Interview With Baja Baby Owners

Posted by Abby Akin on

It’s not very often that you get an inside look into the company you love, but lucky for you, today you get to hear the story of Baja Baby and the two amazing women behind it all. I have the wonderful pleasure of working for Baja Baby and representing a company that is not only truthful in the way they produce their product and do business, but a company that was started by two mothers, friends, and incredible businesswomen.

Jen and Kelly are the two mamas behind the idea, creation, and success of Baja Baby. Below is an interview all about the owners, what inspires them, the day in the life of a momtrepreneur, their greatest successes and so much more. Read on to be inspired and fall even more in love with Baja Baby!

Where are you from?

Jen is originally from Northern Ireland and Kelly is from Lake Chelan, Washington.

What is your role at Baja Baby?

Jen is the brains behind ideas and marketing and Kelly is all things customer service and logistics.

Are you married? Any kids?

Both women are married. Jen has two young kiddos, a 9-year-old and 7-year-old, and two fur babies. Kelly has a 23-year-old 'kid' and one fur-baby.

Who inspires you?

Jen: “Anyone who juggles a family and a career is inspirational to me. It’s a difficult balance at the best of times and I get a lot of inspiration when I see females doing the best they can with the circumstances they have.”

Kelly: “My business partner Jenni.  She has multiple businesses, two young children and masters it all with such grace.  She is the idea person behind Baja Baby – we would be nothing without her.”

(Great answers ladies! Especially you Kelly. But you both are an inspiration to me!)

Do you have any hobbies?

Jen: “I love to travel; something that I haven’t done too much of since having babies. Most of my free time is spent with my family and doggies...I love baking with my kids and I’ve recently been doing quite a bit of home redecorating which I really enjoy.”

(Speaking of traveling, Jenni and her family are starting a new adventure this year by living fulltime in an RV and traveling with their kiddos!)

Kelly: “I love to workout – spinning, body sculpt, and bootcamp.  My favorite all-time thing to do is spend time with my family.”

Favorite food, and why?

Jen: “Sushi… all day long! Can’t beat freshly made, melt-in-your-mouth sushi. Living in Cabo, we are spoiled for choice here.”

Kelly: “Sushi!!!  It is fresh and healthy.

(I think it’s hilarious that they answered the same on this one!)  

What ignited your spark to start Baja Baby?

Jen: “I wanted to create something with my bestie! Kelly and I had ruminated over a couple of different business ideas over the years of dinners and laughs. We both bring very different skill sets to the table so I knew we could make a great team. Baja Baby was created one day while sitting in our sweat pants; we both have a love for quality products. Neither of us bats an eyelid at sending money on spa-quality skin and hair care for ourselves. I have an existing business which is a service-based company for babies; we thought it would be neat to pivot from that and develop a spa-level skincare line for kids.”

Kelly: “Jen and I had talked about starting a business together for a long time and we knew we would make a great team. Jen founded Baja Baby Gear years prior and it just made sense to keep the brand name somewhat similar and add to the business plan she had mastered. Baja Baby skincare was born.”

What was your initial vision for Baja Baby?

Jen: “The business was a spin-off from Baja Baby Gear – my local baby gear rental service here in Cabo.  We didn’t have that much knowledge about the actual manufacturing process at the time. We found a good manufacturer and worked on what we believed to be the best skin care products that we could. Within a year, we realized that our original offering was very good – but it wasn’t the best it could be. So, in 2016 we went back to the drawing board and changed everything so we could be the best.”

Kelly: “We wanted to provide the entire family with products produced from the highest quality ingredients. Our children deserve to be pampered too!”

How do you two know each other?

Jen: “Our husbands initiated a major bromance on the golf course over 8 years ago! Our friendship developed because of their friendship. Soon we were going out for double-dates; what tipped us over the edge was a 3 week  2-month stay at Kelly’s house! My husband and I and our then 1-year old son stayed at their house while our new house was getting remodeled. After wayyyy overstaying our welcome, we were still friends so I guess our family-level friendship was solidified at that point.”

Kelly: “Our husbands were the matchmakers. But once you got us together there was no stopping us!”

What is your background in?

Jen: “I went to school to become an esthetician and massage therapy. Developing this line of products has brought me back to those years of studying ingredients and formulations. I have a lot of experience in customer care and I generally love working with people”

Kelly: “My background is in sales. Prior to moving to Cabo San Lucas, I sold dental supplies for 18 years.”

Describe a typical day as a business owner?

Jen: “Recently I began home-schooling my children, so I am with my 4 and 6-year old until early afternoon doing school activities. I drop them off to do afternoon activities after lunch and that’s when I can get to work. I work on my businesses until it’s time for dinner. After putting the kids to bed, then I either get back to work or watch some Netflix!”

Kelli: “A typical day consists of working out, then all day at my desk handling all things customer service, logistics, and Amazon management. 

What has been your greatest success/failure as a business owner?

Jen: “I’m really proud of what we have achieved with our rebrand of Baja Baby and I consider that along with Kelly and I’s healthy friendship and business collaboration to be a great success. I have had many failures as a business owner, too many to list. I’m not going to sit here and say that I don’t regret any of them or that I wouldn’t change a thing – because I would. I wish I could go back and change many mistakes. Obviously, that’s not possible, so instead, I work really hard on making sure I don’t make the same mistakes repeatedly.”

Kelly: “My greatest success is the product that we have produced (thank you Jen). It truly is liquid gold. My greatest failure – where to begin -there are many! And we make them often, but that is how we got to where we are today. Owning your own business is scary, risky, stressful, hard, etc…. but you must go through the failures to really find the successes.”

If you could describe Baja Baby in one word, what would it be?

Jen: “LIQUID GOLD!”

Kelly: “SUPERIOR!”

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Jen: “Just that I am really grateful to Kelly for being my business partner and I hope more people come to know Baja Baby products and incorporate them into their lives. Because they truly are the best!”

 

These two ladies should be a HUGE inspiration to us all. From a sweet friendship, came an unbreakable partnership and from that came a vision to create something amazing the whole family could use, and from there Baja Baby was created. It is truly an honor to be working for such strong and determined businesswomen. If you are looking for an amazing company to support that produces liquid gold and superior products, Baja Baby is your company!  

 

 

Abby is a Mom and an amazing team member of Baja Baby. She lives in Colorado with her husband Alex, their beautiful daughter Amelia Grace, baby boy Amos Lee and Maple the dog. You can find Abby on Instagram by clicking here.

Follow Baja Baby on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram today!

Baja Baby is EWG VERIFIED™. For more information, please visit the EWG site.

 

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