Cecilia Crossley

Why I decided to set up from babies with love

Whilst looking after my son I thought to myself: if I could buy a beautiful baby grow, at great value, on an attractive website, with excellent customer service, and know the profit helps a baby in need, why would I buy anywhere else? The answer is I wouldn’t!

I believe we need to do more to address inequality in our society. This has been instilled in me by my parents, my education and my work. A baby should have a decent start in life no matter where they are born. Where circumstances are difficult, we should have support systems in place to help.

I feel driven to help create change. I believe that, starting small, we can make a contribution to, not only helping specific children, but also shifting our expectations of the role of business in society.

What from babies with love is achieving

Our vision is a world where every baby has a fair start in life, no matter where they are born. Our mission is to fund the care of orphaned and abandoned children around the world.

We sponsor babies to live in dedicated children’s villages. We also fund the build of nursery schools in the villages, our first is in Zambia. We donate 100% of our profits to charities supporting orphaned and abandoned children. We have begun by donating to the amazing charity SOS Children. They build and run children’s villages around the world, where foster mums care for orphaned and abandoned children. As part of the village communities, they provide nurseries, schools and healthcare.

The frombabieswithlove.org is a registered charity and accredited social enterprise that has been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark.

We sell beautiful, stylish, organic baby clothes, including brands such as Organics for Kids and Red Urchin.

My background

I’m married with a 15-month-old son. I’m half English, half Brazilian; I grew up in Hertfordshire, and now live in Islington. I studied economics at university and became a Chartered Accountant at KPMG.

I did a lot of probono charity work at KPMG; I found it so enjoyable that I decided to move to the charity sector, to Voluntary Services Overseas. Throughout my career I've been interested in corporate social responsibility and social enterprise; having my son inspired me to set up from babies with love.

I have a diploma in Charity Finance and an MSc in International NGO Management. I now work part time at the Gaia Foundation, an international development charity, as Head of Finance & Operations, and with the rest of my time am running from babies with love.