We recently connected with Jashia Pinkney and have shared our conversation below.

Jashia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you ever experienced a times when your entire field felt like it was taking a U-Turn?

When I first became a midwife in 2019 most people had no idea what my career was. The conversation would go something like this. What do you do? When I tell someone my career, the response I typically get is what is a midwife? Another response, I didn’t know midwives were still around. Fast forward to 2025 about 2/4 people has at least heard of a midwife.

The Maternal Health Crisis became a hot topic in 2020 when shocking evidence revealed the United States has the worst maternal mortality rate compared to other developed nations. The maternal mortality rate is the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and can occur during pregnancy or up to 42 days after giving birth. This news was hard to understand since the United States has a plethora of resources and is a developed nation. Another shocking statistic is that Black Women are three to four more times likely to die from a pregnancy related complication compared to white women.
In 2021 Congressional Leaders (Rep Alma Adams, Rep. Lauren Underwood and Senator Cory Booker introduced April 11-17th as Black Maternal Health Week. This week was inspired by a powerful group called Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Black Maternal Health week brings awareness to key elements of solving the maternal Health Crisis, with one of those solutions being Midwives. March 14 is now known as “Black Midwives Day”. I feel this recognition of the work Midwives do to support pregnant people and their families is considered a U-Turn for my profession.

With the new initiatives in place education about midwifery care is becoming more prevalent. Midwife means “with woman”. As a midwife I care for women throughout their lifespan. Midwifery care includes prenatal care, delivering babies, annual exams, gynecological care and much more. The midwifery model focuses on compassionate, patient centered care. 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. I want patients to feel like they have a choice and autonomy over their bodies. Most importantly patients should feel heard and their concerns should not be dismissed.
My hope is to spread more information about Midwives and how we impact our community. I am hopeful that the legislative initiatives put in place will improve Maternal Outcomes for Women in the United States.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jashia Pinkney! I am a midwife, business owner, author, professor, and wife!

Many people ask about my journey to becoming a midwife and I am so excited to share my story. Growing up I always had a desire to work in the medical field. My mom shares stories of me saying that I wanted to be a doctor since I was five. A pediatrician to be more specific. I wanted to work with children.

My family moved to Charlotte NC in 2017. After graduating high school in 2009, I enrolled at UNC Charlotte as a biology major and planned to continue to medical school. After failing two biology tests and not feeling like I made the right decision, I decided to reconsider my career path. I knew that I still wanted to work in the medical field, and I had a desire to build relationships with patients while caring for them. I wanted to be highly involved in the care of my patients. After praying and thinking about the purpose that I wanted to serve. I decided to change my major to Nursing.

Throughout nursing school, I had several clinical rotations. The time I spent on the Postpartum unit with mothers and babies was the most enjoyable for me. I decided that I wanted to focus on Women’s Health Care. My first job in this specialty was at Inova Alexandria Hospital. After two years as a postpartum nurse, I knew that my passion was Women’s Health. I decided to pursue my master’s degree at Georgetown University.

Georgetown offered a dual degree as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner(WHNP) and a Midwife. The program seemed amazing. Honestly, I was just interested in the WHNP portion of the program and figured having the Midwifery portion would make me more marketable in the field. The moment I knew I wanted to be a midwife was at my first birth on May 5, 2018. To see a woman hold her baby for the first time is one of the most precious moments and I was so honored to be apart of her birth story. Women are so powerful and strong and birth is such a intricate process.

I decided to become a Midwife because I wanted the ability to encourage and empower women. Every woman deserves to be treated like a goddess during their labor. There are not many minority midwives, so I wanted to help change this. I always say that I didn’t find Midwifery, it found me, and I am so grateful because it is truly my calling.

In 2019 after passing my midwifery boards I decided to do a Midwifery fellowship. This was a year long program at George Washington University Hospital for new midwives. After finishing my fellowship it was time to find my first job. Unfortunately, in 2020 the pandemic made this process hard and I found myself without a job for 8 months. During this time I started my business She Births From Within. My business focuses on providing childbirth education, birth coaching, and mentorship services. My goal was to create an environment where women can build relationships, feel supported, and vent about issues or concerns. I realize that many women have anxiety and fear related to birth and are intimidated to ask questions. Therefore, my vision was to create a safe place for women to be heard, empowered, and educated. My business is based in Waldorf Md. I offer virtual and in person classes.

I am most proud of all the families that choose me to be apart of their birth story. As a midwife, I get the privilege to be apart of such an intimate moment. I feel proud when my clients have the confidence to speak up about their needs and desires. I have a passion for mentoring and teaching the next generation of midwives and it brings a smile to see so many other new midwives begin their journeys. My motto for my business is “All you need to win is already within”. I want people to know that She Births from Within is all about helping people birth their goals and dreams.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My journey started with me
Failing my Nursing boards 3 times. Not 1 but three. By the third time I told myself maybe this was not the job for me. Most of my nursing friends were almost a year into there new jobs and here I was still trying to pass the test.

I was fired from my job as a nurse intern because they could no longer wait on me to past the test. There was my new nursing position gone. Getting into the nurse intern program was great because once you had passed your test a nursing job was guaranteed. At that point I really felt like a failure.

I’m so grateful for my mom because she encouraged me along the way. She said I’m going to find you a class to go to. I had already taken one of the top review courses and still failed but I said ok mom.

She found a random women online named Ms. Bola located in silver spring Maryland. My mom was so excited and said your going to this class and you are going to pass

The first day of class Ms. Bola prayed for me and reminded me that I was a nurse. She reminded me of my purpose. God was speaking to me thru this woman I thought was random but she was sent by God to remind me of my purpose.

8 weeks later when I open my letter that said I passed all I could do was cry. Fast forward my first nursing job as a postpartum nurse led me to some amazing midwives and changed my life forever. Before then I never even knew what a midwife was. I decided to go pursue my masters degree as a midwife a year later.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Mentorship and networking is the most helpful for succeeding in my field.

As a midwifery student you need a certain amount of clinical hours prior to finishing the program. I did my own research to find a midwifery practice that would take me as a student. I became involved in the community and was able to meet other midwives in my field.

I joined a mentor program designed for new midwifery students and my mentor is the person who actually helped me to find my first job!!

I truly believe it is not what you know but who you know. Networking with others in my field helped to make me the successful midwife that I am today. Therefore, I enjoy helping new midwives become successful as well .

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shebirthsfromwithin.com
• Instagram: Shebirthsfromwithin
• Facebook: Shebirthsfromwithin

Image Credits

Darryl Prather