Laurie Vaughn has been living and working in the West Ashley area since 2018. She first moved to Charleston from the Atlanta area in 2009 as a part of a church planting group but spent five years from 2012 to 2017 in India where she worked with exploited women and children providing childbirth and women’s health education, teaching English, and training them in small business practices and vocational life skills. She says that her time and work in India played a part in shaping her identity. This work with women has carried into her life in our community through the foundation of her company Lowcountry Childbirth and her work as a doula, a health professional who provides emotional and informational support to mothers throughout the pregnancy and childbirth process.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
I’ve been married 21 years. We have five girls. Charity is the oldest; she’s in college. Chloe works at a daycare full time. Sarah is in 10th grade and Hosannah is finishing 8th grade. They both work at Magnolia Plantation. Lydia, the youngest, is six.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
I had my first doula training in 2015, and I planned to do that kind of work while we were in India. However, hospitals and healthcare are very different there, and doulas aren’t really a thing, so it just didn’t happen. I finished my certification when we moved back from India and started my business in 2018. It’s been a slow start as I’ve had to step out of my comfort zone promoting myself on social media but joining the professional Doulas of Charleston was instrumental in starting my business. Aside from that group, most of my clients come from word-of-mouth, especially recommendations from doctors at MUSC. As for the future, I want to become a lactation consultant. So, I’m in a course right now that’s the very first stepping-stone in a series of many. My end goal is to be an international board-certified lactation consultant. The thing I love most about my job is being a support and a voice of calm and strength to people that are nervous about their birth. A lot of my clients have a lot of fears and anxieties about the unknowns of birth. Being able to educate them and encourage them in the natural process is really helpful in minimizing their fear and building their confidence. I am able to empower them so that they don’t have to be afraid and show them that birth is a fascinating process that we as women have the privilege to be a part of.
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
The Glass Onion, Giovanni’s, The Gin Joint
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
Dawn Oliver is one of the doulas in my group. She is just an amazing person. She is so kind and compassionate and gentle, but also very wise. She has strong opinions but is able to express them with kindness. She’s really inspired me as far as being a doula.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
I would have to say Thailand. I’ve been before, but there’s so much there that I haven’t seen and still want to explore.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
In my job I deal with women who are worrying all the time about stuff, and it’s valid concern, but they convince themselves that something bad is going to happen. Try not to worry about stuff you have no control over. Breathe and try to calm your mind and relax your body so that you can figure out what the root of that anxiety actually is. I always go back to faith and the knowledge that God holds you in his hands. He knows what’s going to happen and why it’s going to happen.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
I want to have a tiny house and travel around the country. We lived in a school bus before it was even popular, and we travelled all over the US and met so many people. I want to do that again and be able to take my kids and share that experience with them.
Q: What is your go to band when you cant decide what to listen to?
Led Zeppelin
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
Magnolia Plantation. I’ve been reacquainted with them because the girls work there. When we first moved here in 2009, we did all the touristy stuff, and I have all these memories of my little girls running around the gardens and seeing the petting zoo. Now the girls work there, and we’ve been going again so I‘m getting to remember how beautiful it is and see the girls in the same environment grown up.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
I like the music scene here, especially the local musicians. We frequent the Pour House a couple times a month. We’re suckers for live music, and there’s a lot of it going on all over Charleston.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
I don’t really know where we’ll be because we like to travel so much, and we loved our life in India so much. We might be in South Asia or traveling in our tiny home.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
Switzerland. The moment that comes to mind is standing in the middle of Lauterbrunnen Valley and looking up at the peaks. It’s almost like you can feel how close you are to the mountains. The sheer height and intensity of the mountain peaks is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
I had a 10/10 experience one afternoon when we were traveling in Thailand. You’re sitting in this outdoor rustic restaurant eating the best, most authentic coconut lemongrass soup with chicken. The ocean is right there to your right. There are beautiful hills out past the water. And when you finish eating there are these old men, tour guides, in these old boats waiting for you. You just walk right into the water and go for a boat ride to a state park nearby that’s super untouched by man.
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
Audrey McCalley— almost to the point where it’s like “alright, I get it. I need to be doing more.” She’s always suggesting me new books to read and things to check out. She really does inspire me and encourage me.
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
Coffee and gardenias
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Home is where my kids are. It’s a place where we eat together. It’s a physical manifestation of me and my life.
