Rachel Smith (they/she) is a Licensed Massage Therapist and Integrated Prenatal and Perinatal Practitioner. They grew up on unceded Monacan territory known as Charlottesville, VA and have always felt deeply rooted in the community and in the land itself, particularly the Blue Ridge mountains. Smith attended the Virginia School of Massage and completed studies there in 2002. They went on to graduate from the University of Virginia with a degree in Studies in Women and Gender. Since their late teens, Smith has been involved in anti-violence work; they helped to found the Virginia Anti-Violence Project - an organization that addresses sexual violence, intimate partner violence and hate violence in the LGBTQ community. They also served on the state board of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance for 6 years.

After having 2 (of their 3) children, Smith shifted the focus of their commitment to helping people in a more direct, hands-on way. Their own experience of birth helped change their relationship with their body; they knew after giving birth to their first child that the experience of being able to feel and trust into their body was transformative and life-changing. Given how challenging the prenatal and perinatal time can be, particularly for Black and Brown folx, LGBTQIA2S+ folx, neurodivergent folx and folx with disabilities, Smith knew they wanted to help other birthing parents feel supported and resourced around this tender time. They have been studying Prenatal and Perinatal Dynamics with Kate White since 2017 and have assisted in workshops and trainings she has held for participants coming from all over the world including Australia, Lebanon, Serbia, and California.

Smith offers in-person and zoom sessions that take a holistic, somatic, and trauma-informed approach to helping people address trauma and challenges in pursuit of living and loving their best lives.

Website: mindfulmassagecville.com

Prolyfyck Run Crew: https://prolyfyck.com/

Dr. Gauri Lowe, a medical doctor and natural birth specialist, draws on over two decades of experience supporting women. After her own homebirth during studies, she became an advocate for physiological birth, later apprenticing with a homebirth midwife to learn how to support homebirths.

Since her second son's birth (in water, at home), Dr. Gauri divides her time between South Africa and rural India, passionately supporting homebirths, teaching midwifery, and consulting in integrative women's health. Now based in South Africa with her family, she offers transformative courses, focusing on postpartum care, the Sacred Model of Birth, and reframing women's healthcare.

Dr. Lowe emphasizes holistic approaches, weaving in natural remedies and ancient healing traditions with a sound clinical background too. With 12+ years as a birth advocate, she creates safe spaces for women during childbirth.

https://www.drgaurilowe.com/

Marinah identifies as an indigiqueer chicana daughter of a spiritual, artistic mother from Chihuahua, Mexico who taught her traditional medicine, a Chicano musician and Engineer father from the borderlands, and mother to indigenous 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, Executive Director, and midwife 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, Team Leader for an all POC midwifery learning collaborative in Arizona through a project initiated by 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.

Marinah is the past Director of Organizational Wellness with Birth Center Equity, and is currently under Fellowship.

Marinah’s current roles, besides the multiple projects of Indigenous Birth, focus primarily in facilitation with Breath of My Heart Birthplace, the only Native-led nonprofit free standing birth center in the United States, Center for Indigenous Midwifery, learning indigenous data collection in partnership with The Firelight Group, and working with her traditional teachers in Mexico learning traditional medicine, and creating artistic and medicinal resources.

Website: https://www.indigenousbirth.org/

Contact: info@indigenousbirth.org