It’s We Are ILL Week, October 25-31, and our founder Victoria Reese Brathwaite (@picturethisvic) said it best.

What started as a personal need for connection after her MS diagnosis has grown into something bigger than any of us could have imagined. She wanted Black women living with chronic illness to feel seen, heard, understood, and supported, and she didn’t wait for someone else to build that space, she created it herself. And look at us now. Seven years of Wellness Week(end), a community of women who show up for each other every single day, a state designation recognizing this week as ours, and a sisterhood that keeps growing because the women in it refuse to let each other do this alone. We Are ILL deserves its own week because this community changed lives, and it started because one woman decided that Black women with MS, NMOSD, and lupus deserved more than what was available to them. What began with her story became our story, and we couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve built together. This week is for every woman who found her people here. You’re the reason it exists. #WeAreILLMatic #WeAreILLWeek #ChronicIllnessCommunity #BlackWomenWellness