When Alexandra Rutkay, a make-up artist from New York, hit a parenting milestone — her son turning 18 months previous — she was excited to swap her sensible diaper bag for her long-forgotten designer purses. Nonetheless, throughout a household dinner in August 2021, the sensible wants of parenting clashed together with her vogue wishes.
“I noticed I couldn’t shove moist wipes, snacks, and an emergency pull-up into my glossy Saint Laurent crossbody,” recollects Rutkay, now 41. “I used to be so mad about it. I assumed, ‘There must be one thing higher for us mothers. Every little thing is so frumpy and silly and nothing is cute.’”
This frustration impressed the creation of Citymouse, a model providing trendy but useful cross-body diaper baggage with adjustable straps. Launched in June 2022 as a facet mission, the model has since earned almost $600,000 (over Rs 5.08 crore) in income this yr alone by platforms like Shopify and TikTok Store, in line with paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Rutkay, who works lengthy 16-hour days on film and tv units, initially stored Citymouse a secret from her husband, David. “My earlier facet hustles weren’t all the time profitable,” she defined to CNBC. However because the enterprise gained momentum, David grew to become the corporate’s solely full-time worker, dealing with logistics, operations, and customer support — even taking a pay reduce to assist the enterprise. Collectively, they plan to earn a mixed wage of $150,000 this yr.
The drive to make Citymouse successful comes from a deeply private place. In 2020, Rutkay was identified with a uncommon delicate tissue sarcoma. After surgical procedure and chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free in 2021. “To not be morbid, but when I had died earlier than [my son] even received to know me, what would I’ve left him?” she displays.
Now, Rutkay dedicates 40 hours per week to Citymouse, along with her demanding day job. “As soon as I begin a mission, I can’t let it go,” she says, explaining that her well being scare has intensified her drive to construct wealth for her household.
Rutkay believes her success stems from addressing a particular want on the proper time. “Making a enterprise that fills a necessity is one of the simplest ways to develop and maintain a model,” she says. She acknowledges, nevertheless, that success additionally requires effort and timing, admitting that consistency was the lacking piece in her earlier ventures.
Her entrepreneurial journey hasn’t been with out its challenges. A failed try at promoting pizza-themed child milestone blankets set her again $6,000. “I assumed sturdy web optimization alone would drive gross sales. That was completely not the case,” she recollects. The enterprise fell aside inside 4 months.
Trying again on her failures, Rutkay emphasizes the worth of figuring out when to pivot. “After I began Citymouse, I took a six-week course with a religious life coach who helped me perceive that strolling away from one thing that isn’t working is definitely a superpower,” she explains.
