The Doula I Needed.
I'm Denawa Deniece. Full Spectrum Doula + Holistic Lifecycle Educator. 207 birth families + counting. Supporting the Greater Charlotte area.
How I Came to this Work
I was teaching power Vinyasa, the kind in a heated room where it's one breath per movement, when pregnant women started showing up to my class. At the time, I didn't know how to properly cue a pregnant body, so I pursued + got certified in prenatal yoga.
In that training, there was a small section on birth + doula work that cracked me open + changed the trajectory of everything I thought I knew.
I already had Khyra. I'd already been through pregnancy, labor + delivery. But sitting in a room learning about the maternal disparities for Black + Brown women, I had to look back at my own birth story honestly for the 1st time ever. I labored mostly alone. People talked at me instead of to me. My needs got dismissed. I ended up in an uncessceary C-section with no real support + no one advocating for me.
Khyra + I came home for 7 days before we were admitted to the hospital for weight loss. We spent 14 days there. Ten of those days she was in the NICU, on machines, fed through tubes. Day 11 we moved to a regular room. Day 14 we were discharged.
That's where this started.
Not the certifications, Not the credntials. The moment I realized I could be the person I never had.
What I Do + Who I Do It For
I support women through every chapter of their hormonal life. The cycle. Conception. Pregnancy + birth. The fourth trimester. Perimenopause + the second spring after.
QCity Doula is my Charlotte arm. Local, embodied, in your home + at your birth. Birth doula, postpartum doula, house manager, placenta encapsulation, spinning babies birth prep-educator.
Everything else I do, the courses, the retreats, the coaching, the writing, the speaking, the products, live at my parent brand Double Dose Wellness.
Most practitioners treat + focus on one chapter. I hold the entire map.
Credentials, for the Record
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DONA International Certified Birth + Postpartum Doula
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NovantHealth Verified + Credentialed Doula
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200-RYT Vinyasa + 85hr Prenatal Yoga Trained (Awakened Spirit + BlackIrchid)
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Community Herbalist
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Placenta Encapsulation Specialist
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5-year community based research doula, UNC Chapel Hill (birth outcome disparities ACURE4Moms project)
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Mecklenburg Womens Advisory Board Chair ( two consecutive years)
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Pregnancy + Infant Loss Advocate
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Currently in pursuit of NBC-HWC (National Board Certified Health + Wellness Coach), expected 2027
What I believe
Women's bodies have been managed in chapters by people who don't talk to each other. Cycle goes to the gynecologist. Pregnancy goes to the OB. Birth goes to whoever is on call. Postpartum gets a single 6-week appointment. Perimenopause gets dismissed as anxiety. Nobody holds the thread.
That's what I do.
I believe lifestyle medicine is liberation. I believe women deserve providers who actually listen. I believe the body has been talking the whole time + most of us have never been taught to hear it.
Outside the Birth Room
Khyra is officially a young adult- where does the time go?
Nugget is my fur companion. I take aerial hammock weekly. I am back in my tennis era, I keep a pottery practice + I'm protecting my time like its the asset that it is.
Living for myself for the first time, honestly.
I get my best work done between 9a-12n. I rest hard on Sundays. I trust my body when it tells me yes or no.