From Carrying the Conversation, the Reproductive Options Surrogacy podcast.
When Kayla sat down with Mat Hayes for the latest episode of Carrying the Conversation, she didn’t hide her excitement. “I think he’s the game changer for us going forward,” she said, “the person who can capture my vision and share it with enthusiasm.”
Mat is the newest member of the Reproductive Options team, leading our marketing and storytelling. If you’ve noticed a little more RO green in your feed lately, that’s him. And if you’re one of our surROgates, you may have already met him in our private group, where he introduced himself as the team’s “male cheerleader.”
“I am nothing if not enthusiastic,” Mat laughed. “If you ever have a bad day and want someone to tell you how great and pretty you are, call me. That’s what I’m really great at.”
Raised at the Nurses’ Station
Mat grew up in Alabama, where his mom worked as a labor and delivery nurse. Between his parents’ shifts, he and his brother were often dropped off on the fourth floor of Decatur General Hospital. “I literally grew up at the nurses’ station,” he said. Some of those nurses, now retired, still keep him on their prayer lists, and with good reason!
He remembers calling the hospital after school and hearing Brahms’ Lullaby play over the speakers, the signal that a baby had just been born. “Even at a young age, I thought, that is so cool.”
Growing up gay in the South, though, Mat never pictured parenthood for himself. Marriage wasn’t legal for gay couples then, and LGBTQIA+ families were rarely visible. Today he hopes it’s in his future, and working in this field lets him feel part of family building every day.
A Storyteller Who Found His Calling to Surrogacy by Accident
Before Surrogacy, Mat worked in TV and film. He made a short film about his own experience growing up gay in the church, and one of its backers happened to run a Surrogacy agency. One day he texted Mat: “I’m looking for someone just like you for this job.”
Mat’s first question was whether it came with health insurance. It did, so he signed up! What started as a practical move changed his life. “I didn’t know I could care about something as much as I cared about storytelling,” he said. “It has been the biggest blessing of my entire life.”
To Mat, the two callings are the same. “It’s all about storytelling. Whether you’re putting pen to paper to write a book or a movie script, or you’re creating a family, how do you outlive yourself? We get to help people write the ongoing book of their life.”
Why He Came Back to Surrogacy, and Why Reproductive Options
Mat and Kayla have both seen Surrogacy agencies lose their heart once money started doing the talking. That shared experience is exactly why he returned. “If I’m going to get back in this field, this is the woman I want guiding the experience, because I know your heart.”
He even bristles at the word “industry.” “It sounds so transactional. We’re not just helping to create humans; we’re creating humanity.”
What drew him to Reproductive Options is the intentionality behind every Surrogacy journey. From intake to matching, Surrogates are asked what they want: how they’d like to communicate, what kind of relationship they hope for after delivery, even whether they’d like photos as the child grows up. “This is her journey as much as the Intended Parents‘,” Mat said. “When you fill in those little gaps, there’s no room for the heartbreaking stories the media loves to point out.”
Putting Surrogates First, Always
Mat admits he hesitated before joining the Surrogate group, expecting to stay on the outside crafting messaging. Instead, the women welcomed him right in. “I want to celebrate transfer day with them, not just create the image that talks about it.”
He is open about being obsessed with Surrogates. “There are humans, and then there are Surrogates. They are leading the cause of humanity by being moms and helping other people become parents through their own free will.” And because he knows a man marketing to women can raise eyebrows, he runs his work by the women on our team first. “Does this make you feel empowered? My humility about it is off the charts.”
Creating Space, One Compliment at a Time
Mat’s friends call him Ariel, after the Little Mermaid, because he can’t walk past anyone without admiring something: their nails, their earrings, their hat. “I just love people to feel good,” he said. “When you feel happy, you show up in the world in a much different way.”
He lives by a line often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded. That’s the energy Kayla says has rippled through the team since he arrived, from the milestone videos he makes with Rashelle and Liz to the buzz in our groups and posts.
What’s Next at Reproductive Options
Mat is already deep in the work: refining our signature RO green across social, the website, milestone cards and gift boxes, and helping tell the stories of the Surrogates and families who make this community what it is. There’s more coming as we head into the holidays and 2027, including a new team member we’ll be announcing soon.
“I wake up grateful,” Mat told Kayla at the end of the Surrogacy podcast episode. “I don’t even think we’re changing the world. I think we’re saving it.”
The last line of his reply to his offer letter has since become our unofficial catchphrase. So, in Mat’s words: let’s make some babies!
Listen to the full conversation on Carrying the Conversation, available wherever you get your podcasts.
