Janessa Mondestin Named COO as HealthConnect One Marks 40 Years

Mondestin has already spent the recent period directing the organization's people and finance divisions, alongside its communications and fundraising strategy. Her leadership focuses on capacity building for grassroots doula groups, providing the necessary operational architecture to sustain their work on the front lines of maternal health. By strengthening these smaller institutions, the organization aims to ensure that community-based care models remain viable and scalable.

Her appointment arrives as the nonprofit targets four specific strategic goals for fiscal year 2027: broadening the "Doulas Are for Every Body" campaign, revitalizing its original lactation support programs, maturing the DoulaREADI hospital integration model, and pushing the brand into global markets. Mondestin’s deep-rooted connections across the American South—spanning North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana—will serve as a primary catalyst for this growth.

President and CEO Dr. Twylla Dillion described the appointment as a shift toward an "operations-as-liberation" framework, emphasizing that the internal systems of the organization are inseparable from its public mission. Mondestin, who frequently documents her strategy on the organization’s Substack, views these structural changes as a commitment to ensuring that families and doulas receive the institutional support they require.