Holistic Doula & Perinatal Consulting
About Me
Shaconna Haley is Founder & CEO of InnerLight Holistic Doula & Perinatal Consulting. She is a Holistic Intuitive Practitioner™, Perinatal Consultant, Certified Holistic Doula (CHD), Independent Sociological Researcher, and former Dean of Students for The Matrona Foundation’s Birthkeeper Program. She has over 29 years of experience in women and girls’ life transitions, health and wellness, reproductive empowerment, mentoring/life coaching, and as a holistic doula/ birthkeeper. As Founder of InnerLight Holistic Doula & Perinatal Consulting, she integrates her Holistic Intuitive Practice™ paradigm into her work as perinatal consultant, doula mentor, rites of passage specialist, and community advocate for holistic reproductive/maternal wellness, and perinatal mental health in Georgia. In her community work as a strategic empowerment consultant, she addresses women’s issues and culturally congruent work with emphasis on mentoring, holistic reproductive and maternal wellness, and equity in maternal healthcare. As such, Shaconna invests the professional development of in holistic community perinatal support professionals as both practitioners and personally through the InnerLight Holistic Doula Mentorship Circle (IHDMC), a 12-month fee-based, culturally-informed program for direct one-on- one mentoring and group development as a holistic doula and/or birthworker, currently in its 7th Cohort year.
In addition, Shaconna proactively serves Georgia and Atlanta Metro community as a contributor to the Georgia Postpartum Support International Advocacy Committee, Birth Equity Lab of The Center for Black Women’s Wellness (CBWW) & IHI and the Georgia Perinatal Quality Collaborative (GaPQC) – Health Equity sub committee, a member of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) Research Advisory Committee; Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (HMHB) GA Doula Access Working Group; GA March of Dimes Dismantling Racism & Community Impact Committees; Hope for Georgia Moms Maternal Health Task Force and, at the national level as March of Dimes Doula TEAP (Technical Expert Assistance Professionals) and part of the Preeclampsia Foundation’s National Racial Disparities Taskforce.
Shaconna is an outdoor enthusiast, a foodie, and an all-around renaissance woman, loving the arts --- all genres of music, good movies, and books. What most warms her heart is laughing with her loves (son and husband) and gatherings with family, friends, Sankofa Enlightenment Sista’s and the InnerLight Holistic family of IHDMC mentees, alumni, and Wise Women practitioners in the women’s wellness and maternal health community.
Shaconna Haley, M.A., CHD, PC received her M.A. in Sociology and doctoral studies from American University with a concentration in Race, Gender & Social Justice, specializing in Sociology of Birth; an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Ball State University; and an B.A. in Psychology from Hampton University. Shaconna is an independent researcher in sociology of birth and reproductive life cycle. Her most recent sociological research, “Style of Birth Work and Emotional Labor in a Diverse Community of Doulas,” focuses on emotion and empathy in birthwork, examining the birth work that doulas perform and their emotional labor through qualitative interviews with 40 doulas throughout the Atlanta Metro area.
Currently, Shaconna is Adjunct Faculty in African Diaspora & The World and Lecturer/Visiting Professor part-time in Comparative Women’s Studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. She is a former Dean of Students of the Matrona Foundation Quantum Midwifery Birthkeepers Program. Shaconna’s recent publications include in the Green Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology: “A Doula’s Presence”; Special Edition of Obstetrics & Gynecology: Racism in Reproductive Health: Lighting a Path to Health Equity, “The Power of Language in Hospital Care for Pregnant and Birthing People: A Vision for Change“, and a publication forthcoming in Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health, “Addressing Racial Disparities in the Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy: A Plan for Action from the Preeclampsia Foundation’s Racial Disparities Task Force.”
"I am called to be a witness to life transition,
as a culture worker, mentor, truth-seeker.
All that I do aligns with my calling.
My Life calling is to call forth the spirit within... Our InnerLight."
- Shaconna Haley, M.A., CHD, PC
“Community is the spirit,
this guiding light of the tribe, whereby people come together
to fulfill a specific purpose, to help others,
fulfill their purpose, and to take care of one another.” ​
- Sobonfu Somé