Once upon a time Croydon girl Kelly Wall discovered her very best friend, who lived far, far away in the red dirt of Broome, was pregnant. Being all the way down in Victoria Kelly wanted to send a package full of TLC for her bestie, but alas every gift she found was old-school and not very fun at all. ‘Just because women have babies doesn’t mean they have to lose their identity and become giant dags!’ she exclaimed.
So she searched high and low, far and wide to find all of the very best items from around Australia, then she wrapped them in super fun packaging and shipped them all the way to Broome. Her friend was ecstatic and said ‘You are the best friend ever and you should create these for all the mamas out there.’ So she did. And Hello Mama was born!
Firstly can you tell us a little about yourself and your family?
There are 4 of us at the moment, soon to be 5. That includes myself, my lovely husband, our 18 month old son Tex and our crazy Labradoodle- Stanley. I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and expecting our newest arrival mid-Feb!
What were you doing before you started Hello Mama?
I was teaching English in a secondary school. Hence my aversion to bad spelling and grammar. Eeek! I also slept, like a lot. And ate out at fancy restaurants and washed my hair.
You were frustrated you couldn’t find the right gift for your friend, but starting a whole business based around this is a big move. Did you grow gradually or just jump straight in the deep end?
Well very typically, I did jump in head first and really go for it. I think you need to go with the momentum when launching a new business.
But I think as time went on, and my son’s needs were more demanding (plus a pregnancy thrown on top), I learnt to take things a little more slowly and step back a little.
You’re now a mum to little Tex. How old is he and how do you manage running a business, working part time and juggling parenthood?
Well that’s the golden question isn’t it?
Tex is 18 months old and has decided that climbing on anything and everything (the more death defying the better) will be his hobby from now on. It’s definitely a struggle on somedays, but I’ve learnt to leave chunks of my day allocated to the business and try to let the rest of the day be about focusing on our family.
Also the Wiggles are pretty good for getting things done, ‘Fruit Salad? Yummy Yummy….’
How do you go about sourcing new products for your gift boxes. Do you try to support local up and coming brands?
Yes we love supporting local businesses and are always on the look out for something a little different that would suit the Hello Mama style. Let’s face it, the market is flooded with baby items but I think we are so fortunate to have high quality and unique products created by some incredibly talented Australian businesses.
What advice would you give mums who are considering starting a business?
Be kind to yourself! It won’t all happen overnight and you’ll have days where you can’t possibly keep everyone happy. And that’s fine! It’s all about balance and understanding that running a business as a mum is a whole new league of busy.
There are a lot of online businesses out there today. What do you do to make sure you stand out from the crowd?
Hello Mama has had a fairly strong brand identity right from the beginning and I’ve always tried to stay true to that. We are fun and quirky and try not to conform to the traditional baby and mum gifts that are out there.
Have you got any funny stories about being a mum you’d care to share?
I’m just going to say “Aqua Poo” and leave it at that.
What can we expect next from Hello Mama?
We have some great competitions to keep an eye out for leading up to Christmas.
I’ll personally be laying around like a giant human watermelon until this baby arrives… But we have some exciting new products lined up for 2018 which I can’t wait to share.
And finally where can we find all the Hello Mama goodness?
Website:www.hellomama.com.au
Insta: @hellomama_au