Shafia Monroe is deeply devoted to reproductive justice as the crux of Human Rights. She
is a Master of Public Health, author, traditional midwife, doula trainer, motivational
speaker, and a lover of people. Her spiritual calling to midwifery began as a teenager,
inspired to reduce the high infant mortality rate in her city. Mama Shafia is a guardian of
African American birth traditions and postpartum rituals. With over four decades of
experience, she has researched the lives of 20th-century African...
Shafia Monroe is deeply devoted to reproductive justice as the crux of Human Rights. She
is a Master of Public Health, author, traditional midwife, doula trainer, motivational
speaker, and a lover of people. Her spiritual calling to midwifery began as a teenager,
inspired to reduce the high infant mortality rate in her city. Mama Shafia is a guardian of
African American birth traditions and postpartum rituals. With over four decades of
experience, she has researched the lives of 20th-century African American midwives and
traveled nationally to interview and observe them, learning traditional postpartum
practices. Honoring her Alabama roots, she practices the laying on of hands with pregnant
and postpartum women, newborns, and families.
For over 30 years, Monroe has been an active organizer for reproductive justice. In 2011,
she led the Oregon Coalition to Improve Birth Outcomes (OCIBO) in a study investigating
the use of doulas to enhance birth outcomes. This initiative led to the creation of legislative
concept HB3311, making Oregon the first state in the nation to reimburse doulas’ services
through Medicaid. Shafia Monroe continues to shape a world where equitable healthcare
enhances maternal and infant health, and birth workers become pillars in their
communities. She is the CEO and founder of SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion
Training, LLC (SMC Doulas), which created the first led Black doula curriculum in 2002. She
has trained over 5,000 doulas and mentors hundreds of individuals to embrace their roles
as healers, midwives, doulas, and leaders.
Her contributions are highlighted in the books “Granny Midwives and Black Woman
Authors” and “Wings of Gauze: Women of Color and the Experience of Health and
Illness.” In 2016, Madame Noir recognized her as the “Queen Mother of a Midwife
Movement” for her pioneering work in the 1970s, which introduced midwifery and home
birth services to Boston’s Black community in Massachusetts. In 2022, Scientific Americanfeatured her as one of four individuals nationally recognized for “People Who Are Making
Health Care Fairer.”
Monroe has received numerous awards for her work, including five Lifetime Achievement
Awards. She is a board member of the National Black Midwives Alliance, the Oregon Doula
Association, the Oregon Community Doula Association, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, and
the National Muslim Business Coalition. She served for eight years at the Oregon Health
Authority Office of Equity and Inclusion: Cultural Competency Continuing Education
Advisory Committee.
She is a wife, a mother of seven, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. In her spare
time, she enjoys cooking for family and friends, walking, gardening, studying herbal
medicine, singing, praying, writing, dancing, fishing, and horseback riding.
On January 27, 2026, Monroe launched her book, “Mothering the Mother: African American
Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing,” a heartfelt book for Black mothers, providing
guidance for healing after childbirth with time to bond and enjoy their baby. Mothering the
Mother is especially vital for Black women who are disproportionately affected by maternal
mortality and morbidity. Reclaiming culturally rooted postpartum care is healing and
lifesaving.
Mama Shafia wants this book to be in every person’s hand who wants to see new mothers nurtured, celebrated, and thriving.
Learn more about the book and author at www.shafiamonroe.com
Shafia Monroe, MPH, DEM, CDT
https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20260202-Whole-Mother-Show-Mothering-the-Mother-Afridan-American-Traditions.mp3
