August 11, 2026 • 11 mins
Today we focus on the advocacy of doula and birth justice activist Chanel Porchia-Albert.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Sammy and Samantha and welcome to stuff I
ever told your production of iHeart Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And for today's activists around the world. We want to
talk about the amazing works and advocacy of Chanelle Porchet Albert. So.
Porche Albert is the founder of Ancient Song, which is
a national birth justice organization which we're going to talk
a little bit more about in a minute, but first
we want to talk about her. So she is a
doula activist, mother, and so much more so. This is
(00:40):
from her site Chanell Porche dot com. Chanelle Porchie Albert
cdcpd CLCHHC is committed to improving infant and maternal health.
This commitment led her to create Ancient Song, a global
birth justice organization dedicated to eradicating maternal and infant mortality
and morbidity among Black and LATINX comunities. Chanell's passion has
(01:01):
also taken around the world, including Uganda, where she served
as a maternal health strategist, and to Ethiopia where she
is working with the Ministry of Help to establish a
DULA program in Addis Ababa, which is the capital of Ethiopia,
which I just found out. So her works have caught
the attention from many around the world, including from former
VP Kamala Harris, who interviewed her for her work. But
(01:22):
before we get into that, let's talk about what she does.
So in an interview with nonprofit quarterly dot org, she's
interviewed for her work and talks about the many needs
that has to be done within maternal health. In the interview,
she was asked how she got into this work, and
she said this, I'm a mother of six children. My
oldest son is fifteen. I have fourteen year olds identical
twin daughters. I have a thirteen year old daughter, I
(01:44):
have a seven year old daughter, and I have a
six year old son. My children really laid the foundation
for the work that I'm doing. My first son was
born at home. I had a home birth midwife and adula,
who were both black, and I love the way my
midwife took the time to explain things to me and
my family and made me feel comfortable enough to ask questions.
Each visit was about an hour long. As a person
who was coming into motherhood without a mother, that was
(02:06):
important to me because I was seeking guidance that I
would have gotten from my mom. Our midwife really guided
us and affirmed us in beautiful ways, and so did
our doula. So she goes on to explain how she
started her doula training. So saying this, I was seven
weeks postpardon and I took doula training. There was an
organization that doesn't exist now called the International Center for
Traditional Childbirthing. At the time, that was the only dula
(02:29):
organization that primarily focused on dulas of African and Caribbean
descent and indigenous dulas. Not just dulas, but midwives and
healers of different sorts. They had a conference in Harlem
that I attended and it was amazing. It was transformative.
It was the first time I had been in a
room full of women where I felt like I was
being held. I was a mother with a young child,
but people were mothering me at the same time. And
(02:49):
just remembering that filling and I was like, wait, why
doesn't everybody know that they have access to this? This
should be common knowledge. So I completed my dula training
and I started to attend births. Hi, we've had duelas
on here before. If y'all don't remember, hah haha. And
just in case that you don't know. She explains what
a doula is in this interview, so she says, adula
is someone who offers emotional and physical support as well
(03:12):
as information so that mothers and birthing people can make
informed decisions about their care. And then she expands her
answer saying, sometimes we also act as a mediator or translator.
For instance, duelis can help people decipher what medical terminology
means and what their options are so the birthing person,
their family members, or their support team can come up
with a plan that works best for them. And I
don't think we have talked a lot about this because
(03:34):
when we talk about children, we kind of don't talk
about the minute details or the details during birth. Oftentimes
we talk about the complications, we talk about the injustices,
But we should talk a little bit bit more about
what kind of services are out there. And dulas are
a really big asset to a lot of women out
there who are scared or don't even know what's going
to happen, and who don't have the support like many
(03:57):
people don't, so so important her own experiences really hordess
of having someone advocate for her. She talked about one
of her experiences in birth where it was pretty traumatic
for her with a lot of complications, and she was
kind of worried about what was happening, and the doctor,
who was a white doctor, was like, Eh, we're gonna wait,
do these following things and let you wait at home,
(04:17):
and was about to send her home, but then another
doctor who happened to be a black woman came in
and was absolutely not, she's gonna stay here. We're going
to watch her to make sure that she can get
through this complications without any problems, which we've seen this
as of late, and that have really killed a lot
of women. This type of practice, I've killed women by
dismissing what they were going through. So having someone advocate
(04:37):
for them, she understood firsthand how important it really was.
Her experience and impact in the maternal health and birth
justice world, she has really changed her trajectory and a
lot of people's. She founded her organization in two thousand
and eight, and a bit more about that organization from
their site ancientsongduelist Services dot com. Ancient Song is a
(04:59):
naturtional birth justice organization working to eliminate maternal and infant
mortality and morbidity among low income black and LATINX people.
We do this by ensuring that all pregnant, postpartum, and
parenting people of color have access to high quality and
holistic DULA care and services, regardless of their ability to pay.
We provide DULA training and services, offer community education, and
(05:22):
advocate for policy change to support reproductive and birth justice.
And I don't think we've talked about that enough how
dulas and midwives seeing it kind of came out as
a joke for like, rich, rich white women who get
to have access where they can have home births when
they can do these things and have choices, as opposed
to women who are able to seek care and only
(05:43):
do the minimal or if at all, can do a
lot of the pre birth types of care we've talked about,
which is so important to their livelihoods and the child.
So it is really important and I love seeing something
like this and really the first time hearing the word
birth justice, and A really think we should make that
a common term, especially today, especially today. Their services include
(06:06):
comprehensive DULA services, including and this is from their site Antipartum,
which is specializing in supporting pregnant women going through a
high risk or difficult pregnancy. We support our clients in
a number of ways. If on bedrest, an antipartum doula
can help, much like postpartum doulas helps a new parent,
cooking meals, lighthouse work, helping the mother organize things for
the new baby, navigating culturally appropriate resources, attending appointments, and
(06:30):
most importantly, providing emotional and informational support and advocacy. Birth doula,
which is ancient song. Birth doulas offer support throughout pregnancy,
so whether you are fourteen weeks or thirty seven weeks,
we can assist you on your path for the birth
you want by offering emotional and physical support, counseling and
information to make informed decisions, advocacy and non judgmental support.
(06:50):
We specialize in high risk pregnancies, feedbacks, sexual abust, trauma,
and more, embracing the whole and not just the parts,
to offer you the surface you need to birth as
you choose ancient song. Postpartum doulas are here to assist
you with self care options, healing from C section, traumatic birth,
lighthouse work, light mills, newborn care, sleep habits, infant feeding
issues and solutions, nutritional guide, and a comforting ear as
(07:13):
you transition into parent hen and also abortion and loss.
Ancient song Doula offers non judgemental support throughout your reproductive
health choices. Our dulas are trained to offer culturally humble
care and resources to affirm you through your health care.
We can attend appointments and offer aftercare as necessary and
home love that. I love everything about that. They really
(07:34):
cover every spectrum of pregnancy and loss. And and then
like abortion, giving you informative care. And then I'll like
helping you with choices, like letting you do your choices. Ugh,
we love autonomy, what hellly autonomy for all? And this
is from her twenty twenty one Vogue article. Yes, they
(07:54):
featured her for her words Ancient Songs God Is start
in two thousand and eight and portet Albert's Brooklyn home,
where she had three kids of her own, at the
time when it was still normal to ask what even
is Adula Pourchet. Albert wanted to make birth supporting available
and accessible to women who needed personalized care the most,
and they put this. Research has found that maternal morbidity
(08:16):
rates for black women are more than three times higher
than their white counterparts, while other statistics reveal that a saddening.
Sixty percent of deaths among black women during childbirth may
have been avoidable, and I have a feeling these number
has gone up most likely, and all her hard work
and education has been something she calls rewarding. So back
to that interview, they write, Pourchet Albert has found immense
(08:38):
satisfaction in seeing someone find their full power and come
into their full potential to just blossom, and seeing doulas
who I've trained go on to do amazing things. They're
doing work to center their communities and creating things like
mutual aid. She says, these women are creating work around
maternal health and studying to be doulas and midwives. And
to see folks go and do this work and develop it,
(08:58):
it's beautiful to me. Song has been a pivotal part
of many famous experience, and the organization's continued success and
expanding reach is a testament to this. Pourchet Albert's earliest
trainings were usually attended by between three and five people.
Now she can expect up to sixty participants in her
monthly class. To see the children you've helped bring into
the world. I never take that lightly for someone to
(09:18):
open up to you and allow you to be in
that space. For me, it's center's hope and center's purpose
to know I'm doing work in a way that's meaningful.
It is, it is so meaningful, and she's saving so
many lives, so many lives. Her work has changed the
course of maternity health so much, and a little explanation
from her side says, Chanelle's groundbreaking efforts in birth and
(09:39):
reproductive justice encompass research care methodologies and insteadfast focused on
centering marginalized groups and people of color. Her work is
rooted in human rights frame, driving transformation from birthing rooms
and instigating institutional reforms that address implicit bias and racism
which go a hand in annual and her work has
brought her some comfort for the fear, and she said
(10:01):
this in her nonprofit quarterly interview. I'm hopeful for the
individuals who I know and the organizations that I know
and have been in the field and all the things
that are going on have been there to support communities
in amazing ways, sometimes with little to no resources, once
again showing how oftentimes black women just see a need
and then take care of it. So thank you to
(10:22):
Chanelle poorchet Albert and her work and we are excited
to see the more. She's got a documentary by the way,
I believe that they did it about her organization. Definitely
have to put that on the list as well.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
So many things, so many thanks and incredibly important, incredibly
important work well listeners. If you would like to contact us,
if you have any thoughts about this, resources suggestions, you
can email us at Hello at stuffromnevertild you dot com.
You can find us up blue sky at mom Stuff podcast,
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff Whenever told You.
(10:53):
We're also on YouTube. We have some merchandise to compureau,
and we have a book you can get where you
get your books. Thanks as always to our super Serrima
and our executive producer Maya. Thank you, and thanks to
you for listening.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Steff never told you his protection of my heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can check
out the heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or if you
listen to your favorite shows,
This is Sammy and Samantha and welcome to stuff I
ever told your production of iHeart Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And for today's activists around the world. We want to
talk about the amazing works and advocacy of Chanelle Porchet Albert. So.
Porche Albert is the founder of Ancient Song, which is
a national birth justice organization which we're going to talk
a little bit more about in a minute, but first
we want to talk about her. So she is a
doula activist, mother, and so much more so. This is
(00:40):
from her site Chanell Porche dot com. Chanelle Porchie Albert
cdcpd CLCHHC is committed to improving infant and maternal health.
This commitment led her to create Ancient Song, a global
birth justice organization dedicated to eradicating maternal and infant mortality
and morbidity among Black and LATINX comunities. Chanell's passion has
(01:01):
also taken around the world, including Uganda, where she served
as a maternal health strategist, and to Ethiopia where she
is working with the Ministry of Help to establish a
DULA program in Addis Ababa, which is the capital of Ethiopia,
which I just found out. So her works have caught
the attention from many around the world, including from former
VP Kamala Harris, who interviewed her for her work. But
(01:22):
before we get into that, let's talk about what she does.
So in an interview with nonprofit quarterly dot org, she's
interviewed for her work and talks about the many needs
that has to be done within maternal health. In the interview,
she was asked how she got into this work, and
she said this, I'm a mother of six children. My
oldest son is fifteen. I have fourteen year olds identical
twin daughters. I have a thirteen year old daughter, I
(01:44):
have a seven year old daughter, and I have a
six year old son. My children really laid the foundation
for the work that I'm doing. My first son was
born at home. I had a home birth midwife and adula,
who were both black, and I love the way my
midwife took the time to explain things to me and
my family and made me feel comfortable enough to ask questions.
Each visit was about an hour long. As a person
who was coming into motherhood without a mother, that was
(02:06):
important to me because I was seeking guidance that I
would have gotten from my mom. Our midwife really guided
us and affirmed us in beautiful ways, and so did
our doula. So she goes on to explain how she
started her doula training. So saying this, I was seven
weeks postpardon and I took doula training. There was an
organization that doesn't exist now called the International Center for
Traditional Childbirthing. At the time, that was the only dula
(02:29):
organization that primarily focused on dulas of African and Caribbean
descent and indigenous dulas. Not just dulas, but midwives and
healers of different sorts. They had a conference in Harlem
that I attended and it was amazing. It was transformative.
It was the first time I had been in a
room full of women where I felt like I was
being held. I was a mother with a young child,
but people were mothering me at the same time. And
(02:49):
just remembering that filling and I was like, wait, why
doesn't everybody know that they have access to this? This
should be common knowledge. So I completed my dula training
and I started to attend births. Hi, we've had duelas
on here before. If y'all don't remember, hah haha. And
just in case that you don't know. She explains what
a doula is in this interview, so she says, adula
is someone who offers emotional and physical support as well
(03:12):
as information so that mothers and birthing people can make
informed decisions about their care. And then she expands her
answer saying, sometimes we also act as a mediator or translator.
For instance, duelis can help people decipher what medical terminology
means and what their options are so the birthing person,
their family members, or their support team can come up
with a plan that works best for them. And I
don't think we have talked a lot about this because
(03:34):
when we talk about children, we kind of don't talk
about the minute details or the details during birth. Oftentimes
we talk about the complications, we talk about the injustices,
But we should talk a little bit bit more about
what kind of services are out there. And dulas are
a really big asset to a lot of women out
there who are scared or don't even know what's going
to happen, and who don't have the support like many
(03:57):
people don't, so so important her own experiences really hordess
of having someone advocate for her. She talked about one
of her experiences in birth where it was pretty traumatic
for her with a lot of complications, and she was
kind of worried about what was happening, and the doctor,
who was a white doctor, was like, Eh, we're gonna wait,
do these following things and let you wait at home,
(04:17):
and was about to send her home, but then another
doctor who happened to be a black woman came in
and was absolutely not, she's gonna stay here. We're going
to watch her to make sure that she can get
through this complications without any problems, which we've seen this
as of late, and that have really killed a lot
of women. This type of practice, I've killed women by
dismissing what they were going through. So having someone advocate
(04:37):
for them, she understood firsthand how important it really was.
Her experience and impact in the maternal health and birth
justice world, she has really changed her trajectory and a
lot of people's. She founded her organization in two thousand
and eight, and a bit more about that organization from
their site ancientsongduelist Services dot com. Ancient Song is a
(04:59):
naturtional birth justice organization working to eliminate maternal and infant
mortality and morbidity among low income black and LATINX people.
We do this by ensuring that all pregnant, postpartum, and
parenting people of color have access to high quality and
holistic DULA care and services, regardless of their ability to pay.
We provide DULA training and services, offer community education, and
(05:22):
advocate for policy change to support reproductive and birth justice.
And I don't think we've talked about that enough how
dulas and midwives seeing it kind of came out as
a joke for like, rich, rich white women who get
to have access where they can have home births when
they can do these things and have choices, as opposed
to women who are able to seek care and only
(05:43):
do the minimal or if at all, can do a
lot of the pre birth types of care we've talked about,
which is so important to their livelihoods and the child.
So it is really important and I love seeing something
like this and really the first time hearing the word
birth justice, and A really think we should make that
a common term, especially today, especially today. Their services include
(06:06):
comprehensive DULA services, including and this is from their site Antipartum,
which is specializing in supporting pregnant women going through a
high risk or difficult pregnancy. We support our clients in
a number of ways. If on bedrest, an antipartum doula
can help, much like postpartum doulas helps a new parent,
cooking meals, lighthouse work, helping the mother organize things for
the new baby, navigating culturally appropriate resources, attending appointments, and
(06:30):
most importantly, providing emotional and informational support and advocacy. Birth doula,
which is ancient song. Birth doulas offer support throughout pregnancy,
so whether you are fourteen weeks or thirty seven weeks,
we can assist you on your path for the birth
you want by offering emotional and physical support, counseling and
information to make informed decisions, advocacy and non judgmental support.
(06:50):
We specialize in high risk pregnancies, feedbacks, sexual abust, trauma,
and more, embracing the whole and not just the parts,
to offer you the surface you need to birth as
you choose ancient song. Postpartum doulas are here to assist
you with self care options, healing from C section, traumatic birth,
lighthouse work, light mills, newborn care, sleep habits, infant feeding
issues and solutions, nutritional guide, and a comforting ear as
(07:13):
you transition into parent hen and also abortion and loss.
Ancient song Doula offers non judgemental support throughout your reproductive
health choices. Our dulas are trained to offer culturally humble
care and resources to affirm you through your health care.
We can attend appointments and offer aftercare as necessary and
home love that. I love everything about that. They really
(07:34):
cover every spectrum of pregnancy and loss. And and then
like abortion, giving you informative care. And then I'll like
helping you with choices, like letting you do your choices. Ugh,
we love autonomy, what hellly autonomy for all? And this
is from her twenty twenty one Vogue article. Yes, they
(07:54):
featured her for her words Ancient Songs God Is start
in two thousand and eight and portet Albert's Brooklyn home,
where she had three kids of her own, at the
time when it was still normal to ask what even
is Adula Pourchet. Albert wanted to make birth supporting available
and accessible to women who needed personalized care the most,
and they put this. Research has found that maternal morbidity
(08:16):
rates for black women are more than three times higher
than their white counterparts, while other statistics reveal that a saddening.
Sixty percent of deaths among black women during childbirth may
have been avoidable, and I have a feeling these number
has gone up most likely, and all her hard work
and education has been something she calls rewarding. So back
to that interview, they write, Pourchet Albert has found immense
(08:38):
satisfaction in seeing someone find their full power and come
into their full potential to just blossom, and seeing doulas
who I've trained go on to do amazing things. They're
doing work to center their communities and creating things like
mutual aid. She says, these women are creating work around
maternal health and studying to be doulas and midwives. And
to see folks go and do this work and develop it,
(08:58):
it's beautiful to me. Song has been a pivotal part
of many famous experience, and the organization's continued success and
expanding reach is a testament to this. Pourchet Albert's earliest
trainings were usually attended by between three and five people.
Now she can expect up to sixty participants in her
monthly class. To see the children you've helped bring into
the world. I never take that lightly for someone to
(09:18):
open up to you and allow you to be in
that space. For me, it's center's hope and center's purpose
to know I'm doing work in a way that's meaningful.
It is, it is so meaningful, and she's saving so
many lives, so many lives. Her work has changed the
course of maternity health so much, and a little explanation
from her side says, Chanelle's groundbreaking efforts in birth and
(09:39):
reproductive justice encompass research care methodologies and insteadfast focused on
centering marginalized groups and people of color. Her work is
rooted in human rights frame, driving transformation from birthing rooms
and instigating institutional reforms that address implicit bias and racism
which go a hand in annual and her work has
brought her some comfort for the fear, and she said
(10:01):
this in her nonprofit quarterly interview. I'm hopeful for the
individuals who I know and the organizations that I know
and have been in the field and all the things
that are going on have been there to support communities
in amazing ways, sometimes with little to no resources, once
again showing how oftentimes black women just see a need
and then take care of it. So thank you to
(10:22):
Chanelle poorchet Albert and her work and we are excited
to see the more. She's got a documentary by the way,
I believe that they did it about her organization. Definitely
have to put that on the list as well.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
So many things, so many thanks and incredibly important, incredibly
important work well listeners. If you would like to contact us,
if you have any thoughts about this, resources suggestions, you
can email us at Hello at stuffromnevertild you dot com.
You can find us up blue sky at mom Stuff podcast,
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff Whenever told You.
(10:53):
We're also on YouTube. We have some merchandise to compureau,
and we have a book you can get where you
get your books. Thanks as always to our super Serrima
and our executive producer Maya. Thank you, and thanks to
you for listening.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Steff never told you his protection of my heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can check
out the heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or if you
listen to your favorite shows,
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