March is Women’s History Month and inventor Sarah Kallile is celebrating her second patent, joining the 10.9% of patent holders who are female according to the USPTO.
Kallile now holds both a utility patent and design patent for the Lunnie All-Day Leakproof Nursing Bra, an innovative and chic nursing bra that contains leakproof, sewn-in cups.
To top this milestone, Kallile recently met her entrepreneur hero Sara Blakely, founder of SPANX and SNEEX, at Female Founder’s Day in New York City. The event was hosted by The Female Founder Collective, the organization that gave Kallile her big break when she won their pitch competition in 2021.
“Sara Blakely’s story building Spanx gave me the courage to take the entrepreneurship leap,” says Kallile. “Her ingenuity, enthusiasm, and femininity inspired me to create Lunnie.”
Sara Blakely was selling fax machines door-to-door when she had her lightbulb moment to cut the feet out of her control-top panty hose to create SPANX. Decades later, Blakely holds multiple patents and was named the youngest self-made female billionaire by Forbes magazine.
“I've imitated so many moves from Blakely’s playbook,” says Kallile. “Invent a women's product that’s lacking innovation, do it in an industry you have no experience in, secure your patents, don't raise money from investors, and be unapologetically feminine doing it.”
Kallile was thrilled to thank Blakely backstage, share her story, and gift her Lunnie bras. “They say ‘Never meet your heroes’ but this does not apply to Sara Blakely. She was very kind and genuine in real life.”
Kallile attended Female Founder’s Day alongside another Dayton female entrepreneur, Katie Hill. Hill is the founder of Unlisted Homes, a real-estate technology platform that specializes in off-market properties. Hill also holds multiple patents for her inventions and is also an advisor to Lunnie.
“As a female inventor of a woman’s product, it’s often challenging to be taken seriously,” says Kallile. “I’m grateful to be surrounded by incredible female founders who have broken barriers and encourage me to keep moving forward.”
Sarah Kallile, alongside her mother Sue, hold Design U.S. Patent No. D1064499 and Utility Patent No. US 12,022,891 for Lunnie's All-Day Leakproof Nursing Bra. Kallile, a mom of 3 little girls, invented Lunnie out of her own breastfeeding experience. Launched in 2022, Lunnie is available online and select boutiques and healthcare partners. Lunnie recently celebrated its third year business anniversary this month.