Susan Taaffe: Breaking Free with Skanties - Comfort, Courage, and Confidence

In this episode of Conversations with Carroll, I had the absolute joy of sitting down with Susan Taaffe—founder of Skanties, mama of three, engineer, and a woman whose story instantly settles into your bones. From the very beginning, Susan invited us to breathe, to soften, and to reconsider everything we’ve been taught about our bodies. Skanties, as Susan shared, isn’t just underwear—it’s the anti-shapewear movement, a gentle rebellion against the belief that women need to shrink, compress, or hide to be worthy. What moved me most was how naturally Susan tied physical comfort to emotional freedom, reminding us that when our bodies feel safe, our hearts and minds can finally exhale too.

Susan’s journey to creating Skanties was anything but linear. What began as a personal solution to discomfort quietly evolved into a calling, catalyzed by unexpected divorce, three very young children, and a deep spiritual reckoning about purpose, joy, and service. She spoke honestly about backing herself into a corner—booking flights to China, trusting her engineering and manufacturing background, and building the business piece by piece while navigating fear, financial strain, and countless moments of uncertainty. I was struck by her wisdom around hardship: acknowledging it, tending to it when necessary, then placing it “on the shelf” so it didn’t consume her creative spirit. Her resilience wasn’t rooted in denial—it was grounded in faith, intention, and a fierce knowing that this work mattered.

As our conversation deepened, Susan revealed that Skanties is ultimately about removing emotional shapewear—the old belief systems, comparisons, and cultural messages that tell us we are not enough. Her words echoed what I believe with my whole heart: every single one of us is a miracle, exactly as we are. Susan’s story is not just about entrepreneurship; it’s about embodiment, motherhood, courage, and modeling a life of aligned action for the next generation. Watching her children grow up alongside this journey, absorbing her example rather than just her words, is its own quiet legacy. This conversation was a sacred reminder that comfort is not indulgence—it’s a foundation. And when we allow ourselves to be comfortable in our bodies and our truth, we give ourselves permission to live fully, love deeply, and share our gifts with the world.