Jennie Joseph, a British-trained midwife and women’s health advocate, moved to the United States in 1989 and began a journey that has culminated in the formation of an innovative maternal child health care system, The JJ Way®.

Jennie has worked extensively in European hospitals, American birth centers, clinics, and home birth environments. Jennie has been instrumental in the regulation of Florida midwives since the 1990s and has been involved in midwifery education since 1995. She is a former Chair of Florida’s State Council of Licensed Midwives. Currently, she owns a Florida licensed midwifery school attached to her nationally-renowned birth center and maternity medical home in Winter Garden, Florida. She also developed and administers perinatal professional training and certification programs to address the health care provider shortage, diversify the maternal child health (MCH) workforce, and address persistent racial and class disparities in birth outcomes.

Due to the high prematurity rates experienced by low income and uninsured women, Jennie established an outreach clinic for pregnant women, who are at risk of not receiving prenatal care. Her ‘Easy Access’ Prenatal Care Clinics offer quality maternity care for all, regardless of their choice of delivery site or ability to pay and has successfully reduced both maternal and infant morbidity and mortality in Central Florida. There are both quantitative and qualitative studies underway regarding Jennie’s work as well as continuous reviews of the impact of her clinical and educational programs.

Jennie’s model of healthcare, The JJ Way®, provides an evidence-based system to deliver MCH services, which improve health, reduce costs, and produce better outcomes all round. As Founder and Executive Director of her own non-profit corporation, Commonsense Childbirth Inc., Jennie firmly believes that, “Everyone wants a healthy baby and every birthing person deserves one.”

Andrea Herrada is a Western Governors University graduate with a focus on Education. Andrea has spent 10+ years in the field of education: teaching, developing and implementing curriculum. She has also implemented various technologies into the learning environment to support various styles of learners, especially after being an online college graduate herself. As a bilingual educator born in Florida with Puerto Rican and Mexican descent, she has been able to help provide the Latino/a community with receiving quality opportunities for higher learning and advocating for reproductive justice. 

For her, being a part of CCSM allows the opportunity to assist future midwives begin their educational journey while providing the safe space during the uncertainty of enrollment and throughout their educational experience. Outside of her passion for education, Andrea enjoys spending time with her three daughters and traveling. Andrea is continuing her educational development by studying for her Masters of Arts and learning project management.

Dayna Hernandez is a Certified Professional Midwife, birth assistant, birth & postpartum support person and lactation support counselor who traverses between worlds; the Womb and the Earth; the spiritual and the physical; Spanish & English. At a certain point into her first pregnancy she realized that her life would be forever changed after the birth of her son, for reasons apart from the obvious transformation from individual person to the mom-baby dyad. She was beginning to hear the echoes of her calling and gradually became receptive to the “spiritual healer” within. 

She is spiritually motivated to serve families and to be with them during a most transcendent and transformational moment of their lives. Her mom would often say to her, “nosotros somos gente humilde.” It means, “we are humble people.” And for her, part of that humility meant that every person deserves safety, care and respect in the pregnancy and birth continuum. 

She currently works Full-Time at Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery as a Clinical Mentor Coordinator and Student Services Administrator at CCSM.

Tara Gallagher is the Academic Coordinator for the Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery. Originally from Kansas, Tara went to the University of Kansas as an undergraduate and completed a bachelor’s degrees for Theatre & Film, Anthropology, and Molecular Biosciences. After working in scientific research for two years, she moved to Milwaukee, WI in 2013 to pursue a master’s degree in medical Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. While attending her graduate program, Tara taught several sections of Anatomy and Physiology as a Teaching Assistant. She also went on to teach high school science for two years at the Étude High School in Sheboygan, WI while finishing her thesis titled Practical Problems and Moral Discourses: An Ethnography of Breastfeeding. Tara was trained as a Maternal Child Health Specialist at the Midwest Maternal Child Institute and is a Certified Lactation Counselor, a Certified Doula, and a student midwife attending the Direct Entry Midwife program at the Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. 

 

Prior to joining CCSM, Tara’s professional work includes Birth Outcomes Made Better (BOMB) Doula for the Milwaukee Health Department as well as Clinical Case Manager and Community Action Network (CAN) Coordinator for SGA Youth & Family Services Midwest Healthy Start Initiative in Chicago, IL.

Justine Clegg has been active in maternal and child health since 1974 when she became a La Leche League Leader, then a childbirth educator, labor coach, and birth assistant.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Miami, a 3-year Diploma from the South Florida School of Midwifery, and a Masters in Science degree in Counseling from Florida International University.

Justine is a home birth midwife licensed in Florida since 1986.

She is a Certified Professional Midwife through North American Registry of Midwives since 1993.

She is a Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor since 1993. 

She became a Certified Lactation Counselor, Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice, since 2008.

She was Midwifery Program Director at Miami Dade Community College, Medical Center Campus,1994-2008, and received an Endowed Chair, 2003-2006.  

Tamara Trinidad is a community partera/midwife, perinatal educator, EBB Instructor and herbalist, born and raised in Puerto Rico. She is a mother of two children who were born at home with midwives and has been actively involved in childbirth professions for over 10 years. She has a background in Biology and holds a Master of Science in Midwifery (MSM) with foundations in Botanical Medicine from Bastyr University and is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). She owns a midwifery and herbal practice called Semilla Creciente LLC and is actively involved in her community as the president of the Puerto Rico Midwifery Association (APPR). She is also an member of the National Association for Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) and recently joined as an Instructor at Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery. Besides being active in the clinical and educational roles of midwifery, Tamara is also highly committed to the equity, social justice and political aspects of the midwifery profession

Debbie Allen is a Midwife, Childbirth Educator, Maternal Health Advocate, founder of Tribe Midwifery, and Co-Founder of the Well-Being Alliance in Los Angeles, California. Debbie has supported families in their reproductive health choices throughout the last 29 years . Debbie was the Co-Director and Chief Financial Officer of The Community Birth Center, first black owned birth center in Los Angeles. Debbie is the Co-Creator and Co-Director responsible for the implementation of a full spectrum Group Prenatal Program for BMHCE and Charles Drew University of Science and Medicine.