Board of Directors
Lauren Foster, MS, CNHP, BBB
FOUNDER, PRESIDENT
Lauren Foster (she/her) is the Founder of The Powerful Project. Over 25 years of experience in leadership, advocacy, education, and clinical services reflect Lauren’s commitment to and compassion for children and families, as she has always been reaching across professions and practices to create an interdisciplinary community of caring. In addition to her training in Speech Language Pathology, Lauren is a Certified National Healthcare Practitioner (CNHP), Reiki Master, Positive Discipline Educator, and Better Brains for Babies (BBB) trainer. She has led the development of community education and outreach programs and her work and writing have been included in numerous publications, including The Late Talker by Dr. Marilyn Agin & Lisa Geng, 365 Days of Baby Love by Sheila Ellison, and Cure Your Child with Food by Kelly Dorfman. Currently, Lauren serves as the Assistant Director at Perspectives Center for Holistic Therapy. With an inner drive to lend a helping hand and provide mentorship, Lauren has presented at conferences hosted by various organizations. Lauren continues to inspire and ignite action in others, further expanding the circle of compassionate connection. Her personal journey through her own life experiences as well as her professional role, working to support families navigating their own challenges, have motivated the creation of The Powerful Project. Her experiences have further solidified her motto: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
SECRETARY
Carole Kihm, M.Ed
Carole Kihm has had the unique experience of having taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, served as a counselor at all three levels, and has been an administrator in both middle and high school. Additionally, she has served in many different school systems including inner city schools, rural, suburban, and international settings both public and private. She has also taught courses at the college level for teachers and counselors to become recertified for both teaching and counseling.
She was selected as the state of Virginia’s Principal of the Year and recognized for her excellence in developing and implementing strategies to lift the performance of minority students. Carole has been heralded by her supervisors for her collaborative team-building and educational innovation. Under her leadership, her school received the Governor’s Award for excellence in education for nine straight years.
She was the co-author of the “Roadmap to Academic SuccessK-12” adopted by Fairfax City Schools and also led a team in writing the policy on Sexual Harassment in the Schools.
Carole Has honed her leadership skills by completing the Principals’ Art of Leadership Program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and by attending the Center for Creative Leadership program in Greensboro, North Carolina.
She was co-founder of the North Carolina Counselor Association for Independent Schools and has served on the boards of the National Association of Secondary School Principals ( NASSP) as well as the Virginia Association for Secondary School Principals (VASSP). While serving on the VASSP Board, she represented Virginia as the State Coordinator and regularly met with members of the US Congress to encourage the passage of bills supporting public education. She also served as President of Fairfax County’s Middle School Principals’ Association.
She is an engaging speaker and has presented at various conferences. Among the topics have been “Navigating the College Admission Process, Improving Communication Skills, Positive Ways to Handle Stress, and Key Ingredients of a Successful Leader.”
She has a love and passion for inclusiveness in all areas of life and has the energy, experience, dedication, preparation, and commitment to be a strong advocate for building community and providing mental health access for all.
TREASURER
Jennifer Brower, PH.D.
Dr. Jennifer Brower is a Raytheon Technologies, Advanced Technology, Senior Engineer. At Raytheon, she transitions state-of-the-art undersea technologies to Programs of Record. She is the Raytheon Women’s Network site lead at her office in Portsmouth, RI. She has a lifelong passion for helping underrepresented groups pursue Science Technology Arts Engineering and Mathematics (STEAM) education and jobs. As a parent, she volunteered in the classroom, bringing hand on science experiments and engineering project to K-6 graders, including working with her children and the US Geological Survey to start a citizen science project on solitary bees that spanned multiple schools and years. She won and ran the largest 21st Century Community Learning Center grant in DC at the time. Through the grant she initiated the school’s first science fair, brought in mentors from local universities and research institutions to tutor and mentor students and, held weekly hands-on workshops with world renowned scientists and engineers. She is the treasurer for Starship Poseidon, a STEM summer camp at the Newport Naval Base. She also serves on RI’s Help America Vote Task Force (HAVA) as well as participating in the Secretary of States’ Cybersecurity Summit. Jennifer has a PhD from Harvard University in Environmental Engineering and Microbiology and a Bachelor of Engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.
BOARD MEMBER
Deborah McNelis, M.ED
Deborah McNelis, M.Ed is an author, speaker and creator of Neuro-Nurturing®. As an Early Brain Development Specialist and founder of Brain Insights LLC, she has developed the unique Neuro-Nurturing Interaction Packets. She has also published Transitions and Balanced Stimulation development packets in collaboration with Redleaf Press. She has been seen in publications, heard on radio interviews and webinars worldwide and receives rave reviews for her engaging and insightful presentations and keynotes for communities, schools, organizations and companies. Her enthusiasm is said to be contagious. Throughout her career as a kindergarten teacher, program coordinator, community leader, project evaluator, ECE Degree Instructor, policy advocate and now international speaker and author, Deborah has been dedicated to the goal of creating broad understanding toward every child receiving the nurturing experiences that reveal the undefinable and unique brilliance within.
BOARD MEMBER
Sunaina Rao Jain, PhD
Sunaina Jain received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1975. After five years at a child and family clinic in Canada, she moved to Atlanta and started a private practice working with children and families. She focused on children's attention and learning challenges, and how these problems affect children's emotional health and the lives of their families. Through her work with children in foster care, Dr. Jain learned how attention and learning are intertwined with a stable and enriched environment for growth.
In 1991, Dr. Jain opened Pathways Transition Programs to bring together and train a group of clinicians dedicated to a whole-life, or integrated, approach to helping individuals and families in distress. In 2000, she started New Learning Center, a non-profit agency specializing in issues relevant to women and girls.
Dr. Jain continues to refine the Kaleidoscope Model™ of Therapy and training professionals who work with children and families. She is currently preparing the release of Growing Children™️, a program for parents, that has evolved from her experiences working with families over the last three decades. Dr. Jain continues to learn from her interactions with children, families, and presenting workshops.
Stacey Wright, MBA, MS, NCC, LPC
ADVISOR & VOLUNTEER
Stacey (she/her) is a psychotherapist at Perspectives Center for Holistic Therapy and is dedicated to the vision of affordable and accessible mental healthcare for all. She provides process guidance, technical know-how, and project management for The Powerful Project. Roles include operational coordination, fundraising, and program planning.
Stacey comes to the discipline of psychotherapy after two decades in the corporate world, specifically in tech. It was her own journey of motherhood that inspired her to pursue a second career as a mental health counselor. She specializes in therapy for highly sensitive introverts.
Stephanie Adwar, Attorney
Consultants
Stephanie Furgang Adwar is a founding partner of Furgang & Adwar, LLP. She brings more than three decades of experience in both transactional and litigation matters in entertainment, copyright, trademark, and unfair competition law.
Having raised two young men, I am keenly aware of the unique challenges faced by our youth today. Social media, a pandemic, mass shootings, crippling anxiety, and depression - so many young adults are struggling just to get through the days. The vast unavailability of good mental health care due to a broken healthcare industry and exorbitant fees does not serve the needs of our nation’s youth. I am moved by the mission of The Powerful Project, to make quality mental health care available to young adults who would otherwise be unable to access it. I am committed to the goal of bringing the availability of good mental health care to all who struggle.
