Without a diploma in my field, I started my own business in 2020. Not with a business plan or investors, but with an iPad I already owned and a feeling that I needed to create something.
What began as a maternity gift for a pregnant friend eventually changed my entire life. I decided to redraw her ultrasound. Simply because I wanted to give her a unique, handmade gift, with no expectations. But when I shared the result on Instagram, something happened that I could never have predicted...
The reactions poured in. Parents asked if I could draw their ultrasounds too! Through so much enthusiasm from so many people, I realized this was bigger than just a personal gift. I decided to give my ultrasound illustrations a name: Birth Lines. And just like that, my company was born.
Creativity has always been part of me. From a young age, I knew that a creative profession would make me happiest. I loved making something out of nothing. After high school, I wanted to go to art school, but due to my muscle disease, that was too physically demanding. I had to let that dream go and chose a different field of study. Something that required more use of my mind than my muscles. Still, that creative urge never went away, even if I wasn’t actively pursuing it at the time.
Then COVID brought everything to a halt. And during that time, I found my way back to what my heart had always known. I saw someone else drawing on an iPad and decided to try it myself. Could this be the solution? So I started Birth Lines with €0 — just the iPad I already owned. No formal training, no experience as an entrepreneur. I began small, not knowing exactly where it would lead, but with the confidence that I could figure it out step by step — guided by intuition, perfectionism, and the belief that if I stayed true to myself and created something truly different, the right people would find me. And they did!
Social media became my starting point. I invested massive amounts of time in building a loyal community of followers who really got to know me and my products. I didn’t just share what I made but also parts of my personality and story. That turned out to be key to success. Even today, I rely largely on my intuition — time and again it has taken me further than any business handbook ever could.
Through my work with ultrasound illustrations, I spoke with parents daily. I heard their stories, expectations, and memories. But I also heard that many existing memory books didn’t fully align with what parents were looking for. That stuck with me. The idea slowly began to grow: to develop a memory book myself. A memory book that feels timeless, that you proudly keep, and that gives space to real memories. A place where you record your story, from pregnancy and the first year through everything that follows.
That thought gradually developed into what the Birth Lines memory books are today. Birth Lines has grown into a brand that now helps thousands of parents capture their most precious memories — not just the big moments, but also the small ones, the feelings, the thoughts, and the stories that might otherwise be lost. I still run this company as a solo founder, with the same care and perfectionism as on day one.
Of course, there have been tough moments — nights working until deep into the night, days when I doubted myself and wondered what I had gotten into. But quitting never felt like an option. Not because it was always easy, but because this is my passion.