Alizah Holstein is the owner and founder of Kowalli, a new company based in Providence that makes fleece baby-carrier covers. Kowalli Baby Carrier Covers keep parents and their babies close and warm when on the go and allow them to get out of the house quickly without worrying about bulky layers or unruly blankets. Alizah also happens to be a professional medieval historian.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Alizah: Last fall, when my baby was about 4 months old, I searched and searched to find a good solution to carrying him in cold weather. I tried blankets (they always fell off); I thought about a big coat (they’re unwieldy, and I didn’t want to spend the money to buy an ugly coat that I didn’t like); I tried a vest designed for carrying babies, but my son hated it. So I made my own fleece cover – it was a simple design and I didn’t think much about it. Until mom after mom (and grandparents too) stopped me on the street to ask where I had gotten it. After a few months of this, I thought, hey! I have no background in business or manufacturing, but I do have a little extra time and the desire to do something creative. And soon after, Kowalli LLC was born. So that’s where my inspiration came from – necessity and public appreciation.

I had never aspired to be in business. Part of this was because I had always found my inspiration in writers and teachers- thus my career as a historian. But in recent years I started to notice that some great things can be achieved through business. For instance, I read about the founding of Patagonia and how that company was a pioneer in offering maternity leave. I have come to realize that some companies, through the vision of their owners and management, contribute in tangible ways to their employees and the communities around them. This is my long-term objective with Kowalli – to grow into a company that can offer progressive policies and a job that enhances, rather than detracts from, quality of life.

Kidoinfo: How did you start your business?

Alizah: I basically asked as many people as many questions as I could. I talked to retailers, business owners, designers, manufacturers, teachers, family members…anyone. I continue to read blogs every day – one that I would highly recommend to any mom (or dad) starting out in business is The Mogul Mom, written by local “mompreneur” Heather Allard. She’s an amazing resource and really willing to share her knowledge and insights. I also went to trade shows to see how things worked. I mulled for months over the right name. And I hired a lawyer. Oh, and an accountant. I never thought I’d say those words! So many people were so kind, candid, and supportive – Line and Pernilla at Kreatelier on Hope Street, for example, were exceedingly generous in sharing their own hard-earned experience – that it was difficult not to start a company!

The only other thing I would say is that in addition to the excitement of it all, starting a business can be a nail-biting experience. It’s expensive, and you can never fully predict what the outcome is going to be. I would recommend to anyone starting out to try to project the first year’s expenses at the outset, before you even take the first step, so you have some idea of what you’re getting into. I say this because it’s something I didn’t do.

Kidoinfo: How do you balance work and family?

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We love getting to know parents in our community. In our Home Work series, we ask moms and dads how they juggle their work while raising kids, hoping to get some insight on how to better balance our own work/playtime while being introduced to our neighbors and their cool businesses.  Today Linda Demers interviewed local Providence artisan and mom Heather Toupin. Meet Heather: She is an amazing gocco screenprint artist who makes hip stationary and prints.

Kidoinfo: How did you get started with gocco and screenprinting?

Heather: I’ve always loved printmaking. In college I tired to take as many printmaking classes as I could fit into my schedule. I was a textile design major, so the two complemented each other nicely. In my senior year of college, I took a class called “Art of the Book” and the professor brought in a Print Gocco. I nearly lost my mind when she showed us how to use it. I immediately ran, in a craft-frenzy, to the nearest art supply store (this was 11 years ago when you could still buy Gocco in stores) and bought my own. Since then I’ve been Gocco-ing non-stop. Now that Gocco has been discontinued, I’m slowly transitioning into traditional screenprinting. As much as I love the Gocco, I’m looking forward to delving into this and seeing where it takes me. My first project has been really fun; onesies and toddler T-shirts using some of my designs. I’m also working on getting set up to do my stationery and wedding invitations this way, but clothing is much easier, so I figured that would be the best way to get started.

Kidoinfo: What other mediums do you dabble in or would you like to try?

Heather: Oh, so many . . . I’m one of those people with way too many interests. I’m constantly reining myself in because if I let myself, I would be all over the place creatively. I try to focus on printmaking, but if I had all the time in the world, I would love to become more proficient in photography, knitting/crochet, sewing, and woodworking. I would love to work more paperfolding techniques into my stationery and wedding invitations. And really, I just wish I had more time to sit down and draw.

Kidoinfo: How do you find time for your art with a little one?

Heather: It’s not easy! However, I feel extremely fortunate to be able to run my little business from home so that I can be with him all day. Basically he naps for about two hours in the afternoon. Those two hours go by in what feels like two minutes because this is when I feverishly try to clean up the house and my studio, answer some emails, do my packing and shipping of etsy orders and wedding stuff, and even get a little printing in if I’m feeling extra ambitious. Really though, my work day begins when Finn goes to bed. I try not to work past 11:00 pm, but often, especially during my busy times, it’s more like midnight. I try not to do this too many nights in a row so that my husband and I can have some time together as well. It’s a lot to juggle, but I wouldn’t trade this life for anything. I say it all the time but I truly feel like I’m living the dream.

Kidoinfo: What are your favorite local activities you like to do with Finn and your family?

Heather: This summer we discovered what may be Finn’s favorite thing ever: the carnival. He’s too little to go on most of the rides (even the kiddie ones), but just the sights and sounds were enough to keep him busily squealing with glee the whole time we were there. He slept really well that night! We love visiting the local playgrounds, the zoo, and of course the Children’s Museum.

Find more of Heather Toupin’s work in her etsy shop: http://www.heatherjeany.etsy.com/

Find Heather locally:
Craftland (now year round), Providence, RI
November 13th & 14th :: Twist, Northampton, MA
December 6th :: Bazaar Bizarre, Boston, MA
December 12th & 13th :: SoWa Holiday Show, Boston, MA

Linda Cox Demers moved to Barrington, RI, from Chicago with her husband and two boys, ages 12 and 7.  She runs her handbag and accessories business, à la mode, from home and has recently discovered a passion for blogging.  As an independent designer , Linda enjoys promoting local artists and the “buy handmade” movement.

Visit Linda’s blog at http://alamodestuff.blogspot.com.

Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews with parents look at how they manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) along with juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack of it).

Joanne and Matthew are the co-owners of Tortilla Flats Restaurant in Providence since 2006. Mathew is also a freelance illustrator (MattVincent.com) with diverse clients such as The Wall Street Journal, ESPN The Magazine, YM Magazine and Scholastic Publishing.  Today these busy parents share with Kidoinfo how they manage to run a restaurant, illustrate and raise a family at the same time.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Matthew: I have had a love of drawing my whole life and I also grew up in the restaurant business, my grandfather and then my father having owned a restaurant, so I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m in this situation.

How did you start your business?

Matthew: I got started sort of late with the illustration business.  At 27 I ended up working at a bicycle shop that was, by chance, full of artists.  I always thought that I would end up in the comic book industry, when my coworkers found out about this they recommend I meet an illustrator that used to work there, and so began my illustration career. I followed all his recommended steps for getting started and with my first self-promotional mailer I got a job with Spin Magazine.

Joanne: I had worked at Tortilla Flats for 13 years at the time we bought it. My boss had owned it for 20 years but spent the last 10 living in Vermont. I was responsible for all aspects of the business so when he was ready to “retire”, he gave me first option at buying it. Mat had waited tables there previously (that’s where we met!) so we both knew that buying “the Flats” was a great opportunity.

How do you balance work and family?

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Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews looks at how parents manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) along with juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack of it).

Kate Miller is the creator of  Charlie’s Playhouse, the first-ever games and toys that introduce young kids to evolution, natural selection, and Charles Darwin. These products are fun, physical, and simple, and they appeal to a child’s’ sense of wonder and love of weird creatures! Today she shares with Kidoinfo readers how she combines business and family.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Kate: When my two young boys got interested in dinosaurs a few years back, we naturally started talking about evolution and Darwin. I went online one day looking for some toys to teach them about evolution. I found educational toys about physics, chemistry, astronomy, and any other science you can think of, but nothing – absolutely nothing – on evolution. Consider the politics of that! Filled with hope, toy designs, and not much else, the kids and I decided to start this business together.

How did you start your business?

Kate: I first tried to talk myself out of it. When that didn’t work, I contacted the Center for Women and Enterprise to get matched with a consultant with experience in the toy industry. Then I begged family and friends for some seed money, incorporated, and threw myself into it. The learning curve has been very steep.

How do you balance work and family?

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Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews with parents looks at how they manage to squeeze in work time at home (working for someone else or running their own business) while juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack thereof).

Today I talked with two moms, Darcy Novo Albrecht (left)  and Jennifer Ashdown (right), of Chicks-n-chickens. Their combined creative passions, business savvy, and the realities of parenthood were the seeds of inspiration that launched their business. Lullaby Exercises is a DVD that starts with high-energy “groove” and then slows down as your baby slips into slumberland, a great way to stay in shape and have mom time while baby sleeps. Today they share what it’s like to balance work, family, and working together.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Darcy: After my first son, Reed, was born, I knew a different “career path” had to be taken. When I created Lullaby Exercises, “the light came on.” Yes . . . this is it! I can do this, I believe in this, and this could be really fun.

Jennifer: Darcy approached me with her idea back in September of 2007. Her original request was that I join the cast of the DVD, but I kept generating ideas for Chicks-n-chickens and haven’t been able to stop.

How did you start your business?

Darcy: I jumped. I think when you’re ready to start a business, you just gotta jump. And then keep jumping!

Jennifer: I have always had an entrepenuerial spirit. In my twenties I had my own jewelry business called Pretty Fab, which has recently been reinvented as Pretty Fab Collection.

How do you balance work and family?
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Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews with parents looks at how they manage to squeeze in work time at home (working for someone else or running their own business) while juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack thereof).

Today I interviewed Amanda Suzzi. She describes herself primarily as a homemaker, wife, and mother of two girls. The rest of her time is devoted to being a freelance web architect, a professional blogger (Ebook Guru, Momma’s Review, Providence Daily Dose, and her personal blog, funkEpunkEmonkE), and indie crafter. What she manages to cram into a day can make your head spin.  Her latest venture is a line of aprons under the Suzzi Homewrecker moniker that is set to launch on May 29, 2009. Her aim is to move from a boutique that sells other artists’ designs to a manufacturer of beautiful aprons inspired by pinup and tattoo culture.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Amanda: I was inspired to start my own business by the lack of anything cute to wear in Providence. I’m really into pinup and rockabilly clothing, and it’s a niche that needs to be filled better locally.

How did you start your business?

Amanda: I started little by little. I made the website first, and got a few clothing designers on board to let me put products up before I had them on hand. As customers ordered, I filled the minimum order for these designers. Soon, I had so much merchandise in my tiny office that I opened a retail location. Customers spread the word on the shop opening and I did great. I had a second child in August 2008 and closed the shop in order to travel more and do craft fairs. Traveling is more my style and allows me to work at a slower pace with spurts of energy scattered throughout the year.

How do you balance work and family?

Amanda: Balancing work and family is never easy. I keep a tight schedule, but I’m not afraid to break it if it’s a gorgeous day and I need a beach break or to climb a mountain. It helps me to focus on one project for fifteen minutes and then take a break to spend time with the kids.

Please describe a typical day.

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Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews looks at how these parents manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) along with juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack of it). Do you want to share your home work with us? We love to hear how other parents get through their day. Nominate yourself or a friend or someone you admire from afar and we may feature their work-at-home story.

Today Katy Killilea interviews Kim Falcone , the founder of Lily’s Garden Herbals, a company that creates all-natural and mostly organic herbal products for home and health in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Kim: My two daughters, when they were very young. They both inherited respiratory and skin allergies from me, and I grew up using steroids topically and orally as well as antihistamines.
I wanted a different, more natural health journey for them.

How did you start your business?

Kim: It was an evolutionary process. I began offering advice back in the late ‘90s to family and friends regarding natural health and how herbs complement each other. From there, word spread that I was the ‘village herbalist’ in our closely knit community, and folks started to seek me out. During that time I was learning about herbal essential oils. I decided that with the antimicrobial properties so many of them possess, combined with the wonderful aromatherapy they provide, why not use them to clean rather than using the toxic chemicals I had grown up surrounded by?

How do you balance work and family?

Kim: Well, it was certainly a challenge when the girls were younger; however, my hours have always coincided with their school schedules. At three o’clock, I close the office door and put on my mom hat. Now that my older daughter is off at college and my seventeen-year-old drives, I am freed up quite a bit. This is not to say that I am not present when needed. In fact, I find I need to check in frequently to see what she is up to! As far as marriage is concerned, that’s easy. My husband is my business mentor since he is also a small-business owner. We have a broad range of topics to discuss! It keeps our marriage from getting boring!

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By Erin Barrette Goodman

Reading Amanda Blake Soule’s beautiful book, The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections, feels like sipping tea with a (very creative and inspiring) friend.

How to savor the seasons, explore nature, garden, create meals, and add small touches to deeply meaningful celebrations (including birthday parties, and half-birthday-parties for imaginary friends!) are woven among inspiring photographs of the Soule family’s coastal Maine home.

As I read, I found myself sighing frequently as I lingered over her stories and ideas about consciously choosing to live a creative life with one’s children. And almost immediately, I began to see small, manageable steps (like having a family art night or taking a “family breath” before meals) that I could introduce in my family as we continue our ongoing quest for more fun, peace, and connection.

I had the privilege of interviewing Amanda about her book and life with her husband, Steve, and three (soon-to-be-four) young children. Want to win a copy of Amanda Soule’s book, The Creative Family? See details following interview.

Kidoinfo: Your book is filled with so many wonderfully creative projects that families can explore together – both small and simple like Victorian parlor games, which require little or no props, to large (and loud) like your family’s outdoor “banging wall” (a collection of hanging pots and pans and drumsticks). But before we talk about the many creative things that families can add to their lives, I’d love to talk about some of your family’s conscious omissions. For example, I read on your website that your family does not watch television, correct?

AS: The children (and Steve and I) do watch movies from time to time – we have a television tucked away for that. But no, we don’t watch television – if you turned the TV on you’d get nothing but fuzz here. A lot of people focus on this aspect of my book, and I guess it is a bit of a stretch to imagine at first. But honestly, I don’t miss it at all – and not only because of the time that’s freed up by the absence of TV – which is huge. But there’s also an absence of negativity and images that frankly I don’t really want or need occupying space in my brain or in my kids’. I think that in addition to the time that TV takes away from us, there’s also an innocence and a bit of imagination that get taken away– both for children and adults. My life and mind feel quieter without television. And in that quiet, there’s a bit more room for the things that are most important to me – making things, keeping a home, spending time in the natural world, and connecting as a family.

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Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews looks at how these parents manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) along with juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack of it). Do you want to share your home work with us? We love to hear how other parents get through their day. Nominate yourself or a friend or someone you admire from afar and we may feature their work-at-home story.

Rookie Moms is a website conceived by two friends, Heather Flett (left) and Whitney Moss (right), out of their need to find at least one fun activity per day while caring for their new babies. Today Heather shares how she juggles parenting, partnership, a new book and running the RookieMoms website.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Heather: My best friend, Whitney, and I challenged ourselves to come up with one suggestion for something that we liked doing for each day of the first year of parenthood that was more fun than wiping someone’s tushy. RookieMoms is a huge brainstorm of more than 600 activities for moms to do with their babies. Many of the activities are what we call “outings” or excuses to leave the house with your baby, but some are crafts, meal-planning tips, or date-night ideas. Since last year, we’ve met our original goal of a year’s worth of fun activities for new moms and have moved on to seeking out toddler fun. Earlier this year we turned our website into a book, The Rookie Mom’s Handbook. (Read Katie’s review of The Rookie Mom’s Handbook, on Kidoinfo.)

How did you start your business?

Heather: We started it when my husband installed wordpress for us and taught us how to turn our hand-written list of favorite ideas into a blog.

How do you balance work and family?

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Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo Interviews with parents is about how they manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) while juggling kids, homelife, and childcare (or lack thereof). Do you want to share your home work with us? We love to hear how other parents get through their day. Nominate yourself or a friend or someone you admire from afar and we may feature their work-at-home story .

Hedvig Bourbon designs and produces a fashionably functional line of diaper bags and accessories in New York. Today she shares with Maura Keating of Kidoinfo how she stylishly does her Home Work. Read Maura’s review of the Hedvig Bourbon Bug Net on Kidoinfo.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Hedvig: It’s a funny story: part of my bachelorette party was to see a fortune teller. Since I had already found the man of my dreams, I wanted her to tell me about our financial future. The lady told me that if I just followed my creative ideas, we would never have any problems when it came to money and wealth. So one day, while I was strolling my son Lucas, I came up with the idea to design a chic handbag that doubles as a diaper bag and is practical to hang on the stroller, I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence.

How did you start your business?

Hedvig: With our kitchen as my design studio, I put my crafty Norwegian skills to work exploring different designs. The playground quickly became my office. While my son Lucas was running around playing with his friends, I would discuss designs and test prototypes with their parents.

The collection began with the diaper bag. Strolling around Manhattan, and going on play-dates, the orders started to roll in. I realized that I had something to offer moms everywhere looking for a fashionable answer to their baby needs. Everyone found the unique design, combination of fresh colors and bold prints, and use of hardware, buttons, and embroidery appealing. And as my own baby needs grew, the ideas for new products were created.

How do you balance work and family?
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