We were lucky to catch up with Robin Newman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Robin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Talk to us about building a team – did you hire quickly, how’d you recruit the first few team members? Any interesting lessons?

I’ve learned that when it comes to hiring, your gut and your heart are often your best guides. My very first teammate was actually my first egg donor. We simply hit it off. What we were building felt exciting and meaningful, and she understood it instinctively. I didn’t have a global vision then—truthfully, I didn’t even have a business plan—but asking her to join me felt absolutely right. That was twenty-two years ago, and she’s still my right arm today.

A few years later, she met a woman at her daughter’s school who was curious about Global Egg Donors and deeply moved by our mission. We invited her to come on board, too.

Many of our other team members have also come from within our own community—former egg donors who caught the vision as strongly as we did. We met them while traveling for their donations, connected instantly, and knew they belonged with us.

Our team meetings always begin the same way: “Who is doing what (other than work), and where are you today?” We truly care about each other as whole people, not just as coworkers.

On the rare occasions when we tried traditional hiring—posting ads, sorting through résumés, conducting online interviews—those candidates never worked out. The magic, for us, has always come from connection first, qualifications second.

If there’s one lesson I hold onto, it’s this: hire the people who feel right, who believe in what you’re doing, and who light up when they talk about your mission. The rest can be learned. The heart can’t.

Robin, 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?

About Me & Global Egg Donors

Global Egg Donors is one of the only international egg-donation agencies in the world. For more than twenty-two years, we’ve connected generous donors with intended parents worldwide. We coordinate ethical, compassionate, and carefully managed donor cycles, and we can connect you with donors of all races who will travel to the clinic of your choice. Our mission is to make the path to parenthood affordable, safe, and fully supported for anyone who needs an egg donor to build their family.

How I Found My Way Into This Work

My path into this field began with my own experience with infertility. I lived through the uncertainty, the hope, and ultimately the heartbreak of realizing I would not have a child. My marriage ended during that time, and life moved in directions I hadn’t expected. But that chapter shaped me in profound and meaningful ways—a true Lemons-Into-Lemonade story. I have experienced what so many intended parents feel: the longing, the courage, the vulnerability, and the resilience it takes to keep going.

Along my own journey, I met extraordinary women who were donating eggs. Their generosity struck me deeply. Even though my story wasn’t going to end with children, I realized I could help create pathways for others. That realization became the seed of Global Egg Donors. I didn’t begin with a business plan; I began with empathy, lived experience, and a belief that family—however it is created—should be rooted in real human connection, not just transactions.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

By treating everyone with care rather than focusing on profit, and by consistently giving more than required, I built trust. When people feel truly supported, everything else—including the financial side—follows naturally. The personal fulfillment that comes from this approach is unmatched.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

A Near-Death Moment for the Business

In our early years, Global Egg Donors operated entirely out of South Africa. We were the very first egg donor program in the entire country, long before anyone else entered the space. I loved the work, but I also wanted to return home to America, so I built systems that would allow me to run the business remotely. Once we proved that could work, another idea emerged: What if donors could travel to the intended parents instead of the other way around?

So we tried it.
First the United States.
Then Canada.
Then India, which at the time was a major hub for surrogacy.

By our eighth year, Global Egg Donors was thriving internationally. And that’s exactly when everything fell apart.

As more agencies opened in South Africa—eventually about ten—the clinics banded together and issued an ultimatum to all South African donor programs: if we allowed South African women to travel overseas to donate at foreign clinics, they would refuse to work with us in South Africa.

It felt like blackmail. Nothing we were doing was illegal or unethical. We were simply giving donors choices and opening doors for intended parents worldwide. I stood my ground and said no.

And then, within a week, the real blow came: over half of my team quit. They were convinced this ultimatum meant the end of Global Egg Donors. Overnight, they broke away and formed their own competing agency.

I still remember the feeling—like the floor had disappeared. We had poured eight years into building something meaningful, and in a matter of days it seemed to unravel. It was easily one of the darkest moments of my life.

But it wasn’t the end.

My very first egg donor—the one who had become my right hand—never wavered. Together, the two of us rebuilt from what felt like rubble. We worked with what we had, leaned on courage more than certainty, and kept showing up for the intended parents and donors who believed in us.

And incredibly, it didn’t take long.
We not only survived—we thrived.
Stronger, more global, and more grounded in our mission than ever before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.globaleggdonors.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/globaleggdonors
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalEggDonors/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-newman/
• Other: Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@globaleggdonors