We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Atabia Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Atabia below.
Atabia, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Early on I knew I had a passion for helping birthing folks in any capacity. I would always help out with my younger cousins and tend to any pregnant family member we had in the family. If you ask any birth worker, most of us started off wanting to be an OBGYN and one point in our journey. I went to college initially wanting to be just that… life and other things happened and I found myself changing my major for the fifth time. I had found a strong liking for anything under the umbrella of Women Gender & Sexuality Studies. I was opened up to a world that articulated many thoughts I had but could not form on my own at the time. Learning about Intersectionality, Institutionalized Racism, Misogynoir, and Heteronormative culture altered and justified the way I showed up in spaces. Upon graduating I got an internship with a Birth Doula in my community who was piloting a Community Based Doula program here in Grand Rapids called Day One Doula Collective. During my time as an intern, I was able to sit in on each class the students took, get certifications, and a numerous amount of resources. By this time, I knew I had a calling to help women during their many stages of pregnancy but I never knew what exactly the job for that was. When I found out what a Doula was (a person who provides nonjudgmental, evidenced-based emotional, physical, and spiritual support to a birthing person) it all clicked. My God-given gift has always been to provide comfort, support, and advocacy to anyone in any space I’m in. Tying that into my radical nature to help those who are left out of conversations or a being disproportionately disadvantaged, I knew that’s where my purpose was.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
On a broad spectrum, I am a Birth Worker. Under that umbrella, I function as a full-spectrum Doula, a Community Sex Educator. What is so special about my work is the endless possibilities and niches one could have as a Birth Worker. Pelvic floor therapy, reproduction, chest feeding, postpartum, and pregnancy loss are just some of the topics that many Birth Workers find themselves digging deeper into outside of the “traditional” pregnancy scope. Sex education has become something that has been my main focus in my work for about a year now but I’ve always had a thing for taboo topics and conversations. My biggest goal thus far has been educating my community and giving them the culturally competent sex education that many of us did not get. In my sex education class, I plan to provide a space for all to have the conversations we never got to have. In my everyday practice of normal conversation, I make it my mission to challenge why certain things are seen as taboo and who is controlling that narrative. Womanist Williams Birth Support Services aims to promote bodily autonomy by providing proper education on pregnancy and birth while using Sex Positive language through a Womanist lense
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, three areas that were most impactful in my journey were working through imposter syndrome, realizing my lived experience was enough, and knowing that there is at least one person who does not know what I know. All of these found themselves layering on top of each other as I even now still develop and grow in my career. Imposter Syndrome is something that I know most of us deal with. For me specifically, I am usually the youngest in many spaces I take up. I used to feel so unqualified to share my opinions or thoughts with anyone thinking what I had to say was common knowledge or that someone would question my validity. It took some time after conversations with my great support system to come to the conclusion that… the worst thing I could do was not share what was on my heart. I began to let my lived experiences be enough to guide my conversations in spaces and everything else fell into place. When you live in your passion it becomes harder for you to contain yourself. God will continue to put you in spaces to amplify your calling until you own it to its fullest. My best advice is to just do it. Striving for something to be “perfect” will only prolong your greatness from reaching who it needs to reach. We all have to start somewhere, crawling came before walking… you don’t have to start off running, but you do have to start.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of growth and improvement has been believing in myself and my capabilities. Often we don’t sit back and think about all of the great things we have done, just the things we have yet to accomplish. Within the past 12 months, I have actively made choices to put myself out there and own who I am and the space that I take up. When you are living in your passion it makes it 10x easier to present yourself with pride and confidence.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/womanist.williams
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/womanist.williams?igshid=NWRhNmQxMjQ=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081130161432
Image Credits
Day One Doula Collective | Womanist Williams Birth Support Services
