Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Luce Hicks. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Luce , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

Honestly, After Birth didn’t start with a business plan. It started with a feeling. After having my son, I found myself struggling in ways I couldn’t even put words to. I didn’t know what I needed, I just knew something was missing. And if I felt that way, with the access and awareness I had, I knew other mamas were out there completely alone in it. That was the seed.

My entry into this work really accelerated when I supported my sister through her journey as a young mother. Watching her navigate a system that wasn’t built for her lit a fire in me that never went out. I had already been doing this work for years, but I knew I needed to build something that could reach people at scale, something that didn’t just show up at the bedside but wrapped around the whole family.

The early days were scrappy. I was building the infrastructure, the credentialing, the contracts, the team, all while still catching babies and supporting families. The biggest challenge wasn’t the paperwork or even the funding. It was convincing people that doula care was legitimate, billable, reimbursable, and necessary. We were fighting for a seat at a table that wasn’t designed with us in mind.

What would I do differently? I would have built my systems sooner. I spent a lot of time doing things manually that could have been streamlined. I also would have hired support earlier and stopped trying to be every department.

My advice to a young professional considering this path: get clear on your why before anything else, because the why is what keeps you going when the contracts fall through, the payments are delayed, and you’re up at midnight resubmitting claims. Build relationships before you need them. And don’t wait until you feel ready, because that day may never come. Start where you are and grow into the vision.

Luce , 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?

I’m Luce Hicks, PROUD Founder and Chief Empowerment Officer of After Birth, a maternal health collective serving Dallas-Fort Worth and beyond. We support families through pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and even bereavement, because this work doesn’t stop when the baby arrives. I’m also the Founder and Board Chair of Project Leading and Empowering Adolescent Parents (L.E.A.P.), the nonprofit arm of what we’ve built, which serves young parents ages 10 to 25. On top of that, I’m a birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, Stop the Bleed instructor, public speaker, and Co-Chair of the Community Action Network Birth Equity (CAN BE) Coalition through Parkland Health and Dallas County Health and Human Services. I say all of that not to brag, but because every single role connects back to one thing: making sure families, especially Black and brown families, have what they need to survive and thrive.

I got into this work the way a lot of us do. Through my own experience. After having my son, I was struggling in ways I couldn’t name. I didn’t know what support looked like; I just knew I wasn’t getting it. And then watching my sister navigate young motherhood in a system that was never designed for her, something in me said this has to change. I had already been working as a Health Unit Coordinator and Patient Advocate, so I understood the clinical side of birth. But I also saw the gaps up close. The families who fell through. The mamas who left the hospital without a plan and without support. After Birth was my answer to that.

What we provide is comprehensive. Our team of 22 plus doulas offers birth doula support, postpartum doula care, childbirth education, bereavement support, and community health navigation. We are a Medicaid-approved provider in several states, such as Texas and Ohio, which means we are actively working to make doula care accessible to families who have historically been told this kind of support wasn’t for them. We hold active contracts with multiple managed care organizations across states. We also credential doulas through our own certifying body, the ABCD credential, because we built something that centers the communities that have historically been underserved.

What sets us apart? We are not a referral list. We are not a hobby. We are a system. A business with heart, built with rigor, operating at a level that can sit at the table with health systems, insurance companies, and government contracts while never losing sight of the mama on the other end of the phone who just needs someone to show up. We bring clinical accountability, cultural competency, and community trust together in a way that most organizations simply cannot replicate.

What am I most proud of? The families. Over 580 families served. 120 births attended. 325 community referrals are made annually. But beyond the numbers, I am proud that we built something from nothing, from a feeling, from a personal experience of not being seen, and turned it into an organization that is literally changing outcomes. Black women in America are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. That statistic is not acceptable to me, and After Birth exists every single day to fight it.

What I want people to know about this brand is that we are for you. If you are pregnant, postpartum, grieving a loss, or parenting young, there is a place for you here. If you are a birth worker who wants to do this work with integrity, with training, and with a community behind you, there is a place for you here, too. We are not just a service. We are a movement. And we are just getting started.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Relationships. That is it. That is the whole answer.

I did not grow After Birth with a big budget or a fancy marketing plan. I grew it by showing up. I showed up at hospitals. I showed up at community events. I showed up for families who had nothing to give me except their trust. And that trust traveled.

When a mama feels taken care of, she tells somebody. She tells her sister. She tells her best friend. She tells the woman in her Facebook group who is eight months pregnant and scared. That is how word spreads in this work.

But we also made a big decision early on. We stopped waiting for clients to find us and started going where they already were. We built real relationships with health systems. We got contracted with Medicaid so that families who could never afford a doula could now have one. When a social worker at a hospital can pick up the phone and refer a family directly to After Birth, that is not marketing. That is trust built into the system. And that is what grows something that lasts.

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

Trust. Community trust.

You can have every certificate on the wall and still fail if the people do not trust you. And in maternal health, especially for Black and brown families, trust is not given. It is earned. Because this community has been let down too many times by systems that were supposed to protect them.

The way you earn trust is simple, but it is not easy. You show up when it is hard. You follow through when nobody is watching. You care more about the family in front of you than the credit you might get for helping them.

Do that consistently, and your reputation will grow faster than any ad campaign ever could.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.afterbirth.baby
• Instagram: afterbirth.baby
• Facebook: afterbirth.baby
• Linkedin: Luce Hicks