Today, “parenting influencer” has actually become a mainstream career path. But when Katie Anderson first used Instagram more than a decade ago, she had no idea her photos and videos would one day become a family business. In fact, she was busy filming Fruit when her eldest daughter, Kaitlin, started approaching her with the idea of releasing a skit about one of Katie’s twin daughters, Mila Stauffer. Yes, that Mila… the precocious kid who went viral at the age of three for venting about her hilarious growing issues on Instagram (“I’m so stressed… I’m going to read some books and relax” *pull out InTouch Weekly*).
Before long, Mila’s twin Emma felt comfortable enough in front of the camera to participate, and the Stover twins became internet celebrities. Now 10 years old, the smart and sassy teens have made their family internet stars, with more than 13 million followers on their channel and even a clothing line at Walmart and Target. Anderson is a mother of seven, chaos coordinator, content creator, and has only recently started making more frequent guest appearances, but she’s been steering the ship. From dealing with issues that come with digital fame, such as online safety, to solving typical teenage problems, it’s not always smooth sailing.
When Horror Mom had a chance to chat with Anderson via Zoom, she opened up about her family’s journey and what comes next.
Horrible Mom: When you started releasing home videos, could you have imagined that this is where you are today?
Katie Anderson: No! I joined Instagram because I love photography. There is one account that always has a theme, like “post a fruit today.” Everybody comes up with these creative ways to show this or whatever, so I always do stuff like that. It turned into taking pictures of my kids and posting about them.
So, no, I never thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be a big thing. That was simply not the intention. As my following grew, brands would reach out and ask me, “Can we send you this or something?” Even then, I didn’t think too much about it. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. OK Yes.
SM: TikTok has been a huge push for parenting influencers to go mainstream over the past five years, but your start was before it really took off. Has there been a shift?
KA: We actually didn’t launch TikTok until two years ago because I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do another thing, another platform. We’re growing really fast there, but it’s hard to compare TikTok to Instagram because Instagram is so wholesome and wonderful to me. I get amazing messages from people all the time. Our purpose is to make people laugh.
Before I did this, I was doing photography. And then one day my oldest daughter, Caitlin, came to me, and I know she always makes videos, but she said, ‘Oh, Mila and I made this video together. You have to publish it. I thought, ‘That’s going to ruin my feed. It’s just supposed to be a picture. I did it anyway, and then it exploded.
So, it put my photography on hold because that’s what people wanted. They want these fun videos. I would get messages like, “I’m going through a divorce and this is what got me through it.” So, it’s always been about making people happy and really laughing, because that’s what I like to do on social media Purpose. I love watching people’s funny videos.
TikTok is just different. More severe. maybe because [it’s] Lots of kids, everything is scrutinized. I just feel like I’m new to this.
SM: What lessons do you think you’ve had to learn along the way?
KA: I think I’ve just learned to be more cautious, but at the same time, we don’t do anything really crazy. So, along the way, you learn that you have to consider everything.
The best thing for us – and people don’t realize this – over the course of a week, we probably spend a total of an hour a week producing content. I’m sure most influencers, this is their job, they do it all day long, but we really don’t do that. That’s what I try to do when the girls say “we want to do it.” A lot of the things we do are because they bring ideas. They were like, “Let’s do this, let’s do this.”
When they were younger, it started because Caitlin would write this video and be like, “Do this.”
But now they’re very enthusiastic about coming up with ideas, and then they argue, “Okay, I want to do this part, I want to do this part.” Most of the ideas – 90 percent of the ideas – come from them. So, like I said, we spend about an hour a week shooting content.
The only time we don’t say “we do this or we don’t do that” is if we have a brand agreement or something. I know in some cases parents have, but you can’t make Kids do this. It’s within them. My girls love performing. In our family, fun is huge: my mom, my ex-husband, everyone. So, it’s really easy for us because they love it and it’s their schedule.
SM: Mila and Emma definitely seem like natural performers.
KA: The boys are getting older and everyone says, ‘Why don’t you let them in? Because they don’t want to do it. I said, “You should do this.” You are so cute. Their reaction was, “No, we don’t want to.” They were involved in some things, but as far as the day-to-day content, they were like, “We’re going to get crucified in school.” It wasn’t their thing.
SM: Mila and Emma are now 10 years old and entering their teenage years. Are they starting to fight back?
KA: Yes, of course. They don’t do that in the film per se because, like I said, they usually come up with the ideas. But I would just shoot them or some stories, just normal stuff, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, please don’t post this. If they name someone they like, “Please don’t post that name.” It’s only started recently, last year, they noticed a point: “That’s too embarrassing.” Please don’t. Or Mila will watch the video and say, ‘I look like a fool. Please do not post similar content.
SM: We hear a lot these days about online safety and children. What were your early discussions about this like?
KA: When we first started, they were very young; they were never on social media. They had never done so until recently. Last year, they loved TikTok. But mostly, we’re always in the house together, in the family room, in the kitchen, etc. So, we always watch them together.
They do play Roblox and stuff like that. I’m very open with them and they understand. I don’t give them baby stuff. What I hate most is baby talk. When I talk to them, I literally just say this – “If you’re on Roblox and someone’s talking to you”… it’s like, “Well, what if it’s a girl?” I say, ‘You I don’t know if this is a girl. You really don’t know. They’ll say, “But why?” I just tell them that’s what people do. You can’t talk about these things with people. We have all the barriers and safeguards and so on, but you never know.
So, I just talk to them like this and they get it. They are really mature and non-provocative. People will say, ‘You’re so naive,’ but I just know my kids. I talk to my kids about alcohol and drugs. I talk to them about it all the time, especially now when you hear about fentanyl being in things like candy. I’m really open to them.
SM: Because of the era I grew up in, these girls remind me of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen—the much-talked-about twins whose brand continues to evolve with age. Have you talked about what the future will look like?
KA: They want to be actors. That’s it. This is what they talk about. I mean, Milla also talked about singing. My mom is a professional singer, my ex-husband’s sisters are all singers, and my oldest daughter is writing songs; she’s working with a producer. So, it’s a big deal in our house. But I would say even before that, they wanted to take action. Sometimes they read comments and people say, “Why don’t these girls perform?”
We live in Arizona. If it happens, it happens. I haven’t really gotten into it yet because I have my sons. Even if it’s just the little things we do, I always feel guilty leaving them…like, I know it’s going to take me away more, so I’m just torn.
SM: Yeah, it’s hard. Well, so what you? What to do next?
KA: When I first started using social media, a lot of my content was in it because it was my photos. I try to be a part of it. Then we started making videos, and I stopped being involved in anything because my ex-husband said, ‘No one wants to see you anyway. That’s what they want to see. So I thought, “Okay.”
This is one of my biggest regrets.
That’s why now you see me involved in more things because I’ve always wanted to be a part of it. This is interesting to me. The girls and I had a lot of fun. There are many reasons why I am dissatisfied, besides my husband saying so. It’s on me; I just can’t do it. Then the girls just kept begging. So, finally, I did it.
I didn’t really think about myself because I was never a part of it…I guess I just started thinking about myself in this space.
SM: It’s never too late.
KA: That’s another thing – I’m the worst at that. I never thought I would care about my age once. I remember when I was younger, someone would say something about age or whatever. I thought, “Why do they care?” … I remember saying to myself, “I would never care about that stuff.” I remember those thoughts in my head. I don’t even know if I should admit this, but I’m turning 47 and I feel like a ticking time bomb. So I say this is my biggest regret. Why should I give up all my time?
SM: It’s definitely a strange stage in life. What kind of content do you like to follow right now?
KA: I follow a lot of fashion mom stuff just because they always seem to be sharing something new, even if it’s makeup or products. I also love following people who share all of their Amazon gadgets and stuff. I like that. But I also started to find a lot of people doing what we did, interesting things and relevant things.
There’s an account, Chatan GRP…it’s a father and his three sons and it kills me every time I watch their stuff. They’re just making fun of everyday things and you’re like, “Oh my gosh…how did they come up with this because it’s so real?” I just love laughing. I just love content like this. I like it. But that would be difficult – I want to make that film too (laugh). Very good.
SM: I hate it when people have ideas and you’re like, ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of that first?’
Card: Yes. How did they come up with this? My oldest daughter, Caitlin, would probably come up with all this stuff. So, she really helped a lot. She only occasionally gives me ideas, but the relevant stuff is interesting to me. I think that’s what they want to see. I mean, obviously, they want to see something else, but you need a dose of that every day to laugh.
SM: I was very surprised when I read that Kaitlin was responsible for all the early Mila films.
KA: Every one of them.
SM: This is crazy.
KA: She was about 12 or 13 years old, and she did come over often and read these stories to us, and sometimes we had to, like, change a word. I thought, “Oh, I probably shouldn’t say that word.” But, yeah, I remember she would read them to us. At one point, I cried because I was like, “How did you do that?”
SM: So, with influencers becoming so mainstream, what advice do you have for parents and children entering this world?
KA: It means a lot to be a part of it, to really be a part of it, because there are always going to be questions. If you’re always there to answer them, I think that takes a lot of the worry out: consuming the content with them, not letting them be in bed and consuming it alone and whatever, putting all the safeguards on, and doing all that thing.
And…one of the things that we do right away is when it comes to money, they have accounts and whatever they make goes to them. I even asked for it to be put there when we were getting divorced because I just wanted to be protected from the situation.
We abide by the laws of California – there’s the filming laws, there’s the Coogan account laws – we abide by all of them. I think this is important because they need to be compensated for what they do. Even if this is a family account, everyone is involved and everyone needs to be compensated. This is really huge for us.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
