Postpartum University® Podcast

From Solo Doula to Thriving Agency: How Postpartum Nutrition Changed Everything | Bryn Noe EP 205

• Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

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Postpartum care is seriously failing moms, and if you’re a provider, you probably see it firsthand. Moms are burned out, running on empty, and dealing with hormone imbalances, mental health struggles, and autoimmune issues that no one is talking about. But here’s the thing—nutrition is the missing piece, and it can completely change the game for both your clients and your business. 

Today, I’m chatting with Bryn, a postpartum nutrition specialist who took what she learned from the Postpartum Nutrition Certification and built a thriving pre-natal and postpartum care agency in just two years. We’re getting into how food can be the ultimate postpartum healer and how you, as a provider, can use this knowledge to level up your care, get better results for your clients, and continue to grow a wildly successful business. 

Check out the episode on the blog: https://postpartumu.com/podcast/from-solo-doula-to-thriving-agency-how-postpartum-nutrition-changed-everything-bryn-noe-ep-205/

Key time stamps: 

  • 00:00 - Why postpartum care is failing moms and what needs to change 
  • 02:27 - How Brynn went from a struggling doula to a thriving business owner 
  • 04:40 - The biggest mistakes doulas make when it comes to postpartum nutrition 
  • 06:53 - How proper nutrition drastically improves postpartum recovery 
  • 09:30 - The emotional and mental relief moms feel with nutrition support 
  • 13:33 - How nutrition can scale your postpartum business and increase your income 
  • 19:23 - Why the Postpartum Nutrition Certification is a must-have for doulas 
  • 24:45 - How postpartum providers can increase their impact and income with food education


Connect with Bryn: 

Bryn Noe is a Dual-Certified Postpartum Doula, Newborn Care Specialist, and Certified Postpartum Nutrition Specialist with over nine years of experience supporting families. As the owner of Family Foundations, she provides hands-on postpartum care, nutrition support, and education for new mothers and infants. Passionate about maternal mental health, she also mentors professionals and leads community initiatives, including diaper drives for families in need. Bryn lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband and three children.

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Speaker 1:

The postpartum care system is failing, leaving countless mothers struggling with depression, anxiety and autoimmune conditions. I'm Miranda Bauer and I've helped thousands of providers use holistic care practices to heal their clients at the root. Subscribe now and join us in addressing what modern medicine overlooks, so that you can give your clients real, lasting solutions for lifelong wellbeing. Hey, hey everyone, welcome to the Postpartum University Podcast. Miranda Bauer here, and I have someone insanely special here for you today.

Speaker 1:

I actually connected with Brynn years ago, if I remember correctly. Like we've been back and forth in each other's world for quite some time and I'm going to let her introduce herself. But Bryn has been a part of the postpartum nutrition certification and recently she had just messaged me something really powerful and I wanted to share this and invite her on the podcast, so we can just kind of like dive into some of the deeper things that are transpiring here. This is what she recently said. She said taking the postpartum nutrition training completely changed how I approach and support my clients.

Speaker 1:

She said I'm thankful for the opportunities I've had from postpartum university. Not only did my business grow from a solo entrepreneur operation to a team of 10 in Arizona in one year, but this year we're doing national with our service offerings and we've made so many connections. I've also had the opportunity to share my experience gaining education from postpartum university and even was able to recommend that a fellow doula apply for the grants with postpartum university as she's BIPOC and serving BIPOC families. She was approved and now she's a certified postpartum nutrition specialist. Bren, this is incredible, and when you shared this with me, I was in literal tears. Can you share with everybody a little bit about who you are, what you do, how'd you get here? And then we'll just take it from there.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. I'm Bryn. I am the owner of the Family Foundations Agency, based here in the Phoenix Arizona area, and I started the company in early 2023 following a nearly decade long career as a nanny. So I've been in a caregiving role for a really long time, and it served me to be a nanny while I was raising my young children.

Speaker 2:

But while raising my young children, I faced so many difficulties with my own mental health. To put it lightly, I struggled with depression, anxiety and PTSD. At one point, and when I was feeling the burnout from being a nanny, I just knew that continuing to serve families was where I still felt I belonged. But I just really wanted to find a new way to do it, and I had actually never even heard of being a postpartum doula. I think, like a lot of people, we associate doulas only with birth, and there's so much more to it, and so I really just dove right in.

Speaker 2:

So, in addition to being a certified postpartum doula, I'm also a certified newborn care specialist and now a certified postpartum nutrition professional, and it just immediately changed not only the way that I catered to my clients, but how I even catered to myself and my own family. I was still only a couple of years postpartum, when I became certified in nutrition and I just really started to eliminate the concept of bouncing back from my life. I was so hard on myself whether it has mentally, physically, and just realized that there's so much more to postpartum healing than we give ourselves credit for and that the world gives us credit for, and so it has. It's changed how I serve my clients so much and it's been an incredible journey with so much growth and opportunity.

Speaker 1:

I am just over the moon excited to hear all of everything that you're sharing here, and I want to share a little bit more and maybe you can go into detail about what you did before you joined the postpartum nutrition certification. What did your business or practice look like at that time?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you know, I think that both me and my clients were struggling. I wanted to help them and they wanted help. But, much like myself and a lot of women, I could see they were struggling with how to ask for help, and I was just giving them this bullet list of ideas of how I could change their linens, I could do laundry, I could do the dishes, and those things are wonderful and I still encompass those things in my programs. But I think what was missing was this component of nutrition. And when I really started to dive deep into it and I thought about like how much I hate meal planning as a mom some weeks it is just so exhausting, so time consuming.

Speaker 2:

You feel like you get stuck in this rut of like five or 10 meals that you just repeat all the time. And so when I took the postpartum course, I decided to implement it in a little bit different style than you. So we have more of like a restaurant menu where we've broken it down into like breakfast, snacks, main courses, soups, stews, things like that, and we even have like drinks and desserts and we offer, you know, like kind of a seasonal offering where the families can just pick what they want and there isn't this like decision fatigue involved. And it's so funny because I see the trends of like what meals are like the most popular and which ones I'm making every week, and it has just been so good and I've gotten so much good feedback from it.

Speaker 1:

Do you notice a difference in the way your clients feel after supporting them you know from with nutrition, versus not supporting them with nutrition?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've gotten great feedback, especially from second time moms that were probably like myself, just eating like sandwiches and salads all the time because they were easy, they took five minutes to put together and they did. They just felt, I think, even on an emotional aspect, just cared for, but then taking care of their bodies and understanding that this doesn't have to be about losing weight right away or trying to get back into your pre-pregnancy genes, that nourishment is about just taking care of themselves and having someone in their life who affirms that for them was a huge game changer.

Speaker 1:

Do they tell like? What words do they use to describe like okay, I have more energy now, where I feel like I'm able to get back to doing laundry without like needing support? Do you notice any of that? Like what, what kind of language are they giving you when they telling you that this is amazing or different?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of what I hear is like the emotional weight that it's lifted, that they didn't have to think about meals for their family, that they felt so much better that they had more time for themselves and that in general, they were just having such a better postpartum experience than prior times where they didn't have support in the kitchen, than prior times where they didn't have support in the kitchen.

Speaker 1:

It's funny that you mentioned that because I was just reading how, back in the day, I guess, and previous cultures previous, not cultures, but like time you know, generations before and still to this day, we spend approximately 30% of our time surrounded by like the idea of food. So, whether that's like going to the grocery store picking out the fruits and veggies or the meals, prepping for the meals, thinking about the meals, cooking the meals, like everything is like 30% of our lives were once like a huge part of that, and now we've gotten into this idea of like fast food and like supplements, and we're doing all of that because we don't have 30% of our time to dedicate to food anymore, you know especially when you have a baby, especially when you're, like you know, chasing toddlers around with a baby right Like.

Speaker 1:

nobody has time for that. So for you to like, come in and, even if it was like 20% of their time and you're chopping that down to like maybe 5% of like here, warm up your food, eat it, like that's a significant difference for them.

Speaker 2:

It is, and I think some of the greatest feedback, and where the service has become so essential, is that not everyone loves freezer meals. Not everyone wants to eat the same thing for days and days and days at a time, and so the way that we've structured our services is that we'll go in two to three times a week, and so they're really getting fresh made services and food all the time, and they can change up their selection. They're not just stuck eating something that they made weeks or months ago, and so they have the option based off of what is better for their family. Some families are totally okay with, you know, repetitive meals and some just aren't, and so we've been able to broaden that spectrum and, I think, support more families with various needs.

Speaker 1:

Postpartum professionals. This is for you. You already know that postpartum care is broken. Mothers are struggling with depletion, hormone imbalances, mental health challenges and autoimmune diseases, and conventional care is not cutting it. The Postpartum Nutrition Certification is the only functional nutrition training designed specifically for postpartum providers like you. You'll gain access to the root cause knowledge, research-backed frameworks and practical tools that you need to elevate your expertise, improve client outcomes and position yourself as the go-to provider in postpartum care. Become a certified postpartum nutrition specialist and lead the movement in postpartum healing. Enroll now. There is limited seats. Actually, we had to open a new cohort because the program sold out to our wait list, so you have until March 16th to register or until it's full again, whichever comes first. So register now at postpartumucom slash certification. You mentioned in your message to me that this program changed your life. Yeah, you share what that looks like for you. How did this shift your life?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, I think, from a personal aspect, like I said, just being more kind and gentle on myself and you know hearing a lot of things that I needed to hear as a mom that was still recovering from birth and postpartum. So in that sense, for myself it was great to take the program. And then, on a business level, I mean when I opened my business, my heart was really just wanting to serve women and make sure that they didn't have a postpartum experience like what I had had. I had no support, I didn't have anyone making meals or volunteering to clean up the kitchen. I was really handling a lot of it on my own.

Speaker 2:

And so to have grown in the first 12 months from, you know, just me myself and I to adding even just a couple of team members in Arizona was I still pinch myself because it doesn't feel real. But then to look back in, like another 12 months, how much the impact of three or four people has had and now growing to a team of 10, just in the Phoenix area. And now we have providers based in Florida, georgia, south Carolina, washington and a few other states that are joining and while many of them are not certified in postpartum nutrition yet, they're following the menu that I've created with the knowledge that I've gained, and so they're still sharing that wealth of information and they're intrigued by it, and the more that they practice it, the more that they want to learn even more about it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes. This is so exciting to see, like the big shift that has happened and, honestly, like in a relatively short period of time, would you say.

Speaker 2:

Very. I mean, we just celebrated our two-year business anniversary on February 1st this year, so you know, in 24 months, to have served as many families as we had. You know, I know when some people come into the doula and birth worker industry, it can be competitive, it can be difficult to find your niche, and I think that just where postpartum nutrition meets mental health was so incredibly intriguing to me that that was really where I just decided to dive in and put all of my extra energy and educational opportunities into, and I have grown so much as an individual in that time. But I've just been able to share that information with I mean literally dozens and dozens of clients at this point, and it's been phenomenal.

Speaker 1:

And a lot of people come into the postpartum you know doula field, right and they're very interested in food and their clients are literally asking about food. Like it is a very common thing now that if you're not talking about food, you're really missing out. Yeah, I'm noticing a lot of of doulas who are like okay, cool, well, I'll just like come to their home and I'll start cooking these meals, which sounds awesome and amazing, right, but at the same time, sometimes it can be even more harmful than it is good, right. Yeah, can you, can you share a little bit about, like what you learned in the certification program? That was just like wait, wait a second, I can't just go out and just cook a meal and like this is going to be the thing. Like it's so helpful for me to have this certification under my belt because now I know my services are like a hundred times better and they're getting what they need.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. I know that before I became certified, and even just like throughout the certification process learning, learning so much about a woman's digestive track in the immediate postpartum healing I think that that's something that's just so easy to overlook. Like some people, when they start to think about it they're like, yeah, that's totally common sense, but in those moments it's not an area that we give priority to. And so before the certification, I was going in and I was just like, okay, what do you have on hand? And what do families that just had a baby have on hand? Easy stuff, Like they're eating probably what their kids are eating. They're eating a lot of salads, a lot of sandwiches, just these chicken nuggets.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, these, you know these thrown together meals, and it's like I'm glad that they eat something. I always give them credit where it's due because at least they've thought about at least eating. Um, but they deserve so much more than that. They deserve the opportunity to have meals at appropriate meal times and really just to be catered to. And so that shift for me was huge, just going from like scounging in people's kitchens and trying to make some sort of decent put together meal for them to really honing in and presenting this menu, creating the grocery list for them. You know, with our company we'll even do the grocery pickup orders. If you need us to, we'll put everything away. So we've completely reduced the mental portion of food consumption and just made it enjoyable for moms. Again, I want that we all need that.

Speaker 1:

We all need that all the time. We all need that. That is so amazing. Okay, so there's so many providers who come into the certification program. I think probably around 60 to 70% are doctors. They're nurses, midwives, lactation consultants, et cetera, et cetera, and then a good 30 to 40% of them are doulas. They're in the field, they're doing the hard work. Many of them are like dual certified, like yourself, who have their newborn care specialists and many like. I've noticed a huge trend. We have a very like huge population, like overlap, where a nurse becomes a doula, like we're seeing a lot of that, which is super fun. But we have a lot of these doulas and providers who are coming in to the certification and they're able to start charging more for their services. They're getting booked out in ways that they haven't experienced before. They're having more client success stories, which means that they're getting more and more clients, because those clients are telling their friends right, yeah, did you experience anything like that?

Speaker 2:

I did. So I've been fortunate for most of my doula and NCS career that I've been booked out, but I mean, I'm continuously booked out eight to nine months in advance, which doesn't sound like a lot in some industries, but in birth work that's the most that you can be booked out, which is amazing. So, like I have clients on the books already for September of this year, which is amazing, and in terms of how else I was able to grow, I did start charging more Like a lot of doulas. I came in at a very entry-level wage because I had a lot of imposter syndrome. I wasn't really sure, you know, when I spoke, was it convincing? Did these people believe what I had to say? And the more confidence that I've gained through education and experience. People value what I have to say now, which is such a significant shift in my professional life, and so for me, my rates have gone up almost 75% since then, which took me to a financial place in my personal life I'd never been before.

Speaker 1:

I, I'm blown away by you and, if I may share, you were walking in to your house. You were, you were coming into the the our meeting today and you were like I'm so sorry, I was just at somebody's house, they really needed support and so I just like showed up for free, yeah, and the fact that you were not only able to grow your business significantly, take your income to new heights, but you're also like, now that I have and this is this is what I'm seeing is like now that I have this level of success and this freedom and I have the financial ability to have a team and I have, like, all of these other supports, I get to show up and still serve in the way that I want to serve, and sometimes that means showing up for free and a blink of a moment when I know I'm needed.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. That was one of the greatest things that I think being a postpartum doula that's experienced so much success has brought to me is that we offer tons of free services throughout the year. Sometimes it's just families that, like I see online that are asking about support. And then we start to have a conversation and they're like I just can't afford it. And I say like don't worry about it, let's get you at least a few shifts with one of't afford it. And I say like don't worry about it, let's get you at least a few shifts with one of our doulas, and then you know we'll take care of it.

Speaker 2:

I go out and I work with families, often for free. As a really young mom I was 22 when I started my family I could have never dreamed of affording a service like this, and I hate that financial limitations are often one of the number one causes for no support in postpartum. It's just not fair and we're still waiting for insurance to cover a lot of these services. It's just not something that is seen and appreciated yet and I just refuse to be part of that. There's a lot of opportunity where I do get compensated for my time and that's amazing, but in return. I want to give to the moms that were you know where I was eight years ago as a new mom.

Speaker 1:

It sounds like your ability to go from this place of like. Yes, I'm successful. I've been able to have this financial stability that I've not had before previously that allows you to give even more. Is that true, Like, do you know, are you able to give significantly more because that you've reached this level?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just this month alone, I've taken on two clients for free and that was amazing. One of them was right in my neighborhood, another one was in a more rural area nearby and, regardless of why, it is that they decided not to invest affordability, or maybe they just don't yet understand and value what a postpartum doula can bring I want to share that with them. And sometimes even our freed services have led to somebody that was like wow, like I didn't realize how valuable this was, and they'll book a package with us afterwards, which is amazing. But a lot of times we'll just go in and we'll we'll give a family two or three shifts and we'll really focus on that nutrition. I'll make sure that I'm taking extra time to prepare extra meals so that even after my time with them is done, they still have some lingering support available.

Speaker 1:

I'm so impressed by you. I'm just absolutely blown away by what you're doing in this world and how you're changing lives, and I know that your community is benefiting immensely. I mean just thinking of the babies and the mom's heart, like I, just I'm so grateful for you. I'm tearing up just saying this, but I'd love to know, like there's going to be people out there who are listening into this, who are on the fence about joining the postpartum nutrition certification program. What would you say to them if they're sitting on the on that fence not making a move?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I would say that I have had a wonderful career. I've experienced a tremendous amount of growth, not just professionally or financially, but so much on a personal level. Through different phases of my life I've experienced things that have helped me connect on a deeper level with clients, whether it was my own pregnancy loss or my own traumas. But then to hear validation that postpartum does not just have to be about getting back to who you used to be or what you used to look like, but to know that there's so much more and it's about moving forward and that there are people here that want to help moms and that you're not alone in this process. So to join that community is so incredibly impactful in this world.

Speaker 2:

And again, I think some people come in and they think of the doula industry as being kind of saturated. Again, I think some people come in and they think of the doula industry as being kind of saturated or they think of it as being competitive. And that's a mindset, that that is a choice to feel that way, because we open our team to new doulas all the time, new, new NCSs and we provide mentorship. So it doesn't have to be competitive. You can find your team and you can join somebody that's willing to help you grow throughout the process.

Speaker 1:

So beautiful. I'm curious where do you see your work headed now that you have, like this, deeper knowledge and expertise and you've got this experience and full list of clients like you're already growing all over the?

Speaker 2:

States. Yeah, you know, I didn't even think I'd be here two years ago, so it's really hard to say what two more years will bring. At one point I had thought like okay, like maybe the agency will be big enough that I can step away. And then we've continued to grow and I just refuse to step away. Yet I really genuinely enjoy working with clients. So I think at this point, like I really want to focus on the mentorship part of it. I want to focus on helping others offer this service to people, which is why speaking about it was so important to me, because the postpartum nutrition certification is something that so many doulas don't even know exist, and I get people that are like, oh, where'd you get that certification from? Where did you train? And I'm happy to tell them because more families need it and, whether they're on my team or they work independently, it's just such a wealth of knowledge that people should have.

Speaker 1:

I'm so excited for you and what you're going to do across the United States, like and I know that there's probably a lot of people who are listening in maybe, who are already doulas or are wanting to be a doula or wanting to add that to their profession, and they're like okay, how do I connect with Brent? Like I want, I want to talk with this gal. How can they, how can they reach out to you?

Speaker 2:

So the best place, whether you are a family or a service provider, is on our website, which is thefamilyfoundationsagencycom, or you can also connect with us on Instagram, which is also at the family foundations agency. When you go to our website, we've divided the website for links that Also connect with us on Instagram, which is also at the Family Foundations Agency. When you go to our website, we've divided the website for links that are for families, so you can just click the for families link and read about the services that we offer. Or, if you're a service provider, you can click for providers and we have an application on there if you're interested in joining our team, as well as just like the benefits of being part of a team. While we've kind of honed in on a few areas that we're already offering services in, we want to continue to grow. So, regardless of where someone lives, either inquiring about services or wanting to offer services, we're open and we're ready to support them on both ends.

Speaker 1:

So beautiful and, of course, we're gonna have all of those links. Please go connect with Brynn, go share your expertise with her, go see about being on her team, but also connect with her, see what she's doing, look at her programs, go to her website and just like kind of stalk her a little bit on social media. See what she's doing and how she's implementing this, especially if you have been on the fence about joining us and becoming a certified postpartum nutrition specialist. Brynn, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I can't wait to see you in the next few months and check in and see where you are.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It was so nice to connect with you again. I feel like I've just been shouting your name in groups here and there throughout the years and, you know, having the opportunity to speak about something that I'm so passionate about just feels like one of those moments in life where you're like wow, I didn't think that was going to happen, but it's so valuable and I just want more people to have the opportunity to learn it and implement it into their own lives, or learn it and implement it into their own lives, or learn it and take it to help others.

Speaker 1:

Gorgeous Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Yes, you're welcome.

Speaker 1:

Thanks so much for being a part of this crucial conversation. I know you're dedicated to advancing postpartum care and if you're ready to dig deeper, come join us on our newsletter, where I share exclusive insights, resources and the latest tools to help you make a lasting impact on postpartum health. Sign up at postpartumu the letter ucom which is in the show notes, and if you found today's episode valuable, please leave a review to help us reach more providers like you. Together, we're building a future where mothers are fully supported and thriving you.

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