Inspiration can come from anywhere, often at the most surprising or unexpected times. For the women highlighted in a recent article by Claire Gauen in Washington Magazine, the challenges of motherhood inspired their ventures, leading to successful companies aiming to help with a variety of pregnancy and parenthood-related solutions.

As the university-hub of innovation and entrepreneurship at WashU, the Skandalaris Center is proud to see founders leaning into their personal experiences and creating a lasting impact. Read more below:

One late night 10 years ago, Chelsea Hirschhorn, AB ’06, struggled to settle her sick infant back to sleep. She tried clearing the baby’s congestion with a hospital-provided bulb syringe, but she found it hard to manage — not to mention gross.

After a few more stressful, sleepless hours, she remembered a different kind of aspirator stashed in the medicine cabinet. Hirschhorn’s Swedish neighbor had placed the package in the mailbox months earlier, a sweet gesture for a first-time mom. It was worth a shot.

The superiority of the Swedish snot-sucker was immediately obvious. “This is crazy that no one told me about this,” Hirschhorn thought at the time. Why didn’t all parents have access to a basic item that could make a necessary, and frankly disgusting, task so much easier?

Now CEO of Frida, as well as a mom of four, Hirschhorn provides fertility, baby hygiene and postpartum care products far beyond the flagship NoseFrida. Frida products appear in tens of thousands of retail stores, from Target to CVS, and in innumerable baby shower gift bags. Earlier this year, it was named a TIME100 most influential company.

And Hirschhorn is not the only Washington University in St. Louis graduate making strides through entrepreneurship to improve the lives of caregivers.

Sara Reardon, AB ’04, DPT ’07, has built a massive online following devoted to her clinical specialty, pelvic floor health. Through her brand The Vagina Whisperer, she provides exercise regimens and vital information to help women deal with pelvic floor problems, which often arise during pregnancy and childbirth. (She’s also been featured in TIME.)

Anita Rajendra, AB ’98, has founded two companies to help moms look and feel their best during and after pregnancy. She runs both La Belle Bump, a subscription-based maternity clothing company, as well as Mina & Vine, a brand of patent-pending nursing scarves.

Hirschhorn, Reardon and Rajendra offer different products or services, and they have pursued different business models for the companies they founded. But their journeys share two important threads: a WashU education and the personal, messy frontlines of motherhood. 

Continue reading the full article on The Source website.