Whole Mother Show – Whole Mother

Shafia Monroe is deeply devoted to reproductive justice as the crux of Human Rights. She is a Master of Public Health, author, traditional midwife, doula trainer, motivational speaker, and a lover of people. Her spiritual calling to midwifery began as a teenager, inspired to reduce the high infant mortality rate in her city. Mama Shafia is a guardian of African American birth traditions and postpartum rituals. With over four decades of experience, she has researched the lives of 20th-century African American midwives and traveled nationally to interview and observe them, learning traditional postpartum practices. Honoring her Alabama roots, she practices the laying on of hands with pregnant and postpartum women, newborns, and families. For over 30 years, Monroe has been an active organizer for reproductive justice. In 2011, she led the Oregon Coalition to Improve Birth Outcomes (OCIBO) in a study investigating the use of doulas to enhance birth outcomes. This initiative led to the creation of legislative concept HB3311, making Oregon the first state in the nation to reimburse doulas’ services through Medicaid. Shafia Monroe continues to shape a world where equitable healthcare enhances maternal and infant health, and birth workers become pillars in their communities. She is the CEO and founder of SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training, LLC (SMC Doulas), which created the first led Black doula curriculum in 2002. She has trained over 5,000 doulas and mentors hundreds of individuals to embrace their roles as healers, midwives, doulas, and leaders. Her contributions are highlighted in the books “Granny Midwives and Black Woman Authors” and “Wings of Gauze: Women of Color and the Experience of Health and Illness.” In 2016, Madame Noir recognized her as the “Queen Mother of a Midwife Movement” for her pioneering work in the 1970s, which introduced midwifery and home birth services to Boston’s Black community in Massachusetts. In 2022, Scientific Americanfeatured her as one of four individuals nationally recognized for “People Who Are Making Health Care Fairer.” Monroe has received numerous awards for her work, including five Lifetime Achievement Awards. She is a board member of the National Black Midwives Alliance, the Oregon Doula Association, the Oregon Community Doula Association, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, and the National Muslim Business Coalition. She served for eight years at the Oregon Health Authority Office of Equity and Inclusion: Cultural Competency Continuing Education Advisory Committee. She is a wife, a mother of seven, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking for family and friends, walking, gardening, studying herbal medicine, singing, praying, writing, dancing, fishing, and horseback riding. On January 27, 2026, Monroe launched her book, “Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing,” a heartfelt book for Black mothers, providing guidance for healing after childbirth with time to bond and enjoy their baby. Mothering the Mother is especially vital for Black women who are disproportionately affected by maternal mortality and morbidity. Reclaiming culturally rooted postpartum care is healing and lifesaving. Mama Shafia wants this book to be in every person’s hand who wants to see new mothers nurtured, celebrated, and thriving. Learn more about the book and author at www.shafiamonroe.com   Shafia Monroe, MPH, DEM, CDT   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20260202-Whole-Mother-Show-Mothering-the-Mother-Afridan-American-Traditions.mp3

Jackie Griggs, CNM, is a Certified Nurse Midwife who has been practicing in the Houston/Beaumont area for the past 35 years. She is a mom of 5 grown sons, 3 born at home with the help of midwives. – Three grandchildren are the light of her life. She has helped mainly with home and birth center births, but has worked in the hospital some as well. She is the owner of birth center of Beaumont, and also helps with home births in the Houston area. She has been on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Birth Centers, until just recently, and still is a very big advocate for midwifery care at a birth center or home, for the women of this country. She is also focused on training new midwifery students and helping to increase the number of birth centers in Texas and the United States. Toni Kimpel, CPM, LM, is the owner, Director and Senior Midwife at Jubilee Birth Center. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Mobile, where she achieved a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Business Administration, with a minor in Biology. Her mathematics degree is actually used in midwifery in figuring angles and vectors for getting babies to come out, her business administration has been helpful in running a business, and of course biology is involved in the science of midwifery. She has been a midwife since 1985. She completed the certification process to become a Certified Professional Midwife in 1996. She currently holds a Texas Department of Health Services Midwifery License. She opened Jubilee Birth Center in 2012 in Bryan, Texas. She gave birth to eight children between 1977 and 1998. And adopted a daughter in 2004. So,she raised nine children and now have 21 grandchildren and 6 great grand-children. She delivered five of her grandchildren and 2 of her great-grandchildren. Diana Nash, CPM, LM, and her husband, Don have been married almost 25 years. We’re a blended family of 6 grown children – 5 boys and 1 girl – and have 13 grandchildren, ages 16 years to 3 weeks! She was a late bloomer and didn’t start her Midwifery training until 2005 with the Association of Texas Midwives and graduated in 2007. Since then, she has worked in both home and birth center settings in Texas and Arkansas, but returned to the Piney woods of East Texas 5 years ago. She serves a large area surrounding Polk County, much of which is a maternity desert. She is in the process of starting a freestanding birth center in Livingston, TX. She offers twin, breech and VBAC delivery and recently had the joy of attending her 500th birth!   Jackie Griggs, CNM, and Toni Kimpel, CPM, LM, and Diana Nash, CPM, LM   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260126-Whole-Mother-Show-Midwifery-Practice-and-Advice.mp3

Jaelin Stickels, DNP, APRN, CNM, co-owner, founder of Holistic Heritage Home Birth and cofounder of She is.com, a site for women by women. Also, on the show is her mid-husband who is so supportive for Jaelin and midwifery. A certified nurse midwife who is honored to work with families as they experience pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period. Jaelin followed her passion into midwifery and has been practicing with women and babies since 2010. She has spent the last 40 blissful years married to her high school sweetheart and “midhusband”. She has three children and one brilliant grandbaby. In addition to her passion for women’s health; she loves quilting & is enamored with her granddaughter. Jaelin is proud to be known as the designated Birth Hog. No one has ever loved birth as much as this girl.   Jaelin Stickels, DNP, APRN, CNM   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260119-Whole-Mother-Show-Jaelin-Stickels.mp3

Dr. Cambria Nwosu is a nurse, legal nurse consultant, healthcare advocate, and entrepreneur whose career has spanned bedside care, leadership, administration, and healthcare accountability. She began her nursing career as a perioperative nurse at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, where she developed a strong foundation in patient safety, surgical care, and systems-based practice. Over time, Dr. Nwosu advanced into multiple nursing leadership roles, including serving as a Stroke Program Director, where she worked at the intersection of clinical care, quality metrics, and regulatory compliance. Her career later expanded into healthcare administration, where she served as a national telemedicine administrator, gaining firsthand insight into how healthcare delivery, technology, and policy intersect and how system design decisions shape patient care and access. Alongside her clinical and administrative work, Dr. Nwosu co-founded Seth Usifo Nwosu® Incorporated (SUN INC) with her husband, a certified paralegal and legal document preparer. Through SUN Inc., she provides legal nurse consulting services focused on medical negligence, patient rights, healthcare system failures, and civil accountability, with particular attention to how marginalized communities are disproportionately harmed. Dr. Nwosu is married and the mother of one child, and her lived experience as both a clinician and a parent informs her advocacy. In recent years, she has taken a more public-facing role through education, media, and social platforms, where she speaks candidly about patient safety, informed consent, civil rights, and the urgent need for ethical accountability in healthcare. In February, Dr. Nwosu will be launching CJN Network, a platform dedicated to deeper, long-form discussions on healthcare justice, patient rights, and systemic reform that are often difficult to fully explore in short-form media. More information can be found at www.sunicorp.net, and she can be followed on social media at @cjnlegalnurse   Dr. Cambria Nwosu   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260112-Whole-Mother-Show-Dr.-Cambria-Nwosu-001.mp3

“Trish” Perkins is a Certified Nurse Midwife who began her career as a Labor and Delivery nurse at Jefferson Davis Hospital. She is the mother of 4 children all brought into this world into the hands of midwives. The first 2 were born in the hospital and the last 2 at home with Pat Jones! After raising her own family, she realized her lifelong dream of studying midwifery. She has worked as a midwife at a free-standing birth center and for Baylor College of Medicine at The Centers for Children and Women. Her experiences also include working as a Lactation Consultant at St. Joseph’s hospital, helping them achieve Texas Ten Step status. She is now the owner of a beautiful free-standing birth center just north of The Woodlands, Bliss Birth Center. Trish is passionate about providing quality, woman-centered, compassionate care and has the unique knowledge, skills and experience to provide comprehensive, evidence based midwifery care that women deserve. Encouraged to support women after the birth of her own daughters, Catrice Harris has been helping families with childbirth education, labor & birth, postpartum and lactation support since 1992. Her initial Lactation training was through the University of Texas Health Science Center and City of Houston WIC Programs. She continued to embrace caring for women and children by becoming certified as a birth and postpartum doula. After observing many challenges faced by women who did not feel enabled to advocate for themselves during childbirth, it seemed that the only next step was to pursue midwifery. Taking the leap away from Corporate America in 2012, she embraced birth work full time. Growing into a midwife has been a journey that constantly presents new opportunities for growth in many beautiful ways. Currently, with a solo home birth practice, Catrice also trains and mentors doulas through a grant funded program seeking to provide birth support to underserved communities in Houston, TX. Having supported over 365 families with the births of their babies as of 2023, she is truly grateful that this work found her.   Trish Perkins, CNM, & Catrice Harris, CPM   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251215-Whole-Mother-Show-Bliss-Birth-Center.mp3