#OwnYourGlow is a series featuring incredible women who own their powerhouse dualities. Let us know at hello@aavrani.com if you have any suggestions for who we should feature next. 

Determined Out-of-the-Boxness:

The Duality of Endurance and Distraction

After Molly Borman had finished college in Michigan, she moved from her home state to New York City. She’d gotten a job working in the e-commerce department for Ralph Lauren, and while Molly had always been a hard worker, this was different. New York was expensive; fast-paced; filled to the brim with possibilities for social activities. In a city where the tempo and moments are everything, Molly learnt her life’s biggest lesson.

Living by myself right after college was so terrifying and so expensive and so eye-opening, because it taught me quick that I had to grow up. That I had to figure it out. Whatever it is. I knew I needed to make x amount of money to survive every single day and anything above that was great, but anything below that was no option. I think that really spurred my creativity (...) and taught me that I could make small choices in the short term that would benefit me long-term. And that’s been the biggest lesson I’ve ever learnt.

Molly sacrificed the robust social life New York had to offer in order to save up - to create the opportunity for herself to one day leave her day job and start something on her own. Being someone who needs to be constantly learning to stay interested, she quickly discovered that a big corporate job wouldn’t be it for her. Molly’s something came first in the shape of producing a cartoon, and then in founding Just Nips, a nipple enhancing company. It was a random idea that Molly still runs as the thriving business it is five years later.

It was just the first thing I thought of. The thing is, I get bored very easily. So I’m like ‘This will capture my attention for at least, you know, 6 months’ - which is all I was really going for at that point. And it was fun and interesting and certainly got me hooked on, not only being an entrepreneur, but just trying to stay curious and learn about the world.

I could make small choices in the short term that would benefit me long-term

As a result of her new venture, Molly stumbled into the breast cancer space. Unlike the vast majority of businesses working in this sphere, Molly was unaware that Just Nips’ main client base also inhabited it. She had created the business for women who wanted to have hard nipples, who wanted the look - and then it turned out that the majority of people buying her product were women who didn’t have nipples at all.

I thought our social impact would be about feminism. Which, to a degree, it is (...) But immediately once we learned how much we were able to drive impact in the breast cancer world, we changed the company completely. We used medical-grade adhesives, we took measures that have been incredible in the long-term, and that have been thanks to the breast cancer community.

A book was next for Molly, about small businesses and what she refers to as the Instagram iceberg - the idea that Instagram is no longer a one-stop shop for acquiring an audience and that we need to think differently about how to use social media to build business. Because she works with nipples and breasts, Molly had to build her business without social media; Just Nips’ ads were banned from platforms like Instagram and Facebook, which is what prompted her to write her book.

As she speaks, it’s impossible not to be almost overwhelmed by Molly’s energy and her push to move ever forward. Running a business, promoting a book, writing a second book - and being a new mom. To anyone on the outside, it’s blatantly obvious that she’s exceptionally hard-working. This is also the part of her personality that Molly is most proud of.

I’m most proud of my work ethic. Not that I don’t have a good social life or anything like that, I most certainly do, but I’m able to prioritize in a way that puts work first when I need to, family first when I need to - and I’m able to switch back and forth often. Which is helpful, because I think a lot of people don’t know you can do that.

Her adaptability within her work ethic also means Molly is able to stay unconfined by the different boxes society might want her to fit into. She’s not ‘just’ a mom, ‘just’ an entrepreneur, ‘just’ a writer. She fits in where she needs to, when she needs to. Which gives her drive and means that she can take on challenges completely outside of what you might expect of her. It’s a double-edged sword, though, because it also means Molly struggles with staying present, after she’s recalibrated herself into whichever role she needs to fill.

I lose focus. And I know when I’m losing it - and then it’s gone. So I have to work really hard to get it back. I have to work to get whatever it is I need to do done. I feel like other people can just sit and do their work, whereas I have to get myself in a place to do my work. I struggle with being present in pretty much everything.

Do whatever it takes to highlight your strengths and be proud of them...if you’re busy focusing on the strengths, what else is there?

Molly feels most confident when she’s finished a project - something she worked through and can add to her life’s resumé. Her insecurity arises when she doesn’t have a plan for said project. That’s when she needs to nail down that focus she struggles with, and chart a course. Work through it, map out her steps ahead - and as she does, her confidence reappears. She can take it on and she can tackle the challenges the project will throw at her.

Molly has an incredible capacity for honing in on her strengths, and making them work to her advantage. The struggle to focus is solved with determination. The worries about embarking on something new are handled with navigation and clarity. This is also what #OwnYourGlow means to Molly. It’s about being herself, but it’s also about focusing on the parts of herself she knows are helpful to her. 

Do whatever it takes to highlight your strengths and be proud of them. When you do that it doesn’t matter about your weaknesses or your insecurities, because if you’re busy focusing on the strengths, what else is there?

Molly's favorite product: Eye Rejuvenating Elixir

Interview and write-up by Synne Linden