About Us
Makenna Lindsay. Co-Founder & Executive Director
Sofia Dean. Co-Founder & Associate Director
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Executive Director / Co-Founder
I am a master’s student at American University studying Sociology Research & Practice. I began my personal study of reproductive justice in August of 2020, focusing on the forced sterilizations of Black, Indigenous, and Latine women in the United States. Inspired by the works of Killing the Black Body by Dorothy E. Roberts and articles written by intersectional scholars Patricia Hill Collins, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, and bell hooks, it became clear to me that reproductive justice advocacy would play a significant role in my work during this lifetime. In addition to reproductive justice I am devoted to the practice of wellness, be it sexual, emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual. I believe wellness is essential to Black and brown woman’s liberation, and it is my dream to create and work on a project that takes such care into account.
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Associate Director / Co-Founder
I'm an 2022 Sociology and Political Science graduate from American University. I'm originally from Baltimore County, Maryland and my passions include gendered and racialized health disparities, criminal justice issues, and fighting against spatial inequalities. Having experienced racism, classism, and sexism in the medical world myself, I am particularly focused on making sure Black and brown women’s pain and reproductive health issues are taken seriously and given the same attention as those of white individuals. I believe that fights for women’s rights and racial justice need to center reproductive justice and focus on the structural inequalities that have led to Black and brown women having their bodily autonomy stripped from them.
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What We Water is a project invested in the health and wellness of Black and brown women. Our goal above all is to support our communities by providing accessible resources for sexual, mental, spiritual and emotional health, in addition to supporting safe, independent choices in reproductive care. We’re a team of two women of color who wanted to see reproductive justice represented in a digital space, so here we are.
Media Appearances
The BlackPrint.
Makenna Lindsay, a junior studying sociology and Spanish, has long dreamed of creating a safe space to highlight the importance of wellness and pleasure for Black and brown women. Lindsay thus conceptualized What We Water, a platform that she hoped would center creativity as a means of advocacy for women of color’s reproductive justice, self-care and wellness.