Meet Kiara “Arija” Smith of Birth In Color Doula Collective in Grand Prairie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiara “Arija” Smith.

Kiara “Arija”, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In 2016, I became pregnant with my third child. I knew I wanted a different birth experience than I’d had with my first two children (hospital births) and remembered seeing water births on TLC’s ‘A Baby Story’ show. I began researching how to make this happen and was directed to a Black midwife in Hurst. I was excited but also shocked that not many women who looked like me knew much about midwifery care. I was also disturbed that it was so hard to find professionals, resources, and support from people who looked like me.

Although my husband was concerned about an unmedicated birth in relation to my low pain tolerance (among other things), we chose to go with the midwife and have our baby at the birth center. When I began to share with family and friends that I was going to have a water birth, I got every response from curiosity and excitement, to statements like “that’s what White people do.” So I then began to protect my mental space and continued researching how to prepare for an unmedicated birth. I was determined, but more importantly, I was educated!

January 2017, I birthed a sweet baby girl into the water after only 5 hours of labor. I was on a birth high for weeks and months following the experience. I wrote out my birth story and shared it with everyone that would listen! Women were telling me how inspired they were and were wanting to look into having their own unmedicated births, even if they weren’t yet pregnant! A few were even asking me to be their doula. Me? No way. I continued to brush it off until I just couldn’t any longer. Everything fell into place and I became a doula in December 2017!

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t necessarily been a smooth road. Many people still don’t know what a doula is, what we do, and why they would even want to hire one. So educating my community on birth options, as well as breastfeeding and prenatal care has been fulfilling in this regard.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Birth In Color Doula Collective story. Tell us more about the business.
Birth In Color is now a collective of Black doulas that support women of color, particularly Black and Hispanic women, in all things related to prenatal, birth, and postpartum care. A doula is not only an emotional and physical support during those three periods but also an educator. We are constantly learning, researching, and training to be able to share, educate, and empower other women to take control of their birth experiences. There is still a huge lack of knowledge when it comes to birth options (i.e., care providers, where to birth, “how” to birth, support, rights, etc.) within Black and Hispanic communities. There is also a lack of conversations surrounding pregnancy and infant loss in these particular communities, which we aim to change as we move forward.

Birth In Color doulas specializes in labor and postpartum support, breastfeeding, fitness and nutrition, fertility and conception, childbirth education, and holistic health remedies. Other passions include babywearing education, life coaching, and PAIL (pregnancy and infant loss) education, which we plan to offer support for in the future.

As a company, I am most proud of this opportunity to educate, empower, and support women that look like us during such a special time as motherhood. Black women were the original midwives (because racism…research ‘granny midwives’) before the skills and knowledge were stolen, they were discredited and criminalized, and then doctors became the norm. We (Black women) were the original supporters of each other during pregnancy, birth, and motherhood (#doulas)…and are still doing it to this day!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Many of the big discussions in the doula industry currently revolve around insurance coverage. Most insurance companies do not cover/reimburse doula services, although there is significant evidence-based research showing the benefits of doula care. Within the next five years, I hope there is a major shift toward the coverage of both labor and postpartum doulas, especially through Medicaid.

Contact Info:

• Website: birthincolor.com
• Phone: 972-584-7249
• Email: info@birthincolor.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/birthincolor
• Facebook: facebook.com/birthincolor

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