Overview
Meet the Midwives
At the heart of Why Midwifery Matters are the experienced midwives who have dedicated their lives to caring for women, supporting families, and advancing equitable maternal healthcare. This page introduces the midwives featured in the film, highlighting their backgrounds, expertise, and commitment to restoring trust, choice, and compassionate care in childbirth. Through their stories and decades of collective experience, they help illuminate why midwifery is not only an evidence-based model of care, but an essential part of addressing the Black maternal health crisis.
Jennie Joseph
Jennie Joseph is an internationally recognized midwife, educator, and maternal health advocate whose groundbreaking work has transformed conversations around birth equity and culturally responsive maternity care in the United States. Named TIME Women of the Year 2022, Jennie is a British-trained midwife with more than three decades of experience dedicated to improving maternal and infant health outcomes, particularly within underserved and marginalized communities. After training and practicing in the United Kingdom, she relocated to Florida in 1989 and eventually established an independent home birth practice focused on serving local families with compassionate, patient-centered care. In 1999, she developed the nationally recognized The JJ Way, an innovative model of maternity care designed to reduce disparities and improve outcomes by centering relationships, accessibility, respect, and continuity of care. The model emphasizes that every woman deserves the opportunity to deliver a healthy baby, regardless of insurance status, income, or background. Jennie is also the founder of Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery, the first Black-owned MEAC-accredited midwifery school in the United States, where she has dedicated herself to educating and preparing future generations of highly skilled community midwives. Through Commonsense Childbirth and initiatives such as the Easy Access Prenatal Care Clinics, she has expanded maternity care access for thousands of women who may otherwise go without prenatal support. Her work has resulted in measurable improvements in maternal and infant health outcomes and has become a national model for addressing racial disparities in birth care. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Jennie Joseph brings a visionary perspective on birth justice, healthcare transformation, and the life-changing impact of respectful, community-centered midwifery care.
Mama Shafia Monroe
Shafia Monroe is a globally recognized midwife, author, cultural historian, educator, and public health advocate whose work has transformed the landscape of maternal health equity and doula care in the United States. As the founder of SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training, Monroe has spent more than four decades preserving and revitalizing African American birth and postpartum traditions while training generations of doulas and birthworkers dedicated to culturally responsive care. Holding a Master of Public Health degree from Walden University, she has become a leading authority on Black birth traditions, postpartum healing, cultural competency, and community-centered maternal healthcare systems. Her groundbreaking work has helped shape policy nationwide, including spearheading the legislative concept behind Oregon House Bill 3311, which led Oregon to become the first state in the nation to approve Medicaid reimbursement for doulas. Through her consulting, training, and advocacy work, Monroe has empowered thousands of families and healthcare professionals while advancing solutions aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality in marginalized communities. She is also the acclaimed author of Mothering the Mother, a celebrated work that revives ancestral wisdom surrounding postpartum recovery, nourishment, and family care. A mother of seven and grandmother, Monroe’s work is deeply rooted in lived experience, community healing, and the belief that birth is both sacred and transformative. Her leadership and impact have earned her numerous honors, including multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards and national recognition for her pioneering contributions to maternal health. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Shafia Monroe brings a powerful historical, cultural, and policy-centered perspective to the movement for Black maternal health, birth justice, and the preservation of traditional midwifery wisdom.
Tia Thompson
Tia Thompson is a certified nurse-midwife with more than 15 years of experience in community-based maternal and child health, dedicated to providing compassionate, culturally sensitive, and empowering care to birthing families. Currently serving patients at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento, Tia’s approach to midwifery is deeply rooted in respect, tradition, and relationship-centered care. Inspired by the wisdom of her ancestors and mentors, she is passionate about honoring the cultural experiences and individual needs of the families she serves while helping women feel supported, informed, and empowered throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Her work reflects a strong commitment to advancing equitable maternal healthcare and preserving the traditional values of midwifery within modern healthcare systems. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Tia brings an important voice on culturally grounded care, community health, and the enduring power of compassionate midwifery support for mothers and families.
Zulgiel Gaines Ruiz
Zulgeil Ruiz Ginés is a licensed midwife, educator, anthropologist, and internationally recognized advocate for culturally safe midwifery care and education. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Zul earned her Bachelor’s degree in Humanities from the University of Puerto Rico before beginning a transformative journey into midwifery in Temixco, where she studied with an indigenous midwife whose teachings deeply shaped her understanding of birth, culture, spirituality, and community care. Licensed in both California and Florida, Zul has dedicated her career to advancing community-based midwifery and ensuring future generations of midwives receive practical, culturally responsive, and sustainable education. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery, founded by Jennie Joseph, where she works to strengthen midwifery training nationwide and expand access to quality maternity care. She is also the founder and CEO of Kolibri International Birth Institute and has served as a midwifery instructor and consultant focused on the sustainability and recognition of accredited community midwifery programs across the United States. Currently pursuing a master’s degree in Applied Medical Anthropology at Oregon State University under the mentorship of Dr. Melissa Cheyney, Zul’s research centers on the growth and long-term sustainability of midwifery education programs for community midwives. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Zul brings a global, culturally grounded, and deeply educational perspective to the movement for equitable maternal healthcare and the preservation of traditional and community-centered birth practices.
Dr. Tanya Khemet Taiwo
Dr. Tanya Khemet Taiwo is a certified professional midwife, epidemiologist, educator, and nationally recognized birth justice advocate whose work bridges community midwifery, public health research, and systems-level maternal health reform. With more than 20 years of experience, Tanya has dedicated her career to eliminating racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes while expanding access to respectful, equitable, and community-centered maternity care. Originally from Kingston and descended from generations of midwives, her commitment to birth work is deeply rooted in both family legacy and social justice. Tanya currently serves as Senior Program Officer for Birth Justice at the Skyline Foundation, where she helps shape grantmaking strategies, identify innovative maternal health solutions, and strengthen partnerships focused on advancing equity in birth care systems. She also serves as an Assistant Professor of Midwifery at Bastyr University. Tanya holds a Master of Public Health from San Jose State University and a PhD in Epidemiology from University of California, Davis, where she previously served within the Environmental Health Sciences Center and co-led community engagement initiatives focused on environmental health and pregnancy outcomes. Throughout her career, she has provided direct midwifery care to diverse Medicaid populations in both rural and urban clinics while also co-leading Project TENDR, an interdisciplinary effort aimed at reducing pregnant women’s and children’s exposure to neurotoxic environmental chemicals. Tanya believes deeply in the transformative power of the midwifery model of care, emphasizing dignity, respect, and relationship-centered support as pathways toward healing individuals, families, and communities. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, she brings a powerful intersection of research, activism, public health, and ancestral birth wisdom to the national conversation on maternal justice and healthcare transformation.
Dr. Lorraine Garcia
Dr. Lorraine Garcia is a nationally respected leader in maternal health, midwifery-led care, and reproductive justice whose work focuses on transforming maternity care systems to better serve women, families, and communities. Her expertise spans respectful maternity care frameworks, obstetric violence in U.S. maternity care systems, healthcare inequities, interdisciplinary collaboration, and organizational change within perinatal care. Dr. Garcia’s research and advocacy emphasize the importance of midwifery models of care, community birth, birth center sustainability, and reducing avoidable harms in maternity care settings. Through her work as a researcher, educator, speaker, and legal consultant, she has become a leading voice in advancing compassionate, evidence-based, and culturally responsive care for mothers and newborns. Her participation in Why Midwifery brings critical academic insight, systems-level analysis, and a powerful perspective on the urgent need to reimagine maternal healthcare in America.
Debbie Allen
Debbie Allen is a midwife, doula, and childbirth educator whose journey into birth work was shaped by her own transformative experiences as a mother. After experiencing unnecessary medical interventions and a lack of compassion during the hospital birth of her first son, she began searching for a more intimate and empowering approach to childbirth during her subsequent pregnancies. In 1995, when birth alternatives were far less accessible, Debbie chose midwifery care and welcomed her second and third sons at home, surrounded by loved ones and supported by midwives. Those deeply personal and affirming home birth experiences inspired a lifelong commitment to educating and empowering families during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Her passion eventually led her to formally study midwifery in California, Utah, and Florida. Debbie is a member of both the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives and the California Association of Midwives. Through her work, she remains dedicated to honoring each family’s right to choose a safe, supportive, and culturally affirming birth experience. Debbie believes it is both a privilege and a sacred responsibility to witness babies take their first breaths, couples become families, and children become siblings. Her participation in Why Midwifery brings a deeply personal perspective on the power of informed choice, community-centered birth, and the lasting impact compassionate care can have on families.
Kiki Jordan
Kiki Jordan is a licensed and certified professional midwife, birth center director, and visionary leader dedicated to transforming maternal healthcare through culturally grounded, community-centered birth work. As the founder and director of Birthland Wellness, Kiki has spent more than two decades building spaces that honor birth as a sacred, natural, and empowering experience rather than a medicalized crisis. Her journey into midwifery began after her own home birth experience awakened a deeper calling to serve women and families through holistic and ancestral models of care. Trained through the apprenticeship model and educated at the International School of Midwifery, Kiki has attended more than 300 births and has served families in home birth and freestanding birth center settings across California and Florida. She previously served as the Birth Center Director for the Marin Family Birth Center, where she helped expand access to childbirth options for low-income, uninsured, and underserved families through collaborative midwifery care. Kiki is a passionate advocate for preserving out-of-hospital birth options and increasing access to culturally responsive midwifery care for Black women and marginalized communities. Through her work, she challenges profit-driven healthcare systems while promoting healing, autonomy, storytelling, and community-based care rooted in trust and respect for women’s bodies and experiences. Her participation in Why Midwifery brings a powerful voice on Black maternal health, birth justice, and the critical role midwives play in reshaping the future of maternal care in America.
Allegra Hill
Allegra Hill is a Licensed Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife, and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant whose work is rooted in compassionate, community-centered care for birthing families. Her journey into birth work began in 2010 as a doula, primarily supporting families navigating hospital birth systems, while simultaneously volunteering at a local birth center and pursuing formal midwifery education. After graduating from the National Midwifery Institute in 2014, she became a Certified Professional Midwife and Licensed Midwife in 2015, later earning certification as a lactation consultant that same year. Allegra is the co-founder and co-owner of Kindred Space LA and the Birthing People Foundation alongside Kimberly Durdin, where she has trained and mentored doulas and birthworkers for more than a decade. Her work integrates nonviolent communication, conflict resolution, cultural competency, early childhood development, and holistic family support into every aspect of care. Having attended hundreds of births in homes, hospitals, and birth centers, Allegra is deeply committed to helping families approach pregnancy, birth, and parenting with confidence, dignity, and support. Her connection to midwifery is also deeply personal—she herself was born in a freestanding birth center attended by certified nurse midwives, and she later welcomed both of her own children through home birth. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Allegra brings a powerful perspective on generational birth wisdom, culturally responsive care, and the transformative role midwifery can play in strengthening families and communities.
Kim Durdin
Kimberly Durdin is a Licensed Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife, educator, entrepreneur, doula trainer, and former International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant whose work has impacted thousands of families across New York City, the Washington D.C. metro area, and Los Angeles over the past three decades. A mother of six and grandmother of six, Kimberly views her children and grandchildren as her greatest teachers and has dedicated her life to supporting families through pregnancy, birth, postpartum care, lactation support, childbirth education, mentorship, and community-based healing. Alongside her business partner Allegra Hill, she is the co-founder and co-owner of Kindred Space LA, a Black-owned birth center and wellness hub offering midwifery care, out-of-hospital birth services, doula support and training, parenting education, lactation consulting, and community enrichment programs. Together, they also established Birthing People Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to affordable training, certification, and mentorship opportunities for Black and Brown birthworkers, including doulas, childbirth educators, lactation consultants, birth assistants, and midwives. Through this work, Kimberly has become a leading advocate addressing maternal and infant health disparities while reconnecting communities to ancestral traditions of indigenous wellness and birth care. Her expertise and advocacy have gained national attention, including features on The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper discussing solutions to maternal health disparities, as well as the documentary Deliver Us. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Kimberly brings decades of wisdom, leadership, and lived experience to the conversation surrounding Black maternal health, culturally rooted care, and the transformative power of community-based midwifery.
April Hyde
April Clyde is a highly experienced certified nurse-midwife, certified professional midwife, and founder of Serenity Birth Center and Baby’s 1st Day Midwifery Services. Widely recognized as one of Nevada’s most experienced out-of-hospital midwives, April is uniquely distinguished as the only former labor and delivery nurse in the state to transition into independent out-of-hospital midwifery care. Her career began at Sunrise Hospital, where she assisted in the delivery of more than 1,500 babies during her first five years as a labor and delivery nurse, gaining critical experience in both normal and high-risk births within a Level III neonatal intensive care environment. After earning her Master’s in Midwifery from Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, she helped introduce water birth, birthing stools, and other natural childbirth-centered options into hospital settings before pursuing her dream of opening a home birth practice in 2008. Through her work attending approximately 100 home births annually, April has become a passionate advocate for empowering women to make informed, non-invasive birth choices while maintaining a strong commitment to safety and appropriate medical intervention when necessary. Her philosophy centers on the belief that supported and empowering birth experiences can strengthen families and transform the transition into parenthood. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, April brings both clinical expertise and firsthand insight into the power of midwifery-led care, natural childbirth, and compassionate support for women and families throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Lisa Davis
Lisa Davis is a Certified Nurse Midwife, Registered Nurse, and founder of NuBirth Midwifery, where she provides holistic, culturally centered home birth care for families throughout Vallejo, Solano County, and the East Bay. With more than 20 years of experience in labor and delivery nursing, Lisa has dedicated her career to supporting women and birthing families through prenatal care, home birth, postpartum recovery, breastfeeding support, water birth, and nutrition and herbal guidance. Before establishing NuBirth Midwifery, she spent over two decades working within Kaiser Permanente as a labor and delivery nurse, caring for families across antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, and surgical birth settings. Her extensive clinical experience, combined with her deep belief in the power of community midwifery, has shaped her approach to care—one that honors ancestral healing traditions, informed choice, and the sacredness of birth within the home environment. Lisa is passionate about ensuring families feel supported, respected, and empowered throughout every stage of pregnancy and postpartum care. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, she brings a powerful perspective on culturally responsive home birth care, community-centered healing, and the transformative impact midwives can have on maternal and family wellness.
Angela Soyjobi
Angela Sojobi is a certified nurse-midwife, nurse educator, and compassionate maternal health advocate whose career has been dedicated to making childbirth a more supportive, empowering, and joyful experience for families. Born in Nigeria, Angela graduated from high school at the remarkable age of 15 before pursuing nursing education and eventually relocating to the United States at age 24, where she became both a registered nurse and midwife. Holding advanced credentials including RN, BSN, MSN, and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Angela has helped deliver thousands of babies throughout her career, surpassing 5,000 births more than a decade ago. Since joining Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in 2015, she has become known for her warm presence, gentle coaching, and commitment to ensuring mothers feel heard, respected, and cared for throughout labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. Angela believes deeply in the importance of midwifery-led care, particularly within historically underserved communities where patients may have previously experienced dismissal or inequitable treatment within healthcare systems. Her approach emphasizes relationship-centered support, hands-on care, family involvement, breastfeeding guidance, and the belief that every mother deserves to feel listened to and empowered during childbirth. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Angela brings a powerful perspective on compassionate maternity care, culturally responsive support, and the transformative role midwives can play in restoring trust and dignity within maternal healthcare.
Stephanie Esparza
Stephanie Esparza is a licensed midwife and community birth advocate dedicated to serving Spanish-speaking and immigrant families with compassionate, culturally grounded maternity care. Born and raised in South Sacramento, Stephanie takes great pride in supporting the very communities she feels deeply connected to, focusing much of her work on helping Hispanic and immigrant families navigate pregnancy, childbirth, and healthcare systems with dignity and confidence. Her local work has in
cluded hospital translation services, birth support, and educating families about their rights and options during the childbirth process. Stephanie is deeply committed to preserving cultural connection and honoring her heritage through midwifery, while continuing to expand her knowledge in order to better serve families seeking holistic and relationship-centered care. Her approach emphasizes compassion, trust, advocacy, and the importance of making families feel seen, supported, and empowered throughout their birth journeys. Beyond her work as a midwife, Stephanie is also a devoted mother who draws inspiration and joy from her son, Rafael. She values healing traditions, herbal medicine, music, and community connection, all of which influence the warmth and intention she brings into her care. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Stephanie contributes an important perspective on culturally responsive birth care, language access, immigrant advocacy, and the role of community midwifery in supporting diverse families.
Davon Crawford
Davon Crawford is a certified full-spectrum doula, community birth worker, apprentice midwife, and maternal health advocate whose work is deeply rooted in healing, empowerment, and culturally responsive care. As the owner of Divine Birthright and the Executive Director of Development and Partnerships at Doula Doula, Donyale has spent more than twenty years serving individuals, families, and communities through holistic support during pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. Her work focuses on improving birth outcomes and advancing maternal health equity throughout Northern California, particularly for historically underserved communities. A devoted mother of four, Donyale’s professional journey was shaped by her own early birth experiences, which included unnecessary interventions, limited support, and traumatic outcomes. Determined to create a different experience for herself and others, she immersed herself in birth education and advocacy, ultimately experiencing an empowered, non-medicated birth with her fourth child that transformed her understanding of childbirth and inspired her calling to birth work. Through practices rooted in ancient wisdom, mindful breathing, ritual, rhythm, and evidence-based education, she helps families approach birth as a sacred and transformative journey. Currently pursuing her nursing degree at Emory University, Donyale continues to bridge community-based care with clinical knowledge while advocating for compassionate, spiritually grounded, and empowering birth experiences. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, she brings a deeply personal and community-centered perspective on birth justice, holistic healing, and the transformative power of support during one of life’s most sacred transitions.
Martha Arotingo
Martha Arotingo is an ancestral midwife, herbalist, educator, and Indigenous community leader from the Andean region of Cotacachi whose work is dedicated to preserving traditional birth knowledge, defending Indigenous medicine, and empowering women through culturally rooted care. A lifelong partera and guardian of ancestral healing traditions, Martha learned the art of midwifery as a child through the teachings of her mother and the wise elder women of her community, under the spiritual guidance of the sacred mountain Mama Cotacachi that has protected her lineage for generations. She is the founder and director of Unanchu Mamakuna, the first ancestral midwifery school in Ecuador, created to preserve and pass on Indigenous birthing knowledge to future generations amid growing concerns about the aging population of traditional midwives. Martha also serves as vice president of the Hampik Warmikuna, where she advocates for Indigenous healthcare systems, reproductive autonomy, and the protection of ancestral healing practices. For more than two decades, she has accompanied births within Indigenous communities while speaking out against obstetric violence, medicalization of childbirth, and the historical persecution of Indigenous midwifery traditions. Martha believes that birth is both a sacred and political act, emphasizing that women must reclaim autonomy over their bodies and childbirth experiences. Through her work, she champions home birth as an act of dignity, cultural preservation, and self-determination for Indigenous women and families. She is also a poet and author of the collection Al inicio de la vida (“At the Beginning of Life”), reflecting her deep spiritual and cultural connection to birth and healing. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Martha brings a powerful international perspective on ancestral midwifery, Indigenous reproductive justice, and the enduring resilience of traditional birth knowledge in the face of modern healthcare systems.
Bria Bailey
Bria Bailey is an apprentice midwife, clinical researcher, doula, and health equity advocate dedicated to advancing reproductive justice and transforming maternal healthcare through patient-centered innovation. With more than a decade of clinical research experience and a Master’s degree in Translational Medicine, Bria combines healthcare, research, and design thinking to address disparities impacting Black and underserved communities. Her work has included supporting and organizing health data for more than 10,000 research participants, while helping bridge the gap between under-resourced patients and quality healthcare through innovative approaches to user experience and healthcare design. As a community birth worker and full-spectrum doula, she has directly supported families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum transitions, bringing both scientific insight and compassionate care to her work. Bria’s background in clinical research, human subject protection, and patient engagement has fueled her passion for equitable healthcare innovation, particularly in addressing the maternal mortality crisis facing Black and communities of color. Her long-term vision includes developing digital platforms and healthcare solutions that center patient experiences, improve access to care, and create more equitable maternal health systems. Through her participation in Why Midwifery, Bria brings an emerging generation’s perspective on health equity, technology, community birth work, and the urgent need for culturally responsive solutions in maternal healthcare.
