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Heart of a Giant Foundation
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Press and Media

We welcome press. Here is everything you need.

growth@heartofagiant.org(617) 294-9617
Community member selfie beside the Heart of a Giant blood pressure sign.
Media coverage and published work

Coverage, most recent first.

Broadcast television, international media, corporate patient advocacy, digital health publishing, podcast, and community press.

See all of Bouba’s writing →Heart Walk coverage →
Bouba’s bio

Bouba’s story for press use.

Short version

Somaneh “Bouba” Diemé is the Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Heart of a Giant Foundation, a Boston-based community cardiometabolic health organization rooted in Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury. Born in Senegal to Senegalese and Malian parents and raised in Mali, Bouba received a heart transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in October 2022 after six years on the waiting list and nearly six years living with a mechanical heart pump. He founded HGF to build the community health infrastructure he needed but could not find during his own illness. He leads HGF’s vision, external partnerships, and fundraising.

Long version

Somaneh “Bouba” Diemé is the Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Heart of a Giant Foundation, a Boston-based community cardiometabolic health organization serving residents across Greater Boston through free screenings, health education, and community health worker-led care coordination grounded in Ubuntu philosophy.

Bouba was born in Senegal to Senegalese and Malian parents, grew up in Mali, and completed his engineering and management degrees at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He began building his career next door in Johannesburg, met his wife, Desirée, and became a father. In 2012, at 26, he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. In 2016, during his Mandela Washington Fellowship, doctors identified the true cause as left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy. In 2017, surgeons implanted a mechanical heart pump that sustained him for nearly six years while he waited for a transplant. At 6′8″, the wait for a compatible heart was long. He received his transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in October 2022.

He founded Heart of a Giant Foundation because he knew firsthand what it meant to navigate a health system not built with his community in mind, and because the relationships and social capital that sustained him through his illness became the design brief for the organization he built.

Today HGF has reached 10,000+ people across its programs and works with 1,800+ participants at 20+ sites in 10+ Greater Boston neighborhoods. Bouba also serves on advisory panels and is a 2016 Mandela Washington Fellow.

He signs every note: In health.

Verified impact figures

For accurate use in coverage.

Screening and outcome figures cover 2023 to 2025 and come from Essyl. Reach and footprint figures are current as of September 2026. Please contact us before publication to confirm current figures.

  • ·2,340+ cardiometabolic screenings across Greater Boston, 2023 to 2025
  • ·1,800+ participants at 20+ sites in 10+ Greater Boston neighborhoods
  • ·10,000+ people reached across all programs
  • ·47+ cases of severe high blood pressure identified and referred to care, 22 in 2025
  • ·25.5% of participants returned for follow-up in 2025; 41% at the East Boston site
  • ·Returning participants improve at close to three times the rate of one-time attendees
  • ·304% screening growth between 2023 and 2025
  • ·$1.2M+ in funding secured since launch
  • ·Multilingual team
  • ·FY2025 fiscal period: March 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026
Photography

High-resolution editorial photography available on request.

Photographs of Bouba, the CHW team, and community screening sites are available for editorial use. All photographs credited to Heart of a Giant Foundation unless otherwise noted.

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Organizational facts
Founded
November 2018
501(c)(3) status
January 2020
EIN
84-2900386
Headquarters
524 River Street, Suite 800, Mattapan, MA 02186
Website
heartofagiant.org
Social
@heartofagiant on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube
Reach us

We respond quickly.

For interviews, filming requests, and coverage of community screenings. Melissa Richardson, Communications and Marketing.

Press inquiries

growth@heartofagiant.org

Interviews with Bouba directly

bouba@heartofagiant.org
(617) 294-9617