Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Sprague.
Bianca, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story is one that has so many pivots and landed in a totally different place than I originally intended when I started almost 20 years ago. Honestly, when I look back over the last almost 20 years of my business, I cannot believe the distance I have traveled.
I started my company, which was a private practice which grew and rebranded into bebo mia inc. because I had just had my baby the month before. I felt so wildly angry, and I knew I wanted to change the face of reproductive health and justice.
My plan was to go to medical school, I had finished my pre-med and everything, and I quickly pivoted and decided to take a doula training.
My gut was telling me that that was the right path, even though my ego was screaming about my decision. That was a big leap for me. So, with my newborn baby strapped to my chest, I started my private practice. I did everything with my daughter attached to me. The great news was that my practice grew really quickly, and I needed to start hiring more folks for my team. Really this was the moment when bebo mia was born.
The doula training model was just a weekend long, and I did not want my staff to have such a limited crash course of education. It is wild the idea that something as nuanced and important as doula care just had a 2 day training!
So I started a 12-week-long doula on boarding to catch my team up to speed and make sure they delivered incredible care to families going through their fertility and birth and postpartum journeys in Toronto.
Well, didn’t I accidentally build a doula training!
This grew, and I moved exclusively online in 2013. I now serve 1000s of providers in over 55 countries and have supported hundreds of families personally with my one-on-one care.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I mean, it is hard for anything to be smooth all the time and we learn the most from our mistakes. Oh my goodness, I’ve made so many mistakes. Lots and lots of mistakes with bebo mia. The truth is, being an entrepreneur is more about mistakes than successes.
When I first moved online in 2013, there were not easy pieces of software like Teachable or Kajabi or things like that. We had to build it, so I was learning about APIs which were so foreign to me! My business partner and I bought a teleseminar software and did our first promotional call in my car because it was quiet and away from the kids inside the house. The idea that folks would call and listen to a webinar is hilarious to me!
People did not accept online education at the time, so we had to educate and ‘prove’ that you could learn a skill like doula care, in the digital space. It was hard as heck.
Most of my mistakes are rooted in a lack of contract or clarity around the contract. In the contract, you need to cover the expectations because clear is kind, and everybody knowing exactly what is expected of them makes for such an easy working relationship. The top five most painful and expensive mistakes have all been rooted in this. There is a bit of a block for women in business where we skip this step because we don’t want to seem rude or it might seem impolite, or we trust the social part of relationships. It is not to say that we cannot trust one another, but when we do not have clear and transparent discussions leading to documentation, there is room for interpretation and misinterpretation, and disappointment and resentment.
My business partner, who I founded bebo mia with, and I learned this the very hard and painful way over the course of relationships with others. So because of that, we decided we were going to have really really clear exit documents with each other. It is important to remember, you will end your business either by selling it, closing it, or dying, so we knew these exit documents would come into play at some point.
We had documents that were so clear that we amicably, respectfully, and fairly separated in 2021 and it only took 3 weeks after a 13 year working relationship.
So, clearly I learned to do it right eventually.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I mean, as I mentioned earlier, I founded bebo mia because I was frustrated.
I had taken a doula training myself and left feeling completely unprepared for the realities of supporting families. I had learned some skills, but nobody taught me how to navigate complex situations, how to understand systems of oppression in reproductive health, how to support clients through loss, or how to build a sustainable business. I knew there had to be a better way.
Today, bebo mia trains doulas, childbirth educators, lactation educators, fertility support professionals, and other maternal health practitioners in more than 50 countries around the world. We specialize in comprehensive, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive education that prepares people for both the care work and the business side of this profession.
What sets us apart is that we refuse to separate those two things. A practitioner can be incredibly skilled, but if they cannot attract clients, set boundaries, manage finances, or avoid burnout, they are unlikely to stay in the field long enough to make the impact they want to make.
The role of a doula has grown and expanded so much over these years, I believe we are one of only a few organizations in the world that actually prepares and mentors students so that they are truly ready to support families.
We are also deeply committed to reproductive justice. Everything we do is viewed through an anti-racist, anti-oppressive lens. We talk openly about medical coercion, obstetric violence, health inequities, and the systems that continue to fail women, queer families, and marginalized communities.
We believe education should challenge harmful systems, not simply teach people how to operate within them.
One of the things I am most proud of is that we provide free therapy to all of our students and alumni. This is ground breaking and we have been doing this since 2017!
Supporting families through fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and loss can be incredibly meaningful work, but it can also be emotionally demanding. We want our graduates to be well supported themselves because this is the only way for this work to be sustainable.
At our core, we are building a movement as much as we are building an educational organization. Every doula, educator, and support professional we train creates a ripple effect in their own community. I look at this a pure flippin’ magic. They help families feel informed, respected, and empowered during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. That ripple effect is what drives everything we do.
We also have a massive scholarship program where we offer over $100K in scholarships every year. We have been doing this for 25 sessions and the impact is beautiful. We are so darn committed to breaking down barriers that would prevent women and queer folks from accessing education and career building opportunities. Even in our roughest economic patches that were really hard for our organization, we refused to stop this part of our mission.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Well, I have many awesome memories from my childhood, it was one filled with play but one clear memory stands out. I was 8 years old and my parents decided to have a homebirth for my little sister’s birth. My mom had had a c-section with my younger brother and it was quite traumatic for her. They knew this was going to be their last baby and created a really incredible journey that I found really impactful. It was an illegal homebirth as midwives were not regulated or allowed to practice like this.
It was the week of Christmas in 1988. It was cozy and warm in the family room with the fire going and the tree twinkling. The lights were dim and my dad had albums playing in the background.
I was so curious about everything that was happening, it was all so calm and supported and felt so loving. My mom had three friends there supporting her (1 RN and 2 midwives) and I just wanted to sit on the couch and watch. Whenever I got pulled away for food or outside time I was so irritated.
The birth was incredible. I could not believe what I just saw.
There is VHS footage somewhere of me hanging out in the bathroom. It is after the birth and the midwives are checking the placenta in the sink and I am holding a sandwich with one hand and right in there with the other.
I was hooked on all things birth from that day forward.
Pricing:
- Full Spectrum Doula Training $2779
- Birth Doula Training Self Study $679
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bebomia.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bebomiainc
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/bebomiainc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bebomiainc
