Episode #41
Body Literacy and Body Sovereignty for Black Girls
Send us Fan Mail Black women have the right to be understood, protected, and celebrated rather than dismissed, and the healthiest Black women begin as informed Black girls! Today, we welcome the founder of Aflo Health Foundation, Lisa Monroe, to discuss culturally responsive education and how she is empowering Black girls and women to advocate for their health through every stage of life. In this conversation, you’ll hear all about Lisa’s impressive 18-year career, when she became aware of the unique challenges Black women face in healthcare, what made her want to help Black girls grow into women who know and trust their bodies, and so much more! We delve into Aflo Health Foundation and how her daughters inspired its creation before discussing the concept of ‘body sovereignty’ and why it’s essential. Our guest touches on the exclusion of Black girls and women in mainstream healthcare, what culturally responsive health education looks like in practice, and how body confidence and understanding shift for Black women when they reclaim their lineage. She also talks us through her ‘empower, learn, and share’ model and tells us about her programs that support Black girls as they grow into women. Lisa even reminds us that healing begins with reconnecting to yourself and shares how she takes care of herself. Finally, she tells us what she hopes this work will achieve in the near future and reads us her own love letter to her body. Thanks for tuning in! Key Points From This Episode: • Welcoming Lisa Monroe to the show and a bit about her career. • When she became passionate about changing Black women’s health outcomes. • What inspired her to create Aflo Health Foundation and what ‘Aflo’ means. • A breakdown of what ‘body sovereignty’ means and why it’s so important. • Culturally responsive health education and how it includes Black women. • What shifts for Black women when they start to understand their lineage. • The three pillars of the Aflo model: Empower, learn, and share. • What Body Sovereignty Camp is and what the girls learn from the experience. • How the A Flow Code and Aflo XOXO programs meet girls in different seasons. • The kinds of questions Lisa is seeing girls ask and how she handles them. • What Lisa would say to a woman who wishes she had access to what she’s building. • Why healing the body begins with knowing it and how Lisa takes care of herself. • The world our guest is building towards with the work she is doing. • What a young Black girl’s love letter to her body should include. Quotes: “The real protection isn’t shielding – our girls from the world, that’s not realistic. It’s preparing them to move confidently through it.” — Lisa Monroe [0:06:05] “Our bodies deserve to be understood and celebrated and protected rather than feared and shamed.” — Lisa Monroe [0:07:51] “Our bodies aren’t problems to solve; they’re gifts we should understand and cherish, and I want every Black girl to grow up believing that.” — Lisa Monroe [0:08:10] “I believe something beautiful happens when a girl realizes [she’s] part of a much larger story.” — Lisa Monroe [0:13:38] “We can’t change what we weren’t taught, but we can choose what we reclaim and what we pass on from this moment forward.” — Lisa Monroe [0:21:36] “One of the biggest mistakes we’ve made is believing we have to wait until Black women become patients before investing in their health.” — Lisa Monroe [0:26:17] Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Lisa Monroe on LinkedIn Aflo Health Foundation Gwendolyn Mitchell on LinkedIn MOYO Institute, Inc Love Letters 2 Our Bodies is sponsored by Moyo Institute, Inc and the Lloyd Symington Foundation Gwendolyn Mitchell on LinkedIn MOYO Institute, Inc instagram.com/moyoinstitute
