Joyell has been with Althea Midwifery for over a year. She is a 4th (paternal lineage) and 7th-generation (maternal lineage) descendant of traditional midwives. She began her midwifery journey 22 years ago and has since explored birthing traditions in 40+ countries. Joyell is currently pursuing her midwifery licensure in three states while supporting communities as an advocate, land steward, medicine woman, and writer. While she no longer works in international human rights law, her work experiences at the United Nations, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and in racial equity inform her approach to reproductive autonomy. Her passion for birth justice is rooted in centering traditional midwifery, embodying ancestral practices, and building self-sustainable communities. Joyell’s core beliefs are that birth work is an ancestral art form and that midwifery is a blueprint for liberation.

After sitting with griots and elders on 5 continents, Joyell founded Wombs of Wata, a birth worker residency that sits at the intersection of birth justice, preservation, and sustainability. Through her passion project, Birthstead, she is establishing a birthing community garden and healing retreat space. In her spare time, Joyell is a self-taught ethnobotanist, enjoys cooking, kayaking, and learning other languages. She’s conversational in isiXhosa and Hindi, and proficient in French and Spanish.