Our Team

Board Leadership

  • Taryn Placko

    Taryn Placko

    ILLINOIS
    President

  • Danielle Oaldon

    INDIANA
    Vice President

  • Marline Pagan

    ILLINOIS
    Treasurer

  • Angel Zhong

    WISCONSIN
    Secretary

  • Sabrina Bernadel

    WASHINGTON DC

  • Emily Phipps

    Emily Phipps

    WASHINGTON D.C.

  • Magdalena Serrano

    Magdalena Serrano

    CALIFORNIA

  • Connie Zuluaga

    Connie Zuluaga

    NEW YORK

  • Angie Heuck

    Angie Heuck

    WISCONSIN
    Founder + Executive Director

Our Commitment to Female Leadership 

Our richly diverse and uniquely talented group of female leaders from three uniquely positioned strategic advisory councils help to develop the framework and the future of Uplift. Goals for each group are focused on positioning the organization to successfully transform the lives of women + children in crisis throughout our country. 

 

Strategic Advisory Council

Our founding Strategic Advisory Council members are outrageously brilliant women with a passion to uplift others. They believe in our mission, bring incredible experience to the table and have share their time + talent advising and guiding us, of which we are incredibly grateful. 

Tracy Edmonds | Indiana 
Author, Speaker, CEO
TracyEdmonds.com

Merrill Friedman | Virginia 
RVP, Inclusive Policy & Advocacy
Elevance Health

Virginia Hedrick | California 
Executive Director
California Consortium of Urban Indian Health

Tori Meglio | Philadelphia
Tech Product Leader
Go Fund Me

Julie Ann O’Connell | Illinois 
Assistant Director
Center for Nonprofit Studies

Lisa Watkins | Virginia
Health Policy Partner
Elevance Health

NextGen Advisory Council 

We love that our student community are valued contributors to Uplift. Our NextGen Advisory Council is a group of young women, femmes, and gender non-conforming folks, representing ages 18-24 who are emerging leaders committed to Uplift’s mission. They represent the voice of the next generation of advisors with valued insights who provide real feedback to Uplift’s leadership on strategy, tactics, technology, marketing, and messaging. 

Serena Vincent, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point
Advisory Council Chair

Angel Zhong
NextGen Advisory Board Liaison

Kennedy Hawkins, Texas

Zara Holland, Washington

Kaylin Peryham, Wisconsin

Sophia Van Drasek, Washington

Hannah Zoesch, Wisconsin

Girls2Women Advisory Council 

We believe that future leadership is in the halls of junior and senior high schools, which is why we have built the Girls2Women Advisory Council made up of you women, femmes, nonbinary leaders in 7 – 12 grades who want to use their voice to help women + children in crisis by connecting emerging leaders around the country to a stronger community of women. 

Camille Monger, Chair | Florida

Addison Jandrain, Wisconsin

Ella Solin, Wisconsin

 

The Women Behind Uplift

Uplift is dedicated and 100% committed to providing fair and equal compensation to all female associates and contractors that have helped build, advise, and support the organization from start to finish. This team of uniquely gifted women has been hand selected based on their skills and their belief in our core mission.

We want to celebrate their gifts and encourage our donors and those visiting our page to support these amazingly talented women who have helped Uplift go from a dream to reality.

Leah Knights, Leah Knights Creative
Marketing & Social Media Strategy
@leahknightscreative

Carly McCray, Carly McCray Photography
Branding Photography
www.carlymccrayphotography.com

Kayleigh Noele, Kayleigh Noele Web Design
Web Design & Development
www.kayleighnoele.com

Vassi Slavova, Creative Director
Animation + Video Services
www.blackboxvisual.com

Katherine A. Young, Attorney
Legal Services
www.andlaw.com

Riley Youngstrom, Graphic Designer
Branding
www.theworthitapproach.com

 
script text reading 'passing purpose and paying it forward'

Should you wish to get involved in any volunteer leadership role at Uplift, we would love to hear from you!

Please direct all inquiries to info@upliftingwomen.org.