Meet experts trainers
Learning Top Skills
Learning the top doula skills is essential for providing effective support to birthing families.
Industry Experts
Our experienced expert trainers bring in-depth knowledge and practical insights that enhance the quality of training.
Enjoy Learning
Interactive elements such as hands-on learning, case studies, and homework assignments contribute to a more engaging learning environment.
Nikita Johnson
Home Birth Midwifery
Nikita Johnson is the CEO and Founder of The Black Doula Training, LLC, where she also serves as the Chief Instructor. With approximately six years of experience in hospital-based Labor and Delivery, she has honed her skills as an OB Surgical Technologist and has since retired from that role. Currently, Nikita is a third year Midwife Apprentice at Charm City
Midwives, where she studies under Nurse Midwife, Bayla Berkowitz; a well known homebirth midwife in Pikesville Maryland. She also studied under Midwives Maureen McIver, of Midwife Dharma in Westminster, Maryland and Monika Karaosman of Althea Midwifery. Additionally, she
holds the position of a Prominent Doula and CEO at DMV Birth Doulas located in Columbia, Maryland.
As of 2023, Nikita has successfully trained and certified over 350 doulas, including medical professionals such as doctors and nurses, as well as public figures and international doulas specializing in Fertility, Birth, Postpartum care, and Placenta Encapsulation. Notably, she was
the first Black woman in Baltimore to build an Independent Doula Training Organization in Baltimore for aspiring doulas of color, and established herself as a trailblazer in this field. Her strong connections within the community have contributed to her esteemed reputation
throughout the DMV area.
Nikita actively participates in various initiatives aimed at improving maternal health. She has plans to open her own midwifery practice by Summer of 2025 in Maryland and establish birth centers in Virginia and Pennsylvania. She serves as a Community Advisor for the Maternal
Health Lab at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and contributes her expertise as a writer for Healthy Mom & Baby Magazine. Furthermore, she acts as a Doula Advisor for Maryland’s Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Care Collaborative and is a part of the Association of Independent Midwives.
Lashea Haynes
perinatal nursing
Lashea Haynes has been practicing in the area of obstetrical/perinatal nursing for nearly 26 years. Her clinical and educational experience and expertise span labor/delivery, antepartum and mother/baby areas. Lashea has worked as a board-certified clinical nurse specialist for women’s services at a large healthcare system, she was a nursing instructor and a previous perinatal outreach educator. These roles allowed her the ability to provide continual high-risk perinatal education to various hospitals and to reach audiences across her region.
Get Your Quality DOULA Certificate Through Black Doula training
A doula training approved by the Maryland Department of Health and DC Health & Finance