Making a Difference When It Matters Most | Emma Weaver of Downriver Doula

What happens when you combine compassion, courage, and a willingness to jump in before you feel fully ready?

In this episode of HighlightHer, Jenny sits down with Emma Weaver, founder of Downriver Doula, for a thoughtful conversation about birth work, entrepreneurship, motherhood, and supporting women through some of the most vulnerable and powerful moments of their lives.

Jenny has had the unique privilege of watching Emma grow from a college student at church into a wife, mom, and business owner — making this conversation feel especially full circle.

Emma shares how her own childbirth experience sparked an interest in becoming a doula, how one unexpected opportunity confirmed she was on the right path, and how she adapted to be able to run a business and take care of her own family.

Together, Jenny and Emma talk about:

•  Starting before you feel fully qualified 
•  Building a business through relationships and trust 
•  Balancing entrepreneurship with family life 
•  Partnering with the “right” people in business 
• and more!

Emma also gives listeners a beautiful behind-the-scenes look at what doulas actually do — from prenatal meetings and labor support to postpartum visits sprinkled with personal touches.

One of the themes woven throughout this episode is something HighlightHer listeners know well: sometimes the most meaningful businesses are built simply by noticing a need and deciding to show up for people.

Connect with Emma:

Learn more about Emma and her services at Downriver Doula

Follow Emma on Facebook and Instagram

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Credits:

Editing: Greg Herman

Music: “Corporate Inspiration” track - by Oleksandr Savochka at Pixabay

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And in that meeting, I was like, hey, do you want to do this together? Do you want to have a partners?

SPEAKER_01 0:06

And I had just met her that day. Hi everyone, and welcome to Highlight Her. Before we get into the episode, I invite you to hit that follow button. It helps the show get delivered into your feed and it's a free way to support the podcast. Today's featured guest is Emma Weaver of Downriver Doula. I am super excited to learn more about her journey. I am just so proud of her because I've watched her at my church as she goes from a college kid to a married woman to a business owner and a mom. So I can't wait to hear her story and see how she fits everything together. Hi, Emma. Hi, thank you for having me. I am so excited that you're joining us today. But before we dive into what brought you to where you are today, I have a question that I'd like to start with. Is there a moment recently where you thought this is why I do this?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

After every birth. Yes, I think that. Um I um even when things are really difficult, sometimes things cannot go how we want at a birth. And but um whenever the baby is born and whenever I'm there supporting my clients, I do think that it's just a gift that I get to support these families through this really intimate time in their lives. I can see that that you have a lot of those.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

This is why I do this thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

So before we get too far into the interview, can you explain to the audience what a doula is? Because we might have some listeners that don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Yeah, so there's different types of doulas. I'm a birth doula, and a birth doula supports families um through pregnancy, um, birth, and postpartum. Um, and we support them emotionally, physically, informationally, we advocate for them. A lot of that is during the labor process and birth, but it can also part of it can be um prenatally and in the postpartum period too.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Okay. So if people wanted to poke around your website while they're listening, what is your website?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

My website is downriverdoula.com with no idea or anything, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Thank you so much. So I find it fascinating that doula's have kind of returned. They've kind of made a comeback, so to speak, in the last, I'm guessing maybe 10 to 20 years. It's kind of a slow comeback. What brought the interest to you?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

So I um knew of doula's because there's a woman at our church who's a doula. Her name's Joy. She's great. She was my doula for both of my births. Um, and then after I had both of my girls, I started looking into it more because I thought that's such a cool job to be able to support families and other women. And it's something that's really needed in our area, especially. Um, so I thought knowing her and knowing what she um got to do, I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

So, how did you go about turning an interest into an actual business?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

So I want to say, like right after I had my daughter, um, so that was 2022, I started looking into it, but I had just had a baby, so I didn't think that was the right time. So about a year later, she's still little, um, I met with Joy and I asked her a bunch of questions. And then I signed up for a doula training. I had also started to put out there that I wanted to be a doula just on social media. I created a page, I created a website, I reached out. This is crazy. I actually reached out to someone who followed me and said, like, hey, I saw you're expecting. Would you want to have a doula? Because she had followed me and I thought maybe she's trying to find someone. And she said, Yeah, actually, that's crazy. I I would love that. I'm like due any day. I met her on a Saturday. And then not even three hours later, she said, Hey, I'm in labor and do you want to come? And she wasn't even decided yet if um she wanted me to be there. And she she texted me and said, You can come. So I went, I had no training. So I like to say I attended that birth and not really supported because I did not know what I was doing. Uh but I was there. And after that, I had already signed up for the training, but after seeing, and it was a very quick birth. I didn't even know the husband's name until after the baby was delivered. And awesome. Um, yeah, so I had already signed up for the training, and but then after that, I was like, this is I'm gonna do this. This is what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

What a great story. How long did the classes and training take you before you were able to work on your own?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So there's not a lot of regulations around that. Like someone could say they're a doula and go support a bird tomorrow, you know, just like I did actually. But um the training took me about it was three full days of training over a weekend. And then after that, actually.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Okay, so how long was it from when you did your training to when you could start doing your doula services?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

So I started right away. So after my training, I um my trainer actually suggested different ways of um trying to get um clients because part of the certification process is attending for the organization I was certifying through. I needed to um attend support three births before I could be certified. So I had already created my Instagram account and Facebook page and website, and I put on there on my social media accounts that I was looking for clients and that I was going to support um for free for the first three clients that I could get so that I, you know, could get some experience. Um, so very quickly I had a friend from church and then um two people I didn't know at all reach out and I attended and supported those births within um just maybe like three weeks of my training. Um, and then from there I um continued to take on clients and started charging a bit after that. Um, but I wasn't certified until I want to say April of my training was in October of 23, and then I was certified by April of 24. So two years ago now. That's awesome. Do you know how many brothers do you have supported? Yes, I want to say I need to go back because I just went to a birth a couple weeks ago, but I think I'm at 21. Um how exciting!

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah, what a special thing to be able to say that you help families bring new life into the world. That it is a gift that gives me chills. Aww. So you have a partner. How did you decide when you needed a partner? And how do you even pick a partner for something so special and important?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

One of the first lessons I learned was I cannot take on more than one client a month because I took on a lot right away. And then my body did not like that. It's a lot of physical work too. It's a lot mentally. Very quickly, I learned that. I want to say about three months into it, I started looking for, I really wanted to have um a doula partner. Um, but I really wanted someone who had just a similar look on life, just so that like business too. I really wanted to have someone who's honest and I could trust. And saw this woman who made an Instagram account that she was a doula, and it it probably popped up on my feed because I'm a doula. I knew of her because she goes to a um a church that I know of, and she has we have mutual friends. So I knew of her, but I'd never met her before. And so I her Instagram popped up. I sent her a message, I said, hey, let's get together. Um, so we got together. I want to say that was like February or April of 24, two years ago now. And um I met her for breakfast, and in that meeting, after we're talking for like an hour or so about like she had just become a doula too, we're talking about faith, about our lives, about our kids, all the things. And in that meeting, I was like, Hey, do you want to do this together? Do you want to be partners? And I had just met her that day. Um, but I I think because we had mutual friends and I knew like people that knew her, and I from just the conversations we had, like, okay, like I think we're doing this for the same reasons. That was huge to me for me too. I I I wanted to go into it with someone who was doing it for the same reasons as me. Um and she said, Yeah, I want to do that. So um we became friends and business partners at the same time. And she's great. Her name's Hope. And yeah, we take on clients together now, and um yeah, it's it's great. So that's how I got a development business partner. I love that. That's a gutsy move. It is. That's kind of how I roll, apparently. I'm just very um yeah, I take risks apparently.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

That's something you need in business though, to be able to take risks.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Yeah, you do, you do, and you learn from these risks and mistakes and all the things, but that is true.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

So, what would you say is your superpower as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Um, my it probably, I mean, you'll probably get that from that story, but I am very much like a people person. I love to get to know people. I want to um very some might think it's nosy, some might think I'm curious. Like I just want to get to know people and build a relationship with them. And I think that helps in this business a lot. I think when people hopefully when they interact with me just in a consultation or if they end up hiring Hope and I as their doulas, um, I hope they see that I genuinely care about them and want to help. And that's why I'm doing this.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Definitely a great one to have when you're helping families through such an important time in their lives. It's something that's needed in your area, but also you have a limited amount of time that you can offer and a limited number of slots. You have a limited number of bursts that you can do. So, how are you looking for clients?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

For the most part, word of mouth works really well and people come to us. And also because I want to do this long term, I am not trying to take, you know, trying to get as many clients as possible. That's not how I do it. I think after 21 babies, you probably have a lot of referrals. Yes, we do get a lot of referrals, which is really sweet. I do have a client who is always telling people about them, but she's referred me to quite a few moms, which is really sweet. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

I know um you mentioned earlier that you offer services for pre-birth, birth, and postpartum. So can you walk your the audience through a little bit of what that consists of?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah. So we um set up two meetings prenatally with our families, and one of the meetings is more about like the birth plan and options in labor and um comfort measures and getting to know them. So we're if they're hiring us early on in the pregnancy, we're taking that time to just get to know them too. Um, they're usually at people's houses for a couple of hours, um, and we kind of talk about all of the birth preferences, and then the second meeting prenatally is closer to their due date, and it's more about what to expect postpartum and just how things have been going at appointments. We also set up a group text with our clients, and if they want to add their partner husbands in the group text, too, they can. And um, that gives us like a way to communicate throughout the whole pregnancy and even afterwards about how things are going. And then in labor, it depends on who's on call. So whoever sometimes people will call me and then I'll say, Oh, folks on call, I'll call her, you can call her. Um, so whoever's on call will support the birth and we stay with them from the time that they need like support. Sometimes they really need physical support, sometimes they are not doing, you know, it's been 12 hours at home already and they need us, they just need some emotional support too. So we might go to their house um and help them there. Usually once they're in active labor, though, is when we come and then or we'll meet them at the hospital. Um, if things are quick, we'll meet them at the hospital for sure. And then we support them there in all the ways I said before, you know, physically, emotionally, informationally. We advocate, and then we'll stay with them a few hours after the baby's born too, and like help with breastfeeding and making sure they're settled after two. I always like to say, I will stay until you are settled. So that could be two hours, it could be four hours. I've stayed six hours, you know. Um so postpartum, we come usually within the first week or two. We bring a meal, we sit with them, and if they want to talk about the birth, we can talk about it. I've folded a lot of laundry, I've vacuumed a lot of houses, meal prep, stuff like that. Just like get them, support them in whatever way. Sometimes I'm holding their baby so they can take a nap. But some people want me to do things around the house. So at both postpartum visits we do two, um, we do stuff like that and we bring a meal to one of the visits. Hope makes sourdough and she brings sourdough, or she'll give it to me. I do not make sourdough, so she will bring sourdough to um I can bring to them too.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

What a blessing for those moms to have that aftercare.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

It's yeah, it's a really sweet time. Um, yeah, it is it is really special to be allowed, you know, that they allow us to come in, you know, because sometimes people don't want to have people visiting it that during that time. So it is always really sweet to come and check in on them and spend some time with them.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Have you ever run into cases in the hospital where the doctors and nurses are a little hesitant to let you do your thing?

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Yes. A lot of the time it's hospitals in our area, unfortunately, in downriver. I think there is, and maybe some doulas for sure, have done some things that me or said things, you know, that have gone over the line. They're like jumping into giving medical advice. I I don't do give medical advice or do any of the medical things I'm strictly support, and I will give you information, but I'm not about to give medical advice. So I think there's this thought from a lot of doctors, maybe in our area, that doulas are there to like take their place and say that the doctors are doing things wrong. So I think they have this idea that's what we would be. But yeah, I try to go into it then with this, you know, walk-in, I introduce myself, and I want us all to be a team to support in different ways this family in this process. So hopefully they see that when I'm coming in the room. I'm not, I do not want to fight with the doctors or the nurses. Like I want us all to work together to support this family in different ways. We all play a different role. And hopefully they start to see. Um, if doctors are against that, they start to see that we're just there to support and support in a different way that they can't, because they can't be in the room with their patients for the entirety of their labor, usually. So we can. That's what we're hired to do. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

I love that approach that you have that you see that there's a certain response sometimes. And so you go in proactively to kind of head it off and say, look, we're a team to support this family and this mom. And each of us has a different role. And I understand that. Or however you say that, I think that's really smart on your part. What are some of the great things that you've been able to provide for families that help them during the birthing process?

SPEAKER_00 16:46

One of the things I love in my bag is these organization website, whatever, of uh it's called Evidence-based birth. Great resource. They have these booklets. There's different ones. So there's one on comfort measures, there's one on interventions, there's one on newborn procedures, and I love having those. And I can something might be brought up by the doctor, like, hey, we're recommending this thing. And my client is like, I don't know what that is. Can you give me information? And I can whip that thing out and share that with them. So I love having that. And I love being able to like help my clients find information about whatever they're, you know, whatever it is they're looking for. If it's information about epidurals or um hepatitis B shar, vitamin K, all the things, just um evidence-based based information so that they can um make an informed decision on their own. And um, another thing I have in my bag that I love is my rebozo. So it's this, it's like this long piece of cloth. You can use it for a couple different things. Like during labor, you can use it to help kind of like wiggle your pelvis to move so that baby can move around and give make some space in there. So um, yeah, we I have that and I'd use that a bunch. Um, and I have what else? What are some things we do a lot of counterpressure? That's my hands. My trainer, I would I like love her so much that trained me. This isn't even her quote, but she said it, and so I heard it from her. But all a duel needs is that her hands in their heart, and I like remember that whenever I go to a birth that I really need my hands and my heart, and all the inform all the things in my bag are great, and all the information, all those things are great and should have those things. But when I go into it with that, that really helps me. But I use my hands a lot to do counterpressure or massage or just like a touch on the arm. And some moms don't want that, so you can tell me to stop touching you, and I will, um, or I will for sure ask before I do any of those things. But um, a lot of moms need like counterpressure, and so yeah, my hands are a great tool in the green um labor. Hope would say the same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

And it kind of goes back to that 2000s, and we we consider ourselves so modern, but women helping women through childbirth has been around for thousands of years. And when all else fails, you have your hands and your heart. That kind of brings it full circle through all the fancy things that you could have and in our day and age of technology, but sometimes it's just a kind word helping her through a contraction. I don't, I'm not going to pretend to know I know anything outside of my own birth experiences. So um, but I'm I imagine that you and hope have helped a lot of women through a lot of a lot of nerves, a lot of fear, some stress and pain. I hope so.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I I my Jula did that same thing for me. So I hope, you know, women really remember what is said to them in labor to open a study on that, which is really an interesting thing um to look at. But um you remember what people say to you in labor. And if people are encouraging you, you remember that. It's huge.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah. Oh yes. We have a funny quote in our family from with my first son, we were at the hospital and there was a nurse that just would say and it drove me crazy. And that's that's when you need to do that. That became a standing joke, right? Exactly. Exactly. So your yes, your moms are getting to remember beautiful, lovely, calm. I hope so. You do have a very calming presence, and I imagine that that's something that's helpful. Is that something you come by naturally or you had to learn it?

SPEAKER_00 20:48

I didn't realize I had that, and people have told me that now that I've become a doula, which is really very sweet. I didn't realize that they're gonna remember what I say, and I don't want to um yeah, have a negative impact in the birth space.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

I love that. So you have two little girls of your own, and um, we were chatting off to the side, and you said that one of the reasons that you limit how many clients you take on is so that you can have time with your family. How does your being an entrepreneur and them watching you have how does that influence them? Have you seen any mimicking or I want to be like you, mommy, or any of those things?

SPEAKER_00 21:33

There's two answers that I have for this. The first is my youngest, yes, she wants she she's I think she knows kind of what I do at this point in in her own little way. Like I think she has an idea of what it is. Um, and she also is very fascinated by birth and pregnancy and breastfeeding and all the things. So she is wanting to pretend that that I'm actually she wants me to. pretend I'm having a baby baby every day and she's my midwife so or my doula she's playing all the roles um so that's really cute but at the same time she if I put my shoes on that I wear to all the births that I go to she she'll say I don't want you to go to a birth so I think she's put together that I'm gone for quite a bit when I do go to a birth and it is only like once a month if that so um but I think it is it's hard um it's hard when I'm gone for them I think so that is why I I limit it so much because I don't want it to um negatively impact their lives but I when I get home it is always an exciting thing to like tell them that the baby was born and they're always excited about it you know if I come home the next morning or whatever and I'm like I was with the baby in a mana last night helping them and they they get excited about it.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Aw so cute. And I you mentioned that you want to do this long term. So I think it will be interesting to watch as your girls get older and watch you grow into the business even more and just get to see how you mature as a businesswoman and the things that you learn about business and babies and helping women there's so many facets that you're learning and as they get older they might see things differently at different stages of their lives. And probably some a lot different after they you know like 20 or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

And they can see even you know even a little more oh that's what mom was doing or wow that's so cool that my mom has her own business you know oh I hope so I hope it is this thing they think of that is really cool and that they would be interested in even right now I think it is they don't understand it fully. So it's hard for their little minds to understand.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

For sure for sure. Hi we're taking a quick break during this fantastic interview to invite you to subscribe to the Highlight Her podcast newsletter. That's right there's a newsletter that gets each episode delivered to your inbox and soon there will be additional features as well if you love supporting small businesses and hearing great success stories you're going to want to subscribe. Link in show notes back to our interview okay so we've reached the lightning round of just some fun short questions. What is your favorite coffee, tea, or hot chocolate? Coffee all right that's the one answer ooh what kind?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

I have a espresso machine at my house so I do just like an ice latte with some maple syrup.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Are you an early bird or a night owl night owl and is there a tool or app that helps you run your business my notes out there you go and what is your favorite way to unwind after a long business day so either whether you're working on things for clients or you've gone to a berth what's your favorite way to unwind?

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Go to sleep. Take a shower first and then go to sleep. Lastly is there a woman that you'd like to highlight yes my um friend Elena Miller she owns a particular photography business we grew up on the same street so we were um we grew up together and um she takes beautiful photos so I wanted to shout her out and recommend her to anyone who's getting married she does like mostly weddings but she also does um other shoots too so does she have a specific name for her business or is it just Elena Miller? I think it's Elena Miller photo yes I love that yeah or photography. Maybe I need to look this up now.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

It's okay okay Emma if someone wanted to start something similar to you say a service specific to women what's one piece of advice that you would give them I for this specific um business I would highly recommend reaching out to a doula um to ask them questions.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

That's I did that with my own doula I did it with other doula's around and a lot of doula's go into this business to help people so a lot of the time they are happy to help.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Audience if you want to follow Emma on social media she is downriver underscore doula on Facebook and Instagram her website is downriverdoula.com and downriver meaning approximately 20 minutes southwest of Metro Detroit. Thank you so much for joining us today Emma I'll make sure I put everything in the show notes so you can find Emma online. Audience thank you so much for listening to the podcast today if you love supporting women owned businesses join the Highlight Her network newsletter. The link is in the show notes when you receive the newsletter you won't miss an episode. Emma thank you so much for joining us I really appreciate your time and conversation