Katie Brown is an OBGYN and Complex Family Planning Specialist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF. She is co-director of the Black Womxn's Health and Livelihood Initiative and medical director of the Black Wellness Clinic at UCSF. She provides full-spectrum reproductive health care. In her free time, she loves sunshine and cooking.
Sheri Foote, a Certified Nurse Midwife and clinical professor, has dedicated over 25 years to centering the health and wellness of birthing people. Her experience spans diverse settings in the U.S. and Guam, including birth centers and hospitals. She is passionate about improving birth equity, particularly for Black birthing people, and is part of EMBRACE centering pregnancy and an OB/GYN provider at the UCSF Black Wellness Center. When not caring for patients, she enjoys the outdoors and a good book.
Michele Gonzales, BSN, is an L&D nurse in Santa Cruz, California. She previously worked as a medical assistant in an OB/GYN department for five years before nursing school. She strives to help birthing people have a positive birth experience and advocates for safe, patient-centered care. Her own induction and cesarean experience informs how she educates patients about what to expect.
Fun fact: When I got married I had to change only one letter of my last name.
Asatu Hall is an Oakland-based California-licensed midwife, health educator, mother, artist, and youth advocate. She has served the Bay Area for over 23 years in schools, teen clinics, birth centers, crisis centers, and private homes. Her desire as a midwife is to reintroduce Black families to holistic, empowering care provided by trained midwives and to help transform the legacy of poor birth outcomes in the Black community.
Fun fact: I was part of an award-winning Carnival group for over 15 years and helped start another contingent in San Francisco two years ago.
Linda Jones is a birth and postpartum doula, photographer, and mother of two; grandmother of four (soon five!); and great-grandmother of four, based in Oakland, CA. With over three decades in natural birth advocacy and reproductive justice, she co-founded Black Women Birthing Justice (BWBJ) and is its Executive Director. Linda co-authored Battling Over Birth: Black Women and the Maternal Health Care Crisis in California. She is Director of Community Collaboration for Mothers for Postpartum Justice and a consultant for BelovedBirth Black Centering at Highland Hospital.
Victoria Leftridge is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Georgia and California who specializes in trauma. She focuses on educating future therapists and facilitating workshops on wellness, trauma-informed care, and de-escalation. She loves traveling and introducing her toddler to new places.
Nantzin (Nancy) Maldonado, RN, CNM, WHNP, is an Indigenous community midwife trained at UCSF who spent a decade in Chiapas, Mexico, learning and practicing traditional midwifery and medicine. She offers eclectic midwifery services that weave contemporary and traditional medicine to clients in the Central Coast of California. When not doing homebirths, she enjoys nature walks with her daughter and husband.
Daisy León-Martínez is an obstetrician-gynecologist at UCSF who specializes in complex pregnancies. Her clinical and research interests include language-concordant, culturally informed care and its effect on perinatal outcomes.
Anastasia Stone is a mother of five, a birth doula with 15 years’ experience, and president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network. She advocates for maternal health autonomy and holistic care. With two cesarean births of her own, she emphasizes addressing physical and emotional needs to minimize trauma.
Dora Torres is a doula, health educator, and mother of three in San Francisco. She teaches prenatal and postpartum classes and supports families through respected, memorable birth experiences. Fun fact: She enjoys making placenta encapsulations.