Ana Paula Markel has devoted the past 21 years to expecting and new families. Her passion and expertise has placed her at the forefront of the birth movement not only in Los Angeles, but across California and internationally.
Training & Expertise
Ana Paula became a childbirth educator and birth doula in 2002 after her rich and vastly different personal experiences in childbirth, with two cesareans and two vaginal births (2VBA2C). Coming from a mainstream fashion background, these experiences completely shifted her career path.
Ana Paula is now a certified doula through DONA International, a DONA approved birth doula trainer, a certified childbirth educator and childbirth educator trainer through ICEA (International Childbirth Education Association), and has been a mentor to countless doulas.
Life & Work
Ana Paula loves to facilitate the birth doula workshop. Among her many roles in the birth community, spending three days with new doulas is as invigorating to her today as it was when she first began.
Ana Paula served on the board of directors of DONA International for seven years, including a term as DONA International Past-President in 2018. During her time at DONA, Ana Paula was responsible for creating DONA’s first Advocacy Committee and organizing DONA’s first Trainer’s Retreat — both of which remain successful efforts to enrich doulas’ knowledge and experience.
Ana Paula has served on task forces at Cedars-Sinai Hospital to help improve patient satisfaction and bring her experience as a doula and birth diplomat to the institution, particularly through the Customization of Care initiative. Some accomplishments of these task forces include implementing skin-to-skin contact in the operating room, creating doula-informed birth plans for hospital patients, introducing aromatherapy into the hospital setting, and establishing a doula committee to address patient communication and quality of care. She also co-founded both a nurse-doula committee and an Advisory Committee within the hospital.
Ana Paula is also responsible for creating, developing, and implementing a highly successful hospital-based childbirth education program in which labor and delivery nurses serve as instructors. This experience led Ana Paula to develop a deep understanding of the hospital system and an even greater respect for nurses.
Bini Birth also partnered with Kaiser Permanente, where doctors and nurses attended sessions at Bini to discuss shared decision-making between providers and families.
Bringing evidence-based, engaging childbirth classes to the community is one of Ana Paula's passions. She has contributed to and been featured in both the Ina May Gaskin documentary and The Business of Being Born, and has been a guest on several TV shows and birth documentaries.
Throughout her career, Ana Paula has received numerous awards, including Childbirth Educator of the Year, Doula Trainer of the Year, Doula Mentor of the Year, and most recently, ICEA's President Award.
Ana Paula lives in Los Angeles with her husband; they are recent empty nesters. Their four children live in different parts of the world, but they spend as much time together as possible. Ana regularly travels between Los Angeles and southern Brazil, where she cares for her mother, who is living with Alzheimer’s. This experience has deepened her appreciation for the full circle of care, decision-making, and support.