My Family: Thats right, we're real people over here at RockerByeBaby... The only machines working on your products are the ones that I sit behind in my home office. Usually with baby Larz in a pouch on my chest, 2 crazy boys running around playing Star Wars or baseball… my punky princess playing with Shopkins and a daddy playing guitar in the background. Never a dull day in the RockerByeBaby house, and we are so thankful to be so busy! Every time it gets a little too crazy I think about how lucky we are to have these amazing kids, and this successful business, and all this craziness to call our own. Thanks so much for the support. So many of you have become my great friends, customers and even family over this giant internet world. Each and every one of you are so so appreciated. When you place an order with us you can confidently know that you are helping to put food on my table, put a ruffly cover on a cloth diapered baby butt, put a little boy in pre-school, etc. So, thank you again for choosing to support our small business. It means the world to us. 

<3 The RockerByeFamily

 

We recently did were featured in the AMP MAGAZINE fashion section, so I figured the interview would be the perfect new bio...

Tell me a little about the shop- how and why you started it?

My whole life all I wanted was to be a stay at home mom. After high school, assuming I was years away from that I started college at Bradley University towards a degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology and Criminal Justice. Three years in and just one year from finished, I met my handsome husband and plans changed. We had our first son Izzaq then just 11 months after that, we had Zavery. I had tried going back to work a couple times, but it just never worked out right... I needed to be home with my kids... so I found a way. We're a punk rock family and I was constantly trying to find cool things for them (and at the time it wasn't trendy like it is now)... the best options out there were low quality onesies for SUPER high prices from specialty stores. I knew there had to be a better option, so I started making things myself. I bought a cheap sewing machine and just started playing around... small things, bibs, blankets and appliqued onesies... I had gotten SO MANY compliments and requests to make things for friends that I decided maybe I could start selling it. That was 2007... its now 2015 and my little hobby has turned into a full fledged business over the years that is now working to support our family and keep our punk rock daddy home... writing songs, going to college and hanging with his kids (including brand new baby boy Larz). 

You make everything yourself? 

I make 90% of everything myself. I have one helper that sews some of the in stock blankets, sheets and changing pad cover... an awesome friend at BeeDot that we teamed up with to make the skeleton plushies ... and the best bag designer around, Stellar Cheri to bring exclusive custom diaper bags... everything else has been handmade by me :)  

Where’d you get the amazing sewing skills?

 

 

Genetics? Im really not sure... I have a family full of crafty people, most of which sew... but I have never taken classes. Im completely self taught... unless you count the hand sewing into paper that my grandma Gladys taught me. I just picked up the machine one day and started sewing. It came really easily to me, and still today I am not a person that likes using patterns. If I have an idea for something new, I sit down with a pencil and paper and start designing. Everything you see in the shop has been designed, tweaked and tested by me... with the help of lots of Red Bull of course.

 You sell via etsy, which is one of my all time favorite places to get lost. Do you think you’d have the same success without an online outlet?

Etsy will always have a special place in my heart. More than anything, if it weren't for Etsy being such an awesome marketplace when I was starting out, I don't think I would have ever really had the guts to push this as far as I have. And I have met SO MANY awesome mama's out there doing the same and we all push each other to be better and work harder and smarter. Someday I would love to be working completely from my own website (fee's can be killer on etsy when you have big sales) and of course, my dream is to open my own store front someday... which hopefully if all of our plans work out will be soon! But yeah, even if/when that happens I will always be online. Why sell to one city when I can sell to the world? We have shipped orders to probably every state in the US, Canada, Italy, France, Australia, Germany, and the list goes on and on. The internet has made this all possible, and I hope to use it to every advantage possible.