Our Founder - Faces of Hope

Standing With Families, One Heartbeat at a Time

Faces of H.O.P.E. is a nonprofit rooted in compassion, advocacy, and unwavering support for families navigating perinatal health challenges and NICU stays.

Nekia's Story

A journey of resilience, faith, and purpose built on love, loss, and the hope of something greater.

Her Story Begins

In 2003, Nekia experienced the unimaginable when she delivered her first son stillborn at just 23 weeks.

She was a young mother navigating a level of grief she could not have prepared for. Beyond the loss itself, she experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to move forward when you do not know what questions to ask, what resources are available, or where to turn once you leave the hospital.

That experience changed her forever.

Over the years, Nekia’s journey through motherhood would include both tremendous joy and additional heartbreak. She experienced the loss of her daughter Genevieve at 18 weeks, an interstitial pregnancy, and the realities of navigating high-risk pregnancy.

What she did not know in 2003 was that one of the most painful chapters of her life would eventually become part of a much greater purpose.

Holding On to Hope

Holding Onto Hope

Through every season, Nekia held on to her faith and the belief that hope could still exist alongside grief.

In 2021, Nekia and her husband welcomed their daughter, Victoria a beautiful reminder that loss did not have to be the end of their story.

Years later, their journey took another unexpected turn. During her pregnancy with their son, Assimba, Nekia experienced PPROM—Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes. He was born at just 29 weeks and spent 50 days in the NICU.

This time, Nekia found herself navigating an entirely different side of maternal healthcare; advocating for her son, learning the language of the NICU, asking questions, understanding his care, and eventually preparing for the transition home.

Her experiences were not limited to motherhood. After being diagnosed with Lupus in 2011 and later Class V Lupus Nephritis, Nekia underwent 22 months of intensive immunotherapy. Her own healthcare journey gave her an even deeper understanding of how important it is for individuals and families to feel informed, heard, prepared, and supported throughout every transition in care.

Through loss, high-risk pregnancy, the NICU, and her own healthcare experiences, one truth continued to surface:

Care should not end when one appointment, hospitalization, or chapter ends.

Why She Founded Faces of H.O.P.E.

Faces of H.O.P.E. was founded in 2021 from a deeply personal place but with a vision much larger than Nekia’s own story.

She remembered the young mother she had been in 2003. She remembered the questions she did not know to ask, the resources she did not know existed, and what it felt like to navigate grief while trying to understand what came next.

Years later, her experiences reinforced what she already knew: families need more than support in a single moment. They need education, advocacy, resources, and continuity of care as they move from one stage of their journey to the next.

That understanding became the foundation of Faces of H.O.P.E.

Today, the organization is built around three pillars:

Education. Advocacy. Continuity of Care.

Faces of H.O.P.E. serves families navigating high-risk pregnancy, NICU experiences, infant loss, and bereavement by helping bridge the space between clinical care and what happens next.

For Nekia, this work is about more than sharing her story. It is about using what she has lived, learned, and overcome to help create a better experience for the families who come after her.

Her faith gave her the strength to hold on to hope.

Faces of H.O.P.E. is how she helps extend that hope to others.

A Message from Nekia

I vaginally delivered 4 babies and the only one I didn’t see was the interstitial one.

Nekia Mba