When we at Inner-Soul came across www.mychildworld.com we were more than a little impressed to find a beautiful website which offers a wide range of services for parents.
Founder Pamela Bini found some time in her busy schedule to tell us more about her business, her own inspirations and being a mum
ISO: We love the fact that mychildworld.com offers a unique information and shopping experience for mums and dads. Tell us more about what inspired you to offer this service.
Summer 2012. By this time, my daughter was 5 and I was a full time entrepreneur
leading an industrial business in the petrochemical field. Which means, as almost all
the mums in the world, I had no time at all to start a new business! But I wanted to
challenge myself, coming from such a different business, with an MBA and a BA in
English, German history and literature, to add some sparkle to my “serious business
grey days”. As a result of this, I decided to start writing a blog. This simple decision
turned my life upside down! I started writing about my life as a mum and about
children topics: food, fashion, design, parties and etcetera. While perusing the web to
find inspiration, I realised something was missing. Mums needed a one-stop shopping
platform where they could furthermore meet and find mums like me: terribly busy,
short in time, in love with their children and shopping addicted! So I decided…I can do
it! I wanted to build up a virtual place where mums like me could create their own mix
and match of products for their children from thousands of e-shops worldwide,
discover new stuff from other known and unknown mums, share their creations and
buy their discoveries inside the platform and on social networks.This is how the great
adventure of MyChildWorld started.
ISO: What has been a personal or professional highlight since mychildworld.com was born?
People and especially
women are my personal and professional highlight. My best friend, Roberta
Desogus, became the best business partner ever. She is co-founder and COO of
MyChildWorld. I met the great Sofia
Gouveia, who became CMO of MyChildWorld, helped the platform to grow and became
a trusted friend too! I met many interesting
and supportive women: bloggers, merchants, journalists. I learned a lot from
their experience and I realized that the vision of “Eva against Eva” is a man
stereotype!
Women, mums or not, in
business support each other in many ways: giving advice, support, a shout out
or even just sending a nice email. I wish more women would code, be CTOs and
work in tech because they usually are, in my humble opinion, more organized,
focused and hard working than men. And of course are organized multitasks!
The website allows users to create their own, unique 'house' with rooms containing items of personal interest. Bliss! |
ISO: What
future plans do you have for Mychildworld.com?
My dream is to make mums’ shopping experience easier and more fun. I want to bring together e-shops with great and well known, high quality brands and e-shops with one-of-a-kind products for little ones. I want to make the creation process and discovery experience more intuitive and easier by improving mychildworld.com browsing categories and search engine.
I want it to be possible for a mum with a sleeping child on her arm to use MyChildWorld easily and effortless. I want that a mum waiting in a line at the post office can shuffle and buy on MyChildWorld app without having to wait to be in front of the computer. This is my vision: buying doesn’t have to be a struggle anymore for mums but a fun and easy experience.
My dream is to make mums’ shopping experience easier and more fun. I want to bring together e-shops with great and well known, high quality brands and e-shops with one-of-a-kind products for little ones. I want to make the creation process and discovery experience more intuitive and easier by improving mychildworld.com browsing categories and search engine.
I want it to be possible for a mum with a sleeping child on her arm to use MyChildWorld easily and effortless. I want that a mum waiting in a line at the post office can shuffle and buy on MyChildWorld app without having to wait to be in front of the computer. This is my vision: buying doesn’t have to be a struggle anymore for mums but a fun and easy experience.
ISO: What
advice would you give someone planning to set up their own online business?
Have a vision and stick
to it. Do you want to help people? Give a service? Bring some fun in their life
or support them? It doesn’t matter what you are creating or offering, you have
to learn, ask questions, make plans, set goals, build relationships and
connections, and always keep your vision in mind. There is going to be ups and
downs, good and –many – bad times but if you believe in what you are doing, you
won’t give up.
ISO: What has been your favourite or most inspiring part of being a parent to date?
I cannot tell. My
daughter is a constant source of inspiration for me, from the moment she was
born. She made me a better person. I am more patient, more consistent, more
tough and determined because of her. She made me understand the importance of
small steps, the importance of living and of enjoying the moment. She made me
remember how it was watching life through the eyes of a child. She can
drive me crazy but I am actually the happiest and luckiest person in the world
because of her.
ISO: If you could arrange to meet anyone you
chose – from a part of history, or living today – who would it be and why?
Leonardo Da Vinci, because
I would like to speak with one of the geniuses – if not the greatest – of the
whole human history.
Artistic genius and inventor - 1452-1519 |
ISO: Which person has most inspired you in your life?
My mother. She has been
working all her life (she is 60 and still working), she grew up in her work from
being a secretary to becoming the CEO of a small company. In the meanwhile, she
took care of two children, a house and a husband. She was, and still is, a
wonderful mum and wife. She is intelligent, hard working and well organized. Not
to mention, she is the most humble and beautiful human being I know.
ISO: Your mum sounds wonderful - what a role model!
How do you take time out to relax?
How do you take time out to relax?
I do yoga and
Pilates once a week, meet friends for a coffee and spend time reading or
coloring with my daughter.
ISO: What would you
tell your 16-year-old self?
You are beautiful. Enjoy the moment.
ISO: Valentines is a big deal in the States. Do you and your loved ones have a particular way of celebrating?
We write Valentines for
each other, my daughter wrote Valentine’s cards for all her classmates and
teachers. My husband and I write a card for our daughter and give her a
chocolate heart. We have a nice and romantic dinner with candlelight and we
exchange small gifts.
The website's accompanying blog can be viewed at www.blog.mychildworld.com