Ashley Mooneyham’s (Ph.D. ’19) breastfeeding journey started positively after she had her first child in 2021. She was exclusively nursing her daughter Norah without any issues. And when she returned to work eight weeks postpartum, Mooneyham planned to supplement nursing by using a breast pump to collect milk.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as expected.

Mooneyham was shocked to discover that 20 minutes of pumping—double her average nursing session—produced only a quarter of a bottle of milk, much less than she had anticipated.

“I knew I made enough milk for my baby,” says Mooneyham, who has a doctorate in microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology from the U of M. “I was aware that it was a failure of this technology to collect breast milk for me. I couldn’t believe that the technology was so archaic and so incapable of doing its job, especially to support modern women.”

After sitting with that disappointment for a bit, Mooneyham realized it was time to turn her frustration into research. She began studying breast pumping and two things quickly stood out: warm compresses and massage increase milk production while using a breast pump.

A motivated Mooneyham teamed up with Jennie Lynch (B.A. ’17), a successful nonprofit founder with experience in early childhood education and family well-being, to create Momease Solutions. Their goal? Develop a breast-pump-enhancing bra with built-in warmth and massage to comfortably collect more milk in less time.

“Back in 2021, there really wasn’t any new technology surfacing in this space,” says Lynch, who majored in political science and German studies at the U of M. “I work with a population who’s nursing coming out of postpartum, maybe even coming off nursing, and I see the pain points with many women when it comes to using the breast pump. I thought Ashley’s idea was wonderful.”

Mooneyham points out that there are several elements at work in addition to suction when nursing a baby.

“A breast pump was never going to do enough,” she says. “That’s why we decided on an accessory route to the breast pump. It’s not that suction is the root of all evil; it’s that suction is incomplete. We’re returning those elements that a nursing baby would have—the warmth of their mouths, the pressure of their jaw and hands—into a warming and massaging bra. All of the elements work in tandem. Women’s bodies are complex. We respond to multiple cues, so bringing those cues back helps the experience be more effective and comfortable, since that is what our bodies are meant to be doing.”

In September 2024, Momease Solutions proved to be a heavy hitter after taking home the grand prize of $100,000 at the prestigious MN Cup, a Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship program at the Carlson School of Management. The MN Cup is the largest statewide startup competition in the nation, drawing an initial pool of 3,200 entrepreneurs from across Minnesota. Momease Solutions was celebrated for “disrupting the breast pumping industry” with its innovative pump-enhancing bra.

“It was such a gratifying experience,” Mooneyham says. “We learned so much. To win the grand prize is a cherry on top. It was a good way to end our MN Cup running after a couple of years in the competition.”

Adds Lynch: “It also feels so special to win the MN Cup as a University of Minnesota alumni.”

The next step on the Momease Solutions path is a clinical study led by School of Public Health Professor Ellen Demerath. Mooneyham hopes to launch their product publicly in 2026.

“Women founders in a women’s health field tend to receive a small fraction of the overall funding available,” says Mooneyham. “So, when that pool is small, our pool tends to be even smaller. I am glad to say that it is changing, and I hope we’re part of that inflection point. But it can be difficult to communicate the need for a product like [Momease Solutions] to male-dominated audiences, which many investors tend to be.

“We have found a way to receive much support from the investment community, especially as of late through the MN Cup,” she continues. “I feel excited about that, because I think that it’s both the investment community meeting women’s health where it’s at, and us as women’s health founders finding a way to communicate the value effectively that we’re bringing not only to women’s health, but also to business and industry through our product and business model."

If you liked this story, Minnesota Alumni magazine publishes four times a year highlighting U of M alumni and University activities. Early access to stories and a print subscription are benefits of being an Alumni Association member. Join here to receive a printed copy at home.