By Sari Davidson (Estimated reading time: 5 mins)
Wow, what a year. A pandemic. Constant protests. Murder hornets. And now we’re going to have a close call with an asteroid in November? In the most optimistic sense, 2020 has been the year to be limber, quick on your feet, and adaptive, no matter who you are or what you’re doing. No one’s passion was left untouched in 2020.
If your passion is the business you own and operate, like mine, 2020 has also been the year to step up. BooginHead was founded in 2007 and for the past 13 years, my little baby products company has been trucking along in Issaquah, happily growing into itself in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest bubble of prosperity that has midwifed such giants as Starbucks, Amazon, and Microsoft. BooginHead grew from just me alone at my kitchen table into six moms and one dad working together in our Front Street office, dreaming up new products to make family life easier and celebrating our successes, like finally manufacturing our new SippiGrip Silicone right here in the USA.
And then…March 2020. COVID-19 shut down the country. Our tiny team started working from home to socially distance. Business partnerships shifted and changed overnight. And it became immediately apparent that there was profound human suffering not only on the horizon, but happening all around us daily, every minute. The pandemic brought into stark relief the violent reality of homelessness, food insecurity, and the scourge of systemic racism right at our doorsteps, even within the gorgeous Pacific Northwest bubble that has given us so much. Our privileges were laid bare, and when confronted with such harsh truth, what can one do except for everything they can to affect change?
Changing with the Times
We pivoted our business almost immediately, with two goals in mind: first, to make a high-quality, needed product that would shield my little baby products company from the storm; and second, to use that added revenue to step up and give back to the community. Our family, friends, and neighbors were all scrambling for face masks at the exact moment face masks fell in short supply. BooginHead makes comfortable, breathable baby bibs from safety-tested cotton fabric, and we realized it was the perfect fabric to parley into face coverings. Within a month, we were in production with adult and youth-sized face masks and committed 10% of our masks profits from BooginHead.com to COVID-19 aid organizations, local and nationwide.
Supporting Families, Giving Back
Since May, BooginHead has donated to the Issaquah Food Bank, Eastside Baby Corner, United Way King County, Issaquah Community Services, YouthCare, UNICEF USA, Save the Children, and the International Rescue Committee. Our customers’ purchases of BooginHead face masks have allowed us to support organizations that provide rent and utilities relief, food, diapers, medical care, and other resources to families in need, not only in Washington State, but all over the world.
Black Lives Matter
And there is more than one type of relief needed in 2020. BooginHead is committed to anti-racism, to being a force for change in a world that has a long way to go before it is equitable, just, and fair for every person. BooginHead has donated to BlackLivesMatter.org, Campaign Zero, Black Visions Collective, The Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, and TheConsciousKid.org to support and celebrate Black life and Black prosperity. Black Lives Matter. Black Trans Lives Matter. Black Families Matter. Black Mothers Matter. Black Fathers Matter. And our commitment to this cause is ongoing. 2020 will eventually end, but the momentum for racial justice must continue. That is why we have committed an ongoing 100% of BooginHead.com proceeds from our best-selling SippiGrip, the SippiGrip in black, to Black Lives Matter.
What comes next?
And now, we keep going, because there’s more work to do. 2020 just keeps getting harder for parents and families. School is starting up again, daycares are endeavoring to reopen, and there’s no good or obvious choice that feels safe. There’s no ‘new normal’ yet because there’s no normal yet. We hope families will keep BooginHead in their background – keeping their pacifiers off the floor of the grocery store, keeping faces covered in the classroom, and adding that extra little bit of protection and cleanliness we’re all craving these days. BooginHead will always keep families in our foreground – looking for new ways to simplify their lives with affordable and stylish family essentials, and doing what we can to build a better, safer, more just world for every precious life.
Stay safe and be well,
Sari Davidson
Founder, Owner, CEO of BooginHead
Former PEPS member
Current PEPS sponsor
