Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings

Moss Froom (they/them) is a nonbinary doula and childbirth educator living in Baltimore, MD. After witnessing the difficulty that families in their community experienced when seeking baseline trans and queer competent care and support on their family building journeys, they dedicated themself to improving the perinatal experience for trans and queer people. Moss offers trans and queer centered support services for people at all stages of their reproductive and family building journeys, and teaches other birth workers how to provide support that's affirming and celebratory of trans and queer families.

Rise (they/them) is queer Black disabled writer, poet, and artist living on Potowatomi Land (Chicago). They are a meditation, gender affirming care and trauma education facilitator. They are a Birth/Abortion/Grief&Loss Care Worker. Rise deeply invested in disability justice, access, centering wellness for Black queer folk, trauma education and rest. You can find them on instagram at @riotous_roots or their website at www.riotousroots.com.

JB Brown (they/he) is a full-spectrum doula and community educator, with a passion for pelvises, humans, trauma-informed care, and restorative justice. As a trans non-binary person, he is practiced in the art (and awkwardness) of transition, and he brings this knowing and compassion to his work as a doula and educator, supporting individuals and families through their own transformations in conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and beyond. As a teacher and the Program Director at BADT, JB works with students and professionals to be partners and accomplices in the movement to change the current birth environment locally, nationally and globally. In addition to work in the perinatal space, JB does advocacy, education, mentorship, and consulting work around gender, both for trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, as well as folks looking to include these individuals in their work. http://www.loveoverfearwellness.com

Andrew Rich (he/him and they/them) is a trans non-binary human, parent, and post-bac pre-med student at the University of Louisville, as well as a graduate student in healthcare ethics. They live in Louisville, Kentucky with their spouse and somehow two-year-old kid who has not been assigned a gender, loves "fancy dresses," and is one of the funniest-kindest-smartest people Andrew knows. He previously worked as a doula and lactation educator, and hopes to one day become an OBGYN focusing on sexual, reproductive, and gender health for trans, queer, and gender diverse people. Andrew loves to talk, think, and learn about gender and identity, and dreams of a world where the sex/gender binary no longer exists so that all of us—from the babies to the elders—can exist in our bodies, relationships, and communities as we are and want to be.

Gem Kocher, CD (they/them) is a non-binary autistic full spectrum doula, educator and activist based in Berlin, Germany. Birth work called them shortly after graduating from Brown University in 2014, and they’ve since accompanied hundreds of families through their pregnancy, birth, postpartum, loss, and gender transition journeys. They currently train doulas as a founding educator with Doula Trainings International. Gem’s mission is to create meaningful change in people’s lives through inclusion, information liberation, and grassroots care work. They are on Earth to hold space for a more radical, more just, more healed world to be born. (Languages: English & German) www.rainbowdoulaberlin.com

Christian A'Xavier Lovehall (he/him) is a proud Black Trans man with Caribbean roots, from Philly known for his poetry, music and freedom fighting. By day, he is co-owner of FrootFly LLC, a freelance photographer and an unapologetic advocate for the most marginalized individuals and communities, including Black Trans individuals, people living with disAbilities, those who are undocumented and sex workers. By night, he is a HipHop artist, known as WORDZ The Poet Emcee, who works tirelessly to save the world from the influence of “wack emcees” with music many fans consider to be a “breath of fresh air”. In 2011, Christian founded and organized the Philly Trans March, an annual rally, protest and march towards Trans equity and liberation. In 2013, Christian became a Certified Peer Specialist and has worked as a Recovery Specialist at Morris Home, the east coast’s first residential program for Trans and Gender non-conforming individuals in recovery from alcohol and other drugs. In 2015, he founded and created The Free Ky Project, to help spread awareness about Ky Peterson and the untold stories of Black and Brown Trans Men, who are survivors of sexual assault. In 2016, Christian became the lead facilitator of the TransMasculine Advocacy Network (TMAN), a support and advocacy group for Trans men of Color in Philadelphia founded in 2006. In 2017, Christian became a certified doula, affectionately known as Brotha Doula. By providing doula care that is inclusive of birthing trans men, gender non-conforming and non-binary individuals, Brotha Doula offers one-of-a-kind support to those who may not have access to non-judgmental, informed and confidential doula care. He is also a Board Member of DesireeAlliance and Strategic Committee member of The Black Sex Workers Collective. Today, Christian continues to live his life spreading a message of peace, love and liberation “by any means necessary".