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This year's BOLD Talkback took place directly following the performance of the play, Birth, on September 20th. An integral part of BOLD's "Education, Truth & Action" mission, BOLD Talkbacks allow the audience to interface with birth professionals on topics relevant to maternity care.
This year's BOLD Talkback particpants were:
Christina Sebestyen, MD
graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. After spending a year working as a paramedic for a volunteer organization in Colorado, she returned to the University of Pennsylvania where she earned her Medical Degree in 1999 and was elected to the medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha. While there, she found great satisfaction in the continuity and diversity of care provided to women through obstetrics and gynecology. She therefore completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School's Brigham & Women's / Massachusetts General Hospitals combined program. She spent 6 months doing research in gynecologic oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute before moving to New Hampshire to work as a private practice obstetrician/gynecologist. During her two years there, she earned a reputation for her compassion as an obstetrician and skill as a surgeon. Board-certified, Dr. Sebestyen moved to Helotes, TX last year and is happy to be seeing women in Austin at her office with OBYGYN NORTH. She is also currently pursuing a Masters degree in public administration at the University of Texas to expand her care of women to advocate for women's issues in public policy.
Illysa Foster, MA, CPM
is a holistic midwife practicing in central Texas. Her rich background in human development, parenting, education, and individual psychology informs her understanding of her clients, their lives, families and adaptations to parenting. A native Texan, Illysa began teaching at age sixteen. She earned an Associates degree in Psychology from Del Mar College in Corpus Christi in 1990. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree with highest honors from Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 1992. In 1997, she earned her Masters degree in Human Development and Education from the University of Texas in Austin. She worked as an adjunct professor of Psychology and Human Development for ten years. She also operated an early childhood program for two years. In 2005, Illysa retired from teaching to pursue midwifery full time. She apprenticed with two seasoned Austin home birth midwives and assisted at birth centers in Killeen and on the Texas-Mexico border. She completed her clinical midwifery training from the Association of Texas Midwives (ATM) and graduated in May of 2007. Illysa is a current member of the Midwives Alliance of North America, Central Texas Birth Network, the Association of Certified Professional Midwives, and the Association of Texas Midwives. She has been hired as an educational consultant for ATM to adapt the midwifery course. Illysa attends and assists in the organization of local, state, and national professional meetings, trainings, and peer reviews.
Susan Steffes, LPT, CD (DONA), Austin director of Birth, is credited with bringing BOLD to Austin in 2006 and 2007 as producer and director. This year she has scaled back to consulting, as a member of the core organizational committee, and returns as director. Her passions for birth and theatre for social change are combined in her work with BOLD. A mother of three boys, a licensed physical therapist, a certified birth doula, a childbirth mentor, and a birth activist she stays quite busy. As a doula and childbirth mentor she encourages women to explore their deepest fears and desires surrounding their upcoming birth, nurtures them through the process as it unfolds, and holds each individual experience with non-judgment. Her activism centers on the promotion and protection of birth options, raising awareness of evidence-based maternity outcomes, and facilitating education, truth, and action toward mother-friendly maternity care. She encourages all women and men to BE BOLD and in telling their birth stories ask themselves, "if more options existed would we have done it differently?". Susan is humbled to be on the panel with such an esteemed group of birth professionals.
Amy Nylund represents the voice of the mother on our talkback panel. She has had a range of birth experiences and she feels that each of her births was perfect in its own wayÑher son was born four years ago at a hospital, and her daughter was born one year ago at home. After the birth of her son in 2004, Amy was inspired to become a birth doula. She is continually amazed at the power of the birthing woman. |
BOLD in Austin
Birth: The Play