BET’s Album of the Year winner Jazmine Sullivan is one of the biggest names in R&B music, but her world stopped back in 2019 when she found out her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sullivan turned from singing, to taking care of her mom. And over time, she started learning about the racial disparities with disease, like the fact that Black women in the US are cancer-facts-and-figures-2019-2020.pdf">40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women.

Since then, Sullivan has been using her platform to start conversations about health with her fans; and she’s partnering with a new initiative called More Than Just Words-- a campaign aimed at helping Black women recognize the signs of breast cancer, get early screenings, and arm them with the tools to have tough conversations with their doctors. 

On this week’s episode of Into America, Sullivan sits down with Trymaine Lee to talk about her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, the journey to recovery, and how Sullivan is using her own experience to help Black women prioritize their health.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica. 

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Viewing: 

• Watch Jazmine Sullivan’s interview with Zerlina Maxwell on The Choice
• NBC's Kristen Dahlgren: The 'lowest' part of breast cancer journey wasn't what I expected