Greensboro's first Black-owned doula studio opens in Southside

In Southside Greensboro, in between two hair salons, is the city’s first Black-owned doula studio.

Bump.Baby.Bliss Doula, Counseling and Ultrasound Studio opened its first physical location on Feb. 1, and its one-month anniversary will be at the start of Women’s History Month.

The studio’s grand opening was on the first day of Black History Month, and the same day in 1960 that four Black North Carolina A&T University students made history by holding a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.

“To be an alumna for A&T — to do it on Feb. 1 because they made such a major impact on things that we couldn’t do and fighting for the rights for us to be able to do those,” Courtney Hall, owner of Bump.Baby.Bliss and clinical social worker, said. “So it was important to me to make my ancestors proud, make people that have stood and fought for social justice [proud]."

Bump.Baby.Bliss is a resource for prepartum, postpartum and all other maternal wellness needs such as ultrasounds, early DNA gender testing, birth doula support and perinatal therapy.

The business was founded nine years ago after Hall’s first son turned 1-year-old. Throughout that year, Hall obtained several licenses including doula training and counseling to add to her business name. Hall signed the lease in November 2023.

Hall said the business name was intentional and reflects on the different stages in pregnancy.

“Bump, which you have a baby bump, the baby and then the bliss is all the blissful things that sometimes isn't so blissful, but after which is kind of like your postpartum phase,” she said.

Hall said maternal health had been a childhood passion after finding out her mother was having twins.

“Once I found out that we were having twins, like I was gonna have twin brothers, I was just overly obsessed,” Hall said. “I think I was in like fifth grade when I wrote a paper about twins. I did a research paper. I did all these things and I was just literally obsessed with the woman's body and children and all the things. So that was my first ‘aha moment.’” 

Charity Brown Griffin, an assistant professor of psychology services at Winston-Salem State University, said Hall had been a doula for three out of her four children. She said, years later, Hall still wishes her “doula babies” happy birthday and keeps in contact with them.

According to a 2021 maternal mortality rate report from the CDC, Black women are nearly three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth.

“Regardless of your race, I will say first and foremost, I absolutely recommend Black birthing people to get a doula to have that support system, again, only look at the data on Black maternal mortality,” Brown Griffin said.

Goldie Wells, Greensboro’s District 2 city council member, said Bump.Baby.Bliss is a real asset to the city, especially in a district where the population is predominantly Black.

“I plan to go over and visit so that I can get a full understanding, tour and knowledge of what's happening at the studio," Wells said. "I'm also pleased because it is a minority, female-owned business.”

Wells said Hall would be classified in the City’s Minority and Women Business Enterprise program, which seeks to promote economic inclusion in Greensboro’s marketplace.

Hall said Bump.Baby.Bliss’ next steps are mentoring other doulas, hiring interns and transitioning for herself so she can work at Bump.Baby.Bliss full time.

She said after two years, she’d want to see Bump.Baby.Bliss have more locations in surrounding cities.

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