Being a new mom is challenging, but continuing to work at the same time can be overwhelming. Ann Arbor resident and mother of two Brea Albulov knows this struggle well, so she created a baby carrier to allow women to do both.
Founded in 2015, Albulov's company Hope Carried offers a wrap-like baby carrier in three different styles, made by moms who struggle with a variety of barriers to employment. Albulov endeavors to hire women whose language skills, cultural restrictions, transportation issues, or simple lack of experience make it difficult for them to find employment.
Albulov was seeking a way to inspire positive social change with her business when images of Syrian refugees prompted her to begin researching local refugee services.
"My heart was breaking," Albulov says. "I kept seeing mothers and thinking about what it would be like to not to be able to feed my child. That spurred the idea to try and find women who needed employment but for various reasons couldn't enter the traditional workforce."
It wasn't long before she came into contact with Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County (JFS), an Ann Arbor-based resettlement organization, and organized an open house.
The response was overwhelming, and resulted in the hiring of her first three employees. Today she's up to six, and JFS has pledged to provide a sewing machine for any woman who goes to work for Hope Carried.
Albulov is currently seeking to take her business to the next level with a Kickstarter campaign. Funds raised through the campaign will allow her to buy fabric wholesale and eventually add eight new employees to her team.
Jason Buchanan is a writer, father, and film fanatic living and working in Ann Arbor.
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