Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasmine Rose.
Hi Jasmine , so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Southern California and moved to the Bay Area in 2009 to go to Bauman College, a holistic nutrition and culinary school. After graduating as a Natural Chef and landing my first culinary job as a live-in chef in the downtown Berkeley Buddhist Center, I worked in Berkeley California for a time before becoming pregnant with my first baby. My now-husband and I moved back to sunny southern California to be closer to my family during that first pregnancy, and my oldest baby was born in June of 2010.
I was a young mom, and the birth of my first baby was a massive transition and transformation in my life. A few years later we conceived our second baby, and with the birth of my second daughter- this time with the support of a midwife in a birth center, my confidence in the capabilities of my own body, my parenting and my relationships blossomed. I began to deepen my curiosity around the holistic nutrition and practices I’d learned in culinary school to create nourishment and healing for myself postpartum and create recipes and rituals for others.
I took my yoga teacher training in 2015 with a prenatal yoga teacher training that same year, and after years of teaching yoga I became pregnant as a surrogate and simultaneously took a birth and postpartum doula training in 2017.
After falling in love with doula work, supporting families in both their birth and postpartum, I was diagnosed with acute meyloid leukemia in March of 2018. That year I dove deeply into my meditation practices, my yogic background and lifestyle, spirituality and the advocacy I had learned as a doula up that point to navigate one of the scariest experiences of my life. By the end of 2018 I am so grateful to share that I was in remission from my cancer after a bone marrow transplant. It was the most challenging thing I have ever been through.
As I began to heal, my husband and I chased a dream we’d had for years and we moved to Oregon on a hope and a prayer! We have lived in Oregon now since 2019 and I got back into doula work almost immediately and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, I wouldn’t say things have always been smooth. I am grateful that I get a lot of joy from new beginnings and taking on a challenge, so although there have been challenges in entrepreneurship, moving to a new state where we knew nobody and finding my people- I don’t feel intimidated or deterred from finding the ways that I can support the communities that I am in.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am a birth and postpartum doula that specializes in holistic nutrition and Ayurvedic wellness to support a deep sense of nourishment during the childbearing years. With my background in yoga and the culinary world, I know that the layers of well-being are so much deeper than we often acknowledge and are oftentimes more accessible than we believe. I love taking a broad idea such as ‘wellness’ or ‘nutrient-dense nutrition for postpartum healing’ and breaking down for people in a way that is easy to accomplish and practical for the reality of our modern-day picture of postpartum. As a society I often hear complaints that we have lost the wisdom for deeply held and nourished postpartum support, but I believe we actually have a lot available to us and with some preparation and knowledge we can create an environment where healing and thriving is not always possible, it is sometimes easier than we imagined.
In my practice, local ingredients to create delicious, warming and nutrient-dense comfort foods is a staple that can easily be adapted to any lifestyle or budget and I get so much joy out of coaching people through the process, shopping the small local markets around Eugene and sometimes I even get to cook for families and share some of my most-loved dishes.
Classes, workshops, prenatal, birth and postpartum support are available year-round.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
The list of people who have helped me and held me is so incredibly long. My husband and kids come to mind first and foremost for their patience and endless support. It isn’t easy to have a wife and mom who sometimes has to run out the door to be at a birth or sleeps a morning away after supporting a family overnight!
I am also so grateful for the incredible training of Doula Trainings International and the fire they lit inside of me for this work, Inner Evolution Yoga for being my yoga home for so many years and my best friend who does not have her own kids by choice, but still lets me talk, vent and send the longest of voice notes about my own life raising two kids in this world and working in the maternal health space.
I also feel the need to acknowledge the amazing work created by Pam England and Birthing From Within, which heavily resonates with me and often informs my teaching.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jasminerosedoula.com
- Instagram: @jasminerosedoula
