Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate West.
Hi Kate, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I didn’t dream of being a mother. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of independence and travel and a life of freedom. But when I found out I was pregnant in the summer of 2008, something inside me shifted. I confessed to my dear midwife/mentor and friend Alison that I feared becoming a mother would take me off my path. We were sitting on high bar stools in this small, open-air cafe in the center of the small Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende where I was living at the time. Alison shifted in her seat, looked me directly in the eyes, smiled, and said, “Motherhood won’t take you off your path. It’ll put you on it.” These words changed my life and catapulted me into a deep path that I am still walking today. In that Mexican cafe, I chose to say yes to all the challenges and joys that motherhood would bring my way.
After my first home birth with my son Daniel, I was hooked by the magic of the birth space. I was all IN, and so in 2012, while pregnant with my daughter, I trained as a birth doula. I began attending births as soon as I was able and worked with women before and after birth. I could see that birth is a portal of transformation, where a woman becomes someone new. She births her baby, and she also births herself. I became ignited with the passion to support women in stepping fully into this transformation. Around the same time, I began holding women’s circles to work with the energies of transformation in an intimate group space.
After the birth of my son Gabriel in 2014, I focused my birth work on the postpartum space, as I could see the need for more education and support for mamas after their babies are earthside. I studied with the Center for Sacred Window Studies in their conscious postpartum caregiver training, and when I met my now business partner Priya, our hearts and worlds collided. In the fall of 2020, we created Nest+Bowl, a postpartum care + education platform to rewrite the story of postpartum from isolation, depletion and dis-ease to one of community, wellness, and regeneration. We offer online courses, in-person and virtual postpartum care, and trainings for caregivers.
At the heart of my life is my practice with Song Carriers, where women gather to sing mother tongue songs and remember our interconnection with the sacred powers and more than human world. I co-facilitate these circles once a month in the Dripping Springs area.
As a mama of three growing humans, my primary work is to be a good steward of Mother Earth and to share my heart with the world in ways that remember us all to our innate magic, innocence, and joy. I am lit up to be on the planet right now, supporting the mamas and families, and consciously creating a whole new world for our future ancestors.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been many struggles along the way. For one, I was a single mama with my first son. I never wanted to identify with that title and partnered when my son was two years old. Finding my way into motherhood without a partner was a huge challenge, but at the time, I didn’t know life any other way.
In 2014, while pregnant with my third child, my husband quit his job in advertising (he was our sole income provider), and we took a huge leap and risk to make a film that was pure inspiration. We did a Kickstarter, raised not enough money, and went on the road (while I was 7-8 months pregnant, with two other kids under the age of 5). We drove to 26 states, interviewed over 40 families, and slept on dirty couches, forest floors, king-sized pillow-top mattresses in a mansion, and everywhere in between. We learned and grew and came home different humans.
In 2020, I separated from my husband of 10 years and moved to the country to remember myself. I had forgotten myself in all the hustle and busyness of life, and my soul called out for me to remember. This has been a huge recent struggle, a fire of transformation that I’ve moved through. I touched the bottom of an ocean of grief and faced many fears, and have learned to truly love all parts of myself. I am new and more myself now than I’ve ever been.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in conscious postpartum education and care for new mothers. We believe in re-centering the mother within the family and community and helping her to remember how to be nourished. We created Nest+Bowl to rewrite the story of postpartum from isolation, depletion and dis-ease to one of community, wellness, and regeneration.
We offer online courses (including our evergreen postpartum prep course The Sacred Season), in-person and virtual postpartum care, and trainings for caregivers.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I believe we make our own luck. I know that the energy I’m putting out affects whether I see opportunities or not, whether I”m open to receiving “good fortune” or not.
Contact Info:
- Email: kate@nestandbowl.com
- Website: www.nestandbowl.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nestandbowl/
Image Credits:
Adam Kealing
