Gabriela Gerhart

You grew up in a small mountain village in communist Czechoslovakia, became a pediatric nurse, worked in a pediatric emergency room, and then came to the United States as an au pair, and somewhere in all of that, you saw a gap so significant that you built an entire center around it. What did you see that nobody else was doing anything about?

I grew up in a small mountain village in communist Czechoslovakia, where community wasn't optional, everyone showed up for everyone. After my au pair year ended, I started working as a baby nurse in private homes, helping new parents through the transition into parenthood. That's when it hit me: I had become the sole resource for these young families. The only real option at the time was a hospital class. There was no village. That realization woke up the little entrepreneur in me. I saw the void, and I wanted to fill it, one place, with all the credible, trusted resources under one roof, so families didn't have to go hunting for support alone.

At the core of everything the Motherhood Center does is one belief: no mother should feel alone. Twenty-five years later, with doulas, nanny placements, education classes, therapy, fitness, lactation support and more all under one roof, why does that wholeness matter so much to you personally?

I'm a nurturer at heart; connecting and supporting people has always come naturally to me. What struck me over and over was seeing moms who, even with family around them, still felt lost. Successful, capable women, holding their babies and not knowing where to turn, not feeling confident. That's what told me the need went deeper than any one service. Doulas, lactation support, classes, therapy, fitness: they're not separate offerings. They're one continuous act of guiding a family through the journey.

Read the full feature in the September 2026 issue.