Liz O'Donnell, Aaliyah's Mom" is the founder and Executive Director of Aaliyah in Action (AiA), a national nonprofit that supports families after pregnancy and infant loss through tangible bereavement care and hospital partnerships. AiA was created following the stillbirth of Liz's daughter, Aaliyah. After recognizing the lack of standardized, compassionate support for families navigating grief Liz decided to collaborate with hospitals, community organizations, and public health partners to improve bereavement care systems. Today, the organization has supported over 3,000 families nationwide and continues to reach new families who need support daily. Liz is also pursuing a Master of Public Health, focused on maternal and infant health and systems-level change. Through all this work, at its core, Aaliyah in Action is focused on centering turning lived experience into sustainable, impactful support for grieving families.
Elizebeth O'Donnell
Jackie Mancinelli
Jackie Mancinelli is the President and Senior Advocate of Start Healing Together. She is a high school English teacher in New Jersey. She and her husband suffered a missed miscarriage in 2014 and then lost their son, Richard, in 2016 after an emergency delivery. They now have two "rainbow" daughters. Part of Jackie's grieving process focuses on finding a way to honor her son in a way that helps other loss families. She hopes to support other educators like herself while helping to break the stigmas surrounding loss and infertility. Additionally, Jackie is the New Jersey Ambassador for Count the Kicks, a non-profit focused on ending preventable stillbirth by educating healthcare providers and expecting parents about accurate kick counting.