For the past three decades, director, writer, and Emmy-award winning actress Melanie Mayron has successfully contributed to the television and film industries. Schooled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a student of Lee Strasberg, and a member of the Actors Studio, Mayron’s career highlights include acting roles in television and films, most recently in “Lipstick Jungle” on NBC. She is best known for the role of ‘Melissa’ in “Thirtysomething,” the award-winning indie film “Girl Friends,” Costa Gavras’ “Missing,” and her own “Sticky Fingers” which she co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in. She has recently directed episodes of “Tell Me You Love Me” and “In Treatment” on HBO, “90210,” “Lipstick Jungle,” and “Greek;” and the features, “The Babysitter’s Club” and “Slap Her She’s French.” However it was the role of motherhood that inspired her to launch a new natural skin care line called Mayron’s Good Baby. Twelve years in development, the product line has been a family affair–down to the selection of each and every ingredient.

Before the birth of her children ten years ago, Mayron approached her chemist father David, with over 45 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, about formulating a natural diaper and barrier cream that was safe enough to use at every diaper change. A partnership was born. After the debut of the diaper cream formula, the father and daughter team have gone on to create a number of additional products that will be released in winter and spring 2009.

“The entire Mayron’s Good Baby natural skin care line is free from synthetic fragrances, paraben, sodium lauryl sulfate, and DEA,” says Melanie Mayron. She adds, “It was a wonderful experience to work with my father on the creation of these natural products.”

Mayron likes to joke that her cruelty-free products have never been tested on animals and instead, “only on actresses’ babies,” many of whom she has worked with personally over the years. In fact, Mayron’s Good Baby’s “Our Best” Barrier and Diaper Cream has become increasingly popular with several celebrity moms who sing its praises.

For more information or to order products, please visit www.mayronsgoodbaby.com.

From the time she was young, Stacy Denney’s life has been about passion and commitment.  Attributing her motivation to devoted family and friends, Stacy has built an exciting and unique business model that caters to the physical, psychological and emotional needs of the expectant mother, both online and in her award-winning maternity spas.

The nation’s first maternity spa, Barefoot & Pregnant opened its doors in fall 2003. In just five years, Stacy cultivated one of the most respected and trusted names for information, services and innovation among expecting women and their circle of influence.  She planned and launched the spa, from architecture, design and construction management to systems and equipment purchasing. Additionally, Stacy operated the employee-based business for 2 1/2 years.

For the last five years, Stacy’s life has been a whirlwind of pregnancy, from her own to those of women from around the world.  Experiencing the needs of expecting parents first-hand, Stacy realized the need for community on a wider scale.  To meet the demand, she is launching the preeminent online educational and social community for expecting parents. BarefootandPregnant.com will provide connection, information and reassurance during the experience of having a baby.  

Her success with Barefoot & Pregnant has led Stacy to pen two popular books “Spa Mama” and “Fit Mama” (Chronicle Books).  She is an iVillage expert, and is a regular contributor to iVillage.com’s Pregnancy and Parenting channel.  Barefoot & Pregnant is also a Fit Pregnancy Magazine partner.  

Before launching Barefoot & Pregnant, Stacy spent more than 15 years in marketing.  Shortly after earning a degree at Florida State University, she entered the advertising world with a vengeance, working on national accounts ranging from hospitality and tourism to telecom and finance.  With deep experience and an entrepreneurial spirit, she decided to take a risk and launch America’s first true community for pregnant women.

Of all her achievements, Stacy considers her most significant to be her marriage to her soul mate and being a mother to her two young sons.  With their love and support, Stacy will continue to make a difference in the lives of expecting moms.

John Black is a dad of twins and a residential landscape designer in Palo Alto, Calif. While his work has earned local acclaim and national exposure on HGTV and MarketWatch.com, John didn’t start out designing gardens. With a Bachelor's degree in communication and a Master's in sociology from Stanford University, he spent the first part of his career in advertising, building up brands such as Kimberly-Clark, C|NET and Saturn Corporation. After a brief turn founding a non-profit arts agency, in 2001 John realigned his work with his lifelong interest in the natural world: “I loved the creativity of advertising and the arts, and I wanted to channel that into directly enriching people’s lives,” he says. He enrolled in the horticulture program at a local college, and today is the principal of Verdance Fine Garden Design.

The flexibility of self-employment allows John to divide his days between his family and his work, while at night he pursues his career certificate in landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He still finds time to write a widely-read blog, "A Verdant Life," as well as lead classes on "kidscaping" — designing yards that not only are fun and safe for children but also foster emotional and psychological development. “My hope is that parents recognize the importance of being connected with nature," he says. "These courses help us all create safely chaotic spaces to encourage play, creativity and self-awareness in their children.” John is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the California Landscape Contractors Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and of course Mid-Peninsula Parents of Multiples.

The idea for How Fast They Grow was born out Cathy Bennett’s frustration with traditional paper scrapbooking after the birth of her son in 2004. As most moms know, there is an enormous amount of social pressure for mothers to create a baby book, baby scrapbook or otherwise memorialize their child’s first year. Cathy thought there should be a beautiful, easy way to make a baby book from one’s own computer using digital photos.

How Fast They Grow™ allows its members to easily create 12 by 12 inch pages by dragging and dropping their digital photos into pre-designed templates. They can send a link of their pages to friends and family, free. Then, they can order their pages for $7.50 each. Commercial photo websites sell books, not pages, so it is impossible to build a baby book over time. How Fast They Grow members start their books when they are pregnant and usually order 3-6 pages at a time. To date, How Fast They Grow has over 7,000 active members, and the number is growing every day.

Find How Fast They Grow here: http://www.howfasttheygrow.com

My name is Lisa Brown. I’m a widowed mother of two children: Joey, age 11 and Sarah, age 9.  I am also a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who has learned through my work the importance of active parenting and the significance of the guided development our children need.  My life has taught me the value of love and family.
 
While driving to work after another harried morning of breakfast, making lunches and some strong encouragement for teeth brushing, I found myself reflecting on how difficult it is to find time to just sit with the kids and talk. The idea hit me to design a tool that would do just that - help us communicate and make the most of our precious time together.
 
That night I told the kids!  My son’s response “you already work too much!”  My response - “That’s why we’re going to do this together.” We went out to dinner and started brainstorming for topics and questions and here we are!
 
We have learned a lot together about product design, setting up a web site and the like.  We have enjoyed Mat Chats with each other and with dinner guests.  Mat Chats has brought us some challenges, increased our quality time together and allowed us to share some laughs.

www.matchats.com  

L’il Darlins was born in mid 2006 as my mother, Jeanne Roth and I set out to design children’s specialty items that were creatively constructed and designed to hold up against wear and tear. Our products reflect who we are…mothers looking for children’s products that are appealing to the eye, washable, grow with your children, and are all around fabulous! We’ve actually expanded our line with two new accessory purses, one for teens and one for breastfeeding moms on the go!

Having a Master’s degree in education, I’ve been around children for many years, however, it was my three daughters that inspired us to create this adorable children’s accessory line. My partner, my mom, has owned many successful businesses and between the two of us, we have created a children’s line of accessories that Moms will love.  ALL of our products were thoughtfully designed because we know first hand how important a good quality bib, burp cloth, cozy blanket, kids apron, and accessory purse really is.  For more information about L'il Darlins, LLC please visit our website at www.lildarlins.org or contact Leslie Smith directly at 610-420-4546 or lil_darlins@lildarlins.org

Dimpleskins Natural Body Care Inc. was created from Jennifer Casey's need for a 100% natural product for her own two babies. After the birth of her first baby in 2001, Casey combined her background in Make Up Artistry, with a new study in Aromatherapy, and cooked up her now most famous product, BUM BUM BALM in her own kitchen. After some great press, and through "word-of-mom" advertising, Casey's creation can now be found at over 250 independent Retailers across North America. "As most parents are taking a more green approach to baby care," says Casey, "Dimpleskins Naturals products are a must!" To date, Dimpleskins Naturals products are made fresh daily in its own Skin Care Bakery. They are committed to using only pure, organic, and cruelty-free ingredients to create effective and wholesome products for babies and children.

For a list of Retailers and more info, visit www.DimpleskinsNaturals.com

Meet Aviva Goldfarb, the Founder and CEO of the Six O’clock Scramble, an online meal planning service for easy, nutritious, delicious family-tested meals.

A freelance writer, advocate for better nutrition for children, and mother of two, Aviva started the Scramble in 2003. She runs the day-to-day operations, creates Scramble recipes in her own kitchen and writes several columns on healthy eating. Aviva has been cooking professionally since 1998, always emphasizing easy, healthy and delicious meals. She has written three cookbooks, and is a regular contributor to several family health and nutrition publications.

Aviva is active in the local and national movement to improve school lunches, make food sources healthier and safer for people and the environment, and alleviate hunger.

"I love to make healthy Southwestern fare, but I also love combing cookbooks and websites from across the globe to get ideas for International flavors and combinations that can still meet The Scramble's criteria of easy, healthy and delicious."

"I remember when subscribers first started flooding in from the Oprah magazine article, and didn't stop flowing for a couple of months. It was then I knew that The Scramble had reached a whole new level and I might be able to keep doing what I loved for at least a while. Nearly every day, I receive emails from satisfied subscribers, and it really keeps me energized and inspires me to be creative and keep producing the best recipes and online menu plan for families that I possibly can--I don't want to let thousands of subscribers down!"

Once every 20 minutes a baby is lost in the US to stillbirth, the least talked about pregnancy complications.  Dr. Diep Nguyen, a board certified OB/GYN and mother of three, supports kick counting which recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as a way for moms-to-be to check on their baby's well being.  

Diep’s mission to create awareness and drastically reduce stillbirth is fueled by a personal passion. She has lost a sister to stillbirth and another sister had luckily avoided a tragedy by noticing decreased fetal movement through kick counting.  In her own practice, she is able to intervene timely in many cases thanks to moms’ vigilance of the baby’s movements.

Diep founded the BabyKick Foundation (www.babykickalliance.org) to provide research information and work with international organizations to educate moms, health care providers, and policy makers about the importance of decreased fetal movement in reducing stillbirth risk. To make kick counting convenient and reliable, she designed a digital kick counter called kickTrak (www.babykick.com). Moms-to-be use the hand-held device to record and store their daily kick-counting sessions as well as tracks pregnancy progress and times contractions.  kickTrak is a 2007 iParenting Media Award Outstanding Product and recipient of Creative Child's 2007 Seal of Excellence. A portion of proceeds from the sale of kickTrak is donated to First Candle and MISS Foundation.

There is no more important choice than that of selecting a person to care for your children when you are cannot be with them. Brooke Barousse founded Lexington Nannies because she understands not only the gravity of this choice, but also the wonderful connection that can be made when a family is matched with the right caregiver.   

In addition to extensive coursework in child psychology and early childhood development, Brooke has spent countless hours working with families and caregivers and brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the company.  A former professional nanny herself, Brooke’s ability to listen and understand the needs of her clients has resulted in hundreds of successful matches throughout her career as a placement consultant.

In addition to nannies, Brooke has also placed a wide variety of domestic professionals, including personal assistants, housekeepers and private chefs.  Her professionalism, discretion and commitment to helping families find the perfect match for their domestic needs has earned her a reputation as a respected and trusted industry professional.

In addition to her passion for her business, Brooke is extremely active in her community and is a strong supporter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, for which she has raised over $12,000 and participated in numerous fundraising events, including a recent marathon. Find out more: lexingtonnannies.com