Nationwide — According to the World Health Organization, 800 mothers die every day from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth. In the U.S., Black mothers are more than 3.5 times more likely to face this tragedy. Despite advances in healthcare and technology, Black maternal deaths are at their highest rate in decades.
This is a completely avoidable crisis that one veteran labor and delivery nurse is refusing to ignore. Aneesha Smith, a registered nurse with nearly a quarter century of clinical labor and birthing experience, is taking action. Using her own funds, she has created Kindred Connect, an ecosystem to support mothers inside and outside the delivery room by launching an online environment to raise awareness, support doulas, uplift childbirth educators, and provide spaces for maternal health professionals who care for Black families before, during, and after birth.
“I’ve seen it firsthand for over 20 years — Black mothers aren’t being heard, and it’s our babies and families who pay the price,” Smith says. “Now, I’ve chosen to raise the alarm and build systems that support the very people who support our mothers.”
In a landscape where Black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes, Smith’s approach tackles the crisis from multiple angles—leveraging her healthcare expertise and entrepreneurial skills to empower birth workers who can directly improve outcomes.
Smith understands firsthand what it means to manage family at home while caring for families at work. As the founder of Reflections By Zana, a seven-figure online healthcare accessories brand she started while working as a nurse, she employed her own children in the online business, blending entrepreneurship with legacy-building and modeling what it means to serve with purpose.
At the center of her most recent mission is Kindred Connections 360: Maternal Health Hub, an online directory and community that increases visibility for birth workers, offers free business resources, and creates spaces for professionals to connect and collaborate. It pairs with Kindred Connect, a business management platform that helps maternal health professionals manage 80% of their business in one place, with tools to welcome and manage new clients, handle money confidently, track care statistics, and build and maintain websites.
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