We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittany “Doula B” Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittany “Doula B” below.

Brittany “Doula B”, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

A risk I have taken was starting my business; Golden Hour Birth, after certifying as a full spectrum doula and breastfeeding specialist and launching my birth company shortly after. As a first-generation entrepreneur in my family, trying my hand at running my own business was totally foreign to me (I mean, back in high school I did bake and sell brownies but that was the closest I had ever gotten to fully running and creating a stream of revenue all on my own and I also did not have the mindset of it being a business, I just loved to bake at that time and my classmates loved to eat, especially when lunch periods were short and the days were long lol) Building this business from scratch was a major risk for me because it required for me to apply faith, be obedient to the Lord’s direction and instructions in my life during that time and to humble myself and overcome the great fear that had tried to take root and overwhelm me for years. I am very much so a planner and forerunner when I have an example or blueprint, but for the kind of business that I want to build I had neither an example checklist or blueprint to follow, No one had done before what I envision and I had not had a real life example or hands on training from my immediate family on how to run a business and what taking the risk of stepping into the arena of entrepreneurship actually entailed. I became a doula through tears, persistence, tenacity and much dedication, prayer and encouragement. It was a field that once I got into it i realized two things could be true at the same time; I could feel totally out of my element but when it came to the intimate connection and care with my clients and mom’s I had encountered during that period; I felt totally in my element as well like a fish learning to swim or eagle learning to fly and utilize what they were already naturally born to do but somehow lost along the way or forgot how to and need a patient but consistent reminder.

At a very young age I knew I wanted to be in the service of helping others. In middle school, or maybe earlier, I had already identified that I wanted to pursue the field of psychology as well as nursing. My mom worked in a nursing home for most of my childhood and would sometimes take me to work with her and it would be so much fun. She initially had the dream to work in the field of nursing but once beginning school she realized that bedside care was not her niche, she did not have the stomach for some of the things she saw and so she ventured off into being an activities caregiver and later on a medication technician. Later in life I learned that my bonus mom (aka my mom’s sister and the best aunt I could ever ask for in this whole entire world) was also a home health caregiver for the elderly, and so I guess the characteristics and skills of nursing surrounded me at such an early age, that I was also molded and shaped into caring for those who are more vulnerable without realizing. I also remember at an early age; very early, being drawn to babies. I was so good with soothing them, changing them and putting them to sleep that my mom disenrolled from a head start program that she had placed me in because I had become the teachers aide and most days she would come to pick me up and see that I was caring for the little babies and other kids as if I was not a youngster myself. Needless to say she did not like it and felt that I was not being treated like a child but being put into a role that was out of my league. It is so funny how life does a 360 and now I have built a company out of exactly what I had begun naturally doing before age 5. Taking the risk was also a fearful yet humbling experience for me because not only did I not have a person to take me by the hand and guide me into this field of entrepreneurship and more specifically, birth; it also was not what I had gone to school and graduated with a degree in. I received my BSN in nursing but had not become a licensed RN due to life’s circumstances that hit hard after graduation and deterred me every time I tried my hand at taking the exam. The fact that I had gone to school all of those years, majored in nursing, minored in social work and had all of these big dreams and plans that had not yet come to pass not only affected me emotionally but also mentally and socially as I watched all of my former classmates living out their dream of becoming a registered nurse. Even while typing this now it makes me tear up because it was something that I wanted so badly for so long and still have not completely accomplished, BUT GOD! I had to overcome the fear of pressure, the fear of the opinions of others and what they would think of me becoming a doula and not a RN and/or “nurse midwife” as planned after all those years and money spent on my education. I did not want to reveal my journey of becoming a doula publicly because I was afraid of the backlash, disappointment and humiliation that I perceived that I would receive and felt had I let the cat out of the bag that I was now pursuing another route. I made a business page while certifying as a full spectrum doula but I had never published it to make the public aware of what I was doing until one night while lying in bed reading John 16; after months of thinking of names, the Lord led me to a particular verse in that scripture that spoke to my soul greatly and immediately following, He gave me the name to call my business and sent confirmation from others that I needed to pursue it. My original intention when beginning this journey was never to have my own business, experiencing the intricate layers of birth is fun for me; afterall I was the oldest sibling and had been a part of witnessing all of my biological siblings birth hands on and front row. The doctors even held up my mom’s birth of my baby brother until I got to the hospital after dashing there from work so that I would not miss his birth. However, I went into doula training to learn more about the birthing process because I loved it so much and I figured becoming more knowledgeable about the process would help in assisting my loved ones in birth and possibly even working for a company or in the labor and delivery unit post certifying. I never dreamed it would lead to creating a lane of my own and taking such a great risk in becoming founder of my own birth empire. I am so grateful to have confronted my fears and taken that risk. Taking that risk and the process of healing, pruning and pressing that came along with it was tough but necessary, it has opened unimaginable doors for me to help families holistically on their birth journey even beyond Golden Hour Birth.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Prior to beginning my birthwork journey, I had been given a divine and vivid dream of myself birthing on the kitchen floor of my mom’s first apartment. At that time, I had no interest of my own in becoming pregnant and had no idea what a doula even was. A few months later a significant tragic event took place in my life and I was tasked in helping to raise a little baby boy temporarily. Shortly after that, a friend randomly sent me a flier to apply for a scholarship for certifying as a Doula in Baltimore City, I applied, then weeks later received the notification of my acceptance and the rest was history. Currently, I provide birth, postpartum, childcare and pregnancy prep services. Golden Hour Birth is a faith based birth support company who aids in enhancing the support system dynamic and strengthening the entire birth team by being inclusive and leaving no one out of the opportunity to actively participate in the birthing process in a holistic manner. We also educate those in vulnerable and marginalized communities of the process of birth, their rights to choose how to birth and the benefits of acquiring doula and midwifery support. We are most proud of the families that we’ve been blessed to assist from many different backgrounds, cultures and races. They have so many powerful testimonies and we have witnessed the miracles, signs and wonders of Jesus on a consistent basis and for that I am forever thankful. We are also proud of the lasting impacts that we have had on our doula dads and granddads. The men often come in very unfamiliar about birth and birth care services as well as hesitant of the necessity of it all but by the time they leave us they feel more confident, encouraged and eager to support in each part of the birth process hands on.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One very unexpected but priceless lesson we have learned during our journey of birth support is that a second time mom is not much different than a first time mother. I had to unlearn otherwise and retrain my brain to understand that although a mom may have multiple babies, each birth experience is different and should be honored and handled with the same respect as if it were her first experience again because it ultimately is. Golden Hour Birth has equally worked with moms of multiples as well as first time moms, however, we learned this important lesson through a very intimate conversation with two of our parents. Husband repetitively expressed how much confidence he had in his wife at birth because she had already birthed two kids prior. As we supported dad’s encouragement we also noticed at a point that mom had become a bit anxious and after talking it out she expressed “I am apprehensive about the laboring part. The pain part of it. I don’t know why because I’ve never felt like this before. I don’t know why this time around it’s bothering me so much”. Although the intent was to empower and encourage mom to see the advantage she possessed in having gone through this process before and to help her feel more at ease. It was at that point I realized how unheard and overlooked mom may have felt in her concerns regarding her possible labor experience. I apologized to mom, reassured her that her feelings were valid and heard her clearly at that moment, then refocused the conversation on managing childbirth and exploring her thoughts a bit deeper. Truly, no birth is the same, there is no way to predict how labor is going to go nor the outcome of birthing so each experience will require different preparation and an extra dose of TLC.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The journey to becoming a certified doula and establishing a birth service business has not been smooth. The scholarship I received to enter my first doula program was a pilot program and so we were the forerunners. Our training fell through one day when we had a very tough educational lesson; people uncovered their traumas and discontentment with their birthing process. They shared experiences and vulnerabilities of birthing without support from the medical teams; with whom they entrusted to provide best practice care for them, they spoke about their fears prenatally and postpartum. We spoke about some concerns we all faced in the birth world personally and vicariously. When it was all said and done, emotions were high and the atmosphere was very delicate as well as conducive for healing, however; the trainer we had did and said some things that were not culturally sensitive nor appropriate. As a result, what was supposed to be a protected and safe space was violated, consequently spoiling the class and so we did not pursue certification. Our certification was pretty much put on pause from there and while the founder of the program found us a better option. We reconvened a while later with a new program under a new trainer who was absolutely awesome; however, shortly after that training, when we were finally ready to get to work, COVID-19 hit and made it very hard for myself and others to obtain clients, attend births, gain practice to enhance my skill set, etc. During that time of the world slowing down and many restrictions being in place, since I could not practice as planned, I still continued with the certification process and additionally completed another training and became a certified lactation specialist to complement my journey to becoming Doula B.

Contact Info:

• Website: goldenhourbirth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenhourbirthdoula/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoldenHourBirthDoula/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/golden-hour-birth-doula-867b49219
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@goldenhourbirthdoula8529/featured
• Other: https://g.co/kgs/npkRyD Google Reviews

Image Credits
Gabrielle Richmond (for most pics) & Mike Nelson (for solo pic)