Originally published by Flow Space.

Omisade Burney-Scott is a seventh-generation Black Southern feminist, storyteller and reproductive justice advocate on a mission to redefine menopause—and make room for the most marginalized in the now-booming menopause space.

Burney-Scott has spent more than four decades in the nonprofit space, including two decades as an organizational development and capacity-building consultant. Her deep background in social justice organizing and movement-building led her, in 2019, to founding The Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause (BGG2SM), a multidisciplinary narrative and culture shift project centering the menopause experiences of Black women, transgender, gender-expansive people and other marginalized groups of the Global Majority. (Burney-Scott also serves on the boards of the Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom and the National Menopause Foundation, as well as the Honey Pot Company Pulse Panel.)

BGG2SM creates peer learning exchanges through partnerships with social justice organizations, cultural organizers and creatives; produces The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause Podcast, which provides guidance and support through the various stages of menopause; curates and hosts intergenerational storytelling gatherings; and releases an annual zine, “Messages from the Menopausal Multiverse.” This October, that multiverse will convene at Iranti Ẹ̀jẹ̀: Remembering Blood, an intergenerational global gathering in Durham, North Carolina focused on the menopause experiences, insights and strength of Black, Indigenous, People of Color and LGBTQIA+ individuals. 

Iranti Ẹ̀jẹ̀ will feature speakers—including Alexis Pauline Gumbs, adrienne maree brown, Sonya Renee Taylor and Austin Smith—and workshops on subjects including Indigenous menopause practices, the power of herbs for menopausal folks, menopause and sexual pleasure, the currency of menopause, healing practices for menopausal folks, and how to expand the menopause conversation. 

I talked to Burney-Scott about the urgency of changing the narrative around menopause, her journey to seeding a menopause movement, and the power that she knows will come from convening Iranti Ẹ̀jẹ̀.

Read the interview on Flow Space.