Ep. 63 with Ashley Mooneyham | Founder, Momease Solution - Reclaiming Your Hue: A Podcast for Women Rediscovering Themselves in Motherhood & Entrepreneurship

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome everybody to Reclaiming your Hue, where we
are dedicated to empoweringwomen to embrace and amplify
their inherent brilliance.
Our mission is to inspiremothers and entrepreneurs to
unlock their full potential andradiate their true selves.
I'm your host, kelly Kirk, andeach week, my goal is to bring
to you glorious guests as wellas solo episodes.

(00:33):
So let's dive in.
Good morning, ashley.
Good morning, how are you?
Good?
Good, I'm happy to have youhere.
It's so nice to officially meetyou.
I know that we were doing quitea bit of talking off air
leading into this, yes, but Ithink it'll be fun to share with
the listeners how it is that wegot connected, and I will let

(00:54):
you share that.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Go ahead.
Okay, so I am on the leadershipcommittee of Empower Her and we
are a group that really triesto vitalize like an authentic
space for female founders of anytype of business, but
particularly high growthbusinesses, and we put on panels

(01:15):
and events.
So listeners of this podcastshould definitely check the
group out.
I agree, and I believe you metmy co-founder at one of those
panel events at last year's TwinCity Startup Week, I sure did.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
And then, a few months after that, I was at
another entrepreneurial eventwhere I met Tom Kramer and I had
enough of these little seeds ofdrop, like hey, you should
connect with Ashley with mommies.
And I was like, ok, I'm goingto officially do the reach out

(01:47):
to Ashley.
And here we are.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, and I'm so glad you did, because my co-founder,
rightfully so, is like you needto talk to Ashley, because I
could get on a soapbox about theneed for there to be visibility
for mothers in entrepreneurship, because it is actually an
advantage to be a mom and anentrepreneur and so often the
case is that it looks like it'scounterintuitive to one another

(02:12):
and it's just not so.
I love that you have a podcastdedicated to highlighting and
front lighting women and mothersin this incredibly challenging
and incredibly unique careerpath, because I want more moms
to feel empowered to do it andthat they're actually more than
capable.
It's not a shortcoming to be amother.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I couldn't agree more .
I could not agree more, and Ithink that we should certainly
dive into that.
But let's start off first withwhat came first.
For you, was it motherhood orwas it entrepreneurship?
For me, it was motherhood.
Okay, and how old are yourkiddos?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
So my first born is a daughter and she was born in
April of 2021.
And, in a lot of ways, myexperience with her was the
instigator for my business.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I always joke.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
My firstborn was the inspiration of the business and
my secondborn, who I had lastyear, was the test subject.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Okay, let's dive into that a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yes, Share a little bit more with the listeners.
So after I had my first baby inApril of 2021, I was one of the
lucky few who actually had avery easy and beautiful nursing
journey, so I was able tobreastfeed her without issues.
She was a chunky, happy baby.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
And then all the rolls and everything.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yes, it was going swimmingly well and I remember
being very actively grateful forthat.
But what I didn't realize isthat when I went back to work at
eight weeks postpartum Inaively thought well, I know I
can easily breastfeed, I know Ihave enough breast milk to more
than support my growing infantgirl.
I will simply collect it with abreast pump while I'm at work

(04:00):
and continue this breastfeedingjourney.
And I was shocked when I firststarted to use a breast pump at
work that it took me fourpumping sessions to get one
bottle of milk for my baby.
And I was so frustrated by itand I was lucky enough to know
that I could breastfeed withoutissue.
So I did not blame my body,which I feel like is kind of the

(04:24):
first instinct of so many momslike what, what?
What am I doing wrong and I'mnot making enough breast milk.
I'm too stressed right now tocollect milk.
It's not our bodies, it's afailure of that breast pump
technology.
So my instinct was immediatelyhow do I improve this tech?
Just for my own personalexperience and I've got a

(04:46):
background in the biomedicalsciences, I've got a PhD so my,
my natural inclination was to goto literature and this has been
studied.
This phenomenon has beenstudied where a nursing infant
is giving the mother so manycues beyond suction for the mom
to know okay, it's time torelease my breast milk quickly

(05:09):
and completely.
My infant is at the breast.
It's more than suction.
It's the warmth of their mouth,it's the pressure of their jaw
and their hands against thebreast and all of that is
working together to signal themom.
It's a very complex process, sothe suction-only breast pump
was never meant to get the mom.
It's a very complex process, sothe suction only breast pump
was never meant to get the jobdone.
It's never going to get the jobdone alone.

(05:31):
And studies have shown 10 yearsago more than 10 years ago now
that if women warm their breastsprior to using a breast pump,
they get more milk in less time.
If women massage their breastswhile using a breast pump, they
get more milk in less time.
And these are just thingsstudied independently.
It's never been done in tandembecause, guess what?

(05:52):
No product exists that combinesthose in a hands-free and
convenient manner from others,even though it's known in
academic literature.
So it just never made it fromthe lab to the market space, and
I remember I was Googling onceI found anecdotally that that
worked for me, but it was socumbersome to have these hot

(06:13):
compresses and to have my handsoccupied while pumping.
I was like I just needsomething that's going to do it
for me, and I remember justbeing so shocked when it didn't
exist.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
And seriously, all I can think about is this
disconnect and this is not justin this realm, in this
particular space that we'retalking about right now.
It's in many areas of lifewhere you're like there's a
solution here and we look atthat and we go it's so simple,
like it really is.
And how is it that you've hadall of these other particular

(06:46):
studies that have been done butjust such a huge disconnect in,
like that connects with that.
Connects with that for this tokind of be a wholehearted
solution for XYZ you know what Imean.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Totally, that had I'm sure that was like, and
particularly acute in women'shealth.
Yeah, across the board.
I mean it doesn't really matterwhich aspect of a lived woman's
experience you're looking at.
Something could be better andit's not yet.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Right, I think of.
Have you met Katie Sievert withlet's Talk Women?
Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Adore her.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
She is, she's been on the podcast as well.
She is, she's been on thepodcast as well and the
awareness around women's healthis just like it's becoming more
prevalent right, but it's it'sonly going to become more
prevalent the more individualslike yourself and Katie Sieverts
of the world go.
Hey, yeah, hi, this is actuallyimportant if we want to

(07:43):
continue to, like, push theneedle forward.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Seriously, and also attention is not the same thing
as progress.
I feel like I'm gettingrumblings of like almost as if
it's been taken care of, justbecause there's a recent
increase in attention to women'shealth issues.
No, the attention is just thebeginning.
The attention is just callingour focus to these unmet needs

(08:07):
across the board, and now weneed to put resources behind
solving them, and oftentimesit's women that are going to be
the people who solve theseproblems for other women.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, okay, so to kind of come back to the
original start of this question,which was what came first for
you, that motherhood orentrepreneurship?
So you had your first and itwas at that moment, like when
you went back to the workforce,that you were like hmm,

(08:38):
something's not right here,exactly.
And then did you continue inwhat you had been previously
doing yes, I did.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I work at a wonderful company um superior medical
experts it's a medical writingcompany so you currently still.
You're still there yeahfractionally, so um, it allows
me to work flexible hours andwork remotely, and it's actually
what gave me my first educationon entrepreneurship, because,
as a medical writer, I wrotegrants for other scientific

(09:10):
innovation companies for theirhealth or technology related
innovations and helped themsecure funding to de-risk them
in their earliest stages, atthat ideation stage.
So it gave me a crash course onwhat it takes to be a business
with legs like what is a scienceidea that can make it out of
that laboratory setting, thatcan have a huge commercial

(09:31):
impact and market potential, andwhat are the pieces that you
need to have in place in thatpuzzle to make people believe in
it not just scientific bodiesbut also industrial
professionals.
So it was very synergistic.
Again, I always call myself anaccidental entrepreneur.

(09:52):
I never endeavored to be anentrepreneur, but I do believe I
am the perfect entrepreneur formommies there's kind of no one
more well-suited, just based offof my background and the
problem I encountered.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
I couldn't agree more .
So when did you start to kindof go full-on, dive into what is
now mommy's?

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
So I was sitting at the kitchentable and I was talking to my
husband and I never give himenough credit, so this is my
shout out to you, Dave.
I was talking to my husbandabout like my frustration with
the fact that this productdidn't exist and that it should,
and he was the first person whosaid my shout out to you, Dave.
I was talking to my husbandabout like my frustration with
the fact that this productdidn't exist and that it should,
and he was the first person whosaid you should do it.
And I said that's crazy.

(10:32):
We have a literal infant rightnow.
You're crazy if you think I canbe an entrepreneur.
It's so high risk, it's sounpredictable, there's so much
uncertainty.
But I couldn't let go of thisidea and I think there are kind
of two people who, two types ofpeople who enter
entrepreneurship it's the peoplewho look for the problem to

(10:54):
solve and it's the people whocan't escape the problem and
need to solve it.
And that's me.
I just couldn't escape it, Icouldn't put it down, I couldn't
not try.
That's how it felt and I thinkfor me it needed to be that way.
To be certain I wanted topursue it in such a time where
there was so much learning to doand introducing so much

(11:16):
uncertainty to my young family.
But, it's something I couldn'tnot do.
So the first thing I did andthis actually brings in my
co-founder to the story is Igoogled a 10 slide pitch deck
format you know like what's a 10slide pitch deck format?
And I just tested myself can Ifill in this deck?
Do I understand kind of how tofill this deck with this

(11:37):
business idea?
And this was before I formallystarted my entity and I sent it
to trusted friends andentrepreneurship.
In entrepreneurship that couldkind of vet the idea, tell me,
is this crazy or does it havelegs?
Do you understand it?
and that deck made its way toJenny's inbox and I didn't know

(11:59):
that I didn't know Jenny at thetime, but it feels like a movie.
Ashley, yes, I sent it to afriend and he was next to Jenny
and he is a guy, so he kind ofpointed the computer at her and
said what do you think aboutthis idea?
And she was probably the firstperson who was really
enthusiastic about mommies andshe had never met me before um

(12:23):
and now she's my co-founder inthis journey.
But what's?

Speaker 2 (12:26):
um, I'm gonna go just a little tangential.
What?
What's Jenny's background?

Speaker 1 (12:32):
yeah, so Jenny has founded two non-profits in the
childhood and family well-beingspace, so she's got a really
good understanding of like thisconsumer base, but also startup
operations she's an activator soshe really likes to take an
idea and bring it from zero toone, so she's the perfect

(12:53):
partner in this.
She's extremely organized,extremely smart, extremely
capable and also very missiondriven and where she wants to
spend her time.
That's why she founded twonon-profits and although our
business is structured forprofit, it still has that
mission behind it.
You know, we're trying toempower women to pump more milk
in less time, which is a huge,ubiquitous problem and would

(13:16):
give so much more time back towomen in modern motherhood, and
it's something that sheresonates with, simply because
she's a mission-driven person.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
She's got a good heart Wonderful, and I had the
opportunity to meet Jenny.
So Jenny and I got connected atthat startup of Minnesota
Startup Week, the Empower Herevent, and she was like you've
got to meet Ashley, you have to.
And I was just like yes, andthen I got distracted.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yeah no, don't we all ?

Speaker 2 (13:46):
especially at events like that.
Right, like you're, that was myfirst time, by the way, ever
experiencing like I had um, I'mnot sure how much you know of my
background and all of this, butI'll give you like the crash
course on it.
So I ended my almost eight yearmortgage career back in

(14:06):
September and my daughter wasthe catalyst.
It just took me about a yearand a half to finally go okay,
I'm done.
This is not serving me anymore,and I had been doing the
podcast and just every singleweek after each interview, I'm
like I love this so much andthere is definitely a need to

(14:29):
serve mothers who areentrepreneurs.
What could that look like?
And so that is where I startedto get some of these ideas of my
own, just like you speak tolike, oh my gosh, I couldn't not
stop thinking about what couldthis look like and why not try
to do something like thisExactly.
And then meeting Katie ShanahanI think that's how you say her

(14:52):
last name.
She's like you got to come tothis and I was like I don't even
have like an actual businessyet, but it was going to that
event and going okay, I think Ican start rolling with this and
just feel that empowerment andit's just like you're walking
around this room you were on apanel for that too and I'm like

(15:16):
this is incredible, these are mypeople.
Like I loved it so much and so,yeah, to the point of getting
distracted because you're justtalking to all of these
different women and going holymoly, there were men and women
there, it wasn't just women, butyou could feel the empowerment
happening of that group is.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
It doesn't matter what stage of business you're at
.
It's encountering others whereyou realize it is a possibility.
Yes, it's not a fool's errand,it's not a crazy dream.
It's something that can be doneand should be done, and being
around other women who arepursuing their goals, whatever
it may be in business.

(16:02):
I think the whole point of thatroom is to be inspiring and to
also make it feel accessible toyou.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Right.
So we started to talk aboutthis intersect of motherhood and
entrepreneurship, right?
I think that for a lot of women, where maybe motherhood came
first, right, and then you havethis idea that like spurs right,

(16:28):
and I think far too often andwe may have touched on this
women go not me, I couldn't doit, absolutely not.
I have children, I have youngchildren, I have children that
are in activities, like you know, whatever the circumstance
might be.
But there is the opportunity toactually be able to do

(16:51):
something, whether you'restarting it off, you're still
over here in this, you know,quote unquote nine to five
position or, in yourcircumstance, fractionally
working, um, and still be ableto passionately pursue that
opportunity.
I think let's let's talk aboutthis, cause I think that it's

(17:15):
like I said, far too often womenfeel discouraged because of the
, the timeframe that we'reliving in right now.
There's no better time to do it, I feel like, because there's
so much empowerment for women.
But then there is also thiskind of tug and pull of okay,
well, I still need to be mom, Ineed to be mommy, and so many

(17:36):
women and wife and, yes, primarycaregivers in their household,
you know they're the managers oftheir household.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Givers in their household you know they're the
managers of their household.
I do think that's shifting, butthat will take time.
So, yeah, we're juggling themaximum amount of expectations
right now as women in the house,as parents and professionally.
I think it's a time that has usstretched thin and that's why
it's so important to havecommunity as you pursue it.
Jenny and I talk all the timehow lucky we feel to have

(18:06):
co-founders in this startupjourney, but if you're doing it
as solo entrepreneurship, Ithink looking for those
communities like the empowerhers spaces like you've created,
so that you, you realize, youknow you're in this together and
the world can be better and youcan be a part of that.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, well, what's the phrase I keep bumping into
this?
It's like we're we're expectedto work, like we have no kids,
and do you know what?

Speaker 1 (18:38):
I'm talking about yes .

Speaker 2 (18:39):
And it's totally the other part of that is escaping
me.
The listeners are probably likeit's so simple, yeah, and then
the opposite of that yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
The other part of that is escaping me.
The listeners are probably likeit's so simple Kelly, yeah.
And then the opposite of that,yeah, the opposite of that Raise
our kids like we never were yes, Thank you, and I mean it's
very, very true.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, there could not be more true of a statement
when it comes to theexpectations that are sometimes
laid upon us as as women, whenwe enter into the magnificent
world of motherhood.
But then we're like for mepersonally, just reflecting
backwards, I, I had, I had beenin the mortgage world, which is

(19:16):
very entrepreneurial.
It's not full onentrepreneurship, but it is very
entrepreneurial.
You treat it like a business,you are, you're a hundred
percent commission, Right.
So I had all of this kind ofleading into um becoming first a
bonus mom and then having mydaughter and going oh, I like I

(19:37):
can't.
I can't act like how I wasacting over here anymore, but I
still want to be passionateabout what I do.
I'm not passionate about thisanymore.
What is it that I'm passionateabout Exactly?
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Let's keep interviewing women and see what
comes up, right, I think that'swhat's cool, too, about
motherhood is I think there areso many parts of motherhood that
actually are an advantage toentrepreneurship and not
something that holds us backfrom being successful
entrepreneurs, and you justtouched on one of the most
important ones, which is itforces you to radically

(20:14):
prioritize your time, and itbecomes really clear what's
worth spending your time on andwhat's not, and who choose to
pursue entrepreneurship.
That should be a signal initself that that's a legitimate
business you know, worth lookingat bringing attention to,
bringing resources to, becauseif it weren't, you would not

(20:35):
spend your time away from yourchild to pursue it right.
It is this kind of radicalcentering of if I'm going to
dedicate my time to anythingother than this all-consuming
journey of motherhood.
It has to be quite compelling.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yes, I could not agree more, and I am quite
compelled personally by womenand entering into this
entrepreneur space.
I mean it's truly fascinating.
It really is.
So, anyways, back to you, yeah,back to you, so share with the

(21:10):
listeners and myself.
When you officially went like,all right, let's do this.
What year was?

Speaker 1 (21:16):
that Same year as giving birth, so by September of
that year, I formed the entityMommy's Solutions with the idea
to create a pump enhancing braso it's a bra that would
introduce those missing infantcues to the pumping experience
by warming and massaging thebreasts while using a breast
pump that allows you to use lesssuction, have the experience,

(21:39):
be more comfortable and also getmore milk in less time, which
nearly all women want.
Even if you have a good pumpingexperience, doesn't hurt to do
it faster, doesn't hurt to getmore milk.
So yeah, I founded the businesslate 2021, with no resources to
my name, no capital to my name,no personal capital I could
invest, because that's anotherchallenge of being an

(22:02):
entrepreneur in motherhood isyou have children to support.
You have a household to support,and the young years are often
the most expensive years ofraising a child, particularly
child care years.
Yes, so yeah, the whole firstyear of my business was what can
I do with no resources, to getthis off of the ground?

(22:24):
I need to get this off of theground and, like I said, I had
background in grant writing, soI knew that that was my first.
Target is, if I just have anidea quote unquote just but a
scientific precedent behind it,how do I compel these scientific
organizations like the NationalInstitutes of Health to take a
chance on me to help me de-riskthis idea to a point where I

(22:48):
could attract private investment?
And that's data, that's justdata.
Data resonates with scientificbodies, but it also resonates
with investors and it resonateswith audiences.
And guess what?
Data is easy to get, becausethe people we are serving are
half the population.
Yeah, no kidding, so we put outa customer discovery survey in

(23:12):
maybe late 2021, perhaps thefirst thing I did as a company
and it got over 1,200 responsesin 24 hours.
What 1,224.
Wow, what 1224?
Wow.
And that I'm so grateful forthat because it was lightning
under my skin, right.
It was like, oh, this issomething I need to do.

(23:35):
Nobody wants to take a survey,and yet the volume of responses
that I got exactly like nobodywants to.
So the volume of responses I gotspeaks to like the organic
passion there is by women to seethis problem solved and also
how deep-rooted these painpoints are 97 97 percent of

(24:01):
responders said they weredissatisfied with their pumping
experience.
Imagine any other piece ofessential modern technology
existing with a 97%dissatisfaction rate.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
It just wouldn't.
It is crazy.
Yeah, that's not going to cutit.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
And we accept it.
We just accept it as like oh,this is what it is.
Breast pumping sucks and it'ssomething you have to grit your
teeth and get through and guesswhat women still do.
That's the other thing that Itry to convey to like a more
investor-minded community orsomeone thinking about this
purely as market potential,business potential,
commercialization.
You know, talk about a stickyconsumer.

(24:41):
Women are sticking with thebreast pump, even though it's
failing them, even though it'shurting them, yeah, even though
it's taking so much time awayfrom their work or their house
or their children, and even whenthey're not getting enough milk
to fully breast feed their baby, they are still trying and they
deserve better.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
well, I think and we talked about this off air a vast
majority of the women who havebeen on the podcast have spoken
to that experience of nursing,breastfeeding, pumping, the
challenges that they encounteredwith it.
You know some of it is it wasthe latching process, but then

(25:22):
that also created thissubsequential like domino effect
as well, because if child's notlatching, baby's not latching,
then you're one either not ableto get the release that you need
, which causes other issues, orthen you're not actually being
like the process of actuallybeing able to supply the milk.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Too.
So I just think of theefficiency that's created with
this product to be able tosupport that, and then the
mental load that it takes off ofthese women who are nursing
Such a mental load off.
I almost said some naughtywords there.
Like you think of like the mindtrap that it creates for women.

(26:08):
Sometimes and some of us are,you know it's like unwavering
right Like, or they're like.
Whatever it is what it is Like,I'm not going to put too much
pressure on myself, that's kindof how you felt, in that You're
like I just it's not me.
Yeah, it can't be.
I'm nursing and everything isgoing smoothly, but it's when I
get to this point that, all of asudden, something changes that

(26:32):
can't be on me, but there arewomen out there who would go.
It is me.
They would blame themselves.
Why can't I get this to workwhen the reality of that
situation is quite the opposite?
Exactly so.
I love, too, Ashley, that thisis something that is efficiency

(26:53):
right.
It's a time saver, but it's alsosupporting that time with your
child too.
It's so cool.
It's so cool.
All right, let's keep.
I want to, actually, so I.
A lot of this podcast interviewis about your story, right, but
I also want to.
I want the listeners tounderstand sort of the the

(27:17):
behind the scenes businessprocess, because there's only
been maybe a few, like a handfulof women who have been on the
podcast that have kind of gonethrough the same process, the
same road as you, where, likeyou're going and seeking funds
to be able to grants, funds tobe able to support your business

(27:38):
.
And what's cool is I'm notgoing to share this quite yet,
but you won something reallycool, too, just within the past
year also, and I think thatother women who are listening
should hear about some of theseopportunities that they have
that are out there for them tobe able to support.
Whether they decide like, hey,I've got co-founders or I'm a

(28:01):
solopreneur, there are so manyopportunities out there for you
to be able to get your businessfrom here to here.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Absolutely.
That's something I also like tohighlight.
A lot is that, as a you know,quote unquote, non-traditional
entrepreneur, simply because youknow, women are
underrepresented inentrepreneurship and mothers are
underrepresented particularlyvisibly in entrepreneurship
because of that conflict that wementioned earlier.
That's really not a conflict.

(28:31):
I had to be creative withgetting this business off of the
ground.
So, as a non-traditionalfounder, I went a
non-traditional route to getthings off of the ground, and I
think that that's anexemplification of grit.
you know it doesn't look the waythat maybe other people have
done it, but it is a way to showgrit in entrepreneurship, so

(28:53):
find your way forward.
Like I said, I had no capitalresources, but I did have access
to women yeah so I spent a goodyear collecting data on the
unmet need.
There the huge level of problemhere that we're trying to solve
the amount of people that wereimpacting and what that impact

(29:15):
could look like for them, and Itook that data and then took the
scientific literature to kindof create my bra design.
And the first money I investedfor my technology was a
provisional patent.
So that's a route that I tookin order to protect my idea
before making it a little morepublic and a little more visible

(29:37):
.
So once I had submitted theprovisional patent, I did a
pitch circuit and that was in2023.
So first money in the door forour company was the Hy-Vee
Opportunity Summit.
So literally the local grocerdoes food and retail at Hy-Vee.
So, they have a regional pitchcompetition.

(29:59):
So Midwest that happened to beat US Bank Stadium, the year the
first year that I would havebeen eligible to do it and it
travels all around to ourneighboring states, but in 2023,
it was U was US Bank Stadium onmy birthday and I was like I
feel like this is a sign, so Iapplied to pitch Again.

(30:21):
This was the first pitchcompetition I had ever done and
I think this is one that a lotof women entrepreneurs should
know about, because it hasdifferent divisions for food,
for beauty, for retail andconsumer product, so a lot of
businesses can fit for thiscompetition.
Yeah, and it was absolutely themost friendly and uplifting
audience you could speak to,because it was all women and

(30:44):
minority entrepreneurs.
So people seeing this high,impossible barrier that they're
facing and saying I'm going todo it anyway, yeah, I'm going to
move forward, and they were sosupportive and it's really a
pitching is a practice instorytelling.
Are you resonating with anaudience?
Do?
they understand the problemyou're solving and do they

(31:05):
believe you're the person tosolve it.
That's something that's reallyimportant as an entrepreneur, no
matter what sector of businessyou're in.
So I'm a huge advocate for,like, getting in front of crowds
not just people, but crowds andseeing across the board.
Who am I, who am I attractingattention from in this crowd and
who am I losing, and where am Ilosing them and how do I make

(31:28):
sure that doesn't happen?
yeah but this crowd was so, soeasy, so supportive, so fun, and
I ended up taking home't happen.
But this crowd was so, so easy,so supportive, so fun, and I
ended up taking home the grandprize that day, which was a
$30,000 check, which felt like amillion dollars.
And that was the money I neededto match the Launch Minnesota
grant that I won.
So I won a Launch MinnesotaInnovation Grant, which is a

(31:49):
one-to-one reimbursement.
So it's great, but only if youhave money in the bank to match
it.
Yep, and that prize money wasmoney in the bank to match that.
So, suddenly I had $55,000 andthen I did Walleye Tank the next
month on St Patrick's Dayanother lucky day.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
And that is Minnesota's version of Shark
Tank, so put on by Mayo Clinicand the University of Minnesota,
and I won first prize in thejunior division.
So suddenly I had this one, two, three punch where three wins
in a row and money in the door,and those wins were all gathered
by storytelling and data.

(32:28):
So things that you can do forfree, and that's so things that
you can do for free and that'sso important that you can get
started even with no resources,because again, I think that's
another misnomer particularly inentrepreneurship, that requires
investment to make it to yourend goal, I've been told, and I
criticized this platform for it.

(32:50):
But I entered my information ona platform and the platform
said you are not an investablecompany.
And I dug into why.
I was like why?
Why would you say that that'sso untrue?
And one of the reasons it gavewas founders should invest at
least $20,000 of their own moneybefore expecting others to

(33:12):
invest.
And I was so angry with that?
Because does that mean that ifpeople do not have personal
capital to their name, that theydon't have a worthwhile idea to
pursue for business orentrepreneurship, it's
intentionally exclusionary topeople whose voices are needed

(33:34):
to solve problems right in theworld.
Um, so anyway, I like to kind ofbe a poster child, for you can
do it all and you can do it withnothing.
To get started, um, after thosewins, I was able to do what we
called garage prototyping.
So the very earliest stages ofprototyping with off the shelf
components, literally like fishtank, you know, pumps, bras I

(33:58):
purchased from Target, justtrying to get the product
visualized and physical and kindof de-risk the functional
aspects of what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Wait, hold on a second yeah, did you say pumps
from like fish tanks, fish tankpumps.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yeah, oh, my gosh, yeah, anything that you can be
creative with.
So you have to get creative inthose earliest stages.
I wish that I had all theresources at once to get it done
, but that's never how it goes,unless you are a Kardashian.
So you have to think aboutthings in a stepwise manner so

(34:35):
know where you're going, butalso be creative about how to
get there.
Um, because that data that wegot from just our garage
prototype is what we used tosubmit to the national
institutes of health a winninggrant application for three
hundred thousand dollars, andthat's non-dilutive funding.
So that's money I do not needto pay back.
It's money that doesn't requireequity of my company.

(34:55):
With that, jenny and I teamedup as co-founders and we did our
MVP prototyping efforts.
We continued our patentapplications to secure IP and we
also expanded our productportfolio.
So we got a lot done with verylittle resources, and that's

(35:15):
another thing that you have toget creative with.
That, I think, actually comesfrom growing up without a lot of
money you learn how to do a lotwith a little so again, do not
underestimate founders thatdon't have a lot of resources to
work with.
It often leads to the mostcreative and the most lean use
of resources, so that everydollar goes farther.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
What I love and what I'm hearing several takeaways
just in this short period oftime.
One I remember sitting at theevent this past fall, hearing
your story and hearing you saystorytelling in this pitch world
is so important, and that iswhat allowed me to stand out in

(36:02):
a big sea of other entrepreneurswith really great ideas too.
I told the story of mom easeand I was like feverishly
writing it down.
I remember going okay,storytelling is really important
, storytelling is reallyimpactful.
I think a lot of us hear that,but go oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah

(36:23):
yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
And that's kind of the purpose of that event too
right the 90 second elevatorpitch Like can you distill your
idea and get someone on board?
It's such an important exercise.
So, yeah, what you alluded tois our most recent success,
which was Minnesota Cup.
So Minnesota Cup is the largeststatewide startup competition
in our nation.
They got over 3,000 applicantsthe year that we participated.

(36:46):
We made it to the semifinals,which would be 90 companies, and
then made it to the finals ofour general division, became the
winner of the general divisionand we were told we couldn't win
.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
That competition Was that the year before, I applied
this past year and I literallydid it at the last minute, but
they provide an example and itwas your, from your win this
past year and I was like it's,it's so funny, like again,
remember I said there was allthese little seeds and I was

(37:21):
like I gotta, I've got to reachout to Ashley.
Yes, um, but yeah, I rememberseeing that and um had you
applied the year before that too.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
We made it to the finals the year before as a very
early stage company and we didnot advance because there were
amazing businesses in ourdivision that we are still
friends with to this day, butalso because we were so early
stage and we were actually toldit's incredible, we made it to
the finals that year with howearly stage we were and I think

(37:51):
it's due to storytelling.
But having made it to thefinals, we got to connect with a
lot of people in thecompetition and we were kind of
told flat out reset yourexpectations here.
Yours is not a company thatwins this competition because
it's not what we're known for inMinnesota, it's not med device,
it's not life-saving, it's notearth-saving and those things

(38:13):
obviously are very important.
And it makes sense why theywould take home the grand prize
more often than not.
So I did.
I actually internalized thatadvice, not as anything negative
, but to reshape the way that Ithought about that competition
and the opportunity it gave.
It's more than winning a prizeright.
It's networking with peers,it's getting access to mentors,

(38:36):
it's getting educated in what ittakes to be a successful
startup.
And I went into it in 2024,jenny and I both did, thinking
we're not doing this to win.
We are doing this to better ourbusiness.
We are doing this to learn tonetwork, to find the people who
are going to help us succeed andto really hone the way that we
tell this story.

(38:56):
And our biggest goal was tomake it to first or second place
in our division so that wewould have an opportunity to
platform mommies at that bigstage, at the grand finale and
we were so convinced we wouldn'twin that we were in the very
back of the room when they wereannouncing the winners,
chit-chatting away with ourmentor, just like.
Oh curious, like huh, that's theperson that got runner up.

(39:18):
I wonder who's taking thiswhole thing Like, I wonder, very
odd.
And the event organizer had tocome find us.
And, kaylynn, she found us andshe said this is going to spoil
something, but I'm going to needyou to come up with us.
And our mentor must have had alittle bird in her ear.
Tell her that we won, becauseshe had her camera ready.
And we have a very funny photoof the moment we found out we

(39:39):
were the grand prize winners atMinnesota Cup, because it is
pure slack-jawed surprise onboth of our faces.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
I'm getting chills, so cool.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
We walked up to a standing ovation and she also
took a video of that.
No-transcript was so gratifyingand I think that really opened

(40:21):
the door for the first time forus to think we've made it.
We now can do this yeah, thetraditional way.
We've done it.
We've been scrappy, we've gotto this point.
We are now resonating with thepeople who may close their doors
to businesses like ours.
Now they get it.
We did the work, now they getit, and now we might be able to

(40:43):
get money to make it the rest ofthe way.
And that's what made us thinkit's time to fundraise.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
I am blown away.
Okay so storytelling, but levelsetting your expectations too,
just as as an entrepreneur, nomatter what route it is that you
take, right, like you talkabout yours being kind of a
non-traditional route, and Ithink that there's a lot of
listeners who can, uh, level setand resonate with that right

(41:10):
Like very non-traditional.
And I think, if I am going toreflect backwards on a lot of
the individuals who have been onthe podcast, I don't, they just
haven't I don't think thatthey've really been fully aware
of just all of what Minnesota,especially the twin cities,
offers when it comes to startups, entrepreneurship, what that

(41:33):
looks like and how it can trulyexpand the networking piece.
Okay so expectations, right,you talk a lot about, like you
talked a lot about in thatinstance, you guys level set
your expectations that you werenot going to win that right, and
I think, like, how can some ofthe individuals who are

(41:57):
listening right now apply thatin a different kind of way.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
That's a good question and I actually I think
this is something reallyimportant for any entrepreneur.
It's so often, particularly inlike high growth
entrepreneurship, where you'repursuing an exit, that there's
one definition of success.
Um, you, you start.
The definition of successbecomes so narrow, whatever it
is, and I think that's something, as an entrepreneur, you need

(42:23):
to be really careful of, becausethat's what kills you.
Yeah, there are so many ways tobe a successful entrepreneur
and even if you don't achievethe vision as you originally saw
it, it does not mean that youweren't successful in pursuing
it.
Starting it is successful.

(42:44):
Any rung of the ladder is areason to celebrate.
And you're going to get kickeddown and you're going to have to
pivot and there are going to bethings that didn't go your way
or frustrate you or anger you ormake you feel hopeless, and the
counter to that is making surethat you reflect on how far
you've come and the fact thatyou're taking a step and that

(43:07):
you're walking forward throughall of this resistance that's
coming at you is a win every day, and I think that that's a
hugely important way to levelset your expectations as an
entrepreneur is if you're in thegame, you're winning.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Totally.
I feel like you were literallyin my brain, because all I kept
thinking about is, as we'retalking through, what and I'm
air quoting right now successlooks like.
What about actually takinginventory of how you as an
individual are growing throughthis process and you speaking to

(43:44):
that right Like that is soimportant, If you are literally
going all right?
This is where my bubble ofcomfort is, but I am willing to
step outside of that and trythis to expand what my business
is going to look like.
You're already winning.
Yes, You're already like and Ihate to do this comparison, but

(44:07):
there are, so there is a largepercentage of individuals in
this world that are not evenwilling to consider doing
something like that, and soreally, honor, take that moment
to honor the fact that you aregoing to do something like that,
You're willing to do it and youare doing it and then, if you

(44:29):
continue to repetitively do that, habitually do it how can?
you not push the needle forward?
How can you not?

Speaker 1 (44:38):
it is exactly.
Even if it doesn't feel like itevery day, it is, and I think
that's another superpower ofmotherhood that I wanted to
mention.
In entrepreneurship, I feel likeI'm a perfectionist and I'm a
people pleaser, and I think alot of women can relate to those
traits being a perfectionistand a people pleaser and that is
that introduces a lot offriction with taking a leap of

(45:00):
faith in entrepreneurship,because there is no perfect way
to do it and it is hard toplease everybody in pursuing
entrepreneurship, everybody inpursuing entrepreneurship.
Being a mom first gave me thatbuffer between what my identity
is and what my business is, andI think that's a really

(45:21):
important buffer.
Even when your businesses arereally personal to you, is your
businesses success, failure,good days, bad days?
They are not you, they are yourbusiness.
There's a lot of things out ofyour control there and being a
mother first gave me thatnatural buffer.
At the end of the day, my mostimportant role is still at home

(45:45):
and the most important thing isI'm a present mom who loves her
kids and they love me back, andthat's where I show up every day
and my business has good daysand bad days, but that gives me
this kind of regulation.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
So again it's a superpower.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
If you tune back into that, your identity is so much
more than your business, even ifyour business is personal, and
that can give you the freedom totake a leap, even when it's
scary and even when you you knowif your business fails it means
you're a failure.
That's not true.
They're separate things andthere's so much out of your
control in business and it'sjust a matter of trying.

(46:20):
Yeah, and trying moves theneedle.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Like you said, it's already a success if you try all
right on the on the flip sideof that, because I asked this
question right at the start ofall of the interviews and it's
what came first for you.
Was it entrepreneurship or wasit motherhood?
And I do feel like there are,like, if you were a mother first
and then entrepreneurship camesecond, there are a lot of

(46:44):
common traits that that you aswomen who are mothers first and
then decided, hey, this issomething that I want to pursue.
There's a lot of traits.
You literally just spoke tothat in the most positive,
effective, proficient way.
Thank you, you're welcome.
How about let's talk about I'mkind of veering off of what the
traditional like interviewscript is here, so bear with me,

(47:08):
but I do think that this bearslike having a conversation about
as an entrepreneur first andthen becoming a mother.
What do you think is like thesuperpower there that can kind
of fold over and have that allharmonized together, and there's
obviously not going to be anyperfect answer.

(47:28):
This was me first, like I wasentrepreneur first and then
became a mother, and this ispretty reoccurringly a question
that's coming up for me outsideof all of this is like what's
the difference?
Yeah, right, what are thedifferences?
Because there are differencesno-transcript.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
And then I think what motherhood adds, after you've
become an entrepreneur, is youare modeling to your children to
pursue your dreams, thatanything is possible and that
sounds cheesy, but that's whatentrepreneurship is.
And when I look at my daughterand I see her pursuing things

(48:38):
purely because she wants to,without worrying about how
they're being perceived, it's agood reminder every day that
that's how I want to beoperating.
And you lose that in adulthood,you know.
But I want to move forward withwhat's compelling me, what's
mission driven, to move forwardwith the difference I want to

(48:59):
make in the world.
No matter how many no's I hear,no matter how many barriers are
in place, I, until there aren'toptions, I have hope you know,
every day.
I'm problem solving and I wouldwant her to do the same, so I
think it just adds another levelthe, the parenthood, the
entrepreneurship, no matter whatorder they come in.
It's operating in uncertainty,finding a way forward and really

(49:23):
staying in tune with, kind oflike that child, like doing it
because it feels right, notbecause of how it's being
perceived.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
I love it Okay, thanks for entertaining going
down that path with me.
I appreciate it.
I want to talk a little bitmore about this community that
you've talked about like howimportant that has been for you.
What has that outside of likewhat you've already spoken to,
being that your husband was likeyou should do this and you're

(49:51):
like me no, wait what?
I think a lot of us, like I, amin that same boat.
I can raise my hand and saythat is very much the same thing
.
That happened to me where I waslike no way, Absolutely not.
And you have that like kind ofswift kick in the butt from
somebody else who sort ofoutsider perspective right, but

(50:14):
have so much belief in you as aperson and huge cheerleaders.
Who else do you feel kind offits into that community, slash,
village space for you throughthis process?

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Too many people to name honestly, too many people
to name.
I've found so much community,particularly in Minnesota, as an
entrepreneur.
I do think you know there areadvantages and disadvantages to
starting a business in Minnesota, but one of the advantages is
the fact that there is so muchgenuine support and a sincere

(50:48):
desire to help others succeedand commiserate and show up
fully.
You do not need to show upperfect.
We're not expecting perfect.
I think that that's anincredible advantage of starting
a business in this communityand there are so many groups
that you can find peers andmentors in around the Twin

(51:09):
Cities.
So like you, said, I don't knowwhen this comes out, but Twin
Cities Startup Week is coming upin October.
Minnesota Cup is a summer eventthat wraps up in the fall.
Launch Minnesota is a localorganization that does
programming and Friday forumswhere you can learn from other
entrepreneurs.
The Empower Her group isspecific to female founders.

(51:31):
There's medical devicenetworking groups.
Just look around.
Launch Minnesota has like acalendar that you can look at
for a lot of local events.
Twin Cities Startup Week willhave a lot of events.
If you're thinking aboutentrepreneurship, if you haven't
taken the leap yet, or ifyou've taken a leap and you're
feeling lonely, put yourself outthere.

(51:51):
Say yes to things.
Go to events in person.
It may feel uncomfortable atfirst but it will become
comfortable and it's the bestenvironment to show up kind of
unprepared for because everybodythere has something in common
with you and it becomes veryeasy to find your people, I

(52:13):
think, if you just show up andget out of your house, out of
your office and show up at theseevents.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I couldn't agree more , as somebody who literally
threw herself into MinnesotaStartup Week not even fully
understanding what I was gettingmyself into in going to that
event and and just coming awayfrom that going feeling that
like true spark of I can do this, I can do this, and then having

(52:42):
all of these, like I rememberdriving back from that, ashley,
and going, okay, I've got all ofthese ideas.
As soon as I get back to thehouse, I need to get them down
on paper, and it was the firstthing I did.
Walking in the door is grabbinga piece of paper and getting
everything written down that hadjust been mulling around in my
head leading up to that event,and then just level setting with

(53:05):
myself and going, okay, hereare all of the different ways
that I could potentially do thisas a business model.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
Absolutely, and it's centering.
You know, like being aroundother people is centering and
inspiring, like now.
I'm several years into businessand I still love opportunities
to be on panels and on podcastsbecause it gives you an
opportunity to like meditate onyour business, like really
meditate on the why, why, thehow and what you're doing next

(53:35):
and how you're going to getthere.
Um, it's a.
It's a good pause becauseentrepreneurship can feel like
you've got this kind of need tokeep the momentum moving forward
every day and you can be soforward facing that you forget
to reflect and you forget to bepresent, and reflecting and

(53:57):
being present is part of thesustainability of
entrepreneurship.
And going to these events andtalking with founders, listening
to podcasts, going to panelsall of that is us meditating on
this journey together andhelping elevate everybody to be
as successful as possible and beas resilient as possible
through it, okay.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
So, speaking of resilience, I'm going to pull
from that and I want to talkthrough some of um, because you,
you mentioned, you're a coupleyears into this now and that
doesn't come without its ownlike ups and downs.
Yeah, you really started offlike boom, boom, boom, hitting

(54:38):
all of these differentopportunities for grants and
money to come in.
Were there moments on the otherside of that, like the other
side of that coin, where youwere like holy moly, what have I
gotten myself into?
Do I even think I can do this?

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Yeah, well, I think it's worth saying again, when
you look at the mommy's journeyand I'm grateful for this I
think it can look like a winningtrajectory, as if it was
exclusively a winning trajectory.
Right, and although it'shelpful to present it that way,
that's, of course, not the case.
You know, um, this is a verytough business to get off the

(55:15):
ground and it's still uncertainin some ways if we can make it
to the finish line, but we'regonna give it our all and be as
creative as possible to getthere.
Um, but now we're at the pointwhere the livelihood of our
business lies beyond us, right,the fundraising part of it.
So it's a matter of gettingpeople on board.
But, yeah, anyway, it's worthsaying we have won grants and we

(55:39):
have won pitch competitions.
We've also been told no Lots.
Both grants that we won Launch,minnesota and NIH we were told
no first and we kept trying.
We asked for feedback.
We said you know what?
What was missing here?
How can we improve?
And, like I said, that's a goodexercise.

(56:01):
That was true at Minnesota Cuptoo.
You know, um, everything thatwe've done.
If we're told no, we take it asnot.
Now, yeah, if they don'tunderstand what we're doing so,
particularly the male audiencemembers whenever we're pitching
if they don't understand whythis is important to support
success at the breast pump whenit's such a short period of time

(56:23):
quote unquote.
That's our job to bridge thatgap.
The only side of the equationyou can control is your own.
So, yes, we experience a lot ofchallenges.
So, yes, we experience a lot ofchallenges.
And, yes, we hear a lot of no's.
And the only thing we cancontrol in that equation is how
we respond to the no.
And it's important to not takeit personally.

(56:45):
It's not a no to you as aperson, it's a misunderstanding.
Is how I like to view it.
So they're saying no, I hearnot.
Now, they don't understand.
Yeah, how do I help themunderstand why they should be
saying yes to me?
And that's kind of how I moveforward.
But, yeah, tons of challengesI'll never forget.

(57:08):
You know, just as an example, Iwas 32 weeks pregnant with my
son.
I was rear-ended on 94 um, I wassent into active labor, I was
in the hospital and had tosubmit our phase two grant and I
was working on it from ahospital bed, right, and these
are the things where it's likeyou never know what people are

(57:31):
going through and the ways thatthey need to show up, and you
can't control the push and pullof life and where you're needed.
So I guess that's the otherpiece of advice I want to give,
particularly to like a momentrepreneur or a woman
entrepreneur audience is lettinggo of the perfectionism

(57:52):
entrepreneur or womanentrepreneur audience is letting
go of the perfectionism.
If it's worth doing perfect,it's worth doing at your best,
and sometimes your best is halfof what it usually is.
And that's how I felt duringthat grant application where I
was so frustrated initially likehow could this be happening?
Of course, a I'm very concernedabout my son who, by the way,
was delivered full term.
The act of labor subsided Iknow all the listeners are going
by the way, was delivered fullterm.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
The active labor subsided.
I know all the listeners aregoing but wait, yes, how did
that all?

Speaker 1 (58:15):
thank goodness, I kept, you know, kept my zen in
the hospital setting and thecontractions subsided after a
day and I was able to cook themto full term and he came out a
happy, healthy boy.
Um, but just showing likemotherhood and entrepreneurship
they're both so demanding andthey're both so important and

(58:35):
feeling like you need to give ahundred percent to both or be
perfect at both is a disserviceto you as a human and as a woman
.
And just know, like, as much asyou can show up when you can
show up, whether it's a lot somedays and a little other days,
it's cumulatively what matters.
You know, just the cumulativeeffort, the cumulative moving
forward.

(58:56):
It's possible and it's betterfor everybody.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
That was so incredible.
Thank you, I love it and, as Ilike to say, a recovering
perfectionist.
I find myself kind of slippingback into the these, like old
patterns of everything needingto be perfect, or I have to do
this, or I need to be able tocontrol this situation, and then

(59:22):
closing that gap right Like,okay, nope, I cannot sit here
and try to control this, whetherit be something in motherhood
or it's something in thebusiness, I can't like.
I just need to put this at ease,or it's time to delegate this,
or understand what's the orderof importance.

(59:42):
Like, the true order ofimportance for some things, yes,
prioritizing, but I thinkthat's something that we can
speak to.
For other, for the individualswho are listening right now is
like how quickly can you closethat gap of areas of opportunity
?
Right, and in this case, we'reoh, I'm people pleasing right

(01:00:02):
now quickly closing the gap ofmoving back into this place of,
like nope, setting theboundaries.
This is what it needs to looklike.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Yeah, it's a challenge.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
It is a challenge.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
I agree, a recovering perfectionist or recovering
people pleaser is the best wayto put that and, just like
anything that you're recoveringfrom, that's become, you know,
an addictive behavior or acompulsive behavior.
It requires day-to-day presencein order to counteract, um, and
like I said, for me the besthacks for letting go of, like

(01:00:47):
the people pleasing nature istrying to just think of this in
a depersonalized way, sothinking of it like more of an
equation I'm trying to figureout and maybe that's the science
nerd in me.
I kind of joke like this.
This nerdy part of me comes outquite often and sometimes it
hits and sometimes it doesn't.
But for those, of you like meKatie's like me depersonalizing

(01:01:10):
it, thinking of it as anequation.
That's helped me with mybusiness because, like I said,
my business is so personal in somany ways.
But if a man comes at me andsays I'm not going to give you
money because I don't believethis is a real problem, taking
that personally helps nobodyright.
And I need to get into theirheadspace and think why aren't
they understanding this?
And um, it's like the peoplepleaser in me is what worrying?

(01:01:35):
Oh, he doesn't like me.
He thinks I'm just this littlegirl pursuing this you know
silly idea and you know like, uh, how do I, how do I be this
model, um?
But no, it's not about that.
It's, it's about, um.
You know, taking yourself outof the equation is the best hack
for me of letting go of people,pleasing nature and just
working towards, like, what isthe puzzle and how do I make the

(01:01:57):
puzzle work?
How do I make this equation fit?

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
You know, it's incredible advice.
Thank you, I hope it helpsothers too.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Not everybody is like-minded in that way, and I
get teased for being a you knowdata nerd and science nerd and I
, it's very true, I can't, butthat's the other part.
Be authentic, be yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
Whatever works for you works for you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
This is who I am, and I have to use that to my
advantage.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
I love that you've literally just taken that veil
down and gone.
This is truly who I am as anindividual and I'm going to
embrace it, while alsounderstanding that there are
some of these habitual thingsthat I had um fault faulted to
originally.
But I'm going to, as I've beengoing through this process and

(01:02:44):
I'm I'm not trying to speak, I'mjust kind of reiterating some
of what we've conversated about,Ashley, so bear with me, but I
love, love, love that a lot ofthis has seemingly been learned
through the process of buildingmommies and that in itself is
such a gold nugget ofinformation for for other women

(01:03:05):
who are listening and husbandstoo.
There's a lot of husbands thatlisten to this podcast, Um, but
like that is such importantinformation to kind of take in,
reflect on and go.
How am I not taking thingspersonally?
Am I taking things toopersonally?
Is that something that couldpotentially be holding me back?

(01:03:28):
Yeah, I can raise my hand andsay sometimes I falter to taking
things too personally.
Yeah, they don't like me.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Well, you can't change you, but if they don't
like or understand your business, that's something you can
address.
You know you shouldn't changeyourself for anyone, and that's
the important thing, too, that Iwanted to mention.
Um, being an accidentalentrepreneur, but coming into my
own as the perfect entrepreneurfor mommies, I think that's

(01:03:57):
something that other peopleshould own as well.
You are the perfectentrepreneur for your business
because you are the one whoidentified the problem and came
up with the solution, and youunderstand it.
So, again, this is an exercise.
Whatever your business is, it'san exercise in convincing the

(01:04:18):
world or the audience or whoeveryou need to understand what you
already know, and that's whyyou're the perfect entrepreneur
to tell that story.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
So good, so good, all right.
The other thing that is justI'm itching to hear more about,
because we've talked a lot aboutbusiness, but I want to fold in
motherhood into this, as youhave gone through this process
of building out mommies and nowwe're kind of like we're there,
like we're there and we're kindof in the trenches with all of

(01:04:49):
it.
How have you seen yourself, asa mother, harmonizing that as
well, folding it all in?

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Yeah, I mean, like I said earlier, I think the gift
of motherhood is knowing why I'mdoing what I'm doing.
Mm-hmm is knowing why I'm doingwhat I'm doing.
Because when you're raisingchildren and you see how free

(01:05:18):
they are to be themselves,especially young children my
children are four and one, sothey have no perception of
outside influence.
They know who they are and whatthey want and they're exploring
new things and they're tryingnew things.
And if I see my daughter, youknow, be scared to do a dance
because she's not learning asfast as the other kids, oh,

(01:05:41):
that's heartbreaking as a mom.
Yeah, working through thingswith your children kind of
illuminates these core lifelessons that can kind of be lost
in the shuffle when you aren'tfocusing on yourself and kind of
meditating on your journey asmuch.
So with my daughter it was likedancing is not about learning

(01:06:06):
it as fast as the other children.
Your expression, your movement,your joy in moving your body
today and learning new thingsand challenging yourself has
nothing to do with the personnext to you who might learn it
faster or do it differently.
That's not why you dance.
You dance because you love todance and when you talk through

(01:06:29):
those you know little kidproblems.
So often our how you're shapinga person and reminds you who
you want to be too.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
So it's like yeah like I.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
I want to be the type of person who dances, even if
I'm not as fast at learning thedance as others.
And isn't that a just big oldmetaphor for?

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
entrepreneurship.
Yes, I'm like we're not talkingabout dancing anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
I love.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
I love that.
That's.
That's so cool.
What are, um, what are some ofthe like kind of let's go into
like the deep personal areashere too, since we're kind of on
this idea and um cusp ofmotherhood.
What are some of the thechallenges that you've

(01:07:16):
experienced?
Do you feel yourself beingpulled away from from your
children, from your family, inorder to pursue some of what
you're doing with mom ease or,um, do you feel like you've been
able to establish some prettylike great boundaries?
What has that looked?

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
like that's evolved over time.
Okay, um, so I fibbed a littlebit when I said my son was born
happy, healthy.
He's had a lot of serioushealth issues his first year of
life.
So after my daughter was born,I'm sure, like many women can
relate to, I had a prettytraumatic birth experience with
her.
I was in labor for 59 hours, soI was induced on Saturday and

(01:07:59):
she was born tuesday afteractive labor for 59 hours,
contractions five minutes orless apart, um, and then by the
time that she was born ontuesday, it was an emergency
cesarean after all of that andmy body was so tired from
contracting for so long that Ihad a postpartum hemorrhage and

(01:08:22):
lost a lot of blood.
It was very difficult to stitchmy body back up.
It was a very chaotic operatingroom.
Things were not going well.
I was aware that things werenot going well.
My recovery from that was verylong and hard.
And isn't that also just anencapsulation of motherhood?
Because throughout the entire59 hour labor the whole focus

(01:08:44):
was the baby is healthy.
Yeah, and she was.
The baby was healthy, thank god.
But I wasn't right.
Nobody took care of me untilthat final doctor came in for
her shift on tuesday, who wasthe doctor who scheduled my
Saturday induction and said whatthe heck is this woman still
doing here?
Get her to the operating room,she's too tired, yeah, and that

(01:09:09):
is.
Wow, it's so important.
So I tell that story to say Ido pour a lot into my business
and I pour a lot into mychildren.
The challenge for me isremembering to take care of
myself and I think a lot ofwomen can relate to that and
when I'm burning out because ithappens when.
I'm burning out and I'm tootired to feel like I have the

(01:09:34):
energy to play with my kids, togo on the walk with kids, to
take her to the park after she'shome from school.
It's time to reevaluate.
Am I caring enough for myself,which doesn't feel like a
natural instinct as a mom or asan entrepreneur?
It's put your business first,put your children first, but you
can actually give more to bothif you take time to take care of

(01:09:58):
yourself.
Give more to both if you taketime to take care of yourself
and that's the lesson that I'mconstantly having to relearn I
burn myself out a lot.
I feel like there is no choicebut to burn myself out and then,
ultimately, I give less to bothmy business and my children.
When I take care of myself,even when it feels like I have
no time to carve out for rest orfor exercise or whatever it may

(01:10:20):
be when I force myself to do it, somehow I get time back
because I'm getting bandwidthback, so that I think that's the
biggest challenge.
I love to pour into my kids, Ilove to pour into my business.
What I don't pour into ismyself actually and, I think,
more women need to.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
I couldn't agree more , and that is actually.
That is a perfect segue intoasking like what has that, in
making that recognition in, incoming to that recognition, what
are some of the implementationsthat you've, that you've put
into motion to take care ofyourself?

(01:10:59):
I'm still working on it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
I'm still working on it.
So beyond that experience withmy daughter, my son has also had
a very challenging first yearof life.
He was born with alife-threatening blood disorder.
Thankfully that resolved in sixweeks.
Then he also had um some severegrowth restriction and failure
to thrive earlier this year.

(01:11:24):
That required hospitalization,you know, and I came in here
today and he was battling asevere, severe infection.
So we kind of joke if my son'sever going to go through
anything, it's a full send.
He's going through it to themax.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
You know like he's it's the most yes.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
And he's such a trooper.
But having a son with higherneeds, that is something I
wasn't expecting.
I have had to invest a lot moretime into my son than my
daughter at a similar agebecause of his higher health
needs and because of that, allthe lessons I learned from

(01:12:01):
having my daughter and learningto balance motherhood and
business, and also investingtime in myself, went to the
wayside, because the time inmyself suddenly was reinvested
into my high needs son to makesure that he's getting the care
he needs to overcome theseserious health issues.
Son, to make sure that he'sgetting the care he needs to
overcome these serious healthissues.
And of course, I don't regretthat.

(01:12:21):
But I did burn out when my sonhad failure to thrive when he
was hospitalized.
I snapped there is just nothingworse than worrying about your
children and then having theemergency scenario happen and I
finally, because it was smackingme in the face, I finally had

(01:12:42):
to raise my hand and say please,help.
And it felt like I couldn't.
We were about to do thisincredibly pivotal usability
study for our bra that we hadbeen building towards for a long
time.
The first time we were havingwomen come in actively lactating
women to evaluate our prototype, having women come in actively
lactating women to evaluate ourprototype, and that was when my

(01:13:03):
son was hospitalized.
How can I?

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
do both.
How can I?

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
lead this study and be present for my son, who
needed me, and the answer is youcan't do both.
So, again, thankfully, I had aco-founder and an amazing one at
that, jenny who basically saidplease take the time you need,
let me pick this up.
And she did, and we gotincredible results in that

(01:13:27):
usability study I mean best casescenario.
You know, 90% of women saidthey need this product, they
would purchase this product,they would recommend this
product, they gave it anexcellent usability rating.
And it's just a lesson thatsometimes you feel you tell
yourself you have to be the oneto do something, I have to do it
, it has to be me or it will notwork.
And it's just a lie.

(01:13:49):
It's a dangerous lie, becausethat's how we burn ourselves out
, is not raising our hand, notasking for help.
And that can look like manydifferent things.
Even if you don't have aco-founder, like I'm lucky
enough to, you can ask for helpin so many areas of your life,
so you get bandwidth back inyourself to do the most

(01:14:09):
important things that actuallyneed your touch.

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
That's so good and I love that you, in a very raw and
authentic way, you were likeI'm still working on this.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
And isn't that the truth for a lot of women?
5am work, like getting up 5am,getting a workout in doing my
prayer, meditation and justhaving some quality time to
myself.
I would say, as of recent andevent planning was all in there,

(01:14:52):
that was a huge event.
I like loved every minute of it.
But in moments like that, someof that stuff took a way set,
like it literally took.
It was on the back burner andnow I can feel it, and now
that's my trigger point to gookay, we got to get back into

(01:15:12):
the swing of things, like now isthe time to do that.
Now you need to start takingcare of yourself.
Yes, so it's, you're not alonein that boat, ashley, is, I
think, what I'm trying to say?
Like we kind of go into theselike waves and different seasons
of like, okay, now it's time topour more into myself, because
but the the, I think somethingthat you, just, in making this

(01:15:37):
and sharing this, I think what'simportant to note is that how
can we avoid getting to thatpoint?

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Proactive self-care yes, instead of reactive Right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Exactly when you're like, desperately in need of it,
and you're finally goingraising the hand and saying I
need help right now.
There's so many differentthings that I could kind of go
down, but I think that that'ssomething that's warranted and a
good thing to note on too.
So what have?

(01:16:10):
I'm intrigued to see what yourguiding principles have been
through all of this, whether itbe faith, universe vibrations
like what has that looked likefor you?
Um, whether it be in motherhoodor in in mommies and building
this business, um, I'd love tohear a little bit more about

(01:16:33):
that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:34):
Yeah, I mean the touchstones that keep me going
would be continually touchingback with the why.
Why am I doing this when it isso hard?
And actually, you know, talkabout challenges.
We received a fundable score onour phase two grant with the

(01:16:57):
national institutes of health.
That would be two milliondollars to bring our bra to
market, which would beincredible.
And at the you know, with therecent changes in the
administration, that grant gotdelayed and may never come
through.
Yeah, and being faced with theloss of something.
So if this doesn't go through,what does it mean?

(01:17:19):
Do I stop?
The resounding answer was no,you know this like gut reaction
from my inside is no, I will notlet this be the end of what I'm
building, because it is tooimportant to me and so many
others.
So I think kind of being facedwith the loss of something can

(01:17:39):
help you reckon with why it'sworth doing, even when it's
really hard, and get yourpriorities straight and how you
think about it, like it is aprivilege to do this, even if
it's hard, it's energizing, itis purposeful, and those are the
touch points that keep me goingforward.
And in motherhood would say,you know, honestly, exactly the

(01:18:00):
same not to be, you know,dramatic, but I needed multiple
blood transfusions after mydaughter that was touch and go
and my son having theselife-threatening health issues.
It's still.
You know, life is fragile too,and being faced with like what,
the what if?
Like this wasn't here, I wasn'there, they weren't here, it's

(01:18:22):
just such an unimaginable griefthat that would cause that.
It reminds me to be presentevery day, good days and bad
days, hard days, tantruming days, cuddly days.
You know, yeah, everything istemporary and that is both a
relief and heartbreakingsometimes you know like
depending on whether it's a goodday or a bad day, and it's a

(01:18:43):
really important exercise inbeing present every day in
motherhood and present every dayin your business, because no
day is a given and it is in likesuch an incredible opportunity
to do both.
Because they're so, they'reboth so purposeful and they're
both so energizing and it bringsa lot to your esteem to be

(01:19:06):
doing two incredible jobs onthis planet, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
Oh, so beautiful, Beautifully stated Ash, so
beautiful.
I think that presence issomething that we all, as as
mompreneurs, continue to strivefor, and how can we actually
snap back to reality here in themoment?
Um, by the way, I love thatyou're like not to be dramatic.

(01:19:32):
That is dramatic.

Speaker 1 (01:19:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:35):
And you should be like, you should emphasize like
that that's cut.
Some of that stuff is life ordeath.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
It is Right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
And not to be taken lightly by any stretch of the
imagination, and so I just wantto point that out.

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
You're right.
You're right, that's anotherdeprioritization of the mom's
life and the whole equation.
Yeah, it's like.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
No, that was, that was real you know kind of a big
deal.
Yes, yes, it was real, it wasscary.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
It's tough to recover from.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
I.
I feel like we have covered alot of ground here in the
interview and I think it's timeto start landing the plane, as I
like to say.
You have, um, you've literallyjust kind of answered so many of
the like landing the planequestions, but I'm going to go
back to some of these.
First, I would love to hear apiece of advice that you would

(01:20:25):
like to give a younger versionof yourself knowing all that you
know now.

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Oh man, I should have one ready for this, shouldn't I
?
Oh man, I should have one readyfor this, shouldn't I?
I think something that I wish Ihad known is that everybody
else is a regular and fallibleperson too.
I think when you're looking ateverybody else, particularly

(01:20:55):
looking up to people, you putthem on a pedestal that you
could never achieve in your ownmind, because you're aware of
all your faults and youruncertainties and the things
that make you imperfect or lessthan, but the reality is,
everybody is human even the mostaccomplished people, in
whatever lane you're viewingthem in, are imperfect and human

(01:21:20):
in their own right.
And the more I interacted withmentors in any space, whether
it's mentors in business,mentors in motherhood, mentors
in research and women's health Ilearned through people's
vulnerability.
I learned through people'svulnerability.

(01:21:43):
Oh, they're just like me too,and because they're just like me
, I can be just like them, youknow.
And so it's.
It's really important.
Again, I appreciate how farwe've come at mommies.
I'm so proud of our business,but if someone's looking at our
business as unattainable, that Ihave a problem with Because it
is attainable, it is accessiblein your own lane, whatever that
lane is.
And I am a regular person and Iam struggling, you know, and I

(01:22:07):
still find a way forward, andbecause of that, I have this
business to showcase for it andprogress to showcase for it.
But still, every day isuncertain and still every day
I'm learning.
Um, so, yeah, I think that'ssomething I would tell myself
and hopefully I can, uh, makevisible to others.
You know that we put on aperfect exterior sometimes.
Again, maybe that's oldperfectionist habits in me, but

(01:22:31):
I am not perfect.
I am very imperfect, and so areeverybody that I admire.

Speaker 2 (01:22:35):
So it's okay, that was so cool to hear.

Speaker 1 (01:22:39):
Good, it took me a minute to come up with it.
No, it was it was.

Speaker 2 (01:22:43):
It was seriously spot on and what I I keep hearing
from that is just like we're allkind of in, we're all in our
own respective boats, right, andsome of us are paddling quicker
, some of us aren't paddling asquick, but we all kind of have
these like true, real, raw,authentic moments of real life

(01:23:07):
experiences hitting us.
You know, and let's call it thewaves of the ocean that are
hitting us, whether it's justlittle splashes or they're
humongous waves that arepotentially tipping our boats
over, right, but like, we allhave that at different moments
and seasons of life, and thatwas, it's, it's good I keep

(01:23:27):
using this term like level set,like that's a've perhaps
hesitated at, on reaching out to, to talk about mentorship,
perhaps, like, just to do it.

(01:23:47):
The worst thing that's going tohappen is they say no, because
not to take it personally butlike, maybe it's just not the
right season of life for themright now.
They can't handle another thingto put on their plate.
Yes, you know, but like, thenit gives you the opportunity to
go okay, not, not right now.
Maybe in the future, who's theperson who can fill the gap?
So, that's just one example ofthe many different examples of

(01:24:09):
like understanding that we'reall.
We all start at zero and it'sjust how we get from here to
here, and then from here to herein our businesses or in
motherhood.
Yes, the path is completelydifferent for every single one
of us.
There's no perfect path.
All right, you had some reallyfantastic advice early on in our

(01:24:35):
conversation, but I'm curiousif you have a different piece of
advice that you would give awoman listening right now who
they're nibbling on the edge ofentrepreneurship.
What's the advice that youwould like to give them in this
moment?

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):
If you're nibbling on the edge of entrepreneurship
and it's coming from.
If you're nibbling on the edgeof entrepreneurship and it's
coming from, I guess I would say, evaluate where it's coming
from first, because, like I said, there are kind of two camps of
entrepreneurs the ones who wantto be their own boss and
they're going to find a businessmodel that allows them to be
their own boss.
That's also very cool, andsmall businesses are the

(01:25:16):
backbone of America.
So that's a cool way toapproach it and to know that you
want to be an entrepreneur andknow that you want to operate a
small business.
So know the why and let thatpower your decisions moving
forward.
Like I said in this conversation, my why was different.
My why was driven by this hugeproblem that I was personally

(01:25:37):
facing, that there remained anunmet need for, and I had a
spark of an idea to solve theproblem, and that drives me
forward.
But if you're nibbling atentrepreneurship, figure out the
why where are you coming from,and then convince yourself
before you convince others.
So it's hard.

(01:25:57):
You people often say, take theleap, but it is hard to take a
leap if you haven't convincedyourself first.
So convince yourself, whateverit may be that you know this is
something you need to do, andthe why is the engine that
powers that.
So if the why is I need to bemy own boss, convince yourself
of that.

(01:26:18):
So if the why is I need to bemy own boss, convince yourself
of that.
And then that's the why thatmakes you figure it out, or my
why.
You know like this needs to bebetter for women.
It needs to be, and there'ssuch an obvious solution, and
that's the why that powers meforward.

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
So, ashley, I am so like inspired by you, so like
inspired by you, and I am, I.
I literally, like I said, whenI met Jenny this past year, I
was like where was this?
Like I I wish that I could havehad something like that in
place, and I hadn't even heardthe full scope or the full story

(01:26:53):
behind the why to starting thebusiness like you already had,
like a lover of the product atthat point, yes, thank you and
so, like I'm sure that there aremany individuals who are
listening right now, that can go.
Yes, that I I certainly wishthat that could have been

(01:27:14):
something that was in place whenI was nursing, and so huge
believer in the mission that youhave with mommies, what you're
doing.
Two final questions before wewrap up.
Who would be a good connectionfor you?

Speaker 1 (01:27:28):
Well, right now we kind of have two things that
we're working on actively.
One would be fundraising.
So if you know of people in thecommunity that are angel
investors or investors thatparticularly care about femtech
or supporting women innovators,those are always worthwhile warm
intros.
But the other side of the coinwould be we're always looking to

(01:27:49):
hear from moms.
We're always looking to hear.
Some of our best ideas camefrom conversations with moms
about how to execute thisproduct, and what I want to be
really clear by the time that wehit the market is this was a
product designed for mothers bya mother, with input of mothers.
We've had over 1,700 individualresponses that have informed

(01:28:11):
our design and development, andit's really important to our
company that that's adifferentiator on the market
spaces.
We're holding you intrustworthy hands.
You know we're holding thiswith integrity, this problem
that we're trying to solve sogood.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
so find us on socials okay, and that was my final
question how can people getconnected?

Speaker 1 (01:28:33):
yes, so we have a website I should mention.
Mommy's is a cute name but itis spelled M-O-M-E-A-S-E.
That's going to help you findus.
Our website is Mommy'sSolutions.
We're also on Instagram andFacebook.
We don't post a lot yet but aswe gear up to launch, we
anticipate kind of revving upthose efforts.

(01:28:53):
We're also on LinkedIn a lot.
Those of you that areentrepreneurs and building your
LinkedIn presence, that'sprobably where you can find that
.

Speaker 2 (01:29:01):
Get connected to Ashley and mom ease and um

(01:29:26):
really feel inspired by thosenetworking opportunities because
they really are fantastic.
I can personally speak to goingto the empower her event and
going yep, that was just what myheart needed, um, and not that
it's necessarily about feels,but it's like you know, you're
in the right room when you walkout of there, feeling inspired,

(01:29:47):
and you've got more ideas comingout of it than you did coming
into it.
So thank you so much for coming, taking time to come here and
speak about your story, both inmotherhood and entrepreneurship,
and it's you're, you're kind ofin the thick of it, as I like
to say, and what better time tohave conversations about how all
of that is flowing than now?

(01:30:09):
Um, so it'll be reallyinteresting to kind of circle
back, you know, in a year, seewhere everything is coming, and
I'm I'm keeping a close eye onmommyommies, so proud of you.
Keep chugging away, and I hopeyou have a great rest of your
day, you too.
Thank you.
Thanks for listening and if youenjoyed this episode and know of
any inspiring mamas who arepowerhouse entrepreneurs, please

(01:30:31):
help connect them with myselfand the show.
It would mean so much if youwould help spread this message,
mission and vision for othermompreneurs.
It takes 30 seconds to rate andreview.
Then share this episode withyour friends Until the next
episode.
Cheers to reclaiming your hue.

All Episodes

Ep. 63 with Ashley Mooneyham | Founder, Momease Solution

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 63 with Ashley Mooneyham | Founder, Momease Solution