Meet the Team

Kiona, a female presenting person with long, curly black hair, smiling, wearing a black top, gold hoop earrings, and a gold chain necklace, and sporting a tattoo on her forearm.

Kiona Nessenbaum

Kiona Nessenbaum (she/her) is a mother of three wonderfully rambunctious children and a birthworker with over 10 years of experience. She has supported families as a birth and postpartum doula, birth assistant, and former student midwife, and has had the privilege of attending more than 150 births professionally. Kiona is also the host and producer of Birth As We Know It, a podcast dedicated to honoring the many ways birth can unfold through conversations with birthing people, partners, providers, and birthworkers.

As your doula, Kiona is committed to meeting you where you are—mentally, physically, and emotionally. She offers compassionate, open-minded support while continually learning and growing to better serve you and your family. She believes deeply in team-based care and is happy to connect you with additional resources to ensure well-rounded support. Her goal is for you to feel seen, heard, and validated as she helps guide your thread from pregnancy to parenthood.

Jaya, a female presenting person with dark, wavy hair, smiling outdoors, wearing a purple sweater in a natural, wooded setting.

Jaya Mallik

Jaya Mallik (she/her) is a Washington State certified birth and postpartum doula based in Maple Valley, WA, where she lives with her husband, Nathan, and their two daughters. She has attended over 30 births and supported more than 20 families through postpartum. Her journey into doula work began with her own experiences—growing up in a South Asian household where birth and postpartum weren't discussed openly, she felt unprepared when her first birth became an emergency. She struggled with postpartum depression, wishing she'd had a supportive presence beside her. With her second child, Jaya hired a doula who honored her cultural background and values, and the experience was transformative. She felt empowered, centered, and confident, avoided postpartum depression, and had a successful breastfeeding journey.

As a Woman of Color and DEI practitioner focused on health equity, Jaya is acutely aware of the healthcare inequities and racism that persist in maternal care. She brings this expertise into the birthing space to advocate for her clients and ensure every family receives joyful, empowered, and dignified care. Her role is to help families navigate this transformative journey with confidence and peace, providing the same supportive presence that made all the difference in her own healing.