Board of Directors
Anthony Holland
Co-President & Co-Chair, DEI Committee Chair
Tony brings his depth of technology and large systems expertise as VP of SAP Partner Sales Channels. A recipient of Villanova's Bartley Medallion and Executive Coach for Villanova's EMBA Business Leadership Program, Tony will be helping develop Inner Strength's leadership team.
Amy Edelstein
Founder & Executive Director, Secretary
Amy Edelstein, educator, author, and public speaker is a powerful communicator of ideas and beliefs that can help us transform ourselves and the culture we live in. She is the founder and executive director of the Inner Strength Foundation. Amy has 40-years experience working with contemplative tools and developmental philosophy, and has taught in half a dozen countries around the world. She oversees the work of the organization, the teaching team, all curriculum, and also instructs in the schools. Amy is a Cornell University College Scholar, recipient of a 2019 Philadelphia Social Innovation Award, and author of six books including the award-winning bestseller The Conscious Classroom.
Ayanna Matlock
Deputy Secretary
Ayanna Matlock, Deputy Chief Transformation Officer, Organizational Health for SEPTA, the 6th largest transit agency in America. She brings many talents to Inner Strength. A student of meditation for many years, she has also spent many years supporting builders of urban culture in the non-profit sector. At SEPTA in their Innovation Department she helps modernize through employee & customer insights. As she says, “I’ve appreciated its introspective philosophy and its deep pursuit in awareness of self. I believe in the power of Design Thinking and the “Yes, and …” spirit. It really does give everyone a voice in how we all make life more loving & compassionate. My greatest gift, is my growing son, Joshua.”
Barbara Booker
Educational Researcher
Barbara Booker has has a long and successful career as an independent educational consultant, operations engineer, and teacher. Her recent work included fulfilling a key role on a nationwide math research study to assess the effectiveness of grade school math curricula. She is passionate about creating modalities that are culturally relevant and accessible to LatinX students, supporting teachers, and facilitating school-based research to improve student’s engagement and learning. She has been married to James for 40 years and they have two amazing girls and a grandson.
James Booker
Enterprise Solutions Architecht
James worked as an Enterprise Solutions Architect, Technology Strategist, Delivery Manager and IT Executive for over 40 years in the telecommunications, financial services, publishing, healthcare industries. He has architected and managed the delivery of many large and highly complex systems for Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. He is passionate about encouraging youth to persevere and never accept imposed limitations on what they can achieve.
Leashia Lewis
Leashia Lewis is the director of Villanova University UNITAS, the Athletics Departments DE&I initiative. She holds a MA from Villanova in Secondary Counseling along with an undergraduate double major and triple minor. Committed helping underrepresented students succeed in college and career placement, she worked for many years as a high school counselor. Lewis is certified through Pacific Educational Group in Courageous Conversations about Race Protocol, is a board member of the Villanova Varsity Club Hall of Fame for Athletics, a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC); and Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling (PACAC); American School Counseling Association (ASCA), and was an All-American track and field athlete on Villanova’s track and field team.
Rebecca Donahue
Rebecca Boulay Donahue, Director of Events at The Westin Philadelphia and The Rittenhouse Hotel, brings her eye for impeccable detail, budget conscious hospitality, and passion for youth wellness to Inner Strength. With her accomplished ability to manage large and diverse teams from event staff to client CEOs, meet the needs of the most demanding Fortune 500 clients, Rebecca helps Inner Strength connect with the broader community and share the strength of its message.
Ron LaSalvia
Co-President & Co-Chair, Treasurer
Ron has an extensive background in leadership and business. After graduating MIT, Ron served in the US Navy for 24 years, including as Captain of two nuclear submarines. He went on to Wharton Business School, receiving its highest honor Palmer Scholar, and became President and COO of a $1.5B technology company. The stress of business pushed Ron to explore well-being modalities, leading to a deep and empowered relationship with the value of our interior life. He now runs Operational Zen helping business leaders find a deeper context of balance, meaning and purpose for their work and personal lives. A proud Central High School graduate, Ron is passionate about making Philadelphia public schools flourish.
With Gratitude for Your Service
Emeritus Board Members
Sharon Kind | Jeff Carreira | Steve Gross | Cindy Leavitt | Daniel Cantor
Organization Team and Instructors
Our organization runs on the creativity and passion of our talented team. Each brings a wealth of experience and passion to help empower the youth of today to realize their dreams and goals. All our instructors have successfully completed the 80-hour Inner Strength Teacher Training and participate participate in ongoing professional development sessions to support one another and deepen their skills and knowledge. Our instructors bring decades of experience in meditation practice, K-12 educational instruction, trauma-informed modalities, mindful movement, and performance and fine arts.
Amy Edelstein
Founder & Executive Director
Amy Edelstein, educator, author, and public speaker is a powerful communicator of ideas and beliefs that can help us transform ourselves and the culture we live in. She is the founder and executive director of the Inner Strength Foundation. Amy has 40-years experience working with contemplative tools and developmental philosophy, and has taught in half a dozen countries around the world. She oversees the work of the organization, the teaching team, all curriculum, and also instructs in the schools. Amy is a Cornell University College Scholar, recipient of a 2019 Philadelphia Social Innovation Award, and author of six books including the award-winning bestseller The Conscious Classroom.
Alyson Showell LaPorta
COMMUNICATIONS & GRANT PROPOSAL MANAGER
Alyson Showell LaPorta brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Inner Strength Education, with a career spanning two decades in the non-profit sector. Her diverse background includes working in various fields such as education, refugee resettlement, workforce development, program development and management, grant management, and nonprofit staffing. In her role at Inner Strength Education, Alyson takes on responsibilities related to grant writing, media outreach, and public communications. Alyson's contributions to the community have been recognized, as she received a Mayor's Commendation for her outstanding work on the Philadelphia Adult Literacy Project. Alyson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Temple University, where she developed strong communication and writing skills that continue to benefit her work in the non-profit sector. She further pursued her academic endeavors with a Master of Science degree in Forensic Psychology from Walden University, equipping her with a unique perspective and understanding of human behavior and the factors that influence positive change. Outside of her professional pursuits, Alyson is a proud mother to twin boys, an experience that has deepened her appreciation for the importance of mindfulness and self-care.
Amaro Truong
Software Engineer
Amaro Truong was in the Inner Strength Teen Program when he was a junior at Central High School in 2020. His natural interest and technological aptitude led him to intern and beta test our mobile app VIBE before its initial release. Now a Software Engineering Student at Drexel, Amaro is bringing his dual skills of AI experimentation and appreciation for the de-stress needs of youth to program and upgrade the Inner Strength online library for teens and our mobile app.
Amelia Mraz
Instructor , Program Coordinator& Research Support
Amelia Mraz is completing her Masters Degree in Public Health this year, satisfying her fieldwork placement as a member of the Inner Strength Strength & Stability team, supporting youth most impacted by gun violence. She brings experience working with youth as well as innovative mental health supports. Mraz is the founder of Half Mad Honey, a mental wellness apiary in Philadelphia's Navy Yard.
Jazman Dobson
Instructor
Jazman joined Inner Strength in 2019, bringing her love of mindfulness practice and musical talents to the classroom. When not touring with one of her bands, Jazman practices and teaches mindfulness, yoga, and reiki. Her mindful movement work with students is informed by her classical training in dancer,
Holly Henry
Instructor
Holly joined Inner Strength in 2016 bringing her passion for mindfulness and teaching youth to our students. She is a communications specialist with core strengths in public relations, strategic marketing communications and advancement with extensive experience working for nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and foundations. Her special interests are education and healthcare wellness. She is certified to teach yoga and mindfulness to grade school children through Verge Yoga as well as her Inner Strength certification for work with high school students.
Jenna Kelly
Instructor
Jenna Kelly brings her passion for wellness and instructing to Inner Strength. Co-founder of Balanced Planet Yoga, she runs certification Yoga Teacher Training programs as well as ongoing classes and personal training. Her approach is informed by her discipline in US military service, personal physical training certification, parent of 3 children, and passion for bringing out the inspiration of each individual she works with. Jenna has completed her Inner Strength Teen mindfulness Teacher Training, and holds her Personal Training Certificate through the American Counsel on Exercise (ACE), a Functional Training Certificate from Perform Better YBarre and Yoga Sculpt.
Lisa Laney
Instructor
Lisa is an experienced E-RYT 500 yoga teacher and holds a 900-hour meditation certification with Clearlight Meditation Institute. Lisa teaches yoga and mindfulness in the greater Philadelphia area. She has a background in theatre, dance and music.
Michele McShea
Finance & HR Officer
Michele McShea comes out of retirement to bring her warmth and 35+ years of finance experience to support the work of Inner Strength and bring knowledge and expertise to our new partnerships, grants, and collaborations. Michele is an experienced Finance Director with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Analytical Skills, Sales, Management, Leadership, and Risk Management. Strong accounting professional with a MBA focused in Finance from Temple University - Fox School of Business and Management.
Patrick Gleeson
Mobile App Usability, Instructor
Patrick Gleeson is a data scientist, researcher, and long-time meditation practitioner. He first discovered mindfulness in high school, and wants to help bring its transformative benefits to teens in Philadelphia. Patrick is an avid runner and is currently training for his first Century, or 100 mile bike ride.
Special Projects & Instruction
Julie Coopersmith & Jody Long
Our long time instructors who now serve on special projects and occasional instruction: Julie Coopersmith joined Inner Strength in 2015, bringing 25 years of mindfulness and yoga experience, contributing to Inner Strength curriculum development, research and strategy. She holds and MBA in Health Care Administration. ~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~ Jody Long joined Inner Strength in 2016. She was an early childhood art teacher and holds a BFA from the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art, an MAT from the University of the Arts. She has extensive training in a variety of therapeutic modalities, including Family Constellations, and somatic healing.
Advisory Board
Michael Baime
Dr. Baime is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the founder and Director of the Penn Program for Mindfulness. Since 1992, the Program has trained more than 10,000 people in mindfulness-based stress management. At Penn, Dr. Baime has developed and led numerous courses about mindfulness meditation and mind-body medicine.
Brendon Jeremi-Jobs
Brendon Jeremi-Jobs is a pioneering teacher and educational leader, committed to transformative education on race, gender, and history. He is the head of Abbington Friends Upper School and brings his lens of racial equity to the work of the school. Brendon formerly taught World & African American History, and Sociology in the Philadelphia Public Schools. In 2016 Jobs was selected from over 10000 teachers to advise the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on K-12 Educational Programming. He has been awarded prestigious teaching fellowships and worked as a Lehman Fellow, a National Constitution Center Annenberg Fellow, a James Madison Fellow, and an Education Pioneer Fellow with the SEED Foundation in Washington, D.C. He also received the Dr. Ruth Wright Hayre Teacher of the Year Award and was nominated twice for the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. He received his M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, and his BS from Columbia University.
Nancy J. Kelley
Nancy Kelley served as the Founding Executive Director of the New York Genome Center. She led the Center from a start up through its current stage as it became a world-class genomics research center, raising $110 million to do so. Many of NYGC’s foundational elements, such as its Pilot Laboratory at Rockefeller University, the NYGC Innovation Center, and key clinical and technology partnerships, were established under her leadership. Ms. Kelley oversaw the build of NYGC’s permanent facility in New York City and recruited a large scientific and management team as well as several of the Center’s Associate Members. She holds a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Harvard University and has over twenty years of executive management and board experience in starting, growing, and restructuring organizations, raising capital, recruiting diverse management teams, creating and implementing strategic plans. Nancy serves as an Advisor to the Inner Strength Foundation.
Craig Hamilton
Craig Hamilton, founder of Evolving Wisdom, is a pioneer of evolutionary spirituality and conscious evolution. A powerful educator and innovator of online transformative coursework, Craig has thousands of graduates in 85 countries. Craig is a founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute, a member of Deepak Chopra’s Evolutionary Leaders Forum, and was a participant in the Synthesis Dialogues, a 35-person interdisciplinary think tank presided over by the Dalai Lama. In his current work, Craig is helping to articulate an authentic evolutionary spirituality—an “integral enlightenment” which illuminates the vital relationship between individual transformation and collective evolution.
Theresa Shropshire
Therese Shropshire is the founder of Nalaverse, a wellness platform that features black instructors and supports both individual and corporate wellness. With more than 400 hours of original curated mindfulness, yoga, and sound practices, Nalaverse is one of the leading platforms for black-centered wellness work. A graduate of Stanford and Wharton MBA, Theresa brings her business and marketing acumen to the world of wellness.
Claire Zammit
Claire Zammit is the creator of the Feminine Power courses for women and founder of the Institute for Woman-Centered Coaching. Her groundbreaking doctoral research on the underlying obstacles blocking intelligent women from excelling has been praised as a seminal contribution to the advancement of women. Her work has helped millions of women around the world transform. In 2010, she co-founded Evolving Wisdom, one of the most successful online transformational learning enterprises, generating over $110 million in revenue and reaching millions of people from 180 countries. Claire earned her Ph.D in Transformative Learning & Change at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
