Our Team

Aaron has several years of experience providing support to technical products and platforms for a wide range of users from all walks of life, from non-technical individuals to engineering teams and CTOs. He brings a strong background in analysis, documentation, cross-disciplinary communication, and high-touch support. Outside of his work, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, as well as a number of projects that keep him busy like his vegetable garden and game programming.

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Abriel Johnny is Cowichan (father’s side) and Tlingit (mother’s side). She was born and raised in King County. She is the Board of Directors Chair for United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. She has a Nonprofit Management Professional Development Certificate and a Bachelors of Arts in Law and Policy, both from University of Washington and a Master’s in Political Management from George Washington University. She is a cultural knowledge holder, a teacher, an artist, an athlete, an advocate, political strategist, a healthcare systematic oppression disruptor, and Decolonizer/Indigenizer. In 2020, she was named one of the Gates Foundations 100 local Changemakers Awardees. In 2021, she was awarded the Adaline Garcia Community Service Award as a Future Leader honoree. She was also a key contributor to the development of the “Wrestling with the Truth of Colonization” training curriculum and is a certified trainer of the curriculum. She currently works for HealthierHere as Associate Director, Tribal and Engagement, with a primary focus on Tribal health. Her work focuses on equity within Healthcare policy and implementation for all communities with a special focus on Urban Indian and Tribal Nation’s health. In her personal life, she is an artist of multiple mediums including beadwork and clothing design. Her designs focus on blending and honoring historical cultural traditions with modern fashions.

Alexis Desrosiers has been with HealthierHere since 2018 and has over 10 years of experience managing data-focused initiatives with nonprofit and public organizations in a variety of sectors, including housing, community-based counseling and advocacy, public health, and emergency and supportive shelter programs. Alexis’ area of focus is building systems and capacities that enable organizations to effectively utilize and leverage data as a tool to support their work and their community - including strategies such as developing and implementing creative data collection and analytic strategies, identifying relevant and meaningful measures and ways to track those measures, and inclusive cross-sector data partnerships.  Outside of her work with HealthierHere, Alexis is lucky enough to have a wife and two young children to keep her very busy.

Anne's love of community health began in high school when she joined a community coalition focused on reducing adolescent pregnancy in her hometown of Auburn. There she learned about the value of community members coming together to address health priorities. Anne has spent most of her career in community-based nonprofits in King County and South Los Angeles focused on a wide range of programming to reduce health disparities including increasing access to cancer screening, violence intervention, and improving housing-related health conditions. Most recently she led the community workforce and partnerships section at the Washington State Department of Health where she led efforts in support of the CHW workforce across the state and supported DOH efforts to establish community-centered decision-making processes.

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A group of individuals who have a unique mix of amiable, creative, and technical skills makes the strongest product and technology teams. They are eager to problem solve and ready to collaborate with stakeholders. Bello, not only embodies these characteristics but also joins HealthierHere with over 6 years of experience in both product and leadership. With a dedication to delivering exceptional product solutions and elevating the people on his team to tap into their full potential, Bello exemplifies the mission and values at HealthierHere.

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Bethlehem completed her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Anthropology and Global Health at the UW. She has worked in community health helping community members enroll in Medicaid and Qualified Health Plans and navigate healthcare access while at HealthPoint through the AmeriCorps program. She has also served as a mental health case manager at DESC. Most recently, she comes to HealthierHere following the completion of an MPA in Health Policy and Management at NYU, as well experience in working in healthcare operations at the Weill Cornell Medicine at New York Presbyterian where she applied her education, project management skills, and interests in continuous improvement. She brings a wealth of lived experience and expertise to HealthierHere and is committed to equity, social justice, and addressing health disparities.

Cami joins HealthierHere with over eight years of experience working in patient care coordination at Neighborcare Health, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and UW Medicine. She is tirelessly passionate about finding ways to make healthcare more accessible for everyone. She strives to support leadership teams with her strong administrative background, while making sure that all voices are heard. With a background in psychology and languages, Cami is fascinated by social behaviors and language-learning. In her free time, Cami enjoys hiking in the beautiful PNW, spending time with family and friends, and learning about different cultures.

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Christine’s background includes financial reporting, audit, and individual and corporate taxation. Christine’s focus includes internal and external financial reporting, the coordination of contract and grant requirements, as well as contract analysis.

Christine grew up in the Spokane area and graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Before joining HealthierHere, she worked as a part of the Care Connect program at WithinReach for three and a half years. She started as a COVID Care Coordinator where she helped provide direct services such as rental assistance and grocery deliveries to clients across Washington State. She then worked as a Care Coordinating Specialist II and played a larger role in developing processes and troubleshooting as well as supporting her peers while continuing to serve clients. Christine is passionate about making a difference in her local community and is committed to unlearning white supremacy and colonization. Outside of work she enjoys hiking, foraging, playing with her two cats, reading, learning languages, and thrifting.

Elizabeth is an experienced administrative professional passionate about supporting teams dedicated to making a difference. With a background in healthcare and property management, she thrives in roles that require organization, problem-solving, and connecting with people from all walks of life. At HealthierHere, Elizabeth is proud to contribute her skills to advancing health equity and empowering communities to achieve better outcomes.

George is a member of the Hunkpapa Lakota people from the Standing Rock Reservation and a dedicated and results-oriented professional with a proven track record in promoting equity within Native American communities. Experienced in nonprofit operations and development, George specializes in re-entry coordination, fostering partnerships, and community engagement. His commitment extends to implementing restorative justice models within communities of color, advocating for inclusive and sustainable practices. He brings a holistic approach to community well-being, and his diverse skill set encompasses strategic planning, relationship building, and program implementation - all geared towards creating positive social impact. As a forward-thinking advocate, George strives to contribute to the betterment of communities through collaborative initiatives and innovative solutions.

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Graeme brings a passion for harnessing storytelling as a tool for advancing social justice, equity, and community wellbeing to the HealthierHere team. He has spearheaded social impact communications strategy and multimedia campaigns for organizations and documentaries around the world. A working documentary filmmaker and photographer, his projects examine issues of health, social movements, education, and justice, and have shown at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Afropunk Festival Johannesburg, New York African Film Festival, Durango Independent Film Festival, and more. A born and raised Seattleite, Graeme loves exploring the cultural and natural wonders of the PNW.

Haley joins HealthierHere as a first-generation college graduate from the University of Washington class of 2022 with a BA in Psychology and Minor in Diversity. Haley has worked in varying capacities of social services both locally and globally. Most recently, Haley served as a Social Services Coordinator at Queen Anne Healthcare, a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and rehab center in Seattle that has an exclusive contract with Harborview to admit patients in need of additional support after hospital discharge. In her role, Haley was a key part of the care team, helping develop care plans and leading efforts around discharge planning, including connecting patients to social services, psychotropic medication management, outpatient mental health and SUD support, and primary care to help them transition back to the community or another care setting successfully. Haley is passionate about the implementation of culturally responsive and inclusive healthcare and has experience building relationships with organizations globally such as volunteering alongside a SUD recovery program in Medellin, Colombia. In her free time, Haley loves to travel, play volleyball or softball, and spend time with friends!

Hannah brings a diverse background of clinical patient care and is excited to embrace combining public health and clinical healthcare to HealthierHere. She loves spending quality time with her family and is always searching for a way they can all be active together enjoying the outdoors or playing a sport of some kind. Her two dogs keep the whole family busy and outdoors rain or shine!  A family favorite for everyone is traveling up to Lopez Island and enjoying the Island life when they have an available weekend, prioritizing beach walks and watching the sunsets.

Jenna is a community education professional in the public health field. She received her bachelor’s degree from Cal State University, Long Beach in Speech Language Pathology, Medical Sociology, and her master’s degree from San Diego State University in Public Health, Health Promotion and Behavioral Science. She started her career as a Physical Therapy Aide at Torrance Memorial Medical Center and later went on to work in health promotion/education at San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and Optum. She has successfully created and facilitated multi-disciplinary collaborations and programs covering a range of topics including— nutrition, diabetes, aging health, community wellness, youth empowerment, sexual health, substance use and mental health. Through this work, Jenna is committed to and passionate about social justice. In her free time, Jenna enjoys the beach, traveling, thrifting, live music, and spending time with friends/family.

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John Kim is the CEO at HealthierHere, a cross-sector collaborative that elevates community voice into system transformation to achieve health equity for residents of Seattle/King County and beyond. He also serves on the community advisory board for the Health Promotion Research Center at the University of Washington and on boards of the Community Center for Education Results (Secretary) and the Financial Empowerment Network. He is a seasoned strategic leader who is passionate about making a meaningful difference in healthcare equity. John’s professional experience includes a diverse mix of settings from a national healthcare law practice to hospital senior management to social justice and equity-focused community organizations.

Mr. Kim graduated with a JD from New York University School of Law and a BA in Government from Dartmouth College.

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Julia received her bachelor’s degree in political science pre-law with additional majors in Philosophy and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies from Washington State University in 2020. She has since worked in varying capacities of social services such as being a Health Homes Care Coordinator and Employment Coordinator for Whitman and Lincoln Counties, where she provided direct services to participants based on their social determinants of health. She has several years of experience being on the board of directors for an organization where she later managed a 24-hour crisis hotline and provided trauma-informed crisis management to individuals impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault. She has a history of lobbying for undergraduate students at the WA State Legislature and working with elected officials to provide education and resources to constituents. She has presented research on political polarization and its effect on vulnerable populations. She has an unwavering passion for helping address health disparities and inequities in society and believes all individuals deserve access to health, education, and safety. In her free time, Julia is a published author and believes poetry is a space where all people can feel welcome to express themselves without barriers and structure. She enjoys cooking, watching live music, and spending time with her friends and family.

Julia joins the Communications Team at HealthierHere with a strong background in marketing, content strategy, and data analytics. Before joining the organization, she worked at large companies including Amazon and Disney. Julia received her Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Chinese from the University of Notre Dame and her Master's degree in Communication Leadership and Digital Media from the University of Washington. Raised in Seattle her whole life, Julia has always been committed to making a difference in her local community and is passionate about improving health equity at a mission driven organization like HealthierHere. Outside of work, Julia enjoys exploring the city and being a pet mom to her two Shiba Inu puppies and cat.

Laila’s most recent experience as a Procurement and Sourcing Analyst brings her to HealthierHere. Her experience has been mainly in project management and contract management for different industries for more than a decade, including for Boeing, Microsoft, and Puget Sound Energy. She will be handling procurement analysis, execution, and monitoring of contract lifecycles. She lives in Seattle with her husband and toddler baby boy.

Lucy is a dedicated People and Culture leader with expertise in fostering inclusivity, optimizing benefits, and driving organizational success. She builds impactful programs, leads cross-functional teams, and champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Focused on creating inclusive environments where employees thrive, Lucy aligns people strategies with organizational growth.

Madelyn, BSN, RN, brings a background in clinical and public health nursing to her position at Healthier Here. She has previously worked as a Population Health Nurse providing team-based care to people living with diabetes, experiencing firsthand the importance of preventative healthcare and community-based care coordination. Most recently, she worked as a Public Health Nurse in Snohomish County focusing on reducing health disparities in the maternal child health population. She is passionate about cross-sector collaboration and health systems transformation that emphasizes the social, environmental, and political factors that impact health and wellbeing. Outside of the virtual office, you can find Madelyn cozied up with a good book, baking, knitting, or enjoying a walk outdoors.

Maria comes to HealthierHere with years of specializing in working with diverse and multi-system organizations. Most recently, Maria was working at Sea Mar Community Health Center as a Behavioral Health Coordinator where she worked administratively to deliver high quality, integrated care for BIPOC and underserved communities. Prior to that, Maria spent years providing linguistic and educational support to LatinX agricultural workers, empowering them to navigate L&I claims, and pursue H2A agricultural visa programs. Maria brings incredible expertise and passion for centering equity, transforming systems, and improving health literacy across the region.

Marya Gingrey is a committed Civil Rights and Social Justice Practitioner offering 25 years of successful social justice, equity and human rights experience. She previously served as the Executive Director for the Regional Equity Network. As a transformational leader skilled in vision sharing, consensus building, relational networking and authentic community engagement, Marya has assisted a variety of organizations in their efforts to become more equitable, diverse and inclusive in their programs and service delivery. She has worked to advance Social Justice, Equity and Civil Rights in health, education, housing, employment, transportation and the criminal justice systems. Firmly rooted in the Puget Sound Region, Marya believes in the collective power of community, organizations and institutions working together to create communities where all people can thrive.

Miguel earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the University of Washington in 2020, followed by a Master of Public Health in 2023. After his undergraduate studies, Miguel worked at UW Medicine, where he contributed to COVID-19 research, developing skills in data collection, analysis, and public health evaluation. During his MPH program, Miguel focused on epidemiological methods and data analysis. He later served as a Data Analyst at the Foundation for Tacoma Students, a nonprofit dedicated to closing educational equity gaps in Pierce County. In this role, he collaborated with schools and community organizations to analyze and report on educational outcomes, informing strategies to enhance equity and access. With a strong background in research, data analysis, and stakeholder engagement, Miguel is passionate about using data to address complex public health and social challenges.

Olivia brings a strong commitment to centering community and skills in project management, facilitating shared learning, and program evaluation to her role as a Network Capacity Building Program Manager. Previously, she worked at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement where she managed a health improvement alliance to build and strengthen relationships with leaders across 30+ organizations and support peer-to-peer learning. More recently as a graduate student, Olivia worked with Seattle-based organizations conducting program evaluations and community-based participatory research to understand community strengths and needs, and co-design recommendations to improve person-centered care for marginalized populations. Olivia is passionate about housing justice and community-led housing reform. Through her graduate Capstone project, she collaborated with students, unhoused neighbors, and local organizers to create an art-based installation to raise awareness of the root causes of homelessness and impact of homelessness on health and well-being. Olivia completed her undergraduate degree at Cornell University in Human Development and graduated from the University of Washington with her Masters in Community-Oriented Public Health Practice.

Polo is a passionate storyteller and content creator dedicated to advancing health equity and human dignity with her work. Prior to joining HealthierHere's team, she worked alongside other Seattle nonprofit organizations helping to uplift and elevate marginalized voices. Polo received her Bachelor's degree in music from California State University, Chico and has worked as an audio engineer, music teacher, and composer before finding her passion in mission-driven work. Born and raised in California, Polo moved to Seattle in 2016 to escape the California sun and found a home and community that inspires her to give back to everyday. Outside of the office, Polo enjoys playing music, cooking, and repairing guitars.

An an accountant, Rhyezin brings experience based in accounts payable, accounts receivable, and financial reporting to HealthierHere’s finance department. He holds a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from the University of Missouri. His love for numbers and complex processes has transformed into an exciting career in both corporate and not-for-profit accounting.

Ro Friend joined HealthierHere in 2024 and has over 10 years of experience supporting nonprofits and companies in privacy and data security compliance in a variety of subject matters, including healthcare, surveillance policy, analytics, children’s privacy, biometrics, mobile device security, and social media. Ro’s focus is on balancing the development of complex services and systems with consumer privacy and security, with an eye to policy matters that affect marginalized communities. Outside of her work with HealthierHere, Ro also serves on the ACLU of Washington’s Legal Committee and supports community efforts related to trans healthcare and security culture for activists.

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Rogelio is an enthusiast in automating and streamlining processes by helping bridge stakeholder needs with technical deliverables. Transitioning from Molina Healthcare of Washington, Rogelio has gained extensive experience with HEDIS measures, tracking, partner/stakeholder support, and streamlining workflows. Prior to Molina, also served as a Health Care Advocate and PCMH Project Coordinator at Sea Mar Community Health Centers where he engaged directly with community members, providers, and payors. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and gardening.

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Sheyne was raised in Indonesia as a third culture kid, then spent much of her adult life in Oregon before relocating to Seattle. She has a Bachelor’s in Addiction Studies from Graceland University and a Master’s in Psychology from University of Oregon. Her career focus has been primarily in behavioral health, primary care, and the judicial system, and within each of those systems she has witnessed how health related social needs impact peoples’ ability to thrive. Most recently she led continuous quality improvement efforts with a focus on reducing health disparities for a local community behavioral health organization.

Tavish Donahue, MPH, MA has close to a decade of experience managing projects and improving processes for healthcare and non-profit organizations. Tavish came to HealthierHere after working in Long-term care and community health, ultimately coming to HealthierHere’s attention while working with Seattle-based affordable and public housing organizations to build a model of embedding Community Health Workers in low-income housing communities with residents from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Early on in her career Tavish was a music writer for an alternative weekly paper in her hometown of Charleston, SC and then spent the early 2000s working in the media/communications world of New York City. She loves the PNW lifestyle and outside of work she can be found frequenting local dog parks, seeing live music, and hiking in the mountains.

Thuy Hua-Ly’s expertise includes extensive state government financial background on Medicaid financing mechanisms, rate setting for Medicaid providers, and working with the state legislature. Her prior position as the Chief Financial Officer for the Washington State Health Care Authority prepared her for the unique financing structure of the Medicaid Transformation Project. Thuy’s focus is to provide excellent financial support, processes and strategies to ultimately support and make a difference in the lives of the clients we serve.

Tony graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with double majors in Marketing and Finance. Before joining HealthierHere, he worked for True Blue Partners, a boutique merchant bank in San Jose as an investment banking analyst during the Summer and serve as an investment analyst for the CPP Bronco Asset Management to help manage the multi-strategy asset portfolios over the years. He’s currently residing in Los Angeles with my family suffering the sweltering summer and will relocate to the PNW. He enjoys playing basketball, hangout with friends, and learn how to paint in his free time.

Valerie's educational background and expertise in financial reporting, combined with her dedication to uplifting the community, have led her to join HealthierHere. Valerie brings over 8 years of FP&A experience. Her professional journey has been marked by a commitment to both financial excellence and community empowerment. Currently pursuing her MBA at the University of Illinois, Valerie is eager to leverage her skills and passion to contribute to HealthierHere’s mission of improving health outcomes for all.