Whole World Baby

Sometimes when I consider the fueling motto of our company, “Family First,” I realize how fundamentally sensitive a company we are.  And feminine—it’s so motherly.  This surely isn’t a motto that will drive the bottom line, or one that will even force a deadline.  And most definitely isn’t the primary tenet of capitalism.  Yet as a mother, I cannot imagine doing business any other way.   I consider an email from my partner Stacey just today saying that she can’t do our weekly meeting on Friday because her family needs to spend time together—and neither Adrianne, our third partner, nor I even question—enough said.

As three mothers, this ideology was the first we hinged on—it was the corner stone of Whole World Baby, and although perhaps it has slowed our productivity and certainly hindered our focus, it marks the only kind of company of which I could be a part.  I’m a mother, first and foremost, and my first priority is keeping my family strong and healthy—because without that, who cares how much money you make or how productive you are?

And in a bigger picture, this “Family First” motto also lends itself quite obviously to our business model as a whole:  Giving back to the children of the world and taking care of our Mother Earth, our world, in the process.  The three of us feel a pull and obligation to put family (even if not our own) first in our business mission—by donating 25% of our profits directly to organizations around the world that foster, feed, protect, and educate children.   And we also put our family first by our commitment to be as green and eco-friendly as humanly possible, because our planet is the home to our global family.

I like to imagine what the world would be like if every company hummed to our motto—but then I realize that I just want my cell phone to function, just want my stove to work when I turn on the gas, just want my car to be reliable. Maybe “Family First,” in the sense of making family a priority over production, doesn’t need to be the motto for every company.