yay you're here!

yay you're here!

Hi! I’m Kimberly Summer Denitz-Zuleger, or Kim, or my stage name Kim Summer. I’m pretty open to any version. ;)

Mother.Doula.Actress

*scroll down to read a bit about me

My first birth. My “oldest” little brother was born on our living room floor in Torrance, California, 1981.

“My mission is to communicate, to wake people up, to give them my energy and accept theirs. We're all in it together, and I respond emotionally as a worker, a mother, an artist, and a human being with a voice. We all have a voice. We have the responsibility to exercise it, to use it.” -Patti Smith

Welcome! I’m happy you stopped by. Okay, first things first. As of 2026 I will be taking a limited number of doula clients as I focus on my acting career. Please reach out to discuss your needs and we’ll see if I’m the right fit for you. Okay, that aside, I’ll tell you a wee bit about me.

I’m first and foremost a mother to two adult (sigh) children that are out there living their lives in the world, and I miss them dearly. I am preserving childhood with my 11 year old ballet dancer, who is flourishing before my eyes, each day slipping more and more from me. This mothering is a tangible grief I tell you. I run as often as my body will agree to do so. Trails, roads, whatever I can get my feet on, because I love the feeling of reckless abandon it gives me. I love the rush of blood pumping in my ears when I push myself past the point it wants to go. I love when my legs scream stop, and yell back, fuck off, and I just keep going. It’s pure bliss. I also read, and write a lot. I think I’d be miserable without running, reading, and writing. I find my inner world to be a place I desperately need to escape to often, and those three simple acts give me that. Becoming is an art, okay? ;-) Speaking of art, I have been a represented commercial/print actress for over a decade, and I am now rigorously pursing a tv/film career. Buuuuut, I’ve been fighting the voices that say I’m not good enough to be a “real” actress. Or too old, or ugly, or whatever my brain has concocted that day! It’s a long story, too long for a website, but we all know the old childhood tales that tell us something adult you has to finally face. Well, interestingly, birth is a lot like that too. You have to learn to quiet the voices from behind you. You have to learn to find your own rhythm- in pregnancy and in birth itself. This whole being human thing is really a bit of a complex issue, and also it’s really beautiful, and I’m happy to be alive in this world. I love humans, and I love working with people. Whether on a set shooting a commercial and hopefully soon a tv show (fingers crossed) to sitting cross legged on someone’s living room floor watching them animal like, wild eyed, pulsing pain, when they suddenly reach for my hand, and I slip mine into theirs- the baby crowning then. I wish for myself, the same I wish for all the women I support- to lean in, to expand, to just let go. 

Okay, so how did I come to doula work one might ask? Here’s a snippet of that story too!

When I was 10 years old my mother gave me her tattered copy of Spiritual Midwifery and asked me to support her in the birth of my 4th sibling. I had already experienced the loss of my twin siblings, and was madly in love with my three brothers. I knew a life of babies, mothering, and caretaking from very early on. Growing up in Ojai, California, we spent much of our time on our land, driving the mountain pass to the beach in Carpinteria, and exploring the neighborhood on bikes as kids do. My world revolved around my siblings and supporting my mother the best I could. She was certainly my first teacher into the world of womanhood. And, I think this sums me up pretty well! I could bore you with a list of certifications, and schooling, but I feel that they are less representative of me than the vision I give you of me as a girl, holding my mother’s leg as she pushed my little sister into the world in a small birth center in Ojai. And then a mere 9 years later, my mother was there, holding my leg, as I pushed my first child into the world, at 20 years old. While some of my education has proven to be helpful, and important, so much of my work, of doula work, is not only learned “on the job,” but is truly taught through witnessing in and of itself. So, the list below is just a small sample of some of the continuing education I have participated in, but is certainly not all.

I am indebted to the families that have trusted me to walk along side them here in my hometown of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. And just as grateful to my own family who have all allowed me to serve our community with their support and patience.

As of 2026, I will be taking limited birth clients, and referring placentas to some wonderful doulas in town.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out, I love questions, and I love hearing from people.

Thanks for being here, I’m really happy you are. Onward.

Work with me!

*the magnificent gigi and baby girl

To me, being a doula isn't something you become, but something you already are. It is an existence within yourself you unearth. I feel this way about a lot of the roles we play in life. Much of adult life is unlearning what we think we know in order to find more of our innate childhood gifts. Doula work is not just a simple profession, it is a way of life. It is vital, and transcendent. It has brought me to profound grief, acceptance, and love.

Doula work is not just about birthing babies, it is about the liminal space between birth and death, and ushering in the greatest gift of all: motherhood.

It is walking this path with other women, as it has been done since the beginning of time. It is an opportunity for great heartbreak. For an unraveling, and a restitching of self. It is cesareans, and home-birth, it is ultrasounds, and free birth. It is miscarriage, and bottle feeding, and breastfeeding, and mental health. It is facing your fears, your deepest wounds, and learning to override outside voices so that you can truly find your own.

Birth matters, as does your experience through it.

No matter where you are at on the journey to parenthood, I hope for you a deep surrender into the wildest love you could ever conceive. Witnessing the blood, the salty tears, the wild eyed look right before crowning; it’s there I see God in the wings.

Education, integration, birth, postpartum.

My doula is work has a deep focus on your specific lived experience. Your goals and hopes are often a reflection of how you have grown up, how you see the world, and how you view your own body and worth. In other words, I really love getting to know you. Birth is wildly unpredictable in many ways, but in other ways it’s also not. I use an empathetic, and experienced lens in order to help guide you in pregnancy, and eventually in birth and then into the foray of postpartum. Much like life, doula work is not one sized fits all. Reach out to chat more about what your needs are, and if I’m not the right fit, I am always happy to share the information of my colleagues and friends in town.

I offer a consultation via phone or in person to chat about all the important things- like your dreams! Goals! Fears! Or to help you decide on a provider, and so much more. And to go over pricing of course, and what I bring to the table. xoxo

FAQs

What services do you offer?

I offer pre-pregnancy counseling, pregnancy support with or without attending your birth, birth support at home, hospital, or birth center, immediate postpartum support and CLEC services for my clients. I also offer miscarriage support, baby loss, and abortion counseling. 

Do you take insurance?

I do not take insurance! I do take Carrot, and some HSA and FSA options. Keep in mind, I am a doula, a self employed, non-medical person that is educated in many facets of birth and loss, that does not support the ideal of insurance taking over this sacred and primal women’s work. I do offer pro-bono support throughout my practice and always have, especially for at risk teens. 

Do you offer freebirth support?

No. If you hire me it’s not a freebirth! I am trained in OOH NRP, and have a background in EMS. But, I do support your choice-at a distance!