Tiana Lashae is a doula and birth photographer based out of Ann Arbor. Her business is called Motherhood Portraits by Tiana Lashae. 

She created an initiative to help empower Black mothers and their health through art.

“I’ve been a birth photographer, a newborn photographer for about a decade now, capturing families as they’re welcoming their babies, going through their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journeys,” she says.

Lashae created the “Black Birth Joy” project in 2024 to amplify positive Black maternal health stories and help families to be seen and heard through photography.

She was inspired by a birthing photography session where she witnessed a Black mom giving birth in Ann Arbor with a supportive team.

“It was just so beautiful and just to see everyone working together to facilitate such a beautiful birth really, you know, restored faith in me and the health care system… We can have these safe births and those stories need to be shared more,” she shares. 

The project was originally funded by the Region 9 Perinatal Quality Collaborative in Washtenaw County to support the birth journeys of five families. 

Lashae says she wanted to capture different birthing spaces: home, the hospital, and birth centers. After photographing the families’ journeys, she wrote blogs and distributed the stories.

“I am a woman of color. I think because I’ve been through the system, I’ve lived through the experience to be able to use my talents, to use my voice, to empower families that look like me, that don’t always usually feel seen or feel heard, especially in birth spaces,” she explains.

She says the project also highlights birth workers in metro Detroit.

Creating more opportunities for joy

Lashae says the application for Black Birth Joy project for this year will roll out in April or early spring. In the meantime, she hopes to raise $50,000 to support 10 families for birth photography packages, as state funding is no longer available.

“Hopefully by then there’s been some funding or some, you know, a blessing of some sort so that I can still do this work. And I want to say I want to double the impact,” she shares.

Families will receive birth photography and newborn photography, along with an album. Lashae says the photos will also be shared in art spaces and caregiving spaces across Wayne and Washtenaw County in hopes to spread the impact.

“Just to have a statement piece that says you’re welcome here, you’re safe here, our establishment is a champion for Black maternal health,” she says.

Lashae hopes the work inspires families and creates safe spaces for patients when receiving services from caregivers.

“Photographs do invoke conversations, and then conversations create change,” she states.

She says it’s important to create positive stories to negate stereotypes and bias for Black birth experiences. 

“Walking in and seeing a beautiful portrait of a birthing woman smiling and in joy… it combats what the statistics say,” she expresses, adding that she hopes the photography inspires families and helps combat bias by medical professionals. 

In September-December 2026, Lashae will host a mini show for Black Birth Joy at the University of Michigan’s Lane Hall, as part of the Women’s and Gender Studies for the fall semester. 

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says there are now over 1,000 registered doulas in Michigan.

Dawn Shanafelt is the Director of the Division of Maternal & Infant Health for MDHHS. She says that’s twice the number of doulas the state department hoped to register by 2028. 

“Numerous doula trainings were approved by MDHHS and the Doula Advisory Council, as well as the cost for taking those trainings and the time it takes to attend the trainings was also reimbursed through the Doula Initiative,” she says.

Doulas are non-medical trained birthing assistants. 

Shanafelt says birth doulas provide benefits for expectant moms and babies, from reduced birth complications and medical interventions to postpartum care, especially if the care is provided early in the pregnancy.

“Improved mental health, reduced incidences of postpartum mood and anxiety disorder, and then really importantly, overall a satisfying birth experience in labor, birth and postpartum experience,” she says. 

People can choose a birthing assistant doula based on county or specialty through the Doula Registry, which has 700 Medicaid-enrolled doulas.

MDHHS says the state also hopes to improve birthing outcomes for Black and Indigenous families, who have higher mortality and morbidity rates compared to other populations. 

She says the state is hoping to increase the number of doulas in special populations that could benefit from a birthing assistant, including Black, Indigenous, and immigrant populations.

MDHHS says in fiscal year 2026, they will provide, “one Spanish-language training, one Arabic-language training and one Indigenous doula training,” and take on others upon request to The Doula Initiative team. 

Beginning in December, MDHHS will also expand identity options to include Indigenous doulas.