We call on our communities to recognize that abolition is not only about tearing down cages but also about building worlds expansive enough to hold our transitions, our elders, and our descendants.
Omisade Burney-Scott
Omisade Burney-Scott (she/her) is a seventh-generation Black Southern feminist, storyteller, and reproductive justice advocate. She is also the Creator and Chief Curatorial Officer of The Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause (BGG2SM), a multidisciplinary narrative and culture shift reproductive justice project focused on normalizing menopause by centering the stories of Black women, transgender, and gender-expansive people, as well as other marginalized groups within the Global Majority. The core program offerings by BGG2SM include a podcast that provides guidance and support for marginalized communities through the various stages of menopause, curated intergenerational storytelling gatherings, and a digital zine titled "Messages from the Menopausal Multiverse."
She has been featured in prominent media outlets, including Slow Factory's Everything is Political, Ms. Magazine, Vogue, NPR, InStyle Magazine, The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, Blavity, and The New York Times. Over the past 30 years, Omisade’s work has been grounded in social justice movement spaces focused on the liberation of marginalized people, beginning with her own community.
Omisade is a 1989 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. She currently serves on advisory boards for Elektra Health and the Honey Pot Company Pulse Experts. In 2023, she was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations, enabling her to expand the storytelling work of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause. Her work will now involve partnering with formerly incarcerated, system-impacted, and neurodivergent individuals, as well as social justice and mental health organizations that serve those community members to further elevate the health inequities experienced by marginalized menopausal Black people. She resides in North Carolina and is a proud mother of two lovely sons.
