Today we’d like to introduce you to Holly Kjar.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a small business owner, wife & mother of 6. During my 4th pregnancy, I invented the best-selling product Maeband (named after my daughter Maely), to keep wearing my favorite jeans throughout my pregnancy & postpartum. The first Maebands were created in my mother’s sewing room in Granger, Utah, and sold on Etsy. We quickly realized we could not keep up with the demand and searched for a new place to create them. I suffered many setbacks during my first attempts at trying to find a quality manufacturer, including being cheated out of thousands of dollars from a supplier. I was extremely devastated but persisted through all the adversity. Maebands are now available on Amazon Prime & quickly made the #1 best seller in belly bands & maternity jeans categories on Amazon.
Maeband has had many unsolicited feature BLOGS from Babble, Baby’s List & What to Expect. WordPress highlighted me for 2019 in their Anything is Possible Campaign & I was also featured in a BLOG for International Women’s Day 2019. My mission is to uplift, encourage, support & inspire other women. I hope to achieve that by collaborating with strong women such as Miesha Tate (former UFC women’s champion) & Natasha Hastings (multiple Gold Medal winner, entrepreneur & philanthropist). I continue to improve on the Maeband & recently released a line of shirts that were created for women to wear during ALL stages of life. I hope to continue to create products women can trust, under the Maeband brand.
My driving force & biggest passion is giving back. For each Maeband sold, $1 is donated to an annually selected nonprofit organization. Each week I also contribute to nonprofits & GoFundMe accounts through service or donations. I created the Maeband Scholarship, for mothers that are working on getting a higher education & need some financial assistance. I know what it was like being a mother while completing college & hope to help others achieve their goals.
In addition to my small business, in the last few years, our family YouTube Channel (The Kjar Crew) has grown tremendously. I work in collaboration with my husband to create fun skits & challenges for families to enjoy together. I have continued to build my business YouTube Channel (Maeband) as well. My husband and I started The Maeband Podcast to share our journey, failures, and experiences throughout our 20 years of marriage raising six kids and starting multiple successful businesses. I hope that our experiences, good and bad, can help others know they are not alone.
I aspire to be a beacon for women everywhere in helping to inspire them to reach their goals. If I can help even one woman feel understood or supported, I will have achieved what I set out to do when I created my brand.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been relatively smooth so far?
Starting a brand new business is never easy. I cried on my husband’s shoulder that day I set out to make the first Maeband in 2012. I was incapable, inexperienced, and terrified to fail.
I had no idea what I was capable of and that those first tears would not be my last. Once my mom and I created Maeband, we gave them to friends and family and sold them online, the feedback and reviews were even better than I expected. However, it took five years of frustrating setbacks, including being cheated out of thousands of dollars, before we were finally able to find a quality, honest manufacturer. My persistence paid off because after finding our supplier and listing them on Amazon, Maebands ranked the #1 best seller in the belly bands category in less than a year!
It was not smooth sailing after we hit the market. We struggled with getting our patent for years and also found out we had multiple people attempting to copy our product. We have had additional setbacks in dealing with Amazon; being in the correct category, product numbers, not showing up when searched, and other things that reduce sales. To make things even more complicated, I had two more babies just 16 months apart. Covid and quarantine decreased sales as well because no one was wearing pants at home! There will always be struggles when you run a business, but I am always learning and growing from each hardship. Ultimately I will become stronger and wiser as I make it through each experience.
As you know, we’re big fans of Maeband. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My mission and hope is to encourage pregnant women to keep wearing and doing what they love while pregnant. GONE ARE THE DAYS OF PREGNANCY RESTRICTIONS! I invented Maeband to keep me wearing my favorite jeans throughout my pregnancy and postpartum. The Maeband is a much more stylish, functional, and comfortable way to transform your regular jeans into maternity jeans by covering up the unbuttoned area and adding stretch to your waistband. It’s also perfect for postpartum! Women want to keep wearing what they’ve always worn and keep doing what they’ve always done! I’m hoping to inspire and encourage that with my brand.
After creating Maeband, I knew immediately I wanted to expand on my brand and continue to make products for moms. With MANY hours/years of research and quality control, I released my newest product, The Maeband Timeless Tee! My goal was to develop a shirt that moms could comfortably wear during ALL STAGES of life, before, during, and after pregnancy. The Timeless Tee is another way to encourage moms to keep doing what they have always done and wear what they have always worn.
With my business, my driving force and biggest passion is giving back. In fact, during the first five years of operation, I donated over $15,000, without taking even $1 from the business for our personal use. For each Maeband sold, $1 is donated to an annually selected nonprofit organization (you can find out about them on our website). In 2017, Maeband donated to the Mitchell’s Journey Foundation, an organization to help raise awareness for Muscular Dystrophy. In 2018, Maeband worked with Miesha Tate and donated thousands of dollars throughout the year to her choice of the Jayden Deluca Foundation, which helps children and families fight cardiac conditions.
For 2019, Maeband teamed with Natasha Hastings (multiple Gold Medal winners, entrepreneur, and philanthropist) and the Natasha Hastings Foundation. The Natasha Hastings Foundation was created to provide financial assistance to young women who have qualified for their high school nationals but are unable to afford the costs. The Foundation has a strong focus on empowering and encouraging our young girls to better prepare them for their futures. In 2020, Maeband donated to Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), a non-profit that fights to rescue and end sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. For 2021, we chose an O.U.R. special project, Children Needing Families, which is committed to efforts that benefit at-risk children and youth across the globe. Their efforts include adoption grants, collaborations, and outreach.
In addition to our yearly collaboration, each week we also contribute to nonprofits and GoFundMe accounts through service or donations. We love supporting and helping people through #MaebandGivesBack and are hoping to inspire that in others! My focus is on giving back to the community and non-profit organizations and inspiring those that follow my lead. I hope to inspire a new type of company, that focuses on giving back and what they can do for others.
What were you like growing up?
My mom said I was determined, loving, loyal, honest, and curious. She said I had a soft heart and hated seeing anyone get hurt. Growing up I was always afraid of failure and rejection so I didn’t ever try out for anything that allowed for me to fail or be rejected.
I didn’t participate in any sports, even though I have a highly competitive streak. That is why I was so scared to start Maeband. I was so afraid of failing. I got my degree in special education because I always wanted to help kids who struggled.
Pricing:
- $22.95 Maeband
- $19.95 Maeband Tees
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maeband.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maeband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Maeband.LLC/
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/maebandllc?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=fe478f72-844a-4382-ac3b-324188d4da33&epik=dj0yJnU9RUd0b2FxR2x6cjNQRU1MSjVDcHRZVnRpcGtqUkNndHkmcD0wJm49OVZhSG45UEFTcDg0RnZOTWFINmRZZyZ0PUFBQUFBR1NVaUxv
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaebandLLC
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Maeband
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@maeband?lang=en
Image Credits
Shay Knudsen, Holly, Maely, Darla Rae, Jessica Rameriz, Natasha Hastings, and Kevin Garner Photography
