93: Between Worlds: Birth Photography and the Power of Imagery With Chinelle Rojas, Knowing Our Birthing Options Can Save Lives

“A world where our little pebble of documenting births can make waves on the mortality rate of mothers across the country or the world. How amazing would that be?” ~ Chinelle RojasChinelle brings awareness to birthing options that can save lives, especially women of color through her intimate, raw, tender, powerful, and revealing photography. She tells a story of women in their goddess selves and “between worlds” with their babies and families, capturing the powerful moment of life coming into the world.Chinelle’s eye for honesty in her photographs is inspiring and unearthing silenced or quieted areas of our humanity into conversation through images. In this podcast, she candidly speaks about her own birthing experiences and stories of being witness to the profound process of birthing. She shared how her curiosity of how slave women birthed lead to her creating provocative photographs that were sparse or missing in her Google search and how she is able to heal her ancestors.Statistically, black women in the United States have a mortality rate of 3–4 times higher than white women, and Chinelle believes that one of the major reasons is lack of representation and WOC in the birth community and the visibility of different options available. That’s why she created The Melanated Birth - to offer just that.From this down-to-earth wife, mom, advocate, logo designer, and birth photographer and videographer currently located in Tampa, Florida, you will learn why diversity in the birth world is greatly needed and be reminded of the reality and magic of birthing. Links, Article, and ResourcesAll Show Notes for This Episode📝 https://candicewu.com/chinelle Podcast Homepage🎧 https://candicewu.com/podcastNewsletter & Embody Community💌 https://candicewu.com/embody-communityDonations – Your Support Means So Much!💝 https://candicewu.com/supportCandice Wu Page on Facebook👫 https://facebook.com/EmbodyYourNatureFollow Candice on Instagram📷 https://instagram.com/EmbodyYourNature Sponsored by My Personal Healing Immersions, Retreats, and TrainingsThis episode is sponsored by my personal healing immersions, retreats, and trainings. People who are interested in diving deep in their healing and transformation, or in learning from Candice can reach out to her to set up a personal retreat in a location of your choice. Time and length, as well as the content of the retreat is completely collaborative and intuited based on what you desire and need! Couples and Ethically non-monogamous and Polyamorous relationships are also supported.Learn More at CandiceWu.com/offerings. Show Notes00:00 Intro01:01 Opening01:30 Brought to You by My Client Work and One-on-One Immersions03:32 The Meditations Database03:57 Transcriptions of the Embody Podcast04:38 How We Are in the World With Pictures06:34 Introducing Chinelle and Her Work08:16 Opening the Conversation08:44 What draws you into the world of Birth Photography?12:47 Learnings from Being with Birthing Families18:10 An Extra Lens — Seeing Things You Do Not Remember20:45 The Baby Shows Up — Feeling Humans, Emotions, and Life23:27 Chinelle’s Regret with her own Births — Not Hiring an Actual Birth Photographer25:02 What is Important for you in the moment of birth? Which photos do you want to see?26:28 Talking about Birth with Women of Color — The Power of Sharing30:55 Why are Black Americans Dying more often during or after childbirth?33:05 Chinelle’s Project — Unto Us a Slave Is Born38:21 Ancestors asking for this to be seen40:31 The Thoughts Provoked by Chinelle’s Series41:52 Let’s Talk about Ancestry — Using Black instead of only African44:49 Moving Kids into Different Cultures that they are connected with46:12 Trinidad and the Emancipation Day47:36 What’s Chinelle’s Plan with moving between the US and Trinidad?48:35 Retreats for Birth Photographers50:06 About The Melanated Birth: Birth in different Settings is Possible for Everyone51:56 The Goddess Between Worlds — Child & Mother55:25 Who passed away while this birth happened?56:34 Chinelle’s Video Work57:59 Ancestral Trauma — How Things Stick Around59:23 Where to find Chinelle Rojas?01:00:49 Outro & Gratitude01:02:00 The Embody Newsletter