We had the good fortune of connecting with Stefan Macchi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stefan, alright, let’s jump in with a deep one – what’s you’re definition for success?
Success is creating a life where I am present and spend the time with my family that I want. To never miss a game or dance recital, to not feel financial stress, provide for my family and having the luxury of being present for everything is my happiness. That is now how I define success.

That answer certainly changed for me and how I defined success prior to having kids was a different story. Fancy cars, money and possessions were the driving force for me for a long time and I honestly needed that goal to chase. No matter what stage of life you are in being in a pool with a pina colada feels pretty good also.

What should our readers know about your business?
While serving in the Army deployed in Iraq long before I married my lovely wife and had our amazing children I was in charge of getting cargo and people loaded on helicopters and off to their destination. As you can image you learn quick just how valuable space and organization can be. Years later I had my first child and realized the skills I learned could be put to use yet again. Baby bag organization! So I created a Diaper Bag that could carry, organize and deploy the items I needed and Active Doodie Dad Diaper Bags became a reality. Some of us dads are trying to cling on to a little bit of street cred and having a manly bag that’s created with dads in mind certainly helps.

Having Active Doodie develop into a family business wasn’t easy but absolutely a rewarding and humbling experience. We are learning as we go and focused on constantly evolving and providing the best dad gear out there. Babies are expensive, so having a high quality solution without an obnoxious price tag is important to us. Reputation is everything and we are proud of how far we have come however excited for what’s in store for our brand and making one dad cooler at a time.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
San Diego is such an amazing city with lots of fun to be had. As Italians we are biased to all the incredible places to grab food and drinks in Little Italy downtown. We also love renting a small boat down by Seaport Village and cruising the harbor and over to Coronado. We spend as much time as we can also in our old hood of Solana Beach. Fletcher Cove will always be a go to for us.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Without a doubt Sean Feeny who started The Lomas Brand (sean@thelomasbrand.com) out of Solana Beach, CA and Dave Gosenhofer who own’s Shirts on Tap. (dave@shirtsontap.com)

Website: www.activedoodie.com

Instagram: @activedoodiegear

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