Community Doula Lucia Santina

I am reaching out because I have found my calling. While I have had great success and found great pleasure in making art, I know I need to do something where I can be of service and encourage people to  rediscover the power of their voices. In a society that leaves so many of us disadvantaged and underserved, I want to hold space for love, compassion and understanding from the very early stages of new life. I am working on becoming an educator, and a pillar to support mothers through childbirth and into parenthood. I am a doula.

photo from Teen Vogue "Future Faces of Feminism"

"The word "doula" comes from the ancient Greek meaning "a woman who serves" and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily." - DONA International

    I want to spend a year educating and supporting people in underserved communities. In high school I volunteered teaching sexual education (safe sex, HIV/AIDS prevention, STDs, pregnancy, birth control etc.) to prostituted children and teens through PEP/LA and Children of the night. This work was challenging, but taught me to be an advocate for sexual education, got me invested in working to fight trafficking, and struck a chord in me for people who have suffered from trauma. This experience is super valuable in the doula field. I am going to keep working teaching about consent and that we have to respect each other and each other's bodies. There are so many people, girls and women who have suffered through sexual trauma (about 1/3 in this country). I want to fight against that statistic through educating people about informed consent and respect. I am an activist. How could I not be in a world where people of different races, classes, beliefs, gender expressions, sexualities aren't treated equally?


I trained through DONA international, an organization that works to certify doulas and teach non-judge mental practice. Through my training, I have found myself listening to people more attentively and soaking up even more from every conversation I hold. The whole practice is about putting yourself aside, meeting people where they are, educating people based on evidence, caring for people and helping them prepare for supporting a new life. To be NEAR the new parents: Nurture, Educate, Assess, Refer.  I am also an advocate in the labor and delivery room, making sure the mother's expectations, desires and agency over her body are respected. There is a doula for everyone. I am going to provide care to anyone who needs it, no matter what their strengths, weakness or beliefs are. I have found the work incredibly fulfilling, and the community of birth workers endlessly loving.
    I have been accepted into the Joy in Birthing foundation and LA doula project, connecting doulas with low-income, underserved families in need. I want to help teens and incarcerated women and anyone who couldn't otherwise afford the priviledge of labor, delivery, breastfeeding and early childcare support.

I know this is my calling and I have to honor that.
process photo from working on a tapestry for YSL

I am doing this work no matter what it will take.

I am 19, trying to move out and figuring out how I can make it all work. These trainings are going to help me be of service to so many women, parents and newborns, but it can be costly. I just got my first apartment in Mt. Washington and I am trying to lease an electric car so that I can serve a greater area ( while trying to be responsible with the environment). I'm also trying to address some trauma that I have experienced and to overcome my anxiety. I need to raise some money to fund my training, to be supportive to those who need it in a really humbling and hands on way. The extra help will also allow me to continue being independent, taking care of myself, growing and healing with the money I have earned from my artwork.  Helping others is helping me to re-establish agency over my body, but I don't want to talk about that with my clients. It's about them and their needs. The money going towards this campaign is going towards my education, so that I can start by teaching moms, dads and babies and eventually even greater audiences. I need to develop the vocabulary to teach about the things that I care about most. 

There are so many things I can learn as a doula, here are some of the things I'm hoping to accomplish:

$1,000 Postpartum and birth training
$65 Doula Association of Southern CA membership 2 years with trainee discount
$180 DONA membership and certification packages
$210 DONA application processing fee
$200 books (taking suggestions and donations too)
$60 doula insurance
$90 full-spectrum certification (to be certified for families experiencing loss)
$20 business webinar (certification)
$100 comfort measures for new doulas training
$200 educational tools, anatomic models
$500 kit - birthing balls, soothing oils, comfort measures, massage tools
$100 breastfeeding workshop
$100 parenting class/birthing class for parents
$3,000 yoga teacher training and pre-natal training
$300 trauma informed yoga training to teach incarcerated youth and learn how to respect trauma survivors
~$500 placenta encapsulation training
~$1,000 energy work, breath training
$700 When Survivors Give Birth Penny Simkin Workshop (might have to travel to another state for this one. they're all over but infrequent. I bought the book.)
$700 establishing my business, developing educational tools, website, promotion

any money reached over the goal will go towards transportation to reach a greater community than Hollywood

I am trying to raise about $10,000 to get me on of my feet and enable me to do the work I need to. I promise to get the training done this year if I can reach my goal. With my expenses (birth control, rent, transportation, food, self care, all the good stuff we all need) covered by my savings and the work I'll continue to do as an artist/actress/DJ/whatever. 

photo featuring the BABY jacket I made with Saint Laurent from Teen Vogue "21 Under 21"

I would love to hear your stories, advice and create a village for everyone to build off of each other. I am really excited to watch people grow through birth and parenthood with my support. I promise that if I can raise this money that over 50% of the people I serve, I will serve for a low cost, depending on their need. I am amazed by the compassion, love and care in this community. I want to pay them what they deserve for what they're teaching me and use what I have learned to serve people who haven't been treated how they have deserved. 

Also, if you have any birthing tools or advice to donate that would be much appreciated. I am currently open to all of it. 

Much love, Thanks, Warmly,

Doula Lucia Santina Ribisi
#GFMtoSchool