We recently connected with Christine Brown and have shared our conversation below.
Christine, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I would never have guessed that my own exhausting journey would lead me to where I am today and out of our challenges, a business could flourish.
When my twins, Ryan and Nicholas, were born in 2014, I was madly in love – but also overwhelmed and exhausted.
Life was a whirlwind, and their sleep habits changed constantly. I couldn’t keep up.
I endured months of sleepless nights and chaotic naps. My solution was to devour books and scour the internet. Yet I felt even more confused by all the contradictory advice.
Life felt heavy. My husband and I were at each other’s throats. I was running on fumes and didn’t recognize who I had become.
At four months old, Ryan slept through the night. Nick, on the other hand, couldn’t figure it out.
After another month and a half of sleepless nights with Nick, my husband and I decided it was time to sleep train.
In the middle of the night, out of sheer desperation, we started the process.
But we didn’t stick with it.
We weren’t consistent. We second-guessed ourselves, and hearing our son upset made us want to throw in the towel.
So we went back to the drawing board. We reevaluated, researched, and tried again.
And it didn’t happen overnight, but it didn’t take long. Nick slept through the night after just four nights of consistent sleep training!
The changes I saw in our son were remarkable. He went from cranky and over-tired to a giggling, happy baby.
My husband and I were happier too, and finally well-rested.
Having our boys finally sleep positively impacted our family, one I wanted to share with as many other families as I could.
In 2016, I decided to make my dream a reality and received my child sleep consultant certification.
And Bella Luna Family was born.
I thought I was in the clear.
When my boys turned three, I realized there was a new set of struggles to tackle.
Sleep training seemed like a thing of the past, but in its place were challenging behaviors and a lack of training on how to deal with them.
Through another round of coffee-fueled research, I discovered positive parenting, the parenting philosophy I would adopt for my boys.
And I decided this was another positive impact I couldn’t keep to myself.
Since 2018, after pursuing a child behavior certification, Bella Luna Family has also offered child behavior and potty training consultations, giving parents proven strategies to improve behavior, increase the peace at home, and master the potty training milestone.
Today, I’m passionate about helping families.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
(I touched on my story with the previous question)
I shared quite a bit with the last question, but here is some additional info. After struggling with my twins’ sleep and getting certified as a child sleep consultant, I was able to leave my corporate career as a marketing manager and transition into helping families. This is a much better fit for my family and being able to help parents navigate their parenting journey is so rewarding!
Many sleep consultants specialize only in sleep, but at Bella Luna Family, we help families with some of the other challenging aspects of parenting, including lactation, child behavior and potty training. We also offer one-on-one consulting services as well as guides and online courses.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Belief in myself; tenacity and a strong work ethic are the three qualities that have helped me most on my journey.
It took guts and a strong belief in myself to know I could succeed, leaving a lucrative, stable career in corporate America.
Running a business isn’t for the faint of heart so tenacity helps me to persevere even when I hit roadblocks or times are challenging.
I’m not a fan of hustle culture, but when starting a business there is a lot of hard work that goes into getting the business off the ground and to keep forward momentum. When you don’t have a boss, you have to have a strong work ethic to show up and do what needs to be done to reach your goals.
For folks that are early in the journey, make sure that you are ready to put in the hard work to make your dreams come true and don’t give up when the going gets tough. You can do this!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am actively seeking collaboration opportunities with businesses in the family space or in complementary businesses. I love connecting and exploring the ways that we can support families and each other’s businesses. I’m available for podcast interviews, guest blog posts, speaking opportunities, Instagram lives/takeovers or I’m open to exploring other opportunities as well. I am looking to feature collaborators in my blog, on social media and in my online course. If this is you, please drop me a line at [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bellalunafamily.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bellalunafamily
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bellalunafamily
Image Credits
Kristin Hardwick www.kristinhardwick.com
