Putting the Fate of the World in the Hands of Moms

Does the health of future generations depend on empowering women? 1,000 Days Founder and Executive Director Lucy Martinez Sullivan and noted sommelier and Society Fair (Alexandria, VA) General Manager Nadine Brown talk to Debbie and Billy Shore about the long-term consequences of poor nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood. Sullivan shares that this is the period when a child’s brain development is crucial. “If we care about kids… we actually have to care about their mothers. If we don’t get kids off to the right start, we’re going to pay for that later down the road in higher health care costs and lower economic productivity,” she explains. Unfortunately, Brown sees today’s political climate working against women and families that struggle with food security. “[There’s a belief that] you’ve done something to put yourself in this place - there’s a little bit of blame,” she says.

 

Both guests are daughters of immigrant mothers who helped set them on the right path and also mothers themselves. They agree that motherhood inspires them to advocate for childhood nutrition and food security. “When I started this work, it was sort of an intellectual passion. Then when I got pregnant and went through that journey myself, it became an emotional passion,” says Sullivan. Brown also believes becoming a mother deepened her sense of community. “Feeding people is such a personal thing, giving people nourishment, feeding people is love,” she says. “I think everybody feels that tremendous sense of responsibility when they have a child. They feel responsibility for everybody in a way they didn’t before,” concludes Debbie Shore.

 

Get inspired by this deeply personal conversation among fierce advocates for children.