Rural Oklahoma Birth & Wellness Initiative

Shannon Fair comes to this work through lived experience, professional training, and a deep understanding of what it means to navigate pregnancy, birth, and parenting without safety, stability, or adequate support.

At 17, Shannon experienced her first birth while in a domestic abuse situation, unhoused, and estranged from her family and support systems. That birth was marked by trauma, fear, and survival. There were few protections, little continuity of care, and no space to process what was happening in real time. Like many young parents in crisis, she was expected to endure circumstances that no one should have to navigate alone.

Her second birth was profoundly different. Through a women and infants clinic, Shannon experienced a model of care that was relational, responsive, and deeply supportive. For the first time, she felt held by a team that recognized her as a whole person. Traumas were addressed as they arose, not dismissed or deferred. That care model did not just improve her birth experience, it saved her life. It showed her what is possible when systems are designed to support rather than manage people.

Even with that support, Shannon carried significant unresolved trauma into her early years of parenting. She understands firsthand that access to care does not erase the impact of complex trauma, and that healing is not linear. Parenting can surface old wounds in unexpected ways, especially when early experiences included violence, instability, or abandonment. This awareness deeply informs how she approaches care, education, and system change.

Professionally, Shannon holds a master’s degree in community counseling and brings decades of experience working at the intersection of trauma, bodies, and systems of care. Her background includes extensive work as a physical rehabilitation therapist and bodyworker, where she focused on addressing how trauma is held in the body and supporting healing through movement, regulation, and relational care. Across her career, she has founded and grown programs, developed trainings and curriculum, and worked in case management and community development roles. In addition, she brings experience as a full spectrum, community-based doula, lactation consultant, and certified nutrition educator. Her work centers on supporting families facing layered barriers, including poverty, trauma history, discrimination, rural isolation, and limited access to services. She is particularly committed to serving individuals and families who, for a wide range of reasons, do not feel safe, welcomed, or adequately supported within traditional systems of care. Her approach goes beyond trauma informed care, focusing instead on trauma responsive, health centered, and family specific protocols that adapt to each person’s reality.

As founder and director, Shannon leads with the belief that healing requires more than education or isolated services. It requires continuity, trust, skilled support, and community. Her work is grounded in the understanding that families do not fail systems, systems fail families. She is committed to building models of care and training that honor lived experience, address complex trauma, and ensure families are not left surviving alone when healing is possible.

F. Dana Bear is the co-director of the Rural Oklahoma Birth & Wellness Initiative, where she works to advance culturally rooted, community-led models of care for Indigenous families and communities of color. An enrolled citizen of the Osage Nation, Bear brings to this work a commitment shaped by lineage, lived experience, and cultural responsibility. She also serves on the Center for Indigenous Resilience, Culture, and Maternal Health Equity (CIRCLE) Community Advisory Board, contributing community-informed insight to maternal health equity initiatives.

An enrolled citizen of the Osage Nation, Bear is from the Grayhorse District and the Buffalo Bull Face Clan. She carries German, Puerto Rican, and Black heritage and comes from a long line of Osage leaders, artists, and culture bearers. Bear is the daughter of Nelson Johnson and Angela Tallchief; granddaughter of Betty Lee McKinley and Tommy Tallchief; great-granddaughter of Nettie Kastl and Alex Tallchief; great-great-granddaughter of Eliza Bigheart and Alex Tallchief; and great-niece of Marjorie and Maria Tallchief. She currently resides in Oklahoma with her two children, Benny and Story, and remains actively engaged in Osage cultural life, including serving as a community cook in various capacities. 

Bear comes to maternal health and equity work through both professional training and personal experience. Navigating her own pregnancies, particularly the challenges of finding culturally aligned, affirming birth support during her second pregnancy, sparked a deeper exploration into the role birthworkers play in Indigenous and communities of color. What began as research and curiosity became a calling. Though she once imagined doula work as something she might pursue later in life, the need within her community, coupled with her own lived realities, brought that future forward sooner than expected.

She is trained as a full-spectrum doula and childbirth educator through the Birthing Advocacy Doula Training program, has trained with the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative, and holds an Associate Degree in Native American Studies from Tulsa Community College. Bear is also a certified Indigenous Lactation Counselor (ILC). Her approach to birth work is grounded in reproductive justice, cultural continuity, and the belief that families deserve care that reflects who they are and where they come from.

Beyond birth work, Bear is a multidisciplinary artist, herbalist, activist, and lifelong learner. She is the founder of Tallchief Designs LLC, where she creates wearable art inspired by Wahzhaze heritage that bridges traditional and contemporary design. Her work through Tallchief & Co. extends into birth support and herbal services, emphasizing reconnection with plants, food, and land as pathways to self-determination and healing.

“Connecting with plants, food, and nature, and taking care of the way we bring life in and out of this world is a step forward in self-determination for communities of color,” Bear shares. As an Afro-Indigenous woman, she understands how ancestral memory lives within the body, particularly in birthing bodies on these lands. Her passion lies in empowering birthing bodies to use their voices, trust their knowledge, and advocate for themselves throughout their birth experiences.

Bear contributes a perspective grounded in culture, creativity, and community accountability. She is committed to advancing models of care that are relational, culturally rooted, and led by the communities they are meant to serve. Because, as she affirms, community-based care means for us, by us.

Shamika Antwine Boone is a dedicated maternal and child health advocate, seasoned doula, case management professional, and systems leader whose career has centered on strengthening families and advancing equity across Oklahoma. A wife and mother of two daughters, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work supporting parents, children, and communities.

A graduate of Langston University, Shamika began her public service journey with Tulsa Public Schools, where she supported special education students and developed a deep commitment to serving children and families through education. She later joined the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) in Child Welfare, specializing in child protective services investigations, foster care, and adoptions. In this role, she worked closely with vulnerable children and families navigating complex systems of care. As a Preceptor for Master of Social Work students, she mentored emerging social workers in ethical practice, trauma-informed care, and culturally responsive support.

Her leadership voice expanded statewide through her role on the Council of Voices, where she provided guidance on programs impacting DHS, maternal health, and child wellbeing. She also serves as Board Chair of Fostering Connections, supporting efforts to improve outcomes for foster and adoptive children and the families who care for them.

With more than 20 years of experience as a doula, Shamika has supported hundreds of families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum transitions while mentoring new and emerging birthworkers through her signature program, The Metabirthing Pathway™. She previously served as the Founding Program Manager of the Community-Based Doula Program for the Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative, now the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative (OKBEI), where she helped build one of the state’s leading community-driven maternal health programs. She is also the creator of the OKBEI Community Doula Summit and played a key role in securing the official proclamation of Community Doula Week in the City of Tulsa, elevating recognition of doulas as essential members of the maternal health workforce.

Today, Shamika serves as Executive Director of Workforce Development for the Rural Oklahoma Birth & Wellness Initiative (ROBWI). In this leadership role, she leads the development, training, mentorship, and long-term sustainability of the rural perinatal workforce across Oklahoma. She oversees the Community-Based Doula Training Program, builds pathways for workforce recruitment and advancement, and supports doulas and perinatal professionals serving families in rural communities.

Her work centers on strengthening the community-based birth workforce while ensuring programs deliver high-quality, culturally responsive care. Shamika’s leadership is grounded in the belief that every family deserves respectful, community-centered support and that investing in the people who care for families is essential to improving maternal and infant health outcomes for generations to come.

Postpartum Path LLC serves as the clinical partner for the Rural Oklahoma Birth & Wellness Initiative, providing clinical guidance and oversight across maternal health programs. Led by Keysha, a nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Postpartum Path supports clinical program design, oversees supervision for mental health and social service providers, and ensures services align with appropriate clinical standards and professional scopes of practice.