MEET the
2026 SPEAKERS
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS
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Bonnie Collins began her journey in birth work in 1980, answering the call to support women and families during one of life’s most transformative moments. She first volunteered her time and hospitality at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Later, she was invited to join Health Net as an employed doula, where she received her foundational training through Health Net’s pilot doula program. During her time with Health Net, Bonnie earned her DONA certification in 1998 through a program supported by Methodist Hospital.
In 2001, Bonnie relocated with her family to Bloomington, Indiana, where she served as the Educational Director and Doula at the Crisis Pregnancy Center’s Hannah House Maternity Home. Over her 44 years of service, her passion for birth work has only deepened. Her career has been grounded in advocacy-centered care, education, and compassionate support—ensuring every family feels seen, heard, and valued.
Bonnie has attended hundreds of births, including many high-risk cases, offering steady guidance and unwavering advocacy during some of life’s most sacred and vulnerable moments. In addition to supporting birthing mothers, she has dedicated much of her career to mentoring and training emerging doulas, helping shape the next generation of birth professionals.
Throughout her decades of service, Bonnie has received numerous awards honoring her commitment to excellence in maternal support, including the prestigious Legacy of Care Award in 2025.
Bonnie retired in 2016, leaving behind a powerful legacy of care, wisdom, and dedication to maternal health. Her impact lives on through the many families she has supported and the doulas she has inspired. Yet, true to her compassionate nature, she continues to answer the call when needed—emerging from retirement occasionally, most recently supporting a birth just months ago.
Keynote Speaker
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Laura Haehl is a co-founder of Reign, where she teaches women how to access their built-in guidance system, so they can make decisions with clarity and confidence instead of second-guessing, spiraling, or overriding what they already know. A former corporate consultant and high school teacher turned intuitive educator, she has spent 15+ years studying yoga, energy work, shamanic practices, and Cardology and distilling it all into practical tools women can actually use in real life. She's based in Indiana and runs on coffee, chocolate, and a deep belief that every woman already has the answers she's looking for.
Opening Mindfulness Facilitator
BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKERS
Bridging the Gap of Matrescence from the Doula Perspective — Moving Mothers Beyond Survival
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Sara is a certified postpartum doula, agency owner, and mother of 3 girls— including a set of twins! She holds a bachelor’s degree in child development and brings a blend of education, experience, and lived empathy to the families she serves.
Her service to others centers on calm, evidence-based support that helps parents feel confident, rested, and deeply cared for during the postpartum transition.
As the owner of a growing postpartum doula agency, she’s passionate about elevating postpartum care and creating a supportive community for both families and doulas!
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Mila (She/Her) is a Community Birth Doula, Certified Community Outreach Perinatal Educator, Certified Lactation Specialist, Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, Certified Community Health Worker, and CPR/ First Aid certified.
She supports families throughout their prenatal and immediate postpartum periods in St. Joseph, Elkhart, and LaPorte Counties.
Mila also currently works full-time as a Birth Doula/ Community Health Worker for Beacon Health Systems community group, Beacon Community Impact, and the Family Journey Program. Mila has worked as a private birth doula, with a contracted/grant funded community-based doula program, and now as a Resident Birth Doula for Memorial and Elkhart General Hospitals.
The Importance of Birth Doulas Working within the System
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Ashley Martin is a mission-driven community builder and her purpose is to connect youth, women, and communities of color to organizations that improve their quality of life. As Founder & CEO of Cerulean Consulting Group, she and her team of multicultural marketers root clients in the principles of both marketing and community - believing wholeheartedly that “we are better together”. Prior to launching Cerulean Ashley served as the Director of Family & Community Engagement for the largest public school district in the state of Indiana.
Throughout her career, Martin has received several awards that celebrate her leadership and recognize her talent as a business woman. For example, in her 20's she was named a Top 10 young professional under 40 and more recently Purdue University recognized her as a Pioneering Woman, Junior Achievement of Central Indiana named her a finalist for one of "Indy's Best and Brightest" awards and she was also a Mira Award Finalist in the category of Rising Entrepreneur. In 2010 Martin graduated with her B.A. in Public Relations & Rhetorical Advocacy from Purdue University.In her spare time she can be found gardening, baking or spending time with her family and friends. She has a big blended family with her husband, Carl and together they have 6 children, all boys, and two dogs. They recently relocated from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, IN.
Booked Without Burnout: The Systems, Tools, and Marketing Plan Doulas Need to Build a Sustainable Business
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Laura is a licensed speech-language pathologist who earned her undergraduate degree from Butler University in 2009 and her graduate degree from Arizona State University in 2011.
She has been with Jacob’s Ladder since 2012, providing services in the outpatient clinic, school settings, and early intervention programs.
Jacob’s Ladder Pediatric Rehabilitation is a nonprofit organization located in Chesterton, Indiana, providing comprehensive therapy services and supplemental care for children in need. Its mission is to partner with families, communities, and healthcare providers to help children reach their full potential.
Laura has pursued extensive continuing education in feeding and swallowing, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), tracheostomy and ventilator care, childhood apraxia of speech, tethered oral tissues, Kinesio taping, cultural considerations, and speech and language development. In 2022, she became a Certified Lactation Consultant.
Since 2024, she has been an active participant in Jacob’s Ladder’s Staying On Track program, which offers free developmental screenings for children ages 0–3 in daycares throughout Northwest Indiana. Laura is also a member of Jacob’s Ladder’s speaker bureau and has presented at both the local and state levels.
Early Milestone Acquisition and Reflex Integration
Centering Paternal Perinatal Mental Health:
Expanding the Future of Doula Care
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Joslyn D. Cunningham is the Founder and CEO of Blissful Birthing Doula Services LLC in Indianapolis, IN. Born and raised on the far east side of Indianapolis, she has dedicated her career to ensuring families and communities are heard, supported, and celebrated throughout their reproductive journeys. Since beginning her birth work in 2020, Joslyn has combined her lived experience with professional expertise to empower birthing families, co-create solutions with community members, and collaborate with doulas, midwives, providers, and local leaders to advance equitable care.
Her work extends beyond birth support into community education, speaking engagements, and program development that centers dignity, equity, and collective voices. Joslyn is the Treasurer of the Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition and an alumna of the inaugural Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color Fellowship, where her capstone research focused on paternal perinatal mental health and its ties to child development. As an aspiring anthropologist, she is deeply committed to ensuring research uplifts community voices and that lived experience guides both scholarship and practice.
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Lisa Daugherty began practicing yoga in the mid-’90s in Tucson, Arizona. After moving to Indianapolis, she started teaching yoga classes in neighborhood community spaces in 2002. She joined the Cityoga teaching team in 2007.
Since then, she has continued to teach extensively throughout central Indiana. She currently offers weekly classes and Somatics workshops and is the co-lead trainer for Prenatal and Postpartum yoga teacher training and Somatics and Trauma Informed yoga teacher training, and has offered wisdom and teachings for the 200-hour yoga teacher training, all at Cityoga.
She guides local and international yoga retreats with her husband, who is also a yoga instructor. Her teaching style is eclectic, unique, creative, and rooted in embodiment and a deep reverence for nature.
She is also the Executive Director of Heartland Mindfulness Collective, a local non-profit organization that works to reduce barriers and increase accessibility for systemically marginalized communities to receive yoga, meditation, and wellness services, while providing right livelihood to local yoga instructors and service providers.
She is a mother to 4 young adult daughters and has been advocating for midwifery care and empowered childbirth for 30 years as a doula and childbirth educator. She is also a ceremonialist and a threshold guardian who uses ritual and music and storytelling to bring about a vision of planetary and personal healing and wholeness.
Singing in Pregnancy and Birth Songs
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Leah Johnson (she/her) is a proud doula, boy mom, and wife rooted in Indianapolis, IN by way of West Virginia. Though birthwork wasn’t part of her early plans, she now sees it as a calling—one she’s grateful to have embraced.
As the owner of Our Little Helper, Leah provides doula care that blends traditional practices with modern, evidence-based guidance. With tenderness and intention, she walks alongside families from birth through postpartum, ensuring they feel informed and held.
Leah is also the co-founder of the Indy Melanated Birthworker Collective, a community-driven organization dedicated to nurturing and sustaining the birthworkers who serve Indianapolis families, while also creating accessible education and support for the families themselves. Collaboration has been pivotal in her journey, reminding her that shared wisdom and community care strengthen every family she supports.
Your Birthworker Ecosystem: Implementing Collaborative Mindsets over Competition in Your Practice
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Susan is the heart behind Woven Womb.
She is a Birth Doula and Certified Homeopathic Practitioner, called to support women through the sacred cycles of life — fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and beyond. Her work is anchored in a simple truth: womanhood is not meant to be walked alone.
Woven Womb is more than a practice to her — it is a sanctuary. A space where women can feel seen, nurtured, and supported through care that weaves together mind, body, and spirit.
Her calling was shaped by her own journey. After years of infertility, pregnancy loss, and IVF to conceive her first two children, she eventually found healing and conceived naturally. That path led her to a home birth — her Redemptive birth — an experience that transformed her and deepened her mission to hold space for other women navigating their own transitions. Because she has walked many paths of womanhood myself, she shows up for her clients not only with training and skill, but with lived understanding, reverence, and compassion.
Through holistic health support, whole-body healing, and heartfelt doula care, she helps women reconnect to their innate strength, honor their cultural traditions, and find balance in every season of life. Whether you’re preparing to conceive, planning your birth, settling into the rhythm of the fourth trimester, or stepping into the wise woman stage of menopause, she walks beside you with wholehearted care.
Her mission is clear: to create safe, sacred spaces where women feel empowered, supported, and deeply connected — to themselves, their families, and their ancestral wisdom.
Rooted Across Borders: Culturally-Grounded Prenatal & Postpartum Support for Immigrant Families
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Brianna Puckett is a healthcare operations and growth executive who improves outcomes and lowers total cost of care for Medicaid and high‐risk populations. She has led multi‐state contact‐center operations, governed complex outreach contracts, and advanced provider performance through data‐driven scorecards and equity‐focused engagement strategies.
At Wayspring, Brianna directed a 30+ FTE team and helped deliver a 14% reduction in ER utilization across multiple states. She designed maternal‐health engagement playbooks that achieved a 15% reduction in NICU stays and a 2% increase in first‐trimester prenatal engagement for Medicaid‐eligible and BIPOC cohorts. She also governed a ~$2M health outreach contract, standardizing SOPs/QA and establishing audit‐ready KPI frameworks that scaled across geographies.
In her current role as Account Director, Health Outreach at Engaging Solutions, Brianna translates operational performance into competitive wins and renewals. She develops performance dossiers, risk‐mitigation plans, and SLA models that enable partners and clients to compete effectively under evolving procurement environments, including race‐neutral policy shifts. Her approach centers on measurable service quality, cycle‐time improvement, and prudent cost‐to‐serve economics.
Previously, Brianna built partnership networks with high retention rates and accelerated growth—securing 26 new strategic partnerships in one month and sustaining 85% retention across a 48‐partner portfolio. She has established budget governance, KPI dashboards, and compliance protocols that align stakeholder objectives with delivery realities.
Brianna holds an M.S. in Special Education from Capella University and a B.S. in Psychology from Indiana State University. She is recognized for disciplined execution, strong contract governance, and practical collaboration with providers, payers, and community partners.
From Stories to Statistics: Empowering Birth Workers Through Data
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Lauren Rush is a Certified Babywearing Educator and Certified Babywearing Consultant dedicated to helping caregivers feel confident, supported, and empowered in their Babywearing journey.
She provides personalized, hands-on guidance tailored to each family’s needs, focusing on safety, proper positioning, comfort, and choosing the right carriers for everyday life.
Lauren is passionate about sharing the many benefits of Babywearing including bonding, convenience, and emotional connection - and believes it can be an accessible, supportive tool for all caregivers.
Through her education and community work, she helps families strengthen their relationships, move through daily routines with ease, and discover the joy that comes from keeping their little ones close.
Supporting Postpartum Families with Babywearing:
A Doula’s Guide to Nurturing Connection
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Janeva Shaw-Mims, MSML, is a social worker and HR leader by training, but her heart has always belonged to doula work and the movement for reproductive justice.
Her advocacy is shaped by community and by witnessing the inequities faced by birthing people — especially Black mothers — as they move through systems never built with them in mind.
Drawing from her background, Janeva works to highlight how policy and storytelling intersect. She is motivated by the desire to equip doulas to recognize systemic harm, amplify community voices, and use their presence to empower the individuals and families they serve.
Janeva’s work centers the belief that doulas are not only care providers, but essential advocates for change
The Politics of Care:
Policy, Power, and Advocacy in Birth Work
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Takiesha Smith CD(DONA) is a nationally recognized maternal health advocate whose work centers on culturally responsive, trauma-informed care for birthing people. As the founder of A Caring Doula and Neuro Spicy Birth, and she is the Indiana State Ambassador for Count the Kicks, TaKiesha blends clinical expertise with strategic advocacy to empower families and birth workers alike.
Her presentations are known for their warmth, clarity, and depth—inviting reflection while equipping professionals with practical tools to serve neurodivergent, marginalized, and Black birthing communities. Takiesha’s voice is grounded in lived experience, community care, and a commitment to ethical, inclusive birthwork.
Rooted in Legacy:
Honoring History, and Advancing Birth Equity in Indiana
Lunch panel
More Than a Pay Gap
The Impact of Undervaluing Doula Care Across Systems, Relationships, and Policy
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Dr. Leah Morton is a licensed clinical psychologist and Health Service Provider in Psychology (HSPP) who has received clinical training across a variety of residential, inpatient, and outpatient settings, working with children, adolescents, and adults. Currently, her clinical practice is focused exclusively on adults.
Leah is especially passionate about supporting men and women through all phases of parenthood, including family planning, infertility, adoption, navigating psychological health during pregnancy, and postpartum mood and anxiety concerns. She also enjoys working with professional adults who are striving to strengthen their psychological health, resilience, and overall performance.
In addition to her therapy practice, she offers a range of consultation and supervision services across the business and healthcare sectors. She genuinely enjoys the collaborative nature of consultation and supervision work and values the opportunity to partner with professionals and organizations in advancing clinical excellence, leadership development, and overall psychological well-being.
Leah is honored to have served on the Board of Directors for the Postpartum Support International – Indiana Chapter, the Indiana Department of Health Maternal Mental Health Task Force, and, most recently, a founding member and co-facilitator of the Chamber of Mothers-Indiana Chapter, launching mid-2026.
In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, exploring art and design, and finding any excuse to be active outdoors. She is the proud parent of two children (ages 15 and 10), who keep her grounded, motivated, and continually learning.
She is deeply interested in the connection between emotional and physical functioning and feels grateful to have a career centered on helping people process, heal, learn, and grow.
Dr. Leah Morton, PsyD, HSPP, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Chamber of Mothers, Indiana Chapter
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Joy Bible (she/her) is a passionate and experienced doula dedicated to empowering and supporting women through their parenting journey. Based in Indianapolis, Joy has been providing compassionate labor, delivery, and postpartum care since 2017, after becoming a certified birth and postpartum doula through ProDoula. With a background in pre-med Biology and a bachelor's degree earned in 2014, she brings a unique blend of scientific knowledge and heartfelt nurturing to her practice.
Joy's doula business, Nurturing Joy, is built on the principles of trust, care, and advocacy. She believes in creating safe and supportive environments where women feel seen, heard, and fully equipped to embrace their parenthood journey. She also serves as a postpartum doula with Indiana Birth and Parenting. Whether assisting with personalized birthing plans, offering guidance on breastfeeding techniques, or providing emotional and physical support during labor and postpartum, Joy is committed to helping families thrive.
In addition to her work as a doula, Joy is deeply interested in studying and supporting children from challenging backgrounds, housing stability initiatives, and empowering women who have faced all kinds of adversity. Her mission is to uplift, educate, and nurture, leaving every family she serves with a profound sense of confidence and joy.
Owner of Nurturing Joy - Doula
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Shelonda Wright is the Director of Doula Services at Just Community Inc. and the owner of Stillwaters Doula Services, LLC. She has been a practicing birth doula since 2015 and became a DONA-certified birth doula in 2021. Shelonda has dedicated her career to supporting families throughout Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana during one of the most transformative times in their lives.
As a childbirth educator, Shelonda provides compassionate, client-centered support in bereavement, adoption, and breastfeeding. Her work is rooted in empathy, advocacy, and a commitment to meeting families where they are while ensuring they feel informed, respected, and supported.
Shelonda views doula work as both a profession and a calling. She is deeply passionate about training and mentoring future doulas and is committed to building a strong, supportive community where families can access education, healing, and care. Her approach honors the full spectrum of the perinatal experience—celebrating new life while providing dignified support through challenges and transitions.
Through her leadership and hands-on care, Shelonda provides continuous support from prenatal preparation through labor and delivery and into the postpartum period, with a strong emphasis on maternal mental health and overall family well-being.
Owner, Stillwaters Doula Services, Doula
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Grace Dible, DNP, CNM, is a certified nurse midwife and full-time clinical nursing professor at Indiana University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Marian University, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami, and both a Master of Nursing and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Frontier Nursing University.
In addition to her academic role, Dr. Dible practices part-time as a certified nurse midwife at a federally qualified health center, where she provides compassionate care to underserved and economically disadvantaged populations.
Her professional focus centers on advancing maternal health in Indiana through advocacy/education, and she serves on several key organizations, including the Indiana affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives, the Indiana OBGYN Health Workforce Council, the Indiana Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative, and the Fetal Infant Mortality Review board for Broward County, Florida.
DNP, APRN, CNM
Clinical Assistant Professor, Certified Nurse-midwife
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Currently serving as the Director, Health & Social Partnerships at CareSource, she champions initiatives aimed at promoting fair and just health outcomes and ensuring equal access to healthcare services for CareSource members. In her role, LaKeisha spearheads efforts to forge robust community partnerships, facilitates educational opportunities for key stakeholders (members, providers, employees), and advocates for closing gaps in care through innovative solutions and collaboration.
LaKeisha's journey with CareSource commenced in December 2014, where she has since demonstrated versatility across various roles. Her commitment to fostering vital connections has been instrumental in serving communities effectively. Her dedication to serving the community is evident in her founding of It Takes a Village Family Support Services in 2019. Through this initiative, LaKeisha provides invaluable education, empowerment, and support to families as a full spectrum doula and family engagement educator. She embodies a passionate commitment to driving positive change not only within healthcare but also throughout various spheres of influence.
MSL, Director of Health and Social Partnerships at CareSource
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Dr. Nicole Carey is a nationally respected strategist, researcher, and public health champion with over 17 years of experience working across public, nonprofit, and governmental sectors. She’s known for turning bold ideas into community-rooted solutions that actually work — for real people, in real places.
Nicole’s work lives at the intersection of data, equity, and lived experience. She specializes in helping leaders navigate complexity, bridge silos, and design systems that center the communities they serve. Whether she’s leading cross-sector initiatives, facilitating collaborative planning, or rebuilding trust where it’s been broken, she brings clarity, warmth, and a deep belief that communities already hold the wisdom they need to thrive.
A familiar face in maternal and infant health spaces, Nicole is committed to the kind of change that lasts — built together, from the ground up.
Executive Director, Cradle Indy
Moderator