Speaker 1: I believe that life is for yes people and you've
Speaker 1: just got to take opportunities and if they don't work out,
Speaker 1: boo who like When conditions are stable, you may as
Speaker 1: well go with your gut and see where it leads
Speaker 1: to you. I'm not really a product person. I'm a
Speaker 1: brand person. I believe that people come in for how
Speaker 1: a brand makes them feel, and return because of how
Speaker 1: a brand makes them feel.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the sees the Yay Podcast.
Speaker 3: Busy and happy are not the same thing. We too
Speaker 3: rarely question what makes the heart seeing. We work, then
Speaker 3: we rest, but rarely we play and often don't realize
Speaker 3: there's more than one way. So this is a platform to.
Speaker 2: Hear and explore the stories of those who found lives
Speaker 2: They adore, the.
Speaker 3: Good, bad and ugly. The best and worst day will
Speaker 3: bear all the facets of seizing your yay.
Speaker 2: I'm Sarah Davidson or Spoonful of Sarah, a lawyer turned
Speaker 2: fu entrepreneurs walktor suits and heels to co found matcha
Speaker 2: Maiden and matcha Milk Bark CZA is a series of
Speaker 2: conversations on finding a life you love and exploring the
Speaker 2: self doubt, challenge, joy and fulfillment along the way. Hello,
Speaker 2: lovely neighborhood. I hope you are all having a wonderful week.
Speaker 2: I think we were originally scheduled for a Years of
Speaker 2: Our Lives episode right now after last week's guest episode,
Speaker 2: and Ange and I have actually already recorded that Years
Speaker 2: of Our Lives episode a little bit more organized than usual,
Speaker 2: But as that will probably end up being our sign
Speaker 2: off for a short break while Nick and I wait
Speaker 2: for this little baby Davidson to arrive, it made more
Speaker 2: sense to pop this week's guest in first, particularly as
Speaker 2: she has carried us through the past few weeks. I'm talking,
Speaker 2: of course, about the incredible co founder of The Memo
Speaker 2: and founder of The Blow, Phoebe Simmons, who I have
Speaker 2: been fangirling for so many years and am so excited
Speaker 2: to share with you. If you've been anywhere near my socials,
Speaker 2: you'll know how heavily I've leaned on Phoebe and The
Speaker 2: Memo and their incredible team during this pregnant and how
Speaker 2: much they've taken the stress and overwhelm out of preparing
Speaker 2: for a little one, leaving room for us to fully
Speaker 2: enjoy and just get excited about what's to come, we'll cover,
Speaker 2: of course, how the Memo has absolutely revolutionized a whole
Speaker 2: industry that has traditionally and somewhat inexplicably been pretty functional
Speaker 2: and daggy for something that is so cute, and turned
Speaker 2: it into a world that is now finally beautifully esthetic,
Speaker 2: carefully curated, and most importantly user friendly with life saving
Speaker 2: lists which you'll hear all about. I feel like it's
Speaker 2: pretty much become like the mecha of the baby world.
Speaker 2: It is such a pleasure to be in the Memo
Speaker 2: and shopping there, which actually makes sense given that's where
Speaker 2: Phoebe started off her career on an incredible pathway to
Speaker 2: living and breathing. Brand building, which you'll also hear about
Speaker 2: how it took her from Mecca to LVMH, around the
Speaker 2: world to Benefit Cosmetics and back home she's such an
Speaker 2: incredible businesswoman, and then of course to her own two businesses,
Speaker 2: the Blow and then the Met. The second part is
Speaker 2: then a Q and A based on yours and mostly
Speaker 2: my questions actually about some of the biggest decisions when
Speaker 2: preparing for a new baby. Phoebe just gives such valuable advice.
Speaker 2: I was mainly asking questions for myself. It just happened
Speaker 2: that a lot of you submitted the same ones. You
Speaker 2: might also notice a bit of a sound change around
Speaker 2: that Part two. Her AirPods died at the perfect interval.
Speaker 2: Sounds like it was recorded on two different days, but
Speaker 2: it wasn't, although we will probably be needing to record
Speaker 2: on a different day for a follow up part two,
Speaker 2: if not a follow up full series, as we barely
Speaker 2: scratch the surface, not only of Phoebe's incredible part ya
Speaker 2: all the knowledge and wisdom, different dots that had to
Speaker 2: connect and chapters that got her to where she is
Speaker 2: today just changing people's literally changing people's lives, including our own,
Speaker 2: but also for the follow up questions, because her knowledge
Speaker 2: is just endless, and not only her she helped us
Speaker 2: so much in this chapter, but there's a whole postpartum
Speaker 2: chapter as well, and I'm sure that many of you
Speaker 2: will have follow up questions based on what she shared today,
Speaker 2: so stay tuned for that. Let us know if anyone
Speaker 2: else has any more questions and would like a follow
Speaker 2: up Part two, even if it's just giving me an
Speaker 2: excuse to catch up with her again, because she's just
Speaker 2: such an easy conversationalist, as you guys will hear, so
Speaker 2: I will let Phoebe tell you the rest herself. I
Speaker 2: really do hope you guys enjoy this one and get
Speaker 2: as much out of it as I did. Phoebe, Welcome
Speaker 2: to Cca.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Sarah. I'm really really happy to
Speaker 1: be here. This is going to be fun.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. Just before we started recording, Phoebe introduced
Speaker 2: herself as a longtime listener, first time caller. It makes
Speaker 2: me so happy that you've been listening. I think we've
Speaker 2: been mutually fangirling each other for years.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, absolutely love what you do, Sarah, and I'm
Speaker 1: just thrilled that you're at this stage in your life
Speaker 1: and in your pregnancy. You've done a phenomenal job getting
Speaker 1: to this place, so we're just so so happy for you.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much. And if anyone hasn't been
Speaker 2: following along, although I'm sure you will have seen it
Speaker 2: on socials, half the reason why I I am here
Speaker 2: and my mental health is semi intact is because Phoebe
Speaker 2: has been my fairy baby mother for the past couple
Speaker 2: of months. And every time I have a MENTV about
Speaker 2: like what am I supposed to buy? And what does
Speaker 2: this mean? And one of these words, either you or
Speaker 2: the list you've created, or the beautiful team you've compiled,
Speaker 2: like have come in and just taken the stress and
Speaker 2: overwhelming fear out of it. So I am so grateful
Speaker 2: for you, so grateful for everything you do.
Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled.
Speaker 2: That's what we're all about.
Speaker 1: We're all about helping you feel good and prepared and
Speaker 1: supported during what can be such an overwhelming time, and
Speaker 1: it should be a really exciting time. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: that we're here for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have absolutely done that, removed the brain space
Speaker 2: that it takes up to be stressed and allowed room
Speaker 2: for excitement and joy. And like the first time I
Speaker 2: came into the memo and you were there, we were
Speaker 2: just so excited because the list just take care of
Speaker 2: the stressful bit and the rest is just joy. So
Speaker 2: it's lovely.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, the thing is like shopping for baby
Speaker 1: should be fun, Like it's fun to be able to
Speaker 1: invest in your new family. It's a whole new category
Speaker 1: that you never have got to explore before as a
Speaker 1: first time parent. So yeah, we really wanted to create
Speaker 1: an enjoyable and feel good experience.
Speaker 2: We absolutely have done that. But as you know as
Speaker 2: a ECA listener, I love to go through all the
Speaker 2: bits and parts of not just your pathway, but also
Speaker 2: your personality and how you even got to this stage,
Speaker 2: because I think people often they will meet you now
Speaker 2: and they'll see you as this hugely successful mum who
Speaker 2: has the balance right and who's got two incredible, all
Speaker 2: incredible businesses, But it can really seem like you always
Speaker 2: knew that this is what the gap in the market was,
Speaker 2: and that you're so clear on your purpose now, But
Speaker 2: you know it never happens that way. So I kind
Speaker 2: of like to first give a bit of context before
Speaker 2: we jump into the amazing questions people have been submitting
Speaker 2: and draw on your knowledge. I'd love to go back
Speaker 2: to the start to sort of how Phoebe became Phoebe.
Speaker 2: So can we go back all the way to maybe
Speaker 2: even childhood? Like what were you like? What did you
Speaker 2: gravitate towards? Did you know what you wanted to be
Speaker 2: when you grew up or were you just one of
Speaker 2: those people who had no idea and kind of let
Speaker 2: it all on revel?
Speaker 1: Oh? No, I always knew what I wanted to I'm
Speaker 1: a very decisive person growing up. I wanted to have
Speaker 1: a shop, and so I sometimes you know, say to Kate,
Speaker 1: got just pinch yourself, like thinking that, you know, I've
Speaker 1: got the blow in little Collins Street in Melbourne. And
Speaker 1: then the fact that we've got the memo as an
Speaker 1: actual store with like a register. I remember when you
Speaker 1: used to play shops and it was so fun. You
Speaker 1: got to interact with people and you know, hand over
Speaker 1: the bag like I still get a kick out of that,
Speaker 1: and being able to interact with our customers, you know,
Speaker 1: with an actual store. You know, obviously we have the
Speaker 1: online store as well, but this is really a dream
Speaker 1: come true and it's something I always wanted to do
Speaker 1: as a child. I was very procroached and focused. I
Speaker 1: think for me, the biggest kind of light bulb moment
Speaker 1: was when I was I guess fifteen, you know when
Speaker 1: you can start working, and I went and worked at
Speaker 1: the Body Shop in Geelong, which was at the height
Speaker 1: of fashion in Geelong, I.
Speaker 2: Imagine cutting edge. Yeah, yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: Not only story in Geelong and we really went for
Speaker 1: it with the body button so iconic, so iconic, and
Speaker 1: I got a really amazing sense of brand building through
Speaker 1: an it erotic who was the founder of the Body
Speaker 1: Shop and what she had created, which was really a
Speaker 1: brand that meant something and a brand that stood for something.
Speaker 1: And so then after I did commerce at Melbourne UNI,
Speaker 1: or while I was doing commerce at Melbourne UNI, I
Speaker 1: was working for Mecca, and you know, another great case
Speaker 1: in point of what they've been able to build there
Speaker 1: in terms of a really unique position in the market,
Speaker 1: ownership of the market, finding those gaps and also doing
Speaker 1: brand and service and experience and curations so well. So yes,
Speaker 1: I would say my runway to building the blow. And
Speaker 1: of course the memo was pretty clear.
Speaker 2: Which I love because you do often hear the alternative
Speaker 2: way of things happening where you're like, you know, people
Speaker 2: are like, I had no idea whatsoever. I fell into
Speaker 2: this and I fell into that, And I love that
Speaker 2: even if it wasn't immediate, and even if it wasn't
Speaker 2: like the very first thing you did that you did
Speaker 2: kind of always know you wanted a shop and that yeah,
Speaker 2: even though it took you know, lots of steps to
Speaker 2: get there, that that was the goal and now you're
Speaker 2: living that dream and that is so incredibly exciting because
Speaker 2: it is like then a full circle because you knew
Speaker 2: that that's what you wanted to do. But I also
Speaker 2: think it's so interesting to see how many chapters you
Speaker 2: had before that, so getting your start at Mecca and
Speaker 2: learning about how to build big brands, but also working overseas,
Speaker 2: so going to London with LVMH and then to you know, Asia,
Speaker 2: a totally different market to work with Benefit, and then
Speaker 2: coming back to Australia to sort of work as a
Speaker 2: marketing director. And that's really interesting to me because that
Speaker 2: was you not being a founder yet and working within
Speaker 2: the structure of a corporation even though you knew that
Speaker 2: you wanted to have your own shop. So talk to
Speaker 2: us about like why those were formative and why you know,
Speaker 2: perhaps you didn't start your own thing straight off the
Speaker 2: bat when you finished UNI, because I think we're all
Speaker 2: very impatient to get to the end. So if you
Speaker 2: knew that was the end goal, why wasn't that the
Speaker 2: first step, why did you sort of take those steps?
Speaker 1: Well, I guess, I mean I always just loved the
Speaker 1: idea of it and loved it the idea of it
Speaker 1: as a kid, but I didn't really check back in
Speaker 1: on it while I was in my twenties and early
Speaker 1: thirties until I had the idea for the blow, and
Speaker 1: then until Kate had the idea for the memo. For me,
Speaker 1: I really wanted to after UNI, I really wanted to
Speaker 1: move to the UK, and I was so fortunate to
Speaker 1: be set up with through Mecca, with a skincare company
Speaker 1: called Nude Skincare, which was a small, independent, very entrepreneurial brand,
Speaker 1: but it had an amazing distribution in you know, the
Speaker 1: top department stores like Harrods and Selfridges and John Lewis
Speaker 1: in the UK and then Sapphor in the US. So
Speaker 1: it was an amazing foundation for me to understand how
Speaker 1: brands work with retail and how retail works with brands.
Speaker 1: But then, in an incredible twist of fate, Nude was
Speaker 1: acquired by LVMH lou Veton mlly Tennessey, which is the
Speaker 1: biggest luxury goods business in the world, and so I
Speaker 1: got to learn how to build a brand, the Lvier
Speaker 1: mah way, how to express a brand, the alviermh Way,
Speaker 1: how to market a brand, the alviermh Way, which is
Speaker 1: a once in a lifetime opportunity and you just say
Speaker 1: yes and you hold on tide. And I learned a
Speaker 1: lot from the team. Apart from Christian Duor, I was
Speaker 1: spending time in Paris, and you know, I was twenty
Speaker 1: five twenty six. So for me, like my eyes were
Speaker 1: wide open and I would do whatever it took to
Speaker 1: be able to soak up as much experience as I could.
Speaker 1: My hand was up like it was raised high in
Speaker 1: b such a keno. Yeah, and like how great. And
Speaker 1: I think that's the benefit of living overseas. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: can just get rocketed to experiences that you may not
Speaker 1: have if you're based in the same town your whole
Speaker 1: life in Australia, you just global exposure can become much
Speaker 1: bigger if you're fortunate enough to be in the right
Speaker 1: place at the right time, which I was. But then
Speaker 1: after about four years, I was really keen with my
Speaker 1: partner at the time to move to Singapore and so
Speaker 1: LVMH transferred me to Benefit Cosmetics in Southeast Asia, where
Speaker 1: I headed up the expansion of Benefits business and brand
Speaker 1: across SPORA in Southeast Asia. So that's like working in
Speaker 1: markets like India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia. And what I
Speaker 1: weren't there was that the Benefit brand was so strong.
Speaker 1: It was so clear they had such a clear vision
Speaker 1: of exactly what made Benefits so unique in the market
Speaker 1: in the world, but then how that would apply to
Speaker 1: completely different countries, languages, cultures, buying habits, beauty, taste and trends.
Speaker 1: But yet the brand was still so strong and clear.
Speaker 1: It didn't change, it didn't wager, it was who it
Speaker 1: was and customers took what they liked from it. It
Speaker 1: was amazing. Benefit is the most amazing brand. And then
Speaker 1: I was keen to come home. So after about eighteen months,
Speaker 1: I moved back to Australia and then I started a
Speaker 1: position as the marketing director for Benefit Cosmetics based in Sydney,
Speaker 1: which was just fantastic. And then I had the idea
Speaker 1: for the plot.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I love that we kind of got to
Speaker 2: go through that because I think, yeah, a lot of
Speaker 2: people meet you now and you are introduced as the
Speaker 2: founder of the Blow and the Memo, and it's very
Speaker 2: very entrepreneurial heavy kind of skating over the fact that
Speaker 2: a lot of your learning and your skill set, that
Speaker 2: the whole absorbing by osmosis about brand building and different
Speaker 2: markets and knowing what has been able to make the
Speaker 2: Blow and the Memo so successful came from before your
Speaker 2: entrepreneurial journey. And there is also a lot of focus
Speaker 2: I think on people talking about making that lead of
Speaker 2: faith and you know, people leaving to start their own
Speaker 2: business because they hate their time in corporate and sometimes
Speaker 2: not a lot of you know, emphasis on the fact
Speaker 2: that working insider company can be such a valuable place
Speaker 2: to take opportunities to work overseas, to learn from the
Speaker 2: best brand builders in the world. So what's your perspective
Speaker 2: on your time before you had the idea and when
Speaker 2: you were in that learning phase versus waiting for the
Speaker 2: idea to come rather than sometimes people reverse engineer the journey.
Speaker 2: If I just want to have my own thing, I
Speaker 2: don't know what I'm going to do yet, so I
Speaker 2: feel lost, like what's my place in the world. I
Speaker 2: like that you learn everything you could and then the
Speaker 2: idea struck and then that was the next chapter.
Speaker 1: Yes, I was not in patience to start my own business.
Speaker 1: I didn't know if it was ever something that I
Speaker 1: necessarily needed to do because I was enjoying my corporate
Speaker 1: role so much. And I just ride the wave right
Speaker 1: and I go where it feels good. I'm very instinctive,
Speaker 1: and I go with my gut and I was just
Speaker 1: loving my role at Benefit. And I think for me,
Speaker 1: I have had brand drummed into me. Like the discipline
Speaker 1: that you learn at LVMH is world class. And you know,
Speaker 1: I learned that if a brand doesn't stand for anything,
Speaker 1: it won't stand out at all. It needs to mean something.
Speaker 1: And I think this is this spirit that we've taken
Speaker 1: into the blow. And then the memo is anyone can
Speaker 1: sell stuff, Like we know that there's big box retailers,
Speaker 1: we know that there's major global online businesses that sell stuff,
Speaker 1: and they sell stuff really, really well. What I'm more
Speaker 1: interested in is creating brands that mean something to people,
Speaker 1: that help them feel supported, that lift them up, that
Speaker 1: resonate and stay with them. And so for me, that's
Speaker 1: more about an experience than a commerciality, and then the
Speaker 1: rest will follow. I'm not really a product person, I'm
Speaker 1: a brand person. I believe that people come in for
Speaker 1: how a brand makes them feel and return because of
Speaker 1: how a brand makes them feel. So yeah, that was
Speaker 1: what was under my belt. And then I was spending
Speaker 1: a lot of time in San Francisco with Benefit, that's
Speaker 1: where their head office is, and I was seeing these
Speaker 1: North American women getting their blow drys once or twice
Speaker 1: a week. They were turning to the service as a
Speaker 1: way to feel more polished and powerful. They're going in
Speaker 1: at six am to get their hair done. And then
Speaker 1: I got on that trend, and then I was coming
Speaker 1: back because I need it. I have a lot of
Speaker 1: trouble with doing my own hair. I'm not a skilled
Speaker 1: and it's always been an issue for me. Like growing
Speaker 1: up and untamed, didn't I love a blow dry. So
Speaker 1: when I came back home to see me, I couldn't
Speaker 1: find that service. Blow dry bars existed, but they weren't
Speaker 1: in a CBD location, they weren't at a consistent The
Speaker 1: service wasn't consistent, it wasn't a competitive price, it wasn't
Speaker 1: decked out in the way that I thought. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a space that made me feel really good. I wasn't
Speaker 1: excited to be there. I didn't think I was going
Speaker 1: to bump into anyone who would make me feel even
Speaker 1: better about my day. And so I thought that there
Speaker 1: was an opportunity to deliver this to Australian women. And
Speaker 1: I'd seen the success of brow bars through benefit around
Speaker 1: the world, and I thought that that same application could
Speaker 1: be done to blow dry bars in Australia. So I
Speaker 1: moved back to Melbourne and I opened the blow in
Speaker 1: September twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I love that so much because I
Speaker 2: offered say that. One of my favorite quotes is I
Speaker 2: think it's Maya Angelou, and that's people will never remember
Speaker 2: what you said or what you did. They'll always remember
Speaker 2: how you made them feel. And by extension, the product
Speaker 2: is important. But so many brands like they're advertising for
Speaker 2: things like Coca Cola. It's not the Coca Cola, it's
Speaker 2: the feeling that that brand tries to create for you,
Speaker 2: and that's what you keep returning to. So I love
Speaker 2: that that's such a constant theme for you in brand building,
Speaker 2: but also that on your own personal pathway, you don't
Speaker 2: have to be really unhappy somewhere to make a change.
Speaker 2: I think that's another thing that people sort of think,
Speaker 2: unless it's bad, I don't have to change what I'm
Speaker 2: doing if it's just fine, if I'm ticking lots of boxes,
Speaker 2: if I'm financially stable, like, why would I look for
Speaker 2: anything else? Rather than It's okay to want something different
Speaker 2: and more, even if you're not desperately unhappy. So it's
Speaker 2: wonderful to hear that you loved your career that you
Speaker 2: had and yet you could still see that it was
Speaker 2: you had an idea that was worth making a jump
Speaker 2: for without waiting until it was like possible for you
Speaker 2: to keep going. Because I think that's what does keep
Speaker 2: a lot of people in careers that don't necessarily fulfill
Speaker 2: them because they just think it's ungrateful to leave, or
Speaker 2: it's just yeah that you need some sort of discomfort
Speaker 2: to change. So when you did get to that point,
Speaker 2: what was your leap? Was it going part time first?
Speaker 2: Did you kind of go all in and just like resign,
Speaker 2: Like how did you take that step? Was it gradual
Speaker 2: or was it an all or nothing? I am the
Speaker 2: Blow now, Well I did work on The Blow behind
Speaker 2: the scenes for probably about six months.
Speaker 1: I think I had a really long notice period, so
Speaker 1: I gave a lot of time to the business to
Speaker 1: let them work through a progression plan for me, and
Speaker 1: then I think I left. I left Sydney for Melbourne
Speaker 1: to start The Blow, maybe like five or six weeks
Speaker 1: before we opened the doors. WHOA, that's so short. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well it was ready to go. I mean, you know
Speaker 1: that was basically taking the leaf, like picking up the
Speaker 1: keys and the builders getting to work. But it was
Speaker 1: everything else was all set up right, like the brand
Speaker 1: had already been done. And what I found really helpful
Speaker 1: for me was that the way I approached all of
Speaker 1: those tasks was I did everything that I could do
Speaker 1: as the Walmart prior, so like, yeah, the brand marketing,
Speaker 1: all the Instagram obviously, the website, the services, everything that
Speaker 1: didn't require boots on the ground and a time limit.
Speaker 1: Then I did that first, and then it meant that
Speaker 1: as the store was being built, we could focus on
Speaker 1: recruitment team and starting to turn things on. So it
Speaker 1: made it feel less congested in those last five or
Speaker 1: six weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that's what a lot of people
Speaker 2: do to manage the perceived ve scale of a jump
Speaker 2: from one thing to the other. Is like, do as
Speaker 2: much as you can well with your feed are in
Speaker 2: both doors to minimize how gaping that hole can feel.
Speaker 2: How did you find you mentioned that when you're sort
Speaker 2: of ready for a new chapter, it's very intuitive for you,
Speaker 2: and I think that is an amazing way to make
Speaker 2: decisions that often leads to very few regrets. And when
Speaker 2: you're listening to your gut and blocking out all the
Speaker 2: noise of all the different things in society that are
Speaker 2: pulling you in different ways, that you kind of find
Speaker 2: the path that's meant for you. But I know a
Speaker 2: lot of people struggle with societal expectations on the outside,
Speaker 2: but then internally self doubt imposter syndrome, particularly if it's
Speaker 2: moving from the safety of an employment role to starting
Speaker 2: something on your own. You've never done it before, you
Speaker 2: don't have necessarily the safety of a boss or a
Speaker 2: corporate structure to fall back on when you were going
Speaker 2: all in and not on an online store either. The
Speaker 2: overheads for an act premises that you're renovating. You know,
Speaker 2: that's very scary. How do you deal with fear and
Speaker 2: novelty and discomfort when you're doing something so new? Did
Speaker 2: you feel like self doubt as an emotion or were
Speaker 2: you just so focused?
Speaker 1: No, I don't have self doubt and I don't believe
Speaker 1: in imposter syndrome. Really, it's a patriarchal construct common sera.
Speaker 1: It's not a thing.
Speaker 2: You are the first person who's just called it like that, though,
Speaker 2: like I think a lot of people think that they
Speaker 2: just don't say it. I love that, Yeah.
Speaker 1: We need to stop giving that airtime. I think it's
Speaker 1: mind over matter. For me, Yeah, it was insignive. I
Speaker 1: just thought with the blow that I had enough skill,
Speaker 1: experience and resources to be able to do it, like
Speaker 1: why not me? And I think Kate and I both
Speaker 1: felt that with the memo as well. I believe that
Speaker 1: life is for yes people. I mean, I know you
Speaker 1: live like that as well, and you've just got to
Speaker 1: take off chimneys and if they don't work out, boo who.
Speaker 1: Like it's you know, I know that I'm privileged to
Speaker 1: say that, and I know that there are consequences for actions,
Speaker 1: and particularly with businesses. And I mean, you know, the
Speaker 1: blow went through COVID in Melbourne like it was dire.
Speaker 1: It was really hard, you know, and that was scary.
Speaker 1: But when conditions are stable, you may as well go
Speaker 1: with your gut and see where it leads to you.
Speaker 1: Otherwise your life's just going to be pretty straightforward and
Speaker 1: you know, not that exciting. And that's why I'm for
Speaker 1: some people, it's just not for me.
Speaker 2: I love that so much. It is so refreshing because
Speaker 2: I think there's also something about the Australian culture of
Speaker 2: like tall poppy syndrome and our need to always be
Speaker 2: so self deprecating. That makes imposter syndrome automatically part of
Speaker 2: the conversation. And I love that You're just like, nah,
Speaker 2: like I had the empirical data, I was qualified to
Speaker 2: do this. Why not me? And that is the totally
Speaker 2: logical response to why it should work and how it
Speaker 2: did work. But I feel like it's so foreign to
Speaker 2: hear people say that because you're right, it's just an
Speaker 2: automatic part of the dialogue. It's like so self doubt
Speaker 2: because you're a woman doing something new. It's like, well,
Speaker 2: I just didn't let it cripple. It just wasn't really
Speaker 2: a thing. I love that so much, so refreshing.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can even listen to it or you
Speaker 1: can't lack, but how's it going to serve you? That's
Speaker 1: not helpful. It's the same with comparison culture. That is
Speaker 1: not helpful. So just don't play into it.
Speaker 2: I love that, and it can be really you know,
Speaker 2: some people would have had the idea for the blow
Speaker 2: and then watched you execute it, and now still, you know,
Speaker 2: years later, be thinking, oh, I had that idea and
Speaker 2: I just did nothing with it. So I love that
Speaker 2: you go straight to action, like, well, I've got the idea,
Speaker 2: so I'm not going to lose time waiting to execute it.
Speaker 2: How did you know when the memo was going to
Speaker 2: be the next thing? Because again, I think this like
Speaker 2: evolution of chapters. I have this tendency when I start
Speaker 2: a new chapter, I like pat myself on the back
Speaker 2: of a little while and think that was big and
Speaker 2: scare and you did it, and think, Okay, well I'll
Speaker 2: ride this way forever. No, now, how do you know
Speaker 2: when it's like I can actually add something else to
Speaker 2: the mix. I've got a new idea. I could cope
Speaker 2: with a totally different industry, totally different setup, a business
Speaker 2: partner like Baby and Beauty, totally different. How did that
Speaker 2: come about?
Speaker 1: Well, that was just an amazing opportunity that Kate presented
Speaker 1: to me. So I knew Kate through beauty when I
Speaker 1: was at Benefit and she was at Maya and she'd
Speaker 1: been at David Jones and then she moved on to Mecca,
Speaker 1: and so her background is in brand buying, so she
Speaker 1: had a really great understanding of creating a really unique
Speaker 1: experience and also curated assortment through her time at Mecca
Speaker 1: and when she was pregnant. She walked into big box retail.
Speaker 1: She was so excited. She was ready to like buy
Speaker 1: that first thing whatever it was going to be, that
Speaker 1: she was going to be recommended when she was pregnant.
Speaker 1: And then she looked back out again. She was overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: She was disappointed, and she was confused. She was confused
Speaker 1: not only with where to start, but also confused why
Speaker 1: no one in Australia had seen baby as a legitimate
Speaker 1: opportunity to solve. As you know, I'm sure a lot
Speaker 1: of your listeners as similar to us in the fact
Speaker 1: that you used to a certain level of experience when
Speaker 1: it comes to beauty, fashion, lifestyle, fitness, wellness. But yet
Speaker 1: why had that not been carried over into the baby industry.
Speaker 1: So she thought that there was a really big opportunity there.
Speaker 1: And then she came to me with her idea, and
Speaker 1: it was a walk around the town and it was
Speaker 1: an instant yes, like it made total sense. And then
Speaker 1: I went home and I started researching it. And I
Speaker 1: never looked at the baby industry because I was thirty,
Speaker 1: how old would I have been? Pretty warm petty tree,
Speaker 1: and not many of my friends had had kids yet.
Speaker 1: And I hadn't met my partner Sean, then husband.
Speaker 2: I know, I was going to say, by the way, husband,
Speaker 2: as of like seven days ago, congratulations.
Speaker 1: Didn't have any idea about the baby industry, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, is exactly how most people approach first time parenthood.
Speaker 1: They have no idea where to start, what to do,
Speaker 1: because they haven't had to look at this industry before.
Speaker 1: So I went home and I had a look, and
Speaker 1: I was really surprised at how unsophisticated, how overly commercial,
Speaker 1: and also a little bit how juvenile some of the
Speaker 1: language and the branding was. And I saw a big
Speaker 1: opportunity to create a brand that would speak to parents
Speaker 1: in the way that they are used to people, customers,
Speaker 1: as audience, as a way that they're used to being
Speaker 1: spoken to in other industries, in a really modern and
Speaker 1: exciting way. And so yeah, we carved out the voice,
Speaker 1: the DNA, the position of the men. Kate put together
Speaker 1: the most amazing list of products, the products that she
Speaker 1: had been recommended from a list all of you know,
Speaker 1: her friends passed around This list of that really did
Speaker 1: build the basis of the memo. You need three of these.
Speaker 1: Borrow this from a friend. Don't worry about that product,
Speaker 1: you definitely need this. But in her experience, she'd had
Speaker 1: to go off and buy all of these products from
Speaker 1: a really fragmented industry, like some stuff she was getting
Speaker 1: brought in from the States. Some stuff she did have
Speaker 1: to go to big box retail. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: shipping charges when you're you know, putting it all together
Speaker 1: from all these different places. So she pulled all of
Speaker 1: these products under one roof, which became the MEMO, and
Speaker 1: we've since obviously expanded our assortment to cater to different taste,
Speaker 1: price points, lifestyle needs, and yeah, the rest is history.
Speaker 1: We're four and a half years in now.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's gone so quickly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, has is just before COVID as well, it's about
Speaker 1: four months, four or five months before COVID, so it's
Speaker 1: the right time to start an online business. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: we open this store three years after that.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, yeah, so there was quite a while of
Speaker 2: online and then yeah. Yeah, it's just extraordinary thinking now
Speaker 2: how my experience has been versus even now, even four
Speaker 2: years later, same market. If you remove the MEMO from
Speaker 2: the equation, like, I don't know what I would have
Speaker 2: done for that curation there still is a gap if
Speaker 2: you weren't there. It's alarming, and it is unusual that
Speaker 2: it's one of those industries where people are actually like
Speaker 2: pandemic or no pandemic. If you're ever going to be
Speaker 2: willing to invest money in something, it's your child. It's
Speaker 2: like parenthould and baby and when you want the best,
Speaker 2: and you know, we might compromise on beauty during a
Speaker 2: pandemic or a fashion but into it is like you
Speaker 2: have such a sense of you want safety, you want reliability,
Speaker 2: but you also want it to be beautiful and exciting,
Speaker 2: and it's everything else is so daggy and functional, which,
Speaker 2: like function is obviously important, but you kind of want
Speaker 2: that like mecha experience where you feel pampered and everything
Speaker 2: looks beautiful and which is exactly how you feel the
Speaker 2: moment you step it to the memo. And I just
Speaker 2: can't believe that four short years ago there was nothing
Speaker 2: in that gap.
Speaker 1: No, exactly, And so yeah, it was that same thing
Speaker 1: of if not us, who like, let's go this is
Speaker 1: really exciting. And I actually think it was beneficial to
Speaker 1: our brand's evolution in that I wasn't a parent and
Speaker 1: so I really challenged Kate, because I just didn't understand.
Speaker 1: Like she was saying, you know, okay, we're going to
Speaker 1: stock this nipple shield. I'm like, but what is it?
Speaker 1: Because I was looking online and reading about the product
Speaker 1: that would be stocking, I'm like, I still don't underst
Speaker 1: stand it. And so a key element of our brand
Speaker 1: voids is this no assumed knowledge. We just cannot assume
Speaker 1: that people know what a nipple shield is going to
Speaker 1: do unless we explain it to them and break it down,
Speaker 1: just like you would talk to a friend and so,
Speaker 1: you know, just like I would say to you, Sarah
Speaker 1: when we caught up in the Armadale boutique. It was like, okay,
Speaker 1: so like this is what you actually need, this is
Speaker 1: how it works, Like yes, you're definitely going to need this,
Speaker 1: or this is something that you might want to consider,
Speaker 1: you know, once you've had a baby, let's see how
Speaker 1: you go. You know, you don't need everything at once.
Speaker 1: This is only something if you're needing to solve this problem.
Speaker 1: I hope that still, four and a half years on,
Speaker 1: we're able to express that.
Speaker 2: I think that's even cooler that it wasn't two mums
Speaker 2: who had had that exact same experience and just gone
Speaker 2: through it because you could speak from a I still
Speaker 2: don't know what any of these things are. I still
Speaker 2: have no base knowledge. But then you also have a
Speaker 2: mum who has sort of just bought all those things.
Speaker 2: So I love that in a business partnership where you're
Speaker 2: not overlapping on your role all the time. Otherwise why
Speaker 2: would you need two of you. It's kind of nice
Speaker 2: that you went on the journey as you were building
Speaker 2: this business, which is amazing and so cool. And I
Speaker 2: said before we started recording, I wish we could do
Speaker 2: a four part series or five part series on this
Speaker 2: because I just want to ask you questions about actually
Speaker 2: starting the memo and getting it off the ground. But
Speaker 2: we have had so many questions that draw on just
Speaker 2: what you mentioned, the sort of demystifying how confusing and
Speaker 2: overwhelming being a parent is for the first time, and
Speaker 2: knowing what to buy and how to choose what's right.
Speaker 2: And it has genuinely made the last couple of months
Speaker 2: so enjoyable that you have narrowed down so much information
Speaker 2: and spoken to me as if I've never heard the
Speaker 2: information before, because I never have. Yeah, So I've grouped.
Speaker 2: We've had a lot of submitted questions, and I've thrown
Speaker 2: in some of my own that are sort of grouped
Speaker 2: into themes of yeah, the most things that you would
Speaker 2: get asked, And hopefully if anyone does have any more
Speaker 2: questions about the actual business side of starting the memoe
Speaker 2: getting them off the ground, maybe we could have phoebe
Speaker 2: back another time to sort of do a follow up
Speaker 2: Q and A would be my pleasure. But to move
Speaker 2: on to the baby prep questions, my first question for
Speaker 2: you was what is the most sold product.
Speaker 1: It's silverrettes, Is it really? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Is that why you said nipple shields straightaway?
Speaker 1: Well, different things, Sarah. So, silverrettes are nursing cups. They
Speaker 1: are made of pure medical grades silver. They're antibacterial and
Speaker 1: anti inflammatory, and you wear them as a preventative measure
Speaker 1: against nipple damage or to help heal nipple damage. So,
Speaker 1: for those who don't know, when you start breastfeeding, it
Speaker 1: can be incredibly and comfortable for some people, and in
Speaker 1: some cases quite painful because your baby is learning how
Speaker 1: to feed and it doesn't come naturally to everyone. And
Speaker 1: so we recommend that everyone grabs a pair of silverrette
Speaker 1: and you wear them from that first day for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, so I would wear them twenty four
Speaker 1: to seven, I think for about six weeks, except obviously
Speaker 1: when I was feeding, and it just works like magic
Speaker 1: to protect against you know, not to be too graphic,
Speaker 1: but cut nipples, bleeding nipples, sore nipples, pulled nipples, all
Speaker 1: of that uncomfortable feeling, like silverrettes are there for you,
Speaker 1: and I hope can bring a lot of parents who
Speaker 1: are attempting to breastfeed more comfort.
Speaker 2: It's so funny that that is the answer, because I
Speaker 2: reckon maybe even two weeks ago, I had never heard
Speaker 2: of silverrettes. Before I knew about nipple balms and nursing
Speaker 2: bras and like you know, the heat and ice packs
Speaker 2: you can put kind of in your nursing bras. But
Speaker 2: I walked into the memo the other day when I
Speaker 2: went in and saw silverrettes for the time and am
Speaker 2: wearing them right now, are you right at this minute,
Speaker 2: right now? Because I just started expressing colostrum, oh right, okay, yesterday,
Speaker 2: and I went a little bit hard because I got
Speaker 2: very excited that it worked. Sure, and I was collecting
Speaker 2: like more than I thought I would on day one,
Speaker 2: and so I was like I'm going to fill the
Speaker 2: whole harckefy like I had the little collector and this
Speaker 2: morning I was like, I'm a bit sore, and I
Speaker 2: asked someone like, what can you do preventatively and they
Speaker 2: were like, well, you bought the silverettees, so you can
Speaker 2: get them out and put them in now. And so
Speaker 2: I'm wearing them right now.
Speaker 1: Will I love that?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: I hope they work for you.
Speaker 2: Have They've been amazing. I've had them on for like
Speaker 2: seven hours.
Speaker 1: Great, that's exactly what we want. You're expressing colostrum. That's exciting.
Speaker 1: That's good you've been able to do that. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you just pop them in in the little hucker containers
Speaker 1: and just write the date on them. So if this
Speaker 1: when's your due date? Two weeks away, so you pop
Speaker 1: that in the freezer with the date. But then if
Speaker 1: you're expressing colostrum when you're actually in hospital after you've
Speaker 1: given birth, you can just pop them in the fridge
Speaker 1: because you might use them, particularly over those first couple
Speaker 1: of days in hospital before your milk comes in. So
Speaker 1: it just gives that extra little nutrient top up to
Speaker 1: your baby.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so I was going to do other questions first,
Speaker 2: But now that we're on the breastfeeding colostrum, there are
Speaker 2: a lot of questions in that category, so I might
Speaker 2: start with them now that we're on it. Yes, one
Speaker 2: of the questions which I had yesterday was do you
Speaker 2: need nipple cream if you have silverettes or is it
Speaker 2: kind of one or the other.
Speaker 1: My answer is not necessarily. Silverette should do the work
Speaker 1: of helping with nipple damage. The best thing for nipple damage,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is not putting an ointment on any
Speaker 1: open wounds. It's air dry, it's even a little bit
Speaker 1: of your natural breast milk around the nipple. And silverrettes
Speaker 1: and nipple cream can be really helpful to create a
Speaker 1: barrier around the nipple and actually a little bit of
Speaker 1: slip when your baby is attaching. But I don't believe
Speaker 1: that you need both.
Speaker 2: Amazing. One of the questions was how early can you
Speaker 2: start collecting colostrum and what is the range at the
Speaker 2: memo for to help you do that.
Speaker 1: So generally the advice, the medical advice is not before
Speaker 1: thirty six weeks, and not really at all. If you
Speaker 1: have a high risk pregnancy, which I had myself, you
Speaker 1: always check with your GP before you express colostrum because
Speaker 1: it is part of that building up for labor process.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, around that thirty six thirty seven week mark,
Speaker 1: if you get the you'll clear from your GP and
Speaker 1: then you can either catch it in a little like
Speaker 1: a little cup and then use a syringe to extract it,
Speaker 1: and then if you already had your baby, you can
Speaker 1: pop that syringe into your baby's mouth and give it
Speaker 1: to them that way, or you can store it in
Speaker 1: a colossrum collector like the one that we have from Harker,
Speaker 1: and you can put it in their fridge and I
Speaker 1: think generally it will last a couple of weeks, three
Speaker 1: to four weeks in the fridge or in the freezer
Speaker 1: for three to four months.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. I learned so much just in that one day.
Speaker 2: So I've got the Hakker collectors that are presterbilized, they're
Speaker 2: BPA free, and they're amazing because you can express directly
Speaker 2: into them and then the baby can feed directly from them,
Speaker 2: so you're not like transferring a lot of things around.
Speaker 2: Someone asked, there are two sizes. There's a smaller one
Speaker 2: that I've been using. Their question was have I used
Speaker 2: the larger sized collector from Harker. I haven't. Do you
Speaker 2: guys sell them? And why would you use the larger
Speaker 2: size one?
Speaker 1: We've just got the one which is large enough. It
Speaker 1: was definitely large enough for me.
Speaker 2: I think it's twenty mil versus forty mil.
Speaker 1: I think you're doing pretty well if you expressing that much.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's good to have individual ones.
Speaker 2: I would say, do you guys sell labels to mark
Speaker 2: the date or do you just write them on them?
Speaker 1: The milky goodness the pack does come with labels which
Speaker 1: has there's syringes in it as well. Harker doesn't. But
Speaker 1: I just the way I used the Harker ones was
Speaker 1: I just wrote with a sharpie.
Speaker 2: Yep, that's what I've been doing. Harker also make a
Speaker 2: wearable breast pump. Is that for only once your milk
Speaker 2: actually comes in? Or do people pump for colostrum?
Speaker 1: Okay? So this is where we get into a lactation
Speaker 1: consultant territory. Okay, So but I can tell you my experience.
Speaker 1: So on day two and three, I was incredibly uncomfortable
Speaker 1: with massive, massive cement boobs and a huge amount of
Speaker 1: oversupply that I just couldn't get out, and you always
Speaker 1: need to strike that balance of whether if you're pumping
Speaker 1: early on, you're essentially signaling to create more milk, which
Speaker 1: can overstimulate your supply, and so it needs to be assessed,
Speaker 1: probably best with the midwife or with a lactation consultant.
Speaker 1: The Harker Manual Silicon breast pump is best used to
Speaker 1: catch letdown of milk. And so if you've got you know,
Speaker 1: if you're feeding your baby on one boob and then
Speaker 1: your other boob is starting to really leag like, catch
Speaker 1: it with the Harker and it will create a certain
Speaker 1: amount of pressure and then you can use that milk
Speaker 1: down the track. I think it's unlikely that you would
Speaker 1: use that tool or that aid for colostrum in my understanding.
Speaker 2: And then once your milk does come in. Do you
Speaker 2: have a favorite wearable breast pump in the range? I
Speaker 2: think you told me about this one, yes, So I
Speaker 2: use the.
Speaker 1: U high Embody. It was incredible. It was just the
Speaker 1: most important thing to me was that, well many things
Speaker 1: about it. It was comfortable, and it gave me my independence.
Speaker 1: So I think I started using a bread pump from
Speaker 1: about maybe one or two months in because I was
Speaker 1: really mobile. I was out and about, I wasn't with
Speaker 1: Remy all the time, and I could do it from
Speaker 1: the warehouse, from my car, from the footy, from a
Speaker 1: restaurant and get on with my day. And so you
Speaker 1: just pop it inside your bra it catches the milk.
Speaker 1: Then you stew it in a milk bag, and then
Speaker 1: you can either put that milk bag in the fridge
Speaker 1: or the freezer, and your baby has milk. And yeah,
Speaker 1: most importantly, it didn't hurt my nipples. It was very,
Speaker 1: very comfortable and intuitive and easy to use.
Speaker 2: And I love that the memo never makes you feel
Speaker 2: like there's a stupid question, because I feel like at
Speaker 2: the beginning, you're sort of like, well, if I'm breastfeeding
Speaker 2: my baby on my breast, like why do I need
Speaker 2: a pump? So when you talk about your independence, like
Speaker 2: what is that allowing you to do?
Speaker 1: So there's a few reasons why you'd use a breast pump,
Speaker 1: you know, Lactation consultants might advise to use a breast
Speaker 1: pump as a way to stimulate supply because it essentially
Speaker 1: shows the breast that it it's being used and extracting
Speaker 1: milk like a baby wood and so it can be
Speaker 1: used in that way. How I used it was a
Speaker 1: way to be away from my baby. So when I
Speaker 1: went back to paid work in the office, I would
Speaker 1: be sitting at my desk and I would pump around midday,
Speaker 1: and so I would replace that midday feed for him,
Speaker 1: you know, and then he would take either a bottle
Speaker 1: with formula or a bottle with breast milk. But also,
Speaker 1: like I could go out for dinner, I could be
Speaker 1: away from him. I wanted to be able to live
Speaker 1: my life and be social and not be stuck at
Speaker 1: home all the time. That was important to me, and
Speaker 1: I think that's you know, I was so surprised when
Speaker 1: this pump came out. A lot of people were saying, Wow,
Speaker 1: that's so extraordinary, that's revolutionary, and it kind of got
Speaker 1: my back up a bit because I was like, well,
Speaker 1: why wasn't this created thirty years ago? Like this is
Speaker 1: fifty years ago. These are products that can really help women,
Speaker 1: and yet no one, when no one was investing in
Speaker 1: us in a way to give us our freedom and independence.
Speaker 1: And it's so so important to that your postpartum recovery,
Speaker 1: your mindset, how you feel after giving birth, your identity
Speaker 1: and so I'm just thrilled that there's so much more
Speaker 1: innovation coming through in the mum category now.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean it's wild that no one else could
Speaker 2: feed your baby on any other time schedule, then the
Speaker 2: baby's time schedule until you could pump milk to store.
Speaker 1: And then you're pumping by being plugged in. So Kate
Speaker 1: was talking about when you know, when she had her
Speaker 1: first child, you know, she was at a wedding and
Speaker 1: she had to go on pump like in the toilets,
Speaker 1: like tied to a wall. She didn't have the you know,
Speaker 1: the rechargeable option, and like that's no fun. That means
Speaker 1: you're away for an hour, whereas I was at a wedding,
Speaker 1: sitting at dinner having a conversation, Like I didn't lose
Speaker 1: any time or fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so Yeah, no one can even tell that
Speaker 2: you're doing that. That's amazing. What about the bottle prep
Speaker 2: machines that are done for you. I think one of
Speaker 2: the examples was Tommy Tippe. I haven't actually heard of
Speaker 2: these yet. Yeah, are they worth it? Are they wasted money?
Speaker 2: What's your opinion on them? Like bottling the milk for you?
Speaker 1: My opinion? And the Memo's position is you invest in
Speaker 1: whatever makes your life easier. Pairing bottles is time consuming
Speaker 1: and sometimes it might just be too hard for you
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night. So we're actually getting
Speaker 1: the Tommy to be one next week or the week
Speaker 1: end of March. And there's also the Baby Breaser Formula
Speaker 1: Pro Advance, which is basically like a cappuccino machine. You're
Speaker 1: literally just and it all comes out. It's amazing. Both
Speaker 1: products are there to help you more easily make a bottle.
Speaker 1: And so if that's something that is stressing you out
Speaker 1: or is eating into your time, or yeah, is making
Speaker 1: you not enjoy this experience as much, then maybe it
Speaker 1: is with you investing if you can rationalize the cost.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that mentality. Back to the sort of
Speaker 2: gen a trend questions, what is something that people always
Speaker 2: suggest or that people assume they need that you don't
Speaker 2: think they actually need to be buying, Like the one
Speaker 2: thing everyone's like comes in for and then you're like, guys,
Speaker 2: you don't need that yet, or you don't need it now, or.
Speaker 1: So the one thing that I often see that I
Speaker 1: always have a chuckle about a wipe warmers, And we
Speaker 1: will never stop them at the memo wipe warm it
Speaker 1: like a product that actually warms a wipe, so your
Speaker 1: baby bum is more comfortable, but pretty good, Like I
Speaker 1: don't think that that is worth investing in. A top
Speaker 1: seller for us is a nappy bin, which just surprises
Speaker 1: me because I just put it in a bag and
Speaker 1: then put it straight in the bin because I don't
Speaker 1: want nappies anywhere inside environment, like lighter candle let's, But
Speaker 1: a lot of people do really enjoy that, but it's
Speaker 1: not something that I would call an essential. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they're two kind of key ones, Like you don't
Speaker 1: have to warm the white I've always start.
Speaker 2: What about the top thing like the reverse the top
Speaker 2: thing you recommend that people are surprised by that they
Speaker 2: sort of didn't think they'd need.
Speaker 1: Well, I just don't really go straight to baby. I
Speaker 1: go straight to mum. So there's a stat that comes
Speaker 1: out of the States that one in ten products bought
Speaker 1: for new families of mum the rest of the baby.
Speaker 1: So what does that tell you? It means that the
Speaker 1: baby is the focus. Great, the baby is being cared for,
Speaker 1: the baby is set, But what about the things that
Speaker 1: are helping the mum recover from what can be traumatic,
Speaker 1: what can be overwhelming, what is a huge transformational time?
Speaker 1: And you know time in hospital, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: healing that needs to be done. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: emphasis that needs to be placed on mental health over
Speaker 1: that time, on nutrition, on getting enough sleep. So I
Speaker 1: always recommend for me the product that I always give
Speaker 1: my friends after giving birth is the tenth Flow State,
Speaker 1: which is an incredible supplement that you only take after
Speaker 1: giving birth. It's for the postpartum period. And when I
Speaker 1: say it changed my life, I mean it brought me
Speaker 1: back to life. It gave me a sense of clarity, energy,
Speaker 1: and vitality that I forgot existed after giving birth.
Speaker 2: Oh, I love that. And that was also an answer
Speaker 2: to the next question, which I also liked the way
Speaker 2: it was phrased. Which was the favorite thing to give
Speaker 2: new parents, not favorite thing to give new babies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the other thing is just like anything that will
Speaker 1: get you more sleep, which is something for the baby
Speaker 1: and also something for you. So like if you want
Speaker 1: a great little tool that they probably haven't been given.
Speaker 1: I can't shout more about the baby shushar.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say the sushir.
Speaker 1: That's for the susha. It literally like it brings your
Speaker 1: baby down. It just calms them down, and it literally
Speaker 1: goes shhh, and it would just I'd turn it on
Speaker 1: and Remy would just chill out. So that's a really
Speaker 1: great one. That's a fun one to invest in.
Speaker 2: I love that it's for both the baby and it's
Speaker 2: the parents.
Speaker 1: Yes, because if your baby's come, you'll be calm. It's
Speaker 1: a good one for the car, and hopefully it will
Speaker 1: bring you a bit more sleep. Use that and then
Speaker 1: you've got your white machine kind of running in, you know.
Speaker 1: At the same time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited for that. For myself, I think I
Speaker 2: need a white noise machine, definitely.
Speaker 1: Definitely.
Speaker 2: So then when it does come to the baby, I
Speaker 2: think one of the things that happens is like, you know,
Speaker 2: you have a baby shower and there are so many
Speaker 2: gifts for a newborn, and there's so many pieces of clothing,
Speaker 2: and then people forget they grow every five seconds and
Speaker 2: they last in the four zeros for like one minute.
Speaker 2: So when it comes to actually essentral clothing for newborns
Speaker 2: and blankets, like you know, how in that first couple
Speaker 2: of weeks or first couple of months and what sizes.
Speaker 2: I had no idea if it was like do I
Speaker 2: need ten onesies or a hundred onesies? Do I need
Speaker 2: like like literally, there's no clue of do I need
Speaker 2: two Muslim wraps and two swattles or do I need
Speaker 2: like fifty? What's a kind of ballpark a central number
Speaker 2: that you think allows them to Obviously every baby's born
Speaker 2: a different size, but what would you start with. There's
Speaker 2: like a safety pack.
Speaker 1: Sure, so have a look at our list. We've got
Speaker 1: a newborn clothing list that's really helpful. A few things
Speaker 1: to keep in mind is, obviously, if your baby's premi
Speaker 1: or extra small, there's a five zero option. Newborn is
Speaker 1: four zeros and it's unlikely that you'll get I mean,
Speaker 1: it depends. As you said, all babies are different. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't go too heavy on the newborn size is because
Speaker 1: they will grow out of them quite soon. I think
Speaker 1: I would have had two or three newborn things, which
Speaker 1: was very like hospital at first week or two, and
Speaker 1: then it's all about that zero to three months. And
Speaker 1: you know, if that's proving a little bit big, don't
Speaker 1: worry about just roll back the sleeve like a big deal.
Speaker 1: It's much better to be too big than too small,
Speaker 1: and then you get a bit more longevity out of it.
Speaker 1: You need to consider what time of year you're having
Speaker 1: your baby. They always need one more layer than you.
Speaker 1: So that's why we always recommend that you start with
Speaker 1: a singlet or a body suit and you know six
Speaker 1: to eight maybe singlets and bodysuits and you know four
Speaker 1: to six grow suits, which you know with zips. Really
Speaker 1: recommend the zips because they're easy to get on and off.
Speaker 1: And with a blanket, you won't use a blanket in
Speaker 1: their cotch. That's not recommended as safe. You would use
Speaker 1: a blanket if you're out and about in the prem
Speaker 1: over winter or cooler climate. Yeah, you wouldn't put them
Speaker 1: to sleep with a blanket. You put them to sleep
Speaker 1: in a sleeping bag or a swaddle in those first
Speaker 1: few weeks and months, and that essentially acts like a
Speaker 1: blanket or a doner and it keeps them swaddled really
Speaker 1: tight and comfortable.
Speaker 2: It's crazy like that blew my mind, even having been
Speaker 2: around a lot of babies in our friends had a
Speaker 2: lot of babies that firstly, when I first saw them
Speaker 2: in bed with nothing, I was like, where's the blanket?
Speaker 2: Like I don't get it, but like, because it's a
Speaker 2: suffocation risk, you can't just have material everywhere. But like
Speaker 2: in my brain, of course you go, oh, baby sleep blanket.
Speaker 2: Like it was so weird to me that they were
Speaker 2: like no blankets for babies.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, oh, okay, what yeah exactly, So yeah,
Speaker 1: I really recommend those sleeping bags from Love to Dream
Speaker 1: or Ergo Pouch or wool Babe, Like they're so great
Speaker 1: and you go through the transitions as their arms go out,
Speaker 1: when they start to roll, you transition them with their
Speaker 1: arms out and just yeah, follow those steps and then
Speaker 1: you get the right weight to the climate that you're in.
Speaker 1: So as you're going into winter, you get a heavier
Speaker 1: tog which is like a heavier blanket like your winter
Speaker 1: your winter bedding, and it's really cozy.
Speaker 2: I wish they made them same. That's our next business
Speaker 2: ideas adult grow suits and sleeping sacks but with the
Speaker 2: little arm thing because they're so cute.
Speaker 1: And then like if you're having a baby in winter,
Speaker 1: like you'll need like socks, you know, a cardi or
Speaker 1: a jumper. You don't have to go too much into that,
Speaker 1: you know, like washrints repeat, they'll need hats, so you
Speaker 1: know those little knotted hats. If you're having a baby
Speaker 1: in winter, maybe you get like two of those and
Speaker 1: maybe a beanie for outside. Something like that is a
Speaker 1: good balance.
Speaker 2: I think, even learning as well that the babies obviously
Speaker 2: they can't regulate their temperature straight away, so having like
Speaker 2: a single it underneath all their onesies. I didn't know
Speaker 2: that either, and the membo was just like it made
Speaker 2: it so straightforward. So guys, in the show notes, I
Speaker 2: will link all the lists that we've been talking about
Speaker 2: as well, so you don't have to be furiously writing
Speaker 2: down numbers because it's it's all there. And there's also
Speaker 2: lists for your hospital bag as well versus just generally
Speaker 2: things you want to have at home. But one thing
Speaker 2: that I also found really really interesting and you wouldn't
Speaker 2: have thought about until you were buying, is the pram
Speaker 2: capsule car seat conversation. We had lots of questions about that,
Speaker 2: and you explained it to me, and then I got
Speaker 2: you to explain it to Nick so that we understood
Speaker 2: all of the options of the mechanics of that and
Speaker 2: then changed into a stroller and all of those things.
Speaker 2: So can you give us the little rundown on the
Speaker 2: capsule PRAM versus the non capsual PRAM and the integration
Speaker 2: of the car seat and all of those.
Speaker 1: Things, of course. So there's two types of prams that
Speaker 1: you can buy. You can buy a PRAM which would
Speaker 1: normally come with a bacinette attachment, which is like a
Speaker 1: flat thing. You know, you see the prams with the
Speaker 1: little shield over them, and that's what the baby can
Speaker 1: live in, can sleep in, can hang out in for
Speaker 1: newborn up to about six months. Then when they're ready
Speaker 1: to sit up, you will transition them into their seat,
Speaker 1: which is an additional attachment that would come with your PRAM.
Speaker 1: When you're ready to use something a little bit leaner
Speaker 1: and cleaner, a travel stroller is a good way to go,
Speaker 1: and that is a lot thinner. They can sit up
Speaker 1: right or it can be kind of reclined a little bit.
Speaker 1: They can sleep in it, and you can put take
Speaker 1: that on planes. You can put it in the back
Speaker 1: of your car, like that's the one. A travel stroller
Speaker 1: is what lives in the boot of my car and
Speaker 1: you can only really use that from six months onwards,
Speaker 1: and it's great for toddlers. But a prem is something
Speaker 1: that you would use from newborn and we still use
Speaker 1: it when we're going out and about, like to park,
Speaker 1: and that lives in the house and it does the streets.
Speaker 1: What your option for a car seat and a capsule is,
Speaker 1: when you take your baby home from hospital, you're going
Speaker 1: to need a car seat or a capsule safely fitted
Speaker 1: in your car. You can have a car seat from
Speaker 1: newborn age it's super safe, but when you park, you
Speaker 1: need to take your baby out of that car seat
Speaker 1: and you would either put them into your pram or
Speaker 1: take them into the house or wherever you're going if
Speaker 1: you buy a capsule. A capsule is detachable, and that's
Speaker 1: something that can be really helpful, like it was for
Speaker 1: me if you're planning on getting out and about, if
Speaker 1: you're planning on going to meeting, sitting at cafes, and
Speaker 1: you don't want to take the baby out of the
Speaker 1: car seat because they will wake up or they could
Speaker 1: wake up. So a capsule is a really great way
Speaker 1: to not disturb a baby's sleep if you're taking them
Speaker 1: from car to out and about. The great thing about
Speaker 1: a capsule is that you can carry it and it
Speaker 1: also fits onto your prem so you can put that
Speaker 1: attach it into your PRAM and take them out and
Speaker 1: about as well, so you wouldn't use your bacinet. At
Speaker 1: that point, someone asked if they needed the capsule and
Speaker 1: the bacinet attachment for the PRAM. Technically yes, like all
Speaker 1: prams will come with that bacinet attachment, so you're going
Speaker 1: to get that anyway, And it's also flatter, and you're
Speaker 1: not recommended to keep your baby in a capsule for
Speaker 1: long periods of time, whereas a PRAM you kind of
Speaker 1: can for you know, there are SIDS guidelines, you can
Speaker 1: look them up. But yes, you would need the capsule
Speaker 1: because the capsule is what can be safely attached into
Speaker 1: your car.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. I had no idea that all those
Speaker 2: options were things. But once you explained that, of course,
Speaker 2: if the car seat is all just one thing, you
Speaker 2: would be waking up your child every single time you
Speaker 2: want to run into the grab it, takeaway coffee, run
Speaker 2: into grab the groceries, Whereas if they're in the capture,
Speaker 2: you just take the whole capsule out and they stay asleep.
Speaker 2: And I was like, don't say any more words, I
Speaker 2: will get the capsule thing totally.
Speaker 1: I am really recommend capsules for people who are planning
Speaker 1: to be out and about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then that it just can fit in the
Speaker 2: pram if you want it to, or you can leave
Speaker 2: the basinet on. I love that versatility, and you guys
Speaker 2: have seen I will link the choices we ended up
Speaker 2: going with from Bugaboo. They all integrate together and it's
Speaker 2: just so amazing.
Speaker 1: So amazing.
Speaker 2: Well, you want your bang for buck, right, you want
Speaker 2: it to be able to change. I'm conscious of time,
Speaker 2: so I will just ask one more and then maybe
Speaker 2: send you the last couple that are more discrete kind
Speaker 2: of questions about like opening hours and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: But the last one on like a gear purchase investment
Speaker 2: note was the baby lounger or bouncer and then the
Speaker 2: cocoona baby nests. So you had shown me like, and
Speaker 2: I understand why this is overwhelming because they all look
Speaker 2: like they do similar things. So there's like the kind
Speaker 2: of cushy cushion where the baby sits flat but all
Speaker 2: nestled in. Then there's like the bouncer thing where they're
Speaker 2: on a diagonal and you're kind of bouncing them, Like,
Speaker 2: what are the ages for all those? Do you get
Speaker 2: all of them? Do you get some of them. Do
Speaker 2: you get one first and then think about the other one.
Speaker 1: You don't need all of them, and just around safety
Speaker 1: once again, like I'm not an experts, not a sleep expert.
Speaker 1: If you want more detailed information, go to SIDS and
Speaker 1: check it out. It is not recommended that babies sleep
Speaker 1: in a baby lounger. A baby lounger is for play
Speaker 1: or chill out, and it's a place where they can
Speaker 1: kind of safely rest. I personally didn't use a baby loannger.
Speaker 1: I used a baby bouncer. So the Baby Beyond one
Speaker 1: is just so good. It has three levels. It can
Speaker 1: rock your baby gently, they can rock themselves gently, and
Speaker 1: it's a really safe and comfortable place for them to
Speaker 1: hang out and see the world. And you can also
Speaker 1: really move it very easily. The Cocuona Baby is goat
Speaker 1: like obsessed with it. You use it for the first
Speaker 1: three months of your baby's life. I used it for
Speaker 1: his day naps. I didn't use it for night naps,
Speaker 1: and I don't believe it's recommended that babies sleep in
Speaker 1: it overnight. Treason Cocuona nest is so great is because
Speaker 1: it mimics the shape of the womb, so it's quite
Speaker 1: kind of contoured and it just keeps them really nice
Speaker 1: and tight, and there's a little elastic strap that holds
Speaker 1: them in. That's a resting place and a chill out
Speaker 1: place for them that is also mobile and some people,
Speaker 1: you know, I used it all around the house, so
Speaker 1: it would be sitting on the floor, you know, in
Speaker 1: front of the TV and stuff, or you can put
Speaker 1: it in their cot if you would like to. Essentially
Speaker 1: it's a bacinette, So it's just for newborn babies. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Remy moved out of his at about three months.
Speaker 1: But it keeps them nice and tight and cozy and
Speaker 1: essentially swaddled in those early days, which is really important
Speaker 1: where comfort is key to their I guess, their conditioning
Speaker 1: and their introduction into the world without being too much
Speaker 1: of a shock to the system. So my answer is,
Speaker 1: you don't need a baby lounger if you have a bouncer,
Speaker 1: you don't need a baby lounger. If you're wanting them
Speaker 1: to sleep in something that is versatile and mobile around
Speaker 1: the house, I would recommend the Cocuna Baby instead.
Speaker 2: But would you get the Cocuna Baby and a bouncer
Speaker 2: are they serving different Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the nest is more of a sleep it's
Speaker 1: a bascinet essentially. It just doesn't have the walls, and
Speaker 1: the bouncer is just so great for them to hang
Speaker 1: out like I would. My foot would be tapping that
Speaker 1: bouncer like all day long when I was working on
Speaker 1: emails or I was doing calls, and you know, I'd
Speaker 1: take it to the office or I think, hell out
Speaker 1: of the warehouse. You can take it to your mom's
Speaker 1: house or your grandma's house, or yet. A bouncer is
Speaker 1: a really great parenting tool.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Well, I will send you some of
Speaker 2: the other questions to make sure that they get answered.
Speaker 2: And I feel like we're going to have to do
Speaker 2: a follow up at some point because this is going
Speaker 2: to generate I think a lot of further questions. And
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm going to have to put links
Speaker 2: and diagrams because you've just helped demistify the landscape so much,
Speaker 2: which you've done for us and hopefully now done for
Speaker 2: so many of our listeners and guys. The Memo website
Speaker 2: has all of the resources that we've mentioned. I'll put
Speaker 2: links to everything and direct links to each section as well,
Speaker 2: so you know where to go back to, Phoebe. I'm
Speaker 2: so so grateful for your time. Phoebe just got married,
Speaker 2: by the way, like literally seven days ago, and squeeze
Speaker 2: this in in between the festivities, so.
Speaker 1: It's all part of it. It's all part of it.
Speaker 1: Nothing's changed for us, So back to business as usual,
Speaker 1: BAU totally. But I'm just so grateful. Thank you for
Speaker 1: having our conversation, for hosting me, and I'm just so
Speaker 1: thrilled that you're able to share your own story with
Speaker 1: your audience and with people like me. I find it
Speaker 1: really inspirational and enlightening. So you're doing a great job.
Speaker 1: Keep it up.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you so much, and there'll be many follow
Speaker 2: ons guys of me actually talking about the things that
Speaker 2: we have talked about, that I have bought, and then
Speaker 2: updating you on how it's actually worked once the baby arrives.
Speaker 1: What I would say on that, Seriah, is the whole
Speaker 1: point is that your experience will be completely different to mine,
Speaker 1: and we really want everyone to understand that as they're
Speaker 1: going through their baby journey, please don't compare yourself to
Speaker 1: other people and that person's getting babies, getting more sleep,
Speaker 1: or that one's feeding so much easier, you know, easy,
Speaker 1: unique experience, and you just have to do it your way.
Speaker 1: So don't get too stressed out with what's going on
Speaker 1: around you. Trust your instincts, look at some resources, get
Speaker 1: help from the experts. I am not one of them.
Speaker 1: You know, there are lactation concerns, there are sleep experts,
Speaker 1: there's midwives. You know, there's all of those people, your
Speaker 1: maternal child healthness. And also talk to your friends. If
Speaker 1: you're not feeling great, it's really really normal or it's
Speaker 1: really common, I should say, it's very common in that
Speaker 1: postpartum phase to not feel like yourself. Look up those
Speaker 1: resources and look after yourself.
Speaker 2: Amazing advice, perfect way to close out. Thank you so much, Phoebe.
Speaker 2: I'll include links to your page, to the memos page
Speaker 2: and places that people can find you and well check
Speaker 2: in for a follow up. Thank you so much for everything.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Okay, is Phoebe not one of the most incredible women
Speaker 2: you have ever heard from? And if anyone else is
Speaker 2: on their pregnancy journey, a you are welcome. I mean
Speaker 2: so many nuggets and fells of wisdom from Phoebe from
Speaker 2: the memo that have just made the last few weeks
Speaker 2: and months a breeze, taking so much stress and overwhelm
Speaker 2: and overthinking out of the process. But b if you're
Speaker 2: also on your pregnancy journey, I've just loved sharing it
Speaker 2: so much with you, guys. It's been so beautiful to
Speaker 2: connect with so many of you. I didn't actually realize
Speaker 2: how many of us were kind of going through things
Speaker 2: at the same time, and how beautiful it is to
Speaker 2: share that. So I hope you enjoyed listening along and
Speaker 2: got a lot out of it. Please do share the episode.
Speaker 2: We're so lucky to have so much of her time
Speaker 2: given to such a busy woman and had just got
Speaker 2: married literally seven days before this episode, so please share
Speaker 2: the love. Tagging at Phoebe actually and at from the
Speaker 2: memo and as mentioned, I've include all the links to
Speaker 2: the list we mentioned the products she mentioned in the
Speaker 2: show notes. If you would like a part two or
Speaker 2: more part three, part four series, let us know and
Speaker 2: we can line it up. And in the meantime, I
Speaker 2: hope you are all having the most wonderful week and
Speaker 2: are seizing your yay