The Making Of New Bubbles

We recently launched our new bubble baths. The lavender meadowsweet line is so beloved that we wanted to provide a variety of options and fill the different needs your children may have. Creating natural bubbles is an extremely difficult task. Using zero synthetics to create big foam is an incredible creative skill. Babo’s team was able to use sugar – otherwise called glucoside – to create the enormous lather and bubbles. We worked on these formulas for over a year to ensure the bubble experience was perfect (thanks to my kids and other moms for testing them over and over again).

Bob and Jonah who develop the formulas have dedicated their life to studying plant remedies. They love that they are formulating the healthiest products. We have a great partnership and I feel so lucky to be able to feel like one of the family when I am there. They are so dedicated to their practice – and have the highest degree of integrity. They have been developing natural products for over 25 years – long before it was mainstream.

This past week, we discussed upcoming projects like our new conditioners. We finalized the packaging – and decided to use a tube because of its ease of dispensing a thicker type product. A tube prevents product waste. It is great fun sitting around a table and talking about all the wonderful plants and herbs we can use to create the finest, most high quality products. Our brainstorming meetings are very productive– and it’s very easy to identify what children need because we all have at least 3!

Thanks to the team for helping create and extend babo.

Babo turned 2 this month! Starting a company is what people always say, it’s like having a baby. But this baby actually never sleeps.

Before I launched the products in March, 2010, It had taken me two years to perfect the formulas and the design. In 2007, I was at L’Oreal launching products for a mega brand while my almost 1 year old son was at home with my mom. Every night when I bathed him, I thought how there was nothing I wanted to use. From working long, enduring and stressful hours at a beauty giant, I needed more personal satisfaction and balance. I longed to create a brand that suited my taste level, quality and health standards.

Then, one night, like every night, my son took his organic security bunny to bed. When I kissed him good night, he said, “Mommy, I love you and Babo.” A light bulb literally went off. I went to work the next day and asked everyone in my area, “what do you think of Babo as a name of a baby brand?” Everyone loved it. I then worked with my designer to come up with a label that had babo the bunny on it and a logo that read “babo botanicals.”

And off this brand went into development. I have an entire closet full of rejected formulas because they weren’t perfect – I can’t throw them out _ it’s a reminder of all the work that was worth it in creating the products. Finally, the botanists at the farm and I nailed the formula and then came 2 months of rigorous clinical testing.

When my products first got shipped to the warehouse, it was one of the most freezing nights in 2010. It was February and the truck had picked up my first production from the farm and was spending the night in Albany, New York. I was terrified my poor baby products would freeze. Fortunately, they were fine, but I stayed up all night worrying. I even called the truck driver several times to see if he could check on the products.

Then, one time we tried a voucher promotion (in the first few months of having the product). We sold 800 vouchers. While this may not seem like a lot, I was doing ALL the shipping from my home. Anyone who visited me thought that my family, thought we lived in a warehouse! I spent a week packing boxes and trying to fend off angry customers who had their orders shipped late. In the end all were happy and understood.

That was all before Babo turned 1. This past year, Babo has continued to expand nationally (just shipped to Alaska!)…and has begun to walk – It’s like a baby”s transition from crawling. Babo moved out of my home to a real warehouse to accommodate our expanding brand. We have a great team now – so I ‘m not raising the brand myself. I have a wonderfully supportive husband without whom I couldn’t raise 3 kids and run a business.

We all know it’s a dream to have kids, but takes endless hard work and patience. Babo is 2 and I’m so proud. Just as I was when Rush turned 4 and Seka 3. And now baby Solzy is turning 1 soon. I hope, like I do for all my kids, Babo will grow up and continue to contribute great things to society.

Help Bring Edible Schoolyard NYC’s Showcase Program to Your Elementary School

“The garden is the best part of teaching at this school.”                                                                                     –Pre-Kindergarten teacher at P.S. 216

In order to achieve our vision of an edible education for all New York City public school students, Edible Schoolyard NYC is dedicated to establishing a Showcase School in each of the five boroughs. Our first Showcase Program was established in October 2010 at P.S. 216 in Brooklyn and we are now accepting applications from any public elementary school in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens or Staten Island that would like to be an Edible Schoolyard NYC Showcase School.

Edible Schoolyard NYC will establish and maintain the following at each school selected to be a Showcase School:

• An organic garden that will produce over 60 varieties of fruits and vegetables. Each garden will be customized to meet the needs of the school and its students. Students and teachers will also play a large, hands-on role in making the garden a success.

• A Kitchen Classroom that will provide students with experiential learning that help develop the necessary knowledge and skills needed to adopt healthy eating behaviors.

• Dedicated Edible Schoolyard NYC staff, including a minimum of two Garden Teachers, two Kitchen Classroom Teachers, a Garden Manager and a Program Coordinator who will be located on site throughout the calendar year.

• An integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum taught by Edible Schoolyard NYC staff in the garden and kitchen classroom.  The project-based lessons were developed in collaboration with Columbia University Teachers College and uses the garden or kitchen as the starting point for interdisciplinary classes, which incorporate at least one of the common core standards in math and ELA and/or one of the New York state standards in science or social studies.  The curriculum also includes school-food reform initiatives and comprehensive community and after-school programming.

Showcase Schools will not only serve students and their families, but they will also serve as demonstration sites and valuable professional development resources for teachers and principals across the city. Educators and students will be invited to visit these schools to receive firsthand knowledge and valuable resources to help them integrate the key components of an edible education into the fabric of their own schools.

If you are excited about Edible Schoolyard NYC and work at a school that’s ripe for an edible education, download and submit an application!  We want to hear from principals, teachers, Parent Coordinators, Parent Associations or anyone working in a New York City public school who has a desire to make our schools a better place.

To be eligible, your school must be a public school located in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens or Staten Island; serve, at a minimum, kindergarten through fifth grade; and be a Title I school.

Click here to download the application!

The deadline to apply is February 28, 2012.  Please send your completed application to Heidi Exline at hexline@esynyc.org or Edible Schoolyard NYC, 55 Washington Street, Suite 257, Brooklyn, NY 11201. If you have any question, please contact Heidi at (347) 565-0100.

I love the cool weather, the fun of pumpkin and apple picking and the beautiful, beautiful Northeastern foliage. The lighting this time of year is gorgeous.

I usually write about an issue or an event, but this time, I just have to say “I love FALL!!”. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

On Tuesday the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released a new report exposing Johnson & Johnson’s double standard: the company sells different—safer, formaldehyde-free—versions of its iconic “No More Tears” baby shampoo in Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the U.K. than in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China and Indonesia.

Click Here to Read Full Article

What a wonderful summer so far. Rush and Seka went to Audubon Camp to study plants and animals. Rush loves to go fishing and Seka is enjoying collecting flowers. She now knows the difference between bumble and honey bees.

Little Solzy is growing up quickly. Already 2 months old.

We have had so many requests this summer to develop more sunscreen, so the kids have been testing new variations. Hopefully next summer, we will have a cream. As for new other products, we are testing lots of bubble baths and hair conditioners. It’s the perfect time to test products with all the sun, pool and minerals the kids are exposed to.

This month Babo is launching at Buy Buy Baby across the states! We are thrilled to have them as a retail partner.

I had my 3rd child on May 19th – a boy named Solzy. I’m thrilled to have a newborn in my arms again. So many people have asked me if I will be taking off work – a maternity leave of sorts. But given that I run a company now –it is impossible to stop overseeing the business. Everything would come to a standstill. When I was at L’Oreal, I got 5 months of maternity leave which was absolute bliss, but just before Seka, my 2nd child was born, I decided to start my own business. I didn’t realize that I would actually be working 24/7 – every single day of the year, but at least now, I work from home. I do not have an assistant but I do have a team that manages Babo’s accounting, finance and customer service and a group of women who manage sales, but we all live in different states – so we communicate through constant emails, texting and phone calls which I can do from home (or wherever my kids may be).

I was recently interviewed for a piece on CBS news about stay-at- home mothers who become CEOS and the truth is we get to choose when we work – still having the flexibility to be with our children. So, even if I stay up past midnight working or on my iphone returning emails at my son’s soccer class, or having a conference call with my kids playing in the background, I feel so blessed. Yes there have been times when I’m on the phone with a retailer and my kids are having a breakdown, but since I’m in the kids business, people seem to think that comes with the territory. I simply call whoever back when it quiets down again.

I try to get my children involved in the business too. For sure, they are great testers of products now – but they also help me schlep things to fed ex or stock store shelves. It’s so fun having their participation and feeling it’s a team/ family activity.

A fellow stay-at-home mom/ business woman wrote, “ I have worked from the kitchen table, the car, baseball and football fields, floor of the living room…it’s a bit chaotic @ times…but there is no trade-off for “being there” (and making your own hours, so you get to go on field trips!).”

I completely agree! So I’m happy to not take maternity leave but I do consider Babo my 4th child who I have to nurture at any hour it needs me (I do get emails at all hours). And I love hearing from all the mothers who buy Babo – that is really what keeps me motivated!

So thank you for anyone who is reading this blog. My entire family thanks you.