It comes as no surprise to us at the It’s Working Project that ever-resourceful parents are creating innovative products to help families. After all, necessity is the parent of invention – and bravo for that!
Enterprising moms and dads continue to identify the unmet needs of new parents and have harnessed their creativity and business savvy to birth amazing products and services. In doing so, they met their own needs of work, and of family. In developing products and brands, these parentpreneurs have given birth to their own ideal work environments, schedules and career “hows” (“How will I do what I love, stay true to my priorities and fit all of that into my new role as parent?”, for example) that are intensely important to them.
This spring during the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day season, we have joined with our friends at the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association (JPMA) to highlight these moms and dads who have, with their innovative spirit and drive, introduced much-needed, game-changing products for families. We have named this a celebration of #ParentInnovators, and we will be saluting and sharing their Portrait Project stories now through June. And to top it all off, expect celebratory prizing! We will be giving goodies away to mark the moment!
As a lifelong entrepreneur and passionate leader of the maternity and family product sector, I recognize what I see in these #ParentInnovators. Forty Weeks was my reaction to a lack of lifestyle-centric, parent-focused products on the market in 1999. I was early but not alone. Soon the expectant and new parent market (as we know it today) was thriving. And much of it is filled with goods from equally inspired and driven parents — and we are are family connected by experience, passion and commitment to our vision. Pretty great!
These new stories from the parentpreneur trenches highlight the diverse ways parents are creating their own ideal work situations for their goals and their families. They share advice on entrepreneurism while balancing babies and children, marriages and key relationships, as well as tales of backing out of the traditional workforce to forge their own ways. We are delighted to add their stories to the first-person back-to-work parental experience mosaic that is the Portrait Project.
Beginning May 11th and each Wednesday through Father’s Day, the It’s Working Project and JPMA will be highlighting the back to work stories of:
Lindsay Laurain, Founder, ezpz
Lizette Espinosa Venenziano, Inventor, Infanttech
Kurt Workman, Jordan Monroe, Zach Bomsta, Co-Founders, Owlet Care
Jill Koziol, Founder, HoneyBee Child
Ray Phillips, Founder & CEO, SoapSox
Julianna Shaw and Chet Hong, Co-Founders, ZoLi
Follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as we applaud and learn from these daring and caring #ParentInnovators. They have also donated their own innovations as prizes for weekly social media giveaways, as well as contributed BIG, beautiful prizing for a #ParentInnovator Grand Prize pack of their products.
As always, we at It’s Working Project would love to include you in the national conversation of what Is Working for parents and highlight your story of work and family. To be featured, simply fill out the share your story online form, or send me an e-mail at Julia@FortyWeeks.com for an interview.
