Hi, I'm kristen mantell
Professional graphic designer & website developer turned birth advocate.
A little about me & Wild World Mama
I’m a mama to 2 young children, 2 goofball german shepherds, and a not-so-little gray house cat. I’m married to my husband Ryan who is an amazing father and partner on this crazy journey of life. I love black coffee, Jonathan from Queer Eye, RadioLab and the Hidden Brain podcast, and singer-songwriter music. Deep conversations about the universe, growth mindset, art of any kind, and music that touches the soul, is my love language.
I adore being around people who speak their truths and have shed all limiting beliefs. Humans who no longer hold fear of what other people think! Something I strive to do myself, I’m a work-in-progress.
I’m a professional designer with over 12 years experience, who after having children and becoming aware firsthand of the maternity care crisis in America felt an overwhelming need to help contribute to a solution! I got certified to teach childbirth education through Birth Boot Camp and professionally trained as a birth doula through DONA.
After immersing myself into the birth world, I quickly became aware that my abilities in business and design could greatly benefit birth workers. So I pivoted my business to focus on supporting the birth workers themselves.
From behind the scenes I want to support those already in the arena of improving lives! Because the birth workers & activists are the ones who are already shifting the tides in the birth world. I can give them support, tools, and foundation to hopefully help turn that wave into a tsunami. I want midwifery, doula care, and compassionate prenatal and postpartum support to be the standard of care for all birthing people. I want the good birth workers, the change drivers, to be able to have more of an impact by leveling up their professional presentation to the world. This will help more birth workers to be able to compete with the current high-budget hospital brands, and ultimately reach more everyday families.
So that’s what I did, I combined my passion in both design and birth to serve a micro-niche of a market to hopefully help all the amazing birth workers create a bigger impact for MORE families.
Birth workers, birth entrepreneurs, you are my people. I know your message. I know the mountains we face. Let’s do this, together. If you’ve got a few minutes and want to read my in-depth story of my journey into birth advocacy keep scrolling!
Kristen Mantell
Creator of Wild World Mama, LLC
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In-depth story of why I created Wild World Mama
When I got pregnant with my first child, birth was not on my radar, at all. I just went along with all the things you were “supposed” to do, I asked few questions, putting blind trust in my care provider, and just picked the closest hospital that delivered babies. I started my pregnancy as a passive participant in my care. As my pregnancy progressed I came to notice I knew more people around me that had a cesarean birth than a vaginal birth. Let alone a vaginal birth that wasn’t a “near miss” or a completely traumatizing experience.
Something seemed off to me…
I had this nagging question in the back of my mind, how did we survive as a species for this long if most women truly require major abdominal surgery and/or major medical intervention in order to give birth? I mean I know advancement in medicine has saved lives, but this seems a tad bit extreme… things didn’t add up.
I personally didn’t want major surgery or to be traumatized by the birth of my child if there was ANYTHING I could do to lower my personal risk of those scenarios. So I started doing my research.
I stumbled upon a comprehensive natural birth class and to be perfectly honest was hesitant to take it. I mean why in the world would you give birth without an epidural?! That’s just what you do right?! After doing a ton of research I came to the conclusion this class was my best option to educate myself on the normal processes of birth and how to keep myself at the lowest risk possible for any “avoidable” complications.
I thought, even if I take this class and end up wanting or needing an epidural or some sort of medical intervention, at least I could take some FEAR out of my upcoming birth, figure out how to handle contractions, know what to expect in general terms, and be a part of the decision making process.
Due to my personal tendencies to be “over-prepared” and my passion for learning EVERYTHING and always asking”why”, I not only took the independent comprehensive 10-week course but I also signed up for the 2-day hospital-sponsored birth class.
Holy crap, was there a difference between the two… like night and day. If I would have just taken the hospital birth class I would have been more scared and not at all prepared. I would have made a good patient though, perhaps thats why that class exists? I am forever grateful that I took that leap of faith and chose to educate myself through other means outside of what the hospital provided or suggested.
After all was said and done, I am 500% convinced that my comprehensive birth class saved me from an avoidable cesarean. Thank you Megan!
It saved me from a lot of avoidable birth trauma. Looking back in hindsight on how my birth unfolded in its own uniqueness, had I not been informed and prepared going in, there is no doubt in my mind things would have ended up A LOT different. My hospital birth experience opened my eyes to the inner workings of how birth happens in this country. It started me down a path of intense exploration and learning ALL about birth, the cesarean epidemic, women’s rights in birth, women’s empowerment, and birth politics.
I was like Alice falling into the rabbit hole. My eyes were now wide open and I just could not look away. It was like watching a car wreck, like a highway full of car wrecks, and everyone is too busy looking at their cellphones! There I was jaw on the ground, seeing this wide landscape of just a complete shit show.
I learned that women & birthing people were being lied to and coerced. Seemingly “harmless” routine procedures were actually the direct cause of a lot of avoidable complications in birth. Technology that has been proven ineffective and harmful is still in use. That our cesarean rate was sky high and the high rate was actually causing worse outcomes not better. That black women were dying at 3-4x the rate of white women. That the United States is THE most dangerous places to give birth in the industrialized world. The United States, where the majority of births take place in hospitals with highly-skilled surgeons and doctors, with state-of-the-art technology…
What in the world?!
My old perception of what a “safe” birth looked like was turned on its head so fast, I think it’s still spinning.
I saw doctors, insurance companies, the media, mothers themselves, and hospitals blaming women for their own demise. Blaming women for this crisis. Blaming women for their own trauma. It just didn’t add up. The more I learned the more I realized our entire system is broken to its very core. I’ve realized the oath, “do no harm” does not seem to apply in maternity care in America today. Women & birthing people, babies, and families are being harmed on so many levels and many people don’t even realize that this is happening. It’s happening in very subtle and not so subtle ways and for those who are aware of the issues many are at a complete loss on what to do about it. I found myself in a tough spot.
This problem is HUGE. It’s extremely political. It’s more than just “get the epidural” or “schedule a cesarean” or “hospital vs home” at the core, it’s about human rights, specifically birthing people and women’s rights. Many people have been fighting the fight to better maternity care for a long, long, long, long time. We are in a dire need of a total systemic overhaul! I saw a gigantic problem that was right under everyone’s noses. It blew my mind.
This is at the core of why I started Wild World Mama:
To do whatever I possibly could to help lessen fear and trauma surrounding birth.
It’s not about one “type” of birth over another, its about women & birthing people being a part of the decision making process and not being run over by an abysmal system that doesn’t give 2 shits about them after they leave those doors… as long as they pay their exorbitant bill. Figuring out a way to do that, within my own resources and abilities, took some creativity on my part.
How do we tackle this iceberg size problem, 1 chip at a time, until it eventually it cracks.
I got certified to teach childbirth education classes. I got professionally trained as a birth doula. All while raising 2 young children of my own under 3 years old! I observed many other births which taught me how incredibly beautiful but different birth is for every single mama and every single pregnancy. I watched powerful women in their most vulnerable moments being manipulated. I educated myself on all sides of the issue, I tried to get to the core of what was the problem so I can hopefully understand what the solution might be and how can I help contribute to that solution. I wanted to also utilize my natural abilities and personal strengths. I didn’t want to not pretend to be someone I’m not or fit into a box of what someone who does this should be. I wanted to help support and further the cause of improving maternity care for all mamas.
Birth in America is a business. In the US, the only way businesses change is when either the consumer demands something different or laws are changed. The consumers of maternity care in America are the mothers, birthing people, fathers, & families. My thoughts are, if you adequately inform and support expectant parents, they themselves (the consumers of maternity care) can demand better, when enough consumers demand better, when the voice is loud enough, the business of birth will have to bend to meet those demands.
Through my quest for gaining more clarity surrounding what’s causing this maternity care crisis, I’ve made a list of some of the main issues:
- Insurance companies and hospital administrators dictating women's care.
- Fear of litigation.
- Money.
- Understaffed maternity care offices and maternity wings at hospitals.
- Surgeons attending low-risk births.
- The campaign against midwives and the lack of respect and lack of use of them.
- Low-use of birth and postpartum doulas due to financial constraints or lack of knowledge about them and their benefits.
- The over-medicalization of birth and viewing birth itself as pathological.
- Reckless and routine use of risky medical interventions in low-risk pregnancies without obtaining fully-informed consent. Swaying mothers decisions by not giving them all the information so they can make a fully-informed decision. Taking advantage of a mother's anxieties, fears, and vulnerabilities during pregnancy and birth.
- Systemic racism. Lack of support for minority birth workers so women of color can have birth support from other women of color.
- Lack of accountability for poor or abusive care.
- The god complex in birthing rooms.
- Care provider trauma spilling into birthing spaces, causing fear-based rather than evidence-based medicine.
- Inadequate training or lack of exposure to normal physiological birth in medical schools.
- Diffusion of responsibility.
- An undertone of complete distrust of women, their abilities, and their bodies.
That’s a lot.
That’s a lot of pretty heavy stuff. Stuff that many have just stuck their heads in the sand and blame the women, resisting the argument that the way we currently do things, seriously needs to change. That the “healers”, the care providers, have their hands tied by insurance or administration, have fear of litigation as a main driver in their decisions, are quite honestly traumatized themselves, or have just lost their way in this broken system.
So what can I do?
I can support the birth workers, the midwives, the doulas, the wellness professionals dealing directly with the consumer (the mothers). The ones trying to improve outcomes for mamas and babies. These people are the change drivers in our broken maternity care system. I can use my design abilities, my 10+ years of design expertise, to help them be more visible, so they have more reach. To have their own business brands better reflect the IMMENSE value that they bring to their own communities. The more informed and adequately supported these mothers and families are the better care they can demand to receive.
These mothers and families will be more equipped to speak out against shitty or abusive care. They’ll be informed enough to have educated discussions with their care provider so they can work in collaboration with them, not at mercy to them. So they can receive the safest care for their own unique situation and not unnecessarily and unknowingly introducing real risk with no clear benefit.
We can have better outcomes and better births so more mothers can be empowered and feel fully capable as they take that giant leap into that wild world after birth. That world where the main goal is to keep that tiny new human (as well as themselves) alive and thriving, mentally, emotionally, and physically!
Thats where I feel I can make the most impact given my unique passion for birth and design skillset.
I can also educate mamas myself and spread images and messages of empowerment. To help change the conversations surrounding birth, to get people asking the hard questions, and knowing if nothing else that they have options and that it’s the mothers who are the main decision makers in their births. To remind them of their autonomy and their worthiness.
I’ve come a long way since before I took that giant leap into the rabbit hole of birth, but now that I’m here, I’m going to do my damndest to fight for better care for us all, with whatever tools I have, by helping the ones already in the arena, the birth and wellness professionals.
Because I truly feel when you heal birth you can start to heal society.
Birth matters. Mamas matter.
Thats why I started Wild World Mama.
Together we can
DRIVE CHANGE
DRIVE CHANGE
Let’s work together to get you looking your best. When you can inform and support more mamas we all benefit.
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