We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Sementilli recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

I grew up and currently live on unceded Peoria, Anishinabewaki, Bodéwadmiakiwen (Potawatomi), and Mississauga land – also known as Southeast, MI. I have lived in Michigan my whole life, from childhood and even through college wherein 2009, as a young woman I graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Women’s Studies.

After studying, I worked in the corporate sector for eight years. Navigating the ups and downs of my personal life during that time, and living near to my family. In 2015, my sister gave birth to her first daughter. Being at her side during labor and delivery began to reignite the passion I had discovered in my academic career. Observing the way our medical system treated birthing people, and learning about the policies and procedures of modern American childbirth was very illuminating. During my academic career, I had been very interested in the ways that systems of oppression intersected with our medical institutions, and witnessing birth set off a lightbulb.

In the meantime, I was also in the midst of personal change and growth and went through an intense period of my own medical challenges. I was disturbed by the lack of solutions being offered by my doctors and the callous nature with which they treated me and discussed the most vulnerable aspects of my humanity. While recovering from these acts of medical abuse and trauma, I discovered a whole community of people who were invested in the holistic care and healing of the reproductive system, and the second light bulb went off.

Those two experiences were really the catalyst and driving force that have inspired me to shape my business around full spectrum doula work, menstrual cycle healing/holistic fertility guide, and reproductive health education that takes into account the historical and structural forces that shape our care in the modern world.

To me, this work is as deeply spiritual and personal, as it is overtly political. But most of all, I love being of service to my community, sharing the story of my own healing journey, and showing others that they are also capable of taking radical responsibility for their own health and vitality through true body literacy.

I imagine the struggles I face running a small woman-owned business in the midst of a global pandemic are very similar to others! The margins are thin for all of us and deciding which parts of my business to prioritize, to focus advertising on, has been really hit or miss and difficult to navigate.

It is not so surprising then that the greatest results in growth have come from relationships I have with other people. I have had the distinct privilege of being a part of many communities that have shown great compassion, interest, and support in my work – most especially in the yoga world and with my fellow birth workers. Counting on them to share their experiences working with me, and to help spread the word and make personal recommendations has been so valuable. It is a lesson that I continue to arrive at – that our healing and growth must be in relationship, and can’t be done alone.

We succeed by lifting each other up in relationship and in community. I am constantly working to deconstruct the damaging ways that some of our inherited value systems set us up for failure. One of them is that in order for you to succeed, others must fail, or that there isn’t enough to go around. This scarcity mindset keeps so many people from connecting with others in their field for support, advice, and comradery. My advice would be to seek out the community of people doing the same work as you and support each other.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I wear many hats!

As a birth worker, and a full spectrum doula, I support people having any/all pregnancy outcomes and experiences. For example, I can help with resources, education, information, emotional support, physical support, escort to or be present for procedures, etc. as they relate to preconception, abortion, miscarriage, birth and postpartum.

I am also a reproductive and sexual health educator. The learning modules and curriculum I developed is called Holistic Menstrual Awareness; a series of live interactive lectures designed to give a holistic and full view of reproductive health as it relates to the menstrual cycle. The intention is to deepen body literacy and bring participants into a deeper awareness of their physiology as well as the cultural and social forces that have shaped the human experience as it relates to the monthly cycle.

I also work with individual clients on holistic fertility and menstrual cycle healing. Private consultations through my holistic fertility services are NOT limited to people trying to achieve pregnancy – and I work with people on using non-medical and non-pharmaceutical solutions to finding relief for a huge array of gynecological and menstrual cycle issues.

Finally, I also teach yoga and offer intuitive energy healing (reiki) both in person and virtual.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

So much of my personal healing work, as well as professional work with my clients, is dedicated to – and made possible by – the womb wisdom ancestors from the Black and Indigenous lineages who worked to keep these traditions and knowledge alive despite generations of white supremacy, colonialism and genocide that specifically targeted these life generating and affirming practices and their keepers. My praxis is deeply rooted in the values of reproductive justice and the activists and advocates who came before me.

It is a testament to the potency of these practices as well as the tenacity, strength and resiliency of these black and indigenous people of the global majority (BIPGM) communities that I am able to learn and disseminate information about these practices.

I dedicate my personal healing work, and professional work with all my clients, to the Black and Indigenous practitioners who are alive today, and continuing in the footsteps of their ancestors to fight to legitimize these practices despite the continued oppression, suppression and invalidation of their traditions.

I also wish to dedicate my work to the European womb wisdom ancestors who kept traditions alive despite generations of violence and systemic persecution, including my indigenous/ancestral heritage in both France and Italy – but I have only discovered this connection because of the work of BIPGM leaders and communities – and I am relearning and reintroducing it into my community now. I also dedicate my work to the Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic traditions that continue to retain the longstanding recognition of the menstrual cycle as an honored vital sign.

I hope that my work contribute to bringing healing to the generations of harm and trauma that persist in humanity and in our flesh and spirits as womb-holders. I hope that my work contribute to fight for the collective liberation of Black people, and the fight for the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

It is my personal experience with enduring years of chronic pain, medical trauma, and bearing witness to obstetric violence and the stripping away of body literacy and body autonomy in our society that led me to pursue this work. First and foremost it is my resilience as a survivor has driven me to be an educator and an advocate for my clients. My passion for this work is born of a deep desire to drive cultural change and give people the tools to find their own empowerment and deep inner resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.revenirservices.com/
• Instagram: @the_rach_s
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revenirservices

Image Credits
Amber Marie Photography Erica Treais Photography