Kat Whipple, MSW — Co-Founder, Hatch Community

Kat@thehatchcommunity.org

Kat Whipple is a social impact entrepreneur, community builder, and co-founder of Hatch Community. She holds a Master's in Clinical Social Work from Smith College with a focus on intergenerational and complex trauma, and has spent over 20 years building programs in communities that needed them — as a bilingual trauma therapist at Oakland Children's Hospital and La Clinica de la Raza, and as a co-founder of multiple groundbreaking programs for foster youth, survivors of sexual assault, and young parents across Colorado and the Bay Area.

Hatch began with years of deep listening — interviewing nonprofits and Transitional Age Youth parents across the Bay Area to understand what was actually missing for young parents under 25. What emerged was clear: this community needed services designed specifically for them, real workforce development, and trauma-informed support built around community rather than systems. It was during that research that Kat met Allison Stanton, and together they co-founded Hatch Community in Oakland in 2015. In the years that followed, Hatch trained hundreds of community doulas, served hundreds of young families, and built a village that transformed generations.

When Hatch closed in 2020, its graduates kept going. Shayanna Love — a graduate of Hatch's doula training program — founded Love's Pathway, and became the living proof that the work was never finished. Now Kat and Shayanna are partnering to rebirth what Hatch built, with Love's Pathway as the living legacy organization leading the way.

Shayanna Love - Hatch Doula; Founder and Executive Director of Love’s Pathway

Shayanna@lovespathway.org

Shayanna Love is an Oakland native, wife, mother of two, and founder of Love’s Pathway. Prior to her nonprofit work, Shayanna’s journey began at Hatch, where she trained as a doula in 2017. Her work is deeply rooted in lived experience and a commitment to supporting families through one of life’s most transformative moments.

Becoming a mother at 20, Shayanna was met with many outside opinions regarding what her birth experience and preferences should be. However, with little knowledge of doulas or advocacy, her labor unfolded in its own way—quick, powerful, and on her terms.

That moment, along with her interactions with her daughters, led her through referrals into doula work.

As a trained full-spectrum doula with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and an Associate of Science in Behavioral and Social Science, and as a trained Lactation Peer Counselor and Community Health Worker, Shayanna is committed to creating safe, affirming spaces where families feel seen, supported, and empowered in their birth and parenting journeys.