We recently connected with Sandra Lobaina and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandra, thanks for joining 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.

The moment I decided to go to Midwifery School was scary,overwhelming and exciting all at once. I was a young mom that had dreams of going back to school but once my son was born I knew I had to ensure he would be healthy and well taken cared of. I was determined to breastfeed him and I did everything I could to make that happen. I had to go back to work at 6 weeks postpartum and needed to pump and create a schedule that would allow me to continue producing enough milk for my baby. It was difficult but I had to work to live and I had to be a Mom. When he was 1 years old I had attended lots of support groups, talked with other moms and researched many ways to start my career. My experience giving birth and breastfeeding my baby fueled me to want to become a Midwife. The problem was how would I be able to work, take care of my son and go back to school? I knew that I had to do something different because working for companies that kept me away from my son from 9-5 and sometimes weekends just wasn’t working out. Luckily my husband was completely supportive of me starting school and believed in my goals. We decided to take the risk of me quitting my job and going back to school. He worked 2 jobs sometimes just so we could get by and I focused on being in school full time while also having more time with my

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

I’m a Licensed Midwife and Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant. A mother to two amazing rambunctious boys who inspire & teach me every day. I attended school at the International School of Midwifery in which I completed January 2010. I have been helping mothers for over 15 years and have attended over 1000 births in which I observed, coached, assisted or managed the deliveries. My passion as a birth worker has empowered me to push through many obstacles. Early in my career, I worked at the Miami-Dade County WIC & Nutrition program, where I gave one on one support to mothers and their new babies. It has always been an important mission to understand cultural diversities in breastfeeding and why it can negatively impact mothers in our community.

Being a Hispanic minority I am passionate about educating and assisting communities who experience cultural boundaries and stigmas. Every year I partner, contribute and host The BIG Latch On in Miami alongside WIC & Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade County for World Breastfeeding awareness. I am the Co-founder of Natural Birthworks Birthing Center (Broward County’s Newest Birth Center) where I provide Midwifery services and I’m one of the lead Midwifery providers. I teach childbirth education in English and Spanish, hold breastfeeding support groups, provide in office, at home or virtual lactation consultations and also host breastfeeding and pumping classes. My mission and passion is to provide support, education and encouragement to all families.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Early in my career I wanted to learn and immerse myself in anything I could find related to my field. I attended support groups, community events and tried to network with other birth workers in my community. I also attended training’s to further my knowledge and experience. I offered my services and supported families even if they could not pay me my full fee. Sometimes I worked for free. I was passionate about helping families regardless of race, economic status or being able to afford it. This is in my opinion the reason why the majority of my clients are referred to me by word of mouth. I have always been consistent with what I promise and dedicated to my clients. Other providers in the community know this about me and have trusted me to help their clients when they needed it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I decided to partner up with my current business partner and open a free standing birth center. When I became a Midwife, my goal was to open a birth center. This was something I really didn’t think would be financially possible. Even when we decided to move forward I still couldn’t see how we would succeed. I was working as a birth assistant, had a well paying contractor job with a breast pump company that allowed me to work from home. I was seeing private clients on my own schedule and I was comfortable where I was. The concern was, financially I was comfortable but I was working for someone and that was not a permanent job. I wanted to ensure that I would stay financially stable and the only way for me to do this was to own my own business. We worked really hard and I had to get loans and cash out a 401K in order to build this business. At the time I was doing work for anyone who needed it. Teaching breastfeeding classes for a company in Miami, assisting births at different birth centers and doing Lactation Consultations between 2 counties. I was working 7 days a week sometimes just to be able to make enough money to pay for my part of the business being built. Going from being a subcontractor to now owning your own business and running it yourself was a huge transition. It was a risk I’ll never regret because looking back at how hard the journey was, it was totally worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mymomglow.com www.naturalbirthworks.com
• Instagram: @mymomglow @naturalbirthworks

Image Credits
Paulina Splechta [email protected]