From Corporate to Carpentry: Crafting Success (w/ Kiersten Hathcock, Founder - Mod Mom Furniture)

Back in 2006, Kiersten Hathcock was just trying to figure things out. 

She had left her job at A and E Television Networks a few years before and was bouncing around from town to town with her husband and their two kids.

As she was, Kiersten did the very last thing that anyone expected: she founded a children’s furniture company called Mod Mom Furniture. Then in 2024, after the brand received international recognition and acclaim from Shark Tank, Elle Décor, Better Homes and Gardens, and more,  she made another unexpected move: she simply walked away.

Today, Kiersten is the Chief Marketing Officer at Moonshot. It’s a non-profit helping to spur economic development in rural Arizona. But to get there, Kiersten walked on some pretty uneven ground. She navigated a tumultuous appearance on Shark Tank, childhood trauma…even hearing the voices of dead children.

This week, I sat down with Kiersten to hear how she went from working in the television industry to building children’s furniture by hand in her garage. Why did she make such a drastic jump to an industry she had no experience with? How did she differentiate her products in such a saturated market? And how did she learn to trust her intuition, even when she had no indicators of success to latch onto?

Kiersten talks about:

• Identifying product/market fit
• Her experience pitching on Shark Tank
• Learning to trust her instincts over everything
• How to surround yourself with the right kind of people
• Hearing the voices of dead children while designing kid's furniture

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Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.
Music by © Correspondence and © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP). 

Songs used in this episode include: 

• Chris Zabriskie - "Air Hockey Saloon," "I Refuse to Accept That There's Nothing I Can Do About It," "Short Song 012823," "Short Song 022123."
• Correspondence - "Up + Up (reprisearise)."