Sasha Monks ’26 explores interest in reproductive health at summer internship with Southern Birth Justice Network

This summer, Sasha Monks ’26 interned in Miami with the Southern Birth Justice Network (SBJN), a nonprofit organization that promotes access to midwife and birth-related services in the South Florida community.

During the internship, Monks participated in a variety of tasks and activities to support the organization. From aiding the Mobile Midwife Clinic, where SBJN focuses on access to free and low-cost midwifery and doula care, to participating in outreach and community service events, she was exposed to different aspects of the community and work in reproductive justice.

Monks was especially inspired by her colleagues at SBJN.

“I’ve learned so much about this particular community and the group of people that I work with,” she said. “[SBJN] is a Black-led organization that mostly serves Black and Brown people, especially birthing Black and Brown people. Something that’s really wonderful about this internship in particular is the people I work with are so deeply caring.”

As an English major at Carleton, Monks’s path to applying for this internship began with an interesting coincidence: a Carleton alum was an English major and midwife at the hospital Monks had been delivered at. Monks reached out after finding her on Carleton’s alumni network, and the midwife was enthusiastic and willing to connect with her.

“I shadowed [the alum] and was enchanted with the way that it felt. It didn’t feel like what I necessarily associated medicine with,” Monks said. “It was very personal. It was very informative. [The midwife] was very clear that she was glad she’d been an English major and that communicating with patients was the number one thing that she felt separated midwifery [from] other medical professions.”

After that experience, Monks became more interested in reproductive health and discovered the program Collective Rising, run through the nonprofit Collective Power for Reproductive Justice, which takes summer interns and matches them with different nonprofits working in the field of reproductive justice.

Even though Monks did not have direct experience in the reproductive justice field, her communication skills garnered her the job of Advocacy and Outreach Intern at SBJN.

“The thing about nonprofit work is that they’re always looking for people who can write well, can communicate well, and can work in teams,” she said. “Carleton trains you very well for that.”

Throughout her internship, Monks asked herself questions about her career aspirations and what she was passionate about going into her junior year.

“One of my goals when I was going into this internship was [asking], ‘How is this going to help me become a better provider [if] I work in reproductive justice?’” she said. “‘How do I connect with people that I serve who are different [from] me? How do I use my privilege or differences in experiences and make people feel comfortable?’”

Monks’s time working for SBJN allowed her to see many different perspectives and paths that she could take professionally in the future.

“I’m leaning toward going to nursing school,” Monks said. “One of the things that’s really helped me is that all the people that work at [SBJN] had extremely different paths. There are people that had careers in advertising or were teachers, and then decided to get into birth work, and either became licensed midwives or certified nurse midwives after that. Then, there are people doing more of the public health side and [organization] for medicine. There are also people like my supervisor, who went to college for nursing and worked as a nurse for many years. She’s worked different types of jobs, but has really encouraged me to try out the nursing route. I would like to continue to work in [nonprofit administration, at least as a volunteer], but I don’t know if I want that to be my day-to-day job, because I like the idea of interacting with patients on the daily.”

Monks has also learned more about the South Florida community she served in her internship, and has drawn connections between different perspectives that people hold.

“I have always been around very open-minded people,” she said. “I feel like being not only in the South, but in this very specific community with people who are dedicated to reproductive justice, the internship [has] opened my mind to the ways that faith acts differently for people. This has really helped me [think about] the future, when I’m in both professional settings and personal settings, to be more clear and more intentional about understanding people’s personal differences and ability to support, provide love and understanding, respect people’s decisions, and work with them.”

For those interested in pursuing professional opportunities like this, Monks would recommend starting the application process early.

“If you’re interested at all, I would start looking [for internships] now, and ask professors for recommendations early,” she said. “I was able to get help from the Career Center with funding, but finding housing was extremely difficult, so getting started early and utilizing the alumni network was really important for that.”

Monks’ work with people of all different backgrounds during her internship has taught her that uplifting the people around you with a nonjudgmental attitude is the most important thing you can do.

“Working with people who are very caring has been the number one thing I’ve taken from this [experience],” she said. “Even little words, like saying good morning in an email before you send it off, have been really eye-opening in how you shape work culture. Every person I’ve worked with here comes from extremely different backgrounds in education and training, and it’s important for everyone to have experiences working with all kinds of people.”