Press > Sydney Blakeman meets Sydney Australia and brings Protect-a-Bub Sunshades Stateside

Sydney Blakeman meets Sydney Australia and brings Protect-a-Bub Sunshades Stateside

Protect-a-Bub USA, LLC was formed in May 2003 after a New York mother returned from a Florida vacation with her four month old daughter, Sydney. Rachel Blakeman, Chief Executive Officer and President, unable to locate adequate sun protection products in the United States, ordered a sunshade from Australia where the incidence of skin cancer is the highest in the world. “The shade was recommended by The Cancer Council Australia. I knew it had to be an excellent product,” says Blakeman. While Ms. Blakeman was in Florida, numerous mothers stopped her on the street to inquire about the shade.

Ms. Blakeman immediately contacted Karen Clark-Dickson who founded Protect-a-Bub (Australia) seven years ago when her son Sam was born. At that time, in order to protect Sam from the harsh Australian sun, Ms. Clark-Dickson designed her own sunshade attachments. After countless requests from mothers to “make me one too,” Ms. Clark-Dickson began to supply retailers with these sun-savers.

Once Ms. Blakeman and Ms. Clark-Dickson combined ideas, there was no stopping these two safety conscious mothers from improving upon existing products and inventing new ones. Ms. Blakeman, formerly a corporate lawyer and a psychotherapist, utilized her business acumen to nicely complement Ms. Clark-Dickson’s creative brilliance. The two women, who will meet for the first time at the Las Vegas ABC Kids Expo became co-owners of Protect-a-Bub USA. They will begin to market the shades world wide in September 2003.