Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mai Waller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mai, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

When people see The Mace Anthony Williamson Foundation today — the partnerships, the grants, the doula program, the national recognition — they don’t ever get to see where it really started.

It started in grief.

In 2017, I lost my son, Mace, 12 days after a preventable birth injury. That moment broke me — but it also revealed my purpose. For years, the idea sat in my spirit: “No mother should walk alone. No family should suffer like this without support. I’m going to build something in Mace’s honor.”

But an idea is just an idea until you get tired of seeing what isn’t happening.

In 2021, I finally said, “Enough talking about it — it’s time to do it.” I had no funding, no roadmap, no blueprint. I had faith. I had fire. I had my son’s name. That was enough.

The next day I started researching nonprofits. I studied how foundations worked, how doulas were reimbursed, how maternal health systems operated, and what Black families were actually facing. I learned everything from IRS requirements to how to design my own flyers in Canva because I couldn’t pay anyone.

I spent that next year grinding. Meetings. Courses. Phone calls. Googling everything. Serving families for free because I didn’t have the budget to pay myself and didn’t believe in turning families away.

When other people clocked out, I was still working.

When I didn’t have a car, I walked with my kids to support clients.

When I got denied for grants, I still kept going.

When the doors closed, I prayed until another one opened.

The year after launching, we started gaining traction. I built relationships. I secured small donations. I kept showing up even when my bank account said, “Sit down.”

And then the fruit started to show: Medicaid doula coverage, grant partnerships, collaborations with hospitals, nonprofits, national brands, and hundreds of families served.

What moved me from idea to execution was two things:
1. Obedience to what God told me to do
2. The promise that my son’s story would not end with tragedy — it would transform lives

That’s how this started. Not in a boardroom. Not with investors.
But with a mother who refused to let pain be the final word.

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.

My name is Maiye Waller, Founder & Executive Director of The Mace Anthony Williamson Foundation — a maternal-infant health, bereavement, and community doula organization rooted in faith, purpose, and lived experience.

I didn’t get into this work because it was trending.
I got into this work because my son’s life demanded it.

I serve as a full-spectrum doula, trainer, advocate, and community organizer. My foundation provides:
• Free Medicaid-covered doula support across Florida
• Grief and bereavement support for families experiencing infant or pregnancy loss
• Postpartum and practical support through our Ambassador Programs
• Education, childbirth classes, lactation support, safety workshops
• Newborn supply kits in partnership with Baby2Baby & HHS
• Training & certifying doulas through our in-house Doula Project Resource

The problems we solve:
• Black maternal mortality and morbidity
• Lack of postpartum support
• Barriers to access (insurance, transportation, cost)
• Emotional, physical, and spiritual support gaps
• Lack of culturally sensitive care
• Families being left unseen and unheard in medical spaces

What sets me apart?

My lived experience. My faith. My fire.
I am the mother who lived the nightmare families fear — and turned it into a mission.

People trust me because I show up raw, real, present, and deeply connected to the work.
Our doulas are trained differently — trauma-informed, grief-informed, culturally competent, community-based, spiritually grounded.

We don’t just serve families. We change systems and create access.

What I’m most proud of:
• Serving hundreds of families with quality doula care
• Securing Medicaid partnerships to pay doulas sustainably
• Launching statewide and national maternal health initiatives
• Building opportunities for doulas, moms, and community ambassadors
• Turning one mother’s pain into statewide impact and generational change

What I want people to know is simple:

This work is personal. This work is sacred. And this work is for anybody who has ever felt overlooked, unheard, or unprotected in their pregnancy journey.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met Kenisha Wilson in 2021, right when I first entered birth work. At that time, she was a doula working with WIC and a major hospital system in Pennsylvania. I was just getting started, still learning the language and the landscape.

Even though we lived states apart, our work aligned immediately. We connected through a shared mission to protect Black mothers and babies, and we kept in touch as our careers grew. Over the years she transitioned from doula to midwife, and I built out the Doula Project Resource in Florida.

In 2025, God aligned our paths again. We reconnected with a deeper purpose — rebuilding and expanding the doula program through a partnership with her organization, The Maternal Core.
It’s a full-circle moment: two Black women, two leaders, two mothers reclaiming our power and transforming maternal health systems together.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I funded it myself.

There was no startup fund, no investor, no big check. Just me, my vision, my pain, and my son’s name. I poured my personal money — even when I didn’t have it. I sacrificed bills, comfort, stability, everything, because I believed in what Mace’s legacy could become.

We got small donations along the way, but nothing major.

And then the breakthrough came.

Today, we are officially funded through Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, the American Rescue Plan Act, and Medicaid (Florida) — sustainable funding streams that validate years of unpaid labor and unwavering faith.

I tell founders this all the time:
Sometimes you are the seed, the soil, and the sun until God sends the rain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themawfoundation.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maitheexecutive1?igsh=MWw3NGk1bWwzcXVnZw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17nDcV4d43/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Image Credits

KB Visuals Photography- Kayla Burgess
RHSTV Tampa Bay