- 14 hours ago
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00well crystal we are ready to hear more about milky mama so when you are ready by all means
00:17launch into it okay when i gave birth to my beautiful son i was determined to breastfeed
00:25however much like almost two-thirds of other new mothers i struggled with latching pain and low
00:30milk supply feeling helpless i went to my pediatrician hoping to get some assistance
00:34instead i was told to just give formula although i believe that formula is perfectly fine i want it
00:41to breastfeed i began to talk to other mothers and realized that so many others had the same
00:46experience i did that's when i knew that i could make a difference for myself and breastfeeding
00:50parents everywhere my name is crystal duhanie and i'm a registered nurse international board
00:56certified lactation consultant mother of two and owner and founder of milky mama milky mama was born
01:03because the amount of breastfeeding support and education available for new mothers is severely
01:07lacking after my own personal experience i was determined to provide a resource that would help
01:13educate and empower breastfeeding parents everywhere remember that little boy i mentioned earlier i was
01:19able to successfully breastfeed him for over two years but the road wasn't easy and when i became
01:24pregnant with my second child i was determined to have a much better experience so i educated myself
01:29and became a certified lactation consultant and developed a delicious cookie recipe full of time
01:34tested ingredients known to increase your milk production i began selling them out of my home and one mom
01:39at my door turned into five which turned into a line of moms down my street my husband would joke about
01:45how our neighbors would begin to wonder exactly what we were selling our company rapidly grew and we
01:52leased a commercial kitchen where i would bake by day and work a 12-hour shift as a nurse in the
01:57hospital by night in 2018 we purchased the milky mama breastfeeding support center where we provide
02:03support groups classes and a retail storefront for our local customers the breastfeeding accessories market
02:09is a 1.4 billion dollar industry but we're more than just a breastfeeding accessories company
02:15we provide delicious and effective lactation cookies and brownies lactation drink mixes and herbal
02:20supplements ranging from three dollars to 25 dollars we also provide an unparalleled sisterhood of support
02:26that reaches millions of parents worldwide via social media an online support group with over 20 000 moms
02:33phone support by our staff of lactation consultants and weekly live q a sessions to date we've shipped almost a
02:38million orders to parents all over the all over the globe and have a raving fan base of customers
02:43that include celebrities such as lauren london malika hack danielle brooks and coco austin we've also been
02:49featured in many publications such as people in touch cosmopolitan and cbs news our customers have
02:56also raved about how our products and support have increased their milk production and helped them have
03:00successful breastfeeding journeys this year we launched a scholarship program to help certify and educate
03:05black lactation consultants because black women have the lowest rate of breastfeeding compared to
03:10any other race and black infants are dying at alarming rates with your help we could not only improve the
03:16the breastfeeding support available for parents everywhere but also improve the health and wellness
03:20for black mothers and their infants thank you for your time great job it's amazing yes thank you crystal so
03:28much just for the work that you're doing this like you said at the end you know childbirth and lactation
03:38and all things to do with new moms and babies especially within the black community are things that we all
03:45need to be concerned with and concerned with gaining equity on so thank you for just what your company does
03:51in the first place and even your pro your chosen profession number one now we're gonna head into
03:59some q a at this point and what i would love to know right now is if you could talk more about your
04:06team you mentioned having um licensed uh lactation experts on the phone you mentioned having courses you
04:14mentioned a lot so just just give us more background on like all the things that are underneath the hood of how
04:20your business is running and the education you're providing yeah so um contrary to popular
04:26belief we have a very small team um all of our staff members are certified lactation consultants
04:32um two of them are birth doulas as well so we also provide some prenatal support as well to expectant
04:38parents um but they all are certified breastfeeding specialists so anytime you call and answer and you
04:43know give us a phone call you can not only ask customer service questions but you can also get your
04:47breastfeeding questions answered as well um we also provide online breastfeeding courses so that you
04:52can take them in the comfort of the of your home which is so important especially right now since a lot
04:57of you know hospital courses have been shut down due to the pandemic so we really wanted to provide a
05:01resource that could be accessible to parents no matter where they were and that they wouldn't feel
05:06ashamed about all you have to do is pick up the phone we have an 800 number so it's toll free and you can
05:11call and ask any questions that you have that you need that's awesome uh this is a very important uh
05:17service and product because my own sister-in-law is having the same struggle right now i have a
05:22one-month-old niece who she's having a hard time with this so i'm glad to hear about it and i can't
05:26wait to actually send her your information uh my question is kind of is there a revenue connected to the
05:33courses and what percentage of your revenue is related to the courses and education versus the product
05:38so the revenue from the courses is very minimal compared to our product sales um and we really
05:45kind of made it that way i didn't want it to be hey here's something else that we're selling you we
05:50really just wanted to be an extra add-on that once you join the milky mama family you have all of this
05:56you know on these resources available to you where are you selling the product we sell them on our website
06:03um so we ship all over the world um we also have a we just partnered with um a distributor in canada
06:10so we also ship within canada and produce in canada as well and then we have our retail storefront
06:17in southern california but it's unfortunately closed because of the pandemic and we're hoping
06:22to open up um soon when we can service our retail customers and where are you making the product
06:28so we make our products in southern california um we used to make them in our small bakery but as we
06:34grew our little team couldn't keep up so we started working with a contract manufacturer to help us keep
06:40up with the demand and how did you how long did it um how long did it how long does it take you to
06:47create products that you believe can actually improve lactation not very long so the beauty of our
06:55company is that when i started my company i was a breastfeeding mom so i was able to test everything
07:00i still test everything because it's super yummy but as far as milk production i'm not producing milk
07:05anymore because my kids are older but my staff were all women we're all women of color and we're all
07:11having babies so i just had one that gave birth and i had one that gave birth about six months ago so
07:17luckily i always have some some employees on hand to test um so once we create a new idea i use my
07:24research and my knowledge as a healthcare provider and as a registered nurse um and my research as a
07:29mom and customer feedback and then we just develop products to you know based on what our customers
07:35desire and it normally doesn't take very long gotcha how do you think about um product claims i'm sure
07:42you've seen you know a bunch of different businesses say they do this versus that and then
07:47uh and then they grow really fast and then people figure out that uh that that that the uh that the
07:52intention isn't necessarily the result so i'm sure that's not the case here but how are you mindful
07:57how are you mindful of that uh of that risk factor down the road so that's so so important to us and
08:03like i said we're more than just a treat company we also are a sisterhood of support and all on our
08:09website and everywhere and in our our post-purchase emails you'll hear that our products and no product
08:14on the market can replace proper breastfeeding techniques so if our moms aren't you know pumping or
08:20nursing routinely it nothing will work for them so that's why we add that extra layer of support so
08:26they have the products with these ingredients that have been studied and and shown to increase milk
08:31production but of course nothing is guaranteed so um we are very upfront about that and we let our
08:36customers know that as well gotcha is there sorry guys i'm i'm hogging the the q and is is is there is
08:43there one product that that your that milky mama is is becoming uh known for you know i think it would
08:51probably be our emergency brownies um that is our sequel product if you've heard of an emergency brownie
08:56you've heard of milky mama um i actually created that myself um at home when i was breastfeeding my
09:03son when i was preparing to return back to work i was like okay i need something more and it just was a
09:07fluke and it i woke up the next morning sorry tmi but i woke up the next morning soaked and i was like oh my gosh
09:12and i instantly got on facebook live and shared it with my customers and my followers at the time
09:18and and that's when it all started and that is probably our staple product
09:23how many products do you have right now we have quite a few um we have um a line of five different
09:31varieties of lactation cookies just different flavors and they all have the same base ingredients
09:36we have two different types of brownies the lactation brownies which are a standard lactation brownie
09:40um and then our emergency brownies which are more potent for emergencies like returning to work
09:46your menstrual cycle increased stress things where you just need a little extra boost we also have a
09:51line of lactation drink powders that's kind of like kool-aid um it's just drink powdered drink mixes with
09:56concentrated herbs that they can add to water or whatever they're choosing to drink we also have
10:01smoothie mixes um and we have a line of herbal supplements for parents that would rather not eat
10:07cookies and brownies all day if they're you know watching their waistline or or if they're diabetic
10:12our herbal supplements are concentrated tinctures that are sugar-free so we try to provide something
10:16for everyone and then we also have a line of of breastfeeding accessories so nursing covers you know
10:23manual breast pumps um just things that you know would create a one-stop shop if you're a breastfeeding
10:29mom you can go and find something that you need one last question within um your consumable for the
10:37food kind of area um what is your retail range um so our retail range is from three dollars to 25
10:46dollars so you can get one if that's what you're asking you can get one um packet of drink powder so
10:52like the little kool-aid mix um for about three bucks um or if you want one of our herbal supplements you
10:57can get that for 25 we also provide bundles of different products that are obviously more
11:03but if you're just my individual products that's the range uh well first and foremost congratulations um
11:10thank you this is a tremendous uh you know this is a tremendous business that you're building it's
11:14an important business that you're building um i did not know that um that uh black women have a harder
11:21time uh with lactation than uh than the masses uh and so you're trying to solve a systemic problem
11:28and if you can do that via business building uh that's even better so uh and i also want to just
11:34commend you on um aligning sort of you know you know purpose with passion and business you know it's
11:41that's a uh not everybody gets the opportunity to discover that and so uh that's a big deal and it
11:46comes through the screen virtually so congratulations thank you thank you so much yeah it's really near
11:52and dear to my heart um and a lot of people don't know and i think that it's really about raising
11:55awareness um black women stop breastfeeding breastfeeding black infants are dying at nine times the rate
12:00of other infants and you know we we have to start talking about this so i'm hoping absolutely that with
12:05things like this that that this that can be raised absolutely absolutely best of luck to you this is
12:11fantastic thank you so much thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you bye
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