I am a DONA trained Postpartum Doula with more than 10 years of nanny experience.
I began my career as a nanny at the age of 20 while studying creative writing in Denver, Colorado in 2008. Supporting a family through their cross country move is what brought me from Colorado to California in 2013. Nannying involves so much more than patience and persistence. It requires foresight, involvement, and nurturing at the deepest levels.
After becoming married and relocating from west Los Angeles to Long Beach, I took a much needed pause to consider my trajectory. In the winter of 2018, I began showing up sporadically for a friend after the birth of her second child. It was during one of these visits that I realized that this is what I want to do. I want to support entire families as they welcome new life and adjust to their new roles. I completed my DONA International Postpartum Doula training with Kathrin Auger in late spring of 2019 and found her guidance and insight invaluable.
I named my business Matre Doula because of a word that I love. Matrescence is a word coined by a medical anthropologist named Dana Raphael, the same woman who popularized the term doula. Matrescence is by definition "the process of becoming a mother."
I realize Matre Doula looks and might even sound a bit like maitre d' (master of, in French) and with that I'll say that one of my goals as a doula is to help families know they and only they can make and master their own way in parenting. I strongly feel that non-judgmental support is one of the greatest things new parents can allow themselves during the first few weeks of becoming.