Marla Catherine and Evelyn on Faith, Youtube and creating Jo West
In 2015, Marla Catherine’s older sister, Evelyn convinced her to start a youtube channel. Evelyn would edit the videos, and Marla would star in them, Marla agreed hoping this would mean spending more time with her sister. Since then, the girls have created a community of over 1.5 million and over 500,000 followers on Instagram. “Evelyn and I have an 8 year age gap and we didn’t relate to each other much because she was graduating high school and I was starting 7th grade.” Marla tells me while sitting in a coffee shop in Provo, one rainy day in June. Her sister, Evelyn sits next to her while they share oatmeal and avocado toast. I sip an iced chai as I listen to Marla tell me about when the videos started doing well. “We had been posting videos for about a year and then at the end of the summer (2016) we did back to school videos. We were getting seventy or eighty thousand views on what's in my backpack, or how I decorate my locker. That’s when we really grew because all of these girls who were around my age started to follow me.”
If you were a tween in the mid 2010s, you know it was a time full of Fjallraven Kanken backpacks, (I was obsessed) mom jeans and lookbook videos. Marla started posting her lookbook videos as a way to show her viewers how you can dress cute but spend less.. These videos amassed over 500,000 views. The girls started filming them thrifting more and Marla's following started to grow exponentially.
Managing school, church, social life, family, and a business is tough but Marla has been able to find a good balance for everything. “I’m a firm believer in that if it’s important to you, you’ll find a way to make it all happen.” Marla tells me. The girls are devoted members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. “In my life, the gospel is my number one priority and I make sure I’m carving time out for the lord each day.” Marla tells me. Marla and Evelyn explain how they make sure their time on social media is healthy. “Mute people.” Evelyn says. “Your mental health is so much more important than seeing what someone who makes you feel bad about yourself is posting.”
The girls and I go on to talk about the church and how being members, it can be hard to deal with constant criticism and people telling you what you do and don’t stand for. “I feel like you have to remember that just as someone has every right to believe what they think about your beliefs, you have every right to believe the way you do. Agency is so important and everyone has the right to choose what they want to believe, whether that’s not worshiping at all or worshiping Jesus.” She tells me. Evelyn chimes in. “It's hard for sure when you see people making fun of your beliefs, but at the same time, if you’re on social media you kind of just have to expect that and deal with that.” She says.
The girls started a clothing company last summer in effort to create more modest options for girls who share similar values to them. “There’s definitely a lack of cute modest options out there so we wanted to make something girls would actually want to wear.” Marla tells me. The girls tell me about the process of creating the line. “We went through a lot of names and found that most had been copyrighted so kept having to come up with more.” Marla says. “I remember throwing the name Jo West out there and we liked it.” Evelyn added. The collection has a range of pieces from dresses, to skirts, to fun tops, all having unique designs and fun names. After lots of designing, and strategizing, the girls launched their first collection. “I remember hanging out in Provo one night and my friend and I saw this girl wearing the Darcie dress and I was so excited. Seeing something that was once an idea now on someone was so rewarding.” Since then, the girls have released a series of collections with various pieces ranging from dresses to tops to fun accessories.
Marla and Evelyn’s creative minds are impressive to say the least. Their incredible bond is admirable and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for the girls. You can watch their videos at youtube.com/marlacatherine and follow them on Instagram @septembermarie and @marlacatherine
