top of page
Facilitators
Alanya Snyder (she/her) has been a teacher since 1995, and is the co-founder of Ka-Lo Academy, which supports teens in developing their own education outside of traditional school. She is a member of Neighbors for Racial Justice (since 2014), an anti-zionist Jew, and a parent of two college-aged kids born at home.
Aicha K. Scott (she/her) is a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). After practicing in the Bronx, NYC for 5 years, she moved back home to the Bay Area and has been attending hospital birth with Kaiser San Leandro since 2017. Aicha's midwifery practice focuses on body balancing as a Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner to support physiologic and easeful birth. Primarily a laborist who loves delivering large babies and unraveling the mystery of the malpositioned baby, she also leads Centering and is the practice coordinator for Midwives in training. She is the mother of two children born at home.
Kara Schamell (she/her) is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and Licensed Midwife (LM) who has practiced in home birth and birth center settings in Massachusetts and California. Additionally, she worked as a Birth Doula and Childbirth Educator for many years, and helped launch a telehealth startup focused on evidence-based perimenopause care. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology and lives with her wife and two rescue dogs in San Francisco.
Brooke Prudhomme (she/her) is the mother of three adult/teen boys and her adult step-daughter. She is the founder of OVA Sanctum, a Midwifery Guide and Telehealth service, launching in October of 2024. She is a licensed midwife, certified through the North American Registry of Midwives, facilitating out of hospital midwifery care. She is an elected member of the MAWS board (Midwives Association of Washington), and adjunct faculty at Bastyr University. Brooke has served as the Director of Midwifery for two birth centers, one for profit and one a 501c3. She was a member of the original midwifery team at CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health. She is a volunteer facilitator with Transforming White Privilege for midwives and is studying hypnotherapy with the Hypnotherapy Academy of America. Brooke is a strong advocate and safe place. She has devoted her work to uplifting those who seek her care by reminding them of their own strength and wisdom, she promotes equity in opportunity for anyone who works with or alongside her.
Advisory Council Members
We work in partnership with a Black Midwife Advisory Council, who are paid for their consultations, and also seek input from other BIPOC advisors.
Michele Poole, Certified Lactation Educator and member of TWP's Black Midwife Advisory Council
Michele Poole lives in Oakland, is a mother of 4 and Certified Lactation Educator. Currently, Michele works for UCSF, EMBRACE perinatal care for Black families as a Perinatal Patient Navigator and Volunteers at Breast Friends Lactation Support Services. Michele brings her lived experience of exclusive breastfeeding and pumping to all of her work. Being rooted in community and being able to provide direct service to families is what drives Michele every day. In 2016, Michele joined Breast Friends, and delivered her twins prematurely,launching her into a passionate preterm birth advocate. The preterm journey has allowed her to learn and navigate the NICU and support parents on a similar journey. In 2018 Michele joined the Preterm Birth Initiative Community Advisory Board determined to decrease preterm birth. Her passion for lactation and birth has flourished over the last six years. Michele was instrumental during the height of the COVID 19 Pandemic to evolved Breast Friends into a safe virtual space for families to continue to receive
lactation support and continues to work diligently with breastfeeding families and with preterm infants.
Alli Mitchell, a Partera/Midwife, Lactation Consultant and a member of our Black Midwife Advisory Council
Alli was born and raised in the East Bay, CA. She is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, Registered Nurse, and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She works at Kaiser Permanente, Mission Neighborhood Health Center, she teaches lactation and nutrition classes in Spanish for Nourishing Pregnancy and volunteers with Breast Friends Lactation Support Services. Alli is passionate about serving the Latinx and Black Communities here in the Bay Area and has dedicated herself to providing compassionate and comprehensive reproductive and lactation care.
Additional Advisors
Farah Cotter-Norwood, TWP Research Advisor
Farah Cotter-Norwood (she/her) is a PhD student in cultural anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center. She received a B.A in Anthropology and a certificate in Ethnic Studies from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Her research centers around reproductive health care for Black teen mothers and birthing people in the Bay Area; examining modes of care they forge for themselves as well as both holistic and biomedical strategies of care and communication. She is also carrying out a broader study of Black women’s reproductive lives in the Black Pacific Scholarship.
bottom of page