Meet Laura Modi, the Entrepreneur Changing the Formula Industry With Bobbie

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

Laura Modi's journey to beginning Bobbie, the only female-founded and mom-led organic infant formula company in the United States, is a quite personal one. It was 2016, and Modi had just given birth to her first daughter and was faced with the unanticipated reality that she—like many women—could not sustainably breastfeed. Wandering through the aisles of her local pharmacy in search of a suitable formula, Modi was stunned by the lack of options and quickly realized that the market needed a serious update. Thus, Bobbie was born. The brand was built to uncomplicate baby formulas through European-inspired, thoughtful ingredients, emphasizing what is not in the formula. Think no fillers, persistent pesticides, antibiotics, or other unnecessary additives. 

With zero background in the food industry and as a first-time mother and soon-to-be entrepreneur, Modi quit her job at the highly esteemed Airbnb to start her own company. In 2018, she raised $2.4 million from Silicon Valley investors while pregnant with her second child pre-launch. Then in 2019, she raised an additional $4 million in seed funding while pregnant with her third child. Bobbie officially launched in January of 2021, emotionally connecting with customers like never before.

But before she was destigmatizing the infant formula industry, determined to make a real impact, Modi's early career was actually at the helm of the tech boom. She landed a job at Google Finance, focusing on data and analytics on the stock market. According to Modi, Google taught her lessons she would forever use: "Google is a training camp in so many different ways. I mean, it teaches you everything about how to approach business to how to be able to engage [in conversation]. I believe that there is no way I wouldn't be where I am without having started there.” After Google, Modi joined Airbnb as an operations manager, leading the customer service team, where she worked for five years and shepherded the company through massive international expansion. 

Tune in to the latest Second Life episode to hear how Modi's entrepreneurial spirit came to life and how she carried her past experiences into creating a brand dedicated to doing better. Click here to join the rapidly growing wait list to become a Bobbie subscriber. 

Up next, Rachel Rodgers Is Teaching Women How to Build Wealth and Own Their Worth