Meet the Team

Maree has more than 20 years’ experience in Scotland’s third sector, with more than a decade as a charity leader. She joined Amma in 2022 after her role as CEO of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), a Glasgow-based NGO that support a network of social enterprise organisations in 35 countries worldwide.

Throughout her career, Maree has been involved in work that supports and provides opportunities to vulnerable and marginalised people, and she is passionate about poverty alleviation, inequality, women’s rights, health inequalities, perinatal health and reproductive justice.

Maree is also a mother of two, and occasionally volunteers as a birth companion having completed her Amma training in 2022.

Comfort is a former Amma client. She was involved in many community projects in her home country and has experience of supporting vulnerable groups.

She is very passionate about giving back and is someone that others naturally migrate to. She has been involved with setting up the virtual peer groups within Amma and is a great advocate for our other clients.

Miana is Amma’s Team Administrator, joining us after working for the British Red Cross for many years. Miana looks after our Amma Home, making sure that our office and groupwork rooms are up to scratch. She’s the first point of contact for volunteers and clients who come to visit us, answers the phones and keeps the day to day Amma operations running smoothly.

Jenny is an experienced postpartum doula, breastfeeding counsellor and birth educator. She has extensive experience providing doula support to families from all walks of life and is committed to contributing to a fairer and safer landscape for all birthing people.

Jenny initially worked with Amma as a senior postnatal companion and mentor to the postnatal volunteers before taking on her current role as our Volunteer Manager.

Christelle is an experienced administrator and bookkeeper with a good financial background.

She has volunteered with the Scottish Refugee Council in Glasgow and has an extensive knowledge of the asylum process and realities asylum seekers face.

Christelle has been involved with Amma Birth Companions since 2019, starting as a volunteer before joining the staff team in 2021.

Linzi is one of our three Perinatal Team Leaders who look after our clients, leading small teams of volunteer birth and postnatal companions who provide care, information and advocacy to the people we support through pregnancy, birth and into early parenthood.

Linzi brings huge experience in birthwork to Amma: she studied Maternity Care at college, and has previously worked as a Perinatal Family Support Worker. Linzi is also a trained breastfeeding peer supporter and hypnobirthing teacher.  She lives in Glasgow with her husband and four children.

Leah joined the Amma team in September 2023 as the Peer Support and Learning Manager. She has an extensive background in social care where she worked with many groups of people from varying walks of life but all who faced marginalisation through disability, gender, trauma, race, poverty, addiction, and autism. Leah has a real passion for true inclusion, equity, and for learning.

She left her post as the Learning & Development Advisor after hearing about Amma and the work they do to support women’s rights and creating communities. Her aim is to empower new parents to create safe and nurturing environments to live and raise their children in.

Leah loves rural Scotland and spends her free time with her family and going on epic long walks with friends.

Swaathi has a formal education in Journalism and Mass Communication, along with a Master of Science (MSc) in Public Relations and Strategic Communication. She brings professional experience as a journalist, content strategist, and PR personal. Currently, she works as a Content and Marketing Assistant at Amma, where she contributes to a wide range of both internal and external projects.

Her passion lies in the third sector, particularly in understanding how communications, narratives, and accessibility to information can make a significant impact on people’s lives. In her free time, Swaathi volunteers with various third-sector organisations across Scotland.

A strong advocate for reproductive and disability rights, she is dedicated to creating inclusive and accessible spaces for all.

Originally from New Zealand, Sam joined Amma as a volunteer postnatal companion in 2021 before becoming part of the expanded staff team in Summer 2022. Before coming to work for Amma, Sam worked in social care and as a teacher and a nanny and brings huge experience in the postnatal period and children’s early years development, as well as a special interest in newborn care, to the Amma team.

Sam has witnessed the transformation of new parents as they become confident and comfortable in their new role, and the beneficial knock-on effects that this can have in their and their child’s life.