BIRTH Fair is excited and proud to present American Sign Language interpretation for some of our speakers this year. We are grateful to our volunteer, Elizabeth Bruffey, a Texas BEI and RID certified interpreter.

April Bouley is a Licensed Massage Therapist and Birth and Postpartum Doula. She and her husband have had the joy of raising four amazing children. Her passion for holistic care began early on through bodywork and naturally evolved into birth and postpartum work as she experienced her own births. She offers an intuitive woman to women support, walking families through pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum, honoring and seeing value in the basics. With a strong foundation in therapeutic massage, she provides nurturing, hands-on care that promotes comfort and reduces tension/fear. This work has deepened her understanding of the pregnant body and complements her role as a birth doula. She brings this personal insight, combined with professional expertise, to every client she serves. She is especially passionate about natural birth and believes that confidence in the birthing process comes from being well-supported, informed, and prepared—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She is here to help guide you with care and compassion as you transition into parenthood. April truly loves mothering the mother through postpartum visits. Her interests are gardening, reading, and travel.

www.bouleybirthandbody.net

Micaela Canales worked as a reproductive justice organizer throughout Texas and as a labor and delivery nurse for LBJ and Ben Taub Hospitals, before becoming a midwife. She attended deliveries at home and in birth centers as a new midwife and gained experience in physiologic labor, non-pharmacologic pain management, waterbirth, and complementary and integrative approaches. At Texas Children’s Hospital, Micaela brought community-based birth skills to a hospital-based midwifery practice while employing all the resources a hospital setting offers. She is passionate about reimagining healthcare systems to better serve whole communities. Micaela received her MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from Texas Tech, her BSN from UTHSC-Houston, and her BA in Anthropology and International Policy Studies with a focus on gender from Rice University.

www.houstonmethodist.org/locations/childbirth-center/willowbrook/midwifery-services/

JacQue Colson-Smith is a Licensed Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife, Body Ready Birth Teacher, and the founder of Womb Wisdom Midwifery. Her approach is anchored in safety, education, ancestral wisdom, and empowerment. JacQue believes that pregnancy and childbirth is a catalyst for spiritual transformation; in which a woman discovers new depths of strength, intuition, and power within herself. Her mission is to help women experience pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum as seasons of life in which they feel informed, respected, supported, and deeply connected to their own wisdom. She believes safety and autonomy belong together, and that true informed choice begins with having the knowledge and support to understand your options. She honors the wisdom of the generations of midwives who have carried knowledge of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum through while thoughtfully integrating it with modern midwifery knowledge and evidence-based care. She envisions the perinatal period as something larger than an individual experience. When women are supported, families are strengthened. When families are strengthened, communities become stronger. Her hope is to help cultivate a culture of birth where women feel empowered to trust themselves and their providers, families feel supported, and the wisdom of birth is honored once again.

www.wombwisdommidwifery.com

Mackenzie Droll is a childbirth educator, postpartum doula, licensed massage therapist and founder of Birthing With Awe Doula Services. With over 10 years of experience supporting families through pregnancy, birth and Postpartum, she is passionate about empowering parents through evidence-based education and compassionate care. As a mother of three, Mackenzie brings both professional expertise and personal experience to her work, helping families feel informed, confident, and supported throughout their birth journey.

www.birthingwithawe.com

Mimi Estrada Vasquez is a devoted educator and parenting coach with over 18 years of experience supporting children and families, particularly in the foundational years from birth to age seven. With a Montessori certification and more than a decade of Waldorf experience, Mimi brings a rich, holistic perspective to early childhood development. Her work is grounded in inclusive, heart-centered education that nurtures the whole child. As the founder of Hand to Heart, Mimi offers a unique blend of parent coaching, seasonal subscription boxes, and guided play experiences inspired by developmental wisdom and creative rhythm. She has designed early childhood rubrics, mentored emerging educators, and cultivated communities rooted in warmth, presence, and connection. Through her work, Mimi empowers parents and educators to slow down, tune in, and create meaningful, lasting foundations for children’s growth—one heart-to-heart moment at a time.

ms.mimi@thehandtoheart.com                     @handtoheartnurture

Teddy is a Certified Full Spectrum Doula and Licensed Massage Therapist located in Houston and has been serving his community for six years. He is a Core Teacher for Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings, the very training he went through six years ago. He’s extremely grateful to be able to support and provide important information to his people. One thing he’s passionate about and takes pride in is educating both parents, especially the partners.

Jami Hain is a certified nurse midwife and has been the owner of Nativiti Family Birth Center since 2014. She has been a nurse since 1994 and has worked in pediatrics, home health, and obstetrics in various settings. She became a nurse/birth assistant at Nativiti in 2005 and fell in love with midwifery and the midwifery model of care. This fueled her desire to become a midwife and ultimately to step into the role of birth center owner when the previous owner retired. She is passionate about educating, empowering, and supporting women and families through women’s health, pregnancy, and birth …and beyond. She has been married to the love of her life for the past 44 years and has 2 wonderful adult sons and a beautiful daughter-in-law. She enjoys spending time with family, playing board games, and crocheting, and loves to dance like no one is watching.

www.nativiti.com

Encouraged to support women after the birth of her own daughters, Catrice Harris has been helping families with childbirth education, labor & birth, postpartum and lactation support since 1992. Now as a licensed Midwife, she has years of experience with both natural birth and postpartum care of women and infants. Midwifery has also opened up the opportunity to mentor and train aspiring doulas and other midwives in training as well. With both birth center and home birth experience, she is grateful to be able to follow her passion.

www.babysbeststart.org

Allie Haydon is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Supervisor (LMFT-S), Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPC-S), and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor (LCDC) with 15 years of experience helping teens, young adults, and families navigate anxiety, substance use, codependency, grief, and relationship stress. Through her private practice, Aligned Therapy & Coaching, she works with individuals feeling stuck between who they’ve been and who they want to become—including parents who want to support a struggling loved one but feel exhausted, disconnected, or unsure what to do next. Allie believes healing never happens in isolation. Even when a client shows up alone, the voices of their family and support system arrive with them—which is why her work with individuals in addiction and recovery always considers the loved ones surrounding them. Using a Solution Focused approach, she helps families move from guilt and over-functioning toward clarity, healthy boundaries, and real connection. Allie also serves as Executive Director of Rooted Oaks Ranch, an equine-assisted healing retreat center in Magnolia, Texas. She competes in Three Day Eventing with her horse, Rhiannon where she finds the same trust and partnership she helps her clients build.

www.alignedtherapycoaching.com

Debbie Hull has been serving Houston families since 1999. She is the Senior Program Advisor for CAPPA’s Labor Doula training programs and trains both labor doulas and childbirth educators for certification. She believes it is the most sacred of honors to care for families during their childbearing season and is very proud to speak into the work of the next generation of birth professionals. Debbie’s work has taken her places she never expected to go, including becoming a talk-radio host (wholemothershow.com) and acting in all the Houston productions of Karen Brody’s play, Birth. They say the birth sounds she made there, on a stage in front of hundreds of people, sounded real. She profoundly hopes so. Debbie, a childbirth class snob, designed her own childbirth class and even dads report enjoying it! She believes that we learn best when we’re laughing, so her classes and trainings are designed to be enjoyable and memorable. Debbie is most proud to be the mother of two amazing formerly breastfed and homeschooled adults. Her youngest has been on a 25+ year nursing strike. When she is not working on her feelings about that, Debbie enjoys travel, reading, and game nights, even when she loses. 

www.debbiehulldoula.com

Jihan Huq is a passionate HypnoBirthing Educator, hypnotist, and doula who has been empowering families throughout the Greater Houston community for the past eight years. As the Texas Chapter Leader for the HBI Institute, Jihan is dedicated to advancing compassionate, evidence-informed birth education and inspiring positive cultural change within Houston’s birth community. Through education, advocacy, and unwavering support, she helps families approach birth with confidence, knowledge, and empowerment.

www.sakinahbirth.com

Rachel Jones is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and a passionate educator, and mother of four outstanding children. As both a dedicated homeschooler and birthworker, she devotes her time to raising healthy individuals who build healthy families and establish healthy communities. Rachel’s work is rooted in the belief that healed people heal people, a principle that guides her commitment to education, empowerment, and holistic family support.

www.thecoolnerds.org

Tori Jones is a Certified Nurse Midwife at Baylor College of Medicine, where she provides full-scope midwifery care through the Harris Health System clinics and delivers at Ben Taub Hospital. Her clinical practice encompasses comprehensive gynecologic, reproductive, and maternity care. She is passionate about evidence-based, patient-centered care and improving access to high-quality healthcare. Tori serves the diverse and underserved communities of Houston and is committed to advancing health equity and addressing the unique needs of the patients and families she serves.

Suzanne Juel, IBCLC, has worked in lactation since 2003 and is the founder of Bayou City Breastfeeding, a large group lactation practice serving families throughout the Houston and San Antonio areas. Her work focuses not only on feeding, but on helping families navigate the practical realities of early parenthood and build patterns that are sustainable for their family. After years of encouraging parents to think intentionally about the traditions, routines, and rituals they wanted to create as their families grew, Suzanne realized that many parents understood why those things mattered but didn’t know where to start. That experience led her to create the Family Traditions Workbook, a practical resource designed to give parents a framework for deciding what matters to them and turning those intentions into traditions they can realistically maintain. Suzanne is also the mother of three adult children and brings both her professional experience and the perspective of looking back on what she wishes she had done differently when her own children were young.

www.bayoucitybreastfeeding.com

Having grown up going to public schools in Houston for her entire childhood, Karen graduated from UT Austin with accounting degrees. With no experience in teaching, she decided to try out homeschooling for her first child’s preK year. It went better than expected, so she tried another year, and continued doing so, homeschooling her two children for 13 years using a variety of curricula and programs. She’s learned about other curricula through her experience at The Homeschool Store as a homeschool consultant for the past 16 years and through a bit of tutoring for the past 10 years. In her free time, she enjoys music, coffee, and baking, plus reading books, browsing bookstores, and organizing her books.

www.thehomeschoolstore.com

Dr. Caroline Long is a pregnancy and pediatric focused chiropractor and founder of West U Wellness. A native Houstonian, she graduated from Spring Woods High School before earning her Bachelor of Arts at UCLA. At Texas Chiropractic College, Dr. Long discovered a passion for holistic care. After graduating with top honors, she completed over 400 post-graduate certification hours with the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, becoming one of the first chiropractors certified in pediatric and perinatal chiropractic in the Houston area. She also holds additional training and certification in acupuncture and advanced functional nutrition. She founded West U Wellness 22 years ago. Beyond chiropractic care, the clinic offers acupuncture, dry-needling, cupping, functional medicine testing, nutritional counseling, decompression, physical therapy modalities, and multiple types of massage therapy. West U Wellness has more pregnancy- and pediatric-trained chiropractors than any other small business in Texas. Since 2000, Dr. Long has built a reputation for compassionate care, treating patients ranging from 1 day old to 106 years old.

www.westuwellness.com

Holly Milkowski is a local birth worker who began her journey in 2012 with a call to activism for the right to breastfeed in public, without shame or fear of legal ramifications. In February, Holly celebrated her 7th year as owner of Your Labor Neighbor. Here, she offers Birth Boot Camp classes, placenta services, and doula care. Holly served on the Board of Directors at The Intact Network, ran a global Top 20 “Best Of” breastfeeding blog to raise awareness of biological parenting norms, and recently earned certification as a lactation support provider. She has a degree in journalism so naturally her favorite pastime is writing. The best part of her day is when she gets hugs from her two boys. But she also loves animals and listens to music all day long. Outside of birth work, you can find Holly teaching pole dance classes at Revolve Pole Studio.

www.YourLaborNeighbor.com

Vianey Navarro helps educators create inclusive and equitable learning environments for children using Montessori principles and practices. She has over 23 years of experience serving children and their families varying in age from birth through early childhood. She has always been passionate about education and child development. For the past 16 years, Vianey has been working as an instructor and field consultant at the Houston Montessori Center, where she helps teachers design and implement effective routines, strategies for redirection, and assessment of needs for children from birth to three years of age. She has developed and delivered over 24 online and in-person courses on Montessori education, reaching over 250 adult learners across the southwest. She has also conducted over 45 field visits to Montessori schools, providing feedback and recommendations on environmental design, classroom management, and student outcomes. She has consulted start-ups and schools looking to expand on planning and developing a school budget, as well as staff recruitment and material purchases.

Kirsten has been engaging with children, parents, caregivers, and professionals for 34 years. She sees that parents in today’s society are under significant stress, with insufficient support. She understands that caregivers want children to have happy, healthy, big lives and are better able to do that when they are seen, heard, and respected. She helps parents understand their own history, bring awareness to the context in which they are parenting, build a practical support network for themselves, and heal from their early wounds, so that they can feel more confident, connected, and lead their families more consciously and effectively. She’s been a preschool teacher, summer camp owner/ director, mentor for instructors and parents. She’s worked extensively with teen parents, and families with substance issues. She co-developed a Peer Education Parenting Curriculum which she brought into 14 Texas prisons, training inmates to listen to one another to help each other heal. Her work is based on the Hand in Hand Parenting Approach which she believes is nothing short of Peace Movement in Action. She raised her sons, 21 and 27, using the Hand in Hand Tools and is eternally grateful for the shift in her parenting as a result.

www.handinhandworkshops.com

Dr. Lauren Pasqua is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in perinatal, child, and family mental health. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and is certified in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International. Through the Center for Postpartum Family Health, Dr. Pasqua works with women and families across pregnancy, postpartum, and the years that follow, treating perinatal depression, anxiety, OCD, and birth trauma. Her clinical focus is matrescence, the developmental transition of becoming a mother. She teaches parents, providers, and organizations to distinguish the ordinary difficulty of that transition from the perinatal mood and anxiety disorders that affect one in five women, so that families get support earlier and clinicians recognize what they are looking at. Dr. Pasqua speaks regularly to parent groups, healthcare providers, and workplaces on maternal mental health, the emotional transition to parenthood, and building sustainable support for caregiving families. She practices in The Woodlands where she lives with her husband, three, children, and adorable Labradoodle.

www.cpfh.org

Eleanor Prado is a labor doula, student midwife, and herbalist. She’s a native Houstonian who loves exploring the city with her family. As a former high school teacher, she is passionate about teaching. She has degrees in theology and anthropology and is fascinated by the history of birth in America, inclusion and diversity, and how science and technology continue to advance in all birth settings. In her free time, she enjoys backpacking, gardening, and trying new recipes in her home kitchen. She is a doula because all people deserve to be surrounded by a community of unconditional support as they become parents.

www.eleanorpradodoula.com

www.premierdoulasofhouston.com

Eliana Pressel has more than 15 years of experience helping people go through their fears and difficulties, accept and process their emotions, help with relationship issues and find hope, find solutions, and make life-changing decisions. She has expertise working with people with substance abuse and their families, as well as people with stress, anxiety, anger management, life transitions, self-esteem and body image issues, grief/loss, trauma, parenting, and immigration. She works with adults, children, couples, and families and offers services in English and Spanish (Hablo Español). Eliana obtained her degrees in Psychology and Counseling in her native country, Argentina, then moved here and got her Life Coach certification. Reach Eliana at: www.districtcounseling.center/therapy/eliana-pressel-2

www.orihopecounseling.com/eliana-pressel/

Rebecca Rex co-founded P.R.O.V.E. (Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education) in 1997 along with Dawn Richardson. P.R.O.V.E. is purely a grassroots organization promoting awareness about vaccine safety and advocating for medical privacy and informed consent. Their campaigns have contributed to positive legislative changes in state law including parental consent prior to immunization registry inclusion (1997), expansion of vaccine exemptions (2003), and overturning an executive order mandating HPV vaccine for 6th grade girls (2007). In 2021 P.R.O.V.E. worked to help draft SB 1669 which aimed to protect individual freedom and choice regarding vaccines in two ways. First by prohibiting discrimination against individuals based on their immunity status, and second it prohibited vaccine mandates of any kind – both governmental and private. P.R.O.V.E. also worked in 2023 to help pass SB 7 banning private employers from requiring Covid vaccination as a condition of employment.

www.vaccineinfo.net

Nina Spears is the Founder & CEO of Baby Chick®, author of The Baby Chick Guide to Positive Pregnancy, and a certified baby planner, birth doula, postpartum doula, childbirth educator, newborn care educator, infant massage instructor, and perinatal nutrition expert. Over the past 15 years, Nina has personally supported more than 800 families in person, thousands virtually, and attended over 350 births, helping parents navigate pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and the transition into parenthood with evidence-based guidance and compassionate support. Through Baby Chick®, her educational platform, Chick Chat: The Baby Chick Podcast, online courses, coaching, and evidence-based resources, she has helped millions of parents make informed decisions and feel more prepared for pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenthood. Nina believes pregnancy isn’t just about growing a baby. It’s also about preparing the people becoming parents. Through her book, podcast, courses, coaching, and Baby Chick®, she helps families prepare physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and practically for the journey ahead.

www.baby-chick.com

Jaelin Stickels has been a midwife in the North Houston area for 12 years and is passionate about maternity care and autonomy in healthcare. She graduated with her master’s degree in science from Georgetown University, specializing in midwifery and women’s health. She recieved her doctorate degree from the University of Texas in April 2025. She has been married for 42 years, raised three amazing human beings, and has been called into midwifery, which she is extremely grateful for. She has one granddaughter who she hopes might want to follow in her footsteps one day.

www.hhhomebirth.com

Alexandra is a full-spectrum doula, Co-Founder of Nurtured Beginnings, and a Founding Member of Premier Doulas of Houston. With more than 15 years of experience supporting families through the many transitions of parenthood, she is passionate about empowering parents to feel confident, informed, and supported as they enter this transformative chapter of life. Her approach is rooted in compassion, respect, and unbiased support, with a deep commitment to honoring each family’s unique values, choices, and needs. Alexandra is dedicated to helping families navigate the fourth trimester with confidence and reassurance, providing the knowledge, guidance, and nurturing support they need as they find their rhythm with their new baby.

www.nurturedbeginningspostpartum.com

www.premierdoulasofhouston.com

Kathleen is a founding member of TLC Doula Group, owner of Labor Enabler™ Doula Services and Co-Owner of Rebel Birth Education and Resource Haven. She has been a doula since 2003. She has not only taken several doula trainings, but is the founder of the Labor Enabler Doula Apprenticeship Program. Kathleen loves working in all environments and with all care providers to ensure her clients have their best possible birth. Kathleen was married in 1997 to her very supportive spouse. She has four amazing children. She loves to cook and travel. She is one of the luckiest people in the world.

www.laborenabler.com

Andie Wyrick is both a CNM and CPM, and a doctor. Andie has been in the Houston birth community for over twenty years. Her experience includes hospital, birth center, and home birth. Andie feels a partnership in care is empowering and always hopes to foster that relationship with families. She has done extensive work in birth after trauma and continues to bring light to informed decision making and autonomy. She is tender, funny, lighthearted, and hands off when it comes to the way she lives life and provides midwifery love. She has been joyfully dating her husband of 25 years since junior high and has six children. She is the owner of The Shire Midwifery. Her passions beyond bellies, birth, and breastfeeding are drooling over her hottie of a husband, reading, period pieces, and being a glutton for movie theater popcorn. Organizing a rando drawer is her jam.

www.theshiremidwifery.com

Anne Zwicky has been teaching Bradley Method classes in Houston since 2011. When she was pregnant, she was drawn to The Bradley Method, because she wanted to focus on tuning into her body during labor and feeling fully present as her child was born. Bradley Method classes helped allay her fears of unmedicated childbirth. She gave birth with a hospital midwife practice in Seattle, WA. When she went fifteen days past her due date with no signs of labor, she consented to induction with Pitocin. Despite the medical induction, she was able to birth with no pain medication. She reports, with honesty, that she never even wanted it! She was prepared with practical knowledge and techniques from her Bradley Method class. Her incredibly hard but empowering childbirth led her to become a Bradley Method instructor. In her classes, she focuses on training parents to give their babies the healthiest start in life, helping them work to strengthen their support of each other, and building a community of new parents. She and her students also learn a lot and have fun every week!

www.atozbirth.com

Sabina George is an obstetrician and gynecological surgeon deeply committed to whole-person care and community health. She was born in Chicago and raised in Alief, Texas. She trained in Brooklyn, NY, and has had the privilege of working across various healthcare environments. Currently, she serves patients at Legacy Community Health in Alief and as a hospitalist at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas.

Women are at the heart of our communities, and her practice centers on listening to their struggles and providing dedicated support. Her ultimate goal is to care for entire families in a peaceful, supportive environment where every patient receives the personalized, loving care they deserve. She firmly believes that by listening to one another with empathy, we can build stronger, more connected communities.

Dr. Haidar is a very well known and highly respected Maternal Fetal Medicine expert and one of the most prominent physicians in this field in Southeast Texas. He has been managing some of the most complex obstetric maternal and fetal cases in our community for the past several years, including the supervision and successful delivery of a set of sextuplets in 2019 for which he had broad coverage in national media.

Dr. Haidar has been the medical director of the High Risk Maternal Transport Service at the Woman’s Hospital of Texas and enjoys an impeccable reputation in our local OB community, and is now practicing at Texas Maternal Fetal Medicine affiliated to The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. His vision is personalized care with attention to detail and respect for patients and referring providers. He is also an excellent educator and is an Associate Professor at the University of Houston. He has done a lot of research and authored and co-authored several publications.

Dr Haidar has consistently combined excellence in Medicine with a passion for service. As an active member of the community, he has devoted countless hours to volunteerism, mentorship and charitable initiatives. In addition to a distinguished medical career, Dr. Haidar proudly serves as President of the American Lebanese Medical Association (ALMA), where he leads efforts to advance healthcare, support medical education, and strengthen humanitarian outreach. Under his leadership, ALMA has expanded its impact by providing scholarships to medical students, organizing medical missions, delivering free healthcare services to underserved communities, and fostering collaboration among physicians both locally and internationally.

He completed his Ob/Gyn Residency at the West Virginia University, Charleston Division, and finished his fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He is fluent in French and Arabic and knows medical Spanish.

Dr. Jennifer Jones earned her Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Sports Science from Texas State University before receiving her Doctorate of Chiropractic from Texas Chiropractic College. Her background in movement, rehabilitation, and athletics sparked her passion for helping others achieve optimal health and wellness.

Dr. Jones specializes in pediatric and perinatal chiropractic care and is Webster Certified through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). She is currently completing her full ICPA certification in pediatric and perinatal care. Her passion for this specialty grew while precepting with Dr. Alayna Pagnani, where she discovered the profound impact chiropractic care can have on mothers and children.

Her professional honors include Texas Chiropractic Association Rising Star (2026). Outside the office, Dr. Jones enjoys teaching Pilates and dance technique, growing fresh-cut flowers, and spending time with her two Australian cattle dogs. Most importantly, she loves spending time with her husband, Eric, and their new baby girl, Hallie

Dr. Alayna E. Pagnani-Gendron earned her Bachelor of Science in Family Studies and Pre-Med from the University of New Hampshire before receiving her Doctor of Chiropractic and a second Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from Texas Chiropractic College.

Dr. Pagnani-Gendron specializes in family-centered chiropractic care, with certifications in pregnancy and pediatric chiropractic, acupuncture, Webster Technique, SOT® Pediatric Practice, and C.A.C.C.P. Her additional training includes myofascial release, Graston Technique, craniosacral therapy, nutrition, pre- and post-frenectomy care, and brain-based chiropractic care for neurodivergent children.

Passionate about patient education and collaborative care, she has lectured nationally on holistic health and is dedicated to supporting families from pregnancy through childhood and beyond.

Her professional honors include Texas Chiropractic Association Young Chiropractor of the Year (2019) and Past President of the Texas Chiropractic Association (2021–2022). Outside the office, she enjoys Pilates, traveling, exploring Houston’s local restaurants, and spending time with her husband, Brian, and their two sons.