The BCB Birth Story
AN IDEA WAS CONCEIVED...
Elise and Jenny dreamed up Bull City Beginnings in the summer of 2020, mid-pandemic of all times! We had been friends for several years and reconnected when Jenny moved back to Durham, her hometown, after several years in the Bay Area of California. We bonded over our shared love of childbirth and one summer evening, standing on Jenny’s lawn, we started dreaming about having a childbirth class of our own and sharing doula clients.
A BUSINESS WAS BORN!
A few months later, we decided to make our ideas a reality and took a retreat to sketch out our mission, business model, class, and hope for the community we would create. Many late nights later, we launched our first class in March of 2021 and officially merged our doula businesses under the umbrella of Bull City Beginnings.
Meet Us
Elise
Jenny
Elise is a DONA certified birth doula, and has more than 7 years of experience, often incorporating childbirth education into her doula services. She does what she does because she loves mothers, babies, and the whole process of one creating the other.
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she moved to the Southeast for school and never left. She studied public health at University of Virginia and then moved down to Durham, North Carolina to get her MS Global Health at Duke University. During her studies she concentrated in both child and maternal health, and mental health. She has traveled to East Africa and Nepal for work...and many other places for pleasure.
After spending time working in various public health settings, she knew that her heart was still with the mammas and babies. She also had her first child during those years and was profoundly impacted by the experience, and by the beautiful doulas who served her family throughout the process. Other hats she wears include Outdoor Enthusiast, Avid Reader, Novice Gardener, Duke Basketball Superfan, Homeschool Teacher, and last but very most, Wife and Mamma (of four miniature Duke Basketball Superfans).
Jenny was born at the one-and-only Durham Regional Hospital (now Duke Regional) and grew up in both Chapel Hill and Durham. She’s an Enneagram 7, which means she loves adventure, but somehow never quite made it out of her hometown (not for long, at least).
She went to Duke (Go Devils!) where she majored in English Literature but wound up teaching Middle School Latin before trekking off to East Africa for a bit and then returning to work in local refugee resettlement (best job ever). She married a fellow Dukie and fellow adventure lover who has coached her through all of her births. They have 4 untamed, beautiful, brilliant kids who keep them very busy. Jenny is a social introvert who loves books, audiobooks, & podcasts, RV trips, running the ATT, late nights with friends, NPR, Durham food, breaking rules, theology, and evening walks with her family.
Jenny is a DONA-trained childbirth doula with additional certification in TENS (Doulaversity) and child/infant CPR (Red Cross). She’s also currently working on her childbirth education certification through ICEA.