I love this next interview. It was my very first one. And so, it’s super special to me. I have to say that the audio is not perfect. And at first, I almost felt like re-recording. But actually, I’d rather give it to you as it is in the raw true way that we recorded it just to show you that we all start somewhere. So, if you’re looking at starting something like launching a product or podcast, don’t feel like you have to have it perfect right away. Progress over perfection, better done than perfect is what I always say.

I was really inspired by these amazing ladies you’re about to hear from. Alicia Lynn and Megan Pembleton, are sisters and entrepreneurs who are incredibly inspirational with not only their business, but their ability to manage their full-time work, self-care and family lives. I met them at a mompreneur conference in Toronto, where we were both lining up to chat with the speaker. And I said, “Hey, you should come on my podcast”. And so they did. In 2017, Alicia and Megan, along with their mother started Bomaternity. Bomaternity is a line of stylish and sporty nursing bras for moms. Since they have launched in October, they have successfully partnered with multiple retail stores in the GTA, and were named “ones to watch” by the Mompreneurs. Enjoy the show.

Welcome to the podcast, ladies. Great to have you. So, can we start off with just a little introduction – tell us a bit about yourselves and your backgrounds.

Yeah, so we grew up in Mississauga. And we currently both work. So this is Megan speaking. And I actually work in commercial finance for a company that’s affiliated with a bank. So I do that full time. And then this is sort of the side business for both of us. And then Alicia.
So I’m a full time teacher for the school board. And I have been for about five, six years now and had two kids in the past two years and I’m pregnant with my third and yeah, so just keeping busy with those two things. And then this side hustle.

That is amazing. You are probably quite busy. Yes. three kids in say three years.

Yeah, just about

You’re a Wonder Woman. Yeah, yeah. Well, so you’ve been in finance and you’re teaching and you grew up in Mississauga, in Ontario. What was the aha moment that led you to want to start your own product business?

I guess you can say that I had always come from an athletic background. So I grew up playing competitive sports in school sports and then I continued my athletic journey with honors degree in kinesiology then went on to getting married and really, really wanting to be a mom. And then on the complete other hand, my parents, we grew up with entrepreneurial parents. They’ve been in business for about 25 years. So we’ve seen the lifestyle that being in business provided you and how hard they had to work at it in the same breath. So I had always wanted to be in business and I wanted to own my own company, but I never had anything that spoke to me. So make a long story short, I had my first baby, I was an avid gym goer, I was going to the gym and wearing my regular sports bras because those were the ones that were supportive enough to support me especially with milk maker boobs. So I was one of the gym and I was bringing him with me and right before a work out and right after especially when they’re super young, you’re feeding, and I was pulling my beautiful sports bras down over my bras and stretching them like crazy to feed him. And I had said, ‘There’s got to be something more practical than this’. And I knew nursing bras existed because I had owned some, but just not really sports specific. And so I looked globally for a company that made them and there were a couple but nothing that I really liked nothing that was stylish enough for me and nothing that was convenient and local- Canadian. So my head just kind of kept spinning. And I was like, you know, I love babies. I love being in this know, athletic industry. And I was like, No, I can do this. It spoke loud enough to me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it that I eventually would just gave in. It was like, Okay, I’m going to do it.

Wow, cool. So if everyone can listen to that, you can see that we started with a need and then it was an unmet need. And you found just that white space in the market that no one has taken and then you took the steps to make your own.
Yeah, exactly.

How the winning products are successful is that they fulfill an unmet need. So I love that that’s so cool. Since then have you made a lot of tweaks to your original idea?

When I first thought of the idea I was like, ‘I’m gonna have nursing bras and we have nursing tights and I’m going to have every single product that you know that active moms can wear’. And then you know, you start learning about the business and the industry and the manufacturing production and all those things and realize that no, you’re not going to be moving that fast. You need to go from one product and make sure that you understand that product well and you make that product well and then you grow from there. So that was definitely a learning curve. But yeah, so we definitely thought bigger at first and then kind of toned it down to just focusing on bras because that was the original idea. Our next product is a high-waisted athletic legging but right now we are just focusing on the nursing everyday sports bras.
Well that is such a good tip. And something that I think every everybody who’s starting out in the product business is that it’s best to start small, get it right and then move on because you know most people want to go gangbusters and start with a whole bunch at once. And you just don’t want to get too far down the path before you really test something out.

Yeah. And I think like us, we have fully self-funded this, we haven’t sought any type of investors at this point. I know we will have to probably soon. But I’m coming from that perspective too. And when you are manufacturing, you have minimum order quantities. And that was something that we have no idea about. We’re like, oh, we’ll just make 20 of this bra and 50 of this bra will know you actually have to order a certain number. So that wasn’t a whole other learning curve as well.

Right? Exactly. You can’t just do one or two. When did your whole family come into it like your mom and your sister?
So I obviously had my first baby and not necessarily feeling overwhelmed but busy and learning how to become a mom and be a mom. And I think it was around Christmas time because my first son was born in November and I was sitting with my sister around the couch around the holiday season and basically said to her, this is my idea and is it something that you’d be interested in and helping me with and she kind of jumped on board right away. So originally was me and my sister so Megan, who’s on the podcast with us. And so right away, I knew that I was going to require help. Like, I knew I was going to have more kids. And I knew I was busy. And it’s not something that I wanted to venture out by myself. So and I thought why not do better than family? Right?

Right, your mom as well joined?

Yeah. So then my sister and I probably did the groundwork in terms of, Okay, how do we get these made, who designs them for us who can make them for us all the that work, and then our moms have always been a big rock for us. We were a family of three girls. And we’ve always been really, really close to our mom, and she was helping us out all the time anyways, and we’re just like ‘you’re pretty much part of this business. So you should be involved.’ And she was wanting to become involved. And so that’s kind of how that happened.
Yeah. And she has a financial background so she’s handling that side. It’s something that I mean, now I’m in corporate finance, a little bit of a new thing for me too, but in terms of running a business, she has you know, 25- 30 years in that doing it on her own and making sure that everything’s running really smoothly so that’s really been great having her do that for us on the back end.

Well so what are your roles within the company. Your mom is doing the finance?
Yeah. And I’m, I guess I would say sales little bit of marketing and you know, the operational side and Alicia would be more on the design creative, full marketing. She’s the idea person.
I’m very visual I was very into you know, making sure my kids had the you know, the cute baby products and things that look good and I’ve always had that creative side to me of style background and fashion background. So definitely when I saw these nursing sportswear from other companies, I was like, ‘okay, those are great, but we can do better’, and be more, you know, visually appealing, but also, you know, make women feel good and during the sensitive fourth trimester period, make women feel excited to put on a piece of clothing instead of I guess you could say granny style nursing bras.

Yeah, Lisa is definitely the stylish one of the group for sure. She takes the cake on that one. But yeah, I think we’re still I guess you could still call us the startup- first year in business. So, we started in October. So, I mean, we have defined roles. But all three of us are very much involved a lot of the decision making and absolutely have to move everything forward. It’s not really like, ‘Hey, you stay in your lane.’ I mean, we’re trying to get things done as fast as possible. You know, all three of us work still. So, it’s kind of everybody chips in and does what we do to get things done.

Right, of course, yeah. So, it’s very overwhelming to start your own business, right? In the beginning, especially with babies and then it’s so great that you can complement each other with all those skills, and you’re also working full time so I really don’t know how you do it. Okay, so, I wonder if you can tell us more about your product, what is unique about the nursing bras that you’ve created?

Yeah so I mean just to kind of take what Alicia was saying about her ideas and what we really wanted to accomplish was not only is this bra going to be with you throughout all stages of your pregnancy really grow with you throughout your pregnancy when you’re nursing, you know that fourth trimester, but it’s also going to be stylish and really, really functional for you. So that’s why moms need it and you know, in terms of uniqueness, it’s really just the fabrics team manufacturing, the way it looks and feels and…
the practicality piece so like for example, like we know moms are busy right? We’re up early in the morning, you know, we’re nursing, you’re you know, going out running to get groceries and maybe taking the baby on a walk the dog for a walk and you’re going to the gym or you know you’re busy from morning to night. So not necessarily the moms who are going to the gym but like our product would be for moms who just have that go go go lifestyle, which most moms do right,… so a bra that would allow you to sweat and prespire and not have the material, catch it and sit on you all day.

And plus, it’s very stylish as you said.

Yeah, exactly. They look good. And I think that’s like a big piece to like being a mom that maybe moms who haven’t had kids yet don’t appreciate that that piece is that you know, you have that postpartum Tummy, you have so many body insecurities and you’re coming into the role of motherhood in so many different ways. And, you know, you just want to feel good. So I think that it’s something you’re going to wear every day, a bra. And if it can help you feel a little bit better or a little happier, or see something pretty and makes you feel good. And that’s what we kind of want to add to.
Oh, that’s so good. Yeah, it’s so true that once you just had your baby and you’re feeling like you’re a milk producer, but yet, you’re just utility vehicle and you want to feel special; you want to feel beautiful. So I love that. That’s great. So my listeners would be really interested in knowing the steps you took to launch your product, because I’m sure there’s so many women out there who think about it and just don’t know where to start. So maybe you could shed some light about, like, how did you go about it? What’s the first thing you did?

Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, I think just basic steps, you know, we got a business license, we decided on a name, we kind of did a little bit of branding work, decided on some colors and logo. And then obviously, from a product standpoint, the biggest thing is to sell, you need to have a product in hand. So we looked into manufacturing, designs, colors that we wanted to do for each of the designs and then just really reaching out to people contacts in that space, trying to find out, who, what, where, when, why we could the or how we can do this from an operational standpoint, bringing that idea to fruition in that sense.

So I read, I think it was on your website that it took about 18 months to design the bras. Is that correct?

Yeah. So we initially thought of the idea, I guess you say October of 2016. And then we didn’t have a product in hand until about a year and a half. So the biggest learning curve, and we still have tons of learning to do, is the production piece of finding somewhere to manufacture your product. You reach out to manufacturers all over Canada overseas, and you can find them on Alibaba, you can find them just by googling, but that that was the biggest learning curve for us was who is going to make this product for us?

And we did actually go through some sampling and designs with multiple manufacturers. And so that’s really what took a lot of the time and we didn’t like some of it. So we had to kind of cut our losses there and move on. That was really difficult, especially because we just wanted everything to happen then- we wanted it to go now. And we really wanted to be hands-on too. So we needed somebody that could work with us one, small little details. And then once we got those samples in hand, and we could see it, Alicia could try it on, test it out. That’s when I think we knew we got it fairly right. We’re still learning.
Wow. So do you manufacture in Canada or overseas

Overseas right now.

I guess it would take a long time to get examples back each round?

Yeah, it really just depends on who you’re working with. There’s time differences and communication barriers.

So I would say yeah, I would say the sampling process probably took about three months but again, very, very, very special. We were specific about what we wanted and so one thing was not right, we would make them fix it before getting the samples done. And I mean it’s worth it to note that we did reach out to everybody and every person we googled – I think I spent weeks on end reaching out to people – and we’re such a specific type of activewear that not a lot of manufacturers actually do our product so that’s another thing to look into to is how easy is it to make your product.

Yeah, that was that was a big learning curve was like – oh yeah, we’re just going to do bras and then like, three months later after reaching out to let’s say 1500 manufacturers, you realize that bras are the most technical garment you could have chosen. “We can do t shirts and leggings” and we’re like, “No, we want to do bras. ” So all these other companies, and it is a frustration for us to which we shouldn’t really be looking outside our lane, but we see you know, these companies that are producing t shirts and tights and good for them, but when you’re comparing it to such a technical garment like a bra, there’s no comparison. Yeah.

So look at how complicated it is actually, to try to get somebody in the space who knows that. But yeah, from a sewing manufacturing standpoint, it’s highly technical.

Wow. Okay, good to know. And so now you are live like you’re selling it on your website. Right?
And also in retail. So how do you manage the distribution then currently?
It’s out of our basement.

Yeah, it’s in house

Oh, no, that’s awesome. You hear about all the stories like Sarah Blakely started it out of her house and Yes, thanks. Right. Thanks. Yeah, yeah,

That’s us – Doing orders after work. In the mornings and on weekends, and that’s, that’s us. Yeah. Our mom Karen helps us out a lot with that, too. She yelling Yeah, fulfilling the orders for us.

Soon enough. You’ll have your own warehouse.

Yeah, we’re hoping we’re hoping sooner than later. It’s definitely Something that we foresee happening in the next year or two with just the demand.

Cool. Awesome. And so how are you driving awareness and trial over product right now?

That’s a great question. We’re learning as we go. None of us have really business backgrounds or marketing background. So we know that social media is a huge, huge driving force. And I think that that’s the big thing for us right now is brand awareness, right? Nobody can buy from you if they don’t even know you exist. And then also the, you know, there’s all these marketing companies wanting you to invest in them, to work with them. And right now, you know, we don’t really have the money. It’s not really in our budget. So we’re doing basically everything organically, and we do everything ourselves. So anywhere, so Facebook, social media, Instagram, social media, just getting out about in the community. We just recently attended the Modern Mom show in London. We’ll probably attend their market again at Christmas time. We attended the baby show about maybe eight months ago in the fall. So just really, really being patient. But growing organically and hopefully, you know, moms are happy with our product and it travels through word of mouth growth.

And then also too, retailers also help. So we partner with Snugglebugs on one of our products and we’re in talks to get in our products with them. Also the Ober company and the London breastfeeding boutique that our product is there and available for purchase so that helps with branding and brand awareness as well.

So for sure you’re right there in people’s faces. But organic growth can be a challenge. It might be worth for you to look at different people to share your message through social media.

What do you wish someone would have told you before starting this business?

I mean, I think we could probably both answer individually. But I think for me, it’s 24 seven. You know, even when I think something’s done, or you know, we’ve had a project completed, there’s probably about 101 other things that we could be doing. And with full time jobs, you kind of have to give yourself a little bit of a break that everything’s not going to happen instantaneously. And then the big thing that I think we talked about a little bit before was, there will be losses too. So it’s great to say you know, you’re going to win and you’re going to hit the ground running and everything’s going to go perfect, but those losses teach you a lot and, and that’s okay. So that’s what I, I wish somebody kind of just said, Hey, you know what, it’s okay if you make the wrong decision or spend the wrong amount of money on something or, you know, your manufacturer didn’t do something perfect.

At the end of the day, when you have your product in hand, it’s really going to be all worth it. Totally.

Yeah, that’s so true. Because I mean, we all make mistakes. And especially when you’re learning something new, there are going to be times when you just either make a mistake or things don’t go the way you want them to go. Some things are just out of your control as well. So you mentioned that is 24-7, which I can totally relate to in business – you’re doing a million things. And so how do you find that balance with basically having kids and having a full time job and also having a business?

Yeah, so balance has always been like a really big priority for me in my life. I’ve always kind of, you know, read people’s success stories from celebrities to other business owners. And for me when I really dig deep and you know, figure out what means the most to me and it, for me, it’s to have a little bit of everything. So I want to be a good mom, I want to be a good wife, I want to be a good family member, I want to be fit, I want to be healthy, I want to eat well, but not that well, like, still enjoy poutine or whatever, you know. So just that balance in my life has always been really, really important to me. And I think the same thing kind of just carried over into the business world, like I want to be successful. I want to run a company that helps support moms in such a critical time in their life. But I also realize that I have my own family, I have my own needs as a woman as a mother as a person. And I definitely make sure that I’m tending to all of those things, but it’s definitely a challenge and it doesn’t come easy. And you have to kind of sit back some days and say, okay, I’ve been doing too much of this or I haven’t been doing enough of that. And you know, I think we all question ourselves sometimes, you know, I’m a good enough teacher, did I spend enough time with that student or you know, You wish the kids to sleep and then when they’re sleeping, you’re like, oh, get up. So it’s constant. I think it’s just very important to be mindful, mindful of what’s going on in your life when and at the end of the day, what’s important to you like your core beliefs and Morals.

Yes, totally. And do you have any time management strategies that you use?

That’s so funny. That’s a great question. I’ve always been a very visual learner. So I’ve always I’ve never been the person to have calendar on their iPhone, I always I carry around a little day planner with me. Yeah, so funny. And I like to write everything down. So whatever my kids need to buy for them, or if I need to sign them up for swimming, or if this needs to be done in the business, I very much have that gratification when I get to check it off. But I don’t know the time management thing, I think at the end of the day, like I’m a big believer of you make time for what’s important for you. So for me going to the gym four times a week, is important. I’m pregnant with my third and I’m still going to the gym four times a week. So I think I just have that tough love approach. And if it’s important enough to you, you get it done.
Wow, that’s so good. I can learn from that. Yeah, and I totally relate to sort of the mom guilt feel – like you should be doing something but then you feel like you should be doing something else. Right?

Yeah. And that’s and that’s another big thing that our company is working towards is creating community and love and self care around that piece. And, and that’s another big driving force behind me is – people will say to me – you’re doing so well. You have two kids, you’re pregnant. You’re still going to the gym you’re still looking after yourself. I’m like, Yeah, of course. I matter to. I’m not just a mom, right? I’m a person to and I have needs and I think that we we’ve kind of missed the boat on motherhood. My mom has been a big advocate of that growing up and having three daughters and just being like – girls it’s really important to take care of yourself. That’s definitely a big driving force for me behind the business – is just supporting moms while they become mothers to not stop taking care of themselves.

So beautiful. Yeah, I think you’re right. Like it’s easy to stop taking care of yourself. And I noticed it for me anyway, I get so stressed, I can’t think straight and things just go downhill. And it’s so important and sometimes we lose track of that because everything’s getting in the way. But for sure fitness and wellness is huge part of being balanced and just feeling good about yourself.

Yeah. And that gratification too I think when we talk about the time management piece and the list, and the Hundred and One things to do. If you have the Hundred and One things to do, and you work full time and you’ve got kids at home and that sort of thing, do five, spend an hour, sit in the office, do five, check them off. You’ll feel so much better just doing that and you’ll get to the rest you will so it is tough, but like Alicia said, you will make time for those things that are really, really important. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. But when you’re running a business on the side, take that hour a night and sit down and get those things done. And I think too – I have to add it. I had heard this quote that basically said the more people who love your children, the better and it kind of always resonated with me and I need to actually remind myself more of it often, but just the concept of the childcare provider. We use home daycare, but if the kids are with the daycare or if your kids are with their grandparents or their aunt or your husband, it’s okay. And it’s good for them. Right? Like they, they don’t always need you. And when you’re away from them growing, developing, nourishing yourself, that’s when you come back, and you’re the best mom that you can be.

So yeah, that’s right. You’re going to be a better mom.

Yeah, and I’d love to brand or company with that, as you know, don’t feel guilty for taking time for yourself. And it’s not just about going to the gym. It’s about reading a book. It’s about asking your husband, you need to go to Starbucks and have a coffee and just sit quiet for an hour. It’s not just the physical piece. It’s the self love piece of I need time to be me. Right.

Yeah, that’s great. I think if you make that a part of your brand, that would really resonate with moms.
Yeah. So that’s what we’re working on.

So actually going back to your family business, what are some of the benefits and challenges with being a co founder and also being in a family business?

Yeah, so good question. I definitely think that there’s, I mean, growing up to in our family, we don’t hold back anything. So there’s definitely times where we probably say things to each other that we wouldn’t say to our friend, which there’s pros and cons to that right. So there’s so much transparency working with your family. Because you’re not afraid to say anything. So that’s definitely a pro and a con at the same time because obviously you got personal and then people get hurt, but at the same time, everybody’s hurt so there’s that.
Yeah, no, I would pretty much echo the exact same thing. So yeah, I love that we can really just be honest with each other but you know, we have four women in our family. We have another sister too, but the three of us working together all the time when you spend that much time with someone and you really want your voice heard, and maybe there might be some things that we don’t exactly agree on. It’s great to have a family member to say, Hey, you know what, my, my opinion matters. I really want to get this done. And you might be a little bit more forceful. You can kind of just be super, super transparent. But then on the other side, three family members. So it gets I don’t want to say complicated, but it’s, it’s been great. So far, I think we’ve had our struggles that, you know, roller coaster of emotions, just when things don’t go great. on the business side. You know, what the manufacturing we kind of talked about a little bit. It’s just an added stress in the family dynamic as well. Right?

Right. You could you could never get away from it, then it’s all around you, with your family, probably talking about business and like a dinner table or whatever. Yeah,

Yeah. And I think to the financial side, we probably maxed out personal finances at this point where it’s like, we need to figure out what we’re doing next. Financially for the business too, which creates stress too, because we all have lives and we’re all working full time. So where’s this money magically going to appear from but we’re figuring out. Right?

And actually, that brings me to my next question. So what’s next for your business? Like, what do you see? Where do you see the growth?
So definitely, the growth is going to be through word of mouth and brand awareness. I think that’s our focus for this year is just getting out there being seen and making moms aware of our product. So within the community, running workshops, attending markets, so that definitely being one thing, and then too is partnering with a major retailer. So not a small retailer, but hopefully a big retailer that has presence all across Canada to help get our message out there.

Yeah, and we talked a little bit about manufacturing and design and some other products we’re working on. And so, you know, our two to five year goal is to be a full maternity activewear line. So we’re always thinking about, you know, six months, nine months, 12 months production schedules, what do we want to be doing next? So I think we should mention, we’re looking into doing a high waisted tight and possibly a top of some kind. So we’ve got some, you know, preliminary things we’re working on. We won’t give away everything right now. But that would be up next for sure. And we actually had a couple moms talking to us recently about, you know, expanding that line. And so it’s really interesting to hear, I’m getting that feedback from moms, that they would want to see that from us too. So that’s, that’s awesome.

That sounds super exciting. And I think you’ve done it right. You’ve started small and then you’re growing and then you’re looking to a retailer. So like a lot of people just want to jump right into going to a national chain or something. Quite a bit of risk right in the beginning.

Yeah. And it’s a learning curve. I mean, you want to make the small mistake small. If you’re going and jumping in if you’ve got that expertise, that’s great. But you know, from our end, it was kind of a brand new market for us and we’ve got work experience and life experience and our parents experience in their business being self-employed for that many years. But, you know, you really got to make and measure what you’re willing to risk and we really thought that we know we’ve got a good product, we know what we want to achieve. But you know, working with retailers is completely different from anything we’ve ever done before. So you know, what our price and what is the wholesale price and you know, all of these things that we wouldn’t even know then.

And then profit margins, right? Like a big thing for me is a lot of our competition. They sell their bras for $100. And I’m like, That’s crazy. Like I make a good living, you know, me and my husband make a good living and I’m like, I don’t want to pay $100 for a bribe. Lululemon doesn’t even charge that right. So making our product affordable and then but also then that factor coming into play with retailers because then there’s a huge, huge issue with profit margin versus being solely direct from e commerce.

Yeah, you want to make sure that you don’t undercut your retailer.
So it is a bit of a balancing act. And then we also want to I think, at the end of the day, like, I just want to keep in mind for our business, and it’s important to come back to is that, you know, we want to be there to support moms. And if that’s, you know, having our bras $10 cheaper so that they can afford it and be part of their postpartum fourth trimester journey, then, then then that’s a priority to us.

Oh, I think everyone’s gonna fall in love with you now. So tell us a little bit more about how people can find you and your product.

Yeah, for sure. So we have an awesome website www.bomaternity.com that’s BO and then maternity.com. And then we’re also on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Bomaternity. And it’s myself, Megan, Alicia and Karen, who will be interacting with you responding to your messages helping answer your questions. So we’re very much still, like Alicia said, in every part of the business and really love speaking to everybody. So please reach out. ask us any questions you want.

And feedback. We’re always wanting feedback. We’ve learned so much in the past year and a half, but especially about, you know, bust sizes and how there’s literally a million of them, just making sure that we’re developing a product and hearing our customers’ feedback on what they like, what they don’t like, what they need, and we always want to be listening. Yeah, they’re great.
I love it. And so we’re going to put it on the show notes.

Be sure to look out for these two ladies. I’m sure their product is going to be super successful. And that will see way more of them and their products in the future. So thank you both for joining this podcast. I’m so thrilled that you came on and I learned so much
Thanks so much. It’s been awesome talking to you. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you very much. It’s been it’s been wonderful. This is our first official podcast no shame in saying that we’re a startup and we’re learning. We’re growing. And we love collaborating with other local entrepreneurs, sharing and learning.
And actually, no shame because this is my first podcast as well.

That’s wonderful. Well, take care and we wish you the best of luck and we’ll stay in touch you too.