Meet the Thrivology Youth Leaders!
By JB Rodriguez-Anello
July 30, 2024
As a young person myself, I know how often we are left out of conversations about our own health and well-being. This is especially true for marginalized youth, like BIPOC and LGBTQ+ young people. Recognizing the lack of quality sexuality education in my own community, I found myself teaching queer sex ed to my high school peers in an off-the-record GSA club meeting. Though I think I led a bang-up presentation, a far greater quality of care could be provided at a far larger scale with resources like the ones Thrivology is building.
Which is why I was so excited to join as a Thrivology Youth Leader: I have seen firsthand the need for better adolescent support, and I have the experience to help make that happen. Just like all our other Youth Leaders, too.
Our Youth Leaders have been collaborating with adolescent health researchers, design researchers, and youth-supporting professionals to help adults provide young people with inclusive, trauma-informed, and healing centered care and education.
The team has been building on our first project year’s collaboration goals by pulling insights from all 10 Youth Leaders on creating community and the delivery of trauma-informed and inclusive practices. Not only do our Youth Leaders have impressive resumes, but we’ve been working hard to advocate for all intersections of young people by bringing our unique lived experiences to the table.
Meet our Youth Leaders below!
Lilith Breazeale - Oklahoma
Lilith (she/they) is passionate about making a positive impact on youth across the country. She joined Thrivology for the chance to help progress inclusive sexual health care and improve access to reproductive health education.
Deborah (Deb) Coffy - Florida
Deb (they/she) is a mental health and social justice advocate, researcher, and writer based in Orlando, Florida. For 5+ years, they have been involved in the fields of mental health, advocacy, and communications. They joined Thrivology Youth Leaders to expand their research interests out of psychology and to grow within their activism for reproductive justice outside of just abortion.
Robin Emilio Burova-Markman - New Jersey
Robin (he/him) joined Thrivology to make a lasting difference. He has always been creative, and his art has been largely inspired by his experience moving through life with the intersecting identities he holds. His goal is to merge art and activism and create a space where people, at least one person, feels seen by something he helped to make.
Brian Flaherty - Illinois
Brian (he/him) is a fashion design student at Indiana University. After seeing the consequences of incomprehensive sexual health education, he was inspired to join the Thrivology Youth Leaders team to ensure everyone has access to the resources and support they need!
Grisel Meza - California
Grisel (she/her) joined the Thrivology Youth Leaders to create greater resources for youth among reproductive and sexual health. She wishes she would’ve had more resources among sexual education/health growing up. She feels that being able to be a part of this research is rewarding and is excited to see the outcome.
Netra Parikh - North Carolina
Netra (she/her) is a senior at the North Carolina School of Science and Math and is interested in civil rights advocacy and youth empowerment. Thrivology Youth Leaders works to empower youth through sexual education, which Netra finds paramount for autonomy.
Asha Puri - Maryland
Asha (she/her) is a freshman Health Management major at Howard University. Her passion for adolescent health advocacy and public health encouraged her to pursue the Thrivology Youth Leaders Program.
JB Rodriguez-Anello - California
JB (he/they) is an artist, sexuality educator, and UC San Diego alum with a BS in Psychology and a BA in Visual Arts Media. He is passionate about sexuality and gender, race, and anti-capitalism. They joined the Thrivology Youth Leaders to help ensure everyone in the deepest intersections gets the education and care they deserve.
Mandy Williams - North Carolina
As a double major in History and Philosophy at UNC Charlotte, Mandy (she/her) has always been driven by a deep passion for social justice. Her academic journey has provided her with a broad understanding of societal issues and the importance of equity, especially in health care. She aspires to become a medical malpractice attorney, where she can advocate for fair and just treatment in the medical field. She joined Thrivology Youth Leaders because she is particularly committed to promoting equity in reproductive care and access, which she believes is a fundamental aspect of social justice. Her goal is to help dismantle purity culture and support inclusive, trauma-informed practices in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Through Thrivology, she hopes to contribute to creating a more equitable health care system and empower others to do the same.
Angela Zhong - Texas
While pursuing a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard in economics and environmental science public policy, Angela (she/her) has advocated for youth in numerous spaces, including at the World Economic Forum, World Bank Spring Meetings, and UN General Assembly. She joined Thrivology Youth Leaders to be part of a larger community of young people making change in their community on issues that they care deeply about.
For the past seven months, our Youth Leaders have been working hard to provide insights and help develop new resources… Which will be dropping very soon! Stay tuned!
About Thrivology
Healthy Teen Network and Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health have partnered to create Thrivology, a project that works to translate research to practice for youth-supporting professionals.
JB (he/they) is a UCSD alum with a BS in Psychology and a BA in Visual Arts - Media. His current fields include marketing and communications, sexuality education, and art. They are currently a Thrivology Youth Leader at the Healthy Teen Network.