Tiara Caldwell is a mom of three and a licensed practical nurse. In 2015, she started Crowned and Cradled, a business offering pre-and-post natal birthing and lactation services.

Tiara Caldwell, 30

Hometown: Upper Marlboro, MD

Business: Crowned and Cradled 

Website: crownedandcradled.com

Tiara Caldwell knows how it feels when a birthing plan goes wrong.

During the delivery of her twins, she was told her son was breeched and she needed an emergency C-Section. “With the twins, I had a traumatic birth experience, the care I received was less than favorable and I feel it was because I was perceived as a young black woman who didn’t know her options,” Tiara said.

Now the mother of three healthy children, Tiara believes her experience would have been different if she had an advocate, not just during labor, but during her pregnancy to help prepare her for the process of delivering twins.

“I saw where women lack the support they need and have someone who is physically there and educated about the process. If I had that, I feel my birth experience would have been different.”

In 2015, she found Crowned and Cradled, a small business that offers doula, prenatal preparation, and lactation services to families. A licensed practical nurse in Maryland and Washington, DC, Tiara is also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

A niche service in the practice focuses on counseling and guidance for teenage moms, an offering shaped by Tiara’s own journey into motherhood at age 19.

“With my oldest child, my first, I was 19 and I didn’t know anything so I just went with whatever they told me to do,” Tiara said. She developed post-partum depression, she said, and believes it was a result of her adjustment to motherhood and the realities of being pregnant during her first semester in college.

“I thrive to give good care to all of my clients and I have a sweet spot for young black women, I try to educate them with free or discounted rates on doula services I’m willing to accept anyone who wants the education and support.”

Melody Long, a dentist in Alexandria, Va., remembers first meeting Tiara through a breastfeeding support group on Facebook. She was frustrated with breastfeeding, her daughter wasn’t gaining weight, and she felt pressured by her doctors to just opt for formula since she struggled to get her baby to latch. “Within a day of messaging Tiara on Facebook she was at my house,” Long said.

“She was very professional and she taught me some things I didn’t know, like about using a nipple shield. I wasn’t familiar with that and it worked great.”

Long eventually ended up pumping and supplementing with formula—with support and encouragement from Tiara. “Some groups will make you feel bad for [using] formula instead of nursing but Tiara was supportive,” Long said.

“Breastfeeding didn’t go how I planned but she kept reminding me that the baby was healthy and happy and growing. I needed that support and Tiara and I formed a really good bond, she is one of my daughter’s aunts now.”

In eight years of working as a nurse, Tiara observed the biggest obstacles for breastfeeding are a lack of education about breast health and finding strategies to work though obstacles at the beginning of breastfeeding.

“There needs to be more education for girls, even before childbearing age, about their breasts and their body,” Tiara said. “Many of the younger mothers seem willing to pump the milk before putting their baby to breast.”

And while many new parents often take labor and delivery classes, education about the process of breastfeeding would be just as valuable for new and experienced parents, Tiara said.

As demand for her services grow, Tiara said she hopes to add an additional lactation consultant and two doulas to assist in the practice. For now, clients reach her via her business Facebook page, word of mouth, and through her weekly in-person breastfeeding support group in Bowie, Md.