Lawyer-turned-entrepreneur births baby-bedding business

Sara Bloom (pictured), president and chief executive officer of Oliver B, is looking forward to mid-October. That’s when she plans to attend a buyers’ market in Las Vegas, in hopes of convincing representatives of major department stores to begin selling her baby-bedding products. Concern about the safety of baby bedding led her to begin researching crib bumpers before the birth of her first son in September 2007, Bloom says. She says that in November 2008, she left her job as an associate with Mayer Brown in Houston to create her business, named for her eldest son, Oliver. “At the end of 2008, I saw this amazing opportunity where I could help millions of mothers across the country sleep at night,” Bloom says. After learning that an acquaintance’s son had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Bloom says she was not sure whether to use commercially made crib bumpers. “I cut off pieces of my son’s bumper so air could get into his bed at night,” Bloom says. Then Bloom began designing her own crib-bumper and baby-bedding products. Bloom says she was engaged in designing prototypes of her crib bumper and testing them until March, when she submitted her application for a patent. Her bumper comes in 20 separate pieces. Each padded section (pictured) ties around two crib slats with a bow, Bloom says. The day after she applied for a patent for the crib bumper, Bloom says she began selling baby-crib sets, which include the bumpers, to boutiques in Houston, Dallas and southern California and through her website. It was not easy to go from being a lawyer at a major firm to starting a business, Bloom says. While she says being a baby-bedding entrepreneur is very different from being a lawyer, she says the training she received as a corporate attorney working on high-level mergers and acquisitions helped her with the due diligence required for her own business. Seeing how the companies she represented structured themselves and ran their businesses also helped her in getting her business up and running, Bloom says. She says she holds a J.D. from California Western School of Law and a LL.M from the University of San Diego School of Law. “It was a lot to walk away from,” Bloom says.  But, she says, “You have to follow your passion. It’s turned out great.”
 –  Mary Alice Robbins

Comments

[dinosaur bedding]

by doing a business with dinosaur bedding is a good way though.. it can be a second jobs

[Baby bedding fan]

That's awesome that you still followed your dream even though it meant walking away from a really good job. Who knew it would be in baby bedding and creating crib bumpers ;) I hope things continue to work out for you!

[Craftmatic]

I just have to agree with her, if the passion really runs though, then that would be mostly considered since it would bring you with true happiness! I found these kind of business cute and productive as well.

[craftmatic]

-adjusts to your body and conforms to the pressure points on your hips, legs, back and neck.

-You can choose your overall firmness or softness of the air chamber thus allowing you to create the ideal sleep surface.

-lasts longer than traditional spring mattresses because there are no springs to wear out or bend over time. Those are just top 3 benefits craftmatic beds offer! Great!

[Baby Sleep Sack]

Baby beddings business must be a good business after all this lawyer has switch from being a lawyer to an entrepreneur.