About Me

The Unique Beginnings Experience

My journey into birthwork began in 1990, when I became pregnant with my first child. I was young, far from home, and living in Silver Spring, Maryland after leaving California to build a life with my future husband. With no family nearby and no connection to his yet, I walked the early path of motherhood in deep solitude.

Pregnancy, birth, and the unknown unfolded before me with no guide. I faced fear, loneliness, and the harsh sting of racism at the hospital where I delivered my daughter. I was made to feel unwelcome before I even crossed the threshold. An unfamiliar doctor rushed in to catch my baby and vanished before I could see her face or hear her name. My newborn was taken away to another part of the hospital, and my husband—trying to follow—was turned away because our daughter “did not look like him.” I was left unsteady from an epidural, and still he had to return for me so we could find our child together.

When we finally made it home, the quiet was overwhelming. A new baby in my arms, a husband working long hours, and the weight of survival on my shoulders—rent, food, returning to work before we were ready. I had babysat as a girl, but nothing prepared me for motherhood without a village. No guidance. No resources. No map.

Eventually, we returned to California, back to the soil and family that could hold us. And in that return, a seed was planted in me: no woman, no family in my circle would ever walk the path of birth alone if I could help it.

I began gathering knowledge like community resources, postpartum support, hospital practices, birthing rights, advocacy, and cultural care. I showed up for friends and family as their anchor, their voice, their reminder that they deserved dignity and choice.