ABOUT
Our Approach
Stories are relationships.
We believe documentation carries responsibility. Our work is grounded in consent, cultural respect, reciprocity, and relational accountability.
We seek to document with communities, not simply about them—honoring the people, knowledge, and histories at the heart of every story.
ABOUT
Our Approach
Stories are relationships.
We believe documentation carries responsibility. Our work is grounded in consent, cultural respect, reciprocity, and relational accountability.
We seek to document with communities, not simply about them—honoring the people, knowledge, and histories at the heart of every story.
Midwife. Educator. Anthropologist. storyteller.
Zulgeil “Zul” Ruiz Gines is a licensed midwife, educator, anthropologist, and midwifery leader with clinical experience in community birth settings across California and Florida.
She has served as an instructor, consultant, and Executive Director of a nationally recognized midwifery school, where she advanced culturally responsive, practice-based education.
Her work focuses on midwifery education, workforce development, and the long-term sustainability of midwifery programs. She is also a researcher pursuing graduate studies in applied medical anthropology, with interests in the growth and viability of accredited midwifery education in the United States.
Komadrona Media Lab brings these areas of practice, research, and storytelling together—creating media that documents knowledge, opens conversation, and makes space for perspectives that are too often overlooked.
Founder & Director
Zulgeil (Zul) Ruiz Gines
Documenting the living knowledge of birth, care, and community
Komadrona Media Lab is a nonprofit media organization rooted in documentary film, photography, biocultural anthropology, and reproductive justice.
We document and share stories of traditional midwifery, ancestral care, reproductive health, and the knowledge carried across generations.
Our work creates space for different ways of knowing—through film, photography, education, and community dialogue.
Connected by a shared vision.
Komadrona Media Lab and the Kolibri International Birth Institute (KIBI) are two intiatives founded by Zulgeil "Zul" Ruiz Ginés, rooted in a shared commitment to midwifery, cultural knowledge, and reproductive justice.
Through KIBI, Zul supports midwifery education, professional development, and the sustainability of midwifery programs. Through Komadrona Media Lab, she brings stories, histories, and community knowledge into focus through documentary film, photography, and cultural storytelling.
Together, these initiatives contribute to a braoder vision: strengthening midwifery while honoring the people, traditions, and lived experiences that shape birth and care.
Learn more about the Kolibri International Birth Institute and its work in midwifery education, research, and collaboration.
Documenting the living knowledge of birth, care, and community.
Komadrona Media Lab is a nonprofit media organization rooted in documentary film, photography, biocultural anthropology, and reproductive justice.
We document and share stories of traditional midwifery, ancestral care, reproductive health, and the knowledge carried across generations.
Our work creates space for different ways of knowing—through film, photography, education, and community dialogue.
Midwife.
Educator. Anthropologist. storyteller.
Zulgeil “Zul” Ruiz Gines is a licensed midwife, educator, anthropologist, and midwifery leader with clinical experience in community birth settings across California and Florida.
She has served as an instructor, consultant, and Executive Director of a nationally recognized midwifery school, where she advanced culturally responsive, practice-based education.
Her work focuses on midwifery education, workforce development, and the long-term sustainability of midwifery programs. She is also a researcher pursuing graduate studies in applied medical anthropology, with interests in the growth and viability of accredited midwifery education in the United States.
Komadrona Media Lab brings these areas of practice, research, and storytelling together—creating media that documents knowledge, opens conversation, and makes space for perspectives that are too often overlooked.
Founder & Director
Zulgeil (Zul)
Ruiz Gines
Documenting the living knowledge of birth, care, and community
Komadrona Media Lab is a nonprofit media organization rooted in documentary film, photography, biocultural anthropology, and reproductive justice.
We document and share stories of traditional midwifery, ancestral care, reproductive health, and the knowledge carried across generations.
Our work creates space for different ways of knowing—through film, photography, education, and community dialogue.
Meet the Voices
The people behind the conversations.
Komadrona brings together midwives, educators, researchers, filmmakers, and other practitioners whose work opens new perspectives on birth, care, reproductive justice, and community knowledge.
Meet the Voices
The people behind the conversations.
Komadrona brings together midwives, educators, researchers, filmmakers, and other practitioners whose work opens new perspectives on birth, care, reproductive justice, and community knowledge.