About Us Learn more about some of the amazing doulas volunteering with us:
Antoinette, CD (DONA), LCCE I have been a birthing doula for 2yrs. I have supported many women and their partners through delivery. I am also a certified Lamaze childbirth educator. I have educated several couples in their journey through pregnancy. My motto is: pregnancy and delivery is best had with love and opened arms.
Poonam is a passionate proponent of every form of reproductive choice, and believes that "choice" gives a woman the right to decide what to do with her own body: when to use it, how to use it, and what to use it for. She feels that all women deserve to be validated and supported for the often challenging choices they have to make. She also believes strongly in the healing power of compassionate care, as evidenced by her doula work and her work in crisis intervention. She is grateful and honored to be a part of the Doula Project. In her spare time, Poonam likes to cook, sing, and watch bad reality television.
Bianca is the daughter of a teacher and artist who immigrated to the US in the early 1970s. She has been working in the field of sexuality and sexual health with an emphasis on women and communities of Color for over a decade. An activist and educator, Bianca is an adjunct professor in the CUNY (City University of New York) system and at private institutions of higher education where she teaches interdisciplinary classes in women's studies, sociology, human sexuality, psychology, and cultural studies. Bianca is bilingual in English and Spanish, identifies as a radical woman of Color, and hosts the sex-positive website LatinoSexuality.com. You can reach Bianca here or visit her at BiancaLaureano.com.
My name is Andie and I am a birth doula who hopes to one day become a midwife. I had my first experiences with birth while working with a traditional homebirth midwife in Guatemala which brought me to the belief that a woman's body knows what it needs and to really trust that. I offer support, compassion, and kind touch for any and all reproductive choices. I am endlessly amazed by what women are capable of and I think bearing witness to this may be the best job in the world.
Kale works in a research lab and dreams of getting a PhD in neuroscience someday. They are also a community organizer and trained gynecological teaching associate. Kale lives in New Haven, CT, is LGBTQ-friendly, and is quasi-fluent in Spanish.
Mary is a trained birth doula and Co-Founder and Coordinator of The Doula Project. She has served hundreds of pregnant people across the spectrum of choice and trained activists, doulas, clinicians, and medical students on the abortion doula model of care. Mary started her career in economic justice as an Americorps VISTA in the South Bronx and spent four years as Development Associate and Assistant Director of the Pro-Choice Public Education Project. She is a member of the Women's Health Leadership Network at the Center for American Progress and sits on the Conference Planning Committee of the Training and Access Working Group. She is currently pursuing her MSW at Hunter College in New York City and interning in adult inpatient psychiatry at Harlem Hospital. In order to maintain her expensive activist lifestyle, Mary spends her weekends waiting tables at a vegetarian diner.
Stephanie After studying industrial design and special education and working as a teacher, I was moved to become a doula through hearing and reading women’s stories about their frustrating and disempowering reproductive health experiences. For me, working as a doula is about supporting women as they exercise their rights to ask questions, request or refuse procedures or medications and make choices that they feel are best. My ultimate goal is to provide whatever a client needs to feel comfortable and find peace of mind whether it is medical information, a massage or a good laugh.
Kathleen A 2009 graduate of Smith College, I am deeply dedicated to women’s reproductive justice. Although my interest in women’s health has been a thread throughout my life, I fell in love with childbirth when I volunteered for a month in a maternity clinic in a rural village in Mali, West Africa, in 2007. The wonder I experienced at my first birth remains with me today. I am profoundly honored by the opportunity to support women in whatever way I can as they make important decisions about their bodies and lives. I believe that every woman has the moral authority to choose her own path and that she alone knows what is best for her life, her body, and her baby.
Johanna is a certified doula (DONA). Her interest in childbirth began with the home birth of her first child and she decided to become a doula in time for the birth of her granddaughter. She is passionate about providing doula support to women and their partners. “Johanna was amazing. I was in labor for 29 hours, and she was there the entire time, supporting me along with my husband. Both of us agreed, there's no way we would have lasted that long without her! Even when emergencies arose and things didn't go according to my birth plan, Johanna was calm and assuring, reminding me that a healthy baby was the most important thing.” Johanna lives in Astoria and will support hospital or home births in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and surrounding areas (lower Westchester, Jersey City, Hoboken). Johanna believes that birth can be a very empowering experience and that doula support greatly increases the likelihood of a positive birth experience and memory. She will help you have a positive birth experience by supporting your birth wishes.
Risa came to New York to pursue graduate studies in anthropology. She traces her commitment to reproductive justice and women's health to a very rad feminist nun from her Catholic high school days, and developed and nurtured her political work through college campus activism, clinical volunteer work, and later as a community organizer for women's health. Experiences living, volunteering and researching abroad in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa have all contributed to her fundamental belief in justice and the transformative power of caring for and honoring women's decisions across the spectrum of pregnancy. After completing her degree, she is considering entering the nursing field to expand the care she can provide to women.
Lucy is a recently trained birth doula pursuing certification through DONA. She came to doula work via her commitments to reproductive and social justice. Lucy is a 2007 graduate of Barnard College, where she majored in women's studies, focusing on women's health and the politics of childbirth. She is passionate about supporting women in all of their reproductive choices.
Leda is a DONA-certified birth doula living in Brooklyn. She has been working toward improving women's reproductive healthcare for over five years in various ways, including an internship with NARAL Pro-Choice America, time in India spent investigating maternity care, and an internship with Amnesty International USA. Leda has also conducted research for world-renowned midwife Ina May Gaskin and holds a BA in sociology and dance from Barnard College. Leda is honored to be a part of The Doula Project.
Lauren firmly believes in the inherent interdisciplinary connections that appear in the context of the body and throughout the spectrum of pregnancy. After getting her foot in the door by being an abortion rights activist, she became a certified gynecological teaching associate through the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-- which basically means she know a lot about how to do a good pelvic exams-- and a birth doula. She is currently also an abortion health educator and one of the founders of The Doula Project. When she's not thinking about women's health (which is rare), she writes. Her work can be found under the pseudonym L.A. Mitchell (please note, she is not the L.A. Mitchell who writes sci-fi Christian romance novels).
Miriam's interest in birth started sometime in middle school, during various hour-long sessions pouring over health books at friend's houses. She became a doula in 2004, after watching the documentary Born in the USA and deciding that birth activism was her passion. Miriam has worked as a reproductive justice organizer, a case manager for pregnant Latinas and most recently a self-employed writer, consultant and speaker. Miriam is the Founder of RadicalDoula.com and an Editor at Feministing.com. In 2007, Miriam worked with Lauren Mitchell and Mary Mahoney to found the Doula Project. Mary and Lauren took that project to amazing places after Miriam left in 2008 to move to Washington DC. She's since come back to NYC and is excited to finally be doing the work of an abortion doula.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude with a major in Women’s Studies from Barnard College, Molly continued to pursue her passion for women’s health by attending a DONA birth doula training in May 2010. She’s had extensive experience serving as a support person for women during medical visits and procedures, in both clinics and private practices. Now, she is thrilled to be working as a member of the Doula Project in New York City, putting directly into practice her belief that every woman, regardless of what her choice may be, should feel entitled to her right to understand and participate in the decisions that are made about her body.
Laura is a sexual health researcher, educator and student in a pre-medical program. Her degree in Medical Anthropology and Human Sexuality Studies has lead her to research issues of sexuality within medicine, focusing on health literacy and accessibility among underserved populations. She has taught sexual health education at a high school, non-profit and worked as a Gynecological Teaching Associate. She is honored to work with The Doula Project, an experience that constantly reaffirms her belief in reproductive justice, compassionate health care and the importance of respecting patient experience.
With years of experience supporting women as an emergency room advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, Kristin joined the birth and abortion doula movement in 2010 after years of experience supporting women as an emergency room advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. She hopes to one day work in the field of women's health as a midwife and women's health nurse practitioner. In her work as a volunteer doula and advocate, she has the privilege to witness the amazing strength and resilience of women in some of life's most private and challenging moments. Kristin is incredibly honored to be part of the Doula Project and to be supporting women in all of their reproductive health care choices.