August 25-31 marks the 8th annual Black Breastfeeding Week in the US and the 3rd in the UK. The week aims to spotlight the benefits of breastfeeding while championing black mothers around the world – and to mark the occasion, we’re spotlighting three black influencers offering unique perspectives on and contributions to the parenting conversation.
Feature portrait: Tekie Quaye by @ninagoksphotography.
Tekie Quaye (@born__together)
Tekie Quaye is a doula and architect of a beautifully warm-toned Insta-feed, packed with celebratory images of other mothers as well as her own motherhood experience. She also founded the Born Together podcast, which is about ‘sharing stories and looking to embrace, explore and illustrate the ways in which we are connected through… our unique narrative within this shared experience’. Her work as a doula lends additional weight to her insights, which span everything from the challenges and rewards of breastfeeding to the need to decolonise maternal care. Look, listen, learn and love. Photo by @the_woman_and_the_wolf.
Chaneen Saliee (@chaneensaliee)
London-based Chaneen Saliee started her company, @chicanddiscreet, to create practical clothing for breastfeeding mothers that doesn’t compromise on style. Recognising that breastfeeding is a ‘conversation’ as much as a movement, her designs are intended to empower the wearer emotionally and physically – while her sense of style and inspirational representation of motherhood saw her featured in Vogue UK and Vogue Italia.
Bri McDaniel (@moonandcheeze)
Pacific Northwest resident Bri McDaniel is a documentarian whose photographs blend naturalism and more stylised portraiture. The result is an evolving series of fascinating images that evoke the emotional and spiritual truths of motherhood and the Black experience in a deeply personal way. Even better, a selection of her work is available to buy via her website, while she also takes commissions – as you’d expect, her wedding photography is amazing.
