Laurel Hess is grateful for laundry. The bigger the mounds, the better. For her, they are reminders of turning one of the most dreaded household chores into a successful app-based, on-demand laundry service. And it’s all because she pursued the answer to a question she asked herself following one hectic weekend.

“It was the start of tee-ball season. We had three birthday parties to attend, and I needed to do laundry,” recalls the mother of two young boys. “And then it occurred to me, ‘If I can order groceries over the phone why can’t I use the phone to do laundry?’”

A year and a half later, in 2020, Hess launched hampr (along with co-founders Ryan LeBlanc and Spencer Hoyt). 

Today, she oversees 20 locations around the country from her headquarters, located in the Opportunity Machine in downtown Lafayette.

Over 1,500 “washrs” (as they’re called) pick up the orders in “hamprs,” and bring them home to be sorted, washed, dried and folded for delivery within 24 hours. Same day orders, placed by 10 a.m., are offered in some markets, including Lafayette.

“Most of our washrs are stay-at-home parents and retirees who actually love to do laundry,” informs Hess. “Eighty five percent have children and a lot have advanced degrees.” Hess also points out that, when last checked, hampr is the only company of its kind that performs background checks on its affiliates. After all, washrs are trusted to return any stray items like AirPods, money and pets, like the stowaway cat once discovered in a hampr, and quickly returned to its owner.

Empathy is at the core of everything Hess does, but don’t mistake that as a weakness in character. “I have a lot of tenacity and a big heart, and it hasn’t stopped me from succeeding in business,” she assures. “The fact that I’m empathetic has been one of my most positive attributes and helped me connect to investors, mentors and potential partners. To achieve a quality product, everything we do is in service to the users, the members as well as the washrs.”

Approaching her services from the full perspective leads to enhancements, like soon offering more detergent options to address different needs (although customers can provide their own) and offering free hangers for items needing to be hung after cleaning.

On her Facebook page, Hess goes so far as addressing questions like the age-old debate, “Do I really need to sort my laundry by color?” (yes) and giving advice on the proper way to wash sheets (there is one) and the time limit for leaving wet clothes in the washer (guilty). She also delves into giving a little advice to working parents. That attention to detail has brought hampr membership to the prestigious Techstars Austin accelerator program and Junior Achievement’s Small Business of the Year award.

While the core of hampr customers are dual-income families with two or more children, Hess says the spectrum ranges from a couple with two sets of twins to young, single professionals, including many bachelors. She reports having over 11,000 customers across 15 states from Colorado to Texas, across Mississippi to North Carolina and as far north as Washington, DC. At last calculation, that translated to over 209,000 loads of laundry.

The successes of hampr recently captured the attention of an undisclosed “big” tech company, doing an impact study that led to reps visiting the Lafayette headquarters in March. Looking back, Hess credits her time as marketing director for the managing company of the Superdome, and working with the Dome’s first female director, in providing some of her most useful knowledge in maneuvering her way in a male-dominated industry. “That time taught me to be diplomatic, proactive, that the difference between good and great is the attention to detail – and how to write the most diplomatic clap back ever,” she says with a smile.”

This March Hess was honored as one of Acadiana Advocate’s “Top 20 Under 40” Acadiana Leadership honorees. Her advice to others considering a startup business is the same as on the flag in her office that bears the company’s motto: Do it Scared. “You can still move in fear; do it anyway,” she declares. ■

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LAUREL COMES CLEAN:

Little Known Talent – She can tell when someone is lying.

Few People Know – She’s hooked on menthol-cherry cough drops.

Favorite Read – “Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender” by David R. Hawkins (“life changing”)

Hobbies – Reading and – (recently) – pickleball.