Childcare that creates awesome mini-humans, puts emotional well-being first, that’s easy to arrange and doesn’t cost the earth.
Sound too good to be true?
Female entrepreneur Rachel Carrell is making it a reality with her agency Koru Kids, which can help you find your perfect childcare.
Koru Kids is a London startup that helps busy parents, especially working moms who often bear the responsibility of childcare but don’t want to compromise on their careers. By providing nannies, rigorous vetting processes, thorough training, and flexibility, they are revolutionizing childcare services, and helping families flourish at home and work.
Q&A with Rachel Carrell
Rachel Carrell shares more about her personal journey, her greatest tips, and her bravest moments.
1. What inspired you to start Koru Kids?
I was inspired to start Koru Kids when I had my first baby, and all my friends were having babies, and I realized how incredibly difficult it was to sort out childcare. I looked around to see if anyone else was working on this problem and I couldn’t find anyone, so I knew I had to do it myself.
2. What is the bravest thing you’ve done while building Koru Kids?
I think the bravest thing that I’ve done while building Koru Kids was probably having two children to add to the baby that I already had along the way. I took very little maternity leave because I just care so much about the mission that we’re trying to accomplish, of building better childcare infrastructure — and about the quality of what we’re building. I do need to note that other people at Koru Kids have taken proper maternity leave and paternity leave! But for me personally, the sacrifice was worth it.
3. What is a non-negotiable in your routine that keeps you focused?
I am a huge believer in wellness routines that are practical for parents. I think we hear a lot about wellness that unfortunately, parents just can’t really do. For example, people often say, ‘Get more sleep!’. When you have a baby or a toddler who wakes up in the night like mine do, you just can’t decide to get more sleep. It’s not going to happen.
So I really like wellness interventions that take no time and no money but have a huge impact. My favourite two at the moment are cold showers and mouth taping. I have a cold shower every morning, and it’s like coffee waking me up, giving me the energy to start the day. It also has amazing health benefits. It’s great for your immune system.
I know this sounds strange, but I have also started taping my mouth when I sleep. This has amazing benefits for the ability of oxygen to get to your blood all around your body because of the way the nose is structured and the way that air moves through it. When I started taping my mouth shut to go to sleep, overnight, I noticed a huge boost to my energy. I realise if you’ve never heard of this, it sounds very strange. But I would encourage anyone to give it a Google and maybe try it. It’s not right for everyone, but I know so many people who feel so much better after giving it a go.
4. What has been your biggest challenge while on this journey?
My biggest challenge on this journey has been working to get the quality of our nannies just right. It is really hard to find hundreds and thousands of nannies who are of the right quality, the kind of people that children and parents need.
It’s taken us eight years but I am so delighted with the way we are now able to recruit, train, match, and manage the UK’s best nannies, and seeing the impact that they have on our parents every single day. It’s an incredible feeling. They bring calm to the parents’ lives, they make the children happier. We know this from our data! And they make sure that the parents can continue with their hard-won careers. So while this journey has been very challenging, it has also been immensely rewarding.
5. What advice would you give to other businesswomen, female entrepreneurs, or mompreneurs?
The main piece of advice I would give to other entrepreneurs is to find your tribe. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to build any organization of value.
It’s been absolutely essential to me to find the community of other founders, who have given me practical, technical, and emotional support over the years. I really don’t think I could have done this without them.
I try to give back to these communities as well because I’ve received so much from them — and of course, I’ve made many wonderful lifelong friends. It’s been an absolutely essential element in my journey.
For daily posts on parenting and work life, follow Rachel Carrell on LinkedIn.
Follow Koru Kids on Instagram for the latest updates and tips on parenting and nanny services.
What to read next? Bold BusinessWomen: Q&A With Female Entrepreneur, Loes Daniels
Subscribe to our newsletter to get monthly inspiration from bold businesswomen.
