Exploring Life & Business with Justine Richard of The Diaper Society

Today we’d like to introduce you to Justine Richard

Hi Justine, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The Diaper Society was conceptualized in 2021 (inspired by the birth of our firstborn) and has become a reality in 2024. My husband Ryan and I strive to be a low waste and environmentally conscious household and cloth diapering was part of this equation. However, cloth diapering can be a bit daunting as well as time consuming. We therefore opted to use a cloth diaper service for our daughter and it made life so much easier! When I became pregnant with our second we realized there was a wonderful opportunity to expand cloth diaper services throughout the Kansas City area. With the guidance and blessing of Gentle Choices, we sought to establish and grow our business.

We are so proud to have launched this year and can’t wait to bring cloth diaper services to Kansas City families.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Starting a new business while raising two daughters and working full time jobs certainly wasn’t easy, but we did it! It has been a labor of love. We have spent countless hours educating ourselves on all things cloth diapering; researching diaper absorption options, waterproof covers, baby bath and body products, etc. We built and designed our website www.thediapersociety.com and implemented a customer portal and POS system to streamline our services. We’re very excited to be up and running.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Diaper Society?
The Diaper Society is a cloth diaper service offering weekly delivery and laundering in the Kansas City area. We make it easy for busy families to choose a more natural and low waste diapering option.

We offer an online store for baby bath, body, postpartum supplies, etc that can be delivered with your weekly service as well.

We strive to give back and are proud of our need-based service option that offers the diapers free of charge to families who qualify with the option to wash yourself or use our laundering services at a reduced rate. We also participate in various Terracycle programs to recycle “hard to recycle” items such as plastic toys, food pouches, and wipe packaging.

We want readers to know that cloth diapering is for everyone! And that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We have multiple packages and service offerings that fit every lifestyle and budget.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
We were connected with a mentor through the SCORE program and it was incredibly helpful. Owen guided us through the ups and downs of establishing a startup. He assisted with legalities, logistics, and design. We would recommend utilizing the SCORE program for any business.

Pricing:

• Full Service (rental and washing) – $35-$49/week
• Rental only (wash yourself) – $15-$25/week
• Wash Your Stash (you already own diapers) – $20/week
• Add on nighttime boosters (14) – $5/week

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thediapersociety.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thediapersociety/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Diaper-Society/100088350122496/?mibextid=uzlslk&rdid=OnlQWh5chwkmPxa0&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2FfeL7MkzFh3VdYgkx%2F%3Fmibextid%3Duzlslk
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-diaper-society-kansas-city