We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carolyn Tallents. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carolyn below.

Hi Carolyn, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

After graduating with a business degree in marketing from Boston College, I worked first at a marketing agency and then in-house for a company that was looking to reinvent and relaunch itself. I loved working in marketing and for big companies looking to make big changes.

However, after working in the industry for about 10 years, my personal life shifted and along with it, my priorities. My husband and I were trying to start a family and were having a hard time doing so. It was all-consuming for me and I would spend hours reading health and wellness content related to pregnancy. Once I finally became pregnant, I realized I had ignited a true passion in the field of pre & postnatal health. I decided to leave my corporate job and spend the rest of my pregnancy getting the certifications necessary to start my own business. Over the next 5 months, I received a health coaching certification and personal training certification, as well as supplemental certifications in these areas specific to pregnancy and postpartum.

I had my first child in 2016 and I experienced firsthand just how challenging the postpartum phase can be for women – from the lack of sleep to the hormone fluctuations and body changes, and simply the loneliness of it all. I would have benefited so much from physical and mental support at this time but I was without a village. When I later discovered the role of a Postpartum Doula, I knew this was the final piece of the career in pre & postnatal wellness that I was creating for myself.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Carolyn Tallents and I am a mom of 3 boys under the age of 7 – as well as a personal trainer, health coach, postpartum doula and childbirth educator. My road to where my business now was guided entirely by my own personal journey to motherhood.

I worked in corporate marketing for the first 10 years of my career, and as my husband and I started our journey to starting a family, it turned out it was not as easy for us as we were expecting. It took us 2 years, so many tests, exams and evaluations, and a devastating early miscarriage, before having our first, beautiful baby in 2016.

As we were on our journey, I dove deep into the area of pre & postnatal wellness so I could do everything in my power to help with conception and start to prepare my body for a healthy pregnancy. I started training to be a holistic health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and also a personal trainer through ACE Fitness so I could support others on their own wellness journey. Once we did become pregnant I followed up my certifications with specialty training in pre & postnatal nutrition and fitness.

I started working with pre & postnatal women as a health coach and personal trainer and was able to combine my professional training with my personal experience going through pregnancy, delivery and recovery. I found that after having a baby, and navigating the extremely challenging postpartum phase, I was gravitating towards working with postpartum women on their recovery. Our sessions were routed in physical recovery and rehabilitation, but there was also mental and emotional healing happening as well as we talked throughout our sessions. Clients would share personal details of the struggles they were facing with their new baby, their partner, their extended family, and their relationship with their own bodies after having a baby. We would talk for an hour straight and trouble shoot sleep trouble, breastfeeding issues and fussiness.

I began to look for a way to bundle my wellness services so I could extend my support to help new mothers in a more holistic way. I became certified as a Postpartum Doula and childbirth educator so I could support women mentally, physically and emotionally from pre-conception through postpartum. The idea being that I could start working with a client while they were pregnant and help them prepare their bodies for pregnancy and birth, provide childbirth education, and be there for them after they have their baby and help with the transition to motherhood and the physically and emotional recovery.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

No birth is the same, no recovery is the same, and no baby is the same. This means that every client I work with will have a completely unique situation. Some may have an easy pregnancy but a difficult birth. Some may have a difficult pregnancy but a text book birth. Some may be affected by postpartum in a much different way than they were expecting. From vaginal births vs. c-sections, to breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding to hormone fluctuations and sleep deprivation, so much goes into the mental, physical and emotional recovery of a new mom, I learn from each client how to handle new and different situations that prepare me for handling similar issues with subsequent clients. I am always learning and growing from the hands on experience I get with each new and different situation.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My transition from the corporate world to my own wellness practice was a dramatic one. I went to Boston College and received a Bachelors Degree in business and marketing and always assumed I would spend my career in the corporate world. It’s what my family did, my friends, and my husband.

Then something in me shifted. As I was trying desperately to get pregnant, I was also trying to navigate a male-dominated and toxic work environment. I came to the realization that I needed to prioritize my own health and wellbeing and that I didn’t want to be in a corporate environment any more. I wanted to work in a different way and really make a difference with women who were in a similar phase to myself. I had no one to learn from in this capacity – I was the first of my friend group to start a family and was navigating pregnancy and postpartum on my own with my husband. I wanted to help others navigate this journey and alleviate as much anxiety, stress and difficulty as possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.CLTWellness.com
• Instagram: @cltwellness
• Linkedin: /cltwellness