By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
Jamilah Page learned early on her love for helping others through her dad. “I wanted to be a psychologist … I remember one day my dad let me act like a therapist. It was a very pivotal moment for me. It definitely inspired us, especially me, to be in this work.”
Page, now a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) with a Ph.D. in nutrition (emphasis in community nutrition and public health) and her sister Hadiyah Page, Master of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in maternal and child health and a medical doctoral candidate, have joined to create A Fresh Page (AFP), LLC which addresses health disparities, food insecurity, nutrition, and other public health concerns in low-income populations.
“We work with farmers and community foundations. We have worked with local churches to be able to help them have nutrition and health education. We want to fill the gap as much as possible, whether that’s through education, or it’s through resources,” said Jamilah, 29, founder and CEO. Hadiyah, 26, is the year-old company’s Public Health Media Coordinator.
Over the past year, the sisters have hosted virtual workshops and cook-a-longs through their company which can be booked for workshops by churches, businesses, and other groups looking to expand their culinary skills and find healthier solutions.
The sisters are graduates of Birmingham’s Ramsay High School. Jamilah graduated in 2012 and Hadiyah in 2015 as a member of the inaugural International Baccalaureate Class.
After receiving her bachelor’s in science with a concertation in food and nutrition science/dietetics from Tuskegee University, Jamilah went on to pursue her Ph.D. in nutrition from Auburn University.
“I wanted to be a dietitian before I went to high school. I finished my Ph.D. at Auburn, and I finished a graduate certificate and program evaluation, so I kind of specialized in being a dietitian who looks at policy and programming,” she said. “I develop curricula. I do things all the way from a community garden to health care and care coordination and I absolutely love that. My Ph.D. has an emphasis in community nutrition and public health. So that’s also kind of where Hadiyah and I intersect with our disciplines.”
After receiving her bachelor’s in Pre Health-Concentration from Tuskegee University and master’s in public health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Hadiyah is now in her medical doctorate (M.D.) program at Ross University located on the Caribbean Island of Barbados.
“I’ve completed my first two years. I’m in the process of transitioning to my third year, which is very exciting. My goal is to take everything that we’ve learned so far and put it into bite size chunks to be able to feed it to people who we care about the most. One of the reasons why we do what we do is because we want to make sure that we can spread health care to those that don’t necessarily have it close by them.
“I really got passionate about serving my local Birmingham community because it was just a lot that I learned about the things that particularly Black women that we’re up against, not just in Birmingham but also in Alabama,” she added.
Hadiyah recalled growing up and working with their church (Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ in Bessemer) in its food bank. “Our grandmother had us in there working. I think that fostered my passion for service,” she said.
Jamilah said she wanted to be a psychologist and then she learned that dietetics was basically the psychology of food. “So eventually they merged,” she said.
The fact that their father, William Page, was a cardiomyopathy patient who underwent a heart transplant, is also another motivating factor in their passion for health and nutrition. Mr. Page passed away on Feb. 21, 2005, as a result of contracting an infection after a heart transplant.
“It definitely inspired us, especially me, to be in this work,” said Jamilah. “…we just want people to know we are willing to get involved in our community. We are excited to be able to be a part of different projects and if anyone has a specific topic challenge us to think about that topic and really address it with our communities.”
She added, “I want people to know that we are here and to look for us. We do in person as well as virtual … we just want people to know we are willing to get involved in our community. We are excited to be able to be a part of different projects and if anyone has a specific topic challenge for us to think about … we can really address it with our communities.”
A Fresh Page, LLC can be contact via the company site (afreshpage.net), email (booking@afreshpage.net) and social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Alignable.
