Tara Mariquita Makua Compehos

One of the things I am the most proud of is my birth. My mother gave birth to me, a breech baby, at home. I am also proud of my own two homebirths and to carry the lineage of legendary traditional midwife Medrakanoeonapua and renowned lomilomi teacher Auntie Margaret Machado. Additional education includes a BFA from New York University, an internship with Mercy in Action in the Philippines and a Midwifery Arts degree from The Matrona. I am a Certified Professional Midwife and work intimately with plant medicine in all of my practices.

Birth is your dance with your baby and it’s not about the midwife. I try to approach every birth with humility, respecting the normal physiology of the process and empowering the mother to be the hero of her own journey. To this end, I offer homebirth midwifery, hospital doula care (as a Medi-Cal doula), Lomilomi massage and several educational offerings including: Plant Medicine Midwife (also available through Midwifery Wisdom Collective), Childbirth education, and Cultural Accountability for Midwives .

As a birth justice activist and community health advocate I served as the Vice Chair of The Hawaii State Homebirth Task Force. As the co-founder and Executive Director of SHINE Sisterhood Initiative, I specialize in development and implementation of innovative, grassroots programs which grow out of communities and return power to birthing people.