MEET YOUR BIRTH TEAM
Maya Bence
Maya is a Jacksonville native who has been a birth worker for over 7 years, attending 250+ births to date. Maya has been enchanted by home birth ever since witnessing the birth of her precious niece in 2015. After watching her sister's powerful unmedicated birth, she applied to midwifery school and began her training just 4 months afterwards. She graduated from The Florida School of Traditional Midwifery in 2019 and has worked with many midwives throughout the state. Maya worked in a busy birth center immediately after receiving her license, serving many families throughout Jacksonville. Her goal as a midwife is to treat each woman with the same love and compassion she would give to her own sister. She has a passion for undisturbed birth & believes that every mother and baby should feel loved & listened to throughout pregnancy and birth.
Mandi West
Mandi was born and raised in a small town in Florida where she raised chickens, goats, horses and many other animals and plants with her family; all while having a life-long fascination with pregnancy, birth and the feminine physiology. In 2012, Mandi became pregnant with her first child at the tender age of 17 where she found herself under the care of a midwife for the first time. It was soon after this birth that she realized her passion for women's advocacy and midwifery, and as a teenager began attending births, preparing to attend midwifery school, and went on to have a beautiful home birth of her own. After graduating from the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery, Mandi moved to Duval county with her two sons to serve families of the First Coast whom she lovingly cared for throughout her time as a student midwife. Today, she lives in Atlantic beach with her sons Brandt and Grey, and her boyfriend Brandon. Her favorite things to do are camping, adventuring and road-tripping with her kids, cooking and baking, spending lots of time at the beach, and is a hobbyist fossil and shark tooth collector. Mandi cares deeply about informed consent, unconditional positive regard, and encouraging the power to remain with her clients through body autonomy and a hands-off approach.
Courtney Lay
Courtney is a Jacksonville native and a birth assistant at Modern Midwives. She has always had a passion for helping others and attained her Registered Nursing license in hopes to do so in her community. Courtney is an advocate for patient-centered care and believes everyone deserves a calm, wholesome approach when tending to their health. As she witnessed natural birth and the world it encompasses, her passion in women’s health and support continued to grow. She began encapsulating placentas in 2020, became a birth assistant shortly after, and began helping to lead pregnancy support groups in the Modern Midwives office. Courtney is grateful to serve our birth community in so many ways. Courtney's goal as a birth worker is to care for each family with love and intention as they walk through their birth journey.
