Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Basham.
Hi Samantha, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The Village really started after I had my daughter in 2020. I became a first-time mom in the middle of COVID, had a really difficult pregnancy and transition into motherhood, and struggled with postpartum mental health issues that I didn’t even recognize for what they were at the time. Honestly, it took me until my daughter was around two to really look back at that experience and understand how hard it had been.
Once I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about how different it could have been. What if I had known who to call? What if someone had connected me with the right support before I was already struggling? What if there had been somewhere I could go to learn, ask questions, find resources, and meet other moms going through the same things?
That was really the beginning of The Village. I just knew there was something missing for moms on the Eastern Shore, and I wanted to create it.
Then I had my son, and my experience was completely different. By that point, I knew so much more. I knew what questions to ask, what kinds of support were available, and how to find the people I needed during pregnancy and postpartum. Experiencing motherhood both ways made something really clear to me: the support a mother has can completely change outcomes both physically for mom and baby and mentally.
In 2024, The Village finally got a physical home when I opened The Village Maternal Holistic Wellness Center in Easton. The idea was to bring as much as possible into one place: childbirth education, postpartum groups, lactation support, doula care, classes, resources, and honestly just somewhere moms could show up and find other moms.
The deeper I got into maternal health work, the more I realized that the problem isn’t simply that we need more services. There are good providers and resources out there, but that doesn’t necessarily mean families can access them.
That’s especially true in a rural area like the Eastern Shore. A great provider might be an hour away. Some of the support that can make a huge difference during pregnancy and postpartum, like doula care, lactation support, chiropractic care, acupuncture, pelvic floor therapy, mental health care, or psychiatric support from someone who actually understands perinatal mental health, can be difficult to find locally. And even when those providers exist, many don’t take insurance or the service itself isn’t covered.
So moms are still left trying to figure out what they need, who provides it, whether insurance covers it, whether they can afford it, and how far they’re going to have to drive to get there. They’re expected to learn how to speak a whole new language all while pregnant, recovering from birth, feeding a baby, not sleeping, caring for other children, going back to work, or potentially dealing with a complication or mental health issue.
The more I learned, the more I started looking beyond The Village itself and thinking about the bigger maternal health system on the Eastern Shore. There are so many places where we could do a better job connecting people to support before they reach a crisis or before a problem becomes much harder to address.
That has taken this work in directions I never could have imagined when I first had the idea. We’ve partnered with our local health department and hospital to help build and support a local doula workforce, created postpartum programming for moms and families, and built relationships with healthcare providers and community organizations throughout the region. I’ve also had the opportunity to bring the rural Eastern Shore perspective into statewide maternal health conversations, which has made me realize even more how important it is that rural communities have a voice when decisions about maternal health are being made.
Now we’re taking the next step with The Village Maternal Health Alliance, a nonprofit focused on improving maternal health outcomes in rural communities, beginning right here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
The goal isn’t necessarily to create every service ourselves. It’s to make the whole experience work better. I want moms to hear about support throughout pregnancy instead of finding out about it after they need it. I want providers to know what resources exist in their own communities and feel comfortable connecting their patients to them. I want warm handoffs to be normal. I want us to identify the places where care truly doesn’t exist or isn’t accessible and work together to fill those gaps.
I want that support to be available to everyone. Financial barriers are obviously a huge part of access, but this isn’t only a Medicaid or low-income issue. A family can have private insurance, a good job, and plenty of education and still find themselves completely lost trying to find a perinatal therapist who understands what they’re experiencing, a lactation consultant their insurance will cover, or the right person to call when something doesn’t feel right postpartum.
The Village started because I wanted moms to have a better experience than I did. Today, I’m thinking much bigger about what that means. I want us to build a maternal healthcare system where quality support is actually accessible, both financially and geographically, and where moms don’t have to stumble across the right resource when they’re already struggling.
The vision has grown a lot, but the heart of it really hasn’t changed. When we take better care of moms, that impact ripples through their children, their families, and ultimately generations.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not! I started The Village because I knew it needed to exist, not because I had figured out the perfect business model for making it exist. There has been a ton of trial and error figuring out what moms actually need, what works in our community, and how to keep services accessible while also keeping the lights on.
Also, I absolutely do not recommend opening a new business with a six-month-old baby! I was actually doing really well postpartum, but it was still a HUGE undertaking and eventually took a toll on my physical and mental health. Some days I really wish I could just show up to work and have someone tell me what to do, but when you own the business, you still have to be the one driving it forward.
This summer has been especially hard. In April, my family’s life changed pretty much overnight because of domestic violence that affected both me and my children. Within a very short period of time, I was navigating the end of my marriage, trying to keep my kids safe, and suddenly becoming a single mom with full custody of two young children, all while still running a business and keeping everything else moving forward. It has been an insane adjustment, and honestly, I’m still very much in the middle of it.
Going through that experience has also opened my eyes to another huge gap for women and families. I turned to local resources to understand my options and how to keep myself and my children safe, and quickly learned how difficult it can be to navigate the court system when you’re trying to do exactly that. I’ve learned how common domestic violence is in the perinatal period, how complicated leaving can be when children are involved, and how important it is to have somewhere safe to turn for information and support.
I know this experience will eventually become part of how The Village supports moms. I want us to be a safe place where someone can say, “Something isn’t right,” and we know how to help connect her to the right people.
So no, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but every part of it continues to shape what The Village becomes.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Village is focused on making pregnancy and postpartum support easier to find and access on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. We bring together education, doula care, lactation support, postpartum groups, community resources, and connections to other local providers so moms don’t have to figure everything out on their own.
What I’m most proud of is that The Village has grown into much more than a physical space. We’re building partnerships with healthcare providers, our local hospital, health departments, and community organizations to help close gaps in maternal care across the region. Ultimately, I want every mom to know what support is available to her and actually be able to access it when she needs it.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I definitely have my own village behind The Village. I have an incredible support system of family and friends who have encouraged me, helped me, and believed in what I’m building from the beginning. I’m also incredibly grateful for the providers who work out of The Village, the organizations and community partners who continue to support and refer families to us, and all of the moms who have trusted us along the way. This has never been something I could have built alone, and I’m really lucky to have so many people who believe in the mission and want to see it succeed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thevillagemd.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevillage.md
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thevillagewellness.md
