I knew that I wanted the first hands to welcome my baby to feel like family. This was my space and my most sacred journey, and I wanted someone who understood that and understood me, without me having to say all the things. I wanted there to be a knowing. Not every Black mother gets that—someone who looks like you, lives like you, has similar experiences, and views life through a similar lens.

I was supported and supplied with the tools that I needed to manifest my birth vision, and I had an amazing first birth experience, which ushered me into birth work.

In 2005, I completed an intensive, 12-week program to become a doula. While I was training, I gave birth to my second baby, my first daughter. She attended births with me, tied to my back, breastfeeding in quiet spaces, while mamas labored close by. She’s 16 now, but she’s already a doula, always has been—holding space and nurturing everyone around her.

I consumed births.
And they fed me.

Finding The Gathering Place and Magnolia Birth

Shortly after Tamara and Michelle opened The Gathering Place, I stopped by to introduce myself. All I remember is showing up to a muraled building, sharing coffee, and declaring, “Put me where you need me.”

In addition to serving as a doula, I began teaching childbirth classes at The Gathering Place. I had previously taught classes at hospitals in both Broward and Dade counties, so taking on some of the client education was a natural fit.

Teaching feels natural to me, and I’ve always been an educator in some form. I went on to teach “Giving Birth with Confidence”, “Preparing for Hospital Birth,” “Preparing for Out-of-Hospital Birth,” “Coping with Fear and Pain in Labor,” and “Eating for Two”. The content for the classes is always evolving. I sometimes hear stories of clients quoting me during labor, recounting something they learned or something that resonated with them from the classes. I teach my classes in the same manner that I work with my doula clients—we delve in and dig deep, bringing things to the surface that they need to work through.

As a wellness consultant, I bring my experience as a birth worker into the spaces where I assess and make nutritional recommendations for clients during their pregnancy. In addition to supporting optimal wellness and sound nutritional and lifestyle choices, I attempt to draw a picture that demonstrates how wellness and nutrition choices may impact potential interventions and available birth options.

Whether I’m serving as a doula, childbirth educator, or wellness consultant, I want clients to understand that a lot of their work is done before they enter the birth room. So much happens, both emotionally and mentally, on the journey before then. I’m very intentional with how I interact with clients during the prenatal period, and we speak regularly, so they can feel and be prepared. Labor and birth, I often say, is not separate from pregnancy, but instead the culmination of the pregnancy. They are parts of the same whole.

Continuing Doula Work and Serving as a Birth Assistant

When it comes to labor and birth, I serve in two capacities. At Magnolia, we recommend and prefer that every client has a doula. Outcomes are better, and there are many benefits to partnering with a doula, even during out-of-hospital birth. For women of color, it’s important for them to have a doula who not only looks like them, but one who can look into their eyes, know who they are, and empathize with what they’re going through. I walk with them. I provide support, helping them navigate challenging spaces.

Doulas are shapeshifters. During a birth, I never know whether I’m going to become someone’s ‘sister,’ ‘mother,’ or ‘partner.’ If I see a gap, I fill it, and I adapt my energy to meet the needs of the mama and birth room. Perhaps that takes the form of rubbing the birthing person’s back or maybe it’s being firm when they need reassurance—whatever they need. 

Being a birth assistant, however, is different because it is clinical. In an out-of-hospital birth experience like Magnolia, it’s crucial to have two sets of clinical hands in case there is a need.

Now, with COVID, I am supporting some of my doula clients virtually. I miss the human interaction, but I can still help them with education and preparation, dietary recommendations, physical activity and movement suggestions, labor positions, and creating their birth plan. I also help with questions they can potentially ask their care providers and give them tips on how to gauge where a provider sits in regards to philosophy and practice.

Ultimately, my mission at Magnolia is to be a resource for mamas. Whether they need a childbirth educator, wellness consultant, doula, or birth assistant, I am present and willing to jump in and see what I can offer.