Getting to know BB: Gemma Hart-Dyke, Client Manager

For the latest in our getting to know BB series, Gemma writes about being a client manager, how she came to work for Brilliant Beginnings, and shares a bit about her life outside of work and her family.

Getting to know Gemma Hart-Dyke

My path to joining Brilliant Beginnings began nearly 20 years ago, when I worked with Helen and Natalie in another law firm. We temporarily went our separate ways professionally but always kept in touch, and I focused on a career in marketing, relationship management and business development. When they told me they were setting up BB I jumped at the chance to join the team, and I have now been a client manager since 2015, supporting clients through their UK and US surrogacy journeys.

I love being part of an organisation that supports and actively champions safe and ethical surrogacy, where I can share my knowledge and experience with my clients to help them make sense of things, and ensure they are heading down a structured and supported pathway to create their family. The key to a successful surrogacy journey in my experience is having open and honest communication between intended parents, surrogates and the organisations supporting everyone, whether you are embarking on surrogacy in the US or UK. Sometimes that can be hard to navigate, particularly if emotive situations occur, which is where I step in to ensure that my clients are one step ahead.

A surrogacy journey is rarely linear, even when every aspect is as carefully thought out and planned for as possible. As a client manager, my role is to support my clients to overcome challenges, navigate unexpected delays, and support them emotionally in times of worry and uncertainty. When going through such a life changing journey, it’s absolutely essential that intended parents and surrogates are surrounded by professionals who have the depth of experience to both anticipate issues that they wouldn’t be able to foresee without experience, and the knowledge to provide solutions.

Over the years I have guided my clients through numerous unique scenarios and challenges that none of us could have anticipated when we first began working together.  From challenges with exporting gametes to the US and navigating significant life changes during a journey, to supporting when a baby arrives much earlier than planned in the US and everything in between. I quickly build open and trusted relationships with my clients which I think is the key to being able to support them with whatever they need or are going through. It’s impossible to stay one step ahead or offer balanced and informed advice if you aren’t in regular contact and have a genuine connection that goes beyond just making referrals.

One of my favourite parts of my role is also being one of the first people to celebrate milestones in my clients journeys with them. I love seeing positive blood test results following embryo transfer (and excitedly looking up the HCG numbers!) hearing recordings of babies first heartbeats and being sent scan photos and convincing myself I can work out the sex of the baby (I can’t).

The most privileged part of my role is without a doubt getting to meet the much longed for, and much loved babies that I have had the honour of, in some small way, helping to bring into this world. I love getting to have baby snuggles and have even been invited to attend parental order hearings, which I always cry at. I never stop feeling grateful that my clients have trusted me to be at their sides for such an incredible time of their lives. 

Outside of work

Outside of work, I am very lucky to have a partner who has unending patience, two beautiful children and an excitable fox red lab (who often makes appearances on video calls!) I also have a grown-up stepson who doesn’t live with us, but is very much the adored big brother. I have a wildly inappropriate sense of humour and am happiest when outside in the fresh air whatever the weather. We are lucky enough to live close to the New Forest and the Jurassic Coast and my family and I spend most of our time stomping through the woods or scouring the beaches for sea glass and fossils.