How to Know When it is Time to Change Careers & Turn Your Passion into Purpose with Baby2Baby Co-CEOs

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We talk about diapers perpetuating the cycle of poverty, so if you don't have six to eight diapers to drop your child off at daycare. You can't go to work and you can't go to a job interview. So they're stopping. It's really like a block for women and parents being able to go to work. So it's really this symbol of poverty. That's how we look at diapers.

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The number one health and wellness podcast, Jay Shetty.

Jay Shetty.

The one, the only Jay Shetty.

Hey everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn and grow. Now, you know, one of the things I'm fascinated about is people who find a passion and and are able to turn it into a purpose. People who have a cause that they care about and they're able to get organized around it to make a change and impact in the world. And today's guests have done exactly that. Nora Weinstein and Kelly Sawyer Patrickoff are the co CEOs of Baby2Baby. Baby2Baby is a national nonprofit organization that serves more than 1 million children living in poverty. And every year serving children across all 50 states, Baby2Baby distributes diapers, formula, clothing and basic necessities that every child deserves. The organization has distributed over 450 million essential items to children in homeless shelters, domestic violence programs, foster care, hospitals, underserved schools, and families who have lost everything in the wake of disasters. Since last year, Baby Da Baby has delivered more than 1.5 million emergency supplies to children affected by the Maui wildfires. Please welcome to the show Nora and Kelly. Thank you both for being here.

Thanks for having us and I'm so.

Grateful to have you both here. And honestly, when my team and I met you both last year, we got to come and join your volunteer program, which was a service day for our team. We'd made a commitment at the company that we wanted to find programs that meant of some importance to the team, causes that people were passionate about. On the team, and yours was right up there. And the team wanted to get right behind it and getting to be there that day and learn about the incredible work you were doing. I was totally blown away. Very much in admiration of both of you and your stories and journeys. And then, of course, I got to attend Yogala, which was phenomenal and spectacular. And I can't even remember now how much you raised. Was it 12 million in that gala that you raised?

Like, we remember.

We're like, hold on.

I was like, yeah, 12.6 to be. I love that. Kelly. Good. Be exact. It was just. It was incredible to see just two people who are so passionate about a cause, active on it every day and creating amazing value from it. So congratulations, first of all, and thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you.

Yeah. All right, well, let's dive straight in. Noor and Kelly, I want to talk to you both individually and collectively about your respective journeys. This is not what you've done forever. I believe it's 12 years now that you've been building. Baby two.

Baby, we just hit 13.

Just hit 13. Amazing. Congratulations. So let's talk about your individual journeys and I want to find out, when you were in your previous lives, was this a passion of yours? Was this something you were aware of, or were you lost in a completely different world? Whoever wants to go first, I will.

I. Looking back, I think this makes so much sense that this is where I've ended up. As a kid, I was giving back. I think it's really important when parents instill that in their children. I went to Hebrew school, and giving back was a core part of what we learned. We had something called tzedakah, which was bringing change every week to school and whatever you could collect in your house and that money was gonna go toward helping others. We also had a food pantry that was attached to our temple, and we would go on the weekends and my parents would bring me and we would give food to people who were less fortunate. Fast forward. I became a lawyer and in my law firm, Skadden Arps, which I love dearly, it's a big corporate law firm doing giant securities cases. But there's an option for to do pro bono work. And pro bono work is obviously helping people who are less fortunate without charging them. And that's what I gravitated to immediately because it was just to me, that was so obvious, why would you want to work on a big automotive or oil case when you got to help a low income woman get housing? So it was a no brainer to me. I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to do that from the law firm, and that's just all I wanted to do.

So.

So looking back, I was going toward this direction of giving back. And Baby two Baby is certainly a huge extension of that. But I do think it was always there. And I do think it's important to teach your children about giving back from a young age. I think a lot of the people we meet on this journey that care. They started caring as a child.

I love that. Thank you so much. Kelly, same question.

Well, I was a model, so you wouldn't think of that probably as a giving back career, but it was a career that took me all over the world. But also when I was home, in my home base of New York, I would volunteer at a Head Start center in Harlem that I knew people who worked there, and so I would work with kids in my free time. I always loved being with kids. I wanted to be a teacher when I was younger. And so I was in the classroom with these children and they had no shoes that fit, clothes that were too small. They would wear the same clothes to school every day. They wouldn't come to school because they didn't have these basic things. And so that sort of instilled in me this need to help children with basic essentials. Like, I saw what could happen if they didn't have them. They couldn't get an education, they wouldn't show up to school. So that was something that was part of my free time. But I loved it so much. I was really passionate about it. And when I moved to LA and Nora and I met, my father in law happened to introduce us because he knew I had a passion for giving back to children in need. And Nora did as well. So he set us up on a blind date and that was how we met. And so it all sort of happened from there.

That's genius.

Yeah.

I'm sure he's taking all the credit now.

He definitely is, trust me.

That's amazing. No, what I love about both of those stories, independent. And I love what you're saying, Nora, this idea of how giving back has been a part of your culture ever since you were young. And I can definitely identify that and recognize that. I remember my parents didn't have a lot growing up, but giving back was always part of their life. And I think even when I was growing up, there were times in my mind where I thought, when I have more, I'll give more. But I found that that was the wrong mindset, it was the wrong mentality. What I found is whatever I have, whatever I can give, is a great place to start, whether it's time or energy or money or whatever else it may be. And I guess, did you feel like in your career, Nora, when you were going down that path and you were choosing pro bono work, did that positively or negatively affect your career? And how did that impact, you know, being a lawyer and navigating that world?

It was positive in every way because, again, I had the. The big firms do take on this pro bono commitment, and they owe the hours. And so they need some of their associates and partners to be people who love it. And so that was lucky. And then you get so much legal experience, because at a big firm, big complex cases, as a junior lawyer, you're having a very minor role in a big, complex case. And pro bono cases, you work directly with individuals, and so you advance that much more quickly. You're in court, you're in front of judges, you're with a client. And so I actually think it's a win win for the law firms because you're. You're gaining experience and also giving back.

Yeah. The reason I ask is I feel like people always feel, and I wonder whether you come across this, but I feel a lot of people always feel like if I give back, I'm going to slip behind, I'm going to fall behind, or if I focus on that. And I remember I was at a consulting firm, Accenture, and giving back was a big part of their culture as well. And we had service days in the company, and we had something called adp, which was Accenture's area of doing pro bono work. And it was encouraged. But I find that that's newer and growing now, whereas, you know, I imagine like 10, 20 years ago, that wasn't the norm. So, Kelly, how have you felt about that in terms of, like, this identity of giving back? Do you feel like it's kind of seen positively, or is it always something that people think, oh, yeah, I'll think about that later? Or how do people approach that?

I think what we do at baby 2 baby is we try and make giving back fun and interesting, and we try and make it for whether you're an individual, a company, you want to come with your whole class from your school, and you're a teacher. So we try and make it fun and trendy, and we've tried to bring some excitement into giving back. And as you saw when you came for your team building day, I think it's really working. And I think we get something so many Great. Different organizations from your team or the Girl Scouts come in, or we'll have classrooms full of kids. But we also have big studios come in and different companies come in for their give back day. And we've been able to really make that part of Baby two Baby from day one.

People love it. I agree that it's changed, but I think, and I think for reasons, for all kinds of reasons, I think a lot of individuals are just love it and love giving back. I think children organically like to give back. I think companies have to give back. And so there are companies that have it in their culture because it's organic and the leaders want it. And there are companies that just have to have it because I think employees demand it. So what we're finding is that when we, you know, we're obviously a national organization, but even in our headquarters, our volunteer sessions where we have the most, they fill up in seconds after we put up. And we have two of them, we have sessions twice a day. And the minute they open up, about a month ahead of time and they fill up immediately. And people are calling to get, you know, can they come later at night, can they come on the weekends? People want to teach them. People, I think, are desperate to teach their kids to give back. And I think actually the more they have, a lot of times people, you know, people are. They recognize how much they have. And I think they really think it's a responsibility, especially if they didn't grow up that way. I think we talked to a lot of people who didn't grow up with as much now find themselves in situations where they have so much and they don't know how to teach their kids the way that they were taught. And how could someone in a privileged situation teach their kids that that is not how the world lives. And so I think people are just dying for not dying for. I think people are really craving opportun opportunities to give back. And I don't think there are that many. So we have found that it's often expensive to have people volunteer or there's nonprofits that are on a smaller scale where I'm sure they would want help, but they can't always afford to have people come in. It's messy, it's time consuming, and so there aren't as many programs as there actually used to be. And so I think when people identify a place that can really use them in a way where they know that they're being use in a purposeful manner and not just doing busy work and when they're At Baby two Baby, they're seeing they are folding outfits for children and putting together, we try to make it very specific so that people understand how they're giving back. And even though we talk a lot about big numbers and 450 million items we're giving out and a million kids, people want to focus on individuals. So when they're folding an outfit and choosing what outfit to give a two year old who's in foster care, who they know is coming in such a horrific circumstance, and they're going to get to choose the outfit that goes to this child who's in such need, people feel a lot of pride and want those opportunities.

Absolutely. Yeah. I remember when we were there that day, I felt your team did a phenomenal job. Obviously we met, but I felt you and your team did a great job of educating us in what we were actually doing and where it was going and how it works. And I found that to be. You're so right. Like, as a volunteer, you felt so much more closely connected to the work that was going on. So when you both meet, was it love at first sight? Was it like, I love this person, we're in sync, like, we should do something together. Like, what was that energy like? Because obviously this was a warm intro. I guess it was from someone you trust and respect. But what came out of that initial meeting?

So we had dinner with our husbands just down the street, and we were, you know, probably 10 minutes of the conversation was about, I was giving back, you know, I was modeling, living in New York, just moved here and giving back. At the Head Start Center, Nora told me about her pro bono work with women and children. So we sort of connected on that and then sort of went on a merry way. And that was kind of it. And then I think we reached out to each other later on, but it wasn't that. It wasn't like the next day, it was a little while later, and we had coffee and we were talking about, like, how could we start something? What could we do to help women and children? That was both of our passion. And what we decided to do was go and meet with different nonprofits in Los Angeles at the time and see what was missing. So we went to homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, Head Start centers, schools. And we asked what was missing, what was the need? And across the board, no matter who we talked to, it was, oh, we're doing the programming. But what's missing is families are struggling to afford diapers, food, these basic essentials, and sort of a light bulb back to the Head Start center, where I saw the children who couldn't come to school because their shoes were three sizes too small or they hadn't eaten breakfast or all of these basic things that their needs weren't being met. And it all came together, and what happened was we talked about what we wanted to do. Diaper need was one of the things that every single person said, wow. And at the time, you know, there was this statistic that one in three families were struggling to afford diapers. Obviously, now later, 13 years later, unfortunately, that statistic is that one in two families now struggle to afford diapers. So we kept hearing this theme of, like, diaper need, diaper need, and what could we do about it? And so it was a problem that we kept seeing that we wanted to solve. And so day one, that was sort of like, okay, how could we make this work? What could we do together to fix this? So that was sort of like the light bulb moment for both of us.

I love that process, and I want our audience to take note of that, because I think one of the biggest things I hear from my community is, Jay, I care about so many things. How do I choose what to focus on? Like, there are so many challenges in the world, and I don't know how I fit in. And I think often those questions are very sincere and genuine, but they stop us from making change and having an impact because we kind of get lost in decision making and choosing. And I love that approach that you both had of let's actually go and research, let's go and learn, and let's listen to say, where's the gap? What's missing? How can we solve that? And sorry, go on, Nora.

Yeah, I can see you, like, because it is all of that, but it's asking the people who need the help. And I think that was, like, the key that we discovered, which was that we. And this has helped us for 13 years, is that we can't assume what someone needs. You have to go to the community and ask. And that helped us on day one when we were asking, what is the basic need? So that you'd understand, because I don't think it's what we were expecting. We weren't expecting that they were going to say the whole need is diaper need. But then it made sense when we listened, well, no one's going to come to our parenting class. No one's going to come for a, well, visit. No one's going to file their insurance claim. We can't get to these people, specifically moms, if they have a Baby in a dirty diaper. It just logically doesn't make sense. But then today, when we're dealing with our disaster relief program and we talk to, we're talking to, our team is talking to families or the social service agency that serves the families in a disaster. Again, you're saying, don't assume what someone needs in this particular hurricane. Ask them, because maybe they'll say, well, in this case, the water has been contaminated and we need water before we need anything else to make formula. Early on, when we knew people needed gear like cribs and strollers, we thought, we worked with companies that had big fancy strollers and we thought, let's try to get those donated. And then we went to the community and they said, no, we don't want a big fancy stroller. We want a fold up $20 stroller. We're getting on the bus, we have multiple children, we're walking to school and work. And so again, our assumption would have been, let's get the highest tech stroller out there. The reality was no, we actually need a practical stroller. So I feel like we learn that lesson over and over in everything we do. Listen, listen to the community you're serving and let them tell you what they need.

Yeah, that's such a great insight. I feel like it's such a privileged position to think you can predict what someone needs and what someone wants. And I think even when I came in, you do my diapers, I was like, really? I couldn't believe it. Like, I was, I was somewhat like mind blown by the fact that that was the missing link. And then when you start learning about it and how much more it affects as opposed to, you think it's just the diaper. And I know we can go into just, you know, the extent of impact that has and all the other supplies that you both focus on providing. You almost think, wow, I would never have known that. Like, I wouldn't have come to that off my own accord. And I think sometimes a lot of us are trying to figure out what people need in a silo, isolated from the problem, from the situation, from people. And we're rarely going to get to the right answer. What did it feel like? You know, you're both having successful careers, you're happy doing service work on top of that, like, you're doing the pro bono work, you're going to head start. Like, in one sense it's almost like, well, this is great. I serve, I work, I have a good career. What makes you both go, okay, no, we need to do this full time. Like this needs to be our primary focus because that feels like a genuinely big leap and commitment and taking away from two great career paths to actually say, no, no, no, this is enough of a priority. Was it something you were building while you were working or did you both go, no, we're going to stop working and start building. Which way around did it go? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Every January we hear the same message. New year, new you. But the older I get, the more I realize maybe the New year doesn't need a new you. Maybe it just needs a less burdened you. For me, one of the things I've been learning to let go of is pressure. The pressure to show up perfectly for everyone all the time. And the moment I started releasing that pressure, even little by little, it opened up space to actually understand what was going on beneath the surface. We all have blind spots, and sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to help you see what's been draining you or where you could give yourself a little more compassion and clarity. BetterHelp is quality therapists who follow a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the US and honestly, getting started is is pretty straightforward. You answer a few quick questions about what you need and they handle the matching for you. They've been doing this for over 12 years, so they usually get the match right the first time. And if the first match doesn't feel like the best fit, you can switch anytime. Through their tailored suggestions, they've supported over 5 million people and work with more than 30,000 therapists. Live sessions average a 4.9 out of 5.5rating from more than 1.7 million reviews, which says a lot. So if you're heading into the new year wanting to feel a little lighter and understand yourself a bit more, therapy can be a great place to start. Not to become a completely new version of you, but to feel more grounded in who you already are. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com Jaystop3 that's better. H E L P.com Jaystop3 the start of a new year isn't about pressure. It's about purpose. It's a time to pause, reflect, and ask what truly matters to you. Not what looks good on paper, but what feels aligned with who you are becoming. When your work is rooted in intention, action flows naturally, especially when it comes to starting or growing a business. Shopify is here to help turn that clarity into a first meaningful step. Whether you're nurturing a new idea or scaling a growing brand, Shopify provides the tools to build at your own pace. From thousands of customizable templates to AI powered support through Shopify Sidekick. It's like having a co founder, marketing team and finance Advisor all in one. You can sell anywhere your customers are Instagram, TikTok, Facebook without the stress of mastering every platform. And now with tools like ChatGPT integration, your store can be discovered by the right people exactly when they're looking for what you offer. When we built Joony, Shopify was there from day one, helping us not get lost in complexity. They scale as you grow, supporting first time founders and global brands alike. Purpose without action is just a thought. Shopify helps you deliver that action and bring your purpose to life. If you're ready to build with intention in 2026, go to shopify.com j and.

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It all happened very fast, so I think we were slowing down on our other on our other careers and projects. But once we started it took off very quickly so there was immediately no room to do anything else. We actually had a event very early on where we wanted to Kind of announce this, that we had taken over Baby to Baby and that we wanted to make a really big impact and we wanted to work quickly. We both are, I think, have very big ideas and dreams. And so we put together a small event to just make this announcement. And we didn't want to spend any money, so we went to friends and had a publicist help get a photographer there and a friend who had a hotel space to donate and some alcohol. So in case we were asking for money, we wanted to make sure people were in good moods. And does that work?

Yes. Yeah, it's one of our big secrets.

Got it.

As you probably saw at the gala.

Yes.

Yeah, we had this event, talked a little bit about the mission of Baby2Baby and where we wanted to go with it. And two of our Day one board members, Jessica Alba and Nicole Richie, both came to the event and had their picture taken by the pro bono photographer. And the picture showed up a few days later in US magazine. Kelly and I at the time had one intern, and we had a very small 600 square foot storefront space. And we got a phone call a few days later from a big publicity company that represented Kimberly Clark, who owned Huggies Diapers. And they said. We answered the phone and they said they had seen the picture and they wanted to know if they could donate $100,000 and 100,000 diapers again. This is week two on the job.

We had like, four boxes of diapers sitting next to us, and we were like, yeah, we'll take 100,000 diapers. Thank you. Please send them over right now. And then they said, well, do you guys accept palettes? And we're googling, like, what is a palette? We're like, yes.

We take that a lawyer and a model. Not a lot of pallets in our house.

And then they're like, do you guys have forklifts? I'm like, of course we have forklifts, yes. And I'm like, how? Where do you rent a forklift? And we're trying to figure it out. And we're like, sure, no problem, no problem. And then the truck shows up, the.

Biggest truck we've ever seen.

And we were wearing these shoes, winter.

Heels, in case they're listening. And we got on the truck and our intern popped on too, and a very nice driver. And we learned quickly what it meant that they were on pallets, which made them difficult.

We were there with the X acto knives, getting the plastic off and the crates open and trying to unload them ourselves with the truck driver. And the intern, the four of us.

But we did it, and we filled our small storefront space and spilled out a little bit. And the moral of the story is, well, there are two morals of the story, but we gave them out in one day. So we called, this is 100,000 diapers. It's a lot of diapers. And we called contacts at homeless shelters, some schools, some local hospitals, and said, we have diapers for free to give out. Would you like to come get them? And it was astonishing to see. They were truly. We say they were truly like gold that people were picking up and how. What it meant to people and the relief that it was showing. Again, this was not. You know, we don't serve individuals directly because it's. In general, because it has been more efficient for us to scale, to give to other organizations that can give them out to their clients and fill the whole shelter or school or know who's in the most need, which is important to us. But they get. They went out the door in one day. Now we can talk later that. That was a hundred thousand diapers. Now, to date, we've given out 200 million. But at that time, it was so many. And I think it taught us probably our two most important lessons. One, diaper need was enormous and not going anywhere. And two, the power of these celebrity endorsements and sponsorships. So just from two women getting behind us, a company wanted to give us that. And we have created that into a playbook where with dozens and dozens and dozens of amazing women, actresses, celebrities, entrepreneurs, CEOs, we've been able to take advantage of their platforms. And that is what has catapulted us to be able to give away hundreds of millions of items.

Yeah, absolutely. What a first week at the job. That's pretty intense. And I can totally resonate with. I remember I was 16 years old and I used to work at a grocery store. And I remember. Me too. Did you too. I remember unloading my first ever truck of pallets of water, and I had one of those manual forklifts. Like, not even.

I was the checkout girl, right?

Yeah. They wouldn't let me do that. And so they were like, you're 16, you should be able to. And literally, I remember putting this manual forklift in, putting it in a pallet and, like, then pulling it out. And it was one of the heaviest, most arduous tasks ever. And now that I've been to your warehouse and seen just how many not only diapers you have, but supplies you have, and just the. The scale at which you're dealing with. This I wanted to read out. You know, I was looking at some of these statistics because I just want people to understand the, the problem statement or the level of challenge. I, this just blew my mind and I want to share it because yeah, it's super important. Listen to this everyone. So Kelly already said this. 1. One in two families struggle in the US to afford diapers for their children. I just would never think of that. Diapers cost $80 to $100 per month per baby and the average low income family pays nearly $1,000 a year for diapers. This part I think was just to interrupt. Yeah, please feel free.

Are all true, but getting worse. So with inflation, we're finding that our, the families we serve are saying the prices are 30% up from that in the last few years. So the problem is getting worse.

And then this one. Diapers are the fourth highest household expense after rent, food and utilities for families with diaper need. Childcare centers often require six to eight diapers per day for children to enroll and attend daily.

That's the one we want people to know about.

Yeah, we talk about diapers perpetuating the cycle of poverty. So if you don't have six to eight diapers to drop your child off at daycare, you can't go to work and you can't go to a job interview. 6 so they're stopping. It's really like a block for women and parents being able to go to work. So if you don't have the money to afford diapers and you can't drop your child off at daycare, how can you go to work? So it's really this symbol of poverty. That's how we look at diapers.

Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit more because that's what I meant earlier when I was talking about how like diapers is almost like the central point of all these other issues that the work actually affects. So poverty is one of them. That's a core one. What are the others that you feel are massively affected?

Well, we know that when we give families diapers that they're paying their rent, putting food on the table and keeping their lights on. And as you already said by reading off all our favorite stats that that is something that a diaper is stopping people, you know from doing anything. It's really, you can't leave your house if you don't have diapers. Families are using newspapers or towels as substitutes. So if you don't have a diaper, how can you go and take Your baby to the grocery store to even buy food for your other children. It's just diapers are this symbol of poverty to us that. That's why every day diaper need is the number one thing we're focused on.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm going to go on, because to me, these were just. These were huge. These are some amazing stats about the incredible work you've done around it. So in 2021, Baby Da Baby developed your own diaper manufacturing system, producing diapers at 80% less than the retail cost in order to help me meet the exponentially increasing demand. Walk me through that direction, because now that's like you're going from having a hundred thousand diapers sent to you, right? Then figuring out that it's too expensive.

Well, we've been getting diapers donated from companies like Huggies, for example, with the Jessica and Nicole event and the story Nora just told. But also, you know, corporate partners have been a huge part of Baby2Baby's growth. Using Jessica as another example with Honest Company, they donated 10 million items to us, a lot of those being diapers. But diapers are just the number one thing we're, you know, trying to get, and we're doing it in every which way. So we're trying to get corporate sponsors to donate to us. Then we've gone to Sacramento to testify to have the sales tax removed from diapers. That was something we were able to do. Then we did a goop campaign with Gwyneth Paltrow where we launched a fake luxury diaper that was intended to make people angry. And it was a spoof. And Gwyneth was like, I'll take the heat for this. And she launched a diaper, and it had, you know, diamonds and fur, and it was made of, like, alpaca fur, and it was $120 for a pack of 10. But it was meant to show that $120 is what you need to diaper your baby for a month. And once she did the grand reveal, it was like, yeah, this is meant to piss you off because diapers are taxed like a luxury item. How insane is that? And what can we do about it? So then you were able to go onto Goop and Baby2Baby's shared platform and reach out to your state senator and say, like, this is ridiculous. How can we still tax diapers like a luxury item? And since we did that, seven. Six states followed suit. There are still 26 states left the tax diapers, but we're still working on that. That's more to come on that. But manufacturing the diapers was something we started because we were able to buy diapers for cost from our manufacturer. So they were giving us low cost diapers. But at some point, the manufacturer who we were working with understood our mission, knew what we did, and we talked to them about like, okay, what if we stripped off the cartoons and made these diapers plain and white and we just use one col for the packaging? How low would you make them for us? What could we get the cost down to? So 80% less than retail is how much we're making them for now, they're baby to baby diapers, they're plain white, but they work just as well as any. And we've been able to distribute 200 million diapers because of this relationship and because of manufacturing. So it was something innovative we came up with during COVID because the need was so great. But it's really been able to stretch our donor dollar so much further and been able to diaper a lot more babies.

I think we had really kind of hit rock bottom with the desperation for diapers during COVID So it was already, I mean, we're saying it's one out of two families in the United States. It's just an impossible statistic to digest. But it was seeing and hearing one by one, the alternatives that the families were taking. Like using a newspaper to diaper their child, like using a towel, like taking a diaper off a baby, cleaning it, hanging it to dry, and putting it back on their baby. And there was a point during COVID where the diapers were also off the shelves. If we, you know, you can remember, most people were talking about the toilet paper shortage, but diapers were right there with them. And it was just so upsetting to everyone at Baby2Baby that our team really made this, really had this idea to say, we have to do something about this. Our need had gone up 500% just at baby to baby alone in the weeks when Covid started. And so that was when we kind of in desperation went to these manufacturing partners and said, we know we're doing a lot, it's not enough. And we talked about scratching surfaces earlier. Even now we're proud that we've given out 200 million diapers. It's more than any organization like ours in the country, but it's not enough. We have this year alone, just from the families we serve, we have requests for 1.5 billion diapers. So we just had to do more. And it was manufacturing and the manufacturing system that allowed us to really Take the leap because now when we get donations, we know they can go so much further. So we're making packs. Families in our program are buying packs for an average of $20. We're making packs for 350 and of course not charging them and donating them. And it's something that manufacturing is allowing us to move the needle, still scratch the surface, but move the needle.

Absolutely. No, definitely moving the needle. And I mean, I'm blown away because it's like, it's incredible marketing mixed with incredible systems, incredible management. Like, you know, the campaign that you were just mentioning with Gwyneth and Goop, like that is like something out of like a movie. Like, to be able to pull something like that off and to actually think about it in that innovative way and to then build a system that's manufacturing your own diapers because you see the value of cost. I mean, you're operating like an incredibly innovative, fast forward, fast forward thinking company and you're applying it all to doing good in the world. Like, has that always, as this strategic marketing brain, always been between you two? Like, how have you, you know, how have you been able to think about changing the world in this way? Because I think that, like you said, I think change can often feel boring. It can feel like slow. It can feel like it has to be done in a certain way. But you are willing to like push boundaries. And maybe some people get upset in the beginning to get them to make a point. Like, that's a really original, unique way of thinking about change.

I think we're not scared to push boundaries. And I think both of us, you know, people say to us all the time, like, oh, did you ever think baby to baby would be this big? And we say, yes, we did, we did, because we saw the need, we saw what we needed to do and we went for it. And we do that every day. And so being innovative and coming up with fun, exciting marketing things or whatever we're doing, I think bringing the community together and collaborating with, whether it's celebrity or corporate partners is something that we love doing and that we will continue to do. And we've done it in so many ways. Like this year, you know, we talk about all the time. We partnered with the White House and HHS in 2023 last year, and we launched a pilot program that was creating maternal and newborn supply kits. And we did it for the three states with the highest maternal mortality rates and the highest child poverty rates. And so it was a pilot program for these three states, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Louisiana and. And in partnership with the White House and HHS and the Vice President came to Baby2Baby to launch it with us this year. We're now able to go to 10 states with Huggies. Back to Huggies. Huggies came back in and their partnership with a multimillion dollar pledge. We're now going to take it to 10 states. So that pilot program, it's public private partnerships, it's corporate partners. It's using, you know, celebrity like we did from day one. We just had Olivia Wilde, Kelly Rowland and Sierra came to help spread the word that we're, you know, now in 10 states. And we're bringing this pilot program to 10 states this year. And just being able to do things like that, I think definitely keeps our days exciting and, you know, makes it interesting and innovative. And I think nonprofit can be so I think we're trying to, like, make that part of nonprofit. It doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be status quo.

You know, And I think everyone won in that example that Kelly just gave about our maternal mortality initiative, in that the celebrity ambassadors who are so amazing, the three women that came to get attention for the program, they care deeply about maternal mortality. Obviously, your audience is familiar with how in the United States, the maternal mortality rates are worse than they were 20 years ago and that black women are dying at three times or four times, up to four times the rate of other women. And I think everyone wants to come up with a solution, I hope. And so in that example, it really was a real public, private partnership with, again, we had the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services on that end, needing to give it legitimacy and the platform that they bring to the table. Huggies was such an important partner on the corporate end because these programs need money and they need supplies. And so they had the diapers, they had the breastfeeding supplies, and they were able to donate. Those women, like Olivia Wilde and Sierra and Kelly Rowland, they care deeply about maternal mortality and wanted to bring. Use their platforms, use their enormous social numbers and bring attention to a problem and show that they were coming up with a solution. Baby2Baby has this incredible team that is there to have worked for 13 years to identify which states and which organizations in which states have the most vulnerable mothers who could get to the right hospitals, these items that they so desperately need. So I think it's really attacking. I think one of the things that Kelly and I really love about it is attacking these problems from multiple angles. And so, yes, we bring in the like we understand and can explain to people why we need the help of the corporation, what the government can do to help, what part the celebrity or ambassador can play. And I think they all appreciate that. And again, it's led to this great program.

Yeah, what I'm hearing is like a very deep understanding of the problem is what's allowing you to engage with all these stakeholders. Like the reason you're able to get the government involved or get corporations involved or get celebrities involved is because you deeply understand the intricacies of the challenge. And I think often when we want to do good in the world or when we're trying to do good in the world, we're hoping that that good intention is enough, or we're hoping that that passion is enough. And actually deeply understanding the challenge and the stresses that people are experiencing, the problems people go through on a daily basis is at the heart of that. And one of my favorite thoughts is from Martin Luther King where he said that people who love peace need to learn to organize themselves as well as those who love war. And I love that statement because I often feel that those of us who want peace in the world or goodness in the world can be kind of a bit woo woo about it, or we can be a bit like, you know, peace and love. And it can be kind of like this really nice idea or nice ideal, but it doesn't have systems, organization, strategy. And it seems like you've both been able to take your passion and intention and bring that in so wonderfully, which is such an incredible example for so many not for profits.

Thank you. And I think we really don't differentiate between nonprofit and for profit in that way. And so that's, that's something that we care about reminding people that again, the, the work is different, but the way that you run a company in our minds should be the same. And that's kind of who we model ourselves after. Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of well intentioned people not give back in the right way. So to your point, I think in disaster relief in particular is an area I know we talked about on your tour and we see a lot of people trying to be helpful in disasters and doing it in an actively unhelpful way. And that is the place that I think the most we've watched people and it's hard to watch and we're trying to kind of correct people's behaviors in how they react to disasters because the public, I think, and I'm sure your listeners care deeply about disasters. And by disasters, I'm Mainly talking about natural disasters. So hurricanes, fires, floods, mudslides. People feel so helpless in those moments. I think people watch them on the news, they get so much attention, they see horrible things happening and they don't know how to help. And what we've done at baby 2 baby is try to very specifically help children and help families in those instances. Because a lot of great organizations are helping. They're typically focused on adults and we focus on children. But in terms of people helping in sometimes a misguided way, we often go to the spots where the disasters are occurring and we'll watch people and they show up with bags of used clothing and used coloring books, or unsized things, or half opened games and toys and things. Again, I think that people care so deeply and they're wonderful. And they're seeing a child on the news and thinking, I need to go, I want to go give that child my blanket or this game or a toothbrush. But what we've learned is that you have to listen and understand what these families need. And tied for, as important as that is what the organization who's helping them needs. Because in a disaster, everyone is spread thin. Often the people who are helping in a disaster, their own families are suffering from that same hurricane or fire or flood. And the organizations are often small, they're not always large scale organizations. Often they're small volunteer based groups that are trying to do their best to give out supplies. So when you inundate them with things that they don't need at that time, they don't have room, they don't have the man or woman power to accept the items. People fly planes into places without having the right destination. And so we talk to partners who are on the ground saying these donations are blocking the roads. So they're not just not helpful, they are actively unhelpful, they are blocking our roads. We are trying to find missing people, we are trying to get emergency services out. And people are, in their very, very well intentioned ways, really hurting the system. So what we have learned organizationally is to listen so carefully and not just understand you need blankets, you need diapers, what, what size diapers do you need? How many do you need? Because if your space can only accommodate three pallets, you cannot send them six in the middle of disaster, you have to send them three at a time. And I think for people listening, you have to listen to organizations you trust in how to help. It might be money, it might be the most helpful thing would be to send $10 to an organization. It might be an organization that allows you to say we need toothbrushes, but you can't guess what people need. You have to step back, listen, and then try to help people in the way that they need to be helped.

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Absolutely. Yeah. No, and it's so again, it's such a alien space when you're not on the ground or you're not aware, like it's, it's just something you would never know about. Like when do you ever learn about what's needed in a disaster or how you trying to help in a well intentioned way, whether it helps or it doesn't or, or gets in the way. So I really appreciate that kind of spotlight on that topic, which, which you wouldn't come across at all. Walk me through like you've, like you said, and you're both modest and humble beings and so there's the feeling of like there's more to do and I think there's a honest side of you that sees that as well and that there's just obviously so much more work to do. But walk us through some of the resistance that came early on, like building something this big or some of the challenges or pitfalls that you both had days where you woke up wanting to make the biggest change, but things weren't going in your favor. Because I think again, whenever, and this is why I love podcasts, it's whenever we hear about something, we always hear about how amazing it is and the glory of it. And you don't really get to see like how much hard work goes into it every single day and the times when it isn't the big celebrity turning up to the front door. And it's not always like that. And yes, you've had amazing support and we'll talk about that in a second, but that's not, you know, as we were talking about earlier, that's not 364 days a year. There's all of this time where there's real work happening And I'm sure. And I'm sure getting a sales tax changed is like an arduous process with so many. You know, I'm guessing, and I could be completely wrong, but I'm guessing there's like multiple steps to even get one state to accept that, let alone the numbers you have. Walk me through some of the key challenges you've seen in trying to build an innovative, fast growing, impactful nonprofit.

We talk about this a lot. We have yes days and we have no days.

Okay, what is. Yeah, tell me about this.

So yes day is if everything's going right and we're asking this celebrity to host this event for this corporation, and we're going to get a donation of 5 million diapers and 5 million wipes, and everything's going great. And they say yes. And then you're reaching out to a donor and saying, oh, we need a grant for formula. The formula shortage is still continuing and we are trying to provide a million more bottles across the country because another plant is shutting down. Or we're asking for a sponsor for our holiday event so we can take over Dodger Stadium again this year or back to school so we can take over Madison Square Garden and bring kids to have the most spectacular day of their lives and kids that never get to do those things. So we're asking all day long for things. And some days there's yes days and we get yeses. And then a lot of days there's no days. So we got this advice very early on that if you're having a yes day, keep asking. So we keep asking, we keep going. And then when we're having a no day, we're like, oh, feels like a no day. And we'll give some of our team members like, no day. Everyone stop asking for things. But we are not afraid to ask. And I think we learned this very early on because we're not asking for ourselves. We're asking for children who don't have diapers, who don't have clothing, who don't have food, families who are struggling to afford these basic things. So never are we afraid to ask. And even if we do get no's, which we do all the time, it may from afar appear oh, baby to baby's so successful. Sure.

It unlocks the text and email chains where we've written to the person like 15 times and it's all blue or.

Green or we're not hearing that no answer. Yeah, we're used to that. It doesn't matter because we're not asking for ourselves. We're asking for children who are struggling to afford these basic things. So it never fazes us.

Two examples of some challenges. One is we did not get the sales tax repealed on our first try. In fact, we got very directly rejected on our first few times going to Sacramento trying to get California to repeal the sales tax on California. We just got big no's and we were sent home and packing. But we went back. And again, I think we really don't take these things personally. I think we feel the two of us, that is another thing we share. We feel so strongly that our mission, about our mission and what it is and what we're doing that it's like, well, you lost the opportunity. That's a mistake on your part to the state. So we just kept going back. On the third try, we brought Julie Bowen with us, which was helpful. Again, we always learn sometimes an ambassador is what closes the deal. Governor Newsom was extremely helpful to us and it was a third time. Such charm example. But we were shut down. And if we hadn't gone back a number of times. And of course you're correct, that is not what we post about and talk about the times that we got back on the Southwest flight from Sacramento with a big thumbs down.

We're not posting about the nose, but.

It, you know, it worked.

And then.

And so that was a good story. I think one of the hardest decisions we've had to make is that at the beginning of Baby two Baby, we would allow people to drop off or send us and mail in gently used items. Clothing, toys, cribs, car seats, you name it. And it was a beautiful thing because it's really where the name Baby to Baby comes from. Is the idea of giving another child something that you have used and now this other child can grow from that is wonderful. And we hope that smaller organizations continue to do that. Whether it's an organization or a religious institution or a women's shelter. It's wonderful when people can do it. What we found was in order to scale baby to baby, that could not be the core of our mission because getting tons of pounds of people's gently used stuff, as noble as it sounds, was not working for us. It was expensive to go through because it's so important to us that, that everything we give out is something that is in pristine and perfect condition to these children who deserve things to be in pristine and perfect condition. And so we had to have someone touch every single item of clothing and see that a onesie had spit up on it, see that a puzzle that was 300 pieces, had 300 pieces and not 258. Because no child wants to do a puzzle with 258 pieces. It doesn't matter who you are. And there were expired things, there were things that weren't for children and people, again, I think they were well intentioned people, but they dropped in their adults. What are some things that we got? We got some nice.

Everything you can imagine. Knives, sets, bras, all sorts of things. And only about one third of what was donated when we were accepting gently used items. At best, one third was usable.

Wow.

It's expensive and time consuming and not helpful. So we have the lion's share of what we do now is all corporate donations. We gave out $63 million of goods last year. We don't want to scare people off with those numbers because a donation of four cans of formula is amazing for us. There is truly no donation too big or too small because four cans of formula is many bottles for many babies who need it so deeply. So we love small and big donations, but we take new and corporate and palletized donations because it's the way we're able to give out 450 million items. But that was a very hard turning point. And when you're talking about lessons and challenges, I think it was upsetting to a lot of people because I think people really love the idea of passing things forward. And again, we love it too, which is why we adopted it in the beginning. But it proved to be not effective for scaling. And so that was a hard decision to have to make.

Yeah. What I'm hearing is just this idea that, you know, these things are beautiful and they are wonderful. And when we can share what we have and something that's been used in advance and if it helps a community center or someone in our locale or a family member or something that's recycled is beautiful. But when you're trying to scale across a country and also disasters as well, that isn't necessarily the most effective way. And I feel that that's again, going back to this idea. No wonder Time 100 named you one of the most innovative companies. That lesson of being able to adapt and be flexible and learn and grow and say, okay, well, we actually believe in this, but it doesn't actually work.

Yeah, it was very hard to say.

Yeah, I can't imagine what that feels like because you're like, wait a minute, this obviously makes sense to us and it makes sense to me listening to you both. But then like, oh, I get why that isn't the idea that takes off and that isn't the idea that works in practice. I mean, that thinking, that thought process goes back to being a fast thinking company. This, these challenges, though, they, they haven't. Like, it feels like you both have just got more passionate, more driven right through them. Yeah, yeah, it feels like that. Like, I mean, like, you know, I'm talking to you both today and I don't feel any dwindling of enthusiasm in what you're building. It feels like you're.

People ask us that all the time too. They're like, oh, so are you guys, you know, bored or you go, ready?

I don't feel it at all.

No, we're like, no. We're reaching 1 million children across the country. There are 10 million more children in poverty that we're not yet reaching. We talked about, we've distributed 200 million diapers. We need 1.5 billion. And that's just to cover the kids we're serving now, the 1 million children. So we have so much further to go. And I don't think either of us are stopping or done anytime soon.

And we have fun things happen. I mean, we do have, we've built Baby2Baby to a place and we're so lucky about this with these amazing ambassadors where we also, we work. Our team is the hardest working team on the planet. But we also get some great incoming calls. I mean, we get calls to say that someone, I'm thanking Julie Bowen again, but that Julie Bowen played on a who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Who wants to be a millionaire and.

Won $500,000 and where should she send the check? We have Kim Kardashian raising her hand at our gala to give us. She's given us over $2 million. And then we'll say for our Mother's Day event, can she donate skims and the makeup products so that moms feel as good as they should at Mother's Day.

We have Chrissy Teigen just designed a wagon for us and it was for hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company or we have all these ambassadors all day long that are doing these amazing partnerships. Molly Sims just did a Erewhon smoothie to benefit Baby to Baby. Just like all day long, we have these exciting things and some of them are just incoming and some of them were reaching out to people. Jenna Dhuan, nine months pregnant, just hosted our Mother's Day event and was the ambassador. And Aquaphor gave us an amazing donation of product and money. And so just on and on, we have these amazing people supporting Us and.

Showing up these ideas like the Gwyneth story. I mean, Gwyneth gets all the credit for that campaign. So people are coming to us. I think once you.

Once we.

You know, we were saying how we had Sierra at the headquarters the other day, and she was helping us amplify this maternal mortality project. The next day, she called us that she had just talked to a sponsor, and she wanted to see if they could help donate items for these kits in the future. She also wanted to tell us that she and Russell Wilson, her husband, wrote a children's book. Could she donate thousands of books to put into the bag? So I think when we're. The more we educate all of these women about what Baby2Baby's doing, they. Then they bring us these amazing opportunities because they want to help. And I think other people that haven't. That don't have careers in giving back, they have extremely busy lives, but they want to give back. They love the idea. So if we can give them a tangible way to give back and not spend a lot of time and use their platforms and use their connections, they're excited to help and do that, I think. Kamala Harris, I think, you know, we're so grateful she came to the warehouse to launch the program. She met with mothers in our program who were giving birth and was hearing from them. And I think she was also proud to be there. So we do. We have a lot of. We have a lot of fun incoming phone calls these days.

How was it the first time? Like, walk me through the interaction of getting Jessica Alba and Nicole Richie to get involved, when it was just like there was nothing there. In one sense, it was beginning days, like, what was that conversation like? Why did they get involved?

Well, they were friends, but also, I think when you're a mom and you. They just both had babies around 13 years ago. And I think when you understand that, you know, you need all these things when you give birth.

Personal experience.

Yeah. And you see how much you need. You see how expensive it is. You see the wastefulness of. People are giving you seven strollers for your baby shower. You need one stroller. What could you do with the other six who could use them? And it was a lot about that. I think, you know, mothers, parents, people connect to the cause because it's such a simple cause. Children are going without basic essentials. How could that be? What could I do to help? And we make it very easy. We say, oh, you know what? Here's what you do to help. We'll make it very easy. We'll make it very simple. We need you to show up here to this one event. And they got their photo taken. It was in Us Weekly. And that really put us on the map. And that really spurred on, like, these celebrity partnerships. It taught us the power of celebrity, what they could do to help children in need and how we could help make that happen. And so we've continued that for 13 years. But we really do look to them as the two people who sort of set off that light bulb for both of us and really started the whole thing.

I think that these women trust us and trust baby to baby, and that has been so important to build. So now when there is a, you know, there's hurricanes going on and hurricanes and tornadoes in the, in the Midwest, when there were the fires in Maui, when there was the formula shortage, when there are news headlines that. And people as moms and as humans care about them, they call us to say, tell me how I can help. Ever since that day. So they're saying, you know, during COVID we had Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and Gwyneth Paltrow and Jen Garner and Jessica Alba, and they came and put backpacks into cars that were driving by and putting lunch in backpacks in with full masks, putting them into windows in our baby to baby distribution drives because they knew we would have one. They knew we'd be set up and they'd be able to help. And so I think what that caused on day one was this trust. And then they will. Disaster is a big part of it. But when there is any issue they care about in any state, we have ambassadors from Texas and Oklahoma and New Mexico and New York, and they know if there's something big or small, sometimes it's a, a building fire that impacts the city and they know there were families there. When they see families and they see babies are outside or not being taken care of, they know that baby 2 baby's disaster team is going to be there and they call us. How can I amplify it? And sometimes the answer is they can post on social media. Sometimes the answer is, even though this person might be famous, what we need right now is money. So we need you to do one of two things. We need you to ask your followers for donations or if you're in the position, we need you to donate to us yourself. So in the Maui wildfires, for example, Matthew and Camilla McConaughey, Camilla is one of our many angels, and they had a deep caring for Hawaii and Maui, knew that we would be on the ground There knew that we would know how to help and what to help with. They called, they asked how they could help. And the answer there was we were trying to get cargo planes in. We knew the exact menu of what these organizations needed. Maui was a very specific example because it was easier for us. Our history had been in trucking and Maui can't truck to Maui. So these things now had to go on planes. And it was a. And the fires were ongoing and horrific. And they said, how can we help? And we said, actually what we need you to do right now is help us pay for this first cargo plane to get out. Because we know if you do that, others will follow. So they, that was just pure funds they gave us. The cargo plane went out, it got to Maui. We helped so many families. Nine months later, we're still helping families. Disasters do not end a week later. The families, they're still displaced families. There's families living in hotels, there's families that have lost jobs. And because of that initial vote of confidence from two very well known ambassadors, we had people all over the country sending us $25 donations that add up significantly and have allowed us to have this long term recovery.

And Matthew did a video with his son that went viral and it was, you know, everywhere, it was all over Instagram, it was in people and it was saying, like, this is what my family's doing. I want to help these families in Maui. We're going to come together and we're donating this amount. Please join us. And because that video went viral and he used his platform and that really took off in such a way. That's why we've been able to continue helping for nine months because we were able to raise that money in that moment and that really extended our finances to be able to pay and ship and send more and more pallets and pallets of basic essentials into Maui for the families we serve there.

And speaking of Maui, a quick shout out to our program and disaster relief teams. Something that made us so proud during that horrific period was that because of the year round work we do, getting to know these partners, listening to them, our team had, two days before the fires broke out, had made a delivery on Hawaii. So that when it was impossible to get anything in from the mainland United States, our stuff had just landed. Because we were helping families who were living in poverty beyond the fires. And so immediately we were able to.

Start distributing and talking about, you know, listening to the community and listening and asking questions and seeing what's needed. We have these partners that are in Maui. And we were able to say to them, do you need help? Do you need. You know, what do you need? And the water was contaminated and babies. There was no baby food. There was no formula. So we immediately were able to send, on that very first cargo plane, water, formula, and baby food. And then our team later, two weeks later, because we didn't want to inundate the island with, you know, at the time, I think there was such an outpouring, but to listen and wait and talk to our partners. And they asked us to come two weeks later. And then we were able to do distributions on the ground to families ourselves and really see the need and meet with families. But we were alongside a woman who had lost her home, who worked for the diaper bank. That was our partner. She lost her home. Her baby was off in the office of the nonprofit that we were serving. She was there alongside us doing distribution. So you really have to listen to the community that you're serving. And that was something we definitely learn with everything we do. But that was definitely a learning moment for us.

This is. It's such incredible work, and it's so inspiring. Like, even hearing these stories of all these different spaces and the nuances and the differences and the incredible ambassadors that came on board, I know that a lot of my community here today, who's listening and watching, will be thinking, how do I help? How do I get involved? And I think as that culture that I think you both have lived in your own life and wanted to create. And something that I feel is amazing is if we can start helping from where we are, no matter where we are and whoever we are and every. Like you said, everything does matter, and it does make an impact. And I've seen that through fundraisers we've done for charities I've worked with. What can this community and audience do if they Want to support Baby2Baby today? Where should they go? What can they do? How can they learn more?

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Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I think we say every little bit helps. And when we say we've distributed 200 million diapers, that's a big number. But one pack of diapers goes to a family who's struggling to afford diapers or food, who's choosing between diapers or food. So if you can give one pack of diapers, five packs of diapers, whether that's $10 or $25, those things really make a difference. And we always say no donation is too small. Those things really matter to us. And that's one family who has formula for their baby, who has diapers for their baby that week. So we're not shying away from any small donations at all. And a lot of what we do is on our Instagram baby2baby, or our website, babytobaby.org is, which. But one of the things that we talk about as well is that follow us and see what we're doing. We are posting all day what we're doing right now, sending supplies. We just sent 300,000 supplies to Oklahoma and Texas to the disasters that are going on there. So it's always something's happening in the world. Climate change is really making these disasters worse and worse every day. And supporting our work, helping families in need in those moments is really important to us.

I hope you've learned, getting to know us, we're very direct, and so we'll be direct with our followers. And I think we tell our ambassadors and any donor or fan of baby 2 baby, we will tell you what we need. And so we'll say, we right now need toothbrushes and toothpaste because there is a reason that there is a shortage of those. Or we will tell you in the formula crisis what we need. Exactly. And even though I did say that we don't take, you know, we're not looking for big donations of gently used clothing. There are some exceptions to that. And that's basically diapers and formula and some of these top things. So it might be your own diaper packs and formula cans that you haven't opened. It might be going on Amazon or another platform and sending us actual items. It might be making a small or large donation. It might be an introduction to A company that can make a very large donation. But it might be that you have a small clothing brand and you have. You made some pajamas and they came out in a slightly different color than you intended. And we would love to take those. And it might be that your toothpaste came out a different flavor. And as long as it's good and healthy, we want those calls. Would you like our, you know, these pallets of toothpaste that we haven't given out? So again, following us means trying to listen to what the disaster is, what the everyday poverty is. If there's a specific city or town that you're in, we're happy to respond to those questions. Our team is. But we want people to help in those. And if someone wants to donate millions of dollars so we can reach our goal of giving out, you know, we can get to all billion diapers. You know, if someone has a foundation who will do that, we're ready for that phone call as well.

Exactly. We say that we've built the infrastructure and we know how to get these items out to the community and to the country. And we're just looking for the funding to go even further. So the 1 million children we're serving, there are 10 million that we're not yet reaching. And we are ready to reach them. It's just really funding that comes down to it.

We also have programs where people can get involved at different ages. So if you live in an area that's, you know, if you live in Los Angeles or New York or somewhere where we have volunteer sessions, obviously you can come in and volunteer. But we also have programs that the whole country can participate in where during the holidays you can shop for a child. But not just during the holidays. Cause a big lesson of baby 2 baby is children do not just need help during the holidays. So we have programs that are about to start this summer because there is a summer slide. Children aren't in school. And so not only are they not getting the schooling during the summer, they're not getting the meals that they depend on for school. So they're lacking in basic essentials even more. And so we have programs, we have back to school programs where you can take your child out shopping or go yourself and you can shop. And we'll give you a list of what a child needs. And maybe they want a blue hello Kitty backpack and Cheez Its and a new pencil case with pink hearts. And you can really, a lot of people like that. Again, that specificity and that customization. We will let you. You can reach A child on a very individualized basis. Or you can help us with the donation of 600,000 pairs of pajamas.

That's beautiful. I love it. I want to go back to where we started, which was your personal journeys of service and giving back. And, Nora, you brought this up earlier, this idea of parents wanting their children to have a culture of giving back. What have you found works? Because I find, like, when you're young, giving back is not cool. It's not the thing to do. It's. It isn't part of our culture, ordinarily, at least, you don't see that very commonly. How do we do that? How do we create a culture in our families to begin with? A culture of giving, a culture of service in young people. Like, what does that take? What have you seen works? What doesn't work, and what has been effective?

We wrote a book about it, actually. We wrote a book with Jessica Alba, and it is about a little girl who has a teddy bear. And it is a gently used teddy bear. And then she receives the same one, but a brand new one. And she has to decide what she's going to do with the second one. Will she keep it? Will she give it to a friend?

Are you gonna tell them?

Are you gonna spoil it? Yes. And then when she decides to give it to a friend, she goes through the process of, which one should I give to him? Should he have the one with no eye and missing an arm, or should he have the new one? And she talks about it with her mom, and they figure out that, of course, someone who's in need would want a new bear, just like one day you had one. So that was something that we did because it's so important to us to teach children how to give back, but to give back with dignity. Because all of the children that we're serving, we want to make sure that we're giving with dignity and pride so that they're receiving things that are new and just like our kids would want. So that was something that was really important to us.

I think you can teach your kids at the earliest of ages to give back. And, you know, maybe they'll understand 5% of it and then 20% of it. We have stories of taking your kids to go shopping for another child, and when they're four, maybe they stop in the store and have a. And cry and say, I want that toy. I don't want to give that Barbie to someone else. But you hold your ground. You don't give them the Barbie. You explain, the Barbie is for someone else.

And.

And when they're six, it starts being easier. And maybe when they're seven or eight, they're asking you to go shopping for a Barbie to give to someone at Christmas that doesn't have it because now they understand or they're an adult and they look back and understand why they were doing that, and they start doing it as an adult. But I think people are afraid to explain poverty to their children, in particular at too young of an age. And we've just been amazed by the children that come into Baby two Baby, the children that come to volunteer. They have such amazing questions and they understand and they point out things that we wouldn't even thought of. You know, you'll say to them, what do you think a child might need if you didn't have a home, what might you need? And you think they're going to say, you know, food. And they'll say, like, I think they would need a nightlight. Or I think, you know, they just say things that surprise you and they are paying attention. And I do think they understand. And I think you have to drive on the street and not ignore people experiencing homelessness. I think you have to point it out to your children and talk about what you should do and talk about how they can help and let them think about, do we want to. Can we help with money? Can we. Can we give them food? Can we talk about why and how they're suffering and why they don't have a job? And I think you have to bring your children to any opportunity you have to participate in community service. I think it just changes people's perspective entirely. To practice, to read about it. Yes. To hear about it from your parents. Yes. To hand someone who doesn't have food a bag full of food, I really think changes your life and changes your perspective. And I think children. I think children are. It's a great place to start. I love that about baby to baby, that there's a lot of problems in the world. I think people, everyone can relate, whether you have kids, you don't have kids, you are a kid, you are elderly. People understand and resonate with the idea of children not having basic essentials and clean diapers. And they empathize with children. People love babies. And so I think it's a great place to start, is that a baby needs this. And you should talk early and talk often and show them and teach them and bring them and do everything you can to instill it at a young age. And we've seen it working.

Yeah. My daughter, I remember when I took her for the Christmas shopping. We call it family to family because it's one family giving to another family, like baby to baby. And it was the moment where, you know, yes, I want the Barbie, yes I want the pink Elsa 92. But then when we got down the list and I was like, okay, well we need underwear. Should we get Elsa underwear or should we get sleeping Beauty underwear? And she looked at me and she was like, she doesn't have underwear. And you want to protect your child maybe in that moment. And I was like, no, she doesn't have underwear. She doesn't have any of these things. And having like the light bulb for her and her understand, like we weren't just buying her a Barbie. Like she didn't have underwear, she didn't have a blanket, she didn't have a warm coat. And really, like, I think instilling that into your kids or kids around you is just so important. It's something that, you know, both of us want to make sure that Baby2Baby is teaching children about giving back.

What do you think parents are scared of in, in doing that? Like you said, like facing the homelessness, having that moment and saying, no, she doesn't have underwear. Like, what is the thing?

They're too young to understand or too scary. The reality is too scary. But I think being able to tell them from a young age and obviously in an age appropriate way. But that's what we try and do. We try and keep kids come in from seven and up and they are volunteering and they understand there's a baby who doesn't have a blanket, who doesn't have a onesie, who doesn't have a passy. And I'm going to make this for them and I'm going to put this together for them and when I leave here, it's going to get delivered to them. And I made it. And that pride that kids feel in that is really important and I think really instills that giving back in them.

And maybe you can consider for your birthday party either having people give presents for kids who need presents more than you do, or if that's difficult, which it is. And I'm not saying mine. We're so excited about it. I think sometimes our kids were like, wait, does this mean I never get a Barbie? I just want to be clear because we are just constantly telling them over and over, we have a joke where.

We would put their baby blanket in the car and they'd be like, is that going to baby to baby? We'd be like, no, no, you get to keep that.

But it could be, maybe you choose one toy that you got out of the 12 kids that came to your party and you pick one toy and you give that away. Or you, you know, just little ways to start incorporating it early. And as far as what people are scared of, I think, I think adults are scared of people experiencing homelessness. That's why I think they're scared to tell their kids because they're uncomfortable. But I actually think kids are much more comfortable. And so if we can raise this generation to not be afraid and to think of ways to help, I think that's our obligation. I know that I said this, but I think this concept that I learned as a little girl of tikkun olam and tzedakah and repairing the world, I think it sticks with you. And you have to trust that these kids are going to be a generation that are going to think. You said before, maybe people don't think it's trendy or cool. I think most people with companies would say that their customers feel otherwise and they only want to buy from companies who have a give back component. And it's not just TOMS anymore. And that we have companies calling us all day saying, we have to find it, we are giving back. And again, yes, because they have wonderful leadership teams, but their customers demand it. And so if this generation of children can grow up saying we are going to be a part of this change, then I think, and that's just been kind of a bonus of baby 2 baby, because we didn't start it to teach kids to give back. We started it to, first and foremost, we want kids who don't have what they need to have what they need. And we want children in poverty to have basic essentials. But there is this bonus, is that in the process, if it can teach people who do have what they need to be a part of the solution, I think that's where the special stuff comes in.

Elian, Nora, you're both phenomenal leaders. Truly inspiring. I'm very touched by both your stories and even the space we just got to now of hearing this deep, personal, much more individual, intimate version of what it looks like in your family is with your own children, with people around you. I mean, it's really, truly moving. And before we end the show, we always do a final five, which is a fast five segment where you have to answer every word in. Sorry, you have to answer every question in one word or one sentence maximum. But before we do that, I want to ask you, is there anything that I haven't asked you, that you really feel compelled to share or something that's on your heart that you feel you want to share with my community or audience that maybe we didn't touch on.

Just that baby 2 baby is growing every day. 13 years later, we are serving a million children and we've distributed 450 million items. And that from afar that it may seem like a success, but because there are still 10 million children that we're not reaching, we have a lot further to go and a lot more work to do. So looking from afar or looking on Instagram, it may seem like we're done or everything's great. But no, there's a lot of work to be done and we need to raise a lot more money and to reach a lot more kids. So we're not finished and we definitely need help.

Yeah, brilliant. Well said. Nor anything.

I concur. We talk about that. We know that we get, you know, we're lucky to get that our ambassadors get attention. We are so lucky to be on Jay Shetty. We have all of these great platforms, but the only negative of it is that it does lead people to think that we don't need help or that their help isn't enough because they see if Kim Kardashian is helping, how could I really be of help? And if they're on, you know, when we're talking about $12 million, well, I don't have $12 million to give. And so I concur. It's the same lesson of please know that no donation is too small. Celebrities are wonderful. They are not fully funding our program and we do need so much and it really is the entire community coming together that is going to allow us to keep doing more and more work.

I think what's really beautiful also is that I'm sure some of our listeners are inside organizations that could be giving more and part of communities that could give more and maybe want their school to come and volunteer. You know, I think there's so many beautiful ways to give back, which is how I got involved with all of you, which is my team and I picked you to come and volunteer at for a service day and it's led to a more longer term relationship. And I think that I think you have so many access points and I also want to encourage everyone to hear that message too, that I think what we can trust is that you're listening, you're learning, you're adapting, you're figuring out what the gap is. And that's why we can all help and support in that we can trust that baby 2 baby is constantly trying to figure out what really serves the need, what really closes the gap, what really is going to have an impact.

Well, thank you. And you know, 13 years in, we view ourselves as a startup still, and we really have the startup mentality where we are looking for the phone to ring and we are looking for other people to bring our team innovative ideas. And we want that help. We want someone to say, I have shoes, but I have an idea.

And so, yeah, Nike, if you're listening, we're desperately in need of sneakers.

All right, we'll have to go.

Okay.

We're ready for the game.

No, I love it. Yes. Thank you so much. All right, here's your fast five, final five, same questions to both of you. I'll just say the question and then we can go for it. So the first question is, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received?

I would say we talked about it the yes day. I think saying yes to opportunities, especially in the beginning, we've had to reel that in a little 13 years later. But saying yes to opportunities was a big part of how we grew baby to baby from day one.

First day at my law firm, Skadden Arps In New York, 136 associates, managing partner came out and said, I want you to assume that every single email you write will appear on the New York Times tomorrow morning. Be careful. And I took it to heart.

Great. Both great answers. Question number two. What is the worst advice you ever heard or received?

That eight hours sleep isn't necessary.

Isn't necessary.

Yeah.

I agree with you. It is for me, too.

I agree with you to that. You have to go out of your lane. I know lots of business leaders think you have to keep going outside of your lane. I think in our case, where we have a very specific mission, we are nowhere near done with what we're doing. I want our lane to be as narrow as possible, and then we want to crush our lane.

Nice. Third question. What is your proudest achievement?

Personally, I guess baby to baby. First.

It can totally be baby.

Yeah, I think baby to baby. I mean, I think something specific of.

Baby to baby, maybe.

I think when we started, we were serving 500 children and it was the two of us and one intern. And looking 13 years later that we're serving a million children across the country and we have warehouses across the country, 52 employees here in LA. Just the growth of Baby2Baby is definitely a proud achievement for me.

Beautiful.

We were just honored to be named to times most influential 100 people in the world list. We absolutely take that on behalf of our incredible team of people. It is certainly not just the two of us. I read Time magazine with my dad growing up and would look at the covers every week and read it. And that honor for Baby to Baby was a big one.

Yeah, I love that too. I love that they honored a service based organization rather than just a for profit organization as well. So that's beautiful. Question number four, why is it important to serve and give back?

I think the world needs it, especially right now. And I think that if you think about, you know, elections and outcomes of elections, that organizations like Baby2Baby are so important because it's not based on the outcome of that. It's based on helping families in need and meeting them where they are and making sure they have what is necessary and basic essentials, no matter what's going on in the environment and in the world.

I think giving back is everything. I think it's because it's not about you. So I think it is the number one way to learn empathy and about other people and to remind yourself that everyone is going through something. Everyone needs help, and giving back is about others.

Well said. And fifth and final question, which we ask to every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

Effy Mine would be that people and leaders like led with empathy.

I would say that service is mandatory and not just for high school students or interns. That it's mandatory for people of all ages from every background. And I think people, if they're not allergic, should have dogs.

I love that. Nora and Kelly, thank you so much for being such phenomenal guests on on purpose everyone who's been listening or watching. I hope you go and follow Baby Di Baby right now. I want you to look at how you can find a way that you can help your communities, can help your company, can help the schools around you that can help. How can you get involved in being a part of this mission? I think when we feel like we're a part of the solution, the problem feels a little smaller every single day. And so I encourage you all to become empowered to take on this opportunity to join Nora and Kelly on this mission. And again, Nora and Kelly, thank you so much. I'm so grateful to have spent this time with you. Thank you for being here with my community and congratulations on all the work you've done. And I'm rooting for you and forever in your corner to see you succeed.

So thank you so much.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you. If you enjoyed this podcast, you're going to love my conversation with Michelle Obama where she opens up on how to stay with your partner when their children changing and the four check ins you should be doing in your relationship. We also talk about how to deal with relationships when they're under stress. If you're going through something right now with your partner or someone you're seeing, this is the episode for you.

No wonder our kids are struggling. We have a new technology and we've just taken it in hook, line and sinker and we have to be mindful for our kids. They'll just be thumbing through this stuff, you know, their mind's never sleeping.

Hey, it's Joel and Matt from how to Money. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back prices, they're still high and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right, yeah. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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