Whole World Baby

We invited to our Whole World Baby launch party a community of like-minded women to celebrate our new mark on baby fashion, but it transcended headscarves for kids and became an uplifting celebration of innovative, powerful women making their mark on the world. One special woman, who is perfectly in line with the women we gathered at our launch is actress, filmmaker, green advocate, mother, Alysia Reiner. But living on the east coast, being a mom to an adorable one year old daughter, Livia, and attending a film festival to celebrate a film in which she wrote, produced, and starred are pretty good reasons not to be able to make the launch, so she’s off the hook.

Alysia Reiner at the Hamptons Int'l Film Festival with her one-year-old daughter, Livia, wearing a WWooBie in "Silver Spots with Cherry Dots"

Alysia is one of those women who lives what she believes – she and her actor husband, David Alan Basche, have been tireless advocates of sustainable living long before it was trendy, even being featured in a web series for “Dwell” magazine throughout the green renovation of their Harlem brownstone.

And in addition to her impressive acting credits (which include The Vicious Kind, Sideways, Starter Wife, 30 Rock, Sopranos, just to name a few). Alysia recently added the role of “Mother” to her resume, giving birth a year ago to her ridiculously beautiful daughter, Livia Charles. You’d think that would be enough to keep a lady busy, but she can now add “Writer and  Producer” to her growing list.

Alysia’s film, “Speed Grieving” was inspired by her experience with the death of her father in a rapid battle with cancer.  The hope is that it can serve others as they deal with the unpredictable and seldom talked-about process of dealing with the loss of a loved one. And the goal is that it will be used in clinics, hospitals, and hospices to make grief a little less lonely for those suffering and serve as a reminder that staying PRESENT is the most serene way out of the disorienting black hole of grief.

At our launch party, we raised our glasses to women who are using their unique talents to bring change to the world, so to Alysia, who wasn’t able to be there – here’s to you – a true innovator, passionate mother, relentless activist, inspiring artist, and DIVERSIFIER. Bravo!

She’s a reminder to women everywhere to live passionately and out loud – there’s no better way to teach our children than by example. I’m sure she’s made her Pops so very proud.

What do you get when you combine a group of amazing women, tasty food, stimulating conversation and fashion with compassion? A beautiful day filled with moms, grand moms, green chefs, Douala’s, organic living coaches,business gurus,skincare experts, television writers, jewelry designers, real estate experts, artists, documentarians and more! This launch began as our way to celebrate our ” Little Engine That Could”.

It became a day about so much more than headscarves for babies as our children’s aid organizations and charities took center stage. Hannah from Friends of El Faro opened the flood gates when she spoke with such passion and heart about her work at the orphanage and her personal connection to this group.

One after the other, the women gathered at our table shared the different ways that they are effecting their world. Whether raising their children, producing media that informs or entertains, volunteering  or making other women feel beautiful this day proved how powerfully woman in our community are living. It was a day where the women left their babies ( literal little ones, husbands or projects!) at home and celebrated one another.

Gia, our first sewer spoke so beautifully about why she felt a part of the Whole World Baby family. This was a chance to look at a lauch differently; a chance to make it about the world of the women gathered together. It was so wonderful and so many powerful and productive connections were made that we just might do it again.

We envision a gathering of women where as we raise a glass and break bread in honor of each other we are also perusing booths filled with all of our efforts. Just imagine baby clothes, organic products, green cookbooks, life coaches, marketing experts, arts and crafts and more. Stay tuned; we’ve launched upon the strength of these women’s wings and landed with our feet firmly on the ground ready to walk a path into the Whole World.

So, here we go! This Sunday we are celebrating our official launch with an afternoon of champagne, casseroles and women changing the world. We’ve invited a group of remarkable women in our community who have supported our journey to get WWooBies headscarves for babies and kids, out into the world.

These women are artists, activists, businesswomen, mothers and eco friendly. Our intention is to not only share Whole World Baby with our community but to celebrate the wonderful work these women are doing in their own lives. This will be an opportunity to share samples, stories and business ideas among a group of women who support one another and may have creative ways to get the word out about new ideas.

Just like our business, this day is about the family, friends and community members who have been there along the way and those like minded women we look forward to getting to know. It’s a day to leave the babies and kids with dad, grand mom or a favorite sitter and relax, converse and celebrate!  Sometimes we just have to find a good reason to connect with other women; even if the meeting is not always organic at least the product we’re launching is.

This is so much more than baby fashion however; it’s about powerful women, innovative Charities and making a difference in our world. Trendy baby clothes are always fun and this week we hope to prove that women changing the world one project, one unique baby gift or even one diaper at a time can be too!

I wonder how many times a day I think, “I’m overwhelmed.”  It seems like my mantra sometimes– I swear it pops in my brain at least four times before lunch rolls around.  I remember feeling that way before I had a baby, but oh my my is it a different ballgame now.

Adrianne | Jama | Stacey

Literally just shopping, cooking, and cleaning for your family is like a full-time Groundhog Day, and that’s just the basic layer.  Tack on kid classes and activities, (in my case) preparing for and executing auditions, constantly fielding emails and tasks for Whole World Baby – add to that the panic-inducing feeling that you haven’t done enough regarding bottle-weaning, potty-training, and pre-school preparation, and God forbid you want to go to yoga or the gym and have your hair cut and colored every so often, and BAM – there it is again, “I feel overwhelmed.” And I only have ONE child.  All women that juggle more than one are absolute heroes in my book and deserve a trophy of some kind.  And I have the audacity to hope to be so lauded one day. Humphh.

And I recall when I started Whole World Baby and my husband Curtis warned me that it might add an extra level of stress to my life that at the time, he didn’t have so much confidence that I could handle.  (In his defense I was crying daily about how overwhelmed I was by Addy’s incessant breastfeeding needs and complete disregard for my sleep.)

But something in me knew I HAD to – that somehow THIS would make everything okay. And you know what?  It does. Yes, it adds a dimension of stress to my life with the responsibilities and time commitment it takes to start up any small business…but our mission is not small.  And just by merely joining forces with my remarkable partners, Stacey and Adrianne, is like my version of going to church.  I’m consistently inspired, my compassion is constantly deepened, and my mind is forever expanding because of these two spectacular ladies and because of the vision we share.

Whole World Baby feels like service work – yes, we are hoping to pioneer a new line of baby fashion with our trendy, eco-friendly headscarves, but our business model is something loftier in our service to our nine children’s charities.  And we hope that these headscarves, albeit a cool kids fashion accessory, can take on a deeper meaning—a badge of honor if you will — a symbol that stands up for kids everywhere. And something about service doesn’t drain you – it has an energizing effect, actually — so even if I don’t have time to go to the gym, dipping into my partner’s reservoir of love, passion, and enthusiasm for this cause that we’ve adopted is like a full-body and soul workout.  And that leaves me the opposite of overwhelmed. I feel at peace.

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.

The last 21 months, 30 if you include my pregnancy I’ve been trying to let go of who I was and figure out who I am becoming. Once an artist and activist who traveled the world doing both, I find myself in strange new territory. I have started a business with two powerful women who are equally dedicated to both motherhood and creating a world that works for everyone. This business allows us to work at home with our daughters nearby while still having a far reach out into the world. We sell darling eco friendly organic headscarves for babies with 25% donated to children’s aid organizations around the globe. What we are really selling however is a new era. We are women selling the idea that it is possible to be hands on mothers, artists, businesswomen and still leave the world a better place for our children. It sounded so simple when we began; every day since has been a joyous challenge to make that idea a reality.

My two partners, a Broadway actress and an Architect for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have led adventurous lives. None of us had ever started a business before and we each had our reasons to try now. Those reasons ranged from leaving a legacy for our daughters, paying our bills doing something we loved, to making a difference in the world while sharing this unique fashion accessory that had people stopping us on every street corner to admire. Our startup business was slow but our patience was endless. Diapers, nursing, runny noses and noisy children seemed to halt our every effort but there is no tenacity and reserve of energy in the world like those of a mother. There was a silent agreement between the three of us, family first, which kept us from blowing up each time we missed a deadline or forgot a conference call. It contrasted sharply with my work with women who were not mothers. Not better or worse just different. There was a softness that had long been missing in my life after years of hard driving and ambitious living to become something worthwhile.

It struck me one day in the midst of trying to juggle motherhood and business that many women had paid a high price for my chance to participate in that struggle. I thought of the women in the 1950’s and 60’s who mothered a generation day in and day out with absolutely no choice of any other life. It was their “duty” to bake pies, mend hems and serve dinners while many a life’s dream to dance, travel or run a business quietly disappeared into the night. Then I thought of the women in my mother’s generation, many of whom were single mothers in the divorce boom of the 70’s and 80’s who wanted nothing more than to be home with their babies but had to work the early shift, late shift or pull a double. I thought of the women on the forefront of the women’s lib movement who fought the hard and won the battle so my partners and I could make the choices we were making today.  One generation had to sacrifice their dreams of a life outside the home while the next often had to sacrifice their dreams of life within the home.

Now, every time I sit down for a Whole World Baby meeting with my babe at breast while my one partner’s babe is gleefully hanging off the banister for the 3^rd time and my other partner is juggling her full time job and phone calls from 3 teenage daughters, I smile. I smile in spite of the chaos because I recognize that I am becoming one of the women who is paving the way for our daughters choices. I am consciously parenting my daughter and serving dinners (although I have yet to bake a pie or mend a hem) and not one ounce of resentment or a sense lost dreams runs through my veins. I am creating a business from the ground up with two strong, opinionated and passionate women and loving every minute of it while still being there for my daughter’s first steps, first words and first days. There are still days when I feel lost and overwhelmed but those days are eased with the knowledge that it is possible to have both realized dreams and fulfilled daughters. On those days I feel the millions of mothers who came before me cheering me on somewhere in the distance and I feel grateful.     

Stacey Martino