In 2015, Lilliana Vazquez began a six-year long battle with infertility. She had just received the results of a fertility hormone test confirming that at 35 years young, her anti-Mullerian hormone levels were virtually undetectable – in short, her ovarian reserve was so low, it was comparable to a woman about to enter menopause. After a long fertility journey, Lilliana is pregnant – and on a mission to advocate for better access to care in the Latinx community with her charitable partnership with Kindbody.
Through this partnership with Kindbody and 100 Hispanic Women, a nonprofit committed to serving Latinas professional development, Lilliana and Kindbody will help a dozen women receive comprehensive fertility assessments. In May, they will also aid one couple realize their dream of becoming parents by covering the costs associated with a cycle of IVF treatments.
“The reason that I went to Kindbody is that they are a fertility clinic that advocates for accessibility when it comes to reproductive health. They want to make it affordable and easy,” Lilliana explained. “They want to reach women and help them make educated decisions about their reproductive health. Whether you want to freeze your eggs or know what’s going on in your ovaries, that is what they are there to do. We’re going to foster a dozen women and I hope that grows to even more.”
Lilliana’s journey was heartbreaking, isolating and costly, but after hundreds of injections and more than a dozen failed cycles, Lilliana and her husband just announced that they will be welcoming their first child this summer with an exclusive in People Magazine. “I’ve had the privilege of seeing top fertility specialists across the country, said Lilliana. “As I looked around these clinics, I quickly noticed how few women of color were present in those waiting rooms and after further research it became very clear to me that the same level of resources and services, I was able to access weren’t as easily available to communities of color.”
In the past decade alone, some of the largest declines in fertility have been among Latinas, whose fertility rate has fallen by 31 percent from 2006 to 2017, compared to 5 percent for white women and 11 percent for Black women. And for many Latinas, like Lilliana, there’s the added burden of having to battle a cultural stigma that surrounds IVF as a family planning pathway.
These staggering statistics, along with a deeply personal mission to empower her community, inspired Lilliana to partner with Kindbody, a fast-growing health and fertility company. Together, Kindbody and Vazquez will use their network of resources to bring awareness to the unique infertility struggles facing Latinas today and more importantly, bring much needed services and access to a community that has long been underserved when it comes to ART and infertility.
On Thursday, April 22nd at 7pm EDT/4pm PDT, Lilliana will join Kindbody’s Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Meredith Brower to host a ‘Sharing is Caring’ virtual event, where they will discuss the racial disparities in fertility care and remind women and couples, they are not alone on their fertility journey. “Working with Lilliana to bring to light the struggles many women face and her passion for breaking the stereotypes associated with Latinx women and fertility has been inspirational,” said Dr. Brower, “It is incredibly important for women like Lilliana to continue to use their platform for good and work to normalize the conversations around reproductive health and fertility.”
“The 100 Hispanic Women National Inc is proud to join Kindbody and Lilliana in providing the women that we serve with reproductive, comprehensive information that will help reduce the stigmatization of infertility,” said Nancy Genova, president at 100 Hispanic Women. “We are hopeful that this partnership will help reduce the emotional impact that infertility causes women by providing a diverse and inclusive platform for ongoing informative discussion.”
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