A masterclass in data-driven storytelling

Have you ever heard someone tell their story, and it just stopped you in your tracks? 

I had that experience on Friday at the Urban Family Development Center’s Ohio Fatherhood & Infant Vitality Summit. 

The keynote speaker was Charles Johnson, founder of 4Kira4Moms, and he told one of the most compelling data-driven stories I have witnessed. 

If you’re not familiar with his story, Charles’ wife, Kira, tragically died from an untreated postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to her second son. 

For no other reason than racist and negligent medical care, she lost her life, her two sons lost their mom, and Charles lost his beloved wife.

Charles turned his grief into action by founding an advocacy organization to help prevent maternal morbidity and mortality. 

That alone is beyond heartbreaking and inspiring. 

But he didn’t just share his – and Kira’s – story. 

He backed it up with data. With cited statistics. 

Statistics like … in 2024, the US maternal mortality rate in childbirth was 17.9 women for every 100,000 births. 

Figures like … Black women in the US are three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth … AND the risk is even higher for highly educated, Black women with six-figure annual household incomes. 

Numbers like … 84% of deaths related to pregnancy have been found to be preventable. 

So first, we watched a video about Kira’s vibrant life, we heard the hour-by-hour timeline of her death, and then he showed us that their story was sadly not an anomaly.  

I was awestruck – not only by the tragedy that he and his family experienced, not just his vulnerability and passion, but by his talent at telling this story in a way that could appeal to all audiences. 

He touched our hearts through his family’s story and appealed to our brains through the statistics. 

Unsurprisingly, he got a standing ovation.  I honestly felt honored to hear this story first-hand. 

His talk makes me so inspired to continue helping other child- and family-serving organizations use their data to tell their compelling stories. 

And I’ll certainly be channeling his approach as I do that.