Women are being forced out of the workforce if they chose to be a mother and this phenomenon is contributing to the normalization of "tradwife" culture. I'll explain why I know this to be true. I am a Public Health major. I study Public Health because I have seen how policy can decide who gets to thrive, and who gets a barrier placed in their way. I minor in Women and Gender studies because I am a single mother, the villain of public welfare policies. I started at community college and transferred to UNC-Asheville where I have maintained a 3.7 GPA while raising a child, working, and attending school full time. Being a single mother in college has shown me how the systems around women really work. Childcare costs, rigid schedules, and eligibility rules can punish progress and make it hard to keep going. Many women like myself don't leave school or work because we lack ambition. We leave because the math stops working and demands pull us in all directions. I now study these systems from the inside. At UNCA's Health Policy Research Consortium, I had the opportunity to sit in on a research team focused on economic opportunities for women where childcare was identified as an overlooked social determinant of health. My work included an in depth literature review as a research intern and I learned this: Most research treats childcare subsidies as a tool to help families pay for care. Few people ask what they mean for the providers, most of them women with children, who run and staff childcare programs. Finding that gap taught me that good questions are the first step toward policy research, and that overlooked questions often concern more insidious experiences. For many of us mothers, childcare is the deciding factor of whether or not we are able to participate in the workforce, school, or self-care. My academic goals follow directly from this internship. I am on track to graduate in Fall 2027, and I am preparing for the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) exam so I leave UNC Asheville with a professional credential. After graduation, I intend to pursue Masters in public health, then build a career in research and policy in Appalachia where I am from, where childcare providers and families like mine most need evidence that reflects their reality. This scholarship would help me get there. Balancing a child, work, and full-time enrollment leaves little margin, and financial support would let me protect the time I spend on research and coursework. It would help me finish on schedule and enter graduate school with momentum. I have already shown ambition, drive, and impact by staying in school when our current system made it hard to stay. I want to build policy that makes it easier for the next generation. This scholarship would help me carry that work further.

Maternal mortality is a modern-day issue that could be addressed with historical womens figures. There are many preventable deaths that continue to occur due to gaps in healthcare access, medical neglect, and systemic inequities. These deaths disproportionately impact marginalized communities. To address the maternal mortality disparities, I would form a task force of Dana Raphael, Cecile Richards, and Henrietta Lacks. While Dana Raphael is not a famous historical figure, her impacts on maternal healthcare was huge. She is someone who heavily influenced the care of mothers through her anthropological perspective on the social and relational dimensions of childbirth. She would bring critical knowledge to the ways in which doulas and community-based care are protective factors in maternal health. Her works reframed childbirth as not only a medical event but also a deeply social experience that is also known as "Matrescence". Cecile Richards, who recently passed in 2025, would contribute expertise in reproductive healthcare access and political advocacy through her leadership in reproductive health organizations. She spent her life advocating for the expansion of access to essential maternal and reproductive services, which is central to reducing preventable maternal deaths. Her political background would be a huge strength within this team. Henrietta Lacks, whom died of cervical cancer, is the mother of "HeLa" cells. In some ways, she is still alive. I would bring her back as the spokesperson for this team. I believe giving her a chance to represent the historical perspective on how women’s bodies have been used in medical research without consent would highlight the importance of trust and equity in healthcare and research practices. These issues directly shape maternal health disparities today. Together, this group of historical figures bring a multidimensional approach to the maternal mortality crisis by combining matrescence, structural advocacy, and ethical accountability in medicine. Dana Raphael centers the importance of relational and community-based care in childbirth, ensuring that emotional, cultural, and social support are treated as essential components of maternal health. Cecile Richards strengthens the group’s capacity to address policy barriers and expand equitable access to reproductive and maternal healthcare at a systemic level. Henrietta Lacks grounds the work in a powerful historical and ethical lens, reminding the team of the consequences of medical exploitation and the urgent need to rebuild trust between healthcare systems and the communities they serve. I believe that having this team research Dana's theory of Matrescence would change the world of maternal health as we know it today.