I'm Moniqueca (pronounced Mo-nee-cuh), a Chicago-based birth and postpartum doula, educator, breastfeeding peer counselor, and behavioral health support professional. Becoming a parent is one of the most empowering experiences there is and it can still feel like a lot to carry. We were never meant to bring life into the world alone. I came to this work through my own experience.

I first came into birthwork after going through one of my own births without my mother there. She'd been my unofficial first doula (thanks, Momma!). A close friend gave me room to process my second pregnancy and birth, and as I talked, she named something I had not said out loud yet: I wanted to do the work that closes that gap for other mothers. Then she put it plainly "Think about becoming a doula."

As a parent myself, I care about honoring families as they build their own systems and find their place in the village. I show up in the spaces where people are often expected to figure things out alone. Birth and postpartum. Parenting and family transitions. Behavioral health and crisis support. Education, advocacy, and community-building. Across all of it, my goal is the same: to help people feel informed, supported, respected, and a little less alone.

I come to every family without judgment. I've supported teenage parents, single parents and newlyweds, families where a partner works long hours and isn't home much, and families without a close circle to lean on. I've sat with families across different racial and financial backgrounds. My work would not be effective if my goals were creating perfect pictures; It's effective because I meet families where they are, learn their goals, celebrate them (because you're doing your best and, yay!), a guide them through their journey.

I'm also someone who refuses to put things down until it works better. I think about how experiences can look better for the parents, siblings...for a family, for the people doing this work beside me and then I try to build it. That's really what This Is Love Work came from.

Long term, I see myself continuing to grow as an educator, speaker, advocate, and community builder.

LET'S THINK THIS THROUGH TOGETHER

Mission

This Is Love Work builds community and connection around pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenthood by helping families and birthworkers find, trust, and support one another.

If any of this has resonates with you, I'd like to talk.

The Vision

A culture where no one has to navigate motherhood alone, support is easy to find and safe to receive, and strong communities make caring for one another the norm.