March Of Dimes Women Of Achievement Announced

Bryn Mawr College, Rosemont Grads Honored By March Of Dimes

March Of Dimes Women Of Achievement Event Is May 7 In Malvern

by Melissa Jacobs

March of Dimes is honoring three forward-thinking, community-minded change agents who are spearheading movements to improve maternal-fetal health in the Philadelphia area, especially for people of color.

Marianne A. Fray, Jummy Kirby and Alexia Doumbouya are the 2024 March Of Dimes Women Of Achievement. They will be honored at an event on May 7 at 11:30 am at The Farmhouse At People’s Light in Malvern. Get tickets here.

Fray, a Bryn Mawr College graduate, is president and CEO of Maternity Care Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing healthcare disparities and increasing health outcomes for mothers and babies. The first Black woman to lead MCC, Fray is a first-generation American born to Jamaican parents. She attended The Shipley School for several years during a time when people of color were scarce at the prestigious school. “I was one of three Black students,” she says. “I never felt part of the in crowd. But my parents wanted her to seize the educational opportunities presented by Shipley.”

During her senior year of high school, Fray had an unplanned pregnancy that resulted in a stillbirth. Compounding that trauma was the dismissive, disrespectful treatment Fray received from her medical caregivers. “It was unbelievable how I was treated,” she says. “I never want anyone to go through what I dealt with when I was 17.”

Taking the reigns at MCC was an opportunity for Fray to work towards that goal. Deploying her MBA and marketing skills, Fray created a “theory of change” at MCC to confirm and broadcast its mission. “We are not exclusionary; we serve everyone,” she said. “But we made a commitment to focus on Black and brown people. That’s where poor birth outcomes are happening.”

Alexia Doumbouya is also creating change around maternal-fetal health in communities of color. After giving birth to her daughter in 2011, Doumbouya grappled with severe post-partum depression. As she healed herself, Doumbouya realized that she, and many other women, need supportive communities with open dialogues about the social-emotional wellbeing of pregnant women and new moms.

In 2018 and 2018, Doumbouya got trained as a doula and in 2019, she launched Cocolife.Black, a digital platform that offers inspiration, education and resources to women through their pregnancies, post-partum and the loss of a child. With the mantra “Maternal Outcomes Matter” (M.O.M.s), Cocolife.Black holds events – even group baby showers – to fill the care and community gaps that women of color experience.

Jummy Kirby M.A,LPC, PMH-C, is also filling gaps in maternal-fetal health. A licensed professional counselor certified in perinatal mental health who holds a Masters degree from Rosemont College, Kirby owns Relinquish & Transcend Counseling + Consulting in Bala Cynwyd. Her team of therapists serve clients in PA, DE and NJ.

Kirby, a first-generation American born to Nigerian parents, refocused her mental health work after the birth of her second child in 2018. When, at 38 weeks, she went to the hospital with labor pains, the medical staff dismissed her, sending her home without a proper exam. Kirby was right; she was in labor, and her husband had to rush her back to the hospital.

It was almost too late. Kirby ended up delivering her own baby in the hospital’s hallway. Kirby felt disrespected by the hospital’s team, a situation that could have resulted in a tragedy for her and her child. “Getting culturally competent help wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be,” she says.

She decided to change that. In 2019, she opened her therapy practice. Relinquish & Transcend serves all kind of people, but Kirby has a special focus on people of color and a spot in her heart for new Americans or first generation Americans whose parents may not be well versed in maternal mental health.

“Many people not born in the U.S. have trouble talking about things like post-partum depression,” she says. “That can be especially true if you are Christian. The impulse can be to say, ‘Pray it away.’ Mental health is often not a real thing for them. A lot of women – and men – were also taught to suffer in silence instead of reaching out for help.”

In addition to traditional therapy sessions – many of which are done virtually to ease new parents’ travel struggles – Relinquish & Transcend offers ecotherapy, a nature-based program that uses the outdoors to establish or reestablish patients’ mind-body-spirit connections. Kirby also offers Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an integrative psychotherapy approach used to treat trauma and other mental health issues.

Kirby works with dads, too. “Men have post-partum issues, too,” she says. “The experience is different, but it can be difficult for men to deal with sleeplessness, added stress and the journey that their partner is going through. We really need to treat the whole family. That’s how we create healthy, happy homes for children.”

Main Line Tonight is honored to be the digital media sponsor of the 2024 March Of Dimes Greater Philadelphia Salute To Women Of Achievement. Read about the March Of Dimes’ mission and the inspiring story of executive director Allison Lang here.

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