All our teams are currently working extremely hard as we, along with the rest of the NHS, tackle Covid-19. That’s why we wanted to give our colleagues the spotlight, as part of our In Conversation With interviews, to share what they’re doing and the impact on them.

This week we spoke to Maria Benedetti, our Lead Midwife for Multi-Ethnic Empowerment, a role she took up in January and the first of its kind in our Trust. It’s there provide better support our BAME pregnant women.

Age: 38

Lives: In Barking with husband Chris, 42, and children Rafael, 22, Gabriela, 20, Daniel, 15, and 11-year-old Alexandra.

And: In her own words Maria’s life and journey to achieving her dream of being a midwife has been a ‘rollercoaster’, from growing up surrounded by racism in Portugal, to moving to the UK and meeting her prince charming, and being the first in her family to go to university – it’s an inspiring read!

We hear you had an interesting career path to becoming a midwife….

I was a teen mum and had my first son at 15 and my daughter at 17. Both my older children were born in Portugal, where I grew up, and I had challenging experiences. My younger two were born in the UK where my experience was much better, and that’s what first made me want to become a midwife.

I’d moved to the UK in 2001 when I became a single mum as my sister lived here. I had little education as I’d left school so young so I also came for better opportunities. It was very difficult at first as there was a language barrier, but I started working at a Welcome Break in Stansted. I started off cleaning and then when my English got better I was able to work on the till in Burger King.

Then, due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to give up work. The children and I lived in a hostel before I could get council accommodation.

In 2005 I applied for an access course to do midwifery but my English and maths wasn’t good enough at the time. I reapplied in 2006 and just made it but had to give up my place as by then I had a two-year-old and no childcare.

Instead I did an NVQ level 2 in health and social care, which was funded by a charity, Widows and Orphans International in Dagenham. I found out about it through a mum at the school gates. She was always so well dressed and carried books and one day asked what I did, I said I was stuck due to lack of education. She told me she was at university – she really inspired me as what she had seemed impossible, but she was a black woman with children too.

I completed the course in 2007 and really enjoyed my placement at a care home. Then a few months later I was approached by one of the project managers at Widows and Orphans International, who helped me to get a job supporting other people like me through community projects.

I found it really inspiring, I would give women hope, they felt their life was over as they had three or four children and few opportunities, but I told them; ‘if I can do it, you can do it’.

My dream of being a midwife never went away though and I spoke to my husband about how we could make it happen. He supported me to give up my job and apply for the access to midwifery course which I did at Barking and Dagenham College in 2012. Then I was offered a place to study midwifery at Southbank University in 2013.

I lived locally and specifically wanted to work at Queen’s Hospital. It was around the time our Maternity department was getting a lot of negative press, however, I wanted to be part of the improvement.

Training was really hard, especially as I was raising teenagers and wasn’t academic at all. But I didn’t let anything stop me, I finished my degree in 2016 and started working here. It was amazing transitioning from a student to a colleague. I moved to our Birth Centre as a core midwife in 2018, and started my new role, as a secondment, this year.

I’m really proud that I never gave up even though it’s been quite a rollercoaster.

Tell us more about your new role supporting our BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) pregnant women

BAME women are more likely to experience poor obstetric outcomes in comparison with white British women and the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted these differences even more.

My role was introduced to work with our midwifery teams to identify any gaps and how we can improve our services to ensure we are inclusive to all women. Initially it involved going into community areas where we have high numbers of BAME pregnant women and finding out more about their experiences of maternity care.

We know we need to take into account cultural differences and adapt our services. I’ve also spent time with our Bereavement and Safeguarding teams, as stillbirth and domestic violence are more prevalent in our BAME communities.

I’d only finished my initial report and recommendations when Covid hit and I needed to return to clinical work, which meant this had to be put on hold. I’m now back prioritising it and have used my experience during the pandemic to look at additional recommendations. I hope we can start implementing these changes soon.

The pandemic has also exacerbated the fear of women coming into hospital, so we need to look for new ways to reach out to them, such as through tailored communications and community centres.

I want to set up a virtual support group where women can share their experiences and we can learn from them, and relaunch our Maternity Voices Partnership, ensuring it has a much more diverse membership.

What’s your take on the recent Black Lives Matter movement?

Growing in Portugal, where it was predominantly white, I was used to experiencing very direct racism. Moving to the UK gave me my first taste of diversity – I was shocked when I saw a black person working in a bank. For the first time, I didn’t feel different.

Having experienced direct racism growing up in Portugal, I didn’t always recognise when people were being indirectly racist when I moved to the UK. Chris is white and I’ve often had looks and comments from the black community when we’re out together.

As my younger two children were white when they were young, people on the bus would look at me and ask if I was the childminder. I was also scared to take them on a flight home to see family in Portugal, fearing that I might be stopped for abducting someone else’s child, so I would never travel with them without Chris.

When George Floyd hit the news I couldn’t believe this was still happening – that’s what I grew up with. It brought up feelings I hadn’t dealt with for years and led to lots of open conversations with my husband, my family and colleagues.

I’ve never wanted to be a victim, we need to see change and that comes from challenging people in the right way. I’ve learned things too by listening to my children’s experiences – I never felt the need to discuss race while raising my children but I was surprised when Rafael told me I’d never experienced being a black teenage boy. He was right, and I was shocked to hear what he was feeling.

I think the most important thing is to listen to other people’s stories. I’ve never felt I’ve been treated differently at our Trust and I’ve been really encouraged to progress. However, I know that’s not the case for everyone.

It’s also made me identify more with my African heritage. My family are from Cape Verde, although I was born and raised in Portugal.

We know you had a difficult start to life in the UK, how did meeting Chris help change that?

He’s really helped me to understand and embrace British culture. It’s a bit cliché but he’s my Cinderella story – finding my Prince Charming, he’s a lovely dad, husband and friend, and he helped me get where I am now. We met at church and after we married he adopted my two older children, and we had two more children, we’re a blended family.

I was the first in my family to go to university, and I’m really proud that my children are now pursuing this, I feel like I’ve broken the cycle.

What do you like getting up to outside work?

I love helping others. I’ve been a member the Barking Elim Church for 17 years and we help to feed the homeless, especially during the pandemic where many have been affected. I help to cook the meals each week.

And I like nurturing people – if I wasn’t a midwife I’d be a coach. People have really helped me in my life and career so I’d love helping people get from point A to point B.