Birthing Policy for the People

Crystal D. Charley, MBA, is a respected government affairs agent, policy strategist, and advocate whose work sits at the intersection of birth and reproductive justice, racial equity, community empowerment, and systems change. Her leadership is grounded in deep cultural fluency, unwavering moral clarity, and a rare ability to translate community experience into strategic, winnable policy solutions.

 

Crystal has spent her career navigating the legislative landscape, building coalitions, advising executive leaders, shaping narrative strategy, and fighting for policies that protect the dignity and futures of Black communities and other marginalized populations.

 

She is also a graduate of the Black Futures Lab / Black to the Future Policy Fellowship, a nationally recognized program cultivating Black policy innovators shaping transformative legislation, data-driven advocacy, and civic power across the country.

 

As a strategist, she is known for:

• Strategic precision and relational depth

• A transparent, values-driven approach to policy

• A rare capacity to bridge community voice with legislative reality

• Masterful storytelling that reframes policy debates

• An uncompromising commitment to equity

 

Crystal is also a Shafia Monroe Consulting Full Circle Doula Birth Companion (SMC FCDBC), a doula certification that grounds her policy expertise in deep knowledge of Black birth and reproductive justice. This training reflects her longstanding commitment to culturally aligned care, maternal health equity, and protecting the lives of Black birthing people — insights that uniquely inform her approach to legislation and systems design.

 

Her work extends across sectors, but her grounding remains the same: policy must be designed for the people it claims to serve — not merely documented in their name.

 

Beyond her professional work, Crystal is a proud legacy mother and an active member of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated, Burlington County Chapter, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, reflecting her commitment to leadership, service, and opportunity across generations.

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The Policy Doula™ Podcast, created and hosted by Crystal, offers a narrative companion to her policy work, bringing listeners behind the legislation to understand the lived realities shaping systems.