This interview in The ‘Glamorous’ Life series is with my dear friend, Heather Stouffer, Founder & President at Mom Made Foods. Heather and I were destined to be friends – Sarah Masterson at DC-Baby wrote a post mentioning both of our companies. Immediately after reading the post, I wrote Sarah and asked for Heather’s contact details. Sarah writes back: “Heather already emailed and asked for yours too.” Great minds think alike

Having your own business can be a lonely endeavor. Sometimes friends and family can’t relate (or get tired of hearing about “the business”!). Finding someone who understands the dilemmas, the stress, and can even celebrate the little triumphs is priceless. Heather’s friendship, support and advice has made my entrepreneurial life a little easier.

Over the last few years, I have watched Heather grow Mom Made Foods. I have also been lucky to have my kids be product testers for the growing line of Mom Made products! I think you will enjoy learning about Heather and how she took her passion for delicious, healthy food and turned it into a smart business. [If you have read my Tirade about school lunches - you know I share a passion for healthy foods for our kids!].

Tell me about your business
Mom Made® Foods makes healthy and convenient age-appropriate meals for kids 6 months to school age using USDA-certified organic ingredients grown in the USA. I founded the company with the mission to help children begin and sustain a lifetime of healthy eating. Our foods are available nationally at Amazon.com and in the freezer aisle of SuperTarget, as well as at select Whole Foods, Wegmans, Ukrops and other retailers. Mom Made is known for the great taste of our foods. We believe it’s a combination of our carefully developed recipes, fresh organic ingredients, frozen/fresh process, and a big dash of love that make Mom Made’s foods so delicious!

Did you always want to have your own business? What made you take the leap to start your business?
My parents divorced when I was 9 years old and my brother was 11 years old. My mom went from being a stay-at-home mom to a full-time working mom. She had no choice but to rely heavily on me and my brother to help with the chores. On a normal weekday afternoon, she would call from work after we arrived home from school. She’d tell us what we were having for dinner and assign each of us things to prep for dinner before she came home at 6pm when she’d finish the cooking. I took it for granted that my brother and I quickly learned how to make everything from hollandaise to fajita marinades at such young ages.

The little inspiration for Mom Made, Heather's son, Emory.

Fast forward to my adult life … My husband and I agreed well before we married that we shared a common passion for food. It was our goal to have children who were great eaters who ate a variety of healthy foods. We both enjoy healthy, fresh foods and especially ethnic foods. In 2005, around the time my son was 6-months old and starting solid foods, I embarked on a journey to raise him eating a variety of healthy, organic foods. With a love for cooking and a passion to make sure my son ate only the best, I found myself in my kitchen on Sunday afternoons pureeing and freezing organic fruits and vegetables. When I was in a pinch for a convenient option I found there were no organic food options available that didn’t involve a jar. I believe that good food does not have to be complicated and should be easy. I didn’t eat jarred food so why would I feed it to my son as some of his first foods! I knew fresh fruits and veggies were best, and frozen a close second. I soon realized that there was a need for healthy, convenient, organic foods for older children, as well as for babies. When my friends began asking for my foods for their babies, I knew I was on to something. With the help of my brother, a professional chef, and a passion for organic foods and children’s nutrition, I launched Mom Made® Foods in 2006 at our local farmers market in Alexandria, Virginia. The Mom Made journey began!

What’s the most glamorous thing you’ve ever had to do for your business?
I find that people think that being an entrepreneur in the organic food business is glamorous. When I meet new people at a party, for example, and they ask me what I do, I tell them about Mom Made. It usually goes like this…their jaws drop then they inevitably ask if I’ve seen the movie “Baby Boom” with Diane Keaton from the 80’s (If only I had a dollar for every person who had asked me that question since I started this business…). Then they start asking a gazillion questions, such as how wonderful is it to own your own business, etc. It’s hard for me to answer their questions because while this business is absolutely a dream come true for me, we have an amazing team who I love to work with and I could not be more passionate about our mission, 99.9% of my work days are far from glamorous.

Little do they know that the FOOD BUSINESS IS NOT GLAMOROUS, especially not the FROZEN FOOD BUSINESS. It is not glamorous to put on gloves, a fleece, a hairnet, ear muffs and the warmest jacket you own in the middle of June to head into the freezer to move product or do inventory. It is not glamorous to track shipments to make sure they arrive to our distributors on time. Nor is it glamorous to loose sleep because you’re consumed by all that needs to be done to grow the business.

Mom Made found at SuperTargets!

What is the most bizarre thing you were doing while on a business call that you wouldn’t want the person on the other end to know?
I am always multi-tasking but most bizarre would probably be when I was on a media interview while at the wheel of a refrigerated truck on my way to make a delivery. The journalist knew that I was on the road but I did not tell them that I was driving a truck!

What do you wish someone had told you before you started your business or what advice did someone give you that you wish you had listened to?
I had an advisor early in my business planning from SCORE (www.score.org) who was 80+ years old. She had managed a family business of 20 grocery stores while raising her kids. I told her that my greatest concern was how I’d juggle managing my own business and maintain the relationships most important to me – being a great wife, mother, friend, daughter, and sister and also add in life as an entrepreneur. Her response was so poignant in the beginning when I made the leap to start the business…”Heather, you’ll adapt and make time for what is most important to you as you launch this business.”

What she didn’t say was that the “adapting” would never stop…each stage of the business brings new challenges to the balance in my personal life. I have to regularly tell myself her advice to force myself to adjust and adapt with the momentum of life and juggling growth obstacles with Mom Made.

What’s the biggest surprise you’ve found about running your own company?
There’s nothing more gratifying professionally than having a customer call or email saying that their child (especially the very picky eaters) love Mom Made or that our baby food was a child’s VERY first food they ever ate. It is such an honor to be a part of the change in making our children healthier.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
Listen to my husband, the greatest sounding board, when he has advice about the business. While he works full-time as a sports reporter, he knows so much about Mom Made, our market, etc and he’s able to take the emotion out of the big decisions for me.

Looking back, is there anything you wish you could have done differently?
While some of the lessons learned have been hard and stressful, I don’t regret any of them as they have been a part of our journey to get us to where we are today. The journey continues…

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. End of May, the Chic&Cozy was shelved at Target. A huge undertaking and something I am very proud of, but also completely stressed out about (will blog about this later). Coinciding with entering Target came the end of the school year for Asher (1st year of Montessori) and for Tatum, who just finished her first year at the public school in kindergarten. I can’t believe she is a first grader. Gulp. Anyway, I worked very hard this year to make time to volunteer almost every Thursday at Tatum’s school. I came in the morning and stayed until the kids went to lunch. All of Tatum’s classmates call me “Tatum’s mom”, a name that just makes me happy!

yummmm....drumstick?

School has been out a week or so and there has been something bothering me. Here’s my peeve. The thing I don’t get, school lunches. Have you seen what the schools serve elementary school kids? If you haven’t, I took some pictures. Week after week, I would go in and sit with Tatum for part of her lunch (we pack her lunch every day but Friday so she can be “a buyer” and get pizza), and week after week, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what the school served for lunch. We live in a society with obesity on the rise in children. But how can children learn about eating nutritiously when the schools (their educators) give them french fries with a processed chicken nugget (in the shape of a drumstick) for lunch? I don’t think I ever saw anything green, but maybe lime jello, on the trays. What the %##@?! And I know parents are busy, so packing a lunch isn’t for everyone, but children should be served balanced nutritious meals. Right?

I went on a field trip at the end of the school year. The kids needed to bring a bag lunch, so even the buyers had to bring. I was amazed at what some of the parents or caregivers packed for them. One little girl had a ready pack of nachos for lunch (queso cheese & nacho chips). That was it. Another boy, who at just 6 is tipping the scales, had for his lunch: 2 bags of chips (yes 2, not 1), chocolate pudding, a candy bar, sandwich on white bread, high-fructose corn syrup juice drink, and an apple. He ate the pudding first. Guess what he didn’t eat? Why would anyone pack all that junk food for lunch? How can our children be responsible if we are not teaching them well? I just don’t get it. Isn’t that doing a disservice to our children? I don’t believe convenience foods cost less. I know if I buy products in ready packs it actually costs more than if I buy a large bag or jar (for example, a jar of apple sauce is much more cost effective than the individual containers - but ya, the individual containers are easier).

Maybe not as bad? Chilli & tortilla chips?

Now we don’t eat perfectly at our house. Everything in moderation - we have dessert, chips, candy, etc. - sometimes, not every time. I don’t cook dinner every night (ya, talk to my husband, he is lucky if I cook 3x a week ;-), but we try to make healthy choices. I know we should be buying organic,but it is expensive, so I buy organic sometimes. I figure sometimes is better than never.

I know the lunches that schools serve have to be cheaper than fresh quality items, but is it really worth the end result? Children developing diabetes & heart disease? How can we not afford to provide decent food in one of the richest countries in the world? Where are our priorities?

Wow, this was preachy, but seriously…what are we thinking?

Since I essentially work for myself I think I should just arrange my schedule around the kids. I appear to other moms like a SAHM - I volunteer at school and drive the kids to after school activities. I will leave the baby at home with our au pair and while I am waiting at an activity for the other 2, I am making or returning calls. Some times I am editing something I have written or looking at fabric prints. I am multitasking the best I can, but I couldn’t do it without help. The people that don’t know I have a business look at me like, “wow she has full-time help and stays at home - nice”. Believe me I am not lunching and shopping, however without an income to show “hey, I am working”, I do feel embarrassed.

My SAHM friends, they do it all on their own. I consider them super moms. I even have WAHM friends that don’t have help, and I am amazed at how they do it, they are wonder moms, super women. Me, I am not either of these things. I just don’t have it in me to be a good mom, wife and business woman alone. I get grumpy and overwhelmed. I know my limitations, but even with that,  I still would rather be wonder woman.

There, my dirty little secret, it’s out. The kicker is our absolutely fabulous au pair has fallen in love (good for her), is getting married and leaving us next month to move to Ohio with her new husband. So this summer,  I better figure out how to get some super powers fast.

Tell me about you and your business. Did you always want to have your own business?
I knew I wanted to start my own business after I got my MBA in Paris in 1994. I dabbled in decorative painting and murals until I had my first daughter in 2004. I started out selling high end infant car seat covers. I was appalled by the fabric options at the time for Infant Car Seats etc and had always looked up to the French for their eye for fabrics. So, I began designing beautiful car seat covers out of upholstery fabrics with tassel trims and matching blankets. I immediately became pregnant again (happy surprise!) and I gave birth to my second daughter in early 2005.

It was then that I started making clothing from leftover fabrics based on classic patterns I remembered from my childhood. I then started making simple reversible dresses in bright patterns and kept getting stopped in the street so I began using my contacts to create clothing.I started with 2 simple little pieces and now we have about 25 designs per season.

Stylish & Reversible - Love it!

In fact, I try to stick to classic designs and avoid the trendy. The patterns that have been around for decades have stayed around because they work on babies and children. There is a level of practicality I aim to stick to – designs that grow with your kids, designs that can go on over the head or be buttoned or zipped on. Outfits that are easy to sleep in and clean. And my favorite – reversibles.

We started out just selling the reversible Dresses and Rompers to boutiques and gift stores and even furniture stores. And then we had a wonderfully huge PR surprise when we opened up People Magazine and saw this. At this point we stepped it up a notch – and hired a PR company.

It’s really over the last two years that we have rounded out the line. This year we are in select Nordstrom stores and Chasing Fireflies catalog, and we are selling all over the world.

What made you take the leap to start your business?
My husband and I quit our jobs and moved to LA to follow his movie making dreams. Being in LA gave me the opportunity and connections to start the business. It grew slowly at the beginning and then just took off. It feels like overnight I went from running the business out of my bedroom to 8 employees in an office and warehouse.

Heidi Klum with daughter in a Right Bank Babies' dress.

What’s the most “glamorous” thing you’ve ever had to do for your business?
I think the Award Show gifting suites are really fun. You meet so many celebrities. Baby Couture Magazine did a two page spread article on us in their magazine and for me that photo shoot felt pretty glamorous.

What is the most bizarre thing you were doing while on a business call that you wouldn’t want the person on the other end to know?
Probably changing a diaper or cleaning up baby vomit. In the beginning there was no way to hide that I worked from home – there was always baby and toddler chatter in the background.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started your business or what advice did someone give you that you wish you had listened to?
It took me a long time to learn how to be a “boss”. I really wasn’t comfortable in that role and I wish someone had trained me and told me just how important it is to set guidelines from the beginning.

What’s the biggest surprise you’ve found about running your own company?
How much fun it is. It’s like a third child and I love it and I love going to work.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
Trust your instincts.

Looking back, is there anything you wish you could have done differently?
No, I think everything has happened exactly how it needed to.

Visit Right Bank Babies to see their beautiful collections. Use coupon code ‘RBB Fan’ to get 10% off your order of $150 or more.

Not always champagne & caviar...

OK, so I was thinking, I am not the only mompreneur out there living the ‘glamorous’ life. Since starting Chic Tots, I have met so many moms (& aunts, grandmothers, daughters, sisters) and dads (uncles, etc.) that have started a business because they needed a product, they couldn’t find. They had a moment that just inspired them. Maybe it was their children, maybe it was something that had been there all along. I just know that the journey I am making, I have not been doing it completely alone. I have met others at different stages of their business, and these kindred spirits have helped me along the way (even if it just words of encouragement “you can do this” or “oh that happened to me”). The ability to call one of these friends (that totally gets what I am talking about), has been one of the best parts about the business for me.

Although the path of having a business is not really ‘glamorous” it is really interesting and full of surprises. It will be fun to learn about the way each of the businesses featured has evolved.

Look out for the first interview this week with a cool entrepreneur. I will be posting a new interview each month.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend has become to mean the first weekend of summer. Although summer doesn’t “official” begin until June 21st (the summer solstice and the longest day of the year in terms of daylight), for most Americans Memorial Day weekend is summer. Our neighborhood pool opens and pools all over the country and it is the count down to summer vacation (I don’t know, isn’t that an oxymoron - my kids home all summer doesn’t really feel like a vacation - ha!)

As a family, we have spent the weekend going from one cookout to another and to the pool. We couldn’t even cookout ourselves this weekend, cause well we weren’t home! Saturday we were at a friend’s cookout and pool opening get together. Kids were in the pool all day, seriously, they were in bed by 8pm, with no fuss - out. Sunday we went to our neighborhood pool, but they were too tired to swim! Our 4 year old, Asher, fell asleep on his towel and chair after only being at the pool for 20 minutes - my husband had to carry him to the car. At home proceeded to sleep another 3 hours (!) before it was time to go to, you guessed it, the next cookout. This one started at 6.30pm on Sunday night. It was at one of my husband’s co-workers house. We had the youngest kids there. Our kids are THRILLED to follow around the big kids (pre-teens/teens). Luckily these big kids were terribly sweet to ours and let them follow them around and took care of them. Honestly, one older boy was asked to take care of Asher, and another boy said “I want to take care of him too”. So nice to see this!

We were able to  have a nice time without any worries about the kids (of course, except for the 11 month old, who was in her sling enjoying the adult conversation, food & desperately trying to get a sip of mommy’s margarita! We didn’t get home until after 11pm! Didn’t stop them from waking up again at 7am.

In a little bit we are going to cookout #3 for the weekend, Memorial Day weekend. Kids are asking who’s birthday it is? Why do we have so many parties? We are trying to explain the meaning of Memorial Day. Right now they are just see this weekend as pool, watermelon, and fun. And it is embarrassing to say, but sometimes I forget about the meaning. It gets lost for me in the cookouts and time at the pool. This is my reminder and for anyone else out there lost in the fun and celebration.

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

I just wanted to take a personal moment to remember our troops and all those that have sacrificed their lives for our country. And say thank you.

Here is a great video someone put on youtube.

True Meaning of Memorial Day

High school is so long ago but even so there are people from that time that time that were such an important part of my life, my growing up. Two women in particular (Dana and Robin), these were the two we went to see after having lost touch for 20 years. In high school they were funny, crazy and really warm loving people. They haven’t changed a bit. I laughed so much this weekend I thought my side was going to split. The friendship we left behind renewed itself in minutes of being with them. Actually it was renewed the moment we reconnected on Facebook. Funny, how time and distance doesn’t seem to affect some friendships. It was such a whim to take them up on the offer to visit in Chicago, but it felt right. And it was, the only regret from the weekend is that it was too short for us all. The 20 years apart, just disappeared and we took up where we left off.

Pampering breakfast from Robin - Delicious!

What made this weekend so perfect? I already said the laughter, great conversation and well, gossip (”who do you keep in touch with?” “whatever happened to so and so?’ “They really got married? No way!”). Great food was an integral part of the weekend.  I am the only one with kids, and my main request was no kid friendly restaurants. I mostly took pictures of food - isn’t that sad?

We started our weekend on Friday night with Margaritas, home-made gaucamole, & chips in Robin’s beautiful, showroom apartment over looking Chicago. We relaxed. Saturday, she made us the most perfect breakfast/brunch - frittata (honestly, I don’t know how to make this, and she did it like this was her usual weekend routine!), fresh fruit salad, & freshly baked cinnamon buns. Come on, could a girl get pampered anymore? So nice to not have to do the cooking, or cut the food or  hear “Mom, I’m firsty” just as I sit down to eat!

After lazily having breakfast, we finally got out into the city after 12pm (yes, a slow moving, lazy weekend!) and went shopping. We must have spent hours at Nordstrom, where I got a very long overdue pair of new jeans (last time I bought was 4+ years ago, trying on jeans not my favorite pastime).

All that hard work shopping (and laughing), made us hungry. So sushi was our choice. Of course delicious, and the presentation fabulous!

Sushi dragon roll that actually had a head Pretty cool.

Getting ready to go out to dinner (ya, we moved our reservations at Boka to 9pm since our sushi lunch was so late), it felt like high school again. We remembered getting ready to go out at my house. I think we almost always got ready at my house, and after our evening, everyone spent the night at my house. Mostly because my mom was super trusting and I didn’t have a curfew. Funny thing was, I had no boundaries, so I created my own, whereas all my friends had boundaries and wanted to rebel. I wonder how I will be as my kids become teenagers. Not sure if my mother’s method worked or if I was just born overly responsible. This is really something I don’t want to think about - I want my kids to stay 6 and under forever!

One of the funniest things about the weekend, is that it felt weird ordering drinks and wine. The last time we were all together we were, well, underage. Not that we didn’t drink, but this time we were legal. And very much so, 40 is just a few short months away! We have come a long way from the Bartles & James wine coolers (seriously, we drank those - uugh).

I think we are all grown up. I am not sure any of our lives have turned out as we expected in high school. Not better or worse, just different. But the people we were then, are still the core of who we are today, and the friendship we shared then has stayed with us forever.

Our weekend together was so perfect, we have decided to make it an annual girls trip with just the 4 of us. Picking a new city each year to meet, eat, shop, and laugh. I can’t wait to start planning for next year!

One of the few pictures that my mom and Tatum "look-a-like"

Mother’s Day is one of the holidays designed to sell greeting cards and spike retail sales. I think my mom alone supported the greeting card industry. Unlike me, she always had a card ready to send someone and it was sent on time for the occasion. How befitting that I started this post the night before mother’s day and of course have missed the day all together. Ya, in this way I am not my mother’s daughter, and I sincerely consider that a bad thing (she was wonderfully thoughtful and giving).

I remember  having to go through my moms things after she died, and finding a drawer filled with greeting cards for every occasion. Also in that drawer was her address book that she must have had for at least 30 years. I looked up my name and saw each time she had scratched out an old address for a new one since first going off to college! She always sent me a birthday card, Christmas card, and when I became a mother, she made sure I got a lovely Mother’s Day card.

I can’t say I was always so good to her, always so thoughtful. I could barely remember to buy a card, let alone get it in the mail on time for her to receive it on Mother’s Day. Around Mother’s Day I just remember feeling stressed about what we should do this year. This was the thing, my mom always said, I don’t care if you forget any holidays, just don’t forget my birthday, but truth was, she loved being the center of attention of her family. She loved when my sister and I went all out to make her feel special. The problem was, we never knew what would actually make her happy. Our mom never needed anything. If she wanted something, she just bought it for herself, making it extremely difficult to find a good gift, much less the perfect gift. Any gift was mostly just more of something she had already had. Weeks, sometimes months before, my sister and I would talk and say “oh jeez, what are we going to do this year?” I could feel myself tense. I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I am not that creative and not a planner! It took the last few years of her life for my sister and I to finally realize what for our mom the perfect gift was — it was just our attention and being together. Don’t miss understand, my mom loved nice things like diamond jewelery but if you couldn’t get the most dazzling, you could give her a rock from the street and get the same reaction!

My fondest Mother’s Day memory is long before I had become a mom. It was 10 years ago, and I was working at a high tech startup, getting my MBA at night, single and living the high life. My sister was living out in Sacramento with my brother-in-law and my nephew (2 years old at the time). Our mom had planned to be out there visiting during Mother’s Day. I had found out I needed to be in San Jose for a tradeshow right around Mother’s Day. We didn’t tell our mom, we made a plan. My sister knew my arrival time, I called from my mobile. I knocked on the door. My sister asked our mom to answer the door. She opened it and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it”, she said it with her accent (my mom was Indonesian and if you ever meet me in person, I can do her accent in a heartbeat). She blushed and smiled. We had succeeded in giving her the best Mother’s Day - Both of her daughters together.

Keeping my head down, and sometimes ignoring the world around is unfortunately, another theme in my life (I blame that on the fact that I think I am ADD and tend to hyper-focus). Anyway, so the last few years I have had my head comfortably buried in the world of product design and production. An area I had no experience and no friends or family that knew anything about it. It is an absolutely non-tech world but the most crucial part of the business I had decided to start. Funny thing is my former life was in the high tech industry in marketing and communications. I used to know about telecommunications infrastructure, IP routers and networking.  Being out of it for 4 years now, all those terms just sound foreign to me. Considering, I have never taken the time to learn to sew (I know, hard to believe - why on earth would I start a sewn products business?!), I have been able to bring my design drawings to fruition and have built beautiful products (patting myself on the back ;-).

Everything I know about product design, fabric sourcing, pattern making, production, etc. I have learned through trial and error (some of the missteps warrant an entire post or many posts), like finding a good pattern maker is easier said than done and sewing contractors in the US are a dying breed (even if you want to make it in the US and can find decent production most Americans do not want to pay the extra price of what it costs to produce it domestically - a reality that still makes me very sad!). Anyway the point is I learned by doing, asking and making mistakes (that’s how we learn right?).

So here I am again, learning, which is a good thing. I had an objective with tweeting to get followers and well make my business and to eventually benefit from some social media magic. So begrudgingly and with much trepidation (how could these be addictive?) I started following, being followed and tweeting. I felt like the new kid at school trying to get with the cool kids, the in crowd. Gosh I really don’t like the way that feels. The worst part about Twitter is you really can’t get more followers or get involved unless you chime in on other people’s tweets. Chiming in is like butting in on a conversation where you may not be invited. With twitter you can’t see people’s reactions to your tweets. It’s like a comedian trying out a new joke and nothing, just silence. So you may respond to someone, and they don’t actually acknowledge that you said something. Or you tweet something, maybe ask a question and are met with silence. Not a single @reply from ANYONE. But more times than not, someone will respond. Like about a month ago my Outlook crashed, I was devastated and tweeted about it. I got a response and advice from someone who I was not follow and was not following me. The advice he gave me was priceless. I couldn’t have found answers that fast even searching on Google. So I thought, oh I am liking Twitter even more now.

Although my motives were more for business than for personal to delve into social media, I am actually finding the experience, pardon the choice of word - social. Working at home can be lonely at times. Starting a business is hard. I don’t have colleagues to complain to!  And even though I don’t always get an @reply from what I tweet, I still feel like I am talking to someone and I read other tweets (and hear conversations). It is amazing how much personality can actually be felt through 140 characters. And I have started to feel connected to certain tweeps. There are people just by the choice of their avatar/picture or their profile name, who make me smile when I “see” them. Ya, so now I get it, it’s social and a community. Duh.

So as corny as it sounds, I feel the virtual Twitter community. I don’t think I am addicted, but I do look forward to reading tweets. And most of all I no longer feel like I am working alone. And whenever I need to I can start a conversation and be heard.