The community approach will take care of our everyday needs”
Spicer’s journey into Black maternal health advocacy began with her own motherhood experience. After birthing her daughter, Spicer recalled moments where her emotional, mental, and physical state were unrecognizable, causing her postpartum anxiety and depression.
“I felt unprepared, unqualified, overwhelmed,” Spicer said. “The weight of responsibility of being a mom really hit me hard after I had my baby.”
Spicer would subsequently undergo a 10-day inpatient psychiatric stay to regulate her symptoms. She discusses that experience, and the realities of motherhood, in comedy clubs and more casual spaces to bring the messaging around Black maternal mortality rates to listeners’ front door. Spicer also embarked on a multi-city tour she titled “The Postpartum Revolution,” traveling in a pink bus emblazoned with its eye-catching name.
Labeling herself an “accidental activist,” Spicer said that her “Spicey Moms” brand allows her to fuse the funny with the misfortunate.
“It’s important to me that moms know what motherhood truly looks like,” Spicer said. “Finding that balance is always tricky. Most times, we’re talking about things that are most times shameful.”
Butler was disheartened by the apathy she discovered around Black maternal health and has spent much of her time at NAN developing solutions to such a glaring issue.
“Once I got into the maternal health space, I was mortified to find out that Black women are dying, and nobody cares,” Butler said. “I was able to build out different partnerships…and I realized we needed to approach this from a reproductive justice lens because civil rights organizations acknowledge that race is a factor in all of these implicit biases.”