I was raised by matriarchs… or as we say on Long Island…broads. You know, women who shoot straight, tell it how it is, may not always be the ones earning the money, but are totally the ones making the rules on how to spend it. I loved sitting around the table listening to their stories — ones about growing up, being drunk teenagers, rearing children, working long hours, wrangling husbands, and surviving the hard times. Each story worn as a badge of honor denoting the initiation to womanhood.

As I grew up, my own stories started to fall into place. In childhood and adolescence, I helped my mother raise my younger twin brothers (arguably my first postpartum babies) while my father worked two jobs to get by. My sensitive nature naturally sought creative outlets such as art, dance, storytelling, and reading. As I grew into a young woman, I dove deeper into these art forms. However, I also dove deeper into taking on the helper role in all areas of my life — showing up to the world from a space of what others needed from me above all else. Internally, there was a constant push and pull between what was expected from me verse what I desired.

When I left home at eighteen and moved to New York City with dreams of becoming a dancer, I quickly found myself lost, identity-less, and searching for a sense of home everywhere I could. Here, is where I stumbled upon my soul’s language: writing. Storytelling oriented my world and gave me space to discover my true nature. Writing plays and films allowed me to digest not only my own story and how I came to be but also the stories of women in my lineage.

Throughout the years, I’ve dove deep into exploring this lineage through writing and various healing modalities — investigating my own generational trauma for sake of spiritual freedom. And as I drove into these histories, I began to notice a common thread and its lasting impact: a lack of options, choices, and a deep sense of this is just how it is in regards to birthing, raising children, and being a woman.

This is why I do the work that I do — both as a writer and a birth and postpartum doula. As a doula, I’m passionate about supporting mothers on their transition from maiden to mother. Empowering women with options, facts, and then choices alongside proper nurturing in the months following birth provides space for moms to embody their new identity from a place of choice, instead of survival. While as a writer, I craft stories about women who discover their own agency — women who are the cycle-breakers and who step into their power in both big and small ways. I believe that when people make brave choices from a space of faith — choices that may go against generations upon generations of genetic coding and societal expectation — it gives those who witness space to say… maybe I can do that too… instead of this is just how it is. I also believe that from this space, we have infinite potential to create a better world with more compassion, self-trust, honesty, authenticity, and love.

I now step off my soapbox and share that — outside of my work life, I can be found surfing, writing, cooking meals for friends, dancing around my home, forgetting to do my dishes, tending to my 30+ house plants, and buying books that I’ll read half.

Certifications and Qualifications: DONA Approved Child Birth Workshop (Anna Paula Markel), Child Birth Education for Doulas (Ana Paula Markel), Reiki 1 (Kingsley Delacato), Reiki 2 (Nia Tracey Ostrand), Integrative Reiki (Lara Elliot), Reiki Masters (Lara Elliot), 13+ years of child care experience.