Our Mission
We establish maternity clothing closets as hubs for hyper-local peer-to-peer prenatal support.
Our Vision
We envision a world in which prenatal journeys and maternity clothing are shared for healthier communities and a happier planet.
What We Do
We support local expecting families through operating maternity clothing closets and facilitating Village Groups for prenatal peer support and community-building.
Our Team
Executive Director
Amy Leo, M.S., is the Founder and Executive Director of Local Maternity Thread. During both of her pregnancies, she was among the 1 in 5 women who struggle with perinatal anxiety. A season of life that should have been joyous and exciting was instead dark and terrifying. Of the many challenges she faced during her pregnancies, finding maternity clothing felt unnecessarily challenging, tiring, and wasteful. After her second child was born, she resolved to turn her struggle into a solution for others and coordinated with neighbors to help her launch Local Maternity Thread.
With more than 14 years of experience in organizational learning, communications, and systems design, Amy has advanced effectiveness and collaboration across mission-driven organizations, including USAID and Mary’s Center. She brings a deep commitment to community-centered, sustainable solutions that strengthen families and the social fabric of Takoma Park and beyond.
Our Board
Katherine Nash, M.Ed. ǀ Board President
A global talent development and learning consultant with over 15 years of experience creating and leveraging strategic, human-centered insights and innovative solutions to navigate complex challenges, boost performance, and foster organizational growth. Innately curious and quickly able to both absorb details and see the big picture, her career has spanned leadership roles in business consulting, adult learning, and strategic talent transformation at organizations like Marriott International and Total Wine & More. Katherine has a personal enthusiasm for prenatal, miscarriage, and infertility support and is dedicated to helping Local Maternity Thread build community networks for expecting families.
Sophie Wohlers, M.S. ǀ Board Treasurer
Sophie is a healthcare management professional and manager at KPMG, where she leads projects that strengthen operational efficiency and data-driven decision-making across the health sector. She has more than a decade of experience in healthcare project management, research, and organizational strategy. Passionate about maternal and community health, Sophie is committed to helping ensure the organization’s sustainable growth and impact.
Kaylee Peters, BSN, RN ǀ Board Vice President
A registered nurse with experience in emergency, trauma, and perioperative care, Kaylee currently serves as an Accreditation Program Analyst with the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). She brings expertise in professional nursing development, program coordination, and community engagement, alongside volunteer experience supporting education and family wellness initiatives. Passionate about women’s and maternal health, Kaylee is excited to help advance Local Maternity Thread’s mission of weaving stronger, more supportive communities for expecting families.
Suzanne Reed ǀ Board Member
Suzanne is a business intelligence and product analytics professional with over a decade of experience helping organizations use data to drive strategy, improve customer experience, and strengthen operations. She currently serves as a Senior Product Operations Analyst at Skimmer, where she focuses on process improvement and data-driven decision-making. A community builder, Suzanne brings her analytical expertise and collaborative spirit to the Local Maternity Thread Board of Directors, helping guide the organization’s growth and impact.
Our Values
Community. Building community is at the heart of our work and how we work together. We weave supportive communities for expecting families, thread by thread.
Sustainability. We keep maternity clothing in circulation to reduce waste, and all of our decisions support long-term environmental and financial health.
Teamwork. We have woven Local Maternity Thread together through working together. We know that we can go farther together and that our combined skills and energy are greater than the sum of their parts.
Our Story
A group of moms who met through a Takoma Families cohort launched Local Maternity Thread in August 2022 to increase local access to maternity clothing and reduce waste. Inspired by neighbors who established food pantries and little free art libraries in their yards during the COVID-19 pandemic, our maternity and nursing clothing closet on Poplar Avenue was a simple solution to keep maternity clothing in circulation.
We equipped a simple garden shed with a clothing rod and storage bins and invited friends to donate the initial inventory of maternity and nursing clothing. After spreading the word about the clothing closet on local listservs and in Facebook groups, we were delighted to see neighbors visiting the clothing closet nearly every day to donate and browse the clothing options.
Neighborhood volunteers and a constant stream of donations have kept the clothing closet stocked (and often overflowing!) for the past 2.5 years. We began hosting periodic clothing giveaways, set up a website for outreach, and partnered with two DC nonprofits, Mamatoto Village and Community of Hope, to stock their maternity clothing closets with surplus donations on a quarterly basis.
2025 has been a year of significant growth for Local Maternity Thread. We formed a Board of Directors, became a 501c3 nonprofit organization, recieved a $500 grant from the Takoma Foundation, and launched a pilot prenatal support group to build communtiy among expecting families in Takoma Park.
In 2026, we hope to establish additional clothing closets and launch more prenatal support groups. If you are interested in hosting a clothing closet or convening a prenatal support group in your area, please contact info@localmaternitythread.org.