About my doula practice

Hi, I’m Akua.

I am a doula, musician and parent to a bright and hilarious two year old.

My doula practice ‘Caring In Color’ was founded with the intention of providing creative, nonjudgmental, and affirming support to people navigating fertility, pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

While I serve all families in Rhode Island, I am a Full-Spectrum Doula especially-committed to improving and expanding reproductive support for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals and families.

My outlook is as simple as this:

People are beautifully-complex but the standard of care within our medical system rarely reflects our complexities. We are not simply bodies and we are definitely not numbers. We are people with stories, intersecting identities, relationships, passions, traumas, fears and dreams.

As such, I firmly believe that each person and family deserves unique consideration in the care and support they receive throughout the immensely personal experiences of fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, abortion and loss.

I also believe that our cultural understanding of “birth” is limited - and as such, I aim to bring more nuance, depth and imagination to the conversation.

I grew up in a racially-mixed, cross-cultural home in Canada, and moved to the United States to pursue a career in music - which had been my (quiet) passion as a child. My work as a vocalist took me all over the world - performing on stages throughout South America, South Africa, Europe, Mexico, Australia, Oman and all across America - with Los Angeles becoming my home away from home.

My years working as an artist allowed me to cultivate relationships with a truly incredible constellation of people I call my friends, family and creative community.

My people are Black, brown, white, queer, heterosexual, bisexual, non-binary, non-conforming, cis, trans, religious, non-religious, and everything in between. The common-thread amongst us, is our desire to live life as our authentic-selves and our desire to make the world a more just, accepting and sustainable place for all. These are the types of people I aim to work with and support through my doula practice.

I first became curious about birth-work through my best friend, who worked as a doula for many years. I was fascinated by her descriptions of the work and in awe of how she was able to integrate herself into such intimate human territory. Through her anecdotes, I was able to get a sense of what doulas do and how they can help prepare individuals for childbirth and family-building. When I learned I was pregnant, she was the first person I called. She shared a wealth of knowledge and perspective with me which very few people in early pregnancy have immediate access to. I felt privileged and confident knowing I had a trusted friend and birth professional in my corner - helping to guide me through the many unknowns ahead of me.

Despite my friend’s support, I still found myself pregnant and reckoning with the tragic statistics surrounding Black maternal health outcomes in America. My response to this information was to educate myself about the birthing process and the history of the medical industrial complex. I then sought out the best possible care team available to me. I also embarked on a personal journey to better-understand this deeply human ritual we call “birth.” Through reading, knowledge-sharing and personal exploration, I was able to step into my first birth feeling calm and confident of my capacity to embrace birth’s many unknowns.

After an incredibly positive and transformative home birth experience with a Certified Nurse-Midwife and doula, I completed my Full Spectrum Doula Training with Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings and my Community Outreach Perinatal Educator Training with Commonsense Childbirth Institute.

Additionally, I have attended the Whole Body Pregnancy Childbirth Educator Training under Erika Davis.

I am now a Rhode Island Board Certified Perinatal Doula (CPD).

Expanding Care

Caring In Color practices an ethic of care that is grounded in bodily autonomy and human dignity.

I hope my work under this platform will contribute to a more inclusive, sincere and person-centered standard-of-care for all people going through the experience of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, fertility, loss and abortion.

With love,

Akua