Birthing Justice as Ancestors in Training: Panel Discussion & Community Conversation
Birthing Justice as Ancestors in Training
Sunday, October 23rd, 2022 | 10am-12pm PT/ 12pm-2pm CT/ 1pm-3pm ET
*Held via Zoom
*Live Captioning
*Panel discussion & large group conversations will be recorded & shared with registrants.
*All identities welcome.
DESCRIPTION
What does it mean to be an Ancestor in Training and how can we weave Birthing Justice into our legacy?
The panel discussion will explore approaches to this work from a variety of identities & lived experiences.
The second half of our gathering will be devoted to small and large group community discussions.
This panel is part 2 of a workshop devoted to exploring what it means for us to be Ancestors in Training. Scroll our events page to learn more.
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Once payment is received, you will receive an email confirming your paymemt and your name will be added to our RSVP list. You will be sent the zoom link via email within 3 business days.
Email Hola@BirthBruja.com if you do not receive your confirmation email or zoom link.
NonRefundable: All payments are nonrefundable.
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MEET OUR HOST
Veronica Agard (she/her) is a writer, educator, and connector at the intersections of Black identity, wellness, representation, and culture. She experiments with creative healing modalities and puts theories learned into practice. She curated the Who Heals the Healer series and the conference of the same name and facilitates the Ancestors in Training educational project. Her initiatives are housed in her freelance platform, Vera Icon LLC. Described as living in the future, Veronica is guided by the past, and carries out her dreams in the present.
MEET OUR PANELISTS
NEHA SURENDER
Neha is a birthworker, family-taught chef, and auntie of many. A queer South Asian gemini learning to swim and live boldly. Their approach to birthwork is unique to the families who choose her. With each journey, Neha gets to help folks soften, hear what their bodies are saying, and amplify their wishes.
Incorporating the plant medicine of her family and friends, Neha is a learner, playing with recipes, teas, baths, or something else that may offer relief.
Neha was invited into birthwork by a mother who said this work has always been in them.
Centering the lives of Black and brown, trans, queer families, Neha has been trained by Birthing Advocacy Doula Tranings for Childbirth Education, Full Spectrum Doula, and Queer and Trans Reproductive Support. Recently completing a mentorship with Conscious Birth Collective, Neha is a doula with Ashé Birthing Services and exploring palm healing with Transgressive Medicine in the ‘22-’23 Sacred Energy Immersion.
EMILIE RODRIGUEZ
Emilie Rodriguez (she/her) is a Black traditional birth and postpartum doula and founder of Ashe Birthing Services and The Bridge Directory based out of the Bronx, New York.
Her interests first started in medicine where she worked as a veterinary technician for years before becoming interested in the influences of culture on birthing bodies. She received her BA in Medical Anthropology from the City College of New York, with a focus on reproductive health in the United States. She did her first ethnography on doula work in Brooklyn, shadowing Chanel Porchia from Ancient Song Doula Services, and then another exploring birth experiences in the US and abroad. She was also a Colin Powell Fellow for Health Justice, advocating with Health Leads in Harlem Hospital's OB/GYN Unit to give low-income families access to the resources they needed to stay healthy, as well as writing health policy to advance equality and civil rights at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Emilie always knew she wanted to work with women and children, but did not know in what capacity. It wasn't until she experienced labor and childbirth herself when giving birth to her son at home that she realized how transformative and empowering birth could be and knew how to walk in that calling. She created Ashe Birthing Services, which is now a small group of Black and Brown doulas who support over 300 families a year.
After spending several years supporting hundreds of families in NYC, she knew we needed a resource to help families of color find providers of color who understood their languages and culture, and believed and trusted them. Emilie believes The Bridge is a solution to the maternal and infant mortality crises we are in and believes we can create real change from grassroots efforts when we work together, across professions.
WHIT WILLAMS
As a full-spectrum doula, Whit Williams-Black (she/they) is dedicated to serving the community. Early on in Whit’s birthwork journey, she felt the call to serve Black mamas, young parents, poor, LGBTQIA+, and QTBIPOC people in the South. Her goals are to one day become a community midwife and to open birth centers and community gardens across the Southeastern States of America.
Whit began studying power, reproductive justice, and feminist movements in 2015. She obtained a B.A. in Gender and Women’s Studies with a minor in Social Justice in 2018 from Hollins University. Since graduation, Whit has become a certified full-spectrum doula with Ancient Song Doula Services in NYC. Whit also completed Whole Body Pregnancy Childbirth Educator training in 2021! Professionally, they have served as a Community Educator-- facilitating workshops on Reproductive Justice, Consent, and Pleasure.
Whit is also extremely humbled to have been chosen as a Grant Recipient for Ancient Song’s inaugural Juneteenth Seed Fund.
TO DETERMINE YOUR PRICING
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