I was DONA trained in 2003 by Debra Pascali-Bonaro, who went to Rio de Janeiro to train the first group of doulas in Brazil. I started working as a doula right after the training, at a volunteer doula project at public hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, called Doulas na Luz (translation: Doulas in the Light). The project lasted about 6 months and I, then, started taking private birth doula clients. I had a bachelor in Geography, that didn’t serve me much as a Doula, and now I wanted to know more about the human body and its physiological processes, so back to College I went, this time to study Physical Therapy, which I did for 4 years prior to moving to the US. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it here, due to personal reasons. Although I don’t have a bachelor in Physical Therapy, I do have all the knowledge of the human body that I learned while in school for it.

​After we moved to the US, I worked with private birth doula clients and enjoyed volunteered with GALS – Giving Austin Labor Support, a wonderful non-profit that offers birth and postpartum doula support for the community. Living in Austin I was able to bring my doula skills learned in Brazil to attending births as a doula in American hospitals. I was also taking private clients while volunteering for GALS.

Then I discovered birth photography!

In 2010, both of my daughters were attending Elementary school, so off I went to pursue another passion of mine: photography. I enrolled at ACC (Austin Community College) and took classes for 3 years at their Photography program. There I learned that I had a knack for storytelling with photography and that was a natural complement to my work as a birth doula.

I had another daughter in 2013, and, while she was too young for me to stay away for too long doing doula work, I started doing Birth Photography. In 2018 I found out about ATX Doulas, a doula collective that works on an on call model and that made it possible for me to go back to work as a doula. I loved the collective model: the fact that we are always sharing information, keep us current and updated in the latest evidence based maternal care.

and Spinning Babies & Evidence Based Birth classes!

In November 2020 I trained with Gail Tully to become a Spinning Babies Certified Parent Educator, because I truly believe that this approach can help a pregnant person have a more comfortable pregnancy with exercises that keep the body flexible and supple, making more room for baby inside and potentially easing their birth.

In June 2021 I moved with my family to the Tampa Bay area. Since I would be back at working as an independent doula and staying current with the most evidence based information regarding the perinatal period is very important to me, I’ve decided to be part of something bigger and in August 2021 I became an Evidence Based Birth (EBB) Instructor and Childbirth Educator, where continuing education and monthly meetings are part of their program.

Some clients ask me what exactly a doula does… I have to say that the answers vary broadly. Doula is not just my job, but who I am at this point. The more births I attend, the more I learn and more “tools” I gather in my “toolbox”. I won’t be there only holding your hand and offering you water. I’ll work alongside your birth team to help you achieve your goals.