“Before nausea and prenatal vitamins entered my life, I worked as an actress mostly. You might have seen me on Beverly Hills 90210, Just Shoot Me, Everybody Loves Raymond, and 18 Wheels of Justice if you were paying attention. Although the odds of succeeding in the entertainment industry are infinitesimal, there was nothing I wouldn’t try,” says Adrienne Alitowski in her memoir, Clipped: A mom invents a way to hold her life together just as the world falls apart.
The same hunger for success throughout her career in the entertainment industry was carried over to her journey with entrepreneurship and motherhood simultaneously.
Clipped is a quirky memoir about a new mother venturing into the business world. Her desperation to get her baby to sleep catapulted her into becoming an inventor and small business owner—just before the world fell apart in 2008 during the Great Recession.
The memoir crystallizes the evolution of small business and the chain of events that led us where we are today economically.
Alitowski’s work ethic and passion for her product made her journey a successful one during the launch of her creation, blankyclip. Soft, baby-proof blanket clips that aid in keeping sleeping babies asleep while in their strollers.
Seemingly simple, the product filled a massive gap in the market, enabling it to be rolled out to over 30 stores in the Buy Buy Baby national chain and receiving praise from LA Parent Expecting and Kids Today as a ‘Top Pick’ product. The United States Patent Office awarded Alitowski three utility patents and a trademark, but that is just the glamorous part of her product invention and launch.
From fertility issues to feeling nauseated before investor meetings and finally facing financial implications during the Recession, Alitowksi brings her readers on an emotional and engaging journey throughout a memorable time of her life as a new mother and entrepreneur.
Acclimating to motherhood is difficult, to say the least, from sleepless nights to recovery and healing. On top of that, understanding the product invention process from scratch, Alitowksi’s journey has been nothing short of challenging. Alitowski learned and shares valuable lessons in resilience and dedication, which were not new to her given her time in the entertainment industry.
However, the challenges were not nearly enough to stop her. Alitowski maintains a humorous tone throughout Clipped, which sets an encouraging mood as readers navigate her story while reading through passages of the memoir whether they are joyful or not.
Upon its release, Clipped received Bestseller status across 11 categories on Amazon, and currently, an audiobook is in the works.
“When a friend suggested I write about my experience as a cultural artifact, and as a catharsis, it resonated with me. We needed to understand how such a challenging economic time affected small business owners, families, and relationships. Now is another moment in time when people are finding new challenges and I hope my book can help inspire a future inventor or entrepreneur to take that next step and go for their dreams,” says Alitowski.
Clipped is a firsthand account of how the Great Recession affected small business owners and what it looked like as stores closed every day, and the adjustments vendors had to make against their will. The book is sprinkled with news flashes that document first-hand what was happening in the world of big businesses but completely unbeknownst to Alitowski and people who were not directly affected.
Similar to our economic status since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, much was unknown, and business owners struggled to stay afloat. Despite the challenges, Alitowski maintained infectious positivity, and her dedication to not only her baby but also the entire baby product market showed her success during a trying time.
To learn more about Alitowski’s successes and challenges, shop Clipped. Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, with an audiobook coming soon.
