Our Instructors
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Andrea Lee, Founder and Owner
Andrea is a Childbirth Educator and Labor Support Companion based in New York City. She resides on the Upper East Side with her husband and son. After the birth of her son, she began speaking with other women about their birth experience and soon realized that many felt powerless during labor and birth. It was then that she realized she wanted to help expectant women and their partners find their own path in the amazing journey of pregnancy, labor and parenting.
In addition to being a CCE Andrea is also one of the founding members of Bowery Babes, a 501(c)3, not-for-profit parenting group, which is dedicated to supporting parents from pregnancy through the early years of parenting and beyond; and to enrich New York City as a place to raise a family. She has also served on the board of directors of Bowery Babes for a number of years, coordinating many classes and fundraising efforts. Previously Andrea worked for a large investment bank in midtown Manhattan.
Andrea is certified through The International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA), a professional organization that supports educators and health care professionals who believe in freedom of choice based on knowledge of alternatives in family-centered maternity and newborn care.
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Jayne Freeman Childbirth Prep, Infant Care
Jayne Freeman is a CEA/MNY certified childbirth educator, breastfeeding counselor and postpartum doula specializing in mood disorder prevention. After the birth of her two daughters, Jayne started a public access show about birth and parenting, titled "Mamarama." It aired for over a decade on Comcast Cable and made her a local celebrity in her hometown of Jersey City. Eventually, she turned her hobby into a profession and has been working full-time in the birth world for over 12 years. Jayne has taught for several pediatric practices, worked with pregnant teenagers, volunteered at the Jersey City clinic, and gave Snooki & J-Woww their childbirth class on MTV. She is also a passionate advocate, successfully petitioning the PATH train to create signage and announcements for pregnant passengers and creating a dedicated lactation room for her former employer, The Princeton Review. More recently Jayne's area of focus has been on postpartum mood disorders and she is working on advanced certifications for perinatal mental health. Her current mission is to shift our feeding paradigm to one of choice and inclusion. Every month she teaches a class on infant formula for us at City Births. Jayne also writes a regular column for the Jersey City Times where she highlights the challenges of new parenting.
Website: Mamarama.tv Instagram: Mamarama_jc
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Ceridwen Morris Childbirth Prep, Infant Care
Ceridwen Morris is a doula, birth educator and writer — she has been working with New York City parents for over fifteen years. Her speciality is making the complex prospect of giving birth seem a little less daunting and possibly even quite magnificent. She is also the co-author of the pregnancy and parenting guide, From The Hips (2007) and numerous articles on topics related to becoming a parent. She lives on the Upper West Side with her two teens and husband. www.CeridwenMorris.com
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Kara French Childbirth Prep - CNM
Kara is a Certified Nurse Midwife working with Stony Brook Midwives. Before becoming a midwife she worked as a birthing assistant at the Brooklyn Birthing Center. After graduating with a second Bachelor's degree in Nursing she began working at NYU Langone Medical Center in Labor & Delivery as an RN and then as the Assistant Nurse Manager of the Mother-Baby unit. Kara’s main goal is to help women have a peaceful birthing experience that they can look back on fondly. She strives to have expectant parents leave her class feeling more knowledgeable, confident, empowered and knowing what questions to ask once they are admitted to the hospital.
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Emma Kvaale Childbirth Prep - RN L&D
Emma is a Labor and Delivernurse at Greenwich Hospital and also work in outpatient Maternal Fetal Medicine.. After working with new parents, she realized how much more empowering birth could be if couples had childbirth education. This began her interest in teaching new parents at City Births.
Emma recieved her bachelors degree in Exercise Science and Dance at Elon University. She then received a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing at New York University. She worked in orthopedic surgery and cardiac medicine prior to becoming a Labor & Delivery nurse in 2020. Emma is certified in Electronic Fetal Monitoring, Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support and Neonatal Rescucitation. She is also currently studying for her Breastfeeding certification.
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Jason Mundy CPR
Jason Mundy, owner and lead instructor of NY METRO CPR, began teaching CPR in 1997 upon completing his New York State EMT, or Emergency Medical Technician license. Since then, he has provided hundreds of CPR classes to thousands of students in the NY/NJ metropolitan area. He is also a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and installs and inspects car seats.
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Lisa Cirigliano Childbirth Prep
Lisa Cirigliano is a Certified Nurse Midwife. She graduated from University of Phoenix with a bachelor’s in nursing and then went on to receive her Master’s in Nursing and Midwifery from Stony Brook University School of Nursing. Prior to becoming a Midwife, Lisa worked as a certified RNC-OB labor and delivery nurse, lactation counselor, as well as a birthing center nurse at Mount Sinai West.
Lisa is a CNM at Weill Cornell and delivers at Alexandra Cohen’s Hospital for Women and Newborns.
Lisa deeply believes in the power of a woman’s body and its innate ability to give birth. She supports and respects the normal physiological processes of labor and birth using evidence-based practices to enhance best outcomes for mother and infant. Lisa resides in Long Island with her 3 children and 3 dogs. She enjoys reading, spending days at the beach, and skiing with her family. -
Estefany Angeles, founder of Birth A Mi Manera, LLC
Estefany Angeles is a bilingual childbirth educator, doula, and lactation counselor dedicated to empowering families through compassionate, culturally congruent care. She is pursuing her Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) certification at Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery. Estefany has provided holistic birth support since 2022, focusing on Spanish-speaking immigrant families in New York City. Rooted in her Dominican heritage, her practice honors ancestral wisdom and combines trauma-informed care with evidence-based approaches. She is committed to creating accessible, equitable birthing experiences and supporting clients through home births, birth centers, and hospitals. Estefany’s philosophy centers on autonomy, informed choice, and personalized care, ensuring each birth story is honored “a su manera
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Rose Marcus
Rose has supported countless clients through labor and toward parenthood as a doula, educator, and consultant. As a practitioner, she is educated in several modalities: full-spectrum doula training, certified lactation counselor, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, qi gong, reiki, Inner-Nurturing-Techniques, and Spinning Babies. She is a devotee to women’s health, psychology, and somatics as methods for embodying well-being. She supports each client on their own terms, and attunes care to each person in order to comfort and uplift new parents and help them embrace their expanding selfhood. Additionally, Rose Marcus holds a graduate degree in art history and is a professional visual artist.