Personal

Nice to meet you! I’m Rachel (she/her and they/them), a white (French and Italian ancestry), queer woman. I grew up and currently live on unceded Anishinabewaki, Potawatomi and Mississauga land - also known as Southeast, MI. My work in sexual and reproductive health education and advocacy stems from a drive to improve body literacy, menstrual literacy, and the practical skills for boundaries and consent as they relate to reproductive and sexual health across the lifespan. My work is deeply influenced by own health journey living with a diagnosed incurable chronic illness and chronic pain. I was brought to this work, like so many of us, by my personal experiences and drive for political activism. I am passionate about reproductive and birth justice; and about being devoted to a praxis that is self-healing, community healing and cultural healing all at once.

In addition to teaching reproductive and sexual health and working with individual clients, I currently serve on the Board of Directors and work as the Development Coordinator for the up and coming Detroit Midwifery School.

Growing up I attended high school at Farmington Hills Harrison, and later moved to Ann Arbor, MI to complete my bachelor’s degree. I have lived in Michigan my whole life, and love to explore the state. I built many memories and traditions with family and friends in Michigan landscapes. My partner and I now love to travel all around the state visiting it’s natural wonders and it’s state and national parks. I have great pride as a Michigander, and love where I live!

My spouse, our two dogs and six chickens love to spend our free time slowly building a wildflower garden full of Michigan Native plants, and enjoying the outdoors.

After many years of uncertainty, in 2023 I was diagnosed with an incurable chronic illness. This has informed every aspect of my experience in both my career and personal life; and while it doesn’t define me, it is an important part of my identity that I bring with me in my passion for this work.

education and training

academics:

I graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2009 with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Women’s Studies.

I graduated from the University of Minnesota in May 2025 with a Master’s of Professional Studies in Sexual Health, specializing in adult education.

continued education:

• Teaching Adolescent Consent Certainty and Boundary Clarity through Embodied Awareness and Assertiveness Skill Development, facilitated by Heidi Sproull with the University of Michigan School of Social Work Office of Continued Education, 2025.

• What is Consent? with Consent Wizardry, 2025.

• Slow & Sensuous with Marissa Correia, 2024.

• Oxytocin and the Womb Continuum with Samantha Zipporah, 2023.

• The Maiden to Mother Journey and Mature Feminine Leadership Retreat with author and rites of passage leader Sarah Durham Wilson, 2022.

• Nurturing the (Peri)Menopausal Self with Ayo Ngozi Drayton, 2022.

• Decolonized Approaches to Facilitation, co-facilitated by Eri Guajardo Johnson and king yaa, 2022.

• Stalking Wild Psoas presents Womb to World: The Journey That Shapes Our Lives, co-facilitated by Liz Koch of Core Awareness and world renowned pre and perinatal psychologist Anna Verwaal, 2021.

• The Pelvic Floor: A Workshop for Doulas with Sonia Reiter, 2021.

• Pleasure and Pregnancy, taught by Cassandra Corrado and hosted by Eri Guajardo Johnson of The Birth Bruja, 2021.

• Psoas During Pregnancy, Birth & Postpartum, taught by Liz Koch of Core Awareness, 2020.

• Healing After Abortion, taught by Carly Beaudry of Well Womxn Care and Teresa La Lupa, 2020.

• Supporting Survivors Who Birth, taught by Eri Guajardo Johnson with Cornerstone Doula Trainings, 2020.

• Impacts of Transgenerational Trauma & Racism on Maternal Health among African Americans, taught by Dr. Sayida Peprah and hosted by the Birth & Trauma Support Center, 2020.

• Systemic Racism in Perinatal Health: Implicit Bias Management with the ReBirth Equity Alliance, 2020.

• Cultural Competency Series: Cultural Sensitivity, Self Assessment and Addressing Racism in Western Medicine, hosted by Tracie Collins of the National Black Doulas Association, 2020.

• Supporting Folks Through Miscarriage and Stillbirth, hosted by Eri Guajardo Johnson featuring Brooke Patmor, 2020.

• Pelvic Core & Restore with Elise Bowerman, Detroit, MI 2019.

• Pediatric and Prenatal CranioSacral Therapy with Lori Hendrickson, Plymouth, MI, 2019.

• Rebozo Mexican & Innate Birth Care with Indigenous Teacher Lucia Echeri, Detroit, MI, 2019.

• Spinning Babies® workshop with international birth worker Tammy Ryan, Livonia, MI, 2019.

• Reproductive Justice Workshop, hosted by the Metro Detroit Midwives of Color featuring Cherisee Scott of the SisterReach organization in Detroit, MI, 2019.

• Decolonizing Wellness: A Perspective on the Social, Political and Economic Influences of Colonialism and it’s Effect on Wellness, with Olatokunboh Obasi of Well of Indigenous Wisdom, 2019.

• Sensitivity and Diversity Training: Identity and Intersectionality - at Affirmations Community Center in Ferndale, MI, 2019.

full spectrum doula trainings

In 2018 I completed a DONA International approved Birth & Postpartum training in Ann Arbor, MI at Lifespan Doulas ( formerly known as the Center For Childbearing Year). Patty Brennan, the director, owner, and lead trainer at the center was an incredible wealth of knowledge. Her experience in the field of birth work for over 35 years as a doula, midwife and childbirth educator are so valuable, and combined with the DONA International’s thorough curriculum, I felt confident and prepared to start working with clients immediately. Our training included a full day of breastfeeding curriculum with Barbara Roberston, MA, IBCLC, founder and director of the Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor.

• DONA International Training, 2018 [Birth and Postpartum] - The Center for Childbearing Year in Ann Arbor, MI

In 2020 I expanded my offerings to include holistic fertility doula services for people working to heal their womb, prepare for conception or address fertility issues. I completed my training and became certified in May 2020.

• Holistic Fertility Doula Training with Tracie Collins of the National Black Doulas Association, May 2020

In an effort to contribute to and create decolonized and intersectional reproductive spaces for people who are queer, trans & non-binary, and to further develop my advocacy skills, I continued my birth worker education under a reproductive justice framework by participating in king yaa’s 12 week course:

• Birthing Beyond the Binary with king yaa, March 2021

pelvic steaming

In 2017 I began my own pelvic steaming journey for my own self care. I spent some time working one-on-one with Marissa Corriera of CYCLICAL BODIES, and she was my guide into self-healing. She is the person who introduced me to the concept of pelvic steaming as a womb wellness practice, and directed me towards Keli Garza and the Steamy Chick website.

After experiencing so much relief in using it for my own self-care practice, I completed the Steam Facilitator Course and became a Certified Pelvic Steam Facilitator in 2020. I have also completed additional training modules including womb wellness, steaming for miscarriage, and steaming for postpartum.