Hallie Rogers was once a new mom, crying in the bathtub with stitches and a landline, asking her mom, “What did I get myself into?” Now the 42-year-old Maplewood mother of four is helping other moms ask the same question. She founded Better Beginnings (BetterBeginningsMN.com), a postpartum support company that has served nearly 1,500 families since 2013. It currently employs a dozen people and contracts with eight others.
“I was praying and asking God to help me figure out my next path,” said Rogers, a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. “This emerged as a strong pull: to create a solution for what I saw as a real problem: lack of professional support for parents after the birth of their baby.”
Q) Better Beginnings was founded from your own experience as a new mom. Tell me about your postpartum months.
A) I felt very alone. I had so much support, and I still started to experience postpartum anxiety and then full-blown postpartum depression. If I’ve got all this support and am still struggling, then what are moms who don’t have this support doing?
Q) You genuinely wanted to help others. How did you turn that earnest desire into an actual business?
A) The specific impetus was prayer. I was very excited, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a role model in my own mother. She worked as a travel agent for decades and then she started her own travel business. I had this sense growing up as a girl: You can make your own path forward. This is something people do!
When our daughter was 6 months old, I created a website, registered it with the state and started offering free support to families I knew who were having babies. After starting the business, I then realized: Oh, there’s this thing called a postpartum doula, that’s what I am! So, I went and trained and got certified.
Q) You were ahead of your time, weren’t you?
A) For sure. When I started Better Beginnings 12 years ago, nobody knew what a postpartum doula was. I didn’t even know what it was. Now people are Googling for it before they even have their baby. So many people know that this type of support exists now, which I view as a really positive sign.
Q) What does postpartum doula care look like?
A) We wear two hats. One is the expert knowledge: newborn care education, lactation support, perinatal mental health. The other hat is really practical. We do laundry, we do dishes, we prep food, we take the baby while you nap.
I try to remind our staff: Even when you feel like you’re doing mundane things that maybe anyone could do, you’re actually changing life for this family, because the rest and peace in this home is worth everything.
If I could give this support to every family for free, I would. It’s something I believe every family should have. I think it should be built into the system. Assuming Medicare isn’t too unchanged in Minnesota, we’re almost ready to be able to bill Medicare. Minnesota has a really pro-life Medicare program in terms of their coverage for families — not only through pregnancy, but postpartum support, too.
Q) You’ve been able to provide free services at times by enlisting your community.
A) Last year we supported a 14-year-old who had a baby and was in a family that wasn’t able to provide any support. … And we also supported a mom of five who was having a C-section while her husband was going through very intense cancer treatment. That’s the kindness and generosity of our community.
Q) Do people ever buy your services as a gift?
A) We’ve had a number of people buy the services as a gift. Sometimes it’s a baby shower gift where people pool together to give it to the mom or the parents. Sometimes it’s like, “Hey, I love my sister so much, but I can’t be there because I live in D.C., so I want to pay for her to get some support from you guys.” We’ve had a number of situations where grandma or grandpa are able to pay for it for their daughter or son because maybe they’re 70 and they just don’t have the energy to do a lot for them (the couple), but they want to make sure they get some support.
Q) How does your Catholic faith inspire your work?
A) As Catholics, we understand the importance of the family as that building block of society. If we can help that mom — or ideally, both parents — to be well, then the baby is well, and the whole family will be well. If I can walk the walk and show Christ’s love in how I operate, then that’s the best way for me to live the Gospel.
Q) Mental health is a key pillar of your work.
A) There’s been a big shift in the last decade of being a lot more open to talk(ing) about mental health. I still think there’s a way(s) to go.
Q) What are a few ways to help a new mom?
A) Check in. Ask, “What has been the best thing this week? What has been the hardest thing?” Don’t say, “Let us know if we can help.” Instead say, “Can I bring you dinner on Wednesday?” Or, “Can I come over Friday after work and hold the baby while you nap?”
Q) Has launching this successful business emboldened you?
A) I think so. I’ve always been the sort of person who’s like: I want to do that! If I see a problem, I want to fix it. I probably will want to start another business one day or a nonprofit … but right now, I still feel pretty sure that this is where God wants me to be.
Q) What’s your go-to prayer?
A) The Litany of Trust. There’s so much in my life that I need to entrust to God — not only my business, but my life. Every month I question: Should I still be doing this? Should I throw in the towel? That’s probably true of every small-business owner.
Q) How are you shaping your summer to allow for recreation and renewal?
A) We (my family and I) just got back from a 19-day road trip. We were all crammed into one minivan with no hitch and no car-top carrier. We are a camping family. We love the national parks.
As far as spiritually, I just love having more time in the summer to go to adoration. At St. Ambrose, they have a perpetual adoration chapel and it’s gorgeous and it’s 24/7 — such a gift.
Q) What do you know for sure?
A) God loves me! That’s pretty much it!
