This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host. Welcome as well to Throwback Thursday, our weekly segment where we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. It's always fun to look back and see how people have changed, evolved, how their story has transformed, how they have adapted to things like, you know, a global pandemic or could be something entirely different.
Last week we heard from the founder of MicroGains, that's MicroGains with a Z or a Zed for some of our listeners, a system that helps weight lifters break plateaus. The pandemic helped him bulk up his business. Today in our latest feature, we'll hear from Kate Westervelt, the founder of Mombox, Mombox. She's gone from frustrated new mom who felt that her needs after childbirth weren't being cared for to CEO of a growing startup that's doing just that, caring for all kinds of moms in different situations with an extensive product line now. So what's happened since we first featured her?
A lot of stuff has happened. They've had a lot of growth. So let's hear directly from Kate and I'll come back at the end to wrap us up. [Music]
Hi, my name is Kate Westervelt and I'm the founder and CEO of Mombox.com located in Southern New Hampshire. And I was previously featured on episode 915 back in July of 2019.
I got started after the birth of my son Noah back in 2016. Less than 72 hours after giving birth to him, I found myself waddling around the store aisles looking for products that would help me heal. So when you're in the hospital, they give you a bunch of freebie products to help your recovery and body, but I hadn't prepared any of those products at home. And so on the way home from the hospital, I stopped at Target. I went in and was just really underwhelmed by the product selection on store shelves at that time.
So there I was hormonal, sleep deprived and in pain, waddling around the aisles of Target. And I quickly realized that despite all of the preparations for my son's arrival, my own postnatal needs had gone neglected. I knew in that moment there had to be a better way to care for myself and for new moms everywhere. I immediately recognized the power of the convenience economy and a major gap in the market where robust direct to consumer postnatal support should exist. What started as a labor and delivery recovery kit has evolved into an all encompassing singular destination designed to help new moms navigate the first full year of motherhood.
Mom box is my main hustle. My full-time job, I couldn't be happier. There's a lot of meaning in the work we're doing to help mothers out there navigate that first year of motherhood. Prior to mom box, I worked in publishing in New York and I held similar roles at large e-commerce companies up here in Boston. Since I was last on the show in July of 2019, mom box introduced the world's first 12 month postnatal subscription box that provides new moms with critical monthly support at home and on demand after the birth of a child.
So we've recently launched and we're off to the races. Mom box started as a single labor and delivery recovery kit and has evolved into an all encompassing destination for new moms. In addition to the all new monthly subscription, mom box has also introduced the breastfeeding support box aimed at helping mothers navigate the common difficulties associated with breastfeeding. We have also opened up our own 5,000 square foot warehouse in Southern New Hampshire. So we manage all of our own kitting and fulfillment and we've grown the team to about 10 employees.
So we continue to grow and scale. The advice I would give to someone who wants to follow in my footsteps would be to absolutely do it, to take the leap, become the solution to something you're missing, fill a gap in the market with something that enhances your life and could also benefit others. Becoming a mom inspired me in so many ways, including the concept of mom box. So I would say believe in yourself prior to mom box. I was never a CEO, but here I am a CEO.
So I think it's important to note that at mom box over 80% of our product curation comes from female or BIPOC founded companies. So we're really committed to putting cash back in the pockets of other female and BIPOC founded companies. That's super important to our ethos and our brand mission. We're fully committed to caring for mothers across as many postpartum topics as possible. So that the next generation of mothers and the generation after that continue to expand conversations and resources that lead to happier and healthier moms.
[Music]
- Awesome, congratulations, Kate. It is so awesome to hear how much mom box has grown. As you heard, they have a whole team. They're serving all kinds of moms, expanding new product lines, new subscription service. I wanna encourage our listeners to check it out.
If you know a soon to be mom, or at some point in the future, you know someone who is soon to be a mom, which is what, almost certain, check out the website, mombox.com, or follow them on social @mombox, M-O-M-B-O-X. All right, that's it for today. Let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives. If you've got a question or an update for us about your side hustle, let me know that too. sidehustleschool.com/questions.
I look forward to bringing you a new episode tomorrow and much more to come. Thank you so much for being part of this community. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
