Shanae “Gigi” Bond
Mommy&Me Virtual Mommy Meet-ups co-facilitator
Shanae “Gigi” Bond, Mommy&Me Virtual Mommy Meet-ups co-facilitator and Stakeholder Engagement Core co-chair, is a mother of three, trained perinatal professional, doula, lactation specialist and a Founding Member of Moms’ Collective Wisdom. These focus group members provided comments that shaped this study proposal. Since Spring 2019, Gigi has been part of the DC Primary Care Association Maternal Health Equity Action Lab with other mothers in D.C., including Nandi Barton, Chanelle Moore, Mercedes Small-Lewis and Stephanie Wells. The Equity Action Lab creates, explores and implements methods to improve maternal health outcomes in the D.C. area using human-centered design. She is passionate about motherhood and wants other women to receive the best care possible during pregnancy, birth and delivery, and the postpartum period. From 2016-2018, Gigi worked as a family support worker at Mamatoto Village, a large organization that provides African American women with economic opportunities to empower women to receive optimal maternity care in culturally sensitive ways. Therefore, she has firsthand knowledge of what Black women need – from a personal and professional capacity. In her role as co-chair of the Stakeholder Engagement Core, she and Patricia Quinn will strive to put the patient voice first in the design and implementation of this project. Together, their work has the potential to contribute to enhanced understanding of how screening and interventions work within the real-world healthcare system and to provide much-needed prevention and treatment of maternal mental health services to mothers of African descent in the D.C. area.