Nicole Noar Invented Snuggle Shield to Protect Every Little Breath

As a nurse, Nicole Noar spent hours in surgical masks, so filtration and breathability were concepts she already understood. As a mom, she kept thinking about how few options existed for babies too young to wear a mask in crowded public places. Eventually, “Someone should make this” became “Why not me?” That question is where Snuggle Shield began.

Nicole Noar is the founder and CEO of Snuggle Shield, a patented infant wellness brand pioneering a new category in infant air protection. A registered nurse, lactation consultant, and Child Passenger Safety Technician, she runs the company from her home in Carlsbad, California, while working as a fertility nurse at UC San Diego Health. She is also a mom of 2 boys and a member of the Entreprenista League.

“I’m most proud that an idea I had as a nurse and mom has become a patented product that real families are using to help protect their babies,” Nicole says.

A problem seen as a nurse and as a mom

Nicole always knew she wanted to be a nurse. She has been one for more than 16 years, including 13 in labor and delivery before she moved into fertility nursing. Entrepreneurship came later, with an idea she could not let go of. “It came from seeing a problem through 2 lenses: as a nurse and as a mom,” she says. Her husband encouraged her to stop talking about it and go for it.

Learning nearly everything else along the way

“I came into entrepreneurship knowing moms, babies, and healthcare, and then had to learn nearly everything else along the way,” Nicole says. That meant patents, manufacturing, packaging, retail, fundraising, PR, and international distribution, all while she kept working as a nurse.

Today, Snuggle Shield makes a growing line of reusable and disposable protective covers for babies and toddlers. Parents and caregivers use them in airports and on airplanes, at pediatrician visits, in crowded indoor spaces, and during wildfire smoke and poor air quality. Creating a new category, she has learned, means first teaching people why the category needs to exist.

Awards and an on-air endorsement

Nicole counts more than 10 national parenting and innovation awards for Snuggle Shield. In the past year alone, she says, the brand received the Parent Tested Parent Approved seal, won a Baby Innovation Award, and was named Child Protective Product of the Year by Corporate LiveWire.

A pediatrician also endorsed the product on air during a KTLA feature. “As a nurse and mom who created this product to help protect babies, having a pediatrician publicly recognize and recommend what we’ve built was such a proud moment for me,” Nicole says.

She has also seen Snuggle Shield recognized by major retailers. Parents tell her the covers give them more confidence taking their babies out into the world.

Opening the first raise

Snuggle Shield recently opened its first fundraising round. Her very first investor was her best friend from high school, Danielle, who believed in her enough to back the idea.

She is learning the rest in real time. “My biggest lesson so far is to start building investor relationships before you need the capital and be able to clearly communicate your vision, traction, and why now,” she says.

She would give her earlier self similar advice. “Ask for help and build your network earlier,” she says. “The right introduction, mentor, advisor, or conversation can save you months of trying to figure everything out yourself.”

Protecting every little breath

Nicole’s vision is to establish infant air protection as a recognized category worldwide. Over the next few years, that means growing revenue, expanding into more national retail, building out Amazon and e-commerce, growing internationally, and strengthening a global intellectual property portfolio.

She also sees a role for Snuggle Shield in hospitals and healthcare, airports and travel, and government and emergency-preparedness stockpiles, as families face wildfires, poor air quality, and outbreaks. “Ultimately, I want Snuggle Shield to become synonymous with infant air protection and build a global brand around one simple mission: protecting every little breath,” she says.

She has kept going through all of it, often running the business from her house between work and family life. “There have been plenty of reasons to give up along the way, and I haven’t,” she says. For aspiring founders, she starts with timing: “Start before you feel ready.”

You can follow Nicole on LinkedIn, follow Snuggle Shield on Instagram and Facebook, and find the full line of covers at snuggleshield.com.

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