CARA BELVIN
Founder + CEO
Cara Belvin, M.S., is an energetic and visionary leader, expanding empowerHER® from a local grassroots movement to an international nonprofit. Her own mother Kit passed away at the young age of 37 after a two-year battle with breast cancer when Cara was just 9 years old. …. READ MORE ABOUT CARA IN “ABOUT OUR FOUNDER”
Hannah McDougall
Program Coordinator, Mentor Program
Hannah is from Somerset and now lives and works in Central London as the Director of an Estate Agency. Inspired by the loss of her mother she is also now a yoga teacher, a marathon runner and is always looking for a new adventure. She believes that our losses can inspire us to do great things, and wants to help all women & girls find what that looks like for them.
Ann Marie Leitao
Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships
Ann Marie, originally from Boston, currently resides in Los Angeles and received her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from UMass Amherst. Ann Marie spent her early career working in the private sector in Healthcare IT before coming aboard as empowerHER’s first Full-Time hire in January of 2020. Having experienced the loss of her beautiful mother Anita at the age of 10, Ann Marie is passionate about empowerHER and played an integral role in creating empowerHER’s charity runners program TEAM empowerHER, as well as taking us “East Coast to West Coast” when she led the charge to open the first Chapter outside of New England, the Southern California Chapter of empowerHER!
Ann Marie continues to to support empowerHER’s national and international growth and supports all aspects of mission and development. In her “spare time”, you can catch Ann Marie cooking, running or spending time with her family on Cape Cod.
Sam Loutzenhiser, MPA
Vice President of Operations
Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Sam received her BA in Education from Kent State University and then made the move to the South Shore of MA where she obtained her Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a Nonprofit and Civic Leadership concentration from Bridgewater State University. She is a talented and compassionate professional with over 15 years of extensive experience in the nonprofit sector and youth development.
Sam was one of our first empowerHER volunteers in 2013 and worked closely with founder Cara Belvin to develop all mission and fundraising initiatives. Sam served as one of the first Mentors in 2015 when the Mentor Program launched. She is passionate about our mission and longed for an organization like empowerHER following the loss of her brave, beautiful mother Anne Marie when she was 17 years old.
Joanie Quealy
Senior Program Coordinator
Joanie is a retired Pediatric Nurse with over 20 years of experience in Public Health. She assumed the role of empowerHER’s first Mentor Program Coordinator in 2014 and kick-started the Mentor Program in 2015. Joanie also served on the empowerHER Board of Directors at empowerHER for three years, as her early involvement and experience with the organization positioned her well to provide insights and ideas as empowerHER grew rapidly in the years since it’s founding. She has witnessed the meaningful impact which empowerHER has made in the lives of many girls and young women and remains committed to sharing her experiences and knowledge as the team and programs continue to grow.
When she isn’t working, Joanie loves spending time with husband, Vinnie, and her children and grandchildren in Scituate, MA!
Grace Isaacs-Russell
Administrative Assistant
Grace was born and raised in a suburb outside of Philadelphia, PA and currently resides in Los Angeles. Grace attended Penn State University before moving to the West Coast to explore new passions. Grace has spent the last eight years observing and assisting in Social Media Management for her family's non-profit foundation which honors her beautiful older brother Kevan who she sadly lost. After experiencing the loss of her brother, her desire to help and support others only grew, especially in the grief space.
Grace has always had a passion for lending a hand wherever needed and helping others. Her passion for empowerHER’s mission continues to grow each day and she looks forward to the love and support this organization will bring to others for many years to come. When Grace is practicing work-life balance, you can find her out for a run, spending time with her family, recording episodes of her podcast or walking her dog Kora!
Ali Thomas
Mentor Program Manager
Ali grew up with empowerHER founder, Cara Belvin in Southington, Ct. and was just seventeen years old when she lost her mom, Doreen, to cancer. Ali spent over 20 years building and developing teams in the business world and working with various leadership groups at the University of Oklahoma to implement programs to enhance the student experience. In 2017, Ali left the corporate world to focus on her son Dylan. Ali currently lives in Orange County California with her husband and son.
After watching and supporting empowerHER from a distance, Ali became a volunteer in 2020 and led the inaugural Chicago area LUMINARIA. It was that experience and her lifelong friendship with Cara that inspired her to join empowerHER full time as the Director of Program Expansion.
In her current role, Ali’s focus is leading the empowerHER mission, to support and connect children and young adults who have experienced the loss of a parent. Her passion for that mission is what drives her to continue the expansion of programs serving all children that have experienced parent loss. By creating events that provide peer support to children and young adults and expanding our mentor program that help teach “loss is survivable,” Ali is able to support the continued growth and expansion of empowerHER.
-OUR TRUSTEES-
Cara Belvin, Founder + CEO of empowerHER
Siobhan Mears, Founder of The Mears Collective
Lucy Horsell, Co-Founder at PeBe Active
INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR LEADERSHIP?
empowerHER UK is accepting applications from committed members of the community interested in serving as a Trustee and helping to further our mission.
If you are someone who has a passion for empowerHER UK and children’s bereavement and have valuable experience you can lend to a growing Board of Trustees, please send an inquiry to info@empoweringher.org to begin the application process.