Our Leadership
Elena
Elena is Xiomara’s mom and the Executive Director and Co-founder of Little Lobbyists.
Elena believes in the power of stories to change hearts and minds. She loves connecting with families with medically complex and disabled kids.
Prior to Little Lobbyists, she had been an immigration lawyer since 2006: helping families to reunite, U.S. employers to sponsor workers, and asylum seekers to flee persecution.
Elena likes tater tots, dresses with pockets, and happy houseplants. She had lots of hobbies before becoming a mom, like painting, pottery, hoop dancing, travelling, and yoga. Now, she is usually just sleepy and hungry.
Elena can be reached at elena@littlelobbyists.org
Shannon
Shannon is Zoe's mom and the Community Engagement Associate of Little Lobbyists.
Shannon believes we are better together, and our stories make a difference. As an autistic mom with her own story of medical complexity, she empathizes strongly with kids with complex medical needs and disabilities.
Shannon has always been part of the disability world, with physical therapy as a baby and speech therapy soon after. She embraced it as a special education teacher in Texas and North Carolina, earning her M.A.Ed. in Special Education when her first two children were tiny. She's a young widow, recovering perfectionist, writing nerd, and streaming TV junkie.
She's also mom to Jocie, Patience, Philip, Rob, and Joy, all teenagers who keep her on her toes and remind her that she's not cool anymore. They live in Raleigh with two dogs, one lizard, and more cats than any household should have. Feel free to ask her how many they have at any given time; she'll have to think a second before answering!
Shannon can be reached at shannon@littlelobbyists.org
Jenny
Jenny is James' mom and Little Lobbyists’ Policy Director for Home and Community Based Services.
Jenny believes that access to care at home makes life work for disabled people, and that the dignity of people who receive care and people who provide care are two sides of the same coin. She believes that living at home works when disabled people have access to a full spectrum of care from nurses, attendants, and paid family caregivers.
Jenny works out of California, where she writes for the California Health Report about issues that affect children and youth with special health care needs. In her life before kids, Jenny worked as a police officer. In her life after kids, she went back to school to be a Licensed Vocational Nurse.
Jenny's favorite hobby is diving into new hobbies. 3D printing? Pokemon Go? Cosplay? Drone photography? CrossFit? Carnivorous plants? Joining the Rancho Gordo Beans subscription club and cooking so many bean dishes that her family stages a mutiny? These hobbies are all great, but Jenny's favorite hobby is reading and commenting on Medicaid 1915(c) waivers.
Jenny can be reached at jenny@littlelobbyists.org
Jeneva
Jeneva is Robert’s mom and the Little Lobbyists Blog Manager.
She's worked as a teacher, a government editor, and a Hill staffer. Jeneva is also a writer, with numerous publications in poetry and nonfiction. She lives with her son Robert, who has complex medical needs and disabilities, her husband Roger, their two cats and a dog in Bethesda, Maryland. Her other son, Castin, is a recent graduate of Middlebury College.
Jeneva can be reached at jeneva@littlelobbyists.org