KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky is the founder and director of The Trauma Stewardship Institute and author of Trauma Stewardship and The Age of Overwhelm. She is the host of the podcast Future Tripping, which is dedicated to conversations about overwhelm. Widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of trauma exposure, she has worked nationally and internationally for more than three decades. Much of her work is being invited to assist in the aftermath of community catastrophes – whether they are fatal storms or mass shootings. Simultaneously, she has long been active in community organizing and movements for social and environmental justice and has taught on issues surrounding systematic oppression, structural supremacy, and liberation theory. Laura is on the advisory board of ZGiRLS, an organization that supports young girls in sports. She is a founding member of the International Transformational Resilience Network, which supports the development of capacity to address climate change. Laura also served as an associate producer of the award-winning film A Lot Like You, and was given a Yo! Mama award in recognition of her work as a community-activist mother

she/they

Jitter Ressl was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is an enrolled member of Pine Ridge Reservation. Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been their home for 13 years. Jitter has five children, Rhylee, August, Adonijah, Nahara, and Emilia. Jitter loves and is honored to be their mom. Watching them grow is the best part of parenting them. As part of the young parent cohort for Black Health New Mexico and First Born New Mexico’s racial identity curriculum, Jitter designed, wrote content for, and co-edited chapters on navigating single parenthood, sobriety, and the importance of culture and community as resources for young parents in the e-zine.

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Vanessa R. Eiland is a Black mama from and currently living in Alamogordo, New Mexico. She has three children, two boys and one girl. Her favorite part of being a parent is watching her kids grow into incredible human beings. Vanessa’s role in the Black Health New Mexico and First Born New Mexico’s racial identity curriculum project was as a writer, designer, and co-editor for chapters covering mental health & well-being, building and maintaining strength and resilience for Black mothers, and coping skills for tough times in early parenthood.

Director, First Born^® Model Office and Institute for Innovative Family Programs

Tekla Johnson, First Born Statewide and National First Born Program Director, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Doula and has Infant Mental Health Endorsement (Level II) in the state of New Mexico. She has 20 years of home visiting experience and more than ten years of experience with the First Born® Home Visiting program. After working as a home visitor for 9 years, Ms. Johnson moved into a leadership role and served as the program manager for the Santa Fe First Born® Program during its startup phase, and first five years of implementation. She has worked as a direct program manager as well as providing supervision and oversight to program managers as VP of Leadership and Innovation. Having worked at all levels of home visiting (as well as receiving home visiting services for her child through early intervention), Ms. Johnson enjoys supporting programs to implement high quality services for families, focused on joy, learning and strong relationships.

Nicol Russell is an early learning professional who has over 20 years of experience caring for, loving, teaching, and working on behalf of young children. Her education background includes a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, a master’s degree in early childhood and early childhood special education, and a doctoral degree in educational leadership.

Nicol’s favorite role has been as a teacher, and she has had the great fortune of caring for infants, toddlers, two-year olds, preschoolers, and kindergartners. She has also been a childcare center director, a professional development coordinator, a state director of special education, a state deputy superintendent of early childhood education, and an educational researcher. In all her work, Nicol tries her best to “choose the margins”—a phrase learned from Linda Tuhiwai Smith—and be a voice for Indigenous, Black, and other children of color who are often excluded, neglected, or otherwise overlooked.

FAAP | Atlanta, GA

Terri McFadden, MD, FAAP, is a Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine where she serves as an Attending Physician in the Primary Care Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding. Dr. McFadden also provides direction for the Clinical Initiatives at PARTNERS for Equity in Child and Adolescent Health which is also in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University. The purpose of the PARTNERS is to increase access to health care and to improve the health outcomes for at-risk children and adolescents in the state of Georgia.

Dr. McFadden received her Medical Degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD and completed her Pediatrics Residency at Emory University School of Medicine.

Mireya has lived in Santa Fe since she was 9 years old. She earned a bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature from UNM. During college, she began babysitting and was a nanny for multiple families after college. She worked as a First Born home visitor in Santa Fe for four years. She is passionate about boundaries and supporting staff to stay inspired and enjoy their role as a home visitor.

LMSW, IMH-E®

Andrea is a social worker in Santa Fe and has worked in non-profits serving families for almost  30 years. She has worked in home visiting for the last 6 years, starting with her role as Program Manager for the First Born program in Santa Fe and then moving to the First Born and More model office at Santa Fe Community College. Andrea is a first generation American, and is proud to have raised 2 wonderful and caring young men with her husband. She wishes home visiting had been available when her boys were born!

Educator
She·Her·Hers

Victoria Roanhorse enjoys playing in dirt, looking at insects and blowing bubbles with her four year old daughter, Lucille . Ms. Roanhorse is from Crownpoint, NM on the Navajo Nation. She has been in early childhood education for over 10 years. She has a BA in Psychology from the University of New Mexico and a M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education from Arizona State University.  Through her work at Explora, Ms. Roanhorse is able to provide quality informal STEAM programs to schools and communities.  Ms. Roanhorse’s experience in informal education has led her to embracing and educating others about everyday and cultural science. She loves bringing the excitement of science, mathematics, art and engineering to children, families and educators. Victoria is an active member in the community and volunteers at several organizations. She believes in building community assets and views communities through a strength based approach. She believes communities have many resources and knowledge to offer.

Jess Clark is the Director of Sexual Violence Prevention for the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, a consultant for Catharsis Productions in Chicago, IL, a transgender education consultant, and the host of Both/And: A Sexual Violence Prevention Podcast. His work over the last decade has focused on increasing youth capacity to interrogate systems of oppression, exploring queer and trans masculinities as sites of violence prevention, and supporting organizations in better serving transgender communities through policies, best practices, and learning to be like his grandma. Jess has previously served on the Board of Directors for Girls Inc. of Santa Fe and Transgender Resource Center of NM and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Southwestern College.

Cotillion Sneddy is the Assistant Secretary for Native American Early Education and Care of the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD).

Ms. Sneddy was raised in Crownpoint, New Mexico in the eastern region of the Navajo Nation and comes from the Water-Flows Together people and born for the Start-of-the-Red-Streak people. She brings twenty-four years of experience in early childhood to the position, ranging from roles as a teacher assistant and home visitor in the Navajo Nation Head Start, a Parent Educator with the Chichiltah FACE Program, a supervisor of student/teacher programs at the University of New Mexico, director of early childhood programs and operations in Tlicho, in the Canadian Northwest Territories, Early Literacy coordinator/coach, and most recently, teaching early childhood classes for Northland Pioneer College. She has also served on the Navajo Nation First Things First Regional Council.

Adrian is an experienced educator, professional learning provider, and leader with 30-plus years of experience. He has served as a program coordinator, interim district-level director, and state-level administrator. Adrian currently is the director of the Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations at New Mexico Highlands University and recently was selected to chair the NMHU President’s Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  He believes in the importance of creating strong family and community partnerships with K-12 public schools and supporting youth leadership in ways that recognize students’ cultural and linguistic differences as both social and professional assets.  Outside of NMHU, Adrian is active on two councils including the Coalition for the Majority and the Bilingual Multicultural Education Advisory Council.  He is a volunteer coordinator for the La Cosecha Student Leadership Institute and is a member of Transform Education New Mexico.  Adrian also supports as a consultant for numerous statewide educational projects including updating the New Mexico Social Studies Standards and improving parent and community partnerships with our public schools. As part of his doctoral program, Adrian intends to research current culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices in institutions of higher education.

Patrick Werito has been with Dual Language Education of New Mexico (DLeNM) for the past four years as the Coordinator of Tribal Initiatives. In his role, he provides support to schools with Indigenous language programs serving tribal communities. With Indigenous communities facing the challenge of maintaining and preserving their heritage languages, DLeNM believes in partnering with tribal communities to begin shifting the paradigm of elevating the urgency for language revitalization and producing the next generation of speakers. Patrick was raised with Diné as his first language and, as a speaker, is duty-bound to give back to his communities, Indigenous peoples, and for those yet to be born. Prior to joining DLeNM, he has worked in Indian Education both at the district and state level.