A LETTER FROM OUR FIERCE LEADER

I am a Black Cuban who came to the United States in 2005 looking for the freedom to live a successful life and achieved it…

In 2018, I founded The Honeycomb House out of a need to serve women like myself, and a vision of a world where pregnant and postpartum women are treated equally, regardless of where they come from. I came to the United States from Cuba in 2005 looking for the freedom to live a successful life and achieved it on my own terms! I am proud of my journey but unfortunately, as a Black Cuban woman, my level of success while raising a family, is an anomaly.

My first daughter was an unplanned pregnancy. I was working full time while completing my master’s degree. Having come to the US alone, I had no family support during pregnancy. I was also an only child and, never planned on having any children of my own. I had no idea how to even hold a baby! Society assumes that women innately know how to be mothers. At that time, I had no one to listen to my concerns about my lack of experience or help me address my fears about how to connect with my baby. Motherhood is a special and unique process - My own experience of stumbling through it for the first time, birthed the idea for The Honeycomb House and my mission to help other women struggling with the pressures of pregnancy.

My work with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and care of women and their babies as a Social Worker at Jackson Memorial Hospital, influenced my curiosity about the common denominators challenging pregnant and postpartum mothers.  What I discovered over the past 10-years, is that there is a lack of holistic maternity education. With limited psycho-social support, many women have a tenuous connection to their unborn babies. What makes it worse, is the common assumption that we are all equipped to be moms. I saw the need to support women with respect for this very nuanced experience of maternity and made a decision to do something about it. 

At The Honeycomb House, I remain curious and continue to find solutions to help women and teenage girls face the challenges of motherhood. Inspired by my work and the women I see blossoming into loving mothers, I continue to strive to be the best mom I can be for my two beautiful daughters.

All are welcome in the hive at the Honeycomb House, aka “La Colmena!”

With Love,

Eliana Ramos

Aka “Queen Bee”