Meet Alaina Marquez | Owner of the GJ Birth Collective & Sunshine Birth Services. Birth Doula & Birth Assistant, Childbirth Educator, Photographer, and Student Midwife.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alaina Marquez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alaina, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
I am constantly inspired by women and babies every day. As I dive into more research or add more education to my belt, I find myself in awe of how we were created, and how everything truly works together in a natural form. I am inspired by women who grow their children in their wombs, birth them, and then care for them. When we allow our bodies to do what they were made to do, our babies follow us and its this beautiful give-and-take process between the two. Women and babies inspire me.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The GJ Birth Collective is a collective of Birth Professionals with a mission to provide access to supportive care and evidence-based education in the childbearing years. We strengthen the community by connecting families to services that are in line with their goals and philosophy. We also provide a network of local birth professionals to work together and support one another through fellowship, encouragement, education, and community relations.

We are unique because not only do we provide access to supportive care and partner with families during their childbearing years, but we also offer many different events each year to provide education and community support. We hold events that are specific to what our birth professionals offer and we allow families to come and be a part of these events. Along with the events the birth collective meets once a month to discuss needs in the community to plan more ways to reach and serve the women in our community. The other side of the GJ Birth Collective that I love, is supporting our Birth Professionals and helping them grow their businesses and continue to see the thrive in the community. It is our goal to help them stand out and support as many women as they meanwhile supporting and providing for their own families. We love to help our members with design, advertisement, and more.

We are most excited about our first magazine that will launch this year, all about the birth of professionals in the western slope. We are working towards launching a scholarship fund for women and babies in need that will help provide services that most insurance does not cover.

We got to where we are business-wise by working really hard on finding where there are needs and meeting those. We work hard to provide an easy way to access information on what resources there are in our community and how to access them. We work together as birth professionals to always be advancing in our specialties and we always build each other up. We have shifted towards competing with one another to understanding that we all have a lot to offer and this is a team effort to help women receive the care that they deserve. The collective has truly helped businesses flourish and grow and we have seen so many women feel supported and loved along the way.

Running the birth collective has not been easy, but it has been so rewarding. We get to witness life be born, and then we also get to see women completely change and become these goddess mothers. Birth is so empowering and to get to work and be involved in this world each day is truly amazing.

As a birth worker that also helps empower other birth workers in the collective, I have quickly learned that this world is ever-changing. You will always be on your toes and your life will just look a little different than others. Learning how to take care of yourself and maintain family life health is so important. This is your first priority. Then empowering women alongside you to do the same is your next.

I have also learned that not one woman births the same as the other. Not one woman needs the same type of support as the other. Each woman and birth is unique and as birth workers, we must treat it as so. Birth, breastfeeding, postpartum, and beyond is such a different journey that holds many challenges but is so rewarding and so beautiful. Having the ability to listen to a woman’s needs and meet them there, and hold that space for them is so important and is a necessity to their health and success.

I want women to know that they are powerful and capable to birth their babies the way they were made to. I want women to know that they deserve to have a birth full of love, evidence-based care, and support, all surrounded by a team that believes in them. I want women to know that they are seen and heard during pregnancy, birth, and throughout their postpartum journey.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend came into town here is what we would do!

For breakfast, we would stop at Kulina Lani Organic Sourdough for the BEST sourdough in the world. We would then hit the Kiln for some delicious coffee. I would then probably take my friend to the monument to hike around and see the beautiful views. For lunch we’d hit the 7th Street deli, and then head downtown to do some window shopping at colorado baby, vine and Branches Boutique, We’d possibly grab ice cream at Gelato Junction. Then we’d head to downtown Palisade to see all of the fruit stands, like Blaines Farm Store, which was founded and previously owned by my Uncle. For dinner, I would take them to Pablo’s Pizza and then head to one of the local bars for some mocktails and live music. The next day we would head to canyon view vineyard church and meet some of the best people there!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
When I think about how far I’ve come, I don’t see only my own efforts, I see a lot of people who have offered words of encouragement, support and love along the way. My shoutout would first be my husband, Ebenezer Marquez. I have dreamt of serving women and children since middle school, but never knew in what capacity. He has given me the space to dream and blossom into a birth worker since the start of our life together. He has always pushed me to keep going and never give up on this passion. Not only has he supported me but he has also jumped on board and adopted this passion as his own. He now works to help with all of the design of the Birth Collective and my other businesses, and empowers women to do what they were made to do along the way! My other shoutout is to the members of the Birth Collective. I took over the collective right before giving birth to my third baby. I felt uneasy about jumping into an existing business, but they have shown an immense amount of support even amidst change, and they never gave up on me. The GJ Birth Collective would not be here without their involvement, efforts, and constant support.

Website: gjbirthcollective.com

Instagram: gjbirthcollective & Sunshine Birth Services

Facebook: GJ Birth Collective

Image Credits
Drop Anchor Productions LLC