Why Not Me: Turning Hand Sanitizer into a Moment Just for You

An art degree. The Peace Corps. Tech sales. Google AI. Then a luxury refillable hand sanitizer brand designed for moms who want a tiny daily escape. Livia’s story is the kind of career pivot that makes you rethink what “qualified” even means and it’s rooted right here in Maryland.

We talk about what creativity really is (hint: it’s not just painting or crafts) and how it becomes a serious advantage in corporate life, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Livia shares what it’s like to work in Google Cloud AI serving the state of Maryland and higher education, plus the imposter syndrome that can creep in even when you’ve earned your seat. We also get honest about rejection: hearing no, giving no, and why women are taught to justify themselves when “no is a full sentence.”

Then we get into Andiamo, her new small business: clean ingredients, perfume-level scent, beautiful packaging, and a refillable design that supports sustainability without sacrificing style. We break down her phased launch strategy, why keeping things simple wins early, and how using AI for research and validation can help founders move faster with more confidence.

If you’re building a business, changing careers, or just trying to show up with more courage, you’ll leave with practical mindset tools and a reminder that fear can be a sign you’re on the right track. 

Ready for your own tiny daily escape? ✨

🌍 Globally Inspired: Elevate your daily ritual with Andiamo’s premium hand sanitizer—sophisticated, world-inspired scents that whisk you away with every use.

Explore Andiamo here:
🌐 https://www.andiamoclub.com/

Follow along for behind-the-scenes, launches, and more:
📸 Instagram

🎵 TikTok

Transcript

Welcome And St. Patrick’s Day

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey friends, and welcome to Mom Talk 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.

unknown 0:16

Hi!

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I know this won't obviously be um film you're going live on St. Patrick's Day, but that's the day that we are coming to you live.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

That's the day we are here. But like sense luck, I feel like. Where is all the luck today for us?

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Where it is not here. None of the luck is here. If you're anything like our kids that are looking for luck and looking for the leprechauns, keep searching. Keep searching.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

They are not here. They are not here.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Easter bunny is fresh out of luck. Fresh out of luck. Oh my God. I don't know what I need. But it might be an Irish car bomb. 100%. 100%. Some Jameson something. You know, like all of a sudden Libs Grill Looney's is sounding so good. Sounding really good. It's sunny out, it's cold out. Let's let's warm up the inside. Let's make some bad decisions. 100%. That is I am That is the vibe.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Very good at making bad decisions. So if you ever need a partner in crime, I'm here for you.

Why Origin Stories Hit Home

Art Major To Google AI

SPEAKER_01 1:17

You know what? This this you might have been the perfect person for today. You might have been the divine uh essence that I needed. I'm not even gonna give you guys the backstory on today, but let's just just know. We're here. We're here. We're running. Um, my head is like, oh my gosh. Um, we have here Live today, and um how I always like to get started. I love an origin story. Funny enough, like before we hit record and started this, you were like, How did you get started? And I was like, great, go to episode one of my book. 100%, 100% where I talk for 48 minutes straight about myself. Um I was like, it's funny, as much as I love to talk, I kind of like hate talking about myself, which is funny because I'm an Aries and I'm very much like, as you can tell, I'm not exactly shy. I'm loud, I'm in your face. I very much love being the center of attention. But I also like oddly hate talking about I think probably hate talking about myself more in the business sense. Maybe in a personal way, I'm like, I don't care. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um so yeah, today we're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about you, which is probably the reason why I love my podcast is like I get to talk. I don't have to talk about me. I get to maybe I get to talk about me and share my life, but the real point and purpose there is to talk about you. So, Liv, tell us. I would like to get started because I love an origin story. I love to know, you know, your background, whether it's personally, professionally work. Um, you mentioned AI, you mentioned Google, and you're starting a small business, which I've gotten to take a little bit of a peek at. So just dive right into it.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Yeah, so okay, I live here in Maryland. I grew up actually in Howard County, which is amazing because we love Columbia. I work at Google in AI. I manage all of the Google cloud AI business and security for the state of Maryland and also all of higher education as well. Wow. Which is amazing. Um but if we go way back, I was an art major. So painting major. Wow. So you're probably like, how did you get here?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Connecting the like there is Again, this is why I like the origin story because I'm like, Yeah. A plus B never equals. It never does.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

And that's the beauty of life. And I always say, you know, we have to embrace a pivot. And you know, I graduated in 2008 and don't backwards math that for everyone listening, please.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Right. Um I only did if just so I knew our age difference. That's the only math I was doing. I'm I can't do age math. I was a prodigy. I graduated at 25 from college. Exactly. We are not a day over 25.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Oh, we know amazing. Yeah. So yeah, 2008, art major during essentially one of the greatest recessions in our in our life.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

2008 was a nothing. I was a teenager, but oh me too.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

I was a teenager too.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Um but I only sorry, I'm cutting you off because like I said, that's she was like, for the record, um nine most of my guests are like, Claire, can you send me talking points? And I was like, girly pops, I don't think you understand this. Like this is the most fluid conversation. In fact, you might hate this conversation because we're gonna go all over the map. No, we're gonna get back to your story. But sorry, the 2008 thing is just I remember the like the year that my dad lost his job for like the third time ever. Because my dad works in commercial um mortgaging and stuff like that, and then had the housing market crash. Like, and I'm one of five kids, so I definitely know what it felt like to feel an economic crunch in your house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Totally. Sorry, back to you. And it's funny because like I'm like, no, do not. I love it. At the time, that was like so devastating for our generation, and now you look back and that's just like one of so many things that we've all had to deal with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

No, that wasn't even a big deal, actually. Well, it's funny because I mean, it's I mean, 2008 still is markedly like one of the roughest for sure. But considering everything else we've lived through, it like seems like a blip, but like economically it was still terrible.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah. So yeah, I left school and I was like, uh yeah, zero art jobs. I had all of these fantasies of being like Wait, where did you go to school? Eckard College in Florida in St. Pete. Super small liberal art school and no jobs, obviously. And very quickly I realized I needed money. Because I didn't I don't come from the world. I didn't know it initially, but yeah, very later you realized Oh, okay, yeah, to live a life I want, I need money. So I started just like picking up any job I could, moved around, um, worked in like very fancy hotels for a little bit, nice, joined the Peace Corps, got out of the Peace Corps, and was like, what do I want to do here? Yeah. And somehow ended up making my way into higher education tech sales, which didn't really feel like sales at the time. It was mostly I got to work in education, I got to help people, I got to kind of make a difference. So all of these parallels from my time in the Peace Corps and wanting to do good seemed to transition easily, and I also got to make money because it was sales. Yeah. But I think why I have been so successful in sales is because I don't see myself as a salesperson. I try to like be more of like a consultant. And then it just like kind of steamrolled where because I was successful, more companies noticed and came calling, and then eventually I got to Google and yeah, so I know so nonchalant.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Like, I mean, I feel like Google is like Google is mother, like Google is like the mother ship and mother. Like she came calling and people kill for jobs at Google.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

We get the statistic, and I've they've always announced this is per open rec, we get 50,000 applications per rec. It's harder to get into Google than Harvard statistically. My gosh. It's crazy. And the imposter syndrome is real. I'm sure you feel like that too. As a woman in any industry, it's like deeply, deeply ingrained. That's like soon they're gonna figure out they made a mistake, I don't belong here, everyone's gonna know, and they're gonna fire me. Right. But like it just doesn't like that's not the case. So crazy. It takes a while to like make peace with that in your own mind. Yeah, you know. How many years have you been with Google now? Three and a half. Wow. Before that, I was at Oracle for about the same. Wow. Yeah, so I've been in tech working in the public sector now for almost like 15 years. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

What? Like going from art degree to the like talk about polar opposites.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah, it's opposite, but it's I think of it as my superpower. And I once they had me come and like guest lecture once at Towson to a bunch of um students in poli sci, and they were some of them felt like so lost, but I was like, listen, you can these skills that you're gaining now, whatever it is that you do, don't ever be afraid to pivot because those are still becoming who you are, and those can make you special and wherever you want to go. So because I had this deeply creative think outside of the box, fail fast, take criticism mentality that you learn with art, right? I came into Oracle and Google very differently, and because of that, I was able to succeed because I was doing things differently than everybody else. Yeah. And I and I would never trade that. I would never go back and wish I was a business major. I'm like so happy I was an art major.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

You know, that's actually a really good way of putting that because I mean, again, like starting my own business. I wish I had a business degree because of for the sake of like I feel like I'm literally learning I'm learning everything as I go. Like I um like my degree is in psychology and I have a master's degree in counseling psychology. I was gonna become a therapist. Like, you know. But you're kind of doing it, right? Like, isn't that what we're doing?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Like, I feel like the parallels are there.

Redefining Creativity Beyond Art

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, no, it is like did we just become best friends? Because I'm pretty sure. Well, we actually are soul sisters giving our origin story today. Um, we're trauma bonded a little bit. But um, but no, you mentioned that part about creativity, and I was gonna kind of like spin that back at you because you're an art degree art major. Um I mean, I have a couple questions. I'm like, A, what outlets do you find yourself utilizing art? So that's part one of my questions, so hold that. Because but two, I'm kind of I'm spinning spinning it back to like your current work um and things like that too. Because for me, I never saw myself as a creative. When I was a kid, I really enjoyed arts and craft. Like I loved that, like them like just like my daughter, but I was like, and I remember by seventh grade, like all my electives were always art because I loved art. And I remember in like middle school, because like you're in more of your rotations in your classes or more in your periods. And um, I remember looking up one day and I was like, I am very slow at this, and like my peers were like, and I was taking me so much longer because I think I would have this idea of what I wanted, and then I kind of realized I was like, Claire, I was like, you're not really like that good at this. Like, like in like not a completely like self-deprecating way. It was just like your skill set might not be as high here. Like, you can enjoy it and that's fine. Of course. And because one of my best friends in middle school was like, come join chorus. So I made the switch, um, and I did chorus in eighth grade and then chorus the rest of my high school years, and I loved it. And that came actually way more easy to me. Um but anyway, so I'm saying all that in the sense of like I've never saw myself as a creative, but now fast forward to being the social media space, like um, I feel like it takes a certain kind of brain to be wired in that, especially like in marketing and calm and social media. You need to kind of you have to have that neuroplasticity, if you may, to be able to be kind of coming up with these different ideas. So now I really I do see myself as a creative in that element, not necessarily with arts and crafts or art specifically, but in that realm, and that absolutely informs my work. And like when I'm sitting down to edit and create content um and things like that, like I have to like carve out time to make sure that I can allow myself to kind of because I I don't know about for you, but at least for me, like um, because again, we're mom and women and we juggle so many halves, like I can't always just like flip a switch and go right into creative mode. I kind of like need buffer time to kind of like allow myself to sort of get into that mode. Um anyway, so that's why I carve it out in my schedule. Um, because you know, between like checking emails and doing all these different things, my brain is like half wired. So, anyways, I I I knew know that I I know that about me, so I know I have to carve out that space so that way I can bring more of my creative element to my work and it can be a little bit better.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Not to say that it always comes out that way, but it's great, and it's funny because you make such a good point too. Where I think a lot of times people think of creativity and they immediately are like art or drawing or painting. They think like the physical medium. Yes. But being creative is so much more than that. I know people that are my mom, for example, like she throws an insane party and she will like decorate a table and put out apps, and they're just so beautiful. And to me, like, that's highly creative. Someone that has a beautiful decorated home, highly creative, someone that can just put outfits together, highly creative. It doesn't singing, highly creative, instruments, highly creative. Like, are you making your own, you know, songs? Are you thinking about things? And so it's so diverse, but the foundation of what that's doing to your brain is consistently there, and there's been so many studies by many top institutions that prove, especially with music, like those skills translate a lot of times into entrepreneurship, into very successful businesses, being successful in corporate culture, right? Because of what it does to your brain and your ability to think differently. Like you can your your breath and the wideness and the expanse of your mind is so much larger by having that creative skill set than it is from just being just like in the hard side of education.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

So I'm sure you've heard the saying that like music scratches a part of your brain that like other things and probably like the same can be said of art too, um, or like practicing art, doing art. Yeah. Um, but in a specific like because like the same thing, there's been lots of studies too about music and um hearing you say that I'm reminded of like as a kid, I took piano lessons for years. And so then when you mention so the actually like I'm on I didn't even realize that connectedness because I started taking piano lessons and then switching into chorus. So like I because I had a music foundation, yeah. So that's why that switch ended up being very natural for me. Um, because I knew how to like sight read and I knew about music. It wasn't like I was starting music from the start. Um but yeah, I think you're very right because there's a lot of um without even realizing it, there's certain flexibilities that sort of um I don't know, I I I'm I'm I'm like not even articulating the way that I want to, but it just yeah, it I like that you were use the word expansiveness. Yeah. Because uh you need that. Well you really need that in any position of work. You need that as I mean as a parent just a mom.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah you know, like it's so true. Yeah, 100%. It's it's so interesting because I I think as a mom and as a parent, you know, that that creativeness and that also what's so great about art, and I don't know, I would love to know if you experienced this in chorus, is that you fail constantly. Like failure is a constant in art, criticism is a constant. We used to have to put our pictures up on the wall and we had a critique, and literally everyone in class would just tell you what was wrong with your piece.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

And you see, this is why I'm glad I got it when I did. I because chorus was not I mean, we would like you know, very rarely would you be put on one-on-one because chorus is coraled, like you might try out for like a solo or something like that. Sure. I, as a teenager, would have died. It was hard.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

It was hard, it wasn't easy, especially as a teenager when you're already so self-critical. Oh my god. I was a teenage girl. Oh my god. Yeah. Also, the time wouldn't be a team. In this economy, in this economy, in this America. Yeah. No, literally, we grew up at the hardest time to be a teen. I look at the teenagers now, I'm like, you could never survive a day in my high school. Like you would never. But I do think that exposure to failure and criticism did something to me where also in sales, you know, you hear no a lot, you hear no thank you. And I just like swallow it. I'm like, holy like that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Millennial uh give it off. Women that were again, I was gonna say we weren't raised uh well, we were yeah, raised in the 90s, but like what were teenagers in the early 2000s, whereas like these other kids that were like born in the 2000s, you know what I mean? I was like that that's a very clear distinction. Very clear. Yeah, and um yeah, just to be able to just keep on rolling. Yeah, but no, I do like that is so funny that you say that about the sales piece because you're right. Um I mean, granted, like when you start your own business, like that's something that like I've had to, again, completely learn on my own. But that is tremendous to be able to um yeah, you ha because you're it's a numbers game. I I I hate that quote too, but but it is, yeah. It just is. I mean, it's well again, like a sp and you I'm sure you're feeling it too on the person on in your personal business and then you know, because this market is insane. We've seen a lot of horrible markets, but it's it's crazy right now. But um, but no, because like you know, you're just you're constantly gonna hear no. You're gonna hear no in life no matter what.

Hearing No Without Falling Apart

SPEAKER_00 16:58

All the time. All the time. And I I think that that's one of the things it's funny that I try to teach my daughter all the time is you have to be able to handle a no. And you have to be able to give a no. Like both of those are really important. Oh my god. So I'm always like, you can tell me no, but you also have to be able to take it and like either pivot, change, move forward, or just like swallow it, you know? Like it's so important. Otherwise, how do you how do we like move forward in our lives? You know? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

I love that you said that, and I love that you're teaching that to your daughter now. I'm like, I need to go home and like well, especially as women, like, because we're we're taught to be yes women. And and we are, because again, but in our DNA, we are people pleasers, we're because we're we're nurturers, we're caretakers. So, like, you know, it it is painful to say no.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

It is challenging. It is, and the other thing I love, and I literally think this was said by the Olsen twins. So, but still just as profound is no is a full sentence. Oh. And for me, that was really hard because every time I said no, I wanted to explain. I wanted to justify.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

It it comes with a dissertation.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Yeah. Literally. I'm like, hold on, let me write this all down for you and hand it to you in a letter and present it into PowerPoint. But you don't have to. Like, we do that to ourselves. I know. Like it can just be no, I know. And then you can just leave.

Building Andiamo With AI Help

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Well, okay, that's not fair. We don't do it to ourselves. It's like culturally society. Like you mean I'm thinking about like, you know, it's pass-like, but that was my mom's gift to me when I was born. You know what I mean? Again, but that was also her mom's gift. You know what I mean? It's just like, yeah. So true, so true. Yeah, yeah. Um Well, tell okay, so I need to know more about this Google stuff because I think that's so freaking cool. But tell me more about your personal business that you've recently launched.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Um speaking of just like being totally okay with failure and cringe, I just always am trying to start even when I was a kid, I would was like always trying to start a business. I remember we lived in like the country, I told you, we grew up in like Clarksville and like rural Clarksville, and I um remember I would like do lemonade stands and stuff at the bottom of my driveway, and we didn't have neighbors. My closest neighbor was like a mile away, so literally no one would come there. But I would just sit down there because I was like, I feel like in hard, I always was trying to build something. But my parents always supported me. They were never like, that's insane. What are you doing? They were just like, go for it, I'll buy some lemonade. Yeah. So I think that innately was always there. Um, this is my my third attempt at a business, but I've learned a lot along the way. So this business um is called on Diamo, which is Italian. It means let's go. I think most of the time people are familiar with the word, but if not, that's what it means. So I love to travel. Um, I love a little bit of luxury in my life. And in the past couple of years, I've been slowly trying to replace very simple things with a little bit of an elevated experience that I can do day to day, right? It's just to like give myself a little something as a mom, as someone that's always stuck in her home office. Like, what can I replace here and make it a little nicer? You know? So I was and I have the disease where I'm like, why not me? I was driving home. But just like, I could do that, I could do that. Um, one day, and I was using Touchland, which I love, and I like obsessed with her, obsessed with Touchland, very much inspired by her. I was using it in the car, and I was um like, oh my gosh, like I'm out of this, I'm gonna have to buy more. It would be really amazing if this was refillable. And then I, you know, I have access to some really great models at work. So I went back to my office and I fired up Gemini and started asking, like, is there a niche here? Is there a potential here or is this too oversaturated in the industry? And it was like, no, like there's an opening here for for this. And then I was like, okay, so I want a refillable product, but what else do I want? Like, if I had to make the perfect product, what would it look like? And I was like, I would want it to smell amazing, like more like perfume than anything. Yeah. I have eczema, so I was like, I need it to be like skin forward, you know, amazing ingredients. I want it to be as clean as possible. Yeah, I want it to be beautiful because I'm on social media. I want to be able to photograph it. I want people to see it and ask me about it. And essentially, like I was like, I just want a little bit of luxury in the day that can help me escape from maybe, you know, the the park where I'm at where I'm trying to like clean my daughter's hands and give her like a girl and like take me somewhere else for just a minute. Right. So I'm like, what if I used global destinations of my favorite place in the world to inspire it? Yes. And then I just kind of like was like, I'm just gonna go. And I'll see what happens. And if it fails, who cares? It's been so fun, but I'm like, I'm just gonna keep going. But then what happened was every time I told someone about it, or every time I met with like a chemist to make the formula, or the manufacturer to make the package, they would tell me it was a really good idea. They were like, this we're Looking for this, people want this. Keep going, keep going. Wow. And so that's kind of like how I got here. Oh my gosh. Well, you have um I went here today for you to try. I brought both. So I have two. Um, this one is copri. So this one has lemon, it actually has aspirol, like a cord in it. It has um all these amazing like ingredients. Hyaluronic acid is my standout ingredient because I wanted like a moisture powerhouse kind of thing. And it's interesting because so with any hand sanitizer perfume, you can kind of like feel because like a lot of like you know like a little velvety.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Oh my gosh. Mmm. Yeah. So with perfume, hand sanitizer, anything really, like you spray it and then you give it a minute for the alcohol to burn off because it is 70% of it's gonna be alcohol to kill germs. Right. And then the small comes through. So this is like Como. This one has like sandalwood.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

And I think this is the one that I got. Well, and I love blue and um I'm gonna Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

So I was like, how can I make something super beautiful and I'm that people want to use that are excited, and that's targeting like moms, like the one that have a little like escape in their day. Yes. So and then you can refill it, and that's the biggest point. Is like, and refills are like a phase two. How do you refill it? So you have to like unhook it like that, and then it slowly lifts up. Okay, I don't like pulling it. And then you just like kind of like re-close it. Um and I have a little like oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

And I'm sure like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's well, not to mention on the idea, the practicality of the.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

There we go. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

So now it's wrong way. Darn it.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

No, this is good. This is testing. Like that's right. It's funny because I had my mom like try to open them and it was like the same thing. She was like, which way does it go? So I've made a little like illustration online on like how to open them and close them. Yeah. But what I love about it too is like it's a from a practicality standpoint, you can refill it with ours, obviously. But also, if you're just on the go and you're somewhere and you just need to refill it with another hand sanitizer you buy at the store or something, like you can. Yeah. Like that's the beauty of it. It's it's environmentally sustainable first.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

It's that's a green product, which I was gonna say, you know, again, like we love like the touchland products, but you're right. Like, I remember thinking the same thing, like, you know, if I could refill it, you know what I mean? So you are going into like sustainability, and I'm sure like, um, I don't know if you have this yet. Well, you have do you already have like refill like cartridges or something?

Launch In Phases And Iterate

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Okay, phase phase two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um so it's funny because one of the main things I learned from my the first business I tried to start when I was much younger, um, was to keep things very simple and do it in phases. Because the first time I tried to start a business, I was leaving the Peace Corps. When I was in the Peace Corps, there was all these women that were making crafts, and I was like, I want to import these back and essentially sell them and then like donate part of the proceeds back to them to start like microloans for women. But it was just like too many SKUs, too many products, too much overhead, like not enough consistency, and it just was all over the place and it ended up not working. Yeah. Um, so for this time around, I'm like, okay, we're launching with two products. We're gonna keep it very simple, we're gonna see how the market does, and from there we're gonna iterate, and then the phase two will be the refills, get it out there, have people loving it, change the formulation if I need to, right? Like market feedback is huge. So true. And then offer the refills, like when that exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Because yeah, get the product out there first. Right, you know, let's have them use it. Yeah. So smart. Exactly. So smart. Exactly. Um, you know, you said you have the disease where um what'd you do? Why not me? Why not me? That's God. I feel like all women need that disease. Yeah. Um, because I'm such, you know, I don't think I really fully experienced imposter syndrome until I was starting this business. Because that was the first time I was ever self- Nobody else, like I was self-thrusting myself into some into a completely new world. I mean, social media wasn't new to me, but to because when I first started the Columbian Mom, again, like part of like my origin story that people hear a lot is that I didn't start it with the intent of it being a business. I just started because I was like, I wanted to probably just like you, I mean you have a real business mind, but it was like you have a real business. Come on. No, I mean I do have a real business, but at the time it was just like I I literally just like re- I changed my handle on Instagram and I was like, it was for me, it was recentering the types of content that I was gonna be creating on on social media. And then as like the month like went over, I was like, oh wait, I could actually really turn this into a business. Um, and then that snowballed from there, right? Yeah. But I feel like one of the things that um that I I mean, again, especially that creative part of my brain, I definitely have shiny object syndrome. Me too. Sign shiny object disease for sure. Again, being the Aries that I am, like very like, ah, you know. Yeah. And again, I think in business it's it's hard not to be constantly paying attention to and and again, also very typical in business and social media and marketing is like to be paying attention to trends, paying attention again, as women as we're like, you know, fashion forward, like it's hard to not be paying attention to seeing what's what else is going around, you know, because they say, you know, you you gotta stay in your lane, which is also incredibly true and powerful. But I, you know, I have found too, and the same thing with my business is like, you know, reminding myself, like, what are my bread and butters? What um, you know, uh and and and you know, again, the Shawnee Adrick's send-up for me never goes away, but it it's it's kind of more of like a practice, really. It's like reminding myself, like, yes, I know that I'm always gonna be looking and observing and getting excited about all these different things, but reminding myself, like, okay, you know, these are my bread and butters. I am allowed to, of course, um rediscover, reinvent myself. Again, this market, for instance, like, you know, is forcing me to kind of um, you know, push other areas of my business, which I think is smart and and important in this type of market, you know, realizing what things are gonna actually stick. Yeah. You know, what things are gonna actually withhold and stand um in this market. But that's, you know, reinventing yourself in your business doesn't mean that I'm re-hauling everything and now I'm gonna start offering 10 million things. I'm just trying to strategically offer maybe one or two different things. And I think that's different than trying to go for a million things. Too much at once.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

And you were so smart. You said that earlier, like off camera, when you were like niche down. You have to. Because also, also, like all of us social media has made our attention span very short. We don't have the keyboard. Have you seen those names with like the dancing like vegetables where it's like Oh my god, wait, I just saw them! Obsessed with those because I'm like, this is wait, wait, wait, here we go. I'm like, this is literally all of us now. So I was like, I need to essentially that like niche down. And you were so smart because in business, and after have working in large businesses, trying to start small businesses, knowing a lot of friends of mine that own businesses, all it is is seeing an opportunity and having courage, you know? Yeah, that's all it is. It's like I see something here and I have the courage to try. And that's all it is is trying. It doesn't even have to succeed, just try. Just try. Because most of the worst that can happen. You're not you're not gonna be any like more worse than you are now. You know? If anything, if you don't try, you'll have regret about could that have been me? What if it was great?

Risk Fear And Mindset Reframes

SPEAKER_01 29:31

You know, I know it's like sure, like yes, you could lose some money, but like, you know, I don't know. I uh on another podcast, um, you know, because again, I feel like I don't think anybody was immune, whether you're big or small, everybody was hit by the market yeah last year. And because you know, we're still having the waves of it, but you know, especially small businesses, small business owners, and you know, myself, like the numbers absolutely went down. Um luckily quarter four is always significantly strong for us, and that helped us carry through, but the numbers were still going down at the same time. But, you know, um, and I had you know, and the bit I had to make some really tough decisions in the fall, and it was very challenging. Um, but you know, we're still here. I could have like closed up shop, I could have like, you know, I don't know. I there's a million different ways it could have gone, but you know, I look back and think, you know, I remember going to my mom and I was like when in the middle of all the that that hard stuff and I was just like so upset and I was like, you know, I don't know what I have I don't know what to do, I'm so overwhelmed, I'm just like blah blah. And she looked at me and she was like, My mom's an accountant and she's and I don't come from a line of like law of entrepreneurs or anything like that. Like I'm the only one, like at least in my immediate like family, that's doing this, you know. Um, I mean my husband's a a uh a dentist and and a a partner at his practice, but that's you know, yeah, different. But um, you know, she said to me, she was like, Claire, every single decision that you make in business is a risk. Even the calculated ones, you know, you think that like, oh, just because I calculated it out and blah, blah, blah, but like it's still a risk because you you never know how it's gonna play out. You know, when it does play out, you're like, oh phew, it worked out because I calculated it. And then when it doesn't work out, you're like, okay, well, I don't feel as bad because I took the time to and now I can just kind of re-look back. And then on the flip side, when you are also like me, very impulsive and you jump in, that's half my life, yeah, you know, and when it works out, we're like, oh, that was kind of lucky, right? Which is true.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

And then when it doesn't work out, you're like, oh, I don't feel bad because I didn't take the time and effort to, you know, um, do you know what kind of bias is that from like a psychological point of view? There's like a it's a specific like situational bias talking about where it's like you always kind of make it into a certain bias based on the like the outcome of that. Yes. But you're right. Outcome bias, maybe it's like oh there it was right there. It's right in front of me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're right, everything is a risk. Every but again, everything we do in life is kind of a risk, and we can't be afraid to try. I always tell myself, everything I know I'm on the right track if I'm a little afraid. Like if I'm not afraid, I'm not putting enough out there. Yeah. And all of the greatest things I've ever done have come on the back of fear. Like, oh my god, it's just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

It's true. And that's actually something that I've been really trying to preach to my daughter. Um, like you mentioned, you know, teaching your daughter no, like that that's that that's the one thing I'm absolutely taking home today, too. Is like my daughter, you know, will always say, you know, like I'm scared, like I'm nervous, or whatever. And I'm like, and I say to her, it's okay to be scared. In fact, she was like, the fear's probably not gonna go away. The key is to know to to be brave, know that you are brave and do it anyway. The fear and the scary it's it's not gonna go away. You're not gonna be able to like walk up there and you know, and that the fears disappear. It's like, no, it's it's just feeling the fear and doing it anyway. And I completely agree that some of the best things that have happened to me have been because um not necessarily just completely because of fear. I am thanking my impulsivity, my husband hates me for that because he's the calculated guy. Again, that makes him so successful because of his, you know, structured calculations, but um I'm also like because I just jumped in and I built the airplane on the way down. Again, lots of my, you know, missteps are also for those same reasons, but you know, I think in business and in life, sometimes you just gotta jump.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. And I love that so much that you're teaching her that, and I need to reinforce that more at home as well. But thinking about too what you said earlier about neuroplasticity, it is so powerful. I don't think people quite give it enough credit. There's an amazing book called Radical Candor, and in the book, she like I wish I could remember who wrote it, but um she talks about how like there's um just a reframing of what you say out loud, right? Because what we say out loud goes into our mind, and our mind literally absorbs that and it becomes a reality. That's why they say perception is reality. But she says, instead of saying I'm afraid, and I and I've taken this into my life constantly, instead of saying I'm scared, I'm afraid, I'm nervous, just sub that word to like I'm excited. So before I go on stage for public speaking engagement, I'll think to myself, oh my gosh, I'm afraid. And then I'm like, no, I'm excited, I'm excited. And it does something, right? It changes something. So just rephrasing how you speak to yourself, how you describe yourself, how you think about yourself, you will become that person. It is so true. Affirmations are so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

So powerful. And I and you say that too. I feel like we're just keep swapping life lessons right now. Like everything that you're saying, like I need, and vice versa. No joke, we we really do need a drink in Mooney. We are gonna go karate in the garage, take some Irish card bombs and some Jason. I made Irish soda bread at home, which frankly is like so funny because like I'm very Irish, my husband's Latino. Yeah. And um uh I was like, I think it's so funny. I'm like, I basically like, I mean, obviously I'm super white, but um like I lean heavy into the Latin um heritage, Latin culture because I was like, Irish food and culture is like you know, we got jigs and the music and the dancing is fun. Yeah, I mean the country's beautiful. Beautiful country.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Um but I was like the food is all the way, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

I mean, like potatoes, yeah. God bless.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Stews, but fish and chips.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Meh.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

It's it's fine, it's fine in moderation. I just can't when I I remember we were there for two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

European food in general, other than like, you know, Italy, Greece, the Mediterranean.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

It becomes a little redundant. You're like, I can't, you know. Even Italy, I'll be there for like a couple of weeks, and by the end, I'm like, I need to find like a five guys or something. Like I need a break.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Right, right, right, right. But anyway, so I was like Irish food. I was like, you know, I used to every year on sorry, we're just I know we're like totally tangent. I know I love it. But I got you your I got you your structured questions. I we'd maybe hit like 0.5 of them, but um what was I gonna say? Um I used to make you know corned beef and cabbage, but I was like, corn beef, it's not that great. It's like really not that great. I was like, it's literally steamed cabbage. Guys, there's there's not like I'm not even trying to over white this meal, yeah. But like we don't like you don't add like much seasoning to it.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

It's just crazy.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

But to be fair, that's because like, you know, if you go historically back into like, you know, European like history and stuff like that, like they didn't have it. They didn't have it, they had like potatoes because they had like, you know, and and cabbage, which is one of the cheapest vegetables, because there's like no nutrients. There's like nothing in it. Cause that's why it's like so like clear. Um so you're there is and um corned beef, which was fine. Like that's the most amount of flavor you're getting from that meal, but I was like, it's not I mean, yes, it's fine. Am I making it? No. I was like, we don't really need to go out of our way. Trader Joe's makes a nice little like um, they have like one of those, not a kit, but it's like a you know pre-packaged meat that you can just like heat up, which I could do. I just I made my Irish soda bread, which I hated as a kid because it has caraway seeds, which is a very pungent like I can't I don't know what else you use caraway seeds in other than I literally don't know stews. I made it.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

I love soda bread though, it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

It is good. I mean, I couldn't stand it as a kid because I also didn't love raisins, and caraway seeds like as a child is very overpowering.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

I also hate raisins. I feel like they're just like masquerading as chocolate chips in all my desserts, and I don't think it's yeah, I'm like, you're not authentic, get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

I know. And it's the only thing that I like again, I think it's just nostalgia at this point. You know what I mean? It's like when I had like there's some dishes that like you know, my my husband will share with me that I'm like I mean, because I mean I love Latin food in general because it's great, you know what I mean? But then there's every now and then, you know, they ha they have that one thing that I'm like, no, I'm good. You know, like like pig's feet, like I really don't need that. No. I remember I was like his family tried to introduce me when I was like 37, 38 weeks pregnant, and I was like, y'all, no. No.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

I mean, same with Italian food. Like, my grandma always wanted me to eat the eyes of the fish, and I was like, no, thanks. Or even like they eat a lot of octopus in Italy. I do love octopus. I mean, it's so good. I just feel like bad when I eat it. I'm always like, but my again, my grandma like obsessed with octopus. Um, it's and it's such a steep part of like the Italian culture. But there's some things too in Italy that I'm like, I'm I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay with it. I know. I'm gonna get that.

Where To Buy Andiamo

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Anyways, um, I know, again, talk about tangents. We're just going all over the place. Okay, but as we wrap, so where can people find out more about Andiamo and tell us, you know, or tell us what you can, you know, say about like next step. Where can they follow you? Where can they find you, where can they buy this, etc.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

etc. Yeah, so um on Instagram, we are Club On Diamo, and my handle is Livia Caterina, and then online it's www.undiamoclub.com. We are open for pre-orders, um shipping in early May, and I have an amazing team of women that are helping me. Like Maria McTai is helping me with photography and branding.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

I have to say the the your photos so far are gorgeous. Like I feel transported when I saw them.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

I was like, Oh, yeah, Maria was I told Maria my vision, she completely did it. Um, Erica at Thalia Street Digital is helping with the branding and the pre-launch. I have Julia McTai from Marvelous Spark helping me as well with with logo and branding. So being able to like have all of these women support me and help just is so special. And I think probably similar to you at the Columbia Mom, one of the things I love the most about starting this business right now in my life is being able to meet other women that have small businesses. Yeah. I've met so many amazing women that I would have never met, that I feel like have become friends of mine that if it wasn't for this business, I would have never known. And I love it. It's such a community. It is. I feel like it's so supportive. I think it's like. I know.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Well, and actually sitting here, I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so many other people that I need to introduce you to that I think of. And again, that's kind of again why I love this podcast, why I love the Columbia Mom, because it's kind of again, we sat down and I was like, I need to hear your origin story because I think goes back to the heart of sort of why I started. I mean, yes, I love getting to explore different places of Howard County, share them with you know, with my community, but it was also because I think when I, again, sort of as an influencer, get to know you and your story, I can speak to it more authentically, and that's that's really you know where it heavily comes from. Yeah. But again, I've met so many incredible people along the way just from doing what I naturally like to do. Yeah. Um, and it's it's truly been so fruitful.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

And I'm so good at it. Like you're so disarming and just like very real, and what you're doing for the community is so important. Like, I just I so appreciate you and what you do. Like, truly, like I think it's really amazing. I will cry.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

This is part two of the cr the the cry today.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

This is a good cry.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

There's many, many cries that are coming out of today.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

But you're bringing people together. And we need to do, you know. Thank you. So thank you. No, thank you.

Why Columbia Mom Exists

SPEAKER_01 41:49

And no, thank you. Oh well, and again, like I said, I'm not making this about me, but I am making this about me. Um just, you know, like my origin story too is, you know, because I I started this in the end of um Oh my god. Sorry, I the only word that's coming in my head is club on Diamo because that's just what we're like. COVID. Um, 22. And you know, being the kind of insane extrovert that I am, like really feeling like an absolute like caged bird, you know, at home with two babies under two. You know, my son was born June 2020, you know, in the height of it all. Yep. Um and uh and I was a stay-at-home mom for a very short it's kind of funny, like it was it didn't last very long, but like my mental health like you know, exploded, and I had been working um from home prior to that, and you know, I eventually took like a a break and then I slowly kind of eased back in. Um but anyways, and I it just was it the club, sorry, Club on Demo was born. The Columbia Mom, the seas are getting c Columbia Mom, Club on DM, COVID. Oh God. Um Columbia Mom was born out of a time in my life where I I I I I don't remember I don't think I was writing a speech. I was writing something, but I was w writing something about me, my business, and I was like, it was born out of a time where I needed more and where I wanted more, more connection, more friendship, more experiences, you know, just kind of more like all of these things. So when you just said connection and the community and things like that, I wasn't like, you know, I didn't care about more followers, I didn't care about necessarily being philanthropic, like those weren't at the heart of everything. It's just like I wanted, I knew I I mean, I was like, I just want to know what are the cool places to take my kids, where's the best donut shop, blah, blah, blah. And you know, Howard County to me is like one of the best places like in the state, you know, per the you know, county executive sharing like one of the best cities in America. And I was like, we deserve that splash, you know. I want to be that splash, or I wanted to see that splash, and no offense, but I need To get out of those Facebook groups. Great place to ask questions, but I would say I love that.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

You identified you wanted more and you went for it. I think that's something that we can all, you know, strive to do in life. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

I love that so much. Yay! Well, cheers to many, many more. I'm so glad you were here today, Liv. Please be sure to follow her at Club On Diamo on Instagram and on DiamoClub.com to get your pre-order. These pro they're literally beautiful. Um and it's so funny that, like, well, you know, because this is what sounds like so stupid. It's like you told me that you'd started a business via email, but like, um, I don't think I knew and then I stumbled on it on Instagram and I was like, oh my god, this is beautiful. And then I saw your, I was like, oh, that's that's the product that you're talking about. I was like, wait, okay, oh my god. So, anyways, I'm so excited that I got my pre-order and I've got play Como because blue is is my thing. I love those. I mean, it was torn because I was like, both sound really good, but I'll start with blue and I'll send you the other one. Don't worry. You know, there we go. Well, you can give it to me when we're getting drinks. Exactly, exactly. Perfect. All right, cheers. Well, St. Patrick's Day.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

St. Patrick's Day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

We'll find our luck somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

We'll find it. It's out there.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

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 the dot ColumbiaMom 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.