Hot+Brave
Hosted by birth worker and activist Bianca Sprague from bebo mia Inc (https://bebomia.com/), Hot + Brave is like a hilarious conversation with your feisty friend who doesn’t give a f*ck. Brave stories, business support, hot topics and #truthbombs that will either balm your soul or light fire to your rage.
Episodes
Content note: this episode includes grief, suicide loss, racism, obstetric violence, medical emergencies, family conflict and birth trauma. Please care for your heart while you listen.
In this season finale of Hot and Brave, Bianca takes you behind the glossy Instagram version of birthwork and into the real stories that shaped her as a doula.
She shares ten client stories from her early years, including the time she wa...
In this episode, Bianca breaks down the three pillars every doula needs to build a sustainable, heart centered business: clarity, visibility, and community. She shares the stories we all live through in that first uncertain year, the places we get stuck, and the quiet shame that grows when nobody has ever taught us the basics of business or mission building.
You will learn the difference between selling and solving, wh...
Most doulas think they don’t have an audience... but you already have a network filled with potential clients who know, like, and trust you.
In this week’s Hot + Brave, Bianca shares how to tap into your existing community to fill your roster with dream clients without feeling salesy or awkward. Learn how to reach out authentically, reframe visibility as care work, and finally stop apologizing for wanting to be seen.
Th...
In this episode, Bianca Sprague invites the birth world into a critical and overdue conversation: the end of the weekend doula training model.
The weekend era served an early purpose. It opened the door to formalized doula work, community support, and advocacy inside medical systems. Yet birth work has evolved, and the expectations placed on doulas have grown dramatically. Today’s doulas must be trauma informed, anti o...
You can be the best doula in the world, compassionate, skilled, and deeply dedicated, but if people don’t know you exist, they can’t hire you.
In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca dives into what she calls The Invisible Doula Problem - why so many incredible birthworkers struggle to get noticed, and how visibility can become an act of care instead of something that feels salesy or self-promotional.
You’ll learn how be...
Your calendar’s quiet. The DMs are dry. You’re doing the work, showing up online, and still hearing crickets. So… what gives?
In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca Sprague shares the five essential steps to move your business from invisible to booked out.
You’ll learn why more content isn’t the answer, what clients are actually paying you for, and how to build real systems that fill your roster without burnout. This ep...
In this powerful follow-up episode, Bianca sits down once again with Bobette from Uzuri Birth in Ghana to go even deeper into the realities of birthwork in West Africa.
Together, they explore what birth really looks like in Ghana today: from systemic challenges and cultural beliefs about danger in birth, to the power of traditional practices that are still alive (and those being revived). Bobette shares some of her mos...
If you’ve ever answered a 3 a.m. text about pineapple or found yourself chasing unpaid invoices, this one’s for you. In this episode, Bianca Sprague gets real about boundaries: the messy, hard, business-saving kind. You’ll learn exactly what to say in those tricky moments with 12 copy-and-paste scripts for your doula practice. These are the words that protect your energy, your income, and your joy.
Download the free wo...
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This episode is not neutral. Oh, and we cuss. A lot.
Bianca Sprague brings rage, grief, and truth to the mic, naming fascism, Gaza, Trump’s lies about Tylenol, and the systems failing families. In a world flooded with disinformation, birthworkers are the antidote.
You’ll hear why doulas are not just supporting births, they are resisting fascism, protecting autonom...
Money stories run deep… and for so many of us, they carry shame, fear, and generational wounds. In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca sits down with Jalisa Hardy, the founder of the Healed Money Movement, to explore what happens when we decide to heal our relationship with money.
Jalisa shares her own journey of untangling money wounds and offers a fresh perspective on what financial healing looks like for women, birt...
Bianca is joined by Alyssa Coleman, founder of Nurture the Journey, to talk about her thesis project on Maternal mental health and nature-based retreats. They dive into the connection between rest, nature, and healing, and how these practices can support pregnant folks and families. This episode is an invitation to rethink how we approach burnout and mental health, and to imagine care rooted in nature and restoration...
In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca Sprague sits down with Lindsay McCoy, co-creator of the Body Ready Method®, to talk about what birthing bodies are trying to tell us… especially through tightness, clenching, and restriction. They explore how emotional holding patterns show up somatically, why birth prep is about nervous system safety as much as physical alignment, and how rage, grief, and ambivalence can be stor...
What does it mean to turn personal tragedy and systemic injustice into a powerful calling? In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca sits down with Nia Ashay, a graduate of bebo mia’s Maternal Support Practitioner (MSP) program, to talk about her journey into birth work.
From her mother’s stillbirth due to medical negligence to the impact of the Trayvon Martin trial, Nia shares how her life experiences shape...
Should you offer sliding scale pricing in your doula business? This solo episode of Hot + Brave dives into the heart of that question with honesty, nuance, and strategy. We’re unpacking the roots of sliding scale, how race and gender shape expectations around care work, and what it actually takes to build an accessible and sustainable birth business.
We’ll look at:
- The origins of sliding scale as a tool for justice
- W...
What does birth look like in Ghana today? In this powerful episode, Bianca sits down with Bobette, founder of Uzuri Birth, to explore how ancestral knowledge, global education, and personal experience collide in modern Ghanaian birthwork.
From her early life in Congo to training in Europe and Canada, and finally returning home to Ghana, Bobette shares her journey of becoming a birthworker rooted in tradition and libera...
In this tender and powerful episode of Hot + Brave, I’m joined by Jillian Marchand, founder of Exploring Embodiment, for a deep dive into breathwork, reproductive health, and the cultural disconnection so many of us carry in our womb space. We talk about how shame, trauma, and discomfort get stored in the body and how breath can be a gentle way home. Jillian shares accessible tools for shifting your relationship with ...
In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca breaks down the essential (but often overlooked) topic of backup doulas: how to choose one, how to be one, and why this role is a vital part of building a sustainable, ethical doula practice.
We’re covering:
- What makes a great backup doula
- How to prep your clients without fear
- Setting clear agreements, payment terms, and expectations
- Why having a backup isn’t flaky—it’s profession...
In this episode of Hot + Brave, we’re joined by Anna Lundqvist of Sacred Birth International (www.sacredbirthinternational.com) to explore one of the most profound and often overlooked shifts in a woman’s life: the transition from maiden to mother. Anna shares how birth can be reclaimed as a sacred rite of passage, what gets lost in our over-medicalized systems, and how we can honor the deep emotional, spiritual, and ...
In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca Sprague is busting a huge myth in the birth world... the myth that you need a bag full of fancy tools to be an effective doula. Spoiler: the best doula tools are already within you.
From your hands and your breath to a rolled-up hospital towel and a sturdy chair, Bianca shares the free, practical ways you can support laboring clients with what’s already around you. No shopping spr...
In this episode of Hot + Brave, Bianca Sprague breaks down common birth terms you’ve probably heard, like effacement, dilation, VBAC, golden hour, and more... but maybe never fully understood.
Whether you’re brand new to doula training, pregnant and preparing for birth, or a birth nerd who loves decoding medical lingo, this episode is a calm, clear, and judgment-free guide to the language of labor.
Bianca explains each ...
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