Let’s face it.
As Black women, most of us have unfortunately had medical system horror stories. And if we haven’t faced them ourselves, we’ve heard stories from our sisters, mothers, friends, and even celebrities. For one, Serena Wiliams has discussed at length her near death birthing experience, due to an emergency C-section, in 2017.
With that, it’s so important that, when we find safe medical spaces, we cling to them, we protect them, and we know them.
Speaking of this, insert: Sela, a brand new, Black-owned women’s health clinic in the heart of Harlem, launched earlier this month by founder Kayalin Akens-Irby. The functional medicine company provides everything from colonics and blood work to OB/GYN appointments, facials, botox, and more—perfect for women facing menopause, perimenopause, PCOS, and everything else in between.
And the team behind the services is just as stellar. Led by Medical Director Dr. Sophia Lubin, OB/GYN, every appointment is vetted by an expert and catered to your needs. In other words, you’ll leave each appointment fully seen and heard, as opposed to feeling like another transaction.
As for the inspiration behind Sela, as you can imagine, for the California-raised, now Harlem-based founder, Akens-Irby, it stemmed from personal experience. “When she was 18, my younger sister’s pain was dismissed by our healthcare system,” she shares. “This resulted in having an emergency surgery and losing her ovary. It made me start asking ‘why does every woman I know have a story just like this? And what can I do about it?’”
Additionally, for such a groundbreaking business, the name had to be meaningful, too. Sela is derived from the Hebrew word “Selah,” and, as Akens-Irby says, “shows up in the music in Psalms and means, ‘a sacred pause, or to lift up.’” For Akens-Irby, “that is exactly what Sela stands for: slowing down, listening, and uplifting women,” she says. “It informs our approach to care. Where the system rushes, we slow down. Where the system dismisses, we listen. Where the system tears down, we lift women up.”
And, although this is Akens-Irby’s first foré into the women’s health world, she’s certainly no stranger to service work. For instance, she’s worked everywhere from the first impact investment and private equity spaces to working on solving climate change, and building Planet FWD. “I’ve always viewed myself as a systems healer,” she adds. “I grew up low income and homeless at times so I saw how broken systems affect people first hand. I’ve worked on solving those issues my whole career,” she says. “Finding ways to reshape broken systems to work better for people is my North Star.”
While Akens-Irby has already done so much throughout her career, she’s only just getting started. On the heels of Sela’s launch and their first-ever event, recently in partnership with LOLA, Akens-Irby is already looking to what’s next. “Doing a grand reopening after we remodel is something I’m really excited about—just to invite people into the space,” she shares.
“I just get excited about showing up to work every day and going into the clinic and meeting the women whose lives that we impact,” she adds. “I genuinely cry on a daily, weekly basis just because the women that come through are oftentimes ones who have been turned away, dismissed, given false diagnoses, and have felt really alone due to other experiences. And once they get to Sela and they feel heard, feel seen and get the answers they need, seeing that change in them, that visibly happens over the first few weeks of working together, is the thing that keeps me excited every single day.”
Author: Akili King
Read the original article on Essence.
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