I’m a senior writer and editor with New America’s Better Life Lab. Before that, I was a freelance reporter exploring health, science, and wellness—from visual illusions and audio pareidolia to public health policy and wellness trends. And before that, I spent five years reporting on race and politics.
My writing has been featured in New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Vox, Slate, Popular Science, and more.
🗂️ LinkedIn
👩🏽💻 Website
I’m researching Black women’s health and well-being. To quote my official research synthesis:
The systemic conditions that prevent Black women from being able to take proper care of themselves are one of our nation’s most significant health injustices. Black women experience an array of adverse health outcomes due to sociopolitical conditions that were first created during enslavement. The harm Black women experienced while enslaved—such as having their bodies experimented on violently and being forced to bear children— has continued to manifest in American policy.
My work has specifically focused on investigating the health consequences of eviction on Black children and the role of systemic racism in worsening Black maternal and child health outcomes. I include solutions because we work at the intersection of research, policy, journalism, and popular culture at the Better Life Lab to tell ethical, human-centered, solutions-focused stories.
Healthy Futures is a figment of my imagination made real on the page. I’ve dreamt of a voicey health and wellness space rooted in care for Black folks and scientific, ancestral, and historical knowledge. This space also had to tackle health misinformation—which has the potential to affect everyone—with love and understanding. The majority of our health landscape exists online now. It’s where most people get most of their health information. It’s also a bastion of misinformation. As a writer dedicated to improving the health of communities, especially Black ones, it is pertinent to take on that work and help people live healthier lives using accurate information explained plainly.
Healthy Futures aims to be that space. It will contend that past innovations—alongside ancestral practices—in health and well-being can and will continue to inform the present and the future. It will be forward-thinking. It will address health habits, trends, advice, data, initiatives, practices, etc., that can push us forward into a world where people can better care for themselves, their families, and their communities. And my goal remains the same as it has always been: to leverage my skills in storytelling and media to promote healthier, more equitable communities.
A massive qualitative report featuring in-depth case studies and interviews with families in poverty reveal how pandemic-era government aid provided a brief moment of stability.
A Glimpse of Stability: The Impact of Pandemic Aid on Families in Poverty
And here are the other elements of the project—including facilitated stories, a collection of multimedia projects, and a series of news articles: https://www.newamerica.org/better-life-lab/better-life-lab-collections/pandemic-aid/
An interactive report providing an in-depth analysis of how 405 years of indifference to the health of Black women and their children has created the stark inequities seen today.
The U.S. Black Maternal and Child Health Crisis Is Centuries in the Making
And here’s the promotional kit for the report: Black Maternal and Child Health Promotional Kit
An infographic overview of my research on the connection between systemic racism, adverse health outcomes, and five potential solutions to mitigate the crisis
America's Black Maternal And Child Health Problem
A comprehensive investigative report into the health consequences of eviction on Black children alongside actionable solutions to mitigate the crisis.
Eviction Is One Of The Biggest Health Risks Facing Black Children
A thoroughly reported, solutions-based framework for lessening the impact of COVID-19 on Black Americans, is featured in the 2021 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing and the American Medical Association’s COVID resources.
It’s Not Too Late to Save Black Lives