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Our Interview with the owner of Woobie Wear
 Q: What was the inspiration behind Woobie Wear?
My daughter, Lauren Jessica, who is now turning six in April, is my inspiration. She models my line and loves to have her hair done! I also do photography, so we spend a lot of time together at photo shoots too.
Q: What obstacles (if any) did you face along the way & how did you overcome them?
There are basically two main obstacles that I've encountered. First, learning how to run a full-time business, while maintaining balance in my family life; it is a challenge every day. I force myself to stop working and hug my kids as often as I can! Second, we grew tremendously from 2008-2009; therefore, keeping up with the product demand was a challenge; fortunately, I was able to connect the growth of my business to a great social mission by partnering with St. Coletta's of Illinois Foundation, a local non-profit agency that helps provide people with disabilities meaningful employment. You can read details on my website under Community Involvement.
Q: How do you manage juggling being mom/wife/entrepreneur?
It's never easy, but you adapt. I'm lucky to have a very supportive husband who believes in me and this business and helps out whenever he can...at the same time, I have a wonderful babysitter who lives across the street to care for my 19 month old son, Andrew. I also work at night when the kids go to bed, while my daughter is at Kindergarten and the while baby is napping! (and having a Blackberry helps too!)
Q: What is your greatest success professionally?
My greatest success so far was my line being picked up by Von Maur, a major department store here in the Midwest. When I took Lauren to the store, she was so excited and we introduced ourselves to the sales people, they loved meeting us and seeing Lauren in person since she is on all the hang tags!
Q: What is unique or special about your business that gives it an edge over your competitors?
Woobie Wear is unique in that we pride ourselves on not only providing a top quality, fashionable product; but we work hand in hand with our community, as I mention above, and we donate to several charities. Also, I designed our hats exclusive for Woobie Wear and they are all hand made with sequin trim around the bottom.
Q: Tell us about your donations and involvement for children battling cancer.
My brother-in-law is a Pediatric Oncologist who started his work out of medical school with the Dana Farber clinic in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his time there, he was heavily involved in their fundraising programs and my husband and I always donated in support of their events. As I launched my business, it occurred to me that another way to support these wonderful organizations was to donate my product directly to the children with the hopes of brightening their day. As I began to do this, I received a wonderful response and immediately had to do more, so I began to find local hospitals and foundations I could donate to. It's a very moving and emotional experience when you see the impact on the families and their children and words can't express how good it makes you feel. This past Christmas holiday, my International Sales Rep for Japan, who also does my PR, donated our hats to a children's hospital in Tokyo, which was the first time anything like that had been done. Woobie Wear always welcomes any special requests or sponsorships for charities.
Lisa Blackman, is the Designer/Owner of Woobie Wear, Inc. Reach her by email at woobiewear@comcast.net View her website at Woobiewear.com
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