NACPM welcomes Lauren French Hoy, CPM, LM, MSM, to the NACPM Board of Directors!
Lauren is the owner of madreluzLA midwifery practice, currently based in Los Angeles, California and previously located in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her training encompasses both traditional Oaxacan and professional midwifery taught in Spanish and a rigorous program at Bastyr University where she graduated with a Master of Science in Midwifery. Lauren was thrilled to receive the JoAnne Myers-Cieko Award for Scholarship & Leadership at Bastyr University which is awarded to one student each cohort. Her undergraduate business degree and experience provides competency in organization, financials and fundraising events and she has run her own businesses for close to 30 years! Her intent to study at a master’s level was to be competent in teaching and research as well as clinical care.
Lauren taught clinical midwifery in Mexico and as a volunteer in rural Zambia to community nurses, midwives and traditional birth attendants for World Vision.
She completed the research, Professional Midwives: The Need for the Integration, Support and Promotion of Professional Midwifery in Mexico which was accepted and presented at the International Confederation of Midwives' regional and international conferences. She summarized her research and produced a whiteboard animation video about preventable maternal mortality and why midwives are key to saving lives.
Lauren has prior board experience with the Asociación Mexicana de Partería (Mexican Midwifery Association) while she lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for 11 years. She has dedicated her life to support quality, trauma informed, midwifery care and reproductive justice for ALL people. She works with an inherent trust in childbearing people’s bodies and has a deep respect for midwives’ ancestral knowledge. She will always fight for sexual and reproductive health freedoms and respectful care. In her belief, midwives have always been and still should be the front-line caregivers.
Lauren is grateful to have a happy, healthy multi-cultural family with four great kids and their wonderful partners and a treasured grand baby, all crazy travelers like she is!