Possibly like you, our Glimmer story started with the loss of a beloved baby.

Glimmer was founded in 2020 by Dr Ashleigh Smith, an obstetrician and mum to Isla, who tragically passed away two days after birth. 

Having now experienced the depths of baby loss personally and having experience in the field of obstetrics, Dr Ashleigh realised the importance of easily accessible resources that could speak to the needs of mothers and their families experiencing grief from pregnancy and baby-loss.

“My mission in creating this project, podcast and program is to share the evidence-based gems I have collected along my own journey, and foster a small community of support, kindness and safety for you. I want to help you to come through this with as much psychological stability, compassion and connection with your self and others – your confidential and secure support group will help you to navigate and weather the triggers and hardships to come. Glimmer will honour you and your beloved baby/babies.”

Since the creation of The Glimmer Project and The Glimmer Podcast, the team has grown quite considerably. We are blessed to have the lovely Liana Quinlivan, a specialist bereavement midwife and fellow warrior Mum, running our 3 Week Online Program. Liana has 15 years of midwifery experience and understands the reality of baby-loss quite personally following the passing of her nephew Isaac and then experiencing the loss of her daughter Dot.

“Sadly I found out on an ultrasound that my baby had a bone growth disorder and would never survive beyond my womb. Audrey “Dot” (we call her “Dot” as that was her nickname during the pregnancy after seeing her embryo on a screen that looked just like a dot) was born at 23 weeks. She lived for about 15 minutes on my chest. The most precious and heartbreaking moment of my life. It happened to me. The irony was too much. It felt so surreal to be the bereavement midwife who was planning for her daughter’s death.”

You can learn more about Liana’s story here and connect with this beautiful woman’s expertise through our 3 Week Online Program.

The rest of our lovely Glimmer staff is made up of our podcast host, our podcast editor, and our social media graphic designer - all who have experienced pregnancy and baby-loss also. We share a common tragedy, but we also share a common hope to live beyond our grief and to honour our babies in the work that we do. 

And finally, the rest of the Glimmer community is made up of people like you; our wonderful podcast guest, our online participants, our listeners, our followers, our financial supporters, our sponsors Blue Hearts and Stillbirth Foundation Australia, and to all the mums and dads who have experienced the loss of their beloved babies.