BWB Staff & Volunteers

Rixa Freeze, PhD

Founder & President, Executive Director, France/USA

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.

Kristine Lauria, CPM

Instructor & Global Midwifery Director, 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.

Jela Ravnjak

Community Liaison, Croatia

Jela has worked in the birth world for the past 10 years as a doula, writer, educator, photographer, mentor and trainer. With a lot of business experience, she's a strong organizer and communicator who helps coordinate projects, people, and learning spaces. She holds a Master's degree in Economics and Business.

Genevieve Baldwin

Grant Writer, USA

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.

Erica Corbett, CPM

Clinical Research Consultant, Canada

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.

Kelton Couperus

Data Analyst, USA

Kelton Couperus is a Master of Public Health and Epidemiology student at Brigham Young University, graduating in April 2027. He serves as a Data Analyst at Breech Without Borders, where he writes weekly reports analyzing continuous data to support the organization's work in Afghanistan.

His upbringing in rural Wisconsin, along with time spent living in northern Italy and Utah, has shaped his belief that all people deserve dignity, respect, and access to high-quality care. He is committed to using data and scientific evidence to support individuals, strengthen health systems, and advance equitable maternal health outcomes worldwide.

Sarah Holden

Shipping specialist, NZ/Australia

I'm Sarah – I am mum to two children – one born breech who inspired me to seek out better support for VBB families and to long lost return breech birth skills to our local providers in my homeland of New Zealand. My journey led me to BWB and my current role as a volunteer and NZ/Aus shipping specialist. I also work in finance and volunteer for local conservations groups in my local area. In my (limited) spare time you'll often find me in my garden, bird spotting, reading or making the most of the outdoor lifestyle NZ offers.