About me
Rokea brings over 16 years of experience as a birth worker, educator, and community advocate. She holds a Master's degree in Public Administration with a focus on Public Policy. Her career has included work in birth, early learning, home visiting services, food access, climate justice, housing, and violence prevention, particularly with youth and families. Rokea is a Full Circle Doula, Certified Lactation Educator and Peer Counselor, and an Infant Mental Health specialist (IMH-E®). Rokea’s journey began as a community-based outreach doula for the African American community, providing doula support, home visiting, and early learning support. She worked at Open Arms Perinatal Services, evolving from a volunteer doula to the Director of Doula Services. She is the founder of the BLK Mamas Collective and lead organizer for the annual Seattle Black Maternal Health Week Celebration. Rokea has been a key player in the Doulas For All coalition, which successfully lobbied for Medicaid reimbursements for birth doulas in Washington state. Rokea has also served on the Seattle Women’s Commission and is a founding board member of the Maternal Coalition. Currently, she is on the board of Global Perinatal Services and the Washington State Department of Health’s Birth Equity Advisory Committee. Rokea developed the Birth Equity Workshop and has shared it with institutions like the University of Washington. She was the Director of Community-Based Research for the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom and now serves as the Childcare Strategy Lead within the Best Starts for Kids levy, overseeing the county subsidy program and the King County childcare wage boost pilot.