Elan Vital

The 2024 theme of Black Breastfeeding Week is Listen Up: Reclaiming Our Narrative and Centering our Stories for Breastfeeding Justice.

B*W was created in 2014 by Black leaders in the breastfeeding field to address the high infant mortality rate among Black people, the lack of diversity in lactation, and cultural barriers to breastfeeding for Black women.

The week highlights efforts and initiatives that support breastfeeding for Black families, and some of this year's events place an emphasis on storytelling and sharing stories about breastfeeding. As a retired Broadway producer, I can attest to the power of sharing a powerful story!

If you have an interest in birth justice for the Black community, I strongly encourage you to attend one of these events and spread the word to amplify these voices and the stories they tell.

Learn more at

*W24

🧠 MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH WEEK + MENTAL HEALTH MONTH means that it’s time for your yearly reminder to take a moment (the theme of this year's Mental Health Month!) every day to prioritize your mental health as much as you prioritize your body’s health.

Becoming a parent is a beautiful and transformative experience.

It can also be overwhelming, stressful, and isolating.

✅ Postpartum depression is normal.
✅ Anxiety and depression related to conception are normal.
✅ Anxiety and depression related to parenting are normal.

Therefore, we should NORMALIZE this experience and continue to raise awareness, offer resources, and promote understanding and empathy for those who are struggling.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has a lot of free resources to help navigate mental health challenges, whether you or a loved one are currently experiencing them. Visit them .

Wherever this post finds you, I hope it serves as a reminder that:

✅ It's okay to not be okay.
✅ Mental challenges are normal.
✅ You deserve support.
✅ Daily mental health hygiene matters.

👉 In the comments, please share your favorite way to Take a Mental Health Moment.

✨ As my name suggests, I am here in service of Élan Vital, the life force energy that, through acts of creation, drives the soul to evolve. While I celebrate and support creativity in all of its expressions, I am especially drawn to birth, that radical act of creation when a soul crosses into the human experience and opens a space for limitless possibility.

👉 What would you like to create this week? How is your spirit being courageous and bold to bring something new into the world? Please share in the comments below.

Ah, this human journey of loving and loosing and loving again.

For Christmas my heart expanded with the birth of my beautiful nephew. For the new year my heart was broken by the death of our deeply beloved cat. In this moment of holding both experiences, I’m noticing how easy it is to love babies and animals unconditionally, so much easier then grown complicated humans. I think it’s their purpose in our lives, to offer a safe space to practice loving with our whole hearts.

His name was Munay, the word used by the Q’ero people of Peru to describe the energy of the heart. He was 16 lbs of fluff and couldn’t have been more adored. Blessings sweetest boy. 🌈✨