Brittany Edwards, CNM, WHNP-BC completed her graduate studies at the University of
California, San Francisco in 2018 and now resides in her hometown Fresno, CA. Currently, she is a Co-Investigator with the EMBRACE study (Engaging Mothers and Babies; Reimagining Antenatal Care for Everyone) exploring group care, preterm birth outcomes, mental health, and respectful care in the Central Valley. Brittany’s desire to provide maternal and community
health was ignited as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Guadalajara, Mexico where she
witnessed her first childbirths. After returning to Fresno, she served as a bilingual perinatal
educator, birth doula, and nonprofit coordinator. While living and working in neighborhoods
suffering from extreme poverty and trauma, Brittany was most impacted...read more.

I would like to join the board of directors of CNMA because I would like to be a part of a diverse sisterhood of midwives that listens to each other and the community in order to together create positive lasting change, dismantle oppression in midwifery and birth, and reclaim human birthrights to reproduce, birth and live in safety, peace and ceremony, and with quality support. Ultimately, to protect
birthwork, birthing families and women fo all backgrounds and in all settings. I am very committed to midwifery and its accessibility to the most oppressed and poor communities because very often these communities still hold very rich birthing and healing traditions that have kept humanity alive for millenia yet are at the verge of extinction due to the aggressive medicalization of birth... read more.

Elizabeth Smith, CNM, MSN is the current Treasurer of the CNMA and Director of the Santa Rosa Birth Center. She has been a California midwife for 20 years and has practiced full-scope midwifery in both in and out of hospital settings. Since 2014, she been the Director and Owner of the Santa Rosa Birth Center, a licensed and accredited birth center that serves primarily Medi-Cal families. As a practice owner and director, she experiences, first-hand, how the art and science of midwifery
must balance with the business of birth. In her capacity as Treasurer, she has worked to maintain and enhance CNMAs fiscal sustainability by providing a transparent and practical voice to the organization’s operations. Additionally, as a community midwife, Elizabeth brings the voice of non-hospital providers to the...read more.