Marisa Coloñ
With over 15 years of experience in birth work as a full spectrum "doula", birth assistant, and traditional midwife currently pursuing licensure in her state, Marisa offers priceless wisdom drawn from both her personal and professional journey. As a dedicated mentor and advocate, she has mentored many birth workers and supported countless families throughout the childbearing year, providing guidance rooted in traditional birth practices, herbal wisdom, and a deep respect for reproductive autonomy.
As a conscious mom of five, wife to her high school sweet heart and vegan of over 13 years, she is committed to healing generations through accessible education, health & womb wellness, and the reclamation of sovereign birth.
​
This effort requires better birth workers.
how it started...
I was called to Midwifery as a child—long before I understood its depth. My path began as what is most commonly known today as a "doula," supporting families while birthing and raising my own children. Throughout that time I apprenticed and assisted with my local midwives, following that path to traditional midwifery. My roots will firmly remain there, but licensure is necessary in this season of my life, in my current climate, and that is the path I am nearly done with. The lived experience of doula work in my community, the same community I'm walking the path of licensure for, shaped my respect for this sacred role. Doulas have always existed in some form, but in today’s system—where 98% still birth in hospitals and outcomes for all but especially Black birthing people remain dire—they’re more essential than ever.​
​
I created The Better Birth Worker because we need doulas who are not only skilled and educated, but culturally conscious, rooted in ancestral wisdom, and ready to navigate a medical system that often fails our people. Doulas that understand every word spoken in those spaces and diagnostic tool used. This work deserves more—more reverence, more preparation, more justice.
Shayla Bryant
Shayla is a Certified Holistic Birth and Postpartum Doula, a Certified Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, a High School Counselor, passionate Maternal Sepsis advocate, a wife, and a mother of three children. Her journey into birthwork began with her and her husband's personal choice to have a homebirth, which inspired the creation of Malawi’s House Birth Supply. Her experiences and commitment to maternal health have led Malawi’s House to rebrand, focusing more on Postpartum Care Support, Childbirth Education, and now part of The Better Birth Worker Team.
Driven by a commitment to further her impact, Shayla is pursuing a Doctorate degree in Human Services with a specialization in Leadership and Organizational Management. Her doctoral focus on Black Maternal and Infant Health. To further support Black families, she founded the Malawi’s House Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides evidence-based maternal information and financial assistance for out-of-institution births, empowering families to work with professional midwives.
A Word
A blog dedicated to accessible education, our births & our stories, the knowledge of plant medicine, and walking the sacred, messy path that is being the matriarch.
