Filled Up Cup
Welcome to the Filled Up Cup podcast. We are a different kind of self-care resource to the mom market-- one that has nothing to do with bubble baths and face masks, and everything to do with rediscovering yourself after becoming a mother. Join us as we talk unique experiences, unconventional methods and off the wall products. I hope you'll enjoy following alone as I bring you real reviews, honest experiences and unfiltered opinions that make you laugh, make you cry and most importantly- leave you with a filled up cup.
Filled Up Cup
Ep. 77 Brittany Venner
On this episode I am joined by Brittany Venner. She is a personal trainer, sports nutritionalist and founder and co-creator of Wants + Needs.
She was a dancer from the time that she could walk and into her 20s. After she stopped dancing she realized that she was struggling with an eating disorder and struggled with self-acceptance. She also had breast implants and realized they were causing breast implant illness. We talk about her experiences with abuse, anxiety, depression, lack of self-esteem, an eating disorder, and healing from breast implant illness.
During the pandemic, she decided to launch Wants + Needs. This clothing brand was a way for her to combine her passion of helping women and fashion. She hopes to inspire, spark conversation and change the way women see themselves by creating a brand that sees beauty in women's uniqueness regardless of age, skin colour or size.
CONTACT | Brittany Venner
BRITTANY VENNER Health + Lifestyle (@brittany_venner) • Instagram photos and videos
WANTS+NEEDS (wantsandneedsofficial.com)
Wants Needs (@wantsandneeds_official) • Instagram photos and videos
Filled Up Cup - Unconventional Self Care for Modern Women
Ashley (@filledupcup_) • Instagram photos and videos
Welcome to the Filled Up Cup podcast. We are a different kind of self care resource, one that has nothing to do with bubble baths and face masks, and everything to do with rediscovering yourself. We bring you real reviews, honest experiences, and unfiltered opinions that will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, leave you with a filled up cup.
Ashley:I am so excited. Today I have Brittany Venner joining me. Brittany is a certified personal trainer and nutritionalist. She's also the founder of Wants and Needs Clothing. We are going to talk about that today, as well as breast implant illness. So just a little bit of a disclaimer that we're coming from a place where we're talking about our personal experience and we're not medical professionals. So Brittany, thank you so much for joining me today.
Brittany:Thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited. It's my first podcast, so I feel so special.
Ashley:Oh, I'm so excited to be your first. Tell me a little bit about your background.
Brittany:So I actually started off as a professional dancer. I had danced since I was seven and it's something I always loved and felt so passionate about. It was such an outlet for me, especially with some of my trauma as a child. I don't know if I would be on the path that I'm on if I didn't have dance. For like self expression and whatnot, so movement has always been a huge part of my life and due to injury. I kind of had to stop dancing and I really got involved in fitness around the age of 20. I want to say that I was never stereotypical dance skinny. I was always technically overweight for a dancer. And that's something that I really battled with as a kid. I went through an eating disorder and all that kind of stuff. So when I really decided to take my health journey into my own hands and really start educating myself and taking care of myself, I actually lost 25 pounds and I became obsessed with how great I felt. I. Slowly started to kind of want to share that with other women of like, you don't have to hate yourself. It doesn't matter about the weight loss, but like how you feel and as a woman to feel strong in your body, that is so powerful. And so I decided to become certified while I was living in Scotland, went to college there and kind of created a little bit of a name for myself. Living in Scotland and I was married at the time, decided to get divorced, you know, all the life things you go through and life choices that we make. And then I moved to the States where I met my current husband and then went full blown into personal training and becoming a women's coach. And I have just absolutely loved the journey. And it's such an honor to have met so many amazing women and to help them discover their strongest selves.
Ashley:it's so great to be able to do something that kind of stems in childhood and have that interest and be able to turn it into a career, turn it into a passion. And it can be really hard when you're fitting into like the quote unquote, measurements for dance. I know my daughter did ballet for like eight years. And even though she was a fit girl, it is really hard when your inches don't match what they have to be categorized as in that industry. So it does sort of lead you in putting so much emphasis on your body and the sizes. So I love that you were able to kind of flip it and be like, do I feel healthy? Do I feel strong? Do I feel confident and beauty and all of those things that aren't measured by a size and be able to kind of help women see that is so fantastic.
Brittany:Thank you so much. It's been like I said, it's an honor to work with these women and I think it's so interesting as much as I'm a personal trainer and a nutritionist. I am probably 1st and foremost, the biggest advocate for self love and body acceptance and I'm a life coach in a lot of ways. It's so much deeper than just telling them what to eat, telling them how to work out. We have to get through some major, self, gates that we've put up over the years. I'm like, why are you here. What has brought you here? Is it self esteem? Is it trauma? Is it? You just don't believe that you're good enough to feel great about yourself. You know, there's so many barriers that we put up and that's why it's such an honor. It's about being really vulnerable and me getting in there to, like, slowly take those down and to truly allow them to discover who they can be.
Ashley:which is so true. It is so much more Of a mental block in a lot of ways, whether it's messaging in childhood that we believe to be true or whether it's that we're always comparing ourselves to other people. I feel like we do let so many of those things become so much louder that when we do unpack it, it's like that didn't need to be as big as it is. And it really does kind of allow you to take that weight off your shoulders and to move forward to find whatever is the best version of you.
Brittany:Absolutely. And I'm not going to lie. I went through a major growth period about 10 years ago where I basically rebuilt myself. It was like, what does it runaway bride? And she's like, okay, what kind of eggs do we like? Like I pulled myself down. Everything I was taught, everything I thought I was, I pulled it all down and basically started scratch. I'm like, okay, Brittany, who do you want to be? Let's heal your past trauma. Let's really start getting down to the nitty gritty. Let's be honest with yourself. Let's look in the mirror. Say I am insecure. I am extremely insecure. I have major things to work through. I am not the woman that I want to be. And that's okay. This is the starting point. It all starts with the honesty of acknowledging we aren't perfect. It's okay to look in the mirror and go, you know what? I got some work to do, but that's a really scary thing. So you want to acknowledge it. You either have to work on it or you're just like, oh crap, I'm kind of stuck here. You know what I mean? What do I do with this?
Ashley:I think it's so powerful to give yourself permission to make mistakes to acknowledge that mistakes and to say, like, I can change just because I was this version doesn't mean that this is still who I am today. And it's like, that growth is really vital for us to be able to mature and to move on. Where did deciding to get implants fit into that journey?
Brittany:I've wanted implants since I was probably 12, 13 years old. My eating disorder kicked in around 11, 12 years old. Being a dancer and being around beautiful women and looking at celebrities, I never understood why my body didn't look like there's why was I blessed with a curvy body, but with small boobs, and that was really hard for me. I also grew up with a step mom and a mom that had altered themselves. So I also thought, well, if you don't like it. Fix it. I just fell into that fix it mentality. I think as a lot of women do, if you don't like something, we can fix it. We don't mentally fix it. We physically fix it. When the opportunity presented itself, I believe I was 23. I was like, hell yeah, I'm getting breast implants. My time has come. Let's do this. So I did a lot of research, went to what I thought was a great, and he was a great surgeon in Scotland. I loved it at first. I felt great as probably most women do when they have an insecurity their whole life. And then you've got to fix that insecurity. And then, it's gone.
Ashley:It's actually so funny. I was 23 when I got mine too. We basically were told like bigger is better. Yeah. And I grew up with Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy were basically like the two popular celebrities that everybody sort of. idolized. So it was that there wasn't a lot of versions of like small breast women who were like sexy and powerful the same way that they were. So it really was sold to us that, the bigger the boob, the better you are, which is so silly in hindsight.
Brittany:Yeah, and I think a lot of women feel this way because I've heard it a lot is as someone that is 5'9 has broad shoulders and athletic build, who's a trainer, I am muscular, I have, you know, slightly bigger thighs and butt, you know, everything that we tell ourselves I felt like I was imbalanced and I was like, I'm going to be so much more balanced if I have breasts, and The crazy things we tell ourselves because I look back at photos now that they're out and go, they look like clown boobs. What was I thinking? This is like clearly the way I was meant to look. This clearly fits my body. When things are shoved in our faces so often and mixed with, you know, insecurities, of course, we're going to tell ourselves whatever we think we need to hear that, because we're never good enough as women, heaven forbid, we actually like what we see when we look in the mirror.
Ashley:Completely agree. It does always feel like a project, which. Is a whole thing in itself of like, we really do need to get to a place where we're not listening to all the messages and really learning to live in ourself and our love ourself. But I feel like that also is something that I just don't know that like at 23, there's no way I would have been capable of that, that it was really much easier at 38 and really in the hindsight and the wisdom and everything else to be able to like say that now. So if you are somebody and you're struggling and you're like, I don't love myself. Like, I get it. It doesn't happen overnight.
Brittany:No, it doesn't. The older we get, the more wise we get, the better we feel about ourselves. That's why women in their 50s and 60s just don't give a fuck. Cause they're like, I've been there. I've done that. I've been insecure. I've, made every mistake possible and they're ready. And it was funny. It was through training. These women of all different ages, and I'd be in consultations with them, and I'm pretty upfront and I'm pretty open. I would ask them, do you have any mental health issues? Do you have whatever, you know, and a lot of them said, I don't love my body. I wish I could change my body. I have anxiety of depression and they were very ashamed about it. You know, acknowledging this. And at the time I was, you know, 25, going through these, you know, consultations with women in their fifties, sixties, seventies, sometimes forties. A light bulb went off and I was like, I don't want to be still in my fifties, sixties hating myself. And that's really what drove my, like, I got work to do because I am not spending 20, 30 more years feeling like this. And that really kicked it off for me, but I completely agree. I mean, you live and you learn, we make mistakes, we grow, we evolve. And at 23 years old, I mean, if someone can make that decision, I mean, props to them for doing the work at such a young age and probably having an amazing family background that allowed them to be there, but it's so rare.
Ashley:Yeah, for sure. When did you first start noticing symptoms of health things going wrong once you had your implants?
Brittany:So there was a couple things. So I had anatomical implants, which means they weren't round. They were teardrop shape. I did that because I wanted to them to look more natural. Now there is a 1 percent chance that they could flip. I was the 1%. and I have a hard time believing that it was just 1%. So within a year of having my implants, one flipped. And it was from that point on that I consistently had issues with my right breast. You know, I'm, active I'm a personal trainer. I'm running, I'm jumping, I'm lifting. I'd be so paranoid as I was teaching classes. I would just like, kind of check my boob every once in a while to make sure my implant was still freaking in place. It was scary and it's a horrible feeling because you have to basically massage it back into place and you feel this thing in your body that's moving and it just makes me sick to my stomach. So that was the first implicator, but I hadn't gotten to the point yet. In my confidence that I was like, I'm going to get these removed. I'm just going to battle through heaven forbid. I don't have boobs. Like, we're not even going there. I had them in for about 9 As the 9 years went on, I was experiencing a really heightened anxiety. Now I've had anxiety my whole life since I was a little girl. So they have always battled with and I know how to manage it for the most part. But. This was next level. I was having panic attacks. I couldn't manage just everyday stress. Everything was pushing me over to the edge and I was like, this is so weird. I don't know what's going on. Is it my growth process? I have no idea. And then I noticed some things with my skin and dry eyes and I was just like, okay, you know, I'd go to the doctor every once in a while. I was just like, I don't feel quite right. And no doctor could ever tell me Really what was wrong. And so it wasn't until I had talked about getting my breast implants out eventually, you know, down the road. A friend of mine, she was like, have you heard of BII? And I was like, no, what is that? She's like, it's breast implant illness. She's like, I'm going to send you the symptom list. Take a look. And sure enough, I had a majority of the symptoms. Things that doctors couldn't explain to me. Or they're just little things that I'm just like, oh, this is weird. But like, not worth going to the doctor for. But I just don't feel my best. I'm chronically tired. I have brain fog. All these things. And I was like, wow, that is fascinating. The moment I found out about breast implant illness, it took me a solid two years to really process. I went to therapy to come to terms with, okay, we are taking away your blankie. All your insecurities are coming back. What are my boobs going to look like once they're out? What's the surgery going to be like? Am I going to hate myself? Am I going to be left with nothing? Are people going to still find me attractive? What is my husband going to think? All these things just came flooding back. And it took me about two years to really decide, okay, this is what I'm going to do. I also, as a platform, I teach. Body acceptance and body positivity, and I felt like the biggest hypocrite to be completely 100 percent honest. Here I am preaching about love yourself, love your body, accept your body, don't change it, love it, or care for it, and here I am having breast implants as I'm preaching this. And so that was a huge red flag for me where I was like, I can't be preaching this and feel this, you know, strongly about self love and body acceptance when I have clearly altered my body.
Ashley:I think sometimes it's easier to help other people or, give advice to other people, see other people in, like, a beautiful way than we see ourselves. So I think that it's so normal to be like that. And I think the idea of, like you said, we really want boobs. So to put them in the idea of having to take them out, it does almost bring, like, Such weird feelings because you already felt a certain way about like your pre surgery boobs that then to have to sort of figure out like, okay, post surgery boobs, like really, what does that look like? And sometimes the symptom list makes it easier, but then sometimes it really doesn't. Like surgery, no matter what it is, is scary. And it's hard. And I think what a lot of people don't realize when they get breast surgery. implants is that it isn't a lifetime device that you are kind of committing to ongoing surgeries where I kind of knew that going in, but I never really considered actually having more surgeries or I just figured something would drastically have to go wrong. For me to actually do it and then to factor in the price and stuff on top of it. So it is so much and I think even with the breast implant illness symptoms because it isn't a medically recognized condition. Doctors aren't even trained to even consider that as a possibility of what could be causing symptoms. And then as women, I feel like. to some degree we gaslight ourselves. Oh, I'm sure it's just stress. I'm sure it's like a hormonal thing. I'm sure it's age and it doesn't necessarily come to this black and white. Oh, it must be this. It really is until you look at the symptoms and you really think I could have like 20 things that I had no idea that my implants were causing and even though they say that breast implant illness doesn't exist or because it's not medically recognized, it is so insane how common the symptoms are between so many people that choose to get implants that, you know, to recognize it as not a condition is just silly at this point.
Brittany:It really is. And that's what kind of led me to going to the surgeon that I did because he actually does more explants and implants, and he is a huge advocate for BII so that was like a big indicator for me because a lot of surgeons, as I'm sure you're aware, you go and you're like, okay, I want to take my breast implants out and they're like, okay, and they'll do it, but they'll leave the capsule in. They won't clean you up properly because what a lot of people don't know is your body builds a protective capsule around the implant because essentially it doesn't matter if they're saline or silicone. All implants are coated in silicone. It is poisonous to your body period. So your body builds this protective capsule around your implant to protect it. Any infected tissue that is not removed from your body. BII stays in your body. So when surgeons just take out the implant, but leave in basically, you know, bad tissue, that is so irresponsible. And it makes me angry. It's like, here we are. You're supposed to be a health professional. I know you're a plastic surgeon, but like, come on, you can clearly see that this tissue is damaged. And infected, and you're going to leave that in a woman's body. And so, whenever someone asks me about explant surgery, I'm always like, make sure they take out the capsule. And my surgeon was like, not only are we taking out the capsule, we are taking out any infected tissue. So he's like, I'm going to basically surf your ribs. I will take out any tissue along your ribs without puncturing your lung that is infected. And that way, No BII symptoms. I mean, you'll be completely clear and that's when I was like, okay, you're the right person. I don't care how small I am at this point. If I'm left with nothing, just get me healthy, get these fricking things out of me and we'll take it from there.
Ashley:Yeah, it is really scary and you really do have to do your research to make sure that you're getting somebody who can do it and there are a lot of resources. There are a lot of doctors. It just might mean you have to travel in order to find the right fit for you. Yes. Did you find that once you decided to explant and you had everything taken out, did you notice that your symptoms had kind of disappeared or that there was immediate health changes?
Brittany:Oh, my God. Yes. So I got out of surgery. My husband picked me up. We had about an hour and a half drive home, and I hadn't looked in the mirror. I mean, you're just have a surgery. You're barely awake. And I remember getting home and going to the bathroom and I remember thinking to myself, Oh God, I'm going to look like hell, you know, because it's a big surgery. It's a four hour surgery. They had to do a complete like muscle reconstruction on me. Cause it was under the muscle. There was a lot involved and I remember looking in the mirror and I was glowing, glowing. My eyes were so bright. My skin was clear. It was just incredible. And I remember taking a photo and I posted it in my Instagram and I remember sending it to a friend and she just couldn't believe it. She's like, are you kidding me? And I'm like, yeah, it's because my body's been poisoned for years and everything, the discoloration, my skin was more even, it looked more hydrated. My eyes were so white, my dark circles were gone. And that was the first thing I noticed.
Ashley:It was I could breathe like I could take like a fully deep breath and I hadn't been able to breathe like that in probably 10 years.
Brittany:Did you were yours under the muscle or over
Ashley:under and they were silicone.
Brittany:Okay. I didn't have that. I don't know if it's just all the muscle repair that I mean, I had to take very shallow breaths for a long time, but I do remember feeling. A huge weight. off my shoulders mentally and physically of just being able to pull my shoulders back. Cause I don't think people realize when your implants are under the muscle, your pecs are attached to your shoulder. So a lot of women have a lot of postural issues. And I remember finally being able to roll my shoulders back and going like, Oh my God, this is incredible.
Ashley:It really does make a huge difference. I find for me, my healing afterwards, it was almost like, Three steps forward, two steps back. So it definitely is still a process like getting them out is so important. But there was some things that went away right away. And then there was other things that were sort of lingering and are taking longer to actually heal.
Brittany:Yeah, I would say my brain fog was gone immediately. I hadn't been able to think. That clearly in the years, and I was on a lot of meds too. So the fact that I was that clear on a lot of meds, I think says a lot. So, I mean, it was just, I felt way more relaxed. It was like, yeah, just a huge weight off my shoulders. I'm like, thank God, like this is over. I had never had other than getting my implants. And, you know, I was much, much more of a process and then longer healing. Phase. So I was really, really nervous going into surgery. So I think I was just so freaking relieved to have it done and like, okay, clean start. Here we go. And I really thought I was going to battle with how I looked. I thought, you know, I would hate myself or really all those, you know, thoughts of insecurity would come back, but I actually didn't. I remember looking in the mirror and going like, Oh yeah, this is what my body's supposed to look like. This is so much better. This is great.
Ashley:I think sometimes that healing when you actually factor in your health of like, okay, this, I didn't realize it was affecting me this much to be on the other side of it and to actually feel better and to be able to move your body in a way that doesn't feel as constricted. I feel like all of those things end up having a bigger impact than What you look like,
Brittany:yeah, for sure. And I think from a physical standpoint, if we're going to talk about how our bodies look, it looked like I lost 15 pounds. My inflammation went. Way down. I naturally lost about 10lbs. I just had so much inflammation in my body. So I got into surgery. It took about a year for me to lose that 10lbs for the inflammation to go down and I was like, okay, so I get my implants out. I look longer and leaner than ever. My skin's glowing. My eyes are brighter. I'm crushing it right now. Like, I actually felt really good, you know, versus like, yeah, it was a really surprising experience for me. I was like, okay, I'll take this. This is a great reward for doing the work and getting over my insecurities. Like, I actually think I look better now. This is great.
Ashley:I love that. I love the fact that it's you can lean into both sides and to be able to do the work to be able to sort of not miss that part, because I think that, we can't always go to the problem for the solution. And if the problem lives within us that we really do need to seek professional help. So I think it's great that you did the work and then you were able to find that self love within yourself.
Brittany:Yeah, that's vital for me. The days of toxic thinking and tearing myself apart. I won't say they're gone because I think it's something we will continue to battle with. I just know how to fight it better. I have the tools. I don't let it overwhelm my thoughts. I can reframe my thinking pretty quickly now. So not going to say that I don't have days where they're like. Not loving myself, but they're definitely not the days of when I had an eating disorder when I look in the mirror crying and hold myself and just hate everything about myself. I hated myself at a level. That was, I look back was scary. It was really scary,
Ashley:which it's. Powerful that at least you can acknowledge that and whether you got help for it right away or whether it was a process, I think good for you for being brave enough to lean into that and to know that you didn't have to stay stuck there, that you didn't have to be, you know, self hating, that there is always another way.
Brittany:Yeah, you guys have to fight for it. I mean, changing yourself and the way you think and the way you see yourself. I mean, that's hard work. This came with 10 years of me consistently, every day, reframing my thoughts. Every time I'd think a negative thought, I'd replace it with a positive one. This sounds so ridiculous, but I couldn't stand seeing myself naked. I would hide from the mirror or put on clothes or a robe as I was getting ready. And one of the things that really helped me feel more comfortable with looking at my body was I forced myself to get ready naked. Like, I'd blow dry my hair naked, I would, you know, do my makeup naked because I just wanted to get comfortable being in my body. And as a dancer, as someone that grew up being able to control their body to amazing extents, you know, the fact that I could do all that, but didn't feel comfortable within myself was just really odd to me. So I'm like, okay, I want to be able to feel comfortable just being, and that really helped me, really helped.
Ashley:I think the exposure therapy is a great idea, and I think it helps you not pick apart the little parts in the same way or to become more accepting of the things that maybe you would pick apart. Mm hmm. I also think I'm not sure if you know who Alicia McCarville is. But she is somebody who lives in a larger body. Her husband is quite athletic and stereotypically, a lot of people think that they aren't a good match just because she's quite large and he's quite traditionally attractive. So what she kind of did is she found herself in the same path of like hating her body, being really depressed, not wanting to go outside, not wanting to meet new people Kind of hid herself for a long time. So what she did is she got just like a dollar store notepad and she started writing down something that she loved about herself that had nothing to do with her body or her appearance. And then by the time she had filled the whole book, which again, wasn't an overnight thing, it took her a really long time. She really realized that I might have fat thighs, but I'm a really good listener or I'm a really great friend. Learn to love herself as a person, not just as the vessel that she lived in. And I think for people to, if they're fighting to have that self love or even that just body neutrality, something like that might be beneficial as well, too.
Brittany:For sure. I definitely did that as well. I would put sticky notes all around my house. In my kitchen cupboards. So every time I ate, you know, it was like, you're worthy of eating. Every time I got a coffee, every time, you know, I looked in the mirror, there was a sticky notes, and so I did something very similar where I fully immersed myself into my growth and it's a choice and that's a dedication and when you really, really want it, when you really want something, you will go to the ends of the earth and make it happen. I think that's where women can sometimes get stuck because we all want to feel good about ourselves. Of course, we want to support other women. Of course, we want to feel great. Of course, you know, self love and all the things that are so popular to preach about, but how many of them actually do the work to heal so much easier to preach. And that's why, I mean, I felt like a hypocrite preaching about. body acceptance and I had changed myself. It was like, no, this can't be a thing. I am ready to become me again. And to feel whole with what I am preaching to women about,
Ashley:I think maybe it's like, Helping other people first is what gives us permission to be like, if they can do it, I can do it too, because I think that the more that we create safe spaces where not only are we projecting the energy that we want, whether it is, you know, body neutrality, self love, self acceptance. I think it's like the more we put out, the more we get it back. So it's creating that safe space of okay, I did it for them. I helped them. Now, what can I do for myself? And then also creating that community that not only are you helping other people, but you've also created a situation where people know that about you, you've created that space where you can be that for them. And they can kind of be that for you, even though you are. Essentially the service provider, but it's like, yeah, unity.
Brittany:Totally. I felt like I had come such a long way in my self love journey that getting my implants out was like the last step, not to say that I'm going to continue to work on it for the rest of my life, but my biggest growth, my biggest going from hating myself, eating disorder, you know, all that restriction to finding a very balanced lifestyle and helping so many women go through it. I was like, okay, I'm ready. This is like the last thing that I can do for myself to be whole, to be me again.
Ashley:When you were kind of at the end of your journey, is that where you decided to make wants and needs clothing or when did you launch that company?
Brittany:So it was probably Wants And Needs has been something I have sat on for five years now, but a long time it's always been a dream of mine. So I wouldn't say that's what pushed me to start it. I obviously being a women's health and fitness coach, I am just around women all the time that hate themselves or want to change things or pick themselves apart. I remember being there. And I also know how hard it is to be a woman in today's society where so much is shoved in our faces, every skincare line is, you know, want to look younger, don't even get me started on aging, but like. Heaven forbid we actually accept, you know, aging because every single one of us on the planet ages. We can only fight it so much. Why it's so bad. I have no idea. So I really wanted to change the societal standard of beauty. I wanted to photograph real women and show these women are stunning. Doesn't matter the age, the size, the shape, the cellulite, the stretch marks. The whatever things that society would deem as not right, or you need to fix it. I wanted to show it in the most beautiful way possible. It's probably a combination of like my own self love journey and coming into myself. I wouldn't necessarily tie it to my explant though, if that makes sense.
Ashley:For sure. Can you tell me a little bit about the type of clothing that you carry?
Brittany:It's definitely more casual. I basically wanted to start off with two items because if anybody knows starting a clothing line is extremely hard and extremely expensive, so I didn't have the resources to start a full clothing line right off the bat. I kind of wanted to test the market. Let's get it out there. Let's see what it does. People take to it and it starts to evolve and great. I can add on. So I am a T shirt girl. through and through. I live in t shirts, I dress them up, dress them down, so having a really good graphic tea was important to me. And then the 2nd 1 is I love a good sweatshirt, but I also wanted to feel a little bit more elevated. I didn't want it to feel like lounge wear. I wear it with my leather pants. I wear it with jeans. I wear it around the house with work clothes. Like, I really wanted it to be versatile. I worked in fashion most of my life as well. It's been a huge passion of mine. So that was so much fun to really create things that I loved personally, and it could really reflect my style. I also felt like anything that was like pro body positivity, love yourself as a little bubble gum for me. I dress a little bit more, I wouldn't say edgy, but I love jeans, t shirts, leather, blazers, like I love elevated chic style. I really wanted to kind of blend those two worlds together, have two really beautiful pieces that mean so much and can make such a statement without the cheese.
Ashley:Absolutely. Because I do think that. Self care and self love and body positivity. All of it has become such a buzzwords and have become almost like marketing schemes for a lot of industry that don't really stand behind anything. They've almost sort of like greenwashed that industry. So it is really nice that like, you can have somebody where maybe an older lady that has wrinkles wearing the same t shirt or somebody who's plus size wearing the same t shirt. And it's just kind of nice to know that it's for every body. Without it having to be like without like a bit.
Brittany:Yeah, exactly. I just really wanted to showcase the images. We spent two years shooting real women. These women volunteered to do the shoots with us, knowing that they were going to be potential, artwork. It was just so incredible to watch these women. Obviously, you're in a studio with Jennifer, who's my partner in this. She's an amazing, amazing photographer. She's so special and so talented. So it's usually the two of us in a room with our model a. K. A real woman. No models are photographed in this. And it's amazing. Like, this is very vulnerable. We're showing our bodies and. They've never modeled before either. So not only am I asking you to be half naked, you know, learning how to move your body is also a lot it was really cool to watch each woman get more and more settled with themselves and go from very nervous to just living in their bodies. I get emotional after every single shoot because every woman is just like, that was such a gift. Thank you so much. We send them all the images and we make sure that the images that we're using are approved by them and they feel comfortable with it, but like how special to get this free photo shoot. Get all these amazing images. We shot a mother and a baby and those are some of my favorite, like, it's so special. So intimate. And you're just like, this is real. This is like what real women look like. It's gorgeous.
Ashley:I think we crave that real. I feel like we haven't had it long enough that it's like that is what we want to see. I think for a lot of people, once you have that experience of feeling so special and feeling so confident, I feel like it's almost the spark that jumps you forward. Like that can inspire you to be like, I love feeling like this. I'm capable of feeling like this. How am I going to continue? Making this more of my reality and like incorporating this into my lifestyle.
Brittany:Absolutely. It's extremely empowering.
Ashley:Are your clothes strictly online or are you in any brick or mortar?
Brittany:Not in any brick or mortar yet. We just launched in June. So we're a brand new business. So I'm mostly doing it online. I try to do as many pop up events and trade shows. Like, I am in the new business hustle right now. I'm not going to lie. I am coming to terms with how involved this is to really get a brand out there. I have a new respect for new business owners that have made something for themselves because damn, it's challenging. I think with social media, too, there's a lot of companies that don't put out great products. I think at 1 time or another, we've all been scammed or receive something that's like, really crappy. So I think a lot of people are more hesitant to buy online. So I think it's just about building up, that trust with our, followers and with our clients that we do have great products. It was also really important for me to offer a product that's sustainable and made in LA. That was a non negotiable for me. I think self care is one thing, but that also translate to how we treat everything and everyone around us. So making sure that we're caring for our environment was vital for me. So even the packaging is biodegradable. Everything is eco friendly.
Ashley:I think it's so important to be, sustainable like that. I think coming out of the pandemic or during the pandemic, we kind of realized when stores weren't being stocked the same or when we couldn't find the same product. I think it really opened our eyes to realize. Where is our products coming from? Why can't we get them here now and really start to focus on shopping local shopping in places that were made close to where we live or where we live so that we are factoring in. If I'm ordering this, you know,$5 shirt from somewhere. And it's being shipped from the other side of the world, I'm thinking about the freight costs. I'm thinking about, that truck that drove it from whatever warehouse to my house, all of this sort of carbon footprint of where our products come from. And that's not to say, like, don't order online and don't have something shipped, but it's really just factoring in, is this something that, you know, is important that I can get local? Is it something that. Is sustainable. Is it something that's benefiting? Women makers that are making it a substantial way. All of those things I think are really important because it does matter if we are polluting our earth or what we're leaving behind.
Brittany:100%. I really wanted people to know that they aren't just buying an amazing, great quality, sustainable item. It's also, it's a clear conscience. We also donate 5 percent of all our proceeds to three women's organizations that we partner with. So we just really want to give back. We want to care for ourselves, care for others, and make an impact in the world. I just think. It's time.
Ashley:It's really important to have that value system. I think more companies need to have that. And I think more companies need to really think about sustainability and that donation piece. It's not easy for a new business, obviously, to donate anything, but I think when you're a massive corporation, I feel like you could be doing more without asking your consumers to, donate at the til or things like that.
Brittany:For sure. So when I went through the manufacturing process, which is a whole learning curve they actually damaged about 50 sweatshirts. The images were misprinted or they were just not right. It looks like there was some bleeding, they were faded and it was heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking to invest so much money and there's nothing to protect me. As a buyer from the company. So here I am stuck with 50 shirts that cost a lot of money to make and I couldn't do anything with them. So I decided to donate them because I'm like, they're not hideous. I'm not gonna sell them on my site for a standard I live by, but at least I can donate them. We partner with Dress for Success. So, you know, donating them there was, meaningful to be able to partner with them and just be able to at least give back so they're not going to waste.
Ashley:I definitely agree with you. How frustrating when it is stuff that's out of your control, it's one thing. It's like if you oopsie, it's like, okay, I messed up, but to purchase something and then yeah, to have your hands tied because of quality control as a new business, I can imagine how incredibly stressful that is.
Brittany:Yeah, it's been a really trying year. I guess the positive thing that has come out of it is I've learned so much about myself. I've really learned that I need to slow down in making decisions. I really need to manage my stress, manage my anxiety, because I like verged on mental breakdown. It was so much stress and so much money going out. And then to receive the product that you've worked two years on, and there's mistakes on it. I was gut wrenched, gut wrenched. And it was just a really valuable lesson of like, okay, here we go. This is just the beginning. Worst things are going to happen. You know, business owners, I mean, have to be tough and you have to be able to compartmentalize. And it's just really been such a valuable lesson and a growth experience for myself to go like, okay, Brittany, you gotta like, you have some work to do in the stress department. We gotta manage the anxiety better. We got to find better boundaries with work and personal life, you know, and I would say I'm a workaholic. It's hard to put your passions down sometimes.
Ashley:I definitely agree with that. And I think that it's also so awesome to take the challenge. How many people want to start a business or have an idea and they're just too scared or they talk themselves out of it. So no matter what the overall outcome of it is, at least you were brave enough to start the company, to take the chance and see what it could be.
Brittany:And tying back to, you know, my self love journey and my confidence journey. If this was five years ago, like I said, it took me five years to start this business. It took me years to gain the confidence to go. You know what? I think I have something here. I think I can create an impact in this world. I think I can help women.. Let's just fricking go for it. If it was five years ago, I wouldn't have done it. I didn't do it. It took me a long time to get the confidence to do it. So this isn't just another clothing line to me. This is growth for myself. It's proving to myself that I can do it. There's so many things tied to it. It's a billion things in one.
Ashley:I also think like how inspiring for people to realize, like, even if you do have this idea, Five years, 10 years, 15 years. Like it doesn't mean that it's too late. You can always try a new project. You could always try a new activity. You can always. Find something to better yourself whether you're coming to these realizations at 30, 40, 50, you're still capable of trying and doing all of these things. It's really inspiring when women. Or people are just hearing your story to know, okay, Hey, like it took her five years and she still ended up doing this thing, or it took her 10 years to decide that she felt comfortable, wearing a bathing suit or whatever the thing is that I just think sometimes we get in the mindset of like, I, had to do high school and then college and then get married and then have two kids and a dog and. Just live my life this way, but I just think it's so important that people can realize that your journey can zigzag all over the place and you can still be happy, healthy, and successful at the end of it.
Brittany:Really well said. And I couldn't agree more. I just actually did a whole post on this. You know, at 21, I got married. I moved to Scotland at 23. I got divorced, moved back to Canada, didn't know what I was going to do was a dancer. I'm like, okay, I was already personal training at the time, but I'm like, okay, I'm going to go travel. I'm going to dance on a cruise ship. And that's where I met my husband. And then I moved to Portland. I moved to the States, went through immigration, went through periods of time where I couldn't work because going through the immigration process wouldn't allow me to because I was waiting on my working visa. And just like ping ponging around, going through the biggest growth in my life, starting my personal training business on my own, not in a gym and then working the way up to gain confidence. So like start a clothing line and then this could work. Maybe it doesn't. You know, maybe my clothing line doesn't take off, but I didn't want to sit back and one day when I'm 50 wonder, could I have done it? I couldn't live. So it was worth taking the chance for me, whether it's successful or not.
Ashley:I love that. I really do hope it's successful. Like I didn't mean like, but I do love the fact that like, whether all of these things End up not being the way that we want them to. It's like to have that mindset of I'm okay. No matter what, like I tried it, it went great or it didn't work great. I joined this career and then I pivoted to this. Like no matter what, it's like just having that love within yourself. Of knowing that all of those outside things don't define you
Brittany:Yeah, I think society loves for us to focus on one thing, you know, you go to school and it's for one thing and it doesn't matter what your other interests are. You're going to go become doctor, go through that school and you're like, wow, I'm a doctor now. And you start practicing and you're like, well, fuck, I don't want to be a doctor. What do I do? And I think a lot of a lot of my clients, a lot of people we know end up having this. Career change in their forties and fifties, because one, you're more whole, you've a better understanding of yourself. You often are more aligned with your passions and you know yourself better. So you're like, wow, why that's great that I became a doctor. That was a lot of work, gain some experiences there, but it's not what I'm passionate about. And that career change is becoming more and more popular.
Ashley:Yeah, because I think we realize that we don't have to fit one mold anymore and you don't have to settle and if you make a mistake, like you're not defined by that mistake, you don't have to live in it. There's so many different avenues and opportunities for people that it's like, they just have to be brave enough to take that chance.
Brittany:I think sharing too. I know even when it comes to social media, like the algorithm doesn't like you having multiple interests. It doesn't know where to put you. That's something I struggle with because I'm like, yes, I'm a personal trainer nutritionist. I am so passionate and I'm very good at what I do, but I also love beauty. I was a makeup artist for years. But I've also worked in fashion my whole life. I've gone to fashion week. I've worked with major brands. I've worked as a stylist. Like I have so many things to offer and things that I love, but the algorithm pigeonholes you, which is like what society does. Like heaven forbid you have more than one thing that you love to do or that you're good at. And I think the biggest thing for me is for a long time, I felt like I had to choose. And I'm like, okay, well, my business, personal training and nutrition, I mean, that's like my bread and butter. I'm like, we're going to focus on that. And for a really long time, I felt not fulfilled because I was ignoring probably my best quality, which is my creativity, my creative brain. That's who I am as a dancer, as an artist and fashion as a makeup artist. I was ignoring that. And it wasn't until I started wants and needs and finally starting to fulfill that side of myself, but I felt a whole new light inside me. And I'm like, oh, wow, I've been suppressing this for years because I thought I had to, and I just want people to know, like, you can do more than 1 thing. You can follow your passions and still have your mind thought you have your side hustles a phrase for a reason. You can have our side hustles and your hobbies and the things that bring you joy. Don't give those up. Those are probably the things that you're going to succeed in the most.
Ashley:It's really when you show your authentic side, like the algorithm is so annoying in the sense that like, whether you niche down, whether you have 10 content pullers, they'll switch it up for you. You'll become an expert photographer and you'll have all your followers and then they'll decide that you have to do reels and everything has to be video. So it's like, yeah, you can never. You have to be so careful catering to fitting into those molds, like you said, because they'll change them on you once you think you have it. So it's like you kind of just have to put it all out there and hope that your audience sort of connects with you that way, which will drive the algorithm. But it is super helpful.
Brittany:I think we're in. A day and age where so many people have so many multiple things to offer and it's like, why not? Why not just put yourself out there and it's usually your passions that, people can pick up on and see, and you know, they can feel it from you, which ends up making you more successful anyway.
Ashley:We all have those differences or like those things that we think are weird about us. And it's like, we try again to try to fit into. Oh, you know, Brittany's doing this. I should do it too. Where it's like your weirdness is what makes you so special and will probably help you find your passion a little bit easier than being concerned what the next person is doing
Brittany:yeah. I think for years I was really like when I'm going through the phase of like, okay, Brittany, you have to choose personal training. This is your goal. This is what you're going to focus on. This is what your social media is going to be. This is what you're doing full time, which I am doing in full time. But I was a little bit worried, I'm like, what if I start sharing my other passions are people not going to take me as seriously as a personal trainer and nutritionist. If I start sharing these things, those thoughts did go through my mind. And eventually I was like, well, whatever, this is me. I'm really good at what I do, but I also love this too. Whatever. I'm just going to go for it. If people want to stay and listen and watch, then cool. People want to unfollow me because I talk about explant surgery or body positivity, then good for them.
Ashley:Well, that's the thing. It's like, you kind of just have to, like, if they unfollow them, they weren't meant for you anyways, but it's like, okay, bye. Yeah. If people wanted to work with you on the personal training or nutritionalist side, do you work in person or online or both?
Brittany:I do both. So if you're in Portland, I can take clients here in person. I guess the huge gift about COVID is I think people got way more comfortable with virtual. So even my Portland clients are like, I don't want to drive that traffic. Let's just do it from home. You know, Sweet. That's great. I have a very close connection with all my clients. It's a very vulnerable process, and we nine times out of 10 end up becoming very close friends. So I like to be very real with my clients. So if you want to work out your pajamas, sweet. But, yeah, so you can work out with me virtually or in person, whatever suits you best. And then my personal training also comes with nutrition, but I also offer nutrition as a side just in case people just want to focus on that 1st, or maybe, I mean, we always have to take into consideration personal training and having a nutritionist is a luxury. So, maybe they can't afford the personal training, but they still want to make improvements on the health. At least I can do the nutrition.
Ashley:It's awesome to have the different options. Can you tell people if they're looking for you online where they can find you?
Brittany:Yes, they can find me@brittanyvenner.com. That's my website, and then my hashtag urin site. My hashtag, what is it called for social media? Your hand. That is what I was trying to say. It's just at Brittany Venner.
Ashley:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for having this conversation with me today.
Brittany:Thank you so much for having me. This is so wonderful.
Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the filled up cup podcast. Don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a review. If you like what you hear, you can also connect with us at filledupcup.Com. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode.
