The Zaky | Nurtured by Design Yamile came to Houston when she was 21 and decided to stay when Columbia became unsafe and dangerous. Instead of starting school right away, she needed to learn English first. Then she set her goal on achieving her PhD in Engineering as well. She met and married her current husband in 1996. Her son Zach was born at 28 weeks in 2001. She developed preeclampsia, and in order to save her life, she had an emergency C-section. After learning that the majority of babies in the NICU don’t like to be touched due to pain association, even later in life, Yamile was determined to find a solution around this. So that night, she and her husband both slept with 4 garden gloves to capture their scent, filled them with small beads/beans that would give the gloves some weight, sewed up the hole in the end and put it in his incubator the next day. The nurses noticed right away that Zach was calmer and sleeping better at night. Unfortunately the day Zach was to be ex-incubated, Tropical Storm Allison hit, flooding the hospital and shutting down all power. That morning, Yamile called the NICU and got a busy signal on the phone. So she and her husband drove to the hospital and climbed 7 stories in the dark to be with their son. While Yamile held him, her husband gave him manual breaths with a pump. They did that for five hours before he was transferred to another hospital. She made a promise to herself to save as many babies as she can, if Zach survives, no matter what condition he ends up in. After 5 months of being in the hospital, where she left him wrapped in gloves with her scent every night to keep him calm and restful, Zach came home on October 2001. Three weeks after they got home, a nurse called asking if Yamile could make gloves for the entire nursery. She knew this was how she could keep her promise, and the product Zaky was born. Yamile tapped into her engineering training and spent three years developing the Zaky. She then launched her own company called Nurture by Design. Since 2003, she’s manufactured about 50,000 Zakys, many of which have been donated or given to people in need. She also has a donation program called OBOZ (On Behalf of Zach) where they match in product whenever someone donates money to a hospital on behalf of Zach. This is why most of her product is donated and not sold. A study by a Georgia university found that in babies who suffer episodes of bradycardia and apnea (where they stop breathing for up to 20 seconds), the babies who use the Zaky had zero episodes of the condition, compared to babies who didn’t use the Zaky. They also found that babies who use the Zaky with their mother’s scent are able to self-regulate 30 times better than babies without a Zaky. Zach is now 13 years old and has zero developmental issues. He’s in the 7th grade and speaks both English and Spanish. Yamile, who developed and beat breast cancer last year (she had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery), runs the company on her own. She has zero employees. This is her fulltime job. She says, after battling cancer, she knows the Zaky and helping mothers and babies is her life’s work and mission. Her need is money to be able to expand and grow and educate people on her product and hire a staff. She says her biggest obstacle is that parents don’t know about the Zaky. They don’t advertise or spend money on marketing because she says that money would rather be spent on hospitals (but she’s thinking about changing this policy – hence the need for more money.) About Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend Tour Start each day anew. Live your calling. Believe in what you can, and will, become. Create the life you want. Begin your journey at this all-new, empowering weekend gathering. Not only will you see the possibilities of a new life . . . the life you want . . . you'll leave empowered to take charge and make it happen. Friday, Oprah takes the stage, in a profound, moving and intimate one woman show. Oprah brings her story and vision to life, creating a transformative journey for every person in the audience. Saturday, Oprah unleashes that energy, leading a day-long gathering of thousands, with hand-picked "life trailblazers," each of whom brings a unique power to connect, dig deep, and open hearts and minds. From teaching to conversation to one-on-one connection, to music, laughter, and breathtaking moments, this will be an unforgettable life experience.

• published: 03 Nov 2014
• views: 10734