Ep 98 A One-Stop-Shop for All Things Birth & Mom with Stephanie Sinclair

Interview with Stephanie Sinclair about the many ways moms can be cared for through their pregnancy and beyond.

Stephanie is from Minnesota. She is a wife of 12 years to her husband, Brian, who is a Golf Professional. She is also a mom of three, including twins. She loves spending time with her family, nights out with her husband and scrapbooking getaways with her girlfriends. She is also pretty much obsessed with motherhood and thinks the world of other moms, babies, birth, and all things positive!

Because of her love for women, especially moms, Stephanie founded How 2 Mom in 2015. How 2 Mom is a community and support group for all moms. They also offer services for prenatal, birth, and postpartum care and have a team of birth professionals. They also share tips, tricks, products, and stories through How 2 Mom’s blog and social platforms.

Stephanie strives to be the type of influencer through How 2 Mom that showcases all sides of motherhood; the good and the hard! After becoming a new mom she noticed that this type of community was missing in her own circle of influence, so she created it. She has a vision of a one-stop-shop since motherhood is already so overwhelming. She’s even created a Resource Directory on the website featuring a loyal list of professionals for their mom community.

Since creating this dynamic and authentic community, they’ve gained a strong and loyal community who voted How 2 Mom as Parent Blogger of the Year in 2018 Parent Blogger of the Year Runner Up in 2019 and Doula of the Year Runner Up in 2020, 2021 and 2023.. How 2 Mom has also been featured on podcasts and hosts monthly events and support groups to connect, support, and educate women on all things motherhood. Be on the lookout for her upcoming Courses for moms and The Mom 2 Mom Podcast!

Website: https://www.how2mom.com/ 

Instagram: @how2mom

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/how2mom

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Transcript

Ep 98 A One-Stop-Shop for All Things Birth & Mom with Stephanie Sinclair

[00:00:00] 

Cynthia: Welcome back to Well Connected Twin Cities. Today I am here with Stephanie Sinclair, owner and founder of How to Mom, and I am so excited. You know, We've been talking about family care. I know we've been able to discuss things around perinatal support, but Stephanie actually. So much packed into one business.

You know, She's got the doula work, she's got photography, she's got postpartum support, and it's so exciting to see something [00:01:00] like this and I'm excited to hear more. So just welcoming you in Stephanie. Hello? 

Stephanie: Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. 

Cynthia: Of course. if We were just talking about the fact that I just got certified as a doula, and it's amazing how intuitive the woman's body is, how much intuition is given to mother and how that intuition doesn't go away after.

Stephanie: never. So yes, it's actually built within us, like right at conception. And so I'm a huge believer at always listening to the birthing person following their lead. That intuition is there for a reason, and it actually can guide us better than any doula, any doctor, any midwife. And so I never, ever want a mom or a client or a friend to push that aside because it is so powerful.

Cynthia: Ugh. Yes. That's incredible. And so aligned with my [00:02:00] own perspective. I'm excited for this conversation. Me too,

Stephanie: Me too. Yeah. 

Cynthia: So Stephanie tell us a little more about your own personal journey. What brought you into this space of supporting moms? Um, What's your journey into motherhood? What was that all like?

Stephanie: Yes, no, thanks for asking. I love, I'm an open book. I love to share my story both personally and also professionally. My background is actually in the legal field, so I have made a complete career change. I always say my oldest daughter who will be turning 10 this summer, which is. Insane that she not only changed my life personally, of course, which I think we expect, but she changed my life professionally.

After having her kind of just going through my infertility journey, my pregnancy, my birth process, this whole new world opened up to me and I just say I accredit her that she changed my life personally. And then of course, Brought this [00:03:00] beautiful baby into my life, which I call How to Mom is my fourth baby.

So yeah, so I worked as a paralegal for 10 years. I was very interested in becoming a mom. I grew up as a nanny through college. I nad kids. I always knew, and I know this is different for everyone, but I always knew I was going to be a mom. It was like one of the biggest parts of my heart growing up. It was never a question.

And so when my husband and I got married almost 13 years ago, I was like, all right, perfect. We're married, we're gonna have kids. like it was instant. What I didn't realize is that, one in eight struggle with infertility and unfortunately we were one in eight. So something that I wanted so badly and I was so laser focused was not at my fingertips, and I was frustrated and I was confused.

So it was at that time that I was like, okay, we've tried fertility treatment, things aren't working. Maybe I need to distract my mind. And I applied to law school and it was at the [00:04:00] time that I got accepted to law school that we went through our third round of treatment and I had my first positive pregnancy test.

And so I was like, okay, God, like you're leading me in the direction I'm supposed to go. And so I declined law school. I continued working as a paralegal through my pregnancy even after I had my daughter, but it was really through pregnancy and yoga, which is amazing cuz I know that's your background.

I went to a prenatal yoga class. I just felt. Overwhelmed with gratitude and this appreciation of my body and what it was doing. Because up until that point, it was all very medical. So I came home and I told Brian, I said, I think we need to hire a birth doula. And he said, what's that?

And I was like, I don't know, but I think we need one . I had no idea what a birth doula was. I just remember seeing in my yoga class, she believed she could. And so she did. And I was like, I know I'm gonna need support in order to reach these goals that I [00:05:00] had for what our birth experience was gonna look like.

I am very lucky in the sense that I have a very active. Husband and participant a co-parent. He wanted to be very much involved in the birth process. And so what better way to educate not only myself, but also my husband in what to expect, how he can support me in order to create this birth experience that we deserved.

So it was really through that experience with the help of my doula and the help of amazing midwives. And I always tell people this, like there's no right or wrong way to birth a baby. And it wasn't that my birth went exactly as planned with no twists and turns, because that's just not reality. But what happened is as soon as my daughter was placed on my chest, I looked around the room at, of course, my amazing husband, but I was surrounded by all of these incredible women that were cheering me on and telling me how amazing I was, how strong I was, how powerful I was.

[00:06:00] and I was like, I wanna be a part of making other women feel this way. And it was. That was it. That was like, that's when, how two mom was born. It just, of course took a little bit of time. So I went back to work as a paralegal. Honestly, my heart was broken. I went through some depression as a first time mom, not only through postpartum anxiety, but also just being really unhappy with.

What life looked like for me. I felt like I had worked so hard to get to where I was and we had worked so hard to have this beautiful miracle baby, and I was seeing her like one to two hours a day. And for a lot of moms working outside of the home is what makes them the best mom, and I love that. But for me, just digging deep and realizing.

What I wanted my life to look like. I was like, this is not it. So I sat down with my husband and I said, I wanna be a stay-at-home mom. And he was like, I love you, and I would love that, but it's not in the cards for us. And. [00:07:00] There's just something about my personality when somebody like either says no or we can't do it, I'm like, game on

[00:08:00] 

Stephanie: so 2015 I went through birth doula training. I [00:09:00] just created. what in my mind has always been the vision of how to Mom is a one stop shop. You can go to a lot of different businesses around the twin cities that have amazing doulas. But I wanted something even more than that because I remember being a first time mom and being really caught off guard on how overwhelmed I.

Because I was like, I hadn't even questioned it cuz I was like, I always knew I wanted to be a mom. So then to all of a sudden be in that role and feel overwhelmed, I was like, I know I can't be alone in this. There was constantly 20 tabs open on my computer and in my mind about how to bathe a baby, how to find the best sunscreen, how to find E C F E classes, like all of the to-dos.

And I was like, there's gotta be one place and there wasn't. And so I was. I'm creating it . And that doesn't mean that I am the expert in all of those areas. By any means, but I have worked really hard the last eight years to network to [00:10:00] get to know some really incredible individuals, not only here in the Twin Cities, but across the country who are the experts in their industry.

And when we have this relationship with our clients, it is so intimate. It is so close, it is so raw. There's nothing else like it. When they have a need and they come to us and they say, Hey, who do you recommend as a chiropractor? And we give them that information. They're not going on and researching because they know we've already done that work for them, and they trust that referral instantly.

So we've really tried to create this one stop shop. Sorry, I get going on my little soapbox. So I have a almost 10 year old. Yeah, started this business all on my own. I just started attending births as much as I could to gain experience and knowledge and network with other professionals. And then Brian and I decided that we wanted to expand our family and we had to go through treatment again, and we were blessed with twins.

Talk about another humbling [00:11:00] experience, like just when I thought I couldn't be humbled anymore in this motherhood journey, I always say it. There's this meme of God looking down and the mom is I think I got this motherhood thing going. And then God is give that cocky girl twins . 

Cynthia: I'll show her

Stephanie: Exactly. Yeah. So that was a whole nother experience of all of a sudden it's like, How am I gonna carry twins? How am I gonna birth twins? How am I gonna go from one to three while also growing this business kind of in the cracks of the day? And so my number one priority though, was always to be able to stay home with my babies.

And so how to mom has been such a blessing cuz it's given me that, but it's also given me an opportunity to be Stephanie and to really fill in fill that space that. Is so needed for birthing families and where there's a huge gap of care. So yes, so we've continued to grow here at how two moms since having the twins [00:12:00] six years ago.

We've created the agency, so we have tons of birth professionals and other professionals on our team, which is beautiful so that we can have kind of that. Community for our clients. And then of course, that resource directory that we've built with other twin city professionals that we can refer out to.

So that was a really long intro, but I'm a wife, I'm a mom of three and I'm so happy to be here. . Yes, 

Cynthia: and I mean, it's such a beautiful story because it's always the best when people. Experienced hardship and they. Work from that loving, compassionate space of I don't want others to go through this.

. And so what you're doing is being that source of hope, of support, of wisdom. And I just think about the mental load that you get to relieve people of that they don't have to go do that research or try to wa pros, cons and get all lost. You read one article, it says something, or you read another, it [00:13:00] says something completely.

But to have a trusted source that they know they can go to this website, go to you and ask Stephanie, help. What? What do I need? What do I need to know? And I love that the one stop shop for moms to just. Know and have that trust and that ease. Ooh, that means so much when you're creating a human baby in your body.

Stephanie: That's incredible. I know. And it's like we all deserve support and we all deserve to have a place that we can call home. And I always say it really was full circle because I felt from having Mackenzie up until the point that I had the twins, I was constantly trying to, breathe life and empower others.

And then all of a sudden when I was home with the three year old and twins and I was overwhelmed and I was dealing with, you know, research and. All of the things. I was then able to look to the How-to Mom [00:14:00] community and they got me through that year. And so it just was so full circle and if I ever question what I'm doing as an entrepreneur, not every day is, you know, sunshine and rainbows.

It's really hard work. I think about those moments how we can really breathe life into the moms that sit next to us. And that's what keeps me going on those tough days. 

Cynthia: Yeah. Beautiful. And I love that it's a reciprocal relationship because that's just who women are.

They are givers. It's just that divine feminine energy of giving and sharing and creating. I always joke cuz I have my own business, mighty Mama Wellness. And I joke cuz I'm not a mother. But I'm building my village now. So when I have all those questions I have this community of women who are living in alignment, who are being very intentional about their motherhood journey. And I could lean on them for support 

Stephanie: too. . Absolutely. No, I and that's the whole point of community. It's not [00:15:00] one-sided. Just this place where we can all come together and just be raw and vulnerable.

And I think about how all of that relates to birth. And there are so many births that stick out to me after serving families for eight years, but it was one of the first births I probably attended. And this couple had a really strong relationship, a beautiful foundation, Her husband was, her rock.

Prayer was really important in their family. And so there was by no means a gap of that. But as soon as I entered the room, just this like female energy, right? And how, if you look way back in history, women were surrounded by other women during birth. And I will never forget, I walked up and I put my hands on her shoulder and literally her head melted into my hand.

It was like this female energy attraction. , and again, this takes nothing away from her husband who is incredible, but there's just something about that being surrounded by other moms, [00:16:00] being surrounded by other women to just say I know. I know what you're going through, or I can feel how hard this is, or, I don't know.

I just, I'll never forget that moment of her beautiful soft face like melting into my hand and I was like, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. It was incredible. I'm so excited for 

Cynthia: my. Own experiences. 

Stephanie: .One day, , I can't wait for you. It's like the thrill of being a doula and the honor. That we get to be able to witness strength and intimacy.

It's like nothing I've ever experienced before. Of course, outside of my birth experience. But what I tell a lot of families during our interview, because there's a lot of misconceptions in doula care, which I'm sure you know, but one is when families sit down and interview us, the mom's like, I know I want a doula for all of these reasons.

My husband's a little hesitant. He doesn't quite understand why we would need, a doula. Are you gonna take over his role? All of these things. And I actually love those [00:17:00] conversations. I like. Thrive to have those conversations with these dads because it's such a true statement. And for them to be able to be honest and get an actual response so that they feel educated, let's have those conversations more.

And I tell them, It's kind of this unfair role to say like, you should just instinctly know what your wife needs in that moment. Even though you have no experience in birth, you've never seen it before, your wife doesn't know what she's gonna need, but you should just know what she needs. And so I reassure them as well we're not there to take over.

We are there to make sure that this intimate experience is what it should be because you cannot recreate. There is nothing like it, and it's such a missed opportunity when you don't have people there supporting your relationship because Brian and I, we had been together oh eight years before we even had kids, so we had a great foundation, but.

the growth in our relationship after [00:18:00] birthing a child together and me being able to look at him as my rock, and for him to be able to witness everything that I was doing to birth our baby, like that's such a missed opportunity. And that intimacy is it's so deep and you cannot get it in any other scenario, but.

So I always say I love having conversations with dads and after we talk, they're like, oh yeah, totally game I, yes. . 

Cynthia: Like, Oh, you're going to amplify the experience for everyone involved and optimize it. Create a plan, a strategy, a system like yes, , 

Stephanie: they're just like, okay. Yep. And that's the thing.

It's usually when people are like against something or. Unsure. It's because they don't have the right information. So let's keep having these conversations so that they can get the right information and then make a decision that feels best for them. 

[00:19:00] [00:20:00] 

Cynthia: You are

one of the doulas of how to mom. You've got quite the team, I think you've got nine people total on staff. So how did that develop and, you know, you started expanding services and expanding your training. Tell me that. . 

Stephanie: Yeah. Oh, that's such a great question. Thank you for keeping me on . worries.

Because otherwise I, no worries. I'm tangent a little bit. Yes, so it really was after I had my twins, I was still attending births, but only for repeat clients. Because I was nursing two babies. I wasn't able to like fully commit to the capacity that these families needed. And so it was this understanding of repeat clients of this is the scenario I'm in.

And then it was like all this reflection here at home when I was, [00:21:00] with all three of my babies, how can we continue to grow how to mom? Because I'm only one person. I can only attend so many births on my own and I can only reach so many families by myself. But just like birth is not meant to be done alone either is this work.

And so I was like, Having to turn away clients, and that broke my heart because I wanted to be able to help serve all of them. And so a way to expand, to reach and help more families. I was like, I need a doula sisterhood. Like we need to grow the team at how to mom because people are coming to us for a specific reason.

They've either had a referral from a friend, like word of mouth, or they just really connected when going to our website or Instagram and just felt like. This is the team I'm supposed to work with. And we just have these incredible women, these incredible doulas. They all have a range of experience.

They all have a different training background, some specialty trainings. That's all individualized. And so we have seven birth doulas. We have [00:22:00] two postpartum doulas, two lactation counselors, two placenta encapsulations. We have a prenatal dietician and we have a photographer who does 

newborn photography, but we also have a birth photographer as well. And so we've just created not only this internal team so that people can kind of stay within our home for their services. But then of course, the resources that we already mentioned. And so they all are incredible. I feel so lucky that they all believe in this mission behind how to mom.

And so yeah, we're just serving families on a constant basis. And then, . On the flip side, we are actually better doulas because of this sisterhood. So we act as a collective. So even though we have our individual clientele, so clients can come to us and they say We really wanna work with how to mom we vibe best.

With Heather, or we really love Emily's background and her training, so we'd like to work with her. So then you have your primary doula, and [00:23:00] that's the same doula that you meet with during your prenatal meetings. That's the doula that's on call for your birth, and that's the doula who will be at your postpartum meeting.

But say Heather's client is going through something, That she, Heather, hasn't personally experienced? She can come to us as a collective and say, Hey, has anybody experienced this in their past, birth scenarios? Yes, actually, here's a great resource, or this is what we did and we had really positive results.

So we're able to better serve our clients because of our collective, but then we also back each other up. So in case of emergencies, Illness. No client is ever left to birth alone. If you've hired a How-to Mom birth doula, a how-to mom birth doula will be at your birth, even if it's not your primary.

But the goal is the person that you've worked with is the person who will be at your birth. And then how-to Mom, we host monthly training. For our team. So we always wanna be learning and growing, and [00:24:00] I love to invest in the team so that we can just continue to grow in our experiences. Not only have kind of that team community within this doula, sisterhood, but then continue learning so that we can better serve.

Cynthia: Ah, that's amazing. To have that sense of sisterhood, not only in the birthing room for the clients, but also within the How to Mom business. That's beautiful. Thank you. And so I wonder, since there are so many options, right? Like you go to your website and there are. A lot of different ways that you can utilize services.

If I'm, let's say a first time mom taking a look at the website, like how do I start what's the process look like to even figure out what's right for me? 

Stephanie: Yeah, so everybody's different. So you can schedule a free consultation at any time. So you can come to our website and you're like, I don't even know where to start to look.

Just hit Contact us. [00:25:00] Send me an email. We will set up a virtual consultation right away, just a. Relaxed, informal meet and greet, or you can definitely look at our website, you can read all of the bios of our team members. You can look at what the different packages look like, what our different services are, and then of course, at any point during that process, Hit contact us or schedule a free consult.

I always am the one that you will meet with initially because I love to just explain the background of how to Mom. I always say I want our clients to feel 100% before moving forward, and so that means we are sitting down and we are getting to know each other on that consultation. If there's any follow up questions after we meet, you're reaching out, you know how to get in contact with me.

our free consults technically should probably be only 15 minutes. That never is the case. They're usually 30. But I'm a big believer that like the more information and education we can get out [00:26:00] there, the better it is on both ends. Not only for that potential client, but also for us as a business. I always say like, you're gonna know when the do.

When a potential doula is the right fit, you're not gonna question it. You're not gonna have to talk yourself into it. It's just going to feel right. I always say, if my voice would annoy you in an elevator for 12 hours, I might not be your best doula, . Um, But we have a ton of amazing doulas on our team to choose from, and so I just, I always really encourage those free consults and if nothing else say we hang up on that call, that family decides they're not gonna hire a doula or how to, mom is not the right team for them.

I know that they have gained some really great information and I have left them in a better place than where we started when we sat down on that call. and I will never not do that. Mm-hmm. ,, because that is why we are here. Yes, business is important, but there's like a smart way to go around [00:27:00] growing a business, especially in this field, and that's really loving people where they're at and giving them information.

Cynthia: . And I get the sense too that with this business and the vision you had, Yeah, it's not just a business, but it's a, a way to shift the culture and shift the understanding and where the power lies in the birth process and the postpartum process. So yeah. I guess my question for you is how do you see your work influencing the culture of birth and motherhood?

Stephanie: Yeah, no, that's such a great question. It can get overwhelming sometimes, right? As a mom, I feel overwhelmed today with what happened in Nashville yesterday, and that is motherhood in every season of motherhood can feel overwhelming. But just like I teach our clients to approach birth, that is how I approach hopefully the difference that we are making.

And if it is one client at a time, We've done our [00:28:00] job because that one client who has an empowering experience where they feel like they were in the driver's seat and birth happened with them, and not to them, they are going to share that with their friends, with their family, and even more so they're gonna share that with maybe their mom.

That comes from a different generation where birth looked very differently for them. And those are friends of OB GYNs, those are friends of midwives and. I just, there's so much power, even when we're on the ground working, even when it doesn't feel like we're making any change, I know that we are. Even if it's just that one client who comes to me afterwards and says, I cannot imagine doing that without you.

And I would've been so afraid of how that would've looked if you wouldn't have been on that journey with us. And right there, it's okay, that's what keeps us going as doulas. And so we have an amazing. Community here in the twin cities of activists and game [00:29:00] changers who are, on the ground and they are doing the work.

I also think as a doula, my job is to be open and communicate with hospital administrators with obs, with midwives and in a way that's productive and actually gets us to better serve that client and or patient. So I just am a strong believer that there's a right way of going about that, and I just keep my head down within our team.

And our hope is that not only are we making change individually for these clients, but that we are showing kind of the birth community outside of doula work that we play a huge role and we. Make a big difference in their patients returning for their next pregnancy and next birth. And also of course, all the work with insurance companies we have the evidence on our side of the differences that doulas make and how really that can save insurance companies a ton of money.

And we know that they are a lot about money. So, [00:30:00] Truly, Any of our team members are feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I just encourage them to let's keep our head down. Let's stay focused on our individual clients, because that is more powerful, I think, than we sometimes even realize.

Cynthia: I love that. Just. So clear. Just shine in what you do best, and it has a ripple effect. Just very naturally, you don't have to actually think about solving all the problems of the world, like you just do what you're doing and it's already making a huge difference. 

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. And that's how we approach birth with our clients.

It's birth is a marathon, and so if we're sitting in early labor and we're worried about pushing, we're not able to be present and really cope through early labor. And so we break it down into chunks and. We say, we're not gonna look 12 hours down the road right now. We're gonna just be present right in this moment where we're at, and we're gonna approach every contraction as they come and individually.

And that makes a huge difference. And I [00:31:00] know you probably know so much of that just in your, yoga training of how you approach what, whether it be like body mechanics or your mental state, like you cannot get overwhelmed because then we don't get anything done. 

Cynthia: Mm, mm-hmm. Presence is so huge and it makes uh, an amazing difference cuz in that moment of presence, that's where your actual power lies.

And so I'm glad that you're able to really support your clients in staying present and harnessing that power. . Yeah. It's incredible. Absolutely. And I know too that how Chiam has some things brewing. Uh, You've got some programs and courses coming up. You've got a podcast coming up. Tell us more about that.

Stephanie: Oh, I'm so excited. It is been so long in the making, and so for the first seven plus years of building this business, I was trying to lay a foundation because of course, like I said at the beginning, my number one. Primary [00:32:00] role was to be at home with my babies and to try and soak up that time as much as I could, even in the hard but then to grow this business in the cracks of the day.

So I was either up at five in the morning working, trying to fit it in during nap time or like 11:00 PM but I never felt tired doing that because our two mom is such a passion of mine, and it's another one. Children. , it was easy to do, just like we always somehow feed into all of our kids. But now I'm in a different season of motherhood.

All three of my kids are in school full-time, which. Oh, time is is such a thief. Like it just goes so fast. But I'm also really excited because I've been able to pour more time into how to mom and my goal was always to have a successful enough business by the time they were all in school, so I didn't have to go back to corporate America.

So that was a huge win to be able to continue to stay home. And work on building how to mom and continue. So what isn't works, and we're like right [00:33:00] on the verge of launching. We have our Mom to Mom podcast coming out in just I don't know, probably two weeks. We're down too. We've recorded over 10 episodes.

It's gonna be a combination. It's going to be really great interviews of professionals here in the Twin Cities. Those resources that we lean into with our clients, but then also birth stories from our clients. and I felt like this was so important because when I do research on podcasts, you really see either the medical side of birth or you see the unmedicated home birth stories, and we support all birth at how to mom from home birth.

All the way to scheduled planned cesareans, and there is no right or wrong way to birth your baby. And I want to display all of those stories. I want these incredible women to be able to share their story because other people are gonna be able to relate regardless of how they birth their [00:34:00] babies.

And so I'm really excited that should be coming out any day now. That has been a dream of mine for years, and we're finally to that point to do that. I also am a childbirth educator, and so we have been working on building courses not only for childbirth education, but also newborn care lactation courses, and then other courses surrounding like comfort measures.

We also are really starting to utilize Facebook groups. Not only is that like a perk for our birth doula clients, they have this really beautiful community that can be a little bit more intimate on Facebook, but then also we'll have a community for all moms to be a part of, to gain some more information, insight, and support through our community.

So, Courses, webinars, podcasts, like finally, this all better be launched before this summer . 

Cynthia: Oh, that's incredible. Congratulations on how far you've come. I mean, This vision It's [00:35:00] been coming to life and now this is just the next chapter and I'm just excited that you'll be able to provide something that's, virtual accessible.

It's on people's own time too, and like being able to just reach more people through these offerings and the podcast. Yes, I'm so excited. . 

Stephanie: No, I cannot wait. And I of course, have this insight because I was the one interviewing, and so we have all these amazing. Interviews and I just gotta get them out there for the world to hear.

But what's been probably the most interesting part of this journey is I have met with a lot of business coaches, which has been great. I've learned something from all of them, but almost every single one of them has always told me, you need to niche down. You're trying to do too many things. You're offering too many services, you have too many areas.

And I'm like, you don't know motherhood. That is exactly what motherhood is. And yes, maybe how too mom would've taken off and been a lot bigger by now if I would've niche [00:36:00] down in one area and just focused in one thing. But I have always tried to stay true to what my initial vision and mission was.

And sorry, motherhood birth, it is not black and white and there is no one area to focus on, and so I'm not gonna do it. Oh my gosh, 

Cynthia: I love it. And I'm so glad that you're staying true to your vision and you know, really offering that one stop shop and something that will serve the mother throughout the journey.

Not just for one specific chapter, but throughout and having this one trusted source they know they can come to for support. Yeah, 

Stephanie: It's such an honor. I love that I get to do this work. 

Cynthia: Beautiful. Ugh. And before we end, Amazing conversation. I've had so much fun. What would you say is just a takeaway that you hope people are walking away from this conversation with?

Stephanie: Okay, I love that. And I'm gonna say two things because I just learned [00:37:00] something from a beautiful client and fellow team member of mine. She said, as a mom, even when your voice shakes, ask the question. Which I was like, Ooh. 

Cynthia: Goosebumps. 

Stephanie: Yeah. I mean, It was just like, it left me all day just going how impactful that statement is.

And then I think then the last thing. And we feel like this should be known, or it sounds simple, but there's something different when we are either pregnant or birthing our ourselves. You know, When we are birthing, we're vulnerable, we're raw. People always ask me, oh, did you hire a birth doula for your twins?

You, you were a doula. Heck yeah, I hired a doula. I can't doula myself. And I just think. Sometimes moms overlook the fact that you deserve support, you deserve it. You should have it, and you should be [00:38:00] cared for during your pregnancy and during your birth journey. And what you're doing is such hard work.

It is so incredible and inspiring, and you deserve to know how amazing you are through that entire process. So I just always lead people with that. I hope that you reach out whether we support you or it's somebody else you deserve that. . Hmm. It sounds simple, right? But it's not, and there's that 

Cynthia: cultural aspect too.

Like women just cut themselves off. I love it. I love, that's a wonderful message that I think we all need reminders of consistently. That we deserve care, support, love 

Stephanie: all the time. Absolutely. And we're gonna be better moms because of.

Cynthia: Exactly. Yeah. Well, Thank you so much, Stephanie, for joining me for this conversation, and I'm just excited to see your courses come out and your podcast and just all the good things at How to Mom, 

Stephanie: thank you so much. [00:39:00] This was so much fun. I love doing stuff like this , so thank you for the opportunity.