If the biggest surprise awaiting America’s first-time parents isn’t caring for an infant, it’s paying for one: Bringing a newborn into the house runs just shy of $19,000. It’s little wonder, then, that the hallowed institution of the bridal registry has expanded into a wish list to help parents acquire essentials ranging from formula to car seats.
At the center of this movement is Babylist, an online portal that notched 45% growth last year hitting revenues of $750 million. Chief growth officer Lee Anne Blake was a key executive in that trajectory (she left in 2025), but since its 2011 founding, Babylist has operated without a CMO.
Until now. The company announced Tuesday (April 7) that marketing veteran Jill Cress will assume chief marketer duties starting next month.
“What drew me to Babylist is the same thing that has driven every chapter of my career—a beloved brand sitting at the edge of its biggest opportunity,” Cress said in a statement.
She is likely referring to the platform’s latest growth initiative—expanding from an online destination (which already draws half the country’s first-time parents) into a physical one.
After testing the waters with a series of pop-ups, Babylist cut the ribbon on its first retail location in 2023, an 18,000-square-foot boutique in Beverly Hills the company describes as “a space where you can try baby gear, ask real questions, and feel confident about finding what’s right for your growing family.”
This summer, Babylist plans to open an even larger outpost at 477 Broadway in Manhattan’s SoHo district.
“We’ve spent over 10 years earning trust with families and now it’s time to make the world feel it,” founder and CEO Natalie Gordon (a former Amazon software developer) said in a statement. “Jill is the person to do that.”
Cress will also be focused on growing the brand ahead of Babylist’s reported plans to IPO in 2027.
From financial services to family planning
Cress brings a deep and varied background to her new post.
Over her 23-year tenure at Mastercard, she rose to executive vice president, charged with leading global consumer strategy. Between 2016 and 2019, she held the marketing helm at National Geographic, helping transform the 138-year-old institution into a major destination on Instagram, where it currently boasts 247 million followers. Cress then helped to lead PayPal’s ongoing evolution from a click-to-pay option into a multi-feature digital wallet.
Most recently, H&R Block—the storefront outfit founded in 1955—recruited Cress to modernize its brand into a mobile-banking platform anchored by AI-driven tax-prep assistance aimed at Gen Z.
“Jill repositioned PayPal for the modern consumer, made National Geographic the most followed brand on Instagram, and transformed H&R Block into a modern fintech platform,” Gordon said. “We are at a similar inflection point at Babylist.”
Working in Cress’ favor is the sheer size of the baby category, which topped $87 million in 2024 and is growing at 5.7% annually.
It also doesn’t hurt that Babylist’s would-be competitors have already stumbled, opening the way for its initial growth. Retail chain BuyBuy Baby filed for Chapter 11 three years ago, shut down its 360 stores in 2024, and now operates only online. Babies R Us, a onetime category killer, shuttered its stores in 2018. It got a second lease on life through Kohl’s, which opened 200 outposts inside of its locations, though Bloomberg reported last year that the mega retailer was looking at shrinking Babies’ square footage.
In addition to marketing Babylist’s nascent sidewalk presence, Cress will also be working with an innovative business model.
Babylist’s revenue comes from selling its own items and also via weblinks. These range from major retailers like Target and Amazon, down to more specialized and upmarket destinations such as Nordstrom and Etsy. But the site lets parents assemble a wish list from items they find for sale anywhere online. It also features price comparisons, reviews, and advice.
Enough, maybe, to cut down on the $19,000 cost of having a kid.