Kate Marie Grinold Sigfusson - Babies4Babies QuickFire Q’s:
Which came first - business or baby? Did one inspire the other?
While I think I was always on track to be a #startupmom, Babies4Babies came first. I was going through a transition in my life and I needed the opportunity to give more of myself both personally and professionally. With the millennial generation rising into parenthood, I knew a for-purpose baby brand would resonate with that new crop of parents and with hopes of starting a family myself. I reasoned that life design and integration of work and family might be more possible if it were all about babies. After working on the company for a year, I launched Babies4Babies in January 2014 and gave birth to my son that same April.
Name 3 personal strengths that launching a business equipped you with for birthing a child (or vice versa)
The one thing that stands out most to me is the importance of learning how to listen to a lot of advice, distill it and apply it (or choose not to apply it!) in a way that works best for you. Your intuition is
is often all you really have in business and in motherhood, so you have to listen to that inner voice and execute even when you have no prior experience.
What inspired you to make “giving back” a core part of your business model?
When you think about the incredible global impact we could make collectively if each small purchase gave just a tiny bit, there is no reason not to link every product we make and buy to something that matters. Establishing Babies4Babies’ mission to save one million newborn lives and empowering new families to do good was a no brainer.
If you were to write a list of personal characteristics needed to juggle business with baby, what special ingredients would your recipe include?
Flexibility, humor, honesty, tenacity and the ability to get shit done. Beyond that you need to make yourself a really solid village because, sister, you cannot do it alone.
#startupmom
/startup mam/ noun:
1. a mother & entrepreneur
2. a woman who does it her way
3.Kate Marie Grinold Sigfusson - Babies4Babies