Melanie Russell
Founder/owner of A Brighter Birth
Certified Professional Birth Doula
Childbirth Educator
Lactation Counselor
Executive Director of To Labor, an International Birth Doula Training and Certifying Organization
I went to VCU straight out of high school for Fashion Design and Communication Arts with grand plans to move to NYC to begin my art career. Instead, I finished college in 2004 a brand new mother of a squishy little boy, with a fresh fascination for all things birth. Fast forward to now, 6 babies (now teenagers) later, and I have fully dedicated myself to the world of birth work. I have attended over 500 births, taught thousands of families their childbirth education classes and supported countless new parents with feeding and newborn care. Watching my clients transform into parents is my favorite thing ever. Supporting people in their own power, offering choices and options, and reminding them that they can do this, they can do even this, have been staples in my practice since day 1. Birth has become my life’s passion, my career being the vehicle to my soul purpose.
This Collective was grown from a tiny seed planted during my own pregnancies. A Brighter Birth began in my living room as a childbirth education class. I was just as pregnant as my students with my 3rd baby, handing out my own vetted and trusted resources of practitioners that I was using for my own care. As ABB grew, so did my circle of curated providers in our area and beyond. Since 2008, we’ve become a full one stop shop offering support from fertility to postpartum. Taking the stress of googling and Reddit deep diving for resources off of everyone’s plate. If you’re working with anyone in A Brighter Birth, rest assured, you’re in impeccable hands.