Reproductive and Birth Justice with Aresha Auzenne

Heeeyyyy, I am back! It has been a long time. Happy New Year Village! I hope your holiday season allowed rest. This week's episode can be triggering due to the content of talking about Black maternal deaths, the prevention, and the sharing of birth stories that can be traumatic for our listeners. Take breaks when you need or fast forward. Do what you need. We talk about being a doula, the history of doulas in Black communities, the maternal death crisis, and we even give some insight into our birthing stories. 

This week's guest is Aresha Auzenne is a San Francisco native, specializing in trauma informed birth work, placenta medicine, breastfeeding, and donor milk education. Having worked in the death care industry for several years, moving into the sacred space of birth work was a natural transition. Aresha is a full spectrum holistic doula and a mother to a vibrant 4 year old boy. She is most passionate about empowering women and mothers of color, building supportive maternal communities and fostering spaces of healing through motherhood. She credits her work, her passion, and h er healing to the many powerful women who held her and her son, during her own transition into the depths of motherhood-learning to crawl, to walk, to talk, to exist as a brand-new being. Aresha is currently working as a community researcher, investigating Black maternal health and birth outcomes amongst women and mothers of color. 

Aresha is reading "The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself" by Michael A. Singer and "The Fantasy Bond: Structure of Psychological Defenses" by Robert W. Firestone. 

Chioko is reading "A General Theory of Love" by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon