. And it's just like never ending to-do lists in your brain. And so I think the thing that has really resonated is that I have been able to, over the years,

find a way to articulate it in a way that kind of clicks and makes sense. And what I hear from a lot of women is like, you know, I've been trying to say this to my partner for a really long time and I never had the words. And now I do. Now I feel like I can say it out loud. I can tell him exactly why I'm so exhausted from being the person to decide what we have for dinner every night, right? So I think that's the unlock is that I am essentially putting words to the experiences that can often be very hard to describe.

Ruthie Sterrett (05:35.357)
Yeah, it's it's not just the cooking dinner. It's the deciding what to cook, making sure you have the groceries, figuring out do you have the time to cook the thing, the pans, balancing it all, and then, my gosh, now I have to clean it all up. Like, it is this burden, and I think one of the things that we don't realize is that it's because it never stops. Like, we have to eat for the rest of our lives. We have to do laundry for the rest of our lives.

Paige Turner (05:38.626)
No.

Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (05:48.717)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (05:57.238)
No, it's never ending. Yeah.

Paige Turner (06:03.274)
Yeah, forever. you know, it's interesting, you just alluded to it, but like, do you know like when you look for recipes, they're like one sheet meals, one sheet meals. And it's like, because, you know, so many women are thinking about not just the cooking of the dinner, but like how much cleanup is there gonna be after this dinner? And are we gonna have enough leftovers? And if I want leftovers, how much meat should I cook? And you know, of course, the one day that I planned for leftovers, my kids actually really liked the dinner and they ate seconds and thirds of the dinner. So now there's no leftovers, right? And now I have to make.

lunch for tomorrow. And so it's this like never ending list in your brain. And I always say it's everything you need to know, do and remember, right? So everything you need to know, do and remember. And the problem is when you check something off your list, you tend to add something to it. So I've checked off cooking dinner, but when I cooked dinner, we ran out of salt and we're running low on olive oil. And so I'm adding those to the grocery list and my son started refusing chicken. And so now I have to come up with meals that don't have chicken in it because he doesn't like chicken anymore.

It feels like every time you think that list is gonna get a little bit shorter, it just gets longer. And I think that's often the hardest part to describe is, you know, lot of women will say, you know, my partner's happy to help. Just give me a list and I'll do it. And she doesn't even know where to start because the list is so long. And so like, how do I even explain to you how to make this list when it really just is something that is so deeply ingrained in my brain at this point?

Ruthie Sterrett (07:24.315)
Yeah, or like, I'm gonna make this list, but now I have to spend all this time explaining to you my process, so I'll just do it. And then that's when the burnout hits and that's when the overwhelm sinks in. You know, I'm curious because this can be a really emotionally charged topic and it can absolutely like create, I think, divisiveness between couples. I mean, we know that couples are fighting about this. How do you...

Paige Turner (07:28.334)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (07:39.756)
Yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (07:50.237)
Protect your peace, showing up online, talking about something that can be so vulnerable because I'm sure the trolls are out there making their opinions known.

Paige Turner (07:57.303)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (08:01.166)
Yeah, there's a lot of people who don't like me, you know, a lot of men in particular that don't like me and don't like my content. And I can understand that because my content, especially about the mental load and gender equity really pushes against, I think, the life that they thought they were going to have. Right. Like I think a lot of men were conditioned to believe that in order to be a good partner or a good husband or a good dad, you simply have to make money and show up once in a while. Right. Like being present is enough. Providing a paycheck is enough.

And a lot of women are saying, actually, no, I need so much more from you than that. I need you to be here emotionally. I need you to be here physically. I need you to participate in thinking about what to make for dinner. Like, you going to work is not enough. And I think another side of that is I obviously have been doing this work for a really long time. And so I've gained a perspective, not just on the mental load, but how it's connected with so many other aspects of our lives, right?

women tend to carry the mental load disproportionately to men because of how we condition women to show up in the world. Because of the fact that we don't have paid parental leave for men because we don't have affordable childcare and that disproportionately impacts women. Like all of these systems within our society kind of set us up for this dynamic, right? And so what can be really hard about it, whether online or in our own relationships, is that oftentimes when we bring it up, bring attention to this, it feels like a failure.

It feels like your partner failed or you failed or we failed. It feels like it's our fault. How did we not know to avoid these dynamics? And I always tell people at the end of the day, this mental load issue, this disproportionate work that women carry, it is not an individual failure. This is by design, right? By default, we end up in this position. And so if you've ended up here,

It's not your fault. It's nearly impossible to avoid it. You really have to be so aware of it to really be intentional about avoiding this dynamic. And so I think that's the hardest part is that couples will very much feel like it's me against you, right? Like it's my mental load versus your mental load and we need to like go tit for tat. And in reality, I try to reframe that perspective and say like, no, actually it's us against the problem. It's us against these dynamics. We need to figure out how to navigate this together.

Ruthie Sterrett (10:16.019)
Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (10:20.226)
so we can have a happy, healthy, thriving relationship, home, family life, whatever it might be.

Ruthie Sterrett (10:25.009)
Yeah, I'm curious. Obviously, I'm thinking before you had to navigate the trolls, you probably had to navigate some of these conversations within your own household. And, you know, for your husband, I know one of the things that like my husband and I will have the conversation about, because I talk about the mental load a little bit in my content, and he's like, it looks like you're throwing me under the bus. And I'm like, it's not about you. It's about the systemic problem.

Paige Turner (10:30.53)
Mmm.

Paige Turner (10:34.286)
Totally.

Paige Turner (10:44.342)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, you know, it's so funny. My husband doesn't care anymore. I think like at first when he started talking about it, he said, he's like, I don't mind that you're talking about it actually. He's like, I just can't watch it because it gives me anxiety. He's like, I'm like, Because he knows that that's not how our life is now, right? But it was at one point. And so I think it's hard to watch sometimes to like reflect back on how unequal the work was in our house.

But I think at the end of the day, these are hard conversations to have and we're not throwing men under the bus. I think we're bringing awareness to these dynamics and these systems. And I think in saying, I'm of the belief, some women are not, some people who talk about the mental load are not of the same belief as I am. But I don't believe that most men intentionally take advantage of women's time in this way. I think men have often been conditioned.

to not think about the mental load, not to take accountability or ownership of these things, that men have lived in a life that has made it possible for them to not do those things, right? And so they are actually blind to it in many ways, whereas women have been conditioned to do it by default. And so, you know, I think there's a corner of the internet that really believes that men are intentionally causing harm to women. And regardless of what we think the intention is, the end result is harm.

to women, right? Like when women are overburdened and burnt out and exhausted and resentful, like there is harm coming to your partner. And so what I often say to men is, you know, if this video triggers you, if this conversation triggers you, take a pause and just think about these dynamics in your home. Think about the impact they're having on your partner. You might feel confused by the idea of the mental load or not think it's real or think your partner's over complicating it. But at the end of the day, if your partner's coming to you and saying, I'm unhappy, I'm burnt out, I'm stressed, I'm resentful.

Paige Turner (12:31.394)
that's worth caring about, right? Like that's worth unpacking. That's worth moving past our own defensiveness to figure out because at the end of the day, why else are you married to this person, right? You want them to be happy. You want to have a happy relationship. And so that's often my pushback on people is, you know, a happy relationship can't just have one happy partner, right? We all need to feel happy and supported within it.

Ruthie Sterrett (12:53.201)
Yeah, that's so true. You know, as you've been building your content and stepping into the role of a content creator, has it felt like balancing that personal brand along with like a mission? Has that felt any conflict for you at all? Or how have you navigated that?

Paige Turner (13:08.558)
Mmm.

Paige Turner (13:13.322)
Yeah, you know, it's so funny because I think the stuff that I talk about is like no brainer stuff. You know, like I don't think it's controversial at all. I'm like, wait, why are we mad that we're talking about the cost of childcare? Like who's angry that I said my husband cooks dinner every night? Like, this is so weird. and I think part of that too is based on kind of, my own lived experience, right? Like my life is pretty quote unquote, like normal for the people in my community, right? Like there's lots of dads cooking dinner and there's lots of dads doing pickups and drop offs. But I also know that like where I live,

there's not a lot of stay at home moms. And I know that in corners of this country, there are a lot of stay at home parents, right? And the dynamics are different. And so to your point of like what we learn on the internet, right? My worldview has changed based on being online because I get to see the lived experiences of so many other people. But when it comes to my brand, know, when I was sharing initially, I was just sharing my experience and I didn't think it was controversial. And I didn't think it was like these big conversations. I thought these were like normal conversations that everybody was having. And what I've learned is that these are actually like,

really weighted, really emotional topics for a lot of people. And it's unpacking these layered things in our country, capitalism and patriarchy and all this stuff. I obviously now three and a half years later or three years later am much more well-versed. And I've talked to thousands of women. I've read books. I've interviewed people like this has become my job at the end of the day. And so it's funny because I think people get very confused. Like I'll be like, oh, making lunch is not the mental load, but this is what it is. And people will be like, why are you always so stressed out Paige? And I'm like, I'm

not talking about me. I'm just talking about what this lived experience looks like for a lot of women, right? And at the end of the day, my goal is to help people feel seen and feel like they can articulate what's happening in their life and to make decisions based on the best dynamics for their family. And I hope that in seeing me talk about my own experience, people can just recognize that they're not alone. And that's really my goal at the end of the day is

Ruthie Sterrett (14:42.545)
Hahaha

Paige Turner (15:08.918)
When I was going through it myself, I felt very lonely and isolated. And if so, I have to be kind of the punching bag for the trolls online. I'm happy to be that person to make other women feel seen. And I get enough messages every single day to know that it has had a positive impact on people's lives. And so that's enough for me to want to keep doing it. But you'll notice if you were to look back at my content from three years ago to now, I speak way less frequently about my own life. I don't talk about my partner as much. I don't talk about my kids. I don't talk about...

my day-to-day life as much because to be honest, I choose to protect myself and my family and from judgment or harm just in general, like the internet's a scary place. And so I've never once mentioned my kids' names ever and I've never shown them in a way that you would know who they are. And so yeah, I do that really intentionally. And I, yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (15:58.279)
Yeah, and those are the intentional choices of building a personal brand. It doesn't just mean showing up on the internet and telling everybody everything about your life, but finding a way to do that that is authentic to you, that helps you achieve that mission and that message, but being really strategic about

Paige Turner (16:05.976)
No.

Paige Turner (16:14.594)
Yeah, and I share things about my life. I just am very careful about what I share and very intentional, like you said, about what I share, and I think that's really important. We live in a world where the internet feels like they have an open door to your life. They want access to information, and some woman said something to me. She's like, you should have said this. And I was like, I don't owe you a thing about my life. I don't have to tell you anything about my personal life. That's strange. Nobody deserves to know anything about my life that I don't wanna share.

But it is tricky, I think, for a lot of content creators who maybe get big sharing their life and then learn what the repercussions look like to kind of dial it back. It can be a hard balance. And I've definitely seen people struggle with that. And I think we've all seen the rhetoric online of, I used to love her and she was so relatable, but now she's not. And she no longer tells us stories about her life. And I'm like, the reason they don't tell you stories about their life anymore is because you guys picked it apart and put it on Reddit, right? So they don't want to tell you about their life. And so they're much more comfortable.

talking high level, then they are talking about their own life with you.

Ruthie Sterrett (17:15.623)
Yeah, for sure. So I know you create content for Instagram and TikTok and you also have a sub stack. Walk me through a little bit your content creation kind of process or framework or like how much time are you spending creating content right now?

Paige Turner (17:22.787)
I

Paige Turner (17:28.727)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (17:33.326)
I think it depends on the day, to be honest. I do a lot of podcasts, so sometimes my days are a lot of podcast interviews. the way I think about it is almost all of my content starts as a video, which is different than for a lot of people, right? A lot of people sometimes write something and then they might do a video or write a script off of it. I always start video first. so typically I will think of a video, I will think of a topic, and I can record a video in...

90 seconds because if I have an idea and I just spew it out there, I throw some caption on it and I post it, you'll notice that about a lot of my videos, I don't edit them, I just throw a caption on I put it out there. Other ones take me longer, I would say.

But I start with that and I kind of see how it resonates. And I think the beauty of an app like TikTok is you can kind of throw a lot out there without the algorithm punishing you in a way. I just see what lands. can see, you can test different messages. You can see which ones resonate, which ones don't. And then, so I almost always start on TikTok. And then based on what I see performing or clicking or people engaging with, I will move that to Instagram. My stories are different. Obviously I try to post stories every single day. Sometimes I'm on there more than other days.

Ruthie Sterrett (18:31.795)
Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (18:42.542)
But I try to be present every single day just to engage and to be honest It's my favorite place to be and so I spend a decent amount of time there just because there's actual little Community engagement you can kind of talk to your followers and DM with them But what happened is from there? I typically repurpose that content for LinkedIn for sub stack so I'm pretty consistent on LinkedIn now too, which I think a lot of people don't think about but

that has brought opportunities my way and has been a really great lever for my business on the on the business side of things. And, you know, I have content pillars, so I think about things in buckets, but they're all connected. And sometimes a topic doesn't fit naturally in a pillar, but it is adjacent to it and it kind of loops back. So I talk a lot about childcare.

and the affordability crisis when it comes to childcare, I talk a lot about being a working mother, and then I talk about gender equity and the mental load. So the double standards between men and women in parenting, the mental load, all the different expectations around gender equity, the motherhood penalty, all that stuff. And in theory, they're all connected for me, right? You might watch a video about childcare, but I'll probably mention in childcare.

Ruthie Sterrett (19:49.372)
and

Paige Turner (19:53.218)
that it disproportionately falls to women. And so I'm also touching on the gender equity conversation. And so then there might be a comment on that video that I then respond to, but that response is actually about something different. Now we're talking about being a working mom or gender equity in the workplace, right? And so I try to make it be a seamless conversation and, but I tailor it to the platform, right? So I'm linked in, obviously I'm tailoring it to the idea of being more of a working mother or a working parent, or as it pertains to the workforce. On TikTok, I can be way more like,

Ruthie Sterrett (20:13.203)
Mm-hmm.

Paige Turner (20:22.678)
off the cuff, whatever I want to talk about, doesn't matter. That algorithm loves you just kind of putting content out there. And on Instagram, it's much more curated. Like I'm typically putting one video a day. I'm not putting three videos a day. I'm seeing what's working. I'm playing more to that algorithm. And then on Substack, if there's a big conversation happening across my platforms, I will try to consolidate.

what I've said across all those platforms in different ways and the commentary and the response to that and then build a substack around that. Right. So, hey, I talked about this and this was the response and I want to talk about the response and this is what I think about that. And so sometimes I'll build that into a substack. typically on a week, though, I'm talking about the same topic across platforms, just in different ways and built for different audiences.

Ruthie Sterrett (21:09.265)
Yeah. Are you, I know you're repurposing some of your TikTok content over to Instagram. You're kind of starting on TikTok and then pulling it over. Are you, have you experimented with it all repurposing like older content and just like bringing it back and because we need to keep having these conversations over and over again.

Paige Turner (21:27.414)
Yeah, yeah, I tend to refill like I'd rather like remake a video typically than repurpose but I have repurposed certain videos for sure like I'll be like, you know what, somebody left a comment about something I have a video where I did a stitch to something Dave Ramsey said on his podcast or show and somebody left a comment on one of my videos and said, Where's Dave Ramsey at? And so then I just use that comment and like reuse the video and I was like, here, let's talk about it.

And so I will do it when I think it's applicable. But most often, if there's a topic like say, weaponized incompetence, for example, I've talked about that probably 20 plus times at this point. And every video is very similar, but different. Maybe I'm talking about some different scenario, but it's all basically the same. I tend to try to redo it with the same ideas, then repurpose it. Not for any other reason, then I think it's important to also

be of the times, know, so like what's happening today, what's happening right now, what's a relevant story on social media or in the news, right? And can I tie this to that? I will try to do that. And so I think that's another thing about social media. It's no different than traditional media. Like know what's happening, know what people are talking about. Don't be afraid to jump on a conversation that is already happening in a big way if you feel like you have a unique take on it, because people are talking about it for a reason.

Ruthie Sterrett (22:36.679)
Thank you.

Paige Turner (22:47.47)
And so if you want to be a part of that conversation, it's important that you say something. And so I also don't go by a content calendar. I know a lot of people do. I don't. I have ideas, but I really try to see what's resonating with people in the moment. And that it just changes too much for me to like live and die by a content calendar.

Ruthie Sterrett (23:09.127)
Yeah, you know, and the thing with a content calendar that I have found is it's the most helpful for the people that struggle with consistency. You, that is a strength for you, that you're able to be consistent because you have so many ideas. You are having conversations with your audience, which is fueling more content. And so, totally makes sense that you're able to kind of create in the moment. What has been some of the more challenging things for you in terms of managing your social media or content creation?

Paige Turner (23:14.968)
Sure, totally.

Paige Turner (23:25.774)
Totally.

Paige Turner (23:38.158)
I mean, I think consistency has been easy. I think the hard part for me is social media intentionally will blow you up and then make you feel like you're nothing again. And so I'll have a video with 11 million views and then the next week my videos get no views. And I'm not saying anything different. I'm not making different content. It's all very similar, but the algorithm at that given point is just not landing. And so social media has a real way of...

It's kind of making you feel that imposter syndrome constantly. And it's designed like that, right? It wants you to keep creating. It wants you to keep innovating. It wants you to keep engaging. It wants you to be obsessed with the numbers. And I think that's something that when I was just doing it for fun, I totally ignored, right? Like I didn't care. Like a video did well, great, whatever. But I was just having fun. I was having conversation. It was providing value. think the bigger you get.

the more that people are asking for your engagement rates, the more they're wondering how many views you're getting, how many likes are you getting, how many comments. And so there's much more pressure to kind of consistently be getting certain amounts of views. And I think that pressure is different than any other kind of job because also, at least in my case, like I am the brand. It's me. If I'm having a bad day, it doesn't really matter. Like I am the brand. have to...

be the person to represent what I'm doing. you know, at least in my old job, like if I called out sick, somebody else just stepped in and nobody steps in here and that's not possible. And it can very much feel like you don't have the luxury of stepping away even when you want to because of how the algorithm works. And so I think there's an added layer of pressure for sure.

Ruthie Sterrett (25:04.903)
You

Ruthie Sterrett (25:17.435)
Yeah, and it's about setting intentional boundaries with yourself because you don't want to become a slave to the algorithm. But at the same time, you have to understand and learn how to work with it because it's part of it, right?

Paige Turner (25:21.997)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (25:29.08)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and you know, I say that, like that it's hard not to look at the numbers. I'm also like not a numbers person in the sense that like I'm not constantly checking my engagement rate. I'm not like, I don't even know how many comments I got in my last video. I don't know the likes. I'm just kind of like, did it perform well-ish? Like, did people respond in a positive way? Great, moving on. I know other people who are like.

my videos do the best when I post at 8pm on a Tuesday and I'm like, honestly, I couldn't even tell you because I don't I don't look right? Like I go a little bit more on vibes. I do have ideas on when and how and why I post certain things like my static carousel posts that I do. If I do them on Sundays, they always do really well. Like Sunday is just a good day for that versus a video. I just I've learned that right? but I'm not overly precious when it comes to like posting times or

being a slave to the algorithm because I think it'll people will be like, well, how many hashtags do you use? And why do you use that hashtag? And what's your how many stories you post a day? And to be honest, what I think people have really resonated with on my page is that I just am pretty authentic and true to myself. And I just if I have an idea, I'm to post it and I'm not going to really care about the algorithm. And sometimes when I do that, it's the best performing videos, because people just know that you didn't really care. And you just wanted to say something and you put it up and that resonates with people.

Ruthie Sterrett (26:49.297)
Yeah, you know, and I think a lot of times as business owners, we forget that social media is social first and media second. And so if we're creating content because we have an idea and we want to talk about it, that's creating engagement. That's creating conversation because we are being social. We're not just like, buy my thing or here's what I think, or I'm going to stand on my soapbox. It's more like, let's have a conversation.

Paige Turner (27:04.78)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (27:13.836)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's the thing. It's, you know, I am, I try to answer every DM. I can't always. Sometimes there's just far too many depending on the topic I'm talking about, but I do really try like on a daily basis to engage with my community. I do not comment back to every comment, but I will comment back to people. My DMs tend to be where I'm the most responsive, which I know is not the case for everyone. Some people are like, no DMs, please. I will not answer them.

But for me, I find that I can have more meaningful conversations in there and continue to really build this community and engagement with my followers. it's, you know, there's women that I've DMed with like once or twice a week for years now. Right. And, and I think that is the beauty of social media too. Right. And so, yeah, I think you, set boundaries around what you will and will not do, but then at the end of the day, it's your point of it being social. It can't be a one way street. It can't just be me throwing content at.

They want it to feel reciprocal. They want it to feel like I also care about what's going on in their life. And to be honest, I think that's one of the reasons why women will come to me and they'll say, hey, do you want to do a video on this story about my life? Keep it anonymous, but here's the details. And then they'll give me this long winded story about how the mental load showed up in their life. And sometimes those make the best videos because those lived experiences are the things we can relate to. And these women feel confident enough and comfortable enough to share that with me. And it's because I take the time to engage with them as much as I can.

Ruthie Sterrett (28:40.273)
Yeah, for sure. So you recently launched a course and that is something that obviously is going to become part of your social media strategy and sharing that with people and connecting with people in terms of that launch and how you're showing up for that. I before we hit record, you're like, I just announced it to my email audience today. Like, is that something that you have kind of put some thought into in terms of how it fits into your overall content strategy?

Paige Turner (28:43.895)
I did.

Paige Turner (29:00.493)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (29:09.806)
Yeah, so one of the things that happened was I get a lot of questions about how do I talk to my partner about the mental load? And that's a hard question for me to answer in a DM, in a voice note. I can't answer that in a simple format. It's just impossible. I think it's such a big conversation, which is why there's entire books about these conversations. But overwhelmed moms who are struggling with the mental load don't have time to read books sometimes and read all these things. so everybody was constantly asking me for it. And so I...

I sat down and I said, okay, I'm gonna create an audio course. It's a podcast, essentially, a private podcast to dive into this conversation and to give them as much information as possible for what I think is required to have a conversation. Now I'm not teaching people how to share the work fairly in their home, but I'm preparing them to have the conversation and to articulate what the mental load is because that's half the battle is just having a conversation. But once I decided I was gonna do this, honestly, it happened, I decided it.

The weekend TikTok died basically for like two days. I was like, you know, screw it. I'll just do this. I'm going to do it. you know, who knows what's happening. I'll just do this. And so what I did first and foremost is I created a free guide, which I'm sure we've all seen. I created a free guide and I found a way to get that to my audience. And so that was both through stories, but also through using many chat on my posts. So if I post something about the mental load, I might say, Hey, comment invisible. And I'll send you a free guide for how to make the invisible visible in your home.

And that's a term that I use a lot in my content. And so I did that. And within a month or two, I think I had 3,000 email subscribers from doing that. Just putting that on certain videos, putting that on my carousel posts. Whenever I talk about the mental load, it's there. And so I've been able to kind of curate this email list of people who are interested, who've downloaded this free guide, who want to understand how to talk to their partner about the mental load. And now I can kind of work on nourishing that list in my...

emails, right? So it's off of social media. and so I think that is honestly one of the things that I, everybody always told me and I was so lazy and getting there, which was owning my list, right? We don't own our Instagram. We don't own our Tik Toks. We don't own these things. And so for me, it was really important to start creating content on sub stacks, start creating content in my email list to own my audience as much as I possibly can. And if Tik Tok dies tomorrow,

Paige Turner (31:33.108)
still have people on my email list, you know, and so I think that's something that's really important for a lot of people to be doing as soon as they can. It's just building out that kind of security for yourself and for your business and taking ownership of those people and obviously still providing them value within the emails. It's really important. But that was really my strategy around the launch, which is like, okay, build out this email list, get people in the funnel, and then start to kind of navigate that on the back.

Ruthie Sterrett (31:58.673)
Yeah, I find it really effective that you had one lead magnet. You had one tool that you were promoting and that way you could just talk about it and talk about it and talk about it talk about it because as business owners, founders, brands, a lot of times we think like, my gosh, everybody's heard this before, but they haven't. And so if we have multiple things to talk about, we tend to probably not talk about them enough. So I love that you kind of picked that one thing and went all in on it.

Paige Turner (32:07.853)
Yes.

Paige Turner (32:18.754)
And they haven't, no.

Paige Turner (32:27.542)
Yeah, yeah. And it's funny because I think, yeah, I get into that position myself too, because I talk about this stuff all day long, every single day for years now. And it's like, I'm always like, are people tired of hearing me say this? And then I remember that, you know, even if a video meets 10 million sets of eyes, still not everybody, you know, it's still just a portion of the world. And it's a small portion of the people who need to hear this message. And so I no longer feel like...

any kind of hesitation in saying the same thing again and again and again, maybe in different ways, because it's always reaching new people and it's always reaching the people who want it. And that guide has been helpful because it's always around the same idea and it is, yeah, it's a very clear deliverable, right? If you want a free guide on how to talk to your partner about the mental load.

Ruthie Sterrett (33:14.539)
And even if it's not necessarily reaching new people, I tell this to people all the time, like think about your kids. You have to tell your kids the same thing over and over again for them to hear it. Even your audience that has already heard it probably needs to hear it again because they are not the expert. They are not doing the level of research that you are doing. They are not hearing it day in and day out. So hearing it more than once is okay.

Paige Turner (33:24.291)
Yeah.

Paige Turner (33:38.786)
Yeah, yeah, and I think actually I learned that back when I worked in an office. Like I read a book that did something about how managers have to say something seven times for their employees to like really do it and get it. And so I remember I used to remind myself of that when I was managing a team. I was like, okay, say it again. And I do that now too, right? And obviously there'll be some people who follow me who are like, yeah, I get it, right? Like I understand.

But for them, I'm creating a variety of content. I'm not talking about the same thing every day. I'm talking about it at least once or twice a week, but I'm not talking about it constantly. And so I'm trying to always bring different conversations to the table. when you land on my page, you very clearly know what I talk about and what my themes are. And hopefully that's helpful to people so they're not like, wait, what's her thing? They very clearly know what my brand is.

Ruthie Sterrett (34:29.393)
Yeah, for sure. Well, I feel like we could talk about this all day long, but I wanna do a quick kind of rapid fire, just some fun questions to get to know you a little bit more as a mom, as a person, because we're all more than just ahead on social media. So I'd love to know currently, what are you reading?

Paige Turner (34:48.846)
Oh, right now I'm reading Onyx Storm, which is the like, it's in the fourth wing series. It came out a little bit ago and my sister, my best friend, keeping like, have you read it? Have you read it? I was like, no, I haven't yet. And so I had a flight last week and I downloaded it for the flight. I'm still not halfway through, but I'm reading it.

Ruthie Sterrett (34:52.179)
oooo

Yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (35:08.251)
That's fun. That's fun. All right. What about what are you listening to? And that could be either an audiobook or podcasts that you really love listening to.

Paige Turner (35:15.358)
I listen to a lot of different podcasts, but I have found that I've actually had to taper down my podcast consumption because as a creative person, if I take in too much information and too much content, I actually can't create good content. That's what I found because my brain is just too consumed with information. So having said that,

When I'm in that place where I feel like I'm having information overload, I just go to what I call like my silly brainless podcasts, which are my favorite one is called Shameless. I don't know if you've heard of this, but it's a pop culture podcast. And like, I'm like, yes, I can just like sit here and listen to like pop culture news and their tagline is a podcast for smart people who love dumb stuff. And I just like, I just sit there and get all caught up on the latest like pop culture gossip. And you know, it's fun for me.

Ruthie Sterrett (36:04.979)
I love that. Sometimes I feel like I have to just put on music. Like I listen to so many podcasts that like sometimes you just need a playlist of the songs that you loved when you were 22. Like, and that can re-energize you.

Paige Turner (36:08.738)
Yes.

Paige Turner (36:14.178)
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I felt so conditioned to constantly be learning, listening to an audio book, listening to a podcast, when I'm in the shower, when I'm in the car, when I'm folding laundry, anytime I was not working or actively talking, I was listening to a podcast. And to your point, I was like, my gosh, it's draining me actually. We're not meant to consume this much information all of the time. And so, yeah, now I just put on music in the car most of time.

Ruthie Sterrett (36:37.713)
Yeah. So that leads me to my next question is how do you re-energize yourself when you are feeling drained?

Paige Turner (36:46.158)
I am a person who really thrives on connection with people in real life. I love to see my friends. I love to see my family. I like to go to networking events. I'm a person who is energized by people and conversation and being with people in real life. I love doing that. I just went to a conference for three days and it was exhausting, but I still felt so energized from the experience because I just like being with people.

I know not everybody can relate to that, for me, that is where I get a lot of my energy from is just being in community with other people. It really kind of lights me up. And I would say that plus, I've been trying to be more intentional about finding time to work out. And I really like a group fitness situation because I feel like it forces me to turn my brain off, put my phone away and really be in a room and focus on myself and my mind and my body and not.

be like checking my phone while I'm on the treadmill at home. You know? So I'm trying to do more of that.

Ruthie Sterrett (37:43.949)
Yeah, yeah. It's a different energy and you get that like people-y part too by being in a group. Yeah. Okay, well my last one is another brand or Instagram account or solution that helps moms that you think more people need to know.

Paige Turner (37:49.132)
Yeah, get that. Yeah, exactly.

Paige Turner (38:04.832)
Yeah, this is a tricky one because I think there's so many people out there doing amazing things. I've partnered a lot with Moms First. I am very passionate about the childcare crisis. It is something that I really spent a lot of time thinking about and advocating for. And Moms First is an organization that I partnered with a few times that is really trying to bring more awareness to the issue, but also impact change.

I think there's a lot of amazing brands out there made for moms by moms, but I also think it's so important to find ways for us to actually move the needle as much as we can. so getting involved with organizations can be a huge part of that. And so that's one of the brands, but it's really more of an organization that I really love to partner with. So I definitely recommend people checking them out.

Ruthie Sterrett (38:58.493)
Yeah, I love that. Well, this was such a fun conversation. Page of people are interested in learning more about you. Where can they connect? Where can they find you? And tell us a little bit more about your course too.

Paige Turner (39:10.23)
Sure, so I am on all social media at She Is A Paige Turner. That is TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Substack, and I'm on LinkedIn as well. You can sign up for my newsletter on my website, sheisapageturner.com, but that is also where you will find my free guide. You will find my audio course there. And my audio course, again, it's like a private podcast, essentially, six episodes, and it's a podcast to help you talk to your partner about the mental load.

It's the number one struggle I think that people have is just simply having the conversation and being able to articulate what the mental load is. And so it's a guide that you can use to start to have that conversation in a productive way and stop fighting about silly things like the dishwasher and start having really meaningful conversations that actually result in real change. And so that course is on there and it's on my website underneath the mental load tab. yeah, otherwise you can just find me online pretty much every single day.

Ruthie Sterrett (40:03.315)
Awesome. Well, thank you so much again for being here. This was lot of fun.

Paige Turner (40:06.818)
Thank you.