meet our team

We are teachers, doulas, parents, camp counselors, artists, yoga teachers, dancers, case managers, street medics, and baristas. With over 200 years of combined experience in adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH), our common goal is to create a safe and fulfilling world for young people.

Jenita Parekh

project director and coach

Sarah Axelson

innovation lead and coach

Jenn Rogers

senior advisor

Elise Schuster

coach and advisor

Lisa Kim

recruitment lead

Asari Offiong

coach and recruitment team

Kate Welti

coach

Claudia Nuñez-Eddy

coach

Alison McClay

coach and project manager

Shaniah Smith

deputy project manager

Andrea Vazzano

learning and evaluation lead

Jen Manlove

learning and evaluation senior advisor

Stephen Russ

website lead

Lauren Walens Zarick

dissemination team

Emily Regan

dissemination team

Mayson Stowers

dissemination team

          

about us

Breakthrough Accelerator creates and supports solutions or innovations to advance sexual and reproductive health and support adolescent health and well-being. Before creating Breakthrough, we have helped other innovators develop solutions that are currently widely commercially available, and have been selected for rigorous evaluation funding, including awards from the Office of Population Affair’s Tier 2 program and the Administration for Children and Families’ Personal Responsibility Education Program – Innovative Strategies (PREIS). Innovators we’ve supported have gone on to raise funds from venture capitalists and private foundations and been featured in the media. Most importantly, our innovators positively impact the lives of thousands of young people every single day.

200+

years of experience in adolescent sexual and reproductive health

60+

years of experience in innovation

130+

years of experience in program evaluation

175+

publications related to this work