It was her own beautiful, life-changing experience of giving birth to her daughter that ignited Alexa’s passion to help and guide other women to have empowered and autonomous births. Along with her love for capturing the raw intimacy of motherhood, she combined her two passions and become a doula, and photographer of bumps, birth, babies and family life. At Alexa Doula Photography, she aspires to share a woman-centred, woman-focused level of care, supporting women to make the choices that feel right and best for them in each moment, while creating photographs that last forever: memories of life-changing experiences and the physical reminders of just how powerful you are.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I gave birth to my baby girl, outside under our big old oak tree, beneath the stars. It was an undisturbed birth and I birthed in water, in a pool filled with rainwater, heated by fire and lit by candlelight. It was a carefully chosen decision after years of passionate research into birth and all of its facets and was absolutely the best day of my life. I felt empowered and strong and supported in the way I needed to birth. After having this glorious and life-changing experience, I realised I had found my calling, I needed to support women to feel empowered in their birth choices. And so, I became a doula.
There is another part of me who loves to capture the rawness, realness and intimacy of motherhood and so my passions combined and led me to become a doula and photographer of birth, babies, bumps and beautiful family life.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
I spent years tangled in the beautiful Art of Fairy Making, my other little business, and truthfully, when I am passionate about something, it gets my full heart and focus. After having Matea, my daughter, I realised that something needed to shift, and so I slowed right down on felting and creating. Somehow in this spaciousness, I heard this calling of my soul to go deeper and offer more. It was easy from then on in, my study on natural, undisturbed birth deepened and intensified, and I began to serve women in the way I am doing now. This was the biggest breakthrough – the understanding that this is what I am supposed to do and, simply, doing it.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
My co-parent and I shared life for seven years, before separating when our daughter was one year. Thankfully, both of us adore her and want to share our lives with her, and so every day, we spend half the day with her. Despite having the challenge of regular communication and organising, it works well for us, as we both have half a day to enjoy being a parent, and half the day to focus on our own projects. Her dad will also care for her if there is a birth and I need to go away or be awake through the night.
