Your Cincinnati & Dayton Doula Team

Supporting over 400 families and counting with personalized, evidence-based birth care across the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton area.

About Us

Welcome to Stork Helpers, one of Cincinnati’s Best Doulas for the last five years, according to Expertise.com, supporting over 300 families and counting!

Tamara first knew she wanted to be a doula around 2006 when she was pregnant with her fourth child. She was addicted to the TV show, A Baby Story, on TLC when she first learned all about doulas.  It fit so much of what she loves into one place – helping others, babies and a fascination with everything medical.  She kept this a dream for 12 more years while raising her young kids and running a home daycare until she finally started her journey in 2017 to become a doula and become certified in 2018. 

Tamara opened Stork Helpers with the mission to deliver personalized and affordable care to each family, knowing that no birth story is ever the same, whether it is the road to pregnancy or the pregnancy itself and prides herself on ensuring that every member of her team knows the importance of being there for you the moment you join our flock.

Our Doulas

Tamara Kankowski

I am happily married to my best friend, Jesse, a self-proclaimed nerd since before nerds were cool for almost twenty years.  Together, we have raised a family of seven kids, some of whom are now adults themselves. Our oldest, Josh, is now married to our daughter-in-law Rachel and have blessed us with our first grandson, Joey. Our kids keep us busy every day with school, phone calls, work, soccer, their social lives, and their never-ending requests for more ice cream on the table.

When it comes to birth, I have experienced it all over the course of six pregnancies spanning just over ten years including a rapid one hour labor with my first daughter, scheduled vaginal deliveries via inductions, premature labor that was successfully stopped (twice), and a cesarean section on our full-term twin boys after 15 weeks of bed rest who came out at 10 pounds a piece!

All of these experiences helped grow my passion to become a doula. While I loved being pregnant, looking back, there are things I would have changed with some of my births. I didn’t have access to the internet in its current shape today, and wasn’t aware of how many options existed, and sometimes just blindly followed what was told to me.  I aim to use my experiences and knowledge to give you evidence-based feedback about the many choices available so that you can choose how your birth story is written. 

Certifications: Certified Birth Doula, Certified Postpartum Doula, Certified Bereavement Doula, Certified Fertility Coach, Certified Placenta Encapsulator, Certified Childbirth Instructor, Spinning Babies Certification

Learn about Tamara Kankowski, founder of Stork Helpers, smiling in a branded Stork Helpers t-shirt in front of a brick wall.
photo credit: Jordan Barker
The Kankowski family posed together outdoors among pine trees, wearing coordinating gray and black outfits.
The Kankowski family gathered together on Main Street at Disney's Magic Kingdom at night, with the castle lit up in the background.
The Kankowski family on a log flume ride at Disney World, laughing and posing for the on-ride camera.
The Kankowski family posed on Main Street at Disney's Magic Kingdom during the day, with the castle visible behind them.
Jesse and Tamara Kankowski on a ferris wheel.