I’m Jade…The Doula!

My story originally starts in 2012, while I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru working in Community Health and partnering with local OBGYN staff and schools. It was there that I found my passion for reproductive health care, sex ed, and reproductive justice. It was also there that I noticed the differences in the culture of birth and postpartum (compared to the U.S.) and learned about how families and communities support and view birth.

Fast forward: In 2015, while working in community and youth focused sex ed spaces in the U.S., I was inspired by the birth stories of students who were pregnant or parenting to expand passed “just” teaching sex ed. I felt called to rethink how I can better show up for and support communities of color across the range of sexual and reproductive health outcomes that can occur in someone’s lifetime. It was then that I decided to become a doula and support people, particularly Black and brown people, in having the positive, informed, and affirming experiences they deserve. In 2017 I took my first doula training and officially began this part of my journey!

Since the fall of 2017, I’ve provided doula support across the range of pregnancy outcomes to a variety of families and experiences in the DMV area and beyond; worked as a volunteer birth doula for Community of Hope;  served as a board member for The Doula Project (NYC); provided facilitation to up and coming birth educators as a community collaborator for Cornerstone Trainings’; and launched my independent business- JTD LLC.

In addition to doula work, I also currently support communities as a …

• Doula educator and mentor for Doula Trainings International

• Board member for Aaliyah in Action- a local DC non-profit organization dedicated to providing care boxes and bereavement resources for parents and families who are navigating life after pregnancy and infant loss

• Sensual and Erotic Movement Instructor, offering dance classes and workshops to promote healing and honoring the body through sensual movement and creating affirming movement spaces for dancers with bigger bodies

• Trainer, facilitator, and learning designer at Planned Parenthood Federation of America