MOMBIZ: LONG ISLAND'S BUSINESS-SAVVY MOM & GLOVIES INVENTOR, JOSEPHINE GERACI

Josephine Geraci (www.MyMomKnowsBest.com) is the creator of gLovies®. Married to Chris Geraci, the couple has three children: Christopher 7, Garret 5, and Nicoletta 3. The family resides in Lloyd Harbor.
 
   Leave it to a mom to invent a product like gLovies® - disposable, sanitary hand covers that solve the age-old problem of parents everywhere who are bound and determined to protect their children from nasty germs in public restrooms. gLovies answers the oh so familiar plea—“Don’t sit! Don’t touch! Don’t flush! —a plea that inventor, Josephine Geraci could certainly relate to. She says the idea for gLovies was fueled by her own desperation in trying to keep her first-born, Christopher, germ-free on their first official visit to a public restroom. She and her two-year-old-potty-training son were enjoying an afternoon out with other moms and their children when nature called, and Geraci says she had no choice but to head for the nearest bathroom.

   There, she did what most moms do: Pushed the door open with her hip, lined the seat with toilet paper and told Christopher not to touch anything!

   He did what most children do: Touched the walls, touched the floor and gripped the edge of the toilet seat while Geraci watched in horror.

   “I washed his hands really good after that,” she says. But the experience left her appalled. “I felt like I got run over by a truck.”

   There’s got to be a better way to shield kids from germs outside the home, she thought. And then her search began for a disposable product that would act as a germ barrier while protecting her children at the mall, the supermarket —virtually anywhere germs fester outside the home.

Mother of Invention
   Geraci found no such product online or in the stores, so the young, business-savvy mom (a St. John’s University alumna with a degree in finance and a Masters in marketing) pulled out her sewing machine and took on the challenge.

   “I was still in diaper mode [with Garret, child number 2], so, I took his newborn disposable diaper, cut it open and traced Christopher’s hand over it.” Geraci created a pattern that she eventually fashioned into a waterproof, paper mitten with elasticized wrists.   

   After getting the nod from other moms, Geraci consulted with Huntington pediatrician, Dr. Ida Giordano, who believes the product is beneficial in helping kids avoid contact, “with germs that can cause colds, flu, earache, diarrhea and more.”

Convinced that her product had potential, Geraci found a sourcing agent who had connections with manufacturers in China (where production is most “cost-effective,” Geraci notes) and gLovies eventually hit the shelves in January 2008.

   Today gLovies, for kids ages 2-6, is sold in 12-packs (six pairs) for $4.99 and can be found at  BuyBuy Baby stores and online at www.mymomknowsbest.com.

   Although the recent outbreak of swine flu boosted sales of her product, Geraci says she is not cashing in on the hysteria. “The gloves sell themselves,” she says. “They are not meant to be worn 24 hours a day, and they are not for everybody. It’s up to the parent … for those who are concerned about germs in certain situations.”