We recently connected with Miranda Garcia and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Miranda , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
This is such an interesting question to me. I spent most of my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood searching for my “purpose”. I knew from an early age that I wanted to help people. I knew that I wanted to serve my community in some way. As a child and adolescent I thought I wanted to work in mental health. And while this field still fascinates me and plays a role in the work I do today, I quickly learned this wasn’t what I was “meant” to do. Fast forward and I thought I wanted to teach Elementary school. In college I changed my major from Psych to Education… But still it didn’t hold me. Then, when I got pregnant with my first child I was truly in AWE of pregnancy and birth. Every facet fascinated me. And I had such a thirst for more and more knowledge. Well, to my absolute heartbreak, my daughter– Nona Rae– was stillborn in 2019. And the loss of her life and what I imagined for my future absolutely demolished any hopes I had for my future. In 2020 I gave birth to my second child, my son Sage, and while I still couldn’t find true faith in my body and my womb… parenting him earth side the way I yearned to parent my daughter… healed fragments of my soul. Then, in 2023 I gave birth to my second daughter and youngest child, Raeya, and her birth restored so much more than I can truly articulate in words. I gave birth to her the way I originally always wanted to birth… Unmedicated… and under the care of midwives. I never imagined my body, soul, and spirit would heal enough to experience birth in this way. But I did it. And through the images I received back from my amazing birth photographer, mentor, and friend Monet Nicole, I discovered EXACTLY what my purpose was. It was so document birth and give families what she gave to me… a tangible way of processing my birth story, my trauma, and my absolute power. As I started documenting births I quickly realized that it just didn’t feel like enough. I was walking into the birth space with so much knowledge and wanting to hold my clients in another way… I couldn’t be the “fly on the wall” birth photographer I thought I was supposed to be. So I decided to pursue doula training to be able to support my clients in a way I already felt I was but equipped with even more knowledge. This work… it’s the closest thing I’ve ever come to prayer and worship… it’s truly cared and I believe in my spirit that it was what I was called to do. So I guess there’s my long winded answer to your question… haha!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m a birth photographer and doula based in Denver, and I’ve built my work around documenting the sacred moments that unfold when a birthing person brings life into this world. I call myself a “Doulatog” because my heart lives in both spaces… supporting families emotionally and physically as a doula, while also preserving the story of their birth through imagery. It’s intimate, emotional work. Every birth feels like stepping into holy ground. What excites me most is witnessing people find their strength… seeing them surrender, roar, cry, breathe, and then rise as parents. It’s not just about the moment a baby is born, but the transformation that happens in everyone in the room, especially the birthing person. My goal is to document birth honestly… the beauty of what is. Recently, I’ve been expanding into creating more storytelling experiences for families beyond birth; postpartum sessions, family films, and motherhood portraits that feel real and emotive while preserving the moment that actually existed. I’m actually offering 2026 clients who book their births with me a complimentary maternity session as well as a short birth film! My work is for the families who want their story told with heart and reverence and who want to be held and protected through some of the most miraculous AND mundane moments of their lives.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, the three biggest things that shaped my journey were empathy, resilience, and intuition. Empathy is everything in this work. Birth isn’t just a medical event. It’s an emotional, spiritual, and deeply human experience. Learning how to hold space for people in their most vulnerable moments has changed how I see everything. My advice? Learn when to do nothing. Sit in the silence. Step back. People will tell you what they need if you slow down long enough to hear them. Resilience came next. Running a birth business is very niche. This kind of work takes time and resilience to build. Don’t give up because you’re not booking births initially. If this is what you were called to do, there is space for you. This kind of work also takes so much resilience to sustain. Long nights, emotional highs and lows, missed family events, and the occasional cry in the car at 3 a.m. But it’s sacred, rewarding… and it’s worth it. You have to be okay with growing through discomfort. Don’t quit when it gets hard. Just like in birth…that’s usually where the magic is about to happen. And intuition; That’s the quiet voice that guides me in both the birth space and in business. You can learn all the techniques and strategies, but at the end of the day, your gut will tell you what’s right for you and your clients. Protect your energy, stay grounded, and trust that the right people will find you when you show up as your whole self.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mirandajewelsphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirandajewelsbirths/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirandajewelsbirthandphotography/
