Meet Ronae Cleland

Certified Birth Doula and Certified Lactation Specialist

As the oldest sister in a large family, I have always been passionate about using my lived experience to come alongside others with guidance and encouragement. Through my own journey of learning and growing as a mother of five amazing children, my interest in all things birth and breastfeeding continually grew, as did my desire to support other families on their paths.

My breastfeeding struggles with my first child and the lessons I learned the second time around drove me to begin working in 2014 with various non-profit organizations to support women in their breastfeeding goals. A few years later, as I was processing my own varied birth experiences, the desire started growing for me to pursue birthwork as a career. I have worked as a birth doula both privately and through area non-profits since 2020, and in 2025 began working as a home birth assistant with Nurtured Beginnings Midwifery Services.

I have experience supporting families in hospital, birth center, and home births. It is important to me that women feel encouraged and supported throughout their birth story, wherever it takes them. I feel it is crucial for birth workers to empower women to understand their options in pregnancy and birth so they are able to provide true informed consent, playing an active role in their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. I believe that women are strong and capable of doing what their bodies are created to do, and that accepting medical interventions when necessary is also an immense show of a woman’s strength and love for her child. ♡