Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Farrell.
Hi Kathryn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The concept for the CO Carrier was born out of necessity. Last year, when the pandemic began, I was working on the frontlines in the hospital and also navigating life with two kids under the age of three. My youngest was an infant and refused to be put down. I had to hold her every waking moment, which made it difficult to do anything else.
Frustrated with other baby carrier options, I decided to try to design the product I really needed. After over a year of designing prototypes, testing them, and tweaking the details, the CO Carrier was born. We launched the product with a Kickstarter campaign in June, which was a wonderful success! We manufactured the first 100 carriers here in Atlanta and are delivering them to our backers now. The next, larger batch of carriers is also being made right now and we look forward to scaling up as those arrive!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Launching a product-based business during a time of unprecedented staffing shortages, transportation delays, and materials scarcity has not been easy. We have hit delays and speed bumps at nearly every step of the process. The initial order is still being produced, nearly three months after the estimated completion date, due to difficulty obtaining materials and insufficient availability of qualified seamstresses. Sampling overseas has been incredibly difficult, as well, due to massive shutdowns in the wake of Covid surges. Most of these issues are temporary and pandemic-related, but they have made it very difficult to stay positive at times. I just keep hoping that one day not far from now, I’ll be able to look back at this year and laugh as I say, “2021- what disaster!”.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My background is in healthcare. I earned a Master’s in Health Science and have been practicing clinically for ten years. While this hasn’t been a tremendous help with product development on the surface, I do believe that I bring a different mindset to the process than many product developers. My day job involves mitigating risk by planning for the most common complications and being ready for anything that occurs. When things go poorly at the hospital, someone’s life is on the line. While the consequences are typically less dire in the product development world, I still find that I have been able to prevent many potential disasters by doing extra research and preparation in the early stages.
I also think that my love of efficiency, and aptitude for refining processes in order to maximize it, has helped me to design a truly beautiful product. In the hospital, every second counts and every minute is measured. Effective processes and attention to detail is critical. I brought this attitude to product design, and the result is truly different than other similar products out there.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
This is an interesting question to answer because I feel that my adult self is very different from my childhood self. As a child, I was pretty quiet, very thoughtful, always concerned with the opinions of others, and cautious. As an adult, I am much more outgoing, probably a little too confident, and not afraid to make bold moves (like starting a business with a full-time career and two small kids!). It took me many years to develop my self-confidence, and I owe a lot of that to athletics. Running track and cross country taught me to believe in myself, that hard work does produce results, and that there is so much more to life than pleasing others. I have always been curious and loved learning about new things, and now I have the confidence to pursue the things that really interest me.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@cofamily.co
- Website: cofamily.co
- Instagram: @cofamilyco
- Facebook: @CoFamilyCo
