Angie Martinez shares her journey through pregnancy, life and motherhood. This episode encourages mothers of color to find the right healthcare and support team during pregnancy and ways moms can overcome the challenges of managing motherhood, career, and life.

Family Planning plays a vital role in ensuring positive health outcomes in communities of color. This episode of MEternal features Dr. Michael Simoni of Reproductive Medical Associates (RMA) and will teach multicultural mothers about what reproductive health should look like when it comes to women of color.

This episode features maternal health advocate and March Of Dimes board member Tonya Lewis Lee and this conversation will help healthcare providers and mothers of color navigate the data and resources available as a solution to maternal healthcare deserts.

All women deserve healthcare that is safe, effective, efficient, and equitable. Joining us on MEternal is March Of Dimes CEO Dr. Elizabeth Cherot. This conversation will address the key findings of the recently published March Of Dimes Maternity Care Deserts Report and the crisis of access and equity in communities of color.

Joining us on the podcast is Doctor Joe Puma, Founder and President of Sorin Medical. This conversation will cover the complexities of Cardiovascular Health and its correlation to pregnancy throughout each trimester.

Women of color have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. HIV Maternal Health Director for Black Ladies and Public Health, Deirdre Speaks Johnson, joins us on the podcast to discuss her personal journey with HIV, how it affects maternal health, and how she's working to educate the black community to end stigmas and the criminalization of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Joining the MEternal Podcast is stand-up comedian and actress Angelina Spicer. Angelina's story on how she became an accidental advocate for maternal health will take mothers through the complexities of postpartum depression and how she is using comedy to reduce the stigma and shame associated with postpartum depression.<br /><br />

Joining us on the podcast is Stacey Brayboy March of Dimes Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs. We'll be discussing public policy in the maternal health space and how March of Dimes is joining policymakers and local communities to help improve access to care.

Half of the population menstruates. We all know plenty of women that have a period. But not everyone knows that two in five women struggle to purchase period supplies due to lack of income. This is called period poverty, and chances are we each know someone who has experienced this need – a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend. Joining MEternal is Vanessa Bracetti-Ormsby Founder of Expecting Relief and Jennifer Gaines Program Director for the Alliance for Period Supplies. No student should have to miss school, no adult should have to miss work, and no person should have to miss out on daily life because they are unable to afford the necessities they require to thrive. This conversation will help to ensure that women in need have access to essential period products required to participate fully in daily life.

Joining MEternal are Nic and Trish Encina, the co-founders of Modelo Health. We'll be discussing the complications of high-risk pregnancy and how Modelo Health is using preventative medicine to improve maternal health outcomes in communities of color. We will also be discussing the benefits of precision medicine and what increases maternal health risks.

Joining the podcast is Dr. Dawnette Lewis, MD MPH for the Center of Maternal Health at Northwell. As a maternal healthcare leader at one of New York’s largest hospital systems, she’ll be discussing the risk black women face during and after childbirth and the solutions Northwell Health provides for black mothers. Throughout the conversation mothers of color will hear about the support systems Northwell Health has in place to combat the black maternal health crisis and ensure black mothers have an equitable health care experience.

April marks the start of Black Maternal Health Awareness. In this episode we are joined by March of Dimes VP Mission Operations for March of Dimes, Rahni Jenkins to discuss the importance of Implicit Bias Training and how it helps providers break down the racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health. This conversation was designed to help providers identify racial implications and better equip themselves to serve black moms and babies’ relationships and ways they better help black women have a more equitable healthcare experience. Mothers of color will also learn ways to better prepare for their pregnancy and identify financial support to ensure they are receiving adequate healthcare.

According to the CDC, between 2020 and 2021 black women had the largest rate increase in maternal mortality tied back to systemic racism as the root cause. Black Maternal Health Advocate and Film Maker Tony Lewis Lee joins the podcast to discuss why it's important to bring black maternal health conversations to the forefront and how storytelling can be used as a tool to educate and empower women of color.

Establishing a quality relationship with a healthcare provider is vital, and mid-wives have helped to bring that essential quality back to ensure healthier outcomes in communities of color to create change for the better. For this week's conversation we are joined by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Helena Grant Mid-Wife and Co-Chair of NYC Health and Hospitals Midwifery council. Mothers of color will learn ways to become partners in their care and how to get politically involved to create sustainable change and save lives.

In this episode, we welcome maternal health advocate Danisha Vaughn to the MEternal platform, along with community nutrition activist Latoya Meaders. We explore access to alternative maternal health care and food disparities in families of color. Mothers will learn about birthing options available in addition to nutritional resources and solutions to feed their family with healthy food options.

In honor of February’s American Heart Health and Black History Months, we are joined by Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at March Of Dimes, Dr. Elizabeth Cherot. This conversation cover ways mothers of color can prevent cardiovascular disease during pregnancy, some of the barriers women face, and how march of dimes is combating maternal health disparities.

In this episode, Kenya Gipson and Jaye Wilson and are joined by Dr. Tricia Callender, Head of Diversity and Inclusion for MEternal’s Founding Partner Thinx. This conversation covers healthcare deserts, how systemic inequity affects health care specifically when it comes to black maternal health, and how Thinx has partnered with organization’s like Black Mama’s Matter to cultivate change.

MEternal hosts Kenya Gipson and Jaye Wilson address the complexities of the black maternal health crisis and how mothers of color can self-advocate towards a more equitable experience when it comes to motherhood. This conversation uncovers the importance of implementing the access and resources necessary so that we as a community can create statistical change and positively alter the maternal health crisis narrative circulating throughout America.

This episode carries the conversation on the importance of building a sisterhood amongst mothers and the need for women to find communities of support to better equip themselves for motherhood. The conversation is led by four powerful mothers of color: Chelsea Lewis, Founder of My Mommy Wisdom, Jaye Wilson Founder of Melanated Moms, and Licensed Clinical Psychotherapist La’Shay Crayton. This episode will help mothers of color identify community resources at large and leverage the commonalities of motherhood by having genuine conversations about their experiences and needs, knowing that they have permission to look for the help they seek, and the importance of creating a system of support for one another.

This episode addresses Black Fathering and Mental Health, and how fatherhood is impacted by the loss of a partner while navigating the challenges and embracing the joys of parenthood. The conversation features four black fathers: Steven Mitchell -MetroPlus Health, Benjamin Calixte -Founder of Therapy for Black Men, Omari Maynard, artist, and single father featured in Hulu Documentary “Aftershock” and Zab Judah, 6x World Champion Boxer, and father of five.