Rosa

Meet Rosa | Postpartum Doula, New Parent Educator, Childbirth Educator, Certified Parental Leave Coach

Rosa wears many hats in the birth world, first and foremost her role as mom to her 2 littles, the impetus for her to expand her career in HR to include supporting new families in their journey from workers to parents. Rosa met Kimberly as an expectant parent in her Breastfeeding and Newborn care class at Providence, and she caught the spark of a new passion that has only grown the past 7 years.

While many doulas have come from a lifetime of being around new babies, Rosa was deep in her career path when parenting caught her up in the love that surprises, delights, and completely transforms life. She was inspired to support other parents who have paths that aren’t smooth along the transitions, both with birth and with the postpartum recovery.

After juggling working, parenting, and becoming an educator, Rosa decided she wanted to be able to support the whole process and became a postpartum doula as well to offer care in the home in addition to her classes offered privately and through the Providence Health System. You may have met Rosa during a Birth and Beyond class, a maternity orientation, or a newborn care class. She also runs a new parent group outside the hospital system, and covers some of the hospital new moms groups as well.

Rosa has a Bachelors degree in HR and has been developing classes for parents who are navigating work responsibilities with a new family, using her over 20 years in the HR field. She loves to marry her two arenas and support families as they juggle many hats themselves, and need additional support to parent their best.

While Rosa didn’t have a background filled with babies until she become a mother herself, she is now a skilled support person with the most intense years of parenting two kiddos under her belt, as well as supporting families in postpartum support groups, and in the home as a postpartum doula. She has personal and professional experience with fussy babies, problem solving feeding issues, and particularly with expressing milk/pumping. And with two rocky births and kiddos with challenges of their own in her journey, Rosa truly understands and empathizes with families recovering from a challenging pregnancy, a difficult hospital experience, or a fussier than expected baby.

She strives to help parents get the nutrition they need after birth, and often makes her special Dutch Baby pancakes for clients for breakfast, or sushi or salad rolls for easy snacking.

As a life long learner, Rosa knows that being an active listener, particularly one focused on inclusion and equity, is one of the best ways to help families feel at ease in their new roles. Rosa’s passion of helping parents map out their workplace rights and responsibilities resulted in her gaining additional certification as a Certified Parental Leave Coach, which allows her the opportunity to support parents in a world that is new, fraught with unknowns, and one where the laws are constantly changing. Rosa uses her gentle and straightforward approach to give parents all the information they need to make educated decisions, and she utilizes these same skills at home for new parents.

Raising kids in a multi-generational, multicultural, and bilingual home, Rosa and her husband Zach have learned there are many ways to do things right when it comes to parenting. Recently learning more about the spectrum and the applications of neurodiversity in her family, Rosa has embraced the new challenges of parenting with her signature approach to gather information and recruit more support, something many of our clients have experienced as well.

Rosa also speaks conversational (although not 100% fluent) Korean, and enjoys helping clients of all cultures incorporate their ancestor’s traditions around the postpartum world. She has a deep respect for the elders surrounding each new baby, and with her positive approach can often create harmony and connection where there might have been misunderstanding.

When not teaching, caring for or coaching new parents Rosa loves to hang out with her daughter and son at playgrounds and parks all over Portland, enjoy family bike rides, visiting the library, and baking goodies together. The kids current favorite is making California sushi rolls, and when Rosa gets a chance to get out, her favorite activity is to take dance classes near their home in Tigard.

Make sure while Rosa is there supporting your physical and emotional recovery to ask her any questions you have about your going back to work for either parent, breastfeeding or pumping laws and set up after parental leave, or living in a multi-generational household, as she is a wealth of information and expertise on these topics as well.

One thing to note about Rosa is that she is allergic to lavender, so avoids the products when working with clients. While she loves pets, she is also sensitive to some pet’s dander, and prefers to work with smaller dogs or cats vs. families with large animals due to a history of being bitten as a child.