Meet our Advisory Board Members

My name is Alexandra Teodoro and I’m a wife and mother of two young boys from El Salvador living in West Texas. I am currently a English/Spanish translator & interpreter. I am a childhood cancer survivor and have extensive experience in childhood trauma, cancer trauma & am a supporter of young widowed friends. 

 I’m Angel Hicks, a mom of 2 girls, software engineer, and widowed at 29 in a car accident. When this first happened, I desperately sought community where I could relate with others who had been through tragedy during a similar life stage, so I created the Extremely Young & Widowed FB community. With over 8k members widowed under 30, people support each other in moving forward. I also spread aware

Hi! I'm Katie Evans- your atypical young widow. I was widowed due to addiction at 27 years old with an 8-year-old son. 

Three years ago I created a Facebook support group for widows to heal through humor. What I thought would be a small group of people exploded into a worldwide community of over 4,000 widows. It is now my favorite place on the internet. 

I'm excited to use research to show other you

My name is Sylvia Ogilvie, and on November 18th, 2018 my boyfriend David died of a fentanyl overdose.  I’d never known someone with a substance use disorder, and I got a crash course in it after we fell in love. As a social worker, I used every tool in my belt to try and “fix” him, but the reality was that his disease was bigger than us.  Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to the harm reduction mov

My name is Kerry Phillips and I was widowed at 32 when my husband died while overseas. In 2015, I started Young, Widowed & Dating, an online peer-to-peer support group. I hold a bachelor's degree in journalism from Florida A&M University and have been a contributor for HuffPost, covering loss and grieving, Hope for Widows Foundation, a nonprofit organization offering peer-to-peer support, and Open

My Name is Shelly Herscher and I’m a mother of two young children. Widowed at the age of 37 after my husband passed from esophageal cancer. We live in his hometown, a small community in central Illinois where I am a salon owner as well as a cosmetologist for 13 years. Research on how this specific loss  changes a widow or widower's identity as a person, role as a parent and membership in society w