Mother. Doula. Advocate. Leader
Sevonna Brown has lived in NYC and worked in New York City alongside human rights agencies, non-profit organizations, the New York City Council, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and many other agencies. Her work has intersected with many local businesses and agencies that offer reproductive and holistic health.
SEVONNA BROWN is an audacious visionary who is committed to reimagining the future of reproductive health and birth justice. She is an advocate, activist, scholar, creative and comrade, who leads by building others up. She moves with boldness, courage and urgency. Her leadership is grounded and embodied
Published Writing
TIME
American Girl’s ‘Civil Rights’ Doll Doesn’t Reflect Black Girlhood, originally published on Time.com
HUFFINGTON POST
Why Black Women Don’t Cry When the Pain Is as Serious as a Heart Attack, originally on the Huffington Post.
WOMEN’S ENEWS
No Plan B: For Colored Girls Who Pursue Holistic Reproductive Care When the Emergency Room is Not Enough, originally published on Womens eNews.
NEWS ONE
Erykah Badu Sparks Social Media Firestorm After Twitter Rant On How Girls Should Dress, originally on News One.
SLANT
It’s Time to Put an End to Gender-Based Violence, originally published on Slant.
EBONY
Removing the Blindfold: Reimagining Reproductive Futures, originally on Ebony.
REWIRE
Breastfeeding on This Side of Trauma, originally published on Rewire.
FOR HARRIET
How Doctors Traumatize Pregnant Women With Unnecessary Procedures, originally on For Harriet.
BIO
Sevonna Brown is the Assistant Executive Director at Black Women’s Blueprint. She recently completed the New York Community Trust Spring 2018 Fellows Cohort where she developed a change initiative project through leadership development and community organizing. She was also recognized as a Ms. Foundation Public Voices Fellow for her writing through the Op/Ed Project. Her work has been published in Ebony, TIME Magazine, ForHarriet, and Rewire News. She serves on the board of Children of Combahee, which mobilizes against child sexual abuse in Black churches using womanist pastoral and theological methods. She is a birthworker through Ancient Song Doula Services and the Doula Project. She dedicates her work to the survival strategies that Black women build from rituals, sacred truths and the ways they honor the intergenerational narratives of their reproductive herstories. Her organizational affiliations include Spirit of a Woman Leadership Development Institute and Standing in Our Power: A Women of Color Transformative Leadership Institute.
Sevonna received the ELLA Fellowship through the Sadie Nash Leadership Program where she brings reproductive justice to young women of color through grassroots organizing. Through Sadie Nash Leadership Project, Sevonna has engaged in youth advocacy and young women’s organizing. As a survivor of child sexual abuse she seeks to bridge the connections between reproductive justice and anti-sexual violence advocacy through her cultural work, human rights lens and womanist frameworks. She believes in every community’s right to holistic healing, as well as radically freeing and unconditionally loving themselves.