Samantha Banerjee is a bereaved mom, fierce activist, and passionate advocate who took the pain of her family’s personal tragedy and has channeled it into a bold national movement to end preventable stillbirth. She is one of the founding families of leading U.S. stillbirth prevention nonprofit, PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, and is its first and founding Executive Director.Following her daughter Alana’s stillbirth just two days before the due date of her otherwise blissful first pregnancy, Samantha became known within the loss community for her candid writing on grief. Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, TODAY, ProPublica, ABC News and more.Samantha is one of two dozen families who founded PUSH. Frustrated with the lack of change for decades around stillbirth and committed to being outspoken and bold to bust myths around stillbirth, Samantha is working to challenge the status quo and break down medical paternalism to speak directly to expectant parents. Through PUSH she elevates powerful stories to raise awareness, and prioritizes top/down systemic change that gives a voice to all and values inclusivity and collaboration across the stillbirth and maternal mortality communities. Samantha currently leads the organization's efforts to bring together bereaved parents, healthcare providers, and allies to build awareness around preventing stillbirth, training medical professionals on treating families after stillbirth, and updating policy around paid leave for women who experience stillbirth. Prior to her advocacy, Samantha was a consultant, writer and author whose debut young adult series, The Stitch Trilogy, spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi. Previously she was a software engineer who led a team at Microsoft in Seattle and was also a small business owner. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, she has degrees in Systems Engineering from Penn Engineering and Business Operations from the Wharton School. Sam was fortunate to deliver a healthy son and second daughter after her stillbirth. She now lives with her family in New York where she is a DIY-enthusiast and avid reader who loves to play video games, has a penchant for contact sports, and is obsessed with her dog.