Merch as a Mission: How Sam Hall Markets Matrescence with Welcome Mama Co.

What if a t-shirt could start a healing journey?

In this episode of The Consistency Corner, I’m joined by Sam Hall—Certified Seasons of Matrescence™ Educator, podcast host, and the founder of Welcome Mama Co. Sam shares how she’s using merch with a message to open the door to deeper support for moms, and how her brand is grounded in the mission to make mothers feel seen, heard, and supported.

We talk about the identity shifts that happen in motherhood, what matrescence really means, and how marketing can be more than just visibility—it can be connection.

You’ll hear:

• How Sam went from educator to merch-based founder
  
  
  
• Why she uses her monthly collections in the customer journey
  
  
  
• What she’s learned about marketing while mothering in real time
  
  
  
• How she’s navigating the balance between personal and brand content
  
  
  

Plus, we dig into the real mental load of content creation, what’s working on social (and what’s not), and how to stay rooted in your mission while still showing up online.

If you’re a founder serving moms—or you are a mom trying to do business in a way that honors your season—you’re going to feel seen in this one.

🔗 Connect with Sam:
 Instagram: https://instagram.com/samthomsonhall
Shop + Resources: https://welcome-mama.com

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

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

Transcript

Ruthie Sterrett (00:00.73)
All right, Sam, I am so excited to have you as a guest here on the consistency corner today and hear all about your mission at welcome mamaco and what you're doing with merchandise to support missions. And Sam and I connected on Instagram through a mutual friend and I just loved what she was doing with her shirts, which we'll get into and talk about. But we were kind of DMing and she said, you know, I'm really using

Sam (00:13.858)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Sterrett (00:28.934)
the shirts as a way to like open the door for moms to get the support that they need. So I love that it's like the product is the entryway and it's like more than just a shirt. It's so much more than that. So I'm really excited to get into all of that today, but tell our listeners a little bit more about your business, the Welcome Mamaco, how you got into it and what you're really passionate about with your mission.

Sam (00:35.074)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (00:42.808)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (00:52.982)
Okay, awesome. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. So I am by trade, I have a elementary and middle level education minor and then my master's in exercise science. And so I've been like educating my whole life through schools and then through fitness is I worked in fitness for about 10 years. But then the pandemic happened and I didn't really want to be in a room with like 38.

strangers and like sweating all over me. And so I ended up starting to work from home. And I did that through having my first child, my son in 2021. And I had always wanted to be a mom. Like really, my career was always just like buying time until I became a mom. And then I was just, I would just want to be a mom. All I wanted to do. And then I became a mom and my son was super challenging. He ended up having a tongue and lip tie that went undiagnosed for a while.

And so I just felt like I was just not cut out for this. He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, he was uncomfortable all the time. They told me he was just colic and brushed me off. And it was a really rocky entry into motherhood. And it wasn't until my son was about 18 months old that I learned the term matressence, which is the transition into motherhood. It's a developmental process of becoming a mother. And I was able to take that.

that word hit me like such a brick wall because I was able to look back on the past year and a half of my life and go, my God, I wasn't bad at this, I wasn't broken. Like all of these changes I felt that I wasn't supposed to be experiencing were meant to happen. I was meant to change, I was meant to develop, I wasn't meant to stay the same, but I had in my mind that I was supposed to bounce back and I watched my friends work through their maternity leaves and I watched my friends take their kids to events.

And all of these things that I was like, why can't I do this? This feels so much harder than I ever thought it would be. And so it was having that realization. And then I started to kind of tell people a little bit about it. Every time I would talk to somebody, I'd say the word and they'd be like, there's a word for that. And it started to like open me up to this, like, okay, I am not alone. I am not alone at all. And I've always had this like kind of, I didn't love it about myself for the first 34 years of my life, but this thing where

Sam (03:13.354)
I figure something out and then I need to tell everybody about it or I need to like be the microphone and the megaphone and be like, why aren't we talking about this? And I used to think that was such an annoying thing I would do. So like, why can't I let these things go? But now I've really embraced that it's just like who I am and it's part of my, my design. And so I took Matreston's and I became a Matreston's educator. I went through certifications for that. I started studying the sociology of motherhood, which is just how s-

society and culture impacts our experience of being a mom and it like Talk about like a glass shattering. It was it is to this day every I would say almost every day I have something happen where I'm like, okay, we need to talk about that We need to talk about that and it's just been so enlightening to me and it's become my mission to make motherhood more enjoyable for moms and to help them feel seen and heard and not alone in this their experience and I do that by

creating things and sharing stuff that will help make motherhood, whether that's easier, better, really just like more enjoyable is my key mission. And again, now I do that through the things that I make and the things that I talk about on social media.

Ruthie Sterrett (04:25.126)
Yeah. So, matressence, like you said, like you heard that word and you were like, my God, there is a word for this. And for those that are not familiar, it's like adolescence is a stage of you, you know, going from being a child to a teenager to an adult. Matressence is the phase of becoming not a mom to a mom. And I can imagine, like I'm a mom of a nine-year-old, there's phases of matressence because every phase of motherhood is different. Being a toddler mom is different than a newborn mom.

Sam (04:27.63)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (04:31.47)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (04:39.491)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (04:44.194)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (04:50.894)
Yep.

Ruthie Sterrett (04:54.948)
is different than an elementary school, is different than a teenager mom, right?

Sam (04:56.47)
Mm-hmm. Yes, yep, it's an ongoing developmental process. So once you start this matressin's journey, it never ends until you're no longer here. Even if your child is gone, you are still a mom and you are still going through these evolutions constantly. And it's one of the things that makes motherhood so hard is that when our kids change, we have to change with them. We have to meet them where they are because imagine if you went,

Ruthie Sterrett (05:02.386)
you

Sam (05:24.888)
to your nine year old and talk to him like you talked to him when he was nine months old. Like that would never work if you gave him the same type of supervision you gave him when he was nine months old. That would never work if you had the same expectations for him or yourself. And so it's this constant evolution. And it is like, we call it the seasons of matressens because it is like seasonal. There are seasons that are harder. There are seasons that are easier. There are seasons where we don't really know who we are. We don't know how to parent this child now. And then there are seasons when we...

We are very confident in who we are and how we parent. And then of course, then something changes and we enter a fall where you don't really know anything anymore. And it is cyclical. And that is one of those things for me, especially learning how the cyclical nature of it gave me so much more permission to say like, yeah, this is a tough one. I don't know what we're doing right now. I don't know who I am right now, but I don't need to rush it. I can be here until it's time for me to figure it out. Like there's a really famous quote that I love where it's like, a flower doesn't bloom before it's time.

Ruthie Sterrett (06:14.801)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (06:23.084)
And we don't rush a flower, right? We don't tell a flower, like, come on, it's winter, you need to bloom. Right, exactly, hurry up. So we need to give ourselves that same grace and that's what Matrossens has done for me.

Ruthie Sterrett (06:27.152)
Hurry up, Bloom!

Ruthie Sterrett (06:34.054)
Yeah, and there's so much content out there, books, podcasts, Instagram content about, you know, children and childhood development. And I think we're all taught like every baby's different and we know that, but like every motherhood journey is different. Every mom is different. And so for you, you're like, I experienced something that was different than what my friends were experiencing, but there's not as much content out there sharing.

Sam (06:47.939)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (06:52.398)
time.

Ruthie Sterrett (07:02.256)
what your journey might look like.

Sam (07:02.368)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And it's almost too to the point of like, we put ourselves in these camps now. And this is something that's been living in my mind rent free lately. Because one of the things that I talk about a lot is being just a mom. And we have shirts that say, a mom. And the way I think about being just a mom is this kind of flipping that on its head, where usually it's meant to diminish us, right? Like, you're just a mom. When the strengths that motherhood has given me are

comparable to nothing else in my life and being just a mom means I am a million things all at once. I am everything to everyone all of the time. But another way I think about this is like at the end of the day we are all just moms making the choice that is best for us but we've been through social media and through these these types of kids and parents that we are now really labeling like crunchy mom, scrunchy mom, soccer mom, wine mom, electrolyte mom. Like there are all these different

Ruthie Sterrett (07:45.703)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (08:01.006)
camps we put ourselves in because, and I think that's really because we are not taught how to navigate finding ourselves again after motherhood or navigate that becoming. So rather than figure out who am I now, who am I becoming, who have I become, we just slap a label on it of like, I'm a crunchy mom and these are the things that I care about now because this is who I am. When like, who are you if tomorrow all of that went away?

Ruthie Sterrett (08:08.574)
Yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (08:26.95)
Yeah, that's really fascinating because there is such a desire to belong. And because we become a mom, the woman that we were nine months previously, like she's gone. She's a new woman. And so we want to figure out how to belong. And so I totally can see how like we pick a group and say like, okay, this is me. But maybe that isn't right. Or maybe that isn't right forever. And then you go through this identity shift. I went through this thing.

Sam (08:29.048)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Sam (08:38.562)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sam (08:46.797)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (08:53.692)
where when I became a mom, I am a boy mom, I self identified that a boy mom is a sports mom. Like that's who I was gonna be. And I that was my decision. And then when my son was like wanting to quit all of these different sports that he was playing, it devastated me. And my husband was like, are you so mad? Like who cares? And I had to really reflect and it was like, this is because I have identified as a sports mom. And if he doesn't play sports,

Sam (09:21.026)
Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Sterrett (09:23.462)
then who am I?

Sam (09:25.198)
Yes, yes, that is so there's 100 % the example like you because that's that is pretty inevitable in motherhood that there is going to be something that you envisioned you imagined and that it doesn't go to plan. Like people like myself who like I you know, told everybody I told everybody I was gonna breastfeed Oh my god, why would I bottle feed? That's so expensive. I was gonna breastfeed I can't wait. And then my son had a tongue and lip tie and he couldn't breastfeed and it became this huge like

Well, I'm a failure because I couldn't do what I said I was going to do rather than having these things be just choices and things that are things that we care about. it, I, if you want to be a crunchy mom and care about all of those, those things, and that's wonderful, but you don't need to tie yourself to that because what happens when your kid maybe doesn't like the foods that you're serving or starts to want something that you're not in alignment with, what is that going to do to your identity? And so it is like,

I think there's so much power in understanding that Matrest experience so that you can find that belonging in yourself because and that we can start, you know, if we can bring this together as just moms instead of thinking that we have the answers, right? Like, well, I know how to do this. So when she lives a life that's different than mine, then I feel threatened. It's like, no, I understand that she is doing what's best for her family, just as I'm doing this best for my family. And I give her that unconditional positive regard that like,

you got this girl, like I'm here in your corner to support you in whatever your decisions are, as long as no one's getting hurt, right?

Ruthie Sterrett (10:58.674)
Yeah, so I'm curious with your business journey and starting the Welcome Mom & Co, you learned this information. You knew that it was something you wanted to shout from the rooftops because more people needed to know what came first, the planner, the podcast, the workshops, kind of walk me through that journey.

Sam (11:02.562)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (11:16.91)
Yeah, this is fun because it's like still something that's evolving for me and I think always will. And I love that because it does mirror motherhood in my experience so much. And initially, just as in motherhood, that felt like a failure to me where it was like, you need to have the answers. You need to know what you're doing. High achiever women, we need to have the answers. And I don't have the answers. I just am now leaning into what works and what doesn't is also redirection, which is great. But for me, it started with the, you know, I really,

The course I went through was for coaching and supporting women through matressins. And one thing that I think, I don't know if you've heard it a lot from mom business owners, but one of the hardest things is getting women to invest in themselves, specifically moms, because we don't have time. We don't have a lot of times we're not making our own money, especially if we are stay at home moms. We are spending money on everybody else and we take a back seat and we're taught.

that that is what we are supposed to do. There is conditioning very, very early on when we talk about the sociology of motherhood that being selfless is the number one thing we need to do as being moms. so coaching was something that I was, it had envisioned and I was like, I just don't see myself doing this and I don't see how it work. And I've coached for 10 years and I'm kind of burnt out of that. So I started doing the podcast and then had the idea for my journal and day planner and

got picked up by a publisher right away and so decided to do that. then the merch was just something that I was like, I want to shirt this as just a mom because having my second, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to go back into work the way that I had wanted to and still have the motherhood experience that I wanted, which is something I talk to women a lot about is value.

Ruthie Sterrett (13:00.881)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (13:05.293)
based motherhood and your micro values for the season of matress that you're in. Like your main values will probably always stay the same, but micro values for the season you're in are those things that shift. And I knew that I wanted to be super, super present with my daughter. And that meant that I would have to take a little step back in my business. just knew that I couldn't experience both the way that I wanted to if I was all in on both. And so

Ruthie Sterrett (13:31.75)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (13:33.374)
I like, I always wanted to be just a mom as a little girl. That was like the end goal. And so how come now as a 34 year old, when I say that, I feel like that's not enough. What was told to me and shared to me and shown to me that makes me feel like this thing that was my epitome of being is not enough. And so I want to wear this on a shirt and I want to be like, know, middle finger to everybody who has ever told me, made me think that that's not enough. And

Ruthie Sterrett (13:52.549)
Mm-hmm.

I will not be late.

Sam (14:02.016)
I was like, if anybody else wants one, let me know. And I thought I would, you my mom and my sister-in-law would want one. And then I got a ton of replies. And so I made them. And then that became this like, again, following those breadcrumbs, doing what works. And I had always loved making, like designing clothes, making clothes. my friend in, I grew up in a small town and one of my best friends' mom's owned

the screen printing shop in town. And so I would always take in my stuff and have like different things put on my yoga pants and just always wanted my things to be unique and different. And so it just felt so great to do that. And so since then, we've done another collection and now we're doing this maternal mental health collection. And it's really been like, everything that we've done so far has led up to this and it's been really cool to watch that.

Ruthie Sterrett (14:56.688)
Yeah, I love that that you found something that you were passionate about. And I love how it like connects all the dots to even like as a kid, you loved screen printing shirts and making things and having them be unique. And that that message, it's kind of even like how we go back to you label yourself as a certain type of mom, like the clothes that we put on our body and the things that we purchase, we do use those to identify who we are. And so

Sam (15:04.514)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (15:08.824)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (15:15.971)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (15:23.16)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Sterrett (15:25.266)
It's like just a mom. It's like, yeah, that really resonates with me. And like, that is how I'm feeling. And so you've talked about like, okay, we're gonna use, we wanna use this merchandise as a way to like open the door to talk about and have conversations about what it means to invest in ourselves, what it means to care for ourselves. When you think about like your vision for the Welcome Mama Co. And I know you're like, I'm trying to just take it one step at a time, but like, what is that big vision?

Sam (15:29.154)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (15:37.528)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (15:47.118)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (15:53.32)
girl, I'm taking it one step at a time, but there is that end goal. that's the hardest part for me as being a mompreneur is knowing that the things I could do are going to take me longer, but it's just having that steadfast vision. My end goal is to have Welcome Mama Co. The co actually stands for collaborative because I want it to be a business of women-owned businesses supporting each other.

And so Welcome Mama would still be making merch and still be doing merch traps and still be doing the outreach that I am an advocacy that I'm so passionate about and that is the end goal for everything I do. But I want to have women who have their own businesses supporting Welcome Mama and, you know, do it in the ways that I already contract out, but have them have their own space within our Welcome Mama space so that they can bring in their own clients. They can have their own fully functioning businesses, be the business owner that they want to be.

while still supporting Welcome Mama and giving women that opportunity to have what we would call a mattress-centric workplace, meaning motherhood is at the center, that we are moms first and then business owners. So for me, all of the things that already support Welcome Mama, but then also things that support women like coaching, like one of my favorite practitioners, subconscious reprogramming.

things like that that would support moms and if I can maybe get you to buy a shirt and I can get you into the ecosystem by just buying something cute because we all get ourselves the little treat we all get ourselves you know that maybe it's a fun gift for ourselves on Mother's Day or you know water bottle or a sticker or something like that if I can get you to just like get a shirt and pull you into the ecosystem and see what else there is out there see these other women doing these things see these other women here to support you then maybe I can get you to come to a workshop maybe I can get you to invest in some coaching for yourself

Ruthie Sterrett (17:47.676)
Yeah.

Sam (17:50.7)
and really just can change that conditioning to be that I shouldn't spend on myself, to I should spend on myself. Because I think one of the most ridiculous jokes in motherhood to me is like, we should know how to do this naturally. We shouldn't need help. We should be good moms inherently. When in actuality, if we did ask for help, if we did get support, if we did educate ourselves and learn a little bit more about how to do these things, we'd actually be be...

we'd actually be better moms, but society tells us, right, but society tells us we shouldn't need them. So we don't do them. And then we stay quiet and miserable. it really, when we look at the overall, again, back to sociology of motherhood, a lot of systems benefit from us being unhappy. A lot of system benefit from us being quiet. And that's the main mission of Welcome Mama is that we don't stay quiet. put that, sorry, can I swear? Okay, we put that shit on a shirt. We don't stay quiet.

Ruthie Sterrett (18:21.222)
And we feel better.

Ruthie Sterrett (18:45.339)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. First of all, I'm obsessed with a matricentric workplace. Like that is the best thing I've heard all week. Because the typical capitalistic, patriarchal workplace is not designed to help moms thrive. And moms, we are like the freaking, you know, drivers of the next generation. And we've got to be able to have

Sam (19:05.752)
Mm-mm. No.

Sam (19:15.758)
Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Sterrett (19:16.12)
space and capacity to care for ourselves, to care for our families. And many of us want to also still do work that lights us up. You know, we don't, there's a lot of people who don't want to be stay at home moms, or they want to do that for a season, but then they're ready to get back into doing work that they love. And I am just like, love that. We're so aligned on that vision for a mattress centric workplace. I'm so interested with

Sam (19:24.855)
Yeah.

Sam (19:32.206)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (19:39.064)
Yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (19:42.506)
Welcome Mama Collaborative and you've got a social media handle for that and you're dropping the merch and then you've got your own personal brand social media. How are you balancing the two and how does that feel for you in terms of like marketing right now?

Sam (19:56.766)
Horrible. I'm terrible at it. I am so bad at it. I am much more comfortable on my personal account and I have been posting on social media for gosh like Consistently probably like ten years and just more so like for fun. I've always loved creating and then when I worked in fitness I had to post for my job and

Ruthie Sterrett (19:57.775)
Hahaha!

Sam (20:24.706)
That was never enjoyable. And then when I left that, still kind of treated social media the same. And it's always been like this like love hate relationship where I like making things and then I hate sharing it because I hate if it doesn't do well, how that would make me feel. just like that feedback loop. And then about a year ago, I joined the Do Less Club with Harley Jordan. And it's a group of creators and we just worked together on our social media.

Hang ups and things like that. And ever since then, I've been thinking about content completely differently and now I love it. And that within the last year, I've seen my social media following double. I love making content. I love sharing content. I don't get the that I would normally get from a post not doing great. And so that's where I'm like very comfortable over on my social media. But when it comes to like marketing myself and marketing the products and being a business, that's where I

I do struggle a little bit over on my business account, mainly because it's just one more thing I have to do. I really just don't think to do it, which is, it's already enough to be like, okay, I got to post today, I got to show up on Stories today, I got to do all of those things, but then to think about doing it again and then how do I do that in a different way when I am the business right now, that is tricky, but it's mainly right now kind of a placeholder for...

what it could be, what I hope it will be one day, but for now it's like, I'll share, I'll collaborate with it, but I don't, I'm not super active on it, and I want that to change. I just don't know if I'm in a place for that to change, if that makes sense.

Ruthie Sterrett (22:05.798)
Yeah, that's something that I hear from so many female business owners. And for some of them, it's easier to lean into the company brand. For some like you, it's easier to lean into the personal brand. But for most, it's hard to be consistent with both. And it's because social media in and of itself has a big mental load because it's a constant

Sam (22:10.05)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (22:18.36)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sam (22:26.434)
Yes.

Ruthie Sterrett (22:28.786)
hamster wheel of creation. And like you said, there's the whole like, psychological, like, what if it doesn't do well? And is what people want to hear? And is this actually working? It's, it's absolutely a lot. And so I love to like normalize those conversations, because I think we often scroll social media and think like, well, she can do it, and she's doing great. And all this is working for her. I'm the only one who's struggling with it. But like, it's totally normal to struggle with trying to manage multiple platforms.

Sam (22:38.168)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (22:43.619)
Mm.

Sam (22:51.875)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's so much. that mental load is very real, especially with social media. I've seen several people recently talk about, like, a lot of people want to do social media as a side job or be an influencer as a side job. And it is not a side job anymore. Social media is a completely different beast than it was 10 years ago, where you could just post something with a link or post a cute outfit. It has to be creative. has to be...

It has have a good caption. has to have be posted at the right time. There's so many different things that go into a single post and then you gotta think about another one for the next day. It's just, it is this hamster wheel and it's exhausting. And so thank you for normalizing that because I do wish I was better at it, but I also, have, don't beat myself up about that one because I'm like, how could you? How do you when it's just all you?

Ruthie Sterrett (23:47.77)
Yeah. Yeah. And it's a long game. And it's like, I always relate it to health and fitness of like, you can prepare a salad and eat that healthy salad and go for that walk, but you got to do it again tomorrow. And you got to do it again tomorrow. And you're probably not going to see results for a while. And it's the exact same thing with creating content and posting on social media. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Sam (24:02.957)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (24:07.517)
my God.

Sam (24:11.768)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely.

Ruthie Sterrett (24:16.07)
I'm really curious in terms of outside of social media, your marketing strategy and kind of where you think today social media fits in the customer journey.

Sam (24:28.046)
Right now, social media is my really like for the season I'm in. for context, my kids are home most of the time. I have a babysitter Monday, Tuesday and Fridays mornings. And then my son goes to daycare on preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And so most of the time I have my baby girl with me. She's nine months old. And I don't have, I've

One thing's been very difficult this time with having two kids is like, I don't have time. I can't go anywhere. I can't like do a lot of things unless I bring her with me. And now she's at the age where she wants to crawl all over everything all the time. And so what I did before, like in the past with like networking and doing events, I can't do as easily anymore. So social media has been my primary source of marketing as well as going on podcasts like yours.

and doing things like, I'm going to be on their news in a couple of weeks and just trying to like find any place where I can speak that's within those windows of, of, you know, having childcare. and so, yeah, I, I, so I answered the question.

Ruthie Sterrett (25:45.584)
Yeah, so it sounds like for you right now, social media is a bigger piece of the puzzle than maybe it has been in the past. And so as you think about, and if you're listening, I want you to think about this for your own business. Like, what is my top of funnel? Where am I attracting new eyes to your business? And if you're like, I can't go to networking events, I can't get out and do a lot of stuff and meet people in person. So for you, it's being on podcasts, being on the news, media placements, but then thinking about your social media of like where...

Sam (25:50.728)
Mm-hmm

Sam (26:08.066)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Sterrett (26:13.732)
or what tools and strategies in social is top of funnel. And that means like, you're like, Ruthie, what are you talking about top of funnel? It's attracting new eyes to your business. So with social media, that's typically reels because we know reels are getting shown to people that are more not your followers. It's also experimenting with other platforms like threads. We were talking a little bit about threads before we hit record and it's experimenting and trying those new things.

Sam (26:26.958)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (26:31.533)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (26:35.853)
Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Sterrett (26:41.872)
And I think for a lot of my clients and people that I have conversations with, ends up being a middle of funnel tool where it's like where people get to know you and how you nurture them. And there's no right answer. It's just like freaking motherhood and raising a child. Every baby's different. Every business is different. Every mom is different. The way social media fits in your business is going to be different than anybody else. And it's not that you're like having to find the perfect answer or the right answer.

Sam (26:51.787)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ruthie Sterrett (27:10.832)
It's just that you're being strategic and intentional and understanding what is social media's job in my business and what are the metrics or the parameters I'm using to judge whether or not it's doing its job.

Sam (27:14.158)
Mm-hmm.

Sam (27:24.374)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And I find that using my audiences is always great, but then also tapping into other people's audiences and finding those people who I think... My biggest thing with the work that I do is like, who is going to be a good voice for this mission, right? Like, who is going to be somebody who, even if I just send you a shirt and you wear it...

out in the world, like that's gonna get eyes on what we're trying to do. And putting that out there and saying like, wanna work with so and so, I want to, whether that's like sharing that on my stories or messaging them directly, some there's been for me, especially with what I do, there's a lot of content around and a lot of viral content around motherhood. So stitching those videos, reaching out to the Aboriginal creators and saying, can I send you a shirt?

Those have been really, really impactful things for me because I know that their audience is also interested in what I'm talking about. So if I can get them something, then their audience can see it as well.

Ruthie Sterrett (28:29.296)
Yeah and I love that because at the end of the day social media the first word in it is social so it's about relationships it's about connecting with people and media the content piece is the second piece of it so I love that you're using it as a way to prioritize collaborations and create those connections.

Sam (28:34.762)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Sam (28:42.156)
Yes.

Sam (28:47.626)
and comment, the comment sections. I have had such success with being in a comment section being like, this is Matressens by the way, and if you want to learn more, like, hi, I'm Sam, and know, hundreds of likes, dozens of followers, just from like that one little comment. That's been super helpful and something I don't do nearly enough, but that I, it's just kind of hard sometimes to figure out how do you say that without being like, hey, well, come follow me over here. It's like,

Ruthie Sterrett (28:49.586)
So, see you later.

Sam (29:16.928)
No, if you want to learn more about this, like I got you, like I got this for you. And that's been helpful.

Ruthie Sterrett (29:19.986)
Yeah, for sure. I love that. All right. Well, we could sit here and chat about matressants and social media and all the things forever. But I want to wrap up with a couple of like rapid fire get to know you questions just so we can learn a little bit more about you as a human. So we've got, let's see, five questions here. And I just want you to like, don't overthink it. The first thing that comes to mind. I'd love to know what are you currently reading?

Sam (29:26.542)
you

Sam (29:34.414)
Yeah.

Sam (29:45.855)
nothing.

Ruthie Sterrett (29:46.738)
Like I have two kids that are under like a certain age. I don't have time to read.

Sam (29:52.404)
No, my friend Jeanette just sent me a bunch of books to read and I want to, but I'm just on my second consecutive rewatch of Grey's Anatomy because I cannot consume any new information. I just need predictable.

Ruthie Sterrett (30:03.31)
Yes, well that led me to the next question of what are you watching? So we're Bingeing Grey's Anatomy.

Sam (30:07.982)
huh, again, yep, again.

Ruthie Sterrett (30:10.134)
love it. i can't believe okay i watched it way back in the day and i can't believe how long that show lasted. i mean it's insane and it's still on like crazy crazy crazy. all right what are you currently listening to and this could be podcasts or like what's on your playlist?

Sam (30:13.964)
Mm-hmm.

it's still on. Yeah, it's still on. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sam (30:27.982)
I'm listening to The Rex, the band The Rex and the band The Home Team on repeat. I have not listened to anything new for like a year. It's so good. Especially if you like pop punk, both of them are fantastic.

Ruthie Sterrett (30:41.404)
Fun, I love it. All right, how do you rest or recharge or re-energize yourself outside of like what we all know, sleep? Like what are some things that can really re-energize you when you're feeling drained?

Sam (30:52.418)
Yeah.

Sam (30:56.812)
dancing and that music. It could truly make me cry. Like I'm choked up talking about this, but I'm so grateful for music in my motherhood journey because I've always loved music. I've always been a super huge fan of music. And if I didn't have that, that's been a piece of me that has stayed. See, I'm like tearing up right now. But finding new music and finding songs that light me up, it will forever just like true.

light up is the only way I can say it where I just feel like I'm alive and I'm so lucky to still have that.

Ruthie Sterrett (31:29.52)
Yeah, I think as high achievers, I know I went through this phase of like all we listen to is podcasts or audio books and personal development and all of this and like sometimes put on a playlist of the songs you love when you were freaking 22 and roll the windows down and like have fun with it. Yeah. All right. Well, the last question is who is a mom supporting brand or solution that you have found that you would really love to amplify that more people need to know about?

Sam (31:43.374)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Mm-hmm. Yep, 100%.

Sam (32:01.79)
I, little words project, is, they make friendship bracelets. I have a ton of them. I've made my own welcome mama ones because I'm manifesting a collection with them someday. they do a really great job of advocating for moms. It's a mom owned business and, they have seen so much success and have really ridden the waves of culture, especially with like Taylor Swift and the friendship bracelets and the heirs to her.

The way that they latch onto those cultural moments has really boosted their success. And that's something that I hope Wacomama can do as well in our shirts and in our language.

Ruthie Sterrett (32:40.198)
Yeah, I love that. All right. Well, this has been such a fun conversation for listeners who want to dive deeper and understand more about mattresses. They want to check out the merch. Where should they hang? Where should they go?

Sam (32:53.57)
Well, as we established, my personal Instagram is probably the best place for where I am. And that's at Sam Thompson Hall on Instagram, no P in Thompson. And you can also check out welcome-mama.com for resources and to shop as well.

Ruthie Sterrett (33:09.778)
Yeah, and we'll link all that in the show notes. And again, thank you so much for being here. This is a lot of fun.

Sam (33:14.604)
Yeah, thanks, Ruthie.