Before starting a family, Heather Leslie and Brian Winterling bought an 'around-the-world' plane ticket to scratch their world travel itch (for the moment). While in countries like Thailand and Vietnam, they adopted the local custom of walking with a parasol to help block the relentless summer sun. Then in Europe, they noticed that most of the children's buggies were parasol-equipped as well and wondered what the strollers were wearing back home in the USA.

When they returned to Denver, CO, which has over 300 days of sunshine, they were surrounded by families pushing strollers with all manner of insufficient sun protection: blankets draped off of the small built-in shades, umbrellas that were poorly constructed and just plain boring, or worse yet, nothing at all! Inspired by world tradition, contemporary style and modern manufacturing techniques, ShadyBaby was born.

Born that same year (by more ancient techniques) was their daughter, Amelia, an avid user of her parents' parasol creations. The Winterling family continues to live in Denver, CO from which they operate ShadyBaby LLC.