Meet the mama: Janna Badger, co-founder of Doddle & Company

In our very unbiased opinion we have to say: Our co-founder Janna Badger is one amazing mama. As a product designer and the mastermind behind all Doddle products, she’s a creative powerhouse who sees solutions where, well to be honest, we’ve only seen issues (i.e. pacifiers that fall on the floor and get dirty constantly). She just relocated to the US after spending a large part of her life in Asia (Japan, Singapore, South Korea…) and we came for a visit—and to pick her brain. Get to know her on our blog.

Hi Janna! First things first, where did you grow up? Secondly, how did your childhood influence your approach to parenting?

I was raised in Japan, and until our recent move to Sandy, Utah I spent my first four years of motherhood in Singapore and Korea. My perspective on parenting was greatly influenced by these places in two ways: First, I don't get too worked up about sticking to any particular parenting philosophy. I've seen so many different "right ways" of doing things that I'm perfectly content to pick and choose what advice works for me and my baby, and what doesn't. If someone disagrees with my parenting decisions, I'm not easily offended. I can take a step back and look at the cultural influences that likely informed their well-meaning advice. Second, experiencing different ways of living made me aware of how culturally-influenced our feelings of entitlement are. When I couldn't find a parking spot for a well-baby check at 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant and ended up carrying my sleeping two-year old and his stroller up two flights of stairs, I thought, "How lucky I am to drive here today!" (Incidentally, my second son was born four hours after the "stairs incident".) I think our happiness as mothers (and people) is largely based on how well our reality meets our expectations. And reality can often be difficult if not impossible to change, but expectations aren't, especially the more exposure you have to people whose expectations are different than yours.  

How did you start working with Doddle & Company? I studied Industrial Design in school. While I was working at a design firm in San Francisco (and pregnant) I came up with the idea for The Pop. My boss was really supportive and offered to patent it for me, and let me use some down-time to develop the early prototypes.

How did you meet your fellow co-founder, Nicki Radzely? Through that same boss! He was a mutual friend of ours and he introduced us. By that time I had already moved to Singapore, so we actually worked together over Skype for a year and a half before we met in person!

You’re a product designer—were there any early signs this would be your path when you were a kid? Yes, looking back there were signs: I won the ping-pong ball packaging contest in 7th grade! [ed note: LOL, amazing!] But I didn't know what design was when I was a kid. I liked art, but thought I was bad at it because I couldn't draw people. And I knew I wasn't an engineer, but I didn't really know about the "space in-between" called "design" till I started applying for college.  

...reality can often be difficult if not impossible to change, but expectations aren't, especially the more exposure you have to people whose expectations are different than yours.  

What current children's products have impressed you with their product design? The micralite two fold! I love how the riderboard goes out and under and back in a flash! Perfect for "on again, off again" city-strolling toddlers.

Any aesthetic compromises you've had to make as a mom. I.e. unsightly play-things your child nevertheless loves? Yes! Hands down the fisher price jumperoo. It’s a huge, ugly, noisy contraption that has gifted me countless happy baby hours!

What are some great finds your children and you have loved? The Bloom Coco Stylewood lounger. It was the one thing that I really wanted (and couldn't afford) when I became a mom.  But I was able to snag one thanks to San Francisco Craigslist (the nation's best baby store!), and a sweet husband who carried it all the way home to Singapore for me on a business trip.

Can you share the wisest words ever spoken to you by a child: One day my two-year old caught me eating a KIND bar and he said, "You know what Jesus says mommy. Jesus wants mommy to share." And the sweetest words, "I wish I was sick forever mommy. So you would cuddle me every night." [ed note: All the feels!]

Do you have any advice for other working moms/mom-preneurs? Know your whys and why nots for whatever you do, and be confident in them. With that confidence you can be proud of what you do, and be proud of other women whose "whys" have led the opposite directions from yours.  And don't be too hard on yourself for not getting the balance right all the time. None of us do.