When Latham Thomas was four years old, her mother, aunt, and great aunt were all pregnant at the same time. They would soon give birth within a month of each other.
“All of these bellies were around, and I was able to see at an early age the magic and the mystery of the body,” recalls Thomas, who’s now a doula and prenatal wellness expert. “And through a lens as a little kid, you don’t know the things that we’re taught through media. You don’t see that people say it’s painful. You just see it’s kind of sci-fi and supernatural.”
There weren’t any stories about storks in her family. Thomas remembers her mother explaining it all to her at a young age.
“I was always announcing wherever we went, ‘My mother has a baby in her uterus!’” says Thomas.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that when she grew up, Thomas would want to share information about childbirth with other women. She created a space to support women during this particularly intense and rewarding milestone. It’s called Mama Glow, and Thomas conceived of it as a place to “experience a more luxurious and intimate experience for birthing your baby.”
After receiving a dual degree from Columbia University in environmental science and visual arts, plus a certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Thomas entered the entrepreneurial world as a consultant focused on life sciences.
When she became pregnant with her son Fulano—now a teenage DJ who has followed in his mother’s entrepreneurial footsteps—Thomas says the feelings she had when her mother was pregnant with her sister were “awakened.”
The only problem was that she didn’t feel like she had the proper support and resources—practitioners, products, and services. And if she was feeling this way living in New York, how are pregnant women in other areas of the world feeling?
“How is this the most important juncture of a woman’s life, but there’s no resources?” she asks. “If I want to have bagels at 2 in the morning, I can get them delivered. It’s so easy to do certain things that mean nothing, but then this—there’s no one to hold your hand.”
Mama Glow includes helpful tips from experts, refreshing recipes, simple beauty how-tos, and features packed with interesting research—“That’s really our goal: to make it this link people can share with their doctors or friends,” says Thomas.
The website’s services range from nutrition and wellness and yoga classes to “Glow Guidance,” a two-hour course for all women—pregnant or not—to “explore healing, personal growth, and living to their fullest potential.”
When asked who is the typical Mama Glow reader, Thomas says, “a mom who’s conscientious.”
Thomas, author of Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy, adds, “I call her a Sex in the City-Deepak Chopra person. A Carrie Bradshaw type of woman—her shoes and her handbag, but inside of her handbag, she probably has a coconut water, organic snacks, and a yoga mat tucked away some place.”
A lot of Thomas’ success is credited to her single mother, who instilled in her and her sister a “sense of self-worth and work ethic.” Thomas says she sees that same work ethic among peers at WeWork West Broadway.
“Our whole thing is really helping women transform how they view their bodies and the power that they have,” says Thomas. “Because I do believe that maternal satisfaction bleeds into every other area of your life. We’re not just helping women deliver babies safely—we’re also helping them to give birth to the best generation of themselves and their businesses.”
Photos: Katelyn Perry