We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vanessa Oliver-Robinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vanessa below.
Hi Vanessa, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
You don’t really find your purpose, your purpose finds you. It became evident that my calling was to assist Black Women with their pregnancy journey’s. After losing my son in 2019 to a preventable pregnancy complication, I knew I had a responsibility to add to the conversation and change we need to see in the medical field to help save black women and babies.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am focused on establishing relationships with other organizations that share similar values as the AYR Project. With all that we have accomplished in almost 3 years, we are still relatively new to the nonprofit world, and it would be beneficial to do some collaborations. Along side the growth of the nonprofit, I am also a self published poet, working on new projects. I’ve been writing poetry my whole life, but what is getting me through my healing journey is writing about my experience, and sharing with the world.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Trusting yourself, knowing who to lean on, and discipline. Trust yourself because your mind and body knows what it needs to heal. Knowing who to lean on while you’re going through a life changing experience will leave you feeling empty or encouraged. Discipline is important, because you must show up for yourself, consistently, with the expectation of learning to live with things that may never go away. I will never “get over” the loss of my first son. So daily, I must show up for myself to create ways that will help me cope with my reality, instead of letting it defeat me.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Absolutely! Id like to collaborate with organization leaders that work in the community of south LA. I’m looking for community leaders, event organizers, social media managers, web designers, and anyone in the south LA community that believes in the cause and want to be a part of the change.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/vaness.ayr
- Instagram: poetic.nes
Image Credits:
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History “women and the movement” exhibit
