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Featured Presenter - Episode 6

An Indigenous woman stands with her left arm raised to the sky. She's wearing a traditional headress made feathers, leather, and stitching. She has white paint on her face.

Dra. T’Karima Ticitl, CM, LM (Xicana Indigena, Mexica/Wixárika roots) 

 

 

I was born in California and grew up as a Xicana Indigena with my family background from Zacatecas and Jalisco, Mexico, with Mexica/Wixárika roots. I am the mother of three boys, Axayacatl, Kuauhteotl, and Tletlhuitzin, whom I love so much and all were born at home, in the temazkalli. My life is dedicated to the ceremony of birth and peyotl. I am a ceremonial woman, active in the Native American Church, Teo Kali Quetzalcoatl, and a Mexica dancer with my danza group, Kalpulli Huehuetlahtolli. 

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I received my bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005, and my Master’s in Childhood Education from New York University in 2006. I earned my Doctorate in Education from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College in 2011, and in that same year, I enrolled and completed a six-month doula fellowship. I began online prerequisites for midwifery school in 2013, and in 2015 I began the Direct Entry Midwifery program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, where I graduated in May 2019. I am certified with The American College of Nurse Midwives and licensed by the State of New York. Passionate about midwifery, I have enjoyed supporting and caring for people during pregnancy and childbirth throughout the United States, Mexico, Colombia, London, and New Zealand. 

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I am the Co-Founder/Co-Director of Traditional Doula and Midwifery Arts (TDMA). The mission of TDMA is to provide exceptional education and support aspiring doulas and birth workers. TDMA is dedicated to ensuring that anyone who wants and needs doula services during prenatal, birth, and postpartum will have access to care in a location choosing to birth at home, hospital, or a birthing center, regardless of one's socioeconomic background. Mary Betsellie, the co-director of TDMA, and I have taught birth and postpartum certification workshops and placenta encapsulation workshops in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Medellin, Colombia, South Dakota, and are open to travel and teaching.

 

I am a health and fitness coach, I began workout programs with Team Beach Body and after completing the program, 80-day obsession with Autumn Calabrese, in 2018 I became a coach. I love working out and I invite you to join the team.

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I have authored six books: Decolonizing Nahua/Mexica/Aztec Children’s Literature, Blooming Flower, Shooting Star, Boys Can Have Long Hair, Too, Evolution of Traditional Doula and Midwifery Arts, Birth is a Ceremony, and My Body, My Birth.

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Lastly, I am the founder of Cihuapahtli Matriarch Council (we are in the process of becoming a non profit) and I look forward to my midwifery journey, I am so excited about this, a prayer answered. Thank you to Creator and thank you all for the prayers, networking, and support.

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