Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Shafia Monroe, a champion of change who has spent her entire professional life focused on creating awareness of the disparities with maternal and infant mortality and creating solutions to solve for them. While she is known today as the queen mother of doulas and midwives, her beginning came from a family of doers. For example, her father created the first community garden back in the â60âs. She was raised being taught that if you see a problem, act. This has been her approach ever since seeing the racial disparities of black women and babies dying in the â70s. She became enthralled with being a midwife and hasnât looked back since.
At age 24, she started her first non-profit to train more black midwives. And why does it matter? Because trust, understanding, sharing a common history, and listening to black women are key to health. When you can create spaces that are safe and allow women to be themselves, this leads to better outcomes. Today, Shafia is extremely well recognized for her contributions to improving outcomes for black women, children and families based on her work delivering babies and training of thousands of midwives and doulas over decades.
Over the years she has worked on policy change and other mainstream approaches (Shafiaâs definition of âmainstreamâ is codename âwhiteâ). However she finds it far more effective to educate the black community. She states her work is more than just maternal mortality, it is about empowering the black community to embrace black culture, empower, and help others see their greatness. E.g. What are your rights? Here are the statistics â present them to your physician and ask them how they will ensure you do not become one of themâŠ.
Shafia is proud of building the next generation of leaders. As she reflects on the work that she has loved over the decades, she knows the beginning was lonely. Shafia advises other women to look into their hearts, if you love what you do, to claim their power with gratitude, grab the support of others along the way, go the extra mile, and indeed remarkable things can happen.
Shafia Monroe Background
Shafia M. Monroe is a renowned midwife, doula trainer, motivational speaker, and cultural competency trainer. Shafia has been âBirthing CHANGEâ all her life. In 2016, Madame Noir named Monroe âQueen Mother of a Midwife Movementâ for her pioneer midwifery work in Boston, Massachusetts, her hometown. It was there she co-founded the Traditional Childbearing Group (TCBG) (https://books.google.com/books?id=D0PW0olCNjcC&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=wings+of.gauze.traditional..childbearing&source=bl&ots=7EZy1LLxoA&sig=ACfU3U2C5Lge2VNNWKQ2FQxvwtdG1l900A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjng96329vnAhV5CTQIHam8Cm8Q6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=wings%20of.gauze.traditional..childbearing&f=false) , a non-profit organization, whose mission was to reduce infant mortality through homebirth services, training community midwives, and providing prenatal education. Monroe served as Bostonâs primary African American homebirth midwife from 1978-1991.
In 1991, seven months pregnant with her sixth child, Monroe drove from Boston with her family to Portland, Oregon. When she arrived, she was unable to find an African American midwife for her homebirth. Experiencing the lack of midwives of color in the region, she responded by forming the non-profit organization International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) (https://thenaabb.org/index.php/history/) , to increase the number of midwives and doulas of color to empower families, reduce infant and maternal mortality, and bring Black midwives together.
Monroe positioned ICTC as an advocate for disseminating culturally competent midwifery education, achieving recognition for Certified Professional Midwives (CPMâs), and directing funds to improve maternal health and newborn care. Under her leadership, ICTC spread across the nation, increasing the number of midwives of color, giving midwives of color a seat at the decision-making table, promoting the profession, as well as researching and teaching the contributions of African descent midwives in world history.
In 2002, Monroe organized the first US-based International Black Midwives and Healers Conference (IBMHC). The conference brought midwives together from around the world for improving maternity care, continuing education, and camaraderie. In 2010, Erykah Badu (http://erykah-badu.com/newssystem/news.php) , a four-time GRAMMY Award winner, singer/songwriter, and holistic healer, was the keynote speaker for the conference. In 2011, Ms. Badu accepted Monroeâs invitation to be the ICTC National Spokesperson.
In 2002, Monroe created the ICTC Full Circle Doula Training (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0xszz6YidM) program to teach the legacy of the 20th century African American midwife, who exemplified compassionate care through traditional birth and postpartum rituals. The ...