If Opportunity Doesn't Knock, Build A Door

Kathryn
That's really how the scrub company got started because I wasn't making my own scrubs from the first day, I was saying, I really wish I had a place for my stethoscope because I was getting a rash around my neck and I didn't want to wear it around my neck. So I was changing that. And then I was like, hmm, it'd be really nice if there was a credit card holder or an ID holder because every time I pull my phone out my credit cards go flying. So there was a like transition period into what it is today.

Brooke Smith
Welcome to MDF instruments Crafting Wellness Podcast. I'm really, really excited today to introduce you to Kathryn. Not only is she a very accomplished nurse, but she started her own scrubs company. We're going to talk about that and her entrepreneurial spirit. Is there an age that you knew I want to be a nurse because some kids have that some kids know when they're 456 years old, where they say, I already know what I want to be when I grow up? And it never changes? Was it? Was that a similar experience for you?

Kathryn
I'm excited to talk about various things from nursing to entrepreneurship in the medical field. My name is Katherine Dixon. I'm a cardiology nurse, emergency nurse practitioner. I'm a professor at University of San Diego and I also am the CEO and founder of OliveUS medical apparel. I was I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and from a young age, I you know, I had my nursing kit of bandages, and loved cleaning up some scrapes. And then I also had just this wild fashion as a kid. So I would wear you know, Dalmatian jewelry, a tiara cowgirl boots, and Bumblebee wings, like everywhere. So I kind of had this quirky version of my passion and love medicine at the same time. We moved to San Diego in grade school. And I proceeded to volunteer at a local hospital knowing I wanted to be a nurse growing up and got into the medical field. Yes, actually, there was an age. So in kindergarten, my parents gave me a little toy kit of like a doctor's kit, which very quickly turned into a real first aid kit with antiseptic cream and band aids. And I would just sit on the playground almost, you know, hoping that someone would fall so I could use my perfectly good band aids, and antiseptic cream on them. I loved caring for other people. Of course, it's translated into something much more ethical, my nursing career but but I talked about being a nurse since I was a little kid, and I am not entirely sure where it came from. Because no one in my family was medical.

Brooke Smith
I was just gonna ask that because sometimes we want to emulate our parents or grandparents or an aunt or uncle or something. So I was curious if it was in your blood, but it doesn't sound like as far as you know, it is.

Kathryn
Well, actually, so I'm incorrect in that my grandmother, who's also named Katherine Dixon was a nurse. I didn't know this until I was in high school. So there may be was something in the genetic pool, but at the same time, it wasn't. It wasn't readily available, or in my knowledge until I was in high school. And my dad was like, Oh, you remind me so much of my mom, because she's a nurse. And I was like, what? We've been talking about nursing since I was a kid, Where's this coming from?

Brooke Smith
You know, I, when I was a kid, we had a map of the United States chalked in on the playground, and all the kids would play like where they're going to live, you know, and I would always go straight to California. I was like six years old, I'd go straight to California and be like, I'm living here. I'm going to live in California. And you know, and it turned out to be where I ended up. But I feel like as kids, you know, we have a lot of intuition. And we haven't learned to kind of mute that intuition in us yet. And so we think the world is all is possible. And it's so great when you can discover a passion or a love so early because I feel like it. It's in your soul so much that no one can really tell you otherwise.

Kathryn
Yeah. Well, and having the people around to encourage it is is important. Because I still have that almost dream sense of a childlike dream, a sense of wanting to make the things that are important to me come true.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, and you're doing it, you're doing very well. You're very accomplished, and really excited to get into all that. But let's start a little bit earlier. So you knew from the age of six, you wanted to be a nurse, you said that you volunteered. Was that something you did in high school? Or did Can you talk a little bit about the older years of like, okay, I'm in high school now. And now this is something I'm seriously contemplating doing and how am I going to go about doing it? Can you just talk about your journey into becoming a nurse?

Kathryn
So in high school, I had talked about being a nurse I had studied different types of science, and I was volunteering at a local hospital here in San Diego, which is actually the hospital I am currently working as both a nurse and nurse practitioner. So I've had many roles within the same healthcare system, which has been really fun. But I was volunteering every Sunday for four hours and at the same time I was sewing and designing all of my like fun, wear formal wear prom dresses, Homecoming outfits. And so a lot of my family friends were actually saying, why don't you own to fashion? This is something you're really good at. And I was like, No, I have this huge desire to be in medicine. This is just my hobby. And then I was like, Well, you know, the scrubs I'm wearing while I'm volunteering. I'm very comfortable. And then I went to, you know, school for nursing. And I was like, the scrubs I'm wearing don't really have the things, or the pockets or the availability or the comfort when I move around. And that's what I brought back the fashion aspect from high school into my medical apparel.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, I know, I was I was seeing that you, you would fix your clothes in high school, you would alter them you would do and your friends and family would ask you to do it too, I think right?

Kathryn
Yeah, that's exactly right. So the the formal where I would start from scratch, I made my own patterns, I made my own designs, everything was completely from scratch. And then the fun outfits, I would like go through my dad's closet and steal a bunch of his ties, and, you know, connect different fabrics on to them. So I could make fun, you know, halter tube top outfits and skirts out of like, several different pairs of jeans. So there was a lot of like, just fun creativity that went into my outfits. And then I would I would alter and change things for other people. And that really how the scrub company got started because I wasn't making my own scrubs from the first day. I was saying, I really wish I had a place for my stethoscope because I was getting a rash around my neck. And I didn't want to wear it around my neck. So I was changing that. And then I was like, hmm, it'd be really nice if there was a credit card holder or an ID holder because every time I pull my phone out my credit cards go fine. So it was a like transition period into what it is today.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, I wonder, did you did you take sewing classes like Home Economics? Or did you just intrinsically like intuition wise know. Okay, this is how you so I mean, because it's it's not the easiest thing to do in the world. Like when I was a kid, I took home AK, and we made pillows, and I was obsessed. I was like, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. I literally made myself a pillow. I can do that? And so I made my parents buy me a sewing machine for Christmas. And you know, until I could only teach myself so much. And then I you know, I gave up but I'm just curious kind of, did

Kathryn
It's true, there's a real art to it. And it's it's just like science, once you have the basics, you can build on it to make stuff. But until you know exactly how to put stuff together. You it's difficult to get there. So I had a grandmother who had a sewing machine. And it was at my, my parents home growing up. So after she passed away, they had a bunch of her things. And so we had her sewing machine and I just picked it up and started making simple things like coin purses, and just very simple things. And then I was like, Oh, I really want to make a dress. And so I went to do it. And it it worked. But not great. And so my parents did end up hiring someone to help me through some of the projects, I was determined to do it on my own, which is one of my flaws. But I was like I'm gonna do this on my own. I don't need someone's help. Like, I can figure this out. We have the internet we have, you know, everything we could need to do like DIY stuff. But once she came in and taught me the basics, it really changed the game as far as being able to sew.

Brooke Smith
That's awesome. Okay, so you're you're a very well accomplished nurse. Obviously, np you're teaching at the university. Can you talk a little bit about education wise, what you did for school? What that kind of journey look like for you. Because I know in healthcare and nursing, especially, there's so many avenues you can take. And you can always keep building on top of the knowledge you already have and go into different specialties. How did you find the specialty in cardiology and emergency room?

Kathryn
So in high school, I was volunteering and I knew I wanted to be a nurse. So you kind of start off with general practice. I went to St. Mary's College in Indiana for my undergraduate where I got my Bachelors of Science in Nursing. And then I also studied biology and psychology. Because I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to be in the ER Psych is really prevalent. And I always kind of had this like intuition. I wanted to be in the ER. And then there was this other side that I wanted to be in pediatrics in school Ikind of finagled my way into some amazing clinical sites and worked in a NICU and PICU which are the ICUs for pediatrics in neonatal and I just realized they were so small and it takes a really special person to work with these tiny humans and their parents and I just wasn't, it was I couldn't leave it at work in the same way that I couldn't other specialties. So I went into er. And then I got out of school and went through a new grad program, and learned so much. And one of the best things I learned in my new grad program is like you can build on your knowledge, but you can't automatically start with experience. So you need to try to experience everything you possibly can. Because you have, you can be smart, but you can't gain experience with no experience. So I was just trying to gain that experience. And I was working in several different fields. I love cardiology, because we know so much about the heart. And there's so many things we can do. It's one of the types of Western medicine that I feel like we are really strong at. And so I like being in cardiology, because I can sit down with patients, and I can explain to them exactly what's going on. And there's no, you know, there's there's mystery about some things. But in cardiology, there's not a lot of mystery about it. So I can sit down, I can say, this is what's going on with your heart. Here's a picture of what it looks like, here are our options. What would you like to do, when you're talking about the brain and pediatrics and hormones, there's so many things we don't know. And I'm not going to tell someone I know something when I don't. So it's nice to sit down and actually be able to explain the process and how we can really help. So then I went from a cardiology nurse, I was working full time in school, I went back to get my doctorate in nursing practice and University of San Diego. And I studied emergency medicine and family practice, knew I wanted to be in the ER, at the hospital, I currently work out we have a lot of cardiac procedures. And it's just a phenomenal place. Because we see so many cardiac patients in the ER

Brooke Smith
The Emergency room is chaotic. It's loud. The hours are can be I'm sure a little wild. So I'm curious for you, since you are working in the emergency room, and you knew that that's kind of where you wanted to be. What are your hours like?

Kathryn
Well, and that's so funny, you say that everyone thinks the ER is so chaotic, but at the same time, I find it very peaceful, because patients are coming and going, but you're only doing so much. So I tell patients that come in, we're not fixing the little primary care things, we're looking for the big, bad and ugly. And there's only so many ways you can really like help and save a patient. So when they come into the ER, I try to set expectations, you're here for chest pain, we're looking for a heart attack, we're looking for a stroke, we're looking for a GI bleed. And the other stuff I might not be able to diagnose today, I'm happy to add to the findings of what could be going on. But But I set the expectation that I want you to improve your quality of life, I want you to find a primary care provider where you can make little titration and medications and find what you know helps you live your best life and I'm not doing that in the ER, but we do something else that's really special in its tertiary care. But you know, we can send Pete patients to the cath lab and open up, coronaries, and we can do pretty incredible things in the hospital. But I do try to give patients expectations of you get different care in different places. And I don't want to over treat anybody. And I want to make sure they're safe and in a good environment.

Brooke Smith
I I know that in California, they have passed laws on you know, safe staff patient ratios in the emergency room. Is this something that's that can be an issue? Or do you have a certain number of patients you can treat at any one at any given time?

Kathryn
Great question. And I think what they do is phenomenal with staffing, I could not be in charge of such a large process, because you have to accommodate for a bunch of people coming in and then having no one there. So it's hard to staff for that. On the floor. As a cardiology nurse, our ratios are either three to one or four to one. So I can take three patients or four patients based on the types of drips they're on or their acuity. In the ER, I have 12 beds in my section of the ER. And so they try not to give me more than 12 patients at a time. But we're not under the same patient ratios because there's a nurse that's assigned to every one of those patients. So as as I'm treating them, but there's still a nurse that's bedside and we have very competent smart nurses to answer your question. In the ER there really aren't those same staff ratios. But we combat that in other ways. So we have a certain amount of physician that are on staff and they can always call in another person so there's someone who's on call and then there's the doctors who are assigned to the day and so if they need to call in someone else will be taking in those new patients and I'm in an area that has 12 beds and I can take patients in like the main er but I have my 12 beds. So they try not to over populate my area by giving me too many patients.

Brooke Smith
That's so interesting. Yeah, I have no ideas. Wow, that's really interesting.

Kathryn
They're two completely different jobs, which makes things so fun and interesting at work. So I have my nursing job, and the doctors are putting in all the orders, and you're implementing all the tasks. Of course, you always have like a higher level of the patient, you're that you're considering their background and why they came in, and what they need in the future. But you're constantly completing tasks, passing medications, reassessing patients, taking them to the bathroom, titrating drips. And as a nurse practitioner, you really get that time to sit down and look at them as a complete picture. And so you're making these higher level decisions, and you're not clouded by the tasks. With that said, I have the ability to know, you know, what certain medications will do to patients and try not to, again, decrease their quality of life by intervening too much. So as a nurse practitioner, I always like take that role. And I'm like, Okay, well, I know, as a nurse, this happens after these medications, or you give lasix and their pain and really uncomfortable, and so you don't want to give that right before they're going to procedure if they don't have a catheter, or you want to be mindful of how you're scheduling things. And so I have that advantage of being a nurse and taking that bedside experience to the NP level.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, I would definitely want you treating me if I had to go to the hospital. I know that there was a lot of news in the last year, year and a half or so of giving NPs, more abilities and less less of red tape to treat patients. Has that been implemented at all? Or have you noticed any changes?

Kathryn
Yeah, actually, I have noticed that it doesn't affect me as much in the ER. But I've definitely noticed it in the news and discussions on campus at University of San Diego. So the nurse practitioners currently have full practice authority in California. But there's stipulations behind that. So you have to work a certain amount of hours in your field or be practicing for a certain amount of time before you can have full autonomy. With that said, that means you can go off and start your own practice. And the regulations are not as harsh on nurse practitioners, which can be a really good thing too, in the ER won't affect me very much, I have an amazing team with lots of support. So I don't need the same amount of autonomy, because they give me a lot of independence in my area. And then anytime I have a question I run over and we discuss cases, or I'll ask them what they think or I'll present what I believe would be the best treatment and get their opinion. So I feel really, really well supported and independent. In my practice, throughout my job.

Brooke Smith
I Wanted to ask you just a little bit to paint a picture for me about what your work schedule is like, because I know since I've been talking to you, how busy you are and how hard you work. And just we can segue into a little bit about how this translates into creating, you know, being the CEO, and creating your own scrub company and how that's affected your time. And how do you find so much time in a day, I just want to kind of touch base on on the nurse practitioner level for your job, what your hours are like, and then how you are managing, finding time to create an A scrub company and what those hours have been like.

Kathryn
The hours are crazy, I have four jobs. Luckily, my schedule is very flexible. So I work like one day a week as a nurse. And then I can pick up whenever in the ER and I teach very few lectures. So in order to start this company, this company is a 24/7 situation. And in order to start this, you have to have time but you also have to have finance and I'm completely bootstrapped. So when I find that I'm progressing with the company, and I need money to cover inventory, legal bills, accounting. You know, they had just had a big photo shoot that required finances, then all all work a bunch of hours, and I'll pick up a ton of overtime and work double time shifts, I'll work in the ER or work on the floor. And I'll just work work work. And then when I need my company really needs the time and the diligence and you know, between marketing partnerships or new designs or conversations with manufacturing companies, then I stepped back from bedside I stepped back from the ER and I stay at home and I work from home. But I mean these hours are all over the place. So I work seven to 7:37am to 7:30pm as a nurse and sometimes those hours are extended, and then I work 7am to 5pm or 4pm to 2am in the ER which is a very very large range. So sometimes I'm getting off work at two in the morning and I have to run home and I gotta be back up at six or another shift.

Brooke Smith
How do you how do you combat that? How are you dealing with this, the changes in your body because you know, your body can't really get used to a habit of okay, good event, this time I wake up at this time, you know, just regularity in your body and also just mental health wise and just being able to stay awake. What are you doing to kind of help that? Or is it mental? Are you just like I because I actually have that where I'm not really affected by what time it is, if I just taught myself at a certain time that I can, I'm not affected by like traveling to places that are, you know, 12 hours ahead, I just I acclimate really quickly, and some people have that gift. But I'm curious for you just how you're just getting bounced all over the place, and still maintaining the ability to get all this done. And mental health,

Kathryn
I couldn't do it, if I didn't have a massive passion for what I'm doing.You make a good point about the travel I did grew up traveling a lot. And my parents always said I slept wherever I was easy to wake up. So I, I do sleep really well. And I feel like I get good quality sleep. And I have a lot of support around me, which makes us even more exciting to continue. But if I didn't totally believe in these scrubs and love what I was doing, I wouldn't be doing this. But you get excited about it. Like we started talking about MDF instruments. And it's exciting. And you know, we started talking about maybe making some mutual posts or this blog and your your wellness. And it makes you want to stay up and work on it. And it makes you excited to wake up in the morning and get on a call with you and learn something and get to progress in your career.

Brooke Smith
Passion is a thing, you know, passion is a huge motivator. And just when you're excited and you want to get something done, and you're passionate and you believe in something, I feel like the energy just comes to you. You know, and you can't, like stay leaving, like it's hard sometimes because you're just so excited. You're like I want to get it feels like Christmas every day. Like I want to get going I want to get this done. I want to move on and, and the decisions that we're making today, they affect our future selves, you know, like Thomas, you shouldn't be eating that, or whatever it is. It's like, oh, it's future Thomas's problem. And but it can work the other way too. Because sometimes I use that as an excuse. I'm like, Well, it's a future problem. I'll figure it out later. But it can. But there's really truth to that. Because the decisions that we're making right now today, the work effort, effort we're putting into something, the procrastination, if we're doing that, or the whatever we're deciding to do or not do today is affecting our future versions of ourselves. And just from what I've seen and gotten to know you, I'm amazed by how much you get done. I mean we're talking from we can be messaging early in the morning to like, late at night, you're just go go go go go. And I really admire what you're doing and how you're going after it. And you're setting an example for other people as well, that you don't have to just sit in a box, just because you become a nurse or a doctor, or whatever that that career path is for you doesn't mean you just have to be that one thing. And I think that you're really showing and proving that you can take all of your passions and new passions that might come down the line for you. And you can you found a way to put it all into into one. You know, you're like, oh, I can take my creative juices of fashion and wanting to have that creative outlet for myself. And then also see, well, I can see how this can be improved in scrubs. I don't really like the way that my scrubs are fitting, they're not really formed for my body and they don't have the right pockets. They're not comfortable. They're itching me, whatever all of those problems you're having. And you're the perfect person to say, oh, because you're doing this so many hours, you're the perfect person to say, let me make this better. And then you didn't just complain about it. You went out and you did it. And that's really admirable. And I I do want to just talk a little bit about how this started. So I'm from creating your own scrub company. What was the first step that you did? I mean, obviously, you had to come up with a name for your scrub company you had to come up with? What did these scrubs look like? Were you drawn designs? Can you just talk about the creative process of of these scrubs? And tell me when the name of the scrubs and how you came up with the name and and just give us a little info on it?

Kathryn
Well, I think it's very interesting what you just talked about. And as far as talking about something and complaining about something I kind of have this house rule that I remind myself because I'm not always good at sticking to it. But I'm not going to complain about something unless I'm doing something about it. And so if something really bothers me, we had a food issue at the hospital. And so I started contacting local restaurants and like I can I can sit there and at lunch complain that we have no food to eat, and the food is bad quality. But um, I can't do that unless I'm going to change something about it. So that's always been my policy. But as far as all of us and getting started, I mean, this was, this was a long journey, it started literally, when I was a kid, I used to tie together all of my blankets and tried to create outfits with them. And so something I always knew I wanted to do in high school, I was like, Oh, I'm totally going to make my scrubs once I'm a nurse. And then I was a nurse and I was tart starting to change little things here and there. And I graduated from getting my doctorate. And I was with someone at the time, and we were starting a hormonal therapy clinic. And I always talked about selling scrubs in the front office, and I knew it wouldn't make any money. But I also knew that it was something part of this business that I would really thrive that and enjoy and get to work and set things up and have like a little store in the front, that was a passion. And there's only a few really strong passions I've had in my life, and it's medicine and fashion are my two greatest passions, and to see those kind of collide would be amazing. Um, there was, you know, things happen personal life and, and we broke up and I felt so deceived by what happened in the relationship. And I was up at night just, you know, kind of racking my brain about what to do. And I was like, he doesn't deserve any more of this energy, I need to focus on the things that are really important. So I sat down, I drew out my designs, and I hit the ground running, I kind of made this decision that I was gonna go for it. And this the short term goals in the long term goals, I wrote them all out, I dropped my designs. And almost right away, I hired an attorney to get a patent on the stethoscope holder. And then I hired a finance team and my accountants to help me put together what was financially feasible with my savings. I did decide to bootstrap this, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, like, truly no idea what I was getting myself into. So I had a patient of mine who said, Katherine, I believe in you. Let I'll give you $50,000. And whatever happens with the money happens. And I told her, I said, it was the wife of my patient. And I said, I don't understand where this is all going. And I don't have the finances put together enough to take anyone's money. But I want to be able to call you and ask you questions along the way. So I'd much rather not have your money and has have you as an advocate. They were pretty successful business people. And she was like, okay, then that's that. So I just sat down, grinded, made the money, I surrounded myself with like minded people who had started businesses and who could give me advice along the way. And, and before you knew it, it's the first year COVID happened. So manufacturing was almost put to a halt completely. But I had this great design, started doing patterns samples, they turned out terrible. So then we just kept altering them, I altered them altered them altered them, until one day, I thought they were perfect. And got them into large scale manufacturing. Manufacturing was a beast in itself, I went through six to eight different manufacturing companies. And I wanted everything to be us made. There were two reasons for that I, I would like to have everything us made. But also, I needed to be there seeing the process. Because my degree is not in manufacturing. It's not in business. It's not in marketing. And I didn't fully understand the whole process until I watched the whole thing and made several changes made several mistakes. So I started in LA, when everything shut down, I ended up going down to Mexico. And I was just crossing the border and going there on a weekly basis to make changes to my scrubs and make them make them what I wanted them to be. So finally have the inventory, and then started my sales. And there's so many things I would go back and change. But I mean, I keep calling this business, my MBA, because I can't think of a better way to spend my money on another degree than investing in myself.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, and you are I you know the story, you're just telling me it just made me think of you as a kid and not wanting to get help from from like, I can do this myself. Because when you're talking about the investment in the money, it's like, no, I don't I want to get the money myself. But I will take your knowledge and how to improve this or how to make it better or have questions along the way. And I can relate to that a lot because I feel like when you do something yourself and you raise the money yourself, nobody can take it away from you Nobody can try to have ownership or claim over it, and say, Well, I did this for you. But knowledge knowledge is something people love to share. And, and you know, experience, which you can either garner from someone giving advice on something that you're that you're doing that they've already done, or going through it yourself and making the mistakes, but that's how we learn sometimes. And then that those mistakes, although I'm sure costly in ways, you can't put a price on it, because now you know better and you you don't know what you don't know. And just moving forward, you won't make those mistakes again, and you have the knowledge now, moving forward. Okay, this is how this is going to be done. This is the way I should do this. And take charge

Kathryn
And well, and I just have never been great at bullshit. Like I can't sit down and tell you, I know this is going to happen when I don't. And so taking someone's money and saying this is what I'm turning into when I really don't know the projections yet.I couldn't do it because I can't sit down and tell you what's going to happen with that money. Because I didn't know.And now like, now I'm looking for investment. Because I feel very strongly I know exactly how to get my scrubs, through manufacturing, into, you know, people's homes and throughout the hospitals. And so I feel comfortable saying, This is what I've seen, this is what I know, this is what I'm going to be able to provide and give a timeline on that where before I had I had no idea where to go. I had no timeline I you know, I'm I'm a get it done kind of person. So I used to tell people, I'm like, Oh, it took them a year, it'll take me six months. No problem. I was so wrong. It took me three years. Like I know, things were very different than I hired consultants to give me that knowledge of what they've done when they started companies. But there's a Kevin the game's completely different. All the manufacturing in LA closed down. All the San Diego manufacturing shut down the main the big manufacturers that were still running converted to PPE. And so no one was looking for Katherine small business to produce some really high quality innovative scrubs. That was like a I was knocking on doors and they were like, We don't care we have we have bigger fish to fry here.

Brooke Smith
You're choosing also I mean, California for business is rough. You know, it's high tax, it's, it's it's really hard to start a business anywhere but California is very rough. It can be you know, your more expensive and not always, you know, small business friendly. But I don't know, I just think you're proving that. If you want to do something, you can do it. But it is going to take a lot of hard a lot of work a lot of sacrifice, and you're going to mess up along the way. And that's okay, because as long as you're learning from that and moving forward, and you could have easily taken that money earlier. And then it could have really screwed things up for you. But you're you had the wherewithal to say you know, I'm not ready for the investment yet, you know, but I will come back to this when I am ready. And it sounds like you're now with your with your scrub company that you are ready for that next step. But I'm curious. I noticed green and you're in your scrubs you wearing green today. And then the name of her script homies all of us but it's spelled like an olive green. There's I think there's a play on words here.But there's also means all of us right like inclusive.

Kathryn
Yeah, so there's three reasons for the name. The beginning part of the name was I had a big temper tantrum when I was a kid and my parents would stick in all of them my mouth and I like it would subside the temper tantrum. And so as a joke my parents would give me a big thing of olives every Christmas and they still do it today. And they were they were just like a symbolism of peace for me as a kid it was this strange thing I would be in this you know Tizzy over small life things and they would give me an olive and I would I would stop the temper tantrum immediately and and almost feel peace by it. But an olive branch as I didn't know the symbolism as a kid and all branches assemblages of peace. And I want people who are wearing my scrubs to feel peaceful in my scrubs. I don't want them leaning over and worrying about their you know, shirt exposing their bra or their underwear in the back. I don't want them looking for items that they need to treat their patients. I want them to have everything on them feel comfortable and you'll be able to move around in these scrubs so they don't have to think about them. They can come to work. They know they look good. They have everything they need on them and they can just complete their job. And then the third reason for the name is all of us is a play on words.I want these scrubs to support healthcare professionals, I want all of us as a company to support all of us healthcare professionals through our daily lives at home at work. I really want it to be something that's a community stance that cares for our medical professionals.

Brooke Smith
I get that all from just the name so great job on that because I think it's it's it's you can get a lot from a name and I think when I first came across it I didn't know anything about you or your story or what these scrubs were. I could infer that on my own just from the name. I didn't know that cute story about all this. But I love olives and I figured that there was something there and then the colors so the color free of Scrubs. What colors are they come in now? I noticed a green and a gray. Do you have other colors? Or are you just primarily sticking to those two? And would you talk a little bit about the material of your scrubs? What how the uniqueness? I want to talk about the patent pending holster for the stethoscope and just kind of getting into the design for anyone interested in taking a look at your scrubs, like what makes them unique and different. And what is it that you love so much about them?

Kathryn
Yeah, so the scrubs are all North American made. I designed them like I was telling you for all the things that I need to have on me as a nurse and a nurse practitioner at work. The fabrics are all custom made as well. So I actually had an anthropology color specialist helped me pick out the two colors that I currently have, which are an olive green and the midnight blue. And they were all custom made through a mill in North America. So they're antimicrobial, four way stretch, anti wrinkle, they're actually anti ultraviolet. And they're super soft and comfortable. So that you can wear them on the go and they're flexible. So when you like lean forward, you don't have to worry about this caving in, and it's nice and high up in the back. So you're just comfortable at work like we should be wearing athletic wear to work, because we're moving and you want to have something that's moving with you. As far as the items on it. Yes, I have a patent pending stethoscope holder. And there's several reasons behind the stethoscope holder. The main one that I thought of as when I was working was I used to get a rash on my neck from my stethoscope to find that there was a Cambridge study done in 2019 that showed 100% of stethoscopes have staff and other bacteria after one patient use and then you clean the stethoscopes and 50% still have bacteria on them. And those are hospital disinfectant wipes they're using on this study, and it's just gross. So then we're literally going from patient rooms and putting those around our shoulders and touching our face or neck or hair. I, I we do so much to protect the patients and then we do nothing to protect ourselves sometimes. So when you clean them with the hospital disinfectant wipes, you're also supposed to let it sit for three minutes before using. So I don't see anyone who grabs their stethoscope and is just holding it out to dry for three minutes. So the main reason behind this was for the infectious disease concerns of of having that transfer of bacteria on to us. And then I had two people I knew in the era that were choked by their stethoscopes and since posting my my scrubs online, I've had a ton of people come forward and say, I wish I had this I was choked, or I was injured by a patient. And I mean these have Miami now these are these are deadly devices. They're thick. And so we don't want to have it around our neck but it's also our diagnostic device that that helps us in so many ways at work. So I have the stethoscope holder and then the other reasons is I mean I can't imagine having a week go by that I don't get lost and found email about someone stethoscope being gone missing or having it in the lost and found and so I is this device like you have it on you I can sit I can do anything with it. There it is. So it's been well thought of

Brooke Smith
like oh putting it in a holster It almost reminds of like where you would put a weapon or something to protect you. But it's it's it's it's one of those things where you're like I wish I invented that you know when you go through as a kid and you need people invent these things you're like that is so smart. And yet so simple. Like why didn't I think of that? I I know what you're talking about with the Cambridge study because MDF instruments actually during the same time around the same time you're starting your script company we designed our own diaphragm cover called Pursona and I don't know you probably noticed it when we sent you the status. You're looking

Kathryn
and looking around because I think I have one on my desk somewhere.

Brooke Smith
Single Use hygienic um stethoscope diaphragm cover and it's disposable. But we created it for that very reason, because we were so just shocked by that study and the statistics that came out on that, that we felt like we wanted to do something to to help everyone stay safe. Because, you know, that's actually really scary when you think about it. And And also, it actually, I don't know if you've tried it out yet, but you should have it. If you put it on, you're going to notice it amplifies the sound. Yeah, yeah, I can grab it, it provides up to 28% Decrease in sound loss. It's, you gain up to five decibels of volume.

Kathryn
That's amazing. Hear I'm opening this one right now.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, so I, um,it's interesting that like, during the same time when you were Yeah.Yep. And I would be curious to hear your thoughts on that when you're at work. And you try using that, if you notice, because it is, it should amplify the sound quite a bit.

Kathryn
That's so good to know, I didn't even I've had literally a dozen of these things sitting on my desk, but last week, and haven't tried opening them.Let's give this thing a try. Oh, wow. It's very clear. And this is the this is the basic version of the stethoscope, not the cardiology, and it's very clear.

Brooke Smith
You should try it on the ProCardial just I'm super curious to hear your thoughts on it. But when I tried it myself, because, you know, when the owner of the company decided to design this, he's very innovative. He, he gave us, you know, we did a whole test of it. And I was shocked by the difference in the loudness of what I could hear just from that. But I mean, that's not even that's not why we created it. It was for safety. But it's just been in I, I never really thought about why is a stethoscope getting so contaminated. Because you think about it, you're putting it in your ears, and then you're using it on patients. So you would think this part, the diaphragm part would be the thing that would be the cause for concern. And that's what people should be wiping down. But the tubing, if it's on your neck, every single day, and for hours, and you're sweating, and your hair and just whatever, people might sneeze or cough and then that gets on you. Um, I never really thought about the fact that like, just the fact that you had the stethoscope around your neck could be causing a lot of those germs, as opposed to just from auscultation.

Kathryn
Yeah, isn't that interesting? You know, there's, there's other reasons too, like the heat of your neck actually breaks down the tubing of the stethoscope. So a lot of people who have worn their stethoscope for years will have discoloration and tubing that will more easily break because of that. And so this mitigates that reason too, because now it's it's not touching any warm skin. It's just on your on your hip. Yeah.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, it really mean when we teach tell people you know how to clean your stethoscope care of a stethoscope. You know, you can use the alcohol wipes on the diaphragm and that part, but you really shouldn't be using that on the tubing because it can cause a gumminess it can break down the material over time. That's like most soap and water. You don't want to submerge it in water. I feel like what you came up with there with the holster for your stethoscope on your scrubs is just it's ingenious. It's brilliant. And I watched you demonstrates how easy it is to take in and out. But would you mind standing up and kind of Of course.

Kathryn
It's super easy. I love this stethoscope, it slides right out and right back in. And then you can go like you can move around and it's no problem.You have a good view on it there.

Brooke Smith
I can see it and so you don't have to worry about it falling now or like does it fit every kind of stethoscope well? Is it because you don't even have the big one on you have the MD One.

Kathryn
Oh, yeah. I haveanotherYeah. You can sit down with them.Yeah, super easy.

Brooke Smith
We're talking about how I mean not only can someone use it as a weapon to choke you or someone else, but you talked a little bit about how it can be cumbersome in in other parts of facilitating health care to patients so can talk a little bit about you do you just mean it like thing on people's faces or

Kathryn
I mean, when I used to wear my scarf on my shoulders, you'd be leaning over patients and the ears would get caught on their gown. And it's very unprofessional. You're like leaning back and you're their gown is coming with you. And there's just so many times I've had things caught around my neck or you give someone a hug at work. And all of a sudden, you guys are connected in this like, uncomfortable work hug because the stethoscope is. Yeah, a couple of people have asked about you know, if this gets caught with the waistband, I've never had my stethoscope get caught in this waistband. And I've like, I've washed these scrubs, oh my gosh, probably over 100 times now. And there hasn't been any wear and tear on this, the placement, I have it a patient grab it, and it it came out. So it's not like, you know, they grab it, the stethoscope slips, especially if they grab it from the top, it'll slip right out. But the elastic waistband, it, it covers for that. But it's also tight enough that if you're walking around, you're running, you're doing anything, you don't have to worry about it. And when I when I first made these scrubs, I was like, Well, I'm you know, we get really busy at work. And we have to run around. So I would take these on outside runs with me. And I would literally run around the trails in San Diego with my stethoscope, which looked weird. But I was like, Hey, you got to test the product before you can bring it to market and I never had an issue. It never fell out. It never gotten in the way. And that's when I was like, Okay, I'm very confident about these moving forward.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, that was gonna be my question. But you beat me to it. Because I know especially in the emergency room, you know, you have to run out help help grab a patient or you're running paperwork, or whatever it isat least light jogging. So that was going to be my next question if it would fall. But no, it does not.

Kathryn
A patient code. Pass was a few months back now. And I was one of the first people there. So I started CPR and I had my stethoscope in there. And during during the CPR, someone said, Can I grab your stethoscope and I said, Yeah, and so they pulled it out while I was performing CPR. And then I switched with someone while they were in, they had theirs around their neck. And it was just flopping all over the place. And I was like, Wait, this is like a very terrible time because we're in the role of patient care. But like this is exactly why I made this. This is one of the main reasons I made this device. Because it really is in when you're in a critical state, like, it's nice to just know that the things are where they need to be and easily accessible, but not in your way.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, and you talk about, you know, you were you, if you put your arm out like this, it's not hard, right, but like, the longer you hold your arm out, the heavier your arms gonna get. And over time, you're not gonna be able to keep your arm up. And I feel like with a stethoscope around your neck at first, it might not feel so bad might not be that heavy, but you know, 678 hours into your shift and when you're working a couple shifts in a row, I can imagine it starts to really affect your neck and just your skin irritation and everything. Because of how long you do have to have that around your neck in your day to day life. And that's also why we we created the titanium because for that very reason because our stainless steel is very heavy. And so during the interviews like we got into come up with something more lightweight so people can wear it around their necks and not have so much problem in the day to day but now we have an even better solution which is just take your lightweight stethoscope and put it in your in your holster in your all of us scrubs that Catherine came up with.

Kathryn
I was just about to mention that your titanium stethoscope is so lightweight, like you I don't notice it at all. And I've only had it since I've had the stethoscope holder and doesn't matter on the weight when I put the scopes in, in the stethoscope holder it distributes the weight around my waistband so that I don't feel it and it doesn't it doesn't pull down the pants or it's not cumbersome on that side. But yeah, when I used to wear my son's school bra on my shoulders, it was taxing by the end of the day, and you're right when you first put it there, it's fine. Don't feel it at all. But then all sudden through the shift I'm like oh my neck is kind of you know, it's painful and uncomfortable. That titanium stethoscope that you guys make though is insanely light. So I haven't tried it around my neck but I I can't even imagine that being an issue because it was it's designed so well. I get them and I'm like I looked it up and I'm like how what this is so like it's ridiculous like the sounds great. The sound with so scope is really good.

Brooke Smith
Oh good I'm so glad I mean it's coming for me that means a lot so but you all any feedback you ever have like please let us know because you are using it and if you ever have any issues, you know you shouldn't be having them soIf you ever have any feedback, we'd love it. Obviously your scrubs are extremely well designed. If you were to just have a quick, maybe few sentences on your scrubs and the benefits of them, what what would that be?

Kathryn
That's a great question. I've talked to several people about how scrubs are kind of like a washable tool belt. Just like any tool belt, it needs to have space for the essentials of the workplace. Currently available scrubs do not accommodate the most basic tool needs in the hospital. All of us scrubs are different with a stethoscope holder sewn into the waistband, designed pockets for scissors, cellphone ID cards, pen and a badge Clip Holder. All of us have space for everything the medical professional would need. Made with superior bacteria resistant fabrics and flattering styles. This innovative patent pending design is a game changer for people in the medical apparel market.

Brooke Smith
Awesome. Can you show us I know that you have a back pocket where you can put your cards? Can you is there is it possible at all to show off some of the past?

Kathryn
Yeah, absolutely. So as you know, I have the patent pending stethoscope holder. And then I have a variety of pockets. So you've got two pockets up here and two pockets below. And I normally put my car keys in this one. And I keep my my work phone and this one. So there's actually a pocket within a pocket for the phones. And then when I'm working, I normally have two extra phones that I put in here. And then this is a special space for credit cards and IDs. So that when you're pulling out your phone, other things are coming out with it. I'm wearing the jogger style. But I also have a straight leg version. As I custom him all of the scrubs, here in San Diego.

Brooke Smith
That's so awesome.

Kathryn
There's a badge clip as well. So on top of these are the tucking version, but I've got my badge clip up here. And then I've got a front pocket. And then on the other version, they actually have a pocket on the right lower side and they go around the stethoscope. So it's really easy use of the stethoscope, and it's not a tucking option that isn't going to interfere with the stethoscope holder either.

Brooke Smith
I love it. I am so appreciative of what you guys do. And just the kind of sacrifice you make all the time and the emotional energy and the care that it takes to want to be there for someone during like the hardest days of their lives and make them better. I just think it's so beautiful. And having a care care like that. It it changes everything. And it brings a comfort that like there's no words can express

Kathryn
from like, a nurse. It's it's not that we're giving up stuff to take care of other people because it's something that I like, I get stuff in my life. Because I love being a nurse. Like I do it because I love to do it. And it's great that when someone's in their worst, you can be there to help because you don't know how someone else with help them. But I feel like I can come to a situation and and really be there for someone else. And it's it's there's beneficial. Like there's benefits both ways. There's benefits to the patients, but there's benefits coming the other way too. You know,

Brooke Smith
You know, they always say, when you give something to someone, you get more back from the giving.

Kathryn
And I just like to say that, yeah. I, I couldn't agree more. There's, there's this part two, I'll tell people in the ER like, Hey, I'm just meeting you, you know you better than I know you. However, I have lots of medical knowledge to add to what you know, so that we can make decisions together.

Brooke Smith
I want to ask you about where people can buy your scrubs. Can you tell us the name of the website and where people can buy them and then also spell it out for people who are listening?

Kathryn
Absolutely. Most of the people who end up coming to my website come through social media because they see the Instagram posts that I make. So I've developed my my website myself, everything's through a Shopify platform, and I have the whole fulfillment in my house that I personally ship to everyone after I do custom hemming and things like that. So you can go to the website, which is f o r, and then the company name all of us, O L i v e u s.com. Or you can go to Instagram and you can either buy through the Instagram, or it'll direct you to or direct you to the website for for purchase. And the Instagram handle is for all of us. And again, it's spelled F O R O L i v e us U S.

Brooke Smith
So it's @foroliveus And you'll see on MDF as well. We will be doing a lot of collaborations with Katherine and for all of us. All of us get the scab company because they're doing some awesome scrubs and we're excited to partner and see what kind of awesome things we can make for everybody and I'm sure we'll do a giveaway and all kinds of fun stuff for people that can check out.

Kathryn
I'm so excited. And if anyone's on the Instagram and wants to send me a message, I'm the one who replies to all of them. So I love feedback. I am, my ears are completely open as I would love to hear what you think. And if you have any questions, and if you need some photos of different sizes, I can provide that as well reach out anytime I'm very available.

Brooke Smith
And I think it's it's so great because she does all the the alterations. So if for some reason you're, you know, maybe a short person more short like me, she makes sure that the scrubs are gonna be too long on Yeah, she asked all those questions, which is great, because you don't get that kind of care usually when you're ordering from somewhere else. And then I wanted to ask, Are you do you have plans for other colors are we sticking right now to the olive green and the midnight blue.

Kathryn
Black scrubs are coming out for sure. There are three other colors, I'm also working on with a color specialist to make them really, really nice and special for healthcare providers. But Black is coming out. They're in manufacturing, I switched manufacturing companies. So I'm just in the middle of making samples, which is a bit of a process. So I'm not given a release date yet, but know it is in the works.

Brooke Smith
I want to ask I'm gonna change gears shift gears a little bit.If you could go back and tell your younger self, something, or some piece of advice that changedyour perspective or any any just kind of little nugget of wisdom that you have that you would want to share with the younger you or with anyone who's listening. What would that be?

Kathryn
Well, I think it's very easy to be influenced these days. So I would say don't change, keep working really hard and make sure you're having fun while you're doing it. Life is so short and like the things I stressed about as a kid, were not always the important things. And sometimes, literally the most productive thing you could do is to stop and relax and reassess. My dad's an accountant. So we always said, Stop, reassess the numbers and get back to it. You know, in the hospital use a lot of like quantitative decisions data. So quantitative decisions should always be unemotional, because you just need to look at the numbers, and they'll tell you what the answers are. So that was like the combination of my advice at the hospital on my dad's accounting experience.

Brooke Smith
Yeah, I read this book one time, and he had like a bowling reference. Where if if you're going around long, and life is like bowling, and you know, you're kind of striking out, you're striking out, you're doing really well, because in bowling reference, you'd be doing well if you're striking out. But if you weren't getting any pens, and you weren't doing well, sometimes just taking a little break, you know, and skipping one round, and then going back to it, you might find that it starts going better for you just breaking up the momentum that you are having if it's not good momentum, or if you need to take rest, because there's a lot of learning in the rest, and there's a lot of repair in the rest. So I think that's really great advice.

Kathryn
I think that's like a common thing with golfers and writers. And I mean, you can associate it to almost anything when you stop and take a break when you're really frazzled. is normally when you see things more clearly.

Brooke Smith
And sometimes you come back and you're like better at something than you were after before you took the break.

Kathryn
Yeah. Yeah.

Brooke Smith
I want to ask you about just on when we spoke on the phone, you talked about how you were getting some No, you were getting like when you when you decided, hey, I want to I want to create this company, and I can do it. And this is how I'm going to do it. You were met with some people think oh, you know, that's really risky. You might not want to do that right now. The scrubs are there's already so many scrubs out there. What can you talk a little bit about just the naysayers that pop up, even if they might be well intentioned? How you mitigate through that. And just your thoughts on that, on people telling, you "No", when you're going after something that you feel in your heart you want to do?

Kathryn
Well, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. So small business was definitely a regular talk at the dinner table. And my parents used to tell me they're like, We don't know what you don't understand about the word know, the N or the O. And so which translated really well into an entrepreneurial life but I sympathize with parents similar to my my own who had kids like me growing up, but it's very easy for someone to look at what you're doing and say it's not a good idea or that you shouldn't do it. But if you know there's like two parts to this because if you're if you're starting a company It really doesn't solve a problem, it's not a solution for a problem, then you need to be able to step back and reassess. So there is something that you can't just like, keep hitting the hammer on the nail and and get somewhere all the time. But then if you really feel like you have something, there's going to be people who challenge you and saying no, and having your ears open and listening to figure out why they're saying that if there's really substance behind what they're talking about, is important. But then, if you believe in it, I mean, the riskiest thing you can do is invest in yourself. And I don't really see where, you know, if I'm 80 years old, and I'm looking back on my life, starting the scrub company is not going to be the thing I regret, even if it doesn't end up, you know, having big financial gains, like, I go to work. And I'll see I like, the other day, I saw some girl walking down the hallway of my scrubs. And I was like, Hey, I love your scrubs. And she said, Oh, yeah, I think a nurse at this hospital makes them and I was like, That's neat. I'm the nurse. And I stepped back that night. And I was like, that was the goal. That was like, even if nothing else comes from the scrub company. That was my dream. I've accomplished the dream. So all those people who told me no, and that, you know, the design wasn't gonna work, or that, that there are already enough scrub companies out there or that my price point wasn't feasible for them. I reached my dream. I've seen people in my scrubs who don't even know me who are wearing them around the hospital and really like them and have great things to say about the stethoscope holder in the comfort. And so I'm gonna keep chugging at it. But I can't go back and say I have any regrets about starting the company, things would have changed, things are going to change in the future, there's always gonna be those days to where you kind of like feel that loss a little bit and, and go back to listening to what all the other people are saying. So surrounding yourself with a community is also very important. Because you have kind of the intermittent naysayers, but I have to say like the community that I've met through starting this company, is truly one of the most inspiring things about about the whole journey. I've talked to several other nursing entrepreneurs who started bad real companies or shoe companies, Brooke you with MDF instruments, like it's inspiring, and I can't imagine what else I'd be doing with my life, then getting the chance to have the opportunity to sit here and chat with you and, and talk about forward thinking processes for nurses in the hospital and taking care of patients and you devote your life to something you really want to see things move forward. And that's what's happening.

Brooke Smith
We never regret things that we do. I feel like we just regret things that we don't do. Because even if you do something that you know, and obviously, I'm not talking about illegal things, but I'm saying you know, we're following a dream or a passion or something risky.You know, even if it doesn't turn out the way that you thought it would sometimes turns out even better. And you all there's always a lesson in it, and you never regret it. Because you go I went for it. I try, I dedicated myself and I did everything I could to make that come true. And at the end of the day, whatever happens happens, but you have no regrets because you gave it your best shot and you gave it your all. And I think there's really something to that rather than wondering when they Oh, I had this idea or I had this really brilliant thing I could have really helped people over here, I could have invented this thing. But I was scared. And then I didn't do it because I didn't think I was so afraid to fail or I just didn't believe in myself enough or I didn't want to put the work in or whatever it is. That's when you have the regret. And so I think it's great advice to just listen to, you know what people have to say, keep an open mind because people do have, you know, experiences of their own, but their truth and their truth about something doesn't make it your truth. Just Just because someone had a bad experience doing something doesn't mean that's gonna be your experience. So it's kind of just like, you know, food for thought, keep keep it people with agreement, a grain of salt, you know, but always take constructive criticism. And you know, think about what you're doing before you do it. And then at the end of the day, if you feel like it's a good decision and you've thought thought it through. I say go for it all the time. Go for it.

Kathryn
I love that. I completely agree.

Brooke Smith
Kathryn it's been such a pleasure having you on our crafting wellness podcast if you wouldn't mind. Just giving your your scrubs a handle on Instagram one more time. If people want to come over, ask you questions, check out your scrubs or just talk to you. I think they're going to do it through Instagram. For Olive Us.

Kathryn
Brooke, thank you so much for spending the time with me today. This has been a really great opportunity to work with you and talk about the scrubs and MDF instruments. Over zoom on Instagram you can find my scrubs at for all of us. And it's fo r o l i v e U S. So on Instagram, you can find my scrubs and it's at for all of us, f o r o l i v e U S, and you'll be directed to the website from there and if you have any questions at all, please send me a message because I'm available and excited to talk about anything in the medical field and medical apparel.