For years, the fertility industry leaned on a massive, frustrating myth: Black women just don’t need or want egg donors.
But when Eloise Drane heard clinics echoing this narrative, she didn’t just roll her eyes – she took notes, took names and took action.
Refusing to let Black families be left out of the miracle of modern medicine, Drane decided to build her own company from the ground up.
Today, she isn’t just proving the skeptics wrong. She’s actively rewriting the playbook on Black maternal care and creating a hopeful, beautiful space where our families can grow on our own terms.
The Invisible Waiting Room
Before launching Family Inceptions in Suwanee, Georgia, Drane spent a lot of time picturing herself as a donor. But every time she looked at the industry as a whole, she noticed that women of color were practically invisible in the databases.
For her, the decision to step up wasn’t some sudden, dramatic Hollywood epiphany. It was a slow-burning, everyday frustration from seeing Black donors constantly left off the roster and also knew exactly what that lack of representation meant for Black families in real life – longer wait times, fewer matches and the subtle, painful message that our genetic backgrounds just weren’t a priority.
According to Women’s Health, Black women face infertility rates that are nearly double those of their white counterparts, but are less often assessed and treated for it. And when you look at egg donor statistics, only about 9% of donors in major U.S. egg banks are Black, despite the fact that Black women make up roughly 14% of the population capable of having children.
“Unconscious bias and racial discrimination play a large role,” Tia Jackson-Bey, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, explained to the lifestyle publication. “Concerns raised by Black patients may be minimized or ignored rather than investigated. Myths about hyper-fertility of Black women may lead providers not to ask or educate Black patients about fertility issues.”
The Deep Roots of Medical Mistrust
When we dig into the reasons behind the lack of representation and support for Black women in the fertility sector, many systemic issues pop up, like unfair access and economic disparities. But we also can’t overlook the deep historical context.
For generations, the healthcare system as a whole hasn’t just turned a blind eye to Black bodies. It has actively exploited them, leaving a trail of mistrust and trauma that’s hard to shake off.
We often think about Henrietta Lacks, a young mother whose cells were harvested without her knowledge or consent in 1951, going on to fuel billions in medical profits while her family was left in the dark. Or even the infamous Tuskegee study, where hundreds of Black men were intentionally lied to and denied life-saving treatment for decades just to watch a disease progress. This isn’t just past history; it is a deep, generational trauma that explains exactly why the Black community remains profoundly wary of medical institutions.
Alyssa Small Layne, MD, an ob-gyn who specializes in complex benign gynecology, agrees.
“You’re asking a young Black person to willingly donate their genetic material, their DNA, something that’s so personal to them, and then giving up control over what’s gonna happen,” she says. It can be very triggering.”
This gap creates a tough situation for families seeking fertility options. They often struggle to find donors who not only look like them but also share similar cultural and genetic backgrounds.
“There really weren’t that many Black donors at that time,” Drane told Women’s Health. “These women were having a hard time finding someone, or if they did have someone, it might have been like one or two egg donors.”
Standing on Business
Instead of waiting for the mainstream clinics to catch up, Drane took matters into her own hands. She didn’t just talk about the problem; she became the solution, taking the helm as a six-time egg donor and a three-time gestational surrogate herself. She lived the experience, sat in those clinical waiting rooms and saw firsthand how isolating the process could be.
With that unmatched personal insight and an MBA, she founded Family Inceptions in 2008, making it the country’s first Black woman-owned surrogacy and egg donation agency. In 2022, she founded Fertility360, an agency that guides clients from conception to the baby’s first year.
Drane didn’t simply build clinics; she built a sanctuary. The entire team is set up to handle the heavy lifting – from matching and legalities to medical coordination – so intended parents, surrogates and donors never have to walk this emotional path alone.
When you partner with Family Inceptions, you can expect an experience rooted in deep empathy, fierce advocacy and zero judgment. It is a space where your unique story is honored, your questions are answered with radical honesty and your dream of family is treated like the absolute blessing it is.
Most importantly, Drane wants to make sure the next generation doesn’t face the same obstacles she did.
“I feel like this is my calling. I just know that this is what I’m supposed to do,” she says. “I have daughters, I have a granddaughter, I have sons, and I have a grandson, and this is all for them and their generation, and the generations after that. We can break down those barriers instead of waiting for the next person to do it, because I am that person in this particular space.”
