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Meet Our Team

Our Staff

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Dana Sherrod, MPH
Co-Founder & Executive Director
dsherrod@phi.org

 
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Natalie Champion
Strategic Partnerships Manager
natalie@cablackbirthjustice.com


 
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Asaiah Harville, MPH, IBCLC
Associate Director, Clinical Strategies & Engagement
aharville@phi.org
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Alimat (Ali) Adebiyi, DrPH, MPH
Quality Improvement Manager

aadebiyi@phi.org

 
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Candice Charles, MPH
Associate Director of Research and Evaluation
ccharles@phi.org
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Marché Howell
Contracts & Operations Manager
mhowell@phi.org

 
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Lauryn Major, MPH
Research & Policy Analyst
lmajor@phi.org

 

Founding Partners

The California Coalition for Black Birth Justice was co-founded by four Black women birth justice leaders in Northern and Southern California (Dana Sherrod, Alexis Cobbins, Solaire Spellen, and Esther Priscilla Ebuehi). CCBBJ has since scaled up into a fiscally sponsored organization and maintains a partnership with founding organizational partners from UCSF Center for Birth Justice (formerly California Preterm Birth Initiative).

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Alexis Cobbins, MSW (she/her)
Coalition Co-Founder
San Francisco Human Services Agency


 
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Esther Priscilla Ebuehi, MS Coalition Co-Founder & Ph.D student
 
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Solaire Spellen, MPH
Coalition Co-Founder 

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Areca Smit, MBA
Supporting Organizational Partner
Executive Director
UCSF Center for Birth Justice
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Selina Lao Mason
Supporting Organizational Partner
Associate Director
UCSF Center for Birth Justice
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2026 Strategic Advisors

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Brittany Chambers Butcher, Ph.D., MPH
Assistant Professor
Department of Human Ecology
University of California, Davis
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Diamond Lee, MSW
Owner and Principal
Liberation by Design
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Jyesha Wren, CNM, RN, MS, BA
Program Director and Midwife
Beloved Birth Collective 

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Nuriya Robinson, MD, FACOG
Medial Director
MAMAs Neighborhood
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
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Raena Granberry
Director, Maternal and Reproductive Health
California Black Women's Health Project
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Danesha "Dani" Wallace
Full Spectrum Community Doula/ Community Health Worker
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Jadah Parks Chatterjee, RN, IBCLC
Registered Nurse, Lactation Consultant
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Leslie McFarlane, LCM,CBE, CLEC
Co-Founder and Executive Director

Around Birth Collective
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Onyemma Obiekea, MPH, JD
Policy Consultant
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Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH
Principal, Birth Justice and Perinatal Equity
Public Works Alliance
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Devona Robertson, IBCLC
Doula and Lactation Consultant
Sankofa Birthworkers Collective
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Mashariki Kudumu, MPH
Founder & Prinicpal Consultant
Kudumu Partnerships for Equity and Justice 
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Pooja Mittal, DO
Chief Health Equity Officer
Health Net
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Sayida Peprah-Wilson, PsyD
Founder/ Executive Director 
Diversity Uplifts
 
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Zea Malawa, MD, MPH
Physician Director
Expecting Justice
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The California Coalition for Black Birth Justice is a statewide collective of birth equity and reproductive justice experts who are creating strategic, coordinated efforts to accelerate birth justice across California. The California Coalition for Black Birth Justice is fiscally sponsored by the Public Health Institute, an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life, and was co-founded in partnership with the California Preterm Birth Initiative.
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©2023-2026, California Coalition for Black Birth Justice. All Rights Reserved.
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