July’s member spotlight features Carrie Pollak, owner of Diaper Stork, who is bringing a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation to The Inc. A savvy drive and unique skill set has assisted her in purchasing, relaunching and scaling an environmentally and socially-conscious cloth diapering business in the Puget Sound. I spoke with Carrie to find out more about how she set out to create a new, more flexible professional life while working at The Inc.
Carrie joined The Inc. Green Lake in November 2017, soon after her daughter turned one. She was still on her maternity leave and figuring out next steps after being at home with her daughter. She was no longer interested in a full-time corporate job and had always desired to have her own business. She had a handful of business ideas for a startup, but as a new mom, she did not have the time and energy level to dedicate to a startup. Given her impressive work experience and background (Mechanical Engineering degree from Cornell, MBA from Northwestern University, over a decade of work experience at Amazon), Carrie realized that purchasing, scaling and improving a business would be the perfect fit for her skill set and expertise.
While researching potential businesses for sale during a work session at The Inc., Carrie discovered Diaper Stork, a Seattle-based cloth diaper service. “I thought it would be a really great fit. The previous owner started Diaper Stork in 2014 and was a full time caretaker for her daughter.” Carrie said.
Having cloth-diapered her own daughter, Carrie was very interested in the business from the get-go, but she also liked that Diaper Stork could give her flexibility and freedom to be at home mostly with her daughter. She felt it was a great business opportunity to invest in a product and business she cares about so she soon took over Diaper Stork. Carrie explains, “I’m passionate about a product that is convenient, good for the environment and community-oriented and a service that has a social and environmental impact.”
With a new business to grow and a toddler in tow, Carrie set up a regular, yet flexible work routine for her and her daughter at The Inc. Green Lake where they go four days a week. Carrie shares about her daughter's experience, “She squeals when we arrive, and is super excited about the toddler playroom. It makes it very easy for me to have this space to come to work because I know she’s happy. My favorite time of the day is when the toddlers waddle out in a line holding hands as they walk to play-time outside. It’s the cutest time!”
While her daughter happily plays in the The Inc.’s toddler room, Carrie focuses on customer service and operations of Diaper Stork and makes sure she’s carrying out its vision and mission. “At Diaper Stork, our mission is to allow families to make conscientious choices for their baby and the environment.” Carrie says. “I believe in the reuse and sharing economy. This service allow families to choose both convenience and the environment versus one or the other. Whatever your reasons for choosing cloth, we want to help make cloth diapering accessible, convenient, and easy to stick with. It’s a great option for diapering.”
Carrie is motivated to fulfill a long-term vision to have Diaper Stork offer more services and product offerings and expand to more regions. She is constantly asking, “How can we have more products to recycle within these families and within this community?”
We look forward to watching Diaper Stork continue to flourish under Carrie’s leadership. It’s amazing to see what parents can accomplish when we have the work space and time to laser focus on our goals and dreams. Carrie’s story is a prime example of what we hope the Inc. can do for you too!
Learn more about Diaper Stork at http://www.diaperstork.com/ or follow Diaper Stork at https://www.facebook.com/diaperstork/ If you have any cloth-diapering questions, email Diaper Stork directly at service@diaperstork.com
Thanks for reading!
- Lauren Watkins: readtowriteblog.com, IG @readtowriteblog
