Mom-trepreneurs

Corrie Wilder, 37, of Bellmore, and Yelena Mogelefsky, 31, of Merrick, became fast friends when they shared a commute on the Long Island Rail Road. Now, six years after they met, the pair no longer ride the train together, but more than ever, their lives are headed in the same direction.

A simple invention set these local moms and established businesswomen's lives on a track both said they never predicted. Their brainchild, a product called Grippies, was not inspired by anything in their professional lives. Instead, it came from one of their children.

"She’s a hippie,” Wilder, a former Time Inc. graphic designer, said with a smile, recalling the day her daughter Kayla, now 5, refused to wear anything other than a flowing skirt and stockings to a gymnastics class. She was allowed to wear the stockings, but unless she had some sort of tread to protect her from slipping, she was told she couldn’t participate.

Wilder enlisted Mogelefsky’s help in her search for a product that would stick to the soles of socks or stockings to prevent slipping. When they realized that no such product existed, the idea for Grippies -- adhesive or iron-on patches that act as treads on socks, stockings or gloves -- was born.

The project got off to a slow start, taking a year and a half to progress from prototype to finished product. Now, however, Wilder and Mogelefsky, a fashion industry product developer, are preparing for the debut of Grippies in 850 Target stores this fall.

“Two girls from Long Island have our first big break,” Mogelefsky said. “I think once Target called, we saw the potential in making our dreams come true. We so believe in this.”

But even as the product takes off, Grippies is still a hometown operation. “Our kids are our testing models,” Mogelefsky said, noting that her children, Jayden and Ava, and Wilder’s children, Kayla and Isabelle, not only inspired the product, but work with their mothers, making it a real family business. Wilder and Mogelefsky handle all the shipping, packaging and finances out of their homes, and while the product will soon appear throughout the country, Aileen’s Kids clothing store in Merrick will be the first to carry the item on shelves.

“She’s going to be the first person carrying them, and we really wanted to partner up with a store in our neighborhood,” Mogelefsky said.

Both women credit Aileen Schreiber, Aileen's Kids' owner, with giving them valuable advice that helped them become better business owners. And while they were transforming their ideas about work, Wilder and Mogelefsky noticed transformations in themselves, too.

Wilder was laid off in the recession, but her entrepreneurial experience with Grippies gave her the courage to start her own graphic design business called Design Solutions L.I. Now, as she builds her business and spends more time at home with her husband and children, she said, “I’m a full-time working stay-at-home mom. It’s a big life transition. I’ve never done that before.”

Mogelefsky said the experience has helped her reshape her vision for her future. “I don’t want to be the CEO of a company, I want to be the CEO of Mommy’s Playground,” she said. Mommy’s Playground will be a resource center for entrepreneurs, complete with day care and, of course, a playground, that she and Wilder hope to open up one day so other parents can have the same fulfilling experience they have had.

Grippies can be purchased at www.grippiesonline.com.