Meet Natasha Zalewski | Full Spectrum Doula

We had the good fortune of connecting with Natasha Zalewski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Natasha, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process was that there was a need for women to be mothered as well. Women benefit from having a doula with them in a hospital setting and also at a home birth as well. The purpose of a doula is to bridge the gap between doctor jargon and what you need to make your birth as personal as possible. A lot of women feel uncomfortable speaking up to hospital professionals about what they want and how they feel because they’re taught to just do what the doctor says. But when you don’t have an opinion about one of the biggest moments in your life, having a baby, that leaves room for animosity, guilt, and shame. Physically, we’re able to help the laboring process. Walking, turning on the birth ball, and even simply talking can help calm mothers, allowing their bodies to naturally labor without medical intervention.

I wanted to start this business to give access to all women. Most doulas offer payment plans or even a barter system. Doulas are becoming more known so if you have health care that has an HSA you can pay your doula that way as well.

What should our readers know about your business?
Working Out the Kinks or WOTK Services is my baby in the making. We know from studies that having a doula during delivery helps limit medical intervention. We also know that the black maternal maternity rate is three times higher than white women. I know women personally who had medical intervention when it wasn’t necessary. Angered, I wondered how could I help. Could I help? Then I found the word doula and I became very curious.

I did multiple trainings with schools to become acclimated with the birth world. I became a certified doula, a placenta encapsulate specialist and a prenatal and infant loss advocate. It felt like going back to undergrad all over again. The readings were tough but I knew it was necessary to curve any medical biases I could develop. I wanted to understand the history of gynecology. The techniques that are still used in hospitals today.

I think the hardest part was doing all the work and having people not understand what exactly I was doing. People believe you’re just sitting in a room with a pregnant pregnant person and holding their hands and doing Lamaze faces. It’s so much more than that. You become a friend. You become an advocate. You become a safe space for these women.

The easiest part so far, is befriending these women and seeing their beautiful lives enter this world. It humbles you. I hope WOTK can expand past prenatal and postpartum to help people in all expects of life. I think that this separates me from other businesses. That I want to be a life doula.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Backatown Coffee is a great quiet space to relax and have fresh pastries in the morning. I love they also offer vegan options. I love Original Thought NOLA as well for Vegan options.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to Supreme Midwifery & Doula Co. This is an all-black women cohort, helping women along southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Helping women have beautiful home births and giving them the attention that we need during a critical time, such as birth. Chae Pounds is the brains behind Supreme, and I admire her as a teammate in these child-birthing streets.

I want to Shout out to all the people in my circle my spiritual guides, my family, and my husband who continues to push me forward and obtain my goals.

Instagram: tashthedoula, wotkservices

Facebook: working out the kinks doula services