Language, Culture & Care: Supporting Families and Sustaining Doulas with Jasmine Scott

Featuring Jasmine Scott

Host: Marnellie Bishop · A podcast by Community Doula Alliance

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Marnellie Bishop (00:07)

Welcome to the Doula Debrief Podcast, everyone. I’m Marnellie. I’m your host today. And we will be having a conversation with CDA’s Doula Community Manager, Jasmine Scott. And we’re going to learn a little bit about all of the work that she does with our organization, how she’s connecting families to doulas and also supporting the professional development of the doulas in our diverse doula program.

So let me tell you a little bit about Jasmine. Jasmine Scott is a bilingual birth doula, nonprofit leader, and maternal health advocate dedicated to expanding equitable, culturally responsive care for families across Oregon and Washington. As the Doula Community Manager at Community Doula Alliance, she supports and mentors a growing network of community doulas, while helping strengthen programs that improve access to compassionate, community-centered birth support.

As a first-generation college graduate, Jasmine recently earned her Bachelor of Arts in Human Services and will soon begin her master’s in social work. Her work is rooted in the belief that every family deserves to feel seen, heard, and supported throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Whether mentoring doulas, advocating for maternal health equity, or investing in the next generation of birth workers, Jasmine is passionate about building stronger communities, one family at a time.

Welcome, Jasmine, to the Doula Debrief Podcast. It’s just like we’re sitting here having a meeting with each other.

Jasmine Scott (01:38)

Like.

Marnellie Bishop (01:39)

Yeah. So good to see you on this day to talk and let people get to know you a little bit more. So I want to kind of start off: what brought you to birth work?

Jasmine Scott (01:53)

That’s a great question. As I was thinking about my current journey, I feel like, in a sense, birth work found me. How I started, or how I came to learn about doula work, was about almost three years ago — I moved here to Washington from California, and I connected with somebody in the community.

They were sharing about the work they were doing in the community, and when I shared that I had a background in early childhood education, they said, “Did you know we’re going to be having a pilot program around doula work?” I said, “I have no idea what doula work is,” but it sounded interesting. And she said, “You’ll be great — you have the background.” So she shared the info with me, and when I looked it up, I thought, this is interesting — I had never heard about it.

But I had known about it, except that’s our typical aunties and grandmas in our community. When I was going through the application process, it really had me reflect on what is that one story that brought me here. Previously, when I was in California, I was a volunteer as a CASA. One of the teenagers I supported was a teen mom, and after hearing her story — how she was on her own, and it would have been nice to have somebody on her side just advocating, or like she would call it a birth CASA — I realized this is what she was talking about. She needed a doula to be at her side, aside from a CASA. So I applied, and that’s kind of how I started. I didn’t really realize it was something I was looking for until I was involved. I thought, this is where I want to be, this is where I want to evolve.

Marnellie Bishop (03:44)

Yeah, and I’m trying to remember back to those early days, because Kimberly and I had gone into Southwest Washington to do a presentation to introduce doula work to your specific cohort, or people who were interested in joining your cohort. I’m trying to remember if I met you at one of those meetings — did you go to one of the open sessions?

Jasmine Scott (04:10)

No, I think I was involved after, because my first time meeting you and Kimberly was actually at the first day of training.

Marnellie Bishop (04:18)

And that — that was summer of twenty twenty-four, yes? Am I right? Okay. It feels like I’ve known you much longer than that, which is a good sign, right? It’s a good sign of how our relationship and the work has evolved for you.

One of the things you mentioned is that it’s our aunties and our grandmas and the women in our community. Can you tell folks a little bit about what that community is that you’re a part of — what is your background?

Jasmine Scott (04:48)

Yeah, so my community — I’m a daughter of immigrants who came from El Salvador. So for me, when I support community, I support predominantly the Latino community. I really love to serve communities that come from Central America, just because I feel like I get a little touch of home, and we have a different way of saying things. So when I hear it, it’s like I hear my auntie talking, or I hear my cousins talking — it gives me that little bit of nostalgia working with them.

But really, even in the approach, I think of things like — do you know what a doula is? Have you heard of it? This is what you do. And it’s always like, “Yeah, my grandma was the one who did that back in our village where I used to live,” or “Yeah, my sister does that.” So it’s like, you’re just another auntie that’s coming into the home to help us. So that’s predominantly who I serve. And it’s been really great, being able to support them in their maternal journey and being able to share with them the importance of postpartum, because that’s so hard for them — to just take that pause and enjoy the moment, because they’re constantly on the go.

Marnellie Bishop (06:02)

Yeah, and the way you’re telling your story tells me a little bit about how you led into your entrepreneur business name, right? Tu Tía Doula, right? So you’re the auntie to these families, to these pregnant women that you’re supporting and serving. And I think, at least in the stories I hear you share when we’re debriefing about the births you attend, or the prenatal visits, or you’re preparing for things, I think you fill that role — you want to give wisdom and also not take away from their experience, which I feel is very much what you’d perceive your auntie to be. I think I can go to my auntie and get all the ice cream and candy, and they’re going to show me, they’re going to teach me a lesson, or guide me into something that is bigger than me.

We mentioned earlier you trained with CDA in 2024, summer of 2024. Talk about that experience — how did it feel going through that training, and then how did you shift over into becoming part of CDA?

Jasmine Scott (07:15)

Yeah, so training with CDA — honestly, I went in thinking it was going to be a typical school, sit-in-a-classroom kind of training. But it was quite the opposite. It was really hands-on — I was constantly zoned in, taking notes, trying to absorb everything. The one thing I didn’t expect was to be able to build such a tight community. To this day, that whole cohort is still connected, and we’re having conversations daily, whether it’s related to the doula work, or it’s like, “This is where I’m at in life, I need support,” and we’re like, “Okay, let’s get this going,” or “I have a client that needs this resource,” and we’re all jumping in to support each other. So I feel like it not only brought me new knowledge and understanding, but it brought me a chosen family.

And I think, through that process, I myself, during that time, had just come to the end of my own healing journey and was trying to find where I belonged in the world. So it was kind of like — here I have this team that has empowered me to keep going, and to now be able to empower others to start their own healing journey.

I mean, like I said, we were ten at that time. And during that time, it was also shared about everything CDA was doing. And what I found really interesting about CDA was that it didn’t just say, “This is what we do” — it actually put it into practice. Everything that was shared, you could see it in the social media, in what we were doing.

There was a time when we were able to connect with actual CDA doulas, and everything shared was like, “Yeah, I feel a part of something bigger here. I’m really respected here, I’m valued as a person and not based on my identity.” So it was just a place where I thought, wow, I really want to be a part of something that’s not only saying this is what we do, but really putting it into action.

And so, I think toward the end of training, it was shared that CDA was going to be going through some changes and looking to implement a new position for the doula coordinator. I thought, well, I’ve been a coordinator at other places, so I was really intrigued to learn more about the position. I applied, and that’s where my journey with CDA started.

Marnellie Bishop (09:42)

Yeah, because I’m thinking of that timeline — you trained in the summer, and we opened up the application for that doula coordinator position, which was essentially part-time, because we were in this state of growth, offloading all of the things that few people carried, and spreading it out among a bigger team.

And I think you were one of three or four candidates that Kimberly and I interviewed who really spoke to the mission and vision of the organization. You come from a place of community, you come with experience and knowledge in coordination and connecting families to support teams. So tell me a little bit about that transition — you were trained to be a doula, you were working in the field, and then you became a doula coordinator, wearing a different hat. You weren’t doing the field work, you weren’t the doula attending the births, but you were now connecting families to the doulas that are part of CDA. So tell me how that feels different when it comes to client care and doula support.

Jasmine Scott (11:03)

Yeah, I feel like I benefited from going straight from having just trained as a doula into an actual role to support doulas and clients getting connected, because it gave me kind of a glimpse on both ends and how they’re connected. I was already coming in as a doula and had probably supported one or two families and gotten a little bit of that experience of going through that whole process.

But then, as a doula coordinator, seeing the other end of what it really takes to connect families with doulas — not just simply, “Okay, here’s a doula you can work with,” but more like, “Okay, tell me more about who you are, what are you looking for,” and making sure that the doula we’re connecting with the client is not only going to support them with the doula work, but also give them that culturally responsive care.

And that’s been really amazing to see — when I’m having these conversations with clients, and I say, “Tell me more. We actually have a client who identifies with your same cultural background — are you interested in connecting with them?” And they’re like, “Wait, you mean I can choose?” And I say, “Yeah, you have choice in this, because we want you to feel you’re being respected from step one all the way through, and you’re being validated in what your beliefs are.” We don’t want somebody coming in — not that any of our doulas at CDA would do this — but we don’t want you to feel like you have to change your expectation of a birth because your culture isn’t something the doula providing support aligns with. So being able to support them with that, I feel, has made a bigger impact.

Clients being able to say, “Yeah, I trust my doula, I trust that my doula is going to be there for me, and I trust that my doula has my best interest at the forefront, and I trust they’re going to help me advocate for that as well.”

Marnellie Bishop (13:02)

Yeah, and I wanted to speak to the things that I’ve witnessed, because our desks are right by each other, so I hear you on those conversations with clients, I hear you on the conversations with doulas. And one of the things I want to acknowledge and recognize is that what we’re doing here at CDA, when we’re making that client and doula connection, is very different than what might be seen in other kinds of doula agency models. We are giving choice. We are giving agency to these families, because for most of their medical care — whether it’s through family practice, midwives, or OBs — they call and say, “What does my insurance cover, who, and where?” And they’re just assigned.

And the conversations I’ve heard you have with clients are like, “Well, give me two or three — who do you want to interview? Let’s find the best fit for you.” And then you kind of help them decide who fits best — speaking to language, speaking to culture. I know those clients feel more empowered coming into care because they don’t feel like a number.

When I think of how many of the doulas within CDA are also doulas for other organizations — and that’s their right and their choice, because we want doulas to have that autonomy — I think they get assigned a client, and there might not be a good match. And I think that’s maybe one of the biggest differences between our model and other organizations: we want you to make that connection, we want you to create it, because this is a community role. You can’t just say, “I’m your doula,” and go into the work — you’re building a relationship, you’re building rapport, you’re building trust. Because if we know anything about diverse communities, and even our own communities — if you don’t look like me, or if you’re somebody I haven’t heard or seen within the community, why would I trust you? I think that’s something worth paying attention to.

And recognizing — you might be a great doula, and you feel like you could be a doula for anyone, but we’re not for everyone. I am not the doula for everyone. I can tell you that right now. I will admit to not being the doula for everyone.

Jasmine Scott (15:44)

Yeah, and I think, at the same time, because you’ve been very open about saying, “I’ve had an interview and I had to tell them, I’m not a good fit for you, but here are recommendations,” I think it kind of sparks something in doulas too — to really be able to interview, but take that step back to reflect.

At the same time, what I’m trying to say is, we connect clients to culturally matched doulas, but we still want doulas to have that same autonomy and decision — to say, “Yeah, I’ll interview this client,” and have that connection, but nothing needs to happen past that connection if you don’t feel it. Because I think, at the end of the day, something I’ve witnessed from day one is that as much as we’re for the clients, we’re also for the doulas and their own self-care, making sure they’re taking care of themselves — making sure they have that decision of, “Is supporting this client going to be beneficial for both of us, or is this just going to be beneficial for the client,” to the point where I’m being triggered and I’m not giving a hundred percent to this client, and now I have to go back and call CDA — “Marnellie, what do I do?” And then we’re having this conversation of, “Well, when did you realize this? Why didn’t you pause?” And so now we’re trying to find solutions — which we’ve always found, and things have ended up being great still at the end. But I feel like now I’m seeing a little more of that conversation of, “Hey, I’m connected with this client, this is what they’re wanting, this is their hundred percent, but I feel like I can only give them fifty percent. Okay, then what’s the solution?” And sometimes that solution is, I need to step back and this client needs to interview somebody else. Or it’s, “I feel like I could really support them in the prenatal and birth,” and work with another doula who can provide the postpartum they’re looking for. So now we’re tapping into that co-share model — again, something I feel like you’ve been really open about — that doula work doesn’t have to be you doing the work by yourself. You have a community to lean on, but at the same time, you have the option of working with somebody else and providing that hundred percent of care to a client if you can only do fifty.

And so I think, at the end of the day, it’s really nice to see clients being supported, hearing, “The doula was amazing, I had this experience,” and although it wasn’t my dream expectation, it ended up being a really good expectation because I could rely on them. And at the same time, I have doulas saying, “Whoa, this one was a doozy, but I was able to get through it because I had the support — I had these people I knew I could lean on, I could call at two in the morning and say, I’m having this moment, hear me out, okay, now I can jump back in.” I think that’s something I’ve really seen from the beginning at CDA: yes, we’re about the clients, but we’re also about the doulas, ensuring they’re tapping into their own self-care and becoming more aware of what they can implement to make sure they’re giving the client that hundred percent they’re wanting or needing.

Marnellie Bishop (19:00)

So what you’re speaking to there is that kind of mentorship that doulas who are part of CDA have, through our diverse doula program — they have access to experienced doulas, access to people who’ve been trainers in the cohort they learned from, access to ask some of the questions in a safe place, and, to your point, to become a little more self-aware about what their limitations are, how these can be mutually beneficial relationships while still holding integrity for myself and making sure I feel whole, while also still making sure my client feels whole.

Because, you know, if we look at the statistics of doulas staying in the field, especially when we think of community-based doula care, it’s very different than when we think of mainstream doulas, or what private-pay doulas are, or how a private-pay doula has designed their role to be. Can you speak a little bit to what the community-based doula model is?

Jasmine Scott (20:14)

I feel like, in my perspective, it’s a different approach. I think my approach is more about that cultural awareness, but it’s also not just focusing on, yes, providing the prenatal visits, the birth, or the postpartum — it’s also looking at the whole picture: at the end of the day, when I leave, how am I leaving this client? What resources are they still needing? What connections can I provide so that once I’m out of the picture, they’re still being involved with somebody in the community who’s going to continue to provide them support.

Sometimes it’s even providing resources — here in Washington County, we have a resource we can connect them to. And it’s not just focused on the mom, but on the family. Through that, partners have been able to find even part-time jobs, which was a stressor for not only the partner but the mom, because it’s like, “Okay, we’re bringing a baby — what’s going to happen when baby is here and we don’t have the full hours to work, or we don’t know where food’s going to come from?” But being able to connect them to resources in the community — like, yes, this is something big, but there are resources, and I’m here to support you with those resources, so it’s one less thing you have to think about right now, and you know that once baby is here, this is where I can lean on for support.

So it’s not really, “I’m just here to do doula work — we’re just going to do the exercises, the hip squeezes, okay, baby is here, bye, let’s move on.” It’s more like, okay, we’re doing the physical, we’re doing the emotional, we’re doing the social, we’re connecting all those pieces to ensure that transition of being able to welcome baby.

Marnellie Bishop (22:00)

And I know that Kimberly and Lillian, one of our doulas, will be interviewing for one of our podcast episodes coming up, and Lillian shares a story of just how it’s even hard to really support the prenatal time when there are all of those social determinants of health — when all of these other things are bigger stressors for the family. It’s really hard to then focus on, “Am I nourishing my body well? Is my body moving well? How is my baby doing?” — because my brain is focused on housing, rent assistance, where’s the next meal going to come from, how do I navigate my SNAP benefits, or, for families with young children, is there a Head Start program I can enroll my child in so there’s at least some place for that young child to land while maybe I’m in labor — or even thinking about what are the community support systems around that family that can help fill in the gaps.

I know a lot of our doulas say, “Well, who else can you ask for these kinds of supports? Is there somebody in your neighborhood? Are there friends, are there families, are there people within your church, the community center you go to?” I think that’s where, for some families, it’s been this very nuclear thing — like it’s just us. I think community-based doulas go back to that village mentality — like, well, I can go to Jasmine for this, and Jasmine can provide me resources for this, and because you’re a trusted member of the community, or somebody they trust, they know that referral is something they can trust. And then they have a community doula who can follow up with, “How did that connection go? Were you able to get the resource you needed? No? Okay, let’s go to plan B, here’s another resource” — because, like you said, at the end of the day, the goal is to make the family whole and help them in this transition.

Jasmine Scott (24:17)

Yeah, and I think the other part to that, too, is even when we don’t know the resources, it’s not an immediate, “Sorry, I don’t know, figure it out.” It’s, “I don’t know, but let me tap into other people — I’m with an organization that has plenty of doulas, more resources, let me reach out to somebody there to see what they can offer.” And then it’s, “I’ll get back to you — there’s a solution, let me try A, B, C, and then we’ll go from there.” It’s never, “No, sorry, you figure it out, that’s not my role.”

Let me at least try and get back to you, even if I don’t have an answer right now.

Marnellie Bishop (24:57)

Right, right. As we kind of wrap up this conversation — you’re one-on-one with a lot of the doulas, so you kind of see and hear some of the things they’re needing in terms of their professional development, and how to be successful in this role. So what are some of the common things you’re hearing from doulas that you and other members of the CDA team are helping to take off their load?

Jasmine Scott (25:30)

I want to say the main thing I’m always so grateful for CDA for has been specifically billing. I think that’s the one thing that always gets shared — if I had to focus on caring for and supporting a client, plus think about billing, I couldn’t give a hundred percent, because my brain would be like, “Am I doing this right, am I doing this wrong, how am I doing things?” So I feel like billing is one.

But it’s also, for a lot of doulas I’ve heard, just having a space where they can come and share their experiences. Sometimes it’s, “I want to share because I want a solution,” but sometimes it’s just, “I want to share to offload this, and know that I have a space where I can come share this, because I can’t take this home.” And I just need a space to say, “Okay, I did this — can you validate that what I did was correct, or what would you have done?” And at the end of the day, I’m always hearing, “Wow, I feel really good about being here, about having the support.”

I feel like, since I started to now, at least in these last few months, I’ve really seen a different spark in some of the doulas who previously maybe hadn’t thought about starting their own doula business. But now it’s some sort of excitement, like, “Whoa, you mean I can do this by myself? And you’re going to support me, and you’re really going to help me start?” And with that, we’ve been offering workshops around it, and just coming back and hearing the doulas say, “I can really do this, and now I need to choose my name,” and they get so excited, like they’re shopping for a new dress — but they’re choosing their brand, their colors, their representation of how they’re going to represent themselves in the community and how they’re going to stand out.

And some of them are like, “You know, I came from nothing like this — I never in a million years would have thought this was something I could do, because of how I started off. But here, I feel like this is a space where we’re being supported, and we’re being allowed to dream — not just to our limit, but to dream further — because we know we can always say, okay, I’ve completed this part, now I need help with this.” And again, even if we don’t have an answer, we’re never like, “Sorry, that’s not our area” — it’s more like, “That’s not really our area of expertise, but let’s look into it,” or “Here’s a resource, reach out to them so they can keep helping you grow.” So a lot of them are just like, “Without CDA, I don’t think I would have been this successful in my doula journey as I have been up until now.”

Marnellie Bishop (28:19)

Wow, that’s really a powerful statement, because that really is the mission and vision of the organization. When Kimberly started it in 2020, she said, “I’ve seen what I’ve seen in the doula world, and I want to create something that is really focused on diverse doulas,” because there’s a lot out there for other doulas, but it’s not culturally specific, or culturally rooted, or focused on people who might not have thought it was a possibility.

And when we think about — we’ve had these team meetings about, okay, how are we envisioning the next five years of CDA — I think we still come back to: we’re very rooted in building these doulas and helping them make those dreams a reality, and giving them support tools along the way, so that maybe they outgrow CDA, and if they do, we will gladly say, go build what you want to build. That’s their dream, and we want them to accomplish it. I was sitting there like, whoa, okay.

Jasmine Scott (29:36)

Yeah, like you’re saying — go, fly away, birdie. But know that even though you fly away, you can always come back here and you’ll be welcomed with open arms. And I think that’s been a highlight of CDA — showing that, regardless of where their path takes them, if they need to come back home, they can come back home.

Marnellie Bishop (29:57)

Yeah, and I think that was one of the things that was shared recently at the open house — a couple of the doulas, and you mentioned it earlier in your conversation, that sense of belonging, that sense of home, that sense of a place they can go out into the world and do the work and experience things, but then come back to CDA and feel grounded, find support, and get their cup refilled. I love that.

I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, because this type of conversation is high-level stuff, right? We’re in the day-to-day of connecting clients to doulas — “Jasmine, did you follow up on that insurance verification? Jasmine, where are we at with this credentialing for this doula?” And to take a step back in this conversation and say, all right, we’ve built some really good systems and ways to help support these doulas as they grow in their work as doulas and as they grow in their work as entrepreneurs. So, yeah.

Jasmine Scott (31:02)

Yeah, yeah.

Marnellie Bishop (31:04)

So thanks for being here with me today, Jasmine. And thank you, everybody, who has taken the time to listen to this podcast. Listen to all the rest, because there’s really, really great stuff. Have a great day.

Jasmine Scott (31:17)

Bye. Bye.