I’ll never forget the first time I held the hand of a laboring mother as she was about to bring her babee into the world. That moment changed everything for me. She was a pregnant Indian neighbor that spoke no English but kind and spoke with her eyes and a smile. I was only 14 when labor began for her and she came knocking on my door. I had just come home from school, cheerleading practice to be exact and opened the door to her in obvious pain moaning and leaning over and water leaking from under her dress.
Wait a minute! Was she????
I had no idea what to do so I ushered her in and sat her on my Mama’s new sofa. Yeah, that part didn’t go well, lol. Although we couldn’t communicate verbally her eyes spoke what she needed, comfort. I called 911 and we waited for an ambulance to arrive which felt like an eternity. As a teenager I had no clue what to do in this moment but what I saw on TV.
Breathe with me Hee-Hee-Who-Who.
That rapid breathing they would make all pregnant people do in labor and held her hand TIGHTLY until the ambulance came. I’ll never forget her grip!
In what seemed like forever they arrived and wheeled her off on a stretcher. She and her husband came back days later to knock on the door to thank us and show us their babee boy.
Something in me clicked in that moment not knowing what it was I just knew that I wanted to work with babees. But my idea was more like volunteering as a candy striper (telling my age) in the maternity ward at a local hospital, rocking and shushing them to sleep. I went on to have two more instances with pregnant women in labor throughout my life.
Something was up. Why were all these pregnant people always laboring near me? One in an elevator and one at work. And each time it was the same routine, Hee-Hee-Who-Who, lol.
I always had a soft spot for pregnant people. The awe of human design and the phenomenon of a woman carrying and giving life was divine to say the least. Fast forward I entered the world with my own kids and my own birth story. If you ask most folks in this field they were heavily inspired to do this work because of their own journey, lack of support or traumatic birth. Although my birth didn’t go like I thought it would, my postpartum recovery was filled with love, support and good food.
Every mother no matter how they birthed needed that type of love in their postpartum support I had with two under two. So I entered the Maternal Health field as a self trained postpartum doula. Giving the same support I received with my babees. I actually was a virtual assistant and ended up booking a pregnant mompreneur that was on bed rest. She in turn loved the help I provided as an administrator but it was hard not to feed and care for her when I was there for meet ups. I remember telling a family member about her experience and the ways I offered her support and she told me “you should be a postpartum doula!”
A doula? What was that?
And away I went off to Google and read up on this newfound career journey. The more I read and researched the more I saw It was all me to the T.
I knew it was what I wanted to do.
As I began to take on more clients they were keenly interested in my breastfeeding experience and began to ask me questions in regards to their journey and any tips I could give. The questions became more clinical and I knew that I had to go deeper to expand my training in lactation. I wanted to do this for new mothers. Help them breastfeed too. Social media was just growing and I went online and found a local Black breastfeeding group called ROSE that trained me as a breastfeeding peer counselor through their Community Transformer program and eventually gave me a scholarship to become a Certified Breastfeeding Specialist with Lactation Education Resources.
Many of my clients soon began to put two and two together, I reduced their anxiety and asked me to be there for their postpartum experience in the hospital to assist with latching and some even asked me to attend their births to which I wasn’t fully committed to attending the birth itself. You see, I was 40 and had never witnessed a live birth. Just my own cesareans. I had watched some videos but I truly thought I was too squeamish to attend with the blood, guts, vomiting and placentas. My stomach was too weak. Or at least I thought it was.
The pandemic comes and I attended an IG Live early one morning with the National Black Doula Association and I won a scholarship to become a Full Spectrum Doula. It’s at this point I’m just following my divinely led orders in this field. I entered at a time where support was severely impacted and restricted to no support for pregnant folks at a very scary life changing moment in their lives. Because of the pandemic everyone needed the virtual education and support to manage and support their birthing preferences. It was chaotic to have no script or direction to learn how to support a family virtually. Everyone was learning how to pívot in this crisis. But I welcomed the challenge because I knew this was going to change me and if I ever made it the other side develop grit and growth for myself and my newfound business.
A few months later, I book my very first in person hospital birth after the lockdown. I was booked by a local news reporter and I thought what kind of luck was this and I got to get this birth right. And would you know she birthed in the same room I spent 5 days in years before trying to have my first son. Talk about dejavú and divine intervention. Everything I had learned led me up to this birth. I called a fellow doula to process this because I didn’t want to screw this up with my own birth trauma. My client went on to deliver vaginally and breastfed her son for more than a year.
This is what I want to do. I want to be a doula.
75 births and three years later I’m here compelling community members to change the lives of mothers, birthing folks and their babees by becoming a doula too.
I’m in my season of return. ANYONE can be a doula I though to myself. It shouldn’t be limited to those that want a career change. Family members should know this information too. I created a training to validate just that. A doula provides emotional support by validating and keep the birthing space safe for whatever decision a mother chooses to make, we provide evidence based information to support the physiological process of birth or not, and also physical support with counter pressure, optimal labor positioning and postpartum recovery too.
My IMPACT doula training dives into the history of Black Midwives and Doulas, doula work as a pillar in community health, supporting high risk clients and of course the heart of my work, Breastfeeding support and so much more.
You need this training!
If you’ve been researching the Maternal Infant Health field, consider this Doula Training as an entrance point or stepping stone for to new career.
The IMPACT doula training program offers immediate certification because I believe that well-trained, passionate doulas should be able to step into their vital roles without unnecessary delays. Many individuals feel called to birth work and are eager to support families as soon as possible and earn a living as soon as possible too. Waiting to receive certification after multiple births that can take months can be a hindrance in the livelihood of these doula’s income and supporting their roles too. My immediate certification allows them to begin their journey right away. By streamlining the certification process, we remove financial and logistical barriers that often make doula training feel out of reach.
This training is designed to be comprehensive, hands-on, and cost effective for the community ensuring that graduates leave fully prepared to support families effectively.
Many communities, especially underserved and marginalized populations, face a shortage of culturally competent, community-based doulas. Immediate certification means doulas can step in sooner to provide critical support.
The presence of trained doulas is linked to better birth outcomes, lower intervention rates, and improved postpartum recovery. By certifying doulas quickly, we are actively working to improve these statistics.
Families deserve compassionate, knowledgeable birth support. Our model ensures that doulas can start making a difference in their communities right away.
I stand behind the quality and integrity of this training while recognizing the urgency of birth work. By offering immediate certification, I hope empower doulas to serve, support, and advocate—right when they’re needed most. I’ve had several trainees go in to book clients within weeks of taking the training with ongoing mentorship and coaching g and you can too.
You will always remember who supported you during birth and in the postpartum. Always. Families will always remember you even when you don’t remember them.
Ready to support families? Say yes and register today!
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