Nonkululeko Shibula is a bereavement care doula, birth worker, and parent-voice advocate specializing in stillbirth and perinatal loss. Based in South Africa, her work advances respectful, culturally responsive, and evidence informed care for families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss, particularly within African health-care contexts. She is the founder of a non-profit organization that supports women and families through childbirth, stillbirth, and bereavement, integrating community-based support with clinical collaboration. Nonkululeko was among the first doulas to participate in a pioneering public hospital volunteer program in KwaZulu-Natal and has worked across various hospitals supporting families navigating loss within complex clinical and systemic environments.

She has contributed to academic and professional forums including the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Sensitive Midwifery initiatives, PATCH, Umuduzi, and international palliative care platforms. Most recently, she delivered a guest webinar for Columbia University School of Social Work, engaging interdisciplinary audiences on culturally responsive bereavement care and the lived realities of stillbirth in African communities. As a bereaved mother, her professional practice is grounded in lived experience and informed by contemporary understandings of grief, trauma, and psychosocial care. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Stillbirth Alliance, contributing to global advocacy, research engagement, and policy dialogue to strengthen compassionate perinatal bereavement care worldwide.