Rouba Haddad, CEO of PUSH Mama Care On Prenatal Services, Entrepreneurship, Revolutionizing the Experience of Motherhood

Meet Rouba Haddad, Founder of PUSH Mama Care a brand that specializes in helping women during the prenatal stage of motherhood. She built her business primarily from women who didn’t have the support they needed during the most emotional and physically painful time of their lives ; during pregnancy. Her holistic approach has proven to be the success formula. Here’s her entrepreneurial journey revolutionizing an entire industry!

Tell me about yourself; education, background. 

Growing up, my dad’s career led my family and I to live in different countries for several years at a time. I was lucky enough to learn about different cultures this way and surround myself with unique customs, traditions and people. I am grateful for that experience which shaped me. I finally moved to Montreal for university and studied dietetics at McGill, where I completed a Master’s degree in Nutrition specializing in pediatrics. Since 2010, I’ve been working as a registered dietitian and have worked closely with a lot of expectant mothers! 

As I would give them recommendations that I thought were pretty basic, I realized that even some simple pointers that were crucial for their health and well-being while pregnant, and for their babies, was brand new information. And I realized that the only reason I knew them was because of my education and specialization.

Through my training, I’ve also learned just how stressful and overwhelming pregnancy can feel—on top of the excitement. I realized that, as a healthcare professional working in clinical settings, my colleagues and I tend to be reactive and not spend the time women need to educate or support them as much as we should. So women tend to seek information from sources that are more supportive, but not as trustworthy in terms of expertise. I wanted to marry these two sentiments, and put together a team that’s as qualified as possible, but also caring and supportive. 

Did you always know you would end up owning your own business? 

I don’t know about that, but I think I’ve always felt like I had an incredibly strong passion for making a difference, forging my own path—especially one that empowers women—and taking others with me. I’ve always felt like I excelled at creating or imagining things that don’t already exist that can make a significant difference in people’s lives. I have always tried to apply this creativity in the different sectors I’ve worked in (clinical, community pharmaceutical, and private practice).

Tell me about your path that led you to launch PUSH Mama Care? 

I was working with a lot of pregnant women at the time as a registered dietitian specializing in pediatric nutrition. Women have been having babies since the beginning of time, but I realized most of us have limited (or no) knowledge of what pregnancy involves until we’re actually experiencing those nine months for ourselves. Today, there’s also so much information at our fingertips on the internet and women are left rifling through contradictory, general advice online from sources that are often unreliable. 

Unfortunately, I think many OBGYN appointments don’t devote enough time to explaining different pregnancy factors, and women often don’t know what questions to ask. I heard other stories where massage therapists didn’t know how to customize prenatal massages. I felt like women need a place that will offer support, education, and services that are specially geared to them, with experienced and empathetic practitioners. 

When no one else was creating this type of space, I was determined to turn it into a reality. Pregnant women need to focus on caring for themselves and a growing baby inside them, and it’s understandable to feel physically and emotionally vulnerable. That’s why it was so important for me to develop this kind of interdisciplinary space with trusted experts, who have years of experience, to help women make decisions for themselves and their babies.

What is your mission, core values, brand culture? 

Our mission at PUSH is to provide quality, evidence-based care during this sacred and unique journey in women’s lives. We connect the medical aspect of pregnancy and childbirth with a high level of empathy and care. It’s so important to feel surrounded and supported by the best healthcare professionals out there, that know exactly what they’re doing and how to guide you when you’re feeling uncertain and overwhelmed.

Our core values are integrity, gold standard, support, and collaboration. We treat everyone with the utmost respect, kindness and professionalism. We strive to make women feel comfortable and confident that they’re in the best possible hands, while adhering to best practices and excellence in our professional care. ​We help mamas feel heard and nurtured throughout their pregnancy and beyond. We also embrace a client-centric, interdisciplinary philosophy to achieve better and more accurate health outcomes for everyone.

Our brand culture is accessible, understanding, empathetic, and caring.

Tell us about your partnerships with other healthcare professionals and how you tie that into your services? 

Part of our goal at PUSH is to partner with medical clinics and family doctors, and offer extra support to women while they’re pregnant and after they’ve given birth. We specialize in perinatal care overall, so we work alongside general practitioners and OBGYNs to help ensure their patients are well-prepared for labour, delivery, and parenthood.

What systems do you have in place for internal growth at the company? 

PUSH is committed to recruiting and retaining best-in-class team members. We seek professionals who are client-focused, motivated and passionate about perinatal care, while simultaneously focused on their professional growth and the success of PUSH. On our end, we are devoted to helping each team member achieve their career goals by assigning projects and cases that are aligned with their expertise and special interests. 

What inspires you to keep growing? 

PUSH is the dream I dreamt years ago that would not go away. It woke me at night and poked me during the day and begged to be realized. It’s more than a business to me—it’s a passion and mission.

What does success represent to you? 

For me personally, success is being able to fully live out my life as I truly imagine, without apology. For PUSH, success is being able to fully accomplish our mission and provide women with the support they deserve during pregnancy and into motherhood. 

There is really nothing like your services out there. How do you integrate technology to facilitate the process and get to more women in need? 

Particularly since we launched during COVID, we had to integrate technology that much more in order to get the word out about our services. We offer online courses, as well as complimentary meet and greet sessions, with our incredible healthcare professionals. Anyone can book these securely and confidentially through our beautiful website. We also continue to build our social media profile. Of course, for people who have tried our services and swear by them, word of mouth is often the best marketing tool. 

What inspires you to think bigger? Where do you see the company in 5-10 years? 

Honestly, I need to train myself to think smaller! All jokes aside, I see so much potential for PUSH and I’m already working towards the next 5-10 years as I establish our foundation in the short term. I see it being the one-stop-shop for everything mama and mama-to-be related. What truly inspires me is women supporting women, working together, and leaving the world a little better than how we found it.

How do you stay grounded? 

I stay grounded by refocusing and staying in line with my mission, meditating, and rereading my Vivid Vision. For those who’ve never heard of this, it’s an incredible tool to help align your goals (I definitely recommend reading Cameron Herold’s book “Vivid Vision”). I also have an incredible family and friends. 

I strongly believe in just going for your dreams if you feel like you have a calling. It can be scary to take the leap, but it’s often so worth it—and keep trying if you don’t succeed at the beginning. If you’re not quite getting the response you want, brainstorm and try different things. You can’t accomplish something new and amazing without some trial and error. 

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For more information, visit pushmamacare.com 

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