Inspiration moves in mysterious ways. When Katrin Klimova first heard the famous “Just Do It” slogan, her life as a teenager was bound for anywhere but greatness. Now she uses her 1.5 million strong, family-first audience to inspire others.
Katrin Klimova’s family-focused account on Instagram has 1.5 million followers. Hers is one of the most successful mompreneur stories to come from the Russian diaspora. Before the idyllic family with three beautiful children, two popular brands for kids and pre-teens, and motivational speaking engagements, she was facing many challenges. Born on the Russian Pacific coast, she lost her family by the time she turned twelve years old. Her mother tragically died, and her troubled father was denied parental custody. Saved by grandmother’s love and care, she took up sports, crafts, and languages. She also took the iconic sports motto to heart. “I knew from a young age that nothing is guaranteed. You must go after your dreams with all the passion you have in your heart. Nobody is going to just give you professional success, financial stability, personal fulfillment,” says Katrin. Today she inspires women of the Russian diaspora worldwide not just creating family-friendly and style-savvy social media content, but by creating opportunities for betterment offline. Paying it forward is the new payback.
How did blogging lead to fashion and beauty entrepreneurship?
According to Katrin, there was always a natural connection. She liked sharing knowledge and emotions with followers, and she liked to look and feel good. When her daughter was born in 2013, she started reflecting on her experiences, sewing baby clothes, and making baby accessories. Soon some beautiful and talented Russian women began to follow her: singer Victoria Daineko, actress Anna Khilkevich, TV presenter Liasan Utiasheva and others. They connected personally because all were ambitious mothers who shared same values. By her second pregnancy, Instagram went from a hobby to a fulltime job. “It all happened so intuitively,” she recalls.
How does entrepreneurship connect with the influencer lifestyle?
Getting to know one’s audience provides insights into their practical needs for goods and services. Katrin noted complaints in her comments about lack of “fun” childrenswear and launched two successful brands: wowsocks for cute baby socks and Okidoki for fun pre-teen clothing. Both are among the bestsellers on Wildberries, the largest Russian e-commerce platform. During last year’s lockdowns she shared common frustration of not being able to go out for basic selfcare like getting a manicure. She had an idea and voila, TOP LAK! Her spa-quality line of innovative nailcare products is posed to disrupt the nail salon industry by delivering high-performance results at home. “If you listen carefully to your audience, you create productive solutions together,” says Katrin.
How does running a beauty business impact a personal beauty routine?
At home, Katrin prefers a natural look without excessive use of beauty products. However, her schedule of photoshoots and motivational talks requires some makeup to ensure her appearance translates well to audiences on the other side of a screen or “in the very last row”. For her, it is part of professionalism in social media work. However, she likes to playfully experiment with makeup with her daughter for Halloween or birthdays or other special occasions. “Girls will be girls!”
Follow @katrinka_family_tut as she continues to change the world one inspired idea at a time.
