But w- what, how ha- how has it helped you and what do you hope it can deal with going forward?

Well, my tariff refund has already come and gone.

I waited, uh, weeks from submitting my refund to actually receiving the funds.

Um, because of the debt that I've accumulated over the last year, I had to immediately pay off a big portion of that debt with that refund.

So it's gone.

It was a small relief for cash flow in the moment, but it's already, it's already been spent paying back debt.

W- what do you want policymakers to know? What do you want them to hear from small business owners like yourself?

I mean, tariffs are a tax on American business owners.

So before Sha- Shark Tank, before Busy Baby Mat, what did your life look like in that season of early motherhood?

Well, before motherhood, um, I was in the Army for 10 years, and I had always wanted to be a mom.

I was 30 when I got out of the military and single and didn't find a good partner, um, that wasn't crazy until much later in life.

And I thought by the time I met my now husband that, you know, maybe motherhood just wasn't gonna be in the cards for me, and I was just gonna be the best aunt I could be.

And then I met my now husband, and surprise, we got pregnant, and I had my first son when I turned 40.

So I was an older first-time mom.

I had been working a corporate job, and I took my maternity leave for three months, and when I went back to work, a couple of my stay-at-home mom friends took me out for lunch just to kind of check on my mental health when you do that huge transition from being home all day, every day for three months with your baby to then leaving him at daycare-

... walking into that room? How did it start? How did you get there, um, and how did it feel after?

Mm-hmm.

I am...

My warehouse space...

So I started in my basement, and I expanded into my garage, and then I live out in the country.

We have a pole shed, so I stored inventory in my pole shed, and eventually, four years ago, I was able to buy a warehouse, like an actual warehouse property.

I'm now in a forbearance with my bank, and the property is for sale.

I'm gonna lose my warehouse, uh, so that's not fun.

That lineup sounds like a small business owner's dream, but it comes with some caveats, no?