ABOUT US
A healing community center in Oakland by & for mamas & caregivers
OUR STORY
Kindred Care Collective was founded by three mamas who navigated the intense perinatal journey and were stunned by how hard it is to find the community and resources that are essential to survival during that time.
We created Kindred Care Collective to be what current systems have tried to strip away.
We will offer opportunities for healing, free and sliding-scale resources, and connection with other mamas, birthers, parents, and caretenders.
Our collective dream is to create a nourishing space for moms and caregivers to get CARED FOR so that families can thrive instead of just survive.
THE PROBLEM
Many mamas and parents are traumatized and struggling, and we don’t have access to the care and healing we need to thrive.
We are isolated, struggling with mental health issues and a lack of systemic support. Not to mention ongoing harm fueled by racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, fatphobia, white supremacy, xenophobia, interpersonal violence, community violence, and colonization.
Did you know that suicide and homicide are the top two causes of death in the first year after giving birth? When a society is killing its life-creators and caregivers, something is wrong.
OUR VISION
Kindred Care Collective honors that birthing, mothering, and parenting are sacred, connecting all of humanity.
We want something better for ourselves and our descendants.
We believe that support, connection, and healing that centers mothers and caregivers is a revolutionary endeavor.
Together, we can cultivate the culture of collective care that is needed for saving ourselves, our families, our communities, and our planet.
OUR VALUES
Birthing, parenting and caregiving are sacred, important and valuable.
We all deserve care, rest, and belonging.
Healing is a human right.
Community is ours to build and create.
We believe in birth & reproductive justice.
In all our work, we center and uplift:
Poor & Working People
Black, Brown, Indigenous People & People of Color/People of the Global Majority (BBIPOC/BIPGM)
Queer & LGBTQIA2S+ People
Fat & Big-Bodied People
System-Impacted People
Migrant People
Disabled People
Solo Parents
Intergenerational Families
People Navigating Mental Illness & Trauma
Survivors of Sexual & Intimate Partner Violence
OUR TEAM
Our staff of three mamas has brought life into the world and tended to it. We have cared for elders and sick parents, all while nurturing new life and small children. We carry our stories, our ancestors’ stories, and our future generations’ stories in our bellies and our hearts. We are deeply grateful to our board & advisory board who guide and steward our collective, supporting mamas & caregivers through their lived experiences, passion, and care.
Diana Hickey (she/her)
co-convener, “mama kasama”
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Diana is a champion of strength-based, whole-hearted living and the undisputed Queen of Play. For over 25 years, she’s led teams and organizations devoted to doing good—whether through street outreach in her hometown or advancing STEM education on a national scale. Her work is hands-on, heart-forward, and rooted in deep commitment to thriving cross-cultural communities.
Born and raised in Oakland, CA, Diana is a proud Pinay and the daughter of local activists, carrying on a powerful legacy of power-building and community care. She pours her energy into nurturing chosen family, practicing interdependence, and unschooling littles—always centering joy, connection, empathy, and play.
Diana is the creator of Mama Kasama, a beloved space that brings Filipinx families and children into nature for healing, togetherness, and deep connection to the land. She also co-founded We Got Kids Together, a joyful initiative encouraging intergenerational play and care across families.
Diana brings wonder and creativity into every room she enters. Whether she’s walking people through life’s biggest transitions ("from womb to tomb") or helping children explore the world with curiosity, Diana’s work uplifts community and honors our deep interconnectedness.
She is also Mayari’s mama, raising the next generation with love, courage, and radical joy.
Katherine Mancera (she/her/ella)
co-convener, perinatal & Latinx therapist
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Katherine is a Latina psychotherapist and mama to two small, silly humans who have broken her heart way open. The exhausting, glimmering, humbling, soul-expanding process of creating, birthing, and raising her kiddos has shaken and transformed her. And led her to this calling of supporting birthing and caregiving people who are so overlooked.
In her work as a therapist, Katherine supports perinatal folks, immigrants, and queer people in releasing generational patterns, cultivating radical self-love, and calling in a juicy new vision of a life that balances parenthood and personhood. Her therapy blends wildly soulful explorations with a decolonizing framework and practical strategies to cope with the day-to-day.
Before starting her healing path, Katherine worked in nonprofit communications and as a consultant in New York City. She has a master’s degree in integral counseling psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a BA from the University of Chicago. She’s bilingual and welcomes English, Spanish, and Spanglish. When she’s not wrangling her two chickens, you’re likely to find her walking in the woods, cackling with her friends, or reading a saucy romance.
Sonja Tonnesen-Casalegno (she/they)
co-convener, liberation lawyer & doula-in-training
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Sonja is a lifelong activist, queer mama and birther of two beautiful babies, Loia and Elio, who she raises with her partner Mike in East Oakland. She is also an animal lover, with three dogs, Sonoma, Pogo, and Pretzel. Becoming a parent changed her life. In 2021, she gave birth two months after finding out her own mother was dying from stage IV cancer. Her mom died one month before her baby turned one, and that’s when Sonja’s calling to birthwork began, though it would take her several more years to answer. In 2025, Sonja started her journey to becoming a certified full-spectrum doula.
In addition to birthwork, Sonja is a liberation lawyer. Prior to co-founding the Kindred Care Collective, she worked at a youth justice nonprofit, rooted in decolonized, ancestral modalities of healing, organizing alongside system-impacted young people in Oakland and uplifting their leadership in passing laws and policies at the state level. Before that, Sonja was part of the founding team of a movement and advocacy organization restoring the rights and power of families impacted by mass incarceration in California, South Carolina, and nationally.
Sonja was born and raised in a small town in Wisconsin, attended college at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the University of Ghana-Legon in Accra, and law school at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She speaks English, Spanglish, and is raising her kids bilingual. She has found healing through friendship, dancing, music, rest, therapy, support groups, water, direct action, community organizing, time in nature, love, and conscious parenting.
Shayanna Love (she/her)
advisory board member, doula, & founder of Love’s Pathway
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The founder of Love's Pathway, Shayanna has been a dedicated full-spectrum doula since 2017, bringing compassion and expertise to families during one of life's most transformative moments.
She is a passionate advocate for families and youth in our community. Through her practice and her organization, Love’s Pathway, Shayanna supports families holistically—whether it’s guiding expecting parents through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, or creating safe spaces for young, system-impacted parents to grow and thrive.
With a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and an Associate of Science in Behavioral and Social Science, Shayanna has a background in criminal justice, youth development, and lived experience supporting at-risk adolescents. She brings a trauma-informed, culturally rooted, and loving approach to everything she does.
Amanda Majail-Blanco (she/her)
advisory board member & community organizer
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Amanda Majail-Blanco, a first-generation immigrant, daughter, mother of twin boys, artist, and a part-time student at CSU East Bay, supports systems-impacted families in Oakland, CA and statewide.
Amanda’s 22-year-old undocumented brother, Erik Salgado, was murdered by California Highway Patrol officers in June of 2020. Since that terrible tragedy, she and her family continue to fight for justice ‘til this day.
Naturally, Amanda organized around her brother’s death and quickly became connected to organizations doing movement work in Oakland. With her lived experiences, Amanda raises awareness about Police Terrorism and supports other families like herself to share their stories and builds spaces for healing and justice.
Bay Area born and raised, Amanda has spent her life in San Leandro and Oakland, CA. From the age of 15, she was impacted by the juvenile injustice system and that caused Amanda to grow up fast, but she always continued to advocate for herself and rise above the challenges.
Working with young people, young mothers and families has been a life-long career path and passion for Amanda, which she approaches with humility, compassion and grace. The journey of learning to advocate for her community and her personal healing is never-ending, but with the wisdom gained thus far, Amanda looks forward to continuing to make an impact in the world, paving the way for her children and herself.
Mounika Parimi (she/her)
board member & DrPH candidate, UC-Berkeley
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Mounika is a DrPH candidate interested in supporting women's health across the lifecourse. Her work positions matrescence — the transition into motherhood — as a critical and sensitive period in a woman’s life course that shapes long-term health. By considering the full range of mental, physical, hormonal, cultural, and psychosocial changes that encompass this transition, her work aims to inform public health approaches that support mothers through a whole-person lens during and beyond matrescence.
