What if the secret to national scale is hidden in a story time circle at your first store? We sit down with founder and CEO Monica Royer to unpack how Monica + Andy grew from a neighborhood, experience-led boutique into a parent-trusted brand now selling online and in 1,200 Walmart locations—without sacrificing organic quality or the brand’s soul.

Monica walks us through the earliest days: a Lincoln Park shop that doubled as HQ and community center, where music classes and new-parent meetups fueled real product insights. Those hands-on lessons set the tone for everything that followed, from fabric choices and fit to bundles that match the rhythm of early parenthood. When the opportunity to go mass arrived, the team had already sequenced the crucial pieces—sourcing, quality control, and a codified set of brand values—to deliver the same standard at scale.

We get candid about the tradeoffs behind the strategy. Monica shares what keeps her up at night, how leading a growing team changes decision-making, and why a great co-founder can be the difference between stalling and moving with conviction. She breaks down omnichannel the practical way: treat DTC as home base, anchor to five core values, and let assortment flex by channel without confusing the customer. Along the way, we explore post-COVID shifts, the risk of playing it safe, and why community is still a better growth engine than ads.

If you’re building a consumer brand, this conversation is a field guide to scaling without drift: start close to the customer, make quality non-negotiable, sequence your operations before you widen distribution, and preserve the story that made people care in the first place. Subscribe, share with a founder who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review to tell us which insight you’ll use this quarter.