The Mompreneur
Who ever thought there would be a gold mine in diapers?
Emily Sandberg is a mommy turned visionary. In the spirit of full disclosure I have to add she is also my adorable, ingenious, wonderful cousin. But more importantly, she's one of those moms who not only had a great idea, but actually did something about it.
As a mompreneur, she started "Tushygear." It's a diaper changing pad that has pockets for diapers and wipes. If you're going through menopause, it may not be on the top of your list. Even if you're not constantly on the hunt for interesting baby gifts, you've got to admire her entrepreneurial spirit.
Em started thinking about this because she says she got sick of lugging a huge diaper bag around everywhere, but she still had a child in diapers. (An adorable one at that!) She couldn't find any product that combined a pad and a case. What's the saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention?" When she started conceptualizing, she realized she also wanted interesting fabrics that could be conversation pieces. On a more practical level, she said she wanted to be sure if a mom wasn't carrying her diaper bag, she had a clean place to plop that baby down.
What I want to know is how can a mother of two young boys think about anything besides laundry, dinner and, oh yeah, her other job tutoring 25 kids a week?
In retrospect, her business venture shouldn't be a huge surprise to me. From the time she was little, Emily was special. No matter how old she was, Emily was always doing something creative.
Her mom, my wonderful cousin Sybil Stern, says she could never get her to clean her room but she was artistic. She'd spend hours in her room even at two, with playdough, crayons and paint. I love visiting her family in Chicago. But as I think back to the many many times we have freeloaded, I do recall we always got to admire the latest art projects. We'd get to see her ceramics, or pictures, or whatever she was working on.
Fast forward to adulthood when Emily leaves Indiana University to teach science and math in middle school. Talk about a woman who loves a challenge. I don't even want to walk through a middle school. But Em has a facility for communicating and engaging people. She even got my boys to open up and they work for the CIA. Eventually, she met her equally intelligent and handsome husband, they settled down and had two boys. She traded her classroom for private tutoring, and then decided she could take on another challenge.
When she told me about it, I was incredulous, not because I didn't think she could do it, but because I knew what it took for me to work full time and be the mother of two boys. Emily says it took about a year to set up the business, as well as looking for a sewing factory, and hunt for fabrics.
As she looked back on starting the business, she said she had been longing for something different. I have to marvel at that. For many moms that longing translates into a trip to Baskin Robbins or maybe the Galleria. I'm not sure how often that desire morphs into a second career, but frankly it can't be all that often. Many moms are just too darned tired.
Yet Emily told me she was motivated because she thought there was a need for that kind of product. Now she's added burp cloths, blankets and covers for changing tables at home.
On the nights when I actually open the mail or shift the piles of paper from the dining room table to my desk in my home office, I feel accomplished. Emily, however, used her down time when the kids were taking naps, or at school, to work on her business. Now that it's up and running she said she manages her time depending on how many orders she's filling. The post office has a 24 hour automated teller, she added, so she doesn't have to rush off at any specific time. I can just see her trooping off at midnight when everything else is done. I'd only leave the house at midnight if it was on fire, and even then it would have to be spreading to the kitchen.
Her plan for expanding "Tushygear" includes adding organic hooded towels. Frankly, I was exhausted just by reading about it.
I realize this is shameless promotion for my smart and savvy cousin. But she's also a mom, who has juggled way beyond any capacity I think I would have, for an idea she believed in. On that basis, mom to mom, you might want to visit
www.tushygear.com.
Emily told me if you type in the coupon code TGC1, you get the family discount.
