In the past 15 months, Rebecca Hilton has given birth to two babies - so to speak.
First, Hilton and husband Josh of north Raleigh welcomed their real baby - a little girl named Lorelai.
And then came another baby, of sorts. The two came up with a new app, called
Just My Style, that's designed to make the clothes shopping experience easier for women.
The couple have backgrounds in computer science. Hilton worked as a software engineer before her daughter was born.
"Last summer, my husband and I were talking about projects we could work on together since we both have backgrounds in computer science and Just My Style was born," she tells me. "Right now, my two jobs are taking care of our daughter and developing our mobile app."
I checked in with Hilton to learn more about the app. Here's a Q&A:
Go Ask Mom: You've recently launched Just My Style. What's the app all about?
Rebecca Hilton: Our app Just My Style is the ultimate window shopping experience. Women choose a category of clothing and then start rating items with a like or dislike. Based on their ratings, we learn their fashion preferences in order to find them more clothes and styles that they'll love!
GAM: Why did you launch it? What was missing from the market?
RH: As a mom, I found myself wanting new clothes, but having no desire to take my daughter with me to find them. Either I'm holding her and can't try on clothes or she is in a shopping cart or stroller that's not very manageable between racks of clothes. And, oh by the way, when I stop moving, she gets mad. This is the recipe for a terrible shopping trip. I knew there had to be a better way to bring the window shopping experience into my phone.
GAM: How has it gone so far? You recently were in NYC for an event? What was that all about?
RH: Right after we launched the app, we bundled up the family and headed to NYC for a few days where we had a booth at TechCrunch Disrupt. We handed out a lot of business cards and swag! Since then, things have been going great. It seems like every time we talk to women about the app, they confirm my feelings that it is hard to find items you're going to love!
GAM: You're a mom and a business owner. What's the secret to not going completely crazy? How do you attempt to balance it all?
RH: Nap time! At this point, any serious works gets done when she is sleeping. So, in order to make the most out of those precious moments, I always have a list of ideas that I want to incorporate into the app. I make sure they are really prioritized so I only work on the most important things. I know that doesn't sound overly groundbreaking, but it works for me.
One of the things that has worked for balance is making sure I take one night a week after our daughter goes to bed to just hang out with my husband. No work gets done and we can just enjoy each other's company. That's been really helpful for me.
GAM: What's next for Just My Style?
RH: We are hoping to have lots of people start using our app Just My Style and have them enjoy it so much they tell all of their friends. We just want to help women find their next favorite outfit! The app is currently available in
iTune and
Android. You can find out more about the app my going to our website and follow us on social media:
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
Go Ask Mom features local moms every Monday.
