DUKEISEVERYWHERE Baltimore 2,658 ALUMNI:
INSTAGRAM: @_therenee
Sydney Allen
Whitney Robinson ’08, top step right, began The Renée, a “lab” for Black women navigating pregnancy, after her own experiences of suffering a miscarriage at twenty-three weeks and son Elijah spending 102 days in a NICU after his birth. Using the skill developed through her background as a computer science major and a former UX designer, Robinson gathers small groups across the country to do what The Renée, meaning “reborn,” implies: create their own empowered experience as they become mothers. Through a series of design-thinking exercises, she helps them share personal stories to identify pain points in their pregnancy journey, define a common problem, and create solutions to address the problem during and following childbirth. Her hope is to see real improvement that leads to closing the gaps in maternal health-care disparities. Currently, Black mothers die in the U.S. from childbirth complications three to four more times the rate of White mothers. “Let’s not wait around until the ‘powers that be’ figure us out,” Robinson says. “We have a wealth of experiences within ourselves to realize change.” n
