About Us
The Owners
Doulas, mothers, business partners, and best friends with over 20 years of experience working with high profile and celebrity clients.
Shannon Hernandez
Shannon Hernandez, a mother of three, has been helping families in maternal health since 1997 as a Birth Doula and then as a Postpartum Doula since 2004 before founding Dream Team Doulas in 2006. Over the course of her career she has assisted hundreds of families through the birthing and postpartum process. Her special gifts of empathy and spiritual communication coupled with her uncanny ability to sense others physical and emotional needs have been the cornerstone of years of success.
Her extraordinary service to each family has resulted in her becoming a leader in the maternal health industry, growing one of the most reputable consulting practices specializing in all areas that are of concern to parents, including healthy sleep habits, infant and mother lactation, colic, postpartum depression, multiples, parent-child bonding and effective methods of parenting young children.
In addition to consulting for parents, as President and Founder of Dream Team Doulas, Shannon is responsible for evaluating the standard of care and service given by the Doulas that she places. Each Doula has been chosen by Shannon based on their specific qualifications and she holds each member to the highest standards of care.
During her free time, Shannon is passionate about giving back to the communities she serves as a Childbirth Educator who does pro bono work teaching childbirth classes to teen mothers.
Ciara Speranza
Ciara Speranza is a mother of three beautiful children, her journey into motherhood started in 2001 with the birth of her first daughter. In addition to her being a certified birth and postpartum doula and sleep specialist, she has worked as an infant and child day care provider, Sign Language interpreter and has had extensive experience working with hearing impaired children. She has worked for Pflugerville ISD as a long term substitute for students Pre-K to 5th grade, including special education classrooms. She has been trained in early childhood education as well as behavior, psychological development and social and emotional growth in children.
On our team Ciara's strengths with empathy, patience, continuity and organization makes her a valuable asset to the families she supports. Ciara specializes in holistic healing and has helped numerous families with essential oil tinctures and herbal remedies. Ciara brings grounding to our team within her areas of expertise as a healer that often is born from her creative, yet logical ways of solution finding.
Newborn care, infant sleep education, nursery organization, infant massage, holistic and natural remedies, and infant sign language are only some of her many offerings. Ciara is co-owner and also in charge of Dream Team Doula’s administrative operations and keeps our team flowing beautifully.
Janel McGary
Kathryn Harris
Janel McGary
Postpartum Doula
Janel McGary is mother to one beautiful son named Kingston. Her journey into the maternal health field started as a nanny and daycare provider to preschoolers and infants. She has extensive experience working with children of different ages in large and small settings, as well as multiples and special needs children.
Her hobbies include singing, writing, swimming and spending time with her family and son. She has studied American Sign Language and enjoys translating the songs while she is singing in her choir at church.
In the summertime, Janel loves to volunteer as a lifeguard and counselor at her local YMCA’s youth center. She has hands-on trained in adult and children's first aid and CPR and has extensive experience working with children of all ages.
Janel has an energetic and enthusiastic demeanor that is uplifting and encouraging to our clients, and she is an essential part of our Dream Team.
Tammy Beaver
Kathryn Harris
Janel McGary
Postpartum Doula
Tammy Beaver is an amazing mother and grandmother who has over 30 years of experience as a childcare provider. Her experience includes working for three different school districts as a developmental education provider, infant caregiver, and after school program coordinator. Tammy’s expertise as a developmental coach, and in-home nanny, helped pave the way for her calling as a postpartum doula in 2016, and since then she has worked with multiple families and high-profile clients in the Austin and surrounding areas.
In Tammy’s free time she enjoys spending time with her family and loved ones and her hobbies include reading, hiking, fishing, and tennis. She also enjoys volunteering in the juvenile court system as a youth advocate. Her empathetic heart and caring soul assist her in being the voice for many youths in the foster care system as a child mentor and we’re proud to have her on our Dream Team.
Kathryn Harris
Kathryn Harris
Kathryn Harris
Postpartum Doula
Kathryn is a mother to one beautiful daughter, and another baby on the way, with her loving and supportive husband. She is a caring and compassionate soul who has had a calling for maternal health work since a young age. She has been a caregiver to the elderly, taught Sunday School to first and second graders, and is currently a care provider for her church nursery. In her free time, she enjoys reading or cooking and baking for her husband and daughter. She also enjoys attending Worship Team practices during the week and volunteering at her church summer camps in the summer.
Kathryn also has an online health and wellness business that helps families and breastfeeding mothers get the care they need. She’s passionate about breastfeeding support after her own success and challenges and is familiar with many latch and tongue tie issues.
Her kind and sweet demeanor are apparent in the way she goes above and beyond for others, and especially her clients and we’re happy to have her kind soul as a part of our Dream Team.
Laura Croley
Victoria Rodriguez
Stephanie Jackson
Postpartum Doula
Laura is passionate about meeting families where they are and supporting them in their journey through parenthood. She has 10 years of experience working with children – newborns and beyond.
Her love of newborn care encouraged Laura to expand her training and become a postpartum doula.
She received her birth and postpartum doula training from DONA International.
Laura likes to focus on active listening and holding space for new mothers – while also balancing providing evidence-based information and resources.
Laura knows the importance of support in the early weeks and months of parenthood and feels it an honor to be invited in on your journey.
Bonus for exhausted families: Laura LOVES cooking and nutrition and truly enjoys preparing nurturing, healing, and delicious foods beneficial for the postpartum period. She looks forward to providing your family non-judgmental, unbiased, and loving support and care!
Stephanie Jackson
Victoria Rodriguez
Stephanie Jackson
Postpartum Doula
Stephanie is a mother to two children which she homeschooled for 18 years. Her interest in postpartum doula work began after she herself had an invaluable experience with her doula after her first birth. Her experience attending multiple births has also driven her to support other in their journey through motherhood. Her passion stems from wanting to support other mothers as their body heals and they bond with their babies. Empowering families to support one another’s growth is also highly important to her. She feels a deep connection to supporting those in marginalized communities and mindfulness is very important to her.
Stephanie is also a current Reiki Master Practioner, former yoga teacher, and has worked in after-school programs and church nurseries.
In her free time she enjoys gardening, connecting with nature, and daily meditation. Her spiritual nature makes her an important part of her client’s postpartum journey and we’re glad to have her as a part of our Dream Team.
Victoria Rodriguez
Victoria Rodriguez
Victoria Rodriguez
Postpartum Doula
Victoria Rodriguez is a mother to two children and a new grandmother of one beautiful grandson. Her journey into the postpartum world began at an early age of 18 when she had her son and began working with children as a nanny and childcare provider. Her interest in childcare deepened after she had her daughter and has only blossomed from there.
Victoria is bilingual and a certified postpartum doula trained in newborn care and certified in infant and adult CPR as well.
Her maternal and inviting nature brings our clients a sense of well-being and calmness, while her witty and humorous side brings smiles and happiness.
Victoria enjoys spending time with her children and grandchild in her off time, as well as enjoying the great outdoors in all its wonder.
Victoria is an amazing postpartum doula and we're proud to have such a thoughtful and caring individual as a part of our Dream Team!
Parris Tiumentsev
Birth Doula
Parris Tiumentsev is the mother of five children and received her doula certification from DONA international in 2012. She has been serving birthing families in the Austin area ever since!
Her passion for helping mothers through pregnancy and birth began in high school and little did she know how far that love would take her. She attended her first birth ever at the age of 15 helping out a close family friend and it sparked a lifelong passion for birth. She attended two years of Midwifery school and has spent many hours interviewing labor and delivery nurses and providers to make sure to have a well-rounded knowledge of birth in all its forms. She believes it is important to be just as comfortable with medicalized birth as natural birth since, even though we all hope for “healthy mom and healthy baby” this is not always the case and as a doula one must be prepared to help guide the family no matter what their birth journey throws at them.
Parris has training in nutrition, acupressure, herbal medicine, rebozo, meditation and visualization, breathwork, yoga, and has a continued study of anxiety and how to best work to alleviate and work with it. She works with positioning and lifestyle changes during pregnancy to set you up for the best chance of having the birth you are envisioning. While every birth is different and unique, she has experience with a wide variety of circumstances including: VBAC, planned cesarean, home birth, plus size birth, mothers over 35, teen mothers, high risk pregnancies and births, planned NICU stays, Severe anxiety and trauma survivors, mothers with medical conditions and fathers with severe anxiety.
Parris had home births for four out of five of her children but her own journey into motherhood was not a smooth one as her first child was diagnosed with a serious birth defect early in her pregnancy. She is very thankful for this trying experience as it has given her a priceless understanding of what birth is like when things are slightly more than “normal.” She experienced a high-risk birth, an extended NICU stay; planning for the worst, hoping for the best and going home without her baby for several months, (Who is now a healthy middle school boy). If she could teach all mothers one thing, it would be that you absolutely cannot fail at birth. No matter how your baby comes to earth, no matter the outcome: happy, sad, blissful or stressful, it matters. You matter. What is important at the end of the day is that Mom did what she thought was right for herself and her baby and felt supported in her choices. That is why Parris is a doula and that is what drives her.
Parris takes on occasional postpartum work and is infant CPR certified as well as SIDS education certified. She spent time working in a local preschool and has been homeschooling her five kids for 12 years. She started work as a nanny for five children when she was 16 and continued to work in childcare until she received her doula education in 2012. She has extensive experience with breastfeeding and newborn care and has completed all recommended Postpartum Doula training. She also knows conversational ASL and Russian and loves all animals. She is an accomplished chef as well and happy to help with meal preparation and planning. Being gluten and dairy free she is easily able to accommodate most dietary requirements.