Désirée Sprauve
I translate cultural knowledge into research, policy, and practice that actually serves Black and marginalized women — from the university lecture hall to the birthing room.
My story begins in two rooms that should never have had to coexist: a global aerospace boardroom where I managed complex international procurement strategies, and a bathroom stall where I was silently suffering through debilitating reproductive health challenges — invisible to everyone around me.
As a woman of Caribbean descent — St. Thomas, USVI and Jamaica — I grew up drinking herbal teas, watching my grandmother press aloe vera on her face nightly, and understanding that the body speaks a language the medical system rarely bothers to translate. I brought that knowing into the corporate world, and eventually I brought it into scholarship.
In 2016, Kira Johnson died after childbirth — a preventable, catastrophic failure of a system that did not see her. She was Black, brilliant, and had every resource the system promised would protect her. Her death changed my life. I left aerospace. I answered a different calling. And I have not looked back.
Today I hold two lanes simultaneously — as founder of The Wellness You Desire®, serving thousands of professional women through evidence-grounded holistic care, and as a graduate scholar, researcher, and institutional consultant who builds curricula, advises health systems, and investigates the cultural, structural, and systemic forces shaping how Black women live, birth, and heal.
I am not a wellness brand that happened to get credentialed. I am a researcher who chooses to take the work directly to women — because the gap between what institutions know and what women actually receive is where people die.
The Wellness
You Desire®
A global holistic womanhood movement for ambitious, high-achieving professional women who are ready to heal and nourish their mind, body, spirit, and womb — through every sacred reproductive transition.
- 3-Month Foundational Womb Wellness + Conscious Conception
- Premium Childbirth + Postpartum Preparation
- Pre/Postnatal, Gentle & Womb Yoga and Meditation
- Sacred Self-Care & Yoni Steam VIP Days
- Women's Circles, Retreats & Mother Blessing Ceremonies
- Workplace Wellness + Reproductive Health Education
Consulting &
Research
Research-grounded, culturally competent consulting for universities, hospitals, public health departments, and policy organizations ready to build systems that actually serve Black and marginalized women.
- Curriculum Development & Reproductive Justice Education
- Cultural Competency Consulting for Health Systems
- Community Health Program Design & Strategy
- Applied Research & Institutional Collaboration
- Black Maternal Health Policy Consulting
- Conference Speaking & Academic Facilitation
Research &
Scholarship
My scholarship investigates how culture, structure, and systemic racism shape reproductive health outcomes — and what it takes to change them.
Examining how cultural belief systems, ancestral wisdom, and structural racism shape the maternal health experiences of Black and Caribbean women in the United States.
Curriculum architect of a Reproductive Justice course at the University of Pittsburgh — operationalizing the SisterSong framework within higher education and institutional practice.
Applied research into the 3–4× mortality disparity Black women face — identifying cultural, systemic, and clinical failure points and building evidence-based solutions communities want.
Participatory research with professional women of color navigating reproductive health in underserved care environments. Translating data into programs that stick.
Bridging Caribbean and African oral traditions, postpartum practices, and Western evidence-based medicine into unified care frameworks that honor the whole woman.
Applying 12+ years of global supply chain and procurement thinking to map how healthcare delivery systems fail Black women — and building operational roadmaps for change.
built in
two worlds
Every role has been preparation. No experience was wasted. It all transfers.
Pursuing advanced scholarship in reproductive justice, Black maternal health, and the cultural dimensions of women's wellness. Active research portfolio in development; publications forthcoming.
Developed and architected a Reproductive Justice course within higher education — bringing community-grounded, culturally rooted frameworks into institutional academic settings.
Built a global holistic womanhood movement serving thousands of professional women through programs, coaching, retreats, and workplace wellness. Parallel principal consulting practice in supply chain and procurement.
Full-spectrum doula services, childbirth education, prenatal yoga, and meditation. Developed mentorship programming for holistic-minded doulas. Trained by Mama Glow under Latham Thomas in Los Angeles.
Led global purchasing and logistics for a femtech postpartum product company, integrating supply chain leadership with deep expertise in women's postpartum care.
Managed international procurement for aerospace engine components. Led global risk management strategy. Howard University recruiting partner.
Led global sourcing and procurement across automotive manufacturing, managing $390M+ in supply chain spend. Howard University recruiting partner.
On the
Stage &
In the Room
Désirée speaks with equal authority to consumer audiences and institutional bodies — on Black maternal health, reproductive justice, cultural competency, women's wellness, and the systems that need to change.
Inquire About Speaking →University panels, higher education, public health conferences
ERG keynotes, corporate retreats, DEI programming
Care Ring · Atrium Health · Johnson C. Smith University
Expert commentary on women's health, maternal mortality, and cultural care
Applied research presentations, policy convenings, and health equity forums
Community education, healthcare organizations, wellness programming
"After speaking with Désirée I opened up to my therapist about something I'd been carrying for too long. I don't know what it is about her — she always guides me toward the thing I was afraid to face."
"Special thank you for providing the spiritual foundation and encouragement I needed to keep moving toward my vision, even when I felt I couldn't. There are no words to fully express my gratitude."
"After just 30 minutes I felt calm, relaxed, and centered in a way I had not felt in a long time. She holds a kind of space I didn't know I was looking for."
Let's build
something
that matters
Whether you are a woman ready to reclaim her body, or an institution ready to build care that actually works — I read every inquiry personally.