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Julie
was born in
Rhode Island
where she lived
until she was
16 years old.
At that age,
her mother
moved to
Pasadena,
California, and
Julie graduated
from Pasadena
High School.
After high
school, she attended
Pasadena City
College, hoping
to further her
drafting
studies to
include
architectural
drafting. In
1958, before we
all became
"politically
correct", Julie
was told that
she would not
be allowed to
take the second
semester of
drafting
because she was
the only female
in the class
and the boys
did not want
her there. An
uncle, a career
Navy man,
suggested that
she join the
Navy and go to
drafting
school. Julie
joined the Navy
and became a
WAVE in
February 1959
only to learn
that the
drafting school
had been closed
to women in
January. Julie
asked to "get
out" but was
told she had to
stay. Not only
did she have to
stay, and not
become a
draftsman, but
she would have
to go to school
to become a
Radioman and
learn
electronics and
Morse Code. At
that point,
Julie realized
that life is
strange: she
was not allowed
to take
drafting
because she was
the only
female, but she
was sent to
Radioman School
as the only
female in a
class of 60 in
a school of 300
men.
After four
years in the
Navy (enlisting
for three but
having to
extend to go to
a school she
didn't want to
attend), Julie
returned to
college to
pursue her
dreams of
becoming an
architect.
While she
continued her
studies, she
was in a car
accident which
took a year out
of her life.
After that, she
realized that
she would not
be able to
follow her
dream and she
tried many
jobs. |
At the age of 30, as a
secretary for a Los
Angeles builder, Julie
"discovered"
construction and took to
it like a duck takes to
water. After 13 years of
working for several
construction companies,
she decided to become a
licensed general
contractor and started
her own company which
specialized in
remodeling restaurants,
churches, and doing
tenant improvement work
in San Diego.
After taking an early
retirement, Julie bought
a Class A motor home and
returned to Rhode
Island. Fortunately, her
best friend from
Pasadena had moved to
New Hampshire, giving
Julie a connection on
the East Coast.
It was while she was in
New Hampshire for
Thanksgiving in 1998
that the idea for the
head-warming pillowcase
came to her. Her friend,
Sara, wanted Julie to
sleep in the guest room
because it was snowing
and she was concerned
about Julie sleeping in
the motor home. Since
the aging standard
poodle could not make
the stairs in the home,
Julie responded that she
could not use the guest
room. Sara inquired
whether or not her
friend would get cold,
and Julie stated that
only her head would be
cold. In response, Sara
remarked that Roy, her
husband, had the same
problem. Roy's head
would get cold and he
would go under the
covers, not be able to
breathe, come out from under the covers, get
cold again and so
on.
Once Julie returned to
Rhode Island after
Thanksgiving, she began
working on her idea and
eventually made ten
prototypes, sending many
of them to Roy to test.
Along the way, she
decided on a name for
her product which
describes exactly what
the product is - Chill
Frill. It is a frill
which helps prevent a
chill.
From the development of
the idea in November
1998, to receiving the
patent in April 2002,
was a long journey. In
1999, Sheila Hoogeboom
of The Center for Design
& Business at the
Rhode Island School of
Design (RISD) offered a
class for inventors and
entrepreneurs. Julie
took the course and
continues to benefit
from the experience and
mentoring. Through RISD,
she was led to patent
attorney, Cristina
Offenberg, Newport,
Rhode Island, who
successfully wrote the
patent application which
went through without a
hitch, yet the process
still took the usual 18
months.
During the waiting
period, Julie hired a
graphic artist in
Providence, Rhode
Island, to create a
logo. The sheep,
denoting counting sheep
because you can't sleep,
was selected and then
the name was
trademarked.
Concurrently, there was
a continued search for
the perfect textile. It
had to be made in the US
and be 100% cotton
flannel. Most flannel is
made overseas so this
was quite a task, but
the most perfect flannel
was found.
The next step was to
test a larger market (to
go beyond just Julie and
Roy) so she invited,
coaxed, or threatened
100 participants to
partake in this
endeavor, resulting in a
98% positive response.
At one time, she
believed that someone
going through
chemotherapy would have
a cold head from the
loss of hair; however,
she learned that if the
person's head did not
get cold before losing
their hair, the head did
not necessarily get cold
without hair. She also
learned that many people
who stated that their
head did not get cold,
still enjoyed the
pillowcase. The
responses to the test
market questionnaire
showed that many with
migraine headaches had benefited, as well as
those with stiff necks,
earaches, sinus
infections, and those
who wanted to block out
the light. Although the
product is not
advertised as any type
of cure for the above
ailments, it might help
some individuals. The
test market also showed
that the pillowcase was
easy to travel with,
whether camping,
boating, or flying. In
the case of camping and
flying, the user can
take just the pillowcase
and fill it with clothes
or something soft and
still receive the same
benefit without using a
pillow. Boaters usually
have pillows
onboard.
Julie contracted with
NatCo Label Company in
Glendale, California to
make the satin woven
labels. She was able to
find this label company
through Steve Schneider
of the Sawyer Center of
the Small Business
Development Center
(SBDC) in Santa Rosa,
California, whom she had
met at a business
seminar. Randy Nelson of
the Yuma SBDC office has
also assisted with ideas
for a brochure, a
contact to get an article
published in the Yuma Sun
Newspaper written by
Matt Riehl, and provided
all around support based
on belief in the
product.
And that brings us to
the
present....
|
About
the Creator of Chill Frill
pillowcase
needs a sleeping cap to
get a good night's
sleep.
