We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Rutledge Pettie, JD, MPH recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer , appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
A Queen’s Birth Story: Songs of the Lowcountry and the Hands That Delivered Us was born from something deeply personal—my own journey through pregnancy, survival, and healing—and something much older: the legacy of the women who came before me.
I survived a maternal near-miss. My daughter began life in the NICU. Between fear and faith, I discovered the quiet power of stories—the kind passed from hand to hand, heart to heart. The kind that keep us alive.
“I wrote this book to honor the sacred hands that delivered me—and the sacred hope I now hold in mine.”
This is my love letter to that truth. To my great-grandmother, Lula Hannibal Scarborough—a midwife trained at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Her hands ushered generations into the world, including my mother. Her legacy lives in every word.
The Lowcountry shaped this nation’s birthing traditions. Its midwives, its wisdom, its legacies of strength—they deserve to be seen, heard, and revered.
“Our grandmothers birthed stories, survival, and spirit into the world. I just wrote a piece of it down.”
Infused with a lens that dreams forward while honoring the past, A Queen’s Birth Story asks: What might birth look like if sacredness and joy were always invited into the room?
In that world, mothers are heard. Birth workers are honored. And children grow up knowing they are deeply rooted and infinitely possible.
“This isn’t just a children’s book—it’s a portal.”
“A space for healing, remembering, and reimagining what we pass on.”
Whether whispered at bedtime or read aloud across generations, my hope is that this story helps families remember where they come from… imagine where they’re going… and carry love with them every step of the way.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Jennifer Rutledge Pettie, JD, MPH—a maternal health advocate, legal epidemiologist, and the proud author of A Queen’s Birth Story: Songs of the Lowcountry and the Hands That Delivered Us. But superior to any of those titles, I am a mother who fought to live—and a daughter carrying generations of strength.
Four years ago, I survived a maternal near-miss. My daughter, Jayla Ann Rose, began life in the NICU. That chapter was painful, humbling, and holy. And it reminded me how powerful it can be when our healthcare systems truly honor the people they’re meant to serve—and how much we all gain when they do.
“I didn’t just live through it. I came back with purpose.”
That experience didn’t just shape my motherhood—it shaped my mission.
Today, I lead The Health Equilibrium Group, where I help redesign public health systems through strategy, storytelling, and deep community engagement. I serve on the Advisory Board for Emory University’s Center of Excellence in Maternal & Child Health and on the East Lake YMCA Community Board, where I support youth wellness and local health initiatives.
I’m also an Ambassador with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), helping academic medicine center the communities it serves.
Holding both a JD and an MPH, I bring legal insight and policy muscle to the table—but I lead with heart. My work has earned national recognition, including the March of Dimes Woman of Distinction Award, Georgia Trend’s Georgia 500, Emory University Matthew Lee Girvin Award, NMQF Healthcare Leadership Award, and a Healthcare Hero recognition from the Atlanta Hawks.
“Every decision I shape, every room I walk into—I bring my daughter’s name with me.”
And now, I’ve added “children’s book author” to my story.
A Queen’s Birth Story is more than a book—it’s a bridge. A tool for families. A healing space that uplifts the sacred power of birth and the wisdom of legacy. It honors my great-grandmother, Lula Hannibal Scarborough, a midwife trained at the historic Penn Center in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.
“The Lowcountry isn’t just a place—it’s a rhythm, a resilience, a sacred root system that helped birth a nation.”
This book draws from that root system. It reflects the beauty, strength, and resilience of the Lowcountry, and reminds us that storytelling is more than tradition—it’s a survival tool. It’s how we claim joy. How we name power. How we protect our children.
This story asks: What does a whole, joyful future look like when we center the wisdom of the past? In that vision, birth workers are celebrated. Mothers are heard. Ancestry is honored. And every child grows up knowing they are deeply rooted and infinitely possible.
“My work lives at the intersection of advocacy, ancestry, and imagination.”
At the core, I’m a survivor and a mother raising a queen. And I believe that every child deserves to grow up surrounded by stories that affirm their brilliance and their belonging.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Without question. Four years ago, I nearly lost my life after bringing my daughter into this world. What should have been a celebration turned into an emergency—she was born early and rushed to the NICU, and I was left fighting for my own life in a hospital bed for weeks. No title. No accolades. Just a mother holding on through prayer, pain, and purpose.
That moment didn’t break me—it built me. It taught me that resilience isn’t loud. Sometimes, it’s the quiet decision to breathe through the fear and choose hope anyway.
My children’s book, A Queen’s Birth Story, was born from that journey. It’s a love letter to the mothers, midwives, doulas, and birth workers whose strength often goes unsung. It’s proof that even when we bend, we rise—crowned not just by survival, but by legacy.
During my reign as Mrs. Georgia American 2022, I carried this story into spaces across the country, advocating for maternal health with a crown on my head—but the real crown was earned in that hospital room.
“Before I was an author, an advocate, or a queen—I was a mother in the fight of her life. And that fight gave me the story I was born to tell.”
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding part of being a creative is giving voice to the things we’re taught to carry in silence. Art has the power to turn pain into purpose, memory into movement, and legacy into something that lives beyond us. As a mother, a survivor, and a storyteller, creativity isn’t just how I express—it’s how I heal. It’s how I honor. It’s how I make room for others to see themselves and feel whole.
I’ve always had a creative spirit—but purpose lit the path. I’m grateful that my journey led me here, where I get to create with truth, intention, and soul.
What makes it even more powerful is that my art is rooted in lived experience. I bring the lens of a public health strategist, a legal advocate, and a systems change agent to every word I write and every story I tell. It’s heart work—and it’s the sacred work of reshaping systems to honor every life they touch. And together, they give my storytelling both weight and wings.
At the center of it all is a belief that imagination is radical. I use creativity to honor the past while boldly reimagining a future where every mother, every child, and every community thrives. Joy, survival, and vision aren’t just themes—they’re acts of resilience. Blueprints for what’s possible.
“Art is where truth meets beauty—and for me, that meeting place is where restoration begins.”
Contact Info:
- Website: JenniferPettie.com | SpeakHerStories.com | HealthEquilibriumGroup.com
- Instagram: @jenniferpettie | @aqueensbirthstory | @speakherstories.com
- Facebook: Jennifer Rutledge Pettie
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-pettie-jd-mph
- Other: Grab the book via Amazon here: https://a.co/d/cifEIB7
Image Credits
Jason Pettie, Esq.