FEATURED MOMPRENEUR - THE PATEMM STORY: THE ROUND DIAPER CHANGING PAD AND THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

The "TastyMom" award signifies our Mompreneur-of-the-Month. This award is for Moms who still manage to stay tasty despite all the hustle and bustle of being a mother & owning a business.  This month, the "TastyMom" award goes to...Grace Welch, found of Patemm, inc. Patemn inc was founded in San Francisco, California in 2004 by Grace Welch. The two passions in her life — her children, Patrick, Emma Jack, Lucie and her husband Marty — inspire the company.  The patented, award-winning patemm® pads are available at:  patemm.com, Target.com, and select retailers across the US.

I had a simple idea and turned it into a successful e-business … maybe by accident.

With my first child Patrick I found the small rectangular shape of diaper changing pads frustrating because aligning him in the right position was always a challenge — particularly since he was a rather wiggly baby. Even more annoying was the design of the folding/rolling pad that had ties, snaps, buttons, or even Velcro®. I needed something simpler, a pad that could fold easily — especially with one hand.

When my second child Emma was born, I, like most parents today, was always on the go and found my diaper bag overwhelming — especially for quick trips to the grocery store or a visit to the park. For these short jaunts, I only needed a few diapers, wipes, perhaps a change of clothes, and a changing pad. Plus, I wanted something small and compact that could be thrown in my car, handbag, or even at the bottom of my stroller.

By April 2004 I had been out of the workforce for a few years, and I wanted to return on my own terms — perhaps with my own business.   My parents were entrepreneurs and I remember growing up as a kid watching them work long hard hours running their own business—and I always thought, “Why would I want to do that?”  I wanted to work a 9-5 job in the corporate world.   Well, look at me now.  I’m doing what my parents did years ago!

I discussed various possibilities with my eldest sister Hanna, a researcher and consultant, who advised me that developing solutions to problems was a key way to think of new businesses. At one point during our conversation, I had to change the diaper of my daughter Emma on the ever so popular rectangular pad.  I asked my sister to grab the wipes and a diaper out of my diaper bag while I wrestled Emma on the pad. Not surprisingly, she was rolling off this changing pad, and opening and closing the pad with a squirmy Emma in my arms underscored my frustration.  The idea immediately hit me!  A ROUND diaper changing pad with inside pockets with handles would work so much better.

Weeks later after several prototypes, I created a round diaper changing pad.  I had a product, now I had to build a business around this solution. When I started my business, I wanted to incorporate themes of my inspiration—my children and my husband Marty.  I named my product patemm® pad as a combination of my 2 children’s names Patrick and Emma.

I developed my product choosing various prints and names to extend the idea of my family and my cultural background.  Each print is named after a family member and each collection is either in Bicol or in Tagalog, a Filipino dialect and the Filipino national language, to honor my parents’ homeland, the Philippines.

I had a product and my prior experience in public relations, marketing, and branding made getting my product to market less challenging. Not only did I feel that I invented a much needed and practical product but I had the skills to promote it.
I launched my online business (patemm.com) in July 2004 and since then my patemm® pads have received rave reviews from parents /caretakers and the media across the country and abroad.   Through successful viral marketing efforts, we have a huge patemm® pad following which also included many celebrities such as Courteney Cox-Arquette, Brooke Shields, Gwyneth Paltrow,  Heidi Klum, Diane Farr, Paula Deen and Sons, etc.  

Patemm® pads have been featured in many national and local media outlets such as PEOPLE, Real Simple, Parents, Parenting, FitPregnancy, BabyTalk, American Baby, GOTHAM, DailyCandy, The Washington Post,   The Boston Globe, NBC’s The Today Show, ABC’s The View, and CBS News.

As my business has grown so has my family; Patrick and Emma have a little brother, Jack Martin and our newest addition to our clan is Lucie Grace.  The path to my success was the result of believing in my idea, the love and support of my family, doing lots of research, networking, working hard with many sleepless nights and just having fun!  Plus, a good eye cream helped, too.

I truly feel blessed to have a healthy family and a successful business.  Without the love and support of my husband Marty and my 4 amazing kids and of course, my parents (my children’s lolo and lola ; grandfather and grandmother in Tagalog), I wouldn’t be where I am today.  

Raising a family and running my own business isn’t easy but I try my best.  I’m not perfect and I make lots of mistakes because I’m only human. In order to make it work for me, my family, and my business, I have to be flexible and I always have to expect the unexpected each and everyday. First and foremost, I’m a mom 24-7 and anything in between I run a business.  Believe me, it can be very stressful and challenging at times trying to juggle it all but I always remind myself why I’m doing it; because I love it and I’m doing it for my family.  

Since I travel to Manhattan quite a bit for patemm, and I’m fortunate because I usually take my kids along.  On my most recent press trip to Manhattan a few months ago, I took my 6 year old daughter Emma on a few appointments with me.  She loved it and it was a THRILL for me to have her at my side.

Since launching patemm in 2004 there are so many wonderful things that have happened/changed in my life.  First and foremost, Patrick and Emma had 2 more Welch’s added to their clan—Jack and Lucie.  On the business side, patemm had enormous growth and continued media coverage:  a featured article on me and my patemm® pads in People Magazine and guest appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show (a huge honor) and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch (an entrepreneur’s dream).  In addition, we launched with our very first retailer:  Target.

One word to describe my life:  “blessed!”