891 Julia Kim: Innovating Postpartum Care

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Julia Kim:

People can’t use Medicaid to pay for a stay with us, people cannot get more than their lactation consultations and mental health therapy covered. And why can a mother who makes a decent living and has great insurance not use her insurance plan to help cover at least some or all of her stay with us? Because we really are providing a really needed service. It’s not just a nice to have. We’re reducing readmissions to hospitals after labor and delivery. We’re maximizing mother’s postpartum physical and mental recovery and reducing stress and anxiety and keeping women and partners at work. It’s like a $14.2 billion cost to families when we fail to care for mothers.

Julia Kim:

And so, we really need to collectively come together and find a way to persuade lawmakers that they can and should be doing more for families across the country.

Melinda Wittstock:

Companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook spend a minimum of $10 million a year lobbying lawmakers in Congress to make sure legislation always works in their favor. That’s a lot of money but nothing compared to Big Pharma, which spent some $372 million last year. It’s not like startups have that kind of money, but for entrepreneurs innovating important solutions for women like Julia Kim revolutionizing post-partum care, the ear of policymakers in Washington DC can be make or break. Fortunately for Julia, she knows her way around the political world from her work on political campaigns. Today we talk about her innovative startup, the parallels between political campaigning and entrepreneurship and how to navigate regulations and advocating for policy changes in the women’s health space.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m all about paying it forward a five-time serial entrepreneur, so this podcast is all about catalyzing an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other, because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who is revolutionizing postpartum care for new parents and newborns with comprehensive support and personalized experiences with retreat centers. Julia Kim is the CEO and Founder of Sanu, inspired by her own challenges as a new mom six years ago. Julia says that despite thorough preparation, reading numerous books, visiting various specialists, and attending courses at multiple pediatrician offices, she found all that learning didn’t match up with reality. So she left her successful career in politics as a policymaker and communications expert on campaigns to jump into entrepreneurship.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today Julia shares her entrepreneurial journey from the world of politics where most recently she served as the national co-chair for Korean Americans for Biden in 2020, mobilizing volunteers and orchestrating efforts to engage hundreds of thousands of Korean American voters in key battleground states. We discuss the parallels between starting a business and running a political campaign, because both require a deep understanding of, and responsiveness to, people’s needs and desires. Plus, the very real challenges faced by new parents and how her company Sanu changes the game.

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia will be here in a moment, and first:

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Melinda Wittstock:

Some men often perceive mother-centered postpartum care a luxurious addition rather than a critical support system that yields considerable advantages for the entire family unit – mom, dad and baby. Add to that the fact that too many women underestimate their own care needs — and often settle for less than what they truly need and deserve.

Melinda Wittstock:

The benefits of comprehensive postnatal support are undeniable, yet assumptions like “women have been doing this for generations,” “childcare is easier than working a regular 9 to 5 job,” and “women can have/do it all” stand in the way of getting new families the care they need.

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia Kim is on a mission to transform postpartum care as we know it, inspired by the South Korean tradition of ‘sam-chil-il’ retreats for new moms, dads and babies and solving a $1.1 BN gap in postpartum care in the US. Hotel-based, Sanu Postpartum retreats help mothers recover from childbirth, get vital mental health support and more with a round-the-clock nursery, for an average 5 to 7 nights. Julia is now expanding her locations beyond her flagship in Tysons Corner, VA in the Washington DC suburbs.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we dive into the gaps in postpartum care, how the Sanu retreats work, plus the challenges Julia has faced in growing Sanu, including regulations and advocating for policy changes in the women’s health space and why collective and bipartisan action is needed to drive meaningful change.  Plus, we touch on the current political landscape, the importance of critical thinking and civic engagement, and why it’s vital for female founders to support Kamala Harris’s groundbreaking campaign to ensure we do not lose our rights, freedoms and ability to succeed in business.

Melinda Wittstock:

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Julia Kim and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia, welcome to wings.

Julia Kim:

Thank you for having me.

Melinda Wittstock:

You were a politico. I mean, you know, in policy, communications, law making, political campaigns and whatnot. And then you became an entrepreneur. What was the spark? That’s a big change.

Julia Kim:

It is a big change. But, yeah, I mean, a lot of my inspiration came from my own experiences. And, you know, isn’t that where most good ideas come from? I mean, when you look at a founder and you’re like, oh, my gosh, like, you haven’t lived that experience, then you kind of question, you know, what are you doing there? But, you know, for me, I had my first child. My gosh, so he’s six now. So, you know, I was pregnant seven years ago, had him six years ago, and that experience did not at all go how I thought it would go. And I think a lot of your listeners, I have something in common with them, being that we’re very type A individuals. I read all the books, went and visited all the specialists. I went to several different pediatricians’ offices and took all of their classes, and it was kind of like a semi-interview.

Julia Kim:

They wouldn’t sit down with me and answer just general questions, but I wanted to get a peek into their offices. And so, I went and took all of their educational courses that they offered at night on, like, you know, these are the CPR courses. And, you know, I did all those things, and I thought, all right, I’m pretty well prepared, at least as well as I can be. And then I went in to have my baby, and there was this moment when all of the nurses and doctors just left my room. They’re like, okay, here you go. That’s it. Good luck. I was like, what are you doing? Like, where are you going? I mean, I was genuinely puzzled.

Julia Kim:

And then I’m looking around thinking, oh, they have posters on the wall for proper hand washing and things like that, but not even a primer on how to change a baby’s diaper or what is that cry mean? Or nothing. And so, I was like, oh, boy, I’m in trouble. And I’ll never forget that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. And I thought, oh, there’s got to be a better way. And so, I started doing just a little bit of research at the time because, you know, I was exhausted. Postpartum was not going well, and there really wasn’t anything here in the states that would truly onboard me in the way that I felt like I needed. But, you know, life happens, and I set all of that aside, and I just try to get through it. And then during the pandemic, I decided, hey, why not just, you know, with a full-time job as a wife and a mother, let’s just go ahead and get a graduate degree. So, I did that. And, you know, that experience afforded me the confidence and the network to really start exploring this idea in greater depth. And from there, it just blossomed. The, you know, the idea of Sanu, it took over two years. I worked with physicians. I worked with a lot of people around me, and. And we came up with this really incredible program. And just every day I’m getting affirmation and confirmation from not just mothers but partners that this is really needed.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s so funny how the spark for entrepreneurship often does come from our personal experience. You know, we’ve gone through something. We found a solution for it, or we’ve seen the gap. We just feel motivated to solve that, and off we go. And you’re right. Those are really the best businesses.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, what were some of the differences you found in starting up a company as opposed to, say, a political campaign? I mean, were there some things in common? Were there things from your political life that you could really bring into the founding of a company experience?

Julia Kim:

Oh, my gosh. That is such a unique and great question. There are so many similarities. I mean, who would have thunk it? But there’s so many similarities, including. I mean, the very first step is you got to do your due diligence in either. So, you know, take a political campaign, for instance. You have to do your due diligence. You have to know your district.

Julia Kim:

You know, how many voters are there in your district? How many of those voters lean democratic or lean independent or lean Republican or Green Party? What are the characteristics of your district? And then who are the opponents? Who are the people who you might be running against? Are they new opponents? Are they incumbents? How have they voted? How much money do they have in their campaign account? And then the very first step, after you do all the paperwork, again, just like in a business, you’re doing all this paperwork, administrative stuff. Then you go and you get your finances in order. Same thing in a campaign, right? You go and you start raising money. That’s literally the first thing you do, because in a campaign, people are like, oh, you know, you want to hire this person and that person. But truly, in every well-run campaign, the first hire you make is a finance director. You get your money in order, and it’s the same thing with the business you find out, you know, where am I getting capital from? Am I self-funding? Am I going to get a loan? And of course, if you’re, um, a first-time entrepreneur and in many parts of the country, if you’re a woman, in many parts of the country, if you’re a minority, that capital is not easy to come by. And it’s largely the same for running a political campaign. And then you have to literally cold call people to get money.

Julia Kim:

And let’s say you’re an entrepreneur and starting something that you truly think is scalable and you don’t have a lot of connections, well, then you’re kind of cold calling VC’s and cold calling family investors. Investors family offices. You’re doing all that. And so there are tons of similarities.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, yeah, it’s so true. And I think even going beyond that, like knowing your customers, I mean, who you’re selling to. So political campaigns and the degree of data of actually understanding the demographics, psychographics, behavior, you know, all these sorts of things, the problems. Right. Like any business, you need to know your customers really well as well.

Julia Kim:

Yes, that’s absolutely true. You have to know what makes them tick. And in business, we say what is their willingness to pay? And in political campaigns, it’s what is their willingness to vote or their willingness to pay as well, like contribute money to your campaign. And so, it’s really the same, now that I think about it, and taking care of your customers. Oh, my gosh, that’s the number one thing in either and part of my job when I was not just in campaigns but on the government end of things, in the legislative office industry of lawmaking, we were taking care of our constituents. Those are our customers. And if you don’t take care of your people, then they’re not going to come back for you.

Julia Kim:

And it’s the same thing in business.

Melinda Wittstock:

I’d never really thought about this connection in a way, you know, between politics and business. I think a lot of people don’t make the connection. But listening to you, it makes so much sense. So, any, any candidate almost is an entrepreneur with a team.

Julia Kim:

Yes, yes. A small business owner getting started. And then, you know, they make the big leads and they’re you know, off to the races. If you’re, if you’re running a federal camp or if you’re a federal candidate, then you’re, you’re dialing for thousands upon thousands of dollars. But, you know, if you are state or local, you know, you’re just trying to get 15, $15 here, $1,000 here, you know, a couple thousand dollars there. And so, hats off to political candidates and anyone who’s willing to go out there and try to really do something for good.

Melinda Wittstock:

The other thing, too, is just in our kind of social media landscape, such as it is, right, where you have all these different echo chambers and bubbles and whatnot. And, you know, in business, finding your ideal customer really comes down to actually understanding where they are. Like, what kind of message is going to resonate, resonate with them. Right. How to personalize those messages, how to find, you know, same thing, you know, I guess with politics as well. So, did you kind of emerge from this? I guess, you know, you got sales experience, you got fundraising experience, you like marketing experience, and you could just put all those to work.

Julia Kim:

Yes. But I will tell you that I was really not confident. In fact, I still sometimes feel like I’m an imposter, but I was really not confident until I went and got my graduate degree. It’s so funny because, you know, when I started, so I got my MBA from Georgetown University. But, you know, when I got in, I was just shocked. I was like, you know, I’m really not good at math, so I’m not quite sure what I’m doing here.

Julia Kim:

But the thought of running a business, the thought of really understanding the entrepreneurial mindset and having something, having a degree like this under my belt will help me as I launch my career into lobbying. I tell you that in the back of my mind, I thought I was going to go into lobbying. And that is the general progression of somebody who has worked in the lawmaking industry is a lot of times they find themselves at a lobbying shop. And so that’s where I thought I was going to go. And I thought I was going to go and represent some big multinational corporation somewhere, whether in their government relations shop or what have you. But then I could not shake this idea. It started as a tiny seed several years before I even considered going back to school. But then I just thought, I have to do something with this.

Julia Kim:

I have to go for it. And so, the courses that I elected to take during my program at Georgetown all revolved around entrepreneurs. All revolved around consumer behavior and marketing and p and ls and raising capital. And that gave me a little bit of a confidence boost, just enough so that I felt like, okay, I may not be the expert in everything, but at least I have access to really great resources, and I know enough so that I’m not the ‘dumb dumb’ in the room. Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, so many women and the most accomplished women, Julia, have this imposter syndrome. Like, it’s something I think we all have to overcome because I think, you know, historically speaking, women are relatively new to business, right? So, there’s all these things that we think that we don’t know, but we actually intuitively do. It all just comes down to the confidence of just jumping in and doing it. And the entrepreneurial mindset, which you mentioned, is just getting comfortable with the fact that there’s a lot of things beyond your control. There’s a lot of things that you’re just going to be continually learning, and there’s going to be all these little failures, large and small, along the way as you perfect your product or your service or you find your customers or you figure out how to be a good team leader and how to hire and when to fire and all these things you kind of learn as you go. Unlike you, I, you know, I became an award-winning journalist without a journalism degree. I became a, you know, five times serial entrepreneur without doing any kind of business degree.

Melinda Wittstock:

My degree was actually in political science, funnily enough, indicated in an area where, you know, albeit my first business was a political news agency. But, you know, everything I’ve learned as a, as an accomplished entrepreneur now is just by doing, like, just by jumping in and doing it. And it’s really the best way to learn.

Julia Kim:

I’m so in awe of that career trajectory. That is just so cool.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, I’m, you know, I’m older than you.

Julia Kim:

I can’t tell.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s been quite a journey. Do you know what I mean? Like, I started out as a journalist, but I was really entrepreneurial as a journalist. You know what I mean? I wanted to know where the story was going next. I wanted to learn from the people that I was interviewing, you know, that kind of thing. So, you know, I was a business correspondent and a media correspondent and such. But, you know, always very, always very entrepreneurial.

Melinda Wittstock:

But, you know, I just say this because for any woman listening who thinks, oh, my God, Julia and Melinda, they’ve done so much and they’re so good, and it’s easy for them. No, it’s not easy. It’s not easy for anybody. But, like, the only way you can really get that confidence is just by jumping in.

Julia Kim:

You are so right and just, you.

Melinda Wittstock:

Know, it’s okay if you have these little, you know, failures. God knows I’ve had, you know, a lot of those, they’re learning experiences. They’re like feedback. You just have to reframe that in your mind, you know?

Julia Kim:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, but I think the political stuff, you know, just the rough and tumble of that, I’m, you know, you know, mindful that this podcast is being recorded, you know, a couple months before it airs. You know, we’re in this election season right now, and at the, at the pace of change that we’re living through right now, God knows. But, you know, just in the campaign pain of, you know, Kamala Harris and against Donald Trump, it’s just such a crazy time and a crazy political environment. How do you look at that right now with all your kind of experience in terms of how that, you know, how campaigns are best run in our current environment with all the memes and the social media, such as it is?

Julia Kim:

Yeah, I think it’s more difficult today than ever before to make a really informed decision just because if you’re not really in the thick of it, you are bombarded with so much information and some of it good information, some of it bad, and it’s really incumbent upon you as the individual to parse through and figure out, hey, what’s right. What do I believe? How does that affect me? As opposed to what are they trying to tell me? So, you really have to be an advocate and a critical thinker, and that’s hard because, oh, my gosh, I mean, who has the time for that? And then how do you know who to trust and where you should be getting your information? And then everything that we know about disinformation. I mean, it’s kind of a scary world out there. But, I mean, I think the answer is to just have a lot of different sources and not just rely on one or two mainstream sources. And, you know, you just have to be a critical thinker and do what you think is right. But, oh, my gosh, you have to be civically engaged. Don’t just sit back and say, you know what? This is just fubar. I cannot, I cannot engage in the process.

Julia Kim:

No, you have to get engaged. This is your life. This is the life of your kids. This is the life of your neighbor, your mom, your business, the teachers, just like everybody who you encounter on a day to day. This affects everyone. And you may not think that your vote matters, but it does. And, you know, vote in every single election, not just the federal elections, vote for, you know, and you know, every state and municipality is different, but, you know, vote for your federal person, vote for your congressman and senator and your state representatives and your county people or your city people. I mean, it matters.

Julia Kim:

And the more you engage, yeah, it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Decisions made have a real impact on everybody. And I think just even in terms of entrepreneurship, this is something I feel really passionate about, because one of the things that’s made this country so great for innovation and entrepreneurship is a free market and democracy. If you look at, say, Putin’s Russia, you get a little bit too big or whatever, and all your bounty is taken by the great leader, or you fall out a window. And it feels like that’s kind of the choice that we have. And I see a lot of entrepreneurs thinking, oh, I’m in business. This politics thing has nothing to do with me. But then why would Google and OpenAI and all these folks be the biggest single lobbyists, right, spend absolutely on Capitol Hill than they do on innovation. It’s crazy because it directly impacts business. So, I think entrepreneurs generally need a little bit more consciousness about this because it does really impact the future of your business. And it’s not just like, what kind of regulations or whatever, but it’s like, do we live in a democracy? It’s like that existential, at least to me. How do you, how do you, in the context of your business?

Julia Kim:

I mean, I can’t agree with you more. And I think you really hit the nail on the head. And I think we just all have to be more conscious of how, you know, not just like the big laws, but, you know, state and local regulations can really affect what you can do where you are with your business. But for my business, for Sanu, and we’re commonly called a postnatal retreat here in the US. But for postnatal retreats, I mean, so I have been hoping that at some point soon, I can kind of get together with the few other postnatal retreats around the country. And there are not very many of us right now, but we really need to start an industry association so that we can collectively start advocating to government for ways to allow us to bring our services to more families. One of the things that keep me up at night is that we are essentially a luxury service, and we need not be. And the reason why I say that we’re a luxury service is because 95% of the services that we offer are not accepted by insurance.

Julia Kim:

People can’t use Medicaid to pay for a stay with us, people cannot get more than, usually more than their lactation consultations and mental health therapy covered. And why can a mother who makes a decent living and has great insurance, why can she not use her insurance plan to help cover at least some or all of her stay with us? Because we really are providing a really needed service. It’s not just a nice to have. I mean, we’re looking at reducing readmissions to hospitals after labor and delivery. We’re looking at maximizing mother’s postpartum physical and mental recovery and reducing stress and anxiety and keeping women and partners at work. I mean, so there’s such a huge. I think it’s like a $14.2 billion cost to families when we fail to care for mothers. We’re seeing outsized impacts to families and children.

Julia Kim:

And so, we really need to collectively come together and find a way to persuade lawmakers that they can and should be doing more for families across the country.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, gosh, 100%. I think there are a lot of businesses that could take a very similar approach. I mean, you know, I think I’m an innovator in, you know, AI and blockchain around the whole podcast ecosystem, for instance. But there are making sure that AI, for instance, has the right distribution of diverse voices in it and innovators in this space, but also that there’s a way for the smaller kind of crowd to compete with these huge, you know, behemoths, you know, in a way.

Julia Kim:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

In any industry, having that consciousness in terms of how entrepreneurship is really improving society and how that can work in a public policy context is something that I think a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily aware of. I don’t think we have, like, entrepreneurs generally founders, female founders, we don’t have the lobbying muscle, right. To compete, you know, in that way. Right. So, so, I mean, so is that something that you’re actively kind of working on right now to get that done?

Julia Kim:

Well, I literally just met with another female founder yesterday. She founded a political consulting firm, and she recently co-founded a political action committee devoted to supporting candidates who support women’s health causes. Everything except for reproductive health, you know, like abortion, but it’s a bipartisan pack. And I met with her yesterday, and I told her I’m very busy, and that’s not to, you know, glorify these busy lives that female entrepreneurs have. But that’s just to say that I think what you’re doing is so important and necessary, and I want to give it the due respect and time that it needs. But, you know, sign me up. I will do whatever I can. I will squeeze water out of out of a boulder, and I will make it work. I support you. I support what you’re doing, and we need to do this. And so, I think female entrepreneurs are coming around. And, you know, she told me something interesting, and she said, it’s not just women. We have some supporters, donors, and people who are involved, who are also men and who are also partners and dads. And it’s not just women. These issues affect entire families.

Julia Kim:

And so, we’re really starting to see the consciousness around this change, and now is the time we have momentum, and so let’s not miss the train. And so, I said, yes, you’re absolutely right.

Melinda Wittstock:

Especially when things like, you know, female health is literally on the ballot, like abortion is on the ballot, like IVF is, you know, all these things are specifically women’s rights. Everything is. The stakes could not be higher for anything to do with women’s health, freedom, rights at the moment. So, like, your timing is very good. Adding stuff to your plate, Julia. Like, you don’t have enough going on.

[PROMO CREDIT]

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Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Julia Kim, founder and CEO of the postpartum retreat company Sanu.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Melinda Wittstock:

So, let’s get into your business. I want to learn more about Sanu and what is a postpartum retreat? What goes on at the postpartum retreat?

Julia Kim:

Yeah. Yeah. So, the idea initially came from South Korea, and the more digging I did, I actually found out that these types of postnatal retreats are pretty prevalent all across Asia, and they’re quickly starting to become popular globally. And so, in Korea, these postpartum care centers are called Santoriwans. In Chinese countries, they’re called confinement centers. But we are Sanu. We’re a hotel based postpartum care stay, where mothers come to recover from childbirth, and parents gain support and confidence from our team of experts. And so, it’s not just for mothers, but we welcome partners, and they should bring their babies with them.

Julia Kim:

But we’re an a non-clinical, mother centered postpartum care stay, where we really create this village around the mother, and we provide evidence based physical recovery practices. We have a mental health focus that really goes beyond just a simple emotional assessment, mother and baby care from professional, experienced caregivers. We have around the clock nursery, really nutritious and delicious meals, hands on training in the form of master classes and one on one education to really build and internalize baby and self-care routines and habits, and then partners who are fully integrated into the care program. And so, it’s just complete wraparound services to onboard parenting teams into parenthood. And this is great for not just first-time parents, but also returning parents, because, you know, things change. There are new guidelines out there for safe sleep, or there are new innovations or just new ways of doing things that could significantly ease some of the challenges of parenthood.

Melinda Wittstock:

Ah, how wonderful. So how long is a stay? And, like, how do you, like, sign up and all those?

Julia Kim:

Yeah, so we have a minimum three-night stay requirement. And that’s because our whole postpartum care program is built around these three cornerstones. And this is part of the reason why it took over two years to develop our program, because we were doing extensive research into, you know, hey, what do parents really need? And so, we have these three cornerstones. The first is mother centered care. The second is building parental confidence. The third is habits and routines. We customize care plans for each and every parenting team and we take them through and their parents are meant to meet and exceed expectations in these three cornerstones. And you can really only do that if you’re staying a minimum of three nights, and so we have minimum three nights day, but we just had a parenting team check out and they had spent 30 nights with us. And so, you can really stay quite a long time. But the average length of stay, I would say, has been around five to seven nights. And it’s just like booking a staycation or a hotel stay. You come onto our website, and you go to the, you just press the book now button and it’s literally the same thing. We follow up with an intake form and phone calls and messages, and we really get you prepared for the experience. And then on your chosen date, you go ahead and check in with us after childbirth. And if your baby comes early or late, no worries, we’ll adjust to meet that demand and we’ll get you in here and really prepared to transition home and thrive in your fourth trimester and beyond.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s amazing. And so, is it just one facility or do you have more, or what are your plans there? Where are you located and all of that?

Julia Kim:

Yeah, so we’re located in Tysons, Virginia, which is about ten or so miles outside of Washington, DC and northern Virginia. And that is our flagship location. And right now, I’m in Charlotte, North Carolina. We’re eyeing a location here. I’m talking to operators around the country who are so interested in bringing these services to their neck of the woods, because, I mean, let’s face it, this is not just like a city problem or a rural problem. The need for these kinds of services exists everywhere. And so, we’re getting just a ton of interest. My hope is, in the very near future, you’ll see many more of businesses like ours around the country.

Julia Kim:

And even if they’re not ours, you know, I am starting to see a few postnatal retreats popping up here and there. I think it’s fantastic. The more support that we can provide to new parents, the better.

Melinda Wittstock:

I wonder if there’s a franchising opportunity for you. How do you look at the business and how you plan to scale it over time?

Julia Kim:

Yeah. And so, you know, this first flagship location in northern Virginia, we were really testing a lot of different things. And what the metrics bear out is that we’ve got really great product market fit that we think is applicable to a lot of different cities across the country. And so, what we did initially is we took a look at around the 50 to 55 largest cities across the United States, and we put them up against 20 or so different metrics. And that was our starting point. And now we’re starting to take new data and look at other cities. And we, as we were doing that, we built our care program in such a way that it could be rolled out across different locations, and everybody would receive the same level of care. It’s kind of like the big Mac of postpartum care.

Melinda Wittstock:

I was thinking, like, you had that potential to do that because once you have product market fit and you have replicable processes, you know what works? You can rinse and repeat. Right?

Julia Kim:

Exactly.

Melinda Wittstock:

That makes tremendous sense. What an amazing idea. I wish I had this way, way back. I raised money for my first business, Capitol News Connection, and in the process of just getting that off the ground, I got pregnant. I didn’t plan to be pregnant, but the business launched. We had our big launch. Sydney, my daughter was six weeks old.

Julia Kim:

Wow.

Melinda Wittstock:

I have all these funny stories about running around the US Capitol in that first year where there were just three of us, and I was still reporting, you know, as well as running payroll and, like, signing stations and doing sales and whatnot. And I had, like, my reporting kit, like, on one shoulder, and on my other shoulder I had, like, my breast pump. And I literally running around the US Capitol, like, I would, like, pump in, like, the bathroom off the House chamber. Like, I would just, like, it was in the scene. And the funniest thing, like, I just don’t even know how I did this, like, looking back, like, I think you just do what you have to do. But there was one day where I just had this, like, crazy busy day, you know, doing stories, you know? You know, handling payroll. We hired a couple of people that day. We were onboarding them.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, we brought in more public radio stations as clients. And my last thing of the day was to interview Senator Patti Murray. And I was in her office and for our, like, our Seattle station, and I pulled out what I thought was my microphone, but it was actually the funnel from my… And I literally, like, put it in her face, and I had no idea. And I was, like, answer the question. And she was just looking at me, and she. She just, like, fell apart laughing.

Melinda Wittstock:

Like, it was just. It was so funny.

Julia Kim:

It’s amazing.

Melinda Wittstock:

I could have used a little stay at some point in that trajectory, I’m sure, survived, she’s just 21.

Julia Kim:

Yay.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right? It was all good. You know, both my kids, you know, are fine for their mom’s entrepreneurship, such as it’s been.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, Julia, you were also the national co-chair for Korean Americans for Biden back in the 2020 campaign. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now. What’s been so interesting about the Kamala Harris trajectory is all the kind of Black Women for Harris, White Women for Harris, White Dudes for Harris, and a lot of these have been kind of organic. What do you see going on in the Korean community right now? And what’s your advice, if any, for anybody, organically wanting to set some of these up or work with a campaign?

Julia Kim:

Yeah. So, you know, what I think is so interesting that I haven’t seen in campaigns past is a lot of. And you just mentioned it, like, men for Kamala. Yeah. I’ve never seen it.

Melinda Wittstock:

They crushed it like they raised…

Julia Kim:

Yeah. And I think that’s fantastic. And, you know, even, like, as a feminist, and I think I. the word feminism and feminists, they get kind of this bad rap because people don’t understand what that means. It’s not like, you know, down to men. It’s not like, oh, you know, men are bad and all that. It’s like, no, it’s not about that at all. It’s just about equality.

Julia Kim:

And, you know, I think it’s just so amazing that we’re seeing men come out very publicly and supporting Kamala, and, you know, whether you do it on your own, in your own community and saying, hey, let’s do just let’s get together, it’s almost like starting a book club, right? Or like a workout group or like a cycling group with your buddies. It’s like, hey, let’s get together and talk about this and figure out what we can do. And I will tell you that political campaigns, they’re very localized. They are more than likely to have a local branch, if you will, in your community or very near your community. And so, if you reach out and say, hey, I want to put this group together, I would love support Kamala in your campaign. They will not say no, and they will provide you with the resources. And in order to do that, they will say, hey, can I send a representative of the campaign to your next event? I would be happy to share resources with you. And then, in turn, if you are truly there, representing a coalition.

Julia Kim:

So, for example, I am here on the East Coast representing Korean Americans. We would love to have an event to help raise money or a meet and greet in which the campaign might send a surrogate to speak on behalf of the campaign and on behalf of Kamala. I mean, they will really go out of their way to support you if you just make it known that you have good intentions, that you want to do what you can little or a lot, and they’ll make it easy for you. So, the first step is to just say, hey, I want to do this. And, you know, we don’t have that much time left. You know, this isn’t January, February 8. This is not spring. Like, we are well into nearly the end of summer.

Julia Kim:

The election is just around the corner. And so, we have to run. It’s like, we have to do a lot.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I get out the vote type stuff is. Is probably where the most effort at this stage, like, like, you know, as this episode airs, is super, super important. And. But not only that, I mean, not only get out the vote, but just being vigilant about what’s going on in these polling places, what is alarming me at the moment, and this is veering from the entrepreneurship, you know, focus of this podcast, but that the Republicans have put in a lot of election deniers, you know, into those positions and, like, like, things like refusing to certify results or, like, chaos at the pool. So, like, and I’m worried about, as an AI expert innovating in AI since 2010, I’m worried about deepfakes and things like that, that prevent or stop people from voting. You know, there’s just a lot of vigilance that’s going to be needed.

Julia Kim:

Yeah. And that is why I think there’s a lot of logistical hurdles. But, you know, campaigns, one of their main focuses as they get closer to election day is finding poll watchers and attorneys who can go and support people at the polls themselves. You know, even little things as, yes. If you are in line by a certain time, even if, you know, it’s beyond, you know, if it’s past 07:00 you need to stay in line and really vote. You don’t have to be turned away. If you can’t get out of your car because of your disability or some sort of physical issue that you have, you can get support. Somebody can come out and take your vote at your vehicle.

Julia Kim:

I mean, there’s so many ways in which we should, and some places do make it easier to vote. And then on the flip side, there are other places where it’s just, you know, everything is being done to keep you from voting. And so, you’re absolutely right. We have to remain vigilante and, you know, know your rights, make a plan to vote and stick to it. And better yet, bring two or three people with you.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. You know, there really should be a national holiday for, on voting day, right?

Julia Kim:

There should be, yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Because it’s very, it’s hard for a lot of people, and they’re kind of like, ah, my vote woman. You know, but every vote does actually count. Julia, I think you mentioned already the best way, you know, if you’re a new mother to be, how to connect with you. We’ll make sure that we’ll have all that on the show. Notes. Do you like people to follow you on social media? What’s the best way to get in touch with you?

Julia Kim:

Yes. And so, we have a website. It’s. But you can find us on Instagram or on Facebook or even YouTube. Our Instagram is really robust. Just Sanu, postpartum care is our Instagram handle. You know, we’re out there. If you google us, we’re there.

Julia Kim:

You can email us at hello, hanupostpartum.com. you can call us. I mean, whatever you feel comfortable with. Please feel free to reach out. We’d love to be a resource for you, even if you don’t end up booking. Don’t be shy. And I think we also have a discount code for your listeners. Yes.

Julia Kim:

And so, if you are a listener of this show, there’s a code ten per off, and we can go ahead and put that on our social media, but it’s ‘tenperoff’, ten per off to get 10% off a stay using this code.

Melinda Wittstock:

Amazing. Well, thank you. I appreciate that and your generosity. And congratulations on all your success. Julia, I want to thank you for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Julia Kim:

Thank you. I loved it.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia Kim is the CEO and Founder of Sanu, a postpartum retreat company dedicated to redefining care for new parents with comprehensive support and personalized experiences.

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