I am a mother, wife, advocate and community educator. Keishawna is the mother of two, Trinitee’ and De ’Shawn, and wife to retired combat veteran Sheldon H. Smith. Her children are both living with Sickle Cell Disease, type SS. Her son is currently in the process of a bone marrow transplant.
Keishawna A. Smith is a proud graduate of Thee Jackson State University and East MS Community College. She is a Jackson native and is currently working for the University Of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies as Parent Coordinator of the Mississippi Family to Family Health Information and Education Center (MS F2F),and is also a Special Health Care Parent Consultant with the MS Dept. of Health, Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCNs) Program. Keishawna’s goal is to help parents become better advocates for their own children and in their communities by helping them navigate health care and educational systems, access resources and discovering their own voice. She wants to make sure that parents are involved and have a seat at the table when it comes to their child(ren)’s health, education and over all well-being.
“How far you can go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because one day you will have been all of these.” ~G.W. Carver ~