The Mompreneurs: Shayna Samuels

The Knocked-Up Knockout: The Mompreneur Files
Hannah Claire Shapiro


I am sure that, like me, you have met mothers in your playgroups who have come up with an ingenious idea, either pre or post pregnancy, who have left you thinking “Why didn’t I think of that?!” or, “I wish I could come up with a great Mommy-friendly business idea.” Since having my son, Asher, I have been amazed by the volume of creative and business-savvy mothers I have met, who made motherhood their professional—in addition to their personal—calling. From great clothing ideas and nappy bag accessories (Wipe cases, muslins etc) to online clothing boutiques and wall art, there are no shortage of mothers out there who are honing their entrepreneurial skills—on a variety of scales—who serve as a daily source of inspiration to myself, and I’m sure those who surround them. These profiles will introduce you to a number of new brands and labels out there for both you and Junior, not to mention, they might serve to give you that extra push and a shove to think big and follow through.

We begin the Mompreneur Files with Shayna Samuels, mom to 19-month-old George, and founder of hip LA-based boys’ clothing label, City Threads.

Name? Shayna Samuels
Age? 29
Married? Yes
Good story? How did you meet? We met in high school in English class but didn’t date until college. A couple years after college I started the business. My husband was in grad school, and as soon as he graduated he started helping me. He said he would give it 6 months, it has now been 5 years.
Wow, you have known each other a long time. Who made the first move once you were in college? Once we got to college we started dating pretty quickly. I don’t know who made the first move. I think that we both liked each other. I knew that we were going to get married the first time I saw him in English class our senior year of high school. We didn’t start dating then, but we talked and hung out. We had a lot of mutual friends. It was senior year we weren’t in a hurry to get serious.
Children? How old? Plans for any more? We have one, our 19-month-old son, George. Right now, we have no plans for any more but we will probably want one more in the future
My son is 19 months too. Tell me some of the cute things George (Great name, btw) is doing right now. (For example, my son has always been a bit of a clown and, off the cuff, started saying “knock knock” this week.) He's trying to say "yogurt" right now, and you can see him thinking about how he's going to say it each time he tries to repeat. So he will say "oh-urt" and then "urt-yo" and then "gurr" and it's so entertaining.
Does George have a middle name? Yes, his full name is George Samuel Willis.
Brief Working background? I always wanted to start a business. I tried to start a few after college, and this is the one that took off.
What was your degree in? I have a BS in psychology.
What were some of our other entrepreneurial ideas that flopped? I tried to start another business, one was similar to a tip card, but it never got off the ground. I've always wanted to make chocolates. But that will have to wait.
How did you get into designing kids T Shirts? We saw that hip kids clothes were getting popular and that the boys market wasn’t saturated yet. It started with the New York & Brooklyn hoodies and tees, and then progressed to more bodies and designs.
And this is when you were pre kids? How insightful of you!!!! Any plans for expanding the line? Perhaps into adult clothing? And more outfits for the kids? We have a full line now, which we are continually expanding. We did maternity for a while, but found it too hard to keep up with two lines.
How did you get the company up and running? We made one set of samples and showed it to reps in the California Mart. One showroom, The Dressing Room (Debbie Shapiro and Lisa Sato) loved the samples and took on the line immediately. Five years later, they are still our showroom.
How did City Threads go from idea and concept to reality? Reality struck when we got a good amount of orders from this first batch of samples and realized we didn’t know how we were going to make them!!!!!
Please explain the name City Threads. How did you come up with it? How long did it take you to decide on a name? what is the inspiration?
It was a really long tiring process trying to think of a name. After a month or two, we were sitting around with our friends and everyone was thinking of names. You can't believe the terrible ideas that come out of everyone's mouth. One guy friend just said "how about City Threads," because at that time, most of our line was embroidering city names on tee shirts and hoodies. It was simple and the most appropriate name, we instantly knew it was right.

Who designs the T-shirts? We design all the bodies. For the screen prints, we come up with concepts and find inspiration, then we have some incredible freelance designers who make them come to life.
How did you feel the first time you sold an order of T-shirts? that people were really going to buy it. It was really surreal. I remember in the early days of City Threads going into stores and seeing our stuff and thinking that it was amazing that what we made was for sale and that it was sitting next to other clothing . Now I take my son to classes and see little kids in their City Threads clothes and think that it is neat that they are wearing our clothes. One of my girlfriends always makes it a point to go up to the parents of the kids wearing our clothes and tells them how cute they look and asks where they bought the clothes. She will also call me from places like the zoo and say I have seen four kids in City Threads today. Those times are fun.
How did you feel the first time you saw your tees on a celeb? A picture came out a few years ago of Ed Burns holding his daughter in a New York hoodieWell, we have a couple.
Who are you secretly so proud of having as a customer? I couldn’t believe It would have to be Heidi Klum who put our "Big Guitar" tee on her son, Jonah. He was papped wearing it and the picture was in People magazine. Needless to say, we were thrilled!!! Also, Debi Mazar (Entourage, Ugly Betty) is a big customer of City Threads, and she is really cool!
Where do you go from now? We are trying to keep building the line and the brand so that we are in more stores across the U.S. and other countries.
What are your plans for the future? To try and keep growing the company. I think growth is the fun part. I am still learning. Everyday I think oh George needs this or that and realize that it is not in the line and usually add it in to the fallowing line. He has been a great inspiration.
Care to divulge a bit more? We would like to have a more complete line. We are known for our embroidery and screen print but we would like to be known for all types of boy's clothing. For instance we just launched a basics line of tees and pants with cozy fabric in all different colors that is really cute which is definitely an expansion of what we have.
Your essential piece of Mommy advice? George is only 19 months old, but I would say be with your child as much as possible.
What do you do during your time with George? What are some of your favourite activities to do with him? We both like to go for walks and to the park. Also, signing and reading books.
Wow -- you sign AND read books?! Is there a reason you are teaching George to sign? How did you learn ASL? We took a class on sign language, just a one-day course. It was great for George because he can say "more," "all-done," "milk," etc, and we did it because we heard it would make it less frustrating to communicate. That is definitely true, but now that he can say words he prefers to use signs rather than talk. We're worried the signing is delaying his speaking!!!!
Your one piece of Mompreneur advice? Partnerships don’t work out most of the time. Employ your husband if you can.
And in terms of just going for it? Do you have any words of wisdom/ incentive? I didn’t start out as a Mom starting a company, I started a company and then became a Mom. I would say make sure that you are not starting at a time where you might miss important time with your baby. You can wait to start a business, but once you start it takes a life of its own and you will have to work really hard to keep it going. I think that there are a lot of great businesses that Mom’s can do where they can limit there time to the business and not have to limit there time with the baby as much. Make sure that it starts out as fun so that if it doesn’t work you can walk away having learned.
How do you stay focused? I don’t I do what ever is stressing me out the most at that time. I am all about doing the tasks that will help take the weight off of my shoulders first.
What parts of business tend to cause you stress? What parts of running a family? There a million things that can and do go wrong on a constant daily basis. That is really stressful. The dye house dyes clothes the wrong color. The cutter cuts the wrong thing. Both family and business never end, I think that is the most stressful part.
What are your biggest stress busters? Going out with girlfriends.
What do you eat for breakfast? English muffins are my favorite. Yum! One or two?! Butter and jelly? What do you wash down the EM with? Two, butter and sometimes jelly. I wash them down with tea if I have the time to make it, or water if I don’t.
What is your favourite cocktail? Don’t usually drink, but when I do it is usually wine.
What are your vices? Whatever it takes that day to stay sane. Whether it is a bath or going out at night with a girlfriend to Target or a spa.
Do you have a child-rearing guru? My Mom.
Best piece of advice you have ever been given? There is always tomorrow.
Please could you outline for us, what a day in the life of Shayna Samuels is like? Well it depends, but…wake up and juggle the morning routine with my husband of getting George—and ourselves—ready. My husband leaves for work and I go to a “Mommy-and-Me” class [playgroup]. Then it’s off to work, with George. He has a playroom at the office that is bigger than his room at home. We usually has a nanny at the office who takes him on walks and plays with him, right now we don’t have a nanny. So who ever has to make a phone call does it while playing with George in his room. He can play forever as long as someone hangs with him. We do get a little help from Elmo every so often, Raffi stops by on occasion too. When I am not in the room with George I try to get work done as fast as possible. When George has had enough we leave and go home. I can get a lot done at home, given the time. It’s hard I am not going to say it isn’t. I think the thing that every mother has in common is that you never feel like you are doing it all perfectly. You are always dropping the ball somewhere. I think that it makes it convenient that both of my jobs are 24/7, I can work at any time so on a Saturday night when I have baby sitting I might go to the dye house to figure out colors for my new line. The nighttime routine is we get home around 6 with George. We get dinner out as fast as possible. We try to cook as much as possible.... His favorite food is soup, roasted carrots, mac and cheese, chicken(in all forms), yogurt, grapes. He feasts like a king, we get him in and out of the bath, give him a bottle of milk, read some books, then he is hopefully in his crib by 8. That is when he feels good and we stay on schedule. We just went through a 3-week stretch where he was sick and wouldn't go to bed alone. He stayed up until we went to sleep and slept in our bed. We were all miserable and tired. Finally he felt better and after 3 nights he was back to sleeping in his crib without crying!!!!! It was a miracle.