RISE’s paid staff take care of day-to-day operations, including developing programs and curricula, creating original educational materials, organizing workshops, planning events, organizing volunteers, and determining organizational priorities.
Cindi Huss (she/her)
Cindi, one of RISE’s collaborating directors, helped found RISE to address the lack of critical health information—and the abundance of harmful disinformation—offered in Tennessee public schools. She is a trained journalist, and Cindi is a certified Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education facilitator for all levels from kindergarten through older adult and a trauma-informed care and sexuality education facilitator trainer.
Cindi and Jessie codeveloped RISE’s innovative Stellar Sex Ed curriculum, and she also codeveloped RISE’s Accessible Sex Ed training to help sex ed facilitators make programming more effective for autistic folx and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities—and help facilitators conduct constructive conversations with concerned caregivers.
Jessie Birkeland (she/her)
Jessie, one of RISE’s collaborating directors, helped cofound RISE and did three semesters of practicum with RISE while attaining a BA in Human Services and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Community Leadership at ETSU. She is a certified Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education facilitator for teens and adults and a trainer for trauma-informed care and sexuality education facilitation.
Jessie and Cindi codeveloped RISE’s innovative Stellar Sex Ed curriculum. Jessie also facilitates Teens RISE, a peer educator program for high-school youth.
Kayla Mandrigues (she/they)
Kayla, one of RISE’s collaborating directors, is a recent ETSU psychology graduate. She is focused on researching trauma and how that affects risky sexual behaviors. Kayla aspires to become a sex therapist with a focus on education.
Sarah (she/her)
Sarah helped cofound RISE and has a master’s degree in Human Services. Currently, she works as a Content Expert for RISE, developing new curricula, answering question-box questions, and creating educational social media content.
Sarah is a certified Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education facilitator for all levels from kindergarten through older adult and a trauma-informed care facilitator trainer.
Sarah is a former sexual assault advocate, guidance counselor, and senior clinical coordinator. Currently she also works as a mental health case manager at a juvenile detention facility.
Kade Emerson (they/he)
Kade curates RISE’s social media content, highlighting trusted resources and a wide variety of topics, and they are certified in youth and adult mental health first aid.
Kade has a BA in Spanish from ETSU and has served as the secretary in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at ETSU since 2014. Kade is a dedicated LGBTQ+ advocate.
Andy Lazarov (she/they/he)
Andy is a community educator at RISE. They facilitate programs, table at outreach events, and help develop online programming and informational videos for social media.
Andy is working on their master’s in public health (epidimeology) and holds a bachelor’s in biology and a minor in religious studies.
Thunder Van Riper (she/her)
Thunder manages RISE finances and coordinates data and evaluations.