242: Career Conversations: The woman behind Mamamade
"I've learned to welcome (people saying) no. Each 'no' brings you a little closer to the next yes." It takes a lot to launch a successful food brand, but Sophie Baron, founder of Mamamade, says she couldn't have done it alone. She says she was lucky to have mentorship from women within the business world, particularly as she admits to being scared it wasn't all going to work out when she first started. In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, Sophie Baron reveals all about what she calls her "non-linear" path to launching an organic baby food brand. Things could have been very different for Sophie. She started out studying Russian and French at university in New York, before working as an editorial assistant at Vogue. It was when she had her first child that she found her true calling: "My inspiration was wanting better food than I could find on the shelf." She launched Mamamade from the spare room of her home and the business has gone from success to success. Listen to find out how she did it, why she thinks the social media age makes it such an exciting time to launch a business, and how she dreams of one day selling up and moving onto the next chapter in her life. Sophie Baron, Founder and Chief Brand Officer, Mamamade Sophie Baron is the Founder of UK based parent/baby digital start-up Mamamade; a fast growing direct-to-consumer business supporting parents with modern childcare products and services that improve health outcomes, normalise taboos, and increase happiness. Originally from New York, Sophie ventured to the UK to undertake a PhD before becoming Head of Operations at a fast-track tech company. In 2017, she gave birth to her first daughter and after six months, began to juggle the return to work with caring for her baby. By 2019 Mamamade had progressed beyond being a ‘side-hustle’ and is now the fastest-growing baby food subscription company in the UK.