Bobbie Co-Founders Laura Modi And Sarah Hardy On Evolving The Infant Formula Industry And Building A Parent-First Workplace Culture, Part 2

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Bobbie co-founders Laura Modi And Sarah Hardy, who—after just a little over two years on the market—are already changing the infant formula industry while also evolving how businesses support working parents. If you haven’t already, you can read part one of the interview here, where Modi and Hardy discuss what led the former Airbnb colleagues to start a formula company, how the industry was overdue for a major overhaul, and how they are fighting for change to address formula shortages and ongoing challenges impacting the industry and the millions of families who rely on it. In our continued conversation, Modi and Hardy explain what changes needed to be made to formula offerings in the U.S., how they built a company culture at Bobbie that supports parents so they can succeed in the workplace as well as how other companies are following their lead, and the importance of fighting the stigma that still surrounds the use of formula.

Liz Elting: How is Bobbie different from other baby formulas and what in the options available at the time did you see in need of change? Were certain ingredients or sourcing an issue? Is there anything you wish you knew sooner? And what research, if any, would you recommend for new parents?

Laura Modi: Bobbie is the only infant formula to meet both stringent USDA Organic and EU Organic standards. We reimagined the infant formula category when we launched as the first-ever direct to consumer, subscription based infant formula in early 2021 and as the first mom-founded and led infant formula company in the U.S., we’re creating the formula we want to feed our own babies. We are the first infant formula to be clean label and pesticide-free certified and have the highest DHA of any U.S. infant formula, a critical nutrient for brain development. We like to say the proof is in the poops: our unique recipe is designed for easy poops. We specifically left out ingredients that can cause constipation: no palm oil, high iron or unnecessary additives. We’re manufactured right here in the U.S. in Vermont and Ohio. During the height of the shortage, we were the first and only U.S.-manufactured formula company to launch on retail shelves (Target stores nationwide), bringing more options to parents when they needed it most.

When I turned to the infant formula aisle with my first daughter, I was faced with the realization that I was buying the same infant formulas that had been on the market since I was a baby. Why has there been no innovation in the industry in decades—to catch up with the latest science? As I was reading the labels of the formula on the shelf, I was staring at ingredients that I wouldn’t feed myself. So I set out to create a recipe that reflected the whole, nutritious foods I would eat and in turn, wanted to feed my baby.

My only recommendation for new parents is that however you’re feeding your baby—be it exclusively breastfeeding, formula feeding, or some combination of the two—remember that there is no one correct way to feed; whatever is best for you and your family, is best.

Elting: How many different experts were consulted when deciding which ingredients to use? How did you ultimately weigh all the input? And how are you continuing to evolve your formula?

Modi: In the early days, I immediately brought in a handful of experts to build our recipe. From nutritionists specializing in infant nutrition to scientists specializing in dairy, it was a huge learning curve for me, and I turned to the experts in the space that I knew could help create my dream formulation.

We’re constantly thinking about ways to evolve and up-level our formula—that’s the reason that Bobbie Labs, our official research and development hub of the business, exists. The Bobbie Labs team is heads down focused on innovation, leading with science. Our team of pediatricians, nutritionists, scientists and researchers—mostly all parents as well—operates on the belief that in order to evolve the infant formula industry, we must lead with the latest science.

Elting: Currently (in the U.S. at least), building a workplace and culture that’s supportive of new moms and parents is no easy feat. What was taken into consideration when working to accomplish this at Bobbie? What do you think enabled your success?

Sarah Hardy: Back when Laura came to me and asked me to join her on the Bobbie journey as co-founder, I did so under the condition that we would create a best-in-class place for working parents to thrive both personally and professionally. So you could say it’s been in our company’s DNA from the start. Fast forward to today, and the culture and team we’ve built together is one of the things I’m most proud of in my career.

A few things stand out in how we got to where we are today. We built a team that is reflective of the community we serve—the majority of whom are women and parents—but no matter our background, we all believe wholeheartedly in our mission and purpose, and it’s what gets us out of bed every morning. We leaned into remote work, threw out the office lease and are now spread out across 23 states and counting. Last year, we launched TakeOurLeave—a new parental leave program (a first of its kind) that allows both birthing and non-birthing parents to take up to a year of parental leave, empowering them to return to work on their own terms only when they’re truly ready to do so. After establishing this policy, we saw our average parental leave length increase from four to six months for birthing and non-birthing parents alike. In order to shatter the myth that startups can’t provide meaningful benefits and support structures for working parents, we decided to take it a step further and open source our policy so other companies—regardless of size—could follow suit. And we’ve seen over 700 downloads of our policy since launch ten months ago, from Fortune 500 companies to new startups. We also established a 16-week NICU support program for our team of majority parents—another first of its kind benefit which was established literally overnight when one team member unexpectedly had her baby early. After learning of this news, our whole team came together in less than 24 hours to figure out how we could add this to our existing parental leave policy.

Modi: And this is just the beginning. We’ve done all of this while being on the market for a little over two years—as we continue to grow, we’ll continue to challenge ourselves to think outside the box when it comes to our team, our culture and our employee support structures. Our product and our brand are out here stigma-shaking, so too is our culture—it’s the Bobbie way.

Elting: What inspired you to create a MotherBoard to work with your team? What are their responsibilities? How does the board differ from traditional ones?

Modi: This year, Bobbie introduced its inaugural MotherBoard, a yearly collective of four activist parents passionate about evolving the formula industry and changing the cultural conversation on how we choose to feed our babies. Bobbie’s mission has always gone beyond the desire to simply provide the best formula in the U.S. and has included an unwavering commitment to creating a cultural movement advocating for changes within the infant formula industry—from accessibility to nutritional standards. Our MotherBoard uses their voices to evoke change and evolve the conversation on how we feed our babies so that every parent feels confident and supported in their choice. We’re very excited to announce our newest MotherBoard members for 2023 in just a few months.

Elting: While the politicization of baby formula has made it a more mainstream topic, do you think it’s helping to evolve the industry? Or is it slowing progress? What do you think the industry needs to improve and better meet families’ needs?

Modi: The reason I entered this industry in the first place—and the entire mission of Bobbie—is centered around shaking the stigma on how we feed our babies. My hope is to one day work myself out of a job, to the point where there is no longer shame or stigma attached to formula feeding. But there is a long way to go.

Our society and culture needs to catch up with the realities of the way modern parents are feeding their babies—we operate under the assumption that breast is best, which is a dangerous trope that needs to end. Because breast is best… until it’s not. Until that is widely understood, accepted, and celebrated in our culture, we’ll continue to fight to change this industry and uplevel it along the way.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.