Do It All Mamas (& Papas): Meet the mom who founded The Young Scientists Club

December 16, 10:55 AMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

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Esther with some of her favorite young scientists

In today's Do It All Mamas (& Papas) feature (find out more about this series below)... Esther Novis mom to five kids: Austen-15, Hailey -13, Keenan -11, Aidan -8, and Ilse - 6, AND founder of The Young Scientists Club.

Examiner: Tell me something unique/interesting about yourself.

Esther: I was educated and raised in the Netherlands. I came to the United States as a junior in High School and attended Harvard University for college. After college, I entered medical school but decided after two years that this was not my calling and that I rather work with children. After 5 years of teaching in various schools, I started The Young Scientists Club to fill a void in educational products that were both fun for children and easy to use for the parents.

Examiner: What is your business all about? 

Esther: The Young Scientists Club has a simple mission - to engage children around the world in An Educational Science Adventure that Lasts a Lifetime by offering quality, science-related products that will fascinate them with the wonders of scientific discovery and spark their interest in future scientific endeavors.  No product of ours is put on the market before it has passed the ultimate test-approval by multiple teams of Young Scientists during our summer science camps. (You can check out Esther's shop at www.kidsciencekits.com)

Examiner: What is your favorite product that you make or sell and why do you like or recommend it?

Esther: My favorite line is our Magic School Bus line. The Magic School Bus has always been one of my kids favorite TV show and book series. In fact, I felt that it was one of the few worthwhile shows that was science related. When I was approached by Scholastic 3 years ago to design and manufacture the kits that complement the book series as well as the TV series, I was thrilled because it was a perfect match. There are currently 5 kits in the series with 2 to be added in 2009. We have been able to hire official Ms. Frizzle for the annual New York Toy Fair and that has been a blast.

Examiner: Why did you start your business?

Esther: When my oldest son was 5, I felt there were no great science products on the market for the younger children. As a result, I started doing science experiments with him at home, but he preferred playing with his friends. That is when I came up with the idea of starting a summer science camp. Some of my college roommates had showed interest as well but they lived in far away places. I came up with the idea of sending them instructions and the supplies and a subscription service was started. After a couple of years, retailers showed an interested in our products and that is when I designed retail packaging around the subscription kits. Our products were so well received by the retail industry that over the years we have added many new and different science kits. 

Examiner: What secret do you have to share with other parents about "having it all" with your family and business?

Esther: Being able to balance everything is certainly very important. Over all the years that I have had the business, I never hired a nanny to help out. I have been able to structure the business in such a way that I was able to work from home, have people help me work from home, and outsource as much as possible so that the business could stay at home. I also used college students for the first couple of years to do the fulfillment, answer phones, and do the babysitting/driving to activities when needed. The day starts at 5 am so that I can communicate with clients/vendors overseas and ends late at night after the kids are in bed. In addition, my oldest children are now old enough to help with summer camp and work in the business as their summer job. 

Examiner: What is the number one piece of advice you have for other parents?

Esther: Be very organized and pre-plan as much as possible. For example, I make the kids lunches for the next day when I make dinner.

Examiner: What is your (and your kids) favorite family activity?

Esther: We are all very active in sports.

Examiner: Anything else you want to add?

Esther: Getting connected in the business world is very important and depending on what your business is, trade shows are often when that happens. Many of my best connections were given by friends.