105 | After Show: Deeper Dive into Building Community with Rachelle Markham, IBCLC

Annie 00:00
Well, hey there, Leah.

Leah 00:02
Hey there, Annie. So good to see you today.

Annie 00:04
Yeah, we just had such a great conversation with Rachelle Markham, IBCLC and Federic Pocket LC Pro and Wellness Lactation, and they're sticking around for the after-show conversation because we didn't even talk about this whole other thing that Rochelle does. We were talking about building community, but I am also super excited to hear about the corporate lactation program that Rochelle does because I know Leah, you've done some of that over the years. I've never dabbled in that, but that was like we just like did not even have time for that. So yeah.

Rachelle 00:35
Well, thank you. That was a fun conversation, but yeah, we didn't dive into that. But yeah, I've been doing corporate lactation since January 2020, and my mom is also an IBCLC, and so she works for me, as does my sister and my nephew, not for lactation, obviously, but because my mom, my mom is actually really, really good with technology till it comes to charting, apparently. So we do paper charting still, which is the only paper we use in my business mostly. But we do paper charts, and we have right now. I think we have about 389. It's it's interesting to watch the ebb and flows of birth rates, and we had about eight months where we were not getting very many new enrollments, and now we're back up to our our standard, but we have about 400 usually around there, and we reach out with a prenatal phone call. We sometimes we miss people, so I also have a whole breastfeeding class that I send them so that they can read the information and watch it on their own if they miss our phone calls multiple times, and then we call them once baby arrives. We call them once a week for six weeks, and then switch to monthly calls. And we have a return to work call and a weaning call if if need be, and you know if that falls into their plan. And then we follow them up monthly for about the first six months, give or take, we usually hit the solids, and then after that, they can call us at any time. We just don't continue to reach out to them, so it's a really fun program, and it also forces you to get really good at how you word things because there's no video and no in person, so you so forces you to be really creative with how you describe things.

Annie 02:24
So is this like these are plans that employers are offering? So like you work at a company and you get pregnant, and HR says, "Great, you have access to our lactation program.

Rachelle 02:34
Yeah. So they it's it's up to them to enroll in it. They also get their pump through this program as well, so they have more incentive to join up, and then we call them and support them through their nursing journey, which can be sometimes you know very short. We had a mom call in the other day who was nursing her two year old and was like, "Is it too late to ask questions?

Leah 02:58
Oh, you're like, "No, no, have me. question. Exactly. Oh, that's awesome. And how long you said since January of 2020?

Rachelle 03:09
Yes.

Leah 03:10
That you started it. Oh, so like before COVID, so it wasn't a COVID inspired endeavor.

Rachelle 03:15
It was not a COVID inspired. It was it was right before COVID, which was interesting only in that a lot of what we did in those first three months or two and a half months really was travel because most of the clients are from PwC, which is Price Water Cooper. I always get it. They're they're the sea messed up because my brain my my childhood brand wants to do the the Price Water Clearinghouse. Yeah, that's from a kid too. I always mess up the name, so that's why it went PwC, and it's an international company. So moms were traveling extensively pre-COVID, and so we had about eight weeks, 10 weeks of lots of traveling support. How to, you know how to pump on the go, how to pump internationally, how to bring milk home. the The company pays for milk stock for them up to $500 if they're on a trip. They'll pay for more if the trip's longer. They just have to get approval. But you know, so they change drastically at all for all of us as all of us hit you know shutdown. Everything changed, and you know, parents had to adjust to being at home with their baby, which was both a blessing and you know, left all of us scrambling, as all of us, I'm sure, remember. Of like, you know, going from a working parent outside the home to a working parent in the home with children was a whole thing.

Leah 04:41
Yeah. That's awesome.

Annie 04:47
So the companies are paying you. Like I'm just curious. Like how does that relationship work? So did you go out and start like pitching these companies? Like how did you get started?

Rachelle 04:56
I'm actually a contractor for the lady who started it, and she started. So she does the. I'm not good at negotiations. That is not my realm. So she does the the contract negotiations, and the payment actually comes through the insurance company. So the way that it's written is that the insurance pays us a chunk of money, and then we get paid so much per parent. I was like, customer is not quite the right word, but it is. But when then we get paid per client to do our end of the job, and we get paid that whether or not they they use our services or not. So if if they don't use our services, we still get the same chunk of money, which is which is sometimes a nice little benefit. But most of the time doesn't you know most of the time doesn't matter because we're doing way more calls than the program actually does for most people. You know, it's not unusual to be answering texts you more than once a week for a new family because you know things don't always go as easy as you expect them to go.

Annie 05:55
I do like negotiating. I love like business arrangements. So like the company, they made an arrangement with the company, like whoever they're offering their health insurance through. So, like the you know they have their health insurance for their employees, and then they've set something up on there on that end. And so that payment from the insurance company is guaranteed. It's like they they just enroll, and that triggers the money, and it's like not like a whole lot comes up to code it. Yeah, it's just like which that makes a lot of sense. It's very much a fixed cost for the insurance company. Yeah, it's not a benefit that you're guaranteed that all of your employees are going to take. So that's really really fascinating way to do things, and such a good example of preventive care, right there.

Rachelle 06:44
Such a good example. Yeah, this company is known for, from my understanding, I is that it's known for its benefits because it gives 16 to 20 weeks of maternity leave, and then when you come back, you come back at 50% and then you jump up to 80% for a few more weeks, so that you can really ease back into working full time. And then they also just started adding Maven to the one of the benefits that families get. And then they have lactation rooms in all of their sites. And then if you're going to another site and they don't have a lactation room, they have provisions for that to ensure that you do have access to a space. They really do do a few good things for families compared to some companies.

Leah 07:30
That's so refreshing to see companies that might care that much. No, and it's such a wonderful like employee retention too because people yes feel cared for, and feel that them being part of this is so valuable that they'll help you with this very important to you part of your life. You know, I think that's like one of the beauties of any kind of corporate lactation program is that I think it really shines a light on that the the company is valuing you enough to contribute to something that is important to you.

Rachelle 08:07
Yeah and in the long run, benefits them. You training the employee is way more expensive than paying the chunk of money they do to us to keep retain that employee. So it benefits them both financially and morale-wise.

Leah 08:22
Yeah. And are these people that you're helping all over the world, or all over the United States? They are all over the world, mostly all over the U.S. Most of mine are based in Florida.

Leah 08:35
Oh, okay.

Rachelle 08:36
Which does not have nearly as many resources as they should, so it's often hard to find resources for families locally in Florida. But most of my clients are there's they're all throughout the country, but a heavy concentration on the East Coast, heavy concentration. So I can get up early and make my phone calls and be done, you know, by 10 in the morning if I get up early because you know with the time difference, I can start at six just fine.

Leah 09:05
Yeah, was it like four hours?

Rachelle 09:07
Three hours.

Leah 09:08
Three hours. Okay, yeah.

Rachelle 09:09
Also, this job has has made me really good at calculating time zones. Like I know without thinking about it, whatever time it is, I can tell you exactly what it is across the country.

Leah 09:20
That is a skill because I still struggle. Like Annie, how long have we been doing this? And I'm, I'm still like, is it ahead or is it behind? Is it ahead or is it behind?

Annie 09:27
And I'm just like, I don't know. It's East Coast time. Like this is all. I've got my East Coast time privilege. I'm sorry, I can't, I can't take that one.

Rachelle 09:38
Fair.

Rachelle 09:41
Well, I don't know that might not be a problem for us for very long, you know with all the time stays the same.

Annie 09:46
Yeah, so crazy. What is your day to day like? So, like you balance, you have the corporate lactation. So that's obviously like there's priority there because that's you're being paid to answer those questions, and they are times every. And lactation, there are no lactation emergencies, but it's all time sensitive. Yes, but then you also have all the other stuff you're doing, like Pocket LC Pro, and you run retreats too. So, like, take us through a day in the life of Rochelle Markham.

Rachelle 10:15
So, I am. I am thankfully a morning person. I only say thankfully just because then I can, you know, with with the time zone, I try not to call past 3p.m. because that's dinner time back east, and you know who wants to deal with a phone call unless it's an urgent baby matter. No one wants to deal with a phone call at six or 7p.m. So I am I'm an early bird, so I'm up early, and on Mondays I try to tackle as many calls as I can. So I have a stack that sits next to me of files, and I just start at the top and work my way down. And most Mondays, I can get most of the calls done. If we run into you know a client who multiple clients who have really complicated problems, and it's a 45 minute phone call, then I may end up with some left on Tuesdays. And then most, but most by Tuesday, most of those are done for the week. And then I just deal with anything coming in. So new enrollments that come in, those get entered in. I don't actually do that anymore. But that we deal with me entering in new clients and then returning emails or phone calls as they come in. And then usually, if we have a baby that's born on Monday, that might require a Friday phone call, but not too many calls the rest of the day, the rest of the week, and then the rest of the week is either private practice or Pocket LC Pro. And with the way my brain works, I'm usually out of all brain power by about 12 or 1p.m. So I save tasks that don't require brain power for the afternoon. Do the things that require actual brain power in the morning, and then the afternoon is often kid related. My sister lives next door and homeschools her three kiddos, so I help with some of those things. So, like we were working on memorizing the state capital, so that my floor is covered with a state puzzle and capital building capitals for the youngest one, and so then my afternoons are either consults for for a wellness lactation or you know gardening, taking care of my chickens, doing fun things, staying out of the heat. I'm not a heat person, and it is hot now, so Indoor things, yeah, it's a nice schedule because Monday's heavy, and then the rest of the week is you flexible.

Leah 12:32
And I always love a person who is honoring their own, like how you work, you know, versus trying to force yourself into, you know, what culture says how we should work. I just love this so much, and it goes to show like such diversity too, like how people approach their work. I think it opened my eyes so much when I started to hear more about that because I just assumed that I also had to just do what, like everybody does. They just like go work at eight a.m. and work till five, and like that's what we do, right? And that oh wait a second, like if my brain doesn't work like that, I don't have to do that. Especially, obviously, the privilege of being an entrepreneur gives you more flexibility. But I see this out in the world more and more, and like just like love and appreciate it because I love that people are honoring like how their system works, and that we're also individual, and that that's okay. Like that's not a problem.

Rachelle 13:34
It's not a problem, and in fact, when I honor it, I get so much more work done, and I also have it built into where, like Tuesday this week, my body and brain were just like you are absolutely not doing anything today. Not a not nothing. You are absolutely done for no good reason. Actually, it was probably my period starting, so it probably was a good reason. But my body does not do well with hormone fluctuation, so there are days that I know that I am absolutely going to be unable to be productive, and so I have built those into my calendar because I can spend, you know, 10 times the energy fighting it, or I can take a day and do nothing and then be back the next day with you know recovered and ready to go, and that works way better than me forcing my body to, because then I hit a massive shutdown and I'm done for you know days at a time, and it did that for a long time, and it didn't work very well.

Leah 14:32
I know it's like a lessons lessons learned, right? It's like how how to become burned out human. Here, I'll give you the recipe.

Rachelle 14:41
And I could give you a really good recipe. So don't do what I did. Yeah, exactly, 100% I feel the same way. Yeah, it is. It is a very nice place to be in life. I have a business coach, and she's frequently reminding me. She's like, "You have accomplished what you wanted to accomplish." Schedule wise, like you have built a practice that works for your brain and your body, and you should be appreciative. You know, be you know, be very grateful. Not be grateful, but like you stop and appreciate the fact that you've been able to achieve what I set out to achieve of having a flexible schedule, because my body and brain do not absolutely do not go along with a nine to five. I would probably, I don't even know what would happen, but I can guarantee it would not be good if I had to do that.

Annie 15:31
I'm more of like a. I'll wake up and I'll. I like to do like a long day. Like I'll just like lock in on something and I can sit and like hyper focus for like 10 hours, and then recognizing that I can do that, and recognizing that I could do that every single day if I wanted to, and I could actually probably be pretty happy doing that. You know who's not going to be happy? Like my family, my friends, my cat, plants that I'm trying not to kill, and and also like me.

Leah 16:01
Eventually you.

Annie 16:02
Yeah. Eventually, it comes around to me. Rest is a challenge for me. I've only recently been allowing myself to sleep until eight a.m. in the summertime when I don't have to get up, instead of like making myself get out of bed at six for no reason. I mean, I have, I can, I can come up with a reason, but like, right, just like getting over the the discomfort of being like, you know, what it's okay to get up at eight, like nothing will happen if you sleep until eight.

Rachelle 16:28
Because we're so taught, you know, our culture is so, you know, don't be lazy because lazy's bad. There is no such thing as lazy, and our bodies are like literally require rest. Yeah, you know, literally require it to function. So fighting against that does not work very well. Some people can handle it better than ours. My nervous system cannot handle it, and my nervous-I had a full-on hit, full-on burnout in 21, and I like to say that I like slammed into a wall, slid down the wall, and stayed at the bottom of there for about two years before it took about two years of full like rest, doing the absolute bare minimum to recover from. So I'm not going back to that place. Been there, done that. Don't need to return.

Annie 17:13
I was just reading. Oh, where I forget what it was. There is a female prime minister somewhere who announced that she gets one to three hours of sleep at night?

Rachelle 17:24
Oh my god! Yeah, die.

Annie 17:27
That can't be right. That can't be right because, like, we see these new moms that are not getting enough sleep, and we're like, oh my gosh! Like, you gotta get some sleep.

Leah 17:35
Yeah, you get delirious.

Rachelle 17:36
That's wild.

Annie 17:39
But it was, I think a little bit like if I can do it, so can you.

Rachelle 17:44
Nope. That's harmful. Yeah. It's such a harmful. I have had a few people in my life like that. They are no longer in my life because they could not see past that there are different ways to do things. We do not all have to be. Yeah. We don't all have to kill ourselves for work. Yeah, I mean there are times where you know I when I was you know early on I worked six days a week because I had to pay bills. Right. You know we there are times in our life where we do that. I had two days off a month. I actually worked seven days a week, two weeks, and then had two days off a month. I could not do that anymore at this age, I am 49, and my body is like absolutely will never do that again but you know there are times in our life where we do have to. You have to do what you have to do, but if you don't have to do it, that we should not be doing. You should be doing it because we no, you shouldn't be doing it. But you know, like it's one thing if you have to do it for survival; it's another thing to choose to live that way. That it's a that's a choice because there are alternatives.

Leah 18:48
Well, and I think a lot of people don't realize that it's a choice. That's the point that I was making. Is like I think for so long I just didn't didn't realize that I could choose differently. Like where I thought I needed to, you know, start early, early in my day and and fit the max number of people in, but that did not work for me. And then once I started my day at 10, like life changing, like to not rush is set your nervous system up in a completely different state. It was so just insane, and then also that I spent you know 12 years thinking that that would be the most horrible thing because God forbid I give myself more time in the morning. I like no more people need to be seen. See all the people go go go.

Rachelle 19:39
Let's do this.

Leah 19:39
You know, and I'm like, oh great, we don't have to live like that. That's cool.

Rachelle 19:44
Exactly. And like I said, sometimes we do to have to pay the bills, but when you don't have to give yourself some of that time, and I've been doing a lot of like making sure my mornings are slower and that I have a routine because it is such a makes such a difference. My nervous system, my ADHD and my autism are constantly fighting with each other because the ADHD is like routine. Screw that. Where my autism is like routine. Yes, please. So it's a constant battle with my brain. But I have noticed that my nervous system is so much better when I do a morning routine and then make it fun. Like it's not, it's not a bad routine. It's just when I do the same things at the same about the same time, I don't actually wake up to an alarm unless I absolutely have to. So it does vary a few minutes a day, but it is such a different experience for the rest of the day when I do that versus you know a chaotic morning. Yeah, that's a whole different day.

Leah 20:40
That's what I discovered too, for sure. Even if I see the same number of people I used to see, just slow ramp up feels so much different in my body than the like blazing out the door, running back in 10 times because I'm like, I forgot everything. Go, go, you know. Like I had no idea how terrible that was for my body. I had no idea. I just thought that's what everybody did.

Annie 21:06
You're like this isn't working because I must be doing it wrong. That's like you blame yourself. You're like I get. I can't handle this. I need. I need to handle this.

Rachelle 21:15
Yes. Yes. Yes. Or I got stuck into a lot of like a loop of well, I don't have kids and I don't have a partner, so like I can do it, so I should do it, right? No, no, that's that that in and itself is not a good reason to run yourself ragged.

Annie 21:31
Definitely, I mean, and I I think too, like you know, when you have family responsibilities and family relationships and work. So, like you know, you were saying like you like you help your sister homeschool her kids, and like that's you know family obligations are like you know Leah and I have kids, and you know they're all running around in different places, and it can feel like that does get busy, and that does can get overwhelming, and it can get hectic, and that doesn't mean that we have to then like throw everything into a tornado.

Leah 22:08
It might just be that way.

Annie 22:09
If like the kids are a mess, well, you got to be there for the kids. Like that's priority number one. So I got to like keep it calm in all the areas that are under my control. I say that like I'm good at doing this. I'm not good at doing this, but like that's the goal.

Leah 22:24
In theory.

Annie 22:25
That's that's the idea.

Rachelle 22:27
Yeah, yeah. The goal is to not have a completely chaotic day every day. I thrived more on that when I could mask. I have reached the point in life where I my autism absolutely is like you are not masking anymore because that takes way too much energy, and so I just can't anymore. My best friend is also autistic, and we were talking the other day. They're like, "I used to be able to do this, and I was like, "Yeah, you also used to be able to mask. Like, you could, you had the energy to be able to do that, and you can't anymore. And it was mostly a reminder to myself too of like, "No, you can't do that much. You're not supposed to either. You're not supposed to do that much.

Annie 23:07
Well, this has been so fun. I mean, and like we could just like keep going, but like thinking about like, I like I was like, yeah, I used to be able to do that when when I was in my 20s and I had two full time jobs and would still go out with my friends. I think I wasn't. I think I was just like, I don't know, like young. Yeah, I'm not young anymore. I can't.

Rachelle 23:29
That also comes into play for sure.

Annie 23:31
So like just being able to recognize like what is like you're saying, like I'm not going to mask anymore. Like just what is the truest version of yourself that you are right now, and that's it. That's that's who you are. And I love that you're you know finding that and you know getting a chance to like share that with us here. This was so fun. Thank you.

Rachelle 23:52
Thank you. This was fun.

Annie 23:55
It was really great. Thanks for listening, everybody. And you can check out our deeper dive with Rachelle into community building and all of our whole archive back to 2020 January, and then definitely check out Pocket LC Pro where you can find Rachelle and all these great monthly offerings that they have. Such a great resource! Thank you so much.

Leah 24:15
Thanks.

Rachelle 24:15
Bye.