In this episode, Kara talks with Sarah Croce, the powerhouse behind Village for Mamas, a nonprofit offering no-strings-attached grants to new and expecting mothers. Sarah is a birth doula, yoga and Pilates instructor, and nurse midwife in training. They explore the systemic failures of maternal care in the U.S., why postpartum support is often overlooked, and how Sarah is creating real change, one mama at a time. This is a powerful conversation about female entrepreneur stories, redefining success, and the kind of personal development that comes from saying yes to your calling.
“I saw that the people (birthing mothers) who needed me most were the ones who couldn’t afford me.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:01 - The Power of No-Strings-Attached Grants for Moms
04:00 - Why Doulas Matter for Maternal Health Outcomes
07:00 - Becoming a Doula: From Pilates to Birthing Rooms
10:00 - The Realities of Pregnancy Care in the U.S.
13:00 - Why Women of Color Are Most at Risk
15:00 - How the System Undervalues Postpartum Support
17:00 - The Life-Changing Impact of Advocacy
19:00 - What Insurance Doesn’t Cover (But Should)
22:00 - The Miles for Mamas Movement & How to Join
25:00 - What It Takes to Build and Fund a Nonprofit
29:00 - Self-Care and Community for Changemakers
33:00 - Why Supporting Moms Is Supporting Everyone
Anyone in the country can apply for our grants. What we do is we give out one time no strings attached, cash grants to new and expecting moms in vulnerable populations. Someone can come to our website and they apply for support from us.
That's Sarah Croce. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I love it when podcast guests immediately recommend someone else to come and talk. And that's exactly what happened with you. I was talking to melee and she's you have to have to have to talk to Sarah. Like you have to hear about this. You have to come to the race. And we were automatically a yes before she even finished talking about it.
Let's tell everyone who you are, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for having me. And thank you so much for signing up right away for our race. My name is Sarah Croce and I live here in Venice, California, where my not-for-profit is headquartered, but we service the entire nation.
So even though we are cor incorporated in Los Angeles. Anyone in the country can apply for our grants. What we do is we give out one time no strings attached cash grants to new and expecting moms in vulnerable populations. So what that looks like, someone can come to our website and they apply for support from us, and they could ask for anything from birth doula.
Which is what I do to a postnatal doula. Lately we've been getting a lot of requests for pelvic floor physical therapy support lactation consultation. Sometimes it's as simple as asking for a few pre and post, pre or postnatal massages. So there's no limit to what you can ask for. And from there we look at those applications one by one on our board and, it's been a truly impactful three years since we've been been working on this.
And what made you decide that this was the space that you needed to create a nonprofit and this was the group that you needed to help?
Yeah I have been a pre and postnatal Pilates and yoga teacher for 17 years and I.
Became a birth doula about nine years ago when I, the women who I were help, who I was helping preparing for birth, started telling me, I was channeling you in the birthing room and I wish you could have been there. And I started to think, okay, probably I should. Become a midwife actually, is what I thought.
I had been living overseas for a while before that and I met a midwife who kind of very quickly looked at me and said, oh yeah, you're a midwife. And that inspired me to look into it. In the States it's a little different. Becoming a doula is a little bit more like becoming a midwife in a lot of other countries.
So I started with becoming a doula and. In that I saw that the people who probably needed my services the most were the ones that really couldn't afford me. And so this is the short version but I, and it's in that process, met a few other like-minded women. One of them is an attorney in the nonprofit space.
One of them is in O-B-G-I-G-Y-N. And the three of us came together and thought, why don't we figure out a way to make these services affordable for the people who need it the most?
And I even wanna go back to like how you became a pre and postnatal Pilates instructor because.
There are many people who choose many career paths, but they have nothing to do with babies and birthing. So was that space always something that you were attracted to? Was it your own personal experiences? Was it, what was it about that stage of someone's life and that need that attracted you to begin with?
It's a good question and I feel like it found me. I was a dancer growing up and when I was in college I had a pretty bad car accident and I had to have surgery on my leg as a result of that accident, and. In my physical therapy. Luckily, my physical therapist used a reformer Pilates apparatus, and so I fell in love with it and I thought, all right, let me get certified in this just so I'll always have the machine at my disposal.
I never thought that I would actually do this. Definitely not full-time. Many years later. And my first job was on the upper west side of Manhattan at a reformer Pilates apparatus studio where a lot of the women coming to me were pregnant. And I had done briefly a very short prenatal training.
But because I'm a trained singer as well, I think I had a good understanding of diaphragmatic breathing and for some reason. I would disclaimer, do not have children. I've never given birth, but I have this really good understanding of lifting up and bearing down using the breath. And so I was, 20 years old teaching these women how to breathe from a place of intuition through their labor.
And like I said, it chose me. And then I became a yoga teacher shortly after. And. It just kept happening to many people. Science kept coming.
Yeah, no, I love that. I'm also yoga trained and the level of which they mostly scare you about anyone who's pregnant. And when I was going through the course, I actually helped consult also in making this spec specific program, but I was appalled at what they were talking about in regards to pregnant women.
They're like, they can't jump. They shouldn't get hot. I'm like, I'm sorry, who wrote this guide? Because I personally know women who are doing CrossFit until their eighth month of pregnancy. And then I know other women who have done absolutely nothing and had, unfortunate things happen. So it's such a personal journey and the idea that.
These amazing tools of, yoga, indoor Pilates, where their first impression is just scaring you away. Don't touch them when in fact, like they need it at such a different level. I was just horrified and or amused by how. Scared. We are in western culture of pregnant women.
Yes. We're treated like we're sick and we're not.
Yeah. So then when you saw the women that needed your help, there's so many statistics about how the US is horribly low on lists of. Successful births and successful pregnancies, especially for women of color, especially for women of poverty. It's embarrassing based on where we rank in other statistics versus our other Western countries.
What is the reality that low income mothers are dealing with so that people have an understanding of how valuable your nonprofit is to them?
Yeah. I think one of the biggest issues is just that women aren't believed. And when they're on their own and they're in a hospital, especially women of color, especially black women if you're in a hospital and you're alone or you're, say just with your, male partner and both of you are first time parents.
The birthing team or the hospital team and nothing really against them. First of all, they're understaffed, and I always say this, that birth is as mysterious as life itself. And so there's a lot of unknowns. And the mom, the birthing woman is the one who really knows what's going on in her own body, and a lot of times she's just.
Quietened and told that, whatever she's feeling is normal. But if you have an advocate in the room with you, or alternatively if, say you have a postnatal doula coming to you after, because there's a very strong lack of care postpartum, and this is where a lot of mortality happens after birth.
When the mom and baby go home. Someone there to say, Hey, be the squeaky wheel, advocate for yourself as I'm advocating for you. And that alone, the statistics are crazy around how the mortality in this country when it comes to maternal death is largely preventable. And like I said, part of that is just not having enough manpower and then not having enough people advocating for themselves.
I think it also leads into something you said earlier of how women aren't listened to, but then there, there's so many things about the conceiving pregnancy, birthing postpartum spaces that we are not preparing women or men for, or whomever is in the relationship for because it's something that is still occurs as such like a 1950s approach of oh, it'll be fine. It'll be great. Focus on the baby shower, focus on the, the first birthday, everything else in between, you'll figure it out. Yep. And it's no, but everything else in our lives has a checklist or an SOP or a manual or just even like the realities of what it is. There's, so the.
Obviously there's been the meme joking about how men don't know that women don't pee out of their vagina. So that alone should be a sign that we have some major problems, right? But there's so many things that even women don't know about their cycle, about how to get pregnant or not. What it, what you should be aware of, what you shouldn't.
It's embarrassing and for women who are listening to this and are now freaked out. What are some basic resources you would recommend they find or get to feel like they're more knowledgeable than not?
I think the first thing is just to keep in mind that even though women have been giving birth since time, eternal, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's easy or simple and that your individual experience matters.
And there are so many books and Googleable websites out there to tell you what to expect and all of that. So it can become very overwhelming. I wish I had the book for someone. Yeah. There is one author who is an amazing source of knowledge and I like her because she's pretty, nonpartisan. So she is just giving the facts and her name is Emily Oster and I'd recommend anything she wrote. And she actually just put out a really great article about why you might want a doula, which is really cool, especially I, in the past, I swear, two months, I've seen more about doulas than I have ever.
It's been really cool. I think there's really a buzz around it, and the the statistics around having a doula are staggering and they say, there's a quote that says that if a. Doula were a drug, it would be inhumane to not give it to a birthing wor woman. That's how effective we are. So again, not everyone can afford a doula.
So I think the most empowering thing you can do before giving birth is educate yourself as much as you can without necessarily having a set in stone plan. The more you know and walk into that. Birthing room and say, oh, I know what that is, and actually I know that my right is, or I know that its alternative option is.
Then they're like, oh this birthing woman has done her research, and we're not just gonna be able to say, yeah, that's normal, and walk away. We're gonna spend a little bit more time on this person. So I think that would be my number one advice would be to empower yourself with knowledge. And anybody listening who has any questions, you can slide into my dms.
I am so happy to send you resources to have a quick phone call with you. I do that all the time. I'm actually not taking births right now. So part of my, like part of what I'm giving right now is a little bit of that kind of just like a quick consult because it doesn't take a whole lot to say, oh, I didn't understand what.
Pitocin is, I didn't understand that. If I take an epidural, I can't stand up again and I have to be monitored all the time. So it's these little things that go a long way.
And where, what is your handle so people can find you before, we'll say it again later, but to the get
now? Yeah. It's just my whole name at s croce.
S-A-R-A-H-C-R-O-C-E or you can hit up the village as well where the the village for Mamas on Instagram. Yeah.
You, there's so many words that are brand new vocabulary when you're be gonna become a parent. And then there's so much that we don't know. And I think historically they'd be like, oh, like you want your mom in the room?
And it's my mom hasn't given birth for how many decades at this point. I don't, she doesn't remember that experience. She doesn't know, she has no idea about modern medicine technology in this space, yes, I might want her there from an emotional support perspective, but I want somebody who knows what's going on so that I can be in the moment and potentially black out and know I'll be okay.
Like you. You need to build that team around you. And I think it's very similar to. Having a business or a nonprofit, like you need a team of resources to protect you and create that space so that you can focus on the task that you have to do in that room. And I'm just imagining myself like having a wheel in a cart of like books and resources and my own telephone, like phone a friend.
I'm like, that's so overwhelming if just having a doula there to be like, okay, you've got all those things for me. Great. Awesome. Thank you. Yes,
absolutely. There's something to be said actually for just having any reliable, calming woman in the room. There's all these studies around just, this was so cool.
When I first became a doula, I found out they, there was this really early on study where even just having a another female in the room sitting in the corner knitting while. Going through birth, the birth outcomes were much more positive, meaning less c-sections, less need for any kind of medication if they didn't want that.
And that's like a hormonal thing. Similar to how when females spend time together, they start to cycle together. So if you can have someone, like I said, who's reliable. 'cause one thing that's true is if you're gonna attend someone's birth, you have to be on call for whenever that baby's about to come.
So for me, if I take on a birth for a whole month, two weeks before, two weeks after. I am on call for that mom waiting for that phone call to say, okay, it is time. But yeah, if you have a calming like sister or friend who can be there for you just to hold space along with if you have a male partner, like if they wanna be in the room, great.
But it used to be that like all the village women would come together and help that birthing person. And so there's something really powerful in that.
Do you see that more and more women are looking to. Agent wisdom or things that we've known and forgotten in this space. 'cause I feel like doula is one of those things that we've always known we should have.
And to your point, it's like trending again from an article perspective, do you see that changing radically? Is there conflict with traditional western medicine in these spaces? Is it coming more together? How? How is the trend shifting in what people know is available and what they're demanding that they have access to?
I might be in a bubble here in California, but here, if a doula is in it comes to a hospital birth. It's like the birth team, the labor and delivery nurses and the doctor, they're usually very excited. It's like a great thing. As far as. Birthing women who want doulas. I've seen both extremes. A lot of women are like I really would love to have someone there whether I can afford it or not.
But you do have that. Those women, they're like, I would never want someone else in the room. And actually, if that's what they're feeling is really strong, that's probably really valuable to know. And hopefully that means that, what they're comfortable with is what will be most successful for them.
Does that
answer the question?
I think so, yes. Yeah. When you mentioned earlier at the top of this episode about how there are posts, there's lactation consultants, there are different massages and techniques. There's acupuncture that's recommended. There's all these things that. Help a mother feel their best as soon as possible, and to make the connection with the baby as soon as possible and just to know what they're doing, like the physical, emotional, spiritual elements of it.
None of that is covered by insurance usually. I was hoping that's where you were going with that.
Correct. That's the thing, it's so expensive just to have a baby. If you have a baby in a hospital, even if you have insurance, you suddenly get a $4,000 bill at the end of it, at least here in la. And that's just for starters, that's just for having the baby.
If you had any complications, it gets bigger from there. So having a baby. Basically having a baby is expensive. And then if you want to give birth and go through the postpartum experience with Grace, as we say, that's tens if not hundreds of thousand dollars more expensive. And so it be, that's where the village comes in.
So we help. Women who can't afford these things, get access to that care in real time. Especially when it comes to lactation that's a thing that we have to jump to right away. If someone's having trouble breastfeeding, we need to find, we need to get that money to them as soon as possible so they can, make that happen right away.
My, I love when a birthing, mom is just ready. She either has a lot of people around her for support, or she happens to have access to the cash that she needs to have that grace, but it's so rare. And then there's the, some people have the access, but they're. They're not supported by their partner.
And so even though, a lot of partners, unfortunately just don't understand the hormones around it. So mom will come home and they'll be like, what do you mean you're not, you don't even have a job. All you have to do is watch this baby. Like, why do you need a night nurse for $40,000? Which is what it costs to have a n nurse.
But if you don't have your mom or your sister or anyone around, to have just a baby every night in that beginning, those beginning stages without any help is so hard. It is so taxing mentally, physically.
All of it. Yeah.
And there's so many studies about how critical sleep is and how I don't remember the exact stat now, so maybe we'll include it in the show notes.
But it's essentially the not sleeping enough and driving is the same as drinking and driving
course then,
There you go. And that's driving. What about anything else? You would never leave a baby with a drunk person for the day. And that's what we're asking moms to do when they've been up all night.
And I don't really know what the full solution is because yes, we are helping impactfully, helping one woman at a time. But our, like my yearning deep down is that like this becomes. Like you said, included in insurance. And I think that's the bigger vision of the village. Like I said, I have a lawyer and a doctor on my team who wished they could be here today.
And I'm in the process of becoming a nurse midwife, so I'll have a little bit more of a seat at the table as well. Once I'm in the western system, and I know a lot of doulas were like mad at the hospitals and you could go that way, but for me, I wanna create change at the level. Western medicine and policy and why can't we change what a labor and delivery unit looks like in a hospital in America? Why can't we look like, why can't we change what postpartum care looks like? What's included? We have the power to do that. I know we do, and it's just a matter of sticking to it and not giving up.
'cause it can feel really daunting.
And you're in a unique position as well, because while people are giving birth every day. Like the people who need it the most aren't in that cycle every day. Like you're in and every day. And so there's a really interesting tug of war of everyone who knows they need it, knows they need it, and they're like, okay, I don't need it now.
And so it's like also capturing that energy to, to remember that we need it all the time for everyone. And I do think being here in California does have an advantage that, I think about. Just, thinking about having to give birth in a place like Mississippi, which has great hospitals and great doctors, but doesn't have a culture or all the resources that you have in Southern California, let alone the knowledge and other people who are even talking to you about it.
It. I know which
have, I believe it's Mississippi. I was just looking at the statistics. Who does have the highest maternal mortality rate versus the lowest mortality rate? California. Yeah. So there is, it's just that advocacy aspect of it is so mighty, and thankfully we're hearing more about it.
It's gaining traction.
Yeah. And one way that it's helping to gain some traction for you guys is you're doing the Miles for Mama Race which I'm excited to be a part of. I'm excited to be inviting all the powerful ladies, community, and anyone in the Kara Duffy coaching world as well to come join us.
Let's everybody about that race, what it does and where they can sign up for it.
Yes, absolutely. I guess we can drop the link for the, yep. For the registration. We are congregating at North Beach Playground, so it's on the beach in Santa Monica. Not bad. On January, excuse me, on September 24th at 9:00 AM this is our third annual.
The past two years have been so fun. Last year was even more fun than the year before. It's a loop. So you could either choose to walk a mile with us or run a 5K. If you're running the 5K. It's a fun run. Not at officially times, but we will time you. I always walk it. My husband will run it. What we do is we meet, we have coffee from a local coffee shop on Montana, a called Primo Pesa Coffee. They're amazing. We will have, we have other sponsors that provide food and other drinks and we have a on your market set go. The walk itself is really fun. We call it walking the walk for moms in need.
And then on the way it's a loop so we end where we began. The kids all end up playing on the playground. You don't need to have a kid to come. In fact, we would love for people who don't have children. To come and support. We need allies as much as we need, moms supporting moms. And then we have a big raffle at the end.
We're giving away some really cool prizes this year, including coaching sessions with you, which is gonna be a yes item. And it ends up just being a really fun afternoon this year. I'm super excited that my mom and my aunt are actually hosting a sister race in my hometown. So that'll be going on at the same time as ours.
So that'll be really nice as well. The biggest thing that anyone can do is show up on the day. That's we need bodies in the room getting excited for the cause. But if you wanna take it the extra mile, you can ask people to sponsor your walk or your run so you can, once you sign up, you'll get a little individual fundraising page that says on September 24th, I'm walking the walk for Moms in need.
Would you like to sponsor my race? Like even $5. Counts. My husband sent it out to his family. He has nine brothers and sisters, and he quickly had $500 that he raised. So it can happen pretty quickly if you have like even just a small community around you who wants to support.
And what a great excuse just to get outside and be around like-minded people and know that, a great morning in Santa Monica is going to make such an impact for people who you've never met.
And to really make a difference that matters. There's so many causes out there and it's so hard to choose which ones to support sometimes. But to your, I love that the grants are no questions asked. If you need it, we're vetting you. And here you go and go do what you know is right for you.
Especially with that being the methodology that you believe in of trust the mom and what she needs and what she is. Asking for and saying isn't okay or is okay. It's just we don't help the people who need it the most. Sometimes I feel right. And this is such a direct correlation between helping a mom, helps the kid, helps the community.
Like it has an echo effect that I'm sure you guys aren't even measuring yet of what happens when you help a mom. Yeah, and like how it even shifts for their kid in the future and themselves.
Act. Exactly. And then the siblings, it's, yeah, they say if you, the biggest impact you can make in the world is if, is women having children.
Then it's just a brighter future. It makes sense.
Yeah. And there's the idiom of how the mom goes, how the family goes and statistics proof how the women go, the whole community goes. So it's yeah, where it, there's such a, so many overlapping correlations that are just aligned with what most people care about.
Exactly. You're hit, you hit the nail on the head right there.
You mentioned your hometown and there being a sister race. Where is that one happening? That
is happening in Merchantville, New Jersey. So that's South Jersey, right outside of Philly, and that'll be at 10:00 AM. Eastern time, that same day.
And same thing, actually, my mom and my aunt right now just called me. They're like walking around on feet, on their feet, like soliciting small businesses asking for support donations sponsorships. So this is their first time. So they're just getting started with like, how can we get someone to like power our race with a coffee sponsor, things like that.
So it's gonna, it's gonna be fun there too. And it's gonna start and end right at my brother's bar. So there'll be a little after celebration at his bar, very cool.
Yeah. So when you were eight years old, were you in New Jersey at that time?
I was, yes. Yeah.
What did you think your life would be like?
What were you gonna be when you grew up? Where were you gonna live?
I've always right or wrong, I think I've always been the kind of person that didn't have a whole lot of future idea of what I would be doing. I always had this. Understanding that we don't know. Who knows?
Yeah. Even as a kid I never really thought I definitely wanna have kids and I definitely wanna get married. 'cause I was always just who knows if I can get pregnant? Who knows if I'm gonna meet someone in time to have a baby? All of those things. But I was, like I said, I was a dancer and a singer and I thought I'd be on Broadway, I guess if I had my way.
But life got in the way of that, especially my car accident actually. And so I. But I was thinking if I could give, if I could tell my 8-year-old self anything, it would be to stand up straight, because I'm a Pilates instructor now, and all I see is posture. As I look around and when I see kids these days, they're so slumped over their phones and, your posture starts from your core, from your center.
So like really finding your center as a metaphor, it's not just physical, but if you're like tapped in to the center of your body. Then you can sit up a little bit straighter and then your confidence changes. And with that, and if you can go anywhere and do anything.
And speaking of going anywhere and doing anything, creating a nonprofit is not a small task, and running it day to day is an even bigger task.
How are you managing that and everything that you're up to and having a life and friends and a husband, like all these things, how are you balancing it and where have you found. Like the biggest conflicts with what you're committed to doing, but the realities of time and space.
Yeah, it's, that's also a really good question.
I I always tell people, if you're thinking about starting a nonprofit, really think hard because it is the job that keeps on jobing. It's always hanging over my head. I feel like I could always be doing more. As I said, I'm a yoga teacher. I don't teach a lot of yoga anymore. Only when I do, I take, I host international retreats pretty much every year.
I'm actually skipping this year. And but for me, I'm a huge meditator and meditation is what gets me through all of what you just said. Meditating on being enough and doing enough. But I spin out. I spin out and I, I have a lot going on 'cause I'm also in school, as I said. But spending time with my friends helps when I can.
I've started doing, oh, once a week I have a girls group that hangs out and we do something whether we like go and have a happy hour or we go to the beach. And I really try to stick to that because having a strong group of females around me. Just like in the birthing room, it's so important. My husband is incredibly supportive too, so that really helps.
And, I do set aside a specific time to work on the village stuff, and then if it leaks in, that's okay too. Every once in a while. It does. But I think as I'm, as I get more and more. In it, this is our third annual, and already I have a bunch of sponsors already. I already know what I'm doing this year.
This year is just about getting bodies at that North Beach playground at 9:00 AM on September 24th. I'm able to focus on that more this year. Because the sponsors have returned and we know what we're, what the general day looks like. It's not as hard from that aspect of things
yeah.
It's. I started coaching in the nonprofit space and then moved into for-profit, and now when somebody says, should I start a nonprofit? I'm like, no,
I.
But I, but it's true because like it's as much work as for profit and then there's extra hoop,
yeah. And there's so many ways to be a B Corp or a social corporation, like you can still give away so much of your money. And there are so many ways not that, and some nonprofits are like easier to run than others.
But I know for everyone who started a small nonprofit or a small business, like it's just the admin work that gets in the way so often and there's, I don't, people don't talk about that a nonprofit is the same. It's just a tax shift. It's a tax shift with more admin work and you're like is the tax shift worth it?
Like how do we shift that? And then I'm sure, as you've seen, it's shockingly hard to get people to give money.
It is. And it's like you said, they're spread thin, and I'm actually working with Maylee, wonderful Maylee. She is helping me to create more of an online presence. And I've literally posted one reel.
So I was thinking about like before I came here what holds me back, and one thing that holds me back is the fact that I get nervous to put myself out there and to ask people for things. But May's just make them care, yeah. Making them care, I think is gonna be a huge, is gonna create a huge shift.
If I can say this is what's happening, this is what we're doing, here are the statistics. I think from there the money could come in a little bit more easily and not just from my, there's only so many times I can ask my aunt for $20, yeah. So I'm trying, we're trying to figure out how to find the broader audience.
And Yeah. And make them care. And then that's where we're starting. And again, every time coming back to I'm doing enough, we're doing enough.
Yes. Yeah. No, I've had a post-it on my monitor for a long time that just says educate educate. Because yeah, it's I catch myself all the time.
I catch my clients doing it where. We forget that we're at step eight of understanding this world that we're in whatever our specific spaces, but the people that we really wanna help are like negative five.
Yeah. So
like just going back to telling people like, what is a C-section? What is a doula?
Like the, we forget that the basics make such an impact and. It's, I'll forget it all the time too. 'cause We'll also when you do start creating content in that educate space over the informed space, we get bored with ourselves so often we will run away from that plan before the audience is complete with it.
So it's a really interesting struggle of not getting in our own way and just keeping it really simple because that's where it begins.
Yes. Not getting in our own way. That's a huge one.
Yeah. Yeah. What have you learned about yourself throughout this process of being a doula but even also running this nonprofit?
What have I learned about myself? I've learned that I need a lot of sleep and it gets in the way. I like don't have enough hours in the day because I like my nine hours of sleep a night. I tried for a while to just like sacrifice that to get things done. But it's important to fill your own cup, right?
Before you can give out. So I've always known that, but I learned that in a new way doing this work. I've learned that I am, I'm pretty good at asking for things. I've learned that to have a nonprofit, you either need a lot of money or a lot of time, so I'm working on giving my time. Yeah. And, as a doula. Oh, wow. I've learned that there are definitely past lives because the first birth I ever attended, I was like, I've done this a million times before, and then it comes back to the witchy midwife in Australia telling me that I was a midwife after she met me for five minutes. And I was just like, okay.
Like I've always looked at that as something that's probably true. And then that happened and I was like, whoa. Okay. This is definitely something that's been there before and that I'm like I said, called to this work. This work found me.
When you hear the words powerful and ladies, what do they mean to you and are their definitions different when they're separate versus next to each other?
Oh, wow. That's funny because ladies, you hear the word ladies and you think of someone who's like proper and quiet and I think putting those words together actually is really powerful. Because, it's this idea that we can, ladies can be all things and, yeah I know so many, I've blessed to know so many powerful women, and starting with my mother and my grandmothers and my aunts and I know that I am very lucky to have an amazing family. And so I've always been surrounded by powerful ladies who can do all things.
Love that we ask everyone who's on the podcast where you put yourself on the Powerful Lady Scale.
If zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you put yourself on that scale today and on an average day?
Wow.
I'm. I'm not great at giving myself accolades. I will admit that I'm working on it. So I'd love to say like I'm an 11. Yes. But you know what?
I'm gonna just say it. I'm gonna say it. I think that I'm a 10. I think that I'm a 10 today in this moment to be putting myself out there, even on this. I've never done a podcast before, so this is all very new to me. On an average day. Maybe a seven.
Yeah. Yeah. No, and you're doing great. Nothing brings me more joy than knowing that this is someone's first podcast.
So thank you. We, there's so much that you're up to and I'm sure so many people do want that consult with you. Do wanna support the miles for Mamas? Where are all the places they can find you websites, handles all the things to connect, support and help you.
I think if you are welcome to go to our website.
We love people to visit our website and get to know us. That is the village for mamas.org. But our Instagram is probably where we're most engaged. If you click in our bio, we have a link tree that says donate that says, sign up for the walk. And that most importantly says, sign up to receive support, or apply for support.
So if you're listening to this and you need support, you're the ones we're talking to the most, right? You're the ones that we want to visit us and tell us your story. We have a really short application on our website, or you can access it right through our Instagram and just. Tell us what's going on and we will.
We look at every single application, so we will see it and we will get back to you in seven to 10 days. Always
Perfect. And for people who wanna consult from you or want to work with you directly?
Yeah, like I said, either right through. I am, I sometimes joke that I am the village, so if you DM the village, you're gonna get me.
But you can also follow me directly. I have so much going on that I don't really have a doula page for myself. It's just like all Sarah Croce at Sarah Croce where you can message me and just say, Hey I am pregnant and I am lost, i'll be like let's chat, let's get on a phone call.
It's, yeah it's the best time I can give because it's it's really easy for me. Like you said, I'm at the eighth step and so I know so much about this stuff that I take for granted, how much I know, and yeah, easy for me to just tell you a few things. Set you on the path.
We know that you guys definitely need donations and you definitely want people to come and walk and run in September, which all the links will be where we post this and in our link in bio as well once this episode is live.
But what else do you need? I think this is a really supportive, helpful community. I believe firmly. You never know who has that next key that's gonna unlock something for you. So what is something that you're trying to manifest or on your wishlist?
Yeah, so we just launched a new program called the Pay It Forward Program, and so if you have a storefront, it's best.
Most impactful. What we will provide for you as a partner is we'll put you on our website as someone who is, actively helping women in need. And we'll provide a little plaque that you can place at your point of sale and people can scan the QR code and make a small donation to us. You'll get your own little fundraising page so you can track.
Daily, weekly, monthly, how much you're contributing. We'll have, we have like little, celebrations and parties for our partners. And so if you wanted to get involved in that, even if you don't have a storefront, you can pop it on your website as well. And we give you a little badge that you're a proud pay it forward partner.
And so that's something we just started. So we're hoping that kind of helps with some more passive donating. And then the other aspect of the, for the race, so more immediately, anyone listening who has like some swag, they wanna contribute to our swag bags. We are always looking for those. In the past we've had diaper rush cream, and we've had CB, D lubricant, like all kinds of cool donations. Little like snack bars, little squeezes, anything goes. And then finally, like anyone who wants to donate product to, for anyone to eat or drink during the event. We've just remodeled this year that this is like our one big fundraising.
We were doing four. Four fundraisers a year. That was our big one, but three others and it just got to be too much for me. So we're putting all of our efforts into this, into the miles for mamas. And so that's a lot of our focus is there right now. A lot of my focus is there right now, especially 'cause it's only seven weeks away now.
Yep. Yeah. Amazing. It has been such a pleasure to meet you and talk to you today. I'm so excited to be participating in September. Yes. But just thank you for the work you're doing. I've said it before in this podcast that I, when I have these. Chats with guests like you. I get to sleep better at night knowing that someone's worried about something I am, but they're doing something about it.
So I can focus over here. And so just thank you for the work you're doing and who you are and what you're committed to for moms everywhere.
I love that. Thank you for this platform and for so readily signing up and I can't wait to meet you in person.
All the links to connect with Sarah, the Village for Mama's, and to sign up for the Miles for Mama's event, earn our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Episode 326: Mindful Parenting in a Modern World | Sarah Ezrin | Author, Yoga Educator & Maternal Mental Health Advocate
Episode 193: Every Role is a Job, So How Do We Do All Our Jobs Well? with Jackie Waller
Instagram: @thevillageformamas
Website: Thevillageformamas.org
Email: Info@thevillageformamas.org
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
