Shafia Monroe, MPH, is a renowned midwife, master doula trainer, author, motivational speaker, and cultural competency trainer whose work has shaped birth and postpartum care for more than four decades. A subject-matter expert in African American birth and postpartum traditions, Shafia draws from her deep Southern roots in rural Alabama, where her grandmother taught her that food is medicine and community care is essential to healing.
As a mother of seven, grandmother, and traditional midwife, Shafia has supported thousands of families through childbirth and the fourth trimester. She has trained thousands more birth workers in culturally centered, evidence-based practices that uplift Black maternal health and honor ancestral knowledge.
Shafia’s groundbreaking work has been featured in The Portland Observer, MadameNoire, Oregon Historical Quarterly, Double Dutch, mater mea, and the American Journal of Public Health. She is president of Shafia Monroe Consulting/Birthing CHANGE, helping health-care providers create culturally sensitive care, and she is the creator of the SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training program, which trains doulas to honor the legacy of the 20th-century African American midwife. She is known for her commitment to cultural reclamation, community empowerment, and improving maternal outcomes for women worldwide.