Founding The Columbia Mom: A Maryland Journey

Ever wondered how a local mom brand is born? In our debut episode of Maryland Mom Talk, host Claire Duarte pulls back the curtain on her journey from psychology graduate to founder of The Columbia Mom.

Claire takes us through her Maryland roots (born in DC, raised in Olney) before sharing the winding path that led to creating a community-focused platform. From her early days as a Beachbody coach to navigating motherhood during COVID, Claire reveals how personal challenges and career pivots unexpectedly prepared her for building a local mom community.

The conversation delves into why Howard County needed its own spotlight. Sandwiched between Baltimore and DC, Columbia often gets overlooked despite its vibrant businesses and strong community spirit. Claire explains how she transformed her personal social media presence into The Columbia Mom in 2022, focusing on "food, family, and fun" to showcase local gems while keeping it real about motherhood struggles.

TCM team member and podcast guest, Jill Burke, adds her perspective on why expanding to a podcast format makes perfect sense for their mission. The pair share hilarious behind-the-scenes stories of creating their podcast studio, including Claire's Facebook Marketplace adventures (complete with a snake encounter!) and last-minute equipment scrambles. Their chemistry and authenticity shine through as they discuss their vision for Maryland Mom Talk as a space for "community, connection, and conversation."

The episode wraps with a fun Maryland-themed "This or That" game revealing Claire's preferences (Ocean City over Deep Creek, picking crabs over crab cakes) and setting the tone for future episodes that will feature interviews with local business owners, event spotlights, and real talk about motherhood.

Subscribe now to join this community celebration of all things Maryland mom! Have topic suggestions? Reach out to us on Instagram @thecolumbiamom or via email – we'd love to hear what conversations you want us to bring to the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Maryland Mom Talk
• 4:31 The Podcast Origin Story
• 13:42 From Psychology to Social Media
• 26:04 Birth of The Columbia Mom
• 37:50 Maryland This or That Game
• 42:56 Episode Wrap and Future Topics

Transcript

Claire Duarte: 0:00

Hey friends and welcome to MomTalk, maryland. I'm your host, claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom, and this is your spot for real conversations, local love and a whole lot of community, whether you're folding laundry, running errands or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in.

Jill Burke: 0:18

Let's do it. Let's do it, let's roll with it. We're child-free and having a baby moment, having lots of moments.

Claire Duarte: 0:27

Really well, I just have to say, ever since I hired you actually it's so funny that you were always talking about we gotta do a podcast and I was like, yeah, I know it sounds great, but I honestly I've been pushing it off because I was like it sounds cool, but just another thing, right?

Claire Duarte: 0:43

and it's like how can I fit in? You know another platform, but I mean it's here and honestly, I'm so excited. It's been on my vision board, probably more on your vision board. Um, I've been on the team's vision board, yeah, and so, like we've been talking about a couple different ideas and I literally looked at you. I was like, should we just freaking do this? And you're like, yeah, yeah, so all last weekend I made it like my freaking personality I was like getting all the furniture, the lights, the equipment, everything.

Claire Duarte: 1:20

And you should have seen us this morning. Like I literally had like eight people not eight, but I was like I had my friend grace here. She literally like I bought equipment, everything. And you should have seen us this morning. Like I literally had like eight people not eight, but I was like I had my friend Grace here. She literally like I bought this up and I was like Grace, I don't know how to design.

Jill Burke: 1:32

I never know how to do this. No, I cannot, and I always look at Pinterest and then I save the pictures because I want to aspire to be a Pinterest mom and I'm never going to be no no aspirations are great.

Claire Duarte: 1:47

That's why Pinterest exists to keep her love to do it. I know so. And Grace, like she was sitting here, she was like, hmm, she's like no, she would do something else.

Jill Burke: 1:57

She's like no and I was like this is why I don't do that anyway, she helped set all this up.

Claire Duarte: 2:04

But look all that to say Welcome to Marilyn mom talk.

Jill Burke: 2:09

Yeah, and like why last weekend were you like we need to do it? What made you just finally say let's go, let's roll with it, we are busy. You're a mom of two. I'm a mom of three. Other people on our team are mothers whether it's a pet mother or a real mother. It's still a mother, we all are moms right. What really made you say let's do it, let's pull the trigger, let's go for it and make it happen.

Claire Duarte: 2:38

Well, I think for one. So, and giving a little backstory for those that don't know, um, jill came on board in august of 24 and um, uh, you're one of your first big ideas was like oh my god, you should do pockets, that'd be so fun.

Claire Duarte: 2:56

I was like yeah, but I, I was like I'm doing instagram and you know our website and our email newsletters and trying to film and edit and write blogs and captions, and you know and all and frankly, this past fall, our team and the business grew a ton right, and so the idea of adding on something else was just like. My brain was like, oh, I can't. And but because you've been kind of planting the idea and the team had been talking about it, I also have some friends that are and business partners that are professional photographers, professional videographers, so I kind of slowly started teasing their brains about it and they're like, yeah, you should do it, and blah, blah, blah. But I still was very half serious about it.

Claire Duarte: 3:35

But then, once 2025 rolled around, um, I was like I think I think this is the year Right and I was like think I think this is the year right and I was like I think we could make it happen sometime in 2025. I don't, I don't know when, but I was like I think 2025 could be it and, uh, I so I started. So we started talking more about different series, ideas like we you know, we have no shortage of like content, ideas, whether it's on social media, um, but we, you know, once we talked about, oh, these are different things that we could do on the podcast, that could be really fun, really fun way to diversify.

Claire Duarte: 4:11

So we came up with one series idea for the podcast mind you I had no equipment, I had no mics, I had no camera, no, like nothing no chairs no chairs no props nothing right, which are all the important things that you need for a podcast right.

Claire Duarte: 4:25

And but, like you know, that's where it starts, right, All these ideas for different series. And so I started trying to schedule some interviews because I was like, okay, well, I got to, you know, schedule some interviews, because that at least kind of forced me to get going. And my friend, another local business owner, she got sick and so we kept having to reschedule, and I got sick and COVID round two, that's different story. Um, and so then last week you and I were on site we were filming um for another client and the client left and I was looking at you because we're going over our calendar and I was like, should we just do this because I've been rescheduling this other interview? And I was like, maybe we should just start, maybe I should just start, not make it dependent on starting because I had all the interviews lined up or the right person. I was like, maybe I should just do it and, ironically, last Friday I still had nothing.

Jill Burke: 5:22

Yeah, and I'm a big believer in just doing it. Like it might fail, it might not work out, but you're going to learn from it, grow from it and, who knows, two people might listen. The two people here, yeah, exactly, plus our husbands, because they're going to have to listen to it. But I think part of why I really was pushing you to do it is to have a space for moms to talk about what's happening in the world, what's happening locally, but to also have true moments of mom discussions.

Claire Duarte: 6:09

You know, today we look good.

Jill Burke: 6:14

I mean, I look good every day. We got dressed, we got makeup on, yeah. But you know, there might be a day where we come and do this podcast and we are looking like our normal disheveled day. Three washed hair yeah.

Claire Duarte: 6:21

Don't think that this is going to be like. This is a great baseline, but don't think that this is always going to be, and I think that's why I kept being like we just got to rip the bandaid off.

Jill Burke: 6:31

We got to just do it because if we keep pushing it off, we might lose an opportunity, we might miss a really great moment to have an interview with someone. Um, especially right now, with really great businesses, women, own businesses popping up, we need to take advantage of it and showcase that. So that was my purpose of always being like let's just do it, let's do it, let's go. And here we are.

Claire Duarte: 6:55

I know, I know, so, okay, funny story. This was literally last Friday when we were filming Um and okay, okay, I had bought one mic, maybe, maybe I had ordered the second one, I can't remember because I was like, oh, I need a mic for a podcast. Because I, like I said, because I had been trying to schedule another interview and we hit marketplace hard, oh, oh and all.

Claire Duarte: 7:19

I literally said to my husband I was like I didn't even ask. I was like, by the way, I'm setting up our loft area for a podcast, I think actually Facebook marketplace.

Jill Burke: 7:31

Shopping could be its own episode. Am I right?

Claire Duarte: 7:35

I mean, after this experience, yes, I'm addicted, because I was literally, I mean between I know, I didn't know Saturday and Monday of this past weekend. I was hitting it hard. I found like so I got this rug, these chairs, the table, the shelves, the mics Okay, the mic stands. I got on Amazon, the lights marketplace Like, and then the decor was like I don't know from random things all over my house or whatever. But yeah, it's really addicting it is.

Jill Burke: 8:09

Yeah, you could also risk your life, sometimes shopping for marketplace I'll never forget the time I made brendan drive somewhere for a mirror that I wanted in my dining room and and I was eight months pregnant with Emily.

Claire Duarte: 8:26

Eight yeah, oh, but he went.

Jill Burke: 8:28

Oh no, we went together and he literally the whole time was just questioning my mental capabilities. He's like I can't believe we're doing this for a $20 mirror, but I was like I have to have it. I have to have it right now, like I wasn't craving food when I was pregnant with Emily. I just wanted the decor, I just wanted the decor so.

Claire Duarte: 8:51

I love that off. We went, oh my god. Well, here's the best part. I didn't tell my husband like I think, well, maybe I said that I was like going to pickups. Yeah, I said I was going to pick up, but I didn't say it was through Vapous Marketplace, because I think if he knew he'd be like where the heck are you going? Who are you getting it from? Blah, blah, blah. So half the time I'm just like I'm just gonna go and, um, I like shared my location with a few of my friends and like our team, right, it was like, by the way, it's like I'm going to this spot to pick it up, blah, blah, blah. Luckily everyone was super nice and it was all local stuff and yeah, um, but yeah it is. Oh, you know what's really funny?

Claire Duarte: 9:27

the tripod that my camera is on literally right now right in clarksville, literally right around the corner, was so, and that's funny. A lot of these places were are like moving or people moving or something like that. So they're getting rid of stuff and I'm driving and I pull into the driveway, it's a long and there's a freaking black snake.

Jill Burke: 9:45

Oh no, and I was like is this an omen? No, no, no, no.

Claire Duarte: 9:50

But so I stand Well and the way he was like he was like literally crossing the road, and it's not like a deer or a squirrel where I could like honk and like make him go away, because he's a snake. He's a snake, um, and he's a snake in my brain. I wanted to like pick up a stick and just like, like launch you, but I didn't see anything big. I did get out of my car and I found a stick that was like this, like I was, like I'm not doing this, like I need, like you know, to try to nudge him. I know it's a black rat snake. Right, like you, you want the, the black rats or that snakes because they'll eat your little critters, whatever. Sure, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Jill Burke: 10:31

I don't do snakes. I don't do much outdoors either, yeah, so unless it's sun, pool, beach, yeah.

Claire Duarte: 10:39

Right and um, so I try to like nudge him around. And then he, um, so I try to like nudge him around. And then he, like the snake, like turns and like looks at me and like starts getting in his little position. And I was like nope, nope, nope, nope. So I get back in the car. And I was like I'm just going to have to wait here. I was like I don't, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Claire Duarte: 10:56

But then he kind of like, because he kind of curled up a little bit to like, look at me, he was a little bit more to this side, so I was like, all right, I'm gonna like kind of scoot he's like you're good, you're good, I was like.

Jill Burke: 11:06

I was like I could drive over him.

Claire Duarte: 11:08

But I was like I feel kind of bad, I don't know. I was like I also don't know if this person's an environmentalist. Are they gonna like, yeah, no, good point, good point.

Jill Burke: 11:17

I wouldn't know what to do I probably would have backed out of the driveway, called the person like sorry, um, I can't. Actually something happened. I'll come back another day, yeah so.

Claire Duarte: 11:26

But then, what was funny, I go up. I mean he was really nice and and he said to me, was there a sneak out there? Because it is a long driveway, so I didn't know if he could like see from, but I think he saw a car pull in. He was like, why aren't they, yeah, up here yet?

Claire Duarte: 11:41

um, so I think he figured out what I was trying to do um and I was like, yeah, I was trying to get him to move over and then he looked at me and I was like, oh no, I'm sorry, I got back in the car but anyways. Um, so I did kind of risk my life a little bit. I guess they're not poisonous, I know, but well, some people have serious fears about things.

Jill Burke: 12:01

Yeah, so you know. But okay, so getting back in case someone is listening to us and watching that you know may not know you and your brand. So you first started out with a Columbia mom. I don't know if you want to just kind of quickly talk about like why you started that aspect of your life.

Jill Burke: 12:24

You are from Maryland, born and raised. I guess why did you decide a couple years ago that you were going to kind of pivot your career, what you set out to do in life back in college to do the Columbia? Mom and I know influencers are a big thing. Everyone knows this is the time of the influencer, but you know you have to have a why behind it because it's a lot of work for people that don't know.

Claire Duarte: 12:56

I know and I'm like, oh, we're taking it back, but I, yeah, I think it'll be really kind of cool for me to like take it back. To kind of explain that a little bit, and before I kind of go into more details on my Columbia mom story too, I want to also kind of formally take the time to truly define what Maryland mom talk is too. Sorry, we were talking about snakes and stuff and we got you know, that's just going to happen here, that's just what's going to happen. So, but when we, when Maryland mom talk kind of came to life, I was like, you know, I again, we have, we all, we had so many ideas for it. I was like, well, what's going to cause? That's the other thing too.

Claire Duarte: 13:33

I think I got overwhelmed with thinking like, well, what's the podcast going to do? And I was like it is an extension of the Columbia Mom, right, but our goal with this is to keep obviously talking about motherhood, parenting, real life chats, real life world things that are happening to us both in our community locally and into Maryland and beyond Fun, food spots, new businesses. I mean the business aspect is obviously what goes back to my core with the Columbia Mom, but that's my goal with Maryland. Mom Talk is to kind of keep doing what we're doing while also sprinkling in kind of just the real, honest, real life community connections.

Claire Duarte: 14:31

Kind of my tagline for it, that I love, was community connection and conversation. You know, and that's again a lot of these are the same core elements of what we do with the Columbia Mom, but that's my goal here and what I'm excited to kind of keep doing. Yeah, and you know, so we'll have. I expect to have so many different types of topics and episodes and definitely goal is to do lots of interviews, lots of business features, spotlights, um events, nonprofits, charities, you know, holidays of seasonal stuff, you know, I mean who knows? I mean like we're I'm really excited for it. Um, we have probably too many ideas, no such thing, no such thing. But yeah, so that's kind of like the main premise of Maryland Mom Talk. So then, to take it back with Columbia Mom, right, and so what people might not know about me is I? Well, like I said, I'm from Maryland, I'm actually born in DC, born in a DC hospital.

Claire Duarte: 15:28

My mom had all of us and my parents are both from DC so like a lot of like my stomping grounds kind of growing up was going to DC a lot because both of them were from there, like the Tenleytown area, and but I am from Alney, alney, which is I kind of call, like alney, like columbia's like little cousin because she's right down the road, like, and it's funny, I'm literally, um, uh, you know, grew up in alney when it was like one lane road and because it's also kind of like a farm town and like a lot of columbia and live off of one, lived off of 108.

Claire Duarte: 16:03

My parents still live there and when we moved to Columbia, um, my husband and I were also now off of 108, just 20 minutes up the road. My parents still work full time, but they're. It's nice that, like you know, we're only like, yeah, 20 minutes down. My in-laws are like, um, like five, ten minutes around the corner, which is awesome, um, but anyway, so I'm like, I'm, you know, I grew up in Montgomery County, um, and I didn't go to Howard County a lot, maybe. Columbia mall definitely loved me, some Columbia mall, um, but I was more of a DC girl, dc brat. Bethesda, that's kind of like where are we hung out a lot more in high school like downtown silver spring, um Bethesda, downtown Bethesda, againda again dc and um.

Claire Duarte: 16:45

And I went to university, maryland college park um that's where I met my husband.

Jill Burke: 16:49

That's right. Big game today, yes we're filming this on um march, madness day two, that's right.

Claire Duarte: 16:56

Yeah, um, I say that as the non-marylander that's right, you bleed, you bleed some good maryland colors.

Jill Burke: 17:04

Yeah, I have to, you have to get when you get married into a maryland family. It's like you have no choice.

Claire Duarte: 17:09

Brendan is pretty hardcore yeah yeah, um well, you know what's funny actually, sorry, we're really off topic. My birthday, I think it was when I was 16, I'm forgetting the exact year, but they won. Maryland won the tournament. Was it 2002? It was when.

Claire Duarte: 17:29

No I wouldn't know 2000, because 16 I would have a sophomore. I think it was middle school, so maybe I was 13, it was around two. No, wasn't too. I think I want to say it was 2002. I gotta look, I gotta freshen up on my maryland stats. But my birthday is april 1st. Um, but they won on the. The final was on my birthday and my dad was like april fool's, like your birthday was good luck and I'm like I don't know I was like, I think I'm pretty sure it was in eighth grade, but I remember thinking that's pretty darn cool I didn't know that I

Claire Duarte: 18:01

was gonna go to university of maryland at the time. But anyways, uh, yeah, I'm a terp, I have. My bachelor's degree is in psychology. I had a whole host of random jobs after graduate, as you do most people do. Yeah, as you do. Um, I was kind of like finding my way. I didn't like. I love psychology, that was my, my big thing. Um, my mom is an accountant. So for all of high school I was like I'm gonna be an accountant just like my mom, um, because my mom's a badass. And um, I'm one of five kids and she's worked full-time her whole life and so I was like I'm gonna be an accountant. Then, senior year high school, it took, uh like AP psychology, fell in love with it and so derailed the accounting stuff.

Jill Burke: 18:41

Kind of glad, because me and numbers don't really get along.

Claire Duarte: 18:45

I leave the money to the other people. I mean, I guess maybe that could have helped me, but regardless. So I have a bachelor's degree in psychology. It's where I met my husband. I was in a sorority Some of my best friends to this day and yeah, so I had a whole host of random jobs after graduation. Um, uh, my, yeah, I met and my husband there followed him to Baltimore and what's funny is that I I mean again being from DC, we didn't have a baseball team back then, so I was an Orioles fan so I liked that aspect of Baltimore, but otherwise I kind of like hated baltimore. I was like, well, the city is scary. And I also was not a ravens fan. I was a dc fan born and raised again, hardcore dc fan growing up, um, and, frankly, anyone that was raven fans um, I was like y'all are crazy.

Jill Burke: 19:41

First, of all we might not be making friends by saying this yeah, we're gonna get hold on, just just just give me a minute I.

Claire Duarte: 19:48

This is this is you know, this might be an eight episode part, just to answer this question, but I'll get there, um, and yeah, I was just like, oh my god.

Claire Duarte: 19:58

But he moved up there for school and so, naturally, at 22 I followed him and, um, I lived in like Towson for two years again, the random job thing. Then I eventually moved to the city. We lived in the city for about 10 years and, um, what was I gonna say? During that time I was like I kind of again figuring out what I wanted to do like job wise, career wise, because my husband was in dental school and I was like he's getting his life together, what the heck am I doing? You know what I mean? Um, uh, so I, you know, I was like, okay, I think I'm going to get my master's degree, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to become a therapist and get my master's degree in counseling psychology and I'll become a therapist. And so I, um, I got a part-time job that was more in the field and I was doing, um, community case management, essentially for a nonprofit, literally like low income, inner city, baltimore, population and rental County crisis case management work, very intense, very hard. Um, and I got my master's degree in counseling psychology from university of Baltimore and um, uh, yeah, I worked that job for like five years or so degree in counseling psychology from University of Baltimore and yeah, I worked that job for like five years or so to speed that part up. I essentially I ended. I did complete my master's, I have my complete degree.

Claire Duarte: 21:16

I didn't end up getting my license to become a therapist because toward the end of my program my best friend from high school had started a business and I was like what is this coaching thing you're doing? Tell me about this. And she had started an executive function coaching business and I thought it was really neat, like I'm not a teacher, it's not the executive function coaching you might think like executive, like coaching businesses or something like that. It was more executive function skills, like the life skills, like planning, time management, things like that. And I was like that's really interesting. And Bubba was like tell me more about it. And then, long story short, I was like that sounds really cool. So I basically kind of pivoted Okay, so I finished my degree and went and worked for her and I did that for another five or six years and I loved it and it was kind of like a nice transition from again the very intense work that was kind of on the clinical counseling community side and also, obviously, a very different demographic. Yeah Right, completely different populations.

Claire Duarte: 22:18

But so, from the time that I got the executive, the coaching job um, you know I had just gotten married. Um, we had know I had just gotten married. We had my first baby in 2018. We were still living in the city. We moved to Columbia in 2019. And all of the while, I had been a social media user like all of us. I mean, I'm a full-blown millennial, right, you know so was hardcore on Facebook. And then when Instagram came out on the scene, you know, as a user, you know so was hardcore on facebook. And then, when instagram came on scene, you know, as a user, you know there, um, how I would, if you want to like, really kind of go down to brass bones, how I got my social media start was not an influencing, but if you're familiar with, uh, mlms, yes, yeah, the pyramid scheme, no, no, here's the thing mlms are not a pyramid scheme.

Jill Burke: 23:08

They're multi-level marketing right, right, right, because pyramid schemes are illegal, totally that's right.

Claire Duarte: 23:14

Mlms are not. Um. Here's my formal apology to say I apologize for the things that I said when I was a Beachbody coach and I just Beachbody is like not a thing anymore, right it is it also pivoted? They also had to pivot. This is not in any way a um uh, a blow at Beachbody or El.

Jill Burke: 23:39

Malone, no, I actually love the Beachbody uh classes. I did those during COVID. Yeah, oh, I did too.

Claire Duarte: 23:46

I've done, frankly, all the programs up until like 2020. I mean hardcore. I was, you know, full blown Beachbody coach. I loved it, drank the Beachbody, literally drank all the Beachbody Gatorades, but that kind of gave you that like cause.

Jill Burke: 24:00

I followed a bunch of Beachbody coaches too and got. That's how I found out about the bar classes and got inspired. But you kind of have to put yourself out there. You have to be talking to your audience. Yes, you have to be making these videos. You have to be getting people to join you.

Claire Duarte: 24:15

Yes, so that's probably how it rolled into yeah, so that's, and I think you kind of said it perfectly, because, again, when I started Beachbody, it was like 2015 or 2016, something like that, and so back then Instagram, I think, was on the scene, but also this was like the earlier stages of Instagram looked very different back then.

Claire Duarte: 24:36

So I was heavily on Facebook and that's the majority of where MLMs were too right. We all. We also had less platforms so but eventually during that time Instagram was becoming more popular, instagram was shifting and so I eventually kind of made the shift over into um Instagram and, but yeah, so the same thing I do kind of get really comfortable quickly of making posts regularly, being really vulnerable, sharing about myself, um, you know, talking to other people, talking to strangers, kind of following the beach body sales model and things like that. Again, apologies everywhere for hey girl messages, um, but, and then um reels didn't come onto the scene until later, but it was that definitely that idea of, like you know, having to get yourself out there. So when I say that I was on social media, it wasn't just for my own use.

Claire Duarte: 25:30

You know it was a lot of doing that, right, but when I had my daughter and I got pregnant with her, like life just evolved and I kind of slowly started falling out of love with the MLM model and I was like, okay, clearly I'm not going to make money over here and this is just not going to work for me, um, even though I did believe in my brain that I was going to be a millionaire through that another episode, um, but I was still doing that stuff on the side with the coaching job, um.

Claire Duarte: 25:55

But then when I had my daughter, I was like you know, I was like I don't know, um, so I kind of slowly got away from that. And then when I had my son in 2020, when COVID kind of hit, I was like I was like, okay, I'm officially stopping the Beachbody stuff. I did the workouts then, but I kind of I stopped all the coaching aspect of it. And then that's where, at least on Instagram, I started to see more of the mommy influencers this again 20, 2020, a little bit prior to that Cause you know, it's the just kind of everyday people posting like different products and products. And I was like, how are they getting all this stuff?

Claire Duarte: 26:29

I was like everyday people not just and they weren't like massive accounts and I was like, well, that's really cool. And you know, I didn't even know that they were getting paid or if they were. I was like it just looked really pretty and looked really neat and I was again very much influenced by products and things that I was seeing. I was like that's kind of cool. So I don't know how it happened, but I just started meeting oh you know what it was this girl I know from Beachbody.

Claire Duarte: 26:54

She stopped doing Beachbody as well, but she I saw her posting more just general mommy influences thing, like the products and different things. So I started asking her, like how did you get into that? Because, like, her photos were beautiful and it kind of just like was a natural transition. And she told me about she worked with some, but she, I guess, met some more moms and people in her community, introduced me to this girl that she worked with as like a social media coach. So I I hooked up with her and she basically just I did some coaching sessions with her of like learning all of Instagram's basics right, everything from how to grow your account, engagement, doing giveaways, and it was literally at this same time as the 2020, when Reels came on to the scene.

Claire Duarte: 27:34

And so because I was literally kind of learning, like all of this influencing stuff, I very quickly just forced myself to learn how to create Reels. Right around the same time that this was all happening, tiktok had also come on the scene. I think it had sort of been on the scene, but now people were like millennials, were like actually people were starting to really use it.

Claire Duarte: 27:56

It was definitely a COVID thing. Yeah, tiktok. Well, it was like there's a side of like people were just watching it being consumers, versus also like those of us that were heavy instagram creators were also, who may have been tiktok consumers were also becoming tiktok creators. You're kind of seeing that migration really start to happen, and so I started doing a little bit like the tiktok too, so kind of throwing myself into it, because I was already doing all that created a uh, my first blog, claire duartecom. Um, and she doesn't exist anymore, so don't look her up Um started writing blogs again, learning about all these kinds of elements you know, very baseline stuff about, like Pinterest too.

Claire Duarte: 28:34

Um, I didn't get heavy into it. But I will say what was good about this timing? In a time when I had a one-year-old and I was pregnant, the world was shut down. Um, my husband was literally out of a job for eight weeks, like they shut down his office. It was terrifying. It was for me. It was a great transition to kind of just I mean, I was still working full time, but I was mentally like that side bit was a great focus for me, great transition. So I'm painting all this because you know I started the. I did the mom influencing thing for like two years and then fast forward to 2022, I should say around a year later.

Claire Duarte: 29:07

I never quit my coaching job but COVID basically mentally killed me and having my son in the height of that, I had really bad PPD. We'll talk about that another time. Um, I pulled back from my job because I was like I'm trying to work a full-time job while having two babies. My friend it wasn't like like we were both so sad like I didn't want to step back, but, yeah, I just had to and she knew, like I, that that was right and it was the right time. Um, so I kind of was like floating being a stay-at-home mom for a while and but I was still doing this mommy influencing thing. But I was trying to figure out what I want to do in that space, cause it just the reality is motherhood niche as a whole is so big and so broad and I was like how do I kind of make make this more specific and more relevant and relatable to me and what I want to do?

Claire Duarte: 29:57

Um, so in summer of 2022, again still kind of a full-time mom at this point, you know, I still was seeing very like doing a few hours of coaching for my friend and um, I was talking to another friend I knew locally who's also in marketing and I was like I'm thinking of shifting my, my platform and um, because during that time I had been we've been living in Columbia for a few years and I was a COVID mom and, as someone that's very extroverted, I hated being at home, which was, I think, also contributed to my mental health that literally imploded, and we would kind of do the same thing when the spring and summer would come around. We would be able to thaw out and felt like you could safely move around your community.

Claire Duarte: 30:48

And I could get around a little bit and do some stuff with the kids, but I felt like, you know, we couldn't do a lot, right, I mean, none of us could, right. Yeah so, but 22 is when we started to feel safer, right, when a lot more of just the whole kind of restrictions were really being pulled back, like from the summer and then kind of into the fall, right. That was when we really felt like, okay, we can enter fall without having to feel like we're shutting down. You know, um, so I it was like I said it coincided with the same time of like I think I want to shift my content I, during those two years 2020 to 2022, I started to, you know, meet a few more business owners, having lived in Columbia for two or three years at that point, and, um, I, there was some, you know, local business, some local moms that I really loved and I fell in love with during that time, and I was like, man, columbia is like really awesome, and I was like there's not really any Howard County accounts on Instagram and well, frankly, other platforms that I saw existed.

Claire Duarte: 31:43

I mean, during that time again, doing the Mommy Influence thing, I'd been sort of connecting and following more local things, but I didn't really see many. I saw, you know, you see a lot of foodie accounts in Baltimore and DC, yeah, but I didn't even see really many foodie accounts here in Columbia and Howard County and I was like just surprised there's a lot Pairing off different ideas and that's how, basically, the Columbia mom was born and I didn't. I went back and forth. Do I create a brand new Instagram account or do I just kind of transition the account that I had?

Claire Duarte: 32:20

Because I had already like grown my following from like I think I got up to 2,000 something when I was doing the Beachbody stuff and then when I was doing the mommy influencing stuff, I had grown it to like 5,000 or something and I had a little bit of a local base. So I was like you know what? I think I'm just going to do a rebrand, see how it goes. Yeah, and this was in July of 2022. And what's really funny is I'd been thinking about it for a few months. I didn't have the full premise of the name or what it was going to be, but I like the idea of shifting, morphing into something a little bit more community, specific as opposed to just general motherhood, and I remember I was literally sick with covid and our ac had blown.

Claire Duarte: 33:01

I'm literally laying in my bed yeah, it was the first time we got covid in 2022. We'd never gotten it up until then. And I'm like literally texting my friend and I was like what do you think of these names? And I was like coming up with different names and I literally that same week I changed the name and I posted on my stories. I was like what do you think?

Jill Burke: 33:21

and people vote and that's how the Columbia mom was born and I think it's like you know you mentioned, a lot of influencers around here are foodie influencers and like drink influencers, like the going out, like where to go for good food and eats, and then also you have the awesome influencers of showing you the best playgrounds and the best like family spots.

Jill Burke: 33:47

But I think the cool thing that brought me to you even is that it was you right, like, oh, you're actually a mom like you're showing us that other side, not just the yes, we make some great reels that are all edited and you know what I mean and we can fluff it up and make it pretty, but then you're also showing the scenes of you in the car after a bad morning of drop-off and you're showing the other side of it and I think that, like for me as a mom too, that was important as well, especially like the local hyper influencer that you're not just.

Jill Burke: 34:29

You know we are all around Maryland and we want to spread throughout Maryland, but we really focus on Howard County. There's a reason you guys decided to live here. There's a reason my husband told me two weeks literally two weeks after we met, that if we were doing this he was never leaving Maryland and we were eventually moving back to Howard County because we met in Montgomery County. But there's something about this area that people really connect and love and I think that's a cool part of the Columbia mom.

Claire Duarte: 35:01

Yeah.

Jill Burke: 35:02

Is it's really focused on the love of this community?

Claire Duarte: 35:05

Yes, and exactly, and I was like I wanted to, I shouldn't say put Columbia on the map, but like, really showcase her. Yeah, I'm calling her, her, I don't know, I just for this, for this she's, she's her.

Claire Duarte: 35:18

I wanted to really highlight. I was like there's so, because Howard County is sandwiched in between Baltimore and DC and, um, I was like there's so much awesome stuff that happens here and you know. One other thing that I'll kind of say is that you know, when I was going through, when I first was working with that Instagram coach, he was like you got to niche down, you got to be specific. Those were, and that's what everyone still says, that's still important yeah.

Claire Duarte: 35:41

And a big thing was pillars. We sort of gotten away from the pillar approach a thing, um. But I remember thinking I was like well, I don't want to be foodie because I was like. I love food.

Jill Burke: 35:52

We will be talking.

Claire Duarte: 35:54

We love to eat, that's a main thing. But I was like I knew that you needed very high level kind of equipment to make stuff look good and I was like I have my phone but like you need lights and you really need good equipment regularly and video skills for that and I didn't want that to be just my focus and I didn't want to be just mommy, because I don't know for me.

Claire Duarte: 36:15

I'm like, well, yeah, mommy's great and mommy is who I am and a part of my day, but it's not my only identity. I like to go out and have fun and, you know, be silly and weird. So when I first pillared it, I did food, family and fun. You know, um, fun kind of catches a whole lot of things everything from actual fun you know, events, concerts to that was my angle in of. Like this is how we can kind of look at and meet and spotlight more business.

Jill Burke: 36:41

Yeah, definitely.

Claire Duarte: 36:43

That's still. I've kind of gotten away from the exact pillared approach but leaning. But that's still the really core of who we are and what we do and the premise of the clubby mom awesome.

Jill Burke: 36:54

Well, I think now I have some this or that for you are you ready?

Claire Duarte: 36:58

I'm ready, let me uh, open my phone.

Jill Burke: 37:01

You know you gotta have the 8 000 number code when you have kids so they can't get into your phone right no one tells you about that in the books.

Claire Duarte: 37:09

No, like what to do technology keep changing what to do?

Jill Burke: 37:12

when your kids realize, when they can start reading. Also, there should be a book about that, like when your kids can start reading and understanding what you're spelling out to your husband to keep a secret from your child I know again another another episode all right, so we covered the purpose of this, the, the origin of the Columbia mom. And because you are born and raised Marylander, do you see her?

Claire Duarte: 37:38

Yep.

Jill Burke: 37:39

I'm going to do a little this or that, or would you rather, maryland edition, let's do it All right. Ocean City or Deep Creek, ocean City, okay. Crabcake or pick crabs, oh oh, pick your crabs, okay yeah, I'm a crab cake girly.

Claire Duarte: 37:59

They're both great. I just something. I mean, this is the real maryland in me.

Jill Burke: 38:02

There's something about, you know, just sitting there and picking crabs yeah, I like to sit there and do it, but I like someone else to pick.

Claire Duarte: 38:08

I don't hate that either.

Jill Burke: 38:09

Trust me that I'll eat it I yeah, my father-in-law's a machine, so oh god yeah, I think I just haven't like gotten it down yet yeah, um, all right, explore inner harbor or take a scenic walk around annapolis, historic annapolis I really like both of those, but the Baltimore girl in me will lean more towards that.

Claire Duarte: 38:35

But I almost a tie alright, how about this one navigate DC traffic or wait deal with the Bay Bridge on a holiday weekend wait the trauma that I'm trauma-ing right now with the Bay Bridge on a holiday weekend, all right, wait, the trauma that I'm trauma-ing right now Bay Bridge, because there's at least. I'm going to be excited once I get over that bridge.

Jill Burke: 39:04

Good point, good point, yeah, all right, old Bay Fries or Crab dip as your game day snack. Crab dip, crab dip. Wine tasting at Maryland vineyards or beer tasting at local breweries. Beer tasting, oh yeah, that surprises me.

Claire Duarte: 39:25

Okay, another episode. I love our Maryland wineries. I think when you talk about like maryland soil, if you know like a lot about wine stuff like that, I think there are other regions of the world that have better yeah wines in general, um, I do love our wineries here um, but I also love our breweries and we also have manor hills like five minutes minutes from us.

Jill Burke: 39:49

Yeah, good point. And we have so many breweries in our county, which is awesome. Yeah, all right, maryland winter, don't focus on the 2024, 2025 winter, because that was brutal to all of us. Yeah, but Maryland winter or Maryland summer.

Claire Duarte: 40:05

I mean summer Always. I'm a summer girly. I mean I don't, yeah, but we, you know, we have the pool and all the fun. Yeah, summer Always.

Jill Burke: 40:17

Always, always, always Burger cookies or Smith Island cake Burger cookies for sure, those are so good. Okay, my last one, that I have Renaissance or, sorry, renfest. Let me speak correctly like a true marylander.

Claire Duarte: 40:34

yes, that I'm not uh ren fest or preakness ren fest well, and I, we, we just took our kids for the first time this past fall and I didn't realize, like tickets, I mean I think it's gotten even, I mean it was always big when I was a kid but like they sell out so fast. I had no idea, Um, but we took our kids for the first time and I don't I think they liked it.

Jill Burke: 40:56

It was also a hot day yeah.

Claire Duarte: 40:57

But I was like, oh my God, this is so cool, you could eat everything there. But no it. Uh I, I love it. That was. That was a really fun time. I've never done the Preakness. I'm trying to remember if I have. I I feel like I. I've been to Laurel racetrack so often. I know I haven't been to Pimlico.

Jill Burke: 41:15

Yeah, I've driven by Pimlico which is funny because where I went to college there's a lot of Long Islanders in my college and then a lot of Long Islanders go to Towson. So right, my roommates in college and friends in college actually took a trip down to Maryland for Preakness. So I knew like about Preakness before I even knew about living in Maryland. So now when I hear the stories I'm like oh yeah, I knew about that, that's one thing I knew.

Claire Duarte: 41:39

Well, I mean, it's a thing Like when, cause I lived in Towson for two years after college and even at University of Maryland they'd hold buses that would take you out to Towson, but it was always for us, because Maryland goes so late into May, it was always right around finals. So it was like, okay, drink this weekend or study. Surprise, I did both, but anyways, well, on that note, thank you so much for co-hosting with me today, jill, and we have so many more fun episodes to come. So if you're following along, watching or listening, please be sure to you know. Like. Subscribe, follow our content, whether it's on Instagram, um, whether it's on YouTube, um. Subscribe to our email newsletter to kind of stay in the know of upcoming events, awesome business features and, um, definitely feel free to shoot us an email to email to uh, if there's any episodes or things you'd like to hear from us.

Jill Burke: 42:34

like what do you? What do you want to know? What do you want to? Talk about real mom truth. Yeah, anything, nothing's off the table.

Claire Duarte: 42:43

Bravo, tv yeah, that's ideally um, that would be my wheelhouse, but but anything.

Jill Burke: 42:51

All right Well thanks guys, let's do it.

Claire Duarte: 42:52

Yeah, cheers, we did it. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mom Talk, Maryland. If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend or tag me at thecolumbiamom on Instagram. I'd love to hear what you think and don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.