Kathryn Kemp Guylay
Founder/ Board President
Kathryn Guylay has a B.A. from Emory University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Certified Nutritional Counselor through the Trinity College of Natural Health. Formerly a Senior Manager at the Alexander Group’s management consulting practice, Kathryn’s project management skills are being put to good use coordinating the various resources for Nurture. Her bilingual abilities serve a special purpose in communications with Latino participants. Her love of nutrition and belief in its critical role in good health provide the passion behind this endeavor. Prior to founding Nurture, Kathryn began “blogging” (really an informal email between friends) on healthy eating which grew to readership in the thousands for Healthy Kids Ideas Exchange (HKIE). In 2008 HKIE was the initial source of seed funds to start Nurture, primarily though donations from the readership base who saw the need to spread health and wellness tips to limited-resource families. Kathryn is a big fan of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! and is proud to participate in several areas of the initiative. In 2012 she was awarded a grant through the Chefs Move to Schools initiative, and she also participated with daughter Elena as a winner in the 2012 Healthy Kids Lunchtime Challenge. Kathryn has also participated as a local ambassador to her community for the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution and for the Edible Schoolyard Project. Kathryn is excited about the opportunity to encourage healthy, home-cooked meals in place of unhealthy fast food. In 2012, she joined The Hunger Coalition of Blaine County, Idaho as an Advisory Board member. She herself is no stranger to eating healthy on a limited budget. As a graduate student, Kathryn honed her low-cost recipes, incorporating staples such as whole grains, beans, and lentils. These are the basics for many of the Nurture program’s recipes today. She credits her family for her continued passion for nutrition and healthy living. Jeff, her husband of 14 years, is her best recipe reviewer and is a consistent Nurture volunteer. Her daughter (11) and son (9) love to spend time growing (through gardening) and preparing food. Kathryn’s interests including running, piano, yoga, sustainable farming, and eco-minded living.
Lisa Brewer
Executive Director
Director for Elementary Nutrition & Wellness Program
Lisa has a M.B.A. with a concentration in marketing from University of Michigan and a B.S. in Psychology. During her seven years in sales at Procter & Gamble she learned, among other things, how large corporations inspire impulse purchases of less than nutritious food. She’s currently works with small businesses to sharpen their marketing, tailor their product selection, and improve their business processes. She’s devoted much energy to her children’s schools working on strategic planning committees, nutrition committees, and school improvement teams, and chairing carnivals, basketball tournaments, Kid Care Clubs, and dances. Her passion for nutrition and wellness worked its way into these events by incorporating healthy, fun foods such as fruit kabobs and smoothies into the menus and playful exercise into the activities. Lisa credits her mom for making nutritious, delicious meals and healthy habits a way of life. She’s passing on the tradition to her family and wants to help others do the same.
Elizabeth Berkeley
Program Leadership: Edison Elementary School
After getting a B.A. in Sociology and watching a lot of Food Network, Elizabeth decided to pursue nutrition education. With a passion for
volunteering, she enthusiastically jumped on the opportunity to help at Nurture. The enjoyment Elizabeth feels from cooking and exercising contributed to her excitement for the organization and teaching. Along with Registered Dietician Heather Sullivan, Mary Ellen O’Reilly, Beth Stencel, and Bethany Brady Spalding, Elizabeth was able to successfully teach and hopefully educate middle school girls at Family Focus in Evanston, Illinois. Elizabeth makes a great contribution to the Nurture community. With interests in nutrition education, healthy lifestyles, and fitness, she is able to assist a wide range of projects. As the Program Coordinator for Edison Elementary School, she hopes to continue learning about healthy nutrition and the impact that education can have on a community.
Alison Bloom
Regional Director for Highland Park/Highwood
Alison became interested in international cuisines and nutrition after traveling abroad and living in several large, multicultural cities. Her interest in nutrition got further developed when she worked for a manufacturer that helped marketers develop nutraceutical snack products. Previously she worked in advertising and publishing, graduating from Indiana University with a degree in Telecommunications and Business. Since living in Chicago and having children, Alison has continued to be passionate about healthful and flavorful cooking. Reading a cookbook is enjoyable for her and she regularly experiments with ethnic flavors. Luckily, her family shares her interest. Alison enjoys cooking for others and regularly advises other moms on how to make meals nutritious and tasty. She has also been an active leader in her children’s schools and her local community. Alison has led volunteer boards, been involved in strategic planning for several organizations, developed partnerships with social service agencies, created community service programs, recruited and managed volunteers – - all because of her passion to help others. Nurture meshes many of her interests and allows her to give in a new way to her community.
Meg Collins
Committee Leadership: Food/Recipes
Meg received her B.A. from the University of Iowa in speech pathology and audiology. She is currently studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she will receive her Masters in nutrition and become a Registered Dietician. She has lived in Chicago for four years, and currently resides in the Ravenswood neighborhood.
Meg is originally from Iowa, where she grew up on a farm and helped her family with an organic farmer’s market crop. She has always had a passion for cooking and nutrition, especially enjoying the challenge of creating tasty menus for individuals with dietary restrictions. She loves to find new, healthy ways to enjoy comfort foods.
Gina Gooden
Program Leadership: Avoca West Elementary School
Gina was lucky enough to be inspired by two cooks in her family. While her mom cooked for a family of five, Gina also observed her Nonna, “cook Italian”. As a newlywed, Gina has added her own flair and has enjoyed trying out many new recipes. Time is precious, as Gina works full time as Program Coordinator for a local municipality’s Youth & Senior Services; so she is always looking to make tasty, quick and healthy meals for herself and her husband. He loves her cooking! Gina has a teaching background and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology. Gina loves to teach, loves kids, and loves to teach kids to cook.
Jeff Guylay
Committee Leadership: Finance/Accounting and Legal
Jeff volunteers at many of Nurture’s classes, particularly the ones his wife and Nurture founder, Kathryn, teaches. Making Nurture a family affair is important to Jeff and Kathryn, particularly to reinforce to their kids, also active volunteers at ages eleven and nine, the importance of hands-on community work. Otherwise you’ll find Jeff in their gardens with Kathryn and the kids: preparing, planting, harvesting or just playing. Thanks to Kathryn’s passion and talents, eating simply and well is just part of Jeff’s life. Sharing a wonderful meal together each evening with the kids is key; family dinners together are the norm. By day, Jeff is an investment banker at Colonnade Advisors. He received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and undergraduate degrees from Dartmouth College.
Kelly Horne
Co-Regional Director for Chicago
Kelly Horne has a B.A. from Miami University (Ohio) and an M.B.A in International Business from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. After working for IBM for nearly 14 years Kelly became a stay-at-home mother for her three children. As an avid runner with a strong interest in nutrition and healthy eating, Nurture has been a perfect fit for Kelly. She has been able to take her consulting and client management skills and apply them to working with Nurture partners in the New Trier Township. Kelly is also focused on identifying potential funding partners for Nurture. In addition, Kelly’s 15 year old daughter, a true “foodie”, has enjoyed assisting with the Nurture family cooking classes at A Just Harvest Soup Kitchen in Chicago.
Bonnie Masterman
Committee Leadership: Volunteer Coordination
After over 20 years in banking, Bonnie decided it was time to be a stay at home mom. With all that extra time on her hands, she started reading about our food supply and general nutrition and began working toward feeding her family better. The Nurture opportunity presented itself as a way not only to have fun with food and children but to learn something herself!
Bonnie is a mother of 2 sweet and kind daughters, one who is an adventurous eater and the other one picky and step mother to a wonderful step son who eats everything. Her husband can be credited with the increased efforts of the past number of years to increase the variety of vegetables into our diet!
Anne McDonagh
Program Leadership: Family Network
Anne McDonagh joined Nurture in the Fall of 2010, after working independently on improving children’s access to healthy foods in schools, park districts, after soccer games, and at community activities. Anne learned to cook healthy helping her mother of six prepare food for their family and credits a rigorous high school cooking class for most of her food preparation skills. As well as working in Marketing for 20 years, she has served as a Junior Achievement counselor and classroom teacher and on two school boards. Anne has a degree in Communications and an MBA, both from Northwestern University. She enjoys teaching cooking skills, nutrition, fitness and enhancing school lunch offerings. Anne’s focus is on changing our children’s environment, so they most often are offered the healthy foods that enrich them physically, mentally and emotionally. Anne and her husband have two sons in high school.
Marcela Romero
Committee Leadership: Spanish Translation
Marcela has a B.S. in Human Nutrition from Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) in Mexico City. From 2009 to 2010, she held various positions relating to children nutrition and women’s health. From mid-2010 to present, she has continued working with families in the U.S. to introduce good nutrition and healthy habits for children through games and campaigns such as “Cleaning our kitchen”, ”Cleaning our House” and ”New Tastes”. Inspired by her family and friends to assist social service organizations, Marcela also volunteers her time in the community with seniors and food banks as well as nature conservancy projects. A native of Mexico City, she currently resides in Sugar Land, Texas, where she is pursuing a Culinary Arts Certificate. Her hobbies are outdoor activities and singing. In her free time, she is usually roller-blading, swimming or just relaxing by the river.
Mazie Soto
Committee Leadership: Social Media & Communications
Mazie has a B.S. in Human Computer Interaction and a M.S. in Instructional Technology from DePaul University She has volunteered for nonprofit organizations such as the Jane Addams Resource Center. There she led an 8 week “Introduction to Computers” course for Spanish-speaking students and taught volunteer instructors about students’ learning styles and how to tailor education within the classroom setting. Currently she is working on launching a nonprofit called Technocratic Learning and Collaboration Center of Chicago. Their mission is to help middle school aged students from underserved communities improve their academic performance through positive motivation, collaboration, and holistic learning by utilizing technology as a way to bridge the digital divide. She also works full-time for a pharmacy data conversions company as a Data Conversion Specialist, but hopes to begin a career in Instructional/Educational Technology. Mazie enjoys fitness, cooking, watching foreign films, travel, and attending cultural events around the city. Education is at the heart of everything she truly enjoys and finds rewarding.
Beth Stencel
Program Instructor: Kids Classes
Beth and her husband have three wonderful children that have been the center of her life for the past 15 years. She loves to spend time in the garden and kitchen planning the healthiest, quickest and tastiest meals to feed her family. Beth is currently in school, pursuing a lifelong dream of becoming a registered dietitian. She is anxious to get to work, teaching about the importance of healthy eating and exercise. Beth loves running, biking and skiing. She works part time in a holistic healing center. Previously Beth worked in hotel management and meeting planning.
Heather B. Sullivan, RD, LDN
Co-Regional Director for Chicago
Committee Leadership: Curriculum Development and Training/Food and Nutrition
Heather is a Dietitian and Clinical Research Coordinator at Radiant Research, a comprehensive clinical research and development company serving the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. Heather specializes in providing dietary counseling and education to patients in the weight loss, diabetes and cardiovascular disease trials. Heather is also involved in conducting staff training on nutrition and disease prevention topics. In addition, Heather sees private clients in Evanston and Chicago for nutrition and healthy lifestyle consultations. Heather completed the Coordinated Program in Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois in Chicago earning a B.S. in Human Nutrition. She completed her dietetics internship at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago and at the University of Illinois, Chicago Wellness Center, where she developed her nutrition-focused counseling skills with both children and adults. Prior to becoming a registered dietitian, Heather earned a B.A. in Psychology at Marquette University. Heather also studied psychology at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand where she lived for six months.
Meet the Special Topics Advisory Board:
Juliette Pomey Britton
Curriculum
Juliette is pursuing her masters in dietetics at University of Illinois at Chicago. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Community Health Education. She began her career at the University of Michigan’s Project Healthy Schools, a research initiative to combat the prevalence of childhood obesity. Her love for the outdoors encouraged her to take a position in Colorado for Poudre Valley Health System’s Healthy Kids Club. While in Colorado, she worked with local schools to promote healthy living through the integration of curriculum and school policy. She led many after school programs that focused on fitness, nutrition, and fun. Now back in her native state of Illinois, Juliette works part-time for Nurture as a wellness consultant for schools and community organizations. When not working or studying, Juliette can be found running along the lake or at the gym, spinning, swimming and lifting weights. She is most at home in the kitchen, where she loves taking old recipes and reworking them with healthier alternatives. You can follow Juliette’s blog, Wholesome Heart, where she shares her journey in the kitchen (along with some fun facts from the classroom).
Beth Busch
Fitness
Beth Busch is a certified personal trainer and believes that fitness and healthy eating are critical for all ages. She has an MBA in Finance from Duke University and a BSBA in Finance from Georgetown University. After a career in corporate finance and foreign exchange sales, Beth followed her passion for health and sports and became certified by ACE (American Council on Exercise) as a personal trainer. She lives with her husband and two children. With both food allergies and hypoglycemia in her family, Beth has spent lots of time evaluating alternative food choices. Eating well and exercising should be fun – that way it is easy to make them a natural part of life.
Cindy Dooley
Communications and Community Outreach
Cindy’s life-long interest in nutrition and holistic well-being is defined by her core belief that ”you are what you eat.” Her passion for healthy, informed eating turned practical in 2000 when her husband was diagnosed with Celiac disease, a condition corrected by dietary modifications, which was almost unheard of at the time. Today, as the mother of three young children, one with severe food allergies and Celiac, Cindy’s mission is to 1) learn as much as she can about the relationship between food and well-being, 2) teach her family about making healthy eating and lifestyle choices and 3) influence and share her knowledge with others whose lives she touches. Cindy has taken nutrition classes at Harold Washington College and works with a nutritionist to stay up-to-date on the issues. Currently, Cindy works part-time for Cannon Frank, an interior design firm, managing marketing and public relations efforts; and previously she worked for several years at an international advertising agency. She earned a B.A. from Truman State University in Missouri and is a volunteer with the Junior League of Evanston-North Shore.
Julia Dunn Goodhouse
Food/Recipes
Julia Dunn Goodhouse is an avid home cook with special interests in recipe development, health and nutrition. Most recently as a public relations professional, she managed accounts for clients in transportation, retail, local government, and commercial real estate industries. For four years she was a volunteer and eventually a staff member for a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture and education. She also spent over five years in film and television production. She is a graduate from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, with a degree in Communication Arts. Julia is now experiencing a three year adventure with her family in Australia, expanding her horizons and palette even further!
Stephanie Fine
Strategy and Program Evaluation
With degrees in History and Spanish, solid scientific training, 20 years of healthcare marketing leadership, volunteer activities that span four continents, and the joyful experience of raising young children, Stephanie brings diverse skills to the Nurture community. Her career in healthcare marketing and education has spanned many complex areas of medicine, but Stephanie’s real passion is family health and wellness. She has integrated a lifelong focus on nutrition, exercise, and preventive medicine with a strong belief in community building and helping others. In 2009, Stephanie launched a healthcare consulting group after 10 years at Publicis Healthcare Communications, the world’s largest network of medical communications agencies, where she was SVP of Strategy and Scientific Planning. Prior to Publicis, Stephanie held leadership positions within Omnicom and the biotechnology sector, while volunteering with professional, church, and community groups and lecturing on medical education at the University of Chicago graduate studies program.
Emily K. Hadley, MS, RN
Program Evaluation
Emily Kenderdine Hadley is a Registered Nurse and employed part-time by Advocate Health Care as a Special Projects Coordinator in the Advocate Center for Pediatric Research. Emily holds a B.S. in Nursing from Texas Christian University and a M.S., with an emphasis in Nursing Administration, from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Emily has had the opportunity to work with many families where nutrition plays an integral role in their child’s diagnosis. As a new nurse, she worked at a children’s hospital in Texas and provided care to many children with diagnoses such as cystic fibrosis, cancer and diabetes. Upon moving to Chicago, Emily worked as the Diabetes Educator at Children’s Memorial Hospital. After graduate school, she was employed at UIC as the Project Director on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research study working with families that have a child with a genetic condition. Emily is also an active volunteer in the community and further cultivates her passion to help others through these civic activities.
Tia M. Rains, Ph.D.
Grants and Program Evaluation
Tia is the Director of Medical Writing and a Principal Scientist with Provident Clinical Research & Consulting, a firm specializing in the design and management of clinical trials in nutrition and disease risk factor management (obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes). Dr. Rains also serves as a nutrition consultant to the food and beverage industry. Prior to joining Provident, Dr. Rains spent nine years at Kraft Foods in various positions within the research and development organization. While at Kraft, she was the lead nutrition scientist on business acquisition teams, worked closely with product developers to develop healthier products for both the grocery and food service sectors, and designed and executed several large scientific studies on diet and health. During her tenure at Kraft Foods, Dr. Rains taught nutritional biochemistry and food chemistry courses at Rosalind Franklin University in West Chicago, IL and at the University of Illinois in Chicago, IL. In addition to her professional commitments, she frequently speaks to schools, professional groups and other scientists on health and nutrition topics and has been involved in restructuring food programs at several childcare centers and school districts. Dr. Rains earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Nutritional Sciences, where her research interests included body weight and appetite regulation as well as vitamin and mineral nutrition. Prior to graduate school, she earned a B.S. degree in Foods and Nutrition while competing on the Arizona State University swim team as a scholarship athlete.
Colleen Scopacasa
Communications
Colleen Scopacasa is a wife and mother of three currently living in Green Oaks, IL. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MLIR from the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Upon graduating, Colleen worked in Human Resources at The Chrysler Corporation and Motorola, Inc. Colleen has been raising her children full time since 2001 and has committed her time to her kids’ school and community. In 2003, she started a resume writing and career advising business called Résumés+ which is still active today. Having been born and raised in an agricultural community, Colleen is excited to share her experiences with her family’s subsistence farming efforts and her pleasure in preparing and consuming quality, homegrown food.
