Over 50 and Fabulous: Why Beauty Icon Mally Roncal Says Turning 50 Was the Beginning of Her Most Creative Chapter
Show Snapshot:
Can a bold lip and a sparkly bomber jacket make midlife feel more fabulous? Yes, says beauty and fashion founder Mally Roncal who brings her trademark energy, spark and zest for living at every age to this week’s show. Mally got her start as a celebrity make-up artist to stars like Beyonce and J. Lo, then launched her eponymous line Mally Beauty, a brand with decades of staying power, and pivoted into QVC stardom. Now, from hosting the new TV show “Over 50 and Fabulous” to launching fashion lines at an age when society expects you to fade into beige, Mally shares how turning 50 sparked her most colorful, creative chapter yet. Warning: Listening may cause spontaneous purchases of sequined tops and the urge to up your brow game!
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I always knew that I was going to do it all, because I've always been very, very aware of how precious every breath is.
Transcript:
Katie Fogarty [00:03]: Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women who are unafraid to age out loud. Beauties, we have a fabulous show today. And I know I say that every week, but today, truly, I am joined by a force of nature and a force for vibrant aging. This show is a double shot of espresso, age-positive goodness, you are not going to want to miss it. I am constantly inspired by the women who join me as guests. These are women who refuse to be defined by the number of candles on a birthday cake, right? They radiate confidence, can-do. They throw their arms around every age and life stage with joy, excitement, and a sense of possibility. Today's guest is all that and more. I am thrilled to be joined by beauty empire and fashion founder, QVC superstar, and the ultimate positivity preacher, Mally Roncal. As the beloved host of the show "Over 50 and Fabulous," she has sparked a movement showing us that our most glorious years aren't behind us. They are unfolding right now. Are you ready to be lit up? Do you want to feel fierce and fabulous? If you are curious about how a former pre-med student built a beauty brand that sold out in just 36 minutes on QVC, or if you are simply curious about how Mally and the women she interviews see life after 50, this conversation is for you. Welcome to A Certain Age. Mally, yay!
Mally Roncal [01:32]: Oh my gosh, that is so... first of all, I love you. I'm so honored to be here because, well, first of all, girl, you know, we've been trying to make this happen, but life is so wild and crazy and all the things. So I'm so glad that God put us together in the same place at the same time so that we can share all the love. Thank you so much. That intro, may I... first of all, I love it, and it makes me tired at the same time.
Katie Fogarty [02:03]: Well, I, you know, speaking of tired, your calendar is booked. You got a lot going on, a lot of spinning plates. And, you know, I know my listeners can relate, because they also have a lot going on too. And we first, I've been following you forever on social media, and we got to meet live at the Disrupting Ageism dinner in New York a couple months ago. I know that you bring YES energy into everything that you do. You are yes to the show. So I'm so grateful, and many of my listeners know exactly who you are. Know your work, first as a makeup artist to stars like Beyoncé and J.Lo and Mary J. Blige, then a founder, a QVC star. But for listeners who are just meeting you here today, can you introduce yourself quickly and share a little bit about your work and what you're up to today?
Mally Roncal [02:48]: Yes. Well, first of all, I'm so honored to be here with you. I'm so excited because, again, this is what I live for, right? I am a girl's girl to the core. Phil and I, we have three teenage daughters, so we are constantly... I always say Phil is surrounded by vaginas at all times, a lot, and hormones, some teenage hormones, and then perimenopausal hormones, so there's a lot going on. But yeah, it's funny. I actually... I wanted to be a doctor way back in the beginning. My parents are Filipino doctors, and they are my heroes. My mom, who passed away when I was 17, my father and my stepmom, all Filipino doctors, so I was raised with this energy of wanting to help people, wanting to love people, wanting to embrace the journey, you know, that they're on, and help them move forward in their lives with love, compassion, and joy. I thought that meant being a doctor. What I didn't realize was it was just about energy and helping people feel like their best selves. So I quickly ended pre-med, because I was like, "Oh, this kind of stinks." It's not like when, okay...
Katie Fogarty [04:12]: I like, but Mally, we love pivot stories on the show, and you took a big pivot, totally different field.
Mally Roncal [04:18]: So at the time, back in 1902, we did not have technically, like, makeup artist schools, kind of like they have now. However, we had a fashion design department in my college. I went to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, and it was amazing, like it was truly, you know, they had a fantastic director who was all about couture, and really, like, the finest design in clothing. And I went to school there, and I learned everything about design. I always loved makeup, though, Katie, you know, there was something... I always say, like, I was born with a makeup... I mean, a mascara wand in my hand. So I really did always love... I was that girl in high school that would, like, do your makeup in the bathroom and, like, pop your zits and do all your like... That is what I loved. I loved it so much. And I love that connection, also that... that connection with another person, right? Like being a makeup artist, being face to face with them, touching their face. There was something about that that felt so natural to me, you know, and not a lot of people, I mean, a lot of people don't feel comfortable with that, but it was something that was my happy place.
Anyway, ended up becoming a makeup artist. It's kind of a long story, so I won't bore you with that, but I was a makeup artist, working in everything from fashion, commercial, all the things, but then my agent turned me on to doing celebrities, because he always said, "You know what, Mali, you're like a cup of coffee in the morning. Like, if somebody's got to go sing in front of 80,000 people, they need your energy. They need your love and your positivity." I was like, "I don't care what, I just want to put makeup on people. So that's what I'm going to do." That started my whole crazy career of working with the celebrities that I have the pleasure and honor of knowing and working with. And then I did that for many years. Lived in an airplane, which was great, but I knew I wanted more. I knew I wanted to start a brand, and I knew that I wanted to be the person to teach other people how to not only look their most gorgeous, but to feel their most powerful. And so that's when I started Mally Beauty. We launched in 2005 on QVC. That's another conversation. It was non-negotiable. I wanted to do it on QVC because I wanted to be the one to teach and love on people, and not have someone, you know, in a store kind of whatever. Not that that's bad, but you know what I mean?
Katie Fogarty [06:51]: You wanted full ownership. It was your baby, and you wanted to make sure it was being done and shared correctly.
Mally Roncal [06:56]: Yes, exactly, and know where my heart was, right? Like it wasn't just about making money or about... it was never about that. It was more about my connection. Anyway. So we launched 2005, that was 20 years ago. My goodness, like you said, we had, we had a one-hour show. We sold out of every single piece in 36 minutes. We were like, we had to end early. It was like we were there. It was amazing. It must...
Katie Fogarty [07:23]: Have felt like a dream.
Mally Roncal [07:24]: It was a dream. It was a dream. I said, aside from like meeting and marrying my husband and having our kids, it was definitely one of the best days of my entire life, because I knew that my gut had brought me to the place where I was supposed to be, and that it was going to...
Katie Fogarty [07:41]: And you were serving such a bigger audience. I mean, it's so phenomenal to connect with a celebrity, to make them feel incredible, to put them out onto that stage feeling like their best selves. But like when you launch your beauty brand, you were bringing your cup of coffee to a bigger audience and lighting them up. And it must have felt really incredible.
Mally Roncal [08:00]: It was the best feeling in the whole world. And again, remember, there was no social media then, so QVC... This is the first TikTok shop. QVC is the first social media. We were the first influencers, really, you know what I mean?
Katie Fogarty [08:19]: Yeah, you're the first people to really sort of be in conversation with your buyers and your consumers, and even thought of that way, you guys are like, early TikTok.
Mally Roncal [08:29]: That's it. I'm telling you. I have no problem, first of all, being over 50, and I apologize if I'm jumping all over the place, but that's kind of what ends up happening. The ADD is real, but I have no problem... I was talking to a girlfriend the other day, and she was saying something like she was kind of downplaying something that she had done, like she was the best at x, y, and z, right, in her company. But when she was talking about it, she was like, "Well, I mean, I did do that," but she was almost, like, a little timid about saying it. And I was like, "Miss Thing. Why is it that we are not allowed to toot our own horns as women or as professionals or as moms or as whatever we are? Why is it that if we say what we did proudly, right, that makes us conceited or boastful, right?" I just would love to change that narrative. I mean, I guess you know...
Katie Fogarty [09:37]: You gotta claim it. Do you think it's easier to do now that you're 50, or, you know, was it harder to do when you were younger?
Mally Roncal [09:44]: Yeah, I think when we're younger, we're almost like a little embarrassed, in a way, and we almost don't want to, you know, be... for me, I've always been a people pleaser, so I never wanted to do it, because I didn't want to be too much. You know what I mean? But now, yes, at 53 I'm like, "Yes, I did that. Oh yes, I did! Oh yes!"
Katie Fogarty [10:06]: Yes, I invented TikTok, right?
Mally Roncal [10:10]: Yeah, you know what I mean. So I think that that's okay. And I do that for QVC a lot. Actually, I'm like, "Um, hello. We were the first this. We were the first that." So why not own it instead of... I think that there's something to be said, especially as we age, about owning the things that we did and not being ashamed to say it, of course, in an elegant way. It's not about doing it in a way that's like, yeah...
Katie Fogarty [10:38]: If we're not going to claim our stories, our victories, our successes, what we built. No one's gonna do it for us. I 100% agree. QVC was at the forefront of this kind of makeup, social, listening, talking to consumers, making women feel seen and supported, and giving them what they need to sort of live their life, shop, feel like their best selves. You have been at QVC for 20 years, you've been evolving and growing your role ever since. You now host a show called "Over 50 and Fabulous." Why was this show needed? And when did you launch it?
Mally Roncal [11:12]: You know, it's funny, I have to look because I just, I don't know if you're like this, I get on the wheel and I just run like sometimes I don't even look back. I want to say it's been over two years, which feels crazy, but I think it might be almost two years. Every Friday night, at 8PM Eastern Time, we go live on QVC, show that's called "Over 50 and Fabulous," where we just for one solid hour, just have the best time, act a fool. I don't care. We are so silly. We laugh. We talk about all the things, real things, and then present products that really help you in your journey of being over 50. And then afterwards, yes, I have this little kind of like talk... I'm not gonna say little. We have this great talk show where we take an over-50 man or woman... Now we started bringing men in, and we talk about all the things. And so, yeah, it's been a couple of years, and it has truly, Katie, changed my life.
If anyone is listening and they are saying that it is what it is, your journey is what it is. When you're 50, it's all downhill from here, nothing is going to be new. You just have to keep writing it out... that is absolutely a big fat, hairy lie, because I was 50, and this show changed my life in ways that I cannot even express. I will try, I will say that it opened my audience out to even more than just beauty, right? It changed my life in the sense that it gave me, like, even more confidence and more belief in myself, that sometimes when someone's telling you that you're just a thing, then you start to believe that you're just a thing, even if somewhere in your heart you know that you are more than that. If they're saying, "Oh, but you're just a mom" and I'm doing the finger quotes, you know, "you're just a real estate agent," or "you're just a makeup artist" or whatever, then you can start to believe that that's who you are, but even in your heart, you know that you are so much more. So this gave me this opportunity to realize that I am so much more, and I love to do so much more, and then it gave me more energy and excitement. I launched a home line because, you know, we are a little bit holiday crazy. We have 13 Christmas trees. Don't get me started. Oh my gosh.
Katie Fogarty [13:50]: First of all, I'm so jealous we only have one. And every year I'm like, can't we add a second? And it's just like, we have real trees. So I guess it'd be hard to have... Maybe we have a pine needle problem as it is. I don't, if I had 13 trees, I'd be like, vacuuming till, you know, Memorial Day weekend, basically.
Mally Roncal [14:09]: Yeah, there's no way you don't want that. Maybe just get one faux tree, and then you can just kind of have it like... can you...
Katie Fogarty [14:16]: Tell me some of these are, like, in magical colors, like pink or white, right? Rainbow?
Mally Roncal [14:25]: Every color. And then launched a clothing line. So I just want to encourage anyone who's listening and any of your followers that, and I know that they know this, but the more someone tells you that you are so much more than you even think and that you need to keep going, and you need to keep stretching. And who the hell cares what anybody thinks, and if somebody thinks that you're being like, stepping outside of your box, and "who does she think she is?" I'm sorry, that's their problem, not yours.
Katie Fogarty [14:58]: But sometimes it's not even just the other people, it's these internal voices that we have that can get in our own way. And to your point, like we're all multi-dimensional, and so maybe you were having voices sort of saying, "Oh, you're just a makeup artist. Why are you trying this new thing?" But when we give ourselves permission to, like, play and experiment in other spaces, we can start to see for ourselves that we do have creativity. We can be an entrepreneur. We can assume a leadership role. We can take on these new experiences, because that's exactly... who wants to be stuck in one lane, in one box? No. Thank you. No. Thank you. No. Thank you.
Mally Roncal [15:41]: So too. I think having... God gave me three daughters, and I've always been a girl's girl. I was super, super close to my mom, who died when I was 17. She was diagnosed with breast cancer before I turned a year old, and they gave her six months to live. She lived till I was 17, and we soaked up every single second out of those 17 years, and we did everything. And the whole time, not only did she tell me she was not going to go anywhere till she knew that I was okay, every day, she encouraged me to do more, to embrace every moment and don't let one minute be wasted. And I honestly have tried to live that. Every time I get like lazy or scared or tired or afraid or intimidated, I hear her saying to me, "Do it for me. Do it because I couldn't." And especially, Katie, when I turned 50, because she died at 49, so she never saw 50. So when I turned 50, it became not just about me, but it became about her too, and what I could do that's...
Katie Fogarty [17:29]: So powerful. Yeah, right, so that's kind of what it is. And then having these three daughters who are watching me, and they're watching their dad, Phil and I are very close. We do everything together. We're partners in business and life and all those things. But they're watching me because I'm their mom, and to show them that women have a power unlike any other creature in the world, and...
Katie Fogarty [17:29]: That's why it's so important to keep growing and evolving and changing, because we're modeling for our daughters what it means to age and to, you know, to continue. And we don't want to signal that, like, you have a professional expiration date, like your sexiness, you know, your passion, your energy, doesn't expire. And we don't want to signal that.
When you were talking about your mom, that's such a powerful story, and that loss that really made you be appreciative and grateful for every day, and I feel like that's a big reason why I actually launched this podcast. Is I as a young student in high school and then in my early college years, lost two really close friends, one to a car accident and one to a four-year cancer battle. And that too changed me. It's not this same sort of central loss as a beloved parent, but it absolutely made me feel grateful for every day, and when people say, like, there's sort of like no one wants to age, or say their age, like, the tagline of the show is "age out loud," like, I think getting every birthday is a gift, and I never take it for granted. And I so I feel like loss teaches us that, but we want other women to have this lesson without having to, having to go through those, those painful periods, you know.
Mally Roncal [18:53]: And you sharing that story, and me sharing my story, and all of these things, I am so amazed, inspired, excited by my girlfriend's stories, like I love nothing more than hearing lessons that they've learned or experiences they've had and taking it and infusing it into my own lessons of my life, right? Like you said, it's without having to go through that that you're able to learn these things, and that's why I think I love "Over 50 and Fabulous" so much, and QVC and being able to talk to and this whole new, my gosh, this menopause, perimenopausal story that has opened up in the last year or two that has been, wow, so...
Katie Fogarty [19:52]: Much conversation, so much community, so much like connection. There's just such... it's a really generous, wonderful, and supportive space. I mean, I've been this show is four years old. I have recorded 200... I think 22 shows at this point. You might be 223. Mally and I could talk to somebody every single day who is knocking it out of the midlife park, who is reinventing either their business, their careers, their fitness, their relationships, their purpose, and who are lifting other women up, either through their menopause advocacy, or moving the needle on women's health and just having conversations. So I think it's like such an exciting time. I really feel like we're at a tipping point in terms of the how the conversation in society is really shifting, and it's through conversations just like this. You have them every single, every single Friday people are going to be tuning in. Are there... who are the types of guests who show up on your show? Can you give us a kind of a quick spotlight, and is there one or two recent faves, or is it kind of like being a mom, like you love all your guests equally, just like...
Mally Roncal [21:08]: I love all my guests equally. But I want to ask, is there anyone that sort of we should have on our radar if we could go backwards?
Mally Roncal [21:08]: Well, Patti LaBelle came on recently. Okay, mic drop. It was, first of all, I cried the whole time, like everything she said was unreal, the wisdom, the experience, the authenticity. She doesn't give a shit about what you think. She is living her life. Just being in her presence was so amazing. But also, again, the wisdom and the truth in which she lives and she's still going, which is incredible. Naomi Watts, obviously, is just the most generous and kind and funny and real, again in Hollywood, and being so honest about her journey with aging and menopause and perimenopause and all those things. But then even, like, I have all my QVC friends. You know, it's funny, because, again, being on QVC is so incredible, because you have this opportunity to sell your product, right, and connect with your customer in that way. But you also sometimes only have eight minutes or an hour. So when you get to know these people, even hosts, you get to know them, but we're doing a job there. And then when you get them on the couch, and you can talk about sex, or you could talk about the aging process, or you could talk about Botox, so you could talk about... all of a sudden it's this whole new... The thing I love most about the world we live in today and this social media world, I'm embarrassed to say, but not embarrassed to say that I am... I'm just gonna say, like, addicted to social media, but I'm gonna say it in a good way, because...
Katie Fogarty [23:01]: I love Instagram. I mean, people have, they've listened to the show for a while. They've heard me say this, I follow, like, English countryside decorators, pie makers, gardeners. I follow like you. I follow like a million people. It's just, it's incredible. I mean, you would think that I'm like a professional pie baker the way I'm following these accounts. I don't even think I've ever made a pie, but I'm obsessed with watching just so... people are so talented and you can see all this crazy stuff. It gets a bad rap, but I think it's really creative and fun. I've met great friends on Instagram, right?
Mally Roncal [23:33]: I know, and that's the thing that I love. Is so funny. Okay, I have a question, are you on TikTok?
Katie Fogarty [23:33]: I'm not.
Mally Roncal [23:33]: Okay, so well, technically, I have been on TikTok, but I just never did anything. And then I don't know, something in my weird spirit said, "Girl, get on the top and just start figuring it out." So I've been going on, I've been posting on TikTok, and then I made this vow that I'm gonna go live on TikTok every single day for a year and see what happens.
Katie Fogarty [24:04]: Wow. Okay, maybe I need to get on TikTok. I gotta follow...
Mally Roncal [24:08]: Sometimes it's just me in the car with Phil. Like yesterday, it was just us driving and going, "Hi. We don't know what we're doing, but we're here on TikTok live." And then I went on live right before I came on with you, and I said, "I'm getting ready to see my girlfriend, Katie, on her podcast A Certain Age, and I'm just here." And so I don't know, I'm figuring...
Katie Fogarty [24:27]: It out. I think people love that. I mean, I love it. I love... it's like, it's feel... you feel connected. It feels like, I don't know, there's no filters, and actually, there are filters on everything. But like, you know, there's no gatekeepers, is what I mean. Like, you can have a conversation, you can be in somebody's ear. It's super fun, and it... it doesn't have to be fancy to have that connection.
Mally Roncal [24:46]: I've learned that right now in this sense. I mean, I don't look... I will always find my good light. I will tell you that...
Katie Fogarty [24:54]: You look amazing always. But you are a professional makeup artist, by the way. No, we're doing this... Obviously we're just audio only, but I wish we were on camera, because you're wearing the most... I could see you, because we're in a Zoom sort of studio here through Riverside, but you're wearing a sweatshirt that says "Fierce Women Club. Our best days are ahead." And I'm like, I hope that's sold on QVC, because I think I need...
Mally Roncal [25:15]: It's sold on QVC. My girlfriend owns a company called Peace Love World.
Katie Fogarty [25:24]: Wait, say it again, because I did... I missed a piece of what...
Mally Roncal [25:27]: Peace Love World? It's a company. It's like, they started off doing sweats, but now they do like all kinds of fashion stuff, but so we did this little thing. It's called Ally and Mally.
Katie Fogarty [25:38]: Nice. Oh, my God, that's so fun, and it's so...
Mally Roncal [25:41]: Cute, and it comes in three colors. Here I'm gonna give you a QVC style. It comes in three colors, and it also comes with a matching drawstring sweatpants.
Katie Fogarty [25:51]: Oh, my God, I didn't see the matching pants. They're gorgeous. It's a beautiful, like, I don't know, it's kind of like a cornflower blue. It's like, it looks like the sky on a gorgeous day, and it's just embroidered with really beautiful dark blue lettering. All right, when the show airs, I'm gonna, maybe I'll find the link to it and I'll link out to it so people can see what I'm raving about over here.
Mally Roncal [26:16]: Thank you. It comes in four colors anyway, but it's a gorgeous French Terry. Anyway, I can't help it, even when I go to the grocery store, right? And I'll see someone with, like, maybe her eyebrows could use a little help. And I always have like, an eyebrow pencil or something in my purse. And I'll walk up and I'll be like, "Hi, I love your eyebrows." And they're like, either they know me and they're like, "Oh my God, Mally, really?" Or they're like, "Okay, crazy lady," but then...
Katie Fogarty [26:53]: Hysterical. I do it all the time. You're a fierce Mally Beauty 24/7...
Mally Roncal [26:53]: I am, I am.
Katie Fogarty [26:53]: I know we love it. That's why people love you. Because you're, you're always bringing your your best self and your attitude of service to the world. So here's a question for you, Mally, you and I are both... I mean, I always call this show an age-positive podcast. You have "Over 50 and Fabulous." In a few minutes, we're going to talk about QVC's latest "Age of Possibilities" programming. But midlife gets a bad rap. We both know this. You have spoken to so many women on the show. What do you hear as being something that's a reason for optimism, like, what are a surprising benefit of being in midlife that you would have been shocked at when you were younger?
Mally Roncal [27:35]: Yeah. Okay, so not to be negative, because that's not how I roll. But let's just be frank, like all the crappy things, right? Like everyone, the wrinkles and the hot flashes and the night sweats and the being invisible and not being hot anymore, or all these things, or thinning hair, or, like, you know, all of these things, yay, positivity.
Katie Fogarty [28:05]: No, there changes. Like, there are definitely things that change. You gotta either fix it or make peace with it.
Mally Roncal [28:09]: Yeah, exactly, and that's the thing. I have made peace with it. Look, there are... there things that I don't love? Do I not love my neck? I don't love my neck, but it's the neck I have, and it holds up my head, which has all of my brains in it, right?
Katie Fogarty [28:29]: And your gorgeous eyebrows, let's not forget that.
Mally Roncal [28:31]: Thank you. I did good eyebrows today. And my hands, I don't love my fingers, they're very wrinkly, but I like my nails, and so I do my nails to embrace my hands, and I think that that's something that is a positive, an optimism about turning 50. Is that wisdom? And if you can block out that society bullshit of saying that you're not beautiful or, you know, and I do want to say, getting back to social media, whether or not you're big on it or not, you have to follow people like Katie, people like me, people who are always going to... for some reason, in my feed right now, I have a lot of Kate Winslet. I don't know why people are posting her a lot, talking about how beautiful she feels in her aging, how she loves the face she has now, because it's real and there's movement and there's energy. And I just did the Drew Barrymore show for the second time last week, and she just turned 50, and man, she has never been better. She is...
Katie Fogarty [29:50]: Phenomenal. I know, I saw... I love Drew Barrymore. I've been following her, and I actually saw you on both her Instagram and yours. And she is, you know, it's funny, because, like, I never... Her make ages like, comments even to myself. I've been, like, trying to be so much better at policing things, but I was like, "Oh, my God, Gertie is 50. How did that happen?" No, like, wait a minute, you know, because in some ways she's eternally seven. But I also think it's because Drew has such, like, a light, vibrant, just sort of joyful spirit. And it's fun to see her embrace 50 so publicly. It's fun to see her talk about menopause so publicly and share her experience. And I think that is a big part of, like, the zeitgeist shift that we were talking about. Like people are just, you know, adding more candles to the birthday cake, going through perimenopause, navigating the stuff... aging is living. This is like, just part of how, how we roll. And it's not something to be like, fought off and feared. It's just something to be embraced, because you only get one go around, like, why spend a single day, you know, wishing you could turn back the clock? It doesn't make any sense.
Mally Roncal 30:56
And community, community, community, all day long. That is something, I think, that's when you asked me, what was the surprise? The surprise was how many more friends I have now, because we need each other, because we all have this thing in common, this beautiful, crazy, sometimes awful, sometimes painful, sometimes scary, all the time, amazing journey of aging that all of a sudden, here we are, and you're my sister now, because we're doing this together, and maybe we're not the same color, and maybe we're not the same this, that the other whatever, right? But we do have this one thing in common is that we've made the wake up list today, and how are we going to make that the best day ever?
Katie Fogarty 31:54
I love, I love. This is a great segue into the QVC Age of Possibilities, because QVC, you've been there for 20 years, but you just said you're 53 and I know they've really embraced that QVC is for people of all ages, but they really have embraced the over 50 demographic, which we are so happy to get that spotlight. You launched the Age of Possibilities last year with a lot of buzz. You've got phenomenal names, and you already mentioned some Naomi Watts. I think you mentioned Patti LaBelle, but there's also Queen Latifah, Stacey London, Tamsin Fadal, Jennie Garth, I mean the list—Martha Stewart, Brunch with Babs who I also follow. I was like, "Oh my God." And it's incredible, because it's really just, like, super diverse. Everyone's bringing different talents, different interests to the conversation. But the commonality is these are women who are all over 50 and who are really just embracing this time of life with a lot of zest, joy, sparkle, smarts.
Mally Roncal 32:57
Authentic. It's incredible. Yeah, all of it, all of it.
Katie Fogarty 33:01
So tell us a little bit about, like, why QVC did this, and what can we expect going forward.
Mally Roncal 33:07
So QVC has always known that our customer was over 50, and while we just went on, I say we, I don't work there, but I kind of feel like I do. It's kind of my home, and I am their biggest hype girl to the point of where, yes, I drank the Kool-Aid many years ago, and I'm the crazy one with the pom-poms. So I'm just gonna say "we." So we always kind of knew that that's who we were talking to, and it's not that we didn't want to, like, embrace her out loud. It was just kind of like, you know, you're kind of doing your thing, and you're living every day, and you're talking to your customer, and then one day, we were like, "You know what, you're badass." So we're gonna scream about you, and we're gonna tell the world that we're screaming about you, and guess what? Get your sisters, get your friends, get your cousins, get your besties. And let's all find this place together and love each other and sing—exactly like you and I are doing right now. Sing about it and preach about it and love each other. We started an Over 50 and Fabulous Facebook group, which I think—I can't even remember, I have to check. I'm gonna check while we're talking, which is rude, but I want to—last time I checked, it was well over half a million.
Katie Fogarty 34:32
That's incredible. Well, I always say midlife is a very big club.
Mally Roncal 34:37
It is. It's a big club. Anywho. So, yeah, so we are very passionate about going out there and just loving on our plus-50 sisters, and that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna continue going. I'm not allowed to tell you some of the things, but just watch the space, because we are gonna get louder and fiercer and more passionate even about it, because I think that it's time and we're being ignored, and we want everyone to realize and toot our own horns. I think that's okay.
Katie Fogarty 35:19
You gotta bang your own drum. No one else is going to do it. That's right. So speaking of bang—actually, people will do it, though, because you want to hang out with women who are going to mention your names and shout out your accomplishments in rooms of other people. So I am going to shout out one of your accomplishments right now. You launched a clothing line—like you went from beauty products, well, you're still doing that, but to clothing as well. I know from following you that so much of your stuff sold out, like in a blink. I would love to hear a little bit more about Fierce by Mally. And what made you decide to do this? Was it easy or hard after having launched beauty to kind of move into fashion?
Mally Roncal 35:58
Easy, easy, easy, like total, like it was in my heart and in my soul. So getting back to when I switched out of pre-med, I went straight into fashion design, right? And again, it was something that I've always loved, and it was something that was so much a part of who I was. Always loved fashion. My mother—it came from my mom. My mom was a beautiful, fierce diva. She loved dressing—all the Chanel and the Gucci and the thing, you know, coming as an immigrant from the Philippines, she wanted to come to America and live the dream. So she loved all of her—put it this way, she loved to go shopping. So I got that from her, much to the chagrin of my husband and all three of our daughters. They, although they are not designer, they love thrift.
Katie Fogarty 36:50
I think that's the generation. I've got a 20-year-old daughter who loves to thrift too. I mean...
Mally Roncal 36:55
Look, it's fun, right? It's like, I get it and finding those like, you know, any scavenger...
Katie Fogarty 37:00
Hunt for something unique. And it's also, you know, a lot of them love the sustainability part of it too, I think.
Mally Roncal 37:06
Exactly. I look. I love it too. I love a vintage anything. So anyway, I always love what QVC did with fashion in the sense that they are super inclusive. They go from extra, extra small to 5X in everything, and they don't change the price. That is something that, believe it or not, I didn't even know, because I guess I didn't really pay attention to but in some stores, with some brands, the larger sizes cost more, which I think is very shady. Right? We're all buying the same clothes, right? So anyway, so they've always been body positive. They've always been about embracing the customer and giving her something that is special and different and not out there. And then I, of course, I'm a drag queen, as you know—not really, but a drag queen in my soul. And I would wear these things on my shows for Mally Beauty. And people would be like, "Oh, my God, where do I get that?" And I'm like, "Oh, I'm sorry. I got it somewhere else." So I went to QVC, and I was like, "Can I, now in my 50s, please create product and clothing and apparel and garments for other peacocks like me, like I'm a peacock. I have no problem—look I love like a jeans and a T-shirt moment, but most of the time it's got to be covered in sparkles and rainbows and something, because I am a peacock. And guess what? There are a lot more peacocks out there than we know. And can I make clothes for them?" And they said, "Sure, let's try." And by the grace of God, they were, they sell out every time we come on. I'm actually launching a new top on Friday, which I'm so excited about, but it's not too much, like, I don't want you to go on. No, no.
Katie Fogarty 39:04
I mean, when I think of it, they're like, gorgeous, like jewel tone blouses. It's like, like a hot pink, or like a deep purple, a gorgeous emerald green with ruffles. They're very feminine, but they're also, some of them are, like powerful feeling, because the colors are—and you're holding up right now, showing me this beautiful pink bomber jacket with, what is that a kind of an appliqué, or is it...
Mally Roncal 39:27
So, yeah, there it's like, we call it our Rosebud jacket. And you can see it's like, all, like, very, very intricately laser cut little roses. And it's like, super soft and so delicious. It literally...
Katie Fogarty 39:42
Looks like a cherry tree, like came to life on your bomber jacket. But it's trimmed and edged with, like, a cool kind of camel colored trim. So it's like a mix between...
Mally Roncal 39:54
You should go on QVC. I love it.
Katie Fogarty 39:57
It's gorgeous. That's like spring in a jacket. I'm gonna link out to that in the show notes too, so people can go find it.
Mally Roncal 40:04
Thank you. But so anyway, so it has been a journey. I am praying and manifesting that we can grow bigger, bigger, bigger, because I love it so much, and I love presenting clothes, because there are so many details in our clothes, like we put a sweater on every day, and we don't think about the reason behind it and the heart behind it, and why did we cut that seam that way? Why did we put that bust dart there? Because, you know, but there's a reason, and somehow it's about love, right? Everything...
Katie Fogarty 40:37
Your pricing point is fairly reasonable, too. I think it's like accessible, because I feel like clothes have become, like, stupidly expensive. It's really shocking what some prices are and this is really within reach, I think, for most people's budgets.
Mally Roncal 40:53
And you can get it on five easy pays.
Katie Fogarty 40:57
Even better, even better. Mally, my last question before I let you go, we've just talked about all the things that you do, all the spinning plates that you've got in the air. You have a clothing line, and you've got a show that you host, and you're involved with the Age of Possibilities, and you create content, and you're managing a social media addiction, and three kids—could your younger self have ever imagined you'd be exactly where you are today? I saw a recent Instagram reel that you shared that you wanted people to stop complaining about aging and just sort of embrace this phase that they're in. We just said, I feel like I learn from losing friends that every day is a gift. What role if any, did your aging play in just allowing you to have all these different irons in the fire and kind of have all these plates spinning in the air?
Mally Roncal 41:48
I have to give it back again to the way that I was raised. While growing up with a sick mom who I was very, very close with was not easy. And look, it's not easy doing all the things. You know, you're spinning lots of plates too, Miss Thing. Yes, it's not always easy, but I think that I always knew that I was gonna do it all, because I've always been very, very aware of how precious every breath is. Now, doing it all doesn't always mean moving every minute, right? Sometimes doing it all means not moving at all, because you're healing your brain. Our 18-year-old girls are twins, and I went into preterm labor at QVC, believe it or not, when they were, you know, not ready to come out. So I was put on bed rest for 45 days. For 45 days, Katie, I was not allowed to move. I had to just lay there and cook those babies. I could go from my bed to the bathroom and that's it. I couldn't take stairs. I wasn't allowed to walk. I ate all my meals laying in a bed. I was attached to a monitor that whenever something would start to happen, the doctor would call and "Are you moving?" The whole thing. Anyway, people always say, "Was that so hard for you? Was that crazy for you? Is that like, Oh my God." And the answer is, it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it taught me that sometimes the most important things don't require you to always be running, sometimes the most powerful things that you're doing is when you're just being still. So your question, which, because I'm in perimenopause, I forgot...
Katie Fogarty 44:02
I think I've forgotten it too, because I'm so knocked out by your story. I think, like, forget my question. We got the answer we all needed, which is that sometimes we need to just maybe focus internally, be still.
Mally Roncal 44:14
That's right.
Katie Fogarty 44:15
And allow things to grow, and you were literally doing it with twins. But for some of us, it's maybe stillness allows us to have a creative thought. It allows us to have peace.
Mally Roncal 44:27
Yes.
Katie Fogarty 44:28
It could allow us to have clarity or insight, and we don't often give ourselves the space to allow those to enter our busy, busy brains.
Mally Roncal 44:42
Yes, that's what—that's right. I love what you said.
Katie Fogarty 44:48
What you said, Mally, I love it. This has been so much fun. I am really knocked out by your generosity and your energy and your willingness to come on the show and be with me today. Appreciate it. But before we say goodbye, though, how can our listeners—where should they find you? Because you've got the TikTok, but where else should we be looking for you?
Mally Roncal 45:07
Okay, well, Instagram is my favorite. On Instagram, which is my favorite, TikTok, and Facebook, it's all Mally Roncal. Of course, I'm on QVC. You can buy all of my fun, amazing things on QVC.com and every Friday, Over 50 and Fabulous, 8pm Eastern Time on QVC. I'll be there.
Katie Fogarty 45:30
Mally, this was really fun. Everyone's gonna follow you. You're gonna head over to QVC, see Mally's cute pink bomber jacket with the organza appliqués, and you'll be ready for spring. Mally, thank you for being with me today.
Mally Roncal 45:43
Thank you, Katie, so much. You are truly amazing. I just have to give you your flowers. What you're doing is so life changing, okay? I mean, it's like life changing, giving women a place to come to love each other, embrace each other and live in positivity and just—you as a person, you are so beautiful inside and out, and so kind and so smart, and the way you put words together is so beautiful. So thank you so much for allowing me to come on to your show. It's been just such an incredible blessing.
Katie Fogarty 46:21
This wraps A Certain Age, and this wraps up another phenomenal conversation. Mally is so much fun to hang out with. She has so much joy and energy and enthusiasm. She brings it to every single thing that she does. I was also really incredibly moved to hear the story of losing her mom at a young age, of hearing Mally's recognition that she was getting to celebrate a birthday that her mother would never see. It was extremely powerful. If you lost somebody in your younger years, and you are recognizing that each and every day that you get is a gift, I know you felt the emotion as well. I thought this conversation was phenomenal. I have some shopping inspiration. I will be thinking about Mally's wisdom around the importance of being still and allowing things to grow and to be fully present for a long time to come. If you took something away, if you had fun, if you have new things that you're going to be adding to cart, let us know in a podcast review. You can write them over on Apple. You can write them over on Spotify. Reviews truly help other listeners find the show. I love seeing them. Thanks for sticking around to the end. And special thanks to Michael Mancini, who composed and produced our theme music. See you next time and until then, age boldly, beauties.