Raquel Horn, first-time mom, entrepreneur, and fiancé to music guru Damon Dash has been open and candid about her journey to motherhood. While the journey had its ups and downs, from the beginning of IVF to the birth of her baby boy Dusko, Raquel is eager to make a difference and inspire others. She truly believes that in every hardship, there is at the end of the tunnel. The biggest piece of advice she would give herself pre-IVF, and to other mothers around the globe, would be to stay positive in every moment and know that you are not alone.
Infertility is a topic that is not spoken about as often as it should be, as about 6.7 million women in the US struggle to conceive every year. Raquel is here to change that stigma and to acknowledge that although infertility could be a mental struggle and burden, there is hope. She shares her experience and her takeaways through her social platforms, as well as on her show featured on Damon Dash Studios, “Health is Wealth.” The newest season highlights Raquel’s therapy – from losing a baby to getting pregnant again and getting ready to give birth to her son Dusko. The show truly encompasses the journey of her mental and physical therapy, while also highlighting her and Damon’s healthy lifestyle and what recipes they enjoy on a daily basis to stay in shape!
Pregnancy in itself raises challenges – to add the complication of fertility can pose many emotional challenges. We sat down with Raquel and were able to understand her journey. For her, there were two extremely rough patches. One of them, she stated, was “the medicine going into the egg retrieval. It was just a lot of hormones that I wasn’t used to and I literally would feel, like, high on hormones,” and the other, “just overcoming the trauma of losing a baby.” After a long and hard IVF journey, and prepping for the birth of a baby, Raquel had given up hope in herself and in motherhood. Through a lot of mental health work and a strong support system, Raquel was able to find herself pregnant again, and on a journey to a more stable life. Raquel and Damon are putting in work in hopes of creating a platform that is a safe space for couples attempting to conceive, couples who have lost, and couples who have similar stories. Raquel has used her platform as a way to help herself while helping others. Through Instagram direct message, Raquel was able to connect with other women who have lost and have grieved – she felt comfort in the fact that she was not alone. Through the same process, Raquel recognized just how many women are faced with fertility complications on a yearly basis.
Raquel stated that her social platforms gave her comfort. It would allow hopeful thoughts to flow through her mind, such as, “Oh, there’s a different test out there that I haven’t done? Maybe that will be the answer. Maybe that will give me some sort of, that sense of… something else to look forward to. Like, this isn’t the end of the road. And that’s what I think, like, that the greatest, the gift of talking to all these women out there is that there isn’t an end of the road because there is that 30% out there that we don’t know what’s going on – that’s a huge percentile. And there are miracles that happen all the time. The surrogacy doesn’t happen, it doesn’t work, but then all of a sudden, she’s pregnant. It’s just, it’s just mind-blowing what happens in pregnancy. It’s amazing that everybody has their own story.”
Through advocacy work and bravery, Raquel has turned her social platforms into a safe space, a community. Women and couples from all walks of life reach out to her and Damon in hopes of raising awareness regarding a topic that is only becoming more and more talked about. It is crucial for public figures, like Raquel and Damon, to raise awareness and to give others a platform for their voices to be heard. With the help of Damon Dash Studios and one another, the couple is making strides in the mental health world and in the world of infertility.