The call to birth work often comes in whispers, in ways we don't fully understand until we look back and see the path that was forming beneath our feet all along. When I began this journey as a doula in New York City almost nine years ago, I didn't yet know that birth work ran in my blood - that my great-great-grandmother Susan Summers-Irons had been a Gullah Geechee granny midwife in the 1800s, carrying forward ancient traditions of supporting mothers and welcoming new life into the world. I wouldn't discover until years later that her maiden name, Summers, had been passed down to me in my middle name - a thread of connection I carried without knowing.

Through deep immersion in this work and studies with teachers across the United States and the Andes, I've come to understand birth work as fundamental to healing our collective story. This understanding crystallized into a clear vision: healthy families, supported by mother-centered care, have the power to heal our earth. When we honor the sacred moment of first breath– when we remember the ceremony inherent in welcoming new life, we create ripples of healing that extend far beyond the birthing room.

The wisdom of birth hasn't been gone long–  just a few generations have passed since we began moving away from our intuitive knowing, from our connection to traditional ways of birthing. This memory still lives in our bones, waiting to be remembered. When we honor birth as our ancestors did, allowing it to unfold in its own rhythm and sacred timing, we strengthen the threads that connect generations. Each birth held in this way creates a bridge between past and future, honoring those who birthed before us while nurturing new possibilities for those to come.

In the sacred heights of the Andes, my understanding of birth support transformed most profoundly. Working alongside a traditional midwife in the Cusco region, far from the reach of conventional medical systems, I witnessed a different relationship with birth entirely. Here, in the embrace of the mountains where life moves at a slower pace, I encountered women whose trust in the birthing process ran soul-deep. Without the immediate backup of hospital systems, these mothers connected with their babies and their bodies in ways that expanded everything I thought I knew about birth. The mothers I supported there embodied a strength and trust that came from living close to the earth, from understanding that their bodies held ancient wisdom. 

Through my work with plant medicine, I've deepened my understanding of what it means to hold space for these sacred transitions. In the silence of master plant diet spaces, three fundamental principles emerged that now guide my practice:

Trust–  in the divine mystery of birth, in a woman's capacity to find her path to motherhood, in the ancient wisdom that lives in our bones. Trust in the natural unfolding of life, in the consciousness of the souls choosing to come through, and in the resurgence of sovereign family ways.

Silence–  not merely the absence of words, but a state of deep presence. An embodied quiet that creates space for contraction and expansion, a calm that allows women to journey inward to find motherhood. In this silence, an energetic container for the sacred work of birthing is held and honored.

Invisible Witnessing–  My understanding of this principle crystallized in a Temezcal during an Andean midwifery training, where in the sacred darkness, as water met hot stones and a grandmother who had birthed many children shared her wisdom, I first heard these words that would shape the entirety of my practice. In that sweat lodge, during our rebirth ceremony, the concept of being invisible in the realms of the subtle took root in my being. It became my commitment, my way forward - being the witness of sacred moments without needing to be seen as their keeper.

In many ways, I'm still discovering how the threads of this calling weave together– the ancestral legacy I carry, the teachings of the plants, the wisdom shared by traditional midwives, and the direct experience of supporting births in different cultures and contexts. I remain devoted to this path of service, to holding space for birth in its many expressions, and to preserving these sacred ways of bringing new life into the world.