Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
EP 46: Mia Funt, Co-Founder and President of ByHeart Joins the Chat
1.7k Plays2 years ago
On today’s episode of Mom Group Chat we are joined by Mia Funt, Co-Founder and President of ByHeart, a next-generation baby nutrition company dedicated to empowering parents everywhere with feeding choices that build a healthier foundation for their babies’ lives to follow.
What you feed your baby is truly one of the most important decisions that you will make as a mom, and we feel confident that this episode will empower you to take on that decision with confidence.
Mia talks about how ByHeart launched their first formula, a next generation easy to digest recipe with all in one benefits and certified ingredients in March 2022 as the first new US infant formula manufacturer to be registered with the FDA in over 15 years, the only new US brand to own manufacturing and research & development facilities, to directly oversee ingredient sourcing and to run a clinical trial to prove benefits to baby.
Learn more about ByHeart: https://byheart.com/
Follow ByHeart on social media: https://www.instagram.com/byheart/
Curious about ByHeart? Redeem your welcome offer for 20% off your first purchase at http://ByHeart.com with code MOMGROUPCHAT20 for a limited time. Additional terms and conditions apply.
Code: MOMGROUPCHAT20
Terms: https://byheart.com/pages/20nc724
Join the official Mom Group Chat Facebook group: Mom Group Chat | Facebook
Keep up with the Moms and join the conversation on our socials:
Instagram: @momgroupchat
TikTok: @momgroupchat
Questions/comments/need to vent? Email us at momgroupchat@gmail.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Guest
00:00:07
Speaker
There's no right way to do it. Oh, we're gonna get into it.
00:00:14
Speaker
What up moms? My name is Candice and I'm here with my best friend Whitney and an amazing special guest today. We have Mia Funt, which is the co-founder and president of By Heart. You all have heard it. You all love it. It is a next generation baby nutrition company dedicated to empowering parents everywhere with feeding choices that build a healthier foundation for their babies' lives
00:00:38
Speaker
So we're so excited to have Mia here. Welcome.
Mia Funt: Mother and Entrepreneur
00:00:44
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. Not only is this exciting because A, you are the co-founder and president of a formula company, but you are also a mom.
00:00:54
Speaker
One of our goals for this show as we started it was to talk to moms in all realms of motherhood and to talk to someone who is as badass as you. Literally co-founder, president of a full-fledged formula company while also being a mom, bravo to you.
00:01:17
Speaker
Bravo to you guys, too. We're all just juggling all the things, right? And it's chaos, but I always say I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the chaos. At times I'm not, but there are other times when I think, hey, this is fun. Like, I'm lucky.
00:01:34
Speaker
I'm feeling full, like I have a full, chaotic life. That's what everyone says. It's like, oh, those are the days. And I'm like, I'm not feeling that great about that right now. I'm busy. It's so hot. No, I mean, I think us a year ago would be screaming that we have you on today. Like you're such goals.
00:01:55
Speaker
I would love to hear a little bit about yourself personally, your family, and then we can get more into your business. Great. Well, as we were just saying, I mean, my between by heart and my three kids at home, it's just babies and kids all day long, 24 seven. And it's funny, even when me and my friends try to get together, it's like we end up getting together with our kids, too.
00:02:27
Speaker
I started by heart with my brother about seven years ago when my oldest was just about one years old. I was just fresh out of the new feeding journey. And then we were building by heart for all those years. And meanwhile, I was building my family. And then finally, when we launched our formula after five years of
00:02:55
Speaker
all the things. I could finally feed my own baby, Simone, the formula, which was just a really cool full circle moment. Oh, I have chills. That is so cool. And then my brother actually also had a baby and he was another little buy heart customer. So we're just so lucky that our personal and professional lives kind of intersect in that way. It's so fulfilling.
Innovating the Formula Industry
00:03:21
Speaker
Yeah, that's like the most rewarding thing you can do as a mother is, I mean, that's kind of how we feel about the podcast. It's like everything that we love and are dedicating our lives to, it's like we're just fulfilling that in every way possible by having this. So you say five years, did you know it was going to be...
00:03:41
Speaker
that long of a process or were, cause I just think of us getting started now and I'm like five years from now, like, wow, what if we're just exploded, like, like a formula brand, you know, something like that. So how was the, how was that process? Yeah, that's such a good question. When we started the company, um, we knew that the whole infant formula industry had to change formulas had to be way better than they were.
00:04:11
Speaker
I mean, what's more important than parents feeling confident in how they feed and nourish their babies? And it just wasn't how parents were feeling. They came into parenthood. They had to choose a formula and a panic. They didn't, you know, they felt like they didn't have the understanding of what it was. I mean, I experienced that myself. I was so insecure about my feeding choices.
00:04:35
Speaker
And it all came down to the product. And when we started digging into formula, we just realized the product hadn't changed in decades. And two companies were making our formula forever and ever.
00:04:51
Speaker
And so we knew that it would take a long time, that if we were really going to change this category for parents, for babies, make it better, that we'd have to be all in and it would be a journey. But I think that as we started digging in, we realized just how if we were truly going to change
00:05:13
Speaker
formula, we were going to have to change everything about it. And so I think to some extent, sometimes it's good when you're a little bit naive, but we definitely went in knowing that we would have to, if we were really going to innovate, we would have to build an entirely new formula from scratch. We would have to do a clinical study where nationwide babies would drink the formula and drink another formula and breast milk and
00:05:41
Speaker
we would study what the benefits are. But then we realized that, wow, actually we can't even create our own formula if we don't.
00:05:51
Speaker
buy and build our own supply chain. Like these were realizations that we had no idea that we wouldn't be able to just go to a manufacturer and say, hey, we want to build this amazing formula. We didn't know that they would say, no, no, no, we can't do any of those things. And that we would eventually have to just source all of our own ingredients.
00:06:12
Speaker
build three factories in order to do it in the way that we want it and in the way that parents deserved. What did you do before this? How did you know how to build this business? Tell us a little bit about your background before formula because I feel like that could play into how you started and just being the type of person that is willing to go all in and be like, we can do it.
00:06:36
Speaker
I think when I look back in my career, I think it was always about problem solving. It was always about like, what do people need? And what's not working? And how do we fix it? And so it was always starting from, is there a real need here? Like people don't need more options of things. There are a lot of things out there. But I was always obsessed with like, what really needs to change? What really needs to improve? And then I loved figuring that out.
00:07:05
Speaker
consulting for a long time, working with companies that were trying to identify new areas for innovation. And I would spend a lot of time talking to consumers and understanding what the needs were. So consulting was all about like, you know, creating new solutions that people needed. I had a stint where I lived in Africa and I worked for the coffee
00:07:31
Speaker
category in Rwanda because it was the biggest export for Rwanda and it was all about helping farmers make higher incomes to support their families. So I was just always interested in innovation, but meaningful innovation, not just another thing, but what could really change lives and make lives better. And so
00:08:01
Speaker
I had that consulting background. I also was in tech, so really understood how we could use tech to better understand and connect with people and understand their needs. And then really, I got together with my brother, who he came from a completely different background. He had actually been studying the infant formula category.
00:08:23
Speaker
and investing in different parts of it. He knew all these doctors and breast milk scientists, if you believe that's a thing. He was studying their lives to studying breast milk to inform really innovation and infant nutrition. So when we got together, he had already really understood the regulatory landscape, all the doctors and scientists. And so that gave us a real
00:08:53
Speaker
leg up and we also came from a family of kind of health innovators. So it was just a combination of a lot of things.
Challenges and Commitments in Formula Creation
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah. Like you were put on this earth to do this. That's kind of what I'm getting from this is like you were meant to be the person to innovate this and do this. Like based on your background and just like your, I don't know, you just sound like the person. Yeah. You're the coolest person I've ever met.
00:09:18
Speaker
serious. So what does innovation in the formula industry look like? What were the things that you notice were missing in this category? What were the shortcomings of formula? Yeah. Well, at a really high level, first of all, before we became FDA approved, there hadn't been a new formula
00:09:45
Speaker
maker or manufacturer in 15 years. Wow. Crazy. Yeah. And so that in itself was so necessary because we deserve a formula based on research and scientific knowledge from this decade, right? Like we understood that breast milk research had advanced so much. Our understanding
00:10:14
Speaker
Why it's so good for baby's health head had advanced so much there were there were such high quality ingredients available, but No one had had truly taken it on in 15 years and there wasn't meaningful innovation So we had to start with really Bringing together the world's experts in infant nutrition and saying we want to build a formula from scratch based on
00:10:43
Speaker
the latest breast milk research based on our understanding of what's most important for baby's health and let's build it from scratch. And then after that, it was about, all right, well now how do we make it? And we bought the facility and source the ingredients and ran the clinical trials. So there were a lot of steps that had to happen, but the part that was so
00:11:10
Speaker
interesting is that we got to sit with these experts and say, and just ask why, like why, why, why do all formulas have skim milk? Like that doesn't make sense when, when your baby turns one, your doctor says, give them whole milk. Whole facts are so healthy for their growth, for their brain. Um, so why are formulas made with skim milk or, you know, why
00:11:37
Speaker
why are the proteins in breast milk and those in formula so different? The two most important and abundant proteins in breast milk were essentially missing in formula. And we just kept asking why. And the answers were never what we wanted. It wasn't, oh, because that's the best nutrition for babies. It was like, oh, well, it's cheaper, or it's easier to make, or it's just been done like that. We said, well, that's not good enough.
00:12:03
Speaker
And so we that's where we started saying we want to create the best infant formula on earth for our babies to support their health, to give parents confidence. And then we just started taking the steps to making that happen. And you know what, and to have our own families and be building
00:12:22
Speaker
you know, our own families while doing that, we just became so passionate. It was like, we could not take no for an answer. Yeah. I can imagine in the formula world, well, first of all, there's like a bajillion ways I want to take this conversation just from everything you've said. But one of my first questions is I can imagine that there is so much red tape with this. Like, especially if these two companies like have kind of been running the show for so many years,
00:12:50
Speaker
And then not to mention just I know like health products or food products, they have a lot of red tape in general to be like FDA approved. Is that part of the reason the process was so long or what was it like kind of tackling all of that red tape surrounding, you know, creating it? It's actually good news that it's hard to create a new formula, right? Because it's the most
00:13:18
Speaker
We say important food for the most important people. And so, yes, formula is the most highly regulated food in the world. If you're going to create a new formula, you need clinical trials, you need FDA registration. And so you have to keep digging and learning and figuring it out.
00:13:42
Speaker
There is an easy way to do it, but it means that you outsource it all and then you can't really innovate. You just go to the single contract manufacturer in the country. That's what every other challenger brand has done. And they say we want a new formula, make it for us. But that was not going to help us achieve our goals. Our goals were to create the best formula for babies and then prove the benefits
00:14:12
Speaker
in a clinical trial, like study our own formula. So we could not just give you the marketing, the empty marketing claims, but we could say, this is what our formula showed, really breakthrough results for your baby that you could feel good about, that you can feel confident about. So it was a real journey of discovery and learning all of it takes time, then actually doing the studies and doing the research and development,
00:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, it takes time. And there isn't a clear blueprint. It's not like, hey, here's what you do. Just follow these steps. There's no direction to begin. It does make me feel better that it takes time. It's like, okay, yeah, I get it. Because, I mean, we're a formula family.
00:15:04
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I'm just so glad that the options are out there. And yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. Who knew, you know, like, even thinking about that. I'm just gonna say, because it's baby's full diet and it's supporting that. It's stressful to pick, like.
00:15:19
Speaker
or to make that decision sometimes too. Yeah, totally. Absolutely.
Personal Feeding Journeys and Changing Perceptions
00:15:25
Speaker
I remember just thinking, okay, where do I start? What do I have to do? Well, that was my next question for you is take us back to your feeding journey with your babies. What was that like? Did you make that decision to switch a formula? Talk to us about your feeding journey.
00:15:45
Speaker
My feeding journey with each of my three kids was completely different. That's what I find so interesting. That even if you had one baby and you had one experience, you can't, I wish I could tell all parents that you can't go into the next one thinking it's gonna be that way. No, we know that. We both just had our second. And it's been a totally different journey for both of my kids. And I know Whitney feels the same for sure.
00:16:14
Speaker
especially because feeding is so personal, it's so specific to the moment, like your own health, your baby's health, their size, their weight, so many different things. I remember my mom, I kept thinking, why is it easier the second time? And my mom said, well, maybe it's even just because you have that muscle memory.
00:16:40
Speaker
of knowing how to hold your baby. You didn't even know how to hold your baby before. It's just so interesting how different the first and second time are. But with Nev, with my first, it was crazy. I couldn't believe how hard breastfeeding was. Nobody told me and how painful it was. And there were moments that were
00:17:03
Speaker
that were beautiful and felt really intimate and felt good. But there were so many moments that I was just overwhelmed with pain or just thought it was so hard. I was so insecure that I wasn't doing it right. I couldn't understand why she was crying.
00:17:20
Speaker
crying. She was screaming. I was screaming at me. We've all been there. We've all been there. It was a big mental struggle for me. Oh, for sure. That's what I think the hardest part of newborn stage, that not sleeping as well. But yes, the trying to breastfeed was the hardest thing of having a baby. So hard. Yeah. And then I was also trying to balance, I want to be with my baby, but I also have all these other sides of
00:17:50
Speaker
my life and me and um so it was you know i turned to formula like so many parents a bit in a panic like when breastfeeding suddenly unexpectedly was really hard you know i wish it wasn't that way and that's so much of what we're trying to solve for now like hey you know you you set up the baby room you choose the crib you
00:18:15
Speaker
you research the changing table, you get the diapers. And yet I didn't have the formula. I hadn't done that research before. Um, and I went in pretty blind and then I had to make the decision in a panic. Um, and you know, we recently launched, uh, at baby list as their first formula partner on, uh, on registry. And I'm just so
00:18:38
Speaker
It's such a big moment for me because I'm like, if we can change the whole way that we think about formula and preparing for feeding generally where it's something we register for, it's something that we prepare ahead of having a baby, then we can go into it so much calmer. Like, okay, whatever happens, I have options and I have choices that I feel good about. So empowering parents to get ahead of it
00:19:06
Speaker
So that they can feel calm and talk in the moment is such a big thing for me, because it was just not my own experience. And then with my second and third, you know, those were different experiences. But I really, I think that first time mom experiences like
00:19:23
Speaker
That's how it was for me too. I went straight into a panic because I was not producing enough or maybe I just, I also didn't like the idea of not knowing how much he was eating. And I was just not confident about any of that. And so you do.
00:19:41
Speaker
research in a panic. That is crazy. It's such an interesting point because like you said, we do so much research beforehand. I did so much research on
00:19:55
Speaker
What things don't go according to plan all the time. So it's like, why not research formula as well as a backup. Right. And so then you don't even get to do the thorough research that you would like on this thing that is so important to your baby's health and.
00:20:14
Speaker
I know for me, my first struggled a lot with jaundice in the hospital. We were there for five days and it was like, we couldn't kick it. And it was like, at that point I'm just desperate to A, get out of there and for my baby to kick it. And so I'm just giving the formula that the hospital is telling me she's not eating enough. You need to just give her this.
00:20:36
Speaker
I'm, I'm, as a mom, I want to do what's best for my baby and get her healthy and all of those things. But it's like, I didn't even have a moment to like, use my brain about it. I haven't slept. I'm a new mom. I'm bleeding. Like, you know what I mean? It's like, it's so, if we can empower parents to do that research and to prepare ahead of time, it would be life changing for so many moms.
00:21:03
Speaker
Yeah. And the stigmatism that breast is best, like also kind of scares you. And they're like, well.
00:21:10
Speaker
I feel like I should try. And then you really struggle through breastfeeding when there's great formulas out there, you know? So, man. Yeah. It's tough. Well, that's what we think about every morning when we wake up and we go to work. Actually, we have created what we believe is the best possible formula, and we want parents to really understand what's in it and feel proud of the ingredients.
00:21:38
Speaker
And know that we obsess, we have obsessed for so many years over this one product because it is so important for your baby, for you. We know how much you obsess over every decision that you make for your baby and this should be no different. I also remember just thinking, wow, this is such an important decision and yet I know nothing about this company that makes this. And I think that that's
00:22:07
Speaker
also what we're trying to do here. We want people to understand, really open up how we do things. We own our three factories. We own every step of the making of our formula, and we want you to see it and feel like you understand it so that you can feel proud of it.
00:22:32
Speaker
We love doing a kind of behind the scenes on really understanding like this grass fed organic formula or this grass fed organic milk, you know, where it comes from, you know, our clean label certification. And what does that mean? You know, we don't want to just say we have
00:22:53
Speaker
a clean formula, we want you to really understand. We label, they test for 300 contaminants and actually we test for 700 because we're always trying to go above and beyond. Or even just understanding how we make the formula. It's not just about the ingredients we put in, but also how you make it and our small batch process.
00:23:14
Speaker
that we use in our facilities really protects the goodness of the ingredients because if you overheat and overcook it kind of destroys the facts of the formula all those steps are so important to ensure that we're getting you the best nutrition and so.
00:23:34
Speaker
Just because of how intimate it is, we want you to feel that you understand the company that's making it for you, the people. You understand the decisions that we make because they so intimately impact your baby.
00:23:45
Speaker
Are you doing tours of the facilities? It actually sounds fun to go see. I would love that. Yes, let's do it. Bring your parents to work day. Yeah, that would be so cool. So you kind of just talked about like all the different, there's so many different parts of making this and so many different important aspects of formula, but as parents, like
00:24:08
Speaker
What is the most important like factor when choosing a formula for your baby? Like, is it protein? Is it? I mean, I don't even I don't even know. So tell us what you believe is like the most important thing. Well, the first thing I would say is that we looked at breast milk. We studied it obsessively with leaders in breast milk research and
00:24:34
Speaker
we really focused in on protein, as you say, for two reasons.
Research and Health Focus of By Heart
00:24:39
Speaker
One, because it was the biggest gap between breast milk and formula. And two, because it is so
00:24:45
Speaker
critical to not only growth, but also immune development, gut health, easy digestion. So we really focused there first and we created this patented protein blend that gets closest to breast milk. So we included the two most important and abundant proteins in breast milk.
00:25:08
Speaker
We included that in our formula and that there is real clinical evidence that it supports less spit up, softer poops, easier digestion. We know that 50% of babies switch formulas because of a digestion issue. And so it was so critical to first of all, create the easiest to digest formula.
00:25:36
Speaker
And then also these proteins support the immune system and gut, which are also so important. So yes, understanding the protein, you know, other formulas use skim milk and whey protein concentrate. That wasn't good enough for us. So that's really where we started. And then fats, you know, we wanted whole healthy fats were the only us made formula with grass fed organic whole milk.
00:26:01
Speaker
We actually had to get it approved for use in the US. It had been approved in Europe, but not in the US, but we wanted that whole healthy, those whole healthy fats. And really understanding if the company's done a clinical trial on their formula. I mean that we conducted not just a clinical trial, but the largest one in 25 years because it was so important to us to really give you evidence of
00:26:30
Speaker
all these benefits. I spoke about digestion, also more efficient weight gain, better nutrient absorption, all these benefits that are specific to our formula. So these are just some of the things, but really it's a baby's full diet and we work to get closer to breast milk in every element of the diet and use highest quality ingredients.
00:26:59
Speaker
But yeah, if I was giving advice to parents, I would really be starting with the proteins and the fats, because they're just critical elements of baby's diet and the closer to breast milk. I think that's really like the blueprint. Yeah. You mentioned Europe quickly, and that was kind of one of my questions. Or I had an old boss of mine whose daughter was very... This was years and years ago.
00:27:24
Speaker
But she was very curious about the formula industry here in US, and this is before by heart. And I remember she was shipping formula from Europe to feed her baby here because she was telling me all about how it was better ingredients. And did you guys look to Europe at all or tell us a little bit about that and how it differs from, if you know anything, obviously I'm sure you do, Europe.
00:27:54
Speaker
versus the US. We really, again, the goal was the best formula in the world. So we traveled all over the world meeting with ingredient providers meeting with manufacturers understanding like, what is the highest standard by global standards, you know, I know that there's a lot of marketing and a lot of
00:28:13
Speaker
around kind of European, I think that we just started from the highest standard period. And there were a lot of things that were done well in Europe that were ingredients that were used in Europe like whole milk or like Alphalac, which is the number one protein in breast milk that weren't yet certified in the US. So we had to like bring those ingredients and then take it through a whole regulatory process. But there were also
00:28:42
Speaker
things that were happening in other parts of the world. And we really studied nutrition globally. And then why it was so important that we built our own manufacturing and research and development and supply chain here in the US is so that we could be so discerning about every single ingredient choice. And that was only possible when we had full control.
00:29:11
Speaker
You know, it's one thing to say, you know, this is the highest standard. It's another to ensure that you are doing it all yourself so you can really create the best. Because if you don't, from day one, have your own manufacturing, then you don't have the kind of control to create the formula at the highest standard and then continually raise the standard. It's not a set it and forget it.
00:29:38
Speaker
We're learning all the time and we're raising the standard constantly. We meet with our ingredients suppliers all the time and we say, hey, how are we raising the bar? How are we staying ahead of contaminants, of clean standards? And so, yes, there are things that we learned as we studied and continue to study different markets and what they do. And we wanted to make that all possible in the US.
00:30:07
Speaker
for these families in the US. So since you have your own manufacturing facilities, does that help safeguard against the formula shortages that we've seen in the
Navigating Formula Shortages and Industry Efforts
00:30:21
Speaker
US? I mean, that was a stressful time. Yeah. It actually, it happened at the tail and my son was about to turn one, so I was about to be
00:30:30
Speaker
finish like kind of doing the bottles and stuff. But I mean, that was scary. And you launched around that time to talk to us about that. Like, how did that shortage even happen for those of us who are not obviously in that world? Well, because we were dependent for so long on only two big formula companies, when one of their facilities goes down, it creates a huge gap in the market.
00:30:59
Speaker
We are too reliant for our most important food on too few manufacturers. And so that's how it happened, that one manufacturing plant went down and that meant that there were outages in the stores, on the shelves, which was incredibly scary. And we would hear directly from parents, you know, we'd be reaching out, we'd be calling them, we'd be talking to them in every kind of way.
00:31:26
Speaker
because you're right, we had just launched and we were so grateful that we launched because we were direct to consumers so we could directly communicate with our parents and we could just do everything we possibly could to make as much formula as possible to play a role in trying to help. The issue that I think everyone realized was that over dependence on too few manufacturers
00:31:52
Speaker
We, since the formula shortage, actually acquired and built up two new manufacturing facilities, which fortifies our own supply chain, but also helps to fortify the supply chain for the US for this most important food.
00:32:09
Speaker
And we're really the only company who's been able to do that in the US since. And so yes, that is critically important to ensure supply and we've been able to ramp up and now because we have so much supply and because we have backups in the system, that's what's critical to be able to ensure parents that we can reliably feed their families.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah. Those were like barbaric times. I remember people being like, do you have any for me? And you're like, no, it's mine. Yeah. And it was sharing it. Also though, on the flip side of the coin was a very, um, a time where I feel like a lot of moms come came together. Like I remember being in my mom group and people looking for a certain type of formula. And one mom would be like, I found a can at my store. I'll ship it to you. And
00:33:00
Speaker
And so I do remember that there was a, there was love there between moms to, we got each other's back, but I truly remember like by heart entering the conversation, you know, my baby was born in March of 2020 or sorry, 2022. Oh my God. Do I even know my child's birthday?
00:33:16
Speaker
Um, she was born in March of 2022. So really around that whole shortage is like when my baby was born and it was truly like, I remember, so I'm in a very, I talk about it on this podcast all the time, the Q1 moms, they were like my due date group, my core moms.
00:33:35
Speaker
And I remember literally by heart entering the conversation and people being like, Oh my gosh, I ordered this by heart. It's amazing. Like you guys have to try it. And they would like, people were talking about all the benefits and how amazing the ingredients are. And it was just so refreshing to
00:33:53
Speaker
be able to have something be shipped directly to me, like direct to consumer. I didn't have to go from one Publix to the next, to Walmart, to Costco, or whatever to search for it. It was like, oh, I can get a high quality, amazing formula sent directly to me. And I know that it single-handedly saved a lot of parents during the formula shortage, for sure.
00:34:18
Speaker
So thank you. Thank you for saying that. It's really kind, but it was really stressful because we couldn't possibly do enough. I mean, you know, and but we were trying and trying to do everything to, you know, move to 24 seven manufacturing, like just
00:34:38
Speaker
trying to pull every lever, but we were new. And, you know, no, it was a moment where the whole industry was trying to come together. So I think there was a lot of love between parents. There was a lot of love, I think, between, you know, formula companies trying to come together and say, like, what do we have to do? Like, how can we how can we try and support parents? But the stories were absolutely heart wrenching. I mean, it's one thing to run out of toilet paper that sucks, too.
00:35:07
Speaker
But your soul source nutrition for your baby.
00:35:12
Speaker
If I go on an airplane and I run out of snacks, I start freaking out. There's something about your baby and nourishing them and feeding them. I mean, it's existential. And so that was just the absolute hardest time. It was awful. The country really failed parents. 100%.
00:35:37
Speaker
We're working now to come together. You know, we were speaking to the White House all the time about what are things that we as an industry need to do to ensure that that never happens again and building new manufacturing plants and fortifying them. And that's just critically important not to find ourselves in that situation again.
00:35:58
Speaker
So we're trying to help other companies that want to commit to that, help them get there so that we can continue to.
00:36:09
Speaker
build up the industry. Yeah. So obviously not only are you guys innovators with the actual formula ingredients, but it sounds like you guys are also doing things outside of creating formula that are helping parents, like you said, talking to the White House. Talk to us about some other things by heart.
00:36:30
Speaker
does, other things you're involved in that maybe are always trying to help parents and help us feel empowered. Yeah. Well, we're trying to talk to as many parents to really learn about what helps you, what delights you, how can we be there for you because you have so many needs. And so we're constantly
00:36:58
Speaker
You know, we think about innovation as constantly trying to understand the needs and then show up in a meaningful way. Um, we have a subscription on our website and we're constantly evolving it to help parents just feel like, you know what? I can have peace of mind that I'm going to get this formula when I need it. I'm going to have the information and the support that I need. And so we, we call it our feeding plan.
00:37:27
Speaker
And we're constantly trying to improve that based on feedback from parents. We also are building out the perks associated with it. Like we have partnerships with mom communities so that we can help connect different moms and dads. So I think it's really building out that kind of feeding plan and support resources for parents. Another thing we're really passionate about is making our formula accessible to families in need.
00:37:58
Speaker
formula is incredibly expensive. Just generally all formulas, um, for this critical food. And so when you buy by heart, you're also helping to automatically contribute to our program called the openhearted program where we donate a formula to families in need.
Community Support and Parental Advice
00:38:17
Speaker
And we don't just show up and drop off a bunch of cans. Like we partner with organizations in our local communities.
00:38:25
Speaker
who are supporting parents, we understand where they are in their journey, what they need, we ensure that we get them the formula they need for the duration of their formula feeding journey, and then also that we give them education and support resources. And we have this goal of by 2028, donating 5 million feeds and we're
00:38:48
Speaker
operating in multiple states. We also work with baby to baby as we sign up new organizations to be able to distribute directly to them. So this open hearted program is a really big part of what we do. We never pulled back from it even during the shortage. And it's really been part of the business plan from day one. And just figuring out how to continue to
00:39:12
Speaker
Support with greater access and then just show up in places. The parents need us I mean whether it's going to baby list because your that's your first stop to figure out what you need and ensuring that you're thinking about feeding to and preparing for that or Our partnership with Target to be in your local Target Nationwide if that's where you need us or thrive market That was more one where we just are we had such
00:39:42
Speaker
respect for their high standards and values and wanted to partner with such an aligned brand. So yeah, constantly. But looking to you to tell us also what you need, what your parents need so we can keep making a difference. You are so inspiring. I'm so grateful that you're here talking to us.
00:40:08
Speaker
I'm curious about if you were to say anything to new moms who are maybe struggling to breastfeed and maybe thinking about switching to formula or scared to switching to formula, what would you say to those moms to help them make an informed decision or just to feel good about their decision? Two things. The first would be, I know it's easier said than done, but go easy on yourself.
00:40:35
Speaker
Like you're doing a great job. You're trying to figure it out. There's like this pressure to know everything on day one. And actually like we can experiment. Like I remember thinking if I try formula, I can never go back. It's like this one big decision, you know, that I'm making. And actually you can try it and see how it feels and then see what you want to do next.
00:41:01
Speaker
It's not like you did it and you can never go back, right? And so we've made this formula that we've obsessed over that you can feel proud to feed your baby, but who knows how you're going to feel? But you should give yourself the ability to try and see how it feels and
00:41:25
Speaker
and then take it from there, you know, or like learning on the job. And that's so scary. But I think when, when you have options that you can feel good about that are super high quality, hopefully you can feel like, you know what, I can try and I can, these are tools I can use to try and figure it out. And then also my second thing that my mom always told me that was helpful is like,
00:41:55
Speaker
this too will pass. I think sometimes you're like, why doesn't my baby stop crying? Or how come I can't figure this out? Or I don't understand. And actually in that moment, it feels like it's never gonna end, but.
00:42:09
Speaker
But then it does, and then you enter this new phase, and then you have your whole new set of challenges. Just push through. Just push through, Baba. You're about to figure it out. We keep joking now because we both have two-year-olds, and everyone says that three and four are the hardest agent. I'm like, there's no way.
00:42:32
Speaker
Oh no. I have a two year old also. We have a little two year old club. Oh yay. It is so true. Like it, especially as first time moms, like everything feels so long. Like you're like, I'm never going to get out of this sleep regression. But as a second time mom, now I always like, we always say in this podcast now, like to all the first time moms, like this, whatever you're going through right now, like whether it's a sleep regression or like a sickness, it,
00:43:01
Speaker
You're going to turn a corner here soon and it's short-lived and your baby will do something amazing and heartfelt and incredible that you won't even remember this amazingly difficult time you're in because it all happens so fast and it changes so quickly.
00:43:21
Speaker
And I think what you guys do is just, it's incredible because at the end of the day, like if you find your crew, if you find your couple people who, as you said, are in the same quarter as you, I mean, I find it so funny how what, let's say you're introducing solids or you're looking for a formula. It is your whole world. That decision, that moment, it's like you're in the trenches on this. You are obsessed.
00:43:50
Speaker
You're looking for people like, is anyone else in this moment with me? And if you just have one or two people who are in that moment with you, I mean, that changes everything, right? You have the person to obsess with. And it's not your husband. I tell you that. You know what I mean? Like when I'm thinking about which form I'm going to feed my baby or what, I'm going to start this solids program. And I look at him and I'm like, and I start to talk to him about it. It's like glaze, like nothing's, no one's home. So.
00:44:18
Speaker
to find a group of moms that are in the same mindset and in the same phase, it really is game-changing. And the whole reason we started this podcast is we wanted to connect moms and make you feel less alone because it can be a lonely time. So this is why this is such a passion project for us. We love connecting with moms.
00:44:46
Speaker
We love what you're doing and we love by heart. So I want to switch it up a little bit. Ask them like more lighthearted. We always end these with just some like fun, random questions. Well, first of all, tell us the ages of your kids. I think we missed that in the beginning. Simone is two. Rafa just turned six and Nev is almost nine.
00:45:09
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, you've got a good range there. Okay. So in your opinion, what age has been the most difficult? Oh, no. It might be different for each kid. Maybe. I don't know.
00:45:29
Speaker
I think it was that first year. It was just the most difficult for me. Everything was so new and scary. But now it's like psychological. Like nine, it's like mind games. So I don't know either one, either zero or nine. Yeah. Psychological mind. Oh my God. That is warfare. So funny. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. That is so true. What is your...
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah, no, I know. And then they get so smart. Like my two-year-old is already so smart. I'm like, she's already like negotiating with me. I'm like, how did we get here so quickly? Yes, exactly. What's your favorite part about being a mom? I feel like I'm just learning so much about human nature, about myself, about people through
00:46:25
Speaker
these little kids. It's like I'm just obsessed with watching them become little people. And I'm just learning so much about myself and just people and the way that we work.
Parenting Perspectives and Self-Care
00:46:43
Speaker
I'm just obsessed with these little, little developing minds and creatures. I always say that having kids kind of like cracks open your world all over again. It's like you kind of get to see everything through a new lens. Like watching my daughter like look at something for the first time, it's almost like I get to look at it for the first time again.
00:47:04
Speaker
And it's such a blessing and is so incredible. You've lived your life and then it's like you start your second life when your kids come along. It's a crazy feeling. Yeah, nothing is funnier than when they find something funny. It's the most genuine humor in the whole world. It's like nothing makes me laugh more than when.
00:47:28
Speaker
when they find something funny. Or when I find a kid's book that's really funny, like those Mo Williams books that my kids just cracked up. I love those books. Yeah, I love this. The kid humor.
00:47:43
Speaker
So sweet. Okay. So obviously a mom of three president and founder, right? Co-founder. How do you balance it all? Give us, give us some tips. What's it really like? Spill, spill the tea.
00:47:59
Speaker
Similar to what we were talking about with finding your crew, I'm just constantly connecting with other moms who are in a similar situation. I'm constantly looking for tips. So I never just think, oh, I'm good. I'm like constantly just like, what's working? What's working?
00:48:17
Speaker
Um, and how do I balance it? I, I'm always thinking about like, what is a non-negotiable? Like what is really important to me? What keeps me sane? What keeps me going? I, for instance, just, I love bedtime. Like there's nothing,
00:48:36
Speaker
It's like it's not just for them. It's for me like I get into their bed. It's like my moment I don't even think you're supposed to do that, but I do that cuz it's like You know I get in there I cuddle with them and so I try to Think if this is what I need then how can I? prioritize that truly and like make that my boundary like this is what I do and so I don't I
00:49:01
Speaker
I don't sign up for dinners. I don't, you know, and I protect it. It's like figuring out what really matters and then protecting it and kind of creating the rest of your schedule around it. And that changes every couple months, you know, then something else becomes important to me. Maybe it's drop off, maybe it's, you know, something else. And so
00:49:25
Speaker
just constantly re-evaluating like what matters, what makes me happy and then leaning into that. And then also just there are times when I'm really leaning into work, there are times when I'm really leaning into family or into friends. And I just try to go a little easier in myself and say, Hey, if I'm really leaning in here right now and I'm feeling shitty about that, like next month I'll lean into that. Cause there's always something to feel guilty about, right? There's always something you're not doing. Um,
00:49:53
Speaker
And so I used to beat myself up so much about it and more and more I think, hey, I get to have faith. I get to think of my life in little micro phases. That is such good advice. I let you say like the guilt thing or not the guilt thing, but saying like, oh, I probably shouldn't be getting in the bed with them, but they're going to remember their mom cuddling them, you know, to sleep, which is so sweet.
00:50:19
Speaker
You just can't be all things, you can't be all things all the time and you don't always have to follow the rules too. Just get in that bed. You want to get in that bed? Just get in that bed. I tell my husband, I'm not following the rules. I know, I know this is one of those. I don't care. 100%. We, I feel like a core value of this show that we talked about in the beginning when we were like figuring out like what we wanted to do with this show is like,
00:50:44
Speaker
that there's no one right way to do it. Whatever feels good for you as a mom or in your life in this moment, and it might look totally different six months from now, but there's no right way to do it, so you just gotta follow your mom gut and do what feels good.
00:51:01
Speaker
That was the real thought behind by heart. You know your baby by heart. You know them. The things you know by heart are the things that you know in your soul. And we forget that. We're like, what's the rule? What do I have to do? It's like, you know what? This is your person, your little
00:51:22
Speaker
but part of you, there are rules and there are things and let's like all learn them, but at the end of the day, like trust your instincts and do what's right for you. I was going to ask about the name and how you came up with it, but you just answered my question was, you know, your baby by heart. Oh my gosh, I have chills. I don't know why I didn't think about it like that, but I love that too. Very good.
00:51:48
Speaker
I also love your marketing and like your colors. You guys have such an amazing brand that you've built. I do a lot of work in marketing and social media for my job. So I'm always like, Ooh, look at that marketing. Look at that branding. It's so good and fun. So yeah, just had to give you a quick little snaps for your marketing and everything.
00:52:13
Speaker
Thank you. It's just all about the feeling. Like, feeling should feel great. And why is everything else in the baby room so beautiful? And then formula can feel so icky. And we wanted to make all elements of the experience feel really good. And someone just wrote me, I love getting these beautiful tins, you know.
00:52:36
Speaker
And I love knowing, oh, they're fully recyclable and they're beautiful. And it just changed the whole feeling of getting my formula. And that's, that's super important to us. It's changing feeding the way we feel about the whole thing. Yeah. Okay. One more last fun question. What is your favorite form of self-care? Like, what do you do when you're, you know, practicing self-care?
00:53:02
Speaker
Well, recently I got into forward space, the dance class, because you go in the morning, and it's like a dance party. And by 10am, you've been dancing, and it's the best. So I don't have any, any
00:53:21
Speaker
better answer than to say if I'm dancing, I'm happy. Also, I started something with my kids where if they've done everything they have to do by 7.45, like they brush teeth and they've gotten ready and everything, they get to choose from three or four things they get to do. And one of them is a five minute dance party.
00:53:41
Speaker
Um, that feels good too. A little like self-care dance right before the day start. That is so cute. I love dancing so much. So you are speaking my language. Amazing. Well, thank you so much Mia. You are truly like so inspirational.
00:54:03
Speaker
We absolutely love by heart. We love your brand. We hope that this episode will give parents, I would say like most of our listeners are first time moms and we have a lot of women who are pregnant who are just trying to figure things out before the baby comes. So I feel like this is such a great episode to inform moms who maybe aren't even at that feeding journey yet to prepare themselves and for them to learn something. So thank you so much for joining us.
00:54:32
Speaker
Thank you for what you guys do. You are amazing, creating these incredible communities. There's nothing more important. So thank you. Thank you for saying that.
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to include all of by heart socials and some links and everything in the show notes of this episode. So definitely go check that out. We'll also obviously be posting and tagging by heart in all of our social content around this episode. So head to our Instagram to check all of that out. And yeah, thank you so much Mia. Thank you.
00:55:06
Speaker
Thank you so much for being a part of our mom group chat. New episodes drop every Tuesday. And don't forget, the group chat is blowing up on our Instagram page. So make sure you're following along over there. All right, gotta go. My toddler just put something in her mouth.