It started at 3am.

I’ve always been a night owl. Apparently motherhood decided to take that quite literally.

The Night Owl started at about 3am when my first baby was just 1 week old. I was pumping, exhausted and frustrated that something I had to do so often meant stopping everything else completely.

That night I decided there had to be a better option. I watched about half a YouTube video on Facebook marketing, found a manufacturer and started building the website that same morning. You could say it wasn't the most sophisticated business plan.

I’d already spent years running businesses, so I wasn’t completely new to throwing myself into an idea and figuring things out as I went. But The Night Owl was different because I was building something I personally needed at that exact point in my life.

And as the business grew, life definitely didn’t get quieter. I was juggling another business, maternity leave, then two kids under two, a husband, a rapidly growing Night Owl and an increasing number of boxes taking over our house.

Eventually, the boxes became a Melbourne warehouse, the team grew and that random 3am idea became a brand that has now supported more than 30,000 Aussie mums.

We’ve changed a lot since those early days too. The products are better, our knowledge is better and we understand so much more about what mums actually need before, during and after buying a pump.

That’s why I care just as much about what happens after someone orders as I do about the product itself. Our pumps and replacement parts are stocked locally in Melbourne, so support and replacements are never far away. We work with lactation professionals and actually listen when our customers tell us something could be better.

I still get involved. I still obsess over the little things. And I’m still very much a night owl.

The business is a lot bigger now, but the reason I started it really hasn’t changed.

I wanted pumping to fit around motherhood and real life, instead of everything having to stop for pumping.