This Mother’s Day we’re celebrating some local mamas around the Bay who are offering up inspiring insights into the delicate balance of work/family life and sharing with us what it takes to run a business (on top of it all). It’s important to note, these companies were launched with the help of little muses—nothing like a child to bring out one’s entrepreneurial side. From seasoned to soon-to-launch, read on for some sweet success stories on businesses you’ll want to bookmark for future visits.

Comfy & Cool: Iddy Biddy


Children's clothing line, Iddy Biddy (could a name get any cuter?!), was born from a love of modern, simplistic design. After Sharon Koh and co-founder, Grace Koh (Sharon’s cousin), spent a combined two decades in the fashion apparel industry, they decided to launch Iddy Biddy after Sharon had her son Tanner. Koh noticed a gap in the market for cool kids clothing that were modern in fit and aesthetic and decided to do something about it, gratefully! Iddy Biddy features apparel and accessories for ages 0-to-5 and aims to dress kids in cool, comfy gear that will allow them to effortlessly explore, create, and love.

What's the biggest challenge of starting your own business with a young family?
Aside from the continuous struggle of all working moms of balancing time with your family and kids, and time for work/what you're passionate about, I think one of the biggest challenges for me was the decision to take a leap of faith to go for it...being okay with foregoing the nice corporate paycheck and tightening the overall household budget to pursue a small business that you're super passionate about.  

There is inherently more at stake financially when having a family, and it really affects the decisions you make for your business. I lay up at night thinking through a million times what investments I think will show the biggest return. I probably would be doing that without the kids, but it feels like it's magnified.

How about the biggest reward?
The biggest reward hands down is just seeing the business grow. It's nerve racking and unbelievably exciting at the same time! I launched the business a little less than two years ago, and some days I really thought "what the heck did I get myself into." It really is like having another baby, you put so much time into it day-to-day, and you have good days and bad days and all of us sudden we're two years in and it's like wow, let's take a second to take this all in!

Know a local company inspired after the birth of a child? Tell us in the comments below! 

—Sommer Naffz

All images courtesy of the companies unless noted.

 

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