Simone Richie Lee

Raised in rural Berkeley County in South Carolina, Richie Simone received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the College of Charleston. After 15 years in Business Administration, Simone pursued her interest in birth services as a result of her own birth experiences.

As Owner and Certified Birth Doula of Birthing with Purpose, LLC, Simone is also a Certified Lactation Counselor, Placenta Encapsulation Specialist,  Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, Reiki Practitioner and Child Passenger Safety Technician. Simone also serves as the Parenting and Community Support Director with Berkeley County First Steps and in this role she manages a high functioning staff of Parent Educators of the national Parents as Teachers Program and builds relationships with community partners with a shared goal of providing opportunity and access to strategically undervalued populations.

In 2018, Simone co-founded The Beloved Education and Care Collective with other leaders and community organizations to tackle the issue of suspension and expulsion in early childhood education. It quickly became apparent that community advocacy work needed to begin much sooner, so with funding from The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, Boston Medical College and Vital Village, the Birthing a Community Cohort was established. Under Simone’s leadership as the Reproductive Justice Director, this cohort now flourishes with 13 doulas, including two Latine doulas serving the Spanish speaking population. The BEE Collective is also South Carolina’s first and only grassroots led Perinatal Safe Spot, providing crisis support to include emergency housing, mental health support and a lending library of various other supplies. 

In addition to advocating for women and families, Simone speaks nationally and locally about the Black Maternal Health Crisis and was recognized in 2022 as the YWCA of Greater Charleston What Women Bring Healthcare Honoree. She currently sits of the SC Rural Access to Maternal and Infant Healthcare Taskforce, SC Breastfeeding Equity Advisory Council, SC Doula Core Competency Committee and the SC Breastfeeding Coalition.

Simone is the mother of three children and in her spare time, she enjoys being in nature, running and trying new food. She recently made the decision to return to school to pursue a nursing degree with future plans of becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife. She finished her first semester at Trident Technical College during the summer of 2024 with a 4.0 GPA and Dean’s List recognition.