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Christy Jo Hendricks smiles

Christy Jo Hendricks

Birth Work and Beyond: Expanding Your Impact and Income

In this dynamic session, we will delve into effective strategies for reaching and engaging the millennial audience in childbirth education. With the digital landscape constantly evolving, understanding the preferences and behaviors of millennials is crucial for successful outreach. Christy Jo has leveraged her influence from her social media accounts. Her Facebook page has 60,000 followers and her TikTok account has 191,000 followers. Combined social media accounts from other platforms add thousands of additional followers. This presentation will equip attendees with the tools and knowledge to leverage social media platforms, create engaging presentations and market classes to this tech-savvy generation. Millennials prioritize convenience, accessibility, and authenticity. They seek information that is easily digestible, concise, visually appealing, and readily available. Instructors need to adapt to these preferences by incorporating new technologies and varied formats into their teaching methods that meet the diverse needs of millennial parents-to-be. Effective marketing to millennials requires a multifaceted approach. By utilizing targeted advertising on platforms, as well as engaging content on social media, educators can effectively reach and attract millennial participants. We will explore the best practices for reaching Gen Y clients. Join us to learn how to adapt your childbirth education methods to resonate with the next generation, ensuring your message is both impactful and far-reaching.

Christy Jo Hendricks is an international speaker, educator, inventor, and author, known for her innovative approaches to simplifying learning. With 15 years as a high school teacher and 22 years with the Department of Public Health WIC Program, she has a rich background in education. Christy Jo’s contributions have earned her numerous accolades, including the prestigious US Presidential Volunteer Award for her community service, the Phyllis Klaus Founder’s Award for her efforts in strengthening the mother/baby bond, and the Above and Beyond Award for her innovative projects that align with Public Health’s mission. She has also been named Lactation Educator Faculty of the Year and received the Visionary Award from CAPPA. Christy Jo created the Grow Our Own Lactation Consultant/IBCLC Prep Course, which has successfully trained hundreds of students to become Board-Certified Lactation Consultants. Her dedication extends to her roles as a Lactation Consultant, doula, and faculty member for the CAPPA CLE© and Childbirth Educator Programs. Residing in California with her family, Christy Jo continues to make a profound impact on maternal and infant health, blending her extensive knowledge with a passion for empowering others through education and support.

Christy Jo’s Website – Social 

Mandy Irby

Mandy Irby

How Birthworkers Support Their Nervous System (even with a trauma History!)

Mandy Irby is a trauma-informed care educator and perinatal nurse based in Roanoke, VA, specializing in supporting healthcare institutions and perinatal care teams. She collaborates with hospitals and organizations to implement trauma-informed practices that promote nurse well-being, mitigate trauma, and foster a psychologically safe environment. When she’s not facilitating workshops or speaking on stages, she’s walking her golden doodle, coffee in hand, while her two kids race on their bicycles.

Mandy’s Website – Social

Doula Darcy

Darcy Sauers

5 Website Mistakes That Are Costing You Doula Clients (and How to Fix Them)

The Doula Darcy is a Doula Business Coach & Marketing Strategist who combines her unique background: 10 years as a marketing professional and 15 years as a postpartum doula to help other doulas build thriving businesses. She hosts The Doula Darcy Podcast and the membership community My Doula Village.

Darcy’s Website – Social

Debra Pascali-Bonaro smiles for the camera.

Debra Pascali-Bonaro

The Doula’s Role in Respectful Care

Discover how integrating pleasure into the birth process can make it more empowering and enjoyable, while respectful care practices enhance the overall experience by honoring the birthing person’s voice and choices. Explore techniques to reduce pain and provide comfort, and understand the importance of a supportive birth team that prioritizes both pleasure and respectful care.

Debra Pascali-Bonaro is a world-renowned inspirational speaker, podcaster, filmmaker, doula trainer, childbirth educator, and author. Debra’s podcast, Orgasmic Birth heals barriers and opens the door to share secrets to more love and intimacy in birth and parenting. She brings together her passion for pleasure in every aspect of life with her Jersey-Girl attitude of talking about what no one is talking about! Debra is a mother, grandmother and featured expert in parenting journals and media around the world.

Debra’s Website – Social

Stephanie Larson

Stephanie Larson

Deep Squat – or not?

Movement matters! In this dynamic and interactive session, discover effective strategies to get your doula clients up and moving during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. Learn three simple yet effective dance moves to practice with your clients. Gain insights into movement techniques that can be used to support clients who have opted for an epidural, to facilitate labor progress.

Stephanie Larson is a renowned birth expert, specializing in supporting birth through movement and instinct to usher in a new era of birth autonomy. As the visionary founder of Dancing For Birth™ she’s a passionate change agent. Born of her own blissful birth experiences, Dancing For Birth™ is an evidence-based childbirth method with a twenty+ year history of efficacy. A true luminary, Stephanie’s advocacy knows no borders. Having educated birth professionals and parents in more than 50 countries, she’s a beacon of hope, illuminating the path to safer and more fulfilling birth experiences. Stephanie’s dedication to easier birth spans more than two decades. Her resounding call for change echoes worldwide as she champions an end to forced lithotomy position, and co-creates a global paradigm shift towards powerful, euphoric, birth, with Certified Dancing For Birth™ Instructors on six continents.

Stephanie’s Website – Social

Emily Wannenburg in a black shirt smiles.

Emily Wannenburg

Prenatal and Postpartum Activities to share with your doula clients

In this session, the learner will learn specific strengthening and stabilizing exercises to reduce the risk of physical injury and increase the longevity in the physical work of doulas. Be ready to get up and move your body. Grab your birth ball and your work desk chair and Get STRONG!

Emily Wannenburg is the founder and CEO of 4th Trimester Fitness® Method – A company devoted to improving birth and postpartum through movement and education. As a former Nurse Midwife and a perinatal fitness professional with a thriving doula practice of more than 1000 births, she believes that keeping yourself physically and emotionally healthy is the key to the longevity of a thriving doula practice.

Emily’s Website – Social 

Yiska Obadia

Yiska Obadia

Beyond the Hip Squeeze

Yiska Obadia is a passionate teacher and healing arts practitioner, with over 30 years of experience as a bodyworker, acupuncturist and birth doula. Yiska created Comforting Touch for Birth to teach doulas and parents-to-be how to skillfully and confidently provide hands-on support through her workshops and digital guidebook. Yiska is based in NY. 

Yiska’s Website & Social Media 

Angie McElroy smiles on a light purple background.

Angie McElroy

Makeover Your Website in a Weekend

Website Strategist for Birthworkers | Founder, Doula Website Club

Angie McElroy helps birthworkers turn their websites into tools for connection without starting over or burning out. With 14+ years in design and SaaS, she now uses her tech and strategy skills to help doulas get found online, even when they’re not on call.

She’s not a doula but she knows what it’s like to lose your voice in the system, and to find it again with the help of one. That moment changed everything. Now she builds visibility tools and website for the people who hold others through their most vulnerable moments.

Real talk. Practical tools. Midwest charm. And just enough fuck the patriarchy to keep it honest.

Angie’s Website – Social 

Kristin Revere

Kristin Revere

Bootstrapped Publicity for your Doula Business

Bootstrapped Publicity- Hear top publicity tips.  These tips will help even the newest business gain earned media and attention in your local market.

Kristin is the owner of Gold Coast Doulas and co-host of Ask the Doulas. Kristin has worked in public relations and political communications prior to launching her doula agency. She is a certified birth and postpartum doula, a newborn care specialist, and childbirth educator. Kristin co-authored “Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby.”

Kristin’s Website – Social 

Mary Farrelly in green scrubs with her RN badge.

Mary Farrelly, BSN

NICU-Informed & In-Demand: How Specializing in NICU Support Can Set You Apart and Grow Your Doula Business

Mary Farrelly is a certified NICU nurse, doula, nurse educator and the founder of The NICU Translator, where she helps doulas and perinatal professionals build confidence in supporting NICU families with evidence-based, trauma-informed care. With over a decade of experience at the bedside in a Level IV NICU — and as a NICU doula, parent support advocate and educator — Mary’s mission is to make the NICU feel less like a crisis and more like a place where empowered parenting is still possible. She is the creator of Navigating the NICU for Doulas and the NICU Doula Academy, a certification program designed to fill the critical care gap for families navigating high-risk births, premature babies, and life beyond the NICU.

Mary’s Website – Social 

Jessi Turner

Jessi Turner

Building a Brand That Connects: Simple Tweaks for More Authenticity & Meaningful Engagement

Jessi Turner is a visionary brand strategist who seamlessly blends business operations and psychology to create impactful, memorable brands. With a background in operations and a deep understanding of consumer behavior, she builds strategies that drive meaningful brand/audience connections through values-driven communication and authentic storytelling.

Jessi’s Website – Social 

Maggie Glovatski

Maggie Glovatski

How to Add Birth Photography to Your Services – Logistics and Benefits.

Chicago based doula and photographer, now teaching other doulas how to embrace and connect with their creativity, learn photography and marketing skills and make more money doing what they love.

Maggie’s Website – Social 

Tasha Cofer smiling in a black pantsuit.

Tasha Cofer, PCD(DONA)

Discover Your Doula Why: Unleashing Passion and Purpose in Every Doula Journey

Join us for an empowering session designed for doulas to delve deep into the heart of their practice. Discover how understanding your “why” can transform your approach, fuel your passion, and enhance the care you provide. Let’s explore the profound impact of aligning your purpose with your service to create meaningful connections and lasting positive outcomes for the families you support.

Tasha Cofer is a dedicated postpartum and bereavement doula, passionate about supporting families during their most transformative moments. With a Master’s degree in Business, Tasha combines her educational expertise with her nurturing spirit to provide comprehensive postpartum education and care. As a respected community board advisor, she actively advocates for maternal health and well-being. Tasha’s holistic approach is rooted in her belief in the power of informed and compassionate support, empowering parents to embrace their new roles with confidence and resilience.

Tasha’s Website – Social 

Ruth Kraft with a tree in the background.

Ruth Kraft

Beyond the silence : helping families through loss

As the Founder and Executive Director of Women Honoring Women, Ruth Kraft, has been working with women and mastering her ability to nurture in a profound way her entire life.

After researching and having great interest in the birth process for many years prior, she then chose to turn it into a career. She has been certified through 2 of the largest organizations for doulas, both recognized for their excellence in training both doulas and childbirth educators.

She has now created her own certification process and trains other birth professionals to pass on her wisdom. She travels all over the country to train and mentor other birth workers in Labor doula, Postpartum doula, Lactation counselors , childbirth educators and advanced classes.

She has years of public speaking to groups of pregnant women in small offices or for larger groups at locations such as Babies r’us. She enjoys volunteer work and has been a featured expert as a lactation specialist on AllExperts.com. She also has in the past served on the Parent Panel for SoloParenting, a local West Palm Beach TV show to help single parents cope with the struggles of being a single parent.

Ruth is a single mother of Emma and Jacob , who are her greatest joy. Giving birth to her daughter 6 weeks early from pre-eclampsia she knows the importance of helping women through NICU stays, preemies and breastfeeding such a small baby. She has experience with breastfeeding, attachment parenting, Hypnobirthing, Lamaze, home births, twins, breech vaginal births, special needs babies, preemies and more! She has taken courses such as Redirecting Children’s Behavior (RCB) and Conscious Discipline for the purpose of peaceful parenting. She devotes space in her life for self improvement and learning conscious discipline parenting skills.

Ruth’s Website – Social 

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Jacob Stokoe

Jacob Stokoe

How to support trans and nonbinary people through the perinatal period

Jacob Stokoe is the Founder and CEO of Transparent Change, a not-for-profit that delivers trans-inclusion education to healthcare professionals working with people in fertility and perinatal care. He founded the company after his own experiences of pregnancy and birth under NHS care, where he found that staff overwhelmingly wanted to get it right, but didn’t have the tools or the confidence.
Of course, his most important job is being Papa to the two little humans he created.

Jacob’s Website – Social 

Dr. Jerica Wesley

Dr. Jerica Wesley

Grounded in Culture, Growing in Wellness: A Holistic Look at Perinatal Mental Health

As frontline advocates, doulas hold sacred space for birthing people during some of the most vulnerable and transformative moments in life. Grounded in Culture, Growing in Wellness is a workshop designed to empower doulas with tools and knowledge to better support perinatal mental health, particularly within racially and ethnically marginalized communities.

Participants will explore how cultural identity, intergenerational trauma, and systemic inequities shape the emotional well-being of clients during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. The session emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive, trauma-informed care that centers the wisdom, values, and lived experiences of the communities served.

Jayne Havens wears a black lace top.

Jayne Havens

Sleep Matters: Elevate Your Doula Business with Infant Sleep Expertise

Jayne Havens is a certified sleep consultant and runs her own sleep consulting practice, Snooze Fest by Jayne Havens.

As a new parent, overwhelmed by exhaustion, Jayne found herself reading everything she could find in order to get her own son to sleep through the night. She applied what she learned to both of her children, implementing good sleep habits very early on.

Friends quickly took notice of the fact that Jayne’s children were both fabulous sleepers, and they began coming to her for help with their own kids’ sleep challenges.

Jayne has quickly established herself as a leader in the industry, building a strong reputation for taking good care of her clients and always providing top notch service along with her expertise. She describes her approach as being very “client led”, meaning she works with families using methods that feel comfortable for them. There is no one size fits all approach to teaching a child to fall asleep and back to sleep independently. In addition to supporting families through the sleep training process, Jayne also founded the Center for Pediatric Sleep Management. Through CPSM, Jayne trains, mentors and certifies others to do this incredibly rewarding work.

Jayne’s Website – Social 

Dr. Hillary Melchiors

Dr. Hillary Mechiors

4 Advocacy Skills Every Doula Needs

Hillary Melchiors PhD, MPH, LCCE, ADVCD/PCD(DONA) is a medical anthropologist, childbirth educator, birth doula, and writer in Evansville, Indiana where she lives with her partner and two children. She received her PhD in Medical Anthropology and Masters in Public Health from Case Western Reserve University, and has practiced as a birth doula since 2014 when she founded the Doula Group of Evansville. She has served as a leader of the Evansville Birth Network and member of the Southwest Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition, & is the 2023 president of DONA International.

Website – Social

Dusti Murray holds a mini pelvis and baby.

Dusti Murray

5 Things to Consider Before Accepting Insurance in Your Doula Business

More and more families are asking if doulas take insurance—and you might be wondering if it’s the right move for your practice. Before you jump in, there are some important things to think about. In this short webinar, we’ll talk through five key considerations, from what the paperwork actually looks like, to how it can affect your pricing, time, and even the type of clients you attract.

This isn’t about telling you what you should do, it’s about giving you the information you need to decide what works best for you, your values, and your business. You’ll leave with clarity, confidence, and a better sense of whether insurance is a good fit for your doula practice.

Dusti is a Certified Birth Doula through DONA as well as a trained Postpartum Doula through Birth Arts International, a Childbirth Educator and a Bereavement Doula. She owns her own business called The Journey Doula Services, where she serves the women in her community during their pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Her goal and passion is to help make pregnancy, birth and postpartum better for each woman she serves while also creating and gathering a wealth of resources in her community. Dusti is currently the Chair for the DONA Advocacy Committee, Secretary for the Maternal Health Council and a Board Member for the Kentucky Chapter of PSI. She serves many Kentucky panels and is an ongoing supporter of creating better maternal care for the state of Kentucky.

Dusti’s Website – Social 

Dr. Abby Jorgensen

Dr. Abby Jorgensen

What Doulas Need to Know About Screening Versus Diagnostic Tests

Dr. Abby Jorgensen is a doula and childbirth educator who specializes in bereavement support. She is also an assistant professor of sociology and health care ethics at Saint Louis University, studying the perinatal period, loss, and grief. Her goal is to help birthworkers become more comfortable and confident providing loss support to families.

Website – Social 

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Dr. Teri Nava-Anderson

Dr. Teri Nava-Anderson

 

With 30 years as an educator, mentor, and researcher, and 15 years as a doula, Teri is an experienced and enthusiastic perinatal professional. Teri has a passionate commitment to educating and preparing pregnant people and their supporters for the year surrounding birth, as well as doulas and other perinatal professionals.

An established, active member of the doula community, Teri is dedicated to the advancement of the doula profession, enacted people-centered and trauma-informed care, and the emotional and physical health and wellbeing of pregnant and postpartum people. Teri volunteers with DONA International as the Director of Certification and Chair of the Continuing Education Committee for DONA International, as well as the Board President of the Mt. Diablo Doula Community, and as a peer support group leader for the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) and La Leche League (LLL).

Website – Social

TaKiesha Smith in a purple dress

TaKiesha Smith

Navigating Induction in Your Doula Business

TaKiesha Smith is a Neurospicy birth advocate, a Certified Community Health Worker, and a Certified Breastfeeding Specialist. She also serves as the Indiana State Ambassador for Count the Kicks. TaKiesha is passionate about maternal health and is dedicated to promoting equity and enhancing maternal outcomes. Through Her company, Neurospicy Birth, she trains doulas to support the neurodiverse community. With a firm belief that every birthing experience is unique, she provides and trains support for all families.

TaKiesha’s Website – Social 

Victoria Wilson

Victoria Wilson

3 Effective Elements for Doula Prenatal Appointments – without rushing, boring your clients, & stressing out!

Victoria Wilson CD(DONA) has practiced in Central Kentucky as a birth doula and childbirth educator since 2015. Past clients speak to Victoria’s compassion, expertise, and intuition as a birth doula. Victoria believes clients are our best teachers as doulas, and in that spirit she has incorporated lessons learned over the years into her signature Birth Doula Client Workbook, plus a growing collection of online templates and classes. She runs thriving social media accounts with the goal of educating and encouraging followers on all things childbirth!

Website – Social

Erica Lane

Erica Lane

 

My name is Erica Lane! I am a Certified Birth Doula in the Reynoldsburg/Columbus Ohio area. I have 2 amazing daughters, who are my lifeline, and it was the birth of my second daughter the drove me to do this work. I am advocate for those my clients, who has the passion, drive, and determination to ensure all my clients are treated fairly. I love this work, and love sharing my passion with others!

Website – Social 

Ema Balos

Ema Balos

Lead Your Business from Within

Ema Balos is a passionate and empathetic birth doula dedicated to transforming the birth narrative from fear to freedom. Through her own transformative birth experiences, she discovered a profound strength and courage that she now helps other mothers find within themselves. Ema is the founder of Empowered Birthing Doula Services, where she focuses on holistic care for the whole person—body, mind, and heart—to guide mothers toward a beautiful and empowering birth they can feel proud of. She is committed to elevating the doula profession and ensuring every mother has the opportunity for a positive and life-changing birth story.

Ema’s Website – Social 

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Robin Elise Weiss

Meet Your Host

Robin Elise Weiss


Robin Elise Weiss, Ph.D., MPH, MSHPE is a noted birth doula, trainer, author, and healthcare researcher. With her extensive qualifications, including being a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and an Advanced Certified Doula, she has contributed significantly to the understanding and advocacy of maternal and child health. She has trained and supported over ten thousand new doulas over the course of her career.

Website – Social