Exploring Life & Business with Amber Rukaj and Chelsea Sybrandt of Spark Mamas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Rukaj and Chelsea Sybrandt.

Hi Amber and Chelsea, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The idea for Spark Mamas started five years ago and we have worked diligently to bring it to launch in December 2022. Spark Mamas is a San Diego, CA startup that was created by Amber and Chelsea, two licensed marriage and family therapists that work in maternal mental health and helped to create the UC San Diego Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Program. In the course of our work, we became acutely aware of the growing mental health needs of mothers and the negative and potentially lasting impact of this on their families. We have observed time and again that not caring for the mother can lead to devastating events such as divorce, ruptured attachment, and delayed developmental and/or behavioral issues in children. Through our work, we have become acutely aware of the gaps in supportive care for the mother that could offset these potentially negative outcomes. For example, mothers have a hard time asking for help or they may feel guilty for asking for support and often don’t know what they need during this new emotional and physical transition. In our culture, everyone takes care of the baby, but no one takes care of the mother. At Spark Mamas, we are hoping to change this.

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?
It has definitely not been a smooth or easy road. Spark Mamas started as an idea over five years ago. We have met nearly every Sunday morning since then, slowly creating our vision. Some of the challenges to creating Spark Mamas include time to make our vision come to fruition with full-time working jobs, mothering children and of course, the pandemic, which brought everything to a halt while we cared for little humans and managed the mental health crisis that hit mothers the hardest. Another challenge (and also an exciting opportunity) is that to our awareness, nothing like this model of care exists – so we love that Spark Mamas is creating a new narrative for how we care for mothers and their families, and we have no business models to pull from as a way to quickly grow and advance our idea. The opportunity for mothers to be cared for in a new and practical way is exciting and the outcomes for doing this are numerous for the child and the family system!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Our mission is to spark a movement to take care of women and mothers the way that they take care of others. We offer an online collection of nurturing, supportive, and practical gifts for expecting and parenting women. Unlike other gifts for new parents, Spark Mamas gifts are NOT products for a new baby, but rather, are gifts of experience aimed at supporting new mothers during their transition into parenthood (think postpartum doula support, lactation consultation, house cleaning services, self-care experiences for the mother, and meal delivery options – things that new parents REALLY need!) Most of our business providers are owned by women and parents that want to support other new moms, and all of our gifts give back to a nonprofit that is in the business of caring for young and growing families.

We aim to serve San Diego families, to benefit local women in business, and donate to national and international efforts aimed at making a lasting and concerted change in the lives of women, children, and families.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Amber: Growing up in Colorado in a family of 11 siblings (three brothers and eight sisters) my life was always full and busy! Some of my fondest memories are of being with all my siblings in the mountains surrounded by nature or all gathering at Christmas and opening stockings and going sledding.

Chelsea: I was fortunate enough to grow up in Southern California, so many of my favorite childhood memories involve being on the Encinitas beaches or out on the water in my family’s small fishing boat. I cherish the memories of our Moonlight Beach bonfires and taking our dogs to run at Del Mar Dog Beach.

Pricing:

• Gifts at Spark Mamas range in price from $25 to $2500. We also offer Spark Mama gift cards that you can use towards any of our nurturing gifts and supportive care solutions.

Contact Info:

• Website: sparkmamas.com
• Instagram: @sparkmamas
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/people/Spark-Mamas-LLC/100070436916794/

Image Credits
Emily Thao