Meet Gabriela Gerhart

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gabriela Gerhart. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gabriela below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Gabriela with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I grew up in a hard-working family. All of my family members worked either in sales, construction, steel factory, or agriculture. Since my early teens I always had a job, from collecting paper goods, or metal, or herbs and selling them at the collection sites to get pocket money. My family did not grow up with much extra money, so anything extra I wanted to buy I needed to earn money for. Working hard is pretty much part of my DNA. Work is incredibly rewarding to me, I like to see the results, I like to make people happy, and I appreciate others putting work into projects.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I founded my company, Motherhood Center, over 22 years ago. When I first arrived in America, after receiving a pediatric nursing degree and physical therapy degree, and finishing a year of au pairing here in Houston, I began exploring more opportunities. I soon realized that there is a lack of community, support and guidance for expecting new moms shortly after I started working with new parents in their homes, teaching them about baby care and adjusting into parenthood during the daytime or night time.
After exploring the available options –and just as a reminder, the internet was still in its infancy, so because there were no blogs or online experts to reach out to– I decided to create the necessary village, creating the Wellness Center for expecting new parents and named it Motherhood Center.

Over the years we have expanded our services and class offerings. With a greater understanding for what clients are looking for, what their needs are, we kept fine-tuning and developing our curriculums.

Now Motherhood Center has serviced over 40,000 clients, primarily professional career parents, who are stepping into Parenthood initially feeling very very overwhelmed, but thanks to our support and guidance they are able to gain the confidence they need to feel better prepared.

We are able to accomplish this through our Pregnancy Education Classes such as childbirth, newborn care , and even a grandparent refresher course, to massages, yoga and fitness programs, breastfeeding support, and of course wide range of child care services ranging from newborn care specialist, night nannies, doulas, family assistance and babysitting services.

We are often referred to as Mommy Country Club, as we are a safe haven and go-to resource for parents in Houston.

Something that is very important to us, is offering unbiased, study-based information to our parents, allowing them to ultimately decide what their parenting style is, their preferred feeding method, or the type of childbirth they wish to accomplish.
I feel like clients who come through the programs we offer are able to create a stronger, more confident family foundation.

Now with so many more avenues of information, we often see clients becoming even more overwhelmed, trying to decipher what’s real, what’s not, and what would fit them and their lifestyle best. Of course all of our clients want what is best for their family, but it can be overwhelming, especially if you feel like you need to master something while you are still just learning about it.

And as we all know, babies do not come with a manual, so the Motherhood Center is providing the access to support, nurturing and education for these parents.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Having started my business back in 2000, there were very limited resources and really the motherhood industry was still pretty much non-existent, so much of what I did was follow my instincts and listen to my client’s needs. I think following my instinct and intuition really was one of the most critical aspects of building a strong business.

I’m constantly seeking new information as I love to learn, so by putting myself in challenging situations or attending seminars or workshops on topics I knew very little about, I was able to utilize it right away or save it for future use. Based on this, I believe being a lifelong learner is very important for any business owner or entrepreneur.

Additionally, surrounding myself with like-minded people has proved very vital in my business. It is more about the heart and the quality of a person’s morals than the knowledge they have, as morals are inherited and hard to change, while knowledge can be taught.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
We have reached clients from all over the world, as they are all coming to Houston for various industries and opportunities, from medical, energy, hospitality etc. Oftentimes these clients are seeking a community, a village of support.We also have many clients who are native Houstonians, third or fourth generation even, and all these families are meeting at the Motherhood Center, during a very special and precious time in their lives.I would say the ideal client is a client who is seeking answers about pregnancy, childbirth, childcare and parenting. Clients who understand the need for unbiased, study-based information. Clients who are focused on wellness, well-being and are open to receiving help and guidance. We have clients who are utilizing just a fraction of our offerings, maybe coming only for educational classes or massages or breastfeeding support, but many of our clients are truly utilizing our services from A to Z. From the time they learn that they are expecting, to their third or fourth pregnancies with us!  And pretty soon, the babies which were part of the Motherhood Center back in 2000, will start having their own babies, and we will truly be going full circle.

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Image Credits
Motherhood Center

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