Meet Susannah Anderson, Brittany Forman and Ashley Gotlieb of CircleMoms

Today we’d like to introduce you to Susannah Anderson, Brittany Forman and Ashley Gotlieb.

Hi Susannah, Brittany and Ashley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We (Brittany Forman and Susannah Anderson, the founders of CircleMoms) met in 2017 while working at Parsley Health as health coaches. After having our first babies in 2018, we became excited about the intersection between wellness and motherhood. We wanted to give other women what we were seeking postpartum, which was a community of mothers also in the newborn phase to connect and learn from. Many of our friends weren’t in the same stage of life when we had our newborns and couldn’t relate to talking about feeding, soothing, changing dozens of diapers, and early motherhood in general. Having the ability to be seen and heard from women going through the same milestones is empowering. Mothers coming together to share a collective journey in the early postpartum period is uplifting, supportive and can make the experience more enjoyable and manageable.

We started with one circle out of San Francisco in 2018 and have since grown. We now have circles meeting in Buckhead, Greenwich (CT), Westport (CT), Charlotte (NC), Tiburon (CA), Santa Monica (CA) and Short Hills (NJ). Stay tuned for more circles in new cities this fall!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was pretty clear from the beginning that connection and support postpartum was needed. We heard from countless moms how they wished they had a network of women going through the same milestones in the early days. One of the biggest challenges was reaching new moms to let them know our circles existed. Since the postpartum period is such an intimate experience, women want to know it’s a safe place for them to come and share and bring their babies. Word of mouth advertising takes time so it takes a few months in each city before our circles start filling quickly and easily.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
CircleMoms supports mothers in the first 3 months after birth. Our circles are led by an experienced postpartum doula over a 5-week period and have weekly discussion topics that align with mom and baby milestones 0-3 months postpartum. Women get solutions and support from our seasoned postpartum doulas and learn what is working (and not working) for other moms. The environment offers a safe space to relate, share, and normalize experiences after having a baby. CircleMoms also brings in specialists such as pelvic floor specialists and pediatric physical therapists to support mothers with birth recovery and baby development. Women walk away from CircleMoms with a group of women that can support them throughout motherhood as well as solutions on how to take care of themselves and their baby.

Mothers that have participated in our circles often share with us that they are still connected to the women that they met through CircleMoms and they continue to get together beyond the series.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Covid was a challenging time, but if there was one silver lining – it allowed us to pivot to the online space and reach women across the country. We held our circles over Zoom and reached women from all over the country. During this time, we realized how many moms were looking for connection and support in the early postpartum days and that drove us to expand beyond our San Francisco circle. While virtual circles held an important purpose during the height of the pandemic, in-person circles are what most moms are craving and ready for again. We have been able to spread CircleMoms to new cities by finding mothers across the country, like Ashley Gotlieb here in Atlanta, who launch CircleMoms in their home community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.circlemoms.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/circlemoms_
• Other: Sign Up: https://www.circlemoms.com/joinnow