Rooted in you: Sprouting healthy families 

Seventeen looked a little different for me. Just a month before turning eighteen, I welcomed my beautiful daughter into the world. While most of my peers were preparing for prom or college visits, I was wrapping up high school in a whirlwind—completing my senior year virtually in just a month.

My prenatal and birthing journey wasn’t what I had hoped for. It was shadowed by assumptions and quiet judgments about teen mothers. Still, I moved through it—sometimes wading, sometimes swimming, sometimes barely staying afloat—but I made it. I graduated early, worked through my pregnancy, gave birth to my lovely daughter, spoke at my own commencement, and moved into a tiny shoebox apartment in Lawrence, Kansas.

Adulthood didn’t wait for me to catch my breath. It grabbed my hand and pulled, fast and hard. And somehow, I learned to keep up—then to run alongside it. Eventually, I even found a rhythm I could enjoy.

Through it all, I discovered a passion that burns steady: the right to a respectful, consensual, and supported birthing experience. I’m endlessly drawn to the sacred unfolding of prenatal care, the raw and radiant moment of birth, and the stormy, beautiful unknown of postpartum life.

What gives me joy is offering education, support, and space to every person—regardless of where they come from or where they're headed. My heart is in building something warm, inclusive, and real. A space where both new and seasoned parents feel seen, held, and never alone.