Daily Inspiration: Meet Sara Cuthbert and Ashley Weldon of Lunara Sleep

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Cuthbert and Ashley Weldon.

Hi Sara and Ashley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
At Lunara Sleep we have two Co-Founders, Sara Cuthbert and Ashley Weldon. We are both Colorado natives, have been friends since high school and are raising our famililes in the same Centennial neighborhood. Sara has been a practicing massage therapist for over 20 years and was inspired to design a better pillow after hundreds of clients asked, “what kind of pillow do you use?”. We spent 18 months forming the business, doing product development, product testing, applying for a patent and trademarks, building business relationships and creating manufacturing partnerships. In November of 2020, we launched a successful Kickstarter campaign under our original brand: adJust FOR ME Pillow, LLC. In the spring of 2021, we partnered with Orbit: Genius Simple Branding and rebranded to become Lunara™ Sleep, LLC. Currently we sell the pillow through on-line affiliates, our website, local farmer’s markets and wellness offices. At the moment, we are gearing up to compete in the Denver Start-up Week Pitch Competition. We’ve also been selected to present two sessions at Denver Start-up Week. One of the sessions is on “Do’s and Dont’s from a Manufacturing Start-Up” and the other session is about our experience with branding as a start-up. We have all 5 star Google reviews and customers report that the Lunara™ Wellness Pillow is changing their lives for the better.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Of course it hasn’t been a smooth road! Turning an idea into a product and successfully manufacturing it for sale is a tough road – especially during Covid 19 with the supply chain issues and ever changing business landscape. But, we have found that if we put one foot in front of the other and continue to focus on the next most important thing, doors continue to open. Neither of us had any experience in the manufacturing world and it has been a huge learning experience. Some of the areas that we will talk about at Denver Start-up Week are: creating vendor relationships, doing a successful Kickstarter campaign, creating a business from scratch, protecting your IP and more! As with all things, some days are better than others – but we have seen such positive benefits for our customers that at the end of the day it is worth it to keep going. People love the pillow!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are serial entrepreneurs. I (Sara) have worked on my own as a massage therapist for over 22 years. I’m also a certified pediatric sleep consultant and now a product manufacturer and start-up business owner. Ashley has been in graphic design for more than 20 years and she also works for a local non-profit tutoring program for at risk kids. We are both mothers of teenagers. I think what sets us apart from others is that when we decide we want to do something, we commit. And, we stay the course in the things we believe in. We are mission driven in most everything we do – wanting to better the lives of those around us.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Sleeplessness is an epidemic in the US today. In 2016 it was reported that businesses lost 411 billion dollars in productivity due to sleep related issues. With Covid 19 and all of the focus on building our immune systems and being healthy, we can’t afford not to sleep. The sleep product industry experiences significant growth each year. There are MANY pillows on the market – but the majority of them were not created with your health in mind. From the poor support, incorrect sizes, uncomfortable density, prolific chemical additives and more – most pillows just don’t work. People are often willing to try anything to improve their sleep. Everyone sleeps and most people are getting educated on the value of sleep.

Pricing:

• The Lunara Wellness Pillow retails at $179 but for your readers we are happy to offer a 10% disount code. Please contact us at: info@lunarasleep.com and mention Voyage Magazine to receive the code.
• The higher price point is due to the high quality materials, custom design and longevity of the materials. Natural latex can last over 10 years because of the nature of the material.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@lunarasleep.com
• Website: www.lunarasleep.com
• Instagram: @lunara.sleep
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunarasleep
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunarasleep
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu3oQbk8vHsflIWnU2RDFFw

Image Credits
Sara Cuthbert and Ashley Weldon