We recently shared a story during our year-end giving campaign that did not fully reflect the reality of Dawnita Brown’s experience. We deeply regret this oversight and want to correct the record by sharing her true story with her permission. The impact of our work remains meaningful, and we are committed to ensuring transparency.
In 2018, Dawnita Brown’s life changed forever when her mom suffered a debilitating brainstem stroke, leaving her in need of full-time care. At the time, Dawnita was serving as a Peace Corp volunteer in Eswatini, dedicated to her life’s calling of helping others. However, she wasn’t prepared for how isolating caregiving could be. “Caregivers are overlooked and invisible in our community. Unless you’re in it, unless you’ve done it, it’s hard to understand the magnitude of being solely responsible for somebody else. I was learning on the ground and realized there were not a lot of resources out there,” she said.
“Who cares for the caregiver?” is a question that Dawnita found herself pondering. Armed with a certification in caregiving consulting, she was eager to make a meaningful difference in other caregivers’ lives based on her experience. But where to start?
Through a friend, Dionne Waldron-McNeal, she was introduced to Operation HOPE’s Small Business Program. For eight weeks, Dawnita learned the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur; from incorporating a business to finding customers.
Initially, Dawnita was planning to offer individual coaching, but as the weeks went on in the class, she realized she could have a greater impact by offering resources and support for the wider caregiving community.
“When I first started, my business was in the very early ‘idea’ phase. Going through the process of writing a business plan and presenting it to my class and my HOPE coach for feedback helped me to focus on what I wanted to do,” she said.
Coincidentally, her Operation HOPE coach, Tracy Evans, was also her mom’s caregiver, so the two had an instant rapport because of this shared experience. Dawnita also found it valuable to network with other members of the class – in fact one of the program’s graduates designed her website. “This program was a great start to launching my business,” Dawnita said.
The focus for Dawnita’s business, Hey Caregiver!, is to cherish, champion and celebrate caregivers, and she’s guided by a self-created expression: “Selfullness is taking care of you so you can better take care of your caree! It’s that sweet spot between selfish and selfless.” Today her brand encompasses merchandise, a podcast, speaking opportunities and a support group for Black daughters caring for their parents called The Binti Circle, which has seen membership climb from nine to 190 members in her first three years. Dawnita’s clothing line, for example, was designed so that she and other caregivers can “wear their role proudly and stylishly.”
In addition to caring for both parents now and running her business, Dawnita finds the time to give back to the caregiving community in other impactful ways. She serves on the Memory & Aging Community Advisory Board (MACAB), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model Technical Expert Panel (TEP) and is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her research will focus on “Designing Culturally Responsive Interventions, Policies, and Practices for Black Daughter Caregivers. In July 2024, she was appointed by Governor Wes Moore to serve on the Maryland Commission on Caregiving.
“From the Peace Corps to now, everything I have done is divine, she said. “It’s a calling. I’ve been called to do this.”
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