Mutual Aid Stewards

Quetziquetl Angulo Alemán

Quetzi was born in Mexico City. Her family background is from Puebla and Veracruz, Mexico. She experienced growing up watching her grandmother help her family and strangers to heal as a sobadora and comadrona using the traditional herbal remedies and the rebozo from indigenous Mexican ways.

Quetzi considers her service a legacy and feels honored to have served and continue serving mothers, pregnant people, and their families through pregnancy, postpartum, placenta encapsulation, closings of the bones, traditional lactation, pregnancy loss, emotional, and physical support.

She created Quetzi Doula Care LLC  in 2021, and as a traditional dancer, she incorporates movement and ceremonial approaches to create community and treat body, mind, and spirit for pregnant and non- pregnant people.

Erica Castillo

Erica is a body literacy educator, folk herbalist, and full-spectrum doula who provides cultural and spiritual education and support on birth, postpartum, fertility and menstruation, and reproductive health.

Erica is also on the path to becoming a home birth midwife. Her many skills and doula expertise reflect her midwifery philosophy, which is rooted in the traditional ways of her African and Taino ancestors. These ancestors, as midwives, not only caught babies but were the healers who kept their people safe through the most brutal circumstances.

Erica shares her knowledge and supports her community by offering her services on a sliding scale to QTBIPOC. Her work is representative of her efforts to work towards the abolition of colonialism, decolonization, and gaining collective sovereignty.

Dania Daniels

Since 2013, Dania Daniels has been a birth and postpartum doula and enjoyed working with hundreds of families in the tri-state area.

Dania is co-founder of South Jersey/Philadelphia-based Heartfelt Hands Birth Services and also provides training for future doulas. She works at The Parent Kind in Cherry Hill and with AtlantiCare’s program Safe Beginnings, which offers resources, including free doula, birth and postpartum care, and counseling.

Dania is currently in midwifery school with the National College of Midwifery and looks forward to graduating and becoming a CPM Homebirth Midwife.

Jillian Faulks

Jillian is committed to improving the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Recognizing the importance of wellness beyond the physical, Jillian became certified in Kemetic Yoga. Since then, she has expanded her expertise, becoming a Holistic Health Coach, Prenatal Yoga Instructor, and Lactation Support Counselor.

Jillian is currently the Director of Essex Pregnancy and Parenting Connection, Well-Being Lead for Mosaic Coaching Solutions and a volunteer peer lactation support person for Chocolate Milk Cafe. As the founder and CEO of Majuta Wellness, Jillian focuses on creating spaces that promote joy, peace, and rejuvenation while also addressing health disparities, particularly related to Black maternal and child health.

Jillian is currently completing her doctoral studies in the Family Science and Human Development program at Montclair State University and working toward Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction certification through Brown University.

Tonique Griffin​

Born and raised in Newark, Tonique Griffin is the proud mother of three children, grandmother to five, and a passionate full-spectrum Community Doula who is committed to empowering the families she works with and knows firsthand the importance of supporting doulas in the birthwork and care they provide.

Tonique trained with Uzazi Village, was certified by Sister to Sister Community Doulas, and is the owner of The Caring Doulas. In addition, she works with the Partnership for Maternal & Child Health and is a regular contributor to Rutger’s Project Echo Series, founding Board member of the New Jersey Centering Pregnancy Alliance, and co-founder of the Care Forest communication platform, specifically designed for doulas.

Tonique especially loves working with both first-time birthing people and second timers who didn’t enjoy their first birthing experience. Dedicated to ensuring birthing people and families have access to quality providers, facilities, and resources, Tonique is an advocate for safe, healthy, and intentionally empathetic birthing environments and improving relationships between Doulas, Perinatal Health Workers, Midwives and Providers.

Akirah Hlatshwako

Akirah Hlatshwako is a JustBirth Space Connector, Birthworker, Certified Blactavist Peer Counselor, Urban Farmer, and co-founder and program director of Ubuntu Permaculture Mission Inc.  She believes childbearing people are the experts of their own lives and have the right and the freedom to have a birthing experience that reflects that.

As a Mutual Aid Steward, Akirah hopes to better support doulas in their work to address maternal and infant mortality by fostering sustainable rings of support for them. Akirah is a proud Newark native and a mother of two. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, developing herbal remedies, cooking and spending time with family and friends.

Alreema Vining

Alreema has always had a passion and love for helping pregnant women and infants. Born and raised in Newark, she also knows firsthand how underserved urban, Black, brown, and low-income communities are.

Alreema’s maternal health journey began as a teenager assisting families at a local health clinic. She officially earned the title of doula in 2018, and since then, has gained many new skills through additional training. As a Full Spectrum Doula in New Jersey and Virginia, her love for serving families continues to grow.

Alreema is a Certified Preconception Educator and Certified Family Coach, the owner and founder of Nurturing BayBees—her independent doula practice, and recently launched the AAVE Doula Collaborative, a community-based birth worker training and education organization. She is also the mother of three children and one heavenly angel. Alreema’s goal is to change the way marginalized families receive care by creating safe spaces with tailored programs and education for them to flourish.