Meet Cecily and Katherine Founders of Online Shop PomPom
Founders, Katherine and Cecily (c)
In this month’s Mimi’s Bowl Blog I get to know more about, the brainchild of Cecily Henderson and Katherine Rhodes, PomPom a curated websiof plastic free toys, gifts and homeware for babies and children. I initially stumbled across their website as a consumer, as I was looking for sustainable plastic free toys for my own children. At Pom Pom their careful edit is 100% plastic free: you will not find a shred of plastic in any of their designs, or packaging. Everything is hand chosen by the team to ensure that it is not only sustainable but also stylish and fun.
I feel deeply the majority of parents feel increasingly concerned by the mountains of plastic toys that have to date dominated shops, website and our own homes. As we are increasingly aware of the fragile state of our planet it feels completely wrong to be addressing single use plastic in our homes and not address the plastic content of toys are children want and are already playing with. So today I am delving deeper into how this friendship blossomed into an award winning online emporium and how they made it happen.
The PomPom founder’s story
[Katherine] It started with an email from Cecily to myself titled My multi-million dollar idea. I was living in Vancouver, Canada at the time hence the $ currency. PomPom snowballed from there, the Skype calls started Zoom had yet to become a feature of all of our lives and Whatsapp messages winged across the Atlantic.
With misplaced confidence, we boldly started building a website, finding suppliers, creating a social media presence. The best advice we had was from a neighbour ‘stop faffing and just launch - it will never be perfect.’ And so we did.
We launched without our full range of designs, without all our collections, without vast numbers of followers. But we started selling. First to family and friends and then suddenly to total strangers. Influencer friends supported us and PomPom started to be featured by press. It was a great lesson, perfection can be the enemy of action.
what do you love about what you do, and what inspires you?
[Katherine] I love creating something from nothing. I love how much we have learnt, how much determination and grit it has taken. I love watching PomPom grow and win awards. I love our 5 star reviews and the pleasure we bring to children and grandchildren, offering families an alternative to plastic. I am proud that we were able to give a sizeable annual donation to the Marine Conservation Society, who work tirelessly in protection of our UK seas and shorelines in the fight against plastic. It feels good that we are contributing to help free the world from its reliance on plastic.
what has been the greatest challenge so far?
The challenges are endless. For Katherine it has been the accounts and for me [Cecily], the tech side that can seem hellish. We have learnt a lot about the complex web of the internet and the power of Google. Early on we were taken for a ride by an SEO company who promised the world and we foolishly believed them. Once we discovered they had merrily spent our marketing budget with no results, it was time to grip it and bring it in house.
Colourful PomPom Climbing Triangle
But, during the process of building PomPom I have learnt terms I never knew existed, I have learnt skills I never knew I would have to learn: from basic coding to SEO to Facebook advertising. Basic knowledge is relatively easy to grasp but to catapult a business to the next level takes alot of learning. We have also had to understand UKCE, that is toy child testing laws to you and while crucially necessary, a whole load of red tape and bureaucracy to me. And yet we have learnt; taken courses, watched videos, joined groups. There is nothing we haven’t not tried to learn ourselves, through extensive research and the internet.
how you work right now?
[Cecily] Remote working, I am currently on a farm in Argentina. My husband has a new job in Hong Kong which doesn't start until June, so we have 3 months as a family to travel. The children have adapted to the change like chameleons. Laurie (4 years old) has started dressing as a gaucho. Claude (2 years old) wont get off the tractor. I sometimes wonder if we are mad, as children love routine and we have upset the apple cart. But I hope it starts to gives Laurie a sense of a bigger world and other. Argentina feels so remote and yet the news is too important to lay aside. Like the rest of the world, I read daily about the horrors in the Ukraine and feel so powerless. The courage of the Ukrainians should give us all resolve, we witness extraordinary acts of bravery every day. We should dare to do all that we can; support the struggle online, donate, and accept refugees. I think of US poet laureate Amanda Gorman's words "if you are not livid, you are not listening. Wherever you are in the world, we all must listen, we all must act. "
New or exciting plans for the business in 2022?
[Katherine] We hope to launch several new products before Christmas. We have been working for 18 months now on getting several new designs off the ground. Everything is tripping British business at the moment, from import delays, to the cost of wood and shortages, to labour costs. Prototypes are underway and big conversations have been had. I really hope we are getting there, so watch this space for new designs, collaborative partnerships and some fun and brilliant new products and ideas.
Typical day for Cecily?
6.45 Alarm and check emails (yes, yes, yes, I know it's not ideal to look at emails first thing, but we have children!)
7.30 - 9am Breakfast, dressed, school run to a heavenly outdoor nursery, rain or shine, they blissfully scrub around in mud which we love.
9am - 3pm - Work as much as we can
3 - 7pm I am with my children every afternoon. I love our adventures to the beach, a playdate, the aquarium, the park, cooking, reading, building - the three of us potter together. I find it hard to transition at 3pm when my head is still deep into PomPom to re-engage, and I find myself floating off into my ideas. I have learnt to leave my phone at home, otherwise I sneak email checks while playing hide and seek ... it won't do.
7 - 9.30pm - I work 4 nights a week. Blessings on my husband's head. I work, he cooks and listens to podcasts or watches Netflix 3 nights a week. Or, we hang or go out or cook and chat, it's a tough juggle.
Work/ life balance, discuss..
[Cecily] Oh Lor! Children and PomPom currently need to come first, all in their infancy, they need a lot of hand holding.
What inspires you both personally and professinally?
Kindness. Courage. Hard work. Original thinking. Learning.
What are you are listening to, watching and reading?
Last week, I started the Chippendales, 'Welcome to your Fantasy" podcast. It's brilliant. Murder, intrigue, scandal, greed, loyalty ... it's got it all. I listen to podcasts on my way back from the school run. Interspersed at the moment with Grace Dent's Comfort Eating which is just heart warming, funny and insightful - I enjoy it hugely. It's like Desert Island Discs for foodies.
As I catch up on work at night, I have to read for 20 minutes before I go to sleep to wind down, otherwise my thoughts are buzzing. I am in the middle of Aperigeon, by Collum Macann. It is an incredible novel about Israel and Palestine. I finished Euophoria by Lily King the week before and I have The Nickelboys, by Colson Whitehead by my bed.
Last binge watched Ted Lasso - series 1 and 2. I was late to the party but what a show!
Tell us about your life through food?
[Cecily] My step-father, Irfan Husain, died last year and he was an incorruptible and incorrigible political journalist. He loved food. In his personal weekly column he would often write about restaurants, things he was cooking, recipe books he was reading and food he was dreaming of. Irfan introduced me to Pakistani food. I lived in Lahore for 6 months and I still think about those kebabs. In London, on fleeting visits, I can be found at the Lahore Kebab House in Whitechapel or Miran Masala in Olympia - if you get the day right, you will also find the Pakistani cricket team. Keema, Nihari, Dal Makhani, Chicken Karahi, Haleem, Tikka all delicious.
Signature Dish?
[Cecily] Gravy. I just happen to be really good at it. My grandmother taught me aged 8 to make a roux, and I just became the gravy maker in the family. Last year I gave my goddaughter a carving knife and fork, carving is a skill, and women should have it too. No one wants a massive hunk of meat on their plate or indeed, for the carcass to look like the cat got at it.
Mimi’s top 5 picks, from the Pom Pom website
