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Jael Marajh, like many others who immigrated to the United States, had a difficult childhood. She was very young when her family moved to the U.S. and her life quickly became very unstable as she was left home alone so her mom could work all hours of the day to make ends meet.
“Transitioning from the carribean to the U.S at 11 was not what I thought it was going to be. I left security and family all around me and was left with just having my mom who practically worked all the time to ensure that I had what I needed. In doing that, I struggled tremendously and I became a latch key kid. I had to navigate things myself because mom was always at work. I found myself out of school because I was having a child at 16.” Recounts Jael.
This was unfortunately not the end for the difficulties that Jael had to overcome. She struggled with self-doubt and dealing with a tough break up where she came out as financially unstable. She realized that many people struggled with similar problems and wanted to help them out of the situation that she had found herself in.
“After a horrible breakup, I could not find work independently and struggled with self doubt. I wondered how many other people struggled with this problem. When I did my research, I found many service providers had the same problem. I started NurtureUp so that parents can have one place to go to find a care team during pregnancy and service providers can find clients independently all over the U.S. It is a fragmented market with everyone self operating.” States Jael.
For many others, Jael’s struggles would have been the end of their push towards success. Jael, on the other hand, kept pushing even harder. She did not let her difficult situation slow her down at all. She worked for a business that supports people through their pregnancies and founded her own business doing a similar thing called NurtureUP, which is in the last steps of being finalized.
“What would have made others give up, made me push harder. Fast forward to now, I am 27 years old and working for a great company that allows me to live comfortably while building a tech startup to help families through pregnancy and birth. NurtureUp is an upcoming online platform that connects parents to pre and post birth services/providers. Services include: Midwives, birth doulas, lactation consultants, car seat technicians, postpartum doulas, and sleep consultants to assist new parents with coping, dealing. and adjusting to having a new addition to the family all over the U.S.” Explains Jael.
The platform that Jael is creating is the only one of its kind out there. This makes her unique in the market and she is excited that she found a way to give back to people around the country. She hopes to get NurtureUp finished up by the end of the year, so that people can start connecting to services.
“My main goal is launching NurtureUp at the end of the year. Right now this is the only platform of its kind. There may be online sites that offer a few of the options that this platform offers, but none of them offer the ease and communication freedom between clients and service providers to meet, book, and pay right through the platform, so we want to get it up and running.” Says Jael.
Jael thinks her service is particularly important now more than ever. Because of the current pandemic, many women are scared to give birth in hospitals, so they rely more on services that can come to their home instead of traditional birthing practices. This is pushing Jael to do even more to get her website up and running.
“I am here to bring a solution to the 1.3 million families that are looking for these services. Especially with Covid-19, home births and doula support has increased by 82 percent in the United States. NurtureUp will allow parents to find their midwife and birth doula team, book, and pay right through one platform!” Exclaims Jael.
To find out more about the amazing services available through NurtureUp, you can check out the website nurtureup.info and look for more information to come on the launching of the site. For more information on Jael herself, you can find her on Instagram @jael_marajh.
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