Bella (she/her) is a doula and artist currently living on traditional Muskogee land.

I am honored and privileged to accompany families as they cross the threshold into parenthood. My practices are rooted in Mexican and Andean traditions and I am honored to carry forward these sacred lineages.

I am a doula, artist, herbalist, yoga instructor, and mother. I was born in Bolivia, raised in Tennessee and identify as a Latina of mixed Bolivian and European ancestry. My academic background is in English literature and creative writing, and my continuing studies include oral folkloric traditions, kitchen medicine, and clinical herbalism. As an artist, I currently focus on garment sewing, embroidery, and illustration. I am also a tarot reader and amateur birdwatcher. I dream of befriending a gang of crows by luring them into my company with peanuts, and I hope to one day live somewhere where magpies are native! For now, I am content to share my deck railing with a couple of hawks that nest in a tree nearby. They watch me through my studio window as I work. 

Times of change and transition have always been particularly magnetic for me, and I am lucky to encounter tectonic shifts over and over again as I walk alongside people in birth, as the landscape of their families grows and shifts. Before stepping into the realm of birth work, I spent many years as a professional dancer and choreographer researching the body’s ability to expand beyond its limits. My dance work focused largely on durational performance, exploring how to soften into the physical discomfort of performing for hours at a time and engaging in repetitive movement sequences to challenge endurance, often while performing in non-traditional venues or when/where people do not expect to encounter dancers. A pleasurable surprise of my shift from dance to birth work has been how directly applicable my artistic research was to the birth of my daughter, and it continues to inform how I guide birthing people through labor. Labor is an experience that takes us to the very limits of our capacity - our capacity for bodily pain, endurance, and the mental anguish of the unknown. No one should feel alone and adrift on such a journey, and as a doula, I seek to accompany my clients through the dark woods, to the depths of the ocean, beyond the stars, and back again. On the other side, our babies await us along with the invaluable knowledge of our courage and fortitude. 

I am continually surprised and inspired by the work that I do. I learn something new at every birth I attend, whether it is about the nature of labor, the vast spectrum of what is normal in birth, or how to be in relationship with others. This is why I continue in this work despite the challenges of on-call life as a parent and the frustrations of working within the medical-industrial complex. What I do wouldn't be possible without the support of my husband, my daughter, and the community of friends who care for my family when I am called away.