The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
When you see a Rugabub, you know it’s a Rugabub. We stand out from the crowd. Often confused for designer rugs (best compliment ever), our soft foam play-mats are designed to keep bub safe whilst still allowing you to show off your beautiful home. We have become one of the top-selling baby play mat companies in Australia and NZ in just under a year. I think that our biggest breakthrough is the community that we have created. We have used our social platforms to deeply connect with so many mums, helping each other out. Rugabub | Designer Play Mats have also received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Product Design category in recognition for outstanding design and innovation. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this, the Australian Good Design Award accolade, more commonly known as the Good Design Tick, is among the most respected and recognised international design endorsement symbols in the industry.
Consumers can be assured that a product, project or service displaying the Australian Good Design Award trademark has been professionally designed to the highest standards and put through a rigorous design evaluation by an independent panel of design experts using a comprehensive evaluation process. I love how they emphasise that Good Design needs to be sustainable too.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
As someone who has been studying and teaching yoga for so many years prior to opening this business, who has a passion for sustainability, living through the earth and giving back to the earth, and wellness, you would think that I’d be all over this… but I am most certainly not. I am learning and trying every day. I don’t sleep… I feed my 2-year-old to sleep every night. He wakes up 6 times a night and I am tired. But being able to do this the way that feels most natural to me as a mum, and not go through sleep trainings where every cell in my body screams as it feels so unintuitive as a mum – is my yin and yang. To be able to mother, and give the attention I feel most natural with is my balance!
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
When you love what you do, it doesn’t really feel like work. Teaching yoga feels the same to me as running my small business. To be able to be a mother, to breastfeed as long as I like, and to be home with my family means everything to me. I am tired, though. That would be my biggest challenge.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
My biggest dream at the moment is to have another baby. I have since had an ectopic pregnancy and another miscarriage. I know that I am at home and can work from home, which makes this process easier. I can breathe. And if it doesn’t happen, I know that at least I have my miracle baby.
Head over to the Rugabub website to browse their gorgeous range of play mats, and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
