Meet Your ProDoula

Background/Experience that you think is beneficial to Doula work: I started my doula journey with Dar a Luz Honduras and served as a volunteer doula at Hospital Escuela, the country’s largest public hospital with an average of 50 births per day. I started BirthingKind with the goal of expanding doula services to the U.S. Medicaid population and to create more flexible career paths and employment options for doulas eager to serve their community. I am well versed in the world of healthcare research and data, which is a skill I bring to my doula practice. In my former life I worked a healthcare technology executive and White House Presidential Innovation Fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. I have a Master of Management in Clinical Informatics from the Duke University School of Medicine and a B.A. in Organizational Studies from the University of Michigan.

What led you to become a Doula?: I have been interested in childbirth for almost as long as I can remember. My best childhood friend had cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy as a result of a birth injury and we would often act out emergency birth scenarios with our Cabbage Patch Dolls. I had a front row seat to her day-to-day physical struggles and her family's legal battles for justice, so the importance of listening to a person in labor was imprinted on my psyche from a very young age. In college, my two favorite classes were 'Women's Reproductive Health' and 'Childbirth and Culture'. In retrospect, I should have known then that I was called to this work. Instead, I landed a job at Google right out of college at a time when there was no better company to work for. It wasn't until three days before 40th birthday when I was in Honduras volunteering as a doula when I got laid off from a tech job (via a text message from a colleague expressing support!) and it became crystal clear that it was time to change careers.

What are some positive comments made about you by other people?:

A mentor once referred to me as a pragmatic visionary, which seems like a concise way to describe the balance I strike between realism and optimism (hope for the best, plan for the worst, then let it ride). My high school superlative was ‘Asks the most questions in class” and my graduate classmates named me “Most likely to get to the point,” which together tell you exactly what it’s like to work with me – I’ll go deep and broad to understand something but ultimately boil it down to what really matters. I have been called curious and creative, quick-witted, authentic, and warm-hearted. People who know me best would tell you that I tend to look for the humor in any situation and find ways to have fun, even in the face of challenges.

---

← Back to Find a Doula Search