How Stay-at-Home Mom Caroline Baudino Became an Over-50 Fashion Influencer Making 6 Figures a Month (Exclusive)

• Caroline Baudino, the 52-year-old content creator behind Shop with Caroline, has amassed close to one million followers with her daily outfit videos, accessible shopping hauls and "coffee talks."

• Baudino was a stay-at-home mom raising her young sons when she got a phone call from her mom that changed the direction of her life, inspiring her to "get up and get dressed."

• Fashion is just one of many ways she connects with her large female fan base. She recently launched the podcast, Coming in Hot, where she keeps it real about everything from cellulite to botox.

• "There is no greater joy than even hearing one woman say, ‘You helped me get up today,’” Baudino tells PEOPLE.

Eight years ago Caroline Baudino received a wake-up call. Literally. Her mother called her to let her know that her father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. “She was hysterical and didn’t know what to do. She was so dependent on him and didn’t know how to pay the bills or take care of anything.”  

Her heart was still pounding from the news when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. “I didn’t recognize myself,” says the 52-year-old content creator of her “zombie-like” appearance. “I remember thinking, ‘Where's Caroline? The one that loves to get dressed every day, the one that's smiling and happy?’"

While in her twenties, the NYC born-and-raised Baudino, who’s now based in Los Angeles, lived a glamorous life as an actress on a Spanish soap opera. She had her own apartment, her own car and was thriving. In 2006, she married John Baudino and left show business to start a family.

She loved being a mom to their two sons, Finn and Sawyer (now 12 and 14, respectively), but after more than a decade of playdates, pickups and PTA meetings, she was tired of what she describes as “mommying.” She explains, "I found it so much harder than I had expected and I didn't realize the sacrifice, the loneliness and the boredom. I was walking through life rather than living it.”

And even though Baudino’s marriage was a happy one (they’re going on 18 years she calls him the “love of her life”), she was determined not to become financially and emotionally reliant on her husband, after witnessing the same dynamic between her parents, mother Teresa Blanco and father Carlos Barba, the founder of Univision who died in January 2024.

“I never saw her happy,” Baudino says of her mother, adding that she had a “very negative outlook” on life. “She was always depressed and always chasing after my dad.” As a result, Baudino was “adamant that I would be independent, make my own money and live my best life.”

The morning after her mother’s phone call, Baudino got up and got dressed in a “f---ing fabulous outfit” and she looked in the mirror once more. “I was like, ‘You are smart, you are capable and you are strong. No more bullshit, no more excuses,’” she tells PEOPLE of her new mission to “bring herself back to life,” by working out everyday, practicing positive self-talk and wearing clothes that she loves topped off by piles necklaces, bracelets and rings (yes, she sleeps in all of it and wears everything in the shower).

“I’ve always loved fashion and getting dressed,” she says. “I think we forget how important it is to take care of ourselves. It trickles down. When you look good, you feel good and that is what you're showing your family and your kids. And I always say if your kids and your husband love you, they should want to see you looking f---ing fabulous.”

She started to share her flair for mixing high-end designer pieces with affordable items from Amazon on her Instagram, Shop with Caroline. “People were always asking what I'm wearing, so I figured I’d just start there,” she explains of her early posts. “It gave me purpose to get up and get dressed every day and show that outfit. It kept me accountable.”

Not everyone was a fan of her glow-up. “That first year, some of the other moms were brutal. They made fun of my Instagram,” she says. But Baudino knew that the gossip and side-eye came from their own insecurity. As she sees it, “We're embarrassed to look good. We're not allowed to say we're successful. We're not allowed to say we're happy. And I was like, ‘I don't have to look like shit to fit in with everybody else. I'm going to look f---ing fabulous and I'll find my people.’”

And she did. At first thousands and eventually nearly a million. Baudino used YouTube to teach herself how to make money using affiliate links, create an Amazon shop and implement tools to build her brand. “I had no technology background whatsoever. When I say I couldn't even open my computer and turn it on. I'm like, ‘I didn't grow up in that era.'"

During COVID, Baudino experienced another pivotal moment in her life when she filmed herself taking an early morning walk and opened up to her followers about her struggles with her aging parents. “All of a sudden my DMs were flooded,” she recalls. “At that point, social media was all aspirational and people were like, ‘"I can't believe you're talking about that.”

She continued her “coffee walks” where she’d take on a new topic every morning. “I just started giving real opinions on things and it grew from there.” The response was overwhelmingly positive and her audience continued to grow, tuning in every day to hear what Baudino had to say about everything from sex with her husband to spray tans (she’s very pro both). 

Nothing is off limits for Baudino. Not her cellulite (“No one is looking, no one cares,” she declares.), her breast augmentation (she got her size 32C saline implants at age 26), her Botox (she gets it twice a year in her forehead and around her eyes, plus half a syringe of filler in her lips once a year) or her finances (she is the “hustler” in her marriage and her multi-channel business generates six figures a month).

She says it’s important for her to be transparent because “women need to talk more and be more open.” Plus, she says, “I don't give a flying f--k what you think and I'm going to live my best life and I'm going to decide what's best for me.”

Baudino’s brand of “your incredibly candid and cool best friend who’s like a therapist with great style” now extends beyond social media. She also has a podcast, Coming in Hot, on the Dear Media network, and there’s even a book and an unscripted television show in the works.

“We want to be on as many platforms as possible, because there is no greater joy than even hearing one woman say, ‘You helped me get up today,’” she says of her mission to empower women, especially those who are middle aged, to prioritize themselves. “There is something about women helping each other and not feeling alone in this incredible community.”

Reflecting on her success over the last few years, Baudino says she is filled with gratitude. “I'm going to be 53 in January and to think that I'm living out all of my dreams now is mind-blowing to me,” she says.

And the timing couldn’t be more perfect. “I am so grateful it didn't happen earlier. I realized that all that time I thought I was waiting. I thought it wasn't meant to be for me or wasn't good enough or I'm never going to make it. I realized the waiting was preparation and it prepared me for when I am ready in life and I'm ready now.”

Read the original article on People