Businesswoman over the ‘moon’ with top brand

Businesswoman over the ‘moon’ with top brand

26 February 2025

A CROSSGAR woman’s award-winning business has gone global thanks to support from Invest NI.

BellaMoon was created by Irene Breen from her own experience as a first-time mother.

The small female-owned team design ergonomic pregnancy and nursing pillows, and have  successfully launched their products in Amazon and Bloomingdales. 

“When pregnant with my first child Bella, I experienced a lot of discomfort,” explained Irene. 

“She would sometimes wake up seven times a night. It was relentless. I wanted to find a way that I could feed her lying down on my side whilst having comfort and support.”

Irene came up with the idea for a pillow during her MBA in Architecture, which evolved into a versatile product. 

“During pregnancy, birth and motherhood, I think women experience a loss of identity – I wanted to solve this,” Irene said. 

“I am one of five sisters and have three daughters. I really wanted to empower women.

“Often designs don’t speak to the identity of the mother. Our designs and colours evoke calmness, serenity and timelessness.

“Sustainability was also important factor. All our pillows are recyclable and can be  passed onto others.”

The Invest NI team in New York supported Irene’s venture through providing the  company with a list of potential stores, third-party logistics providers and distributors and  conducting outreach.

This builds on their support for BellaMoon over 10 years which included their Accelerated Growth Programme in 2021 and trade support to export its products to Europe.

Thanks to this support, Bellamoon now exports to France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain.

“Invest NI played a huge part in our success as a small business. They helped us to understand the market and connect with all the big retailers,” Irene said. 

Now it seems the only way is up for BellaMoon. 

“In January we launched our products in Bloomingdales in New York. We want to grow our US offering, and introduce a teenage and menopause market.

“There are four women in the team, in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s respectively – it’s an empowering place to work.

“We will continue our product offering for all women – we are only starting.” 

To find out more, visit www.bellamoon.co or follow bellamoon_official on Instagram.