my story
I grew up in South Dakota on the Rosebud Reservation and the Black Hills (unceded Lakota Sioux land). Before attending college, I took a year to work a number of jobs - from coffee to coaching and music to motorcycles - I did it all. After that, I moved east to attend Swarthmore College. Of course, like many Asian American undergraduates, I initially declared a major in pre-med and music. However, I was drawn to issues of race, power, and equity which led me to study public policy, education, and peace and conflict studies. I wrote my thesis on the school-to-prison pipeline and facilitated college-level classes on the politics of punishment at a local correctional institution.
In 2012, a close friend called me into birthwork. As I trained and attended my first births, it became clear to me that birth was both a sacred and political act that had become a site of violation and trauma within the systemic pressures of capitalism. I also found that even though my first births were long and physically taxing, I loved them! My mentor said, “If you still love it after that, you’re meant for this.” In the end, I feel like birthwork chose me.
Birth photography entered the picture organically because it is such a powerful way to witness and tell the story of a person’s birth. Birth experiences are so often tucked away in the shadows, but photography allows me to capture those sacred moments for families.
In 2014, I began to teach childbirth education classes at Lifecycle Womancare. In 2020, I started a local birth equity fund and taught childbirth classes at Esperanza Health Center in my neighborhood. Bi-monthly, I organize a Free Baby Goods Exchange to help redistribute the wealth of baby and kid clothes and items in Philadelphia.
These days, I live in Port Richmond, a neighborhood in northeastern Philadelphia with my delightful partner, Wes, and my pup, Momo. When I’m not in the birth room, I enjoy beekeeping, baking pastries, practicing kali, wheelthrowing, and jumping in any body of water I can get to!
Decolonizing Birth
As a queer, mixed-race Pinay doula, I seek to practice within a decolonial and inclusive framework. There is a long history of the reproductive & bodily autonomy of birth givers being stolen within the medical-industrial complex, especially from those who embody marginalized identities. In short, birth has become a space where one’s options are largely governed by money and insurance companies. Instead, decolonial birthwork seeks to recenter the birthing person and their baby by supporting them in a way that allows them to find their voice in their own story, make informed and non-coercive decisions, find deep connection with their babies and loved ones, and garner support from their communities. Nina Gonzáles Silas writes:
“Birth can become a powerful tool of decolonization when folks who are birthing can feel safe and find power from within their body and from their community (instead of relying on disempowering institutional structures).”
As someone who holds both the blood of colonizer and colonized in my body, I am continually learning about how to enact true decolonial birthwork and am grateful to my teachers. Thankfully, my work does not exist in a vacuum but stems from a long lineage of BIPOC midwives and activists.
“Birth has the power to set the foundation for a world that is more loving, empowered, and collaborative.”
— Nina González Silas
Training & Experience
DONA Birth Doula Training & Certification with Jackie Kelleher (2012-2013)
B.A. in Political Science and Education from Swarthmore College (2013)
DONA Postpartum Doula Training & Certification with Jackie Kelleher (2014)
Placenta Encapsulation Apprenticeship with a nurse at Lifecycle Womancare (2013)
200-Hour Alignment-Based Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training at Maha Yoga (2014)
Creating Space: Pelvic Dynamics, Fetal Positioning, and the use of the Rebozo with Brittany Sharpe McCullom of Blossoming Bellies Birth Services (2017)
Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training at East Eagle Yoga (2018)
Rebozo Training with Gena Kirby (2019)
Prison Doula Training with MN Prison Doula Project (2019)
M.A. in Practical Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary (2020)
Certificate in Theology, Ecology, and Faith Formation from The Farminary at Princeton Theological Seminary (2020)
Trauma-Informed Care and Supporting Survivors Workshop with Resilient Birth (2021)
Herbal Medicine for Women (2021 - current)
BADT Abortion Doula Training (2022 - current)