Q+A with Kid & Coe Founder, Zoie Kingsbery Coe July 23 2016, 0 Comments
Zoie Kingsbery Coe is the founder of taste-making family travel site, Kid & Coe. The mother of two (and one on the way) is committed to creating family vacations simpler and personally curates the website’s list of 900+ properties, which include homes in the Hollywood hills, palazzos in Tuscany, and city apartments in some of the world’s most exciting locations.
When did you decide to start Kid & Coe?
The company has been running since October 2013, but this idea did take some time in the making. Wind it back a few years, and my husband, our baby and I were traveling the world and realizing that it took a lot of effort to find properties that were truly childfriendly and suitable. Over time, that list was requested more and more by my friends, and so the idea was born. I drew together a team, and began to work with concepts and ideas to bring it together.
What were some of the unexpected challenges you encountered along the way?
It’s been an incredible amount of work. Anyone who works in a start-up would second that, but it’s great to see it in action and hear from families who we have helped. You learn so much from the school of experience, such as how to manage a team remotely whilst still trying to cultivate an internal culture and sense of togetherness, or how to craft a killer marketing plan on a shoestring budget. All challenges, lots of setbacks, but at Kid & Coe we always take the viewpoint that without mistakes and risks, there is no opportunity and growth.
How has travel played a role in your life?
My parents actually met on an airplane! It was very normal for our family to decide last minute we were going to fly to Paris or Milan for the weekend, as we could fly standby (ie. free!). That kind of spontaneous search for adventure certainly seemed to ignite a spark of wanderlust in my soul. I grew up in Georgia in a fairly rural environment so visiting these very cosmopolitan cities with my family showed me that the world was a vastly wide and wonderfully different place to explore. The idea of stretching boundaries is something I want to pass on to my own children.
How do you balance running a company with raising a family?
My job can be demanding but most jobs are, and I’m extremely lucky that I set my own schedule. I try and check in with myself and attempt being present in what I’m doing that means that when I’m at work, I’m there and committing to it completely; when I’m having a chat with India Rose, I’m not checking my iPhone for emails, and when I’m with my husband, I am trying not to multitask. We try and carve out dedicated time to discuss the boring practical things that need to be discussed so they don’t chip away at the time we get to spend together.
What do you do to recharge, to reinvigorate your creativity?
I try and get some physical exercise at some point, which is tough, but working out is a really great business idea. I have a chance to clear my mind and really focus.
Having a musician husband must make for a playful and melodic home life. How do you and your husband encourage creativity in the home?
It certainly makes for an untraditional home life! But playfulness and music definitely play large in our home. We almost always have music on; be it my husband’s original stuff, my Spotify addiction, or the kids' with their own YouTube playlists. I know far more about pop music than I had known before. Basically, we try and teach our kids to feel passionately about what they believe in, there is no ‘right’ nor ‘perfect’ in art and expressive creation, and dancing to your own drum is the way forward.
What's one thing you hope your kids will learn from you?
Hmmm, there’s quite a few things I hope to teach them, but if I had to pick one thing, it would be to always choose kindness, to themselves and to others. The world could do with a little more love.
Thanks for having me! Zoie xo
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