All paths and diversions led me to create Flora Massage and Wellness Services in 2004. When I became a mother for the first time in 1995, I was working in inpatient psychiatric care. As a former student of modern dance and as a therapeutic recreation specialist, I could see an obvious connection between our bodies and emotions. Additionally, my desire to be the best possible mother for my new baby made me seek a parenting style and health philosophy that was grounded in becoming the expert on my child after he experienced a difficult cesarean birth. 

Following my homebirths in 1998 and 1999, I began to envision a role for myself within our community. I wanted to provide services that would empower individuals to have gentler births; for themselves and their babies.  I wanted to ease the transition from pregnancy to parenthood and provide services that would help babies transition to life outside the womb. After anchoring my own mothering energy and seeking my own internal balance by volunteering as a childbirth educator and labor support provider, I found myself pursuing a career in massage.

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Perinatal support and advocacy have been my passion for over twenty years. I continue to learn from experts in my field, but most of my learning is done through listening to families. We are in an era in which we must learn to balance science with innate knowing. Evidenced-based care and supporting the inner wisdom of pregnant and postpartum people is key to optimizing outcomes for mothers and babies.