Joyce Zara (she/they/síya) is a Batangueña-Waray Filipino/x, with Chinese lineage. Joyce is a queer, Birth and Postpartum Doula/Birth Companion/Kasama ng Manganganak, folk herbalist, and a culture bearer rooted in ancestral healing and earth stewardship.
She is currently residing on the unceded ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other indigenous tribes. The land is also known as Portland, Oregon.
Raised in a rural, matriarchal village in the Philippines, Joyce’s early life was steeped in native earth-based skills and traditional practices, surrounded by large communal families, of wise grandmothers, aunties, children—whom all lived intimately with the land and were fed by the land. Joyce’s vivid memories of her ancestral lands deeply influences her way of living life as a ceremony.
While living in the Philippines, Joyce went to school in renowned De La Salle Lipa of Batangas. She also grew up in the Bay Area, California and obtained a B.S. in Recreation Therapy at San Jose State University. For as long as she can remember, she has always been passionate about providing therapeutic care to those around her. Her ancestral calling to heal familial wounds, to cultivate intergenerational healing, and to re-village with a decolonizing lens is the driving force behind her labor of love.
-Grounded and compassionate approach to supporting and caring for the gestational person. Maintaining trust and respecting each individual’s unique process and journey.
-Offer individualized, holistic care rooted in balancing mind-body-spirit wellness, general resources and childbirth knowledge sharing, and somatic practices while honoring physiological birth in trauma-informed ways.
-Advocate for birthing people with the lens of reproductive justice framework in supporting birthing folks having an autonomous and empowering reproductive experience.
-Honor birth as a ceremony and respect traditional practices with the intention of cultivating a sustainable future.
Joyce is passionate about providing full spectrum doula care to the most marginalized communities in reproductive spaces.
Values & Philosophy
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Certified Traditional Health Worker (THW) - Birth Doula | Oregon Health Authority | Portland, OR
Certified Full Spectrum Doula - Training for People of Color | Roots of Labor Birth Collective | Oakland, CA
Birth Doula Intern | Shiphrah Birthing Home | Taytay, Rizal, Philippines
Spinning Babies Workshop | Nikki Zerfas, Portland, OR
Milk Magic Educator | Nurturely
Postpartum Doula Training | Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings
Childbirth Educator | Erika Davis, Whole Body Pregnancy
The Nurtured Way - Ayurvedic Rituals for Pregnancy and Postpartum Care, 10 Hours | Dr. Sairupa Krishnamurti, ND | Awakened Spirit Yoga
The Science & Art of Herbalism | Rosemary Gladstar
Herbal Medicine for Women Program | Aviva Romm, MD
Bengkung Belly Binding | Yesie Aprillia
Birthkeeper Program | Wild Ginger Community Herbal Center
Herbal Medicine for Birth Support | Hood Herbalism
BIPOC Birthworker Mentorship Program | Birth Bruja
Certified Breastfeeding Peer Counselor | WIC Contra Costa County
Queer and Trans Reproductive Support | Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings
Abortion Doula Course | Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings
Giving Life | Muse Medicina
Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss | The Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death
Gender Affirming Practice | Love Over Fear Wellness and Birth
Supporting Survivors Who Birth | Birth Bruja
B.S. Recreation Therapy | San Jose State University
Certified First Aid CPR & AED, January 2022
Certified Holy Fire Reiki II Practitioner | Eugene, OR
Decolonization School | Center for Babaylan Studies
Healing Cycles of Harm BIPOC Cohort Trainee | Reclaiming Our Own Transcendence | Oakland, CA
The Lunar Apothecary | Worts + Cunning Apothecary
Mahayana Buddhism & Himalayan Art | Wisdom Study Abroad | Ladakh, India
De La Salle Lipa | Lipa City, Batangas, Philippines
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Northwest Reproductive Justice Collective (NRJC) | Forward Together
Filipino Bayanihan Center | Herbalist/Community Based Health Program Practitioner
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Fluent in English and Tagalog.
*Marunong po akong mag Tagalog.