Keisha (pronounced key-sha) is a former nurse with ten years of experience providing support to pregnant and postpartum people. She is an advocate for reproductive justice. Keisha is influenced by personal experience and stories shared by ancestors, matriarchs, and clients.
Keisha identifies as a cisgender black woman and uses the pronouns she/her. She is married and intentionally childfree. Keisha enjoys reading, music, nature, yoga, and watching sports, especially women’s basketball.
Keisha has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in health leadership. Her nursing license and certification have expired. Keisha completed DONA’s postpartum doula workshop and LER’s certified breastfeeding specialist course.
Origin Story:
Keisha was encouraged to ask questions about the human body as a young child. She read the book “Where Did I Come From?” by P. Mayle with her mom’s guidance. Keisha’s mom shared stories about experiencing natural (unmedicated) childbirth and breastfeeding. At the hospital, her mom faced discrimination for being single and low income.
At age sixteen, Keisha attended a birth for the first time when her best friend became a mom. This had a lasting impression on her regarding sex, pregnancy and parenting. After graduating from university, Keisha’s first job was as a labor and delivery nurse. She worked for two years at the hospital before enrolling in midwifery school, which she withdrew from due to life circumstances. Subsequently, Keisha worked as a home visitor with pregnant and postpartum families and provided healthcare at abortion clinics. Keisha worked as a nurse for many years and briefly as a doula.
Keisha experienced burnout from working as a nurse at companies with discriminatory practices. Racism was prevalent. Colleagues labeled clients as “non-compliant” without addressing their social determinants of health. This conflicted with Keisha’s values. She left the healthcare system to focuses on supporting marginalized people in diverse ways.
Root Intuit was founded with the mission to support pregnant and postpartum people, advocate for human rights, and promote health equity.