Maya Hernandez, mother of two and professional birth worker, started to receive an influx of inquiries from expectant parents. These soon-to-be mothers all expressed how difficult it had been to find a Spanish-speaking doula in New York City, which surprised Maya because she knew of so many in practice. This initially sparked an idea to create a directory of locally-based bilingual doulas, but the thought quickly blossomed into something even more impactful: Doulas en Español.
Doulas en Español is a collective of professional, Spanish-speaking doulas providing culturally competent care to the Hispanic community in New York City—many of whom are newly arrived migrant families. With a combination of virtual programming and in-person support services, they have helped thousands of people in their journey to grow their families, and establish a life in the United States.
It all started in 2019 with a conversation between four bilingual doulas, initiated by professional birth worker, Maya Hernandez. Maya had identified the need for a directory of Spanish-speaking doulas so the local Hispanic community could find the care and support they needed. As they started taking on clients, word-of-mouth helped the idea spread, and more doulas expressed interest in getting involved.
Shortly after the pandemic hit, the cultural conversation around maternal health within communities of color became more prominent, and sparked new ideas for how this doula collective could support their New York City community.
“We got a second burst of energy, and we actually saw the biggest growth in terms of members at that point,” shares Maya. “We raised money to provide birth support scholarships to low income Hispanic families. From that point on, it became more structured and more strategic—we’ve been developing more programs ever since.”
One of the additional offerings created was a mentorship program where Spanish-speaking doulas and birth workers are invited to join cohorts within Doulas en Español to help them build their businesses and offerings. Sofia Caballero Stafford, a global health professional and doula, joined one of those cohorts in 2022, and has since been closely involved in the organization.
“I trained as a doula to be able to support moms, particularly women of color who have the highest rates of preventable maternal mortality—and that’s actually increasing, not decreasing in the United States,” shares Sofia. “I really wanted to be able to serve the Spanish-speaking community in particular, and was looking for an outlet to do that.”
The Doulas en Español model is centered around partnerships that allow the collective to share their expertise and cultural background and fill a gap in the maternal health system. One such initiative is regular birthing circles that Doulas en Español hosts at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Every month, two large rooms are transformed into a welcoming, safe space for families to share a healthy meal together, and simply be with other parents who understand their experience. Pregnant and postpartum guests are welcome to browse a free store with hundreds of donated maternity items, then transfer to community circles for programming sessions such as breastfeeding, comfort measures and birth plan development, domestic violence awareness, and more.
“After the first two birthing circles, I was honestly shocked and moved,” shares Mariel Actosa, a doctoral student at CUNY who is actively involved in mutual aid efforts in New York. “Some of the moms and their young children would approach us with gratitude and tears in their eyes, saying how welcomed they felt in those couple of hours the events lasted.”
Jaquelin, a newly arrived migrant mother from Guatemala, was in a shelter with her family when she heard about Doulas en Español, and started attending the birthing circle events.
When reflecting on how she felt while attending her first meetup, Jaquelin shares, “I felt very loved and very emotional, because it was unexpected that my family would receive this kind of welcome in this country.”*
In March of 2024, Doulas en Español launched their second GoFundMe to help continue funding birthing circle events, pay doulas a fair wage, and expand their ability to provide one-on-one individualized doula care to pregnant people and new parents living in migrant shelters—the only program in New York City currently doing so.
When founders Maya and Sofia are asked about their dream for the future of Doulas en Español, they have this to say:
“Our dream is that culturally competent doula support in Spanish be widely accessible to the Hispanic community in the United States. When you change a mother, you change a family. When you change families, you change the world.”
*Translated from Spanish with on-site translator assistance
