Instructors and Staff

NMI graduate, Akane, also a CPM, is excited to join NMI as Virtual Instructor. Akane’s first primer to midwifery was through stories of her mother being born in Nagasaki in the aftermath of the atomic bomb in a birth attended by midwives. Akane’s own children proceeded to be born at home, through midwifery care, on a birth stool and into the water. Akane aspires to shift and shape systems and structures to become conducive to enabling midwives and the powers of midwifery. Born and raised in MN, Akane is a Hāfu-Japanese/half White American with two children who also identify as Mexican. Elevating underrepresented voices has been central to Akane’s work-life. This path has included experience in Latina-led domestic violence advocacy in MN; program implementation to support midwives and strengthen of quality of care in Afghanistan; and full-scope, full-spectrum midwifery practice, preceptorship and clinical direction in Chiapas, Mexico. Approaches utilized by Akane are influenced by practice as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT) with additional training in modalities to assist working with trauma. Akane has a B.A. in International Studies and soon completes an MSc in Maternal and Infant Health from the University of Dundee.>

As a teenager, Britney read a book about midwives and immediately knew that someday she would be one herself. That conviction never wavered even as she was pulled in many directions by an unquenchable love for adventure, travel, and nature.

Britney has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and has traveled all over the U.S. and world working as a botanist. During those years, she also helped start a free doula program and volunteered in human rights and public health. Eventually, she followed the pull of midwifery to Bastyr University, where she earned her M.S. in Midwifery and completed a master’s thesis evaluating and designing sexual and reproductive health curricula for midwives.

She has been involved in advocacy for increased access to midwifery care ever since and has held volunteer positions with multiple local and national midwifery organizations. Britney has attended close to 400 births and has worked in both rural and urban settings. She has spent several years providing homebirth and birth center midwifery care in Washington State and also worked in Guatemala as a mentor to indigenous midwives. Teaching is her biggest passion; in addition to precepting students, she has served in several educational roles in the midwifery program at Bastyr University. She works to be transparent, intentional, and supportive, and is committed to continuing to educate herself and acknowledge her privilege in an ongoing effort to grow into a better midwife and human. She is excited to join the NMI community and be part of the commitment to increasing equity in midwifery education. You can find Britney traveling, commuting by bicycle, and adventuring in the outdoors any chance she gets. She speaks and writes Spanish fluently.

Connie Perkins (she/they) is a midwife, activist, mother and herbalist specializing in full spectrum, trauma informed reproductive care. She has over 20 years of experience supporting families through the childbearing year. Connie trained as a midwife through the apprenticeship model in a busy rural practice in Michigan and became a CPM in 2013. She later graduated Magna Cumme Laude with a bachelor of Science in Midwifery from Midwives College of Utah. Connie has a deep commitment to listening and sees her work as a midwife as participation in a radical movement back to honoring our bodies and the land. Connie is passionate about the student experience and the future of midwifery education, especially the accessibility of midwifery education for indigenous communities of students and traditional midwives. Connie proudly carries mixed Indigenous and Settler ancestry. She spent her childhood split between coastal Virginia and the Menominee Indian Reservation in Northern Wisconsin. She has three home born children and currently resides in west Maui.

Jennifer is a Chicana licensed midwife and lactation consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Since graduating from NMI in 2010 she has provided culturally-competent care to families giving birth at home, in birth centers, and in hospitals. She is a volunteer leader with La Leche League and specializes in supporting families with food allergies.

She is the mother of two daughters who were born at home.

Jennifer is excited to join NMI as a Study Group Coursework Instructor to help the next generation of midwives receive a quality education.

In her downtime between births, Jennifer enjoys working on genealogy, cooking New Mexican food, and dancing Ballet Folklorico. You can learn more about her at www.generationsmidwifery.com

I graduated from Knox College in 2007 with a Bachelor's Degree in Education. After the birth of my first son in 2010, I began apprenticing with a local midwife. I have been attending births as a primary midwife since 2011. I received my Certified Professional Midwife credential from the North American Registry of Midwives, as well as my license from the State of Oregon as a Licensed Direct Entry Midwife in 2013. I completed the 90 hour education requirement and 1000 clinical hours required to sit for the IBCLC exam in 2016, and received my credential in 2017. I'm passionate about providing midwifery care and prenatal education which allows me to draw on my background in education. Giving families the most current research and evidence based information helps them make the best decisions for their families. I offer childbirth education classes, as well as placenta encapsulation. I served on the Oregon Midwifery Council as the MidValley Regional Representative from 2013-2020. I currently teach the Initial Legend Drugs and Devices course, required for midwives seeking licensure in Oregon. I have also presented on Anemia in Pregnancy, a MEAC accredited continuing education course for midwives across the country. I have been a preceptor since 2016, and have thoroughly enjoyed working with a variety of students at different points in their education. I am excited about continuing my work with midwifery students through my time at NMI. I hope to be a resource to students as they walk the path of midwifery. My husband and I have four children, all born at home. In my free time I love to read, sew, bake and spend time outside. Julia is the co-owner of MidValley Birthing Services and has a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Knox College. After the birth of her first son in 2010, she began apprenticing with a local midwife. She has been attending births as a primary midwife since 2011. After rigorous self study, and attending numerous classes and workshops, Julia received her Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) credential from the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), as well as her license from the State of Oregon as a Licensed Direct Entry Midwife in 2013. Julia completed the 90 hour education requirement and 1000 clinical hours required to sit for the IBCLC exam in 2016, and received her credential in 2017.

Tessa Landreau-Grasmuck (they/she) is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and a Licensed Midwife (LM) in the state of Vermont. Tessa has been a full-spectrum birthworker, reproductive justice organizer, and community educator for 15+ years, and has been catching babies since 2021, when they graduated from Birthwise Midwifery School. Tessa practices with Threshold Community Midwives, offering preconception care, home insemination (IUI), and homebirth services.
As a queer provider and solo parent by choice, Tessa is especially committed to working with queer/trans folks and solo parents across all reproductive experiences. As a clinical and community herbalist, Tessa works with clients with reproductive/generative and hormonal concerns and organizes with The Rose Core Collective, an herbal mutual aid project. As a community educator, Tessa specializes in herbal medicine for reproductive/hormonal health and midwifery models of care for pregnancy loss and abortion. Tessa is committed to training new cohorts of midwives, healthcare providers and careworkers to provide trauma-informed, embodied, equitable care.

Sierra is a queer licensed midwife and educator living on Wabanaki land and serving southern + midcoast Maine with Soft Corner Midwifery, a radical, justice-focused group practice that provides full-scope reproductive care.
Her entry into midwifery came as a toddler supporting animals through the natural processes of birth and death on her family farm. Prior to formally training as a midwife, Sierra completed a doctorate in sociology with a specialty in queer family-building, where she gained a deep appreciation for the providers who serve her queer + trans community with compassion and knowledge and felt the call to become one such provider.
Sierra lives with her wife, spunky blue heeler, and grumpy orange cat in Portland, Maine. When she isn’t midwifing or teaching, she is probably reading queer fantasy, roller skating, jazz dancing, or playing in the river with her dog. Photo by Joshua Langlais: joshualanglais.com