Young Executive Committee

TEHYA FRANK

TEHYA FRANK is the Director of Operations & Health Policy at KARV, where she leads integrated strategy across health communications, regulatory navigation, and patient-centered storytelling, advising organizations operating in complex, high-stakes environments. A PR News Top Women Rising Star (2025), the beginning of her career was rooted in humanitarian response with International Medical Corps and Global Green USA, shaping a global perspective on health as both a human right and a systems challenge. Tehya is a trusted advisor across the healthcare continuum, guiding biomedical innovators, national healthcare networks, and international—including GCC-based—healthcare organizations to expand patient access and advance therapeutic progress, particularly for chronic, invisible, and underserved conditions. She has supported New York’s largest private nonprofit health system in maintaining access to essential and preventative care and has contributed to efforts aligned with national health initiatives such as MAHA. She is also the co-founder of The Ya Sisters, an advocacy platform for young people amplifying lived experience with invisible illnesses. Find her writing here: https://aletehyarose.substack.com

JONATHAN JARECKI

JONATHAN JARECKI is a pre-medicine student at Davidson College, majoring in Biology and minoring in Neuroscience. He is the president of the Davidson chapter of The Vital Choice Project, a nonprofit dedicated to educating pre-health students on the balance between allopathic and naturopathic medicine. Outside of his college studies, he focuses on systems biology and the interconnected factors that influence human health. He is also the host of Whole Health, a podcast that explores the intersections between science and health, featuring forward-thinking individuals who are experts in their field.

Rachel Paletsky Ash

MARA LANDIS

MARA LANDIS is a seasoned health and wellness advocate whose work is rooted in personal experience, having overcome a debilitating mold-related illness through holistic healing. This transformative journey inspired a career dedicated to advancing integrative approaches to well-being. Mara is also the founder of NutmegAspirin, a pioneering wellness discovery platform that featured crowdsourced strategies for healing and feeling better. While the platform is no longer active, she continues to support mission-aligned ventures as an investor and strategic advisor. Her previous affiliations include the New York State Safe & Healthy Foods Advisory Council, Columbia University’s Spirituality Mind Body Institute, and The Vitality Project at Brown University. A lifelong student of holistic living, Mara integrates her professional expertise with a personal commitment to practices that help individuals thrive.

Rachel Paletsky Ash

CAROLINE LEIBOWITZ

CAROLINE LEIBOWITZ is from New York City and is a junior studying Consumer Behavior and Marketplace Studies with minors in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Food and Beverage Fermentation at UW-Madison. Caroline is passionate about health, wellness, and nutrition.

AMANDA LEONARD

AMANDA LEONARD is both a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and Brain Health Counselor. She is a graduate of Dr. Zach Bush’s Biology Basecamp course and has spent countless hours as a student of Dr. Joe Dispenza’s neuroscience teachings including attending two of his week-long advanced retreats. She enjoys teaching small groups and individuals what a healthy lifestyle looks like specifically through the lens of the mind-body connection. In 2024, she launched Super Trooper Wellness to help others both sift through the world of nutraceuticals and experience the power of plants in keeping illness, stress and fatigue at bay. Amanda and her husband are raising four children and reside in Jupiter, Florida. In her free time, she enjoys tending to her garden, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with her family.

Rachel Paletsky Ash

CARSON MEYER

CARSON MEYER is a doula, author and certified nutrition consultant who has supported hundreds of families on their path to parenthood. She hosts circles for women across the country to help them access community and information on healthy pregnancy, birth, and postpartum practices. She also leads mentorship opportunities for new and aspiring doulas. Her work has been featured in Elle, Vogue, GOOP, and The Los Angeles Times. Carson is the founder of C & The Moon, a clean skin care line founded on the belief that the way we care for ourselves is intrinsically linked to the way we care for the planet. She graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2016 and lives in western North Carolina with her husband, Johnathan, their daughter, Lou, and Bernedoodle, Paulie.

Rachel Paletsky Ash

MADELINE PENN

MADELINE PENN is a holistic therapist and group facilitator whose work integrates body-mind medicine and addiction recovery. Her work is informed by questions of identity, lineage, and what it means to come home to the body as a foundation for sustainable health. She began her professional career in finance at UBS and Bank of America before experiencing a personal health awakening that redirected her toward somatics, nature, and integrative healing practices. Her path back to the body began in women’s circles, expanded into mixed-group spaces, and now lives in her work facilitating groups within treatment centers, where nervous system regulation, connection to nature, and embodied practice support sustainable recovery. Madeline is a certified teacher of yoga, meditation, and sound healing, and incorporates these modalities alongside therapeutic and group-based work to support whole-person health—physical, emotional, and psychological. Her work helps individuals move from chronic stress and survival states into resilience, self-trust, and integrated well-being. She is also a writer. Find her musings here: https://substack.com/@madlybemused

Rachel Paletsky Ash

PENELOPE POPKEN

PENELOPE POPKIN: At 15, I was 320 pounds diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and unable to climb a flight of stairs without gasping for air. The medical system offered pills, injections, and surgeries. The body positivity movement told me I was “healthy & beautiful” . Through natural healing, discipline, and real food, I lost 160 pounds naturally. As co-founder of Step It Up and MAHA Girls, I now help women across America break free from the lies and lose weight naturally.

Rachel Paletsky Ash

KRISTY RODRIGUEZ

KRISTY RODRIGUEZ is a mom, HypnoBirthing® childbirth educator, certified holistic health coach, and registered prenatal yoga instructor specializing in prenatal and postpartum wellness, advocacy and empowerment. With her accumulated years of experience in education and health, she brings extensive knowledge, personal experience and deep compassion to her students. She founded Pure Nurture, LLC after working with women in various stages of pregnancy and after becoming a mother herself. Kristy has been featured in YogaMamas, FitPregnancy, Parents magazine, and many other magazines, blogs and podcasts.

Rachel Paletsky Ash

HALI BERKMAN

HALI BERKMAN is a wellness advocate focused on holistic, root-cause approaches to health. Her interest in natural healing emerged after navigating her own health challenges, which prompted extensive independent research into illness, prevention and the body’s innate capacity for balance and resilience. Driven by lived experience, Hali is passionate about empowering individuals and families with knowledge, informed choice, and non-invasive paths to well-being.