United Bodies

The Power and Potential of Grief With Wanda Irving

February 05, 2024 Kendall Ciesemier
The Power and Potential of Grief With Wanda Irving
United Bodies
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United Bodies
The Power and Potential of Grief With Wanda Irving
Feb 05, 2024
Kendall Ciesemier

We are living in a time of collective mourning. Millions of people are mourning loved ones lost to COVID, others are mourning those lost to rampant gun violence or police brutality, and still others are mourning the smaller or slower losses: the loss of progressive illness, relationships, jobs. It can feel like everywhere we turn, there’s new loss. 


Grief is long, complicated, isolating, and devastating. It’s also something that we will all experience. So then, the question becomes, if so many of us are experiencing such profound loss in our lives, why isn’t it easier to talk about? 


Joining today is Wanda Irving, Co-Founder of Dr. Shalon’s Maternal Action Project. Wanda knows grief well. After losing all three of her children, Wanda decided to channel her grief into alleviating Black maternal health disparities, to specifically address the loss of her daughter, Dr. Shalon who died from complications surrounding childbirth. Wanda joins to discuss grief and how she’s used it to spark a movement.

Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript and more.

For more, follow: 

@Dr.Shalons_MAP

@KendallCiesemier

@Ms_Magazine

Show Notes

We are living in a time of collective mourning. Millions of people are mourning loved ones lost to COVID, others are mourning those lost to rampant gun violence or police brutality, and still others are mourning the smaller or slower losses: the loss of progressive illness, relationships, jobs. It can feel like everywhere we turn, there’s new loss. 


Grief is long, complicated, isolating, and devastating. It’s also something that we will all experience. So then, the question becomes, if so many of us are experiencing such profound loss in our lives, why isn’t it easier to talk about? 


Joining today is Wanda Irving, Co-Founder of Dr. Shalon’s Maternal Action Project. Wanda knows grief well. After losing all three of her children, Wanda decided to channel her grief into alleviating Black maternal health disparities, to specifically address the loss of her daughter, Dr. Shalon who died from complications surrounding childbirth. Wanda joins to discuss grief and how she’s used it to spark a movement.

Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript and more.

For more, follow: 

@Dr.Shalons_MAP

@KendallCiesemier

@Ms_Magazine