We were lucky to catch up with Alaina Marquez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alaina , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

A defining moment for our business was the day that. Gabrielle Fuller sat down for coffee with me one morning, and said “What if we start a business together? I want to be a Doula too and I want to become a CLC”. My heart was beaming because it was a dream to work alongside my sister and even better it was, that our passions had aligned. The Birth World is only for those called into it, for those who live to support women and their babies in all ways possible. This was our defining moment. The moment when the sun was so bright, and we just laid all of our dreams out on the table. This is when we became Sunshine Births.

Alaina , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Alaina Marquez, I am 26 years old. I live in Grand Junction CO, and was born and raised in Gunnison CO where I met my husband of 6 years, Ebenezer Marquez. We have three beautiful children and have dreams for many more. After the birth of my first son, Zion, I was drawn even more into the birth world. I had always wanted to become a midwife, but that profession seemed unreachable to me at the time. I began my journey of becoming a Birth Doula and immersed myself into the natural birth culture, which has brought me here today. I am co-owner of Sunshine Births, owner of the GJ Birth Collective, and I work at our local Birth Center, Bloomin Babies as a Birth Assistant. I am also following the call to be a midwife and working through school and apprenticeship all while being a stay-at-home mom and managing my other businesses. It really is a dream.

Gabrielle Fuller is my older sister, 29 years old, married to Barrett Fuller and they have an almost one-year-old son! Gabrielle was drawn to the birth world after her birth and experience breastfeeding. Through her struggles and even joyful times, she was drawn to helping women navigate breastfeeding. Sometimes birth and postpartum come as a shock to women when they aren’t fully informed about all the possible ins and outs and Gabrielle dreams to bridge that gap. Gabrielle is a CLC and a Birth Doula and co-owner of Sunshine Births.

Sunshine Births offers several different services to the women that we serve. These range from Birth Doula services, CLC services, childbirth education, and photography. It is our dream to continue to add to the list of services that we offer and help women through pregnancy and child-rearing years. We are passionate about meeting women where they are at, and making them feel loved, cared for, and validated.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helps business owners build a good reputation and maintain it is through being genuine. Our line of work at Sunshine Births is unique and we never want women to feel like they are just money or another number to us, because they definitely are not. Our reputation holds by being present for each woman that we serve, giving her our time, and welcoming her into a space that is safe and secure. We have a very unique calling that brings us into very vulnerable spaces for women, so our business would simply not flourish if we did not genuinely care for the women that we serve. At Sunshine Births, women see and know that we are passionate about what we do, by how we treat them, how efficient we are with our time, and how we care for them at all moments. To maintain a good reputation you have to first be passionate about what you are doing and secondly, you have to be genuine. People will see and feel when you lack these qualities and they will quickly feel like just another number.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The birth world is unpredictable. Often times our bodies and strength to keep pushing is tested, especially when births last over 24 hours, or when you have back-to-back women in labor. During a client’s birth, both of us were tested on our resilience. Would we let sleep deprivation alter our care or would we work together as a team, to maintain our best for our client? By allowing each other to care for our bodies and gain some rest, we both were able to come back together and be resilient for our mama in labor.

This birth world isn’t for the weak, and often it tests your strength and ability, but that’s the beauty of it. The beauty of the birth world is that we aren’t alone. When women come together and care for one another, it creates a village, and that is something that we foster here at Sunshine Births. Our resilience remains because we know it takes a village to do what we do. Through that village beautiful babies are born and time and time again women are reminded of just how strong they are.

Contact Info:

• Website: gjbirthcollective.com
• Instagram: sunshine_births
• Facebook: Sunshine Birth Services

Image Credits
Drop Anchor Productions LLC