Honoring 10 Women Making History During Women’s History Month
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we want to take some time to celebrate these ten women who are making history now in their businesses, leadership roles, and lives.
Reagan Moya, founder of aden + anais
In 2006, Reagan Moya launched the baby blanket company aden + anais, which now makes more than $100 million in annual revenue. The baby lifestyle brand is globally recognized for its high-quality design-driven muslin swaddles and baby products. Raegan continued to work full-time in her sales role at The Economist Group until May 2009, when she left to run aden + anais in a full-time capacity as the brand’s sole owner, eventually selling the company in 2013 and continuing on as CEO until 2017.
Reagan is the author of the book What it Takes – the story of her entrepreneurial journey from the kitchen table to a 100 million dollar global business, published by Penguin Random. Currently, Raegan resides in Australia with her four daughters.
Carol Mehas, founder and CEO of ArbOUR Products
Carol Mehas is a mom of three (four if you count her dog). A former senior product development and marketing executive at L’Oreal, Sephora, and Estée Lauder. She's a lifelong seeker of “a better way” and a true believer that connecting good ideas and good people creates amazing innovations. An accidental introduction to an Ohio-based, family-owned company sparked an idea to bring commercial-grade cleaning products to every American household.
Teaming up with fellow lifelong entrepreneur Lisa LaBanc, who was working to provide sanitizing solutions for school systems across the U.S. and had begun making commercial-grade products safe for home use, all formulated, filled, and finished in the state of Ohio.
Together with creative force Jen DeLeonardi, this founding team is bringing the vision of arbOUR Products to life. (The rest is cleaning history.)
Fran Maier, CEO and Founder of BabyQuip
Fran formed BabyQuip in 2016 Prior to BabyQuip, Fran is best known for her 10+ years leading TRUSTe (now TrustArc), the leading privacy trustmark and solutions provider, and her role as Co-Founder and first General Manager of Match.com, the earliest and most successful dating platform. She has been active as an advisor to start-ups, many led by female entrepreneurs, as well as being an angel investor. Fran is a graduate of Stanford University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Fran is also an Airbnb "Superhost" in both San Francisco and Santa Fe and has first-hand knowledge of the need for baby gear for traveling families, as well as the importance of personalized service. "I love BabyQuip because I know how precious it is for families to enjoy their time together and because we help women make some extra money for their own families on our platform. It really reminds me of Match.com because we are creating a new category, and everyone is so grateful!"
Fran was recently featured on Forbes in the article Latina Founder Overcame Sexism And Ageism To Raise $8.5 M, Now She Faces VCs Spooked By The Collapse Of SVB, which speaks to her extensive entrepreneurial grit and experience, as well as her thoughts on surviving and thriving in the current economic climate.
Lori Caden, Founder of Belly Bandit
Lori Caden, one of the co-founders of Belly Bandit, had recently given birth and was struggling to regain her confidence. Armed with an abundance of empathy, sisters Jodi and Kari joined her in seeking a solution to her postpartum body blues. In 2008, their research, perseverance, and sisterly support resulted in the creation of Belly Bandit and the postpartum compression Belly Wraps that would revolutionize the body after-baby marketplace. Doctor-recommended and mom-endorsed, the Belly Wraps modernized the ancient practice of belly binding and quickly turned Belly Bandit into a new mom must-have.
Lori’s tears spurred the creation of Belly Bandit. Still, it was the combined passion and dedication to innovation that has led the "sister-preneurs of shapewear" on a mission to empower all women to look and feel their absolute best — before, during, and after pregnancy.
Jen Fuller, Founder and CEO of Etta Loves
Founder of innovative baby sensory brand Etta Loves, Jen started the company when she realized that the majority of baby brands didn’t take into account babies' cognitive stages and ability to take in visual stimuli. Etta Loves creates science-led baby essentials to support visual and cognitive development. Babies are mesmerized, and parents benefit from a moment of calm.
Janet Rae Orth, Clairvoyant Consultant, and Author
Janet Rae Orth is an internationally known clairvoyant and consultant. She brings more than 25 years of experience as an intuitive leader and decision-maker to her lectures and training in meditation, intuition, and clairvoyant awareness. As a teacher and facilitator, Janet specializes in the use of guided meditative imagery to help individuals validate their own intuitive information, release fear, and create change. Janet uses her gift of clairvoyance and her skills as a spiritual counselor to help others gain more insight, clarity, and understanding in their own lives. She also does healing energy work to help individuals release blocked energy and experience greater peace and wellness.
Meghan Quinn, Bestselling Author
#1 Amazon and USA Today Bestselling Author, wife, adoptive mother, and peanut butter lover. Author of romantic comedies and contemporary romance, Meghan Quinn brings readers the perfect combination of heart, humor, and heat in every book. Check out a few of Meghan’s latest releases, including Runaway Groomsman, Vacation Wars (4/18/23), and Right Time Right Man.
Joy Kosak, Co-Founder and Owner of Simple Wishes
Joy founded Simple Wishes more than ten years ago when she and her sister were working moms with young children and were burnt out on the amount of time they were forced to spend pumping in order to feed their babies. The nursing apparel and intimates company began with a Simple Wish; the desire to spend less time pumping and still continue breastfeeding. The company has expanded to include more than its first product, an adjustable hands-free pumping bra, to offer a number of nursing-focused products.
Susie Stubbs, Founder of Totter + Tumble
After her second child was born, Susie and her husband poured their hard-earned money into making a big, family-friendly kitchen on their little London terrace. She was so disappointed with the baby product options on the market for playtime and the lack of options that would complement the decor of their newly remodeled home. The headache-inducing primary colors and the low-quality disintegration of the foam highlighted the short shelf life of these playtime products. She launched Totter + Tumble to create a playmat option for parents that was beautiful, in the home, simple, and high quality.
Kristina Godfrey, President and Founder of Godfrey Social PR
Our own fearless leader is a female founder that not only has developed a thriving PR business over the past twenty-five years but she’s also done it while raising a family and supporting women business owners. She’s passionate about helping women see and meet their potential. Our team at GSPR is a small yet mighty bunch of women who are talented, driven, and supportive. We are given the autonomy and support from Kristina to thrive and grow. She truly is the ultimate woman leader making history now.
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