PROFESSIONAL
Michele (“Misha”) has been assisting homebirthing families in Oklahoma City, OK and Pittsburgh, PA since 1998, and they have been serving clients in their holistic and spiritual healthcare needs since 2003. As a Romani, Mizrahi, queer, poly, and genderqueer person, Misha is extra sensitive to the cultural needs of queer/gender-diverse clients & clients of colour. They are always open to suggestions on how to better serve clients who fall outside the mainstream culture, cisheteronormativity, and current family structure norms. 

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Michele pursued their midwifery training through extensive self-study, assisting fellow midwives, through apprenticeships with 3 different preceptors, and attending relevant college classes, midwifery skill shares, and conferences. They continue to seek out the newest information regarding homebirth, midwifery, and current studies on evidence-informed peripartum care. Misha attended college for Alcohol & Substance Abuse Peer Counselling, Crime Victim Survivor Services & Peer Counselling, and Psychological Anthropology. They completed the Womancraft & Midwifery home study course through Hygieia College and were mentored by the late Jeannine Parvati-Baker. Michele is now back in college, finishing their graduate degree in Social Work degree, looking forward to many post-graduate opportunities (B''H). They have spent the better part of their life studying Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Spiritual Practices, and Folk Magic. Misha's skill set and scope of practice reflect their diverse and unique educational and experiential background.

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Michele is a member of the Queer and Transgender Midwives Association, the National Association to Advance Black Birth, the International Alliance of Autonomous Midwives, the Association of Radical Midwives, and the Association for Psychological Anthropology among others. Misha is the Vice President & LGBTQ+ Outreach for Ìyá Pittsburgh. They were a founding member and the Queer and Transgender Reproductive Justice Director for the Pittsburgh Birth Project for 5 years. They served as Communications Coordinator, Southwest Regional Representative, and MAST Skills Instructor Coordinator for Midwives Alliance of Pennsylvania (MAP) for 5 years. Michele has volunteered for various other organisations such as Pittsburgh Restaurant Workers Aid, Hello Neighbor, and Repair The World. They are a mentor midwife for students and new midwives in their community and those participating in the Hearthside Online Midwifery Study Group. They completed a 500-hour internship at Jewish Family & Community Services (JFCS) as an Intake Navigator for Immigrant Services & Connections (ISAC). Misha also offers independent, Queer/Trans Inclusive Sex and Sexuality classes for community teenagers & their families.

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Michele has been a camp counsellor, barista, café manager, retail store assistant manager, public school teacher, interior designer/decorator’s assistant, nanny, volunteer librarian, peer counsellor for those in recovery & sexual assault survivors, student, spiritual advisor, chaplain, social worker, perinatal case manager, and published & performing poet.