Brandi Sims Desjolais serves as Co-Founder and Co-Director of BMHCE.

A Howard University graduate, Brandi went on to receive her doctorate in education leadership at UCLA. Her research focused on university campuses as sites of Black reproductive justice.

She also studied public health at the Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública in Havana, Cuba, where she learned first-hand about the Cuban Maternity Home model, and is a certified doula and lactation educator.

Brandi has over 12 years of experience designing and leading initiatives in education, health, and philanthropy.

She sits on the LA County African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative (AAIMM) Steering Committee, the organization that partnered with Charles Drew University (CDU) to create BMHCE.

Given her educational and professional background, Brandi brings a deep understanding of the Black maternal health crisis and how to achieve solutions for reproductive justice.