Today we’d like to introduce you to Wanda Cavazos.
Hi Wanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
In 1990, I (Wanda) was a 17-year-old who got pregnant. Being from an extremely dysfunctional home, I wanted to be the best mom I could be. So, I read everything I could about caring for and raising a baby. In my research, I read about cloth diapering. The statistics about all the waste and impact of disposable diapers was staggering. Convinced I wanted to cloth diaper, I found a cloth diaper service that delivered to my area in CA. Cecilee was born in November and I fell in love with being her mom and cloth diapering.
We welcomed three more daughters, one every four years. But the diaper service closed so I did it on my own.
As our family grew, we moved to South Carolina. There was no diaper service here either.
While Cecilee was in high school, she got a job working with me. Through the years, we have worked together at two different businesses.
We were working as professional photographers (Wanda for 11 years and Cecilee for 5 years) when Covid hit. We were both laid off from the studio we worked for. With all weddings pretty much canceled, we didn’t want to start a Photography business. Cecilee was pregnant with her second baby. Neither of us wanted to work in a traditional setting. So, we began brainstorming about business ideas. Honestly, the very first idea was to open a Cloth Diaper Service. We both love cloth diapering, helping moms, and taking care of the earth.
We opened Mamasita’s Cloth Diaper Service in June 2020. There were still not a lot of events or ways to get out and meet people at that point. We found Farmers Markets to be a great place to meet expectant moms.
We’ve tripled our business in the last year and now provide services to moms we met before they were pregnant. We love providing the products and support to help moms successfully cloth diaper. Many of our clients would not cloth diaper if it were not for our service.
We love the impact our little business has on our area. We have kept thousands of diapers out of lowcountry landfills.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There has not been a diaper service in the area in several years. Getting the word out was challenging. With Covid, most Ob/Gyn offices not allowing visitors, we couldn’t drop off info and meet people. We started putting coroplast signs out everywhere. Since Cecilee has now given birth twice at the Charleston Birth Place, we have a great relationship with them. Now we get contacted by moms all over the state of South Carolina asking if we can deliver to their area.
The second challenge was getting our inventory of cloth diapers. The cost of disposable diapers has increased so more moms are looking at cloth diapers. But at times, we haven’t been able to order more. Thankfully, we have not had to start a waiting list.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We deliver clean cloth diapers each week to our clients’ homes. Our clients can get all they need to cloth diaper necessities from us. They do not have to rinse their diapers, just shake them out, drop them in the diaper pail and set the bag out once a week for pick up.
We offer three types of service: Cloth, Bamboo Disposables, or a hybrid of both. This allows for multiple scenarios. If their baby is at daycare, they can use the Bamboo at daycare and cloth diapers at home. We believe every single diaper kept from the landfill is a victory. We don’t want people to think cloth diapering is all or nothing. The disposables we offer biodegrade in 180 days.
We offer eco-friendly baby products for teething and baby care which includes cloth wipes, Concentrated Wipe Solution, wet bags, and other baby toys. This year, we added eco-friendly products for home. We can deliver detergent refills to their door when we deliver their diapers.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Research your market and decide if there is a need. We also believe in slow growth and putting systems in place that will help you be successful, as you grow. With lots of diapers to wash and deliver every week, we need apps and programs to help us automate our business to accommodate growth.
Pricing:
- $100 a month for our cloth diaper service with weekly delivery
- $100 a month for Bamboo Disposables delivered once month
- $130 a month for Cloth and Bamboo Hybrid service delivered weekly
Contact Info:
- Email: mamasitasdiapers@gmail.com
- Website: https://mamasitasclothdiaperservice.com/
- Instagram: @mamasitasclothdiapers
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/mamasitasclothdiapers/
Image Credits
Wanda Cavazos
Cecilee Cavazos
