Desert Star Institute for Family Planning is a Black Woman founded and led organization that is intentional with its partnerships and programming with an aim to lift up and partner with organizations led by people of color, organizations whose work centers the lived experiences of people of color, and organizations that show a commitment to having people of color as planners and decision-makers in their organization.
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DESHAWN TAYLOR, MD, MSC, FACOG
Founder and President/CEO
info@desertstarfp.org 480-448-6753
DeShawn Taylor, MD MSc (she/hers) is an award winning Gynecologist, Family Planning Specialist, Gender Affirming Care Provider, and Reproductive Justice Activist, whose work advances reproductive health care access through direct services, education and training, advocacy, and leadership. She is an Associate Clinical Professor of OB/Gyn at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix and previously founded and solo operated Desert Star Family Planning, LLC for 10 years. Dr. Taylor founded Desert Star Institute for Family Planning in 2017 which housed coalition work and community programs advancing access to reproductive healthcare for multiply marginalized communities. In November 2023 both organizations combined and now the clinical services und program are run under one organization and Dr. Taylor is the President and CEO.
Dr. Taylor knew she would be a medical doctor since the first grade of elementary school. Initially very fascinated with the idea of becoming a brain surgeon, her patient for reproductive health grew as she matured into womanhood. Dr. Taylor runs one of the very few Black woman led independent abortion clinics in the country. She has also convened local and statewide coalitions for reproductive rights and justice with a keen interest in cultivating grassroots leadership in communities of color.
Dr. Taylor was conferred the Doctor of Medicine degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. After completing post graduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, she completed the Fellowship in Family Planning at the University of Southern California where she was also conferred a Master of Science Degree in Clinical and Biomedical Investigations.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The board of directors provides the vision, mission and goals of the organization and supervises the activities of the organization.
CHAIRPERSON
Stacey Stewart
Stacey Stewart is a Risk Practitioner who has worked in financial risk management for 20 years. Since 2009, she has been an advocate in the fight for reproductive rights and justice in myriad ways. She’s served as a clinic defender, community outreach advocate and speaker, event organizer, and blogger covering reproductive rights as well as local and national politics.
SECRETARY
Sharon Smith
Sharon Smith brings experience in outreach, fundraising and organizing to the Board. After 12 years as an award winning sales professional in the IT field, she left the corporate world to work in the community, organizing fundraisers for homeless veterans, animal shelters and children in foster care. When she learned of the constant attack on abortion access in Arizona, she began to focus on reproductive justice.
TREASURER
Rachel Beam, MPH
Rachel is a third-year medical student passionate about reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ healthcare, family planning, and abortion care. They have a background in public health including infectious disease monitoring, program planning and evaluation, qualitative research, and organizational leadership. She is passionate about the integration of abortion care into the primary care setting and aspires to provide full-spectrum reproductive care as a Family Medicine physician.
Enjolie Lafaurie
Enjolie Lafaurie, Ph.D., C.Ht., is a momma, sister, tía, comadre, widow, Doctor of Psychology, hypnotherapist, empath, death midwife, and business owner. Originally, from Southern California, she is of Afro-Cuban (Taino/Arawak) and Guatemalan (Maya) descent. Currently, Dr. Lafaurie provides service and leadership internationally, nationally, and within her local community. Enjolie is the CFO for the Cihuapactli Collective, a non-profit organization that supports indigenous women and families to reconnect with ancestral knowledge through wellness practices.
Harlie Jackson
Harlie Jackson is an activist and community organizer. As a Queer woman of color, the urge for universal love, habitual respect, and equality pushes me to be my authentic self in all spaces, tell my story and continue to do my part in changing the world. Reproductive rights are human rights until we have that there is no freedom.
MacKenzie Brennan
Mackenzie Brennan is an attorney (NY & AZ) & constitutional scholar. She’s 1 of 3 attorneys trained to represent minors seeking abortions in Maricopa County, AZ. Mackenzie brings extensive legal and policy experience having previously worked as Court Attorney to a New York Supreme Court Judge and the ASPCA General Counsel. She was also a Congressional lobbyist for international press freedom, a linguistic policy researcher for Oxford University Press, and a campaign assistant to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
May Tiwamangkala
May Tiwamangkala is Democracy Defender Director at the Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity Coalition.
Michelle Reed
Michelle Reed is a consultant with expertise in financial analysis and healthcare technology, and a proud defender of feminist and reproductive health causes.
