Nurturely Team
We Nurture a Team of Passionate Humans
In Loving Memory
Angela Diaz de Leon
We are so lucky to have been graced by Angela’s presence on Nurturely Founding Board of Directors. She was much more than an integral part of this organization – she was a true friend to each of us. Angela had a fierce passion for birth work, community activism, and reproductive justice. Nurturely was just one of the many organizations to which Angela dedicated time, energy, and expertise. If this loss can teach us anything, it is to strive to create the type of community and world that Angela was humbly working toward. We can honor our memories of Angela by showing genuine compassion for others and by working hard to create a world where pregnancy, birth, and postpartum are supported with the sacred reverence they deserve. We have a lot of collective work to do, but Angela’s light will continue to guide us forward.
Board President
Chidimma Ozor Commer, PhD, LMSW, [she/her]
Black mama, wife, global citizen
Chidimma Ozor Commer, LLMSW, MSW, MA, is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, small business owner, educator, and the former podcaster focused on racial and social justice, anti-racism, anti-oppression, and highlighting the stories of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) / People of Color (POC) / People of the Global Majority (PGM) disruptive storytellers. She has worked as a social science researcher for several years and also has a background in healthcare. She’s committed to coming alongside others in their perinatal journey through community care, empathy, compassion, and understanding. During her “off” time when she is not thinking about how to better serve humanity, she enjoys riding her Peloton, run + walking, strength training, HIIT training, practicing yoga and mediation, reading, writing, traveling, and spending time with loved ones.
Board Treasurer
Randy Tran, PhD [he/him]
Conscientious, Empathetic, Strategic
Dr. Tran serves as the Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Nurturely. He utilizes his background in Human Biology and interests in reproductive health and child development to help guide Nurturely’s mission in promoting equity in perinatal wellness and creating a culture of support for infants and caregivers. Dr. Tran completed his PhD at the University of California, San Diego in Experimental Psychology with an emphasis on human memory, learning, and attention. In his day-to-day job, he brings science to the human-centered design of complex and high-consequence systems. He applies his research skills and interests to solve challenging problems in the design of user interfaces for unmanned vehicle command and control systems and for futuristic emerging technology concepts before they are fielded.
Board Networks Chair
Mamta Elias, MPH, MBA [she/her]
First-Generation Indian-American, Women’s Health Advocate, Empathy-First Healthcare Strategy Leader
Mamta serves as the Networks Manager on Nurturely’s board of directors. Her professional journey in healthcare is rooted in her lived experiences as a patient and caregiver. Mamta has seen first hand how the healthcare system can fail patients and caregivers by being reactive, difficult to navigate, inaccessible, and unaffordable. These lived experiences are what drive her to bring an empathy-first approach to improving equity, outcomes, and experience in underserved areas of healthcare. Her professional experience in healthcare spans the public and private sector, and her most recent roles have been in product & strategy leadership at digital health companies focused on women’s and family health. She’s thrilled to bring these experiences to Nurturely’s mission of promoting equity in perinatal wellness and strengthening cultures of support for infants and caregivers.
Founder & Executive Director
Emily Little, PhD, CLEC [she/her]
Perinatal Researcher & Advocate, Global Explorer, Outdoor Enthusiast
Emily Little, PhD, CLEC, is a perinatal health educator, researcher, and advocate, and is the Founder and Executive Director of Nurturely. She completed her PhD at University of California, San Diego in experimental psychology with a specialization in anthropogeny. Emily conducts community-participatory research that combines approaches from anthropology, psychology, and public health to explore infant-caregiver interaction and perinatal health systems, with the end goal of improving policies and societal practices so all infants and caregivers can thrive. She is trained as a Certified Lactation Educator Counselor and Babywearing Educator and is passionate about co-creating community-led programs that facilitate equitable access to wellness during the perinatal period. Her time living and working in Micronesia, Central and South America, and India inspired her passion for strengthening cultures of support for infants and caregivers and promoting equity and cultural humility in all aspects of her work.
Executive Assistant
Condrea Zhuang [she/her/hers]
Activist, Artist, Conservationist
Condrea Zhuang is a first generation immigrant from China. She spent much of her formative childhood years in a small coastal village that was slowly disintegrated by industrial waste and climate change along with its inhabitants. Having witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of anthropogenic climate change, she vowed to dedicate her life to advocating for social and environmental justice, equality, equity and the right to a healthy, sustainable future for all living beings.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability Studies with an Ecosystems and Human Impact concentration and is hoping to pursue a Master’s in Environmental Sustainability and Leadership. She has founded or served as the chair on several grassroots environmental advocacy and justice organizations throughout the years such as the TRASHED! March, Environmental Club, Weigh the Waste, University Senate Environmental Assembly, and Earthstock.
With experience helping enact change as a program manager, projects coordinator, executive assistant, community organizer, grassroots advocate and educator, she is currently working on artistic expression and pursuits in socially conscious and environmentally conscientious art, to raise awareness, invoke commentary and education of current issues and future prospects in the form of visual multi-media. Condrea dreams of a future guided by morality, equity and sustainability over profit and exploitation.
Equity & Inclusion Lead
Ayisha Elliott, BS, LE [she/her]
Black Beauty-Uplifter, Salsa Dancer, Community-Builder
As a single mother of three beautiful children, Ayisha earned an Associates degree in Nursing at Santa Monica college, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, with focus on Cognitive Neuroscience, and a minor in Sociology at the University of Oregon. The programs she has created and the lives affected by the work she has dedicated herself to, have led her to lean into her power and move into full time Equity/Inclusion facilitation and advising. True to her nature, she has again created an intimate approach around learning Anti Racism work through skilled conversation and leadership.
Program Director
Aver Yakubu [she/her/hers]
Enlightened; Critical Thinker; Tranquil
Aver has ten years of experience working in roles related to equity in perinatal care and women’s health within multiple settings from community organizations, hospitals, and academia. Currently, Aver is wrapping up a PhD program in Public Health Studies (concentration: health administration and policy) at Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice. Her dissertation is studying the effectiveness of multi-sector collaborations aiming to improve birthing (perinatal) outcomes. In addition to research, Aver is skilled in strategic planning, business management, as well as team building.
Community Manager
María Paz Aguirre [she/ella]
Mother, Friend, Community-Worker
María Paz was born in Santiago de Chile where she majored in Arts and Design. She moved to Ecuador a few years later , where she found her passion for connecting and supporting others. Her first son was born in this country and a few months later she migrated to the United States with her family. In 2015 she moved to Eugene OR, where she has found her community and is actively working to support and advocate for the Latinx community in the area.
Community Connector
Janauvia "Navi" Anthony [she/her]
Luminary, Innovative, Mother
Janauvia Anthony, also known as Navi, is a passionate Lactation Professional and advocate for maternal and infant care, originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Her commitment to this cause is deeply rooted in a personal journey marked by her determination to defy those who said she couldn’t, sparked by her experience breastfeeding her son.
Navigating through various sectors—private, nonprofit, government, and tech—Navi has steadfastly focused on empowering Black families and birthworkers. Now residing in the Seattle area, she is driven by her desire to foster community while innovating as a collective force, aiming to change policies that have harmed her community for generations. She firmly believes in the impact of leading by example, understanding that actions speak louder than words in effecting meaningful change.
Creative Coordinator
Annie Neal
Creative, Caring, Family-Oriented
I am from Portland, Oregon. I graduated in 2022 from McDaniel High School. Currently, I am attending the University of Oregon. After graduating, I plan on pursuing a career as a creative director. When I am not doing school work, I work as a creative assistant and freelance photographer/ social media advisor and serve as a student board member for the University of Oregon Black Alumni Network.
Advertising and Entrepreneurship Student at the University of Oregon.
Advisory Team - Organizational
Michaelyn Wipf, JD [she/her]
Lady-of-the-Law, Garden Enthusiast, Mother-of-Spitfires
Michaelyn Wipf, JD, graduated from University of San Francisco in 2014 with a certificate in public interest law. She is a 2010 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Economics and Policy and a minor in City Planning. She became partner in a civil law firm in her hometown of Ukiah, California, in 2018. She is the mother to two spitfires, Austen and Arlo.
Navegadora de Bienestar
Roshny B. Martuscelli, BA, QMHA, LE [she/ella]
Immigrant, Multicultural, Social Worker
Roshny B. Martuscelli, born in Panama, immigrated to the United States at the age of 8. A native Spanish Speaker, Roshny’s passion has always been people and giving back to the community that served her and empowered her single-mother to navigate her resources independently and raise her kids to be as successful as possible. Although her family faced numerous adversities as immigrants, Roshny still managed to graduate from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Spanish with focuses in Business and Ethnic Studies. She is now a mother to two beautiful boys and a wife to her high school sweetheart. Roshny is passionate about Social Justice, Perinatal work, serving marginalized communities, advocacy, and all things Equity. She has also made dance her life’s work and is currently the Artistic Director of Elite Dance Company, an adult performance group in Eugene, OR.
Advisory Team - Research
Jen Hahn-Holbrook, PhD [she/her]
Scientific Explorer, Teacher, Maternal-Child Health Activist
Dr. Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UC Merced and the Director of the LATCH Lab. Dr. Hahn-Holbrook received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen’s University Belfast in 2010 and then completed postdoctoral training at UCLA. In collaboration with the LATCH Lab team, Dr. Hahn-Holbrook conducts basic research and fosters community and industry partnerships to address key health problems facing families.
Advisory Team - Community
Elydé Arroyo [she/her]
I believe in aliens. I love mushrooms and pineapple on my pizza.
Elyde Arroyo is a Mother, Grassroots Activist, Trauma Informed Birthkeeper(specializing in postpartum support) Co-Founder of Sacred Healing Collective and The Source Holistic Space, founder of Grounded Womb as well as Director and founder of BIPOC Community Clinic San Diego.
Elyde is a somatic practitioner whose focus is post-traumatic growth. She began her Birthkeeper journey by supporting people through abortions then later post-partum.
Advisory Team - Research
Rupa Basu [she/her/hers]
Climate researcher, epidemiologist, mother
Rupa Basu, PhD, MPH, is currently the Chief of the Air and Climate Epidemiology Section at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency. She has published extensively on research focusing on examining temperature and air pollution on health outcomes, including mortality, morbidity, and adverse birth outcomes, while identifying vulnerable subgroups. Prior to joining OEHHA, she worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency, after obtaining her PhD degree in epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and her MPH degree from the UCLA School of Public Health. She collaborates with external agencies such as the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Kaiser Division of Research on studies that have been federally funded. She serves on several statewide and national climate change committees and has been an invited guest speaker on many occasions from academic settings including teaching a course on climate change and public health at UC Berkeley to governmental leaders, such as former Governor Schwarzenegger. She was featured in the Emmy award-winning climate change documentary, Years of Living Dangerously, “Mercury Rising” episode with Matt Damon. Dr. Basu’s work is widely cited and has received a lot of media attention, including The New York Times, LA Times, and NPR. She has served as a referee for many environmental health, epidemiology and climate research journals and has reviewed several grant proposals and reports for federal and state governmental agencies.
Advisory Team - community
Kyndl Woodlee, PhD [he/him]
Father and Husband, Pop Culture Enthusiast, Young Black Psychologist
Kyndl Woodlee, MS, is a University of Kentucky Graduate and counseling psychology doctoral candidate, scheduled to graduate from the University of Oregon in 2022. Over the last 3 years, he has worked as a therapist in university, family, and community settings. He has focused much of his research on Intimate Partner Violence and Masculinity. Having become a father in 2020, Kyndl has begun to merge his interests and expertise to develop and provide sources of support for new and expecting fathers.
Advisory Team - Medical
Miranda Lanning, MD, IBCLC [she/her]
Pediatrician, Lactation Consultant, Mother
Dr. Miranda Lanning is a pediatrician and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She completed her medical education at Oregon Health & Science University and her pediatric training at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. She is a current member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. She uses her passion and skills for breastfeeding to care and advocate for her patients and their families as a pediatrician with PeaceHealth Medical Group in Springfield, Oregon. She enjoys caring for families from prenatal visits through adolescence and is passionate about breastfeeding education as a way to promote health for infants and caregivers. Miranda currently lives in Eugene with her husband and their two year old daughter who enjoys their ongoing breastfeeding relationship.
Advisory Team - Medical
Alisha Liggett, MD [she/her]
Doctor, health equity expert
Dr. Alisha Liggett is a family medicine physician, and founder of Empower Her Health, a reproductive health equity consultancy that uses a social justice lens to craft unique solutions to combat bias and promote anti-racism in healthcare today. She has worked as a primary care doctor caring for patients all over New York City. She has authored several published articles, train & mentor health care practitioners, and teach health education seminars in her community.
Advisory Team - Medical
Alisha Liggett, MD [she/her]
Doctor, health equity expert
Dr. Alisha Liggett is a family medicine physician, and founder of Empower Her Health, a reproductive health equity consultancy that uses a social justice lens to craft unique solutions to combat bias and promote anti-racism in healthcare today. She has worked as a primary care doctor caring for patients all over New York City. She has authored several published articles, train & mentor health care practitioners, and teach health education seminars in her community.