Our Team

Alessandra De Almeida, Birth Assistant and Lactation Consultant (she/her/hers)

Alessandra is a certified doula, lactation counselor and homebirth assistant. She has worked in the New York homebirth community for more than 10 years, and comes to the Small Things Grow team with love, excitement, and commitment.

Alessandra was born in New York and raised between New York, Brazil, and Italy. She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and English, and currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two kids, cat and dog. From a young age, Alessandra committed herself to advocating for individuals and families, and working to undo systematic oppression. At age 25, she had the opportunity to work in central Mexico at a community center with a midwifery school and birth center attached to it. Her role at the center was to teach young adults about sexual health, and she also volunteered at the clinic. There she attended her first births, and witnessed what midwifery care looked like. After returning to NYC she worked as a union organizer in Washington Heights, eventually moving on to work with youths who had been through the criminal justice system.

Alessandra’s own childbirth experience brought her back to the world of midwifery. She gave birth to her first child at home in 2011, and soon after began training and working as a birth doula. Over the next seven years she attended more than 240 births. In 2017 she was invited to train as a homebirth assist with BK Midwifery. She worked with them until they closed their practice in 2021, and then joined the Small Things Grow team. She is honored to hold space and support families on their birth, postpartum, and lactation journeys.

Natalie Mackay, Administrative Assistant and Client Care Coordinator (she/her/hers)

Natalie found her entry into this work after a traumatic birth experience with her first child in 2016. This empowered her and fed her drive for all Black birthing people to be treated wholly and to be nourished by their providers. Trained as a Birth and Postpartum doula by DONA International, she knew early on that her commitment was to the postpartum period and specifically lactation. She became a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor, trained by Lea Rivera Todaro, IBCLC, then spent 2 years guiding birthing parents on their prenatal journey as the manager of a childbirth education and doula training studio, expertly matching expecting families with birth and postpartum doulas. She spent her free time assisting newly lactating parents on their personal feeding journeys and transitioned to offering volunteer virtual support to Black lactating people as COVID changed the world around us. She moderates multiple pregnancy and parenting groups amidst caring for her own little family. 

After her first experience, Natalie knew that her second birth would be different, and it was! June 30th, 2020, amidst social unrest and a pandemic, Natalie birthed her second child on her hands and knees in her living room with Robina there to help usher her into her power.  

With her husband and 2 little ones along for the ride, Natalie's goal is to become an IBCLC and another needed Black voice in the birth and lactation community.