Mom in the Spotlight: weeSpring Co-Founder, Mompreneur, Melissa Post

Melissa Post is one of the co-founders (and Community Manager) of weeSpring, a platform for new and expecting parents to share trusted advice with their friends on baby products. A former consultant at Monitor Group and a digital marketing guru for AmEx, Melissa has always loved connecting people and understanding what motivates them. With the arrival of twin girls last summer, her desire to help new and expecting parents network and share with one another has piqued her interest double-time. Melissa received her MBA from NYU Stern and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.  

How old are your children?

My twin girls just had their 9 month birthday (they’ll be 1 in July). Despite the many sleepless nights, I feel like they were just born!

What do you hope women can take away from your site?

I hope women  (and Dads too!) can use weeSpring to share recommendations with their friends on baby gear.  When searching for advice early on (and since), we found that almost all of our questions (how do you bathe a newborn, what do I do when my baby is sick, how do I get my daughter to sleep through the night)  are answered with products (The Fisher Price Whale of a Tub, the NoseFrieda aspirator, the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD).

With weeSpring, I hope new parents can share what they love (and regret) to help others navigate the incredibly overwhelming process of figuring out what you need for your baby- both before they are born, and once they arrive. Ultimately, I hope expecting and new parents come to see weeSpring as THE go-to resource for trusted advice.

Tell us about the name of your company. 

weeSpring was truly the result of a collaborative exercise trying to combine two words we thought represented what we wanted to convey. “wee” connotes baby, but also feels warm and inviting, and “spring” gets at the idea of growth (we want to grow with parents and their children), sharing, and a network. We want to be the trusted source of advice for all things baby.

How do you find balance?  

It’s not easy. Our mantra at weeSpring is “it’s about quality, not quantity.” When you become a mom, efficiency takes on a whole new meaning (as does multi-tasking). It is not uncommon that I am watching my girls jump in their bouncers while sending an email from the elliptical.

What is your best time of the day?  Your most challenging?  

The best time of day unfailingly is 7:40 a.m. when I walk into my girls’ room to get them and I see the biggest smile on both their faces. It makes everything else seem unimportant. The most challenging is when I have to say goodbye to head to work, knowing I can’t be part of it all, but knowing that having balance, and doing something I am passionate about (outside of being a mom) will undoubtedly make me a better mom every moment I’m with them.

What is your best "this is not happening to me" mommy story?  

We have a double stroller (as most twin moms do), and brought it with us to the airport when my husband and I were flying down to Florida for a week in November. We had made it all the way through security with few tears, the stroller, both car seats (attached onto the stroller of course), between 8 and 10 carry ons of breast feeding equipment, milk for the plane, toys for the plane, magazines for the plane (did I really think I was going to read?), and who knows what else. All was going so well.

After a 45 minute delay, which already had everyone (including my girls) on edge, they then announce in the PACKED terminal that they will begin boarding people with infants. So, we hurry to board the jetway, each holding one girl in our arms because the stroller wasn’t cutting it, and barely able to hold all of the bags and push the stroller at the same time. There are hundreds of people behind us eager to board, and the stroller (marketed as THE double stroller that fits through almost all regular doorways) won’t fit through the doorway. What ensues is a good 10 minutes of trying to take apart the double stroller that, of course, does not want to fold at this given point in time while two babies are screaming, 200 people want to board behind us, and at least 4 Jetblue attendants are trying to help us carry the stroller parts, the two carseats, our two Baby Bjorns, and the 8-10 bags as we carry the girls through. 

I have never sweated so much or been happier when the bottles made it into our screaming girls' mouths than I was that day.

What do you wish someone had told you when you became a mom?

There is actually one thing someone told me before becoming a mom that I think every mom out there should know. There will never be a day you don’t worry about your child. When you are pregnant, you worry about your child being healthy. When your child is born, you worry about them eating enough. When your child is 6 months, you worry about when they’ll start to crawl...and then walk. Eventually you will worry about whether they are making friends, fitting in, thriving academically, succeeding in sports or art (or whatever their passion becomes), driving safely, getting into the college they have their heart set on. So, just know the worrying starts the moment you find out you’re becoming a mom, and never ends. But so does the love you feel for that little person you are bringing into the world. And thank goodness that never goes away.

A mother who has been there/done that whose brain you want to pick?  

If I could have dinner (and drinks) with one person right now (other than my own mom who is the source of all of my best advice!), it would likely be Lynn Perkins, founder and CEO of UrbanSitter, a terrific platform for sharing and finding babysitters. 

Lynn is the mom of twin boys, just had her third, and successfully started UrbanSitter in the midst of it all. Miraculously, she still finds time for her family, and seems to make it all work. Having spent a short amount of time with Lynn, I believe she has a lot to teach any new moms out there trying to find balance, while pursuing something they are really passionate about.