Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka is a doula, nurse, midwifery student, co-author of \u201cFree to Breastfeed: Voices of Black Mothers<\/a>,\u201d co-creator of Black Breastfeeding Week, and MomsRising<\/a> fellow. Her days are spent learning, teaching, and advocating for women and moms.<\/p>\n Raised in Chicago, cultivated as an adult in Brooklyn and now, training as a healthcare provider in New Haven, CT, she is a wife and mother of two \u201cdeeply curious, fun loving and communicative sons who are 5 and 2.5 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m honored to be able to call her friend, and to introduce you to her in today\u2019s \u201cHow She Does It\u201d feature.<\/p>\n What made you decide to pursue midwifery?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always been broadly interested in health and wellbeing, but it took me many years of searching and filling my bag with a variety of tools and modalities to learn that I\u2019m deeply interested in helping women connect to their power through their physical health and the perinatal period. A friend mentioned to me that she was planning a homebirth with a midwife.<\/p>\n I was an adult and it was my first time learning about midwifery as a formal profession and hearing about homebirth being done above ground. I contacted the midwife, who would later attend me through pregnancy and labor, to learn more about her life as a midwife. I knew immediately that I had found a piece of myself like a horcrux and haven\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n How did you become an advocate for maternal health and breastfeeding?<\/strong><\/p>\n My advocacy work is another horcrux (she laughs). I could never be a healthcare provider who is not also active in creating and shaping the social matrix in which we\u2019re raising our families and meant to love ourselves and each other. My previous profession was as a high school teacher and during that time, I was also active in issues related to access to high-quality foods and community development. In my transition to motherhood, I took note of what struggles I had that just feel illogical \u2013 like choosing between staying home with a newborn vs. returning to work so as not to exhaust ones savings. This was just a few years ago, but the conversation about paid family leave was not as popular as it even is now.<\/p>\n A much simpler and more accessible topic that I also felt strongly about is breastfeeding. Simply put, every black woman I knew \u2013 friend or family \u2013 breastfed their children. I could not reconcile my personal reality with the dominant narrative that Black women don\u2019t breastfeed \u2013 or that we don\u2019t do it enough even in the face of evidence that shows how significant it can be for health ailments that haunt us specifically. At some point, I decided to be part of a cultural shift that would change the narrative and content creation about our breastfeeding, nurturing and parenting.<\/p>\n When did you start working with MomsRising, and what do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n After creating the Brown Mamas Breastfeed Project, Sh*t People Say to Breastfeeding Mothers video<\/a> and Free to Breastfeed website with my co-conspirator Jeanine Valrie Logan, I learned about MomsRising\u2019s work. I was taken by how the organization made connections between feminism and family economic security because it directly related to the major themes of personal and political power that are important to me in all aspects of life.<\/p>\n With MomsRising, I work on issues related to the intersection of breastfeeding and economic security. This includes paid sick days and workplace supports, like job protection, time, and a clean, private place to pump.<\/p>\n What do you enjoy most about your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n I love that my work keeps me making connections between the systems and institutions that affect our lives as well as the experiences and activism of everyday people. It\u2019s deeply encouraging and even reassuring to be surrounded by so much action and power in my life, whether it be in the birth room, chatting on Twitter or participating in a strategy session. I feel like I\u2019ve chosen a path that keeps me connected to an endless spring of hope, which is so clutch in moments when my human frailties feel overwhelming.<\/p>\n How do you balance your career and motherhood? When do you work?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhen do you work?\u201d is a perfect question. As I respond to these interview questions, my clock tells me that it is 3:23 am and my youngest child begins his first day of pre-school at 8:30. Did I mention I\u2019m also expected to stay with him for his first half-day? When there is something large on the horizon like Black Breastfeeding Week or exams, I work after the children retire to bed late into the next morning.<\/p>\n Someone once pointed out to me that balance is only necessary for an object in motion. To me, that means that balance is a dynamic achievement, not necessarily a dead stillness. Balance is adjustment. This means being aware of where and how I\u2019m moving and being able to locate the center and return to it. My approach is to continue identifying who and what my resources are, build a village of reciprocal, loving relationships and slaying the beasts of self-doubt, unsusceptible, fear and selfishness.<\/p>\n Interested in learning more about Anayah and her work? <\/strong><\/p>\n My landing page<\/a> includes my bio and links to my email and strangers can also chat me on Twitter @anayahrose<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wpid-wp-1443187545304.jpg\" "\\"wp-1443187545304\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wpid-wp-1443189302072.jpg\" "\\"wp-1443189302072\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/mymommyvents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wpid-wp-1443189198624.jpg\" "\\"wp-1443189198624\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n