Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

I grew up in a small town in central Illinois and moved to Carbondale, Illinois to complete my undergraduate studies and earn my Master of Public Health from Southern Illinois University. During my time in southern Illinois, I had the privilege of working within the community benefits department at a local hospital system under various grants pertaining to substance misuse, community health, and school health as a graduate assistant. These experiences deepened my understanding of public health challenges and reinforced my commitment to addressing health disparities.

After graduate school, I secured a position as a tobacco cessation coordinator and co-led a local coalition focused on reducing tobacco disparities through policy, systems, and environmental changes in southern Illinois. This role allowed me to engage directly with the community and work on impactful health initiatives.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

I began working at Counter Tools in May 2024. In my previous role, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Counter Tools on a local coalition project in southern Illinois. I was inspired by the mission of improving place-based public health and the team’s ability to help states and local authorities across the country. Additionally, I respected Counter Tools’ core values of equity, diversity, and inclusion and how they put them at the forefront of their work, which oftentimes many organizations overlook. This alignment with my own values made joining Counter Tools an easy decision. 

What is something you enjoy about your role?

As a project director, I have the honor of working with various clients across the country to advance their initiatives on creating healthier outcomes for their communities. I see this role as an opportunity to help states break down barriers to enacting successful and equitable PSE change related to place-based public health.

The best part of my role is the meaningful connections I get to make with each individual client, which allows me to understand their unique needs and provide tailored support. I love how my role provides endless opportunities to continuously learn and improve myself, helping me grow both professionally and personally. Our small but mighty team here at Counter Tools is pretty awesome too!

Do you have any pets, children, or other family members you’d like to mention?

I plan to move back to central Illinois very soon to be closer to my family, especially my nephews and niece! My husband, Zach, is an aircraft mechanic, and we enjoy spending our time exploring the outdoors, watching captivating Netflix movies, and cuddling with our cats!

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

I’m from St. Louis, Missouri, and attended the University of Missouri (Mizzou) for my Bachelor’s degree and my Master of Public Health degree. My MPH focused on Health Policy & Promotion and I also attained a Certificate in Epidemiology. While at Mizzou, I was a Corps Member and Team Leader for an AmeriCorps-funded preschool literacy and social-emotional development program called Jumpstart, interned with the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation advocating for and analyzing Tobacco 21 policies, and educated about and enforced the University’s new Tobacco-Free policy.

After attaining my MPH, I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico for three years. Through Rescue Agency as Campaign Manager of No Minor Sale, I led New Mexico’s leading point-of-sale tobacco prevention policy advocacy campaign. I also co-chaired New Mexico’s largest tobacco prevention & control conference, the NMACTion Conference, for three years before moving back to St. Louis in Fall of 2022.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

I started working at Counter Tools in April 2023. I was also familiar with the great work that Counter Tools was doing at the point of sale as I regularly frequented Counter Tools’ website to learn of new ideas to further the point-of-sale work I led in New Mexico. With that said, Counter Tools’ expertise on policy efforts at the point of sale excited me to join the team as a Project Director!

What is something you enjoy about your role?

The scope of the work. Every day is an exciting opportunity to engage partners and clients about the importance of policy efforts that promote public health in states across the country.

Do you have any pets, children or other family members you’d like to mention?

Yes! I have two dogs. Teddy (Left) and Swansea (Right), who’s named after my favorite soccer club, Swansea City!

Elizabeth Gerndt is a Project Director at Counter Tools and is passionate about healthy eating and active living. Learn more about Elizabeth’s background in her staff profile below. 

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

After finishing undergrad at Clemson, I moved to Atlanta to receive my Master of Public Health at Emory University. My first job after grad school was working for the health department in South Carolina on several policy, systems, and environmental change initiatives related to healthy eating and active living.

Prior to coming to Counter Tools, I managed food and built environment initiatives for the SNAP-Education program at NC State. While tobacco point-of-sale work was new to me when I started at Counter Tools, I had spent lots of time in the retail environment all across North and South Carolina completing store assessments and talking with retailers about selling healthy food.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

I started working at Counter Tools in January 2020 – not long before Covid-19 lock-downs began. I was excited to be part of a small, hardworking team that is dedicated to the mission of improving place-based public health.

What is something you enjoy about your role?

Right now, I’m the project director for six different states across the country. I love being able to build these relationships and learn about their many different strategies for advancing place-based public health. It’s always interesting to see similarities in the challenges they face, and it’s especially rewarding to be able to use these connections to help our partners learn from each others’ experiences.

Do you have any pets, children or other family members you’d like to mention?

I live in Cary, NC with my fiancé, Ryan, and our puppy, Beasley!

Jabari Sullen, MPA

Jabari Sullen, MPA, is the Division Manager of Tobacco Control and Health Policy at Well-Ahead Louisiana. Jabari leads the tobacco control team in the identification of state needs, development of strategies, and facilitation of partnerships with multi-sector stakeholders, to implement best practices that improve the health and reduce tobacco use and tobacco related disease throughout the state. Jabari has over 13 years of experience working in state public health, in areas of communication, project and grant management, budgeting, strategic planning, event planning, supervision, and data collection and management.

Malembe Dumont, MCRP

Malembe Dumont has a deep understanding of community-led/engaged infrastructures and alternative solutions, environmental justice, social determinants of health, and global health. She has experience working with communities in Africa, Latin America and the U.S.; and soon will be in transition to start her PhD. She holds a bachelor in Political Science from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, a masters in International Sustainable Development from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, and a second masters as a Fulbright fellow in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers with specialization in community planning and health/environmental justice.

Mischael Metelus, MHA

Mischael Metelus is the Quality Manager for Medicare at MetroPlus Health. He has over 6+ years of health insurance experience in the public and private sector with a focus on quality management and strategic planning. In his spare time he volunteers as a mentor with first generation college students and also served as the fundraising chair at America Needs You, during the 2020 year.

We are grateful for the leadership, expertise, and service that each of our board members bring to Counter Tools. Learn more about our board members here.

Megan Jacobs is the Board Chair at Counter Tools and the managing director of product in the Innovations center at Truth Initiative. Megan has a long history of architecting products to inspire healthy behavior change. Learn more about Megan’s background and what draws her to Counter Tools’ mission in her profile below.

Tell us a little bit about your professional/personal background.
My work at University Health Service at University of Michigan in the Alcohol and Other Drug Risk Reduction Program set me on a career path in public health that has been incredibly fulfilling. I love applying creative writing, problem solving, technology, and formative/ethnographic research to tackle big challenges in our society. I’ve had the opportunity to intervene across life stages – from adolescence through older adulthood – and across behaviors, ranging from substance use, safe and protected sex, vaccine uptake, and most recently at Truth Initiative, tobacco cessation. Hailing from the state of Michigan and the University of Michigan, my background in journalism + public health led me to Israel and Washington, DC to pursue a Master’s in Public Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. I have lived in Washington, DC, since 2008. This city has seen me through an engagement, a wedding, two children, loads of coffee, miles of hiking and biking and urban exploring, great friendships, terrific colleagues, and deeply-valued mentors.

How long have you been involved with Counter Tools and what made you decide to serve on the board?
I have served on the Counter Tools board since 2020. Former chair Josh Prasad reached out to me about serving, and I was drawn to the opportunity to apply my product development, business development, and public health skill sets together in a new arena. I was familiar with Counter Tools through some of the great work they did under contract with colleagues of mine in another department at Truth Initiative as well.

What connects you to the Counter Tools mission (empowering communities to become healthier places)?
My whole career has been focused on health behavior change. I am committed to helping others live their best lives. Sometimes that commitment takes the form of products that enable personal behavior change. I am excited that in my work with Counter Tools, I have the ability to intervene at both a person and a place level.

What is something you like about serving on the Counter Tools board?
I love getting to work with others across different organizations and geography, expanding my network, my perspective, and my skills.

Who is an influential person for you and how have they changed your outlook?
I am so grateful to so many professionals in my life who have shaped, nurtured, and modeled qualities for me. To name a few… Marsha Benz at University of Michigan cultivated a great passion for public health in me, and showed me how to have tons of fun doing it. She once told me, “If you’re having fun, they’re having fun.” Michael Kharfen at the DC Department of Health led with great compassion and empathy; I try to model him daily. Jerry Franz at GWU is so incredibly generous with his time and his network. He inspired me to be very giving of my own mentorship and open doors for others. Dr. Pierre Vigilance at GWU and Mary Kate Salley, a consultant I worked with at Truth Initiative, reinforced for me that entrepreneurialism and public health can be symbiotic. As Mary Kate often told me, “No money, no mission.” Dr. Amanda Graham at Truth Initiative has always modeled great research integrity, kind collaboration, and respect, and I’ve learned so much from her.

Beth Turner is Business Manager at Counter Tools. Beth has worked in the nonprofit sector for years and is passionate about health equity and volunteering in her community. Learn more about Beth’s background in her staff profile below. 

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

Before coming to Counter Tools, I was cycling out of Girls Rock NC after 10 years. I was also deep in my role as a town commissioner in Pittsboro while the Chatham Park development was starting.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

May of this year will mark my 7th year working at Counter Tools. I was looking for something different than an arts nonprofit, but wanted to remain in the nonprofit sector. A former Girls Rock NC camper parent introduced me to Allison Myers, co-founder and first Executive Director at Counter Tools. The organization’s mission of promoting health equity through data appealed to me and I liked the gritty, startup vibe that was going on at the time.

What is something you enjoy about your role?

Working mostly ‘behind the scenes’, since I do mostly day-to-day administrative and finance functions of the organization.

What is something you like about working at Counter Tools?

The people and their dedication to the organization’s mission.

What is a specific project you have worked on at Counter Tools that energized you or felt rewarding?

Working on our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policies and processes.

What is a cause or issue you are passionate about and how are you involved?

Any cause that supports women’s access to healthcare and choice. I am a modernist home enthusiast and support NC Modernist in Durham. And Kitten Lady, an organization that provides resources to help individuals and animal shelters learn how to save the lives of very young kittens. Since the pandemic, I’ve mostly just been a sustainer to these organizations, but look forward to being able to volunteer in person again one day.

What is an organization you look to for leadership or resources?

My MBA program at NCSU has many resources for cultivating leadership skills, so I have been taking these opportunities as time permits. The Racial Equity Institute in Greensboro has been a good resource for our team and they are my first ‘go to’ for RE training.

Who is an influential person for you and how have they changed your outlook?

Ah, so many women along the way! Stacey Abrams comes to mind currently because I believe that she has resisted many obstacles to shift political outcomes with more equitable and inclusive results. She embodies ‘be the change you want to see in the world’.

What is something you spend time on outside of Tools that energizes you?

Writing songs and playing in a band. I also love to travel, but that has not happened lately due to the pandemic.

Do you have any pets, children or other family members you’d like to mention?

Three sweet kitties, Claude, Maurice and Coco.

Mollie Mayfield is Senior Project Director and Managing Editor of CounterTobacco.org at Counter Tools. She loves being inspired by people that work to improve the health of their communities and introducing folks to point-of-sale tobacco control work. Learn more about Mollie’s background and passion for policy work in her staff profile below. 

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

I discovered and fell in love with the field of public health in college, but I wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do yet. I also fell in love with policy work and advocacy through involvement with the student-led Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, leading a public health taskforce. After college, through Public Allies North Carolina, an Americorps program structured as a non-profit apprenticeship, I was fortuitously matched with a non-traditional food bank. I spent the next few years working in communications and learning about food insecurity and work to address its root causes. When I went back to school to get my Masters in Public Health, I was introduced to tobacco control work.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

I’ve worked at Counter Tools since July 2016 – over four years now, and before that I was connected to the organization while working on CounterTobacco.org as a grad student. I really liked Counter Tools’ focus on using policy change to improve the health of communities and work towards health equity. I had learned about the idea of “healthy corner stores” through my work in food insecurity, and I loved the idea of retailers creating health-supportive environments and finding ways that policy could make that a reality. I hadn’t expected to work in tobacco control, but now I nerd out about it. Learning about the extensive harm and injustices the tobacco industry has caused and continues to cause in the name of profit with their deception and their targeted marketing of a product they know is the number one cause of preventable death and disease definitely inspires me to fight their influence and work towards an end game.

What is something you enjoy about your role?

I love getting to learn from inspiring folks all around the country about their work to improve the health of their communities. I feel honored to get to be a part of helping them to achieve their goals. Sometimes we get the opportunity to introduce folks to point-of-sale tobacco control work and a more environmental approach for the first time. Seeing those “aha” moments is always great when folks understand the value of policy level solutions that change the context and make it easier for people to be healthy or find a strategy that’s going to work for them.

What is something you spend time on outside of Tools that energizes you?

I love getting outside any chance I can – for a trail run, a hike, a walk, a picnic, or anything else.

Do you have any pets, children or other family members you’d like to mention?

My partner, Anthony, and I have a ten-month old son, Calvin, and a rescue pit bull mix named Chewbecca.

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

Prior to joining Counter Tools, I worked for five years with a talented Community Health Services team at AppHealthCare, a district health department in rural western North Carolina. Our 20-person team worked closely with community partners to implement policy, systems and environmental changes, ranging from establishing the region’s first syringe exchange program to improving health outcomes for maternal and child health. I was really fortunate to be a part of this special team that valued innovation and strong community engagement. During those years, I also taught a nonprofit management course at Appalachian State University.

Prior to living and working in Appalachia, I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova, then studied at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. I had the chance to earn an MPA that was largely based on consultancies with clients and a combination of and classwork in English and Russian. I learned new ways to address social justice issues such as gang violence and access to healthcare. These experiences helped prepare me for future public health work focused on systems change.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

I joined the Counter Tools team in May of 2019. I saw a job posting for Counter Tools and was intrigued. The Counter Tools mission and focus on supporting public health advocates to tell the story of their community’s health for policy change was very exciting to me. I met a few of the team members and knew I wanted to join this team of passionate, bright change makers.

What is something you like about working at Counter Tools?

Counter Tools is made up of a group of people who challenge and inspire me every day. Working as a team to bring positive change to critical issues in place-based public health is a great privilege for me. I am constantly learning from my team members. That makes the work that much more meaningful.

Who is an influential person for you and how have they changed your outlook?

Beryl Levinger, a mentor to me and many others, taught me something seven years ago that really influenced me personally and professionally: A change in knowledge does not equal a change in behavior.

This shifted the way I think about things, from personal relationships to complex social problems. I think we often forget how challenging behavior change can be. Beryl’s words challenge me to approach problem solving from a human-centered design.

Do you have any pets, children or other family members you’d like to mention?

I am fortunate that I get to spend my days with my partner, Adam, our son, Oscar, and our dog, Robles. They keep me curious about the world and exploring new places.