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Facilitators
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.
Christine Cox Jude, CNM has been a midwife for over 20 years and is the Assistant Chief Midwife at Kaiser San Leandro, where she is a laborist and equity leader across the GSAA.
Eve Gordon (she/her) is a professional facilitator with 30 years of experience as an anti-racist teacher, school leader, coach and trainer. Her work focuses on building staff capacity to meet the needs of all clients, paying particular attention to the ways white supremacy culture and anti-black racism play out in our organizational structures, interpersonal relationships, and outcomes. She helps clients develop their awareness of and ability to work effectively across race and culture. Previously the principal of MetWest High School and Envision Academy in Oakland, she currently provides executive coaching, training, and facilitation for organizations across California. Eve holds a Masters in Education from Mills College and a variety of coaching, facilitation, and mediation certifications.
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.
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.
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 her 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 evolve Breast Friends into a safe virtual space for families to continue to receive lactation support, and she continues to work diligently with breastfeeding families and with preterm infants.
Additional Advisors
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.
Farah Cotter-Norwood, TWP Research Advisor
Contributors
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. Alanya has played many roles in TWP––facilitating, co-creating the curriculum for midwives, supporting new facilitators, and envisioning new horizons for our work.
Kara Schamell (she/her) is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) who has practiced in home birth and birth center settings in Massachusetts and California. She also worked as a Birth Doula and Childbirth Educator for many years, and helped launch a telehealth startup focused on evidence-based perimenopause care. Now retired from birthwork, she is pursuing a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology, with a focus on Depth and Jungian psychotherapy. She is currently a Marriage & Family Therapist Trainee at the Liberation Institute, a grassroots community mental health agency that offers affordable teletherapy to clients across California. Kara has been involved with TWP since 2021, and has worn many hats over the years including facilitating, collaborating on curriculum development, managing the behind-the-scenes admin tasks and building/maintaining the website. She lives with her wife and two rescue dogs in San Francisco.
Past Facilitators / Contributors
Jenn Biehn (stay tuned)
Jackie Dennis (stay tuned)
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 founded 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 studying hypnotherapy with the Hypnotherapy Academy of America, and is involved with the University of Washington's H.E.A.L.I.N.G. Midwifery Together program. 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.
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