A Connections episode interviewing Risa Mara Machuca about founding Bell Curves, a surf-focused swimwear brand for curvy, active women. The conversation covers Risa’s personal surfing background, motivation to design suits that fit and perform for larger sizes, sourcing and sustainability choices (Mexico-based production and use of upcycled materials), and the brand’s emphasis on authenticity, inclusion, and empowering women.
Chapters
You run a surfing company called Surf it Out. What does that phrase mean to you?
It means whatever you're going through in life, you can surf it out. If you're happy, you're sad, you're agitated, you're trying to figure things out. Just surf it out. Surf it out.
Hey, I'm Sarah Franklin and welcome to Connections, where we hear from some of the most innovative leaders in marketing. When I'm not on the road for work or at our HQ in San Francisco, I come here to Sayulita, Mexico, a place near and dear to my heart. And in my time in Sayulita, I've had the privilege to get to know an amazing small business owner and marketer. Risa Mara Machuca launched Bell Curves out of her passion for surfing and a need for swimwear for women with curves. And it turns out Risa is just as good at business as she is at catching waves. You grew up traveling between New York and Mexico. What sparked your love of the ocean?
I think the spark started in my mom's womb because my parents told me that I was made on a fishing boat out in the ocean. They threw me in the ocean when I was two months old. Yeah, they threw me in the ocean. I was two months old. So kind of feel like that was all there. Growing up in New York, my parents split when I was 2. My father's from Mexico, so I would go back and forth since a young age until later. But it's really that culture, that difference is culture and kind of learning mountain stuff and then ocean stuff.
Mountain, ocean. Mountain, ocean.
Mountain, ocean, mountain, ocean.
You wanted to be a surfer as a kid, but you didn't start until later in life. What got in the way?
I think I was always drawn to the ocean. Cause my mom was a big ocean person. My dad was a fisherman. But I was kind of like, you know, chubby kid. So I was stay in the water. And then I just. I broke up with somebody who was 27. And I was like, f this, I'm gonna go take a sabbatical and learn how to surf, because I've always wanted to. Then it just spiraled and skyrocketed into a whole nother lifestyle.
And so you just did it?
I just did it.
Where's your favorite place to surf?
I can't tell you. Surfing has given me so much. Not just clarity and peace, but also so many opportunities. I've actually been able to go to the Pan Americans and compete for Mexico on national and international. Back then, there were a lot less girls surfing in that arena. It was also a very kind of lucky and fortunate time that I got to get in that I think I have a special connection with ocean. You know, it's magic.
Tell me about what inspired you to make your first suit.
A lot of things. And one in particular. I can remember this one little girl that I was teaching at the time that was like, kind of exactly what I was like when I was that age. Her suit didn't fit her, and it was all these things. And at that time, I was already trying to figure out, like, a design or figure out a suit that could fit me, because no knocking on any other brands or any kind of stuff like that. But it's really hard for curvy women to find a suit that really fits you. And let me say active curvy women. You know, there's some brands out there that make beautiful suits for curvy women, but not that many that hold up in the surf and also that are size conscious and inclusive. Because, you know, like, in my suits, I'm an extra large in X brand name. I'm like a 2x or a 3x.
It doesn't make you feel good, kind of.
Not just it doesn't make you feel good, but, like, then what about the girls who actually are like 2x and 3x? Like, what size are they? How does that make them feel, too?
Talk to me about the inspiration for bell curves. Not just about yourself, but for other young girls.
If I can just get them to feel good and feel like they can go out there and rip without being made fun of and looking good and feeling good, if that just can boost their confidence in any kind of way, that's everything to me. If I can just think about that little girl, I'm gonna cry. But if I can just think about that little girl feeling good in that suit and having fun and like, ripping and surfing in big waves, I'm winning already. You know, I've already won. That's it. That's how I feel.
How is it to create your business from scratch?
It's a lot of hard work and dedication. If you believe in it, you gotta do it. If it's something that you're passionate about and that's in you, and you have a message and you have something to say that's authent and real, you have to do it.
So how much do you think that is important to your brand? To be authentic and to have a message?
Extremely important. And at least for me, it was just a lot of things kind of came together at the Same time with COVID in the last couple years and designing and everything coming together. There's so many messages in my brand, but the main thing is really inclusion because we all fluctuate in sizes. I fluctuate between like a 12 and a 16, but I would like to feel good at any size.
Is it important to you to be a role model to other to see themselves?
I'm starting to feel that more and more now. The silent alive and being here in Mexico. A lot of people know who I am. I do feel a little bit of responsibility now to really show the power of she in surfing and a lot of other elements of life and how we see ourselves even in social media. Because I can't even imagine being a young girl right now. I don't think I'd be here right now talking to you. So I just. I got a lucky window, you know, But I took advantage of that.
How do some of your personal values show up in the brand?
Well, now that I'm living in Mexico full time and have been here for a long time, I wanted everything to be sourced from Mexico, least amount of foot traffic possible, as well as being upcycled. So the only upcycled material we could find was actually white when we first started. And that's why we started printing sunset photos on the snoots over Covid. So I started taking photos to send to my family and friends, like, all right, Covid times, at least everybody can see a beautiful sunset. And then expiraled into this whole other thing. And after our first test and we looked at the snoots and the colors and everything, we were like, okay, all right. Sometimes I feel like when we do things with full intention and belief and authenticity, that's when the magic happens.
And how important is that in marketing for your brand now?
I think it's pretty important. I mean, most of the women, I mean, I get messages from women that are like, thank you so much for making a soup in my size and making it pretty and making it so that I can actually, like, you know, go body surf or serum or just play in the water or play volleyball, whatever that might be.
Anything they dream they can be active, and it's your brand that's helping them.
Do that, helping them feel good doing that and not feeling uncomfortable and having to, like, you know, move around or adjust and feel like it's not made for them.
You're sharing very vulnerable stories. And I'm curious, you know, why is that approach so important in marketing?
I do think that you have to live with authenticity and intent. And everything you put there, put out. There has to be truth. And so the more I'm transparent and clear and honest about myself and what I'm doing and my message, I think that comes across, and I think people. People want that now. They want to see real women. They don't want to see just models or what you would think are models. They want to see models of all kinds. You know, we want inclusiveness. We want variety. We want something for everybody. First thing with surfing is patience. You don't ever want to paddle right out. You want to take a look at conditions. You want what's going on when you wipe out, and you're going to wipe out, try to fall back and flat into the cushion of the wave. If you can't control which way you're going to go, just go, starfish. I'm going to send you out there. I'll be right behind you and push you into the waves. You're going to hear me say, up, up, up, up, up. Just know that that's the time that you can get into the wa. Yeah, you surfed it out. Surfed it out.
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