After Jenna Sá Freire earned a degree in international business, she dabbled in a few different industries — including advertising, retail, and sales — that draw on communicating through nonverbal messages. But she had no idea the importance that nonverbal communication would play in her life. Three years after she launched her own business, Mina Baie, a luxury diaper bag company that sparks joy for moms through style and organization, she welcomed her daughter, Amelia. Now Mina Baie is a successful company, Amelia is 3½ years old, and Sá Freire is breaking the silence on raising a deaf, nonverbal child living with autism. In an interview with LittleThings, she shares the journey of giving birth to two different dreams and how she manages the challenges.
“In a way, I think Mina Baie has been a healthy distraction,” Sá Freire tells LittleThings. “Raising a child with disabilities is by far the most difficult thing I have ever gone through. But having Mina Baie helped create a balance in my mind, so I wasn’t always sad and obsessing about the same issues. I think it would very natural when you have a child with special needs to let your concerns for them become your entire world … entire existence. I've never had any full-on breakdowns, but I have had moments of profound sadness, and in those times, I rely on my faith to get me through it.”
Sá Freire always dreamed of having her own handbag company and being her own boss. “I have always been completely obsessed with bags,” she admits. “After working in the handbag department at Nordstrom, I realized there was a huge hole in the market for diaper bags. There really weren’t many options, and the ones that existed looked like they were designed for the baby, not the mom. I saw the opportunity to offer something different.”
So she earned her degree, unbeknownst at the time that each of those industries she studied, including procurement, would help to prepare her to run her own company.
“It took years and every penny I had to get Mina Baie off the ground,” she reveals. “I officially started working on it in 2014, but because I had no experience or connections to manufacturing, we didn’t produce our first bags until 2016. Not surprisingly, Mina Baie really started to grow after I had Amelia in 2018.”
Juggling being a new mom and running a business was a challenge for Sá Freire. “At the time Amelia was born, we couldn’t afford any kind of child care,” she recalls. “By the time she was 6 months old, I was able to hire a few hours of help a week, which made a huge difference. I think one the biggest things I had to learn was how to be smarter with my time. It is so limited, and if I slacked off even a little I could feel myself drowning.”
Things didn’t get any easier when Sá Friere and her husband, Pedro, realized their life as first-time parents was going to change even more, as Amelia’s health became priority.
“Ameila’s special needs unfolded slowly over the course of her three years,” explains Sá Friere. “She was born with mild hearing loss due to a virus I contracted while I was pregnant called cytomegalovirus (CMV). The virus is really common and most people get it at some point during their life and have no issues. But it can be quite damaging if you are pregnant and don’t have a great immune system.”
She continues, “It was our hope that Amelia would be able to bridge the gap in her hearing with hearing aids, but by the time she turned 1 year old, she went from mild hearing loss to profound hearing loss (deaf). Even with the hearing aids, she couldn’t hear anything. Fortunately, she qualified for cochlear implants, which isn’t really the same as regular hearing, but it does provide access to sound and in many cases allows a person to function and carry on conversation normally. Shortly after Amelia’s surgery, she regressed into autism. It was originally diagnosed as mild but has become quite severe.”
There were some signs along the way. “She was seen by a developmental pediatrician at 16 months,” says Sá Friere. “It was required for her cochlear implant surgery. At the time, the pediatrician said she was developing on track, aside from a speech delay related to being deaf.
“Following her surgery, around 20 months old, she lost eye contact, stopped playing with toys, and regressed in nearly all areas. We went back to the same pediatrician, at which point she was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum.”
While the couple faced challenges at home, things were thriving on the professional front. In 2020, her husband joined the Mina Baie team.
“It was right at the time we switched over from Squarespace to Shopify,” notes Sá Friere. “All aspects of Mina Baie were becoming more technical. And while I am not terrible at technology, Pedro is quite good at it. He also has a background in logistics and managing shipments. For this, I count myself lucky, because it isn’t something I enjoy, and he completely took it over when he signed on.”
While she acknowledges that working with your partner isn't for everyone, Sá Friere and her husband really like it. “It has made us more understanding of one another,” she says. “If one of us is going through something stressful at work, we are in the unique position of really understanding what our partner is dealing with. I am very grateful for that.”
They aim for strict 9-to-5 office hours so they can spend their evenings with Amelia. “I like to designate time blocks as often as possible,” she describes. “It really helps me focus on the task at hand; whether it is something for Mina or spending time with my family, the lines aren't as blurred with time blocks.”
While working, she’s a hands-on founder. “I am very active in nearly every aspect of the business, from design, production, buying, marketing, and all the finances,” says Sá Friere. “Fortunately, we have a really strong team, and the role I play in each of these categories, excluding design, is starting to shift to more big picture planning.”
She appreciates advice she got long ago. “Someone once told me, you can either go to grad school or start your own business. With either option, you’ll learn about the same, and it will cost about the same, but if you choose to start your own business and you’re successful, you come out with a business that you own and love. This helped me so much, because starting a business can be expensive and take a long time, but if you see it as a learning opportunity and a chance to invest in yourself, it is so worth it.”
The journey of motherhood and entrepreneurship is a lot to manage, and she confides, “I've definitely developed anxiety over the past few years. It isn’t extreme, but it does creep up on me from time to time. The only way I have found to manage it is by maintaining a really clean diet.”
She’s found support through community mom groups and more. “Honestly, I love that moms have built thousands of networks for literally every possible topic. I find the groups for deaf parents and parents of children with autism so helpful. I also love the Mina Baie group! Those mamas have made my mompreneuer dreams a reality.”
There’s lots more in store for the brand — which has expanded into other areas of fashion as well — and a lot of dreams for the little girl who was the inspiration behind the Mina Baie Amelia bag. Her mom says, “We don’t know for sure if Amelia will ever learn to speak or fully understand language, but that is my biggest wish for her. I desperately want to hear her voice and know her thoughts.”
One thing is for certain, though. Sá Freire will continue to advocate, be a voice for moms of special needs children through Instagram, and translate the needs and joys of all women into fashion accessories that make a statement without any words.
