Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lindsay Nelson, founder of Repro Empowerment, located in Tucson, AZ, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
The mission of RE is to change the culture of trauma-informed care in healthcare settings and advocate for patients' healing of trauma through sexual and reproductive autonomy, rights, and empowerment. Reproductive Empowerment Services is a trauma-informed sexual and reproductive health empowerment coaching and training firm.
We offer trauma-Informed reproductive empowerment coaching, publishing/speeches, and training around:
- Patient Self-Advocacy in Health Care.
- Egg Retrieval/Freezing Process.
- Medical Professional Training: Help them Improve patient relations through understanding trauma and empowering patients.
We have three main groups of clients, though they often overlap or come to one another.
- Fertility Clients - Anyone with uteruses and/or ovaries in their 20s to 40s who want Trauma-informed coaching on the egg retrieval and or freezing process. Deciding whether to do it, going through it, and/or processing it after.
- Healthcare Self-Advocacy Clients - Anyone who wants to heal trauma and prevent further re-traumatization through being empowered over their own healthcare.
- Medical Professionals seeking Trauma-Informed Care training - Clinic/HR Leaders, Medical Education Leaders/Teachers, Sole Practitioners: Primary Care, Chiropractors, etc., Reproductive Professionals: Fertility Doctors, Obstetric/Gynecologists, Doulas, Midwives, Hands-on professionals: Personal Trainers, Coaches, Sports or Physical Therapists, Massage Therapists, and more.
Tell us about yourself
I, Lindsay Nelson, the founder of Repro Empowerment, am a trauma-informed care expert, international activist, coach, and trainer with a specialty in sexual and reproductive rights. I took her degrees in human services and public administration, public service work experience, and personal experience of rape, domestic violence, and medical retraumatizations to launch Repro Empowerment Services.
Thanks to interactions with a trauma-informed midwife, I felt empowered and froze my eggs in Mexico in 2021 and found it life-altering: it was the most effective and efficient healing of my trauma. I knew I wasn't alone in my sexual and medical trauma. I wasn't alone in my age and desired to pause my fertility and how the power of being in charge of my sexual and reproductive health through this process was so healing. I knew that I had to use my decades of experience in trauma-informed services to teach medical professionals and patients alike to ensure sexual and reproductive empowerment in the healthcare system. Thus, Reproductive Empowerment was born.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Getting to make a difference so more patients feel empowered over their sexual and reproductive health and fewer are (re)traumatized in healthcare interactions! If I prevent one less patient from experiencing what I did, that would be worth all my work. I have done this work for so long and had to side hustle. This is the first time I finally get to make a difference, do what I love, AND get paid (well) for it!
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Pushing frontiers. I know very few people are doing similar work, so there are very few I can learn from. Great advice for most online businesses that often don't work in the trauma-informed, sexuality, and reproductive health fields. I'm creating my own niche, and it takes bravery, facing imposter syndrome, and willingness to try and fail things!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Don't do it alone - Find/create your squad to help celebrate your wins, brainstorm your troubles, and remind you of your "why."
- Invest in yourself - Find the best training (that you WILL follow through with) to do things right from the get-go.
- Get help quick - Hire, so you stay in your zone of genius (why your business is great!), and others deal with the logistics to keep the business running and growing.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://reproempowerdocs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reproempowerment
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reproempowerment/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reproempower
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/repro-empower/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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