Katherine Garbarino is on the blog today & we met – you guessed it – on Instagram. Seems to be the norm lately.
Our mutual friend Ingrid de la Mare – Kenny introduced us & I took a liking to her & her content instantly. Katherine is driven, an executer & super talented. We kicked off our Instagram relationship with her sending me a pink lemon squeezer. I use it every single day to make my spa water & it’s just so fucking cute & on brand. I love it.
Katherine not only sells the most adorable lemon squeezer, her shop is full of beauty, health & wellness goodies. While you’re there you can check out blog posts & clean recipes too. She has an amazing community of contributors & her website Girls Living Well is an amazing resource.
In this post Katherine shares her tips for launching a business, her daily rituals that keep her going, & the specific inulin drinks she can’t live without.
Without further ado, let’s welcome Katherine Garbarino to the blog.
Katherine Garbarino of KGMTL on Launching Fast, Daily Habits & Creating A Community
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♡ Introduce yourself to The Skinny Confidential audience.
Katherine Garbarino: I am Katherine Garbarino, known on Instagram as @KGMTL, which was never an intentional “brand name,” it was just always my Instagram account – my initials & the city I live in. I began sharing my tips & tricks on Instagram when Stories launched about 4.5 years ago & the name kind of just stuck around.
I want to say I’m a beauty, wellness & lifestyle influencer, which I am. But really I am, & have always been, a major consumer & have a knack for finding really good products. And I love to tell everyone about everything. I am also, in true Gemini spirit, very good at retaining information & love picking people’s brains, & am blessed with the “gift of gab.”
I know how to retain information & then convey it in a way that is easy to understand & relatable to most. I’m all about leveling up in every way & never settle for feeling anything less than great. And I try everything from the newest skin laser treatments to beauty products to supplements & share my unfiltered, always honest opinions.
I am also 35, married & have been going through years of trying to start a family.
I have been as open about my journey as I feel comfortable with while still keeping boundaries in place in an effort to educate other women. And also let those in my audience know they’re not alone. I founded my platform, Girls Living Well, 2 years ago. This is a place for all my information, healthy recipes, beauty & lifestyle favorites & we always have contributors ( the GLW Gang ) writing articles & sharing their knowledge with my community. It is a place for those who don’t have as large of a platform to share what they know in hopes that it can help someone!
♡ You built an incredible business & run your Instagram like a true entrepreneur. What are some tips you have for women who want to pursue their hustle?
KG: Just start. There will never be a perfect moment & the time will never be the “right time.” Attention to detail is important but not if it can also be debilitating. Execution is more important. My favorite thing to say is “no one cares” meaning, no one is picking every single thing apart the way you think they are. JUST START. Make mistakes, learn from them, grow & let your customer evolve with you.
♡ What is your morning routine that helps set you up for success?
KG: Do you have 6 hours? Because it’s a process LOL.
I wake up usually around 6. I do 10 deep breaths- from my belly, 3 seconds in through the nose, 3 seconds out through the mouth.
Then I grab my phone ( I know I shouldn’t but I do ) & I check my emails & my IG for like 10 minutes.
I go into my bathroom, & do my skincare routine- which is pretty elaborate. In between my serums I write in my 5 minute journal. Then I continue my skincare routine & do my facial massage with whatever tool I feel like going with that day.
I put on my workout clothes & head down to my kitchen.
I make my lemon water- I never, ever skip this & film it daily to show my community the importance of routine & it’s also just my “thing.” PS. it’s luke warm water ( not hot, not cold, very important ), ½ an organic lemon, squeezed with my cute pink lemon squeezer, & a tsp of H20 inulin.
Then I brew my Chinese Herbs, that my acupuncturist blends for me. While those steep I take my dog, Maca out for her morning walk. During that little walk I make sure to stare at the sun & get sunlight or daylight into my eyes. This is SO key!
I come back in, feed my dog, drink my herbs & make my morning latté. I switch it up between Pu-erh ( fermented black tea ) & matcha, with coconut milk, maca, cinnamon & inulin.
Then I do my morning segment on Instagram, I shoot the shit, share what I’m feeling, what I’m into, maybe do a Q&A etc.
Then around 8ish I do a workout, generally one hour, sometimes 45 minutes, but 6 days a week I workout, shower & do a 10-20 minute guided meditation. Around 930-10am I “start my day” & check my calendar, answer emails, etc.
It’s a little intense & very detailed but these rituals keep me balanced & focused. If I’m thrown off of this routine my day isn’t as impactful.
♡ Tell us about a day in the life.
KG: Every day is really different, but I obviously start with my morning routine. Some days I am home filming content, writing content or working on recipes. Some days I am going to hair appointments, facials, lunch with a friend, acupuncture, osteo. I try to keep days blocked off for getting shit done ( content, writing, recipes, brand mentions, meetings ) & do those all in 3-4 days & then the other day or two I bounce around from appointment to appointment. Self care & wellness appointments are very important to me & big part of my success & my brand.
♡ Do you have a nighttime routine that helps you wind down?
KG: My nighttime routine is not nearly as intense as my morning routine. I do have a few things I swear by.
I go up to my room pretty early, like 7:30 ish, like a grandma. And I eat really early & go to bed really early.
Then I do my nighttime routine, which consists of double cleansing, serums, facial massage & moisturizing.
I then get into bed, scroll for 10-20 minutes & then I go onto airplane mode. I aim to get my phone on airplane mode by 8. This has changed my life! I sleep better & I shut off. We are so attached to our phones, or at least I am, so a hard stop is so important for me.
I watch a show or movie with my husband in bed, take 2 magnesium & generally I’m asleep within a hour or so.
♡ If someone out there is in a job they hate, but has a great business idea, where should they start?
KG: Literally anywhere. I know that’s not great or helpful advice but the advice is to just start. People wait for the perfect moment, the perfect branding, the perfect timing but there is no better time than the present. No one cares about the minute details, you can change & evolve with your business if you want to make it better.
The important thing is to just execute & start. So if that means starting an Instagram page for your business & putting up videos or curated content you’ve collected from other sources & then sponsoring those posts to gain an audience, do that. If that means building a super basic website with whatever budget you have, do that. Just start, once you’re working at it everything will make itself clear & fall into place.
♡ I know you love inulin coffee. How do you prepare it?
KG: LOVE inulin! & love Ingrid. We actually just started selling Inulin & H20 inulin on my site shop.girlslivingwell.com.
I actually don’t do coffee at the moment, I like to make this amazing fermented black tea ( Pu-erh tea ) which has so many great benefits & less caffeine than coffee, but still gives you tons of energy.
I add my Pu-erh powder, 3 tsp inulin, lots of ceylon cinnamon, half hot water , half homemade coconut milk & blend it all together. Sometimes I add raw honey too, if I’m in to the mood. It is a treat & such a nice way to start the day.
♡ What advice would you give to someone looking to grow their Instagram? You’ve done an incredible job growing yours!
KG: Honestly, I don’t know anymore. Instagram has made it really hard for creators to grow organically. My best advice is pump out content that you want to see. Don’t post or share what you think others want to see & don’t do what everyone is doing just to do what everyone is doing.
Let your audience relate to you & be consistent! Especially in the beginning for the first year or so, make your audience know you’re there & what they are coming for. Don’t focus of big numbers. I don’t have a HUGE follower count but I have an insane community of mainly women who know me, trust me & watch me daily because I am literally just me & not overthinking it too much.
Be vulnerable & don’t dissect yourself too much. I promise no one cares as much as you do & no one is judging you the way you are probably judging yourself. Also, don’t do it for the money. That takes time to come, do it because you have something to share & offer others & the money & everything will come as a result of that authentic need to put out good content you would want to see.
♡ What’s a book, podcast or resource you recommend?
KG: Books: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb & Atomic Habits by James Clear
Resource: Shameless plug, but www.girlslivingwell.com. It’s my platform & has insane amounts of info from beauty, wellness, lifestyle & over 200 clean recipes. It really is an amazing resource.
Podcast: I love The Skinny Confidential HIM & HER podcast of course! I never miss an episode. I also love Armchair Expert & The Genius Life.
♡ Where can everyone find you? Pimp yourself out!
KG: @KGMTL on Instagram & Katherine Garbarino on YouTube.
www.girlslivingwell.com is my website & @girlslivingwell on Instagram.
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There you have it. Be sure to stalk Katherine on Instagram. She is always sharing fun tips & healthy recipes. And like, get the pink lemon squeezer. If you ever wanted to start drinking more water ( & sexing it up with lemon ) then this is your new best friend.
x, lauryn
+ make your own inulin coffee with me & Ingrid here.
++ scope all the benefits of journaling in the morning.
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