Why I Doula

A Doula Journey by Jasmine Johnson

I didn’t grow up knowing what a doula was. I had heard the word in passing, but I didn’t yet understand the depth of who or what a doula was. I didn’t quite know the meaning, the calling, or the lineage. I definitely didn’t know what it meant to be an SMC Doula or that one day this work would become the place where my spirit finally felt full enough to become a doula, an SMC Doula, or in rightful knowledge, an SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion.

When I first connected with SMC, I was only five months postpartum, going through a breakup, tired, and trying to find my footing as a new mom. Even though I was working virtually and miles away, Mama Shafia reached out and offered me a start on a journey I didn’t know where it would go. She guided me, poured into me, and gave me wisdom I didn’t even know I needed. She mothered the mother in me more in a moment when I didn’t even know how much I truly needed it. Between my grandmother, mom, and her, I was guided.

Over the years, quietly and consistently, I found myself learning more. Sitting in meetings. Listening in conferences. Being a part of those conferences from planning to execution and more. Being asked, “Are you a doula?” Being told, “You have a doula spirit.” I didn’t understand it then. I just knew I loved people deeply, cared naturally, and always made sure everyone around me was okay. I didn’t know that what I was doing was already doula work. I didn’t know that my heart was already speaking the language of this calling.

But spirit recognizes spirit. The work was already calling my name long before I recognized the sound of it.

As time went on, I found myself in rooms I never imagined I would be in. These rooms were filled with the elders, the granny midwives, the women whose hands have caught generations. I have stood beside and met women like Mama Nasarah whose kindred spirit has passed on, Umm Salaamah, and Mama Sarahn Henderson, along with others whose faces appear in the very collage of Black midwives and healers. Those who built this path long before we had titles for it. I have listened to their stories, felt their presence, and witnessed the kind of wisdom that can only be passed down heart to heart. Being in their presence felt like I was supposed to be there. It felt right. It was a sense of feeling whole and gaining a new love.

I have been blessed to learn from anchors like Mama Shafia Monroe, Mamisi Samsarah Morgan, Ms. Basmah Karriem, Aqiylah Collins, and most recently Ms. Teri Boles. Their mentorship did not just teach me how to doula, it taught me how to be.

• To be steady.
• To be soft.
• To be strong.
• To be present.
• To be a vessel.
• To be heard.
• To be rooted in something bigger than myself.

Watching Mama Shafia walk into a room and shift the entire atmosphere, not with force but with grace, changed me. It showed me what leadership rooted in love looks like. It showed me what it means to serve with dignity, culture, and purpose. Without her guidance, I honestly don’t know where my journey would have led me these past five years. She didn’t just teach me. She shaped me.

And so, Why I Doula.

• I doula because I am a woman first, a mother second, and a nurturer always.
• I doula because no woman should ever feel alone, unheard, or unseen in her pregnancy or birth.
• I doula because the love I carry is meant to be shared, even with those who don’t yet know they need it.
• I doula because what I have been taught feels like second nature, like something my spirit remembered before my mind understood.
• I doula because I have been held by the elders.
• I doula because I have witnessed the power of Black birthwork with my own eyes.
• I doula because this is lineage work. The lineage chose me.

From 2021 to now, I have grown from a curious new mother into a doula walking in her purpose. And now you know, from the deepest part of my heart, Why I Doula, but most importantly why I chose to be an SMC Doula, or rather, why it chose me.

Signed in Love & Lineage
Jasmine Johnson