Motherhood Identity Series With The Founders of Bloomers Intimates

This article is part of the "Motherhood Identity Series" written by Mila & Jo Media and was originally published on The Mother Chapter on January 6, 2026. 

There’s a particular kind of honesty that comes from building a business with the woman who raised you: the one who watched your body change through puberty, pregnancy, postpartum and every reinvention since. It forces you to talk about things most families politely avoid: aging, softness, sensuality, confidence, and the invisible ways womanhood reshapes us long after the baby years.

Bloomers Intimates was born from those unfiltered conversations.

For mother and daughter duo, Noa Arias and Shaula Yemini, lingerie wasn’t just a product category: it was a mirror. A mirror that reflected how differently women feel in their bodies at 30, 50, 70. A mirror that revealed a massive gap in the industry: where was the beautiful, comfortable, grown-woman lingerie for bodies that have lived real lives?

The answer didn’t exist. So they built it.

Since launching in 2021 with a single lace panty, Bloomers has grown into a fast-expanding brand with multiple styles, new fabrics, bralettes, camisoles, and the first-ever sexy lace leakproof line. Their customer community spans generations, their repeat rate is staggering, and their growth has doubled and tripled year after year — proof that women have been waiting for someone to design with them, not around them.

In this week’s Motherhood Identity Series, we explore how building Bloomers reshaped Noa and Shaula’s identities as mothers, leaders and women in completely different seasons of life — what it looks like when parenting meets partnership, when legacy meets lingerie, and when two generations decide they’re done shrinking themselves to fit an industry that never made room for them in the first place.

Bloomers was born from your shared belief that change — in our bodies, our confidence, our identities — is a beautiful thing. How has building this brand together deepened your understanding of womanhood across generations?

NOA: Society often assumes that after having babies and gaining a few pounds, or after reaching a certain age, women can no longer be objects of desire and are expected to just kind of give up in terms of trying to look and feel sexy. I remember a friend’s father, having divorced her mother and recently married to a much younger woman, saying to me and my mother that he doesn’t understand how any man can be attracted to any woman over 35. Which was not only rude, but totally not accurate. Life doesn’t end at 35! My mom is more than double 35 and still cares very much about her appearance, wanting to look feminine and stylish. We know that most women want to look and feel attractive all of their lives, so that’s where the idea for Bloomers came about.

Since lingerie is the first layer you put on in the morning, or after a shower, it sets the tone for the day. You can’t have a good day if you are wearing underwear that’s riding up or pinching your waist. The truth is we’re all looking for beautiful lingerie that is as comfortable as it is flattering, it’s just that when we were younger, we were told that beauty is pain.

But fortunately, that’s no longer the case with Bloomers Intimates! While all the other lingerie brands are targeting Gen Z and Millennials, we know that Gen X (Noa) and Boomers (Shaula) also want comfortable, sexy lingerie, we just aren’t willing to sacrifice comfort for style the way younger generations are. And we are right - we have customers of all age groups! One of our most heartwarming reviews came from a woman who said she was 80 and had never imagined she could again look and feel so good in sexy lingerie. And our 3XL sizes are even more popular than our XS.

Obviously we have changed from our 20-year-old selves, both in mind and in body. Motherhood makes you realize that the world does not revolve around you, that there are people who depend on you, who you are responsible for: both your children, your larger family, and your co-workers and employees. I am part of the sandwich generation—I feel responsible not only for my children, but for my parents. Having a family changes your outlook on life, your priorities, and how you interact with others as equals.

In terms of body, every five years my metabolism takes a dip, and despite exercising religiously at Barry’s bootcamp, I am at an age where I can no longer eat whatever I want without consequence. I am now looking at certain outfits and realizing they are more suited for my tween daughter than for me.

For example, I just took my daughter to the Sabrina Carpenter concert the other night and she wanted me to wear a short, hot pink dress which was perfect for the scene, but not for a 46-year-old mom. So I made my own adult version of a concert outfit with a pink top and pink cowboy boots. I may be middle-aged, but I don’t feel it, and it certainly doesn’t mean I am wearing granny panties and sweats every day. Only sexy granny panties for me!

Shaula, you’ve had an accomplished career in tech and then reinvented yourself in fashion — what inspired that leap, and how did it connect to your evolving sense of self as a mother and woman?

After selling my company, I spent over a decade mentoring entrepreneurs. I made sure every entrepreneur who wanted to build a company understood the key ingredients for success: clearly articulate the pain point they were addressing and identify the market that needed a solution for this pain badly enough to pay for it, and large enough to support a thriving business.

So when I enlisted Noa to help me find comfortable lingerie that was stylish and flattering for my older body, and we couldn’t find any anywhere, I saw these key ingredients. At the same time, I felt that as a mother, I could help Noa build a venture and grow into a successful entrepreneurial career. It is so much more satisfying working with your daughter than with random entrepreneurs. So here was an opportunity to build something unique for women, with my daughter. How could that not be inspiring?

As mother and daughter, you’ve blurred the lines between family and business. How do you navigate when those worlds collide — and how has it strengthened (or challenged) your relationship?

SHAULA: It wasn’t easy to navigate at the start. As a mother, I had to prove my value all over, despite my decades in business. Initially, every recommendation I made was immediately rejected. Having been a boss most of my adult life, I suddenly had to learn how to get my point across in a much softer, and sometimes quite indirect manner, more by raising questions than by providing answers. I must admit this was not only hard, but was initially quite unsuccessful. And trying to twist arms backfired miserably, leading to one Thanksgiving where we didn’t speak for a week. But over time, with a lot of hard work, I believe we reached an ideal working partnership, with trust and respect. And I believe I have become much easier to work with - ask Noa.

NOA: She has! And so have I, right, mom? I have had to learn to stop my (rebellious teenager) knee-jerk reaction to oppose each and every one of my mom’s suggestions and think like a businesswoman. Over time, I have figured out how to separate these feelings from business decisions, and now we agree on much more than you would think. We have found a way to work together smoothly and productively, and nothing can match the trust we have in one another.

We are a good team. She’s the more assertive yin to my passive yang. I always look to her to help with negotiations, and I hope that some of her strength is rubbing off on me. And I know that some of my softness is rubbing off on her.

I also now have a greater understanding of my mom and her feelings, and I try to be mindful of them. She’s already worked hard and built a successful business and she should get to enjoy her life. I try to be mindful of that when I am asking her to do the more tedious part of the job but I am thankful that some of that enjoyment of life constitutes working with me. I know that if I am overwhelmed, I can ask my mom to jump in and she will gladly do it.

Noa, you launched Bloomers while raising two children — a time when many women feel pulled in every direction. How did motherhood shape your sense of identity as a founder and creative leader?

Something happened after I had my first child that turned me into a total marshmallow. I never used to cry at sad movies, but now I find myself tearing up at commercials. I get emotional sometimes just thinking about how the time has flown by and the kids are growing up so quickly. So motherhood has definitely given me a greater sense of empathy. I understand the need for flexibility in work situations and, with a team of mostly women, it’s essential! We’ve got team members caring for kids or elderly family members, and I personally am doing both, so I am very big on work life balance.

I also realize that there are so many parts of life that are serious, that we need to actively find a way to lighten up in order to enjoy our lives. Nowadays I only read beach reads and watch rom-coms because if I want something serious, I can just read the news. For Bloomers, that means that since we are working with underwear, let’s have fun with it! We try to bring that sense of levity into our creative and communications. It’s a tricky balance to be fun and elevated at the same time, but I think we pull it off.

Lingerie is deeply personal, tied to how women see themselves. How has creating Bloomers changed the way each of you view your own body and femininity at this stage of life?

SHAULA: All my previous decades were spent building a career in technology. I was surrounded by men, and dressed accordingly, in pant suits. Nothing feminine on top, no ruffles, no silky fabrics - just well-tailored suits. But I always had a love for fashion. So my secret weapon was lace lingerie under those suits. It had to be comfortable because I would spend many hours on a plane, or going from meeting to meeting.

So when I could no longer find the same lingerie I had been wearing over the years, I had to switch to cotton Jockeys - very comfy but so very boring. Now that we produce the kind of lingerie I was craving - gorgeous scalloped lace, silky smooth, stretchy, full coverage and oh so comfy, I feel like I’ve shed years off my life. When I dress in the morning and look in the mirror, I feel great - confident, alluring, pretty, unstoppable. 

NOA: I have always been a fitness buff, especially after giving birth. I have maintained that throughout my life and definitely now when I am constantly taking pictures of myself in underwear and sharing it with the team. So the focus on maintaining a healthy body has always been there, but I also work out for my mental health. I have a mind that will run amok if I don’t physically go for a run.

In terms of femininity, my mom has always been more feminine than I am, she is the inspiration for Bloomers. She is always dressed up, with lipstick and hair done. My grandma (her mother) was also like that! Somehow that gene was not passed on to me, but I see it in my daughter for sure. I am definitely more of a suburban mom in my yoga pants. But I feel if I wear the workout pants, I will actually go and workout. And I love that my Bloomers don’t show any lines in my workout pants.

Before Bloomers, I would vacillate between thongs and granny panties, depending on my mood, my feeling about my body and the time of the month. Having a beautiful pair of undies to make you feel a little more tucked in and dressed up when the rest of your body feels crummy is an absolute upgrade.

You’ve both lived many chapters — motherhood, entrepreneurship, reinvention. What does confidence look like for you now compared to earlier seasons? 

SHAULA: Confidence is having accomplished much of the important things I set out to, with different accomplishments at different life periods. Being a good mother and a good sister and daughter who takes care of her family; building successful businesses that create jobs and solve problems and generate products that people want; identifying causes that are important to me and to my people and being a generous philanthropist. If you feel you’ve done as much as you could on all those fronts - that creates confidence.

NOA: I find that most of my confidence comes from a deeper place, whereas when I was young it was definitely more about my appearance and competition, how I stacked up compared to my peers. I still work on my appearance (ahem, Barry’s), but I am no longer comparing myself to everyone else around me. Which is not easy in the days of social media! Though I have come to learn that the better things look on social media, the likelier there is something not so good behind the scenes. As I’ve grown up, I have realized that everyone has their own path, their own struggles, and life is not a competition. Now my pride is in my accomplishments, my family, these elements of my life that I have put so much effort into and seen results, that’s where my confidence comes from. Nothing makes me feel better about myself than hearing my kids are good kids.

Shaula, what has it been like to build something with your daughter — not just as a proud parent, but as a partner and peer?

It took some adjusting to overcome old patterns of interaction - the overbearing mother who knows best, and the rebellious teenager who believes her mother is not only outdated, but a know-nothing as well. But we not only adjusted, we built a strong synergistic relationship of both family and business partnership based on mutual respect and unlimited trust. It wasn’t easy, and it took a long time, but it eventually turned out terrific. The very opposite of the mother - daughter partner relationship in the Grace and Frankie TV series.

Watching your children and grandchildren see you build a company centered on women’s empowerment — what does that mean to you personally? 

SHAULA: We are building a family legacy of commitment to hard work and excellence. When I was growing up, these were expected implicitly. When I brought home a great report card, my parents would just nod their head in acknowledgement, like OK, we never expected differently. I tried to impart these expectations of excellence to my children through letting them see that there are not only successes in life but failures.

But you have to pick up the pieces and move on and work even harder and smarter or else you will never reach success. Noa worked in my technology business and got to see firsthand what her mother was creating, how hard she had to work to keep things afloat, the many false starts and failures, and finally the successes. 

NOA: What my mother said in terms of expectations applies to me as well. My parents never really bothered me about schoolwork, because they didn’t have to. I put my own pressure on myself to succeed. It’s funny because a friend was just asking me if I have to get on my kids about their schoolwork, and I was like I don’t, they just do their work. They also put the pressure to succeed on themselves! Maybe it’s from seeing how hard my husband and I work or maybe it’s the high expectation Yemini gene my mom mentioned.

I do think and hope we are building a legacy for life. I work from home, with panties, bralettes and camisoles strewn over the dining room table, and my daughter has started to help sort through the returns and pack things up to donate to charity. She is always asking what she can do for Bloomers. She’s a bit young to do more than the return sorting, but soon enough… 

Noa, you’ve built a brand that invites women to feel sexy and confident through every phase of life. Has that changed the way you model confidence to your kids?

The fact that I started my own business, and that I work very hard on it and am proud of it, is probably the best way I am modeling confidence for my kids. They share my excitements and my disappointments, which helps them understand that life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. When I have a really bad day at work, I have a hard time hiding it with my new marshmallow self. While my kids really hate to see me upset, I try to show them that I am able to overcome these challenges. I think sharing my experiences will help them grow into well-adjusted adults that are capable of handling real life.

Shaula, when you think about legacy — both in business and in family — what lessons do you hope Bloomers leaves behind for your daughter and grandchildren?

Noa and I have had an ongoing joke - when I insist on something and she pushes back and says its impossible to achieve and it eventually actually works out, I starting to enumerate these “lessons”: lesson #22, lesson #23 and so on. One day she turned to me and said “mom, all your lessons are the same and boil down to “when there is a will there is a way”. I consider that a very important legacy.

Noa, how do you balance nurturing your children’s growth while also nurturing your own evolution as a woman and entrepreneur?

Honestly, it was easier when the kids were younger and they had an afterschool program that went until 6pm. Now that the kids are in middle school, they are usually home at 3 and I need to get all of my important work and meetings done by then. My office is the kitchen so there have been times where they just start asking me questions in the middle of a Zoom (which is my own fault! There are other spaces I can go to in the house).

I can still work when they are here, but it’s definitely harder to focus and I find myself doing work again in the evening. But I am glad they see me working - I feel I am setting a good model and an example of what it means to be a productive adult at the same time as a caring mother. I also like that I am home for them when they return so I can hear about their day, help them with homework and drive them to activities when needed. Plus I get all the gossip.

About The Mother Chapter

This article was written by Mila & Jo Media of The Mother Chapter, a website & community dedicated to helping moms navigate, cope, connect, share and thrive in their postpartum identity. To join the community, visit www.TheMotherChapter.com or follow them on Instagram @TheMotherChapter.