We recently connected with Kristi Hayes-Devlin and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristi, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

In 2010, I was a babywearing educator and an entrepreneur with an internationally recognized baby carrier brand. I had been in business for 6 years when the US law governing children’s products was overhauled with the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, and it was immediately clear that it was going to incredibly expensive and complicated for tiny businesses like mine to comply with the new regulations.

In the spring of 2010, I decided to found the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance, of which I’m now the executive director. I had a vision, but I had never been a part of such an organization and I had no idea what a huge impact our work would have. The BCIA is one of the proudest accomplishments of my career.

The new regulations were daunting. Several brands closed their doors in response to the legislation; compliance was expensive and complex. I considered shuttering Wrapsody, my own brand of carriers. Fortunately, I had close colleagues in the industry, and we began collaborating to understand the regulations. Through these conversations I realized that pooling our resources formally would keep our work alive, and so our trade organization, the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance, was born.

My vision was to create a collaborative, international organization that would support baby carrier businesses of all kinds — educators, boutique stores that stocked carriers, brand owners and manufacturers, and distributors. I found an attorney and tapped 11 colleagues from the US and Canada to form a board. I flew from Maine to Idaho to attend a babywearing conference at 37.5 weeks pregnant in order to hold our first organizational meeting — and luckily, I did NOT have the baby while I was there!

Within 3 months, we were fully operational — our attorney said he’d never seen anything similar come together so quickly. We worked with the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) to educate them about our product categories. We created a robust program that allowed even the smallest businesses to meet the complex product registration, testing, and other requirements.

Since 2010, the BCIA has been an international business organization resource supporting baby carrier innovation and babywearing education. Being carried is crucial to infant development, and quality baby carriers allow parents to meet their babies’ needs while taking care of themselves and other children.

In 2022, I stepped in as the executive director after Linnea Catalan, who’d been with the BCIA for 10 years, moved to another organization. I, myself, had stepped out of the carrying industry for about two years, and it’s been a challenging year in a rapidly changing landscape for baby carriers. But it’s also been such a joy to reconnect with the babywearing industry and the amazing people doing the work.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

The BCIA grew out of my work as a baby wrap manufacturer. I had my first child in 1999 and carried them in a sling as soon as we left the hospital. When I had a second baby, I carried him, too. After my third child was born, I needed to bring in income, and my passion for infant attachment and baby carriers lent itself naturally to starting a baby carrier business in 2004.

At first, my baby wraps were hand-dyed pieces of art, but as demand increased, I added more products, such as the first-of-its kind baby wrap for water, and I began working with a batik maker and vertical manufacturer in Bali, Indonesia to make my baby wraps. I went from 4 wholesale clients to over 100 worldwide in just a few years.

During the 14 years I ran my business, I also worked as a carrying consultant and babywearing educator in my local community, teaching parents and health workers the nuances of babywearing. I was invited to speak at parenting and carrying conferences about infant carrying, parenting, and business marketing and development. I was fortunate to become a certified babywearing educator through the Center for Babywearing Studies and to learn from professionals all over the world and incorporate that knowledge into my work.

Looking back at my babywearing career, the idea that tens of thousands of babies have been carried by wraps that I designed and packaged and shipped with my own hands brings me an inordinate sense of pride and connection. The impact that babywearing has on both children and parents cannot be overstated, and I’m grateful to have played that role in so many families’ lives.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2017, I became a single mother to five children ranging in age from 5 to 18. My childrens’ father was unemployed for a significant period of time after we separated and it became clear that both they and I would need access to health insurance.

During that time, I was recruited by a lifestyle brand to manage their baby carrier sales in the US, but I needed to sell my company prior to starting the position. It was an excellent opportunity to work with an incredible sales team, so reluctantly, I passed my company on and stepped into working for a large corporation for the first time in my adult life.

It was a huge transition for both myself and for my children to have me working outside the home, and it involved a great deal of travel, but I learned a lot about myself and about business and program development, and it was an invaluable experience that I would choose again.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your firm or practice?

Although the BCIA is a trade organization, I founded it with a nonprofit mindset. I wanted to work fast, so I asked each of our founding board members to pay an equal portion of the attorney’s fees. We all had a vested interest in establishing the organization so that we could ensure we could comply with the new regulations.

As soon as we were an officially established trade organization, we ran a strong grassroots communication and marketing campaign and garnered members quickly — not only brand manufacturers, but healthcare workers, babywearing educators, and store owners.

Our funds did not only come from business members. We raised thousands in funds from parents who had benefited from baby carriers and valued the entrepreneurs whose carriers they loved. It was a beautiful collective effort to ensure our small industry of kitchen table and microbusinesses could continue to thrive and grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://babycarrierindustryalliance.org
• Instagram: @babycarrierindustryalliance
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/babycarrierindustryalliance
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/baby-carrier-industry-alliance/
• Youtube: https://www.linkedin.com/company/baby-carrier-industry-alliance/