Sorayya Kassamali Rickicki, LM, CM, IBCLC

As a first-generation Tanzanian and Ecuadorian woman raised in New York, Sorayya grew up in a Muslim home eating ceviche and mandazi as the sounds of Spanish and Swahili reverberated. Her unique cultural background inspired her to study identity politics, visual ethnography and anthropology as an undergraduate student at SUNY Binghamton and later as a graduate student at New York University. At NYU, she received a full scholarship to study Socio-Cultural Anthropology and Cinema Studies and graduated with honors in 2006 with an Master of Arts (MA) in Culture and Media Studies. After several fulfilling years of working in documentary film and television, the birth of her first child catapulted her into the world of pregnancy, birth and lactation.

Sorayya’s path to midwifery started when she was a young girl, inspired by the strong maternal instincts of her female relatives who confidently birthed and breastfed their babies naturally. The birth stories of her mother, grandmothers and aunts taught her to trust in the wisdom of her own body during her own pregnancies and labors. Empowered by the birth of her son in 2007, she found that all the tools she needed to get through labor were already inside of her. Three years later, her daughter was born peacefully at home, followed by the subsequent homebirth of her youngest daughter. The outpouring of support shown by her midwives and doulas during each of these births served as the impetus to leave documentary filmmaking and pursue a career in birth work. Her decision, although informed by her life experiences, felt like an innate calling.

After becoming a DONA International-certified birth doula in 2011, Sorayya soon realized she wanted to broaden her scope of practice and decided to pursue certification as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). As part of her IBCLC training, she supported families in Beth Israel Mt Sinai Hospital’s Mother/Baby Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) as well as in homes all over NYC. Trusting in her ability to care for families, Sorayya started her education to become a midwife at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. With a midwifery license, she could work as a clinician and add primary and gynecological care to support people across their lifespan (from adolescence through senescence). Sorayya received her Master of Science (MS) degree with honors in midwifery and was awarded the Lily Hsia Midwifery Student Scholarship Award by the faculty in her department for academic excellence, leadership and commitment to community service. Since 2019, Sorayya has been working as a licensed midwife by the State of New York and is catching babies at home, supporting families through lactation, providing gynecology care and constantly learning and growing as her journey continues.

Apart from her homebirth midwifery practice in NYC, Sorayya is also working in Zanzibar, Tanzania (East Africa). She assists in community-building projects, namely improving access to clean water and working on skills training for adolescent girls. Sorayya also offers her midwifery skills on a volunteer basis to support local organizations improving women's health and neonatal care in rural, underdeveloped communities on the island.

When Sorayya is not working as a midwife, she is a busy mother of three children who are her ultimate teachers in life and who show her every day the importance of patience, love and gratitude. Sorayya loves to travel the world, watch dolphin pods swim by as her son surfs at Rockaway beach and plant herbs in her community garden. She lives in the East Village with her husband, three children and cat.