NACPM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

NACPM President Khailylah, “Kiki” Jordan, LM, CPM

Kiki is the Birth Center Director & Midwife at Marin Family Birth Center and practices as a Midwife at The Golden Belly. She studied midwifery through the apprenticeship model in home and birth center settings. She attended the International School of Midwifery (Miami, FL), and obtained a license to practice out-of-hospital midwifery care in the state of California in 2005. She has attended over 300 births and is proud to have served as a midwife in freestanding birth centers completely owned and operated by licensed midwives. She is passionate about preserving the out-of-hospital option for all women. Kiki states that “for me, being a midwife is a statement about our commitment to respecting and protecting women’s bodies, respecting and protecting women’s emotions and respecting and protecting the very significant role that women play in ushering in the future. When I think about the future of Certified Professional Midwifery, I consider the hard work that has been done to move us closer to federal recognition and integration into community health care systems. For us to truly impact the maternal health crises in America we must start to see ourselves as the essential primary maternity care providers that we are. Being a CPM means expanded midwifery access. It allows me to be a part of a national movement of direct entry midwives, who mirror the face, cultures and experiences of everyday women.”

NACPM Vice President Keisha Goode, PhD

Keisha Goode, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York-College at Old Westbury and a Black Midwifery Enthusiast. Her primary research area is the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth in the U.S., with a focus on Black midwifery. She was appointed as the first Public Member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) in 2015 and is currently the Vice President of the Board. She is the co-author of Pregnancy and Birth: A Reference Handbook, published with ABC-CLIO press in June of 2021. Her book Birthing, Blackness and the Body: Black Midwives and the Pursuit of Reproductive Justice that is under contract with Columbia University Press. It is an update and expansion on her 2014 dissertation about the experiences and perceptions of contemporary U.S. Black midwives. She is the 2024 National Black Midwives Alliance Astounding Advocacy award recipient, an honor for which she is most proud.

NACPM Secretary Lisa Gendron, CPM, LM, ASM, BFA

Lisa Gendron (pronouns she/her) is a CPM and Licensed Midwife living and working in Rhode Island. She has been a birth worker since 2007 and worked extensively with families in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum as a doula, community advocate, and midwife. A long-time board member of RI Birth Network, co-founder of the RI Home Birth Collective, a community organizer with RI Friends of Midwives, and other community grassroots organizations, Lisa has been deeply invested in the birth community in her state and now nationally as part of the NACPM Board. She is committed to working toward social justice, accessible midwifery care, reproductive education, and advocacy for all.

NACPM Treasurer Catrice Harris, CPM

Encouraged to support women after the birth of her own daughters, Catrice Harris has been helping families with childbirth education, labor & birth, postpartum and lactation support since 1992. From day one, she loved being a mom, but before the birth of her two girls, she was not sure of what to expect in this new role. Because of that, it became very important to help educate others who felt the same way. Her initial Lactation training was through the University of Texas Health Science Center and City of Houston WIC Programs. Childbirth Education came next as she began teaching Lamaze classes to expectant families, birth moms, and adopting parents. In 2012, she was able to take the leap away from Corporate America, and focus full-time attention on caring for women; it was no longer just a part-time venture. Bridging the gap between Childbirth Education and Breastfeeding support, she began working as a Birth and Postpartum Doula, becoming certified through DONA and ICEA. Learning more about the wisdom of women’s bodies, Catrice realized there is yet so much more to learn. In that quest to learn more, she began the journey toward becoming a Midwife. She has been fortunate to learn from many midwives in the Houston area through births at home, in birth centers, and hospitals as well. The road to becoming a midwife was long and arduous, but she completed the training and education through the National College of Midwifery, and two apprenticeships in Houston. Catrice also supports aspiring birth and postpartum doulas as they complete training, and currently works as a doula mentor with a non-profit organization in Houston whose goal is to make doula support available in underserved communities, and improve postpartum outcomes. Having supported over 350 women with the births of their babies as of early 2023, and countless more with breastfeeding and postpartum care, she is truly grateful that this work found her!

NACPM Board Member Farrah Rivera CPM

Farrah’s interest in midwifery began as the eldest child and cousin of her ever growing ohana in Hawai’i. Surrounded by pregnant family members, community and their little babies, Farrah gravitated towards the parental and child connection; grounding her understanding that community involvement is vital to support, raise and love children. Her time in Los Angeles, CA as domestic violence activist, community doula, wombyn circle facilitator added to this gravitation, setting a guiding light in her passion to advocate for pregnant people.

Farrah attended and completed her Masters in Midwifery at Bastyr University and has experienced the different birthing environments in Southern California, Hawai’i and Washington. It was during this time, her family shared with her that her great grandmother, great grandfather and great aunt, Salome, Francis and Magdalena Mendoza also delivered babies in their province of Abra, on the island of Luzon. This generational connection fuels her interest in culturally responsive perinatal care for BIPOC & LGBTQ+ communities.

Farrah’s midwifery and advocacy work continues as the Academic Director of Cedar Medicine School of Midwifery, Board member of Hummingbird indigenous Family Services and Center for Indigenous Midwifery and other perinatal advocacy work on the West Coast. She hopes she can bring her expertise of cultural midwifery integration and social reproductive justice to the NACPM board.

NACPM Board Member Jennifer L. West, LM, CPM, BSM, CST, TBMP, IPE,MAP

Jennifer (Jenny) L. West, LM, CPM, BSM, CST, CH, TBMP, IPE, MAP has been a passionate homebirth midwife since 1989 and is the founder of Albuquerque Homebirth, a practice that specializes in waterbirth, hypnosis for birth, Total Body Modification, CranioSacral care, independent placenta educator, CPR instructor, published author and various additional energy modalities. She also teaches local and international classes; presents at conferences when asked and mentors future generations of birth workers. Jenny is also the owner of the Purple Thistle Tea Co.

NACPM Board Member Lauren French Hoy, CPM, LM, MSM

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. She 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.

NACPM Board Member Meredith Bowden, CPM

Meredith lives in Wilmington, NC where she became a PEP-trained CPM in 2010. Even prior to becoming a midwife, Meredith became active in advocacy work for increasing access to midwives in NC. As a member of NC Friends of Midwives she has hosted a fundraiser soccer tournament raising $65,000 towards those efforts over the last 10 years. Meredith is a founding member of the NC Chapter of NACPM in which she serves as the President and holds a high value on the importance of a strong professional association. The NCACPM Chapter continues legislative efforts for licensure of CPMs in NC. In addition, Meredith is active with NCMA, a midwifery group focused on unity, where she hosts an annual Beach Retreat to bring together midwives from across NC for some well-earned rest and relaxation.

Meredith joined a passionate group of North Carolina CNMs and CPMs in forming NCMERA in 2016 to collaborate on increasing access to midwives and improving NC perinatal healthcare. Through the NC Community Birth Summit, first held in 2019, NCMERA along with the facilitation support of Engaging Inquiry, built the foundations of a Perinatal Systems Map. This process is an innovative method that brings together stakeholders from across NC to identify the key factors influencing the system. It looks for the patterns that persist and identifies leverage points that can unlock the changes necessary for a healthier system. This “zoom out” approach is unique in welcoming all voices to the table, especially those most impacted by the current system, the childbearing people of NC.

NACPM Board Member Okunsola M. Amadou, TM, CPM, CD

Okunsola M. Amadou is the Founder & CEO of Jamaa Birth Village, which was founded in 2015, in Ferguson, MO. Now Okunsola is a 19x time award winning Black Maternal Health pioneer, recognized in Missouri as the First Black Certified Professional Midwife and First Black Registered Preceptor through the North American Registry of Midwives, and is currently training her first born son as a Black Male Midwife.On Juneteenth of 2020, Okunsola opened Missouri's First Black led Midwifery clinic. She is currently leading an initiative and capital campaign to build Missouri's First Black led birth center and postpartum retreat haven-scheduled to break grown late Summer 2024.

Okunsola’s leadership also grew the St. Louis Black Doula community from less than 10 Black practicing doulas in 2015 to certifying 460 doulas in 8-years through her Community Doula Training as St. Louis’ First Black written, created & taught community-based doula training. Okunsola leads the STL 360 Doula Initiative through the international maternal child health organization Merck for Mothers, which will identify St. Louis as a designated Safer Childbirth City in 2024 thanks to the work of Jamaa Birth Village. Okunsola is the recipient of 12-Black Maternal Health state and local proclamations, including 1-Congressional and 3-state Resolutions for her work in the field of Midwifery & Doula care. Okunsola currently sits on numerous local, state, national and global Black Maternal Health task forces, boards and committees. She is the founder of the global initiative of "Black Doula Day™" and is a kindred partner with Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Okunsola currently practices as a Global Midwife-providing Black Maternal Health consultation services for US based hospitals to improve equitable policies, state legislators to create bills that protect and advance community birth work, and international NGOs in creating their own birthing villages removing colonialism from community birthing practices.

NACPM Board Member Tamara Trinidad, CPM

Tamara is a community partera/midwife, perinatal educator, and herbalist, born and raised in Puerto Rico. She is a mother of two children who were born at home with midwives and has been actively involved in birth work since 2012. She holds a Master of Science in Midwifery (MSM) with foundations in Botanical Medicine from Bastyr University and is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), credentialed by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), all completed in 2019. In 2020 she started her own midwifery and herbal practice called Semilla Creciente, Midwifery & Herbalism, LLC, and has been actively involved in her community collaborating with community-based organizations. Tamara is currently the president of the Puerto Rico Midwifery Association (APPR) and member of the National Association for Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) and is very committed to the educational, equity and political aspects of the midwifery profession. As an Evidence Based Birth® Instructor for families and health professionals she is eager to facilitate learning opportunities to those interested in learning more about the most recent evidence regarding birth, so that families can have empowering experiences in their birth and professionals can make a difference from their workplaces As a professional in her community, she is passionate about propelling connections and collaborations between midwives and other health professionals in Puerto Rico with the hope that midwives and families can build with the medical community better relationships, communications, and smooth transfers when needed with the goal of facilitating the best care possible with respect, support and continuous care for all.

NACPM Board Member Tigist Ejeta CPM, LM

Tigist is a home birth midwife and midwife advocate currently living in Boise, Idaho. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Direct Entry Midwifery and a master’s degree in Maternal and Reproductive Health Nursing from Ethiopia. She brings her international experience of working as a midwife educator and an autonomous direct entry midwife who has worked both in hospitals and birth centers. In her practice, Odaa Birth, LLC Midwifery Services, Tigist has dedicated herself to provide evidence-based midwifery care to pregnant women of color and all women seeking her care.

Tigist got her NARM certification through an Internationally Educated Midwife PEP route after more than five frustrating years and understands the hardship midwife students; especially black midwife students go through to become a midwife. As a midwife who had worked autonomously with full autonomy through a practice that is integrated in the health care system, she clearly understands what is lacking in the US for community midwives and is passionate to work on building a system that supports community midwifery. Carrying the wisdom of all midwife ancestors and recognizing the roles played by activist community midwives, her hope is for CPMs and all community midwives to get recognition federally and that community midwifery education gets recognition and accreditation nationally so that midwives work freely and autonomously providing care in their full capacity and for all families to have the freedom to choose their place of birth and that midwifery model of care becomes rightfully accessible to all.