This Founder Created Maternal Health Platform Wolomi So Black Mothers Will Have A Better Chance At Surviving Childbirth

The inception of the platform started with her own pregnancy journey. George did not want to associate death with her experience. So, she worked to create the best outcome for herself that included a provider who cared about ensuring she would not be another statistic.

George also went away on a six-month sabbatical, where she hoped to receive the same evidence-based level of care she saw while working as a labor and delivery nurse in the Midwest. Fortunately, she did.

“Death is one thing when we talk about maternal health. But we as women of color and Black women specifically, we don’t always enjoy that journey,” George told AfroTech. “I wanted to have a journey that was something that I could enjoy versus, ‘Oh my gosh, panic mode.’ It’s so sad that when we get pregnant, one of the first things that we think about is, ‘Am I gonna die?’ That’s not what it should be about. It should be about having a joyful experience.”

Now, George is working to ensure other women can take control of their pregnancy journey to receive the best outcome possible through Wolomi. The platform first started as a nonprofit organization and grew into an application to keep mothers connected.

It provides mothers with a sense of community through events, access to health experts, and resources that solve health-related issues, according to the company’s website. In addition, the platform provides “weekly moments,” that will send important information, written by a Black midwife, on what mothers need to consider along their journey.

What’s more, it’s a free resource and removes a barrier of accessibility for expectant mothers who may not be covered by their insurance to access a midwife or simply do not have the funds for this care.

“So, this idea of interdisciplinary care — if you go to other countries who are doing better than us in maternal health, you will see that they use both midwife and OB together in the maternal healthcare [space]. That is one of the things for us that was very important. So, how do we bring back this idea of midwifery that was very loved in our Black community many, many years ago?” George said.

She continued: “For us, we started to work with a great midwife and started to write curriculums in our app. So, when you download the app, you get something called a weekly moment that’s written by a midwife, by a Black woman.”

While George is actively doing the groundwork to improve the maternal health arena, she hopes to see more support through dollars investing in innovators working to create positive maternal experiences.

“[There should be] more federal dollars into innovation for companies like mine. More recognition that there are people like us who have had lived experience, who understand the community that we serve, who have a product out there that needs to be supported,” George told AfroTech.

These federal dollars would accelerate Wolomi’s efforts and mission for expectant mothers to have a pregnancy experience that is not rooted in fear but instead in victory.

“We are hoping to continue to enlarge our community, and we are hoping to have a community that’s vibrant,” she explained.

George also admitted that it’s not an easy feat to achieve.

“That’s not easy work, especially for not a well-funded company, but that’s work that we are dedicated to,” she said. “We want to go out and raise funds and continue to expand on the outcomes. In our work right now, we are getting a lot of good outcomes, and we just wanna make sure that we’re expanding it in the right way.”

To watch the full interview with Wolomi’s founder Layo George, head to Blavity TV.