Top 50 Mompreneurs, 2011

39 / 50

39

Heather Murphy Monteith | Baby Loves Disco

Company: Baby Loves Disco

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Children: Son, 8, daughter, 4 ⢠Age: 38

Inspiration: “It was an accidental business,” Monteith says. “[In 2004], my son was almost two and I found I was leaving places like zoos and children’s museums – places that are filled with gift shops and bad snacks – exhausted and thinking, ‘Really? This is what we’re calling fun?’ I got some egg shakers and balloons and play scarves and healthy snacks and asked a friend who owns a nightclub if we could have some moms over in the afternoon when the club was closed. I only expected a few, but 200 showed up. By January of the following year, it was a monthly party.”

Perspiration: Baby Loves Disco blew up fast. After partnering with Andy Hurwitz, a New York-based dad of three and founder of Ropeadope Records, the company started licensing to moms across the world, including locations in the U.K., Tel Aviv, Dubai, Poland and Australia. “I’m really not sure what I was thinking starting this,” Monteith says. “I was up all hours e-mailing people just to make sure our brand was intact.” Then Monteith got sick a year and a half ago. She thought she was just tired because of the business but was actually diagnosed with Lupus. “That forced me to stop complaining and start communicating,” she says.

Success: Monteith changed Baby Loves Disco’s business model from handing out licenses to creating a touring show that now travels to nightclubs throughout the country. The tour hit 65 cities in four months in 2010 and is currently working out 2011 dates and destinations.