ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Love (0:00), Mary Catherine shares how her comics began with very personal, real-life stories, why going viral brought an influx of trolls, and how she adapted her creative work by moving more personal comics behind a paywall (5:30), changing the systems that place so much responsibility on mothers (11:00), Mary Catherine talks about being thoughtful about what stories belong to her children, and the outrageous things kids say (14:30).
WATCH ON YOUTUBE @ https://youtu.be/qqU_REdvzSQ
Hosts: Cherice Barton, Shelly Hutchinson
Guest: Mary Catherine Starr
Producer: Jessica RG O’Keefe, Breatheasy Productions
Follow Mary Catherine Starr:
Website https://www.marycatherinestarr.com/
Mary Catherine’s Book Mama Needs a Minute!
Instagram @momlife_comics
Facebook @marycatherinestarr
Email marycatherinestarr@gmail.com
Two Bloom Creative https://www.twobloomcreative.com/
On Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215749103-mama-needs-a-minute
Follow Us:
Instagram @creativemamasunplugged
Facebook @creativemamasunplugged
Apple Podcasts @CreativeMamasUnplugged
Spotify @CreativeMamasUnplugged
Amazon Music @CreativeMamasUnplugged
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iHeart Radio @CreativeMamasUnplugged
Podbean @CreativeMamasUnplugged
Mary Catherine’s Story:
Where to begin? First, I grew up in Atlanta, GA. Then I went to college at a small liberal arts school in Kentucky. Four years later, I was a recent college grad living in NYC and working in marketing.
In 2009, my then-boyfriend, now-husband, Ben, and I moved to Washington, DC for his job and I got another corporate desk job (not a great fit for my creative, entrepreneurial soul). So I became a yoga teacher and quit my corporate job to focus on yoga, art, and blogging (which is when I started my blog, Starr Struck). I became a yoga studio director. I opened an Etsy shop and started making greeting cards. I taught all of the yoga and wrote all of the blog posts and did lots of custom art on the side.
In 2012, Ben and I got married and decided to move to Cape Cod (Ben’s hometown) to settle down and eventually start a family…which we did in 2016.
Since then, I’ve started (and run) a graphic design + consulting business, taught yoga at many studios and in many different places, started and ended two podcasts, continued to create products and run my shop, had two kids, and eventually created @momlife_comics, an Instagram account where I share the challenges (+ joys!) of motherhood, marriage, and being a woman in this world.
These days I’m teaching a lot less yoga and creating a lot more comics (my first book, a comic memoir entitled Mama Needs a Minute!, came out in March, 2025!), but I’m still a graphic designer + mom by day and teach two yoga classes per week. I’ve decided that finding balance is impossible but I am always doing my best to find joy amidst the insanity that is daily life with two young children.
