In response to COVID, BWHL co-founded Oakland Mutual Aid Collective (OMAC), a grassroots effort organized by intergenerational women of color, to source and distribute basic needs supplies to underserved communities most impacted by the spread of COVID as an act of solidarity with their larger communities. To date OMAC has distributed 35,400 surgical disposable masks and 14,450 reusable cloth masks to Oakland’s most vulnerable communities.

I’m grateful that my career in public health has allowed me to work at the intersections of my passion: health equity for Black women, women’s health, and social and racial justice. After working at the intersections of women’s health, diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice for years, in March, I was invited by the Chancellor's office to join a group of 25 UCSF leaders to travel with Glide's Center for Social Justice on its 3rd Justice Pilgrimage to Alabama. The trip was an opportunity to deepen understanding of the history of racial injustices in the United States and how it informs my work as the Executive Director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health and the Co-Director of the Black Women's Health & Livelihood Initiative.

The experience was transformative. I invite you to listen to me tell about one of my experiences on the pilgrimage.

My story is Episode 2 of the UCSF Saturday Night Stories: The Courageous: Shining Light on Racial Injustice