About Us

  • I have always been drawn to the magic and mystery of the feminine. Using my own herstory as a DONA-certified Doula, Transpersonal Art Therapist, yoga teacher, meditation practitioner, and constantly-learning mother, I tune deeply into each unique journey that a mother makes as they move from maiden to mother or mother-again. I believe that when we tap into our inner wisdom, we can parent with more confidence and alignment.

    I grew up in Richmond, spending my time outside getting messy and begging my mom for more siblings:) Pregnancy has always been awe-inspiring to me. I found meditation and yoga as a teenager and spent my early adulthood teaching yoga, creating art, and exploring the world. After getting my Master’s in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Art Therapy at Naropa University, I started a family and experienced the joy and intensity of the transitional pregnancy time.

    I birthed my three children in Boulder, and am incredibly lucky to have been in a community where birth support is valued and based on current evidence-based research. Resources for me to learn about birth as a hormone-driven process, to get to know my body, and to access support for the physical, mental, and emotional transition that motherhood calls for were plentiful. I had my first child unmedicated in a hospital with an incredible team, and my second two were born in water at a birth center. All three experiences were empowering and deepened my understanding of myself. My hope is that I can offer that same level of deep trust and empowerment that I was given to each person that I hold space for in birth.

    My work has always centered on women, families, and transitional times. I’ve held groups for women during pregnancy and postpartum, supported survivors of sex-trafficking in Cambodia, worked in an all-girls movement-based middle school, and currently support families and children in creating a healthy foundation of emotional and mental health in the early years of familyhood as the Art Therapist at Little Explorers Discovery School.

    I truly light up when talking about birth, hence our Moonfire offerings of birth consults, mother blessings, and art exploration. After moving to Crozet in 2019, luck was on my side when Laura moved across the street and mentioned that she was a doula looking for a partner. The stars aligned and we quickly decided to lean into the birth support world together. Movement, presence, art, and community have been core parts of my story, and I’m so excited that these pieces have all fallen into place to support here in Crozet.

    At home, you’ll find me in my art studio playing with textures and colors, spending my time outdoors with my family, attempting to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie, and seeing how many animals I can convince my husband to add to our yard :)

CD(DONA), ATR, Spinning Babies (2023), Advanced Advocacy Training (Intentional Birth, 2024)

  • There are so many ways people find to connect with something larger than themselves. For me, it’s birth. I feel it is a great privilege to be present for this intimate and transitional moment - to witness the astounding strength of a mother, the resilience of the human spirit, the precious fragility of life. To understand the way that women who are surrounded with love, acceptance, and support can find the power inside themselves to bring new life into the world. It’s very humbling.

    My doula gave me the confidence I needed to trust my body and birth my twins naturally in a hospital setting, which is the greatest thing I’ve ever done. I felt connected to all the women who had given birth before me and the power of that carried me into motherhood feeling capable, wise, and worthy of the task of caring for two brand new lives. The pain taught me about my strength, because if I could survive and thrive in labor, I could do anything. Knowledge about my own power was the gift my doula gave to me and what I hope to pass on to others on their own birthing journeys.

    As a doula, my goal is to help mothers access their inherent power and feel confident in making their own choices throughout their pregnancy, labor and birth. I do this through sharing knowledge, validating emotional experience, facilitating movement and connection to physical body among other things. I bring with me my doula training with DONA and Spinning Babies, experience in home-birth, birthing center and hospital settings, and a network of trusted birth workers who support me while I support mothers.

    In my previous life, I studied economics at Princeton and worked for a software startup that was eventually bought by a major financial services company. I cashed out my stock options and trained with DONA to become a birth doula in 2017, right after the birth of my twins. I have been attending births ever since, keeping a light load because I have also been raising three young children and doing my own work to become the parent I want them to have. My husband and I chose to settle our family in Crozet after testing out many other options (including San Francisco, London, Sydney, Hanoi, and Washington DC) because it has the perfect combination of everything we value. I pinch myself daily because I can’t believe my luck that I live in a place that is surrounded by mountains and nature, I get to walk my kids to and from school (and sometimes to the ice cream store!), and right across the street is my best friend and doula partner, Kelsey.

    When I’m not at a birth, you might find me walking on the trails in Mint Springs Park, playing pickle ball at Crozet park, at Crozet library picking up books about birth, parenting, Buddhism, native plants, novels or poetry, taking really long baths and naps (usually not at the same time), working in the garden, baking sourdough bread, or sitting around a fire with friends.

CD(DONA), Spinning Babies (2023), Advanced Advocacy Training (Intentional Birth, 2024)

What our clients say

  • “There were a lot of moments when Kelsey was the only reason that I felt calm and in control. Having her wealth of knowledge allowed me to trust my body to do the next right thing and remember the strength I had inside me."

    Kate B.

  • “The most comforting part of having Laura involved in Joey's birth was that she felt more like a relative than just a doula. We felt more comfortable asking her for guidance than others on our team, and always helped us feel confident that we were making the most informed decisions we could.”

    Beth P.

  • "Kelsey has a sweet, nurturing presence along with a natural ease within transition times that gave me great comfort. She is deeply wise and confident along with being a colorful, playful, and fun person."

    Whitney O.

  • “Laura was an excellent advocate and offered so much empathy and compassion to me as a new mother. Any laboring woman and their partner would be so lucky to have Laura by their sides! We can’t recommend her doula services enough. “

    Lauren J.

  • "My husband and I both felt so supported throughout the entire process. The care Kelsey provided was individualized to our specific needs. Kelsey made such an impact on our first birth and we will definitely be asking her to support our future births!"

    India B.

  • “Having Laura in the room—a completely calm spirit and fully initiated birthing mother herself—helps you believe in your own power and stay rooted in it when you reach the point that you need it most.”

    AmaJean S.

  • "Kelsey was a guiding light for me, someone I trusted and could turn to when things felt especially difficult. I am so thankful she was a part of my beautiful journey of bringing my last baby into the world.”

    Kate B

  • “As the husband, it was so reassuring to have Laura’s experience that I could take cues from, and it allowed me to focus on being present and supportive for my wife.”

    Nathan O.

  • "Going into it, we were unfamiliar with doulas and didn't know if we needed one. Looking back, it was one of the best things about the experience.  We would recommend Laura to anyone having a baby, at home or otherwise.”

    Beth P.

  • "My husband was nervous about the hospital environment and the birthing process, and Kelsey was able to support both his and my needs and make the experience positive for us both."

    India B

  • “Even though our birth didn’t go exactly as planned, it was a wonderful experience thanks to Laura’s knowledge and calm positive energy”

    Jessica O.

  • "Kelsey answered all of our questions with very thoughtful and educational answers. My husband is a doctor and he kept talking about how helpful our calls with her were and how he wished this information was taught to doctors for them to better support their patients."

    Raphi W.

  • “Laura is such a peaceful and empowering presence in a birth room. She has the intuition and humility to recognize the support needs and meet them, no matter what they are."

    AmaJean S.

  • “Kelsey is such a positive and genuine, heartfelt person. She helped us feel more confident and strong in our birthing process. She answered our questions, and gave us tips and skills for our big day!”

    Chelsey L.

We believe

  • In the power, strength and wisdom inside all birthing people

  • Birth is not just about the baby, but about a whole family being born

  • Families deserve emotional, physical, informational and social support throughout their pregnancy, birth and transition into parenthood

  • All birthing people should have the power to make their own decisions and access to quality information to support decision-making

  • Birth is a normal physiological process that is safe and effective most of the time and when we let birth unfold naturally, we maximize safety and reduce risk

  • Birth is a sacred rite of passage, designed to be a positive, transformational, empowering experience