At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.
Essence Williams’ midwifery journey began
13 years ago when she was an undergraduate at Haverford College completing a semester abroad at the University of the West Indies in St. Michael Barbados. She took a course in women’s studies and her final project was on nurse-midwifery.
The instructor was so intrigued by Essence’s passion for the project that she connected her with the Barbados Nurses Association Midwives Group. After meeting the Bajan nurse-midwives, Essence interned with them at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados. She had the opportunity to shadow a home birth midwife in a rural area and work on her ethnographic research for her senior thesis.
Essence had an incredible experience abroad working with traditional midwives. “I learned about their physiologic birth practices and postpartum rituals, herbal remedies and the hands-on personal care and support that they provided for women and their families,” she shared. “Studying abroad with the midwives literally transformed my whole outlook on women’s health care. At that point, I knew I had found my calling. When I returned to the states, I knew I needed to do whatever it took to become a midwife. I have been working, interning, volunteering and studying in the field of maternity since that time.”
Another reason Essence wanted to become a nurse-midwife was to preserve a family tradition. Her great-grandmother was a granny midwife. She was one of the only black midwives in Dade County, Florida, and delivered more than 500 babies in the 1930s and 1940s. She passed away before Essence was born, but her legacy as a holistic midwife, good mother, wife, advisor, spiritual leader and healer lives on.
“My great-grandmother will always be my inspiration, and I know her spirit continues to watch over me throughout my midwifery journey,” said Essence. “I am not only pursuing a career in midwifery because it’s my calling and my passion, but I am also doing it to make my family proud …and keep the legacy of midwifery alive in my family.”
Today, in addition to being an FNU student, Essence provides public health nursing services in the Philadelphia area to first-time pregnant women and their families who are enrolled in the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) Program affiliated with National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC) . Most of her clients are 15 to 42 years of age, and many come from vulnerable populations in underserved communities and are underinsured or uninsured with limited access to prenatal care options, resources and services.
“Part of my job as a public health nurse is to provide education, support and advocacy by helping my clients access resources in the community that can better serve their needs during pregnancy and during the postpartum period,” said Essence.
Essence conducts home visits with women and their children until the child reaches two years of age. Additionally, she teaches maternal-child health maintenance & safety, parenting & life skills, and Partners In Parenting Education (P.I.P.E.) Activities. She also performs prenatal, postpartum and child development (Ages & Stages) assessments in the home. Essence is a Certified Childbirth Educator and Certified Breastfeeding Counselor affiliated with Prepared Childbirth Educators Incorporated, as well as a Doula for the Philadelphia Alliance for Labor Support and the Philadelphia Inner Circle Midwifery Program.
Essence previously worked as an obstetrical clinical assistant at LifeCycle WomanCare in Bryn Mawr, Pa. While working at the birth center, she assisted Certified Nurse-Midwives and nurses with patient care and preparation and stocking of clinical supplies. She also worked for seven years as a medication care manager for Sunrise Assisted Living of Haverford, Pa. She prepared and administered medication to residents, and assisted residents with hands-on personal care, physical and emotional support, and daily living activities.
Essence chose Frontier Nursing University’s Certified Nurse-Midwifery program because of its extensive history and because it allows her the opportunity to complete the program part-time while she balances work, life and school.
“Frontier offers multiple opportunities for nurses to advance their career. The MSN to DNP program, for example, allows students to earn their Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree in a field they are passionate about,” said Essence. “Once I finish midwifery school, I plan to earn my DNP and continue to empower women, children and families in the community.”
Essence also praised Frontier’s faculty and mentors who have supported, encouraged and inspired her throughout her midwifery journey. She noted the fantastic leadership opportunities, scholarships and nursing career benefits for students of color from different racial and ethnic backgrounds offered through FNU’s PRIDE Program. “As a member of the PRIDE Program, I hope to continue to impact and strive to advocate for diversity at FNU,” she said.
“I am truly thankful to all of the FNU faculty, mentors and staff who have continuously supported me throughout my midwifery journey at FNU. I am grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the FNU community. I hope to do my very best to matriculate through the program successfully in order to fulfill my passion and finally accomplish my dream to become a midwife. Thank you FNU for being such an incredible inspiration to us all!”
We are equally inspired by Essence’s passion and success and would like to thank her for sharing her journey with us. We are honored and proud that she is a part of the FNU community. You can hear more from Essence on why she wants to become a nurse-midwife in this short video:
Essence Williams is a public health nurse for Philadelphia Nurse Family Partnership and will graduate from FNU’s Certified Nurse-Midwifery program in 2018. She was recently selected to be the student speaker at the National Black Nurses Association’s 44th Annual Institute and Conference in Memphis, Tenn., August 2-7, 2016. Her abstract proposal was selected among hundreds of student submissions from across the U.S. to be presented at the conference.
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).