Marissa
Doula, Childbirth Educator, Prenatal Yoga Instructor
My Approach
My Doula style is loving, compassionate, understanding, grounding, calming and dynamic. I help people prepare for the birth of their dreams by providing education, information, practices and resources. I believe with the proper care, support, love and time that parents can have happier experiences of pregnancy, birth and postpartum. I strive to help parents understand their options, how to make decisions and how to find solutions in the moment… to achieve a positive empowered birth. I like to help partners and fathers be the hero by helping them understand how to best support the birthing person. The Mother and the partner deserve the best caregiving possible so they can focus on the work of birth and becoming a parent. To me, being a Doula is intuitive and having a special talent for reading the scene and doing what’s best and most helpful in the moment to positively influence their experience. I want to walk with you. I want to share with you what I know. I want to help you see what works best for you. I want to support you, love on you and be present with you. I want to hold space for you in those moments when you’re doubting yourself or things are coming up for you. I am here to lovingly support, guide and love you through your unique journey into parenthood.
Certificates and Training
Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Teacher · Mama Tree Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training
Birth Doula Certification · Birthing From Within
Childbirth Educator · Birthing From Within
My Story
Hi Parents! I’m Marissa. I have had the honor of supporting parents for the past 13 years as a Birth Doula, Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Educator and Prenatal/Postnatal Yoga Instructor in the Truckee/Tahoe area. My journey with birth work began long before becoming a Doula. Since I can remember I have loved birth and babies. At the young age of 9-years old, I would watch “A Birth Story” on the TLC program and I knew I would work in… supporting families during pregnancy and birth somehow. It wasn’t until 2012 that I learned about Doulas and felt called to become one. That is when I found Birthing From Within and completed their Doula and Mentor program. Since then I have gained further education and training through Jane Austin’s Prenatal/Postnatal Yoga Level 1 & 2 certifications, completed Spinning Babies workshops, studied Birth Story Listening and joined an Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula training with Sacred Windows Studies. In 2024, I completed a miscarriage & infant loss doula certification through The Miscarriage Doula Collective.
In the Space
Photos from Marissa’s practice.
Words Marissa Has Kept
Notes from clients over the years, shared here by Marissa.
“Marissa was an absolutely invaluable part of our birth experience. I am so grateful that we hired her to be our Doula, it made all of the difference in our birth experience and made us feel like we had a friend and ally to help us understand this process we were going through for the first time. Her calm energy, incredible depth of wisdom and intuitive way… of understanding us, our baby and our journey made our birth a beautiful experience. With this being our first child, we opted to have our birth in a hospital, but found that we were being pushed towards induction and generally had our experience in infused with a lot of fear from the doctors. Marissa helped us stay calm, make grounded choices And come through the other side with a healthy perfect baby and a birth that was empowering and supported the whole way through. I never felt alone, and always felt like there was an expert in the room who was tapping into a deeper energy and intuition that I could trust. I’m so grateful that she does what she does, she is truly meant to be a Doula. Marissa put such care into every visit, really tending to us as a couple. The hospital made me feel like a number, she made us feel like important, respected and loved human beings. She really humanized the birth process for us. I would highly recommend hiring Marissa, She will help you feel empowered in your birth, understand pregnancy and postpartum from a holistic standpoint and bring your little one into the world with safety and love.”