Janikka White was born and raised in Tulsa, OK, as the second oldest of ten children. Her passion has always been to serve women, as she expressed a desire to become an obstetrician to her parents long before she could correcly spell obstetrician! Through both nature and nurture, she finds fulfillment in serving others, as demonstrated by her lifelong involvement in community groups that serve women and families.
Unbeknownst to her midwifery career path at the time, she went on to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences with the expectation to work toward becoming an obstetrician via western medicine practices. During this time, she gained knowledge that included frequent involvement in labor and delivery, NICU, and postpartum mom and baby as a CNA and EMT.
Janikka has lived in Texas since 2012. When her son was born in 2013, it was through the maternal and birth experiences of her first and only child that she realized the maternal health disparities amongst Black women. Her personal prenatal, birth, and postnatal experiences further fueled her passion for serving women and sparked her interest in exploring alternative career paths to reaching her dream goal. During this time, she worked as a top-performing clinical research coordinator, conducting clinical research on both women's health devices and diabetes.
Currently, Janikka is an antenatal, birth, and postpartum doula as well as a student midwife with expected completion in 2025. She is grateful to work alongside likeminded individuals at Abide and has every intention of continuing learning and growing in the field of Midwifery, to improve the narrative of women's health services. In her spare time, she loves to group social dance and crochet.
