Khylir Patton built the village she needed.
Before IYA Cares became a maternal care platform, it was one mother’s answer to a question too many women ask after giving birth:
The baby is fine. But who is checking on me?
For Khylir Patton, the answer came from her own postpartum journey. The Tampa mother dealt heavily with postpartum depression after having two unmedicated births with her sons. She felt alone, misunderstood and the need for a village was heavy.
Now as the founder and CEO of IYA Cares, the Xavier University graduate is committed to filling a gap in a system that she says was never built for us to begin with. IYA is what I wish had existed when I was pregnant with my first son. A care ecosystem, not a checklist.”
The IYA is built around the belief that mothers deserve care that sees every part of who they are, not just a diagnosis or a doctor’s appointment, with virtual access to providers, workshops and local public events such as mommy and me wellness events and mommy mimosa nights.
“The traditional model of care treats each piece of a mother in isolation. The OB handles the body. The therapist handles the mind. The pediatrician handles the baby. Nobody is looking at the whole woman,” Patton shares with RoyalTee.
“IYA was built on the idea that physical recovery, mental health, identity, community, and spiritual grounding are all the same conversation. You cannot heal your pelvic floor without addressing the birth trauma. You cannot address the birth trauma without community. You cannot build community without time, which most mothers don’t have. It’s all connected.”
Patton calls Black maternal health a ‘national emergency,’ reflecting on her personal experience she shared that postpartum gets overlooked once the baby arrives. And the mother becomes invisible.
“That invisibility hits Black mothers hardest because we were already navigating a healthcare system that doesn’t listen to us, doesn’t believe our pain, and doesn’t see our exhaustion as a clinical issue.”
She added, “We come from a tradition of strong Black mothers who handled everything. That strength is beautiful, but it has been weaponized against us. Strength became the reason nobody asked if we needed help. Resilience became the reason we kept going long past the point of breaking…You don’t have to be the strong one all the time.”
The app is subscription based with prices ranging from 0 to $80, depending on needs. Perinatal providers can apply directly on the website.
Over the next year, Patton plans to expand its AI-powered agentic doula, Orimi, while bringing The Village Festival to Tampa in 2027—a large-scale maternal wellness experience designed to connect thousands of mothers with resources, support and community. She hopes to make IYA the default care ecosystem for mothers in every major city in the U.S., starting with Tampa, Orlando, Miami, and beyond.
“Long term, IYA is the infrastructure for a new standard of maternal care. One that treats mothers as whole humans, deserves the word ecosystem, and doesn’t leave anyone behind.”
Learn more about Khylir and her mission with IYA Cares in our Crowned Motherhood edition.
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