Meet the LALA SPEAKS FOUNDATION Founder
JAZZIE FORD
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT |Brain Health Advocate | Speaker | Community Voice
Jazzie Ford is the Founder and President of LaLa Speaks Foundation, a brain health advocate, speaker, and community voice transforming personal loss into education, advocacy, and action.
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After losing her daughter, Jacqueline “LaLa” Rhone, to a ruptured brain aneurysm, Jazzie created the foundation to help families better understand brain health, recognize meaningful changes, ask stronger questions, and know when it may be time to seek care. What began as a mother's promise has grown into a community-centered movement advancing brain health education, early intervention awareness, advocacy, and meaningful connection.
LaLa Speaks Foundation From Lived Experience to Public Leadership
Jazzie's leadership is shaped by lived experience, community listening, and a commitment to making brain health education more accessible before families are faced with a crisis.
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Through LaLa Speaks Foundation, she has helped move brain aneurysm awareness beyond remembrance and into public education, community engagement, advocacy, youth-centered programming, and conversations about early intervention.
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Her work centers one belief: people deserve understandable information, trusted spaces to ask questions, and the confidence to use their voices when something does not feel right.
A Mission Rooted in LaLa’s Legacy - Led by LaLa Speaks Foundation Founder
LaLa Speaks Foundation is more than an organization. It is a movement created to help families recognize warning signs, respond with urgency, and advocate for care. The foundation’s work includes public awareness, storytelling, youth pathways, community recovery support, and mobile education experiences that meet people where they are. Jazzie’s leadership is shaped by lived experience, faith, community, and the belief that awareness can save lives.
Speaking and Advocacy Focus Areas
Jazzie speaks on topics connected to:
- Brain health education and early intervention
- Family voice and advocacy during medical crisis
- Community advocacy and health equity
- Founder-led nonprofit leadership
- Youth voice, storytelling, and purpose
- Grief, purpose, and mission-centered action
- Community engagement and awareness building
Signature Speaking Topics
Notice. Pause. Act.: Why Brain Aneurysm Awareness Cannot Wait
A practical brain health conversation focused on understanding what is normal, recognizing meaningful changes, asking stronger questions, and knowing when it may be time to seek care.
The Cost of Not Knowing
A personal and advocacy-centered talk about missed awareness, delayed recognition, and why families need language before a crisis happens.
From Loss to Lifesaving Advocacy
Jazzie shares the story behind LaLa Speaks Foundation and how LaLa’s legacy became a public awareness mission.
Turning Pain Into Passion
A motivational and mission-centered conversation for women’s groups, founder spaces, faith communities, nonprofit audiences, and community gatherings.
Brain Health Belongs in Everyday Spaces
A call to bring brain health education beyond medical settings and into the places where families live, gather, work, learn, and heal.
Invite Jazzie to Speak
Jazzie is available for select speaking engagements, interviews, panels, community conversations, podcasts, media features, and mission-aligned events.
To invite Jazzie Ford or LaLa Speaks Foundation to participate in an upcoming opportunity, please contact:
Featured Partners
We are grateful for the support of organizations that share our commitment to health equity and brain aneurysm Education and Advocacy.
Missouri Baptist Foundation • St. Louis Philanthropic Organization • Midland States Bank Foundation • Cardinals Care • Affinia Healthcare • Family Care Health Centers • Alzheimer's Foundation • Walmart Collinsville, IL Store #2425 • Nami St. Louis • The Post Building - VOP News STL