Meet Chloë (she/her)
On paper, I became a Certified Nurse Midwife at the Yale School of Nursing in 2014, but in reality it was in many different ways in many different times in my life. It might have been when I received dismissive, disrespectful, and painful GYN care when I was a teenager, or when I saw the same things happening to my friends in the most vulnerable moments in their lives. It might have been when I first witnessed a birth as a doula and knew it could have gone better. It might have been when I experienced my own unplanned pregnancy and subsequent abortion, but it could have also just been a part of how I have interacted with the world my whole life. Midwifery is how I make the world better, how I live within a system and country entrenched in sexism, racism, classism, and hatred, and still remain grounded in the goodness of humanity.
I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. After I graduated from midwifery school, I worked in a public hospital service at Bellevue Hospital until 2017, when I joined Central Park Midwifery, a private practice that supports births at Mount Sinai West. I married Antone, my high school sweetheart, in 2013, and after raising two cats and a dog we decided to grow our family even further. Io Aurora was born in July of 2019 at home under water on the hottest day of the year and the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing. Shortly after, Cosmos Midwifery was born as a way to expand birthing options for pregnant people in New York City and offer them the same experience I had the blessing to receive. Since then our family has grown again with Anaïs Oleander, born July of 2022 at home on the dining room rug.
Meet Jenna (she/her)
Jenna has been passionate about reproductive health for as long as she can remember. She has been involved in several grassroots collectives that focused on reproductive rights, self-care and education. After the birth of her daughter at home she had a private postpartum and labor doula practice for 13 years, and eventually decided to pursue nurse midwifery. After earning her nursing degree in 2007, she honed her clinical skills during 5 years as an ER nurse at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. During this period, she became certified as a SAFE examiner, providing care and guiding sexual assault victims through the emotionally challenging evidence collection process.
Before embarking on her midwifery education, Jenna worked for over a year as an assistant to a homebirth midwife, where she gained practical experience in a model of care that was close to her heart. She began her studies at Frontier Nursing University in 2013 where she completed her masters degree and attained dual certification as a family nurse practitioner and a midwife.
In 2018 Jenna joined Connecticut Childbirth and Women’s Center as a staff midwife; the Center’s midwives attended pregnant people in a freestanding birth center and in the hospital, a fruitful situation to develop skill at co-managing complex situations. Her family nurse practitioner certification allows her to provide holistic care to people at all stages of life.
In 2021, Jenna felt pulled to come back to live full-time in her East Village home. She is so excited to join Cosmos Midwifery to offer her skills and compassion in support of families who have chosen to give birth at home.
Cosmos Midwifery’s Team:
Isadora Stone, Cosmos Midwifery’s Administrative Assistant
Isadora is a doula, artist and mother. She trained as a full spectrum doula in 2017 and since then has been supporting families in a variety of birthing settings across New York City. She believes every person deserves individualized holistic reproductive care and is excited to support the Cosmos Team.
Isadora holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and is currently pursuing her M.S. in Nursing. She lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with her husband Dan, son Jack and cat Onyx.
Zahra Yavari, Birth Assistant
Zahra has a master’s degree in midwifery, and she is working towards being a Certified Midwife in the US. She has experience of performing as a Certified Midwife in over five hundred births and hundreds as an assistant midwife in Iran. Zahra speaks Farsi & English.
Alessandra de Almeida, Birth Assistant
Alessandra is a certified doula, lactation counselor and homebirth assist. She has worked in the New York homebirth community for over 10 years. She had both her children at home, and sees homebirth as a safe and incredibly supportive environment for birthing people and families. She is excited to be on the Cosmos Midwifery team, and honored to hold space and support families on their birth and postpartum lactation journey. Alessandra is fluent Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and English, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two kids cat and dog.
Estefany Angeles, Birth Assistant
Estefany is a mother of two, doula, childbirth educator and aspiring midwife. She works with families in New York City and resides in the Bronx with her own family. Estefany founded "Birth A Mi Manera" to provide comprehensive services throughout pregnancy and beyond for families like hers. She firmly believes that each pregnancy is unique and necessitates a personalized approach. She is dedicated to ensuring that all parents have the opportunity to make well-informed decisions about this crucial stage in their lives. Estefany loves birth, especially homebirth, elimination communication, baby wearing, and postpartum planning.