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Erica Chidi brings sex education to your fingertips

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Erica Chidi has long had a desire to help women and other people feel more comfortable of their bodies. Growing up, “I was always the girl that people asked questions about their health” – founding father of women’s health app LOOM, explains ESSENCE. “I have always felt a great connection to women and helping them with their bodies,” continues the Nigerian-American entrepreneur.

After LOOM was a physical space in Los Angeles from 2017 to 2019 and offered classes on topics akin to sex and periods, the organization has now switched to the LOOM app. Now all your growing health questions are at your fingertips with weekly podcast episodes, day by day health news digests and more. “We really set out to digitize the experiences we had in the physical space,” he says. “The app makes it accessible to everyone with evidence-based, factual and trusted information and real stories from women around the world about reproductive and sexual health.”

The journey to get here was quite a feat for Chidi. Shortly after LOOM was launched in 2017, Katerina Schneider – founding father of the complement brand Ritual – inspired Chidi to keep going. “She told me that she thought I was helping people with really important things,” Chidi says. “She helped me get to know the investor for the first time.” From there, Chidi managed to raise $3 million in 2020 – becoming the thirty fourth Black woman to ever raise over $1 million – which went towards constructing the platform she has today.

Erica Chidi brings sex education to your fingertips

Before LOOM, Chidi thought she wanted to turn out to be an art curator after earning a BA in Art History in South Africa. After graduating within the early 2000s, she moved into fashion and interned at places like Alberta Ferretti and PR firm BPCM. After coping with acrimony within the industry and her own mental health struggles, Chidi was inspired to return to South Africa to rethink her goals. “My dad thought it would be great if I considered a career in midwifery because it would be a mix of things I cared about,” she recalled.

After that conversation, Chidi decided to train as a doula with a midwife while also doing reproductive justice work in a San Francisco prison. In recent years, Chidi has written books akin to Meanwhile, you may as well find her on Goop Podcast and vulnerably sharing their very own health struggles with fibroids online. “I think it’s important to remind people that they are not alone,” she says. “I also wanted more women to know about it and feel more comfortable talking about it, because I think a big and unfortunate part of the disease is not being able to talk about it.”

And with years of serving and educating your community, a solid self-care practice becomes more vital. For Chidi, this includes regular exercise, meditation, and day by day walks. In-depth skincare – specializing in the fight against discoloration LED Light Therapy by Dr. Dennis Gross and Biologiqie Recherche products – are also vital. “For me, self-care is non-negotiable, especially as a neurodiverse and interdisciplinary person,” she explains. “I think the only way I can function properly is by taking care of myself. I have made taking care of myself a hobby.”

Next up for Chidi and LOOM? There can be several in-person events that may happen down the pike. “There will be a much greater focus on ensuring women get the care they need and less on gathering in social spaces,” she says. “But we will still make time for some fun moments IRL.” Regardless, Chidi is just excited to proceed empowering women to deal with themselves. “This has always been the motivation for my work,” he says. “It’s helping people.”


This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

Instagram Takes ‘Protect Your Peace’ to the Next Level by Creating Teen-Friendly Accounts

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Those who’ve been lobbying for Instagram to introduce higher rules for teens could be pleased to know that the social media platform has taken motion. The Meta-owned brand has over a billion energetic accounts and has created one for teens. Instagram Teen accounts are designed for teens aged 13 to 17 and are meant to be a safer platform for them to engage with social media. Starting today, all latest and existing account holders under the age of 18 might be transitioned to a teen account.

Anyone under 16 will need parental or guardian consent to open an account, and there are regulated supervision tools available. However, children aged 16 and over can adjust the settings themselves. While it is a thoughtful feature, there may be a risk that teenagers will lie about their age when opening accounts.

“We know that some teens will try to lie about their age to get around these protections,” Antigone Davis, Meta’s global head of security, told The Verge. “So we’re going to be building new capabilities to verify teens’ ages.” One way they’ll try this is by using AI to search for clues that an account holder is under 18.

Other features include automatic privatization of adlescent accounts. Account holders is not going to have the opportunity to receive messages from people they don’t follow or should not connected to.

“It really standardizes a lot of the work we’ve done, simplifies it, and makes it available to all teens,” Davis said. “It basically provides a set of safeguards that are already in place and already populated.”

There can also be the issue of teens being exposed to inappropriate content via Explore. The latest platform addresses this issue with sensitive content controls that be sure that content that appears on Explore and Reels has limited sensitive content. Additionally, the feature allows teens to select topics that interest them, so that they see more of that content on Explore. Offensive words and phrases might be filtered out in comment sections and DM requests via the hidden words feature.

Some studies show social media use in adolescence is related to poor sleep quality, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Meta tries to solve the sleep problem by adding a time management tool like Sleep Mode, which silences notifications at night and sets each day limits and reminders.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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‘Preventable’ death of black mother after complications first linked to abortion ban

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Amber Thurman, Roe v. Wade, theGrio.com

A Black mother died in Georgia after a strict state law banning abortion caused an almost 24-hour delay in her care.

In August 2022, 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman went to a North Carolina clinic to have an abortion, People Magazine reportedShe couldn’t get the procedure in Georgia, where she lived, because she was six weeks pregnant — and after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the state banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The clinic gave her the pregnancy-terminating pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, which she took home to Georgia. A number of days later, Thurman developed a rare complication during which she didn’t expel all of the fetal tissue, according to ProPublicathe editorial office that first reported on her case.

Thurman, a medical assistant and mother of a 6-year-old boy, began experiencing heavy bleeding and pain before she eventually collapsed at home. Her boyfriend called an ambulance and she or he was taken to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge. The remaining tissue caused her to develop a highly dangerous infection often called sepsis.

However, due to Georgia’s anti-abortion laws, doctors didn’t perform a D&C (dilation and curettage). Despite losing consciousness within the hospital room and rapidly deteriorating, she didn’t receive treatment for nearly 24 hours.

ProPublica reports that an official state commission found that doctors waited 20 hours before the surgery while monitoring Thurman’s infection status — during which era her blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels and her organs shut down.

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After her death, a state investigation concluded it was “preventable” — and ProPublica said Thurman’s case is the first known “preventable” case involving an abortion.

The publication notes that it should likely take one other two years to fully understand the impact of Roe v. Wade’s defeat, as many hospitals have a two-year delay in reporting the cause of patient deaths. But it’s not surprising that the first public story is a few black woman. The maternal health crisis continues to disproportionately affect black moms.

What happened to Thurman isn’t only one of the risks of abortion. It may occur in cases of miscarriage, vaginal delivery or cesarean section, according to Mayo ClinicWhen many warned that overturning Roe v. Wade and letting states resolve could have negative impacts on women’s health overall, this is strictly what many feared.

“We actually have proven evidence of something we already knew — that abortion bans kill people,” said Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion rights group Reproductive Freedom for All. Mother Jones on Thurman’s case. “This can’t go on.”

Meanwhile in Georgia, Dr. Krystal “KR” RedmanSPARK co-founder, told the outlet: “Amber’s case is just one example of the ongoing systemic neglect that continues to claim the lives of Black people.”

Redman added: “Reproductive justice is not just about access to abortion, but also about the broader right to high-quality, comprehensive, full-spectrum, culturally modest, life-saving health care for all of us.”

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Quincy shares positive updates about his relationship with his father, Al B. Sure!

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Artist Quincy Brown, the adopted son of Sean “Diddy” Combs, sat down with Angela Yee on her podcast to debate his relationship with his biological father, Al B. Sure! It’s a timely conversation considering Quincy’s father, Diddy, was recently arrested by federal agents in New York. for conspiracy to commit racketeering, sex trafficking by use of force, fraud or coercion, and transportation for the aim of prostitution.

Asked about the status of his relationship with Al B. Sure! following an open letter he wrote to him in 2009, Quincy said they were currently “fine,” adding that he had spoken to him just days earlier when B. Sure!, 56, congratulated him on his latest album ETA.

“It’s a cool relationship,” he said. “He tries to act like a father a lot, but that’s not really where we are in life. We’re buddies, more than anything else,” Brown, 33, added.

Quincy also stated that the character of their relationship is to spend time and do things together. Speaking of which, they were last seen together on the Black Excellence Brunch held on the White House, in order that they did indeed spend a while together.

“I feel like that’s what we’re all about, the awareness that we’re two grown men. We can talk about anything and everything,” he concluded.

If you remember, in 2009, Quincy wrote an open letter to his biological father by which he criticized him for his long-term absence from home.

“Albert Brown, aka ‘Al B Sure!’ is my biological father, but Sean Combs, aka ‘Diddy,’ has been a fatherly figure in my life for as long as I can remember. Sean Combs is someone I respect and appreciate as a father figure,” he said in a lengthy open letter on the time.

With Diddy’s dark past quickly emerging, in March 2024, B. Sure! took to social media to put in writing a brief open letter to his son, reminding him that the door to his house is wide open.

“#LetterToMySon! Come home. [door] is wide open. You’re safe here, son! I love you, Popz, Your Biological,” he wrote within the caption.

Brown was born in 1991 to the late Kim Porter and Al B. Sure! In 2020, the singer revealed that they were also briefly married, surprising many fans. Porter began dating Combs when Quincy was around three years old and eventually adopted him.

We’re glad Quincy has a father he can count on while Diddy stays in custody awaiting trial.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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