Episode 032 - From Critical Care Nurse to policy change advocate, Katie Vigos is empowering the image of birth

Katie Vigos BSN, RN

Katie Vigos began her career in healthcare as a nursing assistant at the age of 17. She worked her way through nursing school on an academic scholarship and became an LVN in Burn Trauma ICU before graduating with her Bachelor's Degree from Brigham Young University in 2008. 

A major life transition of leaving the Mormon church prompted Katie and her young family to uproot and move to Los Angeles after obtaining two years of experience as a new grad in a small community hospital ICU. Katie transitioned quickly from travel nursing and local registry work into a position as a critical care float nurse at UCLA and concierge home health nursing. After burning out quickly practicing critical care full time, Katie found a healthier balance and greater flexibility through per diem float nursing and the variety of opportunities afforded by the private sector of Los Angeles. She incorporated in 2013 and acquired additional skill sets in home infusion, post surgical aftercare, and case management. 

In 2014, while pregnant with her third son, Katie turned her passion for birth and motherhood into an online platform called Empowered Birth Project, which seeks to remind birthing people of their power and facilitate healing through story telling. It grew in popularity as she shared her experience healing from a traumatic emergency cesarean birth and navigating the challenges of being postpartum in America. She trained as a doula and placenta encapsulator during this time and began attending birthing families. 

Her major breakthrough came in 2018 when she successfully petitioned Instagram and Facebook to change their nudity policies and allow uncensored birth content on their platforms. She continues to follow her passion for birth advocacy, speaking, writing, and social media while working at the bedside, raising her family, and seeking adventure and authentic living in California.