| For Green Bay Press-Gazette
The word serenity is defined as the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled. And Serenity Mason, owner of The Milk Grove, recently started a business that fits her name and that definition. She wants to provide comfort and care to families on the parenthood journey.
“I started this because most new parents and even parents of multiples are overwhelmed with conflicting advice from social media, different professionals, and clinics. There is a lot of confusion out there. I want to take all my expertise and passion to prepare families from the start of the journey to postpartum to feel confident in their skills and thrive not just survive,” Mason said.
A client of SCORE Northeast Wisconsin and resident of Green Bay, Mason definitely has the experience. Her career as a nurse started in 2011 and included roles in long-term care and home health. But she truly found her passion in 2014 when she transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Vincent Hospital. NICU is a specialized department that provides medical care for premature, low birth weight, or critically ill newborns.
That position led to additional roles on the women’s and infants’ floor in lactation, prenatal, and postpartum care. She will continue to work part time in those areas as she establishes her business.
She said, “My whole career has been in prenatal and postpartum care and I’ve provided help and assistance for family and friends. The idea for this business came to me last summer and I started rolling with it. I brainstormed and went full steam ahead.”
Mason defines herself as a doula, a trained professional who provides support to a person before, after, and during childbirth. Although she will do all three, the primary focus will be on postpartum care.
In that role, the main function will be to provide mental and emotional support to families and will include helping with lactation, expounding on expectations for infant care and what is normal, and even helping with small chores to ease the transition.
Because of her experience with NICU babies, she will also be available to help families develop confidence when bringing their babies home and knowing what, if any, red flags to watch for.
“I have postpartum doula certification and can offer full family support and training in taking care of infants and helping parents with emotional support, understanding hormonal shifts, and sibling bonding.” Mason said. “I can be that extended support person that families can trust.”
She has a long list of other certifications also, listed on the website themilkgrove.com, and is well-qualified to support families.
She added, “This work is deeply personal to me. It’s not just a career, but a passion brought on by both professional and personal experience. By blending clinical knowledge and intuitive, nurturing care, I’m committed to offering gentle support for the physical and emotional shifts of the maternal, newborn, and postpartum season.”
Her SCORE mentor, Keith Keller, was impressed after meeting Mason. He said, “Serenity is not your typical doula. She has extensive medical training and takes care of high-risk infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. She brings a much higher level of medical training and experience with infants to the doula offerings in the Green Bay area.”
For her part, Mason has been impressed with the assistance she is receiving from Keller. She heard about SCORE when networking with other professionals in October.
She said, “I am not a business person by any means; my background is in health care. When SCORE was recommended to me, I reached out and it has been a wonderful support. Keith has given me great ideas on how to define my niche and stand out from others.”
There is competition, but his advice is helping her develop that niche. She says the biggest difference she brings to the community is her background in neo natal care and the experience of working in the birthing area for more than a decade.
“It is comforting for families to know they are working with a trained professional who knows how to read families and infants,” Mason said.
The process starts with a free consultation so the family and Mason can get to know each other and determine what help is needed. If the goals align, there are documents including an outline of services, payment agreement, liability agreement, HIPAA form and social media contract. All are under her LLC, The Milk Grove, a name she selected when developing a business model.
Mason said, “As I was creating my business and deciding to focus primarily on postpartum support and lactation, I wanted to include lactation in the name. When I think of lactation, I think of milk. The grove comes from how I see myself as an individual person, spiritually and nature rooted, incorporating community like a grove.”
Selecting a name was one of the easiest parts of the process. The process of creating and managing the business came with a learning curve. She needed to gain proficiency in using a spreadsheet, determine pricing that was fair and competitive, calculate potential income and expenses, and develop a marketing plan.
Marketing is a challenge she is struggling with as she attempts to make her services known in the community. Networking with other medical professionals has been helpful, but she is also trying to find the best way to promote to clinics, other health agencies, and on social media.
“I never used social media until now and I need to come up with a plan and a calendar of how many times I should post and what and how to post” Mason said. “I need to promote more tips and tricks to familiarize people with my services.”
The list of services is long and she says it is structured as in-home concierge support. A family looks over the list and can pick what is most beneficial for them. Examples include newborn support, normalizing the experience, recognizing norms versus red flags, lactation assistance, in-home care, feeding, and general care.
“The Milk Grove approach integrates infant behavioral development, bonding science, and infant cue guidance,” Mason said. “This is more comprehensive than typical postpartum help that focuses mainly on general newborn care.”
As a mother of two, she said the business is a passion brought on by both personal and professional experience. She has been where other families are and believes that her services can ease the major transition of having a baby. Her husband, Kyle, has been a big supporter and encourages her to lean on him to figure things out and to build trust in her instincts.
Those instincts have led to a basement wall covered with papers, layouts, and ideas to help her better visualize what it means to operate The Milk Grove. Her SCORE mentor will be there to bounce those ideas off of and help her determine next steps. It is also a new experience for Keller.
Mason said, “Keith calls me a unicorn. I’m not somebody who was working as a bank teller or something and decided to switch career paths. I am using the experience I have to help families feel more confident in their care-giving skills. From the first sleepy days home through the evolving rhythms of your baby’s early weeks, I will meet you where you are.”
Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.
