BWB Staff & Volunteers

Rixa has a PhD focusing on childbirth and maternity care from the U of Iowa. Her research focus began with homebirth and unassisted birth and ended with vaginal breech birth. She is the lead author of the textbook A Guide to Physiological Breech Birth and has authored several papers on home birth, breech birth, and twin birth.

Rixa Freeze, PhD

Founder & President, France/USA

Kristine has been a midwife for over 30 years and has attended over 5000 births, ranging from home, hospital, refugee camps, and remote rural clinics. She works for Médecins Sans Frontières when she is not teaching for BWB and has attended over 520 vaginal breech births, 420 sets of vaginal twins, and 11 sets of vaginal triplets.

Kristine Lauria, CPM

Instructor & Global Midwifery Director. USA

Jenn is the mother of two children now in college, a former CPM, and graduate of the National College of Midwifery. She is passionate about maternal health and is a member of the General Assembly of the local Hospitalito in the town where she lives on Lake Atitlan with a goal of helping to build the bridge between systems.

Jenn McCormack

Community Liaison, Guatemala

Erica is a mother, midwife, and maternal-neonatal epidemiologist. She is a passionate advocate for community birth, as well as, using research to provide high quality perinatal care. She works in a range of global settings including South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Canada, and the United States.

Erica Corbett, CPM

Clinical Research Consultant, Canada

Genevieve is an experienced grant writer and program consultant who has secured over $1.3 million in the last 15 months to fund eviction prevention, mental health services, and youth support programs.

She is a former State of Colorado Grants Administrator with 10 years overseeing chronic disease and health equity initiatives and prevention through strategic funding. Skilled in curriculum development, compliance, budgeting, and digital learning platforms, she is passionate about expanding access to education and healthcare through strategic funding and program design that supports underserved populations and drives impact.

Genevieve Baldwin

Grant Writer, USA

Laurie is a homebirth midwife in the Austin area for almost 30 years. She is the former Chair of the Texas Midwives Advisory Board and works hard to keep Texas Midwifery laws flexible so that midwives can provide individualized care to their clients. Laurie is a student and practitioner of homeopathy. Laurie has a continuing education school for midwives. She is also an avid mountain biker, finding great peace in the woods. 

Laurie Fremgen, CPM, LM

Secretary, USA

Amariee Collins, LM, CPM

Treasurer, USA

Holly is a Registered Midwife in Canada and an alum of BWB Memphis 2020. She is a founding member of the National Breech Society of Canada and in December 2024 interned in Frankfurt at Dr Frank Louwen's clinic to learn more about initiating a breech program. Working in Calgary and west through Banff, Holly is working to initiate a Midwifery led physiological breech service in her region.

Holly Umana, RM

Board Member At Large, Canada