Yvonne Mudede

Honestly, I think my success stems from a place of wanting other families to experience the same type of care that I received after I had my daughter. I had a postpartum doula that changed the way I look at postpartum care. She was very supportive, I felt cared for, and my mental health was better than when I first had my son. After my daughter, my husband and I were able to secure a postpartum doula, and she was very supportive. It changed the way I look at things. It almost came from a place of not one more woman has to go through what I went through with my first child. I want to make sure more women experience this type of care, and I kept thinking, why is this not standard of care for every mom? So, one less mom to go through what I went through with my first child. I wanted to change that, I wanted to be part of that. That's where I feel like my success comes from, the driving force behind what I went through. I don't want any woman to go through any postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis. Support is very important after someone gives birth to a child.

I think the greatest piece of advice that I received in my career is you have to be very self-aware. Self-awareness means you have to be very emotionally intelligent to be able to see when you're running empty, to speak up, basically. To know how you feel, and to be able to speak up and ask for help, because this is not, for me, this is not a one-man show. Like I said, I have a very supportive husband, and a supportive co-founder, my little sister, who co-founded Nestling Nurse with me, where we're providing postpartum care to new families. I think they help me, they basically are my anchors, honestly. I wouldn't be able to do this alone. My little sister is there, whether someone needs to be scheduled for something, she's there, or someone needs to check on a payment or a follow-up on something, she's there to assist me. So I think being emotionally aware to where you're able to ask help from the people around you that you trust, and that trust you, and that you work well with. And those two people, my sister and my husband, have been those people.

I would say believe in yourself. I know that sounds very simple, but usually some of these ideas, I never saw myself as an entrepreneur. I never saw myself as running my own registered company. I thought other people would do it. So I would say, believe in yourself. Why not you, basically? Or why not her, especially for women? Believe in yourself, and write things down, right? Write your goals, and attack them aggressively. Most of the time, I feel like, human nature, we talk so negatively about ourselves, you know, like I don't think I'll be able to do this, I don't think I can do that, or maybe that person can do it. No, no, no, no, it's within you. Believe in yourself, whatever you have inside of you. If you have that fire inside, if you do not ignore it, go for it and believe in yourself, write your goals down, and attack them aggressively, go for it. I've had this business for 6 to seven months now, and I look back, I'm like, wow, I literally texted my family, my husband and my sister, in a group chat. I was like, wow, guys, we're doing it. We're actually doing it. This is amazing, we're getting leads here and there, we're getting people asking for our services. We are actually doing it, and now we're looking into hiring more people to, almost like an agency now, to provide more families with postpartum doulas. So the greatest piece of advice is go for it, and attack those goals aggressively. Manifest it. You can do it.

I think the most challenging part for me has been the emotional load of it. It's such an emotionally demanding role. Whether it's at home, I'm a mom and a wife. As a pediatric nurse, I am also helping families and their children. And then as a postpartum doula, I am assisting new families and their newborn babies. So I think the most challenging part was, or is, I'm constantly giving emotionally. So, to help me overcome that part, self-care is very, very important. So, when I do get a chance to take care of myself, I have help at home, my husband is very supportive, thank God. So he gives me time to go relax, do something else other than just giving, giving, giving. Mainly, he pours into my empty cup, basically.