How a Shenzhen startup built the world's best-selling wearable breast pump, then turned one gadget into a whole aisle of motherhood.
Sarah O'Leary is the CEO of Willow Innovations, the Mountain View company that built the first fully in-bra wearable breast pump. She joined Willow in 2019 as VP of Growth, climbed through CMO and Chief Commercial Officer roles, and was named CEO in December 2023. Under her, Willow moved from an e-commerce breakthrough to an omnichannel maternal-health brand, and in 2025 acquired UK femtech rival Elvie to build a scaled global platform. A mother of two who started her career in consulting, she is known for a 'mothers first' philosophy that treats the new mother as the person products should be built around.
Willow Innovations is a U.S. femtech company that invented the first all-in-one, in-bra wearable breast pump, freeing new mothers from cords, tubes and the pumping room. Founded in 2014 out of Josh Makower's ExploraMed incubator, Willow now sells app-controlled, leak-proof pumps (Willow 360, Willow Go, Willow Sync and the manual Willow Wave) along with a growing line of feeding and postpartum accessories. In 2025 it acquired UK rival Elvie to build a scaled maternal-health platform.