Meet Our U.S. Faculty
CAPPA is proud to have some of the best and most qualified faculty members in the world. Click on each state to see a picture and short biography of each faculty member from that state.
Alabama
April Howton
Labor Doula and Lactation Educator Faculty
I have been a member of CAPPA for 6 years and a director for 5. I enjoy training and travel so I can expand my knowledge of new people and places. I have four children and live in Florence, AL with my husband. I also run Joy N' Birth Pregnancy Services, my childbirth business, and teach classes at two neighboring hospitals and birth centers.
Arizona
Michaela Zach
Lactation Educator Faculty
Michaela has been working in the maternal/child health field for ten years. She is certified as a childbirth educator, labor doula, lactation educator and an American Heart Association instructor. Educating and assisting new families through the most life changing event of their lives is her true calling and passion. Michaela strives to make sure women and their partners have the most up to date evidence based information to ensure they are making informed decisions. Michaela is married and has two wonderful boys, ages 18 and 12. She is currently working for a non-profit organization working with pregnant and parenting teenagers in Arizona
Arkansas
Angie Whatley
Labor Doula and Childbirth Educator Faculty
Angie a Nurse Educator for the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, since 2005 joined CAPPA in 2007. She has experience as a Labor and Delivery Nurse and a combined 15 years in maternal health with 6 years in teaching childbirth education and practicing as a labor doula for 3 years. Angie certified as both a childbirth educator and labor doula in December 2007. Her joy is teaching evidenced based childbirth education, being a labor doula, and providing breastfeeding support. Her goals include training rising childbirth educators and doulas, she has accomplished a community-based doula program for her local hospital. Angie is happily married, twenty-six years, a mother of three. “I have been fortunate to be able to work as a nurse in the field I love, and to help birth moms have the experience they desire.”
California
Darla Burns
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Darla has been supporting women and families as a birth doula since 1990 and was certified by DONA in 2003. Finding that she also loved working with the families after they delivered, she then became a CAPPA certified postpartum doula in 2004. Soon thereafter, she became a certified childbirth educator and lactation educator. Her love of working with families and sharing her knowledge with others led her to her position as a faculty member for CAPPA. When she's not doing doula work, she spends her time with her husband and two great kids.
Rena Koerner
Labor Doula Faculty
I am CAPPA's Southwest regional representative, a certified birth doula for over 7 years, a certified childbirth educator, a certified Happiest Baby instructor, Reiki practitioner, and CAPPA approved faculty member. As a mother myself, family is most important and how they arrive into this world is equally important. Providing safety from the beginning is key to a wonderful life start. My goal is to bring knowledge and compassion to the birthing place.
Joanna Whitlow
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Joanna has been working with moms and babies since 2001 when she started working as a postpartum
doula. Since then, she has certified with CAPPA as a Certified Postpartum Doula, certified with DONA
as a labor doula, became a childbirth educator, and also became an Internationally Board Certified
Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). Joanna is passionate about informing and supporting families during
the childbearing years and feels honored to get to work with families during such an important and
vulnerable time in their lives. Facilitating community is what Joanna feels is the most helpful thing she
can do for families and the non-profit she formed in 2011 is dedicated to just that. Breastfeeding clinics,
postpartum support circles, family-focused community events and goals opening a birth center, an early
childhood education cooperative and a postpartum drop-in center are all part of the mission.
Joanna is blessed by a supportive husband and 4 beautiful boys.
Christy Jo Hendricks
Lactation Educator Faculty
Christy Jo brings over 20 years of teaching experience to the classroom. She is an Internationally Board-Certified Lactation Consultant and Certified Birth Doula. She has a passion for facilitating and protecting the mother/baby bond. Her contribution to this field has been recognized by the United States Presidential Volunteer Award and the Phyllis Klaus Founder's Award for Promoting the Mother/Baby Bond. Christy Jo's life-long goal has been to help others reach theirs. Her informative, yet entertaining style makes learning enjoyable and retention easy. Christy Jo is the creator and instructor of the Grow Our Own Lactation Consultant/IBCLC Prep Course which has been used to train hundreds of women to follow their dreams of becoming Lactation Consultants. Her students have a 100% pass rate on the IBLCE Exam. Her extensive lactation knowledge and proven results have made her courses desirable for acquiring lactation education. Christy Jo currently teaches lactation, attends births, facilitates lactation clinics and advocates for women in Southern California, where she lives with her husband and three children.
Tabitha Ames
Childbirth Educator Faculty
Tabitha began her journey with CAPPA in 2008 after the birth of her first daughter while in transition from her career as a molecular biology researcher. Her own experience with pregnancy and childbirth led her to discover that she wanted to help support and educate other expectant families as they prepared for birth and parenting. She became a CAPPA Certified Childbirth Educator and a CAPPA trained Postpartum Doula in 2010, and also a CAPPA Certified Labor Doula in 2011. At the start of 2012 she was welcomed as a CAPPA Faculty Member.
Tabitha takes it as a high honor to be welcomed into such an important and personal time in a family's creation. She strives to give accurate, evidence based information, and support for the families she serves with the goal of enhancing their experiences. Tabitha has been married since 2005 and has two daughters born in 2008 and 2011. She and her family reside in the San Francisco East Bay where she teaches childbirth classes, serves as a labor and postpartum doula, and is highly active in her local childbirth community.
Terri Woods
Labor Doula Faculty
Terri Woods brings a wealth of teaching experience and international birth experience to her Labor
Doula Trainings. She has been acting as a doula since 2004 when she made her first trip to the
Philippines and assisted in birth centers there with her sister and daughter, both Certified Professional
Midwives. Since then she has certified as a birth and labor doula with CAPPA and
is continuing her passion for evidence-based loving support of women in their child-bearing year by
joining the CAPPA Faculty as a Labor Doula Trainer, traveling throughout the western United States
and Internationally. Terri has provided educational, physical, and emotionally nurturing doula services
to families in the USA, the Philippines, and New Zealand, and was a guest speaker at the New Zealand
National Homebirth Conference in 2009. She is now working on establishing a Volunteer Doula Network
on the Central Coast of California in order to serve low-income women while mentoring newly trained
doulas, and has vision for the meaning of “doula” – women serving women—worldwide.
Colorado
Ana Hill
Labor Doula Faculty
Ana has been providing perinatal education and attending births in the Denver Metro area since 1998, and training Labor Doulas for CAPPA certification since 2005. As a doula trainer, she combines over nine years of experience as a doula and seventeen years of experience as an instructor. She brings to her trainings a passion for serving new families and a strong commitment to excellence in the doula profession. In 2012, she became an IBCLC. Ana is happily married and has six children.
Laurel Wilson
Lactation Educator Faculty
Laurel is a certified lactation counselor, childbirth educator, labor doula, lactation educator, Prenatal Parenting instructor, and pre- and postpartum fitness educator. She believes that the journey towards and into motherhood is a life changing rite of passage that should be deeply honored and celebrated. Laurel has been married to her husband for over 16 years and has two beautiful boys, whose difficult births led her on a path towards helping emerging families create positive experiences.
Amanda Marshall
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Amanda Marshall began her journey with CAPPA in 2003. She is a Certified Labor Doula, Certified Postpartum Doula, and a Certified Lactation Educator. She teaches Breastfeeding and Infant Care classes to expectant parents. Amanda brings a supportive and caring presence to the clients she works with. She has a passion for helping families through the transition into parenthood. As a wife of over 15 years and a mom of 2 boys, Amanda understands the importance of caring for mom and baby, to nurture the family as a whole, and to support new moms to the best of her ability. Amanda became a Postpartum Doula CAPPA Faculty Member in 2012 and feels blessed to represent CAPPA in her home state of Colorado.
Kirsten Dehmlow
Childbirth Educator Faculty
Kirsten became a member of CAPPA in 2004. She is a Certified Childbirth Educator, Certified Labor Doula and a Certified Lactation Educator. Kirsten is an active educator in the Denver community and enjoys inspiring families in their journey to welcome a new baby. In 2012, she happily became a faculty member for CAPPA's Childbirth Educator program. She is excited to train new educators and to share her passion for the childbearing year. Kirsten is blessed to be the mother to five fantastic children.
Florida
Janice Banther
Childbirth Educator and Labor Doula Faculty
Janice has been helping women during their birth since 1982 and has attended over 500 births. She is a certified childbirth educator, certified labor doula and an approved trained counselor and trainer with RTS Bereavement. She is also a postpartum doula and breastfeeding counselor. Janice is the founder and executive director of For The Love of Birth, Inc. which is a non-profit organization in Tarpon Springs, Florida. She teaches childbirth classes and is a doula for one of the county jails. Her greatest pride and joy is her husband Barry, her two sons, David and John, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth. You can learn more about her by visiting her website, birthingwithlove.com.
Esther March-Singleton
Lactation Educator Faculty
Esther March-Singleton, MBA, RN, BHS, IBCLC, CLE has charisma and a natural gift for educating women and healthcare professionals. It was through her experiences and trials as a wife and mother of three, that brought out her passion for helping other women close the gap with the difficulties encountered during breastfeeding. Esther has a been in the healthcare field working as a nurse for over 30 years and over 19 years as an educator. Esther is the owner of A Mother’s Choice Breastfeeding Services, which provides an array of resources and tools to successful breastfeeding experiences. As a CAPPA CLE instructor, she would like for you to gain knowledge through presenting evidence based information and to pass on her legacy to you as you help other women overcome breastfeeding challenges.
Christy Shields
Childbirth Education Faculty
Christy first joined CAPPA in 2005 and immediately volunteered to join the team to further the CAPPA vision. After attending her first CAPPA conference in Atlanta that year, she immediately felt like part of the CAPPA family. She certified with CAPPA as a labor doula in 2006, and recently certified as a childbirth educator with CAPPA. Christy has enjoyed volunteering with CAPPA in a variety of positions, and she served as the Region 4 Representative from 2010 - 2012. She has now joined the board of directors as the Executive Director of Childbirth Education and is looking forward to participating in helping CAPPA continue their mission of educating, supporting, and inspiring women in their journeys as mothers. Christy has been happily married since 1997, and is the mother of two amazing children.
Ruth Kraft
Labor Doula Faculty
As the Founder and Executive Director of Women Honoring Women in 2002, Ruth Kraft, has been working with women and mastering her ability to nurture in a profound for way her entire life. After researching and having great interest in the birth process for many years prior, she then chose to turn it into a career. She is certified as a labor doula and childbirth educator through CAPPA. She Enjoys training and mentoring new labor doula's through the process of making this a career and spreading the empowerment to as many women as she can reach. Ruth also provides hypnobirthing, private classes, mentoring, childbirth education and breastfeeding consults. Ruth has engaged in many local speaking engagements to help women understand the options and empowerment through their birth and motherhood. Ruth is the proud mother of Emma and Jacob and lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Lynsay Southworth
Lactation Educator Faculty
After receiving her Bachelors of Science in Dietetics from Western Michigan University, Lynsay Southworth moved to Florida and began working for the Women Infants and Children’s Supplemental Nutrition program. It was working in this area of public health that she fell in love with breastfeeding and empowering women. She soon met the requirements and successfully passed the International Board Certified Lactation Examiners and the Registration exam for Dietetics. She currently serves as the Breastfeeding Coordinator for Pinellas County Florida. She appreciates learning about birth, breastfeeding, and nutrition. In addition to having a passion for mentoring she also enjoys visits with family and friends in Pure Michigan.
Georgia
Tracy Wilson Peters
Childbirth Education and Labor Doula Faculty
Tracy is a born communicator. She has been working with expectant mothers for more than 16 years, assisting over 200 women as a doula and educating more than 3,000 families about childbirth. She has been featured on Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC and in publications such as The Atlanta Journal, The Times, The Gwinnett Daily Post, Fit pregnancy magazine, Atlanta Parent Magazine, The Indiana Star, and Essence. She is the author of The Must Have Labor Doula Marketing Manual, as well as co-producer of the video Labor Support: A Comfort Guide. She co-founded CAPPA in 1997. You may view Tracy's media kit here.
Margi Deneau-Saxton
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Margi Deneau-Saxton RN, CCCE, CIMI®, CIIT, CLC, CPD is a Perinatal Nurse
with over 40 years experience. She is a Childbirth Educator, Lactation Counselor
and Postpartum Doula and recently joined the CAPPA faculty as a Postpartum Doula
trainer. A Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI®), Margi is also a Trainer with the
International Association of Infant Massage (IAIM®/WINC). Her work as a postpartum
nurse led her to develop massage techniques (Welcome Baby Massage) to specifically
support the natural physiological transitioning of the newly born. In 2004, Margi founded
MotherNurture, a collaboration of healthcare professionals with the mission to provide
nurturing support to pregnant and postpartum women and the vision that women who are
nurtured are better able to nurture others. A long-time advocate of the Midwifery Model
of Care, she serves at home births whenever possible. Margi has herself, experienced
four home births and feels blessed to have been present for the births of five of her
grandchildren. She and Loren have been married for 44 years; their six grown children
have made them grandparents to thirteen.
To learn more, you may visit her website: www.mothernurture.net
Massachusetts
Julie Brill
Childbirth Educator and Labor Doula Faculty
Julie Brill, CCCE, CLD owns and manages WellPregnancy in Bedford, Massachusetts. She graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Women’s Studies and Sociology and completed the Massachusetts Midwifery Apprenticeship Course. Julie is a veteran childbirth educator who has been teaching childbirth classes and attending births as a midwifery apprentice and doula since 1992. She has been a member of the CAPPA Faculty since 2003, teaching trainings throughout New England. She is honored to have taught hundreds of CAPPA professionals and thousands of childbirth education students. Julie teaches a wide variety of private and group perinatal classes in the Boston area, and specializes in natural childbirth, VBAC, homebirth preparation, and infant care. She is certified to teach Peggy Huddleston’s Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster program and provides phone cesarean birth preparation classes nationwide. Her writings on perinatal topics have appeared in many publications including Midwifery Today, hip mama, ePregnancy, and Parenting from the Heart. She is the mother of two homeschooled girls. Julie believes birth can be extremely empowering and is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with birthing families and mentor CAPPA childbirth educators and labor.
Jodi Krentzman
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Jodi Krentzman is first and foremost, a mother to her amazing 3 year old daughter. Giving birth was a life changing experience for her and was ultimately what made her decide to get involved in pregnancy and birth as a career. She felt compelled to educate women on the options and choices they have for their births to try and make each and every experience the very best it can be. Her priority as a Postpartum Doula is to support new mothers and families emotionally and physically and to educate them on the care of their precious newborn. Jodi is a certified Postpartum Doula and Postpartum Doula Trainer for CAPPA. She is also a trained Labor Doula and Childbirth Educator (CAPPA), currently working on both certifications.
Jessica Lang Kosa, PhD, IBCLC
Lactation Educator Faculty
Jessica is a biologist who became a mom, and fell in love with birth and breastfeeding. After doing cancer research for years, she changed the focus of her research to maternal and child health. She became a member of La Leche League in 2000, when her first child was born, and eventually became accredited as a La Leche League Leader, offering “mother-to-mother” breastfeeding help. In order to offer comprehensive one-on-one breastfeeding help to mothers struggling with breastfeeding, she became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and is now in private practice in the Boston area. Training other professionals in evidence based breastfeeding support combines her academic background with her determination to help mothers meet their breastfeeding goals. Visit her at http://www.motherfeeding.com/
Missouri
Louise DeLaney
Childbirth Educator and Labor Doula Faculty
Louise's fascination and passion for the pregnant woman started long ago. She has always found such beauty in the way a woman's body swells with life and how we, as women, are the ones who get to so intimately participate with God in His creative process as He creates yet another miracle. It seemed only logical then, that she would find a way to channel this passion into something productive and constructive. She started working with expectant moms and their partners in 2003 and has never looked back. She currently offers a variety of private childbirth education classes, doula services and trainings to the greater Kansas City area. She has been married to her best friend, Ed, since 2001 and together, they have two beautiful children. She holds both of her certifications as a childbirth educator and labor doula through CAPPA. Louise is currently working on becoming a Certified Lactation Educator with CAPPA as well. She writes the Member Spotlight for the CAPPA Quarterly. Suggestions may be emailed to enpzmom@gmail.com.
Kay Miller
Childbirth Educator, Labor Doula, Lactation Educator and Teen Educator Faculty
Kay has been working with expecting and new families since 1998. She joined CAPPA in 2008, and she holds her certifications as labor doula, childbirth educator, lactation educator, and teen educator through CAPPA. Kay serves as Executive Director of Operations on CAPPA's Board of Directors (since 2010), and is CAPPA faculty. She was the Region 6 Representative for CAPPA from 2009-2011. She is a nurse and a HUG Your Baby Instructor, and is currently working towards her IBCLC. Kay is passionate about educating and supporting women during pregnancy, labor and birth, and postpartum. She encourages women to receive education, do research, and talk openly with their providers. Her desire is to present positive, evidence based information to families, so that they can make the best choices possible in their specific situation. Kay has two amazing children - a son born in 1996 and a daughter born in 1998. She homeschools her children, and she and her children are very active in their church and community.
New Jersey
Crystal Sada
Labor Doula Faculty
Crystal Sada has been a childbirth educator for 27 years. She also ran a very busy labor and postpartum doula practice for twelve years, having attended over 500 births and worked with hundreds of families. In the past she was the Director of Postpartum Programs with CAPPA as well as a member of the Board of Directors. Her workshops are well attended and very popular. Crystal resides with her husband Jerry and their Cairn Terrier Roxy in Mount Laurel, New Jersey and is an Administrative Assistant at Princeton University. She and Jerry share 5 grandchildren. Crystal is very excited to return to CAPPA as a labor doula trainer and is willing to travel to areas other than New Jersey where there are no CAPPA trainers to provide workshops. Birth is her passion!
New Mexico
Katrina Fuller
Lactation Educator Faculty
Katrina Fuller, CCCE, CCTE, CLE, CAPD, CLD, BPC is the owner and manager of Natural Nesters, providing pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and breastfeeding education, support, and integral therapy services in Hobbs, New Mexico since 2009. She also serves as the New Mexico Region 4 Lead WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force Board Chair, and New Mexico CAPPA Lactation Educator Faculty Member. Katrina has an A.A., A.S., B.S. in Elementary Education, and M.S. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently working towards an Ed.D in Teacher Leadership and certifications as a CPFE, CPD, and IBCLC. She strives to utilize her background in education to teach classes for families, facilitate trainings for professionals, and contribute to the body of current, evidence-based research. Katrina is happily married with three children, having experience as a single, teenage mother; married, stay-at-home wife; and work-at-home tandem nurser. To contact her, please visit www.naturalnesters.com or email katrina.fuller@naturalnesters.com.
New York
Brenda Bach
Childbirth Educator Faculty
Brenda has been a childbirth educator since 2003 and was a labor and delivery nurse before teaching childbirth classes. She has been a guest lecturer at the University of New York at Albany. In addition, she has mentored interns from the University through her local BirthNet group. Brenda enjoys training new childbirth educators and mentoring them through their journey. Brenda is married and has one son.
North Carolina
Laura Nance
Labor Doula, Postpartum Doula and Lactation Educator Faculty
Laura Nance has been involved in childbirth since 2001 as a childbirth educator and labor doula. She has been a CAPPA faculty member since 2005. She loves being involved in the empowerment of families during their childbearing year and feels very honored to participate in such a special time in people's lives. As a faculty member she tries to ignite passion and confidence in other doulas. She has a special place in her heart for breastfeeding, postpartum depression, and VBAC. She lives in the foothills of NC with her very supportive husband, Brent (married in 1992) and their 2 wonderful kids whom she loves more and more each day. They have a crazy cat and goofy mutt. They enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities together such as hiking, fishing, camping, boating, biking, and wildlife watching. She also enjoys reading, photography, and homeschooling her kids.
Oregon
Kimberly Bepler
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Kimberly is a certified postpartum doula (CAPPA and DONA), a certified postnatal educator (ICEA), and a certified postpartum doula trainer. She received her lactation specialist/educator training from Evergreen Hospital. She has been working with postpartum families for over 7 years, and has a passion for the newborn and the new family. Kimberly founded ABC Doula Service in 2001, and has seen the company grow to serving over 450 families in the Portland metro area. She is a member of CAPPA, DONA, ICEA, and LLLI. She has been quoted in several publications on topics covering the postpartum period. In addition to her postpartum work, Kimberly also teaches breastfeeding and newborn care classes within the Providence Health System, offers her trainings locally in Portland, Oregon, and travels to surrounding states offering several trainings each year. She is kept humble by her son, daughter, and husband, a 'stay at home dad' who helps keep her life full of learning and teaching!
Pennsylvania
Margee Hanford
Postpartum Doula Faculty
Margee Hanford M.Ed. C.P.D. has been a postpartum doula since 1998 and a CAPPA faculty member since 2001. The latter allows her to run postpartum workshops for women who wish to attain national certification as a postpartum doula through the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association. Although she recently dissolved her highly successful doula agency, Loving Beginnings, Inc., Margee is still actively helping new families in the greater Philadelphia and Wilmington area. Her goal is to offer loving support and guidance in making the transition into parenthood and to mother the new mother while instilling confidence and wisdom. She is certified in infant massage through I.A.I.M (International Association of Infant Massage). Margee has taken extensive breastfeeding courses and courses dealing with postpartum mood disorders. She specializes in assisting families with multiples. Margee has a Masters degree in early childhood from Boston College. She is the mother of five and the grandmother of three.
Tennessee
Christine Sneed
Lactation Educator Faculty
Christine Sneed, IBCLC, CLE, CCCE has over 15 years teaching experience. She has worked as a Doula, Lactation Consultant, Childbirth Educator, and Patient Advocate. She has attended over 300 births as well as supported thousands of families through the postpartum/lactation journey. She always says ‘it is a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together’. In addition to being on faculty with CAPPA for the Lactation Educator program, Christine has worked for LifeCircle Women’s Healthcare in Cleveland, TN for over ten years as a patient advocate overseeing the quality of care for the patients’ antenatal / postpartum experience. You may learn more about Christine and the services she offers at
www.latchontolactationeducation.com
Texas
Lesley Spradlin
Labor Doula Faculty
Lesley has been serving expecting families for over 10 years. First working for the American Pregnancy Association and then as a doula, Lesley found her passion for all things pregnancy and birth! Certified as a birth and postpartum doula, Lesley loves educating families on their options during pregnancy and birth, and then helping them find their natural role during the postpartum time. In addition to being a doula, Lesley also has served families by teaching childbirth classes, doing postpartum clinical work at a birth center, leading a "new moms" group and teaching breastfeeding education. Lesley says that being a doula trainer is just as exciting as attending births - "Instead of helping birth babies, I am helping birth a new passion in a woman to use her gifts!" Lesley has been married since 2001 and has two amazing children.
Vermont
Jessilyn Dolan
Labor Doula Faculty
Jessilyn Dolan has been working with birthing families for over ten years. She is a registered nurse and certified massage therapist, specializing in maternity and deep tissue massage, acupressure, reiki, and craniosacral therapy. Jessilyn is a certified Labor Doula, Certified HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator and Certified Infant Massage Instructor. She is chapter leader of Vermont's first ICAN. Jessilyn previously owned and operated a Family Wellness Center for five years, incorporating all of her birthing knowledge and classes and instructing yoga for all ages. She previously taught Reflexology, Anatomy and Physiology and Traditional Chinese Medicine classes in the massage program at the Community College of Vermont. Jessilyn has worked at shelters with victims of domestic and sexual violence and families with diverse backgrounds and special needs. She is a caring, honest, and open woman who wants to help make a difference in the lives of those around her. Jessilyn lives in the northern woods of Vermont with her family, a house full of boys!!
