Kylee supports recruitment efforts for Breakthrough and brings experience supporting both qualitative and quantitative research across sexual and reproductive health and early childhood as a senior research assistant. She worked as a Health Educator in a school-based health clinic, where she brought her passion for ensuring young people have access to nonjudgmental, affirming sexual health care. Outside of work, you’ll find them fixated on whatever current crafty hobby they’ve picked up, planning a themed party, or impatiently waiting for fall. 

Deja leads our cohort of youth advisors, overseeing their efforts to support and guide the innovation teams. With over five years of experience in qualitative and community-engaged research, much of her work focuses on sexual and reproductive health and youth development. Deja currently co-leads a youth participatory action research study on community safety in Washington DC, where she trains and mentors young people in all aspects of the research process. She has also supported community-based organizations on building effective youth-adult research partnerships. Deja holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Howard University and is deeply committed to improving health outcomes and social infrastructure so that all communities can thrive. Outside of work, you’ll find Deja in her local Pilates class, exploring new restaurants, and spending time with loved ones.

Sam serves as a coach for Breakthrough teams, bringing expertise in adolescent well-being and over a decade of experience researching what works to support adolescents sexual and reproductive health. He is particularly interested in translating research into evidence-based practice. He takes a strengths-based lens to his work that considers adolescence as a period of great opportunity for lifelong flourishing. Previously, Sam worked as a researcher on the Global Early Adolescent Study, which engaged over 15,000 young adolescents across five continents. He was a co-developer of the evidence-based El Camino sexual health promotion program and serves as a Technical Assistance provider for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program grantees. Sam holds a PhD in Population, Family, and Reproductive Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His favorite way of unwinding after a long week is by watching a horror movie (the scarier the better), preferably while his cat Humphrey snoozes in his lap. 

Mayson supports Breakthrough’s dissemination activities by implementing a range of activities, including marketing and social media strategies, graphic design, and newsletter development. With over 8 years of experience, Mayson has expertise in communication implementation, social media strategy and implementation, content development, youth engagement, graphic design, event planning, and website management. She is passionate about using health education to benefit communities across the country. In her free time, Mayson loves to create art and spend time haunting her local coffee shops and concert venues.

Lauren leads Breakthrough’s dissemination strategy planning and supports the dissemination team in executing that strategy through Breakthrough’s website, social media channels, and newsletter. She has also provided technical assistance to innovators on the topics of product packaging and marketing. As a strategic communications professional, Lauren has 15 years of experience developing strategic communications agendas, research translation, message creation, media relations, stakeholder and coalition engagement, strategic planning, team management, event planning, and spokesperson development. She is passionate about working at the intersection of communications, research, and policy, and her career has largely been focused on health issues. Lauren loves spending time outside hiking or running, volunteers with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and is more than halfway to her goal of visiting all U.S. national parks.

Shaniah serves as the deputy project manager of Breakthrough, where she supports the project manager in the day-to-day project management activities. Prior to joining the Breakthrough team, she had over 5 years of experience in project and program management roles. As a project manager, Shaniah is interested in creating and implementing systems that improve project organization and coordination as well as cultivating a positive team culture. She is also a birth doula, having taken the Community Outreach Perinatal Educator (COPE) training, and is passionate about working with families to cultivate the best birth experience for them. Additionally, Shaniah has multiple years of experience working as an early childhood education teacher to infants and toddlers. Shaniah graduated from Hamline University with a Bachelor of Arts in social justice and sociology with a concentration in reproductive justice. In her free time, Shaniah enjoys getting out in nature, yoga, dancing, baking, crafting, and spending time with friends and family.  

Up to Us is a series of three fictional short films written by and for formerly incarcerated and justice system-impacted youth. The films are accompanied by interactive arts-based workshops facilitated by trained sexual health educators. The workshops use humor, creative activities, and collaborative discussion to encourage critical engagement with the film content and promote attitude and behavior change around the often-taboo topic of sexual health.

Stigma RPG is a role-playing game in which participants combat “stigma” and engage with concepts like discussing consent and boundaries with partners, exploring healthy relationship patterns, and preventing disease and pregnancy during sexual activity. With trusted and knowledgeable adults as facilitators, Stigma RPG bridges the gap between youth who have been traditionally overlooked and vital sexual health information.  

The HBCU Wellness Collective is a peer education program that aims to foster open conversations about sexual health, empower students to advocate for their needs, and improve health outcomes for HBCU communities. The program’s six pillars—student representation, comprehensive training, peer education networks, normalization of conversations, transformational impacts, and advocacy—work together to create a supportive and empowering environment for students.

Beyond the Bump recruits and trains doulas to provide teen friendly, trauma informed care to pregnant and parenting teens. Beyond the Bump’s goal is to equip doulas with the tools and knowledge they need to empower teens to have the experience they desire and a positive transition into parenthood.

ATLAS is a web-based sexual health education resource that deeply considers the learning needs and experiences of autistic youth. This multimedia resource shares plain-language sexual health information through interactive games, real-life scenarios, and personalized learning paths

Stephen leads our website development and maintenance, providing expert design and technical guidance. He is Child Trends’ director of communications for digital strategy and has a successful track record of managing web properties at prominent research institutions, including the Population Reference Bureau and the Brookings Institution. At Child Trends, Stephen manages the website, newsletters, data visualizations, and analytics. He contributes to strategic planning for the communications team and collaborates closely with researchers to help them maximize the reach and impact of their findings and data among key audiences. Outside of work, Stephen enjoys playing drums and producing music.

Jen provides senior advice and review to the Learning and Evaluation team, helping our team gather information and sharing lessons learned about supporting teams and innovations. As a PhD researcher, Jen has spent 30+ years researching adolescent and young adult sexual relationships, contraceptive use, and pregnancy; conducting program evaluations; and profiling effective sexual health programming. She is excited about supporting innovations that ensure young people have access to a broad range of sexual health programming and services that are relevant to their experiences and support their interests and needs. She loves walking her dog around her neighborhood, going to the local farmers market, baking, and swing dancing with her husband and friends.

Alison keeps Breakthrough running smoothly as a project manager while also supporting teams as a coach. Growing up in a rural community—and later teaching there—she saw firsthand the gaps in sexual and reproductive health education available to adolescents and young adults in her community. This experience led her to pursue a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Alison wants all adolescents and young adults to be equipped with the support and resources they need and to feel empowered by the adults who work with them to pursue their goals and passions. With extensive training in quantitative and evaluation methods, she is passionate about applied, multidisciplinary research and interventions that promote adolescent health and positive youth development. A lifelong bibliophile, Alison’s favorite genres are romance and young or new adult fiction—you’ll often spot a colorful tower of books in the background of her video calls.

Andrea leads learning and evaluation efforts for Breakthrough, helping our team understand whether and how we can best support teams’ success and innovation. Andrea is passionate about work that ensures that adolescents and young adults feel supported in their sexual and reproductive health journeys, wherever they may take them. She brings over 15 years of experience in public health research and programming, wearing a variety of hats—from program developer, to implementor, to evaluator—in service of improving sexual health access and services. Having once worked in book publishing, she is a storyteller at heart and is especially adept at using qualitative research to illuminate a program’s strengths. Andrea received a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2012. She loves traveling with her husband and two small sons, and she can’t resist an open dance floor.

Kate supports teams as a coach for rigorous evaluation, bringing expertise in quantitative methods and program evaluation. Kate has served in a lead role on the evaluations of a variety of ASRH programs implemented in schools, community organizations, clinics, and online spaces. Kate believes young people deserve sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programming and resources that recognize their unique needs and desires. She has worked in SRH research for nearly 15 years and is excited to collaborate with Innovation Design Teams to bring new ideas into the field. She has a Master of Public Policy from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Kate enjoys spending time in the mountains and at the beach with her family and her goofball pup. She believes she might become a great pickleball player someday.

Asari Offiong serves as a coach and supports recruitment efforts. As an adolescent health researcher and public health practitioner, she has over a decade of experience leading youth development programs; providing technical assistance; and conducting mixed methods, community-based research in various metropolitan areas across the United States related to substance use prevention and reproductive health. Approaching her work from an asset-based perspective that centers the youth she partners with, Asari views youth as “at-promise,” not “at-risk.” Asari personally values the unique and captivating experiences youth can bring to program innovation. She emphasis centering their worth because society rarely does.

Lisa leads recruitment efforts for Breakthrough and has over five years of experience leading and supporting qualitative and quantitative research across various areas, including adolescent sexual and reproductive health, intimate partner violence, and healthy relationships. She is passionate about improving access to high-quality care and understanding how socioeconomic factors and policies impact health outcomes for groups differently. Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of Rochester and is currently a Master of Public Health student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Outside of work, you’ll find her creating chaotic travel itineraries that never work out, borrowing and attempting to read too many books on her Kindle, and hanging out with her cat, Mango.

Elise helps shape how teams will experience the accelerator and will provide direct support in the form of webinars and coaching, drawing on their knowledge and experience of building an innovation. Elise is adept at bridging the worlds of traditional teen pregnancy prevention and innovation, tech, and startups, frequently providing coaching and training to sexual and reproductive health experts looking to expand their innovation work. Elise has over 15 years of experience in the field and is an expert in youth development and sexuality education. They believe we grow as humans only when we have a space where we can be vulnerable yet safe. Elise is the co-founder and executive director of OkaySo, an innovative teen pregnancy prevention intervention that uses technology to provide accurate information and build self-efficacy skills with young people. They hold a Master of Public Health with a focus on Sexuality and Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. When not working, Elise is happiest reading a book outside or hanging out with their kiddo.

Sarah leads the design and delivery of innovation-related activities for Breakthrough. She has over 15 years of experience in innovation and ASRH. After learning about the intersection of design and health, Sarah brought human-centered design (HCD) to Personal Responsibility Education grantees while serving as a project officer for the Family and Youth Services Bureau. She also participated in HHS Ignites, a highly competitive federal accelerator program designed to spur innovation in the federal sector. Sarah has published peer-reviewed articles on innovation in ASRH in Prevention Science, presented on innovation at state and national conferences, partnered with world-renowned design firm IDEO, and received training in HCD at the Stanford d.school. In addition to her full-time role with Power to Decide, Sarah is an adjunct faculty member and DrPH candidate at the George Washington University School of Public Health, where she teaches a course on Design Thinking in Public Health. When she isn’t working full-time or teaching, you can find her volunteering with something related to reproductive health and rights, daydreaming about new teaching/training tools and products (yes, that’s really what she daydreams about!), or hanging out with her partner and dog.

Jenn provides direction and strategic guidance to the Breakthrough team, and technical expertise and support toward executing its vision. Jenn is a leader in advancing sexual and reproductive health and well-being nationwide, with more than 20 years of experience working with federal, state, and local health agencies to improve health outcomes. Jenn’s passion is to create a nation in which young people feel comfortable talking about sexual health, health care providers provide human-centered sexual and reproductive health care, and all people have access to information and services without facing stigma, discrimination, or fear. At Child Trends, Jenn is the director of the Sexual and Reproductive Health program area, where she leads a portfolio of research and technical assistance projects to improve the rights, health, and well-being of young people. Jenn holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University with an emphasis on reproductive health, has served as a birth doula, is an avid reader, and is a parent to two red-headed kiddos.