Our Board

Lucinda Candal

Board Chair

Lucinda is a former client of The Birthing Tree, and a mother of two young children. Professionally, she serves as head of content and client services for an asset management firm, having also served as chief of staff, she leverages her client-first perspective and leadership experience to facilitate strategic sales planning and execution across sales and marketing groups. Lucinda also served as director of studies and taught English as a Second Language to business and financial professionals in China, South Korea, Spain, Portugal, and Brazil.

Raised in New Zealand, Lucinda received her BA with honors in English from the University of Auckland.

Elege Simons Harwood

Compliance Officer

Elege enjoys practicing all aspects of family law, and firmly believes that domestic relations issues can and should be resolved with dignity. After growing up in Santa Fe, Elege attended college at NYU. She returned to New Mexico to attend law school at UNM from which she earned her J.D. in 2004.

Prior to joining the Simons Firm, Elege served as a law clerk to Judge Carol Vigil of the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe. Elege was an Adjunct Professor at University of New Mexico School of Law teaching Children’s Health Law Policy and Ethics. She was a contract attorney for the New Mexico Court of Appeals representing parents in termination of parental rights appeals.

Isabel Ribe

Board Member

A former doula with The Birthing Tree, Isabel is a bilingual licensed therapist with more than twelve years of experience with client care, including working in crisis response and in agency settings attending to issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, family homelessness, substance abuse, grief and loss, and immigration related concerns. She runs a decolonial and liberation focused therapy practice based in somatics, art therapy, and EMDR. Isabel also specializes in perinatal mental health and holds pregnancy and postpartum support groups in Santa Fe and Espanola. Isabel is also a mama, poet and artist and a member of the Alas de Agua BIPOC arts collective and a lead birthworker for the Yiya Vi Kagindi Doula training program with Tewa Women United.

Monica Larrea

Board Member

Monica has dedicated over 20 years to serving families in various roles, including early childhood development. Her journey led her to become a doula in 2010 and further propelled her to pursue a career as a midwife in 2016. Monica is honored to serve families in New Mexico, where she embraces the opportunity to provide holistic, client-centered care. Her commitment to the rematriation of midwifery, restoring traditional practices, and centering the experiences of BIPOC and marginalized communities is a driving force in her work. In response to racial disparities in midwifery access and education, she founded the Midwives for Black Lives scholarship fund and created The NARM Study Method. Monica envisions a future where midwifery is not only accessible but also deeply rooted in ancestral wisdom.

Doris Quintero-Balerdi

Board Member

Doris, a Colombian native who grew up in South Florida, has made Santa Fe her home since 2018. She is a dedicated mother and Finance Professional with over two decades of experience in different capacities in the financial services industry. She is an ardent advocate for minorities’ empowerment and women’s health, who loves the outdoors and its benefits on our mental health.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Florida International University and a Master of Arts in International Business from University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.