We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maria Pasquarelli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

When I was 21 and just graduating from college, I found myself working for this arts education program teaching and directing Fiddler on the Roof. I was so excited to work in arts ed. I had studied theater in college and knew I wanted to work with kids. Well, day after day, I realized this organization was a hot mess. There was no real schedule, I couldn’t get a straight answer as to what my job actually was and I wasn’t getting paid. After two weeks, I knew I had to bail. I had just told another company (that I was very interested in working for) that I wasn’t able to interview for a job because I was already employed. It took quite a lot of courage on my end. I was SO afraid to leave that job – terrified of “quitting”. But every fiber of my being was telling me to run.

Finally, I walked in, told the person in charge that I couldn’t work there anymore, and walked right back out. I never got paid for the two weeks I worked there and I’m pretty sure that company went under about a month later. But the same day that I quit, I called the other company and told them I still wanted to interview. They hired me a few days later and I never looked back.

This is one of the greatest lessons that I learned. You can ALWAYS leave a job. If it’s not right, if the red flags are waving, if you’re really unhappy, you should leave. There WILL be another job, another opportunity and it will probably be better.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After having our second child, my husband and I suddenly found ourselves very alone. We didn’t know if it was because it was so close to the holidays, or because it was our second, but all of the incredible support we had after our first just wasn’t there. Nobody was coming over to visit. Nobody was bringing us meals. We felt incredibly isolated, stressed, and overwhelmed. My anxiety was high and I felt abandoned.

A few months into baby number 2, I started to do some online research and came across postpartum doula training. As soon as I read about what a postpartum doula was, I realized that’s what I should have had, what we really needed, after our second was born. And so I decided to go through the training and offer those services and support to other families. I didn’t want parents to feel the way I did. I wanted new parents to be supported and encouraged, not isolated and stressed.

I was already in the process of studying human lactation, so this seemed like a natural fit.

Since then, I have served over 40 postpartum families in 4 years, have become a Certified Lactation Educator, am currently getting my clinical hours to become an IBCLC, am a certified parent coach and have developed cloth diapering workshops that I teach privately or in group settings.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I would for sure pick the same profession and speciality if I went back. I think the biggest difference is that I would have started earlier! In general, I’m a bit of a late bloomer and I don’t regret any of the jobs/careers I had prior to this one, but I do wish I would have found this one earlier.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This is not a lesson specific to my field, but I have had to learn to allow myself to truly rest. To say no, to plan vacations and to take time off. I have been in one field or another where I pretty much work for myself and have to constantly hustle to get work. So, the idea of just deciding I’m going to go on vacation, even if I don’t have work lined up for when I return, or even if it might make me miss out on a contract, was really hard for me. But it’s so very important – especially as a parent. I need to take time to be with my family, to make memories and really live our lives. I am so lucky to do something that I love, but that doesn’t mean that I need to do it 24/7.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/mariapdoula
• Instagram: instagram.com/mariapdoula
• Facebook: facebook.com/mariapdoula
• Other: New website coming soon!