Kristina Cheek is the founder and executive director of the Sista Girl Birth Initiative, a community-based organization dedicated to improving Black maternal health in Valdosta, Georgia. She is an active member of the Southwest Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition and the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Doula Access Working Group, demonstrating her commitment to promoting maternal and infant health. Additionally, Kristina is a member of the Southern Georgia Black Chambers of Commerce, where she has developed her business and community development skills.

Kristina’s dedication to perinatal health has earned her recognition as a Hometown Hero by the Southeast Georgia Community Health Worker association in September 2024. She has also been selected to join the second class of the South Georgia Women’s Leadership Initiative and has recently become a member of the newly formed Amicae Auxiliary chapter of Zeta Phi Beta in Valdosta, GA.

As a partner of the Sister Song Birth Justice Care Fund, Kristina works to reduce barriers to perinatal support for at-risk, low-income women in her community. She recently attended the Black Maternal Health Caucus Stakeholder Summit in Joliet, IL, representing Valdosta for the first time. In October 2024, Kristina will present at the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association annual conference, showcasing her organization’s community partnerships and strategies for achieving optimal perinatal health outcomes.

Erin Byrd is a certified labor and postpartum doula, breastfeeding educator, and childbirth educator serving families throughout Middle Georgia. As a devoted wife and mother of four, Erin brings compassion, experience, and evidence-based guidance to every family she supports.

Her approach blends advocacy, education, and emotional care to create safe, affirming, and empowering birth and postpartum experiences—especially for Black families seeking culturally centered support. Erin’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that every parent deserves to be heard, respected, and supported with dignity, knowledge, and calm confidence. She strives to nurture families through each stage of pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood, helping them feel prepared, connected, and cared for.

A mostly ATL native (Kingsport, TN born), Sylvester Pierce is a highly certified firearms, lifesaving first aid, and wilderness instructor with a passion for educating members of Black and Brown communities and those who have been demonized or conditioned to think they are bad, evil, or lesser than. He especially seeks to combat misinformation with accurate, culturally competent information.

Sylvester loves hiking. Loves, loves, loves. When not communing with nature, you’ll find him teaching, volunteering, collecting/listening to vinyl records, and supporting Black- and woman-owned businesses.

He is heavily influenced by Harriet Tubman and all those who saw a need for people to be in a better place, so they gathered resources and made it happen.

I am a dedicated advocate, doula, and community servant with a foundation in social work and a deep commitment to supporting women and families. My journey into birth work grew from years of advocacy and became full-time in 2025, answering a call I knew was greater than myself. I earned my certification as a Perinatal Patient Navigator and Community-Based Doula through Morehouse School of Medicine in April 2024, where my passion for perinatal equity and informed care deepened. Wanting more—for my clients and my community—I continued my education and graduated Valedictorian of the Full-Spectrum Doula Program with GBDN in June 2025. I am also a Certified Childbirth Educator with BADT, completing my certification in October 2025. Supporting women and children is a ministry gifted to me by the Most High. As a mother of four who has mothered many, I bring lived experience and steadfast advocacy to every family I serve.

Bashellia Williams is a seasoned doula and perinatal patient navigator based in Stockbridge, Georgia, with over 20 years of experience supporting birthing families. She is the founder of Thrive Birth and Life Coaching Consultants LLC and a certified childbirth doula and doula trainer who has supported nearly 100 births across hospital, home, and birth center settings.

Williams serves as a community-based perinatal patient navigator at the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Center for Maternal Health Equity, where she helps families navigate pregnancy, birth, and the healthcare system with confidence. Her work is grounded in a strong clinical background and complemented by certifications in perinatal navigation, lactation support, life coaching, and BLS instruction.

Featured in the film Cradled in Culture, Williams is a passionate advocate for respectful, culturally responsive doula care, empowering families to become informed champions of their own birth journeys.

am a somatic-based practitioner and birthworker. My path to purpose was ignited through motherhood and the unraveling of my own mental health in 2009—a moment that became both a breaking and a becoming. In 2016, Yeyo 2 Yaya Wellness & Birth Services was born from deep introspection, healing, and the peace I found through studying multiple modalities centered on feminine restoration and self-reconnection. My training includes coaching, bodywork, birth support, womb care, and multicultural healing practices.

I am an exclusive practitioner, apprentice, and birth assistant. I continue my education in traditional midwifery care current day. Through a blend of traditional birthwork and somatic therapy, with a strong focus on metaphysical anatomy, I hold space for women to understand how the emotional and spiritual body informs the physical experience.

The guidance I offer flows from intuition, lived experience, and ancestral awareness. My style is rooted in real talk—grounded, compassionate, and reflective—encouraging clarity, self-trust, and self-love.

Bio: Tiara Callahan is a holistic birth Doula who uses a faith based approach to help women and families physically, mentally and spiritually prepare for a safe and empowering birth experience. Working at CBWW in 2019 is where she became aware of the true need for black birth workers which motivated her to answer the call of becoming one herself. In 2020, Tiara became a certified L a doula. Tiara has been supporting, educating and helping families prepare for an optimal birth experience in both hospital and birth center settings for almost 4 years now. Not only is Tiara is a member of the “ Inner light Holistic Doula Mentorship” family which was founded by Shaconna Hailey; She is also a proud member of the Atlanta Doula Collective, founded by Sekesa Berry. Tiara is also a movement therapist so she uses a mindful movement approach in her practice to help families physically prepare for a natural birth.

Kiana is is dedicated to supporting families through evidence-based prenatal education, childbirth preparation, and breastfeeding support. A registered nurse for more than 20 years, she has spent the past decade providing prenatal and postpartum education and care. She is a wife and mother of four breastfed children. Driven by a commitment to equitable access to care, Kiana founded Mamas and Tatas in Jonesboro, GA, after identifying a need for lactation support in her community. Recognizing that cost can be a barrier for many families, she later established Ready Set Push Inc., offering Lamaze childbirth education and breastfeeding support to low-income families.

Kiana also leads a postpartum blood pressure program, co-hosts a postpartum support group, facilitates MAMMA for safer informal human milk sharing, and organizes community baby drives and resource fairs. She remains committed to ensuring all families have access to high-quality prenatal and postpartum support.

LaCresha “Cree” Cunningham, LCSW, is a passionate Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Authenticity Coach, and Spiritualist dedicated to mental health and wellness, drawing on over ten years of social services experience to intuitively heal emotional and psychological scars. As the founder of Healing Sacred Scars, she guides clients through transformative life phases rooted in purpose, operating at the intersection of spirituality, mental health, physical health, and culture to create a sacred space for authentic and individual healing. Cunningham rejects a “cookie cutter” approach, instead employing culturally specific designs, clinically relevant strategies, and evidence-based practices through a holistic lens to facilitate growth, self-discovery, and behavioral and mental transformation, ultimately helping clients recall their authentic selves, heal, and celebrate their journey.

LaCresha is currently licensed in three states and holds certificates and specialized training in military social work, perinatal mental health, and telehealth therapy.

Delandra is a Certified Professional Midwife and owner of Labor of Love. Doula & Childbirth Servies. She began her birth work journey as a labor doula in 2006, shortly after the birth of her oldest child, and transitioned into midwifery in 2018. Over her career, she has supported more than 700 families in the metro Atlanta area as both a doula and midwife.

A graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU SBI, Class of ’03) with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Delandra previously worked as a financial analyst and marketing associate in the investment consulting industry. After attending over 300 births, she acquired Labor of Love in 2016. She caught her first baby as a midwife in 2018, completed clinical apprenticeships with local home birth midwives, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Midwifery in 2022, and obtained her CPM credential in 2023.

Ky has been a strong advocate for young children and families for more than 15 years. Prior to joining the HMHBGA team, Ky proudly served in leadership roles in the fields of early childhood development, K-12 education, community development and public policy. Her commitment to creating equitable access to vital resources for children and families has been present throughout her career spanning from her time supporting Congressman Sander Levin to elevating to leaderships roles for Lighthouse Academy, Read to a Child, 313Reads – Detroit’s Campaign for Grade Level Reading and LENA Research Foundation. As a person who has experienced generational poverty, inequities in healthcare and ACE’s, Ky’s “why” is grounded in her life’s journey. With the support of her 3 sons, husband and vast HMHBGA “village” she is committed to reducing maternal and infant health disparities because she believes the prioritization of the health of moms and babies is simply the right thing to do.

Leah Jones, a born and raised Louisville, Kentucky native, is a proud Black Mama, an avid Maternal Health Advocate and Birth Justice Activist. Leah is the Deputy Director for SisterSong Women Of Color, Reproductive Justice Collective and has dual roles within the organization, as Birth Justice and Internal Organizational Management are both her passion and strength. Leah came to SisterSong with six years’ previous experience in Wealth Management and Office Administration. After receiving a certification in Nonprofit Human Resources Management from Emory University, Leah was promoted to Deputy Director in 2017. As Deputy Director, Leah manages the Sistersong’s Legal Compliance, Finance, Human Resources, Operations and Birth Justice departments and works to facilitate a productive and cohesive environment for their staff, board members, interns and volunteers. She now proudly brings these skills and expertise to the Atlanta Doula Collective as our Board Chair.

Sekesa is a prominent and dedicated community leader in Georgia, renowned for her expertise in Black maternal health and the Birth Justice movement. As a passionate advocate for reproductive justice, she has collaborated with numerous organizations and local non-profit foundations to decolonize birth, reduce birth traumas, and restore natural birth rights to Black families. With nearly two decades of experience in perinatal support, Sekesa has developed a diverse range of skills and knowledge, working in various roles such a doula, lactation consultant, childbirth educator, midwife and currently as the Founder and Executive Director of the Atlanta Doula Collective. 

Sekesa is a multifaceted professional who has made a significant impact in the field of birth justice. As an accomplished author and curator, she has developed several training curricula, including the Maternal Health Awareness Training (also known as Advanced Doula Skills Training) and The Innerstanding Birthwork Training. Her commitment to promoting birth justice is further evident in her non-profit organization’s recent collaboration with other thought leaders to establish National Black Doula Day in 2024. This initiative has inspired Sekesa to expand her reach across the state as the Georgia Black Doula Network and Training Institute, where she offers a comprehensive nine-month beginner’s doula training program that includes professional development and mentorship. This program aims to increase representation of Black doulas in rural Georgia, particularly in identified healthcare deserts.. Through her unwavering dedication and perseverance, Sekesa has become a cherished and invaluable resource in her community. However, despite her many roles and titles, she values her role as a mother to her four children and a community mother to many above all.