Who we are
We, as black mothers, know that in an organic garden, the reason predators don’t ravage the plants is because care has been taken to balance the environment and nourish the plants so that they can grow to their fullest potential. A vigorous plant has the immune system to fend off and control predators, as does a well-nourished and robust body. It’s time to balance our black community and nourish us with knowledge and wisdom informed by our ancestors’ wisdom and that which has been discovered by science. We have come together to do our part in facilitating that balance in cooperation with the strong black men in our lives and our community. The black community has everything it needs to heal and thrive, and We are rising!
Dr. Sheila L Ealey
Sheila Lewis Ealey is the founder and former director of Louisiana’s Creative Learning Center, where she served for ten years. It was a small therapeutic day school for severely affected children on the autism spectrum and children diagnosed with other nonverbal intellectual disabilities beginning at age 8. She is the wife of a former United States Coast Guard Officer, spending more than 16 years of his 26 years of service traveling worldwide, supporting his love and duty to our country. She is also the mother of four children, three daughters, her son, Temple, diagnosed with severe autism spectrum disorder at 18 months, and has a granddaughter. Temple is now a young man and considered moderate and emerging.
Over the past 20 years, she has educated herself to use natural forms of healing the body and brain through diet, educational and therapeutic modalities, and a gamut of biomedical treatments. Her formal education includes a BA in Mass Communication from St. Mary’s Dominican College, an MA in Curriculum and Instruction in special education grades K through 12 from Concordia University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership in Special Education grades K through 12 from Gwynedd Mercy University. She is certified as a DIR Stanley Greenspan Floortime Practitioner, in Interactive Metronome, and as a Fast Forward Reading Interventionist.
Sheila and her boy and girl twins, Temple and Lucinda, were featured in the documentary “Vaxxed, and in the documentary “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid.” She has traveled extensively, advocating for medical freedom as a Constitutionalist and inspirational speaker. She continues to educate disenfranchised parents about their fundamental rights to religious and philosophical exemptions, their ability to live sustainably off a limited budget, and the importance of nutritional foods and biomedical interventions for optimum health after a diagnosis of autism or other learning disabilities such as ADD or ADHD. She also writes individual curriculums for parents of children with autism or intellectual disorders who choose to homeschool. Dr. Ealey is a Trustee for the Autism Trust, USA, and a Board Director for Children’s Health Defense Organization, an international not-for-profit founded by Robert Kennedy, Jr., whose mission is to end childhood health epidemics and is an Associate Content Developer for Stand For Health Freedom, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
Sumayyah Simone
Sumayyah Simone became intrigued with science and how science knowledge can enhance the inner workings of the human mind, relationships, and social norms as a teenager. As a high school student, she developed a fascination with the inner workings of how social science and physical science appeared to be connected and interchangeable within the human construct leading her to study psychology in college. After getting her degree in psychology,
Sumayyah worked as a child advocate within the foster care system for several years. During this time, she witnessed the devastation of the complete breakdown of the family structure and the detrimental psychological effects on the children she served. She resolved herself to find meaningful methods to infuse a solid, loving family foundation and the community structure these children required back into the Black family unit in the hopes of enabling these children to grow into successful contributing adults, something the state cannot substitute. She lives by the mantra that families must be upheld and encouraged in our culture to nourish and care for their children. Following her work within the social work field, Sumayyah spent 12 years as an entrepreneur in her own photography studio specializing in images of pregnancy, childhood, and the family.
Sumayyah was fortunate to grow up hearing the oral history of her ancestors and be raised by a mother with solid ideas about health and how each generation could improve and evolve out of a toxic family culture. Her mother’s influence and thoughts about how people never utilize their full brainpower or live up to their full potential led her to believe that how children begin their lives and how they are educated impacts their future. Therefore, when she and her husband decided to start their family, the decision was made to become a stay-at-home mother of her daughter and son, and to homeschool them, which are decisions she has never regretted. Community building came naturally to her. She used her entrepreneurial skills to organize coops, award-winning robotics teams, and other apprenticeship opportunities she and her husband wanted for their children. If it didn’t exist, they built it!
As a co-founder of My Black Health, Sumayyah brings with her painful memories of how medical racism can create life-altering decisions. When pregnant with her eldest child, she was told that she had a uterine abruption during her second trimester and that the pregnancy had to be terminated despite sonograms that showed a baby playfully doing somersaults. Thankfully, her OBGYN stood by her even while his career was being threatened. Years later, she realized that they might have performed the procedure without her permission had her doctor agreed with their diagnosis. Her mission through My Black Health is focused on examining the disparities in the healthcare of Black people as she teaches and empowers them to take responsibility for their health and that of their family members. She realizes that so much of the suffering within the Black community is because of what we do not understand about ourselves.
