She thought the exhaustion was just life piling up—work, stress, long cycles that left her wiped out. The diagnosis caught her off guard: triple-negative breast cancer. No one mentioned vitamin D. No one connected her heavy periods to iron loss or told her how fibroids silently take root. She was used to powering through. That’s what we’ve been taught to do.
This is the reality Black women know all too well.
Sunlight barely touches the bones of Detroit winters, but for Black women, the absence runs deeper than the sky’s reflection. This isn’t about catching rays for Instagram selfies or a quick mood boost—it’s a matter of health, of life, and too often, of death. Eighty-two percent of Black women are deficient in vitamin D. That’s not a misprint. It’s not a warning—it’s a reality.
Detroit’s own Dr. Bryanne Standifer-Barrett doesn’t need reminding of this reality. What started as childhood dreams of wearing a doctor’s coat year after year on Halloween turned into a calling grounded in tragedy. “I’ve always loved science, math, and health was just something I always was interested in,” she said. “Every year for Halloween, I would be a doctor. I was a doctor for like eight years straight and then it kind of hit home heavy with my mother. Before the age of 40 she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer… going through that with her in the hospital, a lot of talking to different doctors… that really propelled my trajectory to want to become a physician.”
PHOTO: Dr. Bryanne Standifer-Barrett, MD
Black women face a health crisis that rarely leads the headlines but cuts deep into our communities. Black women are three times more likely to experience anemia. Vitamin D deficiency affects more than four out of five of us. Seventy-two percent walk around iron deficient, many unaware. Add to that, we lead in maternal mortality rates, we lead in infant mortality, and we lead in conditions like PCOS. Health disparities don’t whisper; they scream. But too often, the system looks away.
“Vitamin deficiencies are something that we don’t really recognize too much of,” Dr. Standifer-Barrett said. “Right now, as it stands iron deficiency and vitamin D deficiency, particularly affect Black women at an alarming rate… about 94% of Black women and just the population in general is vitamin D deficient and about 72% of Black women are iron deficient.”
This isn’t accidental. Melanin—the beauty we wear with pride—comes with barriers. “Unfortunately, as African-Americans, we get vitamin D from the sun,” she explained. “A lot of us, are not outside as it is enough, and then on top of that when you have melanin or brown skin, you need to stand outside longer—like twice or three times as longer as someone who does not have brown skin—to get that same absorption level.”
For too many Black women, low iron is tied to fibroids, another crisis we’re not discussing loudly enough. “One of the biggest corporate, especially for Black women is going to be fibroids,” she continued. “A lot of us are walking around, not knowing that they have fibroids because the only time you really get your uterus assessed is if you’re pregnant or if you have a problem. Many women… their menstrual cycles last for days on days on days and they’re losing so much blood, and that’s where the iron deficiency comes from.”
Symptoms don’t always announce themselves with fireworks. Fatigue. Mood shifts. Slow wound healing. Depression. Weakness. It’s easy to confuse them with everyday stress, with burnout. And that’s what we’ve been conditioned to do—push through. Survive. Show up even when our bodies are begging us to sit down.
“In my practice what I see, a lot of us Black women… we’re so used to compensating and just pushing through. Not really having a chance to assess how we’re doing,” she shared. “I think a lot of us are walking around deficient and not knowing it because we have this push-through superwoman mentality and it’s affecting our health.”
This isn’t about blame. It’s about systems and silence. The kind that leaves Black women without access to quality care, to information, to providers who understand the specifics of our health. This is where a culturally informed approach matters. That’s where Black Girl Vitamins enters the conversation—bridging gaps, amplifying health literacy, and centering Black women with care designed for our bodies and our lives.
Dr. Standifer-Barrett partners with the company as a medical advisor, but her role started with a deeper concern. “My relationship with them started after seeing some people come in… their vitamin D, their iron was low… they go, and they take something over-the-counter because a lot of times insurances don’t cover a supplementation,” she explained. “They come back after taking whatever brand of vitamin, and we recheck their levels… and their levels weren’t budging after doing the supplementation for several months.”
She sought something different. Something that worked. That understood what Black women needed—physically and culturally. “So, I discovered Black Girl Vitamins, and I said, let me just have a conversation with this company just so I can find a space that I can trust.”
That conversation turned into community. “They had the same exact goals as I do—empowering the community, trying to help women become advocates for themselves, trying to reduce the health disparity gaps,” she said. “After that, it kind of turned into a partnership because our goals were exactly the same, and I’ve never seen a vitamin company that their goal is to not only get people the vitamins they need but also educate them.”
This education comes in the form of free webinars. Spaces where women can ask questions, learn about symptoms, connect dots between their energy dips, skin changes, irregular cycles, and what might be happening under the surface. “My job with them is to actually participate in free webinars that help educate women on certain conditions… that’s how our relationship started and that’s how it’s growing and continues to grow,” Dr. Standifer-Barrett added.
This movement didn’t begin in a lab or marketing room. It began with lived experience. A brother and sister founded Black Girl Vitamins after the sister discovered her chronic symptoms were rooted in vitamin D deficiency. That personal connection became a communal mission.
Understanding vitamin D isn’t just about strong bones. It’s tied to immune function, mood regulation, and even cancer risks. Mounting evidence points to vitamin D deficiency as a contributing factor in the development of breast cancer among Black women. Genes, skin tone, and environmental factors all intersect. And yet, most of us aren’t even told this at our annual checkups.
Other deficiencies carry weight too. Vitamin B12 supports nerve function and DNA synthesis. Without it, fatigue deepens, numbness creeps into hands and feet, and hyperpigmentation can appear on the skin. Folic acid is vital for pregnancy health. Vitamin C builds resistance. Iron, perhaps the most discussed, is responsible for oxygen flow—without it, energy collapses.
This isn’t a doom story. This is a call to action. To be informed. To take ownership. To demand access and accountability. Detroit women are already leading the charge. One appointment, one webinar, one conversation at a time.
This is how change happens—by seeing ourselves, by listening to those who look like us and walk the same cultural paths. Dr. Standifer-Barrett isn’t just another doctor handing out instructions. She is a reflection of so many Black women navigating health systems, family responsibilities, and legacy building. She chose medicine because her mother’s pain became her purpose.
Black women deserve to feel good. Not just survive, but thrive—with vitality, clarity, and joy. That begins with asking hard questions. What’s behind this fatigue? Why is my cycle so heavy? Could something deeper be going on?
Start there. Ask more. Learn more. Advocate harder.
Because our health isn’t just personal—it’s revolutionary.
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