04/19/2026
This one sat deep in my spirit…
This Black Maternal Health Week, I had the honor of getting on that bus headed to the Capitol — and I didn’t go alone. I brought my baby girl with me, because this work isn’t just advocacy… it’s legacy. It’s what we carry forward for our daughters.
I stood alongside my sisters and colleagues, Kenise Batts and Sarah Murphy, as we showed up as First Steps and Beyond Community Advisory Board members, as advocates, and as part of the Her Dreams film (by ) team.
And listen — when I say Kenise had us covered, she had us COVERED. Those Her Dreams shirts? Beautiful. Intentional. You could feel the message before we even opened our mouths.
We stepped right off that bus and straight into a press conference — no easing in, just right into purpose. And it was powerful.
But what stayed with me… what I’m still holding… was that policy hearing.
Hearing the story of Mercedes Wells — a mother turned away while in active labor — shook the room. She and her husband had to deliver their baby in their truck. No mother should have to experience that. No family should have to carry that kind of trauma into what’s supposed to be a moment of life and joy.
And yes, Mercedes’ story mattered deeply… but I need to say this: hearing her husband speak? That did something different.
Because we don’t always hear from the fathers. We don’t always make space for their voices, their fear, their urgency, their love in those moments. And the way he told it — you could feel the weight he carried trying to protect his wife and bring his child into this world under those conditions. It was raw. It was real. It was necessary..
This is why we show up.�This is why we bring our children.�This is why we sit in rooms where decisions are being made.
Because our stories deserve to be heard — and more importantly, they demand change.
I’m grateful. I’m fired up. And I’m even more committed to this work than I was before I got on that bus.
