We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chie Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.
My family has been at the center of my business since its inception. My blog, Mommafied started as a personal blog, documenting my journey as a 40-year-old new mom of two, juggling new mom life, work, helping my children navigate allergies, and a cross country move. It became a calming and creative way for me to connect with other moms.
Ironically, Mommafied really started to bloom in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. At the time, in addition to blogging, I was working long hours, juggling two jobs from home, and homeschooling our children at the time. It was an incredibly stressful time for our family. Honestly, I felt like I was drowning, and I didn’t see a lot of solutions for burned out moms. I decided that I was going to take better care of my health, for the sake of my family, and turned my blog into a safe space for just that. I started focusing on wellness for moms, how to overcome burnout, meditation and shifting our mindset, how to sustain work/life balance, showcasing at-home workouts and my transition to vegan life. It soon grew into a community that normalized Moms putting on their oxygen masks first.
During this process my daughter, who was 6-years-old at the time, noticed how sleep deprived I was. She’s always been highly observant and ahead of the curve. She’d been wearing a cute little colorful sleep mask that she found at a toy store. She suggested that I wear it. I thought that it was a sweet idea, but initially shooed her off, not realizing how impactful it could be. Finally, after she insisted a few more times, I tried sleeping with it, and the experience was transformative. I realized that my daughter was onto something.
I did some research on the benefits of sleep masks, which include maximizing REM rest, the highest level and quality of rest that you can get. I decided to try designing our own masks, making a more comfortable fit for adults. At first it was a fun project that we did together. She would suggest designs, I’d figure out the tactical details. After sharing it with my Mommafied community, the idea of reclaiming rest as moms grew into a full line of sleep masks and sold out on Instagram.
We recently produced our third line of sleep masks. They have grown from having quirky, fun sayings printed on silk masks, to a cohesive line of vegan sleep masks, handmade here in Los Angeles out of bamboo silk, and a variety of prints. Our masks are now infused with fresh lavender for a relaxing experience. In addition to our online shop, we sell at pop up events and at Farmers Markets. Our customer base has grown from busy, sleep deprived moms to people from all walks of life who are interested in getting quality rest at home, while traveling or even while meditating.
My daughter is surely the inspiration behind my brand. In addition to motivating me and my husband to expand our business into a boutique shop that also carries plant-based wellness products by other women entrepreneurs, her enthusiasm helped her younger brother get more excited about the process of making our masks by helping select colors, designs, and patterns.
It is a family-fueled business, and I’m incredibly proud of that. I hope that my children learn that you can take an idea and create something really beautiful, something concrete that aligns with your values, and helps many people.
Entrepreneurship is not always linear and having a family run business is proof of that.There are times that I still struggle with prioritization, feeling overwhelmed and navigating the constant juggle of mom life and business life. But when I take a moment to settle and go within, I know that continuing on this journey is important because it fills me up with joy and purpose. It helps me model and teach my children the value of putting their health first, and sharing that mission with my fellow mom tribe, as we continue to see how powerful we can be as a community if we first nurture our own well-being.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Chie (pronounced Chia, like those powerful Chia seeds). I’m the creator of the brand Mommafied, a vegan blog and wellness shop. My goal is to help busy moms, who are struggling with how to create space for plant-based eating, maximize their time by sharing quick and simple vegan food and wellness solutions, so they can feel energized to the core.
Mommafied started as a personal blog in 2018 to document my journey as a 40-year-old new mom of two, juggling new mom life, work, and helping my children navigate allergies. In 2020, my blog focus shifted, after working multiple jobs, homeschooling, and experiencing burnout at the start of the pandemic. I was just plain unhappy and exhausted. I knew that I needed to make a deeper commitment to my wellbeing.
My blog became an outlet for me to document my health, wellness, and self-care journey. I shared what I learned about creating a more intentional life with other mothers. This included topics like sleep, work/life balance, postpartum fitness, and my decision to go vegan. It was all about learning and growing as a community of moms.
As my passion for vegan life grew, in 2022 I focused on offering plant-based solutions on the blog and in my wellness shop. You’ll find vegan-life content, tips, and recipes on my blog, and plant-based products in my wellness shop. This includes my homegrown, bamboo silk sleep masks, handmade here in Los Angeles, and soothing body and spirit vegan products made by other small, women-owned businesses.
What sets us apart from others is our strong passion to help moms navigate plant-based life with simplicity. While we may know of the benefits of adopting a plant-based lifestyle, making that shift with what we’re eating or the products that we use can often feel overwhelming or something that, as busy, working class folks, we just don’t have time for. We are here to simplify that process. We’re here to offer solutions that don’t require tons of time, ingredients, or the budget of a celebrity.
I am most proud of the growth of Mommafied, and how much it has changed to speak to the needs of mothers in a short period of time. What started as a content resource has grown into a niche product based business, which is highly focused on meeting the needs of women with limited time, but who have a desire to up their wellness, leveraging the power of plants. As a busy mom of two young children and business owner, I’m in the trenches right alongside the women that we serve. I can test what will work and what doesn’t in real time, and I’m grateful for that as it helps keep me connected to our customers.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
When I first started my entrepreneurial journey I was introduced to an incredible life and business coach named Kristy Hinds. She helps women entrepreneurs with small businesses learn how to step into their greatness. Kristy transformed my life by challenging me to think outside of my little bubble. I think that when you become a mother, by instinct, you want to protect and provide for your cubs. Oftentimes our sense of self can get lost in the process, and taking care of ourselves is put on the back burner. We start to operate in a little bubble of comfort that we feel works well for us at the time, but doesn’t serve us in the long run. We end up limiting ourselves and doubting our ability to operate outside of our comfort zone. Working with Kristy helped me unpack all of that, and it also made me unlearn a lot of the false narratives that I believed about myself.
I started my career in television journalism, a highly competitive field especially for Black women. When I started there were strict, unspoken guidelines on how we needed to wear our hair, appear and even speak. Oftentimes only one of us was hired at a station, and the level of rejection was thick. It caused me to believe untruths about myself, my appearance, and my abilities. I didn’t realize that I carried around the burden of these beliefs until I started working with Kristy, and voicing all of the reasons why I doubted myself and feared my entrepreneurial dreams, and pulled myself out of the game before I actually started.
I was working jobs that I knew were below my skill set because they were comfortable, and I feared popping that cozy bubble. I was actually scared of rejection and failure before it happened, which prevented me from exploring entrepreneur life until it was nearly forced upon me, until I had an idea that wouldn’t go away until I provided space for it. That was Mommafied, my vegan blog and wellness shop.
As women, sometimes we need the support of someone looking at us holistically from the outside in, to pop our little bubble and show us that we are not our past. We can emerge from the shadows of our experiences and use what was meant to destroy us as fuel to elevate us and help others along the way.
Kristy suggested a few books that changed my perspective. They included: Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, which encouraged me be inspired by change, instead fo fear it, and and You are a Badass by Jen Sincero, which filled me up with so much inspiration, it’s hard to pinpoint just one. I re-read that book whenever I need a boost of confidence and good energy. It is filled with jewels that inspire you to get back up, including bits like “Our entire experience on this planet is determined by how we choose to perceive our reality.” You can fall victim to your past or get busy redefining a better future. I’ve learned that every day, we get to choose.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I recently became a full-time entrepreneur and it’s been exciting, empowering and slightly scary! It is what I expected, and prepared for. When I first started my blog, it was a hobby. I published blog posts between feeding sessions with my children, on a weekend, or off chance that I had a few moments to spare after work. I’m a firm believer that you get out what you put in. I quickly realized that publishing haphazardly would garner haphazard results.
Once I created a firm schedule, I began to see more growth. This included waking up two hours before the rest of my family during the week, to work on my blog before starting my day, which consisted of school lunch prep, school and activity drop offs and pickups, and working a corporate job. By putting my passion first in the morning, I was able to meet the goals that I set for myself and it helped me hold myself accountable.
Once I created a product-sleep masks, which were an offshoot of my blog, it did some testing with my target audience before taking my product to market. This included having a pop-up event with family, sharing samples with my friends, getting feedback from my online community, and pitching investors. This helped me to tweak some of my product details, and expand my shop offerings before showcasing my products at events.
It helps to validate your journey and mission when people start to take notice. I’ve had an opportunity to collaborate with a variety of brands, which have included a vegan snack product made by another mompreneur, a family oriented greeting card company, a Black farmers market collective, and an amazing photographer who captured timeless photos of my children that I’ll always treasure.
I’ve met an incredible amount of women who have inspired me with their stories and trusted me as I’ve suggested products to help them along their wellness journey. I’ve also had a chance to work with companies that share my vision and are aligned with my values as a vegan entrepreneur. I’ve learned that it’s incredibly important to drill down into your niche. That is how you will find your tribe. They will be the ones that support you. I’m still in the process of testing, learning, and growing, and I’m sure that will be continuous.
This all came about after identifying a problem in my life, noticing the similarities that existed in other moms’ lives, and creating a sustainable solution.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mommafied.com
- Instagram: @getmommafied
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiedavis/