Kim Lavine

• Best part of being a mom: "The endlessly funny, naughty, cute things my kids do daily."
• Favorite Wuvit design: Faith, Hope & Love (the pink ribbon-inspired design)
• Motto: Embrace the chaos. "My measure of success is not how clean or well decorated my house is, but how happy my kids are."
• What she does for stress relief: "Riding a bike every day for at least an hour. And pulling weeds."

When her husband lost his job, Kim Lavine knew she had to find a way to pay the bills. Through sheer determination she launched her company, Green Daisy, with an idea she created at her kitchen table.

"My husband happened to be feeding deer in the backyard, and he brought in this big bag of corn feed and put it next to my sewing machine. That’s when a lightbulb went off in my head," says Lavine. She had been looking for a holiday gift to make for her children's teachers. She sewed a pretty fabric case, filled it with feed and decided to call it the Wuvit: a pillowlike pack that can be heated up or frozen to soothe stress and pains. It was a hit at school. But then something unexpected happened: Strangers sought her out so that they could buy Wuvits of their own.

Lavine soon took the Wuvit to trade shows, which led to sales at premier retailers nationwide. It wasn't long before Green Daisy branched out into a successful line of pajamas. But according to Lavine, things didn’t always go as planned. "I want to dispel all the myths of overnight success!" she says. In order to keep her business afloat, she was forced to use personal credit cards, withdraw money from her 401(k) and come close to bankruptcy.

Through it all, Lavine learned to balance being both president of a company and a mom. “At first, I would apologize for having kids — I would be embarrassed about taking them to a meeting when my child care fell through,” she says. “Then I had a breakthrough moment. I founded and funded my company, and if I can’t have my kids around, I ain’t going!”

Lavine hopes to inspire other would-be CEO moms with her book, "Mommy Millionaire." Her advice: "If you can get up every morning and tell yourself today is a new day with challenges that you're going to conquer, then you will succeed!"

Read an excerpt from Kim Lavine's book, "Mommy Millionaire."