02. No Plan, Just Grit: How Mallory Riley Helped Build a $100M Brand Without Losing Herself

In this first guest episode of Trust Yourself, Kaitlyn sits down with Mallory Riley, Cofounder and Chief of Staff at Born Primitive—a self-funded, veteran-owned apparel brand that started at home in Virginia Beach and has since grown into a $100M company.

Mallory’s path wasn’t traditional. She had no formal business training and no blueprint to follow, yet she learned every part of the business from the ground up. What emerges through this conversation is a story of instinct, grit, and an ability to trust herself long before she had “experience” to lean on.

Kaitlyn and Mallory talk through the early, scrappy years of building Born Primitive, the internal shift that led Mallory to step back from the COO role, and how she now leads with a blend of decisiveness, humility, and deep intuition. Mallory shares how self-trust has evolved for her—through major transitions, through motherhood, and through the pressure of scaling a rapidly growing brand.

They explore what success means to her now and how she knows when something is (or isn’t) aligned. Her honesty is both inspiring and grounding and serves as a reminder that you don’t need a perfect plan to build something meaningful. Just the next right step and the courage to take it.

Links & Resources

• Born Primitive: https://bornprimitive.com/
• Born Primitive on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bornprimitive/
• Connect with Mallory: https://www.instagram.com/mallorybrnprmtv/
• Learn more about the Trust Yourself Podcast® and Kaitlyn’s work through Copy Uncorked: https://copyuncorked.com/trust-yourself-podcast