latte feb Page 18

business chicks latte magazine

cover story

on the right track; your kids know it; the people
working for you do too, but peer recognition is
very satisfying." Many of their advertisers have
supported the paper since the first issue. "All me-
dia is competitive and our advertisers say they
are constantly approached by our competitors. If
we weren't as responsible and good at what we
do, we would have lost market share by now."

But it is the impact their creation has on read-

ers that often pleases her most: "A woman came
into our office with a little girl and said, `I thought
you'd like to meet one of your success stories.
You have totally transformed my life.' She had
advertised for an egg donor in one of the maga-
zines and had given birth to a daughter."

Precious cargo: The Ergobaby

awaii-based clothing designer Karin Frost
created the Ergobaby child carrier after her

son's birth in 2001, simply because she couldn't
find one she liked. Committed to the attachment
parenting philosophy, Frost wanted to carry her
baby next to her body for his early years, but
found everything on the market at the time was
either uncomfortable or overly complicated.

She created the Ergobaby prototype on her

home sewing machine, and began to make carri-
ers on request for local parents in her neighbour-
hood, revising and updating the design based on
the feedback she would get from her customers.
Initially, her son would sit on her lap, on the floor

at her feet or on her desk as she worked, and

Frost relied heavily on her parents for child-

care. Otherwise, work fits around her family.

"It really tests your abilities to multi-task,"

she laughs. "The two major parts of my life

have been keeping the business going and

spending time with my son. Everything

else dropped away."

The current Ergobaby was launched com-

mercially in 2003 and business is booming. It is
distributed in 16 countries, including 190-plus
stores in Australia alone. Manufacturers in China
and India operate under Fair Trade Practices,
and the organic cotton range meets European
and US organic standards. In 2007, Ergobaby
was voted one of US Parenting Magazine's "20
Best Products in the Past 20 Years". "I'm told we
own 38 percent of the market share in baby car-
riers. Our biggest competitor is the Baby Bjorn,"
Frost says.

Timing has played a part in her success, she

says. "We rode the wave of momentum of par-
ents who wanted to shift to a more attachment
parenting paradigm. Fathers want to be more
involved in the daily upbringing of their children
and mothers need to continue to be productive in
their daily routines."

The word-of-mouth marketing among parents

has been "incredible," she says. "When you have
a baby, you look to other parents with experience
for information. I get a buzz out of sitting halfway
around the world and seeing a parent and child
happily using the Ergobaby carrier."

All play and no work: Small Fry

he creators of the Small Fry books moth-
ers' group mates Susie Cameron and Katrina

Crook, wrote and illustrated their terrific kids'
activities series because they wanted the resourc-
es themselves. "We wrote the books we wanted
to read, as parents," Cameron explains. Writing
was also a way to structure work around their
children Cameron's sons Oliver and Phoenix,
and Crook's children Aiden and Saskia, and they
were involved from the beginning.

"We set up the first playdate, Katrina (a cinema-

tographer and photographer) took a few shots.

Susie Cameron and Katrina Crook with their children

Initially,

her son

would sit

on her lap,

on the floor

at her feet

or on her

desk as she

worked

Gillian Hund with her family