From Madison Avenue to Maternal Health: Kate Grant’s Fight for Justice
About the Episode
In this episode of Queen Me, Ashley Lynn Priore is joined by Kate Grant, the founding CEO of the Fistula Foundation and author of No Woman Left Behind. Kate shares her bold leap from a high-powered advertising career to becoming one of the world’s leading advocates for maternal health. She opens up about the burnout she faced in an industry built on manipulating insecurities, and how a trip around the world shifted her perspective on poverty, justice, and purpose. Kate reflects on building the Fistula Foundation from funding a single hospital to becoming a global force for life-restoring surgeries, highlighting the courage it takes to embrace uncertainty, learn from mistakes, and fight systemic injustice.
This conversation is not just about health - it’s about equity, gender justice, and listening to the inner voice that calls us to greater impact.
Key Takeways
Trading Security for Meaning: Kate grew up with a deep sense of stability and the importance of job security. Walking away from her successful advertising career to travel the world without a plan was one of the biggest risks she ever took. That leap, however, planted the seeds for her life’s true work in maternal health and justice.
Awakening Through Travel: A year abroad opened Kate’s eyes to the reality of global poverty and inequity. Suddenly, selling products through advertising no longer seemed fulfilling - it felt hollow compared to the immense challenges faced by women and families around the world. This awakening shifted her trajectory from consumerism to compassion.
Building the Fistula Foundation: What began as a small effort supporting a single hospital grew, through persistence and vision, into a global network transforming thousands of lives. Kate emphasizes that this growth wasn’t linear—it was built through constant motion, learning from failures, and refusing to let mistakes stop the mission.
Fistula as a Justice Issue: Obstetric fistula is a preventable childbirth injury caused by prolonged, obstructed labor. The women most impacted are the poorest of the poor, in places where maternal health is underfunded and undervalued. Kate insists that this is not only a medical issue - it’s a systemic injustice rooted in poverty and gender inequality.
Confronting Maternal Mortality: Kate urges listeners to understand that childbirth is not inherently safe everywhere. Even in the U.S., maternal mortality rates for women of color are higher than in some developing countries. For Kate, the stark difference between rich and poor in health outcomes—especially around childbirth - underscores the urgent need for equity.
Listening to the Inner Voice: Kate’s journey reflects the importance of listening to intuition, even when it leads away from security or financial comfort. She encourages young women to amplify their inner voice, take pragmatic steps into the unknown, and recognize that meaning, not material possessions, is what ultimately brings fulfillment.
Unleashing Her Inner Queen: For Kate, unleashing her inner queen comes through daily meditation, trusting her intuition, and embracing both assertiveness and humility. She admits her inner queen can sometimes be too forceful, but she’s learned to balance drive with deep listening - giving herself permission to make mistakes while moving forward with purpose.
To learn more about the Fistula Foundation and to discover Kate’s new book, visit here.
