Marna Armstead and SisterWeb Bring Community Doulas to San Francisco

Let me tell you about Marna Armstead.

There’s a Bay Area birth-justice leader who looked at community doula work and saw a problem nobody was naming: the doulas who served Black families the best were the ones getting paid the least — often nothing at all. So she helped build a network that pays them like the professionals they are. Her name is Marna Armstead, and she co-founded SisterWeb.

The Work

Marna is a Co-Founder of SisterWeb San Francisco Community Doula Network, an organization built to give Black, Latinx, and Pacific Islander families in San Francisco free, culturally congruent doula care — and to give the doulas who serve them a real career.

SisterWeb was designed as much as workforce development as it is health equity. Doulas in the network earn a living wage in one of the most expensive cities in the country, plus health insurance and mentorship, while clients receive their services at no cost. The model came out of a shared vision among the co-founders: build a sustainable path for doulas who want to serve their own communities.

The organization partners with San Francisco’s public health birth-equity initiative, Expecting Justice, and with City College of San Francisco on a credited community-doula training course — turning lived experience into credentials.

The Roots

SisterWeb grew out of the reality that doula work has long been treated as a side hustle or a volunteer calling, especially when the clients are Black. The co-founders set out to change the economics, not just the services.

Today Marna serves as Chair of SisterWeb’s Board of Directors, having helped lead the organization from its founding into a durable, city-partnered institution.

Why You Should Know Her

Here’s why Marna Armstead matters right now: the doula model is one of the most promising tools we have for improving birth outcomes for Black families — but only if the doulas themselves can afford to keep doing the work. SisterWeb proved the model can be funded, staffed, and sustained.

She didn’t just advocate for community doulas. She built the thing that pays them.

Quick facts:

• Co-Founder & Board Chair, SisterWeb San Francisco Community Doula Network
• Built a living-wage community doula model in San Francisco
• Partner, Expecting Justice (SF Dept. of Public Health birth-equity initiative)
• Credited community-doula training with City College of San Francisco

Photo courtesy of SisterWeb SF Community Doula Network (sisterweb.org)