Board of Directors

Advocate for Social Justice and Maternal Child Health, Board President

Frankie is founder and President of The Amandla Group, LLC, a social justice advocacy and lobbying consulting firm specializing in addressing the social and political determinants of health through policy to eliminate health inequities by dismantling structural racism to improve maternal and child health. Frankie has worked in nonprofit organization management for 20 years and in maternal child health for 12 years. She serves on the board of Dialogue on Race Louisiana, has served as a member of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board, has received honors from Ebony Magazine as a Young Leader of the Future, and is a 40 under 40 honoree of the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. She is married to Levi Robertson and has two children, Levi II (5) and Zoe Amandla (2) who was born three months prematurely.

Child Advocate, Treasurer of the Board

Hamilton is the founder and principal of ResourceFull Consulting. He has spent the last two decades working to ensure every child enters adulthood empowered to create and fulfill her dreams and contribute to her community. Over the past thirteen years as a consultant, he has helped raise more than $182 million for organizations focused on improving circumstances and outcomes for children, youth, and families. Hamilton lives in New Orleans.

Co-Founder, NICU and Bereaved Parent, Attorney, Secretary of the Board

Aaron is the co-founder of Saul’s Light. His son Saul’s premature birth, NICU stay, and death was the impetus to create an organization that would create a supportive community for those enduring traumatic birth outcomes. Aaron is an attorney with a solo practice in the field of indigent criminal defense. He was previously a public defender in the Bronx and served as a staff attorney at the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana where he represented individuals on death row in their appeals and post-conviction proceedings. Aaron lives in New Orleans.

Early Childhood Educator

Rochelle Wilcox has been an early childhood education professional for over 23 years and was named the 2022 Louisiana Early Childhood Educator of the Year. Her advocacy for early learning started in the classroom as a teacher and led her to her current position as the CEO/Executive Director of the Wilcox’s Academy of Early Learning, Wilcox’s Academy Too and Wilcox Academy Central City. She was the first early learning center provider to sit on the board of directors of Agenda for Children. She currently serves on the boards of The Children’s Funding Accelerator and Drexel Prep Foundation DPF and the steering committees of the New Orleans Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, the New Orleans Early Education Network, and Geaux Far Louisiana, which she co-chairs. She is the co-founder of For Providers by Providers, which champions Black and women-led early learning centers across Louisiana through policy advocacy, professional development, networking, and wealth building. A New Orleans native, she lives in New Orleans, where she is married and has raised three sons.

Social Worker and Youth Advocate

Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin, LCSW-BACS is the Program Manager for the Office of Youth and Families. Prior to joining the City of New Orleans, Anamaria worked for 10 years at the Broadmoor Improvement Association as the Wellness Director and Clinical Supervisor. In that role, she developed and supervised the mental health internship program, wellness services, a food pantry, and professional development workshops. She has called New Orleans home for 24 years. She is the mother of two teenage boys and is happily married to a son of New Orleans since 1998. Additionally, she is a trained translator and interpreter for Spanish-speaking families.

Hospitalist

Dr. Gershanik is a leader in medicine, management, and health information technology (HIT) with experience in small and large health systems, academia, start-ups, and the public sector. He consults on projects across the country while working as a Medicine Hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and as a Pediatric Hospitalist at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans.

MCH Advocate and Insurance

Throughout her time at Tulane while studying Public Health, April focused her attention on all the Maternal Child Health courses she could take and sought out any opportunity she could to volunteer or intern with organizations focused on improving MCH, such as Greater New Orleans Breastfeeding Awareness Coalition and Touro's L&D Unit. In her last year of studying Public Health at Tulane, April decided that she wanted to be a part of improving how Americans access and receive healthcare rather than delivering it as a clinician. Since that moment, she's worked in various healthcare and insurance roles over the past 7 years and seen up close and personally how important the intersection of Public Health and Medicine is.

April currently works as an account manager and licensed benefits advisor at Sana Benefits, helping small businesses provide self-funded insurance plans that give their employees better coverage at a more affordable price. Her most important role is being mom to her 1.5 yr old, August, though. Her passion for MCH, and postpartum care in particular, came roaring back in full

force shortly after delivering August. Having struggled with postpartum depression and breastfeeding, she knows the importance of access to timely and affordable healthcare more than over and wants to help others mothers connect to the resources they need in their most vulnerable of times

Pediatrician

Based in Houma, LA, Dr. McGuire has over 24 years of experience in the medical field. She graduated from LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine in 1999. She is affiliated with Terrebonne General Health System.