Unmuted: The Beauty of Black Motherhood

To discuss both the beauty and hardships of Black motherhood, Yahoo Life spoke with Tika Sumpter and Thai Randolph, the co-founders of Sugaberry, and to doula Nicky Dawkins.

Video transcript

TIKA SUMPTER: When I saw, you know, how Black mothers were portrayed in media in general, it was like death, doom, and destruction. And I just felt like that doesn't define all of who we are.

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KAMILAH NEWTON: Hello, I'm Kamilah Newton, and today we're going to discuss both the joys and the challenges of being a Black mother. Tika and Thai, what made you guys start Sugaberry?

TIKA SUMPTER: The idea sprung from when I was pregnant four years ago with Ella, and so I wanted to start a company based off of a lifestyle brand that, you know, lifted up mothers and Black mothers. And so we just wanted to have an avenue where we can give great resources, but also give great products, recommendations as well, so that they don't have to go searching.

THAI RANDOLPH: So with Sugaberry, for me, it was all about creating this daily love letter to moms who looked like me, and not just moms, but everyone who's at this intersection that we're in, and you're looking to kind of see yourself and curate your life.

KAMILAH NEWTON: Most recently, Chrissy Teigen experienced a miscarriage. And we so often forget about the emotional toll that pregnancy and pregnancy loss can have on mothers. Nicky, can you speak more about why access to a doula is so important, and why it's typically more difficult for women of color?

NICKY DAWKINS: Having access to a doula is very important, I think, for all birthing people, because we do reduce negative birth outcomes. We provide emotional support, physical support, education, advocacy, for moms, so they have a safe and healthy birth. And there's all types of doulas. I'm full-spectrum, for example. So I do fertility all the way to postpartum. I also cover pregnancy and infant loss as well.

And unfortunately, it's harder for Black women, in particular, to access doulas, because we're not typically covered by insurance in most states. However, there are a lot of organizations that are building scholarships for this, that are providing funding for doulas so we can support people in need. We have a lot of work to do to make sure that all of our moms of color can be covered, so I'm happy to be a part of that movement and be doing that work down here for them myself.

TIKA SUMPTER: People listen to us when we're like, moving culture, right, and when we say go buy this, like, you know, all these things. But when it comes to our bodies, when it comes to our voice, I think a lot of people don't listen, whether it's in the field of the medical field. A lot of the time, Black women are especially gaslit into thinking they don't have a problem when they actually do and they actually are right. So I think how people can help is actually hear what the person is saying, what we're saying to them.

THAI RANDOLPH: There's this archetype of strong Black women, and, you know, everyone says check on your strong friends. Well, if, you know, you've got this sort of vision of Black women being so strong and impenetrable, check on them. Even if we could, we don't need to carry it all. And so, you know, I invite all of us to think of ourselves differently, but also to think of each other, and for anyone who is encountering us, to just really take a different perspective.

NICKY DAWKINS: I think it's definitely important that we are heard, but I also think it's very important that we are speaking up. I always tell my clients, hey, tell people you had a doula and what a difference it made. Tell people about your fibroids or your period problems or other health issues you have going on. Share it with your family. Talk to your grandparents. I feel like we have a history of keeping quiet within our own communities, and that's part of the problem is that we're not sharing information. So I think that's kind of the flip side of us being heard is that we also have to talk to each other.

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