About Me
Reproductive health work is such unique work,
and there are so many paths to it. I am happy to share mine!
As a childbirth educator, doula, and placenta encapsulator, I work with pregnant, laboring, and postpartum families to help them realize their best vision as parents.
As a full-spectrum doula, somatic sex educator, and trained Shodhini, I provide physical, emotional, informational, and referral support to all folks throughout their reproductive lives.
I continue my education by attending workshops; doing intensive self-study, research, and writing; learning from experienced mentors; and, most importantly, listening to and working with mothers and fathers. While my current focus is my work as a childbirth mentor and doula, my ultimate goal is to become a midwife.
As a provider, I am affiliated with Birthing From Within, Shodhini Institute, DONA International, Bay Area Birth Information (BABI), Blossom Birth, and Bay Area Birth Association (BABA). As a future student midwife, I am proud to be a member of the California Association of Midwives (CAM) and Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA).
Mayor's Marathon, Anchorage, AK - June 2011 I have long been a student of human biology, and received my B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior from University of California at Davis in 2009. While pursuing my bachelors degree, I held many varying roles focused on the appropriation of medical and mental health services to under-served and marginal populations.
At that time, I also pursued a passion in sexual/reproductive and maternal/child health. Upon graduating, I followed my interest in public health and interned for Child Family Health Internation, a non-profit organization that looks to further the global health of families through community, grassroots initiatives. My work in global health continued when I took a position as Educational Programs Coordinator for Global Health Education Consortium.
In 2011, I took a step out of the administrative side of the healthcare and non-profit secors, and sought opportunities to provide hands-on service and further develop my interests. While volunteering at San Francisco General Hospital, I met a group of remarkable women providing a service that I thought to be indispensible: I had met my first group of doulas.
I quickly answered what seemed to me a "call to arms" -- to offer my natural skills and instincts, pursue continued education & training, and provide the support that birthing people and their families everywhere need and deserve.
I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to share in the most tender and life-changing moments of my clients' lives through my work as a childbirth mentor and doula. I currently offer my skills and services to young parents of the Teen-Age Parent Programs (TAPP) of Redwood City and San Francisco and to military families through Operation Special Delivery -- for these parents, I offer scholarship childbirth prep courses and pro-bono doula services.
When I am not doula-ing, I work as a freelance project manager and editorial copy-editor. The majority of my copyediting work has been in educational materials, and I have recently worked with a college textbook company (on human sexuality, child development, lifespan psychology, and behavioral psychology texts -- all very interesting projects!)
I volunteer my time with BABI (as the Web Mistress and an Editor of the 2012 Resource Guide), Shodhini Institute, Blossom Birth, and CAM. In Fall 2011, I served as the publicity liaison, volunteer coordinator, and webmaster for the Women's Caucus for Art's most recent and super successful exhibition.
When I am not working, I am dedicating time to my self-care project, my yoga practice, learning how to pickle/preserve all-things-local-and-delicious, writing letters to my pen pals, knitting/crocheting childbirth educational tools & baby goodies (Etsy storefront coming soon!), and spending quality time with my partner & our three pet pooches.
After completing my first marathon for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Anchorage, AK in June 2011, I have decided I do not like running.
