All Over Albany

Albany Baby Book

Who: Jennifer Zhao

Project: I'd like to create a beautiful visual directory of mom and baby care services in and around the Capital Region that helps connect local customers to local businesses. It will helpful for moms, good promotion for businesses, and help our local economy.

A short bio
My name is Jennifer Zhao and I'm an engineer by training, and founder and owner of Organiworks, a local small business that hand selects and brings high quality organic and natural skin care products to the Capital Region. I'm a green living, cloth diapering mother to my 1 year old son and live in Niskayuna. In promoting my business, I was fortunate enough to meet many new moms as well as maternity specialists such as doulas, midwives, childcare professionals, childrens clothing and accessory crafters. But found that many times, the moms were not aware of these services or could not find them easily. That's what led me to the idea of creating the Albany Baby Book.

A description of your proposed project
I'd like to create a beautiful visual directory of mom and baby care services in and around the Capital Region that helps connect local customers to local businesses. It will helpful for moms, good promotion for businesses, and help our local economy. It will be a old fashioned paper book and will also have an online presence to maximize convenience. Furthermore, I'd like to offer it free to moms at local hospitals, midwife offices, and playgrounds. Businesses will pay a nominal fee to be included in the book. Discounts will be available for micro-businesses who cannot pay the full amount. The $1500 startup funding will help me with the initial setup cost of printing the book. I hope you can help me make this book a reality!

How this funding would help
While the $1500 seed funding will not over the full cost of the books, it will help with the initial setup cost to get the idea off the ground. I'd like to use this money to make some mock-up books to show businesses a sample of what the final book will look like. Also, it will offset the marketing cost including setting up a website, printing informational flyers, and local advertising.