We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Virginia Tester a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Virginia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I first came to Embrace Refugee Birth Support as a volunteer midwife, to help teach a class on Women’s Health and family planning. This was years ago, maybe 8 years ago now. I sat in a circle with about 6 or 7 women from the community and began teaching the slides and information in English. I paused after each sentence to allow time for the interpreters to share my information in the languages of the women before me – there were at least three different interpreters. It was beautiful to hear all the women chatting in their own languages, over one another, obviously discussing their experiences or understanding of the information I’d shared. I remember distinctly one slide I shared about contraceptive options being interpreted into these languages and the room immediately erupting in laughter!

It was that moment when I realized how important it was to create a space where women felt safe and comfortable to learn about these sensitive issues in women’s health, to feel free to ask questions, and to do that through and with a trusted community member like our Community Liaisons. While the lesson took nearly three times as long as I was prepared to get through, the experience got me hooked to the work of Embrace with the refugee and immigrant communities in Clarkston. I am lucky now to work alongside seven incredible Community Liaisons who now teach these classes themselves as trained childbirth educators and postpartum doulas!

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?

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I believe success in community health work is really dependent on finding, listening to and working alongside community members themselves. I could not do any of the work at Embrace without the incredible team around me -specifically, people who are from the communities we serve and have knowledge, deep understanding and personal experiences that  influence the work we do. Equipped with professional development as birth workers and learning opportunities to carry out their job responsibilities – are the most important resource we have and positively impact the health and wellbeing outcomes for families in our community.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I loved my job as a Nurse Midwife – it was high energy, always exciting, meeting new people every day … and I got to be present in the room as birthing people progressed through one of the most significant days of their lives. I loved it. I never pictured myself not working as a midwife. However, for a number of reasons, it became suddenly clear that I had to leave the job I loved to care for our children I loved at home. I honestly struggled a bit with my own identity and the major shift that had to happen internally. So I think of that decision as a pivot – leaving one career path to take another path with an unknown destination. I went from full-time, successful, helping to usher new life into the world every day to being home every day changing diapers, cleaning up messes, and wondering how anyone ever did it all.

And that’s the beautiful thing about the pivot – the hard circumstances forced to pivot as a family, and I learned more in those five years than I ever could have otherwise. Not only did I get time to play with my kids and watch them grow and blossom, but I also began volunteering in the community in Clarkston with Embrace. I’ll never get that time back at home with my kids, and never would have ended up where I am now working in the community and alongside such incredible people without that split in my career path that took me home.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.embracerefugeebirth.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/embracerefugeebirth
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginia-tester-835198214/

Image Credits
Wild Harvest Photography