Greetings from the Board of Directors!
This year, 2019, marks exactly 400 years since the first African woman, Isabel, was kidnapped, enslaved and brought to American soil. Ghana, West Africa, celebrates 2019 as “The Year of Return,” inviting all members of the global African family to come home and reclaim their birthright. Although there are dishearteningly infrequent discussions about it, there is much evidence to document the impact that generations of imperialism, colonialism, racism and white supremacy has had on African people in general—and on Black women in particular. At NAABB we are building the kind of organization that positions itself to lend voice, agency and liberation to Black mothers, children and families who are unseen and unheard in a health system driven by the remnants and realities of institutionalized racism.
 In the spring of 2018, we communicated that ICTC would be transitioning into its successor entity, the National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB). Since then, our board of directors has been tirelessly rebuilding the infrastructure of the organization, and developing a platform from which we will launch our programming to ensure maximum impact on our communities. While the majority of our actions in 2018 were externally quiet, they were absolutely intentional and laser focused on developing our niche in the Black birth world.
One major milestone was marked by the on-boarding of four new board members, making us a founding board of ten dynamic leaders! This has positively influenced our growth, decision-making, and involvement in activities nation-wide focused on anti-racism in maternity care. Meet the NAABB Board of Directors below.
There is much to look forward to from NAABB in 2019! We are putting the finishing touches on our new website, which will feature our groundbreaking documentary, The Loudest Silence, about Black women’s birth experiences in the US. The video will be available for individuals to use in discussions, support bias awareness and training, and raise funds towards your advocacy and support of Black birth.
This year, we are also engaging with aligned individuals and organizations to convene a gathering of Black and Brown birth workers in the movement, amplifying the second national Black Maternal Health Week, as well as supporting a special edition of Midwifery Matters that will focus on anti-racism and equity in midwifery—while working to determine the most needed services and programming in our communities, so that NAABB can help fill some of those gaps.
We appreciate your patience, as there is much work to be done, and we will continue to communicate with you our redevelopment process, plans, and accomplishments.
In solidarity,
Abigail Aiyepola, ND
NAABB Board Chair
on behalf of the NAABB Board of Directors
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Dr. Abigail Aiyepola’s passion for radical reproductive medicine began early and has deepened throughout her academic and professional career. She has an interdisciplinary educational background, holding undergraduate degrees in both interdisciplinary and Africana studies, direct entry midwifery training, doctoral training in naturopathic medicine, and will begin doctoral studies in medical anthropology in fall 2019. Her experience in higher education includes serving as associate faculty, associate dean and on the board of the Midwifery Education and Accreditation Council. Dr. Abigail’s clinical focus is on preconception and fertility and epigentics, and she is the proud owner of Omolayo™, a virtual platform dedicated to empowering women and young girls about their bodies and health. She is the Board Chair of the National Association to Advance Black Birth.
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Teneele Bailey possesses a Bachelor's degree in Biology, along with a graduate degree in Biomedical Science. A Jill of many trades, she has professional experience in higher education, research, and health care, and pursues her passions for birth work, yoga, and herbalism. She is Secretary of The National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB), formerly known as ICTC, and offers prenatal and birth assistance to women and families in the DMV as owner and operator of "Rooted Wombs Holistic Birth &Yoga Services".
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Dr. Heather Clarke has practiced and taught midwifery since 1979. Her clinical practice has focused on providing care to low income Black and Latina women in a variety of birth settings-often as the solo midwife of color. In those settings she observed how women and families of color were more likely to share important intimate information about their medical and family history to her and other Black providers. She is committed to mentoring and supporting the success of midwifery students of color in their education programs and careers in order to provide culturally sensitive and compassionate care to Black women and families.
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Stephanie Etienne, MPH, CNM is passionate about reproductive justice and believes in the power of community-based care. She earned her nursing and midwifery degrees from Columbia University and studied health behavior and health education at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She is the owner of Bridge Midwifery, a midwifery consultation practice. She is a collaborative partner at the Bloom Collective, a community space dedicated reproductive empowerment and maternal health in Baltimore, MD. She is also the co-director of Listen to Me, an upcoming documentary about black maternal health. Stephanie is a native New Yorker of Haitian descent. She lives in Baltimore with her family.
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Nandi Andrea Hill is a Licensed and Certified Professional Midwife in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nandi has been attending and advocating for healthy births since 1998, and became a CPM in 2012. Nandi has been an active NAABB board member for 3 years, and was a former ICTC State Rep. She is a mother of three and a grandmother of two.
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Noelene K. Jeffers, MSN, CNM is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar and a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. As a Certified Nurse Midwife in Washington DC, she has provided full scope midwifery care in a variety of settings including freestanding birth centers, federally qualified health centers and tertiary care hospitals for over six years. She is an advocate for black maternal-infant health equity and aims to integrate practice and research to achieve this goal.
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Ebony Marcelle is Director of Midwifery at Community of Hope/Family Health and Birth Center. Formerly she was Administrative Chief of Midwifery Service at Medstar Washington Hospital Center; and completed her nursing education at Georgetown University and Midwifery at Philadelphia University. She was recognized by Save the Child for their “Real Award Midwife Honoree” in 2014; and by American College of Nurse Midwives in 2015 with the “Young Whippersnapper” award. In 2018 she completed the Duke University and Johnson & Johnson Nursing Leadership Fellowship. Ms. Marcelle is known for her passion in midwifery and midwifery’s role in social justice, building culturally aware midwifery specifically for underserved African American women. She serves as a board member of March for Moms, National Association for the Advancement of Black Birth, and the Health Advisory team for Anti-Racism Research and Policy Center.
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Dr. Faith Peterson is a women’s health advocate who has been working and volunteering in health care for over twenty years. She has a focused interest in perinatal mental health issues and development of support services provided by community doulas and breastfeeding peer counselors. She is currently a member of the Birth Equity Leadership Academy through HealthConnect One, and is founder of the Philadelphia Birth Equity Project. She has a B.S. in Psychology from University of Pennsylvania and B.S. in Biology from Temple University. After receiving her Doctor of Medicine from Temple, Dr. Peterson completed her internship in obstetrics and gynecology at Temple University Hospital
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Di Saunders has been a Board member of NAABB (and previously ICTC) for almost a decade, and a volunteer prior to that. She works at the executive level in public affairs in higher education, and is currently the Associate Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at the Oregon Institute of Technology. Di is an active volunteer at other nonprofit education and social services organizations, assisting with their communication and marketing efforts. Di is a native Oregonian but has worked on both coasts and internationally (Botswana, Africa) in education, finance and philanthropy. She has an M.S. in Communications Management from Simmons University in Boston, and a B.S. in English and Teaching credentials in Secondary Education from Portland State University in Oregon.
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A change agent, evolving leader, former finance executive and current student midwife, Leonne Tanis left her 15 year financial career to pursue her calling in midwifery. Leonne’s mission is to change the birthing profession for birthing people especially black birthing persons and people within the LGBTQIA+ community. Leonne believes that birthing care should be centered around the person giving birth and her/his/their chosen support structure. Leonne is a Haitian-American with an engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Master’s of Science in Nursing candidate at the Yale School of Nursing. She considers New Jersey home.
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NAABB’s vision is a world in which Black women and persons achieve their full birthing potential and thrive during the childbearing years.
