Meet Our Labor Doulas
Amber
Amber is a certified birth and postpartum doula on our team who is trained through International Doula Institute. She is proud to say that IDI trains doulas to support all families, regardless of birthing style, birthing goals, personality style, family style, or parenting styles. She is so grateful to support families through their births and postpartum journeys.
Alexandrea
Alex is an experienced and well-loved DTI (Doula Trainings International) certified birth and postpartum doula who has supported families for over 12 years. Alex values the relationship of the birthing team – your ob/midwife, your doula, your nurse, your partner/s, and you! She is rigorously committed to informed consent and wants to make sure that your voice is heard throughout your pregnancy and birth, whatever your choices are.
Abby J.
Abby (she/they) is a trained Birth Doula and Breastfeeding Counselor. She is continuing her education as a Full Spectrum Doula and Childbirth Educator with Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings. Abby has supported various kinds of birth from C-Section to home births and understands the importance of each parent making informed individual choices for their birth.
Anna C.
Anna is a birth doula on our team who had the opportunity to certify with Auma, a famous Russian midwife and birth educator. She aims to provide as much information as possible so families can feel safer and comfortable through their birthing experience. She is incredibly knowledgeable about relaxing birth techniques, unmedicated pain management, supporting through birth issues, and finding the right birth worker/doctor.
Ashton
Ashton is a certified birth and postpartum doula and breastfeeding counselor through the International Doula Institute. She has experience with day and night time care, in addition to supporting families with multiples. Families can see her genuine compassion and care shine through and appreciate her prompt communication skills. She loves supporting families with daytime care, and she is comfortable with twins as well as busier households.
Alyssa
Alyssa is a DONA trained postpartum doula as well as a full spectrum doula on our team. She supports families in both labor and postpartum and loves the continuity of care! As a birth doula, she loves assisting families with bringing their babes earth-side and immediately following.
Briana
Briana is a birth and postpartum doula on our team who is certified through Sokana Collective. She is passionate about families and assuring that families have the support and the care they need to have a positive experience. She loves providing this continuum of care for families and caring for them postpartum with both daytime and overnight support.
Callie
Callie is a CAPPA trained birth and postpartum doula with 20 years of experience in childcare. She has loved caring for families, children and babies from a young age and took that passion and turned it into a career. She’s been a daycare worker caring for the youngest and engaging with the eldest. She’s nannied and babysat throughout the years as well.
Christa
Christa is a birth doula on our team who is certified through Stillbirthday. She is also a placenta encapsulation specialist, trained in Spinning Babies techniques, well-versed in hypnobirthing techniques, and has a special interest in lactation. She is currently in the process of completing her Lactation Educator Certification, and nursed each of her children for 2+ years.
Colleen
Colleen is a DONA and Stillbirthday certified birth doula and a mother of five. Before having children she was going to school to become a labor and delivery nurse. She is very committed to providing every client with support, encouragement, and resources. She strives to provide only evidence-based resources so clients are able to make decisions that are best for their family.
Christine
Christine is a DONA certified birth doula on our team. She understands that the transition to parenthood can be challenging and she always provides inclusive, personalized, and evidence-based care for families. She is experienced in hospital births and is supportive of medicated and unmedicated births. Families describe her as kind, empathetic, upbeat, warm, down to earth, and easy to connect with!
Chrishon
Chrishon is a Blissful Births certified labor doula and postpartum doula on our team. She enjoys supporting families through all of the amazing transitions and life events including birth, postpartum, and breastfeeding. As a birth doula she is experienced with hospital births, birth centers and home births.
Diana
Diana is a certified labor and postpartum doula through DONA and a certified breastfeeding counselor. She’s supported clients in hospitals, birthing centers, as well as home births. Diana has supported vaginal births, C-sections, and VBACS.
Daneita
Daneita is a DONA trained birth and postpartum doula on our team. She loves teaching families that they have a voice and that they are their greatest advocate for themselves and their baby. She also specializes in teen pregnancy, AMA, substance abuse, and families experiencing infertility.
Emily P.
Emily is a well loved DONA trained birth doula on our team. She is experienced supporting hospital and home births, as well as, both unmedicated and medicated births. Emily has a deep belief that all families thrive when they feel respected, safe, informed and cared for and she works hard to create this for each unique family.
Elisha
Elisha is a certified labor doula on our team through International Doula Institute. She is also completing her childbirth education certification and starting a midwifery program. Prior to becoming a doula she was an OB tech since 2006 and has worked at Sherman Hospital for over 13 years. She was then an OB tech at St. Alexius.
Erin
Erin is a Madriella certified birth and postpartum doula on our team. She is also a certified breastfeeding counselor through International Doula Institute. Her desire to become involved in birth work began with her own empowering birth experiences: she was incredibly inspired by the wise women who supported her through each of her births.
Erika
Erika has always had a passion for all things pregnancy, birth baby and family. She began supporting families as a labor and postpartum doula in 2015 and in April of 2020 she completed a Birth Assistant Workshop. She is a life long learner and attends multiple workshops a year. She also has a passion for supporting underserved communities and volunteers her services.
Erin
Erin is a Madriella certified birth and postpartum doula on our team. She is also a certified breastfeeding counselor through International Doula Institute. Her desire to become involved in birth work began with her own empowering birth experiences: she was incredibly inspired by the wise women who supported her through each of her births.
Elly
Elly is a Bebo Mia trained birth doula on our team. She provides personalized care and resources tailored to each family’s needs. She supports first time mamas, as well as families who are welcoming siblings. She is supportive of medicated and unmedicated births.
Gina
Gina is a birth doula on our team, as well as a herbalist and early childhood educator. She has been in the field of early childhood education for over 10 years mentoring families and helping them to connect with their infants and toddlers. She loves educating families about their child’s developmental milestones and how they can support them in their emotional, physical and cognitive growth.
Heather P.
Justine
Justine is a certified labor and postpartum doula on our team, who has trained through Earth Mama Naturals. As a labor doula, she is experienced in supporting families with medicated births, water births and unmedicated births. She knows this time is so important in a family’s life, and her goal is to make the process less stressful. As a postpartum doula, she has supported families with daytime and overnights.
Jackie E.
Jackie is a trauma-informed, DONA trained birth doula on our team as well as a Certified Lactation Specialist. She has been working with families since 2020, where she learned the true impact of doula work while serving south side birth families as a community doula for a large hospital system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Janina
Janina is labor and postpartum doula trained and certified through Gifted Hands International. She has always seen childbirth to be an incredible miracle and has been around babies and families her entire life. Janina uses her compassion, empathy, and strong nurturing spirit to make families feel supported and confident during this amazing transition.
Jenn A.
Jenn is a certified birth doula through DONA International who has experience with a broad spectrum of families from high risk pregnancies, induced labors, unmedicated births, twin pregnancies, IVF, diabetic pregnancy, IUGR babies, cesarean birth, and more. She believes strongly that all families should feel supported as they navigate this incredible and at times overwhelming journey.
Jessica
Jessica (she/her) is a CAPPA trained labor doula who is well-versed in Hypnobirthing strategies. She is passionate about supporting families throughout the pregnancy, birth and postpartum process. She wants families to know what options and choices that they have as they navigate all of the many unknowns.
Krista
Krista is a dedicated and passionate DONA-trained birth doula who is committed to being respectful and inclusive to every birthing family she walks beside. She is equally comfortable providing support for home, birth center, and hospital births, believing that all families should have the opportunity to pursue the birth experience they desire.
Kemeera
Kemeera is a well loved birth and postpartum doula on our team, and sees herself as a guide for maternal wellness. She is a wife, mother, and go-to expert for all things birth and postpartum. She specializes in overnight support, and loves supporting families with singletons as well as busier families. She jumps right in wherever needed and helps families with breastfeeding and bottle-feeding.
Katie
Katie is a DONA trained labor doula on our team. She provides strong, evidence based and empathetic support in a non-judgmental way and is thoughtful in how she interacts with families. Katie loves working with all families and in all hospitals and home settings.
Keena
Keena is a well-loved Full Spectrum Doula for birth, postpartum, loss, and fertility. She strives to support families achieve a positive birth an postpartum experience. It is her life’s journey to empower the family through holistic wellness and with quality care.
Kelly
Kelly is a well loved birth and postpartum doula on our team who has trained through ProDoula for birth and CAPPA for postpartum. As a doula, her compassionate approach encompasses birth preparation; continuous labor support and postpartum care to ensure you have the most optimal, safe and positive experience.
Kyla
Kyla is a DONA Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula from Chicago. She has a multifaceted journey in women’s health. As a doula she has been supporting families since 2021. Kyla has supported families at many of the area hospitals and has supported families who had both medicated and unmedicated births. As a birth doula, families describe her as knowledgeable and a wonderful listener. She helps to ensure that families have a voice and have a positive birth experience.
Layne
Layne is a well-loved birth and postpartum doula, as well as a lactation educator trained through CAPPA. She has been passionate about supporting families for as long as she can remember and has spent over 15 years in caregiving roles. Birth justice, equality, and giving back to the community is one of her strongest values.
Lissah M.
Lissah has been a full Spectrum Birth & Postpartum doula since 2018. She is a Certified doula through Doula Trainings International. She loves that she is able to support and care for families through pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
Lauren P.
Lauren is an experienced and caring labor doula who has a love for connecting with people, health, fitness, and women’s rights. These passions all inspired her to become a birth doula. Clients say she has a remarkable sense of empathy that brings calm and positivity to the delivery room…not to mention her AMAZING massages and oil blends.
Lina
Lina is a well-loved birth and postpartum doula on our team who trained through DONA and plans to eventually become a midwife. She also completed training through Stillbirthday to support families during a loss. She is also incredibly experienced supporting families through breastfeeding and offers a wealth of knowledge to families with newborns.
Lillian
Lillian is a DONA trained birth and postpartum doula on our team, as well as a student midwife working towards her CPM license. Her passion is supporting birthing people and their families. She has experience in home, birth-center, and hospital births and is honored to support families in all settings.
Lauretta
Lauretta is a DONA trained birth doula on our team and she is knowledgeable in medicated and unmedicated vaginal deliveries, inductions, and cesarean births, as well as in lactation support. She is also infant, child, and adult CPR certified.
Lillian
Lillian is a DONA trained birth and postpartum doula on our team, as well as a student midwife working towards her CPM license. Her passion is supporting birthing people and their families. She has experience in home, birth-center, and hospital births and is honored to support families in all settings.
Lorri
Lorri is a DONA trained birth doula on our team, as well as a postpartum doula. She loves supporting families through labor, birth, and settling in postpartum. She knows this time is absolutely precious and such a gift, her role is to make the experience as stress free as possible. She is supportive of medicated and unmedicated births, and has experience with higher risk pregnancy.
Maryanne
Maryanne is a DONA trained birth doula on our team who has supported many families for home and hospital births, c-sections, and water births. She provides unwavering emotional support, evidence-based information, and practical guidance, helping families make informed choices and navigate the birthing process with confidence and self-assurance.
Miranda
Miranda is a DONA trained birth doula on our team as well as a certified breastfeeding counselor. She is also trained in Spinning Babies technique and has a background in the fitness industry as a trainer and coach. She has a deep knowledge and understanding of the body and mind from the inside out.
Mary
Mary (she/her) is a certified birth doula and childbirth educator on our team who completed her training with Birth Boot Camp and Spinning Babies. She has been serving families as a doula since 2016. Prior to becoming a doula she was an elementary music teacher. She fell in love with doula work after her first son’s pregnancy where she took a comprehensive childbirth class and hired a doula.
Mayra
Mayra is a well loved bilingual birth worker and postpartum doula who loves nurturing families throughout their parenting journey. She is trained through toLabor, Stillbirthday, and CAPPA, and acquired skills through Birthing from Within and Spinning Babies. She provides compassionate care as a doula, Childbirth Educator, Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and Infant Care Specialist. She loves supporting parents as they adjust to the new rhythm in their lives. She is also an expert in caring for families with multiples.
Mallory
Mallory is a DONA trained birth and postpartum doula. She is passionate about helping families achieve their desired birth experience, whatever that may look like! Mallory is proud to provide evidence-based support to all families, and specializes in multiples, high-risk birth and NICU navigation.
Michelle S.
Michelle (she/her) is a well loved full spectrum doula on our team who has completed the Maternal Support Practitioner Program with Bebo Mia. She loves supporting families and helping them to navigate this emotional and very important time in their lives. She values the relationships and the connections that sshe makes with all of her clients.
Nyehla
Nyehla is a well loved labor doula, childbirth educator, and lactation counselor on our team. She has trained with DONA, Birth Advocacy Doula Trainings, and Sista Midwife Productions. In addition to Nyehla’s doula trainings, she has trained with Spinning Babies, an organization that teaches birth professionals labor positions to help facilitate space in a birthing person’s pelvis and support optimal fetal positioning for childbirth.
Sarah
Sarah (she/her) is DONA trained birth doula on our team. She is also a lifelong elementary and early childhood educator. Birth work was a natural progression for her to lean into after supporting families through childhood for so long. She is supportive of hospital births, birthing center births, or home births, and is dedicated to honoring the choices of the birthing person when it comes to medical interventions.
SJ
SJ has been a certified full-spectrum doula since 2018. She is experienced in supporting families during pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. She has supported families in hospitals and at home, through vaginal births and cesareans, inductions and intervention-free labors. SJ also provides overnight support and sibling support and she will give your pets lots of love too!
Shauna
Shauna is an experienced DONA trained labor doula on our team who has worked as a labor doula for over 6 years. She has supported families throughout the Chicagoland area at many hospitals and and has also supported homebirths.
Shantel
Shantel is a full spectrum doula on our team who completed her training through Doula Training International. Shantel has experience supporting families with both daytime and overnights. She has supported families with singletons, twins, and triplets. She enjoys helping with cooking, cleaning, running errands, and breastfeeding support. Shantel truly loves working with children and helping families.
Shariah
Shariah is an experienced National Black Doula Association (NBDA) certified postpartum and birth doula on our team as well as a breastfeeding counselor. She has supported families in home births, freestanding birth centers, hospital birth centers and virtual settings. She has experience with vaginal births, VBAC births and C-section births. As a postpartum doula, she has supported first time families, families with sibling children, and is experienced with both daytime and overnight care.
Shemsa
Shemsa is a CAPPA trained labor and postpartum doula on our team. She has over 10 years of childcare background, and speaks a variety of languages (French, English, Swahili, Kirundi, and Kinyarwanda) which has helped her in working and serving international families. She strives to equip mothers with evidence-based information, as well as emotional support so that they can confidently make decisions about their well being.
Shelley
Shelley is a VERY loved labor and postpartum doula on our team (trained through DONA, ProDoula and CAPPA). Shelley has supported families through Chicago Family Doulas since 2015 and has over 22 years of experience working with infants and young children. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and a placenta encapsulation specialist. She feels that it is an honor to support families through one of their most important and memorable life events!
Sydney M.
Sydney is a CAPPA-certified labor doula and a trained postpartum doula as well as a Certified Lactation Specialist. Before moving to Chicago she supported the Des Moines, Iowa community for the last two years through birth assistance, postpartum support, and lactation consulting working specifically with nonprofits.
Stephanie
Stephanie is a DONA trained birth doula who is dedicated to supporting families in an evidence based and compassionate way. She stays up-to-date on the best practices and believes deeply in diversifying her approach to empower women and families. She believes deeply that birth is incredibly important and transformative.
Tia T.
Tia is an experienced DONA certified birth doula on our team, as well as a lactation specialist. She enjoys helping families find their voice and supporting all families throughout their sacred journey. She develops a trusting and loving relationship with her clients which helps their birthing process become more intimate.
Tracy
Tracy is a CAPPA trained labor doula on our team as well as a postpartum doula. She supports families in all birth settings including hospital births, birth centers and home births. She believes that this is a journey for each family and they need to feel cared for and supported in all of their choices. She enjoys empowering families and helping them navigate this incredible and overwhelming time.
Trina
Trina is a birth and postpartum doula on our team who is also a certified childbirth educator and a breastfeeding counselor, she received her training through the International Doula Institute. She loves nurturing families and newborns and goes above and beyond to surround families with knowledge, support, encouragement and compassion.
Tiffany
Tiffany is a well-loved full spectrum doula on our team and has trained with Doula Training International. She truly enjoys empowering her clients to make their own choices and create a birth experience that they are comfortable with. She enjoys supporting families in the many different birth settings that the Chicagoland area has to offer.
Tonya
Tonya has been supporting families as a birth doula since 2018 and as a postpartum doula since 2019. She has twenty years of experience working with infants, young children and families. Prior to being certified through Well-Rounded Maternity as a birth doula and through CAPPA as a postpartum doula, Tonya has been a CNA, nanny, childcare worker in multiple settings, and has an associates degree in ASL/English Interpreting.
Vanessa
Vanessa is a DONA and ProDoula trained birth doula and childbirth educator with a passion for information. Vanessa loves helping families prepare both body and mind for their transition into parenthood. Vanessa has a positive and upbeat personality that brings comfort and confidence to those she meets.