Episode 10 — Our Team: Taking This Journey With You: Meet Brittany, Our Surrogate Outreach Coordinator

Kayla is joined by Brittany, Reproductive Options' Surrogate Outreach and Engagement Coordinator, whose path to the role runs through two surrogacy journeys of her own and a genuinely unlikely origin story with Kayla: the two met through a breastmilk donation group, of all things, after Kayla's supply dropped and Brittany, a stranger at the time, pumped for her newborn. Kayla's Reproductive Options branding on her car sparked a conversation, and Brittany, who'd already completed one surrogacy journey elsewhere, eventually matched with RO for her second — a single embryo transfer that split into twins.

Brittany describes her role as the first line of education for women exploring surrogacy, long before intake or an application: answering questions in surrogacy Facebook groups and on social platforms, offering a genuinely supportive presence in spaces she and Kayla both describe as often "muddy," and quietly steering obvious non-matches away out of kindness rather than sales pressure. Her guiding rule, straight from the job description Kayla wrote for the role: no one should walk away from a conversation with that "ick" feeling.

That mission is personal. Brittany's first surrogacy, with a different agency, left her feeling like just another transaction — a rigid, non-negotiable benefits package, lower pay for living outside California, and intended parents asking if she'd do it again before she'd even finished processing the first journey. She swore she was done with surrogacy for good, until meeting Kayla showed her a completely different model: real support with no expectation attached, which ultimately brought her back for a second journey, and now has her considering a third.

The two also dig into the predatory tactics Brittany warns candidates about, like agencies that ask surrogates and intended parents to confirm a match live on the call, on the spot, and "VIP" pay-to-jump-the-list matching packages, contrasting them with RO's no-pressure model, its intentionally small and tightly gated private support group, and the guidebook Brittany hands out to nearly everyone she talks to, surrogate or intended parent.

In this episode:

• How a chance breastmilk donation turned into Brittany's path back to surrogacy with RO
• What outreach and engagement actually looks like day to day, from her "brain book" to social platform check-ins
• Red flags to watch for in agencies and independent journeys alike
• Why RO keeps its surrogate community small and gated on purpose
• Brittany's advice: choose an agency, or a path, for who they are, not just what they offer