diff --git a/lib/mongoHandler.js b/lib/mongoHandler.js
index bbc58f4..465dfe9 100644
--- a/lib/mongoHandler.js
+++ b/lib/mongoHandler.js
@@ -212,8 +212,15 @@ MongoStore.prototype.populate = function(callback) {
 
   self._db.dropDatabase(function(err) {
     if (err) return console.error("error dropping database", err.message);
+
+    var attrsWithoutStrip = Object.assign({}, self.resourceConfig.attributes);
+
+    // Remove strip flag from attribute validation to populate properly
+    Object.keys(attrsWithoutStrip).forEach(function(attrkey) {
+      delete attrsWithoutStrip[attrkey]._flags.strip;
+    });
     async.each(self.resourceConfig.examples, function(document, cb) {
-      var validationResult = Joi.validate(document, self.resourceConfig.attributes);
+      var validationResult = Joi.validate(document, attrsWithoutStrip);
       if (validationResult.error) {
         return cb(validationResult.error);
       }