Abbie Schiller Founder and CEO of The Mother Company

Published: March 3, 2016, 8:06 p.m.

b'Abbie grew up in a creative family that used to make her sing for her dessert. At a very young age, she became fascinated with how companies reached out to consumers. At thirteen she wrote an advertiser in Seventeen Magazine to let them know their ad needed to be tweaked. She grew up, moved to New York, and got a job in PR and Brand Strategy helping companies find a stronger voice. She got to work with the smart people behind brands like Ben & Jerry\\u2019s, Champagne Krug, and she became the Vice President of Public Relations Worldwide for Kiehl\\u2019s. But all these cool jobs seemed a lot less cool after she had a daughter. Like many mamas who work outside the home, Abbie found it to be hugely challenging to manage the balance of a new baby with the inflexible expectations of corporate culture (6:30pm meetings = don\\u2019t see child). So one brave day after her daughter turned one, she left it all, took husband and said baby back to Los Angeles for a better life, closer to nana and papa, and walking distance to the beach. Back in Los Angeles, she rediscovered Farmer\\u2019s Markets, gardening, and her passion to start her own company that would make people\\u2019s lives better \\u2013 both for the products it created and for the new kind of workday it offered career mamas. The Mother Company was born (it was just as laborious as giving birth \\u2013 and just as worth it!) Now she creates songs and stories \\u2013 some of which are still used to get dessert.'