My Journey
to Inner Strength
Self-care is one of the active ways that I love myself. When you can and as you can, in ways that feel loving, make time and space for yourself
- Tracee Ellis Ross
About Me
Hey there!
Like many of you, I’m a multi-hyphenate. I’m a mom, grandma, worker bee, bookstore owner, an HIV health educator and now menopause doula.
For the past 15 years I’ve dedicated my spare time to educating the people in my community about HIV and its impact in the Black community, and Black women more specifically; I’ve also worked directly with Black women who are living with HIV teaching various life skills. During the pandemic, I launched an online book club which eventually led to opening a bookstore, Kindred Thoughts, with my cousin-in-law and business partner.
I became involved in the menopause doula space due to my own experience of health mismanagement, where my health providers failed to make the correlation between my age, gender, health history and symptoms to provide an accurate diagnosis. After reading a book that mentioned a birth doula, I wondered if there were menopause doulas. In my search, I found a great training program and now I’m using my experience as a health educator to help educate other Black women on navigating their own menopause journeys.
What is a Menopause Doula?
Listen, I'm not offended and I knew someone would ask, because I did. Most of us are familiar with the concept of a doula for pre- and post natal delivery care and support; well, using that same concept of providing women with support during their critical time of need, there are also menopause doulas. I am a menopause doula.
A menopause doula helps women navigate the journey of menopause by helping them understand what menopause is and its various stages and symptoms; and by providing resources, tools and support, a menopause doula can help women live their best life during what can be a challenging and confusing stage of life. Doulas are not medical professional by definition, but are intended to be a compliment to the care received by a woman's physician(s).
As your Doula, I am here for you.
My Mission
As you’ve read, my life is pretty full. Admittedly, perimenopause came and it took me for a loop… I felt like I couldn’t get answers and I also felt like nobody believed all of the symptoms I was experiencing. But now with knowledge about my symptoms and how to manage them, my most severe flair ups are just a minor discomfort and not the full life disruption they used to be.
That said, as your menopause doula, my mission is simply to help demystify menopause through education, group discussions and the occasional 1:1 for those who need it. In essence, working together to develop strategies to help you continue to live your best life!