About Us
MISSION
Educate ourselves and our community on the multiple barriers that we must overcome to maintain our health and well-being.
Identify non-profit health care partners and raise funds for and awareness of their vital work, including women’s and mental health.
Mentor the next generation of Houston's hospitality industry leaders by offering up-and-coming cooks and entrepreneurs the opportunity to network with established stars of the Bayou City's vibrant restaurant community.
Partner with professionals in science, medicine, sports and the arts to highlight the diverse coalition of individuals prepared to fight for a Texan's access to high quality, affordable health care and reproductive rights.
I’ll Have What She’s Having is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Our EIN # is 82-4563963.
ORIGINS
In 2017, we began. State and national currents are carrying women’s health into dangerous waters, on a scale unseen in our lifetimes.
Since 2011, after the Texas legislature slashed public funding for family planning, 82 clinics have closed, leaving an unfilled gap in care.
Texas’ maternal mortality rate rose as health care access declined, and is among the highest in the developed world.
Despite a 2016 Supreme Court ruling Texas’ attacks on Roe v. Wade as unconstitutional, a new Supreme Court, the Texas Legislature and Texas governor threaten national law protecting access to safe abortion.
In rural America, hospitals are closing their labor and delivery units, while a nationwide shortage of OB-Gyn physicians threatens mothers in urban centers as well. 147 of 254 Texas counties do not have an obstetrician.
State and federal threats to cut Medicaid endanger pregnant women, more than half of whose births are funded by Medicaid, as well as uninsured individuals with breast, cervical and other cancers.
Mental illness is on the rise across our nation, with suicide claiming the beloved lives of some of our community. The need for more public awareness and more funding for the treatment of depression and anxiety has never better greater.
We are the message that this multi-faceted attack on our health will not be accepted. Houston’s best-known chefs have joined forces with the hospitality industry’s most gifted individuals: up-and-coming cooks, prominent restaurateurs, captivating stars of the cocktail and wine worlds. We are joined by physicians, artists, writers, lawyers, and other professionals.
Our coalition is broad - like the problem, and growing - as is the urgency of the cause, a cause which is personal for each one of us. Nearly all of us are uninsured, or have been in the past, and recognize how the devastating trends in medicine today are going to destroy families and communities by harming the mothers, wives, sisters, aunts and daughters of Texas and America.
The founding members include Lori Choi, Karen Man, Lisa Seger, Monica Pope and Erin Smith, pursuing change with a growing team, united in their passion for hospitality, community and better health in the food and beverage industry.