Jun 23, 2022 · 43m · how-i-built-this
HIBT Lab! The Sorry Girls: Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This Lab, host Guy Raz interviews Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright, co-founders of The Sorry Girls, exploring their transition from college film students to leaders of a multi-million-dollar DIY media company. The founders detail their journey of building a disciplined production studio, developing self-taught renovation skills, and championing sustainable, values-aligned creator business models.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 40.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.6 Guest teaching 1.9 Guest disagreement 0.1 Guy pushing back 0.4
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 27:41 Rejecting conventional creator merchandise monetization
Becky and Kelsey challenge standard creator commercial practices by explicitly refusing to sell generic merchandise, citing their ethical commitment against promoting overconsumption.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 6:22 Host expresses skepticism about costume viral momentRaz playfully pushes back on the cultural ubiquity of the Black Swan costume trend, stating he does not recall seeing any that year.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 27:15 Educating host on value-driven shop strategyThe guests reframe Raz's assumption about monetizing their shop by explaining why they give away DIY templates for free rather than selling physical goods.
Guy holds their own ▶ 21:41 Host explicates ad monetization dynamics and CPMRaz displays his business interviewing expertise by stepping in to define CPM and clarify how viewer demographics influence ad revenue rates.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film School Beginnings and the Highlighter Costume | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz sets a conversational tone inquiring about the origins of the channel and their first Halloween highlighter costume. The guests collaboratively share their college background and initial experiment without friction. | |
| The Black Swan Viral Video and Early Crafts | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Raz offers host wisdom on why early videos must be imperfect before teasingly noting he had no recollection of the Black Swan costume trend. Becky clarifies the organic viewer demand that emerged from their early apartment DIYs. | |
| Self-Taught Renovation Skills and Committing Full-Time | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Raz explores how the creators learned carpentry and remodeling without formal training. Becky and Kelsey explain their trial-and-error approach and gradual transition out of commercial film jobs. | |
| Naming The Sorry Girls and Taking the Leap | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz bonds with the guests over Canadian cultural quirks and preemptive apologies explaining their brand name. Becky discusses the risk of taking a one-year leave from film to jump full-time into YouTube. | |
| Mid-Show Break and Interview Recap | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz asks about strategic evaluation of content and finding a specific niche. The guests explain moving away from fashion to home decor because of their genuine passion. | |
| Media Company Economics and Value-Aligned Sponsorships | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Raz demonstrates industry knowledge by breaking down YouTube creator economics, AdSense limitations, and clarifying CPM metrics. Kelsey explains their overhead costs and selective brand integration criteria. | |
| Revenue Diversification and Sustainable Merchandising Philosophy | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | When Raz suggests expanding their e-commerce shop, the guests reframe the issue around anti-consumerism and sustainability. Raz expresses genuine amazement at their refusal to sell standard branded merchandise just for easy profits. | |
| Mid-Roll Sponsor Break and Program Return | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Raz and the guests discuss the psychology of creator comparison and handling negative comments. Raz relates with his own career vulnerabilities after decades in broadcasting. | |
| Pandemic DIY Surge and Future Business Decoupling | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Raz summarizes the strategic challenge facing creator media businesses: decoupling the enterprise from the founders' physical presence. Kelsey and Becky articulate their long-term vision of building sustainable assets. |
Statements from this episode (16)
The Sorry Girls' early Halloween tutorial hit 100,000 views in 2011
“I think it, I want to say it got around a 100,000 views that year.”
Wright lacks official training in most renovation skills featured on the channel
“I have no official training in most of this stuff that we're doing these days.”
Showing beginners' mistakes authentically made their DIY content accessible and successful
“I think the thing that was really successful for us was showing that online, that this is our first time using this, and we're going to gonna show you how it's not so scary, and it really made it feel more accessible to people out there as well.”
Wright warns that extended YouTube hiatuses destroy audience momentum
“We had seen other people take a pause from YouTube for an extended period of time, and try and come back, and their online presence just wasn't the same. It's kind of like a train you need to catch on as it's going.”
The Sorry Girls never paid for ads to grow their YouTube audience
“I mean, we never paid for, like, ads or anything. It was just, it was taking opportunities that came to us, whether it was to be on, like, a local talk show, talking about a DIY project, or just creating those videos that we were excited by, that we knew the a…”
MacDermaid reveals YouTube AdSense does not come close to sustaining their business
“Yeah, not really close. We have a lot of overhead now. It just has slowly, slowly built as we've needed different members of our team to help sustain everything that we have going on. We have a bigger office now, you know, upgraded from that 200 square foot of…”
The Sorry Girls currently employs eight full-time team members
“And knowing that we employ, you know, eight people and have offered jobs to eight different people is really cool to say we can do that.”
The Sorry Girls licensed short-form DIY content for airline in-flight entertainment
“We recently had an airline license it to be short form content in the entertainment system.”
The Sorry Girls refuse to sell typical creator merchandise to avoid overconsumption
“I think we just don't want to promote overconsumption and buying things just for the sake that maybe our name is attached to it.”
Higher creator production quality invites unfair comparisons to network television shows
“With every new step you make, I think you advance yourself into, like, a new bracket of people to be compared with So as our content got more and more show-like, we were now compared with the people on HGTV making these, you know, million-dollar series, and as…”
Wright believes YouTube is not oversaturated because distinct new voices still succeed
“Every time I start to think there's not, there's a new creator or channel that pops up that started three months ago and somehow now has more views than we do. So I think there's always space for new voices, and I think that's really what it is, is finding you…”
Negative online comments still benefit creators by driving engagement and ad revenue
“If somebody wants to say something that mean, I think it says more about them than it says about us, and also comments are engagement, so even if it's a negative comment, it's engagement, they showed up, they saw the ad, so.”
YouTube viewers are clicking subscribe less, but viewership diversity is growing
“But I think that people are maybe physically hitting the subscribe button a little less than they were five years ago, but eyeballs on videos and the diversity of where we're now getting views from, I think is still growing, which is really great.”
The Sorry Girls rejected traditional TV contracts due to restrictive terms
“We've reached a point where we've had a few television contracts put in front of us, and we have to turn them away just because they're so restricting, and it's not viable for us to do anything in traditional media when we already have something that we've bui…”