Jamilah Page acquired a love for helping others from her dad.

“I wanted to be a psychologist … I remember one day my dad let me act like a therapist,” she said. “It was a very pivotal moment for me. It definitely inspired us, especially me, to be in this work.”

After receiving her bachelor’s in science from Tuskegee University, Jamilah Page went on to pursue her Ph.D. in nutrition from Auburn University. (Amarr Croskey, for The Birmingham Times)

Page, now a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) with a Ph.D. in nutrition (emphasis in community nutrition and public health), and her sister, Hadiyah Page, who has a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in maternal and child health and is a medical doctoral candidate, have partnered to create A Fresh Page (AFP) LLC, which addresses health disparities, food insecurity, nutrition and other public health concerns in low-income populations.

“We work with farmers and community foundations. We have worked with local churches to be able to help them have nutrition and health education. We want to fill the gap as much as possible, whether that’s through education, or it’s through resources,” said Jamilah, 29, founder and CEO. Hadiyah, 26, is the year-old company’s public health media coordinator.

Over the past year, the sisters have hosted virtual workshops and cook-a-longs through their company, which can be booked by churches, businesses, and other groups looking to expand their culinary skills and find healthier solutions.

The sisters are graduates of Birmingham’s Ramsay High School. Jamilah graduated in 2012 and Hadiyah in 2015 as a member of the inaugural International Baccalaureate Class.

After receiving her bachelor’s in science with a concertation in food and nutrition science/dietetics from Tuskegee University, Jamilah went on to pursue her Ph.D. in nutrition from Auburn University.

Hadiyah Page is now in a medical doctorate (M.D.) program at Ross University located on the Caribbean Island of Barbados. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)

“I wanted to be a dietitian before I went to high school. I finished my Ph.D. at Auburn, and I finished a graduate certificate and program evaluation, so I kind of specialized in being a dietitian who looks at policy and programming,” she said. “I develop curricula. I do things all the way from a community garden to health care and care coordination, and I absolutely love that. My Ph.D. has an emphasis in community nutrition and public health. So that’s also kind of where Hadiyah and I intersect with our disciplines.”

After receiving her bachelor’s in Pre Health-Concentration from Tuskegee University and master’s in public health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Hadiyah is now in her medical doctorate (M.D.) program at Ross University located on the Caribbean Island of Barbados.

“I’ve completed my first two years. I’m in the process of transitioning to my third year, which is very exciting,” she said. “My goal is to take everything that we’ve learned so far and put it into bite size chunks to be able to feed it to people who we care about the most. One of the reasons why we do what we do is because we want to make sure that we can spread health care to those who don’t necessarily have it close by them.

“I really got passionate about serving my local Birmingham community,” Hadiyah continued, “because it was just a lot that I learned about the things that, particularly Black women, that we’re up against, not just in Birmingham but also in Alabama.”

The Page sisters are both graduates of Birmingham’s Ramsay High School. (Amarr Croskey, for The Birmingham Times)

Hadiyah recalled growing up and working with their church (Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ in Bessemer) in its food bank. “Our grandmother had us in there working,” she said. “I think that fostered my passion for service.”

Jamilah said she wanted to be a psychologist and then discovered that dietetics was basically the psychology of food. “So eventually they merged,” she said.

The fact that the sisters’ father, William Page, was a cardiomyopathy patient who underwent a heart transplant, is another motivating factor in their passion for health and nutrition. Mr. Page died on Feb. 21, 2005, as a result of contracting an infection after a heart transplant.

“It definitely inspired us, especially me, to be in this work,” Jamilah said. “We are excited to be able to be a part of different projects, and if anyone has a specific topic, challenge us to think about that topic and really address it with our communities.”

A Fresh Page LLC can be contacted via the company site (afreshpage.net), email (booking@afreshpage.net) and social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Alignable.

A version of this article was originally published by The Birmingham Times.