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When it comes to parenting style, Alexandra Rutkay’s got it in the bag.
Unwilling to forgo fab fashions for frumpy mommy gear, the Upper East Sider dreamed up a designer diaper carrier that’s now affording her the life of her dreams.
“We just made seven figures,” Rutkay, 41, married mom and founder of posh baby bag brand Citymouse, told The Post.
Rutkay and husband David, who recently left his six-figure job in luxury car sales to serve as Citymouse’s operations manager, run their literal mom-and-pop shop from their two-bedroom uptown abode.
The couple pay themselves around 18% of the overall profits — reinvesting the rest back into the biz. They’ve sold more than 10,000 bags this year alone.
“We do everything from our apartment,” said Rutkay, who doubles as a makeup artist for “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay.
“We stock inventory here, we package orders here,” she laughed. “We’re surrounded by bags.”
Rutkay is among the increasing number of entrepreneurial spirits launching side hustles to keep financially afloat in the face of inflation, with egg prices surging and the cost of living on a constant climb.
A March 2025 study from Academized, an online education hub, found that 52% of US millennials, workers aged 26 to 41, have taken on at least one additional job to supplement their income amid the struggling economy.
But for Rutkay, hawking haute bags to modish mamas is a labor of love.
“Most moms want to regain a sense of self, a sense of their own style,” said the parent of a 5-year-old boy, whose name she asked be withheld. “And everybody needs a good functional purse.”
Her Citymouse crossbody is a sleek, chic carryall made of regenerated nylon — couture-quality recycled material used by fashion houses such as Gucci and Prada.
It rises as a swanky alternative to those unbecoming bottle bags of yore — and as a budget-friendly substitute to the $20,000 totes donned by bougie Birkin moms.
Instead, Rutkay’s $79 accessory offers on-the-go ladies a dash of affordable pizzazz while baby’s in tow.
Her hot commodity, which she said often sells out on TikTok Shop — the social medium’s virtual marketplace — features a 13-inch-long, 3-inch-wide and 8-inch-high sling pouch.
The bag comes with a designer strap, a changing sheet, a key lanyard, an elastic bottle or sippy cup holder, a mesh separation pocket for diapers — and credit card slots for grownups.
“It can hold up to eight newborn diapers and three of the largest size diapers — it can even hold a full bottle of wine,” chuckled Rutkay, who had no previous experience in fashion construction before debuting Citymouse in late 2022.
For Rutkay, the bag’s luxe look was birthed out of “necessity and frustration” ahead of a family outing. When the brunette couldn’t squeeze all of her then-toddler son’s needs into a Louis Vuitton bucket bag, a lightbulb turned on in her head.
“I stood in front of my closet and thought, ‘Why aren’t there cute bags that work as diaper bags?’” Rutkay recalled.
With just a napkin, a pen and a bright idea, she doodled the prototype, then paid overseas manufacturers $36,000 to turn her dream sack into a reality.
The Citymouse seed money was cash Rutkay had made from selling T-shirt designs online during the pandemic — a mini hustle she’d kick-started shortly after discovering she had cancer.
“I was diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare Stage 3 cancer, in May 2020,” said Rutkay. At the time, she’d just welcomed her baby that February.
“I went through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation,” Rutkay explained. “It was the worst thing I’d ever been through.”
Now cancer-free, she credits the life-threatening experience, as well as her son, with giving her the courage to pursue her goals.
“I’d [previously] sworn off entrepreneurship, but there’s this thing called post-traumatic growth,” said Rutkay, referring to the positive psychological changes that can occur after one overcomes a major challenge.
“It removed a lot of my self-doubt,” the tycoon-in-training added. “Surviving cancer makes me not really care what people think.
“I have one precious life, and I wanted to build something with a legacy for my son,” she continued. “I hope my journey teaches him that anything is possible.”
It’s a message that the mother also wants her fellow side hustlers (or poly-workers) to take to heart.
“I really do hope people are inspired by my story,” said Rutkay. “I’m nobody special. I just went for it, and they can, too.”
