There’s a good chance you’ll recognize comedian and content creator Meredith Masony from a very familiar activity: folding laundry. While most of us are struggling at home, maybe it’s time to overeat for sale sunsetshe’s known for taking a different approach and livestreaming the entire process to her followers, chatting with her community as she works through basket after basket of stuff.
It started on Facebook, around the time the site launched its live streaming feature, and she’s been on it for years, building a huge following on new social media platforms and bringing live comedy to life as new social media platforms took off. Touring and podcasting were added to her repertoire. She also recently launched a new project: The Laundry Lady, a line of plant-based, biodegradable laundry tablets sold in 100% recyclable packaging.
When I first spoke to Masonry, she had just sent her eldest son off to college. (She also has two kids at home—ages 15 and 14.) We chatted about her latest adventure, how social media has changed over the years, and sending her kids off to college. Plus, she helped me rethink one of the hardest things about parenting: folding clothes.
Scary Mom: Tell me a little bit about where you are in your parenting journey.
Meredith Mason: It’s been four weeks since I sent my eldest son off to college. I have an 18-year-old kid who is living his best life in Miami. He was a little tired though, as the lessons seemed to get in the way of his fun. Prayers and good vibes will be sent to him in his time of need. I have a 15-year-old daughter who is in 10th grade and a 14-year-old son who is in 8th grade.
SM: What is the funniest and most surprising thing about being a teenager?
MM: I try really hard to follow rules like this and not fall into the trap of “my kids will never.” Because your kids will, they will. You may not know it, but someone knows it and eventually you’ll discover it. We dropped our oldest son off from college and my youngest decided to move into his own room that night. I was like, “Whatever, you want to move into his room, no problem.” When he came home, there was still room.
We went there the next day to get something from my 14 year old, probably a lot of plates that were never taken out of the room. The window was open and he said, “Come on, close the window. The cat is getting out.” My husband turned around and looked at the window and asked, “Where is your screen?” He said, “Oh, this is Marty. Yas’s room. There’s no screen on the window.” I said, “Why can’t there be a screen on the window?” And he said, “Well, Mathias took it out.” “What?” And he got really quiet and I said, “You just threw your brother under the bus.”
SM: What was the transition like sending them to school?
mm: That You are not ready yet. It literally feels like part of your heart has walked out of your body. That’s the best part, though – they do. They may not look like it. Sometimes they panic. But they figured it out. If you’ve done your job and you’re ready for them, they’ll understand. It doesn’t make it easier for you. But as we dropped him off, I realized along the way that this is not about me, this is about him. This is the next step in his adventure.
SM: What is your number one piece of advice for someone sending their child to college?
MM: This has nothing to do with you. These yes How you feel. You’re a mom and you feel all these feelings, but when you give them away – it’s their first experience of actually being put into the world. So I went out of my way to make sure he knew it was about him and that we were there to support him.
My husband and I planned to stay there for two nights, and after we put everything in his dorm room, he looked at us and he said, “You don’t have to stay tomorrow night. I’m fine.” I wanted to say, “We can stay!” Instead, I said, “Oh, okay. No problem. We’ll cancel at the hotel tonight.”
My husband looked at me and I think I was shocked at my reaction because all I wanted to say was, “No, we can stay here and hug.” But that’s not what he needed. Yes, I cried on the way home. But if your child tells you they are ready, believe them.
SM: To put it another way, a lot of content creators that I’ve interviewed, their stories are like, “Well, I was stuck at home in 2020.” You’ve been doing this longer than that. How did you get into this industry and how has it changed?
MM: This is my tenth year of work. Over the past decade, social media has grown and evolved in many different ways. When my kids were little, I was looking for an outlet to just find imperfect people online because everything was so curated. Back in 2014, you didn’t post a photo without a filter or the family photo that everyone had in jeans and a white shirt. I’m just looking for people like me.
But really, the whole reason I started doing this was because I actually thought I was going to die—not metaphorically, but physically. In 2014, I fell ill and found out that I had an esophageal tumor. Fortunately, the tumor was not cancerous, but it was this wake-up call that rang my alarm: life is short, and I will not spend time hiding or pretending that I have an esophageal tumor. people.
My kids have grown up online now. Someone contacted me and they were actually asking me for my son’s Venmo because they wanted to give him a graduation gift. This is the sweetest thing ever. We have done community tours together over the years. I’ve been touring and getting to know my people, my supporters, at comedy shows and different events.
It has changed. We went from creating these very scripted, sketched three-minute videos, which were the only things Facebook would show, to now being online every day, folding my clothes on the internet, chatting with people and seeing how they’re doing. Share our journey. Many mothers, like me, send their children to school. I was sharing these stories and they would send back responses like, “I just left the University of Florida. I just left Ohio State. I just left Michigan.” We were all crying together. And our children, we all grew up together, even though we were thousands of miles apart, we all raised these children together.
It also makes you feel less alone when people reach out and say, “I’m dealing with this too.” You really get a sense of that camaraderie, even though I never met these people.
SM: Did you make a conscious decision like, “I’m going to be really open to people”? Or is this just something that happens naturally?
MM: I’ve met a lot of people because of what I do. One thing I’ve found is that it’s very jarring to meet someone completely different in real life than you are online. I really want everyone who sees me to be like, “Oh yeah, that’s the same bitch. The same person.”
This is what I bring. The conversations we have while doing laundry might be the conversations we have when we are at the club and I joke around.
SM: What’s the point of laundry? It has something great for chatting.
MM: Think about it. I used to feel overwhelmed by doing laundry. And then I thought it had to do with getting sick in 2014, and I would often look at that laundry basket and think, “How am I going to get through this?” When I literally thought I was going to die, I looked at the basket and thought, “What if The basket is empty and I die.” Or a nudist, I guess, and no one wants that either.
So, I started reconstructing it. I would put the laundry on the couch and fold it on Facebook Live. It’s very therapeutic to have a habit of, I’m folding laundry, we’re talking, I’m having a cup of coffee.
It became a love language for me. So, yes, I do laundry for everyone in the family. I wash it, I fold it, I deliver it to your room. Honestly, it will never be put away. It never goes into the drawer. But it became a way for me to say to my kids, “I love you. Here are clean underwear.”
I think everyone knows it became my thing because I remember a few years ago I was going on tour and the news anchors forgot my name, live. She introduced me as a laundress. I smiled and giggled, and at the end of this she said, “I’m sorry I forgot your name.” I said, “It’s okay. No one knows my name, but they will know the guy who folds laundry on the Internet.” Ms.
SM: Please tell me the story of your new laundry.
MM: A few years ago, I had a giant plastic jar of blue slime on a shelf, and the button got stuck and the slime spilled all over the floor. I was trying to close it and it was right above my head dripping and the dog came running in and she started licking it. I’m having severe panic attacks because now I’m thinking about calling the poison control center and the vet and I’m like, “Oh my God, my dog is going to die.” I’m sitting there thinking, “What’s in this?” I put it in the washing machine. I wash my clothes in it, I wear it in my kids’ clothes, I put it in it and it goes into the water.
So I started Googling, and I started researching these detergents and what’s in these plastic bottles… So I started looking, and I thought, “I’ll find a better way to do this.” We found it in Sweden We found a factory to work with and now we have Laundry Lady detergent tablets. They are non-toxic, zero-waste, completely plant-based and microplastic-free. All packaging is recyclable.
When I revealed this, I really didn’t know what to expect because yes, people knew I loved doing laundry, but I really didn’t know what to expect. So, we launched in April and within 36 hours we sold out of Nordic Breeze and people were going crazy.
I was blown away. People take a chance on this not just because they’re like, “We like this lady, she might know a thing or two about laundry.” I love when I get an email and they’re like, “I didn’t know you were Who. My friend gave me this at a BBQ to try and I just wanted to let you know that I have been using your laundry detergent tablets for two years now.
So that’s something that I’m very, very proud of because yes, I’m a comedian and I’m a podcaster. I did all of these other things, but laundress does have a special place in my heart.
SM: Switching gears a bit, I want to hear a little bit about touring as a comedian. What was it like balancing it all and then coming home? Tell me a little bit about life on tour.
MM: I’m getting ready to hit the road in October with my best friend, Tiffany Jenkins from Juggling the Jenkins. We’re doing a podcast called “Take It or Leave It: An Advice Podcast for Parents” that’s touring in front of live audiences. We have toured together and separately before.
But it’s fun. Of course, it’s hard because when you have kids and you’re on the road, you miss things, which is why on my last tour I cut it short because it was my son’s senior year and I missed everything . I decided to cancel the rest of that trip and I was going to be a mom to a senior. I’ve made it a rule now that as long as my kids are seniors in high school, I won’t tour that year. I learned this the hard way because I thought I could do it all.
SM: Do you watch anything interesting on TV? Do you have any advice for Scary Mom readers?
MM: Now I am in God of Cookingbecause the new season has just dropped. I’m a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay. I watch all his stuff. I swear I’m so interested in shows people have already seen but I’m so far behind but kingston mare. You have to be ready to buckle up and say, “This is heavy.” But it’s pretty good. I’m a boss too love is blind, Marry at first sight, below deck fan. Give me some reality—”reality”—television and I’ll watch it.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
