Who I Am
Holding the Wild is my spirit work.
I’m Kelsi (she/her), a queer educator, facilitator, wedding officiant, and professional in organizational culture and wellbeing — and the founder of Holding the Wild. My path here has taken me through classrooms, hospital systems, tech, international stages, and deep within my own body as I prepared to birth my baby at home.
I am certified in HypnoBirthing® and I've spent nearly two decades in leadership, healthcare, and education. I’ve coached executives, led cultural shifts toward wellbeing and psychological safety, and spoken internationally about healing, inclusion, and spirituality. I’ve spent most of my professional life in roles where I was holding space for others—leading teams, teaching students, facilitating healing conversations, and mentoring people through big change. I’ve always cared deeply about growth, equity, and helping people come home to themselves.
But all of that took on a new shape when I stepped into the journey to become a parent. Suddenly, everything I had supported others through was happening inside my own body. And with it came every layer of my identity—my queerness, my healing, my need to be seen fully in spaces that so often only see part of us.
As a queer person, the fertility process was both sacred and complex. I had to work hard to center my identity in spaces that weren’t designed to hold it. I was deliberate in choosing care providers who saw all of me—not just my body, but my story, my values, and my voice.
And that body? It’s one I’ve been learning to trust for a long time.
Like so many womxn, the work of listening inward—of honoring my needs, trusting my signals, and feeling safe in my skin—has been lifelong. Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum have asked me to go even deeper. HypnoBirthing® gave me the tools to meet that invitation with softness and strength.
It helped me release fear. It taught me to breathe through resistance. It showed me how to stop fighting my body and start following it instead.
I birthed my baby at home, in peace, in power, and in full alignment with who I am. My child is calm and joyful—and I believe that’s a reflection of how they entered the world: gently, intuitively, and with reverence. I'm so honored to get to take more members of our community through this experience.
Why I Do This Work
I teach HypnoBirthing® because I believe all people (especially queer, trans, fat, neurodivergent, disabled, and otherwise marginalized folks) deserve to birth in spaces where they are fully seen.
Birth isn’t just physical. It’s spiritual. It’s political. It’s ancestral. It’s a reclamation.
For communities who’ve been taught to disconnect from our bodies, taking back birth is a quiet revolution. It’s how we heal lineages. It’s how we change the world.
In my classes, I create space for softness and strength to coexist. I offer evidence-based education and guided practices that support real physiological birth—but I also hold room for story, emotion, and the sacred. This isn’t just birth prep.
It’s soul work.
If you’ve ever felt like birth spaces weren’t built for you, know this:
You belong here.
Your voice matters here.
Your birth can be beautiful.
Education
2025
HypnoBirthing® Institute
Certified HypnoBirthing® Educator
Trained in the HypnoBirthing® Institute’s Mongan Method, I’ve completed comprehensive certification in this internationally respected approach to childbirth education. My training includes birth physiology, guided relaxation, breathing techniques, and evidence-based practices for supporting calm, intuitive, and empowered birth.
2022
University of Washington
MBA in Organizational Leadership & Culture
With a Master’s in Business Administration focused on organizational leadership and anti-racist culture, I bring a deep understanding of how people grow, lead, and thrive within systems. My background supports the way I hold space, facilitate transformation, and design learning spaces centering inclusion, trust, and impact.
2012
University of Washington
Creative Writing, Anthropology & Gender Studies
My undergraduate work in storytelling, cultural systems, and identity laid the foundation for how I understand birth—as both personal and political. This interdisciplinary background allows me to weave together art, community, and critical analysis to challenge dominant narratives and support transformative change. It’s why I see birth not just as a physical event, but as a cultural and creative one.