FAQs
Overview
Join us for the 2026 Towards Health Equity Gala, on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at Baldoria on the Water in Lakewood, CO, for an inspiring event dedicated to celebrating and fostering opportunities for growth and development. This gala is a pivotal moment to connect with like-minded individuals and support a noble cause, health equity.
Purpose
The 2026 Towards Health Equity Gala brings together Colorado's most passionate leaders and changemakers for an evening of inspiration, connection, and impact – raising critical funds to dismantle racial and ethnic health inequities and save lives across our communities. This is your opportunity to be part of the solution, investing in programs that deliver just, bias-free healthcare to those whose silent cries for help deserve to be heard.
Gala Goals
Sister-to-Sister, Inc. is hosting the Towards Health Equity: Building Bridges gala. The focus is Black maternal health. The goals are to significantly reduce rates of Black mothers and infants’ mortality and morbidity, improve health outcomes, reduce and ultimately eliminate racial disparities in healthcare for these populations, reduce postpartum mental illnesses leading to suicidal ideation, reduce suicide and substance abuse, and improve overall quality of health of affected populations.
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Our gala advances a future where every Black mother and baby not only survives, but thrives before, during, and after birth.
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Drive a historic decline in preventable deaths and life threatening complications for Black mothers and their babies, turning the maternal health crisis into a story of survival and joy.
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Transform Black birthing experiences from high risk to high quality by ensuring timely, respectful, and culturally grounded care at every touchpoint of pregnancy, birth, and the first year of life.
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Dismantle racial inequities in maternal and infant care so that race no longer predicts who has access to safe births, healthy babies, and long, thriving lives.
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Build a continuum of mental health support so Black mothers are seen, heard, and treated early—reducing postpartum depression, substance use, and the tragic spiral toward suicidal thoughts and loss.
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Elevate the overall wellbeing of Black women, birthing people, and infants by addressing chronic conditions, social determinants of health, and the everyday stressors that drive poor outcomes.
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Forge lasting bridges among families, clinicians, doulas, community health workers, and policymakers to redesign systems in ways that honor Black motherhood and protect Black life.
Key Highlights
Experience an extraordinary evening at Baldoria on the Water, a stunning lakeside venue in Lakewood, where breathtaking views meet purpose-driven celebration.
Enjoy an inspiring program featuring:
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Our keynote speaker will move your heart
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Gourmet buffet dinner with complimentary nonalcoholic beverages
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Cash bar with your favorite cocktails
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Live music that sets the perfect atmosphere
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Online silent auction
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Convenience of free parking
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Connect with influential leaders from healthcare, business, law, and government while making a tangible difference in the fight for health equity
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Fundraising to support initiatives that drive empowerment and development, ensuring that everyone has access to the resources they need to thrive
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And more!
How to Get Involved - Support the Gala!
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Purchase Tickets: ($50 - $612) Secure your seats and be part of an inspiring event.
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Become a Partner: Explore our Partner Sponsorship tiers and join us in empowering communities. If interested in learning more, please contact Velveta Golightly-Howell, Planning Committee Executive Chair, at vhowell@sister-to-sister.org
Community Partner Sponsorships: ($500 -$2,000) Join us as a Community Partner and become part of an unforgettable evening where compassion meets action, and together we answer the call for a healthier, more equitable future for all.
Premier Partner Sponsorships: ($2,500 - $15,000) We invite you to join us as a valued Sister-to-Sister, Inc. Premier Partner at this transformative gala where your investment creates real change and lasting impact.
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Participate in our Online Silent Auction: View our auction items page. We have wonderful items available for auction.
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Donate a Silent Auction Item: Please consider donating an item for our Gala auction.
Donate to support our overall mission: Contribute to our mission and help us continue creating change that positively impacts communities and the lives of onyx women and girls.
Why Get Involved
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Legislative Advocacy
Keynote Speaker
Tiffany G. Wilson, MD, MBA, FACOG
Dr. Tiffany Wilson, MD, FACOG, is an obstetrician gynecologist and laborist with CommonSpirit Health’s Mountain Region in Colorado, where she doesn’t just deliver babies – she helps deliver dignity, safety, and healing to Black women and families navigating a healthcare system that too often fails them. Born and raised in Chicago, she grew up surrounded by strong Black women who taught her that self advocacy and community care are matters of survival. That early exposure to health disparities
propelled her to Howard University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology, summa cum laude, and then her MD at Howard University College of Medicine, followed by her OB GYN residency at Howard University Hospital – a training ground that grounded her in the unique needs, strengths, and resilience of Black women.
Today, as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor - a nationally recognized honor for physicians nominated by their peers and carefully vetted by an independent research organization for clinical excellence, professional reputation, and patient centered care – Dr. Wilson is also featured in 5280 Magazine’s “Top Doctors” list. She is a leading voice for birth equity, perinatal mental health, and trauma informed practice, working tirelessly to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality among Black birthing persons. She has served as an Associate Medical Director at Mary’s Center and collaborated with statewide quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, translating her clinical insights into meaningful systems change.
An engaging, storytelling driven speaker, she speaks candidly about her own experiences with loss, postpartum mental health, and survivorship, creating space for women to see themselves in her journey. At Sister to Sister, Inc.’s May 16, 2026, Towards Health Equity Gala, Dr. Wilson will bring both heart and heat to the conversation, challenging sponsors, partners, and guests to lean into the hard work of transforming reproductive health into a true engine of racial and gender equality and justice.
Don't miss Dr. Wilson's 9News Colorado & Company Interview. Click here and benefit from Dr. Wilson's informative discussion regarding Women's Health Essentials: Mammograms, Pap Smears, BRCA Gene Testing, and more.
Honorees & Host
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Ms. Terri Richardson, MD
There are physicians who treat patients. And then there are healers who transform systems. Dr. Richardson is the rare and extraordinary kind who has done both.
A Denver native, Dr. Richardson carries her city in everything she does. After earning her undergraduate degree from Stanford and her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, she made a choice that speaks volumes about her character: she
came home. She returned to Denver not for prestige or comfort, but because her community needed her. She joined Denver Health–Eastside Health Center as a primary care physician and medical director – one of the state's most diverse and underserved safety net clinics – before later joining Kaiser Permanente's East Denver office. For more than 30 years, she showed up, day after day, for patients who had been overlooked, underserved, and underestimated by a healthcare system not built with them in mind.
Colleagues and patients alike came to know her as a "community doctor" – a physician who saw the whole person, not just the chart. She treated patients across lines of race, income, and background with equal dignity and excellence, and she never stopped pushing for care teams that looked like the communities they served. In an era when cultural competency was still considered optional, Dr. Richardson made it non negotiable.
When she retired from clinical practice, many might have expected her to slow down. Instead, she shifted her energy toward a new frontier: governance and systemic change. She now serves on the board of the Colorado Health Foundation, one of the state's most influential health equity funders, where she helps shape major investments addressing the social and structural drivers of health disparities, including maternal health, behavioral health, and access to care for communities of color. She also serves on the board of the Colorado Black Health Collaborative, a multi sector coalition dedicated to eliminating racial inequities in health outcomes through research, advocacy, and community engagement. In both roles, she brings what no policy brief can replicate: a clinician's wisdom, a community member's heart, and a reformer's resolve.
Dr. Richardson also invests deeply in the next generation – mentoring emerging healthcare leaders and reminding them that clinical excellence and community accountability are not competing values, but essential partners. Her life's work is a masterclass in what it means to use every role, every room, and every moment of influence in service of a healthier, more just Colorado. Sister to Sister, Inc. is deeply honored to celebrate her legacy.
Colorado Representative Regina English, EdD
Rooted in Colorado. Raised in classrooms. Rising for her community.
Representative Regina English, EdD, is not just a legislator – she’s living proof that when a community invests in its own, the returns are transformational. A Colorado native who climbed every rung of the educational ladder from associate degree to doctorate, Rep. English has spent her life in service to the people of El Paso County – first as an educator shaping young
minds, then as a Harrison School District 2 board member shaping policy, and now as a Colorado state representative shaping the future from the House floor.
She arrived at the Capitol not as an outsider seeking power, but as a neighbor answering a call. Representing House District 17 in Colorado Springs, Rep. English brings the kind of credibility that can only come from decades of showing up – in classrooms, in boardrooms, and at kitchen tables across the community. Her work spans education, housing, mental health, and reproductive rights, because she understands that justice doesn't arrive in pieces – it has to reach the whole person.
In 2026, Rep. English made Black maternal health a defining priority of her term, serving as a principal sponsor of HB26-1044, "Measures to Improve Black Maternal Health Equity,"a landmark bill that demands hospital accountability, strengthens data collection on maternal outcomes, and creates a fund to support families harmed by preventable tragedies. She also co-sponsored HB26-1135, the Hair Product Transparency and Safety Act, taking direct aim at the toxic exposures that have quietly threatened the health of Black women and families for far too long. Together, these bills are not just legislation – they are love letters to every Black mother who was dismissed, overlooked, or failed by a system that should have protected her.
Sister-to-Sister, Inc. is proud to partner with Rep. English as the principal community sponsor of this maternal health legislative package – because when a legislator listens this deeply, community shows up in return. Together, we are working to ensure that the voices of Black mothers, doulas, and advocates across Colorado were not just invited to the table – they help build it.
Colorado Representative Junie Joseph, Esq.
Immigrant. Trailblazer. Attorney. Legislator. Unapologetically for the people.
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and arriving in the United States at age 14 with little more than ambition and iron resolve, Rep. Joseph refused to let circumstance define her ceiling. She earned a B.A. in Political Science, a Master's in Applied Human Rights from the University of York in England, and a J.D. from Colorado Law – credentials forged not just in classrooms, but in
the field: advocating for transitional justice in South Africa, championing disability rights on a USAID project in Côte d'Ivoire, and serving internally displaced persons as a Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Mission to the Central African Republic.
When she came to Colorado to study law, she didn't wait to graduate before serving – she ran for Boulder City Council as a law student and won. She later made history as the first Black woman elected to represent Boulder at the Colorado Capitol. Today, serving House District 10 as Majority Caucus Co-Chair and a member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committees, she brings that same fearless energy to every bill she carries.
In the 2026 legislative session, Rep. Joseph has emerged as one of the most consequential voices for Black maternal health in Colorado's history. She co-sponsored HB26-1044, "Measures to Improve Black Maternal Health Equity" – widely regarded as the state's closest equivalent to a federal Black Momnibus - establishing a Maternal Health Equity Improvement Fund, mandating cultural-competency training for obstetric providers, requiring hospitals to post respectful-maternity-care standards, and directing the state to publicly report annual maternal health outcomes with a focus on Black birthing parents. She also co-sponsored HB26-1135, the Hair Product Transparency and Safety Act, requiring warning labels on hair-care products containing carcinogens or substances linked to infertility and birth defects – a direct strike at the environmental health disparities that have long targeted Black women and communities of color.
Sister-to-Sister, Inc. is proud to serve as the principal community sponsor of this maternal health legislative package, partnering with Rep. Joseph to ensure that the lived experiences of Black mothers and families across Colorado are not just heard, but written into law.
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Alissa “Nikki” Swarn
The Host Who Holds Space for You
Alissa “Nikki” Swarn is the kind of host who makes you feel seen before you’ve even said a word. Warm, witty, and deeply intentional, she doesn’t just run a program – she creates a container where people feel safe to show up as their full selves.
As the creator of “Therapy Thursday,” Nikki turned mental
health from a private struggle into a shared, celebratory experience. What began as a podcast quickly became a movement – a monthly gathering where Black women, BIPOC communities, and allies come together to talk honestly about healing, joy, and resilience, all anchored in laughter, storytelling, and love. Through partnerships with Black Pride Colorado, Youth Seen, and the Black Mental Health Collaborative, she has built a stage where culturally grounded therapists and community advocates are centered, not sidelined.
Beyond the mic, Nikki is a purpose driven entrepreneur and community leader, blending her expertise in media, nonprofit work, and equity advocacy to shape spaces that reflect the communities she loves. Whether she is welcoming a keynote speaker, introducing a panel, or guiding a room through a vulnerable conversation, she does it with grace, grounded humor, and a quiet conviction that everyone deserves to feel welcome and valued.
Nikki brings that same heart centered leadership into her role as the contracted Black Maternal Health & Health Equity Program Director for Sister to Sister, Inc., where she supports the design, implementation, and community engagement of initiatives that uplift Black mothers and families. In this role, she helps bridge policy, practice, and lived experience, ensuring that Black maternal health work is not only data driven but also deeply rooted in culture, trust, and collective care.
When Nikki Swarn steps to the podium, the room doesn’t just settle – it sighs in relief. Because in her presence, you know you’re not just attending an event… you’re being invited home.
Honorary Cabinet of Chairs
Gala Sponsors
Wellness Advocate
Judge Angie Arkin
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Ross Rabin
Mr. and Mrs. Sonny Cave
Wellness Visionary
