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 Winner: Keira O'Mara
Number of Children & their ages: 1 x aged 2 1/2 with one more on the way
Business Name: Mamascarf
Business website: www.mamascarf.co.uk
Follow Keira on twitter: @mamascarf
When did you start up in business, and what was your motivation?
I launched Mamascarf in Nov 2008, I was motivated by my little boy and wanting to be able to have a good work life balance.
In a nutshell, what do you do and what makes your business unique?
Mamascarf is a completely unique product in that it is a breastfeeding scarf/cover that also provides support.
 What has been your biggest business achievement?
Being featured on This Morning in the best baby products feature.
What stage is your business at now & what are your plans for the future?
I am just over a year in and am thinking about increasing my distribution, both in and outside of the UK.
How do you manage to juggle your business with family life? Has it been challenging?
I have 2 full days with childcare but the rest has to fit in as and when, with bits being done in the evenings and at weekends. It can be challenging but when I compare the amount and quality of time I have with my family to when I was working full time, there is no comparison.
What resources do you NOT have now that might make your life easier? 
It would definitely make life easier to use a warehousing facility and have someone else package up all of my orders.
You were a winner/runner up in the 2009 PR Challenge, what did you do to generate so much media coverage for your business?
I was really persistent and used every different angle I could think of for a new release. I made sure that I always followed up emails with phone calls. I also used the coverage I had already got as a story to generate further coverage.
When doing your own PR, what resources did you use to get you started, and still use today?
Twitter, Google, websites that advertise media requests and that's about it really.
How much did you spend last year on promoting your business?
Not sure of the exact figure but it wasn't very much. I only really used Google Adwords for advertising which was about £30 a month.
What do you feel is the most important aspect to doing your own PR?
The hours that I can put in would have cost me a fortune if I was paying a PR to do them for me.
Do you have any special PR tips to pass on to the 2010 entrants?
Be persistent and allocate some time every month to PR. Keep a note of all of the journalists contact details, you never know when you might want them again. Respond to any media requests even if they dont seem that relevant to your business, as often they will give you a plug anyway!
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