My Story

In 2004 I was studying anthropology in New Orleans, and I particularly loved a course on the anthropology of sexuality and reproduction. We read a study on childbirth support in Mexican hospitals. I was struck not only by the better birth outcomes for the people who had doula support, but by the fact that even the women who labored alone but with a researcher taking notes behind a curtain had better outcomes than women who weren’t part of the study and who were laboring completely alone. Just the fact that there was someone there with a woman through her labor made a difference.

Flash forward to 2009, when I was living in Doha, Qatar. I met Sara, the country's sole professional doula, serving women in a hospital system that did not value labor support. She lit a fire in me to make this work my own. I then moved to Boston, where I trained with the doula support organization ToLabor and quickly plunged into the world of childbirth and grassroots reproductive health.

In 2013 I began my midwifery training with Womancraft Midwifery in Amherst, MA, and spent two years in an apprenticeship with Boston midwife Khadijah Cisse. In 2014, she was my midwife at my home birth. In 2018 I finished a second apprenticeship at the high-volume Concord Birth Center in Concord, NH, graduated from the MEAC accredited National Midwifery Institute with a Certificate in Midwifery, and received my Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) credential from the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). It is an absolute joy to be in practice, and I love to assist other area midwives at births. I strongly value continued learning from diverse perspectives and approaches.

After a year of practice in New Hampshire, I relocated to New Jersey in the fall of 2019. I now serve the greater Philadelphia and Central/South Jersey area, providing compassionate care, connecting with community, and catching babes.

In addition to my birth work, I read, knit, spin wool into yarn, and sometimes write, and my thoughts on expanded midwifery care in American hospitals were published on Mother's Day 2015 by CNN. When I’m not at a birth, you'll find me hiking with my daughter and pup, permaculturing my yard, or reading Slavic fairy tales. I love being a mama and seeing the world through my daughter’s eyes, and I love that she always asks to hear the story when I come home to her from a birth.

Professional Training

• Concord Birth Center, clinical midwifery preceptorship, March 2017 - April 2018
• National Midwifery Institute, 2016 – April 2018
• Heart & Hands Midwifery Training, 2015 – 2016
• Womancraft Midwifery Training, 2013 – 2014
• Boston School of Herbal Studies Apprenticeship Program, 2011 – 2013
• HypnoBirthing Practitioner Training, 2011
• Herbal Medicine for Women (Aviva Romm), 2011
• ToLabor Childbirth Doula Training, 2010

Other Certifications & Trainings

• New Jersey Licensed Midwife, 2019, 2021, 2023 (licensure is current)
• Certified Professional Midwife, National Association of Registered Midwives, 2018, 2021, 2024
• Neonatal Resuscitation, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024
• Basic Life Support & CPR, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2024
• Breech Without Borders, 2021, 2022, 2023
• Spinning Babies, 2013, 2021
• Birth Emergency Skills Training (BEST), 2020
• Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss with Amy Wright Glenn, 2016

Education

• Certificate in Midwifery, National Midwifery Institute, 2018
• Certificate in Religion and Education, Harvard Extension School, 2015
• MA in Cultural Anthropology, Tulane University, 2008
• BA in Middle East Studies and Anthropology, Tulane University, 2007

Decolonization & Anti-Racism

Pregnancy and birth are places where systemic oppression, including but not limited to expressions of misogyny, racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and colonization manifest. I believe that empowered and informed decision-making disrupts systemic oppression and returns agency to the individual and away from systems that--by design--fail many kinds of bodies and many kinds of families. These are our bodies, our families, our lives, our histories, our cultures, and our choices.

I recognize that individuals and families and communities are discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, size, ability, gender identity, and more, and that this bias manifests in medical care. I am committed to providing sensitive and culturally appropriate care to all clients, to investing in my own ongoing education, and to practicing awareness of my own privilege and power. Whenever possible, I co-create a birth team with my clients that reflects their identities.

Community midwifery can hold powerful space for individuals against a medical system that is fraught with systemic injustice. Yet, the midwifery community is also plagued by these problems. My intention is to consciously and constructively witness and disrupt the systemic oppression within communities of midwives and other birth workers that privilege particular experiences, perspectives, and bodies (especially my own), and through education, engagement, and financial/educational/practical support to birthworkers of color.

My practice is rooted in the understanding that Black life matters, Black wellness matters, Black families matter, Black children matter, Black parents matter, and Black Lives Matter.

My Writing

• "A Better Way to Give Birth?" CNN, 2015
• "Can Muslims Be 'All-American'?" The Huffington Post, 2013
• "Feeding the Muslim Community," The Huffington Post, 2012
• "Buddhist Monks Against Humanitarian Aid?" The Huffington Post, 2012
• "How Michael Pollan Made Me Muslim," Beyond Halal, 2011