Asia Brown, a Vicksburg native, was recently announced as one of Tampax’s Inaugural Flow It Forward Scholarship recipients.

Brown is a junior at Spelman College and is currently enrolled in the pre-med program with aspirations to become a certified nurse-midwife (CNM).

According to information from Tampax, Brown is “passionate about reproductive and sexual health disparities among women of color.”

In 10 years, Brown hopes to open her own reproductive and sexual health clinic in a marginalized community and work as a certified nurse-midwife to provide affordable services to women and girls in need, educate them about their bodies and empower them to be advocates of their own reproductive health.

Brown was inspired by her late grandmother, Rosie, to pursue an education in healthcare and fight for change. Rosie was an educator for decades and champion for change as the first African-American teacher hired at Warren Central High School in Vicksburg. She was also one of the first members of Brown’s family to attend college.

In January 2021, Brown and her younger sister, Laila, created 601 for Period Equity, a grassroots organization dedicated to ending period shame in the Black community and uplifting marginalized menstruators who typically get left out of the mainstream movement for period equity. Since its founding, the organization has donated menstrual products to local schools, women’s prisons, health clinics and shelters in the Vicksburg area.

“Flow It Forward is all about helping to close the representation gap of Black women in healthcare,” a Tampax spokesperson said.