Teresa Cabrera is a Tawantinsuyo, Indigenous Colombiana, Doula/Comadre, Birth Assistant at Blossom Birth Center as well as with Home Birth Community Midwives,

Lactation Peer Counselor, Nutritionist, Womb Nurturer, Community and Plant-based Food Advocate, a Village Mother with MODABA and a Comadre/Auntie with Cihuapactli Collective.

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Tigist is a licensed midwife from Ethiopia with over 15 years of experience specializing in home birth and women centered care. She is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) licensed to practice in Idaho and Arizona and the owner of Odaa Birth, LLC midwifery services providing preconception, prenatal, birth and postpartum care including well woman care both virtually and in person. Experienced in managing high and low risk pregnancies internationally and physiologic births at home in the US, she has extensive understanding of global maternal health issues and an interest in researching more. Tigist holds a Master of Arts in Maternal Child Health Systems with skills and education in program planning, strategic planning, program evaluation and research.

She is a board member of NACPM, a national association representing and supporting Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and is a huge advocate for rights of women to receive respectful and quality maternity care and the CPM profession. She is very interested in policy and advocacy work with a goal of reducing maternal mortality, increasing access to midwifery care for all with special interest to women of color, Indigenous people, Refugees, and Immigrants who are affected the most and improving quality of education for midwives.

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Frida (she/her/ella) is a transnational public health and policy advocate and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Global Health Ph.D. program within the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at ASU. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in US/Mexico Border Studies from the UA and a Master of Public Health from Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Since 2019, Frida has been an active member of the Cihuapactli Collective. Her commitment to birth justice centers on indigenous epistemologies and culturally-rooted midwives, doulas, and knowledge keepers who protect and safekeep ancestral, land-based teachings. Her research endeavors to co-create a framework that counters the rising incidence of traumatic birth experiences in BIPOCQxi (Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Queer, and intersecting immigrant) communities.

Before her current academic pursuits, Frida accumulated experience in the fields of behavioral health, health program evaluation, and immigration policy. She resides in Tempe, with her partner and daughter.

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Description goes hTraci Faith Guw Thonalig Hughes Hamilton is an Arizona based Licensed Massage Therapist, Indigenous Lactation Counselor, Womb worker, Full spectrum birth worker, Nutritional Consultant, Herbalist, and Traditional foods gatherer, single mom of two. Traci is of Mississippi Choctaw, Hiaki, adopted Tohono O’odham and European decent. A ceremonial wombyn who knows her journey of healing and helping others is her way of life, her strength. Traci has been involved with the Schukson (Tucson) community in many healing aspects. Traci spent four years with Ha:san Preparatory and Leadership School teaching rainwater harvesting, traditional in ground gardening; planting with the moon and rain cycles, seed to plate style teaching and food prep. Her informal and formal training is ongoing with family healers, ceremony, as well as the CEU state license requirements. Traci’s specialty is lifelong womb health and vitality, abdominal therapy, breast/chest therapy and full spectrum birth work. Her passion for protecting families ties in very closely with the old healing ways of her teachers and elders. As a mother and knowledgeable community member she stays strong in outreach and knowledge sharing. Traci continues to work on a sliding scale basis to make sure this important healing work is accessible. Her commitment is to honor her culture, be a strong community member and support a community of healthy warriors who step forward to make that effort for wellness.

FATIMA MUHAMMAD ROQUE, has over a 20 year history of offering birthing support to include midwifery, doula support and educational training to families in the homebirth and birth center settings. She is very active in her community as a Village Mother. To learn more please visit momsdadsbabies.com

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Bianca Comer is an Arizona native who has devoted her career to promoting the health and well-being of women, infants, and families in many capacities within the state. After earning her Master's in Development Practice (MDP) degree from the University of Arizona, she began working as a Community Health Worker with the Maricopa County Public Health Department's South Phoenix Healthy Start program, a home visitation initiative for pregnant and postpartum women and families. She often refers to her time at Healthy Start as the most rewarding, as she felt honored to have the opportunity to support program participants who often looked like her.

Bianca is currently a Project Manager with the National March of Dimes office, working with hospitals across the U.S. through the Maternal HealthCARE quality improvement initiative.

Additional March of Dimes initiatives that she is currently involved in include Expanding Equitable Access to Midwifery-led Models of Care through the integration of Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Freestanding Birth Centers (FSBCs) and the Expanding Equitable Doula Access and Utilization project. Bianca is the Founder and President of Our Mothers and Us (OMUS), a local nonprofit organization that aims to increase awareness and facilitate transparent discussion about Black maternal health throughout Arizona. OMUS conducts small- scale research projects called the Brown-work Groundwork series that explore topics related to maternal and child health and community and cultural preservation within communities of color in Arizona. OMUS also hosts creative expression workshops for pregnant and birthing families within the community, meant to cultivate discussion about maternal health, parenting, and health goal-setting— social, emotional, mental, and physical health. After serving as a Birth Assistant to Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and attending out-of-hospital births within her community from 2021 to 2022, Bianca began her midwifery journey as a Phase 1 CPM student at Midwives College of Utah in January 2024.

Marinah identifies as an indigiqueer chicana daughter of a medicine woman from Chihuahua, Mexico, a Chicano musician father from the borderlands, and mother to mixed-race children and grandchildren.

Marinah is the owner of Phoenix Midwife and the founder of Indigenous Birth, an umbrella organization for diverse advocacy and health justice projects which affirms the importance of traditional and indigenous midwives and assembles initiatives and coalitions nationally and internationally. She is also a sometime podcaster, public speaker and writer.

Marinah has served as consultant, facilitator, board member, midwife and executive for health justice projects in the U.S, North America, Central America, and Uganda, facilitating policy initiatives on public health responses, indigenous/immigrant reproductive and primary healthcare access, education programs, birth center development, and workforce development.

Marinah is a founding member of Phoenix Allies for Community Health, a free clinic primarily serving immigrant families, a direct result of her active street medic work. Marinah is the past president of the Midwives Alliance of North America, and worked in a dedicated coalition with national midwifery groups for United States Midwifery, Education, Regulation, and Association (USMERA).

Marinah is a Culture of Health Leader, advisory board member for Birth Detroit, working on expanding the Medicaid workforce with the Institute of Medicaid Innovation, working alongside native and indigenous immigrant communities on reclamation of birth sovereignty, and planning essential convenings for midwives and healers.

Marinah is a practitioner in Somatic Experiencing, with advancing certification in the prenatal and perinatal period, as part of her dedication to traditional medicine and healing.

Marianna’s passion is collaboration over competition in our community. She provides comprehensive midwifery care, covering pregnancy, contraception, and menopause. Known for her down-to-earth approach, she values shared decision making. Outside of work, Marianna is a wife and mother of two almost grown humans.

Audra Nelson is a Student Midwife with Midwives College of Utah & founder of A Rae Doula & Birth Services. Audra will be a licensed midwife this year. She is a Birth Assistant, Childbirth Educator and Placenta Encapsulator. Audra has her Masters in Nutrition Science and has been a Registered Dietitian for over 18 years specializing in neonatal and pediatric nutrition. She believes food is medicine and nutrition therapy can be used to treat the whole body and prepare you for your birth.

The passion to help families started at a young age after witnessing her mother’s labor and the birth of her younger sister. Audra has a deep respect for the normalcy of birth and uniqueness of each childbearing person and family. Audra is married and privileged to be the mother of 3 adventurous children.