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In 2005, Heidi expanded the What to Expect (WTE) brand online with WhatToExpect.com, which currently registers over 60% of U.S. pregnancies and features the #1 rated pregnancy app in the App Store, featuring personalized, timely daily messages, a kick counter, a baby feeding tracker and much more. WhatToExpect.com is home to an active and engaged community of 20 million moms, with an average of 800,000 new posts each month, a new post every two seconds, and the average user visiting 14 times a month. Her popular week-by-videos support expecting and new parents throughout their pregnancy journey and the first year.
Heidi’s passionate commitment to the health and wellbeing of moms and babies led her to found the What to Expect Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that every mom, no matter where she lives, the color of her skin, or her ability to pay, receives the respectful, responsive, nurturing care she needs before, during and after pregnancy to deliver a healthy beginning and healthy future to herself and the baby she loves.
From building the workforce of doulas, midwifes and other essential health and community workers, to reducing preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, stillbirth, and infant mortality, to advocating for paid family leave and inclusion of fathers in maternal and infant healthcare, WTEP works closely with policymakers and other stakeholders across the political spectrum at the local, state, national, and global level to increase equity and remove barriers to essential preconception, maternal health and maternal mental health care and services for all our most at-risk and underserved moms. This includes Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native moms, rural moms and urban moms living in maternal healthcare deserts, as well as incarcerated moms. Military moms, both active duty and spouses, are another major policy priority for Heidi and WTEP.
Since 2013 Heidi and the What to Expect Project have hosted more than 300 baby showers –- complete with with lunch, games, gifts, a Q&A and lots of Heidi’s trademark hugs –celebrating over 30,000 military moms and dads (including active duty and spouses, and from all services) around the country and around the world, from Germany to Japan, Korea to Guam, Texas to Kansas, Alaska to North Carolina. The work continues in partnership with the US Marine Corps, the US Navy and the US Army. On June 23, 2022, Heidi and her husband and partner Erik received the Elizabeth and Zachary Fisher Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Award for their support of military families. They were nominated by the US Navy and were presented with the award on behalf of the Department of Defense by the Secretary of the US Air Force, Hon Frank Kendall at a ceremony at the Pentagon.
The What to Expect Project has expanded its mission globally to reach the most vulnerable moms around the world. Heidi and Erik have traveled to some of the world’s most devasted areas, including South Sudan, Sierra Leone, the Somali and Syrian borders, Bangladesh, and rural India, working with International Medical Corps and Jhpiego to help deliver desperately needed maternal healthcare and training.
In 2015, The What to Expect Project debuted the social media advocacy campaign #BumpDay in collaboration with WhatToExpect.com. This hugely successful and impactful campaign celebrates beautiful bumps and healthy pregnancies around the world, while raising awareness about and calling for action on the overwhelming need for more equitable maternal health care.
In 2011, Heidi was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World. She has also been honored by Smithsonian Associates with the prestigious John P. McGovern Award, which recognizes contributions to American families, and has been inducted into the Books for a Better Life Hall of Fame. In 2015, she received the International Medical Corps Humanitarian award, and in 2021, she and Erik were honored with the Jhpiego Visionary Award.
WHAT TO EXPECT is a registered trademark of What to Expect LLC
