From Patient to Pioneer in Reproductive Justice and Tech by Rachell

From Patient to Pioneer in Reproductive Justice and Tech by Rachell - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

My aspirations for the upcoming school year are deeply rooted in both personal healing and purposeful action. After surviving nine pregnancy losses, I founded A Light After Nine, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals and families navigating infertility, pregnancy loss, and maternal trauma. This school year, I plan to expand our reach by growing our programming, offering more guided healing experiences, and establishing deeper partnerships across the maternal health space, particularly for Black women and underserved communities. I will also be dedicating time to finalize and launch a self-advocacy mobile app, a tool inspired by my own harrowing healthcare journey that includes multiple brain surgeries.

The development of this app is not just a passion project. It is a personal necessity turned into public good. My neurological condition was misdiagnosed for years, and I had to fight to be heard. I advocated for my own testing, pushed through dismissals, and ultimately got the life-saving treatment I needed. That fight should not be so hard for anyone. Yet for so many, especially Black women, it is. The app will guide patients through their appointments, help them track symptoms and red flags, understand their rights, and offer scripts for speaking up, turning fear into empowerment.

This year, my goal is to finalize the app’s design and begin piloting it in partnership with maternal health organizations, hospitals, and support groups. I am currently in the process of securing funding and refining its features based on feedback from community members and medical advisors. This tool, once launched, will serve as a lifeline for patients who feel lost, dismissed, or afraid to ask the hard questions.

What motivates me is knowing that I am not alone in these struggles and that I can create something that helps others feel less alone too. I want to take my pain and transform it into pathways, real, accessible resources that people can hold onto in their darkest moments. Education and technological innovation will play a major role in that transformation, and I am committed to using what I learn this school year to equip my community with tools for advocacy, wellness, and survival.

In short, I am driven by lived experience, sustained by community, and inspired by the belief that storytelling, strategy, and self-advocacy can save lives. This scholarship would not only ease my path forward. It would allow me to uplift others with me.