Vanessa, Founder & Lead Doula.

Vanessa founded Pocket Doula Care to create the kind of support she believes every family deserves: personal, steady, informed, and genuinely present.

Today, Vanessa's role has grown beyond personally attending every birth or postpartum shift. She leads the Pocket Doula Care team, conducts family consultations, helps match families with the right doula, and continues to practice as a doula herself.

Vanessa takes on a limited number of clients whose needs and circumstances are a particularly good fit for her availability and experience. She also serves as an experienced in-house backup for the Pocket Doula Care team, stepping in when additional support is needed to help maintain continuity of care.

Pocket Doula Care didn't begin with a business plan. It began with a quiet promise I made to myself: that no family in my care would ever have to walk through pregnancy, birth, or postpartum feeling unseen or alone.

My path here wasn't a straight line. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Family and Human Development, served in the United States Air Force, and worked as a Head Start Home Visitor before I ever attended a birth. Each of those chapters taught me how much a single steady presence can change the way a person experiences the hardest, most tender days of their life.

The Air Force is where I first learned, in a very personal way, how much informed consent matters. I saw what respectful, clear communication looks like when it is done well, and I saw the harm that happens when it isn't. I came away believing that every person has the right to understand what is happening to their body, to ask questions without apology, and to be treated with dignity in every room they walk into. I carry that belief into every prenatal visit and every postpartum shift.

I have also lived through my own seasons in the healthcare system, navigating cancer treatment, fertility uncertainty, and early menopause. I know what it feels like to be vulnerable, overwhelmed, scared, and searching for someone who will slow down, explain the options in plain language, and truly listen. Those experiences quietly shaped the doula I became. They are part of the reason I chose this work, and part of what I carry into every birth room with compassion, humility, and deep respect for the person in front of me.

Over the past decade, I have had the honor of supporting families through pregnancy, birth, newborn care, feeding, recovery, and the fourth trimester. Somewhere along the way I began to notice the same thing again and again. Families weren't only looking for information. They were looking for someone who would stay.

After years of working within an agency, I realized I wanted to build something different. Something rooted in mentorship, consistency, and genuine relationships. Pocket Doula Care was created so families would have a doula who feels close by, the way something in your pocket is close by. Someone who carries part of the mental load. Someone who stays calm when plans change. Someone you know you can reach at 2 a.m.

Whether you're working with me or another Pocket Doula Care doula, the promise stays the same: thoughtful support, honest communication, evidence-informed care, and a relationship built on trust. Exceptional doula care isn't measured by how many births we've attended. It is measured by how families feel when we leave.