Mayo's Laura Modi feted as one of Time magazine's Women of the Year 2025
A Mayo woman has been honoured as one of Time magazine's Women of the Year 2025.
Laura Modi, a daughter of Owen and Karen Hughes, Westport, is included on a prestigious list of 13 extraordinary leaders working towards a better, more equal world.
Laura, a member of one of the county's best known and respected business families, is chief executive officer and co-founder of Bobbie, the US-based organic infant formula company.
The mother of four is intimately familiar with the stigmas around feeding a newborn.
When raising money for Bobbie, a visibly pregnant Laura pitched the idea to a male investor who scolded her for discouraging women from breastfeeding.
“I went to pure motherly fury. I came back with: ‘What would you say to a woman who wasn’t able to feed their baby?’”
The market for parents who cannot breastfeed - or choose not to - is robust. Within 18 months of launching in 2021, Bobbie, whose European-style products are sought after because they omit typical additives like corn syrup, surpassed $100 million in revenue.
Bobbie for Change, the company’s mission-driven arm, pushes for parental leave, gives free formula to moms who have had mastectomies, and has introduced legislation that would bolster US manufacturing to help prevent another formula shortage like the one that created a crisis for millions of families in 2022.
When wildfires devastated Los Angeles earlier this year, Bobbie provided formula for families who lost their homes.
“I didn’t get into this because I like making powdered milk,” Laura said. “Becoming a parent makes you an activist.”
She believes that Bobbie’s advocacy wins over new customers.
Bobbie also partners with influencers like tennis champion Naomi Osaka, Queer Eye’s Tan France, and cookbook author Molly Baz, who recently posed on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square breastfeeding her son while also holding a Bobbie bottle.
“We could have chosen to have her on a billboard feeding her baby a bottle, and we didn’t,” Laura said. “We respected that she was a combo feeder, and having her baby on her boob was showing the world it’s not your typical formula company. We paint a picture of all feeding journeys.”
Congratulations to Laura on her success.