Company Moms

Meet Some Smart and Savvy Mompreneurs

By Belinda Clarke

Another new company is The Bravo Baby Company, which manufactures unique bedding products for babies and children. According to co-founder Ruby Seidl, the company was created to provide bold and bright items in vibrant yellows, oranges, reds, purples and greens.

"A lot of baby clothes and accessories out there seem so lifeless and boring," says Seidl. "We wanted to create something with spunk and fun." She has since expanded the line into duvet covers and matching pillows featuring Bravo Baby's most popular patterns.

Bravo Baby throws are handmade, 100 percent cotton, pre-washed and machine washable. They are oversized, measuring approximately 41 inches by 41 inches, and are available in different combinations of flannel, cotton and chenille fabrics. "They are great for in the stroller or for lying on during playtime," says Seidl.

Both Seidl and her co-founder, Dinah Willier, have two toddler boys each. They sew the blankets themselves and are involved in all the day-to-day functions of Bravo Baby including finance, marketing and sales. They even take turns making runs to the post office for shipping. "Neither of us has started a business before. It just seems so complex, especially with kids," says Willier. "But, having the right partner and the Internet make it enjoyable and definitely doable. We're pretty savvy online moms. We like to surf the Web and use it to do a lot of shopping for our own personal use. For our business, we buy almost all our fabric and materials online." Not only do they use the Internet to provide products and services for their business, but it's also their main sales channel through their Web site, www.bravobaby.com.

Lisa Dewey and her partner, Laurie Whitman, started their compa

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