An ode to the mothers

The keote journey and my motherhood journey have been intertwined since the beginning — so much so, that I became pregnant with our son the very week I officially launched keote. What started as a whirlwind of pure joy and total overwhelm (wondering how I was going to grow a baby, work my 9-5 and run this new business) has turned into something so much more than I could have ever imagined - with motherhood at the very heart of it.

I was a single twenty-something when the idea for a better kind of compact tote came to me, so I didn’t quite have “the mom” in mind as our main target audience. I pictured the working woman urbanite stopping at Whole Foods on her commute home (aka, me).

But boy, did I sell the keote short.

A few years later, once I found myself juggling a newborn, a diaper bag, my phone, keys, baby carrier, etc. etc. did I realize that this little invention of mine served a whole population of moms on the go. A population that I now very much belong to.

As I type this bouncing on my pregnancy ball, preparing to have two-under-two in a few short weeks, I have a whole lot more going on now than I had the first time around… yet I don’t feel the same overwhelm I did when I was first starting.

I now know that growing this business alongside growing my family isn’t by accident. It’s ushering in a calling of serving fellow moms through products that make their lives a little easier in a thoughtfully designed way.

As we approach mother’s day this year, this calling has been especially top of mind.

So many of my friends, keote teammates, and members of this community are moms, and they have frequently let me know the impact the keote has made on their everyday lives — even if its just the small (yet underrated) convenience of having a bag at the ready to carry all their kids odds and ends while they move from their car to inside their house.

Although this brand didn’t begin with moms in mind, motherhood is now inextricably part of the keote DNA — from how we financially give back to the community (through female-, maternal- and child-focused organizations), the new products we’re developing (stay tuned!), how we operate internally (flexible schedules, work life balance, family first) and so much more — it’s all shaped by my current season of life.

keote is made by a mom that is genuinely and passionately for the moms.

happy mother’s day,

rachael

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