Full Episode Transcript

Dr. Ashley Blackington (00:01.126)

Hello, and welcome back to the AND/BOTH podcast. I am here today with Dr. Danielle. She is the founder of Honey. She is a mom. She is in the Air Force. She is an OB-GYN. She has a list of things a million miles long, which are all interconnected. I can't wait to hear how all of that fits together. Welcome to the show, Danielle.

Dr. Danielle (00:25.878)

Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (00:29.338)

Yeah, I was so excited when I saw you submit your bio because it's just fascinating to me. So I cannot wait to get into it. How about if we start with you introducing everyone to Honey and how that came to be and what you do there.

Dr. Danielle (00:47.518)

So Honey was born from my postpartum experience. I was right on the tail end about to cross the 12 month mark, my little one's birthday. And I just sat and reflected on my experience being under the TRICARE system and just witnessing the gaps in care, at least for those who are under a universal insurance system. And so I set myself on a path to try to fix, you know, the system and rectify those gaps and create it honey to do just that. It's a company that aims to support comprehensively moms and dads in the postpartum space by providing medical education, coaching that is proactive and preventative, not just reactive, which is how the current postpartum care system is currently.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (01:55.126)

Yeah, it's set up that way right now. The whole healthcare system is reactive. That's the curse of it all, I feel like, in a big way. Yeah. And so when, so Honey has been around for a couple of years now. No? You... Ha ha ha.

Dr. Danielle (01:56.661)

No, I wish. I wish.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (02:15.518)

When did you, so when did you launch?

Dr. Danielle (02:17.886)

Yeah, so the idea came September 2023. Website went up December 23 and officially started trying to figure things out, marketing, beta testing in January of this year.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (02:34.718)

Oh, nice. Well, I feel like it's been around forever because it's such a needed thing. It's funny because my, we were talking about this before we started recording. So my background is in OT and we would have, you know, all the different types of insurances come through the hospital. And I remember like the Tricare/Martin's point, it was like, oh, this is the good insurance for like an adult.

Dr. Danielle (03:01.218)

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (03:03.862)

So the fact that it was like, you know, you can't, they can't be grouped. They have to have, so they have a huge minimum requirements of hours for therapy and things like that. So like as a full grown adult who needs help, it's a great, it's a great insurance. But when it comes to the other end of the spectrum where you're talking about babies and postpartum and things like that, there's still this huge gap.

Dr. Danielle (03:31.554)

Definitely, definitely. So when you're getting care on a medical campus, or sorry, in a military medical system, so I am in Washington, D.C., the closest hospital to me is Walter Reed. So when you're getting OB-GYN care, postpartum care, labor and delivery care on base, your care is absolutely fantastic.

However, I got my care off base because during that time we were having shortages in nurses on in the hospital. And so they were referring a lot of patients out into civilian practices. So I delivered and got my postpartum care, you know, amongst all my other civilian counterparts. So TRICARE in the civilian world is treated just like Medicaid. Some people accept it, some people don't, I would say the majority don't, and just navigating it within that space was really hard. And then, yeah, I could go on and on. Yep.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (04:43.371)

It's a good, it's a good, a good and long road to go down. And so how, how old are your kids? Because you have two.

Dr. Danielle (04:47.562)

Just one, I would love to, don't, my husband, we're like trying to navigate that conversation now. I just have one, Emory, she's 16 months.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (04:56.066)

Oh, so you are in the thick of it with a new baby toddler situation and a new baby toddler practice and a new, like all of this stuff. Wow, that's a huge juggle. So how does that look like for you outside of mom and all of the other roles that you have? What does...

Dr. Danielle (05:10.591)

Yeah, I, you have to strike a balance and you really have to like first and foremost, every single day I wake up, I am Emory's mom. Um, and so, and I am Bryant's wife. So those are my two like biggest priorities. Um, and everything else comes after that. And so I, I'm separating from the military pretty soon in June. And so my life after the military. I'm being very intentional about how I'm setting things up. My work, honey, is definitely my passion, but I don't want it to be what I'm focusing on, you know, 90% of my day. So I just have to be very strategic and make sure that I'm prioritizing, you know, what's important to me, which are those two people. And then, you know, hopefully I have enough room to get the other things done. I think in the past, I was focusing on work and like school and putting all my energy there. And then I was hoping that I had enough energy for the rest of the things after. So I'm just flipping the order

Dr. Ashley Blackington (06:30.142)

Mm-hmm. And how do you feel like that, cause you're, so you're going the postpartum care and pieces like that, like is the goal to grow honey to a point where it's a very, it's more hands off piece or is it to always sort of like be right in the mix of it?

Dr. Danielle (06:52.558)

For like postpartum care?

Dr. Ashley Blackington (06:54.462)

Yeah, for like for your role in it. Because sometimes I feel like people start businesses when their kids are young or when they're going into the age where they would like to start a family and things like that, where they're like, I wanna do this now so that I can set it up to be hands off. Or it's like, I'm gonna go into it, I'm gonna stay in it and I'm gonna be like in the nitty gritty of it forever and ever. And so like how you approach that looks different.

Dr. Danielle (07:23.894)

Definitely no, I'm setting it up to be an exit in about seven years

Dr. Ashley Blackington (07:28.862)

Okay, that's exciting.

Dr. Danielle (07:45.778)

Yeah Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of hard work and I mean this is the first business that I've started I already have an idea for a number two but I just want to fix the gaps, like I said, in postpartum care. I want it to be more long-term, more comprehensive. Include the dad. It needs to be a family approach, not just a mom approach. And simultaneously, I want to change medical education in terms of postpartum care. And then once I've done that, then I just kind of want to relax.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (08:07.421)

And so what are some of the gaps that you've noticed? Like what are some of the big pillars that Honey is aiming to address for postpartum moms and dads?

Dr. Danielle (08:15.038)

Yeah, so what my four pillars are infant care, physical recovery, mental wellness, and intimacy. For infant care, the issue that I see in our system right now is that we are told when I was preparing for postpartum at least I was I got the feeling that I need to buy all these things. I need to buy this baby care, that baby care, and everything will be totally fine if I have all the things and that is not true whatsoever. So we, yeah, the infant care is really just invoking confidence in the mom and the dad through skills, you know, feeling confident with infant sleeping, for mom specifically with like breastfeeding and how she's approaching nutrition. It's really just, you know, saying, “you got this,” providing the right resources that are affordable so that they can walk confidently as things quickly change from month zero to 12. Mental wellness, I think that there's a lot of trials and tribulations in regards to mental wellness for the mom, but most definitely for the dad too, which I feel like we forget. So it's just enhancing communication as you're dealing with those postpartum challenges. That's what we're really trying to focus on as well as providing techniques to help parents cope with all the things that they're dealing with. Intimacy, I feel like is not covered at all. I think it's we can easily forget that, oh, if you have a partner, we need to like work on our relationship to make sure it's not falling to the wayside in physical recovery, I feel like the way that we moms are at least taught to uh, introduce exercise is like all wrong. I feel like the notion is you can't start until six weeks postpartum. And that's not necessarily the case. So it's just like, again, rectifying some things, fixing some things, invoking common sense in some areas. So yeah, that's what we're trying to do.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (10:32.162)

So if somebody say they join, they're like, this is exactly what I need. I feel like I live in maybe a kind of a dead zone when it comes to resources or options and things like that. Are they courses? Are they one-to-one coaching? How does it all, what does it look like when you have a new person join, honey?

Dr. Danielle (10:55.562)

Yeah, so when they join, so they can join the community for free. And with the community, they get peer to peer support. And they get interaction with the coaches, which are just health experts. So we have public floor physical therapists, parenting coaches, sleep coaches, OBGYNs, dietitians. So they get interaction there. And they also get free master classes within the community where they learn skills.

And then if they want to join the membership, that's where they get the group coaching in the four pillars or they get access to the course. The course is 11 modules, is super comprehensive. And it's really meant for them to identify, you know, a resource that they need right now for the particular challenge that they have right now. So if they want to learn more about, you know, nutrition in regards to lactation, they go to that module, they learn.

And then they can go back to their community for that peer to peer support to ask questions for clarification. And the community, like I said, is free. The membership with the group coaching in the course is $49.99 a month and they can cancel anytime.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (12:08.802)

That's cool. I like the idea of having like an option for people to like just come and get quick kind of tips and then also having the ability to have more in depth. 11 modules that is, that's a big course. I think I've, yeah, I've recorded a course that has five, six modules. One is five and one is six. And I remember being like, oh my gosh, this is so much of myself.

Dr. Danielle (12:35.61)

Yeah, and honestly, like, I'm not done with it. Like, I, I kind of just like, just, you know, I made it at the end of my postpartum journey. And I just like, put down everything that was fresh in my mind of like, what did I need? But even now, like, I have identified more areas to, like, kind of delve into.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (12:42.37)

Smart.

Dr. Danielle (12:59.266)

So yeah, it's not meant for someone to like do it one day. It's like when, cause you know, your journey is different at different points. I feel like when I was at month zero to three, it was all about infant care, just learning how to be a mom when I was a first time mom. And then I would say around three months, it was okay, let me figure out how to get back to exercising consistently. And then when I went back to work, I just put my self-care to the side. And I'm only now just starting to get back into like really focusing on me, making sure that I'm eating healthy and I'm 16 months out from delivery. So it's hard. And so, yeah, just to reiterate, not meant to get it all in one session.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (13:48.102)

Yeah, yeah, I think it's impossibly hard whether you have one kid or more kids. It's just, and also the, you know, to underscore it, you know, 15 times with all the different rainbows of pens is like every single person is going to have a different experience. And also every single person's gonna have a different experience with every single kid.

I got that right between the eyes with my last baby. I was like, no, it's fine. It's totally fine. I've done this before. It's gonna be great. No, no, I did not pencil in pandemic on that one. That was not my bingo card for 2020. But that's like, you realize, so I had a system in place, right? Of like walking through these steps, but then something like this giant wrench gets thrown in it and you're like, Oh, I forgot about all of these other pieces. So I think, I think it's really, um, such an, uh, a smart idea to, to start like, right when it's fresh for you to like dump it in there. Cause there's so many things that you forget along the way.

Dr. Danielle (14:57.738)

Yes, yes. I noticed that when I like talk to moms specifically who you know have a two or three year old and I was asking them questions about like when I was you know in the thick of it and they're they make comments like that like I totally forgot like it's so yeah. I think our brain is smart to have us easily forget how hard those first 12 weeks are specifically otherwise I don't know. I think that, I don't know, as I'm struggling with trying to decide whether I want a number two, yeah, I just appreciate our brain for allowing us to kind of focus on the bright and shiny things, which is how cute our kids are, how amazing they are, and just kind of keep going forward.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (15:47.554)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I think that every single time I forgot how much I did not like about being pregnant, and I have four kids. So like, your brain's ability to be like, that was good, we'll just put that in the back, and then pregnant again, and it's like, oh, ha ha. Fooled you. This is still brutal. But yeah, it's true, I think it's true. Like, that's why otherwise people would only have one kid.

Dr. Danielle (16:11.178)

Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (16:19.41)

And also the other blessing is like before you have kids and people try and tell you what it's like to have kids, you live in that space of like, but that won't be me. And everyone who has kids is like, ha ha, it will be you. Go ahead, try it out. And then you have kids and you're like, oh, that's right. I love that the phrase, everyone's a perfect parent until you have children is like, that's how it works.

Dr. Danielle (16:35.722)

Yeah, it's true. That's true. Yeah. It is.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (16:51.483)

So, and it has to work that way, right? Like otherwise, again, otherwise we would not have more people in this world, like our population would be like seven because it's just, it's so hard. It is so impossibly hard and it's so upside down and sideways from like day to day, month to month. And like, especially when you're in the phase that you're in right now, where like, you know, your daughter is undoubtedly like running around and like very active and doing things and engaged and stuff like that, but like you're trying to keep her from like falling down the stairs.

Dr. Danielle (17:25.194)

A thousand percent. Yep.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (17:26.846)

Yeah, but it's like, yeah, dangerous things all the time. That's just, it's like they live in the land of like bubble wrap or something. But like, yeah, like, you know, six months, you're like, I'm trying not to have you choke. I'm trying not to have you like smash your head. I'm trying not to have you. It's just like this like chaos moving through the world phrase.

Dr. Danielle (17:48.426)

Yeah, it's, oh my gosh, I, the image of Emory that will not be erased from my mind right now, at least happened this weekend, we have a humidifier and the humidifier has two attachments, the actual humidifier and then the plug that goes from the wall to the little thing that gives it power. She took the thing that gives it power and she was like, like a spaghetti, like spaghetti noodle she was about to put in her mouth and my husband was like no! But that kind of like seriously summarizes you know, toddlerhood.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (18:18.423)

Yeah, and it's like, it's not like you guys are like down the street, like hanging out with friends, like you're in the actual room and you're like, wait, what? Like everything's a test all the time. You're like, am I, am I missing something? Like I was just going to go to the bathroom and you were going to chew on that cord. Like what, what is happening here?

Dr. Danielle (18:36.782)

Thank you. Yeah, yeah. You have to give yourself grace, like that is you have to. And I think that's what I struggled with to immediately postpartum. I was really that type A person that needed to be in control. Everything doesn't necessarily have to be perfect, but I tried really hard for it to be. And then Emory came and I quickly, I didn't quickly realize that was a part of my struggle. I slowly realized that, you know things, you just have to accept things for what they are. You can try your best and your best is good enough, I promise. And yeah, just give yourself a little bit of grace. So that was a learning for me.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (19:21.938)

Yeah. Well, and I think too, like your, the infant care piece that you're putting in there is so important because there is this like going into having a baby where you're like, I'm gonna be, I'm like, I do all of these things perfectly well right now or perfectly and I am, and I can like check all the boxes and I can be super productive and I can achieve the things I want and I set these big goals.

And so in order for me to continue this stream of perfection into parenthood, I have to buy the right stroller, I have to buy the right swaddles, I have to, my nursery has to look like Pinterest just exploded in here, and then I will be doing it right.

Dr. Danielle (20:02.399)

Yeah, we got to get rid of that culture. I hate it. I literally hate it. It's so consumer, that is consumerism at its finest and it's picking on the most vulnerable population and I'm totally sick of it. Like

Dr. Ashley Blackington (20:09.954)

Mm-hmm. I have an 11-year-old, my oldest is 11, and she is now getting into that phase where, like, again, kids growing up these days, they don't have to watch, like, three minutes of cartoons in the middle of a show, so like, if a cartoon comes on, they're like, what is this, what is wrong? And you're like, no, it's just a commercial in the middle, so it's like someone's trying to sell you something. But like, her tastes have changed in the things that she watches, like, she'll, I mean she has younger siblings, so sometimes Saturday looks like Bluey and sometimes it looks like other things. And as the commercials are coming on for creams and serums and this and this and this, she's like, "'Mom, what is this?' I'm like, this is how advertising is done towards women predominantly. It's like, it starts out with, here's all the things that are wrong with you. Don't you feel bad about yourself because all these things are wrong with you.

Dr. Danielle (21:14.434)

Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (21:18.59)

We have the only solution that will make you whole. And so therefore, for the low, low price of whatever it is you got, we will make you whole. And it's like, this is it. This is the marketing that's done to women in the beauty industry, the marketing that's done to women in careers, the marketing that's done to women in motherhood, and like this experience. It's backwards.

Dr. Danielle (21:22.219)

Yep, let's get rid of it. Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (21:44.438)

Like you're doing a good job. If your kid is breathing, if your kid is like, if you have done your very, very best, if you are like able, I think the measure of success when it comes to parenthood is if you are able to ask for help, if you are able to say, I don't know the answer, if you are to yourself, to the people around you, to your kid, like if you can say to your kid, I don't necessarily know the answer.

Dr. Danielle (22:03.111)

Yes.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (22:13.342)

And I'm running up a million miles an hour into that right now with the like preteen situation. But like, especially in the beginning, like, I don't know. It's just this idea, like everyone comes around and they're like, well, you are a mom now. And so like motherhood is a natural instinct and you need you like, you know, all of this because you have all of the like components that you need in order to have a child. Yeah.

Dr. Danielle (22:36.073)

Yeah, you purchased all those things, you had a baby registry, like, aren't you... I thought you were ready.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (22:40.242)

Yeah. And you're like, I bought the thing, but I don't even know how to put the thing on. I don't know. I don't know what this is. It's upside down. It's sideways. It's whatever. But I think too, like the important part of that is that's when that like tunneling starts where you're feeling like, I don't know what I need to be doing. I don't know how I need to do this. But I have all of these people around me who are telling me that if I just do this thing, buy this whatever, then I will be fine. But then you cut off the opportunity to ask for help. And you cut off the opportunity to say, this sucks. Like, not what I thought I was getting out of the deal. And then that's what happens too, when you have a partner and you're like, I'm supposed to be the one, like I'm supposed to be the mom. I'm supposed to know all the answer. I'm the last line of defense. And then you end up, it's all connected. It's all just like a web

Dr. Danielle (23:23.469)

Yeah. Shit Show.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (23:39.582)

Big giant shit show. In fact that may be the title of this episode. “Let's get out of the shit show.”

Dr. Danielle (23:50.014)

No, I mean, that was the perfect summary. And that is why I again, create it honey, just it shouldn't be like that. It should be, there should be more of an opportunity to ask for help about anything and even the most taboo things, specifically intimacy, but in regards to infant care, which is that first and foremost like thing that we're struggling with, let's get out of this idea that yes, we bought all these things, we're prepared. Sometimes you're just not, and that's okay. Ask for help. And I also, it's completely virtual. And so for my military moms who are in the middle of Japan and they are not near family at all, I empathize with them even more. There are even some military moms, specifically those in the Navy, where the husband or the partner is just, you know, deployed after four weeks postpartum. And then the mom was there with a four week old by herself, again, not surrounded by family, trying to figure things out. That is miserable. That is the definition of misery to me. I don't know, like after going back to work and just like seeing like experiencing postpartum and then seeing my patients dealing with that type of social situation, I was just like, ah, we got to figure something out. And I need the government to kind of like understand that this is a thing because right now when I look at the different contracts that are available for mental health, there's nothing that even addresses postpartum. They're like not on the same page with me. I need to get them on the same page that we aren't doing right by our military families if we're not focusing on one of the most challenging aspects that a family can go through within their life cycle, which is postpartum.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (25:46.37)

Mm-hmm. And I think too, it's always important, like the military is not, it's not a litmus test, but I feel like the care and the strategy that the government puts towards the military oftentimes ends up being the, like the parting of the seas that the general public needs. So it's like when I did post-professional work with traumatic brain injury, blast injury survivors for Iraq and Afghanistan coming home and reintegrating into community. So I love the military. I love the work that they do. And the stuff that they were doing at the time, this was in 2010, was like cutting edge because there was this giant wave of people that had this going on, right? So then now it's 15 years later that since, since these big studies started coming out, since these big programs started to get developed and they were talking about all of these aspects of like mental health and physical health and cognitive rehab and things like that it has trickled back into the general population. So all that to say, I totally agree. Like if we can start with the military because it is a population that is easily identified by the government, right? Like that you all sorts of things, but you are wedded to them for a certain period of time, you have a responsibility on your end and they also have a responsibility on their end.

And so when they take that responsibility and they say, okay, we have all of these people who have signed contracts to do incredible things in service of this country. Oh, it's not just men who are between the ages of 25 and 40, they also have spouses, they are also women, they are also people who have children, they are also all of this stuff. So like in order to take care of our military as a whole, it's not taking care of one component, it is taking care of all of those pieces. And since we are the federal government, let's start piloting these programs knowing that you have direct places to drop in because you're not trying to drop a program into the Midwest where you hope somebody comes like and there's no one around. Like you're, you can drop a program into Walter Reed and there's gonna be people there because there are always gonna be people there. And then from there, the ripple effect out is huge. So I think that it's an incredible targeted direct way to influence the greater good of mothers, motherhood and family by starting where you're starting. And I just think it's incredible.

Dr. Danielle (28:42.846)

Yeah, it's well, I really appreciate that. It's definitely a task. Because I start I started out with a really great idea. But with business, it's like marketing and promoting and like that. I don't know anything about that. I just know how to be a reasonable OBGYN. So it's a learning curve. But I'm hoping to do some good through networking, through learning from other people and just.

Yeah, growing and also having more time once I get out of the military. Sorry, love the military, but I need a little bit of time back to get this done.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (29:24.577)

Yeah, so is your partner in the military as well? Okay, and so will they be in the military when you are out?

Dr. Danielle (29:28.342)

Yeah, Bryant, he has a normal job, but he's a reservist. And I'm actually going to switch to reserves as well, because I just don't want to fully leave. So he actually, his job is really cool. He loads planes and drones and stuff. He's actually more deployable than me. So over the next couple of years while we're both still in, he has the highest potential to like go to various places. He's going to Germany in two weeks. Actually this Friday he's leaving for Germany. So yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (30:14.41)

Does he deploy, do either of you deploy out of country or have you in the last?

Dr. Danielle (30:22.766)

I haven't. I've been tagged to a military training facility, Walter Reed. So I have as Air Force, I haven't deployed as much as he has. He actually, we moved to DC in 2020. So for 2021, he was in Jordan doing some like special things over there. So yeah, he out of our two jobs, he's the one that will probably be doing the cooler things over the next couple of years in foreign countries.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (30:54.986)

Yeah, I mean you do cool things like you deliver babies. So like the military depends on you whether they want it or not. There’ll always be babies and you can load a drone, but how many people can deliver a baby just say?

Dr. Danielle (30:58.99)

Thank you.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (31:17.046)

And so when, so how do you manage that, like when he goes on Friday, like how is that gonna look for work, for Honey, for you? Like how does that all, what's that juggle?

Dr. Danielle (31:31.254)

We're going. It is a struggle. It is a struggle because we, we don't live, you know, the military, they said you are living in, you know, the DMV area. So since 2020, we, you know, have lived here. We love it. We've gained a community. But initially, like we didn't have any family, not too many friends here. And so, and I didn't really, before having Emory, I didn't really realize how important community is. Having like reliable people that can help you out, that's like really important. So, when he, he actually did January, February and In early March, he was gone as well doing like some other military stuff. So it was just me. I was a single mom for about 12 weeks and it was rough, but we have a really good support system. We've gained a really good support system. So when I'm on call, like overnight, I have a person that can call to go pick Emory up from daycare or drop Emory off to daycare or stay with her at home overnight. Um, it's hard.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (32:51.81)

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Danielle (32:52.056)

But, you know, figure it out.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (32:54.59)

Yeah. And so does she do daycare at the hospital?

Dr. Danielle (32:59.354)

No, she does take care right down the street for me. It's like a minute drive.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (33:03.394)

That's perfect.

Dr. Danielle (33:27.562)

Yeah, yeah. It's... oh my gosh. It's not trauma, but it's like bordering that. Like just having to do things alone and I'm saying alone, like my husband is definitely here mentally supporting me and rooting for me, but just the day-to-day like coordination, making sure that the ball isn't dropped because there's huge consequences if it does get dropped. It's just like a very brutal mental, mental challenge, but you know, we got through it.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (33:42.93)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think that's a really important piece, too. Like part of the big part of what you're doing with Honey and, you know, and going on and talking about it is like I think that, too, is really important. That that often gets overlooked, right? Like you can start the start the company and launch the program and the courses and things like that. But until that until the conversations really happen, that's when people are like “That sounds lovely, I'll go on and see that,” versus people being able to be like, I also, you know, even if they aren't in the military, it's like my spouse travels for this, or they're placed here, or things like that. Like, it's hard. It is incredibly hard, and you don't have, like when you're, you know, if you're moving around a bunch and you have to like grow that community, but you also have to grow that community at such a rapid pace to like say, to be able to say like, hi, could you pick up the most precious thing that I have in the world and like go here or whatever. And like. It's it's huge.

Dr. Danielle (34:55.71)

Yeah, it is. It really is. Yeah. And it's in part why I am pretty like we have the option of moving back home closer to home, but I kind of don't want to because like when you find someone that you really trust to take care of your child and you know that you have evidence that they do it really well, like I don't want to leave that. So just we're just going to sit tight for a little bit.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (35:20.162)

Yeah, yeah, and plus too, like the, you know, when you talk about like bandwidth, when it comes to like things you can do, you've launched this amazing idea, and you're putting it out in the world and really trying to like straddle the line between civilian and military and like, bring a huge piece of education and support to as many people as possible. Then you get loaded into the logistics of trying to figure out how to move and find a new this and find a new that. And it's just pushing that along.

Dr. Danielle (35:57.69)

Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (36:01.758)

It's so many things. There's too many decisions that have to be made and there's too many like, too many balls in the air.

Dr. Danielle (36:08.206)

Too many balls. Yeah, they're just falling on me. It's fine. I can move out of the way or dodge them. Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (36:13.244)

You sound like a mom who has like just like, you know, it's like everything is due, right? Like everything, like all the lights are flashing and you're like, you know what? Until I can grow that other hand to be able to like make lunch while like, you know, doing my job, while answering an email, while doing this, all of that, like it's just going to have to not.

Dr. Danielle (36:41.674)

Yeah. And that is growth. Like, when I got to that point, I feel so liberated. Like, that's fine. Things will get better.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (36:52.15)

Mm-hmm. That's that like the second half of your life begins when you no longer like, oh my gosh, I remember my daughter when I came home from the hospital with my oldest, she I made a list. I made this like post-it list and I stuck it on the counter and it was like all the things I was going to do while she was sleeping because it because I had been I'd been in the hospital for two days. So therefore, like I had a list of things to do, but I really didn't. And I was like, I'm going to do all these things. Two weeks later- not a single thing crossed off the list. And then I left it there as a reminder of like, well, we can't all get to the list.

Dr. Danielle (37:24.065)

Yeah, it's true. I was the same way. And my husband's feedback for me, you know, afterwards was, you know, Daniel, like when Emory was sleeping, you probably should have just slept more. Like, you know, relax. Take a nap. Sleep tight.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (37:49.76)

You're like, okay, well, now I'm gonna head a nap and it's gonna be good.

Dr. Danielle (37:55.17)

Yes. Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (38:00.402)

Oh my gosh. So for people out there who are like, hold on a second, I feel like I need this or and I think it's an it's an even bigger like, win in the world if they're like, “I have a friend who is having a baby. I have already had a baby and I know what is meeting me at the end of labor and delivery. Now I would like to help my friend because I tell my friend this is what it's going to be like, but she doesn't believe me.” How do people get you into that person's space? How do they find you? All of that.

Dr. Danielle (38:39.206)

Yeah, I love that. So I would recommend that they go to my website, hellohoneyteam.com, and I want you to tell your friend to just download our guide just on some things that gives you quick tips on how to prepare for postpartum, specifically in regards to child care, reintroducing exercise, et cetera, et cetera. So I would tell them to download the guide and then that just puts them on our email list. And then they'll also get access or link to our community, which is free. And they'll get articles that again, go over all these different good things about postpartum, just providing medical education. So I think that's a good way, a low stakes, low cost way to be within the honey realm.

And then whenever they're ready, whenever they feel a little antsy, they can just tap in to our membership whenever they need it. If they don't need it, it's fine. But at least they'll have the community of support there through the health experts that we have, through fellow moms, fellow dads all across this nation. They'll at least have that lifeline, the peer to peer support if they need it.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (39:59.27)

Mm-hmm. Do you have, there was two questions that I forgot earlier that I now remember, do you have a specific space inside of Honey for dads? So that they have a separate, not necessarily separate dads can only be in this area, but is there a space for them to separately be able to ask questions and find members?

Dr. Danielle (40:09.496)

Yep, and that community space is free as well. There's a dad-specific support group, and then there's a mom-specific support group, and then there's the feeds that are focused on those four pillars as well.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (40:34.558)

I really like, I couldn't love this thing more. I could not love the idea. And so, do you have, I really like the idea of having that conversation before you are feeling like your hair is on fire. And so having a way for people to come into the community without necessarily knowing what is going on. So like people that are trying to buy all the things or make sure all the boxes are checked. They have an opportunity to join, to maybe ask people who are like, I wish I knew this two weeks ago. Because two weeks is a whole different world when you are in the zero to three month span of postpartum.

Dr. Danielle (41:10.134)

Yeah. What's really nice is that members, they can tag themselves with the age of their newborn. And certainly the idea if you have members from zero to 12 months, you know, the veterans, if you will, who have the nine to 12 month old, they are going to be like really great mentors for those who are in the thick of it. That's zero to 12 weeks of age for their newborn.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (41:46.946)

Nice. And how did you find, the other question I forgot, how did you find the experts and the people to be on Honey with you? Like where did those guys come from?

Dr. Danielle (41:56.458)

Oh my. Yeah, so divine intervention, I guess. I don't know. So for instance, Rachel, she, it was at Emory's, I think, three month old visit at our pediatrician at Children's in D.C. She, we did a consult with her and she did, she was recommended by our pediatrician. We did a virtual visit where she helped me kind of navigate and give Emory a balanced diet as we were transitioning from strictly breastfeeding to solid foods. And I reached out to her after that visit a couple of weeks later, I was like, hey, you are absolutely phenomenal. What do you think about this? And she was like, absolutely, this is my mission. I love doing this type of thing. I love helping moms.

So I've met all of these people individually as a mom, and I really believe in how they practice, you know, their expertise. And so, yeah, asked them to be a part of the team, and they said yes. Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (43:03.842)

That's awesome. I love it. It's the idea of like you first experience, like you didn't, it wasn't like a sales thing, right? Like you don't go out and you're like, Hey, I need a this box checked. It's like, I had this need, you were the person that answered the, the question, the call, the whatever it is. And then like I left feeling a certain way that was two thumbs up and like sparkles and unicorns.

Dr. Danielle (43:28.567)

Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (43:28.702)

I mean, because that's really the feeling that you get when you're a mom and you ask a question and somebody answers a question and you feel like you can like fully inhale and exhale, right? It's like sparkles, unicorns, fireworks. Okay, here we go. But like you have that feeling of relief and then to say, hey, you did that for me. So can you, do you want to do this for other people because I'm building this really cool thing? Because those are the people that are going to build that really cool thing.

Dr. Danielle (43:51.508)

Yeah. Exactly. For in different shapes or forms, like with all of the people who are on the team, like I've worked with them in some type of way. Like Janelle, for instance, she's a midwife that I trained when I was training as a resident in OB-GYN in Charleston, she was one of the nurses that I worked with and she took care of postpartum moms and she was a labor and delivery nurse so like I know I know how she works I love her dearly so yeah I have relationships with all these people and they you know most importantly believe in the mission and they see the gaps that exist and they are interested in fixing that.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (44:39.554)

That's awesome. Well, I hope really like that this just explodes. I hope the whole thing is like unbelievably big. It's just, it is such an overlooked area of need. And I think that the people that listen to this podcast are people that are in this space of like, I am a person, I need to figure out how to get back to being a person. And sometimes it happens when you're two weeks postpartum where you're like, this isn't the way I envisioned this. Sometimes it's 10 years postpartum where you're like, I just got, I was in a black hole of like, pouring out and pouring and pouring. And so like, having places like this where you can start the conversation early, where you can be there in the background to say, there's a connection here and you choose what level of depth you want in that connection is an incredible thing, an incredible resource for a population of people that, unfortunately, in this day and age, don't have resources. No matter what, we just don't have the resources in general for women and moms today that existed years and years ago, or the community, or the conversation, or all of those things. So I seriously applaud you, standing ovation style for what you're doing.

Dr. Danielle (45:57.463)

I appreciate the support most definitely.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (46:13.774)

Yeah. All right. So one last time, because I'm gonna I'm gonna put everything in the show notes. But in case you are someone like me who listens to stuff, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna remember that. And then I think about it, and then I have to go back and look, but tell everybody how they can how they can reach out to you how they can get involved with honey. And and also, I'm going to put this out there. If you are somebody who is in that space where you're like, this is an area that I noticed this is a gap that I have that's in service of the beta that you're doing. It's like, reach out. How do people reach out to you?

Dr. Danielle (46:50.078)

Yeah. So on Instagram, that's at Hello Honey Team. The website is HelloHoneyTeam.com. And then if you want to shoot me an email, that's totally fine. It's Danielle at Hone

Dr. Ashley Blackington (47:04.39)

Awesome. I love it. Well, congratulations. And I can't wait to see like billboards everywhere with Honey on them.

Dr. Danielle (47:13.942)

Thank you.

Dr. Ashley Blackington (47:15.018)

You're doing it, you're doing it and it's amazing. All right, well, it was nice to meet you and thank you for coming on.

Dr. Danielle (47:19.161)

I appreciate it. I am. Thank you.