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About Mama Said...
About Mama Said...
Our Voices. Our Wisdom. Our Generations.
Our Voices. Our Wisdom. Our Generations.
Mama Said... was founded from a simple belief: Black women already possess knowledge, wisdom, and strength that can help us shape healthier experiences for ourselves and future generations.
Our health stories do not begin in a doctor's office. They begin much earlier, in our families, our communities, our histories, and in the conversations between generations. What our mothers and other women in our lives say about our bodies, sexuality, relationships, and healthcare can influence how we understand ourselves and how we navigate the healthcare system. What is left unsaid can matter, too.
Our Mission & Vision: Building With Community
Our mission and vision are still taking shape and that is intentional. We believe the future of Mama Said... should be informed by the voices of the Black women and communities at the center of this work.
As we listen, learn, and build relationships, community perspectives will help shape our mission, vision, priorities, and the work that comes next.
We are not simply inviting the community into our work. We are inviting the community to help define it.
Understanding Our Stories Through Strength
Understanding Our Stories Through Strength
Mama Said... takes a strength-based approach to intergenerational health communication among Black women.
Historically, Black mothers have raised and protected their daughters within a society that has subjected Black female bodies to scrutiny, stereotyping, sexualization, and judgment. Within this context, even sexual silence can carry meaning. What may appear from the outside to be an absence of communication may also reflect efforts to protect daughters from sexual stigma and the racialized and gendered assumptions imposed upon Black women and girls.
We honor the wisdom, love, and protective intentions embedded within these practices.
We also believe that every generation has the opportunity to ask:
What do we want to carry forward?
What might we reimagine?
What do we want to say differently to the generations that follow us?
Our Health. Our Voices.
Our Health. Our Voices.
The conversations within our families are only part of the story. Black women also bring their identities and experiences into healthcare spaces where they may encounter assumptions about who they are, their bodies, their sexuality, and their health.
Mama Said... seeks to strengthen the connection between intergenerational communication and healthcare experiences. We envision Black women entering healthcare encounters informed by the wisdom that has been shared across generations, confident in their own knowledge and experiences, prepared to ask questions, and empowered to make their voices heard.
At the same time, health equity cannot depend solely upon Black women becoming better advocates for themselves. Healthcare systems and professionals also have a responsibility to listen, communicate respectfully, recognize the influence of bias, and value Black women's knowledge about their own lives and bodies.
Created With Us, Not For Us
Created With Us, Not For Us
We believe lived experience is expertise.
Mama Said... does not begin by asking what is wrong with Black mothers and daughters or what they lack. We begin by listening to what Black women already know.
Our approach is grounded in community voice and co-design. As Mama Said... grows, Black women across generations will help identify the questions that matter, share the experiences that need to be understood, and shape the learning experiences, resources, partnerships, and initiatives that emerge.
There is no single Black mother-daughter experience. Our goal is not to speak for Black women, but to create opportunities for Black women to speak, listen, learn from one another, and collectively imagine what healthier intergenerational communication and healthcare experiences can look like.
We Begin With Us
We Begin With Us
June Jordan reminds us:
“We are the ones we have been waiting for.”
Those words capture the spirit of Mama Said....
We do not have to begin by looking outside of our communities for the answers. We can begin with what is already among us, our stories, our questions, our relationships, our cultural knowledge, our lived experiences, and the wisdom passed from one generation to another.
The conversation is already ours.
Mama Said... creates space for us to continue it.
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