Mina Starsiak Hawk’s Most Inspirational Boss Moves
We’re perpetually in awe of her ability to TCB like it’s NBD.
HGTV has no shortage of women who get the job done, but there’s something about Mina — one of Two Chicks and a Hammer, and the other half of Good Bones’s mother-daughter power couple — that places her in a class by herself. As we celebrate the premiere of the show’s fourth season, we’re also celebrating how Mina lives out loud. Let us count the ways we love how she writes her own script.
She Kinda Tried to Project-Manage Her Son’s Birth
The mom-to-be was induced in her 39th week of pregnancy, and while she knew her body was playing by its own rules, Mina gonna Mina: as she told People, she might have tried to negotiate with her birth team to score an eleventh-hour C section and an “8-8-18” birthday for baby Jack: “I actually asked [the nurse], it was like a half hour before midnight, and I was like, ‘Can we make some calls here? [We’d love to] get that birth date if we could.’” Alas, delivery rooms aren’t that kind of job site — but you can’t blame her for trying.
She Stands Up for Her Fur Family
Mary Ann Carter/Verbatim Agency
Mina and her husband’s dogs are part of her tribe, and she won’t stand for social-media concern trolls who gasp at the idea that their beloved pup Frank spends quality time with their son. As she told People, “People love to share their opinions before you have kids, but I feel like afterward everyone has negative, or positive, or some kind of opinion about everything[.]” Thanks, but no thanks: “In a lighthearted way, I [say], ‘I know you really want to, but if you can just try to refrain from saying that my evil pit bull will eat my [son] that would be lovely.’”
She Demonstrates That Her Juggle Is Real
Sometimes the work-life balance is an actual tiny person on your shoulder as you tackle your inbox. This “messy, perfect new world” is our kind of Instagram influencing. Speaking of…
She DIY’ed for Her First Mother’s Day
A restful brunch is not Mina’s style, and she celebrated this year by — no surprise — revamping her own balcony. (Putting sweat equity into something that will eventually turn out beautifully is very much her style.)
She Prioritizes Her Neighborhood
Mary Ann Carter/Verbatim Agency
As Mina told Parade.com, she and Karen aren’t in the business of flipping houses for a quick buck. Their ventures hit home: “A lot of our projects are terrifying,” she said. “A lot of people don’t want to do them, but we stick in one area, because we actually live here. [Our renovations] are bringing more business into our neighborhood and because we have those extra criteria for where we work, how we work, we definitely don’t make the biggest profits oftentimes.” (Aside: Bonus points for babywearing on a site visit, mama.)
She Leans Into Demo Day, No Matter What
Mary Ann Carter/Verbatim Agency
Mina’s signature I REGRET NOTHING tank has special significance here, as it makes little attempt to hide her growing baby bump. She’s a consummate pro, so it should go without saying that she played it safe while working through her pregnancy — but it should also go without saying that she wasn’t going to hang up her mask for nine months.
She Pairs Skepticism With Support
If Good Bones could be summed up in a single image, this might be the one: Karen’s fallen in love with a decrepit house, and Mina’s not buying it. Thing is, she frequently does buy it — and thinks ahead to the nuts and bolts that will make her mom’s dreams come true.
She’s a Proud Mentor
Karen — who started out as a part-time flipper dividing herself between construction and her law practice — isn’t the only one who’s benefited from Mina’s knack for details. Tad Starsiak takes constant cues from his proud big sister, whose generosity on her work sites is the spiritual opposite of get OUT of my ROOM!
Mary Ann Carter/Getty Images
As she well knows, setting a strong example is everything.
Tune in to HGTV for an all-new season of Good Bones on Tuesdays at 9pm | 8c.