Meet the team
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Maria Bengtsson
CO-FOUNDER
Maria is 46 years old and a mother of three wonderful, highly sensitive children age 19, 11 and 8. She lives on Värmdö, in the archipelago a little outside of Stockholm, close to the forest, sea and lakes. In her spare time she loves being in nature, do yoga, write, read and spend time with her children and friends. She’s passionate about holistically supporting and empowering women to stand in their own power during pregnancy, childbirth and the time immediately after birth.✨🌕✨
This means that she thinks it’s important to look after the whole woman - both body and soul, because all parts affect each other. Therefore, with warmth, calm and presence she gives emotional support, guidance and practical help during pregnancy, birth and the time afterwards.
She has a background in journalism and is a certified ODIS-doula, have attended Advanced Birth Support-training with Debra Pascali Bonaro (Orgasmic Birth) and have a diploma as a pregnancy massage therapist.
She’s also written and published three books (in Swedish) about pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum: Gravid med kropp & själ och Föd på dina villkor (MiMa förlag, spring 2019) and Revolution i BB-fabriken (Domeratzky förlag, fall 2023).
Right now, in addition to running Braïdo Organics she’s also offering doula- and postpartum support and pregnancy massage, as well as childbirth- and parenting preparation courses and pregnancy circles. She just recently also started on a journey to become a midwife. 🌕
You can find information about her pregnancy-, birth- and postpartum services here: ownyourbirthdoula.com.
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Kristina Turner
CO-FOUNDER
Kristina Turner is a writer and birth activist with 25 years’ experience. She wrote the book Natural Birth – A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breastfeeding after giving birth to her children at home. The deeply transformative experiences she had during these undisturbed births led her to her current work, which focuses on giving more women the opportunity to have intact births.
She is a vocal advocate of women’s rights to undisturbed birth and evidence-based maternity care.
Kristina believes that the way we treat the natural world is linked to our collective view of the feminine as a resource for exploitation. This has led her to pursue a connection with the sacred feminine and sustainable plant medicine.
In 2018, she developed the Urban Goddess range of organic essential oil products based on plants associated with the goddess, and the Braïdo range is the natural next step.
Kristina trained as a Sacred Birthkeeper with Glastonbury Goddess Temple in 2020 and is a certified Red Tent women’s circle facilitator.
Kristina lives in England.
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Viktoria Hohl
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT & SEAMSTRESS
Viktoria mainly takes care of packaging and sending out orders. She likes to put a lot of care and love into every package, making them a joy to open.
She’s also the seamstress for our Heirloom Babynests, Moon Pillows and other Braïdo Organics textiles.
Viktoria is originally from Austria and moved to Sweden over 3 years ago. She lives in a collective in Täby.
Outside of Braïdo Organics she also works with theatre costumes. She’s passionate about sewing, clothes and everything beautiful.
About the brand
BRAÏDO ORGANICS is a small start-up company with high ethics as our moral compass. We use only organic, sustainable and ethically sourced cotton, wool and herbs. All our products are handmade and toxin-free for pregnancy, birth and the first sacred period with your newborn baby.
This means that we can’t add a high margin to our products, and that our prices will be higher than for mass-produced items made with synthetic materials and often under inhumane conditions that harm the health of humans and the Earth.
The good news is that BRAÏDO ORGANICS leaves a much smaller carbon foot print on nature, and that we genuinely care for our producers, and about the health and well-being of you and your baby!
We created Braïdo Organics to support women to have an empowering pregnancy and birth experience, and a gentle start to parenthood. This means supporting the pregnant woman herself, her partner, the baby and the birth workers that assist them.
The name Braido comes from a prehistoric goddess who was worshipped because she was believed to bring the light, hence she was the life giver. We chose that name because we strive to bring light and empowerment to all life-giving humans who want to live attuned to their authentic selves, their loved ones and nature.
If you speak Swedish, we warmly recommend that you watch this outstanding lecture on the ancient great sourceress, witch and goddess BRAIDO.
About our materials
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Our Essential Oils are 100% organic, sustainable and ethically sourced.
Our essential oils are handcrafted in small batches in the New Forest. These essential oils are precious and rare. Intention is an integral part of the production process, and local plants and spring water are used wherever possible. This creates powerful oils with a very high vibration.
There are six blends for the key stages of pregnancy and birth:
MOTHERBLESSING to honour the mother.
PROTECTING THE SPACE to clear negative energies.
GRANDMA’S GARDEN to rest in a safe embrace and boost oxytocin.
INTO THE DEEP to surrender to birth, REVIVE to focus.
OPEN UP to release the power and sensuality of birth.
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Our Herbal Teas and Bath are hand-blended in Sweden from the highest quality, organically grown herbs.
Our herbal collection includes:
RADIANT MAMA TEA, a nourishing and relaxing tea full of vitamins and minerals that may help you stay strong and grow a healthy baby.
ABUNDANT MAMA TEA help you to produce plentiful milk and can relieve colic and gas symptoms in the baby.
JOYFUL MAMA TEA, a calming and nourishing tea that may improve sleep and lifts your heart.
HEALING MAMA HERBAL BATH help soothe sore tissues after birth and aids in reducing hemorrhoids.
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Our Moon Pillows and Heirloom Babynests are hand-made in Sweden and stuffed with Swedish wool.
Unlike most other breastfeeding pillows and baby nests on the market, which use the much cheaper material polyester as stuffing, our MOON PILLOW and HEIRLOOM BABYNEST contain no synthetic materials that could be toxic. The chemicals in polyester can continue to leak long after it’s been purchased. Polyester is not very breathable and can make it uncomfortably hot for your baby.
Wool is a renewable and sustainable material. Wool has so many benefits. It helps your baby to regulate its body temperature and wicks away moisture. In the winter, it works as an insulator, while in the summer wool is cooling. Wool is also naturally antibacterial, has self-cleaning properties and is easy to keep clean. Wool products do not need to be washed often, it’s usually enough to air them after use. Wool may also reduce your baby’s risk of developing allergies.
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We only use GOTS-certified organic cotton for our fabrics.
The GOTS-certification of our cotton fabrics “ensures organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labelling in order to provide a credible assurance to the end consumer,” according to Global Organic Textile Standard.
We don’t use cotton grown with pesticides because it contains harsh chemicals known to be harmful to humans and nature. Products containing chemicals can continue to leak toxins even after they’ve been washed. Your newborn’s skin is sensitive, and we want to protect it by using fabrics that are free from toxins.
We also don’t want to contribute to chemicals leaking into the natural environment, in production or when non-organic fabrics are washed. Children that grow up in villages where non-organic cotton grows and is being dyed have a much higher incidence of birth defects and disease. We prioritise the health of all children and Mother Earth, and choose to use more expensive organic cotton.
Collaborating for many years
The co-founders Kristina and Maria have worked together for many years to raise awareness around women's rights in childbirth and to educate and inspire women to empower themselves.
From 2011-2015 they represented Födelsehuset Stockholm, a birth-centred NGO in Sweden. During that period they arranged many lectures and workshops for pregnant women and their partners, midwives, doulas, doctors and students. One of the most well-known guests was the legendary American midwife and Right Livelyhood Award-winner Ina May Gaskin. They’ve also held birth preparation classes, Mother Blessing ceremonies and women's circles together.
In 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit the world, they created the online platform Own Your Birth to further support pregnant women, their partners, midwives, doctors and everyone else interested in birth. The need for connection and new, more in-depth knowledge about birth was big and the response was immense. During two years they held over 70 webinars on different themes and with different guests from around the world. You can find 40 of the most popular recorded webinars here on braidoorganics.com, under Empowering Education.
Parallell to Own Your Birth they also created Braïdo Organics to provide pregnant women and their partners, as well as birth workers, holistic ways to nurture and support the pregnancy, birth and postpartum process. In November 2020 the first products hit the shelves.
