Chantel Spinner
Chantel Spinner is a dedicated maternal health advocate, community educator, and founder of the Melanin Fluent Doula Agency, where she provides culturally rooted care for women of color and marginalized families. As a certified doula, Chantel offers full-spectrum support, including labor, postpartum, lactation, and loss care, while also advocating for birth justice and addressing systemic inequities in healthcare. Her work is deeply informed by lived experience and a commitment to creating safe, empowering, and informed birth experiences for all families.
In addition to her doula practice, Chantel serves as Director of Marketing and Case Manager at Brain Injury Solutions, a nonprofit providing advocacy, case management, and access to resources for individuals living with brain injuries. In these roles, she supports clients navigating complex systems, coordinates care plans, and leads community outreach and education initiatives. Her work bridges healthcare, advocacy, and education, ensuring underserved populations feel seen, supported, and empowered.
Chantel’s commitment extends beyond direct care. She actively builds community through workshops, public education, and digital outreach, focusing on maternal wellness, postpartum mental health, and health equity. She is passionate about storytelling, truth-telling, and creating spaces where families feel respected, valued, and equipped with the resources they need. Through her leadership and advocacy, Chantel continues to champion safer maternal health outcomes, culturally grounded care, and equitable access to services.
• Certified Doula
• Postpartum Support Training
• Postpartum Support & Mental Health Training
• Virginia Workforce & Healthcare Development Alliance (VHWDA) - Community Health Worker Training (VCB-Recognized)
• Randolph College - Bachelor's degree, Sociology
• Inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa
• Alpha Kappa Delta
• Postpartum Support International and Postpartum Support Virginia
What do you attribute your success to?
Chantel Spinner attributes her success to her journey as a mother, where she learned, in real time, what it truly means to bring life into the world and then be expected to “bounce back” without support. That experience, shared by many women—especially women of color and those in rural communities—taught her the power of presence, intuition, and advocacy, skills that would later shape her professional calling. After years as a stay-at-home mom, she recognized the gaps in culturally competent maternal care and the widespread misinformation around birth and postpartum support, which inspired her to become a certified doula serving women of color and low-income families across rural Virginia. What began as personal experience grew into purpose, and eventually into her work advocating for birthers, educating families, and creating safety and community during one of life’s most vulnerable periods. Her days are rarely predictable, balancing client care, education, advocacy, and emotional support, often all at once—but her greatest pride comes from the trust clients place in her, a trust she considers sacred. Education has been a vital part of her journey; she holds multiple certifications and actively contributes to organizations such as Postpartum Support International and Postpartum Support Virginia, both through volunteering and financial support. Her college years also marked an early affirmation of her path when she received an award for outstanding research in maternal health, long before her passion became her profession.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Chantel Spinner advises young women entering the maternal health field that doula work requires passion, selflessness, and proper training, but it also offers flexibility, deep knowledge, and opportunities for leadership. She emphasizes that the more people who truly understand birth, the more advocates and leaders will emerge to shape the future of maternal health. There are numerous career paths within the doula profession, allowing individuals to focus on the areas they are most passionate about. Chantel believes the field needs greater visibility, education, and advocacy, so that communities can understand what birth truly looks like and maternal health can be improved for all families.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Chantel Spinner identifies one of the biggest challenges in maternal health as the widespread misunderstanding of postpartum care. She emphasizes that postpartum is not limited to the first few weeks after birth—it extends through the first year. Understanding the difference between a typical postpartum experience and postpartum disorders can be life-changing, even life-saving. This reality drives her deep commitment to education, awareness, and community-based birthing support that centers the lived experiences of birthers, ensuring families receive culturally competent care and advocacy when they need it most.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
For Chantel Spinner, the values that guide her work and personal life are deeply rooted in advocacy, compassion, and lived experience. As a woman of color, she is committed to supporting birthers of color, bringing the lessons of her own upbringing as the child of a single mother into her professional mission. Returning to college as an adult during the COVID-19 pandemic further strengthened her connection to reproductive justice, particularly through experiences like attending a consortium featuring Dorothy Roberts. These experiences reinforced her belief that personal empathy, advocacy, and cultural understanding are essential for creating meaningful, community-centered maternal health care, and they continue to inform the mission of her business and her work as a doula.