Influential Woman · Healthcare
Fatmata Williams
Deputy Medicaid Director/Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner/Author, State of Connecticut
Bloomfield, CT
Be true to who you are. You are enough.
Fatmata Williams · In Her Own Words
Her Story
About Fatmata
Fatmata Williams serves as Deputy Medicaid Director for the state of Connecticut. In this role she oversees major strategic priorities for the Medicaid program, which serves close to one million residents, including, health services, benefits, and major contractors. She leads a portfolio of three to five billion dollars annually in the Division of Health Services. After immigrating to the United States from West Africa, she pursued nursing education and became a nurse in 1997, completing extensive clinical work in hospitals and the community before moving into Medicaid and population health policy work for state government. One notable achievement is co-designing a maternity payment bundle for Connecticut women on Medicaid that began covering doulas and lactation support in 2025, reflecting her passion for improving maternal health outcomes and eliminating disparities in maternal and birth outcomes. Williams attributes her success and life trajectory to God first and the belief instilled by her father from an early age that the sky was the limit, which helped her move forward despite being displaced at a young age. She emphasizes maintaining integrity and staying true to who she is in every decision, a value she connects to a quote from Brené Brown [You either walk in your story and own it, or stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness]. She is also the author of the book Raising Our Voices: Black Women Reckoning and Taking Control of Our Narrative, focused on Black maternal health.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Fatmata
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success and the entire trajectory of my life to God first. I also had a father who told me from a very early age that the sky was my limit, and I believed him. Even being displaced at a young age from another side of the world and having to start from scratch, I did not let that stop me because I believed I could.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I have ever received is to maintain your integrity and be true to who you are. That has driven me throughout my career as I have stayed the course with my passion for social justice. Hence the reason why I work to achieve health equity for the people I serve.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I will tell women entering my field to believe in themselves. Believe in who you are. Don't let anybody tell you that you cannot, because you can. The only limit that you have is your perspective, your thinking. Have courage. Courage is not that you don't have fear, it's that you move forward in spite of your fear. Get outside of your comfort zone, challenge those muscles, and just keep moving. You are enough!
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges in my field right now is workforce shortage. Older nurses are retiring and nurses entering the field want to head into all other areas, but patient care. There are also tremendous opportunities because nurses can branch into diverse areas such as informatics, legal, technology and entrepreneurship.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In my work and personal life, my primary value is to stay true to who you are. Integrity is very important to me. As Brené Brown says, you either walk inside your story and own it, or stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness. I have to stay true to who I am and it has to show in everything that I do and every decision that I make.
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