Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Hoover.
Hi Haley, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I joke that Winnie & Lu was born somewhere between my years as a nanny and having two little boys of my own.
I spent over a decade caring for kids before becoming a mom, and I thought I knew what I was getting into…until I didn’t. I was disappointed to find the bottle drying racks that had frustrated me years earlier as a nanny hadn’t really evolved. Only now, those frustrations were amplified by postpartum anxiety, exhaustion and an endless rotation of bottles and pump parts to wash. During an already overwhelming season, I craved products that felt functional and calming rather than adding to the chaos.
As our boys grew, we hoped to add a third child to our family, but doctors ultimately told us another pregnancy wasn’t in the cards. Coming to terms with that was difficult, and we eventually adopted two border collie rescues, Winnie and Lula, who brought a new kind of love and companionship into our family during a time when we really needed it.
With two toddlers underfoot and our plastic drying rack in constant use, I kept having the same thought: how could something that had been around this long and that we used so many times a day still leave so much to be desired? I started imagining what a bottle drying rack could be if it were designed to make this season of motherhood a little easier for the moms coming after me. So I sat down and sketched what I thought it should be: beautiful enough to belong in your home, functional enough for real family life, easy to clean, made from quality materials and useful long after the bottles were gone.
That sketch became the Airess Drying Rack. When it came time to name the company, Winnie & Lu felt fitting, a tribute to the two dogs who had become such an important part of our family. We launched over Labor Day weekend in 2024 and sold through our initial inventory in the first week.
Today, Winnie & Lu is built on a simple belief: the products moms use every day should make life easier, not add to the mental load. We shouldn’t have to choose between beautiful design, thoughtful function and products that stand up to real family life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Inventing and manufacturing a physical product is a pretty ambitious undertaking for someone with absolutely no background in business, product design or manufacturing, but that’s exactly where I started.
I didn’t go to business school, and I’m not a trained product designer. Nearly everything I know today has been self-taught through books, podcasts, masterclasses, mentors, asking a lot of questions and plenty of trial and error. There have definitely been some expensive lessons along the way, especially because bringing a physical product to market requires so much capital before you ever make your first sale.
One of the more frustrating challenges early on was getting manufacturers to take me seriously. I was a woman with an idea for a baby product, but without an established compan behind me, I quickly realized I wasn’t always being treated like a serious potential customer and I needed to get creative.
In emails, I started communicating as though I were a representative of a larger company. I’d tell manufacturers that I needed to “run their quote by our CFO” before making a decision. What they didn’t know was that the company representative was me, the CFO was also me, and the board meeting was probably happening at my kitchen counter.
It sounds funny now, but at the time I was doing whatever I could to get a seat at the table and move the idea forward. Eventually, I didn’t need to pretend to be bigger. I learned the industry, learned how to ask the right questions and gained the confidence to advocate for myself as the founder and CEO.
The other challenge is one I still navigate every day. I’m a mom and wife first. I frequently compare building a product business to motherhood on social media because the parallels are almost comical, and I affectionately call Winnie & Lu my third child. It requires an incredible amount of time, attention, emotion and money, there are plenty of sleepless nights, and just when you think you’ve figured out one stage, a completely new challenge shows up. But there’s one very important difference: my boys aren’t going to stay little while I finish one more email or attend one more tradeshow. There are seasons when the workload is exhausting, and I’m constantly learning when to push, when to give the business what it needs and when to close the laptop and be fully present with my family.
I think the common thread through all of it has been learning to be resourceful. I may not have started with the traditional credentials, connections or capital, but I’ve never been afraid to learn, ask for help, get creative and keep figuring out the next step.
As you know, we’re big fans of Winnie & Lu. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Winnie & Lu is rethinking the baby products families use every day by designing them to remain useful long after the baby stage ends. Our philosophy is simple: Designed for Baby. Built for Life. We start with the unique needs of babies and new parents, then design with the versatility to remain useful through every season of motherhood.
What sets Winnie & Lu apart is our belief that moms shouldn’t have to choose between thoughtful function, longevity and beautiful design. Our flagship product, the Airess Drying Rack, begins by holding a full day’s worth of baby bottles and pump parts, but as your family grows, its job simply changes. Bottles become sippy cups and snack cups, then lunchboxes, water bottles and glassware, all using the same rack for years to come. The Airess is made from quality materials like stainless steel and silicone, it’s easy to clean, designed to look at home in your kitchen and backed by a lifetime guarantee. We want families to buy fewer, better things that earn their place in the home year after year.
Our slogan, Made Like A Mother, is really the heart of the brand. Mothers notice the little frustrations because we live them every day, and we’re incredibly resourceful when it comes to finding better ways to make life work. That lived experience of motherhood influences everything we create at Winnie & Lu.
For us, making better products also means being thoughtful about the impact we leave behind. We donate a portion of every sale to organizations supporting women and children, and cosmetically imperfect but fully functional products are donated rather than discarded. As Winnie & Lu grows beyond baby and into more of the everyday products families use, I want that combination of thoughtful design, longevity and positive impact to grow with us.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Some of my favorite childhood memories are our family trips to the Lowcountry, they were always wonderfully laid-back. We spent our days riding bikes on the beach, playing in the waves and hunting for crabs with my parents, brothers and grandparents. There was nothing elaborate about it, just long days outside surrounded by family and sunshine.
It’s a tradition we still hold onto today, which makes those memories even more special. Now I get to take my own boys back to the same beaches where I grew up with my brothers and watch them create those same kinds of priceless childhood memories together. There’s something really special about watching a place that holds so much of my childhood become part of theirs, too.
Pricing:
- Airess Drying Rack System $137
- Airess Drying Rack Alone $97
- Spristle Dishwand $35
- Replacement Sponges $12
Contact Info:
- Website: https://winnieandlu.com
- Instagram: @winnie.and.lu.home
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/winnieandlu
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-hoover-b408b811
- Youtube: @winnieandluhome
