Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashlee White.
Hi Ashlee , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey started with a deeply personal desire to make sure women especially Black mothers felt seen, supported, and heard during one of the most transformative seasons of their lives: motherhood.
I founded Life After Birth Midlands because I experienced firsthand how often the conversation around motherhood ends after the baby is born. We celebrate the birth, but we don’t always talk about what happens to the woman afterward the emotional changes, the identity shifts, the challenges of balancing family and career, and the need for a strong community of support. I wanted to create something that centered the mother, not just the baby.
What began as an idea grew into a mission to advocate for, educate, and connect mothers while creating spaces where women could have honest conversations about their experiences. Along the way, I learned that sometimes you don’t have to have every answer you just have to be willing to start, listen, build relationships, and keep going.
That journey eventually led me to producing my very first **Mothers of South Carolina Conference**. This conference is really the next evolution of the work I’ve been doing. I wanted to create a space where mothers from across South Carolina could come together to connect, learn, be celebrated, and have conversations about the issues that affect their lives and families.
Producing this conference has stretched me in ways I didn’t expect. I’m not just dreaming about the vision anymore; I’m responsible for bringing every piece of it together from speakers and sponsors to programming, partnerships, and the overall experience for every woman who walks through the door.
When I look at where I started and where I am today, I’m proud of the growth, but I also know this is just the beginning. Life After Birth taught me how to identify a need and build around it. The Mothers of South Carolina Conference is teaching me how to take that vision and create something much bigger than myself.
Ultimately, my story is about recognizing a need, having the courage to do something about it, and continuing to build even when I don’t have the entire road mapped out. I believe there is so much power in creating spaces where women feel seen, valued, and empowered and that’s the work I intend to keep doing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road—and honestly, I don’t think I would want it to be.
There have been seasons when I’ve questioned whether I was doing the right thing, struggled financially, had to rebuild, and had to figure things out without always having the resources or support I needed. Building a mission driven organization and now producing a conference requires more than having a great idea. It requires persistence, relationships, funding, organization, and the ability to keep moving when things don’t go according to plan.
One of the hardest lessons for me has been learning that passion alone isn’t enough. You can believe deeply in what you’re building and still have to learn the business side, ask for help, hear “no,” pivot, and sometimes start over. There have been moments when I felt like I was carrying the weight of the vision by myself.
I’ve also had to learn not to let setbacks define the vision. Some things didn’t happen when I thought they would, some doors didn’t open, and some people I expected to walk alongside me didn’t. But each of those experiences taught me something about leadership, discernment, and resilience.
As you know, we’re big fans of Life After Birth Midlands. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
**Life After Birth is more than an organization to me—it is a movement centered around the mother.**
At its heart, Life After Birth exists to remind women that their story, identity, dreams, health, relationships, and well-being don’t stop mattering once they become mothers. We create opportunities for mothers to be seen, heard, supported, educated, connected, and celebrated.
Our work is rooted in the belief that motherhood should not have to be navigated alone. We focus on creating meaningful conversations, community experiences, resources, and connections that address the realities of motherhood beyond the birth of a child. That includes the emotional, social, professional, financial, and personal aspects of a mother’s life.
What sets us apart is that we aren’t interested in creating another space where mothers are simply told what they should be doing. We want to create spaces where mothers can be honest about what motherhood actually feels like. There is a difference.
The **Mothers of South Carolina Conference** is the next evolution of that vision. It is my first conference, and it brings together mothers, community leaders, professionals, organizations, and advocates to create a larger statewide conversation around the experiences and needs of mothers. It’s designed to be a place for connection, education, inspiration, resources, and celebration—but also a place where mothers can walk away feeling like someone understands them.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud of the authenticity behind L.A.B. I don’t want the brand to portray motherhood as perfect or polished all the time. Motherhood is beautiful, but it can also be complicated, exhausting, transformative, isolating, empowering, and everything in between. I want women to feel that honesty when they interact with our brand.
I’m also proud that the vision has continued to evolve. What started with Life After Birth Midlands has grown into something much bigger than one program or one event. My goal is to build a recognizable platform for mothers in South Carolina—one that creates opportunities for connection, advocacy, education, celebration, and meaningful community.
Ultimately, I want readers to know that Life After Birth MIdlands is about the woman behind the title of “Mom.”** We love our children deeply, but mothers deserve to have a life, a voice, a community, and a sense of purpose that belongs to them too.
That’s the heart of our brand—and that’s the conversation I want us to keep having.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something that might surprise people is that, despite how confident and organized I may appear when I’m producing an event or leading a project, a lot of what I’ve built has come from figuring things out as I go.
People often see the finished product the event, the brand, the partnerships, the visionand assume I always knew exactly what I was doing. The truth is, I’ve had plenty of moments where I was scared, uncertain, or wondering if I was capable of pulling it all off. I just learned not to let fear make the decision for me.
I also think people might be surprised to know how deeply personal this work is for me. Life After Birth isn’t simply something I created because I saw a business opportunity. It comes from my genuine belief that mothers deserve more. When I see a woman feeling overlooked, unsupported, or like she has lost herself in motherhood, it hits differently for me.
And probably the biggest surprise is that I’m still figuring it out. I don’t have this perfectly packaged life where everything is always together. I’m a mother, wife, entrepreneur, event producer, and woman navigating my own growth while building something I believe in.
I think that’s actually one of my greatest strengths. **I’m not building from a place of perfection; I’m building from experience. And I think that allows me to connect with other women in a much more honest way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.labmidlands.com/
- Instagram: Lifeafterbirthmidlands
- Facebook: lifeafterbirthmidlands
