My Story

It was 5 months after the boxing day tsunami in 2004 and alongside my husband and 1-year-old son we packed up our belongings and headed for Sri Lanka where my husband had a job with an international NGO rebuilding schools and houses following the devastation. At this point, having worked in various nursing jobs in London I was happy to have a career break to raise my young family. Fast forward 7 years (plus 2 more kids) and I was looking to re-establish myself professionally and wanted to use my skills and experience whilst remaining flexible as we continued to move continents every 2-3 years. I met some really cool women in Amman who were Doulas. they convinced me that becoming a doula was the greatest career move I could make! I started immediately, studying through Childbirth International and was fortunate to be able to shadow these inspirational women as they attended births. I quickly went on to become a Childbirth Educator as this seemed to be a natural progression and I loved learning and teaching about childbirth. In 2012 we moved to Cairo where I started to attend the community Mum and babies group and introduce myself as a birth doula and Childbirth Educator. I had the pleasure of living and working in Cairo for almost 5 years and in that time I attended some really beautiful births. With my friend Jenn we helped to set up and equip the first water birth suite in Cairo and later that same year Jenn delivered her fourth baby in a beautiful and gentle water birth with me as her doula. I found that although teaching Childbirth classes and attending births was hugely rewarding, my passion clearly lay in supporting Mums in the post-natal period with breastfeeding. There was a gap in the market for breastfeeding support in Cairo and I quickly became known as a breastfeeding specialist. I was hungry for knowledge and during those years I would often stay up late at night reading books on breastfeeding and studying like crazy. Every mum I saw would be used as a case study to learn and reflect on my practice. Looking back it was an exciting time and I still remember so many of those wonderful mum's and babies that I supported in those early days.

I was able to sit my IBCLC exam in October 2016 and have been supporting families to overcome breastfeeding challenges for more than five years. Being a lactation consultant is a great fit as it offers so much flexibility, I enjoy getting to know the women and babies that I come into contact with, and it is such a privilege to work with families at this transitional time.