Mykel B. Davis Founded Muscle Up Mommy To Make Breastfeeding More Accessible, Helping Mothers Pump Hands-Free Anywhere At Anytime

Mykel B. Davis is connecting with women from all stages of motherhood.

Muscle Up Mommy

When the journalist and Detroit native, who now resides in Houston, gave birth to twin girls in November 2015, she was “completely thrown into the mix” with no blueprint in sight. She defaulted to superwoman mode, trying to balance all her responsibilities without asking for help, and went into a postpartum depression spiral.

“‘Who said that you had to be all the things? Who said that you would be weak if you asked for help?’ And once I asked myself those hard questions, that’s when I said, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go to social media, see if there are other women who are experiencing the same things as me,’” she recalled to AFROTECH™.

“And when I did that, I had a slew of moms who were like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been wanting to talk about this. I had nobody in my immediate circle that I could talk to other than family and friends.’ That comes with a little bit of a bias. So we created a community of moms where we could just go create a safe space for us to talk, debrief, share our experiences, and that led to the creation of Muscle Up Mommy,” Davis continued.

Muscle Up Mommy launched in February 2016 as a self-funded lifestyle brand for mothers. Today, it encompasses activewear, waist trainers, postpartum essentials, wellness products, events, and a wellness festival called MUMFEST, which will return in 2026 following its launch in August.

“I think the biggest takeaway for me with Muscle Up Mommy is that this is still just the beginning, even though we’re a decade in. We are constantly evolving with the times to make sure that we can bring forth the best solutions to our audience,” Davis expressed.

In the company’s early stages, a postpartum fitness program for women was implemented and hosted on Zoom. Davis served as the personal trainer.

“That turned into a complete global mission of moms connecting via online, working out,” she shared.

In April 2022, Davis took a step back from from being a personal trainer and six months later became pregnant with her third daughter. Delivering the baby planted the seed for what would evolve Muscle Up Mommy into a tech company. That moment was captured in a YouTube vlog, during which her sister asked about her experience breastfeeding one child rather than two at a time. Davis acknowledged it felt “weird” and that she felt a second pump was needed.

“It was a very different experience for me because with the twins, I had two babies latched to me at the same time. I didn’t have to deal with leaking, I didn’t have to deal with trying to pump on one side while feeding another. I had two babies latched to me pretty much all the time,” she explained to AFROTECH™.

“So when I had my baby girl, it was very different because I only had one baby latched and I had milk leaking. There was no device on the market at the time that could help me collect that milk so it wouldn’t just be going to waste,” David continued.

J35 Wearable Breast Pump

It wasn’t until Davis rewatched her vlog that she had an epiphany, which led to her launch a solution with the help of manufacturers and a team of engineers: the J35 wearable breast pump, which Davis says is the first Black-owned wearable breast pump brand.

According to the company’s website, the device features an LCD digital display, four modes, 12 different suction power levels, anti-backflow protection, and noise reduction. So, mothers, whether working a traditional 9-5 job, from home, as freelancers, or entrepreneurs, can go about their day-to-day without having to pause their routines or work schedules to pump.

“It was quiet, it was discreet. You could pump at your desk. You can nurse your baby on one side and pump simultaneously on the other,” Davis explained.

“You could travel with it and it could fit right under your shirt. No cords, no clunky parts. And we went to the market and it took off like wildfire,” she added.

In 2024, the wearable breast pumps were featured at the AFROTECH™ Conference on the expo floor.

“It was one of the best experiences that I could ever even speak to. That was the first time that I had been face to face with VCs … That was the first time that we were connected to people that came from the [U.S. Black Chambers,]” Davis recalled.

“That was the first time that we connected with major politicians that were local to Houston. And, not that we did business with them or had any type of partnership. It was just being in a space with so many people that had such great impact was mind-blowing to me,” she noted.

Davis said Muscle Up Mommy has reached all 50 states and ships to Puerto Rico. Demand has grown so much that she is considering raising capital and other funding options.

The device is currently sold for $229 at Muscle Up Mommy’s online store.

“We had experienced at first where we can fund the product, we have it in stock consistently, and I can project three months ahead on what that demand is going to look like. Now we can go on the news and have a complete demand overshadow what I projected. And so because we’ve been self-funded, now I’m looking to bridge the gap on making sure that we can meet that demand and consistently support moms with our pumps remaining in stock,” Davis said.