More about me, who I am, what I do, what I believe

Leonora Willis, Daughter of Samoa

Hello and welcome to my site. 
Talofa ma afio mai!

Currently Leonora Willis resides and works on land stolen from the Lisjan people in the Huichin territory (East Bay of San Francisco Area), operating her birthwork business in Oakland, Ca. As an Indigenous woman, she supports the work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. You too can aid in the rematriation of the land by donating to the Shuumi land tax.

Professionally and by vocation, Leonora supports herself and her family as a birthworker, certified lactation education specialist, bodyworker and teacher, in yoga or childbirth preparation, parenting and overall humaning - work centered in respect, dignity, integrity and compassion.  Leonora has 15 years of Yoga teaching experience and training. She continues to study Yoga philosophy, history and its practices as a path to self realization and actualization, enlightenment and ultimately, liberation. You can see the Yoga page to sign up for yoga classes and workshops and practice with Leonora. As a birthworker, Leonora was originally trained by Roots of Labor Birth Collective in traditional and indigenous birth support care for families. She has directly helped over 100 families bring forth their babies into the world, humbled by each experience, each interaction, respecting the trust and confidence families imparted in her in their time together.  You can sign up for a childbirth preparation class, course or workshop to learn from me or my co-collaborators or schedule a free 30 minute consultation if you wish to find out more about my individual client birthwork offerings. I continue to learn about and practice traditional healing modalities to aid Black and Indigenous People of Color in all the work that I do while honoring, recognizing and caring for the planet, who is Mother to us all.

As a birth and postpartum doula, I work to help each client envision and experience the kind of birth they deserve, helping to educate and inform, to prepare and support them throughout their pregnancy journey into that unparalleled and incomparable life as a parent. This work occurs within the confines of a post-colonial world, within the limitations of an empire that has built an infrastructure with institutions that put profit before people, support capitalism, colonialism and patriarchal structures that mean to wipe out our humanity and destroy our world. It is with great humility, passion and love that I approach all I do in my work.  

In the past, Leonora has been a college English teacher both in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area. I am also mentor, teacher, co-conspirator and co-collaborator to other birthwork professionals working in this care industry, whether that be in teaching yoga or in providing support for families through birthwork in all its many forms. We collectively use this platform in the aid of liberation through knowledge and education, yoga, and birthwork.

My business name, Daughter of Samoa, comes from the title of a book written and published by a remarkable ancestor of mine, Lauli'i Willis. The Story of Lauli'i a Daughter of Samoa was published in 1889 in San Francisco, Talofa ma afio mai. Welcome. I am Leonora Willis, living and working in Huichin—unceded Lisjan Ohlone land, now called Oakland. As a daughter of Samoa and steward of Indigenous lifeways, I support the rematriation of land through the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and invite you to do the same by contributing to the Shuumi Land Tax. My hands are in the work of birth and breath, milk and movement. I am a birthworker, lactation educator, bodyworker, and yoga teacher—offering care rooted in dignity, reverence, and relationality. With over 15 years of yoga study and teaching, I walk the path of liberation, drawing from ancient wisdom for our modern healing. Trained through Roots of Labor Birth Collective, I’ve stood beside over 100 families as they welcomed new life, offering grounded, traditional, and culturally centered care. My offerings include childbirth classes, workshops, and individual guidance—for those seeking support, knowledge, and presence on their path to parenthood. I also teach and mentor fellow caregivers in this sacred work. This labor is not separate from resistance. It unfolds within systems built on extraction and erasure—capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy. Still, I serve with humility and fierce love, knowing our healing is an act of defiance, and our thriving, a return. Daughter of Samoa is more than a name—it is a lineage. My ancestor, Lauli’i Willis, once wrote her story into the world, describing her island home and the mission to reclaim what was taken. Her 1889 memoir was both witness and weapon, dedicated to restoring Samoan lands to Samoan hands. I carry her voice in mine. I offer my work to her vision. May all I do honor her, our people, and this Earth who is mother to us all. #landback #daughterofsamoa #indigenouspeopleonindigenousland #freedomforindigenouspeopleeverywhere