Our Team

Jeanine Valrie Logan

Dreamer. Grower. Culture Bearer.

  • Jeanine Valrie Logan (she/her/goddess) is a Certified Nurse Midwife, certified lactation specialist, and has a strong background in public health and reproductive health policy. She is a birth justice activist and often speaks publicly on breastfeeding, birth justice, doulas, and midwifery in the Black community. She is the co-editor of the book Free to Breastfeed: Voices of Black Mothers.

    Jeanine works collectively with birth workers of color and allies to address birth inequity--including most recently on the writing and passing of HB738 which expands birth centers in the state of Illinois. She is currently working on the development of Chicago South Side Birth Center, a nonprofit, midwife-led, culturally congruent, community focused birth center to be located on Chicago’s south side. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Fisk University and a Master in Science in Nursing from DePaul University. She also received a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Global Reproductive Health from the George Washington University. Jeanine completed the nurse midwifery program at Frontier Nursing University in the fall of 2018.

    Jeanine is a wife and mama of three awesome Empresses, all of which were born out of the hospital-2 at home and 1 at a birth center. Jeanine spends her extra time with family, building bonfires, creating art, making herbal medicines, reading, gardening, and swooning under her favorite cedar tree.

Lesley Kennedy

Liberated. Free Thinker. mother.

  • Lesley Kennedy (she/her) has dedicated her 20+year career to helping strengthen Chicago’s non-profit sector. Lesley owns and operates a thriving consulting practice primarily focused on organization development, culture improvement, and leadership coaching. Prior to consulting full-time, Lesley most recently served as Chief Equity Officer for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana and was previously Director of Strategy and Organization Development at Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA), supporting the organization’s internal culture and strategic direction. Lesley served as Youth & Opportunity United’s Chief Program Officer, leading the development of Y.O.U. 's long-term program strategy and oversaw the daily impact of more than 50 staff members across 11 program sites.

    Lesley brings an extraordinary breadth and depth of experience to the sector. She joined Y.O.U. following five years as a Senior Program Officer at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, where she pioneered and managed the Foundation’s Child and Youth Education and Health and Wellness Portfolios. Prior to McCormick, Lesley served for seven years as the Executive Director of the Chicago Girls’ Coalition, a Chicago-based non-profit that provided capacity building and technical assistance to girl-serving organizations and programs. Lesley led McCormick Foundation’s integration of a racial equity lens to their giving as well as pioneered racial equity all-staff training at Y.O.U. and CGLA. In 2018, Lesley contributed as an Advisory Committee member to Equity in the Center’s report: Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture.

    Lesley has a master’s degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in English and Women’s Studies from Stephens College. Lesley has guest lectured on inclusive leadership at University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice and Loyola University’s  Quinlan School of Business. Lesley's commitment to birth equity is demonstrated over the past ten years as an advisory board member for PCC Community Health Center, board member for Chicago South side Birth Center, certified lactation counselor, birth educator, and student midwife. She happily lives on the south side of Chicago with her husband and three young people. 

Lissah Mason

visionary. creatress. land + community steward.

  • Lissah Mason (she/her) is the Community Building and Education Coordinator at Chicago South Side Birth Center. She is also the founder of (Re)Birth Society, a community-led organization committed to wellness, education, justice, and empowerment. She serves as a Land and Community Steward, working to improve the ecosystem of care for members of the African Diaspora and Native/Indigenous communities by organizing cultural events and gathering spaces, mutual aid efforts, and education programs.

    Lissah is a Full Spectrum Doula, specializing in spontaneous physiological birthing and Afro-Indigenous birth practices. She completed the Doula Training International (DTI) program in 2018 and the CAPPA Childbirth Educator program in 2023. She has received traditional hands-on training from peer and elder birth workers. With over 9 years of education and experience in the field of plant-spirit medicine, she is an herbalist, rootworker and continuing student at Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine.

    In addition to her wellness work, Lissah is a scholar, educator & journalist with a focus on Hoodoo and African-Indigenous cultural history and heritage. Over the past 12 years she has been active in community service and social justice work, organizing and volunteering for grassroots orgs in North Alabama, Tuskegee, Chicago and San Diego. In addition to her role within CSSBC, she serves on the board of Nature’s Garden for Victory & Peace.

    Lissah is a devoted Mama, family member, teacher, friend, and #ancestorsbaby, committed to the total liberation of the Earth, the Spirits, and the People.

Nina Askew

quilter. granddaughter. rootworker.

  • Nina Askew (she/her) studied Finance at Howard University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She also received a Master of Arts in the Social Sciences, with a concentration in Sociology, from the University of Chicago. Her thesis explored the collective coping mechanisms of Black undergraduate students, comparing the social and behavioral patterns to those displayed at jooks, juke joints, and rent parties. 

    Before joining the Chicago South Side Birth Center, Askew researched under Lisa Moore, PhD, LICSW. This research utilizes an abolitionist framework to explore the labor of Black women in communities, families, institutions, and healing. 

    In addition to her role at CSSBC, she is a birth doula with Chicago Birthworks Collective. 

    Nina is a proud DMV native who currently lives on the south side. In her spare time, she can be found in the community garden, the public library, or tending to her beloved plants.

Stella Lee

artist. lover. wisdom keeper.

  • Stella Lee (she/her) is an artist and graphic designer based in Chicago. She has worked with creative and wellness organizations to expand brand awareness through communications and design initiatives. Stella studied Visual Arts at Iowa State University and has also spent time as a yoga teacher, astrologer, and reiki healer. She loves bringing together tools and perspectives from her diverse background to weave the threads of shared lived experience.

    As the Communications and Marketing Coordinator for the Chicago South Side Birth Center, Stella works to create meaningful connections and spaces of collective healing for all birthing people through accessible design and beautiful user experiences. Most importantly, her goal is to communicate the intellectual, spiritual, and embodied richness of CSSBC’s mission, as well as its solidarity with the path of reproductive justice and universal human liberation. 

    Stella holds a deep love and devotion for the wisdom and empowerment that the reproductive justice movement brings to birthing people and families of color, and is grateful to be in service to the incredible community of birth workers and birth justice advocates on Chicago’s South Side.

    In her free time, Stella enjoys writing, cooking, making herbal tinctures and salves, and spending time with loved ones.