Board of Directors

Tamara Taitt, MS, LMFT, LM

BOARD PRESIDENT/CHAIR

Tamara received a BA from Princeton University in Psychology with minors in African-African Studies and Women’s Studies. After graduating from Princeton, Tamara moved to Miami, Florida to pursue her passion for traditional care applications in community health at Miami Dade College’s Midwifery Program. Following completion of her Associates in Midwifery Sciences, Tamara spent five years working in the maternal child health field with a focus on reducing perinatal health disparities, improving black infant health and implementing fetal infant mortality review followed by five years working in home based community mental health services for at risk families. Tamara earned a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from Nova Southeastern University and completed three years of PhD coursework in Family Therapy with research interests that centered on perinatal mental health and birth trauma before leaving her program to open a pregnancy & parenting resource center, The Gathering Place and later a birthing center, Magnolia Birth House. Tamara has a nourished her long-standing professional interest in the sustainability of the midwifery profession by serving on a variety of national boards. She was the Southeast regional representative on the board of the Midwives Alliance of North America for seven years and is a past board member for the Foundation for Advancement of Midwifery. Tamara currently serves as the Board President of the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery and is the Director of Student Life, Equity & Access at the Midwives College of Utah. Tamara lives in Miami, FL and shares a home with her partner Michelle, step-daughter, 5 dogs, 4 cats, approximately 200 house plants and a 400 volume cookbook collection. When not reading, streaming her favorite British dramas on Britbox and Acorn and making savory meals, Tamara spends her time planning their Blue Bird school bus to RV conversion which she expects to finish in early 2020.

CHarlie Rae Young, LM, CPM, CLC

VICE CHAIR/VICE PRESIDENT

Charlie Rae Young, is a graduate of the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery and Florida Licensed Midwife (MW276). A Florida native, Charlie was called to Midwifery after her own experience with the over-medicalized model of childbirth. She began her service as a doula by founding Barefoot Birth in 2008, and has worked as a strong advocate for better care for families alongside the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services, The Birth Survey, The Florida Council of Licensed Midwifery, and others. She has attended hundreds of births over the last 11 years, filling a niche with naturally-minded families as well as those who are often marginalized from conventional medical care due to social stigma. She has written for and been featured in SQUAT Birth Journal, Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Tribune, FOCUS Magazine, Radical Doula Blog, and been interviewed for the Tampa NBC Affiliate for her community projects The Barefoot Bus--a fully mobile prenatal care unit operating under the easy access model of care as well as her 501c3 The Community Roots Collective. Charlie's belief is that every family deserves safe and quality care, and hopes to continue to build stronger communities through beautiful births.

Abby Reichardt, LM, CLC

Abby Reichardt is a lifelong local of the Gainesville area. In 2018 she became credentialed as a Florida Licensed Midwife, but has been working with the Midwives Cooperative since 2015 as a student midwife and childbirth educator. Abby also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Family, Youth and Community Sciences from the University of Florida (Go Gators!). She has been a birth worker locally since 2010 and enjoys providing a supportive community for families to grow and flourish. She holds the vision of offering families choice in birth setting, and providing safe, nurturing, and evidence-based care. In her spare time, Abby likes to be with her loving family and friends, takes refuge in the rivers and springs of North Central Florida, and also spends time advocating for the environment and Florida licensed midwifery. She has an incredibly supportive husband and a son and daughter who were born at home.

Sharon Bernecki DeJoy PhD, MPH, CPH, CPM

SECRETARY

Sharon is currently Associate Professor in the department of Health and Program Director for the BS in Public Health at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She received her AS in Midwifery from Miami-Dade College and a BA from Columbia University. She holds an MPH in Maternal Child Health and a PhD in Community and Family Health from the University of South Florida College of Public Health. Sharon’s first academic teaching experience included the development of a Maternal Child Health Community Health Worker training curriculum, which she taught at two community colleges in Florida. She spent three years as Assistant Professor in Community health at SUNY Potsdam before moving to West Chester. Sharon has also taught in the MS in Global Health program at Northwestern University and at various midwifery schools. She has twice won the Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health Innovative Teaching in MCH Award. In addition to her interest in midwifery, Sharon’s research focuses on weight stigma and the intersection of size discrimination with other types of discrimination in maternal child health. Sharon has local, state, national, and international leadership experience in maternal child health program delivery. She serves on various boards and committees. On the national level, she is a Board member of the Association of Midwifery Educators. She also serves on the Maternal Mortality and Policy committees of the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative. Sharon lives with her husband and large dog in the Philadelphia suburbs, where they are slowly renovating two old houses. In her spare time, she enjoys tinkering with the space-time continuum in failed attempts to create more spare time. Also, reading and drinking coffee. She has been known to collect frogs.