We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina DeRosa. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.

Gina, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

The circuitous route to my profession of (now) 15 years started with a rejection letter. Like most 18 years old leaving high school, I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, My interests and avocations spanned environmental and human concerns. I was completely fascinated by the human body and the intricate ways in which it worked. I was a teenager who read anatomy books and watched medical documentaries for fun . I was especially interested in that paradoxically ordinary and miraculous experience of pregnancy and birth. I also happened to excel in math and science, and found interest in the mechanics of the world – both human geography and physical geology. I took the advise of my high school counselor and applied to a pre-med program and a geology program. One rejection and one acceptance. Environmental sciences it was to be, and so my future was shaped.

I hold a Masters Degree in Hydrogeology and for several years worked in a highly technical field with a focus on environmental remediation. My work involved evaluating polluted areas, designing treatment and restoration systems, and cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater, It was work that I was good at it and it gave me a charge to be presented with a complex problem, work out a solution, and see it put into successful, measurable action. The work was invigorating and impactful, but it wasn’t the deep work of the heart for me. I was missing the direct human and community connection.

Everything shifted in one afternoon. A pregnant co-worker and I were talking about her upcoming birth and she mentioned that she was working with a doula. I had never heard this word before. What is a doula?? (A question that I would personally be asked many, many times in the years that followed). When I came to understand the role of a doula, a spark was ignited. I keenly felt that supporting families as they welcomed their babies into the world could be the impactful work that could make a direct difference in people’s lives. The notion of leaving my stable job, forgoing my career, and leaving my comfort zone both excited and terrified me. In the end, I could not ignore the call. With the unwavering support of my family, I leapt.

I left my job as a hydrogeologist and pursued a line of work that aligned with my desire to support, nurture, and celebrate all families in that poignant and expansive time of life – birth. In the years since that leap of faith, I have worked with hundreds of families across diverse backgrounds as a doula and childbirth educator. I currently serve as the director of the With Women, Children’s Hospital Immunodeficiency Program (CHIP) Doula Program providing doula care to families living with HIV during pregnancy. I teach comprehensive childbirth education classes virtually and in-person in my community, for the Children’s Hospital, and for Grand County in my home state of Colorado.

Gina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I left the corporate environmental world in 2005 and enrolled in a Doula Certification Program. The essential role of a doula is to provide non-clinical, unbiased, and compassionate support to all families during the prenatal, birth, and postpartum period. This is accomplished through educating families of their options, supporting self-advocacy, offering emotional support, encouraging partner involvement, bridging avenues of communication, and providing physical care such as massage, suggestions for position changes, assistance with comfort measures and more. Every bit of my training, all of the required readings, the workshops, and (especially) the births I attended confirmed that this was the right work for me. This is what I was supposed to be doing.

In 2007 I started Mountain Area Childbirth, my private practice, and accepted a position at a local hospital as a “doula on staff”. In that role, I worked for the hospital and was available to all families giving birth on the unit, 9 am – 9 pm, Monday – Friday. This position propelled my new career with opportunities to work with a diverse population and it allowed me to gain a tremendous amount of experience in a compressed time. It also provided a look into the inner workings of hospital systems, the intersection of birth and business, and the various ways birth outcomes are influenced.

I attended hundreds of birth as a doula on staff before the program was eliminated. I experienced myriad situations from “behind the curtain” that would inform my work in the community. The process of birth, while well understood, can never be precisely predicted for any individual. Birth does not obediently follow a curve, a chart, or the expectations of others. Birth deserves patience, understanding, compassion, and room for the nuances that come with the varied life experience that each person brings to that moment of birth. These truths are the foundation of my mission as a birth professional to this day.

While working in the hospital system, it became evident to me that the benefits that doulas bring to birth (more positive outcomes, greater feelings of empowerment, lower rates of cesarean section, shorter labors, higher breastfeeding initiation) were out of reach to families who either could not afford a private doula (costs range from $500-$2,000) or who did not give birth at that hospital in the prescribed time frame. This did not sit well with me. Together with a colleague, we founded “With Women”, an intentional group that provided doula and childbirth education services to people of all races, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, ethnicities, national origins, political affiliations, and life choices. We created mechanisms of barter and trade so that our services could be accessible to all families while honoring the professional commitments and financial needs of the doulas working in the group.

In 2009, I was contacted by a social worker for the Colorado Children’s Hospital Immunodeficiency Program (CHIP) who was looking for trusted, non-biased doula services for pregnant clients and families living with HIV. Clients of CHIP receive multiple social and clinical services with the overarching goal of preventing the transmission of HIV to the baby during pregnancy. (The program is incredibly successful with greater than 99% of cases resulting in no transmission of HIV during pregnancy). Often, because of the stigma associated with HIV, clients of CHIP would rather face birthing alone than having their status discovered. Additionally, some of the clients of CHIP may have complicated social backgrounds including substance use, history of incarceration, involvement of child protective services, domestic violence concerns, refugee status, and other considerations that require culturally-aware and non-judgemental support. It was the perfect fit for our mission through With Women, and the precise direction I wanted to take my career.

The CHIP Doula Program continues today and is possible only because of the compassionate support provided by the exceptional doulas in the program. Everyday I am humbled by the grace and passion they bring to the families of CHIP. Alongside the honor of supporting many families through my private practice, hospital work, and community programs, directing the CHIP Doula program is the professional endeavor that I am most proud of.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Doulas and birth professionals grow exponentially with the direct support and encouragement of others in the field. Being a mentor and offering a listening ear to new and seasoned doulas alike has bolstered trust and underscored my commitment to the profession among my colleagues. I invest a great deal of my energy in mentoring and supporting new doulas as they grow their practices.

Additionally, I have established trusted relationships with care providers (midwives and OB/GYN practices) who know that I support all birth (planned cesarean, birth with pain medication, natural birth, birth in any setting) and that I prioritize informed consent/informed refusal in my teaching and guidance. Birth works best when clients and care providers are on the same page. A clear mission, engagement in the profession through mentoring, and respectful relationships across disciplines translates into referrals to my services and an overall reputation of reliability and availability.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I rely on word of mouth, the established relationships in my community, and engagement with other professionals to maintain and develop my client base.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mountainareachildbirth.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-derosa-808b24176/

Image Credits
Kevin Mohatt Photography Carbon and West