MEET PALS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lindsey Henke is the founder and Executive Director of Pregnancy After Loss Support, writer, clinical social worker, wife, and most importantly a mother to two beautiful daughters and one sweet-cheeked baby boy. Tragically, her oldest daughter, Nora was stillborn after a healthy full-term pregnancy in December of 2012. Lindsey’s second daughter, Zoe, was born healthy and alive in March of 2014. Her debut memoir, When Skies Are Gray: A Grieving Mother’s Lullaby was published in May 2024. Her writing about life after loss has been featured on Still Standing Magazine, Listen to Your Mother, Scary Mommy, Healthline, Postpartum Progress, and The New York Times.
Marcy Parko Miller is a dedicated advocate for social equity and workforce development with over 14 years of experience in the industry and holds a Masters of Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management. She lives southwest of Pittsburgh, PA with her husband, Derek, daughter, Elaina Grace, and border collie mix, Charlie. Throughout her journey, she has navigated fertility struggles and experienced the pain of miscarriages. Despite these obstacles, Marcy’s determination to build a better future for her family and others remains unwavering. It was through this journey she found PALS and is now eager to expand the organization’s reach to other women and families seeking support.
Rebecca Markert lives in Verona, Wisconsin, with her four living children, Dexter, Audrey, Owen, and Jaxon. She gave birth to her first child, Lily, on Mother’s Day 2010 after she went into preterm labor at 20 weeks. Lily was proof that love at first sight does exist. After another high risk pregnancy, Rebecca welcomed her rainbow, Dexter, in 2011. During her second pregnancy after loss, Rebecca realized how anxious and fearful she still was and sought out other women expecting again after loss. She facilitates the Rainbow Pregnancies of Madison group, which supports women pregnant after loss and contributes to PALS online magazine.
Danyelle Andrews is a PALS Board Member and Meet-Up Leader in the Chicago area and a mother to five children–she carries three in her heart and two in her arms. Danyelle’s 10-year loss journey led her this past year to found her own health & wellness business named in honor of her daughter’s Rylie & Avary (her ‘twin angel bees’)- Bee Well Collective. Danyelle knows without a doubt that it was her loss mom friends who helped her navigate and survive her own pregnancies after loss, and she is honored to have been a PALS Volunteer for the past 6 years.
A resident of sunny Los Angeles, Shelby has spent the past 15 years working in public relations where she represents some of the world’s leading travel and hospitality brands. An avid traveler herself, Shelby takes pride in knowing her work helps inspire people to explore some of the globe’s most beautiful destinations. After two unexplained pregnancy losses in 2022, Shelby discovered PALS and turned to the organization to fuel hope as she began to navigate her pregnancy after loss in 2023. She is a devoted wife and mother to two beautiful living daughters – a spunky three-year-old and her precious double rainbow baby born March 2024.
Justina Peckham lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband, Tyler and daughter, Rose. Her advocacy is shaped by the loss of her son, Lee, who died shortly after birth due to complications from preeclampsia in March 2020. Justina brings a technical background in project and product management, with an emphasis on both end user experience and product usability improvements. Justina hopes to blend her professional expertise with her personal experiences that includes navigating the profound loss of a child, subsequent pregnancy, and the ultimate joy of parenthood.
Kelsey is thrilled to be joining the PALS Board of Directors. She brings over 12 years of experience guiding teams delivering on DEI, social impact, and international development objectives across non-profits, private foundations, and a fortune-500 corporation. She is also a recurrent early loss mom to 7 angel babies and is currently pregnant after loss, due in July 2024. Kelsey is passionate about ensuring that all loss moms across different gestations, loss types, and diverse identities receive the support and care they deserve. Kelsey holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Spanish Studies and a Master’s degree in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University. She is also a certified yoga teacher with training in prenatal yoga.
Samantha is the Co-founder and Principal of Marigold Strategy, a women-owned consulting firm working with nonprofits, foundations, and companies interested in building more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and resilient organizational cultures and structures. She has decades of experience working with nonprofits, foundations, government agencies, and corporations around the world to advance social justice through equitable organizational development and strategy. Samantha holds a MA in International Business and Development Economics from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in French from Amherst College. She resides in Portland Maine with her husband Steve and her dog Cholula. She is a mother to Markus who passed away in 2023.
Dr. Joyce Merrigan is a clinical specialist, a dynamic, and passionate educator, former bedside labor and delivery nurse, perinatal bereavement coordinator, and traumatic grief counselor. She actively collaborates on the ANCC Magnet, BabyFriendly, USA, and OB Safety Committees and Chairs the Obstetric Hemorrhage Multidisciplinary, and is the founder and Chair of the Perinatal Bereavemet Multidisciplinary Committee at Capital Health in New Jersey where she also founded and is the Program Director of the Rainbow Baby Program.
Angelica Quezada, a bilingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Perinatal Mental Health Certified expert in California, earned her Social Work Master’s Degree from USC. With a background spanning hospice, hospitals, private practice, and nonprofits, she passionately advocates for individuals facing perinatal, reproductive grief & loss, and parenting challenges. She serves the community by sitting on the board of Postpartum Health Alliance and co-facilitating an international peer clinical consultation group in Spanish for Postpartum Support International. Currently she is the Director of Mental Health Programs at the Institute of Reproductive Grief Care and provides psychotherapy via individual private practice.
EMERITUS AND ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
