CPH 41 — Pull Up a Chair: A Conversation with Indya Hairston

In this episode of the Courageous Public Health Podcast, Indya Hairston—Johns Hopkins DrPH student, founder of Community Speaks Consulting, and advocate for Black women’s reproductive and maternal health—shares how courage defined her pivotal year of 2023. She talks about moving across the country for a fresh start, applying to only one doctoral program because it aligned with her purpose, quitting a stable nonprofit job to launch her consulting firm without guaranteed income, and choosing faith over fear at every step.

Indya reflects on taking up space as a Black woman in environments where her voice isn’t always welcomed, the responsibility and exhaustion that can come with speaking when others cannot, and how looking back at her own life has become evidence of her courage. She also shares a bold vision for public health where communities lead, the table keeps expanding across sectors, and academia is disrupted so the next generation of Black women can more easily see themselves in the work.

Meet Indya Hairston, MPH

Indya Hairston is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Community Speaks Consulting

(CSC). She has over a decade of experience in community-based research, evaluation and

community-building work. Through a Black Feminist lens and a Reproductive Justice framework, her work amplifies the voices of marginalized communities focusing on health disparities that disproportionately impact Black and Brown women. With a background in Psychology and a Masters of Public Health, she is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Public Health (DrPH) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health within the Women’s Reproductive Health concentration. As a Black-woman led consulting firm, CSC serves as a vital link between communities and various service providers, envisioning a future where organizations are well-informed about community needs. CSC facilitates meaningful connections with communities through community-based research, evaluation, and coalition building services.

 

Indya's extensive experience in building community relationships contributes to the

organization's commitment to achieving equitable outcomes. Through her leadership, CSC

strives to create a future where everyone's needs are not only heard but actively addressed.

 

Listen To This Episode of The Courageous Public Health Podcast

Conversation Highlights

• The Courageous Triple Pivot — Indya shares how 2023 became a defining year marked by three simultaneous leaps: moving from Atlanta to Austin for a fresh start, applying to only one doctoral program at Johns Hopkins because it aligned with her purpose, and quitting her nonprofit job to launch Community Speaks Consulting without guaranteed income.
• Scholar Identity and Lifelong Learning — She embraces the word scholar as a core part of who she is, reflecting on how her drive to learn and grow shapes both her academic journey and her work amplifying Black women’s experiences in public health.
• Taking Up Space as a Black Woman — Indya speaks candidly about navigating predominantly white institutions where her voice isn’t always welcomed, carrying the burden of being the one expected to speak, and leaning on her father’s words—“closed mouths don’t get fed”—as permission to claim space anyway.
• Community as the True Experts — She lays out a powerful vision for public health grounded in community-led solutions, insisting that engagement must move beyond listening to real action and that every sector—from construction to healthcare to policy—has a role at the public health table.
• Disrupting Academia from the Inside — Indya explains why she told Hopkins she wants to disrupt academia and how she hopes to use her future faculty role to open doors and reshape pathways for Black women entering public health research and leadership.

“I remind myself that I can take up space — and that it is my right to do so.”— Indya Hairston, MPH

 

Stay In Touch

 

With Indya Hairston:

 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/indya-k-hairston/

Instagram - @CommunitySpeaksConsulting

TikTok - @Indya2DRPH

 

With Dr. Kristi McClamroch:

 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-mcclamroch/

Website: www.CourageousPublicHealth.com

 

Subscribe to Weekly Courageous Public Health Podcast Updates - http://eepurl.com/jcgQv6

 

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Public Health Consulting To Support You

We partner with public health, healthcare, nonprofit, philanthropic, and government organizations to design workshops and facilitated sessions that help women leaders recognize, strengthen, and intentionally use courage as a leadership skill — especially in times of uncertainty, burnout, and systems under strain.

If your organization would benefit from this kind of support, we’d love to connect. Reach out on LinkedIn or on our website!