Forbes | Estrella Jaramillo, Contributor

Mother’s Day week is the time to celebrate motherhood and the beautiful journey of it. However, for some women who are in the middle of a bumpy road to motherhood, this might be a slightly difficult time. Infertility issues affect 1 in every 8 couples, and the journey to a healthy baby can get very rocky. Three innovative, female-led businesses decided to dedicate this year’s Mother’s Day to shifting public perception of what constitutes modern motherhood, raising awareness about fertility difficulties, which can leave women feeling isolated, particularly on special days like this.

Women’s health startup Robyn, Fertility Clinic Kindbody, and vegan restaurant chain By Chloe have joined forces this month and launched Beyond Mother’s Day. This campaign focuses on destigmatizing fertility and women’s health and creating safe spaces for honest conversations. The common goals for these three companies: To advance the conversation on improving support for all paths to parenthood.

Left to right: Kasirer (Robyn), Dr. Sasan (Kindbody), Wasser (By Chloe)

Democratizing Access To Fertility Options and Education

By Chloe is a renowned vegan food restaurant chain loved by health-conscious millennials, and has several spots in Manhattan. Founder Samantha Wasser’s bumpy fertility journey was the inspiration behind this campaign.  “I struggled to conceive for 3 years: Several rounds of IVF, an unexplained case of infertility, experienced 3 miscarriages… It wasn’t working”, said Wasser. She had a very difficult time every time Mother’s Day approached, she felt isolated and left out.

Sam Wasser, founder of By Chloe

BY CHLOE

“Every time I turned on the TV or checked social media I saw the same cliché representation of the typical family with the baby or pregnant woman and thought: Why is nobody celebrating me for all the things I’m going through to become a mother? I felt Hopeless. I know what it is to want something so badly and put your body through hell on Earth to get there,” said Wasser.

The founder of By Chloe finally turned to surrogacy and has a 6-month-old son, but her struggle made her very conscious of the bumps in this road. “One of the things I struggled with going through my fertility treatments was how expensive it is. Luckily my family could support me. When doctors don’t have the answers, they just tell you to try again, and that for some people means mortgaging their house.” That’s why she partnered with Baby Quest Foundation, a not for profit that provides fertility grants to families that are struggling financially. By Chloe has added a Mother’s Day Cupcake for the month of May and will donate 50% of the proceeds to Baby Quest Foundation.

Destigmatizing The Entire Maternity Journey For Everyone

Wasser wanted to focus on community building and programming around Mother’s Day to support all motherhood journeys and feelings while providing free access to fertility education for everyone and partnered up with Kindbody and Robyn.

Kindbody is building a national network of women’s health practices. They launched their New York location last year and will soon be announcing the openings of their Los Angeles location, and San Francisco. Kindbody’s mission is to destigmatize fertility care and to educate women about their fertility regardless of their age, improving the accessibility of care through lower costs and mobile fertility care options.

Dr. Fahimeh Sasan, founding physician, and OB/GYN at Kindbody said “We want to educate women about their options. Whether you are 25 or 45, and regardless of whether you just want to understand your body or choose whether to freeze your eggs or not or need IVF or surrogacy services, we want to support your journey.” Kinbody clinics offer fertility services, combined with routine GYN services and nutrition and mental health. “We are trying to end the fragmentation in the market and make fertility less scary and hard to navigate”, added Dr. Sasan.

Beyond Mother’s Day aims to raise awareness about the gaps in knowledge we experience when it comes to our reproductive health. For instance, miscarriages are quite common. yet women experience them in isolation, and they tend to bring up feelings of failure and shame.

Holistic Support Through The Journey To Motherhood

By Chloe and Kindbody partnered up with Robyn (formerly Fertile Girl), a digital companion in a woman’s unique journey to parenthood that provides access to integrative maternal wellness tools and resources, while offering a community of support where you can share, learn, and grow. The company offers a meticulously selected network of providers in specialized fields like nutrition, acupuncture, mental health, coaching and more, ready to help women make healthy choices during pre-pregnancy and beyond.

Allison Kasirer, Founder of Robyn

Wasser of By Chloe and Alli Kasirer, founder and CEO of Robyn, first met when they were both on their fertility journeys.

“We both found it immensely helpful to have support and community while going through it. Not only did we strike up a friendship, but as two entrepreneurs, we felt passionately about changing the fertility conversation. A few years and a few babies later, we are proud to be launching this campaign together! During my own fertility journey, I remember some really tough Mothers Days. You are surrounded by pregnant bellies, pictures of other peoples’ babies, and reminder after reminder that you are not yet “in the club.”  That’s exactly what Beyond Mothers Day is about – a campaign to make sure no one feels left out this month. To provide valuable programming both in-person and online and create a more inclusive community”, says Kasirer.

Beyond Mother’s Day is an initiative to celebrate and honor all women in their journeys to motherhood, no matter what stage they are at. As such, they will be hosting a variety of events during the month of May, for which they’ve partnered with companies like Y7 Studio and Hatch.

For millions of women, the journey to motherhood doesn’t start when they get pregnant, and these three founders want to fully honor the diversity of paths and uniqueness of each motherhood experience.