Headstream Portfolio of Advisors
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Welcome to Advisor’s Network, where innovation meets expertise.
In today's ever-evolving digital landscape, embarking on the journey of product development is both thrilling and challenging. That's precisely why we're here—to provide Headstream’s entrepreneurs access to experts and advisors deeply rooted across a range of sectors to help advance youth mental well-being innovations.
Meet our experts and advisors
Sarada Peri is a speechwriter and messaging strategist who has advised CEOs, nonprofit leaders, philanthropists, celebrities, and a President of the United States on what to say and how to say it. She runs Peri Communications, where she partners with leaders on message development, speeches, presentation training, crisis communications, and strategy.
Qiana Patterson is an experienced tech operator and investor, specializing in B2B SaaS in enterprise, fintech, healthtech, AI/ML and cloud. With her, she brings over 15 years of experience in the growth, operations, project/product management expertise in the technology industry. She was the founding COO for Edlio, an LA-based K12 edtech company and prior to that she served as the Interim CEO and Vice President of Operations for Educational Networks, a leading content management software SaaS company. Additionally, she led strategic expansion for HopSkipDrive, a modern mobility tech company based in Los Angeles. Currently she is the Managing Partner at Nayah, leading operations and investments, focused on early stage founders who are building true community power, shared wealth and well-being.
Rob is a data strategist and professor of psychology who helps early-stage companies turn evidence into impact. With 20+ years of NIH-funded research on adolescent and young adult mental health, substance use, and social-emotional skills, he brings deep expertise in turning evidence into strategy for fundraising, sales, and product validation. His research on student mental health has been featured in TIME, CNBC, and The Washington Post.
Marcia bridges communities, resources, and capital together. At Impact Charitable, Marcia is an apprentice supporting the Capital Activation team on direct investments, special purpose funds, and grants. Marcia is a 2nd Wave Rematriating Economies Apprentice, a program designed to increase representation of Indigenous knowledge in investment. She’s also a coach with the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator.
Jennifer Gendron is a purpose-driven commercial leader with over 25 years of experience across nonprofit leadership, clinical practice, and mission-driven technology. With both a Master of Social Work (MSW) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), she brings a unique blend of empathy and strategic acumen to every organization she serves.
Jay Chaudhary has spent his career at the intersection of public systems, nonprofits, philanthropy, and civic leadership, building trust across lines of difference and designing solutions that no one sector can fix alone. From launching Indiana’s first Medical Legal Partnership to leading the state’s most ambitious mental health reform in decades, his work has consistently focused on reimagining systems around dignity, purpose, and long-term wellbeing.
Annette Fellows, Chief Executive Officer, Return on Vision Consulting, has spent three decades guiding healthcare, financial and business services C-Suite leaders through translating their visions into measurable value with a customer-first, business excellence framework. During her time at UnitedHealth Group and Carlson Marketing Worldwide, she reported directly to and / or consulted with every C-Suite Leader, including General Auditor, giving her an end-to-end view of private and Fortune 500 companies.
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Dani Cruz is a marketing executive with experience across Fortune 500 companies, venture capital, and high-growth startups. She spent six years at Google, where she led go-to-market initiatives that scaled the Google Assistant ecosystem to more than a billion devices worldwide. She also shaped brand strategy for Gradient Ventures, Google’s early-stage AI fund, and advised portfolio companies on positioning and growth.
Dr. Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes is a youth mental health + substance use prevention expert with experience in public schools, clinical settings, and research institutions. In the first decade of her career, she was a public school teacher, bilingual school counselor in New York City, and part of the founding leadership team of Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Newark where she developed and oversaw student-centered policies, programs, and structures.
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Dr. Terika McCall is an Assistant Professor in the Biostatistics Department (Health Informatics Division) at the Yale School of Public Health, secondary faculty at the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Informatics & Data Science , and Director of the Consumer Health Informatics Lab (CHIL) at Yale. Dr. McCall’s research interests focus on reducing disparities in mental health service access and use through technology. Specifically, she examines the use of telehealth modalities to deliver mental health services and resources to communities that are underserved. Dr. McCall’s expertise is in user-centered design and usability testing of digital health tools. She has experience leading multidisciplinary teams in industry and academia in the development of digital health tools, and currently teaches a course on the topic, BIS 640/SBS 640: User-Centered Design of Digital Health Tools at Yale School of Public Health. As Director of CHIL, Dr. McCall provides guidance to faculty and students in the development of digital health tools, such as clinical decision support tools, mobile apps, and wearables for diverse populations.
Robin Rich is a mental health and education leader with 20 years of experience working with Gen Z. She is currently the VP of Administration at Uwill, focused on HR and Counselor Success. Most recently, she was the President of the Youth Innovation Lab at Peer Health Exchange, where she led the organization to build a digital mental health product and earned recognition by Fast Company for best app/game design in 2023. Prior to that, Robin led Peer Health Exchange in a leadership role for 7 years. Robin received her Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania and Bachelor’s from Macalester College, and has been recognized twice by the University of Pennsylvania for social impact leadership and is an alum of The Leadership Consortium program. She was a ranking member of the Boards of Casa Myrna and Women Helping Women, and served as an executive advisor to startups including Cloverleaf and #HalfTheStory.
Molly is a seasoned communications leader with a focus on consumer PR, social media, influencer relations and brand events. She is also the co-host of the Plans are Booked podcast and the founder of the lifestyle website Pop.Bop.Shop. Molly is a passionate volunteer, currently serving on the Board of Directors for Hillel Council of New England, Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake, and JVS Boston.
Dr. Katherine Grill is an internationally recognized leader in the field of youth mental health, having won over 25 awards for her work in social impact and entrepreneurship. During her tenure as CEO of Neolth, she made profound and lasting contributions to mental health technology. She built an expansive youth ambassador network that was scaled to 35 states and 20 countries, collaborating with hundreds of young people on co-design. Her work transformed the way youth engage with mental health resources, particularly in helping launch the nascent field of digital interventions to support teens and young adults.Dr. Grill is the creator of the Stories, Science & Strategies framework for social media, which earned her invitations to be a Collaborator at UCLA's Center for Scholars & Storytellers and a member of WHO Fides, a network of healthcare influencers fighting misinformation. She also hosts the New Mexico Department of Health’s YouTube series on teen mental health and leads their Youth-Adult Partnership Initiative, a statewide effort to elevate youth voice in public health and policy.Before her work in technology and media, Dr. Grill managed NIH clinical research studies on adolescent behavioral health, taught university courses in psychology and neuroscience, and worked clinically in psychiatric care. Dr. Grill has authored 24 publications and given over 100 presentations about digital and youth mental health. She has received numerous accolades, including being named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2022, the 2022 Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Canterbury School, the Rising Star Alumni Award in 2023 from American University, and was honored with a display on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square.
Jaryn Miller is a leader in Inclusive Service Design, a children’s book author, and the Co-founder of Oakland Reparations. With a profound commitment to improving mental health and wellbeing, Jaryn’s work focuses on making mental health services more accessible and effective for Black and oppressed communities. His innovative approaches and deep passion for social equity make him a pivotal voice for those seeking a liberatory approach to Healthcare, Technology, and Design.
Gaurang Choksi is the Founder & CEO of Violet, the first platform dedicated to building health equity via the industry's first provider cultural competence analytics and training platform. Violet's proprietary system for benchmarking cultural competence uses a variety of disparate data about each partner provider (e.g. training history, professional experiences, identities, etc.) to identify and showcase culturally competent providers. Prior to building Violet, Gaurang built Oscar health, a health insurance startup built from the ground up. He is also a gay man and an immigrant, with a passion for making healthcare more inclusive for the medicaid population.
Bobby Nweke is a communications strategist, speaker coach, learning and development professional, and founder of ORATE and Ready Consulting LLC. A Harvard Graduate School of Education alum, Bobby specializes in developing adults and their leadership through public speaking, storytelling, and strategic communication. As a former TED Conferences speaker coach and program director, he has worked with global leaders, executives, and changemakers to communicate with clarity, presence, and impact. Bobby’s work bridges the art and science of communication, empowering leaders and innovators to speak confidently and courageously, connect authentically, and inspire action. His mission is to equip individuals and organizations with the tools to turn ideas into movements that drive meaningful change.