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Nathalie Walton, CEO and Co-founder of Expectful

Nathalie Walton: A CEO Fighting For Maternal Health

As the co-founder and CEO of Expectful, Nathalie Walton began 2021 by raising $4.2M to further to company’s ambitious mission: to become a holistic health and wellness platform for expectant mothers. But that was probably the least impressive she accomplished that year. Since then, Walton has transformed the company into a powerhouse of resources for maternal health. In addition to fertility-focused meditations, the app now offers parents access to lactation consultants, sleep coaching, nutritionists, bereavement specialists, fertility coaches, and live events.

“Really, the biggest thing that we did was this pivot into this vision of this holistic wellness platform for fertility, pregnancy, and parenthood,” Walton explained to Tech It Anywhere, “It’s really hard to find all the pieces that you need when you’re trying to conceive when you’re pregnant as a new mom, and so like, that’s our pivot into being that one-stop-shop for everyone in that space,” she added.

To support this larger-than-life vision, she’s also expanded the company, pulling in talent from all across the country and growing the platform’s network of service providers.

“A lot of people think that the hard work is the fundraising, and fundraising is hard, but the real work begins after that,” Walton elaborated.

The Why

Walton, who got an MBA at Stanford’s GSB and has worked at big names like Airbnb and Google, has a very personal connection to Expectful’s mission. Her own high-risk pregnancy and birthing experience prompted her to seek help coping with the emotional and physical toll they had taken on her. In a Medium article, she discussed the moment the doctor told her she was at risk for preterm delivery and that her baby might not survive.  On top of all of that, she had just started a challenging new role at a large tech company.

At this point, she turned her entire focus toward taking the best care of herself so she could complete a full-term pregnancy. And she did it. She stayed pregnant for 262 days, surpassing her goal of 259 days. Then, everything came crashing down.

“The delivery doctor described my birth as an ’emergency of all emergencies’; my placenta had abrupted and my son, Everett, and I were fortunate to make it out alive. Had I not been in one [of] the country’s top hospitals, and had I not had access to every possible wellness resource that one can encounter, my story may not have had the same outcome,” she wrote in her Medium article.

This knowledge – that many women, especially Black women,  suffer through high-risk pregnancies and deliveries without access to the resources she had – fueled her to find a way to help.

“The sad reality is that many families don’t survive. Black mothers are 3–4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications (and are more likely to have pregnancy complications) than White women. Frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered if I were Beyoncé or Serena Williams; as Black women, they too faced life-threatening situations during their motherhood journey. Regardless of education, socio-economic status, or physical ability, to be pregnant as a Black woman in the United States is an existential risk,” she explained in her Medium post.

Plans

In 2021 Expectful launched Black Mamas Meditate, a free meditation collection designed by and for Black women to address the unique challenges Black mothers face in their fertility journeys. Additionally, Expectful remains committed to accessibility through its long-standing partnership with Johnson and Johnson to offer free subscriptions to anyone who needs them.

Walton’s plans for Expectful in 2022 are even more ambitious than for 2021.

“We built the foundation for this holistic wellness platform. And now I think it’s it’s doing the hard work of just making sure that this is the product that users want and love,” Walton told Tech It Anywhere.

That includes expanding their network of service providers even more and making Expectful as visible and accessible as possible.

“It’s exciting that people can see what we’re doing and in hopes of helping them. That’s what is most exciting to me,” Walton gushed about the platform’s growth, “I get DMs from people I don’t even know, and they’re like, just I want you to know how much your product helped me,” she elaborated.

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Shennel Fuller

Shennel Fuller: Founder and CEO of Miles and Milan

2021 was a big year for Shennel Fuller, the founder and CEO of Miles and Milan – a luxury children’s clothing brand. Miles and Milan’s public profile exploded in 2021, with shoutouts in Oprah’s Favorite Things 2021, The Today Show, and Who What Wear. But, as Fuller will tell you, the real work started long before the media attention rolled in. Fuller – a former retail buyer for Converse, 7 For All Mankind, and Levi Strauss and Co., – launched Miles and Milan five years ago out of personal frustration with the baby clothes options available to her at the time.

“Children’s clothes, for as long as they’ve been created, have always been gendered identified. Either it’s ballerinas for little girls and pink tutus or firetrucks and baseballs for boys. My goal was really to kind of disrupt that and say that, you know, children and parenting is a complete blank canvas, and you kind of learn as you go. So, why not start with a great foundation that can allow you to build up your children’s wardrobe?” Fuller explained to Tech It Anywhere about the company’s beginnings.

With that goal in mind, she got to work building a brand that could connect with parents who shared her personal aesthetics. But, unlike many startup founders spend a lot of time developing complex product offerings and pitching investors, Fuller took a more pragmatic approach.

“My true background is, I’ve been a buyer for corporate retail for over 10, 15 years. I’ve worked with some very large name brands with Converse and 7 For All Mankind and Levi’s and did a little bit of consulting on the side. So, you know, it’s, there is a straight way to do it, where it’s like you either hire showroom and you go to shows and things like that, but I didn’t do that right away.”  she explained.

Instead, she bootstrapped the company in the early days, focusing heavily on making a small line of high-quality items. In fact, Fuller spent a year designing only two products: a onesie for a girl and a onesie for a boy. These products resonated deeply with parents and quickly established her reputation in the boutique baby clothes market.

“It became a cult following. I didn’t really spend very heavily in marketing at all, and it just got picked up by real-life moms,” Fuller said.

Over the years, Miles and Milan built a quiet and loyal following through word of mouth. So, even Fuller was surprised by the boom in mainstream press coverage the brand received in 2021.

“I would present myself, I would give my elevator pitch, and before I know it, people would start to write articles about me. And then it just continued to snowball. I was putting myself out of my comfort zone but at the same time the product was speaking for itself, ” she added.

2022 Plans

In 2022, Fuller has her sights set on a new challenge: amplifying her brand’s recognition beyond the coastal cities. With all the media attention, the company has seen increased sales and inquiries from the Mid West and Fuller is hoping to strengthen her brand’s relationship with moms from all parts of the country. Right now, Miles and Milan is sold in Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. The company has also partnered with popular subscription services Stitch Fix and The Dopple, as well as the online retailer Maisonette.

As to how the brand will be tackling 2022, Fuller explains:

“Definitely developing and trying to figure out the next brand partnerships that are coming our way. Because a lot of people are knocking on our doors. So, finding out how do we continue to build new partnerships with wholesale brands, and continue to work with the ones that we have, but make sure that they’re complementary,” she elaborates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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