'Good Bones' Mina Starsiak: What to Know About the HGTV Star and Her Family
It's been a great year for Good Bones star Mina Starsiak as she not only got the green light for [...]
Meet-Cute With Steve
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In an interview with Country Living, Starsiak revealed that she met her husband through mutual friends on Facebook. She also said quite frankly that their first date was a bad one.
"He ignored me all night. He let his friend hit on me!" she said. According to Starsiak, she later texted Hawk to give him one more chance, and they hit it off from there, proving that first impressions are not always final. The two got married in June of 2018.
prevnextShe comes from a BIG family
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Starsiak Hawk and her mom, Laine, explained their complicated family tree in this behind-the-scenes video, but the basic breakdown is as follows: Starsiak Hawk's dad, Casey, and Laine had three children together before divorcing. Laine then married Randy, and the two had daughter Kelsy. Meanwhile, Casey married a woman named Cheryl and the couple welcomed two children, Jess and Tad.
Cheryl passed away and Tad had a falling-out with Casey, and Tad now works on Starsiak and Laine's job sites. Before Casey, Cheryl was married to a man named Lenny, and the two divorced before she married Casey. Casey and Cheryl divorced, and Cheryl remarried Lenny before her death. After she passed away, Lenny married a woman named Ginger and he now works as Good Bones' general contractor.
prevnextFirst-Time Buyer
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Neither Starsiak nor her mother set out to work in the real estate industry, but Starsiak knew that home renovation would become her calling after she bought her first house, according to a report by House Beautiful. After graduating from Indiana University, she took the plunge by purchasing a $37,500 home. She enlisted her mother to help with the renovation, and the two of them fell in love with the process.
prevnextCareer Shift
Starsiak worked as a waitress after graduating from college, with no idea what she really wanted to pursue for a career. She stumbled into the real estate business all while working part time at restaurants. Still, to many fans this is less surprising than her mother's jump from working as a defense attorney to a home renovation expert. These days, Starsiak works as a real estate agent in addition to a designer.
prevnextTwo Chicks and a Hammer, Inc.
Even as they built up a reputation for remodeling old houses, neither Starsiak nor Laine sought out their HGTV fame. In an interview with USA Today, Starsiak explained that they were approached by a talent scout through Facebook Messenger. At first, she assumed that the call must be some kind of scam. "I was like, 'I know we're not that cool,'" she said. "So, I did a little bit of research on the development company and find out that they're legit."
The scout turned out to work for High Noon Entertainment, the company behind other HGTV shows like Fixer Upper, House Hunters and Cake Boss. Their two-person home renovation team then developed into the operation fans know and love on TV today.
prevnext'Control Freak'
Starsiak is a self-described "control freak," and she has the examples to prove it. In an interview with Fox News, she said: "I'm a control freak, and I'm a huge planner." While that served her well in her career, she finally had to learn to loosen up when it came to parenthood.
"Mom's advice is good luck with that. When the kid comes out, it's their world and you just live in it," she said. "We'll make it work for the business, and for me and the baby, but it may not be like a conventional or approved method of child-rearing."
prevnextJack Richard
Starsiak gave birth to her son, Jack Richard Hawk in August of 2018. The baby boy made a splash with fans on social media, earning Starsiak a more personal following beyond the limits of the show. When Charlotte was born this week, Starsiak told PEOPLE that she "can't wait for Jack to be the best big brother to sweet Charlie."
prevnextPregnancy Troubles
Finally, as Starsiak has grown more personal with fans, she revealed that she struggled to conceive Charlotte in 2019. At the time, she wrote about the process on Instagram, encouraging other mothers to keep at it even when things are not going their way.
"This nugget came easy but #2 is being far more stubborn!" she wrote at the time. "I can't seem to get my bodies schedule figured out but I'm rocking [Ava Women] to figure it out for me. You just wear this to bed and it measures signals in your body to pinpoint your fertile days. Fingers crossed for #2 soon!"
prevnextCharlie Drew
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Starsiak Hawk welcomed Charlie, also known as Charlotte, last month on Sept. 16 with husband Stephen Hawk. The HGTV personality, who stars on the home renovation series Good Bones alongside mother Karen Laine to revitalize Indy, took to Instagram to share the exciting news with several snapshots of her newborn daughter. Charlie joins the couple's 2-year-old toddler son, Jack Richard, and their two dogs, Frank and Sophie.
The Indianapolis native's pregnancy journey has been chronicled on social media and this past season's Good Bones with the now mother-of-two sharing how hard it was to initially conceive after having first child, Jack in 2018. In an interview with PopCulture.com this past May ahead of the Season 5 premiere, Starsiak Hawk spoke exclusively about her IVF rounds and choosing to show such a personal side of her life on camera, admitting how "unless you've gone through it, it's just different."
When she started posting about her IVF journey, some of which included very emotional and challenging moments, the Hoosier received "mass quantities" of messages from fans and followers relating. "From women who were doing the same thing, or had a sister dealing with the same thing, our friends, and just how much they appreciated me, normalizing it a little bit," she said. "Because a lot of times you just hear about big A-list movie stars. So-and-so had an IVF, and this is their beautiful child — that's the story. It makes it sound way more simple than it is."
prevnextIs an author now
Modeling a story on her own experiences with starting Two Chicks & a Hammer with mom Laine; working with her stepfamily; fostering her niece and adopting rescue dogs, Starsiak Hawk invites readers young and old to join her in learning how we are all stronger together with her debut children's book, Built Together.
"Obviously, having kids is a big part of the inspiration. I read so many kids' books... so, I thought it'd be fun to write one. It's the things that I know, which is non-traditional family and construction, and put them together in this cute way," she said in our series PopCulture @ Home, adding how the book was written before her youngest was born. "But, it's that growing up, taking how our family is built and comparing it to how you build a house, like the tools you use."
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Adding how the book is a "cute play" on what she knows when it comes to the family, dogs, neighbors and nanny, Starsiak Hawk reiterates the message is one about family being what you want it to be. "Less and less now, it's that traditional mom, dad, two-and-a-half kids," she said. "People seem to appreciate how open our family is about that. We're crazy. We all love each other. We figure it out."
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